http://www.ryananddebi.com Public journal, baby stuff, travelogue, book reviews, and other stuff... (mostly written by Ryan) Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:00:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2010/05/12/a-vote-against-mccollum-for-governor-of-florida/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2010/05/12/a-vote-against-mccollum-for-governor-of-florida/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 13:54:15 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=4456 Anyone looking for a reason not to vote for Bill McCollum for Governor of Florida? Look no further than an article in today’s St. Petersburg Times noting that, under his direction, the State Attorney General’s office spent over $100,000 on “expert” testimony to hire George Rekers, a homophobic hack who had already been discredited by [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2010/05/12/a-vote-against-mccollum-for-governor-of-florida/feed/ 0 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2010/02/03/the-ticket-of-false-hope/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2010/02/03/the-ticket-of-false-hope/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:25:36 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=4162 In case you missed it, President Obama came to my university, University of Tampa, last week.  He spoke mostly about the funding for high speed rail, but then took questions from the audience. Faculty at my University were reserved a certain number of seats, we just had to ask for a ticket.  I asked for [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2010/02/03/the-ticket-of-false-hope/feed/ 0 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/09/15/why-no-email-campaign/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/09/15/why-no-email-campaign/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:02:37 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=3528 Sorry for another political post, but something just dawned on me.  I was walking through the lobby of one of the main buildings on campus and there was a student group giving away donuts if you would call your Representative, Senator or the Whitehouse and urge them to take action on the genocide in Darfur.  [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/09/15/why-no-email-campaign/feed/ 0 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/09/05/you-disagree-with-me-laaa-laaa-laaa/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/09/05/you-disagree-with-me-laaa-laaa-laaa/#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:57:04 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=3468 As a social scientist I’m fully aware of the fact that people tend to listen to, observe, and even seek out media and information that support their existing beliefs (this is a subset of both confirmation bias and self-justification).  Along with this is the tendency of people to avoid, criticize, and even demean any media [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/09/05/you-disagree-with-me-laaa-laaa-laaa/feed/ 8 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/05/01/big-government-vs-little-government/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/05/01/big-government-vs-little-government/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 21:15:43 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=2853 For all you fans of reducing government out there, maybe you should reconsider.  This NYTimes article gives a good illustration of situations when small government doesn’t make sense.  For years the government has allowed private companies to provide student loans at virtually no risk to the companies as the government insures the loans and provides [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/05/01/big-government-vs-little-government/feed/ 1 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/02/13/why-the-republican-party-needs-to-dissolve/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/02/13/why-the-republican-party-needs-to-dissolve/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:15:42 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=2779 I caught this article in the NYTimes yesterday about the corruption and excess of the New York state Senate under the rule of Republicans over the last 40 years. Here’s an excerpt: They [Democrats] recently realized there are some 75 employees working at the Senate’s own printing plant, a plain brick building on the outskirts [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2009/02/13/why-the-republican-party-needs-to-dissolve/feed/ 0 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/11/05/yes-we-can/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/11/05/yes-we-can/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:18:22 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=1647 President-elect: Barack Hussein Obama!]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/11/05/yes-we-can/feed/ 4 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/11/04/last-pre-election-political-post/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/11/04/last-pre-election-political-post/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:56:19 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=1644 A sociology colleague of mine sent me the following email last night.  I know I’ve been more political than usual lately (for obvious reasons), but I’m hoping this is seen as more sociological than political, even though it is politically biased: Subject: What if… Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin What if things were switched around?…..think about it.  [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/11/04/last-pre-election-political-post/feed/ 2 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/10/29/two-presidential-candidates-in-one-week/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/10/29/two-presidential-candidates-in-one-week/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:56:35 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=1602 Apparently the University of Tampa is the place to be right now.  John McCain is making his second visit to the UT today.  Though, of course, John McCain doesn’t actually want to talk to students or faculty.  He’s talking to the bigwigs at MacDill Airforce Base and other local business leaders.  It’s some “security” pow-wow.  [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/10/29/two-presidential-candidates-in-one-week/feed/ 0 http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/10/06/palin-visits-clearwater-across-the-bay/ http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/10/06/palin-visits-clearwater-across-the-bay/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:45:58 +0000 ryan http://www.ryananddebi.com/?p=1589 I know I’ve only posted about Sarah Palin of late and not talked about what’s going on in our lives. But I figure talking about Palin is far more interesting than telling everyone we are working long hours and not doing anything exciting.  I do have a couple of papers that should be coming out [...]]]> http://www.ryananddebi.com/2008/10/06/palin-visits-clearwater-across-the-bay/feed/ 3