Category Archives: Politics

I just don’t get it

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There are some things that are just completely incomprehensible to me. Maybe someone else can put it this into words I can understand:

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) unequivocally opposes and condemns all invocations of the Holocaust in political discourse.

Does this sort of prohibition also apply to invocations of the Soviet, Chinese, and Cambodian genocides as well? Or is there something special about the Nazi regime that means it is special? If so, then why? And how does one determine this “specialness” in advance rather than just memorizing some rules someone made up?

Further along that same line I have had numerous people tell me my “Jews in the Attic Test” is “brilliant”, “genius”, “one of the best things you have ever written” and it got me a “Thinking Blogger Award”. But one Jew I pointed it out to told me, “I agree with everything you say here but you must change the name. You don’t realize how offensive that is to Jews.”

What?

I. Just. Don’t. Get. It.

‘Universes’ Isn’t a Word

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I don’t know.  I like watching The Universe series on The History Channel (once I get past the stupid graphics and the talking-down-to they give us) but this guy, a frequent contributor to The Universe, seems a little too full of himself for someone who apparently doesn’t understand the words he’s using.

Just as there are many solar systems in our galaxy, and many other galaxies in the universe, there may be, we find, other somethings (he uses “soap bubbles”) in the universe.  “Universe” has it right there in the word– Uni.  There can be only one.  What all it may include is a subject for further study and discovery, but there is only one.  Please.

Maybe this bugs me more than it should, but I don’t think so.  When it comes to cross-culture or cross-generational communication it is critically important.  Simple things like the meaning of “the People” and of “…shall not be infringed” have been under assault for example.  If we’re not constantly on our guard we lose our history.  When we lose our history we lose our culture and our freedom.

For the Sesame Street audience, “soap bubble” works OK, but surely there’s a better choice.  I’ll take it over “multiple universes” any day though, as the latter is a direct contradiction of terms, hanging right out there in your face.

Encarta offers this definition of the universe; “the totality of all matter and energy that exists in the vastness of space, whether known to human beings or not.”  Well there you have it, see?  You might want to alert the theoretical physicists and the astronomers you know.  That last clause is even better than I’d hoped.  I’d figured on something more like “everything that exists everywhere, period. No, really– everything. Seriously. Dude” but that definition has a bit of a problem built into it.  Ten points if you can describe it.

Quote of the day—Cliff Schecter

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If you are looking for the literal embodiment of dysfunction in US political culture and the institutions that serve it, look no further than the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the deadly and divisive role it plays in shaping the political agenda. Specifically, the radically and reliably dishonest, dangerous and deranged legislation they foist upon the American people day in and day out through their purchase of most Republican and many Blue-Dog Democratic officeholders.

…

We’re talking here about people who shouldn’t be allowed to make their own beds, much less public policy.

Cliff Schecter
October 29, 2011
They have the right to remain silent
[I find it appropriate that someone who says this sort of thing about a civil rights group protecting a specific enumerated right used Al Jazeera as his vehicle for hate. And that he is a weekly columnist for them is no surprise.—Joe]

A masters degree in WHAT?

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The Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas brags they are, “The first school in the nation to offer a Master of Public Service (MPS) degree.”

I wonder which side of, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” they are training people for.

Or is this is a school for interns who desire to service public officials?

Quote of the day—Ken Lewenza

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The introduction of Bill C-19 today in the House of Commons, and its possible coming into force, will set Canada’s gun control efforts back decades.

Ken Lewenza
Canadian Auto Workers National President
October 25, 2011
Harper’s Gun Bill Sets Canada Back Decades, CAW says
[I find that hard to believe since the act being repealed was passed in 1995. But it does set them back a good bit. Now if they can just be pushed into extinction.

And why is the Canadian Auto Workers getting into a debate about gun control?

Which cars sold in the U.S. are made in Canada? I want to make sure I don’t buy any.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Mark Alger

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It’s like I always say, the Tragedy of the Commons is a tragedy of commons. No commons, no tragedy. How much simpler could it get?

Mark Alger
October 24, 2011
Comment to Quote of the day—Ted Turner.
[There are some commons that probably have to stay common. For the example the atmosphere, the oceans, and to a certain extent the electromagnetic spectrum. But it is an idea worth giving considerable consideration.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ted Turner

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I don’t like what we’re doing to the national forests, cutting trees down at taxpayers’ expense and destroying the forest, just so we can have a few jobs. That is like saying, Adolf Hitler trying to justify the Nazi concentration camps — it provided employment for people. Bulls–t! I’m fanatical. A part of me is so angry that I want to take out a gun and do something about it . . . Even though in my heart I do get angry and frustrated, I have never done anything . . . and I want to go down and burn lumber mills in the middle of the night and spike trees, I don’t do it. I just dream about it occasionally. I work within the system.

