The Waters of March

This version is almost as good as that of Susanna McCorkle's.


Here are the lyrics in English: 

A stick a stone
it's the end of the road,

it's the rest of the stump
it's a little alone

it's a sliver of glass,
it is life, it's the sun,

it is night ,it is death,
it's a trap, it's a gun.

the oak when it blooms,
a fox in the brush,

the knot in the wood,
the song of the thrush.

the wood of the wind,
a cliff, a fall,

a scratch, a lump,
it is nothing at all.

it's the wind blowing free.
it's the end of a slope.

it's a beam, it's a void,
it's a hunch, it's a hope.

and the riverbank talks.
of the water of march

it's the end of the strain,
it's the joy in your heart.

the foot, the ground,
the flesh, the bone,

the beat of the road,
a slingshot stone.

a fish, a flash,
a silvery glow,

a fight, a bet,
the range of the bow.

the bed of the well,
the end of the line,

the dismay in the face,
it's a loss, it's a find.

a spear, a spike,
a point, a nail,

a drip, a drop,
the end of the tale.

a truckload of bricks,
in the soft morning light,

the shot of a gun,
in the dead of the night.

a mile, a must,
a thrust, a bump.

it's a girl, it's a rhyme.
it's the cold, it's the mumps.

the plan of the house,
the body in bed,

the car that got stuck,
it's the mud, it's the mud.

a float, a drift,
a flight, a wing,

ahawk, a quail,
the promise of spring.

and the riverbanks talks.
of the waters of march.

it's the promise of life,
it's the joy in your heart,

a snake, a stick,
it is john, it is joe,

it's a thorn in your hand,
and a cut on your toe.

a point, a grain,
a bee, a bite,

a blink, a buzzard,
the sudden stroke of night.

a pin, a needle,
a sting, a pain,

a snail, a riddle,
a weep, a stain.

a pass in the mountains.
a horse, a mule,

in the distance the shelves.
rode three shadows of blue.

and the riverbank talks
of the promise of life
in your heart, in your heart

a stick, a stone,
the end of the load,

the rest of the stump,
a lonesome road.

a sliver of glass,
a life, the sun,

a night, a death,
the end of the run

and the riverbank talks
of the waters of march

it's the end of all strain
it's the joy in your heart

Tripping the light fantastic around the world

I wasn't normal

That's a quote from Nico Calabria, a 17-year-old from Concord, Mass., who just happened to be born without a right leg.  Here's what he had to say about a decision he made when he was 13:  “I hated the prosthetic. It was awkward. It made me look normal, like a person with two legs. But I wasn’t normal. It was just better for me to be happy and in a place where I could do what I wanted in life, and from there, you know . . . find a way to fit in, make a spot for myself, just with crutches.’’ 

And here's what he did when he was 17:

It's the parties, stupid

It's pretty clear that our federal government does not function in our interests.  Mickey Edwards, a former Congressman, believes that the dysfunction is rooted in our system of political parties. He makes some basic points:

• We need to eliminate primaries which are controlled by the parties.  Here in Connecticut I can't vote in the primary because I am not a member of any party.  More importantly, voter turnout in many primaries is low; the finalist may be someone who has been elected by a minority of the party faithful.  California and other states have moved to a single primary for all candidates; the top two vote-getters go on to the final. 
• To be fair, redistricting cannot be under the control of the parties through their elected representatives.  It needs to be done by those who are independent of the people seeking election.  Again, there is some activity in this area as some states have created  nonpartisan and independent redistricting commissions.
• Our Congress is geared to the needs of the parties, not our needs.  Committee assignments are based on party fealty, rather than competence in a particular area.  One cannot get ahead unless he/she follows the party line religiously.  The disassociation of the two parties runs in just about all areas. On the House floor, Republicans and Democrats must speak from separate lecterns and when they step off the floor to use their phones, drink coffee or read newspapers, they do so in separate cloakrooms.
• And, of course, money for the campaign is available to those who toe the line.

