If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• A Last Ditch Plea on The Porkulus
• More Important Legislation in Tennessee
• Fairness on Talk Radio

You laugh, but I’d actually like to encourage Congress to spend more time doing stuff like this and less time, you know,  legislating. We can limit their damage by relegating them to doing school cheers, quoting stats, and generally flexing their public speaking muscles about sporting events.

For her efforts to filabuster any spending or attacks on liberty in Congress for almost four whole minutes, I want to gratulate Corrine Brown on sportmanship and one of the best defense plays that I’ve seen in Congress.

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• BaDoop BaDooping The Olympics
• Where Does Our Tax Money Go?
• Lender, Spender, Whatever

But it’s important to remember that rhetoric and logic, while related, are not the same thing. For example, let’s look at this tweet my buddy Alex wrote the other day:

A former professor once told me, “studies show those who demand less government score lowest on their understanding of how it’s designed.”

That’s a powerful statement, and is even more powerful given the fact that Alex was able to clearly express it in less than 140 characters. But it makes a rhetorical implication, not a logical implication. It’s pretty obvious to me that the intended implication here is that people who favor small government don’t know what they are talking about. But if we break this statement down logically, it’s pretty weak.

Some background first–there are four possibilities in a simple logical implication, which is represented by this table.

Possibility 1: Given the correct information, you come to the proper conclusion. This is an acceptable result (indicated by T). Makes sense right?

Possibility 2: Given the correct information, you come to the wrong conclusion. This is not an acceptable result (indicated by F). This means that the information was processed incorrectly–faulty logic.

Possibility 3: Given false information, you still come up with the correct answer. This is an acceptable result. Imagine blindly guessing on a multiple choice quiz–you still get credit if you fill in the correct bubble, right?

Possibility 4: Given false information, you come up with the wrong answer. This is an acceptable result. It is reasonable to expect you’d get the answer wrong if your information is suspect.

Now, let’s assume Alex’s statement is true. Let’s assume people who favor small government really do score lowest. That would mean they are basing their decision on false or faulty information. Although the rhetoric presented would lead us to believe they can’t possibly be correct in favoring small government because they are ignorant (Possibility 4) , a quick glance at our truth table shows us that it is still possible for them to arrive at the correct conclusion (Possibility 3).

Think of it this way–let’s say you fall off a ladder and break your arm. Your ignorance of the gravitational constant, the tensile strength of your bones, or even basic anatomy doesn’t change the fact that your arm is broken. Even if you are given a completely false explanation that you believe to be true as to how your arm was broken, it’s still broken.

In other words, you can be completely ignorant, yet still be perfectly capable of stating the truth.

Of course, it’s a huge leap to assume Alex’s statement is true to begin with. It brings up all types of questions:

1. What studies, what professor, what test, and who was tested?
2. What is this professor’s area of expertise?
3. When was the study conducted? Where? By whom?
4. Who funded the study?
5. Is there a similar study on those who favor big government?
6. Have you seen this study yourself? Does it even exist?

Although I disagree with his statement, It’s not my intention to pile on Alex here, but to point out how rhetoric is used by every side of an argument to make a point.

Videos are especially effective in using rhetoric to make points. A really popular method is to show clips of complete ignoramuses and make the implication that these fools represent the entirety of the group they are associated with. I see people post them, and I’ve posted them as well. Take a look at these two videos which represent “both” sides, and keep in mind the purpose of the person who produced them. After watching each one, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do I have true, unbiased information about this group of people?
2. If I can’t say that my information is completely true, how much trust do I put in my conclusion?
3. Does this video reinforce what I already believe to be true/false? Is that why I like/dislike it?

My point–there’s nothing wrong with writing, posting, plagiarizing, enjoying, spreading, dispersing, selling, buying, manufacturing and encouraging rhetoric. Just recognize it for what it is.

And if you don’t have the ability to recognize the difference, you are an ignoramus.

Q.E.D.

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

None Found

It would have been cool if Mr. Obama could have swung a Wii Fit, but those are tough to find.

Ok, seriously? DVDs? I think, as a general rule, you should stray away from giving heads of state gifts that you can get on Amazon or in the White House Gift Shop, although the James Bond Blu-ray set or a Kindle 2 would be cool. But I’ve received better gifts than DVDs in the past year, and I couldn’t get elected to the board of my HOA.

