NOTA by a landslide!
As a percentage of the eligible-to-vote U.S. citizens:
NOTA - 42.35%
Obama - 27.46%
McCain - 24.13%
Other - 6.05%
NOTA stands for None of the Above. In other words, many of us refused to give our vote to any of the candidates listed on the ballot.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
On the other hand...
Here's an interesting take on the current recession and why we shouldn't be so afraid of it.
Excerpt:
Most people will profit from the current slow-down, and also from any recession that may follow.
How can this possible? It is possible because most of the pain felt in economic corrections happens at the margin, hurting some people badly, but making things better for most people, overall. Think about it . . .
Businesses will suffer lower profits, but most of them will re-think and re-engineer their operations, emerging better and stronger than they were before, while those businesses that fail will see their assets moved to more productive firms, paving the way for greater societal wealth in the future.
Those who are close to retirement, and stayed in the stock market too long, may have to delay their retirement for a year or two. But if they refuse to panic by selling out now, they too will likely emerge better than before.
The greatest pain will be felt by those who lose their jobs. This pain will only impact, even if we have a severe recession, about one out of ten Americans. This is too much pain suffered by too many people, but the fact remains that . . .
Roughly 70% to 90% of all Americans will suffer NO economic pain at all. Instead, they will actually BENEFIT from the correction, because the cost of living will drop, and new investment opportunities will be available at bargain prices.
Hmm, what to think?
Excerpt:
Most people will profit from the current slow-down, and also from any recession that may follow.
How can this possible? It is possible because most of the pain felt in economic corrections happens at the margin, hurting some people badly, but making things better for most people, overall. Think about it . . .
Businesses will suffer lower profits, but most of them will re-think and re-engineer their operations, emerging better and stronger than they were before, while those businesses that fail will see their assets moved to more productive firms, paving the way for greater societal wealth in the future.
Those who are close to retirement, and stayed in the stock market too long, may have to delay their retirement for a year or two. But if they refuse to panic by selling out now, they too will likely emerge better than before.
The greatest pain will be felt by those who lose their jobs. This pain will only impact, even if we have a severe recession, about one out of ten Americans. This is too much pain suffered by too many people, but the fact remains that . . .
Roughly 70% to 90% of all Americans will suffer NO economic pain at all. Instead, they will actually BENEFIT from the correction, because the cost of living will drop, and new investment opportunities will be available at bargain prices.
Hmm, what to think?
I like this article
This website is pretty weird looking, but I really enjoyed this article about the current economic crisis. It blended a very easy-to-follow explanation of our ponzi-scheme economy with a meditation of what it means for our civilization and human relationships in general. Pretty cool. He's writing from a new-agey point of view, but I didn't find that incompatible with my Christian way of thinking, such as it is.
Here's the first part:
Suppose you give me a million dollars with the instructions, "Invest this profitably, and I'll pay you well." I'm a sharp dresser -- why not? So I go out onto the street and hand out stacks of bills to random passers-by. Ten thousand dollars each. In return, each scribbles out an IOU for $20,000, payable in five years. I come back to you and say, "Look at these IOUs! I have generated a 20% annual return on your investment." You are very pleased, and pay me an enormous commission.
Now I've got a big stack of IOUs, so I use these "assets" as collateral to borrow even more money, which I lend out to even more people, or sell them to others like myself who do the same. I also buy insurance to cover me in case the borrowers default -- and I pay for it with those self-same IOUs! Round and round it goes, each new loan becoming somebody's asset on which to borrow yet more money. We all rake in huge commissions and bonuses, as the total face value of all the assets we've created from that initial million dollars is now fifty times that.
Then one day, the first batch of IOUs comes due. But guess what? The person who scribbled his name on the IOU can't pay me back right now. In fact, lots of the borrowers can't. I try to hush this embarrassing fact up as long as possible, but pretty soon you get suspicious. You want your million dollars back -- in cash. I try to sell the IOUs and their derivatives that I hold, but everyone else is suspicious too, and no one buys them. The insurance company tries to cover my losses, but it can only do so by selling the IOUs I gave it!
