I hear that a bunch of American voters (of course that's only 40 % of us) think Secretary Clinton is not trustworthy. Well, if that were a requirement for public office, the halls of government would be empty. There are just degrees of trustworthiness. Those folks who trust D.J. Trump probably believe a used car salesperson when they tell you "this car was only driven on Sundays by a little old lady. Trust me." As far as wanting an outsider, Washington is a very difficult place to do business. You must know your way around the system. Electing an outsider President is like asking your bartender to do brain surgery. Another thing. You can't run the country like a business. That's apples and oranges. The first tenant of business is to turn a profit. Government's role is much different. How would Mr. Trumps businesses ( you know he mostly just sells his name to others to give their project an air of whatever - look it up!) do if he had to provide health care, provide police, fire protection, fund the educations, make sure food was safe, etc., etc., and etc., for his employees? Oh, one more thing. Never accept any statement given as a fact without proof. Never.

I Want My Country Back (who's country?)

A lot of people are spending a lot of money and a lot of time trying to ‘get our country back.’ If all these folks would simply focus on one thing they could probably do just that. And that one thing is campaign finance reform.

Our political leaders, those people elected to represent us, spend the majority of their time raising campaign funds to finance their re-election. Unfortunately, most of this money comes from large donors --big business, wall street, big banks, big drug companies, millionaires and billionaires, who expect a return on their investment.

If the people who elect these politicians expect fair representation, then it must be they who finance these campaigns, not deep pocket special interests.

Everything else is a waste of time.

Prostate Biopsies Can Really Hurt, but they don’t have to

Every man over 50 should absolutely, positively have a PSA done. The PSA is a blood test used to detect prostate cancer. A positive test does not necessarily mean prostate cancer, an enlarging prostate can result in a false positive, but the only way to be sure is to have a biopsy.

Now, I’ve have three of these, all negative, and the first one really hurt. So, for the other two I asked for a pain medication. The doctor wrote a prescription for two Vicodin. They made all the difference.

Don’t be afraid to ask. Pain is not character building and biting on a bullet only works in westerns.

Here's Hoping

Reading time 20 seconds

This may sound strange coming from a Democrat, but I’m kinda hoping the Republicans win the House of Representatives. Why? Because now they’d have to actually come up with a real plan to handle the massive debt they caused during the Bush years.

No longer could they kibitz from the bushes, they would now own the debt and have to come up with some real cuts the American people will tolerate. It’s a real problem because around 87 per cent of the debts are entitlements that can’t be touched, doesn’t leave them much to work with.

Let’s see how they trim what’s left by the four trillion they’d need to cut.

Tea Party You’ve Got the Right Idea, Just the Wrong Target

Reading time 20 seconds

There is little doubt the loose amalgamation of folks called the Tea Party has a lot of energy, it’s just too bad it’s misdirected. Throwing the bums out just gets you a different bunch of bums. In a revolution, one dictator is usually replaced by another, who may be worse.

The real problem in Washington isn’t the politicians; it’s the money behind them. Huge amounts of money are poured into Washington to influence politicians, who are for the most part decent Americans, who truly want to help. But, it is hard to turn down special interest money if your opponent in the next election accepts it.
If you want to bring change to Washington, Tea Party people, go after campaign finance reform.

That will be change you can believe in.

Who Needs the Middle Class?

Reading time 40 seconds

Why doesn’t the Republican Party care about the Middle Class? Because the Big Business interests they represent don’t need us.

Globalization gives Big Business access to a huge market outside the U.S. for their goods and services and cheap labor, so American Middle Class consumers and workers aren’t as important as they were.

As jobs for Americans become scarce, because more and more jobs are outsourced, Middle Class American workers will work for low wages they would never have accepted in the past. And there is little American workers can do to protect themselves, because since the Regan administration the Republican Party has worked to destroy the labor unions. Now workers are on there own and can no longer look to their unions to protect them from the predatory practices of Corporate America. So, not only can Big Business do with fewer American workers, jobs are so scarce they will work for less and less money and benefits than in the past. So, it is a win, win for the Big Business interests the Republicans represent.

The irony is that the Republican Party not only aids Corporate America, it gets the very people their policies hurt to help them do it by flat out lying about what they are really about. Brilliant!

