Category: Random Thoughts

Did you play “Cowboys and Indians” as a kid? “Cops and Robbers”? “Robin Hood”? “Spacemen and Aliens”? Perhaps “Superheroes and Villains” or “Empire and Rebel Scum“?

Regardless of what you called it, you probably played some form of the Good-versus-Evil game. And no matter what you might have done when adults were watching, there were plenty of weapons, whether they were guns or lasers or lightsabers or swords or lassos or pointed sticks. Lots of “Nuh-uh! I hit you and you’re dead/arrested!” There was plenty of capturing, killing, wounding, robbing, escaping, and other things that you’d probably get prosecuted for doing in real life.

Knowing this, did you grow up to be a psychopath?

No? Not even a little nuts?

Somehow, this stark near-universal experience is lost on people when it comes to video games. Violent video games cause kids to become violent, don’tcha know. It’s pure “logic”. Or is it?

The soon to be released new book Grand Theft Childhood says, “Um, no. That’s not true.” In fact, they found that video games were an outlet for kids to do stuff they would never do in real life, and act out in a safe environment. Keep in mind, kids are increasingly held to standards where they can not blow off steam in school, or even express their anger in words or pictures without drastic consequences.

In closing: where is the Bush Deficit really coming from; let’s hear it for Dennis; “Stop cutting school budgets“; Bruce Schneier is a voice of sanity in the Security Theatre nightmare; Mental Health Parity bill passes the House and I have mixed feelings about it; you’ll take your loss of privacy and be grateful!; the things people put in personalized messages; and to return to the last theme, Cheap Eats.

Today, for the second time this week, hard-hitting financial news site TheStreet.com has substituted opinionated pabulum for the informative journalism they normally serve. Let’s see if anyone notices!

I have been a reader of TheStreet.com for a decade. I’ve exchanged email with Jim Cramer and Herb Greenberg. Herb Greenberg once quoted me online. Over the years, I have pointed my readers to a number of really good articles on TheStreet.com They do good journalism with a minimum of spin… normally.

This week has been a bit of a departure.

I called foul — fowl? — on their piece the other day about how we can pretend to solve under-funding at the USDA inspection program by choosing to buy 25% of our food purchases from local sources. Today we have more garbage to take out at TheStreet.com.

I refer to an item entitled 10 Biggest Bonehead Moves at Airport Security. Among the proposed offensive faux pas are “Forgetting That Your Baby Is a Suspect as Well”, “Leaving Your X-Rays at the Doctor’s Office”, and “Dressing Like a Rapper (If You’re Not a Rapper)”. How clever, dear! Did you think of those all by yourself? Because goodness knows it would be racist to even imagine Gangstalicious and Thugnificent pose any security risk whatsoever. Excuse me, I think I’m having an overdose of snark. I think a more apt title, considering the content and tone, would be “10 Security Theatre Motions You Need to Shut Up and Do so I Can Get My Much More Important Self to the Gate.” Do you suppose that’s the rejected title?

Now make no mistake: like most people, when I am in the airport security line it is because I have to get somewhere; if I didn’t have to get somewhere, I might protest the asinine security procedures that protect nobody; then again if I didn’t have to get somewhere I would not be there at all. I suppose I would feel better about this article if she had referenced and endorsed a program like this recently announced pilot program that lets travelers choose a security line based on how comfortable they are with the screening process. This is even doubly so since TheStreet.com has more assorted professionals as readers, and they are apt to be generally more savvy fliers than many people. They generally don’t need to be told to take off their belt buckles and shoes.

I think it’s time for a certain financial news site to re-examine its editorial policies.

In closing: Top 15 misconceptions about evolution; some actual financial news on the erosion of wages; speaking of economics, Erza points us to the top 100 economics blogs; States act to prevent insurance companies from further screwing us; Zoinks, we’re still dribbling details about Cheney’s secret energy task force; in the real world contraceptives still prevent abortion; shunting medical costs onto consumers is actually counterproductive; look for the Union Label if you like decent wages; don’t you need a coffee making robot?; two strange computer accessories from Japan that I can’t decide if they are useful or silly; it apparently takes the Spanish to make solar energy in Arizona; speaking of Arizona, how about that Rick Renzi?; and last but not least, when credit cards attack.

