Drug War is morally bankrupt and fiscally irresponsible. No longer defensible.

Here's a very well-written and well reasoned article about the damage caused by the Drug War.

The article's point is that innocent people are dying and we are losing our Constitutional rights in the name of fighting some War against our own citizens.

We are seriously off track and the fiscal damage this causes is immeasurable.

The story of the 80 year old man who was shot by police when he tried to get undercover officers acting like drug dealers to leave his property makes my blood boil. If anyone other than the police did something like this, they'd be charged with murder.

Making it worse was the governor of Florida saying it was practically necessary that the old man die to fight drugs.

That's insane. We have lost our way and we are in danger of losing every right our forefathers fought to give us if we continue on this path to making America a police state.

The Drug War is un-American because it guts our freedoms. The Drug War is fiscally irresponsible because of the direct cost to the treasury. The Drug War undermines our economic productivity when we incarcerate so many and make them dependents on the public rather than contributors..

This madness must stop. Getting high is not worse than killing innocents and taking away our rights.

Legalization is the lesser of two evils now.

New entry into the electric car frenzy--Shelby.

Here's another entry into the electric car free for all that's on the horizon.

If the specs hold up (in regards to the charging time and range), this could be the next evolution of vehicles.

Bragging by electric car companies is at a fever pitch, but none of them have truly delivered.

I suspect what we're hearing is entrepreneur-speak--ignoring the obstacles, costs, and problems in favor of the promise.

We'll see.

If we could just get an electric car that has at least a 200 mile range, can be charged in less than 45 minutes, that costs less than $30,000, and that can reach 80 miles an hour, then we'll be in the game.

Much of the shift to electric cars depends on energy storage and fast-charging capabilities. Without those two variables nailed down, electric cars will remain out of reach for the buying public.

English-only ballot initiative loses in Nashville!

Nashville voted down a ballot measure requiring all government business to be conducted in English.

All I can say is: Thank God!

The South already has a reputation and history of bigotry. Why must this stuff constantly pop up to remind everyone of the backwardness of many people here?

Here's the utter hypocrisy of the measure.

It was proposed by a Republican, someone who trumpets fiscal restraint. But, the measure cost the city over $350,000.00, just to put it to a vote. Also, if enacted, the cost of changing the government to an English only system would have put a greater burden on the city's coffers. Revenue is down and we can ill-afford such a ludicrous expense for a bigoted law.

The politician who advocated this measure, Eric Crafton, attempted to make good on a campaign promise. That promise, having at its heart an anti-immigrant animus, will haunt Republicans.

Some even argued, an I agree with them, that the measure violated the Constitution and possibly anti-discrimination law. If true, then it shows the sponsor as a bigot. Republicans are already fighting for their political lives with Hispanics and then bozos like Crafton do stupid things like this. Chip Saltsman made the mistake of sending out a CD containing an insensitively title song while running for the chair of the RNC, so it seems that Tennessee Republicans are a font of bigotry and stupidity.

For far too long the Republican party has relied upon pretexts and code words to signal their constituents of the racist aspects of their agenda without having the balls to openly proclaim their true feelings. It high time they get called on the carpet for this stuff.

Thank God this measure didn't pass.

Those of you who know me understand my irritation with politicians who use code and offer pretexts for doing things that they wouldn't openly do because of the public outrage.

Crafton pushed an initiative that was bigoted in its purpose and the consequences should fall directly on his head for it.

Dare we say "Turning the Corner" on science education in schools?

In Texas, that bastion of fuzzy-headed liberalism, a school board finally came down on the side of good science and shot creationism in the face.

It's a sad day when creationist, who claim to be Christians, resort to misprepresentation and outright lying to push their agenda.

Maybe now the ridiculous political religious agendas that have undermined our education system will be consigned to history.

We'll see.

Government contractors and those getting bailout money offshore their tax liability--the rest of can't do that.

Is anyone surprised that a number of large companies, including those getting bailout money and those with strong ties to the Republican party are making every effort to plunder the U.S. treasury and thus the U.S. taxpayer?

You shouldn't be.

