Akkam’s Razor

A month or so ago, a family member real-life concern-trolled me about Obama and the election:

I know Obama’s a good American. Neither of these two guys would let anything bad happen to the country. I’m just worried about what will happen if something bad happens to him.

So let me paraphrase. If Obama gets elected, “they” will act as if it’s basketball riot. If Obama loses, “they’ll” riot like with Rodney King. We shouldn’t even discuss what will happen if “something” happens to him. In their world, they are the innocent victims of racism, and such an event allows them to play out the action movie in their heads.

(See Wonkette and BoingBoing for the backstory about this graphic).

Rush Limbaugh isn’t so veiled in his speech.

• Henry Paulson, Socialist | The Big Money - There is a term in political philosophy to describe a government takeover of a critical industry: That term is socialism. The government is telling us that capital and credit markets cannot, for several reasons, solve the current crisis on their own—only the federal government and its massive taxpayer base have the authority and the resources to solve it. That is state socialism: the philosophy preached by the founders of the Second International, by the radical wing of the American labor movement, through the formation of the Soviet Union and its satellites, and now by Henry Paulson.

Oh Dear. Hank Paulson’s transcript, via Calculated Risk:

The federal government must implement a program to remove these illiquid assets that are weighing down our financial institutions and threatening our economy. This troubled asset relief program must be properly designed and sufficiently large to have maximum impact, while including features that protect the taxpayer to the maximum extent possible. The ultimate taxpayer protection will be the stability this troubled asset relief program provides to our financial system, even as it will involve a significant investment of taxpayer dollars. I am convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative - a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion.

If you are aware of all internet traditions, you may be reminded of the above picture, which was inspired by this scene in Star Wars:Return of the Jedi with Admiral Ackbar:

Perhaps I should have retitled this post as from the Department of Mixed Metaphors or Unintended Interpretations?

In light of the first of the stimulus checks being deposited into Americans accounts, it is high time we discussed the previous old next new conservative outrage - Freeloaders!

Our friends on the right have quietly been condemning the freeloaders who will be receiving stimulus rebates, despite having paid no income tax, previously referred as Lucky Ducks in the Wall Street Journal (note how Awesome it is to be making $12k annually and paying no Federal Income Tax).

The Tax Foundation describes it thusly:

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• Truth and Science - Seed || seedmagazine.com
  “What is truth? How do we recognize it? Truth is a concept with which we are all pretty familiar. It is an undercurrent in every conversation and interaction we have with one another. Yet few of us ever give it much conscious thought except when we believ
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• Kentucky.com | 05/03/2007 | Potential terror jurors cite 9/11 doubts
  “Many potential jurors in the Jose Padilla terrorism-support case say they aren’t sure who directed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks because they don’t trust reporters or the federal government.”
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• American Journalism Review
  “There’s no official definition, but generally a hyperlocal news site (also known as local-local or microsite) is devoted to the stories and minutiae of a particular neighborhood, ZIP code or interest group within a certain geographic area.”
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• Automattic » Widgetizing Themes
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• University at Albany Libraries - APA Style Guide
  A quick and dirty APA style-guide.`
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