I love capitalism

My prosperous neighbours seem to hate it but I love capitalism.  What the heck do they think it is?  In their lives they feel free to use their time and assets to prosper their family, and why shouldn't they? A financial guy and a professional guy expressed their disdain of capitalism to me recently at dinner.   Is their scorn for capitalism a moral judgement on the greedy with the presumption that those who prosper most covet most?  The history of philanthropy disproves it.   Is it contempt for the three BIGS who rig the markets, big business, big labour and big government?  That's not capitalism. Those are the three tools that  subvert it.

The free-est markets I've ever seen are yard sales.  People sell what they want where they wish and make deals with each other, even re-selling to newcomers as they walk back to the car with their prize.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:  Generally your choices instead of the government's and mainly free markets.  In a civil society.

The sky is always falling

The sky is always falling and climate change but the latest excuse.  The goal posts keep moving but the stifling prescription does not.

"The Left doesn’t really believe in climate change. Their true religion is raising taxes, increasing government, impeding capitalism and reducing national sovereignty. Climate change is just a temporary excuse to achieve those ends".

Gabriel of Ricochet.com  makes it sound funny in a well-written piece as the left segues from ice age to DDT to aerosols to global warming to more natural gas to less natural gas.

Is "Left" the right word for people who seek status and power through alarmism and hijacking collective piggy banks?

Science discovers renewal, not extinction is in the driver's seat. Sorry, lefties.

All over the world, niches full of critters have just as many kinds now as decades ago,  or even more.  The news is that those tear-jerking extinctions you read about are the small part of the tale.  The large part is change, that those ecological communities are forming and reforming and changing again, often with different players from the ones you knew as a kid.

From the abstract:  Scientists re-examined 100 world-wide monitoring studies and were surprised to discover that, over decades, the number of species in many places has not changed much -- or has increased. But the researchers did discover that almost 80% of the communities showed changes in species composition. This shows that a rapid global turnover of species is happening, resulting in novel biological communities.

It's not about redistributing the old pie but making new pie.

The left view that man is a destructive interloper who needs to be humbled and to give up liberties is a rehash of the doctrine of original sin, but without a redeemer.  Change and re-creation is the norm and you can't stop it.  Protests about saving minnows and birdies are like zoning regulations,  a plan to keep everything the same as it was, that is, the same as it was right after you moved into the neighbourhood.

Going the way of the Dodo and going the way of the dinosaurs is the same death road.  Man didn't mess it up for the sauropods.   When man spread, so also did starlings, coconut palms and wild mustard.  They prospered while Dodos were clubbed and shot.  Facing change and complexity is helpful.  Promoting the sinfulness of man and the cure-by-government-run-by-smart-superior-people is not.

UKIP Farage takes lesson from Canada

On the eve of Nigel Farage's triumph Sunday in the Euro elections, it's nice to remember he takes lessons from Preston Manning and the reverse takeover of the Conservative party.   Example one: his decision not to run for a safe seat was modelled on Manning's decision to let Deborah Grey keep  first chance at it.  That turned out well.  Example two:  Farage may see the Reform/Alliance experience applying to the Conservative party in the UK.   smalldeadanimals linked this yesterday.

Nigel Farage made news today saying "the Ukip fox is in the Westminster chicken house" after winning a substantial number of council seats.   This goes double for the EU parliament when Nigel is no longer the gadfly but the official face of Great Britain.

Then there's this shock opinion from Lib Dem MP and former minister,  Jeremy Browne, who said "Mr Farage was a rare politician who, like Alex Salmond or Boris Johnson, had an air of authenticity and did not sound like he was part of “a hectoring, out-of-touch elite”. “People have a sense with them that they are saying what they fundamentally believe in.”         Politicians who generally say what they fundamentally believe in, sounds about right.

Of course, politicians disappoint over time, but I like this man's ability to smile freely when others reflect what they think people want to see. (Justin Trudeau and Barry Soetero come to mind.)

