Hall of Record

Sorry, It's Not Sharia

2012-01-30T14:26:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: RELIGION and GOVERNMENT

Recent headline:

Federal court deals blow to anti-Sharia efforts

In a decision that Muslim legal advocates celebrated as a major win, a federal appeals court on Tuesday agreed with a lower court that blocked an Oklahoma law that would have barred state courts from considering or using Shariah law — the Islamic code of conduct.

Another headline:

Arizona Bishop: Catholics will not comply with Obama birth control mandate

Arizona Bishop Thomas Olmsted appeared to urge the faithful to civil disobedience against an Obama administration mandate requiring Catholic employers to include coverage for contraception, including abortifacient drugs, and sterilizations.

“Unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so),” he wrote. “We cannot – we will not—comply with this unjust law.”

So, respecting Islamic tradition is reasonable, but Catholic tradition not supporting abortions is not. I'm having a problem here.

2012 IS HERE

Global Cooling - We Are All Going To Freeze

2012-01-30T13:12:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: CLIMATE

There is a new round of alarming predictions encircling the planet and keeping the light of reason out.

... and many more.

I'm not sure if these headlines are intended to be parodies of the last decade of global warming alarm headlines, but they do an adequate job of displaying the National Inquirer College of Climate Science approach used by climate alarmists [heaters and freezers] in general.

The fact is that climate is variable and cyclical. The CO2 scare was perfect for scientists to obtain government funding and so-called alternative energy companies to get government loans of millions of dollars. It was a simple, easy-to-understand, wrong answer.

It may very well be that CO2 is running out of gas with regard to the climate... just as these alternative energy companies are running out of money and going bankrupt. The reason: the stories don't match the reality.

The next big money sponge: climate sustainability.

For more reading:

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009

A Non-Linear Perspective Of Climate Change

It's long, but may help clarify all of this global warming, ice age, global warming, ice age hysteria.

2012 IS HERE

Economic Trajectory And The Green Bay Packers

2012-01-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY and WISCONSIN

I'm going to reiterate what I wrote in the previous post regarding Wisconsin's governor and economy:

... I'm not necessarily of fan of Gov. Walker's approach to laying a big chunk of the fiscal burden on the backs of teachers, many of whom have been driven into dangerous economic straits by changes in their benefits funding. The argument was that teachers were paying little or nothing for their benefits... all true. What hasn't been said is that many teachers, not all, have been paid a relatively low salary as an offset to those benefits and that taking a large chunk of their current salaries to now fund the benefits... as much as 25%... placed an enormous and inordinate burden on individual teachers.

An example of the manipulation going on: the premium pay for a Masters degree was less than $3.00 per hour... not enough to pay for the cost of degree, but absolutely required for some teaching positions... and now the premium pay is being taken away... but the requirements remain. Try doing that in the private sector.

Yesterday, I mentioned that I enjoyed a variety of blogs. One is Econbrowser. Recently, there have been a couple of posts targeting the economic performance of Gov. Walker of Wisconsin.

The most recent post disputes Gov. Walker's notion that the state is "heading in the right direction." Based on the data charts shown below lifted from Econbrowser, the author is correct to dispute that notion. [Note the recent trajectory differences between Wisconsin and Michigan]

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Wisconsin's performance, in terms of economic activity, using data released on Thursday by the Philadelphia Fed.

Figure 1: Log coincident index for Wisconsin (WI, bold blue) and US (bold black), and other state indices associated with the Federal Reserve District 7 plus Minnesota, all rescaled to 2011M01=0. Vertical line at 2011M01. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and author’s calculations.

...Returning to the macroeconomic indicators for Wisconsin, the Philadelphia Fed provides this map identifying three month trends:

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, "State Coincident Indexes: December 2011" (January 26, 2012).

I posted a couple of comments about this.

First, I noted that in absolute levels for all measures of unemployment [U1 through U6], Wisconsin was below the national average and well below Michigan [a state doing very well in the trajectory charts], although the author argued that such positional metrics were not that meaningful. That despite the fact that the period-to-period change of those metrics was similar for the different geographies. So, then I made the following observation:

I understand the trajectory arguments and that recently Wisconsin has had some less than stellar results while Michigan, for example, has had stellar results [fig. 1 and Fed. map].

Let's frame this differently.

The Green Bay Packers had a regular season record of 15-1 while the Detroit Lions had 10-6. Last year the Green Bay Packers had a regular season record of 10-6 while the Detroit Lions had 6-10. Overall, the Packers ... 5 more wins ... improved slightly versus the Lions... 4 more wins.

Last year, the Packers won the Super Bowl while the Lions failed to make the playoffs. This year, the Packers lost in the first round of the playoffs, while the Lions finally made it to the playoffs also losing in the first round. The Lions improved significantly versus the Packers when compared to last year.

Overall, the performance trajectory for the Lions was much better than the Packers, indicating that the Packers are being lead poorly by Aaron Rogers while the Lions are being led superbly by Matt Stafford.

***********

Trajectory versus position....

Let's look at some 2nd half summaries for states from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and note that three states [Illinois, Minnesota, and Indiana] had positive numbers for Total Non-farm Employment [near the bottom of each table] when comparing July with December.

[Why did Indiana have a sudden improvement in yr/yr % in December?]

Three other states [Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin] had a loss of non-farm employment when comparing July with December.

[Could Wisconsin's small December yr/yr % be due to an earlier recovery than other states?]

[One thing is certain, government jobs ... teachers?... took a big hit in September accounting for about 1/2 the total decline. Excluding the one-time government jobs fall-off, the decline in Wisconsin's total non-farm workforce would be quite similar to Ohio and Michigan.]

This may be a case of Econbrowser being right about certain numbers showing poor performance for Wisconsin's economy, but it would seem that if Gov. Walker's actions in the first half of the year were unique and led to loss of jobs in the second half, what accounts for similar occurrences in Michigan and Ohio?

Wisconsin's unemployment percentages are lower than all these other states except Minnesota, so if the loss of non-farm jobs isn't unique, I'd really like to know what specifically caused the changes in other states before making a risky assumption that Gov. Walker was able to cause Wisconsin's losses [beyond the change in government jobs] versus the losses in other states. Sometimes, numbers raise more questions than answers.

The point is that Gov. Walker may be taking the blame for changes in the Wisconsin economy that are not significantly different from changes in nearby states. Wisconsin may have recovered jobs faster than some of these nearby states... maybe too fast... and now may be forced to take a "breather" due to outracing the national economy and the real economic situation last year.

If Wisconsin continues to show job losses over the next six months and surrounding states show job growth [absolute number of non-government, non-farm jobs], then it will be proper to point the finger at Gov. Walker.

Regardless, Matt Stafford did not perform better than Aaron Rogers and Michigan's economic situation is not better than Wisconsin's. Total won versus total lost... versus change in the number won and change in position in the playoffs.

I'll take 0.5% of $1 million over 50% of $1,000 any day. Position counts... short-term trajectory, maybe.

RELATED
Wisconsin Unemployment - Blame Gov. Walker

2012 IS HERE

Swedish Blogs - Politics and Health

2012-01-29T11:15:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: BLOGS

My reading is somewhat eclectic and my wife helps by continually sending various posts for me to read.

Most of the blogs I read are U.S. based, but a few are from Europe. Here are two from Sweden that you might find interesting:

Every Kinda People [use the pulldown translate option in upper left to select English]
Diet Doctor [written in English] or a slightly different version written in Swedish

If you are overweight or have type 2 diabetes, you would benefit from this video from the Diet Doctor. If you simply want to maintain good health, you would benefit from this video. It is long, so watch it in place of Jersey Shore.

2012 IS HERE

Blogging Rule 5?

2012-01-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: ENTERTAINMENT

Not here, but these two picture will show a change toward... a more pleasant countenance... with some professional help.

2009.................................2011

Sure you know who she is.

But then, what is beauty?
Click here to hear the original
for Kathy

Oh, you want to know what Rule 5 is? Click here for the explanation.

2012 IS HERE

Obama And The Bushes

2012-01-28T12:33:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Got an email with a link to the following post at Politico and questioning what it could all mean.

Obama hosts H.W., Jeb Bush at W.H. By DONOVAN SLACK | 1/27/12 9:02 PM EST

I responded with:

Obama was just asking for recommendations for the best golf courses in Maine and Florida. Jeb offered to lend Obama a set of clubs... left-handed because Obama is... if he visits this spring. GHWB offered to help cure Obama's slice... goes far left every time. Obama provided dinner: left-overs.

2012 IS HERE

Where Are Those Canadian Orange Trees?

2012-01-28T07:31:00.002-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: FOREIGN TRADE

Strange headline of the day:

FDA blocks orange juice shipments from Canada

Well, think about it.

2012 IS HERE

Obama Likely To Be Re-elected

2012-01-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

As I watch the news and watch the GOP candidates commit fratricide, it seems increasingly likely that President Obama will remain President Obama through 2016.

The reasons:

Obama has the general press on his side for the most part. Problems that would have been front page under the Bush administration are swept aside or given a positive spin; e.g., unemployment remains high, but "the economy is improving." Both true, but the emphasis is on the latter.
The open warfare among the Republican candidates has made it appear that no candidate is presidential material. Shaking hands after the bloodshed is not going to repair the public image.
Issues that stung the Democrats in 2010 have melted into the news background. The Tea Party is invisible and fragmented by the infighting of the candidates.
The volatile Middle East is all but forgotten as the spotlight is on Bain or Gingrich's ex-wives. The public is tired of the Middle East and gladly takes a news break from it providing Obama cover as his foreign policy crumbles in that region.
Obama remains an effective public communicator, even if a significant portion of what is communicated is not quite accurate. The public is willing to accept "close enough for government work."
The GOP field is rife with uninspiring candidates or candidates with too much baggage. A vote magnet such as Paul Ryan orAllen West or Marco Rubio is at least four years away.

