Yahoo! Finance often has articles about high tax states and low tax states: either in general or for retirees. But this treats taxes as something extracted from the public for the benefit of a king rather than something people invest in for their quality of life.
I hope sometime I come across an article or two comparing taxes on value received.
For example, does a high-tax state spend more on education and turn out more skilled workers and more involved citizens than a low-tax state. Does a high-tax state have more responsive public employees than a low-tax state, a state that might have rampant corruption. Does a high-tax state have better roads than a low-tax state; the poorer roads causing more need for car repairs?
There is so much that we take for granted that governments provide that we rarely think about how it is payed for. We grouse about taxes, but would we really want to live in a society with no taxes?
I like the quote attributed to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “I like taxes; they buy me civilization.”
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Problem of conservative/liberal labeling
We see too much about liberal bias against conservatives and conservative bias against liberals. But do we even know what a conservative or liberal is?
Are those who think billionaires should be free to run their companies without any government interference liberals or conservatives? They are certainly "liberal" in their interpretation of the Constitution. The true conservatives are those who believe the Constitution's power to the Congress to "regulate commerce among the states".
Are those who think the Constitution starts with "We the People" means persons as a collective liberal or conservative? It seems that so-called conservatives are rather liberal in interpreting the opening clause as "We the Corporations".
Nicholas Kristof wrote a column about liberals and conservatives in academia. For some of the letters in response see http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/opinion/sunday/politics-and-academia.html.
If "conservatives" have a problem being accepted into academia it may be because they are not open to change. A true academic is a liberal-conservative: liberal in open to new views and conservative in evaluating evidence.
Are those who think billionaires should be free to run their companies without any government interference liberals or conservatives? They are certainly "liberal" in their interpretation of the Constitution. The true conservatives are those who believe the Constitution's power to the Congress to "regulate commerce among the states".
Are those who think the Constitution starts with "We the People" means persons as a collective liberal or conservative? It seems that so-called conservatives are rather liberal in interpreting the opening clause as "We the Corporations".
Nicholas Kristof wrote a column about liberals and conservatives in academia. For some of the letters in response see http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/opinion/sunday/politics-and-academia.html.
If "conservatives" have a problem being accepted into academia it may be because they are not open to change. A true academic is a liberal-conservative: liberal in open to new views and conservative in evaluating evidence.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Quote of the day: Why Democrats don’t win more often.
"Democrats have traditionally led in voter registration efforts, but have a harder time getting their voters to actually come out to the polls. There's a big factor in this election that could help there: Trump.”
- Daily Kos, 2016-05-13
It was the stay-at-home Democrats in Florida that gave Bush the election, not Ralph Nader.
Remember my mantra: The only way you throw your vote away is when you stay away.
- Daily Kos, 2016-05-13
It was the stay-at-home Democrats in Florida that gave Bush the election, not Ralph Nader.
Remember my mantra: The only way you throw your vote away is when you stay away.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Quote of the day: Congress and public health
"Penny wise, pound foolish decisions will fall quite literally on the heads of the children. We don't have leaders in positions of Power, we have fools."
- John of New York City, comment to "Congress to People: Drop Dead" by Nicholas Kristof, NYT 2016-05-12, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/opinion/congress-to-america-drop-dead.html.
I wonder how the "free enterprise system" can deal with major health issues and other disasters. I do know that Walmart provided lots of free bottled water after Katrina, but that was because of the ineptness of the Republican government. How many companies are going to step forward and meet all the prevention and care needs that could affect thousands? At a cost each individual can afford? Can we as a people afford the risk of contagion from the people who can't afford prevention and card?
- John of New York City, comment to "Congress to People: Drop Dead" by Nicholas Kristof, NYT 2016-05-12, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/opinion/congress-to-america-drop-dead.html.
I wonder how the "free enterprise system" can deal with major health issues and other disasters. I do know that Walmart provided lots of free bottled water after Katrina, but that was because of the ineptness of the Republican government. How many companies are going to step forward and meet all the prevention and care needs that could affect thousands? At a cost each individual can afford? Can we as a people afford the risk of contagion from the people who can't afford prevention and card?
Saturday, May 07, 2016
Is Donald Trump a black swan?
Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" in 2007. Is Donald Trump such a black swan and for whom? Is he an unexpected creation of the Koch brothers? Has the intransigence of Congressional Republicans created an opening for the likes of Donald Trump?
Maybe, just maybe, the Democrats can seize this opportunity to increase governance in this country that works for the people, not the corporations or the billionaires.
Friday, May 06, 2016
Bernie Sanders, second choice after none of the above
I really am not happy with our choice of Presidential candidates this year, but from all that I can read Bernie Sanders is far above being more interested in the people than the special interests. It really is time we bring government back to "We the People" rather than "We the Corporations" or "We the special interests".
If you are for Bernie Sanders, before sure to vote even if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee. If you stay away because your first choice didn't get the nomination, consider that if you stay away that is one more vote for the party of the plutocrats.
That said, here is one of Bernie Sanders latest pronouncements about bringing government back to "We the People".
In the United States today, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, 47 million Americans are living in poverty.
Almost 22 percent of American children are poor and we have the highest child poverty rate of almost any major country on earth.
Let’s be clear. Living in poverty doesn’t just mean you don’t have enough money to buy a big screen TV, a fancy laptop, or the latest iPhone. It goes much deeper than that.
Living in poverty means you are less likely to have a good grocery store in your community selling healthy food. Far too often it means you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from. Living in poverty means you are less likely to have access to a doctor, dentist or mental health care provider. It means you have less access to public transportation, which makes it harder to find a job. It means you are less likely to have access to child care.
In the United States of America, poverty is often a death sentence.
Yesterday, I spoke about poverty in McDowell County, West Virginia — one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states in America. In 2014, over 35 percent of the residents in McDowell lived in poverty, including nearly half of the children. The roads are crumbling and only 6 percent of adults have a college education. Less than two-thirds have graduated high school. It has the lowest life expectancy for men in the entire nation. I hope you’ll watch part of my speech on poverty and share it with friends and family on social media.
\Bernie Sanders Speaks on Poverty in McDowell County, WV [See Video]
https://go.berniesanders.com/page/share/poverty-is-a-death-sentence
Poverty is an issue we must address. In 2011, the American Journal of Public Health found that 130,000 people died in just one year alone as a result of poverty.
This is not an issue we can just sweep under the rug and hope it will go away. Because it won’t.
And when I talk about it being too late for establishment politics and economics, this is what I mean. When I talk about thinking big and outside the box, about rejecting incremental change, I am talking about the millions of Americans who live in poverty who have been tossed out, left behind, and abandoned by the rich and powerful. We need to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.
Here’s what we need to do:
Rebuild our country’s crumbling infrastructure. A $1 trillion investment in our infrastructure will create at least 13 million jobs all over America - jobs that cannot be outsourced.
We must rewrite our disastrous trade policies that enable corporate America to shut down plans in places like West Virginia and move them to Mexico, China, and other low-wage countries.
We can create 1 million jobs for disadvantaged youths through legislation I introduced with Rep. John Conyers of Michigan.
We need to increase the wages of at least 53 million American workers by raising the minimum wage from a starvation wage of $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour.
At a time when women workers earn 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, we need to sign the Paycheck Fairness Act into law. Equal pay for equal work.
We need to make health care a right for every man, woman, and child through a Medicare for All single-payer system.
We need to treat drug addiction like a mental health issue, not a criminal issue.
We need to ensure every worker in this country has at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, two weeks of paid vacation, and one week of paid sick days.
We need to impose a tax on Wall Street to make public colleges and universities tuition free while substantially reducing student debt.
At a time when half of older workers have no retirement savings, we’re not going to cut Social Security, we’re going to expand it so people can retire with dignity and respect.
No president can do all of these things alone. We need millions of Americans to begin to stand up and fight back and demand a government that represents all of us. That is the political revolution.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
Paid for by Bernie 2016
(not the billionaires)
PO Box 905 - Burlington VT 05402 United States - (855) 4-BERNIE
Stand against the powerful special interests who are systematically buying our Congress and have their sights set on the presidency.
If you are for Bernie Sanders, before sure to vote even if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee. If you stay away because your first choice didn't get the nomination, consider that if you stay away that is one more vote for the party of the plutocrats.
That said, here is one of Bernie Sanders latest pronouncements about bringing government back to "We the People".
In the United States today, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, 47 million Americans are living in poverty.
Almost 22 percent of American children are poor and we have the highest child poverty rate of almost any major country on earth.
Let’s be clear. Living in poverty doesn’t just mean you don’t have enough money to buy a big screen TV, a fancy laptop, or the latest iPhone. It goes much deeper than that.
Living in poverty means you are less likely to have a good grocery store in your community selling healthy food. Far too often it means you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from. Living in poverty means you are less likely to have access to a doctor, dentist or mental health care provider. It means you have less access to public transportation, which makes it harder to find a job. It means you are less likely to have access to child care.
In the United States of America, poverty is often a death sentence.
Yesterday, I spoke about poverty in McDowell County, West Virginia — one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states in America. In 2014, over 35 percent of the residents in McDowell lived in poverty, including nearly half of the children. The roads are crumbling and only 6 percent of adults have a college education. Less than two-thirds have graduated high school. It has the lowest life expectancy for men in the entire nation. I hope you’ll watch part of my speech on poverty and share it with friends and family on social media.
\Bernie Sanders Speaks on Poverty in McDowell County, WV [See Video]
https://go.berniesanders.com/page/share/poverty-is-a-death-sentence
Poverty is an issue we must address. In 2011, the American Journal of Public Health found that 130,000 people died in just one year alone as a result of poverty.
This is not an issue we can just sweep under the rug and hope it will go away. Because it won’t.
And when I talk about it being too late for establishment politics and economics, this is what I mean. When I talk about thinking big and outside the box, about rejecting incremental change, I am talking about the millions of Americans who live in poverty who have been tossed out, left behind, and abandoned by the rich and powerful. We need to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.
Here’s what we need to do:
Rebuild our country’s crumbling infrastructure. A $1 trillion investment in our infrastructure will create at least 13 million jobs all over America - jobs that cannot be outsourced.
We must rewrite our disastrous trade policies that enable corporate America to shut down plans in places like West Virginia and move them to Mexico, China, and other low-wage countries.
We can create 1 million jobs for disadvantaged youths through legislation I introduced with Rep. John Conyers of Michigan.
We need to increase the wages of at least 53 million American workers by raising the minimum wage from a starvation wage of $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour.
At a time when women workers earn 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, we need to sign the Paycheck Fairness Act into law. Equal pay for equal work.
We need to make health care a right for every man, woman, and child through a Medicare for All single-payer system.
We need to treat drug addiction like a mental health issue, not a criminal issue.
We need to ensure every worker in this country has at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, two weeks of paid vacation, and one week of paid sick days.
We need to impose a tax on Wall Street to make public colleges and universities tuition free while substantially reducing student debt.
At a time when half of older workers have no retirement savings, we’re not going to cut Social Security, we’re going to expand it so people can retire with dignity and respect.
No president can do all of these things alone. We need millions of Americans to begin to stand up and fight back and demand a government that represents all of us. That is the political revolution.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
Paid for by Bernie 2016
(not the billionaires)
PO Box 905 - Burlington VT 05402 United States - (855) 4-BERNIE
Stand against the powerful special interests who are systematically buying our Congress and have their sights set on the presidency.
Helping the help desk
When my old Epson Workforce printer became erratic, I bought a new one from Best Buy (my four-year warranty on the old one paid for most of it). The Workforce 3640 is similar i many ways, but quite different in others.
The old one would print business cards without a problem. The new one often chewed them up and jammed. Today each try jammed.
I looked at the Epson website to see if there was a recommended paper or other solution. I found nothing.
I asked Best Buy’s Geek Squad (online chat) if there was any recommended paper. I was told to check with a store.
I did another search and found that there is a rear feed. This is meant for single feed of paper or envelopes. See https://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?UseCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=232592&prodoid=6309.
It took a bit of doing to have the job started and the feed the paper, but I got the hang of it. When I did a second sheet just now it was a piece of cake.
I went back to the Geek Squad chat and left a heads up for them. The agent replied “awesome”.
It sometimes amazes me how I find a solution that the “experts” didn’t think of. Of course, I’ve been solving (and creating) computer problems for 57 years. It doesn’t mean I could earn big bucks, but I think it gives me a bigger incentive to find a solution somehow.
The old one would print business cards without a problem. The new one often chewed them up and jammed. Today each try jammed.
I looked at the Epson website to see if there was a recommended paper or other solution. I found nothing.
I asked Best Buy’s Geek Squad (online chat) if there was any recommended paper. I was told to check with a store.
I did another search and found that there is a rear feed. This is meant for single feed of paper or envelopes. See https://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?UseCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=232592&prodoid=6309.
It took a bit of doing to have the job started and the feed the paper, but I got the hang of it. When I did a second sheet just now it was a piece of cake.
I went back to the Geek Squad chat and left a heads up for them. The agent replied “awesome”.
It sometimes amazes me how I find a solution that the “experts” didn’t think of. Of course, I’ve been solving (and creating) computer problems for 57 years. It doesn’t mean I could earn big bucks, but I think it gives me a bigger incentive to find a solution somehow.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Advice to Bernie Sanders
I sent $25 to the Bernie Sanders campaign a few weeks ago, and now I am bombarded with requests for money and volunteer calling. I decided that the campaign could use my "advice" more. So, I sent the following to info@BernieSanders.com in response to the message: "I will be with Bernie as long as he is willing to fight". I wonder if any of it will percolate up to the great man.
Bernie has a whole arsenal to use: the actual contents of documents that the billionaires and their lackeys misrepresent.
Adam Smith only used "free market" once, and that was the wool merchants kept the price of wool down by legislative means.
Adam Smith said that "This order of men is not to be trusted..." These were those who lived by profit.
Adam Smith's invisible hand really is a variation of the law of unintended consequences. He did not state that either man succeeded, only that the outcomes did not necessarily match their intentions.
The billionaires ignore much of the constitution. What part of Congress having the power to "regulate commerce" among the states don't they understand? Isn't sending pollution to another state commerce among the states?
What part of "no religious test" don't they understand?
In his "Farewell Address" George Washington warned about foreign entanglements and admonished his reader to pay their taxes.
If you can find an expert on the Federalist Papers, he or she can give you lots of ideas to counter the selfish who have no sense of community.
I can't find my reference, but a true free market is
Many buyers and sellers,
Both buyers and sellers are free to enter and leave the market,
Both buyers and sellers have all the information they need to make a decision,
There are no externalities.
Finally, avoid any questioning of the personal integrity. Providing honest definitions of their pronouncements should do quite well for "hoisting them on their own petards."
For other ideas, see mdmagree.blogspot.com.
I didn’t mention that he should also remind the Republicans of the warning given by the last great Republican President: Dwight David Eisenhower; the military-industrial complex. Now Ike’s party as been taken over by the military-industrial complex.
Bernie has a whole arsenal to use: the actual contents of documents that the billionaires and their lackeys misrepresent.
Adam Smith only used "free market" once, and that was the wool merchants kept the price of wool down by legislative means.
Adam Smith said that "This order of men is not to be trusted..." These were those who lived by profit.
Adam Smith's invisible hand really is a variation of the law of unintended consequences. He did not state that either man succeeded, only that the outcomes did not necessarily match their intentions.
The billionaires ignore much of the constitution. What part of Congress having the power to "regulate commerce" among the states don't they understand? Isn't sending pollution to another state commerce among the states?
What part of "no religious test" don't they understand?
In his "Farewell Address" George Washington warned about foreign entanglements and admonished his reader to pay their taxes.
If you can find an expert on the Federalist Papers, he or she can give you lots of ideas to counter the selfish who have no sense of community.
I can't find my reference, but a true free market is
Many buyers and sellers,
Both buyers and sellers are free to enter and leave the market,
Both buyers and sellers have all the information they need to make a decision,
There are no externalities.
Finally, avoid any questioning of the personal integrity. Providing honest definitions of their pronouncements should do quite well for "hoisting them on their own petards."
For other ideas, see mdmagree.blogspot.com.
