Archive for Politics - page 8

“it is not fair to our children to ask them to pay a potential price…for a hypothetical benefit to adult smokers.” In fact, he said, “it is egregious to suggest that we need to have kids do this in order for adults to quit.”

This is taken from the testimony of Tim McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a Senate Hearing on Thursday May 15th, 2014.  It seems that among some health experts there is a fear that the use of electronic cigarettes (or e-cigs, or “vaping”) will encourage teenagers to smoke actual cigarettes.

All well and good – I suppose that’s why we have highly paid people working at places like The Office on Smoking and Health – to worry about things that hardly anyone else worries about.  I mean, things have a right to be worried about don’t they?  Hmmm…might have to think about that one.  Because there are some things that deserve to be worried over that aren’t getting the attention they deserve;  Specifically whether the liberaliztion and in some cases outright legalization of marijuana use might be encouraging teenagers to smoke –  not cigarettes, but marijuana.

As I have written before, I believe there are these two things taking place today, the “normalization” of marijuana use and the appearance of E-cigs as a smoking substitute and that they have obvious parrallels; and it is unfathomable to me that nowhere in the media or government do I see anyone connecting the dots.  Cigarette smoking is considered a public health issue, and deservedly so, though I do take some issue as to where the line is being drawn between regulation/prohibition and one’s personal freedom to chose.  You see, I’m pro-choice regarding cigarette smoking;  I’m also pro-choice regarding marijuana smoking.  What I do not understand is how all the worrying and hand-wringing about the ever so slight possible harm posed to children and teenagers by e-cigs does not in any way carry over into what I believe is the more likely potential harm caused to young people by increased marijuana use.  I don’t think anyone is arguing that there is no risk to young people associated with relaxed marijuana regulation – I just don’t think anyone’s talking about it at all.  To the extent there even is a debate, it is primarily whether legalization/increased use is better for adults or society as a whole.  Meanwhile there is frequent discussion nationwide over the looming threat posed by e-cigs, a threat so dire they should be banned.  Banned – instead of being hailed as a benefit to public health, which in my opinion they are.  Banned – also in my opinion, because they “look like” smoking, and are percieived a successful “end-around” of smoking regs by smokers.  And we can’t let the smokers win.

Since these public health “debates” always end up being about the best way for do-gooders to bully adults around because their behavior might possibly wound a precious child, can we at least invite marijuana to the witch trial?

This post inspired by an article I read at Reason.com

Apparently since I am over 50, I am a dinosaur as are most of my family and acquaintances.  I know this is true because when I tell people I know to read my blog, they say “what’s a blog?”  I am so screwed – since I don’t write about Beyonce or Justin Bieber no one under thirty will ever read this and no one over thirty knows what a blog is.  So let me tell you a little bit about how I found out about blogs, became a reader of blogs and then went on to blogging.

I have never thought of myself as an early adopter of technology but I have been using the internet since the early 1990’s.  Thinking about it now, it was the dawn of time.  My chosen portal: AOL, now just a footnote to history.  I started out reading what they called “newsgroups” which were kind of like discussion boards where someone would post an article or website adress, people would read and discuss.  Usually I would “lurk” in these newsgroups, a term that means to look in, read the article and discussion but not participate – if you don’t speak up, no one knows you’re there.  This evolved into general web surfing and a few sites helped fuel that, mainly The Drudge Report (which started out mainly as movie industry news and gossip) with it’s many links to news stories.  Another was Lucianne.com founded by Jonah Goldberg’s mother, Lucianne Goldberg.  It’s still around.  Finally, sometime in the early 2000’s a Radio Talk Show host I listen to named Hugh Hewitt began talking about this new thing on the internet with a funny name.  Blobs?  No, that can’t be it.  BLOG!  That’s it – internet lingo shorthand for weblog.  Weblog = weBLOG = BLOG.  He wrote a book about it.  Anyway, the amount of information and perspectives on information available to me online took a quantum leap with that revelation.  There are blogs about everything you can think of.  I zeroed in on politcal blogs mostly, but also branched out into Law, and Science as well as general interest.  Many bloggers write about other subjects in addition to their area of expertise if they have one.  When 9/11 happened, I started reading the military blogs or MILblogs.  Yes, the blogosphere has covered the War on Terror.  Over the course of years, I came to admire some of these bloggers (whom I have never met, nor communicated with) and at some point decided that imitation would be the best form of flattery.  On the sidebar to the right you will see a heading that says “Some Blogs I Like”:  Click on any of those, they are worth your time.

