Do I feel a Draft?

Lately there has been much talk about a draft. Today I read an article from Walter Williams on why a draft is economically unjustified.

He tries to reduce a political issue to economic terms. Now, I agree all life has economic links, but when he says an all volunteer army is a better economic use of people's time than a draft.....

He is dancing around the point. The proponents of a draft feel this will incite the people to demand a quick end to the war and a more judicious use of the military. Right now it is too much "out of site, out of mind".

I believe that military families are paying a disproportionate price for this war, and the rest of us are just disinterested bystanders.

5 min.

btw the spel cheker is not wurking today.

Unknown Brothers?

Richard Kind (Star on Spin City)
Alan Schlesinger (CT Republican candidate)

5min

I am confused...

Who said this:

"The Bush administration has hoarded authority, bungled diplomacy, pushed allies to the margins, and divided rather than multiplied the strength we need to win the war on terror," he said. "I won't tie my tongue, nor should any American tie his tongue, because our Secretary of Defense thinks dissent encourages the terrorists."

Lamont?

Michael Moore?

No

Joe Lieberman:

Link (and I gave you a right wing link!)

Why did he not use this during his campaign?

5 minutes

Wheels off the train

Tonight (8/2/2006) Oliver North and former hostage David Jacobsen almost bragged abut how during the Iraq/Iran war, we provided intelligence to Iraq while providing arms to Iran - and we wonder why these people hate us? After we play games with their lives and their countries?

2 min.

Radio Show June 30, 2006

I filled in for Tony (Classic Rock Show) at WAPJ last week.

Here is a link to the songs played

2 minutes

Wine, Wine and Song

Recently the Dodge Music Center (Formerly the Meadows) lost their permit to sell beer and other alcoholic drinks because they were caught selling to minors. They got a 3 day suspension.

From News Channel 8:
[The parking attendant tells News Channel 8 she foresees many tailgating parties before the show.
"Everybody is going to have to get that much more drunk before the show. When you know you are not going to get a drink when you get inside you are going to have to have 3-4-5 more before you go in," says Russo.]

These are people who are old enough to buy alcohol and get drunk at their own house - they have to buy a concert ticket on top of it?

Maybe they should try and stay sober, maybe they will realize they quality of music they are listening to (I don't know enough about Nine Inch Nails so this is not a comment at them) and maybe the music that is out there will improve..... Nahhhh.

10 min

Myths and Truths

Three things I learned today to counter "common knowledge"

1. Conneticut is not losing population:
Location, location, location: Latest census estimates indicate population in
Connecticut on the rise
So if Connecticut has such a high cost of living, why are people coming here? That is a much different question.

2. Custom gas formulas do not result in increase prices:
'Boutique' Gasoline Blends Not Boosting Prices, Study Finds
So another explanation for high gas prices is out the window.

3. There are atheists in fox holes:
http://www.maaf.info/expaif.html
Also certain religions such as Buddhism are considered atheistic because they do not believe in "a god". I think that is starting to blur the line, but the questions still is, "When faced with his mortality, and stripped of reason, does man recognize a supreme being?"

10 minutes

Pray for those who will not listen

"A Seymour man and an Oxford man were killed after the car they were driving in hit a guardrail early Tuesday and slid about 200 feet along the northbound side of Route 8 before ending up on its roof....

State police said the driver of the car -- whom they have yet to identify -- lost control of a 2003 Nissan 350Z between exits 18 and 19 around 1:08 a.m. Tuesday and collided with the wire rope guardrail on the right shoulder of the road. The car then rolled over and slid several hundred feet. Both Xxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx, who were not wearing seat belts, were ejected from the car."

I try to understand but can't - buckle up.

5 min.

Long time gone

Yes, it has been a while since I last posted.

Not that I have not had a lot to say, just have not had the time to write because I was too busy doing.

I am still trying to finish the Boy Scouts Friends of Scouting fund raising and now am getting ready for the Special Olympics Karting Challenge fund raiser this Wednesday at Like Rock. In the meantime my son's car broke down at college and we had to find a new one. I am also helping out at the community radio station, WAPJ 89.9 FM, here is Torrington, CT.

My goal is to do only one thing at a time, but circumstances beyond my control worked against that. So certain things have suffered and my blog is one of them.