Edwards concludes:

Our current system, with parties controlling who gets on the ballot, what districts they run in, and what happens to large amounts of potential campaigns funds, rewards incivility and discourages cooperation. If we allow that system to continue, it is we who must share the blame for a government that can no longer function.

Rescuing Mitt

I guess some Mormons are feeling glum about Mitt's chances.  They are organizing a day of fasting and prayer to help Mitt succeed.  This is not a project of the Church of Latter day Saints; it is a grass roots campaign.  E-mails much like the following are being sent to get the project off the ground, "I am asking you to join me and my family on Sunday Sept. 30 by fasting and praying for Mitt Romney.  That he will be blessed in the debates, which will be held starting Oct. 3rd.  I know that seems like such a small thing, but I believe 'from small things, great things can come about.'"

Hair Beer

Be patient, the video will appear soon enough.

KPTV - FOX 12

News?

One of the top items on Connecticut NPR morning news today was the fact that Chris Murphy, a candidate for Senate, issued a new advertisement. We learned the vital facts that the ad runs for 30 seconds and attacks his opponent. Why is this news?  And why would a station like NPR stoop to this level?  More time has been spent analyzing advertisements in this campaign than in analyzing the few positions the candidates have espoused.  Remember the days when the media was called the "fourth estate"?

Cockroaches lead the way

Gaming the system

'Gaming' is probably not the right word, but it's more polite than cheating or fraud.  And , when it comes to doctors, one tends to be polite.  Howsomever, when you read the series "Cracking the Codes" by the Center for Public Integrity, you'll probably use the less polite words to define what hospitals and doctors are doing vis-a-vis collecting their fees from Medicare.

Wendell Potter attributes the problem to the reality that "lawmakers and regulators put lobbying and professional groups representing health care providers in charge of writing the rules that determine reimbursement".  Further, he asserts that the Center for Medicaid Services has ignored the findings of their auditors that chicanery is widespread.

3.5 to 1

That was the approximate ratio of journalists to delegates at the Republican convention.  I assume that the ratio was about the same for the Democratic convention.  Does that not seem to be overkill, especially for what is now an entertainment event?  How much more information did the journalists learn by being there?  Were the reports from the convention such that they provided information as to why we should or should not vote for Romney or Obama? 

A different view of the bailout

Barry Ritholtz sums up his view of the bank bailouts.

“Look, let me bottom line this for you. These accounts made extremely risky investments, at a time when no one else was willing to put up this kind of money. You put an enormous amount of capital up for very little returns. Your brokers failed to negotiate half decent deals – its as if they were working for the banks, not you. You should have been paid handsomely for this, and you are not even break even across most of this junk you bought. Had you simply put your money into an index fund or bought bonds, you would have significantly outperformed all this stuff – with appreciably less risk.”

Read the entire article which explains his reasoning.

It's not the movie. It's not al Qaeda.

Pankaj Mishra  thinks it's mainly history that is working itself out in the Middle East.  The people of the region have reached the point where they are totally fed up with getting the short end of the stick.  They are moving and have moved against tyrannical leaders.  Since the West has, by and large, fully supported these leaders, the people are moving against the West.  And, because we are the leading Western nation, they are now moving against us.  

The killings of NATO troops by Afghans is one manifestation of the movement.  The demonstrations in Arab countries is another.  But, Mishra says we can't see it, "It is as though the United States, lulled by such ideological foils as Nazism and Communism into an exalted notion of its moral power and mission, missed the central event of the 20th century: the steady, and often violent, political awakening of peoples who had been exposed for decades to the sharp edges of Western power." 

Mishra feels we're repeating our experience with Vietnam.  Interestingly, he claims that Ho Chi Minh tried to get three presidents - Wilson, Roosevelt and Truman - to help him free Vietnam from France.  He was unsuccessful.  As were nationalists from India, Egypt, Iran and Turkey who met with Wilson.

