"Our job is not to make up anybody’s mind, but to open minds, and to make the agony of decision-making so intense you can escape only by thinking."
- Fred W. Friendly (1915-1998)

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you mad."
- Aldous Huxley

"If you have ever injected truth into politics, then you have no politics."
- Will Rogers

Saturday, July 27, 2013

You Can't Keep Facts Down

I wrote earlier about the CDC study that scared the NRA so badly they had to marshal their political dollars to get their Washington lackeys to shut down research on it.  

But even the NRA's bribery can't shut down public research using publicly available data (at  least without somehow invalidating the First Amendment). 

This very concise study uses available data to point out in a very obvious way (maybe even Glen Beck would understand it, but I wouldn't hold out any hope for Sarah Palin) the fact that the gun environment/culture/tradition in the US is not healthy, and far outside the norms for other countries in the world. 

As I have said before, there are no easy answers but it should be plain to anyone that the status quo as to guns in the US is completely unacceptable.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Sorry Iraq (II) Vets

While the courage, integrity, and love of country of our military personnel should never be questioned, I am getting really, really tired of the moronic, brain-dead, imbecilic, doomed-to-failure, STUPID missions the lowlife and lower intelligence political party members in Washington keep sending them on! 

Apparently, there is a growing group of veterans seeing the mess in Iraq as a sign that their service was in vain.  Well...I hate to say this, but it was, and the more intelligent individuals (obviously outside of Washington DC) who had a sense of world history and the underlying forces at work  realized it from the beginning.

You are joining the long line of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq (1), Afghanistan (1), Iraq(2), and Afghanistan (2) veterans in recognizing the painful fact that your politician-leaders let you down by putting you into an impossible situation with impossible odds and circumstances and in some cases inadequate equipment and training.

Still - thank you for your service, and should the US ever need true defense from true enemies...I hope you or others like you are there!

A Glimpse of Our Future?

Anyone who is not thinking these days at least part time about climate change is just not thinking (or is a member of a political party).

It turns out that all of the hand-wringing about the precious jobs and economy has been decided -- George II and his henchmen destroyed the economy without a thought...and all those who said 'global warming' (as it was then called) was phony, have since been proved wrong on all fronts.  We on earth are now warmer, with more unpredictable weather patterns, and more poison in the air than anytime in recorded history.



Monday, July 22, 2013

Another Gift From George II

I am sure that the Iraqi people are oh-so-grateful for George II invading their country to destroy whatever infrastructure they had and "export democracy" to them.   They are certainly reaping the benefits now....



Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Love on the Job - Chinese Style

I have mentioned elsewhere that I really enjoy top-notch photojournalism. 

This is a slightly subtler variety, but I think it also reminds us that there are people in the world (the most populous country in the world to be exact) whose dating and marriage decisions are affected not so much as to whether the latest "hook-up" app is working on their iPhone, but whether or not the other forces in their lives are going to align to allow their desired outcomes.


Bloody Hell!

Blood donations can be very direct life-saving acts, even more so and more urgently than organ donations (although they are a key component of those as well).

My daughter has a rare blood type that is much in demand and she gives as regularly as she can (you are a hero honey!)

But there is a whole group of Americans banned from giving blood for reasons that are .. well asinine and ignorant and are enough to make...your blood boil!  

Think Corporate America Is Out of Touch?

This gem should remove ANY doubt, courtesy of the McDonald's Corporation. According to this I guess you are supposed to get a second job (many restaurant workers I know are college grads and are juggling three minimum-wage jobs).  Oh yes, and don't eat anything (no food budget) and as one of the commenters pointed out...live in your car since there is no budget for gas or repairs (or heat either which I guess makes sense -- without gas you can't run the car to make heat).

If you are of the high-school graduate age or thereabouts...get thee to  a college, technical school or higher education of some kind if you can.  And DON'T assume that money from even three service jobs is going to be enough or that you will have any money for emergencies, getting sick, etc.  Think about your future -- the Internet is NOT a life!


 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Industrials Have Won

When Eisenhower warned of the perils of the "military-industrial complex" he was including the Pentagon as part of the equation.  Well...the Pentagon not too surprisingly has become irrelevant. 

The folks who used to love to buy every expensive toy offered by the industrial side (and have lost every major war in my lifetime largely from bringing the wrong mindset/strategy/toys to the conflict) are now backseat players to the defense toy-making  industry and most specifically to the House Armed Services Committee which is the key holder of purse strings for things that go "boom" (but not always on cue).   Campaign contributions are the rule -- to heck with deficits or reduced spending on the single biggest item in the US Federal budget

To the Pentagon's credit they have tried to redirect some of the fire hose of money that Congress keeps pouring on them, but it looks like no one is listening to them any more. Sometimes they literally take the "gifts" of toys they don't want or need and park them in the desert or in the mountains.

More often now Congress just tells them to "shut up and take the money because it is good for my campaign treasury".

 

Saturday, July 13, 2013

You Are Hired Kid!

I don't know what field you might wind up in, but put this on your resume for any of them -- in my book I would hire you immediately! 



The Globalness of Corruption

Interesting and somewhat frustrating TED Talk on the universality of corruption and the difficulty of fighting it when forces like large banks and multi-national corporations like oil and gas companies are willing key players.  It should also be a sobering note to Americans in particular what their gluttonous appetite for wasting energy has done to other people around the world.



Headline Writer's Moment

This is a tragic story to be sure and I am not making light of the outcome, but I could not help but wonder if occasionally a headline writer gets to sit back and think "I just wrote a headline that no one else has written before, nor will they ever again.".

Friday, July 12, 2013

Cutting to the Chase

One of the best Shields and Brooks segments from the Friday PBS NewsHour particularly concerning the train wreck that we laughingly call our Congress.  I am not going to pretend that I can add anything to their intelligent conversation, except to point out yet again that the mere existence of political parties is at the heart of the problem.  



Thursday, July 11, 2013

My Problem With Polls

First, let me make it clear that I think the Pew Research Center is one of the better (if not the best) poll taking organizations in existence.  They are neutral and transparent in their practices while polling.

However, one of their recent polls reminded me of why I distrust all polls and have been known on the extremely rare occasion that a poll-taker actually talks to me on the phone to drive them to distraction.

This poll presents some overly-simplistic results about which occupations "contribute more to society's well-being".  For example, not surprisingly the military rated fairly high, but this is a preordained, "apple pie and motherhood" type question phrased as generally as it is. 

My question to the pollster in this case would be: "Are you talking about the people in the military, or the Pentagon, or the way the military is employed by the government?".

Likewise the conclusion about "journalists" -- I want to know "Are you talking about professional journalists working for established news organizations with codes of ethics and review and editing processes or just anyone with an ungrammatical and misspelled blog or web site that claims to be producing 'news'?".

I also think the answers for engineers would be considerably different if it was phrased as "people who design the roads, buildings, bridges and tunnels you use every day" or even "they keep the electricity coming to your house", or "they design the iPhone", or even "they make sure that clean water comes out of the tap and you can flush it when you are done with it" than just "engineers".

Get my point about polls?  Life is more complex than any poll currently used...and thinkers should be given OPTIONS!


Nikola Tesla -- Could There be Another One of Him Today?

Nikola Tesla is one of the more fascinating characters of science, but sadly not all that well known or respected by the general public (who also does not know or respect science but worships the like of Bieber and Lohan and anyone on American Idol or Dancing With the Stars).

Anyway, here are some interesting facts about Tesla's life from PBS that you might not have known.  If you want to know more about his work, here is a page (also from PBS) with some information about the many areas of his work.

Finally, here is the Mythbuster's Adam Savage talking about the promise of getting today's youth away from their electronic toys and interested in actually creating, inventing, and making things that will continue to allow science, technology, and humankind to continue moving forward.



Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Real Meaning of Jihad

If you are a real thinker, here is something you need to see and understand from someone who knows.  The word "jihad" has been universally misused and misinterpreted  by every US President, media outlet, and virtually all "pundits" particularly since 9/11.   Here is a rational, factual explanation of the term and its true meaning.





Happy thinking!

Monday, July 8, 2013

Some Thinkers Think Alike!

It is funny how these things sometimes 'bunch up' in pairs or groups.  I just saw this Ted Talk over the weekend by Lesley Hazleton whom I have quoted elsewhere here.  She speaks about the essential need for doubt as part of faith.





Then, today I read a column by Leonard Pitts that takes a different approach but reaches the same basic conclusions

Together they are a neat encapsulation of why I don't have much use for 'organized religions'.  They can "preach the preach", but they have a lot of trouble "walking the walk".

If You Need the Cr*p Scared Out of You

I'm not really a conspiracy theorist -- quite the opposite.  But this TED Talk gave me pause...




Saturday, July 6, 2013

There are Alternatives

Here is a very interesting, thought-provoking  TED Talk for thinkers, particularly those with historical or political science interests:




Tuesday, July 2, 2013

EU "Spying" Pique

I have been doing some reading on the EU's hissy fit over US "spying" on their embassies and citizens.  The embassy spying sounds bad...but come on folks, get real.  This has been going on at least since the days of horseback messengers when climbing over an embassy fence with a candle was high spy craft...and every single country in the world does it.  There is no surer way to tell embassy row in a world-class city other than the buildings bristling with antennas of all shapes and sizes...and the fact you can't get a decent Wi-Fi signal within a mile or so without a black helicopter appearing overhead.

Spying on citizens is a bit more problematic, but to be honest the EU is the new hotbed of terrorism, particularly against the US and I hope the US government does NOT stop its vigilance.  After all, if the EU is so peeved...maybe they should stop welcoming terrorist organizations with open arms.