National Debt

Wikipedia "US Public Debt"

Tears

Why do tears come to the eys of a 63 year old, married father of 3 when he reads " Having considered the trial evidence and the arguments of counsel, the court pursuant to FRCP 52(a) finds that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional and that its enforcement must be enjoined."?

It has to do with "... all men are created equal, that they are endowed .... with certain unalianalble rights. It has to do with "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." It has to do with justice. It has to do with not letting narrow-mindedness rule.

They were tears of thanks.

Prop 8 vs Rights

Federal Judge George Walker issued a REPUDIATION of CA Proposition 8 with strong language regards the RIGHTS of citizen versus the vote; noting that RIGHTS are not subject to a VOTE. Well said.

Read the full text of the rulling by clicking the Title of this post.

How did we get into this recession?

Short term answer: recession happened because a lot of money disappeared when bad loans defaulted.

Long term answer: recession happened because of supply side economics.

Lending creates money. You put money in the bank, the bank lends it out, for example by writing a mortgage, the borrower has the money but you still have the same amount of money in the bank. The bank sells the mortgage, the buyer exchanges money for a financial asset, therefore the buyer's wealth does not change. The bank can now lend the money again creating more wealth.

When the mortgage defaults the last owner of the mortgage loses wealth. The borrower also loses wealth because the house goes to the bank but the value of the house is now less than the mortgage (because mortgages are defaulting all around and house prices have dropped), so the borrower still owes money.

If many mortgages default the economy loses money. That is, money disappears. We still have the same resources, but we no longer have enough money to transfer all the resources from producer to user, so some resources stand unused. That includes workers, factories, raw materials and consumer goods in stores, all waiting for money that isn't there any more.

The long term question is why there were so many bad loans. The long term answer is that "trickle down" policies took money from consumers and handed it to investors. Investors will invest in production only when consumers have the money to buy the product. If consumers don't have enough money to encourage productive investment, investors turn to financial investments to extract money from other investors. Or else they spend the money on things like art works, with the result that art prices soar.

A thriving economy works on "trickle up," not "trickle down." Workers get paid, and then as consumers they buy stuff from retailers. The money they pay the retailers goes partly to the retailer's profit, partly to workers and partly to wholesalers. The money paid to wholesalers goes partly to the wholesaler's profit, partly to workers and partly to producers. The money paid to producers goes partly to the producer's profit, partly to workers and partly to suppliers of raw materials. At each step a part goes back to the workers to go around again, and another part goes to investors to be reinvested. The process is driven by consumers buying. If consumers can't buy, nobody invests and nobody works.

Why the recession? Because we moved from a productive economy to a "service economy," from an economy that made and sold goods and services to an economy that shuffled money around.

Do you know TED?

If not, I suggest you check out ted.org. "Ideas Worth Spreading"

USA: The Best Healthcare in the World

Wow, I just read “Blessed to be in the best country in the world when it comes to healthcare.” on a blog.  Unbelievable that people still haven’t figured out that statement just just plan WRONG.

Not having the facts at my fingertips, I googled “us best health care in the world”. 

The top hit:  http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=01&year=2008&base_name=the_best_health_care_in_the_wo where this interesting todbit is written:  “Health Affairs' new study "Measuring the Health of Nations."… in 1998. Then, we performed poorly, but not catastrophically so. Our amenable mortality rates were about 8 percent above the average, and 50 percent above the French, but we were not the worst. Comparatively speaking, we were 15th out of 19 assessed countries.  …. Four years later, we were 19th out of 19. “

The second hit:  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/opinion/12sun1.html  This one you have to read.

Maybe some just don’t read.  <sigh>

Sicko

Have you seen it? No? Why not? I promise it will make you think, it may make you laugh and probably make you cry.   If you're asking "What's Sicko?"  Here's Wikipedia's definition: "Sicko is a 2007 documentary film by American film maker Michael Moore. The film investigates the American health care system, focusing on its health insurance and pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba."

Last night, on Bill Moyer’s show a 'Former CIGNA Executive Says
Michael Moore Was Right All Along" (See this link! and the video below.)

The US needs to fix the Health Care system.  You probably have good health care coverage; but many don’t… and yours is going to cost you more each year. 

Watch Sicko, do some research, don’t be afraid, don’t be misled by powerful, resource rich lobbys and the medical establishment.

Why is the US to only industrialized country without a free universal heath care system?  “The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. 28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems, while 1 (Germany) has a multipayer universal health care system like President Clinton proposed for the United States.”

Now is the time to fix this… Please get involved… for yourself, for your parents, for your children and their children.

McNamara, Vietnam, Iraq, Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld

I saw the Charlie Rose interview the Robert McNamara this evening...... I was nearly drafted for Vietnam and I was not a fan of McNamara; however, watching him on Charlie Rose this evening, I updated my opinion greatly. I see him now as a man who I respect, a man who admits that he and others made mistakes in that war and deeply regrets them, a man who says he has learned to see the North Vietnam learders in a different way than he did in the 60-70's.

A man who is very different than Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld; for whom I have no respect.

May He Rest in Peace

My friend, Jim Taylor died this afternoon after a battle with cancer. I don't how much he considered me a friend, but I considered him a friend. He was a large, gentle man who had a deep faith and a real, genuine love for people - a love for all people. I only knew Jim for a few years when he started attending North Central Christian Church but I grew to respect him and the way he lived his life.

