Sleepless in Midland

Thomas Sowell on Gun Control Laws

One doesn't have to look far for legal treatises on the recent Supreme Court 2nd Amendment ruling. But for a short rational essay on why strict gun control laws are counterproductive, see Thomas Sowell. Excerpt:

Those who have no confidence in ordinary Americans may expect a bloodbath, as the benighted masses start shooting each other, now that they can no longer be denied guns by their betters. People who think we shouldn't be allowed to make our own medical decisions, or decisions about which schools our children attend, certainly are not likely to be happy with the idea that we can make our own decisions about how to defend ourselves.

When you stop and think about it, there is no obvious reason why issues like gun control should be ideological issues in the first place. It is ultimately an empirical question whether allowing ordinary citizens to have firearms will increase or decrease the amount of violence.

Further:

As for the merits or demerits of gun control laws themselves, a vast amount of evidence, both from the United States and from other countries, shows that keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens does not keep guns out of the hands of criminals. It is not uncommon for a tightening of gun control laws to be followed by an increase-- not a decrease-- in gun crimes, including murder.

More at the Link.

Reporter-Telegram's new web look

Yesterday the Midland Reporter-Telegram concluded its annual opinion poll of "favorites" among its readers. And two categories the newspaper itself is sure to win are best newspaper and best local website. There's only one local paper, so that one is a given. There are plenty of local websites, but the paper's website, MyWestTexas.com, is a pretty good local information hub and deserves the votes.

The website recently underwent a major face lift, and the new look has gotten thumbs up from some of the local bloggers, Jeff and Eric in particular. However, Jessica's Well tried to put a finger on the problem, but couldn't quite come out with it.

The old website had six local blog links featured prominently on the front page. Three were permanent fixtures, and three other local blogs rotated with excerpts from their most current posts. I'm sure the other local bloggers appreciated that attention as much as I did. When Sleepless was featured, there were always folks clicking through to see what showed up on these pages, and when my topic happened to be one that locals were very interested in, a flash flood for instance, lots and lots of people clicked through.

Three local blogs held permanent spots on the front page: Jimmy , Newsroom Stew, and one other that I can't remember. Given the number of click-throughs Sleepless got with a rotation of a dozen or so other blogs, I always wondered what percentage of Stew's and Jimmy's site visitors came from the MRT site. It had to be a lot. So now that they, too, are no longer front page items, their visitor rate has probably diminished significantly. They have both gone on blogging hiatus since the change, but that was coincidental.

The Sleepless daily visit rate dropped off by about 15%-20% initially, and scant few come from the MyWestTexas.com back page blog links these days. But the daily number of site visits has bounced back. So people are finding the site, and hopefully, the information they get here is worth their time.

Townnews, which boasts 1,500 customers, is the MyWestTexas site web host utilizing Blox content management system. And glancing at a random selection of the Townnews new launches, MyWestTexas is doing a lot more for local bloggers than other local papers are. So there are no complaints here. Bloggers like me who feed off news are like raccoons waiting at the dumpster for someone to discard some edible trash, and we are in no position to complain.

But there's an alternative. Take a look at this San Antonio Express News article appearing at MySanAntonio.com. The design looks very similar to the TownNews/Blox sites although this one doesn't sport the logo and link. In particular, scroll down to the section that says "From Around the Web." There we see links to articles elsewhere related to the subject of the article. And lo and behold, there's a link to a Sleepless in Midland article. Nice idea.

If the Townnews/Blox setup allows that type linkage without driving up the price, then MyWestTexas.com could headline an article about a politician's granddaughter's local lemonade stand, and a link to a related site could lead to a Jessica's Well article about local economic development. Synergy!

Google may go dark in China

Google announced last January that it would no longer censor results on Google.cn, the Google engine for users in China. And they currently redirect Chinese users to the Google Hong Kong search engine, Google.com.hk.

China government no likee. From Googleblog: An Update on China:

However, it’s clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable—and that if we continue redirecting users our Internet Content Provider license will not be renewed (it’s up for renewal on June 30). Without an ICP license, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China.

Via FT.com via Reason.com.

The course Google said they will take is to submit an application based on a discontinued automatic redirect and instead send users to a landing page where they can either select Google.cn, which will be for unfiltered music searches and text translation, or click over to the Hong Kong site. it's up to the Chinese government whether to renew the license based on that compromised approach.

As much as we might complain about Google and its political leanings and massive memory bank full of our own search history, we've got to respect their unwillingness to censor for the Chinese government. And we have to sympathize with the Chinese internet users who may be deprived of an independent search engine.

