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Link: start: Home Link: prev: December 2009 Link: next: February 2010 Hobnobblog hit or miss ... give or take ... this or that ... TheCapitol.netCoursesConvenience LearningCustom TrainingPublicationsFaculty & AuthorsClientsStoreClient Care January 2010 Archives << Previous Archive : Main : Next Archive >> Assorted Links 1/31/2010 [IMG] President to Call for Big New Ed. Spending. Here's a Look at How that's Worked in the Past You may be wondering: "What did we get for that huge increase in spending?" The answer is: a lot more public school employees. The next chart adds an extra trend line to the one above: the number of public school employees divided by the number of students enrolled. This ratio of staff to students has gone up by 70 percent since 1970, swelling the ranks of the public school employee unions to about 4.5 million people. * Congress in a Nutshell: Understanding Congress, February 10, 2010 * Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process, February 11, 2010 * Strategies for Working with Congress: Effective Communication and Advocacy on Capitol Hill, February 18, 2010 * The President's Budget, February 23, 2010 * The Defense Budget, February 26, 2010 * Capitol Hill Workshop, March 3-5, 2010 * Speechwriting: Preparing Speeches and Oral Presentations, March 12, 2010 * Obama's Swipe at High Court Sparks Debate - "There were days when judges stayed out of politics,' said Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont. 'It would be nice to go back to those days.'" * Why Is Senator Kirk Still Voting on Legislation? - "The main question here is: why is former Senator Kirk still voting on these legislative pieces? According to Senate rules and precedent, Kirk's term expired last Tuesday upon the election of Scott Brown." * Haiti: an all-singing, all-dancing, celebrity disaster - "There's nothing like a disaster in a land populated by black people to bring out the rescue instinct in celebrities. In the two weeks since a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, celebs on both sides of the Atlantic have tweeted, sung, danced, signed cheques and even hand-delivered aid. . . . Because, just like with past causes celebres, such as Ethiopia and Darfur, the earthquake in Haiti has quickly become as much about well-to-do Westerners as about catastrophe-struck Caribbeans. It is a news story that allows celebrities and politicians alike to keep a flattering spotlight on themselves (always making sure they wear casual clothes and little makeup, of course)." * How the Washington Post Covers Education - "Yesterday, the president proposed yet another big increase in federal education spending. The Washington Post quoted 'senior White House officials' as saying that the spending would boost 'the nation's long-term economic health.' I sent the story's authors a blog post laying out the evidence that higher government spending hasn't raised student achievement, and that if you don't boost achievement, you don't accelerate economic growth. Today, there is an updated version of the original WaPo story. It no longer mentions the stated goal of the spending increase. It doesn't mention that boosting gov't spending has failed to raise achievement, and so will fail to help the economy." * GDP Mirage - The Last Hurrah - "Digging beneath the surface there is nothing to cheer about in the GDP numbers. Moreover, this weakness is in the face of the largest stimulus measures the world has ever seen, not just in the US, but globally. Money supply in China is growing at 30% and housing bubbles are likely to pop in Australia, Canada, and the UK. Problems in Greece, Spain, and Iceland continue to mount. GDP is a mirage of sand blowing in the wind. So is global growth. It is a mistake to believe government spending can possibly provide a solid foundation for a lasting recovery." * Massive Homeopathic Overdose Leaves Hundreds of Scientists 0.0000000000000001% Dead - "Scientists in Mourning" * Paying More, Buying Less - "Excluding the cost of the wars, the 'base' Pentagon budget has also gone up dramatically: 25 percent, or over another Trillion dollars. What we have gotten for that huge increase illuminates the disturbing nature of our decay. The Navy and Air Force are both smaller and equipped with major hardware that is, on average, older than at any point since the end of World War II. The Army and Marine Corps have seen increases to a few combat formations but are only marginally above their post-**World War II lows. A gargantuan increase in spending has brought forth major decay in two military services and insignificant up-**ticks in two others. Where did the added money go? According to the Government Accountability Office almost $300 billion went into mismanagement in the form of cost overruns for hardware. (Expect a new GAO report this spring finding the cost overruns have grown.) Much of the rest of the money for acquisition went into 'successful' hardware programs that were so much more expensive to buy and maintain than what they were replacing that we literally shrunk the force with more money, while simultaneously spending more to support this new equipment at lower operating and training levels." * Nevermind All Those Opposition Solutions; Obama's Opposition Has No Solutions! - "The second point, though, is that it's more than a little irritating to see Obama speak so well of Ryan's plan and say that it's the sort of thing that deserves 'serious discussion.' Problem is, throughout the health care debate, Obama didn't want to have that discussion. He didn't want to talk about any plans to significantly reduce entitlement spending, or severing the links between insurance and employment. Indeed, not only did he make almost no effort to incorporate opposition ideas into his legislation, he wasn't willing to recognize the existence of legitimate opposing ideas at all. Instead, he chose to caricature his opponents as having "no solutions." That's not true now. It wasn't true then. But Obama's approach to most policy and political debates has been to reiterate the notion that his way was not simply the best way, but the only way--or at least the only legitimate, acceptable, reasonable way. His conversation today with Rep. Ryan, I think, is a tacit admission that that's just not the case." * Karl Rove's Spending - "Mr. Rove's columns are usually very interesting, but I'd like to see him accept at least some of the blame for the exploding size of government during his tenure at the White House." * By the Way, Free Markets Are Free - "A free economy is one that is -- how to say this? -- free. It is free of cronyism, favoritism, handout-ism, protectionism, or anything else that amounts to using the state as a means of living at the expense of others. If paupers or billionaires need help, they're required to get it without picking the pockets of others." * Quicker "Non-Judicial" Foreclosures and Evictions Coming to Florida - "The only open question is whether or not this bill would encourage more to walk away. If so, would that necessarily be a bad thing? The quicker bad debts are written off, and the quicker home prices bottom, the better off everyone will be in the long run." * NPR: To Stay Or Walk Away - "NPR's Alex Blumberg and Chana Joffe-Walt interview Arizona attorney Mary Kinsley. She describes how a couple years ago homeowners would call her, in tears, trying desperately to save their homes from foreclosure. Now homeowners call, their voices calm, and ask her the best way to strategically default - and in some cases how to get the banks to take back the houses they've been delinquent on for over a year. Pretty amazing. She thinks this is just the beginning of 'walking away'." * HELOC Study - "One of the largest issues in the mortgage market is that modifications, as presently designed, are not working. It is clear that at some point, it will be necessary to write down principal to raise the modification success rate. However, one obstacle to writing down principal of a 1st mortgage is the presence of a 2nd mortgage or subordinate lien. Lien priority dictates that the 1st mortgage cannot be written down until the 2nd is extinguished." * You're an idiot of the 33rd degree - "In November of 1905, an enraged Mark Twain sent this superb letter to J. H. Todd, a patent medicine salesman who had just attempted to sell bogus medicine to the author by way of a letter and leaflet delivered to his home. According to the literature Twain received (p1,p2,p3,p4), the 'medicine' in question - The Elixir of Life - could cure such ailments as meningitis (which had previously killed Twain's daughter in 1896) and diphtheria (which had also killed his 19-month-old son). Twain, himself of ill-health at the time and very recently widowed after his wife suffered heart failure, was understandably furious and dictated the following letter to his secretary, which he then signed. Transcript follows." * Folks Who Know Stuff - "Whether it's a general male trait or simply my normal sloth, it seems that most of the guys I meet and socialize with nowadays are husbands of friends of my wife. And of those husbands of my wife's friends, the ones I tend to get along with best and for the longest visits are guys who Know Stuff." * If Music Be the Food of Love, Maestro Obama, Play On - "40 years later, on the floor of the House, Mr. Obama proved himself heir apparent to the Wizard of Altamont. Coiling, menacing, prowling, our Jumpin' Jack Flash-in-Chief worked the majority side of the hall into a frenzy, like some beautiful petulant electric cobra panther in a Brooks Brothers 3-button suit. And when he unleashed his climactic campaign finance j'accuse at his Republican foes and the assembled Supreme Court, I was fully expecting a House member to beat Justice Alito senseless with a tire iron. Sympathy For the Devil, indeed." Living Large * My predictions about the iPad - "The story here is one of new markets, not cannibalization or even competition." See the comments. * iPad vs EtchASketch - "Which one will get Flash first? And who's kidding who about ten hours of battery life? Are you going to wait for version 2, the MaxiPad?" * One paragraph plus a sentence - "The rest of the Salinger obituary, interesting throughout, is here." See the comments. * What Salinger Read - "Speaking of reading preferences, what were Salinger's?" * Wheat Ridge High School Class of 1970 - "The reonion committee is working away planning the 40th reunion the weekend of August 13-15, 2010. Wheat Ridge, Colorado WRHS1970.com" * Common Market Food Co-op - "Common Market Food Co-op was a 'new wave food co-op' located at 1329 California Street in Denver, Colorado, from 1975 - 1980. It started as a buying club at the University of Denver in the late 1960s, and for a few years prior to moving to the old Safeway at 13th and California Streets, Common Market operated out of a small storefront on Champa Street." * Stephen Fry In America: Fifty States And The Man Who Set Out To See Them All - "In 1831, French politician and thinker Alexis de Tocqueville visited the still growing United States, traveled widely and took copious notes. He assembled those notes in two volumes, published five years apart, titled 'Democracy in America,' that are still studied and quoted today. The title 'Stephen Fry in America' echoes de Tocqueville's classic, but also puts the reader on notice that the ambition here is scaled back. This isn't an attempt to understand America, Mr. Fry says, as much as to experience it. And it's supposed to be as much a window into the author as subject. . . . This reviewer's favorite bit comes from Mr. Fry's visit to Ukiah, Calif., for the comic cultural contrasts. Mr. Fry is scheduled to fire handguns for the first time. At the police shooting range, Mr. Fry tells the patient sheriff that the town's name is haiku spelled backwards, badly bungles a witticism ('Just as well you aren't called Traf.' 'How's that?' 'Oh never mind.'), and lets the officer instruct him how to fire a Glock pistol. He takes aim, manages to hit the target on his first try, and is instantly though briefly 'transformed from Stephen Tut-Tut, the wise and sensible anti-firearms abolitionist into Stephen Blam-Blam.' The sheriff then asks him, 'Now that you can handle firearms, how'd you like to take part in a drug bust?' and isn't joking. We see a picture of Mr. Fry with a Kevlar vest strapped to him and scenes from the drug bust as proof of this." * Weight Watchers - "I've known a handful of people who joined Weight Watchers at least once -- all women, by the way. They all lost some weight. And they all gained it back, usually with a few extra pounds as a going-away present. Given what Weight Watchers believes constitutes a good diet, I'm not surprised. Their entire program is based on the belief that the federal government's nutrition guidelines are actually based on something resembling science. So Weight Watchers preaches the same guidelines: fat is bad, a bit of protein is okay, and carbohydrates are wonderful. I never joined Weight Watchers, but before I knew better, I did try living on their low-fat Smart Ones meals (along with Lean Cuisines and other diet meals I could nuke.) By the end of the day, I'd be famished. Eventually I'd give up and then, like most dieters, blame myself for not having any discipline. Now I understand the problem wasn't a lack of discipline; it was a lack of good nutrition." * Anti-Vaccine Scientist Acted "Dishonestly and Irresponsibly" - "Claims that childhood MMR vaccines cause autism are unfounded and irresponsible. As Ron Bailey notes, 'study after study has debunked' the claim that MMR vaccines are linked to autism, and there are credible allegations that the study that prompted the initial scare was faked. As the BBC reports, British medical authorities