Also check out my pages of solutions, humor, The Octopus and bicycle trailer pictures.
Green Party of Santa Cruz County
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Day: July 30, 2017
Kibrick Omnious
The Ominous Archive is up!
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Liberal FAQ
THE LONG FAQ ON LIBERALISM
Part of the Liberalism Resurgent web site
© Copyright by Steve Kangas, editor
Help Fight the Right! — Support Liberalism Resurgent.
Welcome! You have found my encyclopedia of liberal arguments on politics and religion. My goal is to build a one-stop reference source that uses all the latest studies, statistics and arguments. If you’d prefer a shorter treatise, then visit my Short FAQ on Liberalism. As for this document, read About This FAQ to discover its stated goals. And feel free to send your comments to me at [email protected]. — if they prove helpful, you’ll win public praise on my credit page.
IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT — A classic starting point for the debate:
Part 1: The Best Distribution of Power
Part 2: The Proper Size and Role of Government
DEFINITIONS AND SPECTRUMS
A definition of “Liberalism” and “Conservatism”
A glossary of political and economic terms
Spectrum 1: Individualism vs. Altruism
Spectrum 2: Anarchy vs. Organization
Spectrum 3: Democracy vs. Constitutionalism
Spectrum 4: Equality vs. Merit
Spectrum 5: Competition vs. Cooperation
COMMON POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS MYTHS
Myths about democracy and the constitution:
Rights are natural, inalienable and self-evident.
No one has rights to my property.
There’s no such thing as a “social contract.”
We should return to the original intentions of the Founding Fathers.
The Founders should be revered as secular saints.
The government violates the plain meaning of the constitution.
Current federal powers violate the 10th amendment.
Democracy elected Hitler to power.
Myths about society, individualism and collectivism:
There’s no such thing as society… only individuals and families.
Early Americans built this land on rugged individualism.
The world is going to hell in a hand basket.
Myths about abortion:
Personhood begins at conception.
Most women feel depression and trauma after an abortion.
Myths about affirmative action:
Affirmative action means quotas.
Affirmative action denies jobs to the most qualified.
Affirmative action hasn’t worked.
The end doesn’t justify the means.
Affirmative action is reverse discrimination.
We should compensate specific individuals for specific wrongs, not entire groups.
Affirmative action is like setting quotas for white guys in the NBA.
Asian-Americans are a model minority.
The Bell Curve is a top-level work of science.
IQ best predicts if you will succeed or fail in life.
Social intervention cannot raise IQ.
Some ethnic groups have genetically inferior IQ’s.
The black/white IQ gap is largely genetically caused.
The black/white IQ gap is 15 points and growing.
Myths about Bill Clinton:
There is no “vast right-wing conspiracy” to get Clinton.
Clinton is thoroughly corrupt.
Ken Starr’s investigation was ethical and fair.
Starr’s crooked investigation doesn’t invalidate his findings.
Clinton committed perjury.
Clinton’s alleged wrongdoing rises to the level of impeachment.
Myths about Christian conservatism:
The Bible is morally pure and free from atrocity.
The basis for all morality is found in the Bible.
The Founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian republic.
Myths about crime:
The criminal justice system isn’t biased against the poor.
Poor people and minorities are committing the most crime.
Getting tough on crime reduces crime.
We shouldn’t waste tax dollars keeping murderers alive in prison.
Guns don’t kill people; people do.
Gun ownership is not the cause of America’s high murder rate.
Gun control laws won’t reduce the murder rate.
A gun in the home increases personal safety.
The Second Amendment guarantees the individual right to own a gun.
Switzerland proves that high gun-ownership doesn’t increase murder.
Myths about economics:
The gold standard is a better monetary system.
The Austrian School of Economics is “apart and above” mainstream economics.
The Chicago School of Economics is a leader in the field.
The rich get rich because of their merit.
Unregulated capitalism does not exploit workers.
Income mobility makes up for income inequality.
Car salesmen are the scum of the earth.
Deregulation promotes competition.
The government’s services should be privatized.
Presidents are responsible for the economy’s performance.
Homo economicus is a valid assumption of human behavior.
Myths about the economic history:
Carter ruined the economy; Reagan saved it.
The recession of 1982 was Carter’s fault.
Forty years of liberalism have ended in failure.
