Do you like Social Security?Of course, I'm not in charge of the DNC's advertising.
- So do we! We're the Democrats who brought you Social Security in 1935 under FDR... over the strenuous objections of Senate & House Republicans!Oh - and for what it's worth:Social Security is run by the United States Government!George Bush and Congressional Republicans wanted to kill Social Security in 2005!
Do you like Medicare?
- So do we! We're the Democrats who brought you Medicare in 1965 under LBJ... over the strenuous objections of the Senate and House Republicans!Oh - and, for what it's worth:Today, Senate and House Republicans are again up in arms against Democrats for suggesting that it is the right of every American citizen to have access to affordable, high-quality, timely healthcare.Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government
You like Social Security and Medicare.
You'll like the Democratic Health Care bill!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
If I were in charge of advertising...
... for the DNC, I'd run a spot a long these lines:
You can't make up this stuff!
"People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."Uh... Stephen Hawking DOES live in the U.K. - he holds Newton's old chair at Cambridge (Lucasian Professor of Mathematics)!
[How House Bill Runs Over Grandma, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, July 31, 2009]
As it turns out, he's lived his entire life in the U.K.:
Born: 8 January 1942; Oxford, England.Tell me again how the U.K. healthcare system would've killed him???
After Stephen was born, the family moved back to London, where his father headed the division of parasitology at the National Institute for Medical Research.
...
In 1950, Hawking and his family moved to St Albans in Hertfordshire where he attended St Albans School from 1950 to 1953. ...
He enrolled at University College, Oxford with the intent of studying mathematics... After receiving his B.A. degree at Oxford University in 1962, he stayed to study astronomy.
He left Oxford for Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he engaged in the study of theoretical astronomy and cosmology...
...
After gaining his Ph.D., Stephen became first a Research Fellow, and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College.
Hawking was elected as one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society in 1974, was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982, and became a Companion of Honour in 1989.
[Wikepedia entry, Stephen Hawking]
Sunday, August 9, 2009
... another exercise in futility
My letter to Sarah Palin:
FYI: her address is
Mrs. Palin:I'm not sure why I'm offering sound political advice to Palin, but it was fun to write the letter.
If you intend to be taken seriously on the national political stage, you might want to start by taking yourself seriously.
Your recent, now well-publicized Facebook posting regarding the various healthcare bills now under debate in Congress is a case in point:The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.You're right! - Such a system would be downright evil!!!
Can you identify the sections/paragraphs of ANY version of the current health-care bill in Congress that implies the creation of a “death panel”, or that individual end-of-life decisions will be determined by ANYONE other than the individual and his/her family based on “level of productivity in society”?
No, you can’t. You can’t because THERE ARE NO SUCH PROVISIONS!
Please, if you must speak on issues of national policy, speak with knowledge!
Otherwise, though your ill-informed rantings may appeal to 20% of the electorate, 20% has never won an election.
Sincerely,
FYI: her address is
1140 W Parks Hwy
Wasilla, AK 99654
An exercise in futility
Rush Limbaugh sees a distinct and sinister similarity.I just sent him an email with this image:
This is the patch adopted by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902.
I suggested that Rush probably sees the caduceus in the U.S. Army Medical Corps patch surrounded by a big "Obama O" - a clear indication that even in 1902 - before Obama's parents were born - the Illuminati had determined to elect Obama the anti-Christ.
Yes, I know this email was futile... but it was fun!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The sub-text: Republicans believe the USA is a small, weak country
[Congressman (R-VA)] Cantor said that instead of focusing on issues such as Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, Obama should concentrate on “the primary issue of import … and that is the existential threat that Iran poses not only to the state of Israel but to the United States.”Congressman Cantor believes Iran poses an existential threat to the United States.
[Cantor-led GOP delegation to Israel undermines U.S. policy on settlements. ; emphasis added]
Iran!
This is reminiscent of W-era rhetoric that Iraq posed an existential threat to the U.S.
Two small countries on the other side of the globe, posing an existential threat to America!
America must be a pretty weak nation!
Is this what Congressman Cantor believes, that America is a weak nation???
Come to think of it, I should have seen this before.
Psychologists assure us that bullying, bravado behavior covers up deep insecurity.
The only plausible conclusion?
Republicans really do believe that the USA is a weak, threatened nation.
This is quite different from their rhetoric of "American exceptionalism".
The next time you hear a Republican politician citing Iran as an "existential threat" to America, call him on it!
(note: I just wrote a snailmail letter to Congressman Cantor.)
update: here's my letter
Dear Congressman Cantor:
You were recently quoted as saying that President Obama should not focus on settlements, but on:“... the primary issue of import [regarding Israel and the MidEast]… and that is the existential threat that Iran poses not only to the state of Israel but to the United States.”Do you really believe that Iran poses an “existential threat” to America?
Do you really believe that the USA is a weak country – so weak that Iran could be a true “existential threat” to it?
If so, you don’t believe in the same America as I do.
Iran may be an annoying fly, buzzing around my face – but an “existential threat”???
Me? I’ll do my best to let the world – and your constituents – know what a poor opinion you have of my country!
Sincerely,
Pragmatism
Many (most?) of my posts betray a liberal/"progressive" ideological bent.
Nevetheless, I consider myself a pragmatist: do what works.
(... with a clear notion of exactly what it is the policy is supposed to achieve. Careful readers will note that I'm big on "strategic objectives": what is it we want the world to look like next year? In two years? In five years? - whether in Iraq or in our economy.)
As a liberal 'pragmatist', I'm generally willing to give just about anything a shot. Does it work? Great! Let's keep doing it.
If it doesn't work, let's honestly admit defeat and try something else.
My conservative colleagues don't see it this way.
They prefer ideology above all else - who cares if it doesn't work?
Stated goal: prevent teen preganancy and reduce incidence of sexually-transmitted diseases.
Solution #1: "abstinence only" education.
Result: Teen pregnancy and syphilis up sharply during Bush years.
Stated goal: reduce Americans' use of bad drugs & reduce the illegal drug trade.
Solution #1: "War on Drugs". (The term was first used by President Richard Nixon in 1969)
Result: Drug use in America unchanged; Mexican & Colombian drug cartels run rampant.
[aside: Prohibition had a similar effect - Americans kept drinking while Organized Crime flourished.]
I'll concede: maybe it's best that teens abstain from sex.
Maybe it's best that no one snorts coke.
BUT: teens WILL have sex and folks WILL snort coke!
Let's find policies that accomplish the stated goals.
You want to reduce teen pregancy & control STDs?
Getting teens to stop having sex is not realistic.
How 'bout we teach 'em about contraception & prophylactics to reduce STDs?
[Even our esteemed Republican opposition seems to concede - by their actions - that prohibiting sex is not a realistic goal!]
Drug use? With absolutely NO corroborating data I assert that the cost to society of unconstrained drug use would be far less than the cost of interdiction, prosecution, and incarceration is today.
... AND: legalizing the trade would put drug cartels out of business! - automatically curtailing the trade in automatic weapons as a beneficial side-effect!
I have a more-or-less relevant analogy to hand: Prohibition.
Yes, alcoholism is bad - but the cost to society of lost productivity & treatment is FAR LESS than the cost incurred by interdiction, prosecution, and incarceration... AND - organized crime was crippled by Repeal! (till they discovered heroin...)
Conservatives oughta love this! - the Evil Government can't dictate what the proud, resourceful individual can or cannot ingest! - It's the proud, resourceful individual's body - let him use it as he pleases!
The neocon 'pre-emptive war' in Iraq? Maybe it was a great idea.
It didn't accomplish the stated goal of keeping us safer!
- If anything, it made us less safe - now we're truly despised by the Muslim world! (... as opposed to simply loathed... )
So, yeah - let's give policies a fair chance to succeed...
BUT: when they clearly fail, let's try something different!
Nevetheless, I consider myself a pragmatist: do what works.
(... with a clear notion of exactly what it is the policy is supposed to achieve. Careful readers will note that I'm big on "strategic objectives": what is it we want the world to look like next year? In two years? In five years? - whether in Iraq or in our economy.)
As a liberal 'pragmatist', I'm generally willing to give just about anything a shot. Does it work? Great! Let's keep doing it.
If it doesn't work, let's honestly admit defeat and try something else.
My conservative colleagues don't see it this way.
They prefer ideology above all else - who cares if it doesn't work?
Stated goal: prevent teen preganancy and reduce incidence of sexually-transmitted diseases.
Solution #1: "abstinence only" education.
Result: Teen pregnancy and syphilis up sharply during Bush years.
Stated goal: reduce Americans' use of bad drugs & reduce the illegal drug trade.
Solution #1: "War on Drugs". (The term was first used by President Richard Nixon in 1969)
Result: Drug use in America unchanged; Mexican & Colombian drug cartels run rampant.
[aside: Prohibition had a similar effect - Americans kept drinking while Organized Crime flourished.]
I'll concede: maybe it's best that teens abstain from sex.
Maybe it's best that no one snorts coke.
BUT: teens WILL have sex and folks WILL snort coke!
Let's find policies that accomplish the stated goals.
You want to reduce teen pregancy & control STDs?
Getting teens to stop having sex is not realistic.
How 'bout we teach 'em about contraception & prophylactics to reduce STDs?
[Even our esteemed Republican opposition seems to concede - by their actions - that prohibiting sex is not a realistic goal!]
Drug use? With absolutely NO corroborating data I assert that the cost to society of unconstrained drug use would be far less than the cost of interdiction, prosecution, and incarceration is today.
... AND: legalizing the trade would put drug cartels out of business! - automatically curtailing the trade in automatic weapons as a beneficial side-effect!
I have a more-or-less relevant analogy to hand: Prohibition.
Yes, alcoholism is bad - but the cost to society of lost productivity & treatment is FAR LESS than the cost incurred by interdiction, prosecution, and incarceration... AND - organized crime was crippled by Repeal! (till they discovered heroin...)
Conservatives oughta love this! - the Evil Government can't dictate what the proud, resourceful individual can or cannot ingest! - It's the proud, resourceful individual's body - let him use it as he pleases!
The neocon 'pre-emptive war' in Iraq? Maybe it was a great idea.
It didn't accomplish the stated goal of keeping us safer!
- If anything, it made us less safe - now we're truly despised by the Muslim world! (... as opposed to simply loathed... )
So, yeah - let's give policies a fair chance to succeed...
BUT: when they clearly fail, let's try something different!
Food for thought
Fellow curmudgeon & ABQ blogger Woody (The Well-Armed Lamb) notes in comments that (slightly paraphrased):
If two female Iranian "journalists"--there are such, of course--were apprehended entering the US through Mexico, where they were ginning up resentment toward the USA...If we as a county want to continue to assert our moral superiority, it's time for more than a little self-examination, confession, and penance.
I don't think it would be an exaggeration to imagine they'd have been sliced, diced, and incarcerated faster than you could shake a stick at. And no visiting Islamic potentate could have EVER arranged for their release.
Friday, August 7, 2009
this doesn't sound good...
WASHINGTON – On at least a dozen recent flights by U.S. jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying,federal investigators have discovered.Good thing I'm not planning to fly anywhere anytime soon!
[AP Enterprise: Airspeed systems failed on US jets, By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer, 7 Aug 2009]
Where's H.L. Mencken when you need him?
"Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."Mencken also noted that:
[H.L. Mencken]
The Puritan's utter lack of aesthetic sense, his distrust of all romantic emotion, his unmatchable intolerance of opposition, his unbreakable belief in his own bleak and narrow views, his savage cruelty of attack, his lust for relentless and barbarous persecution-- these things have put an almost unbearable burden up on the exchange of ideas in the United States."
[A Book of Prefaces, H.L. Mencken, 1917]
This is probably not an accurate description of 'Puritans', but it does describe today's conservatives:
anti-abortion, anti-contraception (sex for pleasure is bad!)Pointless aside: I'm reminded of an anecdote - source now long-forgotten - regarding St. Paul:
anti-welfare (lest the undeserving poor benefit!)
anti-drugs (way too cheap a good time!... and you shouldn't be getting high at any price!)
He would've recommended married couples give up sex for Lent,Among the arguments against universal health-coverage is that illegal aliens would benefit. Again, conservatives would prefer to deny benefits to 99.99% of the population, just to ensure that the "undeserving" .01% don't get a free ride!
... but feared folks would then look forward to Easter for the wrong reason!
Back in the day this was known as "cutting off your nose to spite your face."
The 'puritans' Mencken attacked are still with us, pretty much unchanged.
And they are still putting "an almost unbearable burden up on the exchange of ideas in the United States."
We need a Mencken to combat 'em!!!
