SeniorJunior

Bury Power and Telco Lines!

2011-11-12T16:31:00.001-08:00

I Say It Again... BURY THEM!
OK, I said it before. But here a very nice piece noting that in Connecticut, every big storm that cuts the power for long, expensive, uncomfortable periods of time reflects prior identical problems. Check it out here
Point is, we could end this madness of 19th Century power distribution. Huge savings in money and inconvenience.
Put the returning vets on the case!

Please.....
.

Feb

2 (what? 2008?

Bury Them!

UnderGrounding

So how much did that Kentucky ice storm cost?

Millions of people without power, plus of course, their factories, shops, offices, banks, government installations, plus the call-up of the whole Kentucky National Guard... on and on, the costs skyrocketed.

Main problem? Power lines. Wires on top of poles, the way we have distributed electricity since the first days of the telegraph set the standard. Power line wires run by and through trees. They not only collect unsupportable ice weight during bad ice storms, but the trees around them are worse, crashing down on millions of lines.

So here we are at the crucial crossroads of a decaying infrastructure that can't function through a normal weather phenomenon (what? a "fifty year storm?"), and an economic meltdown that demands government spending to replace all the missing consumer spending. Simple idea:

Let's start turning overhead power lines into underground power lines. Then bring on the storms, the juice will keep flowing. We have the technology to do it safely and efficiently. And Heaven knows we have the manpower to start all that trenching and laying of cable. A whole generation of electrical technicians can be fostered. The people now replacing all those broken poles and re-stringing all those cables can easily be repurposed to the undergrounding project.

It makes economic sense from both the stimulus and the productivity angles. And (horrors!) it makes sense from the esthetic angle.

Let's move power distribution 'way further along than just the "smart grid;" let's put an emphasis on the local grids that bring all that smart juice into our homes and businesses. They should work rain, shine or ice.

Evolution, Evolution, Evolution

2011-11-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

EVERYTHING Is Explained by Evolution

...At least everything human. And I actually think pretty much everything that's alive, including plants, "germs," bugs and irresistible puppies are all fully explainable by evolution.

I've bought into the idea that if a human trait - even a weird one - is around today, it was survival-positive at some point in our evolution, thus became part of what the human race is. For instance schizophrenia, not a trait you might consider all that valuable these days. But back there in deep pre-history, the schizos probably were very effective shamans, and a tribe with a really wild shaman had survival advantages. You can write the scenario as well as I can.

Could'a Been Us

In one of my fav magazines NewScientist writer Kate Ravilious put together a fine piece (07 November 2011) expanding on current thinking on this "EVERYTHING Is Explained by Evolution" bit. She summarizes (and adds to) the work of archaeologist Penny Spikins at the University of York, UK. Part of her theme is that our tendency to embrace people with various mental ailments is exactly what let us outcompete the Neanderthals, the Denisovans, the Hobbits and all the other human wannabes.

Unless you subscribe to NewScientist, you probably can't get this article, but here's a telling excerpt:

Evidence of religion and spirituality also appear during this period. It has been argued that shamans were responsible for painting the more metaphorical and dream-like cave art, and Spikins believes they would have had a big impact on society. "I think that they helped to bind people together, by helping them to make sense of their world, through myths, ritual and a belief in a spirit world," she says. In modern hunter-gatherer societies shamans tend to be unusual and creative people, who sometimes go into trances. Some also express traits associated with schizophrenia, such as hearing voices, and other mental disorders. "Using modern criteria to diagnose mental illness, I think we would say that most shamans appear to have had mood disorders - most probably bipolar disorder," says David Whitley, author of Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit (Prometheus, 2009).

Just imagine the various advantages if your tribe had an obsessive-compulsive (the fire never goes out), or a manic (always watching the cave door for intruders), or a depressive (pointing out possible dangers), etc. If the tribe down the creek didn't have some resident loonies, you out-survive them!

Try to explain that with Creationism.

All graphics found with Bing Images

BIG Water Moving

2011-11-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

No More Floods; No More Droughts

(Revisited)

As our Congress messes around doing absolutely nothing about improving America's infrastructure, I can't resist pulling up my RBI (Really Big Idea) from 2003. Put on your "government could really work" rose-colored glasses and read this.

The Water Project for America

May 2020 The Mississippi River is approaching flood stage in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. The Corps of Engineers monitors the levees and dikes with the giant web of depth gauges and flow meters. The U.S. Weather Bureau is predicting major rainstorms in several of the watersheds. Supercomputers are crunching trillions of numbers and putting options in clear graphical displays in front of Corps decision makers.

The top Corps engineer picks up the Red Phone and calls the White House. Connections are made and the Secretary of the Interior, the Vice President and The Woman Herself come online and listen to the report.

“It’s an easy one, ladies and gentlemen,” says the Top Engineer. There is a 28 million acre foot shortfall in the western tier. Colorado, New Mexico, west Texas and Arizona are potentially critical. Cropland flooding is on schedule in the Mississippi basin. My recommendation is to do a full diversion.”

There are a few questions, mainly dealing with what the hard-core environmentalists will say, and the political implications, but basically it’s a slam dunk. “Anyone?” asks the president. A short silence, then “Go, sir,” says the President to the top engineer.

A hundred and seventy-three huge sluice gates begin to open along the levees. Flood gates slide up and billions of gallons of water start siphoning through twenty foot diameter pipes into super-cisterns holding millions of acre feet of water, and when full, more pipes and aqueducts siphon the flow into the next enormous storage facilities.

The Mississippi is beyond human control. Decades of failure to contain and control the monster river system bear testimony to its might and mankind’s hubris at the thought of containing it. But this is different. Like judo, this endeavor involves giving into the pressure, resisting negatively, pulling the adversary along the path it chooses.

“Releasing flood pressure at equilibrium,” says the supercomputer. The river is diverted in a way modern man calls “distributed,” pulling water out of the river in a gentle fashion at over a hundred points. As the flood crest moves downstream, more conduits open, their concrete mouths gulping millions of gallons per minute. As the crest passes, gates close upstream, maintaining the natural dynamics of flow as it would have occurred if the weather had not run amuck.

The cisterns, immense human-made lakes with the impermeable containment of concrete, stagger the perception of most people. Ten miles wide, twenty long and a hundred feet deep, these are hardly what people have learned to mean when they say “cistern.” When they are filling, each has ten of the 20-foot conduits pouring arcing cataracts of muddy, foaming river water crashing into the basins. These controlled floods have driven through huge turbines, generating both gigawatts of electrical power and gigajoules of potential energy in RAID stacks of multi-ton flywheels.

As the cisterns fill, the automated gates twenty miles away at the other end slide up, exposing the ten outflow conduits that course for miles to the next cistern, a hundred feet lower, even – as is often the case – if it must be totally underground to reach that level. Again the water turns turbines connected to generators and kinetic energy storage wheels.

As the unrelenting flow from the mighty Mississippi continues, the second stage cisterns fill, and the next phase of the process kicks in. As the ten conduits at the far end open, turbine pumps begin sucking the water out of the buried cistern and pushing it up to the next battery of cisterns on the surface, drawing on the energy created in the first two stages. As electricity is drained in this Brobdingnagian water lifting, the great flywheels are clutched into the generators to spin down their solar and wind-augmented energy to run the pumps. Months of storing the free energy of the sun and winds have created a surplus of billions of joules before the hydropower of the river drain topped it off.

From the third stage cisterns, the water is launched into the transcontinental pipes, surging across the Great Plains toward the thirsty west. These fifty-foot diameter pipelines lined with Teflon course along the Interstate Highway system easements, most commonly in the medians creating impenetrable safety barriers between the opposing lanes. Every hundred miles pumping stations powered by stored solar and wind energy boosts the water higher toward the National Divide and into diversion tunnels to aquifer-replenishing reverse wells.

The comparisons between the Water Project for America and the Interstate Highway System have been made since the first proposals made their way through Congress. The bumper stickers that said “Ike Did It; We Can Do It” caught the spirit of the national enthusiasm for the vast project and memorialized the comparison with the highway project of the ‘50s.

“No More Floods… No More Droughts” was another bumper sticker, and the slogan of the administration that saw the project as its signature endeavor. “For the Farmers; For the Hungry of the World” was a double bumper sticker that covered whole rear bumpers by the tens of thousands in agribusiness country.

The results have almost lived up to the aspirations. In the five years since the system went on line, there has not been a crop failure due to drought in the whole of the United States. Forest fire crises in the west have dropped to zero. Not one community on the great rivers has been inundated. Commodity futures have ceased to be a gambling issue. Food exports to hungry countries has been immense.

The sponsoring administration’s party was re-elected by a landslide.

Financing the project has been a modern miracle mix of public and private funding. Co-ops have been formed by the thousands to invest individuals’ money in sections of the system, with income guaranteed by the states, municipalities and companies that would benefit from flood protection and water usage. The woman who was the architect of this portion of the financing was Secretary of the Treasury and was immortalized by having the Mississippi River Cisterns named after her. “Dorothy’s Cisterns” are as well known as Niagra Falls. The other great flooding rivers of the country each have cistern systems of various sorts (and local politicians’ names), many using existing reservoirs as well as the new containment designs of the Mississippi cisterns. Where the topography allowed – as along portions of the Missouri and the Tennessee Rivers, the conduits are often more traditional aqueducts with locks and pumps.

In the twelve years it took to complete the project, unemployment dropped to 2%, and a job on the Great Project has the badge of significance comparable to being a World War II veteran or a steel worker on the Empire State Building or a fireman during the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center in times past. Cynics said that the Water Project for America (of course they called it the “WPA”) was the greatest make-work project since the building of the pyramids, but they were properly ignored, for the work was hard, challenging, honorable and for an obviously wonderful cause.

One of the two principal heroes of the project was the master designer, a quiet genius from Colorado State University who not only drew the general plan but who could articulate how it was practical, and incredibly beneficial, to both endless Congressional committees and to the public in equally endless media interviews.

The other hero was the President of the United States, who decided to risk all her political capital and her place in history on what was originally called her Folly. She ran her administration with a quiet competence that she made background to her powerful advocacy – and stunning use of the bully pulpit – for the Water Project for America.

Her greatest gamble was to reconcile her position as an environmentalist – a major plank in her election campaign – with the outraged hardcore environmentalists who saw the project as a cancerous intrusion into the natural order. She enrolled Nobel laureates, ecologists, climate modelers and every variety of scientist in unfettered advisory and critique panels. Gradually these savants built a consensus on why the idea was a sound one, fitting to the times of humankind, and their concerns and cautions were integrated into the master plan. The hard-core environmentalists had to buy in, and it was one of the great victories of civil accommodation in history. Security issues were addressed by the creation of the Water Patrol of America, young adult mandatory public service program, WPA Volunteers for fit older citizens and a DARPA-funded technology revolution in security surveillance systems. It took all eight years of Madam President’s time in office, but it was done.

So the Mississippi Flood of 2020 (and most other U.S. floods) became the End of Drought. The solar and wind energy industry joined the oil companies as Majors. American technology took another great leap. Agricultural subsidy took on an entirely new meaning. Millions of Americans became owners of a dependable money machine. Dying aquifers began refilling. The Presidency regained some of its luster. And the rest of the world began to emulate a plan that worked.

Big Government, Little Government

2011-07-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

JUST WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY FOR?

More Thrill of Getting Published.

The whole warped argument about our national debt must be seen in a different light if we are ever going to see the light. I took a modest whack at it in this piece, printed in The Mountain View Telegraph, one of our weeklies hereabouts.

(Unreadable, but cute, no?)

Here 'tis, readable:

What Are Your Government Wants?

Thursday, 21 July 2011 09:09

Willis Duff
Tijeras resident

The word "government" has been mutated by some into "monster," a conniving enormity out to "get in your way." Perhaps it's because the combination of local, state and federal government is just too big for us to see clearly, like fleas have trouble seeing the dog. So it must be a monster.

In truth, government is a huge nonprofit whose purpose is to keep our civilization functioning the way we want it to.

In the U.S., the government works for you. You are the client. "You" are all of us citizens. We-the-people. And government does mostly things only government does.

Providing for a court system for instance. Or national defense, or highways. Or regulations and oversight of things potentially harmful or to us. It springs to our aid in natural disasters.

Government clearly is not-for-profit. Nobody makes any profit except those private businesses government hires to do build warships, highways and such. Private companies make profits; government does not.

We - most of us anyway - pay with taxes for this gigantic "corporation." Who pays how much is good for spirited discussion, but the basic issue is how much total tax is paid by all of us. Is it enough to actually pay the bills? If it's not, the country goes further into debt. It's as simple as that, and that's exactly how we got this humongous debt.

