Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 86
MeFi post:
Gasoline for that fire?
Mugabe has been a rat-bastard for a while now, at least since the 1982-84 timeframe
Agreed. From my limited reading, Mugabe seems to have been a vicious, paranoid thus (albeit a very well-educated thug) from the start. It's very sad that he was charismatic and ruthless enough to come into power and help devastate the nation.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 11:54 AM on April 18, 2008
MeFi post:
Sick Around the World
Put more broadly (and yes, I know, Libertarians will argue this--let's take it as read that I understand and categorically disagree with your arguments, so no need to go on about them), we pay taxes, some of which revenue goes to helping the weaker. Logically, those who are incapable of making rational healthcare decisions are weaker in some sense. Follow that to its conclusion.
Yes, the conclusion is that the government pays, and also exerts... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 7:58 AM on April 16, 2008
ATTENTION LIBERTARIANS: NO ONE IS BUYING THIS ARGUMENT ANYMORE
SHOUTING DOESN'T MAKE YOU MORE PERSUASIVE. IT'S GOOD FOR KINDERGARTENERS THOUGH.
Anyway, this trend is already happening, as you can see in bans on smoking and trans fats. You can see it in organ donor situations, which are not market-based (since you can't buy and sell them) & deny organs to people who are alcoholics or otherwise abuse their bodies... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 8:44 AM on April 16, 2008
You have much less "freedom" because you are tied to a massively inefficient system that is trying to deliver a service that the vast, vast majority of people in this country consider essential.
Yeah, maybe. I'm just pointing out that if the government is going to give everyone free health care, you can be certain there are going to be strings attached, just like every other government grant, be it public housing vouchers, welfare, or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 9:26 AM on April 16, 2008
Except, you know, in every democratic polity that's ever put a single-payer or nationalized health care system into place. But apart from all of them ever, yeah, this is a real danger.
I already talked above about the fact that in Canada you can't legally seek private medical care, and how this exerts pressure on you to take care of yourself, since you may be waiting a long time for many procedures in Canada.
In France and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 11:15 AM on April 16, 2008
There are no Exercise Police forcing you to jog, anywhere.
Actually, yes there are. Mandatory military service in countries like Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Norway come to mind. Yes, of course they are instituted for other reasons too, but I'm sure public health benefits are on the short list of reasons of why they maintain these programs.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 12:21 PM on April 16, 2008
But I can seek private care and pay whatever I want for it. Why would that be illegal?
According to the New York Times, "Accepting money from patients for operations they would otherwise receive free of charge in a public hospital is technically prohibited in this country, even in cases where patients would wait months or even years before receiving treatment.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 12:27 PM on April 16, 2008
I understand that you don't think the WOD is necessarily good, but it really doesn't have anything to do with the cost of addiction to society.
Well, sure it does. The idea is that drug addicts are a weight, a burden on society. The (maybe mistaken) thought is that they are bad workers, bad drivers, bad parents, bad citizens. They injure their bodies (which needs to be paid for), are unproductive, and their judgment is screwed up. So the naive War on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 12:32 PM on April 16, 2008
You know, I was taking you half way seriously until this point.
I assure you that if they bring a draft back to the US, public health will be one of the reasons for it.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 12:34 PM on April 16, 2008
(I mean the draft as a concept of mandatory military service, not necessarily going out into the field and fighting battles).
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 12:35 PM on April 16, 2008
Are you high? This would be a spectacularly stupid thing to do to lower health care costs -- take a population that's almost entirely healthy, and put them in much greater danger of the single greatest risk they face: accidental trauma. Not to mention that this clever public health plan misses a few people. Such as "women." And "pacifists."
Physical education classes in grade school also expose kids to "accidental trauma.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 1:30 PM on April 16, 2008
Physical education classes in grade school do not employ firearms, formal hand to hand combat, large power tools and other heavy machinery, automobiles, trucks, other heavy vehicles, helicopters, military transport aircraft, or explosives.
And these are super-duper-dangerous to train with.
A plausible story, but I don't think it's true. I took an (admittedly quick) look at unintentional mortality statistics at the World... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 2:37 PM on April 16, 2008
Sorry, the numbers I gave are only for males.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 2:38 PM on April 16, 2008
MeFi post:
Rank Not Lest Ye Be Ranked
Interesting, but I'm not sure who this really helps. Few are going to attend Boalt over Yale as a result, because graduates of the latter will continue to be the more valued among employers...
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 9:55 AM on March 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Vidal Strikes Back
Did anyone other than me think this is a horrifically bad piece of writing? Every other sentence seems to contain a non-sequitur; ideas don't seem to follow from each other; tangents abound. Examples:
I can recall that day in the 1930s when a “news” (sic) magazine appeared in Washington, D.C.; it was called Newsweek: meant to be a counterbalance to Time Magazine’s uncontrollable malice.
What uncontrollable malice? This seems... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 11:19 PM on March 22, 2008
MeFi post:
Campaign Finance Bites the Hand That Made It
So I don't really get the whole "ethical" question there.