Digression: A friend recently noted that on her trip to Greece she broke her foot. Her total bill to take care of this was something less than $20 - thanks to Greece's evil socialized medicine.
... and - as she noted - she was a TOURIST, not a Greek citizen!
Again I ask: what's wrong with socialism?
Just for fun: St. Reagan & Medicare
The doctor begins to lose freedom. . . . First you decide that the doctor can have so many patients. They are equally divided among the various doctors by the government. But then doctors aren’t equally divided geographically. So a doctor decides he wants to practice in one town and the government has to say to him, you can't live in that town. They already have enough doctors. You have to go someplace else. And from here it's only a short step to dictating where he will go. . . . All of us can see what happens once you establish the precedent that the government can determine a man's working place and his working methods, determine his employment. From here it's a short step to all the rest of socialism, to determining his pay. And pretty soon your son won't decide, when he's in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him where he will go to work and what he will do.This is St. Reagan in 1961, opposing Congressional passage of Medicare.
...
And if you don't do this [write your Representative opposing Medicare] and if I don't do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free.
Why does this sound so familiar TODAY?
One of the most successful, most popular Government programs was opposed in 1961 using exactly the same scare tactics being employed today!
Well, the opposition are "conservatives"! - Might as well 'conserve' the arguments, too - makes thinking unnecessary!
Would Boehner & McConnell advocate abolishing laws governing child labor, workplace safety, the 40-hr-workweek, and the minimum wage?
- Just go back to the pure, unbridled capitalism of the 1800s?
... Maybe they would.
Let's find out.
Willful ignorance: pride in and propagation thereof
From a purely etymological perspective, I understand that "conservatives" want to maintain the health-insurance status quo. Yeah - if I were reaping big bucks from the current system, I wouldn't want to change it either.
So, yes: I fully comprehend Big Health's and Big Insurance's desire to kill reform.
But why do average citizens accept this point of view? What's in it for them? They're getting screwed by Big Health & Big Insurance. They'd benefit from the 'public option'. Lots of 'em are benefitting NOW from govt-provided health-insurance in the form of Medicare and Medicaid.
The conservative 'average citizen' seems to take an unfathomable pride in willful, deliberate ignorance.
-Earth?
6000 years old.
(Q: 'Were you there at the creation?'
A: "No! - but I know somebody who was, and He wrote it down!")
-Global-warming?
"Scientific" mumbo-jumbo - and we all know scientists are evil - just watch "Them!" (giant ants created by A-bomb fallout)
-Govt-sponsored health insurance?
Just another liberal trick to euthanize grandma!
(... and force your daughter to get an abortion!!!)
-Socialism? AUGGHHH!!!!! - evil, bad, dastardly, diabolical.
'But what about Medicare?' - "Medicare isn't a govt program!"
... one of Reagan's economic advisers - Laffer [he of the 'Laffer curve'... labeled by George H.W. Bush as 'voodoo ecomonics'] - actually implied this!... recently!)
Why are these folks so willing to believe that Obama is the Anti-Christ, determined to euthanize all non-productive citizens?
Why is government protection from the ravages of unchecked, unbridled capitalism evil?
Again: I can understand Big Health & Big Insurance wanting folks to believe these things... but why are conservative citizens so willing to suspend disbelief and swallow the propaganda???
["Drinking the Kool-Aid" is the expression that comes to mind... and more than just a bit apt: in swallowing the pill, "drinking the Kool-Aid", these just plain average folks are committing suicide - and they don't even know it!]
It baffles me.
So, yes: I fully comprehend Big Health's and Big Insurance's desire to kill reform.
But why do average citizens accept this point of view? What's in it for them? They're getting screwed by Big Health & Big Insurance. They'd benefit from the 'public option'. Lots of 'em are benefitting NOW from govt-provided health-insurance in the form of Medicare and Medicaid.
The conservative 'average citizen' seems to take an unfathomable pride in willful, deliberate ignorance.
-Earth?
6000 years old.
(Q: 'Were you there at the creation?'
A: "No! - but I know somebody who was, and He wrote it down!")
-Global-warming?
"Scientific" mumbo-jumbo - and we all know scientists are evil - just watch "Them!" (giant ants created by A-bomb fallout)
-Govt-sponsored health insurance?
Just another liberal trick to euthanize grandma!
(... and force your daughter to get an abortion!!!)
-Socialism? AUGGHHH!!!!! - evil, bad, dastardly, diabolical.
'But what about Medicare?' - "Medicare isn't a govt program!"
... one of Reagan's economic advisers - Laffer [he of the 'Laffer curve'... labeled by George H.W. Bush as 'voodoo ecomonics'] - actually implied this!... recently!)
Why are these folks so willing to believe that Obama is the Anti-Christ, determined to euthanize all non-productive citizens?
Why is government protection from the ravages of unchecked, unbridled capitalism evil?
Again: I can understand Big Health & Big Insurance wanting folks to believe these things... but why are conservative citizens so willing to suspend disbelief and swallow the propaganda???
["Drinking the Kool-Aid" is the expression that comes to mind... and more than just a bit apt: in swallowing the pill, "drinking the Kool-Aid", these just plain average folks are committing suicide - and they don't even know it!]
It baffles me.
From a loyal reader (a long-postponed post)
One of the recent developments in the 'screaming mobs at townhalls' story is the observation that the Dems were completely blind-sided by this Republican strategy.
Back in June, fellow ABQ blogger and loyal reader of PrivateBuffoon, PM Prescott (formerly Captain's Log, now at Family & Friends) directed my attention to an article on AlterNet:
- The Dem's plan mandates euthanasia
- The Dem's plan eliminates private insurance
- Medicare is NOT a govt program
- Obama/Dems are Hitler/Nazis.
[note: the article gets scarier! Read it!!!]
If - as seems the case - our Dem representatives were surprised by the screaming mobs, they simply weren't paying attention.
The question remains: how to counteract the malignant lies and the thuggish 'political' discourse that spreads 'em?
Back in June, fellow ABQ blogger and loyal reader of PrivateBuffoon, PM Prescott (formerly Captain's Log, now at Family & Friends) directed my attention to an article on AlterNet:
The Far Right's First 100 Days: Getting More Extreme by the DayThe article (which runs to five [5] pages) goes on to note that:
By Sara Robinson, Campaign for America's Future. Posted May 6, 2009
Sometime back in February, about three weeks into Barack Obama's administration, everybody on the left suddenly noticed that there was something different going on with the conservatives.
The outrageous screeds and paranoid delusions sounded pretty much as they always had -- but there was a new fury behind them, a strident urgency that hadn't been there before, and a very audible shift of the gears in right-wing behavior and rhetoric.
...
The far right wing has been laying the groundwork for violent action for decades. Long before they turn dangerous, political and religious groups take their first steps down that road by adopting a worldview that justifies eventual violent action.
The particulars of the narrative vary, but the basic themes are always the same:
First: Their story is apocalyptic, insisting that the end of the world as we've known it is near.
Second: It divides the world into a Good-versus-Evil/Us-versus-Them dualism that encourages the group to interpret even small personal, social or political events as major battles in a Great Cosmic Struggle -- a habit of mind that leads the group to demonize anyone who disagrees with them.
...
Third: This split allows for a major retreat from consensus reality and the mainstream culture.
...
Fourth: Insiders feel like they're a persecuted, prophetic elite who are being opposed by wicked, tyrannical forces.
...
Fifth: Communities following this logic will also advocate the elimination of their enemies by any means necessary in order to purify the world for their ideology.
There's been a quantum leap in the sheer down-the-rabbit-hole surreality of their beliefs about the world.Since this was written, the so-called "Birthers" have become prominent (at least as measured by the amount of attention paid them by cable news channels), and the rhetoric being generated by anti-health-insurance reform folks is simply loony:
- The Dem's plan mandates euthanasia
- The Dem's plan eliminates private insurance
- Medicare is NOT a govt program
- Obama/Dems are Hitler/Nazis.
[note: the article gets scarier! Read it!!!]
If - as seems the case - our Dem representatives were surprised by the screaming mobs, they simply weren't paying attention.
The question remains: how to counteract the malignant lies and the thuggish 'political' discourse that spreads 'em?
Now here's an idea I could support!
"Maybe we need a netroots lobbying firm."The article goes on to note:
[We Already Know We Can Win Elections. Now How Do We Keep The Democrats' Attention After They Win?, Susie Madrak Friday Aug 07, 2009, C&L]
"According to the candidates, they don't owe us a damned thing. (We're not alone in getting this kind of treatment, by the way. Women's and LGBT PACs are also invisible - once the candidates have won with the help of their all-important early money.)Yes - the assumption that the 'netroots' candidates would feel some obligation to pursue 'transformational' policies was naive.
We, on the other hand, thought we were supporting transformational candidates, people who would at least give us equal standing with the voters back home, and feel free to ignore the corporate lobbyists, knowing we had their backs. It hasn't worked that way."
Particularly for House members, the campaign's the thing: the every-two-year cycle of elections pretty much necessitates raising campaign $$$ ALL THE TIME. If the $$$ come from well-heeled, industry-supported lobbyists, well - that's the way the game is played.
If the 'progressive' movement hopes to succeed - 'succeed' as in 'getting what we want' - we need to have a very large bank-account - not just during formal campaign seasons, but ALL THE TIME. It's not impossible, but it'll take some extraordinary organizational skills... just exactly the kind of skills that the diffuse, progressive netroots lack - we're in it for ideas & policies, not for politics!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
eBay currency index
That 499.99 GBP item?
Today at $848.21!
The dollar dropping like a stone oughta improve our balance of trade - making U.S. goods cheaper abroad.
Are we still producing any goods for sale abroad???
Today at $848.21!
The dollar dropping like a stone oughta improve our balance of trade - making U.S. goods cheaper abroad.
Are we still producing any goods for sale abroad???
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
makes ya miss W
Clinton, 2 journalists depart NKorea for US
What a fiasco! - Private Citizen Bill Clinton frees American journalists from North Korea.
What's the world coming to?
Rumor has it he actually MET with Kim Jong Il - talk about appeasement!
John Bolton is correctly outraged.
A digression: in the area of domestic policy, conservatives have a very good grasp of argument & rhetoric - the object of arguing is to win, and 'winning' means getting what you want. They're quite good at this.
Why can't they generalize this to foreign policy? The object is to get what you want. In this case, the U.S. wanted North Korea to release the two journalists. North Korea released 'em. We won!
What a fiasco! - Private Citizen Bill Clinton frees American journalists from North Korea.
What's the world coming to?
Rumor has it he actually MET with Kim Jong Il - talk about appeasement!
John Bolton is correctly outraged.
"It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists," Bolton told AFP when asked about Bill Clinton's trip to secure the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee."I'm pretty sure Bolton would have preferred we launch a nuclear attack on Pyongyang.
A digression: in the area of domestic policy, conservatives have a very good grasp of argument & rhetoric - the object of arguing is to win, and 'winning' means getting what you want. They're quite good at this.
Why can't they generalize this to foreign policy? The object is to get what you want. In this case, the U.S. wanted North Korea to release the two journalists. North Korea released 'em. We won!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Needed: strategy & tactics.
How does one combat a well-funded, well-coordinated campaign based on lies, loud shouting, and media complicity?
With Dobbs, Matthews, and all of Fox willing to repeat GOP talking points as facts, with big $$$ insurance lobbyists and right-wing 'think tanks' willing to spend millions of $$$ to sponsor astro-turf mobs, and with no one paying any attention to the simple reality that we spend the most on health care but have close to the worst healthcare outcomes... well, in the face of this, what is the best strategy to adopt to win the war?... and what are the most effective tactics to win the battles??
If I knew the answers, I wouldn't be asking the questions.
With Dobbs, Matthews, and all of Fox willing to repeat GOP talking points as facts, with big $$$ insurance lobbyists and right-wing 'think tanks' willing to spend millions of $$$ to sponsor astro-turf mobs, and with no one paying any attention to the simple reality that we spend the most on health care but have close to the worst healthcare outcomes... well, in the face of this, what is the best strategy to adopt to win the war?... and what are the most effective tactics to win the battles??
If I knew the answers, I wouldn't be asking the questions.
... and if I'd produced the ad...
... I'd have focused more on "the party of NO!".
The bits of video coverage I've seen of Dem 'town-halls' being overtaken by screaming mobs have almost all ended with a chant:
The bits of video coverage I've seen of Dem 'town-halls' being overtaken by screaming mobs have almost all ended with a chant:
Just say NO!I'd take these "Just say NO!" video clips & segue into brief litany:
The U.S. faces its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.The Republican Party has NO ideas. Republicans are the party of "NO!"
