Analytics & Payroll loses to Talent & Drive

Congratulations to the Houston Astros for their victory in the 2017 MLB World Series game seven last night.  I live in Southern California, but I've not embraced the SD Padres as my "home team" yet, since I am a life-long Chicago Cubs fan.  The Cubs won last year...  after 108 years of trying... which apparently opened a trans dimensional portal that let a racist, xenophobic, ignorant, non-reading 10 year old in a 70 year old's carcass, with Vladimir Putin's direct assistance, become President of the United States.  The Cubs can wait another few dozen years before trying to win again - I don't want them to become the universally hated NY Yankees who have been to 40 of the 113 World Series (winning 27 of them).  The Houston Astros had never won a World Series, and it'd been 55 years since they were formed as a team...  so it was about time (even though I will ALWAYS think of the Astros as a National League team, as they've been the majority of my 1/2 century of life).

My actual Cub's hat, bought before they won the World Series in 2016

While the Houston Astros Did rely partly upon analytics, they had been drafting and recruiting some of the best players in major league baseball for years.  They wanted it.  They worked hard for it.  And their manager "could talk analytics all day long, but more often went with his gut and what the situation required" (I heard during Game 6's broadcast, Joe Buck saying it, I think).  The Brooklyn Dodgers... I mean LA Dodgers, paid millions of dollars for analytics, had The Largest payroll in all of MLB, were in the 2nd largest media market, but had worked out a despicable cable deal that MOST of the Dodgers home games Could Not Be Televised in LA when the stadium in Chavez Ravine that seats 56,000 was not sold out - the largest stadium in all of MLB, beating the damn Yankees by 3000 seats.  When the camera panned over the crowds during foul balls, you could see 1/3rd of the most expensive box seats showing EMPTY blue seat backs during Game Seven of the World Series!  EMPTY Seats!?!?  Wrigley Field only had empty seats during the World Series in 2016 from people using the bathroom, and it was < < much less than 5% of all box seats, even when some of those seats were going for $2000 each.

Thanks Jen for the gif!

So the Cubs had been the proverbial underdogs, and they won last year.  The Astros were the underdogs this year, and they won.  I'm a habitual under-dog supporter...  which I partially attribute to going to more than a dozen games at Wrigley as a kid (two of the three games I went to at Comiskey Park ended up with our vehicle being broken into... and the third one, my older brother and his friends picked up a Ford Escort and turned it 90 degrees onto the side walk so that our car would fit... they were very big boys).

Now,  you maybe asking yourself: "Why does JustJoeP oppose analytics so much?" Well, I credit that to my 20 years of working at one of the world's largest companies, where we made model after model to predict how the systems and components would perform in the field, how well they would be able to be repaired, how many times they could be repaired, when they'd need to be repaired, and when they would stop working for our customers.  It was Big Data, little data, good data, bad data. comprehensive data, partial data... and all that data was scrutinized by dozens of mathematics PhDs, data analysts, and engineers to come up with complex analytics that were supposed to add tremendous value, both for the company I worked for And for their customers.  Sadly, after more than a decade of trying to apply these analytics, revising and revising them, combing and scrutinizing the data and transfer functions repeatedly... the analytics Could Not Replace subject matter expertise; AKA experience.

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) like myself were leveraged to make better models, sort & parse data, review repair reports, outage reports, customer issues, design reviews, root cause analysis... but no matter how hard we tried, and how many times we revised models, they still were far off the mark, much too conservative, or far too liberal, rarely ever accurate on predicting reality.  It was a Very Complex environment, with a very complex product and no two customers were the same or operated identically, that the analytic models Could Not Cope With the all of the Variation accurately - much like MLB!  Sure, if you start and stop very few times, and operate in a gingerly, gentle, non-stressful mode, the models worked marvelously!  But that was less than 5% of the all the customers, so the models and their predictions were virtually worthless in the big picture.   But saying that, admitting it publicly, was as deadly as saying that the Emperor had no clothes, when 99.997% of the sycophants had been telling the Emperor how amazing and awesome his clothes really were.