So finally, the government steps in and buys the IOUs, bails out the insurance company and everyone else holding the IOUs and the derivatives stacked on them. Their total value is way more than a million dollars now. I and my fellow entrepreneurs retire with our lucre. Everyone else pays for it.
This is the first level of what has happened in the financial industry over the past decade. It is a huge transfer of wealth to the financial elite, to be funded by US taxpayers, foreign corporations and governments, and ultimately the foreign workers who subsidize US debt indirectly via the lower purchasing power of their wages. However, to see the current crisis as merely the result of a big con is to miss its true significance.
Here's the whole essay.
Here's the first part:
Suppose you give me a million dollars with the instructions, "Invest this profitably, and I'll pay you well." I'm a sharp dresser -- why not? So I go out onto the street and hand out stacks of bills to random passers-by. Ten thousand dollars each. In return, each scribbles out an IOU for $20,000, payable in five years. I come back to you and say, "Look at these IOUs! I have generated a 20% annual return on your investment." You are very pleased, and pay me an enormous commission.
Now I've got a big stack of IOUs, so I use these "assets" as collateral to borrow even more money, which I lend out to even more people, or sell them to others like myself who do the same. I also buy insurance to cover me in case the borrowers default -- and I pay for it with those self-same IOUs! Round and round it goes, each new loan becoming somebody's asset on which to borrow yet more money. We all rake in huge commissions and bonuses, as the total face value of all the assets we've created from that initial million dollars is now fifty times that.
Then one day, the first batch of IOUs comes due. But guess what? The person who scribbled his name on the IOU can't pay me back right now. In fact, lots of the borrowers can't. I try to hush this embarrassing fact up as long as possible, but pretty soon you get suspicious. You want your million dollars back -- in cash. I try to sell the IOUs and their derivatives that I hold, but everyone else is suspicious too, and no one buys them. The insurance company tries to cover my losses, but it can only do so by selling the IOUs I gave it!
So finally, the government steps in and buys the IOUs, bails out the insurance company and everyone else holding the IOUs and the derivatives stacked on them. Their total value is way more than a million dollars now. I and my fellow entrepreneurs retire with our lucre. Everyone else pays for it.
This is the first level of what has happened in the financial industry over the past decade. It is a huge transfer of wealth to the financial elite, to be funded by US taxpayers, foreign corporations and governments, and ultimately the foreign workers who subsidize US debt indirectly via the lower purchasing power of their wages. However, to see the current crisis as merely the result of a big con is to miss its true significance.
Here's the whole essay.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Thank goodness Congress is protecting the children
from DownsizeDC:
On September 17, the House passed the "School Safety Enhancements Act of 2008."
My first thought was, "The DC Upsizers are at it again!"
My second thought was that the Constitution gives Congress no authority over public safety, except on federal property. This power is left to the states.
But even aside from this, the bill implies something distressing -- that state and local governments are incapable of preserving public safety without Congressional help. But if the states really lack the will and competence to keep schoolchildren safe then they must also be incapable of governing at all. This would imply that, but for Congress, our country would be a nation of 50 Somalias.
This just isn't true.
But when you read the bill, you realize it isn't about school "safety" at all.
The bill expands an already-existing (and unnecessary) grant program for local governments to install metal detectors on school grounds. The bill increases the funding from $30 million to $50 million per year. Worse, it specifically expands the program to include funding for "surveillance equipment."
This, on top of Real ID, Animal ID, TWIC, warrantless spying . . . Perhaps if the younger generation are always being watched at school, they'll get used to it and won't mind the same on the streets, at their jobs, or in their homes.
Do you want to know how your Represenatitive voted for this atrocity? Too bad. Congress couldn't be bothered with a roll call vote; it passed under "suspension of the rules" by voice vote. (Somehow, though, they did find time for a roll call vote on whether to name a post office building after Theodore Roosevelt.)
On September 17, the House passed the "School Safety Enhancements Act of 2008."
My first thought was, "The DC Upsizers are at it again!"
My second thought was that the Constitution gives Congress no authority over public safety, except on federal property. This power is left to the states.
But even aside from this, the bill implies something distressing -- that state and local governments are incapable of preserving public safety without Congressional help. But if the states really lack the will and competence to keep schoolchildren safe then they must also be incapable of governing at all. This would imply that, but for Congress, our country would be a nation of 50 Somalias.
This just isn't true.
But when you read the bill, you realize it isn't about school "safety" at all.
The bill expands an already-existing (and unnecessary) grant program for local governments to install metal detectors on school grounds. The bill increases the funding from $30 million to $50 million per year. Worse, it specifically expands the program to include funding for "surveillance equipment."
This, on top of Real ID, Animal ID, TWIC, warrantless spying . . . Perhaps if the younger generation are always being watched at school, they'll get used to it and won't mind the same on the streets, at their jobs, or in their homes.
Do you want to know how your Represenatitive voted for this atrocity? Too bad. Congress couldn't be bothered with a roll call vote; it passed under "suspension of the rules" by voice vote. (Somehow, though, they did find time for a roll call vote on whether to name a post office building after Theodore Roosevelt.)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Should I Vote?
Here's a really interesting and challenging article by a man who, based on ideological grounds, does not vote.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Ron Paul vs. the Bailout
Here are a couple of brief statements Ron Paul made yesterday to the Financial Services Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. Great explanations of how government intervention was primarily responsible for this mess and why the proposed bailout (i.e., more government intervention) is the wrong thing to do.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Dude, I voted!
A DJ on the radio today was promoting an online movie that is aimed at young adults - specifically "slackers" - to encourage them to vote. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with encouraging "slackers" to vote? Shouldn't we first encourage them to not be slackers - to be mentally active and reasonably informed before nudging them towards the ballot box?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Trusting the government
I think that most people in the US think that health and safety issues like safe drinking water has to be handled by the government, rather than through private means. Here's an article about an EPA decision regarding perchlorate levels in drinking water.
quote: The ingredient, perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks, particularly for babies and fetuses, according to some scientists.
The EPA document says that mandating a clean-up level for perchlorate would not result in a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public-water systems."
....
Lenny Siegel, director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight in Mountain View, Calif., added: "This is an unconscionable decision not based upon science or law but on concern that a more stringent standard could cost the government significantly."
The Defense Department used perchlorate for decades in testing missiles and rockets, and most perchlorate contamination is the result of defense and aerospace activities, congressional investigators said last year.
The Pentagon could face liability if EPA set a national drinking water standard that forced water agencies around the country to undertake costly clean-up efforts. Defense officials have spent years questioning EPA's conclusions about the risks posed by perchlorate.
Now I don't know who's right here about the perchlorate levels, but what I do know is that when there is a "public system", there is no one we can "fire" if we don't like what they are doing. If I am unhappy with the quality of bottled water, I can buy another brand. If I don't like what's coming out of my tap, I can't switch to another provider. It's especially aggravating that we are trusting the government to be responsible for the environment, when the government itself is the biggest polluter!
quote: The ingredient, perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks, particularly for babies and fetuses, according to some scientists.
The EPA document says that mandating a clean-up level for perchlorate would not result in a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public-water systems."
....
Lenny Siegel, director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight in Mountain View, Calif., added: "This is an unconscionable decision not based upon science or law but on concern that a more stringent standard could cost the government significantly."
The Defense Department used perchlorate for decades in testing missiles and rockets, and most perchlorate contamination is the result of defense and aerospace activities, congressional investigators said last year.
The Pentagon could face liability if EPA set a national drinking water standard that forced water agencies around the country to undertake costly clean-up efforts. Defense officials have spent years questioning EPA's conclusions about the risks posed by perchlorate.
Now I don't know who's right here about the perchlorate levels, but what I do know is that when there is a "public system", there is no one we can "fire" if we don't like what they are doing. If I am unhappy with the quality of bottled water, I can buy another brand. If I don't like what's coming out of my tap, I can't switch to another provider. It's especially aggravating that we are trusting the government to be responsible for the environment, when the government itself is the biggest polluter!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Whoa.
The egg on the right is a pretty good-sized, normal egg. The egg on the left was laid by our hen named "Omelet" this morning and is the biggest chicken egg I've ever seen. And, no, I didn't hear any screaming coming from the coop! We haven't cracked it open yet to see what's inside.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Hard to do...