Maybe the situation will change once the Republicans finally make a choice. But from where I stand now, I don't see a repeat of 2010.

The problem, of course, is that by 2016 it won't be just Republicans who are fragmented. By then, Obama's class warfare and binge spending will make Europe's problems look like a kid's birthday party. By then, the next recession will make this last one seem like a minor bump in the road. By then, I'm not sure if anyone will want to be president.

I hope I'm wrong. I can change my mind if I see a reason to.

2012 IS HERE

Court Denies U-M Students Their Say

2012-01-27T13:38:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT

Court Denies U-M Students Their Say: Only pro-unionization parties allowed to testify.[...]

2012 IS HERE

Your Government In Action -- Inaction?

2012-01-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT

2012 IS HERE

Obama On College Costs

2012-01-27T12:28:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA and EDUCATION

President Obama at the University of Michigan:

What Obama Won't Mention Today in Michigan: Campus Has 53% More Administrators Than Faculty January 27,2012

Study finds increase in university administrators Sept. 1, 2010

Where all that money is going

Tuition rises, class size grows, and the bureaucracy gets big - January 14, 2010

College costs are going up for non-teaching reasons:

Universities desire to enhance their research status which leads to buildings and staffing focused on non-teaching efforts.
The federal government requires a variety of programs be implemented for special interests that have nothing to do with teaching and these requirements each require an administrator to manage the government mandates [title this; title that, etc.]

2012 IS HERE

Why The Stock Market Drives Me Nuts

2012-01-27T11:30:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY

A tale of two pictures:

No, I don't have a position in this stock.

2012 IS HERE

U.S. Military Changes Coming

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: MILITARY

The Pentagon has been working on ways to trim its costs without gutting its capabilities. On reading the following from Military Times, it looks as if they are taking a well-balanced approach as opposed to the post-Vietnam slash and burn.

IMPACT ON THE SERVICES

Despite Panetta’s doomsday rhetoric of recent months, the budget proposal does not include any radical cuts in hardware and weapons programs that have not been widely discussed already.

Two key aspects of the budget remain largely intact: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program that will supply the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps with a so-called fifth generation aircraft; and the Navy’s carrier fleet, which will remain pegged at 11 flat-tops.

The Army’s total force should be slashed by an additional 30,000 troops, down to 490,000 by 2017. That will bring the Army back to about the same level as 2001. The current force swelled to 570,000 in response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and previous plans called to reduce that to 520,000 by 2017. [image source]

The budget plan calls for the Marine Corps to fall to 182,000, down from a peak of more than 202,000 but still higher than the roughly 172,000 personnel that the Corps had in 2001.

“While the U.S. does not anticipate engaging in prolonged, large-scale stability operations — requiring a large rotational force — in the near- to mid-term, we cannot rule out that possibility,” according to a briefing prepared by the Pentagon.

To keep the force flexible and capable of ramping up if needed, the Pentagon will not significantly reduce National Guard and Reserve forces. Moreover, the Army will retain a higher percentage of mid-grade officers and senior non-commissioned officers to provide leadership if a rapid expansion of the force is required down the road.

The Air Force is likely to lose six of its 60 tactical air squadrons, bringing its total down to 54 squadrons. [image source]

The Navy will retire “low-priority cruisers that have not been upgraded with ballistic missile defense capability or that require significant maintenance, as well as combat logistics and fleet support ships.” It is unclear precisely how many ships would be affected by that move.

The Pentagon will retain its nuclear triad — the three-pronged arsenal of land-based missiles, ballistic-missile submarines and weapons delivered by Air Force bombers. However, the Navy’s next-generation ballistic submarine can be delayed “for two years without harming the survivability of our nuclear deterrent.”

It would seem that the other branches of the military would do well to follow the Army's strategy in terms of senior-junior personnel if their total numbers are cut... although it is "feet on the ground" where most military expansion occurs.

Although 2001 represented a low point of military expenditures as a percentage of GDP, I would be surprised if this was not considered "the first round" by the Obama administration, but the second round will not be announced unless he wins re-election.

ADDITIONAL FROM MILITARY TIMES:

Members of Congress call DoD cuts dangerous
The $259 billion in defense cuts announced Thursday by the Defense Department drew criticism from Congress, even though these reductions are the direct result of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that...
Posted Thursday Jan 26, 2012 17:20:28 EST

DoD proposes to cut 7 squadrons, cancel C-27
Proposed reductions in defense spending would cut seven squadrons, cancel the C-27 and the Global Hawk Block 30, and retire numerous transport aircraft, according to documents obtained from sources by Air Force Times.

TOP NAVY NEWS

Navy avoids most of Pentagon’s latest cuts
The U.S. fleet keeps its 11 aircraft carriers as well as its 10 air wings. About a third of the fleet of 22 cruisers — seven ships — will be decommissioned early. A number of shipbuilding...
Posted Thursday Jan 26, 2012 17:38:24 EST

2012 IS HERE

GIGO Or Climate Science

2012-01-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: CLIMATE

Dr. Roger Pielke, Sr. [left] has an interesting, though quite long, post at Climate Science that intertwines his comments with an interview of controversial climate modeler Michael Mann [right - of "hockey stick" fame or infamy].

Dr. Pielke has a solid reputation in climate research although he is not popular with followers of Al "The Sky Is Falling" Gore. Dr. Pielke is of the Missouri school of science... show me... as evidence by his challenge regarding climate models:

"...the global climate models (whether downscaled to regions or not) have failed to predict changes in the statistics of regional climate. I invite any climate scientist to present evidence on my weblog (as an unedited guest post] that refutes this conclusion."

This is a challenge not likely to be taken up for two reasons:

Those basing claims of global warming [aka climate change] realize that Dr. Pielke has given them an impossible task because all climate models have be shown to be deficient in "backcasting" and therefore are deficient in forecasting.
Critics of Dr. Pielke do not want to give him more credibility with regard to the followers of Al Gore by allowing him to prove he is correct. Their preference is to treat his positions as the ramblings of a mad scientist by ignoring his challenge... which, if accepted, would prove them to be incompetent scientists.

Dr. Pielke's closing statement with regard to the Scientific American interview of Michael Mann:

As written in the Scientific American Interview, Freeman Dyson is 100% correct:

“that climate change science relies too much on such computer models. And even worse, that the climate scientists behind them are too much in love with their computational creations. Such mathematical approximations are crude, failing to capture the real world climate impacts of a cloud, for example. That makes them useful for understanding climate but not for predicting climate change”

It is an open question as to how long it is going to take funding agencies and policymakers to recognize this reality.

RELATED READING:

Hall of Record: GIGO Jan 10, 2007

Hall of Record: Global Warming GIGO Jun 07, 2007

Hall of Record: GIGO Again Sep 13, 2007

2012 IS HERE

Eye Candy

2012-01-26T12:04:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: MARKETING

Popular blogs such as Theo Spark have an ongoing parade of pictures of beautiful women to boost readership return rate. So, I thought I'd give it a try. Whadduyathink?

[source]

2012 IS HERE

Obama: I Voted For It After I Voted Against It

2012-01-26T11:22:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA

From the State Of The Union address:

"It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts."

From the State Of The Union address:

"That’s why I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks. A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit, and will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust."

Just a point here. If your home value is more than the mortgage, that means you probably bought your home in the 1990s or earlier. If you bought your home sometime during the last decade and have been a "responsible homeowner", e.g., paid your loan payments on time each month, you won't qualify because you are "upside down" ... your home is presently worth less than the mortgage. We all have a friend or relative in that position and know how difficult it is to be stuck in that situation.

It forces the bank to take less compensation for what is now a risky investment and not their fault... the government rewrites the loan contract... writing a NEW LOAN, in effect [a homeowner bailout]. I presume the banks will say "Thanks, but no thanks. Show me the money."

Or, the government will have to guarantee the loan repayment in full to compensate the bank for the receiving less money [lower interest payments] for an unsecured risk which is not something that any taxpayer in his right mind would propose. Besides, writing new loans with large amounts of unsecured risk might create a situation that is against the law, unless my understanding is faulty.

The standardized requirements in place for banks and other depository institutions, which determines how much capital is required to be held for a certain level of assets through regulatory agencies such as the Bank for International Settlements, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or Federal Reserve Board. These requirements are put into place to ensure that these institutions are not participating or holding investments that increase the risk of default and that they have enough capital to sustain operating losses while still honoring withdrawals. Also known as "regulatory capital". [source]

If the banks' capital is sufficient to cover the rewritten loans, it may very well prevent the banks from approving new loans because their lower revenues from the old loans reduces their future capitol reserves... and difficulty getting new loans is already hampering the recovery.

H/T Townhall Finance

2012 IS HERE

Three Years Under Obama - Five More To Go?

2012-01-26T09:33:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA

Interesting video. It's a few weeks old, but other than a misplaced snide comment about the Chevy Volt's tendency to catch fire ... it doesn't, but was thought to then ... this is an interesting watch.

2012 IS HERE

Romney and Gingrich - What Would You Do?

2012-01-26T07:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

For the time being, the GOP nomination race is being led by two men: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

We've all had the opportunity to watch debates as they pontificate about Obama's shortcomings and each other's shortcomings. So and so did this bad thing and so and so's policies and programs failed here and so and so's ethics are lower than a cockroach.

Enough of that. That's not cutting it in the primaries and it won't cut it in the general election. No, that's just pushing hot buttons so that people will react with their guts rather than their heads. Of course, given the nature of the electorate, that's often a good strategy.

