Compromise

If the executive branch of the government (i.e. the President) can and does pick and choose which laws will be enforced, contrary to the Constitution (Article II Section 3 "...he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, ...), then why would Congress agree to any legislative compromise knowing that the President may not feel obligated to uphold his end of the bargain?

See: we are giving businesses more time to comply

Stellar Wind

Big brother is watching. Thanks to William Binney, "a former NSA code breaker" (cryptographer?), we know more about Stellar Wind, the government's project to collect all US electronic communications.  Did I write "all"?  I meant ALL. That's all phone calls, emails, SMS texts.  All.  Collect it all to sift through it to connect all the dots.  They will know all of your associates.Also see the NYTimes article: the-national-security-agencys-domestic-spying-program.
Why is this on the Op-Ed page and not on the front page?  There will be more on this.

It's even a side plot on HBO's The Newsroom.

very nice quote

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

Barack Obama's keynote at the Call to Renewal's Building a Covenant for a New America conference in Washington, D.C., in 2006

SOPA, Protect-IP, NDAA

SOPA, PROTECT IP, HR 1540 (2012 NDAA)

No more freedom of the press.
No more freedom of association.
No more habeus corpus.


Fascism.

Need I say more?

By the way, If you are reading this, you have downloaded it & taken a copy of it. This is copyrighted material (even though I have not registered my copyright) as all original works are, so beware: you might get five years for this act!

---

Yes, I do need to say more.  It might be pretty easy to bypass the web site filtering proposed by SOPA.  Simply don't use the DNS servers provided by your ISP..  If you don't understand the previous sentence, give up now and start sucking your thumb.  Otherwise, change your DNS setup (on your router or computer) to point to one of the freely available DNS servers not run by an ISP, perhaps one hosted in a different, and perhaps more free, country..   Check out the OpenNic Project (or skip directly to the instructions.)   Here is another list of free DNS providers; I'm sure you can google for others.  Pick one that gives you good performance.  If you savvy, could get set up your own caching DNS and use one of the free DNS addresses as a forwarder to get even better performance--but perhaps your router already does this--or you could try using this tool to figure out a good performing DNS.

Alan Simpson blasts debt impasse

Sometime I think you have to be a former member of Congress to have any sense...

In an interview with The Associated Press, Simpson said both parties in Congress have bowed, at least so far, to lobbying pressure from interest groups as well as members' own interests in getting re-elected in refusing to get behind real austerity measures.
from the Billings Gazette

You see, there is this Taxpayer Protection Pledge that most Republicans have signed and if the were to renege on this pledge they might find campaign contributions diminish. According to Simpson,

...Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, has concentrated on getting GOP politicians to sign a pledge never to support a net increase in taxes.

And the Democrats won;t agree to any package that doesn't have a least some tax increases in it.

Ironically, a fairer tax system would have fewer loopholes and incentives bult into it and that is one of the things the committee was supposed to be working on. However, even Obama is two faced on this issue...

“Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes, or we’re going to have to ask seniors to pay more for Medicare. We can’t afford to do both. Either we gut education and medical research, or we’ve got to reform the tax code so that the most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don’t get. We can’t afford to do both. This is not class warfare. It’s math.” (Link)

New Tax Cuts to Businesses to Support Hiring and Investment: The President is proposing three tax cuts to provide immediate incentives to hire and invest: (Link)

He's perfectly willing to close loopholes for the wealthy corporations just as long as he can open up new loopholes, er, or incentives. Whatever you want to call them.

printing money

Incredibly, Alan Greenspan said this on "Meet The Press" on August 7th, 2011:

The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.

I think he must be ready to pass away. He doesn't care about the value of the dollar any more or inflation. Alan Greenspan, former protégé of Ayn Rand. No less.



Alan Greenspan, former Fed chairman.

.

stoush

Google and their 'stoush' with Apple.  Odd term to use.

Debt Limit

I'm sure this will all work out in the end, but this Christian Science Monitor article provided some much needed insight I didn't see elsewhere--Brian Williams, are you listening?

...it is becoming ever clearer that the two most important numbers in the debt-ceiling crisis are 1982 and 1990.
[]
What happened in those two years? Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush both agreed to tax increases after Congress promised to make even greater cuts to spending. In both cases, the tax increases took effect, the spending cuts did not.

Another 30,000 Year Monument to Our Arrogance

Assuming that one two three six seven perhaps up to eleven (including one three at the Daiichi facility that wasn't even active at the time of the earthquake that sufferred a fire in a storage pond) of the nuclear reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini and Onagawa power plants don't just explode and contaminate a large percentage of the globe or it doesn't melt through the floor and contaminate the ground water for most of Japan, they will probably be encased and closed forever.  Forever is along time.  Really, only 30,000 years.  As with Chernobyl  a vast area will have to be abandoned for the foreseeable future.  What will out grandchildren think of us?




