Two Politicians Kissing

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Look at this AP photo of President Obama with Kathleen Sebelius, the Governor of Kansas.

Obama is thinking, "Man I really don't want to kiss that old grey haired lady on the lips." And she is thinking, "I am a free thinker and a liberal, but I have never kissed a black man on the lips before."

Religion

Astrology and horoscopes are not a proper foundation to build one’s life upon. Neither is a belief in the power of crystals or pyramids.

An unquestioning belief in talking snakes, walking on water, magical conversion of water into wine, a belief in spontaneously combusting burning bushes, men living for 3 days inside of whales or big fish, virgin births, and other miracles is just not much better.

Delusion and fantasy. The opiate of the masses. Yes, no doubt about it.

The only problem is, kids being raised in the early 21st century are not being inculcated with the essential concepts of ethics, morality, and hard work which make living with other people possible. Christianity may be stupid, but in general the 10 commandments are pretty good advice,

Religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam certainly have caused more wars and bloodshed over the years than they have prevented. These ancient thousand year old religions are not an appropriate solution to mankind’s innate aggressiveness.

Maybe Obamaism is the answer. Really.  I have more respect and faith in Barack than I do in some Jewish carpenter who allegedly lived 2,000 years ago.

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LINK:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHH2JItePlc
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Rich Jews

It sort of concerns me when people of the Jewish faith criticize the psychopath Bernard L. Madoff by expressing their horror that he would do this sort of thing to fellow Jews.

Oh come on. How naïve are these people? It just shows that rich people are no smarter than anyone else. And that Jewish rich people are greedy and unethical just exactly like some agnostic rich people are. It is all about greed.

Madoff operated a ponzi scheme which stole billions from some of the richest people in America (and the rest of the world too). He consistently gave investors an excellent rate of return, in fact one which was far above what you could achieve in any legitimate investment scheme.

The people who got taken by Madoff had good lawyers and accountants. Even if these investors were not very bright, their advisers were. These people understood the inverse relationship between risk and rate of return. If you want your money to be safe then you invest it in certificates of deposit at the local bank which are insured by the federal government FDIC. Certainly the accountants and lawyers pointed out many times that a consistently high rate of return like this was very risky. The statements Madoff issued were not clear, and his auditor was a small unknown strip mall firm.

No one really wants to point the finger at these people who are down and out and who are suffering a total loss of their life savings. But it needs to be done.

You dumb bastards let your greed overrule your good sense. And your ethics too.

It was obvious that these high rates of return were not available through other conventional and safe investments. And you certainly heard the warning over the years about diversification. Invest some of your money here, some there so that in the worst case situation you are not totally wiped out. Sorry, you greedy bastards thought that you were masters of the universe. You thought you deserved a much higher rate of return than what other “normal” people were getting on their investments. You got exactly what you deserve. Tough luck.

Now just because you used to be rich you continue to expect better treatment than other poor folks. You arrogant sons of bitches supported the Republicans, and you opposed any sort of support for poor people or people who are down on their luck. Well good luck. You made your bed, now you can see what it feels like to try and sleep on it.
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Cloud Waves

Frequently when I am out walking the dog I see cloud formations like this.

It always makes me wonder: Why do clouds form these waves? And what is their resonant frequency? If you can see the waves from this far away, I guess the frequency is really very low. Probably well below what the human ear can detect, but maybe not below the range that elephants communicate in.

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A little later. I just Googled the subject. Simple answer. And sure enough, the wind is blowing today and this is in the lee of the Franklin Mountains.

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LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_cloud
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Obama Is Being Too Conservative

Nancy Pelosi is right.

On Wednesday night, Pelosi made it clear that she wasn’t happy with Obama’s plan to leave 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

And unlike Obama, she “absolutely” favors criminal prosecutions for any Bush administration officials involved in torture or other excesses in the fight against terrorism.

On Thursday, Pelosi said she’d move “faster” than Obama is to roll back Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.

It is beginning to look like she is more in touch with what the American people want and better in touch with the times than Obama is. Barack you need to listen to this lady more than you are. If the American people had wanted someone conservative who would continue the discredited Bush policies, we would have elected a Republican. Get with the program Mr. President.
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Famous Birthdays

Had he not died of lung cancer which spread all over his body (including to his brain), today would have been George Harisson's birthday. He was born on 25 February 1943, so he would have turned 65 today and been eligible for his old age pension.
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Today is also the 40th birthday of Jean Mazajchik, a really fine Dutch friend of mine. Jean is currently living in Tilburg. Happy birthday Jean!
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Fertility Issues

I was “on the road again” yesterday, so I was listening to FM radio. On NPR I heard a long analysis of the various techniques being used to help couples who have fertility problems.

In the course of the discussion I became aware that it is currently possible and actually very feasible for a young woman to sell her fertilized eggs (embryos), maybe even for as much as $50,000- each. What an innovative way to help finance your college education.

It got me to thinking. Apparently this is viewed by society as a perfectly alright way to help out people who have fertility issues. But if the same lady carries the embryo inside of her for 9 months and then just moments after she gives birth sells the kid for $50,000- she is a horrible person and a criminal. But what if she sold the embroy and then got paid an additional $50,000- to be a surrogate and carry the embryo to term?

This young woman would not be allowed to sell one of her kidneys or a lung for $50,000-, but she can sell her eggs, fertilized or not.

I am inclined to think that a woman should be allowed to give away free of charge her embryos to help someone out, but that it is inappropriate for her to be allowed to sell embryos. The same goes with blood, plasma, or sperm. But that is just my opinion.
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Bank Nationalization

The 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics was Paul Robin Krugman. He is He is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, a centenary professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times.

He quotes Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, and certainly a big defender of free markets as saying, “It may be necessary to temporarily nationalize some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring.”

Paul Krugman agrees with Greenspan, and so do I.

