Diggapedia

Part II: Democracy isn’t a dry powdered concentrate that you add water and voila! American naiveté regarding spreading democracy is as cute and sweet as kids believing in Santa Claus.   OK, calm down, no offense intended, but let me proceed by starting with our own history.   Our own experiment with democracy had a very auspicious start; you all remember the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.   No?   It was as popular and memorable as the first series George Clooney starred in called ER.   Yes, look it up, it was on CBS in 1984/85 and it starred Eliot Gould.    But I digress.    The Articles of Confederation were drafted in 1776 and were ratified in 1781 and they were completely ineffectual because the concept of a centralized federal government was quite discerning so the states were given more power.   It failed miserably; leading to the smartly constructed James Madison crafted Constitution ratified in 1787.   Eleven ...

I just wrapped up my 4 th visit to Israel in the last 9 months and each time I come away a little smarter, a little wiser, and lot heavier, impressed, and worried.   I worry because with the region is under significant turmoil while Americans, for the most part, remain ignorant of the recent history (20 th and 21 st centuries) and the critical facts and details on the ground.   I am not calling Americans stupid; I am saying Americans sources of information are incomplete, uninformed, and shallow.   So I decided to dedicate this entry to a combination of modern history, global politics, religion, and of course, what would a Diggapedia entry be without a shedload of commentary. Part I, the 20 th century: Following the defeat of the Central Power, Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Ottoman Empire, forces in World War I, the Middle East fell into the hands of the British and French to divide up into protectorates, administrations, and territories through a series of mandates by...

The mounting criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the Libya crisis is neither surprising nor logical.   Let me count the ways: a)       It is quite logical that France and the United Kingdom would take the lead with the Libyan offensive because they are trading partners. b)       Building a coalition of Arab League nations was critical to preempt international condemnation. c)       The US is demonstrating that leadership in foreign affairs requires diplomacy and force.   Diplomacy in the form of getting the UAE and Qatar to sign on militarily in the campaign AND convincing permanent Security Council members China and Russia to abstain and not veto the resolution.   From a military standpoint, who else will provide logistical, air defense neutralization, command and control, and 24 hour surveillance?   That doesn’t mean we need to flying daily sorties.   d)   ...

If this post is crankier than usual, I am blaming the jetlag. In 1939 Germany invaded Poland in its march to world domination via military conquest.   In 2011, Germany is the dominant economic power in Europe and the future of the EU and the single currency lies in German willingness to bail out Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and potentially Spain and Italy.   Germany through the IMF and EU bailout fund has become the significant stakeholder in these other sovereign nations.   I wonder if Parker Brothers will be creating a new version of Risk that uses economic and financial instruments and not armies to conquer the world. Someone up there must really hate me.   I just learned Charles Krauthammer, Fox News Contributor and Conservative Centerfold, is a Red Sox fan.   A sick sick joke. Speaking of False news, I guess I am late to the game and didn’t realize that Brett Baier is using “Fair, Balanced, and Unafraid” as his closing tag line.   Unafraid?   I gues...

It's Purim in Israel.  For the kids it's like halloween, for the adults it's like Mardi Gras.  Looks like Glinda stole Miss Gulch's bicycle.

Dear President Obama, Please lead more and be less politically calculating.   You’re like the guy who goes to the horse track and bets $2 on the favorite in each and every race.   Be decisive on the budget, energy, and Middle East policy.   Bush was a disaster but even when he knew the odds were long in privatizing social security, he took a shot at it and got slammed.   Take the bat off your shoulders slugger and take a cut.   Also, I am still waiting for this whole increased transparency thing to happen.   Requests for information occurred 544,360 times last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act from the 35 largest government agencies, up nearly 41,000 more than the previous year, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of new federal data. But the government responded to nearly 12,400 fewer requests.   What is your administration hiding? Meanwhile back in Arizona, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik need not apply for a share of fu...

