Saturday, December 31, 2011

M.A.E.D.

Mutually Assured Economic Destruction. It is hard to imagine the economic world coming to a stop. People will not cease to exist and their daily efforts to survive will empower local economics even if it is bartering. The installed infrastructure facilitates the supply of good and services. However, it will be disastrous for many perhaps millions, especially in the developed world, when the supply chain is disrupted. Which in consequence affects the manufacturing of things and the production and distribution of food affecting even the less developed. The resulting run on and collapse of the banks and the scarcity and hyperinflation of food and products will be calamitous.

It will be as if a neutron bomb was detonated. Many of the people will gone but no physical damage only that which was caused during the food riots will evidence the passing. An interesting way to reset the world. The question will be, who will survive and will they be smart enough to not repeat the previous generation's mistakes?

Friday, December 30, 2011

Want versus Need

Want is insatiable. Need is dependent upon the individual and the circumstance. If that were the sum of it then life would only be complicated by the availability of resources. The fact that "others" exist introduces the concept of share. The question then resolves around can I, will I, do I.

Profits, Entrepreneurship, and Storytelling

I was disappointed in the above mentioned Econtalk podcast because too much time was spent talking about the notion of "Desserts" or who deserves what, philosophizing about the morality of profits, and entertaining the progressive mind set that government knows best. 

A discussion of hedge fund manager's billion dollar average annual profits was centered on the moral dilemma of how much is too much. I did not hear any discussion about the creation of wealth and the fact that not one person, not even Steve Jobs, ate the money.  How can you have a discussion about profits and not talk about or tell a story about how the profits were invested immediately into the economy even leveraged multiple times. How the wealth created by innovation and entrepreneurship served to invigorate and empower other enterprises even noncommercial. And how a rising tide raises all ships even the dingy.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Means, Mastery, Leadership

The first world countries have been living beyond their means since the inception of credit and especially since leaving the gold standard. The central banks are complicit in the demise of the current economic system because the elite are incapable of managing the masses or the economic complexities. The middle class is where the innovators and critical mass exists to create wealth but also to consume it. The poor and needy will always exist to make men feel guilty about their pursuits of wealth and power. To assuage their conscience the well-to-do's are faced with philanthropy and the wanna-be's are conflicted by greed and need. Well meaning leaders and unscrupulous politicians plan and contrive for both means of power and taxation to take from the unsuspecting successful wanna-be's and give to the perpetual welfare class on the basis of fairness and compassion.

The solution is self-mastery. Living within one's means does not necessarily commit a person to poverty but does require prudence. Magnifying one's calling is not only for the socially conscious but for the socially able.  Whatever we are capable of doing, whether it is consuming only that which sustains us or producing that which sustains many we as individuals, resident's of the world should have an obligation to exercise that talent on the behalf of others.

Not everyone is imbued with the knowledge or skills to understand or affect the outcomes of life. Those that can, need to educate those that can't.  Those that can't, need to pay attention. A lack of leadership is responsible for the current failure of our fiscal and social order. A dearth of leadership in partnership with the arrogance of the unwise is the bane of this life.

Are we doomed to failure, condemned to a conflict and strife, confined by mediocracy, inspired to achievement, or destined to fulfillment?  Some, each, and all.


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I know you are, but what am I

It amazes me that the government class, politicians, representatives, and agency heads all have the same failure. They accuse someone else of their failings.  When they announce that someone needs to be an adult it is because they are acting childishly. When they pronounce that someone is the smartest person in the room it is because the room is filled with idiots. When they stand upon their soapbox and castigate a particular person or group as racists it is because they are being racist. It doesn't make any difference what the person says or who the person is that is saying it the very words out of their mouths indicts them of that very thing.