On a post-script, I do not and will not watch Wisdom of the Crowd as Crowds, by definition, are pretty emotional, stupid / ignorant / misinformed, reactionary, and prone to herd mentality.  Similarly, the same goes for the majority of analytics.  In limited applications, for narrow goals, Big Data Can Be useful, and perhaps partially accurate.  But in the Vast Majority of situations, applications, and concepts, data analytics usually don't have accurate predictions or reliable results.  Junk in = junk out.  Getting all the data "in" to be pristine, relevant, and representative of what is going to happen in the future is expensive, time consuming, and virtually impossible.  Anyone who tells you differently, is lying.

States Closing Interstate Rest Stops Trending

As I drove nearly 2500 miles across the United States on February 11th, 12th, and 13th, I found a disturbing trend in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina: closed interstate rest stops.  It got to the point that after the sun rose on the 11th, that I gave up hoping to find an open rest stop at which I could empty my bladder, and instead drank less water so that I could time my bath room breaks around gasoline refills, every 300 to 400 miles.  Yes, at 80 mph (most of those states the speed limit was 75 mph) that's every 3 and a half to 4 hours of uncomfortable, dehydrated, kidney stressing driving.

Taken, after the third time I found a rest stop closed along my journey across Southern Umerikah

Why does it matter if an interstate rest stop is closed?  Well, drivers like me, who were headed across country, don't get a chance to look around at the beautiful state for a moment.  There's no chance to stretch your legs, avoid deep vein thrombosis, or chuckle at a sign that warns people that rattlesnakes might be near, and to watch where they walk their dogs.  Seeing a closed interstate rest stops also sends several messages to the driver:
1) this state doesn't care about visitors, doesn't welcome them, and is not hospitable
2) this state doesn't care about infrastructure, and if they can't afford to maintain a simple rest stop, how bad of shape do you think their bridges and roads are in?
3) the legislatures of this state incorrectly believe that everything is better provided by the private sector, including things like imaginary free rest rooms, which typically don't exist, since most merchants want you to buy something from their store if you're going to use their rest room facilities (and me, see... I brought my own water, almonds, grass fed beef jerky, and macadamia nuts, so there was no need to stop and purchase snacks along the way; the focus was on maximizing driven miles efficiency, and not lolly gagging around to turn a 3 day cross country trip into a 4 day trip)

Now I guess, it is possible, that some states may have thought that they had "too many" interstate rest stops, and so they were reducing the number of them and trying to improve the remaining ones, to better serve the traveling public.  Possible, but unlikely, since in Arizona along I-8 and I-10, I found exactly 2 rest stops open. New Mexico, one at the border with 2 others closed.  Texas, along I-10, for 12 hours of driving, only 1 open rest stop.  Louisiana, only 1 (but I was driving late at night through the commonwealth, and wasn't going to stop anyways).  Mississippi and Alabama I did not stay long enough in to warrant any stops.  Florida had 10X more state troopers looking for speeders than it had open rest stops.  And my former home state of South Carolina, where I had lived for 16 years all-together since getting out of college, had been closing rest stops on I-85 and I-26 for more than the last decade, dedicating the funds that used to go to maintaining rest stops towards tax cuts for the upper 1% of the population.

Ironically, before I headed out on my cross country journey, I had thought (as I was falling asleep the night before) "maybe I should download an ap to show me where each of the interstate rest stops would be, to plan rest room breaks proactively?"  I am glad I didn't waste my time or data to do so, since such an ap would have been utterly useless, or grossly misleading.

Thanks Republican Legislatures, all (link here).  It's fantastic how you're looking out for the little guy, the retired travelers (oh, I saw & passed my fair share of people Much Older than me along I-8, 10, and 95 on my way to Charleston), and visitors to your states.  Awesome "first impressions" you're making.  Very progressive tax policies and how you apply those funds to up-keep your states.

I doubt Umerikah will ever wake up...  just a string of anecdotes, shouted out into the void, amounting to candidates like Trump, Cruz, Carson, and Rubio... gerrymandered into local districts paid for by Koch Industries super pac funding & analysis...  sad.

Driving While Black & Not Using Your Turn Signal, Deadly in Texas

The death of Sandy Bland in Waller Texas is senseless, despicable, and never should have happened.  Being taken into custody for "failure to use her turn signal"?  Seriously?

