Comments for satori stephen

Comment on Mission Impossible (or at least undesirable) by Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:38:03 +0000

“We have already established what you are, we are merely haggling over price.”

Comment on Mission Impossible (or at least undesirable) by David

David — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:01:48 +0000

The answer isn’t necessarily to avoid the “mission critical” – it is to price it according to the demands it places on you and your business. There is a “premium” to having someone available at a moment’s notice, night or day, to tackle the most important work. I would consider pricing different service types or packages differently.

Comment on An Exceptional Delusion by Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:00:15 +0000

I think our standing improved considerably at the start of Obama’s administration, but through his actions has deteriorated a lot since. From not standing up to Israel, to not closing Guantanamo (or Bagram for that matter), to drone attacks, to not only a continuation of the Bush extra-constitutional security overreach but a frightening deepening of it (think assassination of American citizens, indefinite detentions, etc), it has been a steady deflating of the initial burst of hope from abroad. I spent 2.5 months last year outside the country, and I can tell you it isn’t all roses. That said, even all that is beside my main point, which is about our emotional need to put ourselves beyond reproach and see ourselves as totally wonderful heroes, rescuing the world from.. whatever. We would be better served by looking at ourselves and our problems honestly, and trying to build a (very possible) future of good works and good will.

Comment on An Exceptional Delusion by David

David — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:49:42 +0000

I get — and largely agree with you — about the American exceptionalism-political point. I just thought the example you cited wasn’t the evidence of it. I agree that our Presidents are forced to do this (some, like Bush, out of complete ignorance, and Obama does it b/c the GOP already claim Obama is an American defeatest whenever he acknowledges reality). But I do disagree with you to the extent you think America’s standing and reputation abroad haven’t improved over the past serveral years under Obama — Bush clearly represented the lowest point in modern history (and rightly so). Do we still give lip service to certain values to which we fail to adhere and earn scorn for that – yep, but our standing abroad is better today than it was 4 years ago.

Comment on An Exceptional Delusion by Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:41:57 +0000

and btw, my point does not focus on the troops, if you were reading carefully. It focuses on the need to call them heroes and say that they have made us safer (highly doubtful) and more respected (demonstrably false) through our dubious military actions.

Comment on An Exceptional Delusion by Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:10:41 +0000

As I mentioned, that was only one example. Consider this:

“The renewal of American leadership can be felt across the globe.”

or this:

“From the coalitions we’ve built to secure nuclear materials, to the missions we’ve led against hunger and disease; from the blows we’ve dealt to our enemies, to the enduring power of our moral example, America is back.

Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

Comment on An Exceptional Delusion by David

David — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:04:45 +0000

You could’ve found a better example for your thesis than him praising the troops – it is not simply “political” to tell people serving our armed forces that they have done a good job of protecting America and promoting our interests… The flaw in discussing our armed forces, if there was one, is in not saying that our politicians sent them abroad to fight an unnecessary war (Iraq) that angered much of the world and was initiated on false premises — but that decision was not the troops, and I would consider it wrong for the president to criticize the troops who served (and in saying this, I’m not referring, and clearly the President was not referring, to the rogue soldiers who did harm our image and interests abroad). I take your point about the jingoism and politically motivated exceptionalism stuff, but not so much from this example. Besides, I do think the world respects the US under Pres. Obama and Hillary Clinton than it did under Bush.

Comment on Honest Lying by Mom

Mom — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:19:38 +0000

Your younger brother is living proof of this phenomenon. He “remembers” things I absolutely did not do.

Come to think of it, so do you…..

Comment on Trip ahead by Mom

Mom — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:25:06 +0000

Life so often works that way, if we are open to experience and possibility.

Comment on I can really be a nerd sometimes by Robert Bentley

Robert Bentley — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:11:22 +0000

Engineers; prefer Kelvin (Where’s the Kelvin Scale ?)