2 Cents Worth On Life Its Ownself

If you been up and moving then there is much in recent days to make you scratch your head or scream in  outrage.  So let’s visit a few of those news events………

The IRS has been targeting conservative leaning organizations for what can only fairly be called harassment.  If you’ve looked at some of the specific questions they were demanding from these groups of their exempt status you should be very angry.  Those inquires were both intrusive and abusive.  Most important of all the questions  are intimidating.  Allegedly only low-level folks were pushing this line of thuggishness but do you buy that?  What lower level employee ever takes any action they believe would be opposed by their boss?  To the contrary to kiss up to the next level up the scale those lower minions will be doing what they believe will put them in favor with their superiors.   It’s like Clinton and the intern, the only thing those Democrats are disturbed about is that they got caught publicly.  You should dread the day when the Feds insist that all transactions have to be with a credit or debit card.  Then they can track not only what your income and expenses are but every purchase you make from reading A. Rand to your favorite lingerie item for your wife.   More later about the need to completely reform the Civil Service Administration laws to allow for actual firing of folks like this.

We use radar every day or take advantage of its use.  When you watch the weather that is radar at work and planes, ships and missiles use it as even our cars do now.   There is no word “radar”.  It is an acronym for “radio detecting and ranging”.  Developed during the ’30′s and exponential expanded during WWII.  There are many types of radar in use today including those designed to look “over the horizon”.     Just part of that wonder of nature the electromagnetic spectrum that gives us light and mircrowaves.

As more is revealed about the Benghazi disaster it is obvious that we had a failure of courage from the get go and then and venal cover up of events to protect the campaign narrative of the guy in the White House.  Six months or so ago I wrote about at least sending jets to fly over the compound under assault.  Finally a few others have mentioned that others at least thought of that.  You recall that Panetta said they couldn’t go to the rescue in Congressional testimony because they didn’t have enough intelligence to take the risk.  First, it has been an established adage of military science for several centuries that those in command should ALWAYS march to the “sound of the guns” even if you don’t have good intelligence.  Second, a flyover might have scared off some of the attackers especially if the plane dropped flares which they all can do.  It is understandable that they might not have wanted to drop ordinance into unknown territory.  They also said they couldn’t go because there were no tankers to replenish fuel and get the planes back to Italy.  Have all the military folks forgotten the Doolittle Raid?  Those few pilots and crew knew damn well they likely wouldn’t make it to China but they went anyway and many did crash into the sea or enemy territory.   Ditch the damn jets in the Med if you have to.  Third, it is inexcusable that we didn’t try.  That is a rock solid tenet of our military that you won’t be abandoned.  Even if all those efforts failed at a minimum the men on the ground have died knowing they weren’t forgotten and attempts were made.  They deserved that much.  Success of a rescue mission would have been great but to fail to mount an effort is cowardly on someone’s part.

The peaches are just beginning now to turn color and within another week or so they will be pale yellows and pinks.

Julian Bond is the same radical commie he has always been.  Please go back you young folks and see his rhetoric from the early days.  “Burn Baby Burn” and “Kill the Pigs” were phrases he never condemned.   He doesn’t like white people pure and simple.  Now all Tea Party folks are “admitted racists” per the sage of the  Age of Aquarius and the Taliban of American politics.   Funny, I never noticed any Tea Party folks monitoring dress or trying to keep unescorted ladies off the street or threatening or in fact killing those who disagreed with their view.   He can say what he wants but we don’t have to silently sit on our hands and let it go unchallenged.  He and his kith represent everything wrong about the direction of our nation.

I generally don’t like the media and sure don’t trust them.  My dealings with them over the years leaves the strong impression that they are as a group about the most dishonest and untrustworthy cabal out there.  But, but, but I do believe in a free press.  I also don’t believe that a journalist has carte blanche to breach our national security interest.  Especially when it comes to national security they usually have a strong ideological agenda.  I am not concerned in the least that a journalist is tapped or even goes to jail if he takes really secret classified info and makes is publicly available even to our enemies.  Imagine if the Rosenbergs had merely given all their data to the New York Times about the Manhattan Project.  Just because a paper was involved should they have got off scott free?  But, but, but. the DOJ going about 100 reporters at one time seems a bit over the top.  Typical government overkill.  The Feds throw unlimited resources at a problem just because they have them.  Don’t mind them pursuing espionage and crushing a reporter if classified data is released but I doubt there were a 100 disloyal reporters at even the AP.  Funny too that they only got all bent out of shape well after the election and kept if all under wraps till then.  After all they liked the leaks because they supported the notion about   how tough the guy in the White House was on national security.

It slipped under your radar but last week was another anniversary of VE Day.  Time was it was a big deal.  At least have the decency to shake the hand of a 90-something old vet  and tell him thanks.

