U of W Medical doesn't learn from crime and penalty

The University of Washington Medical School harbored felons on their faculty for several years and paid for it. And there is more evidence this week that they learned little from the experience. Dean Paul Ramsey ignored two audits in 1996 and 97 (he was department head then) that indicated there was massive fraud in billing - in 13 departments under him. Two years later it was only reported because a whistleblower blew the whistle! Ramsey ignored the problems in his area of control:

In 1998, Ramsey received a letter from a UW doctor pointedly warning him that physicians were falsifying Medicare bills. Ramsey ordered an investigation that found no wrongdoing, although a written report wasn't produced until after the criminal investigation began in late 1999.

And Ramsey's coverup continues. Yesterday's Seattle Times story is based on reviewing the original audits. How is Ramsey now involved? Actually, I don't know if the current coverup is by him or higher up, but they are still working at it:

The audits, kept secret since 1997, were obtained by The Seattle Times last week under a public-disclosure request. The university initially denied the request, citing attorney-client privilege because a law firm was involved in arranging the audits.

Fortunately new UW President Mark Emmert reversed the decision. This story doesn't remind us of the fact that "... Dr. H. Richard Winn, a neurosurgeon, pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal investigation and resigned with a $3.7 million separation agreement." I wish reporter Sharon Plan Chan or her editor would link to her own previous stories. The UW paid the federal government a $35 million penalty last spring. June 20, 2004 Why is Dean Paul Ramsey still on the job? He oversaw the crimes; his investigation didn't find anything; he ignored warnings; he covered up; he gave the felon $3.7 million and caused a penalty of $35 million. Accountability isn't expected, we can plainly see. And the money? It doesn't seem to matter... After all, it's our money that's paid. Money is of small consequence to the UW Medical School dean. He goes to the Legislature and gets our tax dollars. Oh, is Ramsey affected by this? Private donations to the UW were down 35 per cent last year. Would you give the U of W Medical School your hard-earned money?

Blue City Conservatives

Seattle's liberals and "progressives" need to grow up. Seattle's conservatives need to speak up. So far, the latter looks more likely. And what follows could prove worrisome for local Democrats. Their grip on Seattle politics might loosen considerably over the next decade. Especially if a low-key GOP marketing campaign now under way in Seattle helps more Republicans and others who vote for them to brave the tangible social risks of "coming out."

My friend Matt Rosenberg has an article in this week's Seattle Weekly about the resurgence of Republicans in Seattle.

Moderate Republicans, of course, were once a strong presence in Seattle, through the 1960s and into the '70s. Their exemplar was Dan Evans, who rose from 43rd District state representative to governor, then U.S. senator. During those years, a host of other Seattle Republicans served in Olympia, on the City Council, and even in the mayor's office. But Republicans largely faded from relevance in Seattle....

Matt has profiles of several Seattle Republicans. Read it.

Nickels pushing Kyoto treaty?

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels this weekend is at U.S. Conference of Mayors, which represents 1,183 cities, trying to get the Kyoto Treaty passed. This is like looking for lost keys under the street light instead of where they were lost. The place for the Kyoto Treaty is in the US Senate. Get it passed there, then it will have effect on the US. What can he accomplish with the mayors? PR. Lots of talk and committees. Scanning the article looking for what it would mean for the city of Omak, Washington, to adopt Kyoto all I found was:

The hope, Mote said, is that Kyoto would lead to heightened awareness and more countries agreeing to cut more emissions.

So Omak, Washington, would cause more countries to cut emmisions. And people observe that Seattle is in an ideal situation to favor cutting burning coal to cut CO2 emmissions.

Critics say it doesn't take much courage for Nickels to take a pro-Kyoto stand. For starters, Seattle can increase its population and job base in a greener way than most cities because its electricity comes from a city-owned utility that draws most of its energy from clean water power. "The only reason they can do any of this is because we dammed the rivers for hydropower. Otherwise the city would be burning a lot more stuff for power," said Eugene Wasserman, president of the North Seattle Industrial Association. Wasserman sees Nickels' climate initiative as a political stunt.

And Al Gore shows evidence for the political stunt theory. Gore Urges Mayors to Fight Global Warming Seattle already passed Kyoto targets in 2001. A Seattle press release shows narrow progress

City government has already cut its corporate emissions more than 60 percent compared to 1990 levels, but Kyoto aims for a 5 percent reduction for the entire community.

But after four years Nickels is talking about action:

“By making smart choices like building sustainable buildings, replacing old vehicles with a ‘Clean and Green’ fleet, and setting strict ‘no-net-emissions’ goals for Seattle City Light, the City has shown we can take local action on global problems,” said Nickels. In order to ensure Seattle meets these goals, the Mayor also announced the creation of a Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection. .... Emissions are only one part of the mayor’s annual Environmental Action Agenda, which was also released today. ... Other items include: A call for other local governments and businesses to join Seattle ’s strong support for the legislature to pass the “Clean Car” standards this year. An Executive Order that directs City departments to reduce their use of paper by 30 percent by the end of 2006; The inclusion of global-warming pollution reduction as a factor in awarding Neighborhood Matching Grants; The creation of a community action guide on climate protection; Explore the increased use of climate-friendly construction materials in City projects

That sounds like it will keep the meeting rooms at city hall busy without doing much damage to Seattle's business climate.

Hybrid cars with $10 gas

I see that I have been visiting every topic but economic freedom and growth lately. Let's get back. There has been a lot of talk lately about saving the planet by buying a hybrid car. I am glad to see that people have started to buy them. For years no one would. And there is always the claim that you pay more for the car, but save enough in lower gas bills to pay off the addtional cost over the life of the car. But the claim is always assumed, never tested. Edmunds is a company that tracks the prices of cars, tests them, etc. USA Today reports that Edmunds did some cost analysis.

How many miles driving per year and at what gas price is the break-even point - the point where the savings in gas pays for the additional cost of buying the car. They do it for a 5-year ownership and consider taxes, financing, etc.

The reporter leads with a misleading comparison. He compares the light-weight, small Toyota Prius to the larger, more comfortable Toyota Camry. For 15,000 miles per year break-even comes with gas costing $2.14. Yes, the cost is equal, but the cars are definitely not comparable. Instead, the Toyota Corolla is closer to the size of the Prius. How do they compare? For driving 15,000 miles per year the cost of gas has to be $10.10 to reach the break-even point. Or, if you keep the price of gas at the current level, you have to drive 66,500 miles per year. (Will the car survive driving 332,500 miles in 5 years?) The closest comparison came with the Ford Escape smaller SUV and its new hybrid brother. So discount all those empty headlines based on no analysis at all. Don't buy a hybrid unless you expect gas to average over $10 per gallon for the first 5 years you own it.

"If people go in with the idea they are saving money, they are mistaken," says Jesse Toprak, pricing director for Edmunds.com, an auto research site.

Where Bill Is

Can Seattle's best-know resident be seen? Of course Bill Gates lives in Medina and works in Redmond - in the greater Seattle area, not the city. The only time I have seen him was at a national conference held in Seattle. But I was a guest of the sponsors - the math teachers - and I was waiting back stage for the event to start while the speaker, Bill Gates, was 30 feet away going over his presentation. I sat in the second row and got to speak to Bill in front of 1200 people; I asked him a question from the floor. Thursday's Seattle Times has a feature story on where Bill lives and hangs out. Your best bet is the BurgerMaster hamburger drive-in on the north side of highway 520 in Bellevue. Twenty years ago, before Redmond, Microsoft had their campus across the freeway plus the building next door. And Bill is well known for liking a good hamburger. Seattle Times

He who counts the votes makes the rules

In Washington, the state, the judge found that there were 1800 illegal votes cast and it's OK. Apparently for an illegal vote to be overturned the person who cast it has to swear an oath that he cast the vote and he was not entitled to. That's the only way. But what if the person who lied when he cast the vote also lied when asked about it? And there is no penalty for a politician to set up a county's election office to drop so many of the controls required by law that it can't get within 1,000 votes of the audit checks. Stefan Sharkansky at Sound Politics says it is the Josef Stalin rule:

He who counts the votes makes the rules

The gap in the race for governor was 139. It is exceed 13 times by the 1800 illegal votes. 13 times more illegals. But it's OK. The judge says so. He put the burden explicitly on the voters to hold elected officials and elections officials accountable for these problems. So his suggested relief for those who want honest votes: vote out the dishonest politicians who stole the election. Tell us, Judge Bridges, how do we vote them out when they count the votes? Do we pay him to deliver wisdom so deep? Stefan at SoundPolitics.com has done an outstanding job of rooting out the improprieties and spreading the word. Thank you, Stefan.

Amnesty International's Cheap Politics - Updated

From the Chicago Tribune:

By labeling the U.S. anti-terrorism prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the "gulag of our times," the people of Amnesty International must think we're stupid or ignorant. Stupid or ignorant enough to fall for the assertion that whatever is happening at Guantanamo is the legal and moral equivalent of what happened in the hundreds of slave labor and concentration camps scattered throughout the former communist Soviet Union. Equivalent to a system that brutalized tens of millions, of which untold millions died of starvation, exposure, exhaustion, torture, illness or execution.

