Tiger is human! OMG, OMG!

Per Woods says he regrets ‘transgressions’ and not unlike a whole lot of us guys, Tiger’s priorities, urges, and brains are not centered in cerebral cortex as commonly assumed, but actually in a somewhat lower region.

He ain’t the first one.  I do applaud his wife for whatever she did to get him rushing out of his house and over a fire hydrant in the early AM hours.  You go girl!

I was rooting for Tiger to keep his privacy however.  A much bigger and more disconcerting phenomenon, to me, is the obsessive, raptured, fawning of the media and the masses over celebrity lives.  It’s as though such individuals have no sense of selves of their own.  I find this troubling.

It is no wonder our population seems dazed and ready to follow any pied piper that comes along and promises to show them the way.  Think for yourselves, people.

Seattle Police Officer Killings

I’m outraged. Unmitigated, un-tempered, multiple expletives deleted, outraged.  While we hand out get-out-of-jail-early cards due to “budget constraints” on our prison systems, we have insane people running amok across the country killing police officers, campus students, family members, and women en masse. 

Enough of this turn-the-other-cheek, where did we go wrong and slight you.  Where is eye-for-an-eye when we need it?  Oh, I know.  The recession made me do it, and that is Bush’s fault.  Enough of that too.

IMO justice must be swifter and surer.  Our fellow men and women police officers and the citizens they protect should not have to fear for their lives in the most mundane of circumstances.

Jail time should be a WHOLE lot less comfortable.  (We might even save money.)  If you don’t want to be caged like an animal then don’t act like one.

Philosophically I think the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.  We’re already putting hundreds to death for crimes against humanity.  Perhaps if we continue to incarcerate and dispatch those inhumans amongst us in sufficient quantities we will all become so thoroughly disgusted that the penalty will someday become a deterrent.  I surely don’t know, but the bloodbath of innocent people in the streets and homes has got to stop.

I’m outraged.  Internalized, but outraged.

UPDATE 12/02/2009:

I nearly deleted this blog as I find the subject matter highly distasteful, to put it mildly. Justice has been served, in this case, but we must find a way to be proactive, before the loss of innocent lives, rather than reactive, after the fact. It is a delicate dance on the sword blade of democracy, falling into chaos and anarchy off one side or lock step fascist socialism off the other. Even distasteful subjects have to be dealt with however.

Disparate Housewives: Sarah Palin Strikes Again

(Disparate Housewives/Desperate Housewives?  The TV show?  Never mind.)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disparate :

Main Entry: dis·pa·rate

1 : containing or made up of fundamentally different and often incongruous elements
2 : markedly distinct in quality or character

synonyms see different

________________________

Disparate and incongruous as in Palin/McCain, Palin/President or Vice President, Palin/Politician.

I’ve opined on Sarah Palin before:

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Sarah Palin as Conservative Writer?

Saturday, July 04, 2009

No... more... Palin... puh-LEEZE

 

I haven’t read her new book (Going Rogue), I haven’t seen her on Oprah, I’m not going to watch her Barbara Walters interview.  I still do not see her as presidential or vice-presidential qualified.  I do marvel that she is an instant-packet of modern day political folk hero, someone to be ga-ga about for those Republicans desperately seeking a… marvel.  I sympathize with her for the unevenly rude treatment by the campaign press and the comedic vitriol of the likes of I’m-not-so-holy-now David Letterman.

In my opinion, conservatives AND Republicans would better serve themselves and their fellow men and women by staying focused on the real issues of the day: health care reform, cap and trade crippling of our energy resources, amnesty for illegal immigrants, civilian showcase trials for terrorists, and bowing to the wishes of every country in the world but our own (not to mention bowing to the Emperor of Japan, or the King of Saudi Arabia, but I digress). 

Big Brother has never been bigger, or less of a brother.  Conservatives have better things to do than fawning over Sarah Palin, but she IS a great distraction to Democrats.

Berlin Wall Anniversary

November 9th was the 20th anniversary of the toppling of the Berlin Wall.

The commemoration was attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medyedev, French President Nichlas Sarkozy, England Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former head of the Polish Solidarity movement Lech Walesa, and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, to name a few.

The U.S. was represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

President Barack Obama will travel to Europe December 10, 2009 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Health Care Vote, the Majority Rules!

The House of Representatives passed their version of the health care reform bill last night. Thank goodness that a majority of the thugs and looters controlling our government have prevailed in a free and democratic society.

The vote was 220 to 215, with 218 required for a majority. The 220 means50.57471% were for and 215 means 49.42529% were against. You have to draw the line somewhere!

With such a clear and obvious mandate reflecting the will of the people we can now shift focus to the Senate where we can only "hope for change" that the current travesty disguised as reform will be defeated.

I find it noteworthy that 39 House Democrats voted against the bill and ONE Republican voted for it. That was Joseph Cao, R-LA.

In August Cao voted against health care reform and expressed the thought that it would be the end of his career to do so. In an article, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/25770.html, he stated:

"I know that voting against the health care bill will probably be the death of my political career,"... "but I have to live with myself, and I always reflect on the phrase of the New Testament, "How does it profit a man's life to gain the world but lose his soul?" "

It's good he is a man of his word and devoted to his religion. (Not.)

NO to Public Health Care Option

I am opposed to a government-run Public Health Care Option as part of the current Health Care Reform bills circulating in Congress.

Health care is not a right.  You and I have no more right to force a doctor or hospital to treat us than we have a right to force a mechanic to fix our car or force a carpenter to fix our house.

The issue is nothing more, or LESS, basic than that.  We do not have a right to strip another individual of his pursuit of life, liberty, happiness, and freedom to choose, in order to serve us.  To do so is nothing more than forceful subjugation and slavery of another person.

As a recent hospital patient and successful survivor of cancer surgery, I can see plenty of room for health care reform, IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR.  I am currently engaged in a letter campaign with my health insurance company as they are denying my 2nd day of hospital care (within 24 hours after my noon surgery completion the previous day), saying I was medically stable enough to go home.  Au contraire’, according to my surgeon, and my personal experience on the scene.  I’ll be seeing this one all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.  And this after paying decades of health insurance.  It’s no wonder the insurance companies are vilified.

HOWEVER, I don’t need dear old Uncle Sam interfering on my behalf.

Further, I am opposed to ANY National Health Care Reform as currently proposed.  Following are just a few reasons:

1.  85% of the population is insured.  National reform will MANDATE that the 85% readjust as necessary to accommodate the other 15%.
2.  Only half or so of the 15% uninsured will become insured under national reform anyway.
3.  The plan will take 3 or 4 years to get started due to the massive bureaucracy involved.
4.  The costs, despite “government assurances”, will likely add to an already crippling national debt.
5.  The government says money will be saved by removing “waste and inefficiencies” in existing government programs.  Who believes this?  If it can or could have been done, it should have been done already.
6.  Proposed national health reform doesn’t address many major issues, such as tort reform.  (Exorbitant non-economic lawsuit compensation is forcing equally exorbitant malpractice insurance on good doctors, thus driving up the costs to consumers, you and me.)  Why no tort reform?  Ohhhh, lawyers have a lot of influence in Congress.  So much for reason, logic, and fairness.

I strongly encourage you to write your Senators and Congressmen and express your own opinions.  Following are links to contact either:

Senators

Congressmen

FYI many of these contact websites won’t let you submit a message unless you can post an address within their district, as they only want to hear from direct constituents.  Phooey on that I say.  Bing, Google, or Mapquest is your friend for finding an address.  Yes, districts elect our representatives, but those reps are voting on NATIONAL issues that effectus all, and we all should have the right to express our opinion to any representative.

Heaven help us should we continue down the road to socialism and the suppression of individual thinking and self-responsibilty.  (To who else but Heaven can we appeal for the ethereal Hope and Change?  Umm, nevermind.)  If we don’t stop this now, I’ll be seeing you in the welfare line, just ahead of me. 