Regardless, it's time to carve a line in the concrete [never understood why drawing a line in shifting sands made sense as a metaphor]. It is time to get away from what others have done or not done and state specifically what you as a candidate see as:

the top five issues facing the U.S. over the next four years [keep religion, beliefs, and law pertaining to such out of it]
how you would address those top five issues [get specific]
why your approach would be better than what is presently the case
who benefits from your solutions [everyone is not an acceptable answer]
who might not benefit from your solutions, why, and is that a problem
what it would take to implement your plan [besides votes in Congress]

We don't need a 164-point GPS directions kit. We don't need broad generalizations that have little meaning [give America back to the people; free will; hard work; more jobs... everyone says that; save the environment; etc.]. We need a high-level structure against which specific proposals will be tested and either accepted or rejected. If you can't come up with your top five issues and solutions, you are just blowing smoke.

We will then be able to see which candidate has the vision and substance to set a meaningful direction for the next four years. We've already seen that "hope" and "change" sound good, but are absolutely meaningless. Let's not repeat that by substituting some other unactionable nouns... "liberty" and "individualism."

WHAT WE DON'T NEED:

...maybe even step one.

REQUIRED READING:

Joe Biden on GOP Candidates: Are Gingrich and Romney the Same?

International Business Times

2012 IS HERE

Hope, Change, Or Hope You Still Have Some Change

2012-01-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: FEDERAL RESERVE

To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with the dual mandate, the Committee expects to maintain a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy.

In particular, the Committee decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that economic conditions--including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run--are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014. [SOURCE]

In other words, no hope for much change under the present administration. We're going to give away money to say that the economy is moving. Inflation? Hah! Ever try inflating a lead ballon?

Now about your retirement plans....

RELATED READING:

Fed Signals That a Full Recovery Is Years Away

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

The Federal Reserve said it was not likely to raise interest rates until the end of 2014, adding 18 months to the expected duration of its response to the slump.

2012 IS HERE

Romney... Taxes... Wealth... Presidency

2012-01-25T11:06:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

To say that Mitt Romney has an image problem is like saying ... Obama has an image problem. There is always something about a politician that draws attention to him in a negative fashion. In Mitt Romney's instance it is his success and wealth.

Romney is not among the super-wealthy, but by the average person's standard he is very wealthy. He makes, in a good year, what a top baseball or basketball player will make. Hey, LeBron, you can't be voted to the All-Star team because you make much more than the average player.

Romney needs to address the money issue in a way that puts him in a positive light.

Perhaps this is how:

Agree that his income and wealth are significantly more than the average person because he has achieved success in business.
State firmly that he has approached his business dealings both in an ethical and legal manner and that he has paid the fair amount of taxes as required by the tax code.
State that he understands the tax code is probably perceived as unfair and that he would like to see that addressed with a thorough review, not a knee-jerk reaction that destroys incentives to succeed.
Say that he is running for President not for the money or power... a perception that is reinforced by many politicians who seem to become quite wealthy on a government salary... but because he has enjoyed the benefits of living and working in this country and he wants to ensure that the opportunities for personal success are not diminished for others by an overbearing government... that is fair.
Point out that in the business world a CEO will sometimes accept a symbolic $1 salary when taking over a company that is in deep financial and operational trouble... and that he will only accept $1 for his compensation as President... not because he wants to show everyone he is so wealthy, but because he understands as a businessman that a leader should not be willing to take rewards for a job not yet accomplished... or poorly done.

Ask the question: is personal success a disqualifying factor for being President?

2012 IS HERE

Play Fair Mr. Obama

2012-01-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA

"Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."

Gee, that sounds really good... but what does he mean?

What is getting a "fair shot?" No, really, what is fair? Do we all get to go to Harvard because President Obama did? I'd like to see my grandchildren get a "fair shot" at the White House if they want it. If a child chooses to drop out of school, did that child have a "fair shot?" If that child had irresponsible parents, did that child have a "fair shot" and, if not, does someone else's responsible parents have to make up the difference?

What's doing a "fair share?" If I have a protected job that lets me goof off for several hours, have I done my fair share simply by being someplace for eight hours? If I'm a businessman who works 14 hours per day for 6 days per week, is that a "fair share"... even if I get paid more? What if I invest my after-tax earnings in risky business ventures and some of them return big profits for me? Have I done my "fair share" by building up those businesses and creating lots of jobs with the infusion of my money, or am I "not playing by the same rules" as someone who spends their extra money on beer and gambling or drugs?

Yes, Mr. President, it sounds really good... this "fairness doctrine" of yours... but I'm still having trouble with your concept of fairness. Do you mean that the results for every person should be pretty much the same regardless of effort or risk or achievement?

Or do you mean that everyone is required to do as much, risk as much, and achieve as much as everyone else? No, that's not likely.

No, Mr. President, I think your idea of "fairness" is that if you do more, risk more, and achieve more... you should have more taken from you.

By the way, I'd like to have one of your limos and maybe one of your smaller helicopters.

REQUIRED READING:

What Obama Can Learn From China

RELATED READING:

Speech by a monarch [this is in Swedish - use the Google Chrome browser or the translator on that website - upper left - to translate]

2012 IS HERE

Those Who Control The Past Control The Future

2012-01-24T18:47:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: GLOBAL WARMING and GEORGE ORWELL

And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed -if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in Newspeak, 'doublethink'. - George Orwell; Chapter 3, 1984 [source]

The following excerpt from Tom Nelson's blog of January 24, 2012:

GISS Make The Past Colder In Reykjavik « NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

I have contacted the Iceland Met Office to get their view on the GHCN adjustments. Their reply could not be clearer :-
a) They were not aware these adjustments were being made.
b) They do not know why they have been made, but are asking!
c) They do not accept the “corrections” and have no intention of amending their own records.

It has become commonplace for climate data to be "adjusted" in a way that shows temperatures a century ago to be colder than they were recorded. In this way, a modest 1° reduction at the beginning of the 20th century data becomes a severe global warming of 0.9° by the end of the century.

Just to put some numbers to this, here is a selection : [source]
Year Last Week This Week Diff
1911 5.31 4.21 1.1
1941 5.28 4.09 1.19
1971 5.85 4.65 1.2
1991 6.12 4.92 1.2
2011 5.58 5.58 0

It appears that climate science, as well as economics, has data that can be adjusted and interpreted to fit the story that needs to be told.

2012 IS HERE

Mitt Romney Too Soft

2012-01-24T17:00:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

The LA Times reports that Mitt Romney's tax returns show he and his wife donated 16% of their income to their church and charities.

So that's another reason to mistrust him as a potential president: he's too soft-hearted.

Add that to his other vices like being married to one woman for over 40 years... which shows he is inflexible and tending toward inaction... are reasons enough for doubting his ability to lead this nation in the manner to which we've become accustomed.

2012 IS HERE

Wisconsin Unemployment - Blame Gov. Walker

2012-01-24T02:00:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS and ECONOMY

Over at Econbrowser, the politics and policies of Gov. Scott Walker have been taking a pasting from the liberal side [no real surprise there]. Gov. Walker has aroused more animosity in a short time than nearly any other governor due to his "take no prisoners" approach to state budgets and management. While I agree with the notion that Gov. Walker has used a chain saw when a carving knife was more appropriate, I believe that the argument Wisconsin has suffered a slower decline in unemployment rates ... relative to other states ... is misleading.

From the site Department Of Numbers:

Wisconsin Unemployment
According to the BLS current population survey (CPS), the unemployment rate for Wisconsin fell 0.4 percentage points in November 2011 to 7.3%. The state unemployment rate was 1.4 percentage points lower than the national rate for the month. The unemployment rate in Wisconsin peaked in June 2009 at 9.2% and is now 1.9 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 7.3% in April 2011, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.0 percentage points. You can also seeWisconsin unemployment compared to other states.
Unemployment Rate November 2011 Month/Month Year/Year
National 8.7% -0.2 -1.1
Wisconsin 7.3% -0.4 -0.3
Note: All comparisons are made with November data as December state level unemployment data has not yet been released.
Unemployment Rate: Wisconsin, National

Note: Recessions shown in gray
Wisconsin Unemployed
The number of people unemployed in Wisconsin peaked in June 2009 at 285,095. There are now 61,262 fewer people unemployed in the state. Wisconsin job growth data is also available.

Unemployment Rate	November 2011	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	8.7%	-0.2	-1.1
Wisconsin	7.3%	-0.4	-0.3

Unemployed Persons	November 2011	Month/Month	Year/Year
Wisconsin	223,833	-10,253	-7,319

UPDATE:

Unemployed Persons	December 2011	Month/Month	Year/Year
Wisconsin	215,767	-8,147	-11,917

The argument that Wisconsin employment is suffering is based on recent cutbacks in state government employees... not necessarily on rate comparisons with nearby states or the national rates. Conveniently overlooked is the point that those government employee cutbacks were taken to help strengthen Wisconsin's fiscal situation which was looking increasingly difficult... and are occurring in other states and at the federal level.

That said, I'm not necessarily of fan of Gov. Walker's approach to laying a big chunk of the fiscal burden on the backs of teachers, many of whom have been driven into dangerous economic straits by changes in their benefits funding. The argument was that teachers were paying little or nothing for their benefits... all true. What hasn't been said is that many teachers, not all, have been paid a relatively low salary as an offset to those benefits and that taking a large chunk of their current salaries to now fund the benefits... as much as 25%... placed an enormous and inordinate burden on individual teachers.

An example of the manipulation going on: the premium pay for a Masters degree was less than $3.00 per hour... not enough to pay for the cost of degree, but absolutely required for some teaching positions... and now the premium pay is being taken away... but the requirements remain. Try doing that in the private sector.