Assuming


Assuming that there is a purpose, to this existence, what serves evil.  I understand and am a beneficiary of good. I don't understand and hope not to become a victim of evil. The bible tries to justify it by extolling the vice of evil at serving to define and quantify good. Science ignores that it exists because it is subjective. Politicians revel in it because it empowers and animates them. The general population puts up with it because it is prevalent and ubiquitous. The unfortunate, unwary, and purveyors of evil are subject to it.

If evil were not to exist would this existence be enriched or impoverished? It is hard to imagine how the absence of evil would adversely affect our lives as much as the existence of it does.  Recognizing the difference between things breaking down, actions going wrong and evil choices I don't see the purpose of it.  Even if the bible is correct at stating that we are served by opposition in all things my faithfulness is not necessarily dictated by the degree of evil in my life.  In fact there is proportionality to the chance of my falling victim to evil by its prevalence  persistence, and prominence.

I suppose that as our progenitors have learned and we are taught, greatness or degree of achievement does not come without effort and is directly proportional to challenge and resistance. If that is true and is seems that it is, then evil is a prerequisite and I can only wonder to what degree of accomplishment this life offers while evils only plays a distraction for the most part. Am I prepared for or do I even want to venture a guess at the circumstances and situations accompanying an existence where the outcome is even greater, the risks are higher and the opposition is appropriate and adequate to the task?

If we are more than an accident of nature, a cosmic coincidence, or juxtaposition of circumstances than evil does serve a purpose, perhaps an important one.

Divestiture

There is nothing wrong with congress and big government that divestiture wouldn't solve.  Corruption, meddlesome litigation, constituency irrelevancy, cronyism, pork barrel legislation, over-spending, inequitable taxation, generic regulation, inappropriate mandates, and childish behavior.

The same things happen at the state level but the impacts are less onerous to the collective population of the U.S.. If we were to also divest the state governments of locally pertinent governance America could be transformed back into the United States.   The challenge is to figure out how to deal with inequitable resources, inadequate response, and inappropriate behavior which does exist and will occur but can be handled because the incidents are both limited in scope and marginal in nature.

Because of technology all central banks can be eliminated and the gold standard must be returned to.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Third letter

Thank you for you response.  However, I do not think you answer addresses the issues.  First, the nature of the NDAA is to declare that  American's are no longer safe in their own country from their own military and that in the pursuit of terrorists the military can and will prosecute any terrorist any where.  Second, Feinstein's amendment is a red herring and does not distinguish between foreign or domestic terrorist.  Which leads me to my main concern which is the definition and determination of terrorist.  As we have seen, the Obama administration, Cass Sunsten and reports to the Homeland security agency has declared Tea Party members terrorists. I am concerned about the anecdotal information that gun ownership, more than 7 days food storage among other dubious characteristics classifies individuals as terrorist suspects.  This law is a disaster and no amount of wordsmithing makes it acceptable. Any future administration will be tempted to use this as a tool in silencing its critics. Any person can be held indefinitely without recourse on the suspicion that he or she is a terrorist.  That is frightening.

It is no different than the Sarbanes Oxley act which can be construed by a lawyer to exonerate the guilty CEO because no one can prove what a person was thinking so the law protects any and all actions of the guilty and gives the department of justice ultimate power.

In congress's efforts to codify the free and legal maneuverings of the the american people all you are doing is tightening the noose around our necks.  Your are ignoring the premise of the constitution and changing it from a document of negative liberties to a straight jacket of positive liberties that in turn require definitions and are subject to legal discourse and reinterpretation.  The negative consequences of such a course of action is disastrous.  The notion or practice of judgement by precedence is strangling the constitution and congress's efforts to prescribe legal behavior is a fool's errand.