Let’s start our little tour with Sunny66 on The Crone Speaks, who wrote Universal Health Care Myths 101. Remember, I am a nut who thinks true Universal Health Care could actually stimulate the economy, not suck it dry as most conservatives would have you believe.

Next stop, JurassicPork at Welcome to Pottersville on a topic I wish were not important, Domestic Abuse.

Let’s swing towards the center and visit The Moderate Voice for Mark Daniels piece on Oil and Foreign Policy.

As long as we’re already here, stick around for Shaun Mullen on Civilian Casualties in Iraq.

Moving on, we have Tim Iocono at The Mess That Greenspan Made talking about Economic Reports. Be sure to scroll down to his charts and discussion on manufacturing and payroll.

Speaking of the economy, James Hamilton of Econbrowser has some things to say about Weak Auto Sales.

This brings us nicely around the other side of the world to see Elaine Meinel Supkis discussing Compressed Air Powered Cars Mass Produced in India.

No discussion of Other People’s Commentary today would be complete without none other than George McGovern’s piece in yesterday’s Washington Post entitled Why I Believe Bush Must Go.

And lets wrap things up with Kevin at Preemptive Karma discussing Marriage and Civil Unions, Church and State.

Have a great week, folks!

So, you’ve decided you want to have a blog, eh? No? Ok, you can scroll to the “in closing” bits.

Yes? Ok then.

The first thing you will want to do — I mean it, before you even go choosing a name — is to figure out what you want to write about. Do you want to have an online diary? To write about a particular industry? To put up funny pictures of your pets? To document family stories? To give us your two-cents-worth about world events? To tell us what is going on in your hometown? What kind of tone do you want to set: funny, serious, sarcastic, psychotic, scholarly? You don’t have to limit yourself — and you will soon see why — but you need to have an idea what you are up to.

Next, you’ll want to decide where to keep your online “stuff.” There are plenty of places you can blog for free, and until you really get a following that is what you will want to do. Blogger and WordPress are fine places to start. They will host your content (put it on their servers and blast it out to anybody who requests it). They will also have “templates” on which you can put your stuff to keep it organized.

Now, what do you want to call yourself? You can use your name, and that’s perfectly alright. You can use a descriptive term — such as ShortWoman or Maya’s Granny. You can use a way of thinking of yourself — such as Defective Yeti or NYC Educator. You can use a place, real or fictional — PureLand Mountain or Welcome to Pottersville. You can base it on what you plan to talk about — MemeCats or The Market Oracle. All those are taken, and I think you’ll find them all in my Blogroll. If you buy your URL, www.whateveritis.com for example, you can forward it to one of the free hosting services I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Be aware that other people will be reading what you have written, and that will have consequences. Sometimes it’s good consequences, such as my being asked to write for Central Sanity. Sometimes it’s bad consequences, like losing your job after saying unflattering things about your boss. Not putting your name on the top of the page does not mean it is impossible to figure out who you are. Just like with e-mail, my advice is to not say anything you wouldn’t read out loud to your mother, your boss, or a judge. This will keep you out of a lot of trouble. Oh, Hi Mom!

The next thing is to make peace with change. Unless you are already a professional writer, odds are really good that your blogging “voice” will evolve. You can check this phenomenon yourself by looking through my archives. Four years is a really long time online. Just because you want to only write funny stories about dogs today doesn’t mean you won’t get really inspired by something completely unrelated tomorrow.

Speaking of inspiration, if you get stuck, feel free to go poke around a big news site, or one of those community sites where they talk about 83 different things on any given day, or a place that tracks current hot stories other people are blogging about? Surely you will find something that strikes you. Failing that, you may find someone else whose writing you like enough to say “Hey! Check this guy out!” This is where it’s handy to write about a fairly broad set of topics.