In these days of vacillation, confusion of thought and corruption, we confess the true teaching of the Church regardless of the opinions held by those who might hear us, and disregarding the skepticism and faithlessness of our environment. If, for the sake of conforming to the errors of the times, we would suppress the truth or yet profess distorted doctrines to please the world, we would in fact be offering stones instead of bread. And the higher the position of one who would act in this way, the more profound the temptation and the more serious the consequences.
- St. Philaret the New Confessor
- St. Philaret the New Confessor
Saturday, August 23, 2008
We are Chicken Farmers
Because we have so much free time, and we love fresh, organic eggs, we decided to get chickens! Some friends of ours with a large flock graciously gave us a few of their layers and sold us one of their nifty homemade "Arks" - a great summer coop.
Here's the set-up. The red shed in the background will soon be converted into a winter coop.
Sam checks the voltage of the electric netting.
A few of the girls in the ark.
Stephen really wanted an omelet for breakfast.
"I'll lay you an egg when I'm good and ready!"
Peckin' around.
Here's the set-up. The red shed in the background will soon be converted into a winter coop.
Sam checks the voltage of the electric netting.
A few of the girls in the ark.
Stephen really wanted an omelet for breakfast.
"I'll lay you an egg when I'm good and ready!"
Peckin' around.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
R.I.P. Henry
1999 to August 5, 2008---------------------------------------
Henry was such a strong presence in our home; it's really hard not to have him around! We are especially sad that he met such a sudden and violent end (he was killed by some animal in our woods - a fisher cat or fox, probably). He stayed so close to home that we assumed we would have many more years with him. But, we are glad for the 7 1/2 years that he spent with us. He was well loved and cared for, and we are left with tons of entertaining memories and pictures!
He was such a pretty cat, yet would strike the most ridiculous poses!
He often insisted on being on our chairs or desks, even if we did undignified things to him while he was there.
And he got along well with our other critters.
We miss you, Henry!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Early Summer Blur of Activity
I haven't posted in awhile, mostly due to the crazy pace of June and early July. We had the Homeschool Drama Troupe production of The Taming of the Shrew (set in the wild west!), a dance recital, then a driving trip down to GA to visit all the relatives. We are back for a couple of days, then off to Maine for a week! Here are a few random pictures taken over the last coupla months.
I know you've all been missing my cat pictures. Here's what I saw one morning recently when I woke up (he's on my tummy). Please ignore the hideous wallpaper in my bedroom. I do.
The cast of Taming of the Shrew.
Hanging with cousins in GA.
Swimming with more cousins.
Hanging with Yiayia and weird Uncle Andy.
Our last Chick-Fil-A's before crossing the Mason-Dixon back into yankee-land (where Chick-Fil-A's are very rare).
I know you've all been missing my cat pictures. Here's what I saw one morning recently when I woke up (he's on my tummy). Please ignore the hideous wallpaper in my bedroom. I do.
The cast of Taming of the Shrew.
Hanging with cousins in GA.
Swimming with more cousins.
Hanging with Yiayia and weird Uncle Andy.
Our last Chick-Fil-A's before crossing the Mason-Dixon back into yankee-land (where Chick-Fil-A's are very rare).
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
How do we make money? Volume!
The price of oil is given by the cost of one barrel of oil. A barrel of oil is 42 gallons. At an oil price of $138 a barrel, the price of oil is $3.29 a gallon. Yet we wonder why gasoline costs $4 a gallon. With gasoline prices in the range of $4 a gallon, this leaves about $0.70 (70 cents) a gallon for oil to be processed into gasoline and other derivative products and for gasoline to be delivered and sold at the local gasoline station. Costs that must come out of the $0.70 include transportation to oil refineries, actual oil processing in accordance with environmental regulations, delivery to the gas station and ultimately to the pump.
Taxes also are part of the price of gasoline at the pump. To begin the tax calculation, the federal tax on gasoline is $0.184 per gallon (18.4 cents). State taxes vary from state-to-state, from a low of $0.08 a gallon in Alaska to a high of $0.32 per gallon in Wisconsin. Gasoline taxes in most states are in the 18 to 25 cents a gallon range but New York state gasoline tax is 32 cents a gallon and in Pennsylvania the gasoline tax is 31 cents a gallon.
Now recall that we started with $0.70 (70 cents) a gallon over the oil price for processing, etc. the oil and for bringing gasoline to the pump at the gas station, and all together the gasoline price of $4.00 a gallon includes state and federal taxes for a total of $0.27 per gallon in Alaska to $0.51 in Wisconsin. This leaves a potential "profit" maximum of $0.33 (33 cents a gallon) in Alaska and $0.19 (19 cents a gallon) in Wisconsin.
The profit for the oil company and the gas station must come out of the 33 cents or 19 cents. However both the oil company and gas station have costs that must be added to costs they incur before setting the gasoline price to you at the pump. These costs vary but there isn’t a lot of room for oil company stockholders and gas station owners to reap the benefit of their investments. The obvious question then is how come oil companies are reporting such large profits if the numbers show the profit potential per gallon of oil to be so relatively low. The answer is volume.
Whole article is here.
Taxes also are part of the price of gasoline at the pump. To begin the tax calculation, the federal tax on gasoline is $0.184 per gallon (18.4 cents). State taxes vary from state-to-state, from a low of $0.08 a gallon in Alaska to a high of $0.32 per gallon in Wisconsin. Gasoline taxes in most states are in the 18 to 25 cents a gallon range but New York state gasoline tax is 32 cents a gallon and in Pennsylvania the gasoline tax is 31 cents a gallon.
Now recall that we started with $0.70 (70 cents) a gallon over the oil price for processing, etc. the oil and for bringing gasoline to the pump at the gas station, and all together the gasoline price of $4.00 a gallon includes state and federal taxes for a total of $0.27 per gallon in Alaska to $0.51 in Wisconsin. This leaves a potential "profit" maximum of $0.33 (33 cents a gallon) in Alaska and $0.19 (19 cents a gallon) in Wisconsin.
The profit for the oil company and the gas station must come out of the 33 cents or 19 cents. However both the oil company and gas station have costs that must be added to costs they incur before setting the gasoline price to you at the pump. These costs vary but there isn’t a lot of room for oil company stockholders and gas station owners to reap the benefit of their investments. The obvious question then is how come oil companies are reporting such large profits if the numbers show the profit potential per gallon of oil to be so relatively low. The answer is volume.
Whole article is here.
Oh, yes, let's nationalize heath care!
Here's another story of how wonderful it is to have government in charge of health care.
Until a few years ago, all women in the UK were offered regular screening for cervical cancer from the age of 20; then in 2004 the screening age in England was raised to 25 (it remains at 20 in Scotland and Wales).
...which is unfortunate for the young women who are dying of cervical cancer because they couldn't get pap smears even though they wanted them!
According to Professor David Luesley, adviser to the NHS Screening Programme, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the very few.' Wonderful.
(The whole story is here.)
Until a few years ago, all women in the UK were offered regular screening for cervical cancer from the age of 20; then in 2004 the screening age in England was raised to 25 (it remains at 20 in Scotland and Wales).
...which is unfortunate for the young women who are dying of cervical cancer because they couldn't get pap smears even though they wanted them!
According to Professor David Luesley, adviser to the NHS Screening Programme, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the very few.' Wonderful.
(The whole story is here.)
Monday, June 9, 2008
Obomba?
I had thought that the only potential positive thing about Obama as a president would be a more sane foreign policy. I was disappointed to read this over at Antiwar.com.
Don't look to Barack Obama for deliverance from this looming conflict [between Israel and Iran]. In his speech to AIPAC, he clearly signed on to the Lobby's latest project, departing from his prepared text to declare:
"I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything."
"Everything" includes murdering tens of thousands of Iranians, mostly civilians – driving the price of oil up above $300 a barrel and destroying the US economy – and involving us in a war that will make the Iraq conflict look like a Sunday school picnic. And for what?
The irony, of course, is that Iran is nowhere near obtaining nuclear weapons, as the President's own intelligence agencies recently informed him: but no matter. That's a small obstacle to those who disdain "the reality-based community," and see themselves as Making History while the rest of us watch, helpless and aghast.
