Politics – hobbes.net -verbose

Apple celebrates diversity on its website while admitting it needs to do more | Macworld

Aug 122014

Apple celebrates diversity on its website while admitting it needs to do more | Macworld: “”

The problem I have with this is approach that it’s all about about the superficial… what things look like, rather than what they are.

I (as a fan of Apple products and an Apple shareholder) would rather Apple worry about hiring the best and most qualified people to do their jobs, rather than caring about what their race, gender, religion or sexual preference is simply to make themselves appear ‘tolerant’ or ‘inclusive’.

It’s the same problem I have with Affirmative Action. AA emphasizes filling quotas based on race, gender, etc… which is exactly the OPPOSITE of what we are supposed to be paying attention to, isn’t it? Wasn’t the point to NOT hire based on these things? Discrimination is discrimination. And it’s bad. Quotas based on ‘metadata’ about a worker rather than their qualifications is bad. It’s counterproductive. And it does more to damage race/gender/orientation/religion relations than anything else.

When you point out that someone accomplishing something is even more monumental because they’re a particular ‘minority’, you’re basically insulting that group of people, as though they’re somehow less intelligent, less qualified, or less inclined as a group. I don’t believe that’s true at all.

Diversity is nice and all, but at the end of the day it’s really just window dressing.

People are people, folks. Get over it.

In the words of Morgan Freeman:

MIKE WALLACE: How are we going to get rid of racism until …?

MORGAN FREEMAN: Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man. And I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You’re not going to say, “I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.” Hear what I’m saying?

Mask ban bill penalty doubled to 10 years – Politics – CBC News

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May 112012

Mask ban bill penalty doubled to 10 years – Politics – CBC News.

And this, ladies and gentlemen is why the United States is different than any other country in the world. Free speech in the United States means something very different than anywhere else, even with our maple-loving neighbors to the north.

And that’s why preserving our individual freedom is so important… and why it’s such a crime when we willingly give it up to the government in the name of ‘safety’ or ‘security’ or whatever banner you want to file it under.

Antarctic ice is growing, not melting away | World News | News.com.au

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Apr 182009

Antarctic ice is growing, not melting away | World News | News.com.au

Al Gore is an idiot.

And yes, I know… the popular mantra now is “STOP CLIMATE CHANGE!!” not “STOP GLOBAL WARMING!”

It’s just a bit comical, is all.

“We KNOW that there’s a problem, and we KNOW that we’re the cause of it. We just don’t know what it is.”

The problem is called enviromilitantism.

Change You Can Believe In?

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Apr 122009

TPM: “Obama Mimics Bush on State Secrets” – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com

Obama and Habeas Corpus — Then and Now

So… the totalitarian dictator we, the American people, elected is adopting the most extreme positions of the “fascist, right-wing, powermonger” previous regime to go along with his total subversion of the capitalist system.

I wish I could say that this was a great surprise, but unfortunately I can’t.

Putting a man like Barack Obama in office and giving him a majority in the congress that is willing to do whatever he wishes is dangerous. And by dangerous, I mean Stalin-like potential.

You may think I’m just being alarmist, or name-calling. But look at what the man says. Read his opinions about things like taxes. Read his thoughts on things like using the legislature to enact “change”, and then try to discern what that change is.

Look at his opinions on redistribution of wealth. On government investment and ownership of business (aka ‘bailouts’). On universal healthcare. On the ‘failure’ of capitalism (which really is just the failure of congress to control themselves, and the complete lack of accountability and oversight by the American people – Honestly, how does Barney Frank even get *elected*, let alone get put in charge of the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee?).

And then add in his sudden endorsement of the more totalitarian policies
of the previous administration: policies that he claimed he was against. Policies that he vocally and very publicly LIED ABOUT in order to distance himself from McCain/Palin and the Bush Administration, only to suddenly change his mind once he was in office?

Now throw in the suddenly hot topic of the Fairness Doctrine? The government exerting authority over peoples’ First Amendment right to free speech?

This is not ineptness, ladies and gentlemen. This is a planned agenda. To all you people out there who bemoaned the ‘totalitarian’ nature of the Bush Administration, I hope you’re enjoying the “change”. Because what you’re watching is what happens when you elect socialists and put them in a position where there’s nobody standing in the way of the “socialization” of the United States. The infringement of basic rights protected by the Bill of Rights itself. And this is just in the first 100 days of his administration!

This has *some* elements of change, mind you. Mostly involving keeping the worst aspects of the previous administration and combining them with changes to exert more power over peoples’ lives, property and speech.

Change for the sake of change is not good, people. It’s only good when it’s a change for the better. And that’s definitely not what we have here.

Barack Obama ‘too tired’ to give proper welcome to Gordon Brown – Telegraph

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Mar 082009

Barack Obama ‘too tired’ to give proper welcome to Gordon Brown – Telegraph

What? Being President is a lot harder than just blaming the previous president for everything and making things magically ‘Change’ with the wave of a hand?

I know that *I* can’t believe it. The guy’s in way over his head, and all those warnings about him having done NOTHING of consequence to equip him for the job are starting to ring true.

Not to mention that his brand of “CHANGE” means suddenly figuring out that maybe Bush had reasons for at least *some* of what he did and continuing those policies, and putting in office a bunch of Clinton administration retreads in his cabinet.

Change indeed. If by “Change”, you mean “Democrat politics as usual”.

Where’s all the outrage from his “change-istas” now that they can see they’ve been completely manipulated? Answer: nowhere. Because it was all a load of crap. It was *not* about change the whole time, that was just something to latch onto. Just words to further an agenda that had nothing to do with real change and everything to do with the same old neo-socialist leftist agenda that the Democrats have been moving forward with for the last 30 years.

Hope you didn’t actually believe that line about changing things…

You voted in Socialism. Good job.

Brazil urges finance overhaul, Obama vows action – Yahoo! News

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Nov 082008

Brazil urges finance overhaul, Obama vows action – Yahoo! News

Allow me to translate for you…

Brazil’s president called on Saturday for an overhaul of the global finance system that “collapsed like a house of cards” in the credit crisis and demanded a greater say for emerging economies.

“We’re tired of America being the superpower. It’s not fair. We want to tell the rest of the world (especially the US) what to do now.”

In the United States, President-elect Barack Obama said it was time for Americans to put aside their political differences to focus on averting a deep recession, which he plans to tackle as soon as he moves into the White House in January.

“It’s time for conservatives to put aside their political opinions and do what I say. ‘Bi-partisan’ means ‘do whatever I say’ in the name of getting along. Oh… and I plan to try and tax my way out of the recession, even though that strategy has never succeed anywhere it’s been tried.”

“This crisis began in the advanced economies,” Lula told the finance officials. “This is the consequence of the blind belief in the ability of self-regulation of the markets, and to a large degree, the lack of control over financial players.”

“This crisis began because of the United States. This is a consequence of the belief in capitalism and free market economics, and if you were more enlightened (aka ‘socialist’) this never would’ve happened. Even though the main causes of this crisis could easily have been avoided had congressional lawmakers (primarily Democrats) actually listened to, and acted upon, the minimal oversight that was in place already.”

Folks, President-elect Obama is going to sell us up the river and use a crisis created by his comrades in the Congress to further push us toward the Marxist utopia he champions in every policy he supports. Change indeed.

To all of you who thought George W. Bush was a fascist? You ain’t seen nothing yet. You voted in Socialism. Way to go.

iTunes: Walk In The Shadows by Queensrÿche, from Rage For Order

Hitler Youth revisited

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Nov 072008

America Serves“The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.” (emphasis mine)

And a little commentary about this, just to provide a frame of reference: Obama Proposes Hitler Youth Program

Wow… I wouldn’t have ever believed he would be this brazen about his intentions this quick.

Welcome to the New Order.

iTunes: The Flame of Youth by Dragonforce, from Inhuman Rampage

You mean we’re NOT the ones causing global warming?

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Nov 022008

TG Daily – MIT scientists baffled by global warming theory, contradicts scientific data

I know I can’t believe it. Big freaking shock.

Obamanomics

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Oct 242008

A friend showed me this. Probably the best way to explain the complete lie that is Obama’s view of tax ‘fairness’

———

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go
something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar
every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one
day, the owner threw them a curve.

‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, I’m going to
reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.

Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our
taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men – the paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and
the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar
owner suggested be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount,and
he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.!

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100%
savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant,
the men began to compare their savings.

‘I only got a dollar out of the $20, ‘declared the sixth man.
He pointed to the tenth man, ‘but he got $10!’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only
saved a dollar, too.
It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’

‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he
get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the
breaks!’*

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t
get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the
nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the
bill,they discovered something important. They didn’t have
enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is
how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get
the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start
drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.