George Washington's Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade, Don Yaeger - A Goodreads Review

George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Gave this a 4 star review, but it was closer to 3.5.

On my scale, 4 stars is a book that I expect to get back if I loan it out as I want to read it again and 3 stars is a book that I will recommend, give away, but don't want it back.

This was an engaging historical read.  It was a little short on details of the operational minutiae of the spy ring.  It did cover in broad strokes how the ring developed and operated.  Quite an interesting read.



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Slow Apocalypse by John Varley - A Goodreads Review

Slow Apocalypse by John Varley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2 Star review - On my scale 2 stars probably isn't worth picking it up.

I read the first 1/4 of the book and did not finish it.

This was an interesting concept, but it failed in that the primary impact of the "apocalypse" simply didn't much impact on the primary characters.

Aside from losing electricity and having to camp out, they were not significantly impacted by the series of disasters. Given their proximity to one of the major impact zones, this wasn't a very realistic representation of the unfolding disasters.

I just couldn't get into it.

The book was well written and well edited. It just didn't grab my interest.

A better take on this general idea was Lucifer's Hammer.

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Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott - A Goodreads Review

Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


From reading elsewhere, you will already know that Spirit Gate is the first of the Crossraods trilogy of books written by Kate Elliott (Alis Rasmussen).

I gave this a 2 star rating and thought about saying it was really a 2.5 star rating.  I also toyed with simply not finishing the book.  A 2 star rating is an honest reflection of my experience.

Ms. Elliott's other work may demonstrate an outstanding ability to tell stories.  This particular book left me with the impression that her skills fall well short of writers like Melanie Rawn, Sara Douglass, or George R.R. Martin.

Caution - spoilers ahead.

The Skull Throne - A Goodreads Review

The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


On my scale, a 5 star book is one that I would consider buying for someone else to read.

This is another great installment in Mr. Brett's "Demon Cycle" series of books.  It is frequently difficult for the middle books of a series to maintain a high level of interest in the reader.  It can be difficult to manufacture meaningful incremental plot points that service the larger plot.

Mr. Brett easily manages to continue to present unique perspectives on the story with a steady succession of plot points that engage and entertain.

This book and this series should be featured in every book award competition in the coming year.  This is award worthy fiction.



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Ressurection: A Zombie Novel - A Goodreads Review

Resurrection: A Zombie Novel by Michael J. Totten

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have been a huge fan of Michael Totten's writing on the Middle East for years.  He has a deft ability to present a complete vision of the subject matter at hand.  He also has a great sense of narrative in developing a theme.

I was expecting that to translate into his fictional writing as well.  While this was a reasonably entertaining read, it just didn't hold my attention very well.  Something was missing in the plot as it seemed to play on all the usual tropes.

On my scale, a three star book is one I enjoyed reading once, but if I give you my hard copy, I don't want it back as I'm not likely to read it again.



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Knight's Shadow - A Goodreads review

Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An outstanding read.  Another clear 5 star book from Sebastien de Castell!

Just go read it.

In my book, a 5 star book is one that I would be willing to buy for others to read.

This book picks up where book one left off.

The magistrates have discovered the dead King's daughter; his heir.  We discover that he may actually have more than one heir.

The King's mother has been working behind the scenes to build a new force of fighters to oppose the Dukes who are now ruthlessly ruling their lands unconstrained by a King/Queen and their magistrates.

We learn a bit more about the politics between the Dukes.  They apparently only cooperate when it is to their advantage.

We also learn a bit more about the knights that serve the Dukes.  The knights and the magistrates are the two competing forces.  Where the magistrates serve the law, the knights follow a code where it is honorable to enforce the whims of their respective Duke.

The Dukes discover that the dead King's vision of government constrained by law has some merit.

Like book 1, this book's reflections on the theme of limited government are common sense.  Like book 1, the end provoked another significant emotional response.

This book is time and money well spent.  Go get a copy.



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Traitor's Blade - A Goodreads Review

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What a great read!  Just go read it.

An outstanding first book.

In my world, 5 stars means that I'd be willing to buy a copy and give it away.

A fantastic book about three judges/magistrates that travel the land ensuring that everyone obeys the law.  The prospect of limited power naturally draws the ire of the Dukes that hold most of the power.

To ensure that the law is obeyed, the King has trained and equipped these magistrates to be able to personally enforce the law.

At the start of the book, the King is already dead.  He was killed by the armies of the Dukes.  What unfolds is the story of how the King as an unlikely heir became King and how the magistrates because magistrates.

Also unfolding is the King's quests that he gave to every magistrate before he surrendered to the Dukes.

I find the premise of the book to be fascinating in that it reflects some very common sense notions about government and the law.  The King, while he lived, had a small government that was only strong in the areas where it was able to be strong.  There is also the theme of ensuring that no one is every above the law.

The ending provoked a very strong reaction from me.  I cannot recommend this book enough.

Hopefully, this series will live up to the expectations of this first book.  We should expect this book to be on the short list for every award.



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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - A Goodreads Review

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" by N.K. Jemisin was a great read.  I gave it a solid 4 star rating.

In my book, 4 stars means that if I lend you a physical copy of the book, then I expect to get it back so I can read it again in the future.

The book has as a central premise that one of the universe's three gods has been forced into service for one group of humans.  There are also a handful of lesser godlings that were created by the three gods that have also been forced into serving the same group of humans.

This small group of humans in turn uses the divine power at their disposal to dominate the rest of the nations of the planet; hence the hundred thousand kingdoms in the book's title.  It appears that they use this divine power sparingly, preferring instead to act through a sort of massive parliament that gives some measure of representation to each nation.

The division of divine power harkens back to morality in the early days of Dungeon & Dragons in gaming.  D&D began with the idea that being good equated to being lawful.  Similarly, being evil equated to being chaotic.  Neutral was in between as one might expect.

Later editions of D&D introduce the concept of being "chaotic good" and "lawful evil".

The one area where the rulers do lavish a bit of divine power is in the construction and maintenance of their castle/city that is located in the sky.  Ms. Jemisin had a very complete vision of such a city and shares it with the reader in loving detail.

The thumbnail sketch of the plot is that there was a war.  The now ruling group of humans aided one of the gods in the war.  As a result, another of the gods was killed....or so we think...and the rest were subjugated and sentenced to serve the humans that had been so helpful.

The daughter of the king falls in love with someone from one of the outlying nations.  Apparently such things are rare but do occur on the fringes of the noble family.  It was unheard of for someone so close to ruling to divert away from ruling.

The daughter leaves to marry and live in the remote nation.  She in turn has a daughter who ends up leading the remote nation.  Throughout her existence, this granddaughter has only known that her people suffer because her mother left the capitol to be with her father.  An embargo of sorts was placed against her homeland.  She presumes that the embargo was the will of her grandfather.

Eventually, she is called to the capitol.  She is recognized as a member of the royal family and declared to be one of three family members who will become the next monarch after her grandfather's impending death.  The other two candidates are an aunt and an uncle.  As you might imagine, there are some politics involved in just about everything that happens after that point.

Ms. Jemisin tells an intriguing and entertaining tale in a fully developed fantasy world that is imaginative and largely functional.

If this review has raised your interest, then please go borrow or buy this book and enjoy the read.  Nothing that follows will enhance that experience.  There aren't any spoilers, but I'm using the spoiler space just to save folks the trouble.

