Bill's Blog

China and Hope

2012-01-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

China may become a super-power like the USA. The sizeof their economy is now 2^nd only to the USA. This is due tothe capitalist economy they have adopted. Since the Communist party is still incharge there I wonder what tortured logic they use to explain how Communism isstill relevant. I suspect the people in power will always find a way to remainin power. Even though the China economy is large the per-capita income of it’s1.3 Billion people is still 3^rd world level and it will begenerations before they approach US standards, if ever.

We hope China advances toward a lawful and just society.Corruption in government was bad under Mao and continues today as well ascorruption in the business world. Anything can happen during times of great change, good or bad. Yet, there is hope. Many Chinese are educatedin US universities. China, India and South Korea supply almost 50% of overseas students here. IU hasabout 5400 foreign students and Purdue has 7500 foreign students of which 22%are Chinese. These students will return to China with new experiences and ideasand assume positions of leadership in society. The Chinese are clever and inventive people. It is hoped that the old cold-war hostility driven bydiscredited Marxist dogma will morph into a China driven by trade and adoptionof Western standards.

Too Many People

2011-10-06T07:48:00.000-04:00

Saturday,July 16, 2011

IndianPrime Minister Manmohan Singh called Saturday for a second "greenrevolution" to feed the country's burgeoning population that is forecastto overtake China in numbers by 2025.

UnderIndia's "Green Revolution" in the 1960s and 70s -- seen as one of theworld's most successful agricultural turnarounds -- planting of high-yieldvarieties of wheat and rice resulted in a sharp output rise.

"Weall look back proudly to our green revolution which helped us overcome foodshortages and banish the spectre of starvation," Singh told a conferenceof agricultural scientists.

But now,"we clearly need a second green revolution that is broad-based, inclusiveand sustainable", he said, noting agriculture productivity has plateauedand "yields continue to be much lower than what is attainable".

Expertssay India must increase yields to feed its population which already stands at1.21 billion people. India is expected to supplant China as the world's mostpopulous nation by 2025, according to Indian official projections.

Singhsaid the agriculture sector is growing at three percent annually -- one percentbelow target -- helping drive food inflation that has spiralled faster than inmost major economies, causing huge misery for India's poor.

India ispoised to introduce a food security bill aiming to guarantee cheap food grainsfor nearly 70 percent of the population which will impose even greater foodproduction challenges.

Lastyear, India's premier economic policymaking body raised its estimate of thenumber of Indians living in poverty and unable to meet their nutritional needsfrom 28 percent to 37 percent -- representing some 440 million people.

Theprime minister called for the spending outlay on agriculture research anddevelopment to double or even triple by 2020 as he projected demand for foodgrains will grow to 280 million tons by 2020-21.

Thegovernment on Saturday estimated the country's food grain output touched arecord 241 million tonnes in the crop year that ended in June -- 23 milliontonnes more than the previous crop year.

Indiarecorded bumper food grain output during 2010-11, helped by abundant monsoonrains, and is hoping for another strong monsoon this year.

oopied from Internet July 2011

Internet Junkies

2011-10-02T17:48:00.000-04:00

I am very disappointed in you

2011-10-02T17:31:00.001-04:00

Pete is my 6 year old grandson. My son John told me this story: John ran over Pete’s bicycle while backing out of the driveway. When Pete found out later he was upset and confronted John. He called John “fat” and “ hoboish “ (John is heavy and has a job that gets dirty). Pete then said to John “I am very disappointed in you.” John felt the outburst required some action so he sent Pete to his room. Later John went up to Pete’s room to discuss the matter. Pete, lying on his bed, pointed to a paper he had taped to the wall that said “sorry” in childish script. They had a discussion and peace was made. Pete is a great kid, well mannered and very smart for his age. He reads very well and gets along well with others. I repaired his bike.

Puritanism vs NLRB

2011-05-13T14:45:00.000-04:00

H.L. Mencken defined puritanism as the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy. The National Labor Relations Board is haunted by the fear that a company somewhere might be creating jobs with a nonunionized workforce.
Boeing has run afoul of that fear by investing more than $1 billion in a new plant in the right-to-work state of South Carolina. With only the flimsiest legal justification, the board wants to force Boeing to reverse course and locate the facility with its current operations in Washington state, where its workers are unionized.

Oaks vs Maples

2011-02-05T06:56:00.000-05:00

A reader sent this into our local paper as a comment on a story about Union organisers. It is a poetic message that in the end is about violent Union activism and Socialism.

"There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw

-The Trees"

Ann Coulter...load bearing walls

2011-02-05T06:47:00.001-05:00

Another great quote from Ann Coulter: "Liberals don't care. Their approach is to rip out society's foundations without asking if they serve any purpose. Why do we have immigration laws? What's with these borders? Why do we have the institution of marriage, anyway? What do we need standardized tests for? Hey, I like Keith Richards -- why not make heroin legal? Let's take a sledgehammer to all these load-bearing walls and just see what happens!"

Vocational vs University

2011-01-16T07:50:00.001-05:00

U.S.G. and P.T.A. - NYTimes.com: "As Education Secretary Arne Duncan put it to me in an interview, 50 years ago if you dropped out, you could get a job in the stockyards or steel mill and still “own your own home and support your family.” Today, there are no such good jobs for high school dropouts. “They’re gone,” said Duncan. “That’s what we haven’t adjusted to.” When kids drop out today, “they’re condemned to poverty and social failure.” There are barely any jobs left for someone with only a high school diploma, and that’s only valuable today if it has truly prepared you to go on to higher education without remediation — the only ticket to a decent job."

Bill's thoughts:
I think skilled trades are being overlooked here. Installing and repairing HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems jobs can be well paid if the high school graduate has the right combination of vocational training and apprenticeship. This also holds true for auto dealer repair shops and other skilled trade work. There is a shortage of long-haul truckers and they can make good money if they are willing to put up with that life , get a CDL license, pass a background check and a drug screen. Of course, as technology changes some trades will see more demand and others less just as some University degrees are more valuable than others. Of course, the job seeker has to be willing to relocate to where his skills or degree is in demand. Those reluctant to move may be left out. The young drop-out or even the high school graduate who presents himself to the job market with no special skills will find it tough.

Texting Teens

2011-01-16T06:58:00.000-05:00

U.S.G. and P.T.A. - NYTimes.com: "“Allison Miller, 14, sends and receives 27,000 texts in a month, her fingers clicking at a blistering pace as she carries on as many as seven text conversations at a time. She texts between classes, at the moment soccer practice ends, while being driven to and from school and, often, while studying. But this proficiency comes at a cost: She blames multitasking for the three B’s on her recent progress report. “I’ll be reading a book for homework and I’ll get a text message and pause my reading and put down the book, pick up the phone to reply to the text message, and then 20 minutes later realize, ‘Oh, I forgot to do my homework.’ ”"

Real Glamour Back in the Day

2011-01-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

Marilyn Monroe was #1 in my book for Hollywood glamour. The crowd in this pic must have been dazzled.
A young Marilyn was a knockout in "The Asphalt Jungle" and a mature knockout in Niagra".

Poker Girl

2010-12-05T19:24:00.000-05:00

Try concentrating on your cards!

Small Arms Data

2010-11-29T08:45:00.001-05:00

The 30-06 round is a common hunting round and was used in WWI in the Springfield rifle. The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced “thirty-aught-six”, "thirty-oh-six") or 7.62 x 63 mm in metric notation, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 (hence “06”) and standardized, used until the 1960s and early 1970s. It replaced the .30-03, 6 mm Lee Navy and .30 US Army (also called .30-40 Krag). The .30-06 remained the US Army's primary rifle cartridge for nearly 50 years before it was finally replaced by the 7.62 x 51 mm NATO (commercial .308 Winchester) and 5.56x45mm NATO (commercial .223 Remington), both of which remain in current U.S. and NATO service. It remains a very popular sporting round, with ammunition produced by all major manufacturers.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.30-06_Springfield

note: The 7.62 x63 refers to the diameter of the bullet and the length of the case in mm (1 inch=25mm). From the bottom of the case to the top of the neck is 63mm. The 7.62x39 is a WWII Soviet round, later used in the AK-47. The rest of the rounds in the picture below are pistol rounds.

  From left to right: 30-06, 7.62x39, .454 Casull, .45 Colt, .357 Magnum, .38 Special, .45 ACP, 9mm, .380, .22 Long Rifle
source:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62x39mm

Data on some common rounds is shown below. Muzzle energy is the product of bullet mass times velocity squared Kt=1/2 MV²Big bullets and high velocity means lots of kenetic energy leaving the barrel.

Firearm            Caliber           Muzzle energy

                                              ft-lbf   joules
air gun              .177               15     20

pistol                .22LR             117    159

pistol                9 mm             383    519

pistol              .45 ACP          416 564

rifle            5.56 × 45 mm        1,325 1,796

rifle           7.62 × 39 mm         1,527 2,070

rifle           7.62 × 51 mm         2,802 3,799

BMG*          .50                     11,091 15,037

*Browning Machine Gun
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_energy

Complex Life and Complex Machines

2010-11-22T06:51:00.003-05:00

The compexity of living things is used to argue that only God could create them. Maybe it is true. However, we notice Nature has some tricks and short-cuts. Among mammals Nature mostly does not invent new structures but modifies existing ones. Horn is made up of hair. Mammals have feet and hands that have 5 digits. Hooves and paws can be shown to be a modification of 5 digits even though they appear so different. Heart, lungs, eyes and so forth are "standard equipment". Bilateral symmetry is common throughout the animal kingdom. So the variation and complexity have evolved over time by repeating or modifying basic structures. Even some behavior can be shown to be imprinted into the brain at birth by the genetic code. Simple creatues such as microbes or insects behave in a total pre-programmed way. They are like robots using DNA as a computer program.

Machines can be complex also. The computer you are using to read this is too complex for any one person to grasp all the activity going on inside these machines. Transistors were invented by Physicists based on behavior of atomic structure. Micro circuit experts design billions of transistors into a functional device. With the help of chemists, imaging experts and complex machines the circuits can be "repeated" to produce thousands of parts economically. Software experts write millions of lines of instuctions for the finished computer. Software often uses repeating patterns of pre-designed routines just as nature repeats structures. Software on your computer is so complex it has to be broken into smaller pieces so experts can deal with pieces rather than the whole. It is the old method for dealing with complexity...break the task down into small pieces one man can deal with.

