Today on DT: How many psychics does it take to fix the economy?
At this point it seems clear that nobody knows what will fix the economy. Conservative Bill Kristol admitted as much today. Obama introduced his economic team a few hours ago, and assured us that they would fix it, just as soon as they decide how. And in the absence of a coherent plan, the government continued to throw billions of dollars at the banks that helped get us into this mess. I wish I was a bank.
Of course when experts, politicians, and pundits all throw up their hands, there’s only one place to turn – psychics. Yes, more and more people are turning to psychics to work out their economic woes, so today we’ll interview one such forecaster. Hey, she couldn’t possibly be more wrong than this guy.
We’ll also talk to Brandon Boyer from the tech blog BoingBoing about Kevin Werbach, who’s helping to lead a review of the FCC for the Obama transition team. Turns out Werbach loves to play World of Warcraft. That may not be exciting to you, but it’s EXTREMELY exciting to nerds. We’ll find out why.
Plus we’ll play Kuby vs. Kuby. At issue: Should public schools give students random drug tests? It’s the subject of a Times article today, Ron will present both sides and then ask you to play judge and jury. Tell us what you think, call us at 866-303-2270.
World of Warcraft
How insulting your comments were.
My husband and I play this regularly, he more than I. We've been married for over 16 years now. It is not for just the young and it is not for just men or boys to play.
Just because you don't get into something does not mean it is weird or unusual. It simply means it is not your thing to do.
TammyJo
Taxes on the rich.
Ron,
You have swallowed the conservative line on taxes!
When the government collects taxes it DOES NOT remove money from the economy! It immediately spends this which pays wages!
The idea that tax dollars are destroyed is a fiction that has been spread by the rich who want all of the money to themselves!
Psychics
I used to go out with this girl and she was seriously into psychics and would spend fairly large sums of money calling psychic hotlines. One late night, while we were actually contemplating marriage, we ended up sitting around the house and she had me calling psychics with her to get a handle on whether or not marriage was in the "cards" for us.
It was than I realized that whether or not she wanted to marry me was less important to her than whether the psychics could foresee marriage for us. This was all very alien to me, as I suggested that she not underestimate the power of rationale decision-making.
I really try not to be overly judgmental. But that kind of stuff is just way out of hand. Maybe it is no crazier than worship of a little man in the sky who controls all things, but gimme a break.
Even if the psychics did know something (which I highly doubt), would you really want to be deprived of the freedom to fuck up your life all by yourself without any help from a psychic?
To accept a Pardon you must admit guilt.
Researching the legal and technical aspects of presidential pardons (see August 30, 1974), Benton Becker, President Ford’s lawyer, finds that they only apply to federal crimes, meaning, for example, that Richard Nixon can still be prosecuted for crimes in California arising from his connections to the Ellsberg burglary (see September 9, 1971). It would not affect a Senate impeachment trial, even though the possibility of that happening is increasingly remote. Becker finds two legal references of particular use in his research: the 1915 Supreme Court case of United States v. Burdick, which attempted to answer the fundamental question of the meaning of a presidential pardon; and an 1833 quote from the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, who wrote, “A pardon is an act of grace… which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed.” Becker determines that such an “act of grace” is an implicit admission of guilt. Unlike the proposed conditional amnesty for draft evaders (see August 31, 1974), a pardon will strike convictions from the books and exempt those pardoned from any responsibility for answering for their crimes, but it does not forget (in a legal sense) that those crimes took place. “The pardon is an act of forgiveness,” Becker explains. “We are forgiving you—the president, the executive, the king—is forgiving you for what you’ve done, your illegal act that you’ve either been convicted of, or that you’ve been accused of, or that you’re being investigated for, or that you’re on trial for. And you don’t have to accept this—you can refuse this.” The Burdick decision convinces Becker that by pardoning Nixon, Ford can stop his imminent prosecution, and undoubted conviction, without having to condone Nixon’s crimes. For Nixon to accept a pardon would be, in a legal sense, an admission of criminal wrongdoing.
Can animpeached president grant pardons?
If Bush were impeached in January, could he still grant pardons?
Random drug testing kids and students in school
is rape.
Drug Testing
The problem is that once this drug testing is started there are going to be unintended consequences:
1. Some kids who don't really have a problem will test positive based upon a puff of pot at a party and they have to go through counseling for extended periods even though they don't have a problem and their parents will be distrustful of them and they may end up with problems at home over this. No one will believe them when they say they just had a puff of pot and there lives will become a living hell.
2. The real kids with drug problems who desperately need help will be ignored as usual.
3. Some kids may literally be forced to do anything, including jumping out 5th story windows, to avoid testing positive for fear of consequence at home of a positive test.
4. As much as the school says that the testing will be private, before you know it potential colleges will demand that applicant/students release this information. And then as much as the kid and his parents fight it the scumbag supreme court will say this info is not private and it has to be released to colleges where you apply. So now the kid is labeled a drug user for the rest of his life.
5. Also, some asshole school administrators will decide that they hate some poor kid and pass his info secretly onto the local police so that they can torture him.
6. Ultimately, this information will be used not to help kids that really have problems, but so the schools can get rid of the students they do not like.
If I ever have kids I would seriously consider home-schooling them.
World of Warcraft
My husband and I also play WoW, spending many hours problem-solving and socializing with our friends. Given the large number of people, both in the US and internationally, who are using online games as a major component of their recreation time, you might do well to explore it with an open attitude rather than trivializing this experience.
We like the idea that someone on the FCC transition team is tuned into the wide range of uses for the internet.
By the way, we're in our late 50s. Perhaps we do qualify as 'nerds' due to computer-related careers, but we're by no means pimply-faced teenagers.