Quote of the Day
There will always be a conflict between "good" and "good enough."
Henry Martyn Leland
The Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Results Have Flipped
The Kathy Nickolaus kerfuffle in GOP-leaning Waukesha County, WI reminds me of an issue I, as the corporate DBA for a Japanese chip-testing technology subsidiary, once had with an accounting manager. She maintained salary data not in our corporate database but in a PC. [The company used an external service to process payroll, but I was concerned about the fact the PC was not being backed up professionally. I'm certain she was concerned about employees (including DBA's) having potential access to payroll data (although she didn't have a problem telling other employees how much it cost the company to move me from Illinois, something that even I didn't know).] Would I believe that there were backup problems in Waukesha County? Yes. In fact, years ago I worked as a contractor at the county courthouse for months.
Ms. Nickolaus admits to having failed to save one town's vote counts in her spreadsheet, adding a net 7582 votes for incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Prosser, more than offsetting a slender 204-vote victory claimed yesterday by the liberal challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg. A recount was expected in any event, given the roughly 1.5 million votes cast.
Is the Government Shutdown Obama's Rope-a-Dope?
Muhammad Ali defeated Joe Frazier in their second fight, with a bout with George Foreman, the Olympic Gold Medal boxing successor to Ali (by 8 years) and challenger whom brutally knocked out Heavyweight Champion Frazier early in their bout. Foreman made short work of the first two contenders, including Ken Norton, whom, along with Frazier, had beaten Ali in long bouts. When Muhammad Ali challenged Foreman for the championship, the odds didn't seem in Ali's favor.
Foreman, of course, lost to Ali, punching himself out while Ali leaned back into unusually elastic ring ropes covering himself up. Eventually Ali knocked down an exhausted Foreman (whom beat the count, but the referee stopped the fight, for the only time in his career) in the eighth round. Ali refused a rematch.
One of the things to note about Obama is that he seems obsessed with the Clinton Presidency. His economic team was headed by Clinton veterans. When others brought up the House flip back in the 1994 elections, Obama scoffed, saying that wouldn't happen: after all, he, not Clinton, would be at the helm during the 2010 elections.
Now why didn't the Dem-controlled Congress pass a FY2011 budget and/or the debt ceiling while they had power last year? They had to know if the House flipped--and the signs were there weeks before the election--the GOP would go after cutting the budget. So you have a couple of hypotheses: (1) the Dems are incompetent, having found time to pass all sorts of things (including 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'), but somehow the budget just got lost in the shuffle; or (2) the Dems deliberately decided to use the budget as a vehicle to propel a comeback for the 2012 election.
President Obama's threat to veto a 1-week extension by the GOP-controlled Congress with a few additional cuts (including restrictions on public funding of DC abortions) contradicts his publicly stated warnings against a shutdown. The common sentiment is that Clinton bested former Speaker Gingrich on a game of chicken involving the deficit and used that to propel himself into reelection.
Let's be frank: a Dem-proposed $33B cut (vs. $61B) in a $3.6T spending is literally pennies on the federal dollar--and Speaker Boehner claims the $33B isn't even serious cuts--just accounting smoke and mirrors. (We already know that from healthcare bill funding.) Why would Obama risk the government shutdown over a mere 2% cut in spending?
Obama and his progressive Congressional allies are determined to force the GOP to carry the water on politically unpopular budget cuts, so they can run in 2012 against Scrooge-like Republicans forcing grandma to eat cat food. My problem with the GOP is that as long as you're taking a political hit over a shutdown, why don't you make it worth your while by going for a 10% budget cut?
This is not 1995. We weren't looking at federal debt approaching the size of the economy. Now I would be more flexible on the nature of cuts, but I think if and when the Dems force a shutdown, the Republicans need to be clear in exposing Dems' repeated failure to do more than give the deficit and debt lip service. I think the Dems are making a strategic mistake because government spending and services are not necessarily viewed as a positive thing.