The great depression of 1929 resulted in several vital reforms in America. Most important were Social Security and the various things insuring that the banks did not fail, like FDIC insurance and proper regulation. FDR tried to get universal health care implemented, but he failed at this part.

To keep the country and the world functioning on a half-way even basis it is vital that the banks function properly. During the last 7 or 8 years all the deregulation fever meant that the bankers could pretty much do anything they wanted. And they did. The result is that the people of the United States have had to pump many billions of dollars into propping up the banks. But this hasn’t yet been sufficient. If we are going to give the corrupt or stupid bankers all this money, then we should have an equal amount of say over how they do their business in the future. In a capitalist economy this means that we will need to take over 51% ownership and voting rights.

Governments and government bureaucrats have traditionally done a fairly poor job of sensibly spending money. But not anywhere nearly as bad as these Republican MBAs that have been running the banks and Wall Street.

In five or ten years this government ownership of the banks can gradually end, but it is going to take at least that long to get their house in order. My guess is that there has been plenty of corruption going on. In the name of “free markets” there has been widespread theft of the shareholders money taking place. Some of these bankers will no doubt be going to jail.

LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/opinion/23krugman.html?_r=1&em

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Comets

The last time Haley's comet visited us I was still actively flying. In the middle of the night I took my mother (now deceased) up above the haze of the city air to see the comet. Haley was really large, but honestly not all that bright. My Mom was a little disappointed.

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It is now 2:00 in the morning. I just brought my telescope in from the backyard. I have an 8 inch dobsonian, with the finest Tele Vue eyepieces you can buy. I also have four smaller telescopes, and I would not classify this eight inch as a "small" telescope.

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In the consumer media there were claims that the comet Lulin could be seen in binoculars, or in a small telescope. It is its closest and brightest right now. I just watched it for about 15 minutes. It is very near to Saturn, which is looking lovely tonight. But Lulin is just a dim little smudge...

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The comet Lulin is not at all like this lovely image generated by my computer astronomy software. But at least I saw it, and the beautiful planet Saturn was giving a wonderful show tonight in the clear west Texas air.

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Republican Governors

The United States governors who are members of the republican party are showing their true colors. They are radical extremists. These republican governors are now in the uncomfortable position of openly supporting their rich campaign contributors by actually turning down government money to help the poor people in their states. How sick.

These guys need to turn in their hate cards and get with the program.
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Socorro Independent School District

The Socorro ISD is one of several school districts in El Paso, Texas. It has it's own police department which has enough police cars for a fairly well equipped medium sized municipality.

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The children here on the border with Mexico must be really evil if this sort of militaristic approach is necessary. I wonder if they have their own SWAT team? I'll bet they have at least received training in how to deal with an armed student whose goal in life is to become famous by being a mass murderer.

Here in El Paso, Texas anytime you drive on the freeway you see the Sheriff's Department, the El Paso Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the massive and ever present Department of Homeland Security's Border Patrol, Constables, Game Wardens, the Police Departments of the various school districts, and various other fully equipped and armed law enforcement agencies. And we aren't even discussing the military. Mostly they are cruising around in full size, horrible fuel economy vehicles. And they all operate largely within the same territory.

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This almost feels like Afghanistan or Iraq. Each little power hungry warlord (read politician) wants to have his own group of armed men. At least in Afghanistan the enforcers drive little small Toyota pickup trucks. Here they run around in SUVs, full size pickup trucks, and V8 Ford Mustangs.

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With civilians supporting so many of these overlapping multiple law enforcement agencies, no wonder the property taxes are so high in El Paso.

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Nikon Digital SLR Camera

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At a recent trade show Nikon had on exhibit a digital SLR which had been cut in half for purposes of display.

Good heavens, look at all those layers of glass in that Nikon lens. No wonder an SLR camera takes pictures that are so much higher in resolution and clarity than a cheap, little, carry around in your pocket point-and-shoot camera.

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The Power Of Words To Scare

It is amazing how frightened we can get by some words. During the 1950’s the word Communist was terrifying. To many people the words Homosexuality and Transvestite draw the same sort of horror, especially if the word is being used to describe your child. In America the word Fuck has much the same power.

The word Nationalization falls into the same category for many Americans. Especially when the word is being used in conjunction with banks and bank failures.

The American banks Citigroup and Bank of America are clearly under capitalized. Lots of others are also. Many reputable economists would like to use the word Insolvent, but that is another one of those words that strike terror into people.

After the U.S. Government (the American people) already having poured many billions of dollars into these banks to prop them up, it is increasingly looking like the “least worst” option may be a temporary restructuring or majority ownership. The real word to describe this is Nationalization, but Americans have weak stomachs and just cannot seem to deal with strong language like this.
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LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/opinion/22sun1.html?_r=1
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Actions Speak Louder Than Words

This morning I was watching my dog closely. He does pay attention to what I say, but he actually pays much more attention to what I do. We have various words for this concept including “body language.”

It is true that humans have pretty good communication with dogs. And the vast majority of this is because they pay attention to our actions. Our words are far less important.

Many times in our role as parents, spouses, or as supervisors-managers we are tempted to tell people, “Don’t do what I do. Do what I say.” And of course this is an absolute losing battle, because that is not the way the world works. In any relationship it really is true that actions speak louder than words.
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Reducing The Government Budget Deficit

In today’s newspapers The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times both are reporting on Barack Obama's first budget, and his plan to cut the deficit in half by the end of his term. -- LINK: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-obama-budget22-2009feb22,0,2722743.story

Both newspapers report that the reductions will come primarily from higher taxes on the wealthy and lower spending in Iraq. Very good Mr. President. Your true colors are coming out. And they are wonderful!

If there is one primary lesson that can be learned from the current recession-depression, it is that governments, corporations, households, and individual people cannot continue year-after-year to spend more than they make. The Republican political party in America likes to spread the myth that they are the fiscally conservative party. Living within your means, etc. But the reality is that from President Reagan through President Bush II, every time that the Republicans have been in charge they have lowered taxes and increased spending. They just don’t seem to get it.