National debt should only happen when it's absolutely necessary - and it sometimes is. Let's go with the analogy of making a big purchase, say a house, when most of us have to borrow - and then that debt should be paid off in a responsible fashion. For some time now our taxes just aren't enough to pay the mortgage. We live high and pay low. Our government has been buying a big "house," going into debt to do it, and we can't - or won't - make the mortgage payments.

We can only fix this problem by answering the question: "More taxes or less government?" Or some of both? To get an answer, we first have to ask, "what do you want/expect government to do?" Or, to keep the analogy going, what kind of "house" are you willing to pay for?

The answers to this complex question tend to be simplistic. Bumper sticker answers. The right wants "less government" in general, but mostly stumbles on what it wants less of. The left is shy about saying so, but basically it wants "more government." There are surely huge numbers of folks in the rational middle between left and right. Oh sorry, that's not mentioned much in today's stranger and stranger United States.

Now since I brought this up, you might ask, "What in the world do you want/expect from government? And are you ready to pay for it? Just what is on your list?" OK ...

I want, and I'm ready to pay for:

1. Good regulations - meaning enough to keep 'em honest - in areas like pharmaceuticals, banking, education, investment, transportation, utilities, insurance, food, law enforcement, chemicals, real estate, telephones, energy, health care, children's things, government ... you get the drift, important stuff.

2. Universal, high quality education for every American child for as far as she can go with it.

3. A fair "playing field" in this competitive world for American workers.

4. (And most unlikely) Politicians who listen to their constituents, not their monied supporters and their lobbyists.

5. The USA not slipping out of world leadership.

That's my list. I showed you mine, now you show me yours.

Perhaps government cannot create jobs like the WPA program, etc., but just properly staffing the regulatory agencies (as opposed to cutting them, ala the Republican plans) would create a lot of good jobs in a good cause.

Ruled By The Right

2011-07-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

"Message Control" a Super Weapon of the Right

Americans aren't nuts. We actually know what the important stuff is, even though we are bludgeoned with talking points - all carefully orchestrated by the Selfish Rich (see the next post below).

Proof that we are not crazy? Try this:

Now you know I'm a survey maven, no? This is well designed, well executed public opinion polling. There is a very high probability that it represents how Americans actually think. But would you guess that from what Congress is up to? No, not Congress, the crazed Right Wing Nuts in Congress and the corporate media that echos their brain farts. Our agenda is being set by a small minority of well-organized loudmouths riding an ideological broomstick.

JOBS and THE HEALTH OF OUR ECONOMY are the real issues. The current madness of Slash Slash Slash into the humanitarian side of government spending, and Give Give Give to the richest is, well... madness!

Even Genuine Conservative David Brooks takes the current crop of Repubs to task, mainly for being ineffectual, putting anti-Obama politics above save-our-country governing or even accomplishing what they claim to believe in. But I like best what he says about Righty Talk Radio:

"The Big Government Blowhards. The talk-radio jocks are not in the business of promoting conservative governance. They are in the business of building an audience by stroking the pleasure centers of their listeners.

They mostly give pseudo Crispin’s Day speeches to battalions of the like-minded from the safety of the conservative ghetto. To keep audience share, they need to portray politics as a cataclysmic, Manichaean struggle. A series of compromises that steadily advance conservative aims would muddy their story lines and be death to their ratings." Well said, David.

SOOO... If we are not nuts, why don't we harass our elected reps in Congress to get a grip on reality and what the country really needs - and wants - and ignore the ignoramuses? Close those tax loopholes; collect those avoided taxes; kill the Bushtaxcutsfortherich (a new dirty word)!

Then, make the cuts needed on wasteful, ineffectual, outdated and stupid programs. And spend some of the saved/earned money on creating good jobs.

I feel better now.

"Think Tank" Corrupters

2011-07-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

They Own Your Mind

You think your are thinking straight? Probably not. Because THEY have control of your mind...da DUM!!!

I've been telling anyone who will listen about the "right wing think tank threat," but this fine lady says it best.

"The US main stream media is owned by maybe half a dozen large corporations. They all rely on advertising revenue from other large corporations for their existence. This means that these corporate advertisers control the message."

You're not telling me anything I haven't known for years, but that's only part of it. Along with corporate interests there is a huge infrastructure of "think tanks" set up by wealthy family trusts -- the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Scaife foundations, the John M. Olin, Joseph Coors, Charles Koch, etc., foundations -- that actually generate fake data to feed to news media to keep people confused. This is in collusion with Big Oil, Big Pharma, and other monied interests. I'm talking about groups like the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institute, the American Enterprise Institute -- there are hundreds of them, and these are spinning off thousands of "astroturf" organizations, but they are all funded and controlled by a relative small group of extremely wealthy people. Sourcewatch.org is a good source of information on all this.

The think tanks generate arguments and talking points that end up in politicians' speeches and news stories. People with impressive credentials are well paid to present these arguments, even if they are nonsense. Often experts from several think tanks produce similar arguments and data, and they appear to be working independently when in fact they're all on the same payrolls. A lot of the "pundits" who show up all the time on the cable television news shows are being financially supported by the family trusts, so they say what they're supposed to say.

And news media have been cowed into letting these people present nonsense to the public without correction, even when what they are saying is demonstrably untrue. Unless they have a lot of time to check out stories for themselves, people have no way to know who in news media is lying and who isn't.

Most Americans are not crazy, really, but they can't make sensible decisions without factual information. What most Americans are hearing from news media is a screaming wall of nonsense.

She is Barbara O'Brien from New York and this was a comment to an article in the London Guardian on-line. Here 'tis.

Well said, Barbara, and I believe, completely true.

Graphic credit "mind control"

Mass Extinction Underway

2011-06-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

BIGGER Than BIG

Things that happen in slo-mo are invisible to most of us. Life is short, and events that take several lifetimes just disappear in the noise of day-to-day living. The BIG slo-mo elephant on the beach is climate change.

BIG REPORT

So what could be bigger? How about another MASS EXTINCTION as a result of climate change?

There is yet another huge, fully credible, completely frightening report just out (on 20 June) warning of this looming nightmare, already underway, in our precious oceans and seas.

Here are just the headlines of this report :

Human actions have resulted in warming and acidification of the oceans and are now causing

increased hypoxia.

The speeds of many negative changes to the ocean are near to or are tracking the worst-case scenarios from IPCC and other predictions. Some are as predicted, but many are faster than anticipated, and many

are still accelerating.

The magnitude of the cumulative impacts on the ocean is greater than previously understood.

Timelines for action are shrinking.

Resilience of the ocean to climate change impacts is severely compromised by the other stressors from human activities, including fisheries, pollutions and habitat destruction.

Ecosystem collapse is occurring as a result of both current and emerging stressors.

The extinction threat to marine species is rapidly increasing.

It is notable that the occurrence of multiple high intensity stressors has been a pre-requisite for all the five global extinction events of the past 600 million years.

So ask yourself, "Is this moving too slowly for me to see it?" I hope not. If we don't get off our duffs and start pressuring our elected officials to get serious about climate change, things will get way too serious for all of us non-fish as well.

Graphic credit "Invisible"

Graphic credit "Asymptotic"

Graphic credit "Fish Kill"

The Bottom Line

2011-05-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Can't Put It Clearer Than This

Study: $2 trillion needed for U.S. infrastructure.

“Infrastructure should be part of the larger conversation about ‘what do you want government to do and how do you want to pay for it?’ ” said Jay Zukerman of Ernst & Young, which conducted the institute’s study.

Great piece. And oh how I agree! And how I answer the last part of the question.

Read the whole thing here.

Goodbye Mom

2011-04-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

My Mother's Obituary

Jimmie Jenkins Duff

Jimmie Duff , 101 years old, died of natural causes April 16, 2011 in Albuquerque, NM. Born Nov 9, 1909 in Petrolia, Tx. to Maggie Mae and Jacob Spencer Jenkins and raised by her grandmother Amanda Duval and uncle Earl Duval. She married Willis P. Duff in Sherman Tx. in 1932. Their home was in Bonham from 1945 through 1995.

Memorial services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Bonham Saturday, May 21st at 11 AM.

Jimmie Duff, beloved mother, grand and great grandmother was in many ways a pioneer. She was driving at 9. At Austin College in Sherman she was on the basketball team, long before women’s basketball was common. She was a member of the first women’s organization of any kind at AC, Kappa Gamma Chi. She was an early entrepreneur; she and Willis bought and ran a restaurant, The Gem Café in Bonham, right after WW II. As a social worker during the ‘60s for the State of Texas, she was an early reformer of private nursing homes, a “holy terror” to any homes that mistreated their residents. After surviving breast cancer, she became an active fund raiser for cancer causes.

Jimmie was predeceased by husband Willis Duff, son James Earl Duff, brothers Raymond, Cecil, Stacey and Clovis and sister Dot.

She is survived by sister Charlene Wigington (Lawton Okla)., son Willis Duff, Jr. (Tijeras, NM) and daughter Amanda Moore (Little Rock Ark.); Grandchildren Chris and Jason Moore (Tyler, TX), Guy (Los Angeles), Earl (San Francisco) and Patrick (Albuquerque) Duff; great grandchildren Kate, James, Camille, Cooper and Colton Moore (Tyler, TX). Amanda Duff, (Los Angeles).

Membership in organizations: First Presbyterian Churches, Sherman and Bonham, Presbyterian Women’s Circles, Kappa Gamma Chi (founded in 1919 as a literary society and was the first women's organization on the Austin College campus)

Other interests: American Cancer Society, Bridge, Crosswords

Why Can't We Talk About TAXING THE RICH?

2011-03-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

The Most Successful (and Destructive) Propaganda Campaign Ever

Have you noticed? In our budget discussions we-the-people are like a one-legged man.... ...Trying to dance with a huge, two-legged woman. Half the equipment we need for movement is missing. Simply gone. Our dancing partner has more equipment than she needs. There could be four horses under that tent of a dress. Guess who leads?

And one after another of us, including really smart people amid the dummies, don't seem to notice the situation. The "one legged man" - the middle class and poorer folks seeking a solution for our ailing national, state and local government budgets - is in a dance with absolute apocalypse. A strong, fair, intelligent, problem-solving dance (discussion) is necessary for us to have any hope of avoiding this apocalypse.

So who is our dance partner? Not that good old foursome, Conquest, War, Famine and Death. So who? How about Oligarchs and their Lobbyists, Propagandists, and Purchased Politicans?

For sure they have a bunch more money that we-the-people do. Hardly fair, dance or discussion wise.

So what's our missing leg all about? How did we lose it?

Missing Leg = Any talk about TAXES. Our good leg? All the talk about CUTTING SPENDING.

There has never been a real discussion about budget problems where INCOME was left out of the income/outgo situation. There never will be. The whole idea that budgets can be adjusted without discussing expenses AND income is ridiculous on its face. This is common sense, logic, rational thought that JUST DOESN'T GET MENTIONED much these days.

Who did it? Who make talking about raising income through taxation ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE for a polititian? Who inflicted the wound on our discourse, and cut off one leg of our salvation? People like GROVER!Grover Norquist heads "Americans for Tax Reform." Their logo, you might notice shows the Boston Tea Party. Hmmmmm...
They - and their ilk (there's a BUNCH of ilk out there) despise taxes. They demonize taxes. They are powerful, very well funded PROPAGANDISTS against the very basis of how democracy funds itself. ATR's support comes from the very wealthy, the international corporations and the supremely selfish. But they are such good PROPAGANDISTS that they have recruited millions of middle and lower class souls with this mindless message:

"The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized."

No more REGULATIONS! (On health, safety, financial exploitation, monopolies, protecting nature, etc. etc.) Oh no, they are "controlling our lives" with taxation.

The end result of this huge propaganda victory by the Ronald Reaganizing of America is the declining middle class and that huge and growing class below the poverty line, a national infrastructure that is falling to pieces, our national competitiveness in decay and wealth polarization that is pitiless and tragic.

So screw on your other leg and start throwing punches at the corporatization of America. Start talking about raising taxes on those who benefit the most from our nation. Corporations that avoid all taxes, super rich people who avoid most taxes, lobbyist who buy loopholes like they were donut holes... that whole gang needs some good pokes in the nose! Pay up, ye of great wealth!

Just to show you I'm serious, read "Tax Me!"

Image credit1
Image Credit 2

Unfunded and Underfunded, Three Obscenities

2011-03-03T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sort of Makes Me Sick

Something is wrong here.

"Public Employee Pension Funds Underfunded by $1.5 Trillion"

When a state government negotiates pensions for state workers, then fails to fund them... that's, let's see... Lying (to the future pensioners), Irresponsible (to taxpayers), Damaging (to the economy) and Stupid (beyond belief).

That's obscene in my book.

Of course corporations have been making the same obscene decisions as well. It just seems stupider when it is our state legislators and executives doing it.