have also concluded that the primary researcher promoting such claims, Andrew Wakefield, acted 'dishonestly and irresponsibly' in conducting and promoting his research." * For Businesses That Accept Cards, Tips for Cutting Fees - "When it comes to credit-card fees, bigger companies have more clout with issuers than small ones. (See related story, How Merchants Deal with Rising Credit-Card Costs.) But there are ways to minimize costly processing fees, from negotiating to shopping around. Here are eight tips." * Small-Business Cards Now Carry Sizeable Risk - "Banks can list your company's debt alongside your personal debt--lowering your credit score and loan worthiness." [EMBED] Obama Decries Divisive Rhetoric, Says Healing Can Happen if Opponents Stop Being Such Effing D-bags * Guest post: Top Trivia! - "The winning entry came from Andrew J Speirs, with his great Ten Facts About Playing Cards. I have taken the liberty of editing them a bit, but here we go with ten things you probably didn't know about playing cards......" * Electronic Flight Bag - "Garmin's top-of-the-line handheld/bolt-on is the GPSMAP 696 model, with weather, moving maps, approach procedures and terrain avoidance - but it retails for nearly $3000, while the iPad starts at $500. Which is, oh - wait: A whole lot less. There's no technical reason why the iPad - I really hate that name - can't do all the tasks of an EFB while providing GPS tracking, live weather updates and terrain avoidance. Once you've landed on your cross country, you can email home, browse the web, read a book or work on your presentation. Which, just try that with your MX20." * Apple iPad vs. Amazon Kindle - "I'll save readers the suspense: I don't believe that iPad will be a a Kindle-killer. It will capture a noticeable portion of the eReader market but I find it highly unlikely for it to even become #2. Here's why:" * Life Without Feminism a sack - " As a matter of fact, in between killing fascists, being an iron worker 40 stories above the streets of Manhattan, and raising a family of four kids, he probably didn't take two milliseconds to give a rat's ass about what anyone thought of him. ...And now, in the year 2010, the poor little darlings in the Men's Movement are all atwitter and feeling faint because a woman might say something mean about them. . . . For the undescended-testicles-set, though: please, keep worrying about what other people think and telling us about how you're so opressed by social conventions." * Antigua: American Woman Murdered in 4th Major Incident in Two Years - "All of these incidents are a reminder that safety cannot be assumed, and precautions should always be taken, especially if in unfamiliar territory." * The iPad is the iPrius: Your Computer Consumerized - "The iPad is Steve's Minitel terminal. Just for the heck of it, imagine for a minute that the MacBookPro was locked up like the iPad. The apps that run on the iPhone have been mostly trivial. One person for a few weeks is probably the average effort. Eugene Lin may be willing to build apps on spec and hope for the best after they are submitted, but will Adobe? Imagine when Adobe invests $X millions building Lightroom for a year only to have it rejected because Apple launches Aperture the same week." IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame January 31, 2010 11:17 AM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0) The Government Series from TheCapitol.Net The Government Series from TheCapitol.Net consists of shorter publications combining government information with authored material from our faculty and authors. Government Series softcover books are available through regular and online bookstores, and many are also available as ebooks from Scribd. Smart Grid The Federal Budget Process Congressional Pay and Perks Smart Grid The Federal Budget Process Congressional Pay and Perks For more information and titles, see GovernmentSeries.com January 30, 2010 01:07 PM Link Publications Comments (0) Glossary of Legislative Terms: "Waiver Rule" Waiver Rule: A special rule in the House that waives points of order against a measure or an amendment. Congressional This definition is from the Glossary in our Congressional Deskbook. Deskbook Perfect reference tool of Congressional jargon and procedural terms. Congressional Deskbook: The Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Congress, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider. TheCapitol.Net offers training and a Certificate in Congressional Operations and Federal Budgeting. We show you how Washington and Congress work. TM January 29, 2010 10:47 AM Link Tips and Terms Comments (0) Mary D. McKoy Completes Congressional Operations Certificate from TheCapitol.Net Certificate Programs from TheCapitol.Net Certificate Programs from TheCapitol.Net Mary D. McKoy has completed her certificate in Congressional Operations from TheCapitol.Net. The Certificate in Congressional Operations is awarded to participants in the program who have completed more than 75 hours of training about how congress works. "The knowledge I've gained from the courses that I have taken is already making a difference in my job performance," she said. More information here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100126007326/en/ January 29, 2010 08:57 AM Link Training Comments (0) Assorted Links 1/28/2010 [EMBED] Paying Zero for Public Services * Update on The 111th Congress, 2010, January 29, 2010 * Congress in a Nutshell: Understanding Congress, February 10, 2010 * Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process, February 11, 2010 * Strategies for Working with Congress: Effective Communication and Advocacy on Capitol Hill, February 18, 2010 * The President's Budget, February 23, 2010 * The Defense Budget, February 26, 2010 * Capitol Hill Workshop, March 3-5, 2010 * On the jury, Gene Weingarten didn't believe the D.C. police's eyes - "Last week I was a juror in the trial of a man accused of selling a $10 bag of heroin to an undercover police officer. At the end of the two days of testimony, I concluded that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I also concluded that he should be acquitted. In my mind, it came down to a simple, unsettling question: Is it worse to let a drug dealer go free, or to reward the police for lying under oath?" Police lie? Whoccodanode! * Capitalist Fools - "ew places in New York are less likely to inspire grand dreams than Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the twin housing projects that sprawl across 80 acres of the Lower East Side. Built by MetLife in the 1940s, the project encompasses block after block of boxy brick apartment buildings and stolid public spaces, entirely barren of inviting corners or eye-catching detail. The critic Lewis Mumford dubbed it 'the architecture of the Police State'; a slightly kinder motto might have been 'What do you expect for $68.50 a month?' Yet when