I didn’t mention that he should also remind the Republicans of the warning given by the last great Republican President: Dwight David Eisenhower; the military-industrial complex. Now Ike’s party as been taken over by the military-industrial complex.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Free opinion vs. free speech
The Duluth News Tribune ran a Pro/Con about free speech and climate change. The Con was an article by H. Sterling Burnett of the Heartland Institute. He claimed that climate change deniers should be protected by the First Amendment: the right of free speech. I think he seriously misreads the Constitution and established law.
According to him, we should all be free to yell “Fire” in a crowded theater. According to him, there should be no libel laws to prosecute those who slander another.
He somehow conflates opinion with lying.
I could say H. Sterling Burnett is a jerk, and all he could do would be to refute my statement. He could not take me to court for my statement. On the other hand, if I said that H. Sterling Burnett embezzled the Heartland Institute of $100,000 when he did not, then he has every right to deny me my “free speech rights” and take me to court for slander.
Check out what Wikipedia has to say about The Heartland Institute. Among other nefarious activities they worked with " Philip Morris to question or deny the health risks of secondhand smoke and to lobby against smoking bans”. So, if an organization denies the dangers of smoking, should we believe them when they claim there is no climate change? They are not stating an opinion; they are lying to the public for the benefit of their paymasters.
His article was only published by two newspapers that I could find.
http://www.thegleaner.com/opinion/deniers-have-a-right-to-voice-their-opinions-3011c156-e057-4103-e053-0100007f3587-375715371.html
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/national-view/4017028-procon-should-climate-change-deniers-be-prosecuted
I hope most other papers had the common sense not to do so.
The climate scientists are the fire marshals telling theater owners there should be no smoking in their theaters. The climate change deniers are the owners who insist their free speech rights are being denied if they can’t tell their customers there is no problem. Guess who will be successfully prosecuted when one of those crowded theaters catches fire?
According to him, we should all be free to yell “Fire” in a crowded theater. According to him, there should be no libel laws to prosecute those who slander another.
He somehow conflates opinion with lying.
I could say H. Sterling Burnett is a jerk, and all he could do would be to refute my statement. He could not take me to court for my statement. On the other hand, if I said that H. Sterling Burnett embezzled the Heartland Institute of $100,000 when he did not, then he has every right to deny me my “free speech rights” and take me to court for slander.
Check out what Wikipedia has to say about The Heartland Institute. Among other nefarious activities they worked with " Philip Morris to question or deny the health risks of secondhand smoke and to lobby against smoking bans”. So, if an organization denies the dangers of smoking, should we believe them when they claim there is no climate change? They are not stating an opinion; they are lying to the public for the benefit of their paymasters.
His article was only published by two newspapers that I could find.
http://www.thegleaner.com/opinion/deniers-have-a-right-to-voice-their-opinions-3011c156-e057-4103-e053-0100007f3587-375715371.html
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/national-view/4017028-procon-should-climate-change-deniers-be-prosecuted
I hope most other papers had the common sense not to do so.
The climate scientists are the fire marshals telling theater owners there should be no smoking in their theaters. The climate change deniers are the owners who insist their free speech rights are being denied if they can’t tell their customers there is no problem. Guess who will be successfully prosecuted when one of those crowded theaters catches fire?
Thursday, April 21, 2016
A Political Ad Not Paid For By A Billionaire
This ad was paid for by nobody on behalf of everybody.
If you vote for nobody, everybody loses.
If you stay away, you throw your vote away.
Whether you vote for Jane or Wayne, Harry or Mary, be sure to vote.
Here are some simple rules for intelligent voting.
You can be a somebody by helping this ad go viral. Please pass on this link:
http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-political-ad-not-paid-for-by.html.
If you vote for nobody, everybody loses.
If you stay away, you throw your vote away.
Whether you vote for Jane or Wayne, Harry or Mary, be sure to vote.
Here are some simple rules for intelligent voting.
Don’t watch TV.Nobody thanks you but everybody wins.
Read lots of newspapers.
Always vote.
You can be a somebody by helping this ad go viral. Please pass on this link:
http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-political-ad-not-paid-for-by.html.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Thought for the day: spousal differences
My wife and I are having difficulty co-ordinating plans. She’s in Tokyo and I am in Duluth. In an email reply about her change of plans I concluded with:
These are the times that try women’s soulmates!
This is a pun on “These are the times that try men’s souls.” This sentence is the opening line of “The Crisis” by Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776. See http://www.ushistory.org/paine/crisis/c-01.htm.
These are the times that try women’s soulmates!
This is a pun on “These are the times that try men’s souls.” This sentence is the opening line of “The Crisis” by Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776. See http://www.ushistory.org/paine/crisis/c-01.htm.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Thought of the day; 2016 election turnout
See”Trump or Cruz? Why It Doesn’t Matter Anymore for the GOP, Fiscal Times, 2016-04-14,
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-cruz-why-doesn-t-174800466.html.
Now the trick is that those who would vote Democratic don’t stay away because they don’t like Sanders or Clinton. In fact, a huge Democratic turnout and a huge Republican stay-away are needed to give support to Sanders or Clinton.
Remember my mantra: If you stay away you throw your vote away!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-cruz-why-doesn-t-174800466.html.
Now the trick is that those who would vote Democratic don’t stay away because they don’t like Sanders or Clinton. In fact, a huge Democratic turnout and a huge Republican stay-away are needed to give support to Sanders or Clinton.
Remember my mantra: If you stay away you throw your vote away!
Quote of the day: Capitalism and Liberalism
"Capitalism is not a form of government."
- Ghost Dansing, comment to Roger Cohen's “Death of Liberalism” column, New York Times, 2014-07-14
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/opinion/the-death-of-liberalism.html?comments#permid=18202173:18206074
This link includes Ghost Dansing’s and my comments.
- Ghost Dansing, comment to Roger Cohen's “Death of Liberalism” column, New York Times, 2014-07-14
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/opinion/the-death-of-liberalism.html?comments#permid=18202173:18206074
This link includes Ghost Dansing’s and my comments.
Thursday, April 07, 2016
The Blamer Games
Sometime last year I switched from Republic Bank to Pioneer National Bank. I could not access Republic Bank from my cell phone using cellular data. I could access my account if I went to a coffee shop and used wi-fi.
Republic Bank and Consumer Cellular (my cellular) provider each absolved themselves of any problem. Republic Bank said that Consumer Cellular was changing its IP address. Consumer Cellular said they were not.
I could access my wife’s accounts at Pioneer National Bank without a problem. So, I switched my account to Pioneer also.
Now this problem has raised its ugly head again. I tried making a estimated tax payment to the State of Minnesota. It would not open any page where I was to provide information, whether I wanted to pay online or just request a form to pay by mail. It said I had cookies turned off. This happened with both FireFox and Safari. With Safari it happened both with my MacBook Air and with my iPhone.
As far as I could see, in both FireFox and Safari I did not have cookies turned off. In fact, in one of these browsers I had a long list of cookies.
I went to Perk Place and bingo, everything worked. Same laptop. I have a receipt in my email.
Wanna bet that somebody will blame the problem on my Mac. As I gaze around the coffee shop, I see over a dozen Mac laptops and only on or two other laptops. I think these providers better get with the program.
I have heard this same thing from the Duluth News Tribune, a problem with Macs. I can’t even access the Olive edition of the DNT. Olive is the name of the software that provides a facsimile of the printed edition and allows expanding any article for easier reading. However, I access the Olive edition of the Star Tribune without problem. In fact, the Strib has even fixed the annoying problem of inconsistent expansion of the comics.
This whole mess would be comical if it weren’t so time-consuming and frustrating.
Republic Bank and Consumer Cellular (my cellular) provider each absolved themselves of any problem. Republic Bank said that Consumer Cellular was changing its IP address. Consumer Cellular said they were not.
I could access my wife’s accounts at Pioneer National Bank without a problem. So, I switched my account to Pioneer also.
Now this problem has raised its ugly head again. I tried making a estimated tax payment to the State of Minnesota. It would not open any page where I was to provide information, whether I wanted to pay online or just request a form to pay by mail. It said I had cookies turned off. This happened with both FireFox and Safari. With Safari it happened both with my MacBook Air and with my iPhone.
As far as I could see, in both FireFox and Safari I did not have cookies turned off. In fact, in one of these browsers I had a long list of cookies.
I went to Perk Place and bingo, everything worked. Same laptop. I have a receipt in my email.
Wanna bet that somebody will blame the problem on my Mac. As I gaze around the coffee shop, I see over a dozen Mac laptops and only on or two other laptops. I think these providers better get with the program.
I have heard this same thing from the Duluth News Tribune, a problem with Macs. I can’t even access the Olive edition of the DNT. Olive is the name of the software that provides a facsimile of the printed edition and allows expanding any article for easier reading. However, I access the Olive edition of the Star Tribune without problem. In fact, the Strib has even fixed the annoying problem of inconsistent expansion of the comics.
This whole mess would be comical if it weren’t so time-consuming and frustrating.
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Rime of the ancient computer user
'puter, 'puter, everywhere, but not a FLOP to think!
With a nod to Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
FLOP = floating-point operation
With a nod to Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
FLOP = floating-point operation
Friday, April 01, 2016
Why you should always vote!
I would rather see a 90% turnout with 60% voting for someone I didn't like than a 60 % turnout with 60% voting for someone I liked.
Think about it! In the first case 54% of the eligible voters elected the winner. This is democracy. A government by "the people".
In the second case 36% of the eligible voters elected the winner. This is oligarchy, government of the few.
Always vote! You may not like your choice, but if you don't vote for "the lesser of two evils" you may get "the greater of two evils".
Also never ever believe polls. Did they ask you who you would vote for? Chances are better than 90% that they did not even call you.
Never respond to polls. If you don't respond you increase the uncertainty of polls. By increasing the uncertainty you will decrease the uncertainty of people who might not vote because their candidate was "down" in the polls.
Polls have another bad effect on democracy. Candidates may change their messages to align with the polls. If candidates ignored polls, they would work harder to convince you of their solutions. if candidates adjusted their messages to match the polls, they might give you solutions which they have no intention of implementing.
Finally, my favorite mantra that I have yet to see elsewhere:
Always vote!
The only way you throw you vote away
Is to stay away!
Think about it! In the first case 54% of the eligible voters elected the winner. This is democracy. A government by "the people".
In the second case 36% of the eligible voters elected the winner. This is oligarchy, government of the few.
Always vote! You may not like your choice, but if you don't vote for "the lesser of two evils" you may get "the greater of two evils".
Also never ever believe polls. Did they ask you who you would vote for? Chances are better than 90% that they did not even call you.
Never respond to polls. If you don't respond you increase the uncertainty of polls. By increasing the uncertainty you will decrease the uncertainty of people who might not vote because their candidate was "down" in the polls.
Polls have another bad effect on democracy. Candidates may change their messages to align with the polls. If candidates ignored polls, they would work harder to convince you of their solutions. if candidates adjusted their messages to match the polls, they might give you solutions which they have no intention of implementing.
Finally, my favorite mantra that I have yet to see elsewhere:
Always vote!
The only way you throw you vote away
Is to stay away!
Donald Trump wins!
With a dismal 50% turnout across the nation, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. He received about 40% of the votes in states with a large number of electoral votes, but given the “winner take all rules for the electoral college he easily won the Presidency. Otherwise, he only received 30% in the other states. Hilary Clinton received 50% in these states, and the last-minute Republican alternative candidate received 20%.
This means that Donald Trump received the votes of less than 20% of the eligible voters. Once again, “None of the Above” really won because of the 50% no-shows.
Almost as soon as the projections were made on national TV, the border crossings at Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Niagara Falls, and others started filling up with U.S. citizens seeking resident status in Canada. The websites of all the airlines with trans-Atlantic flights crashed with thousands seeking one-way tickets to Europe. Scandinavian Air and Icelandic Air were hardest hit because of an extremely large number of U.S. citizens wishing to move to Scandinavia.
The Scandinavian countries experienced many demonstrations of Syrian refugees. They were upset that after all their trials and tribulations to get safe haven in these countries well-off Americans were welcomed with open arms.
The stock markets had a 25% drop because so many sold their stocks and put the proceeds into foreign banks. This major sell-off also caused a 25% drop in the value of the dollar against other currencies, especially those of Canada and Europe.
Surprisingly, many multi-millionaires moved to their villas in Switzerland, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Most company boards were not meeting in the U.S., but were conducting their meetings by secure video.
Many Chinese immigrants went back to China, to the “devil” they understood. They could plan their lives and careers much more easily under the Communist dictatorship than under the Trump whimsyship.
H1-B workers left in droves. They thought it would be best to plan when to leave than suddenly have their H1-B status removed. This “brain drain” worsened even more the value of tech companies already hit with the stock sell-off. Software updates and new products were delayed for months if not years. The upside was that older tech workers were suddenly in demand even though their skills were “outdated” Tech companies realized that these workers could be trained in-house for less money than lobbying for H1-B extensions.
Fruits and vegetables became scarce because the migrant workers disappeared. Meat processing almost ceased. Office workers had to vacuum their own floors. Like the H1-B workers, the migrant workers also thought it would be best to leave on their own terms. Unlike the H1-B workers, they could suddenly be put into detention centers.
Many countries around the world sought loop-holes in their treaties with the U.S. Not only did they not think the U.S. would be a reliable ally, but they thought the “toughness” proclaimed by Trump would make them even more vulnerable to any threats by other countries.
This threatened closure of bases also put the U.S. military-industrial complex in a tailspin. Investors sold their shares at steep discounts because they foresaw a much smaller market for military wares as U.S. bases were closed.
Things got so bad that the Republican-controlled Congress was desperately looking for ways to impeach Trump. But even as they considered impeachment, the Capitol was besieged by thousands of Trumpistas who saw their hero threatened. The Capitol police staffing the metal detectors were overwhelmed by protesters carrying pistols, rifles, and automatic weapons.
You did note the date of publication of this post, right?
This means that Donald Trump received the votes of less than 20% of the eligible voters. Once again, “None of the Above” really won because of the 50% no-shows.
Almost as soon as the projections were made on national TV, the border crossings at Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Niagara Falls, and others started filling up with U.S. citizens seeking resident status in Canada. The websites of all the airlines with trans-Atlantic flights crashed with thousands seeking one-way tickets to Europe. Scandinavian Air and Icelandic Air were hardest hit because of an extremely large number of U.S. citizens wishing to move to Scandinavia.
The Scandinavian countries experienced many demonstrations of Syrian refugees. They were upset that after all their trials and tribulations to get safe haven in these countries well-off Americans were welcomed with open arms.
The stock markets had a 25% drop because so many sold their stocks and put the proceeds into foreign banks. This major sell-off also caused a 25% drop in the value of the dollar against other currencies, especially those of Canada and Europe.
Surprisingly, many multi-millionaires moved to their villas in Switzerland, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Most company boards were not meeting in the U.S., but were conducting their meetings by secure video.
Many Chinese immigrants went back to China, to the “devil” they understood. They could plan their lives and careers much more easily under the Communist dictatorship than under the Trump whimsyship.
H1-B workers left in droves. They thought it would be best to plan when to leave than suddenly have their H1-B status removed. This “brain drain” worsened even more the value of tech companies already hit with the stock sell-off. Software updates and new products were delayed for months if not years. The upside was that older tech workers were suddenly in demand even though their skills were “outdated” Tech companies realized that these workers could be trained in-house for less money than lobbying for H1-B extensions.
Fruits and vegetables became scarce because the migrant workers disappeared. Meat processing almost ceased. Office workers had to vacuum their own floors. Like the H1-B workers, the migrant workers also thought it would be best to leave on their own terms. Unlike the H1-B workers, they could suddenly be put into detention centers.
Many countries around the world sought loop-holes in their treaties with the U.S. Not only did they not think the U.S. would be a reliable ally, but they thought the “toughness” proclaimed by Trump would make them even more vulnerable to any threats by other countries.
This threatened closure of bases also put the U.S. military-industrial complex in a tailspin. Investors sold their shares at steep discounts because they foresaw a much smaller market for military wares as U.S. bases were closed.
Things got so bad that the Republican-controlled Congress was desperately looking for ways to impeach Trump. But even as they considered impeachment, the Capitol was besieged by thousands of Trumpistas who saw their hero threatened. The Capitol police staffing the metal detectors were overwhelmed by protesters carrying pistols, rifles, and automatic weapons.
You did note the date of publication of this post, right?
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Trump doesn’t want to be president?
