Quick Hits

The Pope is pressing for governments to take care of the poor — one of his main interests.

It is the difference between voluntary charity and government forced redistribution. Jesus told HIS followers to help the poor, He did NOT order His followers to get the Roman government to help the poor!

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The president has pressed for a “Free” Community College education.

There is something to be said for valuing that which you earn, or pay for.

I had 6,000 classroom hours teaching various computer science courses at National University to students (average age 32) and while, at the time, were paying $600 a month for my undergraduate courses and $750 a month for my graduate courses.

Here were adults, primarily holding down full-time day jobs, and handling their families while paying the equivalent monthly dues to lease a Jaguar Convertible! A high “Opportunity Cost.”

They appreciated their education because it was not free!

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I have absolutely no idea if being Gay is “Nature or Nurture” but my experience (7 years in all-male military schools and 26 years in the all-male Navy) leads me to believe that MOST Gays are Gay by nature, but there are some by nurture — and there are those in all male societies (military and prison) who perform homosexual acts but are not themselves homosexual.

Sex is a highly individual entity. Having been immersed in all-male societies, I still did not KNOW any homosexuals, although I did know that individuals in my organizations were transferred or discharged because of homosexual acts. I was the Senior Officer of a Courts Martial for two admitted Lesbians, and I convinced the Board that they should be found Not Guilty because there was zero evidence that they performed any acts they were accused of on government time or government property.

My conclusion is that Homosexuals are not as prevalent as their voices and influence would indicate.

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The Pope has gone one bridge too far in his call for no Freedom of Speech on the subject of Religion.. He was born and raised in nations and a religious society that did not have the protections of the U.S. Constitution and he does not comprehend or treasure Free Speech.

 

Quick Hits

Government grows under Democrats and Republicans…it even grew under Ronald Reagan!

All each politician wants is power, and power is gained by increasing size, then distributing the increased size benefits (contracts or political plums) to friends or fellow politicians. Only when government has fewer benefits to distribute will things improve, but I don’t know any politicians willing to do that!

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Sweden has reached an agreement with four right-of center political parties (Alliance) to put off a “Snap” election until 2022. — to avoid an election that will rally the current left-of-center government around the center, but it thwarts the Right. The agreement gives the Alliance the budget, but the agreement does not address the elephant in the room.

Immigration.

European governments are under pressure to accept Muslim cultural practices, such as providing multiple subsidized dwelling units to the multiple wives and children of Muslim men — under the guise of “Diversity.”

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A cave in France found 20 years ago has disclosed some of the oldest art — art that makes the pyramids seem as if completed this morning.

The French cave has produced 442 paintings of animals seldom seen by modern man (and only by very early “man”), and were likely done by a species of humans that also do not any longer exist, but inhabited France about 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals, possibly, and their blood lines are still within us as shown by DNA. It is difficult to say, because 40,000 years ago is a time when Neanderthal and modern man overlapped. Carved figurines from a German cave of about the same period demonstrate the wide-spread ability of artistic development.

Of course, if one describes “art” in geometric terms rather than in recognizable animal or human form, beads have been found that are 100,000 years old, and the first human “art” was found etched on seashells dated to 460,000 to 540,000 years ago, but that may or not be “art” to your mind. At any rate, human-kind has a very long history.

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It should come as no surprise that I am an “info-maniac” — I crave knowledge. My search days consist of perusing a number of apps, Drudge report and it’s newer challengers AP, Smart News and FOX; CNet; and my favorites, POLITICO, and Flipboard.

Flipboard is an oldie but goodie, and it is far and away the most complete news source because the others concentrate on daily news or technology, while Flipboard can be personalized to cover all subjects from Archeology to Zoology.

In Flipboard I am constantly thinking,”I didn’t know that!”
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The Feds are going to “Rate” colleges, no doubt spending taxpayer money to employ more academics.

U. S. News and World Reports does it annually for FREE. We don’t need government for this — it is just “make work” for Ph.Ds,

As we have seen from the case of Jonathan Gruber, the MIT professor who thinks voters are stupid (true, but impolitic), who has gathered more than $5 million in various government pay, this administration is rife with academics, and anxious to employ more!

Prostituting The English Language

One standard reply from Progressives about the “Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA)” is that the president was elected, and that poll is the only one that counts, since he ran on the subject.

(I don’t recall Democrats saying that since Bush was re-elected while in Iraq and Afghanistan, that his re-election meant that the subject of Iraq and Afghanistan was moot.)