On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 7:45 AM, <Correspondence_Reply@enzi.senate.gov> wrote:
December 13, 2011
 
 
Mr. Scott Campbell
377 Quebec Ave.
     Lovell, Wy 82431
 
Dear Scott:
 
There were several amendments considered during debate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) related to military detainees.  I supported Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) amendment #1456, which addresses the lawful protection of U.S. citizens while allowing for military detention for terrorists that pose a threat to the United States.  The amendment states that nothing in the detainee policy sections of the bill will be construed to change existing law relating to the detention of U.S. citizens.  The Senate approved this amendment by a vote of 99-1.  I want to emphasize – this amendment make clear that nothing in the NDAA changes the rights of American citizens under current law.
 
There are several interpretations of the detainee language in the NDAA.  These sections of the bill are in line with current detainee policies, and those were also upheld in the Supreme Court case Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507, 519-21 (2004).  This ruling upheld that the detention of enemy combatants without the prospect of criminal charges or trail to be proper under the President’s Authorization for Use of Military Force and the Constitution, as long as there is a procedure in place for prisoners to challenge their classification as an enemy combatant.  This procedure currently exists.  If any U.S. citizen, such as Mr. Yaser Hamdi in this case, is detained by the military under terrorist suspicions, they have the right to challenge their enemy combatant status before an impartial judge.  The NDAA language upholds the current policies.  In addition, there is a strict criteria provision for military detention in section 1301 of the bill that applies only to individuals determined to be part of a terrorist organization, and who were also participants in planning an attack on the United States.
 
The NDAA is going through the process of a Congressional conference, which works out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.  The detainee language will certainly be part of the conference committee’s debate.  I understand your concerns about infringements upon our Constitutional rights – I work every day to uphold and defend the Constitution which has guided America for over 200 years.  I will continue to ensure our national security without having to sacrifice our Constitutional rights, and will keep your concerns in mind when I review the final version of the bill.

 
Thank you for contacting me about this important issue.
 
Sincerely,
Michael B. Enzi
United States Senator
 
P.S. You can get a more complete view of all my activities in the Senate by visiting my web page and also signing up for my e-newsletter. Visit enzi.senate.gov for more information.
 
MBE:jw
 
 
 

How can we...

How can we...
Accentuate the positive as opposed to addressing the negative?
Befriend the possible as opposed to betraying our potential?
Control our emotions as opposed to criticizing our circumstances?
Develop character as opposed to denying accountability?
Evaluate our responses as opposed to eviscerating our relationships?
Find peace as opposed to foster discontent?
Grope success as opposed to grieve misfortune?
Hope for others as opposed to hate them?
Institute pride as opposed to initiating prejudice?
Jump into action as opposed to justifying our inaction?
Knowingly practice provident living as opposed to kicking the can down the road?
Laugh at ourselves as opposed to lamenting our fallibility?
Manage ourselves as opposed to manipulate others?
Nourish our friendships as opposed to navigating selfishness?
Open our eyes to the reality as opposed to oppressing our conscience?
Participate in communicating as opposed to practicing mind reading?
Quicken our understanding as opposed to quietly existing in ignorance?
Restrain our appetites as opposed to ransacking the pantry of life?
Subscribe to good as opposed to succumbing to evil?
Transfer knowledge as opposed to trashing common sense?
Utilizing the opportunity as opposed to using the moment?
Verify the intent as opposed to vilifying the messenger?
Wrangling with your conscience as opposed to wrestling with the outcome?
Xerox your positive attitude as opposed to practicing xenophobia?
Yell our thankfulness as opposed to yelping about fairness?
Zero in on the problem as opposed to practice zone defense?

 I tried to be original but assume that others have come up with the same platitudes. I am not knowingly plagiarizering anyone else.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Obvious