Don't look to Barack Obama for deliverance from this looming conflict [between Israel and Iran]. In his speech to AIPAC, he clearly signed on to the Lobby's latest project, departing from his prepared text to declare:
"I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything."
"Everything" includes murdering tens of thousands of Iranians, mostly civilians – driving the price of oil up above $300 a barrel and destroying the US economy – and involving us in a war that will make the Iraq conflict look like a Sunday school picnic. And for what?
The irony, of course, is that Iran is nowhere near obtaining nuclear weapons, as the President's own intelligence agencies recently informed him: but no matter. That's a small obstacle to those who disdain "the reality-based community," and see themselves as Making History while the rest of us watch, helpless and aghast.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Challenging stuff
I'm in the process of watching "The Americanization of Emily," a 1964 movie starring Julie Andrews and James Garner. I never realized how anti-war it is. I just saw a scene where James Garner's character is talking with a war widow about the war. It almost sounds blasphemous given the type of patriotic sentiments we are raised with and surrounded by in this country. But it's important to challenge those notions, I think. Here's a bit of the dialog (courtesy of this article on the movie):
Emily warns him that her mother is a bit mad and has taken to referring to her fallen husband and son as though they were still alive. He does his best to charm Mrs. Barham (Joyce Grenfell), and then initially attempts to impart his views on war in a facetious manner:
War isn’t hell at all. It’s man at his best; the highest morality he’s capable of … it’s not war that’s insane, you see. It’s the morality of it. It’s not greed or ambition that makes war: it’s goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Always against tyranny and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war, we’ve managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we’ll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It’s not war that’s unnatural to us – it’s virtue. As long as valor remains a virtue, we shall have soldiers. So, I preach cowardice. Through cowardice, we shall all be saved.
She is completely oblivious to his irony:
That was exalting, Commander … after every war, you know, we always find out how unnecessary it was. And after this one, I’m sure all the generals will dash off and write books about the blunders made by other generals, and statesmen will publish their secret diaries, and it’ll show beyond any shadow of a doubt that war could easily have been avoided in the first place. And the rest of us, of course, will be left with the job of bandaging the wounded and burying the dead.
His mockery unsuccessful, Charlie makes his point as clear as possible in one of the most pointed, devastating anti-war monologues ever heard in film:
Charlie: I don’t trust people who make bitter reflections about war, Mrs. Barham. It’s always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a Hell it is. And it’s always the widows who lead the Memorial Day parades … we shall never end wars, Mrs. Barham, by blaming it on ministers and generals or warmongering imperialists or all the other banal bogies. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers; the rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields. We wear our widows’ weeds like nuns and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifices. My brother died at Anzio – an everyday soldier’s death, no special heroism involved. They buried what pieces they found of him. But my mother insists he died a brave death and pretends to be very proud.
Mrs. Barham: You’re very hard on your mother. It seems a harmless enough pretense to me.
Charlie: No, Mrs. Barham. No, you see, now my other brother can’t wait to reach enlistment age. That’ll be in September. May be ministers and generals who blunder us into wars, but the least the rest of us can do is to resist honoring the institution. What has my mother got for pretending bravery was admirable? She’s under constant sedation and terrified she may wake up one morning and find her last son has run off to be brave.
Charlie’s compelling speech is so stunning, so jarring, that Mrs. Barham snaps out of her delusional denial and admits aloud, for the first time, that her husband and son are dead.
Emily warns him that her mother is a bit mad and has taken to referring to her fallen husband and son as though they were still alive. He does his best to charm Mrs. Barham (Joyce Grenfell), and then initially attempts to impart his views on war in a facetious manner:
War isn’t hell at all. It’s man at his best; the highest morality he’s capable of … it’s not war that’s insane, you see. It’s the morality of it. It’s not greed or ambition that makes war: it’s goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Always against tyranny and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war, we’ve managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we’ll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It’s not war that’s unnatural to us – it’s virtue. As long as valor remains a virtue, we shall have soldiers. So, I preach cowardice. Through cowardice, we shall all be saved.
She is completely oblivious to his irony:
That was exalting, Commander … after every war, you know, we always find out how unnecessary it was. And after this one, I’m sure all the generals will dash off and write books about the blunders made by other generals, and statesmen will publish their secret diaries, and it’ll show beyond any shadow of a doubt that war could easily have been avoided in the first place. And the rest of us, of course, will be left with the job of bandaging the wounded and burying the dead.