Funny thing happened on the way to the All-White State.   Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce on March 4 th announced he would suspend further debate and committee review of immigration-related bills.   Up until March 4 th , Pearce and his followers were pushing bills to enhance their crackdown on immigration from turning hospitals and schools into enforcement bodies to redefining citizenship and many motions in between.   Why the sudden change in legislative direction?   It seems that executives at 60 major Arizona corporations including Intel, USAirways, PetSmart, and the Arizona Republic sent a letter to Pearce telling him to back off the vitriol and hate because it was having an adverse economic impact to the private sector.   Really?   You mean you found it difficult to attract business, hire qualified people, and maximize profits?   I am sure Major League Baseball chimed in as well because the last thing they want is mass protests outs...

Thanks to The Economist and the World Nuclear Association for publishing this table that represents the comparative amounts of nuclear-electricity producers and the % of domestic electricity coming from nuclear power.  Clearly the U.S. is the world's leader in nuclear powered electricity with 20% of the electricity coming from this source (Coal is king, followed by natural gas).  With our nuclear facilities aging, we need to continue to invest in modern technology, improve safety and efficiency, and limit our consumption of finite fossil fuels. Have you noticed how orderly and composed the Japanese people have been during the last 4-5 days of tragedy?   No riots, no looting, no police beatings.   Instead people waiting patiently in line for hours for food and water, people volunteering to cut power consumption to avoid blackouts, people giving up what little they have to others in greater need, and people not looking to assign blame.   Now I realize that ...

Allen West, freshman Republican congressman from Florida was on Fixed News this weekend going on about how we should be using the brand new state of the art courtroom in Guantanamo Bay to hold military tribunals, not only for those currently imprisoned on the island but also for the recently captured 13 Somali and 1 Yemeni pirates who took part in the murder of four Americans on February 22 nd .       The 14 pirates were recently indicted in Norfolk, Virginia by a federal grand jury on piracy charges.   West, a decorated veteran, referred to the pirates as ‘Islamic Pirates’ and they shouldn’t have been sent to Norfolk, but to Guantanamo Bay because they are enemy combatants.   Clearly West believes this pirate attack, is different than the hundreds of other attacks in the Indian Ocean, because these are really part of the war on terror.   Colonel, you are better than that, or maybe I am wrong and you are just another Conservajerk.   Though, if I do acc...

With Michelle Bachmann’s recent troubles with American History (a) the founding fathers worked diligently to abolish slavery and (b) the shot heard ‘round the world took place in New Hampshire, I took the liberty to identify TEA party heroine’s next historical mix ups: 1.       Remember the Alamo was about the government takeover of the car rental industry. 2.       The Continental Congress use to meet at Newark Airport. 3.       The Mason-Dixon Line is a railroad route. 4.       Federal farm subsidies go as far back as Plymouth (MA) Plantation. 5.       The Underground Railroad was the first NYC subway and it was built by great patriots who hated taxes. 6.       The Missouri Compromise was when major league baseball put teams in Kansas City and St. Louis. 7.       The Articles of Confederation were Robert E. Lee’s...

Nuclear Energy in the spotlight on the talk shows in light of the growing disaster.   What we witnessed was a breakdown of all redundant systems required to maintain temperature controls for the critical fuel rods.   With five reactors in jeopardy we are witnessing a systemic failure of risk, health, and safety controls.   That being said, it is too soon to condemn nuclear energy, as it was too soon to condemn off-shore drilling following the Deepwater Horizon failure in the Gulf of Mexico.   But we must understand the causes of these failure modes, and improve our controls to prevent further failures, improve detectability, and minimize severity.   New short term continuing budget resolution to keep the government going for another three weeks.   Guys, just get the real deal done, but don’t do it piecemeal.   What will it take for our two and four year cycle politicians to take a long view and create 10 and 20 year comprehensive strategic plans that c...

