How is it that irregular fighters so often beat the regular soldiers?

I posted the following to President-elect Barack Obama's transition website: http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision

The 10,000 Greek soldiers that battled their way through hostile territory after the Persians killed their generals, 4th Century, B.C.

American irregulars against the British Army, 18th Century

French Resistance against Hitler's war machine, 1940's

Viet Cong guerrillas against a super power, the United States, 1960-1970s

Iraqi "insurgents" against the superior firepower of the United States

Afghani fighters against the British, the Russians, and the Americans.

Except for the Greeks, all of these groups were battling on their home turf. The Greeks were trying to return to their home turf.

Except for the Greeks, all of these groups were battling against a foreign power with an accompanying "puppet" government. The Colonial Americans did have an advantage in that many of the politicians were against the occupiers. Even with that advantage, it took six years to get the occupying army to surrender.

Could it be that many of the population have no incentive to support the foreign-supported government? If there is not direct foreign-support, could such support be perceived? If such support is not perceived, could it be that the government is ineffective in providing basic services or is seen as corrupt? If the last, does an ineffective or corrupt government have the resources to buy the loyalty of its own ruthless army.

It is only when all these questions are properly addressed, can anyone, superpower or not, hope to bring peace and stability to countries where neither exists.

My best chuckle of the week

Jim Heffernan for years wrote a weekly column for the Duluth News Tribune. His column was a mix of commentary on daily life, Duluth, the state, the country, and the world, often with a bemused or satirical slant. He is now retired, but continues his column in his blog.

His latest was about the Second Coming, "The More Things Change, the More They Are the Same..." After reading it, I sent this note to Jim:

Dear Master of Satire,

“The second commandment is like unto to the first...” but many who call upon His Name seem more concerned about the commentary. The second commandment also means “we are the change”.

- Mel

You are the change!

President-elect Barack Obama's staff has set up a website for public input - www.change.gov.

You can put up your story at http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory or your ideas at http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision.

Maybe your input won't get past the filters, but then if you don't make a post to change.gov it will only stay in your head.

Don't trash the Constitution

I put the following on Barack Obama's website change.gov.

President George W. Bush has made a mockery of the United States Constitution. Please do not follow his footsteps in appointing Sen. Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

"No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office."
- United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 6

Wearing a flag pin has become a symbol of patriotism. Worship of the flag is not patriotism; respect for and adherence to the Constitution is.

"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--'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.'"
- United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 1

Peace in the middle east?

Daniel Terdiman thinks that cheaper desalinization might be the most pressing problem to solve (What innovations are most important to world's future?, CNET News, 2008-11-14). He also suggests that water access may be a more important issue between Israel and Syria.

If Israel could desalinate water and sell it cheaply to Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, it may make itself indispensible to the supposed enemies.

See also his Space Station residents to drink recycled urine", CNET News, 2008-11-14.

Palin and Africa, who said what when?

Bob Lundegaard's letter ("The Palin Effect, McCain camp should have given her a map", Star Tribune, November 15, 2008) set off some alarms in my head, especially when he wrote about "the media" and even more so when he wrote about "the media elite".

I've written elsewhere that "the" is one of the most dangerous words in the English language, second only to "they". Too many people use "the" for sweeping generalizations about a particular group when it is really a few with whom they have a complaint. "The media" covers a wide variety of broadcasters, publishers, and bloggers. The opinions and skills of the people vary so greatly that one cannot really generalize. Can one lump Rush Limbaugh and Arianna Huffington together in "the media? Or a skilled writer like George Will with a ranting blogger who uses only ad hominem attacks?

Lundegaard complained that the timing of the release of the story about Palin and Africa confirms "people's suspicions that the media elite can't be trusted." I submit that the timing may have been because a certain news team could be trusted. However, to find this out, I had to spend more time than any of the online commenters to Lundegaard's letter seem to have spent.

The first inkling I got of a really big problem was when I saw CNET News item about a McCain advisor named Michael Eisenstadt claiming to leak the story to Fox News. This story was actually a New York Times story published in Arts and Entertainment, Nov. 12, "A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence". The man posing as Eisenstadt said he really was not the leak.

I can't remember all the twists and turns of my search for the facts, but I did find two Fox News broadcasts on YouTube of interviews with Carl Cameron, Chief Political Correspondent for Fox News. These both took place on November 5, one on the late afternoon news and one on the Bill O'Reilly program. On both he mentions Palin not knowing Africa was a continent. He mentions no sources except in the first he says "McCain aides told me today..."

When I searched Fox News for "Palin Africa" I found 25 hits in the ranges May 5 to September 10, September 18 to October 26, and November 7 to November 16. Either Fox News' search software leaves gaps or Fox News has pulled certain pieces.

I did find a news recap that mentioned the Africa charge. Jane Hall said on Fox News Watch on November 8, "And Newsweek had it and Carl Cameron had it and Hugh Miller had it." I don't know who Hugh Miller is, but when I searched Newsweek for "Palin Africa" I had zero hits.

I also did a search of the Star Tribune and the New York Times. The Star Tribune has nothing on "Palin Africa" until Lundegaard's letter. The New York Times has six hits after the election. Four were by columnists who attributed the remark to Fox News or Carl Cameron or stated it was a contention, one was the story about the hoax, and the sixth was about Palin defending herself against the charge, "Palin Calls Criticism by McCain Aides 'Cruel and Mean-Spirited'", November 8. She is quoted as saying, “For the most part, absolutely, media persons, reporters, have been absolutely right on and there has been fairness and objectivity. There have been some stinkers, though..."

So, where does this "revelation" that Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent come from. One could say that Carl Cameron made it up; Wikipedia says that he has fabricated stories in the past. One could also say that one remark by Palin has been blown out of proportion and context. Apparently she did have a discussion about South Africa and was unsure whether it was about South Africa the country or southern Africa the region. If this is so, we should cut her some slack. Whatever, Carl Cameron is not "the media".

Who is "the media, who agreed to hold the story until after the election"? Remember Jane Hall's comment about Newsweek and Carl Cameron? For many years, Newsweek has done "Secrets of the Campaign" reportage. They offer to document many of the behind the scenes events in exchange for the promise not to publish anything until after the election. I think they have gotten co-operation from both Republicans and Democrats for many elections. Newsweek isn't "the media" but they have shown they can be trusted. You can see dozens of clips of both the McCain and Obama campaigns that were not made available until November 5. You might enjoy them if you have a few days free.

See also "Palin and Africa, who said what when? Sources for article"

Vote early, vote often (An alternative to Instant Runoff Voting)

As the melodrama of the Coleman-Franken recount unfolds, much invective, hyperbole, and puzzlement is appearing in print and online. One of the "solutions" brought forth to the close vote is Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). See

"Avoid the agony of recounts, and more, with instant runoffs", David Durenberger, Star Tribune, 2008-11-25

and

"Elections with less acrimony? That's the true beauty of IRV", Nick Coleman, Star Tribune, 2008-11-24

I think IRV is another magic bullet that is going to cure confusion, apathy, and the common cold. As in any system of voting, one can find scenarios in which the system will not give the desired results.

Suppose Al, Bert, and Chuck are running for dog-catcher in an IRV system. The choices of the voters are

First choice - 100(Al), 100(Burt), and 50(Chuck)
Second choice - 75(Al), 75(Burt), and 100(Chuck)
Third choice - 75(Al), 75(Burt), and 100(Chuck)

Assume further that the voters for Chuck split their votes for Al and Burt, 25 each for second choice and 25 each for third choice.

Eliminating Chuck's first place votes and distributing those voters' second choice votes, we wind up with Al and Burt each getting 125 votes each. Recount anybody?

Add to this the task of verifying that the original vote calculations were correct...

My own preference is for a blanket or jungle primary followed by as many runoffs as needed to achieve a majority vote. See "Nonpartisan Blanket Primary" and "Blanket Primary" in Wikipedia.

In Louisiana, several candidates are allowed to run under the same party label. I suggest that candidates may use a party label only if they have received the endorsement of that party.

Under "my" system, people would not "throw their votes away" by voting for the candidates they really want to be in office. Assume the polls say that Chuck would receive only 20 percent of the vote. If Al were to get 50 percent of the vote plus one, he would clearly be the winner.

If Al and Burt got 40 percent each as in the above example, then they would have a runoff without Chuck. With only two candidates in the race, it is more probable that one of them would get a clear majority. If not, we're in just as much trouble as with the IRV example.

But suppose the polls are wrong. Many voters refused to read the polls and voted as they really believed. Not knowing they "would throw their votes away" voting for Chuck, 40 percent voted for him, 35 percent voted for Al, and 25 percent voted for Burt. In the runoff the result might be as high as 65 percent for Chuck or as high as 60 percent for Al; either case would be a clear majority. Of course, we could still have a tie and ...

As usual, no human system is flawless, but I think this system is more fluid than the so-called "two-party system". Rather than having to vote for a "major" party that has lost much of its popular support and voting for it only as a vote against the other "major" party, voters can feel more free to vote for a party more to their liking. It took less than 70 years for a new party to replace a major party; at over 150 years since the last change, we are long overdue for a new party.