When it comes to money, companies and their allies will use anything to get their hands on it.

If it means selling people on a war to improve their bottom line--they'll do it. If it means evading their obligations to their home country by evading taxes--they'll do it.

I don't know about you, but if I tried to offshore myself to avoid taxes I'd be arrested.

So much for real patriotism. Being patriotic is about carrying your full share responsibility to your country instead of your wallet.

Supreme Court is violating the spirit of the Constitution when ideology guides decisions.

Cases like this highlight the problem that plagues the Supreme Court: Ideology.

Justices aren't allowed to make decisions based on religious sentiments, so what do they rely on instead?

Ideology. Ideology serves as a proxy for religious sentiment.

The problem with ideology is the same as for religion. It's based on the irrational and based purely on belief without support from law or fact.

Yes, I said it. The Supreme Court is nothing more than an ideological playground for those who've managed to convince themselves that what they're doing doesn't violate the spirit of the Constitution when they use ideology as the basis for their decisions.

The whole point of the Exclusionary Rule is to insure law enforcement follows the law. If law enforcement knows they can screw up and generally ignore the Constitution, they will do so.

Now the Supreme Court has given tacit approval of such bullshit.

I don't care how smart people like to say the justices are. When they engage in such ideological decision-making, they are not serving the law, but their own agenda.

Call it what you will, but ideology is nothing more than a secular form of religion.

As the Constitution says plainly: there shall be "no law respecting an establishment of religion".

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court--our interpreter of that fine document called the Constitution--has come up with a work-around by substituting ideology for religion.

I call bullshit on that. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and acts like a duck, it's still a duck.

Same goes for ideology.

Drug war violence threatens to spill over into the U.S.

The drug war craziness that's occurring in El Paso and Juarez is just another sign that our drug policies aren't working.

It's time we take a look at some new approaches to drugs.

The El Paso city council wanted to encourage a look at possible legalization of drugs as a way to combat the murder and crime.

Few people take the position that drugs are a good thing. However, legislating morality and behavior to the degree that the drug war does has brought us nothing but tragedy.

This tragedy is being played out on the border between Mexico and the U.S.

More jail and harsher punishment doesn't work. In fact it costs us money that we don't have in our current financial state.

The best way to stop the violence is to take away the profit motive. Namely, we eliminate the illegality surcharge that drives up drug profits. By opening drugs up for regulation, we offer those who use drugs an opportunity to come into the open, to seek treatment, and to purchase drugs through official channels--without the violence.

Drug cartels cannot compete with official purveyors. Their drug business will wither and die and along with it the violence they bring to the business.

That's what we ultimately want anyway.

Bush Administration placed ideology above the Constitution.

Is anyone really surprised by this report?

The Bush administration not only exercised an ideological purity test, akin the the Gestapo's litmus test for handing out jobs. They also lied about it.

I have first hand experience with the ideological side of political hiring.

While living in Washington back in 2004-2005, I sought government employment as an attorney.

When I asked for some assistance as to contacts and suggestions from my home state Senator--Bill Frist--I was advised that I needed to write him a letter explaining in graphic detail the nature and extent of loyalty to the Republican agenda.

What I found truly galling was that I was specifically instructed to spell out my loyalty to and adherence to Christianity.

As an attorney, well-versed in the Constitution, I was thoroughly offended that I was expected to pass some religious guantlet as well as an ideological purity test.

It took me days to get over my anger.

My desire to serve overcame my anger at the Republican's ignorance of the Constitution and using my legal skill, I drafted a letter that punted on the requested purity tests, while speaking highly of my country and parents.

I was never called back.

I'm so glad Bush and his wingnuts are gone. Those who seek to serve should not be turned away because of their loyalty to country over or church.

Managers take heed.

Managers do many things to undermine the enterprise they endeavor to lead.

As a life-long student of good leadership and proper management, I'm unduly sensitive to matters affecting employee morale and affecting capacity to accomplish the mission.

Some of the biggest mistakes management makes are as follows:

1) Assigning responsibility without delegating the authority to effect change.