Coincidence?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by about 7% of Southern Democrats, known as the Dixiecrats. From that time on into the 1990’s the South, which had once been primarily Democratic, became predominantly Republican, with many of the Dixiecrats joining the Republican Party whose Southern members had overwhelmingly opposed the Act.

Today the hard right wing of the Republican Party is dominated by Southern Republicans. Draw what conclusions you will.

Warning

Reading time 15 seconds
 
I just, close anyway, celebrated my 67th birthday. No, I’m not telling you this to get more prezzies, but to report a discovery I’ve made.

It happened so gradually I almost missed it. The force of gravity is increasing.

I noticed this morning as I climbed the stairs it was harder to make them than it used to be.True I had a larger coffee cup than usual, but I don’t think it enough more to make the difference.

There, you’ve been warned.

Hey, Tea Party, You’re Mad at the Wrong People

Reading time 20 seconds

You’ve got a right to be mad, things are a mess. The middle class is in big trouble and things are getting worse for us. But, you’re missing the real villains in all this - BIG Business. They are the guys that control Congress. They are the guys that make the rules. They are the guys bleeding the country dry. It’s not Congress that’s sending our jobs overseas. It’s not Congress that doesn’t pay it’s taxes. If you don’t know that then you aren’t paying attention and are just a distraction behind which BIG Business can continue to hide. Wake up.

Democrates-The New Invertebrates

Reading time 25 seconds

I’m still waiting for change I can believe in. I became a Democrat because I believed the Republicans were too BIG BUSSINESS at the expense of the middle class.

Like most of those raised in a military household, and serving in Vietnam myself, I was a Republican. That ended with Regan. But then I was living in California when he was governor, so I had an unfair advantage. I really thought that things were going to be different with President Obama, but I guess not. And talk about being disappointed in a Democratic Senate! The Republican minority is eating their lunch and I don’t see the Dems putting up much of a fight. Of course, a bunch is up for re-election. I guess that’s more important than doing the right thing, fighting the good fight, and going down scrapping. Looks like business as usual, just trying to keep their jobs.

I keep getting requests for money from the Dems, but I just say not to bother me until they grow a backbone.

Lower Taxes – Here’s How

Reading time 30 seconds

IT’s really simple. Over fifty per cent of Americans pay no taxes at all. None. Now a lot of those are folks who simply don’t make enough to pay taxes even when they take no exemptions and declare every dime. And a lot are folks who make plenty, but manage to keep it all. They have really smart accountants and people in high places to finesse the tax code in their favor.

The really big problem is that most U.S. corporations pay no taxes, although I guess they can afford to. They have really, really smart accountants and generously help write the tax laws affecting them, not to mention some creative accounting involving offshore banks.

Of course, BIG Oil gets billions in subsidies from the taxpayers whether they need them or not.

If the folks who can pay, but get out of paying paid, then our taxes would be lower. Right?

See, I said it was simple.

Throw the Bums Out?

Reading time 20 seconds

“Throw the bums out. I’m voting for an outsider, not one of those Washington insiders growing fat on the taxpayers.” Right.

Look, I’ve been following politics like it was the World Series for over forty years and I used to believe that too. Finally I realized that nobody who doesn’t know how Washington works stands a chance in the Congress. They get eaten alive.

Just be sure you hold whoever gets your vote accountable. Phone, write, and e-mail. They do listen. Don’t buy into the ‘throw the bums out philosophy’. Would you hire a guy to fix your car who didn’t know auto mechanics?

Say That Again, and Again, and Again

Certain wing nut parties seem to be obsessed with calling our President a Nazi. If that was true they wouldn’t be saying it twice. Most times when people make accusations like that they’re very poorly informed, that’s why they’re so afraid. Ignorance breeds fear like spoiling meat breeds maggots.

Most of us react, we don’t think. If something sounds right, well hey, must be true. The only problem with that is we’re all of us, a messy mixture of prejudices, emotional pain and unpleasant life experiences. We filter everything we see and hear through this messy mixture. Seeing the truth gets hard.

The conservatives exploit this distorted thinking by using a technique ironically learned from a Nazi by the name of Herman Goering, Hitler’s minister of propaganda.