According to the NeW Your Times (March 15th):


Worryingly, temperatures appeared to be rising in the spent fuel pools at two other reactors at the plant, No. 5 and No. 6, said Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary.

Consent of the Governed

This is great!  I can hardly believe it.  In this day & age there are revolutions happening now!  Incredible.  To think that all these years of the U.S. trying to foment, encourage, cajoul various organizations to overthrow their countries' oppressive governments & autocrats and establish a more democratic government.  And all of that was money seems to have been wasted.  We paid people to revolt and all they did was collect the money.  Did we paid people in Tunisia?  I doubt it.  They wanted freedom from their oppressive and greedy government.  Egypt saw it.  Bahrain. Yemen.  Libya.   I am heartened by this.  My Christian Lebanese friend always tells me that everything that goes on in the Middle East is all about religion.  Religion that I don't understand: Islam and Judaism.  But, these revolutions give me hope that there is more to it, that there are reasonable people there that are willing to stand up, fight back and, hopefully, take charge.

As the U.S. Declaration of Independence states...

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

TSA administrative searches

Does the TSA's authority derive from the Frank v. Maryland decision?  The basis for this was that the benefit to society outweighs one idividual's right to privacy. 

There must be more law than this because the TSA does not search only one individual and in Frank v. Maryland, the government (health department) had some suspicion that they would find something (rats).  The TSA corrolary in this case should be if the health department exhaustively searched and x-rayed everyone's home for all infestations and arrested people for illegal activities or possesions they happen to notice.Yeah, the TSA may find contraband but almost all of what is deemed contraband is not dangerous and does not indicate a desire to hijack an airplane.  TSA's abbreviated list.

Backscatter more a threat to safety than terrorism

This is about the best point I've seen about the recent TSA "nude-o-scope" and "crotch grabbing" ('scuse the expressions) debacle.  Thanks, Boarding Area:

Still, Bruce Schneier points out that even though backscatter x-ray machines are expected to increase change of death by only 16 ten millionths of one percent, that’s still more than the risk of death from terrorism. And he points to Nate Silver on inconveniences of air travel pushing people to driving which is far more dangerous, and statistically attributes the equivalent of four full 737s a year in additional traffic deaths.

I could go on and on how awful this all is.  But, let me just say this:

. Remember how gradually the Jews lost their rights in Nazi Germany.
. Contrary to TSA's attitude, airline travel is a right, not merely a privilege, in the sense that we are free to associate and conduct commerce (with airlines, et al) and have freedom of movement (travel).

Puppy

My current favorite flavor of Linux:  Puppy Linux
booting off a USB stick.

Unconventional Marriages

OK, so really I have two points to make. Keeping it short. I don't have a problem with people who want to live together and if they belong to a church that is willing to bless or sanctify their relationship then that is totally up to them  But, you have to realize two things:

1. Today's same-sex marriage controversy isn't about who can be together and who can't. These people are already together. And do they think they need their relationship condoned by some government agency? No, I don't think so. It is about government benefits.  Here's a list the Government Accounting Office (GAO) made up to give "a sense of the kinds of federal laws in which marital status is a factor." What is the point of all of this? Governments have been encouraging and subsidizing marriage for decades. Why? Some of it is tradition, some is religious, some of it is simply doing favors for constituents.

2. Same-gender marriage is just the start.  Other committed relationships are still not recognized by the government and I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be.  For example, why is "two" a special number?  Shouldn't a marriage of three people be recognized by the government? How about one? A single person cannot share in the benefits of marriage--why not? Does there have to be sex involved at all? I can see where an entire congregation or commune of people might enter into a marriage if it means they get more food stamps.

That being said, the government should not be in the marriage business. All the special laws, regulations and exceptions made for married people should be scrapped. There may be an argument to subsidize the raising of children, but that should be a wholly different matter.

BP Oil Spill extent

Another good analysis of the oil spill to supplement my earlier post on the subject comes from Discover Magazine: The BP Oil Plume.  I love it when folks have their BS detectors running.

...the total volume of the leak was estimated to be 780,000 cubic meters of oil.

If we were to take this volume and spread it out in a layer 1 millimeter thick, it would cover an area of 780 million square meters, which is a square about 28 kilometers on a side.

Yes, it's a lot of oil.  But the Gulf of Mexico is a very large area.  Check out their photo depiction that shows the amount of oil spilled as compared to the Pentagon.   Those that call it a "Manhattan-sized" spill should probably mean as large as a building on Manhattan.

Tri-cycle bomber in China kills 7

Tri-cycle bomber in China kills 7. What is going on with all these bombings? This another one of those things in this world that I just don't understand.  Lack of respect for human life.

Interest rates too low?

Interesting discussion of how these extremely low interest rates do not encourage banks to lend.

Low interest rates mean "easy money". With easy money no one has an incentive to economize....

