Terror, Deficits, etc. Mail 685 20110731

Mail 685 Sunday, July 31, 2011

· Possession of child porno

· Federal and local terror

· WWII and the Depression

· Rolling back government (No Cut)

· Balanced Budget

· Laser Pointers

·

PFC Abdo

You said:

“I had not heard that and I don’t know. I would not think that making bombs was part of a clever way to avoid prosecution for possession of child pornography. Incidentally, I don’t really think that possession of pornography should be a punishable crime or that making it a crime is constitutional. Looking at pictures isn’t a crime. Acting on what you see is. PFC Abdo is welcome to spend his life looking at any pictures he likes if that were left to me. Making bombs is another matter.”

I agree with you regarding the issue of possession of pornography as not a criminal issue. It appears that our lawmakers have confused cause and effect. (Most pedophiles have child pornography, therefore child pornography causes or increases child abuse). In many states (including California and Texas) the penalty for possession of child porn is much greater than the penalty for actually raping a child. But it is not a subject of rational debate in today’s society, and no politician was ever turned out of office for being too hard on (perceived) crime against children.

But that was not my main point. I see PFC Abdo as acting according to what one might call the Butch Cassidy Effect. (I just coined that, BTW). That is, when faced with almost certain confinement for committing a crime, the criminal choses to go out in a “blaze of glory” rather than pay the piper. Faced with doing time in a federal prison, Abdo was prepared to blow up his fellow soldiers to “make a statement.”

This type of nihilistic thinking scares me as much or more than actual terrorism. It does not bode well for my three sons who will be in this world after I am gone.

But despair is a sin. <sigh>

Lee

Or, just maybe, he prefers to be jailed as a Muslim terrorist rather than for possession of child pornography given the usual fate of child molester suspects in prisons? Of course much of our prison system seems designed to meet the definition of cruel punishment; it would be cruel and unusual if it were not common. I am not sure I have any remedies to that.

Fullerton Police Beating & Police State

Dr. Pournelle:

There is no explanation for this beating and people are right to be scared. Scott Greenfield’s blog is right on point:

http://blog.simplejustice.us/2011/07/30/theres-no-explanation-for-this.aspx

But with a United States where the Dept. of Education has a SWAT, but where a federal judge blasts the prosecutor for waiting 2 1/2 years to indict an alleged NSA leaker, and then dropping all of the 10 felony charges (leaving one misdemeanor charge) a week before trial, why is anyone surprised?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/judge-blasts-prosecution-of-alleged-nsa-leaker/2011/07/29/gIQAfFcDiI_story.html

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Lee

These are not comparable cases. The Fullerton situation is adequately dealt with by the local press and local political means; it is not necessary to make this horror a Federal Case, although it will be used as an example of why Federal power ought to be expanded. Yet I would be less afraid of the Fullerton Police (who have, under local pressure, taken the officers involved off the active duty list) than of Federal authorities.

How WWII ended The Depression

Dr. Pournelle —

There’s an interesting article in this weekend’s WSJ refuting the Keynesian argument about how WWII ended The Depression.

World War II Stimulus and the Postwar Boom by Richard P. Rumelt

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903554904576458413656841844.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion 

"Government policy didn’t stimulate personal consumption, as Keynesian policy makers aim to do today, but rather enforced thrift. "

Rationing and diversion to war use kept people from purchasing, therefore the increasing salaries of the remaining work force went to savings and paying down personal debt. Millions of milkitary personel were taken out of the work force and sent to places where it was almost impossible to spend the meager wages they did receive. After the war, as factories shifted to peacetime manufacturing, these savings became available for consumer products. [However, since much of the savings was in the form of war bonds, the savings weren’t immediately available and were gradually freed up.]

Unfortunately, as Rumelt points out:

" If one wanted to replay the economics of World War II (without the war), it would mean high consumption taxes aimed at the middle class, and putting 30 million Americans to work at minimum wage or less. No serious politician could put forward such a plan. "

[The only other way is for there to be a major shift in attitudes away from consumption and towards saving and avoiding debt, something I don’t see happening soon.]

Pieter

The relationship between WW II and the end of the Great Depression is not fully agreed, but as noted, price and wage controls were employed as well as the enormous demand the War created. The boom came about with Freedom and the end of the war demands. In any event the situation is not comparable.

 

rolling back government

Dear Dr Pournelle – the relentless expansion of government appears to afflict many, if not all countries. If we assume that the career length of most employees, government or otherwise, is about 40years, the annual replacement rate, if there were no premature fatalities, and the numbers stayed static, would be about 2.5% per year. If government were to reduce recruitment to 1% of the established staff on a given year, after a few years staffing levels would fall due to natural wasteage of more retiring than were being recruited. Public service unions would more than likely resist this, but they should be made aware that the country does not exist to provide them with work entirely on their own terms. The longer steps to curb this expansion are postponed the harder it will be, but it has to be done sooner or later.

Sandy Henderson

Yes. It is important to note that NONE of the “Deals” being agreed to cut ANYTHING. The latest “deal” we have heard of says they will “cut” a Trillion over a ten year period, which means a 7% exponential growth of government and a similar growth in the Deficit. And of course this will mean we pay higher interest rates, which is equivalent to a rise in taxes on all of us. See today’s View.

The Debt Ceiling Dance

Dr. Pournelle,

This reminds me of the movie Groundhog Day. We keep reliving this and over.

More spending now.

Spending cuts later.

Appoint a bipartisan panel to solve the problem.

The media acts like they have never seen anything like this before.

But as you say, if something can’t keep continuing, it will stop.

Steve Chu

We are not yet Portugal or Greece, but wait a while.

Balanced budget amendment

Hello Jerry,

While I am all for ‘balancing the budget’, it may be well to remember that a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget will be the equivalent of an amendment mandating massive tax increases, because you can bet your sweet bippy that the Democrats WILL NOT COUNTENANCE an actual reduction in spending. Ergo, because of the constitutional requirement, taxes WILL be raised. Dramatically. As required by the newly amended constitution.

Lucky us.

Bob Ludwick

I have to agree. A “balanced budget amendment” would be an automatic tax raise. Year after year. The remedy is to stop electing liberals.

Clark Gable III arrested for pointing laser | Video | abc7.com

Jerry,

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/html5/video?id=8279508&pid=&section=news/local/inland_empire

I understand the potential safety issues of higher pored lasers. However; laser pointers are limited to low power to ensure that they can’t injure someone and the tiny optical diameter results in a large diffraction angle. The average person would be unable to keep it aimed at a helicopter unless it was attached to a rifle with a scope at which point the laser would be irrelevant.

Jim Crawford

Yes I have wondered about the danger of laser pointers pointed at aircraft or car drivers. It can’t be all that great.

Obama at the Bat CLEVER…WATCH!

YOU JUST GOT TO LOVE THIS ONE,A REAL CLASSIC — WILL BE SENT OVER AND OVER AGAIN I’M SURE.

AN INSTANT CLASSIC!!!!!!

SOMEONE HAS SPENT A LOT OF TIME ON THIS….

Click here: Obama at the Bat http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/obama_at_bat.html

J

With apologies to Jarry Cologna, I’m sure…