Limbaugh Victim of His Own Entertainment

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, reportedly, will be removed from a group of potential investors seeking to purchase the NFL’s St. Louis Rams according to ESPN.

Naturally, when it concerns a personality archetype the caliber of Rush Limbaugh, you have a starkly divided community on the issue.  Even more predictably is the type of response from each side.  Evidence lies in the fact that Rush Limbaugh made the trending topic list on Twitter when the story broke.

The Real Reason Obama Can’t Shake Hands With Chavez

President Obama was photographed smiling and shaking hands with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela at the Summit of the America’s.  The incident has drawn criticism for Obama, specifically that his behavior with Chavez endangers America’s prestige.  The crux of the critique is that we can’t be seen as soft, while providing Chavez with political leverage back home.

Quite typical of elite propaganda, the issue has been debased into an ideological battle.  In one corner, we have the noble, righteous, and benevolent United States.  And in the opposing corner, we have the cruel, merciless, totalitarian regime in Venezuela.  This is the simplistic foreign policy propaganda the American public is so often forced to digest, and after decades of feeding, we’ve become accustomed to view world matters in terms of good versus evil.

Study Supports Expert Bias

ne of the more common logical mistakes we make is to turn to the expert bias, also known as the logical fallacy arguing from authority.  The logical error is committed by espousing expert credentials for sound logic, in order to make a logical argument.  A logical argument is founded on logic alone.  No amount of degrees or experience can supplant concrete logic.

Recently, a study was done on how expert advice affects the decision making part of the human brain, and lends physiological evidence that we are predisposed to experts over logic.  This has long been the contention of logical proponents, the most well known being Nicholas Nassim Taleb, who detailed in his New York Times best selling book, The Black Swan, just how detrimental and pervasive the expert bias can be.

Second Life: Relationships In Hyper Speed

Anyone familiar with the game Second Life will agree that it is equally part intriguing and equally part mind numbing.  On on hand, Second Life exists as an endless journey of the imagination where whatever the mind can fathom, can be created with enough hard work and patience.  Yet, on the converse side, and for a large majority of Second Life inhabitants, it is a glorified internet dating chat room.  It is this relationship aspect of Second Life that is it’s greatest and worst characteristic.

Consider the following facts:

1. The average Second Life intimate relationship lasts, on average, two months.
2. The average time between Second Life relationships is two to three weeks.
3. 90% of rebound relationships outside of Second Life fail.

Obama Hasn’t Ruined The World

I just wanted to point out, that despite all the doomsday calls prior to the Presidential election for the fall of democracy and the American way of life by extreme right-wing supporters, we’re still here and nothing much has changed.

You know who you are.  Just a word of advice…don’t make political predicting a career.  In fact, give up predicting all together.  Your terrible.  Take solace in the face that so is everyone else.

Mounting Civilian Deaths In Afghanistan Pose Problem For Obama

The United Nations released a report accounting for civilian deaths in Afghanistan in 2008.  The report indicates that the civilian death toll rose 40% from 2007, jumping from 1,523 to 2,118 for the past year.  The total surpassing two thousand marks the highest number of civilian causalities in any calender year since the Taliban was ousted in 2001.

The UN report indicates that United States and Afghan proxy forces accounted for 828 deaths in 2008.  The large majority were caused by Taliban forces.  Regardless, a mounting civilian death toll poses a serious threat to American foreign policy success in Afghanistan.

The Argument of The Converse Hypothetical

I was listening to a WBEN the other day, a local Buffalo news and talk show radio station, when I heard a clip from the morning show hosted by Tom Bowerly.  It immediately struck me as insanely illogical.

Bowerly, a typical radio conservative talk show host, sticks to his anti-Democrat, anti-Obama talking points.  In this particular clip, Bowerly was commenting on Barak Obama’s Super Bowl Sunday interview, in which he jokingly mused how he was bumped off the cover of a celebrity magazine, and replaced by an overweight Jessica Simpson.