Democrats in Congress created the deficit.
The U.S. has the world’s highest standard of living.
Myths about education:
The high school dropout rate is climbing.
American test scores have fallen in the last 30 years.
Doubling the money spent on public education hasn’t improved it.
American graduates don’t have the skills needed for a high-tech economy.
Vouchers will improve our schools.
Myths about the environment:
Capitalism is the most environmentally friendly economic system.
Humans are not causing global warming.
Humans are not causing ozone depletion.
We cannot possibly cause harm to God’s most magnificent creation.
We shouldn’t worry; the environment will heal itself.
Liberal doomsday scenarios have always been proven wrong.
Myths about evolution:
“Creation science” is science.
There is a conspiracy among scientists to suppress “creation science.”
Life obviously had an intelligent designer.
Evolution defies the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Myths about health care:
The U.S. has the best health care system in the world.
Myths about inequality and poverty:
Income inequality is not the cause of this nation’s social problems.
Lots of poor people are fat… they’re not suffering.
Myths about liberalism and leftism:
Liberalism is socialism, and socialism is big government.
Political Correctness makes liberals inconsistent on free speech.
Myths about science and common sense:
Scientific consensus is not the best way to discern truth.
There is no war between science and Christianity.
Intelligent people tend to be more religious.
Conservative think tanks are the answer to liberal academia.
Public polls are generally inaccurate and untrustworthy.
Myths about taxes:
I earned that money; it’s mine!
Tax cuts increase tax collections.
Tax cuts spur economic growth.
Tax cuts for the rich shift the tax burden upward.
A capital gains tax cut will spur economic growth.
A capital gains tax cut will help the little guy.
Myths about welfare:
There are Welfare Queens driving Welfare Cadillacs.
The poor receive the most welfare.
Welfare is to blame for runaway government spending.
People on welfare are lazy and stupid bums.
People on welfare are usually black, teenage mothers who stay on ten years at a time.
People on welfare should just find jobs.
Welfare gives people an economic incentive to avoid work.
Welfare gives mothers an economic incentive to have more children.
Welfare gives women an incentive to have children out of wedlock or break up marriages.
Welfare can be replaced by charity.
Welfare traps people in poverty.
The U.S. has wasted over $5 trillion on the war on poverty.
Return to Liberalism Resurgent
Barbara
The Techno-Girls Home
Welcome to our central page. Our site has four parts:
Anime and More: Amateur Captioning from the Techno-Girls — a hobby. We translate videos from Japan into English and make subtitled versions so that English-speaking people (mostly our Shoujo Anime Club, below) can view them.
Barbara’s Enka Site — A web site about Enka, a traditional type of popular song from Japan. The site includes information on the music in general, artists, and their albums.
Subsonic — a software program for creating subtitled videos. We will release this software for public use someday. At present, only a summary page is here.
The Shoujo Anime Club — This is the central page for a private club for fans of girl’s animation from Japan, or “shoujo anime”. This link is password-protected. Only club members can access the “Shoujo Anime Club” page.
Or, use the map at the margins to help choose your destination.
Upte
| UPTE UPDATE Read the latest edition of UPTE’s Award WinningNewsletter!!The latest news for UC CasualEmployeesFrom the Pressroom Leaders Challenge Labor Practices (The Daily Cal, 06/09/00) UC officials face hostile legislators (The Contra Costa Times, 06/09/00) Governor signs Fair Share legislation (see http://www.upte.org/fairshare/) Los Alamos National Lab workers now have collective bargaining rights under HEERA! (See Below) Hospital merger dead; Stanford bails out of snakebit joint venture with UCSF (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/29/99) UC gives top managers big raises; regents vote to boost salaries by up to $40,000 (San Francisco Chronicle, 9/18/99) |
INCREASES IN COST OF LIVING AND PROTECTIONS FOR CASUAL EMPLOYEES TOP UPTE’s LEGISLATIVE AGENDA-URGENT ACTION NEEDED
Pushing for Wage Adjustments to Help Halt Salary Erosion and High Turnover
As UPTE’s membership grows, so too does our ability to influence the California legislature on issues which directly affect our work lives. Pay, job retention and workplace protections are just some of the items that the legislature has a big say in. While legislators have traditionally heard from UC administration on these fronts the voice of the UC employee has largely gone unheard. UPTE is working to change that.
