Staples just sent me an ad for $50 off this hard drive. It's a 500GB external drive, which, with the rebate, comes to $120. Seems to me that the prices are getting a bit close to zero these days! Inflation may be increasing, but it's not stopping the march of progress in lowering prices.
And yet... I wonder if some health cost issues are similar? People say drugs are more expensive today, but I think they're just talking about new drugs. I'm willing to bet that drugs haven't increased in price a bit in 10 years if one were willing to use the drugs available 10 years ago. Perhaps the the cost of drugs to receive the best available today should not be compared to the overall cost of drugs from 10 years ago. The inflated cost may be the result of "newer and better." If you want the same old 10-years-out-of-date drugs, I'm sure you can get them cheaply today. (I'm not saying expired, just the same drugs available then.) If you want drugs from the '90s, expect to have a '90s lifespan as well. Sort of like a computer form a decade ago... today charities don't even accept them.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
The right response
Obama's advisor who called Hillary a monster has resigned.
Congratulations are in order to Obama's camp for the rapid recognition of the inappropriateness of this comment, the immediate apology, and the resignation of the offending party. I am honestly proud of this response, which would be expected from a principled candidate running a principled campaign. I am not an Obama supporter, but this is the single most impressive item of integrity I have seen coming from his camp to date. It is the correct response of a politician who does not approve of what his advisor said in front of the media. It is the standard for the industry.
On a separate note, does this portend a joint ticket of Obama and Hillary (I don't know yet which one leading)? Certainly one could not have a joint ticket if one were to support an advisor who called one's president or vice-president a monster. Of course, if Reagan-Bush tells us anything about political bedfellows, one may say "voodoo economics" and still work for the shaman in charge.
Congratulations are in order to Obama's camp for the rapid recognition of the inappropriateness of this comment, the immediate apology, and the resignation of the offending party. I am honestly proud of this response, which would be expected from a principled candidate running a principled campaign. I am not an Obama supporter, but this is the single most impressive item of integrity I have seen coming from his camp to date. It is the correct response of a politician who does not approve of what his advisor said in front of the media. It is the standard for the industry.
On a separate note, does this portend a joint ticket of Obama and Hillary (I don't know yet which one leading)? Certainly one could not have a joint ticket if one were to support an advisor who called one's president or vice-president a monster. Of course, if Reagan-Bush tells us anything about political bedfellows, one may say "voodoo economics" and still work for the shaman in charge.
And I thought I partied hard...
Apparently you can get much more alcohol into your bloodstream if you snort vodka instead of just drinking it. Is it classier if you do the shot with a straw up your nose? I guess I'm just a vodka lightweight with my Ketel One chilled in a martini glass.
And the drinking game's called "Gas Chamber!" Sweet!
(Don't misunderstand, real gas chambers aren't cool, but as a name for a drinking game... awesome)
And the drinking game's called "Gas Chamber!" Sweet!
(Don't misunderstand, real gas chambers aren't cool, but as a name for a drinking game... awesome)
Panic! Panic, panic, panic...
Unemployment dipped to 4.8% and 63,000 jobs went up in smoke. What does that mean?!? You read that correctly. A higher percentage of people who want employment are now able to find it. And there were wage gains, too. But fewer jobs. Apparently fewer people want to work right now. This means that fewer workers than last month were looking for employment and unable to find it, while at the same time, people with jobs earned slightly more. Sure, losing jobs is bad news, but seriously, when, in the entirety of US history, has there been under 5% unemployment with wage growth and everyone is screaming recession? We may go into a recession, but if this is what recession looks like, we've become a bunch of wimps. I'm still waiting for our first quarter of negative growth.
I agree, recession is likely to arrive, but ups and downs are a natural part of markets and economies. But if we call this a recession and panic, I expect heads will start exploding if we are visited by a real economic downturn, with 10% unemployment and GDP growth that ACTUALLY drops below zero.
Some perspective please. Let's try not to go to the emergency room when the weather's cold and our noses start to drip. Runny noses and cold weather are a part of life. It's not the plague, at least not yet.
I agree, recession is likely to arrive, but ups and downs are a natural part of markets and economies. But if we call this a recession and panic, I expect heads will start exploding if we are visited by a real economic downturn, with 10% unemployment and GDP growth that ACTUALLY drops below zero.
Some perspective please. Let's try not to go to the emergency room when the weather's cold and our noses start to drip. Runny noses and cold weather are a part of life. It's not the plague, at least not yet.
Hamas Heroes Pt.2
Does it take courage to give one's life for a cause? I think so. But please, think a bit first. Getting killed while killing a bunch of students who are studying the bible? You absolute moron! Courage? Yes. Glory? None. Pathetic. If that's glory, would Hamas would have been prouder if he'd gone to a nursery and killed dozens of babies? It's not like they wouldn't have grown up to become Israelis who'd fight and be a part of Israel's government through their voting and taxes.