How do you measure pain?

I have visited doctors' offices more than I wanted in the last few months, including two ER visits and a same-day surgery. After the latter I have had varying degrees of pain for over a week now.

In almost every doctor's office there is a 8.5x11 pain chart with a bar of varying colors and a scale from 0 to 10. Just what is a pain of 2 or 4? I don't know. On one visit I found out that there is another scale on this chart, from smiley face to extreme grimace with tears. Even with the faces, I'm hard put to measure my pain because I don't hold any particular facial expression constantly. If I had a pain that had me tight-lipped and someone told a really good joke, I would smile and laugh.

Today, I came up with my own list of descriptions based on my own current and past experiences.

Barely noticeable would be a tender spot that you didn't think about until someone touched it with a bit of pressure.

Noticeable would be a minor ache or pain that you think about when you are still or make certain movements.

Annoying would be a pain that is always there but you can function normally and sometimes put out of your mind.

Distracting would be a pain that stops all activity. Your mind is just too occupied with it to do much else. You can force yourself to act, but you do so with reluctance.

Excruciating is not only distracting, but you want to cry out in anger or frustration.

Stop, stop, stop! has your full attention. All you want is for the pain to stop. You can think of nothing else.

Only once in recent memory have I had "Stop, stop, stop!" pain. I had an abscess in my upper jaw giving me pain varying from noticeable to excruciating. I was scheduled for oral surgery to treat the abscess, but the oral surgeon took me in just to drain the abscess. When he put the needle in, it felt like he was putting fluid in me rather than taking it out. I must have tightened every muscle in my body. After that, if I remember correctly, the pain stayed in the range of annoying to distracting until the complete surgery.

Fortunately, sort of, pain doesn't stay at one level. It can subside and come back again. The best way to keep the pain at a lower level is to do something: read a book, watch a movie, be with friends, or write a blog about pain.

Control the terms of the debate

After reading my submission to the Star Tribune on "The media", my son sent me a link to a New Yorker article on the Republican Party, "The Fall of Conservatism" by George Packer, 2008-05-26.

One interesting point was:

The Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, in his new book, “The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008” (Harper), argues that Reagan “learned how to seize and keep control of the terms of public debate.”

I thought of how the Republicans have seized and kept control of the terms of the public debate on taxes by constant harping on "high taxes" and "low taxes". I really think the debate needs to be on "appropriate taxes". With that in mind, I sent the following to President-Elect Obama's change web site, http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision.

Appropriate the adjective appropriate.

The Republicans are controlling the debate on taxes with a charge of "high taxes" and a call for "low taxes". The real question is not whether taxes are too high or too low but whether taxes are appropriate for the tasks facing the government.

If a war calls for a large portion of a nation's resources, a fifty-percent tax rate may be appropriate to bring the war to a successful conclusion.

If a country is at peace, if all the infra-structure is working well, and if the country is healthy and prosperous, a five-percent tax rate may be appropriate to keep the country running smoothly.

I encourage to send your thoughts to Obama's transition team. Who knows, if you have a well-thought and well-prepared idea that resonates with one of the filters, your idea may be adopted. If you don't send your thoughts to the transition team, ...

Supreme court ruled by military?

Many people are wary of this country becoming more and more militaristic. Sometimes events seem to strengthen this belief. The Navy vs. environmental groups on SONAR being a threat to marine mammals seemed to be heading in that direction.

A recent New York Times article seemed to imply that the Supreme Court was leaning towards extreme deference to the military. See "Supreme Court rules for Navy in SONAR Case", New York Times, 2008-11-13.

The opening paragraph reads:

"Courts must be wary of second-guessing the military’s considered judgments, the Supreme Court said Wednesday in lifting judicial restrictions on submarine training exercises off the coast of Southern California that may harm marine mammals."

Oh, boy! thought I. We are on a slippery slope here. We have all the politicians who want to defer to the military with its interpretation of the "situation on the ground." Now we have the Supreme Court doing so.

It isn't until the end of the article that one finds a much more nuanced judgement:

"'Of course,' Chief Justice Roberts added, 'military interests do not always trump other considerations, and we have not held that they do. In this case, however, the proper determination of where the public interest lies does not strike us as a close question.'”

Palin and Africa, who said what when? Sources for article

I get a strong reaction when anybody writes about media bias. "The media" covers a wide range of skills and opinions. When I read "The Palin Effect: McCain camp should have given her a map" in the November 15 Star Tribune, I got busy at my keyboard. It took two days, but I churned out over 700 words of analysis looking for the "real" story about what Palin really said. I can't post it here unless the Star Tribune decides not to print my article. While we wait, you can "enjoy" some of the articles I used.

2008-11-05 Carl Cameron, Fox News, broadcast bit about Palin not knowing Africa is a continent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWZHTJsR4Bc. No mention of source of information. Cameron does say, "McCain aides told me today" about Africa statement.

O'Reilly and Cameron
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ktXKzT_gQ&NR=1 No mention of sources of information. Cameron does say that McCain staffers were met by Palin in a bathrobe.

2008-11-06 Palin-Africa Story Implodes Right Wing Media Cabal, Gawker, http://gawker.com/5077915/palin+africa-story-implodes-right-wing-media-cabal

2008-11-08 Fox News recap, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,449566,00.html, Newsweek, Cameron, and Hugh Miller "had it".

2008-11-08 Gail Collins writes that Carl Cameron of Fox News said Palin didn't know Africa was a continent. Collins includes that Palin says this is untrue. "A Political Manners Manual"

2008-11-08 Article on Palin reaction to criticism. “For the most part, absolutely, media persons, reporters, have been absolutely right on and there has been fairness and objectivity,” Mentioned some "bad apples". http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/us/politics/08palin.html "Palin Calls Criticism by McCain Aides 'Cruel and Mean-Spirited'"

2008-11-09 Nicholas Kristof's indirectly quotes Fox News, "Obama and the War on Brains"

2008-11-10 "Palin Defends Herself in Fox Interview", The Caucus Blog, New York Times

2008-11-12 "MSNBC retracts false Palin story; others duped" Associated Press, Fox and others reprint

2008-11-12 Maureen Dowd mentions Palin defending herself about remarks that did not confuse Africa as country or continent. "Boxers, Briefs, or Silks?"

2008-11-12 New York Times publishes article about hoax, "A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence"

2008-11-15 "The Palin Effect: McCain camp should have given her a map", Letter to the Editor, Star Tribune, Bob Lundegaard

If you have the patience to read the comments to this letter, you'll find few that actually address what Lundegaard wrote. They almost all are off on their own agenda.

One solution for GM's problems

I sent the following to Barack Obama's transition web site at

http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision

One solution for GM's problems is for it to start selling like mad in China.

Supposedly many Chinese like big vehicles. American auto manufacturers traditionally have bought foreign factories rather than export. Rather than the paltry 50,000 vehicles that Ford supposedly sold in China, why don't all of the U.S. auto makers start some really serious sales in China.

Oh, I forgot, foreign languages are a "frill" in American schools. Well, maybe there are enough English speakers in China to respond to some of the American car ads broadcast or published in English.

Thomas Friedman for Secretary of State

I sent the following to Barack Obama's transition web site at

http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision

Thomas Friedman for Secretary of State. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew; he spent years in both Lebanon and Israel; and he has contacts all over the world. He also has a realistic view of the difficulty of bringing people together. See
"Show me the money", New York Times, 2008-11-09

Yes or No! No Ifs, Ands, or Buts!

Creationism vs. evolution, anti-abortion vs. pro-abortion, pro-Americanism vs. anti-Americanism, “you’re for us or against us”, “my way or the highway”, Democrat or Republican! On and on it goes for issue after issue – taxes, gun control, and war. Loud voices drown out reasoned voices. Slogans overwhelm discussion.

Now the election is over and we shall see if we get more partisanship or more governance. If McCain has won, we’ll definitely see more partisanship and less governance; each side working to show how they “know best”. If Obama has won, we may see less partisanship and a bit more governance. Even then, with our “imperial presidency”, there will be grandstanding both in Congress and in the Executive Office to show how “hard everyone is working for the people.”

Whoever has won, we will see many shortsighted solutions. On one hand, we’ll see “free market knows best” solutions with a lot of government breaks for favored industries. On the other hand, we’ll see “the people know best” solutions with a lot of government breaks for favored industries.

Charles Wheelan, author of “The Naked Economist”, recently wrote “The Twilight of Free-Market Ideology”. He faulted those who promoted lessening regulations to let business thrive, especially those who say government should get out of businesses’ way. He wrote that, at a minimum, we need government for when we want to sue somebody.

Many of the comments that followed on finance.yahoo.com were extremely vituperative. Almost any hint of government involvement is seen as socialism or communism. Fortunately, we have few public voices that are espousing either of these extreme ideas of government involvement in the economy.

In health insurance, McCain has been promoting individual choice and wants to tax employee-provided insurance. He seems to forget all the fraternal societies founded in the 1800s to provide various forms of assistance to members as well as help to others. At one time insurance companies were owned by policyholders; that’s why they included the name “Mutual”.

