Israel withholds tax revenues from Palestinian Authority - latimes.com

This action by Israel is disgusting!  I believe, in retaliation, the US should cut off all aid to Israel until they quit building settlements and start treating the Palestinians fairly.

Israel withholds tax revenues from Palestinian Authority - latimes.com

Senate panel backs extension of mortgage debt relief law - Los Angeles Times

I can understand why people might feel sorry for owners who are under water on their mortgages.  But this law appears to now reward people who made bad investments.

Senate panel backs extension of mortgage debt relief law - Los Angeles Times:

OCEANSIDE: Sea lions overrun harbor : Oceanside

There are more sea lions than ever before in the Oceanside harbor area.  Yes they are a nuissance, however they could be developed into a real tourist attraction if done correctly.  See this article:

OCEANSIDE: Sea lions overrun harbor : Oceanside:

Up until last year there were many floating platforms out in the ocean that were used for oil tankers to connect to pipelines that brought oil to shore.   Of course, the platforms were perfect haul-out locations for the sea lions.  Those platforms were removed, so now there aren't many good places for the sea lions.

I think the City of Oceanside could build a good platform that would be designed just for the sea lions and anchor it either in the harbor, or just off shore.  It would attract people to come and watch the sea lions in the wild, and provide the sea lions with a place they can call home!

Water from the sea: Priceless | UTSanDiego.com

It is rare when I agree with the Union Tribune editorials on anything.  However I totally agree with them that the desalination plant needs to be built, and will be a valuable asset to San Diego in the future.
Water from the sea: Priceless | UTSanDiego.com:

Dana Milbank: Romney's terrible choice » The Commercial Appeal

It appears that Romney doesn't have a solid understanding of how the country got into this current budget situation, and that his solution just won't work.

Dana Milbank: Romney's terrible choice » The Commercial Appeal:

The Founding Fathers, Unzipped

In July 2011, Newsweek had a very good article that described how our founding fathers were not all so great from a morality standpoint: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/06/26/the-founding-fathers-were-flawed.html
This guy, David Mixner commented on them:  DavidMixner.com - Live From Hell's Kitchen:

Baby boomers are ill-prepared to pay for long-term care - Los Angeles Times

A few people are now recognizing the problem when the boomer generation begins to need long term care.

Baby boomers are ill-prepared to pay for long-term care - Los Angeles Times:

Again, I believe the US needs to make arrangements with the third world countries to facilitate exporting our senior population to desirable locations with US Government-approved medical support.  I believe countries such as Mexico and the Philippines would be perfect locations for lower cost long-term care.  With the use of large screen high bandwidth communications, the seniors will not be "far" from their families.

John C. Goodman: Three Simple Ways Medicare Can Save Money - WSJ.com

This editorial in WSJ in August 2011 had some very good ideas on how the Government could save money on Medicare.  In effect there are many forms of price-fixing going on in the medical community that distorts the free market in very perverse ways.  It even discourages doctors from working in fields where we badly need them to be working.  John C Goodman is the president and CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis --

John C. Goodman: Three Simple Ways Medicare Can Save Money - WSJ.com:

He recommends allowing Medicare patients to use free-standing emergency care clinics with posted prices, allow them to use commercial telephone and email services (Teledoc), and participate in "concierge doctors" where patients pay a flat fee each year for all types of services.  All of these recommendations sound good as a "sound bite" and may result in some immediate savings -- but I'm not sure that they will save much money in the long haul.

I think these are good starts -- but the "devil's in the details" --Each of these types of medical service could also contribute to additional cost increases, misuse, and fraud, waste and abuse.  For example, if a patient misused the emergency care clinics too frequently, it would bypass the current trips to the emergency rooms of major hospitals, and then cause the hospitals to have fewer patients to spread their fixed costs over.  If patients used the Teledoc-type services, the same thing could happen, and scam teledoc providers could start up and begin billing medicare for phony services.  The concierge services sound good, and doctors will be more than willing to take on the healthy patients, however those with pre-exiting conditions or who encounter a serious injury or disease will be dropped and passed on to the existing system.  Therefore those concierge services will "skim off" the easy money and probably increase the costs for everyone else.

