Jim's Blog

Jim's BLOG - 2007

To : Marshalltown Commentary
Current and Prior Blogs

Religion in Politics
As suspected in this blog several months ago, Iowa let religion influence politics ; a vote for Hucklebee is an afformation of belief. Muslum fundimentalists feel the same way about ayatollahs.
Next suspection -- death of the Iowa Caucus. Reasons include : predominance of special interest groups (corn, religion), abuse by favor sons (Harkin, Vilsack), competitive dates. This is a shame as Iowa had been an example of all-American values.

Presidency
I wondered in history class how we elected so many weak candidates to the highest office. Having lived thought many elections since, I find that voting is mostly selection of the least objectionable. Mediocre men, who do little, have fewest enemies. Unknown men have no failure on their record. Politicians are in the business of spending public money ; these small men squander our tax money promising free services so that people will vote for them.

Intelligence Agencies
Why do we have to have so many intelligence agencies? There are sixteen spread among the government and military. Probably for the same reasons we have so many types of teachers -- history and math, special and exceptional, academics and technical, librarians and councilers, elementary and university, public and private.

Iowa Caucus
There is an opportunity for special interests to concentrate their efforts in the Iowa Caucus to influence choice of national candidates. Unfortunately, candidates must stress their support or opposition to this limited number of lobbyists, forcing the candidate to prostitute their avowed positions. Some of these are foolish -- ethanol, welfare, abortion, Israel, homosexuals, hunting, separation come to mind.
Ethanol costs as much as it saves; welfare creates welfare collectors; abortion is a private affair; all Israel all the time is not all to US interest; homosexuals want benefits for roommates; guns are to keep the government under control, not animals; the constitution says not to impose religion, not exclude; send criminals to jail, but sending home is cheaper.

E8 Lattice
Mathematicians this year came up with the formula of a complex but elegant matrix presented over a hundred years ago. A physicist name Lisi,working on unified field theory found some of the formulae were similar with ones he was developing. He fitted them together and released last Friday what may have integrated force and matter, including gravity, which heretofore has defied analysis.
Once upon a time scientists created the picture of an atom : a nucleus with electrons revolving -- we could then develop our concept of heavier elements. Once this was done, we could develop the periodic table. There were holes in the original periodic table and we went out and found them.
The E8 Lattice is both a picture of and a tabular framework for the interaction of all forms of matter and energy we know about. It has agreement with all known relationships, that is, it is backwards compatible. Yet it provides 20 missing spots. Physicists presume all or several of these relate to gravity. Now they know what to look for. Finding them will provide work for physicists for the next generation.
Take a look : Picture Discussion of the Theory of Everything

Drug Test
This has been circulating and has some good food for thought! Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work ; they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Grand Challenge
Grand Urban Challenge had robot cars (mostly SUVs) traveling sixty miles in a town setting without a driver or outside intervention to reach about twenty different destinations while obeying all traffic laws. Over a hundred teams applied, 36 were invited to try-out and eleven teams competed - six completed the course. The contest is part of a program to replace drivers on military convoys with sensors and computers. Team sponsors have civilian goals in mind ; Caterpillar wants them for the mining industry, Oshkosh wants them for plowing snow off runways. We will see elements proven in the Urban Challenge in domestic cars soon such as automatic breaking when a collision appears imminent. The Urban Challenge follows the Desert challenge of 2004-05 that had robots drive 132 miles, point to point across desert roads. Military lives plus some of the 40,000 people that die each year in motor accidents are at stake.
As the teams were lining up on Saturday, over one hundred cars and trucks piled-up on a foggy California highway with two dead -- the robots would not have been hampered by fog, drunkenness, or by things that distract human drivers from paying full attention to the road.

Microsoft
My hatred of Microsoft endures -- initially if was because they created bad software. Now we see the company’s business practices are ruthless. Bill Gates is now a world philanthropist with monies taken from excess prices.

