Hunger Walk song

I started writing this song when I was walking in an Atlanta Hunger Walk. It just started coming into my mind, and turned out to be to the tune of the Thanksgiving song "Come, Ye Thankful People Come". I thought it was neat that this song about the hungry is to a tune of thanksgiving for those who have enough.
I give permission for it to be used on behalf of non-sectarian community food banks. If you print the words, please include the copyright information.
I have inserted a "~" to indicate a syllable that is slurred over more than one note. I have included alternative wording so it can be used at events other than walks.

Hunger Walk

copyright 1994 Patricia M. Shannon

Join us on the Hunger Walk/Drive,

share the love and joy we feel,

as we walk/work together for

those who are in present need.

We can make a difference,

when we work toge~ther;

as you help us reach our goal,

you will also feed your soul.

Let's give thanks to all our friends,

who give of their time and pay,

in the groups that work so hard

to make sure no one does starve.

We can never know just when

we will need a helping hand,

our support will help ensure,

community food banks will endure.

Many children in our land

often suffer hunger pains;

it can stunt the healthy growth

of their body and their brains.

Children are the fu~ture;

they need more than just a song;

when we help to nourish them,

we help to keep our country strong.

Chinese county clubs to death 50,000 dogs

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14139027/

The killings prompted calls for a boycott of Chinese products from the activist group People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

I've already been avoiding buying items from China because of human rights abuses, when possible. This outrageousness will strengthen my efforts.

Sulfur to slow down global warming?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060727180326.htm

http://www.livescience.com/environment/060727_inject_sulfur.html

Injecting sulfur into the atmosphere to slow down global warming is worthy of serious consideration, according to Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego.
...He adds that his experiment should only be used as an emergency measure: “the possibility of the albedo enhancement scheme should not be used to justify inadequate climate policies but merely to create a possibility to combat potentially drastic climate heating.”

But it is easy to predict that some people will use it to justify inadequate climate policies. And what are the side effects? Eg., will this sulfur end up as acid rain when it falls back to earth on forest fires?

Digital TV coming

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10563834/

Legislation passed by the Senate ... would require broadcasters to end their traditional analog transmissions by Feb. 17, 2009, and send their signals digitally.
...Under the converter box program, consumers with analog sets would be able to request two, $40 coupons to help buy the set-top boxes, which are expected to cost $50 to $60 each.Democratic lawmakers and consumer groups say that the $1.5 billion would fall far short of helping pay for every set eligible for a converter box.
...There is no income cap for those who may request the coupons. GOP supporters such as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, have said that lawmakers do not expect to subsidize wealthier homes.

There are several things easy to predict:

1) If an income cap is not instituted, wealthier homes will grab up the converter coupons, resulting in not enough for the poor. Even if Congress decides to allocate enough funds and safegurads to provide for a converter for every poor family, they will probably not institute an effective information system, and many of the poor will not know about the program, or will not know have the means to get the coupons.

2) Crime will go up. The poor depend heavily on TV for their entertainment. They can watch it in the relative safety of their homes. It costs less to buy and operate than a car, which many poor people don't have. In many parts of the country, they don't even have access to public transportation. Once they have paid for a used TV, or paid off the layaway cost, has negligible costs.
For a minority, this will lead directly to crime, to steal a converter or digital TV or acquire the money to do so. Mostly, crime will increase because a few will steal large numbers of converters to sell cheaply to the more honest poor people.

Let the punishment fit the crime

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13955493/from/RS.3/

In regards to the Boston Big Dig tunnel that is falling apart because of poor construction and materials, which came to light when part of the ceiling fell down on a car and killed a passenger:

Attorney General Tom Reilly has also launched a criminal investigation into the construction to determine if involuntary manslaughter charges are warranted.

It seems to me that involuntary manslaughter is too light a charge if it is found that inferior materials were knowingly used in order to improve profits.

economic results corrected downward

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14074254/page/2/

updated 10:18 a.m. ET, Fri., July. 28, 2006
---

Along with the latest GDP report, the government issued annual revisions that showed economic growth was slightly less than previously estimated for 2003, 2004 and 2005.
...
As a result, the economy last year grew by 3.2 percent, rather than 3.5 percent. In 2004, economic activity expanded by 3.9 percent, instead of 4.2 percent. And in 2003, the economy’s growth was 2.5 percent, versus 2.7 percent.

Wealthy Republican politicians and financial people keep saying they don't understand why the public pessimistic in spite of all the reports of a rosy economy. As has been noted, much of this is due to the fact that the rosy economy has benefitted only a small percentage of the super-rich.
Now we find that the economy was not really as rosy as some thought; so the public was right.

childhood roots of conservatism

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/04/predicting_politics.php

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~hannahk/bulletin.pdf

A study published late last year in the Journal of Research in Personality reported a link between certain childhood personality traits and adult political orientation in a test group followed over two decades. As nursery schoolers, the future conservatives were described as easily victimized, indecisive, rigid, fearful and inhibited. The budding liberals were described as self-reliant, prone to developing close relationships, energetic and somewhat dominating.

I read a study several years ago of adopted children that found evidence of a inherited component to conservatism.
I have a disagreement with some comments on the research study in the second link I gave. They talked about left-wingers in totalitarian regimes. I would say that if a regime is totalitarian, it is not liberal, regardless of what it calls itself. President Lincoln is said to have commented "How many legs does a horse have if you call a tail a leg? Four, calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

welfare by any other name

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060728/ap_on_re_us/hurricanes_relief_delays;_ylt=Am7hwTW27f4bDfhw7V2DOUes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-
---

Shortsighted planning and faulty computer equipment led to long delays by the Small Business Administration in approving loans to companies that were slammed by Gulf Coast hurricanes last year, congressional investigators say.

In my experience, small business owners are usually Republican. The Federal government is currently dominated by Republicans. These people don't believe government should help the disadvantaged - unless, of course, they are the ones who become disadvantaged.

? lowest bidder

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14057746/

I wonder if the Massachusetts Turnpike that is falling apart was built by the lowest bidder? In such projects, if the lowest bidder is chosen, it may result in unacceptable work. On the other hand, if the project is not required to choose the lowest bidder, it increases the possibility of graft and/or favoritism. I would expect this would be the case whether it be a government or private project.

our government hides cancer risk

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14064165/

---

Growing scientific evidence suggests the most widespread industrial contaminant in drinking water — a solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers — can cause cancer in people....TCE, which is also widely used to remove grease from metal parts in airplanes and to clean fuel lines at missile sites, is known to cause cancer in some laboratory animals. EPA was blocked from elevating its assessment of the chemical's risks in people by the Defense Department, Energy Department and NASA, all of which have sites polluted with it.

---

Let us eat cake

http://www.tpmcafe.com/

Firefighters who want to live in high-priced cities can work two jobs, said W. Michael Cox, chief economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “I think it’s great,” he said. “It gives you portfolio diversification in your income.”

This attitude shows why the Republicans' goal of doing away with inheritance taxes is so importance. We need to make sure we continue to have people like W. Michael Cox in power, who are not contaminated by ideas of the common masses.

Woman scorned?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Headline of an article I didn't waste my time opening :

Coulter: Clinton a 'latent homosexual'

Maybe she made a pass at Clinton and he turned her down.

Recruiting chutzpa

Don't you love it when a recruiter tells you he doesn't have work for you, but wants you to give him leads to other people for the jobs for which he's rejected you.

Stay cooler and save money

In the summertime, turning off lightbulbs will keep the room cooler while also saving money. And of course, when we save energy, we are keeping the local (urban heat islands) and global climate a little cooler. If you don't think a light bulb gives off heat, try touching it after it has been on briefly. Even flourescent bulbs will have an effect. I worked in a building where the owner of the building had the janitors turn the lights off at night, unless it was going to be below a certain temperature in the winter, when they were left on, because they added heat.

Earth dropped from NASA mission statement

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060724-123617-8624r

NASA has reportedly eliminated the promise "to understand and protect our home planet" from its mission statement.

The statement now proclaims the agency's mission is "to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research."

Another example of the Bush administration's interference with the reporting of scientific news they don't like? Such as :

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13993578/

U.S. space agency NASA says 2005 was the warmest globally in more than a century and that the preceding three years were also the warmest since the 1890s.