It is obvious that the so called smart people, of this planet's population, aren't very smart. The world is in financial stress because the so called smart people couldn't figure out that if one spends more than one earns the results will be financial ruin. There has been numerous occasions when the so called smart people could have acted intelligently and enabled a transition of the world's governments and its citizens into a sustainable governance and life style. The free market and self-governance system works when it is not being manipulated by the so called smart people or abused by the ruthless.  In every instance of excess the blame can be surely rested upon a government and it so called smart people.  The challenge is developing a system of behavior that allows the truly smart people to operate, keeps the ruthless people from dominating, and protects the environment and less fortunate.  Self-reliance doesn't work, organized religion doesn't work, dictatorships don't work, democracy doesn't work, communism doesn't work, and anarchy doesn't work. So what does that leave us with? Laissez-faire. The planet and its population will run a course of existence ebbing and flowing from bad to good or good to bad in whatever realm of existence is possible.  Those who existed prior to the current succeeded or failed according to their own personal circumstances.  Those who exist after the current will succeed or fail according to their own personal circumstances.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Collapse

It is easy to assume a collapse but difficult to imagine the particulars. As I watch the EU dance around and flirt with insolvency and bankruptcy, the politicians kicking the can down the road, and the bankers digitizing more money I wonder what if any aspect of today's society can actually trigger the collapse.  There always seems to be a mitigating agent, an extenuating circumstance, or a last ditch effort which really isn't the last.

As far as I can tell it really is only a crisis for the rich because they are the ones exposed and there are so few of them that when the hedge fund crooks loose, steal, or misappropriate a trillion dollars there is hardly a consequence for the world.  There are numerous rich people who are less rich and some devastated but for the most part the world seems to be unaffected. Goods still flow, services are still consumed, and transactions take place.  Installed infrastructure and diverse producer and consumer base seems impervious to wholesale disaster.

The resiliency of the human species to adapt and the creativity of the human mind to innovate plus and the indomitability of the human spirit insures that the human population of this planet will survive even prosper.  It is the mad man, the corrupt politicians, the self-righteous collective, or the power hungry egomaniacs and their accomplices that causes the most grief and may even cause a local disasters, a wide spread financial calamity, a socialital collapse, and world wide impacts.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Lock Step

How is it possible that the progressive agenda is so will coordinated? It is amazing to me that disparate groups and individuals seem to be in lock-step when it comes to the destruction of our constitutional freedoms and liberties. As america approaches its next election there is mounting evidence that these groups will participate willingly in civil unrest and violence in our major cities and that will be the excuse for the current administration to suspend the election and institute martial law.  With the passage of the NDAA, by congress, it will be lawful for the US military to seize and detain indefinitely, without evidence, American citizens defined, merely, as suspected terrorists by the current administration. How is it possible that so many willing accomplices, associated groups, even so called political opponents are heading undeterred toward anarchy and eventually a totalitarian government.  How is it possible that the evil in a few can so easily overwhelm the good in the many? I suppose that the good in man's nature is not intrinsic but is a learned attribute which comes about in the face of evil as has been evidenced in the past. However the cost of such lessons is catastrophic and unfortunately the lesson is not passed on to the progeny. Because there is no place for the good to escape our future condition may be permanent.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Star Trek

The star trek mentality is what the liberal, socialist, progressive, communist useful idiot has at the center of their belief system.  They believe that money is irrelevant and that human nature is amenable.  All that needs to be done is to convert the hard currency to a cell phone credit currency or request what they want from the "replicator" and then let each of us find our our level of personal involvement and self-satisfaction.  They imagine that there are some who are leaders, captain Kirk or Picard, and others who will find personal reward being the engineer, number Two, or the science officer Scotty, Riker, or Spock. The don't worry about the crew members wearing red shirts because they are expendable and take one for the Federation.  The don't worry about the extras on the set because they are extras and are going to be satisfied being extras. They don't consider the people who clean up the stage after the play is done or clean the toilets at the end of the day. They don't comprehend the masses of humanity unselfishly slaving away on earth so that the crew of the enterprise can explore the frontiers of space.

There is no room for jealously, greed, or cowardice everyone knows their role and is happy to stay in it.  Not everyone gets the captain's suite but then not everyone wants one. We will all be satisfied with wiggling our fingers in the air or dangling them down while someone signs for point of order.  Those women who are raped or people who die must be wearing the red shirts and those people are expendable for the greater good.