Barack is going to need everyone’s help with this. As powerful as the President of The United States is, the super-rich minority will certainly win this battle unless there he receives massive support from normal Americans.

This will be a clear showdown demonstrating whether America actually has a democracy which does what the voters want, or whether on the really important issues the decisions are made in darkness by shadowy powerful and wealthy people who make enormous campaign contributions to the politicians.
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Partisanship Or Reaching Across The Aisle

Back in the olden times the Christian church believed that the sun revolved around the earth. This was very important to them. In fact, if you tried to explain that this concept was incorrect, you could end up in jail, disappeared, or dead. The father of astronomy Galileo Galilei learned this the hard way.

Back then if Galileo was talking with the Pope’s enforcers, meeting them half way or reaching across the aisle would have been plain stupid. Compromise was not possible. They were 100% wrong and Galileo was 100% right. Period. End of story.

This same concept applies to President Obama. When the Republicans want to lower taxes on rich people (who contribute to their campaigns) there is no point trying to reach across the aisle. They are simply wrong.

When millions of Americans do not have access to the health care system, it would be highly unethical for Obama to compromise with the forces from the right wing. Everyone living in America should have basic health care, whether they are young or old, rich or poor, lazy or hard-working.

Compromise and reaching across the aisle was not possible when Galileo was facing the Pope’s enforcers. The same concept will apply with many of the issues that Obama is going to face. On many important issues, he simply cannot compromise with the reactionaries in the Republican party and still be true to his beliefs.
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The Organ Mountains

The Organ Mountains are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico in the southwestern United States. They are about 40 miles north of El Paso, Texas and 10 miles east of Las Cruces.

The Organ Mountains are at the southern end of a long line of mountains on the east side of the Rio Grande's rift valley. The range is nearly contiguous with the San Andres Mountains to the north and the Franklin Mountains to the south, but the Organs are very different geologically. Whereas the San Andres and Franklin Mountains are both formed from west-dipping fault blocks of mostly sedimentary strata (with limestone most prominent), the Organ Mountains are made primarily of igneous rock (intrusive granite and extrusive rhyolite). Their name reflects their similarity in appearance (particularly the granite "needles" in the highest part of the range) with pipes that would be part of a pipe organ.

Local legend has it that many of these peaks were first climbed in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s by the Germans who came over to America along with Werner Van Braun. The eastern face of the mountain range faces White Sands Missile Range.

A few days ago I took an ultra high resolution picture of the Organs. After processing and cropping the final picture is roughly 1.1 Gigapixels. To see this picture go to URL: http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=17513
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Clinton

In China secretary of state Hilary Cinton was quoted as saying that human rights cannot get in the way of talks.
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Yup, she is showing her true colors. Remember, as a young lady she was a Goldwater Girl.
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Chief Of Police in Juarez Killed

From the El Paso Times
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JUAREZ -- The head of the Juárez police department and three officers were killed in an ambush Tuesday on a day when protesters, claiming abuses by the Mexican army, blocked traffic to the international bridges into El Paso.
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Police operations director Sacramento Perez Serrano, 49, was being escorted by the officers when the four-door police pickup they were riding in was riddled with gunfire in the upscale Zona Dorada (Golden Zone) area of the city about 5 p.m.
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Perez and the three officers died in the attack near Paseo de La Victoria and Ejercito Nacional boulevards.
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"They were on their way to the Babicora (police) station when they were ambushed by an armed commando," said Jaime Torres, city spokesman."They didn't have a chance to defend themselves. They died in the patrol unit."

LINK: http://www.elpasotimes.com/juarez/ci_11726795
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In Bruges

In Bruges is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning 2008 film. This is a totally outstanding movie.

Maybe it helps that I have been to Bruges, Belgium six or seven times. Once with a lady friend when I was very much in love/infatuated, and all the other times alone. Bruges is a very special place. I sometimes think about the painting I saw there of Mary Magdalene. She appeared absolutely beautiful in the modern sense; so much so that I occasionally dream about her.

In fact, even now that I have moved back to America I have hanging in my house an original painting of Bruges that I bought there from the artist. A lady friend of mine in Holland used to tell me that in Belgium the place is referred to as the Venice Of The North.

From the awards that this movie has gotten apparently you don’t have to be familiar with Bruges to like the flick. Don’t believe the cover where it says that it is hilarious. Bullshit. It is serious and is about life, death, and love. I recommend it very highly.

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Bruges

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The Edge Of Heaven

The movie The Edge Of Heaven is really one of the finest movies that I have watched in years.

It was shot in Germany and Turkey, and is subtitled in English. Who would think that it would be so really, really good?

Here are some of the awards that it has rightfully won:

Following the Best Screenplay Award received at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Lino Brocka Award in the International Cinema category at the 2007 Cinemanila International Film Festival in the Philippines. The movie also won five awards at Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (best director, editing, supporting actor, supporting actress and special jury award). On October 24, 2007, the European parliament awarded its newly established LUX prize for European cinema to Fatih Akın's film. On November 10, 2007, the film won the Critics Award at the European Cinema Festival, in Seville. On December 1, 2007, the movie won the best screenplay award at European Film Awards, while it was also nominated for the best director and the best film. Hanna Schygulla won the Best Supporting Actress award from the National Society of Film Critics for her role in the film.

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_of_Heaven_(film)
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Don’t Think Everyone Will Love You Mr. President

Many people hated FDR. One of the nicest men I know grew up in the deep south. He is well educated and doesn’t appear to be a racist, but he certainly grew up in that environment. But even to this day he passionately hates FDR. He was born in 1932, so he was just a baby at the time. Apparently his parents and the culture he grew up in left really strong second hand memories.