“I always voted at my party’s call, And I never thought of thinking for myself at all”.  From the HMS Pinafore.  Wm Gilbert.  http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

 

Apple And The Debt Allure

Apple has made the news big with its recent decision to borrow 40 bn and utilize those funds to pay a dividend.  It has about 137bn cash on hand so why is it borrowing that much money.  The explanation offered is twofold.  First lots of that cash is overseas and under the current tax laws if that money comes back to the US shores then Apple would owe a huge tax obligation.  That is probably true as it is with many other major American companies.  Second the interest rates are at absolutely historical lows and they can borrow the money very cheaply.  Again that is certainly true.  The Fed has pushed down rates to the bottom of the barrel.  Ask old grandma or grandpa about what they are earning on their CD’s these days when they try to keep their money in a very safe place but earn something on it.  They are getting less than one percent.  So there is good logic to what Apple is doing.  People and companies always borrow lots of money when credit is easy and cheap as it is now because of Fed and Federal government policy.   Just take a look at the easy credit policies and the borrowing during the mid 80′s, late ’90′s and the middle of the ’00′s.   The eighties ended up producing the S and L  and bank crisis of that day; the ’90′s saw the ultimate terrible Clinton crash of the NASDAQ in 2000 after the cheerleading for buying the NASDAQ by  both Clinton and Gore; then of course our most recent correction because of the Federal government policy to loan money to anybody with a pulse to buy a home and the CORE act to promote minority ownership.   So Apple and many others at the moment are doing what sure seems prudent at the moment and taking out big loans at really low rates.  They can cite an example of this course of action by simply directing your attention to both the Fed and the Federal Government.  One is printing money like no tomorrow and the other is spending and running up debt like tomorrow will never come.

Having specialized in debtor-creditor relations, bankruptcy, workouts and Chapter 11′s for nigh on 50 years I do have a bit of experience with debt and the problems it can cause.   The first element of debt and the most significant and the one factor that is overlooked by almost everyone is that it is a reality, it won’t go away on its own, it has to be dealt with one way or the other.   This is true for individuals, companies and even governments.   All debt is a restriction and limit on future courses of action.  Provision has to be made for the payment or rolling over of that debt.  Some of future cash flow or earnings must be dedicated to that debt.   In five years when the 40bn comes due Apple will have to either pay it or re-work the payment terms.  In the meantime it will have to spend a certain amount of cash flow for debt service.   Maybe they will make even more money in the next few years, who knows.  But we do know they will have to deal with the debt.  What if when the debt comes due they are working on “The Next Big Thing” and really need 30, 40 or 50 bn for more development or marketing?  What if tax laws have changed and they no longer can even deduct the interest on that bonds they issued?  What if they lose pending litigation and have to pay out some huge judgement reward to a competitor?   The possible needs for money are as endless as the vagaries of the daily business world and markets.    But through it all, the debt remains and must be handled.   Their future options for use of cash on hand has been diminished by the 40bn plus all the interest, even at low rates, and the associated costs like legal and accounting fees.  It is no different than you having to service your mortgage.  A dedicated portion of your future earnings must go to that debt, you can’t use it for anything else.  Debt limits future options.  That is an absolute of economics.   Of course companies that are debt free can go bankrupt.    Hey, lots of buggy whip makers went out of business in the early 20th century.

Credit is needed and it is indeed the lubricant for any modern society.  This is not a cry against all debt, not at all.  But debt is just like fire, it is of great benefit; it gives us light and power but it can also burn the house down if not handled carefully.   I am not predicting any hardship for Apple down the road but I do think this was an inappropriate decision.  This was a voluntary debt; not essential to growing their business but designed to bolster stock prices with dividends from the borrowed money.   I think it is a good company.   But I think they did overlook like some many before them the fact of the restrictions and limits on future actions that debt always brings with it.  They should satisfy their debt as soon as they can.  Debt free companies and individuals always, always have more options available to them than those who must pay debt.  They may have just given some competitor an advantage down the road that they would not otherwise have had.   Some of those competitors are also debt free.  Every heard of Microsoft?  Samsung?

Clorox, the common household bleach, is an amazing product.  It is now over 100 years old and still the best disinfectant for bacteria there is.  It breaks down the cells in bacteria so they can’t adapt to the Clorox and those become immune to its effects.  Clorox is such a simple product.  It is nothing but salt water, regular brine from sea lagoons and such that has had an electric pulse beamed through it.  Changes it properties just enough to make it a household must have.

“Neither a borrower or lender be”  both Proverbs and Ben Franklin.  http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

Genuis Of The Common Law

For the last couple of generations the US has been adding new laws at an exponential rate covering all manner of issues and concerns to some groups.  They range from EPA laws and those vast regulations to the new CFPB with its laws and regulations regarding real estate laws and the mortgages that protect lenders in real estate lending.   Those are only a couple of the examples.    Virtually every State now has a version of the Uniform Commercial Code that regulates all manner of commercial and banking transactions.  Those laws used to be covered under what were known as the law of Bills and Notes.  Indeed only 50 years ago law students took a course called just that.   The real estate laws have been historically a matter exclusively within the purview of the respective States under the recognized “police powers” of the States to regulate their own internal affairs for both criminal law and private property rights and laws of contract interpretation.   Except for Louisiana which had the Napole0nic Code all the States utilized the Common Law from England.   That Common Law and its few companion laws has served us very well for about 500 years and still can if allowed to work as intended.

The Common Law was designed and evolved to be a constantly changing system of judicial interpretation of the laws to meet the every altering facts of modern life.   There were few statutes but there was the precedent of prior case law to guide.  The law was changed slowly as it always should be to make sure the new interpretations fit with the needs of society and the needs of commerce among merchants and individuals.

Unfortunately today if you asked the typical twenty-something they would think that the EPA laws and regulations are the only thing that protects individuals from harm by polluting neighbors be they companies or individuals.  Everyone wants clean air and water to be sure.   The Common Law has provided a remedy for such an issue for centuries.  Two hundred years ago if you had an upstream neighbor, say a plant in the Midlands in England or Connecticut, that was manufacturing dinner ware and their production methods dumped polluted materials into that stream that crossed your property and harmed your cattle and crops you were not without remedy.   You could sue them.  People then as now did not want to be poisoned with bad air or fouled water.  Mostly it would have been a suit for nuisance and it could include damages if they injured you or your property.  The courts even then under the Common Law could issue and injunction against the offender to cease and desist.  The local Sheriff could and would enforce such injunction.  There is really no pollution issue today that couldn’t be remedied by private suit under the Common Law.  Individuals, cities, States, anyone suffering injury, could bring such a suit.  The same remedy would be available for air pollution.   Other than research and gathering of data why do we really need the EPA?   The Common Law has had a well established set of Riparian rights to control and litigate the rights to water and its purity for centuries long before any bureaucrat set to work.

