Liberalism is a Mental Disorder?

[CaptainCourtesy]

That's what's so difficult. How do I know which website/media outlet is truly factual?

It's as if I have to actually be at the scene to know the true facts..

It's frustrating.

Good idea is to check several different sources in regards to the same issue. Also, watch words that are used. That's why I "called" you on the word "advocate". Biased sources often use words to present something in a way that it is not. Semantics ARE pretty important.

 

[marduc]

That's what's so difficult. How do I know which website/media outlet is truly factual?

It's as if I have to actually be at the scene to know the true facts..

It's frustrating.

honestly it depends on what you are debating what an appropriate level of support is. My advice is to sit back and watch others defend their claims for general ideas on how to go about it.

As a general rule, media reports are decently reliable for political topics so long as they are major newspapers or networks. even then it is advisable to read several on the same thing to reduce or eliminate potential biases.. and make sure it is an actual news report and not opinion.

wikipedia is ok to substantiate general knowledge, but in some debates and some topics this is not detailed or technical enough, and there is potential for inaccuracies there, some topics get into actually pulling out scientific papers and studies, whether they be abstracts or the sudies themselves (a newspaper article is a usual fallback source here, but there is a flaw in that reporters are often clueless on the topic they report when it comes to parroting scientific studies, and they tend to have an eye for controversy)

basically, if you are going to throw out a position, make sure it is not an empty claim, or misconstrued when you make it, and be prepared to substantiate it.

this part somehow ended up getting edited out of my original posting: blogs and the pseudo news sites such as huffingtonpost and drudge report and the examiner, and your DailyKos' and World Net Daily's are not considered to be very solid sources

 

[Barbbtx]

Ahh the smelt is back, he will never die!

The problem that was facing California was that there was three years of drought and no snow in the mountains. The smelt had a tiny role in the California water issue, and became a gigantic scapegoat. Here from a thread discussing the smelt back in the day:



But if you want to continue to think it is all the smelts fault that there was no snow in the mountains and three year of no rain, go right ahead.

The thread is about liberals being crazy.

Kern County farmers are cutting back crops and laying off employees because they don't have enough water to operate. Last year, a federal judge ordered the state to all but shut down a pumping station at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that supplies growers in Kern County as well as millions of people in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The ruling came as part of a lawsuit by environmentalists claiming the pumps are responsible for a steep drop in the population of Delta Smelts, a small fish that's considered to be an indicator of the overall health of the delta.


Senator Dean Florez -- Debate rages over Delta Smelt, new ...

Kern County farmers are cutting back crops and laying off employees because they don't have enough water to operate. Last year, a federal judge ordered the state to all but shut ...
dist16.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={1C4F33AD-8352-4B47-B515-73E... · Cached page

The smelt thing is pretty crazy in my opinion.

 

[marduc]

The thread is about liberals being crazy.

Kern County farmers are cutting back crops and laying off employees because they don't have enough water to operate. Last year, a federal judge ordered the state to all but shut down a pumping station at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that supplies growers in Kern County as well as millions of people in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The ruling came as part of a lawsuit by environmentalists claiming the pumps are responsible for a steep drop in the population of Delta Smelts, a small fish that's considered to be an indicator of the overall health of the delta.


Senator Dean Florez -- Debate rages over Delta Smelt, new ...

Kern County farmers are cutting back crops and laying off employees because they don't have enough water to operate. Last year, a federal judge ordered the state to all but shut ...
dist16.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={1C4F33AD-8352-4B47-B515-73E... · Cached page

The smelt thing is pretty crazy in my opinion.

the water lost at the time due to the pumps being off was a difference of 5%.

The craziness behind the issue is how water claims work there, and how the older claims can get all the water they want, but farmers farther down the totem pole starve and get zero water because of the first come first serve mentality that is propping up a patchwork agricultural empire in the middle of the freakin desert. One plot of land is lush and green with an excess of water, and his neighbor is a fallow sand bowl with zero water.

this and no snow in the mountains is the reason there are issues and there is no water for the farmers, not the fishy. He just gets all the blame because he is representative of supposed liberal madness. just ignore the drought and the "I was here first and got mine, screw you!" method for water distribution that allows some to feast while the rest starve.

 

[Orion]

Wake, your signature is annoyingly huge. I would be willing to read your posts more if it weren't for that.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

Yes, and yes, although there are more outside the US who don't have a mental disorder than you give credit for.

Too bad your concept of what liberals think is a personal delusion of your political lean. I'm only considered a liberal because I'm not a right winger. :shrug:

 

[cAPSLOCK]

Wake, your signature is annoyingly huge. I would be willing to read your posts more if it weren't for that.

Frankly, consider your apprehension a blessing.

 

[Andalublue]

That's what's so difficult. How do I know which website/media outlet is truly factual?

Generally, I try to use sources that might be expected to disagree with the point I'm trying to prove. If I'm looking to support something ostensibly liberal or left-wing, I'll look first at Fox, WSJ, NYP, Daily Telegraph, ABC (the newspaper, not the networks). If I am criticising Obama, for example, I'll check the NYT, Guardian, El País. An NYT critique of a Democrat is much stronger than one from Fox.

It's as if I have to actually be at the scene to know the true facts..

No, just make your points more credible by using a variety of sources, knowing that such a variety of views gives your point greater validity.

It's frustrating.

It's meant to be fun. Don't tell me you came here expecting to convert people to your position, did you?

 

[FederalRepublic]

Too bad your concept of what liberals think is a personal delusion of your political lean. I'm only considered a liberal because I'm not a right winger. :shrug:

It has nothing to do with my concept of what liberals think. It's just what they think.

By the way, I'm a moderate. If liberals have some good ideas, I'm perfectly willing to listen and compromise...:lol:

 

[Gardener]

If there is any indication of mental disorders as they relate to politics, I would think it would lie in the inherent paranoia of positions that can only deal with the world in terms of dichotomies.

Despite the obviousness of some people's need to shape it as so, the world is not a cowboy movie.

 

[marduc]

Wake - I think I misinterpreted your reasoning behind creating this thread (that being that you wanted to instigate some good sparring matches and learn from it), and I owe you an apology for my tone in earlier posts.