Ten Turner
Sometime before 1993.
[Apparently Turner is a typical liberal with a propensity for falsehood (it’s not at taxpayer expense, lumber companies PAY for the trees and have to replant afterward) and violence. Trees are a great renewable resource and apparently Turner doesn’t comprehend that.

I would like to suggest Mr. Turner try living for a month or so without wood products. Of course I suppose he could use one of his silk shirts to wipe his ass when he runs out of toilet paper. Then someone should complain about the exploited silkworms.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee

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Corporate greed, racial discrimination and oppression, and police brutality and murders are among the many guaranteed products of the capitalist system of production. But exploitation, injustice and oppression inevitably give rise to resistance struggles, with each of these struggles needing to be patiently built in its own right around its particular demands. Yet these seeming separate struggles are greatly strengthened when they fire each other up in united actions against the common class enemy. This is what will happen this Saturday at Westlake, and it will be another small step toward building a revolutionary movement that can win everything.

Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee
October 19, 2011
Join the October 22 march against police brutality!
[I stopped by work today and was handed a piece of paper by the Occupy Seattle crowd. It appears to be word for word the web page linked above.

You might ask, just what is it that they want to win? From the same web page, “We demand everything!” So they want a revolution to win everything? I see…

Since I walk by the Occupy Seattle crowd every day to and from work I have taken a few pictures. This should give you an idea what it is like, minus the chanting:

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October 10, 2011. Lots of tents.

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October 7th, 2011.

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October 7, 2011

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Cropped version of the picture above.

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October 10, 2011

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Cropped version of the picture above.

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October 13, 2011

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Cropped version of the picture above.

Yeah. They aren’t exactly coherent.

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October 14, 2011

I think they are going to need a lot more people supporting them to have a successful revolution. It probably also requires a group of people capable of accomplishing something more than creating and carrying poorly made signs and pitching tents on the sidewalk.—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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Is it just me or do people who use the force of government to take money from me and spend it on things I don’t think it should be spent on (nearly everything but Obama Care is one of the better examples) also want me to be happy and grateful for what they have done?

Do robbers who stick a gun or knife in your face and take your money also expect your gratitude?

Quote of the day—Glen Utzman

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Only tax the poor, not the wealthy. This would motivate the poor to work harder and not be poor anymore.  [Paraphrased]

Glen Utzman
Fall Semester 2011
[Via daughter Kimberly who is taking a class from Professor Utzman.

While this does make a great deal of sense I somehow doubt the idea would receive widespread support.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jack Minor

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Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress that a lack of gun control was to blame for the government selling guns to Mexican drug cartels.

Jack Minor
AG: Gun control would have stopped Fast and Furious
October 15, 2011
[I think what he meant to say was, “The NRA Devil made me do it!”—Joe]

Quote of the day—David Shuster

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I thought Obama was brilliant. He’s so informed. He’s circumspect. He’s articulate. He’s thoughtful. Well, I think in my lifetime, there’s never been anything like it.

David Shuster
June 2009
[And how brilliant and thoughtful do people think he is now?—Joe]

Quote of the day—Victor Davis Hanson

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The left needs a sacrificial lamb. So it has nonsensically turned with a fury on Obama as if he were culpable for getting through the left’s own agenda. If Democrats don’t blame the public’s anger on their once-beloved messenger, then they’re left only with their message itself. That’s something they simply can’t accept.

Victor Davis Hanson
September 14, 2011
Why liberals are giving prez the shiv
[And I’ll bet they thought the “Occupy Wall Street” protests would resonate more as well. As near as I can tell the left lacks a grasp on reality. That limits their ability to accomplish anything other than by using violence. They apparently realize that and are making what they think are the appropriate plans. But as son James said last night (paraphrasing), “Bring it on.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Kurt Hoffman

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If you oppose the people’s Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms in defense of their families, lives, homes and liberty, perhaps it is you who have some explaining to do.

Kurt Hoffman
October 12, 2011
Brady Campaign offended by truth about Second Amendment
[If someone opposes a right guaranteed by the Bill of Rights I think they are past the explanation stage. Either they are ignorant and need to go back to their high school government class or they are opposed to the basis of our nation and should leave the country. They simply don’t belong here. You can’t get much more fundamental about our political underpinnings than the Bill of Rights.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Joan R. Neubauer

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All of this is the stuff of a conspiracy theory that most of us would dismiss as so much rumor. Disturbingly, we have documentation that proves otherwise. Fast and Furious may have been the name the administration chose for this operation as a means of further curtailing our Second Amendment rights in a fast and furious manner. We the People must remain vigilant. For without the Second Amendment, the other nine could never stand.

Joan R. Neubauer
Conspiracy Theory: Fast and Furious an Attempt at Further Gun Control
October 11, 2011
[Yes. It is more and more disturbing. If this were a movie plot it would be dismissed as “too far out there”. The big questions now are, as in the movies, how and will the good guys win?—Joe]

California outlaws open carry

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From the LA Times:

Gov. Jerry Brown announced early Monday that he had outlawed the open carrying of handguns in public in California, a controversial practice that top law enforcement officials had denounced as dangerous.