I think we should continue exploring space, but what's the use of doing that if we continue to devastate our own home planet.

Congressional cost-of-living pay hike legislation passes for 7th straight year

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13304680/

On June 13, 2006:

House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500.

Congressional retirement

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/auto/epaper/editions/today/metro_443c1140319771080043.html

From the July 23, 2006 Q&A column of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, concerning Congressional retirement pay:

The amount of pay depends on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary, according to the Congressional Research Service report. By law, the starting amount cannot exceed 80 percent of their final salary.
Members of Congress are eligible for a pension at age 62, upon completing five years of service. Those who served only two years would only be eligible if they had five years of civilian federal service, including their time in Congress. But one could become eligible for retirement pay at age 50, if 20 years of service has been completed or at any age after completing 25 years of service.
Members elected after 1984 participate in the Federal Employees' Retirement System, unless they decline. They also contribute to Social Security.

There are members of Congress that are calling for increasing the age at which we can get Social Security retirement. I haven't heard any of them advocate doing the same for their own pensions.

breakfast fundamentalists

Why are some people so rigid about what is proper to eat at what meal? If a person is happier sticking to the food that is common their culture for a particular meal, fine. But, why should they make a big deal about what other people eat? Breakfast cereals didn't even exist all that long ago. When I eat at home, I eat the same things for breakfast that I eat at other meals, and guess what - nobody's ever arrested me for it! Just another example of how some people are really threatened by anything different, no matter how innocuous. But they are happy to benefit from the creations, such as air conditioning and cars, of those who did think differently from others.

potential life

Some people who are opposed to using human embyos for stem cell research because they are "potential" humans. Well, when a cell is taken from a fetus to test for birth defects, that cell is a potential human. Eggs and sperm are potential humans. So if you are a virgin, look at all the potential humans you are preventing from existing! Of course, any time you become pregnant, that precludes many other humans from ever existing, because of all the combinations of sperm and egg which will not come to pass.

more tips on staying cool

If you are w/o air conditioning in your car, you can carry one or two of those frozen blue gel packs, and lean it against your leg, or put it on your lap. It really does help.

If you are w/o air conditioning at home, after you shower/bathe, don't dry off, except your hands and feet.

If you are using a window fan to bring in the cooler night air, it works best to have it blowing out one window, and having one or more windows open in another part of the house. That will cool all the area in between.

simplified Shakespeare

Some people have gotten hysterical over simplified versions of Shakespeare. A man in a poetry group I was in wrote a very funny poem about it. Some of the examples I have seen have had pretty graceless language. But I see nothing wrong with the concept of introducing students to Shakespeare with a version more understandable to today's people. My first introduction to Shakespeare was versions by Charles and Mary Lamb. They made me interested in reading Shakespeare in the original.

I've never seen anybody complain about translations of Chaucer, or translations from a foreign language. English has changed enough since Shakespeare's time to be a semi-foreign language.

not getting money's worth

I have been at concerts few times with friends, where the sound was way too loud. At that volume, it was no longer music. When I told my friends we should leave because we weren't enjoying it, their first reaction was that we should stay, so we wouldn't lose our money. But what we spent our money for was enjoyment. Not only were we not getting any enjoyment, we were miserable; we were getting negative enjoyment. The longer we stayed, the more in the hole we got. Also, life if short. The time you spend at a concert that is making you miserable is time out of your life that will not be available for actual enjoyment, or at least non-misery.

not a bleeding heart liberal

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/BAFA83DEF50731E6862571B1007A68E9?OpenDocument

---

"The unexpected storms that swept through St. Louis Wednesday night left the region stewing in sweat this afternoon, as nearly half a million AmerenUE customers coped without power. "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/weather_forecast_august_dc;_ylt=Alj87fLH3MVDNbdtCBBS6RoDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhcmljNmVhBHNlYwNtcm5ld3M-

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Temperatures will average above normal in most of the United States in August, extending what has been the warmest year on record so far, the U.S.
National Weather Service said on Thursday."

I sent the following letter to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It may be harsh, but I am really fed up. Just a few weeks ago, at a political forum, a Democratic candidate said he is an expert in water quality "but, I am not an environmentalist", as if being an environmentalist were something to be ashamed of.

I'm sorry for people who were affected by the storm in your area, and in other areas of the country and world that are being devastated by weather unprecedented disasters. But we reap what we sow. This is exactly the type of problem weather scientists have been warning about for years, and that environmentalists have tried to forestall, to no avail. If you have not been trying to reduce your use of energy, you have gotten what you deserved. Unfortunately, the few who have tried to be good citizens of the country and world have to suffer along with you. But at least you can be happy, because Congress and the President are working hard to pass a constitutional amendment banning a handful of attention-seekers from hurting your oh so delicate feelings by misusing the American flag.

---

ignorance not bliss

It is said that ignorance of the law is no defense. I don't know if that is always true legally; it may be. But, if it is true in an absolute sense, it is unjust. (For those who remember the subjunctive tense, this is not it, because I don't know whether or not it is true.)

Eg., suppose the speed limit is reduced from 55 mph to 25 mph with no signs to let people know. I would consider it unjust to give drivers traffic tickets for not slowing down when there is no way they could know that the speed limit had changed. Also, if a sign were posted, but hidden by bushes, or blacked out by vandals, drivers should be ticketed (assuming, of course, that they were not the ones responsible for the sign not being legible.)

Any absolute statement should give pause for thought on whether it really makes sense.

Snake with eating disorder?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13939272/

Surgery removes electric blanket from python
12-foot snake inadvertently swallows blanket, including cord, control box

Statute of limitations too limited

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13936994/

CHICAGO - Special prosecutors investigating allegations that police tortured nearly 150 black suspects in the 1970s and ’80s said Wednesday they found evidence of abuse, but any crimes are now too old to prosecute.
In three of the cases, the prosecutors said the evidence was strong enough to have warranted indictments and convictions.
“It is our judgment that the evidence in those cases would be sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Robert D. Boyle and Edward J. Egan wrote.

The statute of limitations for this is only 3 years. That is way too short. I would like to know if all assault crimes have a statute of limitations of 3 years, or only those in the "law" and "justice" fields.

positive thinking?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060718-15511600-bc-norway-hypothermia.xml

"Norwegian scientists study hypothermia"

I found it amusing to see this article posted today, when almost the whole country is sweltering under a heat wave. Especially because I don't have air-conditioning in my car or home. Luckily, I do have air conditioning at work. Besides fans at home, I have a spray bottle with water in it that I spray myself with if I get to hot. I try to remember to carry it in my car when I go out in the heat. Well, at least I'm not contributing as much as most people to global warming! I'll try to think of this study on hypothermia when I'm driving home in a few minutes. It's after 8:35pm, and 92 F.

An example of positive feedback is that the hotter it is, the more power people use for air conditioning and water, which causes more local and global warming. Presumbably, it causes less power to be used for heat in the winter. I wonder whether it balances out.

