Comments for Neoavatara

Comment on Malaysian politician and prominent businessman Ubaidulla dies by Redscorpion

Redscorpion — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:45:00 +0000

A very touching article indeed. Tan Sri S.O.K Ubaidulla Kadir Basha is one of the highly respected indian origin politicians in Malaysia.

I was wondering whether you could elaborate more about your late grandfather S. Ekambara Mudaliar. Is he from vellore? Was he here in Malaysia. I know one S.Agamberam Mudaliar who is really closely related to me, who was quite prominent in Malaysia long before other indian businessmen!

If they have travelled in 1930s to Malaysia… then we could be talking about the same Mudaliar. Is he your paternal or maternal grandfather? If yes, please tell me the name of your parents.

Please reply to me and confirm if at all he is the same person. We’ll keep in touch and discuss further.

Thank you.
redscorpion

Comment on Is Al Franken serious? (That is a rhetorical question…) by Wolfman

Wolfman — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:51:40 +0000

I would not vote for Al Franken for dog catcher.

The Wolfman

Comment on A Constitutional Amendment can be overturned? by Joe

Joe — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:45:13 +0000

Just to clarify, the 2/3 vote is a legislative vote required for revisions, not a general vote. 50% + 1 would still hold either way, but revisions require a legislative vote while amendments do not.

I’m not aware of any precedent for a state supreme court overturning or declaring unconstitutional an amendment. It obviously poses many issues, but when two components of a constitution conflict one must be invalid eventually. The simplest answer to this problem is to not answer at all, to skip the constitutional question and void/approve the amendment on procedural grounds.

Comment on A Constitutional Amendment can be overturned? by John

John — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:44:58 +0000

The Supreme Court has no right to over turn a Constitutional Amendment. If there were questions about amending the constitution, they should have been brought to the courts before the election and the vote. This is like having the US supreme court remove parts from the US Constitution.

Comment on The Politics of Fear, Part 2 by Mike Bonner

Mike Bonner — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:05:55 +0000

Reid is praying to the embroidered pillowcase his mom hung in his house in Searchlight NV.

Comment on Rising Anger by futiledemocracy

futiledemocracy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:35:14 +0000

I must disagree, the American public were fooled for eight long years.

Comment on War on Religion by smellytourist

smellytourist — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:24:01 +0000

Good point, and echoes Jefferson’s true sentiments when he wrote about the wall of separation.
http://www.smellytourist.wordpress.com

Comment on Why the Stimulus Plan Won’t Work: Part 2 by neoavatara

neoavatara — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:27:31 +0000

Funny…middle class incomes, in inflation adjusted dollars, hit their height during the Reagan years. Again, don’t let facts get in the way of your points.

Second, you realize that the government ALREADY has gardeners on the payroll…so in fact, it is questionable whether any new employees would be hired. Additionally, you miss the point. The ‘product’ of these employees is simply to make the grass look good; a laudible exercise, but one that is a ‘dead end’ economically. Instead, if those 10 people, say, built a box that could be sold, then the box would go to a store; the store would get economic benefit as well; and then the product would stimulate the economy even more. Government can stimulate the economy, but can NEVER stimulate it as much as free enterprise. Even my 3 year old could understand that…in response to your childish remark.

I am not against infrastructure spending. Not in the least. But let us not fool ourselves that the infrastructure spending is going to stimulate the economy. It will give a small boost, but that is all. Why? Because unlike private industry, which can keep producing their product, infrastructure spending by definition has an end point; after the money is gone, the economic boost is over.

As for Reagan and the air traffic controllers; if they went on strike today, I bet Obama would do the same thing; you cannot let a single union damage the country as a whole.

FDR is one of our great presidents. But like Lincoln, let us not deify him. Lincoln is my hero; but he was far from perfect. Neither was FDR. He was, after Lincoln and maybe Washington, the third best president IMHO. So don’t misunderstand. But that does not mean that everything he did was right. The New Deal may have been necessary, but it lengthened the economic recession of the 1930s; it was an imperfect solution to a difficult world. Deifying him does him an injustice; we need to understand the choices he made, good or bad, and try to do better.

Comment on Why the Stimulus Plan Won’t Work: Part 2 by andrea

andrea — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:25:03 +0000

You make these statement like “the Great depression was caused by the New Deal” or “there were more union workers under Reagan than under Carter” which are the most brazen distorsion of the facts.
Reagan was the most anti-labor president since the late 1920’s – he fired an entire union of federal employees – the air traffic controllers. He started the slide downward of the living standards of the American middle class. As for FDR and the New Deal, they saved this country from the brink of a revolution Bolshevik-style. FDR is probably the best president this country ever had – with the possible exception of Lincoln – regardless of all the revisionism of the WSJ.

Comment on Why the Stimulus Plan Won’t Work: Part 2 by andrea

andrea — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:01:50 +0000

How gracious of you admitting that republicans are for the most part responsible for the quandary the country is in; nothing like failure to instill some humility in otherwise arrogant and insensitive people.
You seem to believe that only tangible property should merit our attention as if the 10 gardeners of the mall were of complete social and economical insignificance. These 10 people get paid, pay taxes, and buy goods and services which in turn are generated and/or handled and transported by other Americans whom in turn also get paid and so it goes on and on. My youngest child could figure this one out. On the other hand, you give a juicy tax cut to an already rich person and he or she – yes – might run to open a factory and employ people but I bet that 9 out of 10 will instead go to the nearest store and purchase a fur coat or upgrade to a more luxurious automobile.
Investing in infrastructure, schools, renewable sources of energy, universal healthcare, etc, does not – apparently – produce tangible items such as shoes ot bolts. But those improvements strenghten the nation, enhance our quality of life, and create an brighter and healthier future for our children and their children.
To summarize, the 2 choices we have are whether we will live under the cut-throat capitalism, profits-over-all, ractionary philosophy that you republicans, conservatives, and gun-totting evangelicals advocate, or this nation will become a beacon of enlightenment, humanity, tolerance, and progress.