Three books that made a lasting impact on me and changed the course of my life:

1. Atlas Shrugged - This one showed me 45 years ago how governments devolve over time and laid out for me the course of what would happen to our own government in my lifetime.  She wasn't a prophet; she had only to look around her at the government then in place to see what would happen.  Reading this book is like reading the daily newspaper.
2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Set forth for me the power of a dream and what perseverance in the pursuit of that dream can accomplish -- and the cost.
3. The Bible - Helped me to refine my spiritual life and helped me to distinguish fact from fantasy when listening to various preachers.

What books have made a significant impact on, and changed the course of, your life? 

Hillary Clinton has finally said something with which I can agree.  While in Pakistan last week, she told a group of reporters, "I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they [the al Qaeda leaders] are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to....Trust is a two way street."  This was to a group of female reporters.  I wonder if she was equally direct (or more so) with Pakistan's leadership.

For their part, the reporters told her that their citizens believed that the United States was committing acts of terror every time a drone missile intended to take out a terrorist leader, also killed some near by civilians.  I understand how they feel, but don't they know that there's a war going on?  Of course they do, but they see it as Pakistan fighting our war, rather than us fighting against a terror that threatens us all.  As one reporter told Ms. Clinton, "You had one 9/11. We are having daily 9/11s in Pakistan."

I deeply regret that, but it seems to be a consequence of the way wars are fought in the early part of the 21st century.  In many ways war was simpler and less messy in previous periods of history.

Caesar, Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini -- Dictators always begin their reigns by promising change, hope, and economic justice -- a better deal for the poor and the disadvantaged.  Sound familiar.

One Big Ass Mistake America

Socrates_Cafe asked a very old question this week: "If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to witness it, does it make a sound?"

Some have suggested that sound is something produced by the motion of air as it flows across the ear drum and sets up vibrations of certain membranes that will be detected by nerve endings and interpreted by the brain as sound.  If no one is around, then there is no eardrum, no nerve endings, and no brain to interpret anything, then the sound can not exist.

I disagree.  I believe that sound consists of the wave forms that are set up in the air by the falling tree, and that the part played by the ear itself is only that of being a detector or those waves.  The sound waves themselves exist whether someone is there to detect them or not.

Then again, there be some who would (and have) questioned whether anything can even exists if no one is there to see it.  That is equally ridiculous to my way of thinking, because the laws of physics are not suspended when no one is looking.  That would be like suggesting that if you and I are alone in a room with no one to observe us, you cease to exist when I turn around and have my back to you.  

What do you think?

I see that the New York Post has run a report indicating that "New Yorkers are fleeing the state and city in alarming numbers -- and costing a fortune in lost tax dollars....The vast majority of the migrants, 1.1 million, were former residents of New York City -- meaning one out of seven city taxpayers moved out....The Empire State is being drained of an invaluable resource" the report said.

I can certainly understand the concern.  During 2006-2007, the "migration flow" out of New York to other states amounted to a loss of $4.3 billion.  But perhaps this is a good thing.  Maybe government officials will finally understand that there are limits to how much tax you can demand from people before they say enough -- but I doubt it.  Why? Well, experience for one thing, and because the report referred to those leaving the City/State as a "valuable resource."

As a business woman, I understand the intent, but I also see and feel the impersonal nature of the comment, and I read into it a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of those who wrote the report.  Specifically, when you begin to think of residents as nothing more than a resource to be exploited, you are bound to lose them.  They are people -- people with families who have needs of their own.  They do not exist to serve the State.  The State exists only by their assent, and when the State forgets that, it will eventually lose the very people needed to sustain itself.  This is true on the National level, as well as the State and City levels.

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run
 out of other people's money." -- Margaret Thatcher

The Public Option is going to be in the Senate version of the Health Care bill after all, according to Sen. Harry Reid, but it will contain an Opt-out provision that will allow the individual States to decline to participate in the plan.  There's a problem with this: no one knows what Opt-out really means.  Maybe we'll learn before the vote is taken.  But whatever it means, it really won't matter, will it.  After all, we already know that States aren't going to opt-out of any Federally subsidized program.  To think that they might is like expecting your kids to opt-out of their allowance.

And then there's the big question of how do they pay for the plan if a number of States do decide to Opt-out.  Presumably that means that residents of those States will not have to pay the additional taxes (in whatever form) needed to pay for the plan.  But if that is the case, the government won't have enough money to pay for those who stay with the plan.  And if residents do have to pay the taxes regardless of the State Opt-out, they will be forced to pay for a service that they are not receiving.   Is that legal?

Please, somebody, lead me to Taggart Terminal!

So now the government wants to regulate the salaries, first for top executives of companies that received stimulus funds, and now the government is going to monitor salaries of top executives for all companies.

The idea is to prevent abuse and misuse of government funds, but the fact is that it is illegal because top executives are not paid a salary in the same sense that you and I are.  They are paid based upon a negotiated contract between themselves and the company they are to work for.  Those contracts are legally binding documents, and the executive who wants to challenge the administration trying to dictate salaries will win his or her case in court every time.

First he puts General McChrystal in charge and asks him to come up with a strategy to achieve a specific objective.  McChrystal does so, and Obama waffles with indecision.  The Pentagon then backs McChrystal, and Obama continues to waffle.  Defense Secretary Gates then tells the world that Obama can't wait any longer, but he continues to delay.  Now today the NATO defense ministers gave their broad endorsement Friday to the counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan laid out by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.  Will the American President continue to show the world that he is incapable of making the big decisions?

Sorry for not posting, but my service provider has been up and down like a yo-yo all week.  I barely get a few minutes here and there online.

Supporters of Obamacare have tried for months now to sell the idea of a public option.  One of the things they have used to gather support is a promise that no one would be turned down or penalized in any way for insurance coverage due to any prior condition.

Now along comes the idea that those people who are considered to be too over weight will have to pay a higher premium for insurance than those who are not over weight.  According to the statistics I read, that would mean that most of the nation would have to pay the higher premium. 

Oh well.  So much for not being penalized.