But back to the notion that Wisconsin's unemployment rate is out of line. First, note [enlargement from above] that Wisconsin is not all that different from the national average except in the most recent period. Also note that Wisconsin showed a temporary increase in unemployment about the same time [2011] that the national average reflected one. Some of that may be statistical anomalies from the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rates [SAARS] which are used to adjust actual rates based on past seasonal patterns.

Wisconsin recovered somewhat faster than the rest of the nation for about a year and then the national recovery began to close the gap. So, the argument is that Gov. Walker caused the gap to close as opposed to the argument that some other laggard states, such as Michigan, were beginning to show improvements from far worse conditions which allowed for greater absolute improvement.

If you look at the fall in unemployment rates from the high point in 2009 rather than mid-2011, you'll see a movement in line with the nation... a relationship for the past decade... shown in the larger graph above.

Perhaps one might want to consider another argument: the recovery for the nation and Wisconsin might have been considerably faster if our President's economic policies were not so counterproductive.

2012 IS HERE

Scott Rasmussen Analyzes Republicans' Views Of Candidates

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Scott Rasmussen of rasmussenreports.com, provides the current state of Republican politics from the viewpoint of likely voters. CLICK HERE TO PLAY.

Forecast: variable headwinds.

2012 IS HERE

Obama - Keystone Kop

2012-01-23T18:15:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OIL

A Canadian speaks:

Direct lift from American Digest

Keystone Klunker: An On-Air Evisceration of Obama By Ezra Levant

"Barack Obama, the first post-American president...."

"Obama has just made a decision to give Chavez and Venezuela unfettered access to American oil money.".

2012 IS HERE

Transportation Security Administration Detains Terror Suspect

2012-01-23T13:07:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT

Nashville - The Transportation Security Administration [TSA] scanners detected an "anomaly" and removed a passenger from the security line. The passenger refused a full-body pat-down, but offered to go through the scanner again. But the TSA guards refused and detained the passenger.

The passenger has been identified as a government critic and opponent of the TSA... possibly a threat to this nation's air traffic security bureaucracy.

You don't spit into the wind; you don't tug on Superman's cape; you don't piss off a U.S. senator....

Waiting to see where this goes in the future.

2012 IS HERE

What Obama Can Learn From China

2012-01-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: CHINA and OBAMA

President Obama is fond of using China as an example of economic success. Of course, to the President, the Communist/Socialist aspect of China is the appealing part; the capitalistic part... the part that isn't "fair"... is the only flaw.

NPR Via Mark Perry at Carpe Diem:

Jacob Goldstein/NPR

Yen Jingchang was one of the signers of the secret document.
In 1978, the farmers in a small Chinese village called Xiaogang gathered in a mud hut to sign a secret contract. They thought it might get them executed. Instead, it wound up transforming China's economy in ways that are still reverberating today.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE or listen to it below... especially the end. That's the "fair" part.

Note just a few things:

There was no discussion about unemployment benefits
There was no discussion about "fair" taxation or increasing taxes to allow more stimulus spending; in fact, it was a perfect example of a flat tax [everyone was forced to give a certain amount to the government]
There was no effort to blame the more productive for their success
It worked... big time!

And then... the Chinese "Obama fairness" brigades took over....

2012 IS HERE

JoePa Gone

2012-01-22T16:24:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: SPORTS

UPDATE:

"CBS report is wrong — Dad is alive but in serious condition," Joe Paterno's son, Scott Paterno, tweeted.

Later that night [Saturday], Onward State retracted its original report and issued an apology.

THEN LET'S GET RID OF THE OLD POST. BUT NOW, IT APPEARS JOE PATERNO DIED THIS MORNING.

"He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been," his family said in a statement announcing his death Sunday. "He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community." [SOURCE]

CNN has a good article covering Paterno's life and death.

2012 IS HERE

State Capitalism and Crony Capitalism

2012-01-22T11:24:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

From The Economist:

From National Review Online:

JANUARY 20, 2012 5:00 P.M.

Mitt’s Attack on Crony Capitalism

Question: How far apart are "State Capitalism" and "Crony Capitalism"?
Another question: Is General Motors an example of "State Capitalism"?
Last question: is that capitalism?

2012 IS HERE

Gingrich Takes South Carolina

2012-01-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Everybody has heard this by now all over the world. From BBC England.

US Presidential Election 2012

South Carolina Poll: Gingrich Triumphs Over Romney

Newt Gingrich has convincingly beaten Mitt Romney in South Newt Gingrich: Carolina's primary election, the latest leg in the battle to be the Republican candidate in November's US presidential poll.

With 70% of the vote counted, Mr Gingrich had 40% to Mr Romney's 28%. Mr Romney was widely seen as the frontrunner, but the latest outcome is set to turn the race into a long, hard-fought campaign, correspondents say.

That makes the water a bit more muddy, doesn't it?

Here's the thing. Santorum appeals to the religious faction, but he comes across a bit aloof and sanctimonious. Ron Paul has good ideas, but is just not the person people see leading this country. Romney has the polished looks and speech, but he has no contagious energy.

Gingrich has all of the political and personal warts possible, but he inflames the passions of those who listen to him. Many of those people are willing to ignore all of his numerous flaws because he says what those people have been waiting for a candidate to say... and says it eloquently and forcefully.

Romney is not finished, but he can no longer play "prevent defense" thinking he is ahead... if he is to stay in this game. This is politics; it's not negotiating business takeovers. Romney can't simply give people reasons to vote for him; he has to make people want to vote for him. That is something at which Gingrich is showing himself to be adept.

Obama did not win on reason; he won on oratory emotion... hope and change, remember? Obama's opponent will have to bring the force of reason and emotion to unseat him.

2012 IS HERE

Blame Bush

2012-01-21T00:01:00.022-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Barack Obama's coronation... inauguration... as President of the United States. That's 75% through his term.

The Democratic Party is the party of victims... it's all someone else's fault (guess who?) and that's why Obama must be re-elected to bring more hope and change. Eh, that may be getting a little old, donchathink?

Perhaps it is time to own up to the fact that the problems and solutions are HIS responsibility now.

Need more? Try this.

2012 IS HERE

Mark Perry Asks What Is A Reasonable Profit

2012-01-20T18:25:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: ENERGY and POLITICS

... or what's a reasonable loss? Okay Rep. Kucinich, we're waiting for your answer. READ HERE

2012 IS HERE

Mass Hysteria

2012-01-20T15:00:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: MEDICINE

Teenage girls and mass hysteria?

(CBS) Why did 12 teens from the same town in upstate N.Y. all begin to experience odd symptoms at once? Doctors say it's an outbreak of mass hysteria.

Last fall, 12 teenage girls from LeRoy Junior-Senior High School - located in a town about an hour outside of Buffalo, N.Y. - began to show symptoms similar to those of Tourette's syndrome, including painful shaking and jerking their necks,Gothamist reported. [source]

That's not so unusual. It happened frequently 50 years ago.

2012 IS HERE

"Hand Jive" Godfather of Rhythm And Blues Is Dead

2012-01-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: ENTERTAINMENT

Hey, it was a cool song when I was young.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Johnny Otis, the "godfather of rhythm and blues" who wrote and recorded the R & B classic "Willie and the Hand Jive" and for decades evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio host, has died. He was 90. [source]

2012 IS HERE

Turks Protest FOR Armenian Writer

2012-01-20T04:00:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

The Turkish-Armenian relationship hasn't had an international reputation for cordiality ever since the Genocide in the early 20th century.

So, it seemed strange to see this [source]:

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Thousands of people held placards and a portrait of the slain journalist Hrant Dink during a commemoration ceremony in front of the offices of the Armenian newspaper "Agos" in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The protest marked the day five years ago when Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian writer and newspaper editor, was gunned down in broad daylight by a 17-year-old ultranationalist.

"We all are Armenians, we all are Hrant Dink," the crowd chanted, marching from Istanbul's central Taksim Square to the busy boulevard where Mr. Dink was shot outside the office of the tiny Agos daily newspaper.

Strange because those were Turks and ethnic Armenians both doing the chanting.

Mr. Dink became the target for Turkish ultranationalists after he wrote a series of articles on the massacre of ethnic Armenians in 1915, in today's eastern Turkey, in which he called for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians. He was charged then with "insulting Turkishness," a crime under the penal code.

Maybe there's hope for the rest of the Middle East.

2012 IS HERE

Breaking Futbol News

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: SPORTS

From Fox News Latino:

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he'll reconsider the ban on beer at sports stadiums ahead of the 2018 World Cup

Putin was questioned about the ban Thursday when he and FIFA President Sepp Blatter met with fans in St. Petersburg as part of commemorations of the 100th birthday of the Russian soccer federation.

He told the fan who asked about lifting the ban that ''when the decision was made about stadiums, it came from the best of intentions. OK, we'll return to it again and think about it.''

Blatter noted that beer is popular among fans, saying ''beer is like a part of life. Can you imagine holding a championship in Germany without beer?''

Fans reacted with, "We want wadka, we want wadka!"

Actually, I'd like to see the Gatorade replaced with some heavy German beer for the players. That would be a game.

2012 IS HERE

Ron Paul Not A Republican?

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

While I'm not a great fan of Dr. Ron Paul as an effective politician, I do respect Dr. Ron Paul as a consistent representative of hands-off conservatism.

If you have read this blog for any time, you will see that Dr. Paul's positions are not that far from what has been written here.

Dr. Paul's position on illegal immigration is correct:

His fiscal conservatism makes great sense:

... but I'm not sure that claiming our fiscal woes are all due to military spending is necessarily correct. While such spending has increased since 2000, it is below pre-1990 levels. The military, in fact, has been required to do more with less for quite some time.

A larger percentage of federal spending has been for social programs over the past 2 decades. If there is borrowing needed, it is to cover mandate after mandate... program after program.