Drones at home raise fear of surveillance society

I believe we need a serious set of laws for use, licensing, operation and sales of drones.  The laws are needed to help control the spread of the technology, and to protect our citizens against incursions on our privacy and freedoms.

Drones of all sorts are a wonderful technology for so many applications by companies, military, and police.  They are inexpensive, and can be a "force multiplier" for small military or police forces to allow them to do so much more.  However they are a two edged sword, that can end up hurting us.  If these same drones were in the hands of terrorists, they could spread diseases, plan attacks against civilian targets, or actually deliver bombs to targets.  If our government agencies use the devices to track citizens, it can help them catch "bad guys" but it could also be misused by them to blackmail, "fish" for reasons to arrest political opponents, or simply violate the privacy of citizens.  How can we control them?

This Associated Press article was in North County Times this week:  Drones at home raise fear of surveillance society:  It states that thousands of drones will be patrolling the US skies by the end of the decade.  I think this is very conservative -- I would say 10s or 100s of thousands of drones may be patrolling by that time, if there are no other controls.  How will we know that the use of drones will be controlled.  Are we to assume that we are always under surveillance?  Will we be made aware of drones?  Will we be permitted to have "anti-drone" technology, such as jammers, dazzlers, or drone warning devices?  Or will they be made illegal?  For example, when radar speed detection devices were given to the police, many states and cities tried to make radar detection devices illegal.  I'm not sure that making them illegal is constitutional, but I don't think it was ever truly tested in the courts. Just like the "watchers" feel they have a right to watch, I believe citizens have the right to "watch back" and to be permitted to use technology to detect when they are being "watched."
There are techniques to detect if a camera is being pointed at you.  Those devices are used in movie theaters to detect people who may be trying to video record a movie.  Could citizens use those devices to detect drones overhead?  Or would they be made illegal?  If someone used one of those devices they could inhibit an important criminal surveillance activity.  It could also damage the delicate imaging sensor on the drone.  If a citizen tried to jam

Ryan Calb wrote an article in March 2012 Wired "Drones, Dogs and the Future of Privacy" which pointed out that the FAA is allowing more drones and requiring licenses, but is resisting attempts to release the names and organizations who are licensed to use Drones in the US.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Electronic Privacy Information Center have tried to sue the FAA to get the list of users under the freedom of information act.  However they have been unsuccessful so far.  So the Government already is trying to "hide" the use of drones, and are restricting the use by civilians.  I suspect that this trend will continue, don't you?  Of course the government doesn't want the "bad guys" to know that they are under surveillance, that could cancel out a lot of the benefits from using them.  However it could also protect the rest of the citizens from mis-uses of the technology.



This article in the LA Timse today Drone makers urge U.S. to let them sell more overseas  points out the difficulty of containing the technology. US manufacturers have restrictions on sale, but China and Israel are selling them to anyone.  So if some day Israel is attacked by drones, I don't think they will be able to complain, since they are undercutting our restrictions on sales of these weapon systems to other countries.


It appears that almost anyone can build their own pretty sophisticated airborne drone, let alone water or land vehicles.  There was a recent excellent article in Wired Magazine ("How I Accidentally Kickstarted the Domestic Drone Boom" ), by the editor, Chris Anderson, who runs this web site: http://diydrones.com/ -- It is clearly a wonderful hobby to build and use these devices, and they are being used more and more for all sorts of purposes.  The sophistication of the drones has grown along with the sophistication of hand held smart phones -- They have inertial navigation, gps, cameras, and all sorts of other wonderful features.