H.R. Herald newspaper Lookin' Good!

Speaking of our free local bi-weekly community newspaper, the Highlands Ranch Herald, kudos on the new look. The seperate sections and generous use of color make it much more readable.

AND, it has much more NEWS. What a novel idea! It was my opinion that previously there were too few news stories and too few facts within a story. This week's issue is quite the opposite of both. THANK YOU H.R.H.!

(Now, if you could just get the Denver Post to use your higher quality bags, my Post might stay drier in the mornings. And if your delivery guys could actually hit the driveways at least 50% of the time there might be less Heralds remaining in the streets for days and days. But I digress, and I'm a chronic complainer.)

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE NEWSPAPER UPGRADES.

HR Vet Monument reaches goal

Congratulations to the Metro District and its hard working employees.

As reported in this week's Highlands Ranch Herald, the Highlands Ranch Veterans Monument reached its funding goal. Contributions from remaining tile spaces will go towards maintenance.

As you may or may not know, this is a Monument to any veteran who served (not limited to H.R. residents) and is not limited to those who died in service. There is a special memorial stone to SSGT Christopher Falkel and SGT John Stiles. Presumably other H.R. residents who died in service can be added.

My lady, for example, purchased a tile for her still-living father who served in WWII and egocentric I purchased a tile for my Vietnam service. (It may be the only place my name is set in stone, as I someday intend to be ashes blowin' in the wind, but I digress.)

There is a website devoted to the monument at www.hrvets.org/and the Metro District main website is www.highlandsranch.org/. I attended the July 1 dedication ceremony and posted pictures here: JohnRH/WindowsLive.

The monument is adjacent to the H.R. Library and Town Center Park. Have a look if you haven't already.

My personal thanks to Marsha Sliter at Metro District for her tireless work and supreme efficiency in handling tile purchases and distributions for me. Good job Metro!!

Sarah Palin as Conservative Writer?

I had been thinking about commenting on Palin’s Sept. 9 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care) shortly after it was published on the day of Obama’s evening health care address to a joint session of Congress.  Now that Palin is publishing a book perhaps a few words are still appropriate.

Who was it that said Palin should stay out of politics?  Oh, that was me.  (No… more… Palin, puh-LEEZE)  I still do not care for her as a representative in our national government.  Based on what I think was a good health care op-ed, however, she may have a future as a Conservative writer.

Her piece was so well written and referenced, IMO, that I wonder if she has a ghost writer, as she has had assistance in writing her new book.  If so, she should grab onto that ghost and keep it close.  Her book assistance (ghost, collaborative, whatever) is coming from Lynn Vincent:
http://www.worldmag.com/webextra/15432,
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/05/22/congratulations-sarah-palin/print,
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/29/sd-ghostwriter-mum-sarah-palin-memoir/?uniontrib,
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/29/lynn-vincent-the-other-voice-behind-the-sarah-palin-book/

What did I like about the health care op-ed?

1.  It referenced facts, for which there is far too little in political rhetoric these days.
  a.  She cites Congressional Budget Office estimates current at the time of the op-ed: “The CBO estimates that the current House proposal not only won't reduce the deficit but will actually increase it by $239 billion over 10 years.”
  b.  Also “A new study for Watson Wyatt Worldwide by Steven Nyce and Syl Schieber concludes that if the government expands health-care coverage while health-care inflation continues to rise "the higher costs would drive disposable wages downward across most of the earnings spectrum, although the declines would be steepest for lower-earning workers."”
  c.  And “let's talk about real health-care reform: market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven. As the Cato Institute's Michael Cannon and others have argued, such policies include giving all individuals the same tax benefits received by those who get coverage through their employers; providing Medicare recipients with vouchers that allow them to purchase their own coverage; reforming tort laws to potentially save billions each year in wasteful spending; and changing costly state regulations to allow people to buy insurance across state lines. Rather than another top-down government plan, let's give Americans control over their own health care.”

2.  It spoke to reason and logic (in my humble opinion):
  a.  She writes “Let's talk about specifics. In his Times op-ed, the president argues that the Democrats' proposals "will finally bring skyrocketing health-care costs under control" by "cutting . . . waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies . . . ."

First, ask yourself whether the government that brought us such "waste and inefficiency" and "unwarranted subsidies" in the first place can be believed when it says that this time it will get things right.”

  b.  “Now look at one way Mr. Obama wants to eliminate inefficiency and waste: He's asked Congress to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council—an unelected, largely unaccountable group of experts charged with containing Medicare costs. In an interview with the New York Times in April, the president suggested that such a group, working outside of "normal political channels," should guide decisions regarding that "huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives . . . ."

Given such statements, is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by—dare I say it—death panels?

Love it, love it, love it.  She slips in that phrase again, like a twisting rhetorical dagger to the ribs, that just drives liberals crazy.  Talk about pushing someone’s buttons.

To sum up, I say the piece is well-written, factual, and logical.  There is always room for such conservative voices in our increasingly emotional and illogical liberal political landscape.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33237202/ns/politics-white_house/

The jokes of life and fate just never stop. Nominated just 2 weeks after taking office. What a travesty. I guess the Nobel committee Hoped there would be Change.

Of course now the great peacemaker has every reason to protect his Peace reputation and not authorize more troops for Afghanistan. That is yet another travesty as our fellow Americans are getting slaughtered over there.

Obama has been considering working with or negotiating with the Taliban. Now he has the perfect excuse to do so. "They are not a threat to America" they have said. These are the people that blowup centuries old Buddhist mountainside statues, force women to wear head-to-toe coverings (burkas), force men to wear beards, and shoot women in the head in the Kabul soccer stadium for violations, to name just a few of their indiscretions. Let me guess what Obama will say next. "We shouldn't interfere in their affairs." These aren't affairs, they are violations against basic humanity.

The daily global disconnect between thought and reality keeps marching on.

A few more points:

1. Obama getting the Nobel Prize does NOT make America look better globally. It is an embarassment to receive something that is not earned and the global community will not respect the U.S. more as a result.

2. Awarding a prize that has not been earned greatly diminishes the stature and respect of the Nobel Committee itself. The award becomes more of a political statement on the part of the Committee and less of a coveted prize for superior merit. Alfred Nobel must be rolling in his grave, crying out from the void, "Somebody get me some TNT!".

3. The award may dangerously influence U.S. foreign policy in a manner not in the best U.S. interest. Obama has already been an overt apologist for every perceptible injustice (from his point of view) that the U.S. has committed at home and abroad. Attempts to acquiesce to Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, to name a few, and distance ourselves from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel, can create an ultimately dangerous unbalance of power in the world.

I (DO NOT) have prostate cancer (ANYMORE)

Ref my previous posts, I have prostate cancer, post #1 and I have prostate cancer, post # 2, I no longer have prostate cancer.

I had a DaVinci Robotic Radical Prostatectomy (removal of the cancerous prostate gland) last Tuesday 29 Sep. The pathology report (which I haven't seen the details of yet) came back after surgery saying the cancer appears to be fully contained within the removed prostate. Although there are no ultimate guarantees, and I will have a lifetime of monitoring, it is hugely better than "you have 3 to 6 months".

I am recovering now from a very complex and invasive snip and tuck surgery. They were able to spare both nerve bundles that effect male functionality and I fully expect to get through any incontinence issues too.

I already have my ski pass for this coming winter, so LOOK OUT you mountain people! As life doesn't get any longer, no matter what, I am also still browsing for a mountain property. Simple ol' me. I still like looking at trees and rocks. We shall see.

Thanks for all the support and good wishes, past and future. I feel like this home run was for all those dear family and friends of mine and everyone's who we have lost to the many deadly cancers out there. We can win and beat this thing. I'm incredibly fortunate to be one who has done so.

My good fortune was due in large part to early detection, an extremely high level of medical and technical expertise on the part of my surgeon and his staff, advanced technology medical equipment, and high quality hospital care before, during, and after the surgery.