What follows is tangentially related to the Hugo kerfuffles that have been growing recently.  You have been warned.

There is one defect to the plot.  It isn't fatal, but it is there.

WaPo - Predicatable Bias

Welcome back to LaaC - formerly Dann's Dain Bramage - formerly where I used to write on a regular basis.  Hopefully, this is a trend away from "formerly".

We have a couple Kindle's in the house.  One of them has an app from the Washington Post.  They very wisely offer the first few months of reading for free to get you hooked.  Then they ask for $1 for six months and then $4 a month thereafter.  Thus far, it appears to be just their current stories.  I haven't found a way look for past stories.  But I'm working on it.

I had resisted paying anything to the WaPo.  Their leftist bias shows up far too frequently.  However, I have enjoyed a lot of their non-biased reporting.  So we ponied up the buck to start paying for content.

And what do we get on day #1?  Predictable drivel.

The first story is on the kerfuffle in Texas over the coming military exercises.  For the record, I think the concern is misplaced.  Mr. Obama isn't running a stealth offensive against Texas or any other state.  Even if he were, the military wouldn't go along with it.

Also for the record and as the story suggests, a least part of the problem is that there are still folks that don't trust Mr. Obama based on the color of his skin.  That's a problem that the folks in the GOP are going to have to solve.  But is not the primary problem.  Not by a long short.

From the story:

Inside, county Chairman Albert Ellison pulled out a yellow legal pad on which he had handwritten page after page of reasons why many Texans distrust President Obama, including the fact that, “in the minds of some, he was raised by communists and mentored by terrorists.”

I would add that his formative years included inculcation in an anti-colonialist perspective.  Mr. Obama seems to not understand the importance of American strength (economic, diplomatic, and military) on the world political stage in liberating billions of people from oppressive regimes and/or lifting them out of poverty.  Our advocacy of individual liberty has had a tremendously positive influence in the world.  Based on his words and his works, I don't think he appreciates of the positive influence America has had in the last 100 years.

From the story:

Obama “doesn’t take national threats seriously enough,” Ellison said, ticking off Obama’s policies toward Russia, Iran, Cuba and the Islamic State, as well as illegal immigration across the U.S. southern border and the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya.

“What he views as alarming instead is conservatism,” Ellison said, alleging that the Obama administration has used the Internal Revenue Service to attack the Tea Party and other conservative groups, been hostile to gun owners, issued what conservatives consider an illegal executive order to avoid deporting illegal immigrants, and “been complicit in stirring riots” in racially charged situations in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore.

Again, for the record, Benghazi probably was not all that some folks think it was.  There was certainly a measure of incompetence involved, but there was also the fact that, contrary to some opinions, the U.S. does not exercise infinite control in every nation around the world.

The problem in the above has to do with illegal executive orders halting the deportations of illegal immigrants.  It isn't just "conservative groups" that have a problem with those orders.  So do the courts.  Perhaps the reporter that wrote this story should read more.

Administration lawyers lied in court. The technical term is perjury.  The only reason they aren't in jail is that our courts offer lawyers very collegial treatment.

The second article was on gun ownership in Japan.  The article describes a highly regulated activity that coincides with Japan's history as well as the character of Japanese culture.  It works for them and that is fine.

The problem...from the article:

In Japan, shooting is not something you do to let off steam. People don’t go to their local ranges in T-shirts and jeans to unload a few rounds into an Osama bin Laden target.

In which the author identifies herself as a hoplophobe with little experience with gun ranges in America.  Are there Osama bin Laden targets?  Of course.  Do people wear t-shirts and jeans?  Of course.  However, the article suggests that gun ranges are loaded with people burning ammo to "let off steam".  She suggests a lack of concern with marksmanship.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  People that shoot guns are obsessed with marksmanship.  An author that owned a gun and actually experienced life at a few gun ranges would know that and would accurately convey American gun culture.

Such cavalier misreporting by the media is frustrating.

Starship Troopers - A Summary

Finally done.  Over at John Scalzi's Whatever, there is a discussion that wandered into questions about Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.  Part of the discussion was a question about how the government of that book came into being.  The answer isn't terribly long, but several aspects of the book need some introduction.

There are few thematic elements to understand.

1)  The government in SST was not "the military".  It was veterans of military service and other life risking government service.  Active military (and other government services) were banned from voting until they had completed their service.  That means the generals couldn't vote until they retired.  Only veterans of the military (and veterans of other government services) were eligible to vote and run for office.

2)  It wasn't just military service that made one eligible to vote.  There were other services that also involved a lesser degree of risk to one's life.  They all involved being subjected to harassment and general irritation by government agents (who as part of the various services, also couldn't vote until their term was completed or they retired).

3)  Anyone could volunteer.  Even someone that was a quadriplegic could volunteer for one of the services testing harsh environment survival gear.  In doing so they placed themselves at modest risk of injury or death, placed themselves subject to the caprices of superior officers, and demonstrated their willingness to accept responsibility of dying for the polity before acquiring the political authority of being able to vote as voting included the power/authority of killing citizens.

4)  SST presents the risky government service requirement for the franchise as a sort of poll tax.  The point is made that various other sorts of requirements had been tried.  (i.e. only landowners, only one race, only men, only people above a certain age)

5)  One of the big themes of SST is the balance between responsibility and authority.  He suggests that anytime someone is made responsible for something without being given an equal amount of authority (or vice versa) that bad governance is the inevitable result.  He also suggests that the same thing is true at the individual level.

A couple of modern examples:

In Wisconsin, there is a bill in their legislature that would mandate that the government prevent SNAP funds from being used to purchase certain foods.  The objective being to have those funds used to purchase the most amount of food (emphasizing beef/chicken over "luxury" foods like lobster) and to have that food be healthy (i.e. fresh veggies over potato chips).

In New York City, the government has enacted regulations banning the sales of "super sized" soft drinks due to concerns about excess soda consumption causing ill health conditions that would eventually be the responsibility of the city government.

In both cases, as the government is responsible for providing certain benefits, they are seeking the authority to ensure that those benefits are used properly.

Conversely, as the citizens receiving those benefits have the authority to compel their neighbors to fund those benefits via taxes, shouldn't they also have the responsibility to live in a manner that uses those benefits wisely?

None of the above should be taken as an endorsement one way or the other.  I'm just trying to convey the themes from SST accurately.

As suggested in #3 above, the political system was developed to maintain a balance between the extreme responsibility (dying for the polity) and the extreme authority (voting for policies that might kill someone).

6) It is asserted that civic behavior and/or civilized behavior has to be taught.  This feeds back into the responsibility/authority theme as people at one point abandon their responsibility to teach their children to behave appropriately.

There are extended discussions about how civic/civilized behavior concerned for a population larger than the local family/clan level is much harder to learn.  It is suggested that the society has developed a set of ethics that satisfies large and disparate groups of humans.  It is suggested that a similar set of ethics for dealing with aliens is being developed as well.

6A) Towards the objective of reinforcing civic/civilized behavior, corporal punishment...primarily caning...is used for most lesser offenses.  Punishments are conducted in public.  The general idea is that humans....like other animals...are pain averse.  Thus the caning provides a motivation to learn from past mistakes.

6B)  Capital punishment is the only punishment for serious offenses.  The "logic" being that a person that knowingly commits such an offense is a long term threat and needs to be eliminated.  A person that is "out of their mind" is similarly killed because if they were ever cured, then they wouldn't be able to live with themselves knowing how much they had hurt others.