Why don't we hear some specifics, like which legislators and governors did it? Why aren't they the object of our scorn? Why aren't they held accountable?

But no, the public worker unions - who negotiated in good faith, and assumed the other side would act in good faith - get the blame. Who's side would you say the "corporate media" is on?

Reporting a big story and leaving out the actual facts is also lying, irresponsible, damaging and stupid. That's obscene, too.

Ezra Klein and Me

2011-02-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Great Minds, etc.

I love it when someone I admire and respect agrees with me. Today, Mr. Klein, The Washington Post’s wunderkind (he’s 26!) highlighted four NY Times pieces that I just happen to think are super. He did it in his “Wonkbook” newsletter. (It’s free and good every day!)

1. Paul Krugman’s “Eat the Future” about how the Republican budget slashes are “unserious and inhumane” and kind of dumb in that they hardly touch the deficit while they crush actual people (Don’t forget, they slash NPR & PBS too).

2. Steven Pearlstein’s “It's Make-or-Break Time for Manufacturing” about how government can help (hear that, Repubs?), but it’s also up to the multi-national corporations to stop the cancerous loss of manufacturing in America.

3. Felix Salmon’s “Wall Street’s Dead End” about how the market is no longer doing what it’s supposed to do, let all Americans share in the success of American companies. I’ve groused about this before, but Salmon nails it.

4. Noah Feldman's "Sometimes Justice Can Play Politics," about how FDR's Supreme Court appointees were "activists." Historical perspective can be comforting, like when I'm gnashing my teeth about, oh say, Scalia and Thomas.

Check ‘em out; experience enlightenment. Free!

To be fair: Wonkbook is compiled and produced with help from Dylan Matthews and Michelle Williams. Two more smarties.

USA! USA!

2010-11-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

Tough to Find, But Definitely Worth It!

A tool made in the USA! And at a Big Box store (Home Depot) to boot.

In these times when it's harder and harder to find that "Made
in U.S.A." note - especially on tools - this was a great find. And it's
a great tool. Super stripper, bolt trimmer, etc. Klein Tools.

The default store for tools, "Harbor Freight" is the big chain that is basically a Chinese manufacturing outlet. I challenge you to find "Made in U.S.A." there.

I think I'm becoming a protectionist. Horrors.
Pretty soon, I will propose a boycott of S. Korean cars.
But I'll wait 'til I research it a bit more.

Just The Facts

2010-11-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

...About Climate Change

If you are casting a dragnet for clarifying info on the (apparently to some) confusing facts about the REALLY BIG MESS we are heading into with our dosing the atmosphere with our carbon refuse, try this site. Like weekly.

It's on my new favorite web site, Architecture 2030. Give it a shot.

pix credit

101

2010-11-09T09:43:00.001-08:00

...Years Old! My Mom. Today.

This is that sweet girl at 17. And she still looks good.

Not many dudes my age can still go see their moms in person.

Happy birthday, Jimmie Duff.

love,

scooter

Cut Money for Cops, Cancer, Students and Firefighters

2010-10-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here Come the Republicans!

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. House Republicans’ pledge to cut $100 billion from the federal budget next year would slash spending for education, cancer research and aid to local police and firefighters.

A 21 percent cut in Pell Grants would take almost $5 billion from student tuition.

A 21 percent cut across the board would take about $15 billion from education.

A 21 percent cut at the National Institutes of Health would take about $6 billion from health research.

A 21 percent cut would take $400 million from police.

I could go on, but it makes me cry, and you don't want a sobbing blogger. Especially when letting the tax cuts for those making over a quarter million bucks a year expire would save all that and have about the same impact as those cruel cuts on the budget.

You know I don't think the Democrats are always right, but I agree with their statement about all this cutting into the hearts of our citizens: “It will have a serious impact on real people, but it won’t have a serious impact on reducing the deficit.”

And dats de troot.

Read the whole Bloomberg piece here.

Pix Credit

Graphics from The Whitehouse

2010-09-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

YEA GRAPHICS!!!

Not since Ross Perot has a major politico used graphics to "draw" the facts.

Finally, Austan Goolsbee gives it a shot. 'Tain't perfect, but it's pretty good.

[ NOT Austan Goolsbee ]

Check it out.

I reiterate my many-times-recommended-to-Prez-Obama plea: "Use graphics; Use video; Use stills; USE VISUALS to make your points.

The Biggest News on Earth

2010-09-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

Geometric Growth!

"Modern science is advancing at an unprecedented rate, and the amount of scientific data is doubling every year."

And that's the biggest story I can find anywhere. The quote is from the 27 August issue of Science Magazine, but their reference is back to a 2005 paper. If you Google (or any other search engine) "Scientific data doubles every year" you'll see what I mean.

It's enough to make you optimistic.

Pix credit: http://www.maricopacomputer.com/

Papa of Propaganda

2010-09-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Ever Heard of Edward Bernays?

Forget about (well, you know...) Hitler's guy Joseph Goebbels or Stalin's guy Molotov. They just gave propaganda a bad name. But Bernays basically invented it.

CHAPTER I
From his 1925 book ORGANIZING CHAOS, the first paragraph:

THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

Bernay's first task was to drag the screaming isolationist U.S.A. into World War I.
... with stuff like this:

Then he parlayed his techniques into a big P.R. business. His first biggy account was a ciggy account - Chesterfield. This dude convinced women is was cool and sexy to smoke.

But Propaganda wasn't "bad" until the Nazis and the Commies used it to brainwash their populations to love monsters and monstrous behavior. Never mind millions of lung cancer deaths. Never mind the twisting of facts, the repetitive Big Lies, the assumption that we can be talked into anything.

Now, we've got Fox News, Andrew Breitbart, the Koch brothers and others propagandizing with the best (worst) of them. More examples to come.

Thanks, Edward Bernays. (Oh, and he was a "liberal elite" of his time.)

Deficits Be Hanged (Temporarily) - STIMULATE NOW!

2010-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

An Arrow Through the Throat of the Deficit Hawks (Who will eat our livers if we don't get them first.)
Bloomberg.com is a hard core financial news site. No wishy-washy ideology-driven spins on the money news. Here are some excerpts from today's issue:

Are the "Bond Vigilantes" Going to Punish Obama?

Instead of punishing the Obama administration for running up a budget deficit ..., bond investors are pouring money into fixed-income assets as inflation slows and equity markets stumble. That’s a turnaround from 16 years ago, when Bill Clinton was forced to abandon stimulus plans after his advisers said the bond market would punish him with higher borrowing costs if it sensed swelling deficits.

“The deficit concerns are on the back burner,” said Andy Richman, who oversees $10 billion as a strategist in Palm Beach, Florida for SunTrust Bank’s private wealth management division. “The bigger concerns are on the deflationary mode and seeing growth slowing in the second half of the year.”

Obama has the bond market on his side as he heads into midterm congressional elections saddled with a 44 percent approval rating as measured by the latest Gallup poll.

Servicing Our Debt Too Onerous?

Through the first 10 months of fiscal 2010, $375.2 billion of taxpayer money was spent on interest.... As a percent of gross domestic product, it was 3.2 percent in 2009, down from 4.1 percent in 2001, the last time the budget showed a surplus.

Bond vigilantes, the debt markets’ self-commissioned advocates of fiscal discipline, have been placated as the rate of inflation falls to a four-decade low of 0.9 percent.

Policy makers should focus on promoting economic growth and job creation rather than deficit reduction, a majority of respondents said in a survey by the National Association for Business Economics released today.

Seven out of every 10 survey respondents said promoting economic growth should be the policy priority at the federal level, while 29 percent said cutting the deficit should take precedence.
(THAT'S 70/30, math fans. IN FAVOR OF MORE STIMULUS!!)

It's Worked So Far... WHY Stop it Now??

Obama’s stimulus package may have created or saved as many as 3.3 million jobs last quarter and lowered the unemployment rate by as much as 1.8 percentage points, the CBO said last week. The $814 billion program, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, probably added between 1.7 percent and 4.5 percent to gross domestic product, the nonpartisan agency said.

“Those problems about rising debt and the deficit will be addressed, but for now, the bond market is concerned about economic growth.” said Anthony Valeri, a San Diego, California-based market strategist at LPL Financial Corp., which oversees about $277 billion.

AREN'T WE ALL! Get the economy cooking again - get employment back up to full tilt - and we'll pay down those deficits pronto.

Read the full Bloomberg article here.

Are We Nuts or What?

2010-08-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Why Do We Make Dangerous Decisions?
(Like deciding climate change "isn't real")

Fiddling while the Arctic Melts

It amazes me that whole swaths of humanity ignore facts, refute the irrefutable and get all conspiracy-ish when issues arise that they don't like or that make them uncomfortable.

Two unrelated (except they were both in the NY Times) columns offered nice, tight nuggets of insight into why some of us human beans lock our mental steering wheels and drive ourselves into major crashes.

Here's an excerpt from an Op-Ed on our dismal climate fate, the author Thomas Homer-Dixon, a professor of global systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Canada.

Climate policy is gridlocked, and there’s virtually no chance of a breakthrough. Many factors have conspired to produce this situation. Human beings are notoriously poor at responding to problems that develop incrementally. And most of us aren’t eager to change our lifestyles by sharply reducing our energy consumption.

But social scientists have identified another major reason: Climate change has become an ideologically polarizing issue. It taps into deep personal identities and causes what Dan Kahan of Yale calls “protective cognition” — we judge things in part on whether we see ourselves as rugged individualists mastering nature or as members of interconnected societies who live in harmony with the environment. Powerful special interests like the coal and oil industries have learned how to halt movement on climate policy by exploiting the fear people feel when their identities are threatened.

...And here's an excerpt from David Brooks' column on lazy minds:

Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway once gave a speech called “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment.” He and others list our natural weaknesses: We have confirmation bias; we pick out evidence that supports our views. We are cognitive misers; we try to think as little as possible. We are herd thinkers and conform our perceptions to fit in with the group.

So, there you have it. Apparently, we are a little nuts.

I hope we wake up and steer a safe path through the coming catastrophe.

Art: Jonathan Twingley in the NYTimes

READ THIS BOOK, TOO!

2010-08-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

And Understand America a Little Better

The Big Short by Michael Lewis.

I'm a little late, since it's been the top biz book on the NYTimes list (still up there close). It's been praised and berated with vigor.

But, MAN, it's a killer book. When you read it, not only will you understand the causes of the Great Recession better than you did before, but you will have an insight into us human folk with another layer of delusion ripped away.

And it's a hoot to boot, a fun book to read. The characters are great (notwithstanding that they are real), and the narrative plays at full throttle. Imagine, a page-turner about synthetic CDOs and that ilk!

It'll put a different light on Tuesday's headline from the Christian Science Monitor, "How Wall Street uses your money to lobby against you."

Enjoy.

Reboot America! Manifesto

2010-07-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

More Stimulus NOW

The deficit hawks are dangerous to America. He said conservatively, in quiet understatement.

Nothing is as important as getting our army of unemployed back to work. Cutting the deficit can and should be done, but not now. Not with the gnawing cancer of mass unemployment claiming more lives daily. There are so many extremely productive places to spend more stimulus money. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our education system is in tatters and a whole new category of American industry is just waiting to be stimulated by the right laws and the right government funding - clean energy, efficient homes and buildings, and efficient transportation. (CEEHABET, acronym fans). Oh, and there is the little fringe benefit of saving ourselves from climate change and freeing ourselves from dependence on malign foreigner's oil.

So I'm signing on wholeheartedly to... [[ drum roll, bugles ]]

Reboot America - Manifesto

... started by The Daily Beast, a darn good on-line news organization.

Speaking of signing on, top economist are signing on like crazy. Read all about it!

Then, unless you are one of those folks incapable of reconsidering stuff, 'fess up; what this country needs is a second - maybe bigger - stimulus package. The facts are undeniable.

Belief So Extreme

2010-07-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

...They're not even willing to check it out.

Now that's sad, ain't it?

I've had the experience many times that a "discussion" of differing opinions ends up with categorical rejection of any idea that runs contrary to what a person believes. "That's just not so," said a pal in response to what I saw as irrefutable evidence that it is so.

Then I ran across an article in Science News about how mathematics is being used to fight terrorism. It's brilliant. It's effective and getting moreso fast. It puts to powerful use all those billions of bucks worth of intelligence we are buying. However, the very idea is running smack into the "belief so extreme" that it "just can't work" that some important intelligence types won't even see for themselves. Here's the paragraph that caught my eye.

ARGHHHHH.

Now that makes me mad. Sure, when I can't get someone to consider one of my ideas, it's frustrating. But when the "War on Terrorism" suffers from that kind of stubborn, ego-driven certainty, it's more than frustrating. It is patently STOOOOPID.

What? You don't believe it? It couldn't possibly be?

Sigh.

