Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

Rite (r ī t), n. Any customary observance or practice. (Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary.) Rite, n. A religious or semi-religious ceremony fixed by law, precept or custom, with the essential oil of sincerity carefully squeezed out of it. (Ambrose Bierce – The Devil's dictionary.) The local newspaper recently announced that our district representative to Congress is scheduling a series of “town hall” meetings with his constituents in order to discuss his plans for creating jobs, and to listen to the participants' ideas on the subject. He holds these meetings several times throughout the year, so I feel justified in considering them “rites” under the first definition above, and it has been my experience that they also satisfy the second definition. His ideas for creating jobs are not really ideas - they are ideology: (1) cut taxes, particularly on higher income taxpayers, and (2) cut government spending. These are the same trite recommendations which he ma...

        Dear Joe, First I want to congratulate you on your record as a coach, and on the many honors and awards you have received over the years. I especially want to applaud your stressing of academic achievement as well as athletic ability for your players. Such an effort is an important contribution toward the goal of turning out good, well-rounded citizens. I know that you reported what you heard to your bosses, which is exactly what the law requires. But Joe, you know that as an exemplary citizen that is not enough. I am reminded of the attack on Kitty Genovese in 1964. She was stabbed, but managed to escape her attacker for a short time. He came back 10 minutes later, raped her, and finished her off. Reportedly, several neighbors heard or saw parts of the attack, but no one called the police - If only one person had, she might be alive today. I know this is not quite the same, but the principal is similar. Kitty lost her life, and these yo...

Who said , “. . . more spending is not what California or this country needs,” and “. . .congressional Democrats and the administration continue to insist that we can spend our way out of this recession and create jobs, but the numbers just don't add up?" A Republican? Right. And who said, "We don't spend money on defense to create jobs. But defense cuts are certainly a path to job loss, especially among our high-skilled workforces. There is no private sector alternative to compensate for the government's investment?" A Democrat? Wrong! Both comments were made by the same person – Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif! In the first case, Rep. McKeon was speaking about President Obama's $825B stimulus package in 2009. In the second instance, McKeon, now Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was speaking about the military budget, which faces spending cuts of up to $600B if the bipartisan deficit cutting panel can't find a compromise within the next 18...

Since medieval times, corporations have been legal formats created by the government, such as the Crown, Governor, Legislature, etc., to enable citizens to do business as a group. As the American colonies developed and won their independence, corporations for the most part remained in the background. (The Boston Tea Party, wherein the Sons of Liberty dumped 342 crates of British East India Company tea into the ocean, was a notable exception.) The vast majority of Americans at the time lived and worked on small family farms. The real threat was the unilateral, unaccountable power of King George III, and the founders of a new nation, skeptical of that kind of power, formed a government of checks and balances to prevent any one branch from getting too powerful. Although corporations were not mentioned in the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson famously noted that representative government’s purpose was “to curb the excesses of the monied interests.” After the American Revolution, corporatio...

     It was no surprise that all the articles on the National News page of Monday's newspaper were concerned with the “officially” ended recession and various reactions to it. The major story discussed whether the ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” (OWS) movement is here to stay or will just fade away as so many social movements have done in the past. I will get to the other articles shortly.      The OWS movement is based on the premise that the one percent of households who control the “vast majority” of the nation's wealth do so while the remaining 99% are suffering as they struggle to make ends meet. Just as the Missouri mule skinner had to get his student's attention by hitting him with a baseball bat, I believe the term “vast majority” was picked out of the blue in order to get the attention of potential sympathizers; I do not believe that using fictitious figures will help the movement.      Don't misunderstand me – the true...

     On September 23rd researchers at CERN, Europe’s main physics laboratory, announced that subatomic particles called neutrinos had apparently sped from the lab’s headquarters near Geneva, through the Earth’s crust, to an underground detector 730km (450 miles) away, around 60 billionths of a second faster than light would take to cover the same distance. If this observation turns out to be true, it will mean that Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, which sets the speed of light as the limit of velocity in the Universe, is in need of tweaking.      According to the Special Theory, traveling faster than light would open the possibility of travel through time, which would lead to several paradoxes. For example: There was a young lady named Bright, Who could travel faster than light. She took off one day, In a relative way, And came back the previous night. Could a person travel back in time and kill his grandfather before the ti...

     Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. - Isaac Asimov.      Isaac Asimov (1920 – 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. A prolific author and editor of more than 500 books and 90,000 letters and postcards, his interests ranged from science fiction to popular science to humor, and are listed in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System. Paul Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, has stated that it was Asimov's concept of psychohistory that inspired him to become an economist.      In my opinion , the above quote is one of the most incisive statements Asimov made during his lengthy career. Following are some well-known examples of popular opinions that are contrary to the facts of the situation....