Taken Friday.  If you're interested look up the mostly smooth
indeterminate faces of the other leaders voting.

Obama's Greatest Hits

Eight track humour, courtesy Ed Driscoll:  See image of yesterday's man.

Russia - China Rapprochement - Not so big a deal.

Body language says a lot:  Putin and  Xi Jinping looking away from each other as the gas pipeline from Siberia to China is announced.   This is not a triumph.    Although analyst Goldman sees big problems with expanded military cooperation coming up,  Russia has had to settle for lower gas prices, China has quietly brought its first fracked gas on-line and probably has a way to get out of the deal if gas drops far. (At the link read notes for May 21st.)

The body language belies the official handshake photos.  (Clip sourced here.)

Click on body language to see how it goes.

Maybe a big deal despite the antipathy:  Goldman quotes the south China Morning Post:  "Chinese and Russian units taking part in the Joint Sea-2014 drill will be combined rather than operating separately during the exercise, the first time the Chinese navy has worked so closely with a foreign maritime force".

Somewhere down the line it makes sense for Siberia to be a Chinese hinterland rather than a Russian one.  Watch the investment and migration.

No Money, Honey. VA Bad Behaviour Prompted by Insolvency. UPDATE

Behind the secret wait lists for US veterans is a simple story:   The outpatient demand doubled in the last ten years and funding didn't match.  "The root of the scandal is not what self-serving bureaucrats failed to do or tried to cover up; it is a federal budget that prevents us from meeting even the national needs on which our polarized political parties can agree."  The money is running out.   See story by William Galston linked at Instapundit.

Veteran support is an adjunct of defense policy and is a core duty of government.
Unlike Galston, I think bad behaviour is as big a problem as insolvency.  Integrity matters.

UPDATE:  The VA funding is complex and has gone up a lot when other agency funding did not.  See article at Hot Air.

Mysterious banker deaths - chance with a dash of stupid?

Zero Hedge has been flagging a "Banker Death Epidemic", a cluster of suicides and accidents framed as a mystery but likely explained by chance.  Or Stupid.  The death of Stanley Morgan VP, Gabriel Magee of London was ruled a suicide today in the sober press, but the Daily Mail takes it to the next level:  

His ex-girlfriend Lucy Pinches said today Mr Magee had an obsession with the concept of parallel universes and a suicide pact of two U.S. students. 'There was a story of a double suicide in the States where two students had killed themselves, she said. 'It was to do with quantum physics and suicide, the two students were linked up to lethal injections which were operated by lottery numbers.'So the only universe they would wake up in would be the one they both won the lottery in. 'That was something Gabe thought about a lot and had the mental capacity to think about it a lot, with the equations and the physics.'

Winning the lottery in parallel universes?  Printing money makes us richer?   Smart and wise are independent variables.  There are many smart bankers.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Privacy update: "It will be a bit like living in a nudist colony".

Aldrich, University of Warwick

 "We will soon have to live in a world with no such thing as privacy and no such thing as secrecy":   Richard Aldrich.(historian of espionage).   This will apply to the privacy of the ballot box, too.

From the article:  We're used to the idea that secret intelligence agencies spy on us, but over the last ten years the big intelligence gatherers have become airlines, banks, internet providers and Tesco -- all of which have more information about us than GCHQ and the NSA put together.
"These organisations are becoming cleverer and cleverer. Cleverer than the CIA; cleverer than the KGB."

And you'll be part of this invasive tide too, as you consider it normal to know what your neighbour's house is worth, who drives that Mustang convertible, and the names and backgrounds of most of the people your smart phone just photographed.

Privacy is going to be expensive, available only to the rich or resolute.
That includes privacy at the ballot box:
In the last US presidential election, the Democratic party software tagged every resident in every neighbourhood in the land with known or guessed voting behaviour, street by street.  This is also Aldrich's theme, that your friendly data gatherers can probably guess accurately how you will vote in the next major election.

