Vacation More Important Than Doing Their Jobs

So, the House finally passed the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act by a vote of 206-60 on 12/22/10.   You might notice that there were only 266 House members voting.   You might notice that there were about 169 Representatives missing in action.  The majority of the missing Members apparently are Republicans who left town early (i.e., before the House adjourned) for the "Holiday."  According to the Washington Post:

The bill passed Wednesday evening by a vote of 206 to 60 after House leaders had held open the vote for more than an hour, presumably for members who were still hustling to make their way over to the Capitol on the final day of the 111th Congress' lame-duck session.

Missing Wednesday's vote were nearly 170 House members, 100 more than had been missing in action for the previous day's votes. Thirty Republicans had joined all but one Democrat, Mississippi's Gene Taylor, in supporting the measure

It's just another example of why most people hold politicians in such low regard.  

Do Ask Do Tell

Self explanatory comic from Harrybliss.com.

Questions That Shouldn't Have Answers

I just thought this Real Life Adventures comic was pretty funny today.

  

Repeat Photography & Global Warming

Repeat photography is pretty straight-forward: multiple pictures taken from the same spot years apart.   The technique is useful to determine and document changes in climate and human impact on the environment.   Wired Magazine has a fascinating series of repeat photos taken by the US Geologic Survey that show restored archeological sites, rivers that have moved, and glaciers that have all but vanished.   

Global warming anyone?  

TSA Intrusive? Yawn.

I don't fly much anymore, mostly because it's become an unpleasant, over-crowded, and expensive exercise.   Lately if I travel far enough to consider flying, I've ended up driving.   The hullabaloo in recent weeks about the new TSA inspection procedures and use of new "x-ray" equipment has largely, IMO, been a tempest in a teapot.   And now at least one VERY experienced traveler also feels the reality isn't anywhere near as awful as the anticipation, especially if you're a talking head like John Boehner or Matt Drudge.  Travel expert Arthur Frommer has blogged about his recent travel through Kennedy Airport in NYC, and he found getting through security to be somewhat of an anti-climax. 

My TSA experience was totally without drama or tension. My passage through security was handled professionally by people dedicated to a never-ending battle with Al Qaeda, and these procedures seemed to be welcomed by citizens of a democracy who have determined never to let the terrorists interfere with our right to travel. We have all acquiesced in these trivial burdens out of a determination to keep our skies safe for air travel.
Matt Drudge will now need to find a new crusade.

Read Frommer's account here.

What's In It For Me?

Most every financial company wants me to switch to "e-delivery" these days.   Actually the campaign to wean me from paper statements has been going on for some time, but I've mostly ignored it.   

When banks and such started making it possible to download statements, I began doing so, mostly because it's a lot easier to store and find PDF files than paper ones.   At least for me, I can locate a particular document much more easily if it's on my computer than if it's in a file cabinet someplace in the house.   And of course, it takes next to no space to save PDF files vs. paper.  However, I still find it easier to peruse a paper statement to see if anything unusual appears.  

Now banks and stock shareholder agents (e.g., Computershare.com) are getting more forceful in their efforts; more and more I'm finding I no longer have access to the downloadable statements unless I agree to forgo the paper version.

What really frosts me, are the reasons they give to convince me to "go green."   Do you see what is missing from this example?  These are largely bogus reasons:  I can retrieve documents 24/7 from these company websites, I don't have to print anything when they send me paper documents, and I can already save documents to my computer if they allow me to download them.  Nothing is said about the benefits to the company: they save postage involved in mailing statements to me and they save the cost of paper.  These are significant economic reasons for the company to want me to switch, much greater than the lame benefits to me if I "Sign up for eDelivery."  

How about if they give me a nominal fee, like $5 per quarter to forgo the paper statements?   Fat chance.  Another example of big business thinking we're all idiots.

A Million Petitions

It seems like as Americans become more and more estranged from their governments at all levels (municipal, State, Federal), an awful lot of them spend a lot of time petitioning for one thing or another.   I'm not talking about people going around knocking on doors to invite me to join them in their effort to get some level of government to either stop doing something or start doing something else.  I'm talking about online petitions and they're all over the place these days.  These email invitations are different than the ones that result in sending an email or fax to my specific elected representatives.   Rather, these are efforts to accumulate thousands of "signatures" on a petition to be delivered to decision makers on a particular topic.


A sampling:  

• "End Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DemocracyForAmerica)
• "Send a Video Message to the President to "say no to a millionaire bailout" (MoveOn.org) (not strictly a petition, but similar enough)
• "Extend Emergency Unemployment Insurance" (AFL/CIO) 
• "Fully Fund NPR (Stand Up To Sarah Palin)" (Credoaction.com)
• "Join the fight against the Republican repeal hypocrisy" (healthcareforamericanow.org)

I have to wonder if most of these petition efforts are more about collecting email and street addresses of people that can be solicited for donations later, than about really effecting change.   

I mean, did Target Corporation really care about the petitions protesting the company's political contributions to right-wing candidates in Minnesota?   I doubt it, and I certainly didn't hear any company reaction to the protests.  The effort to boycott Target didn't seem to have any noticeable effect at my local Target; the parking lot is always filled just as it was before the political donation.  I'm afraid most Americans just don't care if corporations are funneling money into political campaigns, even if the Supreme Court has opened the floodgates to such corporate intrusion into the political system.  Most Americans have been successfully indoctrinated in consumerism, and tend to focus on "Expect More, Spend Less" rather than on how their democracy is being stolen from them.

Is President Obama really going to sit down and watch a few thousand video messages asking him to oppose extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy?   I hope he has a lot more important things to do than waste a week or so doing something like that.  Is this MoveOn.org effort just to make people feel like they're doing something productive, when in reality, they are anything but?