So let's see what the next few weeks bring - there is lots to discuss.

(5 min)

A somber moment

I have not written lately; I have been too busy. But as a race car driver, I wanted to comment on the Paul Dana accident in the Indy Car race at Homestead Florida. Ironically, it was on a racing show many years ago that Bobby Rahal, the owner of Paul's car, when talking about racing said "the highs are higher than the lows are low". At times like these, it is difficult to reconcile those words.

I didn't know Paul personally, but I did know him in a way. I can image the joy and excitement in his voice when someone asked him about racing. I can feel the energy he exuded when he was around the cars and the focus in his manner in which he approached racing. And Bobby agreed that the attribute you needed most to succeed in racing was commitment. I have seen drivers that committed. They eat, work and sleep racing. They sweep up floors to be around race cars and drive many miles to look for the break to get them in a car. When someone puts out that much effort it is heartening when they make it to the top.

Was he inexperienced? Maybe. The problem with racing is that if you are not good, racing usually points it out quickly,and in some cases, very cruelly. However, racing took the lives of Jim Clark, Bruce McLaren, and Ayrton Senna; their talent was not suspect. Did he need more experience? Maybe. If he had made it through that practice session, he might have dropped out on the first lap of the race. Or, he might have gone on to finish well, and gain that experience they say he needed. The discussion of driver experience needs to be had, and if Paul's death moves that along, then so be it. The circumstances leading up to his accident will be discussed and analyzed, and racing will be better for those who come after. Will it ever be 100% safe? No, then it becomes just a carnival ride. Racing tests a driver's judgment, just like a baseball pitcher's arm. The stakes are just higher.

I feel the most pain for his family and hope they do not become bitter. It is tough to explain why I like racing, even though so many of my heros and even friends have been killed or injured. Logically it would make more sense to take up something like golf. If, however; you want to know what attracts people like Paul Dana to racing, seek them out. They are out there every weekend at every track. They don't all have the same reasons for being there, but they share the same enthusiasm, and love of life. I must warn you, it is infectious and I take to responsibility if you get caught up in it.

25 min

We don't need no thinking citizens

There is a lot of buzz about the kid who taped his teacher's "rant" in where he supposedly compared President Bush to Hitler. Well first you can go to this link:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_3560566

And listen to the whole thing yourself (takes about 20 minutes)

Now, do I think the teacher was ranting - no. Do I think he was as balanced as he could be - no. (Although listen to how many times he said - 'That is a good question..' - in a very calm tone of voice.) With hindsight, would he have done this different - sure. However, all the focus is in the wrong place.

The teacher told the kids he was trying to teach them to think. Now I don't know much about the class. It might have been average, it might have been an honors class - I just don't know. What I do know is that in less than 2 years (these kids are 16) they will be able to vote, fight in the military and in some states drink. They may be able to get married, buy a house, start a business. Some people are outraged that a teacher, with opinions, can be teaching such impressionable kids. Well the outrage should be, that these students are at least 2 years behind in learning to think. How can we expect them to be active participants in our society, if hey never come up against someone who challenges them, or forces them to defend their beliefs.

Wait a minute, [satire on] there is a study that says the human brain is not fully developed until age 25. If this is the case then we should change the voting laws, drinking laws, driving laws and even the military age to at lease 25 years of age. Let's face it, the reason the drinking law is so low is not because we think they can handle it, it is because if you are old enough to go and fight for your country, how can we deny your right to drink? Well, who will go to fight? How about we send those over 55 to fight. Think of the advantages - since most over 55 are not in good shape, most will probably not survive combat. Well, that will help our Social Security and Medicare problem, as opposed to a young adult who may survive to need lifelong care. [satire off]

Maybe, rather than worrying about the teacher, we should worry about the kids.

20 min

Truth in advertising

I recently saw an ad for "overstuffed" furniture. Wait a minute - if overstuffed furniture is more comfortable than regular furniture, isn't regular furniture "understuffed"? That would make "overstuffed" furniture "properly" stuffed.

I need a lie down....

3 min

Give it up! - (for Lent)

Hey, just in time for Lent I found something to give up - Talk Radio. After trying to listen to all the talking heads making no sense and getting angry about all the misinformation on both sides (it is just a little louder on the right due to the quantity, but it goes both ways) I decided to quit cold turkey.