So I'm wondering, would a personal VPN like the one offered by Witopia, serve as a work-around for Chinese internet users? Witopia claims it would.

VuvuX filters out vuvuzela noise

Invention, who is your mother? "Necessity!" shouts Plato.

Anyone who hasn't yet been driven deaf or insane by the buzz of the vuvuzela would consider a vuvuzela filter a game watching necessity.

A company has developed and is giving away a free software plug-in that filters out the vuvuzela noise. Only works on a Mac, though.  Darn.  Here's the Link .

That's the buzz, anyway.  Let's just hope the soccer fans don't discover cow bells.

Three new therapy dogs ready to go to work

Anyone who has ever owned a dog knows full well how beneficial they are to people. They have so much love to give, and some dog owners want to share that love with others who may need it.

They are therapy dogs -- dogs that have been trained and tested and that have shown they can be good, calm dogs eager to show affection to a child or patient in need of a friend.

Therapy Dog International is a program that provides a structure for animal owners who want to use their pets to help others. Once trained and tested, they go to work. It seems like easy work, but it can be exhausting. A new dog can only work for about a half hour at at time, although experienced dogs may be able to work for a couple of hours.

 

Today J.P. Yousha and Leanne Howell conducted final exams for three dogs testing to become therapy dogs. And it was a tough test. Two of the dogs had flunked once before and had to go back to school before they could try again. And this afternoon they all passed.

To demonstrate that they can function well as a canine therapist the dogs had to be under control of the owner at all times.  That included being able to walk on a leash beside the owner, turn in both directions, and make a U-turn. The dog had to sit and lie down on command as well as stay with a stranger when the owner walks away.

The dogs were tested around wheel chairs and crutches to prove that they wouldn't be anxious around items common in nursing facilities but not necessarily found in every home. And to prove their tolerance, a pair of crutches was dropped near them on the hard floor. It was OK to be startled, but they had to recover quickly. They had to tolerate improper petting -- we've all seen how children will pat a dog's head a little too hard, and the dogs have to put up with it without complaining. Also, kids like to stick their fingers into every hole. (Yuck.)

Temperament is the most important quality of a therapy dog. J.P. says the "Bubba dogs" are the best. Those are the dogs that Bubba, two ranches down the road, could borrow to help herd livestock, and you wouldn't expect any problems.

Friendliness is a big one. Think of Wal-Mart greeters, friendly to everyone they meet.

 

Welcome three new therapy dogs to the dog therapy community. All passed with flying colors, and they are sure to be great therapy dogs: Ann Ward's Great Pyrenees*, Frosty; Michaela Turner's Golden Retriever, Murphy; and Catherine Clifton's Collie, Brinkley. They will bring a lot of happiness to their owners and the patients they visit.

Dogs without the right temperament can be trained to do the therapy work, but there is a greater likelihood of problems. See a complete list of the test requirements on the Therapy Dog Test PDF. It's not for everyone. But the right dog with the right owner can perform miracles.

*Paw note:  The Great Pyrenees is one of only two breeds with double dew claws.

Rick Menchaca fired by San Marcos City Council

We didn't predict it, but given Midland's experience with Mr. Menchaca, we shouldn't be surprised.  San Marcos Mercury headline:

Breaking News: Council terminates Menchaca’s contract as city manager
Submitted by Brad Rollins on Thursday, 24 June 2010

Oh, poor San Marcos. The city of Midland learned the hard way that a city manager contract favorable to Rick Menchaca would cost the city plenty.

Updated:  Following are links to previous articles on these pages about Mr. Menchaca while he was Midland, Texas, City Manager:

• MPD Blue -- the public became aware of long simmering problems between the police department and Mr. Menchaca;

• Urby Out, Menchaca In -- a disagreement between the police chief and Mr. Menchaca ended with the police chief resigning;

• The MPD Command Staff Letter The police department brass went public with their complaints;

• The Menchaca business continues -- Midland City Council offered Menchaca a sizable sum of money to resign then later withdrew the offer;

• Payday for Menchaca -- City Council voted to reinstate the offer, and Menchaca walked away with almost half mil.

Sgt. Brian Rackow of the MPD bomb squad

If you've ever met Sgt. Rackow you know he's an open and engaging individual who is proud of his work as a Sergeant and Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team leader in the Midland, Texas, Police Department.

The entire city was stunned yesterday to learn of the explosion and the injuries he received at the MPD shooting range and training facility. From Mywesttexas.com:

Rackow was injured just after 11 a.m. Thursday [6/24/2010] when he was removing aluminum casing from an explosive in preparation for a future training activity, [MPD Training Division Lt. Bernie] Kraft said. He remained in critical but stable condition late Thursday at University Medical Center in Lubbock, officials said.

Sgt. Rackow had a reputation for caution around explosives, so news of this incident is doubly shocking. And it drives home the point that bomb squad work is a high risk endeavor.

When the shock wore off, Midlanders no doubt reached deeply into their pockets to donate to the Brian Rackow Benefit Fund that the police officer's union set up at Community National Bank.

We'll have to wait for police and ATF reports to find out exactly what caused the explosion.

Stepping aside for a moment, here's a random observation. From a statistical standpoint the most dangerous place for a law enforcement officer to be in Midland County would seem to be the MPD shooting range and training facility.

Bloggers get such lovely fan mail

In today's in-box:

Aloha, my dear friend

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.

The roses in bloom are reminding me beautiful and amazing feeling of love. How fragrant are the blossoms. How sweetly the birds sing – they remind me of life and happiness. I know that there is a long distance between us, but it does not matter much, because I believe we are closed in our hearts. When we find each other, we will feed by joy and tenderness of sweetest feeling on this earth. I am waiting for you here www.forever-love-me.com/

Alina

Ah Alina, aloha to you too. What a lovely little message. I feel your love and send you mine in return. Do you feel it?

I should point out that your first sentence is an Ingrid Bergman quote. But plagiarism is such a minor crime when you've stolen my heart.

You didn't say where you live, but your IP-Address.com says you're French, belle femme. However, your link directs me to a website about good looking Russian ladies looking for love. What a small world this is.

You're probably an ugly, middle aged, over weight, con artist of the male gender. But, nobody's perfect.

"More Guns Less Crime" by John Lott -- 3rd edition now out

John Lott's attempt to prove that more guns result in a lower crime rate in "More Guns Less Crime" garnered a great deal of criticism from anti-gun groups when it came out over a decade ago. But one important source of criticism was the statisticians who complained about his statistical techniques. The third edition is now out which is supposed to address some of the criticism.

But there's another way to look at it. Robert VerBruggen suggests examining the criminal behavior of the people who hold the licenses. After all, if allowing the concealed carrying of handguns was expected to increase crime, then the ones committing the crimes would be the licensed carriers. It turns the licensees don't commit many crimes.

Those of us who live in Texas are fortunate that the DPS provides it's own stats concerning crimes committed by concealed carry license holders. The general Texas Crime Reports cover several years of uniform crime reporting. But the one we want is CHL holders with convictions vs. the entire TX population with convictions. The latest year for which the data are available is 2007.

There are over three pages of crimes listed in the 2007 report, so let's concentrate a few biggies.

• Murder -- There were 371 murder convictions in Texas Only two, or 0.5391%, were concealed carry license holders.

• Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon -- There were 2,513 convictions. Only seven, or 0.2786%, were license holders.

• Aggravated Robbery -- There were 1,663 convictions. Only one, or 0.0601%, was a license holder.

• Deadly Conduct Firearm Discharge -- Ah, the accidental discharge, a favorite topic on these pages. There were 203 convictions. None of them were license holders.

If you look at the 2007 report you'll see some categories that have higher percentages of license holder convictions, but the crimes either don't involve guns or the law applies specifically to license holders.

One reason for the low conviction rates among license holders is because of a one strike policy. A conviction will likely result in the loss of the license.

These stats don't prove that more guns mean less crimes. But they do show that the people who get the licenses are not the people we need to fear. The habitual criminal won't be carrying his gun legally.

Ted Kennedy and the KGB

It's been known for a while that Ted Kennedy tried to use the Soviet Union and its relationship with the U.S. for his own political purposes. And Kevin Mooney in a Spectator.org article provides some detail in hopes of correcting the lack of reporting of that part of Mr. Kennedy's history, especially the part where Mr. Kennedy worked against American foreign policy during the cold war.

Here's an excerpt about a 1983 letter written by KGB head Viktor Chebrikov to General Secretary Yuri Andropov:

"Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations," Chebrikov observes in the letter. "Events are developing such that this relationship coupled with the general state of global affairs will make the situation even more dangerous. The main reason for this is Reagan's belligerence, and his firm commitment to deploy new American middle range nuclear weapons within Western Europe. According to Kennedy, the current threat is due to the president's refusal to engage in any modification of his policies."

Kennedy was trying to use opposition to Reagan's cold war strategy in his favor and somehow coordinate with the Soviet Union to amplify the local opposition to Reagan.

It's a shameful chapter in the Camelot narrative. And it seems like ancient history now. But it serves as a important reminder that politicians are not above secret deals with America's enemies to further their own ambitions.

