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Gov. Scott Walker And The Paradoxical Relationship between Perfection And Evil

September 18, 2014, 8:11 am
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Illegal Voter

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Alan: Witches are rare. Vanishingly rare. 

Hunting this endangered species does futile battle with The Law of Diminishing Returns. 

When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, an evangelical Christian, says: "Whether it's one case, a hundred cases or a hundred-thousand cases, making sure we have legislation that protects the integrity for an open, fair and honest election in every single case is important," he is wrong.

Plain as potatoes wrong.

"Two plus two equals anything but four" wrong. 

When dealing with millions, thousands or just hundreds of human beings, it is impossible to guarantee fairness and honesty "in every single case." 

Even worse, every attempt to "legislate perfection" insures an outcome that is always worse than a reasonable amount of indulgence and toleration in the first place. (The corrupting influence of Prohibition is America's textbook illustration of how evil is evoked by being "too true to be good.") 

"The profoundest truths are paradoxical" and the paradoxical relationship between "the quest for perfection" and the elicitation of evil is as profound as it gets.

The false belief that "fairness and honesty can be guaranteed" through witch-hunt legislation depends on "Impossibly Pure Principles," the kind of principles that guarantee fascism's persistent appeal. 

Time out of mind, fascists (and fascist sympathizers) have posed this seductive question: "How can anyone -- other than manifestly bad people -- oppose our heartfelt attempt to insure perfection and God's blessing on us all?" 

Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton, answers: "The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice.  The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization.  We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal.  Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good.  The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”  
"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton

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"Love Your Enemies. Do Good To Those Who Persecute You... Be Perfect..."
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-your-enemies-do-good-to-those-who.html

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More Merton Quotes

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"Is Perfectionism A Curse? Paul Ryan Tells The Truth"

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"Santorum, Savonarola And The Pending Apocalypse Of The Republican Party"

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"Compendium: Voter Fraud And Voter Suppression Articles"

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker And The Politics Behind New Voter I.D. Laws

Excerpt:""Whether it's one case, a hundred cases or a hundred-thousand cases, making sure we have legislation that protects the integrity for an open, fair and honest election in every single case is important," said Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, when he signed the new law this spring."
Voters going to the polls next year — and even some this year — will encounter a lot of new rules. Photo ID requirements and fewer options for early voting are among the biggest changes.
But Democrats say it's part of a concerted GOP campaign to suppress the vote. They say minorities, students, the poor and disabled — those most likely to vote Democratic — will be hurt the most.They're part of a wave of new laws enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures this year. Supporters say the rules are needed to ensure honest elections.
Seven states so far this year have enacted new laws requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. Ohio and Pennsylvania are considering similar requirements, and several other states already have them on the books.
Other states have placed restrictions on voter registration drives, imposed new requirements for voters to show proof of citizenship, or reduced the amount of time for early voting.
"This is about putting up obstacles to legal voters being able to exercise the franchise," says Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, an advocacy group that opposes the changes. "That is the scheme that the Republicans have concocted on this."
Ross says tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters lack the photo ID that will now be required in that state. He says many of them will also have difficulty traveling to motor vehicle offices to get free ID cards available under the law.

Other Resources On Voter ID Laws

The National Conference of State Legislatures has more information on changes to voting laws this year. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, which opposes many of the changes, also has a detailed list.
All this, he adds, was created to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
"The bottom line is, in Wisconsin, there is no evidence of widespread voter impropriety happening at any point in time," Ross says.
But supporters say, in effect, that's beside the point and that the changes won't hurt legitimate voters. They argue that any voter fraud — even the possibility of fraud — is a concern.
"Whether it's one case, a hundred cases or a hundred-thousand cases, making sure we have legislation that protects the integrity for an open, fair and honest election in every single case is important," said Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, when he signed the new law this spring.
And Republicans appear to be winning over public opinion. Polls shows that an overwhelming majority of voters back ID requirements.
In Tennessee, the Republican secretary of state, Tre Hargett, is preparing plans and public service announcements to make sure voters in his state adjust smoothly to the new rules. They'll be required to show photo ID at the polls and to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote.
Hargett rejects opponents' claims that the changes will discourage voter turnout.


"I think that nothing could disenfranchise an eligible voter more than finding out that ineligible voters are voting," he says.
Hargett cited a 2005 special election in Memphis, in which poll workers admitted to faking at least three votes. But opponents of the new restrictions say a photo ID requirement won't stop that kind of fraud.
Doug Chapin, an election expert with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, says one problem with the current debate is that there's little data to back up either side.
Chapin says there's not only no evidence of widespread fraud, but "you really haven't seen, despite the rhetoric to the contrary, a whole lot of evidence that there are large numbers of people who are registered to vote, or want to register to vote, and don't have the kind of ID that would be required."
That's one reason Democrats and voting rights activists will be on high alert over the coming year, as they try to gather examples of harmed voters for potential legal challenges to many of the new state laws.
One civil rights group, the Advancement Project, has already filed suit against a voter ID initiative in Missouri. The ACLU is fighting new voter restrictions in Florida, and there's likely much more to come.