I'm unimpressed. Glory in war comes from extraordinary courage or success, and probably many other things that don't roll off the tongue so easily. Falling on a grenade or taking out an enormous number of enemy soldiers before succumbing to your wounds, that sort of thing. I think it is past time that Hamas reconsidered acting as though enemy civilians are soldiers. It is hard to imagine the atrocities the Israelis would create if they treated the civilians in Gaza as soldiers as well. There would be Israeli heroes who had killed thousands of enemy combatants with the push of a button and a well placed bomb. We should all be thankful that this answer to the heroes of Hamas is unacceptable to the Israelis, but none should be more thankful than the Palestinians.
I'm unimpressed. Glory in war comes from extraordinary courage or success, and probably many other things that don't roll off the tongue so easily. Falling on a grenade or taking out an enormous number of enemy soldiers before succumbing to your wounds, that sort of thing. I think it is past time that Hamas reconsidered acting as though enemy civilians are soldiers. It is hard to imagine the atrocities the Israelis would create if they treated the civilians in Gaza as soldiers as well. There would be Israeli heroes who had killed thousands of enemy combatants with the push of a button and a well placed bomb. We should all be thankful that this answer to the heroes of Hamas is unacceptable to the Israelis, but none should be more thankful than the Palestinians.
Hamas Heroes - An extended commentary
"The Hamas movement announces its full responsibility for the Jerusalem operation," a Hamas official told Reuters in Gaza. A Hamas operative successfully killed 8 students before being killed himself.
Let's be clear on what has happened here:
A sovereign government (Hamas in Gaza), in prosecuting a war against another sovereign government (Israel), successfully infiltrated a soldier across the border into a school in Israel and killed 8 civilians (students at the school) before the soldier was killed himself. Hamas is celebrating this action and has labeled the soldier a hero.
I believe everyone (both Hamas and Israel) agree that this is what occurred.
The Israeli government and Hamas are at war. I cannot see this described any other way when one side of a conflict is celebrating the intentional and planned death of another nation's civilians by it own soldiers. It seems, based on this admitted and intentional action, that there is nothing Hamas is unwilling to do to the Israeli populace in an effort to achieve its goals. I have intentionally left out the reasons for this war, whether the action was in response to other actions by Israel, whether the nation or the border itself is legitimate, whether Jews should be allowed to live in the Middle East (or at all), or any of the muddier aspects of this conflict. I am focusing purely on the act itself, which was specific and achieved an intentional result.
I am not a military strategist, but I am willing to assume that Hamas is achieving some military goal through this soldier's act. Perhaps this it will be this act, when combined with many other acts and a successful overall strategy, that will win the war for Hamas. Let's assume this is true. Let's give Hamas the benefit of the doubt and assume that this sort of action leads to less bloodshed in the long run and will give the Palestinian people the land and lives they believe they have always deserved. That this act will lead to justice for the Palestinian people as they see and desire it. If this is true, we may continue to condemn the action, but we cannot reasonably expect Hamas to remove this military option from the table or cease this strategy.
But I don't like it. I think killing civilians, with the intention of killing civilians, is utterly reprehensible. So the question becomes, "How can this strategy be removed from the table?" Obviously, this strategy forwards the goals of Hamas or they wouldn't be doing it, admitting it, or celebrating it.
I have the obvious answer. Whatever actions Israel has been taking to prevent this strategy are not working. These actions will not work until Hamas says, "We will not try to kill Israeli civilians," or at least "The soldier who crossed the border was not ours," as Iran says on a regular basis in Iraq. To get Hamas to say this requires Israel to bring Hamas to the negotiating table, even while the nations are at war. These negotiations will be over how the war will be prosecuted. Since Hamas will never voluntarily go to the negotiating table, it would require Israel to negotiate unilaterally until Hamas comes around. For example, if Israel said, "Every time a soldier comes from Gaza, successfully kills Israeli civilians, and is admitted to by Hamas, the nation of Israel will react by notifying the populace of the the first town on list A, that they have one week to evacuate before the town becomes a replica of Dresden." This sort of strategy was very effective in ending the resistance of the Japanese (who intended to fight to the last man) to coming to the negotiating table at the end of World War 2. Japan had suicide bombers of their own and a tremendous devotion to their cause. After "Fat Man" landed on Nagasaki, the Japanese lost their will to fight.
Of course, Israel can afford to be kinder and allow residents to evacuate before obliterating a town. I have a suspicion that by the time the 4th or 5th militarily strategic town had been razed to the ground, Hamas would no longer be sending soldiers into Israel.