His mockery unsuccessful, Charlie makes his point as clear as possible in one of the most pointed, devastating anti-war monologues ever heard in film:
Charlie: I don’t trust people who make bitter reflections about war, Mrs. Barham. It’s always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a Hell it is. And it’s always the widows who lead the Memorial Day parades … we shall never end wars, Mrs. Barham, by blaming it on ministers and generals or warmongering imperialists or all the other banal bogies. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers; the rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields. We wear our widows’ weeds like nuns and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifices. My brother died at Anzio – an everyday soldier’s death, no special heroism involved. They buried what pieces they found of him. But my mother insists he died a brave death and pretends to be very proud.
Mrs. Barham: You’re very hard on your mother. It seems a harmless enough pretense to me.
Charlie: No, Mrs. Barham. No, you see, now my other brother can’t wait to reach enlistment age. That’ll be in September. May be ministers and generals who blunder us into wars, but the least the rest of us can do is to resist honoring the institution. What has my mother got for pretending bravery was admirable? She’s under constant sedation and terrified she may wake up one morning and find her last son has run off to be brave.
Charlie’s compelling speech is so stunning, so jarring, that Mrs. Barham snaps out of her delusional denial and admits aloud, for the first time, that her husband and son are dead.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Surprises in the main-stream media
An article on folks preparing for life to change as oil and other goods get scarcer.
Another article explaining the cost of gas, that includes a reference to the falling dollar.
This is all stuff I've been reading about for awhile in alternative media - interesting to see it hit the Associated Press.
Another article explaining the cost of gas, that includes a reference to the falling dollar.
This is all stuff I've been reading about for awhile in alternative media - interesting to see it hit the Associated Press.
Late Spring in NH
After so many months of posting our snowy pictures, I thought I'd show you what late spring in our yard looks like. The leaves have only recently been fully unfurled, a bumper crop of dandelions are in full bloom, and the ferns are popping up in the woods.
And the daffodils are waning, but not completely gone.
Note the "sagging" iron railing in the background - those were straight last fall - the snow falling off of the roof and piling up there (that door is rarely used) somehow caused that to happen!
And the daffodils are waning, but not completely gone.
Note the "sagging" iron railing in the background - those were straight last fall - the snow falling off of the roof and piling up there (that door is rarely used) somehow caused that to happen!
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Importance of Decentralization
From today's Downsize DC dispatch:
Everyone is feeling the pinch of increased gasoline prices. But that's nothing compared to the rate at which the cost of first class postage has risen. The average price of gasoline has increased 1,400% in the last 89 years, but the price of a first class stamp has risen 2,100%.
There are many reasons for this. Here's a big one: Government is a monopoly. It has no incentives to economize. Another problem is that spending decisions are made for political reasons, not because the social benefits outweigh the costs. Here's another example, that relates to the first one . . .
The U.S. Postal Service has purchased more than 30,000 ethanol-capable trucks. This has caused their gasoline consumption to rise by more than 1.5 million gallons. A Postal Service study found that the new vehicles get as much as 29% fewer miles to the gallon.
Aren't you glad we have the government to solve our energy and environmental problems?
The American people are partly to blame because when they look to the politicians to solve problems they are appealing to the most wasteful, incompetent, and often harmful institution in the world -- Big Government.
The solutions to our problems can't come from the top-down. They can't be dictated by monopoly government. They must and they will come from the bottom-up. Solutions are found when creative individuals can profit by responding to the demands of consumers. Today's higher prices are the inventor's and the entrepreneur's signal to get to work.
The knowledge and ideas we need to solve our problems can't possibly be concentrated in Washington, DC. Knowledge and creativity are decentralized resources, dispersed across the entire world population. This is why the worst errors are centralized in the halls of government, while most of the truly viable solutions are decentralized.
This is true even of our environmental and energy problems. While the politicians are floundering in error, with their top-down mandates for mass-produced ethanol and farm subsidies that drive-up the cost of food, the decentralized sector of our economy is busy creating real solutions.