Yes, comparing 525 well-fed prisoners to millions of dead and tens of millions of prisoners in brutal conditions in the Gulag of the Soviet Union. Some history:

Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum, in her Pulitzer-Prize winning book, "Gulag: A History," figures that from 1928 through 1953, about 24 million people passed through the various camps, many in brutal Siberia or other remote regions. That's more than twice Cuba's entire population. Among them were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of prisoners of World War II. She estimated that 600,000 were Japanese, who were kept in the slave camps for years after the end of the war. Few ever made it home.

But:

Either Amnesty International isn't aware of this history, or it knows of it but is lying for the sake of a good sound bite. In either case, the group has lost credibility to speak on behalf of the victims of human-rights violations. Moreover, Amnesty International has dishonored millions of gulag victims.

Read the whole thing

Update 6/5/05

Amnesty USA Executive Director William Schultz went on Fox News Sunday to deliver a non-defense. His responses were filled with "don't know for sure," "I have no idea," "I have absolutely no idea" and finally:

Asked about the comparison, Schulz said, "Clearly this is not an exact or a literal analogy."

But, of course he goes on to repeat the charge he can't back up. Reuters

The Dishonor and Damage of "Deep Throat"

Deep Throat was the alias of the man who leaked the inside information about the Watergate break in and President Nixon's coverup. Without the information he provided it would have been difficult to bring Nixon down, which was his intention. This week it was disclosed that Mark Felt was the famous leaker at the same time he was at the top of the power structure in the FBI. Felt was deeply dishonest and did a lot of damage. He might not have committed a crime, but he violated the high trust many people had in him. First, and most obvious, he interfered with a criminal investigation. Chuck Colson, Nixon's special counsel, today said "Mark Felt could have stopped Watergate. He was in the position of that kind of influence. Instead, he goes out and basically undermines the administration. I don't think that's honorable at all." Pat Buchanan, who also worked in the White House, agrees and provide's Felt's motive. "It is not honorable in the middle of an investigation to grab material that you’ve dredged up which is supposed to go to the prosecutors who decide who to indict and slip it over to the Washington Post to damage a president in the middle of a campaign. "His motive, as Bob Woodward indicated, was that Mark Felt was passed over when Hoover died and Nixon gave the eulogy and then put L. Patrick Gray, who was very close to the president and was assistant attorney general, in charge of the FBI."

Deep Throat and Genocide

But here is the treat. At The American Spectator Ben Stein lists - in his humorous style - all the positive accomplishments of Richard Nixon.

He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POW's, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Administration... That is his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, conniving, covering up peacemaker. He was not a lying, conniving drug addict like JFK, a lying, conniving war starter like LBJ, a lying, conniving seducer like Clinton -- a lying, conniving peacemaker. That is Nixon's kharma.

And the horrible results of ending Nixon's efforts:

1.) The defeat of the South Vietnamese government with decades of death and hardship for the people of Vietnam. 2.) The assumption of power in Cambodia by the bloodiest government of all time, the Khmer Rouge, who killed a third of their own people, often by making children beat their own parents to death. No one doubts RN would never have let this happen.

Yes, Nixon was hard to like and easy to dislike. But he set out to do accomplish improvements in foreign relations and was successful. So Stein calls him a peacemaker. I wouldn't choose that term, but it fits. The damage done by Felt was huge.

FEC Threatens Bloggers

This is real and the time is short. The Federal Election Commission is considering rules that would make it illegal for bloggers to do almost anything about an election. Donate an online ad to a political campaign. Sell an ad to a campaign. Lots more. Learn about it - at FEC.RedState.org Send a letter - to the FEC at internet@fec.gov . And the deadline is June 3. Be sure to include your snail mail address when you write.

Memorial Day

Today we remember with honor those men - mostly - and women who gave their lives to defend our freedom. Freedom of speech and the press are preserved by men in uniform, not by cynical journalists and civil libertarians. Frank Schaefer's book Faith of Our Sons: Voices from the American Homefront -- The Wartime Diary of a Marine's Father is very appropriate today. Schaefer raised his son in a comfortable Boston suburb where kids go to top colleges. Schaefer was stunned when his son decided to become a Marine. Available at Amazon From Publisher's Weekly:

In this follow-up to Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps (2002), which Schaeffer coauthored with his son, Corporal John Schaeffer, Frank and his wife confront the reality of their son's deployment to Iraq in February 2003. Although the third sentence of this "Diary of Deployment" is "I'm elated for my boy because he sounds happy," the fourth is "I'm elated in the same way one is 'elated' by looking over a cliff." Over the ensuing months, Frank and Genie work to calm their nerves, get and share information from and with other parents, and help parents whose children are killed in battle cope with their losses—some of whose letters are included here, as are letters from John, who returns to his U.S. base safely in December. Schaeffer is unflinching in recounting day-to-day dreams, fears and coping mechanisms, and in registering his own, and others', reactions to the politics of the war. Although most parents of soldiers don't write Op-Eds for the Washington Post or appear on Oprah, Schaeffer is careful to try to give voice to "ordinary" parents and soldiers from all branches of the service, and that care is what makes this volume a valuable resource for other parents of military personal. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Via Laura Ingraham

"Trail of Fears" battle in Lake Forest Park

There is a big battle over the popular Burke-Gilman Trail, which traverses Lake Forest Park near Lake Washington from NE 145 St. to Logboom Park at the north end of Lake Washington, less than 3 miles in length. This section is in bad shape and the LFP City Council has resisted the efforts of King County to repair and improve it. Even though LFP is an incorporated city the trail is a County park. I posted the full story at Sound Politics.com. Comments started arriving within 10 minutes.

China modernizes for 2008 in the Communist way

China is getting ready for the 2008 Olympics. I think they are doing the right thing by buying Boeing 787s to have in service for the Olympics - only 3 years, hurry, Boeing! China has encouraged business entrepreneurship and investment - part of capitalism. But they have remained resolutely Communist in their government and civil institutions. To properly host the Games they are building the infrastructure necessary - stadiums, pools, who knows what else? - team handball courts and cricket pitches. Highways to get people to the venues, etc. But they want more, much more. The Communists want Beijing to be an attractive, spacious city in 2008. Now word is getting out that they are improving their capital by the usual Communist methods. Evict people from their homes and businesses without providing any aid for resettlement. And if they give you trouble put them in jail, make them disappear so their family can't contact them. They know no other method. The Times of London Thousands of homes destroyed to make way for Olympic tourists

YE GUOZHU used to own two restaurants in Beijing. Both were razed in 2001, as was his home in the Yongdingmen district of the city two years later, to make way for parks to beautify the Chinese capital for the 2008 Olympics. Last year Mr Ye sought permission to protest against such forced evictions. He was arrested for "disturbing social order" and sentenced in December to four years in jail. His family have not seen him since and do not know where he is held.

I enjoy the Olympics. But it will make me sick to watch the Communist leaders of China bask in the world's acclaim in 2008 when they earned it in this fashion.

Squatters make parks unattractive to visitors - Hawaii

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin published a letter of mine on May 3. They didn't contact me to verify that I sent it, like the Seattle Times does. It was a quick write, less than the effort I would put in if I was aiming to be published. More like "they better get some letters on this..." Squatters make parks unattractive to visitors (scroll down)

If Hawaii repeals Act 50, the "squatter law," then you will allow people to live in parks and on beaches. Don't say it's because people have no place to live. If necessary they will provide for themselves. But you are going to provide the parks and beaches. I have been to Hawaii about 20 times, lived there two years, and been there five of the past seven years. So I have seen the problem. The beach I have walked a hundred times had people sleeping in cars when we were there in February. If you give the beaches over for people to live, where should tourists like me go? Ron Hebron Seattle, Wash.

The story I was referring to: Repeal of squatters law advances at Legislature As I said: the resort on Maui we have stayed at at least 15 times - lost count - is on a great beach - fine sand, 3 miles long. When we are there I take a one-hour walk starting before sunrise every day and most days do anther walk of at least 30 minutes. A highway runs parallel to the beach for about a mile. And people spend the night in their junker cars and trucks - I see them at sunrise! Now, I know that fishermen want to get an early start and some do it by sleeping in their cars; I would too. But most are not fishermen. I think Hawaii's squatter law applies to people who set up residence in parks and on beaches, not to people who drive up and spend the night. But, still, their presence and their way of living junks up the place. I hope I can walk "Sugar Beach" many times more. It is the beach all the way across Maalaea Bay - the bay on the south side of Maui that defines the island's shape. Google Satellite photo The image you see depends on the size of your monitor. On this map it runs from Maalaea to Kihei at the "A." MapQuest Maui

Legendary George Dantzig

George Dantzig is the number one hero in my field of operations research; he passed away two weeks ago at age 90. Photo Dantzig invented the key method of optimization, which is both still widely used and is the foundation for other optimization methods. Dantzig was a chief analyst in supply planning for the Army Air Forces during World War II. His interest in the huge problems they had, first, led him to formulate the planning as mathematical equations. Then he had to have a way to solve the equations. In about 6 months in 1947 he devised the most important mathematical algorithm of the past 50 years - the simplex algorithm. The textbook he wrote on it, Linear Programming and Extensions , published in 1963 is still in print 42 years later. He was professor at UC-Berkeley, then at Stanford University for the rest of his career. He proposed that Stanford begin a cross-discipline program in operations research. You have probably heard the mythical story of the student who, thinking it was a class assignment, solved a problem Einstein couldn't solve. Even Snopes, the debunker of urban legends, has it. The student was George Dantzig in 1939.

