Archive for July, 2007
Health Care or Retirement?
I heard a chilling statement from a conservative guest on Joy Cardin’s radio program last week. (The guest was Dan Cunningham, vice president of government relations, Forward Janesville.) Listen below:
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Mr. Cunningham’s thesis is that we can’t offer universal health care to Wisconsin citizens or else they’ll have no incentive to work. To put it another way, the exorbitant cost of health care and the American system of employer-subsidised insurance is forcing people to continue full-time employment, and he thinks that’s great.
How morally corrupt have we become if we restrict access to a basic human need–health care–in order to force people to work? I would hope that enough of us gain some satisfaction in our jobs that we would continue to work in some capacity even if health care was removed from the equation.
Think for a moment about the other side of Mr. Cunningham’s position: denying access to health care is an appropriate punishment disincentive for those of us who are unable (or unwilling) to find adequate employment.
Such a position is truly chilling and it runs contrary to the themes that were established in 1776 and are under such forceful attack today.
Filed under Healthcare, culture, politics, work : Comments (0) : Jul 29th, 2007
Threat Level Doctorow
When I saw this t-shirt on shirt.woot.com, I couldn’t resist.
Filed under culture, politics, war : Comments (0) : Jul 29th, 2007
tadfad quiz!
What is distinctive about this region of the U.S. ?
Submit your answers in the comments. Winner gets a prize!
[Answer will be revealed in one week]
Filed under culture, education : Comments (7) : Jul 27th, 2007
Walk Score
If you’re looking for a new apartment or moving to a new city, be sure to check out www.walkscore.com. This site uses Google Maps to approximate the relative “walk score” of your neighborhood. It takes into account the distance to essentials like grocery stores, restaurants, bars, schools, etc.
My block scored a 92!
Something to keep in mind especially if you’re considering buying a place. When gas hits $8 a gallon, walking is going to become very fashionable indeed.
Filed under culture, energy, environment, suburbs : Comments (6) : Jul 26th, 2007
Belt hack
This morning at work, my belt broke. It’s one of those lame reversible belts that people like me love, and evidently I’d reversed it one to many times. The buckle severed itself from the rest of the belt, making it pretty worthless.
In this situation, I could have made a quick dash to the mall to buy a replacement. But I was busy. And I’m resoucreful. So I hacked it:
Now you’re probably thinking “that looks terrible” and you’re right. But there are a few important considerations. First, this belt hack required all of one rubber band and about 60 seconds. Second, when I put the belt back on you could hardly tell it was broken. Check it out:
Not bad, I say.
[Epilogue: Don't worry, I'm not a total bum--I purchased a new belt after work today.]
Filed under hack, work : Comments (1) : Jul 23rd, 2007
New Music
I recently picked up few new albums that I’m liking a lot. Maybe you will like them too? I won’t even try to provide a review or musical description. Instead, you can follow the iTunes links and hear for yourself.
Paper Television by The Blow
Let’s Get Out of This Country by Camera Obscura
In Our Bedroom After The War by Stars
DJ-Kicks by erlend oye
[Not on iTunes yet]
† by Justice
[There seems to be some debate if the album title is simply cross or the character †. Justice is a French band, so I guess you can expect some language incongruence.]
There you have it. If you want to see more of the music I enjoy, check out my new music page.
Filed under Uncategorized, culture : Comments (0) : Jul 22nd, 2007
Bike light hack
I have a nice LED bike light from Cateye. It has a bush-button soft switch on the back that cycles through on-flash-off. It stopped working properly a few months ago, and would only flash if I held in the button. Needless to say, this was frustrating. (And unsafe).
I cracked open the case and poked around a bit. I disconnected the leads coming from the switch and re-routed them to a plain-old SPST switch that I glued on to the side. Now I have a very simple, very reliable way to turn it off and on.
I’m not going to win any points for style, and I probably shouldn’t take it out in the rain, but I’ve saved myself the $30 and environmental cost to replace it. Hooray!
Filed under frugal, hack : Comments (1) : Jul 22nd, 2007
Executive Order : Constitution be damned!
Read this executive order [emphasis mine]:
[. . .] all property and interests in property of the following persons, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons, are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense,
(i) to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of:
(A) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq; or
(B) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people;
Now read the 5th Amendment [emphasis mine]:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Your assignment is to tell me how this executive order is not a clear violation of the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.
Filed under politics, war : Comments (1) : Jul 21st, 2007
Poppy fields of Afghanistan
The nation of Afghanistan has a fairly poor economy. (Gasp!) One of the few means for poor, uneducated farmers to make a meager living is to grow poppy plants for sale into the opium trade. It’s not particularly wholesome a profession, but it sure beats starving.
The U.S., in a display of our violently successful War on Drugs, in conjunction with the even more violently successful War on Terror, has been trolling the Afghan hinterlands slashing poppy fields and displacing the already poor farmers. (At great cost, as you might imagine.)
Believe it or not, this anti-poppy campaign has not been particularly popular with the Afghan population. The various resistance forces operating within Afghanistan have started to offer protection to these hard-scrabble farmers by fighting back against the U.S. forces. Shockingly, most of the farmers would rather be protected by the terrorists than willingly give up their livelihood by cooperating with the U.S forces. Who would have guessed?
Let’s recap: After invading their country, toppling what government they had, and installing a puppet regime, we are now going after the poorest of the poor and destroying their poppy farms. This, in turn, generates more support (and money) for the terrorists that we’re trying to fight. All because we are married to a cultural fantasy that [some] drugs are evil and must be destroyed at all cost.
Oh, and one more thing–the other reason the Afghan farmers grow poppy instead of wheat or other conventional crops? Because our farm subsidies and import tariffs keep global prices low. Great job, US!
Filed under environment, politics, war : Comments (1) : Jul 21st, 2007
National Intelligence Estimate
We’re heading into the fifth year of the war on terror. President Bush and his supporters have rarely hesitated to remind us that 1) we are at war; and 2) his leadership is uniquely suited to protect the U.S. from future attacks.
This week, a new National Intelligence Estimate report was released that contradicts at least one of these claims. In light of the recent Senatorial slumber party, it’s time that the American people had a serious debate about the wisdom of our current foreign policy.
The NIE reports that the terrorists we’ve been fighting over there are gaining strength and are a growing threat to the U.S. This is important to note. We are not safer due to the protracted war on terror.
Not surprisingly, the Bush administration has answered the report by informing us that the terrorists would be even stronger if it weren’t for our actions in combating terrorists. (If you buy this claim, I have a bridge you might be interested in.)
I’m no spring chicken. I know that foreign policy, particularly between diametrically opposed civilizations, particularly when one of those civilizations has the habit of invading the other, particularly when the other civilization has a whole lot of something that everyone else wants. . . is tricky. There are no quick answers or fast fixes for the situation in the Middle East.
What I do know is that I believe in the concept of Democracy and I would, frankly, like to see it exercised a bit to sort out this debate. I’m pretty well fed up with the Disinformation News Networks and our absolute faith in the two party system. I would love to see some courage and leadership come out of the Washington DC region.
The writing is on the wall. The NIE report confirms it. How long must we pay for our failed decisions? Who will be brave enough to admit that we made a mistake?
Filed under culture, politics, war : Comments (0) : Jul 19th, 2007