Obama was elected because the Republicans (of which I am not numbered) elected the next in line, as they always do, instead of new blood.

That does not excuse Obamacare, which EVERY poll shows id unpopular.

Am I happy with the current situation? Well, it works, has for generations, and does not need tinkering. The poor get served, and there are federal, state subsidies, and yes, Insurance companies also kick in and the wealthy pay more for insurance. Exactly as it still will be, but without the taint of welfare — to make the poor feel better about their taking charity.

It is much like Food Stamps, called an EBT Card in California and referred to as CalFresh to remove the stigma of welfare, is STILL welfare, much as paying “Earned Income Tax Credit” for income NOT earned, and taxes NOT paid is STILL  welfare.

You can give away live scorpions in a bottle from the back of a truck if people think of it as “FREE.” It is the scourge of this culture that governments, ALL GOVERNMENTS, have prostituted the language so that charity and welfare are covered by innocuous verbiage, so the populace feels good and no longer feel the shame of charity from whence they would otherwise wish to escape.

So “Food Stamps” become “CalFresh” and you can apply on-line instead of standing in line with derelicts at the Welfare Office; and you can get that complete prostitution of the English language, “Earned Income Tax Credit” which is NOT earned, and is a credit on Taxes NOT paid! That old saw about the Holy Roman Empire, which I was taught was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire, has been replaced by the term “Earned Income Tax Credit.”

It is, like the ACA, not affordable (unless subsidized by the taxpayers, sub rosa), nor does it provide Care It provides insurance. But so long as it is FREE with no cost to the taxpayer (the government pays for it all :-), the people will say, as they do in Canada, “Three Cheers.” They also said that in Greece, until the reckoning.

There will be a reckoning.

(Now, where are the scorpions in the bottle? Bring on the scorpions!)

It is still charity, but with government paying the subsidy, we can pretend that the government pays for it and it costs the taxpayer nothing!

Prestidigitation!

Feel good legislation.

It’s Bigger Than Filner! (Much Bigger!)

The mayoral race is just the City Council race, or even the school board races or an HOA writ large.

Voters elect on the (D) or (R) behind the name, or because they like the politicians’ looks, or speaking ability, or because they are a “Progressive” or “Conservative”– all regardless of ANY demonstration of actual ability. It all starts with people with an HOA mentality, who acquire a subtle megalomania complex and think they can solve the (fire board)(school board)(city council) problem. These are (sometimes) nice people, but generally people with zero knowledge — and often people with zero ability — people who could not manage a local book store, or cyber cafe.

Somehow, voters forget that in the end each elected position is a management job. The U-T is currently featuring the appointment to the Escondido School Board, a person who served on that board as a non-voting student! This is emblematic of the Filner, and political problem in general.

Would we elect to the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, a person whose only experience is that they had bought an Apple Computer? Absolutely not!

Why then do we voters continue to support and elect people with zero management experience? Filner was a professor (without management experience), a city councilman (without management experience), a CongressCritter (with no management experience) and finally, the voters elect his to be the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation.

The mind boggles…

 

Politicians

About a year ago, a politician with designs on national office, began the long slide to political oblivion and just possibly federal prison.

No not Democrat Filner, but Republican Governor of Virginia McDonnall — a young, square jawed “conservative” with a previous shot at the Republican nomination for president.

It all started falling apart when his Republican legislature passed some REALLY onerous abortion bills, of the type that required government-mandated physical intrusion into a woman’s private parts. The Governor calmed that but the Washington Post reported that a rich businessman paid $15,000 toward the Governor’s daughters wedding.

The Feds started investigating. More recently, the Post has reported gifts of at LEAST $145,000, plus shopping sprees for the Governor’s wife, and a Rolex watch for the Governor, and much more. (The latest, today, was another $10,000 for the eldest daughter’s wedding.)

And what did the businessman get in return? Well, a press conference announcing the company’s product at the Governor’s mansion, and photographs of the Governor and his wife holding the company’s product, and the Governor’s wife stumping for the product on a tour and…

Virginia has strange ethics rules. All that is really required is transparency, but even the first wedding “gift” was not reported, nor has any subsequent “gift.”

As our Mayor Filner demonstrated, politicians REALLY feel entitled to everything they can get, or extort from business. Any single problem is easily hidden, but as every citizen knows, breaking two laws at a time more than doubles the probability of discovery.

Of course, when you believe that you can do no wrong…and, even though it is small potatoes, McDonnell really knows no bounds. He recently had to reimburse the state for food, drinks and personal hygiene items his children stole, there is no other word, from the Governors mansion to provision their various college dorm rooms over the years. Several thousand dollars worth. The real problem is that he did not quietly or quickly pay the bill, he defended the actions of his children.