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10 Incredible Chemical Reaction GIFs Explained

September 18, 2014, 8:19 am
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Magnesium strip burning by Cpt. John Yossarian via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed by CC.

We encounter thousands of chemical reactions every day: plants use them in photosynthesis, metals rust over time, and combustion reactions provide us with heat and light, among thousands of other daily uses. Chemical reactions occur when reactants transform into new substances, called products, through creating and breaking bonds between atoms. Sometimes the process creates some pretty wild effects. Check out our top 10 chemical reactions below:
1) Disintegration (Mercury Reacts with Aluminum)
Mercury vs Aluminium
Image credit: Theodore Gray via Youtube
When aluminum rusts, it creates a protective oxide layer that prevents the aluminum atoms underneath from further rusting. That is, until mercury is applied. Mercury prevents an oxide layer from forming, making the rust reaction continue uncontrollably. The process isn't as fast as what's depicted in the GIF though; it actually took two hours to rust through the aluminum beam above. What isn't depicted in the GIF is the sluffed off rust that formed a pile at the base of the aluminum beam as the reaction progressed.
2) Pharaoh's Serpent (Mercury (II) Thiocyanate Reacts with Oxygen)
Image credit: tenkowal via Youtube
The reaction depicted above, nicknamed the "Pharoah's Serpent," actually use to be a common classroom demonstration. It also use to be sold in stores as fireworks until people realized it's actually fairly toxic. As its name hints, it contains very poisonous mercury. Mercury (II) thiocyanate exists as a white solid that when heated, expands to become a brown solid due to its decomposition to carbon nitride. Sulfur dioxide and mercury (II) sulfide are also produced. Nowadays, if you want a similar effect but don't want to risk touching mercury, you can try making a "Black Snake" by heating a mixture of sugar and baking soda in a beaker.
3) Explosive Gummi Bear (Heated Potassium Chlorate Reacts with a Gummi Bear)
Gummy Bear + Potassium Chlorate
Image credit: ebaum via ebaumsworld.com
Potassium chlorate is considered a strong oxidizing agent. When it's gently heated, a decomposition reaction occurs, which produces potassium chloride and a lot of oxygen. This excess oxygen is enough to ignite something like a Gummi bear if it's dropped into the solution, which produces light, heat, carbon dioxide and water. The heat from the Gummi bear reaction further fuels the original decomposition of the potassium chlorate. The result is the extremely rapid combustion reaction you see in the GIF.
4) Copper Displacement (Iron Reacts with Copper Sulfate)
Iron reacts with copper sulphate
Image credit: DizzyCtube via Youtube
When iron is added to copper sulphate, a single displacement reaction occurs. In the GIF above, iron rods are placed in a test tube containing a bluish copper sulphate solution. Since iron is more reactive than copper, it displaces the copper to form iron sulphate. The result? Copper deposits form on the iron rods and the solution changes color as it becomes iron sulphate. If you remove the copper from the solution and reweighed the rods, you'd see that it lost a mass equivalent to the amount of iron that reacted to form iron sulphate.
5) Fire Bottle (Isopropyl Alcohol Reacts with Oxygen)
Flamable fluid in a glass jar
Image credit: raja3894 via Youtube
This combustion reaction in the GIF above, sometimes called a "Fire Bottle," is actually just 70% alcohol reacting with heat. Very little alcohol is poured into the bottle, which is then shaken to mix it with air. This turns it into a vapour and it can then be lit from the top of the jar, producing the combustion reaction you see. The reaction travels down the container, making a 'whoosh' sound as it uses up the oxygen inside the bottle and eventually puts itself out.
6) Instant Snow (Sodium Polyacrylate Reacts with Water)
Sodium Polyacrylate + Water = Artificial Snow
Image credit: profbunsen2 via Youtube
Sodium polyacrylate is a superabsorbant polymer that normally looks like a white powder. In this form, sodium atoms in the long, densely coiled polymer chains are linked to oxygen atoms. In this state, there is no net charge. When water is added, the links are broken and the sodium ions are suddenly free to repel one another. This unravels the polymer chains, making them become a polymer mesh that traps water. The resulting product appears very similar to fake snow and is cool to the touch.
7) Explosive Polymerization (4-Nitroanaline Reacts with Sulfuric Acid and Heat)
Image credit: Adrian McLaughlin via Youtube
That's not coffee you see in the cup. In the 1970s, NASA studied the reaction in the GIF above because they saw its potential to be used to control fire outbreaks on spaceships. An explosive polymerization reaction occurs when 4-nitroanaline reacts with sulfuric acid and heat. Sulfur dioxide and water are produced as a result, expanding to form the foam you see. The foam is low-density and fire-retardent.
8) Elephant's Toothpaste (Hydrogen Peroxide Catalyzed by Potassium Iodide)
Image credit:  4gifs via Tumblr
Also called the "Marshmallow Experiment," the iodine ion from potassium iodide catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. When this occurs, oxygen gas rapidly forms. In the GIF you see here, soap and food colouring are also added, which traps the oxygen as it attempts to escape. The result is a foam snake that looks like an elephant's trunk or toothpaste.
9) Dry Ice Light (Magnesium Reacts with Dry Ice)
i64zZEzm9biQ1 15 Awesome Chemistry GIFs
Image credit: University of Minnesota
Magnesium normally reacts with oxygen to form magnesium oxide, but it's actually so reactive that it's able to burn with carbon dioxide as well. If you stick magnesium in dry ice -- which is just solid carbon dioxide (CO2) --  it forces the magnesium to react only with the oxygen contained in carbon dioxide. The result is a much more powerful single displacement reaction, which produces magnesium oxide, carbon, and a lot of heat and light.
10) Rocket Combustion (Fuming Nitric Acid Reacts with Nitrile Gloves)
http://share.gifyoutube.com/a0XOwL.gif
Image credit: Nile Red via Youtube
Fuming nitric acid is what you get when the concentration of nitric acid is greater than 70%. Red fuming nitric acid is an extremely strong oxidizer and reacts readily in contact with organic compounds like acetone. In addition, its vapor is corrosive and causes severe burns. As a main component in certain types of rocket fuel, it has a tendency of producing very exothermic reactions. When it comes in contact with nitrile gloves, for instance, it sets them on fire, as you can see in the GIF.
September 15, 2014 | by Laura Suen

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What Is The Biggest Source Of Violence In Our World?

September 18, 2014, 8:39 am
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Harvard Professor Steven Pinker On Slight Uptick In Violence In A Much More Peaceful World

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"What is the biggest source of violence in our world? With the brutal conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere constantly in the news, many people would probably say war. But that turns out to be spectacularly wrong....While we still don’t know enough, two points are certain. First, domestic violence against women and children imposes a social cost of $8 trillion each year, making it a huge — and vastly underreported — global issue. Second, there are solutions that can help to tackle some of these problems very cost-effectively. That is why reducing domestic violence belongs on the short-list for the world’s next set of development goals." Bjørn Lomborg in Project Syndicate.



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Criminal Charges To Be Lodged Against Wall Street Executives?

September 18, 2014, 8:42 am
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Angelo Mozilo
An offer America couldn't refuse.

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"Finally! Wall Street Goes On Trial: Holding The 0.1% Responsible For The Shithole"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/jamie-dimon-felonious-financier-who.html

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Criminal charges against Wall St. execs pending? "The nation’s top prosecutor did not go into detail...but people familiar with the cases say the probes involve the possible manipulation of the $5.3 trillion global foreign-exchange markets....The attorney general has faced unrelenting criticism for failing to bring criminal charges against any Wall Street executives in the wake of the economic meltdown. Even after the Justice Department secured multibillion-dollar settlements with JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America...lawmakers and financial reform advocates have questioned why individuals behind such schemes have never been charged....The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles is preparing to file a civil suit against a key figure in the housing meltdown, Angelo Mozilo." Danielle Douglas in The Washington Post.


Criminal charges against Wall St. execs pending? "The nation’s top prosecutor did not go into detail...but people familiar with the cases say the probes involve the possible manipulation of the $5.3 trillion global foreign-exchange markets....The attorney general has faced unrelenting criticism for failing to bring criminal charges against any Wall Street executives in the wake of the economic meltdown. Even after the Justice Department secured multibillion-dollar settlements with JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America...lawmakers and financial reform advocates have questioned why individuals behind such schemes have never been charged....The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles is preparing to file a civil suit against a key figure in the housing meltdown, Angelo Mozilo." Danielle Douglas in The Washington Post.
Holder: I feel your pain, but don't blame me. "He said prosecutors could not always establish that high-ranking executives far removed from day-to-day operations knew about a particular scheme. He said blurred lines of authority often make it hard to name the person responsible for individual business decisions....The law caps rewards for potential whistleblowers in cases that do not involve fraud against government programs and hurts the ability of prosecutors to get Wall Street executives to cooperate, Holder said." Aruna Viswanatha and Nate Raymond in Reuters.
Holder's wish list: Power to reward whistleblowers more. "Many of the Justice settlements have been brought under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), which currently caps payments to whistleblowers at $1.6 million. Holder called the amount...not enough to lure Wall Street executives to risk their careers by coming forward. Holder said he wants Congress to bring possible rewards for whistleblowers in these cases more in line with the False Claims Act, which is used to prosecute companies and individuals for defrauding government programs and allows those who come forward with evidence to earn up to one third of a resulting settlement amount....Holder also asked for the authority to add more FBI investigators to white collar crime units without diverting resources away from counterterrorism investigations." Jon Prior in Politico.
DOJ has a request of banks themselves: Rat out your employees, or else. "The Justice Department has a suggestion for banks hoping to avoid criminal charges: Rat out your employees. Marshall L. Miller, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department’s criminal division, detailed in a speech on Wednesday how banks would either earn credit for exposing nefarious individuals or face charges for protecting them. The comments by Mr. Miller reflect the Justice Department’s renewed interest in charging bank employees rather than just the banks." Ben Protess in The New York Times.


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Concert Flutist Maintains Composure When Butterfly Lands On Her Face

September 18, 2014, 8:56 am
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Obesity A Swelling Problem In U.S. Armed Forces

September 18, 2014, 9:15 am
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"An increase in the number of overweight and out-of-shape service members who are unable to run long distances or perform physical tasks like push-ups poses a direct threat to the United States’ ability to defend itself, a group of retired military leaders fighting for improved childhood nutrition said Wednesday. The group... released a report that found that about 12 percent of active-duty service members were obese based on height and weight, a number that has risen 61 percent since 2002. The report said the extra weight cost the military about $1.5 billion annually in health care spending, as well as the expenses of replacing unfit soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen." Ron Nixon in The New York Times.



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U.S. Solar And Wind Energy Start To Outshine Natural Gas

September 18, 2014, 9:25 am
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Meaning Of Life As Explained By A Youngter

September 18, 2014, 9:31 am
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Burying The Death Panels

September 18, 2014, 9:38 am
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Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die

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It’s time to bury the ‘death panel’ myth for good. Is this the way to do it? "A rational and responsible national conversation about preparing for death and end-of-life care has been virtually impossible over the past five years because of the 'death panel' myth that erupted during the heated health-care debate of 2009....The truth is many people don't have much say in the matter because they don't appropriately plan for it....And that's where health-reform legislation being debated by Congress five years ago could have helped filled the gap. Now in a new 507-page IOM report...recommendations include what the original ACA legislation would have done: pay doctors for speaking with their patients about end-of-life care." Jason Millman in The Washington Post.


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How Televised Debates Can Be Enhanced by Candidate-Sponsored Fact-Checking Sites

September 18, 2014, 10:22 am
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Dear Josh (Stein, NC State Senator),

I hope you and your loved ones are all well.

I came away from the first Hagan-Tillis debate with five thoughts.

1.) Any candidate whose positions are favored by "the facts" would wisely create (and promote) a "fact-checking" webpage as a post-debate resource. Such a repository would enable documentation of important details and crucial contextualization that the debate format does not permit. Even reporters would benefit from this resource.

2.) I have not followed NC budgetary process closely enough to know how Tillis' touted "7% teacher pay raise" is seen in context. If this year's "7% raise" were coupled with teacher pay "increases" from budgets passed by previous GOP-Assemblies, I assume the "increase" would be a paltry percentage when annualized. Viewed "over time," Tillis' purported "raise" may even represent a loss of purchasing power relative to cost-of-living increases. 

"Low Teacher Pay Sets Back North Carolina Education"

3.) It would be useful to document the individual stories of teachers lured to other states by higher pay. Orange High School English teacher, Mitch Cox, is one such fellow, a thirty year veteran and a fellow revered by students and teachers alike. News of Mitch's emigration to Virginia was shocking. 

4.) Sen. Hagan did a yeomanly job defending against Tillis' attack on Obamacare. However, she seems to have missed a rhetorical opportunity. I am not aware of any significant number of North Carolinians who feel deprived by Obamacare, and would therefore encourage her campaign to probe purported disaffection to see if it really exists in any substantial way. The GOP noise machine pisses and moans but when individual cases of "harm" have been investigated, they typically reveal erstaz grievances lodged by dimwits too benighted to learn what Obamacare actually offers. Again, I do not know what a well-conducted poll would reveal concerning the number of North Carolinians who were "not allowed to keep their doctor." But I suspect the number is small to begin and that most of "the deprived" are now satisfied with their new physicians. Every year, millions of Americans move out-of-state without any hue or cry over the loss of their home state physicians. It is true that "perception" is often "reality" and that many people loathe change more than they welcome improvement. Even so, the "hot button" of "losing one's doctor" quickly cools when ideological wrath is contextualized by verifiable numbers. 

