Rays of Light

Photos of the Day

2011-07-04T00:33:00.003-04:00

A freight train rolls into Chelsea

The law quad at night

Cruising Through Summer

2011-06-27T23:05:00.002-04:00

The first official day of summer (June 21) was only last week, but with July just around the corner, it feels like summer is moving along rapidly. Yesterday, I took advantage of the beautiful weather to go out riding my bike on two different bike rides, for a total mileage of 57 miles. It was my highest mileage point of the season, but I should be doing sixty to seventy mile rides soon enough.

W&OD Trail West of Leesburg

Bike ride to Chelsea

2011-06-05T00:06:00.002-04:00

The weather today in Ann Arbor was fairly hot, with today's high temperature of 91 degrees being unusually warm for the first week of June. Oddly enough, it was about ten degrees warmer here than it was in DC today, where earlier this week the temperatures were in the mid-nineties. Still, the heat didn't deter me from heading out on my bicycle out to Chelsea. It was a great bike ride, which included a lunch stop at Zou Zou's Cafe in Chelsea.

Huron River

Chelsea Clock Tower

Summer Wildflowers

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-30T22:32:00.002-04:00

On this Memorial Day, let us take a moment to remember the men and women of our armed services who have given their lives in the service of their country. Through their sacrifices, we enjoy the liberty and freedom that we enjoy here in the United States.

Goose Creek

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T14:17:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that everyone is enjoying their Christmas holidays!

Trip to Michigan

2010-12-06T23:05:00.002-05:00

I flew home to Michigan this weekend, and was glad to get away from the DC rat-race for a few days. My flights in both directions went much better than expected, as I escaped being groped or run through the nudie scanner by the TSA. Despite having lots of errands to take care of while I was home, I still managed to get time to relax and catch up with friends.

Christmas Tree at National Airport

I saw the following TSA poster at National Airport this morning, and it really made me laugh. If you look at the picture, you might notice that the "suspicious item" is located in the gate area, which is past security. Apparently, even the TSA realizes that their security theater might not be foolproof. I love the line about reporting suspicious activity to 911. "Hello police? There are some suspicious people in blue Smurf outfits doing some really weird things. Can you check into this?"

Slipping even further

2010-11-21T23:57:00.002-05:00

So it's an odd world where the Huffington Post, WorldNetDaily, and the Drudge Report are all on the same side. If you thought that TSA couldn't sink any lower, then check out this video of TSA assaulting a shirtless little boy. About twenty-one seconds in, the TSA agent feels up the boy's crotch. Of course, earlier this week, the head of the TSA, John Pistole, claimed in his testimony to the Senate that children under twelve were exempt from these patdowns.

Continuing on the TSA topic

2010-11-16T23:44:00.002-05:00

The three year old daughter of a Houston reporter was felt up by a TSA official at the Chatanooga airport. I can't believe that the reporter just shrugged it off. I would definitely have not made my plane if some pervert did that to my kid.

Resisting the TSA

2010-11-16T09:51:00.003-05:00

It is starting to look as if there are lots of other people who resent the abuses of our civil liberties by the TSA. There have been lots of articles in the news over the past few days and TSA is probably desperately hoping that Lindsay Lohan does drugs again. I guess people don't like getting groped up by the TSA if they don't want to walk through the naked body scanner. And as it turns out, TSA is groping up people even if they do walk through the naked body scanner. Apparently, if there is the slightest bit of fuzziness on the images generated by the body scanners, TSA will grope the breasts and genitals of the passengers being screened. And for women that happen to be wearing sanitary pad, the scanner will detect it, and that may be grounds for TSA staff to grope them - the TSA refuses to say whether automatically grope all women with a sanitary pad.

Recently, a passenger was escorted out of the screening area because he refused to let the TSA sexually assault him. And then after he was escorted out and was about to leave the airport, the TSA attempted to force him back into the screening area to still be groped up, and threatened him with a $10,000 civil suit if he didn't comply.

Don't forget that November 24 is National Opt-Out Day!

The fall of our society

2010-11-09T08:53:00.002-05:00

Over the past year, the TSA has deployed X-Ray backscatter machines and millimeter wave scanners at security checkpoints across the country. A significant number of passengers, myself included, were opting out of the scans and asking for the pat-down instead. But at the end of October, TSA changed the rules in order to "encourage" use of the scanners. According to news reports, instead of just checking for weapons, TSA personnel will now deliberately grope passengers genitals and breasts.

Given that I am flying tomorrow, I now have to make the choice between having naked pictures of me taken by TSA, and possibly stored forever despite TSA's denials (see EPIC's lawsuit against TSA and the United States Marshals), or being sexually assaulted by some guy who would otherwise be working at Burger King. What kind of society have we become that it is acceptable for the government to degrade its citizens like this?

In my mind, TSA has become the real terrorists that this country needs to prevent. The 9/11 attacks killed 3000 people, but in doing so, changed the rules of the game such that hijacking an airplane is no longer a significant threat. However, TSA violates the rights of millions of people every day. I wonder if this is how Germany slowly made its slow slide in the 1930's...

Trip to the Windy City

2010-10-14T22:59:00.002-04:00

Here are two pictures from my Columbus Day trip to Chicago:

A new low for Congress

2010-09-24T18:44:00.002-04:00

Just when you thought that the current Congress could not get any more ridiculous than it is, today Congress outdid itself. The House Subcommittee on Immigration invited Stephen Colbert to testify on the subject of immigration. Of course, Congressional committees invite celebrities all of the time to testify, in the hope of drawing attention to their committee. However, Stephen Colbert's "testimony" today was a comedic performance designed to make a political point. It was embarrassing enough that even Rep. Conyers was uncomfortable with his testimony. What's next? Perhaps a committee can invite Ronald McDonald to talk about hamburgers. Or maybe Jerry Seinfeld can have a comedy performance on doing nothing, since nothing would be preferable to the actions of this Congress.

Cool effects at Gravelly Point

2010-07-17T00:07:00.004-04:00

Tonight, Jenny and I bicycled down to Crystal City for dinner, and then biked back up the Mt. Vernon Trail after dark. We stopped at Gravelly Point, which is immediately adjacent to the airport (less than fifty yards from the end of the runway), and decided to watch the planes landing. We discovered a very cool effect that only works at night. If you lie down centered exactly on the flight path, and then look straight up, when a plane flies over, it looks like it is going to crash right into you. This is probably because the plane is dropping altitude extremely fast on the final approach, and by only looking up, you can't judge relative distance.

Another interesting effect that we noticed is that each time after a plane touched down on the runway, a wind shock wave traveled back towards us, making a sound almost like a whip. At first I thought it might be due to the thrust reversers, but I noticed it occurred before they engaged. My guess is that this is probably the turbulent flow at the end of the wing flaps propagating backwards.

Please pass the saltshaker

2010-04-20T09:44:00.003-04:00

So after the fiasco in New York where a state legislator wanted to ban restaurants from using salt in their food, the Food and Drug Administration is working to set legal limits for how much salt can be in food. According to this Washington Post article, the FDA intends to slowly ratchet down these limits over time. Of course, unlike the substances that the FDA is supposed to regulate, salt is a necessary part of our lives.

The article has a great quote that highlights the nanny-ism that is becoming so increasingly prevalent in our society. "We can't just rely on the individual to do something," said Cheryl Anderson, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who served on the Institute of Medicine committee. "Food manufacturers have to reduce the amount of sodium in foods."

Translation: "People aren't doing what I want them to do, so we need to force them to do what I want."

Obviously, Ms. Anderson seems to overlook the fact that salt is an essential nutrient. When I come back from one of my forty mile bike rides, salty snacks are exactly what my body needs.

And most importantly, salt consumption is a matter of personal responsibility. It isn't the role of government to force individuals to be responsible. Instead, it should ensure that individuals have enough information so that responsible individuals can act on it.

