The Dept. of Energy and funding for the next great invention

Glad to be back. I saw an interesting article and it reminded me of my post advising Obama what i wanted to see accomplished in his first term as president.

I wrote the following paragraph regarding the US government using the proposed bailout to invest in cutting edge technology.

Investment: At this point, the only thing the US sells to other countries are weapons and pharmaceuticals. We need to recapture some of the more cutting edge energy technologies and start exporting. If the US government is going to invest, make sure its in things we can sell to the rest of the world.

Essentially, I wanted the government to become a venture capital I'm including the link because as we learned from Wedding Crashers, people understand what Pimps from Oakland do and Maple Syrup Conglomerates do but might be less sure what Venture Capital means. Basically, venture capital companies look for other companies to invest in.

Well it seems the government did what i suggested and there have been some unintended consequences.


The DOE hopes to lend or give out more than $40 billion to businesses working on "clean technology," everything from electric cars and novel batteries to wind turbines and solar panels. In the first nine months of 2009, the DOE doled out $13 billion in loans and grants to such firms.

Great, right? The government is trying to kick-start the economy by providing loans and financing to small entrepreneurs trying to create the industries of the 21st century. Well unfortunately, here's where the unintended consequences part comes in and showed me that I didn't investigate all angles of my (and the government's) great idea.

Some young companies are tailoring their business plans to win DOE cash. Private investors, meanwhile, are often pulling back, waiting to see which projects the government blesses. Success in winning federal funds can attract a flood of private capital, companies say, while conversely, bad luck in Washington can sour their chances with private investors. The result is an intertwining of public and private-sector interests in an arena where politics is never far from the surface.

Basically, if you want private investment for your (energy related) business venture, you better have the Dept. of Energy on your side first. Unfortunately this is going to give a small group of politicians in the Department of Energy enormous power in shaping and directing the future of the United States economy.

"We are caught in this blender of historically new forces, somewhere between the public and private worlds," said Bright's chief executive, John Waters. Without a government loan, private investors are reluctant to jump in, he says, while the DOE loan team is wary of backing ventures that haven't already won significant support in the private sector.

Venture Capital companies work because the people who work there are ruthlessly efficient in determining which companies have the potential to make it because they hire business and economic experts and don't invest in companies they don't will make it because it's their company's money at stake. By putting the government in the driver's seat in deciding which companies make it and which don't, we're running the risk of taking the some of the smartest and shrewdest businessman out of the process and just piggybacking on companies that have already received significant government support.

My main concern is the DOE will issue too much funding because they are trying to stimulate enterprise and are not overly concerned with profitability. Taxpayer money will be wasted because the DOE aren't the experts in picking companies that actually have long term viability. The article focuses on the upstart Fisker Automotive who have already secured over 500 million in loans and while I understand that a venure as large as a car company has a large upstart cost, I wouldn't count on getting any of that 500 million back. The problem is not only the companies/ideas the DOE thinks will succeed and don't, if the DOE passes on what the best idea ever, what then? Before this, no one entity had so much power in the venture capital market. If one company stupidly passed on the chance to get the first toaster company started back in 1900, there was another company ready to fund. But with such a mammoth power like the government in the VC game, will the private firms have the nerve to fund a great idea that wasn't blessed by the DOE?

Overall, I think it's great the government tried to fund new and exciting green technologies and business ventures. The industry needed capital when banks and venture capital companies where shrinking and cutting back on lending a year ago. However, I think the government needs to start to roll back their financial involvement and let the market decide which ideas have long term potential.

Thanks for sticking with the blog.

Georgia: I'm sorry it took so long for part 2

Hey,
It's been a while. Georgia is kind of the same old thing. I've been working long hours but wanted give some highlights of my free time.

My 2nd weekend there, Johnny and I headed down to Daytona Beach, Florida which is about 3 hours south of Brunswick. We head down there and on when we get off the exit its a 4 mile drive to the water's edge. A mile of that was the Daytona Motor Speedway which is super impressive to see from the outside because its a racetrack in next to regular city streets. It goes multiple city blocks and even for a non NASCAR fan, definitely cool to see. We also saw the Vince Carter Athletic Center which is a freaking palace. We got to the beach and Daytona really looks like 70's vegas without the casinos. A bunch of hotels in a row, it was dusty, and had a million cheap gift shops that sold Daytona gifts.

I saw Up and thought it was really good. There must have been a cat in the theater because I got a bit sniffly when Carl was reading his wife's adventure book. Up was definitely full of sentiment; but light on plot. Carl of course was awesome. But I would have liked a little more development of the villain.

Thanks for everyone who wished me happy birthday. I went down to the beach in Jacksonville, FL. It started raining crazy hard, hard enough the windshield wipers did not work fast enough.

I want to get things posted so i might get to some less important things that may have happened a while ago coming soon.

Georgia: The first couple days

Wanted to give my loyal fans the rundown on my first couple days in Georgia. I've given different people different bits and pieces of the story but I'll start from the beginning.

Last Tuesday, my boss calls me into his office and his boss is in there too. I sit down and they both look of me, the first thing that goes through my head is, "oh fuck, I'm about to be fired!"

So then one of them says to me, "How would you like to go to Brunswick for 30 days?" And I already know about Brunswick and the fact that the company has a facility there and even though the thought of spending 30 days in rural south Georgia is not what I had in mind for the start of my summer, its just one of those things you can't say no to.

So here I am, I left on Thursday and had a fairly uneventful day of traveling. I flew from San Diego to Atlanta and then on to Brunswick. On my flight to Brunswick, I sat in a two person row with a guy who is one of those people that should be forced to buy 2 seats. I was sitting on the aisle (thankfully) and was folding my legs and arms all over myself trying to get them some space.

So I arrive Thursday night and they put me straight to work on Friday and Saturday. The people I work with are really funny (to me at least). A lot of them are sweet ladies in their 40s and 50s (and 70s) with Georgia accents. A lot of times they'll use expressions that don't make any sense in the literal sense so I don't know what they're talking about but they all seem to know. I wish I had more to this story because on of the old ladies used, "make it rain." Now, she wasn't talking about rain coming from the sky and she wasnt talking about showering strippers with dollar bills so I'm still not sure what she was saying. I guess you had to be there (like a geography joke).
The first day at lunch I tried to make friends right away so I sat with some guys and they spent the 45 minute lunch break talking about fishing and I didn't say a word. The only time I've ever gone fishing, I was 7 and didn't even bait my own hook (I bet that would have impressed them). So in terms of mixing up with the locals, day number one wasn't super productive. After work, I went home and caught up on sleep.