Ocean Energy
Ocean-waves used for generate electricity have an amazing range of designs possibilities. Most designs are buoys with actuator arms turning a generator. The only design in production, serving 2,000 homes in Portugal, is shaped like a snake that generates electricity as it flexes in any direction. The biggest problem is probably that any mechanical device light enough to float can be destroyed by extreme waves ; a heavy unit will not move as much, hence give less electricity. Ocean tests are required to find best designs. Most population round the earth live near coasts. Wonder why the delay?

Improvement
James D. Watson, 1962 Nobel Prize '79, DNA, suggests gene therapy for bottom 10% of IQ found in elementary school. I don't know what he means, but simple sterilization before puberty would work. Take people off welfare rolls starting in ten years and raise the effective productivity level of the population. Population averages has been decreasing with geometric increase of the least productive portions of the public.

Blackwater
Outrage is being expressed at the numbers of private security forces in Iraq -- "They are keeping the numbers from us." Who is "they" and what are the "numbers" ? Existence of contract security in well known ; diplomats prefer to have experienced guards rather than new enlisted men. Now that Iraq is becoming safer, the practice of shoot first by contract security people is coming more apparent. The "numbers" are uncertain because of no standard reporting definition. Does "security forces" include police, night watchmen, convoy drivers, body guards, mercenaries with machine guns ? Quoted numbers range from "greater than the number of US Army troops" (160,000) down to 25,000 (still a big number) and of these 20% are American, ex-servicemen. Blackwater mercs, contracted to perform guard duties formerly done by servicemen, earn about $150,000 per year. The US has to offer a $150,000 bonus for 6-year reenlistment of special forces and certain technology positions. Part of the reason for non-military guards is to reduce the number of servicemen to comply with military budget reductions and still get the job done. It also reduces the number of servicemen reported killed on the nightly news.

American Statistics
When we read statistics showing the decline of America in relation to the past or the rest of the world, we must recognize that the browning of America is equally changing the center-points of American statistics. There is a shrinking of average height, deaths in childbirth, life expectancy, crime, education and on and on. Political correctness does not allow separation of numbers for traditional Americans and the "new" Americas -- but then, this is the current America.

Critique on Ken Burn's "The War".
Expectations were low. As a PBS production, one could expect to see large portions on relocation of Japanese, prejudice in the service, holocaust, and anti-war. The actual film is good. It is a documentary, not a history ! As a minor expert on parts of WW2, I took notes of errors and found only enough to confirm the work is by humans. I liked that they did not let MacArthur get away with losing the Philippines ; that the Pacific was expendable while the US was directed to Europe ; that Japanese soldiers were barbarian ; that ... Even the wording about relocation was correct, tho the impression of sin was there : a woman born in the US complains of her loss of freedom ; the truth is in 1942 she was a child without political thoughts that simply accompanied her enemy alien parents out of the war zone. The expression "exclusion from the West Coast" is correct, we were losing a war, the zone extended 40 miles from the coast. We had broken the Japanese codes and knew of spying and collaboration with enemy. Not mentioned is that the midlands farmers of Japanese ancestry remained free. There is little mention of those of German and Italian citizenship ; restrictions on Italians were eased after Oct'42 ; on Japanese after Mar'43.

Long strike could cost GM billions
It could cost the US billions and billions by way of accelerating jobs lost to other countries. Yes, the Union have reason to be annoyed with GM management's self-interest, but strikes will speed the decay of the US supreme economy towards the lower world average wage. I don't know the answer, but the sense of an American community seems to be rapidly going away.

Hand washing
A survey has found less hand washing in public restrooms -- as if they don't know why. It is the spread of air dryers, of course. People don't want to spend the extra drying time required by the machines and then to have to wipe their hands on their clothes to complete the drying.

Punctuation
Why is it considered proper to always put a period inside a quote mark, even when it violates the sentence logic? The English language establishment must not have taken mathematics and learned logical nesting. Why are not questions indicated with a mark at the point of the question? instead of being placed far away at the very end of a sentence.

Indian Nations
Indian ownership the land is because of a mistaken assumption by the first settlers. Indians were migratory. The local Sax and Fox of Iowa were first met in New York, migrated to Canada, round Lake Erie to Illinois and were met again in Iowa. The Apache ... Navaho ... Sou ix ... have famous migrations in their history. The Pueblo are the descendents of the Aztec that moved north when that nation dissolved and carried their stone skills with them. The Indians moved into the sacred lands of other tribes and fought for territory and survival. When confronted with white man's society, they were defeated and moved onto reservations and allotments -- a feature never granted between Indians in conflict. To nature worshipers, every thing is sacred, that tree is sacred -- as are all other trees -- unless needed for fuel, building, or to make way for a casino. The myth of Indian Nations was abolished when citizenship was offered and accepted via the 14th Amendment and subsequent law of 1924 to pay taxes and receive benefits.

Iowa Straw Poll
Fortunately not reported in the press, the 2007 results show voting blocks of Mormon and Baptist.
Shades of Sunni vs. Shiite ? I hope not.

Iowa First in the Nation.
Iowa's "first in the nation" status has been undermined by forcing candidates to subscribe to Iowa issues, currently : pro-ethanol and anti-abortion. Plus unqualified favorite sons unfairly competing with national candidates. Weather in August and January does not help. Now other states want in on the benefits and convention dollars.

U. S. Statistics Unfavorable
Many international statistics are showing increasing unfavorable to the United States : live expectancy, height, obesity, education, crime, and on. The population make-up of the U.S. has changed. I suspect the results among traditional Americans is continuing to improve, but statistics cannot be politically subdivided.

Bridge Collapse
Word is coming out that the Minneapolis bridge failure was from weak gussets (joining plates). In answer to the news chick who asks, if it was a poor design, how did it stand for 40 years?
The design is standard. I have looked at pictures of the wreckage and some gussets are, in fact, ripped. Whether from before or during the collapse, we don't know, but it would be expected to see bent girders rather than ripped gussets. The rivets appear sound. Much of the concrete work appears excellent.
Here is how it works. The design specifications tell an engineer what size is needed for each part. Points of interest are the amount of traffic and average weight; both are heavier now than forty years ago; their extra weight adds to the static and dynamic load on the structure. There are lots of unknowns, so after the design is complete, a safety factor is added. This compensates for shoddy maintenance, aging, an occasional earthquake, holiday traffic, etc. Compensation for this comes from a book. Then, typically, the engineers double the calculation. (Aircraft have a safety factor of only 10%.) Material sizes is taken from a look-up table : for this calculated stress, then select this size steel. If errors were made, I doubt it will be found in the design work. There are management/political interests. If the correct size steel is not available till next year, the suits might say, the public needs a bridge this year and the next smaller size is cheaper anyway, besides, those engineers always over-design. Investigators will be able to review the engineering numbers. and they will, but the management overrides are not written down. A likely contributor is the idiot who used the bridge for storage of concrete rock. This may have more than doubled the weight of traffic and there goes the safety factor.

Tancredo and "Walmart"
I met with Tom Tancredo today. He is the only person in public life that acknowledging that illegals can be sent home (ie. deported). But he favors "economic determination" wherein by limiting jobs to citizens and legals, then illegal persons automatically leave. It is happening in his Colorado.
He also recognizes that we have entered an age of historic proportions of religious conflict. However, he stumbled on a question, How to change the minds of religious fanatics? He had one bad idea and was unclear on a program to influence the mid-eastern people sponsored by CIA and others. It was for this that I privately gave him a solution.
The sound bite is, " Send in Walmart ". Raise the level of people's comfort and expectations out of the seventh century. We cannot use religion or politics, it must be free enterprise, or more correctly, self-interest. Then the whole people will disapprove of terrorism that disrupts the people's more comfortable life and desires. There are complexities ; store managers will be assassinated, so we don't send in Americans. Offerings will have to be sanitized -- delete the sex and violence that even upsets some of us. Maybe use some CIA funds to create a Muslim Barbie doll , dub some vintage Disney into local dialects , and subsidize insurance for the initial inventories.
This approach to introducing Western concepts will show the virtue of our claimed free-enterprise. At no cost to the tax payer. With no risk to troops, either. When this idea comes up in the "presidential debates", you will know where it came from.

Inspect Hazards
When a defect in a bridge is found, increase the rate of inspection, don't fix it. When a project is in trouble, increase the requirements of reporting, don't add people. These approaches give the appearance of doing something without need for actions that might fix the problem. Welfare and state salaries buy votes, whereas fixing physical structures doesn't.

Web Advertising
It has finally happened. Advertising on the web started as small ads in a corner of a web page; then added animation, and finally expanded advertising to take most of the page with typically about 15% left for our desired text. Reminds me of the early days on television when there was a one-minute ad very 15 minutes. Then they started having multiple ads with each break, then lengthened the breaks and then increased the number of commercial breaks. Well, online ads have now reached 100%. When attempting to access some leading web sites, one now sees a full page of advertising with a button allowing you to go to a "normal" page of only 85% advertising.

Education in the Bible
A count of education related words finds the Bible to have more than the Koran. The context is generally favorable, but hardly encouraging of education. So I guess I cannot be hard on the Muslims. Many societies actively tried to suppress education among the masses, serfs, slaves, etc. This raises a new question : How did the renaissance move people to learning? The Greek tradition of science is matched by the Arab science that came afterwards. Each now has a printed text. Why were European nobility and, later, the people open to education? Is it noblesse oblige, respect for the people, so as to raise them above dullness and suppression?
Next, how to bring forth education in the Koran-world today ? And quickly.

Education in the Koran
A great number of people of the Middle East live as in Old Testament days tending flocks from a hut. They do not have the schooling necessary to better themselves; or to know much about the persons from round the world and alternatives. All learning comes from memorizing the Koran. What do the Koran's 114 chapters say about education ?
In this modern day it is easy to search the Koran for specific words. Search for “education” finds no reference. Search for “educat” would find educated, educating, educates, educator, uneducated, etc. if they existed. Nothing. Same with

So, what does the Koran say about education? We have found it is silent.
Education is not considered ; the only instruction and valuable thing to know is the Book. Thus the Book is studied and memorized, the book that gives no merit to education. Thus, education is not given a place in the lives of the Muslim people.
If we know a problem ; now what?
Later : I was called to my attention that the Bible flaunts lack of education among the apostle -- humm?

14th Amendment
Citizenship is granted to those born in the United States without another nation's citizenship. The original amendment was to make clear the citizenship of former slaves. Note, importation of slaves was outlawed in 1806, so all slaves had been born here and they had no other citizenship. The amendment was later clarified for American Indians, abolishing the Indian nation concept.
A child born of some nation's citizens holds the citizenship of the parents. Anchor babies are not constitutionally citizens of the U.S.

Spring
After waking to the gloom of NPR, it is wonderful to make the short walk to the mailbox accompanied by two deer, a rabbit and a squirrel and not have to zip up the jacket while enjoying the flowering apple trees. The only problem is to have coffee or chai ? A cardinal tries to join me in the kitchen; he has been trying to get in for days. On the deck with hot drink, newspaper and hungry cats, it is back to the world -- fires, floods, bombings, and scandals.

Armed Public
A country noted for its tranquil life is Switzerland. Did you know that every household possesses an automatic rifle? It is part of their mobilization program. Silencers are freely sold to void annoying the cows. If that crazy kid in Virginia did not have access to a gun, he would have exploded/burned the building, killing a lot more people. People with an agenda seek every opportunity to push their "cause". The argument that modern weapons are not needed for hunting is not relevant. Our forefathers wanted an armed public to keep the government in check.

Response
When a US patrol is attacked in a war zone, the proper response is to annihilate the enemy. The press will cry innocent civilians. The real point is that enemy deaths mean there are fewer able to attack our troops ever again. A village harboring enemy is collaborating, not innocent. Once the story gets out that annihilation is the response, any sighting of an enemy will be reported to save local lives -- and that of our troops.

Family Size
Large families are a product of a historically primitive lifestyle where sons and daughters meant more hands to work and fight and to generate more children to survive disease and war. Cultural change towards living in cities with improved sanitation have led to a change towards smaller families because many surviving children become an economic hardship. It takes several generations for this social necessity to become the common view by society.
Asia is projecting that rising populations could put close to 50 million extra people at risk of hunger by 2020.
Solution, let them all enter the United States - like everybody else.

Gene Mutation
Is there something in our culture that is causing an increase in cancer, hyperactivity, autism (10 fold increase in last 20 years), gene mutation? Tobacco smoke has been found to be related to chest cancer. What else is there? Should we be suspicious of radio waves. Hold an all-band radio in each direction and tune to hundreds of radio station frequencies. Each of these radio waves is also passing through everyone's body all day, every day. Electric lines have been brought into the discussion, after all, the human body is an electro-chemical being. Chemical spills are found by areas with concentrations of symptoms. Are there continent-wide somethings that cause a rise in illness that is too small to be localized, but which effect a small number of the great population. Lead in paint and in water pipes, fluorocarbons to ozone, radiation on bone marrow, cell phones on bee navigation : are there others ?

Responsibility.
I once had the question of how to teach responsibility ; after having found that answer the question shifts to what to teach. It must be generic : to not throw fast food wrappers out the car windows must include not tossing soda cans. Children are created uncivilized, they must learn proper behavior by word and example.
Behavior is a result of all that a person experiences in their (mostly early) lifetime, by such means as observing how a parent handles a certain situation. Parents have the greatest impact on a child. I was amazed at the lady-like behavior and speech patterns of a young girl staying over with my daughter until I met the mother : the epitome of a lady. The reverse is undoubtedly possible. Teachers possibly come next in importance in forming behavior. Media has a lesser impact per event than lessons learned from parents, teachers, coaches, etc. But the number of occurrences is vastly greater. Media tries to be daring and dramatic. It stresses situation ethics in that the actors are placed in predicaments of great emotion and urgency, then made to behave in ways outside the limits of proper, even ethical, behavior. Such exceptions to behaviour become the normal of fiction -- to lie, cheat, drive recklessly, and be violent -- to build up an accumulated effect.
But I still don't know what to teach -- rules, ethics, behavior, consideration, courtesy -- is there a single rule that is golden?

Tax and Deductions.
In a class the other day, a woman said that she was opposed to a "carbon tax" to reduce global warming because the government would just squander the money. This misses the point : a major fact of economics is --

"We get more of what we subsidize and less of what we tax." Taxation will cause polluters to examine and lessen carbon emission. Subsidizing cleanup will help make things clean. Just as paying welfare will generate more people on welfare ; and subsidizing children will generate more children ; and taxes on savings or home improvements will lessen the desire to save and discourage home improvements.
The woman was right, the government does not understand economics either, and they will just squander the money.

That Example, Again
We cannot get away from our government spending of our tax dollars to rebuild a city below water level. Pure idiocy. And the water is getting higher as the earth returns to a warmer climate, but not before the next election.

Candidate Platform Recommendation.
I believe in the equality of all people and that nobody should be separated from the law by income or wealth. All citizens are entitled to the same benefits of welfare and responsibilities of taxation. Examples : all children are entitled a free lunch ; everybody get paid for not growing crops ; all persons should pay the same taxes -- without segregation by income or wealth.

Fearless
Pat Tillman was aggressive, confident, and fearless -- military virtues. Perhaps he should have been more cautious. Officers in his command wished to protect the memory of this man. Whereas "the press" wants full disclosure of the human interest horrors of war and to shove a camera into the face of the rescued gunner who, while under attack, killed his rescuer. Maybe they can get him to cry on camera for a great story. And as a followup, to make a heroic figure seem foolish. If not, then pillorate those who ruined the chance at that news. Stories are needed to fill the news slot.

Global Warming is Natural.
Plotting of the world temperature over the last million years show that the average condition of the earth to be warmer than it is now. In the big picture, we are now recovering from the from the last ice age and the earth will likely continue warming for another 100,000 years. (chart) There are ups and downs within that giant cycle. In a smaller picture we are recovering from the last “little ice age” that bottomed 500 years ago that had frozen the Thames and the Baltic Sea where hotels were built on the ice to serve carriages that were crossing the Sea. (proof) Five hundred years before that, Greenland was green and Norsemen harvested grapes in Nova Scotia. The earth has many cycles that effect weather. For example, when the earth is dry, warm air causes evaporation from the sea which increases needed rain. When many cycles peak together, the temperatures on earth get warmer; when many cycles bottom, the earth gets cooler, even cold. A concurrence of many cycles seems to cause ice ages about every 100,000 years followed by interglacial warm periods.
Even shorter ups and downs within the big cycles led to a concern for Global Cooling in the 1970s ; 30 years later we see Global Warming. There is no reason to get excited, just expect it. If the current cycle continues, then Bangladesh, Holland and New Orleans will have to build their dikes a foot higher. But, there are reasons to believe the cycle will reverse soon (based on cycle statistics and sunspot forecasts) and then cool until the 2050s. Global cycles are greater than mankind's ability to interfere very much.

Three charts : 1,000,000 years , 10,000 years , 1,000 years or NASA source.
Global Cooling

Global Pollution is Unnatural.
A lady from China was asked in casual conversation if she ever planned to return home. Her reply was, "It was our intent to retire there with our American savings, but not now; even money cannot buy air." "Air ?" "Yes, the air is so polluted at home."
This phenomenon is called the Asian Brown Cloud. Think of it as a Los Angeles smog, but covering the southern half of Asia and caused, in part, by burning wood and dung for heat and cooking and clearing land for development. In South America the jungles (rain forests) are being cleared for agriculture. In Africa, newly drilled water wells for villages and cattle have exhausted the aquifers and accelerated desertification. Acid rain in Europe was traced to power plants in North America. The East Coast is referred to by transcontinental truckers as "dirty side." And, a forest fire or volcano half a world away can turn the moon orange,
Sulfur scrubbers have reduced acid in the air. The "Ozone hole" has been mostly closed. California has improved fuel pollution. Individual cities have made restorations: Pittsburgh and Baltimore come to mind. What can be done about demand for agriculture in South American ? Desolation in Africa ? Brown Cloud of Asia ? One of the greatest man-made pollutions of the planet seems to be at cause : overpopulation.

Democracy vs. Communism
This picture is suggestive of the practical effects of free enterprise on people -- as different from state-run economies -- by using North and South Korea as an example.

Blacks with an Ancestor that Owned Slaves
The reason that American negroes are brown and not African black is because of a relationship between slave owners and slaves. Therefore, most American negroes have slave owners in their lineage. The shocking commentary about today's "blacks" that have slave-owner ancestors is stupid.

Who Does Nation Building ?
Why is the Army in charge of nation building and not the State Department ?
Because the Army is schooled in marital law and has military engineers, military police, military administration and daily practice in running city governments - utilities, personnel, supply, transportation, et al -- which large military bases represent. Offshore bases and theaters of operation even give experience in international affairs.
State Department diplomats are skilled in subtle and witty conversation at embassy parties ; and in taking months to write position papers that say everything and nothing. Not a wit's worth of anything practical.

Progressive Warming
A conservative is somebody who wants to retain the ways that have been successful up to now. A liberal is one who embraces change to make things even better. Why is it then, that today's Progressives want to keep things the same rather than embrace favorable change in the weather cycle ? We living in the mid-west appreciate even the few degrees of forecast improvement in the future (it is -9F as I write) such as extended growing seasons to better feed mankind, etc. Instead of seeing Polar bears frolicking on a piece of ice a few hundred yards off land. false progressives fake the scene as destruction of habitat. Have you heard one story telling of the benefits of the end of the most recent ice age? Who can fail to note that Greenland was once, in fact, green, for Eric the Red over a thousand years ago and we have cooled since and are now returning towards normal? Or that his son, Lief Ericson, found grapes growing on Newfoundland? The weather changes every few days ; it is not a political issue. One must simply adapt to reality.

What is a President ?
By my way of thinking, the Presidency has a primary purpose to address foreign affairs. No other office has this responsibility. We have governors to address domestic and social issues. We don't really need a super governor ; we need someone to represent the nation.

Job American's Won't Do
People will do any task with proper rewards. The sole truth is that employers want cheap labor. The same argument has been made throughout our history -- with had long lasting repercussions. Business adapted with automation. The first step was by Thomas Jefferson in 1807 when importation of cheap labor was stopped. Have we learned anything in two centuries ?

Minimum Wage
I stopped hiring neighborhood kids to do yard work when the Feds started to require payment of social security for casual labor. That was a reduction in standard of living of the kids and for me.

Health Care for All
When the State provides a service, there is no need for private business to provide it to employees. Estimates of the cost to taxpayers to provide health care for uninsured do not consider that prior business coverage will be dropped and the State contributions (i.e., our taxes)will escalate.

No Child Left Behind
The is an 80/20 rule in life. The bottom 20% of students require 80% of a teacher's time. (a) That means there is only 20% left over for the bulk of the kids in school. (b) To get every child, then the worse cases require one-on-one tutoring. This gets more than a bit expensive. (c) The most talented kids will contribute the most to society, yet, they get the least amount of attention. (d) If attention were given to the most talented, they would raise the level of the whole society, including providing resources to give more to all learners.

Trade
One side says diplomacy. Another says more troops. Only by a cultural shift will fanaticism withdraw. The correct answer is trade. Trade is concerned with mutual interest. Once people have access to prosperity through non-secularity, and the example of a newly rich class of traders, then there will be no stopping their desire for peace and participation. Just so their government or ours doesn't screw it up.

Immigration Bill Unless the illegals are sent out of the country, then nothing is accomplished. May we suggest sending the 12 million illegals home on unused-for-the-summer school buses. We transport more than 12 million kids every day, so we could be finished with them by Fall.

Cost of War
This war is not only being paid for with deaths, lives, and taxes. The attendant increase in the price on oil products (like gasoline) are a second cost. Then fuel for transportation increases the cost of everything. Now the cost of food gets an extra increase as farmland is converted for fuel. Also, taxes go up as our purchase costs go up. There is no end to the cost of "helping the Iraqi people."

Border Fence
Animal rights people may object that it is unfair to wild coyotes and jack rabbits, but why not mine the border? Cheaper and more effective than the expensive sense. A more expensive way that will save the wild coyote is remote targeting. Bounty of $100 for hitting a human coyote. Sell internet time on the shooting gallery ? Humm . . . No.

Presidency
To a child the presidency is glorious leadership. Later one begins to notice how many weak candidates held that office and wonders why. Then as time goes buy one discovers that the voter is too often offered the choice to vote for the less bad of two candidates. Of the last dozen presidents, about a third were both worthy and effective in the office.

Do Something about Global Warming?
The current activity is to place blame for natural weather cycles upon one's opponents. There is need to predict the effects and to consider what actions will be useful. Perhaps it is too early to start building cities in Greenland. Humm ? If too early for action, then lets stop senseless talk.

Iowa First .
It is more than an impression that dogmatic groups and special interests to bring their position to the fore in the Iowa Caucus. Each candidate is compelled to support positions that is not a majority position in the nation, or for that matter, among Iowans. This forcing of hypocrisy is endangering not just the Iowa First position, but all of government.

Medical Business
The old family doctor is dead. Medicine today is run by clinics that are paid for by insurance and corporations. Who pays the piper gets to dance. Hint : don't tell a doctor-employee anything you don't want spread to "authorized agencies", i.e., insurers and employers. Your test results and even the doctor-employee's notes are permanently recorded in databases around the country for computer searches that say everything about you, "The patient asked if he should be concerned about ..." You may want to get a job sometime or your spouse may want insurance on you in the future and every item or question of your past is considered as fact, "This subject has ...".

Believe everything you read
In April, 1975, NEWSWEEK published an article about a looming disaster. Citing "ominous signs that the earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically," the magazine warned of an impending "drastic decline in food production." Political disruptions stemming from food shortages could affect "just about every nation on earth." Scientists urged governments to consider emergency action to head off the terrible threat of . . . well, if you had been following the climate-change debates at the time, you'd have known that the threat was : global cooling. One of the possible solutions mentioned : to pour soot over the Arctic ice cap, to help it melt. In fairness, the preceding decade had been a cooling cycle in the earth's temperature oscillate, that had reversed before the article was printed. Just as earth is now in a warming cycle and the press will continue reporting after it, too, has changed.

The old family doctor is dead. Medicine today is run by clinics that are paid for by insurance and corporations. Who pays the piper gets to dance. Hint : don't tell a doctor anything you don't want spread to "authorized agencies", i.e., insurers and employers. Your test results and even the doctor-employee's notes are permanently recorded in databases around the country for computer searches that say everything about you, "The patient asked if he should be concerned about ..." You may want to get a job sometime or your spouse may want insurance on you in the future and every item or question of your past is considered as fact, "This subject has . . .".

Religion in Politics .
If religion gets into politics, then can the burka be far behind ? After all, Paul taught : "For if a woman is not veiled, let her hair be cut off ; but if it is a shame to a woman to have her hair cut off, let her be veiled.

Gasoline is Refined Oil .
Question by a caller to a radio show : "Why is that the oil companies have record profits caused by a shortage of refining capacity, and they do not build more refineries ?" Well, duh ?

Religion of People
NPR did a hatchet job on Mormons the other evening. They did it by telling the truth. All religions require faith in the unprovable. Smith had a talking stone ; Abraham had a talking bush ; Paul had a talking light. One man's coincidence is another man's miracle. Children round the earth are born into and raised in faith of things that are different for others. All are taught lessons of use in their moral life. Don't look at the specifics of any religion without faith or risk loss of your own. Consider the morality of each man, not the particular religion in which he, and you, and I, were raised.

Cost of Tomatoes
A silly argument to keep illegals is to keep down the price of tomatoes. This overlooks that the cost to the taxpayer to maintain one illegal is three times the amount he pays in taxes. Cheap tomatoes mean high taxes. We must add to the price of tomatoes about $50,000 per low wage worker. The taxpayer is subsidizing the employment of illegals. Those cheap tomatoes are very dear.

Things Kill People?
An SUV mows down people -- not. A gun kills people -- not. SUVs are safer for the occupant. Guns protect owners. News organizations have policies -- SUVs and guns will have only negative reports. To point out that SUV owners survived an accident or to tell that by showing a gun a person was kept from harm are forbidden by news policy. Hypocrisy in freedom of speech.

Political Types
Examining politics we find one party wants to equalize everybody , to set rules for daily living , and is willing to pay for it with our money or print more. The other party wants freedom of individual progress, except for a few things like putting woman in their place , acknowledging class as measured in cash , wants everybody to work , but to keep gold in the family. Where is a good, or even sensible, party?

Jim

Prior Blog -- 2005-06

Prior Blog -- 2008

Current Blog