Reality Show on Mars Could Fund Manned Colony by 2023

Reality Show on Mars Could Fund Manned Colony by 2023 | Mars One | Space.com

This article presents a very interesting concept for putting humans on Mars -- do you think it will work?  

http://www.space.com/16300-mars-one-reality-show-colony.html

The concept is very thought provoking, and I keep thinking about it -- For example:

• Would you want to go to Mars to live, knowing you would never return?
• Lets see, who would we like to see go to Mars and never be able to come back?  
• Send some serial killer?  Some political despot?  Give criminals a reprieve if they volunteer to go into training for the job?
• How will they select people to go?
• Would they select young people, who would have to live for a long time there? --Are Grandchildren Kris & Julia ready to start training?  
• Or old folks who wouldn't live as long and require resupply for 60 years?   -- Where do I go to sign up?
• Old folks wouldn't be as interesting on TV?  --Or would we be more interesting?
• If you were selected, would you worry that the company could go bankrupt after you got there and quit sending supplies? 
• I can see how the world would be interested in the "reality TV" for a while --but how long would it last?

Billionaires behind Mitt Romney

Right-Wing Billionaires Behind Mitt Romney | Politics News | Rolling Stone

I heard about billionaires who were backing the Republican candidates--but I didn't realize there were so many of them.  I also was interested that each of them have a personal business motivation for "investing" in the Republicans.  A "small" investment of their political donation, in most cases, will reap a huge benefit in profit.

Right-Wing Billionaires Behind Mitt Romney | Politics News | Rolling Stone:

GREENHUT: More privileges for our government masters : North County Times - Californian

Government officials in California want to hide the place they live from the public.  They have proposed AB2299 to allow their names to be hidden on public property records.  This is supposedly to prevent nuts from finding out where they live and demonstrating in front of their homes, or, even worse, causing injury or property damage to them.   Steven Greenhut put together a good editorial in today's North County Times Perspective Section.

GREENHUT: More privileges for our government masters : North County Times - Californian:

It is clear that this would contribute to much more mischief in the Government.  Also, I can envision many more groups asking for the same protection.  Should a military officer be protected?  Should bill collectors?  CPA/Auditors?  Building inspectors?  Whenever people in public positions have to hide, or hide information about themselves, the Country is in trouble.

Bonnie Dumanis masked her thugs when they broke into Marijuana Collectives, so the owners and customers couldn't see the faces of their neighbors who were destroying their livelihood and causing the customers pain and suffering.  It's clear that when that happens then, again, the country  has a serious problem.

Everyday garbage, not tsunami trash, is the bigger problem - latimes.com

We heard about the immense amount of stuff that is floating in the Pacific Ocean from the Japan Tsunami.  The news seemed to say that it was headed for the West Coast and the estimate of the size seemed to vary by an order of magnitude.  This article sounds a little more reasonable about the tsunami debris -- but clearly explains how we are killing the ocean with our plastic...

Everyday garbage, not tsunami trash, is the bigger problem - latimes.com:

Israeli Spying in the United States » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

I'm often told that Israel is the best ally the US has in the world.  Sometimes the statement is changed to say "the best ally in the Middle East.
However, I haven't heard of the US arresting any spies from any Middle East countries except Israel.  Israel spies on our Government and our companies and steals any technology that they can get their hands onto.
Israeli Spying in the United States » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Why does the US put up with this treatment?  What do we do about it?  We provide Israel the largest per capita aid program of around a $1B/year, and we provide aid to their neighboring countries (Egypt, Jordan etc) to prevent them from responding to Israel's many misguided attacks on Palestinians and Citizens of neighboring Lebanon.  What do we get in return?  Spies!

Africa refugees in Israel face ugly, sometimes violent backlash - latimes.com

It sounds to me that Israel is now treating the Africans worse than the Palestinians and Christians.  They've been driving out the Christians for years as has been described on many recent articles, and an episode on 60 minutes.  They have been mistreating the Palestinians among them and those in their compounds, such as the Gaza Strip.  Now they are showing again that they want to be "Ethnically Pure" -- and are treating the African refugees very badly.