Regardless, one has to question what Dr. Paul's interpretation of "defense" is rather than "military spending." Without a doubt he is correct that the military expenditures... for all reasons... have increased due to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. That, I would argue, is from the misuse of the military due to politically-correct, media-focused, directed-by-civilian strategies than the military wasting money intentionally.

With regard to Dr. Paul's position on "military" versus "defense," I find his proposed dichotomy a bit simplistic.

I absolutely agree with his position that the military should never be used for nation building or policing. Our politicians' approach to Iraq and Afghanistan was that we were deploying engineers and social workers who happened to wear military uniforms... and they better not do anything impolite. Not a way to conduct military operations. This situation is the reason why so many military personnel back Dr. Paul. It's their way of telling our politicians that this is not what they signed up for. But it goes beyond fixing a misuse of the military to a position of military isolationism.

Dr. Paul wants to believe that if we just walk away militarily from the rest of the world, we will be left alone. Sorry, Dr. Paul, the world doesn't quite work that way. He doesn't have that same attitude with regard to trade. Quite the opposite. That's pretty much open borders.

The military's global presence is a factor in the overall defense of this nation. Do we need 80,000 military personnel in Europe? I think not. Do we need naval ports and air fields in strategic locations for our Navy and Air Force. I think so. They serve as a very strong reminder that any attack on the U.S. or its allies is not an action without consequences... and provide the means to back up that implication.

There is a difference between nation building and policing... and peacekeeping [not the Peace Corps version, but the "speak softly and carry a big stick" version]. This is not a furtherance of Obama's Libyan policy. Our goal should not be to fix every political system... just keep their armies in check and their missiles out of Venezuela.

So, while I agree in part with Dr. Paul, I disagree in general regarding military spending and defense spending.

He would argue, "It's not our job to be a global peacekeeper."

I would answer, "Who then?"

He probably would respond, "It's the responsibility of each nation."

I would ask, "And if the strong, anti-individualism, dictatorial powers want to prey on the pro-individualism democracies, must they stand alone?"

And he would respond, "Let them work it out. It's not our problem."

And that's where I have a problem... because it eventually becomes everyone's problem.

My wife astutely pointed out that, as President, Dr. Paul would have only some say in matters economic... programs and spending being the purview of Congress. But in matters military and foreign policy, President Paul, as Commander In Chief, would wield enormous power.

I'm not prepared to back a foreign policy summarized as "see you later," nor a military strategy that says "everyone go home and we'll call if we need you." Can the military be pared back? Yes, but not Obama style. A major concern is approaching cutbacks the post-Vietnam manner... cutting fat, muscle, bone, and spirit.

Dr. Paul may be a Republican, but he is facing an uphill battle convincing Republicans that he really represents them... especially in matters of national security where the President is the key figure. But he's not that far off the mark on many other things. That's part of it.

Another part of the process of being electable, however, is displaying the presence, the image, the tone of someone in charge. Obama has done that well... even when he has no idea about that which he is expounding. Sure, Obama occasionally gets to stumbling without the teleprompter, but for the most part he displays the presence, the image and the tone expected of someone in charge. Obama can make stupid ideas sound perfectly reasonable and logical because he knows how to play to our eyes and ears.

(AP photo) Dr. Paul, on the other hand, suffers from an image of a whiny eccentric because of the way he speaks, his tailored-by-Walmart suits, and his visually and verbally rambling style.

He can get people's minds nodding yes to what he says while a visceral reaction to him being the President of the United States is, "No, not him, no way." That's not fair and certainly not a reasonable way to choose a leader, but it is the case.

He is like that odd professor we had as a sophomore in college who never quite seemed to be talking to us... but we were never sure if he was talking to someone else either... someone only he could see. He made a lot of sense, but ... maybe he'll grow on us... like that professor. Or maybe not.

2012 IS HERE

SOPA Stupa

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Piracy is a bad, bad thing. But the effort to prevent piracy on the internet just took a step into the ludicrous.

Google to Use Homepage to Protest SOPA on WednesdayYou won’t see a blank page at Google.com on Wednesday, but the company will use its homepage to register its opposition to SOPA.

A Google spokesperson told Mashable that its homepage will include a link where users can learn more about SOPA, confirming a Bloomberg report.

“Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” the spokesperson said in an e-mail statement. “So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our U.S. home page.” [SOURCE]

This is a case of using a pile driver to hit a fly.

I'm presuming that Rep. McCotter does not object to this video being used in this post... but maybe I need to get that in writing... but why did he put it on YouTube if he didn't want people to see it? Oh, dear.

2012 IS HERE

The Ideal Republican Candidate

2012-01-17T15:00:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Judging from the early results of Republican primaries, the ideal Republican candidate looks something like this:

Unfortunately, he is not running. But I know who he is.

"No candidate is ideal, and we conservatives are always enjoined not to make the perfect the enemy of the good — or in this case the enemy of the mediocre: Sitting next to me last Tuesday on Fox News, the pollster Frank Luntz said that Romney in his victory speech was now starting to use words that resonate with the American people. The main word he used was “America.” On Tuesday night Romney told us he wants to restore America to an America where millions of Americans believe in the American ideal of a strong America for millions of Americans. Which is more than your average Belgian can say. The crowd responded appreciatively. An hour later a weird goofy gnome in a baggy suit two sizes too big came out and started yakking about the Federal Reserve, fiat money, and monetary policy “throughout all of history.” And the crowd went bananas! ...

That said, the isolationists are delusional. Two centuries ago, when Napoleon sold a constrained Appalachian republic the port of New Orleans, he crowed, “I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride.” Instead, a young America enjoyed (excepting one or two hiccups) the blessings of the Pax Britannica for over a century. It’s relatively easy to be a romantic isolationist republic when the Royal Navy’s out there enforcing global order. Likewise, after 1945, Britain’s imperial decline was cushioned by Washington’s assumption of the old lion’s role as order maker. But the notion that America can retain all the comforts and prosperity of global dominance while shrugging off all the responsibilities is fantasy. “Fortress America” is less a fortress than a state of denial, yet it’s one with increasing appeal to many Republican voters."

[source]

At some point, Republicans will be faced with a choice of a less-than-perfect candidate or the President who presently occupies the White House.

2012 IS HERE

Statins and Diabetes

2012-01-17T13:41:00.002-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: MEDICINE

If you are taking statins [Crestor, Lipitor, etc] and you are not a male under 65 with a previously existing heart condition, you may want to reconsider.

Dr Michael Eades discusses the remarks of Dr. JoAnn Manson, who is describing the analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative study showing an association between statin drugs and the development of diabetes.

Dr. Eades Blog.
.

2012 IS HERE

Political Split Personality

2012-01-17T12:34:00.003-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: ENERGY

Obama Jobs Panel Urges Broadened Tax Base, More Oil Drilling

The U.S. must broaden its tax base and lower rates, extract more coal, oil and natural gas, and boost government research and development to revive the economy and stay competitive, according to recommendations of President Barack Obama’s jobs council.

EPA: Power plants are main global warming culprits

New EPA Rule Could Shut Down A Ton Of The Nation's Power Plants

Please explain what I'm missing here.

2012 IS HERE

Seeking Political Perfection

2012-01-17T00:01:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Yesterday's post triggered an outburst from a reader who is unabashedly Libertarian. He didn't like the concept of "we" presuming the use of such a word could only mean totalitarian thinking. I like to think of the word "we" meaning more than one "I"... even if they are all "rugged individualists."

If you get 100 Libertarians in a room, they would not construct a platform that begins "I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,... the People." At least I don't believe they would.

He objected to the notion of a representative form of government, suggesting that there could never be a representative who would vote on all issues the way I would. That may be true, but I don't see that anything workable could come out of 300+ million people each having a separate vote on ever separate issue that might be addressed. While not perfect, I think our representative form of government has served us reasonably well... better than a dictator ... better than millions of people jamming the streets with signs. That's my bias, of course.

He did agree with me that politicians lie to ... I, I, I, I, I???... us. We know that. That's why we have elections every two years... to get the old liars out and vote in the new ones. The problem occurs when some of the liars convince enough gullible people that they are "on their side"... that's "the devil we know."

He objected to the notion that a nation is an amalgamation of tribes. Okay, find another way to describe a nation that covers the geographic political combination of a number of disparate individuals calling themselves Libertarians, auto unions, bankers, such-and-such-minority, etc. His misinterpretation suggested to him that an "amalgamation of tribes" was something monolithic. Quite the opposite.

He brought up the notion that we form governments to protect our "natural rights." That is one way, as I mentioned in yesterday's post,

As individuals, we presume certain "truths" about the way our amalgamation of tribes should function. "We hold these truths to be self-evident...." "Long live the King...." "لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله...."

but certainly not the only way governments are formed. And once formed, we have incentives to support that form of government because it does provide order and a sense of protection from "others" who are not part of our amalgamation of tribes. Of course, that doesn't mean that the government reflects the wants and needs of every individual. The government is more like chicken salad than a flock of chickens. Individuals are in there somewhere.

He neither agreed nor disagreed with the notion that the purpose of government was to provide a legal framework supported by culture and individuals. Even Saddam Hussein's government provided a legal framework of sorts... as did Stalin's USSR and Henry VIII's English monarchy. I never said every government provided a good framework. I did conclude that:

So, again, what guarantees our Constitution? Nothing more than people... and leaders... who are willing to play by its rules. If the framework is allowed to be fluid and transitory, there is very little in it for individuals. The tribe disintegrates.

The purpose of all of this is to come to the realization that our choices are really between representatives who play by the rules of the Constitution or the ultimate unraveling of the Constitutional form of government we happen to enjoy. How those representatives will vote is entirely up to us... us being a lot of I's.