During his first year as a doctoral student at the University of California-Berkeley, Dantzig arrived late to the class of Jerzy Neyman, one of the great founders of modern statistics. On the blackboard were two problems that Dantzig assumed to be homework. "A few days later I apologized to Neyman for taking so long to do the homework—the problems seemed harder to do than usual," Dantzig once recalled. Six weeks later on a Sunday at 8 AM, Neyman excitedly awoke Dantzig and his wife to say he had written an introduction to Dantzig's paper. "What paper?" It turned out that Dantzig had found solutions to two famous, previously unsolved statistical problems.

Notice that Einstein is not mentioned in the version of the story from the original source. Thanks go to Rev. Robert Schuler of the Crystal Cathedral, who embellished the story considerably to encourage possibilityy thinking." Schuler both demoted the mythical student and elevated his accomplishment, neither of which was necessary. Dantzig's solution to those two problems comprised his PhD. dissertation! News release from INFORMS, my professional society. Obituary at Stanford University's website

Eagle by (near) Bill

Riding my bicycle to work I pass below the main Microsoft campus. It's up a 150-foot hill and not directly accessible. I passed, then I had gone about 3 blocks on West Lake Samamish Way, approaching Lake Samamish, when I heard the now familiar "Skree-ee." I looked up and at the very top of an 80-foot fir tree was a bald eagle! This is a nice suburban area and I was on a street that carries quite a bit of traffic during commute time. For two other suburban eagle sitings see www.ronhebron.com/index2.html. (For some reason Blogger wants to pollute my URL by appending the blog URL. So you might have to copy and paste the link. I will solve this later.)

Welfare State Stagnation - Sweden

Sweden is cited to show that you can have cradle-to-grave welfare for all and high taxes, but still have a dynamic economy. Not so, say JACOB ARFWEDSON and JOHNNY MUNKHAMMAR, researchers in Sweden. Sweden is a model for growth of government. The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) shows the true situation. Growth is 3.5%, respectable, but not a leader.

In fact, Swedish growth has been declining for 50 years. Currently, Swedish growth is well below that of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, but also lower than that of, for example, Britain, France, Spain and Denmark. In terms of per capita private consumption, Sweden is 19th among the 30 OECD countries.

And they claim employment is high.

The true picture is totally different, however. The largest trade union, LO, a strong supporter of the Social Democrats for more than 100 years, recently admitted that real Swedish unemployment is closer to 20%-25%. Of the Swedish population of working age (5.8 million), 2.2 million belong to the category "not at work," of which 1.4 million live off government handouts. In 2004, this amounted to 39% of the population of "working age" -- that is, almost four out of 10 people of working age don't go to work.

The conclusion of these Swedes:

The Swedish welfare state is a model for growth -- but only growth of government. With an annual growth of 3.5%, GDP doubles in 20 years; no amount of government redistribution can match this in terms of prosperity. We need market-based reform, drastic tax cuts and deregulation of state monopolies. And if the new EU Constitution offers a possibility of escaping the so-called European Social Model, Swedes and other EU citizens alike should make use of it.

New Leadership for King County - Irons

The Washington election mess that is in national news today is the result of the mismanagement of Ron Sims. Sims is the King County Executive - the elected executive of the 12th largest county in the US. Sims is pleasant in person. But he rules with an iron fist. He doesn't work things out. He dictates. But now we have a good challenger for the election in November. David Irons is a career businessman; an entrepreneur who has started three companies. Irons was on the Issaquah school board, then was elected to the King County Council 5 1/2 years ago. Irons is a proven administrator and leader with his business experience. And he works across the aisle with willing Democrate. He can end the eternal tent city of homeless; help them be no longer homeless. We have the chance to clean out the election mess from the top.

David Irons for King County Executive

Offline - Paparazzi

I was offline this weekend. At our beach cabin I use the neighbors' wifi internet access, with their permission. But it was offline this weekend. -- Note the scar at the left - a recent slide. It dropped many tons about 60 feet. Could have killed a bunch of unlucky people.

Paparazzi

Friday I was riding my bicycle to work and ran into a friend from my neighborhood and our former church who is a network admin at Microsoft. Riding with him and a coworker, as we approached Red Hook and St. Michelle winery, the coworker said "that's where the paparazzi wedding is going to be."The what!?" "Mary Key Letourneau" - shame - who spent 7 years in prison for raping her 6th grade student and getting pregnant. The coworker had gotten email from the UK saying the wedding would be at a winery in Woodinville. On my ride home I saw temporary tents set up. But the wedding was at 10 pm that night at the other winery nestled next to both St. Michelle and Red Hook brewery - Columbia Winery.

Mt. St. Helens 25 Years Later

Mt. St. Helens in southwest Washington blew up 25 years ago today. Now it is a National Monument and a world-class tourist destination. We visited three months later in Aug, 1980. Houses were destroyed; houses were filled with fine mud. The trees along the highway had light beige dry mud on them above your head! In 1987 we did the approach to Windy Ridge on the NE side of the mountain, going south from Randall, WA. Road construction closed the higher closer road and view points. So we did a hike along the new Spirit Lake. In 2002 we had the opportunity to Hike across the crater. A group arranged to split the party in half so we could hike one-way, then use the vehicles left by the other half of the party to return. It was at least 8 or 9 miles. Rough country - in the open devastation the entire route. Approaching from Interstate 5 to the west you drive up the valley of the Toutle River. There are signs of the devastation before you leave I-5. There was so much debris and mud in the river that they had to dredge it and piled up huge mounds where it crosses I-5. But I haven't been past there lately to verify that the mounds are still huge. And along most of the route the river is in a wide bed of mud or hardened mud. Google satellite photo of the Toutle River approach. Scroll right to see Mt. St. Helens. The crater with Windy Ridge and Spirit Lake to the Northeast. Continuing on the Toutle River there is a string of viewpoints and visitor centers. Here is a highway guide that also includes some tourist-service businesses. There are two private ones where you get a good view - Hoffstadt Bluffs and Wyerhaeuser. Of course the last ones are the closest. It's world-class. Go see it for yourself. The I-5 exit is less than 60 miles north of Portland, Oregon. From Seattle it is a very, very long day trip.

Nobel Economists Support Social Security Reform

Andrew Roth of Social Security Choice.com points out that Cato Institute published an ad with 450 economists calling for the nation's troubled Social Security system to be reformed by giving workers the option of shifting all or part of their payroll taxes into privately invested accounts. There are 5 Nobel prize winners:

• Edward C. Prescott, Arizona State University, 2004
• Vernon Smith, George Mason University, 2002
• Robert Mundell, Columbia, 1999
• Robert E. Lucas Jr., University of Chicago, 1995
• Milton Friedman, Hoover Institution, 1976

The economists argue that any solution "must uphold the time-honored principles of ownership, inheritability and choice." Roth says that the leading newspapers are unanimous in ignoring this important news. See the entire list for yourself.

Islamic Sensitivity and Newsweek

Newsweek got itself in a mess by publishing the half-checked story alleging that US guards at Guantanamo Base in Cuba flushed a Koran down a toilet. The story spread and Islamic leaders called for anti-US action which resulted in riots that have killed about 20 people. 20 deaths for printed pages being desecrated. The Muslims are so sensitive. Except when they are not. In April, 2002, Palestinians occupied the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Being so sensitive about religious symbols and artifacts how did they act?

On April 24, [2002] the Jerusalem Post reported on the damage that the PA forces were causing: Three Armenian monks, who had been held hostage by the Palestinian gunmen inside Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, managed to flee the church area via a side gate yesterday morning. They immediately thanked the soldiers for rescuing them. They told army officers the gunmen had stolen gold and other property, including crucifixes and prayer books, and had caused damage.... One of the monks, Narkiss Korasian, later told reporters: “They stole everything, they opened the doors one by one and stole everything....They stole our prayer books and four crosses...they didn’t leave anything. Thank you for your help, we will never forget it.” Israeli officials said the monks said the gunmen had also begun beating and attacking clergymen. 41 When the siege finally ended, the PA soldiers left the church in terrible condition: The Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity seized church stockpiles of food and “ate like greedy monsters” until the food ran out, while more than 150 civilians went hungry. They also guzzled beer, wine, and Johnnie Walker scotch that they found in priests’ quarters, undeterred by the Islamic ban on drinking alcohol. The indulgence lasted for about two weeks into the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according to an account by four Greek Orthodox priests who were trapped inside for the entire ordeal.... The Orthodox priests and a number of civilians have said the gunmen created a regime of fear. Even in the Roman Catholic areas of the complex there was evidence of disregard for religious norms. Catholic priests said that some Bibles were torn up for toilet paper, and many valuable sacramental objects were removed. “Palestinians took candelabra, icons and anything that looked like gold,” said a Franciscan, the Rev. Nicholas Marquez from Mexico.