Last week UPTE members got the Assembly Budget subcommittee on Higher Education to add an additional $22 million into the pool for our wages. Immediate action is necessary to insure that this money stays in all the way up through the signing of the budget by the Governor. UC’s budget request this year, as in years past, is for a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA), plus an additional 1.5% for merits, covering both faculty and non-faculty staff. Traditionally, UC negotiates salary increases at no more than the level provided in the state legislature’s budget, regardless of funding source. UPTE activists pressed their legislators, in Sacramento and in their districts, to increase funding for UC staff salaries. By providing testimony at the capitol and visiting legislators at their home offices, we made the point that UC staff salaries are lagging further behind our counterparts in the private sector and other public sector employees as much as 9% behind state employees. Through statistical evidence, and real life examples, we were able to show how this ”salary erosion” results in higher turnover, and how that in turn affects not just us but the quality of the research, medical and technical services we provide.
We scored an impressive victory when we got the Assembly Budget subcommittee to add an additional 2% for non-faculty staff salary increases. We must keep the momentum going: we need to convince the Senate Budget subcommittee as well as the full Budget committees of both the Assembly and Senate to keep this money in the budget.
We will also need to have supplemental accountability language and an audit of where UC spends the millions appropriated for wage increases included in the budget to insure that money is not diverted to fund administrators increases or other projects.
Here’s what you can do:
1. Send a letter to the Governor at [email protected] or write him at the State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814. Copy UPTE on anything you send out. The Governor will have the final say on the budget so we need his support too.
2. UPTE locals will be targeting key legislators on the Budget subcommittees. If your assembly member/or senator is a member of the Budget subcommittee on Higher Education, you will be asked to write to him/her using a sample letter we prepared. Contact your campus local to find out more about this.
3. If you haven’t joined UPTE, sign up now. If youčre already a member sign up your co-workers.
Protecting the Rights of UC’s Casual Workers
A stronger union also means a growing ability to take on issues of job security for the increasing number of casual workers. UPTE has been hard at work on the legal and legislative front on behalf of UC casuals, the majority of whom are full-time employees who perform the same work as their colleagues serving in career positions. While casual positions are defined as those established for less than one year, or at less than 50 percent time for any duration, many casuals are hired for 364 day appointments, then laid off for a one-day break in service, and then appointed for another 364 day period, in some instances year after year. With no annual wage increases, fewer health benefits, no retirement, no job security and limited access to training and promotion, casualization detrimentally affects the university’s teaching and research mission which benefits from the loyalty, commitment and retention of career staff. UPTE recently won a major legal case which establishes our right to challenge the classification of long term casuals under the UPTE contract The first of those challenges, filed on behalf a UCLA 13 year casual employee, is scheduled for hearing in June.
” It comes as a surprise to most UC workers that as many as one-third of UC research professional staff work in casual positions,” notes Cliff Fried, UPTE Local President at UCLA, where 74% percent of SRAs are casual, by far the heaviest casualization rate amongst all of the campuses. “Unfortunately UC casualization is not limited to the research sector, long term casual employees are found in technical support, administrative support and patient care services too. ”
While UPTE recognizes the need for genuine temporary employees, we continue to press to end the practice of ”permatemps” which leads to lower employee moral and higher turnover. Working in coordination with other unions representing UC employees, we have introduced legislation (SB 1857) in the Senate Education committee which would reclassify, as permanent, casual employees who work for 90 consecutive days or 120 days in the last 12 months. We need to have our legal challenges, and our legislative campaign backed by the strong support of UC career and casual professional employees. Contact UPTE to find out how you can help.
Prankstr
to the 1997 Country Fair and Music Festival, held in June. Proceeds
went to the La Honda Elementary school’s art and music programs.
Muscians, artists and crafts people converged upon the canyon and redwoods of La Honda again this year to entertain and exhibit at the annual La Honda Country Fair and Music Festival, held on the Summer Solstice: June 21 – 22, 1997. The weather was perfect, the music great, and the fun abundant!
This annual event is a festive affair the whole family enjoys! Face painting for the kids (and adults!) artist exhibits and sales, food and refreshments were enjoyed by everyone.
