Abortions for All!

Woot! Obama's science Czar is pro-abortion. That's right, not pro-choice but pro-abortion!

John Holdren, Obama's Science Czar, says: Forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save the planet

These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology -- informally known as the United States' Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that:

• Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;
• The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food;
• Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;
• People who 'contribute to social deterioration' (i.e. undesirables) 'can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility' -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
• A transnational 'Planetary Regime' should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force.

Damn it! He didn't actually say these things.

Anybody who actually wants to know what we and/or Professor Holdren believe and recommend about these matters would presumably read some of the dozens of publications that we and he separately have produced in more recent times, rather than going back a third of a century to find some formulations in an encyclopedic textbook where description can be misrepresented as endorsement.

Schucks, I was starting to like the guy. Not the transnational planetary regime stuff. At least the abortions and sterilization stuff was very cool. And quite brave. Too bad he may not have actually meant it.

Stupid right-wingers getting me all excited with their fanciful 'news' stories.

Police Need More Typewriters

The NYPD has earmarked nearly $1 million for typewriters and the service of those typewriters. Apparently this is due to the department still using old carbon forms for much of its police paperwork.

NYPD typewriter bill nearly $1 million - UPI.com

Dr. Edith Linn, a retired New York police officer and professor of criminal justice at the city's Berkeley College, said many of the 500 police officers she interviewed for a study told her the outdated equipment makes them less likely to perform arrests for minor offenses.

From a citizen perspective, this sounds like $1 million very well spent. If typewriters keep cops from getting all ticket happy, then I say every police department needs more typewriters.

Defaming Beef

It started with Carl's Jr. and their Angus beef burgers. Now McDonalds is getting in on it. Fast food is pretending at being all upscale by claiming to have genuine Angus beef.

It's a lie. My dad raises genuine Angus beef from a herd I started when in FFA. The so-called Angus in these fast food burgers is referring to beef from cows that are black. It would be like calling every dark skinned human a Nigerian, or at least the first two syllables of that word, sort of. Folks who raise genuine Black Angus beef should consider a defamation suit.

It's not all about the breed. Just like people, good beef has more to do with how they are raised, how they are treated, the environment they live in, how they die and other variables. Crappy feed lot beef is still crappy feed lot beef and is going to be tough, hard, and not as easily palatable. Just like ghetto trash is more than likely going to be toughened, harder, and less palatable (in an inter-personal relations way since we aren't supposed to be eating them for dinner).

Besides, all McDonalds really needed to say was...

Now With Less Horse!

Chaos Economics

Tonight I was reading in a book* how the chaos models used to predict weather are the same principles used to forecast economic trends.

People forecasting weather understand that these models work well up to three days out and then deteriorate quickly. People have accepted this and understand that if someone tells you a month and a day from now it will rain, they are guessing. Nobody listens to the long term forecast (or even the short term for that matter) and takes it as gospel truth.

Meanwhile economists utilizing the same principles will often mistake these forecasts for something resembling truth. They forget that the models work to give a good probability of near term events, absolutely suck at predicting upcoming trends a week or more out, but give a decent overview of how markets behave in general. Even though many of them are gifted in the field of mathematics, they neglect to consider that a slight shift even in the ten-thousandths (.0001) can cause radical changes that render the end result unrecognizable from its nearly identical (at the start) counterpart.

The models demonstrate that major spikes and valleys will occur. A deregulated market will make for some pretty wild swings. A strictly regulated market would make both the highs and lows considerably less radical. The odds of getting rich go down but so do the odds of getting wiped out.

If you establish a garden inside of a greenhouse, you can control most of the 'weather' for that system. That means more work for you but with less risk. If you are looking to invest, you can put your money in a guaranteed savings account**. You'll have to put a hell of a lot in to get anything out of it, but the chances of losing it all are quite slim.

The opposite of this would probably be throwing your apple core into a ditch on your way to buy some lottery tickets.

* Yes they still print books and yes people still read them.

** Current interest rates are out-paced by inflation. Think of it as having to put in two to draw out one. It's still better than losing your inheritance because your mom insisted on investing in Enron.