7)  Nothing in the book suggests any sort of the various regimes that I have seen attributed to the book.  There appears to be some level of independent business ownership.  (The protagonist's father owns a business and was upset about some government regulation early on.)  There appears to be some level of social spending; whether it was more than we have now, less, or about the same isn't really covered.  It is entirely possible that some sort quasi socialist system is developed by these veterans of endured service.

---

Now why the heck am I writing all this?  Another guest, Lurkertype, over at Whatever asked the following.

Regarding Starship Troopers: how the heck did the military get all-powerful in the first place? Was it before or after Stalin’s Bugs attacked? And if before… then how the hell did that happen?!

The development of the fictional polity in SST occurred over a long period of time.  It is explained early on that western democracies eventually failed because extensive social programs gave individual citizens the authority to make demands on their fellow citizens without also requiring that they conduct themselves in a responsible manner.  This is coupled with a criminal system that didn't punish criminals and instead simply housed them for some period of time.  This may be criticized as being "soft on crime", but in keeping with the themes discussed above, the book suggests that such a system failed to create enough inconvenience/discomfort/pain for the guilty to associate their punishment as resulting from their deviant behavior.

The analogy of house training puppies is used in the book.

Due to the twin issues of social programs without responsibility and a criminal system that did not teach criminals to avoid similar behaviors in the future, society lost any sort of moral position to establish and maintain a government.  Governments crumbled.  Gangs of youths roamed and ruled the streets.

During the same period of time, a war is fought with China.  China wins and keeps our POWs.  The POWs either are released eventually or escape and most come home via other paths.

As society crumbles, these veterans begin to take charge of local governments.  They find that some of their fellow veterans are committing crimes.  As some of those crimes are serious enough to warrant the death penalty, these veterans decide that if a veteran is going to hang, then only veterans will have a role in handing down that sentence.  From that basic premise, the society builds a system of governance where only veterans of some sort of risky service will be allowed to vote, create, and enforce the law.

In the intervening years, military service isn't really all that hazardous.  While anyone can apply for "federal service", not that many do apply.  The franchise is widely perceived as being less valuable compared with other pursuits.

In fact, the Bug War begins while the protagonist is in boot camp and other training.  The human worlds are essentially at peace when he enters federal service.  The bugs attack and start the war while he is in training.  The "veterans only" government has been successfully in place for some time before he was born.

---

My comments.  While there are lots of plot points to discuss, there are a couple of spots that I want to cover.

The first is why this unusual system of government continues to exist in the book.  The justification is pretty slim and amounts to little more than "it exists because it works, if it didn't work something else would have replaced it".  That is just a bit hand waving.  It isn't really an explanation.

As a veteran, I recognize that veterans are on average generally better educated on governmental issues than the average non-veteran.  But veterans as individuals can believe in some pretty wonky things.  And of course, some veterans end up being criminals after they get out.

I have more than a little trouble believing that veterans of military service would provide a guaranteed better system of governance than that created by any other select group.

The second issue is capital punishment.  While it is embraced in the book, the book was written well before DNA testing, advanced forensics, and investigative journalism were able to demonstrate that many people on death row really were as innocent as they claimed.  I believe that Robert Heinlein was intelligent enough that he would have recanted his support for capital punishment in the face of so many outright innocent people being released from prison years....decades....after being originally sentenced.

I do find Starship Troopers to be a thought provoking tome that is worthy of anyone's time.  It isn't a guidebook for setting up a new polity.  But it does present some unique perspectives about the relationship between an individual and the larger society.

Who's Counting - A Goodreads Book Review

Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk by John Fund

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a frustrating book for me to read.

Voter fraud is an issue that attracts my attention.  Everyone should have the right to vote....once.

The first half of the book is a compendium of voter fraud tactics that are used by Democrats AND Republicans routinely use to skew election results.  Due to my past attention to this issue, there was little new material in the first half of the book.

One new tidbit came out of Florida where there are naturalized citizens who immigrated from Cuba running absentee voter fraud rings in areas with lots of senior citizens.  Their activities are for the benefit of local/state Republican candidates.  Given that they were active in 2000, I think it is legitimate to wonder how much their activities influenced the 2000 Presidential election.  (I still think that GW Bush was a better candidate and President than Al Gore regardless of the debate over elections issues.)

And then I hit the wall roughly half way through.  The theme of the book went from documenting voter fraud to strictly criticizing the Obama administration over the inaction of the various agencies to prosecute people that have violated federal elections laws.  A chapter or two about that lack of legal action would have been sufficient.

However, the back half of the book makes it much harder to recommend this book to those that are left of center.  When we need every political persuasion to participate in securing our elections, how can I recommend a book that so strongly disparages the left?  That is essentially the back 1/3 to 1/2 of this book.

This dichotomy was so strong that I had to put this book down for several months.

Read it for the first half.  That part of the book is worth 5 stars.



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50 Rules

As Facebook lacks a good way of viewing images at their original size, I am posting this here.  That way I can permalink the image to a readable size.

And for the record, correct attribution does indeed matter.

View the image full size if there are legibility issues.

Sacrilege

What better way to start a Monday.

I came across this short film because I watched "Memphis Belle" over the weekend.  The stars of that film included Eric Stoltz and Tate Donavan.  "Jesus" and "Hutch" respectively.

Voter Fraud: Blue On Blue Edition

Had this been properly investigated at the time, Hillary Clinton would have won Indiana in the Democrat primary.  How that might have altered the 2008 election is anyone's guess.

But make no mistake about it, voter fraud is real and it does affect our current elections.

Proper Method For Beating Your Wife...Explained!

So how many times have you ever wanted to beat your wife, but just didn't know how to go about such a task?  Courtesy of this fine individual from 2010 comes all the proper rules of etiquette that go with the responsibility of disciplining your wife!

Links to the video...and the transcript, in case your eyes want to make sure that your ears were not lying.

Similar....stuff....can be found here as well.

Dear Death, From An Admirer

There is a perception in the popular culture that those serving in the military are little more than unimaginative and uninformed automatons.  For [those] that know us best, they know that we can be some of the most engaged, engaging, and creative people around.

My example for today was discovered a couple months ago.

Dear Death

Dread not the one conceived to come for you
But I, and the forefathers of the wings upon which I stand.
I too shall cast with my brothers
That beautiful and far-reaching shadow of freedom across the lands
So that the young, the old, and the innocent may escape your burning clinch,
Your wretched breath, and your sickening belch.
You will, fall to your demise.
And from one humongo-ginormous deafening echo of thunder
Across the blue skies of our great nation,
I will have rudely intruded, eaten the scraps from your table, slept in your bed,
And hand delivered the confiscation of your last breath.
…Your secret admirer,
United States Marine.

Written by Jerry Collins, a fellow No-LOAD Marine.

Offered to you as a reminder of the day, and of those that shielded us and continue to shield us from feeling the premature chill of Death's cold grip.  In liberty, there is life.

Can You Pick One Please?

I had a little media frustration the other day.

As some will recall, Congress decided to get the U.S. Federal government out of the helium business back in the late 1990s.  We got into the helium business during WWI when helium filled dirigibles were considered pivotal to our national defenses.

We stayed in the helium business after the rise of the aircraft carrier and other airborne platforms because national defense policy has a lot of inertia.  Also businesses liked having cheap helium.