The subtitle of Hewitt’s book sums up the what Blogging is to me and why I decided to become a participant instead of just an observer:  “Why You Must Know How The Blogosphere Is Smashing The Old Media Monopoly And Giving Individuals Power In The Marketplace Of Ideas”.  I have decided to exercise my power and transform my exploration of life into a creative exercise – and to invite you along.  If you are lurking here, your journey has already begun.  Step into the light, introduce yourself and we can all continue our journey together.

I write about anything that happens to be of interest to me, and the subject matter is varied.  The posts are  in chronological order, the newest at the top – you can keep scrolling down to the bottom of the page and keep going back to view older  posts, all the way back to the beginning of time…err.. when I started this blog in February of 2014.  If you like what I write about some subjects but don’t care for others, look on the sidebar to the right.  You will see “categories”.  All my posts fit into one or more of these categories.  Click on the category you are most interested in, and you will see only posts in that category.  Simple.  Within my posts I often link to additional information and/or another blog or article that inspired the post.  When you see a word in red text, that is a link to additional information.  Click on it and the link will open in a new tab.  Any pictures within a post can usually be viewed in a larger version by simply clicking on the picture.

Please comment! To the left of the title you will see a box with the date and below it a box that says comments.  Click there and a dialogue box will open where you will be able to write comments on the article. This is how I know you’re reading and I welcome all feedback on my writing. You will be asked for your name and e-mail adress but don’t worry!  You can use an alias if you don’t want to disclose your name and your e-mail adress will not be displayed, nor will I spam you.  I moderate all the comments so I will see your comment.

Thanks! and Enjoy!

…Aaand that’s the good news.  It appears to some observers that the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) may have wanted to obscure that fact from the public.  The San Francisco based engineering firm URS corp. was tasked with preparing a revised cost estimate, and complained that they had been “instructed” by the CHSRA to hold estimates to a baseline established in 2012.  URS said in their March report that the new estimate of $7.13 billion, an increase of $.94 billion was accurate and that “in their professional opinion” CHSRA was incorrectly assigning cost increases to a contingency account.  In response, the Rail Authority sent a letter to the firm asking it to revise it’s report, stating that the estimates were “misleading and not accurate”.  That settles it then.

“The  ultimate cost of the Central Valley segment will be determined by many factors not yet known, …which may explain why URS produced a higher estimate”...”It is noteworthy that over the life of a project, as design progresses, there will be several estimates,” the authority said. “A change in one estimate does not necessarily result in a change to our budget.” – CHSRA Statement

Ahh…the “Living Breathing Budget” theory.  The California taxpayer may now rest easy.

Close enough.  “Massive Tunneling Machine Stuck Under Downtown Seattle, Fix Could Cost Taxpayers Millions”

Seems that there is a large construction project in Seattle for which the contractor purchased one of those giant machines that bores tunnels – like the English Channel Tunnel* – and the gizmo has broken down and is stuck.  A lot of cash is needed to free it.  The question is, whose cash will it be?  So far the State of Washington says the contractor should pay, the contractor says their not paying.  Could there be a lawsuit on the horizon?