     Session two of the four part series was presented by Mahlon Fuller, the watch supervisor of the Pittsburgh International Airport's control tower and radar room on the morning of 9/11/01. He participated in the shutdown of the nation's air space; with some 4,000 planes in the air, the mission was accomplished in less than three hours.      Shortly after the Pentagon was hit, Fuller evacuated the radar room and control tower after a hijacked plane, later determined to be United 93, was spotted heading directly for the facility. When he returned to the radar room the plane was off the scope. Although he was indoors and did not see the it, Fuller believes the plane passed directly over the tower before crashing near Shanksville. eight miles beyond Pittsburgh's radar coverage.      His narrative was accompanied by an NTSB animation of the last three minutes of United 93, showing not only the flight path, but also the air spee...

     The retirement community which I call home is presenting four seminars on the title subject of this blog entry. I attended the first, Flight 93 , last Monday. The movie on A & E was nominated for eight Primetime Emmys, and won two of them. If you have not seen it, you should.      It is the story of one of the four ill-fated airliners that were hijacked by Muslim terrorists on September 11, 2001. Three of them hit their intended targets, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but thanks to heroic efforts by the passengers, Flight 93 missed its intended target, believed to be either the National Capitol or the White House.      Through cellphone calls to their families, the passengers learn about the fates of the other three planes, and it gradually dawns on them that they are also on a flight destined to end in death. The scenes go back and forth between the passengers, their families, and the authorities, and the...

     It would be nice if there were just two sides to every question, but it's just not true. For example, if I were to ask what needs to be done to end the current recession, the answers would run the gamut from more government spending to cutting spending to the bone, from increasing taxes on the wealthy to cutting taxes for everyone, and countless other real and imaginary solutions.      Even in court the question ostensibly is guilt or innocence of the defendant, but we all know that the verdict goes to the attorney who successfully convinces the jury that his analysis of the “shades of gray” is the correct one. If it were not so, no “guilty” party would ever later be set free on the basis of better evidence.      One of the problems with growing older is that one can discern the gray shades; as a result one's judgment swings back and forth between the “sides” of the question. It can get very confusing.   ...

There is considerable controversy at the present time between the competing “theories” of natural selection and intelligent design. This disagreement has several roots, but I believe one of the most important ones has to do with a misunderstanding of what it is that scientists do. Even many scientists seem to have forgotten.         When a scientist is doing science, he is testing a theory and reporting his observations. For example, he may have a theory that if he mixes vinegar and baking soda, he will observe that oxygen will be formed. To his dismay he finds that when he actually performs the experiment carbon dioxide appears instead. He must retest and update his theory under all conceivable conditions.         But when he issues a report of his findings to other scientists, he will not say that carbon dioxide is “caused” by mixing vinegar and baking soda; he will report that mixing the two is followed by the ap...

     Despite the goings-on in Washington, it is possible for people to disagree substantially on a given subject, and still discuss it openly and civilly. I know our fractured society indicates otherwise, but I attended two events yesterday which supported my contention.     Event one was lunch with a small group of men, seven to be exact, with whom I worked many years ago. Most of them lean toward the conservative side, although I do not think any of them would consider himself to be a “tea party” member, although one of them did state that Obama is the worst president that has served during his lifetime of, here I am guessing, 85+ years. Disappointed as I am with Obama, I am not ready to go quite that far, although I was unable to muster any argument which I thought would change his mind.      But I did mention that I thought Senator Mitch McConnell's statement, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for Presiden...

      Although ten years have elapsed since 19 people from Saudi Arabia, at the bidding of Osama bin Laden, murdered 3,000 Americans in an attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, conspiracy theories about the event still persist. Today I want to examine not only those theories pertaining to the 9/11 attack, but a couple of others which have been around for some time.      The World Trade Center Attack: The “9/11 truthers,” as they call themselves, claim that the U.S. Government either knew of the attack in advance and did nothing, or else actively orchestrated the attack in order to justify launching wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, curtail civil liberties, and consolidate and extend the powers of the Bush Administration.       One of the more vocal organizations has been the group Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth . To support its claims, the group points to the "free fall" pace of the collapse of ...