I may fall off the band wagon when I try to catch the news or sports, but for the most part I don't think I will be too tempted. I actually went to a real school board meeting. Maybe I will even go to my town council meeting. Maybe I might spend some time and really research a topic and then write my representative.

Maybe I will write to a soldier and send them a care package. Maybe I will help out at a soup kitchen or spend some time with my family. I might just listen to some music and read up on our history.

I may be more productive at work and not feel so drained when I get home. Yes, I still have to read the newspapers, but there is no compulsion to immediately call or write them - on the other hand, I do remember writing letters to the editor - where you could take your time and say what you wanted to without being cut off. Of course isn't that why I started this blog?

10 min

The times they are a changing

Jim Vicevich had a meltdown the other day on WTIC. He said he was tired of politicians playing politics with terrorism - Why do you think they are called politicians Jim? Fish gotta swim and birds got to fly. Of course what he took electronic umbrage about was the US port deal with a company based in the United Arab Emirates. First, had most Americans even heard of the UAE before this week? If you want some information here are two places to start:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ae.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates

Now, without getting into the details of this issue, I want to review the inconsistency on both sides. For 4 years, we have been told that 9/11 has changed everything. Everything needs to be re-evaluated in the light of 9/11. But when Rush Limbaugh and the New York Times are agreeing on something, Pat Robertson may be right - we are in the end times.

If everything changed on 9/11 then nothing prior to that can be used for or against what we do now. Everything has to be reviewed in that context. If on the other hand, 9/11 is just a point in time, and while an important event, should not send us cowering to the dungeon of protectionism, then we need a much longer view of history and long term plans.

I would take it to mean a deal like this would be reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security and bumped up to the President for review. This looks like this has not been done. However, this does not mean that this deal should not go through. Unfortunately, nobody has defined how we balance globalization and the struggle against terrorism. (I hesitate to use the term war - it cheapens the true wars and gives us a false definition of how to fight it.)

Openness and honesty, with a lot of education, is what is needed now, but we are only getting soundbites and accusations - we are seeing emotion overwhelm wisdom and intelligence.

What track are you taking Jim? Or are you an aspiring politician?

30 min

Window of Sorryness

You only get one chance to say "I'm sorry". That usually happens within the "sorry second", a time period not 19 hours long. Of course you have to say "I'm sorry" with a straight face. Saying it with whatever you are drinking dripping from the corners of your mouth while you are convulsing with laughter, just don't cut it. On the other hand, even though you may be sincere, if too much time has elapsed, the sincerity is eclipsed by guilt pressure. This however is still better than the "caught me sorry" (sometimes known as a "Monica Moment"), which happens usually after you have said "I didn't do it" (have..... etc.) So if you really want to avoid all those nasty press people and move on (pun not intended) with your life - when you do something wrong, say "I'm sorry" right away and mean it.

10 min

Half Filled?

I saw a sign today for a bankruptcy lawyer - boy is that the definition of an optimist. Of course I usually see the glass a half full - of course if the glass was spiked with poison, someone is in trouble!

3 min

Only a Cartoon

I was thinking about the rioting over the publishing and republishing of what is to some people an offensive political cartoon. Leaving religion and politics out of this for now, I hear people on the right (and some on the left) defending their first amendment right to be offended.

It brought me back to when I published a small newsletter for my racing buddies - The Over-Rev News. It was a hand typed rag where everything and anything went - and I encouraged it. Tame for it's time, it was National Lampoon met Mad. I was desperate for articles and I welcome any submissions and said I would print everything I got - good or bad. One day I got an article that had me rolling on the floor. It was funny, satirical, ironic and true - and I could not print it. For as good as it was, it was a personal attack and would have literally destroyed a person. Up to that point I thought nothing that was true couldn't be printed. I was wrong. There are some things that should not be printed.

Rather than hide behind some esoteric "First Amendment guarantees my right to be offensive", maybe we should just say "I'm sorry, it wouldn't happen again".