On April 8, 2014, Daily Kos published this revealing review of a Rand Corporation report on Obamacare. 

"RAND’s Health Reform Opinion Study (HROS), a survey conducted using the RAND American Life Panel, allows us to estimate how many people have become enrolled in all sources of health care coverage since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The analysis presented here examines changes in health insurance enrollment between September 2013 and March 2014; overall, we estimate that 9.3 million more people had health care coverage in March 2014, lowering the uninsured rate from 20.5 percent to 15.8 percent. This increase in coverage is driven not only by enrollment in health insurance marketplace plans, but also by gains in employer-sponsored insurance and Medicaid. Enrollment in employer-sponsored insurance plans increased by 8.2 million and Medicaid enrollment increased by 5.9 million, although some individuals did lose insurance. We also found that 3.9 million people are now covered through the state and federal marketplace—the so-called insurance exchanges—and less than 1 million people who previously had individual-market insurance became uninsured during the period in question. While the survey cannot tell if the people in this latter group lost their insurance due to cancellation or because they simply felt the cost was too high, the overall number is very small, representing less than 1 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 64."


"The Real Story Behind the Phony Canceled Health Insurance Scandal," published by Mother Jones, does a good job dispelling the smoke screen.  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/11/obamacare-canceled-health-insurance


5.) Finally, Sen. Hagan would be well-advised to reveal the murderous brutality of North Carolina's refusal to expand Medicaid. We have touched on this before but the following numbers may be useful. 

"GOP's Anti-Medicaid Expansion Body Count, By State"


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Keep up the good work!

Pax-Shalom-Salaam

Alan

PS I recommend Ken Burns' new PBS documentary, "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History." All seven (two hour episodes) are streamable at the PBS website through September 26. http://video.pbs.org/program/roosevelts/

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Teddy Roosevelt: "Malefactors of great wealth are curses to the country."

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Excerpt from Teddy Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" speech: "Nothing is more true than that excess of every kind is followed by reaction; a fact which should be pondered by reformer and reactionary alike. We are face to face with new conceptions of the relations of property to human welfare, chiefly because certain advocates of the rights of property as against the rights of men have been pushing their claims too far. The man who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it. But I think we may go still further. The right to regulate the use of wealth in the public interest is universally admitted. Let us admit also the right to regulate the terms and conditions of labor, which is the chief element of wealth, directly in the interest of the common good." 




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Teddy Roosevelt: "Malefactors Of Great Wealth... Are Curses To The Country"

September 18, 2014, 4:38 pm
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"Too much cannot be said against the men of wealth who sacrifice everything to getting wealth. There is not in the world a more ignoble character than the mere money-getting American, insensible to every duty, regardless of every principle, bent only on amassing a fortune, and putting his fortune only to the basest uses —whether these uses be to speculate in stocks and wreck railroads himself, or to allow his son to lead a life of foolish and expensive idleness and gross debauchery, or to purchase some scoundrel of high social position, foreign or native, for his daughter. Such a man is only the more dangerous if he occasionally does some deed like founding a college or endowing a church, which makes those good people who are also foolish forget his real iniquity. These men are equally careless of the working men, whom they oppress, and of the State, whose existence they imperil. There are not very many of them, but there is a very great number of men who approach more or less closely to the type, and, just in so far as they do so approach, they are curses to the country." 
(Forum, February 1895.) Mem.Ed. XV, 10; Nat. Ed. XIII, 9.
Republican President Teddy Roosevelt
Spearhead Of Progressive Politics
Wikiquote

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"Public Welfare Subjects Property To General Right Of The Community" Teddy Roosevelt


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"The Roosevelts: An Intimate History," Ken Burns Documentary

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"Teddy And Franklin Roosevelt: The Last Presidents To Take On The Magnates"

"Malefactors Of Great Wealth Are Curses To The Country"

"Politics and Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"



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Florida Man Kills Daughter And Six Grandchildren

September 19, 2014, 7:43 am
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Good Christians Celebrate Christmas.
Claim secular Americans are destroying the real meaning of Jesus' birth.

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"Remember my child... Always aim for the bridge of the nose."
Matthew 5: 43-48


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Dear John,

I realize statistics can be used "six ways from Sunday" and that the Florida tragedy stands chiefly as an isolated horror.

However, it is a fact -- "plain as potatoes" -- that the overwhelming majority of American mass murderers are white.

It is also true that white financial thugs caused The Great Depression and The Great Recession both 
catastrophes invoking widespread morbidity and death in addition to the evident economic devastation.


Republican Rule and Economic Catastrophe - A Lockstep Relationship


White warmongers also brought us decerebrate catastrophes in Vietnam and Iraq, the latter exercise in Aggressive 
Ignorance having no apparent outcome other than total destabilization of The Middle East and liquidation of the national 
treasury.
"Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"

It also bears mention that World War I and World War II were fundamentally white enterprises, the latter 
culminating with Uncle Sam's detonation the atomic bomb -- twice -- both times upon deliberately targeted civilian 
populations.