Don't even get me started on "national health care". Well, ok, for one thing I confirmed the cancer and was rid of it in just over 60 days. Try doing that in Canada, the U.K., or anywhere else.

But I digress. It's just great to be alive.

I Have Prostate Cancer, Post # 1

I only know that 6 of 12 biopsies showed positive for prostate cancer and thus that I should see the Urologist to discuss treatment, so I’m otherwise naïve and glib about it presently.

I’m 63 ½ years old. I’ve lost 35 pounds since the first of January, due to diet and exercise (mostly due to diet actually, as I’ve always gotten a reasonable amount of exercise). My lady has lost over 30 pounds during the same time. I’m healthier now (other than that little cancer thing) than I’ve been in over 30 years.

In June 2009 during a routine cholesterol screen at my G.P.’s we found my PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) had risen from 3.4 (11/08) to 4.1, just over the 4.0 “let’s take another look” level, and I was referred to a urologist. (In retrospect, of course, “maybe” we should have taken a closer look when the PSA went from 2.4 in 11/06 to 3.5 in 11/07, but such was not advised. I now know velocity, or rate of rise, is a consideration. My PSA was between 1.1 and 1.9 for ten years prior to 11/06.) (I’m inclosing PSA info of my levels for the last 13 years.)

I saw a urologist and we did an ultrasound and biopsy on 24 July. My prostrate was larger than the ‘normal’ walnut size but smaller than a golf ball. There were no visible lumps or nodes (either is a sure sign of cancer). I was advised of the results (6 of 12 samples positive for cancer) on 6 Aug. and that a discussion of treatment rather than “watchful waiting” was advised. My lady and I are seeing the urologist on 20 Aug.

A book on prostate cancer was recommended by the urologist’s office so I could be more familiar with the situation and terminology. I bought the suggested Dr. Patrick Walsh's Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer . It is 500 pages long! It is very well written and in terms the layman can understand. I can now recommend it myself. I have read or skimmed the entire book. I skimmed chapters such as Preventing Prostate Cancer (too late) and Help for Advanced Prostate Cancer (too soon). I read in detail chapters such as Diagnosis And Staging (how bad is it!?) and Radical Prostatectomy (the ‘gold standard’ in treatments, REMOVAL!). I skimmed chapters on a variety of other lesser treatments. Any of these can be revisited as needed.

Like most cancers, one must strive to DETECT IT EARLY and GET IT OUT. I do not know my Gleason Score, TNM Staging, Partin and Han Tables rating, etc. Hopefully I’ll get some of these answers at my next consultation.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the 3rd leading cause of cancer death in men. There have been HUGE advances in its treatment over the years. The possibility of avoiding impotency and incontinence as a result of treatment has been hugely increased. Until I have facts that say otherwise, I am optimistic for now. Stay tuned for Post #2, probably after my consultation.

No… more… Palin… puh-LEEZE

2 1/2 years into her first 4 year term as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin is resigning.  That is her choice, whatever the real underlying reasons.  (Devotion to family?  Too many ethics complaints?)  I hope she does Conservatives AND Republicans a favor by STAYING OUT of national politics. 

She was a risky choice by McCain for vice-presidential nominee last year, one which sparked his campaign somewhat.  I think she eventually proved to be woefully out of her league and in over her head.  She continues to prove that as in her resignation remarks, the most substance of which she could muster was “only dead fish go with the flow”, an analogy about basketball point guards, and a military misattribute about advancing in another direction.

Let this one go, Republicans.  It is definitely time to advance in another direction.

What’s up with Weight?

My weight. Hopefully it’s not UP but still DOWN. This is an update to my previous blog\diary of my weight loss this year (same blog, different sites):

ONCE THERE WAS A WEIGHT
ONCE THERE WAS A WEIGHT
ONCE THERE WAS A WEIGHT

How am I doing, and what works?

Short answer:

After 6 months of dieting I’m maintaining a weight loss of 32-33 pounds. What has worked is eating a LOT MORE fruits and vegetables, salads, and the like, and eating a LOT LESS fat. I’m also maintaining a regular exercise program, which I did before dieting but was proof positive that exercise alone didn’t work.

Long answer:

May 13 I reported: “My greatest loss… …has been 32 pounds, which I’ve hit twice this month. I’ve hit a 31 pound loss 4 times this month and been at a 30 pound loss the other days.”

In the last 30 days my greatest loss (since dieting started 1 January) has been 35 pounds, which I’ve hit 5 times. I’ve hit a 34 pound loss at least 6 times, 33 pounds at least 6 times, and 31 or 32 the other days. I haven’t dropped below a 30 pound loss since May 1.

Thirty is good! I’d like to stay “around” a 30 pound loss indefinitely. That so-called “cushion”. I feel if I drop below a 25 pound loss I’m in danger of serious weight gain. After all, just how do those pounds creep back anyway? One at a time, I suspect. Over and over and over.

A 30 to 35 pound loss is even better. I haven’t tried to get to the 35 pound loss, and I don’t really want to lose more than that, but perhaps the healthy eating and exercise is taking its (good) toll. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on clothes alterations, mostly pants. I almost could have bought new for the price, but I’m nervous about gaining. Is this new me too good to be true? Can it last? That will be the real test of weight loss, keeping it off.

I’m trying to get into a “groove” on eating. Eat healthy, eat regular, eat enough to satisfy and maintain the weight level, don’t binge or eat so much that weight-creep starts again. This could take awhile.

Does it seem like I think about it a lot? That’s what it has taken. Fo-cus. (Something I don’t feel is necessarily my strrrrong suit.)

What are my current cravings and binges? Splenda. Lots and lots of Splenda. In coffee. On bread and margarine. On bowls and bowls of fruit (bluebs, strawbs, clementines and yellow peaches when available), and yogurt, often with high fiber cereal mixed in. Best guilty pleasure which I don’t O.D. on: high fiber 8” wheat tortilla thinly spread with peanut butter and Splenda Brown Sugar, rolled and nuked for 17 seconds.

Binged on bread\margarine\Splenda last night (25 June). TLW has introduced me to sugar free gum, which helps to stave appetite if I remember to pop one in in a timely manner. Still, I’ve been eating a lot of cereal in the evenings all this week. Must… eat… “rationally”. (No one said it would be easy.)

Weight loss milestones from the dietetically obsessed (I’d be lost without digital bathroom scales reading in tenths):

01/01/2009 – Weighed 174.6
01/22/2009 – Weighed 164.6 Lost 10 lbs
02/01/2009 – Weighed 159.6 Lost 15 lbs
02/13/2009 – Weighed 154.4 Lost 20 lbs
03/07/2009 – Weighed 149.4 Lost 25 lbs
04/21/2009 – Weighed 144.6 Lost 30 lbs (That 5 lbs took awhile.)
06/02/2009 – Weighed 139.8 Lost 35 lbs (Highest loss to date, hit 6 times in June so far. Wasn’t trying for that and not planning on greater losses, but a “cushion” is nice.)

04/30/2009 – Last time at 29 lb loss
05/11/2009 – Last time at 30lb loss

“Hovering” in the 32-34 lb loss range this month (June).

What has worked? Less food, more exercise. REALLY! Healthier food. (Fruit, vegetables, fiber.) LOTS of salads, usually with meat or fish atop, but lots of Romaine, mushrooms, carrots, onions, tomatoes, dressings (usually lite dressings) often mixed with light olive oil. Egg beater omelets, with fresh cooked spinach, artificial crab meat, shrooms, 2% cheese, onions. Bowls of aforementioned fruit, yogurt, cereal. Snacking on those high fiber tortillas, dry whole almonds roasted on a cookie sheet for 18 minutes for a little extra flavor, chewing gum. Exercise. Home exer-cycle mornings. To the gym for abs and weights. Evening exer-cycle if eating too much during the day. I can do a lot of computing, reading, TV, or crosswords on that exer-cycle. (I just rigged a holder for my laptops, both the light one AND the heavy one (but not both at the same time). Lookout, I may bicycle all day!)