Actor in old movie resembles real Nazi

2010-11-13T19:43:00.000-05:00

On our trip to Europe in 2009 we were on the bus driving thru Paris when our guide pointed to a Hotel that was headquarters for the Nazis in WWII. Below is a pic from Time magazine in 1942 showing the Gestapo Chief at the time.

I saw an old WWII era movie recently. One of those cheap propaganda films to build morale for the war. It was about the murder of the Nazi "Reich's Protector" for Checkoslovacia by partisans and the notorious reprisals that followed. The actor who played the Nazi chief was strange looking...narrow head, big nose, just like the pic above.

Take an even strain

2010-11-04T19:02:00.000-04:00

My Dad, Wendell Combs, was a carpenter. In 1950 he built the house I would grow up in. I was 8 years old at the time and I was not a very good carpenters helper. He would lose patience with me sometimes for being haphazard and helter-skelter when I worked with him. All I did was fetch things or hold one end of a measuring tape, things like that. Dad was very methodical and thorough in his work. He was in the Carpenters Union for many years. Union members relied mostly on construction on the IU campus for jobs. Home construction was always non-union.
Some IU projects I remember Dad working on were the expansion of the Student Union building, the football stadium and the School of Business building. Building concrete forms was a common task and then hanging doors and windows followed by interior trim work. All carpenters are not created equal. Some are more suited for rough work and nail pounding. My Dad did those things too but he was often chosen to do the skilled interior trim and finish work because he was good at it. I should add at this point that some of Dad’s relatives teased him about being slow and deliberate in everthing.
Dad told me that If there was a task not clearly belonging to a trade it was usually assigned to the carpenters. He claimed that carpenters had to think and plan ahead more than other trades. Dad was often the one who put the finishing touch on many of the interiors of IU buildings and he was well suited for that work. Some of his Union brothers were not.
I did not inherit Dad’s methodical nature and it has often caused me problems both at work and at home. After all these years I am sometimes still helter-skelter. I have heard of adult attention deficit disorder even though it is normally a childhood problem. Maybe I have a little of that. Maybe too much caffeine. But I have a theory that goes like this: Dad spent 8 hrs a day and 5 days a week on doing carpenter work that would be inspected afterwards and have to be redone if it failed. If you start out working in a rushed, thoughtless manner you are headed for trouble. If you are to survive you will have to develop a steady pace you can maintain for months on the job. Dad said “take an even strain”. You need to be a long distance runner, not a sprinter. This is both physical and mental. My guess is some of Dad’s Union brothers could not do this and were only given the rough work. Dad was often the last carpenter to be laid off at the end because he was needed to finish interior detail.

Kentucky jokes

2010-11-02T18:16:00.000-04:00

Story comments - HeraldTimesOnline.com: "What do a Kentucky divorce and a tornado have in common?
No matter what happens -- somebody's losing trailer?"

How can you tell a vampire victim was bitten by a vampire from Kentucky? There is only one tooth mark.

An ant farm?

2010-10-26T17:01:00.000-04:00

Another movie quote: The film "Constantine" is fantasy involving angels, demons and lots of comic book violence. One character is very religious and is trying to tell Constantine (a hunter of demons and other satanic characters) that he should have more faith and God has a plan for each of us. Constantine replies " God is like a kid with an ant farm. There is no plan."

Why Carnivores?

2010-08-31T07:47:00.000-04:00

Learned that Alaskan bears like pine nuts (seeds). Bears getting tiny seeds one-at-time from pine cones? No, they raid the caches gathered by squirrels. Thus the food value has been concentrated for the bears. This seems to be analogous to the benefit of carnivore behavior. Saw a doc on the ancient body of a pre-historic hunter found in the Alps. It was explained that such a journey over barren terrain would not find much in the way of berries, fruit, etc. But animals there could be harvested.

The goods are odd.

2010-08-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

We took a local tour in Skagway, Alaska and our bus driver/guide was an energetic 22 yr old gal working just for the tourist season. She shares a rental house with 3 single girls and 13 single guys who are drivers/guides. Speaking of the social scene during the summer she said that (for the girls) "the odds are good but the goods are odd."

Natures Strategy

2010-08-13T12:27:00.000-04:00

It is well known that for every plant and animal nature has built-in procreation in greater numbers than can be sustained by their environment. This strategy is meant to overcome the fact that most offspring will never reach maturity. Plants generate thousands of seeds or millions of spores and many of the offspring of animals do not survive the hazards of life.
Human animals have reached a world population of about 6.5 billion and it is projected to be 9 billion by 2050. Most of the increase will be in the third world, which can least afford it. There is real doubt whether the world environment can support these numbers. The pessimistic view is that environmental damage combined with war, famine and disease will result in the premature death of hundreds of millions people. The USA and western Europe may expect millions will seek refuge illegally on our soil. We better be prepared.

Your Expectations

2010-07-02T11:22:00.001-04:00

Lawyers again

2010-07-02T08:43:00.000-04:00

Citizen to lawyer: "Can you ever get a strait answer from a lawyer?"
Lawyer replies: "Well, yes and no."

thanks to cartoonist Pat Oliphant

545 People

2010-06-27T22:08:00.000-04:00

By Charlie Reese
Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them..

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million who are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits..... The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ .
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power..
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it......... Is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren't so darned true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table,
At which he's fed.
Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think..
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
Taxes drove me
to my doom...'
When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax..

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!

(A great educational piece of writing but I would point out that we need a government and we need good people (politicians I guess) to run it. We elect them so we are responsible. Populism says the people are never wrong and are always the victim of (politicians, corporations, bureaucrats, etc).
This is false of course. In a democracy we all share the burden.
Bill)

Some Ammunition

2010-06-24T20:53:00.001-04:00

The .223 is the size of the M16 5.5mm round. The .308 is equivalent to the 7.62 NATO round. The .50 cal is used in heavy machine guns. The WWII P-47 Thunderbolt fighter had 8 .50 cal machine guns. Some fighters also had 20mm (.80 cal) cannon.

Is This How We Got Started?

2010-06-24T20:26:00.000-04:00

Book Tries To Explain (voluntary) Segregation

2010-06-24T20:23:00.001-04:00

"Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by
Beverly Daniel Tatum (Paperback - Jan. 2003)

I have not read the book but we all understand the title and have seen how ethnic groups flock. It was like that in the Navy, black guys hung together. I recall reading about the large number of British retirees who have homes in Spain and how the locals observe the Brits prefer the company of other Brits and are isolated from Spanish society. It is human nature and I do not think it takes a PhD to grasp that.

Orbits Explained

2010-06-23T19:47:00.000-04:00

Immigrant story from pre-1900

2010-06-21T22:21:00.000-04:00

Along with the battered suitcases and ghost-filled registry hall, I’ve never
forgotten the testimony of an Italian immigrant who spoke for many when
he said “I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with
gold. When I got here, I found out three things: first, the streets weren’t
paved with gold; second, they weren’t paved at all, and third; I was
expected to pave them."

Obama needs a time out

2010-06-21T22:16:00.000-04:00

From a story about a Tea-Party gathering in Bloomington:

A tiny blond-haired toddler in a madras skirt and pink Mary Janes clutching her father’s hand sported a T-shirt that read, “Obama and Pelosi need a time out.

Buy a Baby for $150 in Nigeria

2010-06-21T22:08:00.000-04:00

(article from UK paper)
The ease with which illegal immigrants
can enter the country was highlighted
yesterday when a baby trafficker banned
from the UK for ten years sneaked back
in to claim thousands at an employment
tribunal.
Peace Sandberg, 42, was jailed for 26
months in 2008 after she bought a three-
month-old baby in Nigeria for £150 and
tried to pass it off as her own to get a
council (section 8 housing in USA) house.
After she had served her sentence she
was deported to Sweden where she
holds joint Swedish/Nigerian citizenship,
and was ordered not to return to Britain
for ten years.
Defying the ban, Sandberg, a former
housing officer who worked with the
elderly in Ealing, London, flew back to the
country and walked straight through
immigration checks at Heathrow Airport.
She returned to Britain to sue her former
employers, the Peabody Trust for race
and sex discrimination. The employment tribunal allowed the
case to proceed knowing she was in the
country illegally.
Mrs Sandberg was caught eventually
after the lawyer representing the trust
raised alarms.

Useless, jobless men – the social blight of our age

2010-06-21T21:57:00.000-04:00

(article from London Times)
The benefits system has produced an emasculated generation who can find neither work nor a wife
by Camilla Cavendish

