A Decent Idea Out of Texas

Stop the presses! This is an unusual story, indeed. I'm about to say something good about Texas that doesn't involve my Texas Rangers baseball team. To wit: in a rare action that actually meets my approval the Texas House of Representatives recently passed a bill banning searches by TSA agents without probable cause. (Read about it here. See also here.) The law says that searches by these ubiquitous airport agents unless they have good reason to suspect that a person has committed a crime are illegal in Texas. The Boing Boing writeup has a wonderful description of the TSA's reaction: "The TSA has responded with headless chicken hysteria, making up gradeschool misinterpretations of the nature of US federalism." The TSA claims that the supremacy clause of the US Constitution (Art. IV, Clause 2*) "prevents the states from regulating the federal government." A bald-faced lie, according to knowledgeable commentators. Good writeup why is here.

So we have the long arm of federal intrusion into our lives claiming basically that there is nothing to restrain their intrusive power. I'm not interested in the constitutional niceties here. The huge public outcry against the latest outrages on Americans perpetrated by the TSA had no effect whatever. The intrusive pat-downs and scans have simply continued. So it's time for a state legislature, or many of them, to step in and protect the basic constitutional liberties of the citizenry.

Too bad it had to be Texas, though, a fruitcake state if ever one there was.

*This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

Related articles

• TSA Responds To Texas: Resistance is Futile (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
• In Ruthless Act of Economic Warfare, Tsa Threatens to Make Texas a No-fly Zone (worldtruthtoday.com)
• An Example of the TSA's Sexual Assaults and Texas Pat Down Ban Back? (thepursuitofliberty.wordpress.com)

I Miss George Carlin

George Carlin died too soon. I would love to hear his commentary on the times right now. Here's the kind of thing we're missing. This is the rap/poem he delivered on his last appearance on The Tonight Show. (Source). We could use his wisdom . . . and can you imagine? His wit would be savage.

I’m a modern man,
A man for the millennium,
Digital and smoke free.
A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist,
Politically anatomically and ecologically incorrect.
I’ve been uplinked and downloaded.
I’ve been inputted and outsourced.
I know the upside of downsizing.
I know the downside of upgrading.
I’m a high tech lowlife.
A cutting edge state-of-the-art bicoastal multitasker,
And I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. (The rest after the jump…)
I’m new wave but I’m old school,
And my inner child is outward bound.
I’m a hot wired heat seeking warm hearted cool customer,
Voice activated and biodegradable.
I interface from a database,
And my database is in cyberspace,
So I’m interactive,
I’m hyperactive,
And from time-to-time,
I’m radioactive.
Behind the eight ball,
Ahead of the curve,
Riding the wave,
Dodging a bullet,
Pushing the envelope.
I’m on point,
On task,
On message,
And off drugs.
I got no need for coke and speed,
I got no urge to binge and purge.
I’m in the moment,
On the edge,
Over the top,
But under the radar.
A high concept,
Low profile,
Medium range ballistic missionary.
A street-wise smart bomb.
A top gun bottom feeder.
I wear power ties,
I tell power lies,
I take power naps,
I run victory laps.
I’m a totally ongoing bigfoot slam dunk rainmaker with a proactive outreach.
A raging workaholic.
A working ragaholic.
Out of rehab,
And in denial.
I got a personal trainer,
A personal shopper,
A personal assistant,
And a personal agenda.
You can’t shut me up,
You can’t dumb me down.
‘Cause I’m tireless,
And I’m wireless.
I’m an alpha male on beta blockers.
I’m a non-believer and an over-achiever.
Laid back but fashion forward.
Up front,
Down home,
Low rent,
High maintenance.
Super size,
Long lasting,
High definition,
Fast acting,
Oven ready,
And built to last.
I’m a hands on,
Foot loose,
Knee jerk,
Head case.
Prematurely post traumatic,
And I have a love child who sends me hate mail.
But I’m feeling,
I’m caring,
I’m healing,
I’m sharing.
A supportive bonding nurturing primary care giver.
My output is down,
But my income is up.
I take a short position on the long bond,
And my revenue stream has its own cash flow.
I read junk mail,
I eat junk food,
I buy junk bonds,
I watch trash sports.
I’m gender specific,
Capital intensive,
User friendly,
And lactose intolerant.
I like rough sex.
I like rough sex.
I like tough love.
I use the f word in my email,
And the software on my hard drive is hard core, no soft porn.
I bought a microwave at a mini mall.
I bought a mini van in a mega store.
I eat fast food in the slow lane.
I’m toll free,
Bite sized,
Ready to wear,
And I come in all sizes.
A fully equipped,
Factory authorized,
Hospital tested,
Clinically proven,
Scientifically formulated medical miracle.
I’ve been pre-washed,
Pre-cooked,
Pre-heated,
Pre-screened,
Pre-approved,
Pre-packaged,
Post-dated,
Freeze-dried,
Double-wrapped,
Vacuum-packed,
And I have an unlimited broadband capacity.
I’m a rude dude,
But I’m the real deal.
Lean and mean.
Cocked, locked and ready to rock.
Rough tough and hard to bluff.
I take it slow.
I go with the flow.
I ride with the tide.
I got glide in my stride.
Drivin’ and movin’,
Sailin’ and spinnin’,
Jivin’ and groovin’,
Wailin’ and winnin’.
I don’t snooze,
So I don’t lose.
I keep the pedal to the metal,
And the rubber on the road.
I party hearty,
And lunch time is crunch time.
I’m hanging in,
There ain’t no doubt.
And I’m hanging tough,
Over and out.