Monday motivation -- 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Need inspiration but don't have the motivation to sit through a long speech? Here's a shortcut. It's a compilation of clips from inspiring speeches from the movies. Watch this and you will be able to do anything.

Click Overthinkingit.com. Alternate site: Youtube.

The videographer who put this together in 2008 introduced it with this: "What I’m trying to say is, I may have just single-handedly saved the economy with this montage."

Your results may vary.

NRA on "Disclose Act" -- No longer our problem

On May 26 NRA Executive Director Chris Cox sent a letter to members of Congress complaining about the burdens the Disclose Act would impose on their organization. The letter closed with this paragraph:

As noted above, there is no legitimate reason to include the NRA in H.R. 5175's overly burdensome disclosure and reporting requirements. Therefore, we will continue to work with members from both parties to address these issues. Should our concerns not be resolved - and to date, they have not been - the NRA will have no choice but to oppose passage of this legislation.

[Emphasis mine.}

So to avoid having to face NRA opposition to the bill, the Democrats plugged in an amendment that would exempt the NRA, just what the NRA asked for.

The NRA stepped in it.  And Democrats took advantage. The Democrats couldn't have had an outcome less favorable to the NRA if they had planned it.

The NRA base is mad as hell, and the NRA is feeling the heat. At the time of this writing there are no fewer than three articles linked on the front page of the NRA-ILA site defending the NRA's actions to its members.

Their eloquent defense boils down to this: It's not their job. The NRA is a one-issue organization. And while the executives might sympathize with the rights of others, it's not in their best interest to take the risks necessary to help others as long as the NRA got what it wanted.

So the NRA base is angry, and they have good reason. They don't live in a one-issue world.

Meanwhile, Democratic house members, hoping to take advantage of the hubbub, are hoping to get even more organizations exempted just as over 200 groups came out against the Disclose Act.

What a messy business it is trying to engineer election outcomes.

Experts: Grumpy people think more clearly -- A father's day gift for dad's everywhere!

Release your inner curmudgeon, pops.

Experiments were conducted after people were put into good or bad moods. BBC link and quotes:

"Negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world."

and

"... sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a 'mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style' ".

Positive moods have their advantages, too. But you go to bat with the mood you have, not the mood others wish you had.

A good idea for the local library -- free Wi-Fi

The county judge generated some interest in the local library recently by hiring consultants to advise him on just what to do about declining library usage.

Not ready to submit to outside pressure, a citizens' group conducted a survey and weighed in with some good ideas harvested from the results. According to Kathleen Thurber's article in the Telegram, free Wi-Fi was one of their recommendations.  Quote:

They thought bringing free WiFi access to the library as well as offering downloadable material at the library that many readers already are getting through their iPhones or computers as necessary for staying relevant and bringing in younger adults.

(Yeah, the library needs to attract younger adults, but the old timers might be able to use that free Wi-Fi, too.)

But here's where the good news becomes great news. The cost of providing Wi-Fi service has dropped so much lately that many companies can supply it free to their customers. Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble's and many hotels, for example, offer free AT&T Wi-Fi, estimated by Wi-Fi Net News to bring the free Wi-Fi spots around the country to 20,000 to 21,000.

The reason is simple. AT&T is willing to do it to encourage 3G customers to move to the Wi-Fi hot spots to take pressure off the cell network.

So, local library officials, call up AT&T and see what they can offer. Do it for the young adults!

Utah Atty Gen tweets about execution

The other evening Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed in Utah by firing squad. The method of execution itself is somewhat remarkable in this day and time, but what seems to have gotten even more attention was that the Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, sent out tweets about it on the night of the execution.

There were three. The first explained that his final nod would give the go ahead, then he said he gave the go ahead. And the third tweet directed followers to the live streaming of his post execution public statement.

As you might have guessed, some outside observers are appalled -- see BBC .

But for those people following the case, such as the family of Mr. Gardner's victim, timely updates might be just what they wanted. The protocol provided for the Department of Corrections to call the Atty Gen to see if there was any legal reason to halt the execution. If there had been a last minute stay of execution then interested parties would have wanted to know immediately. There was no stay, and the Atty Gen gave the go-ahead. So Mr. Shurtleff's tweets made perfect sense.

The tweets went directly to the public, bypassing any media outlets. And maybe there's the reason for the indignation.

Via Techcrunch.

Post script: What did Gardner do to get the death penalty? According to the Salt Lake Tribune, he was on trial in 1985 for murder when someone passed him a gun. He killed an attorney and wounded a unarmed bailiff.

