Friday, January 30, 2009

Obama Stocks White House With Lawyers


Well, I won't be the first, and likely not the last, to suggest that lawyers make poor government managers. However, many attorneys from both parties marvel at the sheer number of lawyers Obama has appointed or nominated so far, particularly at the White House counsel's office, which will have at least 22 attorneys working under counsel Greg Craig. That's more than twice as large as the office was under Bush, with three deputy counsels, the special ethics counsel and 18 associate and deputy associate counsels.
Of course, President Obama is a lawyer as are a great majority of Democrat Party VIPs. Also, almost all of the appointed lawyers are liberal minded.


Why is this a concern?

Lawyers are disciplined to address issues, problems and challenges in legal terms. Got a problem? Pass a law! Invoke the law! Change the law! Take it to a court of law for resolution!

How does a lawyer do that? He talks. He writes. He persuades with words. In essence, a lawyer will express the wishes of a client and addresses matters in terms of what he is willing to go to court about. These are legislative approaches, not executive actions.

As almost anyone who observes our judicial system can attest, any court make make a ruling...but that doesn't make it happen. As almost anyone who observes our legislative system, laws abound which cannot be enforced, are not enforced and often ignored by the judicial system.

Ask a company or corporate lawyer if it's okay to do something for which there is no legal precedent, and he will most likely say there is too great a risk...no!

Ask any member of congress if he is able to personally compile his own income tax return. Yet, congress passes every tax law and the morass of legal expressions therein are difficult even for experts. Worse, massive bureaucratic organizations exist to attempt to enforce and act upon these laws.

As most teenagers have heard, "saying it, doesn't make it so."

President Obama and a majority of lawyers in his employ, concern themselves with what is legal...not moral...not practical...not what is doable...not even what is economically sound! What's that you say? There ought to be a law?

Abraham Lincoln faced a similar dilemma...legally states had no right to withdraw from the union...it took the military of the North, Ulysses Grant and half the males on both sides to make it happen. Lincoln was a Republican lawyer.

My concern is that there are talkers and there are doers. I don't see enough doers to back up what the talkers are saying.


Mother said, "Actions speak louder than words!"

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

No iterative improvements - change

President Barack Obama and many lawmakers want to use infrastructure projects to create jobs. The House was expected to pass an $825 billion economic stimulus bill on Wednesday. Of that money, $150 billion would go to fixing infrastructure.

Our infrastructure requires more...much much more. At least $1 TRILLION to restore aviation, bridges, roads, waterways, drinking water, waste water, dams, hazardous waste, solid waste, schools, rail, energy, levee, inland waterways, transit and public park systems. That is according to estimates EPA, NEA, and engineers. A significant portion of that is a continuing annual maintenance increase and not just a one time fix.

These "fixes" are iterative measures to sustain the existing systems. This is not change but more costs for the same stuff.

Considering the shortfall, cost and efficiency...we need to step back and review our priorities and develop innovative, more efficient, practical, long term and perhaps revolutionary changes to arrive at sustainable infrastructure. Instead of increasing the size of the box, we need to think outside the box and what goes into the box.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

I recently read a comment by a reader regarding US automaker bailouts and "Buy American" :


you want us to "step up".......the gov't wants us to "step up".........the car makers certainly want us to "step up"...........try this one:

buy an American car....get a lifetime guarantee for the vehicle....yes, we've gotta maintain the vehicle, etc, etc......but, no tricky clauses, no "gotcha's".......plain language

You, the Buyer, get a lifetime warranty....PERIOD!

it's good for the car industry, it's good for the autoworkers, it's good for the tax revenue for the local and national economies.........and it's good for us , singularly and collectively



I'd like to piggy back on that idea:


The majority of Americans have a car payment in their budget...and there always seems to be one year after year. The budget also has a maintenance of car expense.
We as a nation are trying to become fuel efficient. We need to reverse the loss of industry technology and jobs in the US. The budget also requires an insurance expense. So how much is the cost of vehicle, maintenance, insurance, repair etc. over the complete lifecycle of transport means...for the average automobile owner today?

Suppose:

Suppose you could acquire a fuel efficient basic no luxury automobile...much like a lease except that full lifetime maintenance would be included. And suppose the car manufacturer determined the lifetime cycle of that car and replaced it when it became more practical than repairs it was doing. Suppose that the funding (for awhile) for the process was guaranteed by the government based upon the car manufacturer producing said automobile with specified and improving gas mileage or equivalent in alternate energy sources? And suppose the manufacturer was required to perform safety inspections on these cars as they cycled through their dealer's garages. Suppose they also covered repair/replacement from accident (mechanical coverage only). And since most manufacturers have an appendage corporation that makes loans, they would have to provide such loans based upon very prudent requirements.

Now say, you didn't have to take your car to the dealer to be serviced but could go wherever you wished...manufacturer support etc. is dropped...but it's your choice.

Now say you didn't have to get one of these low cost no frills cars with efficient gas mileage...no problem, buy what you like and care for it as you wish.