I could take the Republican plans to cut federal spending if they weren’t fixated on Planned Parenthood, NPR, and PBS.   Do you know what it costs every American to fund PBS and NPR?   Would you believe $1.35 each yr for PBS and NPR is $.35?   As a comparison, here are some corporate welfare allocations being paid for by US citizens: Oil Industry = $137/yr Coal Industry = $27/yr Ethanol Industry = $20/yr Farmers = $17/yr I agree that the U.S. Government should give up its funding for NPR and PBS, along with the gas oil, ethanol, and farm subsidies.   If I am a Congressional democrat or libertarian, I’d make sure they all go.   Though in full disclosure, I would maintain subsidies for alternative renewable and nuclear energy, as these industries are critical to our comprehensive energy policy and will be suffocated by the oil and gas industry without government intervention. Looks like the EU, NATO, Arab League, African Union, and US listened to Diggapedia and ...

Shout out to America’s greatest supermarket, the Rochester, NY based Wegmans; Fortune magazine’s number three best company in America to work for and home of 1,505 employee ‘likes’ on facebook.   It’s amazing how many people I run into who have been in a Wegmans and still rave about it. After watching Yael Hersonski’s documentary ‘A Film Unfinished’ about the Nazi cinematographers who were dispatched to the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942 to create a propaganda film depicting Jewish haves and have-nots in the ghetto, I feel the double sucker punch of what they perpetrated AND how they tried to show the world that they trying to help European Jews or at least build a false image in response to the rumors of death camps and persecutions.   Coupling this movie with the recently rediscovered 1970’s film the Voyage of the Damned, I am left with the audacity of the Nazis to film their despicable acts and then try to spin an alternative yarn.   Never again. Thanks to Becky Quick from Fort...

Have I been in a nightmare or did I hear that Sarah Palin, if she decides to run for the Presidency, will establish her campaign headquarters in Scottsdale.   My top five thoughts on this story: 5)             Wolves in Alaska celebrate; Coyotes in Arizona shit their pelts. 4)             The Brewer/Palin Clusterf__k in the Desert 3)             The blue hair snow birds who love her will stick around all year…bad for road safety good for early bird dining 2)             Palin and Medical Marijuana = Baked Alaska 1)             Palin claimed that the Affordable Care Act included death panels, ironically she is moving to a Republican-controlled state that is implementing death panels.     ...

Shameless is the best show on TV.  Now that may be first season interest and euphoria, but the writing, directing, and acting is tremendous.  And Emmy Rossum has entered Mila Kunis level of Diggapedia fandemonium. In one week, Sarah Palin has taken on Kathy Griffin and Bill O'Reilly.  Who's next Hulk Hogan and C. Everett Koop?  Big Bird and Robert Gates? Would you be shocked to know that the Department of Defense has told Congress that it plans to sell $103Billion of weapons overseas while the average from 1995 - 2005 was $13Billion/year?  Did Obama win the Nobel Peace Prize?   More on that later. Southland's fabulous season finale was Tuesday and that show is one of my favorites on TV.  NBC let it go to TNT during the botched Jay Leno show era.  TNT: please bring it back.   Regina King is awesome. I am going to say it again: there is nothing wrong with being pro teacher but anti- tenure, pro choice but anti-abortion, pro soldier...

Another new Republican governor is missing the point.   Newly elected Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett is struggling to balance his state’s budget but like many of his fellow Republican’t state executives, he appears to be singling out education.   Corbett’s budget includes massive cuts to education, not just to teacher salaries and benefits, but to infrastructure which will impact the quality of learning.   "Education cannot be the only industry exempt from recession," Corbett said. "We need to change the whole system. We need a new set of priorities: child, parent and teacher -- and in that order."   For starters Corbett, education isn’t an industry, if you think it is, you are sadly mistaken.   Education is a long term investment, and while throwing more money at a problem doesn’t necessarily solve it, you can’t cut your way to success. Pundits and politicians are asking for the President to enact a no-fly zone over Libya and some are even suggesting we begi...