Source: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs via LittleGreenFootballs.com Newsweek should recall its story, not just say they are sorry people took it wrong. Update.Newsweek did retract the story on Tuesday. But I don't blame the deaths on Newsweek. The response came from the leaders of Islam, so they are responsible. Update 5/17 The Strangest Take. The Los Angeles Times manages to put the blame on Bush.

Selective Outrage - According to chaos theory, the flapping of a single butterfly's wings can trigger a hurricane halfway across the globe, a phenomenon known as the "butterfly effect." Now the Bush administration thinks it has detected something that might be called the "Newsweek effect." It says the magazine's publication of an item in its May 9 issue, alleging that U.S. guards flushed the Koran down a toilet in order to humiliate prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, was a cause of riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan last week that left at least 14 people dead.

You saw it. The LAT can't imagine a connection between the Newsweek false report and the rioting. But Bush and his people say there is a connection. The rioters, when asked, said the Koran-flush story was their motive. So why is it another strike against Bush say the same? The LAT just sees the deaths as ammunition to use against our president.

Risky Investments and SS

In West Virginia the Democrats are ahead of President Bush. Don Surber of the Charleston, WV, Daily Mail reports:

With their $5.5 billion pension bond proposal, Democrats in West Virginia are promising voters that Wall Street will average better than 7.5 percent returns annually for the next 30 years. Most of that money will be used to shore up the teacher pension plan. If Wall Street is good enough for their teachers, then it should be good enough for my kids, who will face 30 percent cuts in their Social Security when they retire. President Bush ought to visit West Virginia and endorse this pension bond plan -- and double-dog-dare Sens. Bob Byrd and Rockefeller to denounce the $5.5 billion pension bond as a "risky scheme."

If retirement funds invested in stocks is good enough for the public employees of Virginia why can't my kids have option of doing the same? Plus personal accounts prevent the Ponzi politcians from spending the money this year on pork to get them reelected. Tip: James Taranto - Best of the Web Today

Bush pushes democracy in Georgia

Monday President Bush gave a great push for democracy in Eastern Europe and took on Russian President Putin directly. First in his joint meeting with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in Riga, Latvia, he accused FDR and Churchill of having agreed at the Crimean summit at Yalta in 1945 to abandon Eastern Europe to Soviet communism. Later the same day he gave support to the republic of Georgia, an ex-Soviet state. He implied to the Georgians that he would call Putin on their behalf regarding two renegade provinces that Russia has been helping. This is a complete turnaround from the policies of his father, the first Bush President. Bush I just wanted stability. Democracy was a luxury to Bush I. But George W. is saying that freedom and democracy are above all. And he is willing to take a risk by pushing them. I like that kind of leadership. AP at Yahoo

AARP Opposes Social Security

I keep seeing that AARP is opposing anything being done to save Social Security. AARP used to be the American association of retired people, but now it means nothing. Truly, I heard their spokesman say so in an interview. So I wrote this letter to the Washington branch: AARP, I have been seeing in various places that you are opposing fixing the problems of Social Security. The first problem: Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. What I have been paying for 44 years went to fund dead-end freeways named after Congressmen, and some for benefits. Second, Social Security does not grow the taxes we pay into it. So it will underperform. It cannot meet the benefits promised to people currently paying into it. Something has to be done. Our choices are to (1) increase taxes, (2) decrease future benefits, or (3) increase the growth. President Bush has proposed decreasing future benefits to the higher income people and allowing increased growth. Bush has taken a great political risk and proposed a solution. You oppose him, but you don't offer another solution. I read the article by Ed Singler, AARP Washington State President, on your web site. His facts are wrong. For example: "Social Security is the most successful domestic program in our nation's history." Social Security at present returns about 1% on what we pay in. That is not a successful program. Anyone can earn more over the long haul, despite ups and downs. He vigorously opposes allowing my son and daughters to have some of their SS tax money go into a personal account. When my daughters are able to have personal accounts they will grow a nest egg that they can use or give to their children. I paid for 44 years, but if I die today someone gets one small check and the black hole of the government gets my 41 years of sweat. [This is true if my lovely wife dies the same day.] [When I read this I start getting mad.] Question: Do you oppose the current practice of using today's payroll tax collections to pay for whatever politicians want to spend on? It's a Ponzi scheme. Anyone who says to do nothing appears to support this corrupt practice. Question: If accounts invested in stocks and bonds are fatally risky, why do you recommend your members do the same with their personal savings? ("AARP encourages Americans to plan, save and invest for their retirement years....") Ron Hebron Lake Forest Park, WA Update.Those who regard Prof. Paul Krugman a reliable authority on Social Security should read his correction department. Donald Luskin exposes the two inaccuracies that Krugman based Monday's column on. First, Krugman ignores the second part of the President' proposal, so he can say that benefits are not increased for low-income people. The change in indexing leaves the benefit unchanged. But guaranteeing that no one will receive less than the poverty level is an increase. Second, Krugman says that Bush is wrong to say the largest benefit reduction will be for the high income people. Krugman finds it to be at $60,000. But Krugman should redo his calculations and correct his error. Luskin cites 3 ways of calculating the change which all find the largest per centage reduction at 90,000. (The SSA's is reprinted here.) The New York Times, where Krugman is published, on May 1, prints charts that show the reduction. And it is largest for those now making $90,000. Will Krugman print a correction?

V-E Day - 60 Years

World War II was a terrible war and the victory was an incredible accomplishment. Evil was allowed to gain a foot hold. When France folded and Great Britain was humiliated and other countries fought, but were overrun, the United States harnessed great resources both at home and on the military fronts. The nations of Europe with the US regrouped and fought until they cornered and defeated Hitler. The USSR had huge losses. WBUR, Boston's public radio station has a radio program online - "On Point - 60th Anniversary of V-E Day." Very interesting coverage. WBUR.org Historian David Kennedy, Stanford University... "... there is still a seemingly unlimited amount of evil in the world!" They interviewed Walter Elers of California, Medal of Honor recipient... "I wanted to stay alive..." - "I was doing my job..." - "We were fighting to defeat the Nazis... for freedom. The US always fought for freedom..."

The Constitutional Option for Judges

When the Republicans in the US Senate vote to end all filibusters of president's appointment of judges they will be returning the process to the US Constitution. Before 2001 the was no filibuster to block the president's appointment of judges. The one exception proves the rule: Abe Fortas was appointed to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. They discovered a background flaw near the time for the vote. So the purpose of the filibuster was so additional investigation could be done. That's the purpose - to extend the time to debate. And it was bipartisan. It lasted less than 2 days. Fortas's situation was so bad that he removed himself from the nomination. There was not a second filibuster of a judicial nomination from 1878 to 2001. So what the Democrats are doing is without precedent. The Republicans are going to clarify the Senate rules to be what they have always been. No filibusters against Presidential appointments. Three reasons why this is the right thing to do: 1- The purpose of filibuster was to allow time for debate; it was never intended to completely block anything. The intent was to avoid the following: just as they are starting to discuss a bill someone says "I call for the vote", then the majority votes "Yes" and the bill passes without any discussion of its merit. That is the reason to extend debate. I have been in situations where this was done and it was very frusterating. 2- Filibustering presidential nominees to death violates the balance of powers of the 3 branches of our government - legislative, executive and judicial. A judicial nomination is not the Senate's business. It originates from the president in the executive branch. The nomination and approval is the team effort of two branches. So it is appropriate for the Senate to go through its committee process and vote. 3- This is majority rule. The Democrats lost and want minority rule. No. The majority rules. The majority runs the committee. If the majority of the committee opposes the nominee then she is out. But the minority can't rule the process. Poor Tom Daschle lost his prestigious Senate seat over this. And a side note: We could call what the Republicans are going to do "the Byrd option." Because when Robert Byrd was the majority whip (did you hear about his dog Billy?) a filibuster required 67 votes. Even with the majority he couldn't get enough votes to block something. So Byrd changed the rules - by a majority vote - to reduce the filibuster from 67 to 60 votes. The Republicans should bring up Janice Brown of California to the floor so everyone can see that President Bush nominated a black woman who has been elected in liberal California - by a comfortable margin. Then have the vote. Update. Senator Carl Levin was caught Sunday telling the truth - that the Democrats expect their minority to rule:

Levin declared that "we should not give up on the principle" of the right to filibuster judges, including Supreme Court nominees. He said that it was "important to have the power of minority rule." He quickly corrected, "Not minority rule." He added that "we should not throw out the rule book."

Red State.org - Scroll down to "CARL LEVIN AND CHUCK HAGEL ON TW." Some bloggers have the definitive news source for the status on the judicial battle: Confirm Them.com

No New Gas Tax.com

I posted a story about the swell of opposition to the 34% "emergency" increase of the Washington tax on gasoline at: Sound Politics

Iraq - this is the big one

Are we making progress in Iraq? Thomas Friedman of the New York Times is very knowledgeable about the Middle East. In his column today he addresses the scope of change that is now taking place. First:

In part the Arab-Muslim world is reaping something it sowed. Way too many Arab intellectuals and religious and political leaders were ready to extol suicide bombing when it was directed against Israelis. Now they are seeing how this weapon of nihilism - once sanctified and glorified - can be used against their own societies. It was wrong when it was used against Jews, and it is wrong when it is used against Muslims. You can't build a decent society on the graves of suicide bombers and their victims.