You cannot ethically make someone responsible for a task or a job unless you empower them with the tools to do the job. Management is notorious for this violation because of their own insecurity issues. Managers further compound this mistake when they ask subordinates to "buy into" the program. It's insulting.

2) Causing shit to roll down hill.

I learned this after eight years in military school. I'm reminded of Harry Truman's famous quote when I see management trying to lay blame on subordinates. "The Buck Stops Here." Good management doesn't shirk responsibility nor cravenly lay it at the feet of subordinates. It takes spine to be responsible, but spine is often not a requirement for management, just good blame-shifting skills.

3) Using only sticks to insure compliance.

The best managers use a combination of carrots and sticks. In that order. Resorting to sticks alone marks a manager as dictatorial. It undermines morale and breeds disloyalty.

4) Using divide and conquer as a strategy on those managed.

Not only does it breed contempt, it sucks as a management strategy. Why would any manager want subordinates devoting time and energy to infighting when a job needs doing? Only emotionally stunted managers use this strategy. It will kill a business if not stopped quickly.

There are many more, but this is a good sampling of what "not" to do in management.

Bush apologist is a liar.

Okay, another Bush apologist has done it again.

He's giving Bush credit for stopping the "Global Warming Alarmists." Which is something that everyone knows is all a bunch of crap.

Well, just today I read an article by, you guessed it, a bunch of scientists who offer proof to silence climate skeptics.

You don't have to take my word for it because it's on Science Daily and here's a link to the article.

It's time we called out liars. Fred Barnes is a liar and he's pushing an agenda without the facts to support it.

I'll be emailing Fred Barnes the article.

Bush apologists still peddling logical fallacies to justify idiocy.

Articles like this one from the New York Post all serve to underscore the problems with ideologues.

All the neocon fanatics still trot out the old logical fallacy used during Bush's '04 election that since Bush has been in office we've not been attacked by terrorists.

Like Bush is somehow responsible for something not happening.

Here's the same logic but in a form that shows how stupid and idiotic it is:

Ever since my birth, there has not been a Spanish Inquisition. Therefore, my birth was responsible for preventing the dreaded Spanish Inquisition.

See how stupid it is? Well, claiming Bush is responsible for a negative is the same.

There's a reason ideologues are anti-intellectual: Because their justifications and rationales WILL NOT STAND UP TO REASON!

People are finally waking up from their dream of a conservative America.

Thanks GOD.

Maybe it's time we outsmarted Iran instead of trying to out-piss them?

What I find entertaining about stories like this one in the Washington Post is the constant use of the adjectives like elaborate and complicated.

Let's be clear about this: This is a failing of U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism.

This stuff isn't that complicated and elaborate.

Instead of actually doing their job and stopping stupid schemes like this, the government and more specifically the CIA, would rather bellyache about Leon Panetta.

Give me a damn break!

I could set up a scheme like this in about and hour, but I wouldn't do so because I actually give a crap about my country.

The best way to deal with this sort of bullshit is to make it too costly from a social standpoint on Iran. The old way of sanctions and embargoes has done wonders, so perhaps we should try something a little less muscular (like sanctions and military might) and more intelligent (like outsmarting them).

What I suggest is that we make their people love us so much that it become too politically costly for their politicians and leaders to mess with us. If we did something like that, we'd win.

We've tried the alternative, so now we should be reminded of Winston Churchill's chestnut about Americans: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they've exhausted all other possibilities."

Well, we've tried and failed at the tough guy bit. Let's try actually talking to the bastards.

Alabama shows itself to be the paragon of corruption...again

Someone should explain the concept of incentives to the State of Alabama.

If you create a system where someone makes a lot of money by ignoring a responsibility, then the responsibility will be shirked. You reward irresponsibility by making it pay.

Despite the fact that Alabama Sheriffs take an oath to uphold the Constitution, when money is involved, the incentives to find every justification and rationalization for getting their grubby little hands on the cash, even at the expense of prisoners' health and well-being is irresistible.

This is exactly what happens in Alabama. The State foments this mess by authorizing Sheriffs to pocket any excess money remaining from food expenditures for prisoners housed in their jails. This corruption-driven mechanism leads to unjust enrichment of the local constabularies at the expense of prisoners.