Of all the government adverts that have swamped our radio stations these past few years (must be a quick saving there for the Treasury), one of the most irritating was the jolly woman asking us in a sing-song voice if we had remembered to report changes in our circumstances. Like hell. Every time I heard the ad it conjured up a vision of a lonely official waiting in vain at her desk for people to come in and sign away entitlements to which they feel, well, entitled.
This pathetic advert seemed to me to epitomise the politicians’ total loss of control over the monster that is our benefits system. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) presides over a system so complex that it has to issue 8,690 pages of guidance to help its staff to apply its 51 different benefits — the product of the ever more precise targeting of benefits to particular groups.
In the years of plenty, it was easier to placate and complicate than to simplify. Every new benefit and its separate computer system was just bolted on to the mainframe. But the result is that Britain has more than twice the number of sick people as France. The potential for playing the system, defrauding the system and falling foul of the system is enormous.
So in declaring war yesterday on both poverty and the benefits system, Iain Duncan Smith had it right. If the Government is going to make real inroads into the deficit it will have to tackle the nearly £200 billion welfare budget, which is a third of government spending. This week’s £6 billion of cuts was only Round 1: £6 billion is only 1 per cent of government expenditure, so this was a warm-up. Round 2 will need to take on the DWP leviathan.
But the argument for welfare reform is not just one of affordability. In too many cases, welfare has entrenched poverty. Mr Duncan Smith is one of the few politicians who really understand the poverty trap. Gordon Brown made life more bearable for many people on benefits, but he also made it harder to escape from them. Get a job tomorrow earning between £10,000 and £30,000 a year and you’ll take home only 30p out of every extra pound you earn after the first £10,000. Twenty pence will go in income tax, 11p in national insurance, and 39p in lost tax credits. Add in the loss of other allowances (housing benefit, council tax benefit) and you may find it simply doesn’t pay to work harder. Our poverty trap is deeper than that of most other European countries. That is a strange legacy for a government that wanted to make work pay.
The fear of losing benefits — of not being able to scramble back on to the lifeboat if you fall off — is a huge disincentive to change your circumstances, let alone report them. One in seven working-age households is dependent on benefits for more than half its income. More than half of all lone parents depend on the State for at least half their income. William Beveridge would be horrified to discover that the safety net he designed has become a trap, creating generations of worklessness and dwindling self-esteem. It is also creating a glut of unemployed, unwanted, unmarriageable men.
These men were overlooked during a decade of prosperity that did nothing to change their lives. At the beginning of that decade, 5.4 million working-age adults were claiming out-of-work benefits. The same number were still claiming just before the recession struck. Almost a fifth of 16 to 24-year-olds were not in education, employment or training in 1997. The number was identical in 2006. These people stayed put in the Welsh valleys, in Liverpool, in Glasgow, while Eastern Europeans travelled a thousand miles to pick up work on construction sites in London. Immigration reduced the opportunities available to white British men whose poor education made them less attractive candidates, while the benefits system undermined their motivation.
The problem affects the whole of society because of the striking correlation between male joblessness and single motherhood, particularly in the old industrial cities. In Liverpool, male unemployment rose from 12 per cent in 1971 to 30 per cent in 2001. In 1971 11 per cent of families were headed by a single parent; by 2001, 45 per cent were. Similar patterns can be seen in Birmingham, Strathclyde and Newcastle. The epidemic of male joblessness after the collapse of manufacturing industries coincided with an increase in female employment and welfare support to mothers who found that they could manage alone.
Overlooked by society, irrelevant to employers, unwanted by women who can raise families on benefits without their help, the man who has no work or a series of short-term jobs is a problem. Without steady work, he will struggle to acquire a family: unemployed men are less likely to marry or cohabit than employed ones. Without a stable relationship, he is less likely to grow into a good family man and raise good sons. The taxpayer has become the father: one in four mothers is single and more than half live on welfare. A lot of these women describe the real fathers of their children as “useless” or worse. The men have no role.
In the worst cases, the State has helped to create a class of jobless serial boyfriends who prey on single mothers on benefits. When two of these men moved into the flat that Haringey Council had generously provided for Tracey Connelly, Baby P’s mother, the little boy’s fate was sealed. They killed him. Other such men appear in bit parts in tragedies such as that of Shannon Matthews, abducted and drugged by her own “family”. The welfare system has helped to deprive these children of the most effective check on abuse — the family.
Robert Rowthorn, Professor of Economics at Cambridge, has shown that female and male worklessness have been going in opposite directions for 30 years, well before this latest “mancession”. His research suggests that half the rise in lone parenthood in the past 30 years may be due to male unemployment. He believes that governments must start to focus on these men, and question the feminisation of education and the workplace. It is no solution, he says, to say that women don’t need men or that men should become more female. Nor is it any good waiting for economic growth to dig them out of poverty. Those men need a chance, not a benefits system that undermines them.

High Taxes Forced Michael Caine to Leave UK

2010-06-21T21:44:00.000-04:00

'I left the country for eight years when tax was put up to 82 per cent. You didn't get the 82 per cent tax from me for eight years. You didn't get any tax at all from me for the next eight years,' he told the BBC.
'Apart from that, a quarter of a billion dollars of movies were made outside this country instead of inside it which is just from one stupid, loud-mouth moronic actor. Imagine what is happening to companies, proper companies, who then disappear. It's no good.'
The Oscar winner, 77, added he once told Tony Blair 'you can't tax people who have enough money for air fare' because they would just leave.
However, he admitted he would not quit Britain for a second time because he would not want to be separated from his three grandchildren.
Sir Michael, who is worth an estimated £45million, spent eight years living in the U.S. in the 70s after income tax hit 82 per cent but returned when Margaret Thatcher came to power and cut the rate again.
He is a vocal critic of high taxes and vociferously attacked Labour last year after the top rate was hiked to 50 per cent, threatening to go back to America if they rose any higher.
At the time, he said: 'You know how much they made out of that high taxation all those years ago? Nothing. But they sent a mass of incredible brains to America.
'We've got 3.5million layabouts laying about on benefits, and I'm 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them. Let's get everybody back to work so we can save a couple of billion and cut tax, not keep sticking it on.
'You're saying to poor people "let's tax those rich gits" and I understand that. You slice up the cake, give everyone a chance, but don't destroy the people that are making the bloody cake.'

Trapping Monkeys

2010-06-21T20:38:00.000-04:00

We have heard how to trap a monkey. Put a treat inside a coconut shell and cut a hole just large enough for the monkey’s hand but too small for his fist holding he treat. The monkey will be caught because he will not let go of the treat. For us the treat we will not let go is excess government spending requiring constant increases in public debt. But we are smart monkeys so we know that constantly increasing the nation’s debt cannot be sustained and will soon drag us down. The thing is, we are smart enough to see the answer but lack the willpower to overcome our desire for more treats.

Another gem of movie script writing.

2010-04-18T18:21:00.000-04:00

From the movie "3:10 to Yuma". The outlaw Ben Wade (Russel Crowe) tells this story to Dan, his captor. "Did you ever read the Bible Dan? I have. When I was 8 years old my Dad got killed over a drink of whiskey. My Mom said we were going to move back East. She took me to the train station, sat me down and handed me a Bible. She said read this until I get back. It took me 3 days to read it. She never came back."

Classroom anarchy, killers in school uniform and how a generation is being betrayed

2010-04-04T23:36:00.000-04:00

From the Daily Mail (UK) By Max Hastings
Last updated at 2:02 AM on 29th March 2010

The murder of 15-year- old Sofyen Belamouadden is an especially shocking gang crime because it was carried out in the midst of Victoria station, by boys apparently wearing school blazers.
It is tragically easy to imagine the horrors of life in the sort of classrooms the murderers come from.

We have grown accustomed to the existence of feral children - violent, amoral, unteachable and later unemployable - in many parts of Britain.

It is easy to identify their immediate victims, fellow teenagers who are bullied and occasionally killed. But beyond these, a much larger host pays the price: millions of children who want to equip themselves to lead decent lives.
Indiscipline and violence are viruses, which infect all those around them. In classrooms up and down the land, they make it impossible for many teachers to teach and their pupils to be educated.

Many prisoners, few solutions | The Indianapolis Star

2010-02-20T09:06:00.000-05:00

The Indianapolis Star editorial of 20Feb2010 laments The fact that Indiana has one of the highest rates of incarceration. Below is my response.

The public does not want, and does not deserve, to have thugs, thieves and murderers loose in their community. Prisons are not for the inmates benefit...they are for our, society's, benefit. If the prisons are full, build more. If there are not enough judges and prosecuters, hire more. Social programs and rehabilitation should be continued but the truth is they mostly do not work. Public safety should be our top priority.

Heaven and Hell in Europe

2010-01-15T14:35:00.000-05:00

In a European Heaven-
• The French are the cooks,
• The EngLish are the police,
. The Germans are the mechanics,
• The ItaLians are the Lovers and
• The Swiss organize everything.

In a European Hell-
* The EngLish are the cooks,
• The Germans are the police,
• The French are the mechanics,
• The Swiss are the Lovers and
• The ItaLians organize everything!

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

2010-01-15T12:15:00.000-05:00

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes:
Seven social sins:
1. Politics without principles
2. Wealth without work
3. Pleasure without conscience
4. knowledge without character
5. Commerce without morality
6. Science without humanity
7. Worship without sacrifice.

War of the Worlds, 1898-2007

2009-12-10T10:06:00.003-05:00

Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds opens with a microscope view of a drop of water. We see what appears to be DNA and as the camera pulls back we see bacteria, etc. At the end of the movie the voice-over quotes the following from the original 1898 novel...(the Martians)slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth. For so it had come about, as indeed I and many men might have foreseen had not terror and disaster blinded our minds. These germs of disease have taken toll of humanity since the beginning of things-- taken toll of our prehuman ancestors since life began here. But by virtue of this natural selection of our kind we have developed resisting power; to no germs do we succumb without a struggle...By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers; it would still be his were the Martians ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do men live nor die in vain.

I recall reading that Smallpox alone killed 100 million people between 1900 and 2000. The Plague in Medievel times killed 1/3 of the population of Europe.

Saw this movie at the theater. Great special effects. The sound the Martian machines make is awesome. That sound was described in the original book (ca 1900). The side plot about the dysfunctional family did not add anything. I was curious to see how Spielberg would do the film. It appears he borrowed from the original book as well as the 1953 film. Gene Barry and his female co-star from he 1953 film make a cameo appearance in this film.
You can read the original book on-line at the link below.
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells: A searchable online version at The Literature Network

The limits of Socialism

2009-03-24T09:37:00.004-04:00

I don't know who Dr. Rogers is but this makes sense:
Dr. Rogers is quoted:
"Friend, you cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the
wealthy out of freedom. And what one person receives without working
for, another person must work for without receiving. The government
can’t give to anybody anything that the government does not first take
from somebody. And when half of the people get the idea they don't
have to work because the other half are going to take care of them, and
when the other half get the idea it does no good to work because
somebody’s going to get what I work for, That, dear friend, is about the
end of any nation."

Margret Thatcher (former UK PM) said it this way: "Socialism works until you run out of other people's money."

Crooks on Wall Street

2008-12-27T14:46:00.000-05:00

The following is a quote from the columnist Larry Elder regarding events on Wall Street:
“Add the name Bernard Madoff to the pantheon of big-time thieves. The legendary billionaire hedge fund manager…now stands accused of running a massive Ponzi scheme…. To many, the Madoffs of the world confirm this "truism": the rich get rich not through hard work, risk-taking or crafty assumptions about the future. No, the rich get rich the old fashioned way: They steal. They profit through inside information, use their clubby network of eyes and ears, get a heads-up when storm clouds appear, and plunder the unsophisticated, and thus cleverly dodge the common misfortunes suffered by the "little guy."”

