Trouble in Paradise

L.A. airports director Lindsey oversaw Seattle airport when controversial contracts were awarded | Los Angeles Times

The only thing more puzzling about the rapid decline of Los Angeles as a functional, livable city is the bold transparency with which the destruction of the city is undertaken by its elected officials and the contractors who have successfully corrupted them. The above link cites but the most recent instance of the grotesque cronyism and lack of accountability that  has Typical traffic in Los Angelesmade Los Angeles the most unlivable and unmanageable city in the United States. Even though Los Angeles has the most unsafe airport in the country and the worst traffic in the country, no leader in this city can sustain moral fortitude long enough to address problems that imiserate millions of people daily.

One would surmise that  after hosting the most embarrassing public works project in human history (one in which the Federal Government calls the Los Angeles Government corrupt!), the processes of improving the city’s infrastructure would improve. As the above articles shows, quite the contrary is true. The city’s airports, roads and public transit system are destined to wither and perish under unrelenting corruption before the eyes of a citizenry apparently too sleepy to care for its own well being.

As nature has demonstrated time and again, evolution is more likely to eliminate the weak than to promote the strong. Evolutionary data from the primordial soup that is Los Angeles strongly suggest that  evolution on occasion favors the stupid and the weak over the judicious and prudent. Whatever organism emerges from the primordial soup, I am ecstatic that, for now, I have managed to extricate  myself from the unbearably ugly evolutionary process that is shaping the primordial soup.

You should be too, if you don’t live in Los Angeles.

Photo by VirtualErn.

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Southern Evolution

ABC News: Florida Calls Evolution ‘Scientific Theory’

Does this mean that Floridians now view Barrack Obama differently? Does it mean that they intend to end the disenfranchisement of minorities?

It is somewhat comforting to note that people change over time. 

What else can be said of Mike Luckovich other that he is a comic genius.  

 Mike Luckovich, February 18, 2007
Signe Wilkinson seems to be following in his footsteps. Signe Wilkinson, February 18, 2008 

Congress vs. Parliaments

The cause of the difference between the pathetic infrastructure in the United States and the excellent infrastructure in Europe lies in the fact that the European parliaments are deliberative bodies, whereas the United States Congress is merely a body.

Why We Fight

Why We Fight | A Film By Eugene Jarecki 

 

Many theories exist regarding the cadre or cabal of people who rule the USA. Why We Fight makes no attempt to make any controversial arguments regarding conspiracies to rule the world, but it does make a very convincing case for why the incredible influence of the military-industrial complex is unhealthy for the nation. 

 

It also shows what a remarkably prudent, prescient and wise President Dwight Eisenhower was. His predictions regarding the excesses of the military-industrial complex have proven prophetic. Had he been a betting man, he would have become awfully wealthy. Of course, the nation owes a considerable debt of gratitude to Eisenhower for the calculated risks that he took as Supreme Allied Commander in World War II.

 

The most poignant aspects of the movie came across in the juxtaposition of neoconservatives like Bill Kirstol and Richard Perle against Eisnhower. Compared with Eisenhower, these men seem like naive strategists on the ultimate ego trip. 

 

Why We Fight is a strong reminder of what greatness is, it is a respectful tribute to the greatness that brought the USA to greatness, and it provides an apt warning about the dangerous combination of influence and pettiness that threatens to bring us down. This is a worthwhile documentary to watch.

Politicians as Locusts

Mike Lukovich's Cartoon, 1/4/08Mike Lukovich is the finest political cartoonist working today. I can’t stop laughing.Today’s effort by Glenn McCoy was not so bad, either. Glenn McCoy's cartoon, 1/4/08 

Bad Hollywood Script or Texas Politics?

Under Pressure, Prosecutor in Texas Won’t Run Again | New York Times

The following quote from the beleaguered Texas prosecutor proves that Texas politics has earned every bit of mockery that it has received. 

Mr. Rosenthal has sought to keep the e-mail messages sealed, citing “zones of privacy” carved out by the United States Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 ruling overturning the state’s ban on sodomy — although Mr. Rosenthal had argued the case for Texas and the legality of the anti-sodomy laws.

Toyota vs GM: Round 2

Toyota announces plan to sell 9.85M vehicles in 2008 | USATODAY.com

Toyota’s public announcement of its plans to go for General Motors’ jugular is bold. Even though it is a safe bet according to consensus, the announcement runs counter to the typically conservative Japanese way of conducting business.  Whatever the outcome, the two facts in this story that ought to raise people’s eyebrows are

  1. the battleground between GM and Toyota is not the United States or Europe. The war is being waged in developing economies.
  2. the Corolla is considered a sub-compact vehicle in the US?

The former proposition follows from the economic woes that have received ample documentation in business pages all over the world. The latter is surprising because it was Toyota models like the Tercel, Echo and Yaris that were traditionally considered the subcompact models. The Corolla was always the compact model. Does mean that the SUV effect has been so dramatic that monstrosities like the Camry are now considered “compact” vehicles? So, the Yaris is a micro-compact? Or could it be that USA Today’s writers are still conspicuously error-prone?

World Clock & Mortal Statistics

World Clock 

What is the perfect accompaniment to a beautifully rendered world clock you may ask? Why, all the statistics about death that you could ever want or desire.

The Economics of Health Care

I Am Not a Health Reform | New York Times

The most bizarre aspect of the current American “debate” on health care reform is the fact that the only people who talk about the economics of health care are the “liberals”. In this opinion piece, two Harvard researchers emphasize the horrific waste that characterizes the current system.

With the exception of Dennis Kucinich, the Democratic presidential hopefuls sidestep an inconvenient truth: only a single-payer system of national health care can save what we estimate is the $350 billion wasted annually on medical bureaucracy and redirect those funds to expanded coverage. Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Edwards and Mr. Obama tout cost savings through computerization and improved care management, but Congressional Budget Office studies have found no evidence for these claims.

The Congressional Budget Office‘s studies and projections over the past 20 years or so have been remarkably accurate. The reasons why “conservatives” who are ostensibly pro-business oppose realistic health care reform that is guaranteed to save ungodly sums of money and even rescue companies like General Motors elude me utterly. Why is Kucinich the pro-business candidate?