Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

I have a feeling that no athiest in the world…

Posted: June 30, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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…has as many Christians praying for him as Christopher Hitchens does right now.

I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me. I regret having had to cancel so many engagements at such short notice.

Rules of Christianity not withstanding I find it impossible to dislike Chris Hitchens, he is brave, loyal , honest to a fault and wrong as anyone can be about God in general and Christianity in particular.

He is open minded enough not to be offended by me and others like me offering prayers for his recovery (we’ll offer them for his redemption too but that’s beside the point). I must confess a bit of a selfish motive, I think the world will be a lesser place when he leaves it.

A sign of sanity: Mosab Hassan Yousef case dropped

Posted: June 30, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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A rare sign of good news and sanity from the war on terror:

EMET has just received word directly from Mosab that the Government has officially dismissed its deportation case against Mosab Hassan Yousef at a federal detention center in San Diego.

Mosab has told us that it was thanks to the efforts of EMET that the government decided to dismiss its case and grant him political asylum.

We talked a bit about Mosab here, but other blogs such as Camp of the Saints and The Lonely Conservative and Maggie’s Notebook really carried the ball on this one.

The blog they set up is here.

Now that he won’t be a gimme target back home look for him to be more of a target here, so that means he will need to be more careful.

Another blow to the conventional wisdom…

Posted: June 30, 2010 by datechguy in employment, opinion/news
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If you do a search of stories on the Unemployment extension or lack thereof you will see a lot of stuff like this:

Republicans are united against the extension

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-MI), a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a press release yesterday that

“Republicans in Congress are clearly more focused on their short-term political standing than the immediate economic security of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and are unable to find work.”

Evil Republicans yada yada yada, just like the tea party stuff we’ve heard so many times before. You would think it was part of journolist.

Interestingly enough if you look at the Globe today you find this:

Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts is planning to introduce legislation today aimed at extending unemployment assistance for the long-term jobless, funding summer jobs, and providing more Medicaid funding to states.

His plan would pay for the additional spending using unspent stimulus funding, along with cuts in other areas.

“There are some programs in that legislation that are important to Massachusetts during this economic crisis,’’ Brown, a Republican, says in a video message he is planning to release this morning. “But we need to find a way to pay for them.’’

Scott Brown? An Evil republican extending unemployment? That’s has to be as unlikely as democrats showing up for a Tea Party Forum.

How about that actually paying for that extension. As someone in tight shape who could use that extension I understand that the money is coming not from the Government but from my fellow taxpayers. Once people forget this we become a society of dependence.

Jen Benson and Kurt Hayes at the Tea Party forum

Posted: June 30, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news, tea parties
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Yesterday we had the video of the State Senate candidates, today we have the candidates for State rep for the 37th Middlesex District at the tea party candidate forum.

Jen Benson is the Democrat in her first term:

She made the case against term limits, and she pointed to the federal mandates in what we can and can’t do, it’s a fair point.

I know this next clip is kinda short but I had to break them up.

Next up is Kurt Hayes:

As the republican he had more in common with the crowd.

Hayes and Benson were both impressive, it is interesting to see that both argued against Term Limits (I say we have term limits, they are called elections and if we don’t take advantage of them it’s our own fault. As a native of NH Benson seemed a lot more conservative than the avg democrat and that has some appeal to this crowd.

As a bonus extra here is Scott Bove candidate for Sheriff of Worcester County, he only had 5 min:

His point about experience in the system is a very good one.

Overall this was a superior exchange to the first one. Benson was making the case that you need one term to get to speed but I don’t know if that’s the right take to make (true or no). Neither candidate hurt themselves and I personally think Benson helped herself more than Hayes simply by exposing voters who would normally vote against her to her positions

Update: That was Kurt with a K. My bad there.

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