What doesn't work? Craved (crazed?) or binge eating. I do (did) love to eat and it's tough, even though I'm immensely liking the healthy food much more, to not let those cravings take over. I don't binge often, or too much when I do, but that partial loss of control when I want "more" doesn't work.

Will eating healthy ever become second nature? One can only hope. In the meantime… fo-cus… fo-cus.

See photo for my weight loss comparison over recent years. The plunging red line is THIS year.

Am I DONE yet?

Blogging, that is. Don't YOU wish! I am getting caught up.

I have a brief blog drafted on military service. I'd also like to explore, for my own edification, the topic of majority rule (that's freedom isn't it, except we don't want to crush the individual (freedom for little old me) in the process, do we?) and sacrifice (I'm very much into "rational" self-interest these days, and as noted elsewhere, helping others (such as your boss in your job) is really just helping yourself and your own self-interest). Is freedom about individual CHOICE or does the "greater good" take priority over choice? Woof. Hope I can keep both those under thesis length.

 
Then there is the daily news. It's wearisome, often, but we are so UNrepresented on either "side" these days I think it behooves us (behoofs?) to be informed. I am hearing of and reading ever more informed and intelligent commentary from the likes of http://www.ft.com/comment (the Brits are not idiots, despite being British), http://www.ibdeditorials.com/, and http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-opinion-commentary.html, to name but a few.

Oh well, I've never had so much fun talking, talking, and talking. Blog on.

You don’t have to thank me for my service

You can if you want to, of course. You can and perhaps should thank any other veteran for their service. Those that served in the military, whether in times of peace or war, were in the forefront of keeping this country’s residents free to pursue their life, liberty, and happiness. Many made the ultimate sacrifice and paid the ultimate price for their service and for your freedoms. I was named for my mother’s brother John who died serving in Europe in 1945 before I was born. At the recent dedication of the Highlands Ranch Veterans Monument I saw the parents of two fallen soldiers receive posthumous recognition. It was tragedy brought close, and difficult to watch, yet just a small example of the tens and hundreds of thousands who have passed before to protect the greatest bastion of free individualism for over two centuries.

I served in the Army and Vietnam because I wanted to. Admittedly I was hedging my bets a bit, as I knew I was most likely going to ‘Nam one way (college ROTC officer volunteer) or the other (enlisted draft). (There was no draft lottery when I entered college and ROTC, otherwise I might have been happy to gamble on the luck of the draw.) I've just never felt I deserved a special thank you. Actually it has been my observation that what is extraordinary about service men and women is that they are “ordinary”. They are regular, everyday, people just like those that don’t serve. Yes, they DO extraordinary things when called upon, and sometimes pay that ultimate price, but they are just regular folks doing that.

I don’t have a problem with those that avoided ‘Nam. Some "served” locally, within the States. Service none the less. Some lucked out with a good number in the draft lottery and didn’t have to go. I knew many in college that furthered their education, year after year after year. 5, 6, 7 yrs. B.A., M.B.A., PhD. At least they were educated! I never thought of running away. In my family if you were called upon, you served. Dad and all 3 of my uncles were in WWII, one of them, as mentioned, paying the ultimate price. A fraternity brother felt strongly about serving in Vietnam, joined the Marines, went through Officers Candidate School, and was killed in action over there. I've looked him up on "The Wall" in Washington D.C. I DO hope that those who moved to Canada to avoid the service had the strength of their convictions to stay there. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen (and stay out).

I feel I’ve committed the ultimate vanity by buying myself a dedication tile at the Highlands Ranch Veterans Monument.

(My award was for service, not valor. I'm not a war hero.) Perhaps it's that longing that I will be named somewhere, for some time after my eventual demise, as I intend to be cremated and scattered to whatever strong wind is available. (Mountains preferably, windy coast if you must, but puh-leeze not windy Nebraska lest I surely wind up on the East Coast seemingly within 5 minutes.) But I digress.

Like most folks, I've made my share of mistakes in this life. (I must do an inquiry someday on how we humans can make sooo many mistakes and still, so often, turn out ok.) Hopefully my service was "something" worthwhile. Thank goodness many have served to give us the freedom to make and correct those mistakes.

I've posted numerous pictures of the Highlands Ranch Veterans Monument dedication which took place July 1st: http://cid-ce977edb8ece66b3.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/H.R.%20Veterans%20Monument%20dedication,%20July%201,%202009 . Let me know if you have any problems accessing the site or photos.

Innovations

As I am perpetually in child-like awe when seeing gigantic ships float and huge planes fly (despite my fundamental awareness of the science of displacement, lift, drag, etc.) I keep an eye out for new and amazing innovations. In this day and age we are spoiled for choice and bombarded with new technology that would have seemed "out of this world" just 50 or 75 years ago.

I stumbled across a couple of tiny innovative contributions recently which grabbed my attention. The first was while shopping for a cheap replacement watch band. As Photo 1 shows, if you've ever tried to change your Timex watch band (Rolex may be different, I wouldn't know) the band is held on by a spring-loaded pin. You have to find a tiny screwdriver or other object to compress the pin, release it from the hole, and slip your band out without the pin springing loose andshooting halfway across the room somewhere, resulting in a micro-search second only as difficult as looking for a dropped contact lens. Replacing the pin and band is nearly as difficult as you have to compress the pin, slip it in the side of the watch, and find the hole to release it into.

Lo and behold, imagine my child-like wonder when I looked at some watch bands such as the one I bought in Photo 2. Some clever person (a man or a woman no doubt) somewhere on Planet Earth (perhaps confined to a dismal dungeon and assigned to changing 500 spring-loaded watch bands per day) invented a built-in spring-loaded band with a small protrusion for compressing the spring. WHAT A NOVEL IDEA! Pull the latch with your fingernail, remove the band. (Photo 3.) Pull the latch, reinsert the band. (Pity the person who bites their nails. Discrimination is just everywhere, but it's still easier even with the tiny screwdriver.)

Have pity on me too, dear reader, but this kind of thing just amazes me. And all for a watch band which still costs less than 9 dollars USD in 2009. OK, so it doesn't do windows or provide whirled peas (world peace), but it's pretty neat.

The other item I noticed is a little more high-tech and more logically innovative, I just hadn't seen it before. I was at my allergist's office the other day and went to throw my breath-test tube in the waste basket as I usually do. There was a new waste basket with a lid (more sanitary I presume) but there was no handle or foot pedal with which to lift the lid. (Photo 4.) I couldn't figure how to open it so I asked the nurse. She told me to wave my hand over the little red area on top of the lid.

Lo and behold, imagine my child-like wonder when I broke the infra-red beam and the lid opened electrically. (Photo 5.) It stayed open long enough for me to discard my trash, then closed again to lie in wait for the next unsuspecting victim. "Feed Me! Feed Me!" you could almost hear it saying, like some reprobate from the Little Shop Of Waste Basket Horrors.

Oh well, I am easily amused and thus easily entertained. What WILL they think of next!

Paul Krugman is NUTZ! on climate change

Economics Nobel prize-winner Krugman now opinionates on EVERYTHING under the sun from the pages of the NY Times.  In his 28 June Op-Ed Betraying the Planet he says of the no-votes on the recent House climate change bill: “And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.”

As a climate change “skeptic” myself I say Krugman could be accused of inciting to riot or shouting FIRE in a crowded theater.  He cites a recent study: “Thus researchers at M.I.T., who were previously predicting a temperature rise of a little more than 4 degrees by the end of this century, are now predicting a rise of more than 9 degrees.”  I Bing’d\Googled and found the study announcement here:  Climate change odds much worse than thought.