Likewise consumers have for centuries been able to protect themselves from fraudulent activity by business.   There are several different types of fraud that have been recognized by the  Common Law.  The recent brouhaha over alleged mortgage abuse and violations of the Rules of Evidence is another prime example of the relief the Common Law affords the average Joe.  If indeed a borrower was deceived by a crooked lender then the mortgage would be void under the various fraud provisions of the Common Law and the lender would not have been able to prove the validity of the mortgage under the companion Rules of Evidence and thus would have been denied foreclosure.

We have been on a path of abandoning centuries of collected wisdom for passions and expediences of the moment for a perceived wrong without remedy when a remedy is in fact available.    Advice for the future generations, always look with a skeptical eye when some group says we need a sweeping overhaul of some major portion of our laws.  First of all it is usually some interest group behind it and their lawyers looking for work and a special bailiwick for their future careers because they can claim that only they understand the new law which they made zillions pr0moting and then drafting.   Inevitably such new sweeping laws create a new bureaucracy which then of course always sees future issues to resolve and regulate or else they are out of business.  As so much in life follow the money and see who benefits from these new laws in addition to the alleged benefit to the consumer or society in general.

Lord knows we have enough lawyers in the country to bring cases for alleged wrongs.  We are allowing a very tried and true system that still exist to whither away while we create vast new bureaus, agencies and boards with powers that the bureaucrats and the specialists in their domain to seek to constantly expand.    Yes our water and air are cleaner now than 50 years ago but that is NOT because of the EPA.  The same result could have and likely would have been attained by the use of the Common Law.   If you doubt these comments you are invited to research  the Common Law yourself.   That system worked exceedingly well.  Some cases may have turned our badly due to corruption or bad judges but the system was sound.  Today we still have to deal with corrupt bureaucrats or incompetent ones and a system that “we” have very little control over because the average Joe is not in the decision-making loop.  But under the Common Law the average Joe and all his thousands of cases were at the heart of the law-making process and over time it always got it right.

“Every wanton  and causeless restraint of the will of the subject, whether practised by a monarch, a nobility, or a popular assembly, is a degree of tyranny.”  Sir Wm. Blackstone, 18th century judge and commentator on the Common Law.  http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

Immigration And Fraud Fines Amendment–Identity Theft

The Gang of Eight has asked for input on new ideas to make their proposed immigration overhaul bill better.  For the time being I’ll not get into the question of whether anyone here illegally deserves any path to citizenship however long it may be.  We’ll leave for another day the economic cost and alleged benefit analysis of allowing several millions of low educated folks become citizens and what they bring to the table.   Let’s talk about the fines and requirements for that path to citizenship that is hawked by the 800 plus page proposal.   They do have a lot to say about the fines that will be imposed and the fees charged to the illegals when they apply for citizenship.  But there is one area that should be fined that is totally missing from the conversation so far.

Many liberal Democrats will make the case that illegals pay taxes.  They refer to the payroll taxes for social security and medicare.  They use this to counter the argument that they don’t pay income taxes.  There might be some partial truth to this but there is an element of that argument that is completely ignored by those Democratic proponents and the media.   They overlook the fact that those illegals that did pay payroll taxes only did so by fraud of one type or another.   To pay those taxes the illegal must have had a social security number.  Without that number they would not be paying anything.  That is the admission card.  Now exactly how did that illegal get a social security number?  They lied, cheated and committed fraud somewhere along the way, that is how.  They used a social security number that they stole from someone else, simply lifted it from some data somewhere or they made up false documents to apply for a social security card number.    There is simply no way they could honestly come by a social security number.

If they are using your social security number, perforce, they have committed identity theft.  This will cause you untold headaches with the IRS.  That agency is difficult enough to deal with under the best of circumstances and when someone else has claimed a refund or otherwise utilized your social security number you are in a quagmire of hurt.  If they paid  social security taxes using your number then your calculations for benefits when the time comes will be askew and will take lots of your time and energy to straighten out with Social Security so you can get what you deserve after paying in for a lifetime.  Having to fix the problem of a fraudulent refund being paid to an illegal or one of their cohort will be a nightmare for you and will delay till the end of time you getting the refund that you are really entitled to receive.   Don’t take my word for this, ask around, you’ll find someone who has been a victim and let them tell you the horror story trying to get everything straightened out.

In addition to any other provision of this proposed immigration bill there should be an amendment adding new fines and criminal penalties against illegals who have lied, cheated or committed fraud obtaining or using any social security number.  If they stole your  number they should pay a fine.  If they forged documents to get a social security number they should pay a fine.   If they lie on the application papers for that path to citizenship about using a social security number in any way they should pay a fine and also that should be a criminal offense with strong sentences and an automatic disqualifier for citizenship.  Automatic so no judge as discretion to order otherwise.

For identity theft for your social security number I believe the fine should be at least $10,000.00 and that money should be refunded directly to the victim of the identity theft.   I doubt any of the victims would oppose that idea.  Even that would only be partial recompense for the trouble they caused by their theft.  If the illegal forged document or lied on documents to get a social security number then they likewise should pay a fine of not less than $10,000.00 and that money should go directly to border security.  If they try to cover up their past deeds by lying about it on any of the applications for citizenship or legal status they should be jailed; that should be a federal crime and punishable by imprisonment for at least 3 years and then deportation or only deportation at the discretion of the government.  And no exception for the fact that they may have family members in the US.  If they lie, they go, period.