Politics and poker

If you play poker for twenty minutes and don't know who the mark is, you're the mark.
When a silver-tongued politician is hard to follow but seems to be for you, he's against you. This is neatly summarized by David Steinberg:

Little comes easier to a skilled speaker than clarity ..... Politicians require the ability, and generally have the personality type that draws one to public speaking. Ironically, these facts produce a wonderfully useful corollary: If a politician’s statements leave you unsure of his stance on an issue, you can be sure he opposes the popular stance of his electorate.

Before moving on, read some Mark Twain:

"All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity." –Mark Twain

"An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere." –Mark Twain

“There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." –Mark Twain

Spendthrift California Gets Awful Warning From Ontario's Debtpalooza.

Ontario's government has put its citizens into four and a half times the debt per capita of California.  California is almost a basket case.

The Fraser Institute reports:

The Golden State has gained international notoriety for its deficits and government dysfunction.....On every measure of indebtedness, Ontario is markedly worse than California.   Ontario’s debt is almost two-thirds larger than California’s bonded debt even though California is a much larger jurisdiction .... Specifically, California’s bonded debt is $143.9 billion as of 2011 while Ontario’s is $236.6 billion, two-thirds larger than California.      As a share of the economy, Ontario’s debt (38.6 per cent) is more than five times larger than California’s debt (7.7 per cent).   Ontario’s per capita debt ($17,922) is over four-and-a-half times that of California ($3,833). ...  Ontario spends a little over three times the amount of revenues on interest costs as California: 8.9 per cent versus 2.8 per cent. More specifically, Ontario spends roughly $10 billion a year on interest costs, about $750 per Ontarian per year just paying the interest on already accumulated debt.

The report is free at the link.

Remember Bob Rae?
This is not just a Wynne-lose scenario.

A cow is a great comfort

My dairy cow was a great comfort on a frozen winter morning before the sun came up.  At the house, all were in bed but I'd lean into her, both enjoying a patch of warmth and familiar touch.  She blocked the wind and we looked after each other.  

The sweet familiar smell of her breath pleased me as the warm milk in her teats thawed my finger tips and she was well content with the molasses-flavoured granola I fed her.  (dairy mash)   Such a cow can be closer to a man than his wife, more familiar to touch.   Thank you, Rosie.

Purifies the inhabitants with magic sentences: Politician or Himba witch doctor?

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow, and our planet began to heal".   Barry, the Healer.

"(PICTURE) A witchdoctor such as this one is called when bad things happen in a village. The man purifies the inhabitants using magic sentences "  Daily Mail On Line.  (The link has fabulous fair styles).

Closer to home, Canadian Liberal policy sounds warm , fuzzy and uplifting, if you believe in magic.

"Liberals stand for true fiscal responsibility.   Liberals stand for affordable access to post-secondary education.  Liberals stand for universal affordable health care.  Liberals stand for open, fair and strong democratic representation.  Liberals stand for an evidence-based crime policy."

As a young fellow I read the constitution of the USSR.  Sounded pretty good in big magic sentences but meant little in truth.   A helpful guide when deciding what to believe is in this quote:

"Reason obeys itself and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it". Thomas Paine (linked by Bears Rant).

Shut up, he explained

As Mark Steyn puts it, there's a clamour for "new blasphemy laws for progressive pieties...  Once you get a taste for shutting people up, its hard to stop. Why bother winning the debate when it's easier to close it down?"           Despite his mistreatment at the hands of Human Rights bozos in Canada, he holds up the Quebec election last week for praise.  

"A fortnight ago I was in Quebec for a provincial election in which the ruling separatist party went down to its worst defeat in almost half a century. This was a democratic contest fought between parties that don’t even agree on what country they’re in. In Ottawa for most of the 1990s the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition was a chap who barely acknowledged either the head of state or the state she’s head of. Which is as it should be".

"Free speech is essential to a free society because, when you deny people ‘an opportunity to act like normal political parties’, there’s nothing left for them to do but punch your lights out".