These people hate FDR because much like President Lincoln, he continued the process of ending oppression of poor people by the outrageously wealthy minority at the top. Barack, if you do the proper things you can be certain that most of the Republican members of Congress will hate you. So will the Wall Street bankers and all of the wanna-be’s who aspire to this same kind of greed and excess.

Don’t think that any human being can “cross the party lines” and convince these right wing bastards that justice for poor people or people of color is a good idea. These reactionaries really don’t care if millions of people in America do not have access to the health care system. They don’t give a shit. Really.

You are not going to bring these ignorant racists over. Accept reality and please take off those rose colored glasses. And get down to work. You were allegedly a community organizer, well let’s see your stuff Mr. President.

Million of people are depending upon you to do the right thing. And if you do, then you will be soundly hated by most of the rich folks on the political right. Just face it and get on with it.
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A friend of mine from The Netherlands comments:
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Maasbree, Wednesday morning Febr. 18 th. ‘09

Good morning Paul,

I couldn’t agree more, it’s exactly like you’ve worded it.

One cannot convince everyone. In fact, it’s sometimes simply best to agree that one doesn’t agee and to carry on trying to improve things in accordance with one’s own ideas.

Barack Obama now is in the best possible position, given the circumstances though, to push through some well overdue improvements, like the healthcare basics for all. It it hadn’t been for George Bushes rather poor/bad approach towards various subjects, it might have been that we would not have Obama in the position were he is today … so I guess, indeed there is a pro on every con in life.

Now, indeed, doing the right things, isn’t going to make everyone applause … sure hope it’s not going to stop the right stuff to be done.

At the least the start looks promissing ! But … the flowers most likely are only to be given at the end of the race.

Greetings from NL,

Hans
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Protectionism vs. Leveling The Playing Field

There are not many intellectually honest people left who doubt that burning so much fossil fuel over the last 50 years has caused massive damage to the world’s environment. And that this damage continues to accelerate and worsen.

From New York City, San Francisco, London, and New Orleans to Amsterdam and Barcelona, millions of people live in low lying areas near the coast. It won’t take much global warming at all for these areas to cease to exist as dry land.

Deforestation in the Amazon basin and Asia is reducing the earth’s ability to deal with these pollutants.

Worldwide all civilized societies need to find a way to encourage less wasteful and more environmentally sound policies. Now that the United States of America no longer has a leader who is brain dead, America should take a leading role in this, along with the European Union and Japan.

In all of the so called “advanced world” production and jobs have moved off shore to locations where environmental rules don’t exist or are laughed at. In the sacred name of market forces production has moved to countries which do not pay their workers a livable wage, do not provide health care to the populace, routinely employ child labor, and ignore routine workplace safety regulations.
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It clearly is not protectionism if a country says that if goods are imported which were produced in a place where proper environmental policies are ignored, then an import duty or tax should be imposed at the time of importation which would bring the item up to the price it would have cost if they had followed the environmental rules of America or Europe.

Testing of food, agricultural products, and children’s toys at the time of importation for harmful chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, and heavy metals needs to be increased greatly. No honor system certified by the producing country…actual testing at the time of importation.

It is not in any way protectionism if Europe or Canada impose import duties on products which were produced in countries where much of the population do not have access to the health care system.

The same “leveling of the playing field” import duties need to be levied on anything being imported from a country where workplace safety and child labor laws are not enforced. The same conceptual idea would apply to anything which is transported half way around the globe. Growing or making something in Australia and then shipping it many thousands of miles to Europe or America is OK and should be allowed, but an import duty needs to be imposed at the time of importation which discourages this wasteful transportation process.

None of the above is the reactionary Buy In America polemics. These are simply sound ideas which will greatly improve the environment and the lives of millions of people, both in America and Europe, but also in the poor and corrupt countries.
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Nikon D40 on a GigaPan EPIC

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The Nikon D40 and D40X DSLRs will work fine (just barely) on the GigaPan EPIC, but you have to make your own DIY mounting bracket. This bracket works best if placed on the bottom. If you put it on the top it raises the center of the lens further, which is already almost a problem.

The tough part is that if you mount a 55 - 200mm lens on the D40 the lens is pretty wide. And in order for the camera to point straight ahead the hole for the ¼ inch mounting screw has to be moved back almost 40 mm.

The camera body wants to touch on the left side of the GigaPan, forcing the lens to point a little to the left rather than straight ahead. But by coming back far enough you can solve this.

It appears that the ideal setting for the mounting tray arm is -12. I replaced the thumb screw with a metric bolt, which also gave me slightly more room for the camera body to point straight ahead. Instead of keeping the mounting screw in the middle of the slot, since I have moved the focal plane of the camera a long way back, I scooted the mounting tray arm all the way forward in the slot. It seems to be OK this way.

Fully zoomed out to 200mm (300mm in 35mm equivalents) a setting of 4.6 degrees field of view seems to be the maximum. A setting of 4.3 degrees FOV gives you a good bit more overlap.

If you have any improvements or suggestions please email me at h.paulgarland@gmail.com.

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El Paso, Texas

I recently took a high resolution picture of downtown El Paso, Texas with Juarez, Mexico in the background.

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Most normal digital cameras in 2009 have a resolution of around 8 to 12 Megapixels. It is amazing the amount of detail that you can capture at a resolution of 90 Megapixels.

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Look at the internatinoal bridge at the bottom left, the poverty in Mexico in the background, or try to find the Cessna flying through the Pass Of The North at the top right of the picture.

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To see the 90 Megapixel copy of this panoramic photo go to the following URL:

http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?id=16744-

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John Sununu

I was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Hulu. He interviewed former senator John Sununu.
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What an arrogant, rude, big-mouth, jerk. I can sure see why he is an ex senator. It is dumb turds like him with their closed minds and complete lack of compassion for normal people who have destroyed the Republican political party in America.
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U.S. Presidents

The resolution and the technology of still photography has improved dramatically in the 150 years since the Abraham Lincoln inauguration on March 4, 1861.