Interested in booth space information for the 1998 Fair? Please call 650-747-0965 and ask for Paula Dennis, or email her at La Honda Creations Craft Gallery.
New this year were TWO stages of musical fun! In addition to the main stage in the gardens, we had more music on the smaller patio stage behind The Merry Prankster Cafe.
Renegade
Just remember that this is a low budget, unsponsered web-site, and I seldom hear it first.
I watched the latest “Renegade” episode at the USA Network 6:00 PM Friday time slot. This was the episode that was pre-empted on Monday, January 20.
It was reported to me that The Phoenix paper said USA was dropping Renegade. Rick Okie’s “Renegade” production office has e-mailed me that it is closing and its former e-mail address will soon be gone. Stu Segall’sProduction office may still be open.
I don’t personally know the show’s status on USA Network, but I’ll try and keep the news updated. It seems that 6th season shows have not been picked up by USA Network. The show may still be picked by syndication. My guess is that we loose the primetime USA, but keep the 5th season Friday 6:00 PM USA presentation.
It was also reported that there is more in an interview with Lorenzo Lamas in the latest “Entertainment Weekly.” I haven’t seen the article yet. (1/97)
::sigh::
There is an addition to the Related Links page. Whats new?!? There is a link to an official “Renegade” www site courtesy of Stu Segall Productions. (1/97)
Item from the “Renegade” Production Office of Richard C. Okie
Starting January 13, USA Network is moving “Renegade” to Mondays at 9 P.M. (1/97)
Item from Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith in Hollywood.
Arlene Dahl flew to Los Angeles last week to do a guest spot on her son Lorenzo Lamas’“Renegade” series. Also appearing in the episode is Lamas’ wife, May Playboy Playmate Shauna Sand, who’s reprising her “Renegade” role as a physical fitness trainer. In the segment, directed by Lamas, Dahl plays the photo editor of “Playpen” magazine, who is kidnapped with the centerfold models. The centerfolds are being played by actual Playboy playmates. Dahl is no stranger to Playboy. She did a provocative lingerie layout for the magazine in 1962 and went on to design her own successful line of lingerie. (11/96)
Item from Executive Producer Richard C. Okie.
Lots of other developments in the Reno/Dutch relationship are coming, including Dutch murdering his own wife when she turns on him to work with Reno and Bobby.
Then Dutch starts to crack under the pressure of the guilt and he and Reno have a serious conversation about calling off the war. But being a scorpion and true to his nature, Dutch can’t quite go through with it… (10/14)
Send email to the “Renegade” Production Office of Stu Segall Productions, using this email address:
[email protected]
Macx
Welcome to the NEW Macx Anime/RPG Webring! This webring is designed for webpages covering some of the less commercialized animes. Therefore, any site can apply, as long as it is not solely on Sailor Moon, Pokemon, or DBZ (although it can include some content from these series). In addition, this is also an unofficial webring for site on the anime RPG Teenagers from Outer Space. Now listed in the official Webring.org directory, the Macx webring is ready to work for you!
Why should I join?
Webrings are a fast and easy way to navigate the web. They provide an easy, user-friendly link between sites, and are usually more effective at bringing in web traffic than a standard links page. If they are made right, the webring navigation images can add an attractive look to your website, and since all of the sites that go into a webring are considered before they go into the ring, being in a webring shows that your site was good enough to be listed.
What are the requirements?
- The webpage should be at least 75% on anime
- The webpage must contain pictures or information on at least one of the above anime/manga series or RPG
- The webpage should not contain any Hentai/Ecchi or inappropriate images, obscene language or content, etc. (this is a family-friendly webring)
- The webpage should be at least decently designed and relatively easy to navigate
- Other files and original content is a plus!
- HTMLFrag must be listed either on the main or webrings page, preferably no farther down than 5 webrings from the top of the page
How do I register?
Step 1: Fill out this form to submit your information to the queue:
Step 2: Browse the different Navigation Bars and pick one you like, then copy its HTML Fragment and paste it onto your page, preferably your homepage or a labeled “rings” page to make webring navigation easier.
Step 3: E-mail This Address to notify me that your webpage is in the queue. Please include the site ID that is given, your site name, its URL, and your e-mail address. You will be notified when your site is added or if any problems occur.
Why am I still reading this?
I don’t know. You should probably be registering your website for the webring instead.