So, of course, I have some ideas for future gifts that are better than DVDs if the President ever decides to actually give something thoughtful or significant. These are all things I think the President could actually pull off:

1. An external hard drive with all the music he downloaded back in the Napster days
2. Offer to help him move, and actually follow through
3. Tickets to an Oprah taping (transportation to Chicago not included)–bonus if you can swing a lifetime membership to the Oprah Book Club
4. Let him “ride bitch” on one of the motorcycles in the Presidential motorcade
5. Offer to let him crash on the couch for the weekend
6. Autographed photo of the cast of Facts of Life
7. A couple of four day passes to Disney
8. Cubs tickets
9. Hook it up for him to ring the opening bell at the NYSE (on a non-trading day)
10. Teach him how to work the teleprompter

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• But He’s Soooo Charismatic
• Me Fit? Maybe Not. How About Wii Fit?
• Well, Here We Are *sigh*

And it’s pretty interesting.

On Monday, Blue Collar Muse honored me by having me on his DontGo Show and one of the topics discussed was how conservatives can deliver a message of freedom that excited the voter base, especially young people. I brought up the point that Ron Paul did just that throughout the Presidential campaign, yet was mocked and laughed down by the Republican establishment at ever turn. I believe the term “nut jobs” was thrown around pretty regularly.

Here’s a video from December 2007. Notice the high density of enthusiastic young people who walk by in this video.

Even more interesting–my sources are telling me that the Republican Party in one large middle Tennessee county doesn’t want these “nut jobs” involved in their party.

So here’s my question…

If young people who are excited about freedom are “nut jobs” for willingness to walk the walk (literally) the Republican Party is talking (at least for this election cycle), what is the proper term for the establishment Republicans who only want to talk the talk?

I can’t tell if Tennessee Republicans feel invincible because of the idiocy of Tennessee Democrats, or if they’re trying to emulate them.

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• Zach Wamp Meets With East Tennessee Bloggers
• Ron Paul’s ‘Nutjobs’ Good For the GOP?
• Ron Paul on World New Tonight

Please, please tell me this guy is not typical. Talk to the President, get a Playstation 3 for Christmas…it’s all really about the same thing, huh?

I think he made a wrong turn on the way to the Iron Maiden concert and ended up at the Obama rally.

Ok, seriously…one thing you won’t hear me do is bag on the guy for working at McDonald’s for four years while he’s going to school…good for him!!! Hat’s off to the guy for doing two things to better himself that lots of people aren’t willing to do. It seems like he hasn’t consciously realized that he’s the answer, not Obama or McCain or Bush or anyone else.

We need more people like this guy, we just need to change the way they vote.

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• CNN Debates at Reagan Library
• Live Blogging of the South Carolina Debate Part III
• Live Blogging of the South Carolina Debate Part II

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• So It’s Not Just Me
• Thank You Veterans!
• Email, Blogging, and Twitter Explained

You all everybody.

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• Straight Outta Knoxville
• Eaton Beavers
• And I Ain’t Lost Yet

When left-leaning blogs and websites show advertising, what happens to the money?  I mean, a blog is nothing without its readers, just like a company is nothing without its workforce, right?

Is the money left over after operational costs are paid dispersed evenly amongst the people who comment and the site owners/publishers?  Do they only accept enough advertising revenue to pay the bills for hosting?

Does it seem right that the owner of such a site would profit off the work of the people who leave comments there and provide content and community? And really, it shouldn’t matter how good your comments are or how often you comment, right?

I guess the principle dictate that whoever has been commenting the longest (seniority) should get the most money, even if they don’t leave comments that often any more.

I think people who comment on blogs should unionize.

At least it would get me to stop blogging.  The only thing my commenters are ever going to get here is berated.

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• New Aggregator at KnoxNews
• Google’s PPA Program
• Why I Give Full Articles in My Feed

Apparently Mr. Obama gave in to pressure a while back and switched to a Ford Escape hybrid. Isn’t it ironic that his gas guzzler is still out on the road? I mean, the carbon footprint remains, so I don’t see what was actually accomplished.  At least his conscious is clear I guess.  Now if he could just find a hybrid jet.

If you can’t afford Obama’s Series C, maybe you can get Jon Voigt’s LaBaron instead.

If you enjoyed this post, visit Hear ItFrom Us for more.

Similar Posts:

• Libertarian Party Agenda–Keep Hillary Clinton Out of Office
• Election Day–Blah!
• Snappin’ On Politics