Let the games begin

2010-03-23T21:13:00.002-04:00

So according to the news, fourteen states have filed lawsuits against the new health care bill on Constitutional grounds. The fact that they had to resort to lawsuits just reiterates why the seventeenth amendment to the United States Constitution is such a bad idea. Under the original design, the House represented the interests of the people, and the Senate represented the interests of the States. States are sovereign entities and needed representation at the Federal level. Without a check from the States, the Federal Government could impose anything it wanted on the States, and the States would have little recourse. Unfortunately, the seventeenth amendment has made it possible for the Federal Government to do anything it wants, and the States are slowly becoming a little footnote in the history of this country.

Shredding the Constitution

2010-03-23T19:46:00.002-04:00

This is a sad week in the history of the United States, as both the President and the United States Congress passed a bill that is both unconstitutional, and does not represent the will of the people. While the President's disdain for the will of sixty percent (more or less, depending on who you ask) of the American people is not new, I was surprised that the holdout Democrats were bought off so easily. My hope is that the electorate will keep this in mind in November, and send the incumbents packing. But while I am unhappy with the Government ignoring the will of the people, my largest concern is that much like some of the other legislation within the past decade, this legislation appears to not be constitutional. It appears that Congress no longer cares about the Constitutionality of what they produce. Since when can the government require an individual to enter into a contract with another entity, merely because the individual happens to be alive? Worse, the contract must be made with an insurance company that has been approved by the government to be on the insurance exchange. So much for freedom of association.

And then there is the taxation issue. There will be a tax imposed by the Internal Revenue Service if an individual does not purchase insurance. It is not a tax on income, a duty, a direct tax based on the census, and it is not uniform throughout the United States. I seem to have missed the section of the Constitution that permits this sort of tax. And unlike a fine for a criminal or civil act, this is imposed by the Executive Branch and not the Judicial Branch. Congress could have gotten the same effect legally by raising tax rates across the board, and then giving a deduction if one had insurance. But as it stands, the bill does not appear to be consistent with the Constitution.

Then there is the issue of the perks for individual states. Section 8 of the Constitution permits Congress the ability to provide for the common defense and general welfare. But specifically saying that the states have to pay for specific states (e.g. Louisiana and Nebraska) hardly seems to be the general welfare.

As much as I hate the concept of "single payer" health insurance, I think that expanding Medicare to everyone would have been more consistent with the Constitution than the abomination that Congress just passed. At least there could be a claim that the Congress was exercising its right to provide for the general welfare. Telling individuals, "you must do business with one of these five companies" is so ridiculous.

As a small business owner, I am extremely upset with this legislation. I have a decent health care policy right now that I pay for as an individual. However, if the government deems policy renewals to be "new policies", I will be forced to purchase a government approved policy (a "qualified plan" according to Section 1301) on the government exchanges. The Health and Human Services Secretary gets to define what goes into a "qualified plan", and who knows how much these qualified plans will cost. And that small business tax credit in Section 1421? Totally useless to most of the small businesses in my field.

Plus, you can't add "thirty million" people to the health care rolls while at the same time reducing payments to Doctors. If supply does not go up, and prices can't go up, then quality either goes down or becomes non-existent.

November is a little over five months away. I will be voting against anyone who voted for this bill, which includes Rep. Dingell, Sen. Levin, and Sen. Stabenow. Here are the Michigan representatives who voted yes for this bill:

John Conyers
John Dingell
Dale Kildee
Carolyn Kilpatrick
Sander Levin
Gary Peters
Mark Schauer
Bart Stupak

In case anyone wants to peruse this bill, here is a link to the Congressional Research Service summary on Thomas.

Also, one random provision in the bill that I found interesting was a prohibition (with some exceptions) for new physician-owned hospitals to participate in Medicare. Apparently, this has been controversial since 2003, since these hospitals tend to specialize in specific areas (such as orthopedics or rehab), and then standard community hospitals end up with a higher percentage of routine care cases. The American Hospital Association (which represents the big hospital chains) sees this as a threat, and with 73% of their contributions going to the Democrats, the Democrats decided to give them a gift.

Politicians gone mad

2010-03-16T21:22:00.003-04:00

What in the world is going with our politicians lately? In Washington, Congress is working hard on ignoring the extreme deficits of the President's latest budget. They also are choosing to look the other way as Social Security and Medicare become insolvent, since the Social Security "trust fund" does not really exist. Instead, the Democrat leadership is trying to find a way to pass a bill that we can't afford, without actually voting on it. In New York, Assemblyman Ortiz is more interested in banning salt in restaurant cooking than in fixing New York's 6.8 billion dollar deficit. Apparently, Mr. Ortiz is not aware that salt is a key ingredient in breads, sauces, and other foods, not to mention margaritas. In Michigan, where we the state's "rainy day" fund is almost gone, Governor Granholm has decided to tackle the important issues first. She has issued a formal proclamation to make Saturday, March 20, Michigan Meatout Day. Come again?

I, for one, hereby declare this Saturday to be "Dave will eat meat when he chooses" day. And I hope that someday soon, politicians will turn their attention to fulfilling their Constitutional obligations, instead of trying to control the lives of others.

Valentine's Day weekend

2010-02-15T22:57:00.002-05:00

This evening, my girlfriend and I flew back in from Michigan, where we had a fun time celebrating Valentine's Day weekend away from the DC sprawl. It was a little unusual that Ann Arbor had a lot less snow on the ground than DC. The weekend included lots of wonderful food, including dinner at Palio on Saturday, lunch at the Blue Tractor on Sunday, and some homemade baking of chocolate cream puffs. After this weekend, I feel like I need to spend the entire week at the gym.

Florentine Chocolate Profiteroles

After four days off from work last week due to snow, and the President's Day holiday today, it is going to be a little hard getting back into the work mode tomorrow.

There is snow place like home

2010-02-10T16:21:00.002-05:00

Earlier today, the blizzard in DC created a complete white-out. Between the falling snow and the 45 mph wind gusts, it was definitely the day to stay inside and stay warm. This afternoon, when the winds died down a little bit, I ventured outside to shovel the sidewalks. The wind has been creating huge snow drifts, but it looks like it will be fairly manageable to dig out on Thursday. Unfortunately, most of the snow removal equipment has been sidelined due to the white-out conditions, so it is unclear how well the main streets will be plowed tomorrow.

I will be happy to have a break from the snow. The muscles in my back have been getting increasingly sore, especially since as the piles of snow get higher, I have to lift the snow more.

What a plowed road in Arlington looks like...

2010-02-09T17:51:00.004-05:00

It looks like Arlington County may have finally plowed our street, or at least some approximation thereof. The center pile of snow between the tire tracks is down to about six inches in height, so it is likely that a truck with a blade drove through the neighborhood.

One scoop of snow at a time

2010-02-08T22:37:00.002-05:00

Arlington County still has not gotten around to plowing the street I live on. This was as expected, because while Arlington County is great at mailing lots of pamphlets promoting recycling (which I always find ironic), telling people to not drive and use mass transit instead, or wasting money on other frivolous causes, core government services has never been its forte. So a few of us in the neighborhood shoveled out a narrow path down our street. It was a lot of work, but we can now get our cars out into the real world.

In the absence of effective government, people can organize together to take care of themselves. And if the government is unable to provide reasonable common services, it will make people stop and wonder what their excessive taxes are being used for. Hopefully this event will influence people to vote for candidates that will promote the government getting back to basics.

Of course, they are predicting another snowstorm for the area that could drop another foot or two of snow on the area. So I expect that I will again be shoveling the street, one scoop of snow at a time.

The end of the world! Or not

2010-02-06T23:22:00.002-05:00

The Washington DC area received a respectable amount of snow today, with accumulations ranging from 16-30" of snow. While the storm disappointed expectations that it would be the worst storm in DC history (there were some predictions of 40" of snow), the people in DC are still treating it like it was the end of the world. As usual, people made a run on the grocery stores towards the end of the week, clearing the stores of milk, eggs, and produce. I stopped by one of the local Safeway stores on Friday to pick up some supplies to make chili, and was entertained that almost all of the produce was sold out.