When they turn the lights out we all go home and sleep in our comfortable beds.

Genie

It is hard to imagine how we are going to put the genie back into the bottle. The vitriol that permeates a response whenever someone takes a contrary position is not going away. There is no courtesy or respect.  There is no empathy or a will to try and understand. Because the Internet has no censors and there is, apparently, little self-censorship the diatribes, accusations, and vulgar tirades substituted for intelligent response makes me wonder where society is headed.

Considering that our society has evolved from hunter gathers through various stages of civilized development, I wonder if this is this the end of society or growing pain? Do we become more civlized or less? It appeares to me that in the abscence of a will to control ourselves and prescribed morals and behaviors society is doomed to failure.  Man's intellect is capable of understanding the value of civilized behavior but man's nature does not lend itself to self-mastery and that is the key.

We are not going to cease to exist so then do we devolve to the lowest common denominator of self-interest aided by technology in the pursuit of isolation where proximity detectors and computer programs isolate, insulate, and segregate. Where interactions are minimized but altercations are extreme because there are no rules of engagement.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Coincidence

If space is the constituent of and energy is the facilitator of the existence of matter, what happens when space is activated and it becomes a particle? What happens when active space is combined with other particles of active space to become an atom. Does space condense as would be the case as a gas turning into a liquid? What fills the area around or between the active space?  Or does it need to be filled?  Is existence a local phenomena? How does one pick up a rock and put it in his pocket? Is that a convergence of local phenomena?  So in a sense I don't really exist I am a figment of imagination. How then can I experience someone else by clasping their hand?  It would have to be the coincidence or proximity of space and the cognizance or interaction of energy.

Concoction

How does one come up with a concoction from which the planet in its current form comes into being? How are the elements created which then aggregate into an iron cored nuclear active globe with water on it and gasses surrounding it?  Where in space are the basic constituents or constituent that can become the 103 elements? What is the mechanism that causes, so called, empty space to transform into matter. The big bang is not and answer it is name given to the event of creation which, so called, scientist can't explain.  What caused the universe to come into existence and why is existence this and not something else.  

90%

I read the other day that the current surface of the earth is 90% sedimentary rock. That means that 100% of the current earth's surface has been under water for extended periods of time.  The most intriguing aspect to that fact is where did the sediment come from?  What was above the surface of the water that could erode and flow into the water to become sediment? What portion of the globe was above and what portion below? Apparently there is some evidence that Africa and South America share some geologic features. That has led to the notion of plate tectonics. In my thinking they must have been under the water at the same time.

Even the Himalayas are sedimentary in composition. What is the mechanism that erodes the above water surface onto the below water surface than pushes the below water surface above the surface and then erodes that? I don't believe tectonics is a credible description because there is no explainable force which causes the plates to sub-duct or the plates to crash into one another.  Unless heat is applied sugar water doesn't boil and if it is not stirred the top surface crystallizes. It is the escaping of the water which causes the contents to  fall in onto itself.

So in the case of the earth did it start out as a rock covered by water or a liquid concoction that separated into layers like a bottle of muddy water.  Assuming that it was a concoction that would account for the layering of the earth as the elements responded to the force called gravity.  As the heavier elements aggregated at the core of the globe eventually igniting and adding a second mechanism called heat caused the water to evaporate and then condense on a rapidly cooling surface.  As the globe continued to shrink the surface began to buckle and create nonconformity.  The motion of the planet adds a third mechanism which is stress which shows up as fault lines.  As the planet cools and its interior contents escape to the exterior the earth is transformed.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Choice

Just read a newspaper article about a woman who allowed cancer to kill her so that her unborn child could come to full-term.  I makes me sad that life requires those kind of sacrifices and it make me mad that there are so many selfish people that do not allow all unborn children to come to term. 