As the announcement notes:

”Prinn stresses that the computer models are built to match the known conditions, processes and past history of the relevant human and natural systems, and the researchers are therefore dependent on the accuracy of this current knowledge. Beyond this, "we do the research, and let the results fall where they may," he says. Since there are so many uncertainties, especially with regard to what human beings will choose to do and how large the climate response will be, "we don't pretend we can do it accurately. Instead, we do these 400 runs and look at the spread of the odds."

"…the spread of the odds” based on computer models.  I feel SOOOO much better.  Computer modeling in previous climate change predictions have been proven to be inaccurate.  Are we to believe they are better now?  As a former computer programmer my peers and I always said computers do exactly what you tell them to.  The problem is they are programmed by humans, who are known to make mistakes.

Climatologist Roy W. Spencer refutes the MIT study here: The MIT Global Warming Gamble.  He notes:

“Of course, as readers of this web site will know, the MIT results are totally dependent upon the climate sensitivity that was assumed in the climate model runs that formed the basis for their calculations. And climate modelers can get just about any level of warming they want by simply making a small change in the processes controlling climate sensitivity – especially cloud feedbacks — in those models.

So, since the sensitivity of the climate system is uncertain, these researchers followed the IPCC’s lead of using ‘statistical probability’ as a way of treating that uncertainty.

But as I have mentioned before, the use of statistical probabilities in this context is inappropriate. There is a certain climate sensitivity that exists in the real climate system, and it is true that we do not know exactly what that sensitivity is. But this does not mean that our uncertainty over its sensitivity can be translated into some sort of statistical probability.

The use of statistical probabilities by the IPCC and the MIT group does two misleading things: (1) it implies scientific precision where none exists, and (2) it implies the climate system’s response to any change is a “roll of the dice”.”

Hysteria-monger Krugman, he of the Al Gore\Nancy Pelosi school of “global warming is a settled science, don’t question it”, would better serve his fellow men and women by going back to reading Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek (neither of whom with which he probably agrees) and learning more about his own economic field of endeavor.

We cannot bankrupt this country or reset our standards back to the Stone Age based on inconclusive science we do not KNOW enough about, nor should we attempt “geo-engineering” in any form when even scientists on the climate change alarmist side say we CAN’T DO anything about it.  No, we don’t have to “try” “something”.

Take a breath, remain calm, breathe… breathe… breathe…  Ommmm…  (Drift into peaceful meditative state.  Mentally direct soothing energy toward Paul Krugman.  Mentally direct the management of the NY Times to fire him.  Ommmmm.)

A Will for Health Care

Writer George F. Will, that is.  He wrote yet another, reasoned and rational piece in the Washington Post recently titled A Health 'Reform' To Regret.  The very same piece appeared in the Sunday, June 28, Denver Post with the title Don't make bad health care worse.

From my reading I don’t get that Will is saying health care is bad, but who is surprised the Denver Post would give it that slant.

Some of Will’s insights:

“Most Americans do want different health care: They want 2009 medicine at 1960 prices. Americans spent much less on health care in 1960 (5 percent of GDP as opposed to 18 percent now). They also spent much less — nothing, in fact — on computers, cellphones and cable and satellite television.

Your next car can cost less if you forgo GPS, satellite radio, antilock brakes, power steering, power windows and air conditioning. You can shop for such a car at your local Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, Packard and DeSoto dealers.”  [Touche’, George, and eggs-ZACTly.]

“The Hudson Institute's Betsy McCaughey, writing in The American Spectator, says that in 1960 the average American household spent 53 percent of its disposable income on food, housing, energy and health care. Today the portion of income consumed by those four has barely changed — 55 percent.

But the health care component has increased while the other three combined have decreased. This is partly because as societies become richer, they spend more on health care — and symphonies, universities, museums, etc.

It is also because health care is increasingly competent. When the first baby boomers, whose aging is driving health care spending, were born in 1946, many American hospitals' principal expense was clean linen. This was long before MRIs, CAT scans and the rest of the diagnostic and therapeutic arsenal that modern medicine deploys.”  [Hmm.  More diagnostic care, more preventive care.  The idea, as I’ve always understood it, is that it is cheaper to prevent diseases than it is to cure them.]

“Regarding reform, conservatives are accused of being a party of "no." Fine. That is an indispensable word in politics because most new ideas are false and mischievous. Furthermore, the First Amendment's lovely first five words ("Congress shall make no law") set the negative tone of the Bill of Rights, which is a list of government behaviors, from establishing religion to conducting unreasonable searches, to which the Constitution says: No.”  [I like that one.  What part of NO does the government not understand?]

“The public, its attention riveted by the fiscal train wreck of trillion-dollar deficits for the foreseeable future, may be coming to the conclusion that we should leave bad enough alone.”  [Is Will referring to bad deficits or bad health care?  You decide.]

Read the entire brief piece at the links above.

Debunking Canadian health care myths

Speaking of Health Care, this guest commentary in the Denver Post recently, Debunking Canadian health care myths, just smacked me in the face when I read it.  Despite the arguable debunking of myths throughout, the first and last paragraphs speak volumes:

First: "As a Canadian living in the United States for the past 17 years, I am frequently asked by Americans and Canadians alike to declare one health care system as the better one." 

(If Canada is so great, why do you, a clinical psychologist, live here?  Love?  Money?  Better health care?)

Last: "It is not a perfect system, but it has its merits. For people like my 55-year-old Aunt Betty, who has been waiting for 14 months for knee-replacement surgery due to a long history of arthritis, it is the superior system. Her $35,000-plus surgery is finally scheduled for next month. She has been in pain, and her quality of life has been compromised. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Aunt Betty — who lives on a fixed income and could never afford private health insurance, much less the cost of the surgery and requisite follow-up care — will soon sport a new, high-tech knee. Waiting 14 months for the procedure is easy when the alternative is living in pain for the rest of your life."

("...it has its merits.  ...She has been in pain, and her quality of life has been compromised.  ...Waiting FOURTEEN MONTHS is easy when the alternative is living in pain for the rest of your life."  Where do I sign up!)

(If the link doesn't work well, try refreshing it a couple of times or search thedenverpost.com.  Author was Rhonda Hackett.)

Clarence Thomas & Sonia Sotomayor

I was casting about for some reading recently and stumbled across the Clarence Thomas auto-bio My Grandfather’s Son – A Memoir.  I thought it might be interesting to read about a current Supreme Court Justice who might also have empathy based on ethnicity and race.  It turned out to be a speedy and thought provoking read.

Several points were very notable:
1.  Thomas grew up in VERY humble surroundings, dirt-poor in rural Georgia near Savannah, under the stern and disciplined upbringing of his grandfather.  The chapters on his childhood are truly inspirational.  (Thomas is 2 years younger than I am.)
2.  By his own admission he became an “angry young black man” during his college days, participating with student groups in marches and demonstrations, suitably attired in grubby fatigues and combat boots.
3.  He drank a LOT from his college days through the next 15-20 years or so.  He finally gave it up entirely.
4.  After going his own way during and after his college years he never fully reconciled with his grandfather, which has bothered him greatly.
5.  He is a very serious person, somewhat morose and saturnine IMO.
6.  Due to his hard working childhood he has always believed in achieving for one’s self and has opposed affirmative action and racial preferences on the grounds that it stifles racial growth and achievement, thus his life-long leaning towards conservatism.  (But he was chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 8 years.)  He came to conservative values via hard work, logic, and reason, not politics.  (He has read several Ayn Rand works, not that there is anything wrong with that!)
7.  He is an originalist when it comes to interpreting the Constitution.  (i.e. What does it mean in the terms that the Founding Fathers intended it as written.)
8.  He totally denies all the allegations by Anita Hill brought up during his nomination proceedings.  He gently portrays her as an average employee who was somewhat of a job\status seeking ladder climber without the accompanying skills.  Her accusations distressed him and his (white) wife greatly.
9.  He was raised and schooled in a religious (Catholic) environment, grew away from it during and after college, and has returned to it later in life.  He quotes a lot of scripture in the book.
10.  He speaks a lot about being black, and helping his people, throughout the book.  This was an interesting perspective to me because ‘this’ WASP did not grow up thinking about my own race or much about others.  I’m curious to read more of these perspectives.