Stephanie Ciegelski, former communications of a Trump super-PAC, writes that Trump ran only to prove a point. He didn’t expect to take the lead but to come in second. When it comes down to it, Trump’s campaign is not about the disgruntled but about Trump.
See http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ex-trump-insider-donald-doesn-191100209.html.
See http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ex-trump-insider-donald-doesn-191100209.html.
Looking for mainstream climate skeptics
The Duluth News Tribune published a letter from Tom Harris of the International Climate Science Coalition
I searched for “International Climate Science Coalition” as well “Tom Harris” in the following newspapers:
I only found two references to these searches. One was a letter from Tom Harris similar to the letter he submitted to the Duluth News Tribune; it was date 2015-05-01. The other was about a scientist connected to Harvard and the Smithsonian who wrote a paper skeptical of climate change. He didn’t disclose that he received funds from the oil industry. See
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/01/26/harvard-smithsonian-climate-change-skeptic-accused-violating-academic-disclosure-agreement/Y1uMQ8yuLpYCjOHGckRArO/story.html
I searched for “International Climate Science Coalition” as well “Tom Harris” in the following newspapers:
New York Times
Chicago Tribune
Washington Post
Wall Street Journal
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Philadelphia Inquirer
Boston Globe
Toronto Star
Star Tribune (Twin Cities of Minnesota)
Los Angeles Times
Ottawa Citizen
I only found two references to these searches. One was a letter from Tom Harris similar to the letter he submitted to the Duluth News Tribune; it was date 2015-05-01. The other was about a scientist connected to Harvard and the Smithsonian who wrote a paper skeptical of climate change. He didn’t disclose that he received funds from the oil industry. See
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/01/26/harvard-smithsonian-climate-change-skeptic-accused-violating-academic-disclosure-agreement/Y1uMQ8yuLpYCjOHGckRArO/story.html
Thursday, March 24, 2016
STEM is only part of a plant
It needs roots, leaves, and flowers.
STEM refers to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It is all the rage to ensure that a large number of public school students be grounded in STEM. That’s “where all the jobs are.”
But is that all our public schools should produce: “skills” that are “hot” today for large corporations? What happens when large corporations want different “skills”? How many FORTRAN or COBOL programmers are still working? How many large corporations were willing to let them learn C on the job? Or would the large corporations rather let them go and hire C programmers taught by a university? Programmers who would be cheaper because they didn’t have seniority. Or programmers who would be cheaper because they were H1-B hires? The old programmers would be familiar with how the company functioned. The new programmers would probably take longer to learn how the company functioned than the old programmers could upgrade their “skills”.
Tech innovation in and of itself is devoid of meaning. We need the humanities and art to give meaning. The humanities are the roots of a learning plant. They feed the STEM with ideas of what has worked in the past and insight to what might work in the future. The arts are the flowers of the STEM. Without music, drawing, and theatre, STEM is only more and more gadgets which became ends in of themselves. See Sherry Turkles’ “Alone Together” for how much are society has become tools of our gadgets rather than our gadgets being our tools. The leaves are the parts that extract learning from whatever sources are available.
Even before STEM became a buzz-word, I had plenty of STEM training.
I had the science of Physics and Chemistry in high school and college. I really haven’t used much Physics or Chemistry since then. I do remember that speed equals the acceleration multiplied by the square of time. I don’t know what use this has been to me except that I don’t think sky diving is a good idea. I do remember that water is two-parts hydrogen and one part oxygen and the carbon dioxide is one part carbon and two parts oxygen.
In college I took the technology of AC Circuits and flunked it. But all I really need to know today is that the wall sockets are AC circuits that when properly used can provide light as well as power for the computer I am typing this article on.
Oops, an aside. From English I learned the last phrase should be “for the computer on which I am typing this article.” And of course, from other reading I have learned that this is a forced construction based on the idea that English should follow Latin grammar.
In college I had “Engineering Tools and Processes”. I don’t remember my grade (not an A), but as all the others did, my brazing of one piece to another exceeded the base line. On the other hand, I never did get the hang of arc welding. I always got the rod stuck to the work.
Now Math is something I really got immersed in: calculus, differential equations, complex variables, mathematical logic, and more: two years at a liberal arts college and two years in graduate schools. But what do I use math for now: balancing my checkbook, doing my taxes, and guessing an appropriate tip. I do remember that the squares of the sides of a right triangle equal the square of the hypotenuse. But might I have learned this just doing some carpentry? The 3-4-5 rule for making a right angle. About the only other formula I remember is the integral of e to the x equals a function of u sub n. I didn’t learn that in the class room!
With all that STEM, how did I learn so much about computers? On the job training and my own curiosity. I got a summer job between my junior and senior years to learn computing. With a text book from the company library and the help of others, I successfully completed a program that was used after I left.
When I went to graduate school as a graduate assistant, we were given some manuals and pointed at the computer room. It was the days of cards-in, cards-out but it was self-serve. None of this priesthood behind locked doors that gave back your work when they damn-well decided to.
Now computers have gotten both easier to use and harder to use. But how many of those who get the full STEM treatment will get and hold jobs in industry. Will a programmer be able to easily change jobs if he or she doesn’t have the right “skill set”? Or will companies look for new grads from other countries on H1-B visas. And after the visas expire just send them back home because the companies can get new grads with “up-to-date” “skill sets”.
This all reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Player Piano”. Workers were spit out of the system because their jobs were replaced by computer systems. Even managers were getting spit out. Vonnegut saw this back in the bad-old-days of cards-in, cards-out.
But what I really learned in school and on my own that was of lasting importance was in the roots, flowers, and leaves. What would my life be without all the literature I learned? Would I have enjoyed and learned from Shakespeare and other great books without being exposed to them in school? Would I have learned about government without civics and American history? Would I have enjoyed a wide range of music without a class in music appreciation. It is all of these that allowed me to enjoy life and contribute more than sitting in a cubicle designing “the next great thing.”
Also in the Reader Weekly of Duluth on 2016-03-24 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/03/24/6930_stem_is_only_part_of_a_plant-1.
Also "complex various" was corrected to "complex variables".
STEM refers to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It is all the rage to ensure that a large number of public school students be grounded in STEM. That’s “where all the jobs are.”
But is that all our public schools should produce: “skills” that are “hot” today for large corporations? What happens when large corporations want different “skills”? How many FORTRAN or COBOL programmers are still working? How many large corporations were willing to let them learn C on the job? Or would the large corporations rather let them go and hire C programmers taught by a university? Programmers who would be cheaper because they didn’t have seniority. Or programmers who would be cheaper because they were H1-B hires? The old programmers would be familiar with how the company functioned. The new programmers would probably take longer to learn how the company functioned than the old programmers could upgrade their “skills”.
Tech innovation in and of itself is devoid of meaning. We need the humanities and art to give meaning. The humanities are the roots of a learning plant. They feed the STEM with ideas of what has worked in the past and insight to what might work in the future. The arts are the flowers of the STEM. Without music, drawing, and theatre, STEM is only more and more gadgets which became ends in of themselves. See Sherry Turkles’ “Alone Together” for how much are society has become tools of our gadgets rather than our gadgets being our tools. The leaves are the parts that extract learning from whatever sources are available.
Even before STEM became a buzz-word, I had plenty of STEM training.
I had the science of Physics and Chemistry in high school and college. I really haven’t used much Physics or Chemistry since then. I do remember that speed equals the acceleration multiplied by the square of time. I don’t know what use this has been to me except that I don’t think sky diving is a good idea. I do remember that water is two-parts hydrogen and one part oxygen and the carbon dioxide is one part carbon and two parts oxygen.
In college I took the technology of AC Circuits and flunked it. But all I really need to know today is that the wall sockets are AC circuits that when properly used can provide light as well as power for the computer I am typing this article on.
Oops, an aside. From English I learned the last phrase should be “for the computer on which I am typing this article.” And of course, from other reading I have learned that this is a forced construction based on the idea that English should follow Latin grammar.
In college I had “Engineering Tools and Processes”. I don’t remember my grade (not an A), but as all the others did, my brazing of one piece to another exceeded the base line. On the other hand, I never did get the hang of arc welding. I always got the rod stuck to the work.
Now Math is something I really got immersed in: calculus, differential equations, complex variables, mathematical logic, and more: two years at a liberal arts college and two years in graduate schools. But what do I use math for now: balancing my checkbook, doing my taxes, and guessing an appropriate tip. I do remember that the squares of the sides of a right triangle equal the square of the hypotenuse. But might I have learned this just doing some carpentry? The 3-4-5 rule for making a right angle. About the only other formula I remember is the integral of e to the x equals a function of u sub n. I didn’t learn that in the class room!
With all that STEM, how did I learn so much about computers? On the job training and my own curiosity. I got a summer job between my junior and senior years to learn computing. With a text book from the company library and the help of others, I successfully completed a program that was used after I left.
When I went to graduate school as a graduate assistant, we were given some manuals and pointed at the computer room. It was the days of cards-in, cards-out but it was self-serve. None of this priesthood behind locked doors that gave back your work when they damn-well decided to.
Now computers have gotten both easier to use and harder to use. But how many of those who get the full STEM treatment will get and hold jobs in industry. Will a programmer be able to easily change jobs if he or she doesn’t have the right “skill set”? Or will companies look for new grads from other countries on H1-B visas. And after the visas expire just send them back home because the companies can get new grads with “up-to-date” “skill sets”.
This all reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Player Piano”. Workers were spit out of the system because their jobs were replaced by computer systems. Even managers were getting spit out. Vonnegut saw this back in the bad-old-days of cards-in, cards-out.
But what I really learned in school and on my own that was of lasting importance was in the roots, flowers, and leaves. What would my life be without all the literature I learned? Would I have enjoyed and learned from Shakespeare and other great books without being exposed to them in school? Would I have learned about government without civics and American history? Would I have enjoyed a wide range of music without a class in music appreciation. It is all of these that allowed me to enjoy life and contribute more than sitting in a cubicle designing “the next great thing.”
Also in the Reader Weekly of Duluth on 2016-03-24 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/03/24/6930_stem_is_only_part_of_a_plant-1.
Also "complex various" was corrected to "complex variables".
Thursday, March 17, 2016
I am American, not Irish!
“On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish!” Really? Just what is Irish? Is it the ruffian who flung his elbow in my face as he passed me in Killkenny? Or is it the people named McGree who invited me to their home for dinner? Is it the parish priest who let me look through church records? Or is it the woman who smoked in the no-smoking car on the train back to Dublin. Just like any other group, ethnic, religious, or skin hue, there are many different behaviors from the generous to the hateful.
One St. Patrick’s Day, my mother proclaimed that we were “Orange-Irish”. I don’t think she had a clue. If she knew the ancestry of my paternal grandfather, she certainly didn’t pass it on to me. Neither did my German-born paternal grandmother.
From all the genealogical research I’ve done, it seems that the surname Magree, McGree, or MacGree comes from Ireland. However, from all the genealogical research I’ve done, I have found no ancestor in my male line that was definitively born in Ireland.
The closest was my great grandfather, John J.R. Magree, who variously claimed to be born in Brooklyn or England. In the last year or two I found that he was born in Liverpool of an American and a woman living in Liverpool. Her name was Margaret Pope. Her father was a customs officer, and so I assume she was not born in Ireland.
John James Richard Magree’s father was John Cornelius Magree, who generally went by John C. Magree. I did find a record of his getting his seaman’s certificate in 1833 at the age of 15. In the 1850 census he was listed first in a crew of a ship in New York or Brooklyn. In 1851 he was the master of the ship Ivanhoe bringing about 400 immigrants from Liverpool to New York. Most of the passengers were Irish. I did not find a Margaret Pope or Margaret Magree in the passenger list.
I did link John C. Magree to his father twice. John C.’s marriage document named his father as Vincent Magree. The 1830 Census did list Vincent Magree’s household as containing a male about 12 years old.
With Ancestor,com, I can find no record other than these two of Vincent Magree. I wonder if he (or others) anglicized his name from Vincenzo Magri to Vincent Magree. I have found records where a Magri has also been named Magree. It’s possible that my paternal line comes from Italy; one relative told me that one of uncles looked “Spanish”. I do know that I was one of the few “curly-haired” males in my family.
Just who are these “Irish” that the English of another time called a “race”? We do know they were Celts who drove out another group. Was this displaced group the “fairies”? But then the Vikings came raping and pillaging. After that another wave of Vikings came, but they were called Normans (Norse men). But the Normans had settled in France, so are the Irish French? Partly! Names like Fitzpatrick come from the French Fils-Patrick, meaning son of Patrick. Then the English came a-pillaging and taking land. This invasion was so devastating that many Irish left for the Americas and Australia.
When the descendants of the Irish immigrants to Australia come to the United States, what do we call them? Australians!
I do know that many grandchildren of people who immigrated to other countries are often labelled with their ancestry, but I don’t know if these labels persist for so many generations as they do in the U.S. I enjoy springing the question “What nationality is the King of Sweden?” By American reckoning he is French. He is a descendant of one of Napoleon’s marshals: Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte! Some often respond that Queen Elizabeth II is German. She’s a descendant of Prince Albert of Saxony.
What are people who immigrate to the U.S. or their descendants called when they go back the “Old Country”? Americans! I read one Swedish novel where a man worked in Chicago for several years, came back to his home town, and was labelled as “American”. I read another where a second-generation woman came back, could hardly speak Swedish, and was called “American”.
I was an “Ugly American” in Europe for six years. If you read “The Ugly American” you know that he was the good guy in the local view and the “bad guy” in the expatriate community. “The Ugly American” learned the language and customs of the host country, and he didn’t spend all of his time in the “country club” American community.
I worked on learning the languages of the countries I visited and used them both in speaking and reading. A few others didn’t even make an attempt and were miserable. In fact, one European colleague called me a “Northern European” because I worked at blending in.
But I can’t resist being the other kind of “Ugly American” in this country. When someone says they are Swedish or Italian, I ask “Talar du svenska?” or “Parlai italiano?” “Do you speak Swedish?” or “Do you speak Italian?” Generally the response is either befuddlement or a negative reply.
So, this assumed descendant of some Irish immigrant won’t be drinking green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. As much as he likes Guinness or Smithwick, he will probably be drinking a couple of glasses of Italian wine. Sláinte or cin-cin!
Also printed in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-03-17 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/03/17/6888_i_am_american_not_irish.
P.S. About green beer and other "Irish" fare, see http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/dining/corned-beef-and-cabbage-not-so-irish-historians-say.html.
One St. Patrick’s Day, my mother proclaimed that we were “Orange-Irish”. I don’t think she had a clue. If she knew the ancestry of my paternal grandfather, she certainly didn’t pass it on to me. Neither did my German-born paternal grandmother.
From all the genealogical research I’ve done, it seems that the surname Magree, McGree, or MacGree comes from Ireland. However, from all the genealogical research I’ve done, I have found no ancestor in my male line that was definitively born in Ireland.
The closest was my great grandfather, John J.R. Magree, who variously claimed to be born in Brooklyn or England. In the last year or two I found that he was born in Liverpool of an American and a woman living in Liverpool. Her name was Margaret Pope. Her father was a customs officer, and so I assume she was not born in Ireland.
John James Richard Magree’s father was John Cornelius Magree, who generally went by John C. Magree. I did find a record of his getting his seaman’s certificate in 1833 at the age of 15. In the 1850 census he was listed first in a crew of a ship in New York or Brooklyn. In 1851 he was the master of the ship Ivanhoe bringing about 400 immigrants from Liverpool to New York. Most of the passengers were Irish. I did not find a Margaret Pope or Margaret Magree in the passenger list.
I did link John C. Magree to his father twice. John C.’s marriage document named his father as Vincent Magree. The 1830 Census did list Vincent Magree’s household as containing a male about 12 years old.
With Ancestor,com, I can find no record other than these two of Vincent Magree. I wonder if he (or others) anglicized his name from Vincenzo Magri to Vincent Magree. I have found records where a Magri has also been named Magree. It’s possible that my paternal line comes from Italy; one relative told me that one of uncles looked “Spanish”. I do know that I was one of the few “curly-haired” males in my family.
Just who are these “Irish” that the English of another time called a “race”? We do know they were Celts who drove out another group. Was this displaced group the “fairies”? But then the Vikings came raping and pillaging. After that another wave of Vikings came, but they were called Normans (Norse men). But the Normans had settled in France, so are the Irish French? Partly! Names like Fitzpatrick come from the French Fils-Patrick, meaning son of Patrick. Then the English came a-pillaging and taking land. This invasion was so devastating that many Irish left for the Americas and Australia.
