Posted on 12/06/2008 3:09:54 PM PST by EveningStar
What's with Ben Stein, anyway? He's been acting a bit goofy for a while now, but what he said yesterday makes me wonder if he's lost it.
Michael Medved had Stein on his show yesterday. Ben made several pronouncements:
-- He supports the bailout. Moreover, he would bail out states if needed.
-- He was vehemently opposed to the Sarah Palin pick for VP. I checked out a past YouTube video where he was quite vitriolic about it.
-- He's for taxing the rich at a higher rate. OK. I already knew about this. But, WTFF???
No. I don't think he supported Obama in the election At least I hope not.
That question should be left up to the institutions in question. I have no desire to dictate who should - or shouldn't - be allowed access to or residence in the Ivory Tower.
Should there exist, does there exist, this "Berlin Wall" of demarcation?
See previous answer. :)
My Catholic faith leaves open the possibility for evolution, big bang, or however God decided to make us come about.
Matter of faith. Science and faith are different creatures.
Example: I have faith in man's ability to one day figure out a method to travel faster than light. There is zero evidence to support this belief and I accept that. Given our current understanding, it is impossible. Science tells me I am wrong, yet I still believe.
But why the antagonism to the ID folks?
Because Intelligent Design is dressed up Creationism pretending to be science.
If a man tells me he truly believes the creation account in Genesis, I can respect that. We disagree, but we're being honest with each other.
Intelligent Design supporters - most I've encountered, anyway - go to great lengths to attack the theory of evolution and shove God into each and every possible "hole" they think they've discovered.
It doesn't explain anything. It doesn't present testable, falsifiable ideas.
It merely states "God Did It!" and goes about attacking anyone who doesn't agree as a "God hater".
It's not my arena, so I genuinely wonder what is happening in the academic world of science.
Not my world, either. I'd be more likely to hang out at a fraternity house getting drunk. ;)
I don’t think he’s gay and “vitriolic” is my interpretation.
Just saying.
The answer is simple. ID is not science, although it pretends to be.
Science relies on evidence, and the scientific method. ID attempts to bypass both. Is it any wonder that it receives a cool reception from mainstream science?
Why the antagonism to the ACORN folks?
In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class Is Winning
You don't have to read the whole thing if you don't want to. The first few paragraphs are sufficient to give you the gist of it.
What's funny is that you guys gave it so much free publicity carrying on about it. I suspect when I do see it it will turn out to be the same as the Anne Coulter book - a big din by Darwinists over nothing that resembled their accusations.
Oddly, I don't recall Darwinists getting upset over Mr. Moore. Probably missed it.
I didn't like this either, but at least he hasn't joined al Qaeda yet, like Paul Craig Roberts.
Was that a backhanded way of accusing me of being a liberal?
My comment, "With that movie he has joined the Michael Moore school of film making" was not a compliment.
Thanks, but I'm not registering with the New York Times for free access to the story.
Besides, the first sentence gives you more than enough of the gist: "The rich pay a lot of taxes as a total percentage of taxes collected, but they don’t pay a lot of taxes as a percentage of what they can afford to pay."
You first, Ben.
Sounds like what a lot of us Stein fans thought was a blip two years ago was actually a leading indicator.
NOT long ago, I had the pleasure of a lengthy meeting with one of the smartest men on the planet, Warren E. Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, in his unpretentious offices in Omaha. We talked of many things that, I hope, will inspire me for years to come. But one of the main subjects was taxes. Mr. Buffett, who probably does not feel sick when he sees his MasterCard bill in his mailbox the way I do, is at least as exercised about the tax system as I am.
Put simply, the rich pay a lot of taxes as a total percentage of taxes collected, but they don’t pay a lot of taxes as a percentage of what they can afford to pay, or as a percentage of what the government needs to close the deficit gap.
Mr. Buffett compiled a data sheet of the men and women who work in his office. He had each of them make a fraction; the numerator was how much they paid in federal income tax and in payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and the denominator was their taxable income. The people in his office were mostly secretaries and clerks, though not all.
It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office. Further, in conversation it came up that Mr. Buffett doesn’t use any tax planning at all. He just pays as the Internal Revenue Code requires. “How can this be fair?” he asked of how little he pays relative to his employees. “How can this be right?”
Even though I agreed with him, I warned that whenever someone tried to raise the issue, he or she was accused of fomenting class warfare.
“There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
In his article in the NewsMax magazine he states, “We have just elected....” If that doesn’t portend that he voted for Obama I don’t know what else can. He also states, “Frankly, I feel pretty good about it.” Now who would vote for someone else and then state how much they like the other guy?
Then there is this video of him stating that Palin was the worst VP pick ever. http://weneedobama.blogspot.com/2008/09/conservative-ben-stein-dumbfounded-by.html
His column in NewsMax wanted to make me barf.
Among other counterpoints to Stein, Social Security and Medicare are not just taxes but also pension type benefit and welfare systems and hence distinct from general taxation.
What’s with Ben Stein? He seemed cool with his game show, I loved that, then he turned into a wacko flake with his ID movie. It’s no surprise with how flaky he’s gotten that he doesn’t like our Sarah either.
Good post. Thanks for the info. :)
Thanks. That’s the video I was referring to in my initial post.
Screw you, Ben.
He lives in Malibu, Ca...he has a summer place in Sandpoint, Idaho...we don’t claim him.
It was a joke. Stein's movie, Expelled, is satire. It is amazing that so many have fallen for it. Old Ben is laughing his ass off.
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