Economic Freedom

Danger - using your iPhone when you work at Microsoft

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:37:00 +0000

Be careful, Microsoft employee. What if you get caught using your iPhone at work?

WSJ

The perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft were on display last September. At an all- company meeting in a Seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iPhone to snap photos of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Mr. Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee's hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers, according to people present. Mr. Ballmer uses phones from different manufacturers that run on Microsoft's mobile phone software.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment and declined to make executives available for this story.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs referred an email asking about iPhone use at Microsoft to a spokeswoman, who declined to comment.

Despite Mr. Ballmer's theatrics, iPhone users are in plain sight at Microsoft. At the sprawling campus here in a Seattle suburb, workers peck away on their iPhone touch-screens in conference rooms, cafeterias and lobbies. Among the top Microsoft executives who use the iPhone is J Allard, who helped create the Xbox game console and is chief experience officer for the entertainment and devices d

Nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, say two people who heard the estimates from senior Microsoft executives. That figure equals about 10% of the company's global work force.

Rachel Corrie's parents continue their delusions

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:03:00 +0000

Rachel Corrie of Oympia died in 2003, run over by an Israeli bulldozer. The dozer was demolishing a house in Gaza. She was trying to stop it.

The bulldozer driver could not see her. Israel has released footage from a camera that showed what the driver could see. Even Mother Jones magazine found this report credible.

The idf compiled a video about the Corrie incident that includes footage taken from inside the cockpit of a D9. It makes a credible case that the operators, peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows, their view obscured behind pistons and the giant scooper, might not have seen Corrie kneeling in front of them.

Why was she trying to stop a huge bulldozer? She was protecting a house that hid a tunnel for smuggling weapons into Israel.

She also fomented anti-American hatred. In February, 2003 she was photographed burning a paper American flag in front of Palestinian children.

Her parents have actively tried to keep the memory of her death "alive." The Palestinians expressed thanks by trying to kidnap them in 2006.( Also covered by Sound Politics in January, 2006.)

Now her parents are suing Israel. I guess Israel is allowing them to. The trial started yesterday. NWCN

Gregoire pits her tax hikes against Idaho

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:03:00 +0000

Governor Butch Otter of Idaho welcomes Washington raising taxes, which the Legislature did yesterday. He put out the welcome mat for businesses fleeing tax increases and bad environment for business.

Was he ready for Christine Gregoire putting on the gloves? But, as we see below, her final punch is that's "simply not fair."

Otter's "love letter to our neighbors:"

It’s true that a rising tide lifts all boats. But how those boats are handled makes a big difference when the tide is out and the waters get rough.

State governments across the country are dealing with the continuing national recession in different ways. In Idaho, our focus is on stability. Predictable tax and regulatory policies are what our employers need in order to maintain their operations through this rough patch, and it’s what employers elsewhere are looking for when they consider expanding or relocating.

Other states, however, have chosen some interesting and in my view counterproductive approaches. Last month, for example, Oregon voters approved their legislature’s decision to raise taxes on the wealthy and on many businesses by $727 million. The immediate result was that my phone started ringing – and so did phones over at our Department of Commerce. It seems that word has spread about our Project 60 initiative, and that we are open for business, including theirs!

The businesses that have called are emotional about this subject, and they have every right to be. Rising costs – especially during a recession – could put some employers out of business, or at least prompt layoffs. More than 2,000 Oregonians joined a Facebook group to protest the tax increase and commiserate about the repercussions. No less an Oregon business icon than Nike’s Phil Knight calls it “Oregon’s Assisted Suicide Law II.”

Legislators in the state of Washington are talking about even bigger tax increases to tackle a budget deficit that figures to be as big as Idaho’s entire State budget. Businesses in both states are like those in Idaho; they are facing the most challenging times in decades, and even incremental cost increases can mean the difference between surviving and closing up.

The problem in Oregon is that folks were convinced that state government was what needed to be shored up rather than the jobs- and revenue-producing private sector for which state government is supposed to work. As a result, they’re chasing some of their cash cows to the border. And I welcome those businesses with open arms.

We now are reaching out to hundreds of Oregon businesses, and will do the same with those in Washington if the legislature there follows Oregon’s lead. We aren’t offering many bells and whistles, but what we can offer is a business-friendly State government, a highly qualified and motivated work force, and communities where people understand that while government cannot be the solution to their problems it can and must be a champion for their own solutions. [...]

Christine Gregoire fights back using her favorite tool: Forbes Magazine. Quoted at Seattle Times Politics NW blog:

"I'm not an expert on Idaho," Gregoire said, but then rattled off from notes several observations about Idaho's tax and business climate. "It looks like they have a corporate tax of 7.6 percent, a sales tax of 6 percent, an income tax ranging from 1.6 to 7.8 percent," she said.

"And let's talk about Forbes' ranking," Gregoire said, referring to her favorite magazine's annual rankings of state business climates.

"We're now the second best state in the country and they went from seventh to 11th. They're going down in the rankings. Regulatory environment we're ranked 5th, they're ranked 35th. You get my point?"

Gregoire said she had a call in to Otter's office. "So I intend to say to the governor, you know, I'll go recruit companies that you have in your state. Everything is fair game," she said. "But to suggest that somehow there is this massive tax going on in my state that puts my business to a detrimental level compared to yours is simply not fair."

If she is such a big fan of Forbes Magazine she might read it and learn about what makes the economy grow. One example: lowering taxes so you can compete with your competitors - other states.