A similar picture was taken digitally at the Obama inauguration in 2009 by David Bergman.

Using a GigaPan developed by Carnegie Melon University in partnership with the NASA robotics lab and Google, it has a resolution of 1,474 Megapixels. Think about that number for just a moment… Your little digital camera probably has a resolution of about 5 or 10 Megapixels.

To see this incredible photo by David Bergman in all of its glory go to this URL: http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?id=15374

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Rich Oyer

I got an email today from a friend of mine that one of our old colleagues has died of a heart attack at age 56.  What a terrible pity. Rich Oyer was one of the nicest men I have ever known. Kind, honest, and gentle. A true gentleman.

I had the pleasure of knowing Rich for many years. I hired him as the manager of our warehouse when I was living and working in The Netherlands. I got to know him well.

Sometimes you just cannot stop yourself from asking, why did the good lord take a nice man like Rich, when so many other really bad guys are still around?
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Violence In Juarez

There are now almost daily articles in the news media which are calling on America to get ready. Be prepared. They are preaching a contradictory message: (1) We must respect the territorial integrity of Mexico. (2) If the Mexican officials ask for our help, the United States Military needs to be ready. The request from the Mexican authorities may end up being similar to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, or the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so we need to be well informed and extremely cautious.

Jesus Christ. Another complicated social and political problem which certainly cannot in any way be solved militarily. And once again the dumb-asses from the right wing are calling for napalm and cluster bombs.

Pat O’Rourke’s son Beto really does have it right.

The key to getting the various mafias in Mexico under control involves two parts. First, the society and the government in Mexico need to stop tolerating any corruption or bribery in Mexico. Period. Zero tolerance for corruption. Including allowing rich people to get away with not paying their taxes.

Second, American society needs to deal with the demand for illegal drugs on our side of the international border. Beto was right in calling for an honest and open debate about the possibility of legalizing, regulating, and taxing all of the various recreational drugs. Just like American society did with the horribly damaging recreational drug which we refer to as alcohol.

If people want to waste their lives doing mind numbing substances, then let them. Stop wasting so much money policing an impossible cause. Tilting against windmills. In some cases we will just have to write people off. It is a shame that anyone drinks or uses tranquilizers. But they do. And many people even manage to function somewhat normally in society. The same applies to cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy.

I don’t drink or do any recreational drugs at all - but I enthusiastically abused them when I was younger. One would be surprised at just how many judges, lawyers, CEOs, and Olympic Athletes use/abuse these substances.

Let’s stop American Prohibition. This will do great damage to the mafias. They will then turn to other profitable evils such as kidnapping and human trafficking, but legalizing and regulating recreational drugs will greatly limit the mafia’s cash flow.
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Election in Israel

The people of Israel voted in an important election today. The New York Times said,
"JERUSALEM — The centrist Kadima Party led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the more conservative Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in a tight battle for leadership Tuesday, with exit polls by Israeli media suggesting Kadima might win the parliamentary elections by a slim margin."
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I guess it probably is not my place to express my opinion since I am not Jewish and I am not a citizen of Israel. But I have visited there.

I think Benjamin Netanyahu is just a big mouth wimp of a politician. He talks big but is a real wuss. Typical ingorant used car salesman politician.

But the Foreign Minister Ms. Tzipi Livni is tough as nails. She is the real thing, she doesn’t just talk big, she acts. I wouldn’t want to get that lady mad at me!


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/world/middleeast/11israel.html?em
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Maaasbree, The Netherlands

I have been corresponding recently with a friend who lives in Maasbree. This is a beautiful area which evokes a great many fond memories. In Google Earth you can fly to it at the Lat/Lon coordinates of 51.358605,6.047438

For lots of years it seemed like many of the places that my wife and I travelled to were in this part of Limburg, The Netherlands. Generally to one side or the other of highway N273, and fairly near to the Maas river. This road also has other names including Napoleonsweg. Either Napoleon constructed this road for his troops, or he took this road. I don’t remember.

We spent a lot of time up in this part of the world. There are several horse stables with indoor riding arenas near there, and many of the dressage competitions which my wife entered were nearby. It rains a lot in Limburg, so indoor riding arenas are important!

We owned two Dutch Warmblood dressage horses. One was a rough old bastard with a heart of gold appropriately named Dynamite. With the first owners he was trained as a champion jumper. For some reason Dynamite and I really bonded. I guess we were both grumpy old men who understood and trusted each other.

Our other horse was a sweet young female beauty queen named Oludine or “Lulu” after my father's mother. Oludine's father was owned by the Dutch Olympic gold medal dressage rider Anky van Grunsven, and for a while he had been the world’s champion dressage horse. For the most part Pamela rode the horses and my role was that of financier, stable boy, and chauffer. I enjoyed this era immensely.

My life has consisted of many discrete and different chapters. And most of them have been quite good. The fifteen years that I spent living in Limburg, The Netherlands was certainly among the finest. The countryside is beautiful, and for the most part the people are kind, generous, and honest.

Looking around at various nearby places in Google Earth I came across a small ferry which takes cars across the Mass River just to the East of there which I remember well. We were pulling the horse trailer with both horses inside. Of course the trailer had windows for the horses to see out of. They got very excited indeed when I drove up onto the boat. They could see that they were surrounded by water, and the trailer was rocking gently on the water. This first time floating across the river was just a little too far outside of their realm of prior experience. When we returned that afternoon the second trip back across the river already was not as big a deal. Lat/Lon: 51.333885,6.117318
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My friend who lives in Maasbree sent me a joke today. MBA stands for Minimized Brain Activity. That sure applies to Hank Paulson and the other dumb asses at the investment banks on Wall Street.