Second: This is the big one. The current struggle in Baghdad, Cairo and Riyadh is the modern incarnation of several deeply rooted and interlocking wars.

In the modern incarnation of each of these struggles, members of the Sunni-Traditionalist-jihadist minority are losing. And the more that becomes evident, the more violent they will become - because their whole vision is in danger of being repudiated by fellow Arabs and Muslims.

And since they see they are in present danger of losing, they are becoming unhinged.

Having lost the argument with their own community, and unable to offer any program, the Sunni-Traditionalist-jihadists seem to have become totally unhinged, with people becoming suicide bombers at the rate of three and four a day. The jihadists "know that if democracy comes to this part of the world, the Zarqawis and their ilk are done..."

Most people want nothing of this.

"Because the majority of people do not buy their methods or most of their message. They don't want to live like the Taliban. If democracy manages to spread in the Arab world, it will not necessarily be pro-American, but it will definitely be pro-living, not pro-suicide. It will not be a cult of death, but a culture of life." A recent cover of a popular Egyptian magazine, Rose el-Youssef, Mr. Stock noted, shows two well-known female Arab pop singers under the headline: "Stronger than Extremism." So yes, this is a big, deep struggle in Iraq. Yes, the forces of decency and pluralism are slowly winning. But it is not over - not by a long shot.

New York Times Free registration is required

Military Recruiters - Bogus Court Case

31 college law schools have gone to the Supreme Court to keep military recruiters off their campuses. The Solomon Amendment, passed in 1994, requires them to give the military full access. They say that the military is bigoted because it does not recruit open gays. And that they have free-speech rights to not allow anyone who holds such a position. Since the Solomon Amendment forces them to host the military, it violates this free-speech right, they claim. Wrong. The law schools' free speech is intact, because they don't have to host the military. They can tell the military to get lost. But to do so they have to give up their federal funding. And they depend on the taxes you pay, so they can't do that. They are addicted to your tax dollars. So it is not a free-speech case; they are just protecting their funding. Don't feel sorry for Yale, Vanderbilt and Southern Cal. They have to make their own decisions. Do they want the funds or to follow their conscience? President Bush is not interfering with their consciences. Particularly since the military does recruit gays, just not open ones. This case never should have gone to the Supremes. The circuit court should have said "get lost." Seattle Times

Update. Law Prof. Marci Hastings says the Supreme Court should and will overturn the 3d Circuit Court and uphold the Solomon Amendment. She thinks they accepted the case in order to overturn it. Find Law.com

Social Security Debate in Cartoons

These cartoons capture much of the debate. We have seen before that the Democrats would rather have a problem get worse than have George Bush get any credit for improving (solving) it. The next two are larger images, so I am linking to them. This sums it up very well. With personal accounts you will be able to save a nest egg that you can will to your children or someone. Chuck Asay Comparing retirement plans I have verified that in 1983 when the US Senators and Congressmen had to give up their own plan and go into Social Security with the rest of us that Congressman Harry Reid introduced a bill to stop it. He tried to stay out of Social Security. Now he says he thinks it's perfect. But this is the action he took then. BobLang - DingyHarry's buried trunk Thanks to Socialsecuritychoice.com for the links.

The United Nations is a Mess - Zimbabwe

The UN is a mess. It provides a place for dictators to strut and send their children so they can play in a world-class city while having diplomatic immunity. But it does not do what it is intended to do - to provide a place for countries to come together to solve problems that affect everyone. So should we send Barbara Boxer to New York City to be nice to everyone? Or should we send someone who will ask questions and push to clean it up? Like John Bolton. Look at what is happening right now -

• Zimbabwe was elected to the UN Human Rights Commission. Elected. This is happening now - April, 2005. More about Zimbabwe below.
• The UN supervised the Iraq Oil-for-Food program and turned it into a massive illegal kick-back scheme for Russia and France. And huge illegal kick backs to the UN's favored people - Kofi Annan's son. And, incredibly, the UN allowed Saddam Hussein to subvert the program and take food out of the mouths of his people and use the money for his 30 "palaces."
• UN peacekeepers instead of protecting the people they were sent to protect, are raping and killing them. In the Congo the Belgians have been caught doing terrible things. (I need to look up a source for this.)
• Even when the UN admits that its "peacekeepers" are harrassing, raping and killing people, it won't do anything. The people sitting in their palace in New York City sit and enjoy themselves, but do nothing. See "Henry Dowa in Kosovo" below.

Zimbabwe on the Human Rights Commission - Elected

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was dismayed:

"The Government of Zimbabwe has consistently disregarded the rights of its people, repressed political dissent and quashed any and all opposition. Far from earning a role as a protector of human rights, their membership renders the Commission illegitimate and irrelevant. A real and credible UN Human Rights Commission would be condemning the current regime and its activities. I deplore their selection as a Commission member, and hope that this outrageous appointment will help inspire UN members to enact extensive and meaningful reform of the Commission."

Roger Bates covers the story at Tech Central Station For the UN to have voted Zimbabwe onto the UN Commission for Human Rights it had to ignore the following:

 
• the 20,000 members of the opposition that Mugabe ordered killed in the 1980s
• the destruction of half of the economy in the past five years to maintain power; the regular physical abuse encountered by any opposition to his regime (and that includes just saying nasty things about the leader)
• • the lack of free media
• food allocation used as a political weapon
• helping wage a war in the Congo so that Mugabe and his cronies make millions from conflict diamonds
• the neglect of the entire health system so that life expectancy has dropped from 55 to 33 years in the past decade.

This shows how arrogant the collective UN is. That the countries vote to place another human right abuser to the Human Rights Commission. Other recent members - Libya and Sudan.

Henry Dowa in Kosovo

Even when the UN admits that its "peacekeepers" are harrassing, raping and killing people, it won't do anything. Roger Bate goes into one example:

In 2001 a Zimbabwean policeman with a reputation as a serial torturer was seconded to the UN police force in Kosovo. Not minding whose human rights he abused, Henry Dowa carried right on torturing and was eventually asked to leave in 2003. He is now back in Harare committing more offences against the powerless populace of Zimbabwe's capital. The human rights group, REDRESS, recently published a report on Dowa -- it makes grisly reading. According to the report, the UN acknowledged the gravity of the allegations made against Dowa. But here's the kicker: "However, after very careful consideration and in consultation with UN Headquarters, we have with regret concluded that UN…cannot pursue criminal prosecution of the officer in Kosovo…[as the UN] has a very limited number of international judges and prosecutors to whom the case would have to be referred."

The UN sent a known criminal to "protect the people of Kosovo." And now it won't prosecute Dowa for what he did while wearing a UN uniform. It's broken. Send John Bolton to so something.

Revising History - Operation Iraqi Freedom

The people who prefer peace with genocide over taking risks for freedom have told themselves their spin about President Bush's decision to free Iraq so many times that now they believe it. Preventing Saddam Hussein from using the weapons of mass destruction he had was one of the prime reasons for the war against Saddam. And it wasn't fiction; it was based on the intelligence available. And it wasn't the only reason. Hyperactive Glen Reynolds, the Instapundit, did a review on April 14 of the broader case for freeing Iraq. OK... it required an invasion to do it.

Must've missed the 2003 State of the Union address, where Bush said: Different threats require different strategies. In Iran we continue to see a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction and supports terror. And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country, your enemy is ruling your country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation. . . .

And

... these remarks by President Bush to the U.N. General Assembly from 2002: The United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people; they've suffered too long in silent captivity. Liberty for the Iraqi people is a great moral cause, and a great strategic goal. The people of Iraq deserve it; the security of all nations requires it. Free societies do not intimidate through cruelty and conquest, and open societies do not threaten the world with mass murder. The United States supports political and economic liberty in a unified Iraq.

And Bush titled it "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Remember? Reynolds has much more.

Nuclear Power is Green

With the cosmic concern over greenhouse gases and global warming people are starting to notice that there is an overlooked power source that produces no CO2 - nuclear power. The Independent of the UK shows that it would be much cheaper than renewable energy sources:

Building a new generation of nuclear power stations would be a much cheaper way of meeting the UK's ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions than persisting with an expansion of renewable energy, according to research published today. The analysis, by the economics consultancy Oxera, calculates that a new nuclear programme would cost the taxpayer just over £4bn whereas continuing to rely on green energy such as wind power would require £12bn of public support.

The UK has very challenging targets to meet.

The Government has set a target of reducing the UK's carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 and producing 20 per cent of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2020. However, Oxera calculates that by 2025, the UK will be running 40 to 60 per cent short of its carbon-reduction targets, based on past economic performance, unless there is a much bigger shift away from fossil fuel electricity generation than currently envisaged. Robin Smale, Oxera's managing consultant, said: "At the moment, the two options available are increasing the amount of nuclear-generated energy or increasing renewables at the taxpayer's expense - neither of which will be popular. From the point of view of the taxpayer, nuclear energy may be a strong contender given its costs relative to wind power."

And the government is preparing to take the nuclear route.