Combined with the near impossibility of getting a concealed carry license in most of California this will, almost for certain, go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Quote of the day—Henry Louis Mencken

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The fact that I have no remedy for all the sorrows of the world is no reason for my accepting yours. It simply supports the strong probability that yours is a fake.

Henry Louis Mencken
Minority Report, H. L. Mencken’s Notebooks [78], 1956
[I’ve seen this in engineering as well as politics. Someone who doesn’t really understand the problem has great enthusiasm for a simple solution that on the surface is very appealing. This enthusiasm and confidence can sometimes be very difficult to combat because it can take a great deal of effort to educate the people advocating the solution on the error of their ways. And in fact it may be impossible to educate them because they are too stupid to understand. Gun control is one such example.

This brings us to another Mencken quote, “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

I have no idea how to deal with this in politics. I have enough trouble with it in engineering where most of the people are rational and reasonably smart. This is part of the reason that government powers should be severely constrained. Political decisions are frequently very complex issues with incomplete data sets. Even if you had rational people involved, which you frequently don’t, and they had the general populace’s best interests at heart, which they almost never do, getting a consensus on the solution that best fits the available data is nearly impossible. In politics data, if present, is cherry picked. Proper data analysis is completely absent.

It is far better to let the free market provide the “remedy for all the sorrows of the world” because the solutions attempted will be varied. The non-solutions will quickly end up in the dustbin. The partial solutions will be tweaked and retried. The true solutions will dominate and another “sorrow of the world” will be reduced or eliminated.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Janet Reno

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The most effective means of fighting crime in the United States is to outlaw the possession of any type of firearm by the civilian populace.

Janet Reno
U.S. Attorney General during the Clinton administration
1991
[Ms. Reno was mistaken. Had such a law been passed there would have been a great deal more “crime” than she would have imagined or been able to handle.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Paul M. Barrett

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Feldman is trying to organize a politically moderate gun owners’ association as an alternative to the NRA. So far, he has not had much luck with that project.

Paul M. Barrett
Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun page 267.
[Richard Feldman,Esq. doesn’t have anything on his web site about trying to do this but Barrett knows him personally and perhaps has inside knowledge that I am not privy to. That aside, this would appear to be the worst error I found in the book. I have a lot of good things to say about the book and will do so in another post. I really liked the book so don’t let my disagreement with Barrett about the quote above adversely color your thoughts about the book. That would be very unfair.

The error in the quote above is as follows: I know many people who have left the NRA and having nothing good to say about the organization. All of them left because the NRA was too “moderate”. They felt the NRA compromised when they shouldn’t have. The anti-gun groups try to paint the NRA as extremist but that is certainly not the viewpoint from the majority of gun owners that I know. That Feldman hasn’t “had much luck with that project” would indicate to me that there may be a problem with his vision. Admittedly the “market” for political gun organizations is a bit crowded and it is always difficult to break into a new market even if you do have a lot of money and/or an exceptional product. My impression is that Feldman has neither. The “product” Feldman is selling, if he is in fact trying to do this, is not going to find a very large market. The people that yearn for a more “moderate” NRA either advocate against guns and gun owners or don’t care about the issue. Neither of which would join such an organization.

Barrett has done a very good job with this book. He has done a lot of research and he accurately reports on many subtle points that I would not have expected him to have found. I’m a little surprised he didn’t realize the statement above does not match the reality as I know it. Perhaps he does recognize it as an error on Feldman’s part but he didn’t comment on it beyond the “not had much luck” quip.

I found similar things in the book on other topics. He has all the facts right and then fails to draw the obvious conclusion or sometimes a jarringly different conclusion from what seems obvious to me. But these are mostly little things. I really liked the book and will report about it at length very soon.—Joe]

When looters run out of places to loot

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Socialism is reaping the usual results in Greece:

Airliners will be grounded, trains halted and tax offices shut when Greek state workers strike against austerity measures on Wednesday, defying a plea by the government to rally behind its effort to fend off national bankruptcy.

Most probably don’t really understand what is happening. They think they can just demand the government hire people and people will have jobs. What their simple model doesn’t take into account is that they are no different than looters with the government doing the actual theft. The one level of indirection and the facade of respectability allows them to believe they are not engaged in immoral behavior.

The truth is that while economic laws are less well understood and probably more subtle than the laws of physics they are no less certain. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. They have been looting the people who produce for so long the producers have either left the country, given up, or have simply run out of wealth to loot.

I’ve often wondered what it looks like when those who know no life outside of looting run out of places to loot. We sort of saw what happened in the USSR in the ‘80s but that was before the Internet and they were a much more closed society than Greece.

Popcorn anyone?