Yet, banks aren't lending except for high collateral positions...and why is this? The answer is simple, as Robert Higgs said, "regime uncertainty".

This is a bit contrary to the fact that most profit these days has been the result of increased productivity a.k.a. economizing a.k.a. laying off, closing factories, offshoring work, etc.  This only works in the short term.  Eventually, you need to put Employees First.  :)

Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down

Dr. Laura Schlessinger & the "N" Word

From Dr. Laura's (Schlessinger) radio show, yesterday, regarding the use of the word "nigger":

Caller:	It’s OK to say that word?
Dr. Laura:	It depends how it’s said.
Caller:	Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word?
Dr. Laura:	It’s — it depends how it’s said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it’s OK.
Caller:	But you’re not black. They’re not black. My husband is white.
Dr. Laura:	Oh, I see. So, a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can’t do much about that.

Can't handle the truth? On NPR, John Ridly said it was OK for blacks to use the word "nigger" because of a "history" of slavery & Jim Crow. Huh?

When asked the same question that Dr. Laura was asked by a listener, Ridley responds that it's OK for black people to use the word because of the history of slavery and Jim Crow laws.

Know anyone that has been in slavery? Can President Obama use the word "nigger"? Not by this criteria since his ancestors weren't here for any of that.

Viaduct lies

Excuse me if I veer into Seattle politics a bit.

Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle

Advert: The Alaskan Way Viaduct

According to the the Stranger, The State Is Lying About the Tunnel.  All this fuss about whether or not the City of Seattle will be on the hook for all cost overruns for the project to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct with an under-downtown tunnel--all this fuss may be for naught.  It seems, not that many contractors want to bid the job anyway.

One of the four groups expected to bid on the contract to build the tunnel dropped out in March. Then, on July 12, the city got word that one of the three remaining teams seeking to win the contract to build the tunnel had stopped work on its bid. The team's lead member, Kiewit Corporation, said the state's contract was "not compatible" with its business model.

If the bids are too high, no one know what will happen. Apparently, the State did not make this information public until months after they knew about it and not until asked by the press.  That may or may not be a big deal, but as I always say, when you deceive me, you have have to earn the trust back.

Though the project has been voted down, the newly elected mayor of Seattle is against it and it is still being pursued, this is just a fact of life in Seattle where the saying is, "How many times do we have to vote against it before they just go ahead and do it anyway?"  Now, folks are trying to get another vote this Fall.

Citizens of Seattle will have pay for a project we don't want, suffer through the construction, lose the breathtaking view of the Puget Sound we have now as we drive along the current highway, end up with no more traffic lanes and have to pay a toll to use the new tunnel.  On the bright side, the folks that own property along the current road will make out like bandits.

Alaskan Way Viaduct: Phase III-B preliminary seismic retrofit plan and cost estimate
Preliminary plan and profile of Alaskan Way Viaduct Battery St. to 1st Ave. S. two-deck design, six traffic lanes
[Report in support of a petition to use the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Battery Street Tunnel, and Aurora Avenue as a truck route for the transportation of flammable liquids]
Capital improvement needs for roadway structures: A preliminary report to the Seattle City Council
Seismic vulnerability of the Alaskan Way Viaduct: SED typical unit
Geotechnical report, Alaskan Way Viaduct: Phase III seismic vulnerability study, SR 99, MS-2494
Alaskan Way Viaduct Park: Proposal for site development analysis and design

Fatwa on Suicide Bombings & Terrorism

I have never understood anything that happens in the Middle East. For as long as I can remember there has been problems with Israel, Egypt, Syria, "Palestine", Lebanon. I could never grok why. For that matter, Ireland. A friend of mine tells be that it is all about religion and, in the case of the Middle East, the turmoil dates back to the to the assassination of Ali (in 661 AD!) and the Crusades. Incredible. I think that since I do not live history or religion this probably explains much of my ignorance. Car bombs and IEDs are driving me nuts.  It seems like the terrorists' justification for killing innocent people on purpose is that we kill innocent people by accident.

As someone who has lived on both sides of the current "Islamist" vs. the West turmoil, Maajid Nawaz believes that those that believe as the terrorists are, in fact, misinformed. Misinformed regarding our history, our motives and our character. We in the West are demonized by them and logic and commonsense need not be applied. Mr. Nawaz, however, believes that many of these people are reasonable and can be convinced. Very noble and a I refer the dear reader to the Quilliam Foundation.

There are others, as well:

Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri, a widely recognized and respected authority on Islamic jurisprudence, will issue a comprehensive fatwa prohibiting terrorism and suicide bombing at a press conference in Westminster, central London. - March 2, 2010, Jerusalem Post

Commendable. It gives me some hope. Please, check out the information on the fatwa here and here.

This, however, will bring you down: Suicide bombings in Iraq since 2003 and this is only Iraq.
At Amazon.com: Introduction to Fatwa on Suicide Bombings and Terrorism