Can You Spell "H-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y"? 2009-07-13

Chuck Oates

13 July 2009

Norman, OK, USA

Can You Spell "H-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y"?

From Jeff Sessions, Republican U.S. Senator from Alabama, regarding Pres. Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a Latina, to the U.S. Supreme Court:

“I want to be clear: I will not vote for and no senator should vote for an individual nominated by any president who is not fully committed to fairness and impartiality toward every person who appears before them.” --quoted on a CNN tweet

Being from Alabama, Senator Sessions certainly knows something about fairness and impartiality. Ask any African-American resident of that state.

Can you spell "h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y"?

See Sessions: Judicial Empathy Is Not the Law for the full text.

Baby Steps 2009-07-13

Chuck Oates

13 July 2009

Norman, OK, USA

Baby Steps

The first small steps toward a smart power grid are finally being taken. 'Bout time!

http://www.normantranscript.com/opinion/local_story_192011514

Kingston Trio: Desert Pete 2009-06-12

A Recurring Theme

This song, about considerably more than a watering hole in the desert, keeps resurfacing.

Kingston Trio: Desert Pete

Billy Edd Wheeler

Source: http://www.metrolyrics.com/desert-pete-lyrics-kingston-trio.html

I was travelin' west of Bucksin on my way to a cattle run,

'cross a little cactus desert under a hard bargaining sun.

Thirsty down to my toenails, I stopped to rest me on a stump,

but I tell you I just couldn't believe it when I saw that water pump.

I took it to be a mirage at first. It'll fool a thirsty man.

Then I saw a note stuck in a bakin' powder can.

"This pump is old," the note began, "but she works. So give'er a try.

I put a new sucker washer in 'er. You may find the leather dry."

Chorus:
You've got to prime the pump. You must have faith and believe.

You've got to give of yourself 'fore you're worthy to receive.
Drink all the water you can hold. Wash your face cool your feet.

Leave the bottle full for others. Thank you kindly, Desert Pete.

Yeah, you'll have to prime the pump, work that handle like there's a fire [pronounced "fahr" in Texan].

Under the rock you'll find some water left there in a bitters jar.

Now there's just enough to prime it with, so don't you go drinkin' first.

Just pour it in and pump like mad and, buddy, you'll quench your thirst.

Chorus:
You've got to prime the pump. You must have faith and believe.

You've got to give of yourself 'fore you're worthy to receive.
Drink all the water you can hold. Wash your face cool your feet.

Leave the bottle full for others. Thank you kindly, Desert Pete.

Well, I found the jar, and I tell you, nothin' was ever prettier to my eye

and I was tempted strong to drink it because that pump looked mighty dry,

but the note went on, "Have faith, my friend, there's water down below.

You've got to give to really get. I'm the one who ought to know."

So I poured in the jar and started pumpin' and I heard a beautiful sound

of water bubblin' 'n' splashin' up out of that hole in the ground.

Then I took off my shoes and drunk my fill of that cold refreshin' treat.

Then I thanked the Lord, and I thanked the pump, and I thanked old Desert Pete.

Chorus:
You've got to prime the pump. You must have faith and believe.

You've got to give of yourself 'fore you're worthy to receive.
Drink all the water you can hold. Wash your face cool your feet.

Leave the bottle full for others. Thank you kindly, Desert Pete.

Think about it.

Prof. Oates

Congratulations Indiana Financials ... 2009-06-09

CLOates
9 June 2009
Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Congratulations Indiana Financials and U.S. Supreme Court

So you thought Chrysler Corp. would be in and out of bankruptcy in a few weeks? Those of you who expected that Chrysler would soon emerge from bankruptcy as a part of Italian auto manufacturer Fiat were doubltless brought back to reality yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider lawsuits by Indiana financial insvestment groups complaining that the Fiat purchase agreement was unfair to them.

The legal niceties of the situation may very well be in favor of the Indiana investors, but delay of the deal will most likely cause the complete financial liquidation of Chrysler. Any impending economic recovery in the U.S. would be threatened by Chrysler's demise, but the real horror show will come when this same kind of thing happens to General Motors, a much larger and more complex auto company, also now in bankruptcy court.

Hold on tight to your Chevy pickup's gun rack. The financial folks aren't yet finished having their way with us in their pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Enjoy the recession. The worst may NOT be over yet.