Every Republican Congressman said "NO" to the economic stimulus package.
Every day, Americans are losing their homes and going into bankruptcy as a result of crippling medical bills.
Republican Senators are poised to vote "NO" on health insurance reform.
Judge Sotomayor is the most experienced nominee to the Supreme Court in more than a quarter century. She was named to the Federal Appeals Court by Republican President George H.W. Bush. She will be the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.
Again, Republican Senators are poised to vote "NO" on her confirmation.
DNC almost gets it right
DNC Goes All In: Takes On Birthers, Conservative "Mob" In New Web Ad.
The link includes embedded video of web ad, together with this commentary:
They almost got it right... almost.
"The right wing extremist Republican base" hasn't overrun the GOP.
"The right wing extremist Republican base" IS the GOP!
The link includes embedded video of web ad, together with this commentary:
It includes a veritable greatest hits list of conservative attacks on Obama, looping it all together to make the case that "the right wing extremist Republican base" has overrun the GOP.The bit in quotes is directly from the web ad.
They almost got it right... almost.
"The right wing extremist Republican base" hasn't overrun the GOP.
"The right wing extremist Republican base" IS the GOP!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Krugman says it best...
... regarding the wizards of Wall Street:
"If you aren’t outraged, you haven’t been paying attention."Short, simple, to the point.
[Rewarding Bad Actors, NYT, 3 Aug 2009]
Sunday, August 2, 2009
eBay currency index
The 'watched' item I've been following for some months today lists at $828.91.
The item has been a constant 499.99 GBP - this has equated to as low as about $695 to as high as today's quote: $828.91.
Today's is the highest $$$ equivalent price seen to date.
Not a good time for a European vacation (not for Americans, at least!).
The item has been a constant 499.99 GBP - this has equated to as low as about $695 to as high as today's quote: $828.91.
Today's is the highest $$$ equivalent price seen to date.
Not a good time for a European vacation (not for Americans, at least!).
"Let them eat cake."
Wall Street profits from trades with Fed
By Henny Sender in New York
Published: August 2 2009 23:04
FT.com
Wall Street banks are reaping outsized profits by trading with the Federal Reserve, raising questions about whether the central bank is driving hard enough bargains in its dealings with private sector counterparties, officials and industry executives say.
An argument can be made that Wall Street banks caused the current crisis. It is a simple fact that Fed & Treasury assistance kept them afloat through the worst of the financial crisis.
Why are they allowed to reap 'outsized profits' at our - tax-payers' - expense???
Meanwhile:
... AND: while the big banks are reaping 'outsized profits' at our expense, Worker Compensation Grows by Lowest Amount On Record!
Seems to me it's time for a 'day of prayer and fasting' - a simple nation-wide general strike by the workers - white-collar and blue - to remind the geniuses of Wall Street just who it is that actually produces the goods and provides the services that drive our economy.
As I've mentioned before, I was for many years employed by a large industrial firm that in fact produced a tangible product - a product you could see, touch... hold in your hand.
The financial wizards of Wall Street? - I challenge 'em to point to their product! - it ain't there!!!
They 'manufacture' bonuses for their executives and traders, but have done a poor job performing the basic service of banking: providing $$$ to keep the economy going.
Without tax-payer generosity, they'd be failed banks.
Why shouldn't we be marching in the streets???
By Henny Sender in New York
Published: August 2 2009 23:04
FT.com
Wall Street banks are reaping outsized profits by trading with the Federal Reserve, raising questions about whether the central bank is driving hard enough bargains in its dealings with private sector counterparties, officials and industry executives say.
An argument can be made that Wall Street banks caused the current crisis. It is a simple fact that Fed & Treasury assistance kept them afloat through the worst of the financial crisis.
Why are they allowed to reap 'outsized profits' at our - tax-payers' - expense???
Meanwhile:
Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running OutThe financial crisis caused by banks making bad loans and packaging these as fancy 'low risk' securities thereafter caused an economic crisis - lending stops, purchases stop, jobs evaporate.
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: August 1, 2009
Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.
... AND: while the big banks are reaping 'outsized profits' at our expense, Worker Compensation Grows by Lowest Amount On Record!
Seems to me it's time for a 'day of prayer and fasting' - a simple nation-wide general strike by the workers - white-collar and blue - to remind the geniuses of Wall Street just who it is that actually produces the goods and provides the services that drive our economy.
As I've mentioned before, I was for many years employed by a large industrial firm that in fact produced a tangible product - a product you could see, touch... hold in your hand.
The financial wizards of Wall Street? - I challenge 'em to point to their product! - it ain't there!!!
They 'manufacture' bonuses for their executives and traders, but have done a poor job performing the basic service of banking: providing $$$ to keep the economy going.
Without tax-payer generosity, they'd be failed banks.
Why shouldn't we be marching in the streets???
Friday, July 31, 2009
a return to the 19th century?
From HuffPost:
The modern labor movement was born.
Do today's plutocrats really believe that such a popular uprising is impossible in 21st century America?
I don't.
Worker Compensation Grows by Lowest Amount On RecordMeanwhile...
(AP): Employment compensation for U.S. workers has grown over the past 12 months by the lowest amount on record, reflecting the severe recession that has gripped the country.
The Labor Department said Friday that employment costs rose by 1.8 percent for the 12 months ending in June, the smallest annual gain on records that go back to 1982.
Bankers Reaped Lavish Bonuses During BailoutsMost European countries were rocked by popular uprisings during the mid-19th century - mostly folks disgusted with the growing inequality 'tween rich & poor that followed the Industrial Revolution. Marx (with Engels) wrote Das Kapital.
By LOUISE STORY and ERIC DASH, NYT
Published: July 30, 2009
Thousands of top traders and bankers on Wall Street were awarded huge bonuses and pay packages last year, even as their employers were battered by the financial crisis.
The modern labor movement was born.
Do today's plutocrats really believe that such a popular uprising is impossible in 21st century America?
I don't.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
my email to Sen. Bingaman
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is a member of the Senate Finance committee, chaired - as we all now know - by Sen. Max Baucus (D?-MT).
Here's the email (largely cribbed from PrivateBuffoon):
p.s. note: the threat of "single-issue" vote in 2010/2/4 need not be sincere. ["Always be sincere whether you mean it or not."]
Here's the email (largely cribbed from PrivateBuffoon):
Senator Bingaman:Some blogger recently noted that the Republicans & Blue Dogs fear no consequences if meaningful health-care/-insurance reform fails. My one vote doesn't matter, but if more folks let their Senators know that position on health-care/-insurance reform is dominant "single-issue", maybe the Senate Dems would get the message.
The U.S. is the only developed country that does not provide some form of government-subsidized universal health insurance.
We pay more per capita and more as a percent of GDP for health care than any other developed country, but on almost all measures of health outcome (life-expectancy, infant mortality, etc.) we are in the bottom half or lower.
(See, e.g., U.S. Health Care Spending:
Comparison with Other OECD Countries
CRS Report for Congress
September 17, 2007
[http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34175_20070917.pdf])
If the Democrats in the Senate - you included - cannot provide a bill that includes a robust public option, what good are you???
I realize that you do not come up for re-election until 2012, but I'll be watching your rhetoric - and your votes - on this issue very carefully, and could well be a 'single issue' voter in 2012!!!
Please - don't be afraid of the 'socialism' epithet!
Socialism is good!
Who's to blame?... forchild-labor laws?Pinko, commie, muckraking liberals, socialists and progressives! - that's who... including socialist, God-hating labor unions!!!
the Pure Food & Drug Act?
the 40-hr, 5-day work-week?
women's suffrage?
the Civil Rights Movement?
Pure, unbridled capitalism brought us:
- 8-year-olds losing fingers, hands, & arms in industrial looms
- the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
- 80-hour work-weeks
- the Great Depression... and - oh, yeah! - the current economic meltdown!!!
Me? I'm rather in favor of the government protecting me from pure capitalist greed!
Sincerely,
p.s. note: the threat of "single-issue" vote in 2010/2/4 need not be sincere. ["Always be sincere whether you mean it or not."]
Monday, July 27, 2009
Musings on a subject about which I know nothing
"The T-34-85 in early 1944 gave the Red Army a tank with better armour and mobility than German Pzkw IV and Sturmgeschütz III, but it could not match the Panther in gun or armour protection. To the Soviet advantage there were far fewer Panthers than T-34s, and the T-34-85 was good enough to allow skilled crew and tactical situations to tip the balance."
[Wikipedia entry, T-34; emphasis added]
"At long range, the Sherman was badly outmatched by the Panther's 75 mm gun, which could easily penetrate the Sherman's armor. This contributed to the high losses of Sherman tanks experienced by the U.S. Army in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO)."
[Wikpedia entry, M4 Sherman]
German Panther & Tiger tanks were technically superior to either the Soviet T-34s or America's M4 Sherman: better armored, better armed.
The Allies - with their inferior tanks - won the war.
Both Shermans & T-34s were designed for manufacturability, and both were produced in huge numbers.
The German super-tanks, by contrast, were not easy to produce, and were simply numerically overwhelmed on the battlefields of Western & Eastern Europe.
... In addition, both Soviet and Western tank commanders and crews developed tactics to maximize the effectiveness of their tanks against the superior German machines.
Moving on.
I just watched a Military Channel program, "Planes of the Red Star" focusing on the MiG-21.
Paraphrased/remembered (hence, likely not accurate) commentary from the program:
I suggest that the Pentagon's focus on the latest/greatest high-tech weapons systems is foolhardy.
Producing reliable, highly-manufacturable, versatile machines - on the cheap - is a better doctrine.
The Third Reich had the best tanks of WWII.
- Germany lost tank battles to inferior, but plentiful, T-34s and Shermans.
We had the fanciest jet fighters in Vietnam.
- the MiG-21 was a formidable opponent.
Germany lost WWII.
We were chased from Vietnam.
My bet is that there are Military Specifications requiring field equipment to withstand radiation from a multi-megaton atomic blast within 10 miles.
My question: who's going to be operating that equipment after the blast?
Quite a few years ago I read somewhere - no, I don't recall where, or even the context - that 'insurgents' were winning against state-sponsored armies using RPGs & 50-cal machine guns mounted on the backs on light pickup trucks - overwhelming the enemy with numbers.
A recent New Yorker article (again, sorry - I don't recall the title or the date... within past few months) - noted that in publicly sponsored war-games, a Stanford researcher won hands down by deploying LOTS of small vessels - overwhelming the more traditional fleets deployed by the rest of the players.
He was accused of 'gaming' the rules... BUT THAT WAS THE OBJECT!!!
... and after a couple of years of dominance, he voluntarily withdrew from competition.
Why can't we learn from these examples???
Why are war-games rigged to support traditional thinking???
"Best" isn't needed.
"Good enough" will do... and "good enough" is a LOT cheaper!!!
aside: my vote for best bang-for-buck weapons system in U.S. arsenal: the venerable B-52 bomber, vintage 1955... sub-sonic, non-stealth.
It's still flying in active combat.
p.s. okay - my memory is improving... slightly. A focus of the New Yorker article was the coach of a girls' middle-school basketball team who'd been roped into the job somehow. Realizing that his daughter - on the team - and her team-mates weren't exceptional athletes, he coached the team to use a full-court press ALL THE TIME. Challenge the inbounds. Swarm the ball. Don't let the other team get past half-court. It worked. His team of none-too-talented girls made it to the national championships. He was accused of cheating... somehow using a full-court press ALL THE TIME was considered impolite.
Again: why can't our military-doctrine folks learn from these examples? [It's not like they're winning our current wars!]
p.p.s. Returning to one of my favorite subjects.
Even granting that our anti-ballistic-missile system can work (which I don't believe, but I'm willing to grant the premise): so what? Does it protect us?
NO!
Crude cruise missiles (think "V-1 flying bomb") with nukes launched from freighters off our coasts can defeat the system, destroying LA, San Francisco, Portland OR, Seattle, Boston, NYC, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, Houston... heck, with the St. Lawrence Seaway, even Chicago is vulnerable to a "V1 on freighter" attack!
The Maginot Line worked like a charm. The Germans did not penetrate it.
THEY WENT AROUND!
p.p.p.s. I found the New Yorker article!
How David Beats Goliath
p.p.p.p.s. One more note on Soviet MiG fighters.
"In 1976 Viktor BelenkoViktor Belenko, a Soviet MiG-25 pilot, defected to Japan. Subsequent analysis revealed a simple-yet-functional design with vacuum-tube electronics, two massive turbojet engines, and sparing use of advanced materials such as titanium."
[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25; emphasis added]
Vacuum tube electronics... in 1976!!!
Please note the description: "simple-yet-functional design".
Recall: the Soviet Union did NOT lose to the West militarily!
[Wikipedia entry, T-34; emphasis added]
"At long range, the Sherman was badly outmatched by the Panther's 75 mm gun, which could easily penetrate the Sherman's armor. This contributed to the high losses of Sherman tanks experienced by the U.S. Army in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO)."
[Wikpedia entry, M4 Sherman]
German Panther & Tiger tanks were technically superior to either the Soviet T-34s or America's M4 Sherman: better armored, better armed.
The Allies - with their inferior tanks - won the war.
Both Shermans & T-34s were designed for manufacturability, and both were produced in huge numbers.
The German super-tanks, by contrast, were not easy to produce, and were simply numerically overwhelmed on the battlefields of Western & Eastern Europe.
... In addition, both Soviet and Western tank commanders and crews developed tactics to maximize the effectiveness of their tanks against the superior German machines.
Moving on.
I just watched a Military Channel program, "Planes of the Red Star" focusing on the MiG-21.
Paraphrased/remembered (hence, likely not accurate) commentary from the program:
Originally designed for daytime air-to-air combat, the airframe proved so reliable that it was soon adapted to ground support, light bombing, and night-fighting missions.Wikipedia [Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21] reveals that:
...
Soviet military doctrine required that the MiG-21 be reliable, easy to produce, and require little maintenance...
... the engines were not designed for long life, and were simply swapped out on a routine basis, the old engines being sent to the rear for refurbishing and rebuilding.
"The fighter has the distinction of holding a number of modern aviation records; it is the most produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history, the most produced combat aircraft since the Korean War, and it had the longest production run of a combat aircraft (1959 to 1985 over all variants)."So... why am I going off on this tangent???
I suggest that the Pentagon's focus on the latest/greatest high-tech weapons systems is foolhardy.
Producing reliable, highly-manufacturable, versatile machines - on the cheap - is a better doctrine.
The Third Reich had the best tanks of WWII.
- Germany lost tank battles to inferior, but plentiful, T-34s and Shermans.
We had the fanciest jet fighters in Vietnam.
- the MiG-21 was a formidable opponent.
Germany lost WWII.
We were chased from Vietnam.
My bet is that there are Military Specifications requiring field equipment to withstand radiation from a multi-megaton atomic blast within 10 miles.
My question: who's going to be operating that equipment after the blast?
Quite a few years ago I read somewhere - no, I don't recall where, or even the context - that 'insurgents' were winning against state-sponsored armies using RPGs & 50-cal machine guns mounted on the backs on light pickup trucks - overwhelming the enemy with numbers.
A recent New Yorker article (again, sorry - I don't recall the title or the date... within past few months) - noted that in publicly sponsored war-games, a Stanford researcher won hands down by deploying LOTS of small vessels - overwhelming the more traditional fleets deployed by the rest of the players.
He was accused of 'gaming' the rules... BUT THAT WAS THE OBJECT!!!
... and after a couple of years of dominance, he voluntarily withdrew from competition.
Why can't we learn from these examples???
Why are war-games rigged to support traditional thinking???
"Best" isn't needed.
"Good enough" will do... and "good enough" is a LOT cheaper!!!
aside: my vote for best bang-for-buck weapons system in U.S. arsenal: the venerable B-52 bomber, vintage 1955... sub-sonic, non-stealth.
It's still flying in active combat.
p.s. okay - my memory is improving... slightly. A focus of the New Yorker article was the coach of a girls' middle-school basketball team who'd been roped into the job somehow. Realizing that his daughter - on the team - and her team-mates weren't exceptional athletes, he coached the team to use a full-court press ALL THE TIME. Challenge the inbounds. Swarm the ball. Don't let the other team get past half-court. It worked. His team of none-too-talented girls made it to the national championships. He was accused of cheating... somehow using a full-court press ALL THE TIME was considered impolite.
Again: why can't our military-doctrine folks learn from these examples? [It's not like they're winning our current wars!]
p.p.s. Returning to one of my favorite subjects.
Even granting that our anti-ballistic-missile system can work (which I don't believe, but I'm willing to grant the premise): so what? Does it protect us?
NO!
Crude cruise missiles (think "V-1 flying bomb") with nukes launched from freighters off our coasts can defeat the system, destroying LA, San Francisco, Portland OR, Seattle, Boston, NYC, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, Houston... heck, with the St. Lawrence Seaway, even Chicago is vulnerable to a "V1 on freighter" attack!
The Maginot Line worked like a charm. The Germans did not penetrate it.
THEY WENT AROUND!
p.p.p.s. I found the New Yorker article!
How David Beats Goliath
p.p.p.p.s. One more note on Soviet MiG fighters.
"In 1976 Viktor BelenkoViktor Belenko, a Soviet MiG-25 pilot, defected to Japan. Subsequent analysis revealed a simple-yet-functional design with vacuum-tube electronics, two massive turbojet engines, and sparing use of advanced materials such as titanium."
[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25; emphasis added]
Vacuum tube electronics... in 1976!!!
Please note the description: "simple-yet-functional design".
Recall: the Soviet Union did NOT lose to the West militarily!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The day Pat Buchanan saved my soul
17 August 1992.
At the time I was gainfully employed as a statistician with a large industrial firm.
Considering my education (Ivy League), my 'class' (upper-middle), my employment (geeky), and my employer (big industry), I was toying with the idea of voting for George H.W. Bush for a second term - perhaps, after all, the Republicans really did represent my interests better than the Dems... and I was none too sure about Clinton.
Then Uncle Pat delivered his speech at the Repubican National Convention in Houston.
I watched.
Immediately I recalled why I'd never voted for a Republican.
Thanks, Uncle Pat!
I've never wavered since.
At the time I was gainfully employed as a statistician with a large industrial firm.
Considering my education (Ivy League), my 'class' (upper-middle), my employment (geeky), and my employer (big industry), I was toying with the idea of voting for George H.W. Bush for a second term - perhaps, after all, the Republicans really did represent my interests better than the Dems... and I was none too sure about Clinton.
Then Uncle Pat delivered his speech at the Repubican National Convention in Houston.
I watched.
Immediately I recalled why I'd never voted for a Republican.
Thanks, Uncle Pat!
I've never wavered since.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Family Feud
Iran president defies supreme leader over deputy
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writers
22 Jul 2009
TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad showed rare defiance of his strongest backer, Iran's supreme leader, by insisting on his choice for vice president Wednesday despite vehement opposition from hard-liners that has opened a deep rift in the conservative leadership.
Where's Richard Dawson when we need him?
If I were betting, I'd bet on the hard-liners to eventually clearly, decisively, and forcefully exert their control. This isn't based on any deep understanding of Iranian politics, but only on the simple observation that "supreme leaders" really don't like to share power with anyone - no matter what the country's constitution might say.
Will they succeed? - If I knew the answer to that I'd be better off putting my ability to see the future to better use... 'better' from a purely personal, selfish perspective: cornering the next Big Deal in the market.
My preference would be for the regime to fall, as the Shah fell to them. Part of this preference derives from a desire for 'poetic justice', part from my antipathy towards theocracies, and part from my naive faith in real democracy.
What I really DON'T want to happen: the U.S. to undertake any military action against Iran - no matter how 'limited'!
[aside: Long ago, while teaching at UT El Paso, I had an Iranian student in my computer science class. This was during the Iranian Revolution, 1979-80. I asked him if everyday life back home seemed 'normal' despite the political upheaval. He smiled. "Normal? NO!"]
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writers
22 Jul 2009
TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad showed rare defiance of his strongest backer, Iran's supreme leader, by insisting on his choice for vice president Wednesday despite vehement opposition from hard-liners that has opened a deep rift in the conservative leadership.
Where's Richard Dawson when we need him?
If I were betting, I'd bet on the hard-liners to eventually clearly, decisively, and forcefully exert their control. This isn't based on any deep understanding of Iranian politics, but only on the simple observation that "supreme leaders" really don't like to share power with anyone - no matter what the country's constitution might say.
Will they succeed? - If I knew the answer to that I'd be better off putting my ability to see the future to better use... 'better' from a purely personal, selfish perspective: cornering the next Big Deal in the market.
My preference would be for the regime to fall, as the Shah fell to them. Part of this preference derives from a desire for 'poetic justice', part from my antipathy towards theocracies, and part from my naive faith in real democracy.
What I really DON'T want to happen: the U.S. to undertake any military action against Iran - no matter how 'limited'!
[aside: Long ago, while teaching at UT El Paso, I had an Iranian student in my computer science class. This was during the Iranian Revolution, 1979-80. I asked him if everyday life back home seemed 'normal' despite the political upheaval. He smiled. "Normal? NO!"]
Calling all cars!
Friend Woody has suggested that it's about time for another curmudgeon/blogger social event.
If you're interested, let me know in comments!
If you're interested, let me know in comments!
... for what it's worth [update/edit]
Since 1979 (previous post's starting point), 95th %-ile of household income has increased by 78% (thru 2006).
During the same time, GDP increased by 225%.
Who's getting the $$$???
- the upper 1%!!!
update/edit: why 1979 as base year? My suspicion is that this year was chosen to illustrate St. Reagan's legacy.
Yeah, a rising tide lifts all boats... but the really fancy boats seem to be raised a whole lot more than the dinghies!
Though I'm not an economist, I suspect that Reagan's tax-cuts & 'trickle-down' economic theory can legitimately be cited as the cause of the widening gap 'tween rich folks & the rest of us.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Can we talk about wealth redistribution & socialism NOW?
Executives receive one-third of all pay in the U.S.
... Between 1979 and 2006, the inflation-adjusted after-tax income of the richest 1 percent of households increased by 256 percent, compared to 21 percent for families in the middle income quintile.
Please! - Let's talk about wealth redistribution & socialism!!!
... Between 1979 and 2006, the inflation-adjusted after-tax income of the richest 1 percent of households increased by 256 percent, compared to 21 percent for families in the middle income quintile.
Please! - Let's talk about wealth redistribution & socialism!!!
It's a miracle!
U.S. Senate votes to stop production of F-22 jet
Now - can we start dismantling the ill-conceived so-called 'missile defense' program?... and the other very expensive, less-than-effective high-tech weapons programs?...
... and maybe invest defense $$$ in our troops? - the guys fighting - and losing to - under-funded 3rd-world insurgents.
The objective of war is to secure a more-or-less lasting peace.
Winning the peace requires controlling territory and populations.
So-called 'surgical' strikes by high-tech drones might take out bad guys, but they don't control territory or populations.
Boots on the ground just might.
[just for grins: conservative cost estimate of single F-22 = $150Mn. At $50K/troop, this is equivalent to 3000 boots-on-the-ground. The $150Mn does NOT include program cost, just 'sticker price'... excluding maintenance or 'cost of ownership'. The article cited above notes that the F-22 requires 30 hours of maintenance for each hour of flight-time. Me? I'd much rather have the 3000 boots-on-the-ground!]
Now - can we start dismantling the ill-conceived so-called 'missile defense' program?... and the other very expensive, less-than-effective high-tech weapons programs?...
... and maybe invest defense $$$ in our troops? - the guys fighting - and losing to - under-funded 3rd-world insurgents.
The objective of war is to secure a more-or-less lasting peace.
Winning the peace requires controlling territory and populations.
So-called 'surgical' strikes by high-tech drones might take out bad guys, but they don't control territory or populations.
Boots on the ground just might.
[just for grins: conservative cost estimate of single F-22 = $150Mn. At $50K/troop, this is equivalent to 3000 boots-on-the-ground. The $150Mn does NOT include program cost, just 'sticker price'... excluding maintenance or 'cost of ownership'. The article cited above notes that the F-22 requires 30 hours of maintenance for each hour of flight-time. Me? I'd much rather have the 3000 boots-on-the-ground!]
How come?
It's July - the middle of baseball season.
We get some half-dozen sports channels, including the MLB Network.
So how come there's never a LIVE baseball game on?
MLBN devotes its airtime to 'greatest games' of the past.
ESPN? - LOTS of 'World Series'... of poker! +lacrosse +soccer +NASCAR +NFL (??? - it's not even pre-season!)... and, recently, NBA 'greatest games'!... and LOTS of talking heads pontificating knowingly about... well - I can't tell you: I don't watch 'em.
Why no LIVE major-league baseball???
What I get is Fox's Saturday baseball telecast.
Seems to me this is less televised live baseball than I had as a kid, growing up with three (3) broadcast networks.
What's this country coming to???
We get some half-dozen sports channels, including the MLB Network.
So how come there's never a LIVE baseball game on?
MLBN devotes its airtime to 'greatest games' of the past.
ESPN? - LOTS of 'World Series'... of poker! +lacrosse +soccer +NASCAR +NFL (??? - it's not even pre-season!)... and, recently, NBA 'greatest games'!... and LOTS of talking heads pontificating knowingly about... well - I can't tell you: I don't watch 'em.
Why no LIVE major-league baseball???
What I get is Fox's Saturday baseball telecast.
Seems to me this is less televised live baseball than I had as a kid, growing up with three (3) broadcast networks.
What's this country coming to???
Monday, July 20, 2009
'twixt Scylla & Charybdis
Pity the poor Republicans!
On the one hand, they are ideologically opposed to any 'public funding' of abortion:
On the other hand, they're really afraid of the White Race losing its dominant position in America:
... and - for what it's worth - blacks in uniform DID die at Gettysburg & Vicksburg... and Normandy!
[My bet is Uncle Pat isn't all that crazy about the 15th, 19th or 24th Amendments!... and the Golden Age - 1960 - to which Uncle Pat refers was before the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 prohibited so-called "literacy tests" and the 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes!]
(... finally: does Uncle Pat really believe that W got into Yale and Harvard Biz School based on his SAT and GMAT scores? What promising, qualified white students were denied the Ivy League for W's "legacy" admissions???)
Then we have Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends explaining why a Scandinavian medical study is irrelevant to the U.S.:
You'd think these folks would be simply delighted to federally fund abortions to help control the super-libidinous fecundity of the colored races! - ESPECIALLY abortions for poor colored folks!!!
What's a good Republican to do???
On the one hand, they are ideologically opposed to any 'public funding' of abortion:
"If you think of it in human terms, there is a financial incentive that would be put in place, paid for by tax dollars, that would encourage…single parents, living below the poverty level, to have the opportunity for a free abortion. If you take that scenario and apply it to many of the great minds we have today, who would we have been deprived of? Our President grew up in those similar circumstances. If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother might have taken advantage of it? Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice, if those circumstances were in place, is it possible that we’d have been denied his great mind?"[Hmmm... Barack Obama & Clarence Thomas - I wonder how he settled on those two examples???]
[Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), as reported by Think Progress]
On the other hand, they're really afraid of the White Race losing its dominant position in America:
MADDOW: Why do you think is that of the 110 Supreme Court justices we've had in this country, 108 of them have been white?... Um... Pat... can you think of any reasons African-Americans might not have participated in the country's founding?... something about "three fifths of all other Persons" comes to mind - or did you miss that day in 8th-grade Civics?
BUCHANAN: Well, I think white men were 100 percent of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100 percent of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100 percent of people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Probably close to 100 percent of the people who died at Normandy.
This has been a country built basically by white folks in this country who are 90 percent of the entire nation-in 1960, when I was growing up, Rachel-and the other 10 percent were African-American who had been discriminated against. That's why.
[The Rachel Maddow Show, Thurs, 17 Jul 2009]
... and - for what it's worth - blacks in uniform DID die at Gettysburg & Vicksburg... and Normandy!
[My bet is Uncle Pat isn't all that crazy about the 15th, 19th or 24th Amendments!... and the Golden Age - 1960 - to which Uncle Pat refers was before the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 prohibited so-called "literacy tests" and the 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes!]
(... finally: does Uncle Pat really believe that W got into Yale and Harvard Biz School based on his SAT and GMAT scores? What promising, qualified white students were denied the Ivy League for W's "legacy" admissions???)
Then we have Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends explaining why a Scandinavian medical study is irrelevant to the U.S.:
KILMEADE: We keep marrying other species and other ethnics--Other species??? Ah, yes - the mongrel race we are becoming as a result of miscegenation!
...
The problem is the Swedes have pure genes. They marry other Swedes, that's the rule. Finns marry other Finns; they have a pure society. In America we marry everybody. We will marry Italians and Irish.
You'd think these folks would be simply delighted to federally fund abortions to help control the super-libidinous fecundity of the colored races! - ESPECIALLY abortions for poor colored folks!!!
What's a good Republican to do???
... as if we needed another example
Health reform foes plan Obama's 'Waterloo'
... "I can almost guarantee you this thing won't pass before August, and if we can hold it back until we go home for a month's break in August," members of Congress will hear from "outraged" constituents, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said on the call, which was organized by the group Conservatives for Patients Rights.
...
"If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said.
[reported by Politico.com, 17 July 2009; emphasis added]
All politics, all the time.
Senator DeMint seems to have forgotten that "We the people of the United States" ordained and established the Constitution to
Recall St. Reagan:
For Republicans it's always all politics, all the time.
Forget that the U.S. pays more for health care than any other developed country, but ranks in the bottom half with respect to health care results. [see U.S. Health Care Spending:
Comparison with Other OECD Countries, CRS Report for Congress, Sep 2007]
No - that doesn't matter.
Forget that medical bills are bankrupting folks WITH health insurance.
[Insured ... and broke
Andrea Orr, Economic Policy Institute, 14 July 2009]
No - that doesn't matter.
All that matters is making Obama look bad.
... "I can almost guarantee you this thing won't pass before August, and if we can hold it back until we go home for a month's break in August," members of Congress will hear from "outraged" constituents, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said on the call, which was organized by the group Conservatives for Patients Rights.
...
"If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said.
[reported by Politico.com, 17 July 2009; emphasis added]
All politics, all the time.
Senator DeMint seems to have forgotten that "We the people of the United States" ordained and established the Constitution to
promote the general welfare.But who can blame him.
Recall St. Reagan:
"Government is not the solution, it's the problem."... and 8 years of Republican mis-governance led poor Gov. Jindal to conflate W's incompetent governance with Government in his response to Obama's first State of the Union.
[Inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1981]
For Republicans it's always all politics, all the time.
Forget that the U.S. pays more for health care than any other developed country, but ranks in the bottom half with respect to health care results. [see U.S. Health Care Spending:
Comparison with Other OECD Countries, CRS Report for Congress, Sep 2007]
No - that doesn't matter.
Forget that medical bills are bankrupting folks WITH health insurance.
[Insured ... and broke
Andrea Orr, Economic Policy Institute, 14 July 2009]
No - that doesn't matter.
All that matters is making Obama look bad.
Friday, July 17, 2009
"... and that's the way it was..."
Walter Cronkite, 1916-2009.
Taking over the CBS News anchor desk in 1962 was close to perfect timing. What did he get to tell us about?
- Kennedy assassination
- Civil Rights movement
- moon landing
- Vietnam - both the war & the anti-war movement
- King & RFK assassinations
- Watergate
- the Beatles
... and it was a good time to be in broadcast journalism technologically: the advent of satellite communications, with the microchip just around the corner.
Tho' my memory ain't that great, I don't recall Cronkite - or Huntley/Brinkley, or Reasoner - being either fawning or combative towards the regime. Since I never watch network news today, all I've got for comparison is KO's & BO's shrillness - tho' neither of them really pretends to be a 'journalist'.
For what it's worth, the myth of journalistic objectivity is just that - a myth. For most of the free press's history it has been dominated by parties. Perhaps the mid/late 20th century will stand out to future historians of journalism as an aberration, during which 'news' was supposed by all to be 'objective'.
Simply in choosing which stories to report, which to put on page 1 - or to put at the top of the broadcast - journalists, editors, & producers exercise arbitrary, subjective judgement.
Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite.
Taking over the CBS News anchor desk in 1962 was close to perfect timing. What did he get to tell us about?
- Kennedy assassination
- Civil Rights movement
- moon landing
- Vietnam - both the war & the anti-war movement
- King & RFK assassinations
- Watergate
- the Beatles
... and it was a good time to be in broadcast journalism technologically: the advent of satellite communications, with the microchip just around the corner.
Tho' my memory ain't that great, I don't recall Cronkite - or Huntley/Brinkley, or Reasoner - being either fawning or combative towards the regime. Since I never watch network news today, all I've got for comparison is KO's & BO's shrillness - tho' neither of them really pretends to be a 'journalist'.
For what it's worth, the myth of journalistic objectivity is just that - a myth. For most of the free press's history it has been dominated by parties. Perhaps the mid/late 20th century will stand out to future historians of journalism as an aberration, during which 'news' was supposed by all to be 'objective'.
Simply in choosing which stories to report, which to put on page 1 - or to put at the top of the broadcast - journalists, editors, & producers exercise arbitrary, subjective judgement.
Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
the conservative mind at work
Buchanan: Well, first, with regard to Levi, I think First Dude up there in Alaska, Todd Palin, ought to take Levi down to the creek and hold his head underwater until the thrashing stops.Good Catholic, anti-abortion guy Buchanan is more than happy to suggest killing someone for saying bad things about Palin.
[from Think Progress]
Why is this always the conservative's response to challenge?
- "Just kill 'em!"
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Will this be enough?
... On the subject of oversight, the report particularly criticizes John Yoo, a deputy assistant attorney general who wrote legal memos defending the policy.
...
The report questioned the legal advice used by Bush to set up the program, pinpointing omissions and questionable legal memos written by Yoo, in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The Justice Department withdrew the memos years ago.
The report says Yoo's analysis approving the program ignored a law designed to restrict the government's authority to conduct electronic surveillance during wartime, and did so without fully notifying Congress. And it said flaws in Yoo's memos later presented "a serious impediment" to recertifying the program.
[Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance; emphasis added]
Will this be enough for UC Berkeley to finally reconsider Yoo's law school tenure???
...
The report questioned the legal advice used by Bush to set up the program, pinpointing omissions and questionable legal memos written by Yoo, in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The Justice Department withdrew the memos years ago.
The report says Yoo's analysis approving the program ignored a law designed to restrict the government's authority to conduct electronic surveillance during wartime, and did so without fully notifying Congress. And it said flaws in Yoo's memos later presented "a serious impediment" to recertifying the program.
[Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance; emphasis added]
Will this be enough for UC Berkeley to finally reconsider Yoo's law school tenure???
There's a name for this
Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance
There's a name for a government that asserts the unlimited right to spy on its citizens, in secret:
There's a name for a government that asserts the unlimited right to spy on its citizens, in secret:
Police State!W: the gift that keeps on giving.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Just for fun
Loyal reader writes:
In fact, I like the idea of "the Buffoon" as "Kurtz"! -
Now: how do I realize that persona via the blog???
Hey, man, you don't talk to the Buffoon. You listen to him. You read him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll, uh, well, you'll say hello to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you, and he won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say do you know that if is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you . . . I mean I'm no, I can't . . . I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's, he's a great man. I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas...Attentive readers will recognize this as Dennis Hopper's rambling tribute to Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in Apocalpyse Now... with "the Buffoon" replacing "the Colonel".
In fact, I like the idea of "the Buffoon" as "Kurtz"! -
Now: how do I realize that persona via the blog???
eBay currency index
The dollar seems to be rebounding.
eBay item previously listed at around $825 is now at $804.36.
(The price in GBP has been constant: 499.99... once upon a time this was less than $700!)
eBay item previously listed at around $825 is now at $804.36.
(The price in GBP has been constant: 499.99... once upon a time this was less than $700!)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Lazy man's post (health care)
Finally - healthcare is bubbling up in the news.
Here are a couple of my past contributions:
Here are a couple of my past contributions:
Public Service Announcement: U.S. Health Care system... and, NO: I don't want to read any headlines along the lines of "White House caves on public option"!
Highlight:Based on OECD ("Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development") statistics, the report reveals that the U.S. spends more per capita ($6102) than any other of the 30 member countries; more on health care as percentage of GDP (15.3%) than any other of the 30 member countries...
YET: ranks near the bottom on several "outcome" measures, including life-expectancy (22nd of 30), and infant-mortality (28th of 30).
Alone... why???
Highlight:We are the only developed country in the world without universal health coverage.
Why???
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Pointless
My wife and I have a dog & 5 cats.
While the kids were growing up we always had cats, frequent gerbils, lizards, a boa constrictor, a garter snake, and a few dogs.
We like animals.
Many years ago Time Magazine had a cover, Can Animals Think? [22 Mar 1993]
My thought then and now:
While the kids were growing up we always had cats, frequent gerbils, lizards, a boa constrictor, a garter snake, and a few dogs.
We like animals.
Many years ago Time Magazine had a cover, Can Animals Think? [22 Mar 1993]
My thought then and now:
This question was asked by someone who maybe has read about animals in books... but never actually seen one!Yes! Animals can think.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy July 4th (a bit late!)
Your homework: re-read the Declaration of Independence.
Given the recent hysteria regarding immigration, my favorite complaint against George III is:
Given the recent hysteria regarding immigration, my favorite complaint against George III is:
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
Darn!... + again, my inattentiveness proves positive
Palin resigns as Alaska's governor.