During the early 1990s, most media outlets were complaining that our national strategic helium reserve was no longer required for military preparedness.  They claimed that the program was nothing more than a grand subsidy to private businesses.  There were lots of stories about places that sold helium filled balloons with the context of "why should the taxpayer subsidize this?"

A couple days ago, I heard a report on NPR about the imminent closure of the reserve.  Here we are over 15 years later and the market has yet to spool up the production capacity to meet current demand.

So businesses are running out of helium.  The story began with the ubiquitous balloon store owner talking about how she cannot get enough helium to run her business.  It moved on from there to detail how helium is used in a lot of different industrial processes.  It included a report from an electronics manufacturer in the U.S. that had opted to use other inert gasses where it could, and to turn off the helium when it was not in use for production.

The context of the story was to promote a bill currently before Congress that would extend the federal government's involvement in helium production until the free market can catch up.

The frustration isn't so much about the media pushing for the end to this program and then pushing to extend it when the logical results of that policy come to fruition.

The frustration is with a media, in this specific instance NPR, that simply has no real understanding of free market economics.  Our existing helium supply is quite large.  Even though the market price for helium is increasing, it hasn't gotten to the point where private business owners can justify the expense of building new production facilities to compete with the helium that still is in the reserve.

The price of helium will eventually increase to that point as the volume in the reserve is slowly depleted.  There will be some volatility in the price of helium as production, storage, and use reach new balance points.  There will be some short term economic pain.  But eventually, production will increase to meet demand, albeit with less storage capacity.

And if Congress acts to keep the feds in the helium business, that painful period will last for years and perhaps decades as private businesses discover that they cannot compete with a government subsidized product.

Could someone assign these folks to read a little more Thomas Sowell and a little less Paul Krugman?

Gate Keeper

I hope to ride this new Cedar Point 'coaster very soon!

Wow. I can't believe that I forgot the f/u report.

The long and short of it was that this is an OK rollercoaster. The most frustrating thing is that it is nearly impossible to ride both sides if you do not pay for the premium park pass at Cedar Point. The non-premium guests all go to one side and the premium guests go to the other.

Quite frankly, the premium side gets a slightly better ride due to the beginning drop.

The speed aspect was OK. Not the fastest ride I have experienced. Lots of curves and swooping about. My all means, take a shot at this one if the line is under an hour (or if you pay for the premium pass).

But then you need to go ride the Raptor for a real kick ass ride.

Spock Vs. Spock

Better than Spy vs. Spy!

Look At Me Now!

I have a longer post...or an extensive series of shorter posts...in mind to talk about some recent health issues that I have been dealing with.  I hope it turns out well.

In the meantime, this is me from the fall of 2010.  A group of friends went camping.  We also did a kayak run down the Muskegon River.

 

You will notice the dapper manner in which I was wearing my life preserver.  I usually have it cinched at all times, but I loosened it up for a few minutes on a calmer stretch of the river.

Now check me out from a paddle on my birthday this year.  (4/20/2013)  It was cold at the start; like 28 deg F cold.  It didn't get much warmer by the time we finished.  So I was wearing a few extra layers.

In Laos

The United States government left our military members in southeast Asia after the Vietnam war.

The validity of that statement has been frequently debated, proven, debunked, held near and dear, and held in contempt.  It has spawned an entire industry.

The POW/MIA bracelet I wear bears the name of one Marine that very well could have been alive at the end of the war.  Although the odds of finding him alive today seem remote at best.

The Laotian government claimed to have had hundreds of US military members held as POWs at the end of the Vietnam war.  The US government declined to include Laos in the talks that concluded that conflict.  What happened to those men?

At least one of them remains alive today.

John Hartley Robertson is in his early 70s.  He has a wife and four children.  He no longer speaks English.

And he is the subject of a documentary by Michael Jorgensen.

After Toronto, the documentary moves to Washington for a highly anticipated screening May 12 at the seventh annual GI Film Festival. Jorgensen acknowledges his film has many unanswered questions: Why didn’t the military contact Robertson’s family since it’s now known reports of his survival were circulating as early as 1982? And if Robertson was known to be alive in Vietnam, “Why did the Americans leave him there for all those years?” Are there other John Hartley Robertsons in Vietnam? (Jorgensen says “a highly placed source” has told him there are and it’s not because the Vietnamese won’t let them go; “it’s like [the U.S. military] doesn’t want them to come home.”) But there’s hope the Washington showcase can build some momentum for answers.

Why indeed does the US government not want these surviving POWs to return home?

Or at least those that still want to come home.  Perhaps after being coldly abandoned to the whims of their captors, they, like John Hartley Robertson, are home.  They and their remaining families deserve to have a choice.

-----

UPDATE:

I found a supplemental story that includes additional research into the individual who claimed to be John Hartley Robertson.  A claim that was disproven by DNA analysis. 

That we left good men behind in Laos is still beyond question.  Where they, or their remains, might be is still an open question.

A Fine Cut

Paper cut with a laser.  Lots of paper.  No idea how many lasers.

That Guy Is Goofy

Well, it is Goofy from a little different perspective.

Found via Reddit.

Surely He Is Innocent!

The NYTimes predictably presents a fabulist interpretation of the detention of a terrorist at Gitmo.

I’ve been detained at Guantánamo for 11 years and three months. I have never been charged with any crime. I have never received a trial. 

I could have been home years ago — no one seriously thinks I am a threat — but still I am here. Years ago the military said I was a “guard” for Osama bin Laden, but this was nonsense, like something out of the American movies I used to watch. They don’t even seem to believe it anymore. But they don’t seem to care how long I sit here, either. 

When I was at home in Yemen, in 2000, a childhood friend told me that in Afghanistan I could do better than the $50 a month I earned in a factory, and support my family. I’d never really traveled, and knew nothing about Afghanistan, but I gave it a try. 

I was wrong to trust him. There was no work. I wanted to leave, but had no money to fly home. After the American invasion in 2001, I fled to Pakistan like everyone else. The Pakistanis arrested me when I asked to see someone from the Yemeni Embassy. I was then sent to Kandahar, and put on the first plane to Gitmo.

No one thinks he is guilty!  Why surely his interpretation of the events that led him to Gitmo must be 100% accurate.

Not quite.  Via the NYTimes' own website comes this information:

b. (S//NF) Recruitment and Travel: In the summer of 2000, Marwan Jawan (detainee's associate since the age of 8 or 10) 3 recruited detainee to travel to Afghanistan. Jawan prepared detainee for Afghanistan by providing him with training on the AK-47 assault rifle in al-Dahna, located approximately 30 minutes outside of Taiz. Based on these lessons, which occurred every Friday for four weeks preceding his travel to Afghanistan, detainee felt fully competent to go to the front-lines in Afghanistan. In late-2000, detainee traveled to Afghanistan via Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AE), and Karachi, Pakistan (PK). 4 The Pakistani travel visa in detainee's passport was obtained by Marwan. 5 c. (S//NF) Training and Activities: Detainee traveled to Afghanistan, and stayed at a house in the Wazir Akbar Khan District of Kabul. Detainee left his passport at the house in Kabul before going to the frontlines to fight the Northern Alliance. He fought at the front lines north of Kabul as a fighter in the Sadiq Combat Unit, which consisted of approximately 15 or 16 fighters. Detainee received some pay as a fighter which enabled him to purchase needed items such as food and clothing. Detainee denied knowing UBL. 6 After the US and Coalition bombing campaign initiated in Afghanistan, detainee believed it was too dangerous to be an Arab in Afghanistan; therefore he fled the front-lines in December 2001 and stopped in Kabul. Detainee continued on to Khowst, AF, where he stayed for two weeks while he attempted to flee from Afghanistan.

...

Capture Information: a. (S//NF) Detainee was captured by Pakistani forces on 15 December while attempting to cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border near Parachinar, PK, after fleeing to the Tora Bora Mountains of Afghanistan. Detainee was captured with a group of 31 other Arab al-Qaida fighters referred to by US intelligence reporting as the Dirty 30, most of whom are assessed to be UBL bodyguards and other members of UBL's security detail. 8 Pakistani authorities transferred the group to a prison facility in Peshawar, PK, where they were held for 15 days. 9 On 26 December 2001, Pakistani authorities transferred detainee from Peshawar to US custody at the Kandahar Detention Facility.

....

Detainee Threat: a. (S) Assessment: Detainee is assessed to be a HIGH risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies. b. (S//NF) Reasons for Continued Detention: Detainee is a member of al-Qaida. Detainee served as a security guard for UBL and is listed on al-Qaida affiliated documents. Detainee is assessed to have participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces in Tora Bora and was a fighter in UBL's 55th Arab Brigade. Detainee was captured with a group referred to as the Dirty 30, which included known UBL bodyguards. Detainee received basic and advanced militant training at the al-Qaida al-Faruq Training Camp, and was an al-Qaida guesthouse staff member. Detainee was recruited by known al-Qaida recruiter Marwan Jawan, who also facilitated detainee's travel to Afghanistan. o (S//NF) Detainee is a member of al-Qaida and a former UBL security guard. Detainee's name and alias were found on al-Qaida affiliated documents.

The phenomenon of the NYTimes editorial page staff not reading their own newspaper [is not exactly new].  Clearly this individual is not what his "editorial" suggests he is.

There are elements of the media that are not simply striving to be independent.  They are clearly on the other side.  Far too frequently, the NYTimes editorial page staff strives to be included in that category.

Explosions

As of this moment (not when this entry is published) we have had a number of explosions in downtown Boston.  People are dead.  People are injured.

Speculation and prurient fascination are running amok.

Someone is supposedly being held in connection with this tragedy.

I have two immediate responses:

1) Wait for a while before assessing who is responsible for this attack.  It probably will not be the subject of immediate speculation.  We will probably hear an unfounded rumor or two before this is done.

2) Will we next be subjected to months of emotional appeals to ban bombs?  Or will we correctly focus on the individuals (and perhaps the inspiration if one exists) behind this awful attack?

Government Picking Losers

One local downtown eatery closed recently.  The owner had not been paying all of the taxes that he should have paid.  But there was more to the story.

Darryl Hoskins is an Army veteran that refined his culinary skills to the point that he was running one of the best restaurants in a nearby town.  So he decided to take a shot at owning and running his own restaurant.  Until this recent demise, I considered Darryl's Downtown to be one of the two best places to eat in the county.

Not that we are a center for culinary excellence, but that ain't exactly a bad rating given the competition.

Darryl prepared a selection of tasty dishes and presented them in a tasteful environment.  I had a chance to meet him a couple times.  He is a genuinely nice guy and a talented chef.  I hope he comes back from this setback with further culinary success.

But there is more to the story.

As a part of setting up shop, he took out a loan to by the building.  He didn't have enough money to cover the rest of the purchase, so the guy that owned the building gave him a small-ish loan to cover the gap.  Then the city of Jackson gave him an US$80,000 loan for renovations.

They have decided to forgive that loan.  The justification for that action is two fold.  First, the money actually came from the US government as part of a HUD block grant.  So the city didn't lose anything.  HUD has indicated that they do not care if the money is ever recovered.  If HUD ever recovered the money, they would simply recycle it back to Jackson as part of a future grant anyways.  The second reason is that the city is third in line to be repaid and thus it is highly unlikely that they will ever see a dime.  So why should they spend money on lawyers when they never expect to see any money back?

The loan from the city was contingent upon a couple of conditions.  One was that it be used for renovations.  Darryl was required to spend US$600,000 of his own money with the HUD funding covering the gap.  We have no idea if that condition was met, but a lot of renovation work was done with someone's money.  Also, he was supposed to create 16 low-to-medium income positions.  At the peak, he had 14 such positions.

He never re-paid a single dime of the money.


So the city of Jackson ended up spending money that was collected from other area restaurants (and other taxpayers) to subsidize their competition.  It is precisely this sort of government created market distortion that we really need to avoid.  But it is the sort of distortion that government excels at creating precisely because government agents are not impacted by the success or failure of their decisions. 

They will not have their pay cut as a result of their poor decision.  They will not lose their jobs.  They will go on blithely moving other people's money around.

Just one more area where we could cut spending and improve our economy by not burdening successful businesses with the responsibility of subsidizing their competitors.

The Throne

Comcast hosted their "Watchathon" last week where viewers could stream almost their entire catalog of TV shows for free.  The general idea is that customers would get hooked on those shows and pay to continue their viewing experience.

Not a bad idea unless you run into a cheapskate like me.  Their price per episode ($3 to $6 per) is way too high.  Particularly when I can use my Netflix account to get the DVDs.

However, it was a great opportunity to start watching the HBO series "A Game Of Thrones".  I made it through season 1 and had a couple of thoughts to offer.

One of the current trends in fiction is for authors to create some sort of mega-world where they can create a series of books.  While this is not exactly a new phenomenon, it does seem to be a bit more in favor these days.

Unfortunately, many of those series do not produce the level of narrative and character development to justify a multi-part story.  It appears from this consumer's perspective that many of these series exist only because the first one or two books were sufficiently promoted to create a sort of reader inertia that carries sales down the line.

Thankfully, George R.R. Martin's "The Game of Thrones" series does not fall into this category.  I have read the first four books.  I will read the fifth after I place an order for the physical paperback or the Kindle version price comes back to earth.

If find it particularly galling to pay more for an e-book than I would pay for a physical paperback.

In watching the HBO series, I was reminded of how much I have missed these characters.  In particular, I am curious about Arya as well as about John Snow dealing with the coming winter.  Well written characters and plots create an almost effortless invitation to return to the next installment of a series.

As I have previously observed, Hollywood has undergone a significant change over the last 40 years.  This change was immediately apparent in the HBO series.  Each episode included at least one or two images of full frontal nudity.  Sometimes it was to depict sexual liaisons.  At other times it was associated with some sort of punishment.  Almost every time, I was struck by the fact that recent films shown in a real theater almost never contain that level of nudity.

Blood?  Sure.

Gore?  Of course.

Explosions, bullets, rockets?  By the traincar load.

Deaths?  They stack up the bodies like firewood!

Cursing?  Hell yeah.

Nudity?  By comparison, it is a sidelight at best.

Far more eloquent observers have pointed out the apparent hypocrisy of Hollywood showing people killing one another with reckless abandon while simultaneously being unwilling to show people loving one another. 

Skirting The Comments

I found this the other day over on the XKCD forum and thought it to be most apropos.  Not that I every followed such sage advice, but I do think the analogy is most apt.

Sublime

Being oriented more towards the science end the world, I am more familiar with the use of the term "sublimation" than with the term "sublime".

Sublimation is the process of a material transitioning from being a solid to being a gas.  Gasses are considered to be a higher state relative to solids.  Liquids fall in between.

The descriptive use of sublime later became associated with a peak condition or experience.  The pretentious will routinely use the term "sublime" thus rendering it less than sublime.  The redundant will use the term "most sublime".

As with many superlatives, we may be better served by reserving the descriptive use of "sublime" for those occasions that more accurately reflect its meaning.  From a non-scientific perspective, such occasions might be those where an event transends from the base process or elements to become something truly unique.

Consider for a moment the lowly comic strip.  In particular, consider strip number 1190 from Randall Munroe of XKCD fame.



The strip began in the wee hours of March 26^th using the alternate (mouse over) text "Wait for it".  The image changed ever so slightly every half hour or so.  Over the course of the day (now 12 hours in as of this writing), the image has changed so that it appears as a sort of stop action film when viewed sequentially.  I have no idea how the images will unfold or when they will cease.  Randall's history suggests that this could be a massive undertaking that may last for days.  It might also be a huge April Fool's Day joke for all we know.

Only time will tell.

The art of XKCD is almost uniformly simplistic.  Yet it is through these simple images that Randall communicates thoughts ranging from base puns and geeky legerdermain to observations that come dazzlingly close to sublime.

As the successive images have unfolded thus far, a couple has been seen sitting on a beach.  They give the impression of being together, talking, walking a short distance, and building a sand castle.  One of the couple left the scene at one point and seemingly returned later on.  The other person continued to work on the castle throughout the elapsed time.

The reaction to this strip suggests that it is transcending the initial impression of simple stick figures in motion into being a larger commentary on human perceptions.  Within twelve brief hours, XKCD forum posts on this cartoon had jumped up to near 800.  Those comments ranged from very technical discussions regarding the computer code required to pull off this digital feat to broader discussions about perceptions of time and the relevance of this piece of art.

One comment that I enjoyed a great deal was by Clavuluza:

Is anyone else concerned at the fact that half-hours go by so quickly? I mean, I can measure my life in half-hours and they seem so ephimeral; reminds me of the Fight Club quote, "this is your life and it's ending one minute at a time". Also, this comic is making us wait to see developments, which is awfully close to real life interactions with stuff (which is kinda cool and very very meta). Furthermore, I am quite amazed at how everyone is trying to figure out some meaning behind it all when maybe, and quite possibly, it's just a pretty comic (much like real life, again), (though by being art it carries meaning just for existing).

Am I making any sense? Whatever, I'm really enjoying this experience.

(And to the people making unhappy predictions, if/when the comic ends and if/when it does it terribly, you can rightly say "I told you so" all you want; but for now, shut up! you're depressing everyone).

Whether or not these images are intended to have Deep Philosophic Significance, they have inspired a great deal of introspection.  Obviously, these images invite recursive analysis regarding the comments they inspire.

There are times in life when one should exist within the moment rather than being focused on deconstructing and analyzing the world around them.  In such times, it is as important to see and experience as it is to process and comment.  These are rare occasions.  And in this case, it is sublime.

Enjoy.

The Art Of Compromise

Courtesy of John Cox.

Can't Get No Respect

I got the following via email.  Despite my professed religious skepticism, I thought it was pretty funny.  The ending was a nice twist and represented some serious irony as well.

There were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:

1. He called everyone Brother.
2. He liked Gospel.
3. He couldn't get a fair trial.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:

1. He went into His Fathers business.
2. He lived at home until he was 33.
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his mother was sure he was God.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:

1. He talked with his hands.
2. He had wine with every meal.
3. He used olive oil.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian:

1. He never cut his hair.
2. He walked around barefoot all the time.
3. He started a new religion.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:

1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.

But the most compelling evidence of all - 3 proofs that Jesus was a woman:

1. He had to feed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food.
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it.
3. Even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was more work for Him to do.

Amen!!!

The above was as I received it.  I did adjust the line spacing a bit.  It had been forwarded several times.

Just in case you didn't catch the irony, check the capitalization for all of the options; Black, Jewish, Italian, Californian, Irish, woman.

Four of the five capitalized categories are properly capitalized.  One is not.  We do not refer to Caucasians.  We refer to caucasions..or whites...or honkys...or crackers...or whatever.  The same holds true....or should...for "blacks".

The only category not capitalized was "woman".  So even in a joke where women are singled out as being God-like, or god-like as the case may be, then apparently can't get the same respect as the other categories with respect to capitalization.

An America Doomed To Decadance

How else to describe the relative "necessity" for a tool to make doggie treats at home.  Ladies and gentlemen, Bake A Bone.

You Dipped What In Bronze??

Over at the Atlantic, they have a brief story about a short documentary that features Stu Larkin.  Mr. Larkin travels the country selling bronze baby shoes.  More accurately, he sells a service that bronzes your baby's shoes after your baby is done wearing them.  The company he represents bronzes other things as well.

Based on the links in the story, I think the Atlantic was far more interested in promoting the film's director; Peyton Wilson.  At least, I didn't see any links to Stu Larkin or The Bronze Baby Shoe Company that he represents.

I thought the film was fascinating not only because of Mr. Larkin's product/service, but because of the waning profession of the traveling salesman.  My great uncle was in that business for a very long time and was very successful at selling commemorative knives for Case cutlery.  The attitude that one must possess to be successful in that field is quite interesting.

Scaring Women...

...and men.

Former First Lady Laura Bush has acknowledged that during the 2012 election cycle, there were a few Republican candidates that scared women.

I have some bad news for Mrs. Bush, the scary behavior isn't limited to a few candidates.

It’s not the contraception, everybody thinks it’s about contraception, but what this court case said was young people have the right to engage in sex outside of marriage. Society never gave young people that right, functioning societies don’t do that, they stop it, they punish it, they corral people, they shame people, they do whatever. The institution for the expression of sexuality is marriage and all societies always shepherded young people there, what the Supreme Court said was forget that shepherding, you can’t block that, that’s not to be done.

Folks seeking to ban sex outside of marriage are pretty scary too.  It's a pity that the GOP embraces such idiocy rather than expelling it.  Having one viable political party would really be nice for a change.

The Local School Superintendent

There are two types of school administrators.

There is the type that plans for the future and controls costs.  This is the person that sets money aside for major renovations like a new roof.  They plan for growth by saving money for the new school that will be needed in 10 years.  They control costs by negotiating aggressively with every vendor and every labor resource.

And their districts have what they need.  They are trusted by the local community if a need for a additional funding comes along. 

And then there are the ones that spend it all.  These are the administrators that look at cutting school buses whenever local residents decline to support additional funding.  Their first tactic is to cut the things that inconvenience residents the most instead of economizing to minimize the impact of any cuts on the district.

Now those tactics are being writ large at the federal level due to the minimal reduction to the increase in federal spending by the "sequester".  As was reported elsewhere, the Department of Homeland Security released thousands of illegal immigrants and blamed the sequester.

Yet now we learn that the same agency is looking to hire close to 2,600 new federal employees.  Which leaves the reasonable suspicion that the release of illegal immigrants was more about political posturing than containing a bloated federal bureaucracy.

Quote Of The Day - Constitution Version

I'm totally ripping this off from Robb Allen of Sharp As A Marble.