Steyn reviews recent depradations against free speech.  (The BBC was advised it should get special clearance before interviewing climate sceptics, liberal artists asked 
for the first state restraints on the British press in 325 years, the apalling treatment of Ayaan Hirsi by Brandeis University and more.).  This puts me in mind of Kate of smalldeadanimals' capsule quiz:  "What is the opposite of diversity?  University."

Homework question: When was controversial public speech ever free or safe?  If people whose opinions annoy you have the right to bear arms, are you more willing to let them speak as long as they keep the peace?  Discuss.

Government: Trespassers will be shot

What is the Bureau of Land Management doing with guns?   Bundy's offence is "cattle trespass" in Harry Reid's home state.  It's clear from the picture that BLM officers contemplated killing citizens for trespass.   Swat teams and armoured vehicles, many surplus from warfare abroad, are swallowing up decency in the States.  It seems every branch of government is loading up on bullet, weapons and attack teams.

Link

Tortoises 0, Hubris 1, Public exposure 1.

The Bureau of Land Management withdrew 200 armed men and dogs and wrote off milions of enforcement dollars at the Bundy ranch because they weren't popular?   Who called them off? The Bundy land is in a swath designated for future solar plants, a use that is incompatible with the tortoises this foofaraw is supposedly about.  Senator Reid and his sons are involved with Chinese investors to invest in desert solar power.  The story came out during the week and the optics are awful for Reid.   Somehow, the information about the solar reserves and their incompatibility with tortoise habitat disappeared from the BLM website.    (Sources:  Powerline: Standoff at the Bundy Ranch ends with photo of the year, and DC Clothesline:  Nevada Standoff: Harry Reid, Russian Soldiers, Chinese Businessmen and Euthanized Turtles.  The second link includes BLM documentation but wanders into the farfetched with the "Russian soldiers" footnote.)

There actually are tortoises in this story but they don't explain a thing.  There's a facility funded to the tune of $1,000,000 per year to raise and release the rare tortoises.  While more money than that is being spent making a fool of the federal government at the ranch, the facility has run out of support and plans to kill about half their animals and let the rest go wild.

Why is the federal government even present in this story?  The mandate comes from those endangered tortoises.  Is Mr Bundy in the right?  Perhaps in part.  But the over-reaching federal government is clearly wrong.

From Gateway Pundit:Deleted from BLM.gov but reposted for posterity by the Free Republic, the BLM document entitled “Cattle Trespass Impacts” directly states that Bundy’s cattle “impacts” solar development, more specifically the construction of “utility-scale solar power generation facilities” on “public lands.”

Teachers getting younger and leaving the NEA union in droves. Hair-line crack in the public sector.

Are  Canadian teachers getting younger too?   American K-12 teachers under 30 have doubled in the last couple years although still only making up 1/6th of their work force.  They're quitting unions, too.  It's appalling there are so few young teachers but an increase is good.  Instead of bargaining for seniority, younger pedagogues are interested in high tech and merit pay.  The NEA has lost 11% of its membership in the last four years.  The full story is at the Wall Street Journal behind a pay wall, but quoted at The American Interest.

I think of teachers as public sector because most are paid by taxes that are taken from people and their unions fund parties like the NDP that will scratch their backs.  The public sector is the sector of the economy least responsive to price signals (choice) and even the tiniest hint of a hairline crack in that sector is a sign of hope to me.

"Most notable, however, is the impact these younger teachers are having on teachers unions. The unions usually negotiate rules that favor seniority, so younger teachers are generally the first to be let got when cutbacks are made. Unsurprisingly, those teachers are pushing for unions to adopt measures they have traditionally opposed, like merit pay, or are breaking with unions entirely, as the WSJ reports."

Gamechanger: US Navy turns ocean water into fuel on the cheap.