Is this a moral solution? Not great. Is this an acceptable answer? Maybe. Is this overkill? Very likely. Would this create a humanitarian disaster? Probably a small scale disaster. Is it morally reprehensible to destroy civilian property (and likely unintentionally kill civilians in the process)? I think so. I think this may not work at all. But what is clear is that, for Hamas to stop attacking Israeli civilians, the strategy of killing civilians must be shown to be a losing strategy. Hamas must WANT to stop killing civilians, even though it may mean they are losing what they have considered a effective strategy to prosecute their war with Israel. Ideally Israel should not lose its own humanity in the process.
If the USA had not dropped atom bombs on Japan in 1945, how many more lives would have been lost? Those cities were both strategic and civilian targets. The issues involved here are far from clear. I just can't get past the idea that the Rape of Nanking or the intentional execution of civilians by Hamas is a strategy that should be allowed to survive in war during the "Pax Americana." As Churchill observed, history is written by the victors, and I'm awfully glad we won that one.
Let's be clear on what has happened here:
A sovereign government (Hamas in Gaza), in prosecuting a war against another sovereign government (Israel), successfully infiltrated a soldier across the border into a school in Israel and killed 8 civilians (students at the school) before the soldier was killed himself. Hamas is celebrating this action and has labeled the soldier a hero.
I believe everyone (both Hamas and Israel) agree that this is what occurred.
The Israeli government and Hamas are at war. I cannot see this described any other way when one side of a conflict is celebrating the intentional and planned death of another nation's civilians by it own soldiers. It seems, based on this admitted and intentional action, that there is nothing Hamas is unwilling to do to the Israeli populace in an effort to achieve its goals. I have intentionally left out the reasons for this war, whether the action was in response to other actions by Israel, whether the nation or the border itself is legitimate, whether Jews should be allowed to live in the Middle East (or at all), or any of the muddier aspects of this conflict. I am focusing purely on the act itself, which was specific and achieved an intentional result.
I am not a military strategist, but I am willing to assume that Hamas is achieving some military goal through this soldier's act. Perhaps this it will be this act, when combined with many other acts and a successful overall strategy, that will win the war for Hamas. Let's assume this is true. Let's give Hamas the benefit of the doubt and assume that this sort of action leads to less bloodshed in the long run and will give the Palestinian people the land and lives they believe they have always deserved. That this act will lead to justice for the Palestinian people as they see and desire it. If this is true, we may continue to condemn the action, but we cannot reasonably expect Hamas to remove this military option from the table or cease this strategy.
But I don't like it. I think killing civilians, with the intention of killing civilians, is utterly reprehensible. So the question becomes, "How can this strategy be removed from the table?" Obviously, this strategy forwards the goals of Hamas or they wouldn't be doing it, admitting it, or celebrating it.
I have the obvious answer. Whatever actions Israel has been taking to prevent this strategy are not working. These actions will not work until Hamas says, "We will not try to kill Israeli civilians," or at least "The soldier who crossed the border was not ours," as Iran says on a regular basis in Iraq. To get Hamas to say this requires Israel to bring Hamas to the negotiating table, even while the nations are at war. These negotiations will be over how the war will be prosecuted. Since Hamas will never voluntarily go to the negotiating table, it would require Israel to negotiate unilaterally until Hamas comes around. For example, if Israel said, "Every time a soldier comes from Gaza, successfully kills Israeli civilians, and is admitted to by Hamas, the nation of Israel will react by notifying the populace of the the first town on list A, that they have one week to evacuate before the town becomes a replica of Dresden." This sort of strategy was very effective in ending the resistance of the Japanese (who intended to fight to the last man) to coming to the negotiating table at the end of World War 2. Japan had suicide bombers of their own and a tremendous devotion to their cause. After "Fat Man" landed on Nagasaki, the Japanese lost their will to fight.
Of course, Israel can afford to be kinder and allow residents to evacuate before obliterating a town. I have a suspicion that by the time the 4th or 5th militarily strategic town had been razed to the ground, Hamas would no longer be sending soldiers into Israel.
Is this a moral solution? Not great. Is this an acceptable answer? Maybe. Is this overkill? Very likely. Would this create a humanitarian disaster? Probably a small scale disaster. Is it morally reprehensible to destroy civilian property (and likely unintentionally kill civilians in the process)? I think so. I think this may not work at all. But what is clear is that, for Hamas to stop attacking Israeli civilians, the strategy of killing civilians must be shown to be a losing strategy. Hamas must WANT to stop killing civilians, even though it may mean they are losing what they have considered a effective strategy to prosecute their war with Israel. Ideally Israel should not lose its own humanity in the process.
If the USA had not dropped atom bombs on Japan in 1945, how many more lives would have been lost? Those cities were both strategic and civilian targets. The issues involved here are far from clear. I just can't get past the idea that the Rape of Nanking or the intentional execution of civilians by Hamas is a strategy that should be allowed to survive in war during the "Pax Americana." As Churchill observed, history is written by the victors, and I'm awfully glad we won that one.
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