What a bunch of idiots. When crap like this happens, we shouldn't complain about everyone making fun of the South. We do stupid crap like this and expect to get away with it.

Marry this whole scenario with a tough on crime philosophy and you have a recipe for abuse. Why? Few people stick their necks out for criminal welfare.

Cool experiment if you can get over the "eww" aspect

This is a cool experiment that offers up some tantalizing evidence about human phermones and their effect.

Aside from the ick factor, it says more is going on than we consciously realize.

Job losses greatest in six decades

The economy is heading south and fast.

Job losses have reached 1945 levels. We're talking over 2 million jobs lost in the last year.

History will lay this at the feet of the Bush administration. They've been in power for 8 years, so it's hard for them to blame a previous administration.

We must all pull together in this or we'll surely hang separately.

Beghe story paints a scary picture of Scientology.

I'll probably get a lot of flak for this post, but I think it important. Just so you know, I get very few emails or otherwise related to this blog, so if that changes as a result of this post, I'll be sure to let you know.

I came across this interview on youtube with Jason Beghe. He's an actor that's been around for awhile. Anyway, he was high up in the Church of Scientology, but became dissatisfied and left. Here's a story from a British T.V. show about his very public and very noisy withdrawal from the Church.



I put this up here because I've had some odd experiences with the Church of Scientology. When I was 18, I visited L.A. right after graduation. I was questioning my faith. I got a flyer on my car talking about a free personality test.

As an 18 year old, I didn't have much to do, so I went to check it out. I spent about an hour with those people and they asked all sorts of probing questions, etc.

To make a long story short: Even though I was young and in a vulnerable state, I got the impression it was rather cult-like and had nothing further to do with them.

The Chuch had other ideas. They harassed me for years through the mail and did all sorts of things to get me to come visit them again. I threw it all in the trash. I spoke about it with a friend and she told me of a similiar experience she had with the Church while living in Britain. Scary stuff.

Now, as an affirmed agnostic and secular humanist, I see the Church of Scientology for what it is.

I post this for the edification of anyone who doesn't know.

Burris should be seated.

This whole Blagojevich mess has had me scratching my head.

Any appointment by the Illinois governor will obviously be tainted by the press and the prosecution.

Yet, I'm reminded of the Constitution when I think of the appointment of Roland Burris. Specifically, that the accused is INNOCENT until proven guilty.

As it stand, there's only an accusation of guilt. The governor is innocent under the law.

Does that mean he didn't do what he's accused of? No. It means that the burden of proving guilt is upon the government and that until his guilt is proven, he should be without legal hindrance to carrying out his duties.

Of course the politicians want him gone because of the embarrassment he represents. Yet, these politicians are charged with upholding the Constitution and the laws of the United States, so for them to convict him without benefit of trial is to ignore their duty to the law.

I know nothing of Roland Burris and his qualifications. I do know that he should be seated. Until the governor is convicted, he enjoys all the power of his position; that includes the power to appoint a Senator.

It may smell bad, but that doesn't make it illegal.

Reagan era Republicanism is dead; Democrats the new pragmatists.

E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post sums it up clearly with his analysis of the future of the both Democrats and Republicans.

The broader point shouldn't be ignored: Republicans should realize that the Reagan era is over and find a new pragmatism.

Democrats have embraced pragmatism and will thus survive much stronger and with greater ability to run the show as a result.

Are we truly as free as we think we are?

I came across this radio show that offered some really astounding ideas--all based on scientific research--about freedom of choice.

Here's the show. It's about 15 minutes long.



This stuff makes me giddy. It really throws some wrenches into to whole freedom thing.

Fascinating.

Here's the link to the page with even more shows on it.

Literate cities lean liberal

Here's something of note. A listing of the most literate and least literate cities in the U.S.

Something that pops out at me is the political leanings of the most literate cities: They tend to support Democrats and lean liberal.

Something to be said for reading and political affiliation.

Interestingly, least literate cities tend to be in Texas or California with one exception: Hialeah, Florida.