Obama has a several-point plan on reducing costs and providing insurance for more people. However, it will take a lot of jawboning on the part of the Federal government to implement many of these ideas.

Wouldn’t a better way be to encourage states to improve health care and insurance costs? This way a lot more ideas can be tried sooner with a lot less hassle than a national plan.

“Obama will take our guns away.” Other than an ill-advised, off-the-cuff remark about some people finding solace in having guns, I don’t think Obama has said much about gun control. Even if some future president and Congress wanted to take guns away, does anyone think they will succeed? President Bush hasn’t been able to take guns away from people in Iraq and Afghanistan in over five years. And there are enough Democratic hunters in Congress to block any extreme action in the U.S.

“Gay marriage will destroy marriage!” “All couples should be treated equally!” Hm! I find both positions tiresome. Gay marriage surely will not destroy my marriage of 48 years. And everybody has the right to marry a person of their choice of the opposite sex. However, there are many living arrangements that require more legal support than is currently available. How about two widows living together to save costs?

As for the Biblical basis of marriage being one man and one woman, what about Solomon and his 700 wives and 300 concubines?

Every abortion is a difficult choice. To criminalize abortion is to assume that the federal government knows best; strange coming from the party that wants “to get government off our backs.” Criminalizing abortion will work no better than prohibition of alcohol or drugs. We would be much better off working to reduce abortions by providing more non-governmental counseling, just like is done with substance abuse.

“The two-party system” is the king of “yes or no, no ifs, ands, or buts”. We are bamboozled into making a choice between two candidates, both of whom may cause more problems than they will solve. “Don’t throw your vote away!” “A vote for Nader was a vote for Bush!” It was? More Democrats stayed home than voted for Nader in 2000 in Florida. Nader got 9,000 votes and over 100,000 Democrats stayed home.

I hope you didn’t stay home on Nov. 4 but cast your vote as you saw fit, whether it was for McCain or Obama, Barr or Nader, or whoever else was on the ballot. If you didn’t like any of them, I hope you voted for “None of the above”. You didn’t see it on the ballot? It’s there in two ways. In Minnesota, you can write someone in (remember to give two names when voting for President) or you can leave the boxes blank for any given office.

This election may see the rise of a viable national third party. There may have been enough Republicans, dissatisfied with the McCain-Palin candidacy or with the ideological hardening of the Republican Party, who will split off into a new party. Don’t forget that the Republican Party was started by dissatisfied Whigs.

As the first and last real Republican said, “As our case is new, so must we think anew, and act anew.”

Will the Republican party become marginal?

"But the G.O.P.’s long transformation into the party of the unreasonable right, a haven for racists and reactionaries, seems likely to accelerate as a result of the impending defeat."

"The Republican Rump", Paul Krugman, New York Times, 2008-11-03

Krugman doesn't predict the demise of the Republican Party, but he thinks moderate Republicans will have to confront that their party has become the party of intolerance.

See also "Are we getting closer to a viable third party?"

Republicans calling the kettle black on Democratic control

The Rovebaughlicans are complaining that we need to have a Republican president to offset a Democratic Congress. This is a bit hypocritical. In 2000 and 2004 Newt Gingrich and others were looking for a permanent Republican majority in Congress along with a Republican president appointing Supreme Court judges.

Millionaires' crocodile tears for the middle class

Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin are trying to out-shout their opposition in how much they are working for the middle class. Give me a break, all four of them are millionaires.

Candidates are not apples and oranges

Comparing candidates is not like comparing apples and oranges. There are distinct differences in candidates' styles, history, knowledge, and skills. Candidates strengths and weaknesses are not a product of their politically parties.

I'm led to these thoughts by newspaper comparisons of the 2004 and the 2008 elections, generally about how various areas of the country went for Bush or for Kerry in 2004. Party affiliation is the wrong measure of future success.

In the 2004 debates, George Bush often came across as folksy and engaged with his audience. John Kerry was often wooden and detached. He also was a bit self-centered. I groaned each time he said, "In my plan" or "I have a plan..."

In 2008, John McCain is exciting people with narrow interests that they perceive he supports, but Barack Obama is exciting people with a larger vision of what our problems are and of where we should be headed.

One might say both the 2004 and the 2008 elections hinged on vision versus me-first.

I lately lost a preposition

I have tried to remember this little poem for quite some time. Today I did a search for it and found several copies.

I lately lost a preposition

It hid, I thought, beneath my chair

And angrily I cried: perdition

up from out in under there!

Correctness is my vademecum

Straggling phrases I abhor

Still I wonder what should it come

Up from out in under for?

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/laszlo_gabris/FUNPOEM1.htm and others.

See also Language Log_ Churchill vs. editorial nonsense.

The fleeing elite

Republican partisans apparently have used the word "elite" to describe those who disagree with them too many times. Now the Republican-leaning elite are distancing themselves from the McCain-Palin candidacy:

David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, Charles Krauthammer, George Will, and now Christopher Buckley and Colin Powell. Now if some prominent politicians would do the same. Maybe we will get a strong, new moderate party.

Will McCain's health proposal cost most people less?

I find it hard to believe that McCain's health proposal will cost most people less. McCain is proposing to discourage employer-sponsored health insurance in favor of individually purchased insurance

Employer-sponsored health care is group health insurance. True, this could be more expensive for the young and healthy. Until they are married and have kids. Group health insurance is a better deal for people who are not so healthy. People who have some health issues in their family are going to pay a lot more for individual health insurance.

Group health insurance can be cheaper than individual health insurance because of sales costs. If you get health insurance online these costs may be very low. However, if you get health insurance from an agent, that agent may get a cut of your premium for as long as you hold your policy. This is also called a performance award; the more policies an agent sells the bigger his or her award.

(We should pay teachers the same; as long as their students are getting an income, the teachers should get a cut of the students' income taxes.)

McCain's five-thousand dollar tax credit is a joke. My wife and I are paying $6,941.40 per year for Medicare B, Medicare Drug Plan, and supplemental insurance. What would a family of four or five with known health issues pay?

Health savings accounts are also a joke. A single night in a hospital now costs $1,000, each time a doctor sees you in the hospital could be $200 or $300. How many people are going to have that much money in their health savings accounts?

There is already a tax deduction for all health expenses over a small percentage of income. Why not make it a tax credit?

If you would like to read more about both candidates' health plans, see "Health Care Spin" at factcheck.org.

Who on Wall St. is contributing to Obama's campaign?

Several critics have questioned the sources of contributions to Barack Obama's campaign, one of these criticisms being that many contributions are coming from Wall St. firms.

Contributors to political campaigns are required to give the names of their employers and their occupations. Is anybody breaking down these contributions from Wall St. firms into those from executives and those from others, say janitors, clerks, accountants, and brokers. Consider the following:

More generally, this year's registration tilt is part of a broader shift since 2004 away from Republican affiliation, particularly among younger and Hispanic voters and among college-educated professionals in former GOP strongholds such as New Hampshire, Colorado, and the suburbs of Philadelphia and Northern Virginia.

- "Registration gains favor democrats", Washington Post, 2008-10-06

Could it be that many of the donations from Wall St. are from these young professionals? Could it be that the sum of their donations to Obama exceeds that of their executive bosses?

High hopes for my to-do list

I find myself trying to do more and more in less and less time. Soon I'll be doing everything at once.

Rovebaughlicans have sowed the wind

...and now they are reaping the whirlwind.

They have sowed untruths and now have to contain the anger of their base. John McCain, normally a nice guy, has fallen among thieves of truth and acted like them. Now McCain has to quiet rowdy crowds who are saying things that would get them arrested at other events.

The Republicans have been taken over by mob rule and the Democrats are under siege by the Dreamocrats.

Choose your gospel wisely; times change

Adam Smith wrote about prosperity in his time, and now some have taken his writings as gospel for all times. Karl Marx wrote about poverty in his time, and some took his writings as gospel for all times.

Adam Smith wrote about many small businesses competing for customers, and then came conglomerates that were near monopolies. Karl Mark wrote about the conglomerates exploiting workers, and then came unions to bring prosperity to many workers in the conglomerates.

Are we getting closer to a viable third party?

In the mid nineteenth century, one of the two major parties became more irrelevant to the real problems of the era, namely the question of slavery. They, the Whigs, were tepid on abolition, and were replaced by a new, vigorous party, the Republicans. In the 1856 presidential election, the Republican candidate, John C. Fremont came in second in a three-way race. Former President Millard Fillmore, now in another "third party", the American Party or Know Nothing's, came in a respectable third. Four years later the Republican candidate won and the rest is history.

In the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, the Republicans became more and more ideological. Rather than work with some general principles to work out compromises to govern, many Republicans became naysayers. See "The Audacity of Nope", Eva Fairbanks, Washington Post, 2008-10-05.

Ms. Fairbanks, a congressional correspondent, describes herself as a "card-carrying moderate 'weenie'" and is not happy about the shift to ideology.

As the Republican Party sidelines more and more moderates in favor of die-hard ideologues, will it become less relevant and only be an irritant to the Democrats. What will happen with the sidelined moderates? Will enough of them get together to form a viable third party?