The Arlington area received about two feet of snow, and it is probably going to be several days before Arlington County gets to plowing the area. According to the Arlington snow plowing map, the street I live on is on the lowest priority tier for plowing. Based on past experience, that means that it probably won't be plowed at all. So whether I can get out of my neighborhood will depend on how well the neighborhood works together to clear the snow out of the road. It is such a difference from being back home in Michigan, where my street would have been already plowed four or five times by now.

The Debtor in Chief

2010-01-26T22:34:00.003-05:00

President Obama is planning on asking Congress to implement a spending freeze on all non-military discretionary spending for the next three years. In the unlikely event that Congress went along with this, the government would save about $14 billion dollars next year. This is pretty pathetic, as the President's budget had about a $1500 billion dollar deficit for this year alone. Are we supposed to cheer that we will only have a deficit of $1486 billion next year?

It is pretty clear that the President either doesn't get how bad the national debt is, or that he just doesn't care. Worse, if we don't get the deficit to zero within five years, the country is going to drown once Social Security starts needing its "trust fund", which doesn't exist.

Crazy traffic

2009-12-23T00:04:00.002-05:00

I started my trip back to Michigan this afternoon, but it did not go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. I ran into complete gridlock on the George Washington Parkway (supposedly the Beltway was backed up due to snow removal), and by the time I made it to I-270, I was engulfed in complete rush hour madness. It took me two and a half hours to go twenty miles. So instead of driving all of the way back to Michigan, I am spending the night in Pennsylvania, and finishing the drive up tomorrow.

I was pondering the fact that I can bicycle twenty miles in far less than two and a half hours. I can't imagine what the traffic in DC will look like tomorrow, as everyone attempts to head out for the holidays.

Working to a bad end

2009-12-22T09:05:00.003-05:00

So according to this Washington Post article, the Senate is planning on having its first Christmas Eve session since 1963. The Democratic leadership is so obsessed with quickly passing a health care bill that the American people do not want, and is forcing Senators and their staff to continue working around the clock up through Christmas. The legislation would still be there in January, as it isn't a crisis like the growing national debt, or the unemployment rate that is still rising. But the Democrats are so afraid that there could be negative repercussions in the 2010 elections, that they are desperate to pass the legislation now in the hopes that the American people will forget this travesty in November.

As a small-business person who personally pays for my own health care, the Democrats health care plan will have a negative impact on me. I will most likely no longer be able to purchase the health insurance plan I currently have. Instead, I will be stuck with paying for a plan with features I don't want, and I will watch my insurance rates go through the roof as the medical industry shifts costs for the upcoming government subsidized health plans to those with private plans. And worse, I will eventually see my taxes skyrocket, as the country tries to pay for those massive subsidies.

Spenders Anonymous

2009-12-09T00:49:00.003-05:00

President Obama provided me an extremely good laugh today. In his speech to the Brookings Institution, the President made the statement, "So one of the central goals of this administration is restoring fiscal responsibility." Really? I heard this statement and it made me think of the recent comedy movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. I guess this Administration has been doing such a good job with saving money that it needed to buy something nice for itself. Maybe $787 billion dollars for a failed economic stimulus. Or maybe about a trillion dollars for a health care "reform" plan that nobody wants.

The United States can't drown in red ink forever. Eventually, either the taxpayers will be required to pony up with crushing tax rates, or the government will try to induce monetary inflation in order to escape the problem. Both will have terrible consequences for Generation X and many future generations.

Mom is stable

2009-11-12T00:43:00.002-05:00

My mother's surgery went well tonight, and it looks like we are past the immediate danger zone. She is going to be in the hospital for a while, as it is likely to be a very slow recovery.

In the shadow of the Rockies

2009-11-10T19:58:00.003-05:00

This week, rather unexpectedly, I happen to be in Denver. My parents were in a car accident, and so I flew out here to be with my family. I think I set a personal record, with less than three hours elapsing between the time I purchased my ticket and when I boarded the airplane. My Mom is still in critical condition, but she seems to be doing better than she was on Sunday evening when I got here.

As bad as this picture looks, it is an example of the wonders of modern engineering. The safety glass broke into thousands of tiny bits rather than huge jagged shards. The frame of the car took the impact and spread it out, rather than breaking off and impaling the passengers. Even though the vehicle is most likely totaled, it kept my parents alive.

It could happen...

2009-10-09T16:21:00.002-04:00

In a stunning announcement today, the Nobel Committee announced that it had awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Johnny Smith, Age 9, of Tulsa, OK. The Nobel Committee explained that it had been impressed by Johnny's good behavior in school, and his recent promise to his mother to stop hitting his little sister. Critics of the decision pointed out the fact that while Johnny has promised to stop hitting his sister, he hasn't stopped yet. The Nobel Committee fired back at the critics, explaining that Johnny had initiated the process towards peace, and as a result, he stood in the company of former winners like Mikhail Gorbachev.

What???

2009-10-09T11:10:00.003-04:00

The headlines this morning read like they are something out of The Onion parody newspaper. Apparently, Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. All I can say is ... WTF? How do you manage to win the Nobel Peace Prize for not doing anything at all? Unlike former President Carter, who worked hard on the Camp David Accords in 1979, President Obama has done nothing of substance in the furtherance of peace. Apparently, the award was given based on what the President has said that he wants to do.

I would love to end world hunger. Would the Nobel committee please call me at their earliest convenience?

Moving!

2009-09-28T23:16:00.001-04:00

Next weekend, I am moving to a new place in Arlington. As a result, life has been a little busy getting ready for the move. I still haven't packed any boxes, but I have managed to get rid of a lot of stuff. Hopefully, the move will go well. I will blog more once I have settled into the new place.

A brief trip to Yellowstone

2009-09-10T22:33:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, I was in Montana visiting a friend. On Sunday, we went to Yellowstone National Park for a one-day trip. The weather was unusually warm for early September, and as a result, we did not see as much wildlife as we would have expected. Instead of the usual swarms of elk in Mammoth, we saw one solitary stag.

I took the following photograph from the terrace along Mammoth Hot Springs.

Mammoth in the twilight

The obnoxious jerk at Harvard

2009-07-24T18:48:00.003-04:00

So, we have the President of the United States weighing in on the arrest of a personal friend, without knowing all of the facts. It is true that a person has a constitutional right to scream profanities at a police officer, accuse him of racism, and insult his mother. But to do so, regardless of the color of one's skin, is amazingly stupid. And it also speaks volumes about the character of Mr. Gates, and makes one wonder why Harvard employs him.

A low-key week

2009-07-17T00:38:00.002-04:00

Originally, I had planned on getting in lots of bicycling, running, and swimming this week. Unfortunately, with my knee healing up from the bike accident earlier this week, none of these activities have really been on the radar screen. So I have been mostly taking it easy, visiting with friends, and getting some minor work done around the house. I have really been enjoying being home in Ann Arbor, and I just wish I had another week or two to spend at home.

It took me long enough, but I finally have my photos from July 4th posted online. The photos are a bit average, but I do like the photo that I have posted above.

Close Encounters of the Pavement Kind

2009-07-13T22:03:00.003-04:00

This afternoon, I went for another long bike ride, riding out to the edge of Dexter and back. On my way back, I negotiated the railroad crossing where the tracks cross Huron River Drive at a forty-five degree angle (and which seem to take a fair number of cyclists down) - and promptly wiped out ten feet later where the oddly shaped shoulder angles down. After bouncing along the pavement, where the left side of my body became intimately acquainted with the asphalt, I was grateful that no cars were coming. After taking stock of the situation and cleaning the blood off, I observed that I was indeed structurally intact, and proceeded to ride the final seven miles to home. Thanks to Krogers, I am now well-stocked with first aid items. I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow. Despite the number of miles that I put on my bike, I've been doing pretty well. My last major spill was back in 2001, so I guess the odds finally caught up to me.