American citizens only! American made only. No contracting out to foreign companies for parts, labor, design etc.

Now there are various considerations that need to be built in to make this work, however this is only a concept paper.

What might the impact be regarding this (E)conomy-based (T)ransport - et-car:

For this et-car:
1. Two, four and six people versions...et2, et3, et4 cars...maybe
2. The two people version might be a three wheel very economical, minimal speed, vehicle with few amenities like one of the types currently coming into the market.
Gets you from point A to point B protected from weather with groceries at 45 MPG at max speed of 55mph. All might just be one color.
3. Economical life cycle considered. data, maintenance, et-car identity, insurance-repair-replacement-reuse-recycle


For the populace:
1. People regardless of income bracket could get suitable basic transportation... with no repair surprises, insured, safe, affordable, guaranteed transportation for a single monthly fee. Quality improvement.
2. More American made jobs
3. Potentially safer for all travelers
4. Government support for re-education for needed skills to produce everything in the US.


For the manufacturer/business:
1. Government financial support for re-design development
2. Guaranteed investment return for quality versus repair costs
3. Government support for start of businesses supporting the e-cars parts
4. More American made business
5. a standard sized et-car for more efficient parking facilities

For the nation:
1, Lowe unemployment
2, Bailout with targeted results
3. Return of technology and technicians
4. Effective use of job core type social programs in education and employment

Needed:
Departments Labor, transportation, treasury, HEW, etc. coordination - one heck of a lot of political power pressure with squabble suppression ability. Automaker acceptance or no bailout.

It has been said that Henry Ford had a vision of the common man being able to have automobile transportation within his means - and he created an industry to do that which enhanced the industrial might of the US AND provided a good job for employees.

It's time to do that again.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Bright spark of newly discovered freedom


Just when you think you've awakened into an alternate world where nothing makes sense, you find something which accurately expresses your view of that world with style and reason.
Yahoo! Maintains a question and answer forum...you ask a question...anyone can answer and the answers are listed for all to view (including you).

Quite often you can tell by the questions and answers, that a majority come from youths, although quite serious questions are sometimes asked to which participants provide very helpful answers.

This one is a beauty:





Does Anyone Know A Website for Cool Bebo Profile Names?
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters 97% 405 Votes
Let's get this straight, you're asking for a website from which you can pick and choose a "cool" profile name for your Bebo account. An account which is supposed to be a representative presentation of who you are and what you're about.

Are you beginning to see the direction my argument is going in? Of course you haven't. I'll continue.

Back in the old, dark days of the internet when men were men, women were men and children were FBI agents, no one cared what people thought of them. This was when the internet was still merely a bright spark of newly discovered freedom burning bright against the darkened backdrop of a world half enslaved by totalitarian freedom-hating governments, unscrupulous money grabbing corporations, backward millenia-old religions and millions upon millions of dead-eyed sheeple. The internet burned brightly as an escape, a way to show who you were to a wider audience, a way of discovering and sharing things you never knew existed, a way of forcing back the ever encroaching shadows of the real world to keep your internal flame burning just that little bit longer.

The internet burned brighter and stronger as the rush of people to it acted as fuel to the fire, and the rush of companies to it was the oxygen it needed to sustain itself, and to grow. The Napster and Kazaa era came and went as the dark lords of the world attempted to wrestle back their power from this bastard child of technology and freedom that we know as the web. People pushed each other by finding, creating and sharing things that would have people in the old world hung, drawn and quartered but in this new space, this virtual plane of existence it did not solicit the fiery condemnation of preachers and politicians alike. We laughed. We saw these examples of hate, of destruction and of evil and we laughed and encouraged them; for it was not the same evil as that which ravaged the lands of the physical world, but an evil unsullied by power, money, dogma or time. This was new evil, strong evil, and pure evil. It shaped a generation and a way of life was born. The internet was no longer an escape from life, it was a mirror of it; a dark and distorting mirror in which our reflections are not always what we wanted, hoped or indeed expected to see.

Bebo and such sites are like a swimming pool on an ocean liner, floating in the middle of the endless abyss of the internet. You get a taste of what it's like to be in the water, but you learn nothing of its depth, breadth or more unsavoury inhabitants. Whether we like it or not however, these fist-clenchingly corporately built sites are part and parcel of the modern internet. The reason for accepting them is that they are an easy way to share at least some tiny proportion of yourself with people. Show them what amuses you, what confuses you, what makes you you.

You come before us, the anonymous masses to ask us for a "cool Bebo profile name" which you can use to impress your real life friends with just how stylish and original you are. We say to you that your attempt to bastardise the concepts of these halls will not be answered.

Anyways, no I don't know any websites for cool bebo profile names. Good luck.



The only attribution I can provide is that the comment was made by RBX. Of all the questions which RBX answered, half the time his answer was selected as the best. That ratio is higher than the greatest majority of those who participate.


You have my salutation of appreciation, RBX, whoever or whatever you are!