We have some inkling in Minnesota that this is possible. Dean Barkley, the Independence Party candidate for the Senate, is closing in on 20% according to some polls. I don't know how many former Republicans are migrating to the IP, but if any momentum gathers, a third party could be an active participant in the 2012 elections, and by 2020, the current Republican Party may be a minor party.

Who has the right "experience"?

John McCain keeps hammering away that he has foreign policy experience and that Barack Obama is inexperienced. McCain claims that Obama is willing to meet Iranian President Ahmadinejad "without preconditions". Obama responds that "Ahmadinejad is not the most important man in Iran and may not even be the right person to talk to."
- Duluth News Tribune, 2008-10-03

Notice Obama's use of "may not". I'd rather have someone who is ready to adapt his foreign policy to others' reactions than someone who sings "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."

Unbalanced "balanced" reporting

We were only able to watch the Biden-Palin debate for about a half-hour. After about the third time that Gov. Palin refused to answer a question and went on to something else, we turned the TV off and went to do other things.

I was amazed later in the evening to find hardly any mention of this in online commentary. I was still amazed when the Duluth News Tribune gave both fairly good marks for their performance. It was only when I got to the very end of an article about UMD students watching the debate did I find this:

“She keeps changing the subject, cutting off the issue, like she’s trying to hide something or doesn’t have an answer,’’ [Josh] Clarke said. “She just shows a lack of experience, kind of naive.’’
- Duluth News Tribune, 2008-10-03

Fortunately, similar comments are appearing today. And surprise, more of it is coming from so-called conservative or centrist commentators. So-called liberals seem to be afraid of any criticism of Palin; that would make them part of the "biased media."

I'm sorry, but if most people understand there is a problem, and one candidate states there is no problem and another states we must address this problem with thoughtfulness; shouldn't we be more critical of the first?

What kind of gadgets would the presidential candidates be?

I meant to publish this on Sept. 19; somehow I saved it as a draft instead.

CNET News has a poll on what kind of gadget would McCain be. Last week they had one for Obama: iPhone - 43.3%, Windows Vista - 27.5%, Facebook - 19.3%, and Baby's First Walkman - 10%

This week's poll on McCain is at

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10046468-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

and the choices are

Panasonic Toughbook (ruggedized laptop)

Phonograph

Leatherman multi-tool

Presto (HP's device that receives and prints e-mail for those that don't have a PC)

I chose phonograph because it is so dated (yeah, I still have one and lots of LPs, but hardly ever use it). The result when I voted was over 56% out of over 1440 votes.

Today is Constitution Day

I bet you didn't know that. I know I didn't remember it until yesterday. The Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787.

It is really a shame that the most important event and document gets short shrift. We are distracted with flags and memorials rather than sober consideration of our past and our future. If we reflected on the Constitution more, then we might hold our presidents and representatives more accountable.

Here's one. The Founders were leery of standing armies because their very existence made wars easier to start. They gave the power of declaring war to Congress, not the President. They made the President the Commander-in-Chief but gave him no army. Now we have a large standing army, and ...

If Republicans think a comedian is unqualified...

...to be a U.S. Senator, why are they acting more like comedians with their attack ads and other remarks than like serious politicians who have a serious view of policy?

Politicians and Weather Forecasters are alike

They all tell different stories.

For Duluth, MN we have the following weather reports for 1700 today:

current temperature, tomorrow's high and low

52 60 47 CNN
64 64 48 AccuWeather 64 64 48
66 62 53 Yahoo
61 Our back porch thermometer

At least they all agree there will be rain tomorrow.

God told the Republicans to tone down their convention

Let's see, if God creates the weather, then Hurricane Gustav is God's handiwork. If the Republicans are responsible for doing something about weather damage, then they can't spend a lot of energy and money on the hoopla of a convention now. So, it must be God's will that the Republican's not hold their convention, at least not in the traditional way.

High taxes or appropriate taxes?

Republicans make a big thing of charging Democrats with creating high taxes, and to many Republicans, this also means no taxes are preferred.

Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to run a successful business in a society without taxes. A taxless society has too many uncertainties. Uncertainties can be reduced with a civil society that sets and enforces rules. The price of a civil society is taxes. How much tax are we prepared to pay for what kind of civil society.

The question really should be do we have appropriate taxes for the society we want. If businesses needs skilled workers they will pay for them either with their own training programs, which cost money or with taxes for publicly supported schools. Otherwise, they will hope enough potential workers will pay for their own education.

Internet overload?

It seems to us that since the Olympics started, access to the Internet has become an iffy proposition.

We will have all the lights green on our DSL modem one minute, and then the Internet light goes off or even turns red. When this happens, the DSL blinks green.

This can happen every few minutes and be OK for a few minutes. It can be OK for hours and be off for many minutes or even hours.

Saturday night we had iffy access; two minutes on, one minute off. Sunday night we had almost continuous access. This morning we had access, then didn't, then did, and now we haven't had access for over an hour.

I wondered about our having an Apple Time Capsule added to our home network. I also wondered if our modem was going bad. Pushing reset or pulling the plug seems to make no difference: if it was working, it still works; if it wasn't working, it still won't work.

I also wondered about our phone company having problems. I talked to a friend who lives about a mile away about this. He has cable and has also been having spotty access.

It would be interesting to see if there is any correlation to these problems with access peaks to either NBCOlympics.com or YouTube.

A final irony. I went to Qwest's home page and eventually to a discussion group. Just as I was registering to join the group, access disappeared!

No, one more irony. The phone rang downstairs and I tried to answer upstairs on the headset. Nothing! I tried the wall phone. Nothing. When I tried downstairs, I got a dial tone (the caller never left a message). I checked the wall jack upstairs. It was out for enough that a light kick would pull it out. Have I been kicking the jack all along or pushing a wastebasket against it? However, why did the red internet light come on and go off? We shall see this evening when local web traffic goes up.

Lawyers and objectivity

Every so often a lawyer will use the term "facts of the case" as if he or she has an objective view of a situation. But is the "objectivity" based on a subjective selection of the facts?

I think of this because of different interpretation of online security and of how things should be named.

My current irritation is with my bank requiring me to reset my PIN every so often. It is the only financial institution that I deal with that requires this. I know it's bad practice to keep passwords for a long time, but I'll change them on my own schedule, thank you.

I used to change my bank password when required, and then change it back again. Now it won't let me use any of the last four passwords. Worse yet, if I make any mistake in the entry, the site makes me change other information. Most sites leave all the correct information in the form and only want the missing information entered or the correct information entered. I gave up trying to figure out what the "correct" information I should enter.

A long standing irritation is with a mutual fund company that wants me to agree to the terms and conditions every time I sign on. This is the only company that I know that requires this.

My only explanation is that the companies' lawyers required these steps even though few other companies see these steps as important.

An example of a lawyer not going far enough. I applied and received a trademark for "Helper" with respect to software. The application was for "cassette tape and magnetic media". Then came electronic distribution and CDs. Of course, any challenges my lawyer made were stonewalled by other lawyers, regardless of how the other "Helper" software was distributed.

The most ridiculous case was the advice that a computer club received. It had had a DOM, disk-of-the-month, for many years. When it hired an attorney to register its name and to ensure its tax-exempt status, he suggested that it change DOM to eDOM, educational disk-of-the-month. Of course, how educational are a bunch of games and utilities?

Subtle racism in the presidential campaign

Mark Penn, an aide to the Clintons, wrote a memo about Obama's "lack of American roots." According to E. J. Dionne, Washington Post, 2008-08-14, "Clinton thankfully declined to take up this idea, but John McCain's ads are now subtly toying with it."

Let's see, John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which some maintain disqualifies him from the presidency. And has he forgotten the "No Irish need apply" signs of the past?

iGrandma

Today is my wife's birthday. This week I was pondering making her a card or buying her a gift. For the latter I wondered about some digital photo gadget to carry photos in her purse. I thought it would be bulky and clumsy. I wound up doing neither for her. I bought a store card that expressed our relationship perfectly.

However, today in preparation for her first high-school reunion meeting, I started putting photos on my iPod touch. Migod! That's it! Hundreds of photos! Organized in folders! Show a trip! Show a grandchild! Show a particular event!

She says we can share my iPod. But will we?

The rest of us have been left behind

I sent the following email to the store where I bought my MacBook Pro. I picked the computer up two weeks ago today and sent this email on July 14.

Well, I have the MacBook Pro up and running, almost. This has been the worst installation and migration since I worked on mainframes.

First, migration assistant crashed leaving many applications and other files unmoved. I forget if I repeated it, but not much moved.

Second, I couldn’t get the MacBook Pro to access my DSL modem. This was my first call to Apple Care. After talking to two people for almost an hour, including wait times, I discovered that I had set it to allow access only the PowerBook G4!

Third, the installation of Leopard on the PowerBook crashed. Nothing would boot at all. Second call to Apple Care but immediate response!! After much discussion the agent suggested holding the option key (I think) while booting. Leopard is now on the PowerBook also.

Fourth, the installation of the Time Capsule did not go according to instructions. Third call to Apple Care and again immediate response. This agent was also the most patient of all. I’m glad I have a couple of Ethernet cables handy. All the new stuff has a minimum number of cables.