The repair is likely to cost $125 million, which is $45 million more than the machine cost to begin with.  The project has already incurred cost overruns of $190 million due to “unforeseen problems”:

“Among the issues the project has encountered are: too much groundwater; a labor dispute involving the International Longshore and Warehouse Union; and a well that Bertha ran into, damaging her massive cutter head and main bearing.”

By the way, Bertha is the boring machine, that is the machine that bores the hole not the boring machine.  Anyhoo…who could possibly have foreseen a labor dispute?  I mean..c’mon.  That never happens.  And when there’s a labor dispute nothing bad ever happens at the worksite.  Nice giant boring machine you have there…be a shame if something happened to it while it was in the middle of a tunnel 1000 feet under ground.  Oh, wait.  Something did happen to it.  Never mind…move along…nothing to see here.

*The English Channel Tunnel  passes under the English Channel and connects England and France via railway.  The Brits call it “the chunnel”.  The French call it “le chunnel”.

Politico: In anticipation of a Russian invasion, young Ukranians prepare to fight for their freedom and autonomy against vastly larger and more powerful forces.

We think we have it bad:

“Many of us are here learning the basics so we don’t get killed in the first minute of the war,” says Tanya, a 38-year old graphic designer and the camp’s coordinator. “Maybe with what we’ve learned we might last one or two days.”

…let’s hope they’re  bringing their own water.  According to The LA Times, California’s population grew by 1%, reaching 38.3 million.  Further, the article states that suburban and rural populations are falling while the increase is occuring in certain urban areas.  Given that most of middle class California resides in the suburbs and rural areas, I don’t think this bodes well.  And it seems to confirm the perception that the middle class is fleeing California.

image credit: PJ Media

Here’s a joke:  “Did you hear that Jerry Brown has come out in favor of a border fence?  Yeah..to keep the taxpayers in!”  Badda-bing!

Oklahoma Inmate Dies After Execution Is Botched.  First, if it’s an execution and the inmate dies, is it really botched?  I mean, come on.  Mission accomplished.

I respectfully disagree with opponents of the death penalty.  They are entitled to their opinion as am I, a proponent of the death penalty.  I believe there are some crimes so serious at to merit the forfeiture of the perpetrator’s life.  In fact, I think that society has an obligation to  execute perpetrators of anti-social violent crimes, after due process of course.  I do not believe in slow, painful executions.  A hanging, firing squad or a bullet to the head would have been more humane treatment of the inmate in the above story than the idiotic lethal injection regimen most states been forced into by the courts.

OK, let’s have the debate:

Execution won’t bring the victim(s) back!  Keeping the perpetrator alive won’t bring ’em back either.

The death penalty is not a deterrent!  It’s not meant to be a deterrent – it’s a punishment.  Using that logic, we should just repeal all laws since they don’t seem to deter the criminals who violate them.

The Bible says Thou Shalt Not Kill!  The 5th Commandment Says Thou Shalt Not Commit Murder.  There’s a difference.  The Bible also says take an eye for an eye.

Alright, time’s up.

We should take no pleasure in the execution of a murderer – I do not.  It is not done for vengeance.  But it is neccessary.  There are evil people in the world and those that commit crimes such as the Oklahoma inmate deserve death.  If there is mercy to be meted out, it will be done at the hand of the Father.

… a continuing series.  Today we explore the disinclination of people to do things they don’t want to do regardless of the level of persuasion placed on them by other people who think they know what’s best for everyone.

Draw Your Own Conclusion

Two things have jumped out at me from the news in the last few days.  The first one is that two states, New York and Massachussettts have recently passed legislation requiring that owners of certain rifles register them with the state and that the laws have been largely ignored.  State officials were taken by surprise and are not sure what the next step will be.  The second is that after the deadline has passed requiring people to enroll in a healthcare plan under The Affordable Care Act, many are still not doing it.  And their reasons for not purchasing healthcare insurance are the same reasons they didn’t do it before the law was passed.  And so passage of the law had no effect on their reasoning for inaction.