All politicians need an ethical “minder” — some, like Filner and McDonnell, more than others.

Corruption Is At Least Discussed

There is some soto voce discussion in Washington D..C. saying that the Washington Post is only writing about rampant Black, Democratic corruption in Washington, D.C.

Duh! In the nations Capitol the power structure is almost all Black Democrats, and yes, corruption is rampant.

Where the racial distribution is more even, for example in the New York legislature, there is more evenly divided racial and political corruption — still mostly Democratic because the legislature is more Democratic.

And right here in San Diego, the Mayor proves that corruption is not racial — the Mayor is both white and apparently corrupt. Corrupt, at least if you define vetoing a project and the changing his vote after a $100,000 “donation” to two of the Mayor’s favorite projects.

(The Mayor says, “Who me?)

Anyway, the FBI is investigating, but a Justice Department that could not see the men with batons in front of a polling place, or discover thousands of guns as they went across the border (guns that the DOJ bought!), and, of course the DOJ is investigating the misuse of power in the IRS in their disproportionate targeting of conservative groups, so, forgive me if they do not find that a Democrat Mayor has done anything wrong.

Cynical? You bet!

Yes, the Mayor is decidedly a Democrat, and it appears the corruption scoreboard is lopsided on that side. 

You Are A Racist If You Do Not Hire Criminals

We should all get the words “Disparate Impact” emblazoned on our minds.

Just remember the words. Don’t try to define it, nobody will, or can, but it is a driving force in this administration’s domestic policy, and it is the source of much friction as evidenced by a growing number of lawsuits. In the past, these challenges/lawsuits by the Obama Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the US Justice(sic) Department have been against relatively small entities that had to settle.

Even Appeals Courts have held that you can prove discrimination through statistics.

There is a case in Mount Holly, New Jersey, where the Township is being sued by a group called Mount Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, claiming that a plan to raze a section of public housing and replace them with new housing that would sell at market rate. The existing residents are primarily Black and Latino, and they claim that such an action would have a “disparate impact” on minorities.

Needless to say, there is no wording about “disparate impact” in the Fair Housing Act passed by Congress.

The Justice(sic) Department has, in the past, intervened and put pressure to parties to settle short of the Supreme Court — fearing an adverse ruling to a policy that is both powerful and extralegal.

The EEOC has now additionally targeted firms large enough to take the concept into the higher Courts even if the Justice(sic) Department manages to intervene with the Mount Holly Gardens suit before the Supremes hear it in the very next session where it is already docketed. Thomas Perez, the head of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has previously quietly intervened to try to keep the subject away from SCOTUS.

 Governments love to rule by administrative actions, where laws prohibiting such actions do not exist.

In short, if a law or policy is absolutely legal, but its implementation hurts minorities MORE than others, that law or policy is illegal. (Remember the joke Washington Post Headline: “Word Ends Tomorrow — Women and Children Hurt Most.”)

The threat of a federal lawsuit is sufficient to get small businesses — even cash-strapped cities — to bend.

Now, however, the bullying EEOC may have gone just one step too far. Pitching so well in Peoria, they have bought a bus ticket to try out with the Yankees.

This hubris may cost them the concept they have been successful at extorting for years.

In this case, the Feds have ruled under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the hiring practices of BMW and Dollar General hiring practices that exclude hiring those with criminal records, impacts minorities disparately, and is therefore illegal.

You got it — refusing to hire criminals is a racist act!

Beam me up, Scotty!

So, Honey, What Did You Do Today?

The answer in the Senate is  —  NOTHING!

The Senate passed a 1,200 page exercise In futility today. Except as political cover, it is meaningless. Senators could just as easily, more easily passed a 1,200 blank page bill and done so months ago without the expelling of so much CO2.

The bill may give Senators something to run on, but I suspect that as it sits and is dissected in the House (and the press), it is going to be more representative of expediency than statesmanship.

 For example, we already know that the Senate bill makes it FAR more economically sensible to hire the newly legalized immigrants (and they will all be legalized on day one), than to hire American citizens. That is because the newly legalized immigrants are not susceptible to employer required healthcare at several thousand dollars a month, while US citizen new hires are required to be covered under Obamacare. As of today, if the bill were law, a business could save tens of thousands of dollars a year for EACH newly legalized immigrant it hires rather than a US citizen. You can hide a lot of “oops” in a 1,200 page, quickly voted-upon bill. (Also, see Obamacare)

The Weekly Standard interviewed five Senators about this inequity, and I Listened to those interviews on KFI — only one said he knew of the problem, and he hoped it would be fixed in the House version. As more and more of these stink bombs are uncovered, and while the Senate passed the bill without reading it there is now time for reflection, the House has zero incentive to quickly act.