The Time Capsule is up and running on the MacBook Pro now. I’ll do the PowerBook another day. The first backup took about five hours; I started it just before going to bed and it was over half done when I got up two or three hours later. The Time Capsule is one hot machine. I put it on a wooden cutting board so the desk surface doesn’t get damaged. No char marks on the cutting board.

Fifth, when I synched my iPod to the MacBook Pro, iTunes deleted all my purchased music from the iPod because I was not authorized to play them on the MacBook Pro. Even after I authorized it, iTunes would not download the purchased music to the iPod. I sent email to iTunes support and got a pretty quick response. Unfortunately this agent deauthorized all my computers (I wanted only one deauthorized, a G3) and said I could download the particular lost music again without payment. I haven’t gotten back to her yet.

Sixth, I did use a Firewire cable to move all the files that Migration Assistant didn’t move. That went fairly fast, maybe a couple hours or less. Probably over 40GB of stuff. Thank goodness Apple provided the FireWire cable with the PowerBook G4. Of course, this copying doesn’t make many of the adjustments that Migration Assistant would have made.

Seventh, Excel 2008 doesn’t recognize Visual Basic macros, and I had a bunch. Now I have to spend time learning AppleScript, something I’ve made several attempts at learning. Online manuals are not as easy to use as paper manuals.

Eighth, ExpensePlus on my Palm Zire doesn’t like Excel 2008. Even when I follow the instructions for Leopard on the WalletWare site, HotSync still won’t upload my expense sheets from the Palm.

Ninth, because Migration Assistant crashed, I’ve had to reregister much of my third party software and not always successfully. This is a good argument for keeping old email. I have found some of the registration codes in three- and four-year email.

Tenth, I had a deadline for my Reader Weekly column. With all this frustration, I did not put together a column as coherent as I would have liked.

Eleventh, a piece of good news. For some reason the receipt for the PowerBook G4 is out on my desk. Everything on it was more expensive then except AppleCare which was the same price. The total was $3,355.10 and I got more stuff and more powerful stuff for $3,144.40.

Twelfth, all the other little glitches I forgot.

Maybe my problem is that I know too much about computers, and so I blithely charge ahead without reading the instructions carefully. But that would only explain some of the above problems (iTunes, web access, ...)

Thanks for your eyeballs and your friendly service. See you in three or four years when technolust overcomes me again:)

I have worked through most of the problems, but there are still many little problems to go.

Vote! Even if you don't like the choices

I was just reading "Conservatives Ready to Battle McCain on Convention Platform", Washington Post, July 7, 2007. It made me think of all those Republicans who say they will sit out this election because they don't like McCain's policies. And also of those Democrats who are disappointed that Hillary Clinton did not win the nomination.

I think it is more likely that the Republican no-shows will help Obama win than the Democrat no-shows will help McCain.

To both groups of no-shows, I say vote anyway. You still have a third choice, even without the Libertarian Bob Barr. You can leave the presidential ballot blank. You at least get counted for showing up. If you stay home, you are not counted. One could even say a stay-at-home doesn't even count in the election.

Remember, Reagan's "landslide" was with less than 30% of the eligible voters. What would his "mandate" have been if the 40-plus percent who stayed home had actually cast a ballot?

At a minimum, let's hope reporters give more weight to no-shows.

Whose independence from whom?

Do these statements apply to times, people, and places other than for which they were written?

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution...:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.


He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

They are from the Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Is every earned dollar hard-earned?

I think politicians over-use the terms "hard-working families" and "hard-earned dollars"; this usage is more demagoguery than descriptive.

Sure, there are many workers who have boring, sweaty jobs or who have to spend much of their time with abusive bosses or customers or who have dangerous jobs.

But there are other workers who spend at least some of their time enjoying the outdoors, gazing out the window, having coffee and donuts in a meeting, or standing around the water cooler chatting with co-workers.

Personally, I've had jobs that run the gamut from making me bone-weary to making me eager to come in to do extra work. I've stood at a cash register with lines going half-way down the aisle. I've loaded 100-pound bags of potatoes on a truck. I've had customers and bosses yell at me. I've stood around chatting or even playing games on the clock. I've been sent out of town when I'd rather be at home. I've been paid to take very interesting trips. I've had days when I couldn't wait until five o'clock arrived. I've had days when I was so involved I forgot about eating. I've had days when I was paid just for showing up. I've had days when I was expected to work around the clock.

So, when politicians talk about hard-working people, are they talking about coal-miners deep underground or are they talking about somebody sitting in air-conditioned comfort listening to the radio? Are they talking about the rushed chicken processors wondering when they're going to slip with the knife or the front office clerk playing solitaire on the computer?

We now have a three-party system

I read Frank Rich's "One night, two Americas" in today's New York Times.

He essentially writes that Clinton and McCain are of the past and Obama is of the future. From this I thought of how both the left and the right are stuck in battles and world views of the past; Obama has captured the hopes of those who look to the future. My quick diagram of this is

|| –

The vertical lines are the parties of the past, stuck in the past; the horizontal line is the party of the future moving forward. Another way to look at it is the right is the party of globalization of business but of anti-globalization of politics (we know best) and the left is the party of anti-globalization of business but of globalization of politics. They are also stuck in the polarization of ideas many Americans would rather not take a firm stand on: gun control, abortion, immigration, and so on.

I think that Obama will win in a landslide because he represents the future. He will win because he will get more people voting than ever. He will win because he has built a strong organization of average people rather than of Washington insiders. He will win because he is a better speaker and thinker. Finally, he will win because people do want change.

"Democrats Win Landslide Victory" Hoax or reality?An email supposedly from former Sen. Bill Frist is making the rounds. It is titled "Democrats Win L

An email supposedly from former Sen. Bill Frist is making the rounds. It is titled "Democrats Win Landslide Victory". It is a request for donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee because Obama is working hard so that "new voters and record resources will produce a Democrat landslide victory this fall."

I am always suspicious when people quote an email in the hope of nailing the author and his associates. I have tried looking for a denial of this email or for a posting on a Republican website supporting the email. I have found neither using the keywords "Democrats Win Landslide Victory", frist, and nrsc.

I can only conclude for now that Frist actually sent it. Such emails and letters often go out to huge mailing lists which often include opponents and non-interested persons. Many of these non-supporters probably jumped on it with glee. Look what the Republicans have been doing with Clinton's and Franken's words. Turnabout is fair play.

As to Frist's concerns, I believe heavy voter turnout has generally favored Democrats. Remember that Bush didn't win because of Nader in Florida; he won because too many Democrats stayed home.

Just who's voting for Clinton?

It seems to me that Hillary Clinton has been "winning" more primaries since John McCain gained enough delegates to clinch the Republican nominaton.

Could it be that people who call themselves Republicans are voting for Clinton because they think she will be easier to beat than Barack Obama?

If so, will these voters be there for her in November if she does win the Democratic nomination?

How portable should customs be?

Some Muslim women have sued their employer because they were required to wear a certain uniform. They said the uniform violated their religious freedom. Would a Muslim country allow a western women to wear whatever she chose?

It has long bothered me that Americans are supposed to adopt certain customs in other countries, but non-Americans should be allowed their own customs in the U.S. We should eat in a certain way in Japan; but Japanese should feel free to slurp their noodles and soup in the U.S.

I remember learning in school that U.N. envoy Ralph Bunche graciously accepted the sheep's eye in a stew while he was in North Africa. But will a Muslim accept a ham dinner in the U.S.? If not, I should be freely able to decline a sheep's eye.

Closer to home, some people wear their shoes in their houses, and some don't. Many of the latter request that their guests take off their shoes. Some of these latter even insist on taking off their shoes when their hosts are wearing shoes, often cluttering up a hallway with their shoes.

Che paese vai, che usanze trovi! Whatever country you go to, adopt the customs that you find. Or, when in Rome do as the Romans do.

But if the Romans are throwing the Christians to the lions, should you do likewise?

Addendum 2009-07-26
As I was planning a similar entry today, I double-checked the Italian phrase above. I made two mistakes, one in word order, the second in making a word plural. The correct phrase is "Paese che vai, usanza che trovi."

A day of infamy

Today is the anniversary of the first internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry in 1942. The later Supreme Court ruling justifying the internment as a national security measure still stands. This same thinking has led to abuse of power by several succeeding presidents.

On the other hand, my German-born grandmother was never interned. If some movies are to be believed, Germans in America were more dangerous than Japanese. After all, they "looked like" everybody else.

A true response to telemarketers

While I was eating dinner, the phone rang. I thought it might be a friend calling for help on a computer problem. No, it was a recorded telemarketing call. I hung up.

As I sat back down again, I thought if a person had been on the other end, I could have responded, "I was expecting an important call." It would have been a true statement, even if I had not been waiting for a call.

As I get up, I assumed it was a friend calling. If it had been a friend calling, his or her message would most likely have been far more important than the telemarketing call, even if it was just to say hello.

So, the full "truthful" and polite response could be:

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was expecting an important call. I must hang up now." Click.