Prof. Oates

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comments:

Grandpa/Prof. Oates Chuck Oates	Wonder of wonders, the Supreme Court decided to let the Fiat purchase deal for Chrysler stand without comment! Once again the long shadow of financial armageddon has passed over us. Let's hope our luck holds when it's GM's turn at bankruptcy roulette! Posted by Grandpa/Prof. Oates on 10 Jun 09 Wednesday - 21:09 [Reply to this] [Remove] [Block User]

	Grandpa/Prof. Oates Chuck Oates	Good heavens! GM made it through bankruptcy court in 40 days (and 40 nights?). It's a judicial miracle! We can hope that the much smaller, leaner emerging company can get its act together and get the Chevy Volt and other innovations out the door with REASONABLE PRICES and ENHANCED RELIABLILITY before it winds up in Chapter 7 (dissolution of the company), rather than Chapter 11 (re-vamping under the court's protection from creditors). Posted by Grandpa/Prof. Oates on 13 Jul 09 Monday - 10:36 [Reply to this] [Remove] [Block User]

	Grandpa/Prof. Oates Chuck Oates	Sometimes a close encounter with corporate death has an effect on a company similar to that of a person who has the same kind of experience. The behavior or the company or person is often very different and very much better thought out after the experience. Let's hope that's the case with the (for the moment) U.S. Government and Candian Government-owned GM. The near-death experience that Chrysler had the 1980s kept the company alive for another 25 years and gave us soccer moms and pops the doughty min-van. Perhaps GM's Chevy Volt will perform a similar ressurection miracle for the company. Hope strongly, but don't hold your breath. It is still GM, after all, even if their logo's blue background has changed to verdant green. Posted by Grandpa/Prof. Oates on 13 Jul 09 Monday - 10:52 [Reply to this] [Remove] [Block User]

	Grandpa/Prof. Oates Chuck Oates	The greenwashing to end all greenwashing? See GM Logo Change and New Car Production Posted by Grandpa/Prof. Oates on 13 Jul 09 Monday - 11:01 [Reply to this] [Remove] [Block User]

Grandpa/Prof. Oates Chuck Oates

I wonder if the GM executive who disparagaged the Aptera by saying he was "un-interested in science fair projects" will be sending his resume to Aptera Corp., now that he is unemployed? http://aptera.com/www.aptera.com . Posted by Grandpa/Prof. Oates on 13 Jul 09 Monday - 11:11

Business Failure: It's a GOOD Thing 2009-03-19

CLOates
19 March 2009
Revised: 25 March 2009
Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Business Failure: It's a GOOD Thing

Over the last several years we've been treated to the spectacle of financiers inventing new ways to enrich themselves, while building a house of cards that finally came down in a heap last fall. This IS what people of high intelligence and low wisdom do. There are inevitably going to be some of those in the mix. In times long since past, the result of such behavior was that the perpetrators went bankrupt and were subsequently put to work cleaning out the stalls of barnyard animals, a task much more appropriate to their combination abilities and character.

In the past few decades, though, organizations have grown larger and larger to the point that when the inevitable consequences of the misdeeds of some of them come home to roost, we're faced with either 1) letting them fail and likely bringing down another Great Depression on our own heads or 2) propping them up with hundreds of billions (that's billions with a 'b') of dollars of public debt, borrowed principally from China and the oil-rich nations of the Middle East. The name of this game is "Profits Shared by the Few, Losses Paid for by the Many" (of this and future generations, all on borrowed money!), also known as socialism for the 2% and the rough and tumble free market for the rest. Big business needs the same treatment any of us would receive if we behaved irresponsibly. While individual human beings are usually worth some public effort to save, the artificial creations of corporate law should exist based only on their merits.

Thought: let's do what we can to ensure (that's with an 'e') that we don't get into this unienviable position again. There are several possibilities. One is to somehow prevent organizations from becoming so large that the failure of any one of them threatens the U.S. (and possibly the world's) economy. For U.S. corporations and creations of the U.S. Federal Government like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, this may be possible with something akin to the size limitations in the U.S. anti-trust laws. For most organizations, though, the ability to internationalize thwarts the ability of any one country's government to control their size and influence. Countries can regulate the operations of international organizations within their own borders, and to the extent that this can prevent their becoming "too large to fail," regulations should be put in place. The object of such regulation should be to permit the economies of scale which are necessary for efficient operation, but to prevent expansion to the point that failure leads to government bail-outs, as has been our recent fate.

A second possibility is to reglate businesses that become "too large to fail," in much the same ways that permitted monopolies such as public utilities are regulated. This alternative may have to be invoked, given the difficulty of size limitation, but it certainly has a checkered history. Those of you who are old enough to remember paying $0.40 or more per minute (in 1960s money, too) to a regulated(?) telephone company for Texas in-state long distance phone calls will appreciate how able the regulated monopolies are to influence their supposed regulators.

For very large international organizations, the ability to play countries off against one another, very much in the same way that large U.S. corporations play off U.S. states against one another for legislative concessions on taxation and paying for environmental damage, is difficult to mitigate. There is no international body capable of such regulation, and for the moment we seem to be in the same fix as were our forbearers in the age of the Robber Barrons.

For the present, perhaps we should concentrate on putting our own house in order, since U.S. home-grown corporations and particularly the failure of the U.S. Federal Government to appropriately regulate the financial activites of some of these corporations, seem to be responsible for most, if not all, of the current mess.