Related articles

• George Carlin Video of The Week (buzz103.radio.com)
• George Carlin on "The American Dream": A Few Dirty Words and A Whole Lot of Sense (businessinsider.com)

Hi There!

Here's what I'm about today: Deep Delta Civil War Symposium

Gone Again . . .

Dear Readers, I'm gone from my little abode for yet another weekend trip, as I think I warned you. But this time I've been so jammed up with stuff to do, I was not able to post ahead, as I did last weekend. But who knows? I may find a way even from the heart of darkest Louisiana. In any event, I'm back with you on Monday, so you will have to just endure the weekend without my blather. And then, when I'm back, I get to stay home for a little while. That will be great.

You Will Be Delighted to Learn

That the outbreak of sickness and more than several deaths in Europe and being attributed to food-consumption is being caused by what is described as a "an unusually virulent strain of E. coli that scientists haven't seen before and that may be dramatically more dangerous." This bug is more brutal than previous strains because it attacks the blood in such away that it induces renal failure.


I heard about this on NPR yesterday and today I read that they still haven't pinpointed the source. Apparently the killer bug is being transmitted on fresh vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, and lettuce. 


All the healthy foods, you will note. So consider the irony that people who are trying to eat healthy are much more likely to contract a death-dealing illness from their "healthy" food.

E coli . . . nasty looking little sucker, no?

Related articles

• Europe's E. Coli Outbreak Caused By Mutant Bacteria Never Before Seen (healthland.time.com)
• Super-Toxic Strain Of E. Coli Kills 18 In Europe (buzzfeed.com)

Who Would Have Thought . . .

The Face of Millions of Americans: Homeless & Hungry

. . . that the level of poverty in the U.S.A. would rival that of North Korea? My sister, the same one who sent the piece about education I talked about yesterday, sent this one a while back. For reasons that will become apparent below, you might want to check out the CNN source for the story. Both articles have all the grim facts, and they are grim indeed. I've saved it on my desktop and have been meaning to talk about it since.

I just haven't gotten around to reading it till now. One does not have to agree with the Biblical outrage in the piece, nor its pro-Israel bent* to be appalled by the facts here presented. In North Korea 5 million people face "food shortages." In this, the richest country that's ever been in history, the number of similarly situated people is 45 million. Why is no one, why isn't everyone just completely scandalized by this?

But no, we just go about our business, getting and spending. Out of sight is out of our mind. This goes for everything harmful, from pollution to the graft, lies, and corruption that grease the wheels of our "democratic" government at every level to the killing being done in our name in Afghanistan . . . and of course, the millions of poor people in their miserable tent cities all over the country.

*I have to observe that these sentiments are decidedly not those of my sister. As far as I know, and I know her pretty well, she doesn't embrace the virulently pro-Jewish partisanship of this website. 

Related articles

• US team in N. Korea over food shortages: Xinhua (alternet.org)

More Bad Education News

My sister alerted me to this piece not too long ago, and I've been meaning to talk a little about it for awhile. This article, which would repay your careful reading, reminds us that, due to the way the laws were written, the federal government is on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars that have been lent to students to go to school. (The average debt for graduating seniors is $24,000.) In short, an education bubble that continues to inflate threatens more financial disasters for the country. And for what, because a college degree is not what it used to be. To wit . . .

Since 1978, the price of tuition at US colleges has increased over 900 percent, 650 points above inflation. To put that number in perspective, housing prices, the bubble that nearly burst the US economy, then the global one, increased only fifty points above the Consumer Price Index during those years. But while college applicants’ faith in the value of higher education has only increased, employers’ has declined. According to Richard Rothstein at The Economic Policy Institute, wages for college-educated workers outside of the inflated finance industry have stagnated or diminished. Unemployment has hit recent graduates especially hard, nearly doubling in the post-2007 recession. The result is that the most indebted generation in history is without the dependable jobs it needs to escape debt.

                                        =================

The most predatory and cynical subprime lending has its analogue in for-profit colleges. Inequalities in US primary and secondary education previously meant that a large slice of the working class never got a chance to take on the large debts associated with four-year degree programs. For-profits like The University of Phoenix or Kaplan are the market’s answer to this opportunity. 

While the debt numbers for four-year programs look risky, for-profit two-year schools have apocalyptic figures: 96 percent of their students take on debt and within fifteen years 40 percent are in default. A Government Accountability Office sting operation in which agents posed as applicants found all fifteen approached institutions engaged in deceptive practices and four in straight-up fraud. For-profits were found to have paid their admissions officers on commission, falsely claimed accreditation, underrepresented costs, and encouraged applicants to lie on federal financial aid forms. Far from the bargain they portray themselves to be on daytime television, for-profit degree programs were found to be more expensive than the nonprofit alternatives nearly every time. These degrees are a tough sell, but for-profits sell tough. They spend an unseemly amount of money on advertising.

Other points:

• fewer and fewer students benefit from fully qualified faculty members; most of their classes are taught by graduate students or poverty-level-paid adjuncts
• administrators are soon going outnumber teaching faculty, and they command mind-boggling salaries
• students can be hounded for their loan debt for a lifetime, even though the holders of loans have already been compensated
• colleges and universities benefit from a myth that surrounds college degrees with almost mythical power; in reality, a degree doesn't mean much anymore
• higher education has basically become yet one more scam in the dying empire.

Upon reflection, this article is far too meaty to be handled by one in a hurry to get things done before the next trip. This weekend, remember? Suffice it to say that none of the news about higher education is good. You won't like what you read in this article, but you should read it anyway.

Related articles

• Big student debt could limit schools' aid access (sfgate.com)

Home Again

. . . for only a few days and then I'm on the damn planes again, this time to Louisiana. There I'll see both my family and Susan's family. Was certainly glad to get home. Only thing marring the return was that some huge piece of black plastic that goes behind the wheel well in my car just decided to come loose. I thought the damn tire was shredding, but no, that was this thing, whatever it is called, flapping against the side of the car! Needless to relate, I was a little perturbed about having to deal with this on my way home. Much easier than fixing a flat, which is what I thought I was going to have to do. I just ripped the thing loose and threw it in the trunk. If I know anything about these matters, here's what I predict:

1. The car cannot do without this thing, whatever it is
2. It will cost $400 to fix it

And a virulent pox upon all car repairs. I hate them. Doesn't everybody? 

Clunker

Some of you know I'm a chess player. I learned how the pieces moved when I was about 11 or 12, but I didn't learn the game until I was at college. My mentor was a Jesuit priest by the name of Hacker Fagot, now dead. As it turned out, he was not that strong a player, but he had a passionate interest in the game and he knew the basics about strategy. It came as a revelation to me at the time that chess games can be won or lost on the position of the pawns, the element of time (too many moves with one piece, for example, loses time), and a whole bunch of the strategic principles. The key lesson is that every move is crucial, from move one on.

Anyway, below is a chess playing machine you might like to see. I ran across it here. It's more an engineering feat than anything else. It's got some kind of chess engine in the guts of the thing. But this is certainly not the best way to play a computer. For starters, this machine is really clunky. And sslllllooooooowwwww. The perfect metaphor for those billions of people who think that what they see as a glacial pace in the game means nothing is happening. Between good players, something is always happening during a game. You cannot be expected to watch the whole thing . . . but I will observe that White doesn't play a very effective opening. No, the way to play chess is either to get a computer program like Fritz or Rybka and play on screen. Or you can play for free with real humans at Chess.com, FICS, or any number of other places.

Today is my daughter's birthday. She's 43. Happy birthday, Tanya, my all-grown-up girl! Right now, she's in Europe (Turkey, Greece) with the other dear lady in my life, her mom Susan.

And the Winner Is . . .

I found this site stumbling around in RefDesk. Says every five minutes what the most popular subjects people are probing on the Internet. I'm doing this blog entry about five days before it will ever be seen by anyone, so all of the most popular sites you will see are all going to be different. But just in case you're curious, these were the four most popular topics at 7:45 p.m. on Monday, May 23.

1. Jennifer Anniston's new haircut (what??)
2. Arnold Schwartzenegger
3. Selena Gomez (who?)
4. Joplin tornado (the first thing on the list that actually matters)

By the way, "the rapture" was #8.