We Have A Fifth Nominee for 2011 Jackass of the Year:
Congresswoman/DNC Chair-Elect Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
This dishonor reflects the "intrinsic ability of progressive Democrats to distinguish themselves with profound lapses of civility, personal ethics, or partisanship or to do or say outrageous things." In my March 16 post, I named my first 3 nominees: the Wisconsin state senate Democrats, Congressman Weiner (second nomination), and Attorney General Eric Holder. Last Wednesday, I added Congressman Markey for his anti-nuke fear-mongering legislative proposal in the aftermath of Fukushima Daiichi.
Proving that male politicians do not have a lock on boorish, politically irresponsible behavior, shameless Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz decided to do her own take on Alan Grayson-style "seniors will die because of GOP policies" fear-mongering. Wasserman-Schultz has already built an uncivil reputation (at least in my judgment having watched a number of interviews on Fox News and Sunday talk shows) of constantly interrupting interviewers and other guests, whom themselves had not stepped on her constant political spin and repetitious rehearsed talking points.
Fukushima Nuclear Incident Update
Attention Fox News (and other irresponsible news media outlets): Even the patient, polite Japanese are unhappy with the way that the nuclear incident at Fukushima Daiichi is being covered:
State Foreign Secretary Chiaki Takahashi told a press conference that Tokyo believes some reports by foreign media on the Fukushima crisis were ''excessive'' and has urged the organizations responsible for the stories through Japanese diplomatic missions abroad to correctly and objectively disseminate information.
The foreign secretary is spot on. I noted earlier that my blog is getting no hits from Japan... I've been doing my fair share of trying to provide a responsible alternative. However, my worldwide audience on some days could probably sit comfortably in my living room (if I had furniture).
NEI notes:
- daily: A 7.1 Richter scale earthquake hit northeast Japan, without damage to any of the 3 nuclear plant sites in the region (Daiichi, Daini, Onagawa). The last site had two (of 3) electric power lines knocked out. The 3 reactor pressurized vessels and 4 spent fuel pools continued as needed coolant.
- earthquake update: TEPCO workers at Daiichi returned to work after a brief evacuation during the earthquake incident.
Atomic Power Review notes:
- Higashidori: A single-reactor plant (also BWR) has lost offsite power. Auxiliary means are being used to cool the spent fuel pool. (NEI update): The reactor has been in maintenance mode (i.e., no fuel in the RPV), and emergency diesel generators are being used to power cooling for the spent fuel pool.
- afternoon update: Nitrogen inertion of reactor 1 drywell continues.
IAEA notes:
- Continued progress on making storage capacity available for higher-contaminated water from the first 3 reactors by moving low-contaminated water out of reactors 5 and 6 for purging at sea. Some 26 of 41 vegetable samples within Fukushima prefecture exceeded iodine and/or cesium safety thresholds; other samples from neighboring/area prefectures tested within safety benchmarks. Nevertheless, some proactive safety measures restrict shipment (versus local consumption) of many foods within safety benchmarks.
The Hiroshima Syndrome blogger runs through a number of statuses, including the fact that the cable pit the other day sealed with liquid glass only stopped half the flow going out to sea. Ongoing searches are underway for other possible leaks. He talks about a couple of Hiroshima Syndrome stories: first, police (properly protected) have finally started to look for tsunami fatalities in Fukushima prefecture; second, South Korean schools were actually closed over rain! (No doubt fear over iodine-contaminated raindrops! Give me a break...)
Political Humor
"New York City is laying off pest control workers due to budget problems. I know what you’re thinking: New York City has pest control workers?" - David Letterman
[Egyptian cobras are much cheaper in getting rid of smaller rodents; however, they can't handle the rats roaming City Hall...]
An original:
- The White House is undergoing a $376M renovation expected to last 4 years. TV reporters often find it difficult making themselves heard. For some reason, the noise always seems to go up while the Obama Administration spokesmen are taking questions from Fox News...
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
ABBA, "Fernando". This is the first video in my new ABBA series. I have previously embedded certain ABBA hits, i.e., "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" and "The Winner Takes It All".