What does this have to do with current Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor?  Not a whole lot, other than that it is possible to grow up in an ethnic (racially disadvantaged, I dare say) environment and be committed to self-achievement.

Coincidentally I read an interview with Robert Bork the other day (The View from 1987), another Supreme Court nominee who was crucified during proceedings and did NOT become a Justice.  He makes some pointed remarks about Sotomayor, of which a few are:

”President Obama has spoken of empathy as his key standard for choosing judicial nominees. What do you think of that approach?

I don't know exactly what empathy means. I suppose at a minimum it means you want a judge who will depart from the meaning of the constitution when a sympathetic case arises. It does seem to raise a warning that we're talking about a judge who does not follow the law.”

“What are your thoughts about Judge Sotomayor's nomination?

I think it was a bad mistake. Her comments about the wise Latina suggest identity-group jurisprudence. She also has a reputation for bullying counsel. And her record is not particularly distinguished. Far from it. And it is unusual to nominate somebody who states flatly that she was the beneficiary of affirmative action. But I can't believe she will be any worse than some recent white male appointees.”

“As it's currently composed, this is sometimes called a conservative court.

I don't see it at all. It's a very left-leaning, liberal court.

Could you elaborate? Compared to what?

Well, compared to what the Constitution actually says. They tend to enact the agenda or the preferences of a group that thinks of itself as the intellectual elite.

How have you been struck by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito since they were appointed?

My general impression of them is quite good. The justice up there who I most admire is Clarence Thomas. I notice that when he and Scalia differ—it's not that often, but when they do—I tend to agree with Thomas. “

Read the entire brief article at the link provided above.

For a good (conservative) read about how the Supreme Court has practiced judicial activism almost from day one I recommend The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to the Constitution by Kevin R. Gutzman.

White Supremacists and Abortionists

REF: the Holocaust museum attack this one is annoying the heck out of me, to put it mildly.  Idiots, idiots, idiots.  I’m a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant male (raised Methodist\Presbyterian, ancestral ministers in both on both sides of the family) and proud of it.  These White Nazis do NOT represent me in any way, shape, or form.  I don’t think they represent anyone on the entire planet except their fellow, misguided, miscreants.  Somehow, in my plain, ordinary, privileged-in-that-I-wasn’t-downtrodden, upbringing, I grew up thinking that people were just people, and, oh yes, some are white, black, brown, yellow, green, red, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim, etc.  (Gosh!  Some I grew up with were even ITALIAN!)

This shooter at the Holocaust Museum was supposedly smart enough to be a member of Mensa.  No offense to Mensa, and I’m sure they don’t claim him, but it goes to show you plain old Intelligence Quotient doesn’t necessarily make you very SMART.

I’ve been to the Holocaust Museum and it should be nearly-required viewing for every high school, college, or adult kid in America, not to mention Holocaust deniers from here to Iran and back, both ways around the world.

Just… stop… this STUpid… killing.  We’ll be lucky if someone doesn’t take a pot-shot at Obama sometime and set back race relations in America about a thousand years.  (Perhaps Obama could speak to his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, who had another case of foot-in-mouth yesterday: “The firebrand preacher told the Tribune newspapers that he hasn’t spoken to President Obama because a bunch of Jews are blocking him.  "Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me,".“  I guess no one has a monopoly on stupid.  But I digress.)

Which leads me to my other mini-rant, about the killing of abortion doctor Tiller in Kansas recently. STOP… this STUpid… killing!  Despite my “intellectual” support of a woman’s ultimate right to choose, the record and numbers of abortions by Dr. Tiller make such support difficult to stomach.  STILL… KILLING THE DOCTOR is NOT THE ANSWER.

These criminals should be dealt with swiftly and to the fullest extent of the law.  The U.S. and the World has enough on it’s plate (don’t we always?) without having to put up with this insanity.  Idiots, idiots, idiots.

Bing…bada…Google

Not Bing… badda (bad) Google, but Bing… gooda (good) Google. I’m referring to Bing.Com, the newly released Microsoft search engine to compete with Google. It’s FAST, at least on the modest-speed mini-notebook I’ve been using from my collection. (I haven’t tried it on my hi-power laptop or slow-power desktop yet.)

I’m not a ga-ga Microsoft worshiper (who is?!) but I have to thank MS and its fallibilities for providing me the better part of a computer career in troubleshooting Windows PCs and interfaces. (Isn’t problem-solving and figuring things out what gets us through life and keeps us engaged while doing it?)

As a result I stumbled across Bing via my Hotmail and Windows Live access. Bing is the default search in use now on Microsoft-related sites such as MSN.Com and MSNBC.Com. What struck me about it was how FAST the responses were. That is part of what searching is all about, not waiting, and possibly watching whatever “in-progress” icon is being used. Of course your computer power and internet access speed will also have a lot to do with response time, but the Bing response time on MY laptop was as fast or faster as Google on the same PC.

Of equal, even greater, importance in searching, of course, is getting accurate results. So far it SEEMS to be good. Time will tell. If I find myself going back to Google for more information, then Bing will ultimately lose.

An interesting side feature of Bing is a preview mechanism. As you cursor up and down your results you will see a vertical line with a dot in the center along the right side of the results list, moving up or down to each result. If you hover your cursor over the dot you will see a preview of the result page, with links to the page or similar results. Novel idea!

As an aside, a couple of other information sites I like are About.Com and Wikipedia.Com. About.com came up for me recently when researching travel and I was amazed about how many places it took me for in-depth data. Wikipedia often comes up in search results and provides that amazing volume of info about almost anything. It tells you too when sources have not been fully verified and should be taken with a grain of salt. But the amount of information at our fingertips these days. Truly amazing.

Ah well. Bada-bing. Bada-Boom. Bing cherries. Bing, the elevator door opening. Aren’t you glad you asked me about this?

No..Free..Passes.. for SCotUS

Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor should not be vilified.  She should not be crucified.  She should be scrutinized, and verified, to be qualified.  At age 54 now, she could easily serve on the court for 20 to 30 years.  This is no time to be timid or tepid in exercising diligence.  I’m already reading too much about “we don’t want to alienate the Latino voters”.  What about alienating the U.S. Constitution for ALL voters by approving a judicial activist judge who said at a conference in 2005 that a “court of appeals is where policy is made…”?

Even the usually liberal-leaning Denver Post had a few pertinent comments in today’s editorial:

“Despite an intriguing tale, Obama's high court nominee needs to explain controversial past comments in a full Senate review.”

“She also took issue in 2001 with the notion that a wise man and a wise woman would reach the same conclusion in deciding a case, saying: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

It will be important to see how Sotomayor explains these statements. Deliberately setting policy from the bench isn't exactly an appropriate role for a judge. And the second statement is also troubling and merits further explanation. Clearly, a Supreme Court justice needs to be fair-minded.”

President Obama did interview 3 other women for the position, so it’s not like Sotomayor was the only person considered.  If I was of gay or lesbian black Asiatic origins then I might be marching in the streets, but I’m not.  I just want a fair and balanced vetting of any nominee.

No..Free..Passes..

Fear Mongering, and Judicial Empathy

There are 2 excellent opinion columns in the Friday, 22 May, Denver Post newspaper. David Harsanyi writes about Fear: Our national pastime. Mike Rosen writes about Empathy and the Supreme Court.

Democrats accuse Republicans of fear mongering and being the party of NO anytime Repubs disagree with Dems. But when Dems want to exercise haste in instituting policies in the name of economic bailouts, global warming (I mean, “climate change”) and the like, then it’s not fear but expeditious prudence driving them. This conservative, for one, has had a healthy and reasonable fear (as well as shock, awe, amazement, and disbelief) at how far down the road to Euro-Socialism this country has been dragged in Obama’s first 100 days, despite the efforts of the Party of No.

