tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076218417451364964.post2308963126898494463..comments2023-10-09T09:11:20.120-05:00Comments on Tom Wolff's Blog: Odds n’ Ends (15)tom wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15045360985467575407noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076218417451364964.post-12069462709527235502009-05-27T22:11:42.990-05:002009-05-27T22:11:42.990-05:00"4.) Is President Obama's 'New Foundation' built o...<I>"4.) Is President Obama's 'New Foundation' built on rock or sand? More in our ongoing series on the language of the new administration. . . .FDR had the New Deal. JFK had the New Frontier. Now President Obama has a phrase for his economic program: The New Foundation. The metaphor raises the question: Is this new foundation being built on a rock or on sand?"</I>Well, let's see...<br /><br />The New Deal got us 100,000 bridges, a million miles of road, and electricity to nearly every home in America. It saved England by underwriting the Lend-Lease program. It had us moving out of the Depression long before we actually got involved in WWII.<br /><br />The New Frontier laid down the foundations of what became the Voting Rights Act, the War on Poverty (which was a corollary to the Civil Rights movement), and started us on the path that lead to conquest of the Moon...<br /><br />Not a bad legacy to emulate I should think...<br /><br />OR, Pres. Obama could follow the footprints of programs begun by Republican Presidents...<br /><br />Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" program that prevented any real progress and handed Jimmy Carter the economic wreckage of Nixon's Middle East policies. <br /><br />Reagan's "War on Drugs" that distracted the nation away from the domestic causes of foreign drug production, thus overseeing the most rapid rise in drug use in this nations' history.<br /><br />Bush, Sr's "1000 Points of Light" that diverted billions of tax dollars away from urban issues that resulted in drastic increases in poverty and crime that wound up costing us WAY more than it saved.<br /><br />Bush, Jr's "No Child Left Behind" that has resulted in the largest grade gap in our history between school systems in the highest and lowest quadrilles (in terms of district affluence). <br /><br />Some general thoughts on the economy (which powered most of the programs, good and bad, above):<br /><br />As Kobs would warn us, past performance does not guarantee future success. Yet, when it comes to social improvement, the safe bet is with the Democratic track record.<br /><br />Having said that, I actually do have some reservations about the recent stimulus spending. Neither Bush nor Obama got it right, and I really fear the damage that a decade of trillion dollar deficits are going to cause. The big problem is that I'm not sure there really WERE or ARE any good options. We don't have the freedom of action that we did in the 1930's. China won't give it to us.<br /><br />I completely blame Bush... His policies on the Middle East, taxation, his toadying to his rich backers, and his failure to recognize and deal with the threat posed by China have put us in the situation we are in today. Obama may very well be choosing the path of lesser evils, rather than a truly winning strategy. I hope, for your children's sake, that I'm dead wrong. <br /><br />Pax,<br />~E~Edward Oleanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927681925356101361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076218417451364964.post-44945797894063276362009-05-27T21:31:09.611-05:002009-05-27T21:31:09.611-05:00Oh... another Wishful Thinking Award is due here.....Oh... another Wishful Thinking Award is due here... <br /><br />Tom's logic: 50 years of computer Science hasn't been able to out-perform 50 million years of mammalian development (not to mention the previous 500 million years of base brain development).<br /><br />Therefore: God MUST have done it! <br /><br />BUZZ! Thank you for playing! <br /><br />I can just see Tom the Roman arguing in the Forum... "HA, Socrates, since you cannot tell me what causes lightning, that PROVES that Zeus throws each bolt as HE sees fit!"<br /><br />I can just see Tom the Puritan arguing in Philadelphia, "HA, Mr. Franklin, you can't prove anything about lightning with your kite. It MUST be GOD telling us of his anger!" <br /><br />I can just see Tom in 1954, arguing in the Nevada desert, "HA, Mr. Teller, since no-one has ever fused atoms before, it MUST be God's will alone that causes stars to light up!"<br /><br />Science has triumphed over Tom-logic time and time again for the past 2000 years. It will continue to do so. In that I have FAITH...<br /><br />Veritas libertas,<br />~E~Edward Oleanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927681925356101361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8076218417451364964.post-21037586679234075632009-05-17T20:04:00.000-05:002009-05-17T20:04:00.000-05:00"The human brain continues to be a slam-dunk examp...<I>"The human brain continues to be a slam-dunk example of a Higher Mind designing and having been Created, with the naturalists only response being Darwinism's mechanism of unguided mutation? Game, Set, Match, to Intelligent Design;"</I>You know you said that just to yank my chain and bring me out of hiding...<br /><br />The Naturalist's real response is to point out that any 1st year engineering student can point out most of the places where God either got lazy or just plain goofed up. Most of Nature is such a huge cluster-f that practically any facet of it repudiates any sort of "design"... especially humans. Rube Goldberg all the way.<br /><br />If God is The Designer, then he is either mean, slow, or a 1st year student at Deity University. I'm pretty sure Asia could do a better job.<br /><br />:-P<br />~Ed~Edward Oleanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927681925356101361noreply@blogger.com