Read the whole article. It will give you hope.

READ THIS BOOK!

2010-06-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

You will LOVE it, if...

... You like great writing. (I don't use "great" with "writing" very often, but Spiller deserves it.)

... You think war is a fascinating subject.

... You think PTSD is a new thing.

... You think this makes the book sound worthwhile:

Enjoy.

The warmest year worldwide in human history

2010-06-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

... That Would Be 2009

Woe is us. The predictions keep getting worse, while the denialists keep getting louder. Something completely human about that, no? In case you missed the latest blast from the future from the National Academy of Sciences, here is the L.A. Times piece on it (from a month ago - thanks, Digg, for reviving it).

Always check your sources, boys and girls. Know what the N.A.S. is?

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is an honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. The NAS was signed into being by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863, at the height of the Civil War.

Do you believe the NAS or the latest Climate Denialist/Birther/Creationist whackjob? Up to you, of course.

In short, the big, Congressional-mandated study by all those distinguished scholars says things are URGENT, we should get on the stick and cut carbon pollution big time, and that bad stuff is a-coming and we should get ready for it. If you are a sci-freak, read the whole thang here.

So use your constituent muscle and arm wrestle your Congresspersons into a strong, climate-protecting energy bill.

pix credit: L.A. Times/ Slim Allagui / AFP/Getty Images

News That Makes Me Crazy (-er)

2010-06-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

IT'S ONLY MONEY

More than 1 in 5 (U.S.) kids live in poverty (U.S.A. Today)

Now that is just unacceptable. Remember that the top 1% in American wealth have more money than the bottom 80%.

Then there's:

A new Gallup poll finds the national debt tied with terrorism as voters' biggest worry. Health-care costs, unemployment, immigration, and global warming all lag. http://bit.ly/9sbXaf

Oh, great, the "deficit hawks" are about to eat our livers again. Quoting that rich old liberal George Soros:

"June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor George Soros said “we have just entered Act II” of the crisis as Europe’s fiscal woes worsen and governments are pressured to curb budget deficits that may push the global economy back into recession. "

The "pressuring" comes from deficit hawks who - in my humble opinion - just don't understand that getting the economy going again with LOTS of jobs is the only way to start reducing the national debt. Cutting government spending at a time like this (or like in 1937) will screw the pooch big time.

(Another) Letter to the Editor

2010-04-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

THE JOY OF PUBLICATION II

I said it before; I'll say it again. There is something special about seeing one's letter in a paper.

This one is in the April 21, 2010 The Independent one of our East Mountain weeklies. The publisher Wally Gordon interviewed three of the local "Tea Party" organizers after a small rally. He used "Passion" in his headline. It was a good piece, quite fair, and used many quotes from the three ladies. One of them, a Mrs. Cooper, said she "didn't believe in health insurance, didn't have it and wouldn't use it if she did." She also said "death panels" were in the health care reform law.
I was moved to write a letter. (You probably have to click it to read it.)
I even got a "fan" call from a guy happy to see another liberal in the East Mountains.

Does Government Aide Help Businesses? You Betcha!

2010-04-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Singapore Moving to Dominate the Water Biz

There's wind power (China & Germany in the lead), geothermal (Iceland in the lead), Ocean wave power (Britain, Australia & Scotland in the lead), solar power (China & Germany leading) ... WAIT! Where's the U.S.A. in this renewable energy list?

In what is clearly a big part of the future of the world energy budget, we are slow getting off the starting line. We invent and innovate and engineer really well, but when it comes to actually manufacturing in this field, we simply are not living up to our own (and the world's) expectations.

Then there's WATER. Some say it will soon be more valuable than oil. Potable water is already one of the great shortages in the world. Even in rich America, fresh water is in precipitous decline. So another big part of the future is processing water. "Treating" water: Cleaning it up, desalinizing it, recycling it. Again, the leading countries in this vital field are NOT the U.S.A. France and England have been the traditional leaders. And now, Singapore - of all places - is leaping ahead.

Bloomberg.com has a piece telling how this is happening. Quoting from the article: "In the past three years, the city-state’s companies have won over 100 projects in more than 15 countries, valued at $5.6 billion, according to the Public Utilities Board of Singapore."

How, Lord, how? Another quote: "While Paris-based Veolia Environnement and Compagnie de Suez and London’s Thames Water Holdings have worked on water technologies for decades, it is government support that gives Singapore’s industry an edge, said Melvin Leong, a Kuala Lumpur- based consultant at Frost & Sullivan."

The saddest part of this "socialist" tale is that General Electric (that's right, OUR G.E.) has signed on as a major investor in the Singapore water projects, "... lured by the (Singapore) government’s commitment to water treatment technology..."

Lots of jobs for this ... in Singapore.

Picture credit

Investment Banks - Gamblers All

2010-04-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

I Admit It… I’VE TRADED OPTIONS

Therefore I’m the worst kind of gambler.

Now, before I get into excessive breast beating and teeth gnashing, let’s face it, EVERYONE WHO “INVESTS” IN STOCKS is gambling. That money you put in General Electric or General Motors or General Mills, etc. does NOT go to those companies. It goes to whoever sold that stock, plus a slice of it goes to the brokerages involved. Typically, not a penny goes to the company on the stock certificate. The companies don’t do more R&D, buy more equipment or hire more people because you “invested” in them.

So you are not investing in American industry, you are just gambling that some other sucker will pay you more for your stock than you paid. Or – more rarely – that the company represented by the stock will dole out some of its profits as dividends to you as a stockholder.

We all believe that buying stock is better than playing roulette because we make more informed bets than “black or red,” etc. And it’s just more respectable than playing the slots, throwin’ dem bones or blacking the Jack. The problem is (as you can tell from my simplistic analysis above), gambling in the stock market is too complex for most non-financial-specialists to even comprehend properly, much less beat the house or do something socially productive with your money in the market. (Options, by the way, and most of the ‘sophisticated financial products’ invented by Wall Street wizards, are even further removed from the companies they pretend to be about. Gambling on gambling, so to speak.)

Actually, all this is to plug this article by Elliot Spitzer, that horny toad of a genius. It’s called:

The Goldman Casino - Do investment banks do anything that helps America anymore?

For the really tough questions we (and our elected representatives) should be asking about our financial mess, read the Spitzer piece. Forget about his peccadilloes and listen to his analysis.

In the meantime, if you want to really invest in American business, find a promising start-up or a struggling local firm and invest or loan directly to the company. Or put your savings in an institution that actually finances businesses.

picture credit

Good News Turns to Bad

2010-04-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

Wrongo, Coast Guard

See below, "Some Good News" where I blithely accepted a Friday Coast Guard evaluation that there was no more leakage from the big BP rig that blew up, burned an sank in The Gulf.

That's what I get for being such an optimist. Here's the current state of things from the A.P.

By CAIN BURDEAU

The Associated Press
Sunday, April 25, 2010; 9:43 PM

NEW ORLEANS -- It could take hours or it could take months to stop a 42,000-gallon-a-day oil leak polluting the Gulf of Mexico at the site of a wrecked drilling platform. Whether the environmental threat grows many times bigger depends on whether the oil company can turn the well completely off.

Crews are using robot submarines to activate valves at the well head in hopes of cutting off the leak, which threatens the Gulf Coast's fragile ecosystem of shrimp, fish, birds and coral. If the effort fails, they'll have to start drilling again.

Dang.

Some Good News!

2010-04-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

State Decision Blocks Drilling for Gas in Catskills

The danger to the NYC water supply from "fracking" is greatly reduced. Common sense wins! Story in the NYTimes.

"No Crude" Leaking from Sunken Oil Rig
Coast Guard Commander Tells CBS No Signs of New Leakage

Oh, that could have been the most terrifying and destructive spill yet.

(And, hey, maybe it will raise the alarm level for all offshore drill-baby-drilling. Maybe.)

The "British Obama" Sells Banking Regulation

2010-04-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Heard About Nick Clegg?

In a surprise bigger that Obama winning Iowa in the Democratic primary, this guy Clegg has shot onto the scene in Great Britain, suddenly taking his Liberal Democratic party from 16% to 34% in a week. Talk about a successful appearance on a debate! By the way, it was the first televised PM debate in British history.

So I checked out some of his speeches on YouTube. Here's one that I find astonishingly appropriate to United States politics. It's about reforming the financial system. He is as on-the-money as I can imagine.

See if you agree and at the same time, take a look at the "British Obama."

Picture Credit

Source of The Healthcare Lies

2010-04-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Fox News Made Me Think It

People who are "madder'n hell" over the health reform law are quick and copious with their inaccuracies. When honest Tea Partiers state an inaccuracy, you can bet they picked it up from a LIE. For instance, "Refuse the insurance mandate and GO TO JAIL."

No surprise, perhaps, that the main perpetrator of health reform lies is Fox News. (And right wing magazines like The Freeman.) It gets really slimey when Fox News lies about lying.

Bill O'Reilly did it a few nights ago, denying that Fox News ever said anything about going to jail for bucking the mandate - or even for not paying the fine. ( The reform law expressly prohibits the government from jailing anyone who fails to either obtain health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Check it out.)

But Bill said: “We researched on Fox News if anybody had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody's ever said it.” He researched it! If you're going to tell a lie, credit your research. It's better even than "I saw it with my own eyes."

The problem is - when it's about a TV channel - you can get the transcripts or watch the tapes. Ooops! Back in November, it was all over Fox News. No insurance = JAIL. The news "sources" were lying. Bill O'Reilly lied about Fox carrying those lies.

Who can blame those misinformed folk who watch Fox News and come up with inaccuracies?

Well, you could say they ought to check out something so egregious before adopting it as an awful truth and getting all worked up about it.

Monster in the PVC

2010-04-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

The mind's eye runs rampant (again).

Three -Eyed Giant Blue Insectile

Found this beastie in a piece of broken PVC, stained by the glue and cleaner.

Looks like an alien bug to me. Hey.

See "Faces in the Rocks"

Hooray for Graphics!

2010-04-01T09:57:00.001-07:00

The Guardian Gives Good Graphics

"CA" is China; "JA" Japan, etc.

I was palavering with a pal on the huge U.S. Defense budget recently and came up with a pie chart. This is better.

If we just took the red part, not covered by other nations' expenditures, and spent it on, say, education, we'd be the best educated country in the world (again).

Graphic 1 credit

Always Blame the Other Guy

2010-03-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

He Who Screams Loudest

A competitor walks into your store and pees on the floor. Then he immediately screams, "There's pee on your floor! You people are filthy! This store is a scumbag place! I'm calling the Board of Health!"

That is precisely the tactic being used by Republicans like Eric Cantor who are trying to blame the crazed verbal and physical violence from right wingnuts on the Democrats. Or the national debt on everyone but George W.

Fee Fi Fo Fum; I smell the stink of hypocrisy-dumb.

Or is that a wafting draft of Big Lie propaganda technique?

pix credit

The Climate Change Denial Industry

2010-03-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

... And Who's Paying for It

Koch Industries, that's who.

Guess who blew the whistle? Good old Greenpeace! Whatever you think of their war on whalers (I love it), you've got to admire their courage.
Greenpeace's latest attack is on one of the most powerful, secretive, and rich companies in the world. In an admirable piece of investigative work, they have documented who pays the (huge) tab on denying climate change. And guess what, they are oil men! Surprise!

Here are the boys running Koch Industries:

Koch is a huge, privately-owned company that has nearly a hundred billion a year in revenue. Since it's a private company, they can keep a very low profile. And under that low profile, they outspend Exxon Mobile by three-to-one trying to debunk the truth of climate change. (And you thought Exxon was the bad guy.)

So if you ever wonder how such loony-tunes stuff keeps popping up from climate change denialists, it's because these guys are pumping millions and millions into the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and -worse in my opinion - "Americans for Prosperity," the sludge in the right wing noise sump, for the purpose of clouding the issue, muddying the waters, confusing the credulous and generally stinking up a very important issue. And they have an army of lobbyists just to keep our lawmakers confounded (and con-funded).

Koch money was behind the fake science reports that the Polar Bears actually love global warming, for instance.

They backed a bogus study saying wind power is a scam. All the while, these boys are crapping up the environment, doing dirty deals and even some times getting caught. Here's a bit from Wikipedia's article on Koch Industries:

Environmental fines

In 2000, Koch Industries subsidiary, Koch Pipeline, agreed to a $35 million settlement with the US Justice Department and the State of Texas. This settlement, including a $30 million civil fine, was incurred for the firm's multiple oil spills in Texas and five other states going back to 1990.^[10]

In 2001, Koch Industries paid $25 million to the US Government to settle a federal lawsuit that found the company had improperly taken more oil than it had paid for from federal and Indian land. The suit was initiated by William Koch, one of the Koch brothers, who said that the company engaged in "organized crime," and had made more than $230 million in profit from the stolen oil.^[11]

In 2009, the US Justice Department and EPA announced in 2009 that Koch Industries' Invista subsidiary would pay a $1.7 million penalty and spend $500 million to fix environmental violations at its facilities in seven states.