It is reprehensible enough that they violated our sovereignty but really despicable that they lied regarding a social security card number and caused so much grief to someone.  They should pay these fines and face these criminal sanctions if they continue their fraudulent behavior.   Unless and until these modifications are made part of the immigration bill then I for one don’t want to even discuss it.  I want justice for the true American citizens that have been damaged by these illegals and their actions.  If you agree let others know.  If you disagree that is fine but explain to the victims of identity theft why that theft will go unpunished.

“A friend is one who warns you.”  Anonymous.  http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

 

Driverless Cars And The Future Revisited

There has been a lot of press lately about the advent of driverless cars in the near future.  Many are predicting that they will be common in another decade.  They have already been experimenting with some and they allegedly work just fine.   Heck folks are already noting that there will be a plethora of novel issues that will arise because of this new technological wonder.   Maybe it really will happen this time.  There have been many predictions in the past of some great leap forward in the technology of automobiles before.  If you read Look or Life magazines 60 years ago there were pundits who were predicting that most cars within a short time would really be flying cars.   They had lots of prototypes during that era.  Some were small with wings that would fold up or down just like the fighter aircraft on aircraft carriers during WWII.   Many others were a miniature helicopter.   There were predictions that the suburbs would be even farther removed from the city center and that fewer roads would be necessary because so many commuters would be flying in to work.  They believed the Interstate highway system had done all that was necessary the big challenge was going to be creating and controlling the flying lanes in and out of the city with different flight levels for inbound and outbound traffic and then the cross traffic.   Of course many really smart people were shortly predicting also that we were about to enter a new Ice Age.  The cost of the new control systems and the cars themselves were to be mostly covered by the gazillions of dollars saved in not building new highways.   They were going to be the next Big Thing.  How many flying cars you seen in your neighborhood lately?

Cars can be made to drive without human control now using off the shelf technology but it would have to be integrated to work properly.   The primary components will be a gyroscope of one type or the other, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), an inertial navigation system, GPS and radar.   We have all these already and have had some for over a century but they will have to be coordinated with a master computer software system even though the MEMS is a miniature computer and GPS works with computers.   We’ve had gyroscopes since early in the 20th century.  A fellow named Sperry developed the one that was the most famous and was used by the US Navy and other Navies around the world for decades.  It was purely mechanical and expensive to make but quite accurate.  What you say is the purpose of a gyroscope–the found true North.   You know that magnetic north is off by several degrees and hundreds of miles from the North Pole.   A gyroscope is  essentially a spinning wheel that never stops, indeed that is the whole point.  When operational the spinning gyroscope will aligned itself with the spinning axis of the Earth.  I don’t pretend to understand the physics of this but trust those guys in the lab coat it works.  It is momentum.   Once you know true north then you can start figuring out where you are, where you have been and where you are going.   They now have laser type gyroscope that serve the same purpose.  The MEMS measure torque and acceleration.  They use tiny mechanical measures and electric impulses to do this.  I can’t explain the science behind them but they work and have for a couple of decades.  By the way these tiny devices are already in use in your air bag deployment system and your electronic games and inkjet printer.   The gyroscope allows you to determine yaw, pitch, roll and direction of the vehicle it is in but it doesn’t tell you where you are without reference to something else.  The Inertial navigation system is used by the military because it doesn’t depend on outside factors to determine the direction of movement.  this is used for our rockets and cruise missiles.  It can’t be electronically jammed which is important in military terms but again it won’t really tell you where you are going.

So you need mapping by the traditional method even though enhanced with computer readings from “maps” built into the rocket or car or a GPS.  The GPS has been mostly used now for a couple of decades.  With GPS or mapping in the system then the “car” will know where it is and where it is going.   Lastly the car will have a small radar system to see objects, like other moving cars, and thus “advise” the total system when to turn or stop or slow down to avoid collision.  So all the parts to work the car and control its speed movement direction and acceleration are in place.  They will have to be coordinated by and utilize a master software program.    Many of the parts and pieces as you know are already in place in the newer cars today.  They all have GPS and those MEMS and some are getting radar.

First thing that concerns me is the idea of hacking.  Gee, the papers are filled almost daily with some story about hackers getting into all kinds of vital systems, banking, military, dams, Social Security, etc.  What will happen to the traffic on your favorite Interstate highway when  some pimply faced teenager hacks into the highway/car control system?   Or even worse a foreign entity that wishes us ill.  Of even greater concern will be a hacking into the GPS system.  So much of our modern world is now dependent on GPS that simply shutting it down or scrambling the signals would wreak untold havoc throughout our civilized world.  There is the conspiracy case to be made that the Government could shut down the system any time it wanted and ground us all for whatever their reason.  Remember the Boston lock down of just a couple of weeks ago? Imagine that anytime the Government thought it advisable.

There is also the question of the countless people who prefer to be in charge, they want to be driving that car not be dependent on some unseen distant computer system.  They like driving in addition to be a Type A personality.  Just because we can do it will that whole new system be marketable?   Will we be willing to pay the extra costs.  Of course there is the problem of computer shut down.  Not hacking just the typical computer crash.  We all know that does happen.  For whatever reason it just goes kablooey.   Be rather awkward at 70 miles an hour.   We’ll see how it turns out, or at least many of you will.

