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Would this treaty be signed today?

From the book, Doubt:  A History, by Jennifer Michael Hecht:

As second president of the United States, Adams signed into law the Treaty of Tripoli (1797), which declares that “the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” and is in no way an enemy to Muslims.  On this basis “it is declared…that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”  Further, “The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation.”  It was carried unanimously by the Senate.

I just have a hard time believing that a treaty containing such language would be passed at all today, let alone unanimously!

I could even see the Okie delegation storming out in protest.

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Epicurus’ old questions

Since we are being sophomoric here, and pondering some of the old questions here is one. 

The monotheistic problem of evil is often summarized as a trilemma cited in David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (book 10):

“Epicurus’ old questions are yet unanswered. Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?“

Note on April 8, 2009

Apparently it is going to remain unanswered.

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Is Rosie the Riveter gay or straight?

Rosie the Rivetor
Rosie the Rivetor

My girlfriend put on her Rosie the Riveter t-shirt before she went walking.  This generated a discussion.  Is Rosie the Riveter gay or straight? 

My contention is that she is a very self-confident woman.  She feels powerful and empowered.  She may be doing what is traditionally a man’s job, but she stills feel confidentially all woman on the inside and men are her thing.  She is not afraid to go after what she needs or wants, and this spills over into her sexuality. 

My girlfriend thought she was definitely gay, and butch gay to boot.

 What do you think?

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Is it just me…

  • Or are winter tomatoes a crime against nature
  • Or are ankle-high socks and long pants a horrible fashion statement
  • Or is it obscene to build mega stadiums for millionaires to play children’s games while our children’s schools crumble
  • Or is crazy to go to a cocktail party with all the finger foods and spend all evening shaking hands
  • Or should you stay awake behind the wheel if you are the first in the left turn lane on a short light 
  • Or should you be wearing a crop top when your fat is rolling over your waistband
  • Who cannot understand how they can ship nice juicy tomatoes all the way from Holland, but what we get from the USA are these cardboard monstersities.
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Letter on Health Care Reform

There is fixin’ to be a big brouhaha in Congress about Health Care reform.

Below is a letter (email actually) that I have sent to both my Senators and my representative.  You may not agree with some or all of my comments, but you need to make your voice heard on this.  We do not need to let the profit driven corporations dictate our level of health care or even if we have health care any longer.

Find your Senator’s email address here

Find your Representative’s email address here

Dear Senator/Representative: 

There is going to a concerted effort by the Obama administration to Continue reading “Letter on Health Care Reform”

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Education, Education, Education

A quote from a Washington Post article:

Second, welcome foreign innovators. Harvard research fellow Vivek Wadhwa reports that immigrants have founded more than half of all Silicon Valley start-ups in the past decade. These immigrant-led, American tech companies employed more than 450,000 workers and grossed $52 billion in 2005. For U.S. companies to employ a highly specialized foreign worker, the employee must hold an H-1B visa, but current law allows for the issuing of only 65,000 H-1B visas per year.

The H-1B cap was established to prevent foreigners from taking American jobs, but, in fact, an education gap frequently leaves American candidates less qualified for these positions. Lawmakers could improve the situation all around by removing the cap on H-1B visas while imposing a 10 percent payroll tax above and beyond the benchmark salary for any position being filled by holders of such visas. The proceeds of the payroll tax could be channeled into U.S. reeducation programs. This compromise would bring the best innovators to work here while subsidizing the continued education of American talent.

Click here for full article

First Mr. Wadhwa or is it Ms. Wadhwa scares us by saying that there will be no new innovation in the USA without immigrants, specifically H-1B workers. Continue reading “Education, Education, Education”

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Four Indian Firms Hogged 10,000 H1B Visas

Original article at IndianExpress.com is no longer on Da ‘Net

I am not wild about the H-1B program, but if it were about individual Indians I would be a fan.  Admittedly it is a selected subset that I meet here, but they are generally intelligent, hard working, friendly folks.  If I have a complaint about them it is that they tend to be too compliant to the korporate overlords.  That and they undercut wages tremedously. This just adds to decreasing concern American korporations have for their employees.

However the program is about korporate greed here and in India.   It is about American korporations not investing in American workers or the American education system.  I read an article a while back about how American korporations were shifting their education dollars from American universities to those in China and India.  They did this because they felt they were getting more bang for their buck.

I do not know for a fact  how these firms that are hogging the H-1B visas treat their folks.  I do know that Indian work conditions, even for professionals, are Dickinsonian compared to American standards.

This whole paradigm of profit at any cost has got to stop.

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Obama gives me hope

I just watched Mr. Obama’s speech to Congress.  What a refreshing change to have a leader lead, to have a leader concerned about the run of mill citizen, to have a leader paint a picture of a shared future.

Obama gives me hope.

The 4 things that concern me most are health care, the deficit, energy, and education, seem to the the things that concern this president most.

Obama gives me hope.

It is time we  forgot short term gains, and made long range plans.  It is time we quit ignoring the problems.  It is time we started attacking the problems.

Obama gives me hope.

I believe that our government should govern scientifically.  We do this by identifying the problem. Gather whatever information, experts, etc we need to come up with a solution, implement that solution, and most importantly put it on a feedback loop.  If the solution does not work, then we go back to step 2, but we keep working on it.  And we do this until the problem is solved.  I believe this President will do that.

Obama gives me hope.

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Oscars outsourced to India

With Slumdog Millionaire winning 8 Oscars, John Stewart of the Daily Show, quipped last night that they had been “outsourced to India”.

Hollywood watch out here comes Bollywood…

Great movie though, well worth your time to go see.

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Paradise Now

paradise-nowI had read or heard about this Arabic language movie, and I was very interested so I bought a copy.  Just as an aside, I told a coworker and friend that I had purchased the film.  He is Egyptian and the movie had a special interest for him.  We made a night of it, his wife and mother prepared a traditional Egyptian dinner and we watched the movie with his wife and his parents.  He sent the kids to their rooms, although now I do not believe that to have been necessary.

It is a story about two friends in Palestine that decide to become suicide bombers.  Continue reading “Paradise Now”