Oh and Pappa Koch (Fred), founder of the company was also the co-founder of the John Birch Society.

So read the Greenpeace report or the story in Huffington Post.

If truth is your thang, you should worry about these guys.

Koch boys and Windfarm Scam Pix credits: Hard to do; they're all over the 'Net.
Bear pix credit

Another Big Climate Change Study

2010-03-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

THE SECOND SCARIEST STUFF ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

The FIRST scariest is the incessant bleating of the "deniers," egged on by the hydrocarbon industry. I read in the Washington Post a Heritage Foundation denialist called climate change "the greatest non-crisis facing mankind." That's high level denying. That's scary.

That SECOND scariest part is the truth itself. Here's an excerpt from a report in Science Daily:

"A new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wyoming predicts that by the year 2100, many of today's familiar climates will be replaced by climates unknown in today's world, if current rates of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gas emissions continue. The new global climate models for the next century forecast the complete disappearance of several existing climates currently found in tropical highlands and regions near the poles, while large swaths of the tropics and subtropics may develop new climates unlike anything seen today. (my red)

ABOUT THE STUDY: The climate modeling study translates CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emission levels into climate change. It uses average summer and winter temperatures and precipitation levels to map the differences between climate zones today and in the year 2100. The most severely affected parts of the world span both heavily populated regions, including the southeastern United States, southeastern Asia, and parts of Africa, as well as known hotspots of biodiversity, such as the Amazonian rainforest and South American mountain ranges. The predicted changes also anticipate dramatic ecological shifts, with extensive effects on large segments of the Earth's population."

Of course the denialists don't believe "scientific claptrap" so all that's wasted on them.

By the way, I "commented" on that Heritage guy's piece with this:

So it's "the greatest non-crisis facing mankind?" What will it take for you to violate the Heritage Foundation theology? Obviously it ain't facts, scientific consensus or melting permafrost.

pix credit

Hey (Fellow) White Folks!

2010-03-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

Are We More Gullible?

As an addicted poll reader, I note that (some) polls say that white people are much less likely to say that the health care reform law will help them personally than say people of differing shades.

One question: Have you never run afoul of your insurance company? Would you like those parasites to still have the power to cancel your insurance when you need it most? Would you like to be unable to buy health insurance if you change - or worse, lose your job - because of a "pre-existing condition?" That happened to me, because I had (treatable, controlled) hypertension. Do you like your premiums going up at two or three times the rate of inflation? Blue Cross just popped my wife's premiums 29% - no recourse, no appeals, no changing insurance companies because she has a - guess what? - pre-existing condition! Do you like having to haggle with some insurance company clerk for legitimate claims? Do you oldies just love the "donut hole?" If you answered "yes" to all these, then I guess you are right; the new law won't help you personally.

More of us white folks have been screwed over by for-profit insurance companies than any other race or ethnic group. So why are we missing the point? Could it be that white folks are just more likely to believe lies from the likes of Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Palin and Savage? Or could it be those (few, I'm just sure) racists in the Tea Party movement?

I dearly hope not.

Pix credit

Why Healthcare Costs Are Out of Control

2010-03-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ten Times Retail Markup?!?

Healthcare costs are skyrocketing. Why, Lord, why?

- Is it all those scans prescribed by the docs who own the scanners?
- Is it all those CYA tests to protect the docs from lawsuits?
- Is it the meds that cost 300% more in the U.S.A. than anywhere else in the world?
- Is it the weak regulations on keeping our food safe?
- Is it the $500 a minute specialist fees?

YES! All that and insane overcharges for everything from the famous dollar-per-aspirin some hospitals charge to things like THIS...

THE STORY

A close pal breaks her ankle. She goes to a podiatrist. The Physician gives her a simple, off-the-shelf ankle brace for temporary support. The bills trickle in.
Cost for that brace? $490!

Whoa, we say. So we look up the cost of this device. Check it out:

= $490 charged by the Podiatrist

= $49.95 charged by Smart+Medical

Identical product. Identical manufacturer. Identical reimbursement code.

Keep in mind #49.95 is a retail price, available to you and me. There is surely mark-up and profit in that price. BUT THE DOC BLITHELY MARKS IT UP 1000% MORE.

Egads. Blimey. Fooey.

Of course the insurance company (Blue Cross) didn't challenge that cost. Only the informed patient will challenge this kind of BS. So add to that list above:

- Patients rarely challenge excessive charges."

HALLELUJAH!

2010-03-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

Way to Go, House

Not finished, but partially irreversible, health care reform cleared a giant hurdle.

To the brave men and women in Congress who voted for US, even in the face of intimidation, I thank you.

To those who fought this bill as though what its detractors in the insurance business and their surrogates said was actually true, take a deep breath and see what this really means to you, your fellow citizens and American small business in general, then see if you're still mad.

I am grateful, in the prayerful sense.

The Worst Kind of News

2010-03-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

Another Leadership Stumble

Just another slap in the face from Reality. This morning's NY Times whacked me with this:

China Drawing High-Tech Research From U.S.

Oh, darn. Not just (almost all) our manufacturing base, but now our innovation base.

The story is about how Applied Materials, a VITAL part of our technological manufacturing base, is moving much of its R&D to China.

So what's wrong with us? Is it our laws? (Yep. "Free trade" = "OK, move out.") Are our taxes too high (Yep, for the corporations which don't give a flip for anything but their bottom lines.) Are we running short of good engineers? (Yep, our decaying education system) Does a good part of our population sound like idiots? (I shouldn't say.)

I'm feeling grouchy.

Is America Losing the Biggest Races?

2010-03-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Those Darn Socialist Europeans

If you've been paying attention to what the Right has to say negatively about almost anything we're trying to get done in American, you have heard the word "Socialist" about a thousand times. The Stimulus, health reform, energy independence, environmental progress, education... on and on ... it's ALL Socialism! Just like Europe!

Well, in area after area, those darn Socialists are kicking our butts.

Take a look:

VAST SOLAR PROJECT IN THE SAHARA DESERT TO PUMP ELECTRICITY TO EUROPE

This huge project linking solar power from the Sahara to energy users in Europe and North Africa could create 240,000 German jobs and generate 2 trillion euros ($2,822 billion) worth of power by 2050,executives from blue chip companies such as Siemens, E.ON, RWE and Switzerland's ABB along with firms from southern Europe and northern Africa will be at the inaugural meeting.

Energy groups plan for European 'super-grid'

An ambitious plan for an electricity “super-grid” in the North Sea will be launched in London on Monday by a group of 10 leading European companies.

Such a super-grid connecting the UK, Germany and Norway is expected to cost €34bn ($46bn, £30bn).

The Friends of the Super-grid group, which includes Siemens and Hochtief of Germany, Areva of France and Prysmian of Italy, said the project would make it possible to develop high volumes of offshore wind power in the North Sea and reduce electricity prices.

The super-grid would also distribute the power from the Sahara.

And Just about Siemens...(one of the "friends of the super grid")

German industrial giant Siemens is sharpening its focus on solar energy as it anticipates a €6bn ($8.3bn) shot in the arm to its environmental division, thanks to green-minded government (German) stimulus packages.

CEO Löscher expects to see white-hot sales of Siemens' wind turbines and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity transmission lines over the next few years, which are being snapped up to link Europe’s growing network of offshore wind farms to onshore grids.

You might remember that I am a big fan of burying our local distribution power lines. But transporting gigawatts calls for new transmission technology. High Voltage DC (direct current) is where it's (going to be) at. Smaller towers, fewers wires, more efficiency... stuff like that. Know of any HVDC projects in your area?

Point Is...

Why aren't our biggest companies teaming up to create an American super-grid? Why isn't HVDC springing up all over? Why are our Tea Party types not raising hell for progress and American jobs instead of just drooling over rotten "Socialism" (when I suspect many of them are not even sure what it really is)?

Super Grid graphic:

Letter to Hormel

2010-03-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

I actually felt pretty good about Hormel before now, even though I'm no fan of processed food. Pretty good corporate citizen, I thought.

Now I hear Sean Hannity crowing that Hormel is a new sponsor. Dang! I wrote this letter to Hormel:

"Your decision to become a sponsor for Sean Hannity leads me to the decision to cease buying any Hormel product.

Hannity - in my opinion - is a propagandist of the worst sort, dealing in half truths. He is bad for America."

I think he's almost as bad as Limbaugh for stretching, bending, distorting and downright avoiding the truth. He's welcome to his opinions, but I get really grouchy when people knowingly lie for political motives.

Sorry, Hormel, I'm just saying.....

But hey, they answered promptly with:

March 05, 2010

Mr Duff,

Thank you for contacting us regarding the radio advertisement.

I will forward your message to our marketing area responsible for this.

Nancy

Consumer Response Specialist

(I bet Mr. Marketing is a Tea Bagger at heart.)

Pancake artistPicture Credit

My Very Own Ice Dam!

2010-03-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

....Or a Mini Glacier, Maybe

I have long been fascinated – what would you expect from a sci-fi fan? – with the megafloods . Catastrophic floods have carved canyons, rivers, lakes and even seas. Imagine the spectacle of billions of gallons of water, acre feet per second, thundering across the landscape with inconceivable force, making tsunamis seem tame. These colossal events have happened at the end of every ice age when giant lakes of melt water are unleashed by the failure of the large ice dams that created them.

That is some scientist’s conception of what the ice dam looked like that released the flood that created the Western Washington badlands. Big deal flood. Not as big as the one that created the Mediterranean or the huge one that flushed out the Great Lakes, but pretty darn big.

Anyway, fascinating, no? Biblical at least.

Now I have my very own ice dam.

Hard to photograph, at least for me. But after over 70 inches of snow over two months, the melt/re-freeze process on my roof has created an 11 inch high ice dam, starting in the bottom of my north gutters and forming an aerodynamic sort of shape of compacted snow turned to clear ice.

Here’s its cross section.

In some ways my rooftop ice dam is more like a glacier in Greenland than a Paleolithic Hoover Dam. There is no body of water behind it searching for a flaw to rush through to carve a catastrophic failure. Rather, there is a flow of water beneath the dam. These last few days have reached the balmy mid-forties. The crystallized snow upslope on the roof is melting. I can hear the water splashing into my full cisterns.

I’m trying to destroy the dam, from right to left, up-gutter to down-gutter, with a hatchet. All without damaging the metal roof or the gutter itself.

I hope to install a grid of electrical resistance cables before the next onslaught of this El Nino winter – or next year’s. With climate change grinding on, who knows how long the little boy of the Pacific will stay warm?

Next winter, I’ll report how this project is going. I might save the stucco yet.

I'M MOVING MY MONEY

2010-02-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

To Heck With the Big Guys

Someone close to me was one of those victims of Wells Fargo (Could have been B of A or J.P. Morgan Chase, any of the Big Guys... ) charged $35 each for several overdrafts on his debit card before he caught on what was happening. As a college student, $35 here and there amounts to a big deal.

And of course I'm groused out about how the big banks are exploiting credit card holders, not lending like they should, soaking up public funds, overpaying their executives, lobbying against reasonable regulations, etc.

So we decided to take our meager funds out of Wells Fargo and put them in a local credit union. And that was BEFORE Huffington Post came up with the "Move Your Money" campaign.

But I really like how Huffington approaches this. Check it out here. Chances are, you will actually save money by moving it to a credit union or a locally owned bank.

art credit

TAX ME!

2010-02-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

Only Dummies Believe in Free Rides

National Debt Growing Huge

Infrastructure Falling Apart

Education Decaying

Medical Bankruptcies Rampant

Wars With No Civilian Sacrifice

On and on and on and on and on......

Bad stuff, all that. So what do numbnuts do? Attack the IRS! Scream that taxes take "my money."

So I'm screaming "take my money!" Tax me fairly. Use the money wisely. Don't let America slide into shambles. Paying our way is the American way. (P.S. as a retired person, I am reminded every day that those FICA taxes were the best money I - and my employers - ever spent.)

And I want America to stay the world leader it should be. For that to happen, we all have to shoulder our share of the load.

So TAX ME.

pix credit

Slippery Bankers

2010-01-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't You Know It

The Prez sets out to recover our (we the taxpayers') TARP money from the banks we saved. Then before the plans get finalized, we have this Reuters story:

Banks, experts eye possible ways around Obama fee

Dan Wilchins

NEW YORK

Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:20pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - No sooner does Washington propose a new tax than an army of experts tries to figure out ways to avoid it.

That is already the case with U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed fee on banks, designed to ensure that Wall Street banks pay up to $117 billion to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout: Bankers, lawyers and consultants are already considering ways to avoid paying the fee.