Moral?  Some people cannot be coerced into taking an action they do not wish to take regardless of whether it is actually (arguably) in their best interest to take that action.  People will do what they want to do and they won’t do what they don’t want to do.  But what I find discomforting about all this is that there appears to be a belief among our political class that they can circumvent human nature (or laws of physics, or economics) with the stroke of a pen.  And even more discomforting is that they feel no guilt over their actions since they believe are “helping” you.

There are two trends happening in society today the public perceptions of which seem at odds to me.  One is the appearance and increasing use of electronic cigarrettes, or e-cigs, which is portrayed in the media as bad and in need of regulation if not outright ban, and the other is the increasing de-criminalization and indeed in some cases legalization of marijuana which is  generally portrayed positively or  as a simple matter of personal freedom.

I must say that I do not understand the crusade against electronic cigarettes.  Anti smoking zealots have argued that the adverse health effects of smoking, not just for the smoker but for anyone in the vicinity via second-hand smoke (and currently for the entire environment because discarded cigarette butts are poisonous!) justified their vendetta against a legal product.  And the public at large has generally bought into this because no one likes the smell of cigarette smoke.  However…the advent of electronic cigarettes adresses every one of these issues – healthier for the smoker, no second hand smoke and no butts on the sidewalk.  Your dog is safe!  The anti smokers should be hailing this as a win-win:  Smokers get to smoke and no threats to non-smokers!  But that is not the case.  Smoking of electronic cigarettes, or “vaping” must be prohibited just like regular smoking because it looks like regular smoking.  And don’t forget the children.  Children might see someone vaping and try it themselves and then move on to the hard stuff – real cigarettes!  Another argument is that e-cigs contain nicotine, just like real cigarettes.  But there is no nicotine in the vapor for second hand effect, only the user is exposed.  Besides – other antismoking aids such as nicotine gum and patches also contain nicotine.  And both of these are arguably less safe for children as they could be extremely harmful if accidentally ingested by a child.   And finally, there is the uncertainty and over abundance of caution factor:  E-cigs might be bad and that’s a risk we can’t take.  

H8rs gonna H8

Now for the weed thing.  First, I am not a weed prude.  In my lifetime I have probably lost more weed in my couch cushions than any thirty something hipster today will ever smoke.  But I don’t smoke it any more and have no desire to.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  A very expensive t-shirt at that considering the money spent and time squandered on the habit.  But if you want to smoke it, knock yourself out.  Kind of like my attitude toward cigarettes real and electronic.  But there is a potential danger to marijuana smokers posed simply by the act of smoking a substance.  Marijuana contains no nicotine that I am aware of, but the absorption of nicotine is not the only danger of smoking, inhaling smoke of any kind is traumatic to the lungs and cardio-vascular system in general.  This is never mentioned in reporting on this subject.  Folks who are against liberalization of marijuana laws argue that it is a gateway drug that will lead users onto harder drugs.  Anectdotally I have seen this to be true, though not universally.  Such fears are rebutted with assertions that there is no evidence to support that stance.  So the risk that smoking pot might be harmful for some people is a risk we can  afford to take and abundance of caution is not justified in this case.  But consider this – in Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational pot use, the nascent pot industry is looking for ways to expand the customer base and to entice non users to try marijuana.  Granted, they seem to be sensitive about marketing to a youth audience but I don’t think that you can argue that marketing of cigarettes (or liquor for that matter) specifically aimed at adult audiences will influence children and that similar marijuana marketing will not.

“It’s not just for stoners anymore”

I guess I wonder why Vaping isn’t hailed as a breakthrough for public health and that marijuana legalization isn’t viewed with a little more caution or skepticism.  Perhaps I’m crazy – or is everyone else?  Or I’m straight and everyone else is stoned?  Whatever.  Personally, my attitude is live and let live.  You want to smoke?  Spark one up.  You want to vape?  Have at it.