I think that's the core of the issue: making people feel like they are empowered, when in reality, they are definitely not.   I can't believe that anyone in Congress is impressed when presented with electronic petitions bearing tens of thousands of names, especially when there seems to be an epidemic of petitions.   As a decision maker, if you see one or two during the course of a year, you've got to be more impressed than if you're presented with dozens, or hundreds, of petitions.  

As someone who has been elected to our school board several times, I know what is involved in getting actual signatures on an actual nominating petition.   And how difficult it can be to actually get people to sign their name to a piece of paper.  Electronic petitions take no effort and carry corresponding impact.   Little or none.

Quantitative Easing Explained

You may not know whether to laugh or cry when you watch and hear this video. Gotta love a computer voice saying things like "shit hit the fan."  

This video covers a lot of territory about what the Federal Reserve is up to and why.  And who benefits most.   Clue: it's not you and me.

Here's the video.

A Philosophy of Life

The comic strip "Pickles," by Brian Crane, is one of my favorite ways to start the day.   Besides being a curmudgeon, Earl Pickles has a very close relationship with his grandson, who lives next door.   Earl wastes no opportunity to explain to Nelson how things work and how things should be.  These strips embody both Earl's and my own "philosophy" of life.

 

Org Chart of Heaven

I mentioned in my 10/24/10 post "Organization Chart" that I once had an organization chart of heaven.  Thanks to the fact that I had digitized it at one time, I'm posting it here.   If I'd had to find it in paper form, I'd still be looking for it a couple years from now.....

I have no idea who the author is; I picked this up a couple decades ago during my work life.   The original is a full page and was produced on a typewriter (remember them?).

The Mob Mentality

I recently came across an essay broadcast on the Bob Edwards week-end radio program.   It is part of his "This I Believe" series and it put my thoughts into words very nicely.   The essay is about why the author doesn't participate in demonstrations and marches - mostly because she doesn't feel her opinions are more valid than anyone else's opinions.   I've blogged about this a bit (10/17/10, 8/24/10) regarding the flood of solicitations I received for political donations for far-away elections.  I said I was uncomfortable with the notion that "people around the country think they know what's best for other people around the country."  This discomfort is present even if I happen to agree with the candidate or group.

The author starts off by describing how she is uncomfortable about participating in a peace march in Washington, D.C.:

But the thing that made me uneasy wasn’t just the number of people gathered there. It was the mob mentality of a large group of people who feel they are right, even if I agree with them. It was the absolutism lurking in the liberal ideals. To me it felt just as scary as any other kind of intolerance

Anyway, the essay can be found here and it's worth reading or listening to the podcast.

Organization Chart

This probably fits any large organization, employer, bank, or whatever.   Here you go Robin!

I used to have an org. chart of heaven.   I'll have to locate it....  

Local vs Global - Part Deux

In my August 24, 2010 post, I wrote about the increasing requests for political donations for candidates for office where I don't live.   It makes me uncomfortable to, in effect, tell people thousands of miles away that I know what's good for them better than they do.


It recently occurred to me that one possible reason for the increasing requests could be corporate involvement in political campaigns.   Based on last Winter's Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate funding of campaigns, it's clear that companies are not hesitant to flood large amounts of cash into the system (often anonymously).   Since that's the equivalent of someone possibly thousands of miles away telling me who to vote for (or against), perhaps it's natural that individuals are being asked to respond by donating cash to far off campaigns.


It still makes me uncomfortable. 

Aircraft Tragedy...

A friend sent this email recently and I thought it needed to be shared.

Sure would hate to be involved in this one............

Brace yourself before looking at the attached image.

A pilot at low level has no control over his aircraft.

It narrowly misses a crowd gathered for the airshow and slams into four buildings.

One can only imagine the horror of the occupants inside those buildings.

Flash From The Past- And Not In A Good Way

I had an unsettling encounter this afternoon, which flashed me back to the bad old days of the 1960s and 1970s.

I was in the parking lot of a local Target store to pick up a few things like milk and toilet paper.   I was retrieving some reusable shopping bags from the trunk of my car, when another shopper, presumably heading to his car to leave, spoke to me as he walked by.   His words, in reaction to the "Obama 2008" sticker on my car, were something to the effect of "So how's that hope thing going for you?"   By itself, that would have been strange enough, since I generally don't get into political discussions in store parking lots.   But this guy finished his observation by muttering "Socialist commie."

I was so startled I didn't respond but continued on into the store.   I didn't come up with a satisfying response for several minutes.   Next time I will brightly respond with "So, does acting like a jerk come naturally for you, or do you have to work at it?"

I admit to having supported Obama in the 2008 Presidential campaign.   I admit to not being overwhelmed with happiness at the way the President has handled a number of issues since winning the election.   I also admit to having no regrets over not supporting his GOP opponent in 2008.  I believe McCain would have been a disaster in the White House and I'm not looking forward to the midterm elections next month.

I haven't been called a "Socialist commie" in years, and it brought back memories of the overheated rhetoric that flew around in the late 60s and early 70s when pretty much all it took to be identified as a "commie" was wearing long hair.  I no longer sport long hair (or even short hair...) and I generally have always tried to not call people names.

I guess I could be called worse, but it still put a depressing damper on my afternoon.

Fix the Filibuster - Sooner Rather Than Later

This is an issue whose time has definitely come.   Even if you believe that the filibuster could someday protect the Democrats as a minority party in the Senate, you really can't argue with the fact that the filibuster didn't prevent GOP Presidents from stacking the Supreme Court with conservatives who gave us Bush as President and the recent infamous "corporations are individuals" who get to flood politics with corporate bribes.  Possibly because Democrats aren't as regimented and organized as much as the GOP is - and therefore can't pull off real filibusters as well as the GOP.

Credo has this one right.  Sign the petition. 

See my list of filibuster votes near the bottom of this page.