Post post script: It's refreshing that the target of death penalty outrage isn't the state of Texas for a change.

Bob Knight fans, check out his commencement speech

It was the graduation ceremony on May 8, 2010, at Trine University in Angola, Indiana, where former coach Bob Knight gave the address -- a bunch of funny stories and some good advice. Check it at at Vimeo.

Conaway's travels

The other day we talked about the excellent Q&A C-SPAN interview with Brody Mullins about our federal government officials taking foreign tax trips at the expense of taxpayers. See Congress loves to travel on the taxpayer's dime. An important piece of information he provided was the fact that the House Clerk's web page provides search links leading to copies of forms the members are required to file. So let's take it for a spin and see what it tells us about Texas District 11 Representative K. Mike Conaway's travels.

Among those filings we find that Mr. Conaway has taken quite a few trips, some at the expense of a trip sponsor. The sponsors must hope to get something of it, but we can only guess what that is. In any event, here's what we learn about U.S. Representative K. Mike Conaway's travels funded by a sponsor:

Destination: Cambridge, Maryland
Sponsor: Congressional Institute
Dates: 11/01/2007 - 11/03/2007 ;

Destination: Baltimore, MD
Sponsor: The Heritage Foundation
Dates: 01/30/2008 - 02/01/2008;

Destination: Las Vegas, NV
Sponsor: National Association of Broadcasters
Dates: 04/13/2008 - 04/15/2008;

Destination: London & Oxford, England
Sponsor: The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Dates: 05/22/2008 - 05/25/2008;

Destination: Chihuahua, Mexico
Sponsor: Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance
Dates: 08/05/2008 - 08/06/2008;

Destination: Capetown, South Africa
Sponsor: International Conservative Caucus Foundation and the Nial Mellon Foundation
Dates: 11/30/2008 - 12/09/2008;

Destination: Las Vegas, NC (No such place.)
Sponsor: National Association of Broadcasters
Dates: 04/18/2009 - 04/21/2009;

Destination: Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey
Sponsor: The Institute of Interfaith Dialog for World Peace
Dates: 08/07/2009 - 08/20/2009;

Destination: Queenstown, MD
Sponsor: Partnership for a Secure America
Dates: 11/14/2009 - 11/15/2009;

Destination: Berlin and Cologne, Germany
Sponsor: U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress Study Group on Germany
Dates: 03/28/2010 - 04/02/2010;

Destination: Cambridge, MD
Sponsor: Congressional Institute, Inc.
Dates: 05/06/2010 - 05/08/2010.

Those are trips funded by someone else. Search for yourself if you care to. Would the sponsors pay for all this travel it if there were nothing to be gained? I don't think so.

Taxpayer funded foreign travel is a little bit harder to search. The searcher has to look at the congressional record in text or PDF for each quarters' filing, starting here.

Our representatives do most of their traveling on military supplied passenger jets, but the travel cost isn't reflected in the records unless they took a commercial airliner. That said, let's see what we can find for Mr. Conaway's taxpayer funded travels:

England - 4/24/08 -- 4/26/08 - Link.

Germany, Russia, Poland, and Czech Republic - 12/12/08 -- 12/16/08 - Link.

Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Germany - 12/16/08 -- 12/22/08 - Link.

Iwo Jima, Korea and Okinawa - 2/16/09 -- 2/21/09 - Link.

Middle East and Europe - 4/3/09 -- 4/10/09 - Link.

Latin America - 9/20/09 -- 9/22/09 - Link.

Romania, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, UK - 11/23/09 -- 11/29/09 -Link.

Africa and Europe - 12/17/09 -- 12/22/09 - Link.

Middle East - 3/5/10--3/9/10 -Link.

Surely the country and Texas District 11 are better off for having such a well traveled representative. Well, we have one whether we are better off or not.

The hit man he hired was an undercover agent

It was just up the road in Brownwood, Texas. Jeffrey Dwayne Harrison, according to the U.S. Attorney's news release, had a drug trial pending in Brown County District Judge Stephen Ellis's court. And the tactic he came up with to beat the case was to hire a hit man to rub out the judge, apparently assuming that a new judge would make a difference in his case.

The cops got a tip from a CI in March about what Mr. Harrison wanted to do, so an ATF agent went undercover and played the role of an Aryan gang member ready to do the deed for ten grand.

Mr. Harrison and the agent had a few telephone conversations, and the agent visited him in the county jail, all the while pretending to be a hit man as they made the deadly deal.

