Resolved

Well Terri Schiavo died. I don’t know if I feel sad, relieved, or numb. I really don’t know why this has caught the imagination of the country so. After all thousands of people died in the two weeks we watched her die. I heard somewhere that the reason she was so special is that while thousands of other people died she was the only one who starved to death with a 63% approval rating. This brings the whole “culture of death” thing to a head. More thoughts on that later. I just have to sort this thing out in my own head.

Quote for Today

"[T]he opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what are not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch." – Thomas Jefferson

P.O.D.

I have not been posting on the Terri Schiavo story because with all that was going on back and forth there did not seem to be much that I could add. Also, like many I was torn between my great love of the concept of federalism and states rights and my belief in the sanctity of innocent human life. Also it is difficult to try and separate the personalities involved from the historical premise that we don’t stick our nose into affairs between a husband and wife. Certainly Terri’s parents and siblings have come across as much more compassionate with their offer to take over the care of her as her husband Michael who wants her in the ground post haste.
In a sworn affidavit, registered nurse Carla Sauer Iyer, who worked at the Palm Garden of Largo Convalescent Center in Largo, Fla., while Terri Schiavo was a patient there, testified: "Throughout my time at Palm Gardens, Michael Schiavo was focused on Terri's death. Michael would say 'When is she going to die?' 'Has she died yet?' and 'When is that bitch gonna die?'"
Now being an insensitive spouse does not automatically preclude one from exercising one’s spousal responsibilities and rights but all things considered Mike Schiavo could use a good PR specialist.
Personally if he sees Terry as just a deceased piece of meat I don’t know why Mike Schiavo does not just have the marriage annulled and let her mom and dad spend the rest of their life taking care of their daughter. It’s no skin off his teeth and then he can go on with his life. It almost seems like he is doing this for spite and if so he is mean to the level of revulsion. In that case I can only feel delight that the odds of my path crossing that of Michael Schiavo are insignificant.
And now let’s get to the extraordinary part of this political quandary.
I think it is pretty obvious why the GOP is so adamant in its attempt to get the feeding tube reattached. As hard as it is for others to understand, we just have this thing for innocent human life. I know, I know, the folks on the left feel that Dubya, Brother Jeb, and the Bible thumpers on Capital Hill are all cynically “playing to their base” or have no clue and are “totally out of the mainstream” of American thought. Well 1) I thought that the object of voting for a candidate was to see your views and values represented in the government and 2) if the GOP is in the process of committing political suicide by rebuking the American public’s views then you would think the left would shut up, stand back, and enjoy the spectacle. I have this sneaky feeling that a bit of projecting is going on here. I think that even the hint of a suggestion that there even was such a thing as innocent human life would send a good part of the Democrat base into full hyperventilation mode. And speaking of ventilation it is amazing amazing how ABC News had to twist and distort there opinion poll to make it appear that Terri was on life sustaining medical equipment when all she needed was food and water.
I know, I know, you can posit that her feeding tube is life sustaining medical equipment but make it broad enough and the Del Taco down the street is my life sustaining medical equipment. The Democrats are frightened that on the one hand if they say that Terri has a right to life, then they will have to imagine the notion that there is a “right to life”. Horrors! If on the other hand they continue this concept that life is only permissible if it does not inconvenience a specific other family member then they run the risk of being designated the “Party of Death”. And trust me I would much rather be the GOP candidate than the POD candidate.
Well perhaps I can be magnanimous. After all the successes Dubya and the neo-cons have had lately in the Middle East perhaps it’s time for our friends on the left to have a success that they can point to with pride. I am sad to say that unless things change quickly Terri will die and Mike Schiavo and the Party of Death will have something to smile over.Sorry for all the grammatical errors but I don’t have time to proofread and I had to blow off steam.

Do the math

The Democrats state that there is two reasons that the president is wrong proposing personal social security account contributions is that 1 there is no problem with social security and 2 that private accounts will not fix the problem that they say does not exist.
Well they are at least half right. Personal accounts will not save social security because the truth is that nothing will save social security. The reason for the personal savings accounts is to enable young people to have some hope that they will have some form of financial security after retirement because they won’t get any meaningful help from social security. I have heard that the state lottery is nothing more than a tax on people who don’t understand math. Social security is not only a tax on people who don’t understand math; it is also a tax on people who do understand math. The sad fact is that people who do understand math still have to pay under penalty of prison. At least with the lottery there is a small, infinitely, minute, microscopic chance that you will break even. There is mathematically absolutely no chance that a young worker will get back that entire amount that he or she puts into the system.

Way to go Steve

Bravo Steve Fossett for flying solo around the world without refueling or stopping! Let's take a look at some other records:

First successful heavier-than-air machine flight. (Orville Wright)
First airplane maneuvers. (Orville Wright)
First airplane flight over half an hour. (Orville Wright)
First airplane fatality. (Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge) You take the bad with the good.
First International Aviation Competition Winner. (Glenn Curtiss, Gordon Bennett Cup)
First flight from shipboard. (Lt. Eugene Ely, USN)
First parachute jump from a powered airplane. (Albert Berry)
First transatlantic flight. (The NC-4, one of four Curtiss flying boats commanded by Lt. Comdr. Albert C. Read)
First free-fall parachute jump. (Leslie Irvin)
First round-the-world flight. (Four Douglas Cruiser biplanes under command of Maj. Frederick Martin)
First polar flight - North Pole. (Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd)
First solo nonstop transatlantic flight. (Charles Lindbergh)
First transatlantic passenger. (Charles A. Levine)
First of the endurance record (150 hr. 40 min) – First in-flight refueling. (Maj. Carl Spaatz in command and Capt. Ira Eaker as chief pilot)
First blind flight. (No it wasn’t Stevie Wonder, it was James H. Doolittle taking off and landing on instruments only)
First South Pole flight. (Comdr. Richard E. Byrd) I guess he was a bipolar kind of guy.
First nonstop transpacific flight. (Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn)
First woman's transatlantic solo. (Amelia Earhart)
First round-the-world solo. (Wiley Post)
First piloted supersonic flight in an airplane. (Capt. Charles E. Yeager)
First round-the-world nonstop flight. (Capt. James Gallagher)
First nonstop transatlantic jet flight. (Col. David C. Schilling)
First solo across North Pole. (Charles F. Blair Jr.)
First transatlantic helicopter flight. (Capt. Vincent H. McGovern and 1st Lt. Harold W. Moore)
First transcontinental round trip in same day. (Lt. John M. Conroy)
First round-the-world nonstop jet plane flight. (Maj. Gen. Archie J. Old, Jr.)
First successful human-powered aircraft. (Paul MacCready)
First successful transatlantic balloon flight. (Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, and Maxie Anderson)
First nonstop transcontinental balloon flight, (Maxie and Kris Anderson)
First solo transatlantic balloon flight. (Joe W. Kittinger) I served with this guy before he was shot down.
First nonstop flight around the world without refueling. (Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager)
First solo transpacific balloon flight. (Steve Fossett)
First solo nonstop round-the-world balloon flight. (Steve Fossett)

Want to know what these all have in common? Yup, they are all American. OK before you get your knickers in a bunch, I will be the first to agree that aviation owes much to non American flyers and engineers. I am only making the observation that the lion’s share of inventions and advances have been made by Americans and if you include fellow Anglophones, and members of the coalition on the willing, the UK and Australia the remaining aeronautic pathfinders shrivels even more.
Why is this? No it’s not the water.
Bill Whittle knows and so can you. Check it out at Trinity part 1 and Trinity part 2.

Vox Blogoli 2.2

It is pretty obvious that the first Justice that President Bush will be replacing is Chief Justice Rehnquist. I believe that Justice Rehnquist only stayed on to be sure that his replacement would be made by a republican and that he would be able to swear in one more commander-in chief. Job done on both counts.
So this is where it gets interesting for the democrats. Justice Rehnquist is a solid conservative. That means that his replacement, whether from an existing justice or a new nominee, can be just as conservative without changing the flavor of the court.
This is the way I think it will play out. Justice Rehnquist steps down and President Bush goes to his conservative bench of Justices Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas. My money is on Justice Thomas. He is the younger of the two and in this post Lewinsky world Anita Hill is about a dated as a Ross Perot campaign button. Also after nominating the first black Secretary of State and the first black woman Secretary of State, how about the first black Chief Justice. Unfortunately Barbara Boxer is not on the Senate Judiciary Committee so we won’t be able to see the profound lack of grey matter she exhibited at the confirmation hearing of Condi Rice. I am constantly amazed that my beloved Senator Boxer has the IQ to digest food. Well hopefully we can get her on some of the Sunday news shows. We can only hope.
Back to the court. Because this is a zero sum ideology game the president should use this opportunity to put a solid conservative like Judge Michael Luttig on the court. The democrats will scream but replacing a conservative with a conservative leaves them little to do but puff and fume. The real challenge will be if Justice Sandra Day O’Connor or Justice John Paul Stevens retire. Justice O’Connor has been a weather vane and has usually been the 5th vote on 5-4 decisions. If she could be replaced by a solid conservative woman like California Supreme Court Justice Janice R. Brown would be wonderful. She is also a great success story of an African American woman growing up in the segregated south. She would be a dream come true and make the 5-4 split permanently center right.
As for Justice Stevens even a moderate appointment would be an improvement. Appointed by President Ford he turned out to be Ford’s Edsel. A solid activist liberal the democrats will fight to the death to keep his seat a solid left wing slot. If the republicans go for the “nuclear option” it will probably be then.

Hello Hugh Hewitt fans. Make yourself at home.

Social insecurity

Thomas Sowell brought up a point in the social security debate that I had not thought of. Increasing the social security withholding tax today would actually increase the burden on our children and grandchildren down the road. I know that sounds counter intuitive but this is how it works.
As you probably know the social security administration takes in more money in taxes than it sends out in benefit checks. That has been the way it has been from the time it was first crated. It is expected to be this way until around 2017 when benefit payments will exceed social security tax receipts. This excess money can’t be just put away in a so-called “locked box” because that would remove that money from circulation causing the economy to slow down due to deflation. The government is precluded by statute to loan or invest the excess cash in the private economy. The only entity it can loan it to is itself. Therefore the federal government buys bonds from the social security administration equaling the amount of the excess tax received. It then takes this money and puts it into the general fund to be spent on roads, schools, and aircraft carriers. That returns the money back into circulation and the economy keeps humming along.
The problem is that in 2017, or there abouts, the amount of money going out in benefit checks will exceed the amount of money coming in in payroll taxes. At that time the social security administration will start demanding the federal government start paying back all of the money that it borrowed from FDR until now when it bought those bonds. That means that it must take the money that it was planning to spend on roads, schools, and aircraft carriers and send it to the social security administration instead. That means that if our children and grandchildren still want to have said roads, schools, and aircraft carriers, then they will have to pay more of their income in taxes and less on things like food, housing, and clothing. You may say that we should pay the benefits, pay for the roads, and still allow our grandkids to feed their families by just printing more money. Well if too little money in circulation is bad, then too much money in circulation is horrendous. Germany in the 1920 tried to pay off the billions of dollars of reparations owed after World War I and still pay for schools, roads, and such by printing more money. The hyper-inflation that resulted caused the value of the Mark to decrease to the point where a postage stamp cost more than a million Marks (I have several of that denomination in my stamp collection).
We are heading for a train wreck.
Increasing taxes now would just increase the amount of bonds that our children and grandchildren will have to eventually pay off with interest. Either we increase taxes, decrease benefits, or get out of the retirement business altogether and have the people be responsible for investing toward their own retirement. I can’t see any other option. If you can, then let me know. If you disagree with partial privatization, then great! But you had better have a better idea. Doing nothing is not an option.

Feelings, nothing more than feelings.

Dennis Pregar has some observations on the roll of “feelings” in the liberal outlook of the world.