The US Naval Research Lab thinks they could turn out aviation fuel for under $6 per gallon anywhere you find ocean water. The economics of energy shapes world power. The story is at NRL and popularized a bit at the Daily Mail.

To make fuel, you need a carbon chain with hydrogen clustered along its length.  Hydrogen in the water molecules can be teased loose with electric charge, a technology that's been around for ages.  It turns out there's also a lot of carbon in the ocean water, about 100 times as much as in the air.  2/3 of it is dissolved C02 gas and 1/3  is tiny specks of carbonate.  92% of this carbon is teased out with an "innovative and proprietary NRL electrolytic exchange module" (NRL thingy). The next two steps coax it into carbon chains and clothe the chains in a hydrogen skin.  That's what all fuels, oils and waxes are made from, depending on length.  This tech has been around for quite a while too. The process is nearly pollution free.

Green has to love it.  Power-to-the-people has to love it because a scarce resource becomes everywhere commonplace.   I'd like to make and sell fuel by the sea with a hose running down the beach to the well.  If the economies of $3 to $6/gallon can only be achieved in a large plant, this will still free up some countries.   The picture of the E-CEM Carbon Capture Skid at the link looks like it would fit in a small building, even when scaled up.

Nations get along better when they are not too beholden to one another.

Model airplane being fueled from the sea
with a few clever intervening steps.

Old fart almost destroyed the world. Archaean bacteria outgassed.

Although a dozen great meteors set back life on earth, detective work blames the biggest hit of all on a giant methane fart from Archaean bacteria.

Evidence left at the crime scene is abundant and global: Fossil remains show that sometime around 252 million years ago, about 90 percent of all species on Earth were suddenly wiped out -- by far the largest of this planet's five known mass extinctions a form of microbes -- specifically, methane-producing archaea called Methanosarcina -- that suddenly bloomed explosively in the oceans, spewing prodigious amounts of methane into the atmosphere and dramatically changing the climate and the chemistry of the oceans.
Volcanoes are not entirely off the hook, according to this new scenario; they have simply been demoted to accessories.

MIT reports on three clues from the scene:

Methanosarcina

Carbon dioxide increased over ten fold and Methanosarcina processed it, after picking up a gene from some other bacteria.  The limiting nutrient for the processing was nickel which had just been spewed out by the world's greatest ever volcanic upheaval in the Siberian Traps area.  With extra C02, a new gene and a shitload of nickel, Methanosarcina ramped up the production of methane, one of your basic fart gases.

The resulting outburst of methane produced effects similar to those predicted by current models of global climate change: a sudden, extreme rise in temperatures, combined with acidification of the oceans. In the case of the end-Permian extinction, virtually all shell-forming marine organisms were wiped out -- consistent with the observation that such shells cannot form in acidic waters.

Extinction article

Fartology: There's a half dozen ingredients,  Two of them burn.  Hydrogen sulphide is the stinky one.  Methane is made in our gut by bacterial beasties that live down there.

Stinkburger: Obamacare fakes enrolment boost, then brags.

Obamacare enrolments jumped two million in the last two weeks for Obama's Mission Accomplished moment.  It was easy.  As Gateway Pundit puts it:

"How do you get from 5 million Obamacare enrollees to 7.1 million Obamacare enrollees in two weeks? You start the applications yourself."

HHS apparently started enrolment files for hundreds of thousands of Americans without telling them using data swiped from the states.   (The Gateway site has a bug but the Shark Tank story they linked to is here.)   Obviously some of the new enrolment was to beat the deadline but this has been open for half a year and the last two weeks won't account for a 40% jump in sign ups.

"Mocking his critics, President Barack Obama boasted Tuesday that 7.1 million people have signed up for his health care law, an unexpected comeback after a disastrous rollout sent his poll numbers plummeting and stirred fears among Democrats facing re-election this fall".

Unexpected?

Remember the vitriol George Bush earned for his arrogance, claiming "Mission Accomplished"? That was the banner on the boat, that their mission was done and they could set sail for home.