My final bit of advice is to pace yourself. It’s easy to get caught up in a flurry of new stuff and then burn out. Please don’t do that. Not everybody is as prolific as the big A-List bloggers. Not everybody has the stamina to post every day. And if you look at those A-List blogs, you will find that almost every single one is a group effort. Why don’t you start by planning to post every week, and if you feel motivated in between consider that a bonus?

In closing: Hello Kami; thanks to Preemptive Karma, Why am I being punished? Osama did it!; Human evolution may be speeding up; speaking of evolution, Ron Paul will be speaking at this week’s anti-aging medical conference in Vegas (you’ll have to scroll way down); standardizing international adoption policies; climate science as manipulated by the White House; and D-Ed Reckoning brings us not just one, but two “why oh why can’t we have competent reporting” stories.

Earlier this week, the head of the Red Cross had to step down after having a “relationship” with a subordinate. No, I’m pretty sure he would not be resigning over a friendship.

Common sense would have said “Sex with the employees is a bad idea.”

Also earlier this week, the same law enforcement officials who sold the people of California a ballot initiative requiring satellite tracking of “sex offenders” determined that — now that voters have made it law — the entire idea is unworkable and really expensive.

Common sense would have said “It would be easy to keep track of these people if they were still in prison.”

And the final item for your consideration, a story that makes me feel ill, a 2 year old girl was beaten to death for not saying “please” and “yes, sir.” Mom wanted to call an ambulance at one point, but was prevented by her “Mr. Manners” boyfriend. Then they put her body in a trash bag and dumped it at sea. How discourteous. But here’s the part that gets me (emphasis mine):

In her statement to Galveston authorities, Trenor said the girl was beaten with leather belts, had her head held underwater in a bathtub and then was thrown across a room, her head slamming into a tile floor.

[snip]

“There was never an intention to beat Riley to death,” he said.

Now let me get this straight. You beat her, held her head underwater in the tub, and threw her across the room such that her head slammed into a tile floor, but you never meant to kill her? What exactly did Mr. Manners think would happen?

Common sense would have said “A two-year-old can learn to say please and thank you, but beating her to death is counterproductive.”

In closing: Blogthings internet quizzes; the Tunnels of Chinatown; Girl Scout sashes make headscarves as American as Halal Apple Pie; Billie Piper will be back on Dr. Who (yay!); a court has ordered the Bush Administration to turn over “documents related to immunizing telecommunications companies from lawsuits” by tomorrow; today the arctic, tomorrow the moon; and finally, “How does Bruce Schneier protect his laptop data? With his fists!” One bit of advice near the bottom (that I’ve been advocating for a long time), “minimize the amount of data on your laptop.” Common sense may be alive somewhere after all.

Don’t ask when peak oil is;  it has come and gone.

There’s a lot of reasons oil is as high as it is.  These reasons include high demand from nations with large, newly industrialized populations, a weak dollar, and 7 countries (including a few oil producing countries) that are no longer supporting the dollar.

It doesn’t matter any more.  If you don’t want to take my word for it, listen to the International Energy Agency.

We Americans live in a society where we depend on cars to get everywhere.  Many of us live in neighborhoods that don’t even have sidewalks — we couldn’t safely walk to our destinations if we wanted to. Many of us live miles from our jobs.  Many of us live miles from grocery stores and other essential businesses. Many of us live in places where there is not a safe, effective, or cost/time efficient public transportation system.

Believe it or not, Daimler wants to help us out — oh, and make money on the deal too.  They will be selling “Smart Cars” that get 40 MPG (if you have trouble reading that, just click the “Print” button and the text will appear in a pop-up window, you don’t really have to print it).  They are also hedging their bets in a partnership with Ford to make automotive fuel cells.