When the descendants of the Irish immigrants to Australia come to the United States, what do we call them? Australians!
I do know that many grandchildren of people who immigrated to other countries are often labelled with their ancestry, but I don’t know if these labels persist for so many generations as they do in the U.S. I enjoy springing the question “What nationality is the King of Sweden?” By American reckoning he is French. He is a descendant of one of Napoleon’s marshals: Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte! Some often respond that Queen Elizabeth II is German. She’s a descendant of Prince Albert of Saxony.
What are people who immigrate to the U.S. or their descendants called when they go back the “Old Country”? Americans! I read one Swedish novel where a man worked in Chicago for several years, came back to his home town, and was labelled as “American”. I read another where a second-generation woman came back, could hardly speak Swedish, and was called “American”.
I was an “Ugly American” in Europe for six years. If you read “The Ugly American” you know that he was the good guy in the local view and the “bad guy” in the expatriate community. “The Ugly American” learned the language and customs of the host country, and he didn’t spend all of his time in the “country club” American community.
I worked on learning the languages of the countries I visited and used them both in speaking and reading. A few others didn’t even make an attempt and were miserable. In fact, one European colleague called me a “Northern European” because I worked at blending in.
But I can’t resist being the other kind of “Ugly American” in this country. When someone says they are Swedish or Italian, I ask “Talar du svenska?” or “Parlai italiano?” “Do you speak Swedish?” or “Do you speak Italian?” Generally the response is either befuddlement or a negative reply.
So, this assumed descendant of some Irish immigrant won’t be drinking green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. As much as he likes Guinness or Smithwick, he will probably be drinking a couple of glasses of Italian wine. Sláinte or cin-cin!
Also printed in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-03-17 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/03/17/6888_i_am_american_not_irish.
P.S. About green beer and other "Irish" fare, see http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/dining/corned-beef-and-cabbage-not-so-irish-historians-say.html.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Much alarm about nothing
One of the current online ads is one about you can get over $4,000 more in Social Security every month. Sounds like an offer you can’t refuse!
Supposedly Congress has removed a Social Security Benefit and Obama has approved it. It will be removed on May 16, 2016.
The advertisers make it look like this benefit was removed by a clause snuck in by some anti-Social Security member of Congress.
Actually, it is a loophole that allowed a spouse to defer his or her Social Security while the other collected his or her Social Security. At some later date the deferrer could have a much higher Social Security benefit.
To get $4,000/month more, the person would have had to have a rather high income. I can’t imagine the average worker getting such a benefit.
But these are probably just the people the ads target. Either these “marks” will have to pay an upfront fee or buy a book to find out that they cannot get such a benefit.
I tried checking the Social Security website for “2016 changes”. I got eight hits, but that’s all I could see. No text, no further links. I sent an email, but my guess is that it will be a long time before I get an answer: too many people are asking the same question and overloading the system.
Fortunately, Vanguard published an article written by Jacklin Youssef that explains the changes. See https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/youssef-social-security-022016.
Essentially, by using your spouse’s Social Security benefits and deferring your own until age 70, you can collect 34% more per month. Let’s see, to get $4,000/month more in Social Security, you would have to have deferred a benefit of $11,764.71/month
So, you retire at 67 but defer your benefit until age 70. You would pass up $423,529 dollars to get that extra benefit. It would be over 100 months until you recouped the $423,529 you passed up. You would be over 78 when you broke even on your delay. Are you sure you will live to 78?
It’s late and I don’t want to figure out the interest you would have earned if you had saved that $11,764.71 a month.
However, how many people do you know that receive $11,764.71/month in Social Security? These are not the people who are going to respond to these ads. They probably already have financial smarts or advisors to get the best deal for themselves.
P.S. If you see an ad about this change, I had nothing to do with selecting the ad. It's done automagically based on the content of an entry.
Supposedly Congress has removed a Social Security Benefit and Obama has approved it. It will be removed on May 16, 2016.
The advertisers make it look like this benefit was removed by a clause snuck in by some anti-Social Security member of Congress.
Actually, it is a loophole that allowed a spouse to defer his or her Social Security while the other collected his or her Social Security. At some later date the deferrer could have a much higher Social Security benefit.
To get $4,000/month more, the person would have had to have a rather high income. I can’t imagine the average worker getting such a benefit.
But these are probably just the people the ads target. Either these “marks” will have to pay an upfront fee or buy a book to find out that they cannot get such a benefit.
I tried checking the Social Security website for “2016 changes”. I got eight hits, but that’s all I could see. No text, no further links. I sent an email, but my guess is that it will be a long time before I get an answer: too many people are asking the same question and overloading the system.
Fortunately, Vanguard published an article written by Jacklin Youssef that explains the changes. See https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/youssef-social-security-022016.
Essentially, by using your spouse’s Social Security benefits and deferring your own until age 70, you can collect 34% more per month. Let’s see, to get $4,000/month more in Social Security, you would have to have deferred a benefit of $11,764.71/month
So, you retire at 67 but defer your benefit until age 70. You would pass up $423,529 dollars to get that extra benefit. It would be over 100 months until you recouped the $423,529 you passed up. You would be over 78 when you broke even on your delay. Are you sure you will live to 78?
It’s late and I don’t want to figure out the interest you would have earned if you had saved that $11,764.71 a month.
However, how many people do you know that receive $11,764.71/month in Social Security? These are not the people who are going to respond to these ads. They probably already have financial smarts or advisors to get the best deal for themselves.
P.S. If you see an ad about this change, I had nothing to do with selecting the ad. It's done automagically based on the content of an entry.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
How to protest successfully
Many people are showing up at Trump rallies to show their opposition. However, their actions often just rile up the Trump supporters. A much more effective tactic would be to show up and do nothing. A quiet audience is the worst possible insult to the likes of Donald Trump.
By wearing anti-Trump T-shirts or carrying anti-Trump signs, protesters just energize the Trump supporters. But if a large part of his audience never applauded, never jeered, but just remained quiet, Trump wouldn’t know what to do, nor would many of his supporters.
Passive resistance like this can defuse many situations and make those who are the targets of the resistance feel very uncomfortable and unsure of their own positions.
I was very disappointed when Occupy Wall Street changed from lots of people carrying signs to a few people camping out in public spaces. These squatters generated more antipathy than sympathy.
When somebody is shot, whether by police or by a bad guy shooting a cop, riots or demonstrations are not the answer. Riots reduce the sympathy for the victim, and even distract from getting justice. The best possible response is flowers at the site of the shooting.
Gandhi and King led the way on non-violent protest. We dishonor them by even unduly disruptive behavior.
By wearing anti-Trump T-shirts or carrying anti-Trump signs, protesters just energize the Trump supporters. But if a large part of his audience never applauded, never jeered, but just remained quiet, Trump wouldn’t know what to do, nor would many of his supporters.
Passive resistance like this can defuse many situations and make those who are the targets of the resistance feel very uncomfortable and unsure of their own positions.
I was very disappointed when Occupy Wall Street changed from lots of people carrying signs to a few people camping out in public spaces. These squatters generated more antipathy than sympathy.
When somebody is shot, whether by police or by a bad guy shooting a cop, riots or demonstrations are not the answer. Riots reduce the sympathy for the victim, and even distract from getting justice. The best possible response is flowers at the site of the shooting.
Gandhi and King led the way on non-violent protest. We dishonor them by even unduly disruptive behavior.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Raucous Caucus and Other Ruckuses
The Party of One held its caucus in front of my fireplace. Mysteriously, it issued the following results: None of the above, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton. The Party of One caucus called on all of its members to not vote for any Republican except Arne Carlson or Bill Frenzel. Unfortunately, Bill Frenzel died two years ago, but Arne Carlson is alive and writing. See governorcarlson.blogspot.com for what he thinks of Trump, Fox, and MSNBC.
Trump's plurality is not the lock on the nomination that so many news stories imply. Cruz and Rubio could unite as President/VP and have the majority of delegates. Either of the two could run as President but Rubio running as President may have a benefit. This choice defuses the issue of Cruz's birthplace. But if such a duo is finalized, Cruz will more than likely be the Presidential candidate because as of this writing he has more delegates than Rubio. Do you think the same “birthers” that tried to make an issue of Obama’s birth will make an issue of Cruz’s birth?
There is a campaign by Credo Action to get CBS to stop giving so much coverage to Donald Trump. An email from Credo Action quotes CBS CEO Les Moonves: Trump’s campaign “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” The email also quotes CBS’s diversity and tolerance policy: “CBS Corporation, and its divisions are committed to building an environment that values diversity throughout the corporation and in its business practices.”
Personally, I think watching televised debates or even TV news is a waste of time.
I last watched Presidential debates in 2004. I got so sick of John Kerry repeating “in my plan” that I almost didn’t vote for him. I only voted for him because he was better than the alternative. Bush was an angel compared to the angry clowns trying to outdo each other in shouting matches. And Bush as a former governor and a sitting president had far more credibility and experience than an erratic businessman who has made a career of putting people down. Remember “You’re fired!”
Watching TV news is unproductive time. I can read more news items in a half-hour in a newspaper than I can get in a half-hour TV news broadcast. Plus, I can skip ads in the newspaper but it’s hard to skip the twelve minutes of ads in a TV newscast.
My Party of One caucus was a lot less crowded than my wife’s DFL caucus. She spent a lot of time driving around looking for a parking place, then she had to stand in line to even enter the building, and then she couldn’t get into the room for her precinct. The best she could do was write her choice for president on a little slip of paper. She had wanted to submit a couple of resolutions. This is democracy?
I keep wondering why so many states have partisan primaries or caucuses that are open to the public. I think it was Robert La Follette of Wisconsin over a century ago who thought that primaries would make elections more democratic. I think it has had two downsides. People who don’t give time or a dime to a party get to decide its candidates. Second, it makes for much longer campaigns.
Many point to Canada and Britain as examples of “six-week campaigns”, but both of these are parliamentary systems. My deadline precludes doing further research on this, but I think two factors are at work here.
First, elections are not held on a regular cycle. Often, a prime minister may decide to call elections to try to get more support for his positions. These irregular elections have to take place in a relatively short time. If a government does sit for its whole term, people are just in the habit of holding elections in a short period of time.
Second, even though voting for a member of parliament may be a proxy for the prime minister, the members are possibly only willing to campaign for a short period of time. Few are the times that we have two-year-long all-out campaigns for local and state governments.
I do wish our so-called “debates” were debates in the classical sense: rather than moderators posing questions to each of the “debaters”, one of the candidates would speak for a certain amount of time on whatever topic he or she chose. The other candidate (or candidates) could either rebut the first candidate’s remarks or go on to another subject. Assuming only two candidates, the first would have a shorter period of time to rebut the second. This is more or less how the Lincoln-Douglas debates were held. Unfortunately, few people today would be willing to stand the hour-plus time of a single debate, or even sit that long.
It is ironic that the party that thought the federal government should work to abolish slavery is now the party that promotes segregation. “Because we think it a wrong, we propose a course of policy that shall deal with it as a wrong.” - Abraham Lincoln, Quincy, Illinois, 13 October 1858.
Whatever your choices are in November, be sure to vote. Your vote always counts. You only throw your vote away if you stay away.
Also posted in the Reader Weekly of 2016-03-10 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/03/10/6854_raucous_caucus_and_other_ruckuses.
Trump's plurality is not the lock on the nomination that so many news stories imply. Cruz and Rubio could unite as President/VP and have the majority of delegates. Either of the two could run as President but Rubio running as President may have a benefit. This choice defuses the issue of Cruz's birthplace. But if such a duo is finalized, Cruz will more than likely be the Presidential candidate because as of this writing he has more delegates than Rubio. Do you think the same “birthers” that tried to make an issue of Obama’s birth will make an issue of Cruz’s birth?
There is a campaign by Credo Action to get CBS to stop giving so much coverage to Donald Trump. An email from Credo Action quotes CBS CEO Les Moonves: Trump’s campaign “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” The email also quotes CBS’s diversity and tolerance policy: “CBS Corporation, and its divisions are committed to building an environment that values diversity throughout the corporation and in its business practices.”
Personally, I think watching televised debates or even TV news is a waste of time.
I last watched Presidential debates in 2004. I got so sick of John Kerry repeating “in my plan” that I almost didn’t vote for him. I only voted for him because he was better than the alternative. Bush was an angel compared to the angry clowns trying to outdo each other in shouting matches. And Bush as a former governor and a sitting president had far more credibility and experience than an erratic businessman who has made a career of putting people down. Remember “You’re fired!”
Watching TV news is unproductive time. I can read more news items in a half-hour in a newspaper than I can get in a half-hour TV news broadcast. Plus, I can skip ads in the newspaper but it’s hard to skip the twelve minutes of ads in a TV newscast.
My Party of One caucus was a lot less crowded than my wife’s DFL caucus. She spent a lot of time driving around looking for a parking place, then she had to stand in line to even enter the building, and then she couldn’t get into the room for her precinct. The best she could do was write her choice for president on a little slip of paper. She had wanted to submit a couple of resolutions. This is democracy?
I keep wondering why so many states have partisan primaries or caucuses that are open to the public. I think it was Robert La Follette of Wisconsin over a century ago who thought that primaries would make elections more democratic. I think it has had two downsides. People who don’t give time or a dime to a party get to decide its candidates. Second, it makes for much longer campaigns.
Many point to Canada and Britain as examples of “six-week campaigns”, but both of these are parliamentary systems. My deadline precludes doing further research on this, but I think two factors are at work here.
First, elections are not held on a regular cycle. Often, a prime minister may decide to call elections to try to get more support for his positions. These irregular elections have to take place in a relatively short time. If a government does sit for its whole term, people are just in the habit of holding elections in a short period of time.
Second, even though voting for a member of parliament may be a proxy for the prime minister, the members are possibly only willing to campaign for a short period of time. Few are the times that we have two-year-long all-out campaigns for local and state governments.
I do wish our so-called “debates” were debates in the classical sense: rather than moderators posing questions to each of the “debaters”, one of the candidates would speak for a certain amount of time on whatever topic he or she chose. The other candidate (or candidates) could either rebut the first candidate’s remarks or go on to another subject. Assuming only two candidates, the first would have a shorter period of time to rebut the second. This is more or less how the Lincoln-Douglas debates were held. Unfortunately, few people today would be willing to stand the hour-plus time of a single debate, or even sit that long.
It is ironic that the party that thought the federal government should work to abolish slavery is now the party that promotes segregation. “Because we think it a wrong, we propose a course of policy that shall deal with it as a wrong.” - Abraham Lincoln, Quincy, Illinois, 13 October 1858.
Whatever your choices are in November, be sure to vote. Your vote always counts. You only throw your vote away if you stay away.
Also posted in the Reader Weekly of 2016-03-10 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/03/10/6854_raucous_caucus_and_other_ruckuses.
Friday, March 04, 2016
A lot has happened since you last read this column!
Have you gotten tired of Facebook or Classmates sending you email like this?
I dropped Facebook long ago because what generally happened was a half-sister posted yet another picture of her yard. I ignore Classmates because the great news is that someone who I didn’t know posted something or other.
Well, you may or may not be interested in the “lot” that happened to me last week. If not, go on to something else, If you are curious, I hope to reward you with a few chuckles.
At least twice last week, I woke up with some stupendous ideas for this column, mostly about politics and billionaires. I should have gotten up and written them down, but I preferred trying to go back to sleep. I would remember these great ideas in the morning. Of course, they faded with the rising sun.
Well, a few annoyances happened and they are hard to forget.
My printer started producing broken letters. I twice tried the nozzle cleaning procedure, but the test papers came out even worse. I even replaced the one ink cartridge that was low.
The warranty was about six weeks shy of running out. Oh, well, for a few dollars, it’s hardly worth making a claim.
I looked up a few printers on Best Buy, and of course my model was no longer sold. And of course, none of the current printers used the ink jet cartridges of my model. I selected a model that was similar in functions, took my old printer to be recycled, and at the last minute took the receipt for the old printer.
When I got to Best Buy, I took in the tray that accepted envelopes. I hoped I could use it in the new printer so that I didn’t have to change the paper in a tray.