The research comes as Tony Blair prepares to seek backing for the construction of up to 10 nuclear power stations should he win the election next week. A consultation document setting out the case for a new nuclear programme is expected within weeks of a Labour victory.

There are more details in the story.

Washington Legislature - the Good, the Bad and the Worst

The Washington Legislature is expected to wrap up today, Sunday. Despite increased tax collections and good projections, the Democrats had made a lot of promises and needed much more. The final numbers are not yet in. But it is expected that spending will increase 12%. 12% is well above the increases in costs and population. The worst of all. The Legislature slapped the voters in the face twice on spending and taxes. In 1993 the voters approved Initiative 601. 601 limits state spending growth to the increase in inflation and population growth. And 601 also requires a 2/3 majority to increase taxes. The Legislature said "we know better than you" and overrode the 2/3 majority requirement by a simple majority vote. And we already saw that in increase in spending is huge. (I don't know what the 601 limit would be.) Jason Mercier of Evergreen Freedom Foundation observed them put the pieces in place in March. The good is mostly bills that didn't pass. The Democrats and Governor pro tem Gregoire pushed a big-government agenda. So the big fights were to stop nanny-state interference and the huge growth. Good bills that passed:

• Update: Not so sure about this. Voting - requiring identification to vote. Of course, like buying cigarettes or flying.
• "Empowering" the Secretary of State to purge voter rolls of felons and dead people. It's probably requiring it. But Sam Reed is the Times' favorite Republican and they didn't want to report that the Legislature is telling him to do his job. Oh, just kidding. But... could be!
• Update: Not so sure about this. Performance audits of all state agencies. Good! We have been fighting for this for years. But it saddles the state auditor with an oversight committee. That is an unnecessary requirement, because the auditor is elected state-wide and is personally responsible for the audits he conducts. The only reason for the oversight is to interfere with his audits.

Good that these did not pass:

• Paid family leave. An irresponsible proposal. It would pay you to take time off work to care for a family member. Paid by the state; supported by an income tax. The claim is that it wouldn't cost that much. But that is on the assumption that you and I won't accept time off supported by the taxpayers. I will, won't you? As soon as the program started it would be broke and require a tax increase. But the sponsors don't forsee what people will do. And they have good intentions.
• School levies to pass with a simple majority. I would support this if the school vote were at the November general election. But they will never agree to that; they have their own little election in February when the turnout is low.
• Ban on cellphone talking while driving. We already have that law - reckless driving is illegal.
• Seattle Sonics - tax support for the multi-millionaires. An absurd request for a huge facility with a large fan store. College admissions based on race. The voters made this illegal by voting for Initiative 200 a few years ago.
• Phony clone-ban bill. The bill purported to ban human cloning. But it had an imaginative definition that accomplished the opposite. It allowed cloning, but didn't allow full development. It required killing the fetus before birth, therefore the clone was not born.

Bad

• Encouraging voting by mail. Mail voting is the easy way to cast a ballot when you are not qualified or to vote 2 or 3 times. This is a step backward - sponsored by Sec. of Sate Sam Reed.
• Mental-health parity. Requiring equal coverage for mental illness. It is well established that every time the government places a restriction on medical insurance, the insurance gets more expensive and people lose their coverage.
• Prescription drugs from Canada. This is the way to reduce the research for new medications that provide relief never before available. Less research and fewer new medications, because it is in the US that most of the research takes places. Irresponsible.
• Apprenticeship required. 15% of all work on major public-works projects would be done by apprentices. Another plum for the labor unions. If this were a good idea they wouldn't have to force it by a law.
• Public records. Public agencies can now deny the public access to records by claiming "attorney-client" privilege." Oh? Who is the client? I thought you public servants worked for us. But now when the Attorney General advises you his person is "your" personal attorney. Smells bad.
• Life Sciences Discovery Fund. The pet project of now-Governor Gregoire. Remember the state's settlement with the tobacco companies. We needed big cash for medical expenses and education. The Legislature raided it 2 years ago and Gregoire did it again to support biotech research.

Worse:

• 9.5 cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax. This passed on Sunday, so I don't have full information yet.
• California emissions standards for new cars. This will cause an increase in prices and quite likely fewer choices. I will buy in Idaho.
• Unemployment insurance roll back. Two years ago Washington decided to get more competitive and get its unemployment insurance not so far above the national average. They rolled it back for seasonal workers in construction and farm work. Great deal - work half the year, then get your next-door neighbor to pay you.
• Tax increases. Everywhere for everything. But the one that hurts most is the Death Tax. Families have to sell the business they built in order to pay estate taxes. Local examples: a highly regarded company you might not have heard of: Frank Russell Co. is a 70-year old investment company overseeing $2.3 billion in Tacoma; the family had to sell it due to estate taxes. And Ben Bridge Jewelers, same story. The Supreme Court ruled against Washington's estate tax, so they did it again.

If things change tonight or they go into an extended session we will keep watching.

Binding Arbitration - a Surpise?

A feel-good idea that doesn't work. In Hawaii the state budget is being thrown far out of balance to the benefit of the state bureaucrats. The tool - binding arbitration as described in an editorial in the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Binding arbitration sounds like a good idea. If the negotiating parties can't reach agreement, then give it to an independent third party. And let the arbitrator make the final decision. But Hawaii's legislature foolishly gave up its responsibility to set state employee pay. They did this because the employee unions told - I mean asked - them to. The Republican Governor Linda Lingle vetoed it, but her veto was overridden. So in a time of tight budgets the white-collar employees are getting 5% increases - far above inflation. The employees union pulls the simplest trick on the arbitrator: they decide the raise they want, then double it. The arbitrator after much talking, research and anguish (OK, I'm projecting here) and a hand-wringing decision decides to cut the employee request in half. So they ask for a 10% increase - how do they do that with a straight face? And they get 5%. Politicians like to avoid taking heat. But they should get a double temperature for pushing off their responsibility. Oh, they are saying "It's out of our hands.... We didn't know this would happen." How do they say that with straight faces? A group of seventh graders could have figured that out. We call this a "perfectly predictable surprise." (I am trying to recall the source of this phrase.) I am watching this because Washington's recently enacted collective bargaining for state employees has some similar features. (BTW: the reason for tight budgets in Hawaii during this time of economic growth: Hawaii has the most bloated state government on a per capita basis. There is no second place.)

Social Security - one step forward

The public debate does not favor enacting President Bush's ownership reform of Social Security this year. But to make large changes requires the public debate and we are having it now. And I think we have made one step toward reform. It is becoming known and some who knew it all along are now admitting - that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. The money I have been putting in has not been saved. There is no trust fund. Some of it went to send the checks to current recipients including my in-laws, parents and step mother. But most of what I pay in - hundreds per month - goes to pay for a dead-end freeway in Pennsylvania named after the Congressman who won the arm wrestling match for the pork. What we pay is not saved for the future, but is spent this year for pork. This is a Ponzi scheme. See Wikipedia Where the salesman says that what he is investing your money is so profitable that he can promise a huge return. And to prove it he shows you happy customers who got the promised pay out. But all he does is take the next sucker's money to pay off the sucker before. And when he no longer succeeds in luring new suckers the money inflow stops and the whole thing collapses. "But Senator XYZ says there is a trust fund; that in Scranton, PA, there is a drawer with Treasury bills in it." That T-bill has no value of its own. It is only a promise that the US government will in the future pay. But how will it pay? Not from saved money. NO. The government will tax the future workers to pay off the T-bill. "Paul Krugman says that T-bills are the most trusted investment in the world" That is true as an investment. But there is a huge difference here. That is as an obligation to pay the person holding the bill. But this is an obligation to self. The government is not obligated to pay your Social Security benefit. Taxpayers have claimed ownership of what they paid to SS. But the Supreme Court said "No, you don't own anything. Just the government's promise." So that T-bill is not owned by you, but by the US Government. It is not an obligation to you. So we are back to the Ponzi scheme. What you pay SS today is spent. When you start receiving SS benefits the government will raise taxes on your kids. You have been sold a bill of goods. I think the lie of the Ponzi scheme is now in the open. That is progress. Tip: Megan McArdle aka Jane Galt has a good explanation. Social Security Choice is a group blog about options for reforming Social Security. It has some big guns including Herman Cain, past CEO of Godfather's Pizza (corrected), Stephen Moore of the Club for Growth, and Donald Luskin the very busy fact checker for Paul Krugman.

