hello sarasota

On August 9, 2009, in Journal, by Henshaw


Another successful trip to Priest Lake is in the books and I’m back in Sarasota. I didn’t read as much as I would have liked, but the weather was too good to spend reading. It seems I haven’t miss much news and the world hasn’t fallen apart. Priest Lake is a beautiful place and I can’t wait to return again.

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the boxer rebellion

On August 8, 2009, in Politics, by club soda

Hedley LamarrYours truly, Club Soda, happens to be one of those whom the White House and its fascist phalanx of Democratic Party machine drones have characterized as part of “the mob”. In reality, the vast majority of those showing up at town hall meetings to confront their “representatives” are average Americans expressing their Constitutional right to assemble peaceably and disagree with the direction those representatives are taking them.
So what if they’re encouraged by right-wing blogs and talk radio to take to the streets? How else do citizens mobilize en masse? When progressives do it, it’s called “community organizing,” but when conservatives do it they’re referred to as a “mob”. In reality, progressive community organizing means recruiting professional thugs, goons and bullies from unions and Soros-funded shadow groups with benign nom de plumes like Americans Coming Together (ACT).
As these community groups are brought together to help quell the popular uprising of ordinary Americans, you can almost hear Hedley Lamarr from Blazing Saddles: “I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.”
What concerns many Americans is the surrender of political power from the local and state level to the Federal level. The more responsibility the Federal government takes for the individual, the less free that individual becomes.
The powers delegated to the Federal government are quite clear, and they basically boil down to national defense, infrastructure and interstate commerce. The 10th Amendment clearly states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The entire concept of the Constitution was to provide the necessary cohesion to the Union not provided by the Articles of Confederation while maintaining the autonomy of the individual to pursue life, liberty and happiness with minimal Federal restraint. This is why we do not see an enumeration of “positive rights” in the Constitution, such as a “right” to health care or other creature comforts. Rather, the Constitution enumerates “negative rights,” or the freedom of the people from governmental encroachment on their individual lives and decisions.
Perhaps no one personifies the corruption, cronyism and condescension currently permeating the nation’s capitol than Barbara Boxer. Through Boxer, we are provided a window into the soul of an arrogant aristocracy that will happily trample on our freedoms to expand their power and influence. It is this arrogant exercise of power at the expense of the individual that is driving much of the dissent in America today.

Progressives complain bitterly about evil giant corporate conglomerates, and to some extent I agree with them. I simply hate having to deal with large corporations because I can never get anything done quickly and easily. I am not an individual to this corporation; I am simply a number in a vast sea of ones and zeroes. “Press One for English. Prense dos para Espanol. Press Three for this. Press Four for that. And so on and so forth until you hang up in disgust. Have a nice day!”
The point is that the larger and more remote any organization gets from its constituency, the less likely it is to have any care for the individual. And that’s the problem with yielding more power from the local and state level to the Federal level.
Do we seriously believe that a gigantic, centralized bureaucracy will be efficient, caring and, ultimately, just? If we do, we deserve what we get, which will ultimately be a huge corruptacracy that serves a mish-mash of powerful special interests and grievance-mongering groups living 30 years in the past, a.k.a., community organizers.
This is not “progressive”; it is positively regressive and de-evolutionary. Was the Soviet Union a success; a model to be emulated by future U.S. administrations? What did we learn from past collectivist/socialist/fascist/Marxist forms of government? We learned that concentrating power and wealth in a centralized government led to vast societal misery and poverty. The “people’s republics” were about people alright… the people in power.

all you need is cash

On August 6, 2009, in Music, Reviews, by club soda

I used to believe that the ultimate rock n’ roll mockumentary, or any mockumentary for that matter, was This Is Spinal Tap. After revisiting The Rutles recently on YouTube and after considerable internal debate, I now proclaim The Rutles and their Tragical History Tour as the reigning champion.
I first saw The Rutles, or the Pre-Fab Four, on Saturday Night Live years and years ago when the Not Ready for Prime Time Players were in their prime. I won’t mention how old I was at the time, because I simply don’t remember. Here’s the intro to The Rutles mockumentary, All You Need is Cash. You can find a number of other clips of The Rutles at YouTube, but for the full experience I suggest adding the DVD to your collection.

