| Sunday, October
24, 2010
Ban on Trick-or-Treating???
Jerry,
This is completely unacceptable to me. Teenagers, in
certain cities, cannot trick or treat or they face fines and jail.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wirestory?id=11949660&page=1 This,
"it's a different world" excuse is really wearing thin. It's not a different
world, the plebeians have a different mindset and are asking for the Nanny
State(s) to protect them from the bogeymen under the several beds. Their
policies of exclusion and fear breed more problems the fearful did not
expect, and they never seem to know how to deal with these consequences.
Most importantly, we are running out of money, space,
and time to deal with all of the social bogeymen out there. People are going
to brace themselves and learn how to live with it.
-----
Teenagers who trick-or-treat in some cities could
face something more threatening than any costumed zombie or ghost — like
the long arm of the law.
Some cities across the country have adopted age
limits — usually around 12 — for those who can travel door-to-door for
candy and other Halloween fare. But while teen violators could face jail
or fines up to $100, such laws are rarely strictly enforced.
Take Mayor Mark Eckert of Belleville, Ill., near St.
Louis. He led a push in 2008 to ban trick or treating by high school-aged
teens in that community of about 35,000 people.
Surely not my business, and unless you live
there, hardly yours. Silly in my judgment, but I see no requirement to use
time, space, or money to combat a decision by the local mayor of a St.
Louis suburb. The local concern seems to be teen age hoodlums, perhaps
gangsters, intimidating single women who open their doors. I can think of
remedies other than police, but it's simply not a Federal problem. What
would you do, send in US Marshals to enforce the right of teenagers to
trick or treat?
===========
A Few Thoughts About NPR
One thing I never see mentioned in any of these
debates about NPR funding is the sheer number of NPR outlets, and their
monetary value. There are a limited number of broadcast channels available,
yet an NPR station is always within listening distance. Even in desolate
places such as rural Oregon there are easily three or four, when nothing
else is in range.
Large cities tend to have several, both AM and FM.
Many of these are located in prime slots, near the center of the dial.
Experiment: Wait until slightly after 4:00 PM on any weekday and tune
through the FM and AM band. Note how many different times you hear that All
Things Considered music in your area. (God forbid you should actually listen
to this drivel)
The point I'm building up to is this: In a dense urban
environment all the available broadcast channels, as doled out by the FCC
(that's FEDERAL Communications commission ie our government), are fully
occupied. Each NPR venue would be worth upwards of several hundred million,
even possibly a billion if put up for auction, yet they are provided
completely free and clear by the FCC. Hundreds of them. I've never seen this
included in the accounting of supposed government funding. I wonder why?
Next, if what they call government funding is really
such a small portion of their budget, the rest supplied by listeners and
foundations, why do they not just give it up, and so claim complete
independence?
And, why do they always claim to be advertising-free
when they so clearly are not? "This next program is brought to by a grant
from Geek and Freak's Ice Cream, when you want the best in liberal sweeties,
get stuck into some G&S. This week's special is Stalin Crunch" And so on.
OK, sometimes they do manage to play some decent jazz
or classical music. I fail to see why the market could not supply the same
or better absent the free competition.
(Hats off the WBGO in Newark which is a nominal NPR
station that plays excellent jazz, but which does not broadcast All Things
Cringeworthy)
Geoff
I like Sesame Street, too. And The Count. I once
suggested that The Count go through arithmetic to algebra, and possibly
even to "See this mysterious symbol. It is called an integral" in the
spooky voice. The producers loved the idea, but nothing came of it. But
then I suspect Sesame Street would have no problem getting voluntary
financing.
==========
More on AR4
Those who want to read AR4 should read Levine's list
of 'highlights' to watch for.
Guest post by Robert E. Levine, PhD
The full set of climate model deficiency statements is
presented in the table below. Each statement appears in the referenced IPCC
document at the indicated location. I selected these particular statements
from the detailed chapters of the PSB because they show deficiencies in
climate modeling, conflict with the confidently alarming statements of the
SPM, and can easily be understood by those who lack expertise in
climatology. No special scientific expertise of any kind is required to see
the deception in treating climate models as trustworthy, presenting
confident statements of climate alarm derived from models in the Summary,
and leaving the disclosure of climate model deficiencies hidden away in the
detailed chapters of the definitive work on climate change. Climategate gave
us the phrase “Hide the decline.” For questionable and untrustworthy climate
models, we may need another phrase. I suggest “Conceal the flaws.”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/10/21/
climate-model-deception-%E2%80%93-see-it-for-yourself/#more-26750
-Joe
In fact the people who build the models have less
confidence in their predictive values than the AGW Believers.