An example of how schools don't educate people in many areas of importance is a lady I knew a few years ago. She was a college graduate, and didn't know that using water uses power. She thought you just turn on the tap and the water comes out. Of course, it takes energy to purify water before and after it is used, and to move it from one place to another. I would say a lot of history instruction could be replaced with more useful courses. We should have basic history instruction, but being required to memorize dates and names long enough to pass a test is really useless. I occasionally use algebra and even calculus in everyday life, but I have never found it harmful that I don't know the names of most of the kings of England and when they ruled. Besides, if schools tried to teach history which was true enough to be of possible use, traditionalists would raise a firestorm of protest, thus adding to global warming :)

Why math scores are low

U.S. students habitually score poorly in math and science when compared with other industrialized countries. A conversation with a secondary math teacher a year or two is an example of some of the problem. I was working at Waffle House at the time, and mentioned that some people were not qualified to work as servers because they didn't know how to do percentages. He said he taught his students percentages by starting with 10 % (which of course just involves moving the decimal one place to the left), and taught them to "estimate" other percentages. This is not good enough. Eg., when computing sales taxes and doing your income tax, you need to know how to get the exact answer. People do need to know how to estimate, so they can know if their answers are reasonable. Some people who wanted a job would come up with totally riduculous sales taxes, and have no idea that they weren't anywhere near the right answer. But knowing People do need to know how to estimate, so they can know if their answers are reasonable. I expect we have all accidently hit the wrong key on a calculator. Some people who wanted a job would come up with totally riduculous sales taxes, and have no idea that they weren't anywhere near the right answer. But knowing only how to estimate is not sufficient.

unexplained symptoms

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060712175825.htm
"Treatment Developed For Patients With Medically Unexplained Symptoms"


"Smith and his colleagues devised the treatment plan which involves a combination of behavior modification and pharmaceutical treatment, as well as a good dose of improved communication between patient and doctor. "


There is merit in this approach. But just because someone has a symptom that their doctor can't explain doesn't mean it is unexplainable. Some years ago, I was feeling so bad for several years that I was sure I had a fatal disease. At least five different doctors did the standard blood tests, and told me I was in perfect health. When my leg gave way while shopping, so I almost fell to the floor, tests were finally done that showed my my asthma was causing my bronchial tubes to spasm 24 hours a day, so I wasn't getting enough oxygen. Luckily for me, I had a problem that proper medication was able to alleviate. But it is common for people with diseases such as multiple sclerosis to go undiagnosed for years. What is needed is for doctor's to have respect for their patients.

take it like a man

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060711/hl_afp/africahealthaids;_ylt=AgV8udYXh36gDwtAciiT08rVJRIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
"The systematic circumcision of all boys in sub-Saharan Africa could potentially prevent nearly six million new AIDS infections over the next two decades, a research team says in a published study. "

This puts the religious right in a predicament. To be consistent, they should be against this because they think it will lead to more extra-marital sex. On the other hand, I would expect them to be for it because it causes pain and is said to lower pleasurable sensations.

I think that men who do not oppose sexual mutilation of women in their societies should be forcibly circumcised w/o anesthetic.

How to make record deficits sound good

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_go_pr_wh/budget_deficit;_ylt=AuBGWju3x70OueX1_SrK9uWyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
"U.S. deficit estimate drops to $296B"
Typical headline in the so-called "liberal" MSM (main-stream media) for this non-news.

Why is it big news that the U.S. deficit figures are below what Bush predicted?
I predict that I will spend $10,000 this month. So if I only spend $5,000, far more than I make, I guess that will mean that I've done good?

terrorist wannabees

Now that there have been arrests of what appear, from news reports, to be serious terrorist wannabees, there don't seem to be any more mentions of the young men who were arrested in Miami for talking about being terrorists. It sounded like the Miami group were like a lot of young people, talking about things they would probably never do, blowing off steam and trying to imress each other. Even the government said they didn't present a credible threat. So why were they arrested at this time? It is likely that after being arrested and imprisoned for such flimsy reasons, some of them will be even more angry and dangerous. I'm sure many people have joined me in wondering if the fact that this is an election year triggered the highly publicized arrest of the Miami group.

Sorry for the blog's appearance

After I changed a couple of settings yesterday, my blog lost it's left marging/padding. I changed the settings back, but no change. So I changed them to the way I want them. I hope to get it looking better soon.

Recovered memories

People are still arguing over whether traumatic memories can be forgotten, and later remembered, even though it has been shown that it can happen; I know it is so from first-hand experience. Other people deny that there are such a thing as false memories, even those these have also been shown to exist.

Why do so many people have trouble with the fact that in much of life, there are no absolutes? If the sky is cloudy, sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't. I wonder if part of it stems from our education, where we are rewarded for getting the one right answer? I'm sure some people are born with varying levels of such characteristics as curiosty and openess to learning new things, just as we are born with a tendency to be varying heights and body builds. This is good, as we need a variety of capabilities.

But of course, almost any extreme characteristic can be a problem. Both extreme dogmatism, and the acceptance of any flaky idea that comes around, are not good. I expect that education and educators have an effect, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. Indeed, I have tutored people in math who were clueless on how to solve problems involving very large numbers. When presented with the same problem with small numbers, they had no problem at all. They knew how to solve the problem, but were intimidated by large numbers. Almost everybody I know who hates math can trace it back to an elementary school teacher.

fiddling while Rome burns

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060706/ap_on_sc/climate_fires;_ylt=AqlCgNc0lgbpX8gOcPdvHEkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Wildfires may be linked to global warming

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060531_cyclone_intensity.html

Massachusetts Institute of Technology climatologist Kerry Emanuel "linked global warming to the trend of increasingly stronger Atlantic Ocean hurricanes observed in recent decades."

"Meanwhile, other new research by Purdue University scientists supports Emanuel’s original finding and extends it to the entire globe. "

profits more important than sight

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060617-10463500-bc-britian-blinddrug.xml

A colon cancer drug being successfully used in Britain to combat blindness may be yanked from the market and replaced with a version 100 times the price.

ignorance is bliss

http://pewresearch.org/obdeck/?ObDeckID=32

In a 2002 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 60% of Americans agreed with the statement: "Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others."
This placed Americans in the bottom third of the 43 national publics
surveyed, far behind counties such as Indonesia (90% completely or mostly agreed with the statement), South Korea (90%), Egypt (88%), Mexico (86%), India (85%), Mali (80%), Uzbekistan (77%), Bolivia (77%), Tanzania (77%), and Bulgaria (74%).
Among the publics of Western Europe, on the other hand, there was even less inclination to assert cultural superiority than in the United States. Just 55% of Italians agreed with the statement; as did just 40% of Germans; just 37% of the British; and just 33% of the French, the smallest percentage among any of the 43 nations surveyed. (So much for the arrogant French!)

It is easily observable that the people who are most sure that they know everything about everything are the most ignorant. The more I know, the more I know I don't know. I would say that these poll results tend to show the same holds true for attitudes about the superiority of one's culture.

flag burning vs global warming

http://pewresearch.org/obdeck/?ObDeckID=32

According to a Pew Research poll of Americans, more people think that flag burning is more important than global warming. I would that is the result of ignorance of the facts of global warming. That's disheartening enough. The thought that Americans think that flag burning, which is very rare anyway, is more important than the life of large numbers of people, would be truly horrifying.

resume cops?

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/business_44f637020334426a0039.html

This article discusses a product that can supposedly tell if a person's resume has been altered. "They can even tell if the cover letter or resume has been recycled from a previous job hunt."

Is this a joke? Or maybe a test to see how many people read the paper w/o buying it, because it would be sure to generate a lot of letters? It was on the first page of the business section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 21, 2006; it would have been more appropriate to April 1.
I won't discuss the stupidity of this idea, because it's obvious to anybody who has looked for a job. I would just like to say that I would like a list of any companies who do this, because I wouldn't want to work for anybody that stupid.

Johnny Cash

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13639505/

Johnny Cash's wife had just died. Diabetes had cost him much of his sight, and he needed a wheelchair.

The unnamed AP writer commented : "The one selection that seems ill-conceived is Hank Williams' "A Legend in My Time," with a jarringly self-pitying tone."

I can see why the writer is unnamed; he should be ashamed of saying such a jerky thing. In our society, people who have suffered severe loss, and who may be in physical discomfort, or even severe pain, are often expected to be cheerful, and not discomfort the more fortunate. What a sadistic attitude.

lack of health care

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060629-19523000-bc-us-medicaltourism.xml

U.S. citizens are going to other countries for surgery.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060418-12140300-bc-costrx.xml

Medicare patients can't find doctors.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060404-15102400-bc-us-survey-analysis.xml

U.S. patients rate their healthcare among the worst in the industrialized world, despite costs that surpass nearly all those in every other comparable country, a multi-national survey concluded Tuesday.

I am currently experiencing the problem of lack of availability of health care to many in our country. I don't have health insurance. I have cataracts, and am already legally blind in one eye. Because I worked at a low-paying job for four years before I got my current job last winter, I have little savings - only what I have been able to save since getting this job. I need to get surgery on one eye while I can still see well enough to drive and work with the other eye; I am beginning to have problems with my good eye. If I can get the surgery on my left eye in time, I'll be able to continue working and paying taxes, and of course I won't be drawing disability payments.