Whatever we do, it must ensure that businesses that behave irresponsibly (and there will ALWAYS be some that do) are put out of their misery by bankruptcy, not rewarded for their irresponsibility. The theory, as I recall it, is that failing businesses will be replaced by businesses that make a profit by serving the needs of their customers, and not continued in their failures by citizen-funded bailouts and (to add insult to injury) bonuses for the people who caused the companies to fail.

In the mean time, enjoy your and your childrens' multi-thousand dollar per person share of the debt "trickle-down"!

Prof. Oates


Afterthought: perhpas a revision of the bankruptcy laws is in order. It's possible that too-big-to-fail businesses could be effectively and relatively "bumplessly" ushered into operation in receivership and subsequently broken up and sold to more efficient and effective operators. Without some similar mechanism, how will influential, but non-adapting dinosaurs like GM ever be put on a straight course? --CLO

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comment:

Grandpa/Prof. Oates Chuck Oates

A CNN guest whose name I have forgotten summarized all this pretty well. He opined that if a company is too big to fail, it is too big to EXIST. Break 'em up! Posted by Grandpa/Prof. Oates on 14 Jun 09 Sunday - 17:54

A Modest Proposal 2008-03-18

CLOates
18 March 2008
Norman, OK, USA

A Modest Proposal

While the Oklahoma Legislature busies itself building religious monuments on state Capitol grounds in blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution (ref.: House Bill 1330, passed in the House and headed for the Senate), perhaps someone should suggest to the learned gentlepersons of the Legislature that a religious text even more appropriate than the Ten Commandments for their monument would be The Beatitudes.

While the esteemed Legislators admittedly could use some instruction about bowing down to graven images (the insurance companies and the graven images on the greenback dollars of their campaign contributions come to mind), the Legislators' actions indicate an urgent need for a basic understanding of the principles espoused by the Teacher most of them purport to follow. Consider the text below.

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The Beatitudes [from www.biblegateway.com]
Matthew 5:2-10 (New International Version)

2 and he began to teach them saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Has anyone seen anything resembling the above in the hallowed halls of the Oklahoma Legislature lately?

'Nuf said.

--Prof. Oates



Other References

1) The Ten Commandments

See http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=5&chapter=5&version=31&context=chapter .


2) HB 1330 status [from http://okc.about.com/od/statecapital/a/2009legislative.htm ]

Bill: House Bill 1330
Author: Rep. Mike Ritze (R-Broken Arrow)
Purpose: If passed, this measure would allow for construction of a monument with the Ten Commandments on state Capitol grounds.
Status: Passed House, Goes to Senate

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comment:

Grandpa/Prof. Oates Chuck Oates

The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals today unanimously ruled that the Ten Commandments monument on the courthouse lawn in Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma is an unconsititutional promotion of religion by the County Commissioners of Haskell County. Gee, the Constitution does say, "Judeo-Christianity shall be the official religion of the United States," doesn't it? Well doesn't it? Isn't that what "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" means? I must be confused. Posted by Grandpa/Prof. Oates on 09 Jun 09 Tuesday - 15:35

Shameful Autism Vote 2009-02-06

Chuck Oates
6 February 2009
Norman, Oklahoma
Redneckistan, USA

Shameful Autism Vote

The Oklahoma House has shamed the state. A House committee vote has killed Nick's Law for at least two years and left the INSURED parents of autistic kids to bear the full cost of their kids' treatment themselves. <

Ron Black has described it better than I can in his Wednesday, February 4 article. Read it and weep.

http://www.ronblackradio.com/t18-home:-daily-rant

The only imaginable good news is that, over the long term, hypocrisy and wrongdoing of this magnitude seldom escape revision followed by retribution.

Pray for the perpetrators of this deed. They'll need all the help they can get when the consequences of their action come home to roost.

In disgust,

Prof. Oates

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comments:

Chasity	I am just sick over it! Just absolutely sick. I've been reading all the articles from all the different news stations and I just can't believe they didn't even TRY to hear it out. Posted by Chasity on 06 Feb 09 Friday - 22:22 [Reply to this] [Remove] [Block User]

Laurie

Thank you for your thoughts and support. They are finding out that we are not going quietly. Senator Gumm, Rep Mike Brown and others continue to fight for these kids. The GOP continues to maneuver and block this at every turn no matter what truth is placed in front of them. Giving up is not an option. If anyone reading this would like to help - call your State Senator, House Rep, and ask them to join the fight for our kids with Autism. They may say the bill is "dead", but rules can be changed, options are still available. If they happen to be Republican, ask them if they dare be the first Oklahoma Republican to stand up on the floor during a session and fight for our kids. As far as I know, so far there has not been one willing to going against Republican leadership. Shameful. Posted by Laurie on 28 Apr 09 Tuesday - 22:39