Then in one final display of theatrical talent, the agent was brought in handcuffs into the same interview room as Harrison as if he had just been arrested. Here's how that went down, according to the news release:

When the two were alone, the undercover agent asked Harrison, “did you drop the dime on me?” Harrison responded that he hadn’t and the undercover agent replied that someone had because he was caught an hour outside of town and that they’d found the body. Harrison repeated that he hadn’t said anything.

Mr. Harrison was read his rights, made a few more incriminating statements, and on June 10 he made a guilty plea in federal court to two counts of using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

Links: U.S. Attorney's news release and GoSanAngelo.com.

Microbes for eating spilled oil

This was a hot topic some years back -- microbes were supposed to consume spilled oil leaving fish food behind -- but not much seems to have come of it.

A link came in an email to a recent upload of an old video about Oppenheimer Biotechnology's oil eating microbe product.  Watch it here.

Apparently, the oil needs to be corralled for it to work properly, so if they can do that at the Gulf spill, then maybe those microbes could go in and gobble up that nasty stuff.

And there's a great crisis-opportunity for Mr. Obama -- picture the president standing on the rail at the bow of a big ship, arm outstretched, scattering white dust into the Gulf breeze. What a great photo op. I promise not to make Titanic references.

Thanks Sis.

Afghanistan's mineral find

Ralph Peters certainly has a way with words. About the announcement that gobs of precious minerals lie beneath the surface in Afghanistan, he says:

Up to now, Afghanistan's internal factions and neighbors have been fighting over worthless dirt, Allah and opium. Assigning the battlefield a trillion-dollar value is not a prescription for reconciliation. Expect "The Beverly Hillbillies" scripted by Satan.

Even if there's no war of nations over the minerals, the U.S. will be stuck there for a long time trying to keep the peace. And although companies from other countries will probably get the lucrative mining contracts, the U.S. might not want to cede security to other countries.

Apparently, the Chinese mines there are being protected by American contractors. And that seems appropriate if the Chinese are paying through the nose for the service. If there were ever a time when highly paid mercenaries would be preferable to the American military, that would be it.

Politicians -- a conference call is now a "town hall meeting"

The blogosphere is abuzz about the video of the politician taking a wrist lock on a college kid who dared ask a question on the street. Watch it here or here with transcript.

Our elected leaders certainly don't like mixing it up with the rabble. Our own Texas District 11 Congressman Mike Conaway has his own way of separating himself from those bothersome people. His latest newsletter said this:

THE CONAWAY CHRONICLE, Volume 5, Issue 4
Last week, I held eleven town hall meetings across West and Central Texas, where I listened to and took note of ideas and concerns of the people of District 11. ...

Eleven town hall meetings in one week, and news media ignored them completely. Search the local news sites to learn Mr. Conaway spoke at Memorial Day event at the CAF, but that's it.

What we are experiencing is a new use of an old phrase. When Mr. Conaway says "town hall meeting" he was talking about what would have been known as a selective "conference call" in Oldspeak.

But that's OK. He's got a wrist lock on District 11, so all he need do is phone it in.

Murder by compact car -- Breaking Bad

Last week's episode of Breaking Bad, the penultimate episode of Season 3, featured what could be a TV first -- murder by compact car. It should have been a Prius so he could have slipped up silently before he mowed down those baddies.  These are some stills, click the link above to see videos.

 

The run-down looked very convincing on the small screen, but to future viewers the special effects may be comparable to space ships dangling on a string.

So tonight Walter White has to face the kingpin, another mild mannered killer, in the season finale on AMC at 9 central. Let's hope Walt lives to see another season.

A crucial difference between liberals and conservatives

In Obama's Illegal Aunt a few choice words describe a crucial difference between liberals and conservatives. The author uses President Obama's aunt, who lives in public housing while she fights a deportation order, as the point of reference.

This is interesting for those who defend the "safety net" as a net for those who have no other net to resort to. President Obama made $5.5 million last year. He may or may not want to help out his aunt. He has no obligation to help her out. He may prefer to help her out by paying taxes that provide public housing to anyone who needs it rather than by paying the rent for a poor person who just happens to be lucky enough to have a high-income relative. But somehow, a lot of people would rather have the extra money to choose to help their own aunt, if they want to, than have the government take the money from them in taxes and use it to house President Obama's aunt.

I very much admire a writer who can make a powerful point in just a few short words. The writer here is Ira Stoll. He's a pro, so it's probably gotten easier for him with experience. But he certainly did a superb job here.

Where the jobs are

Here's an interesting chart snagged from the pages of the Bureau Of Labor Statistics. It shows in what categories the job creation was in May 2010. Guess where?

 

Aw, that was too easy. Government jobs increased by 390,000, dwarfing the other segments. According to the text, it reflects "the hiring of 411,000 temporary employees to work on Census 2010."