She "had been was combative on the side of the road" Sheriff Glen Smith told a reporter.
Salon link here: http://www.salon.com/2015/07/16/video_shows_that_african_american_woman_who_died_in_custody_did_not_assault_an_officer_as_police_claimed/

If you pulled me over for failure to use my turn signal, and asked me to step out of the car, I would have been verbally and physically very unreceptive.  Really, a turn signal violation?  If Sandy Bland had been a rich white woman, she'd be alive today.  She either would never have been pulled over, or an expensive lawyer would have been secured on July 10th when she taken to the county jail; she would have posted bond, and she would have posted on The FaceBook about how inappropriate the sheriff's deputies had been in pulling her over in the first place for something that everyone has done at least one forgetfully, or frequently done willfully.  Forgetting to use a turn signal is not a reason to get a ticket (a warning, maybe, sure), or to be taken out of your car, or to be thrown to the ground and knelt upon by an obese sheriff's deputy, or to be put in jail, or to remain in lock-up for 3 days.

I Do Not Know if Sandy Bland committed suicide or if someone came into her cell and strangled her with the plastic bag.  I think the former is unlikely and the latter is pure evil.  Hopefully a ligitimate coroner's inquest will get to the facts clearly, and quickly.  I Do Know that there was no reason to pull her out of her car, to incarcerate her, or to leave her in a jail cell for 3 days.  Write her a warning or a full fledged ticket Sheriff Glen Smith (which she could have fought in court), Even If she is being resentful or verbally combative or physically resisting the sheriff's deputy's draconian behavior.

Despicable.

Yeah, we live in a "post racial era".  Right.

How Many People Did Jade Helm Round Up?

The answer is simple: ZERO.
The right wing conspiracy machine was in full "crazy mode" to claim that the US military, Walmart, and President Obama were planning on declaring marshal law and taking over Texas & Utah.  Ridiculous and insane, but given full credit & weight by MANY Republican presidential candidates who want to play to the extreme right primary base who come out to vote like fire ants whose nest has been stepped on by a black booted Federal government thug.

If you don't know what "Jade Helm" is, the CS Monitor back in May laid it out nicely. (link here)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2015/0505/What-is-Jade-Helm-15-and-should-Chuck-Norris-be-worried-video

If you don't remember how Cruz and Paul and most of the Republican field reacted back in May, the internet does.  (link here).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-stanford/the-pentagons-response-to_b_7251254.html

"J.E.Dyer" foretold of terrible things to come at "Liberty Unyielding".  Fool.

If you'd like to see a Map of "Operation Jade Helm" I've included one below.

To see how many people have been rounded up, and how many Counties and States have had marshal law imposed on them (staring today, July 15th, of course) read here (link).
http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/national/wire/civilians-begin-shadowing-jade-helm-war-exercise-in-texas/article_f3e54fa9-4b0d-5dbc-94e4-2ac1de1a6b0e.html

Yeah, "I've got some concerns" and "questions remain" ...  yes, like "how did you ever get elected, Ted?"

I am so glad I don't live in a backwards, regressive, insane Red State Dumbphukistan anymore.

Louie Gohmert is Ferengi

Stephen Colbert (I am going to miss him after December 18th) revealed this week, that anachronism Louie Gohmert (Texas's First District congressman) is actually Ferengi.  So insightful!  Why had I not seen it earlier?

Backyard Eggs - Pasture Raised

Back in September I wrote here about Vital Farm's Pasture Raised Organic Eggs (link here).  At WholePaycheck they have a slightly less expensive (a dollar less per dozen) variant called "Backyard Eggs".  Also pasture raised.  Also raised at Vital farms.  Also certified humane.  But instead of "organic" these are "non GMO verified".  Hmmm...

So instead of organic (which also, by default, means the foods they are fed are not laden with antibiotics, HFCS, and other fake foods) these humanely raised hens are fed non-genetically modified corn and other feeds, while running around their 108 square foot 'pasture' enclosure.  A wee bit bigger than 10 x 10 foot...  sounds like a mighty small pasture.

Then I see that Vital is headquartered in Austin TX (a nice town), but the eggs are packed in Summers Arkansas, by the Arkansas Egg company...   hmmm.  I DO like not having chicken feces on my eggs when I take them out of the carton - something that is NOT guaranteed to happen when you get them from the Farmer's Market, and pretty much guaranteed to be dirty if you get duck eggs at a market anywhere.

Since the Sunday Morning Laguna Niguel farmer's market is a short bike ride away, and WholePaycheck is 4x farther away down a very busy & congested road, I think I will stick with sourcing my eggs from the farmer's market, and only use Vital as a "fall back" contingency.  The Saturday Morning Dana Point farmer's market has 100, 300, and 3000 hen options for chicken ranchers, if I am down near the beach on Saturday morning - just have to remember to take a cooler in the car.