"This law could be a real boon for lawyers and consultants like me. There are tremendous opportunities for coming up with new mechanisms to avoid it," said Bert Ely, a bank consultant in Alexandria, Virginia.

"This tax could indirectly fall on the banks that the government is trying to support," said James Ellman, president of hedge fund Seacliff Capital. [The whole piece]

Yep, those big banks are just dying to pay back the tax money we all contributed to their salvation and to get them back to their high-risk ways. What a fine time to be a banking consultant.

Now why are people pissed at the big banks? (Watch out for a "Move Your Money" post here one of these days. We're doin' it right now.)

pix credit

Facing my limits

2010-01-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

86 is a "B" Isn't It?

An oft repeated thing I say (and have said and said) is: "I discovered the limits of my brain's capacity in differential equations." Usually I'm explaining how I went through four majors and five years at four universities without winning a degree. (Then I say, "a broad, shallow education.")

It's no small thing to actually have a hard number on your limits. But now I have one. 86. Oh, not that I don't strive for and occasionally reach, say, 90. But it never holds up long.

The measuring metric is - get this - FreeCell Solitaire. Note:

Squint hard, and you will see the "86%." Wins, that is.

That, by the way, is up from 80% at about 500 games, begging the question, "How much time do you waste on FreeCell?" Well, Duffer?

If I hit 90%, I'll give you an update.

Oh, You Rascally BPA

2010-01-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Ye who have checked this humble blog occasionally might sense that I have been on the anti-BPA (Bisphenol Acid in common plastics in our lives) bandwagon for quite a while.

And NOW... whoo, boy... it seems BPA in the blood correlates with heart disease.

Not good.

Anyway, check out Web-MD's take on the research.

And watch what the stuff you eat and drink is packaged in.

[Here are my prior rants on the stuff: http://seniorjunior.blogspot.com/search?q=bpa+]

Letter to the Editor

2010-01-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

THE JOY OF PUBLICATION

As gratifying as blogging is, there is something more special about seeing one's letter in a paper.

This in the Dec 31-09 alibi, the hot "alternative" paper in Albuquerque:

Progress! (The verb. An admonition)

2009-12-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

How About Some (brilliant) actual Progressives for Obama's Economic Advisers?

Oh, now that it's out that Lawrence Summers blitzed Harvard for a billion bucks with derivatives (not to mention a huge whack to its gender equality image),

... doesn't our Prez now have the perfect excuse to put some, you know, real Democrats into the financial cat bird seats?

I recommend Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman,

and

Texas University's James Galbraith (Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government.)

If you haven't seen these guys on TV, on the Net, in print or somewhere, you are just not paying attention. They are SMART (and I happen to think, right on economic issues).

At the very minimum they look more alert than Summers.

Wonderful, Wonderful Coping With Deniers

2009-12-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Flat Ten Years of Climate Temperature

Never mind the stolen climatologists' e-mails (aka Climate-gate), the biggie among climate change deniers is the fact that worldwide temperatures have been more or less flat for the last ten years or so. "SEE!?" they say, "NO WARMING!"

Well, three things: (1.) The flat temperature where the thermometer is stuck is still warm enough to be melting the North Polar Cap and glaciers all over the world, i.e. "stuck on warm." (2.) A likely reason for the pause in warming is that the sun is in "the deepest solar minimum in almost 100 years" cutting its radiation to the Earth - a situation not likely to last very long. (3.) In the context of even a brief period of time - one century - this flat spot is just a normal wiggle in the temperature graph.

See the flattening there? (top chart, right side) When the sun "wakes up," you can bet the line will start up again.

Trends aren't smooth lines. They wiggle. Seen over 1000 years (bottom chart), you can see a truly frightening trend since 1900.

Deniers, of course, are mostly on the payrolls of Big Energy, so why do we take them any more seriously than those who were on the payrolls of Big Tobacco?

I just don't know.

Chart credit
Ad credit

Vertical Farming

2009-11-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

Running Out of Water, Land and Trees

Gotta love this:
Now THAT's a farm! Check it out. And this baby produces food 24/7/365, using a tiny percentage of the water the same production would use in flat farming. (Still Sci-Fi, btw.)

On a smaller scale there is Valcent. (Full disclosure: I bought some penny shares in Valcent.)

And further pumping up my Sci-Fi sense, when we master farming vertically, we will be ready to grow greens on the moon and Mars. Gotta have your greens, SpaceBusters.

Look ahead; behind is a mess.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

2009-11-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

Create These Jobs, Oh Government o'Mine

I hear from the right (a lot), "The government create jobs? Riiight." Like that is impossible. Well how about fixing some pure government stuff, like this:

As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways

Yuck! This N.Y. Times headline spun me around a few times. Let's face it, sewer systems are mosdef government thangs. So fix them! Expand them! Hire a bunch of people ("create jobs"), buy lots of concrete and steel (American, of course, creating jobs), buy mucho equipment (from American manufacturers, creating jobs), and get underway right away, PLEASE.

How many jobs would be created? I'm guessing tens of thousands, but I am but a blogger, bud, so I really don't know. However, this paragraph from the Times article makes it sound reasonable:

"In the last three years alone, more than 9,400 of the nation’s 25,000 sewage systems — including those in major cities — have reported violating the law by dumping untreated or partly treated human waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into rivers and lakes and elsewhere, according to data from state environmental agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency. "

...And even more jobs ideas in the next paragraph

"But fewer than one in five sewage systems that broke the law were ever fined or otherwise sanctioned by state or federal regulators, the Times analysis shows."

Obviously there is a need for a lot more inspectors and prosecutors.

All leading to not only a lot more jobs, but a lot fewer condoms, trash and turds in our dwindling supply of clean water. What a concept!

Picture credit

Stand By Your Man

2009-11-17T20:36:00.000-08:00

How to Respond to Reeely Rotten Politics

Wow, the hard Right is pee-ing all over President B. H. Obama. The Moonies' Washington Times revisited the whole Birther thing in a sideways slap at the Prez as "not one of us enough to know how wrong he is." (Heard about it on Rachel Maddow, MSNBC.)

So if the right is going to get (stay) irrational, untruthful and just nasty, maybe the rest of us shouldn't be so hard on Obama if he's not moving as fast as we'd like on some issues. I mean, he's had almost a year, for heaven's sake!

We snipe a lot, apparently expecting him to be FDR, Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln all rolled into one right away. Now. Today. Ooops, too late.

So let's keep our support for the issues and principles we believe in, and our backing for the best guy likely to come along for a while for getting them done.

I'm just saying...

Oh, Those Dogs

2009-11-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

Those Blasted Blue Dogs

Don't I remember a lot of media noise during the 2006 Democratic take-back of Congress about how one way they did it was to nominate appropriate candidates in normally red districts and states who could ride the wave of Bush nausea and beat the incumbent Republicans?

And what amounted to "appropriate?" Why conservative Dems, of course. What a concept!

Now, what do I get on the e-mail machine? "Let's Beat the BlueDogs - and Blanche Lincoln!"

This apparent rethinking of the 2006 strategy comes from http://www.actblue.com/page/democratscom.

That's the "Progressive Wing" of the Dems. I hear no contradiction from the center of the Dems, where ever that is. (Kerry? Bingaman?)

Ah, well. I'm just finishing a book about Harry Truman (more later on that), and I'm reminded that politics is a mysterious art.

Picture credit: Michele Spiziri here.

A Conservative I Could Get Along With

2009-11-16T06:41:00.000-08:00

The Frumster

Some of my best friends are Republicans. Seriously. However, only a tiny fraction are ultra-right-wingers. (Note the restraint. I did not say "wingnuts," which I think reflects the poison in our polarization.)

For the record, I think two strong parties with opposing, well-defined ideas for solving our problems and facilitating The Pursuit of Happiness, Justice for All, etc, is the way it oughta be here in the U.S.A.

However, the collapse of the current Republican Party into internecine warfare between the Tea Partiers and the Big Tenters is NOT helping the Repubs define their ideas for solutions and facilitations.

David Frum, ex-W guy and author of "Comeback; Conservatism That Can Win Again," vividly spells out the problem with the Tea Party approach; NO SOLUTIONS. Check it out.

So I say (in awe of myself for my open mindedness) that if David Frum suddenly replaced Sen Jim DeMint/Michael Steele as the main conservative thinker, I might put some of my virulent polarization back in its black box and restart judging candidates by their positions on issues. What a concept!

Repower America Web Thang

2009-11-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Not Transparent Enuff

OK, I tried to put my vote on the wall of RepowerAmerica.org and my Internet powers failed me. It's a simple vote for clean energy, with a picture if you want it. I did a high wire act by our solar panels and I can't seem to get in on RPA.org, so here:
There was some text that says something like "Clean energy makes even olde guys feel righteous." Be advised I did not fall off the roof.

So if it ever comes up on RPA.org you know from whence it came.

The SECOND Bill of Rights

2009-11-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

Think Things Are Too Tough Now?

In the midst of World War II, FDR had the time and the sense to make a very important point.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "In our day certain economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. A second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, or race, or creed. Among these are: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines throughout the nation. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living. The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom, freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.

The right of every family to a decent home. The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment. The right to a good education. All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward in the implementation of these rights to new goals of human happiness and well-being. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world."

My point is... Come ON, Democrats, smush the lobbyists spending billions on trying to regain the old, oligargical status quo. Do your job for the rest of us!

[Read a great article (from which this quote was taken) with Bill Moyers interviewing one of my heroes, James Galbraith of the U of Texas, the man Obama should replace Larry Summers with.]

The "Hidden" Causes of Obesity

2009-10-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

Lookee, lookee... the "press" might be waking up to stuff a modest blogger has been saying for a while.

The Obesity Epidemic Isn't Just About Willpower

"Overeaters now find themselves in the same category as smokers or drug addicts, tainted with the aura of moral weakness and lack of willpower." so sayeth U.S. News & World Report.

Check out:

The Fat American Mystery - New Clues [Updated]

Hopeless Fat [Updated]

Plastics for Obeisity, Cancer and Diabetes - UPDATE

So maybe America (and a lot of the rest of the world) didn't just suddenly lose its willpower after all? Maybe the processed food industry and the chemical industry had something to do with it?

Health Insurance Being HONEST?

2009-10-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

Er....I mean...

The bizarre PriceWaterhouse Coopers "research" released by American's Health Insurance Plans (the health insurance industry) is the perfect argument for the PUBLIC OPTION.

Check out their conclusions as you can by any media report or direct reference to their "research."

I keep putting that in quotes because research it ain't. It is skewed, selective "fact" choice and strongly biased conclusions meant to frighten Americans into seeing healthcare reform as the bigbadboogieman. I hope we are a society too savvy to fall for that emotional BS.

But non-fear-laden conclusions from what they say about private insurance premiums in light of the Baucus Committee bill (sort of) say volumes about where the private health insurance companies are AT.

1. If they can't get a "safe" risk pool (98% of the population), they can't make their God-granted profit margin. (As it is, they create safe pools by weeding out the sick people with pre-existing condition restrictions, recission and other evil techniques.)

2. If they can't get their usual 27% skim off the money we invest for actual health care, they just won't put up with it! They will raise the premiums and YOU ARE SCREWED, Americans. They might say, "Because your government lackies have put zero price controls on us, we will raise the premiums just as much as we must to protect our profit margin."

I mean, they basically have said just that.

Hey, Washington. We must have a Public Option. The PIPs (Private Insurance Parasites) have just told us that without the competition of the Public Option, they will drive half the population into bankruptcy or catastrophic health crises.

Just a little rant.

Death In Perspective

2009-09-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

New estimate of how many Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance - 45,000 a year. That's up from the already staggering 18,000 we have been hearing.

Since the study seems sound (Harvard researchers), I was moved to crank out a PowerPoint slide. Now that's taking action!

Take a look:

Sources: Afghanistan; Iraq; Vehicle crashes; N o health insurance

SEEMS like we should do something about that yellow bar.

p.s. Want to hear a really scary death statistic? 440,000/year from smoking.

Cure for Stupidity... In Only 8 Years!