Political surveys

Both the Democrats and the Republicans think I'm one of theirs. I get surveys and requests for donations from both. They don't seem to realize that the title of my column in the Reader Weekly is "Party of One".

OK, OK, I may support with a check a candidate that I like now and then, but that doesn't mean I support the candidate's party.

Yesterday I received a survey from the Democratic National Committee. I don't plan to return it; see "Can You Believe the Polls Anymore". However, I do find this survey more meaningful than those I receive from Republicans. Recent Republican surveys have been full of leading questions; this Democratic survey has only three.

These are:
"Do you believe that John McCain's pledge to keep troops in Iraq for another 100 years will be a liability in the General Election?" McCain didn't "pledge" to stay in Iraq; he said troops would be in Iraq 100 years if necessary.

"How likely do you think it is that John McCain and his Republican allies will launch a "Swift Boat" style smear campaign against our presidential nominee?" We can be certain that allies of both parties will engage in distortion campaigns. Let's hope both presidential candidates stand above such nonsense.

"How concerned are you that Republican voter suppression schemes will disenfranchise Democrats and impact the outcome of the presidential race?" The best antidote to any " suppression schemes" is to get out the vote, massively. Remember more Democrats stayed away in Florida in 2000 than voted for Ralph Nader.

I might send in the survey anyway. Its last question is "If your could offer one piece of advice to the Democratic presidential nominee, what would it be?" I've thought of a couple over the past few weeks; if I can recall them and express one concisely, I might send the survey in.

Mark Trail did it again

As I assumed, Mark Trail used violence against a bad guy. Yesterday he kicked in the door of the bad guy's house. Today, the bad guy took a swing at Mark Trail; Trail swung back and knocked the bad guy off his feet.

Lone wolf policing and fisticuffs is not my image of a conservationist.

Mark Trail will do it again

Mark Trail is on the trail of a bad guy again; this time a dognapper. How do I know that Mark Trail will have a fist fight with this bad guy?

Creationism is hubris

Those who study evolution observe how God created life. Creationists tell God how He created life.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18

Can you believe the polls anymore?

In the 1948 presidential election, many polls predicted that Thomas Dewey would beat Harry Truman. They were so wrong. The polls were made by telephone, but many Democratic voters had no telephone. So, they were not counted.

Now more people have telephones; and polls, except exit polls, are conducted by telephone. But two things make them inaccurate. Many polls are conducted by robo-dialer and a large number of people hang up when there is silence on the other end. Polls are conducted to numbers that are in some database, but many of those database are based on listed numbers. People with unlisted numbers might not be called. Cell phone numbers generally do not appear in listings. Many young people have cell phones only. So many young people will never be called by polls.

Barack Obama is attracting and energizing many young people. Will a representative number of his supporters be called? Some polls show him getting fewer votes than John McCain. Will John McCain be the 2008 version of 1948's Thomas Dewey?

A better way to elect a President

The current way of electing the President of the United States is limiting and unfair.

It is limiting in that our choices are self-selected candidates from two tired old parties. This further limits our choices in that they must appeal to the "base" of either party, even if the rest of the country sees different problems and solutions than either "base".

It is unfair in that people who have no affiliation with either party get to vote to select a party's candidates. It is also unfair that people who have leanings toward one party or are even affiliated with that party get to vote for a candidate in the other party. It is also unfair that party members are now supposed to rally behind a candidate that was not of their choosing.

If we're going to have such "grass roots" selection, let's really make the start of the process "grass roots". In the spring before the presidential election, all voters can submit the names of an eligible pair to run for a president. How wide open this part should be is open to discussion. It could be by online voting, by petition with a certain number of signatures, or by a mail-in ballot.

Order the candidates by nominations and select the candidates whose nomination totals add up to some threshold. Or take the top so many candidates. Now the entire voting population can select one candidate.

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, we repeat the process until one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote. Depending on how many candidates we start with, it could take four to six cycles.

Will Americans turn out so many times to vote? Maybe, maybe not. But all the candidates, and all civic-minded citizens should stress the importance of voting. Supporters of this system should also stress the alternative of absentee voting.

This idea will meet much resistance, but if we keep doing things as we have, we are going to be stuck with more of the same old, same old.

How to end the "war on drugs" in one fell swoop

A friend wrote that her brother had a fire in his apartment. When the fire marshal investigated, he found marijuana residue. As a result the brother lost his teaching job. Would a teacher have lost his job if the fire marshal had found alcohol?

Isn't it time we end the war on drugs? It certainly hasn't succeeded, it costs lots of money for enforcement, it leads to violent crime, and it doesn't make us friends in foreign countries when we aid unpopular governments in the eradication of the plants.

Isn't it time we treat drugs the same as we do alcohol? People get in trouble when they pose a public risk: driving under the influence or being a public nuisance. Shouldn't we only concern ourselves with the use of drugs when the use directly impinges on us? We don't worry about people getting drunk in their own homes; should we worry about people getting high in their own homes?

A lot of money and law enforcement personnel were wasted during Prohibition. Not only was time and money wasted looking for alcohol, but even more was wasted fighting the dealers. Didn't we learn anything from this?

Now instead of wasting these resources on enforcing the unenforceable, we regulate the sale and use of alcohol at a much lower cost and also gain tax revenue from its sale. Isn't time we did the same with drugs?

We would save money in enforcement, prosecution, and incarceration. We would gain money in taxation. We could use the gain to provide many more productive public services.

How to reduce the price of gas

The quickest way to reduce the price of gasoline is to stop driving. Unfortunately, too many people would rather drive than take the bus. The next quickest way is to price gas in liters. Just think, the current $3.459/gal. in Duluth could become $0.909/liter.

This has the added benefit of making comparison with other countries easier. One would only have to convert euros or yen or whatever to dollars instead of first converting liters to gallons and then currency to dollars.

A third benefit, probably short-lived, is that gas would once again be below $1.00 per unit.

I may never fly again

Where have the friendly skies gone? Well, skies are still friendly, at least staff-wise. Counter personnel and cabin attendants do their best to be friendly to all. Even the security inspectors do their best to be friendly and helpful, even when you forget that liquid in your carry-on luggage.

But the security inspection is the middle of the hassle that flying has become. The parking and drop-off areas are more and more crowded. The lines are long at check-in. Then you have to stand in a long line at security, empty your pockets of keys, change, and other paraphernalia (you did leave your pocket knife at home, didn't you?), take off your shoes and belt, and put your cell phone, PDA, camera, and laptop in the box. Because of the long lines, you feel rushed doing all of this.

You've successfully gotten through security without forgetting anything or without having anything confiscated, and now you can relax, sort of. You still have to find a seat in the lounge, hopefully enough together for all in your group. Thank goodness that airports are now smoke-free.

Finally your plane is ready to board. There's no hurry because they won't leave the gate until everybody is buckled in. Still, it is a pain to wait for somebody with their butt in the aisle while they put their stuff in the overhead bin. Then of course you have a middle or window seat and the person in the aisle seat is already in place, You finally manage to sidle into your seat, find the seat belt ends, and buckle up. If you're lucky the plane takes off in the next fifteen minutes.

The plane finally gets to cruising altitude and you open a book to read. But suddenly the seat in front of you comes practically in your face. The person in front wants to nap and doesn't even consider how close the seat top comes to you. It's even worse if you were hoping to work on your laptop.

If the flight is more than a couple of hours of long, you start to get tense in your legs because you can't move them much. It is almost too much effort to get out, even if you have an aisle seat. If you are on a transoceanic flight, the airline will run a video about exercise. The trim young lady is shown doing all of her stretches without a seat in front of her or any other passengers by her side. If you try any of these exercises, you bump your shin against the seat in front of you or put your elbow in your neighbor's eye.

Finally, after much fidgeting and catnapping, you land at your destination airport. As soon as the plane stops, half the passengers pop up and start getting their belongings from the overhead bins. If you have other luggage it doesn't matter how fast you get off the plane. Even if you're the last person off and walk very slowly to baggage claim, your baggage won't be ready.

When you get to baggage claim, half the passengers are jammed right up the the carousel, even if their bag is nowhere in sight. You have to watch carefully between heads or arms for yours. If it comes, you bowl three or four people over as you try to right your moving bag, get a good grip on it, and heave it over the lip of the carousel. On the other hand, in some ridiculously high percentage of the time, one or more of your bags may not arrive at all. This is especially true if you had connecting flights, even on the same airline.

Matters are more complicated if your flight crosses some man-made line, referred to as an international border. You have to stand in one or two more lines, one to prove who you are and where you live, and another to prove you aren't smuggling in any prohibited material. Generally the second is perfunctory; you just walk on by. Again, the people who staff these barriers are generally friendly, or at least courteous. But the system is a great nuisance. If you live in the United States, aren't you glad each state isn't a separate country?

After our trip to Japan last year I said I never wanted to fly again. The U.S-Japan leg was bad enough, but we made it a three-day, three leg trip each way. We were accompanying my 92-year-old mother-in-law who lived outside Toronto. Our trip was Minneapolis-Toronto, Toronto-Chicago, Chicago-Tokyo and the reverse. If I couldn't drive to a place, I wouldn't travel again.

So, for Christmas, our daughter and son-in-law gave us a trip to Heavenly Valley. How could we say no? It was only a three-hour plane trip to Las Vegas and an eight-hour drive to Lake Tahoe, but still that three hours felt like eight. I renewed my vow to never fly again. And I so want to visit Europe, Iceland, and Japan again, but...

A blizzard in the internet age

A blizzard started in Duluth last night. All during the night the wind howled, the house creaked, and wet snow smacked against the windows. Every so often a snow plow would go by; its yellow light flashing through the blinds. I just snuggled under the covers more.

My wife was scheduled to be at a conference in Omaha today and planned to drive down with two others. They had originally planned to drive to the Twin Cities late in the afternoon and continue on to Omaha today.

Given the prediction of a blizzard in Duluth and a storm warning in Omaha, they weren't sure if they should leave earlier on Thursday or even go at all. We checked the National Weather Service for both cities and determined that Omaha would have rain but not snow yesterday. They opted to leave at 11 yesterday and arrived in Omaha about 9 or so. They did encounter a lot of wind and rain, but otherwise made good time.

However, just about everything has been canceled in Duluth, including the buses.

When I finally roused myself this morning, I couldn't see out a single window. See the photo "What blizzard?". I couldn't open either the front or back door very far; I had to push against 2-4 inches of wet snow. Before it got worse, I retrieved a snow shovel from the back porch. Without stepping outside, I could just barely reach the blade and bring it inside. I put it in the laundry tub where it will probably get too warm and ice up when I take it outside again. At least I'll be able to push a small path outside the front door and step outside to continue shoveling.

But not today! As of 11:10 this morning, the Duluth News Tribune reported the blizzard warning is in effect until Saturday morning. There is no point in even shoveling until tomorrow, not even to make the mail carrier's job easier or to get the newspapers at the corner.

Again, here's where the internet is such a help. I got my local news online plus I got a later update than I would with the paper addition. I know, I know, I could turn on the radio or TV, but on the internet, I can get the news when I want to, not when the stations broadcast it.

Of course, with a blizzard one can lose power or phone service. Several neighborhoods in Duluth have lost power. As soon as crews restore one area, another is knocked out.

So, with all this time on my hands because I can't go anywhere, I should be getting a lot done, right? Ha! What do I start first? Nah, I don't want to work on taxes just now. I'll practice singing later. Filing all those loose papers on the desk seems like such a chore. I could read a book, but it seems so much easier to play su do ku online then anything else, especially since I couldn't do the newspaper puzzles today. Just one more game. Oh, my time wasn't so good, I'll do another to see if I can do better. Oh, I almost got to my record time, I'll do another now that I'm on a roll. You don't believe me about the addiction, see http://www.jigsawdoku.com.

It is amazing that I even wrote this blog. Maybe now I can file some papers, but first...

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for Obama's Vice-President?

Kathleen Sebelius, the Democratic governor of Kansas, may be the ideal V.P. for Barack Obama, both for the election and for the administration.

She is a uniter, not a divider. Her Lt. Governor was a Republican.

She is a governor, which would counterbalance Obama being a Senator.

She is more concerned with governance, that is, making Kansas work, than with ideology.

She is supporting Obama for the nomination.

Is the time ripe for a new moderate party?

After I posted the "Simple platform" entry, I read "A Case of the Blues" by Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New York Times Magazine, March 30, 2008. It centers on Tom Cole, OK-R, and chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the daunting task he has to get Republicans elected to Congress.

Given the shift away from some of the ideologies of the Republican Party, would a party that was seen as more practical make serious inroads on the "Two-Party System"? It is past time for a party to do what the Republicans did in 1854-1860 - forming a party and within six years winning the presidency.

Simple platform for a moderate party

Many party platforms are laundry lists of ideas and proposed legislation that members want or oppose. It is impossible for candidates to act on so many ideas or even present coherent views on all of them. The 2004 platforms were 43 pages(Democrats) and 92 pages (Republicans). In 2008 The Independence Party of Minnesota has a reasonably simple platform, but its seven-page platform contains too many gimmicks as solutions to certain problems.

I would feel more comfortable supporting a party that had a simple platform like the following:

1. A civil society needs to strive for a balance between individual freedom and the common good.
2. The U.S. Constitution should be a starting point for determining this balance.
3. A civil society will never have complete agreement as to where the balance is.
4. Today's solutions may become tomorrow's problems.
5. All else is commentary.

To Boycott or not to boycott, that is the question

Because of China's crackdown on Tibetan dissidents, some are calling for a boycott of the Olympics and others are saying that engagement is a better policy.

I think the decision should rest with the individual athletes and not governments. A boycott by hundreds of athletes would have a greater impact than a boycott by one or several governments. What purpose was served by the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics?

Suppose the U.S. had boycotted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Then Jesse Owen winning a gold medal would not give lie to Hitler's Aryan supremacy.

Source of our freedom

“I believe there’s an Almighty,” President Bush said, “and I believe a gift of that Almighty to every man, woman and child is freedom.” Quoted in Maureen Dowd's column, March 18, 2008, New York Times.

Bush also said, "Since that first 4th of July, some 43 million Americans have defended our freedom in times of war." (President Bush Thanks Military on Independence Day at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, July 4, 2006)

Which is it? The Almighty gave us freedom or the military fought for our freedom?

The framers of the Constitution stated it was "We, the People".

Technological irony

Apple placed one of its cute "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" ads in today's online New York Times. The initial banner ad was "Vista - one of the biggest blunders in technology". Unfortunately, Safari 3.0.4 would not complete loading the page; it stuck on 88 items of 89. Safari 3.0.4 is included with Mac OS 10.4.11, the latest update to the OS prior to OS X Leopard. Firefox 2.0.0.12 did load the page successfully.

I used the "Report Bugs to Apple" feature of Safari to report this situation.

The most egregious political correctness

Many of us laugh at the attempts at political or patriotic correctness. One must not disparage any ethnic group, religious group, women, people with illnesses, and on and on through a laundry list of "marginalized" groups. One must not insult the flag or question a war and must show certain outward signs of "patriotism".

These misdirected efforts pale in comparison with the demands of certain governments and segments of several religions. Government after government shuts a newspaper down for insulting the nation of the government, often because they dared to print the truth. Many individuals want papers shut down or reporters and editors killed because the paper has "insulted" their religion with blasphemy. In both cases, such calls demonstrate weakness rather than strength.

In the case of "blasphemy", cannot an omniscient, omnipotent God protect himself? He sort of did in 1 Kings 18. After nothing happened to the sacrifice to Baal by the priests of Baal, God sent fire onto Elijah's water-soaked sacrifice and it was consumed. Interestingly, God did not send fire onto the priests of Baal; Elijah cut their throats.

In the case of "insults" of government, U.S. history is filled with some really mean-spirited campaign blasts. In 1796, John Adams "called his opponent Thomas Jefferson cowardly, weak and a person who did not share Americans' values." ("Character Attacks Heat Up Presidential Campaign", America.gov, 2007-12-04.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson's supporters called John Quincy Adams a "pimp". Adams' supporters retorted that Jackson's wife was a "prostitute". They also called Jackson a "jackass" and used a picture of a donkey. That last backfired because Jackson liked it and adopted the donkey as his party's "mascot". (ibid.)

And so it continues today, "fathering a black baby", "taking bribes", "not being heroic enough", and on and on. Somehow, although we wonder that our democracy will survive, it still does.

See also "Pledge of Allegiance or Sledge of Allegiance".

Spend or pay off debt, money still goes into the economy

One of the criticisms of the stimulus package that Congress passed and the President signed is that many people will save it or use it to pay off debt. However, the money still "goes" into the economy. Those who save it will be providing capital to financial institutions; they don't put it into a lock box but lend it to others. Those who pay off debt are similarly making more money available to lend.

What the rebate does mean is that the government will have less money to either spend or pay down its debt. That means at some time more taxes will be needed to pay for needed projects or to reduce the debt. In other words, the government is doing what many people did to get us into this mess - living on tomorrow's income.

Taxes and the common good; lack of linking the two is too common

"...just when you thought it was safe to spend your own money again..."
- Andy Aplikowski, residualforces.com, quoted by Tim O'Brien, The Blog House, Star Tribune, 2008-02-28

How do you spend your own money for roads, police and fire, defense, and education?

Today's ideological conservatives just don't understand the need for a balance between individual choices and the public good.

My wife added, "They inherited the public good without any notion of how it got there."

And I added, "How can we earn our money without the investment in the public good by people in the past?" Or, as the bumper sticker says, "If you can read this, thank a teacher."

See also

Time for Republicans of integrity to bolt the party

I've long been disenchanted with both "major parties" and been unhappy that the election process locks in the choice between "excessive government" and "excessive individualism (except for what they don't like)".

Six Republican Minnesota legislatures supported an override of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of a transportation bill. For this "breaking of party discipline" the minority leader has stripped them of their committee positions. Very strange considering that Republicans pride themselves on being for individual choice and responsibility.