Minorities Today, Gays Tomorrow

SCOTUS today struck down the key enforcement clause in the voting rights act.  John Roberts handed Reince Priebus exactly what Republican state legislatures have been working so hard to do: suppress the minority vote.  It's not a big surprise, since Roberts has wanted to do this since he was a lawyer int he Bush whitehouse.  Sad how the voting rights act was last renewed 98-2 in the Senate, and +400-30 in the House, but can be struck down because of 5 activist Republican "Justices".

Tomorrow, I would be VERY surprised if SCOTUS does not uphold DOMA, and rule against equal rights for gay couples.  While SCOTUS referenced an "antiquated map" in the voting rights case, there will probably be no mention of an antiquated paradigm.

Maybe the silver lining will be that these stupid states who keep voting against their own self interests, will begin to change their defective state legislatures and governors... but I doubt it.

Welcome back to the trends of the segregated 1950s....  =(

Some Weeks Are Better Than Others

Some weeks are better than others.  This was not one of them. 

When I don't know what to say, I look to music for inspiration.

Completely germane to the last 72 hours, is this classic from that Texas Surfer punk band I enjoy listening to:
link here
NOTE:  DO NOT listen to this if you have youngsters nearby who  can hear it & who are impressionable, and who do not yet have a colorful vocabulary. (lyrics here).  But I did not win the megamillions lottery...  so c'est la vie.

Also, relevant, are here, and here (both of THESE are 'child friendly' unlike the link to Texas gold above).

Time for another glass of wine (and it's well afternoon for me already... so it is not morning drinking).

Fuel, the #1 US EXPORT

Today, President Obama is at a Boeing plant, talking about jobs.  Aircraft used to be the largest US Export, back in 2008 and 2009, but not anymore.  Now, America's biggest export, is fuel.  Yep, The USA, who has 5% of the world's population, but who consumes 20% of the world's natural resources, is exporting more fuel - at record prices I might add - to the rest of the world than any other export, according to US Census data. (read about it here in the Boston Globe, here in the Pittsburgh Gazette, or here in USA Today). 

Why do we need the Keystone XL pipeline? For Exxon Mobile, Chevron and ConocoPhillips to make larger profits of course!  As Americans, we need to 'drill baby drill!' and get all that nasty, hard to extract Canadian oil sand contaminated crude pumped down to Texas, before our Canadian friends try to build a pipeline over the Rockies (and through Indian lands!) to sell it to China!

The US market is not so thirsty anymore, with all those pesky wind mills popping up, and all those efficient hybrid cars, and the rise in CAFE standards, as well as most Americans sinking lower in the 99% with less buying power to purchase ever more expensive gasoline & plane tickets.  It's in the USA's national interests to have XOM, CVX, and COP to rise as much as possible, and build share holder wealth.  Don't listen to all the malarkey about "Energy Independence" - yes, the US is still a net importer of crude oil, but we're refining more than we need and exporting it.  Exporting it to other countries who pay heavily for it, raising the share prices of the largest US refiners.  Who is making all this refined fuel?  Well, I'll show the top 25 here... so everyone can see my point.
RANK     CORPORATION                 Barrels per Calendar Day
1     EXXON MOBIL CORP     Texas     BAYTOWN         560,640    
2     EXXON MOBIL CORP     EBATON ROUGE             502,000    
3     HOVENSA LLC         KINGSHILL             500,000    
4     MARATHON OIL CORP     Louisiana     GARYVILLE     464,000    
5     CITGO PETROLEUM CORP     Louisiana     LAKE CHARLES     427,800    
6     BP PLC             Texas     TEXAS CITY         406,570    
7     BP PLC             Indiana     WHITING     405,000    
8     WRB REFINING LLC     Illinois     WOOD RIVER     362,000    
9     EXXON MOBIL CORP     Texas     BEAUMONT         344,500    
10     SUNOCO INC         Pennsylvania     PHILADELPHIA     335,000    
11     CHEVRON CORP         Mississippi     PASCAGOULA     330,000    
12     DEER PARK REFINING LTD     Texas     DEER PARK         327,000    
13     VALERO ENERGY CORP     Texas     PORT ARTHUR         292,000    
14     KOCH INDUSTRIES INC     Texas     CORPUS CHRISTI         290,078    
15     MOTIVA ENTERPRISES LLC     Texas     PORT ARTHUR         285,000    
16     ACCESS INDUSTRIES     Texas     HOUSTON         280,390    
17     CHEVRON CORP         California     EL SEGUNDO     273,000    
18     KOCH INDUSTRIES INC     Minnesota     SAINT PAUL     262,000    
19     BP PLC     BP West Coast     California     LOS ANGELES     253,000    
20     CONOCOPHILLIPS         Louisiana     BELLE CHASSE     247,000    
21     CONOCOPHILLIPS         Texas     SWEENY             247,000    
22     CHEVRON CORP         California     RICHMOND     245,271    
23     CONOCOPHILLIPS         Louisiana     WESTLAKE     239,400    
24     EXXON MOBIL CORP     Illinois     JOLIET         238,600    
25     CONOCOPHILLIPS         New Jersey     LINDEN         238,000