I looked over the model I had selected and it looked like a good replacement. As I really knew, the old tray wouldn’t fit. I asked a clerk a few questions including how to recycle the old printer. He said to bring it in a cart.
I went to check out, paid for my new printer and some ink cartridges. I couldn’t find my Rewards card but the cashier looked it up. I took my purchases out to the car and brought in my old printer for recycling. I gave the clerk at customer service the old printer and my story. When I gave him the receipt for the old printer, he said that I had a replacement warranty! I could have paid for the new printer with the old printer.
I still couldn’t find my Rewards card, and so he gave me an in-store card for future purchases. I had no idea what I would be using it for in the near future, but as you will read, I soon found a use for some of the credit.
I took the printer home and started to set it up according to the instructions. Things went smoothly except for setting up wi-fi on my modem and on my computers.
Then I tried printing some business cards. The printer broke the card stock apart and jammed. Check instructions. Open back panel. Pull out pieces of card stock, broken along the perforations and crumbled. Also pull out pieces from the front. Put back panel back, but it won’t fit. Just which way does this thing go in? I think it took me ten minutes to do it right.
Print a sheet of business cards and leave for a meeting, finally. This was Thursday.
On Friday, we headed to the Twin Cities. As I often do on trips of an hour or more, I use my iPhone and a low-power FM gadget to play podcasts through the car radio. Except the gadget didn’t work! The power light was on, but the radio frequency lights wouldn’t come on. Nothing I tried would change the situation.
So, we spent two hours barely hearing “To the Best of Our Knowledge” (ttbook.org). I had the iPhone between the seats and we could barely hear the speaker above the road noise. At least we learned more about the operations of Coca Cola than we had known before.
When we got to the Twin Cities, we headed first to the Roseville Best Buy store.
We couldn’t find the same make of FM gadget, but we did find one that was considerably less expensive and automatically found the most open station.
I paid for it with my rewards card and the in-store credit card. I still couldn’t find my rewards card, but I could use the email message on my phone about the rewards credit I received for the printer purchase.
We next stopped at a grocery store. While my wife shopped, I installed the FM gadget. It gave me 88.1 as the frequency and I could hear the podcast scratchily. I reread and reread the instructions, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get a clear signal.
Because the reception changed as we changed direction, we figured that we were getting interference from the humongous antennas in Shoreview.
Before we left the Twin Cities, we tried again in a Caribou parking lot. We reread the directions and tried again. We were able to listen to a podcast with a minimum of static. We were still within sight of the Shoreview towers.
Oh, I also found my Best Buy Rewards card. It was in my wallet all along. It is silver-gray, not blue and yellow!
We have three lessons here that we constantly forget. One, read the directions first and understand them. Two, when looking for something in your wallet, make sure you see the face of every card. Will I forget the next time? Does the sun rise every morning? Three, I found one of the lost middle-of-the-night notes. It was in a folder I didn’t check. Sorry, it’s more about billionaires.
I dropped Facebook long ago because what generally happened was a half-sister posted yet another picture of her yard. I ignore Classmates because the great news is that someone who I didn’t know posted something or other.
Well, you may or may not be interested in the “lot” that happened to me last week. If not, go on to something else, If you are curious, I hope to reward you with a few chuckles.
At least twice last week, I woke up with some stupendous ideas for this column, mostly about politics and billionaires. I should have gotten up and written them down, but I preferred trying to go back to sleep. I would remember these great ideas in the morning. Of course, they faded with the rising sun.
Well, a few annoyances happened and they are hard to forget.
My printer started producing broken letters. I twice tried the nozzle cleaning procedure, but the test papers came out even worse. I even replaced the one ink cartridge that was low.
The warranty was about six weeks shy of running out. Oh, well, for a few dollars, it’s hardly worth making a claim.
I looked up a few printers on Best Buy, and of course my model was no longer sold. And of course, none of the current printers used the ink jet cartridges of my model. I selected a model that was similar in functions, took my old printer to be recycled, and at the last minute took the receipt for the old printer.
When I got to Best Buy, I took in the tray that accepted envelopes. I hoped I could use it in the new printer so that I didn’t have to change the paper in a tray.
I looked over the model I had selected and it looked like a good replacement. As I really knew, the old tray wouldn’t fit. I asked a clerk a few questions including how to recycle the old printer. He said to bring it in a cart.
I went to check out, paid for my new printer and some ink cartridges. I couldn’t find my Rewards card but the cashier looked it up. I took my purchases out to the car and brought in my old printer for recycling. I gave the clerk at customer service the old printer and my story. When I gave him the receipt for the old printer, he said that I had a replacement warranty! I could have paid for the new printer with the old printer.
I still couldn’t find my Rewards card, and so he gave me an in-store card for future purchases. I had no idea what I would be using it for in the near future, but as you will read, I soon found a use for some of the credit.
I took the printer home and started to set it up according to the instructions. Things went smoothly except for setting up wi-fi on my modem and on my computers.
Then I tried printing some business cards. The printer broke the card stock apart and jammed. Check instructions. Open back panel. Pull out pieces of card stock, broken along the perforations and crumbled. Also pull out pieces from the front. Put back panel back, but it won’t fit. Just which way does this thing go in? I think it took me ten minutes to do it right.
Print a sheet of business cards and leave for a meeting, finally. This was Thursday.
On Friday, we headed to the Twin Cities. As I often do on trips of an hour or more, I use my iPhone and a low-power FM gadget to play podcasts through the car radio. Except the gadget didn’t work! The power light was on, but the radio frequency lights wouldn’t come on. Nothing I tried would change the situation.
So, we spent two hours barely hearing “To the Best of Our Knowledge” (ttbook.org). I had the iPhone between the seats and we could barely hear the speaker above the road noise. At least we learned more about the operations of Coca Cola than we had known before.
When we got to the Twin Cities, we headed first to the Roseville Best Buy store.
We couldn’t find the same make of FM gadget, but we did find one that was considerably less expensive and automatically found the most open station.
I paid for it with my rewards card and the in-store credit card. I still couldn’t find my rewards card, but I could use the email message on my phone about the rewards credit I received for the printer purchase.
We next stopped at a grocery store. While my wife shopped, I installed the FM gadget. It gave me 88.1 as the frequency and I could hear the podcast scratchily. I reread and reread the instructions, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get a clear signal.
Because the reception changed as we changed direction, we figured that we were getting interference from the humongous antennas in Shoreview.
Before we left the Twin Cities, we tried again in a Caribou parking lot. We reread the directions and tried again. We were able to listen to a podcast with a minimum of static. We were still within sight of the Shoreview towers.
Oh, I also found my Best Buy Rewards card. It was in my wallet all along. It is silver-gray, not blue and yellow!
We have three lessons here that we constantly forget. One, read the directions first and understand them. Two, when looking for something in your wallet, make sure you see the face of every card. Will I forget the next time? Does the sun rise every morning? Three, I found one of the lost middle-of-the-night notes. It was in a folder I didn’t check. Sorry, it’s more about billionaires.
Thursday, March 03, 2016
How to respond to polls
I think the best comic that I've seen on polling is in the 2016-02-26 "Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee" by John Hambrock. See http://edisonleecomic.com/comics/february-26-2016/.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Iconoclastic ideas (or mysteries)
“I would love to talk to people, and say ‘Why do you need so much money?’ And why do people say it’s so admirable? I think the world has gone quite mad.” - John Cleese as reported by Lee Schafer, Star Tribune, 2016-02-17.
I haven’t yet gone back to “Dark Money”, the book I mentioned last week, but I keep wondering why so many exorbitantly rich have so much money to slosh around that they spend exorbitant sums to ensure that they get even more. When one has hundreds of billions of dollars, what’s a hundred billion or two less?
What is galling is that many claim they earned it, every penny. But how many people worked for a pittance or even a decent salary to create and implement the ideas to earn this money? Often several thousand people showed up every day to bring in that money while the billionaire was jetting here and there on vacation or attending a conference to rail against taxes and government, the same taxes and the same government that subsidizes many of their enterprises. For example, I’ve seen estimates that every Walmart store costs government entities one million dollars a year.
Many who want strict adherence to the Constitution seem to forget "Regulate commerce among states" and "establish a post office”.
The Republicans and their giant-corp backers are doing their best to nullify the EPA rule about emissions. Are these polluters keeping their emissions in the state where they are produced? If any of these emissions go to another state, then the President is right to regulate this commerce in emissions.
The Republicans seem to be bending over backwards to dis-establish the Post Office. The latest gimmick was to impose far greater requirements on pension funding than many corporations get by with. The last I looked my Unisys pension was funded at 77 percent. I exaggerate, but it seems like the Republicans want the Postal Service to be fully-funded on pensions for employees who have not even been hired yet.
I really don’t know what a “fair share” of taxes is, but it is a mystery how many people want perfect infra-structure, immediate arrest of all criminals, and bombing of countries far, far away but do not want to pay any taxes for any of these. Is there a correlation between complaints about government and complaints about burdensome taxes?
A good case in point is the following headline: “Wisconsin crackdown on repeat drunken drivers will cost taxpayers”, Mark Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal, published in the Duluth News Tribune, 2016-02-19. Duh!? What is the cost to taxpayers of the death and destruction caused by drunken drivers? I submit that it is quite a bit higher than the cost of the crackdown. In other words, spend what seems too much to prevent something that costs even more. Even that crackdown on fourth offenders may be too soft. Sweden had or maybe still has tough drunk driving laws: first offense was two years in jail, even for members of Parliament.
Why does Clinton have to be president so we finally have a woman president? Amy Klobuchar or Elizabeth Warren are much better choices, but neither seems to be interested.
Why do we have reach out across (fill-in the blank) lines? Can’t we just be nice to everybody. I hold doors for others, they hold doors for me. Rodney King said, “Can’t we all just get along.”
We do have to reform or at least neutralize people who judge people by factors which have nothing to do with a given situation.
Right now many established and respected media are giving misleading information. Clinton “won” in Nevada and Trump “won” in South Carolina. I posted a comment on a New York Times article; the article made no reference to the actual delegates gained. Sorry, I didn’t note the article. Interestingly, my comment was not posted for all to see. At least, as I write this hours later, I have not been emailed that my comment was posted.
Well, Trump did win in South Carolina because the South Carolina Republican primary is winner take-all. He “won” with less than a third of the vote. However, in Nevada, Clinton received 22 delegates and Sanders received 16 delegates. Oops, another source gives 19-15, and yet another shows a spread of about 600 votes. Sorry, I’m visiting so many sites to get to the truth that I have forgotten where I found which figures. Clinton does have an advantage because of super-delegates, elected and party officials who are automatically delegates to the convention. The super-delegates are overwhelmingly pro-Clinton.
One of these sources was “How many delegates do Trump, Clinton need to win? What's the delegate count for each candidate?” by Jonathan D. Salant at http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/02/how_many_delegates_do_hillary_clinton_and_donald_t.html.
Let's skip caucuses and primaries and even do away with political parties. Even though the writers of the Constitution warned about factions, they soon split into them. The most famous being the long feud between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
Let’s start at the local level. Let each registered voter send in a nomination for each position by email or mail. Rank the nominations by number of votes; those who are in the top half of the list go on to the next ballot. Repeat as necessary until one is chosen. Named candidates can drop out at any time.
Some may say that this is too expensive and subject to fraud. Isn’t the low turnout expensive to our society? Supposedly we already have too much fraud if you believe those who demand onerous restrictions on voting.
The only vote that doesn’t count is the vote not cast.
Also in the Reader Weekly of Duluth on 2015-02-25 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/25/6797_iconoclastic_ideas_or_mysteries.
I haven’t yet gone back to “Dark Money”, the book I mentioned last week, but I keep wondering why so many exorbitantly rich have so much money to slosh around that they spend exorbitant sums to ensure that they get even more. When one has hundreds of billions of dollars, what’s a hundred billion or two less?
What is galling is that many claim they earned it, every penny. But how many people worked for a pittance or even a decent salary to create and implement the ideas to earn this money? Often several thousand people showed up every day to bring in that money while the billionaire was jetting here and there on vacation or attending a conference to rail against taxes and government, the same taxes and the same government that subsidizes many of their enterprises. For example, I’ve seen estimates that every Walmart store costs government entities one million dollars a year.
Many who want strict adherence to the Constitution seem to forget "Regulate commerce among states" and "establish a post office”.
The Republicans and their giant-corp backers are doing their best to nullify the EPA rule about emissions. Are these polluters keeping their emissions in the state where they are produced? If any of these emissions go to another state, then the President is right to regulate this commerce in emissions.
The Republicans seem to be bending over backwards to dis-establish the Post Office. The latest gimmick was to impose far greater requirements on pension funding than many corporations get by with. The last I looked my Unisys pension was funded at 77 percent. I exaggerate, but it seems like the Republicans want the Postal Service to be fully-funded on pensions for employees who have not even been hired yet.
I really don’t know what a “fair share” of taxes is, but it is a mystery how many people want perfect infra-structure, immediate arrest of all criminals, and bombing of countries far, far away but do not want to pay any taxes for any of these. Is there a correlation between complaints about government and complaints about burdensome taxes?
A good case in point is the following headline: “Wisconsin crackdown on repeat drunken drivers will cost taxpayers”, Mark Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal, published in the Duluth News Tribune, 2016-02-19. Duh!? What is the cost to taxpayers of the death and destruction caused by drunken drivers? I submit that it is quite a bit higher than the cost of the crackdown. In other words, spend what seems too much to prevent something that costs even more. Even that crackdown on fourth offenders may be too soft. Sweden had or maybe still has tough drunk driving laws: first offense was two years in jail, even for members of Parliament.
Why does Clinton have to be president so we finally have a woman president? Amy Klobuchar or Elizabeth Warren are much better choices, but neither seems to be interested.
Why do we have reach out across (fill-in the blank) lines? Can’t we just be nice to everybody. I hold doors for others, they hold doors for me. Rodney King said, “Can’t we all just get along.”
We do have to reform or at least neutralize people who judge people by factors which have nothing to do with a given situation.
Right now many established and respected media are giving misleading information. Clinton “won” in Nevada and Trump “won” in South Carolina. I posted a comment on a New York Times article; the article made no reference to the actual delegates gained. Sorry, I didn’t note the article. Interestingly, my comment was not posted for all to see. At least, as I write this hours later, I have not been emailed that my comment was posted.
Well, Trump did win in South Carolina because the South Carolina Republican primary is winner take-all. He “won” with less than a third of the vote. However, in Nevada, Clinton received 22 delegates and Sanders received 16 delegates. Oops, another source gives 19-15, and yet another shows a spread of about 600 votes. Sorry, I’m visiting so many sites to get to the truth that I have forgotten where I found which figures. Clinton does have an advantage because of super-delegates, elected and party officials who are automatically delegates to the convention. The super-delegates are overwhelmingly pro-Clinton.
One of these sources was “How many delegates do Trump, Clinton need to win? What's the delegate count for each candidate?” by Jonathan D. Salant at http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/02/how_many_delegates_do_hillary_clinton_and_donald_t.html.
Let's skip caucuses and primaries and even do away with political parties. Even though the writers of the Constitution warned about factions, they soon split into them. The most famous being the long feud between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
Let’s start at the local level. Let each registered voter send in a nomination for each position by email or mail. Rank the nominations by number of votes; those who are in the top half of the list go on to the next ballot. Repeat as necessary until one is chosen. Named candidates can drop out at any time.
Some may say that this is too expensive and subject to fraud. Isn’t the low turnout expensive to our society? Supposedly we already have too much fraud if you believe those who demand onerous restrictions on voting.
The only vote that doesn’t count is the vote not cast.
Also in the Reader Weekly of Duluth on 2015-02-25 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/25/6797_iconoclastic_ideas_or_mysteries.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
“Conservative vs. Liberal” is a misleading view of politics
I saw “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires behind the Rise of the Radical Right” by Jane Mayer reviewed in the New York Times and decided to buy it. Once I started reading it, I found it very depressing. It just has too much about how the Koch brothers have inserted their pseudo-conservatism into our state and local governments. Even the inside cover is depressing – hundreds of thousands and even millions given to dozens of organizations that support the Koch brothers views.
You can find a review at “Inside the List” by Gregory Cowles, New York Times, 2016-01-29, “Attack the Messenger”.
Every time I blow my nose or dry my hands at Essentia Health, I think how the Koch brothers benefit from the thousands and thousands of tentacles with which they have gripped our society. Every box of tissue and every towel dispenser is labeled Georgia Pacific, a Koch brothers company.
I can’t help but wonder if the Koch brothers have the Benedictine values of Essentia Health. Essentia Health’s mission is “We are called to make a healthy difference in people’s lives.” Its values are quality, hospitality, respect, justice, stewardship, and teamwork.
You decide.
“Conservative” and “right” are very misleading terms. Some who call themselves “conservatives” are rather “liberal” with the idea of conservative. For example, how can anyone who extracts resources without any consideration for the consequences be called “conservative”? These extractors are being rather “liberal” with the resources.
Some who call themselves “liberal” are quite conservative in use of resources. Except when they fly all over the world or drive hundreds of miles to attend conferences on being more “conservative” with resources.
Some who call themselves “conservatives” because they oppose abortion as murder of innocents seem to be quite “liberal” in supporting those who would wage war, which is almost always murder of innocents.
Some who call themselves “liberal” can be quite “conservative” with whom they will allow to speak in public ceremonies. A real liberal would allow the invitee to speak and either stay away or sit quietly without applauding.
Sometimes I think the last great conservative was Edmund Burke (1729-1797), a British politician and author. “He was a great political thinker. Viewing English policies with something of the detachment of an alien [Burke was Irish], he was able to diagnose the situation with an imaginative insight beyond the range of those immersed in the business of the day and bound by traditional habits of mind.” The Age of Revolution, Winston Churchill.
Burke’s enemies accused him of being Catholic, a pejorative that presumed he was unfit for office. Have we heard another religious “pejorative” used in our times? Burke correctly predicted that the French Revolution with its chaos would lead to a military dictatorship. He also supported the grievances of the American Colonies: “Again and again, revert to your old principles—seek peace and ensue it; leave America, if she has taxable matter in her, to tax herself.”
The whole idea of “right vs. left” is one-dimensional. I submit that political thought is four-dimensional. Besides Conservative vs. Liberal, we also have Generous vs. Greedy, Rigid vs. Flexible, and Simplistic vs. Thoughtful.
Generous vs. Greedy
One can be generous by being willing to pay the taxes necessary for a civilized society. That includes having enough food and shelter.
One can be greedy by working to get legislation that puts themselves at an advantage regardless of the cost to others.
Rigid vs. Flexible
We are seeing a lot of rigidity lately in that several candidates are trying to outdo one another in showing how well they promote “Conservative” orthodoxy, even at the cost of depriving others. They also must regularly recite the Pledge of Allegiance and then work to deprive others of “liberty and justice”.
We don’t see much of flexible in politics nowadays. It seems that so much political literature and writing contains “demand”. No matter the party, it seems it wants us to demand something that is in their party orthodoxy. One of the ironies is that the Coffee Party, which was founded as a civil alternative to the demands of the Tea Party, often demands some action.
Simplistic vs. Thoughtful
Simplistic always reminds me of the Tea Party member who said she could understand the Constitution by reading it. The original Constitution is about 30 pages in an iBook version; the Federalist Papers to explain it are over 900 pages; and I don’t know how many thousands of pages Supreme Court Justices have written to interpret it. Furthermore, the Supreme Court rarely has unanimous decisions, and what one Court rules could be overturned by a different Court.
As I thought about this article, I remember that years ago the Utne Reader had published a political map that had four axes: Liberal-Conservative, Freedom-Order, Decentralization-Centralization, and Equality-Liberty. It was devised by Eric Selbin and Ron Steiner. It has eighteen groups around the edges with representative literature, music, food, and personalities for each. It was included in the November/December 1991 Utne Reader. I was able to find an online copy at “Exploring the Dynamics of Polarization” by Tom Atlee at www.tomatleeblog.com/archives/175327148. If you would rather see the map in color, try the Duluth Public Library (or your own local library).
Also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-02-18 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/18/6746_conservative_vs_liberal_is_a_misleading_view_of.
You can find a review at “Inside the List” by Gregory Cowles, New York Times, 2016-01-29, “Attack the Messenger”.
Every time I blow my nose or dry my hands at Essentia Health, I think how the Koch brothers benefit from the thousands and thousands of tentacles with which they have gripped our society. Every box of tissue and every towel dispenser is labeled Georgia Pacific, a Koch brothers company.
I can’t help but wonder if the Koch brothers have the Benedictine values of Essentia Health. Essentia Health’s mission is “We are called to make a healthy difference in people’s lives.” Its values are quality, hospitality, respect, justice, stewardship, and teamwork.
You decide.
“Conservative” and “right” are very misleading terms. Some who call themselves “conservatives” are rather “liberal” with the idea of conservative. For example, how can anyone who extracts resources without any consideration for the consequences be called “conservative”? These extractors are being rather “liberal” with the resources.
Some who call themselves “liberal” are quite conservative in use of resources. Except when they fly all over the world or drive hundreds of miles to attend conferences on being more “conservative” with resources.
Some who call themselves “conservatives” because they oppose abortion as murder of innocents seem to be quite “liberal” in supporting those who would wage war, which is almost always murder of innocents.
Some who call themselves “liberal” can be quite “conservative” with whom they will allow to speak in public ceremonies. A real liberal would allow the invitee to speak and either stay away or sit quietly without applauding.
Sometimes I think the last great conservative was Edmund Burke (1729-1797), a British politician and author. “He was a great political thinker. Viewing English policies with something of the detachment of an alien [Burke was Irish], he was able to diagnose the situation with an imaginative insight beyond the range of those immersed in the business of the day and bound by traditional habits of mind.” The Age of Revolution, Winston Churchill.
Burke’s enemies accused him of being Catholic, a pejorative that presumed he was unfit for office. Have we heard another religious “pejorative” used in our times? Burke correctly predicted that the French Revolution with its chaos would lead to a military dictatorship. He also supported the grievances of the American Colonies: “Again and again, revert to your old principles—seek peace and ensue it; leave America, if she has taxable matter in her, to tax herself.”
The whole idea of “right vs. left” is one-dimensional. I submit that political thought is four-dimensional. Besides Conservative vs. Liberal, we also have Generous vs. Greedy, Rigid vs. Flexible, and Simplistic vs. Thoughtful.
Generous vs. Greedy
One can be generous by being willing to pay the taxes necessary for a civilized society. That includes having enough food and shelter.
One can be greedy by working to get legislation that puts themselves at an advantage regardless of the cost to others.
Rigid vs. Flexible
We are seeing a lot of rigidity lately in that several candidates are trying to outdo one another in showing how well they promote “Conservative” orthodoxy, even at the cost of depriving others. They also must regularly recite the Pledge of Allegiance and then work to deprive others of “liberty and justice”.
We don’t see much of flexible in politics nowadays. It seems that so much political literature and writing contains “demand”. No matter the party, it seems it wants us to demand something that is in their party orthodoxy. One of the ironies is that the Coffee Party, which was founded as a civil alternative to the demands of the Tea Party, often demands some action.
Simplistic vs. Thoughtful
Simplistic always reminds me of the Tea Party member who said she could understand the Constitution by reading it. The original Constitution is about 30 pages in an iBook version; the Federalist Papers to explain it are over 900 pages; and I don’t know how many thousands of pages Supreme Court Justices have written to interpret it. Furthermore, the Supreme Court rarely has unanimous decisions, and what one Court rules could be overturned by a different Court.
As I thought about this article, I remember that years ago the Utne Reader had published a political map that had four axes: Liberal-Conservative, Freedom-Order, Decentralization-Centralization, and Equality-Liberty. It was devised by Eric Selbin and Ron Steiner. It has eighteen groups around the edges with representative literature, music, food, and personalities for each. It was included in the November/December 1991 Utne Reader. I was able to find an online copy at “Exploring the Dynamics of Polarization” by Tom Atlee at www.tomatleeblog.com/archives/175327148. If you would rather see the map in color, try the Duluth Public Library (or your own local library).
Also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-02-18 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/18/6746_conservative_vs_liberal_is_a_misleading_view_of.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
General Ization’s power grows
Despite my warning in the Reader Weekly of 2007-04-26 (General Ization Battles Truth), people keep enlisting in his armies and misleading others.
The latest is the sweeping generalization that this or that candidate “won” in the Iowa primaries. Figuring out the Iowa caucus results is a bit of a slog, but looking at the result summary in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/primaries/iowa), you will see that one candidate “winning” and the others ‘losing” is a serious over-generalization.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton had 49.9% and was effectively awarded 23 delegates. Bernie Sander had 49.6% and 21 delegates. I would hardly call this a Clinton win, because Sanders received almost as many delegates as Clinton and who knows what will happen in the state convention when delegates are selected for the national convention?
On the Republican side, Ted Cruz had 27.6% of the vote and eight delegates, Donald Trump 24.3% and seven, and Marco Rubio 23.1% and seven.
These five candidates were all “winners” in the Iowa caucuses. But how will these results translate into actual votes in November? Iowa is a caucus state, not a primary state. My guess is that a lot fewer people show up for caucuses than do for primaries, and a lot fewer show up for primaries than do for final elections.
The Iowa Secretary of State’s registered-voter list has 586,835 “active” Democratic voters and 615,763 “active” Republican voters. But it lists 727,112 “No Party Active” voters. The Republican caucus turnout was 186,874 or less than a third of the “active” Republican registered voters.
I would say that the biggest winner, based on the large number of “no-shows” in the Iowa caucuses was “None of the Above”, and that means the biggest loser is democracy.
“New Hampshire Embraces Trump’s New York Bombast” (New York Times Online 2016-02-07). Really? Did all the voters in New Hampshire really embrace Trumps bombast? If we look at the figures of how many thousand New Hampshire voters actually turned up for Trump’s speeches, maybe the headline should read “New Hampshire Rejects Trump’s New York Bombast”.
Closer to home, the Duluth News Tribune has had headlines that imply all of Duluth is involved in something or other.
When a student died of exposure on Woodland Avenue, the News Tribune had a headline similar to “Duluth should be ashamed.” Did each and every person in Duluth know she was outside freezing to death? Was each and every driver passing by her house in any position to know that somebody was outside in need of help? Were even any of the very few pedestrians in a position to see somebody huddled at a door? Her death should never have happened, but only a few people were in any position to prevent this or come to her aid.
A recent headline was “Duluth feels ‘the Bern’”. How many Duluthians showed up for Bernie Sanders’ rally in Duluth? I think it was about 4,000. That is a rather good turnout, but that also means that about 76,000 Duluth residents didn’t show up for Sanders’ rally. How many would have liked to attend but didn’t for one reason or another? How many didn’t even want to consider going? We don’t know the numbers for either of these possibilities. But considering that probably more than 4,000 Duluth voters would not vote for Sanders, we could also have the over-generalized headline: “Duluth rejects Sanders”. If Sanders wins the Democratic endorsement, we will have to wait until November to find out if “Duluth rallies for Sanders” or if “Duluth rejects Sanders”. Either headline will be a generalization because there will be a large number of people who voted for the Republican candidate. These voters are also “Duluth”.
Since my previous column on General Ization, I’ve learned he would not have all this power without the able help of his lieutenants, Xavier Aggeration and Ms. Direction. You can detect some of X. Aggeration’s contributions above.
Ms. Direction has been spreading the notion of “value voters” embracing the Republicans. But don’t most voters have values? Besides anti-abortion and Biblical literallism, aren’t there the values of peace and justice? I find it strange that these “value voters” align themselves with supporters of “greedy corporations” who hold no values except “shareholder value”.
Ms. Direction, like her boss General Ization, doesn’t play favorites. She spreads the idea of “greedy corporations” as if all corporations treat their workers as serfs and cheat their customers as often as they can. There are many corporations that value their employees and often tell the regulators that something went wrong in the production of some product. And we find many corporations that are changing their products to suit their customer’s wants.
Of course, they only know what some customers want. Maybe other customers don’t want change, or if they want change, they want change back to products they could buy some years ago. Hopefully, the customers that want certain changes are those who volunteered the information, not those who were coerced into agreeing to a desired response in a focus group.
This leads us into the worst generalization: “The People”. It would be great if “The People” were a majority of all eligible voters. Unfortunately, election after election it is a “majority” of those who actually show up to vote; this too often means that a minority of eligible (and too often registered) voters “decided” the outcome. I hope you, dear reader, are going to be one who shows up and shows General Ization, X. Aggeration, and Ms. Direction that they are wrong.
Also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth on 2016-02-11 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/11/6703_general_izations_power_grows.
See also http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/02/general-ization-battles-truth.html.
The latest is the sweeping generalization that this or that candidate “won” in the Iowa primaries. Figuring out the Iowa caucus results is a bit of a slog, but looking at the result summary in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/primaries/iowa), you will see that one candidate “winning” and the others ‘losing” is a serious over-generalization.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton had 49.9% and was effectively awarded 23 delegates. Bernie Sander had 49.6% and 21 delegates. I would hardly call this a Clinton win, because Sanders received almost as many delegates as Clinton and who knows what will happen in the state convention when delegates are selected for the national convention?
On the Republican side, Ted Cruz had 27.6% of the vote and eight delegates, Donald Trump 24.3% and seven, and Marco Rubio 23.1% and seven.
These five candidates were all “winners” in the Iowa caucuses. But how will these results translate into actual votes in November? Iowa is a caucus state, not a primary state. My guess is that a lot fewer people show up for caucuses than do for primaries, and a lot fewer show up for primaries than do for final elections.
The Iowa Secretary of State’s registered-voter list has 586,835 “active” Democratic voters and 615,763 “active” Republican voters. But it lists 727,112 “No Party Active” voters. The Republican caucus turnout was 186,874 or less than a third of the “active” Republican registered voters.
I would say that the biggest winner, based on the large number of “no-shows” in the Iowa caucuses was “None of the Above”, and that means the biggest loser is democracy.
“New Hampshire Embraces Trump’s New York Bombast” (New York Times Online 2016-02-07). Really? Did all the voters in New Hampshire really embrace Trumps bombast? If we look at the figures of how many thousand New Hampshire voters actually turned up for Trump’s speeches, maybe the headline should read “New Hampshire Rejects Trump’s New York Bombast”.
Closer to home, the Duluth News Tribune has had headlines that imply all of Duluth is involved in something or other.
When a student died of exposure on Woodland Avenue, the News Tribune had a headline similar to “Duluth should be ashamed.” Did each and every person in Duluth know she was outside freezing to death? Was each and every driver passing by her house in any position to know that somebody was outside in need of help? Were even any of the very few pedestrians in a position to see somebody huddled at a door? Her death should never have happened, but only a few people were in any position to prevent this or come to her aid.
A recent headline was “Duluth feels ‘the Bern’”. How many Duluthians showed up for Bernie Sanders’ rally in Duluth? I think it was about 4,000. That is a rather good turnout, but that also means that about 76,000 Duluth residents didn’t show up for Sanders’ rally. How many would have liked to attend but didn’t for one reason or another? How many didn’t even want to consider going? We don’t know the numbers for either of these possibilities. But considering that probably more than 4,000 Duluth voters would not vote for Sanders, we could also have the over-generalized headline: “Duluth rejects Sanders”. If Sanders wins the Democratic endorsement, we will have to wait until November to find out if “Duluth rallies for Sanders” or if “Duluth rejects Sanders”. Either headline will be a generalization because there will be a large number of people who voted for the Republican candidate. These voters are also “Duluth”.
Since my previous column on General Ization, I’ve learned he would not have all this power without the able help of his lieutenants, Xavier Aggeration and Ms. Direction. You can detect some of X. Aggeration’s contributions above.
Ms. Direction has been spreading the notion of “value voters” embracing the Republicans. But don’t most voters have values? Besides anti-abortion and Biblical literallism, aren’t there the values of peace and justice? I find it strange that these “value voters” align themselves with supporters of “greedy corporations” who hold no values except “shareholder value”.
Ms. Direction, like her boss General Ization, doesn’t play favorites. She spreads the idea of “greedy corporations” as if all corporations treat their workers as serfs and cheat their customers as often as they can. There are many corporations that value their employees and often tell the regulators that something went wrong in the production of some product. And we find many corporations that are changing their products to suit their customer’s wants.
Of course, they only know what some customers want. Maybe other customers don’t want change, or if they want change, they want change back to products they could buy some years ago. Hopefully, the customers that want certain changes are those who volunteered the information, not those who were coerced into agreeing to a desired response in a focus group.
This leads us into the worst generalization: “The People”. It would be great if “The People” were a majority of all eligible voters. Unfortunately, election after election it is a “majority” of those who actually show up to vote; this too often means that a minority of eligible (and too often registered) voters “decided” the outcome. I hope you, dear reader, are going to be one who shows up and shows General Ization, X. Aggeration, and Ms. Direction that they are wrong.
Also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth on 2016-02-11 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/11/6703_general_izations_power_grows.
See also http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/02/general-ization-battles-truth.html.
Sunday, February 07, 2016
General Ization battles truth
Originally published in
Reader Weekly
April 26, 2007
I meant to write about the General’s sister Globa L,. but several articles, including in the Reader Weekly, made writing about the General seem more timely.
Generalization is taking something specific and applying it to many other situations that might not have any relation to the original event or idea. One of the worst examples is calling Jews “Christ killers” because a mob called upon Pilate to crucify Jesus. But does a mob in one part of one city represent all the people of a country? Is every child in that country responsible for the actions of a mob? Should these children’s descendants be responsible for something they had no say in?
We certainly don’t like certain Muslims deciding all Americans should die because of the actions of governments that we can’t always control.
One of the most frequent generalizations is “the media is liberal”, seen most often in the letters to the editors of daily papers. These letters are often written by someone who has a “conservative” agenda and doesn’t want to see anything published that contradicts his or her viewpoint. Ironically, the publication of these letters proves the writers are correct; publishing many different viewpoints is a liberal action.
On the other hand, many so-called liberals complain that the media is conservative. The Reader Weekly publishes the views of two columnists who often level this charge. I long ago gave up on reading Norman Solomon because he derides “the media” for not covering news as he thinks it should. Jim Hightower recently complained about media bashing Democrats for investigating the Justice Department using two publications as an example. Then he uses a poll by USA Today to show popular support for continuing the investigation. (1) The papers that I read, all called “liberal”, report that even Republicans are dissatisfied with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ testimony.
“Mallard Fillmore”, the conservative duck drawn by Bruce Tinsley, bashes liberals and government mercilessly. One of his favorite targets is the U.S. Postal Service. One of his recent strips was a reply to an “irate postal worker” asking when Mallard would stop bashing the Postal Service. Mallard’s reply was “When they stop bashing my packages.” My question is when is Mallard going to bash UPS or other package carriers for bashing his packages. (2)
I’ve probably received more damaged packages from UPS than I have from the Postal Service. Does that mean UPS bashes packages more? No, I have to take into account that I probably receive more packages from UPS than any other source.
Ad hominem arguments are a form of generalization, that is, an idea is not very good because a certain person said it.
I would suppose that the income tax is a bad idea because Marx and Engels called for it in “The Communist Manifesto”. Oh, but conservatives in Britain imposed an income tax in 1799. The British Government needed all the revenue it could get in its struggle against Napoleon’s France. Despite income and property taxes going from 1.67 million pounds in 1799 to 14.6 million pounds in 1815, the British economy prospered. (3) Napoleon had to rely on indirect taxes because the French were resistant to more direct taxes. Guess who won the war.
Many conservatives seem to use ad hominem thinking to formulate their positions. They see global warming as a liberal cause, and therefore they must oppose it. Some of these global warming skeptics use generalizations to support their arguments. Many letter writers say the cold weather in March proves there is no global warming, mixing up meteorology and climate (weather today and weather trends spanning decades and centuries).
Global warming skeptics also use “positive” ad hominem thinking. If someone who seems to have some scientific stature supports his or her viewpoint, then that person must be correct. (Like all those liberals who are praising Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, which I haven’t seen and don’t intend to.) One of these global-warming skeptic documents was supposedly signed by 17,000 (or was it 20,000) scientists stating “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide … is causing, or will, … cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” (4)
But who are these 17,000 scientists? Are they all climatologists or chemists employed by oil companies? Are there even 17,000 climatologists in the world? It turns out that these scientists are anybody with a degree who signed a certain petition. (5)(6) I think I would rather go with the opinion of people who regularly study weather and climate. (7)
If climate change is not happening, why is the corporation liberals love to hate, Wal-Mart, going green, saving itself and its customers money? (8)
Generalizations about conservative and liberals certainly don’t always work out as expected. Truth takes a bit more work.
P.S. Do your own search on "17,000 scientists" and "Marshall". I did and found the "Global Warming Petition Project". I looked for a unique name in the A section and found "David Acerni" and did a search for him. There is only one "D Acerni" at whitepages.com. He lives in Kittaning PA. According to a Department of Energy spreadsheet from 1999, he was the contact for the Rosebud Mining Co. of Kittaning PA. I can find no current professional reference to him.
(1) “NYPD’s ‘intelligence’”, section titled “Why media companies get no respect”, Jim Hightower, Reader Weekly, April 12, 2007
(2) “Mallard Fillmore”, Bruce Tinsley, Star Tribune, April 13, 2007
(3) The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Paul Kennedy, p. 130
(4) “Gore causes lobal warming in area middle school brains”, Budgeteer News, April 15, 2007
(5) “What the skeptics don’t tell you”, Woods Hole Research Center
(6) “The denial industry”, George Monbiot, The Guardian, September 18, 2006
(7) Climate Change: An information statement of the American Meteorological Society, Feb. 1, 2007,
(8) “The Power of Green”, Thomas Friedman, New York Times Magazine, April 15, 2007
See also "General Ization's power grows".
©2007 Melvyn D. Magree
Reader Weekly
April 26, 2007
I meant to write about the General’s sister Globa L,. but several articles, including in the Reader Weekly, made writing about the General seem more timely.
Generalization is taking something specific and applying it to many other situations that might not have any relation to the original event or idea. One of the worst examples is calling Jews “Christ killers” because a mob called upon Pilate to crucify Jesus. But does a mob in one part of one city represent all the people of a country? Is every child in that country responsible for the actions of a mob? Should these children’s descendants be responsible for something they had no say in?
We certainly don’t like certain Muslims deciding all Americans should die because of the actions of governments that we can’t always control.
One of the most frequent generalizations is “the media is liberal”, seen most often in the letters to the editors of daily papers. These letters are often written by someone who has a “conservative” agenda and doesn’t want to see anything published that contradicts his or her viewpoint. Ironically, the publication of these letters proves the writers are correct; publishing many different viewpoints is a liberal action.
On the other hand, many so-called liberals complain that the media is conservative. The Reader Weekly publishes the views of two columnists who often level this charge. I long ago gave up on reading Norman Solomon because he derides “the media” for not covering news as he thinks it should. Jim Hightower recently complained about media bashing Democrats for investigating the Justice Department using two publications as an example. Then he uses a poll by USA Today to show popular support for continuing the investigation. (1) The papers that I read, all called “liberal”, report that even Republicans are dissatisfied with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ testimony.
“Mallard Fillmore”, the conservative duck drawn by Bruce Tinsley, bashes liberals and government mercilessly. One of his favorite targets is the U.S. Postal Service. One of his recent strips was a reply to an “irate postal worker” asking when Mallard would stop bashing the Postal Service. Mallard’s reply was “When they stop bashing my packages.” My question is when is Mallard going to bash UPS or other package carriers for bashing his packages. (2)
I’ve probably received more damaged packages from UPS than I have from the Postal Service. Does that mean UPS bashes packages more? No, I have to take into account that I probably receive more packages from UPS than any other source.
Ad hominem arguments are a form of generalization, that is, an idea is not very good because a certain person said it.
I would suppose that the income tax is a bad idea because Marx and Engels called for it in “The Communist Manifesto”. Oh, but conservatives in Britain imposed an income tax in 1799. The British Government needed all the revenue it could get in its struggle against Napoleon’s France. Despite income and property taxes going from 1.67 million pounds in 1799 to 14.6 million pounds in 1815, the British economy prospered. (3) Napoleon had to rely on indirect taxes because the French were resistant to more direct taxes. Guess who won the war.
Many conservatives seem to use ad hominem thinking to formulate their positions. They see global warming as a liberal cause, and therefore they must oppose it. Some of these global warming skeptics use generalizations to support their arguments. Many letter writers say the cold weather in March proves there is no global warming, mixing up meteorology and climate (weather today and weather trends spanning decades and centuries).
Global warming skeptics also use “positive” ad hominem thinking. If someone who seems to have some scientific stature supports his or her viewpoint, then that person must be correct. (Like all those liberals who are praising Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, which I haven’t seen and don’t intend to.) One of these global-warming skeptic documents was supposedly signed by 17,000 (or was it 20,000) scientists stating “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide … is causing, or will, … cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” (4)
But who are these 17,000 scientists? Are they all climatologists or chemists employed by oil companies? Are there even 17,000 climatologists in the world? It turns out that these scientists are anybody with a degree who signed a certain petition. (5)(6) I think I would rather go with the opinion of people who regularly study weather and climate. (7)
If climate change is not happening, why is the corporation liberals love to hate, Wal-Mart, going green, saving itself and its customers money? (8)
Generalizations about conservative and liberals certainly don’t always work out as expected. Truth takes a bit more work.
P.S. Do your own search on "17,000 scientists" and "Marshall". I did and found the "Global Warming Petition Project". I looked for a unique name in the A section and found "David Acerni" and did a search for him. There is only one "D Acerni" at whitepages.com. He lives in Kittaning PA. According to a Department of Energy spreadsheet from 1999, he was the contact for the Rosebud Mining Co. of Kittaning PA. I can find no current professional reference to him.
(1) “NYPD’s ‘intelligence’”, section titled “Why media companies get no respect”, Jim Hightower, Reader Weekly, April 12, 2007
(2) “Mallard Fillmore”, Bruce Tinsley, Star Tribune, April 13, 2007
(3) The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Paul Kennedy, p. 130
(4) “Gore causes lobal warming in area middle school brains”, Budgeteer News, April 15, 2007
(5) “What the skeptics don’t tell you”, Woods Hole Research Center
(6) “The denial industry”, George Monbiot, The Guardian, September 18, 2006
(7) Climate Change: An information statement of the American Meteorological Society, Feb. 1, 2007,
(8) “The Power of Green”, Thomas Friedman, New York Times Magazine, April 15, 2007
See also "General Ization's power grows".
©2007 Melvyn D. Magree
Friday, February 05, 2016
TRUTH or truth?
TRUTH is what some assert with certainty but with no coherent justification. TRUTH cannot be challenged.
Truth is what people strive for with questions and tests; truth may never be fully achieved but enough has been discovered to offer a guide to life or improvement of lives.
One TRUTH is that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. The truth is that the Bible offers many moral teachings even though it contains descriptions of many impossible events or even justifies bad deeds.
Did God on the sixth day create “man in his own image, … male and female created he them”? Or did he create only Adam and then when Adam grew lonely, he created Eve from Adam’s rib. I would think it would take more than a few days for Adam to grow lonely for a companion.
Is the “Great Flood” a recounting of some catastrophic flood in the Tigris-Euphrates valley in which some few had the foresight to build boats for their family and cattle, or was it a great flood to destroy all the “wickedness”, including babies? Considering that the depth of the waters was 15 cubits (22-1/2 feet), it was probably the former. Flood stages of over 20 feet are all too common even now. The truth is that it is important to be just and that it is important to prepare for disaster.
Is it TRUTH that God let Satan bring many calamities upon Job, or is it truth that bad things happen to good people? Certainly a just God would not let so many innocent people be killed to test one man, especially if God knows everything?
Is it TRUTH that heretics should be burned at the stake? It is truth that the Bible only mentions “heretic” once. “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject” (Epistle to Titus, 3:10). I don’t think “reject” meant to kill, but rather it meant to shun.
Is it TRUTH that Islam is a militant religion set on converting all to Islam? It is truth that Mohammed and his followers had to defend themselves against the polytheists of Mecca who considered the Muslims a threat. It is also truth that many Muslim-dominant cultures had a mix of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
“Those who believe, and those who are Jewish, and the Christians, and the Sabeans - any who believe in God and the Last Day, and act righteously will have their reward with their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.” - Talal Itani. “Quran In English. Modern English Translation. Clear and Easy to Understand”.
The Sabeans were a culture in South Arabia; this is supposedly where the Queen of Sheba came from, she who visited King Solomon.
You can get many versions of the Qur’an from the iBook store and other sources. However, like the Bible, it takes much reading to understand what is meant.
Consider “simple” documents like the “Declaration of Independence” and the “Constitution”.
Is it TRUTH that they are clear and unambiguous? It is truth that people are still arguing over them over two hundred years later. It is truth that what one Supreme Court decides may be overturned by another Supreme Court? For example, “Separate but Equal” was overturned by “Brown vs. Board of Education”.
Is it TRUTH that the United States is a Christian nation blessed by God? It is truth that many of the signers of the “Declaration of Independence” or the “Constitution of the United States” attended Christian Churches. It is truth that the “Declaration of Independence” mentions “Nature’s God” and the “Protection of Divine Providence”. But it is also truth that the “Constitution” uses no words or phrases involving any deity. It is truth that the United States took land from Christian Cherokees and others because white men wanted the gold that was found in Georgia. So much for the “Protection of Divine Providence” for these Christians.
Is it TRUTH that Adam Smith advocated totally free markets? It is truth that he used “free market” once and only once in “Wealth of Nations”. But it is also truth that the heavily regulated market was brought about by the woolen manufacturers. They asked for and received from Parliament many regulations that would keep the price of wool down so that their costs would be down and their profits up. It is also truth that even today “Free Marketers” lobby for laws that are beneficial to them and detrimental to others.
Is it TRUTH that voters “decided”? By the time you read this, the Iowa caucuses will have been held. It is truth that many voters cast their votes for whoever “won”, but many other voters chose somebody else. It is truth that better headlines would be that “a plurality of voters” or “a majority of voters” supported the “winner”.
It is also truth that no matter who is doing the reporting, they have a limited amount of time or space.
It is also truth that this column should end before you fall asleep.
Also published in Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-02-04 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/04/6677_truth_or_truth.
Truth is what people strive for with questions and tests; truth may never be fully achieved but enough has been discovered to offer a guide to life or improvement of lives.
One TRUTH is that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. The truth is that the Bible offers many moral teachings even though it contains descriptions of many impossible events or even justifies bad deeds.
Did God on the sixth day create “man in his own image, … male and female created he them”? Or did he create only Adam and then when Adam grew lonely, he created Eve from Adam’s rib. I would think it would take more than a few days for Adam to grow lonely for a companion.
Is the “Great Flood” a recounting of some catastrophic flood in the Tigris-Euphrates valley in which some few had the foresight to build boats for their family and cattle, or was it a great flood to destroy all the “wickedness”, including babies? Considering that the depth of the waters was 15 cubits (22-1/2 feet), it was probably the former. Flood stages of over 20 feet are all too common even now. The truth is that it is important to be just and that it is important to prepare for disaster.
Is it TRUTH that God let Satan bring many calamities upon Job, or is it truth that bad things happen to good people? Certainly a just God would not let so many innocent people be killed to test one man, especially if God knows everything?
Is it TRUTH that heretics should be burned at the stake? It is truth that the Bible only mentions “heretic” once. “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject” (Epistle to Titus, 3:10). I don’t think “reject” meant to kill, but rather it meant to shun.
Is it TRUTH that Islam is a militant religion set on converting all to Islam? It is truth that Mohammed and his followers had to defend themselves against the polytheists of Mecca who considered the Muslims a threat. It is also truth that many Muslim-dominant cultures had a mix of Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
“Those who believe, and those who are Jewish, and the Christians, and the Sabeans - any who believe in God and the Last Day, and act righteously will have their reward with their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.” - Talal Itani. “Quran In English. Modern English Translation. Clear and Easy to Understand”.
The Sabeans were a culture in South Arabia; this is supposedly where the Queen of Sheba came from, she who visited King Solomon.
You can get many versions of the Qur’an from the iBook store and other sources. However, like the Bible, it takes much reading to understand what is meant.
Consider “simple” documents like the “Declaration of Independence” and the “Constitution”.
Is it TRUTH that they are clear and unambiguous? It is truth that people are still arguing over them over two hundred years later. It is truth that what one Supreme Court decides may be overturned by another Supreme Court? For example, “Separate but Equal” was overturned by “Brown vs. Board of Education”.