First day home

2009-07-13T00:24:00.002-04:00

My first day back home in Ann Arbor went pretty well. I took care of some shopping early in the afternoon, then went out to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. I rode my bike out to Dexter via Huron River Drive, after first riding through Barton Hills because Huron River Drive is still under construction (supposedly it will be finished this fall). The ride was absolutely gorgeous, with the sun sparkling off the water in the Huron River. In Dexter, I stopped by the Dairy Queen for "guilt free" ice cream. A twenty-six mile bike ride burns just enough calories to take care of even the whopping five-hundred eighty calories in a small Banana Cream Pie Blizzard. (Scary, huh?) After getting back home, my roommate and I grabbed dinner (Qdoba ... mmm!), and then watched the movie "Push" on DVD. It's not bad (I give it a 6.5 out of 10), and Dakota Fanning's performance suggests that she may be able to make the awkward transition from child star to adult actress.

Home is where the heart is

2009-07-12T00:02:00.002-04:00

Today, I drove back home to Michigan from Virginia, with a stop in western Pennsylvania to see family. The total drive time was about nine and a half hours, which wasn't bad given my detour on the way. I was really happy to get back home, and I'm looking forward to a week of being away from DC.

An odd coincidence

2009-07-06T23:23:00.002-04:00

When I first created the starlightmaze username, it was unique, with no web references at all. The uniqueness of the name has allowed me to easily track references to my blog on the web. Yesterday, I went to register the starlightmaze@gmail.com account with Google (previously available), and found that the name was taken. So I did a little digging, and found that the name is no longer unique. Not only is someone using it for their gmail account, but a woman (possibly the same person) is using it as her Twitter handle. It makes me curious as to how these people chose the user name for themselves...

Celebrating the Fourth

2009-07-05T23:46:00.003-04:00

I had a pretty decent Fourth of July holiday weekend, and it's too bad that the weekend is already over. On Friday, the weather was remarkably cool for July in DC. Most of the day, the temperature was in the high seventies, and the thermometer peaked at a mere eighty degrees. I took advantage of the lovely day to go for a long bike ride on the western edge of Loudon County. I biked a forty-two mile route from Purcellville to Middleburg, up Snickersville Pike to Bluemont, and then back to the start. This part of Loudon is far from the DC sprawl, and consists of farms, horse farms, and old country estates, and makes for beautiful environment for cycling.

On Saturday, I decided to go on another long bike ride, and biked from Arlington out to Herndon on the W&OD Trail. Arlington, of course, is the essence of the DC sprawl. However, once past Vienna, the area around the W&OD Trail is a lot less developed, and much more fun to ride on. In the afternoon, I joined some of my neighbors for a BBQ, and in the evening, watched the fireworks from the roof of a friend's coop complex in southwest DC.

Zion photos online

2009-06-24T00:12:00.002-04:00

I have finally posted the photos from my trip to Zion National Park online. I still need to work on my Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon photo sets, as well as my recent photos from the Outer Banks.

Some random photos

2009-06-21T21:54:00.002-04:00

I still have not had time to arrange my photos from Zion, Grand Canyon, Bryce, and the Outer Banks. So here are a few random photos in the interim...

Waterfall at the Lower Emerald Pool in Zion

The trail to Hidden Canyon in Zion - trail is a few feet wide

The moon rises in Zion

These hoodoos in Bryce made me think of the Three Stooges

Hatteras Village

A quick vacation

2009-06-21T11:59:00.002-04:00

I took Thursday and Friday off this week in order to have a quick vacation at the Outer Banks. My trip consisted of a mix of swimming, reading on the beach, biking, walking around the beaches, and camping. Most of my time was spent on Cape Hatteras, with one night spent on Ocracoke Island. I had a pretty good time, although I got cooked like a lobster. Moral of the story: apply sunscreen underneath the mesh bike jersey too!

Waves crashing onto the beach

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Loving Arlington County - not!

2009-06-08T22:46:00.003-04:00

Parking on my neighborhood in Arlington is terrible. Arlington did a poor job planning the parking zones here, so it is extremely difficult to find parking in zone #4, while two blocks over in zone #5, there is ample available parking. Worse, Arlington keeps removing available spots in my neighborhood. I'm guessing it is part of their ongoing campaign to get people to stop driving, as if that was realistic. Plus, they get quite the revenue stream from forcing people into metered spots. So if I get home late, I end up in metered parking (free on weekends), or parked a ten minute walk away. On Saturday night, there was no parking available at midnight, so I ended up parking in a metered spot. I didn't drive anywhere on Sunday, and forgot that I was in a metered spot, so this morning there was a lovely $25 ticket. Part of the cost of living in Arlington, I guess. It really makes me miss my driveway at home in Michigan.

Of course, Arlington County vehicles are the among the most blatant violators of the parking laws around here. Not only do they park illegally, but they often park in unsafe locations too. And as luck would have it, tonight someone left an Arlington County vehicle parked illegally, unattended, in front of a fire hydrant. I'm glad that nobody in the area had a fire.

Many people call the County the People's Republic of Arlington. I think the name fits.

Some random photos

2009-06-07T21:56:00.003-04:00

Here are some random photos from my vacation.

The view from Angel's Landing

The Watchman

Grand Canyon

Back to reality

2009-06-05T23:34:00.004-04:00

My vacation is almost over, and I'm back in the land of civilization and the Internet. Provo seems to be the technology capital of Utah (Novell's building is two blocks from here), and it's interesting being in a city where the billboards advertise co-location solutions, high-speed Internet, and other technology services. Even the Dulles Corridor doesn't have quite this level of geek factor. Not surprisingly, the Internet service at my hotel is pretty decent.

My vacation went well, although it was much a week of exercise as anything else. Nothing reminds one that he is out of shape like hiking up canyons, scrambling across boulders, and venturing miles into the unknown. Utah and Arizona are beautiful. I spent two days at Zion National Park, about a day at the Grand Canyon, and dropped by Bryce Canyon on my way back up to Provo. It will be at least a week before I have my pictures all sorted and put online, but here are a couple of ones to start with.

The following picture is the view from my campsite at Zion. It's a great view to see first thing in the morning.

The moon over the canyon walls was beautiful. This was the best I could manage with my 6" tripod.

This picture shows the Roaring Springs Canyon running into the Grand Canyon.

Summer vacation, part 1

2009-06-01T23:42:00.003-04:00

I am currently on vacation in southern Utah, where I will be camping in Zion National Park, and then heading off to the Grand Canyon. I spent most of the day traveling, first flying into Salt Lake City from Denver, and then driving down to Springdale, Utah. Surprisingly, my hotel has Internet access, and so I figured I would post an entry before I head off the grid. I was in Colorado this past weekend, where I was visiting my family. On Sunday, my brother and I went to downtown Denver, where I took the following picture of the downtown skyline.

My rental car this week is a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, which Enterprise gave me at the subcompact rate because that's what they had available. On my drive down I-15 from Salt Lake City, I had to stop briefly to adjust the top on the Jeep (the construction of the top is lousy, and keeps getting loose in strong winds). This particular section of I-15 has a speed limit of 80 mph, and I had to take a picture of the sign. This is my kind of speed limit, although I didn't really drive the Jeep much past 75 mph, since the handling on it is absolutely terrible. If Chrysler can't even design one of their flagship products right, it's no wonder that they are bankrupt.

The weather was a bit rainy on the drive down, but the sun peeked out of the clouds for a few minutes this evening.

Poor math reporting

2009-04-21T10:43:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, the Obama Administration announced that Cabinet level officials would identify $100 million in savings over the next 90 days. The lousy reporting job by the media reminded me of this xkcd comic which called for a little honesty in how numbers are reported.

According to the IRS, for fiscal year 2008, the government ended with a deficit of $454.8 billion dollars. Obama's proposed budget for 2010 has an estimated $1.2 trillion dollar deficit, which is an increase of $745.2 billion dollars. So putting this into perspective, Obama has increased the deficit by $745,200 million dollars, and wants to save $100 million dollars. It hardly even registers.