10 min

Too much time on my hands

It has been over a week since I updated my blog - not that I have not had something to write, I just could not find the time. This got me to wondering - If I am spending so much time volunteering to help the Boy Scouts, my church, the community radio station, not to mention time with my family, what are these other people NOT doing? Maybe it is time for people who write blogs to list how much time they take working on their blogs - I bet if instead of writing a blog, they would get off their duff and do something, then maybe they could change some of the things they are whining about. Hmmmm...

5 min.

p.s. The blog spell checker does not recognize "blog"

Things you don't want to see

I went to see Robert Klein the other day. The opening act was another comedian, who shall remain nameless.

I had always heard about a comedian "bombing" and to borrow a phrase from Bill Cosby - you don't want to see it. It was painful to watch, as I am sure it was painful for him.

Nothing worked - he changed comedy tracks at least 2 or 3 times - even tried pulling out the body parts jokes - nope - no laughing. The most applause was after he pulled himself off the stage.

If there was a Wide World of Sports show for comedians - he would have starred as the agony of defeat. Or maybe that was planned. Rather than warming up the audience from Robert, he was lowering the bar..... No, Robert came on like the professional he was and did a great show. For the other guy - keep trying, but get better material and show some enthusiasm.

Average person doesn't know when he is being fooled

College kids can't understand basic credit deal

from: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/national/012006b3_literacy

There is a story floating around about how disappointing it is that the kids in college are not too smart. This has been a teaser story on all the cable channels and now on the broadcast channels. However, there are paragraphs that never seems to make it to air:

"There was brighter news.
Overall, the average literacy of college students is significantly (italics mine) higher than that of adults across the nation. Study leaders said that was encouraging but not surprising, given that the spectrum of adults includes those with much less education.
Also, compared with all adults with similar levels of education, college students had superior skills in searching and using information from texts and documents."

Whoops! If you just heard the story on TV you would think we were raising a bunch of dopes. Again, rather than looking at the story objectively and asking critical questions like:
Is it important to know basic math skills, or does relying on calculators and computers make this obsolete? Does the rise of spell checking result in a better looking paper, but does it hurt true communication?

Nah, just give people a 10 second sound bite and they are happy.

Execute the Plan

Bill Dunn writes a weekly article for a newspaper here in CT. http://www.boomertrek.com/
He calls it "A Matter of Laugh or Death". The column for January 13 was "THE FIVE-SECOND RULE", and talked about how, wouldn't it be nice if you had five seconds to take back what you said. The following guy sure wished he could:

Having suffered a heart attack back in September, Allen had asked prison authorities to let him die if he went into cardiac arrest before his execution, a request prison officials said they would not honor.
"At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of life," said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon.
"We would resuscitate him," then execute him.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/01/17/allen.death.ap/index.html

And I thought only doctors thought they were God......

Does the Media Matter?

Roller Girls on A & E...

Howard Stern on Sirius....

A & E - How the mighty have fallen.

Howard Stern - at least I don't have to hear him when my car radio is scanning.

Is anything permanent?

I picked up the paper and read the same old thing - we need to make the tax cuts permanent. Well, I have news for people, nothing is permanent - except death - certainly not taxes or tax cuts. What the government takes away today, they can put back in tomorrow. Look at the fact that our Constitution has a process for amending it, so it is not even permanent!

Now, what they mean is that when they institute these tax cuts, they usually just suspend the taxes for a few years. This keeps both parties happy. One says "See, we got rid of that tax", and the other says "See, it doesn't go away forever".

One of the taxes they refer to is the inheritance tax. This is a more complicated subject than it looks and may or may not have outlived it's usefulness. I heard someone on the radio say that the main reason someone starts a business is to pass it on to their children and the inheritance tax robs them of this. Well, I did a quick survey and most businesses start for many reasons. First is to make money and survive. Usually it is something that someone likes to do and are passionate about. It is a very personal choice and many times is made before family and children even exist. Of course, they want to provide for their children and leave them something, but many business today are started with the idea of starting them and then selling them off. Often by this time their children have lives of their own and are not interested in the business. Family farms should be protected, and taxes should never cripple a business to the point of losing jobs.

Do I like taxes on money already taxed? No, but how do you keep track of that? If properly constructed, the inheritance tax should not be a burden on families or businesses.

However, this gets back to my main belief - we need to be focusing on spending, not tax collecting. The recent scandals in Washington regarding lobbyists and the outrageous money that is being thrown around and wasted - maybe if we put one tenth the effort into watching this, the taxes and tax rates would solve themselves.

Pet Peeve #2

I wasn't going to do another pet peeve for a while, but when I read a op-ed piece by Walter Williams today, it got me going. In his article "Dispelling the poverty myths" he uses the line"It doesn't take rocket science to figure out why people are poor in one decade are not poor one or two decades later."

Now, saying "It doesn't take rocket science.." or "It doesn't take a rocket scientist.." is usually a put-down of another person or group (see Ground Rule #6). The funny thing is this quote never comes from a real rocket scientist - because they know real rocket science is easy compared to dealing with people and their human attributes. When someone uses that phrase, they are saying "I am superior because I understand something you don't."

Ironically, if it were rocket science, there are three possibilities:
1. If we can put a man on the moon, we have the technology to do anything,
2. If we have the technology but can't do something, then it must be because of lack of money, or
3. We have the technology and the money, but we don't have the enthusiasm to do it.

If it is # 3, then it has nothing to do with the knowledge or science, but rather psychology.

So to be properly correct, maybe by saying "It's not rocket science," you are actually admitting that is is tougher than it looks, and you don't understand why other people don't see things the way you do.

Pet Peeve #1

Everyone has pet peeves. While this is not my main one, it is the first to get blogged:

People who say "Cutting taxes increases revenue". - NOT

If reducing the tax rate increases taxes, why stop at 33 or 32 % - why not go to 20, or 10 or 0! That should produce so much revenue that the government can do anything it wants....

Of course that is ridiculous. The fact is that the tax rate, in fact taxes in general, are a balancing act. Raise them too high and people look for ways to get around them, too low and you don't collect enough revenue. Tax cuts are usually done to prime the pump at the end of a recession, or if too many people are complaining.

Reagan is often called the patron saint of tax cuts - but check this link out

However, there is one thing that I do agree on - that if you increase government spending, you will increase tax revenue,

>>
Receipts from individual income taxes rose to $446 billion in fiscal 1989 -- President Reagan's last budget -- from $286 billion in fiscal 1981, the year Reagan began to slash personal tax rates -- a 56 percent increase.
Annualized, tax receipts grew faster than that period's 4 percent inflation.
During the same period, federal spending rose from $678 billion to $1.143 trillion -- a 69 percent increase. <<

http://www.ncpa.org/pi/taxes/pdtx64.html

Gee, do you think the increase in spending resulted in more jobs and therefore more taxable income? Unfortunately, you don't get back what you put in...

Cutting taxes without cutting spending is bad fiscal policy.

Director of Mis-Information

I almost drove off the road today, when Brad Davis said on his radio show that the reason electric rates were going up was because of the environmentalists. This is the same Brad Davis that said on January 13, 2004, that John Rowland would never resign. The fact is that many environmentalists were against deregulation the power industry. The people for deregulation were the "conservatives" and pro-business lobbyists. Enron and similar companies spent quite a bit of money going around and pushing for deregulation. The sad thing is that many of his listeners take what he says as fact....

I don't agree with everything in the following links - but they do point a finger at Rowland - who Davis thinks could do no wrong...

Green Party Candidate article on Deregulation

Hartford Advocate Article

Another Green Party article

Here is a local story from 2000 - note the last paragraph

Winter and short term memory loss

I am watching TV and they are predicting a 10 - 12" snowfall, with more to come at the end of the week. Why am I still here in Connecticut? The answer is that I have short term memory loss. I cannot remember what it was like to mow my lawn. I forget what it was like to be 80 degrees. I forgot what it was like not to have to warm up my car or sweep all the sand away from my driveway.

I assume the same thing happens in the summertime. I forget the heating bills, the rusty cars, the pain in your fingers while snowblowing, and the sickening feeling of sliding on ice toward the guard rail.

I must be turning into a true New Englander, just like the old story: A Southern salesman visits a old Yankee with a leaky roof - "Why don't you fix it?", the salesman asks. "Can't - it is raining right now", comes the reply. "Well fix it when it is not raining", says the salesman. The veteran Yankee says in reply, "Don't have to - it doesn't leak then."