A Mild Voice of Reason - Latest Comments

Re: Skeleton Keys

Jalen Heil — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:58:01 -0000

I just found a old ass one in my basement with the key, worth anything?

Re: Reflections on the “After Liberalism” Essays in “First Things”

Dissenter — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:19:57 -0000

Wow, same old, same old theme. What's amazing about you liberals is that you NEVER think YOU have to change, everyone ELSE must change to accept your views. Wrong.

Re: Saul Alinsky, Reconsidered

Cmgx — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:13:23 -0000

When "one" ACTUALLY READS and stops to reflect on what was just read, it's amazing that when "one" isn't looking, "one" might actually learn something.

Re: Gillikinisms

j9gillik — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:32:32 -0000

"People who disdain aphorisms are condemned to repeat them." -- Jason Gillikin

Re: Gillikinisms

Sondra Ruth — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:20:47 -0000

"The quoting of an aphorism, like the angry barking of a dog or the smell of overcooked broccoli, rarely indicates that something helpful is about to happen." --Lemony Snicket, _The Vile Village_

Re: Moral Relativism = Moral Nihilism. QED.

Frankie Machine — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:59:39 -0000

"Their argument was a moral one: “Marriage equality” is a right, and people who oppose the right are homophobic bigots. And no one wants to be a bigot, right?"

Nonsense. You have blatantly misrepresented the argument of the gay rights and marriage equality advocates. You should have researched why marriage equality is so important. Marriage equality is not only a moral issue, as you claim. It is a constitutional one. People in a homosexual relationship are denied equal protection of the laws, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. This site has a good summary of the rights denied to gay couples because they cannot be legally married: http://www.factcheck.org/what_...

Anybody who has spent any time on earth has encountered gay couples and knows that their relationships have the same strains, idiosyncracies, and commitment as any heterosexual marriage does. A gay relationship and a straight relationship should be the exact same thing in the eyes of the law, and they are not. That is what the marriage equality movement is about. For you to conclude that marriage equality advocates are "imposing their own values on those who didn’t accept them" is disturbing. Wanting legal protection guaranteed by the constitution is at the very basis of this country's values. Please rethink your stance on this issue.

Re: You Go To The Polls With the Candidates You Have

Jason Gillikin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:09:09 -0000

Clark Durant.

Re: You Go To The Polls With the Candidates You Have

MHR — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:01:10 -0000

Who's the establishment idiot going after Hoekstra?

Re: Surviving the Apocalypse

Frankie Machine — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:59:11 -0000

*As Republicans win elections*, though, a few things would likely happen:
The elderly and infirm would die.
Small children would be at elevated risk, especially if their parents died.
More and more aggressive, Type A folks would seek to dominate the supply chain around them, forming the nexus of small chieftains that would rule over areas not already divided along tribal lines.
Society would fragment along ethnic/tribal/familial lines in areas where those traditions still carry weight. People would have to increasingly make tough choices to survive, in the “If you want bread, give me your 15-year-old daughter for the night” vein.

*Fixed your typo.
I've noticed that the people who like to imagine what an apocalypse would turn America into always imagine that they would be the ones smart enough to be on top in the bleak landscape. That explains why they come up with scenarios like having sex with fifteen year old girls. An apocalypse would let them indulge the sick acts that civilization prevents them from doing. And they're invariably Republican.
Liberals, however, would like to do whatever we can as a nation to prevent this holocaust from happening in the first place. That's why liberals try to invest in good water and food and infrastructure. Their "utopianism" as you call it is actually informed by what history tells us about human nature: in the absence of solid infrastructure and safety nets and protections for the vulnerable, societies have cannibalized themselves. The first few decades of the 20th Century in Europe showed America what NOT to do, and wise leaders did what they could to prevent that kind of devastation from happening here. We built roads and water treatment plants and brought electricity to rural areas. Republicans, on the other hand, love the idea of what you describe here, and they long to bring it about.

Re: Surviving the Apocalypse

Abbi — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:26:42 -0000

Wouldn't the "Occupy-fetishists'" idea of a world be a better place to live in, or should we just accept the alternative, albeit more believable, option you're describing so vividly? Why assume that people will lose all sense of morality and reason just to survive?

In such a world, I cannot imagine finding much reason to carry on with an existence. Family, friends, and faith are all powerful motivators, but I would want something better to live for than simply killing another human for his or her pile of food. If in this theoretical apocalypse there might be a chance for a better way of life, why not chase it? Call me an idealist, but I think I'd take my chances with the Occupy-ists in 2013. :)

On the topic of a theoretical apocalypse, The Road was a beautiful, grim, and heartbreaking novel. I highly recommend the book if you haven't read it yet.

Re: Doors, Open or Bolted: A Reflection on Past Choices

Erika — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:12:55 -0000

Even though I'm a decade younger than you, a different gender, from a different place in the world and hold different beliefs, I identify a lot with this entry. And your conclusion of:

"It’s harder to recognize the choices that had long-term salutary outcomes. I think that the failures I’ve experienced over the years proved to be necessary correctives — they cured me of my arrogance, my dogmatism, my inflexibility, my disdain for social interaction. In most of the ways that matter, I’m a better man now than I was one or five or 10 years ago, a proposition worth celebrating."

is what I am starting to realize myself. I used to wonder the same things and ask what if all the time... and sometimes I still do. But now I see that everything is working together as a lesson, that everything has an impact on who I am today. I think I am much more appreciative of myself now than I was in years past... still growing, always growing, but now much more patient. ANYWAY! This entry made me have a billion different thoughts, but these are just some of them!