MetLife spruced up the complex and put it on the market in 2006, real-estate moguls jetted in for the sale. A joint venture put together by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock carried the day through its willingness to, as The New York Times noted, 'pay up--way up--to unlock future profits in the sprawling Manhattan properties.' At $5.4billion, their winning bid made the sale the most expensive real-estate deal of all time. Three years later, however, those profits were still securely locked inside the property's 11,232 apartments--many of which remained rent-controlled, despite strenuous efforts to convert them to upscale market-rate rentals. With net income well under projections, the partnership started spending down its reserves. Then, in October 2009, a court ruled that the partnership had improperly decontrolled the rent for thousands of apartments, and would have to return them to their original status. As of this writing, analysts are predicting default in a matter of months unless the partnership's debt of $4.4billion can be restructured--a shaky prospect, given that the owners may owe tenants of formerly rent-stabilized apartments as much as $200million in rent overcharges and damages. Stuyvesant Town might soon set another record: the biggest real-estate default in history. . . . Game theorists often speak of the 'winner's curse': the tendency of auctions to be won by the people who are the most delusionally overoptimistic. It's an apt description of what seems to have happened. Not just to the Tishman group, but to America. . . . The best explanation for the calamity that has overtaken us may simply be that cheap money makes us all stupid." * Robbing Taxpayers to Pay the Bondsman - "While the bail bondsmen's lobby generally receives little attention, they are using political clout to further their interests at great expense to taxpayers across the country. . . . However, the program in Broward County, Florida was severely cut back after the bondsmen's lobby pressured the commissioners to protect their profits:" * Obama's Spending Freeze - "Here's the important point: a very large part of the 2009 spending spike of $699 billion will be sloshing forward into 2010 and later years. (As illustrated by my fancy arrow in the chart). The new CBO budget estimates (Table A-1) show that only 18 percent of authorized stimulus funding will be spent in 2009, with the rest sloshing forward. Obama is 'freezing' the budget only because he already has a large amount of cash floating around from the stimulus bill that he can spend on all his favorite big government projects in 2010 and beyond. In budget-speak, federal spending measured in 'outlays' will be far from frozen. Finally, a president's proposals for discretionary spending beyond the current budget year are meaningless. Obama will be back with a new budget in February 2011, no doubt with a whole new set of assumptions and priorities." * How Is This Different From Citizens United - "Remember, the Patriot Act was used far more for drug and child porn cases than it ever has been for terrorism -- it is very, very hard to circumscribe new police powers, particularly when police so desperately want to keep and hold those powers." * Best Line I've Heard Today - "I'm at a conference in south Florida with Paul Rubin, a superb scholar of law and economics. Paul just observed that whenever there's a corporate scandal, it's typically blamed on an increase in greed, but when there's a sex scandal, it's never blamed on an increase in lust." * S&P500 Sector Trivia - "Have a look at the table of S&P 500 sectors -- the only one that has outperformed in each of the past three decades is health care. No, Medical and pharmacy inflation was not in your imagination." * US Cattle Herd Drops to 1958 Levels - "Ranchers are culling the herds as corn prices soar and wholesale prices for beef and milk drop." * It's Really Business As Usual - "What is interesting, if not stunning, about some of the Bacon's Rebellion commentators is that they really see Obama as a kind of Trotsky, when, in fact, he is propped up by exactly the same club of advisers that propped up Clinton and Bush. The truth is that Obama's is non-intrusive and rather limp when it comes to the kind of federal oversight these smart and greedy people really need. Despite the whining from the right, one year into his presidency, there hasn't been one solid and successful step to reign in the financial sector. . . . The curious thing about Obama is that he seems to be getting economic advice from the same old, same old that advised all presidents, Democrat or Republican, since 1992. Since Obama has close ties to the University of Chicago, one wonders why he hasn't picked up some of the free market magic that evolved from there, Uncle Milton Freidman and all that. . . . This is one of those rare areas of agreement between liberals and free-market conservatives. The liberals distrust Wall Street, the conservatives distrust government, and both sides have reached the point where they distrust Wall Street AND Washington!" * Don't Bogart that Hopium - "My reporter's plate is full of stories this week, but the last thing a portly columnist needs is to eat gargantuan portions of so much rich food. We've got President Barack Obama's big speech Wednesday night, and so the Hopium pipes will be burning brightly in editorial board rooms across the land. Also, a reputed top mobster for the Chicago Outfit faces sentencing in a federal tax evasion case that could become a tsunami. And later this week, a local mayor will be sentenced on corruption charges. So how about a few small bites instead?" * The State of the Union Speech - "So in summary, though we are still in bad shape remember George Bush caused that problem. We are fixing things now in little ways, but we'll soon get to the big ways. We'll bring the banks to heel, create jobs, give you health care, keep you safe. Don't you believe those who say differently, because they're just getting in the way. We have the largest majority in decades. We won. And we are going to stay the course." * Obama: You liked my speech? Please send money. - "About an hour after the end of his State of the Union address, in which he called for an end to the partisan conflict that has plagued his first year in office, President Obama sent out a political fundraising appeal through his permanent campaign organization, Organizing for America." * Open Access Publishing Hits the Big Time - "The Econometric Society which publishes Econometrica, one of the top 4 academic journals in Economics has taken under its wing the fledgling journal Theoretical Economics and the first issue under the ES umbrella has just been published. TE has rapidly become among the top specialized journals for economic theory and it stands out in one very important respect. All of its content is and always will be freely available and publicly licensed." * The Friendliest Place on Earth? - "I recently got a press release that trumpeted, 'Malaysia Ranks 5th Amongst World's Friendliest Countries.' The first thing that struck me was how un-American it was to tout being fifth at anything. When was the last time you heard a crowd chanting, "We're number five! We're number five!" But ranking fifth among all the countries in the world is pretty good, I'd say. So, go Malaysia!" [EMBED] Justice Alito's 'You lie' moment? [EMBED] We Must Amend the Constitution to Help Donna Edwards Stay in Office [EMBED] Bring Out Your Dead * Al Gore As God - "Do I detect a mellower side to the Jewish Robot's latest educational cartoon?" * Are You an ''Exclusive Scholar''? Just Sign Here - "The New York Times reports today on a new marketing gimmick for colleges seeking to boost applications during this recession-plagued time when every tuition-paying body in a classroom counts: the fast-track application form that allows some high school seniors seeking admission to bypass the usual fees of $50 or so, the tedious filling out of information, and perhaps most significantly, the dreaded college essay. Taking a lead from credit-card marketers, the express forms, typically packaged in a brightly colored envelope marked 'Exclusive Scholar Applications,' 'Distinctive Candidate Application' or something similar, come already filled in with the student's name and other information (bought from College Board lists) so that all the applicant need do is affix a signature and head for a mailbox. . . . Fast-track college application forms may or may not be a good idea (although many high school students seem to prefer them, according to the New York Times), and they may or may not be a harbinger of death throes for beleaguered small colleges desperate for tuition payers. Yet the fact that they imply that it's not worth admission officers' time in most cases to bother reading college essays suggests a healthy trend that allows potential college freshmen to be evaluated on the basis of their solid academic achievements--grades and test scores--rather than slick expository packaging largely put together by the adults in their lives." * Fifty Dangerous Things - "The idea of this thin book is that danger is something kids need to learn to handle by experience. The 50 small experiments in this book can potentially cause a minor injury (although they are unlikely to), but are never really seriously dangerous. In fact most of them aren't dangerous at all, but at least they are fun. There are no special techniques, secret formulas or exclusive knowhow here that everyday knowledge or a quick internet search would not turn up. The activities are the kinds of things kids will sometimes do on their own -- at least in the past." * Wheat Ridge High School Class of 1970 - "The reonion committee is working away planning the 40th reunion the weekend of August 13-15, 2010. Wheat Ridge, Colorado WRHS1970.com" * Common Market Food Co-op - "Common Market Food Co-op was a 'new wave food co-op' located at 1329 California Street in Denver, Colorado, from 1975 - 1980. It started as a buying club at the University of Denver in the late 1960s, and for a few years prior to moving to the old Safeway at 13th and California Streets, Common Market operated out of a small storefront on Champa Street." * Radically improving sales for high priced products with 3 characters and a misspelling - "But over the years, there were two critical techniques I discovered that basically was the difference between success and failure." * I Don't Know Why - "First of all, I don't understand why Pat Robertson doesn't understand that earthquakes are caused by shifts in plates below the earth, not pacts with the devil. Cracks in the earth's crust, known as "faults", shift. The magnitude of the earthquake is measured by how much they shift and how long it takes for them to resettle. Specifically, the Haiti quake was caused by what is called a "strike split" fault, where the two plates move horizontally. That's the same kind of quake we have here in California on the San Andreas fault. Duh. I can't understand how he got the idea that some Haitians actually got together and had a meeting with the devil. Did someone get a picture of that on their Iphone? Was the guy that shot the Rodney King video over at the devil meeting? The Haitians did get together and do something remarkable, but it wasn't a sit down with the devil. They rose up out of slavery with no help from anyone. Does Pat Robertson imagine that the only way they could have done that was with an arms shipment from Beelzebub? Ye of little faith. But your question wasn't 'why is Pat Robertson so stupid'? I can tell you that he is not the brightest bulb. Years ago, I saw him introduce a guest. He had clearly never heard of this man and spent the long introduction marveling at the man's list of musical credits in a way that belied the fact that he thought the list to be a fantasy. 'He wrote songs made famous by the Beatles!' ('and yet, I've never heard of him?') Even I know about Little Richard. He is a very famous person. Now he may have actually had a pact with the devil at some point. Your question is about why some people don't think Catholics are Christians. Or why they think Catholics are lesser Christians. I don't know why. Perhaps they are as dumb as rocks, like Pat Robertson. All the Christian kindness in the world won't make someone smarter than they are. Some people just are not bright enough to pound sand, poor things." * Google Routes Around App Store On The iPhone... Others Can Too - "I was just recently suggesting that the massive focus on 'apps' and 'app stores' may be a red herring, as eventually many of those apps can be built via the web (especially as HTML 5 moves forward), without having to go through any kind of app store approval process." * Low Carbo Diet Lowers Blood Pressure - "The lead author recommends a low carb diet for those both overweight and with high blood pressure. . . . The two diets yielded equal weight gains. They also improved blood cholesterol and glucose by about the same amount. But the low carb dieters did better on blood pressure control." [EMBED] Bugatti Owner Vanity Plate Only Bested By Frame * On how Google Wave surprisingly changed my life - "There was a time just a few months ago when I did not have google wave. I think of that time with horror - because that epoch was marked with conflicts, total chaos, money was being lost every day, fights were happening between me and my collaborators. Google wave came in, and within a couple of weeks, a heavenly peace had descended on my business." * The Possibility of the Happy Parasite - "I conclude that 'parasitism' (i.e., living off of the proceeds of a system of state coercion) is compatible with virtue and happiness. All it really takes, I think, is believing sincerely that the system is just and that you're doing a good thing. As long as you think you're supporting your life 'neither by robbery nor alms' and not deriving your happiness 'from the injury or the favor of others,' you're probably fine as long as the system of robbery, alms, injury, and favor is more or less stable, which ours is." * Headline Magic! News on Great Tits.... - "So, here's the headline: 'Flashier Great Tits Produce Stronger Sperm!' Now, I expect that's right, on the merits." * Thoughts on the iPad -- Just Push the Buy Button, Says Apple - "Kevin did a good job summarizing the specs of the iPad, which is basically a 9.7-inch iPod Touch. Or an iPhone without the phone call bits. . . . It's too early to predict how successful Apple will be selling the iPad. It's pricier than other solutions, and it may not be an easy sell to non-geeks. That said, Apple is going to make millions off the iPad. Hundreds of millions." * Recession Snows Tahoe Under - "Today those 'other things' involved driving down to South Lake Tahoe/Stateline to buy a few needed groceries. While there, I checked out the commercial scene. Two or three years ago, the place was doing well, if appearance was any guide. Now, that same casual yardstick suggests that times are hard. In the 'village' by the big Marriott on the main drag, something like half the retail spaces are vacant. . . . For what it's worth, what I've been seeing here is the strongest evidence of the recession that I've experienced thus far. On the other hand, I haven't visited Detroit and similar places since before the 2008 crash." IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame January 28, 2010 09:37 AM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0) Update on The 111th Congress, 2010 , half-day course in Washington, DC, from TheCapitol.Net Update on the 111th Congress, 2010 Update on Congress, 2nd Session Our expert faculty look at the second session of the 111th Congress in terms of leadership, membership, the 2010 elections, and the anticipated legislative agenda. They will also review and analyze the major legislative initiatives and accomplishments of the first session of the 111th Congress. Held in January of every even-numbered year. January 29, 2010, 9 am - 1 pm Approved for 0.4 CEUs from George Mason University. Approved for CEUs from George Mason University Where: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K Street NW, Suite 200 (12th and K Streets NW), Washington, DC This is an elective course for the Certificate in Congressional Operations. For more information, including agenda and secure online registration, see UpdateOnCongress.com January 27, 2010 10:57 PM Link Training Comments (0) The Constitution of the United States: Amendment 15 (Fifteenth Amendment) The Constitution of the United States: Amendment 15 (15th Amendment) Amendment XV. Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude-- Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. More * Fifteenth Amendment - Wikipedia * Fifteenth Amendment - Findlaw [EMBED] Fifteenth Amendment - LawWebTV [EMBED] You Can Vote However You Like [IMG] A free download of our Pocket Constitution is available on Scribd. IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame January 27, 2010 10:07 AM Link U.S. Constitution Comments (0) January - February 2010 Legislative, Communication, and Media Training from TheCapitol.Net January - February 2010 Legislative, Communication, and Media Training from TheCapitol.Net Our latest email update: http://www.thecapitol.net/PublicPrograms/email2010/email_2010_January26.html If you don't have time to attend our live training, see our Capitol Learning Audio Courses TM, also available online. TheCapitol.Net, Inc. >> We help you understand Washington and Congress TM >> Non-partisan training and publications that show how Washington works. TM January 26, 2010 10:37 AM Link Training Comments (0) Assorted Links 1/26/2010 [EMBED] Che: The Other Side Of An Icon. * Word Workshop: Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing , January 28, 2010 * Update on The 111th Congress, 2010, January 29, 2010 * Congress in a Nutshell: Understanding Congress, February 10, 2010 * Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process, February 11, 2010 * Strategies for Working with Congress: Effective Communication and Advocacy on Capitol Hill, February 18, 2010 * The President's Budget, February 23, 2010 * The Defense Budget, February 26, 2010 * Capitol Hill Workshop, March 3-5, 2010 * Is the Cult of Che Guevara on its Way Out? - "Che Guevara is one of the few communist leaders who still has a broad following in the West. Go to any college campus or hip neighborhood and you'll see plenty of Che T-shirts, Che posters, and even the occasional Che cell phone message. This is extremely unfortunate, since Che was in fact a brutal mass murderer and terrorist, as I explained in this post. Reason editor Nick Gillespie points this out as well, but also cites evidence suggesting that Che worship may be declining: . . . Ultimately, the Cult of Che is deplorable less because of what it says about attitudes towards him than because it is the most blatant manifestation of our much broader tendency to ignore or downplay communist crimes." * U.S. enables Chinese hacking of Google - "Google made headlines when it went public with the fact that Chinese hackers had penetrated some of its services, such as Gmail, in a politically motivated attempt at intelligence gathering. The news here isn't that Chinese hackers engage in these activities or that their attempts are technically sophisticated -- we knew that already -- it's that the U.S. government inadvertently aided the hackers. In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access." * Thong-in-cheek advice for Dorothy Brown's campaign - "Despite a recent Tribune poll showing she's fading fast in the race for Cook County Board President, Dorothy Brown could win this election -- and my vote -- if she just follows my plan. Brown, the Cook County Circuit Court clerk, has already suffered through several cash-related controversies. There was the Cash for Dorothy's Birthday controversy, in which employees developed the purely voluntary practice of giving her cash gifts on her birthday just because they love her. And recently, there was the Cash for Jeans issue, in which her workers kicked in cash so they could wear jeans at work. Some good government types who just don't understand Chicago politics thought this was reprehensible, but Brown said it was all about 'boosting morale' and charity. . . . I would never go out of my way to malign a great program involving county officials accepting cash from their underlings. That's the Chicago Way. But her morale-boosting initiatives, like Cash for Dorothy's Birthday and Cash for Jeans -- and let's not forget another of her favorites, reported in the Tribune months ago: Dorothy's Cash for Christmas -- have given me an idea that will win her the Feb. 