You Should Get A Receipt

In a report from a think tank called Third Way, the group argues that taxpayers should get a receipt in order to clearly understand what they're paying for.  The sample receipt includes both income and Social Security/Medicare taxes and how much of your money goes where.

Image from National Public Radio (npr.org)

A recent article about the so-called "Tea Party" groups included a conclusion that tea partiers are opposed to government spending - except for the money spent on them.   Perhaps that's at least partly because most Americans have no idea where their tax payments go.  A receipt might help; it certainly wouldn't hurt.  As the Third Way points out, it doesn't require complicated math and would be pretty easy for the IRS to implement on its web site.  

It's a great idea that will never happen. An educated electorate is every politician's nightmare.

The report can be found here.

Local vs Global

In the past year or so, I have been flooded with both email and snail mail requests from a variety of groups, all wanting me to donate money to various political candidates.   This is not unusual, of course, since our political system seems to live and breath via fund-raising.   What makes these requests note-worthy is that they are for candidates who live hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from where I live.   Many times, these requests involve Congressional primaries and elections.


Groups such as "Emily's List" and "MoveOn.org" all compile lists of what they consider "progressive" candidates involved in election campaigns around the country.    The groups then solicit funds from hopefully like-minded citizens from throughout the nation.   This first issue I have with this, is I don't really appreciate it when "outsiders" attempt to influence my local elections, and I think it would be inconsistent of me to turn around and send money to candidates in other time zones.


Another issue for me is that often the solicitations contain the most superficial description of the various candidates.   I know from experience that many times I don't agree with all positions a candidate makes, but I may decide to support the candidate based on overall platform.


I have no idea if others have objections to this type of "long distance" fund raising, but I suspect that most people do not.   I'm guessing that these organizations wouldn't be sending out this kind of solicitation if they didn't produce results.  It's like spam email: if a few people didn't respond and make purchases of stuff, the spam email sent to millions of people wouldn't produce financial gain.


Still, I'm uncomfortable with the notion that people around the country think they know what's best for other people around the country.

More Guesses?

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a column written by Charles Madigan in the Chicago Tribune, in which Madigan speculated on whether we will see a Republican controlled legislature after the November elections.   He wasn't so sure that the GOP was any more popular than the Democrats are and that predicting the outcome this early is largely a waste of effort.

In his recent column from the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson strolls through a number of current GOP candidates for various offices and points out that several of them seem to be truly "out there."

For example, the GOP candidate for Governor of Colorado apparently is opposed to bicycle paths, because they are part of some sort of United Nations conspiracy to enslave us.  The Republican candidate for US Senate in Nevada wants to privatize Social Security and Medicare.  Robinson reaches a conclusion not unlike Madigan; that this election may end up being just plain weird:

The big political story of the year may turn out to be the consequences of the GOP's foray into extremism and wackiness. It could be that the party acculturates its not-ready-for-prime-time candidates, harnesses the energy of the Tea Party movement and sweeps to a grand old victory. There is also the distinct possibility that the acute philosophical split within the party -- basically, a clash between bedrock conservatism and utter nonsense -- will hand victories to Democrats that they didn't anticipate and frankly might not deserve. 

For those of us who don't think that the "average" American voter has the attention span of a gnat, such predictions are strangely appealing.   Perhaps the GOP and Democratic Parties will both get what they "deserve."   

Vote Green.

What's In A Name?

I came across this political cartoon recently and thought it was pretty funny.   Mike Lester, the cartoonist, has summarized some thoughts we've had in recent years about increasingly strange given names we've come across....

Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

This opinion piece by Charles Madigan in the Chicago Tribune cautions us to not assume that the November elections will be a disaster for the Democrats and a huge success for the Republicans.   He rightfully points out that the only voters who count are the ones who actually show up to vote, and it's not so clear who they might be in November.   I think his conclusion is on point:

Because of all of this, I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that whatever happens, it won't be good.

By the end of the year, I suspect reasonable people will be chased into hiding by grizzly moms from the distant north.

The Democrats will be in a desert someplace, navel gazing.

And President Obama will be sitting in the White House thoughtfully wondering why he couldn't have actually been born in Kenya, because at least in Kenya, he is loved.

 Let's hope we don't end up with the House of Representatives run by John Boehner ("...the brownest white man in all of Ohio thanks to the miracle of tanning...), but beyond that, I'm not guessing.

Will The Economy Get Better-Part 2

Well, since my post on this topic in April, not much has changed.   Unemployment rates are still high, new job creation is elusive, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq grind on, and  political fringe elements in the U.S. are louder and shriller.  Based purely on anecdotal evidence, people hate their jobs more.   I think this "Moderately Confused" comic sums it all up.  This comic is always quite "pithy" and you can find the strips here.

The Dwindling Colorado River

When one of my buddies announced plans to move to Arizona after retirement, the first thought that occurred to me was that I'd read a lot of articles about water shortages in the Southwest in general, and Arizona in particular.   He told me that "everyone" he'd spoken to in Arizona said water was not a problem, despite the fact that much of the population growth was in what had previously been desert.

Map from USGS.gov

Turns out that the water supply in the Southwest is getting scarcer, and so far, the place that's suffering as a result is Mexico.  The Colorado River begins in Northern Colorado and winds through Utah, Arizona, and California before entering the Mexican State of Sonora and the Gulf of California.   Only these days, not much water is left in the river by the time it arrives in Sonora and that's primarily because of the diversion of the water in the above-mentioned States.  Some of it irrigates the crop growing areas of California and some of it provides water for the growing populations in Las Vegas and Phoenix, as well as other areas in the parched Southwest.  The lack of water that reaches Mexico has caused farm failures in that country which some say has fed the migration of Mexicans into the U.S. in search of jobs.

