Arkady's Thoughts

America witnessed another tragedy over the weekend when a member of the U.S. Congress and others around her were shot while she was attending a meeting of her constituents.  Reports suggest that although Congresswoman Giffords may survive, six were dead and many others injured.  In a sick and ironic twist, the weekend has been filled with highly charged and partisan rhetoric over the cause of the shooting and accusations have been leveled at everyone including: talk radio, TV pundits, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.  The people doing the accusing need to recognize that their premature and sometimes baseless accusations consist of the same vitriolic speech that they themselves are bemoaning. The suspect is Jared Lee Loughner and information coming out suggests that this 22 year old youth was incredibly deranged and mentally unstable.  However because Gabrielle Giffords is a Democrat, some have simply assumed that this was a partisan attack.  Yet Loughner's ...

Everyone wishes to visualize themselves on a political spectrum and many visual representations exist, however most are wrong or miss the point.  You are probably familiar with the square and the four quadrants or the even more disappointing circle that sells the notion that political extremes start on polar sides, but end up in the same point.  Presenting:  Political Spectrum 2.0 No complicated gages, arrows or meters.  Presented are several major political ideologies read from left to right.  As you approach the right government grows and this is all that matters.  Where does one stand in respect to size of government?   Overlaid are examples of policies and prominent leaders/thinkers of the past 100 years, the examples or not refined and are quite subjective in terms of what or who belongs where, but they do serve to nudge the general idea forward (there were also space limitations). Why does bigger government matter?  The bigger the...

Some people have taken an objection to my rejection of religion within the new conservative movement in my last reaction video. I should have been clearer, much clearer - let me take the opportunity. I hold religion responsible for a lot of evils that have been put forth on this earth. Starting from the Crusades, rampant anti- semitism and the absolute terror that Islam has created. There are examples of religious conflicts that are too many to list, including the inevitable anger that some readers are probably experiencing. To me, religion is a personal matter. Unfortunately for too many people it is a global matter. Those who believe take offense to those that do not! That is a problem and is often a root cause of multiple conflicts. Religion has also become less and less effective in explaining worldly events and therefore the influence of the church has diminished and will continue to diminish. An example I often use in arguing this point is the following; At one point the church...