This columnist is not attacking free enterprise. He goes on to say: “… most rich folks do it the hard way. They get up early, bust their tails, and work harder than their subordinates. They treat their staff…with respect. In return, employees…work hard for a boss who shows his appreciation. Decades of work later, the boss suddenly wakes up rich.”

Honesty, the free enterprise system, education, the rule of law…we must believe in these in spite of the Bernard Madoffs of Wall Street.

Ltr to H-T 12/08

Good Financial Advice

2008-10-18T09:47:00.001-04:00

October 17, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Buy American. I Am.
By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Omaha

THE financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.

So ... I’ve been buying American stocks. This is my personal account I’m talking about, in which I previously owned nothing but United States government bonds. (This description leaves aside my Berkshire Hathaway holdings, which are all committed to philanthropy.) If prices keep looking attractive, my non-Berkshire net worth will soon be 100 percent in United States equities.

Why?

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Let me be clear on one point: I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven’t the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month — or a year — from now. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.

A little history here: During the Depression, the Dow hit its low, 41, on July 8, 1932. Economic conditions, though, kept deteriorating until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933. By that time, the market had already advanced 30 percent. Or think back to the early days of World War II, when things were going badly for the United States in Europe and the Pacific. The market hit bottom in April 1942, well before Allied fortunes turned. Again, in the early 1980s, the time to buy stocks was when inflation raged and the economy was in the tank. In short, bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price.

Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

You might think it would have been impossible for an investor to lose money during a century marked by such an extraordinary gain. But some investors did. The hapless ones bought stocks only when they felt comfort in doing so and then proceeded to sell when the headlines made them queasy.

Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value. Indeed, the policies that government will follow in its efforts to alleviate the current crisis will probably prove inflationary and therefore accelerate declines in the real value of cash accounts.

Equities will almost certainly outperform cash over the next decade, probably by a substantial degree. Those investors who cling now to cash are betting they can efficiently time their move away from it later. In waiting for the comfort of good news, they are ignoring Wayne Gretzky’s advice: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.”

I don’t like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasize that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I’ll follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: “Put your mouth where your money was.” Today my money and my mouth both say equities.

Warren E. Buffett is the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, a diversified holding company.

Socialism by Increments

2008-09-28T09:48:00.002-04:00

Do you know how much tax you pay? Consider this example: to buy a Chevrolet priced at $20,000 in Indiana you must pay a 7% sales tax plus licensing and excise tax. To manufacture your car General Motors, suppliers and dealerships must also pay taxes. These include corporate income taxes, real estate taxes, inventory taxes , employee social security tax and so on. Of course these hidden costs are included in the price of the car. How much does all of this add to the price? According to a Harvard economist the answer is 18% or about $3000.
So to purchase your Chevy you must earn an extra $3000 for the government tax burden. However, your earnings are also taxed. For simplicity let’s assume your net federal income tax rate is 15% after deductions. In Indiana you will also pay state income tax of 3.4% plus a 1% local option tax. Do the math and we find that we must earn about $24,800 to keep $20,000. So, adding it all up, the total tax burden in this case is $7,800 or 39% of the purchase price. Taxation is nearing the point where the USA will soon be a Socialist economy.

The Next Generation of Thugs is on the Way

2008-07-27T10:18:00.003-04:00

INDIANAPOLIS — A study shows Indianapolis Public Schools have the lowest graduation rate for black male students among 63 urban districts nationwide.

School leaders say they're working to turn around the statistics. In the 2005-06 school year, just 19 percent of black males graduated from IPS, according to the rankings compiled by the Schott Foundation for Public Education.

IPS has introduced dropout prevention programs and has worked to ease the transition into high school.

"This continues to emphasize what I've been trying to emphasize: the urgency of turning this district around as fast as possible," said Superintendent Eugene White. "I think we have the things in place now to do that."

One reason the district's graduation rates may be so low is the district's high concentration of students from low-income families.

That is a key predictor for which students are at risk for dropping out.

Urban districts elsewhere often encompass larger areas of the city, including more wealthy students in the mix. Only about a quarter of public school students in Indianapolis attend IPS, which has about 35,000 students.

IPS School Board President Mary E. Busch said the 2005-06 statistics do not reflect recent efforts, such as the district's push to connect with students and require alternative schools instead of expulsions.

"We're working hard to bring the graduation rates up," she said. "We have special initiatives and strategies in place to truly address the situation. We're not pleased with where we are."

But Mark A. Russell, director of education at the Indianapolis Urban League, said more work needs to be done.

"There is not a person in the state Department of Education charged specifically with addressing the achievement gap between blacks and whites. Does the IPS board have a committee on it?" he asked. "If we're wanting to save these children, where is the effort?"

Pasted from <http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2008/07/27/statenews.qp-5501176.sto?1217164858>

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

2008-07-27T10:00:00.004-04:00

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers

Gerard Baker

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: "Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?"

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered "Hosanna" and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: "Yes, We Can."

Pasted from

Psychiatric hotline

2008-06-28T08:08:00.001-04:00

Ring!
Ring!
-click-
Hello, welcome to the psychiatric hotline.
If you are obsessive-compulsive, please 1 repeatedly.
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2.
If you have multiple personalities, please press 3,4,5 and 6.
If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line while we trace the call.
If you are schizophrenic, listen and a little voice will tell you which number to press.
If you are manic-depressive, it doesn’t matter which number you press…no one will answer.
Beep!

Build It and They Will Come

2008-06-14T08:57:00.003-04:00

Back in the 60s the proud liberal sponsors of the great society said that the housing of the poor had to be improved before they could advance. The taxpayers ponied up for huge apartment projects and the keys were handed over per the liberals plan. The new residents were not without support in their new homes. A Housing Authority police force was funded to supplement city law enforcement. The usual array of welfare, Aid for Dependent Children, and so forth was in place.

We all know what happened next. The brand new projects turned into cesspools of crime...giving bad connotation to the phrase "the projects". Notably in Chicago the infamous Cabrini-Green apartments were finally torn down after years of crime and vandalisim. And in St. Louis the Pruit-Igloo project met a similar fate. Once again the liberals get an A for intentions and an F for results.

In the story below notice that the apartment building mentioned is pre-WWII and yet is still a very much desired habitat. I believe the historic Dakota apartments on Central Park West were built before 1900. The point is that it's not the housing...it never was...it's the residents that determine the quality of life. Another obvious point liberals cannot understand.

New York Post June 12, 2008 --

A beloved Park Avenue doorman who won $5 million in the state lottery wants to move on up - and into the elegant, pre-war building where he works.

That way, "I'll have the doorman open the door for me," says Richie Randazzo, 44, a bachelor who lives in a two-story home in Brooklyn.

But the lucky winner will have to wait because the only apartment for sale in the building at 1021 Park Ave. at East 85th Street is out of his range. So for now, Randazzo, who plans to continue working, will be a millionaire who opens the door and hails taxis for millionaires.

The only apartment on the market in his building is an 11-room beauty that is going for a cool $9.95 million. And even though $5 million is nothing to sneeze at, it just isn't enough scratch - even for a scratch-off millionaire.

....But, taking the advice of his parents, Cora and Frank, who live in West Palm Beach, Fla., he decided to keep his job, because "it's too much too soon."

A thoughtful and true quote

2008-05-24T23:48:00.003-04:00

“Artists use frauds to make human beings seem more wonderful than they really are. Dancers show us human beings who move much more gracefully than human beings really move. Films and books and plays show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk, make paltry human enterprises seem important. Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make. Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on."

Kurt Vonnegut
—“When I Was Twenty-One," Warnpeters, Fama and Granfefloons, 1974

Our wealth goes to OPEC

2008-05-24T23:22:00.002-04:00

From and article by Tom Friedman (NYT):
If this huge transfer of wealth to the petro-authoritarians continues, power will follow. According to Congressional testimony Wednesday by the energy expert Gal Luft, with oil at S2oo a barrel OPEC could “potentially buy Bank of America in one month worth of production, Apple computers in a week and General Motors in just three days.”

Woman uses her wiles on Dilbert

2008-05-22T10:57:00.002-04:00

Everybody hates me

2008-05-14T11:51:00.003-04:00

Our 8 year old Grandson was acting-up so we told him he we were not going to have a 'pity party' and then Mamaw sung this song she remembered from her childhood (Children's rhyme...sing to Polly Doodle tune.):

Nobody loves me, everybody hates me
Think I'll go and eat worms
Long ones, short ones, fat ones, thin ones
See how they wriggle and squirm

I bite off the heads, and suck out the juice
And throw the skins away
Nobody knows how fat I grow
On worms three times a day
Ohh...nobody loves me.

How to be Poor

2008-05-08T08:24:00.002-04:00

Ever wonder why the USA has so many poor people? After all, being poor while a citizen of one of the richest countries in the world requires some explanation. The secret is making the right choices early in life. First, turn your back on the free education offered through 12th grade. Achieve this by refusing to do your schoolwork and quitting at age 16. Avoid the GED diploma as well. It is also important to stay away from vocational programs and apprentice work. Caution...during this time you will have to endure the concern and advice of relatives and counselors but you can shake this off if you are really determined to be poor. Of course, lack of high school will keep you out of University which should definitely be avoided .

In your mid to late teens it will help to have a child out of wedlock. After all, many teens are having multiple children with multiple partners so don’t hold back. Another touch is to develop a criminal record. It is easy to do, stays with you forever and eliminates being hired for many jobs. If, despite all of this, you somehow find yourself employed and earning money there are still things that can be done. Showing up late for work is effective. Another effective technique is to cultivate a hostile attitude toward management.

Finally, in the unlikely event you still find you have some money, make sure to avoid saving or investing. Impulse spending and debt are the way to go here. Even substantial sums can be frittered away quite easily so there should be no excuse for accumulating any assets. In conclusion, the road to poverty is not as difficult as it may seem even in the USA. There are two simple rules which will often get you through when you have to make life choices: 1)Always take the easiest path. 2) If it feels good, do it.