Saturday they had me back to work and this time I was driving cars. It was pretty cool driving some of the super nice BMWs they have here. I don't know much about cars but i drove one that went up to 200 on the odometer (but I did take it up that high :). That day I went to lunch with my boss and two guys that work in the body shop. These guys were good guys and all but again, not a whole lot in common. We went to Larry's subs. Larry's subs was run by a family (presumably Larry's) and it was the classic hick family. Anyway, the guys I ate with talked about the drag race they went to recently, or Sponge Bob (of which they were both experts). Then I got to see that ridiculous Laker game.

I spent the rest of Saturday sleeping or looking for something to do on Sunday. I thought I found something good; I was was going to head down to the semi-touristy St. Simons Island. I saw on this website that it had beaches and bike trails. So I thought this sounded pretty good. I start the day out walking in the direction of St. Simons and I end up walking to a Wal-mart to pick up and Ipod data cable and decide to stop at a small restaurant to have some lunch before I took a cab the rest of the 10 miles to the island. I walk into the restaurant (think Applebees but not called Applebees). I walk in and this is the exchange I have with one of the girls at the front desk:
"Didn't I see you walk by?"
"Yes, I needed to run an errand"
"Why'd you walk by and come back"
"I went to Wal-mart to pick something up."
"Are you from here?"
"No"
"Where are you from?"
"California"
"Why are you here"
"Business trip."
At this point one of the other girls steps in and chastises here for the grilling I'm getting and I ask jokingly, "Did I do something wrong?" Even though she was extremely rude to me, she wasn't trying to be a dick to me, she was just curious but I'm writing it because I've never had anything like that happen to me. So as I was leaving I ask for the girl to call me a cab. 15 minutes later my cab driver walks in and walks me to his cab. Now, I'm asking you to picture the definition of cowboy and thats who my cab driver was. Boots, jeans, a button up black shirt with orange flames and topped off with a cowboy hat. So we get into the cab and he introduces himself as "Country." Whoa. Country? Are you kidding me? The whole time we were talking I couldn't get over it. This was a Georgia boy through and through. It was funny, he was asking me questions about why I was visiting Georgia (Apparently I stick out like a sore thumb because Georgians can tell immediately that I'm not one of them). So I answered some questions and would usually respong, "I like your style." Then he asked me questions about how I liked Georgia and things like that usually responding to my answers with, "I like your style." The he rolled the windows up and put on the air and I said, "You know what, I wouldn't mind the fresh air blowing through here." You know what comes next, "Hey man, I like your style." I think I could have told him, "I think Country is a stupid name and you're a dumb redneck." I still think he would have told me he likes my style."

So he drops me off on St. Simons and I walk around a bit before going to look for a bike rental shop to tackle these bike trails. Its a nice place, a couple shops and a small beach but the island is mostly houses and swamps. So go to a bike rental shop and ask if they have a map or if they can direct me to one of these legendary bike trails. The disinterestedly hands me a map and sends me on my way. So I look at the map and it doesn't say anything about bike trails. I bike around the whole island and don't see anything. Apparently Georgia's definition of bike trails means paved sidewalks... next to streets... in the middle of the town. I just had to laugh about it because in no way shape or form were there "bike trails" but they fooled me into coming down and taking some of my money, well done.

I call up the cab company and ask for them to send Country to give me a ride home. The dispatcher says, "Country will be there in a few." I get picked up and this is the first time I notice the name tag on the dash, "Hayes Forbes." Hmm. As much as I want to believe that Country's name is actually Country (the dispatcher called him that too), the name tag on the dash throws some doubts in my mind. But it would break my heart for him not to be named Country, so I choose to believe although I'll probably never know.

It's been an interesting first couple days. I start a "special project" on Tuesday so then I'll have a better sense of why I'm here. Thanks for everyone calling, texting, and gtalking to me while I'm here.

NFL Draft

I've gone around the internet and tried to find out a consensus on the Chargers draft since I've obviously seen a Northern Illinois game. I've copied and pasted for your reading pleasure. Its sounds like most analysts were meh on the Chargers noting that Larry English is good but not middle of the first round good. When we get him on the Merriman plan, he'll be blowing people up. A lot of people talked about English being Merriman insurance, I think enough people raised doubts that its possible San Diego is nervous that A. Merriman may not get back to full strength after the knee injury or B. He will get to full strength and then leave as a free agent when the Redskins offer him 100 mil. With the franchise tag rule, I don't think we'll have to worry about losing Merriman for a couple years but AJ smith might think Merriman is a replaceable part not worthy of a big contract. Back to the Hester deal, look up Phil Loadholt, an offensive tackle drafted by Minnesota in the 2nd round a couple spots behind where we would have picked in the 2nd round. If we hadn't done the Hester deal, we could have had English and gotten a 6'7'' 335 pound right tackle also. Anyway, that's the past. In the first round, I was going to grill the Chargers on not being aggressive and trying to move up to get Orakpo (a personal favorite after the chain picture) but the Redskins made that pick after 10 seconds, its clear they had no interest in trading the pick no matter what the Chargers or anyone else could offer in trade. This draft gets a thumbs up from me.

_______________________________________________________________________________

San Diego Chargers: GRADE: C+
The selection of linebacker Larry English at No. 16 was a little high, but he fills a potential need for them and he's a good player. Guards Louis Vasquez and Tyronne Green were good selections in the third and fourth rounds. Defensive tackle Vaughn Martin was a bit of a reach in the fourth round because he played in Canada against a lower level of competition. The late-round picks of running back Gartrell Johnson, cornerback Brandon Hughes, safety Kevin Ellison and wide receiver Demetrius Byrd were all good picks.

San Diego Chargers
2009 draft class
Best pick: G Tyronne Green, Auburn (Fourth round, No. 133 overall)
Worst pick: DT Vaughn Martin, Western Ontario (Fourth round, No. 113 overall)
Bottom line: It's hard to knock the pick of DE Larry English at No. 16 overall because I think he is a good all-around player who will help the Chargers in the long term. However, San Diego's Super Bowl window is closing quickly and drafting English at arguably their deepest position -- assuming Shawne Merriman returns to health -- does nothing to upgrade the team in the short term. The Chargers needed an impact player at ILB or a physical presence at RT, and after passing on those needs in the first round they were left to wait until the third round for their next pick. Martin has upside thanks to his combination of size and athleticism but it won't surprise me if he's not on their 53-man roster this fall. The only really good news for San Diego is that Green and Louis Vasquez will beef up the interior of the offensive line now and in the future.