“Predictions are hard things, especially about the future.”  Yogi Berra baseballer extraordinaire.   http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

 

2 Cents Worth On Life Its Ownself

People c0ntinue to move, speak and do things so there is always a few comments on those doings…..

Well, surprise, surprise Fisker has retained bankruptcy counsel and likely will file for Chapter 11 in a matter of days.  Another green/electric car crony capitalist experiment gone bad. They got a 529 million dollar loan/grant a couple of years ago from the beings in the White House, built a few cars in Finland and several of those caught fire an blew up in the rains from Sandy.   They are down to 50 employees and looking for a buyer.  How many of the failures will there be?   I guess many more until the Feds run out of my money and yours.

The peaches are about the size of a large marble now and we’ll have fresh peach cobbler and slices on vanilla ice cream in another month or so.

Weapons of all kinds in the hands of the mentally unstable will regrettably always be a problem in a free society.  Our freedoms do give rise to greater exposure to violent crime because of those freedoms.  The gun control advocates miss the boat on more restrictions against the law-abiding.  The fact is the liberal wing of America simply doesn’t want an armed public; that is the real truth.  They was a populace that can be and will be cowed.  The killings at Ft. Hood are the best exemplar of the weakness of their arguments and those who are so politically correct they can’t or won’t recognize the truth and reality.  I worry about the mentally ill having access to a gun or anything potentially dangerous but I worry more about an  Islamic terrorists having them.  That guy was a psychiatrist for heaven’s sake!   More importantly he was a Muslim.

At last check some 30 to 40 thousand people a year were killed in auto accidents.  A 4000 pound car is and can be a deadly weapon.  When you sell your used Chevy Volt do you do a background check on the purchaser?   What if he is a nut case and plans to use the car to run down innocents at the weekend community event?   Or he just uses the vehicle completely irresponsibly and kills or injures other?   If we are going to worry about dangerous objects in the hands of those who potentially could use them to harm others then the list is much much longer than guns.

Oh, an aside on the gun debate.   Just last week one of our major media outlets reported on its opinion page that 270 people are shot each day in America.  Hmm, let’s see that is 100,000 a year.  We are a really big country and no doubt there are some people shot by accident or criminal deed  each day.  But 270?   Come on at least use some real numbers; I sure would love to see the actual data behind that number.

Is the melting pot assumption for  the US really such a good idea?  Does an objective analysis of our history and recent history support that constant stream of rhetoric from politically correct politicians.  If diversity is such a great idea then why didn’t and hasn’t it taken root in Europe?  Look at a map and you can see that Europe is positioned even better than the US to have a diverse society ethnically and religiously. Access is easy across the Mediterranean and you can literally walk into Europe from the East.  Are we so arrogant and naive that we believe we are more socially advanced and intelligent than our brethren across the Pond?    They have had centuries. indeed millennia, to ponder the alleged virtues of a diverse society and have rejected it on the whole.  Our obsession with diversity of different ethnicities and religions is of recent vintage here.  Until a few decades ago when Americans spoke of diversity they meant diverse European nations.   But all those nations did in fact have many shared common heritages in religion and political structures.   Languages varied but the culture was not alien to one another.   Yugoslavia was the great European experiment in diversity and you see how that worked out even after centuries of trying to make it work.  You now have numerous countries there and they still don’t like each other.   More reflection might be in order.

I wonder if the couple selected for that flight to Mars in about ten years by the European company will  have a really thorough physical?  Something really simple here could be death on that trip.  Will they do a preventative appendectomy on each of them?  It is an ordinary and routine surgical procedure here but if one got an attack on that trip and antibiotics couldn’t control the outbreak then they would die.  What would the survivor do with the body?  Rather doubt the “garbage” release shoot would accommodate a body.   Just one of many, many possible health issues that could arise.  Maybe they will select a doctor.  And I guess  they will send with them the opposite of viagra whatever that is; just in case of need.  (what if they don’t like each other after a while)

Much more about the attack at Boston later.  For now use that old expression –”follow the money”.  I mean from what is known so far those guys didn’t have a regular source of income but they sure lived alright.  Right now go to any of the travel sites and check what it would cost to fly to Moscow and then Dagestan and later return home.  So far there is no mention of work and the parents allegedly had bad health and no money but they were both reportedly lawyers.   One was renowned for being a clothes buff.  They had cars and didn’t seem to want for anything and they got money to buy guns.  I mean I ain’t rich but not poor but I sure wouldn’t be booking a round trip ticket to Dagestan anytime soon how about you?   Where did they get their money?  Answer that and you’ll know a lot more about who was behind them.

As our nanny state grows exponentially under the current beings in the Administration ponder the thoughts of an old German adage–”Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.”   http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

Doom And Doomsday To Come

We are bombarded with a drumbeat of new intrusions into our lives both private and public.   There is of course the obvious things like social media and all the info there that goes out to the general public and to private companies plus being swept by the  Government when they want.  We have the concern of the GPS being automatic in our new cars, the security cameras that are now ubiquitous everywhere in public, the stop light cameras and even drones now circling over head.   This doesn’t even count the old-fashioned collection of private data through the once a decade census reports and the annual IRS tax return that details much about our financial life.  There is an understandable concern about the lack of privacy and having to share so much personal data with the public in general and with the Government in particular.

Most people like to have something that is very private and many like the idea of not having to report much of anything to the Government.  A great deal of the angst by gun owners now over the debate about new gun laws is probably as much about privacy from Government as it is about the guns themselves.  It is true that some of the kids seem to love letting everyone know everything about themselves all day long but that ain’t the norm for most of us and even those kids will be adult some day and treasure their privacy more than they do today.   This mining of personal data and the conflict between citizenry and Government regarding its collection and use is an old one.