In regard to the U.S. government, I am not eligible for disability until I am legally blind in both eyes, and then I would not be eligible for Medicare for two years. Of course, of U.S. Congresspeople get medical insurance paid for with our taxes. I guess they're too busy, trying to pass constitutional amendments against the handful of people who burn American flags, to spend time on such unimortant things as our citizens who are becoming disabled, and dying, from lack of medical care and needed medication.

In regard to the state of Georgia, I am not eligible for Medicaid because I make too much money. In fact, when I was living in poverty while working for Waffle House, I made too much money for Medicaid!

I make too much money to get help from the Lions Club. ( I understand that they have limited funds, and their priority will be the poor.)

The local United Way doesn't have any member agencies that provide surgery, but they suggested a couple of agencies that might be able to help, including the National Federation of the Blind, which gave me another couple of referrals.

So, I am currently waiting to talk to the appropriate person from Prevent Blindness Georgia, who who has been out in the field. I have no complaints, she's doing her job, and there are many who need help. But I am feeling increasingly anxious as my good eye is getting worse.

I am going to get information about surgery in foreign countries, in case I have to do that, instead of waiting until I am legally blind in both eyes, and destitute, so I can get help in my own country.

secret weapon planned against North Korea

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13577400/site/newsweek/

Monkeys see no evil, hear no evil

http://www.livescience.com/environment/060627_inconv_truth.html

"The nation's top climate scientists are giving "An Inconvenient Truth,'' Al Gore's documentary on global warming, five stars for accuracy. The former vice president's movie -- replete with the prospect of a flooded New York City, an inundated Florida, more and nastier hurricanes, worsening droughts, retreating glaciers and disappearing ice sheets -- mostly got the science right, said all 19 climate scientists who had seen the movie or read the book and answered questions from The Associated Press. "

This is no surprise for those who've followed the facts on what scientists are saying about global warming in scientific news sources, rather than the main stream media (MSM) reports, which almost always include references to one of the very small number of scientists who deny global warmning, or attribute it solely to natural cycles, and who usually are in fields not related to weather, and who usually turn out to be funded by Mobil-Exxon, which of course are not reported by the MSM.

"While more than 1 million people have seen the movie since it opened in May, that does not include Washington's top science decision makers. President Bush said he won't see it. The heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA
haven't seen it, and the president's science adviser said the movie is on his to-see list."

"They are quite literally afraid to know the truth,'' Gore said. "Because if you accept the truth of what the scientific community is saying, it gives you a moral imperative to start to rein in the 70 million tons of global warming pollution that human civilization is putting into the atmosphere every day.''

It is certainly ironic that severe flooding of the kind to be expected from global warming is occuring right when the leaders of our country are asserting their allegiance to ignorance on the matter. Of course, we can't know that a particular piece of bad weather would not have occurred w/o the greenhouse effect, any more than we can know which of the small percentage of lung cancers would have occurred w/o exposure to tobacco smoke. What scientists can do is predict trends.

I think Gore is being too easy on our "leaders". To choose to avoid knowing the truth in such a matter is in itself immoral.

What's in a name - estate taxes

The rich Republicans who are trying to do away with the estate/inheritance tax call it a "death" tax, and claim it is unfair because the money has already been taxed. Even if that were so, forgive me for not feeling sorry that someone might lose money after they're dead; what are they going to do with it?

But of course, it is not a tax on dead people who can't use it; it is actually a tax on the inheritor of the money. All money is repeatedly taxed. The money that we are paid in salaries, for which we pay an income tax, originally passed through many other hands which paid taxes on it. Without the estate tax, we have people acquiring vast sums for which they did no work, and not paying tax on it. But they reap the benefits of taxation on those who work. They are protected by our military. Businesses depend on having large numbers of literate workers, who are educated by public schools. Government regulation of air traffic makes air traffic safer.

And these same rich Republicans want to do away with taxes on investments, so the offspring of the rich can inherit wealth, and invest it, maintainin their wealth, w/o paying taxes at all. It reminds me of the old British aristocracy, which considered money acquired by working to be shameful.

Iraq misdeeds no surprise

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13506794/

Near the beginninig of this article it says "The recent flurry of accusations against U.S. servicemen has stunned military analysts and experts."
If these people were experts, they wouldn't be surprised.

1) Previous studies have found that 95 percent of soldiers in active warfare showed psychological problems after 6 months of combat. The ones that didn't were those who were already sociopaths (aka psychopaths) with violent inclinations.

2) In role-playing studies, when groups were divided into "prisoners" and "guards", many of the guards immediately started behaving abusively towards the prisoners.

3) There are many cases of those in power in various settings abusing those they have power over, whether it be children, elderly people in nursing homes, prisoners, mentally ill, memtally retarded. It would be surprising if there were no people with abusive tendencies in the military. And I would expect that being abused in boot camp, while it might be necessary to inculcate needed military discipline (or might not be necessary, for all I know), would increase tendencies to abuse others.

4) As in other occupations where people have power over others, a certain proportion will be atracted to the occupation because they are abusive personalities. For people who don't understand logic, I will point out that I don't at all think that all or most people attracted to these occupations are abusive.

Not all experts are surprised.
John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based military think tank says, “Anybody who contemplates a decision to use force, anybody who contemplates putting boots on the ground has to understand that part of what they’re assuming responsibility for is stressed-out soldiers are going to massacre civilians. It just comes with the territory.” Still, Pike said that even if true, the number of abuse cases isn’t shocking, given the number of troops and three-plus years of combat: “If this is the worst that the troops have done, the chain of command would appear to have done a pretty good job.”

Military commanders should know to expect such problems, and be pro-active in trying to prevent them. People who choose to be president and send our troops into battle have a duty to educate themselves about the realities of the situation.

Why less time in nature?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13460467/

This study found that Americans are spending less time in natural surroundings like national parks because they are spending more time watching television, playing video games and surfing the Internet.

I expect this is true.

However, I also expect that part of the reason fewer persons are visiting natural areas is that it costs more. Entrance fees to national parks have been increased, or created where there were none before. To the working poor, $20 can be the difference between whether or not they can afford to go somewhere.

Offending delicate sensibilities

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13346897/

The Senate Judiciary Committee gave a nod Thursday to a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from desecration.

I used to get teary-eyed over the American flag. But that was before the conservatives turned it from a symbol of our country, into a symbol of silliness and there eagerness to punish people. Protestors who burn the American flag are annoying, but they do it for the very reason that it gets a strong reaction from immature people. We tell our children to ignore teasing, that reacting simply encourages it, but these congress people are setting a poor example. If you are a wienie with such a delicate sensibility that you simply can't bear to watch attention seekers damage the flag, then turn the channel, or go in another room or something. Burning the flag produces a little bit of air pollution. The big vehicles many people drive do far more harm to our country than a few attention-seeking flag burners. My pets are too smart to do tricks for a picture of a treat.

Punishing the messanger

http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002687978

Pentagon Orders U.S. Reporters to Leave Guantanamo. Is this supposed to reassure people that the place is being run right? It just brings up the question as to what they are trying to hide.

Is unemployment good for the poor?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13300931/

This article doesn't mention that inflation that includes increases in salaries helps many poor people because it decreases the relative value of their debts. Of course, the poor (and middle-classed) have not been getting an income benefit from the good economy we keep being told is occurring. The Fed's strategy for holding down inflation is to increase interest rates, which slows down the economy, causing job loss, so that there is less demand for goods. And of course it's the poor and middle-classed who suffer the job losses. I guess those who lose their jobs for the sake of inflation should be grateful; if you don't have a job, you really need prices held down!
Of course, the article also doesn't point out that those whose income derives from lending money (i.e., many of the rich) are hurt by inflation because it decreases the value of the debt they are owed.
This article looks to me like one of the common bits of propaganda that permeate supposed business news, whose purpose is to mislead people from seeing who things really work.

Swan falls in love with swan-shaped boat

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13029354/

Humorous, but also a little sad for the swan.

Guantanamo suicides

http://www.newsdaily.com/TopNews/UPI-1-20060611-23075000-bc-us-meetpress.xml
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13286154/
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10704032/

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Guantanamo has become a political problem for the United States.
" This was an act of political warfare by the three people that committed suicide, the same as a suicide bomber in downtown Baghdad."