How the U.S. income tax works

2008-05-02T10:18:00.001-04:00

How the U.S. income tax works

By Marshall Brain

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT) Tax time is upon us once again, and we all heave a collective sigh of resignation. There is nothing we can do about taxes, true. But have you ever wondered where income taxes came from, and why we pay them today? This is actually a fascinating story.

It all started in 1894, when Congress passed the "Revenue Act of 1894." It was a very simple tax. If you made more than $4,000 per year, you paid a 2 percent tax on your income. In 1894, $4,000 per year was a tremendous amount of income - an indication of great wealth. So the income tax of 1894 did not affect very many people, and the amount of tax was small.

Even so, the Supreme Court found the tax to be unconstitutional and struck it down. To get around the Supreme Court, Congress did the only thing it could do - it proposed a constitutional amendment and got it ratified. The 16th amendment reads, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." This amendment specifically allows there to be an income tax in the United States. It was ratified in 1913.

Now you might be wondering: why in the world would the citizens of the United States ratify an amendment like that? Why would the citizens give congress the ability to create a new kind of tax? It is because, at the time, people were worried about the wealthy having too much money and power. The income tax was seen as a tax that would only be applied to the wealthy, in order to curb their power. The first income tax laws applied only to the very wealthy. As late as 1940, only about 5 percent of the population paid income tax.

Another feature of today's income tax system is the idea of a payroll withholding. Before your tax is due, the government takes it automatically out of your paycheck and holds your money in escrow until April 15. You get no interest on your money and cannot use it in any way. Where did an idea like this come from, and why would Americans allow it? This idea came in 1943 as a way to fund WWII. By withholding the tax up to a year ahead of its due date, the government got the money faster and used it to pay for the war.

So in 1943, the government has two key things: a constitutionally-approved tax system, and the ability take money out of people's pay checks without them ever holding the money in their own hands. All of the ingredients are in place for a massive expansion of the tax system. And sure enough, the system expanded.

One way to track the expansion is to look at the size of the tax code. In 1945, the federal tax rules fit in about 8,000 pages. By 1965 it took about 20,000 pages. In 2006, the number had grown to 66,000 pages. How many pages is that? A phone book might have 1,000 pages, so imagine 66 phone books lined up on a long shelf. It would be about 20 feet of phone books. That's our tax code.

If you look at the instructions for the basic 1040 form, you see the same kind of thing. The 1040 form is only two pages long. In 1945 it took four pages of instructions to explain it. By 1965 it took 17 pages. Today it takes more than 140 pages.

The complexity of the tax code means that many people can no longer file their own tax returns. So there are now more than one million paid tax preparers in the United States. Many of them are employed by the top three tax preparation companies: H&R Block, Jackson-Hewitt and Liberty. Together these companies handle more than 20 million customers per year.

Somehow, we all manage to muddle through, and we file something like 100 million individual taxable returns in a typical year. Using very round numbers here to keep things simple, these tax returns represent income of about $5 trillion. The total tax collected on that income is about $1 trillion, or roughly $10,000 per 1040 form, on average. That money combines with social security taxes ($900 billion), corporate income taxes ($260 billion) and other things like tariffs to create about $2.4 trillion in total federal revenue in 2007. It takes over 100,000 IRS employees to handle the load.

So, as you are burning the midnight oil to complete you tax returns, scratching your head over some incomprehensible rule or form, you now know a little bit of the history that got us here. We've come a very long way since the first income tax in 1913!

Pasted from <http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0407/HowStuffWorks6.php3?printer_friendly>

A Beauty Contest

2008-02-04T20:25:00.001-05:00

They say young people are excited about Obama for President. This very much reminds me of 1960, the year I graduated from BHS. The young people then liked John Kennedy. I’m sure many older folks in Bloomington remember the day a platform (or flat bed truck?) was set up on the south side of the square and some celebrities spoke for Kennedy . The only speaker I can recall was the actor Jeff Chandler…probably because he was heckled and he threatened to come into the crowd and settle the issue. For young people it was the youth, charm and looks of Kennedy versus the older looking, lackluster and much uglier Nixon . It turned out to be a close election. The folks for whom issues mattered (Unions, Corporations, Taxpayers, etc) made it a horse race. Then, as now, the candidates made grand sounding statements and promised things would get better. The reality is that Congress is where the real power is but Congress has 535 members , numerous committees and rules so arcane the public cannot understand them. So we focus on the President. He is one man and we can understand that.
Ltr sent H-T 4Feb08

Update: After this letter was published I got a call from a guy who was at the rally. I believe his name is Jerry Gregory. He reminded me that the actress Angie Dickenson was there and had spoke before Chandler. Chandler opened by saying something like "Angie can even speak while lying down." There was a shocked silence from the crowd then catcalls began which triggered Chandler's outburst.

Population of Selected Countries

2008-02-02T12:08:00.001-05:00

(click to enlarge)

China	1,321,851,888
India	1,129,866,154
United States	301,139,947
Indonesia	234,693,997
Brazil	190,010,647
Russia	141,377,752
Nigeria	135,031,164
Japan	127,433,494
Mexico	108,700,891
Germany	82,400,996
Iran	65,397,521
France	63,713,926
Spain	40,448,191
Canada	33,390,141
Iraq	27,499,638
Korea, North	23,301,725
Australia	20,434,176
Syria	19,314,747
Netherlands	16,570,613
Chile	16,284,741
Cuba	11,394,043
Greece	10,706,290
Belgium	10,392,226
Hungary	9,956,108
Sweden	9,031,088
Switzerland	7,554,661
Bulgaria	7,322,858
Hong Kong	6,980,412
Israel	6,426,679
Denmark	5,468,120
Norway	4,627,926
Ireland	4,109,086

About one in three persons in the world is either Chinese or Indian. The current world population of 6.6B is expected to grow to 9B by 2050. Almost all of this increase will be in Africa and Asia. Environmentalists say population growth is the largest threat to the environment. My opinion is that some of these countries will not have the needed political stability nor will their environment sustain such growth. China has a "one couple, one child" law and tries to enforce it. As far as I know, it is the only country with this law.

On the other hand, many advanced countries are shrinking because their people are choosing not to have children. They have such low birth rates they face huge social problems in the future such as not enough workers to support the elderly. Oddly enough Italy, the home of the Catholic church, has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe. America currently has a slightly positive popultion growth.

Some other observations: Ireland (4M) about the same size as the Pheonix, Arizona urban area. The Philadelphia urban area(5.9M) is larger than Denmark. The London metro area (8.6M) is larger than Israel. California (36M) has more people than Canada. If you are a small country like Denmark you have to be a little nervous about the future if some of the 9B decide maybe your tiny population does not merit all the your territorial rights.

NFL player sets example for fans

2008-01-09T10:53:00.000-05:00

From 6Jan08 Parade magazine:
Tailback Travis Henry of the Denver Broncos has been ordered by judges in several states to pay child support for seven of nine children he fathered by nine women.

The groupie effect for athletes and rock stars is old news but I am curious to know if these were accidental pregnancies or intentional by women wanting the $ from a rich NFL player. Remeber Wilt Chamberlin's book where he claimed to have screwed over 2000 women? I don't know if he paid for any kids but they did not do DNA paternity checks back then.

I saw an episode of 'Cops' where they collared a young black guy who said he had four kids by three girlfriends in the neighborhood. These will be paid for by the taxpayers until age 18 because Dad is in jail...also at taxpayer expense. This will be the next generation of Gangstas.

If I Can Dream-Elvis and Celine Dion

2007-11-17T13:26:00.000-05:00

Great use of technology to create an "impossible" duet. I heard recently that to see Celine's show in Las Vegas costs $200 per ticket. That is outrageous. Things have changed since the old days when big name shows were cheap in Vegas in order to draw people to the Casinos.

Money video

2007-11-15T07:34:00.000-05:00

This is a weird music video but I like it. The lead singer does a great job of deadpaning the funny lyrics.

The Locomtion- Kylie Minogue

2007-11-14T21:26:00.000-05:00

I really wanted the video of Debbie Gibson doing this song. But is nowhere to be found on the web. However this one is similar and pretty good.

ABBA "Dancing Queen"

2007-11-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

One of their best songs. ABBA hit it big after winning a TV music talent show (Eurovision?) Saw an interview with a music guru who praised their music as being as intricate and sophisticated as any band out there. After about 10 years they retired and went back back to Sweden.

ABBA "The Winner Takes It All"

2007-11-14T21:05:00.001-05:00

ABBA was number one in the world for 10 years despite doing "clean" pop music. This at a time when other top bands were featuring the grunge look along with "sex,drugs and rock-n-roll".

Conspiracy!!

2007-09-26T12:23:00.000-04:00

The conspiracy theories about what really brought the twin towers down on 9/11 are absurd. The idea of an elaborate hoax with our government collaborating with Saudi religious fanatics is ridiculous on it’s face. There are reasons we nevertheless find ourselves debating this issue. First, there are always people (the conspiracy advocates) who want to be the center of attention and sensational claims are a way of getting that attention. Non-scientists find it hard to tell the difference between research and advocacy - if it's got numbers and charts, does that make it science? Secondly we have the journalists need for attention grabbing headlines (the ‘tabloid syndrome’). Third, there is the practice of “he said…she said” reporting. Paul Krugman of the NY Times said if someone claimed the earth was flat the headlines would read “Opinions Differ on Shape of Earth”. The fourth reason we are giving a forum to nonsense is more disturbing. There is constant drumbeat of attacks on our government’s credibility and intentions regarding Iraq and almost everything under the sun. In this poisonous atmosphere any charge, no matter how ridiculous, is treated as a real possibility.

Ltr to H-T sent 26Sep07

Why we need free enterprise

2007-05-21T08:12:00.000-04:00

"Before wealth can be distributed it must be created."

Slogan used by conservative candidate in recent presidential election in France against his socialist opponent.

Five Mexican generals

2007-02-16T09:18:00.000-05:00

To stop illegals coming across our border and save a lot of money at the same time:

Divide the border into 5 districts. Create 5 escrow bank accounts of $2mil each. Offer each of these to a Mexican general with one condition. For each illegal we catch on our side we subtract $10k from the relevant district account. The Generals can get the balance in the accounts after 2 years, Then we do it again.
(Heard some Texas radio personality say this.)