=========
China Quietly Looks to Strangle U.S., Japanese EV
Production, buffy willow
Jerry
Lest you ever though that a world dominated by the
Chinese would be "fair" or evenhanded, we have this - China Quietly Looks to
Strangle U.S., Japanese EV Production, by shutting off the supply of rare
earth minerals:
http://www.dailytech.com/China+Quietly+
Looks+to+Strangle+US+Japanese+EV+
Production/article19951.htm
Mercantilism lives, eh?
"God bless the child that's got his own."
Ed
Hostile Trade. RAND did a good study of that in
the 1960's. Possibly as early as the 50's.
==========
an eastern NATO?
Jerry
There's no end to history. For example, it's getting
ominous for us over in China:
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/
china/articles/20101022.aspx
"While China prominently proclaims the peaceful
intentions behind its growing military buildup, within the military the
rhetoric is far more aggressive. The United States is the main foe among
officers, and they continue to churn out books and articles about how
America can be defeated. Lesser foes include Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam and
South Korea. But it's understood, among Chinese officers, that if the
mighty Americans can be brought to heel, all other local powers will
become much easier to handle." <snip>
"What alarms the Americans is how the U.S. is being
demonized by the Chinese military leadership. Chinese politicians speak in
more friendly terms, while tolerating the bellicose attitudes of their
generals and admirals. The politicians refrain from reining in the
aggressive attitudes of their military commanders. China experts counsel
that the rants from the military are mainly to build morale within the
ranks, . . . But to outsiders, it looks like the Chinese are preparing for
something ominous. This is reinforced by the increasingly aggressive
Chinese attitudes towards disputes with its neighbors over uninhabited
islands (often just rock outcroppings only visible at low tide). Outright
possession of these islets gives the owner possession of nearby oil or
natural gas deposits. Something worth fighting for, and that's what
worries neighbors when it comes to China's growing naval strength." <snip>
"China now has military alliances that allow it to
fly combat aircraft all the way to Europe. A joint air force training
exercise in Turkey last month had Chinese jet fighters flying through the
air space of two allies, Pakistan and Iran, to new ally Turkey." <snip>
"While Vietnam has been deferential to China, most
other neighbors of China (including India) are increasingly cooperating in
efforts to form a de facto military and political alliance against China.
If this ever becomes a formal alliance (an eastern NATO, against the
eastern superpower), China will not be pleased." <snip>
Empires and the boys who build them. Guess some things
never change.
Ed
===========
On the college education contretemps
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/
why-did-17-million-students-go-to-college/27634
Dear Dr. Pournelle:
I spotted the above link in a GIZMODO article. I sent
the link to spare you the imbecilic comments. The original article seems to
support what you've been saying for some time.
Regards, Tim Scott
===========
Not fixing the roads
In re:
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/
view/2010/Q4/view644.html#Tuesday
No, Jerry, they didn't fix the roads. Not only that,
but if this bill passes, they still won't fix the roads.
In the U.S., "fixing the roads" is a fraud. Bills are
passed, ostensibly to fix bad roads and bridges, but the actual funding is
for other things. That's the way it is, and has been for decades, and will
continue to be until any bill that provides money to fix roads and bridges
is unconstitutional, and a capital offense for those proposing or voting in
favor of it, if it has a single penny for anything except fixing the roads
-- in other words, until the end of the U.S.
I'm surprised I have to point these things out.
Stephen M. St. Onge
I replied
And the interstate highway system is an illusion?
No, Jerry, the Interstate Highway System is not an
illusion. Nor are the state and local roads an illusion.
But when a bill is passed to fix them up, it's a
fraud. The money really goes mostly to building new roads, bridges, or other
things, and the damaged roads are mostly left damaged.
The politicians lie, routinely and egregiously, about
where the money will go.
Stephen M. St. Onge
So I said
And yet streets do get fixed, freeways are
often repaired, the California Earthquakes destroyed much of the Freeway
system and they were fixed in record time.
I expect you are right that much road repair
money goes somewhere else, but it is manifest that roads do get
repaired. You see it happen. Not often enough, and the roads get rougher
all the time, but this isn't Baja.
OK, I exaggerated, but when I've looked at typical
"repair the decaying infrastructure bills," maybe a third of the spending
goes to repairing infrastructure, with the rest going for other things. A
few years later, there's another scare about "our decaying roads and
bridges," and the cycle repeats.
As much as a non-fan of the Confederacy as I am, I
long for one of the reforms in the Confederate Constitution, namely that
every bill introduced into Congress must deal with one subject, said subject
to be described in the bill's title.
Stephen
I can hardly disagree with that.
==
re: earmarks and pork
It seems to me that the best way to get rid of pork is
to do away with the mega omnibus bills. Pork gets hidden in those bills to
get everyone to vote for it. If you chop the bills down to size so each bill
deals with a specific issue and only things that have to do with that issue
are included in the bill, then that will take care of most pork.
pww
It would certainly be a start. A Tea Party
idea...
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