Month: November 2008

Swarm-Corruption

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In computing, “swarm” designates a process carried out by a large number of decentralized small computing units each working on a tiny piece of a much larger problem. For example, the Folding@Home project uses the idle computational power of thousands of desktop computers to run computationally intensive simulations of protein folding.

More recently, the concept of swarm has expanded to describe any decentralized action enabled by peer-to-peer communications such as the Internet. For example, in swarm-journalism large numbers of people  independently decide to investigate the same event and independently publish their findings.

Recent revelations that the Obama campaign did not take elementary precautions to prevent illegal campaign donations over the internet raise the real possibility of a “corruption swarm” in which a large number of people independently carry out the same corrupt act. 

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A Sandwich Story

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Responding to criticism of his redistributive ideas, Obama waved it away…said he was being accused of being a Communist because he shared his peanut butter sandwich in the second grade.

I don’t think anyone objects to the kindly and generous second-grade Obama who shared his sandwich. What people are objecting to is another second grader–let’s call him “Billy O’Grabba.”

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They Never Give Without Taking

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From the WSJ comes an article about opposition to Arizona Proposition 101. The proposition:

“Prohibits laws that: restrict person’s choice of private health care systems or private plans; interfere with person’s or entity’s right to pay directly for lawful medical services; impose a penalty or fine for choosing to obtain or decline health care coverage or for participation in any health care system or plan.
 
A “yes” vote shall have the effect of prohibiting laws that restrict a person’s choice of private health care systems or private plans, interfere with a person or an entity’s right to pay for lawful medical services, and impose a penalty or fine for choosing to obtain or decline health care coverage or for participation in any health care system or plan. Yes.
 
A “no” vote shall have the effect of retaining the current law regarding a person or entity’s health care choices. No.”

The opposition to Prop 101 reveals the ugly truth about leftism. It’s not about compassion, it’s about control. Free stuff from the government always come with limitations on personal choice and freedom. If they really cared about people first, they would just transfer money directly to people (either in cash or vouchers) and then let individuals make the choices. Instead, they dictate to people what they can and cannot do.

Prop 101 threatens advocates of socialized medicine because any system that gives people the legal power to choose their own medical care will not provide the control and dominance they so crave. 

I think it might be a good idea to put similar propositions up for many different areas, such as housing, power, transportation etc. It would reveal to people just how controlling the Left is at heart. 

Tit for Tat

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[Update (2008.11.1.18:49): It appears that “the Stranger” took down the offending page and redirected the link to “The Drudge Report”. I can’t find a cached version of the page. This is a blog entry at the paper apparently written by the guy who wrote the original offending article.]

 

“the Stranger” a leftist rag in Seattle, Wa. decided it would be funny to [update: the original page has been removed]  write a supposed review of local haunted houses in which the scariest houses where those that had Republican campaign posters in their yards. [h/t Instapundit] Presumably trying to be thorough, they displayed the addresses of the houses prominently in the article.

I figure that turnabout is fair play, so I did some Internet research and found the address of the paper’s editorial director. 

Daniel K. Savage

1146 16TH AVE E
SEATTLE, WA 98112

Here’s a map.

His Wikipedia entry is a hoot, especially the part about licking doorknobs.

The paper’s business number:
(206) 323-7101

is registered to:

Catherine Darkenwald
121 WOOD AVE SW
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA 98110

The paper itself is at:

1535 11th Ave. 3rd Floor
Seattle, WA 98122

If a reader in the Seattle area would like to swing by and take pictures, we could post those, you know, just to be thorough.

[Update (2008.11.1.19:07): Just to be clear, the problem here arose from the ability of a media outlet to focus the attention of an entire community (tens of thousands of individuals in the case of this paper in Seattle) onto one or two people and then to single those people out as evil. They neglected to take into account that some unstable person might decide to act out the hatred in the article. The media demands special privileges but with those privileges come responsibilities.]

[Update (2008.11.1.19:07): Hey look scary photos:

Here’s the building at 1535 11th Ave. 3rd Floor Seattle, WA 98122 where “the Stranger” offices are located.

Here’s close up of their door (it looks kind of seedy).

 

Here’s the house at Daniel K. Savage 1146 16TH AVE E SEATTLE, WA 98112 where Dan Savage, the paper’s editorial director lives:

Lastly let me just reprint these thoughts about the morality of putting up these addresses and photos of the houses of people you disagree with politically:

And for anyone who thinks we secretly want somebody to go vandalize those houses—seriously, don’t. It was just a joke.

I could not have put it better myself.