Perry Needs To Listen To Nixon

Mojo Nixon, that is....

"Now another thing is kinda gettin\' on my nerves...
another thing that\'s kinda gettin\' on my nerves is this
national 21 drinking age
Huh? what do ya think about that?
A bunch of malarky
whatever malarky is man
it\'s a whole bunch of it..
you know if Reagan finally gets the war he\'s lookin for
you think he\'s gonna be draftin\' 21 year olds?
No man they\'re gonna be draftin\' 18 and 19 year olds
but ya cant buy beer
you can get married and screw yourself up real good
but ya can\'t buy beer
ya can charge 8 million dollars on the mastercharge
but ya can\'t buy beer
you can vote for one fool or another
but ya can\'t buy beer
\'cause this is America"



The legal voting age in Umerika is 18, you Texas idiot.  No New Texans!

Rangers Lose game 6

Beers, Steers, and .... Texas rangers lose game 6 of the World Series, to a Cardinals Home Run in extra innings!!!
Yeeeeeeeeeee Haw!     Good night everybody!

Some Good From Irene

On Sunday night, Dr Desert Flower and I browsed through the "Meet The David Gregory" DVR recording we had, where Socialist Governor Chris Christie was talking about getting Federal aid for his state and working with FEMA.  Amazing to hear these Republican Governors like Seismic Anomaly Christie and The-Fundamentalist-Gift-That-Keeps-On-Giving-Perry so willingly taking Federal hand outs that they rail against and abhor whenever the money is going to another state or another emergency.  Such blatant self-serving hypocrisy.

At least ideologue Libertarian Extremist Ron Paul showed some consistency when he was heard on MSNBC Tuesday night talking about how 100 years ago communities used to rally together to 'build sea walls that are still standing today to protect against storms', doing all these kinds of things before there was a FEMA. Dr Paul stated the US should abolish the whole agency.  Yep Dr Rich-Guy-Paul, you and yours have no shortage of boot straps.  Maybe you could send some of them to Vermont, in an act of Charity?

Vice Presidents Huckabee & Brownback

Had John McCain picked someone electable for his running mate, I am NOT SURE that Barack Obama would have been elected president.  Huckabee actually won several state primaries and caucuses.  Brownback would have appealed to all the evangelicals and extreme right wingers who eventually became Tea Baggers.  Both Brownback and Huckabee would have energized their bases and might have gotten the more reasonable right wing to go out and vote.  Instead, McCain made the fatal flaw of picking a 1/2 term Governor, who had formerly been a mayor of a 2000 person rural city where there were no city services provided, a city known as the crack capital of Alaska.  The VP candidate he picked galvanized opposition from literate, intelligent, reasonable people, like librarians, teachers, professional females with college degrees of all sorts, moderates of all shapes and sizes.

I postulate here, as I watch the circular firing squad that the Republican Primary field of 2012 is presenting, that it was McCain's choice of Palin that sealed his fate as an unelectable moderate Republican.  McCain was the least undesirable of Republican candidates in 2008.  Yes, he had some terrible flip flops, lapses in judgments, and mis-statements, but he never believed Barack Obama was a secret Muslim, or that Barack Obama was not patriotic or that he hated America.  McCain corrected ignorant supporters who called then-candidate Obama a 'socialist' and 'secret Muslim' at his rallies.  Compared to the 2012 field of loons who are running, McCain presented a very reasonable choice.