2009-08-01T10:26:00.001-07:00

HOW MANY TIMES... Have we all seen great news about... ... a science "breakthrough" story with the promise of some cure or another [my favs: obesity, brain cancer, aging, etc.] but it will be years before we can get an actual prescription in our aging hands? Now there's "translational medicine!" This is the go-from-basic-discovery-to-human-applications-at-warp-speed idea. I love the way the people in this new-ish field think. Here's an excerpt from an article in Science Magazine. (You have to be a subscriber to read it.) It's kind of a how-to on making translational medicine work:

Recommendations for the Future Our analysis documents objectively show the long length of time that passes between discovery and translation. As scientists, we should convey to our funders and the public the immense difficulty of the scientific discovery process. Successful translation is demanding and takes a lot of effort and time even under the best circumstances; making unrealistic promises for quick discoveries and cures may damage the credibility of science in the eyes of the public. The following are some recommendations for improving the system, based on our analyses:
• Discovery of new substances and interventions remains essential, but proper credit and incentives should be given to accelerate the testing of these applications in high-quality, unbiased clinical research and the replication of claims for effectiveness.
• Multidisciplinary collaboration with focused targets and involving both basic and clinical sciences should be encouraged.
• Proof of effectiveness for new interventions requires large, robust randomized clinical trials.
• Translational efforts for common diseases should focus more on novel agents and new cutting-edge technologies; for these ailments, it is unlikely that genuine major benefits from interventions already known for a long time have gone unnoticed.

Now isn't that smart? And smart is as smart does, so the Stimulus Package has megabucks in it to help all this along. And Science Magazine has a new publication called - of all things - Translational Medicine.

Watch a little You-Tube to get a preview of what will be in this new journal.

YEA! Progress!

HELP! I Don't Want to be a ZOMBIE or a ROBOT!

2009-07-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

COME ON, MALWARE FIGHTERS...

Neither Zombie... Nor Robot

Get your act together. Develop a foolproof program that will tell me if my computer has been taken over by bad guys for bad business. And then DESTROYEEE the worm/virus/slimeware!

Surely this isn't too much to ask.

Pix: www.zombie.org; www.allthingsmike.com; Robbie the... (several locations)

Single Payer Redux

2009-05-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

As you who patiently wait long periods between posts know, the old Duffer is a strong supporter of single payer health insurance, my one unabashed opinion that's pro "socialism." Here's a paragraph from a May 30, '09 article in the NY Times:

"Public opinion polls suggest that many consumers would like to have the choice of a public plan. But insurance companies and Republican lawmakers say a public plan could drive private insurers out of business and lead eventually to a single-payer system run by the government."

The "many consumers" mentioned are in the 55-65% range, depending on how the polling questions are asked.

Read the NYT article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/health/policy/30health.html?hpw

And you are invited to see the whole "Duffer Plan" on single payer and how to make it happen at
http://seniorjunior.blogspot.com/search?q=single+payer

Obama Speech Recommendation - DECISIONS without FEAR

2009-02-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

Here's another brazen suggestion for what Prez Obama might say to the Joint Session of Congress next Tuesday. (I've played this game before. See this.)

The Fearless Usually Win

When things are scary, it’s time to be rational. Be cool. Keep your head while all about you are losing theirs. Be a leader and show the frightened how not to lose their heads. It’s time for all of us to be leaders.

The rational, cool thing for Americans to do in this economic situation is to make spending decisions without fear. For instance, if you need a new machine at your small business for productivity or safety reasons, and you have thought it through carefully, don’t let fear keep you from making the right decision. Or if you think some work on landscaping your house will improve its value in the long run and your personal satisfaction in the short run, don’t let fear lock up your thinking. The “fear” influence on decision-making might cause you to just reject a productive spending decision. Fear can be very thought distorting and cause you to avoid a productive decision. The default decision caused by fear is to do NOTHING. Just wrap your arms around yourself and say “No, not now. I’m afraid.”

Of course, when you do nothing, you are hurting your suppliers and their employees. Worse, you are weakening yourself, your ability to bounce back and grow. In fact, this do-nothing sort of decision hurts the whole economy and everybody in it, and that’s all of us. Fear wins. And you know what Franklin Roosevelt said about fear itself.

I strongly urge you to make your spending decisions without letting fear be the guiding force. Let judgment be the guiding force. If you judge that a certain spending decision is wise and will be productive, then make your decision based on that.

Note, I am not advocating shop, shop, shop ‘til you drop. I applaud prudence and more savings. We must avoid at all costs the irresponsible actions that many of us took by spending more than we could afford and by taking risks beyond our tolerance. It’s definitely time for sensible financial decisions. But it is NOT time to be paralyzed by fear. We can stop this downward spiral in our economy by regaining our confidence in the power of our ideas and our judgment.

So if you believe that purchasing that machine for your small business and landscaping your place are win-wins, move forward and buy that machine and hire that landscaping crew. And do it with the confidence that this great nation will shake off our financial headache and begin to prosper again in direct relation to how well we ALL ignore fear and trust our judgment. Jobs will stop being lost; new opportunities will start being born again. We can save ourselves by demoting fear to caution. Caution and judgment are good;

fear is really stupid.

[Graphic]

Bury Them!

2009-02-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hard to Get the Straight Nutrition News

2009-01-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

NUTS!

Hard to Get the Straight Nutrition News

I read – it must be 10-11 years ago – about a medical research study that said people who eat a “helping” of nuts (not peanuts, thank heavens) three to five times a week had about a 45% advantage on the poor nutless for not having a fatal heart attack over any fifteen year period. It seemed like a credible study to me; many thousands of people tracked over fifteen years with full records kept on what they ate and how they got sick, died, etc.

When I recalled this recently (with a handful of walnuts ready to eatin hand), it occurred to me that I have read similar studies claiming similar benefits for eating fish three to five times a week, drinking red wine (but not too much!), cooking everything in olive oil, eating a lot of garlic, eating a lot of “cruciferous” vegetables, drinking the juice of various “superfruit” I have hardly heard of, like gogi, acai, black elderberry plus enough cranberry juice to shrivel one’s tongue… and on and on. In retrospect, I suspect all these “studies” were actually planted stories on behalf of the fish-wine-garlic-olive oil-cabbage/broccoli–superfruits cartel to counter the earlier PR victory of the nuts cartel.

So, a rhetorical question: What if you did it all? Nuts, garlic, superfruits... the whole magilla. Are there PR agents out there watching the news spectrum to see that some new kind of health nut just turned 95 and is doing competitive rope climbing and racing motocross professionally? When they find this guy, BOOM, the biggest PR blitz in a while. People will be talking about it on The Today Show, the Food Network, Face book, Twitter, Science Magazine and the Sanjay Gupta report. Viral.

Which brings me back to basics. What the heck is a “serving” of nuts? A handful? A Gooseberry Bowl full? I think I average four to six servings of nuts a DAY. When we lived in Dallas, there were two huge pecan trees in the front yard, yielding many bushels of pecans a year. Imaging the nuts I ate. These days, I bring home bags of nuts – mostly almonds and walnuts, but occasionally cashews – from Costco. Two handfuls a night. Minimum.

So need I to use less olive oil or drink less red wine to have the same health benefits? Or do all these things, perhaps, combine additively? Am I sitting here with a 99.9% advantage over the poor nutless, fishless, red wineless, olive oilless, garlicless, cruciferousless, superfruitless? And who are these poor devils? What researcher would use such deprived creatures as their control group?

It’s hard to get dependable nutrition news these days.

[Image]

BTW, I'm still eating LOTS of peanut butter.

Super Tech Education Idea

2008-12-31T08:34:00.001-08:00

M'Son the Guyster puts forth one of his revolutionary ideas on
"Change.org" Click the widget, read it and vote, should you be so inclined.

3-D Without Glasses II

2008-12-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

At long last a "Look Through"

Just "relax" your eyes until the towers coalesce.
Wiggle your head to get vertical matching.

To see a "cross-eyed" 3-D, check THIS.

Face in the Rocks II, Bearded Small Head

2008-12-03T19:45:00.000-08:00

Another ponderous type.

Old Woman/Bird Head ... Same Cap

Faces In The Rocks

2008-11-29T20:22:00.000-08:00

[I'll try this now and then. Great Four Corners
road trip with lots of digital clicking. I was looking
for faces. This is what I saw and what the camera
saw.]

Canyon de Chelly, Arizona: "Tough Guy"

Military vs. Civilian Spending

2008-11-20T15:40:00.000-08:00

Think what might happen with just a few fewer tanks...

Over 8,800 M1 and M1A1 tanks have been produced for the US Army and Marine Corps, (and a relative few for the armies of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) at a cost of US $2.35–$4.30 million per unit, depending on the variant. (“top-of-the-line” = $4.3 million) The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank is made by General Dynamics Land Systems.

Supporting the Abrams is a Tank Recovery Vehicle. The United States Army requirement is for 595 M88A2 HERCULES recovery vehicles, the Marine Corps requirement was originally for 60 vehicles (now 66).The US Army has fielded 157 HERCULES and the US Marine Corps all its planned HERCULES. Unitary Cost: USD
$2.0 million. The Hercules is made by BAE Systems (AirBus, etc.).

Both vehicles are totally paid for with taxpayer dollars.

The top-of-the-line combine John Deere offers is the 9870 STS.Manufacturer's suggested list price: $0.337 million. About one third of one million. These are typically paid for by farmers and farming companies; only partially (tax breaks) with taxpayer money.

So, for the same money you can buy…

(One)

OR…

(Twelve)

And if you want something to put you upright after you take a turn a little fast…

(One)

OR…

(Six)

Which do you think are the more productive expenditures?

...And I mean in terms of national security, international relations, positive productivity, contribution to the U.S. economy. And esthetics. The "military/industrial complex" might think "tanks." And if you are not careful, and do not think about it critically, you might think "tanks" too. Or if, after thinking critically, you still think "tanks," then we have an ideological difference.

Two More Strikes Against For-Profit Health Insurance

2008-11-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

How many strikes does it take to strike OUT?

How about these?

1.

Doctors (mostly primary care docs) hate ins. paperwork, want to quit

That's a very disheartening story from United Press International - UPI - about a huge survey of primary care physicians. Almost half say they are going to quit their profession or at least reduce their patient rosters. Of course, this is the very category of docs we need the most and have the biggest shortage of. Why this catastrophe?

"The reported reasons for the widespread frustration among doctors include: increased time spent dealing with non-clinical paperwork, difficulty receiving reimbursement from insurance companies and burdensome government regulations."

And...

2. New International Survey: More Than Half of U.S. Chronically Ill Adults Skip Needed Care Due to Costs

Bottom line in this study: The U.S. is last of eight advanced nations in the quality of care for the chronically ill. And we spend the most out of pocket on the problem.

Americans aren't ignorant of how bad it is, either. Never mind all those politicians blindly saying we have "the best health care in the world." We know better:

"...the eight-country survey finds that U.S. patients are significantly more likely to call for fundamental change in their country's health care system, with a third saying the system needs to be rebuilt completely."

Or as the NYTimes.com put it today (11.18.08), the U.S. is "The Wrong Place to Be Chronically Ill"

Just in case you don't know where the Scooter stands on this, check this out.

[Sorry about all the giant fonts. Sometimes Blogger just whips me.]

Why Are You Afraid of The Fairness Doctrine?

2008-11-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

Obscenity in the Ears of the Beholder

Long story short: 1965 - 1967 I was the Program Director at the country's first 24/7 telephone call-in radio station, KLAC in Los Angeles. It was a double barreled hoot.

The dreaded Fairness Doctrine was in full force. Results? Right wing talk was crushed? Noooo. We had Bob Grant spewing the precursor mud of Michael Savage and Sean Hannity. We had Joe Pyne, doing confrontational blitzing that makes Rush Limbaugh look like a wimp. We had Ray Briem, a calm, hard-right, all-night talker. These guys were tough, uncompromising Righties, and nothing in the Fairness Doctrine shut them up or even inhibited them.

AND we had left-wing talkers, including the hilarious Arbogast (Bob) and Margolis (Jack) and the stunning Jill (daughter of Dore) Schary Robinson doing passionate left wing and feminist talk on the weekends. We even had genius comic Mort Sahl whamming away at the Kennedy assassination investigation and other conspiracies he suspected. We had several apolitical talk jockies Danny Dark among them.

In other words, KLAC had balance. We were never concerned about being completely 50/50, we just made sure all sides had a voice. Horrors! Un-American!

KLAC was #1 with lots of important demographics. Didn't suffer a whit from actual fairness and balance.

The only real threat to KLAC was the John Birch Society. These intolerant Righties launched boycotts against our sponsors because the JBS wanted all-Righty stations only. Just like they finally got all over the AM band. Goodbye Fairness Doctrine.

So don't listen to the fear mongers of Righty radio who dread the return of the F.D. and the very thought of genuine fairness and balance. Don't listen to the Evangelical religious broadcasters who fear it. Listen to Chuck Schumer, a very fair and balanced man. Support the return of the Fairness Doctrine. It's only fair.

Great First Responders

2008-10-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

... And I don't mean emergency workers.

When some of your smart buddies respond to a blog post with substance and smarts, it's a joyful experience. Joyful experiences being not all that common these days, I pass these along so that you might share mine:

Outdone I am
(By a successful entrepreneur acquaintance who called my "Obama Speech" and raised it with an Obama ad)

I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message because the stakes are too high.