Weird Eye-Brain Action

2007-02-05T12:29:00.000-05:00

Don't delete the following paragraph just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.

I cduolnt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uendsatnrd waht I was rgdnieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh,c

Bush as Hitler?

2007-02-05T10:01:00.000-05:00

In the January 29 H-T we were subjected to yet another hysterical rant against our president and, by extension, our country. Kevin Haggerty’s column is so venomous and so beyond reason it is absurd. He tells us President Bush is in the same league as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. Where does the H-T find these screeching and preaching left wingers? Why give him a column to spew such hate filled rhetoric? In Iraq we are trying to create a free and democratic society. Do we get credit for these intentions? No…we are told our president is a Hitler. Mr. Haggerty is the type of writer the H-T seems to attract that can find nothing good about our country. Now is a time when anti-American propaganda is common in the world, put out by our enemies and even some of our so-called friends. Too many people are ready and anxious to believe anything bad about the USA. The Iranian parliament ends its sessions by chanting “death to America”. Chavez, the Castro-wannabe in Venezuela, says America is a terrorist state and the most evil country in the world. Is this where Mr. Haggerty gets his ideas?

Reality sounds like sci-fi movie

2007-01-04T17:49:00.000-05:00

This appeared on Boing-Boing recently:

Deep in the Cameroonian rain forests of west-central Africa there lives a floor-dwelling ant known as Megaloponera foetens, or more commonly, the stink ant. This large ant -— indeed, one of the very few capable of emitting a cry audible to the human ear -— survives by foraging for food among the fallen leaves and undergrowth of the extraordinarily rich rain-forest floor.
On occasion, while thus foraging, one of these ants will become infected by inhaling the microscopic spore of a fungus from the genus Tomentella, millions of which rain down upon the forest floor from somewhere in the canopy above. Upon being inhaled, the spore lodges itself inside the ant’s tiny brain and immediately begins to grow, quickly fomenting bizarre behavioral changes in its ant host. The creature appears troubled and confused, and presently, for the first time in its life, it leaves the forest floor and begins an arduous climb up the stalks of vines and ferns.
Driven on and on by the still-growing fungus, the ant finally achieves a seemingly prescribed height whereupon, utterly spent, it impales the plant with its mandibles and, thus affixed, waits to die. Ants that have met their doom in this fashion are quite a common sight in certain sections of the rain forest.
The fungus, for its part, lives on. It continues to consume the brain, moving on through the rest of the nervous system and, eventually, through all the soft tissue that remains of the ant. After approximately two weeks, a spikelike protrusion erupts from out of what had once been the ant’s head. Growing to a length of about an inch and a half, the spike features a bright orange tip, heavy-laden with spores, which now begin to rain down onto the forest floor for other unsuspecting ants to inhale.

Get Rich Slowly

2006-12-22T16:20:00.000-05:00

Get Rich Slowly
“Get rich slowly” is a book title that expresses my advice on personal finance. For most of us, get rich quick schemes are a bad idea. Market insiders have a way of discovering and grabbing ‘free money’ before the average person is aware of the opportunity. By the time you hear of a scheme on TV or in a book the ‘low hanging fruit’ has long since been picked. But if you will give up the ‘get rich quick’ idea there is a way for the average person to accumulate significant wealth.

First you must decide to save and invest rather than borrow and spend. Most Americans, especially young adults, choose the latter. The average credit card balance in America (ca. 2003) is $8000. According to the government, the average personal savings rate in the U.S. is zero. If you cannot resist buying unnecessary stuff on credit you can forget getting rich and focus on paying interest. Even a good income can easily be consumed this way. In trying to resist the ‘siren song’ of consumerism think about the happy times in your life. You will realize that good memories revolve around experiences…as in personal accomplishment, nature, sports, etc. or memories of relationships… as in family, friends and lovers. On the other hand, the thrill of buying stuff wears off quickly. The exception is buying a home. A home is usually a good investment even if you have a mortgage.

People with good incomes can most easily invest…unless they are too far in debt from self-indulgent spending habits. Low wage earners can still squeeze out a few dollars each month if the discipline is there. After all, in America, people who claim they can’t buy food for their kids still find money for beer, cigarettes and cable TV. Not everyone will accumulate a million (2006) dollars but a nest egg of $50,000 or $100,000 is possible.
Some ordinary people have succeeded. Two blue collar employees at a GE plant were featured on TV because they became millionaires by age 55 by taking maximum advantage of the company 401K stock sharing plan. There are many millionaires being created by 401K plans where people take full advantage and make wise investments. Here is how it is done:

1. To prevent taxes from reducing return take maximum advantage of tax deferred savings. Try to find an employer who has a 401K plan with matching contributions. The best would be one that matches with cash rather than company stock. The 401K rules allow up to 10% of pay to be invested by the employee and another 5% added by the employer for a total of 15% of pay. These deposits and any profit they generate are not taxable until funds are withdrawn. Forget those get-rich-quick schemes and the lottery because this is the best deal the average person will ever find. If you don’t have a 401k then anyone can start a tax deferred IRA account, though you do not get help from an employer.

2. What is the best investment for your account? The long term (75 year) average for the stock market is about 11%. This is double or more what you can get in an interest bearing account. Picking stocks is too risky. Instead, use the solid long term average return of the market. The best vehicle for this is an S&P 500 index fund. This is a fund that buys the stocks of a group of 500 reputable companies carefully selected to represent the entire market. Thus you are extremely well diversified and the fund will track the overall market. Since no genius (and highly paid) stock pickers are needed to manage the fund the fees on this fund will be minimal. The caveat is that the 11% average includes annual swings of 30% or more up and down and periods of slow growth. However, since you are investing for the long term you should not get nervous about these temporary and unpredictable gyrations. After all, temporary gains and losses are only hypothetical until you cash out. Incidentally, I do not like 401Ks when the only investment is your company’s stock. You could do well like those GE guys or it could turn out to be another Enron.

3. Do not try to “time the market”. No one, not even the experts, knows when the market will reach a bottom or a peak. Instead you should use the technique called “dollar cost averaging”. This simply means that if you invest the same amount each payday into stocks your dollars will buy more shares when prices are down and fewer shares when prices are up. Thus you have a built in efficiency over the long haul and it fits nicely with a 401k payroll plan.

4. You will make use of the miracle of compounding. Compounding means your profits are automatically re-invested and begin to earn profits. If you make regular deposits and get a good return your account will eventually be earning more than you are depositing. This is like free money. If you continue, the day might come as you near retirement that your account will be earning more money even than your total pay. How is this possible? Example…if you accumulate $500,000 and get a return of 11% you will net $55,000 a year in tax deferred income. The sooner you start investing, the better. The math shows that investment growth is very sensitive to time. It is like an accelerating locomotive…it is slow off the starting line but in time an enormous momentum can be achieved.

In conclusion, we have shown a way whereby ordinary workers can accumulate large sums over time. The IRS’s deferred taxation of 401K and IRA accounts is a gift to the average person. The caveats are that you have to give up the “instant wealth” idea and apply some fiscal discipline. I do not suggest saving is easy. I can remember my younger days when ‘fiscal discipline’ took a back seat to ‘lust for stuff’ and retirement was not even on my radar. However, as I look back now from my position as a senior citizen the benefits of ‘save and invest’ are obvious and achievable.

Beat the Casino!

2006-12-02T08:14:00.000-05:00

According to our newspaper the Indiana Gaming Commission requires slot machines to payout at least 80% of money wagered. The last state audit showed the average to be 92%. I take this to mean that if I put $100 into the slot I will get $92 back, on average. If I put the $92 back in I will get 92% or $84.64 returned. If I pulled out a fresh $100 to start each session I would lose $100 in about 8 sessions of play. What we as players hope is that we will be lucky and beat the average. This is very possible for one or a few sessions. After all, if you flip a coin it can happen that you get perhaps 9 out of 10 heads initially. Over a long session though the average will take over and heads and tails will be about the same. Similarly, over the long haul, the Casino’s edge of 8% will grind you down to zero. Moral: play for fun and keep your wagering modest.

My brother told me about a gal he knew that went to Las Vegas on vacation and won $10,000. She was so thrilled she moved to Las Vegas and began gambling a lot. After a few months she was broke and her life was almost ruined.

Exciting New Technology!

2006-10-19T05:58:00.000-04:00

Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog: "BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology; no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire, yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.“Here is how it works: BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of recyclable paper, each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of your finger takes you to the next sheet. “BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting. The Browse feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. An optional “BOOKMARK” accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session, even if the BOOK is closed. BOOKMARKS fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKMARK can be used in BOOKS by various manufacturers. “You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, called Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (PENCILS).“Portable, durable and affordable, the BOOK is being hailed as the precursor of a huge entertainment wave. BOOK’S appeal seems so certain that thousands of content-creators have committed to the platform, and investors are reportedly flocking to the new phenomenon. Look for a flood of new titles soon.”Link"

Why do they hate us?

2006-09-14T13:38:00.000-04:00

Why do they hate us? Tony Blair talked about the London terror bombings…“in the West there are always those who say that if people hate us it must somehow be our own fault. There is a “grievance culture” that affects young British born Muslims who have been brought up in a country that has provided them complete religious freedom, full democratic rights and a good standard of living. These young men sit in front of their televisions and say “I will go and kill innocent people because of the oppression of Muslims”.

If you look at Muslim oppression you cannot ignore the 1 million who died in the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) when Saddam attacked Iran and used poison gas. Iran responded with human-wave attacks showing callous disregard to the slaughter. In Iraq today…who is it that is blowing up innocents in the streets?...Muslims with a “grievance”. It has become a war of fear, greed and propaganda. The lies and agitation in the Muslim press are amplified by radical clerics spewing more lies and hatred in their schools and Mosques. This propaganda falls on receptive ears among disgruntled, restless and naïve young Muslims. The thought is then father to the deed.

Factoids to Ponder

2006-08-22T00:09:00.000-04:00

The founding fathers were very concerned that political discussion or criticism of the government not be restricted and our constitution reflects this. But every time the subject of censorship in film or TV comes up it involves either sex or violence. I have never heard of a case where political speech was at issue.

