tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post1566674429159031224..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: Preventing and Mitigating HarmsAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-80853619863860875402008-11-25T19:33:00.000-07:002008-11-25T19:33:00.000-07:00"The Bush Administration was caught by surprise in..."The Bush Administration was caught by surprise in the discovery that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Bush's "gut" told him that the weapons were there."<BR/><BR/>You actually give the Bush administration too much moral credit by ignoring evidence that suggests that they actually knew the weapons in question were not there. They probably knew they were not there. One source among many for this inference is from Ron Suskind's recent book The Way of the World.Sheldonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03743116454273042629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-78411429945390264472008-11-25T19:18:00.000-07:002008-11-25T19:18:00.000-07:00"When the financial problems hit in September, Oba..."When the financial problems hit in September, Obama's response to the problem was to get on the phone and to start calling experts. He asked them their opinions about the economy and how best to fix it."<BR/><BR/>Well perhaps, but as we know experts disagree. So there is always the question as to what experts should be consulted. This isn't neccessarily an ideology free decision.<BR/><BR/>I will leave it to you to critically evaluate what Chomsky has to say:<BR/><BR/>http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/24/noam_chomsky_what_next_the_elections<BR/><BR/>The next group of appointments were the main problem, the primary issue that the governments’ going to have to face is what to do about the financial crisis. Obama’s choices to more or less run this were Robert Rubin and Larry Summers from the Clinton--Secretaries of Treasury under Clinton. They are among the people who are substantially responsible for the crisis. One leading economist, one of the few economists who has been right all along in predicting what’s happening, Dean Baker, pointed out that selecting them is like selecting Osama Bin Laden to run the war on terror.<BR/><BR/>[laughter]<BR/><BR/>Yeah, I’ll finish. This saves me the problem of what’s coming next, so I’ll finish with the elections. Let me make one final comment on this. There was meeting on November 7, I think of a group of couple, of a dozen advisers to deal with the financial crisis. Their careers were, records were reviewed in the business press, and Bloomberg News had an article reviewing their records and concluded that these people, most of these people shouldn’t be giving advice about the economy. They should be given subpoenas.<BR/><BR/>[applause]<BR/><BR/>Because most of them were involved in one or other form of financial fraud, that includes Rahm Emanuel, for example. What reason is there to think that the people who brought this crisis about are some how going to fix it? Well, that’s a good indication of what’s likely to come next, at least if we look at actions.Sheldonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03743116454273042629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-24036884346286513372008-11-25T07:33:00.000-07:002008-11-25T07:33:00.000-07:00I agree with you about 95%. My quibble is with sa...I agree with you about 95%. My quibble is with saying that Bush was engaged in "gut" thinking in response to the news of the attacks on 9/11. I don't think that was gut thinking at all -- it was a panic reaction. Similarly unuseful and inappropriate, to be sure, but not the result of "going with his gut."Burt Likkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.com