Re: Answering Step Two: Or, How to Beat the Underpants Gnomes at Their Own Game

Rob — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:42:27 -0000

You know, if you just go commando, the gnomes can't steal your underpants.

Re: Jason’s Current Playlist …

Rachel Bachman — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:48:06 -0000

Pardon my terseness, but I don't see a lick of Medieval Polyphony on your playlist!

Re: An Unexpected Passing

Kenneth E. Kuiper — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:39:05 -0000

Hi Jason.

This is your uncle Ken. I have been trying to keep up with the family tree. Yes YOUR name is on it, as a Kuiper, I agree with what Paul and Nancy have said but I am a person of few words. So I tell you this Jason. You were born a Kuiper, you are a Kuiper, and there is no one in this world that can ever change that. I don't dought you might have your father's laugh, or maybe his sence of humor, no matter, you can't take out bloodline. You are old enough to make your own choices, and you are welcome anytime.

Re: Assorted Ruminations

Adrianne — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:55:30 -0000

Sounds like you've been awfully busy - with all good things! A scotch to you, my friend!

Adrianne

Re: NaNoWriMo: Taking the Plunge

Adrianne — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:39:37 -0000

Welcome to the fray. I think you're going to love it!!

Adrianne

Re: Doors, Open or Bolted: A Reflection on Past Choices

Teri — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:17:42 -0000

Jason,
What a powerful piece..thank you so much for sharing. My favorite paragraph is your paragraph about the Watershed year...so poignant and perfectly eloquent. I am grateful to know you and happy someone is able to charismatically say things in a way in which I cannot.
Blessings,
Teri

Re: Waving Farewell to Fictional Friends

Tom King — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:44:04 -0000

Read the books. They are deeper and richer than the movies and it's kind of like getting to do it all over again. My daughter gave me her set. The magic and witches bothered her a bit, but she loved the books. Actually Rowlings tells a morality tale about the effect of your choices and about realizing you don't have to do everything alone. It's a very Christian message in its way....

Tom

Re: WTF re: Really Odd Tattoos

Tom King — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:40:43 -0000

What'll be fun is in about 40 or 50 years when you have all these old ladies running around with Chinese and Celtic calligraphy and designs that wrinkle up to look like barbed wire. Won't that be cute!

Tom

Re: Musings on Current Political Trends

Tom King — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:31:53 -0000

Couldn't find the PDF for Demand Studios Guidelines at the link you gave, but did find your blog and wanted to comment on Perry. Rick Perry has had problems, but he seems to learn from them and he HAS managed to hold Texas' economy together (with a lot of help from the Republican legislature) through tough economic times. As to Texas fatigue.....

I'd vote for him just to piss off the Washington libs. Texas presidents always mess up the cuisine at their favorite restaurants..... see my weblog at: http://twayneking.blogspot.com...

Have a good one and let me know when you get the PDF done. I've blown most of the afternoon trying to absorb all the nonsense I need to write for DS. I just moved from East Texas to Puyallup, Washington and may be experiencing culture shock. Thank God I've moved into a military neighborhood. We're like a conservative camp in the midst of Democrat hell (literally if this danged volcano goes off anytime soon!). Ooh, weird. I just experienced an overpowering urge to remove those parentheses. I'm gonna have to lay of the DS forums for a while...

Tom King

Re: Review: HP TouchPad

Pumpkin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:55:45 -0000

With as much as I love you I didn't realize until this moment what a giant technology dork you really are. I guess its a good thing i'm good looking because I understood about 4 sentences of what you wrote.

Re: Waving Farewell to Fictional Friends

Jason Gillikin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:54:28 -0000

Hey Matt ... yeah, same here. Enough chatter to get me to check it out, then *zoom* it went to the top of my Netflix queue!

Re: Waving Farewell to Fictional Friends

Matt_the_Geek — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:18:51 -0000

Hey Jay,
I haven't seen the last Harry Potter movie yet, but having read all the books a few times, I am prepared for the final film.

With Doctor Who, I am caught up to current, and have been watching some of the older Doctors (pre-reboot). Of the newer ones, I liked all 3 of them, but Tennant was my favorite. He's also the first I saw as the Doctor, when I was able to catch some of the then-new episodes of Season 2 on WGVU years ago. But I didn't really get into it then. I only really got into it w couple months or so ago, after listening to friends on Twitter going on and on about how sweet the new season was. So I downloaded *all* of the episodes from the reboot. And now I am hooked.

Re: Time Value of Money & Opportunity Costs — In Real Life

Frankie Machine — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:25:00 -0000

The "time value of money" does not mean what you describe here. The economic definition is basically that getting a dollar today is worth more than getting a dollar a year from now, because you can invest that dollar and gain interest from it.
Driving around looking for cheaper gas does not demonstrate the time value of money, but rather the "money value of time."

Re: Birthday Bash

Ryan — Mon, 30 May 2011 02:00:57 -0000

You know your getten old when you think the music at the bar is to loud. I think the local old folks home offers up prune juice cocktails if you want me to take you.