Harsanyi makes numerous cogent (reasonable and convincing) points in his column. One example:

“During the "debate" over the government's "stimulus" plan, the president claimed that the consequences of not passing his plan would mean the "recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse."

To contend that a country that survived the Great Depression, world wars, a Civil War and the social upheavals of the past century could not reverse a recession without an immense government bailout is farcical. (Moreover, almost nothing the president's economists predicted has come to fruition; the opposite has. We are still approaching double-digit unemployment and sinking deeper into crisis, despite the passage of the "stimulus" plan.) “

Read his short column.

As for Mike Rosen and judicial Empathy:

–noun

1.the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

2.the imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself: By means of empathy, a great painting becomes a mirror of the self.

(Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.)

Although we all surely want the absolutely BEST QUALIFIED human being possible to be the next Supreme Court Justice, in the interest of being “fair” we may get a Hispanic female (who hopefully worked her way through college while digging ditches from the confines of a wheelchair all of which she has since risen from, or not). (I’m kidding… somewhat.)

As Mike Rosen notes in his column: “…the president proclaimed that his replacement must be an individual endowed with "empathy," adding, "I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily reality of people's lives."”

Mike says further: ”In fact, justice is very much about legal theory and case law. The principle of stare decisis holds that courts will generally honor the decisions of prior courts. This is what makes our system of justice predictable and consistent, rather than random and arbitrary.

When empathetic judges rule on their feelings, they are exceeding their authority.”

A few other excerpts from Mike’s column:

by Congress and signed by the president. The courts are a co-equal branch of government, not a superior branch. Their job is not to rule on what they think the law ought to be. That's government by a presumptuous, unelected judiciary.”

“To use a sports metaphor, judges are referees, not rulemakers. They're not there to represent or empathize with the fans or the players. They represent the rule book, and they aren't authorized to rewrite it or make it "fairer."”

I highly recommend reading the entire column.

For a counterpoint see this article: Goodman: Supreme Court nominees and empathy.

In addition I highly recommend the book The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to the Constitution by Kevin R. Gutzman. (It is also in audiobook version.) He thoughtfully and factually describes how the Supreme Court has continuously strayed from the Constitution and practiced judicial activism almost since it was created. It is educational and YOU need to be informed.

NEW GOP SPOKESWOMAN and INTELLECTUAL

I’m probably not the first to say it, but dare I try anyway? LIZ CHENEY FOR PRESIDENT. Too much Dad Dick Cheney baggage you say? By the time she gets around to it (she’s not even old enough yet (43 in July) (she and hubby Perry have 5 children however)) Obama and the DSP (Democratic Socialist Party) will have spread California-style fiscal irresponsibility across the country. Democrats and Republicans alike will be stark-raving starved for a person with the REAL intelligence, reason, and clear-thinking perception that Ms. Cheney has been displaying recently.

She has been making the rounds of liberal and conservative talk shows with the likes of Anderson Cooper, Joe Scarborough, Sean Hannity and others. Perhaps “FOR PRESIDENT” is a bit strong, but her ability to talk factually and not be buffaloed or cowed by her emotive interviewers (umm, where’s the beef?) has been earning her respect from liberals and huge kudos from conservatives.

Here is a blogger’s post impression on Anderson Cooper’s blog:

Jeff C: May 22nd, 2009 10:39 am ET

Very shocking interview. Liz is a tremendously intelligent woman who quite literally outclassed Anderson in this particular conversation. It was uncomfortable to observe Anderson continuously interrupt her, and in a sense struggle to paint a different picture to try to get his point across. Liz graciously displayed professionalism, during, what could be perceived to be an attempt to bully or impose a partisan ideal coming from Anderson’s position. A classic example of rationality versus emotion.

I’m historically a big fan of Anderson, which is why this conversation was such a big shock to me. I’ll be going out of my way to listen to Liz Cheney talk from this point forward. I’m glad Liz brought insight and merit to this issue to help me get off the fence.

_______________________

I haven’t watched the interview but you can watch it from the same page.

Another good excerpt:

COOPER: But --  more than 100 people are known to have died in U.S. custody. Twenty --  I think about 20 of those have been ruled a homicide. I mean, if -- if these were just tightly-controlled things, how come so many people are being murdered in U.S. custody?

L. CHENEY: Well, Anderson, I think that your question is highly irresponsible, and I think that you’re --

COOPER: Why?

L. CHENEY: Because you are conflating things that aren’t conflated.

COOPER: What --

L. CHENEY: When somebody dies or is murdered in U.S. custody, then we are a great nation, and we take the people who are responsible, and we put them on trial, as you’ve seen happen a number of times now throughout the last eight years. That is not the enhanced interrogation program. And to somehow suggest that those two things are the same, I think, willfully conflates something, and -- and ends up in a situation where we aren’t able to sort of take a truthful look at the last eight years as we go forward, because we are muddying the waters about what really happened in the last eight years.

COOPER: Do you personally have any reservations about what may have gone on with these enhanced interrogation techniques, as you call them, under CIA control, or in Abu Ghraib, or in Bagram, or in Guantanamo? I mean, do you have -- do you have any doubts at all? Because your father seems, very clearly, to have no doubts.

L. CHENEY: Look, of course -- of course, as my father made clear today, what happened at Abu Ghraib should not have happened. Nobody is defending what happened at Abu Ghraib. I have no doubts at all, no reservations and no regrets, and, in fact, I feel that we all owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women at the CIA who carried out this program. I think there are Americans alive today because of that program, and I think that it is the height of irresponsibility for the president to release those techniques, so that, you know, the terrorists can train to them, and now we have our hands tied. Every future president’s hand will be tied and will not be able to use those techniques, if necessary.

_______________________

(Now Anderson Cooper is probably buffaloed about what “conflated” means.)

conflate

  • verb combine into one.

— DERIVATIVES conflation noun.

— ORIGIN Latin conflare ‘kindle, fuse’.

Joe Scarborough Show Video (13 minutes long, after a commercial, of course).

Wikipedia Liz Cheney

Liz has been all over the media lately and thus is now all over the ‘Net.  Be sure and listen to her next time you have a chance. We ALL need people like her articulating clear and reasoned facts.

NO DOH’ FO’ GITMO

No money for closing Guantanamo Prison, that is, at least for now. I just had to add my 2 cents worth to this widely reported story.

Wednesday's 90-7 Senate vote stripped the $80 million from a war-spending bill, and the decision to bar, for now, transfer of detainees to the United States, raised the possibility that Mr. Obama’s order to close the camp by Jan. 22, 2010, might have to be changed or delayed. (Denver Post, New York Times)

It is momentous in that not only did Pres. Obama not get an automatic free pass, go-directly-to-GO but he got a resounding, bi-partisan NO for one of the first times since he became president. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, in an extraordinary case of foot-in-mouth that seems to be infecting California female political representatives these days worse than the swine flu, said “she knew of one federal facility that would be a perfect fit — Supermax prison in Florence, Colo.

"It isn't in a neighborhood. It isn't in a community. It's an isolated Supermax facility," said Feinstein, standing next to a large blowup photograph of Supermax.

"This facility houses not only drug kingpins, serial murderers and gang leaders, but also terrorists who have already been convicted of crimes in this country," she said.”

As we Coloradans know this is not just a case of NIMBY Colorado (not-in-MY-backyard), it is a case of not-in-ANY-backyard in the U.S. Kansas has the military prison at Leavenworth and Kansas doesn’t want them. Nevada has possibly the most desolate, barren stretches of land remaining in the U.S. (look how long it took to find the remains of plane crash victim and mega-millionaire Steve Fossett) and even Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said “Guantánamo makes us less safe. However, this is neither the time nor the bill to deal with this. Democrats under no circumstances will move forward without a comprehensive, responsible plan from the president. We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States.”

