Dream of the Dragon

Category: public policy

April 24, 2010

‘Let’s do it.’

by Justin

I can’t imagine any death-row inmate choosing lethal injection. Sure, if the choice is between the notoriously unreliable and undeniably painful electric chair or some fatal cocktail I’d leap for the syringe. But what if one of the choices is to stand in the open air and brace against a bullet through the heart? Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but I’d take the instant and dramatic gunshot over feeling my life ebb away in the cold, sterile air of an indoor execution chamber.  Not to mention recent accounts of botched injections that required additional doses or observable pain in those last breaths.

This article in the Times about the last bastion of firing squad executions made me imagine the scenarios for the first time since Colonel Aureliano. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 20, 2010

Coin toss.

by Justin

If I oversimplified things and bought into my own bias, I’d say this is about waging the war between manic, fevered ignorance and measured deliberation.

NPR’s been running stories on the boom in American distrust lately, the rapidly rising lack of faith in our country’s leadership because of a ‘perfect storm’ of distrust factors. They also suggest that its part of the American identity to give a leery eye to the people in charge.

One obvious trend, evidenced in polls that concluded 42% of American’s trusted Reagan during his presidency as opposed to 29% trusting Carter, is that simple sells. Obviously. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 20, 2010

The Evil Empire

by Justin

“. . . I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire . . .”

The biggest story of 2009, moreso probably than the inauguration of America’s first black president, revolved around the Great Recession and the implementation of the stimulus package that staved off depression. The current headliner is the latest revelation of Goldman Sachs’ greedy deception and the reckless, insidious profiteering of Wall Street. I am, however, mostly just regurgitating the overstatements of others. I don’t understand the way the markets operate and I still underestimate the effect of business on politics. And so I’m grateful for articles like this: The Great American Bubble Machine.

It really is all about the Benjamins. Read the rest of this entry »

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