Is it TRUTH that the United States is a Christian nation blessed by God? It is truth that many of the signers of the “Declaration of Independence” or the “Constitution of the United States” attended Christian Churches. It is truth that the “Declaration of Independence” mentions “Nature’s God” and the “Protection of Divine Providence”. But it is also truth that the “Constitution” uses no words or phrases involving any deity. It is truth that the United States took land from Christian Cherokees and others because white men wanted the gold that was found in Georgia. So much for the “Protection of Divine Providence” for these Christians.
Is it TRUTH that Adam Smith advocated totally free markets? It is truth that he used “free market” once and only once in “Wealth of Nations”. But it is also truth that the heavily regulated market was brought about by the woolen manufacturers. They asked for and received from Parliament many regulations that would keep the price of wool down so that their costs would be down and their profits up. It is also truth that even today “Free Marketers” lobby for laws that are beneficial to them and detrimental to others.
Is it TRUTH that voters “decided”? By the time you read this, the Iowa caucuses will have been held. It is truth that many voters cast their votes for whoever “won”, but many other voters chose somebody else. It is truth that better headlines would be that “a plurality of voters” or “a majority of voters” supported the “winner”.
It is also truth that no matter who is doing the reporting, they have a limited amount of time or space.
It is also truth that this column should end before you fall asleep.
Also published in Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-02-04 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/02/04/6677_truth_or_truth.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Republicans are anti-Constitution
Among the many charges that Republicans make against the Democrats is "activist judges", members of the Supreme Court who interpret the Constitution differently than their "strict constructionist" view.
Then a Republican-appointed majority interprets "people" in the second Amendment to be "persons" and interprets corporations as "persons". Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and many other signers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights must be spinning furiously in their graves.
Now those who would be the Republican candidate for President are stepping all over the Constitution with their accusations that their opponents are not Christian enough. I guess they really need a refresher course about the Constitution: "... but no religious Test shall ever be Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." - Article 6.
And the Constitution also requires a new President to take an oath or affirm: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
If these religiosity types can’t even protect the Constitution, can they even protect the nation from threats from within and without?
See “The G.O.P.’s Holy War”, Frank Bruni, New York Times, 2016-01-30, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/the-gops-holy-war.html
And the Constitution also requires a new President to take an oath or affirm: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
If these religiosity types can’t even protect the Constitution, can they even protect the nation from threats from within and without?
See “The G.O.P.’s Holy War”, Frank Bruni, New York Times, 2016-01-30, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/the-gops-holy-war.html
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Rogues, clowns, politicians, and statespersons
Whether in government, business, unions, or any other human activity, we can find people who are rogues, clowns, politicians, or statespersons. And sometimes a person can be any of these at various times.
Rogues are those who are only for themselves. They may merely be selfish or they may work to destroy others. Clowns are those who have no connection to reality. Politicians are those who try to work with others to accomplish something they can’t do by themselves. Statespersons are those who have a vision for the common good and succeed in implementing some portion of that vision.
Richard Nixon was an example of someone who was all of the above as candidate and President. He was a rogue in his first campaign for the Senate when he misrepresented Helen Gahagan Douglas as a Communist. He was a rogue when he authorized the Watergate break-in. He was a clown when he said “I am not a crook.” He was a politician in that he did work on legislation that was supported by many in both parties, for example Marshall Plan funding. He was a statesman when he looked beyond his anti-Communism to visit and recognize China.
The genial Ronald Reagan was certainly not a rogue. He was a clown in that he thought the Laffer Curve showed that decreasing taxes would increase prosperity. He was a politician in that he did get legislation passed that had significant bi-partisan support. He was a statesman in that he worked with Mikhael Gorbachev on a nuclear arms treaty.
A good portion of the current Republican candidates are clowns and at least one is a rogue. They are clowns in their continued attacks on President Obama, including continuing to label him as a Muslim. They are clowns in their continued belief that giving more money to the rich will make the general public richer. Their schemes will make the whole country poorer with an even more rapidly deteriorating infrastructure and more rapidly warming climate. And they don’t seem likely to be good politicians because they seem incapable of compromise to get something done. As I looked at a picture of them in the Star Tribune of 2016-01-17, I thought that the only gray matter was their gray uniforms, I mean gray suits (“Give candidates a little time to think and a little time to speak – you know, kind of like presidents have.”, Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg).
As for the current Democratic candidates, they may be politicians working with others, but I don’t see them as statespersons.
Rogues in business include those who ran Enron (into the ground) and those who gave misleading information to get people to sign mortgages they couldn’t afford. The Koch brothers are certainly rogues in that they buy a lot of legislation at the state and local levels that is advantageous to them and detrimental to the people.
The rogues in Oregon do not represent the people. Those “patriots” occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are only after some Ayn Rand “freedom” to do what they please rather than the freedom to govern ourselves. The Tea Party types seem to completely ignore the General Welfare clause of the Constitution and the establishment of a Congress to provide laws. If law enforcement doesn’t bring these rogues to justice, it will be our misfortune (malheur in French).
The magical thinking of the anarchists in Oregon is of the same ilk as another set of rogue anarchists: the so-called Islamic Jihadists of ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram. These “Islamic” rogues no more represent Islam than the Bundy anarchists represent the American people. Consider that there are only about 100,000 “Jihadists” but 1.6 billion Muslims
As a measure of how non-Islamic these rogues are, consider that they may not even have copies of the Qu’ran. “Because it has nothing to do with the Quran. They didn't even have the Quran; they didn't want even to give us a Quran.” - Al Arabiya News, 2015-02-04, reporting on Didier François’ interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
If you want a better sense of Islam, see www.trueislam.com.
But “Islamic” rogues are not the only misusers of “religion”. If we are a Christian nation, why do some “Christians” call for the expulsion of Muslims? Why do some “Christians” call for bombing women and children because there are “Islamists” in an certain area. What kind of Christian nation would have nuclear weapons that would indiscriminately kill thousands of innocent citizens?
On the one hand, we had the rogue Fred Phelps whose Westboro Baptist Church would picket veterans’ funerals as a protest against gays. I couldn’t confirm this memory but I did find a long list of non-Christian behavior. On the other hand, we have the Christian statesman, Martin Luther King Jr., who eschewed hate and worked hard to spread Christian love, even against those who would hurt him.
We don’t get to choose many of our rogues, but we can choose many of our politicians and statespeople. But to do that, we have to show up at each and every election. If we stay away, we bring on the clowns, and the rogues, too. Every vote counts and your vote counts only if you cast it.
Also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-01-21 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/01/22/6588_rogues_clowns_politicians_and_statespersons.
Rogues are those who are only for themselves. They may merely be selfish or they may work to destroy others. Clowns are those who have no connection to reality. Politicians are those who try to work with others to accomplish something they can’t do by themselves. Statespersons are those who have a vision for the common good and succeed in implementing some portion of that vision.
Richard Nixon was an example of someone who was all of the above as candidate and President. He was a rogue in his first campaign for the Senate when he misrepresented Helen Gahagan Douglas as a Communist. He was a rogue when he authorized the Watergate break-in. He was a clown when he said “I am not a crook.” He was a politician in that he did work on legislation that was supported by many in both parties, for example Marshall Plan funding. He was a statesman when he looked beyond his anti-Communism to visit and recognize China.
The genial Ronald Reagan was certainly not a rogue. He was a clown in that he thought the Laffer Curve showed that decreasing taxes would increase prosperity. He was a politician in that he did get legislation passed that had significant bi-partisan support. He was a statesman in that he worked with Mikhael Gorbachev on a nuclear arms treaty.
A good portion of the current Republican candidates are clowns and at least one is a rogue. They are clowns in their continued attacks on President Obama, including continuing to label him as a Muslim. They are clowns in their continued belief that giving more money to the rich will make the general public richer. Their schemes will make the whole country poorer with an even more rapidly deteriorating infrastructure and more rapidly warming climate. And they don’t seem likely to be good politicians because they seem incapable of compromise to get something done. As I looked at a picture of them in the Star Tribune of 2016-01-17, I thought that the only gray matter was their gray uniforms, I mean gray suits (“Give candidates a little time to think and a little time to speak – you know, kind of like presidents have.”, Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg).
As for the current Democratic candidates, they may be politicians working with others, but I don’t see them as statespersons.
Rogues in business include those who ran Enron (into the ground) and those who gave misleading information to get people to sign mortgages they couldn’t afford. The Koch brothers are certainly rogues in that they buy a lot of legislation at the state and local levels that is advantageous to them and detrimental to the people.
The rogues in Oregon do not represent the people. Those “patriots” occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are only after some Ayn Rand “freedom” to do what they please rather than the freedom to govern ourselves. The Tea Party types seem to completely ignore the General Welfare clause of the Constitution and the establishment of a Congress to provide laws. If law enforcement doesn’t bring these rogues to justice, it will be our misfortune (malheur in French).
The magical thinking of the anarchists in Oregon is of the same ilk as another set of rogue anarchists: the so-called Islamic Jihadists of ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram. These “Islamic” rogues no more represent Islam than the Bundy anarchists represent the American people. Consider that there are only about 100,000 “Jihadists” but 1.6 billion Muslims
As a measure of how non-Islamic these rogues are, consider that they may not even have copies of the Qu’ran. “Because it has nothing to do with the Quran. They didn't even have the Quran; they didn't want even to give us a Quran.” - Al Arabiya News, 2015-02-04, reporting on Didier François’ interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
If you want a better sense of Islam, see www.trueislam.com.
But “Islamic” rogues are not the only misusers of “religion”. If we are a Christian nation, why do some “Christians” call for the expulsion of Muslims? Why do some “Christians” call for bombing women and children because there are “Islamists” in an certain area. What kind of Christian nation would have nuclear weapons that would indiscriminately kill thousands of innocent citizens?
On the one hand, we had the rogue Fred Phelps whose Westboro Baptist Church would picket veterans’ funerals as a protest against gays. I couldn’t confirm this memory but I did find a long list of non-Christian behavior. On the other hand, we have the Christian statesman, Martin Luther King Jr., who eschewed hate and worked hard to spread Christian love, even against those who would hurt him.
We don’t get to choose many of our rogues, but we can choose many of our politicians and statespeople. But to do that, we have to show up at each and every election. If we stay away, we bring on the clowns, and the rogues, too. Every vote counts and your vote counts only if you cast it.
Also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2016-01-21 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2016/01/22/6588_rogues_clowns_politicians_and_statespersons.
Monday, January 18, 2016
More on erratic iPhone cellular setting
Follow-up to http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/01/erratic-cellular-data-settings.html.
I spent an hour or more pouring over postings in the Apple User Community looking for some solution to my long wait for cellular toggles to be activated in my iPhone. I finally found a link a user made to T-Mobile.
Quite simply a soft reset works. For how long, I know not.
A soft reset is to hold the on-off button and the home button until the screen goes blank and the Apple logo is shown again.
Why didn’t Apple offer this advice?
I spent an hour or more pouring over postings in the Apple User Community looking for some solution to my long wait for cellular toggles to be activated in my iPhone. I finally found a link a user made to T-Mobile.
Quite simply a soft reset works. For how long, I know not.
A soft reset is to hold the on-off button and the home button until the screen goes blank and the Apple logo is shown again.
Why didn’t Apple offer this advice?
Friday, January 15, 2016
"For want of a nail…” updated
Because an employee was laid off, certain data was not gathered.
Because certain data was not gathered, a report was not made.
Because a report was not made, a contract was lost.
Because a contract was lost, revenue was lost.
Because revenue was lost, a company was lost.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Why do we have to know more about computers than cars?
Just after I posted “Erratic cellular settings” I thought about cars and problem solving.
Long ago I learned a little story about car problems that may have been older than me.
A car dealer gave his wife a new car. She was delighted with it, but she complained that it ran erratically. A mechanic checked it out and could find nothing wrong. She brought it in again with the same result. Finally, the head mechanic went out with her.
She started the car, pulled out the choke, and hung her purse from the choke.
Sometimes, you have to just be there to solve a user’s problem. I found this out when a user couldn’t access a document because his computer terms didn’t the same meanings as others did. I had to go to his house to understand the problem. I found out the cause of an error in my own software when I saw a user print a document on his on printer. I had assumed a negative number for a printer line would not get printed. It worked fine on my Apple printer, but it didn’t work on his third party printer.
The problem with computers is that the designers expect their users to be expert car mechanics, masters of intricate analysis of problems. But all the average user wants to do is touch a few buttons or type a few words to get his or her work done. If their cars sputters when it should purr, they take it to a mechanic who often can diagnose the problem within an hour. But if their devices sputter when they should purr, they are expected to put in hours trying to get enough information to get somebody to finally make a correction to the software (or tell them not to hang their purses on the menu bar).
My plaint about all this complexity is whatever happened to the “Computer for the Rest of Us” (The 1984 Apple Macintosh)?
Long ago I learned a little story about car problems that may have been older than me.
A car dealer gave his wife a new car. She was delighted with it, but she complained that it ran erratically. A mechanic checked it out and could find nothing wrong. She brought it in again with the same result. Finally, the head mechanic went out with her.
She started the car, pulled out the choke, and hung her purse from the choke.
Sometimes, you have to just be there to solve a user’s problem. I found this out when a user couldn’t access a document because his computer terms didn’t the same meanings as others did. I had to go to his house to understand the problem. I found out the cause of an error in my own software when I saw a user print a document on his on printer. I had assumed a negative number for a printer line would not get printed. It worked fine on my Apple printer, but it didn’t work on his third party printer.
The problem with computers is that the designers expect their users to be expert car mechanics, masters of intricate analysis of problems. But all the average user wants to do is touch a few buttons or type a few words to get his or her work done. If their cars sputters when it should purr, they take it to a mechanic who often can diagnose the problem within an hour. But if their devices sputter when they should purr, they are expected to put in hours trying to get enough information to get somebody to finally make a correction to the software (or tell them not to hang their purses on the menu bar).
My plaint about all this complexity is whatever happened to the “Computer for the Rest of Us” (The 1984 Apple Macintosh)?
Erratic cellular data settings
If you feel lonely and ignored when nobody seems to have a solution when your software acts erratically. Take heart! It happens to novices and gurus alike. You are not a "dummy". It just takes a lot of time to get all the necessary information to pinpoint the problem.
I sent the following to Consumer Cellular after an abrupt disappearance of a long-standing annoying problem.
To avoid using up cellular data I turn cellular data on and off on my iPhone 5s. With iOS 9 it became a nuisance because the settings would not change quickly, often it could take two minutes. This doesn’t happen on my wife’s iPhone 5c with iOS 8.
I thought the problem could be iOS 9.1. The problem did go away when I installed iOS 9.2. Then the problem came back.
Yesterday, we changed our data and voice plans, splitting our account into two accounts.
Today, I can turn cellular data on and off quickly. No change in iOS. No change in other settings.
Could it be something Consumer Cellular or AT&T is doing?
This also makes me wonder it I changed my bank prematurely. Would
Consumer Cellular now let Republic Banks software operate smoothly? Nope, it still gives system error after I enter my password.
Anybody in CC have the time to really look into this? Have any other users reported a similar problem.
Note added 2016-01-18:
For one solution, see http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/01/more-on-erratic-iphone-cellular-setting.html.
I sent the following to Consumer Cellular after an abrupt disappearance of a long-standing annoying problem.
To avoid using up cellular data I turn cellular data on and off on my iPhone 5s. With iOS 9 it became a nuisance because the settings would not change quickly, often it could take two minutes. This doesn’t happen on my wife’s iPhone 5c with iOS 8.
I thought the problem could be iOS 9.1. The problem did go away when I installed iOS 9.2. Then the problem came back.
Yesterday, we changed our data and voice plans, splitting our account into two accounts.
Today, I can turn cellular data on and off quickly. No change in iOS. No change in other settings.
Could it be something Consumer Cellular or AT&T is doing?
This also makes me wonder it I changed my bank prematurely. Would
Consumer Cellular now let Republic Banks software operate smoothly? Nope, it still gives system error after I enter my password.
Anybody in CC have the time to really look into this? Have any other users reported a similar problem.
Note added 2016-01-18:
For one solution, see http://magree.blogspot.com/2016/01/more-on-erratic-iphone-cellular-setting.html.
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