Africa refugees in Israel face ugly, sometimes violent backlash - latimes.com:

California Oil Severance Tax

I've believed for years that California should charge a much higher severance tax on all oil, gas and any other mineral removed from the state.  We now charge around 10cents per barrel  Here's an article from LA Times several years ago that explains why we still don't collect more tax.
There's revenue in those hills -- and offshore - latimes.com:

Alaska has a "negative" income tax based upon the revenue it earns from oil.  It charges between 25% and 50% of the well-head value.  For $100/barrel oil, that would be $24-$50/ barrel.  Many other states make huge amounts from their oil and gas. Here's a link to a table that shows all of the states: http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/energyhome/oil-and-gas-severance-taxes.aspx   California's Severance Tax is determined by the State of California Department of Conservation.  Here's their report: Why doesn't California charge more?  I think the reason is that the Republicans receive so much in contributions from the industry that they will not pass that bill.  Of course the environmentalists are now also at fault.  Yes, oil and gas drilling and pumping could have an accident.  However it is much safer than 30 years ago.  With proper inspections, controls, emergency procedures, rapid response clean up ready and available, I think the problem is a non-issue, from an environmental standpoint.

Guest worker idea stuck in web of politics - latimes.com

Steve Lopez today wrote a good column that describes our terrible immigration program and how it now is impacting the agriculture industry.  Guest worker idea stuck in web of politics - latimes.com:

The farmers need workers badly and are willing to pay reasonable wages.  However they cannot get the labor they need.  At the same time, we have so very many Americans out of work, who could do some of that work, but don't want to.  If the farmers don't get the workers they need, farm prices will eventually go up, because US farmers will go out of business and the produce will be imported.  That, in turn, will reduce the value of farmer's land, reduce US exports, increase US imports, and reduce income and property tax collection by governments.

At the same time, we bring in IT, computer, and engineers to work in our industries for a couple of years and then send them home to compete with the US companies.  The right wingers who allow these immigrants under H1-B Visas are taking jobs away from US Citizens who are trained in these fields and drive down the salaries that they could earn.  That, in turn, discourages students from studying to be in these technical fields etc...a spiral downwards for the US.

Many hospitals, doctors offer cash discount for medical bills - latimes.com

This article clearly points out the tremendous distortion in our US medical care system.
Many hospitals, doctors offer cash discount for medical bills - latimes.com:  It is absurd that there could be such a wide difference between the "cash price" and the insurance price such that even a 25% co-pay is higher than the amount a patient would have to pay if they paid cash.

In my mind the distortion is caused by the fact that the hospitals need to recover funds expended on patients who can't pay and don't have insurance.  That is the root cause--then the insurance companies, acting as a buffer between the consumer and the provider actually magnify the situation.  I'm not convinced that Obamacare will fix the situation --it may make it worse.  The best answer is still "single payer" system--The Government -provided medical care system which is used in almost all of the rest of the world.

Israeli Court Rejects Appeal for Palestinians’ Release - NYTimes.com

Here's another example of how Israel's Government continues to stir up trouble in the Middle East.  They purposely try to irritate the Palestinians to keep the conflict going, and continue their massive welfare payments from the US and the rest of the world.

Israeli Court Rejects Appeal for Palestinians’ Release - NYTimes.com:

If turn about would be fair play, and the Palestinians had any Israeli prisoners held without charges, the Israeli's would be lobbing missiles into the Palestinian compounds until the prisoner were released.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals for the release of two Palestinian prisoners who have been on ahunger strike for 69 days to protest their incarceration without formal charges, sharpening concern for their lives and raising the specter of widespread unrest in the event of a death.

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Barring a last-minute deal, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, an advocacy group that has been monitoring the condition of the two men, said the court ruling was “the effective equivalent of handing down a death sentence.”

The judges said they had found no justification to intervene in the cases of Bilal Diab, 27, and Thaer Halahleh, 33, both residents of the West Bank accused of working withIslamic Jihad, an extremist organization. The court upheld the practice of imprisonment without charge — called administrative detention — if used sparingly. Yet the judges expressed unease over aspects of these particular cases and suggested that the authorities consider alternative approaches.

Citing classified evidence against Mr. Halahleh, the court said he had been engaged in transferring money for Islamic Jihad. But since Mr. Halahleh will have been in detention for almost two years when his current term ends in June, the court said, any further extension should be based on a more thorough investigation.