In Biblical times Moses was burdened with the charge to count the people of Israel and break them into tribes with different duties such as the priests.    There are detailed number counts of the tribes in the Old Testament.  Similar surveys are found in early Babylonian writings.   Kings and governments have always wanted to know who they could tax and what the resources were for war and public projects and gathered data one way or another.  One of the most extensive such surveys was made by William the Bastard or Conqueror if your were Norman shortly after his conquest in 1066 of England after winning the Battle of Hastings.   Shortly after consolidating his victory and conquest he ordered a grand census and survey of his new holdings.  His purposes were several.   He wanted to know who owned land and a count of the serfs living there and other assets such as livestock or fishponds or mills, grains and the estimated value of same so he could tax them; he also wanted to know what lands were available that he could award to his fellow Normans as a reward for their loyalty and payment for military service.   In addition to taxes the King in those feudal system was entitled to other dues besides hard tax dollars.  Often the King or liege lord was entitled to specific goods, such as a share of crops or beeves or even military service to pay what we would call “rents”.  This grand survey came to be known as the Doomsday Book.

William literally sent out his men throughout England and much of Wales to count everything.  They would record the name of the local landowner, how much land he owned, his cattle and other assets and then assign a value to them.  Their determination was non-appealable (unless you were a special friend of the King, as it has always been since we moved from caves to cities).    They would call in a “jury” of locals to affirm the accuracy of the data and then have them sign off on the conclusion.   It was not consistent in its measures due to the differences in each “surveying team” and the diligence they applied to the task but generally they did record the vital data.   They couldn’t go to the local county deed record office because those didn’t exist yet.  In those days when land was sold it was a very formal affair so that there would be no question later about what had transpired.  The seller and buyer would meet before witnesses and the seller would literally give a handful of dirt to the buyer signifying the transfer of the land.  Yes, there would be a deed but there was no organized record keeping system.  Everyone in the great survey was a victim and a participant in the activity by the King’s writ.   Even without IPads they really did record boatloads of data and they did it all in just a couple of years.  Then everything was compiled by hand into one longer catalogue of many volumes.

As you can well imagine there was a great hue and cry among the Anglo-Saxons and attempts to evade the process but most had to comply on pain of the King’s vengeance.  The Normans loved it of course because it revealed potential new lands to cease from the losers of the recent war of conquest.  The natives didn’t like strangers walking their land making notes and then turning in that data to the King far away who would tax them based on that information without realizing the local conditions from season to season in the growing of crops or the spread of disease that reduced the population of the serfs.    But the protests were of no avail.  The King had the weapons and the locals had lost the war.  They were truly subjects of the government.   The resentment to the government grew and grew over the next few generations.  You recall Robin Hood and King Richard the Lionhearted off on his crusade and his brother King John taking over the rule of the realm.  They were still mostly Norman as was John.  But then came Magna Carta.  It was a long way from our Declaration of Independence or Constitution but it was the first and real dramatic step in reining in the power of central government.   Hopefully it won’t take generations for us to rein in our current over-reaching and intrusive Federal Government with a new Magna Carta.

“Political liberty is good only so far as it produces private liberty.”  Samuel Johnson, English essayist and dictionary writer of 18th Century.   http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

2 Cents Worth On Life Its Ownself

Hopefully you are still in communication with the outside world there in your bomb shelter hiding from those N. Korean missiles….if so then here are some thoughts to mull while passing the time.

We recently wrote a blog about the Tesla story with those tax rebates and rigged batteries to limit range capacity and the Global warming cabal.  A footnote, just a couple of days later Hansen of the Goddard Institute announced his resignation from his government job.  He of the religious convictions regarding global warming.  To give you a hint of his perspective during all the time of his pontificating on the subject you might be interested to know that his new life is one of litigation.   He intends to join in a number of lawsuits by the Greenies to fight carbon and promote a carbon tax.   Those who have blindly followed him for the past decade have had a leader that is about as much scientist as L. Ron Hubbard.

We are all familiar with the three configurations of water on Earth, a solid (ice), liquid and a vapor.  But that is just on Earth.  In space in morphs into a another stage.  The ice in the comets whizzing by us when it gets close enough to our Sun will not melt as on Earth and become a liquid then vapor.  It sublimates directly into a gaseous form of the components.

One doesn’t know whether to cringe in fear or laugh out loud at the recent bloviating from N. Korea.  They do have lots of cannons and tanks and of course a few nukes lying around.   An attack would be horrible no doubt but the outcome would result in mass destruction in their own backyard.   Even if we didn’t want to do much you can rest assured the South Koreans and Japanese would respond with vigor because they would see such a conflict as a threat to their very existence.   It is harder to know how to respond because of the looks of that kid they have allegedly running the country.  Looks do matter and he looks like a cartoonish Saturday morning character on a kid’s show.  It is hard to see any redeeming physical feature in that guy.   And his best buddy is Dennis Rodman!   Hard to take someone like that seriously but I suppose we should.   He sure doesn’t have the looks or demeanor of someone with gravitas like a Churchill or a Reagan.