"Terror And The Other Religions"

Pax tecum

Alan


BELL, FLA. 
The man who killed his adult daughter and six children before ending his own life on Thursday afternoon in a violent rampage in rural north Florida had a lengthy criminal history and had accidentally killed his youngest son more than a dozen years ago.
In 2001, Don Spirit took his son Kyle, then nine years old, on a hunting trip to the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area near rural Kenansville, about 50 miles southeast of Orlando.
On the last day of the trip, Spirit’s hunting rifle discharged as he was cleaning rust off the barrel. The bullet struck the young boy in the head, killing him instantly, according to a 2001 story published in the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times
“It all happened so quickly,” a sobbing Spirit told the newspaper during an interview from his home. He was living in South Tampa at the time. He later pleaded guilty to a felony firearms violation and spent three years in state prison.
What happened Thursday afternoon in this tiny community near Bell, some 30 miles west of Gainesville was no accident, say law enforcement authorities.
Speaking at a news conference late Thursday night, Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz said a deputy had gone to Spirit’s home to investigate a reported shooting. When he arrived, he made contact with the 51-year-old Spirit, who then committed suicide.
Investigators later found the other seven bodies “all over on the property,” Schultz told reporters.
Schultz wouldn’t say if a weapon was recovered or what sort was used. He didn’t have a motive but said deputies had been to the home in the past for various reasons. He said there were others at the home who survived Spirit’s attack, but it’s unclear if they were injured or not.
“There’s still a lot of unanswered questions. There’s going to be questions that we’re never going to get answered,” he said.
Schultz would not say if the woman killed was the mother of any of the two boys and four girls, some of whom spent a lot of time at the home.
The victims were identified as Sarah Lorraine Spirit, 28; Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11; Kylie Kuhlmann, 9; Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8; Destiny Stewart, 5; Brandon Stewart, 4; and Alanna Stewart, an infant who was born in June.
Schultz confirmed that Spirit had a criminal history. According to the Florida Department of Corrections website, Spirit was released from prison in February 2006 for a gun charge that was related to the 2001 accidental shooting of his son.
At the time of the shooting, Spirit had been convicted of marijuana possession (1998) and was not allowed to carry a firearm as a convicted felon.
That, however, wasn’t the only time Spirit had run afoul of the law.
Hillsborough County court records show Spirit had been arrested and charged at least seven times for various misdemeanors and felonies between 1990 and 1996. Among the charges: battery, drug possesion and depriving “a child of food, shelter.”
Over the last decade, Gilchrist County court records show Spirit had been charged with several misdemeanors and felonies. In 2008, he spent nearly four months in jail on a battery charge, while in 2009 he was put on probation after a DUI charge was reduced to reckless driving.
In his tearful interview with the Times in 2001, Spirit acknowledged he was no saint.
“I may not have lived the best life,” he told the newspaper.
Inline image 1
America's prototypal terrorist, cradle Catholic Timothy McVeigh.
Another cradle Catholic:

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article2161417.html#storylink=cpy
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Carlos Castaneda: The Trick

September 19, 2014, 8:16 am
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Final Number Of Obamacare Sign-Ups Exceeds CBO Estimate By 22%

September 19, 2014, 8:19 am
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Paul Krugman: The Economics Of Global Warming Abatement Better Than Ever

September 19, 2014, 8:26 am
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Sarah Palin: "Alaska Feels Impacts Of Global Warming More Than Any Other State"

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KRUGMAN: Could fighting global warming be free and cheap? "You know that such assessments will be met with claims that it’s impossible to break the link between economic growth and ever-rising emissions of greenhouse gases, a position I think of as 'climate despair.' The most dangerous proponents of climate despair are on the anti-environmentalist right....Where is the new optimism about climate change and growth coming from? It has long been clear that a well-thought-out strategy of emissions control, in particular one that puts a price on carbon via either an emissions tax or a cap-and-trade scheme, would cost much less than the usual suspects want you to think. But the economics of climate protection look even better now than they did a few years ago." Paul Krugman in The New York Times



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Global Temperatures During August 2014 Were Highest On Record

September 19, 2014, 8:28 am
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It is now official: The summer of 2014 is the hottest that has ever been recorded in history.

According to a monthly climate report for August by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, average global temperatures across both land and sea surfaces were the highest since record-keeping began in 1880. The last below-average global temperature for August was in 1976.
Rising ocean temperatures are largely responsible for pushing land temperatures higher, the weather agency said. Record levels of warmth were recorded across much of the central and western equatorial Pacific, as well as in sections across the eastern Pacific Ocean and parts of the western Indian Ocean.

The August average global sea surface temperature was 1.17 degrees Fahrenheit (0.65 degrees Centigrade) above the 20th century average of 61.4 degrees Fahrenheit (16.4 degrees Centigrade). This not only tops the previous August record set in 2005, but the figure also beats the previous all-time record set just two months ago in June 2014.
The Northern Hemisphere saw record-high temperatures at 1.66 degrees Fahrenheit (0.92 degrees Celsius) above average, while temperatures across the Southern Hemisphere were 1.01 degrees Fahrenheit (.56 degrees Celsius) above average—the fourth highest on record for that particular region of the world.
While warmer than average temperatures were seen over most of the planet, there were still anomalies in some regions, including in the United States. But overall, the report says, 26 nations across every continent except Antarctica “had at least one station with a record high temperature for August.”


After a short cooling off period during the month of July, ocean temperatures in the regions where El Niño conditions are monitored began warming again. There is a 60 to 65 percent chance that an El Niño—a warming of Pacific Ocean temperatures which causes extreme weather events such as floods and droughts—will develop during fall and winter months in the Northern Hemisphere, NOAA scientists said.


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Al Jazeera: "Tax Cuts Can Do More Harm Than Good"

September 19, 2014, 8:44 am
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"Tax cuts are the one guaranteed path to prosperity. Or so politicians have told Americans for so long that the claim has become a secular dogma. But tax cuts can do more harm than good, a new report shows. It draws on decades of empirical evidence....The simple truth is that the structure and financing of tax policies determine whether they benefit the economy. The net result of a tax cut without government spending cuts, the pattern since the Reagan era, is that at best there is a tiny improvement in economic growth but with a high cost and potentially negative effects on savings and investment." David Cay Johnston in Al Jazeera America.


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Teddy Roosevelt:

"Nothing is more true than that excess of every kind is followed by reaction; a fact which should be pondered by reformer and reactionary alike. We are face to face with new conceptions of the relations of property to human welfare, chiefly because certain advocates of the rights of property as against the rights of men have been pushing their claims too far. The man who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it. But I think we may go still further. The right to regulate the use of wealth in the public interest is universally admitted. Let us admit also the right to regulate the terms and conditions of labor, which is the chief element of wealth, directly in the interest of the common good."


Teddy Roosevelt: "Malefactors Of Great Wealth Are Curses To The Country"

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Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris: On Taxes
25 December, 1783

"The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People's Money out of their Pockets, tho' only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors' Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell'd to pay by some Law. All Property, indeed, except the Savage's temporary Cabin, his Bow, his Matchcoat, and other little Acquisitions, absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the Creature of public Convention. Hence the Public has the Right of Regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the Quantity and the Uses of it. All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it."
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s12.html 



"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"



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Fixing Criminal Recidivism By Giving Ex-Cons Drugs

September 19, 2014, 9:15 am
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Prisons: Almost guaranteed to make things worse.

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U.S. Prison System
A Compendium

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Fixing America's recidivism crisis. "Iowa is experimenting with an elegantly simple solution....An inmate is still given his 30-day supply of medication upon his release but is also handed prescriptions for an additional 60 days of medication. Those prescriptions...can be filled at one of 320 participating pharmacies around the state, at no cost to the inmate....The logic is obvious. A newly released inmate is more likely to succeed in society if he doesn’t have to make the transition without his meds. By extending the prescription, the government gives the former inmate the time he needs to secure his own medical care...and a better chance at making the difficult move back into society." Josh Voorhees in Slate



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Is Obamacare Improving Care? A Decisive Majority Happy With ACA

September 19, 2014, 9:19 am
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"Obamacare: Where's The Train Wreck?"

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How is Obamacare faring at improving care?

Survey: Strong majority happy with their ACA coverage. Sarah Ferris in The Hill.
A year after launch, Obamacare is rejigging an already complex health-care system. Is it working?"America’s health system, the world’s biggest, involves a tangled mess of rules and a hotch-potch of public and private institutions. It combines dazzling technology with minimal cost controls and spotty coverage. In 2012 it left some 48m people uninsured despite gobbling up 17.2% of GDP....Rather than scrap this system, Obamacare rejigs it. It expands Medicaid to include millions of not-quite-poor Americans. It seeks to create a market where individuals can buy health insurance, pooling risks without the backing of a large employer. Ultimately, it aims to expand coverage and deliver better care at a lower price. Its record is mixed so far." The Economist.
Current Obamacare enrollment at 7.3M. "The figure — which is the number who had signed up and paid as of mid-August — is a drop from the 8 million who had chosen plans but not necessarily paid by mid-April. But it’s much higher than the 6 million that the Congressional Budget Office forecast would be covered this year, a number that seemed unattainable when the botched launch of HealthCare.gov slowed signup to a crawl last October....The figure’s release also starts to answer a long-term question facing Obamacare: will people stay on the rolls? It will be a particularly important question in the second year, when the Obama administration tries to enroll millions more Americans in the president’s signature health law." Jennifer Haberkorn in Politico.
Why the drop from 8.1M signups isn't surprising. "The 7.3 million figure isn't cumulative — it represents a 'snapshot in time,' HHS said. It includes people who signed up during open enrollment and are still paying their premiums, as well as people who have come into the system since then....A certain degree of 'churn' was always expected within the exchanges: People would cycle out when, for example, they get jobs that offer health insurance, and others would cycle in due to life changes that made them eligible to sign up for coverage outside the open-enrollment window....The number could drop again at the end of the month, when individuals who have not verified their citizenship or immigration status will lose their coverage." Sam Baker and Sophie Novack in National Journal.
The U.S. health-care system among least efficient in the world. Can the health law fix that? "The U.S. health-care system was among the least efficient in the developed world two years before major changes from Obamacare began to go into effect. America’s health-care system ranked 44th of 51 nations assessed by Bloomberg, in terms of per person spending, life expectancy and health-care cost as a percentage of the economy. It’s an improvement from 46th of 48 last year, yet Serbia, Turkey and China still scored better....Obamacare is slowly attempting to pay U.S. doctors based on health outcomes, instead of how many procedures they perform. The pressure on the U.S. will only grow as its population ages." Anna Edney in Bloomberg.

Under Obamacare, two-thirds of insured women now get their birth-control pills free. Sarah Kliff in Vox.
Long read: How much do we spend on wasteful care? Sarah Kliff in Vox.
Shopping around could be crucial for Obamacare customers next year. "In many places premiums are going up by double-digit percentages within many of the most popular plans. But other plans, hoping to attract customers, are increasing their prices substantially less. In some markets, plans are even cutting prices. Health policy experts and patient groups say that insurers may be skirting the spirit of the Affordable Care Act by adding some generic drugs to higher cost tiers....As the law’s designers intended, plans are competing for customers, which often holds cost down. But...consumers are stuck with tough choices — swallow a big premium increase or switch to a cheaper plan that may cover different doctors and hospitals." Margot Sanger-Katz and Amanda Cox in The New York Times.
Hospitals are merging and using the ACA as a justification. The FTC is wary. "Hospitals often say they acquire other hospitals and physician groups so they can coordinate care, in keeping with the goals of the Affordable Care Act. But the agency, the Federal Trade Commission, says that mergers tend to reduce competition, and that doctors and hospitals can usually achieve the benefits of coordinated care without a full merger. The commission is using...the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, to challenge some of the mergers and acquisitions, and it has had remarkable success in recent cases....Deborah L. Feinstein, director of the bureau of competition at the Federal Trade Commission, said the health care law did not repeal the antitrust laws." Robert Pear in The New York Times.
Under Obamacare, the difference between insurers hospitals is vanishing in some places. "Anthem Blue Cross, California’s second-largest insurance company, is entering an unusual arrangement with seven hospital groups in Southern California: Together they’ll create a joint health plan where rival hospitals and the insurance company will share in profits and losses....The new plan, called Vivity, is the latest example of the blurring line between the companies that provide medical care and the ones that manage risk — and costs — for patients. Most hospitals currently make more money performing a surgery than providing preventive care to avoid one, but under the Affordable Care Act they’re being encouraged to change that....The law encourages arrangements that reward hospitals for better outcomes." John Tozzi in Bloomberg Businessweek.
Some patients fall through cracks as hospitals cut back on charity care. "Other low-income patients may be in for the same surprise. Hospitals across the country are rethinking their financial assistance policies now that the Affordable Care Act is making insurance available to more people....It’s not clear yet how many hospitals already have made their financial assistance policies stricter, but examples have been cropping up across the country....Some critics say hospitals may be overestimating the ACA’s benefits when they change their financial assistance policies....Hospitals also say the ACA is making things complicated for them." Alan Bavley in The Kansas City Star.
Obamacare: From electoral lightning to just another policy issue. "It would be an overstatement to say the Affordable Care Act has disappeared from the fall election campaigns. It hasn’t. Republicans are still running attack ads about it, as are outside conservative groups. Democrats are mostly quiet on the law, but occasionally they’ll speak up — as Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas did — to focus on one of its benefits and promise never to let insurance companies run the show again. But even Republicans who still believe it’s a significant issue, and a damaging one for Democrats despite its benefits, can’t point to races that are likely to be decided on the health care law alone." David Nather in Politico.



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Which Are Better? Hand Dryers Or Paper Towels?

September 19, 2014, 9:24 am
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