Antarctica Cruise Daily Log

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:36:00 +0000

The Roys/Hebron family of four traveled to Antarctica on a 10-day cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina starting January 30, 2010 on Corinthian II operated by the luxury cruise line Travel Dynamics. During the trip we bought a nice little log book which I wrote daily entries in. The following is pretty straight from the handwritten with some fragments turned into sentences and a few lectures placed by looking at the daily schedule (which several times changed due to weather or other events.) Each entry gives credit for its photographs.

Antarctica Log - Day One - Ushuaia
Red arrow at top of map.

Antarctica Cruise Day Two Drake Passage first day

Antarctica Cruise Day 3 Drake Passege second day and Elephant Island
Purple arrow at middle right
Antarctica Cruise Day 4 Antarctic Peninsula Brown Bluff and Joinville Island Green arros at right and a bit above the blue arrow at right

Antarctica Cruise Day 5 Cuverville Island and Neko Harbor Blue and purple arrows at lower center

* Mother-in-law Ruth went ashore and watched the gentoo penguins march by.

Antarctica Cruise Day 6 Vernadsky Station and Pleneau Berg Tour Blue and purple arrows at lower left

Antarctica Cruise Day 7 Petermann Island and Port Lockroy Yellow and blue arrows at lower left

Antarctica Cruise Day 8 Hannah Point and Deception Island Whalers Bay Green and yellow arrows at upper center

Update 3/8/2010: See the poem fellow traveler Bob Elroy placed in a comment on the Day 8 entry.

Antarctica Cruise Day 9 Drake Passage returning day one

Antarctica Cruise Day 10 Drake Passage past Cape Horn

Antarctica Cruise Ends

Still to come: Two days in Ushuaia, Argentina, and more photos, due to a request by commenter "Anonymous."

If there is demand: the animals of the Antarctic Peninsula.

I am pushing this to the top to make it easier to find. Original post date: Feb. 19, 2010

The graphics are by Corinthian II crew/staff. Roys/Hebron group photo by me. Click to enlarge.

Huge majority oppose Obama's health care takeover

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:31:00 +0000

CNN Opinion Research found that 75% - 75 per cent - of adults surveyed don't support Obama's health-care takeover bill.

Pass similar bill- 25%
Start work on new bill - 48%
Stop working on health care - 25%
Other (vol.) - 2%
No opinion - 1%
Feb. 12-15 2010

(Ask CNN why the total is more than 100%.)

President Obama says to let Congress know. Let them know that you oppose his bill. Call Congress today.

And join Liberty Belle's Seattle Sons and Daughters of Liberty.

To remind yourself of the total control they are trying to force on you and your family, look at just one of many onerous features your senators approved last Christmas eve. If you don't pay your health care fees there are penalties. If you don't pay the penalties they aim the big guns at you and fire:

[page 78] ‘‘(D) UNPAID PENALTY FEES.—Any amount of a penalty fee assessed against a health plan under this subsection for which payment has not been made by the due date provided under sub- paragraph (C) shall be—
‘‘(i) increased by the interest accrued on such amount, as determined pursuant to the underpayment rate established under section 6621 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
‘‘(ii) treated as a past-due, legally en- forceable debt owed to a Federal agency for purposes of section 6402(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

BTW: The bill with the changes Obama promised - claiming to use ideas from the Republicans - does not exist.

There is no ObamaCare bill. Pass it quickly

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:26:00 +0000

President Obama is talking big about how he has changed ObamaCare to include Republican ideas. He claims to have added Malpractice insurance reform and other ideas. Where is the bill he is talking about?

Now he demands the final vote by March 29.

But there is no bill. It will be massive, like the others. But it doesn't exist.

How can the Congressional Budget Office score the costs of the bill that doesn't exist? How can Congress debate the nonexistent bill?

Will the phantom bill have Cornhusker Kickbacks and Louisiana Purchases? Of course. That's how they operate.

Hurry up and vote on it now. "Trust me," says Obama.

Hugh Hewitt considers this to be suspending self government.

Extending benefits increases unemployment - Krugman

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:16:00 +0000

In their textbook Macroeconomics Paul Krugman and coauthor Robin Wells say:

Side Effects of Public Policy. In addition public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect. . . . In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker's incentive to quickly find a new job. Generous unemployment benefits in some European countries are widely believed to be one of the main causes of "Eurosclerosis," the persistent high unemployment that affects a number of European countries. [p. 220]

Yes, extending benefits results in people spending more time without work. The Nobel laureate economists says so. What does Krugman the political columnists say?

Responding to Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona this week: Kyl's words:

... unemployment relief "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work."

Krugman scoffs: "To me, that's a bizarre point of view--but then, I don't live in Mr. Kyl's universe." (Why doesn't he address him as "Senator"?)

I believe Krugman the professor in his textbook, not Krugman the Enron adviser and political pundit.

The Democrats dream of an income tax

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:21:00 +0000

The Senate had a hearing about their proposed income tax yesterday afternoon. But of course they don't call it that; they call it a sales tax reduction. Fooled you!

You didn't know about the hearing because they gave less than five hours notice. It was plenty of time for Evergreen College students to turn out in force. They Dems like what the students say. And I hear that the text of the bill wasn't available until less than an hour before the hearing. Why?

They are saying they just "want to give voters their choice." Nice. But they don't want to give us a choice on reducing spending, just raising taxes.

A state income tax would require amending the state constitution due to a Supreme Court ruling in 1933 and that requires a 2/3 vote of the public.

But, ignoring the constitution, the Demos intend to give the voters a referendum that would only require majority vote, not the constitutional amendment that requires 2/3, according the to Andrew Garber of the Seattle Times.

This is for YOU.

The current proposal is to TAX THE RICH. But once they put the structure in place they will redefine "rich" lower and lower and lower. Not that they will want to, but conditions will force them to. And the tax rate will go up and up and up. Because they just can't cut spending. AND they won't have to cut spending.