In case you haven’t seen the latest about the Obamacare coming soon to a hospital or doctor’s office near you, the Navigators that are supposed to aid everyone in learning how to read the 61 pages of instructions to sign up for the new pr0gram and help you move through the online version will come from the same background as the guy in the White House–they are going to be your local community organizer.  That is not a joke, check it out for yourself.  The guidelines for their selection state specifically that they should represent specific demographics in the community and speak the language of the people there.  If you live in a majority minority neighborhood and you are white then no need to apply; you don’t meet the specs.  The act says they should come from community organizations, like ACORN type folks.  Well, for one I thought everyone eligible would already be proficient in English.  It is still a requirement for naturalization.  Illegals are not supposed to be eligible.   It will pay over 20 bucks an hour and they plan on over 20,000 of these Democratic recruiters, er, Navigators.   I am sure they will do a great job of registering new voters but have some doubts about the quality of advice about which insurance is best for the people wanting help.

The unemployment rate and jobs numbers for March are out.  Both numbers are so fuzzy.  The participation rate is the lowest it has been in 35 years and that is probably the most significant number of all.  That is the number of people actually working versus those in the total workforce.  There is a better way to gauge how well or awful the economy is doing. All those numbers are based on surveys on only a few companies and households around the country and the rest is “modelling” to project the final numbers.  Each month the States send in real numbers, not estimates or survey analysis to the Commerce department that gives the total for all income taxes withheld from employees and sales tax revenues.  Yes, the self-employed aren’t in those numbers but it still covers the large majority of our population.  Those totals will go up or down depending on the health of the economy.   At least they are real numbers, not subject to manipulation or guesswork.   That total number each month would give a much more accurate picture of how we are doing than the current estimates we get.  This is not an original idea with me but it is a good one.   I like anything that is based on raw data rather than numbers that are the result of bureaucratic massaging.

Really enjoyed The  Bible shown on the History channel.  Thought it was well done.  They sure couldn’t cover all the stories in the Bible and finished in 5 episodes but wish they had substituted the story of Joseph for Samson.  His was such a great story of the rise and fall of circumstances and ultimately redemption.   So many of the best and worst of Mankind’s attributes are revealed in that story.

They found Richard III’s body recently and confirmed through DNA that it was he indeed.  He has been vilified over the centuries for his alleged murder of his two nephews after he had them held in the Tower of London when he assumed the Crown after his very short reign as regent for one of those nephews who was the son of Edward IV.   Shakespeare of course made that alleged murder famous in his play of that name.  The bodies of the nephews were indeed found about two centuries later in 1674 under a stairwell in the Tower.   There has never been any conclusive proof of the murder.  It was a turbulent time at the end of the War of Roses and many deaths and assassination among the royal contenders.  He may not have ordered their murder it is just as likely that one of his supporters did the deed with his tacit approval.   Much like Solomon condoned the death of his rebel son Absolom, until the deed was done when he was racked with grief.   Richard probably didn’t have much time for regrets though as he had to fight off rebellion from the beginning of his short two-year plus reign and the threats from France and Brittany.   Still a good murder mystery.

At Bosworth field per the Bard spake Richard III,  “A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse.”   Richard III, Act V, scene v.   http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

The Tesla Tale And Global Warming–Brrr

If Alice had an automobile to cruise around in Wonderland there is no doubt her vehicle of choice would have been a Tesla or the Queen may have imposed it on her because it promoted pixie dust production.    It just posted a profit the last quarter.  Of course that is an accounting profit and doesn’t reflect the payments to become due on its debts.  It does have some debts to the tune of hundreds of millions and grants also thanks to the lead court Jester, Monsieur Al Gore.  Of course it didn’t make any profits for any quarter since it went public in 2010 but hey, cash on cash they did collect more than they spent last quarter.   Mr. Musk says he is proud that Tesla is leading the electric car revolution.  His words, not mine.  Of course it is easier to lead a revolution with other people’s money and bodies.   The profit is an outcome of political connection over genius.  Let’s dig a little deeper into this story of American enterprise.  (Forget the foreign manufacturing and involvement for the moment)

They book their profits when the cars are shipped not when the cash its the bank account but some folks d0 that.  They tout that they have 15,000 orders.   Ok, there are over 150 million autos in the US so that is….what percent?  You figure it however you want.   Of course they get the kicker to sales by offering taxpayer funded 7500 dollar checks to each purchaser as a tax credit because it is a favored industry product by the central planners in DC.   So for their 60,000 dollar model the buyer gets over 10% back from Uncle Sam.  Don’t you wish you could get that for you Ford 150?   But wait there’s more.  They have stopped offering a smaller battery pack.  It only allowed a range of 160 miles compared to the 23o mile claim for the 60kwh battery.  Hey, they are going to give you the larger battery for the same price but they will program the computer system so you get only the 160 mile range unless you pay for an upgrade.   I wonder what the New York Times reporter thinks of the claims for mileage range?     But it gets even better.

They reported that 10% of gross revenues came from selling pollution tax credits.  That is gross revenue, not profits.  Even if their cars are terrible and they can get some celebrities to buy a few then they can always hope for a profit from selling tax credits.   But it all is for a good cause to save us from ourselves.  At least their news isn’t as grim as that for Fisker, which just laid off several hundred more US workers and is still in hiding about why those 15 cars blew up and burned during the Sandy flooding while they were just sitting there.   And the Street reports they have now engaged the workout/Chapter 11 lawyers.  But again those hundreds of millions was for the Cause.

Our historic and home grown version of crony capitalism is bad enough without having to endure socialist crony capitalism.    Of course the sop to the great unwashed out there is to win the war of global warming and this auto kerfuffle is just the ticket we are told.

The latest headline on Global Warming?   Well, it wasn’t a headline, you had to look pretty thoroughly to find the news.  The global temperature has in fact NOT increased for the last 20 years.  Even Hansen, yes, that Hansen, of the IPCC and the UN has conceded that fact.  He of the leaked emails revealing his non- scientific approach to controlling the public information about the research so it promoted the global warming alarmists agenda.   He now blames it on the Chinese and all their coal plants.  Those emissions have cooled the planet he says.  Others of his conclave have admitted that the recent data do not conform to their models.  Garbage in, garbage out.  Of particular interest is that this news was taken public in one of the greenest of the green countries–Australia.    It wasn’t Fox news or Drudge.   Likewise they Global alarmist have also finally agreed that the Antarctic sea ice is increasing substantially while the Arctic has retreated in the last few years resulting it no real net change to the sea volumes and thus those threatened floods of coastal areas.

If those doing the research would just give us the facts, the raw data and not treat us like blithering idiots.  They have that damn “you just don’t understand” attitude that they and only they have intelligence.  If it is really as true as they say then the actual results of research will support their conclusions.  Don’t give us the conclusions and treat those as facts.  If they are right, show us, don’t lecture us.

So grab a Tesla.  Al needs the money.  And they probably have a great heater that will protect you from those Chinese induced bitter winters.   Of course with the heater going full blast you might only make it to the nearest 7-11 and back.

“The United States is not a nation of people which in the long run allows itself to be pushed around.”   Dorothy Thompson, American journalist.  Hope that is still true. http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com

Popes And Leadership Lessons

There has been understandably been much news print and comment about the new Pope, Francis I, just ordained to that position.   Especially there has been great time and attention devoted to his leadership goals and style.  This first couple of weeks every little nuance has been observed to get a reading on what his goals and methods will be and what kind of leadership traits he will emphasize.   This is certainly to be expected as he is the religious leader for over a billion people.  Any institution as old as the Church will have witnessed many leaders and many different leadership styles and skills or the lack of them over the years.  After all it has been in business for 2000 years.  At different times there have been various demands and needs in the leader of the Church.   There have been wars, famines, religious conflicts, doctrinal disputes and social injustice and governmental oppressions that have challenged the Church and therefore the needed leadership in the Church has varied greatly over the centuries.  Today it seems that making the Church seem relevant in an increasingly secular world  is the great challenge of the Church.  Sometimes the leadership required was much more profound and fundamental–it was a battle for survival.

From the time of Jesus until the conversion of Constantine, the Popes (more accurately bishops in the early days) had to struggle to spread the Gospel and do so without arousing too much animosity of the Roman authorities.  You are familiar with the stories of the early Christians and the lions in the Colosseum and those stories are true.  The Church had to attract new devotees and its mission of course was to expand, grow and convert everyone to the Gospel.  It was devilish balancing act because it wanted and needed to grow but it realized it couldn’t be seen as a threat to the Empire.  Thus the ebb and flow of persecutions in the early centuries.  The Empire finally embraced the Gospel with Constantine and the Church fully emerged into the light and indeed the Popes now starting assuming a power beyond the pulpit.  Now Kings and Emperors wanted and needed their blessings and ordination to their crowns.   By the 9th century AD the Church was firmly established throughout the Western world but the world was still a dangerous place.

During the 7th and 8th century the Muslim world was on the march and making conquests throughout much of the known world.  The reach of Islam under the sword had now stretched from the Indus in the East all the way west across all of the Middle East and to the straits of Gibraltar and beyond.  You will recall that the Muslims had taken Spain in the 600′s and then moved into southern France in the 700′s and were only stopped finally by Charles Martel at the battle of Tours early in the 8th century.  That was only a couple hundred miles from Paris.  In the 8th century the Muslims began expanding their hegemony from the shores of North Africa and Spain into the southern reaches of Italy.  By mid-century Sicily had fallen to the scimitar and the western coast of the Italian mainland was under assault.

In 846 Rome no longer gleamed with the splendor of the ancient days and the true political power now resided in the Constantinople.   But Rome was still a large city and already was filled with millennia of history.  The Muslims pressed their attack onto Rome and the outlying regions.   They looted and carried off some of the treasure of the Vatican and then moved farther inland to subdue the heartland.  But the situation was very fluid as there was resistance up and down the west coast of Italy and the Muslims varied their military objectives and targets of conquests regularly.   It was in the midst of the perilous times that a new Pope was elected.  It was Leo the Fourth.   He immediately began the call for help and aid from allies along the coast not under the dominion of the Muslims and even up the the Carlovingian rulers of the Franks but time and distance prevented effective relief from the quarter.   After Leo performed the usual prayers and formalities of office he immediately followed up with restoring the defenses of the once great city.  The City walls were repaired and expanded and 15 new battle towers were erected around the City in strategic locations.  Two of those were on either side of the Tiber and there was a great iron chain established between to prevent ingress by a hostile fleet.

From Naples and Amalfi among others fleets came to the rescue of Rome and the Pontiff.  A battle was joined off the coast but the Muslims were not savvy sailors and got caught in a bad storm and much of their force was destroyed while the Christians remained in the sheltered bays and coves.  The war raged on for several more years but under the encouragement and blessing of Leo the Christians did extract the Muslim from the Italian mainland and even the outlying regions over time.  The Pope brought in a flood of immigrants from Corsica to to replenish Christians at Ostia Porto, the Roman port at the mouth of the Tiber as a buffer against future attack.   The City of Rome and the Church had managed to survive the Goths, the Lombards, Huns and now the Muslims.    Leo was the man of his times and his martial leadership skills in addition to his religious guidance were necessary at that moment.   It was several more centuries before El Cid finally  extirpated the Muslims from Spain.  But with the battle of Tours and the wars and battles during Leo the Fourth’s reign Europe was saved from the Islamic yoke.

“The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul…”  Proverbs 13. http://www.olcranky.wordpress.com