Mr. Diab, who previously spent years in prison on charges of military activity, according to court documents, was last detained in August 2011. Citing secret evidence that he played an organizational role in Islamic Jihad, also mainly related to money, the court suggested that the military authorities should consider administrative terms shorter than six months in Mr. Diab’s case, to allow for better judicial oversight.

In addition, one of the judges suggested that given the deteriorating health of the men, the authorities could consider the option of releasing them on parole.

Islamic Jihad is notorious for the suicide bombings it carried out last decade in Israeli cities, and more recently for firing rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. Spokesmen for the group have warned of dire consequences if a hunger striker dies.

Israel argues that administrative detention is necessary to ensure security. It currently holds more than 300 Palestinian administrative detainees, whose terms of up to six months can be renewed repeatedly.

Adding to the tensions, at least 1,500 convicted Palestinian security prisoners from various organizations have joined the hunger strike since mid-April, demanding better prison conditions.

The protest began with Khader Adnan, a detainee from Islamic Jihad who fasted for 66 days until he reached a deal in February for his release in April. Another detainee, Hana Shalabi, also believed to be a member of Islamic Jihad, fasted for more than 40 daysbefore being sent into temporary exile in Gaza. Neither case caused any fundamental change in Israeli policy.

In a separate ruling Monday, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the state to reopen a highly contentious case involving five apartment buildings in Ulpana, a development linked to the Jewish settlement of Bet El in the West Bank.

The state had pledged to demolish the buildings, home to about 30 Israeli families, by May 1, in accordance with an earlier court ruling because they were built, albeit with government subsidies, on privately-owned Palestinian land. But the government, faced with a political challenge, recently asked the court to reconsider its ruling.

The judges said on Monday that the state had presented no legal precedent and no new facts to warrant such an extraordinary step. The court gave the state until July 1 to demolish the buildings.

Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization representing the Palestinian landowners, welcomed the decision, saying it upheld the rule of law.

Privacy Rights Groups Voice Opposition To CISPA

Here we go again! The right-wingers want to snoop into what everyone is doing on the internet, without any oversight or transparency.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Intelligence_Sharing_and_Protection_Act

Privacy Rights Groups Voice Opposition To CISPA - Dark Reading:

We Are All Nuns - NYTimes.com

These two op-ed editorials were in NY Times today, 29 Apr 2012.  They both focused on the way the Catholic Church has treated nuns.   It is interesting that the bishops expressed more outrage over some scholarly suggestions from the nuns, than they did over the pedophile priests and abuse of young men and women by priests, and the subsequent cover-ups.

We Are All Nuns - NYTimes.com:

Bishops Play Church Queens as Pawns

There is a petition at: http://www.change.org/petitions/support-the-sisters

Incredible Shrinking Country - NYTimes.com

This is an interesting article that points out the problems involved with the lower birth rate and aging population.

Incredible Shrinking Country - NYTimes.com:

I'm also interested in reading the book: Children of Men --a 1992 book by P. D. James

EDITORIAL: Time to tweak Prop. 13

EDITORIAL: Time to tweak Prop. 13  Editorial in today's NC times addressed the issues very well -- Our legislature needs to have some guts and make some serious changes in prop 13.

Single-payer: If Obamacare is struck down, will the nation reconsider single-payer health care? - Baltimore Sun

I would have much rather preferred that our Government institute a Government-run healthcare system.  It is interesting that now even doctors are thinking the same thing.  This Obamacare concept is a compromise with the insurance industry that continues an expensive and wasteful layer of insurance companies which distort and sub-optimize the delivery of healthcare.  It also continues the expensive financial drain of liability insurance and lawsuits from scarce medical care resources.