In 1980 Iraq attacked Iran and the war lasted eight years. The clerics of Iran ordered suicidal human wave attacks. Saddam ordered the Iraq army to use poison gas. One million people were killed in the orgy of Muslim on Muslim violence.

According to the World Almanac 2005 nearly 70 percent of black children are born outside of wedlock. With Latinos, the rate is almost 45 percent, whites nearly 30 percent, and Asians 15 percent.

Health care in Europe is allegedly better than in America even though Europe spends only half as much per person. No one seems able to explain this mystery.

We now spend about $10,000 per student per year to educate our kids. So if Junior can’t read by the fourth grade then $40,000 of taxpayer money is down the drain. Again, Europe allegedly does this for about half the cost.

You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world
to one person.

Clueless Goobers Vote

2006-08-09T09:30:00.000-04:00

Dilbert creator Scott Adams has a great entry on his blog about his fervent hope that a secret society of puppetmasters is really running things, instead of the miserable morons (of both stripes) in Washington.

He says:" My favorite conspiracy theory is the one that says the world is being run by a handful of ultra-rich capitalists, and that our elected governments are mere puppets. I sure hope it’s true. Otherwise my survival depends on hordes of clueless goobers electing competent leaders. That’s about as likely as a dog pissing the Mona Lisa into a snow bank."

My own comment is this: Democracy is such a sacred cow we never hear any criticism. Consider a person with no education, no knowledge of history and who pays no attention to news or current events. That person's vote counts just as much as yours. Isn't that great?

Potato Bugs

2006-07-25T22:25:00.000-04:00

One night in 1963 I was on door watch in a building at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The largest, scariest bug I had ever seen came crawling toward me out of the darkness. If you remember the kids plastic 'Cootie' toy of that era, that is what it resembled. I later learned it was a potato bug, a harmless critter common in California. Here is a spoof on the bug from the web.Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things: "Q: I have potato bugs in my vegetable garden. How can I rid myself of these pesky critters?
A: Drench your entire yard with gasoline and set it ablaze. Once the fire has burned itself out and the ground has cooled, cultivate the soil to a depth of seven feet, saturate the area with battery acid and top the surface with gasoline. After a few minutes, most of the surviving potato bugs, now irritated, will burrow up for air. Set the yard on fire again, and let it burn itself out. The remaining bugs should be crisped. Add water. Only then, and only maybe, will you rid yourself of potato bugs.

POTATO BUGS AS PETS?
As most species of potato bug are good climbers and can gnaw through 12-gauge steel mesh, a tight fitting lid is required made of a good quality 16-grade galvanized sheet steel with nail holes (no bigger) to allow for air flow. The walls of the cage should be galvanized steel backed with 5/8' plywood, carefully mitered at corners and reinforced with L brackets to prevent escape. Wood screws are preferred over nails for assembly, as potato bugs have been known to ram against the walls until the nails eventually loosen from the wood and work free, compromising the integrity of the structure, and allowing the creatures to infest your house and lay eggs in your ear canal or anus.

Exxon Exec Loots Company Treasury

2006-05-06T10:52:00.000-04:00

I submitted this letter to the Bloomington op-ed page. I think the GOP needs to be out in front of Democrats on this issue to show that as free enterprise advocates we will not tolerate corruption.

op-ed letter:
Lee Raymond, the Chairman of Exxon, recently retired with a retirement benefit worth $400 million. This is such a blatant looting of company assets that it makes a mockery of the value of work. It leads to distrust in the free enterprise system. We hear of these outrages almost every day. The stockholders own the company. These executives are not owners, they are employees. They are hired to manage the company. They are entitled to a salary, not the crown jewels. However, with the collaboration of a corrupt board of directors, the door to the company safe is wide open.

What bothers me as much as the unchecked greed is that these guys can still go around posing as great businessmen and leaders. Their self-serving books are published and they are sought after as paid speakers at Universities and conferences.

The business community, the business press and the public need to take a moral stand… even though these guys beat the legal system we should view them as corrupt and shun them in public life. No TV commentator job, no book offers, no invitation to speak at the IU School of Business.

The death of Chief Sitting Bull

2006-03-31T21:55:00.000-05:00

In the fight with Custer at the Little Big Horn, Chief Sitting Bull was primarily a medicine man who gave encouragement to the warriors. The fighting Chiefs, most notably, were Chief Gall, Crazy Horse and Red Cloud. After the victory over General Custer in June of 1876, Sitting Bull and several thousand Sioux fled to Canada. In 1881, most of the Sioux had returned to the U.S. to live on reservations and the Indian wars were considered to be concluded. Sitting Bull also returned, reluctantly, under an amnesty agreement with the U.S. Army. For a brief time in the 1880’s Sitting Bull traveled with the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show as a celebrity attraction.

In 1890, Sitting Bull was accused of agitating trouble on the reservation and a squad of Indian police were sent to arrest him. As he was being escorted from his cabin to his pony a crowd of rebellious braves gathered and tried to block the police. Shots were fired on both sides and the police retreated to the cabin. However, Sitting Bull had been wounded. A 2 hour stand-off ensued with some shooting back and forth. Then, a cavalry detachment arrived and quieted the situation. By then, Sitting Bull had died from his wounds.

An poignant footnote to this incident: During the stand-off at the cabin, Sitting Bull’s pony was waiting nearby. It was a trained one he had in the Wild West Show. The shooting caused the pony to occasionally break into it’s little routine of show tricks.

ref:Crimsoned Prairie.... by S.L.A. Marshall

Italian Cookies

2006-02-05T17:12:00.000-05:00

For all the Italians out there or those who are lucky enough to be married to an Italian, or even to be friends of Italians.

An elderly Italian man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite Italian anisette sprinkle cookies wafting up the stairs. Gathering his remaining strength, he lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite anisette sprinkled cookies.
Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted Italian wife of sixty years, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man? Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself towards the table, landing on his knees in a crumpled posture. His parched lips parted, the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.

The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.....“Don’t touch!” she said, “They’re for the funeral!"

State of the Union speech 2006

2006-02-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

When the President mentioned his failed initiative to fix social security the Democrats drowned him out with their gloating applause. The Democrats refuse to make counterproposals because they know there is no painless solution. So all we hear from them is partisan criticism. What a spineless, self-serving party they are!

...Such stuff... As dreams are made on

2006-01-25T19:59:00.000-05:00

We are such stuff As dreams are made on and our little life Is rounded with a sleep...'
--From The Tempest (IV, i, 156-157)
[Jump to the quote in the text of the play]
Prospero has consented to the marriage of his daughter and Ferdinand in this whimsical play about reconciling with family, forgiveness, and faith in the future. Prospero lives on a magical island with his daughter, Miranda, and a host of spirits and sprites. He was banished by his brother over a decade ago, and has now used his magic to cause the ship on which his brother and King Alonso and his entourage were sailing to come under his influence. They have been shipwrecked on Prospero's island, and a series of magical events occur. When Miranda and Ferdinand are about to marry, Prospero speaks the famous line which celebrates that uniquely human blend of mind and matter.
Themes/Keywords: dreams, magic, spells"

Carly Simon put out a nice song called "The stuff that dreams are made of". Have you noticed how many song lyrics play off of well known phrases?

William Shakespeare | Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look

2006-01-25T19:48:00.000-05:00

William Shakespeare | Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look: "'Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.'
--From Julius Caesar (I, ii, 194)
[Jump to the quote in the text of the play]
Caesar speaks these words to his devoted friend, Mark Antony, noticing that Cassius is lurking nearby. He tells him that he distrusts lean men, contrasting Cassius with Antony, the latter who loves plays, laughter and music, as opposed to Cassius who reads too much, is never entertained, watches men and their motives far too closely, and never smiles. He tells this to Antony as a way of educating him, not out of fear of Cassius. However, Cassius has just tried to convince Brutus that Caesar is a danger to the republic, and has begun to seek Brutus' help in removing the dictator who is on his way to becoming crowned monarch. Cassius is indeed dangerous, as Caesar himself has fortold.
Themes/keywords: Danger, conspiracy, mistrust"

The Paragon of Animals

2006-01-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

Shakespeare Quotes - Find a Shakespeare Quote Here!More Shakespeare:

Pick up a newspaper and read the bad news and you may question whether the praise in the following quote is justified.

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? ..."

--From Hamlet (II, ii, 115-117)

Badges?

2005-12-03T12:43:00.000-05:00

A trio of bandits confront a miner packing out his gold. They claim to be Federallys (police) but the miner is suspicious and asks to see their badges. “Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!” With those words Alfonso Bedoya achieved screen immortality in his role as the Mexican bandit “Gold Hat” in John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Shakespeare belies his own words

2005-12-01T10:42:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...
Shakespeare may have reached a dusty death described in the pessimistic passage below but his work lives on and contradicts the "signifying nothing" phrase.

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

--From Macbeth (V, v, 19)

Democrats guilty of racism in Maryland politics

2005-11-02T19:06:00.000-05:00

'Party trumps race' for Steele foes�-�Metropolitan�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
Maryland Democrats call black Senate candidate an "uncle Tom" and pelt him with Oreo cookies at rally.

Federal Budget is busted

2005-10-20T13:32:00.000-05:00

E-mail sent to Senator Conrad, copy to Sen. Lugar:

Sir:
I watched your presentation on C-SPAN today (10/20/05) concerning the federal deficit and debt. Thank you for trying to wake up your colleagues and the public to this oncoming disaster. We have had a long run of (relatively) good economic times and still are running huge deficits and piling up the debt. What will we do if we have a run of poor economic performance?

While the Bush administration should be blamed for part of the situation I remind you that Congress must, by law, appropriate every dollar the government spends. When will the Congress bring spending in line with revenues? Like many citizens, the Congress needs to cut up the credit cards and scale back on the (federal) high living.

William Combs

2005-10-03T21:40:00.000-05:00

The OJ Simpson verdict is announced on TV at IU.