The media is calling the $100 million dollar savings, "a million dollars a day". However, the increased level of spending of Obama's budget is $2041.6 million dollars a day. This just highlights the level of political theater that is going on here.

Random Saturday Musings

2009-04-18T22:23:00.003-04:00

Last night, I went to the movies at Union Station with my friend Margaret, and we watched the new release "State of Play". Afterwards, as we were walking back to the Metro, we came upon a little shop called "My Obama Shop". I just had to take a picture - who would have ever thought that there would be a whole store dedicated to Obama paraphernalia? So now, if you happen to be looking for that special something for your household Obama shrine, you now know where to go.

I went for a long bike ride today around DC, looping up through Bethesda via the Capitol Crescent Trail, over to Silver Spring, down through Rock Creek Park, and back to Arlington. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and a welcome change from the cold rainy weather that we have had for the past week. Tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy and rainy, but if the forecast improves, hopefully I can fit in another ride this weekend.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T21:38:00.002-04:00

At last night's Easter Vigil service, one of the readings was from Genesis 22, where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and then steps in to prevent him from doing so. As I listened to the reading, I started pondering what Isaac must have thought about the ordeal. Did he think that Abraham was suffering from dementia? Did he willingly let his father tie him up? Did Abraham eventually tell his son what the plan was, as some commentators believe? And what was the relationship between Abraham and Isaac like afterwards?

Most Christians look at the story of Abraham and Isaac almost purely from the perspective that it foreshadowed the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. But the foreshadowing only makes sense if Isaac was a willing participant in the event, in the same way that Jesus willing sacrificed his life to fufill his Father's will.

What the Bible really needs is the ancient version of Paul Harvey, who can tell us the rest of the story.

Attempts at theft

2009-03-19T08:58:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, Congress held hearings on the subject of retention bonuses paid to certain AIG employees, and the results were totally distasteful. Besides pressuring the chief executive to "ask" employees to return the money, Congress is considering a bill to tax those bonuses at 90%. Such legislation would not be considered to be an ex post facto law, based on a lousy 1994 Supreme Court decision. However, I wonder if such legislation could be considered a bill of attainder, since it would attempt to directly penalize a specific set of individuals.

The fact is, back in early 2008, when the markets were weakening but before AIG really tanked, these individuals agreed to stay with AIG in return for retention bonuses. They could have easily gone somewhere else, but stayed for financial incentives. And now Congress and the President want to take those away from them. Worse, Sen. Grassley said that the honorable thing to do for these individuals would be to resign or commit suicide. Why isn't the public outraged that a senior senator is saying that these people kill themselves?

How would you like it if you have been working somewhere for $70K for the last year, only to have your employer come back and say, "sorry, we're going to take everything back past minimum wage"? Yes, the AIG employees are making more than minimum wage, but they are making what was promised to them.

If the United States is going to start penalizing individuals with taxes, I think it should start by taxing at a rate of 90% all individuals in the executive branch who make $400,000 per year, and all individuals in the legislative branch who make $174,000 per year.

Who cares about contract law?

2009-03-16T23:32:00.003-04:00

President Obama has declared war on the insurer AIG, which the US taxpayers bailed out in the fall of 2008. His ire is directed at the retention bonuses that AIG is paying some of its employees, and he said that his Administration would "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses." Of course, he seems to be overlooking the fact that AIG is contractually required to pay these retention bonuses. Because the US Government decided to bail out AIG rather than force it into bankruptcy court, there is no legal basis for canceling existing contracts.

The issue of the retention bonus payments is an excellent example of why AIG should have been forced into bankruptcy, rather than having US taxpayers throw $170 billion dollars at it. And rather than merely state that the United States operates under the rule of law, President Obama is posturing that he intends to undermine it, if not actually undermining it.

What does Obama have against the poor?

2009-03-05T08:27:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Geithner was testifying in front of the Senate Finance Committee about President Obama's proposed budget. Among the controversies that he had to address was the proposal to limit deductions to charity for those with higher incomes. Geithner stated that the this proposal, along with the proposal to limit home interest deductions, were necessary in order to proceed with health-care "reform".

In these difficult economic times, why would anyone want to make it more costly to help the poor? Given the fact that President Obama just signed a $786 billion dollar stimulus package that was mostly pork, it's not likely that the President suddenly became a fiscal conservative. A relatively obvious answer lurks in the shadows. If donations to charity fall, people become more dependent on the government to provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities. This allows the government to control how people are helped, and also adds jobs - er, paper-pushers - to the Federal bureaucracy.

Personally, I'll stick with charities any day, as they are more efficient than Washington any day.

The flushing sound of the American Economy

2009-02-17T23:24:00.004-05:00

This afternoon, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the stimulus bill. The bill obligates the country to spend $786 billion dollars of money that it does not have. The actual amount of stimulus included in the bill is only somewhere between ten and thirty percent, which means that at least $550 billion of it is old fashion pork. Most economists do not think that this bill will do much good, and the stock market promptly dropped another 5%. Worse, in his remarks at the bill signing, President Obama indicated that there is more to come. It is likely that we will see at least one, if not two, additional stimulus bills this calendar year.

But there is a concern that is larger than the debt that we are saddling onto our children and grandchildren. There is a move brewing in Washington to nationalize the banks. President Obama suggested on Friday that the United States should "temporarily" nationalize its banks. Sen. Graham (R-SC) chimed in yesterday and said that this concept should be considered. This idea is beyond reckless. Right now, the State of California is unable to send tax refunds to people due to its financial incompetence. Can you imagine not being able to pay your rent because the "Bank of the United States" invested your money into Social Security Trust Fund IOU's?

The old adage is that people should have six months of expenses saved up in case of a rainy day. Given the hurricane brewing in Washington right now, I think that even a year's worth of expenses saved might be too conservative.

War on the economy?

2009-02-10T06:46:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, in a speech given in Elkridge, Indiana, President Obama warned the nation of impending disaster if the country does not pass his stimulus plan immediately. In his speech, he said, "And our nation will sink into a crisis that at some point we may be unable to reverse." Excuse me? So if we don't incur an additional nine-hundred billion dollars in debt to use on pork-barrel spending, the United States economy will never recover? Whereas President Bush warned of terrorism every other sentence to justify his extravagant spending, President Obama seems to have latched onto the recession to justify his driving the US economy further into the ground. Perhaps we can call it the Global War on the Economy, since by the time he's done, there will be nothing left.

Visitor to the Tidal Basin

2009-02-08T22:41:00.004-05:00

This afternoon, the weather was again absolutely beautiful. The temperature was in the mid-sixties, and there were beautiful blue skies. I took a walk with around the Tidal Basin, taking pictures along the way. A Bald Eagle was in the middle of the Tidal Basin, sitting on the ice. I waited around for a while, and managed to get this photo of the eagle in flight.

A Sunday bike ride

2009-02-01T19:38:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week, the weather was downright lousy by Washington DC standards. The area received snow and freezing rain, and offices were half empty on Wednesday. Of course, back home in Michigan, everyone would have figured that kind of weather was normal for winter. However, this afternoon the weather was absolutely beautiful. The temperature climbed from the thirties in the morning, and hit a peak of sixty-one degrees around 3pm. People were outdoors without coats, runners were out in shorts and short-sleeve t-shirts, and everyone seemed to be outside enjoying the weather. It is good that people were enjoying the weather now, because the weather forecast is calling for snow again on Tuesday.

I took advantage of the nice weather to go for my first bike ride of the season. My route meandered across the District, down around Hains Point, over to Capitol Hill and Union Station, across to Georgetown, and then over the Key Bridge back to Virginia.

National War College

Bolling Air Force Base

An Acela starts its trip to New York

Looking across the river to Rosslyn

Don't trust the government with your money

2009-01-31T16:02:00.003-05:00

Financial planners tell us that getting large refunds back on your annual income taxes is a bad idea. The government gets an interest-free loan from you to keep your money during the year. But if that was not bad enough, what if the government decided not to give you your money back? According to this LA Times article, the state of California has decided to deal with its budget crisis by refusing to send out tax refunds. This means that thousands of people who were depending on the money won't be getting it for weeks or months.