Huntsman is reasonable, and therefore, in 2012, he will be unelectable.  Romney, though easily despised, completely artificial, and slippery enough to do ANYTHING to get people to like him, is still less electable today than McCain was in 2008.  Front runners Paul, Bachmann, and Dick Perry are each to the right of most of the wackiest 2008 candidates (with Perry again today, denying climate change, and wanting to abolish 80% of all Federal Revenue by abolishing Federal Income Tax, what an idiot!). 

There is the possibility that the GOP will come up with a reasonable candidate who can appeal to moderates and independents, but so far, no such person has shown his (or her) face or raised their hand.  Whoever that reasonable person Might be, will have their pick of extremist Tea Party courtiers who they can choose as a VP running mate.  Maybe they'll repeat McCain's fatal flaw of picking a loser who will seal their fate against the incumbent President.  Maybe they'll learn from previous history...  I dunno.

There is also the possibility that the GOP will field a reasonable (yet un-named candidate), AND the Tea Party crazed faction of the far right wing will field their own Tea Party Candidate as well, splitting the vote in a 3-way, 1992 Perot/Bush/Clinton-esque race (Perot was from Texas also).  There's not predicting what crazy people might do. 

And yes, I know that the Republicans are going to do everything in their power (in the majority in House of Representatives, and as the LARGE Minority in the Senate, and as rulers of the SCOTUS) to make things as bad as possible for all Americans leading up the November 2012 elections, saying "NO" to everything, not compromising on anything, and redefining the word "Despicable" ... but there's nothing we, as a nation, can do about it.   At least, not without a TARDIS.

(And Perry needs to stay off my radio, his hubris and hypocrisy is over-whelming: link here)

Read My Lips

Not Again...

 

We're still trying to recover from the last one's reign.

Ames-less

Devoutly fundamentalist, homophobic, quick creationist, foot-long loving, never-passed-a-single-piece-of-Congressional-legislation Michelle Bachmann Over-Drive won the Ames Iowa straw poll this weekend.  The VU meter below shows you how much I care.  Representative Bachmann can join the previous winners of the Ame's straw poll
- 1980 President George H Bush
- President Pat Robertson
- Presidents Bob Dole & Phil Gramm
- President Mitt Romney

Yeah, so very relevant.  But you say that Ames predicts the future Iowa Caucus winner and how that winner's momentum will carry them to the presidency of the United States? 

Sure, just talk to Presidents Dole and Huckabee.  They'll attest to how predictive the Iowa Caucuses are. 

Ron Paul gets no respect, coming in a close 2nd, and getting nearly no media coverage.  Sure Dr Paul, you're rich and your son (with his fake ophthalmology professional association he invented) are rich, and you've got the "I've got mine, screw everyone else" myopic libertarian philosophy that so many well-off Americans have [The other LARGE group of libertarians are stoners, who don't want the government regulating what they smoke... but outside of celebrities who are already rich, most stoners who partake on a daily basis will never become rich due to the relaxing, de-motivational, slacker enducing effects of cannibas consumption].  Ron Paul is not electable to national office.

Rick Perry's hypocrisy, devout right wing entrenchment, threats of secession, abysmal environmental record, flip-flopping on the HPV immunization of Texas teens, Texas's pathetic literacy & High School graduation rates, Texas's re-writing of history books, apocryphal religious embrace, and  previous endorsement of Al Gore, needs to be well publicized.  Perhaps a Perry / Bachmann ticket would be enough to galvanize sane and rational voters to turn out in 2012? 

If I was forced to live in a Republican Plutocracy, then a Romeny or Huntsman Plutocracy would be the least odious, since Huntsman is actually a moderate (and the least electable in a Republican primary) and Romney is a RINO who'll say anything to get elected, and then help his rich corporate friends get richer as he helps them to ship more jobs over seas in a shrinking domestic services-only economy.  I don't think either Mormon would turn the US into an evangelical fundamentalist 2nd world back-water.  Romney is like a cross between a used car salesman crossed with the guy who laid off your Uncle - Gordon Gecko & Guy Smiley hybrid, and just as appealing.  Huntsman at least is fluent in Mandarin, so he will be able to understand the new owners of America.

Yes, Famine Is Terrible, But...

Yes, famine is terrible, and seeing little children dieing of starvation and suffering is incredibly sad.  The effects of global climate change are showing up in disparate geographies as Texas and the Horn of East Africa, simultaneously.  Texas doesn't need to worry, soon-to-be-presidential-candidate Perry will be praying for Texas Saturday. That'll fix everything. (a commentator on NPR said earlier today that Perry would announce following the Iowa straw poll later this year, to steal the spotlight from the winner, but I cannot find a link to it).  But Somalia does not have a Perry to save them. Instead, they've got a group of brutal fundamentalists who terrorize the population (no, not Christian Evangelicals this time, instead they're fundamentalist Muslims), and an incredibly weak central government who takes a cut of Somali piracy ransoms and turns a cataract blind eye to it, while the population starves. It didn't have to be this way.
 



See, back in the George Bush I rule, the UN sent in troops to distribute aid to the Somali citizens who were starving in the early 90s.  Clinton continued to support this mission and had a large number of US Special forces deployed to Somalia.  Lots of aid was being distributed, and people were being helped... but the warlords were still skimming and terrorizing and causing problems.  So the US sent in a Delta Force team to get one of the most evil of the douche bags, Mohamed Farrah Aidid.  Aidid's militia were well equipped with RPGs, and they figured out if you fire enough RPGs at a Black Hawk helicopter, eventually, a few will hit and damage the helicopter.  Once the bird is down, the well fed, well paid, motivated militia can kill the US pilots and drag their bodies around Mogadishu as grotesque parade trophies.  1000s of Aidid's militia tried to do this, and around a 1000 of them were killed and several thousand were wounded by the Americans in the process.   While Aidid's men found the Pakistani armour to be easy targets (ambushing and killing 24 soldiers), the Americans were much tougher opponents, with a 55:1 kill ratio (1000 militia killed / 18 Americans killed).

After the bloody Battle of Mogadishu, Clinton withdrew all American forces, and for the last 18 years, Somalia has continued a slide into deeper anarchy, famine, piracy, corruption, terror, desperation, and fundamentalist rule.  Now, the UN has declared another full blown famine in Somalia, and Somali citizens are trying to flee their country into Kenya, while the Al Shabaab douche bags  (AKA Al Kabob here forward) harass, rape, and rob the citizens as they flee if they're not from the right "tribe". 

But the BBC, the EU, and the UN keep ratcheting up demands for aid to be sent to Somalia, to alleviate the suffering, and save lives.  Um, sure... that's a good idea..  right?  Today, proved my doubts were well founded, as Somali soldiers opened fire on citizens who tried to stop the soldiers from driving off with the food aid in military trucks while NGOs were trying to distribute it, killing seven of their fellow starving citizens.

There's no reason to send any American lives into that fray.  No US military. Not US State Department.  No one's sons or daughters from the US Peace Corp.  I'm sorry, it's very sad and terrible, and I know I probably sound quite heartless to say it, but feeding the Somali military and militia groups will only continue the suffering in that country.  Once there's no more non-combatants left in the drought stricken, fundamentalist ruled, famine blanketed horn of Africa, then the rapes, murders, robberies and death by starvation will decrease, and US drone strikes won't have to worry about taking out civilians because the only people left will be the bad guys who helped to bring these apocalyptic conditions upon themselves.    Let their Gawd save them.  I actually heard a BBC interview where a militia member said "that is imperialist food, we do not want it."  Fine Al Kabob.  Good luck with your ideology and belief system. 

Besides, the US is broke - we can't take care of our own poor, elderly, infirmed, wretched souls with the shortage of boot straps in the US economy currently.  We're much too busy protecting the rich - oops, I mean Job Creators [TM] - in the hopes that someday, they might actually create a job here or there.  Sending borrowed US treasure and precious US young people's blood to Al Kabob ruled Somalia, is about as sane and responsible as following what Freedom Works desires for America's future. 

Secessionist Perry Flexes His Execute Prerogative Again

Secessionist Rick Perry, after threatening to have Texas secede from the union, now wants Texas Airports exempt from Federal Law (link here).  He's unconvinced that TSA has any authority in his Republic, and has called the Texas legislation back into special session to pass a bill that would make TSA screeners in Texas airports subject to $4000 fines and imprisonment for following TSA pat down rules.