Senator John McCain, not exactly my favorite Senator*, recently rebuffed Senator Rand Paul by stating:

"American citizens have nothing to fear from their government."

Which leads us to the Quote of the Day:

Wasn't (isn't) the entire point of the Constitution is that we do? 

I would include the Declaration of Independence as well.....



*Mr. McCain of the famed Keating Five.  Also, I once heard him refer to U.S. servicemembers who supported a literal reading of the Constitution as limiting federal power as being in need of "indoctrination".

Nothing like having a sitting U.S. Senator advocate for re-education camps to make your skin crawl.

Glowing In The Dark

What has been the real fallout from the earthquake, tsunami and failure of Fukushima nuclear power plant?  Not nearly as bad as predicted.  Not nearly as bad as was originally feared.

Rather than stand as a warning of the radiation danger posed by nuclear power, in other words, Fukushima has become a reminder that uninformed fears aren’t the same as actual risks.

I should point out that the results indicated were mostly non-zero.  However, the impact of those results is so slight as to warrant comparisons with living in Denver or working as an airline attendant; not exactly the sort of radiation hazards that causes folks to run wildly in a panic.

A sane national energy policy includes nuclear power with as many safety precautions built in as is humanly possible.  It also involves a rational and calm review of the facts.

A Good President

Stolen from Facebook via the Sgt. Grit:

Today in Marine Corps history: 11 March 1778: Marines participated in action when the Continental Navy frigate BOSTON, en route to France, sighted, engaged, and captured the British merchant ship MARTHA. As the drum of the BOSTON beat to arms, John Adams seized a musket and joined the Marines on deck until the frigate's captain, Samuel Tucker, sent him below for safety.

 You have to love a President that not only puts skin in the game, he puts his skin in the game!  I read the biography of John Adams by David McCullough.  I don't recall the above being included.  But I was certainly impressed by John Adams' life and commitment to our American ideals.

Bad Gun Advice Courtesy Of...

...Joe Biden.

For folks that wonder why pro-civil rights folks do not trust Democrats, Joe Biden is a near perfect case study.  He knows next to nothing about guns, but feels qualified to propose legislation for the entire country.

He recently suggested that a shotgun is as good as an AR-15 for self defense purposes.  He went so far as to suggest that you shoot a shotgun through a door at suspected assailants.

Aside from the fact that shotguns kick far more than an AR, the primary problem in the above is that it will buy you a ticket to court for reckless handling of a firearm.

Another problem with the above is....surprise....shotguns are used far more often to commit crimes than assault rifles.  The only weapon class used more often is an ordinary revolver.

These folks know nothing about guns yet feel qualified to legislate our lives.  Incredible.

Asset Forfeiture Gone Wild

So you own a building.  You rent office space to businesses.

One of those businesses makes a $37 pot sale to an undercover state trooper.

And the DEA decides to seize your building.

Tar and feather were invented for such moments.

Violence Against Women - Media Bias Edition

I was listening to an NPR report on John Boehner a couple days ago.  The reporter was insinuating that Mr. Boehner's leadership was lacking because he could not compel the GOP caucus in the House to support bills that his office was bringing to the House floor.  The example used was the recent continuation of the Violence Against Women Act.

The final bill passed in the House by a vote of 286 - 138.  Only 87 Republicans voted for this version of the bill.  Other Republicans had issues with the bill that ranged from questions of Constitutionality with regards to expanding tribal law enforcement authority beyond tribal members to ideological issues with providing abortion services to rape victims.

For the record, I think the Constitution matters.  Questions regarding Constitutionality matter.  I do not know if their concerns were fully legitimate as I have not studied the issue with any depth.

Also for the record, the GOP needs to get off the anti-abortion wagon.

Back to the issue of Mr. Boehner's leadership, I find it curious that he is being criticized for bringing a bill to the floor that passed the House and was signed into law as this is being typed.  He is the Speaker of the House.  He is not the Speaker of the GOP in the House.  Mr. Boehner's position exists to serve every American. 

So he brought a bill with bi-partisan support to the floor for a vote.  That is is job.

Isn't bi-partisanship something we want?  Or does bi-partisanship only count when the GOP is caving to a Democratic initiative?

The Holocaust

In case you missed it, researchers at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently released updated information on the Holocaust.

Everyone....at least those in the reality based community...agrees that the Holocaust was massive tragedy.  What they don't know, is that was worse than anyone realized.

Go and read.  I can't do it justice.

Those Little Cuts

I've observed this elsewhere, so it may as well go here, too.

When we had the so-called "fiscal cliff", we had roughly US$85billion in tax increases.  With the "sequester", we have had roughly US$85billion in spending cuts.  To be sure, those cuts are poorly focused.  If only we could get the Democrats to be responsible partners in passing a federal budget.

While I support an 80/20 ratio of cuts to tax increases, I also think that the above is "balanced".  Or at least, the perception of "balance" is a good test between a reasonable observer and a ideologue or a partisan.

It is hard to know exactly what the problem is with the Democrats in the Congress as well as our President.  I suspect that they see government spending as a means of power and control.  Anything that diminishes that power is something they oppose.

I also suspect that they may also suffer from a sense of denial.  Like every other person that has taken a real world look at our budgetary problems, they understand that the driving force behind our out of control spending is the unrestrained and unsustainable growth in social programs.  But because their "base" has been sold on the relative merit of those programs, they do not dare act as responsible legislators and begin limiting spending in that area.

Instead, we continue on an inexorable course towards national fiscal insolvency with plenty of pain for people that will find themselves dependent on government programs.

One disappointment is the lack of Presidential leadership on the issue.  Mr. Obama has said that we need to cut wasteful spending.  I have heard him issue such pronouncements in the past.

Yet he has not seen fit to demonstrate any leadership on the issue.  The White House has yet to issue a detailed list of programs to be cut.  Rather than work face to face with the Republicans to develop cuts that make sense, Mr. Obama has returned....again, and again...to the campaign trail.

The Democrats in the Senate are worse.  They haven't passed a budget for almost four years.  They won't pass their own budget.  They voted against Mr. Obama's budget in significant numbers.  And they refuse to bring any budget passed by the House to the floor of the Senate.

They are doing little more than closing their eyes and hoping that are nation's fiscal issues will somehow disappear.

Their eyes are closed. 

Ours are not.

Oh Mighty Passion

From John Cox....

I suspect engineering a few other fields of endeavor would suffer as well.

Plenty of other great art to see while you are visiting his site.

The Songstress

Carole King is one of America's musical treasures.  Here are ten songs that you might know were written by this talented woman.

I mean....The Monkees....really??

Economics, Like Gravity

What do you do when the price of gasoline rises?  Do you adjust your driving habits?  Do you consider purchasing a more fuel efficient vehicle?

If you are a normal person with a normal budget, then you do some combination of the above.

Why should we expect normal people running normal businesses to behave any differently?

If government regulations impose additional costs for people that work more than twenty nine hours a week, then normal people will limit employees to twenty nine hours.  If government regulations impose additional costs if you have fifty employees or more, then normal people will limit their number of employees to forty nine.

These are the normal, predictable consequences of poorly developed government policies.  Courtesy of Mr. Obama and the Democrats, a whole lot of people who are already struggling to survive will find themselves less able to find full time employment at wages that will allow them to live something close to a normal life.