So the income tax will get you sooner or later. Do you want it? The voters in Oregon voted yes in January and employers are moving out. Do you want the same?

Also KIRO.

Demos put up a phony McKenna for Governor web site

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:27:00 +0000

Seattle Times Politics NW blog:

How worried are state Democrats about Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna running for governor in 2012?

They're already testing out some anti-McKenna attacks on a Web site: www.robmckennaforgovernor.com

This was flagged for me in an e-mail from Steve Lawson, an Issaquah social media & communications consultant, who stumbled across the site Wednesday and blogged about it here. (Also check out Lawson's cool video biography.)

The anti-McKenna Web site has been registered to the state Democratic Party since last June.

That's shortly after McKenna hired Randy Pepple, a long-time Republican political consultant, as his chief of staff, a move ripped by Democrats as an overt sign McKenna was positioning himself to run for governor in 2012.

The Democrats' Web site gives a pretty good indication of how they'll attack McKenna if he does run. It paints him as an anti-transit, hypocritical, self-promoter who also happens to be a closet ultraconservative.

"They are afraid," said state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser. "Good for Rob that they're concerned that he would be a very formidable candidate for governor."

"We're just getting ready for him to run for governor," said Washington State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz. "I think McKenna has had a steady track record of turning the AG's office into sort of a press release mill to take on the popular issue of the day."

We see that Havana Dwight confessed.

Chile quake survivors should thank Milton Friedman

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:03:00 +0000

Why did Chile survive a much, much larger earthquake with a fraction of the damage to building compared to Haiti?

Brett Stephens in WSJ

Milton Friedman has been dead for more than three years. But his spirit was surely hovering protectively over Chile in the early morning hours of Saturday. Thanks largely to him, the country has endured a tragedy that elsewhere would have been an apocalypse.

Earthquake magnitudes are measured on a logarithmic scale. The earthquake that hit Northridge in 1994 measured 6.7 on the Richter scale. But its seismic-energy yield was only half that of the 7.0 quake that hit Haiti in January, which was the equivalent of 2,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs exploding all at once.

By contrast, Saturday's earthquake in Chile measured 8.8. That's nearly 500 times more powerful than Haiti's, or about one million Hiroshimas. Yet Chile's reported death toll—711 as of this writing—was a tiny fraction of the 230,000 believed to have perished in Haiti.

[Photo: Chile's presidential palace survived the quake intact. Haiti's did not.]

It's not by chance that Chileans were living in houses of brick—and Haitians in houses of straw—when the wolf arrived to try to blow them down. In 1973, the year the proto-Chavista government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Chile was an economic shambles. Inflation topped out at an annual rate of 1000%, foreign-currency reserves were totally depleted, and per capita GDP was roughly that of Peru and well below Argentina's.

What Chile did have was intellectual capital, thanks to an exchange program between its Catholic University and the economics department of the University of Chicago, then Friedman's academic home. Even before the 1973 coup, several of Chile's "Chicago Boys" had drafted a set of policy proposals which amounted to an off-the-shelf recipe for economic liberalization: sharp reductions to government spending and the money supply; privatization of state-owned companies; the elimination of obstacles to free enterprise and foreign investment, and so on.

... As for Chile, Pinochet appointed a succession of Chicago Boys to senior economic posts. By 1990, the year he ceded power, per capita GDP had risen by 40% (in 2005 dollars) even as Peru and Argentina stagnated. Pinochet's democratic successors—all of them nominally left-of-center—only deepened the liberalization drive.

Result: Chileans have become South America's richest people. They have the continent's lowest level of corruption, the lowest infant-mortality rate, and the lowest number of people living below the poverty line.

Chile also has some of the world's strictest building codes. That makes sense for a country that straddles two massive tectonic plates. But having codes is one thing, enforcing them is another. The quality and consistency of enforcement is typically correlated to the wealth of nations. The poorer the country, the likelier people are to scrimp on rebar, or use poor quality concrete, or lie about compliance. In the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, thousands of children were buried under schools also built according to code....

To save money on health care - a proven plan

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:10:00 +0000

If the concern is cost of health care, there is a proven way.

Indiana instituted health savings accounts (HSA) for its employees. After five years less is being spent and more employees are choosing the plan. In the Wall Street Journal yesterday:

When I was elected governor of Indiana five years ago, I asked that a consumer-directed health insurance option, or Health Savings Account (HSA), be added to the conventional plans then available to state employees. I thought this additional choice might work well for at least a few of my co-workers, and in the first year some 4% of us signed up for it.

In Indiana's HSA, the state deposits $2,750 per year into an account controlled by the employee, out of which he pays all his health bills. Indiana covers the premium for the plan. The intent is that participants will become more cost-conscious and careful about overpayment or overutilization.

Unused funds in the account—to date some $30 million or about $2,000 per employee and growing fast—are the worker's permanent property. For the very small number of employees (about 6% last year) who use their entire account balance, the state shares further health costs up to an out-of-pocket maximum of $8,000, after which the employee is completely protected.

The HSA option has proven highly popular. This year, over 70% of our 30,000 Indiana state workers chose it, by far the highest in public-sector America. Due to the rejection of these plans by government unions, the average use of HSAs in the public sector across the country is just 2%.

What we, and independent health-care experts at Mercer Consulting, have found is that individually owned and directed health-care coverage has a startlingly positive effect on costs for both employees and the state. What follows is a summary of our experience:

State employees enrolled in the consumer-driven plan will save more than $8 million in 2010 compared to their coworkers in the old-fashioned preferred provider organization (PPO) alternative. In the second straight year in which we've been forced to skip salary increases, workers switching to the HSA are adding thousands of dollars to their take-home pay. (Even if an employee had health issues and incurred the maximum out-of-pocket expenses, he would still be hundreds of dollars ahead.) HSA customers seem highly satisfied; only 3% have opted to switch back to the PPO.

The state is saving, too. In a time of severe budgetary stress, Indiana will save at least $20 million in 2010 because of our high HSA enrollment. Mercer calculates the state's total costs are being reduced by 11% solely due to the HSA option.

Most important, we are seeing significant changes in behavior, and consequently lower total costs. In 2009, for example, state workers with the HSA visited emergency rooms and physicians 67% less frequently than co-workers with traditional health care. They were much more likely to use generic drugs than those enrolled in the conventional plan, resulting in an average lower cost per prescription of $18. They were admitted to hospitals less than half as frequently as their colleagues. Differences in health status between the groups account for part of this disparity, but consumer decision-making is, we've found, also a major factor.

Overall, participants in our new plan ran up only $65 in cost for every $100 incurred by their associates under the old coverage...

But it doesn't give Obama's friends control. That appears to be a high priority with the Democratics.

Antarctica Cruise Ends

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Feb 9, 2010 Tuesday

We sailed/motored west in the Beagle Channel, arriving at Ushuaia while a beautiful sunrise was lighting up the southernmost city in the world. Travel Dynamics helpfully arranged for our group spending the night in Buenos Aires to be on the first flight, so we could have the full day in Buenos Aires, since we had already spent two days in Ushuaia. Those who were going directly to international flights took later flights and had free time or bus tours of the Tierra del Fuego National Park which we saw before our embarkation. I appreciate such thoughtful planning.

This was a great trip. The ship is well appointed; even the cheaper rooms are much larger than the standard rooms on the big cruise lines. The meal service was first class - white cloth table cloths for every meal. It is challenging to do first class meals when you visit no ports for ten days. How do you acquire fresh produce? We were asking the waiters on the last days how there were serving fresh lettuce. They told us they have a greenhouse on the top deck. But they weren't offering tours and the area is not open to us passengers, so we took that with a grain of salt. The meals were excellent.

The guides/naturalists were excellent: all good communicators and very knowledgeable. The zodiac boat operation went so well that I was repeatedly amazed at how they had boats in the water while the captain was setting the anchor then a few hours later the ship seemed to depart the anchorage while the last boat was being hoisted.

Photos: My photos: Ushuaia sunrise. Fons and Tom are Dutchmen who are a credit to their country. For ten days they were always friendly and cheerful. Corinthian II staff photos: Dining staff. Our only view of most of the cooks - when they cooked outdoors at Vernadsky Station.

To the Cruise Log Directory

Pelosi discovers bipartisanship?

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:46:00 +0000

While I like to focus on how opportunities for growth are encouraged today I see one of its biggest opponents changing her stripes, but not her method.

Honorable Speaker of the House Nanacy "Boss" Pelosi insists on working with the Republicans. Well, she says "build consensus," but her track record shows no history of so doing. First, the news, then the history.

She and Harry Reid ran into a wall. They can't get their Democrat super-majority to pass President O's top priority, taking over the health-care industry. President O's show on Thursday must not have helped. What now?

The Hill:

There is a growing sense among Democratic lawmakers that an effort should be made to include GOP proposals in healthcare reform legislation in the wake of Thursday’s summit.

This has given an opening to centrist Democrats who want to take on trial lawyers by reforming medical malpractice law. These centrists say that Republican policy makers have made a strong case for lawsuit reform and it would be in the best interests of healthcare reform to meet them part-way.

News organizations have largely characterized the meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders as a stalemate.

But while some liberal activists say Democrats should ram legislation through the Senate using special budget rules that require only a simple majority vote, Democratic leaders have taken a different view.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that Obama “has a vision and he wants to build consensus.”

So she says she intends to work with the Republicans. This week she says so, let's look back just a little.

History

Earlier in Februay she said she was taking a bipartisan group to Haiti; there must be beach resorts there. Off topic... Here again we see what bipartisan means. 12 Democratics and one Republican. Fox News via Michelle Malkin:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she is leading a 12-member “bipartisan” congressional delegation to Haiti. The group includes one Republican — outmatched by 11 Democrats.

Though Pelosi’s press release used the word “bipartisan” five times, Florida Sen. George LeMieux is the sole GOP lawmaker in Congress visiting the devastated island nation for what would presumably be a bipartisan cause — assessing ways to help the country recover from its earthquake.

In January, 2009, she resolutely dismissed the method. Politico:

In a statement sure to rile Republicans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Friday dismissed calls for bipartisanship as “process” arguments extraneous to passing a stimulus bill — and warned Senate Democrats against slashing proposed increases to education spending.

Pelosi — speaking to reporters on the second day of her retreat with House Democrats at a swank Williamsburg, Va., golf resort — was clearly annoyed with Senate attempts to slash up to $100 billion in spending from the $819 billion package the House passed last week. [...]

“Washington seems consumed in the process argument of bipartisanship, when the rest of the country says they need this bill,” the California Democrat said, seeming to sweep aside the Obama administration initial desire to have broad GOP support for the plan.

And the rest of her history shows the same methods.

Addition 3/1/10: Honorable Ms. Pelosi only sees the bad new she wants to see. There has been a long investigation of her chief tax raiser Rep. Charles Rangel. It had two outcomes: the one she saw and the official statement. Polar opposites. First, The Hill reports:

Pelosi said during a Friday press conference that she had not yet read the full report from the ethics committee, which admonished Rangel, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, for improperly accepting reimbursement for two trips to the Caribbean.
“All I saw was the press release where they said he did not violate the rules of the House,” Pelosi said. “And I think that’s an important statement that they made.”

The House committee's report:

“The Report further finds that Representative Charles B. Rangel violated the House gift rule by accepting payment or reimbursement for travel to the 2007 and 2008 conferences.”

Antarctica Cruise Day 10 Drake Passage to Cape Horn

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:14:00 +0000

We passed Cape Horn, the southern-most island of South America by 8 am, way ahead of schedule. It has the looks for its strategic role. Even with the rough seas they kept going at 13 knots.* They don't want to prolong the misery, plus things could get worse! We are so early that we stopped as we entered Beagle Channel and anchored for the 10 hours. Why so early? Crew tell us that a ship we saw a couple days ago, the Silversea Prince Albert II, arrived in Ushuaia late and most the passengers missed their flights. Ugly!

Pleasant evening anchored. Trevor Potts continued his Shackleton trip retrace with phase 2, the crossing of South Georgia Island today. Prof. Ed Spencer spoke on Geologic Evolution and Plate Tectonics. Rev. Earl Palmer of National Presbyterian Church spoke on The Scent of Life.

* A knot is the speed of one nautical mile per hour. A NM is about 15% longer than a mile, so 13 knots is about 15 mph.

Photos are by Corinthian II staff. Cape Horn in the morning. Our excellent staff. They are the tour director John, second from left in the top row, and the naturalists and the zodiac captain and an additional driver; they all drove zodiacs. Click to enlarge.

To the Log Directory Page

Senate passes new rules on spending; Violates them right away

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:29:00 +0000

Senate passed new rules on spending two weeks ago. And violated them this week. Does it appear they are not serious?

Washington Times:

It took less than two weeks for lawmakers to vote to break new rules requiring that new spending be offset elsewhere in the budget, waiving the requirement just minutes before a strong bipartisan majority passed a $15 billion job-creation bill in the Senate on Wednesday.

The bill continues highway construction and offers a payroll tax break for businesses that hire unemployed workers. Given the state of the economy, supporters said the bill was too important to hold up.

"This is a good bill, it's a focused bill, it's a modest bill, but it will do some good for the hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions who are looking desperately for work," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, who crafted the payroll tax break in the bill.

Who will defend their irresponsibility? The Senator who wrote the bill?

President Obama signed the budgeting change into law Feb. 12 and, a day later, lectured Congress to heed the restrictions.

"This rule is necessary, and that is why I am pleased that Congress fulfilled my request to restore it," he said in his weekly radio address.

Antarctica Cruise Day 9 Drake Passage Returning

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:24:00 +0000

We are crossing the Drake Passage returning to Ushuaia. The last Antarctic land seen was mountainous Smith Island on our left. We are having a "rough Drake." Winds up to 45 knots, which is 50 mph, waves steady at 7 meters (23 feet) and up to 9 meters (30 feet). The stabilizers make a huge difference. While on the bridge, the first mate told me he had worked on the MS Explorer in past years (famous because it sank to the bottom in 2007) and it would tilt 30 degrees to each side - far, far worse than we are enduring. And while there I saw a wave send water, not spray, but water, in front of the bridge windows and it's on the 5th deck! 9 meters for sure. It's difficult to walk. A few people have fallen. Some people aren't being seen much: Dramamine makes you sleepy and if sick the best thing you can do is lie down and close your eyes. I am surprised the cabins don't have more places to grab on; there are places something could easily be placed.

They schedule these days at sea busy with talks and movies and a few breaks. Trevor Potts is staff on our cruise. A Brit who had his 60th birthday this week, about 15 years ago he replicated Ernest Shackleton's famous voyage from Elephant Island - our first almost landing - to South Georgia Island, 800 miles, plus crossing the island over glaciers and up thousands of feet. Potts built a semi-replica of the James Card - 23 feet with sails and oars, but no motor. It was the same size and power, but not a replica in that it had a deck to keep out the weather; the original was an open life boat that they put canvas over. It was great to get the first-person account of 12 hard days at sea with one of crew of four useless. Someone, maybe a sponsor, asked him to repeat the trip a few years later, but he was not interested, "you can use my boat, but I don't want to go." Great story and to hear it first hand.

They are showing "Life in the Freezer" one 30-minute program at a time; it's excellent. And expedition leader John Frick read Samuel Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. John gave some background, but it was still hard to take in.

We have one more day at sea with the albatrosses and petrels, then arrive in Ushuaia early the morning of the following day.

The photos are by Corinthina II staff. The Moon is backward south of the equator, so this should be sunrise. On bridge: just a bit of ice here and there - no problem.

Legislature killed public disclosure on tax increases. Gregoire?

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:39:00 +0000

Our legislature was busy the past two weeks overriding our votes on I-960 and previously to require a 2/3 majority to increase taxes. Tim Eyman covered this.

Which representatives and senators voted to increase the sales tax and claimed it was temporary?

I-960 also had provisions to provide transparency on tax increases - the details of each tax increase and the names of who votes for or against them. It added RCW 29A.32.070

"Two pages shall be provided in the general election voters' pamphlet for each measure for an advisory vote of the people under RCW 43.135.041 and shall consist of the serial number assigned by the secretary of state under RCW 29A.72.040, the short description formulated by the attorney general under RCW 29A.72.283, the tax increase's most up-to-date ten-year cost projection, including a year-by-year breakdown, by the office of financial management under RCW 43.135.031, and the names of the legislators, and their contact information, and how they voted on the increase upon final passage so they can provide information to, and answer questions from, the public. For the purposes of this subsection, 'names of legislators, and their contact information' includes each legislator's position (senator or representative), first name, last name, party affiliation (for example, Democrat or Republican), city or town they live in, office phone number, and office e-mail address.

SB 6130 killed this transparency requirement; it didn't repeal that section, but provides an end run around it for two years.

I am shocked that our legislature would want to hide when passing tax increases. They are going around right now saying it is their solemn duty to raise taxes. Aren't they proud of their responsible actions? Why hide disclosure of what they did?

Christine Gregoire can stop the legislature in its tracks by using her line-item veto to remove the provisions that end-run the transparency provision of RCW 29A.32.070. Surely she is in favor of our legislators being responsible for their actions.

Source: WA Policy Institute on 2/10/10 and 2/17/10.

Antarctica Cruise Day 8 Hannah Point & Deception Island

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:37:00 +0000

Sunny morning. We arrived at Hannah Point on Livingston Island farther north in the South Shetland Islands. The crane for launching the zodiacs broke, so they used the older, slower one.

I was expecting "yet another penguin rookery," but this is a great spot. I am glad they saved it for our last day. There are at least 40 elephant seals - huge, various shades of color from cream to reddish brown to darker brown and bluish. The males come south to molt both fur and skin; the females remain north. They don't enter the sea or eat until done molting in five to six weeks. They lie around and make gross noises and emit gross smells; must be teenagers

Two fur seal were play fighting on a low ridge near our landing. Chinstrap and gentoo penguins nest here and blue-eyed shags also. There are two pairs of macaroni penguins; they only ones we have seen on the trip.

We hiked the step above the beach about a half mile west to a spot where there is an impromptu outdoor collection of fossils - all plants that I saw. We stayed away from all the elephant seals except one on our path. Just as I passed him he headed for the beach. The woman behind me got shouted at, because instead of getting out of the way she picked up her camera and stayed put - risky!

Deception Island - Whaler's Cove. This island is the top of a volcano and is the perfect harbor because it is a circle with one opening. It made the perfect shore station for whalers one hundred years ago. There are several relics of their activity - old rusting huge tanks, derelict buildings, smaller industrial tanks and tubes. Derelict hangar next to the former landing strip. It was buried by several feet of volcanic cinders by eruptions in 1967 and 1969. There was a scientific station until that second eruption. I noticed the cinders on the glaciers on the north side of the island as we approached.

A dozen brave people wore their swimsuits and went in the water. Surprise, right at the water's edge volcanic activity warms the sand. So they dig a hole so the sea water can be warmed and it's not bad. I was intending to join the group, but yesterday they showed us photos of people in their swimsuits freezing while they madly dig for warmth "and some don't find it." I was ready for a sure thing, not maybe. But Gini and daughter Margaret did join in.

Not much wildlife here. Three pairs of gentoos. People who hiked to The Window to the east saw fur seals and elephant seals. I think some saw some kind of whales offshore also. I noticed Wilson's storm petrels which fly like swallows.

The photos are by Corinthian II staff: Elephant seals. Two fine young men made this cruise a lot more interesting, Sam, age 14, and Luke, age 10. Other brave souls in the hot/cold water. Last pic: Nancy from Seattle, daughter Margaret and wife Gini. Click to enlarge.

Antarctica Cruise Day 7 Petermann Island and Port Lockroy

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:17:00 +0000

Another night we hardly moved. They didn't anchor to make it easy to move the ship if necessary to avoid ice "without waking the crew." I saw humpback whales at 7 a.m. and penguins in the water. When penguins swim they porpoise - leap out of water then back in. When they are near the ship it is clear they are going somewhere, but when they are farther away it looks like they are dancing for joy!

At 3 am we saw the lights of a passing ship. On our way to our first stop we passed Akademik Ioffe, a Russian arctic ship now in tourist service. Our crew tell us these Russian ships are very sea worthy, but have very basic accommodations, a far cry from our 5-star rooms and meals.

We turned back to the south and landed at Petermann Island. Gentoo penguins - lots of them - and blue-eyed shags, which are cormorants that are stark black and white, like penguins, but they have a long neck. The shag parents were feeding their chicks. Very strange. When a penguin feeds the parent opens their mouth and the chick reaches up and grabs something. It's not so easy for shags: the chick his head in the parent's mouth and keeps pushing. You can actually see the chick's beak pushing out at the back of the parent's neck. Sun! Sun! Bright blue sky. We walked up and over to the far (north or west, I think) side of the island. Some marine mammal was close to shore. Beautiful.

Just before lunch we passed through Lemaire Channel. Outstanding. A highlight of the trip. I was on the bridge as we approached and watched Captain Boczak and crew wind through some "bergy bits," which are ice bergs less than 5 meters high. He can brush them lightly, but must be aware of their underwater contours. Then I went to the top deck to take in the view on both sides. I would have missed lunch for this - good looking mountains close on both sides on a perfect day.

After lunch we landed at Port Lockroy, don't recall the name of the island. It has the world's "southern-most post office." They may have the post office, but not the service. I saw them give our crew a bag of mail to take to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands to put it in the British mail system. Their stamps say "British Antarctic Territory." The station is a seasonal gift shop, the post office and small museum run by four women here for the summer season.

The gentoos are everywhere! Under foot! No 5-meter-separation rule can be enforced here. A historic quonset hut is being restored, actually replicated in wood framing, by David Attenborough who did the Life in the Freezer series for BBC. I just learned that he was also the moving force behind getting dogs outlawed and removed from Antarctica.

We also went to the adjacent island. (These two islands are next to Wiencke Island.) More blue-eyed shags and an outdoor whale bone "museum." It's just an impromptu arrangement of whale bones - one sculpture and one mongrel skeleton made of mismatched bones, but it's instructive nevertheless to see how huge the animals are. At happy hour time we transited Neumayer Channel - another good one, especially in the low afternoon light of these sunny day. (But I haven't seen one as good as Lemaire.)

The photos are by Corinthian II staff: Lemaire Channel. The captain called this "ice free." Port Lockroy: quonset hut being rebuilt on the left; an old building not being used front and center; the gift shop/museum building on the right. Click to enlarge.

Antarctica Cruise Day 6 Vernadsky Station & Pleneau Island

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:21:00 +0000

Position at sunrise 65 15 S, 64 16 W. Temp 1 C. This is the farthest south we traveled. Tourists generally don't go south of here. Surprising, since the Antarctic Circle is less than one hundred miles. But from what I hear, as you go south ice is more and more of a problem, but the scenery is less interesting, so people don't find it worth the time and effort.

In the Argentine Islands. It's warmer again with a little sun in the morning. Vernadsky Station (Wikipedia) is the Ukraine scientific station. We were hosted for a tour; rather perfunctory; they are scientists, not tour guides. Their accommodations are decent - looks OK when the weather allows going outside, but during the dark, wild winter it would get pretty small. This was a British base, but they surpluses it and sold it for one pound sterling. The Ukrainians took it over and maintained the continuity of the weather and ozone-hole observations. They have a souvenir shop and a bar!

On an adjacent island Wordie House is an abandoned, yet maintained, British station. It is maintained as it was in the 1940s - very small and cramped. I could not imagine spending more than an overnight there, let alone a long, dark Antarctic winter. On the ship they cooked bar-b-que outside and we ate outside and hosted the Ukrainians.

In the afternoon we went a few miles to Pleneau Island. It is a shallower area with dozens of beached ice bergs. Being beached it is safe to observe them closely (if not it is very dangerous because a berg can rotate at any time). After they melt and get smaller they float off. We did a zodiac tour around them. We saw four leopard seals, one of which was on a berg; two of them put on a show for us; another passenger got dynamite close-ups of the open mouth with fangs. Several crabeater seals were hauled out. Other people saw humpback whales today. None of us it getting tired of seeing yet another ice berg. Every one is different.

We will stay in this area another day because there are high winds to the NE and it's nearly calm here.

The photos are by Corinthian II crew/staff. Wordie House is overwhelmed by a sea-level glacier on flat ground; not an unusual site at all. Yet another ice berg. It is shows clearly that it has melted from above, so its sea-level line has shifted upward.

One year of Obama's stimulus job loss

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:28:00 +0000

President Obama promised that his stimulus bill would "create or save" many jobs. Did he make it perfectly clear that he would create dependency on the government? That he would create government jobs while allowing the private sector to languish?

When the White House first announced its great job gains the data were found to contain egregious errors - jobs that had not yet started; fictional congressional districts; double counting.

After one year here is the snapshot. Lots of new government jobs - 2 per cent more - but far fewer private sector jobs - minus 7 per cent. And the money involved.

Antarctica Cruise Day 5 Cuverville Island, Neko Harbor

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:51:00 +0000

Presidents' Day

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:28:00 +0000

OK. I am one day late and three more days for Lincoln's actual birthday. From PowerlineBlog

As a politician and as president, Lincoln was a profound student of the Constitution and constitutional history. Perhaps most important, Lincoln was America's indispensable teacher of the moral ground of political freedom at the exact moment when the country was on the threshold of abandoning what he called its "ancient faith" that all men are created equal.

In 1858 Lincoln attained national prominence in the Republican Party as the result of the contest for the Senate seat held by Stephen Douglas. It was Lincoln's losing campaign against Douglas that made him a figure of sufficient prominence that he could be the party's 1860 presidential nominee.

At the convention of the Illinois Republican Party in June, Lincoln was the unanimous choice to run against Douglas. After making him its nominee late on the afternoon of June 16, the entire convention returned that evening to hear Lincoln speak. Accepting the convention's nomination, Lincoln gave one of the most incendiary speeches in American history.
Lincoln electrified the convention, asserting that the institution of slavery had made the United States "a house divided against itself." Slavery would either be extirpated or become lawful nationwide, Lincoln predicted, provocatively quoting scriptural authority to the effect that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." Demonstrating how it "changed the course of history," Harry Jaffa calls it "[t]he speech that changed the world."

On July 9 Douglas responded in a campaign speech to a raucous throng from the balcony of the Tremont Hotel in Chicago. Lincoln was in the audience when Douglas prepared to speak and invited Lincoln to sit on the balcony. In his speech Douglas rang the themes of the momentous campaign that Lincoln and Douglas waged that summer and fall for Douglas's Senate seat.
Douglas paid tribute to Lincoln as a "kind, amiable, and intelligent gentleman, a good citizen and an honorable opponent," but expressed his disagreement with Lincoln's June 16 speech to the Illinois Republican convention that had named him its candidate for Douglas's seat. According to Douglas, Lincoln's assertion that the nation could not exist "half slave and half free" was inconsistent with the "diversity" in domestic institutions that was "the great safeguard of our liberties." Then as now, "diversity" was a shibboleth hiding an evil institution that could not be defended on its own terms.

Douglas responded to Lincoln's condemnation of the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision -- a condemnation that was the centerpiece of Lincoln's convention speech. "I am free to say to you," Douglas said, "that in my opinion this government of ours is founded on the white basis. It was made by the white man, for the benefit of the white man, to be administered by white men, in such manner as they should determine."

Lincoln invited Douglas's audience to return the next evening for his reply to Douglas's speech. Lincoln's speech of July 10 concludes with an explanation of the meaning of the American creed with matchless eloquence and insight, in words that remain as relevant now as then.

We are now a mighty nation, we are thirty---or about thirty millions of people, and we own and inhabit about one-fifteenth part of the dry land of the whole earth. We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years and we discover that we were then a very small people in point of numbers, vastly inferior to what we are now, with a vastly less extent of country,---with vastly less of everything we deem desirable among men,---we look upon the change as exceedingly advantageous to us and to our posterity, and we fix upon something that happened away back, as in some way or other being connected with this rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they were iron men, they fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understood that by what they then did it has followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it; and we go from these [Independence Day] meetings in better humor with ourselves---we feel more attached the one to the other, and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. In every way we are better men in the age, and race, and country in which we live for these celebrations. But after we have done all this we have not yet reached the whole.

There is something else connected with it. We have besides these men---descended by blood from our ancestors---among us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men, they are men who have come from Europe---German, Irish, French and Scandinavian---men that have come from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration [loud and long continued applause], and so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world. [Applause.]

Now, sirs, for the purpose of squaring things with this idea of "don't care if slavery is voted up or voted down" [Douglas's "popular sovereignty" position on the extension of slavery to the territories], for sustaining the Dred Scott decision [A voice---"Hit him again"], for holding that the Declaration of Independence did not mean anything at all, we have Judge Douglas giving his exposition of what the Declaration of Independence means, and we have him saying that the people of America are equal to the people of England. According to his construction, you Germans are not connected with it. Now I ask you in all soberness, if all these things, if indulged in, if ratified, if confirmed and endorsed, if taught to our children, and repeated to them, do not tend to rub out the sentiment of liberty in the country, and to transform this Government into a government of some other form. Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as much is to be done for them as their condition will allow. What are these arguments? They are the arguments that kings have made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world. You will find that all the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge [Douglas] is the same old serpent that says you work and I eat, you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you will---whether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it is all the same old serpent, and I hold if that course of argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle and making exceptions to it where will it stop. If one man says it does not mean a negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man? If that declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute book, in which we find it and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it! [Voices---"me" "no one," &c.] If it is not true let us tear it out! [cries of "no, no,"] let us stick to it then [cheers], let us stand firmly by it then. [Applause.]

Antarctica Cruise Day 4 Antarctic Peninsula - Brown Bluff & Joinville Island

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:09:00 +0000

Feb. 2 Brown's Bluff and Joinville Island

We passed the end of the Antarctic Peninsila to pass between it and some islands, bound for Paulet Island farther south. The area we are passing called Iceberg Alley and deserves the name - monster after monster. But the report at Paulet is for Southerly winds at 35 knots and it's totally exposed. Not a fit for tourists like us. So we turn first to the day's second destination - Brown Bluff on the Antarctic mainland - bluffs up to 750 m or 2300 feet.

Brown skuas and cape petrels were around at we got to shore. We went ashore with good boat landing and entry. In snow blown by 20 to 30 mph winds we walked the beach.

Gentoos nest low, while Adelies make a heroic climb to where the rocks are first cleared of snow. We were satisfied by a 30-minute walk in the wind-driven snow.

Back on the ship for lunch and repositioning we saw a pod of about a dozen orcas (They are now regarded as the largest dolphin, not a whale.) This population varies from our North Pacific variety by being smaller. They also carry a green tinge on their coat, but that's a parasite, not genetic.

In the afternoon to Kennis Bay on Joinville Island; it has a bay facing west which is good for the southerly wind. Before going ashore the conditions look even stormier than this morning. But on the water and on shore it not as bad. Land on rock ledges, but not slippery and we had to scramble over some snow. As we approached the shore in the zodiac a leopard seal was in the water very close!

A couple hundred gentoos down low. Thousands of Adelies nest above. Some are 200, 300, even 400 feet above the sea. This landing was more pleasant, since it had less wind.

Dr. Earl Palmer of National Presbyterian Church spoke on The Meaning of Freedom.

Photos both take at Brown's Bluff by Corinthian II crew/staff and myself: Chinstrap penguin. Gentoo penguin adult and chick in the snowstorm. That's us, Gini with her fur lined hood, me behind with my Icelandic wool hat under my hood.

Antarctica Cruise Day 3 Drake Passage second day and Elephant Island

noreply@blogger.com (Ron) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:03:00 +0000

The seas, though rough enough to make some people sick and all to use Dramamine or a patch, were better than average, so we made good time. We arrived on the north shore of Elephant Island at Point Wild where Shakelton's crew waited months for his trip to South Georgia Island and back to rescue them; we had time for a landing. It is to the northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the last spot before hundreds of miles of ocean to the north.

We approached in fog, then it suddenly opened up after we were close. The first view of penguins for most of us (a few saw them swimming - porpoising) was 100 or so of them lined up on an ice berg.

There is not enough room to land 100 people, so we did a zodiac ride. Rough entry from ship to the boats. There are lots of penguins - chinstraps - and a few Antarctic fur seals. Pale-faced sheathbills are standing among the penguins waiting for something to steal, like pieces of fish dropped in feeding the chick from the mother's mouth (and stomach). A monument to the Chilean captain who commanded the ship rescuing Shakelton's men is easily seen.

Our favorite: a lone chinstrap penguin on a 50-foot long ice berg - king of his ice mountain.

Our ship's crew tell us that they don't get to stop at Elephant Island, but about one trip out of three or four.

Earlier in the day staff Ken Wright, the bird guy, spoke on penguins and Prof. Ed Spencer of Washington and Lee University spoke on Wind and Waves.

Photos by Corinthian II staff and me. Our first view of Antarctica, through the fog! That ice berg is packed with penguins, the first seen out of the water. And note the much larger iceberg in the fog in the background. Note the red parkas - a zodiac packed with ten travelers and one boat driver. The monument on Point Wild to the Chilean who captained the rescue ship, surrounded by chinstrap penguins. Click to enlarge.