There's a perceived conflict of interest. Where someone might judge a case where they have a personal stake, they are ethically supposed to recuse themselves. That's the argument, at least.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 2:31 PM on February 26, 2008
But that's unrelated to the article, to McCain, and to my point.
Your point was that Obama should not be blamed when two noncontroversial candidates could be confirmed and a quorum formed. The Republicans may or may not be willing to do that. Thus, whether or not that is feasible given the political environment, arguably Obama should not be the lynchpin holding the status quo in place. You may not agree with the point, but it is a colorable argument.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 4:07 PM on February 26, 2008
My point is that, if recusing himself, Obama should not be withdrawing decisions long made.
It's a good point. But there's a question about whether the hold is a "decision[] long made" or is a continuous sort of decision, akin to, for example, jailing a journalist for contempt for refusing to reveal a source. No one would suggest that once made, such a contempt order should not be withdrawn if the judge suddenly suffered a conflict of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 9:49 PM on February 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Mmmmwah!
"From a psychoanalytic point of view, the kiss is a revealing sequence containing a personal history. The way a person kisses and likes to be kissed shows in condensed form something about that persons's character. In what Freud saw as the individuals' biphasic sexual development, kissing, as a relatively late version of oral eroticism, links us to our earliest relationship with ourselves and other people. It is integral to the individuals' ongoing project of working out what mouths are for.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 6:13 AM on February 22, 2008
MeFi post:
Psi Not?
Let's see if I can summarize this guy's argument.
The evidence we've collected can best be explained by theory x.
Theory x does not allow for psychic forces.
Ergo, there are no psychic forces nor could there possibly be such.
Brilliant.
Is anyone in their right minds arguing that psychic phenomena, if it existed, would be easily compatible with the laws of physics as they are currently known --... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 9:25 PM on February 20, 2008
That's the crux of it--it's not that anything as of now unexplained must be possible, but that along with the things science doesn't yet explain, many things are strictly ruled out.
Please re-read the second prong of my summary of this guy's argument.
Could 100 psychics move a mirror one atom to the left?
Not exactly what you're looking for, but see here and here.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 3:11 PM on February 21, 2008
MeFi post:
Castro Retires
The conflict stems from that pressure, Castro's seizure of US companies' assets and that general fear from the US Establishment that a leftist government nearby will give American Plebes bad ideas.
Didn't you leave out the part about Castro establishing a communist totalitarian dictatorship? This seems like a ludicrously biased and one-sided view of the situation, and a whitewashed view of a tyranny. Everything is the fault of wealthy people, and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 8:52 AM on February 19, 2008
I also left out the part about the US recognizing and trading with at least equally oppressive far-right dictatorships in Argentina, Haiti, and El Salvador (off the top of my head) and no one here caring.
But talk of working class empowerment and/or fail to embrace our consumer culture and you are the enemy.
I think what you're leaving out is that policy makers might have legitimately thought that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 12:31 PM on February 19, 2008
Wal-mart and Disney have sweatshops in Haiti to this day
Note though that those workers probably have it better than the Haitians who don't have jobs and have to eat mud.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 3:45 PM on February 19, 2008
On a state level it's called "Capitalism".
Except for the fact that capitalism accounts for most of the prosperity of the last several hundred years, and that the poor have benefited from that.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 9:30 PM on February 20, 2008
MeFi post:
Double Nickelled & Dimed
To everyone berating this guy for his ignorance of the psychology of poverty, perhaps you need to approach him with the same kind of humility and empathy you would ask him to show others. That might actually advance the debate instead of stranding it in socialist-vs-libertarian land.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 10:57 PM on February 16, 2008
MeFi post:
The island where eye color can kill you.
I think there's something very intuitively appealing about tkolar's argument. Omiewise, if you start with his perspective -- what precisely do you see that's wrong with it?
In addition, I think the puzzle assumes without stating it that there is a particular time point (e.g. midnight each night) by which the villagers have made a discrete decision to kill themselves or not and can evaluate whether the others know something by whether they've acted or not.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 11:18 AM on February 15, 2008
Ugh, this is painful, but I may have to disagree with you, Schmegegge (though I wish you were right!).
Each number of BEIs is associated with a scenario. You agree that the 1-4 person scenarios as defined play out in a straightforward way, with suicide on the appropriate day.
When it gets to five, each person knows that there are only 4-5 BEIs. If the 4-person scenario does NOT play out, it HAS to be 5.
Similarly with six.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 3:11 PM on February 15, 2008
MeFi post:
Mandatory Binding Arbitration
Americans, and by that I mean individual, working-class citizens just trying to get by from day to day (translated: about 90% of us) have this general animosity toward being fucked over.
But would working-class citizens be ok with paying considerably higher prices as a result of the ridiculous amount that litigation costs?
It seems to me that what should really be done here is better laws/court decisions regulating... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 8:10 AM on November 28, 2007
Ummm... fuckingYES? "Versions" of the justice system?
VERSIONS. Of the JUSTICE SYSTEM.
Christ.