Single-payer: If Obamacare is struck down, will the nation reconsider single-payer health care? - Baltimore Sun:

Protect Our Data! A Digital Consumer Bill of Rights | PCWorld

Protect Our Data! A Digital Consumer Bill of Rights | PCWorld:

PC World editor, Mark Sullivan has written several editorials in PC World.  He has also posted a video: http://www.pcworld.com/article/250251/a_digital_consumer_bill_of_rights.html

His editorial in February 2012 hit the nail on the head!  However his editorial in the “Consumer Watch” section of the May 2012 PC World issue focused down on the critical issues:
1. We have the right to know what any internet company plans to do with our data
2. The data we store or post “in the cloud” is our property. The internet company doesn’t gain rights to it by posting it on their web site
3. We have the right to expect reasonable protection of our data
4. If the Government wants to monitor our digial transmissions, they should get a search warrant first

Prior to computers, when a person was suspected of committing a crime, law enforcement could obtain a search warrant.  With that warrant, usually police would grab the suspects files and notebooks, bank records, photos etc.  After everyone started getting computers, the police would focus on hard drives of the suspect’s computers.  Generally that contained most of the critical evidence, since data was moving from paper to computers.  Now everything is moving to the “cloud” or smartphone.  Because of this, we now need the same protections for our digital data that we have always had for our other personal property and information.  I believe the intent of our Bill of Rights was to protect this information.  

Gaza man killed by soldiers as thousands protest Israel policy - CSMonitor.com

Israel seems to be able to keep the Palestinian dispute alive by continually fighting terrorism with terrorism.  Their actions are about the same as the other despots
Gaza man killed by soldiers as thousands protest Israel policy - CSMonitor.com:

Truth-Testing on the Internet : MOAA

The Military Officer's Association of America (MOAA) published an excellent article listing web sites to visit to check out rumors that get passed around on the internet.

Tech Tactics - Truth-Testing on the Internet : MOAA:

I've found that as we get closer to elections, the amount of "fake facts" that get circulated around increases a lot!  I believe there are professional organizations who work to create these "fake news articles" and they distribute them very effectively!  They seem to know that a lot of people actually believe these fake articles and they help to get people to vote the way they think.

I suggest that anyone who receives a forwarded e-mail with news that seems shocking or unlikely that they check it out using one of the web sites mentioned in this article.

IRS policies help fuel tax refund fraud

I had heard that the IRS was going to "speed up" the tax refund process.  However I had no idea that the IRS would bypass simple, reasonable verification processes in order to speed up the process.  This is absurd!
IRS policies help fuel tax refund fraud, officials say - CNN.com  Sure, it seems like speeding up the process makes sense.  However only for citizens that are filing from the same address as previous years.  It also seems like it wouldn't be too hard to verify the W-2 amount on the return form matches what the employer sent in.

The Bible Is Pro-Birth Control

One of the problems with interpreting the bible is determining if a story in the bible is meant to represent a good action or a bad action.  This interpretation of the bible concerning birth control is a good example.

The Bible Is Pro-Birth Control:

Are these references to Solomon supposed to be demonstrating "good behavior?" or "bad, sinful behavior?"

It is my understanding that the Catholic Church didn't have a position on birth control until St Thomas Aquinas wrote his philosophy around 1250AD.   At the time, children were considered valuable, because they helped build the economy, and spread the Catholic religion by increasing the population of Catholics faster than the spread of Islam.

Why Adele's 'Someone Like You' Makes Everyone Cry - WSJ.com

It is interesting that the "science" behind creating musical tear-jerker's is being investigated.  Who had ever heard of an appoggiatura?

Why Adele's 'Someone Like You' Makes Everyone Cry - WSJ.com:

WITH SPACE A CLUTTERED MESS, NASA SEEKS A CELESTIAL BROOM | UTSanDiego.com

WITH SPACE A CLUTTERED MESS, NASA SEEKS A CELESTIAL BROOM | UTSanDiego.com:

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Swiss craft janitor satellites to grab space junk | UTSanDiego.com

The Swiss are trying to set an example by cleaning up after themselves in space -- nobody else seems to care.