60 Years Ago - Nerd Nights in Boston

Yesterday 60 years ago. The US was stunned by the Pearl Harbor raid. Then Japan marched across the Pacific; US defeat in the Philippines resulted in the Bataan Death March. A creative US Navy officer, Captain Duncan, devised a plan to bomb Tokyo, the capital. The Japanese knew we had no aircraft that had the range to reach Tokyo, but he found a way. On April 18, 1942. Under the command of Jimmie Dolittle 16 Army Air Corps B-25 were loaded on the aircraft carrier Hornt. A History Site in NC

At some Boston nightspots, nerds rule

"It may be the jocks who have made headlines for Boston, with their World Series triumph and talk of a Super Bowl dynasty. But nerds are the real lifeblood of this city. ''There are so many nerds in Boston," said Chris Balakrishnan, a postdoctoral fellow in biology at Harvard University who organizes monthly Nerd Nite gatherings for like-minded, well, nerds. ''It's just remarkable." "Bar and restaurant owners are getting wise to nerd power and the fact that geeks pay. Across the city, venues have opened their doors for events such as Nerd Nite and reaped the financial benefits of a city population that, thanks to numerous universities, will never suffer a drought of studious overachievers. "The nerds have brought thousands of dollars on nights when business was generally slow. Nerd Nite, which initially was held on Wednesdays, became so popular during the last year that the owners of the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain agreed to let the nerds take over coveted Friday nights and fill the stage usually reserved for bands with their laptops and slideshow presentations." Restaurant review in the Boston Globe

Endangered Species - I don't recommend this solution

Solve this problem. At Bonneville Dam on the Columbia river 40 miles east of Portland the sea lions - Californian interlopers - have discovered that it is easy pickings at the fish ladder. To enter the fish ladder the reutrning salmon have to funnel to the entry. So have lunch is quick and easy. And a couple have even entered the fish ladder itself. Story: Snacking sea lions scarfing up sparse Columbia chinook run The salmon are an endangered run of chinook salmon. The sea lions are not endangered, but they are protected by the US government. Why are they protected? I have never heard a reason, but they are cute! A problem for the class: An endangered species is..... correction.... Not an endangered species.... An endangered population is being exterminated by a nonendangered species/poplulation. What do you do? Answer: You wring your hands and watch until all the salmon are gone. Why don't the well-paid authorities do something? Because it would look bad on TV to shoot the guilty. And besides they are just animals. And so the large, well-paid staff sets off fireworks and maybe sonar - but that might cause damage like those dolphins that ran agroud somewhere. And they plan on building gates. Why didn't you design and build them last year?

Failure in Seattle

In the early 1990s we had the same problem at the Government Locks fish ladder in Seattle. But we don't have the problem anymore. The expert explains their success: "The run we were trying to protect essentially doesn't exist anymore," said Steve Jeffries, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist who worked with sea lions at the Ballard Locks and has consulted on the Bonneville situation." (See "Failure at Ballard Locks in the same Sea Times story.) So there you have your solution: Allow the nonendangered California sea lions to eat the Columbia River Chinook population until there are no more left. Then they won't do it anymore. Another lesson from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Cross posted at Sound Politics.

No Patent for PBJ

Now try to keep a straight face. Smuckers lost a big one. They can't get patent protection for their "exclusive" crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

A federal appeals court rejected J.M. Smucker's effort to patent its crustless version of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Smucker's bought the idea for the "Uncrustable" sandwich, which it sells frozen and in roughly the shape and size of a pierogi, from its North Dakota inventors in 1995. Smucker's won patent protection for the treat in 1999. Before long, though, smaller operators were trying to nibble at its share of the crustless PBJ market, which generated an estimated $27.5 million for Smucker's last year. When the company tried to expand its patent, the U.S. Patent Office turned it down, saying the process of making Uncrustables wasn't unique, pointing to evidence in a cookbook and a recipe printed in a newspaper. Smucker's countered by noting that it sealed its PBJs with a special process, rather than by "commingling the two bread slices into an amorphous homogenous mass" as other cooks might do. A federal appeals court was not impressed. "It is a patent that never should have been issued," Adam Jaffe, economics professor at Brandeis University, told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week. "This is a technology -- if you can call it that -- that has been around in many forms for many years."

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Election Townhall in Shoreline

The townhall meeting was sponsored by King County Council rep Carolyn Edmonds and the League of Women Voters. Council rep Bob Ferguson was in the audience. Attendance was at least 200. It was tightly structured to the chagrin of many. There was a 1-minute limit on the public comments/questions period and most people were cut off. I was surprised that the host Carolyn Edmonds was not involved in the give and take. She did the welcome and such - before I arrived. But I thought as an elected official she would be involved in addressing the problems. It was her chance to show she was part of the solution. I guess she didn't want to appear to be part of the problem! Logan had 30 minutes to show every fact that made him look good and skip those that didn't. He couldn't leave out the fact that there are still 1800 more ballots than voters. But in several other areas he made mention of the problem and "don't worry I am taking care of it But he kept forgetting to tell how bad the problems were: How many ballots were enhanced improperly obscuring the voter's original markings? How many provisional ballots were counted before being validated? He just forgot to say. When Dean Logan made his bold declaration that the counting was as good as it can be the guy seated next to me cupped his hands and shouted "Bull bleep." He was just sitting next to me; I don't know him. Well, actually I do; but he's usually kind of quiet so I was as surpised an anyone. And a lot people agreed with him and were upset. A representative of Ron Sims (out sick with the flu) quickly covered Ron Sims' "independent review panel." That got a very big laugh and several pointed comments during the comment time. How can a panel appointed by Sims be independent? It can't. I don't take detailed notes. But some of the items that really stuck out - - 1800 more ballots than voters. Who cast them? That is a big problem five months after the election. - King County does not verify citizenship during registration. If you sign the registration form then he assumes you are a citizen. He says that federal and state law preclude him. It's broken. - A mathematician said the expert statisticians tell him that an election is just a sampling of the population. So you use sampling techniques and don't expect an exact result. I disagree: an election is the complete enumeration of those people who participate; so the expected result is exact tabulation of the count. - The rush to certify the election, even when the controls don't match. Logan said he had to certify the election in 15 days, so he did, despite knowing there were problems. There was push-back from the audience. During the comment time Stefan Sharkansky said that Logan was wrong: the law says you only certify if the counts match up. - A woman who was an observer of the recount said that there were tables that no one could get within 20 to 30 feet of. So it was not possible to verify that the ballots were correctly tabulated. - Stefan held up the mail vote report done by Logan. An employee said that information in it was false. When will it be corrected? Logan mumbled an acknowledgment that there was a problem. Well, his words weren't mumbled, but the meaning was. Stefan: when will this report be corrected? No promise. - How many absentee ballots were returned in the mail? Logan doesn't know. The evening ended on a comical note. A man asked about homeless people who give the King county administration building for their address. When anyone registers the elections department mails a confirmation. If the confirmation is returned then the person is taken off the voter role. But if a homeless person gives 500 5th Avenue what do you do with the mail for him/her. Logan's answer: "Oh, yes, the political flyers start arriving and we shred them." Question: But how about their confirmation? Logan: "Oh, that's different." With the one-minute limit it took the guy 3 turns through the line - short by this time - to finish exploring this question and it sure made Logan's process appear to be ad hoc. It was both funny and sorry.

Confirm John Bolton as Ambassador to the UN

Update I sent a different letter to Senator Patty. I included fewer facts and more politics. I reminded her that the Democrats lost the Senate in 2002 because they obstructed the President. She should remember that - she was the senator in charge of their reelection effort as head of the DSCC. And in 2004 Tom Daschle got sent back to his Georgetown mansion because he did nothing but obstruct. I'm not quoting the text, because it's on my other Mac which is not real reliable right now. But I just wanted to give Patty the thought that maybe passing the judge nominees to the floor would be good for both Democrats and Republicans. * I just learned one of Tommy Daschle's dirty tricks today. He dismissed the Senate for something over 30 days because when there is an interruption of 30 days or more all judicial nominations are killed and have to start over. There was no reason to dismiss the Senate. He did it just to stop judges who would be confirmed if voted on. He got his reward. Source: Daily Thoughts Original post: I sent the following letter to my US Senator Maria Cantwell: The United Nations is a mess. The Iraq Oil-for-food program was so incompetently run that Saddam Hussein was able to subvert it and get $ billions for arms and his palaces. What body administered it? The UN. The official next in rank to Kofi Annan himself was implicated and, by coincidence, it was immediately after he had quit his office. The staff is known to be losing patience with Kofi Annan, since he got himself entangled in the "oil for food" scandal. More: Countries ruled by dictators outnumber those with representative governments and have a lot of say in setting the agends. - The worst abusers of human rights were elected - elected - to the Human Rights Commission - Libya, Sudan. - Kofi Annan did nothing to stop the massive massacre in Rwanda. If we send a rah-rah person, then nothing will happen, which means the UN will sink deeper and deeper in ineffectiveness and corruption. We need to send someone who can look at the UN with a critical eye and say "What is the purpose? How can the UN be changed to attain that?" John Bolton has the reputation of being skeptical and asking hard questions. He has been confirmed by the Senate for high offices 4 times. He has served under 3 presidents. And there has been no hint of scandal in his work or life. Please lead the move to confirm Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations. Truly, Ron Hebron

Meet Dean Logan in Shoreline Tuesday

My King County person has been very quiet during the election kerfuffle; I mean silent. Now Carolyn Edmonds states that she is "committed to ensuring a secure, trusted, accountable elections system" and has invited Dean Logan and the League of Women Voters for a town hall meeting. Elections Town Hall Meeting Tuesday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m. Shoreline Center, Mt. Rainier Room, 18560 1st Ave. NE in Shoreline. Take I-5 to the N 175th St. exit. (Exit #176.) Go west. Turn right on Meridian. Turn right on NE 185 St. The meeting rooms are along the 1st Avenue side of the complex. Come to seek the connection between her goal and her guest. Have your questions ready. Update: Dean Logan has attained household name recognition as King County Director of Elections. He proudly oversaw the massive bungling that still has 900 more ballots cast than voters. A far larger number than the victory margin for temporary governor Gregoire.