Wow. You act like there's something particularly sacred about our courts, something divine and ethereal. Of course, there isn't. There are compromises in who the judges are, what evidence gets in, what kinds of lawyers people get, what kinds of appeals are taken, and so on and so forth, and many... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 8:30 AM on November 28, 2007
And actually, Kadin makes a really good point about existing statutes ensuring neutrality...
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 8:32 AM on November 28, 2007
Could there actually be a thinking person who thinks it's a good idea?
don't feed the Trolls.
Does this really advance the debate? Or make you look good? Do you really think you're learning something by closing yourself off to new ideas like this? Or are you so sure of your knowledge, after having studied the issue for decades, that you have nothing left to learn?
For some actual data and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 1:44 PM on November 28, 2007
Next.
Here you are. Enjoy and enjoy some more. Yes, they're put out by pro-arbitration folks. But the sources they reference aren't. And they refer not just to rights but to money.
There is, of course, another side to the argument that, for example, Public Citizen makes in a study, though of course the study has serious flaws (like not comparing arbitration outcomes against litigation outcomes for similar cases, but simply... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 3:30 PM on November 28, 2007
not just to rights but to money.
That should be the other way around ;).
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 3:35 PM on November 28, 2007
You know guns don't kill people, People kill people and a raise in the minimum wage puts a damper on economic activity etc.
Uhh... there's truth to both those propositions (even if it's not dispositive of the issue). Lots of perfectly smart, non-gun-industry-connected people think gun ownership does not increase criminal violence, and most economists think that raising the minimum wage DOES cut jobs. But, for the latter proposition, the question is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 8:18 PM on November 28, 2007
This comes from the Public Citizens (Founded by Ralph Nader) sources you you cited
Did you not understand that I was trying to provide BOTH sides of the argument? It's called intellectual honesty. The fact that I cited this study doesn't mean I agree with it (and I said as much when I cited it). Anyway, the silly hypothetical would only be remotely valid if 1/10,000 people got the price bump, and if everyone else got a discount on their meal for the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 9:46 PM on November 28, 2007
Perhaps we can come up with a fair and humane way to deal with it all together.
Fair enough...
Your opinion is definitley valued (as I hope mine is.
Absolutely. It's why I responded :).
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 6:24 AM on November 29, 2007
MeFi post:
A 1950s Woman's View on Women and Sex
let's say she graduated at 22, in the year 1954, and it is now 2007, and she has a small daughter?
Heh. I think that's from the article's introduction. The article was published in 1957.
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 1:07 PM on November 20, 2007
MeFi post:
Race and Intelligence
Wow. I thought Steven Pinker was exaggerating when he pointed out in the Blank Slate how many intellectuals want to shut down the debate about genetic differences between people -- they don't even want to entertain the idea; they villify anyone who want to honestly discuss the issues.
Amazing. It's here, it's happening, and it is indeed pushed by "liberals" under the misconception that proven genetic differences between the races would necessarily justify... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 2:44 PM on November 18, 2007
"DNA defines appearance, and appearance determines what race people are categorized into by society. That doesn't change the fact that the categorization is done by society, not 'nature'."
Some categories are purely social. But most are probably there because it turns out that they are useful and predictive clusters: something growing out of the ground that is green also tends to have roots, tends to need water, tends to need sunshine. We call this... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 8:33 PM on November 18, 2007
MeFi post:
A dainty little cherry on top of the sundae of Iraq
Sad thing is, if this happened tomorrow, very few people in this country would even bat an eyelash.
Not exactly unique to Americans. More like human nature.
Adam Smith, hundreds of years ago, wrote:
"Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 11:37 AM on November 12, 2007
MeFi post:
Iranian man stoned to death for adultery after serving 11-year prison sentence
Let's remember folks, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Sha'ria law and Islam itself.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what little I've read that appears to be misleading. Apparently, it's true that stoning for adultery is not prescribed in the Koran, but there are many references in the Hadith describing Muhammad ordering people to be stoned to death.
Now this may not be representative of the "best"... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 2:34 PM on July 20, 2007
MeFi post:
Yezidi woman stoned to death in "honour killing"
Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't have expected any better. But I had hoped for it.
You are exhibiting the very attitude you decry: you're just "pissing on" people with your comment, not engaging in rational discourse, no?
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 11:32 AM on May 6, 2007
Ok well, I just assumed that you were going to focus on me now since I opened my mouth & posted my heartfelt opinion.
Wow. First, people are barely attacking you. Second, you started the attacks first. Third, if people do imply you're a troll, it's not because your opinion is "heartfelt" but because your opinion INSULTED THEM (by the way, you really should look up the definition of "troll").
Oh, is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 1:06 PM on May 6, 2007
I never did say they were on the same moral plane, but keep on trolling, you dishonest fuck.
tkchrist wrote:
Being stoned for being a female is not a crime. And that's what we are talking about here. ... And comparing it to electrocuting a convicted frigg'n murderer or serial killer, no matter how barbaric that itself may be, is not comparable."
dirtynumbangelboy... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shivohum
at 4:37 PM on May 6, 2007