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Fast Nikon Lens

Yesterday Nikon announced a new fast lens for people with DX digital SLR cameras. It is a 35mm f/1.8 prime. When used on a DX camera this is close to the famous 50mm which was the optimal length of lens in a 35mm camera to simulate the view of the human eyeball.
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LINK: http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Camera-Lenses/2183/AF-S-DX-NIKKOR-35mm-f%252F1.8G.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10159281-1.html?tag=mncol;title
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Pink Panther

Since the new Steve Martin movie called Pink Panther II has just come out, I bought the DVD from his 2006 version of the Pink Panther.

I watched it last night, and it was excellent. I actually did laugh out loud long and hard on several different occasions. And since it was on DVD I could simply press pause when I needed to go to the bathroom.

Some of the critics have already begun saying bad things about Pink Panther II. But that is what they do, isn’t it? Negativity.

Whether it is your jerk of a boss, critics in politics, the economy, books, or movies it is just so much easier to criticize the work someone else is doing than it is to get in there and do the job yourself.

I give Steve Martin’s first Pink Panther movie a solid 9.7 rating.
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Because of all the inconsiderate bastards, the rudeness, cell phones ringing, coughing, and the constant talking by jerks in the audience I no longer go to movie theaters. And it is not just America either. Several of the last movies I watched in theaters were in London and Dublin. It is a worldwide problem of being totally self centered.

So I am looking forward to Pink Panther II coming out on DVD.
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GigaPan

GigaPan was developed by Carnegie Melon University in partnership with Google, and NASA Ames Intelligent Systems Division's Robotics Group. You put your digital camera on top of the unit and then mount it all on top of a sturdy tripod.

According to Wikipedia, GigaPan is a robotic platform that attaches to a digital camera, and also some computer software. The robotic platform allows a user to take a photograph, then it will re-aim the camera automatically (robotically) with great precision, then the GigaPan system will automatically press the shutter on the camera in order to take another photograph, and then re-aim and take another and another. After taking many photos, the software stitches all the pictures together into one seamless image with incredibly high resolution.

It allows you to take super high resolution pictures from 50 Megapixels up to several hundred or even a thousand megapixels. The only problem is that once you get above about 75 or 100 megapixels it takes your computer hours of processing to do one picture.  The largest picture I have done so far is slightly larger than 2.0 gigapixels.

My first successful composition is a picture of a painting by Hector Bernal. To see the 55 Megapixel version of this painting go to the following URL:
share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=16627
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I have modified my GigaPan EPIC to work with the Nikon D40 DSLR. You can see one of the first 50 Megapixel plus pictures at: http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=16873

Google Earth

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (click on the picture and it will enlarge)
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I updated my Google Earth software today to the latest version. Then I enabled Street View.

Of course one of the first things I did was to look at my own house. I saw my car sitting in the driveway, and I was trying to read my license plate number when I realized, “Hey!  I know that ass.  That is my big butt in the picture.”

I am the guy who has the storm door open, and I am either locking or unlocking the front door.

How very neat!
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Great Economic Advice

One of America's top economists has a very sensible analysis of the current situation. This article is well worth reading:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06krugman.html?_r=1&em
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Baghdad On The Border

In the Juarez, Mexico war zone as of yesterday 5 February 2009 at 5:00 p.m., 211 people have been murdered in Juarez this year.
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This includes the 5 people who were killed in one incident yesterday in the Valle de Juarez.
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The total number of people murdered in January 2009 (reported in Diario) was 153 and 58 people killed during the first 5 days of February, which makes the current murder rate about 10 people per day.
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And the reactionaries are trying to convince us that Mexico is not close to becoming a failed state? Get real.
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One part especially frightens me. The biggest reason the bad guys in Mexico can't be stopped is because of all the corruption in the Mexican government, the law enforcement authorities, and the courts.
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It just seems too much like the trends among the rich and the Republicans in America.
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Why Are The Republicans Being So Mean and Rude?

I know people who are beginning to ask themselves, “Why are the Republicans acting this way? Don’t they realize that times are changing?”

Have you being living in a cave somewhere? Are you really that naïve?

The Republican political party has evolved into mostly being supported by poorly educated red necks, southerners, and racists. If you hate Mexican immigrants, blacks, and most foreigners, then these Republicans are right for you.

In the not too distant past these were the people who were standing on top of the hill. Kings of the mountain. And they were enjoying the status and the power trips that came with being white and financially successful. Or at least white. It really didn’t matter very much if their wealth had come from exploiting extremely poor people with dark skin. In fact, that was sort of the norm.

These same types of people supported George Wallace. They liked him and what he stood for. Even today they would have a fit if they found out that their sweet little white daughter was having a sexual affair with a black man.

Not all that long ago these right wingers actually lynched people. They got off on the power trip of having people fear them.

You could get killed for being a “nigger lover” even if you were white. Especially if you had attended college, you were from up north somewhere, and you were Jewish.

If you think that racism and the civil war mentality has completely gone away in America you really are naïve. This is just the latest chapter in the battle for human dignity.
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Is Obama Too Moderate?

I recevied an email from a friend overnight which is pretty inflamatory and cutting. It talks about Obama's Betrayal. His email begins by saying the following:

"Just two weeks after his historic inauguration ceremony, Obama's presidency is lurching towards failure, and not because three of his administration picks have been found to be tax cheats (as are most of the very rich in the congress and senate), but because nearly all of his administration picks are corporate whores and shills.
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The problem with the new Obama administration is that it is turning out to be not about change at all, as he claimed during the campaign, but rather about more of the same—and these are not times that call for more of the same. Nor is more of the same the reason Obama won the election."

My friend really is not an evil person. He can be a bit arrogant at times, but basically he is a good man. He sends out a fair amount of “conspiracy theory” stuff, so my guess is that this is just more of that twilight zone, fringe type stuff.

The fact is that President Obama is striking genuine fear into the hearts of the greedy, abusive rich folks. That seems like a pretty good sign to me.

He actually did have the very best voting record of any United States Senator. A better voting record than Ted Kennedy and certainly a more positive track record than that old gal who is now Obama’s Secretary of State. The Republicans in congress are so frightened that they are voting in mass to oppose anything that President Obama’s administration supports. Unthinking, unquestioning. Just against any and all that Obama might be for.