Not a good time to be in construction, however.

More on private/government worker wage disparity

The other day we talked about the news that federal government employees are making more than private industry employees. See Our Government Workers Raking in the Money.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a press release on 6/9/10 titled Employer Costs for Employee Compensation –March 2010, text or PDF, addressing private industry and local and state government employer costs. Here's an important paragraph addressing government and private industry:

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $29.71 per hour worked in March 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $20.67 per hour worked and accounted for 69.6 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.04 and accounted for the remaining 30.4 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $27.73 per hour worked in March 2010. Total employer compensation costs for State and local government workers averaged $39.81 per hour worked in March 2010.

Emphasis mine.

Taking this at face value, local and state government workers are being compensated more than private industry workers. Of course, the trouble with averages is that no one is average, and few people, if any, make the average wage. Maybe there are some local or state governments with such high wages that they skew the averages. And maybe there are many small private industries with such low compensation packages that they, too, skew the averages.

But the press release is interesting, nonetheless.

Newspaper -- special prosecutor appointed for Choc Harris

Midland Reporter-Telegram's Bob Campbell reports that Judge Robin Darr appointed Brazos County District Attorney Bill Turner to "evaluate the evidence" about Midland County Constable Charles C. (Choc) Harris.

Further:

"It has to do with certification documents submitted to our office regarding appointment records," said [TCLEOSE investigator] Englert.

and

Harris last December had appointed two reserve deputy constables, Paul Paget and Mat McClure, telling Midland County commissioners that both men were certified peace officers and that he and other constables are overworked.

Mr. Campbell is leading us to presume there may have been something improper about one or more of the two reserve deputies' credentials.

A couple of years ago I obtained a copy of Choc Harris' public info page -- see below -- and at that time the TCLEOSE Open Records office had a hard working woman employed there who would reply to email requests within about an hour. But, she doesn't seem to be there anymore. So my request today may get the full ten day Open Records treatment.

Before we leave this, let's look at one more thing from Bob Campbell's report:

A TCLEOSE spokeswoman said in April that her agency's records showed Harris had earned 3,720 hours of education and 2,833 hours of training at Sam Houston State, LaSalle University and other schools during his career as constable and as a deputy here and in Pecos, Martin, Cochran and Henderson counties. ...

Well, Mr. Harris' TCLEOSE public info as of 2008 said he had 3,720 hours of education, so that number hasn't changed. However, the 2008 TCLEOSE page made no mention of LaSalle University where Mr. Harris claimed to have earned a PHD. See Choc Harris is in the news again about that. Surely Mr. Campbell didn't just pull it off of Mr. Harris' web page and attribute it to the TCLEOSE spokeswoman.

Updated 6/11/10: Good news for records junkies. In spite of a change of personnel in the TCLEOSE Public Information Office, they are still making prompt replies. My request yesterday for Mr. Harris' information page was answered this morning.

About Mr. Harris, note this ominous paragraph from the cover email:

TCLEOSE records show that no disciplinary actions of suspension or revocation have been taken on this officer’s license; however, there is a pending complaint for criminal misconduct and his license is subject to action.

Emphasis mine.  If you want to see Mr. Harris' current TCLEOSE information page in PDF,  Download CHARLES C. HARRIS 70727 . The educational portion doesn't appear to have changed since 2008, however the training hours have increased.

Let's not read too much into El Paso's low crime rate

The other day NewmarksDoor spotlighted a 2009 article at Reason.com titled The El Paso Miracle which tries to explain that a low crime rate in El Paso is because of the high percentage of illegal immigrants.

It that's the case, the same should be true of other border cities. The Texas Department of Public Safety's recent crime report say this: "The murder rate for Texas in 2008 was 5.6 murders for every 100,000 persons ..."

Looking at some specific cities we learn that the murder rate per 100,000 person for that year was the following for these border cities:

El Paso 2.8
Brownsville 2.3
Laredo 4.5
Harlingen 6.2

So it's difficult to make a generalization about the border cities, which all presumably have a high illegal immigrant population. If they do have a crime rate lower than cities farther north it could be that the border itself is keeping a lot of the crime on the other side. There's no dispute that Nuevo Laredo and Juarez have dangerously high murder rates. And in spite of El Paso's claim of a low crime rate, they do seem to have a problem with rocks being hurled across the river. Shoot a rock chunker and create an international incident.

Immigration is a hot button issue these days, and both sides have their reasons. But it really boils down to politics. Democrats want an influx of new voters they view as friendly to their candidates. And Republicans are wary of an electorate raised and educated, or uneducated, under the Mexican style of government.