One thing the he and I shared was a love for North Central Christan Church and especially the potential of the church to be a sanctuary in North San Antonio. We talked many time of the 18+ acres of oaks and elms, the quietness of the area, the peacefullness of the outdoors. We even talked of building some sort of small retreat-like building that could be used as a gathering place for small worship services, or a gathering place for folks who just wanted to hang-out with like-minded friends for a cup of coffee, conversation, or study... or to watch sports or some other event on TV. We even drew up some simple plans and walked the property to see where a good place might be for such a facility. I felt that Jim really wanted to make it happen.

I don't think I'll walk the property again with thinking of Jim. I believe he'll be with me.

And maybe one day Jim's dream for the property will materialize. If it does, I hope I'm there to see it and to spend some time there.

I'm going to miss my friend Jim. For him, the suffering is over, for the rest of us, the loss will be with us until our time comes.

Rest in peace, Friend


Jim and Gail's website
Jim's Facebook page

Free Roxana Saberi

Roxana Saberi is an American journalist of Iranian and Japanese descent who was convicted of spying in Iran -http://freeroxana.net. On Public TV tonight, two 'experts' said that the best way to pressure Iran is through public pressure. Please do what you can to contribute to the voices of US citizens calling for Iran to release Ms Saberi immediately.

Grateful Dead’s “Wall of Sound”

 

While poking around looking for some details on Grateful Dead CD’s I ran across this article about the Dead’s legendary “Wall of Sound”… almost 100 amps pushing 24,400 watts.  Wish I’d heard one of those performances.

The below is quite for Wikipedia.

The Wall of Sound was an enormous sound system designed specifically for the Grateful Dead.^[53][54] The band was never satisfied with the house system anywhere they played, so in their early days, soundman Owsley "Bear" Stanley designed a public-address (PA) and monitor system for them. Stanley's sound systems were delicate and finicky, and frequently brought shows to a halt with technical breakdowns. After Stanley went to jail for manufacturing LSD in 1970, the group briefly used house PAs, but found them to be even less reliable than those built by their former soundman. In 1971, the band purchased their first solid-state sound system from Alembic Inc Studios. Because of this, Alembic would play an integral role in the research, development, and production of the Wall of Sound. The band also welcomed Dan Healy into the fold on a permanent basis that year. Healy, considered to be a superior engineer to Stanley, would mix the Grateful Dead's live sound until 1993.

The Wall of Sound fulfilled the band's desire for a distortion-free sound system that could also serve as its own monitoring system. After Stanley got out of prison in late 1972, he, Dan Healy and Mark Raizene of the Grateful Dead's sound crew, in collaboration with Ron Wickersham, Rick Turner, and John Curl of Alembic combined eleven separate sound systems in an effort to deliver high-quality sound to audiences. Vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and piano each had their own channel and set of speakers. Phil Lesh's bass was piped through a quadraphonic encoder that sent signals from each of the four strings to its own channel and set of speakers. Another channel amplified the bass drum, and two more channels carried the snares, tom-toms, and cymbals. Because each speaker carried just one instrument or vocalist, the sound was exceptionally clear and free of intermodulation distortion.

Moreover, the Dead's Wall of Sound acted as its own monitor system, and it was therefore assembled behind the band so the members could hear exactly what their audience was hearing. Because of this, Stanley and Alembic designed a special microphone system to prevent feedback. This placed matched pairs of condenser microphones spaced 60 mm apart and run out-of-phase. The vocalist sang into the top microphone, and the lower microphone picked up whatever other sound was present in the stage environment. The signals were added together, the sound that was common to both microphones (the sound from the Wall) was cancelled, and only the vocals were amplified.

The Wall of Sound consisted of 89 300-watt solid-state and three 350-watt vacuum-tube amplifiers generating a total of 26,400 watts RMS of audio power. This system projected high quality playback at six hundred feet with an acceptable sound projected for a quarter mile, at which point wind interference degraded it. The Wall of Sound was the largest portable sound system ever built (although "portable" is a relative term).^{[citation needed]} The Wall of Sound comprised two stages. One would go ahead to the next city to begin setup as soon as possible while the other was being used; the other would then "leapfrog" to the next show. Four semi-trailers and 21 crew members were required to haul and set up the 75-ton Wall.

Though the initial framework and a rudimentary form of the system was unveiled in February 1973 (ominously, every speaker tweeter blew as the band began their first number), the Grateful Dead did not begin to tour with the full system until a year later in 1974. The Wall of Sound was very efficient for its day, but it suffered from other drawbacks besides its sheer size. Synthesist Ned Lagin, who toured with the group throughout much of 1974, never received his own dedicated input into the system, and was forced to use the vocal subsystem. Because this was often switched to the vocal microphones, many of Lagin's parts were lost in the mix. The Wall's quadraphonic format never translated well to soundboard tapes made during the period, as the sound was compressed into an unnatural stereo format and suffers from a pronounced tinniness.

The rising cost of fuel and personnel, as well as friction among many of the newer crew members (and associated hangers-on), contributed to the band's 1974 "retirement." The Wall of Sound was disassembled, and when the Dead began touring again in 1976, it was with a more logistically practical sound system.

Grateful Dead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia