Combat! - Page 235 of 406 - A blog by Dan Brooks

Win any argument with false analogies

By Dan Brooks in Rhetoric January 14, 2013 5 Comments

Some kids suck at yoga and probably eat a lot of carbs.

Four kids suck at yoga and probably eat a lot of carbs.

Ben al-Fowlkes sent me this article from the New York Times about a California Christian group that objects to kids’ yoga classes at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School. Yoga comes from Hindustan, as we all know, and merely holding your arms above your head brings you closer to worshipping their mad monkey god. The story is chock full of delightful quotes, including but not limited to parent Mary Eady’s complaint that the classes were teaching children “how to think and how to make decisions” and to “look within for comfort.” Monsters! This piece is instructive for another reason, though: it contains two examples of an A-plus tactic of dirty argumentation, the false analogy.

Friday links! Cycle of vengeance edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links January 11, 2013 3 Comments

A card left by a big-time asshole who apparently used to tip 4.5%

We’ve done it now. The Democratic Party obstinately insisted on making only most of the Bush tax cuts permanent, and because of their defiance, the wealthy right is through with this little charade we call America. No more Mr. Nice Plutocrat, tipping waitresses and confirming cabinet nominees and not shooting us 30 times in one minute. The rancid, grubbing beggars who compose 98% of this godforsaken country will finally see the true anger of the rich and be made to, you know, kneel before Zod. We can only watch it happen. It’s Friday, and the people who have almost everything are keen to recover their losses. Won’t you join the cycle of recrimination with me?

Bill to repeal 22nd Amendment reveals massive flaw in internet

By Dan Brooks in Contemporary Media January 10, 2013 3 Comments

Rep. José Serrano (D–NY) and a woman who should be played by Jane Curtain

Yesterday, I encountered a chain email warning that Congress planned to repeal the 22nd Amendment and allow Barack Obama to be elected President again and again for life. It is an established sort-of hoax, as Snopes explains. Rep. José Serrano of New York has proposed to repeal the 22nd Amendment every two years since 1997, regardless of which party held the presidency, and thereby enabling claims like this:

Snopes does a fine job of debunking such claims. What it does not do is tell us why Serrano would introduce the same doomed constitutional revision every session.

Cliff deal did little to reduce spending

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government January 9, 2013 4 Comments

One of the people who will either pay the debt or be harvested for amino acids by the Chinese

That fat kid is just a tease; today’s Combat! is in fact mostly about charts and graphs. My brother sent me this wonky Wonkbook post about the deficit reductions achieved by the fiscal cliff deal. Both parties made a big noise about what they had accomplished, but in fact the spending cuts implicated in that agreement were paltry compared to those enacted by Congress in fiscal year 2011. About half of them came from the Budget Control Act, better known as the debt ceiling deal, better known as the time Congressional Republicans held a annual formality hostage and ultimately downgraded the credit of the United States. They did save a lot of money, though. Now who’s the party of intransigent theoreticians?

An interesting thing that happened by my house

By Dan Brooks in inevitability of death January 8, 2013 2 Comments

Arguably the grimmest photo of Missoula ever taken, courtesy of Kurt Wilson at the Missoulian

Along with many other upstanding citizens of Missoula, I live behind the Taco Bell. It’s a residential block tucked into the corner made by Rattlesnake Creek and Broadway, which, like all Broadways, is a river of filth. Mostly it’s gas stations and fast food, plus some motels. Last night, as I was coming home, I heard a tire pop. I had stopped to get the mail, and I briefly considered what it would be like to hear that sound and then feel a searing pain in one’s neck. I am of that turn of mind, and I lived in a neighborhood where gunshots were often heard. Not anymore, though, I thought as I went inside. Then I watched a series of squad cars scream down on McDonald’s, and the rest was news.