People and animals respond to novelty

2005-08-16T20:47:00.000-05:00

Put a new object into an animal’s cage. It will be investigated immediately. Some species, like apes, will play with it for a while. A new restaurant comes to town and everyone wants to go there. Sometimes a new car model that is very different, like the retro looking Chrysler PT Cruiser or the new Morris Minor will attract buyers due solely to their novelty. I call these novelty cars. Often, enthusiasm fades after a time and the car is pulled from the market. In what passes for pop culture, often driven by TV and magazines, novelty is king. The new pop stars, the new look, the new sound etc. draws people like moths to a light. Often, novelty is the only asset and the ‘buzz’ dies down and people move on to the next novelty.

Your own facts

2005-08-16T20:41:00.000-05:00

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts," said the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. "Facts are what separate good political reporting and analysis from hot air.”

The frog experiment

2005-08-16T20:35:00.000-05:00

The frog experiment...Put a frog into a pan of hot water and he will jump out. Put a frog into a pan of cool water then gradually raise the temperature to a boil. The frog will stay in the pan and die.

Jury selection

2005-08-16T20:28:00.000-05:00

"We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know anything and can't read."
- Mark Twain

Model High School

2005-08-16T20:24:00.000-05:00

CBS had a story on 60 minutes about the most highly rated High School in the country, located in southern California. Children from as far away as India and Taiwan attend the school. There is a waiting list to get in and academic standards are very high. Video showed mostly oriental faces in the class room. They noted in the segment that this shows there is hope for American education and this school could serve as a model. How absurd! Let’s see them take gang-bangers from east L.A. and have the same success! When your students are pre-screened , well prepared and from highly motivated homes you cannot claim the school is a “model” for other schools who have to deal with the real world. Note also that the U.S. spends more per capita on education than any other nation. The Washington, D.C. schools have the highest spending per student in the country.

Is it Real Science?

2005-08-07T08:39:00.000-05:00

NY Times reporter Paul Krugman comments on how we lay persons can be deceived by fake "science".

"There are several reasons why fake research is so effective. One is that non-scientists sometimes find it hard to tell the difference between research and advocacy - if it's got numbers and charts in it, doesn't that make it science?

Even when reporters do know the difference, the conventions of he-said-she-said journalism get in the way of conveying that knowledge to readers. I once joked that if President Bush said that the Earth was flat, the headlines of news articles would read, "Opinions Differ on Shape of the Earth." The headlines on many articles about the intelligent design controversy come pretty close.

Finally, the self-policing nature of science - scientific truth is determined by peer review, not public opinion - can be exploited by skilled purveyors of cultural resentment. Do virtually all biologists agree that Darwin was right? Well, that just shows that they're elitist who think they're smarter than the rest of us."

As a co-author of technical papers I experienced the peer review process. Journals that publish peer reviewed papers are called refereed journals. In legitimate science research the researcher writes an outline of his findings with enough detail for other experts in the field to judge if his work is worth publishing. His outline is sent to several experts for comments and these comments are reviewed by a committee. The committee is conscious of their Journal's reputation for quality research and decides if the full paper will be accepted for publication. The full paper is then available to anyone interested, usually only other people working in the same field. This process is called peer review and usually weeds out poorly done research. Also, researchers are very conscious of their reputation and do not want to risk ridicule from their peers.

Show horses and work horses

2005-07-19T09:45:00.000-05:00

Sen. Trent Lott (r-Miss) has the gift of gab. When he was leader of the Senate a reporter asked him why some Senators were on TV so much more than other Senators. He said the Senate has show horses and work horses. The work horses are off camera getting the people's work done. Senator Lott has that 'gentlemanly' southern accent and expression that is pleasant to the ear. He also is outspoken and candid...rare qualities in Washington. That and a moment of poor judgement at Strom Thurmond's retirement party cost him his Senate leader job.

In my career in the civil service I knew some "show horses" who looked good and sounded good in meetings but did not do the hard work and never got their hands dirty. They got promoted to management.

U.S. Senator Trent Lott

Dilbert cartoons featuring Wally

2005-07-18T23:21:00.000-05:00

Wally is such a worthless employee he is funny. I knew some like Wally in my civil service career...it was not funny in real life.

It's a Muslim Problem, It Needs a Muslim Solution

2005-07-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

Thomas Friedman is a Pulitzer prize author and columnist for the New York Times. He has shown insight into the Muslim terrorist problem. Here are some excerpts from his columns:

"Why are young Sunni Muslim males, from London to Riyadh and Bali to Baghdad, so willing to blow up themselves and others in the name of their religion? Virtually all suicide bombers, of late, have been Sunni Muslims. There are a lot of angry people in the world. Angry Mexicans. Angry Africans. Angry Norwegans. But the only ones who seem to feel entitled and motivated to kill themselves and totally innocent people, including other Muslims, over their anger are young Sunni radicals. What is going on?

Neither we nor the Muslim world can run away from this question any longer. This is especially true when it comes to people like Muhammad Bouyeri - a Dutch citizen of Moroccan origin who last year tracked down the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a critic of Islamic intolerance, on an Amsterdam street, shot him 15 times and slit his throat with a butcher knife. He told a Dutch court on the final day of his trial on Tuesday: "I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion."

It is hard not to notice two contrasting stories that have run side by side during the past week. One is the story about the violent protests in the Muslim world triggered by a report in Newsweek (which the magazine has now retracted) that U.S. interrogators at GuantÃ¡namo Bay desecrated a Koran by throwing it into a toilet. In Afghanistan alone, at least 16 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in anti-American rioting that has been linked to that report. In the same newspapers one can read the latest reports from Iraq, where Baathist and jihadist suicide bombers have killed 400 Iraqi Muslims in the past month - most of them Shiite and Kurdish civilians shopping in markets, walking in funerals, going to mosques or volunteering to join the police.

Yet these mass murders - this desecration and dismemberment of real Muslims by other Muslims - have not prompted a single protest march anywhere in the Muslim world. And I have not read of a single fatwa issued by any Muslim cleric outside Iraq condemning these indiscriminate mass murders of Iraqi Shiites and Kurds by these jihadist suicide bombers, many of whom, according to a Washington Post report, are coming from Saudi Arabia. The Muslim worldÂs silence about the real desecration of Iraqis, coupled with its outrage over the alleged desecration of a Koran, highlights what we are up against...

Religiously, if you want to know how the Sunni Arab world views a ShiiteÂs being elected leader of Iraq, for the first time ever, think about how whites in Alabama would have felt about a black governorÂs being installed there in 1920. Some Sunnis do not think Shiites are authentic Muslims, and are indifferent to their brutalization. At the same time, politically speaking, some Arab regimes prefer to see the pot boiling in Iraq so the democratization process can never spread to their countries. That's why their official newspapers rarely describe the murders of civilians in Iraq as a massacre or acts of terror. Such crimes are usually sanitized as 'resistance' to occupation.

It is essential that the Muslim world wake up to the fact that it has a jihadist death cult in its midst. If it does not fight that death cult, that cancer, within its own body politic, it is going to infect Muslim-Western relations everywhere. Only the Muslim world can root out that death cult. It takes a village. What do I mean? I mean that the greatest restraint on human behavior is never a policeman or a border guard. The greatest restraint on human behavior is what a culture and a religion deem shameful. It is what the village and its religious and political elders say is wrong or not allowed. The Muslim village has been derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks. When Salman Rushdie wrote a controversial novel involving the prophet Muhammad, he was sentenced to death by the leader of Iran. To this day - to this day - no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden.

Some Muslim leaders have taken up this challenge. This past week in Jordan, King Abdullah II hosted an impressive conference in Amman for moderate Muslim thinkers and clerics who want to take back their faith from those who have tried to hijack it. But this has to go further and wider. The double-decker buses of London and the subways of Paris, as well as the covered markets of Riyadh, Bali and Cairo, will never be secure as long as the Muslim village and elders do not take on, delegitimize, condemn and isolate the extremists in their midst. "

Note from Bill: There are many local and satalite TV stations in the Muslim world that stream constant propaganda that demonizes America, Israel and the non-Muslim world. Terrorist activities are overlsanitizedsanatised. Film of Americans arresting Iraqis will be shown over and over with angry commentary but innocent victims of car bombs are ignored. The Muslim public is taken in by this and the Clerics add their own lies and inflammatory rhetoric. The result is a lot of misinformed, angry people.

Muslims killing Muslims

2005-07-15T07:19:00.000-05:00

3/25/2004 7:34 AM
Muslims: (letter to H-T)
Radical clerics have hijacked the Islamic movement worldwide and are turning their followers into murderers. Muslims are killing Hindus in India, Jews in Israel and murdering Christians all over the Middle East. These sinister Emirs preach death and destruction to the infidels (non-Muslims). The Nazis exterminated people based on race. The Communists murdered millions based on their supposed class. Now, the Emir’s are urging genocide for all people who have the wrong religion. For the (male) suicide bombers, the Emirs promise martyrdom in heaven with 72 virgins. This thinking is primitive, superstitious claptrap that should have been left behind in the middle ages. Where are the moderate Muslims? Why are they silent? Why have there been no letters in the H-T on this subject from Muslims.?

Aid to Africa...Who gets it?

2005-07-08T08:32:00.000-05:00

Robert Mugabe is the dictator of Zimbabwe. He has ruined the country's economy and looted it for himself and his supporters. Africa has many of the most corrupt governments in the world. Nigeria is notorious for total corruption of all public services.

A reporter observed this:
On a hot, dusty road a convoy of three black Mercedes luxury cars throw up a cloud of dust onto people walking who have no transportation. The government offfcials in the cars are part of the corrupt clique that rules the country. The people on the road refer to their government as "the men of the Mercedes".

The Chinese Invasion

2005-07-03T09:14:00.000-05:00

Interesting article on Chinese imports.
The Chinese Invasion

A sad subject

2005-06-18T07:28:00.000-05:00

Saw a TV commercial. It probably was a public service type, I don’t recall. It showed a senior lady (maybe mid or late 60’s) in her kitchen. She pauses, turns and heads for her living room saying something like “I hope the kids have good weather for their trip this weekend. We should ....” then she stops and realizes the living room is empty and she is alone. Her face becomes sad and she returns to the kitchen. A message then comes on about caring for loved ones especially if their spouse has passed away. This affected me so much I could hardly stand it.

Thomas Sowell: Liberals and class: part III

2005-06-14T07:51:00.000-05:00

Great article on menial, "dead end" jobs.
Thomas Sowell: Liberals and class: part III