Doug-at-large

Caution Seniors

doug — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:14:11 +0000

Forget wild animals or road hazards. It is the seniors of Brookline, Massachusetts you need to be wary of.

Rand Paul – not Libertarian, just fringe, right-winger

doug — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:29:34 +0000

Much has been written about Rand Paul’s recent statements where he is opposed to laws forcing private businesses to serve minorities, and has spoken up as a supporter of BP.

Supporters say he is a “libertarian.” But he’s not that either. He’s really just a fringe, right-winger with an inconsistent, somewhat loony mixed bag of personal opinions.

Some examples:

Issue	Libertarian Party statement of principles http://www.lp.org/platform	Rand Paul’s position http://www.randpaul2010.com/issues/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_Paul
Personal Privacy	We support the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our persons, homes, and property. Only actions that infringe on the rights of others can properly be termed crimes. We favor the repeal of all laws creating “crimes” without victims, such as the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes.	Rand Paul says, “I do not support eliminating all federal laws or penalties on marijuana. I do believe, in general, that issues of crime and punishment are best handled at the state level.”
Personal Relationships	Sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity should have no impact on the rights of individuals by government, such as in current marriage, child custody, adoption, immigration or military service laws.	Opposes same-sex marriage.
Abortion	Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.	Opposed to abortion without exception, and he supports a constitutional amendment to completely ban abortion.

doug

Up

doug — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:27:01 +0000

The two-letter word in English which has more meanings than any other two-letter word is ‘UP.’

It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list. But when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, many topics come UP.

If you want people to know what you are thinking you should speak UP.

In organizations officers are UP for election.

And it UP to the secretary to write UP a report.

We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.

We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special!

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. It’s easy to get mixed UP!

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.

When it rains, it the earth soaks UP the water. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

It’s bad to screw UP.

You can look UP friends in your address book..

One could go on an on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now because my time is UP !

So I will shut UP.

Mon takes a bath

doug — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:44:57 +0000

Today’s visit to Akihabara

doug — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:28:56 +0000

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213584&id=634775725&l=e56328f006

doug

Hao and Mon close ups

doug — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:27:44 +0000

Mon-chan finally let me sneak up on him or her with a camera and take some closeups!

doug

Tokyo Sky Tree

doug — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:40:56 +0000

These are pictures of the Tokyo Sky Tree, taken from my bedroom window on 1/2/2010 and this morning on 3/30/2010.

Yesterday the Sky Tree passed Tokyo Tower’s 333 m height and reached 338 m, becoming the tallest structure in Japan.

When completed it will be 634 meters high and be the tallest communications tower in the world.

(Click to see larger size.)

doug

Mon-chan on swing

doug — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 05:53:19 +0000

Mon-chan really loves the hanging rings. Today he-or-she started using them as a swing!

Polls turn in favor of new health care bill

doug — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:31:16 +0000

Republicans who thought health care reform was going to be Obama’s Waterloo and are hoping to make repeal their big campaign issue in the fall are going to have to think twice. The Democrats designed it to front load with lots of positive features that people just aren’t going to want to give back once they give it some logical thought.

And opinion polls already show more people in favor of the new law than opposed:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-03-23-health-poll-favorable_N.htm?csp=usat.me

doug

Health care and socialism vs the “free market”

doug — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:48:09 +0000

In the debate about health care and free markets vs socialism and all that, I have some thoughts to add.

I always think of complete free-market libertarianism with no regulations the same way I think of Newton’s 1st law.

Sure, an object will continue in motion at the same speed and in a straight line so long as there are no external forces applied to it. That is true in theory, just like a perfect free market might be true in theory.

But in physics, in day-to-day life there is friction acting on the object so it does slow down and stop.

I think that’s the same thing about the economy. As a society, we’ve decided to add all sorts of “friction,” in the form of rules and regulations, to the economy. Some for bureaucratic reasons I don’t understand. Others because as a society we deem the rule for the public good.

But all these rules inhibit free enterprise and have a negative effect on economic opportunity.

Some examples:

* Requiring a business license.
* Zoning laws.
* Safety regulations at the workplace.
* Requiring extra licenses and standards to run day care centers or nursing homes.
* Requiring licenses to practice medicine.
* Forbidding the running of a friendly neighborhood numbers racket.
* Outlawing the sale of some drugs and requiring doctors prescriptions for others.

The list goes on and on ad infinitum.

Some of those things we might even all agree are good rules, and a civil society depends on them.

But they all have a “friction” effect on the ideal “free economy.” That’s my theory anyway.

So in compensation for following these rules, we expect certain things in return, as part of our social contract. These include roads, police, a military and maybe yes, a post office and national health care running at a financial loss.

It seems it’s all on the table. And can all be decided on a case-by-case basis, just like the rules are. I don’t think we need to apply one overarching philosophical rule to deciding everything. I think the society we have created is all case-by-base. And everything else is just “in theory.”

doug