So here's a compromise immigration reform proposal. Go ahead and let immigrants come in to work if they want to. And give them some sort of citizenship status that doesn't entitle them to vote. That should satisfy everyone. Republicans, it is charged, only want the cheap labor the immigrants provide. Democrats should appreciate the opportunity to help underprivileged people. Anyone who doesn't like the non-voting status has thus admitted the true motive is the desire for political power.

Are you smarter than a libertarian?

A survey yielded some interesting results about the basic level of economic enlightenment of people who identify with a political position. The article is titled Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, subtitle: Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics. Via Carpe Diem, via Big Twitter Tent.

Not too many years ago some smug liberals were trying to persuade the masses that people who agreed with them were so much smarter than those who disagreed with them. One seldom hears that these days, but it's still refreshing to see that old saw get a beat down.

They used eight questions from a 21 question 2008 Zogby survey and designated certain answers as wrong, or as they prefer, "unenlightened." Here are the eight questions with the "unenlightened" answer:

1. Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.
Unenlightened: Disagree
2. Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services.
Unenlightened: Disagree
3. Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago.
Unenlightened: Disagree
4. Rent control leads to housing shortages.
Unenlightened: Disagree
5. A company with the largest market share is a monopoly.
Unenlightened: Agree
6. Third-world workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.
Unenlightened: Agree
7. Free trade leads to unemployment.
Unenlightened: Agree
8. Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.
Unenlightened: Disagree

They couldn't correlate economic enlightenment with education. But they did make some conclusion about political ideology from the incorrect answers. From the article:

How did the six ideological groups do overall? Here they are, best to worst, with an average number of incorrect responses from 0 to 8:

Very conservative, 1.30;
Libertarian, 1.38;
Conservative, 1.67;
Moderate, 3.67;
Liberal, 4.69;
Progressive/very liberal, 5.26.

Americans in the first three categories do reasonably well. But the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics.

Links: Abstract -- Economic Enlightenment in Relation to College-going, Ideology, and Other Variables: A Zogby Survey of Americans ;
Dowload full article PDF.

Congress loves to travel on the taxpayer's dime

Last night's Q & A on C-SPAN was a very enlightening program with Brian Lamb asking and Brody Mullins, Wall Street Journal reporter, answering questions on congressional travels.

Mr. Lamb had Mr. Mullins focus on a recent article he wrote titled Congress Travels More, Public Pays which was about a boondoggle to Scotland last year by 12 members of the House of Representatives, nine spouses and five aides.

They stayed at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh, and in addition to their sleeping rooms, they rented three adjoining rooms without beds they called a "control room" which just happened to be equipped with a bar stocked with, among other adult beverages, Coors beer.

They got there on a jet operated by the Air Force, chauffeur driven vehicles got them around town, and military personnel carried their bags and helped when needed. The military goes along with it to get or stay on the good side of the people holding the purse strings.

It's a fascinating article, and well worth a look for anyone who is not yet annoyed by the cavalier way Congress spends other people's money.

This type journalism is in short supply these days. And talk of a government bailout for journalism isn't going to encourage reporters to look too closely at Congressional travel. But the article did get results. In Congress Reins In Its Perks for Travel just last month Mr. Mullins reported that Nancy Pelosi proposed new rules for strengthening accountability and oversight for taxpayer-funded trips.

As you might guess, the proposal doesn't go far enough. For example, there is no reporting requirement for the costs of their travel in military planes, most commonly the business-class version of the Boeing 737, which can cost almost $25,000 per hour to operate.  I wonder why Pelosi didn't include that?

The Congress person's life is a good life. No wonder they detest term limits.

Sunday Driveby Diversions

Funny, informative, interesting, or mere distractions. I link, you decide.

Strategypage: Underpowered, Unreliable and Unused -- U.S. Navy recently tested laser weapons which successfully knocked down a UAV. And the U.S.A.F. has had success disabling a ballistic missile while ascending. But the unresolved problem is power. Article conclusion: "To be effective, the airborne laser needs sufficient power to get off several shots. So far, no one has been able to produce such a weapon. That's why these lasers remain 'the weapon of the future,' and will probably remain so for a while."

Scott Adams in WSJ: Betting on the Bad Guys -- He describes his investment technique: Learn to love the companies that everyone else hates and buy their stock. Not a bad contrarian technique told in a humorous way.

Memorial day sale? Genome Sequencing 60% off. Reason.com alerts us that the genome sequencing company Illumina announced a price cut for working up a person's entire genetic makeup. It's $19,500 for one, or bring four friends and get five for $14,500 per person.