San Diego Chargers
Picks: DE/LB Larry English, G Louis Vasquez, DT Vaughn Martin, G Tyronne Green, RB Gartrell Johnson, CB Brandon Hughes, S Kevin Ellison, WR Demetrius Byrd.
Positives: English, Vazquez, Martin.
Negative: Didn’t get top-end running back.
Bottom line: B. English is a small-college player with big-time pass-rush skills, which the Chargers need after not having linebacker Shawne Merriman last season. Merriman is expected to come back this season, but may not get all of the explosiveness back from what he had prior to his knee injury. Therefore, English may have to be ready sooner than later. Vasquez, Martin and Green are the type of big-body guys the Chargers like on their interior lines and Martin should step right in to replace departed Igor Olshansky. However, the Chargers were really hoping for a shot at Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno, who was taken at No. 12 by Denver, four picks ahead of the Chargers. Moreno was going to be the guy to step in after LaDainian Tomlinson left.

San Diego: B-

The Chargers' draft was quietly productive. They may have taken pass-rusher Larry English a tad too early at No. 16 but he is a fine player who should make a fast impact. Guard Louis Vasquez has a chance to start right away if the third-rounder from Texas Tech has a good training camp. Guard Tyronne Green, (fourth round), running back Gartrell Johnson (fifth) and safety Kevin Ellison (sixth) all could help down the road. It was nothing fancy, but it was a solid draft by the three-time defending division champions.

San Diego

The selection of Northern Illinois pass rusher Larry English helps because of the loss of Igor Olshansky and with Shawne Merriman entering his final season contractually. It's difficult to argue with GM A.J. Smith, but a lot of teams ranked English as a second-round player. English, who started 47 games, had 31 1/2 career sacks and twice was named the best player in Mid-American Conference.
Colorado State running back Gartrell Johnson proved his worth with a 285-yard effort against Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl game. Johnson led the Mountain West Conference with 113.5 yards per game. Grade: B

What do you think of the Larry English pick for the Chargers? Did he get taken too early, or is his dominant performance in the MAC enough to justify him going before some defensive players from the big-time programs?

SportsNation Mel Kiper: I didn't think he was taken too early. It was a team that had a chance to make a luxury pick. This is Shawn Merriman insurance. He's coming off of a knee injury. He's a perfect 3-4 OLB. Now they have that third entity that they had the luxury of taking. They had no key need area going in. They also picked a RB. This was a pick for a good player in the MAC. It's not like the MAC is I-AA. It's a good football conference. He played for Northern Illinois and played well. He was in my top 25 for a lot of the year.

# Best pick: Guard Louis Vasquez, the team's second-round pick, is a feisty lineman who fits in with what the Chargers want to do.
# Questionable move: Taking Larry English with the 16th pick might have been a little high. And it really wasn't a need. Some teams had second-round grades on English.
# Second-day gem: Fourth-round pick Vaughn Martin played his college ball in Canada, but he initially was set to go to Michigan State. He is 6-3, 331 pounds and has a lot of raw ability.
I just didn't think they did a lot of really good things. But English can change that if he becomes another Shawne Merriman. C-


San Diego Chargers

Grade: B+

Details: A back to basics draft for Chargers GM A.J. Smith after they spent two years going for luxury picks. Northern Illinois DE/OLB Larry English will learn how to play outside linebacker, and then eventually replace Shawne Merriman or Shaun Phillips as a big-time pass rusher. Three straight linemen in the middle rounds will add bulk. San Diego only gets knocked off “A” status because they dealt their second-rounder in a questionable deal for Jacob Hester last year. (Just so we're clear, I didn't write the last sentence)

good riddance

Go

My birthday is coming up

PLEEEEEEEASE

Baseball Predictions

Hey everyone, hope you are as excited as I am about the beginning of the MLB season.
Predictions:

AL East
Yankees - 95 wins
Red Sox - 93 wins
Rays - 92 wins
Blue Jays - 80 wins
Orioles - 71 wins

Its a shame only 2 out of the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays threesome can make the playoffs because they are IMO the best 3 teams in the league (although some people would argue the cubs belong there). However, the cubs get to beat up on the crappy NL central while a team like the Blue Jays, which is actually talented and would do well in several other divisions, is the 4th best team in this one. Easily the toughest division. The Yankees are spent a ton of money on free agents this winter, and while these contracts will be burdens in 5 years, right now they have several very talented players in their prime.

AL Central
Indians - 85 wins
Twins - 82 wins
Tigers - 80 wins
White Sox - 77 wins
Royals - 75 wins

This is one of the aforementioned less talented divisions. It will be close as every team has significant flaws. The Indians and Tigers have significant starting pitching issues to go with good offenses. The Twins and Royals can't hit and the White Sox are old. You could make a believable case that any of the top 4 teams could win the division.

AL West
A's - 84 wins - A's win tiebreaker game
Angels - 84 wins
Mariners - 75 wins
Rangers - 72 wins

I know, I know, cop-out of the century predicting a tie. But these teams are very evenly matched although in very different situations. The A's have a bunch of up and coming pitchers and a newly added star offensive player in Matt Holliday. The Angels are trying to hang on to success while their core ages and the deal with significant injuries to the pitching staff. Ultimately, it will be the injury stories that determine who wins this division. The Angels two best starting pitchers are going to miss the beginning of the season with injuries while Eric Chavez of the A's is likely to re-injure his shoulder if he sneezes to hard. If Erving Santana and John Lackey of the Angels don't miss too much time, they will probably take the division. If the A's rookies in the starting rotation hold up well and perform better than expected of rookie pitchers, they will probably take the division. This one will probably go down to the wire.

National League
NL East
Mets - 91 wins
Braves - 87 wins
Phillies - 86 wins
Marlins - 74 wins
Nationals - 73 wins

The Mets are the class of this division after re-tooling the bullpen. Either the Braves or Phillies will win the wild card and after adding Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, and Kenshin Kawakami; the Braves pitching is what seals the deal and leaves last year's world series winner out of the playoffs.

NL Central
Cubs - 94
Brewers - 82
Cardinals - 81
Reds - 78
Astros - 73
Pirates - 69

This division is the Cubs and 5 teams ranging from, at best, average to worst team in baseball. The Cardinals have one ridiculously good player (Pujols), 2 decent starting pitchers (though one is always hurt), and a team of scrubs (with Khalil Greene being king of the scrubs). The Brewers have some young talented position players but lost their 2 best pitchers to free agency and will only have one starting pitcher that is safely above league average (Yovani Gallardo). The Pirates bring up the rear in the division and I predict they will have the worst record in the majors when its all said and done.

NL West
Dodgers - 91 wins
D'Backs - 85 wins
Giants - 80 wins
Rockies - 71 wins
Padres - 70 wins

The Dodgers will safely win this division as it boasts one of the best top-bottom lineups in baseball. The Rockies lost their best pitcher to injury for the season and traded their best hitter for nothing that will be very useful in the major leagues next season. They will be fighting off the Padres to avoid the cellar in the NL West. The Diamondbacks have a young core of position players ready to take the next step to stardom and have 2 of the best starting pitchers in the game. They will fight the Phillies and the Braves for the NL wildcard.

First Round Playoff Scenarios
Yankees > A's
Red Sox > Indians
Cubs > Braves
Dodgers > Mets

Second Round Playoff Scenarios
Yankees > Red Sox
Dodgers > Cubs (98 more years)

World Series
Yankees > Dodgers

Enjoy the season everyone!

War on Drugs

Good article today from a columnist who gets it. He is arguing for the legalization of drugs for budgetary reasons. He writes,

"How many police officers and sheriff's deputies are involved in investigating and solving crimes involving illegal drugs? And arresting and transporting and interrogating and jailing the suspects?

How many prosecutors and their staffs spend time prosecuting drug cases? How many defense lawyers spend their time defending drug suspects?

How many hours of courtroom time are devoted to drug trials? How many judges, bailiffs, courtroom security officers, stenographers, etc., spend their time on drug trials?

How many prison cells are filled with drug offenders? And how many corrections officers does it take to guard them? How much food do these convicts consume?

And when they get out, how many parole and probation officers does it take to supervise their release?"

A Harvard economist estimates that the war on drugs costs 44 billion while potential tax revenue is 33 billion. Essentially the war on drugs costs us 77 billion dollars a year.

Now, there are 303 million people in the US and according to the IRS, 140 million people paid taxes in 07 (and presumably a similar number in 08). This means that the cost of the war on drugs is $254.13 per person and $550 per taxpayer. Violence in Mexico and the US would decrease if drugs were sold in liquor stores and not in back alleys street corners to be fought over. The temptation for public officials to accept bribes and aid in the drug trade in Mexico, the US, or anywhere else is gone.
We've been reading about what lousy shape our economy is in and how no one has any money, wouldn't it be nice if everyone had an extra $254.13 in their pockets?

Its time to cut our losses in the war on drugs. No one wins.

Bank Bailout

Big news out of the Obama administration yesterday. The Treasury announced the bank bailout details. I've always had mixed feeling on bailing out banks. Its important that banks don't seal themselves in and protect against more losses by not lending, a fluid credit market is super important.

This is the plan. Banks will offer the assets (risky home loans) they don't want up for auction. Assume that the loans were worth a million dollars if there was no risk. The collection of assets will go to auction where asset management companies can bid on them.
The banks only want to clear the riskiest assets so the assets will be worth considerably less than the million dollars because of the high risk of default. Let say the bidding reaches $100,000. The government will pay over 90% the whole cost of the loan while the private company assumes only minimal risk.

Now I don't know all the details, but I assume the asset management company would be allowed to renegotiate the terms of the loans the acquire.

Now if the assets turn out well and they end up collecting 200,000 on the loans. The government and private company split the 200,000 evenly. Everyone goes home happy especially the asset managers, they invested less than 10,000 of their money and were able to collect 100,000. If the assets fall in value, the government (taxpayers) takes a pretty big hit.

Now the plan is obviously very controversial. Here are the positives: It takes the bad assets off the banks balance sheets and hopefully frees them up to loan more money. It leaves the asset management to professionals and keeps open the possibility the government can make a profit.

The cons: If the plan fails, it falls hard and the taxpayers bite the bullet yet again. The government is buying the riskiest assets and though auctions are usually the best way to accurately price something, the fact that the government is footing the bill will inflate prices because the companies know they are assuming minimal risk.

I'm still very so-so on the plan. The banks with the bad assets have an incentive to work directly with the lendees to work out a plan without the need for government intervention. However, if your number one priority is to get banks lending, the plan will accomplish that.

This is another arm of the Obama's overall strategy for the economy, we'll all have to see together if it works.

Another opinion

When losing

This is interesting

I don't have much to add. Enjoy March Madness.

Crazy Religous People

WOW

I don't know what Oklahoma is trying to prove here. State legislators wasting time and money with crap like this. I want to tear my hair out.

I may have changed my mind

As important as it is for people to have a voice in governing themselves. The pro prop 8 groups are fucking retarded.


"I believe if you travel down this path you will open Pandora's Box," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, who said same-sex marriage would create a strong legal argument for polygamy.

FUUUUUUUCK YOOUUUU. I've also heard people say this opens the door to beastiality as well. You people make me furious. You feel this strongly about the bible that you are going to resort to saying that allowing same sex marriage would also open the door for polygamy Ironically, mormon (I'm not going to capitalize the "m," they don't deserve it) groups were some of the strongest supporters and bankrollers of prop 8.

"I don't see this as a fundamental rights issue but redefining the definition of marriage," said Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar (Los Angeles County).

Technically he's right, dictionary.com's definition of marriage all include "man" and "woman"


The initiative "does not erode any of the bundle of rights that this state has very generously provided," he said, but merely "restores the traditional definition of marriage."

"Very gererously provided?" Who the fuck are you (it was Ken Starr again btw). Hes basically saying, "damn, you gays don't stop asking for stuff, we already let you outside in the daytime, what more do you want?"

The sacrifices I make for blogging. I read articles like these and comment on them for you even though it will put me in a bad mood for hours.

Prop 8 in the news again

Prop 8 was in the news today as the California state supreme court met to hear arguments from lawyers though not about whether gay marriage should be legal but about the legality of voters deciding what is and isn't a "right."

Its an interesting question to discuss. Does the populous get to decide what a right is or should it be left to judges who are "legal and constitutional experts?"

The same judges who decided that outlawing gay marriage was unconstitutional are having to decide again on essentially the same issue even though we just had an election to decide it.

Kenneth Starr, the lead lawyer for the yes on 8 side says, "The people do have the raw power to define rights," Starr told the justices. "The people are sovereign and they can do very unwise things, and things that tug at the equality principle." (Sidenote: Kenneth was the lead prosecuting lawyer in Clinton's impeachment trial and obviously missed the attention)

Shannon Minter, lead lawyer for the No on 8 side argues, "A simple majority cannot be permitted to take away rights from a historical disadvantaged minority without substantially altering the very operation and purpose of equal protection and the court's ability to fulfill its core constitutional function of enforcing equal protection."

Honestly, I'm really torn. Obviously I want gay people to be allowed to get married but that is not technically the issue. I do believe that the people can help decide what are "rights" and what aren't. We always here about the constitution being a "living" and "evolving" document so shouldn't we always be discussing and debating what a right is?

However, if we admit that people can decide what rights are, the people have made an odd choice with this election. The yes on 8 lawyers, by arguing that people get to decide what are rights, are basically saying that it is a right to sit anywhere on a bus but not to marry any person you want. There seems to be a disconnect there.

Ultimately, I think the Yes on 8 side will win and while I'll be disappointed in what the significance of the decision means, I do think that people have the right to have a hand in deciding what are rights and hopefully we'll see a proposition to overturn 8 in 4 years (and I can pretty much guarantee there will be).

All this means is the people who believe gay people should be allowed to get married have to get out there and convince people of it.

More on the Stimulus

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/03/stimulus.money/index.html
More detail on how the stimulus package will be spent.

The biggest portion of the stimulus is 141 billion of the 317.2 billion going to education.

Strange But True

http://www.ketv.com/news/18838874/detail.html

Uhh, I don't know what to say. This guy seems like hes really going places in his life.

Book Review: The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Many have you have followed and loved the Harry Potter series like I have. Last year, JK Rowling published a book of wizard fairy tales that accompany the main books titled, "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Some of the short stories in the book were referenced in the Harry Potter series before "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" were actually written.

The book itself is 5 short stories that, like most other fairy tales, have a moral or lesson but these stories all involve wizards and magic.

Maybe I expected too much because the Harry Potter books were so good but I was disappointed. The stories seemed too short to actually get involved in the story. The best story was the "Tale of the 3 Brothers." Unfortunately, that was also the one that had been told in it's entirety in another Harry Potter book (the story that explains the how the invisibility cloak came to be).

Unfortunately, I finished the book and thought to myself, "what was the point of publishing that?" The last page describes the charity for institutionalized kids for which the proceeds of the book were heading and I felt like a jackass. So buy the book, just don't expect much when you read it.

Drought

This story won't get a lot of play but California is running out of water. Arnold has declared a water emergency and has asked us to save water.

http://www.kcra.com/water/18812494/detail.html

The fact that California is running out of water shouldn't be surprising. Southern California is a desert. Palm Springs has about 100 golf courses. My dream is for greening the planet is to really improve desalination technology.



Desalination is ultimately where we will be headed in water technology. Ground springs and aquifers are emptying and will not supply the water we need forever. Unfortunately, as the chart above shows, it is many times more expensive to desalinate water than get fresh groundwater. Desalination should be part of the stimulus plan's green technology initiatives and part of the strategy for a self sustaining (with regards with resource use) world.

Back by popular demand

So blame Xacto, she requested more econ so here it is.

We were chatting and she says, "yeah. ok so let me get this straight.
11:45 AM free trade is controversial b/c it limits blue collar jobs here in the us, but it helps big businesses it helps b/c it creates more markets for exporting goods?"

So a term you should know is "opportunity cost" )http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost) But Opportunity cost essential means that if it takes me an hour to paint a house and you half an hour, and it takes me an hour to build a bike and you two, instead of each of us building our own bikes and painting our own houses; you should paint the houses and I should build the bikes. That way for the same amount of time, we can have more goods. Basically, we can have more goods by specialization.

So in economic terms, each country produces the goods that they can make the cheapest. So they grow corn in Missouri (I've driven through Missouri, believe me, there is A LOT of corn) and they grow sugar in the Barbados because the climates of each region are best suited to grow those particular crops. So imagine that to get a ton of corn from Missouri, it takes 4 man hours and 4 hours of tilling the fields. But if you want a ton of corn from the Barbados, because its not ideally suited for growing corn, it takes more man hours and more hours of tilling to get the same amount of corn. Well you can use less people to get the same amount of goods, you can make it cheaper and make more of it.

So essentially we want the world to operate like this. We dont want Missouri to have to grow corn, sugar, build cars, build computers, and build Christmas tree ornaments. We want them to concentrate on corn because they're the best at producing it and they can make the most for the cheapest.

So when there are tariffs, it encourages countries to be less efficient with their resources. Say China can make a stick of gum for a dollar and Missouri can make it for 2; but a tariff makes the Chinese gum cost 2.5 dollars, Americans will buy the American product and an American has a job but theres a cost. So the American consumer used to be able to buy gum for 1 dollar, now has to pay 2 meaning they have less money to spend elsewhere. The inefficient labor hours it took to make the gum could have been used to to make something America is actually good at producing.

So the key to preventing a situation where America is importing everything and not exporting enough is America needs to find more things its the best at producing. The best way to advance our advantage is improved the collective skills and education of our workforce and gain advantages in white collar industries because we already have the best network of institutions of higher educations and other countries can produce shoelaces more cheaply than Americans can.

So back to original question, companies and consumers should both like free trade. Consumers buy goods at the best possible world price, companies who are the best at producing goods like it because they get to compete on the open market without the government raising prices and perhaps making a product that was the best AND the cheapest more expensive than the local product (like American Automobiles.)

Econ!! Just kidding, Baseball

Math is invading the baseball world these days and really having and effect on how we quantify the talent of the players and teams. Smarter people than I have done studies to see which offensive stats best correlate to runs and which pitching and defense stats correlate to fewer runs allowed. And once you find the projected runs for, and runs against, the point differential will give you a projected W-L record.

Introducing PECOTA- It stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm and it is consistently one of the most accurate projections on the web. It projects player stats by looking at the players history and then finding what players with comparable stats at the same age and looks for trends.

So for all of you with favorite baseball teams, here is a pretty good projection of where they might finish.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/dc/index.php?sessionstatus=notloggedin

More economics (a lot more)

The mayor of Detroit wrote a stirring article for CNN about how free trade is to blame for the current economic crisis.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/09/am.bernero.trade.reform/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Free trade has become a punching bag for people who want to blame someone for the recession we are in and why people are losing their jobs. Here are a few choice quotes from the article that I want to explore.

"...the unholy alliance between Washington and Wall Street has sold out the American worker and exported our standard of living."

This statement makes no sense to me. Unholy alliance? Are Wall Street and Washington having meetings in underground lairs where they plot the demise of the average American?

Exported our standard of living? I have no joke or snarky comment. What the hell does this mean?

He goes on to say...

Driven by the insatiable greed of Wall Street profiteers and accelerated by the false promise of free trade, our manufacturing base has been chased out of this country and along with it the livelihood of millions of hard-working Americans."


First off, why do people even form companies? This is not the first time Wall Street has been called our for "greed." Do you people form companies and go to work every day for any reason other than to make money? Do people go to work instead of the beach every day because its fun? Does getting a job on Wall Street turn you into a soulless subhuman who lives for other people's misery?

People who work on wall street are men and women with kids and mortgages too and they probably worry about losing their job once and a while too. But Bernero is attacking the CEOs and "fat cats" of wall street.

Bernero is playing off the fact that wall street is a target for lower and middle class Americans who see newspaper headlines of 20 million dollar bonuses, chartered jets, and luxury yachts for the CEOs as proof that the economic system that allows some families to squeeze into one bedroom apartments as broken.

I'll be the first to say, if there was a way to efficiently and fairly redistribute wealth, I would be for it. It sucks seeing people go hungry or without heat in the middle of a Detroit winter.

Let’s look at why corporations offer these kinds of compensation packages. Here I'll turn to major league baseball to provide the analogy. Why does Alex Rodriguez make more money than David Eckstein? Easy, because one is a better player. People who run companies (like baseball teams) know exactly how much skill is worth to their company and are willing to pay an employee more if he brings more value back to the company.

Why does Alex Rodriguez make more money than I do? The answer is simply he has a marketable skill that I don't have (or have very little of). Not everyone has the skill and acumen to run a huge company. The shareholders of these companies that need to hire someone to manage thousands of people and billions of dollars worth of assets and want to hire the very best managers and CEOs that they can. And if the difference between a good CEO versus a bad CEO can be the difference between a successful company and bankruptcy, a 20 million dollar bonus is bargain to pay to acquire the smartest person they can. And if a good CEO can be the difference between life and death for a company, why is it so outrageous to reward the person with compensation equal to the value that they brought to the company?

Now, your next logical question to my argument is, “But these companies failed and need corporate bailouts, they don’t deserve the massive compensation they’re receiving.” And America has a couple logical choices for how to deal with this issue for the companies they are bailing out. One is, if America becomes the primary owner of a company, they can fire the old CEO and bring in a new one and pay him whatever Obama wants. But we’re back at the dilemma I brought up earlier, if you are a talented CEO and could work anywhere you want, are you going to work for a bailed out company that has a restriction on executive pay or are you going to take your services to the highest bidder? Executive pay caps are not a good idea if you think that a talented head of the company is very important. So if the government is going to force the old CEO out and force the company to hire a new one with strict earning limits they’re going to have to prepare to hire someone who is inexperienced and will be willing to work for smaller earnings.


Bernero continues,
“With all due respect, the free traders need to ask themselves a more fundamental question: how will Americans buy those goods when they don't even have a paycheck that covers their mortgage, much less the college tuition for their children.”

My first question to Bernero is, “If all these kids are going to go to college and aren’t interested in working blue collar jobs, why are you so concerned that these jobs are going away?” I just graduated from college and I will be the first to tell you that I wanted a white collar job. If I had been offered an assembly line job for a car manufacturer, I would have turned it down.”

The next major point Bernero makes is, “those who continue to espouse free trade ominously warn that protectionism is the wrong path for our nation; that challenging the holy doctrine of free trade invites a global trade war. Yet we already face rampant protectionism across the globe. Pursuing a free trade agenda in a protectionist world is tantamount to unilateral disarmament. Our trading partners routinely employ taxes, tariffs and subsidies that underwrite their exports and restrict American products from entering their home markets. They use currency manipulation to reduce the relative cost of their goods here in the USA.”

Here are the list of countries that America trades with most. And not shockingly, America does more business with countries that have free trade agreements. So the plan in this economy is to buy and sell fewer goods with the rest of the world?

Top 10 Countries for U.S. Exports (2005)
1. Canada ... US$211.9 billion (up 31.7% from 2002)
2. Mexico ... $120.4 billion (up 23.5%)
3. Japan ... $55.5 billion (up 7.8%)
4. China ... $41.9 billion (up 89.6%)
5. United Kingdom ...$38.6 billion (up 16.3%)
6. Germany ... $34.2 billion (up 28.6%)
7. South Korea ... $27.8 billion (up 23%)
8. Netherlands ... $26.5 billion (up 44.8%)
9. France ... $22.4 billion (up 17.9%)
10. Taiwan ... $22.1 billion (up 20.1%)

The top 4 trade partners for American exports - Canada, Mexico, Japan and China - consumed over 47% of U.S. exports in 2005.

Top 10 Countries U.S. Imports From (2005)
1. Canada ... US$290.4 billion (up 38.9% from 2002)
2. China ... $243.5 billion (up 94.5%)
3. Mexico ... $170.1 billion (up 26.4%)
4. Japan ... $138 billion (up 13.7%)
5. Germany ...$84.8 billion (up 35.7%)
6. United Kingdom ... $51 billion (up 25.3%)
7. South Korea ... $43.8 billion (up 23%)
8. Taiwan ... $34.8 billion (up 8.4%)
9. Venezuela ... $34 billion (up 125.2%)
10. France ... $33.8 billion (up 19.9%)

This list makes his point about it being a protectionist world a flat out lie. We have NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) which guarantees free trade with Mexico and Canada, America’s 2 biggest trading partners. America has negotiated free trade agreements (or near free trade agreements) with (I believe) everyone on these lists (although I couldn’t find any articles saying one way or the other about all of them and I didn’t want to spend the time looking for them).

Bernero comes off very much as someone who hasn’t bothered to concern himself with finding out why the economy is in trouble. This looks like a campaign speech to me. Yes, wall street made some mistakes. Yes, these car companies made some mistakes, but the economy fluctuates naturally and does so with predictable regularity. Yes, this recession is worse than most, but this is what happens every single time and we're acting like its our first recession ever.

My real question is, why are we in a such a huge rush to bail out companies that frankly don’t make a very good product? My family bought 2 cars in the 90’s. A Chevy Suburban in 1995 and a Toyota Camry in 1996. We sold the Chevy after it stopped running yet again to a friend who like to tinker with cars in 2002 with barely 100,000 miles on it but well over 10,000 in repair bills. Its 2009 and I still drive the Camry we bought in 1996 and the biggest problem I’ve ever had with it is I pulled off the door handle and the trunk lever. It has 130,000 miles on it and still purrs like a kitten. I will never buy an American car unless the reputation for quality improves drastically. Yes, I realize the American car company employs a lot of hard working, decent, insert positive adjective here, Americans. But if the company makes a crappy product, it deserves to go out of business. American car companies have been losing there market share of the car market in America for years now. They weren't good healthy companies that were just knocked on their ass by this recession in the last year, they have been losing customers for decades now. The patriotism of buying an American car does not make up for it when you're going bankrupt paying repair bills.

And although Bernero says manufacturing can’t survive in America without protection, car makers like Toyota and Nissan are building factories in America because more people want their product. GM and Ford are building factories overseas complain that they can't compete so they build their factories overseas.

My point is, yes it sucks that people are losing their jobs and can’t pay their mortgage. But natural capitalism is the best system we have. If America wants to continue to be a manufacturer, its going to have to have even better quality than the factories that use cheap labor because the products are going to cost more. The best strategy for America is to churn out the best and brightest minds and instead of exporting products made of iron and steel, export the fruits of our knowledge by becoming a leader in green technology the next product market that is primed for explosion, while continuing to be a leader in pharmaceuticals and the services sector.

If you made it all the way to the bottom, I thank you. I had rebuttals to other points in the article but at this point, I'm tired. I'll try to cut back on the econ posts and get back the bread and butter of this blog, complaining about the people who hate gay people.

Best Picture ever

Where the fuck are the zeros on this Hundred? Wait, is this what i think it is?!?!?!

I haven't seen one of these in years.

Obama and Autos

Obama, if you want to lose my support for your presidency here is how: Protectionism for the US automakers.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=6793284&page=1

"Washington is planning billions in subsidies for the ailing automobile industry, and the US Senate is debating a 'Buy American' provision in its economic stimulus package..."

What this essentially means is that the US will tax the Japanese and German car makers which would make their cars more expensive and therefore lower the demand for their product.

Say comparable American and Japanese cars each cost $10,000. So under a protectionist policy (tariff), a $2,000 tax would be placed on imported cars raising their cost to consumers to 12,000. It would be nice if the American companies would start selling their cars and eventually start making money and paying the taxpayers back for our substantial investment in them. Instead, American car companies raise their prices to $11,500 because why would they continue to sell a product for 10,000 when they could raise their prices and still be the cheapest option. Meanwhile because they're being protected and aren't facing real competition, they have no incentive to improve the quality of their cars. Meanwhile because there are no cars that cost less than 11,500 on the market, consumers buy less cars because they can't afford them further stagnating the economy.

THIS WOULD NOT HELP THE ECONOMY, IT WOULD ONLY MAKE IT WORSE.

I did some checking and America tried this in the 70's. Here is a long article that you probably won't read but talks about America's protectionist efforts for the car company in the 70's and how it didn't work then either.

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2008/11/29/1970s-deja-vu-creeping-protectionism-is-on-the-rise/

Don't take my word for it that this would be a terrible idea. (From Wikipedia's page on protectionism) "Economics Nobel prize winner and trade theorist Paul Krugman once stated that, "If there were an Economist’s Creed, it would surely contain the affirmations 'I believe in the Principle of Comparative Advantage' and 'I believe in Free Trade'."

Obama, you seem like a smart guy. And I know you made some promises to all the people in Detroit who are losing their jobs, but this will not solve anything.

Why do PHDs think everyone else in the world is fucking retarded

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/01/29/waterproof.rice/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

This story is cool but I'm not here to blog about super rice.

I want to point out a specific quote.

"People [in the United States] think, well, if I don't have enough rice, I'll go to the store," said Ronald, a professor of plant pathology at UC-Davis. "That's not the situation in these villages. They're mostly subsistence farmers. They don't have cars."

Thanks Ronald, but people in the United States are quite aware that not every country has gigantic grocery stores every couple blocks filled with 8000 boxes of Uncle Ben at their disposal. We don't need you to tell us like we're 4 year olds.

I feel like I see the grocery store example used every time every time I see a story about how people in other countries have a harder time getting food than people in America.

Shut up about how unaware we are and just tell us about the super rice.

My real job

So a lot of people have been asking what I do at my job. I mostly offer short responses before I quickly change the subject because I don't want to go through my long spiel, but here is my long spiel.

I work for the Automotive division of the Pasha Group. http://www.pashagroup.com/shell/frame.phtml?section=Automotive

Pasha Automotive is an auto processing company.
When new cars are built in Japan, Mexico, and Germany; they come to the US pretty bare. So if they need a DVD entertainment system or a Satellite Radio installed, our installers do it. So our company is divided in to two departments, processing and assembly. Assembly is responsible for installations. Processing is responsible for getting the cars off ships, and getting them around our facility, putting the new car literature in all the cars, and then loading them onto trains (we have 7 train trucks right outside the building in which i work) to be shipped to dealers.

The accounts we have are Audi, Acura, Bentley, Honda, Isuzu, Lamborghini, Lotus, Mazda, Porsche, Toyota, and Volkswagen.

So my boss is the processing manager and I'm his right hand man.

We also work for a railroad (BNSF) and do repairs to the rail cars.

What my specific job duties are:
Do billing and create invoices for the railroad and car companies who use our services.

Track employee and departmental efficiency and look for patterns and trends that might show us where we need improvement.

Perform return on investment projections for capital equipment. So I make revenue projections based on the rates for services and expected costs and see if its worth our while to tackle a new venture.

Some little known details...

1 out of every 8 imported cars comes through our facility in San Diego.

I actually work in a building, inside another building. I have that many more separations between me and sunlight.

There is a big battleship like 200 feet from our docks.

If you look at the picture on the website, i work in the biggest building of the 3.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1309+Bay+Marina+Dr,+National+City,+CA+91950&sll=32.791263,-117.241843&sspn=0.009885,0.019312&g=3945+Gresham+St,+San+Diego,+CA+92109&ie=UTF8&ll=32.65513,-117.115717&spn=0.0198,0.038624&t=h&z=15

Best Job Ever

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090113/od_afp/lifestyleaustraliatourismoffbeat_20090113032028


So I legitimately think I'm pretty well qualified for this job and I'm 50/50 thinking about applying for the job.

Here is an excerpt from the article:
"In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, take care of "a few minor tasks" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.

The successful applicant, who will stay rent-free in a three-bedroom beach home complete with plunge pool and golf buggy, must be a good swimmer, excellent communicator and be able to speak and write English.

"They'll also have to talk to media from time to time about what they're doing so they can't be too shy and they'll have to love the sea, the sun, the outdoors," said acting state Premier Paul Lucas."


Here are my qualifications:
Lifestyle: I've grown up in Southern California living the beach lifestyle. I already know how to surf, kayak, snorkel (not that this is an actual talent but you know what I mean), build sand castles (this is an actual talent) and do all that other beach stuff that I would be doing.

I already know a lot about Australia (I've seen finding Nemo like 14 times). Sea turtles can live to be 150!!

I'm obviously an accomplished blogger and can handle talking to the media about how awesome Australia is if the Australia I'm living in is sandy beaches and beautiful girls.

And although I suspect they want a pretty girl for the position, I'm a pretty boy (no jokes, I hear it enough from Meeko and I'm starting to believe it) and hopefully that will be good enough.

I went to the website and was able to see one of the applications (a one minute youtube video) and was hardly impressed. It was a 45 year old guy from Ohio that made a slideshow of himself scuba diving and gave a 30 second monologue on why he should get the job.

I'm pretty confident that I would be awesome for this job.

Blog Ideas

So I wanted my blog to be a blend of "fun" stuff and serious stuff. So far its been way more serious and way less random topics.

I'm looking for ideas.
Bowie already suggested a post about pet peeves and things that annoy me etc. So far all I've come up with is Bowie (but a post of this nature may be coming).

So write in the comments, post on my Facebook wall, email me, let me know what I can blog about and I'll make an effort to think of less serious topics.

Attention: I need to borrow some money

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/01/22/virginity.value/index.html

I don't really have any insightful comments on this one. I won't pretend to understand the thinking of the man (woman?) who put in the high bid.
I will refrain from making fun of the girl. For that kind of money, if the offer is legit, I can't blame her for taking it.


Just thought you'd want to see the article.

The Yes We Can high

It'll happen eventually, Obama fever will subside in all of us; but today I'm excited. I'm worried that if Obama delivers anything short of a miracle recovery for the United States, he won't live up to the lofty expectations people have for him. But I wanted to lay out my more realistic goals for the first 4 years of his presidency.

Abortion: Reverse this < http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/18/america/abort.php > and do this: < http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/19/obama.abortion/index.html >

Re-legalize partial birth abortions. This is the most retarded type of abortion to outlaw. No one uses a partial birth abortion as a form of birth control; after 9 months, they've decided to have the child. These are only done when there has been a complication in the birth and the health and life of the mother is in question.

Also related to abortion is that Obama now can appoint judges to the supreme court to protect abortion. So I encourage judges to retire in the next 4-8 years so we can get some young liberals in there.

The Economy:
Job creation is Obama's stated goal which is admirable but, I would really like to see spending reduced to manageable levels by the last 2 years of his presidency. Hopefully the money we've been spending on war can be used on infrastructure improvements in the domestic economy and spending doesn't have to go through the roof.
I'm still undecided about how I feel about the auto bailout. In a vacuum, it makes more economic sense to just write unemployment checks to everyone who would lose their job because it would cost less and other industries could utilize the talents of the workers and engineers. But I understand the pride these people take in working for a living and producing goods. If foreign car companies can stay successful building factories in the US, I have hope that the US companies can too (maybe I'm being to much of a Sap).

Education (/economy) -Because my mom teaches basic skills at a community college, I have a unique prospective on how little trades are funded. Building up the basic math and reading skills of the blue collar workforce is an area that gets overlooked because high school grads are pushed into college when many just don't belong there either because they're not motivated or just don't have the skills necessary to compete. So in addition to making sure k-12 schools are properly funded (but not with bloated budgets), continuing education for people who aren't rocket scientists is important too.

Environment: Identify attainable goals for emissions pollution. Give companies and industries defined targets and reward companies who achieve these goals.

Investment: At this point, the only thing the US sells to other countries are weapons and pharmaceuticals. We need to recapture some of the more cutting edge energy technologies and start exporting. If the US government is going to invest, make sure its in things we can sell to the rest of the world.

Gay Marriage: My feelings on this subject are well documented. Obama said on the campaign trail that he was against gay marriage but I didn't believe him. He knew that if he said he was for gay marriage, the election would have been about gay marriage and he would have lost (but then he asked Rick Warren to read his invocation and made me not so sure again). Anyway, It would be a dream to see him legalize gay marriage but expecting that would be folly. I would love to see at least some measures that make it harder to outlaw gay marriage such as making marriages that take place in a state that allows gay marriage legal in states that don't allow gay marriage and forcing insurance companies and the like to treat the people as officially married.

War: Leaving when we clearly aren't wanted is the best thing that can happen here. We owe the Iraqi people money to rebuild their infrastructure after we bombed the shit out of it but we need to remove our troop ground presence in the next 12 months. In countries where we know there are credible threats to US security, negotiate with the individual countries to allow the US to send in small operative units to disrupt terror operations without a full blown invasion. I believe this is the tactic that needs to continue in Afghanistan. Clearly this won't work in Iran because they hate us. Economic sanctions against countries that sponsor or harbor terrorists (reducing our dependency on foreign oil wouldn't hurt either).

And funding the PB rec centers so they can keep their lights on at night so I can play basketball after work!!

Go Obama!

Addendum: Two more websites to check out.

www.whitehouse.gov

www.whitehouse.org

Blog origin

I see I have some new followers and wanted to introduce the blog and the name's origin.

For the record, I did not name this blog because I am proud of my last name or the fact that it rhymes with male genitalia.


The blogging idea started because I enjoyed pointing out the stupid things I read and hear only to have them fall on less than interested or extremely high ears. My affinity for baseball and sports blogs is well known by my friends and though it may have begun as an attempt to shut me up, its blossomed into what you read below.

The name was the collective brainchild of my hillaaaaaarrrrious roommates who only agreed to read the blog if I named it "Walczaksballsacks" In hindsight, I can't believe I didn't name it "Walczaksbalczaks." I blew it.

Just Married

On the way home today I saw a "Just Married" bumper sticker on a new car. It made me wonder how long they're going to leave it on. And which member of the marriage would take it off. At what point are you not "just married?"

I meant to blog about this long ago but take a look at this story (the URL just might give away the direction the story is going).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/3884696/Saudi-court-rejects-plea-to-annul-8-year-old-girls-marriage-to-58-year-old-man.html

Now I and everyone reading this blog was brought up in the era where we are taught throughout school, on TV, and everywhere else to accept all cultures; people are different and if you don't like it, there’s a problem with you, and not a problem with them. I definitely agree with this; I would say I'm on the extreme side of the acceptance spectrum. People should be able to do what they want as long it doesn't interfere with another person's liberty. But there’s only so far I’m willing to accept other peoples’ cultures before I have to put my foot down. There is something fundamentally wrong when young girls are sold into marriages with men old enough to be their father/grandfather is not only practiced by a significant portion of the population (though rarely to such an egregious degree) but actually government sanctioned even when there its an 8 year old. Apparently they aren't going to consummate the marriage until the girl is 18, but I'll believe that when I see it (if I were in fact there to see it. That 58 year old will be getting antsy in a couple years).

The bigger issue is how we as only slightly motivated Americans prevent things like this from happening. Is it even something that we can do anything about besides criticize from 12,000 miles away. I don’t know if there is anything else to do. I know I'm hardly taking a controversial opinion by being against arranged marriages, I thought you guys would like to see this story.

Time to get back on the blogging horse/old ideas

Unfortunately I haven't had much to talk about recently and although there are plenty of "serious" topics to discuss, I want to avoid the blog be more about random stuff and less about my views on serious stuff. So I'm still keeping my eye out for casual topics. I wanted to refresh the blog with a couple of paragraphs about things I meant to blog about earlier but never got around to it.