But the thing that should make you mad about “going green” and fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuels is this:  the auto industry could already get to a fleet average of 35 MPG within 5 years, using existing technology. And they could make more of money doing it.  You know who says so? Click and Clack, those guys who do the funny little show about cars on your local NPR station every weekend. Of course they’ve got a big study by Citigroup and the Investor Network on Climate Risk behind them.  Yeah, they carry a little more weight than some funny mechanics from the East Coast.

In closing health care round-up:  Expert Ezra with Ten Reasons American Health Care is So Bad; those are nice eyes you’ve got there, sure would be a shame if something happened to them, of course it will cost you $22,000 to keep that from happening, heck no your insurance company won’t cover that; L.A. Times reports that a big insurer actually paid employees bonuses running as high as $20,000 (hm, that’s an interesting number…) to get rid of policy holders who actually needed health care; The Archcrone on true universal healthcare, which like Expert Ezra, I prefer to call Medicare For All; and a very long but very sobering article with references and charts and everything on The Erosion of Hoping Your Boss Will Pay for Health Insurance.

In closing economy round-up: oh, so that’s how they figure we have “no inflation”;  Brad DeLong goes into more detail about How China Can Destroy Us Economically; the economy is great except for consumer confidence; and if we have “full employment” how come tax receipts don’t reflect that?

And finally just a few little things:   I love this picture; I also love this word substitution exercise; Green Gifts; and please be aware that I have a new professional site at BridgetMagnus.com.  Most of my housing and local interest items will go over there now, with cross-posting and pointer posts as appropriate. It’s been too long since I’ve said this, but thanks for reading what I have to say.

By now I think everyone has heard the story of Tanya Rider, a woman who had a horrible car crash after working a shift at the grocery store (actually Fred Meyer is more than that, but I digress), and ended up 20 feet down in a ravine, trapped inside her Honda Element which had rolled onto it’s side for 8 days while police first did nothing, and then relentlessly grilled her husband — the guy who insisted that somebody give a damn.

Up to speed? Good. I suppose it’s nice to know my truck could help me survive such an ordeal, but that’s little comfort.

A Sheriff’s deputy said “We don’t take every missing person report on adults. … If we did, we’d be doing nothing but going after missing person reports.” The Sheriff herself affirmed that “most” adults who go missing leave on their own, with the implication that adults have the right to go where they wish. And go missing if they wish.

Unfortunately, my right to leave and not come home is also my right to have a horrible accident like Mrs. Rider. My right to go missing is also my right to be kidnapped and have heaven alone knows what happen to me before the cops will even give my family the right time of day, when anybody who has watched more than about 2 episodes of any given crime drama knows that “time is of the essence” when it comes to rescuing missing people.

Bully for the Sheriff for ordering a review of the 911 tapes. Unfortunately, what really needs to be reviewed is the policy. Best wishes for Mrs. Rider during her recovery.

In closing: the weak dollar myth and the divorce myth; Countrywide’s CEO turns out to have been a rat leaving the sinking ship while cashing out $138 million in stock options; Fallout from Falluja — which remember was caused by Blackwater mercenaries; well, are you as smart as an 8th grader?; because a middle school student is schooling Mr. Bush on SCHIP; sexism online; and finally, pictures from Meiji and Taisho era Japan.

I haven’t said much here about the goings on in Myanmar, formerly Burma. However, I and the rest of the Central Sanity crew have brought up several stories over the course of the last week. For those unfamiliar with the situation, here’s a very very short version: peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations against the military government have been led by thousands of Buddhist monks, accompanied by Buddhist nuns and ordinary citizens; the government warned there would be repercussions if demonstrations did not stop; they made good on their threats, resulting in deaths, locked monasteries (with the troublesome monks inside), and cutting off the internet. The international community has responded with, well, idle threats to cut off trade and investment in the country.