Marketplace.org ran a story ("Downstream, Death of the Mighty Colorado") on July 23 about a photo essay of the Colorado River, documenting the deterioration of the river's flow and the impact on people.   It's worth reading (or listen to the podcast) to see what part of the cost of the huge increase in population of the Southwest has been.  The story consists of an interview with a photo-journalist who has published a book about the river.  His concluding observation is chilling:

Yeah, this thing has a lot to do with money... the majority of this water is siphoned off before it gets to our southern neighbor, and it's siphoned off in order to help feed places like Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Without this water source and without the power and agriculture it provides, these economies would not be booming the way that they are. That many people should not live there. There is no way that area can ecologically support that population. Unfortunately, that might mean that this problem isn't going to go anywhere.

For Profit Colleges-Big Money Being Made

If you, or someone you know, is thinking of enrolling at a for-profit college, make sure you, or they, read/listen to this Marketplace.org story.  Can you say "misleading advertising?"  

As usual, follow the money...  These schools are making huge profits at the expense of many students and, ultimately, the U.S. taxpayer (we foot the bill for those college loans these schools depend on).

Talk, Talk, Talk

Ever wonder why our Congress gets so little done?   One of the reasons is the misuse and overuse of the filibuster (more here) by Senate Republicans, The Party of No (PON).

It seems that for the PON, there is no issue too small for a filibuster.  I think I may have to  start maintaining a list of filibusters that make the news, because every day it seems there's another legislative measure that the PON seeks to block by never-ending "debate."   So the government that is supposed to be operated by majority vote (51 in the Senate) seems to almost always require 60 votes.  The PON filibusters mean that the Senate is unable to end debate and conduct votes on the merits of the legislation.  So much for majority rule. 

Here's the latest: As a result of the infamous Supreme Court decision in January 2010 that confers personhood on corporations, political contributions by companies are now practically limitless.   As a result, we can expect to be absolutely buried by political ads this Fall by anonymous corporate special interests.  The Congress has a bill to place limits on this corporate political spending which the PON has filibustered to prevent a vote.   The Senate attempt to end debate failed 57-41 on this week.

Earlier in July, another filibuster from the PON prevented the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 from reaching a vote.  An effort to end the filibuster failed 58-38 in early July 2010.  Previous attempts to invoke cloture failed 57-41 and 56-40 June.  This bill included provisions to extend unemployment compensation.   Cloture was finally invoked and the bill passed later in July after a new Senator from West Virginia was sworn in to replace the late Sen. Byrd, providing a 60 member majority.

Even Senate efforts to reform filibuster rules and lower the votes needed to end debate on legislation from 60 to (perhaps) 55 can't get past the PON filibuster.

One of the most galling aspects of Senate "modern" filibusters is that the filibustering Senators don't even have to actually stand up and speak the entire time the Senate has a quorum.  They don't have to actually break a sweat to prevent the Senate from acting on a bill.  Under Senate rules, the Senate Majority Leader (Senator Reid) has the ability to require an actual "traditional filibuster," but Reid doesn't seem to want to do anything to make the PON really, really angry.  How could they be any less cooperative?

What's a democracy to do when it's held hostage by the minority party?

One Fastfood Is (Not) Like Any Other

Open Letter to McDonald's Corporation:

Based on personal experience, you have nothing to fear from Subway's foray into serving breakfast foods.  Their menu sounds decent enough, but the execution is, well, not very impressive.  The crew didn't seem to know how to assemble the breakfast and the components tasted like they had been sitting around for a couple hours.  Which they probably had been.  I was asked if I wanted "white or yellow" (egg) and my choice was "yellow" (if I was that health conscious I wouldn't be getting breakfast at a fastfood restaurant).  I got both.  The five (count 'em) hash brown "patties" were hard by the time I got home.  And "Seattle's Best" coffee?  Not so best.

Perhaps corporations might be advised to stick with what they know instead of trying to fill every niche.  Maybe I won't be using the rest of those coupons.  

Quantity or Quality?

During the national health care debate (and I hesitate calling what we had an actual debate, as opposed to shouting epithets at each other), one of the topics that briefly surfaced was end of life counseling.   There was a short-lived attempt to allocate Medicare funds to provide for comprehensive counseling on end of life issues, such as whether to continue treatments.  This devolved into the shouting over "death committees," among other untruths.  

Some health policy groups say cancer patients, as well as people with failing hearts or terminal dementia, should get better end-of-life counseling. Last year, a plan that would have let Medicare pay for doctors to talk about things like living wills was labeled "death panels" and was dropped.

This Associated Press article is an interesting report on the state of affairs with end of life treatment in the U.S.  What it says is that despite our "rational" desires to accept a terminal illness with some measure of grace, the facts show that we are not entering hospice care until way too late, and in many cases, desperately choosing very expensive experimental treatments to prolong "life."   The result can be a few more weeks, but at a horrible cost in quality of life.  A couple of sad facts:

—The average time spent in hospice and palliative care, which stresses comfort and quality of life once an illness is incurable, is falling because people are starting it too late. In 2008, one-third of people who received hospice care had it for a week or less, says the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
—Hospitalizations during the last six months of life are rising: from 1,302 per 1,000 Medicare recipients in 1996 to 1,441 in 2005, Dartmouth reports. Treating chronic illness in the last two years of life gobbles up nearly one-third of all Medicare dollars.

The denial that Americans seem to undergo (although you might choose to call it "hope") is a good part of the reason that "health care costs" are continuing to skyrocket.  If you don't have insurance, you probably don't have the opportunity to consume multiple, experimental chemotherapy treatments for terminal cancer.   If you do have insurance, you might be able to get those $10,000 treatments, but the rest of us are paying for it.

What this comes down to is a tug of war between acceptance of the inevitable versus the good old American "never give up" reliance on "hope."  It's difficult to pick one side in this debate.  Even simply leaving it up to the individual and his/her family isn't a clear solution; if they opt to continue treatments indefinitely, the individual isn't the one footing the bill, we are.

We should really try to have a rational, calm discussion in this country about quality vs. quantity when it comes to end of life treatment.  Before we truly do go bankrupt.

Groceries and Politics - and Euthanasia?

A strange thing happened to me a couple months ago while I was grocery shopping.   This was before the Federal health insurance bill was passed.  I was approached by a elderly man (elderly meaning older than me) who commented on my Iowa T-shirt.   The commenting wasn't the strange part.  The discussion that ensued was, at least to me, the strange part.  It started benignly, with "How are things in Iowa?"   I responded that things were pretty good in Iowa (where I used to live), especially as compared with the political chaos in Illinois (where I've lived for the past 22+ years).   

In case you haven't heard, Illinois is drowning under a $13 billion (maybe more) deficit and politicians who don't have the courage to raise taxes to pay for the services the public has come to expect.   So we're laying off teachers because the State owes money to local school districts for last school year.   But I digress.  

I made some remark about Illinois government, and the man launched into a passionate dissertation on how the Federal government wants to ration health care to the elderly.   I was startled initially, but tried to say something about how health care costs are out of control and too many people have no insurance.  His response was that the government wants to set up "death panels" to save money.   I was flabbergasted that this guy was actually convinced that his country wants him dead.

As I listened to this man, who was convinced that any effort to reduce health care costs would be tantamount to executing the elderly, I realized that he wasn't really interested in discussion, but simply wanted to convince me that his view was correct.  I don't feel like I know all the answers to lots of topics, but I wasn't about to buy into this conspiracy theory.  It seemed advisable to extricate myself from the "chat" and finish my grocery shopping, which I did.   But the encounter bothered me a lot.

I had suggested to the man that our current for-profit health insurance system is designed to make profits for the corporations, and that lots of people are denied coverage for various treatments by the insurance companies.  He told me his fate was more secure in the hands of corporate interests rather than government, another consequence of Ronald Reagen's anti-government philosophy.  

I find such a belief truly incredible, given how badly many large corporations treat employees, the environment, and anything else that doesn't directly pad their profits.  

And I'd also suggest that when it comes to something as overtly nefarious as euthanasia, our government is the last place to look for efficient implementation.

No, I don't believe anyone in the current Administration was promoting "death panels" or euthanasia in order to curb health care costs.   I also believe that we Americans expect miracle cures for everything, from "ED" to sleeplessness to terminal cancer.  And we simply can't afford to consider unlimited expensive cures (paid for by someone else) to delay the inevitable.   As usual, there has to be a middle ground and we have to find some way to discuss what that might be.

Yet Another Thing

I'm keeping a list of things to do when I become King, and I have another item to join the list (see my main page):  

Ban battery powered kid size toy vehicles.  I'm not talking about little remote control toys, but the ones designed for a kid to sit in and drive ("battery powered ride on cars").   Such toys are certainly not advisable given the volume of news we're seeing on obesity in children.   Even the kids that aren't technically obese aren't outside exercising (playing) enough.   In addition, the energy these toys consume is completely wasted; more power plant generated electricity that isn't lighting a home or refrigerating food. The 6 or 7 year old kid I just saw driving around the park on the bike/hike path would have been better off on a bike.  

Why do parents spend anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to nearly a thousand dollars on these things?   No wonder the United States consumes more energy than any other nation on earth and is so addicted to oil.

Good News From The Big City

It probably doesn't matter much which big city you live near.  The bulk of the news coming from "the city" sometimes seems to be mostly some sort of body count.   At the beginning of each week, the newspapers often (usually) have articles counting how many gunshot incidents occurred over the week-end, how many people were injured, and how many were killed.   In Chicago, all too often, the victims of all this violence are young people.  It gets very depressing, and I don't even actually live in the city.   I can hardly imagine how this kind of carnage affects residents of the areas with all the violence.

That said, sometimes there is a glimmer of hope, a spot of sunshine in an otherwise dismal day of news.   There was such a glimmer in the news here the other day about a graduating class at Urban Prep High School (a link to the article is below.)  This school was created as a charter school in Chicago with lofty goals:

Urban Prep would be a charter high school. It would bring together some 150 boys from some of the poorest, gang-ravaged neighborhoods and try to set them on a new track.   They'd have strict rules: A longer school day -- by two hours. Two classes of English daily.  A uniform with jackets and ties.  And Urban Prep had a goal -- one that seemed audacious, given that just 4 percent of the Class of 2010 was reading at or above grade level when they arrived at the school in 2006.

In four years, they were told, they'd be heading to college.

So, here we are four years later.   Of the 150 teens who started at Urban Prep in 2006, 95 completed the entire four years and another 12 students transferred in to graduate with the class of 2010.   All 107 students have received at least one, and generally several, acceptance letters from colleges across the country.   I was struck by the fact that the article doesn't paint a "Pollyanna" picture, it discusses the trials and difficulties that these students encountered over the four years, including actually quitting, returning to a "public" high school, and discovering that they wanted, indeed needed, to return to Urban Prep.  The dedication and support provided by the staff at the high school is nothing short of amazing (60% of the faculty are black men).  The mentoring and modeling by the adults was clearly critical to the success of these students.   Both the students and faculty at Urban Prep deserve a long, hearty round of applause.

You should read the AP article in the Daily Herald.   The story is amazing and uplifting.  It's very good news from the city.

A Glut of Lawyers

 According to recent news articles, the attorney profession has been going through some very tough employment times in recent years.   According to a story on Marketplace.org, the horrid economy forced much of the class of 2009 to delay starting at a desired law firm or had to start at much lower salaries than expected.   Now that the class of 2010 is hitting the job market, the hiring situation is still pretty dicey.   Why do so many people continue to attend law school?   My unscientific reason is that some attorneys still make obscene salaries, thereby encouraging more young people to seek their place on the gravy train.