· For 6 of the last 7 years, Republicans have controlled the House of Representatives.

· They've controlled the Senate.

· They've controlled the Whitehouse

Republicans have had complete control over our Government.

And look what Republicans have done.

We've gone from record budget surpluses, to the largest deficits in our country's 332 year history.

Real wages for a majority of our people are down, and people on main-street are scared.

Unemployment is rising and everyday almost 10,000 American families are losing their homes to foreclosure.

And while we continue without end in sight waging a war that costs us the lives and injured bodies of our sons and daughters and $10 billion per month, Iraq has amassed over $70- billion in budget surpluses.

Something is terribly wrong, and we need dramatic change in Washington.

If I am elected President, not only will I set a brand new course for America, but I'll appoint new leaders to each branch of government who will implement the change we need.

John McCain, who has proudly proclaimed that he voted with President Bush and the Republicans 90% of the time, will fill government posts with the same old tired Republican bureaucrats that are there now -- so while they talk change, just look at the lobbyists that already run John McCain's campaign – people paid to prevent change.

We need a fundamental change that affects government at every level.

I will deliver that change – the change that we need.

Thank you.

------

Harumph

(By another successful entrepreneur/ philanthropist pal)

Dear 'Dr. Leftie':

You've always had a way with words. Just like 'The Messiah' you aspire to lofty goals to which few could disagree. But just like 'The Messiah' the 'how to's' are missing. Let me help you. Maybe the simple answer is -- let's just nationalize everything and get cozy with socialism. After all, we're 'entitled' aren't we? Let's hand over our pocket books and let Obama & Co. spend on our behalf. I wonder if those steps would get the 80% who now think we're headed in the wrong direction to increase to 95%? For me, less government, please -- not more! If Democrats want to vote for a democrat, McCain is their man. Obama is the socialist candidate. We Republicans don't have a conservative candidate in the race (that's our fault).

Your Pal

- - - - - - - - -

Brains Amok
(By a successful attorney/entrepreneur/intellectual pal)

I don't ever actually hear an Obama speech but your version sounds good to me.

You are 100% correct about socializing the credit issue. It is hilarious. People who drink socialized water don't understand it.

Two ideas that we learned the hard way 60 and more years ago: Keynes was right about deficit spending during economic downturns, and, capitalism and free markets are the only way to bring prosperity. I hope and actually believe we will have to now learn that a libertarian type totally, literally "free" market is nothing more than domination by piracy and that there is no pragmatic reason and certainly no ideological reason that there is something "socialistic" or "communistic" about requiring honest reporting and adequate capitalization by means of appropriate regulation.

Ideology is the most serious brain problem that ever existed! [My favorite comment of the lot.]

Bush and his backers wanted to starve the beast by creating huge deficits so that future Ds couldn't create big, evil welfare programs (and why not accomplish that by using a practical joke, tax cuts for the wealthy). They sure achieved that goal, but now are finding it is a slippery slope. The domino theory prevails again!

- - - - - -

In response to the "High Fructose" post,

Caveat Emptor
(By a successful executive pal)

I once worked for the Minute Maid division of Coca-Cola. It was always a challenge to get anyone to buy pure juice. When I was there I learned that folks do not read labels. Once asked groups of moms to estimate the juice content of Sunny Delight. Estimates ranged from 30% to 100%. The true value was 2%. All claimed to have read the label before giving to their kids. When faced with the gap they made statements like: “Well this isn’t the Sunny D I buy at the store.” “I never read that part of the label.”

If consumers demand unadulterated juice they will get what they ask for. But many prefer to live in the fantasy that someone is looking out for them. Others say they are “trying to eat healthy” but consistently do the opposite.

What will it take for people to get food and Washington right? NO ONE is looking out for you. This is a do it yourself democracy. Let’s hope that the people wake up to their responsibilities.

A Speech for Obama

2008-10-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

What the heck....

My name is Barack Obama. Some of you are hearing it these days as Barack Hussein Obama, which is a whole 'nother issue. So let's talk about something important. For the record, I approve of this message, because it is what I whole-heartedly believe.

[THIS IS THE 'CENTRAL THEME.' NEITHER CANDIDATE SEEMS TO HAVE ONE.]

What you've been hearing on the news for the past several years is that Americans are growing ever more unhappy with the course our country is on. It's one of the oldest questions in the survey business about public attitudes: "Do you believe America is on the right course?" It's a yes or no question and there are years of tracking the results. It's never been this bad. As I'm sure you've heard, the "no" votes are building very rapidly. Lately 80%... eight out of every ten Americans... are saying "no."

My central goal, the very reason I am committed to becoming President of this great nation, is to get us back on the right path. That "right path" differs from person to person, but I want you to know what I mean when I say right path. I want you to decide whether you want to vote for me for the office of President based on what you know I believe and what my specific goals are for this country.

Here is a short description of the 'right path' I will fight to get us on again with all my soul.

The first and simplest goal will be to have most of you - 80% would be nice - to answer 'yes' to the question, "Do you believe America is on the right course?" Why? Here's the 'right path' that I believe in.

The American education system will give every American with the will to excel the fair chance to excel. We will again be the country with the best, most qualified work force in the world. We will have the best, highest paying jobs in the world. The financial safety nets will be back and they will be very effective.

Every American will have fair access to the best medical and health care in the world.

We will have the best infrastructure in the world. Highways, roads, bridges, power grids, high speed Internet and high speed trains, pipelines, efficient vehicles and homes, clean water sources, vibrant ecosystems with low pollution, safe air traffic control, and security against all threats. This infrastructure will support our industries and our environment equally. Building this world class infrastructure will become the work and the passion for millions of our citizens. It will be the best investment this country ever made.

We will be moving rapidly toward real, sustainable energy independence, and in the process of getting there, we will become the world leaders in renewable, sustainable, clean energy sources. We will provide practical solutions to the emission of greenhouse gases. The invention, manufacturing and exporting of these technologies will be the work and passion of many more millions of Americans. It will become the "brand" of American industry.

America will be on course again to be the world leader in sensible solutions to international problems and conflicts. We will tap the genius of our good will to find our real strengths in diplomacy. We will re-learn the art of working with our allies while at the same time encouraging our enemies toward the paths of peace and progress. And if diplomacy fails, we will have evolved from a special interest-oriented military to a lean, efficient, non-privatized military in the best traditions of our magnificent military history.

Most importantly, we will get back to the values that have defined America at its best. We will demonstrably stand and ACT for freedom and liberty and human rights and justice in the ways our system actually invented in many cases, and in all cases we have believed in at our core.

Somehow we will move toward stitching together and curing the wound that has opened in our country as we have been ripped apart by truly vicious political polarization. We will re-learn that we can have different ideas about how to govern our great country without seeing those who disagree as hateful and despicable. The incredible power of mutual respect will replace the sickness of mindless nastiness.

We can only set out to regain the acceptance and even the admiration of the world by being who we really believe we are.

To accomplish all or any part of this course correction will require leadership that is wholly committed to the goal. I give you my word and my oath before God that that is my commitment.

[The accompanying parts of the speech will change with the news every day, but the central message will stay the same. It will be the theme of the rest of the campaign.]

"Of course, it goes without saying that these goals - nor much of any other goal - can be accomplished until we solve this 1.) financial crisis; 2.) this terrible situation in Iraq; 3.) our deteriorating situation in Afghanistan; 4.) this decaying environment..." etc. [The pressing issue of the moment must have real solutions - that might actually work!]

[But always, the message goes back to the central theme of]

GETTING AMERICA BACK ON THE RIGHT COURSE.

So there.

(p.s. I was once a speechwriter for a fine Texas Congressperson, Ray Roberts of McKinney. So, piece of cake.)

The Fat American Mystery - New Clues [Updated]

2008-09-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

"High Fructose Corn Syrup"... Sound the Alarm!

More on this later, but for now, digest this:

"Our study shows for the first time the surprising speed with which humans make body fat from fructose. ...Once you start the process of fat synthesis from fructose, it's hard to slow it down."

From an article by K.H. Shear

This is from the September, 2008 "Center Times," a publication of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Super credible.

So read your labels. (Soft drinks, processed food, all that easy stuff.) Avoid fructose unless its actually in fruit. Save yourself. And your kids. And your friends.

More to come.

... and here it is. If you don't check Digg.com occasionally, you are missing a lot of news. For a summary of all the recent postings about articles on HFructoseCS. Check this.

And check THIS. I paid $2.14 for a bottle of fat juice called "SoBe Black & Blue Berry Brew" which looked like a really healthy energy drink... and got this stuff. Tasted good, though... kinda sweeter than sweet. Next time, I read the label first. I promise.

Don't Get Discouraged

2008-09-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Rants, "Taken Private"

You may have (not) noted that I have been quiet. Not a rant in weeks. Well, busy-bee me has been ranting to friends and relatives instead of to the blog-o-swear.

So here are a few excerpts from said rants.

A friend said: "Obama's socialist" I said: There you go again. Socialism is when the government owns the companies. "...Economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods." Or, worse, "...state control of capital within the framework of a market economy..." kind of like helping Bear Sterns, Fannie/Freddie and now Lehman Brothers. Who's the socialist here, anyway?]

A friend sent me an editorial from Independent Business Daily, blasting Obama's positions. I said: America is in serious trouble. If we are to remain the beacon of freedom, the leader of the free world, the font of innovation, the hope of humanity ... all that we really believe in, we can not - like IBD does every day - just look out for the interest of the super rich. This tract is not just an "anti-Obama rant," it's a reactionary call for a continuation of the catastrophic governing of GWB... heck, to go back to the days of the Robber Barons. That's IBD for you.

A friend said: "As for America being in "serious trouble" -- we have challenges that need to be confronted (always have)." Like the current collapse of international competitiveness from Big Dog to Slipping Fast? Like "best public schools in the world" to 37th? Like fox-in-the-henhouse regulators (See Interior Dept, FDA, Consumer Safety, et al)? Like collapsing infrastructure? Stretched-to-the-point-of-impotence military? Falling behind in science? Financial collapse with a real chance of becoming either Great Depression II or Japanese style stagflation? Biz in trouble? Politics that sound more like propaganda? Somehow this seems like a bit more than our regular challenges.

So there you are... I shouldn't rant totally in private. It's just not neighborly.

Two column recommendations: "Blizzard of Lies" by Paul Krugman, and "In the Seventh Year" by Roger Cohen.

Sci-Fi Too Dense?

2008-08-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Sanity(?) Among the Nutso

With the Prez campaign going the way it is... at least from The Right... the "celebrity" angle with Britney and Paris, the "Tire Pressure Gauge," gambit, etc., it seems a moment for something completely different.

A personal admission, confession, whatever... One of my hobbies is writing science fiction. As we said in the good old days (see below), "far out." In this case way far out, as in the other side of our galaxy.

In this instance I am trying to describe something really big. I mean BIG. It's a writing challenge to do that and not use "vast, gigantic, immense, humongous" et al over and over.

So my questions to you, occasional reader, are (1.) Do you get the sense of "really big" from this, and (2.) Is this little sketch even comprehensible (a.) ... if you are a sci-fi fan, or (b.) if you are not.

Here 'tis:

Depot

Circling a quiet white dwarf in a leisurely orbit of 30 parsecs radius a collection of Satan’s pirate booty occupied several billion cubic kilometers of space in an orderly, linear entrainment. Ingots of pure metals, hundreds of kilometers long, extruded from refineries processing suspended mountains of ores and scrap that looked like nothing so much as vast floating slag heaps. The surplus energies of the purification processes blasted into the surrounding space as thundering infrareds and screeching ultraviolets.

Evenly spaced along the arc of orbiting mass were planetoid-sized spheres of water, like luminescent pearls refracting the spectra of the distant white star and shards of radiation from the metal refineries. Inside the spheres thousands of processing devices swam like microbes on cilia thrust, filtering out organic and inorganic debris, leaving trails of ultra-pure water. Outside the spheres glimmered force field-augmented films restraining molecules of water from escaping into space. Occasionally one of the filtering devices punched through the surface tension and the restraining films to regurgitate its compacted debris into waiting container ships.

Far along the orbital path, both fore and aft of the salvage process were ten-thousand-meter-long space dry docks, manufacturing fighting and container ships for Satan’s galaxy eating squadrons. Elemental ingots were alloyed within the dry docks and stretched into frames and skins of the outsized vessels. Weapons and drives, navigational and computational skeins were woven from semi- and super-conducting refabrications of the refined raw materials. The limitless fleets of Satan grew in consolidation depots like this one scattered over the expanding perimeters of its conquest.

White dwarf (What did you expect?)

You are very patient. If you care to comment, just do it. Good, bad, indifferent, bemused, confused... whatever.

Be well and prosper.