The right to choice is before conception not after. The argument that it is the woman's choice because it is her body ends when through a conscious decision she begins to share it with another person.

Life's not fair why should the burden be born by the indefensible. I wish to honor people like Jennie Lake of Pocatello, Idaho for her sacrifice and courage I hope that heaven exists and that she is forever rewarded for her choice.

Probability

As is evidenced by history things go on. Man continues, places are changed, and events happen.  What is the probability that it will continue as it has?  The interesting thing is that there was a point of beginning. Does that mean that there will be an eventual end?  Even if we over populate and disease and pestilence decimates the population some will survive. Even if we attempt to destroy ourselves with war eventually the survivors will call a truce. Even is we detonate nuclear winter there are places on earth where man will survive. Is there a time when man's existence is ended on this planet? I think not.

Last Stand

Since the advent of man there has been a struggle between his nature, which is selfish, and his nurture, which inspires to be selfless. Until recently it was possible to avoid the struggle because there was room for both. Rapidly the time approaches when the selfless man finds that time and space has run out and his survival depends not on avoidance but resolve.  Is it possible for the selfless to stand his ground?  Is it possible that selfless will find enough resolve to resist selfishness? Is it possible that selflessness will realize that selfishness is truly a coward? Is it possible that at the last stand selfless will not acquiesce its rightful place in man's nature and thus transform man to God. Unfortunately only time will tell.

Escape

The western world is about to go over the edge of insanity because there is no place left for Good to escape.  Since the beginning of time Evil has attempted to destroy Good only to have Good escape to an unsettled place and start over. Eventually Evil settles in and routes out the Good in that place as well and the process starts over.  For centuries Good has settled more and more of the globe until there is no place left.  America was the last place and now that Evil has successfully infected America there is no place left for Good to escape.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Where

Where does one go from here? The government seems to be in the hands of crooks. The largest heist in history is being perpetrated upon the peoples of the world as trillions of currency are being digitized and transferred to their cronies at the expense of the common man's labor. We, our children, and children's children are being relegated into slavery because the cost of government and daily sustenance is escalating so rapidly that we will not be able to earn our fiscal freedom. Our very lives will be dictated by the technocrats installed by the criminal elite under the guise of fiscal responsibility and social justice. Our daily existence will be regulated and controlled to an even greater extent because everyone will be a ward of the state and all actions must be controlled so that no one individual exceeds their allocation of good and services.The useful idiots and the silent majority will subserviently line up and accept the dictates of power and control. The few protesters will be marginalized, tolerated, and dispensed with over time. Each loss of freedom will be lamented only shortly and excused away by the greater good. Incentive will disappear and innovation will be stifled and society will settle into a malaise of selfishness, apathy, and drug induced stupor.

The alternative: Government is wrested from the crooks by an activated electorate and represented by selfless public officials who exercise their collective duty to divest the power from the government and invest it in an educated and selflessly motivated public. The world's needy and less fortunate are elevated to self-sufficiency and accounted for through dedicated efforts and charitable actions by a society that realizes the worth of the individual and the, importance of sacrifice, and the power of cooperation. Our citizen's are civically motivated,socially responsible, personally productive, and individually accountable  Our children grow up understanding the importance of obedience to a few newly founded rational principles based on personal responsibility, accountability, and integrity. We become stewards of the earth using what is necessary, wasting nothing, replenishing what we can and striving to minimize the impact and maximize the benefit.

In reality western man is at a precipice. Can he discipline himself and forgo the greed and selfishness that is characterizing his worldly activities or will his society become extinct as it dissolves into chaos and anarchy leading to the takeover by socialism and fundamentalism?

The socialists believe that enterprise is not essential to civil success and the capitalists aren't willing to exercise self-discipline on enterprise. Both are wrong.  The inequities of this place and time can only be remedied by enterprising individuals advancing the situation while exercising care and consideration for their fellow beings.

It is not possible to impose morals or enforce willing obedience.