Swiss craft janitor satellites to grab space junk | UTSanDiego.com:

'via Blog this'

Retired General Barry McCaffrey has recently gained some press coverage of his assessment of the current situation with Iran.  See this link for his Power Point Slides  where he presented his assessment of the Iran situation.  It's a good, "high level" summary.  Of particular interest was his assessment of the potential next crises in the world -- including Cuba. 

I understand that General Barry McCaffrey is a hero.  However I don't like him, or trust him.   He had an opportunity as "Drug Czar" to help resolve America's drug  (particularly Marijuana) problem.  Instead, he bowed to the crackpot so-called Christian right wingers, and the big-money drug interdiction industry and blew his opportunity.  I do agree with his assessment that it doesn't help to have Congress trying to conduct foreign policy.  

I can understand why Iran wants nuclear weapons.  Israel has them, and probably has them targeted at Iran. Israel has shown they are not a good neighbor.  I believe they want to continue to be the word's largest "welfare" state by continuing the Palestininan situation as long as possible so they can justify receiving immense foreign aid from the US. The US has been providing Israel and Egypt (as a bribe for peace) over $1000 per Israeli citizen since the country was founded.    Neighboring Pakistan and India have Nukes, and as McCaffrey points out, there is a chance that Pakistan could lose control of 110 weapons, which could become a threat to any or all neighboring countries.    I'm not too worried about Iran "getting" nuclear capability.  If they ever actually employed those weapons, they would need to recognize the "mutually assured destruction" situation they would be in.  Would they attempt an attack with the likely  response from the rest of the world being almost total destruction of their country?  Yeah, sometimes they seem crazy, but I don't think they'd be that crazy!  

I am concerned about how/where they would test their nuclear weapon?  Would they do it under ground? -- That is a huge undertaking, time consuming, and expensive.  Or would they test it in space?  It would not make sense for them to build it and deploy it without at least one test.

Ken Paulson: Citizens have a right to record police in action – USATODAY.com

This editorial in USA Today points out that citizens have a right to record what they see in public -- particularly when police are making an arrest.

Ken Paulson: Citizens have a right to record police in action – USATODAY.com: "

It is appalling that some police and prosecutors actually think otherwise. In the cases mentioned in this editorial, I think the police and prosecutors should be indited and punished for arresting citizens for making videos of the activities. Unless a stand is made and some of these public officials are held to task, I think other Government agencies will think they can get away with the same thing.

Is compassionate conservatism dead? | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com

This article in USA today said that compassionate conservitism appears to be dead in the Republican Party. I'm not sure it was ever alive--it may have been on "life support."

Is compassionate conservatism dead? | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com:

It is hard for me to imagine how anyone who calls themselves a Christian could ever consider being a member of the Republican Party. The essence of Christianity is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"..and the party philosophy appears to be only "me first."

Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales - Bloomberg

The Koch Brothers are the "secret leaders" of the Tea Party movement. The initiative wouldn't have gotten off the ground without the huge financial backing of these guys. They trained the party organizers and leaders, funded the venues used for gatherings and funded the campaigns of the congressmen who claim Tea Party allegiance. This article is very revealing!

Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales - Bloomberg:

I totally disagree with most of the things they supposedly stand for. However they certainly have a right to spend their money and use their "free speech" to say what they want. The part I don't like about them is that they so flagrantly violate the laws, and keep all of their efforts so secret.

Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class - NYTimes.com

Labor seemed to have asked for too much, company management seemed to ask for too much, and nobody seemed to be "hungry" to please a customer. So the US lost some of the basic industry. After we lose so much industry, nobody knows how to do it anymore -- we reached the "tipping point". The US is no longer 'on top'....

Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class - NYTimes.com:

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Copyrights: Feds push a few novel theories in MegaUpload case - latimes.com

What a mess! I don't understand why the Federal Government is involved with this at all!