The proper backyard for a suspected terrorists prison is exactly where it is now, GUANTANAMO. The U.S. has leased it since 1903. No one else in the WORLD wants those prisoners. The main reason Obama wants to close the prison? It doesn’t make us “look good”. I’ve seen and heard enough about “looking good” in my life to know how superficial an approach this is. Guantanamo works. We will “look” even worse with any other alternative, and function much worse than that.

FYI, Florence, Colorado, in Fremont county, is 29 miles W of Pueblo, Colorado (center to center) (pop. 102,000 in 2000) and 34 miles SW of Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Pop. 360,890 in 2000.) There are 3,653 residents in the city. (Florence.) (REF: Florence, Pueblo, Colo. Springs. So much for isolated, Sen. Feinstein.

Pres. Obama and the Democrats continue to harp on FEAR and Fear-Mongering when anyone opposes their policies. Some of us DO fear Big Brother and the Democratic Socialist Holding Company Government when they continually set logic and reason aside and merely go with “just trust me on this one”. NOOO WAYYYY.

While he accuses dissenters of Fear-Mongering, Obama continues to disparage the previous administration. His speech about Gitmo today is more of the same. (MSNBC1, MSNBC2.) He says, to the effect (my words) “they were wrong, wrong, wrong, but now we have to move on and do it MY WAY.”

NOOOO WAYYYY. Not-in-my-backyard, Not-in-my-backcountry, NOT-ON-MY-WATCH.

1. REFERENCES:
Denver Post
New York Times
Historical Look at Guantánamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detention camp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florence
Pueblo
Colo. Springs
Obama calls Gitmo 'a misguided experiment'
Barack Obama's national security remarks
Dick Cheney's national security remarks

Takin' it to the STREETS!

Street maintenance, that is. We’re getting major road repairs in my neighborhood and it’s a welcome site. (Pun.) Road maintenance is something I’ve always favored be done by government, though I can see the merits of having some private highways (usually tolled). My street historians tell me it’s the first time in the 17-year history of our street that it has had extensive (any?) work. It has remained in good condition despite the length of time, which attests to the quality of the original construction. (Must not be the same guys that built my HOUSE!)

I shall miss the now patched street-wide crack that was in front of my domicile (pictured). We didn’t lose any children in that crack, and it didn’t get tooo much bigger during the nine years I’ve lived here, but it sure was a crack, never sealed, never filled, just there. When they tore it up you could see the pavement was at least 8-10 inches thick, so no wonder it lasted so well.



A couple of months ago we had these weird-looking reddish pads installed on the street corners in the neighborhood. I assume they are a traction or skid plate to prevent you from slipping or falling. I had never seen the likes before and we already had the handicap accessible, gently sloped to curb-less road entries as I believe were mandated ages ago by the American Disabilities Act. Anyway, Thoutt Construction had the honor to totally tear up all the corners, install the pads, and repave around them. (Glad to see the govt. money going to private companies I presume.) They were so dedicated to doing a good job that they actually tore up at LEAST 3 of the finished corners and redid them because something wasn’t right. I haven’t slipped since! (Or before, actually, but…)

...


About a week ago we received a notice that the streets would be milled (ground to that corduroy surface you see during repairs sometimes, I presume) and paved in the near future. Then came the “crack” repair crews. (Pun.) They have since finished most of the cracks in my immediate area and today were doing all four corners at once at my nearby intersection.







LaFarge Construction has been doing the honors for much of the current repair. They are efficient, well-organized, and fast, from my uninformed point of view. It seems too soon for this to be the result of Stimulus money, especially considering the advance planning required. I did find this document: 2009 ASPHALT OVERLAY PROJECT, PROJECT LOCATIONS specifying the work. It came from this page of the DougCo website: http://www.douglas.co.us/publicworks/engineering/Capital_Improvement_Projects.html. Glad to be seeing it done, regardless.

DougCo Term Limits

There was a front page headline article in the recent Highlands Ranch Herald about efforts to remove term limits for the county sheriff and coroner. It seems like a newsworthy subject, but the article didn’t say: a) what are the lengths of the term, b) how much of the term is left, c) is the current office holder up to the current term limits, d) who is the current sheriff and coroner (not names I recall on a daily basis).

a) From this: http://www.douglas.co.us/clerk/elections/documents/2006primary-officialcumulativereport.pdf it states the terms for sheriff and coroner are each 4 years.

b) & d) From this: http://www.douglas.co.us/government/Elected_Officials.html I deduced that current sheriff Weaver has been in office since Jan. 2007 and his term expires Jan. 2011. Current coroner Riber has been in office since Jan. 2003 and his term expires Jan. 2011.

From this: http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/research/termlim.htm I found that the term limits are 2 consecutive terms if the terms are longer than 2 years.

c) Thus, private “I” that I am, I’ve deduced that Sheriff Weaver can serve another term if elected and Coroner Riber cannot run for re-election in 2011.

Well, I’m glad I figured THAT out! I’m not going to pursue the respective office holders for their opinions, though that would have been newsworthy also. As for should we have term limits, I can’t decide. There’s an argument for having continuity and experience in office and an argument for having a fresh, new (but less experienced?) perspective every so often. Hmmm. Something to keep me awake at night.

Glass-free biking!!

What a novel idea! I went on my first bike ride of the season this morning (avid bicycler that I am (NOT)) and was pleasantly surprised to find the sidewalks and pedestrian paths I traversed in my (central) area of H.R. to be glass free. Judging from the dust trails they may have been recently swept by whichever dedicated maintenance org has that particular responsibility. (Metro, HRCA, DougCo?)

Usually when I bike I am ALWAYS dodging broken glass at many points of my ride. I have been tempted sometimes to carry a dust pan, whisk broom, and sack to clean up, but I wouldn’t get much riding done. I’ve thought it would make a good senior, volunteer job (albeit a very thankless one) to ride the trails and cleanup. I certainly don’t expect the maint. orgs to go to the expense and manpower of roaming the trails looking for glass, most especially in these economic times.

Of course it would be NICE if people stopped breaking glass on the sidewalks. As I frequently see beer bottle glass I wonder if this is the result of joy riding ‘utes merrily discarding empties as they motor around. Nothing would surprise me as I actually saw an ADULT driving a shiny new pickup down the 2-lane residential street behind my house throw a BANANA peel out about ten days ago! Oh, I guess that was ok, it’s biodegradable. I couldn’t believe my eyes anyway. I’ve also seen a young teen girl, jr. high or high school age, drop an empty beer bottle out of her pack on that same residential street. No doubt chugging on the way home from school, and a future candidate for AA. But I digress.

I should just go on another bike ride soon, while the trails are still clean. That would work.

Books: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism

I finished my simultaneous second listen of the audiobook version (good for gym workouts) and first read of the print version (good for the additional book references) of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Dr. Robert P. Murphy. It’s a good primer on basic free market oriented capitalism, though I thought some of his arguments supporting the principles were a bit thin.

For example he says CEOs should get big golden parachutes because they take on big risk to create major advances, whether they succeed or not. He says if you were a factory line worker you wouldn’t agree to large pay if the company sells all the products or no pay if it doesn’t. I agree that CEOs should be paid well but that they get large basic pay commensurate with their job already and perhaps should only get high bonuses or parachutes for success. Perhaps company directors should reconsider the contractual agreements they are making with CEOs. EVERY one might work harder if there was some base pay and some merit pay involved, but that’s another issue.
He also uses the example of Microsoft and the lawsuits levied for MS’s including Internet Explorer and excluding other internet browsers. I agree that Windows is Microsoft’s product and they should be able to include or exclude anything they want. Murphy uses the analogy that an auto manufacturer includes the engine and tires on a car and you wouldn’t want one without them. I say the engine and tires are much more critical to the operation of the car than Internet Explorer is to the operation of Windows. He has the right idea but the wrong analogy.

This is an easy read, but I liked the short read ECONOMICS IN ONE LESSON (Amazon) by Henry Hazlitt much better.