DUI With Zero Evidence

How would you like to be found guilty of driving under the influence even if there is no proof that you were in fact driving under the influence.  Perhaps you were under the influence at some point in the past few days...or perhaps weeks.  Perhaps you were under the influence in a time and place where it was legal for you to be in that condition.

Then you get pulled over days...or perhaps weeks....later while you are quite sober.  And based on residual chemicals in your blood stream due to past events, you end up convicted of a DUI.

And the courts endorse this conviction due to the twisted idea that actually conducting an accurate test for whether or not you are under the influence would "unduly restrict law enforcement."

That's right.  Our right to a trial based on fact is less important that the convenience of law enforcement.

So What Happens When...

...you are a clown who exists to create laughter in the world when your daughter is dying and you cannot imagine a reason to laugh ever again.

The story was shared with The Moth Radio Hour by Anthony Griffith.  Stories presented by The Moth are more typically humorous.  This one is not.

However, it is a singular act of bravery as Mr. Griffith opens the deepest wound in his life for our inspection.  And, one hopes, our empathy.

I Love Libraries

As does John Scalzi.  Have a read.  Then visit your local library to see what you have been missing.

A Breakdown Of Sorts

I am getting to the end of a little "break" from participating on Facebook.  Quite frankly, the whole gun debate was getting to me in unhealthy ways.

A big part of the problem is that there is no firm basis for a reasoned discussion of the subject.  The "facts" have been polluted by liars to the extent that rational people are no longer able to express an argument that is based in reality.

Robb Allen of Sharp As A Marble links to an article penned by a doctor that is filled with factual errors.  Somewhere, someone with a lack of knowledge about guns and who is trusting of medical professionals will read that story and become committed to banning or severely restricting gun rights.

And it will be impossible to have a rational discussion with that person until you first go through the laborious effort of emptying out the lies and replacing them with facts.

A short list of the lies involved include:

• Including 24 year old adults as "children".
• Using heart disease as a comparative with gun deaths.  Heart disease is the result of decades of low exercise, poor food choices, and smoking.  Children don't get heart disease because they haven't lived long enough.
• Not using drownings as a comparative with gun deaths.  Because kids (the real kind) die from drowning at a much higher rate than they do from guns.  Yet the movement to ban backyard pools is pretty ineffective.
• Talks about rates of fire as if it makes a difference in the number of deaths.  The issue is not the gun.  It is the intent/purpose of the person holding it.
• Calls our rights "privileges" and states that they were "granted" by the Constitution.  Our rights, including the right to self defense, existed before the Constitution was written.  It only acknowledged what already existed.

The list continues in the comments.  Having a rational discussion on gun issues is impossible because of the rhetorical filth such as the above that have contaminated public discourse.  Perhaps irreparably so.

Book Recommendation: Flowers For Algernon

Charlie Gordon.  Mentally handicapped.  Then a genius.

In "Flowers For Algernon", author Daniel Keyes presents a first person view of the life of someone who is marginalized by society due to his lack of mental ability.  He cannot remember without years of repetition.  And if he cannot remember, then he cannot repeat.  Nor can he consider his actions to see if they could be changed for the better.

Such are the challenges of some of our most marginalized citizens.

The book is Charlie's story told from his perspective.  It is written as a kind of journal that Charlie is keeping at the request of his doctor.  The spelling and grammar reflect that of a person who barely possesses the ability to write.  Charlie is an open, honest, trusting, and caring individual.  He wants to do well.

And he is treated by those around him with just about as much compassion and love as you might expect.

Until the surgery.  A team of doctors believes they have developed a means for improving intelligence.  They have tried it out on mice.  It seems to work quite well.

Charlie agrees to undergo the procedure.  And in the days and weeks to follow, he gets smarter.  He learns.

He learns how much he has been missing.  He reads voraciously.  Knowledge is assimilated at an astounding rated.

He also learns how poorly his "friends" have been treating him.

"Flowers For Algernon" was one of those books that you heard about when I was in school.  Being an avid science fiction fan, I saw the title several times and had always intended to read it.  Chance and happenstance had other ideas on the matter.

Fortunately, used book stores are a treasure trove of books that people have always been meaning to read.

"Flowers For Algernon" is one of those rare modern books that really should be more prominent in our school curriculum.  It is at turns an instruction on the importance of treating people properly regardless of their abilities, or lack thereof, as well as a thought provoking journey that should cause us to envision a wider world of "what if".

It is impossible to create that world of "what if" without first seeing it in our minds.

Spoilers after the break.

A Cake No One Should...

eat.  Or perhaps one that everyone should eat.

As friends on Facebook should have discerned by now, I've been working on my general health for about 18 months now.  I have a longer post on the subject on which I have been working for some time.  Perhaps you should be grateful that it is not yet complete!

Part of that work involved making better choices in my diet.  Those choices are complicated by the fact that I love food and I love to eat good food.  It is safe to say that my indulgences have been few and measured.

A couple weeks ago, the guys at work came across a recipe for bacon jam.

Mmmmm.....bacon.

It involves bacon, maple syrup, brown sugar, and a bunch of other things that are not really good for you when consumed in large quantities.

We have a wonderful young lady at work that loves to cook.  She has made goat cheese in the past.  She also makes the best cakes.

I do not want to give the impression that she had no choice in the matter, but the guys did leave an unsubtle hint that she should give this bacon jam thing a try.  It took her five hours on a Sunday night to complete a triple batch of the stuff.  The fruits of her labors were in our break area for public consumption Monday morning.

As it turns out, she didn't like the bacon jam.  All the guys loved it.  Someone bought English muffins and we imbibed throughout the day. The jam had more of a savory taste that was reminiscent of baked beans, sans beans. 

I was very good that day.  I had half of a half of a muffin with the bacon jam.  And while it was most delicious, I was able to refrain from eating any more of it.

Our talented young cook/baker had a surprise for us on Tuesday morning.  She had been looking at a recipe for a dark chocolate cake that used dark chocolate frosting.  Both components used Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate.

There are few things better in the world than dark chocolate.

I behaved myself and only took half of a piece of cake.  It was great.

But then I got to talking with my friend Eric as we all were gathered around the cake in the break area.

Eric and I share some common background.  I am a former Marine.  He is former Army.  We both were in Desert Storm, although he actually was up front doing the dirty work while I was in the rear with the gear.  These experiences have mentally twisted us in ways that some people find utterly baffling.  Fortunately, our friends are more amused than mortified.

Eric has had the further experience of being a paramedic for close to 10 years.  The stories he tells ought to make most folks question whether humanity will survive the next 15 seconds, much less the next 15 years.

Which is why when we got to talking about this very delicious cake, it was not terribly surprising when we thought that the only way to make it better was to put a little bacon jam on it.  Fortunately, there was a small amount left over from the previous day.

I plopped the container down in front of Eric as I had already had my quota of cake for the day.  He applied an appropriate portion of bacon jam and took a bite.

Sadly, his eyes rolled back in his head shortly thereafter.  I say "sadly" as his reaction was good enough that I just had to go back for the other half of my half a piece of cake that was still sitting in the pan.  I plopped on a dollop of bacon jam and then headed for the nuke-o-lator to warm it up.

OH

EM

GEE

This was the reason those letters were strung together in the first place.

I can't tell you how awful I felt later that afternoon when I found that there were a couple of pieces of cake left in the tray.  I didn't even bother with the whole "half a piece" nonsense.  Some bacon jam, a round in the nuke-o-lator and I was back in Nga-atua.