If enough I's like the idea of bigger, more involved government, that's what all the I's will get. If enough I's like the idea of smaller, less involved government, that's what all the I's will get. Those who can't live with that situation will have to find another amalgamation of tribes wherein to live.

Will that be perfect? No, but if we don't get rid of those that refuse to "play by the rules," it won't matter how any of the I's vote.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 08, 2012
Asking Some Right Questions

If you combine a contentious Congress that votes on, without reading, legislation changing the basic social and power structure of the country... with predisposed Supreme Court justices... and on top of that, a President who chooses which laws should be enforced and which should be ignored or when he will abide by the Constitution and when it is simply too inconvenient, then the framework within which the right questions can be asked is broken... and any answers regarding the efficiency, effectiveness, and appropriateness of the federal government become meaningless.

Instead, we get un-elected "czars", unmanageable laws, overbearing regulations, and massive special interest giveaways... all of which go unchallenged and unabated.

The upset reader was not really disagreeing with me as much as presuming I favored a socialist or totalitarian form of government because he focused on isolated words... "amalgamation"... "tribe"... "we"... rather than the dynamics of how 300 million people can effectively interact. He wants less government involvement and intrusion in his life. I agree.

But I recognize the need for government and I very much like our system. 300 million people could theoretically interact without government and laws, just one-on-one commerce interactions... the Libertarian nirvana... but the chaos would be unimaginable. Our government serves the vastly different interests of over 300 million people... not perfectly... but reasonably. And it provides the needed legal framework for commerce and protecting our rights.

The biggest dangers to our framework are individuals who undermine the framework by seeking to use its benefits without stepping up to their personal responsibilities... and the politicians they vote in who ignore the rules of the framework in order to satisfy those irresponsible individuals and thereby retain their political power. After all, not everyone is a totally responsible Libertarian... even some Libertarians can be irresponsible within the framework [probably just hangers-on ].

That results in ever larger cracks in the framework.

2012 IS HERE

Politics: The Individual Or The Herd

2012-01-16T00:01:00.014-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: TRIBALISM

In this year of elections, we take for granted that there are certain inalienable rights. Our Constitution guarantees them. A simple question: what guarantees the Constitution? To answer that question, you must examine the dynamics of the herd:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2004Relationships: Rules of the Road

Humans are "herd" animals. Humans that live in isolation are less likely to survive. Herds survive by spreading the risk and sharing the resources. There are implicit "rules" of the herd. Rules allow the weak and strong to co-exist while acknowledging the strong through larger shares of the resources and protecting the weak by receiving a measure of protection from the strong. So, killing another member of the herd is prohibited except under extreme circumstances. Allowing the strong to kill the weak at will would destroy the herd. Sharing resources, albeit unequally, satisfies the strong and accommodates the weak.

Politics is always about herd dynamics regardless of those who want to talk about individual rights or unions. Look at the world and you will see that nations are amalgamations of many tribes who struggle to co-exist with different versions of tribal mechanisms designed to provide a framework for individuals to co-exist. While that is difficult at best, international politics is a balancing act in which these amalgamations seek to maintain or expand their power while other amalgamations attempt the same thing.

As individuals, we presume certain "truths" about the way our amalgamation of tribes should function. "We hold these truths to be self-evident...." "Long live the King...." "لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله...."

When we are faced with truths that conflict with our own, we resolve it with compromise or conflict... depending on how strongly we adhere to our truths and how strongly we are pressed by those opposing our positions.

Sometimes it is necessary to "rally the troops." Iran has its "great Satan." The U.S. had its "Evil Empire." Conflict is threatened in the hope that the opposing faction blinks first. Sometimes, no one blinks.

As individuals, we have a strong incentive to support our tribe... or who we believe represents the interests of our tribe... as long as we believe our personal interests are represented as well. Sometimes we will support those who represent some interests contrary to ours as long as they also represent our interests. So, we oppose a war, but we support the leader who promises to take care of our wants and needs despite leading us into war. Sometimes it is "the devil we know" versus the devil we don't know. We all know that leaders lie to or mislead us; we just hope their lies and deceptions are not too damaging.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 06, 2012Damn Politicians Lie To Us

Within our cultural and political framework, we have variations of interests and perceptions of truth. We seek individuals to represent us who we believe best reflect our personal interests within the amalgamation. Do we want protection and sustenance from the tribe more than individual freedom from the demands of the tribe [socialists] ... or vice versa [libertarians]?

Very few demand complete separation from the tribe... and even most of those simply want separation from the demands of the tribe, not separation from the benefits the framework provides; i.e., laws that guarantee rights.

Most of us accept the ground rules for our culture and framework. When we have those who represent us attempting to change the ground rules... or those who selectively play by the rules... we tend to get upset and seek their removal... especially if we believe we are being disadvantaged by those changes.

The point of all of this is that for those who want an objective truth as the basis for their politics, they are faced with the basic dynamic that drives all politics: what's in it for me? It seems we are often left with the feeling that our choice boils down to our perception of what is the lesser of two evils.

So, again, what guarantees our Constitution? Nothing more than people... and leaders... who are willing to play by its rules. If the framework is allowed to be fluid and transitory, there is very little in it for individuals. The tribe disintegrates.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 08, 2012

Asking Some Right Questions

2012 IS HERE

Thatcher Explains Why Obama's Tax Policy Is Bankrupt

2012-01-15T12:34:00.002-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA and TAXES

Increase taxes or not?

'Nuf said.
H/T: American Thinker

2012 IS HERE

Your Tax Dollars and Congress At Work

2012-01-15T00:01:00.008-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS and ENERGY

Headline: House Approves 25 Percent Renewable Energy by 2025

Headline: Tax dollars backing some "risky" energy projects

Headline: New EPA Rule Could Shut Down A Ton Of The Nation's Power Plants [Let's presume there is some air quality benefit that vastly outweighs the loss of more than 14 gigawatts of power generation that serves 22 million households.]

Let's spell this out for you ... just in case by some inexplicable reason you don't see the obvious ... what this means: The United States government has its collective heads up their collective asses.

Step 1: Mandate something for which you have no idea how it can be accomplished.

Step 2: Spend billions of taxpayer dollars backing solutions for that which you mandated which are so risky that you could not find a private investor stupid enough to use his own money.

Step 3: Burn your bridges behind you and hope for the best.

So, the government is mandating changes to our electrical grid that will result in less energy being available at a higher cost... and is trying to find the solutions for its mandate using taxpayer money in very questionable investments. See, government can do it better than private enterprise.

Related: Home Grown Energy

2012 IS HERE

Horrifying Marines

2012-01-14T16:59:00.003-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: WAR

From the UK Daily Mail:

Oh, so horrifying. It overwhelms the sensibilities. We must remember to act like gentlemen at all times. Such behavior is the ultimate horror of war and has no place in civilized society.

It simply is not correct to display such lack of respect to an honorable foe. The Taliban would never stoop to such actions.

No, indeed. The Taliban would never take such actions against their enemies. They would lay the bodies of their fallen enemies out on a bed where their remains would be honored.

Yes, urinating is so horrifying... a war crime... indeed.

Four US marines identified by the military as the soldiers filmed urinating on corpses in Afghanistan are likely to face a court martial after an American military commander said such actions are a "grave breach" of the laws of war. [source]

Time for the military commander to go out on patrol... with no bullets in his gun... and a daisy in his lapel. As for the soldiers, they should be reprimanded for public urination.

Next time just use pig blood.

2012 IS HERE

President Obama Wants To Make Government Smaller

2012-01-14T00:01:00.026-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA

And the Pope just converted to Islam.

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama asked Congress on Friday for power to consolidate agencies that promote U.S. exports, a move he cast as crucial to streamlining a sprawling bureaucracy struggling to meet the demands of a 21st century economy.

Still, miracles happen according to the Catholic church.

Are we to believe that the man who installed more executives ["czars"], not confirmed by the Senate, than any other president... the man who presided over the greatest expansion of government spending and power than any other president... the man who chooses which laws will be enforced and which laws are unconstitutional... that man wants to rein in the federal government?

This is one gift horse into whose mouth we had better look. He is saying what sounds like all the right words, but watch your wallet. Remember, this is the man who says the market "doesn't work." He believes more government is the answer. "Streamlining" doesn't mean smaller, it means consolidating power into ever larger departments and agencies... with more reach into the marketplace.

This from Kevin Jackson at The Black Sphere:

As it turns out this new consolidation of SIX agencies would save America a whopping $3B…over TEN years! Yes, the amount of two-thirds of ONE day’s interest is what this bold new political move will save the country…over TEN years! At that rate we could pay off our debt in…NEVER!

Okay, I'm not shocked.

2012 IS HERE

President Carter In Egypt A Bad Sign

2012-01-13T09:30:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: CARTER

Former President James Carter is in Egypt monitoring elections. Given his track record as President, this cannot portent well.

2012 IS HERE

Iran The Beneficent

2012-01-13T00:01:00.014-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: IRAN

If we are to accept the position of some, Iran is a misunderstood land of oriental rugs, pistachios, and peace-loving people praying 5 times each day. Iran is also a nation that desperately needs nuclear power to provide all of the necessities of life to their otherwise impoverished people; it is not seeking nuclear weapons to become the North Korea of the Middle East. Iran's rulers are religious, ethical, and moderate in life and in their dealings with their own citizens and other countries.

Uncertain World: The war of nerves around Iran
Iran's Kamikazi Hormuz Threat
Iran's warnings reflect tougher military doctrine
Iran's Self-Destructive Gamble
Growing Rivalry Between Israel and Iran Poses Danger of Military Conflict

Strange how Iran seems to be the focus of so much international concern given it is the victim of others' ill-intentions.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2012Israel Presumed To Have Killed Iranian Nuclear Scientist

2012 IS HERE

Sunset Legislation

2012-01-12T14:10:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

With all of the complaining about the growth of government and spending and taxes and regulation, why does this not appear on any of the Republican candidates' list of ideas?

SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2009How Long Should Legislation Remain Law

Depending on who happens to be in power, it appears that laws will either be enforced or circumvented or ignored.

I have a better idea. Let's create sunsets for our laws. This is obviously not an original idea. But it does have merits. Consider this:
Unfunded programs - implemented upon funding or rescinded after 2 years if not funded [including unfunded "mandates"]
Funded programs - 4 years and must be specifically funded, not funded by diversion of funds collected for other purposes
Commerce legislation - 15 years
Criminal legislation - 25 years
Treaties - 30 years maximum
National security legislation - 30 years
At the end of each appropriate time limit, current legislators would be called upon to renew the legislation or ignore it and allow the law to expire.

The effect would be two-fold:
Elimination of unnecessary or inappropriate laws
Minimizing time spent on passing new unnecessary and inappropriate laws
The maximum time for laws to be in effect would not preclude legislation to repeal any laws.

How often do laws just "fade away?" You can argue the merits of the template above with regard to the specifics, but the concept of the second or third look is sound. There are always arguments for passing the legislation initially, but then the reasons for the legislation get forgotten or ignored once it has become law. Rather than waiting for someone to lead the charge against onerous or ill-fated legislation, this provides an escape valve.

If it can't pass the second time, perhaps it shouldn't have passed the first.

This would be different from the "sunset provisions" specifically written into a law; they would apply to all laws and not require specific language in the law except to identify the category of law to determine which sunset period applies.

2012 IS HERE

Home Grown Energy

2012-01-12T00:01:00.008-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: NATURAL GAS

Energy dependence; what energy dependence?

If fact, with so many new shale gas deposits — located all over the U.S.— now every market can be served with “local” gas, greatly reducing the need for pipelines. Dividend paying pipeline companies have been some of the best performing stocks for resource investors, but the shale gas supply glut may drag them down now as well. [source]

Wow, what a problem! Too much of a good thing.

Well, there's always the EPA to the rescue.

The EPA has issued a draft report confirming what many environmental groups have long suspected: Natural gas drilling is causing groundwater contamination.

Strangely, the same process doesn't seem to affect ground water in Great Britain.

Fracking has proved controversial in the US, where shale gas is already being exploited on a large scale and where footage has been captured of people able to set fire to the water coming out of their taps as a result of gas contamination.

But Professor Mike Stephenson, of the British Geological Survey, said most geologists thought it was a "pretty safe activity" and the risks associated with it were low.

He said the distance between groundwater supplies around 40-50 metres below the surface and the deep sources of gas in the shale a mile or two underground, made it unlikely methane would leak into water as a result of fracking.

Well, better to be safe by eliminating coal and natural gas as energy sources. Co2 might be a problem; methane might be a problem. We'll just burn wood from the national forests. [image] No, a better solution: we'll import everything because there is no environmental impact from foreign products. Hey, Canada. Send us your fuel.

Addendum:

EPA: Power plants are main global warming culprits

Still acting on a theory that has been shown to be based on manipulated data feeding unworkable models.

2012 IS HERE

Pictures From 9 Billion Years Ago

2012-01-11T18:40:00.002-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: NASA

Ran across this article that stretches the imagination.

Hubble Breaks New Ground with Discovery of Distant Exploding Star

01.11.12

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has looked deep into the distant universe and detected the feeble glow of a star that exploded more than 9 billion years ago. The sighting is the first finding of an ambitious survey that will help astronomers place better constraints on the nature of dark energy, the mysterious repulsive force that is causing the universe to fly apart ever faster.

These three images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal the emergence of an exploding star, called a supernova. Nicknamed SN Primo, the exploding star belongs to a special class called Type Ia supernovae, which are distance markers used for studying dark energy and the expansion rate of the universe. The top image shows part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the region where astronomers were looking for a supernova blast. The white box shows where the supernova is later seen. The bottom left image is a close-up of the field without the supernova. A new bright object, identified as the supernova, appears in the image at bottom right. Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Riess (Space Telescope Science Institute and The Johns Hopkins University), and S. Rodney (The Johns Hopkins University) [source]

First, it strains the mind to think that we are able to see an event that happened 9 billion years ago. Secondly, it begs the larger question: what does it look like now in that space? A lot could happen in 9 billion years.

The earth is estimated to be less than 5 billions years old. In 5 to 7 billion years more, the sun and earth will end... so no one... ever... will see what that space, where the supernova was, looks like today from our vantage. Of course, in 5 to 7 billion years everything will be different and in a different place.

Just go back to thinking about politics. It's a lot simpler.

2012 IS HERE

Israel Presumed To Have Killed Iranian Nuclear Scientist

2012-01-11T11:28:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG:

Just because Iran keeps threatening to destroy Israel is no reason for Israel to kill scientists who are working on a program that gives Iran the means to destroy Israel... is it? After all, what are mere threats from madmen?

2012 IS HERE

No Love For Mitt?

2012-01-11T10:38:00.001-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

www.rasmussenreports.com

2012 IS HERE

Romney Goes Flat On Taxes

2012-01-11T06:01:00.002-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: TAXES

“But I look long term to do just what Jon [Huntsman] indicated, which is to take Bowles-Simpson and to reduce the rates in our tax code, to reduce the number of exemptions, and limit the amount of exceptions that can occur. At the same time, I don’t want to raise capital-gains tax rates, as they do in Bowles-Simpson. But simplifying the code, broadening the base, is the right way to go for our tax code long term.” [SOURCE]

Not quite a flat tax, but on the road to what I proposed here awhile ago:

FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2005Excessive Spending - Taxes and Shelters

I'm not pushing Bowles-Simpson. This is a simplified, "progressive flat tax" ... possibly an oxymoron, but descriptive. A single tax rate with a single deduction amount. The only other item that might be considered is a deduction for medical expenses that exceed 30% of your gross income. That's an amount large enough to be considered significant and a nut big enough to encourage the purchase of medical insurance.

It's time for government to be simplified... to get back to a solid framework that is not open to the whims of politicians, not the bailiwick of agency bureaucrats, and not the playground of special interests. We once had a Constitution and Bill of Rights that were reasonably understood along the lines they were written. We can't say that anymore.

2012 IS HERE

Global Warming or Arctic Oscillation

2012-01-11T00:01:00.049-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: GLOBAL WARMING

After two fairly cold winters in a row, 2011-12 has started out very mild over a large part of the U.S. Here in SE Michigan, there is no snow and the lake ice, if present, is exceedingly thin. Last year, there were ice fisherman on our lake in early December and fairly deep snow from then through most of the winter. Obviously, the change is much too fast for a climate change... although as pleasant as this winter has been so far, we wouldn't object to a more permanent change in that direction. Of course, if you are a ski bum or can't wait to get out on the snowmobile, this is not change for the better.

What happened? From the National Snow and Ice Data Center [NSIDC]:

This graph shows daily Arctic Oscillation Index values from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center for early September 2011 to early January 2012. The index is a normalized (unitless) index of relative pressure anomalies between polar and mid-latitude regions.

Credit: NSIDC courtesy NOAA NWS Climate Prediction Center
High Resolution Image

Positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation
The past two Arctic winters were dominated by a negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation, a large-scale weather pattern that brings generally warm conditions to the Arctic and colder conditions to Europe and North America. In contrast, the winter of 2011 has so far seen a mostly positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. While temperatures were above normal in the Kara and Barents seas, the positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation tends to keep the coldest winter air locked up in the Arctic, which keeps the middle latitudes free of frigid Arctic temperatures and strong snowstorms. This weather pattern helps to explain the low snow cover and warm conditions over much of the United States and Eastern Europe so far this winter.

Yeah, me too. I read it, but don't get it. What's an oscillation? And what's the "positive phase?" Well, it's a weather pattern... got that.

Separately, the NSIDC explains the phenomenon this way:

The Arctic Oscillation

The Arctic Oscillation refers to opposing atmospheric pressure patterns in northern middle and high latitudes.

The oscillation exhibits a "negative phase" with relatively high pressure over the polar region and low pressure at midlatitudes (about 45 degrees North), and a "positive phase" in which the pattern is reversed. In the positive phase, higher pressure at midlatitudes drives ocean storms farther north, and changes in the circulation pattern bring wetter weather to Alaska, Scotland and Scandinavia, as well as drier conditions to the western United States and the Mediterranean. In the positive phase, frigid winter air does not extend as far into the middle of North America as it would during the negative phase of the oscillation. This keeps much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains warmer than normal, but leaves Greenland and Newfoundland colder than usual. Weather patterns in the negative phase are in general "opposite" to those of the positive phase, as illustrated below.

Over most of the past century, the Arctic Oscillation alternated between its positive and negative phases. Starting in the 1970s, however, the oscillation has tended to stay in the positive phase, causing lower than normal arctic air pressure and higher than normal temperatures in much of the United States and northern Eurasia.

Effects of the Positive Phase | Effects of the Negative Phase
of the Arctic Oscillation of the Arctic Oscillation

Okay, sort of like an atmospheric "fence" that, when positive, is strong enough to keep the cold air in the Arctic, but when negative, allows the cold air to push southward into the U.S. and northern Europe and Asia. These patterns are not related to CO2 or who is in the White House.

Well, I'm all for remaining positive, but it looks as if things could be changing toward the negative around here:

Wed

46° | 34°

Partly Sunny

Thu

39° | 19°

Chance Rain/Snow

Fri

26° | 16°

Chance Snow

... Time to get the snowblower ready.

