Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 177
November 19, 2013
Does a website make a government program?
[TANSTAAFL: Do you read this blog? I’m not asking if you agree with all of it, just whether you read it! If so, don’t be passive. React. Write a comment—chew me out if you like (no foul language, please). You can even receive a free ebook—see the bottom of the “Free Stuff and Contests” webpage; or write an honest review of one of my ebooks in exchange for the ebook. In general, buy, read, and review some of my books. Your participation motivates me and helps defray the costs of this website a...
November 15, 2013
New and Notices from the Writing Trenches #59…
#329: New feature. Starting next Wednesday (Nov. 20), I’ll start posting movie reviews, when available. Because I see many movies, I thought it might be useful to readers of this blog to have an outside opinion about certain movies. (By “outside opinion,” I mean (1) I’m not a professional movie reviewer; (2) I express my own opinion, often contrary to popular fads and pundits; and (3) I have no hidden agendas, actors in my family, or any connection to Hollywood, Bollywood, or Broadway.) Somet...
November 14, 2013
When ambulance-chasers become judges…
We all know about the woman who sued McDonald’s because the coffee was too hot. We all laugh at the warnings on hairdryers saying that the buyer shouldn’t use them in the bath or shower. The U.S. is the most litigious society in the world. We have more lawyers per capita than any other country. Many of these lawyers specialize in lawsuits outside the criminal courts. Every aggrieved citizen has a right to sue, correct? Whether the defendant’s egregious action is real, and often whether the pl...
November 12, 2013
Christie for president?
All the pundits, right and left, are touting Chris Christie, recently re-elected governor of NJ, as the future hope of the Republican party. Whether it’s elation or hand-wringing, let me throw some water on their bloviating. Maybe they even know these facts, but I’m not sure even the NJ voters have come to the realization of how devious the big man was in planning this victory—Machiavelli at his best!
Remember how conservatives, especially Tea Partiers, jumped all over Christie when he had pho...
November 7, 2013
Problems and solutions for public education in the U.S….
In many states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures—even here in NJ with a Republican governor and Democratic legislature—teachers’ unions and public school teachers have come under fire. The issue here isn’t black and white—issues rarely are. I can’t pretend to be comprehensive in a simple blog post, but let me throw in some loose change to up the ante and gray up the issue even more (forty shades, remember?).
Most of us have heard the adage that goes something like “People who...
November 5, 2013
Irish Stew #23…
Item: Conservative comedy. I’ve been amused by conservative spin on the roll-out of Obamacare. Sure, Obama and his HHS secretary’s gaffes—these include hiring inept website contractors for far too much money—seem incredibly stupid considering that this is the president’s main legislative success. Comedians have pounced. Why not? But more hilarious is conservatives’ claim that the comedians prove Obamacare is doomed to fail. If liberal comedians attack the system, it must be bad, right? Strang...
October 31, 2013
Why we shouldn’t live in Middle Earth…
In last Thursday’s NY Times article “Health Law Fails to Keep Prices Low in Rural Areas,” the Times editors dropped the ball again. (I guess it’s picking-on-the-Times week, but they’re starting to irk me, for many reasons.) Every flaw in implementing the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is attributable to one thing: putting companies and contractors in the middle! In a single-payer system, none of this would happen. The website might still have problems because government programmers (cont...
October 29, 2013
Who wins with a coin toss when both sides are blank?
We often talk about the flip-side of the coin. In Thursday’s NY Times editorial, the Times editors, like many people ignoring the flip-side of one particular coin, lamented the civilian lives lost in drone attacks in the Middle East. The two sides of the coin—at least, in recent experience—are drone and special forces versus “boots on the ground,” lots of boots! The Times editors either suffered a lobotomy, or, like many pacifist activists with blinders on, have forgotten the perils of massiv...
October 24, 2013
Screaming in a vacuum…
In space, no one can hear you scream, but, if you’ve seen the blockbuster movie Gravity, you’ll know that com links do a pretty good job. The hype for this movie has gone over the top. One film critic called it the “best movie ever.” While I lauded it in “News and Notices…” last week, I ask: really? Better than High Noon? Inherit the Wind? Blade Runner? But I digress. My main point relates only a bit to Gravity. The last week, and all the time during the government shutdown, I wished I was in...
October 22, 2013
European maturity…
Even among all the SNL’s and other comedians’ takes about our do-nothing congress people and their squabbling over the government shutdown and debt ceiling, I found three news items especially amusing last week. First, some kind Facebook friend re-posted a story about how some governmental spokesperson from Norway wondered what the problem is, because they tax the rich and oil companies heavily in order to finance their social programs. Second, a Greek politician was wondering how the U.S. co...