What a way to rebuild the Republican political party. They are not saying, “We support this policy, and we are for that.” Rather the Republicans are dishonestly pretending to be thoughtful and open-minded while in actual fact they wring their hands and shake their fists while moaning about class warfare and that “darky” and his fellow traveler liberals who have taken over the White House.

President Obama is going to have a fight on this hands in congress. Any legislation which helps out the middle class instead of the super-wealthy is going to be fought tooth and nail by the Republicans.

Well, it goes with the territory. No one said this was going to be easy. The wealthy right wingers have gotten used to not having to obey laws or regulations. Taking advantage of the vast majority of citizens in America for their own narrow interests has been the norm for many years now. This change back in the direction of fairness is coming as a big shock to them.

Imposing salary limits of $500,000 per year and suggesting that maybe in a few cases these greedy criminals who defrauded the American people might be held accountable is striking genuine fear into the hearts of these right wingers. That seems quite appropriate to me.
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Foreign Oil Independence

I was filling the car up with gasoline this morning, and I noticed that this tank of gas I had gotten very good fuel economy.  So I took a quick picture of it with the little point and shoot camera that I keep in the car. 

On this tank of gasoline I travelled 459.3 miles, and I averaged 53.6 miles per gallon.  Not too shabby, huh? 

And this is with a totally stock two year old Toyota Corolla.  Like in many American cities, much of my city driving is in fact driven up on the freeway.  This was no exception.  It was all in town, but probably 75% of this was driven on the freeway.  And I still use the air conditioner a lot.  Here in the desert I even use it during the month of February.

What are my secrets to getting such phenomenal fuel economy?

I keep my tires well inflated.  I accelerate very slowly.  I use the cruise control a lot, and I try to never, ever drive faster than 50 miles per hour.  I look well ahead, so that I can bleed off the momentum gradually rather than applying my brakes.

It takes a little practice to teach yourself to drive this way, but it really is not too difficult.

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Newspaper Editorial by the President of the United States

Eight years of having a retardo as president, a guy who can barely speak a full sentence, much less write an editorial for the Washington Post, has badly damaged the country.  It is such a pleasure to have President Obama as our leader.

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Now we just need to get the Republican politicians to take their heads out of their asses.

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LINK:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020403174.html?wpisrc=newsletter

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Feelings vs. Technique

I got invited to join a Flickr group called “Feelings Not Technique.” No doubt I am over-analyzing this, but having the time to really think about things in depth and do things like that is one of the benefits of being one of the elders of society and retired from having to go do a job each day.

The real masters, whether the renaissance painters and sculptors, or the greatest photographers, have been good at BOTH parts. The creative-artistic part is certainly essential, but equally important is the technical aspect. If the painter gets his angles, depth perception, colors, and shadows wrong, his feelings are overlooked. The same goes with a photographer who does not master the technical concepts like focus, exposure, depth of field, lens distortion, color saturation, sharpness, etc.

I have always admired artists and their creativity, probably because this is not my strong area. My interests and abilities lie more in the technical part. The geek or nerd part. Discovering a really sharp new lens is downright exciting to me. And the details of CCD and CMOS light-to-electricity conversion chips is so neat that I sometimes dream about it. Computer software which helps my technician kind of person increase our creativity is also enjoyable.

It is wonderful when I manage to create something that is both artistic and beautiful, but also has very with deep vibrant colors and is sharply in focus. But much of the time the creative part of it is just luck with me. I seem to get this creativity and quality through quantity.

I consider the technical part to be nose-to-the-grindstone stuff. Read that technical manual one more time and maybe you will get it. Hard work, long hours, and dedication.

There is one other part that I hesitate to mention. Artistic people have a tendency towards lunacy and unhappiness. The Vincent Van Gogh phenomenon. And us not so creative (many would say not-so-bright) technical and nerdy types are far less afflicted with these terrors. But by forgoing the lows we also give up enjoying the extreme pleasures that beauty and creativity can give. It used to be called Manic/Depressive.  The most recent politically correct words to describe the phenomenom is bi-polar disorder.

Stephen Fry is afflicted with this phenomenon. When interviewed in depth he had to admit though that as bad as the depression can be, that to overcome the depression he would absolutely not be willing to give up the wonderful pleasurable aspects of the manic portion of the cycle.
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Oh Heavenly Avian Godess

Oh Heavenly Avian Godess
Originally uploaded by Paul Garland

In early February the weather is so nice in the Chihuahuan desert that many days one doesn't even need to wear a jacket.

$500,000 Cap on Executive Pay in Bailouts

The American president Obama's administration has propsed at $500,000 annual cap on executive compensation for people working at companies which are receiving government bailout money.
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It is clear that the people affected, the Republican political party, and much of the media will have a fit over this. I can hear it now, "How can these people be expected to pay their bills on only $500,000 per year?"
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And in the next sentence these right wing Republicans will almost violently oppose providing free health care to people making less than $10,000 per year.
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These sick bastards. They should lose the right to call themselves Americans.
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LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/business/04pay.html?_r=1&em
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ASARCO El Paso, Texas

After more than 40 years the people of El Paso, Texas got some good news yesterday. The massive ASARCO smelter in El Paso will not reopen.

In the late 1960’s I was attending the University of Texas at El Paso and for an engineering course I was taking on air pollution, I did a term paper on the immense air pollution from the ASARCO smelter in El Paso. As the years passed it became common knowledge that the lead air pollution had contaminated massive amounts of land. The people who lived near to the smelter (in Smelter Town) were moved away. Contaminated land was found as far away as in the old-money part of El Paso called Kern Place.

The elected government officials are claiming credit for winning this victory. They say that on appeal the U.S. Federal environmental protection agency rejected ASARCO’s government permit to pollute the air.

