http://www.rifestorch.com Sean Rife blathers on about politics, philosophy, and other randomness Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:17:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (With an Added Bonus Regarding Negative Politics) What follows is an excerpt from a book I sort-of published in the mid-1990's.  By “sort of”, I mean that it was rejected by some of the finest publishing houses in America because it was too long (560 pages) and had a limited potential ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/11/04/political-lies-part-two/ Here's an old joke most of us have heard: Q:    How can you tell when politicians are lying? A:    Their lips are moving. Here's not-a-joke that most people don't know: Q:    Why do politicians lie? A:    Because voters will not tolerate truth from politicians. Bear with me as I take a somewhat roundabout way of demonstrating ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/11/04/political-lies-part-one/ Everyone is talking about the undecided voter. As I write this, I'm watching a line graph on CNN track the impressions of "uncommitted Ohio voters." I'm pretty sure my father has already made this point, but I'll reiterate: if you don't know who you're going to vote for by now, you ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/10/15/undecided-voters/ FrontPage Magazine has just run an article about ETSU's Society for Intellectual Diversity. Yours truly features prominantly. Check it out. http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/10/10/shameless-plug/ [9:57] Obama is talking about my "right" to health care (McCain may have referred to it that way as well - I can't remember). I want someone to provide for me the philosophical basis of that assertion. Tell me why we ought to tack "health care" on to life, liberty ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/10/07/debates/ SNL lampoons the mortgage crisis: http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/10/06/its-funny-cuz-its-true/ I have a bone to pick with individuals who teach statistics. A standard deviation is a measure of the average distance between data points and their mean. Thus, if one's dataset contained the numbers 2, 4, 6, and 8, the mean would be 20/4 = 5 (the sum divided by the ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/10/03/a-pedagogical-moment/ Among the many virtues of Governor Palin is her willingness - if not eagerness - to self-identify as a feminist. I realize that the term causes no small amount of discomfort for most conservatives, and many libertarians; this is understandable, as feminism's extreme genera are responsible for more intellectual atrocities than ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/09/04/in-defense-of-sarah-palin-part-two-feminism/ While I'm almost certain this point has been made elsewhere, having failed to hear it in the general press, I am compelled to make it here: the only reason anybody has taken notice of Sarah Palin's daughter, her husband's tryst with the Alaskan Independence Party, or her dismissal of Walter ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/09/03/in-defense-of-sarah-palin/ It ain't worth a pitcher of warm piss!* - John Nance Garner, VP under FDR [* The media in the 1940's were unable to print this pithy quote verbatim and substituted “spit” for “piss”. The quote is repeated accurately but, frankly, I like “spit” better.] The nation waited with 'bated breath to ... http://www.rifestorch.com/index.php/2008/08/29/the-awesome-power-of-the-vice-presidency/