Google Satellite Photos

Warning. This is addictive!

Hot new feature. Mapquest had satellite photos for a while, but they are long gone. But Google bought Digital Globe and now is making their photos available. Google Maps Navigate on the map to your area of interest, then click "Satellite" in the upper right. It's easier to navigate on the map, except for rivers, which only show if they are very wide. A few of my favorite spots. To get a better perspective when viewing the satellite photo push the slider down to zoom out, then click on "Map" in the upper right. The drive north from Vancouver, BC to Squamish along Howe Sound on the way to Whistler in Canada is spectacular. Satellite - St. Mary on the east edge of Glacier National Park, Montana. The approach on the west side is more heavily traveled, but foothills block the view. On this east approach you get the expansive view of the Rockie Mountains both from the town of St. Mary and from the prairies to the east. Satellite - Dry Falls in eastern Washington, just south of US Highway 2. The site of a cosmic flood at the end of the last ice age. A waterfall 350 feet high and 4 miles across - but for only a day or two. The dark serpentines at the center are the shadows of the high cliffs. Satellite

Priorities at the Legislature

I-601 limit on spending.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation discovered - discovered that the Democrats have disclosed that they intend to violate the voters' wishes in two ways. I-601 is an initiative that limits state spending. It was passed immediately the last time the Democrats ran everything. In 1993 Gary Locke helped then-Gov. Mike Lowrey to fund every program anyone came up with. Of course that required huge tax increases. It was thrown back in their faces; I-601 signatures were gathered within months. Then in November of the same year the voters passed I-601 to limit spending. I-601 limits state spending to the growth in population and inflation. It can only be exceeded by a 2/3 vote of the Legislature. And tax increases require a vote by the public. The Democrats intend, first, to push money around to raise the limit. Then they intend to get rid of it anyway. Instead of passing a bill that kills the spending limit, they intend to explicitly set it aside for two years. And they will do it with a majority vote, not the 2/3 required. Can they do it? They did it in 2003.

No phony ban of human cloning

Senate Bill 5594. Other people have covered this thoroughly. Robert the Mulatto Advocate got there first. Wesley J. Smith of Discovery Institute is the expert who knows it inside out. His article. It not only does not do what it purports to do - ban human cloning. But It allows cloning in which the human fetus MUST be killed. It hangs this on a false distinction about the purpose of the cloning being for therapeutic use. When what is important is what is done - the cloning.

Election reform

This unbelievable. We elected and reelected Sam Reed, a Republican, to oversee elections. He gets much blame for the mess in King County and the State for the November, 2004 election. He literally did not do his job. This has been well documented at SoundPolitics.com. So does he propose requiring showing photo identification to vote? No. He proposes making things worse, instead of better. HB 1754/SB 5744. He proposes going 100% mail voting. It is much easier to vote illegally with mail voting. Indeed, with mail voter registration a person can establish a false ID, then get a mail ballot and vote in every election. At each election the poll workers will do only one check - to compare his signature to the one on file, which will of course match. So anyone will be able vote - noncitizens, felons, everyone. And anyone will be able to vote 2 or 3 times. Sam Reed.... there is only one term for a person who does the opposite of what is required when he swore the oath of office - he is a fool. And the news is even worse. HB1754/SB 5722 have both passed! Both the Senate and the House have already passed the bills to allow all voting entirely by mail. One of them has to vote to accept the other's bill - routine. I am sure they will say that this does not require all-mail voting, just allows it. There is much more going on. These are just 3 low spots.

Headline: The New Republic defends Bush

"If George W. Bush were to discover a cure for cancer, his critics would denounce him for having done it unilaterally, without adequate consultation, with a crude disregard for the sensibilities of others. He pursued his goal obstinately, they would say, without filtering his thoughts through the medical research establishment. And he didn't share his research with competing labs and thus caused resentment among other scientists who didn't have the resources or the bold--perhaps even somewhat reckless--instincts to pursue the task as he did. "And he completely ignored the World Health Organization, showing his contempt for international institutions. Anyway, a cure for cancer is all fine and nice, but what about aids? "No, the president has not discovered a cure for cancer. But there is a pathology, a historical pathology, that he has attacked with unprecedented vigor and with unprecedented success. I refer, of course, to the political culture of the Middle East, which the president may actually have changed. And he has accomplished this genuinely momentous transformation in ways that virtually the entire foreign affairs clerisy--the cold-blooded Brent Scowcroft realist Republicans and almost all the Democrats--never thought possible...." Those are not the words of Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh or any big Bush supporter. It was written by Martin Peretz the editor of The New Republic. Pretty good! A liberal giving President Bush credit! (Not as choice as if it were The Nation, as I was thinking.) (I had to register to read this story. Free.) Thanks to Ron of Horologium for the correction. Giving George W. Bush His Due on Democracy - the Politics of Churlishness

Pulitzer No Prize

I don't know how the winners of Pulitzer Prizes are decided. But the committee had a huge blind spot this year. Claudia Rossett of the Wall Street Journal doggedly followed every lead on the Iraq Oil for Food program run by the United Nations. She was the first to put in print the clues that something was wrong. (As far as I know.) And something huge was wrong. Billions were misused. The intention was that Iraq would be allowed to sell oil, but only to feed its people. Not for weapons, not for Saddam's limosines and palaces. A special management and auditing program was set up to make sure the money was used correctly; using contracting companies and run by the UN. But the UN bureaucrats allowed Saddam Hussein to divert billions away from food to serve all his power needs - favors for the people who ran Iraq into the ground for him; was it 30 palaces? And some of those "palaces" were compounds of hundreds of acres with a dozen or more buildings. And, yes, weapons from Russia and Germany. (France, too?) The UN is shaken to the foundation. The UN staff - a large portion - have lost their respect for Kofi Annan. The Volcker report says Annan was remiss - at least by not recognizing the conflict of interest of his son being hired and paid by one of the mangement companies. Kofi says the report exonerated him, but he knows it didn't.This is the biggest thing to shake the UN in years. So Claudia Rossett definitely deserved the Pulitzer for International Reporting. I am sure the winners did good work. But her work was more important and she did a first-class job on it. Her latest article is a good example of her work. She reports that Kofi Annan has proudly announced a "reform" proposal for the UN that uses lofty prose to say: "rearrange the chairs and spend lots more money." (This link is to her latest article, so it is subject to change.) In Deep Trouble -Kofi Annan's idea of "reform" is more of the same--and lots more money. Update - Jim Miller of Sound Politics on his own blog calls them the "Pulitzer Reprimands," because the only way to get one is to be anti-American. Jim Miller Michelle Malkin has more. And John Hindraker of Powerline Blog shows how horrible the winning cartoons were.

Living Life movie premiere April 8

Living Life is the debut movie by 19-year-old Jesse Harris, a graduate of Seattle's Ballard High School. He wrote, produced and directed it.

He has a beautiful girlfriend, great friends and his whole life in front of him. At least...he thought so! After weeks of experiencing stomach pain he develops serious symptoms and is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. With the power of magic, love and family, one boy's struggle defines a generation.

Living Life opens at the Landmark Metro theaters in Seattle's University District on Friday, April 8. If it is successful in attacting an audience it will go into national distribution. Tip: Scott Cummins. Living Life

Pope John Paul II

John Paul II was one of the great world leaders of the 20th/21st Century. His daring support for the church in Poland weakened the hold of godless Communism. He reached out around the world. He even got Fidel Castro to invite him to Communist Cuba. He astounded the world by the attraction of young people to him. The Pope a star? For teenagers? And he held the line on the established Catholic values, despite the insistence of American and European leaders that the faith be updated, that is, watered down.

Discovery Institute and Intelligent Design

The Seattle Times's Linda Shaw had a front-page story about Stephen Meyers of Discovery Institute and their work in intelligent design. Does Seattle group "teach controversy" or contribute to it?. 4/3 - I like Discovery's approach. They are saying there are questions about Darwinism. More on the questions in a bit. Since there are questions students should be told - first tell the teachers. So don't present Darwinism as a closed book, but look at the current situation - "the controversy" says Discovery. Questions: First the origin of the earth and life on it is history, not science. Science involves making a hypothesis, then setting up experiments to test it. It's water under the bridge. There is no way to do experiments on the atmospheric conditions at the time life first appeared. And the famous Miller-Urey experiment in the1950s that generated some amino acids came no where near to creating the necessary ingredients for life. The proteins have to be either left- or right-handed, not both. But the experiment produced a random mix. Second, much of what we learned about evolution is not true. The famous example of the moths in England evolving to be darker in color when coal pollution darkened the vegetation was fraud. The perpetrator glued the moths to the trees to produce the evidence. See the book Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth by Judith Hooper. There are more examples of things we learned that are not true - the development of the human embryo going through evolution; Darwin's finches - in Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong by Jonathan Wells. Link So it makes sense to teach students about evolution, and that the book is not closed; there are questions. Teach the students to look at the controversy for themselves.