ASARCO has an entirely different story. They say that it was their own decision which was due to economics, primarily the fall in commodity prices and decreased demand due to the world recession.

I guess maybe both are true. Either way it clearly is a day for massive rejoicing in El Paso, Texas. For some of us this ends almost a lifetime of effort.
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It is still worthwhile to ask, "Where was the people's government when all of this pollution was taking place?"
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Rich People Don't Pay Their Taxes

President Obama is appointing far more ethical people than Bush did. But several of them apparently didn't pay their taxes. These are well educated, very successful people.
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This can't be just because they are all stupid. Apparently a great many rich and powerful people no longer feel that they are honor bound to properly pay their taxes.
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Free Trade

All well educated people know that free trade is good. In fact one time I met the head of the WTO and talked with him for about 20 minutes. Free Trade is why Americans are so prosperous. Just like up until recently we knew that deregulation was a good thing. It made sure that money trickled down to middle class people.
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At the height of deregulation fever we did not eliminate those regulations which assure that it is safe to ride an elevator. Nor did we deregulate those rules which ensure that our buildings don’t blow down every time that there is a large gust of wind; or that bridges don’t fall down very often. We kept those regulations which demand adequate brakes, safety glass, and seat belts in cars.

We did not intend to deregulate food safety in America or to allow children’s toys to be imported which contained high amounts of lead. And we didn’t mean to allow unsafe prescription drugs to be sold in America.

The same concepts apply to Free Trade.

In the 21st century America and Europe no longer allow free trade in black African slaves. Nor do we accept free trade when it comes to 15 year old white girls from Russia who are enslaved into being prostitutes. We don’t allow free trade of those things which can help make nuclear weapons, and we do not follow the ideas of free trade when it comes to importing crack cocaine, heroin, or crystal meth.

Great Britain fought a war with China over the concept of free trade. The insanely wealthy drug lords controlled the government in England, and they wanted to continue selling heroin to addict and enslave more of the Chinese people. The government of China tried to regulate this. The Chinese felt that free trade of opiates was unwise, so they passed a law prohibiting the British from exporting heroin into China. Since the British drug lords controlled the government in England, the English government fought a war with the Chinese government over the right of free trade. The British won the war, so they continued prospering through the enslavement of the addicted Chinese.

The words deregulation and free trade are not inherently positive concepts. In actual fact they are horribly negative in many (if not most) situations. The world liberal is not an inherently negative concept. But since the administration of the American Republican president Ronald Reagan, the rich and powerful have made it seem this way.

Totally free trade would be very negative for society and its people. Indeed free trade needs to be regulated more closely, just like the Wall Street traders have to be better regulated.

The importation of goods which were made with child labor should be prohibited outright. Period. Just like the importation of cars which don’t have safe tires and brakes, turn signals, seat belts, or catalytic converters is prohibited outright.

If an item is produced abroad in a factory which is causing terrible air or water pollution, then an import duty should be imposed upon it which would bring the price up to the same of an item produced in America where environmental laws are followed. The same concept would apply to the importation of goods where reasonable workplace safety or minimum wage regulations were not enforced.

These laws regulating free trade are no more unwise than the laws which currently regulate the free trade of slaves, illegal drugs, nuclear weapons, or food which is unsafe to eat.

So there is no reason to pass “Made in America” laws.

The news laws simply need to demand that the items were not made through child labor, or in factories which polluted the environment, or where workplace safety and minimum wage regulations were not enforced.
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Juarez, Mexico

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Please, take the time to listen to this. It is really important stuff. Click on this link, then the Blue right facing arrow.
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LINK: http://hearingvoices.com/news/2009/01/hv048-juarez-mexico/
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Four years of reports on life in the Mexican border-town of Ciudad Juarez, with poverty and corruption, with daily drug-cartel murders and military violence. Told by photographer/Juarez resident Julián Cardona, author Charles Bowden, and host Scott Carrier.
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Hearing Voices from NPR: Juarez, Mexico— City on the Edge
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Pretending You Are Still Young

In 21st century America there are a great many people who are pretending to be much younger than they are. The idolization of youth has caused a profound societal sickness. A great many people live their lives thinking that “image” can overcome “reality.” In politics some call this being a Spin Doctor. I call it dishonesty.

You see old geezers in their 40’s and 50’s who dye their hair, hoping that people will think they are younger. Women who are well into middle age are using Botox to camouflage their facial skin wrinkles by making the muscles in their faces appear to be dead. Botox is made from the Clostridium botulinum toxin. This is one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances known to man. It causes rapid death in food poisoning cases. It was studied by both the Russians and the Americans as a possible lethal nerve gas agent. Despite its toxicity it is still widely used by women who are hoping to appear younger than their true age.

You see mature women in their 30’s dressing like teenage sluts. Adults who are in their late 20’s still pretending to society (and more sadly also to themselves) that they are still young.

When typing an email or a text message many of these people think it implies that they are young if they do not use the Shift key, and thus do not capitalize any letters. I just call this ignorant.

Back in the 1960’s it was common knowledge that once you reach the age of 30 you are over-the-hill. Professional athletes still recognize this, but much of the rest of society seems to have forgotten it. Alexander the Great was one of the most accomplished and famous leaders in history, yet he died at age 32. The carpenter from Nazareth may even be more famous than Alexander, and he also died in his early 30’s.

Genetically and scientifically a woman’s body knows that the child bearing years should be finished before reaching age 30. The biological clock is ticking. Yes, one can sometimes fool nature, but the children many times suffer long term health consequences which are caused by their having had “older” biological parents.

The terms "youth", "adolescent", "teenager", and "young person" are largely synonymous. They all refer to someone who is less than 20 years old. There is a reason that in advanced societies full blown adulthood is defined as age 21. In some cases at age 18.

It is so incredibly sad and revolting to see someone in their late twenties or early 30’s still pretending that they are young. A serious denial of reality. Profoundly Delusional.
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