2 primary. Here's the plan, Dorothy Brown: Cash for Thongs. " * Front Running the Fed - "I had a friend from the old neighborhood who was Comptroller of a major casino in Las Vegas in 1970-80s, where I also was married in 1981. Only lasting win from there, ever. According to this dour son of Italy the way he could spot a problem, besides the more aggressive methods of observation and detection, would be to examine the returns on a table basis. In the short run they will vary, but in the longer term each game will provide a statistical return that rarely deviates from the forecast, unless someone is cheating. We would walk through the casino, and he would point to a table game and say 'at the end of the month, this table will bring in xx percent.' It was he who introduced me to Bill Friedman's book, Casino Management, which is a useful read if you wish to learn more about that end of the speculative business from the house perspective. Attached is some information from a reader. I cannot assess its validity, not being in the bond trading business. But it does sound like someone has tapped into the Fed's buying plans to monetize the public debt and is front running those buys, essentially 'stealing' money from the public. Its what they call 'a sure thing.'" * NASA's Puffin Is Way Cooler Than a Jetpack - "The engineers at NASA have combined every one of our geeky transportation dreams into a single little vehicle called the Puffin. It takes off like a helicopter and flies like a plane. It can cruise at 140 mph and, with a boost mode, hit about twice that. Oh -- and it's electric. If that sounds too good to be true, it is -- for the moment. But give it time. NASA unveiled the concept today at the American Helicopter Society meeting in San Francisco. The tilt-rotor Puffin has a flight system similar to the V-22 Osprey, but instead of carrying a bunch of Marines and their gear, the Puffin carries one person in the prone position. The rotors are nearly 7.5 feet in diameter and the aircraft has a wingspan just over 13 feet. Thanks to carbon composite construction, the Puffin weighs in at less than 400 pounds including the lithium phosphate batteries." * Taxpayer-owned General Motors spent $1.48 million on lobbying in fourth quarter - "General Motors, owned mostly by the U.S. taxpayer, spent $1.48 million on lobbying in last year's fourth quarter, a recent lobbying report shows. The failed automaker lobbied for highway funding, climate-change legislation, corporate tax credits, 'R&D Funding for Cellulosic Ethanol and Renewable Fuels, Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, Advanced Batteries,' and many other issues. The $1.48 million includes the company's in-house lobbying shop, as well as $155,000 spent on four different K Street firms. Here are the outside lobbying firms funded by your tax dollars." * Scott Brown is More Liberal Than Olympia Snowe, and Now He's Pivotal, Too - "Boris writes, regarding the recent U.S. Senate election (in which moderate Republican Scott Brown narrowly beat liberal Democrat Martha Coakley in usually reliably-Democratic Massachusetts:" * Money and Speech - "People continue to characterize the Court's campaign finance decisions as resting on the theory that money is speech. And of course money isn't speech. . . . The problem with restrictions on independent spending on campaign speech -- a problem recognized by Justices Brennan and Marshall and not just by today's conservatives (though Brennan and Marshall would have allowed more such restrictions than today's conservatives do) -- isn't that money is speech. It's that restricting the use of money to speak, like restricting the use of air travel or computers to speak, interferes with people's ability to speak. One can debate whether this interference is justified. But mocking the pro-constitutional-protection position as resting on the notion that 'money is speech' strikes me as quite mistaken." * The "spending freeze" - "If you are surprised by this Obama announcement, that is indirect evidence that some of your other policy preferences are incorrect." [EMBED] The Boom and Bust Rap</font> * Friday Fun Link: City Too Busy To Hate Is Too Gay For School - "I hate to second guess here, but I lived for many years in New York and San Francisco and spend a lot of time in West Hollywood, and I gotta tell you: The gayest city in America is Washington, DC. It just doesn't show up on these lists because pleasureless, closeted self-hatred is still a done thing in the nation's capital, where even straight romance comes infused with shame, anxiety and paranoia -- and not in a good way. That's why Advise and Consent, even though it was written in the 1950s before homosexuality was even invented, will always be the great DC novel." * Conan's Exit Interview, and a Ken Burns Special... - "Let's never forget...." * Homeless Chic - "What does it mean that high fashion is (claiming to be) inspired by the homeless? What is going on when models trying to appear homeless are paraded up and down catwalks and photographed? We've seen it on America's Next Top Model, we saw it in W, and now we see it at the Milan Fashion week with Vivienne Westwood's collection. Models were not only dressed to look homeless. Their clothes were deliberately made to appear dusty and mismatched. Their messy hair and dirty faces were made up to look as if they were covered in frost. Some seemed to have been dressed so as to appear crazy. They walked, sometimes less than gracefully, a catwalk covered in cardboard boxes. Sometimes they emerged from boxes and pushed shopping carts or carried sleeping bags or bedrolls. Here's what it looked like (comments below):" ht Cheap Talk * Wheat Ridge High School Class of 1970 - "The reonion committee is working away planning the 40th reunion the weekend of August 13-15, 2010. Wheat Ridge, Colorado WRHS1970.com" * Common Market Food Co-op - "Common Market Food Co-op was a 'new wave food co-op' located at 1329 California Street in Denver, Colorado, from 1975 - 1980. It started as a buying club at the University of Denver in the late 1960s, and for a few years prior to moving to the old Safeway at 13th and California Streets, Common Market operated out of a small storefront on Champa Street." * Would You Have Spotted the Fraud? - "Pictured below is what's known as a skimmer, or a device made to be affixed to the mouth of an ATM and secretly swipe credit and debit card information when bank customers slip their cards into the machines to pull out money. Skimmers have been around for years, of course, but thieves are constantly improving them, and the device pictured below is a perfect example of that evolution." [EMBED] Killer Chic: Hollywood's Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara * Why You Can Yawn Over Monday's Home Sales `Shock' - "Memo for Monday morning: Don't get excited. The National Association of Realtors is due to release its monthly report on existing home sales at 10 a.m. Monday, and it's likely to look lousy. (What's with this 'existing' home sales bit? New homes don't exist? Let's call it home resales.) Analysts are predicting a sharp drop from November's level. The knee-jerk reaction probably will be: Oh, no, the housing market is in free fall again! In reality, housing stats tend to bounce around erratically from month to month, and one month's numbers rarely mean much." * LA Times says: No More Room on the Bench! - "This jobs gap is even more problematic given the rising cost of tuition. In 2008, the median tuition at state schools for nonresidents was $26,000 a year, and $34,000 for private schools -- and much higher in some states, such as California. Students racked up an average loan debt in 2007-08 of $59,000 for students from public law schools and $92,000 for those from private schools, according to the ABA, and a recent Law School Survey of Student Engagement found that nearly one-third of respondents said they would owe about $120,000. Such debt would be manageable if a world of lucrative jobs awaited the newly minted attorneys, but this is not the case. A recent working paper by Herwig Schlunk of Vanderbilt Law School contends that with the exception of some of those at the best schools, going for a law degree is a bad investment and that most students will be 'unlikely ever to dig themselves out from' under their debt. This problem is exacerbated by the existing law school system. Despite the tough job market, new schools continue to sprout like weeds. Today there are 200 ABA-accredited law schools in the U.S., with more on the way, as many have been awarded provisional accreditation. In California alone, there are 21 law schools that are either accredited or provisionally accredited, including the new one at UC Irvine." IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame . . . IFrame January 26, 2010 10:17 AM Link Caught Our Eye Comments (0) Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing, from TheCapitol.Net Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing How to Compose Clear and Effective Reports, Letters, Email, and Memos Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing Do you need to improve your writing skills? This intensive one-day course helps students understand the three dimensions of professional writing: organization, format and style. In addition to reviewing and teaching specific writing techniques, our faculty show you how to: * Apply critical thinking to the writing process * Use the four keys to effective writing * Understand the five-step writing process * Develop an effective writing style Communication skills are the key to efficient and effective operations in business and government. New employees should brush-up on their basic written communication and plain English skills, while experienced professionals, burdened by the additional workload caused by downsizing and budget cuts, can also benefit from this refresher course. January 28, 2010, 9 am - 4 pm. Approved for 0.6 CEUs from George Mason University. Approved for CEUs from George Mason University Where: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K Street NW, Suite 200 (12th and K Streets NW) in Washington, DC This is a required course for the Certificate in Communication and Advocacy. For more information, including agenda and secure online registration, see WordWorkshop.com January 25, 2010 10:37 AM Link Training Comments (0) "Dhondra" Rib Roast [EMBED] Standing rib roast will have them shouting, 'Dhondra!' Here's Mrs. Meisner's delicious Italian rub, enough for a four-bone roast. If your roast is larger, add more stuff. Remove the leaves from fresh rosemary (a little more than one cup) and chop them with a sharp knife. Add eight fat cloves of roughly chopped garlic, the zest of four lemons, the juice of one lemon, a half cup of kosher salt and a quarter cup of fresh coarsely ground black pepper. Toss into a food processor. Slowly drizzle in about one half cup of extra virgin olive oil. Spread the paste all over the roast to form a crust. If you need more paste, don't freak -- just make some. Allow the roast to sit in a steel or glass pan until at room temperature, about an hour or two. Don't refrigerate overnight. The salt will draw out the juices. Delicious! Thank you John Kass. Complete instructions here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-18-dec18,0,3868996.column January 24, 2010 02:57 PM Link Dining Comments (0) Assorted Links 1/24/2010 [EMBED] If You Prick a Corporation, Does It Not Bleed? * Word Workshop: Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing , January 28, 2010 * Update on The 111th Congress, 2010, January 29, 2010 * Congress in a Nutshell: Understanding Congress, February 10, 2010 * Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process, February 11, 2010 * Strategies for Working with Congress: Effective Communication and Advocacy on Capitol Hill, February 18, 2010 * The President's Budget, February 23, 2010 * The Defense Budget, February 26, 2010 * Capitol Hill Workshop, March 3-5, 2010 * A Victory for Fiscal Sovereignty and Human Rights - "This battle is part of a broader effort by uncompetitive nations to persecute 'tax havens.' Creating a tax cartel for the benefit of greedy politicians in France, Germany, and the United States would be a mistake. An 'OPEC for politicians' would pave the way for higher taxes, as explained here, here, and here. But this also is a human rights issue. Look at what happened recently in the thugocracy known as Venezuela, where Chavez began a new wave of expropriation. The Venezuelans with money in Cayman, Miami, and Switzerland were safe, but the people with assets inside the country have been ripped off by a criminal government. Or what about people subjected to persecution, such as political dissidents in Russia? Or Jews in North Africa? Or ethnic Chinese in Indonesia? Or homosexuals in Iran? And how about people in places such as Mexico where kidnappings are common and successful people are targeted, often on the basis of information leaked from tax departments. This world needs safe havens, jurisdictions such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands that offer oppressed people the protection of honest courts, financial privacy, and the rule of law. Heck, even the bureaucrat in charge of the OECD's anti-tax competition campaign admitted to a British paper that 'tax havens are essential for individuals who live in unstable regimes.' With politicians making America less stable with each passing day, let's hope this essential freedom is available in the future." * The Reality of Politics - "Lamenting that Democratic politicians up and down Pennsylvania Avenue have lost their enthusiasm for radical health-care `reform,' Paul Krugman today maintains that 'politics is supposed to be about achieving something more than your own re-election.'"