If an individual taxpayer were to refuse to pay the tax money he owes, he would face interest and penalties. If he were determined to be grossly negligent, he could face harsh penalties and possibly jail time. But of course, the State of California won't face any of these problems. It might decide to pay a little bit of interest to each of the taxpayers, but it won't face penalties or jail time for what is clearly gross negligence.

Are you ready to borrow $3000?

2009-01-29T09:12:00.002-05:00

As if last year's massive bailout bill to the financial industry wasn't enough, Congress is at it again. The House just passed a $810 billion dollar "stimulus" package (translation: pork barrel spending), and the total is expected to climb to $900 billion by the time the Senate is finished with it. And while the financial industry bailout left the taxpayers owning various assets, some of questionable quality, this new stimulus is about spending, and not getting anything in return. To put the size of the package into perspective, the bill means that the US Government will borrow $3000 for every single person within the United States. Per actual taxpayer, the bill will be about $6500 per person.

The United States is massively in debt, and it looks like Congress is ready to add another ten percent for 2009 onto our $10.6 trillion total debt. The US taxpayers will have to pay every dollar of that debt at some point. Perhaps instead of saddling our grandchildren with an impossible tax burden, we could choose to reduce our government's spending.

Bad Internet behavior

2009-01-28T20:11:00.003-05:00

Among other things, I am responsible for maintaining my company's computer systems, and this includes monitoring my system logs. Over the past week or so, I have noticed an uptick in the level of bad behavior from various Internet parties. For example, this weekend, someone was attempting a DNS amplification attack against isprime.com (NANOG thread). This type of attack uses small forged requests to a large number of servers, where the responses are much larger and are sent to the victim IP address. The result is that the victim's network is completely flooded with traffic. I had to make some minor changes to my DNS server to silently drop these requests.

The bad behavior has not been restricted to just the blackhat community. There has been an increase in the number of commercial companies that try to stealthily monitor web sites, thinking that they won't be noticed. These companies have automated bots that download entire sites over time. These bots don't obey the standard bot rules (such as honoring robots.txt), and they pretend to be various versions of Internet Explorer. Despite their efforts, they are still easy to detect and watch. The old assumption about anything you post on the Internet can be read by anyone is more true than ever. Even if you delete the material, it is likely that some "cyber intelligence" firm has it archived away.

On Board Air Force One

2009-01-23T20:54:00.004-05:00

This evening, I had the opportunity to attend a screening for On Board Air Force One at the National Geographic Headquarters. The members of the Presidential Airlift Group (PAG) were the featured guests at the screening, and Col. Scott Turner, the new senior pilot and group commander, delivered some brief remarks before the show. The retiring senior pilot, Col. Mark Tillman, was unable to attend, having gotten stuck in traffic in Baltimore.

The show provides an overview of what Air Force One is like post-9/11, and it airs on National Geographic on Sunday January 25 at 8pm.

Escaping Inauguration Weekend

2009-01-18T14:46:00.003-05:00

This weekend, between one and two million people will descend upon Washington DC to celebrate the inauguration of a new President. Having that many out of town visitors is likely to leave DC and the suburbs in total gridlock. So rather than deal with the hassle, I flew home to Ann Arbor for a four-day weekend. It has been quite enjoyable being home, despite the cold and the snow. While I am here, I have been taking care of errands and hanging out with friends.

Candle at Arbor Brewing Company

Snow in the morning

A fun weekend

2009-01-11T22:28:00.003-05:00

I had a very busy weekend, but it was quite enjoyable. Here are some of the photos I took:

A relaxing winter vacation

2008-12-31T11:57:00.003-05:00

I took two weeks off from work in order to celebrate the holidays, and it has been a fun time. I drove back home from DC, and arrived back in Michigan, where the temperature hovered in the single digits. It was cold enough that my windshield wiper fluid froze up, since the reservoir was still filled with the summer mix. I did not have to experience too many days of the cold, because a couple of days later, I flew out to Denver to visit with my family for Christmas. My flights were uneventful, which was a nice contrast to all of the people stranded in Chicago and New England. Christmas was fun, and then I flew back to Michigan.

One of the nice things about being on vacation is that I can take the time to make a nice lunch. Today, I made up a baked Rotini and Cheese with andouille sausage and roasted poblano pepper. This is definitely not the Macaroni and Cheese that you remember having as a kid. It was slightly spicy, but not hot at all. I plan on trying this recipe in the future with the dried form of the poblano - ancho chiles.

White House Tour

2008-12-09T20:33:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, I had the rare opportunity of taking the Christmas tour of the East Wing of the White House, as a friend of mine had arranged for me to get a slot on the tour. While I have previously toured the West Wing, this was the first time I had seen the East Wing. The East Wing is amazing from a historical point of view. Some of the artifacts that are on display include formal state china sets, original American furniture sets from the early 1800's, and a portrait of George Washington that was rescued from the White House before it was burned in 1814. The architectural detail of the White House is amazing, and provides a sense of refined elegance. For example, if you look at this panoramic tour of the East Room, you can see the details of the moldings around the doorways. To celebrate the holiday season, the Blue Room had a Christmas tree that rose all the way to the ceiling, and was covered with ornaments that represented each of the fifty states.

If you ever get the opportunity to take a tour of the East Wing, I would highly recommend it.

Welcome to the recession

2008-12-01T21:23:00.002-05:00

The National Bureau of Economic Research is generally accepted as the authority for determining the periods of recessions within the United States. Today, it announced what most individuals have already suspected, which is that the US economy has been in a recession since December 2007. So now the question is, how long will the economy remain in the doldrums?

The US Government is trying to spend its way out of the recession, and has been throwing US taxpayer money at almost everyone who is holding their hands out. The spending frenzy is going to get worse, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promising today to have a $500 billion dollar stimulus package ready for incoming President Obama to sign in January. When you combine that with the $800 billion TARP bill, the $180 billion stimulus package from earlier this year, and other irresponsible spending by Congress, it is likely that the total increase to the national debt will be on the order of fifteen to twenty percent over a two year period. The US is spending way beyond its means, and sadly, the US taxpayers are on the hook for every cent of it.

Throwing money down the drain

2008-11-12T20:43:00.002-05:00

The US automakers are heading to Washington to ask that the United States taxpayers bail them out for their financial imprudence. Next Wednesday, the House Committee on Financial Services will hold hearings with the chief executives of the automakers, with the goal of determining whether to modify the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) such that money can also be given to the automakers. General Motors has stated that it might not survive the rest of 2008 without the government providing it aid. And while the automakers blame the credit markets, the reality is that the Big Three have been in dire financial straits for the past several years. Everyone knew that GM's strategy of relying on SUV's to survive would fail as soon as gas prices went up. The US automakers have a reputation for making uninspiring, fuel-inefficient, and unreliable cars. As a result, Toyota and Honda have been steadily taking market share away from them.

From the standpoint of being a resident of Michigan, I hope that the Congress does not pass any aid bills for the automakers. Michigan's economy has been undergoing a slow bleed for many years, and until its industrial sector undergoes a major realignment, the automakers will continue to drag Michigan's economy down. Giving taxpayer money to the automakers won't save them, as it is likely that they will soon be back in front of Congress begging for more. I would rather Michigan rip off the bandaid now instead of prolonging the agony. The immediate effects would be harsh, with significant job losses, more decreases in the housing market, and significant economic pain. And while I wouldn't be in immediate danger of losing my job, I would be personally affected if one or more of the US automakers went bankrupt.

Michigan's economy lives with the fantasy that the glory days of the automakers will return. Those days are long gone, and Michigan needs to take its destiny into its own hands and diversify its industrial base. We need to accept that the car market can really only support two of the Big Three players - and perhaps at half their current size. Perhaps then, Michigan residents will seek out jobs in sectors other than the auto industry, and Michigan's economy will be diverse enough to weather whatever the future brings our way.

The continuing march into the long night

2008-11-05T19:14:00.004-05:00

If there was every a question of where the political loyalties of the mainstream media lay, this morning it was pretty clear. From some of the headlines and hyperbole in the articles, one would have thought that the Second Coming of Christ happened yesterday. In fact, it was only the First Coming of Obama, which to some elements of the media, might actually be more important. The New York Times had an article about the renewed hope in America that the rest of the world has due to Obama. A Washington Post headline blared, "On Distant Continents, Praise for Obama". Articles hoped for a new era of prosperity, and reading between the lines, one just knows that every little girl will finally get her pony under Obama. And these articles weren't even the ones on the opinion page.

Of course, the Dow Industrials fell 5.1% today, the economy is still a mess, and Social Security remains a mess of unpaid IOU's. Russia continues to exercise its nationalistic tendencies, Iran is still in turmoil with its neighbors and itself, and Venezuela still despises the United States. The automakers have not changed their goal of laying off thousands of employees, the national debt is out of control, and it's merely a matter of time before the government starts printing money just to stay afloat.

I wish good luck to all of the people partying like it's 1976, but may I suggest that now would be a good time to start saving money for a rainy day? Because a rainy day is coming, and one man's charisma can't change that.

Obama gets the gold

2008-11-05T00:14:00.005-05:00

As the election results roll in, it appears that Obama has won the race for President. Granted, this has been widely expected for the past several weeks, but it is still an historic occasion that the people of the United States voted for the first non-white President. While we are far from the color-blind society championed by Martin Luther King Jr., it is nice to know that we have made a little progress over the past four decades.

It remains to be seen what President-elect Obama's policies will look like once he moves past the campaigning stage. Will he merely play the role of a "progressive" Democrat in order to appease the left wing of his party, or will he swing far to the left towards full socialism? Given the recent trends towards economic socialism by the Bush administration in partially nationalizing banks, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae, I worry that the United States is poised on the slope for full-blown socialism. If the government continues to purchase ownership stakes in companies, nationalizes health care, and starts massive transfers of money from the "wealthy" to the "middle-class" (however one defines these terms), a socialist state might not be far behind.

Still, the Republicans have done such a miserable job over the past eight years that they deserved their fall from grace. Hopefully this election will force the party to figure out if it is the party of the Gingrich revolution, or the party of Paulson's buddies on Wall Street.

Home to Vote

2008-11-02T23:37:00.003-05:00

I flew home to Ann Arbor this weekend in response to a summons for jury duty. As it turns out, the court does not need my service for this week, and so I am off the hook for jury duty. I will vote in the election on Tuesday, and then head back to DC for another week of work inside the Beltway. I spent some time today researching the candidates for all of the state and local elections on my ballot, which is a tedious process. For example, choosing a candidate for Trustee of Michigan State University isn't as easy as picking a Federal congressional representative. Many of the candidates for the state and local races don't have websites, so it's hard to figure out where they stand on the issues.

I had an unexpected chore tossed my way yesterday. After doing a load of laundry, I threw in a new load of clothes into the dryer, pressed the start button, and ... nothing. It was a bit of a suprise for the dryer to suddenly be as dead as a doornail. This afternoon, I started dismantling the dryer and testing the various parts. I found that the dryer door switch had broken. Luckily, I should be able to buy a replacement for under $20, which will be far better than having to spend $400 to purchase a new entry-level dryer.

Other than having to take care of the dryer and other issues around the house, I have really enjoyed being home. Tonight, my roommate and I had dinner at Grizzly Peak, and then drinks at Ashley's. Tomorrow, I get to work from home, and hopefully, I will catch up a bit on the backlog of administrative work I have to do.

McCain the Idiot

2008-10-08T23:09:00.003-04:00

Over the past eight years, I have watched Sen. McCain turn into a complete disappointment. He has compromised his positions in order to pander to the neo-conservative right, he has gone from being a "maverick" to the worst sort of pandering politician, and it's hard to trust anything that he or his campaign says these days. But last night was the nail in the coffin, where he demonstrated his complete lack of fiscal prudence in a time when the economy is tearing itself to shreds. He said:

I would order the secretary of the Treasure to immediately buy up the bad home-loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes, at the diminished value of those homes.

In other words, if a borrower purchased more of a house than he or she could afford, and is now in financial trouble, the US government would purchase the original loan from the bank, and then refinance the individual using the current value of the house. So if someone bought the house at $400K, and the house is now worth $300K, the purchaser effectively gets the house at a $100K savings, minus what little principal they have in the house. They get rewarded handsomely by the government for buying a home that they couldn't afford. Sen. McCain calls his plan the "HOME Plan".

Those of us who purchased homes we could actually afford, with significant down payments, and whose homes have lost value due to the stupidity of the mortgage market, are in the position where we now get to subsidize subprime borrowers, and watch them walk away with huge windfalls. And based on some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations, this could leave the United States taxpayers on the hook for trillions of dollars.

With politicians like this in Washington, it is no wonder that the economy is in such dire straits.

Stealing our hard-earned money

2008-09-25T09:12:00.003-04:00

The Bush Administration is pushing for the United States taxpayers to bail out the financial industry to the tune of $700 billion dollars. To put that into perspective, that is $2,333 from every man, woman, and child in the United States. In addition, the Administration wants the taxpayers to hand the money over to the Fed and Treasury with no strings attached, although they are reluctantly willing to allow an oversight board with no real teeth. The Administration wants the bill passed as soon as possible, and if it is not, President Bush warned that "banks could fail", people would not be able to "send your children to college", and "millions of Americans could lose their jobs".

Given that the fundamental problem with the economy is a lack of confidence in it, isn't it interesting that Mr. Bush is publicly undermining it? In watching his address to the country, he appeared to be a bit like a used car dealer, "Buy now! The deal could disappear tomorrow! Doom if you don't!" Do we really trust the Bush Administration to administer $700 billion dollars with no oversight?

A Monday Canoe Trip

2008-09-22T23:41:00.004-04:00

My trip back home to Ann Arbor has been going very well. I have been keeping myself very busy doing all kinds of Ann Arbor-ish activities. Today's highlight was a canoe trip on the Huron River with my friend Tracey. We started at Argo, paddled upstream to the bend at Barton Dam, and then went all the way downstream to Gallup Park. The trip was a lot of fun, although I managed to get myself rather sunburned.

The bridge at Bandemere Park

One of many cranes along the river

Geddes Pond at Gallup Park

This seems familiar

2008-09-19T08:44:00.002-04:00

I was reading this article in the New York Times, and came across a statement with sentiments somewhat similar to my blog post yesterday:

If an activity is important enough to justify a government nationalization to prevent a default, it is important enough to be regulated. The regulators need to know what risks are being taken, and by which institutions, in time to act before a crisis develops.

Ideally, the US needs regulations preventing companies from getting too big to fail, rather than forcing significant amounts of industry to be regulated. But either way, something needs to change so that the US does not have to come to the rescue of corporations that dug their own graves.

The financial mess continues

2008-09-18T08:30:00.003-04:00

The US Government is now in the business of picking winners and losers. A couple of days after letting Lehman Brothers fail, the Federal Reserve lent eighty-five billion dollars to AIG. Apparently, there was concern that if AIG failed, the impact would be felt across the entire financial sector. Unfortunately, this is indicative of two problems. The first problem is the concept that any particular company is "too big to fail". With capitalism, companies are supposed to be able to fail, as it is the ultimate correction for poor leadership. If a company has reached a size where it is too big to fail, then it really needs to be regulated, as the US taxpayers will be on the hook for bailing it out. Second, without clear criteria for which companies should be bailed out, it is entirely at the whim of the Federal Reserve which companies it will bail out. At the moment, the Fed seems to be acting based on perceived threats to the market. But what happens if the Fed starts factoring in political leanings or campaign contributions when it decides which companies to bail out?