Herman knew that if you took a bald faced lie and repeated it enough times folks would start to believe it’s true. So, if you say that the President is a Socialist, or not an American citizen, or he’ll raise your taxes, over and over and over, people start to believe it. Big advertising has been using this technique to sell us soap flakes for a long time.

And speaking of Socialism, we employ many Socialist programs here in the good old U.S.A. to advantage. Social Security, Medicare, public schools, fire departments, the military and police departments to name a few. So, there’re not all bad.

Try to do your own thinking, don’t let someone else push your buttons and get you to react the way they want you to.

Crazy Pills

I‘ve been watching with disbelief as the media reports we are about to hand back the keys to the bunch that nearly ran us over a cliff. What? Am I taking crazy pills? What sense does it make to reward the Republicans with a return to power because you don’t like the way the Democrats are trying to clean up the mess they made? Sure you may disagree with the present administration’s handling of this crisis, but come on, give me a break here. The Democrats inherited two totally unfunded wars, a massive debt, the loss of over 600 thousand jobs a month, and an economy on the brink of collapse. Do you really think things will get better if we go back to the policies that got us here in the first place?

If you don’t know the answer, ask a ten year old kid.

Please, please before you vote, or decide not to, do some research. Find out what’s really going on, don’t just lash out blindly. Oh, and what the heck does, “Take my country back.” mean? Exactly what country are they talking about, and did they ask me? Sounds like a bunch of folks trying to impose their lifestyle on the rest of us. Isn’t that what they’re whining about? And while I’m at it, the rest of us have freedom from religion as much as Christians have a right to freedom of religion. Right?

Just take a good look before you leap.

Opinion or Fact?

Do you know when somebody is giving you an opinion or is stating a fact? Here’s a hint. Most of what you here is an opinion and probably only has a grain of fact about it. We humans are really good at twisting the truth into knots to suit our own agendas or beliefs. That includes me, so don’t take my word for it, check it out. A healthy skepticism is invaluable.

Here’s a good example. There’s been a lot of buzz about a mosque to be built near ground zero. I heard one guy say, “yards away.” Actually it’s two blocks away. I don’t know how many yards that is, but I’m pretty sure he was trying to spin that bit of ‘almost the facts.’ This imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is behind the project, has been described as a terrorist and worst. Well, that’s an opinion, not a fact. He was actually sent twice to the Middle East by the Bush administration to foster better relations with the people of those regions. Doesn’t sound like a terrorist to me, but check it out. And when you do don’t just look at information from sources you always check. The reason is because we tend to search out people and information we already agree with-even if we’re wrong. A key to this is to consider the source. Who is it and what agenda are they advancing? You can always find someone to substantiate anything no matter how wrong.

Keep in mind that there are huge corporations spending millions to get their agenda in front of you and quite often the organizations they create to do this have very comforting names like ‘Americans for America’. I made that name up, but maybe there is one. Check it out.

The point is we are all being jerked around all the time and the only way to fight back is to get the facts and flush the opinions. A good test is that if we always agree with our sources, then there is either something wrong with them or us.

Are you Paying Attention?

More people in the United States believe in flying saucers than in evolution, 18 % of Americans think the president is a Muslum, a growing number here do not believe in climate change, I could go on, but why bother.

A long time ago the tobacco industry realized that they didn't have to prove cigarette smoking is safe, just confuse enough people about the research to make them doubt the data saying it isn't. Now big business, big religion and political parties use this technique to convince us to doubt what should be as plain as the noses on our faces. They point out that a few scientists disagree with the majority so the theory must be wrong, whether it be climate change or evolution.

Science does not know what causes gravity, but I'll bet the farm nobody would step off a ten story building because of that.

Eight Glasses of Water a Day? Who says?

According to Dr. Heinz Valtin, a physiologist who has studied water regulatory systems in humans for over 40 years, the answer is No.

Evidentially this is just another urban myth that most of us have accepted as true because we have heard it so many times. Be warned, that is true about more than just water. It pays to be a skeptic.

Dr. Valtin states that unless you have a physical condition that requires you to consume large quantities of water, like kidney stones, there is no reason a healthy adult needs so much water.