Colleen Graffy, deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state for public diplomacy, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the suicides at the U.S.-run camp in Cuba were a “good P.R. move to draw attention” and “a tactic to further the jihadi cause.”

Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris, the camp commander at Guantanamo, told reporters Sunday that the detainees “have no regard for human life, neither ours nor their own.” “I believe this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetric warfare against us,” Harris said.

I would like to say these people are warped and crazy, but unfortunately, humans have a tendency to believe that that other racial or ethnic groups are different from one's own. But even at that, these statements seem to me to be unexcusable for people at their level of responsibility. With leaders like this, no wonder some of our troups have committed atrocities.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060522093156.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/10/981012074004.htm

It should not be hard for us to understand that being imprisoned for 4 years with no end in sight, w/o trial, under the conditions at Guantanamo would drive some people to despair. It sure would me!

A few years ago, one of the weekly news magazines (I think it was Time), had an article which tried to find ways to define "consciousness" so that humans have it and animals don't. It was really amusing, because my observations are that many humans don't exhibit the conditions that were supposedly needed to show that one has a consciousness, while animals sometimes show these traits. One of these traits is empathy. It is my observation that even normal people are often/usually/?always not capable of empathy for a situation that they have not experienced themselves. Now, this is not really surprising. But many people show little if any empathy even for situations they themselves have experienced. We all feel we are exceptional.

If empathy is a requirement for consiousness, what about people who aren't able to feel empathy - eg., people with narcissistic personality disorder, sociopaths (also known as psychopaths).

Neanderthals vs humans

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060118210756.htm
(Neanderthals Were As Good At Hunting As Early Modern Humans.)

There has been much theorizing about what caused the extinction of Neanderthals. One possibility (?probability) I have seen mentioned is that early humans killed them off because they were simply more violent. Now, I'm sure I can't be the only person who has considered that possiblity, but nobody else seems to want to admit it.

Eating worm eggs for health

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13232481/

Eating parasitic whipworm eggs might be good for us.

Besides helping our immune systems, I would add that the idea of eating whipworm eggs could be good for us if we make a habit of thinking of it just before we eat, to reduce our appetite! :)

Puff's happy ending

I saw a Peter, Paul, and Mary on PBS TV last night. I love them! Of course, they played "Puff, the Magic Dragon" to a group of children. Some of the children appeared solemn. PP&M seemed to think that making the last verse "Puff ... lives by the sea", instead of "lived", would be a help. However, as someone who used to cry everytime I heard this song, this change is no help at all. The reason the song made me cry was that I feel it as a song about the lost of friendship, and being alone and lonely. It might especially affect me because I was an army brat; we never lived anywhere more than 3 years when we were growing up. Changing the tense just makes it even worse, if anything, because it implies Puff is still lonely.

I finally wrote my own ending, and now when I hear the song, I don't cry, because I remember my verse. Here it is for anybody else who wants a happy ending for this song.:

Puff's Happy Ending
copyright 1983 Patricia M. Shannon

If Puff could see the future, he would not be so sad;
for Jackie soon will marry, and have a little lad.
He will tell his son why his own youth was not a bore,
then Puff the magic dragon, will have a friend once more.

Lying by omissions

John Stossel has written a book which has a good title : "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel--Why Everything You Know Is Wrong" . I read a transcript of an interview with him about his book, and considering his silliness about overpopulation, I would suspect anything he says.
He said "All those new babies are brains that may cure cancer some day."
Of course, all those new babies are brains that may create a biological weapon that devastates the earth. Many medicines come from other species. We may have already driven to extinction the species that this hypothetical "brain" would use to cure cancer.
He said "The population density of New Jersey is equal to that of India. And New Jersey is doing OK. Hong Kong is one of the most prosperous places in the world, one of the nicest places to live, has 20 times as many people per square foot as India."
I don't have the time to investigate whether these figures are accurate, but even if they are, they are misleading. Places that have such high population densities depend on much larger places, that have low population densities, for food, oil, lumber, water, steel, concrete, rubber, and other resources. Places like Hong Kong import most of their food and other resources from elsewhere. Much of the earth's land is desert, not suitable for farming, and areas that are suitable for farming are losing top soil, when they are not being covered with buildings and roads. With the number of people we currently have, we have already caused the extinction of many species, and greatly decimated the population of many species of ocean species, including fish and whales. We put such quantities of chemicals such as freon into the air, that we destroyed large areas of the ozone layer that protects us from ultraviolet radiation from the sun, before we realized what we were doing and cut back on the use of these chemicals. We put polluted the air with acid rain, damaging our forests, art, and the outside of our own buildings. We have polluted a large percentage of the waters in the U.S. so badly that they are not safe to swim in, or eat fish from. We have put so much greenhouse gases into our air that we putting ourselves at danger. We have probably already been damaged from these effects - stronger hurricanes, droughts, floods.

Stossel made an apology to his audience in 2000 after it was discovered that some of the research for a segment he ran discrediting organic foods was misleadingly and incorrectly cited; in fact, he referred to studies that didn't even exist.

Stossel is a libertarian. He believes free enterprise and private property will cure all ills, and government is the source of all evil. But he ignores the fact that for the sake of immediate profits, farmers in some areas of the country are irrigating their crops with water that has a high mineral content, and is killing the soil. He ignores the fact that for the sake of profits, drug and car manufacturers have hidden the fact that their products were lethal.

What is needed is balance. Too much government power is indeed bad. But too little is also bad. Parts of the world where there is no functioning government are not nice places to live! And in fact, it is because of the high population density that he defends that we need government. But that is a subject I'll talk about more another time.

Clawless cat chases off bear

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13222962/

Some humor.

Top ten best things about global warming

http://gardenearth.com/topten.htm

10. Why pay for tattoos when melanoma's free?

An inspiration

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12995881/

A top New York heart surgeon who was doing a mercy-mission operation on an 8-year-old boy in El Salvador had to scrub out in the middle of the procedure so he could donate his own rare-type blood to the patient.

Army to ok mistreatment of detainees?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-torture5jun05,0,7975161.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials.

This would send a message to other countries that it is ok to treat our people to humiliating and degrading treatment. Do we really want to do this?

This is especially bad timing coming on the heels of the revelations of the deliberate killing of innocent Iraqis by our own military. It sends a destructive message to our own military people, who are stressed out by multiple tours of duty in Iraq.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13053200/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11911144/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13137362/

Reparations for women

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13072926/

It's true that Afro-Americans were held as slaves, and denied rights long after slavery ended. Things are much better today than 30 years ago, even. But women were also oppressed and denied rights, and churches supported the oppression. I don't hear anybody calling for reparations for women. We should oppose discrimination and strive to give equal opportunity to all children to reach their potential, but I think reparations for conditions that occurred 140 years ago is ridiculous.

Atlanta drivers are courteous???

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12819552/

A recent survey claimed that Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle and Atlanta were rated as the cities with the most courteous drivers.

I live in the Atlanta Metropolitan area, and I felt that I was less traumatized by the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 is that I am used to be terrorized by Atlanta drivers. The only way Atlanta could conceivably be rated as positive is if the other cities are really, really, really horrible, or if the Atlanta drivers who took the survey have very low expectations. Or maybe their brains are damaged from the air pollution and the stress of driving here. Birmingham, Alabama, has much more courteous drivers, and it wasn't listed.

What is God telling Robertson?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13105641/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12851397/
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9053929/
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10728347/

Two people died and three others were injured after a plane owned by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson went down in heavy fog today.
Not being Pat Robertson, I take no joy or satisfaction from this, but given past pronouncements by Robertson, I wonder what he thinks God was trying to tell him?

As for Robertson's prediction that the U.S. coastline will be hit by storms this year, I predict that it will rain somewhere in the U.S. this very week. When doesn't a storm hit the U.S. coastline sometime in a year?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9995578/
I wonder how God feels about the fact that Robertson doesn't think God is smart enough to create evolution?

People with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are usually religious, which fits my personal experience with these people, and Pat Robertson certainly seems to be a candidate for this condition.