One of the sources of some of the "obscene salaries" are class action lawsuits.   It seems to me (a non-attorney) that many of these lawsuits are cooked up by law firms to basically extort money from corporations or groups of corporations.   Now, I'm no apologist for corporate America, but many of these lawsuits seem to be just blatant efforts to line the pockets of law firms.   One recent example is a case in Northern California that accused several technology firms of essentially colluding to inflate the cost of random access memory (RAM) in computers.  According to an announcement by Rust Consulting, a settlement has been reached with Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Toshiba Corporations, which totals $27,850,000,  

If you directly purchased DRAM in the United States during the period of April 1, 1999 through June 30, 2002 from any of these defendants, you may be a member of the Settlement Class.

This lawsuit has been flopping around in the Federal courts for several years already, and I became aware of it because someone believed I was a purchaser of DRAM and sent me an email.   That, presumably, is based on someone's sales records.  To pursue a claim under these settlements, an individual has to file a claim, and what set off alarm bells for me is that part of that claim form includes a listing of how much you spent on DRAM from each of the companies involved.   While you don't have to submit any documentation at this time, the form does ask you to certify you have documentation and can submit it later "if requested."
 

Now I don't know about you, but I have difficulty remembering what I had for dinner two days ago, least of all remembering who I may have bought DRAM from between 8 and 11 years ago and how much I spent.   I question whether any significant number of individuals will have documentation of such purchases so long ago.  

What's the point?   The point may be that hardly any of this $27 million settlement will find its way into the pockets of consumers; I suspect that the vast majority of it will simply be collected by the consultants and law firms pursuing the class action complaint.  If I am not willing to certify under penalty of perjury that I can document how much I spent on DRAM from one or more of these three corporations, I'm essentially out of luck sharing part of that $27 million.  I suppose that a corporate entity (a computer manufacturer or parts reseller?) would have plenty of documents regarding purchases over an extended period of time, but I'm not comfortable with a court accepting a class that includes corporations and individuals equally.  And I'm just speculating that such a mix is involved in this case. 

This is only one of the class action "settlements" I've read about recently.   Evidence that class action lawsuits are a burgeoning industry, is that there are "consultants" who specialize in "class action notification and settlement administration."  The lure of riches like this is enough to fill more than a few seats in the next class at law school.

   

The Other >#$% Meat

Mark this one down as goofy story of the month.   There is a web site called "ThinkGeek.com" which sells a variety of well, geeky stuff like Star Wars Blueprints and a cool "Pirates on Toast Jolly Roger Toast Stamp."  Recently, they received a "cease and desist" order from the National Pork Board because ThinkGeek had posted an April Fools advertisement for Canned Unicorn Meat.   Unfortunately for ThinkGeek.com, they described the imaginary food item as "The Other White Meat" a trademark held by the NPB.  Suffice it to say, the NPB employed a full suite of lawyers to craft a 12 page letter demanding ThinkGeek "cease and desist" from infringing upon the NPB's trademark and confusing consumers as to which "white meat" was "the other white meat."

You can read the entire sordid tale here including the offending advertisement.   The entire story would be quite funny if it weren't for the fact that there apparently is at least one staff of lawyers who have no sense of humor and don't know that unicorns are imaginary.   Not to mention missing the class in law school on protected use as parody under copyright and trademark law.

BP's Final Option?

A friend sent this to me and I thought it was pretty funny. It'd be funnier if the actual situation wasn't such a horrendous disaster.

I'd be happy to credit whoever created the image if I knew who it was.

College Grads and Wall Street

I recently commented on a story on Marketplace (NPR) about recent college graduates taking jobs on Wall Street.   My comments should be aired today on the NPR program.   The story is here. 

My comment:This story reminds me of the folly of youth. What these graduates seem to be blissfully unaware of is how life unfolds and the grip a high paying job puts on people. They also seem to think that as new employees they'll have some sort of influence on how their Wall Street firm will behave. New "meat" has no influence on a company and they exist solely to make profits. After being in such a job for a few years, I doubt that many of these young people will suddenly decide to forgo the fortune and leave the high flying Street. Life styles beget lifestyles. I don't know who told one graduate a "significant number" of Wall Street tycoons go off to work for non-profits. On what planet does that happen?

One More Thing

I'm keeping a list of things to do when I become King, and I have another item to join the list (see my main page):  

Ban those 50 foot long retractable dog leashes that people use to allow their dogs to wander far off and across the bike/hike path while they yak on the phone, thereby blocking the entire walkway to bikers and pedestrians.   They then act startled that someone has to come to a complete stop while waiting for them to reel in their dog. 

Why Don't We Really Hold Anyone Accountable For Errors?

As the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continues, with thousands of barrels of oil spewing largely unchecked into the ocean, I wonder why we never seem to hold anyone accountable for such disasters.   Almost two years after the economic meltdown, we've only recently even begun to investigate a single company (Goldman-Sacks) for criminal or civil misconduct leading to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.  

Since the US Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations are entitled to First Amendment free speech rights, just like individual citizens, shouldn't those same corporations be fully liable for disasters like the oil platform collapse in the Gulf , just like an individual who destroys your car?  

Under current law, oil companies have a (relatively low) limit on liability for off-shore drilling mishaps.  Efforts in Congress to raise the limit in light of the immense cost related to the current British Petroleum problem seem to be gaining no political traction.  I doubt very much that the limits will be raised, and therefore the US taxpayer, who also pays through the nose for gasoline and oil to run cars and heat homes, will be on the hook for the clean-up costs. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the efforts to expand off-shore oil drilling continue unabated by corporate interests in Congress.    I don't know what could more clearly show how unsafe, unpredictable, and environmentally unfriendly such off-shore drilling is.   

Ultimately, we seem unable to really hold anyone accountable for anything really serious.   This Brewster Rockit comic demonstrates the concept:  (I don't know how long these comic links work)

   So much for accountability, now or in the future.

More Alike Than You Think

Marketplace on National Public Radio had an intriguing and even uplifting story recently about an unusual partnership.   Two companies, one marketing kosher meats, and the other selling halal meats, work fairly closely together with common goals.   The Jewish and Muslim dietary laws governing how meat is slaughtered and processed are very similar, and these two companies both decided to take it another step.   They both have rules to ensure the animals they slaughter are not raised in "factory farms" and are treated humanely while they're alive.  The fact that they both came up with this business plan independently and found out about each other via a mutual friend makes the story even more pleasant.   

This story is another example of "we are more alike than different."   And it's nice to hear about a Jew and  Muslim cooperating and working together on similar goals rather than shooting each other.

Will the economy get better?

One of the signs of a lousy economy is that those who have jobs are willing to endure things they wouldn't have a few years ago in order to keep their jobs.   This is perhaps one of the reasons that productivity levels in the US have stengthened during this Recession.   Simply put, fewer workers are performing more work, which makes them more productive.   Less happy, more tired, more stressed, but more productive.    At some point, one would hope, the economy will improve to the point that employers will resume hiring and those already working will be able to have slightly smaller workloads.   I suspect that won't happen soon, because employers won't become nicer until they have to.   

This comic puts the concept of making employees happy in perspective.

Taking the Pledge?

I received a fairly clever email recently in which the unknown author (if you know who wrote it, I'll be happy to attribute it) deflates the Right-wing rhetoric which disparagingly refers to the recent health care reform as "socialized medicine."  The email is in the form of a pledge to avoid a lengthy list of other "socialist" services (the email is at the end of this post).

In the US, the term "socialized medicine" came into common use in the late 1940s as part of the American Medical Association's opposition to President Harry Truman's health-care initiative. The original use of the term referred to health care systems in which the government operates health care facilities and employs health care providers, such as the British National Health Service.  More recently, the term has been expanded to refer to virtually any publicly funded health care system.  It's clearly used as a derogatory term, playing on the irrational fear of "socialism" in the US.  And it was part of the successful defeat of efforts to expand health care to a broader segment of the US population for decades.

I found the email humorous because it pokes holes in the socialist "boogie man" -  as pointed out by Wikipedia:  "Most industrialized countries, and many developing countries, operate some form of publicly-funded health care with universal coverage as the goal. According to the Institute of Medicine and others, the United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care."   The term "socialized medicine" has become a ridiculous pejorative because it considers that shared responsibility and shared support is somehow bad.   That is, public funding of health care is bad because it is based on some sort of "socialist" model in which citizens pool resources (taxes) to provide health care to all citizens, rather than the capitalist approach of "every man for himself."

The fact is, shared resources and shared benefits are part of daily life of most Americans, but we don't think of them that way and we don't call them socialist. It seems clear that most Americans wouldn't consider such shared benefits as indoor plumbing attached to working public water and sewer systems a bad thing.   And Medicare.   And products of National Public Television like Sesame Street.  And highway rest areas.  And police, fire, and emergency services.

At any rate, here's the text of the email; see how many of these shared activities and benefits you're willing to forego.

I, ________________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:

Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
US Postal Service
Roads and Highways
Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
The US Railway System
Public Subways and Metro Systems
Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
Rest Areas on Highways
Sidewalks
All Government-Funded Local/State Projects. This means every single road that is not a toll road is off limits to my use.
Public Drinking Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
Public and State Universities and Colleges
Public Primary and Secondary Schools
Sesame Street
Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
Public Museums
Libraries
Public Parks and Beaches
State and National Parks
Public Zoos
Unemployment Insurance
Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government grant or research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape, heart monitors/defibrillators and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
Use of the Internet, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops that were grown with, fed with, raised with or that contain inputs from crops grown with government subsidies.
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forgo my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care.
I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of free-admission/taxpayer subsidized socialist locations, including but not limited to:
Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
The socialist Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Jefferson Monuments
The government-operated Statue of Liberty
The Grand Canyon and all national/state/regional/local parks, forests and monuments
The socialist World War II, Korean and Vietnam Veterans Memorials in every town
The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC. This also includes Post Offices, fire departments, police departments, public schools, libraries and zoos.

SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF ____________ IN THE YEAR 2010

SIGNATURE:

Why Care About The Weirdness In Texas?

The weirdness in question is the behavior of the Texas School Board, which has been in the news lately regarding it's curriculum adoptions.   The Board has been controlled by a group of what many refer to as extremist evangelicals who have determined that all school textbooks in Texas must follow their agenda, which apparently is not primarily based on facts, but on their beliefs.   Case in point: Texas textbooks must teach that the US was founded as a "Christian nation."   The historical evidence is quite the contrary, as this article in the Chicago Tribune points out in some detail.  The list of historical distortion and rewriting is long; read the NY Times article for the gory details.

Why care about what some goofballs in Texas are doing?   Because Texas is so large, and because it purchases so many school textbooks, what it says must be in those textbooks is closely followed by publishers.  The result is that those same books are used in most schools around the country, regardless of whether those other schools subscribe to the one-sided and less-than-factual "curriculum."   

What can you do about it?   Hope that most schools ditch large purchases of textbooks in favor of electronic media sooner rather than later.

Watching Our Schools Crumbling

The State of Illinois is currently imploding financially and the politicians of both major parties seem unwilling to actually deal with the problems.   They persist in pointing fingers at the "other" party and sticking their heads in the sand.   For decades, both Republicans and Democrats have trumpeted "no tax increase" and convinced the public that State government (including all that it supports such as public schools) is bad and fat.   The result is that Illinois has one of the lowest and most regressive income taxes in the nation (3%) and a $14 Billion dollar deficit.   Schools throughout the state are now laying off teachers for next school year (some estimates say the layoffs may reach 17,000 teachers or more), and social services organizations are closing their doors because the State hasn't made payments due this fiscal year.  To put the deficit into perspective, if the State fired every State employee right now, that would amount to $4 Billion, leaving us with a $10 Billion hole.

I wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune a couple weeks ago, but neither has printed it.   I am publishing it here in the hope that a few people will find it of interest and use.  It's a little long, but IMO it addresses the core issues.

Put Pressure Where It Belongs-Springfield

In recent weeks, many people have become aware of the financial difficulties being faced by school districts around the State.   In many cases, the Districts are confronted by huge revenue shortfalls and are considering draconian cuts to staff in order to meet these changes.  As a Board Member of a District directly impacted by the State of Illinois' deadbeat status, I'd like to offer several observations.

1. The budget shortfalls currently facing most Districts is directly related to the unwillingness of Illinois legislators to meet the State's financial obligations.

2. The underlying weakness causing the immediate financial problems in public education is an over-reliance on property taxes.  As the basis for public education, property taxes cause huge inequities between Districts which have lots of commercial property and those that do not.   Those that are forced to rely on homeowners as the major source of property taxes tend to have higher tax rates and tax burdens on individual homeowners.  Commercial properties bring revenue into school districts without adding students.

3. The State legislature has repeatedly refused to change the funding of public education from property taxes to the income tax over the past couple of decades.

4. When legislators wring their hands over the potential bankruptcy of public education, and say "we understand the problem, but we just don't have the money" they are being disingenuous, at best.   If the State of Illinois doesn't "have the money" it's because the legislators have refused to deal with reality and alter the State's ridiculously low and regressive income tax in order to fully meet the State's responsibility for funding education.

5. The public is rightfully concerned about the potential long-term damage to our schools, and the resultant long-term damage to our children's education caused by the current financial melt-down.

6. State legislators of both major parties should be held accountable by the public for their refusal to work for the "greater good" and ensure that all our public schools are fully funded. 

7. Local school board members have remarkably little control over how to respond to the current financial constraints.   If their Districts do not have enough revenue coming in, they have no choice but to cut staff.

8. If the public wants to effect meaningful change, it must put unrelenting pressure on its elected State representatives to deal with reality and stop finger-pointing and political posturing.   The public needs to tell our State legislators that it is well past time for Illinois to actively support public education and fund it accordingly.

Until State legislators of both major parties in both the House and Senate feel like there is a political consequence to ignoring the State's financial plight, nothing will change.   Your child's classes will inevitably get larger, and the elements of a well-rounded education, such as exposure to the arts, will become rarer.  If you truly care about your children, and equally importantly, the children of your neighbors, you need to express your outrage to your State representatives.

Public education is about the education of everyone, including your child and the children of your neighbors.  Just as we all benefit from good roads and bridges, we all benefit from good public schools.  And, one way or the other, we will all pay for the destruction of public education in Illinois.

Free Speech & The Internet

I'm a long time member and supporter of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), but I have to say I  disagree with the organization's position in a lawsuit involving anonymous speech at a newspaper web site in Illinois.   The case and EFF's position are covered here.  Essentially, the son of a local candidate engaged in a heated "discussion" with an anonymous poster, and the candidate felt that the poster had gone too far in his/her comments.  The candidate has sought the identify of the anonymous poster through a court case, which is now at the Appellate level in Illinois.

While I think I understand EFF's First Amendment arguments, I think that there are other factors that should be heavily weighed.   The biggest issue to me, is that there are thousands of people who post mindless, unintelligible, drivel via electronic postings that never would have seen the light of day before the Internet.   In the past, when people wrote letters to the editor of a newspaper, they may or may not have gotten their views printed.  If they were printed, they had to attach their name to their thoughts and others could write challenges in response. There was some accountability involved in making public comments.

In today's electronic world, anyone can say anything about anything, on newspaper web sites, as well as other online media outlets, many of which allow anonymous comments.  The ability to make anonymous postings adds nothing whatsoever to the quality or benefit.   Perhaps a pure reading of the First Amendment doesn't distinguish between useful speech and heated nonsense, but in past years, the ability to spew nonsense was limited to standing on a street-corner.   Whether the speaker could attract listeners depended on their speech.   And it's not generally feasible to stand on a street corner and speak anonymously.  

I've commented previously on the proliferation of ignorant commentary on the Web and this case seems to cut to the core of the matter.   Do we as a society benefit from enabling anonymous comment in public forums on the Internet?   Should we hold people accountable for their opinions?  What does society gain from unaccountable and anonymous public comment?

I just can't buy EFF's argument that anonymous online comments deserve Constitutional protection.

So you want compromise? Really?

We've heard a lot in recent years about how the American electorate is tired of the partisan bickering and polarized politics.   Americans want cooperation to resolve problems and an end to the current governmental paralysis, or so we've been told.

Recently, Scott Brown was elected to the US Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts.  Brown is an avowed conservative and the election sent shock waves across the country.  It was the end of the filibuster-proof 60th vote in the Senate.

This week, Senator Brown voted with the Democratic majority (along with 4 other Republicans) in favor of a job creation bill endorsed by the Obama Administration.  Was that vote the beginning of a new "bipartisan" approach?   Was it evidence of an attempt to move away from polarization?   Nah, fuggedabout it.

Almost immediately, Senator Brown was castigated in the blogosphere and elsewhere by the right-wing ideologues that helped elect him.   He was a traitor to the cause, a RINO (Republican in Name Only), and doomed to be a one-term Senator.

I don't know; perhaps the shock is because so seldom have we seen any cracks in the GOP wall in the Congress.   The GOP is much more disciplined than the Democratic Party.  

I'd prefer to think that this vote by Brown is an indication that he might actually be an "independent" Republican and will vote for his State's interest over party interest.   That would be a breath of fresh air.