Darn! - I'd hoped to have Sarah to kick around in 2012!
... then again, my inattentiveness seems to be reaping rewards.
Back when I posted daily, and read & listened to the news, it was all simply depressing.
Since I've been neglecting events, good things seem to be happening.
... and I - with many other commentators - am waiting for the other shoe to drop. WHY did Palin resign???
Darn! - I'd hoped to have Sarah to kick around in 2012!
... then again, my inattentiveness seems to be reaping rewards.
Back when I posted daily, and read & listened to the news, it was all simply depressing.
Since I've been neglecting events, good things seem to be happening.
... and I - with many other commentators - am waiting for the other shoe to drop. WHY did Palin resign???
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
just for fun... and bragging
70, Girls, 70 had a successful (sold-out) opening weekend...
... including a pretty decent review [login required], from which I quote:
Nevertheless, I'll take it as a compliment.
I'll also take as a compliment the remarks of 5 different people from 2 different performances:
In fact, I do NOT look like Harvey Korman... but my on-stage persona, Harry, apparently does.
I'll credit my amazing acting ability...
(Though 'Harvey Korman' was not what I'd envisioned, I'm more than happy to learn that that's how "Harry" turned out!)
... including a pretty decent review [login required], from which I quote:
"Russ Sype's rubbery, eye-rolling Harry recalls his years of lame on-stage joke-telling."I've never before been described as "rubbery"... a description completely at odds with the stiffness I feel at the end of each performance.
Nevertheless, I'll take it as a compliment.
I'll also take as a compliment the remarks of 5 different people from 2 different performances:
"Has anyone ever told you how much you look like Harvey Korman?"Well... NO!
In fact, I do NOT look like Harvey Korman... but my on-stage persona, Harry, apparently does.
I'll credit my amazing acting ability...
(Though 'Harvey Korman' was not what I'd envisioned, I'm more than happy to learn that that's how "Harry" turned out!)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wow! - I should pay no attention more often!!!
Since I've not been paying attention:
Franken declared winner in MinnesotaMaybe my inattention helps!
(& Coleman concedes)
U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq cities
(followed by jubilation of Iraqis asserting their new-found sovreignty)
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Just curious
When I was in school there was a noticeable focus on Soviet Communism and the Cold War:
Does today's public school curriculum include anything about Saudi Arabia (which controls our oil) or China (the up-and-coming economic power)?
Are Chinese and Arabic offered in high school? - or does 'foreign language' still mean only Spanish, French, and German?
Just asking.
"duck & cover" drills in elementary schoolSo I'm wondering...
(preparing for nuclear attack!)
neighbors building bomb shelters
(ditto)
high school history - AMERICAN history - included a multi-week segment on Soviet Communism... some classes were required to read J. Edgar's Masters of Deceit.
[Fortunately, my history teacher did NOT require us to read this!]
Does today's public school curriculum include anything about Saudi Arabia (which controls our oil) or China (the up-and-coming economic power)?
Are Chinese and Arabic offered in high school? - or does 'foreign language' still mean only Spanish, French, and German?
Just asking.
'70, Girls, 70' enjoys Fri & Sat opening weekend!
Landmark Musicals' production of 70, Girls, 70 opened Friday, 26 June... and we got a standing ovation!
Tonight's show was somewhat cleaner - fewer flubs (the joys of live theater)... but the audience was less responsive...
BUT: we got another standing O!
Assuming we make it through Sunday matinee, a success!
Tonight's show was somewhat cleaner - fewer flubs (the joys of live theater)... but the audience was less responsive...
BUT: we got another standing O!
Assuming we make it through Sunday matinee, a success!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
More "culture" opportunities for folks in ABQ
Opera Unlimited is presenting Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, Friday & Saturday, July 10 & 11, 7 p.m., Highland High School Performing Arts Center.
This production features a cast of eighty-three (83) children - from elementary to high school age.
[NO! - I'm NOT in the show!!!]
Tickets are FREE!!!
Support the arts. Get acquainted with G&S!
Encourage young performers!
GO SEE THE SHOW!!!
[Historical note: Pirates was in fact performed by children in the 1880s, under the direction of Mr. Richard Barker - then the stage-manager of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, which produced most of the original G&S shows.]
This production features a cast of eighty-three (83) children - from elementary to high school age.
[NO! - I'm NOT in the show!!!]
Tickets are FREE!!!
Support the arts. Get acquainted with G&S!
Encourage young performers!
GO SEE THE SHOW!!!
[Historical note: Pirates was in fact performed by children in the 1880s, under the direction of Mr. Richard Barker - then the stage-manager of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, which produced most of the original G&S shows.]
If a) you're in ABQ area, and b) you're bored
Landmark Musicals is producing Kander and Ebb's 70, Girls, 70, 26 Jun - 12 Jul.
Fri/Sat 7:30 p.m.
Sun 2 p.m.
For reservations, call (505) 798-9036.
[yes: I'm in the show]
Fri/Sat 7:30 p.m.
Sun 2 p.m.
For reservations, call (505) 798-9036.
[yes: I'm in the show]
"Preach on..."
A loyal reader comments:
Preach on, Brother Russ, preach on.Yes,... well, it would be more fulfilling if I had the following of a televangelist!
relief!
... so, i've not been posting.
it's been a relief.
i subscribe to the NYT... mostly for the crossword puzzle...
BUT: i do occasionally make it thru section A and the op-ed page.
Today my response - stated to my wife: "I don't know why I read this. It just depresses me!"
it's been a relief.
i subscribe to the NYT... mostly for the crossword puzzle...
BUT: i do occasionally make it thru section A and the op-ed page.
Today my response - stated to my wife: "I don't know why I read this. It just depresses me!"
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Hey - I'm not alone!
Previous post noted that:
Who's to blame?... forDavid Neiwert over at Crooks & Liars takes Glenn Beck to task, using similar examples. Here's a sample:child-labor laws?
the Pure Food & Drug Act?
the 40-hr, 5-day work-week?
women's suffrage?
the Civil Rights Movement?
Pinko, commie, muckraking liberals and progressives! - that's who... including socialist, God-hating labor unions!!!
The United States has always been an essentially capitalist economic system. However, we have experienced periods in our history where this system has seriously malfunctioned, and we've made adjustments accordingly that have largely worked well making things better.... But go read the whole thing!
One of those dysfunctional periods came at about the turn of the last century, when McKinley was president, corrupt robber barons ran Congress, and the latter-day version of "strict constructionists" ruled the courts. "Laissez faire" capitalism ruled, and America was functionally an oligarchy.
Squeezed out were the working people: the average workweek was 80 hours, there were no weekends, no vacation, only a few holidays, and the barest minimum of pay. Benefits and health care were unheard of. Child labor was the rule.
What happened between then and now? "Progressives" began agitating for better working conditions, and began organizing as labor unions. After a long period of violent repression, these reforms gradually became government policy -- especially in the 1930s under FDR. Americans began getting 40-hour work weeks with weekends off, paid vacations and benefits.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Thought for the day (serious... sorry)
In the time of your life, live—so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding place and let it be free and unashamed.
[William Saroyan, In the Time of your Life]
This is one of my favorite quotations from highschool.
[William Saroyan, In the Time of your Life]
This is one of my favorite quotations from highschool.
just in case you hadn't noticed: light posting!
Begging the indulgence of loyal readers: I'll be on a very light posting schedule for the next week or so.
As noted previously, rehearsals are getting somewhat more demanding, so I'm devoting time to my lines.
Also: most of what I want to say is being said by others.
(Though there HAVE been a few "You-read-it-here-first!" items... which, sadly, I've neither the time nor the inclination to post about... but trust me: if you want to see what will be hot topics on progressive blogs & in nyt op-eds: read Private Buffoon... well, maybe starting next week sometime.)
As noted previously, rehearsals are getting somewhat more demanding, so I'm devoting time to my lines.
Also: most of what I want to say is being said by others.
(Though there HAVE been a few "You-read-it-here-first!" items... which, sadly, I've neither the time nor the inclination to post about... but trust me: if you want to see what will be hot topics on progressive blogs & in nyt op-eds: read Private Buffoon... well, maybe starting next week sometime.)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Just for fun
Some time ago I performed a simple analysis of the "Friedman Unit" based on Tom Friedman's writings. The analysis was prompted by the observation than a Friedman Unit was somewhat indeterminate - ranging anywhere from 1 month to a year (based on Tom Friedman's assertion at any given time about how long we'd have to wait to see real progress in Iraq).
The result is presented above.
The phallic shape of the histogram is amusing!
More FUs on the way!
[Thanks to One Fly over at Outta The Cornfield for alerting me to this!]
Yes - "progress" is, by definition, always in the future...
BUT: when that elusive future is always 2-3 FUs away, it seems, well... nonsensical!
Gates seeks to reassure allies over US role in Afghanistan"12 to 18 months"... that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 Friedman Units.
by Dan De Luce Dan De Luce, AFP
Thu Jun 11, 2009
BRUSSELS (AFP) – US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said he was out to reassure NATO allies over concerns about a possible "Americanization" of the war effort in Afghanistan.
...
Gates said other alliance members shared Washington's view that the international coalition needed to demonstrate progress in the war within 12 to 18 months.
Yes - "progress" is, by definition, always in the future...
BUT: when that elusive future is always 2-3 FUs away, it seems, well... nonsensical!
My latest letter to President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner has been ineffectual. Upon assuming office, his sole responsibility was to craft a clear strategy to address the financial crisis left by W. He has yet to deliver this, and instead has implemented only ad hoc tactics or programs with no apparent relationship to any overall strategy. What are the strategic objectives? Where are we now? How do we get from where we are to where we want to be? Secretary Geithner has not answered any of these very basic questions. (He’s been off giving interviews and pointlessly responding to GOP talking-points!)
I have a modest proposal.
Appoint a “blue-ribbon” panel of seven (7) ordinary American citizens to craft an economic strategy for the nation.
Basic requirements:
I am confident that such a panel could craft a comprehensive, effective economic strategy within six (6) weeks… a task Secretary Geithner has been unable to accomplish in six months!
Think of it this way: you’ll be creating seven new jobs!
Sincerely,
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner has been ineffectual. Upon assuming office, his sole responsibility was to craft a clear strategy to address the financial crisis left by W. He has yet to deliver this, and instead has implemented only ad hoc tactics or programs with no apparent relationship to any overall strategy. What are the strategic objectives? Where are we now? How do we get from where we are to where we want to be? Secretary Geithner has not answered any of these very basic questions. (He’s been off giving interviews and pointlessly responding to GOP talking-points!)
I have a modest proposal.
Appoint a “blue-ribbon” panel of seven (7) ordinary American citizens to craft an economic strategy for the nation.
Basic requirements:
I. Minimal citizenship standards, as measured by voting in past 4 national elections (2002 Congressional midterms, 2004 Presidential, 2006 Congressional midterms, 2008 Presidential).That’s it.
The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that panel members care enough about the issues and their country to have participated in our participatory democracy.
II. Education/experiencea. Highschool graduate + 15 years work experience
b. College graduate + 10 years work experience
c. Graduate/professional degree + 10 years work experience
The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that panel members have some minimal experience living in the real world, and some minimal educational attainment.
Work experience should be measured by consecutive years filing personal tax returns. [Note: currently unemployed applicants ARE eligible, provided only that they have in the past worked for a living!]
III. Disqualificationsa. Convicted felons to be excluded.
b. Anyone who has worked in the financial sector at any level to be excluded (from bank tellers up to Wall Street CEOs).
The purpose of this exclusion is to ensure that the panel provides a counterbalance to the heavily finance-oriented perspective of your current economic advisory team.
c. Anyone who has worked (in a paid position) for a lobbying firm, a political candidate, or a current or former member of Congress to be excluded – to avoid clear conflicts of interest.
d. No more than two (2) panelists to have either undergraduate or graduate degrees in economics, finance, or business.
Again – the point is to limit the influence of presumed “experts” – and to draw instead from the life-experience and common-sense of non-experts.
IV. Demonstration of basic economic/quantitative competence
Panelists ought to be able to pass with a 10/10 score a 10-question quiz which includes basics such as, “What is GDP?”, “What is 7% of $143?”.
[I’d be happy to craft a first draft of the quiz for you!... and, in fact, anyone who can answer the two sample questions above is probably qualified!]
I am confident that such a panel could craft a comprehensive, effective economic strategy within six (6) weeks… a task Secretary Geithner has been unable to accomplish in six months!
Think of it this way: you’ll be creating seven new jobs!
Sincerely,
We'll probably never know...
... if Ahmadinejad really did win the Iranian presidential election by a landslide.
He might have.
Or - the result could be based solely on fraud.
As stated: we'll likely never know.
The current Iranian regime might want to consider, however, that it was widespread public disenchantment with the Shah & his thuggish security forces that brought them to power.
Yes - it is possible for popular revolutions to succeed against well-armed police states, even in the modern era.
He might have.
Or - the result could be based solely on fraud.
As stated: we'll likely never know.
The current Iranian regime might want to consider, however, that it was widespread public disenchantment with the Shah & his thuggish security forces that brought them to power.
Yes - it is possible for popular revolutions to succeed against well-armed police states, even in the modern era.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Headlines I really don't want to see...
Obama Bows on Settling Detainees
Administration Gives Up on Bringing Cleared Inmates to U.S., Officials Say
No - it's not the content that upsets me, it's the verbs!
"Obama Bows... "
"Administration Gives Up... "
The guy won what in recent memory amounts to a landslide - and brought both Houses of Congress with him!
Why is he "bowing" and "giving up"???
Administration Gives Up on Bringing Cleared Inmates to U.S., Officials Say
No - it's not the content that upsets me, it's the verbs!
"Obama Bows... "
"Administration Gives Up... "
The guy won what in recent memory amounts to a landslide - and brought both Houses of Congress with him!
Why is he "bowing" and "giving up"???
More "words"
Conservative commentators are quick to note that "Nazi" derives from "National Socialist" (longer version, National Socialist German Workers’ Party).
That "Socialist" in the name makes 'em assert - immediately, reflexively - that Hitler represented a leftist ideology!
In this worldview, a paradox immediately appears:
During the previous administration, I noted that W and his minions were adherents of a Kabbalistic "magical thinking" worldview: simply invoking the right incantation was sufficient to change - in their minds, at least - reality.
One of them went so far as to say this explicitly:
My advice?
Don't try!
Resort to ridicule as the best rhetorical weapon at your disposal!!!
That "Socialist" in the name makes 'em assert - immediately, reflexively - that Hitler represented a leftist ideology!
In this worldview, a paradox immediately appears:
1. Words in and of themselves define reality.If you begin from the premise that all things bad derive from the Left, it's really quite easy to conclude that all things bad are Leftist - and find magical Words to support the conclusion.
2. Words mean what their user says they mean.
During the previous administration, I noted that W and his minions were adherents of a Kabbalistic "magical thinking" worldview: simply invoking the right incantation was sufficient to change - in their minds, at least - reality.
One of them went so far as to say this explicitly:
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."It can be difficult to engage these folks in honest debate.
[unnamed White House aide, quoted by Ron Suskind, NYT Magazine, 17 Oct 2004]
My advice?
Don't try!
Resort to ridicule as the best rhetorical weapon at your disposal!!!
Secret decoder ring
How to understand conservative commentary regarding the Holocaust Museum shooting?
Recognize that for conservatives, "bad" and "left" are interchangeable!
Atrios noted this first:
No - I don't understand it either... but then, I didn't understand Jonah Goldberg's title: Liberal Fascism.
A willingness to assign personal meanings to words is ... well, psychotic!
... though "meaning" has confounded very smart folks from Plato to Wittgenstein, and Lewis Carroll probably had a point:
The KKK: that bastion of commie, pinko, fellow-traveling Leftists!
[semi-pointless aside: I am currently working with a director who can't tell 'right' from 'left' - as in "stage right" & "stage left"... it makes rehearsals challenging. I provided her with a job-aid: a simple diagram from the "house/audience" perspective showing Stage Right, Center, Stage Left, Up Right, & Up Left.
Even if YOU can't tell right from left, if you intend to convey your intentions to others it's important to use the terms consistently and in a way that will be understood by others!]
Recognize that for conservatives, "bad" and "left" are interchangeable!
Atrios noted this first:
Everyone Bad Is A LeftyYep - if you're a conservative commentator, anything bad must derive from the Left!
We've spent several years having fundamentalist anti-women anti-gay Muslim extremists being somehow aligned with liberals, and now anti-government anti-Semitic white supremacists are as well.
No - I don't understand it either... but then, I didn't understand Jonah Goldberg's title: Liberal Fascism.
A willingness to assign personal meanings to words is ... well, psychotic!
... though "meaning" has confounded very smart folks from Plato to Wittgenstein, and Lewis Carroll probably had a point:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."I note that Tom Tancredo believes Sotomayor is too liberal... because she is associated with La Raza, which he takes to be the Latino version of the KKK!
[Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter 6]
The KKK: that bastion of commie, pinko, fellow-traveling Leftists!
[semi-pointless aside: I am currently working with a director who can't tell 'right' from 'left' - as in "stage right" & "stage left"... it makes rehearsals challenging. I provided her with a job-aid: a simple diagram from the "house/audience" perspective showing Stage Right, Center, Stage Left, Up Right, & Up Left.
Even if YOU can't tell right from left, if you intend to convey your intentions to others it's important to use the terms consistently and in a way that will be understood by others!]
You may have noticed...
... I'm on "light posting" schedule.
Rehearsals are picking up in frequency & intensity - I'm actually expected to know my lines!
Rehearsals are picking up in frequency & intensity - I'm actually expected to know my lines!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Windows 'Vista'
When I first got my new PC with Windows Vista, one of my loyal readers asked me how I liked it - Windows Vista.
At the time I had no comment, having had very little experience with the product.
I am now prepared to opine: I've gotten used to it, but only by making it look & feel as much like older Windows operating systems as I can... and I've learned to NEVER accept automatic upgrades!
Maybe someday I'll be sufficiently tech-literate to go with a UNIX-based, open-source platform.
At the time I had no comment, having had very little experience with the product.
I am now prepared to opine: I've gotten used to it, but only by making it look & feel as much like older Windows operating systems as I can... and I've learned to NEVER accept automatic upgrades!
Maybe someday I'll be sufficiently tech-literate to go with a UNIX-based, open-source platform.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
What a surprise!
To loyal readers, no surprise: I crafted post below into letter to Tim Kaine, chair of the DNC.
Yes - I write letters.
(You can too!)
Yes - I write letters.
(You can too!)
Just out of curiosity...
... What's wrong with socialism?
Pure, unbridled capitalism brought us:
- 8-year-olds losing fingers, hands, & arms in industrial looms
- the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
- 80-hour work-weeks
- the Great Depression
Me? I'm rather in favor of the government protecting me from pure capitalist greed!
Pure, unbridled capitalism brought us:
- 8-year-olds losing fingers, hands, & arms in industrial looms
- the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
- 80-hour work-weeks
- the Great Depression
Me? I'm rather in favor of the government protecting me from pure capitalist greed!
Token Tuesday post
"Old News" headlines, June/July 2009:
President Washington Applauds Balloon Pilot
Americans Search Arctic For Lost British Explorer
Rome Invades Britain
New Bridge Sways In Wind
Professional Baseball Clubs Form "American League"
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Everything W touched...
... turned to shit.
Me? If I were the head of the DNC, I'd NEVER let the country forget this:
EVERYTHING W TOUCHED TURNED TO SHIT!
... and play multiple fugues upon this theme.
EVERYTHING the GOP touched turned to shit!
Repeat, over and over. Ad nauseam.
Whenever a GOP opponent says anything, laugh...
LOUDLY!
- and remind folks that EVERYTHING THE GOP TOUCHES TURNS TO SHIT!
Don't be afraid to trash Saint Reagan!
- Tax-cuts for the wealthy?
"Oh, you mean voodoo economics!"
- De-regulation?
"Oh, you mean the Savings & Loan disaster!"
EVERYTHING THE GOP TOUCHES TURNS TO SHIT!!!
Me? If I were the head of the DNC, I'd NEVER let the country forget this:
EVERYTHING W TOUCHED TURNED TO SHIT!
... and play multiple fugues upon this theme.
EVERYTHING the GOP touched turned to shit!
Repeat, over and over. Ad nauseam.
Whenever a GOP opponent says anything, laugh...
LOUDLY!
- and remind folks that EVERYTHING THE GOP TOUCHES TURNS TO SHIT!
Don't be afraid to trash Saint Reagan!
- Tax-cuts for the wealthy?
"Oh, you mean voodoo economics!"
- De-regulation?
"Oh, you mean the Savings & Loan disaster!"
EVERYTHING THE GOP TOUCHES TURNS TO SHIT!!!
More: the gift that keeps on giving
NKorea sentences 2 US journalists to 12 years jail
By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press
7 June 2009
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said its top court convicted two U.S. journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.
Recall:
Never forget: EVERYTHING that W touched turned to shit!
[an old bumper sticker: "I never thought I'd miss Nixon!"]
p.s On the lighter side... from an old segment of "The Capital Gang", following a trip by NM Governor Bill Richardson to North Korea:
By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press
7 June 2009
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said its top court convicted two U.S. journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.
Recall:
On March 7, 2001, barely a month into Bush's new term, South Korean president Kim Dae-jung made a working visit to Washington in hope of keeping the Clinton policy on North Korea on track under the new US administration. On the eve of the Kim visit, Powell told reporters that the Bush administration would build on the Clinton momentum on North Korea. The White House instantly rebuked Powell, with Bush making it clear that his administration would do no such thing.The fruits of W's misguided rejection of diplomacy with North Korea?
[PART 8: Bush's bellicose policy on N Korea , Asia Times, 5 Jan 2007; emphasis added]
North Korea has actively re-started its nuke program.Quite a coup, W!
North Korea has actively continued testing ICBMs.
... and now, North Korea is playing high-stakes international politics with American journalists.
Never forget: EVERYTHING that W touched turned to shit!
[an old bumper sticker: "I never thought I'd miss Nixon!"]
p.s On the lighter side... from an old segment of "The Capital Gang", following a trip by NM Governor Bill Richardson to North Korea:
CARLSON: ... I think we should all sleep better tonight knowing that peace is at hand between New Mexico and North Korea.
[CNN CAPITAL GANG, 11 Jan 2003]
This doesn't sound good
1Q credit card delinquency rate jumps 11 percent
I note that the professionals who get their views published are almost all citing various indicators to support the "forecast" that the recession is bottoming out.
Me? Until SecTreas Geithner presents a clear strategy for dealing with the big banks and other Wall Street powers, I'm skeptical.
... and I've pretty much lost hope that SecTreas Geithner will EVER present a clear strategy.
I'm coming to the conclusion that a half-dozen randomly selected voters could do a better job crafting an economic policy than the economic whizzes in Obama's administration.
I note that the professionals who get their views published are almost all citing various indicators to support the "forecast" that the recession is bottoming out.
Me? Until SecTreas Geithner presents a clear strategy for dealing with the big banks and other Wall Street powers, I'm skeptical.
... and I've pretty much lost hope that SecTreas Geithner will EVER present a clear strategy.
I'm coming to the conclusion that a half-dozen randomly selected voters could do a better job crafting an economic policy than the economic whizzes in Obama's administration.
Hmmm... I wonder... [update]
Lebanon's pro-Western majority declares victory
Ya think Obama's Cairo speech might have helped?
(... or maybe just that Obama's now in the White House - not his blustering, belligerent predecessor?)
[Update: I'm not the only one thinking these thoughts. Here's the HuffPost headline:
p.s. Why do I use the descriptor "so-called"? In today's political debate, I prefer to think of myself not as "progressive" but as "sane"!
Ya think Obama's Cairo speech might have helped?
(... or maybe just that Obama's now in the White House - not his blustering, belligerent predecessor?)
[Update: I'm not the only one thinking these thoughts. Here's the HuffPost headline:
The Obama Effect? Pro-Western Majority Declares Victory Over Hezbollah In LebanonNote the framing: The Obama Effect is first - the eye-catching phrase!... and the explicit Victory Over Hezbollah is prominent. (Recall: Hezbollah is the axis-of-evil-Iranian-supported terrorist group.) THESE are the rhetorical devices we so-called progressives oughta be using FREQUENTLY!]
p.s. Why do I use the descriptor "so-called"? In today's political debate, I prefer to think of myself not as "progressive" but as "sane"!
Hooray for the Iraqis!
Iraqis detain 5 US contractors in Baghdad
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press
7 June 2009
BAGHDAD – Five U.S. contractors have been detained in the investigation of the slaying of another American in Baghdad's Green Zone, officials said Sunday, in what may become the first case of U.S. citizens facing Iraqi justice under a security agreement that took effect this year.
Three thoughts.
Thought #1: Hooray for the Iraqis! - legitimately exercising their sovereignty.
Thought #2: I'm wondering how many more similar events it'll take before even Bill Kristol thinks it's time for us to LEAVE IRAQ!
Thought #3 (related to Thought #2): How many more similar incidents will it take till KBR, Parsons, Xe, and the other thieves, criminals, and war profiteers decide that maybe they'd rather not be in Iraq?
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press
7 June 2009
BAGHDAD – Five U.S. contractors have been detained in the investigation of the slaying of another American in Baghdad's Green Zone, officials said Sunday, in what may become the first case of U.S. citizens facing Iraqi justice under a security agreement that took effect this year.
Three thoughts.
Thought #1: Hooray for the Iraqis! - legitimately exercising their sovereignty.
Thought #2: I'm wondering how many more similar events it'll take before even Bill Kristol thinks it's time for us to LEAVE IRAQ!
Thought #3 (related to Thought #2): How many more similar incidents will it take till KBR, Parsons, Xe, and the other thieves, criminals, and war profiteers decide that maybe they'd rather not be in Iraq?
Our MBA president: The gift that keeps on giving
APNewsBreak: Major problems found in war spending
By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press
7 June 2009
WASHINGTON – This is one Christmas gift U.S. taxpayers don't need. Construction of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq is scheduled to be completed Dec. 25. But the decision to build it was based on bad planning and botched paperwork.
...
In its first report to Congress, the Wartime Contracting Commission presents a bleak assessment of how tens of billions of dollars have been spent since 2001. The 111-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, documents poor management, weak oversight, and a failure to learn from past mistakes as recurring themes in wartime contracting."
Ah, yes: the miracle of the market!
- Private enterprise is inherently efficient
- No need for oversight... No-bid contracts will work like a charm
- No patriotic company would ever give us anything but the very best
Quoting Karl Rove:
By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press
7 June 2009
WASHINGTON – This is one Christmas gift U.S. taxpayers don't need. Construction of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq is scheduled to be completed Dec. 25. But the decision to build it was based on bad planning and botched paperwork.
...
In its first report to Congress, the Wartime Contracting Commission presents a bleak assessment of how tens of billions of dollars have been spent since 2001. The 111-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, documents poor management, weak oversight, and a failure to learn from past mistakes as recurring themes in wartime contracting."
Ah, yes: the miracle of the market!
- Private enterprise is inherently efficient
- No need for oversight... No-bid contracts will work like a charm
- No patriotic company would ever give us anything but the very best
Quoting Karl Rove:
“I know lots of stupid people who went to Ivy League schools.”Yes, Karl, I bet you do... I can name one of 'em!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
A "thought for the day"
"SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES; NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING, BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS."
[via email]
[via email]
Friday, June 5, 2009
Fun with statistics
On Tuesday I had 11 visitors (excluding me!).
On Wednesday I had 17 visitors (ditto).
On Thursday I had 21 visitors (ditto).
At this rate, I should have 100K+ visitors/day in just over... 54 years!
On Wednesday I had 17 visitors (ditto).
On Thursday I had 21 visitors (ditto).
At this rate, I should have 100K+ visitors/day in just over... 54 years!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
... and now for something completely different!
A few posts back I included an embed of a YouTube vid: "The Court of King Caractacus".
There were a number of reasons for this pointless post:
Once upon a time I was an industrial statistician (as in, "a statistician working in industry"... not "a tough, resilient statistician"). Among my duties? Training engineers to do statistics relevant to their jobs.
I was also required to TAKE classes - continuing-education for industrial statisticians & others. One of the very few classes that had an impact on my behavior as a practicing industrial statistician? "Accelerated Learning": designing effective training classes. The basic idea? Make classes activity-based.
Tonight, in a completely different context, I had occasion - for the first time in a long while - to think about this again. Here are a few reflections on the topic:
There were a number of reasons for this pointless post:
1. My interest in it derives from G&S'sIt is that last point to which THIS post is addressed!
The Pirates of Penzance.The Major-General's song:2. It's simply fun!"... and tell you every detail of Caractacus's uniform."(More on which - if you're truly bored - to be found here.)
3. It illustrates a principle of effective training:"Engage as many senses as possible!"
Once upon a time I was an industrial statistician (as in, "a statistician working in industry"... not "a tough, resilient statistician"). Among my duties? Training engineers to do statistics relevant to their jobs.
I was also required to TAKE classes - continuing-education for industrial statisticians & others. One of the very few classes that had an impact on my behavior as a practicing industrial statistician? "Accelerated Learning": designing effective training classes. The basic idea? Make classes activity-based.
Tonight, in a completely different context, I had occasion - for the first time in a long while - to think about this again. Here are a few reflections on the topic:
A book was included with the class:My experience re-designing stat classes to be 'experiential' and focused on DOING is that...
Creative Training Techniques Handbook.
- Note the title word: "training" - this is focused on 'training' NOT on 'education'. One of the things it took me way too long to realize as a trainer in industry was that there's a difference between 'education' and 'training'. 'Education' is aimed at 'understanding'; 'training' is aimed at 'changing behavior'.
Random thoughts (things I remember) from the class:Provide crayons & scrap paper to all participants - encourage doodlingSome chord-striking quotations from the first few chapters of the book:pedagogical value: doodling really can promote memory/learningProvide a cartoonish 'course map' to further encourage doodling & using the crayonspedagogical value: helps students figure out where we are, where we're going, and what the objective is... + doodling/coloring promotes memory/learningCheating is good.When I re-designed my stat classes, I almost always started out with a 'final exam' - 10-20 questions to be answered in teams of 2-3If you want students to leave the class knowing how to DO something, build the class around 'em DOING those things!Students were told explicitly: "If you can't find the answer in the student workbook, ask another team for help!"(note: I typically had a LOT of activites designed to drive home this point: "Everything you need to know is in the book, AND YOU CAN FIND IT!")pedagogical value: ALL the stuff you need to know is in the student workbook... AND YOU CAN FIND IT! (... Oh, and, by the way: how do you do things at work? - if you don't know, you ask a colleague!)
(Recall: leaving the class knowing how to DO something is what distinguishes 'training' from 'education'!)"Adults are babies with big bodies."More chord-striking quotations:
(Babies learn by playing - so do adults)
"Learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you have."
"Learning has not taken place until behavior has changed."
(Recall - we're talking about 'training')"You cannot motivate other people."Finally:
"All people are motivated."
"People do things for their reasons, not your reasons."When designing 'activity-based' classes, it's important (critical) to remember that the activities aren't simply tacked on to the material, the activities ARE the material!
1. it takes a LOT MORE up-front work to design the class effectivelyNow you know.
2. it takes a LOT LESS work to teach the class once it's designed (with all materials in place, activities designed, etc.)
Old News
Headlines for Apr/May 2009:
Published bimonthly (which in this context means every other month).
Subscription? $17/year (six issues); $33/2 yrs (12 issues).
p.s. disambiguation: "bimonthly" in American English can mean either
Nevertheless, as stated, it's the cleanest disambiguation I've discovered.
Any other suggestions?
Alcock and Brown Fly Atlantic OceanOld News is one of the three periodicals to which I subscribe. It's formatted as a newspaper (typically 12 pages), with short articles from history - from ancient times to WWII. Pictures (all black & white) accompany most articles - photos when available; etchings, woodcuts, paintings otherwise.
Jack Johnson Wins Championship Fight
Lord Grey Reforms British Government
Apple-Tree Grower Inspires FolkloreA Camping Trip with Johnny Appleseed
Published bimonthly (which in this context means every other month).
Subscription? $17/year (six issues); $33/2 yrs (12 issues).
Old NewsNow you know.
3 W. Brandt Blvd
Landisville, PA 17538-9964
p.s. disambiguation: "bimonthly" in American English can mean either
every-other month;or
twice a month.The easiest disambiguation I've discovered is to adopt the British "fortnightly" for "twice-a-month", and to use "bimonthly" to mean "every-other-month"... Tho' "fortnightly" really means every fourteen days, which isn't the same as "twice a month".
Nevertheless, as stated, it's the cleanest disambiguation I've discovered.
Any other suggestions?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
I didn't know he had a vote!
Rush flips; may support Sotomayor
Andy Barr, Politico.com
3 June 2009
After calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a “reverse racist” last week, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday that he may now possibly support President Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court.
Is Limbaugh delusional?
Does he really believe he gets to vote on her?
note: as one of the ABQ Old-Guy Bloggers reminds me - she was a Bush I appointee to the federal bench!
Andy Barr, Politico.com
3 June 2009
After calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a “reverse racist” last week, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday that he may now possibly support President Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court.
Is Limbaugh delusional?
Does he really believe he gets to vote on her?
note: as one of the ABQ Old-Guy Bloggers reminds me - she was a Bush I appointee to the federal bench!
eBay currency index
That 499.99 GBP item?
It's now at $821.38!
On 17 Mar I reported:
p.s. from $704.34 on 17 March to $821.38 on 2 June is about a 42% decline of the dollar.
At an annualized rate: 58%!
We're getting poorer by the minute!
It's now at $821.38!
On 17 Mar I reported:
the dollar dropped today...Again: it may be time to re-think that European vacation!
how do i know?
eBay! - a "buy it now" item listed at 499.99 GBP is currently at $704.34.
Yesterday it was in the mid-$690s.
Yes - even eBay is a source of financial information!
p.s. from $704.34 on 17 March to $821.38 on 2 June is about a 42% decline of the dollar.
At an annualized rate: 58%!
We're getting poorer by the minute!
I'd be more sympathetic... IF
I'd be more sympathetic to the pro-life folks IF:
They didn't applaud murder.As it is, my impression is that once fetus metamorphoses into newborn, they lose all interest in the LIFE before them.
They were pro-LIVING: supporting, e.g.,S-CHIP
Aid to single mothers
Early childhood education
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
"How I start my day"
The right nav bar includes a list of sites labeled "How I start my day."
Both the list & the descriptor are accurate...
BUT: my day frequently starts at about 10 p.m.!
Both the list & the descriptor are accurate...
BUT: my day frequently starts at about 10 p.m.!
Probably not wise, but was this really a "secret"?
U.S. Releases Secret List of Nuclear Sites Accidentally
By WILLIAM J. BROAD, NYT
Published: June 2, 2009
The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.
Okay - this was a screw-up.
BUT: how much of the information was truly "secret" - unknown and unknowable via publicly available sources?
Me? I think our "classification" system needs radical reform... pretty much starting from scratch.
With very few exceptions, everything gets declassified TOMORROW! - if it really ought to be kept secret, the owner provides a cogent, clear, defensible rationale TODAY.
By WILLIAM J. BROAD, NYT
Published: June 2, 2009
The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.
Okay - this was a screw-up.
BUT: how much of the information was truly "secret" - unknown and unknowable via publicly available sources?
Me? I think our "classification" system needs radical reform... pretty much starting from scratch.
With very few exceptions, everything gets declassified TOMORROW! - if it really ought to be kept secret, the owner provides a cogent, clear, defensible rationale TODAY.
Sorry, but I can't resist the temptation...
Al-Qaida criticizes Obama's upcoming Cairo speech
Hmmm... al Qaeda is criticizing Obama's speech before he's delivered it!
Sounds a lot like the GOP!!!
Hmmm... al Qaeda is criticizing Obama's speech before he's delivered it!
Sounds a lot like the GOP!!!
Monday, June 1, 2009
One more reason to publish the photos...
Why'd Obama switch on detainee photos? Maliki went ballistic
By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers
1 June 2009
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama reversed his decision to release detainee abuse photos from Iraq and Afghanistan after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki warned that Iraq would erupt into violence and that Iraqis would demand that U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned, two U.S. military officers, a senior defense official and a State Department official have told McClatchy.
[emphasis added]
I favored releasing the photos before.
This news has only added another reason! - Please: let's get out of Iraq TODAY!
By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers
1 June 2009
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama reversed his decision to release detainee abuse photos from Iraq and Afghanistan after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki warned that Iraq would erupt into violence and that Iraqis would demand that U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned, two U.S. military officers, a senior defense official and a State Department official have told McClatchy.
[emphasis added]
I favored releasing the photos before.
This news has only added another reason! - Please: let's get out of Iraq TODAY!
NO!!! (altenatively: Why???)
Gates: More missile defense spending possible
I've previously posted my opinion of our high-tech missile defense system.
Short version: Maginot Line.
I've previously posted my opinion of our high-tech missile defense system.
Short version: Maginot Line.
Token post
To reward regular readers I need to post something.
This is it!
Rehearsals + analyzing NM1 election results is keeping me otherwise engaged... and I'm lazy.
Have I missed anything?
This is it!
Rehearsals + analyzing NM1 election results is keeping me otherwise engaged... and I'm lazy.
Have I missed anything?
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