We recently reported on a breakthrough in solar power technology by Sunrgi. Their new solar cell technology concentrates the energy of sunlight by a factor of 1,600. But within days IBM announced a similar technology that concentrates sunlight by an even larger factor -- 2,300.
Everyone is feeling the pinch of increased gasoline prices. But that's nothing compared to the rate at which the cost of first class postage has risen. The average price of gasoline has increased 1,400% in the last 89 years, but the price of a first class stamp has risen 2,100%.
There are many reasons for this. Here's a big one: Government is a monopoly. It has no incentives to economize. Another problem is that spending decisions are made for political reasons, not because the social benefits outweigh the costs. Here's another example, that relates to the first one . . .
The U.S. Postal Service has purchased more than 30,000 ethanol-capable trucks. This has caused their gasoline consumption to rise by more than 1.5 million gallons. A Postal Service study found that the new vehicles get as much as 29% fewer miles to the gallon.
Aren't you glad we have the government to solve our energy and environmental problems?
The American people are partly to blame because when they look to the politicians to solve problems they are appealing to the most wasteful, incompetent, and often harmful institution in the world -- Big Government.
The solutions to our problems can't come from the top-down. They can't be dictated by monopoly government. They must and they will come from the bottom-up. Solutions are found when creative individuals can profit by responding to the demands of consumers. Today's higher prices are the inventor's and the entrepreneur's signal to get to work.
The knowledge and ideas we need to solve our problems can't possibly be concentrated in Washington, DC. Knowledge and creativity are decentralized resources, dispersed across the entire world population. This is why the worst errors are centralized in the halls of government, while most of the truly viable solutions are decentralized.
This is true even of our environmental and energy problems. While the politicians are floundering in error, with their top-down mandates for mass-produced ethanol and farm subsidies that drive-up the cost of food, the decentralized sector of our economy is busy creating real solutions.
We recently reported on a breakthrough in solar power technology by Sunrgi. Their new solar cell technology concentrates the energy of sunlight by a factor of 1,600. But within days IBM announced a similar technology that concentrates sunlight by an even larger factor -- 2,300.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Ecology vs. Economy?
This is interesting. Many people advocate population reduction as being important for the environment, but how many people understand the implications of shrinking population on the economy - specifically the financial well-being (or even just survival) of the elder generations? In this interesting article, a German writer discusses this problem:
"There is nothing complicated about finance. It is based on old people lending to young people. Young people invest in homes and businesses; aging people save to acquire assets on which to retire. The new generation supports the old one, and retirement systems simply apportion rights to income between the generations. Never before in human history, though, has a new generation simply failed to appear."
Yikes!
I don't like his statement towards the end that "free markets give them the sort of economy they deserve." I think I understand what he means, but I don't like people referring to what we have as a "free market". When you've got an intrusive centralized Federal government like ours, we definitely don't have a "free" market.
"There is nothing complicated about finance. It is based on old people lending to young people. Young people invest in homes and businesses; aging people save to acquire assets on which to retire. The new generation supports the old one, and retirement systems simply apportion rights to income between the generations. Never before in human history, though, has a new generation simply failed to appear."
Yikes!
I don't like his statement towards the end that "free markets give them the sort of economy they deserve." I think I understand what he means, but I don't like people referring to what we have as a "free market". When you've got an intrusive centralized Federal government like ours, we definitely don't have a "free" market.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The Last Little Bit
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
Well, here we are on May 1st, and this is the last bit of snow left in our yard. It held on pretty well - through several 70+ degree days during Holy Week! I guess my prediction on April 10th that it would take "forever" to melt was a bit off. As much fun as it was in the winter, by now we are glad to see it go!
BTW, if you've been following my snow posts this winter, Concord, NH fell short of the all-time snow record by 4 inches this winter!
Well, here we are on May 1st, and this is the last bit of snow left in our yard. It held on pretty well - through several 70+ degree days during Holy Week! I guess my prediction on April 10th that it would take "forever" to melt was a bit off. As much fun as it was in the winter, by now we are glad to see it go!
BTW, if you've been following my snow posts this winter, Concord, NH fell short of the all-time snow record by 4 inches this winter!
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