It is far more likely that the provisions of the Immigration Bill will be divided into individual bills addressing specific issues, almost none of which will vaguely resemble the specifics of the Senate bill

Why did the Senate bother? Partly it was to get the issue off the table so they can have “done something” and get onto other issues. Partly it was to have a defense in the next election. Partly it was to let the House try to solve the issue and take the heat.

The takeaway is that the Senate bill is dead, wasted a lot of time, and was produced to get the item off the table regardless of the content.

Wonderful!

IRS As The Oakland Raiders

I watched TRMS (The Rachel Maddow Show) last night because I always want to hear what the liberals are discussing.

You know that the three networks evening news telecasts are following the IRS and Justice Department scandals — but the first 30 minutes of TRMS were about the death of Senator Frank Lautenberg, the problems inherent in appointing a replacement and whether the New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will appoint a replacement.

The last two minutes of the program were about the IRS being denied the right to defend themselves by law, and that anyone can say anything about those poor government employees, and the IRS cannot reply.

Trying to get sympathy for the IRS, even in just two minutes of a 60 minute show. The Democrats want desperately to defend the indefensible, or at least mitigate the damage done to the IRS because the IRS is a metaphor for government.

I sincerely doubt that the string will get to the White House, which is where the Democrats will draw a Maginot Line defense.

The IRS is much like the news media – neither needs instruction on what to do – geese do not need direction on flying in formation.

In the case of the IRS, people who apply to work there are automatically unconcerned with the anguish of their fellow man, and they seek employment in a reviled agency KNOWING that they will be feared and not loved. The agency has always reveled in their being outside society – much like playing for the Oakland Raiders.

The problem with the IRS is the same problem I have assigned to government in general, under both political parties.

Overreaching.

Interesting Facts, Flawed Analysis

As time goes along, many myths get debunked and history sometimes gets clarified.

Sometimes.

I love reading the Smithsonian Magazine. In this case I was reading about a famous battle, the battle of Bunker Hill. The new information is really interesting and I learned things I never knew, but it also is a great example of “Presentism”  — seeing history through the ethical eyes of today. The author of the piece, one Nathaniel Philbrick, admittedly loves to debunk. The description of his writings include the note that “The ‘freedoms’ they fought for, he notes, weren’t intended to extend to slaves, Indians, women or Catholics. Their cause was also “profoundly conservative.”

Duh! He accuses 18th Century men of behaving like 18th Century men! I am shocked!

Still, ere is much to be learned: The Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breeds Hill.

(Stay with me, here…)

The Americans marched to fortify Bunker Hill, but missed by 600 yards at night, and mistakenly fortified Breeds Hill — but they THOUGHT it was Bunker, so they called it the Battle of Bunker Hill. Map makers knew it was really Breeds, but thought it better to exchange the previous names than try to correct common misunderstanding, so thy changed the maps and called the previously named Breeds Hill to reflect Bunker Hill.

The Americans were poorly trained and led, and the British were both well trained and led, but they stupidly adhered to wearing Red Coats and attacking in broad front lines. (One British General led with his servant carrying a bottle of wine, The British simply did not believe the Americans would stand and fight against the most feared army in the world of the day.)

The British were decimated during the initial two frontal attacks against hastily thrown up breastworks of rocks and stumps, but the third attack was in lines and overran the Americans, who were forced to withdraw after bloody hand-to-hand combat.

The Americans lost about 400 men, the British lost more than 1,000 and declared the victory too costly — a Pyrrhic victory. British General Howe wrote: “The victory is too dearly bought.” Howe lost every member of his staff, and the bottle of wine!

I am also told that the “whites of their eyes” was a bit of hyperbole written by the writer who brought us the Washington cherry tree myth, although the orders were to fire at 50 yards, and at least one American leader said shoot when you see the whites of their gaiters — but whites of their gaiters just doesn’t have the sound of whites of their eyes.

I also learned that Boston of that day was almost an island, reachable only by a tiny spit of land, and that 20% of the residents of Boston at that time owned slaves.

While actual history sometimes does not have the soaring flow of poetry and useful for rallying cries of immediacy, truth in prose is often more interesting in retrospect.