I think this may be an excellent opportunity for these legislatures to bolt their party, especially considering that they represent districts that are voting more Democratic. However, the Democrats are not really the answer for these legislatures. Rather, I think they should either start a new moderate party or join an existing moderate party.

A new moderate party would have a relatively simple principle: the need for a balance between individual choice and the common good. Anything more could lock the party into positions that would be irrelevant or counterproductive in the future.

An existing moderate party is the Independence Party of Minnesota. You can find its principles at http://www.mnip.org/principles.shtml. This page has links to the party's platform and other information. Personally, I find the platform has too many details.

If you think that a vote for the Independence Party will be a "wasted vote", remember that third-party gubernatorial candidate Jesse Ventura, last in the polls, was elected governor in 1998. And if you keep voting for either the left or the right, you might be left right out of a bright future.

See also "Voting is not a horse race".

Campaign finance reform, a different idea

Stifle big money in politics! Don't infringe on political speech! Back, forth, up, down, and around go the arguments for and against any attempt to control the amount of money going into political campaigns. The one thing everybody appears to agree on is that it have become very expensive.

One of the ideas floated is that there should be free time on TV for political candidates. Free to who? The broadcasters would resist, rightly so, the mandating of giving away time, especially prime time. If the time was subsidized by the federal government, what rate should apply?

Why not reserve a couple of channels to be operated by the federal government? To qualify for use of the channel, candidates would need to get so many signatures, an existing requirement to be on the ballet in many states now.

The government would break the time into short, medium, and long spots randomly throughout the day. Then it would assign spots randomly each day to qualifying candidates. It would be up to the candidates to either appear live or provide a tape for their spots. The candidates could change their tapes as often as they wish. These spots would also be made available on the web.

The financing would be by the income tax checkoff as is now done to allocate public funds to candidates.

A photo not taken

A week or so ago we were on our way for a morning of skiing. As I got on the freeway, I noticed that Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge was reflected on the ice of Lake Superior. It was two miles to the next exit, two miles back, and then probably another five minutes to find a parking place and then a good vantage point. Another photo not taken.

Last week we were returning from our cabin, often driving into the sun. There was a long and high band across the western horizon and the sun made a golden glow through it. I looked at the icy shoulder, the snow-packed road, and all the curves somebody might skid on, and so I kept driving. Another photo not taken.

Borrowing from our grandchildren or ...

Many seem to have a misconception of borrowing, especially government borrowing, calling it borrowing from our grandchildren. The latest was "Road to ruin could be a high-speed rail track" (Star Tribune, Jan. 24). "Borrowing from our grandchildren" could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on circumstances.

There are two kinds of borrowing - short term and long term. Short term is to help smooth bumps in income or is for convenience. Long term is to pay for something that you need now but will not have sufficient cash for a long time. We all use both kinds: individuals, businesses, and governments. Each can be abused, but credit is something that makes modern society work more smoothly.

We put purchases on credit cards rather than walk around with a pile of cash. Many hotels and car rental agencies will only accept credit cards. Businesses take inventory loans to have sufficient stock. Why do you think there are sales? To raise the money to pay off the inventory loans. Governments borrow to smooth the cash flow for payrolls and other day-to-day costs because tax payments come in spurts.

We buy our cars and houses with loans. Some think we should save sufficient money rather than borrow, but where is our money going? To a bank who will lend it to somebody else. Meanwhile we're paying rent for housing. Businesses take out loans to buy new equipment or build new facilities. If they waited until they had sufficient cash, they may lose many business opportunities. Likewise, governments borrow to purchase equipment and build roads and bridges. If they waited until they had saved enough cash, people would complain about the cash hoard and the lack of roads and other infrastructure.

The abuse of borrowing comes when short-term borrowing becomes long-term borrowing. If we spend more on credit this month than we can pay next month, we are pushing our borrowing to long-term. Sometime this is unavoidable. We may be laid off unexpectedly. Businesses might not have the expected sales. Tax revenue could be less than predictions. But if spending more for short-term goals gets out of control, interest alone can make matters even worse. In the case of government, this truly becomes taxing our grandchildren for our own benefit.

But we aren't necessarily taxing our grandchildren for our own benefit to build and maintain infrastructure. The infrastructure may well last long past the lifetime of many current taxpayers and be available to their grandchildren. Are any of us today paying the taxes for all the county courthouses, fire and police stations, the sewers, schools, and many other government facilities? Shouldn't we pay for them? We are benefiting from them.

We are if they have been built recently and were built with borrowed money, money that may have been borrowed before we even started paying taxes. Similarly, by borrowing today for infrastructure that our children and grandchildren will benefit from, we are asking them to foot some of the bill. If we don't, neither we nor they will have a modern society.

Denying special treatment is not anti-business

Today's Duluth News Tribune had an editorial supporting a zoning change from residential to commercial ("Our view: Duluth can vote for progress with vote for change"). The editors said that if city council approved the change, "it would chip away ... at Duluth's ... anti-business reputation."

Maybe we should look at it as business's anti-Duluth attitude. An outside company comes in, buys up property knowing full well that the area is zoned residential, and then demands that the zoning be changed. This smacks of special treatment to me.

Granted that the particular parcel is not a quiet residential neighborhood. It is on a busy thoroughfare that is gradually becoming more and more commercial. It may well be in the city's best long-term interest to see this parcel become commercial. But that decision should be in the city council's hands as part of a long-term plan, not forced on it by an outside interest.

The long-term plan should also include traffic planning. How will this particular section of road handle the additional traffic of a hotel and restaurant? Who will pay for any improvements needed? The City Planning Commission and the City Council are supposed to answer these questions in two or three months?

Shortchanging education leads to big bucks health care

We too often look at parts of our society as unrelated to other parts. We link property taxes to education and do not properly support it to give our children a truly superb education. For example, we focus on reading and computation, but neglect art, music, and critical thinking, skills that promote and lead to much better thinking abilities.

As a result many of our children do not develop the skills that are in demand in our economy. For these, we spend an inordinate amount of time and money subsidizing corporations to create jobs.

But many jobs are going unfilled because there are not enough people to do them. This leads to higher demand for those who can do these skilled jobs which leads to higher wages for these employees.

A prime example of this is the shortage of doctors. Recently St. Mary's Duluth Clinic said it needed 139 doctors. You know that those doctors who are available have a long list of employment choices. To get them, SMDC is going to have to pay a lot.

Since health care organizations have to pay a lot for doctors they are going either pay others less or raise their fees, often both. As fees get higher and higher, health care premiums go higher and higher, often outstripping inflation. As premiums go higher, fewer people can afford health care.

When children don't get adequate health care they don't do as well in school. Therefore we need more money for schools to adequately educate these students. But we don't want to pay the taxes to do so because our health care premiums are so high.

Pledge of Allegiance or Sledge of Allegiance

Although I often dutifully recite the Pledge of Allegiance, I do so reluctantly and hypocritically. I do it more because of social conformity than any real attachment to the flag. To me, a pledge of allegiance, to a flag or a country, is un-American. We are a country founded on dissent; we should not have a legally or socially enforced act of conformity that serves no other purpose than to make some people feel good. Those who recite the pledge should remember that "liberty and justice for all" should include those who take the liberty of not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

As a measure of how emotional this can get, consider the campaign smearing Barack Obama for supposedly not putting his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. Actually, it was during the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner"; I know hardly anybody that puts his or her hand over heart during the singing of the national anthem.

To me, "The Star Spangled Banner" and the Pledge of Allegiance are more worshiping an icon than respecting the idea of a democratic republic. It became even more a public worship when "under God" was added in 1954. I find this ironic in that the Constitution states that there shall be no religious test for public office. However, if a candidate doesn't dutifully recite the whole Pledge of Allegiance, including "under God", he or she is considered unpatriotic and unsuited for public office.

What makes matters worse is that some office holders wear their flag pins, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, call unpatriotic those who do not, and then trash the Constitution. There is no requirement of a flag or a pledge of allegiance to the flag or government. There is simply the requirement that all government officials down to the state level "shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution" (Article VI). The President is required more stringently to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" (Article II).

For more on the Pledge of Allegiance and dissent, search on "pledge of allegiance" and "Jehovah's witness". Among the more interesting hits, you'll find "In Defense of Obama's Patriotism, A dissent on the pledge", Ron Rosenbaum, Slate, Nov. 12, 2007.

"Mac Owners Are Snobs"?

This is the title of a TheStreet.com video.

My experience is that Mac owners may be snobs but that may be because PC owners have been bullies since they still coped with line-at-a-time commands on their plow horses. PC owners told newbies at user group meetings that they should get PCs, and then they would spend a good part of the meetings complaining about their problems.

You never know when you might have influence

Today's Duluth News Tribune had an article on the city council having a retreat to get to know each other and discuss some of the issues the face.

It was interesting to note that the council president, Roger Reinert, was interested in two issues that I had published this week: "snow removal and bringing train service to Duluth."

My "Local View", "Streets are plowed, but walkers must tread on ice" was published in today's Duluth News Tribune.

My regular bi-weekly column in the Reader Weekly was titled "Can even Superman stop this speeding locomotive?"