2012 IS HERE

Profit As A Political Liability

2012-01-10T13:03:00.002-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

Interesting quote:

Mitt Romney ran a firm that invested in struggling businesses, made money, and never asked for a bailout — and Romney’s rivals apparently expect Republican voters to regard that as a liability. [source]

The problem is all of those greedy people who get those profits from revived corporations:

bankers
stock brokers
CEOs
retirees
union funds
teachers' funds
young people investing for their future
IRS
employees of those companies

Yes, Mitt, you did a bad, bad thing.

Chris Isaak

2012 IS HERE

No Doubt Which Team Is Number One

2012-01-10T00:59:00.000-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: FOOTBALL

21 - 0

Tide over Tigers

Only one team showed up ready to play for that game.

2012 IS HERE

They Asked For It

2012-01-10T00:01:00.069-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: CULTURE

According to the [Just World Theory] hypothesis, people have a strong desire or need to believe that the world is an orderly, predictable, and just place, where people get what they deserve. Such a belief plays an important function in our lives since in order to plan our lives or achieve our goals we need to assume that our actions will have predictable consequences....

Ironically, then, the belief in a just world may take the place of a genuine commitment to justice. For some people, it is simply easier to assume that forces beyond their control mete out justice. When that occurs, the result may be the abdication of personal responsibility, acquiescence in the face of suffering and misfortune, and indifference towards injustice. Taken to the extreme, indifference can result in the institutionalization of injustice.

[source]

In a world filled with horrible stories of human suffering, there is, according to the summary above, a thought process that says that people get what they deserve. The opposite thinking is that people are innocent victims of circumstances.

Below are some situations that are uncomfortable to discuss, but exemplify the problems associated with broad-brushed positions. In all of these examples, people were hurt or killed, so this is not an attempt to trivialize that. It is, rather, an attempt to show that how these situations are perceived are subject to bias and context.

These are examples, in a Just World, of people who get what they deserve:

women who get raped because they went to a bar wearing skimpy, sexually provocative clothing, picked up a stranger and got in his car
high-school dropouts who cannot get a job and don't have the resources to improve themselves
Muslim women who are jailed for adultery after they got raped by a relative or because they broke cultural laws leading to the rape
Nigerian Christians who get massacred for attending church in a Muslim country

These are examples of innocent victims of random injustice:

women who get raped because they went to a bar wearing skimpy, sexually provocative clothing, picked up a stranger and got in his car
high-school dropouts who cannot get a job and don't have the resources to improve themselves
Muslim women who are jailed for adultery after they got raped by a relative or because they broke cultural laws leading to the rape
Nigerian Christians who get massacred for attending church in a Muslim country

Hmmm.

... an online study of 1,061 Londoners between the ages of 18 and 50 called “Wake Up to Rape” found that more than half of women surveyed believed rape victims should take some responsibility for what happened. Of these women, almost three quarters believed that if a victim got into bed with the assailant before the attack they should accept some responsibility and one-third blamed victims who dressed provocatively or had gone back to the attacker’s house for a drink, according to BBC News. [source] ... COMPLICIT OR VICTIM?

Chief Walter Armstrong held a press conference in the Municipal Courtroom to announce the arrest of two suspects in the house burglary and rape of a disabled person on Drummond Street. [source] ... COMPLICIT OR VICTIM?

Despite decades of decline in teen pregnancies, the United States still has the highest teen birthrate in the industrialized world. Pregnancy is also the number one reason girls drop out of school. Research shows that 3 out of 10 girls will be pregnant at least once before they turn 20. And almost half of female dropouts said becoming a parent was a factor in dropping out, according to a survey by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. [source] ... COMPLICIT OR VICTIM?

Many young, poor black men are stuck in poor neighbourhoods with limited licit economic opportunities and failing schools. The incentive to finish high school is quite low, and the incentive to turn to illicit activity is high. Obviously, individuals should be held responsible for their own actions. At the same time, government, at all levels, seems to go out of its way to make it easy for many disadvantaged young men to follow the route out of school and into prison, and very difficult to make it back on the road to licit employment. [source] ... COMPLICIT OR VICTIM?
A WOMAN in Saudi Arabia sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes despite being gang raped has confessed to adultery, the Justice Ministry said yesterday as it tried to fend off mounting criticism.
Despite being assaulted by seven men who kidnapped her and a male companion at knifepoint, the 19-year-old woman was sentenced in November last year to 90 lashes. The judge sentenced her for being in a car with a man who was not her relative, a taboo in the Muslim kingdom. [source] ... COMPLICIT OR VICTIM?
Women returned to clean the blood from St. Theresa Catholic Church on Monday and one man wept uncontrollably amid its debris as a Nigerian Christian association demanded protection for its churches. At least 35 people died at St. Theresa and dozens more were wounded as radical Muslim militants launched coordinated attacks across Africa's most populous nation within hours of one another. Four more people were killed in other violence blamed on the group known as Boko Haram. [source] ... COMPLICIT OR VICTIM?

KANO, Nigeria, May 5 (AFP) - More than 200 Muslims are dead and 120 missing after Christian militia attacked a central Nigerian town, one of Nigeria's most senior Islamic leaders said Wednesday, branding the assault "mass murder". [source] ... COMPLICIT OR VICTIM?

That's the trouble with life: answers are not always yes or no, 1 or 0. Life is messy.

Are there innocent victims? Yes.
Are there participatory victims? Yes.
Are there people in unfortunate circumstances who are not victims? Yes.
You need to ask the right questions to get the right answers. Generalities are poor substitutes.

"A big problem with seeking right answers is that the ideologies intervene. The answers appear to be right because they satisfy our prejudices, inclinations, even our heart, and only secondarily our mind. Seeking right questions, on the other hand, can provide a clarity of direction and consequences. So how do you teach people to ask the right questions?"

- Shannon Skousgaard, Ph.D.; Professor Emerita, Associate Professor of Philosopy, George Mason University

2012 IS HERE

Time Out

2012-01-09T19:30:00.002-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: FOOTBALL

The Military Strategy Of The Commander In Chief

2012-01-09T00:01:00.053-05:00

SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA

President Obama and former CIA Director and currently Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, announced sweeping changes to the U.S. military.

Now that the Middle East has become an international peace zone, the President wants to draw down U.S. land forces and shift high-tech resources to the Asian front where massive hostilities with China are considered a foregone conclusion. The focus will be on the use of this high-tech approach designed to intimidate the several million man Chinese armed forces.

In Tom Clancy's SSN fashion, China is seen to be the logical source of future threats to the U.S. and the rest of the world... once it has drained every cent of the world's wealth through selling low-priced toys that cannot be manufactured anyplace else but China and built up its army, navy, air force, space force, and Modern Warfare force. This will be followed by the takeover of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Los Angeles unless the U.S. can do something... anything... maybe. [STRATEGY ONE: WE CAN DOWNPLAY PRESENT ACTUAL THREATS AND HOSTILITIES TO FOCUS ON POSSIBLE ONES]

As part of the strategy to contain China, the U.S. has decided to give all of its anti-missile secrets to Russia in the hope that the Russians will not join China against it. This stroke of military genius follows an obscure Central Asian strategist who attempted to build his long-forgotten country's security by giving away military information to Attila the Hun on the premise that Attila would not fear them if they showed their good intentions. Attila did not fear them.

Meanwhile, President Obama is also encouraging more U.S. corporations to invest in China saying, "The Chinese need technology transfer, legal or otherwise, to ensure that they will be able to continue supplying us all of the things that we currently make for ourselves. The U.S. cannot morally keep either its military or civilian technology secrets from those who want them." This policy, of course, will not apply to U.S. citizens who attempt to obtain such secrets... especially military secrets. They will be tried for espionage. [STRATEGY TWO: IGNORANCE IS THE ROOT OF ALL PROBLEMS SO WE JUST NEED TO BE MORE FORTHCOMING WITH OUR SECRETS TO OUR COMPETITORS AND ADVERSARIES]

Some nations and three people in the U.S. have expressed concern about President Obama's notion that the hostilities in the Middle East are over. They note that the precipitous withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq followed by negotiations to turn over Afghanistan to the Taliban (as long as they really promised to be really good) might have been grounded less in reason and more in simply being tired of the whole thing. Meanwhile, President Obama urged Israel to consider Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians to be simply good neighbors who want "to take down the fence that separates them." He also noted that his Administration plans to stand behind Israel 100%... way behind... completely out of the picture behind. [STRATEGY THREE: IF WE APPEAR TO MAKE A REALLY GOOD EFFORT, IT IS APPROPRIATE TO NOT COMPLETE THE EFFORT]

The U.S. military should be able to ensure national security with smaller conventional ground forces, the U.S. president said. He vowed to get rid of "outdated Cold War-era systems" [nuclear weapons, missiles, bombers] while investing in the capabilities needed for the future, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as counterterrorism, among others. [source]

It appears we will watch adversaries into submission.

The President hopes that these measures will free up to $1 trillion over the next decade. Said the President, "We'll miss a few things, such as a standing army, but that is a small price to pay for Middle East peace and ensuring that my rounds of golf in Hawaii are not threatened by hoards of Chinese seamstresses overrunning the islands." [STRATEGY FOUR: MILITARY STUFF IS REALLY BOTHERSOME SO MAKING THE MILITARY MUCH SMALLER FREES UP MY TIME]

My, doesn't Gen. Dempsey look pleased?

All right. There was some tongue-in-cheek in this post... but I'm not laughing... and neither should you. Read the links in this post and you'll understand more.

See also:

TUESDAY, JANUARY 03, 2012Snatching Defeat

Year	Last Week	This Week	Diff
1911	5.31	4.21	1.1
1941	5.28	4.09	1.19
1971	5.85	4.65	1.2
1991	6.12	4.92	1.2
2011	5.58	5.58	0