Mishra concludes

It is the world’s newly ascendant nations and awakened peoples that will increasingly shape events in the post-Western era. America’s retrenchment is inevitable. The only question is whether it will be as protracted and violent as Europe’s mid-20th century retreat from a newly assertive Asia and Africa. 

I think Mishra makes a strong case. We can't see how much the world is changing. Yet, at the same time history does have lessons for us, one of which is that every empire has eventually been replaced.

Movie Musicals Reimagined

I can't fathom it

How can someone feel so insulted that they resort to violence?  I can understand that some insults could really hurt some of us.  I would hope that most of us would ignore it, return it or end a relationship.  Apparently, such a response would not be the correct one for many Muslims.  They need to make their feelings very public, some have to resort to violence and violence to such a degree that innocent people are killed. 

One Muslim religious scholar thinks "depictions of the prophet...an offense against our rights".  Another calls for "criminalizing of assaults on the sanctities of all heavenly religions" (I wonder how he defines heavenly religions?).  A business man claims, "When you insult a faith, you are insulting a whole nation that feels the pain". 

An article by Thomas Friedman has some interesting quotes from Muslims, most of whom are clergy:

Christianity is “a reeking corpse, on which you have to constantly pour eau de cologne and perfume, and wash it in order to keep it clean.”
It is permissible to spill the blood of the Iraqi Christians — and a duty to wage jihad against them.
“The Shiite is a Nasl [Race/Offspring] of Jews.” 
“When the Jews are wiped out, the world would be purified and the sun of peace would rise on the entire world.” 

Of course, none of these comments insults a religion.

Protecting the integrity of the ballot box

It's a little raw.

It's an ad, I know

But there are some great shots of butterflies.

It's a tough job but somebody has to do it

Congress will soon leave for another break.  They will return on November 13.  You may recall that they did have a summer break, from August 3 - September 10.  There are 101 days from August 3 to November 13.  Our Congress will have taken off 90 of them.  What can we expect when we pay them only $174,000 a year and a handful of benefits?  I mean it's not as though things are not great and they shouldn't be able to relax and enjoy a job well done.

Another candidate for president

Adults Only

The scientists speculate that the shrinkage is due to weight gain around the waist, smoking, stress and environmental pollutants. Limbaugh thinks otherwise.

The Takers and the Makers

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Fast and Furious was a botched job

That's what the Justice Department’s inspector general said.  He also recommended that fourteen current federal officials face disciplinary reviews. The IG's charges were somewhat basic:

• The operations were undertaken "without adequate regard for the risk it posed to public safety in the United States and Mexico,"

  neither case received the type of oversight from ATF Headquarters the procedures seemed to contemplate

  a dysfunctional and poorly supervised group of Arizona-based federal prosecutors and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Our leaders

CREW(Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has published its 2012 list of the most corrupt legislators in Washington.  It consists of two senators and eighteen congressmen.  The most famous person on the list is Ron Paul who billed Congress and his campaign committee for the same travel expenses.  The shenanigans of the others consisted primarily of using campaign funds for personal uses.  Helping relatives using our money was practiced by five on the list.  Others 'helped out' a constituent in exchange for a donation.

Down in flames?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Why so secret?

Once a month or so I see a story about the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Each of the articles points out the secrecy of the talks by the participants; not even Congress is involved, although corporations and trade associations are.  Each is down on the trade treaty for several reasons: consumer safety, environmental practices, intellectual property protection, financial industry deregulation, egregious patent extensions, etc.  Now the articles are about loss of jobs.  Yet, the day when this treaty will be signed draws closer.  I wonder why Romney has not mentioned it as it is another example of poor judgment by the Obama administration.

Provocateur

The French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, has published a couple of nasty cartoons about Mohammed.  One shows him mooning a film director, the other an Orthodox Jew pushing him in a wheelchair.  Free speech is wonderful, but sometimes it should not be taken to the limit.  People are being killed because of a stupid, amateurish movie.  These cartoons can only exacerbate the situation and will probably result in more people dying needlessly.