Now, the funny thing about this, is I hate the pat down rules.  I've experienced them in Salt Lake City when I opted out of the x-ray screen and got felt-up, tickled, in-seam checked by the nitrile gloved TSA screener.  I am (or was) a frequent flier, who really does not want to keep getting full body x-rays.  I agree with Perry (something you'll rarely hear me say) that the TSA rules are rather draconian, and Dr Desert Flower and I watched a mom with 2 sippy-cup drinking toddlers getting intensely searched in Midway airport earlier this month during our Chicago trip - because you KNOW, a really DEVIOUS terrorist will hide explosive chemicals or irritants in toddler sippy cups, and EVERYONE needs to be checked.  Toddlers, barely ambulatory elderly, frequent fliers, everyone must be scrutinized... not just those who fit the profile of a potentially destructive terrorist, because that's the most efficient use of national resources, and keeps us "the most safe". 

But, even though I agree with Perry, I don't claim to supersede Federal authority, or claim the right to prosecute Federal agents who are doing their jobs - I'm not a Ruby Ridge or Waco advocate (hey, isn't Waco in Texas?), or an Oklahoma City violent and mentally ill objectionist.  No, I just comment, and make contrasting observations.  Perry, who has Presidential aspirations, feels he has the Gawd given duty to rescue his Republic from the tyranny of the Federal authorities.  Maybe after he leads Texas to secession, he can get several of the other red states to go with him, and be the King of Dumbphuckastan.  Then TSA would have no authority over his Republic, FEMA won't come bail his arse out when another hurricane or flood hits him, and flights from his un-screened Republic can be banned from connecting to the US?

4 More Republican Seats

Thanks to my buddy Mike S for pointing out this gem (link here) about how Texas is getting four more congressional seats, after that evil evil evil US Census that counted all the minorities across this great land.  But don't worry, friends of secessionist Rick Perry!  All of the new districts will be effectively gerrymandered to make sure that the single Democratic bastion of Austin, will continue to be eroded away at the edges, and all four new seats will be comfortably proportioned with Republican majorities!   Tom Delay may have been a terrible pest control company owner and despicable human being who was indicted and convicted on multiple crimes, but he Sure Did know how to gerrymander.. er.. I mean... redistrict, to keep the Republic of Texas free! Free from the intrusion of having to consider the less fortunate.  Free from Texans elected to federal offices who are to the left of Barry Goldwater. Free from the guilt of authentic history books, the scourge of worker's rights, and the influence of pesky elitists.


Gawd bless Texas!

Destined To Be Killed Over Texas

One day, I will be killed in the skies over Texas.  It will not be surprising to me.  Three trans-Texas flights this year, with 3 near misses.  It's not a coincidence anymore.

Enroute from Phoenix to Atlanta on Sunday, We were swinging a wide arc to the south to avoid a thunderstorm over Abilene (the same system that headed to SW Missouri and wiped out Joplin) when the pilot put on the "fasten your seat belt" sign.  Flight attendants all sat down, and it got a little bumpy.  I turned off my laptop to preserve the hard drive. No biggie, the turbulence went away mercifully and quickly for a pleasant change.  Then, as we passed the storm, the seat belt sign went off, and I resumed working on emails with my work computer.  In a Twilight Zone moment, I saw something flash out of the corner of my eye outside.  I looked to see a Gulfstream (G4 I think) jet, and it's contrail, Not Even TWO HUNDRED FEET BELOW us, on a course that was just 10 degrees off of a head-on-collision with DL1746!! The sun was setting behind us and to the port side slightly, and the G4 was heading directly into the setting sun, so it's raised tail section reflected spectacularly into my 2A window seat.  It passed by so fast (at a relative 1150 mph, our easterly 600 mph and the G4's westerly 550 at cruising altitude) that I did not get the plane's tail ID number (N_ _ _ _), but it was at least a 6 window-panes per side plane, slightly swept back wings, no wing-tip vertical turbulence reducers .. so maybe it was an older model for an aging millionaire.  As I looked back at the receding plane off the port side, we entered the smaller jet's wake turbulence for a moment of bumping. 

This is a disturbing trend over Texas, where it appears air traffic controllers don't want to "in fringe" on any pilot's right to fly as close to any other pilot's plane, or to scare the crap out of observant passengers.  We were at 35,000 feet cruising altitude, so any collision would have likely resulted in a massive dive - controlled or uncontrolled - and the likely death or injury of many passengers in the aging Delta 757-200 in which I was traveling.  A least he smaller private plane would have been obliterated, so the world would have had one fewer Texas millionaires / billionaires.