      According to an old joke, a Missouri mule-skinner was called in to train a very recalcitrant mule. The first thing the trainer did was to take a 2x4 and hit the mule over the head. When asked why he did that, the trainer replied, “Well, first I have to get his attention.”      If it served any useful purpose, the “tea party” managed to get the attention of the American public regarding the national deficit. Although the timing is bad, the concept of deficit reduction has been accepted by the majority of people. That's “the concept,” but according to a recent Gallup Poll there is very little agreement on the details. In fact, the only item which garnered a majority of public approval for cutting spending was foreign aid.      The pollsters asked the persons in the sample to “please say whether you favor or oppose cutting government spending in each of the following areas.” Here are the results: ...

      If you have been following my blog, you know that I am not very happy with President Obama's approach to solving the country's problems. But at least his activities are grounded in reality – I do not believe they are based on a disbelief of modern science. I cannot say the same about any of his Republican rivals, and that has me concerned.      The recent hurricane has people asking the question: Was Irene a result of global warming? And the answer has two parts: (1) No one knows, and (2) That's the wrong question. It is impossible for anyone to say whether a particular phenomenon is a result of global warming; hurricanes have been around since long before global warming began.      The proper question is: Should we expect more such catastrophic phenomena as a result of global warming? And the answer is: Absolutely, including not only hurricanes, but also extremes of temperature, droughts, floods and tornados. ...

      An article in this morning's newspaper is headlined “Mennonite college drops U.S. anthem.” The article goes on to state that Goshen college in Indiana is dropping the national anthem in favor of “America The Beautiful.”      The school had never played “The Star Spangled Banner” before sporting events until last year, saying the image of bombs bursting in air was too violent for a college whose motto is “Healing the World, Peace by Peace.” At that time the college opted for an instrumental version of the song, with a review after one year.      The year is up, the “Star Spangled Banner” is out and “America, The Beautiful” is in at Goshen.      Of course, this decision is not very popular with many people, who consider it unpatriotic.      But I don't understand why this is so. Regardless of the song played primarily at sporting events, I still love my country; I see no re...

     I recently attended the 65th reunion of my high school class. It was a simple affair – it consisted of a buffet lunch, looking at old pictures, and drifting around the room greeting people we had not seen for many years.      But we didn't need a special program. It was surprising how quickly and clearly memories of long forgotten events came flashing back upon hearing a key word or two. Most were good memories, although there were occasional recalls of events that perhaps would have been better left in the hidden section of the mind. I do not think anyone deliberately mentioned any forgettable event – they arose as a byproduct of some more pleasant discussion.      In some cases it was not even necessary to say anything to bring back a memory. I was introduced to one lady who turned out to be a flame which was extinguished at graduation. (I almost said an old flame, but with post-youths such as I am, I hesitate to use...

     I live in a retirement community, which has, as a part of its facilities, a Healthcare Center for those elderly people who need 24/7 nursing care. As such, the Center is subject to state standards of operation.      Government inspectors come in, sometimes without warning, to assure that the required standards are being met. Such a drop-in occasion occurred on a recent Saturday morning.      Because no such center is perfect, our center received some deficiency tags; it is my understanding that the average inspection turns up an average of eight such tags. Here are a few of the deficiencies for which our Center got tagged: The inspectors were at our premises for four days. During that time they spotted three flies in the building. A tag was issued for a pest control deficiency. One patient arrived at the facility on Friday afternoon, the day before the inspector showed up at 9:00 am. The patient brought with her a sm...

     Not officially, of course, but the recent actions of the Great Comproloser certainly mirror those of his “loyal opposition.” In spite of Dick Cheney's remark that “deficits don't matter,” the Republican strategy for insuring that Obama is a one term president consists of carping about, what else? The deficit. (Cheney would probably not be conservative enough to run for office as a Republican in 2011.) And it might work, but Obama should know better than to join them.      But the problem is not the deficit, it's jobs, jobs, jobs.      On August 5, 2011, Standard and Poors lowered the Federal Credit Rating from AAA to AA+, a rating that most businesses would love to have. Expectations were that the government would have to pay a higher rate of interest in order to borrow money through T-bills, Treasury Bonds, etc. One week later, August 12, interest rates on government securities were at an all time low. Lenders still c...

     … if you are the United States of America. At least that's some many members of Congress seem to think. That's what the recent Debt Ceiling debacle was all about.      The U.S. does not borrow money to pay current expenses – it borrows money to pay items for which it is already obligated. If Congress wants to cut expenses, it should do so by curtailing spending through the budget process - not by refusing to pay bond-holders, government contractors and Social Security recipients, any more than an individual should just refuse to pay his mortgage or utilities.      The standoff was not a matter of the two sides being unable to reach an agreement; the idea that there was a disagreement was invalid from the start. It was similar to the case of a firefighter who lights fires because he likes to extinguish them.      Columnist Donald Kaul has come up with a good analogy:      The com...