Even David Brooks Chastises Romney

I seldom read David Brooks column in the NY Times but I did today and was quite surprised by the vehemence with which Brooks spoke about the latest Romney gaffe.  Here are Brooks' thoughts (my emphases):

This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?

It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey.

It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture. Americans haven’t become childlike worshipers of big government. On the contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen.

The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.

Why protect the bull?

For the past year the New York City police have been protecting the "Wall Street Bull" around the clock.  The bull is a bronze statue, 11 feet tall and weighing 3,000 pounds.  The surveillance was triggered by the Occupy Movement.  The police apparently feared that the protesters would damage the bull so they put up a protective barrier and assigned a police car and officers to guard the bull almost every minute of the past year.  The protesters have not made any movement towards the bull.  If they had, it would be quite difficult to damage the statue.  The local residents association wants the police to stop the nonsense. But the city insists that the surveillance must continue.  How much this costs is a secret.

Benefits and Risks

Lawrence Baxter of Duke Law School has concluded that the big banks are very complex institutions.  He doesn't have an answer as to how or whether they can be simplified, but he does doubt whether the benefits outweigh the risks. However, he believes strongly that it is necessary for these behemoths to do two things:

• Bear a greater degree of public accountability by reforming certain principles of corporate governance to require greater representation of public interests at the board and executive levels. 
• Given the unproven promises of performance by big banks, their unimpressive actual record of performance, and the many hazards they inevitably generate or encounter, financial regulators should consciously adopt a strict cautionary approach.  Under this approach, big banks would bear a very heavy onus to demonstrate in concrete terms that their continued growth - and even the maintenance of their current scale - can be adequately managed and supervised.

The Attorneys General Partners

More than three years ago I wrote about the partnership between debt collection companies and state attorneys general.  As state finances have gotten worse in that time, more attorneys general have become partners with these companies.  And merchants have become so used to the partnerships that they do not always contact the attorneys general, they simply send the bad check to the collection agency, which sends to the check writer what looks like a legal letter from the authorities.  The letter not only asks for the amount of the check plus fees; it also almost demands that the writer attend a class on budgeting and financial accountability presented by the agency. Whether or not the writer is guilty of a crime does not always factor into whether these threatening letters are sent.

It's a profitable business even though its ethics are highly questionable.

Does it depend on your philosophy?

Corigliano d'Otranto, a small town in Southern Italy, thinks it does.  It has created the position of Municipal Philosopher and hired Graziella Lupo to fill it.   She is in attendance Fridays from 3 to 7 pm.  She is also the Philosophical Consultant at Ca 'Foscari University of Venice.  Surprisingly to me, her graduate degree is a Masters in Management and Human Resource Development from the University of Pisa.  The fact that the mayor, Ada Fiore, is supposed to be a philosophy teacher may have had something to do with it.

Besides hiring a Municipal Philosopher the town has tried to sell the concept in a number of ways: put up ceramic plaques with quotations from the likes of Saint Augustine; given out postcards for distribution in bars and shops that ask existential questions, such as "Why were you born?"; invited distinguished foreign philosophers to seminars in the town.  Thus far, 500 of the townsfolk have consulted with Professore Lupo.

Now the town is at work creating a "multimedia philosophy park" in the old quarter. An announcement promising "trees that talk, walls that light up and images that flow" has been posted on the council website above a notice about sorting rubbish.

All in all, if this picture is reflective of the town, it is a pretty place.

 

Where are the moderate Muslims?

I've been searching for some for six years now.  I have found the grand total of one, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf who is trying to build a mosque near the World Trade Center.  I just can't imagine any religion being as quiet as Islam if its followers killed innocent people or did some other dastardly deeds, such as burning the Koran.  American Muslims are supposed to be moderate.  As far as I can tell, they haven't said one word.

No Parking

The above is a photograph of Memorial Drive in Cambridge.  You can see the Boston skyline in the distance.  I drove on it today and for the first time in years noticed that there was no longer any parking on the Drive near MIT.  In the 1950s and 1960s there was parking there.  Most of the parking was at night as it became a "lover's lane" after dark.  Lots of good memories of those days.

I wonder where the 21st century lovers go.  I also wonder whether the Catholic Church approved of the change, as I suspect that today's lovers can "go further" as the action is probably no longer in a car.

Why not deduct what they owe?

A recent GAO study found that we paid 7,000 Medicaid providers in Florida, New York, and Texas $6.6 billion in 2009.  However, these same 7,000 providers owe $791,000,000 in unpaid federal taxes from calendar year 2009 or earlier.  This amount of unpaid taxes is likely understated as it does not include providers that did not file a tax return or filed one with some income not listed.  Further, some of these firms have criminal records relating to medical billing fraud.

Does the government do any checking of those to whom it issues Medicaid checks?

Where to, Sir?

In these days when the Pentagon and its allies are going around the country pleading that our defense budget and its jobs cannot be cut or catastrophe will ensue, the Army has just issued a request that its chauffeurs be supplied with new uniforms.  That's right, its chauffeurs.  They are needed to ferry around the Senior Executive Staffs of the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Under Secretaries of Army and Air Force, Vice Chiefs of Staff Army and Air Force, Assistant Secretaries, and other Principal Officials of Headquarters Department of Defense (DoD).  The uniform consists of everything except underwear, shoes and a cap.  The chauffeur corps is not sexist; 8% of them are women.

This bid is by the Army only.  Do the other branches also have chauffeurs?

Will there be a tomorrow?

For years now Gaza has been hell on earth.  The UN projects things getting worse so that by 2020, eight years from now, the place may be unlivable.  Here are some of their conclusions:

Population will increase from 1.6 million people today to 2.1 million people in 2020, resulting in a density of more than 5,800 people per square kilometre. 

People will likely still be worse off in 2015 compared to the mid-1990s, despite fast economic growth last year. 

Demand for drinking water was projected to increase by 60 per cent while damage to the aquifer, the major water source, would become irreversible without remedial action now. 

More than 440 additional schools, 800 hospital beds and more than 1,000 doctors would be needed by 2020.

My opponent is a bad guy

Courtesy of The Atlantic

Your friendly bank

Wells Fargo is the winner of that title this week.  In June they emptied a home on the assumption the owner had defaulted on his mortgage.  One minor problem: the owner did not have a mortgage with Wells Fargo on the home.  In fact, there never was any mortgage on the home.  The contractor hired by the bank emptied the wrong house.  The owner started negotiating with Wells but had trouble getting his calls returned.   Three months later the same thing happened; a Wells Fargo contractor emptied the same house, which, again, had never had a mortgage with Wells Fargo or any other bank.  Again the owner got short shrift from Wells Fargo.  That is, until the local tv station was notified of the situation and ran a story on it.  Then a Wells Fargo representative visited the owner and apologized.  Presumably, the owner will be made whole.

McClatchy and the NRO

Last month I talked about McClatchy Newspapers opening an investigation into the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which is another of our major spy agencies.  It has a budget of $15 billion and a lot of power, perhaps as much as the CIA and NSA.

The next edition of the investigation concerns allegations of criminal behavior regarding contracting and attempts by the agency to cover things up.  As befits a spy agency, the situation is cloudy, but it does appear that there is considerable effort to pretend everything is wonderful.

Huh?

“At J.P. Morgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, directors are considering lower 2012 bonuses for Chief Executive James Dimon and other top executives in the wake of a multibillion-dollar trading disaster, said people close to the discussions. But they also are grappling with the question of how to do that without drastically reducing the executives’ take-home pay.”  This from today's Wall Street Journal causes me to ask how Morgan will pay a lower bonus but executives will take home the same pay.

Security follows war

Being a nation of fear is not a 21st century phenomenon for the U.S.A.  After WWI we had the Palmer Raids, which hunted anarchists from November 1919 to January 1920.  After WWII and during the Korean War there was the McCarthy Scare, which "named names" (the name of Communists) from February 1950 to December 1954.  Our current scare, which was called at one point the Global War on Terror, has lasted longer than either of the previous crusades and it is much more insidious.  The 20th century campaigns focused on a comparatively small group of people, at most in the thousands.  Our brand of scare tactics focuses on just about all of us.  We are moving closer and closer to 1984.

Save one-third of our health costs?

That's what the Institute of Medicine (via Ezra Klein) thinks is possible if we were more efficient.

Smuggling Exotic Animals

For some reason the 21st century has seen a rise in the smuggling of exotic animals.  This is one of the reasons for the increase in pythons found in the Everglades over the past few years.  A few months ago a baby tiger was found in a woman's suitcase as she went through airport customs.  Last year a baby crocodile was found in the Charles River near Boston. Yesterday an airport search at Delhi discovered lorises in the pants of two men.  The lorises, one of whom was seven inches long, were in pouches in the men's underwear. The fact that the loris is becoming extinct probably made smuggling them more attractive.

We were the change

Maureen Dowd has a devastating column based on this statement from President Obama: “So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me.  It was about you. My fellow citizens, you were the change.”  She goes on to list the numerous mistakes of the past 3+ years and concludes:

We are grateful to the president for deigning to point out our flaws and giving us another chance.

“I’m the president,” he intoned.

But We, the People, must do the work.

The buck stops with us.

Who will be next?

In July Monsignor William Lynn was sentenced to 3 - 6 years in jail for protecting pedophile priests.   This week a bishop, Robert Finn, was convicted of the same charge; he was able to escape with probation.  Finn was required under civil and canon law to report these crimes.  He failed to do so.  Although he expressed regret in court “for the hurt that these events have caused,” he does not intend to resign.

He is being punished for violating civil law.  What will be his punishment for violating canon law?

A Water Protest

The photo above from the Wall Street Journal shows a rather unique form of protest: staying in the water. The people pictured have been in the water continuously for fourteen days. They want the Indian government to compensate them for the homes that have been submerged by the opening of a dam. The dam was opened because the river being dammed is flowing at dangerous levels.  The people claim that the government is violating a Supreme Court order to compensate them.

Which is it?

Two headlines in today's McClatchy Newspapers web site:  

Early signs of positive jobs report to launch campaign’s last stretch
By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

Unemployment down to 8.1 percent but August jobs number lower than expected
By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

How does he earn a living?

We're paying this guy as a Congressman from Maryland. Based on this video, I'd have a hard time hiring him for any job which required public speaking.





Supposedly, he compares student loans to the Holocaust as, in his view, they are both unconstitutional. I couldn't understand what he was saying beyond his claims re student loans.

The Patience of Job

Tonight was the first time I watched a 2012 convention.  I heard Kerry's talk.  It was a pretty good  takedown of Romney.  But it was enough for me.  How the delegates could sit there and listen to variations of the same speech ad nauseam amazes me.  At least a television viewer can take a nap or have a snack.  

Conventions were interesting when they actually selected the candidate.  Many of those 'back room' selections were much better than the candidates chosen in the beauty contests of the primary.  Today, the convention is nothing but a series of advertisements.  Plus, they help fill space and time in the media.  

Why we have to subsidize these conventions is a question that the budget cutters in Congress need to ask themselves.  Any sort of a rational cost-benefit analysis would conclude that we, the taxpayers, bear the costs and the politicians get the benefits.

Do as I say, not as I do

I guess that's what ambitious politicians do. Here's a letter sent by one of those politicians seeking funds under the Affordable Care Act, which, he says, should be repealed.

I can't imagine Barack or Mitt doing this

Vladimir Putin will be leading a flock of birds on their winter migration.  The birds, an endangered known as red cranes, were raised by the Russian World Wildlife Fund.  Putin will lead the birds using a motorized hang glider. He will be dressed in white coveralls and wear a glove that looks like a beak.

The Sun Erupts

NASA published this video of the solar eruption of August 31. Wow!!

A tough call

Robert Kosilek murdered his wife in 1990.  He is now known as Michelle Kosilek and is a resident of the Massachusetts state prison, which is an all-male institution. In 2002  Kosilek convinced Judge Mark Wolf that he suffered from gender-identity disorder.  At that time the judge granted him the use of a number of techniques such as female hormone therapy, laser hair therapy and psychotherapy to treat his disorder.  All of these techniques were paid for by the state. 

Kosilek is determined and wants a sex-change operation.  He went before Judge Wolf again and this time the judge granted Kosilek's wish as he found that the operation was a "medical need".   "Medical" was Wolf's term for Kosilek's attempts to castrate herself and commit suicide.Wolf ruled that “there is no less intrusive means to correct the prolonged violation of Kosilek’s Eighth Amendment right to adequate medical care.”   Although there have been similar cases in other states, this is the first time that a judge has allowed this operation.

It's hard to accept Wolf's decision as there are people who want to be a different sex but can't afford the operation, which, by the way, insurance companies consider elective.  Here we have taxpayers paying to meet the "medical need" of a convicted murderer.  The state has paid all medical bills for Kosilek for almost twenty years and will continue to pay them until he dies, which may not occur for twenty years or more. But, then, listen to Kosilek: “Everybody has the right to have their health care needs met, whether they are in prison or out on the streets. People in the prisons who have bad hearts, hips or knees have surgery to repair those things. My medical needs are no less important or more important than the person in the cell next to me.”

Another $136,000,000 down the drain

That's how much the Republican and Democratic conventions will be getting from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. This is the fund that is generated from donations people make to it when filing their federal income tax. There are very few restrictions on how this money is spent; money has been spent on gifts, flowers, entertainment, consultants, etc.  But only the two major parties get any money.  Why doesn't the Green Party get some?  What is really achieved at these conventions?  They are just advertising for the candidates and, I suppose, a party for the delegates.  And these guys babble about the deficit!

The business of government

He is not alone

Bruce Bartlett, former Republican, says he'll probably stay home on election day.  Why?

"Thus my dilemma: both candidates are unsatisfactory. The choice is between a continuation of policies that have not worked and different ones that almost certainly will not. I may change my mind at the last minute but as of now my only choice seems to be “none of the above”. I expect to stay home on election day."

Can an entire country have PTSD?

Anna Badkhen thinks it's possible.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assert that between 30 and 70 percent of people who have lived in war zones bear the scars of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.  In 2002, shortly after the Taliban government fell in Kabul, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 42 percent of Afghans suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and 68 percent exhibited signs of major depression. What has happened since the war is still going on 10 years later?

Bill Black again

From his latest screed:

President Obama “demonized” “financial-services,” which explains why their executives “turned against the president.”  President Obama continued President Bush’s bailout that saved the financial services industry from collapse.  He appointed an economic team beloved by the industry.  Obama’s economic team met extensively with financial services executives in non-public discussions and hired many of them to fill key slots.  Geithner intervened with AIG to direct it to pay its massive bank creditors in full rather than negotiating a significantly smaller payment.  Geithner intervened with then New York Attorney General Cuomo to discourage even an investigation of the banks’ mortgage frauds.  The Obama administration repeatedly sought to limit the investigation and liability of banks for endemic foreclosure fraud.  The Obama administration structured its foreclosure relief programs to foam the runways to aid banks.  Obama and Attorney General Holder have consistently minimized any criminality by banks and have failed to do a meaningful investigation of any large lender of endemically fraudulent liar’s loans much less bring a criminal prosecution.  Obama and his economic team have repeatedly praised the CEOs of several of the systemically dangerous institutions (the biggest U.S. banks).  Obama has carried the banks’ water, not demonized them and the idea that (1) it is illegitimate not to continue the suicidal regulatory race to the bottom and the claim that Dodd-Frank produced “tough regulations” is unsustainable.  Over four years later, the principal regulatory change in response to the crisis remains the Federal Reserve’s action on July 14, 2008 (during the Bush administration) largely banning liar’s loans on the grounds that they were endemically fraudulent.  (The banks opposed the rule and Chairman Bernanke delayed its effective date for 15 months because one would never wish to inconvenience a fraudulent lender.)

I don't think he's mistaken.

Some sense at last

Finally, someone is speaking about things that really matter in this election. Surprisingly, that person is a Republican. Matthew Dowd was the chief strategist in Bush's 2004 campaign. The video below is interesting but the best part is at the 6:45 point.

They were better times for the working man

Hedrick Smith wants a return to the times when the middle class was made up of average workers who earned a decent pay.  Corporate management today has abandoned what economists call “the virtuous circle of growth”: well-paid workers generating consumer demand that in turn promotes business expansion and hiring.  This concept was followed in the post-WWII period when productivity and average hourly compensation just about doubled, despite much higher income tax rates.  There was a far greater share of equality than there is in today's 1% world.

Smith does not believe that globalization and the technological revolution can explain why the "virtuous circle" is no longer in use in the U.S.A.  It is still in effect in Germany where average hourly pay has risen five times faster since 1985 than in the United States.  Few could deny that Germany remains a manufacturing and export powerhouse.  

In this country average hourly compensation rose 4.2% from 1973 to 2011 while  productivity increased by 80%.  Corporate profits did much better. In 2006, the year before the Great Recession began, corporate profits garnered the largest share of national income since 1942, while the share going to wages and salaries sank to the lowest level since 1929. In the recession’s aftermath, corporate profits have bounced back while middle-class incomes have stagnated. 

This is simply another example of what appears to be a national sickness: the failure to realize that we are all in this together and the belief that greed is good.

Bush Advisers Back in the Saddle?

David Rothkopf points out that there are a number of former advisers to W in the Romney campaign.  Rothkopf lists the following Bush stalwarts as taking an active role in Romney's campaign: Rice, Rose, Chertoff, Bolton, Black, Senor, Zoellick, Hayden.  I think it's only natural for them to be helping Mitt.  It might mean a return to power for them, and power is probably their biggest incentive.  But what would it mean for us?

Are drug companies as morally corrupt as banks?

Johnson & Johnson paid $181,000,000 to settle claims related to "off-label" use of Risperdal.  A couple of months ago GlaxoSmithKline paid a $3 billion to make charges they were crooks go away.

Honoring the Dead

It's possible that animals honor their dead.  Giraffes and elephants, for example, have been recorded loitering around the body of a recently deceased close relative.  A recent study of  western scrub jays discovered seemingly greater acknowledgement of the dead.  Some actions supporting this contention.  When they encounter a dead bird, they call out to one another and stop foraging.  The jays then often fly down to the dead body and gather around it.  The investigators think that the jays see the presence of a dead bird as information to be publicly shared, just as they do the presence of a predator.  Spreading the message that a dead bird is in the area helps safeguard other birds, alerting them to danger, and lowering their risk from whatever killed the original bird in the first place, the researchers say.

Why such a kerfuffle?

You would think that Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican convention was the nadir of the convention. True, it wasn't as polished as one would expect. True, he didn't memorize it very well. But, it was not the end of Clint or Romney or the Republicans. He didn't really commit any gaffes in what he actually said. I guess Romney did not do a very good job in his speech as I've seen very little about it in the media. This is a video of Clint's speech. Judge for yourself. 

Truthiness

From a interview of Paul Ryan by Hugh Hewitt on August 22:

HH: Are you still running?

PR: Yeah, I hurt a disc in my back, so I don’t run marathons anymore. I just run ten miles or yes.

HH: But you did run marathons at some point?

PR: Yeah, but I can’t do it anymore, because my back is just not that great.

HH: I’ve just gotta ask, what’s your personal best?

PR: Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.

Ryan is talking about a marathon he ran in 1990.  Runner's World questioned this time and got this response: A spokesman confirmed late Friday that the Republican vice presidential candidate has run one marathon. That was the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, where Ryan, then 20, is listed as having finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.