Considerations

Politics, business, religion, and culture by Samuel J. Scott and Jeff Guevin

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Are We the People We the Problem?

March 10th, 2010 · No Comments · Culture, Politics

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/10/are-we-the-people-we-the-problem/’,size:‘large’} I think Newsweek’s Evan Thomas per­haps gets it right when he says, Gov­ern­ment Is Not the Prob­lem: we are.
Amer­i­can indi­vid­u­al­ism and enti­tle­ment is cer­tainly at its height these days (though, I don’t agree that par­ti­san­ship is).  “What’s in it for me” has become the mantra of the Amer­i­can taxpayer.  […]

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A short trip ’round the blogosphere

March 5th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Blogosphere, Blogroll, Blogs From Left to Right, Blogs on the Media, Law, Marketing, Politics, Uncategorized, terrorism

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/05/a-short-trip-round-the-blogosphere/’,size:‘large’} The Volokh Con­spir­acy asks those of us who oppose fed­er­ally sanc­tioned tor­ture to con­sider how we’d have reacted had John Yoo been anti-torture.  (Not John Woo.  Thanks to Dan for point­ing this out.)
Above the Law informs us that some guy put his law degree up for sale on e-Bay.  […]

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I was sick…

March 4th, 2010 · 7 Comments · Christianity, Health, Politics

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/04/i-was-sick/’,size:‘large’} I felt this expla­na­tion of the U.S. health care debate was fairly objec­tive; though, I admit that accord­ing to Wikipedia, the pub­lisher leans left.
Regard­less, I have a few thoughts on health care:

pri­vate insur­ance com­pa­nies seek to max­i­mize prof­its at employ­ers’ expense;
employ­ers seek to max­i­mize prof­its at employ­ees’ expense;
doc­tors seek […]

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One to Watch

March 3rd, 2010 · 3 Comments · Baseball, Feminism, Japan, Red Sox, Sports, The Boston Globe

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/03/one-to-watch/’,size:‘large’} Base­ball hasn’t had much room for women.  That may soon change, how­ever – if only a lit­tle, as the Boston Globe reports on a female knuck­le­baller from Japan.
The knuck­le­ball not need­ing speed but rely­ing rather on unpre­dictabil­ity, I really think this girl has a chance.  Maybe she’ll replace Wake when […]

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You know, like, homosexuality’s bad, okay?

March 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Bible, Christianity, Culture, Religion, Sex

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/02/you-know-like-homosexualitys-bad-okay/’,size:‘large’} I con­fess: I don’t know who Miss Bev­erly Hills is, nor do I par­tic­u­larly care.  I find her recent defense of her anti-gay beliefs com­pelling, how­ever.  Espe­cially illu­mi­nat­ing is the pause when she is asked if one can both be Chris­t­ian and gay.
I think Miss Bev­erly Hills’ response – or […]

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Steak for Stock

March 2nd, 2010 · 4 Comments · Economics, Food

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/02/steak-for-stock/’,size:‘large’} A great gim­mick, an inter­est­ing ploy, and pos­si­bly a good way to make a for­tune: Steak for Stock.
I’m not sure what to think, but I have to give credit to Smith & Wollensky’s ad agency for com­ing up with this one.
A sign of the times, to be sure.  Citibank stock […]

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Old Wisdom

March 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Uncategorized

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/01/old-wisdom/’,size:‘large’} There’s an old adage that, put politely, says, “You don’t defe­cate where you eat.” Unfor­tu­nately, it seems that many Amer­i­cans have dis­re­garded this bit of wis­dom in their daily lives.
Al Gore may not be everyone’s favorite per­son (he cer­tainly isn’t mine), but he’s got a point when he says […]

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The Failure of Fairness

March 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Uncategorized

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/03/01/the-failure-of-fairness/’,size:‘large’} A NYTimes.com edito­r­ial says that “[i]ncreasingly, courts are ignor­ing fun­da­men­tal fair­ness and overem­pha­siz­ing rigid rules and tech­ni­cal legal points — in many cases, dead­lines of one kind or another — in ways that under­mine jus­tice.”  It’s not a state­ment backed up with facts or fig­ures, but if true, and […]

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Animal Rights Trump Human Rights

February 26th, 2010 · No Comments · Culture, Europe, Food, Law, Personal, Philosophy, Politics

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/02/26/animal-rights-trump-human-rights/’,size:‘large’} I love my dog.  I think farm ani­mals should be treated humanely and not spend their lives in fac­tory farms.  Still a new Swiss ani­mal rights law car­ries with it the specter of enforced Jain­ism.
Where does it end?  Will gov­ern­ment some day tell me I can’t eat meat or […]

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Why Fannie Mae Is Like a Platypus

February 26th, 2010 · No Comments · Media

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/02/26/why-fannie-mae-is-like-a-platypus/’,size:‘large’} I’m pass­ing no judge­ment on con­tent here.  I’m not even say­ing I’ve read it; I just love the title: Why Fan­nie Mae Is Like a Platypus.

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Domestic Violence

February 26th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Culture, Dating, Feminism, Law

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/02/26/domestic-violence/’,size:‘large’} Win­ning the FoxNews award for spin­ning the truth and con­flat­ing issues is Sam’s recent post Redun­dant Oppressed Men.
Please note that the divorce laws he decries are, as the judge on the first case put it, “old laws.”  They were passed in the “good old days,” when women didn’t have […]

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The 24-hour Silly Cycle

February 26th, 2010 · No Comments · Culture, Media, Uncategorized

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/02/26/the-24-hour-silly-cycle/’,size:‘large’} The Orlando Sentinel’s TV Guy, a news­blog­ger, notes the TV feeding-frenzy over the recent death of a Sea­World animal-trainer.  Also see this piece about the depraved heart of an orca in the NY Times.
It’s pop­u­lar to talk about the news cycle, etc., etc.  Yet, peo­ple gen­er­ally seem fairly uncrit­i­cal of […]

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Poverty in the Land of the Free

February 25th, 2010 · 15 Comments · Blogs From Left to Right, Economics, Food, Politics

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/02/25/poverty-in-the-land-of-the-free/’,size:‘large’} In a col­umn on the Huff­in­g­ton Post, Leo Hin­dery, Jr., a for­mer CEO, writes that 100 mil­lion peo­ple in Amer­ica are at or below the offi­cial poverty line, which itself is an absurd, unre­al­is­tic mea­sure.
I agree that poverty erad­i­ca­tion should be a, if not the, top pri­or­ity in this […]

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Stratfor’s Top Predictions for the “2010s”

February 24th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Business, China, Economics, Europe, Finance, Globalization, Russia

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/02/24/stratfors-top-predictions-for-the-next-decade-china-collapse-global-labor-shortages-new-american-dominance/’,size:‘large’} Sam’s always pre­dict­ing gloom and doom for the US econ­omy (often while mys­te­ri­ously tout­ing that of Israel).  So, I thought I’d share STRATFOR’S TOP PREDICTIONS FOR THE NEXT DECADE: China Col­lapse, Global Labor Short­ages, New Amer­i­can Dom­i­nance.
Indeed, the US does face some real issues (not actu­ally men­tioned by Business […]

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Facebook strikes again

February 23rd, 2010 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized

var fbShare = {url: ‘http://www.samueljscott.com/2010/02/23/facebook-strikes-again/’,size:‘large’} I would never try to assert that Face­book doesn’t have the author­ity to cen­sor what­ever they want. They’re a pri­vate com­pany, and your pri­vacy is signed over the moment you sign up.
Still, when Face­book starts polic­ing groups that advo­cate for things, it starts to get a lit­tle bit strange. […]

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