Today’s dose of Burma is to let you know about some people who are truly on top of the situation there. First, the always-brilliant Dave Johnson is involved in the Burma NewsLadder, an aggregator of current stories. Also, MahaBarbara of the Mahablog has been giving regular updates with commentary, and somehow finds time to write about other things. Both MoveOn and Avaaz.org have petitions in support of the people and monks of Myanmar. I leave you with two political cartoons, one from Robert Arial and one from Ann Telnaes. I love her clean lines and minimalist style, to say nothing of her wit!

In closing: 10 least healthy salads; why the heck did The Gap even have personal information about prospective employees on a laptop computer which was easily stolen?; the problem with early childhood education in a nutshell; always pay attention to the news late on a Friday afternoon, because you never know when a real bombshell will be dropped; after everything we’ve found out about Blackwater, does anybody at all think it’s a good idea to involve them in the Drug War, really?; and h/t to Fark, a list of historical cats.

I have health insurance.

In fact, I have a Point-of-Service plan with one of the region’s biggest carriers, who is in the midst of a merger that will give it most of the local market for health insurance. Keep in mind, although my “insurer” runs an HMO, this is the POS plan.

Having recently moved, I do not have a regular doctor yet. I realize that this is something that must change, and that I’d rather do this while it is not an emergency situation. While you are sick is the time you need to already have a doctor, not be frantically searching for one. Luckily we live in the age of the internet; there is an url for the company website right on the back of my insurance card. And sure enough, with a few clicks in the right places — which was more confusing than it should have been but I did find it in a matter of moments — I was able to find a provider directory. I was even able to search by specialty and proximity. It turns out there are listings in the provider directory for over 70 family practice physicians within 15 miles of my zip code. I did notice that at least half of them were working at the HMO, but that a branch of a well-known local clinic chain just down the street was listed. I pass that office several times a week.

I picked up the phone, and called to get an appointment for a checkup. Once I navigated the voice-mail system to get to a human being, I explained my situation.

“Ok,” she said, “What insurance do you have?” Note: not how will you be paying, but what insurance do you have. This left the impression — false I hope! — that cash is not welcome. I told her what my insurance card said.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, “We don’t accept new patients from that insurer.” It was clear that there was no point in arguing that I had found their number through the insurer’s directory of physicians who supposedly accepted payment from them. She of course had no idea how long this policy had been in effect. She certainly was not in a position of authority such that she could have them removed from the directory.

It was abundantly clear that my options for medical care are the HMO, a charity clinic, or someplace that would actually take my money. If I go to the HMO — clearly the easy route — I run the risk that should something be seriously wrong, they will not tell me about medical options that are not covered, thus making it less likely that I will even know about treatments that could save my life and health. If I select a charity clinic, I will be taking up time and space that someone with no insurance and no options could be using, to say nothing of spending lots of time driving and waiting. And if I pay cash, I will get a look of scorn and/or pity from the staff, to say nothing of risking denied coverage of any conditions they may diagnose.

Let me reiterate: I have insurance; our family makes well over the poverty line; I face the same sorts of lack-of-coverage issues that I would face if I were far less fortunate.

When certain people try to scare you about “socialized” medicine (they never call it universal health care and they never dare say Medicare-for-all), one of the canards they throw out there is that some faceless government bureaucrat will be making decisions about your medical care, down to what doctors you can see. I am insured, and some faceless HMO bureaucrat has already made decisions about my medical care, including what treatments are available and what doctors I can see — and remember, I am not even a member of the HMO. How is this better?

So remember this story, and read this substantially more heartbreaking one. And then think about the fact that the “reform” options have been “more of the same” from the Democrats and “more of the same with bonus tax breaks for the wealthy” from the Republicans. This despite the fact that most Americans want Medicare-for-All, this despite the fact that as I write GM workers are on strike over the fact that GM wants to get out from under the estimated $1000 to $1500 per car that goes to employee health care expenses. Only 8% of Americans polled think the system only needs minor changes, yet almost every single candidate is proposing what amounts to minor changes!

It is time to permanently end the cat-and-mouse game of insurers trying to maximize profits by cherry-picking who they will cover and what they will pay. It is time to end the acrobatics that medical billing offices must go through to receive payment, only to get less than half what they actually billed. It is time to stop squeezing human beings between health care they need and health care bills they can’t afford.

Before I get started, I promised I would link to my thoughts after the official BLS job creation numbers were released. Of course I promised that before we all found out they were really job deletion numbers.

Anyway….

In the last 2 weeks, every schoolkid in the nation has brought home a packet of stuff from school that outlines the school rules, including dress code. This is over and above the fact that in our modern world, you could almost certainly find these rules on the school or school district website. Some of these rules are sufficiently important they warrant also being posted on a visible sign at the school; signs of this type are usually posted for rules aimed at visitors, or newly implemented rules.

If you think about it, within the last 2 weeks, you have passed (looked at, read, maybe forgotten) signs that say things like “No skateboards or rollerblades”; “No pets allowed except service animals”; “Please do not use your cell phone at the counter”; “No shoes, no shirt, no service”; “Signature gathering and passing out of literature by non-employees prohibited”; “No smoking within 50 feet”; “No solicitors”; “Hard hat zone, protective gear must be worn past this point”. The list goes on, but the point is that a certain behavior is either required or (more often) prohibited, so somebody put up a sign to let everyone know what the rule is.

And that brings me to yesterday’s story of the Southwest Airlines Fashion Police. Honestly, there are points on both sides of the issue that roughly boil down to “who wants to see that, and a business has a right to regulate itself” vs “why are you looking, she wasn’t breaking any laws, and who the heck is the employee to ruin somebody’s travel plans and cost them a lot of money.” Personally, I don’t have a problem with Southwest Airlines — or any other business — having a dress code, as long as it is clearly posted and can be known ahead of time. After all, many nice restaurants require gentlemen to wear at least a sportcoat, and most such restaurants will gladly rent you a sportcoat for the evening to help potential customers comply.

Standing in the airport terminal, with your baggage (and spare clothing) already on the plane, is the wrong time to find out that your clothing does not meet muster.

But why limit this posting requirement to Southwest Airlines? Let’s go elsewhere in the airport. The TSA could sure benefit from some signage, and so could the flying public. Imagine the capricious and arbitrary things that could be prevented if the “Things You Should Know” from their traveler’s page were a clearly posted series of signs near the entrance of the airport. These could be simplified down to a few numbered signs such as: “Things you must do” (take off your shoes, put your bags on the conveyor, etc.); “Things you must not do” (argue with the screener, joke about bombs); “Prohibited items”; “Exempted items” (medication, breastmilk, etc.); and “Your rights and responsibilities” (including and particularly your rights should you require special screening, specifically addressing the needs of the handicapped or children).

The ideal result would be that 9 out of 10 disputes at a TSA checkpoint should be reduced to one or the other party pointing to a sign and saying something like “Number 4”. I believe such signage would sharply curtail both actual abusive behavior by TSA officers, and the perception of such abuse in cases where the TSA is just doing its job.

Oh, and an official complaint form should be freely available in every terminal without having to ask an airport/airline employee, with an anonymous drop-box.

In closing: oh gee, maybe that crap we put in food after testing it on a bunch of inbred rodents isn’t so good for human children after all; sound familiar?; all this talk of reducing emissions within a few decades is great, but the Arctic icecap may not have more than a couple decades; Sen. Dr. Bill Frist actually doing something I can support (alert the media) but he shouldn’t forget the health of children in this country (you know, the one he’s licensed to practice medicine in?); Shine on you crazy tesseract, Madeleine L’Engle has passed away; the Financial Times is concerned about a possible “wave of evictions” in the United States; the Market Oracle argues the subprime problem is too big for a bailout, even if that were morally desirable; some Foolish advice for getting out of financial trouble; statistics, educational achievement, and the reality hiding underneath NCLB; and finally, way to kill another children’s franchise, G.I. Joe film in the works. Hopefully it won’t suck as badly as most people agree the Transformers film did.