Everybody knows

What everybody knows is usually comfortable and untrue.
- Naomi Bliven

Talk sense?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060522093156.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060131092225.htm

"Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish," Euripedes once said.

Do you want to be Methusalah?

The discussion of whether a greatly increased life span is good reminds me of a verse from George and Ira Gershwin's song "It ain't Necessarily So".

Methus'lah lived nine hundred years.
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years.
But who calls dat livin' when no gal'll give in
To no man what's nine hundred years

How Mexico treats immigrants

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13006798/site/newsweek/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13063238/site/newsweek/?nav=slatefrom/RSS/
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12967877/

Mexico criticizes us because we don't open our borders to their citizens, but they treat immigrants from countries south of them worse. If Mexico improved their own country, they wouldn't be sending so many to our country.
I have read that 1/4 of Mexican men between the ages of 18 and 35 are in the U.S. And our president and Senate want to open the gates. Is it really good for Mexico to lose so many of their people, esp. because the ones with the most initiative are most likely to immigrate?

Does clean air make hurricanes worse?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13083495/from/RS.2/

Kerry Emanuel, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology climatologist, and Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University, contend that the aerosol particles, which reflect sunlight and cool the atmosphere, have been masking the effect of global warming on Atlantic Ocean hurricanes for several decades. The researchers say that it is only in recent decades, as aerosol emissions from North America and Europe have declined due to clean air standards, that the full impact of greenhouse gas emissions on hurricane strength has been realized.

So it seems we have a choice : to smother or bake.

Any day now, I expect to hear of ads funded by Mobile/Exxon saying that aerosol emissions from cars are "life".

'Rhythm Method' May Kill Off More Embryos Than Other Methods Of Contraception

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060526180749.htm

Professor Bovens says the rhythm method of birth control may owe much of its success to the fact that embryos conceived on the fringes of the fertile period are less viable than those conceived towards the middle. Professor Bovens calculates that two to three embryos will have died every time the rhythm method results in a pregnancy. It will be interesting to see if this affects the extreme fringe of the so-called "right-to-lifers." My own experience with having conversations with them is that their real motivation to opposing contraception and abortion, even for a clump of a half-dozen cells, is that they consider pregnancy a fitting punishment for people having sex, more than any caring about the welfare of the potential baby.

global warming leading to more earthquakes?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0819/p16s01-sten.html

I made a tentative prediction on 10/22/2005 that global warming might cause increased earthquakes, and least in some places, because of melting of glaciers releasing pressure on earthquake zones. I also made comments about this subject on 03/23/2006. At least two geophysicists (Jeanne Sauber with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Bruce Molnia with the US Geological Survey in Reston, Va.) are predicting this. They point out that it has happened in the past. For example, earthquake action picked up in places where the ice masses retreated some 10,000 years ago, Dr. Sauber notes.

dinosaur die-off, chicken or egg

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050810130729.htm

There is an argument among some scientists about what caused the climate changes 65 million years ago that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Some believe it was due to an asteroid impact. Others blame it on massive volcanic action. Both have been shown to have occured at that time. It seems to me an obvious possibility that an asteroid impact could have triggered these massive lava flows, but I haven't seen this possibility discussed.

Too much of a good thing

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12857723/

The oil industry is running ads with the slogan “Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution; we call it life.” Unfortunately, our citizens are so poorly educated in science, and so well-trained to not think, that many people will probably be taken in by these ads. Presumbably, they were market-tested and found to be effective before being released.

Of course, carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential for life; w/o it our world would be an ice cube. However, a substance or activity in small or moderate quantities can be harmful or fatal in larger quantities. Eg., fat-soluble vitamins A and D. In fact, polar bear liver contains so much vitamin A, it is toxic.
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/polar-bears-in-depth/physiology/
Small amounts of arsenic have been shown to be necessary for the health of at least some animals. That doesn't keep it from being a poison and carcinogen at more than trace amounts.
http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/ars_0026.shtml
Of course, if our citizens had a minimum of scienctific understanding, they would see the silliness of these ads. CO2 is a waste product for animals. Too high a concentration kills us by crowding out oxygen. We aren't likely to be in danger from that. The big problem is that we are increasing the amounts of greenhouse gases too quickly for much of nature, of which we are a part, and on which we are dependent, to adapt.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/09/297818.shtml
http://www.chriscodes.com/store/detail/books/related_result/Book/1572304510/
I have been feeling for awhile that the leaders of Mobile-Exxon, who fund many or most campaigns to resist dealing with the threat of increasing greenhouse gases, are sociopaths (the modern term for psycopaths), and now am really convinced.

Poor reasoning by jury

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/12/13/peterson.case/index.html

This is not very recent, but it has always troubled me, and the problem it presents has not disappeared.

Scott Peterson is the man who was found guilty of killing his pregnant wife, and sentenced to death, on the basis of circumstantial evidence. I would guess he probably did it. But it seems to me that when there is only circumstantial evidence, the death penalty is not appropriate. Especially troubling is the reason some jurors gave for deciding on the death penalty in this case.


Three jurors spoke at length in an emotional news conference after issuing the verdict, saying Peterson's own lack of visible emotion during the trial helped convince them it was the correct decision.
"A big part of it was at the end, the verdict -- no emotion, no anything. That spoke a thousand words," juror Richelle Nice said. Three jurors spoke at length in an emotional news conference after issuing the verdict, saying Peterson's own lack of visible emotion during the trial helped convince them it was the correct decision. (Full story)
"It just seemed to be the appropriate justice for the crime, given the nature and how personal it really was, against his wife and his child," said jury foreman Steve Cardosi.
"A big part of it was at the end, the verdict -- no emotion, no anything. That spoke a thousand words," juror Richelle Nice said.

I have seen similar comments reported in other trials, sometimes in regards to people who were retarded or psychotic.
This makes no sense to me. Children, especially boys, in our culture are often taught not to express emotion. I have often seen little boys who have been hurt being told to be a man, not to cry. I saw a baby girl, old enough to crawl, but not even yet a toddler, whose when the mother was leaving, and the baby started to show unhappiness, the mother scolded her and insisted she smile. I felt so sorry for the baby. I myself remember one time when I was feeling really miserable, people kept telling how good I looked! I have seen a study that found that some women who insist they are never unhappy, and who give the appearance of being happy, have high levels of stress hormones, and increased risk of death. The researchers felt the women had learned to suppress their awareness of negative emotion so they were not consciously aware of it, but it still had negative physical effects. I have had this happen myself. But someone smart enough to serve on a jury, which decides the fate of other people's lives, should know that you can't necessarily tell how a person is feeling by their outward appearance. Unfortunately, it's not the only cases that makes one wonder about the competency of the jurors.

The American Idol auditions remind me of research I saw a few years ago that found that people often thought they were good in areas in which they were not. (Not a unique finding). The researchers noted that the reason was that, usually, the same qualities that are needed to do something well are also the qualities needed to judge whether a task was done well. Eg., in the case of American Idol, if someone is tone deaf. (Obviously this is not an absolute rule. A person could be not very good at sports, but be a good coach, including a good judge of how good a player is). In fact, people who are very good at something often did not value their gift because it came so easy to them, that it didn't seem anything special. When I asked someone at the start of the current A. Idol season if they were going to watch the audition show that night, they said no, they didn't think it was funny to see people being made unhappy. In general, I myself feel that way. But I think the reason I react differently to A. Idol is that the producers choose to show the people who are obviously narcissistic, and react with the typical narcissistic rage, and insisting that they are great. If they showed a lot of nice people who were just tone deaf, and were crushed by not getting into the show, that would not be funny. The singing is so pitiful, it is hilarious. And I'm not as nice a person as my co-worker. I kind of wish I were, except that since there are people who will take advantage of others with no qualms, we need people who will oppose them, which is the category I feel I am in. I would prefer to live in a world where everybody was nice, but that is not the way it is.

Polite drivers would be faster

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060524093736.htm

"If All Drivers Were Polite, They Would Get Where They're Going Faster"
Included in the article is the point that letting people merge helps traffic flow, if you don't have to slow down to much, because the person merging is able to enter traffic at a higher speed. Shouldn't be surprising, but I've actually seen AJC vents criticizing mergers who slow way down before merging. Well, since people on Atlanta highways usually tail gate and try to keep people from merging in front of them, what do they expect the merger to do if they can't get into traffic right away?
Now, this is not inevitable human nature. People learn to be more or less competitive from their culture. Eg., driving in Atlanta, Georgia is vastly different from driving in Birmingham, Alabama. In Birmingham, it is the norm for drivers to let in other people who need to merge or change lanes. I don't know how to change Atlanta culture, but maybe somebody else can figure it out. That would solve a lot of problems that people complain about in other drivers (such as me) who are reacting to the prevailing conditions. Eg., in Atlanta, if I'm going to have to make a left turn, I get in the left lane way before my turn, in order to make sure I can make my turn. When I first moved here, I missed several left turns because people wouldn't let me over. If people were more polite, I would wait until I was closer to my turn to move into the left lane.

cloning people?

There is a lot of concern about the possibility of closing people. No doubt, the kind of people who are a negative force in the world, such as Rush Limbaugh, would clone themselves if they could. But I am undecided whether I think it should be banned. All new technology has unexpected consequences, usually or almost always including negative consequences. But I have to say there are some people I would like to see cloned. Eg., Leonardo Da Vinci. Considering the things he was able to invent that would have worked if technology had been advanced enough, I would love to see what he could do today. I would like to see some composers cloned, esp. those whose died young, such as Mozart. I would like to have been able to clone my favorite cat!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051005074900.htm
There may be good arguments against cloning people, but the one about it depriving people of individuality is nonsense. Being a clone would not automatically deprive people of their own identity. Identical twins are clones. The five Dionne quintuplets were identical, thus clones, but each was an individual. Some chromosomes are randomly turned off and on in different cells of the body, esp. the X chromosome. The problem I would see in this regard is that I would expect that narcissistic people and power freaks would especially be attracted to cloning, seeing the children as an extensions of themselves, and being even less likely to allow the children to be themselves than with there regular children.

It's conceivable that it might be a good thing to have the capability, in case it would be helpful at some time. Eg., we might someday be in the position of the human race being decimated by some disease, and find the only person who is resistant to it is not fertile. I think that is highly unlikely, but it is also not impossible.

In regards to the recent research on the possibility of greatly increased life spans, the ability to find out what happens to humans and the rest of the world in the future is one of the big reasons I find the possibility of a greatly increased life span appealing.

special treatment for Limbaugh?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12536446
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3158209/

Rush Limbaugh has acknowledged abusing prescription drugs.
“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up,” Limbaugh said on his television show on Oct. 5, 1995. During the same show, he commented that statistics that show blacks go to prison more often than whites for the same drug offenses only illustrate that “too many whites are getting away with drug use.”
So what happens when he, a millionaire makes his living by telling lies, is caught abusing drugs? He spent no time in jail. If he remains free of drugs for at least 18 more months (or at least is not caught using drugs), his criminal record will be erased.
I would like to see somebody investigate whether this judge shows such mercy to poor people. Our prisons are full of people whose only crime is non-violent drug offenses. When they get out, their record is not erased, making it hard to get a job. In some states, such as Georgia, their right to vote is permanently lost, unless they can get a waiver.
I would have liked to this wimp get at least 3 months in jail, so he could experience the reality of what it's really like.

longer life

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12916099/

Researchers are looking for ways to extend our healthy life spans. I know I would like to have more time to do such things as music. However, how will we support ourselves? It's easy to say we can change careers, but will employers hire a 60-year old with a new degree, but no experience in the new field? If we have to spend 100 years working and going to school, with little time for what we want to do, what's the use of that?

Gregory Stock, director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA’s School of Public Health, says a doubled lifespan would "give us a chance to recover from our mistakes, lead us toward longer-term thinking...".
Since people are so resisting to changing opinions once they are formed, I'm afraid I am not that optimistic.

illegal immigration is not a capital offense

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12869693/

Federal authorities shot and killed the driver of a sport utility vehicle headed for Mexico Thursday after somebody reported seeing it pick up suspected illegal immigrants near the U.S. side of the Otay Mesa border crossing.
What in the world is going on here? I have some problems with the enormous numbers of Mexicans moving to the U.S., but illegal immigration certainly shouldn't be a capital offense. And this car was headed toward Mexico.

I notice that the accident that ended the career of a racehorse has been followed closely by the news media. I like animals, and I am interested in how this turns out. However, it seems like the press is giving more attention to this than to the killing (I would say murder) of someone because he he was suspected of transporting illegal immigrants.

lousy U.S. textbooks

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12705167/

This is an article on the poor state of textbooks, caused by the need for textbook publishers to satisfy politically oriented school boards.
Examples are easy to find. I explained to a young man that when oil is hydrogenated, it means that hydrogen atoms are added to the oil molecules. He insisted there was no change to the makeup of the fat, that hydrogenation was appled to the outside of the canned oil. Presumbably being cold, and thereby causing it to solidify from the low temperature. I tried to point out that if that were the case, the oil would return to liquid form at room temperature, but he was sure I was wrong. He appeared to be in his late teens, possibly early 20's, and he was about to go to some kind of science fiction event.
I also met several people said that they couldn't eat food cooked with solid vegetable shortening, because it was good for their hearts, but that they could eat all the beef they wanted, that it was not harmful.

No wonder the citizens of our country are overweight and unhealthy.

short-term vs long-term

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060404092234.htm

In this article on hermaphodite nematodes, University of Maryland biology professor Eric Haag notes that "Over the years, there have been numerous species of nematodes that have become hermaphrodites. They can survive for millions of years, but eventually they go extinct. Meanwhile, the old-school male/female species seem to stick around long-term."
I guess to most of us, the idea of "millions of years" being short-term is kind of mind-boggling. But anyway, this is an example of how characteristics that may be beneficial in the short-term may be harmful, even fatal, in the long-term. Human nature may turn out to be an example. I sure hope not.

help a soldier

http://soldiersangels.org/

See this web site ways to support our troops whose lives are in danger

Why punish victims

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12857161/

66% of Saudi women are obese or fat. They are restricted from exercising by Muslim fundamentalist. A writer named Muhammad al-Habdan distributes booklets that warns against such things as girls taking PE in schools and women going to fitness clubs. He writes : "There is no faster way to corrupt nations than the emancipation of women — that is getting her out on the street to entice men and ruin their morals."

Since men are so easily enticed and lacking in self-discipline, they are the ones who should be locked up and isolated from society, so that they can avoid temptation.

Why not return of income averaging

With all of the tax cuts for the ultra-rich, it would be nice to see a return of one that Reagan did away with, that can be really helpful to the middle-class : income averaging. Income averaging taxes on the average for a certain period of years, eg., 5 years. So if your income greatly increases or decreases, you have the option of calculating your average income for the last five years, and recalculating the taxes that would have been owed. If you would pay less tax by income averaging, you have the option to choose to do so.
For example, if you earned $10,000 for four years, then earned $35,000 , the average income for each year would be $15,000.
(These hypothetical tax rates are made up on the spur of the moment; they are only to show the mechanics of the calculations).
If the tax rate on $10,000 is zero, and the tax rate on $35,000 is 15%, the total taxes for the five years without income averaging would be 0.15*35,000 = $5250.
If the tax rate on $15,000 is 5% (which is 0.05), then with income averaging, the taxes for the five years would be 0.05*15,000*5 = $3750. So there would be a savings of $5250 - 3750 = $1500. In this example, if the tax rate on $15,000 was 7% or greater, you would be better off not doing income averaging.

biofuels, other aspects

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060423191907.htm

There is increasing interest in biofuels, created from organic matter.
There was a discussion of them on NPR this morning, which was interesting, but showed the usefulness of having a variety of inputs. The report was totally positive. I do think it is a largely positive development. But there are other aspects. NPR referred to the remains of crops in fields that would otherwise be burned or left to rot. Well, if they were going to be burned, going directly to greenhouse gas and particular air pollution, converting them to biofuels would certainly be a positive thing. But people who are into gardening or farming could have pointed out that when organic matter rots, in returns nutrients to the soil that have been taken out, enriching it, and improving the quality. In fact, this is how topsoil is created. We are losing large amount of topsoil every year. The program stated that burning biofuels would not affect the amount of greenhouse gases, that it would simply be returning to the atmosphere material (mostly carbon dioxide) that had recently been removed by plants using the energy of the sun. However, if left to decay naturally, much of the carbon would be taken up by new plant growth, and so not get into the air right away. Also, a certain amount would remain in the soil for some amount of time. Since most of the carbon might end up eventually as carbon dioxide in an agricultural setting, then to the extent that biofuels replace a like amount of fossil fuels, we would still have a some increase in greenhouse gases, but perhaps much less than relying solely on fossil fuels.

Another aspect is shown by the discovery a few months ago of a new mammal species. Scientists are concerned that it may become extinct before they can study it because the jungle is being cut down to plant palm trees from which to harvest oil to make biofuel. It would be unfortunate if in an effort to help the environment in one way by switching to biofuels, we hurt it in another way by encouraging the cutting down of forests and jungles.

We could cut back on our use fuel immediately with little effort. For example, we can turn off lights when we are not using them. I turn off the lights at my desk, as well as a nearby conference room and two printer rooms before I go home from work. We can keep our speed down and avoid quick starts and stops. We can buy fuel efficient cars, and energy efficient appliances. We can turn off the water while brushing our teeth. Etc. With 300 million people in the U.S., small actions add up.

desparate recruiters

http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/roberts050806.html

Recruiters in Portland, Ore. signed up an 18-year old autistic man for the army.

More problems with Diebold voting machines?

http://www.newsdaily.com/TopNews/UPI-1-20060512-08451500-bc-us-voting.xml
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~jgm5f/mdst110/lab3/diebold.html


Officials in Pennsylvania and California have issued urgent directives in recent days about a potential security risk in Diebold Election System touch-screen voting machines. Computer scientists said the problem might allow someone to tamper with a machine's software. The owner of Diebold is a fervent Republican.

Contestants for dumbest crooks

http://www.newsdaily.com/TopNews/UPI-1-20060512-17490200-bc-us-burglar.xml

Four young males thought to be involved in six Minneapolis burglaries left a video camera with a tape of themselves in a stolen car.

Results of lack of birth control

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1945981&page=1

In Romania, there are horrifying conditions for children abandoned by parents who can't afford to care for them. The government has not provided adequate funding for their care. A good conservative government, I guess, saving the taxpayers money.

Chinese age bank

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/10/eveningnews/main1608214.shtml

What a neat idea. In a city in China, volunteers who help the elderly get credits for help when they are elderly.

It wouldn't work very well here, though, with people moving so much.

Health care costs

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12703029/

Private insurers like Aetna pay 80 cents of every dollar for health care, while the rest goes for overhead, including executive salaries and the lobbying efforts in Congress.
Medicare pays 98 percent of what it collects for health care.

More tax cuts for the super-rich

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/

The House passed today, and the Senate is expected to pass Thursday, Pres. Bush's tax cut bill. Middle-income households are expected to get an average tax cut of $20. But 0.02 percent of households (2 out of 10,000) will receive average tax cuts of $42,000.

At the same time, the national debt is baloonning, putting Social Security and Medicare at risk.

Poor having more unwanted pregnancies

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12636318/
Poor women in the U.S. are having more unwanted pregnancies. State and federal programs have increasingly focused on abstinence rather than contraception. Many social conservatives say woman should refrain from sexual intercourse until she is ready to have a child. So it's not enough to be poor and unable to afford many kinds of entertainment or activities, and stressed out because you don't have enough money for your expenses. Poor women are supposed to give up sex, unless they are ready to have a child.

Poor people are human beings. They have a need for closeness with a romantic partner. They have normal physical urges, which have to be strong enough, in enough people, to ensure that people procreate, or else the human race would die out.

Over the years, I have observed that conservatives seem to consider poor people as machines, here to serve the better-off. At the same time they criticize poor people for not being superior to those better off. Eg., they shouldn't spend money to buy a TV. Well, they can't afford to go to the movies, unless they live close enough to walk to a $.99 second-run theater, or can take the bus there. They can't afford to go to concerts or to travel. It seems they should spend their free time staring at the walls. Oh, I forgot. Conservatives don't think they should have free time. They should be working two jobs. The actuality is that even if a person is capable of working two jobs while staying healthty, and doesn't have any children or elderly who need care, many low-wage jobs have erratic hours. The workers find out by looking at the schedule whether they are supposed to work the next day, and what time. If they don't come, they may be fired or suspended. Besides, they are living beings. It is wrong to expect them to live in misery, in order to make others more comfortable.

Fill 'er up with Day-gas

The AJC this past weekend had a small column about a series of comments in the Vent section.
It started with the charming claim : "My grandson is more beautiful than a Degas pastel."
It culminated with the comment : "It takes so much Monet to buy Degas to make da van Gogh, one fill-up and you're baroque.

Americans sicker than British

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060502174532.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5377794
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12595624/

A recent study shows that white, middle-aged Americans are much sicker (on average) than their counterparts in Britain.
Although researchers included as possible factors more stress in the U.S. from job insecurity, longer hours on the job, and fewer vacation days, not mentioned was the amount of sleep citizens get in each country. It would not be unexpected that the longer hours and more days of work in the U.S. are resulting in less sleep. Previous studies have shown that the average U.S. citizen does not get enough sleep. Since insufficient sleep lowers the immune system, increases the likelihood of obesity because of effects on hormones (a non-instinctive result), and increases the risk of death from all causes, if we get less sleep than the British, that should explain part of the difference.

Pesticides in cotton

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060501232015.htm

Bt (Biotech) cotton has been genetically engineered to contain Bt toxin, a naturally occuring insecticide. The good news is that farmers need fewer chemical insecticides, and insect diversity is not affected, when compared with conventional cotton. I noticed that although evaluations included uncultivated fields beside the cotton fields, this article did not mention how the uncultivated fields compared with the cotton fields in terms of biodiversity.
A factor of concern is the effect of the Bt or other insecticides on humans. In the past, cotton has not been subjected to the same restraints on the use of pesticides as food crops, despite the fact that cottonseed oil is widely used in processed foods. Many pesticides are fat-soluble. Since the current administration has repeatedly decreased standards for public health in favor of business profits, I doubt that this has changed for the better.

Another aspect not mentioned in this article is that insects have been evolving resistance to pesticides. Bt is unlikely to be an exception. Breeding it into cotton seems likely to hasten the development of resistance.

Also ignored is the likelyhood that the Bt cotton will interbreed with other wild and domesticated crops. Since it confers protection to some insects, I would expect the spread of the Bt genes to spread rapidly in plants, at least until insets gain resistance. This should result in resistance developing even more quickly.

If the Bt genes do spread to other plants, what will be the effects on human and animal health?

Motivation to change job

One of the Austrlians trapped in a mine has resigned since being underground, and asked for a newspaper to look for a new job.
Can't blame him.

Daylight Saving Time

I don't know anybody who likes daylight savings time (DST). But it has been coming earlier and ending later for several years. In fact, it has been decreed that next year it will begin 3 weeks earlier, and will end later. The excuse is saving energy. Now, I care deeply about our environment, upon which our very lives depend, as well as the economy. But I am not persuaded that DST helps us in that respect. What are the effects.
1) People are likely to stay up later, getting even less sleep.
2) More people will be driving home from work in the heat of the day, with all there individual car air conditioners on, lowering gas milage, and increasing smog levels.
3) This is the one I suspect is the real reason for this increase in DST.People will be more likely to go to the store and recreational aread and spend money.

Now, this is supposed to be a democracy, but we have never been offered a chance to vote on this matter. Looking at how our leaders have been delaying and blocking solutions to our environmental problems for the sake of profits for big business, it is ludicrous to believe them when they say DST is for the good of the environment.

Claims about capital gains

The Bush administration cut capital gains taxes. The excuse is that the cuts will supposedly make people more likely to invest in companies, which will be good for the economy. This argument was mentioned this morning on NPR. What supporters ignore is that most people who buy stock do not buy them from the company. They buy stock from other individuals. The stock was probably issued by the company years ago. So you're not helping the company any by buying its stock. However, you might be helping the company officers who have large stock options.