The myth is thought to come from a misunderstanding dating back to a 1945 study that suggested 1cc of water be consumed for every calorie eaten. Not only is that study very outdated, but the amount of water in the food was to be taken into account, which drastically cut down the liquid water to be drunk.

Nevertheless, in hot weather it is better to be safe than sorry, so here’s to you.

Where did that Moon of ours come from?

Reading time about 60 seconds

An early theory explained the moon by saying it formed from the same gas cloud from which the Earth and other planets formed. This explanation doesn’t fly because the moon contains very little iron. The Earth has a lot, mostly at its molten core. If the moon formed out of the same stuff as the Earth, the moon ought to have more iron.

A second theory explained away the Moon’s small amount of iron by suggesting the Moon formed somewhere else, where there wasn’t much of that pesky iron, and was captured by the Earth’s gravitation as it swung by. This one didn’t work out either. When samples of the moon were brought back by Apollo astronauts and analyzed, it was found that they had a chemical composition almost identical to Earth’s making it unlikely that it came from somewhere else.

A third idea tried to explain away the Moon’s ‘iron deficiency anemia’ by suggesting the early Earth spun so fast that some of its surface was flung off and went into orbit. The hole it left was the Pacific Ocean basin. Since most of the Earth’s iron is at its center, the flung off material would not have a lot of iron in it. But when they crunched the numbers relating to the Moon’s orbit, they found the math didn’t work out.

The latest theory is that a chunk of debris, leftover from the formation of the Solar System, slammed into the Earth and knocked a large amount of the iron poor crust loose. Scientists estimate that the piece that hit us was a third to half the size of the Earth. The material blasted loose formed a ring around the Earth which clumped together to form the moon. This is the currently accepted theory.

It’s interesting that even after decades of head-scratching, scientists are still not really sure how the moon came to be.

Redo of Older Blog On UFO's

Reading time about 80 seconds

Just read an interesting piece on-line, which is no longer available to link to, about UFO's. You may remember that I wrote about the percentage of people who believe in space aliens having visited Earth is 20% higher than those who believe in evolution.This article states that the UFO scare started in 1947 when a man named Kenneth Arnold claimed to have seen nine UFO's flying over Mount Rainer in Washington. As I recall, in the TV documentary made of this incident, he was flying a small plane at the time and perhaps his being a pilot added some credulity to the story. Soon after a number of similar reports were made as the sighting took hold on the public’s imagination. Bad reporting is given, by the author, as the reason they were called ‘flying saucers’. In reality, Mr. Arnold is said to have reported them as crescent shaped. He went on to say that they “flew erratic, like a saucer if you skip it across water." He evidently didn't mean they looked like saucers.

What caught my attention was that the authors of the book, The Saucer Fleet" (Apogee Books, 2008), claim that the entertainment media picked up on this story and promoted the flying saucer story hoping to cash in on books, movies, etc., from all the interest they themselves created. Eventually that one 'sighting' became a culture myth that many people came to believe as true, or so say the authors.

Me? As I said before, I would be surprised if we were alone in the universe, but am not ready to say they have visited Earth, but I am open minded about it. I have read a few books on the subject both for and against. Both points of view are persuasive.

What troubles me about all this has to do with the age of the universe, which is at least 13 billion years old. In all that time there had to be civilizations older and more advanced than ours. Why haven't they stopped by to introduce themselves?

Not Rootin for Newton

Reading time about 40 seconds

This blog's been a bit sparse lately, but I have a good excuse. I've been helping a daughter with physics who's decided to get her college degree at a point in life that it can be considered a career change.

Now I remember taking physics in high school and college and I know most of it hasn't changed all that much, but it seems like a vague memory and somehow much harder. What has struck me is that I somehow managed a career in science without ever having to calculate the force required to move a 50 kg trunk up a four meter ramp inclined 25 degrees to the horizontal. For this I also needed to remember something called trigonometry and wrestle with sines, cosigns, etc. In all these years the only kind of signs I've used are the kind that directed me to the nearest McDonald's.

I'm sure this stuff must be important,but looking back I'm not sure why it has to be so hard. In forty years I,ve never fired a 10 kg cannon ball at an angle of 45 degrees with an initial velocity of 600 meters per second discounting air resistance. Not at any angle actually and no one's ever fired one at me.