At 4:02 you’ll find rare footage of The Rutles at The Cavern in Liverpool performing Goose Step Mama. I’ve provided the lyrics below so you can sing along with Nasty, Stig, Dirk and Barry:
Goose step Mama, on the cover charge
Goose step Mama, taken by an’ large
Why you take on with a tailor? Someone sold you to a sailor
Goose step Mama, oh yea, Goose step Mama
Goose step Mama, boogie all night long
Goose step Mama, you can do no wrong
You know how to reassemble. Empty hands and knees that tremble.
Goose step Mama, oh yea, Goose step Mama, wah-hoo !
Girl’s got something that makes you something
Something tells me loud and clear
In the end it comes to nothing.
You’ve got nothing too, eins, zwei, drei, vier!
Goose step Mama, with your Rock and Roll
Goose step Mama, with your heart of gold
You don’t like to see me suffer
Love is tough, but life is tougher
Goose step Mama, oh yea, Goose step Mama, woo (awh) heh!

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priest lake 4.0

On August 3, 2009, in Journal, by Henshaw

Lookout Mountain
It’s time for my annual trip to Priest Lake, ID. This will be my fourth trip in a row and the first with my beautiful new wife. As per usual I’ve got a couple of books and the latest issue of the The Economist to read while I soak in the beautiful scenery. Technology is slowing creeping into park. Every year electricity and showers move closer to our quaint campground. While I can’t deny progress, there’s something very wonderful about being detached from this world for a few days.

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why so serious?

On August 3, 2009, in Miscellaneous, by Henshaw

The Joker
Take a guess; which one of these is considered “high art” and which one is akin to “lynching?” Who said liberals can’t take a joke?
HT: Sonny Bunch

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Reducing Obesity Will Increase Costs?

On August 2, 2009, in Economics, by Henshaw

I’m a sucker for counter intuitive statistics. It’s probably why I love economics. Anyway, we’ve all heard that America’s obesity problem is contributing to rising annual health care costs. What about lifetime health care costs? Jacob Sullum at Hit & Run helps answer this question.

Far be it from me to deny the undeniable, but the fact that obese people have higher annual health care costs does not mean they have higher lifetime costs. It therefore does not follow that reducing obesity would reduce total medical spending in the long run. In fact, a study published last year in PLoS Medicine reached the opposite conclusion: Because obese people tend to die sooner than thin people do, the researchers found, eliminating obesity would increase spending on health care. “Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases,” the authors wrote, “this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures” (emphasis added).

I have never thought about the issue like this, but it makes perfect sense. Reducing obesity is an important issue, but it’s not going to help with health care costs. If we’re really committed to reducing obesity we should tax food that’s fattening. I have no problem increasing taxes on goods that harm the public.

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re: teachable moment: the photo op

On August 1, 2009, in Politics, by Henshaw

This is one of those pictures that says a lot. I don’t think this was the photo op the White House wanted.

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retail stories: technical jargon

On August 1, 2009, in Retail, by Henshaw

In hindsight I feel a little bad about this next retail story. My co-worker Trey was there that day. The faithful day when some twelve year old boy wanted to talk about video cards. This was fairly common at Circuit City. Some kid spends four hours a day studying hardware reviews and then wants to talk to the tech head at the local store. There’s really no harm in it, but what do you do when the kid won’t go away.
Well, on one such occasion Trey and I were having to build end-caps. We were unpacking laptops to put them on display. This kid just kept going on and on while we were working. Finally I asked him the question.

Henshaw: Have you read about echo chamber distortion?
Kid: Yeah
Henshaw: All the high end video cards have them.
Kid: I’ve been reading a lot about that online…


There’s only one problem with echo chamber distortion; it doesn’t exist. The look on Trey’s face while this conversation took place was priceless. He could barely stop himself from laughing. Finally the kid left us alone. I realize now I really don’t much about video cards anymore. I can’t tell you what the best Intel chip is… all that knowledge is gone. Like Circuit City it’s gone with wind.
Anyway, what can be learned from this encounter? Culturally speaking Americans tend to answer yes to questions like “did you see this” or “did you read about that?” Admittedly this kid wasn’t the last time I’ve pulled out echo chamber distortion. It sounds technical. The real trick is convincing the person you know what you’re talking about. Our president has mastered this art.

Health Care: Does Canada Do It Better?

On August 1, 2009, in Economics, Politics, by Henshaw

John Stossel sums up something that should easy to understand.

Adam Smith wrote an obscure book about economics that explains why greed fuels innovation.

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