Copyrights: Feds push a few novel theories in MegaUpload case - latimes.com:

'via Blog this'

The US House and Senate are considering bills called the Stop On-Line Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).  The bills are "bought and paid for" by the movie and recording industry.  It is not necessarily sponsored by the artists.   The recording and movie industry do not need any additional protection by the US Government.  In fact, I believe we need to change the Digital Millennium copyright act to reduce the amount of time that industry is protected under copyright.  The Movie industry claims to be losing billions of dollars in revenue due to piracy.  However it is very difficult to measure revenue that might have been made.  It is also difficult to explain when the industry has continued to increase US box office revenue, even while the country is in difficult economic times. In addition to US box office revenue, the movie industry has greatly increased it's DVD sales, and foreign box office sales. In 2010 MPAA reported sales of 31.8 Billion Dollars, and increase of 8% over 2009.  We expect 2011 to also have an increase.  Industry executives and movie star salaries have continued to skyrocket, while most other US industries are hurting and millions are out of work.  In the music industry, the situation is similar.  "Physical" music sales have fallen off (CDs), however digital sales have increased to almost make up for the fall off in physical music sales.  Part of the fall of in music sales is due to the change in media -- who buys CDs anymore?  Another part of the fall of in sales is due to demographics.  The "baby boom" generation is entering retirement, so are buying less music.  Also, the types of music has dramatically changed.  Nonetheless, sales are up, profits are up, artists are making more money than ever and the music industry executives are paying themselves even more.

This industry agreed to consent decree that they had cheated consumers in the 1990s by price fixing.  As a result, everyone who had bought a record received a "credit" as part of the agreement.  It appears that they continue to do it.  They they agreed that they had cheated their distributors, and had to pay them.  Then they agreed that they had cheated the artists, and had to pay the artists.  As a reward, for their good behavior, we gave them the DMCA which, in effect gave them billions of dollars in copyright extensions as well as enforcement.   Did Disney really need to protect those early black and white cartoons that were about to belong to the public?  Well they got it anyway! Now they want more?  Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp clearly supports the two bills. His publications have continually published articles and editorials in favor of them.   Of course Murdoch and his company has also admitted to illegal wiretapping to listen in to private conversations to help them publish scandalous stories all around the world.
The industry claims that they are losing money to piracy, however their sales continues to rise, and the salaries of the executives and the artists seems to rise beyond anyone's dreams!  How can they possibly complain?
The problem is that by having the US Government grant them the right to block web sites, we will end up with a more powerful form of censorship than China has!  It will also create a form of citizen spying that will be beyond the dreams of George Orwell's 1984 Big Brother!  They say it is only to protect us from "foreign" web sites --but the DNS blocking will block all sites.
One of the problems with expanding these federal laws is that we already have too many laws where the average citizen can find themselves in trouble without understanding the complexity of the law.  See my blogs on "State of Justice in America" -- Which, it appears that Rupert Murdoch and his Wall Street Journal also have concerns about.  In addition, it is clear that when new laws are written, prosecutors use them as tools to help them prosecute other crimes.  So someone could be held in jail for an illegal downloading crime because the police is suspicious that the person may have committed another crime.  This slippery slope has allowed police and prosecutors to lock innocent people up for years without proper justice.  This is not the American way!

I have written to Daryl Issa our Congressional Represntative as well as Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, our Calironia Senators to ask them to not support either of these bills.

Is Rick Perry as Christian as He Thinks He Is?

This is a good editorial --

Is Rick Perry as Christian as He Thinks He Is? - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend - Politics - The Atlantic

It is hard for me to understand how so many different religions and individuals can interpret the Bible --particularly the New Testament so differently.

Bankers' opposition to Volcker rule is no surprise - latimes.com

Michael Hiltzik hit the nail on the head with his critique of the banking industry's opposition to the "Volker Rule" to reform the banking industry. Banks want a "heads they win, tails the taxpayer loses" deal --so that when they make money, they keep it, but if they lose money, the taxpayer bails them out--but with no restrictions on how they wheel & deal on high risk investments -- like derivatives.

Bankers' opposition to Volcker rule is no surprise - latimes.com:

Modern-day manipulation of 'The Jefferson Bible' - latimes.com

This article was very interesting, in that it point out how Thomas Jefferson thought about the Bible. Modern-day manipulation of 'The Jefferson Bible' - latimes.com: