Monthly Archives: May 2009

Updated: ‘Secure Fences Work at White House’

Barack Obama, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Technology

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Jon Feere of the The Center for Immigration Studies exposes the hypocrisy of the man who’s entrusted with the protection of his countrymen. That goes for the previous occupant of the heavily fortified White House:

“Open-border advocates often claim that fences don’t work. Why, then, does the White House have a secure, dual perimeter fence (both metal and ‘virtual’) and limited points of entry—with officials doing quick background checks at each?

Answer: Because fences work to filter the good from the bad. This fact was just illustrated at the White House yesterday when two illegal aliens attempted to enter the premises for a tour. The individuals were taken into custody after a routine background check by the Secret Service uncovered that they had outstanding immigration orders against them.

So the President is safe, but what about the rest of us?

It’s not that difficult to imagine such a system along our national borders. Is it too much to ask that our government protect those of us not fortunate enough to live in a gated community?”

Updated: Myron, how genteel. Sean, also in the business of designing all those signal things, laughed at the notion of a virtual fence. Unlike a dog, man will not turn and run from high-frequency signals. As Sean quipped: the sturdy illegal will stuff earplugs in his ears and march on. Unless you have a physical presence to turn back flesh-and-blood people, signals are worth squat.

Dazed And Confused

Debt, Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Media, Socialism

Glenn Beck “interviewed” these two Keynesian clowns, without so much as challenging them. Beck wanted to badly, but lacked the intellectual tools to counter their revival of Keynes’s anodyne “Animal Spirits” concept.

Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism, By George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller, is being studied and followed by Obama.

As is my habit, I preempted this issue some time ago in “Voodoo Child Talks Up A Storm”:

“The Economist’s A-Z of Economics quotes Keynes’ convoluted explanation of the concept of ‘animal spirits.’ I won’t; like his theorizing, Keynes’ writing is incoherent. (See for yourself.) So too is ‘Economics A-Z’ perplexed by Keynes’ whimsy: ‘Where these animal spirits come from is something of a mystery. Certainly, attempts by politicians and others to talk up confidence by making optimistic noises about economic prospects have rarely done much good.'”

“Because consumption is its be-all and end-all, consumer confidence is crucial to the Cult of Keynes. If the consumer is not crazy confident—even when he ought not to be—goes the ‘thinking,’ he’ll quit consuming until he drops. In short, our economic animists are hoping that the holy spirit of ‘confidence’ will enter the once bitten, twice shy lender, and make him lend. The same spell is supposed to mysteriously move the unemployed and penniless to spend.

I sincerely hope not.”

Had Glenn read the column, he might have had a bit of an angle. Is it my imagination, or is “Good Guy Glenn” becoming a lot like O’Reilly: guest are welcomed on so that he can talk at them/bounce his “ideas” off them, as they smile, nod and say stuff like, “Good question/you raise an important point.”

Updated: ‘He One Holy Roller’

Constitution, Democrats, Ethics, Federalism, Individual Rights, Iraq, Law, Morality, Neoconservatism, Political Philosophy, Republicans

Another of my archaic titles (it hails from the Beatles’ “Come Together“).

Speaking at Notre Dame, “America’s leading Roman Catholic university,” President Obama called on the factions warring over abortion to come together and find common grounds.

“So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term.”

I agree. In their lyrics, the Beatles exhorted, “Come Together Right Now Over Me.” Make it, “Come Together Right Now Over the Constitution.”

There is no warrant in the constitution for or against abortion, adultery, homo-or hetero marriage, etc.

Quaint, I know, but to the federal government were delegated only limited and enumerated powers (Article I, Section 8):

The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Yet pro-life advocates want to force their way on the rest through a constitutional amendment. And pro-choice agitators wish to compel the country—and their countrymen who oppose the procedure—to pay for abortions.

Obama is no constitutional scholar although he is touted as one. But he should know that the Constitution proscribes his meddling and prescribes, via the brilliant Tenth Amendment, a perfectly good solution: Leave it to the states and the individuals concerned (and let them pay out-of pocket).

Would that pro-life types fussed as much over fully formed, innocent human beings (such as those who’ve perished in Iraq) as they do over fetuses. Republicans sure showed their contempt for life in their enthusiasim for the carnage visited on Iraqis.

Come to think of it, the culture of life never seems to extend beyond a claim of dominion over another human being’s body.

Update (May 19): I’ve posted this Iraq notice before, but judging from the letters received, retention is non-existent. So here goes again:

A note to the neoconservatives who frequent this site, and post their ill-formulated fulminations vis-a-vis the war on Iraq: That war is not going to be adjudicated again here, not ever. I chronicled the invasion of Iraq at great length, applying fact and every ounce of reason in my possession to repudiate and denounce that war crime. The case is closed! Neoconservative ideologues stand in the dock for aiding and abetting a war crime. The lazy neoconservative can read my archive on the topic. While I can imagine these ideologues urgently need to make peace with their maker, or consciences, for their role in a crime of such moral and material magnitude, they will not do so on my private property!

Updated: Farewell Farrah

Celebrity, Healthcare, Pop-Culture, Science, Sex

I watched “Farrah’s Story” on NBC. I was expecting the worst. I watched, I guess, because Farrah Fawcett was such an icon.

There is already in-fighting over the production. To be expected.

The film follows Farrah’s diary, which is both poignant and quite well-written.

In its review, the New York Post makes a point I expected to echo here, but I’m not, because I did not get the sense that,

“It does not register with [Farrah] that her wealth and fame, which afford her private jets to Germany and an international team of doctors, are unavailable to the vast majority of cancer sufferers, and that, if not for her station in life, she would not have had extra time. She does not seem to wrestle, at all, with the notion that there may be some experiences best kept private, that the unintended consequences of oversharing can be a cheapening and coarsening of the most meaningful moments.”

Fair enough. (Update: May 17) The docudrama is in the tradition described above. However, one need not resort to such a formulaic verdict when the overall effect departs from the usual Oprah menagerie of moral degenerates. Fawcett is a nice lady; she was not over-dramatic or emotional.

One of the idiots that writes at Fox News.com dubbed Fawcett a “starlet” in what was a “straightforward” news story. The woman who pulled off “Extremities” and “Burning Bed” had become a bit more than a “starlet.” So, that was not entirely warranted, but maybe I just have a soft spot for someone who “came across as a nice Texan girl.”

Farrah’s Story was so obviously Farrah’s trip—her tribute to herself—and it worked.

However, if Fawcett meant to be an advocate for American patients, she failed miserably. The treatment modalities she availed herself of in Germany are banned in the US by the fascistic FDA. In the United States, legitimate, medical procedures are thus labeled “alternative treatments.” Decent advocacy would have broached this aspect of the disease and the treatment. I have no doubt that the problem of FDA approval—a process that kills—applies to other diseases and treatment options.

But mostly, not a word was said about the horrible, yet extremely rare, disease Farrah has: anal cancer.

Without wading into this indelicate topic, risk factors include:

* Being over 50 years old.
* Being infected with human papillomavirus (HPV).
* Having many sexual partners.
* Having receptive anal intercourse (anal sex).*
* Smoking cigarettes.

In 2008, there were only 5,070 new cases, and 680 Deaths. That would have been an important bit of information to impart to viewers. (Update: May 17) The FDA kills more people in a year by proscribing new treatments and new drugs.

Prevention follows from the risk factors.

* I first found out that heterosexuals engage in this perversion when I arrived in North America. I was already a married woman with a 12-year-old daughter. South Africa was a blissfully conservative country.