A relaxing Labor Day weekend

2008-08-31T23:51:00.003-04:00

I am home in Ann Arbor for Labor Day weekend, and so far, I have been having a really enjoyable time. I've been getting in the workouts, ranging from running along Nixon to Pontiac Trail (about four and a half miles round-trip), to hitting the NCRB at U of M. I have also been decently productive, taking care of diverse errands like buying furniture at Ikea and hitting the Labor Day sale at REI. Last night, I hung out with friends at the Bahama Breeze in Livonia, and this evening, my roommate and I walked downtown to Main Street in Ann Arbor, where we had Sangria and appetizers on the rooftop at Palio. Tomorrow, I plan on hanging out with friends for lunch, and of course, grilling up steaks for dinner.

I hope that everyone enjoys their Labor Day!

The dog days of summer

2008-08-26T21:38:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, I drove up to Pennsylvania to visit one of my cousins and her family. I haven't been up to visit her in about a year and a half, so it was good catching up. Her youngest son is eight months old, and I got to meet him for the first time. He's a cutie (aren't most babies?), and he's at that stage where he's almost ready to crawl. One can tell that he really wants to be mobile, but hasn't quite figured out how to do it yet. It's probably just a matter of weeks before he is crawling all over the place.

For Labor Day weekend, I will be heading home to Ann Arbor for the weekend. I'm really looking forward to getting home and hanging out with my friends. I plan on doing some late summer grilling with my roommate, and officially close off the end of summer.

Tuesday musings

2008-08-19T23:23:00.002-04:00

I am starting to settle into the new exercise routine, and it is very clear that I have a significant amount of lost ground to make up. I am still at that stage where all the muscles are mildly aching, but they are in much better condition than they were last week. Provided that I keep the workouts consistent, I am hoping that I can get myself back into somewhat decent shape by the end of the year.

This past weekend was a lot of fun. The weather was absolutely beautiful, with sunny days that were not too hot. It was definitely not DC's characteristic weather. On Saturday, I went for a long hike at Great Falls on the Virginia side. On Sunday, I went biking up to Bethesda on the Capital Crescent Trail. It was really fun being out and enjoying the weather.

Fighting the middle-age waistline

2008-08-14T22:24:00.005-04:00

For most of this year, my track record at keeping in shape has been pretty dismal. Other than the occasional bike ride, run, or hike, I haven't really been hitting the gym. I recently realized that I needed to focus on getting back in shape. Being in my thirties, it is likely to be increasingly difficult over time to maintain a high level of fitness. One could say it is a peril of "old" age. So based on that, there is no time like the present to start getting back in shape. I have started going to the gym regularly, and I'm at the early stage where everything just gets sore. Where are my twenties when I need them?

It's amazing how busy our lives get, and how difficult it is to find (or make) time to work out. Plus, the motivation level for going to the gym is not particularly high after a long day at work. Let's see how well I keep this up.

A culprit at last ... maybe

2008-08-06T18:18:00.003-04:00

Today, the government unveiled its evidence in the case against Dr. Ivins, a scientist at Ft. Detrick. The government says that Dr. Ivins, acting alone, was responsible for the anthrax attacks in 2001. Jeffrey Taylor, a Federal prosecutor in the case, said "We are confident that Dr. Ivins was the only person responsible for the attacks." Of course, the officials in the government were previously confident that Dr. Steven Hatfill was responsible for the attacks, and the government had to pay $4.6 million to settle that case. This time, it's easy to blame Dr. Ivins, who committed suicide after months of intense scrutiny by the FBI, since there's nobody to fight back.

The government's case is highly circumstantial. For example, one of their arguments is that Dr. Ivins failed to give a good answer as to why he was working long hours in the fall of 2001. Quick - do you remember what you were working on the night of September 16, 2001? All of the other evidence presented by the government is equally circumstantial, and while it's theory may be correct, the FBI's track record in this area is not particularly stellar. There is Richard Jewell, the FBI's failures in their crime labs, and their recent attempts to prevent research into their inaccurate DNA statistics. None of these engender confidence in the FBI.

So hopefully, the government is correct, and they identified the right man. But I think that instead, they are just choosing the easy way out.

Hanging out at home

2008-07-27T21:26:00.002-04:00

I flew home to Ann Arbor this weekend, and it has been a pretty relaxing weekend, despite being rather short. I managed to catch up on some much needed sleep. Last night, I watched the movie Charlie Bartlett with my roommate. It was pretty funny, in a very Gen Y-ish sort of way. This afternoon, the weather was a beautiful eighty-five degrees, and I went out for my usual run along the Gallup Park Trail. The run was a little more eventful than normal. Some college girls in a canoe capsized and filled their canoe with water, and had no idea how to make it shipshape again. I waded into the water and helped them empty the water out of their canoe, and got them on their way again.

I fly back to DC tomorrow morning, and it will probably be a few weeks before I can make it back to Michigan. August is looking like it will be a fairly busy month.

Ann Arbor Vacation

2008-07-10T23:54:00.002-04:00

I have been spending this week in Ann Arbor, and have been having a wonderful vacation. I have been splitting my time between taking care of my to-do list (like going to the dentist, getting my car repaired, etc.) and spending my time in classic summer vacation style - a long run at Gallup Park, bicycling to Dexter for "guilt-free" ice cream at Dairy Queen, eating out with friends in downtown Ann Arbor, and grilling up burgers. I'm hoping that I'll get in some more bike rides, and maybe a trip to the pool.

I have to drive back to Virginia on Sunday, and it is approaching way too quickly. I feel like a kid saying, "I want to stay out and play some more!"

An unproductive weekend

2008-06-15T22:13:00.003-04:00

I had been planning on heading home to Ann Arbor for the weekend. Unfortunately, Northwest Airlines cancelled my flight on Friday evening, and was unable to rebook me for my weekend trip. Apparently, all of their flights to Detroit on Friday and Saturday were all booked. This left me in Virginia, working on coming up with alternate plans. While I had planned a busy weekend in Michigan, unfortunately, the weekend turned out to be pretty unproductive. I think the highlights were getting my Yellowstone photos online, and going for a bike ride this afternoon.

I find it interesting that I have been back in Virginia for only one week, and I already can't wait to leave.

Yellowstone pictures posted

2008-06-14T03:16:00.001-04:00

It took me a while, but I finally posted my Yellowstone pictures online here. I hope that you enjoy them.

Picture sorting

2008-06-12T23:49:00.002-04:00

I am still in the process of sorting through my pictures from Yellowstone. I started with over 400 pictures, and I have trimmed them down to about 200. I'm planning on putting the best 75 to 100 of them up online. In the meantime, here is a nice picture of Mammoth Hot Springs.

Back from Yellowstone

2008-06-10T00:26:00.002-04:00

Last night, I flew back to DC from Montana. After a cold week of rain and snow, the ninety-five degree weather in DC did not seem all that bad. However, despite the lousy weather in Yellowstone (and getting a bad cold), I enjoyed my time out there. I plan on getting my pictures sorted and online over the next week.

I was rather amused by the TSA last week while flying out from Salt Lake City. The airport had computer displays on the wall playing a video about the security process. The video included a warning that passengers should report suspicious behavior, and as an example of suspicious behavior, it showed someone taking a picture of the screening area with a camera phone.

While I'm sure that taking pictures of the screening area is security related, it has less to do with airport security and more to do with TSA job security. As security professionals know, in general, a system that is designed around the principal of "security through obscurity" will fail if exposed to intense scrutiny. Airport screening areas are highly visible areas that can be easily observed. One or two trained individuals could easily conduct complete surveillence on the area without detection, and as a result, airport security cannot rely on any details of the screening area being kept secret.

So why does the TSA want to encourage the belief that taking photos of the screening area is suspicious behavior? Photos and videos taken by passengers could document incompetent screeners, illegal behavior, and civil rights violations. Imagine what would happen to TSA if YouTube started being flooded with videos showing abusive secuity personnel, TSA agents stealing items from passengers' belongings, or TSA screeners failing to perform their jobs. TSA does not want the American public to come to the realization that the system is completely flawed, and is nothing more than mere window dressing against the threat of terrorism.

Plus, this is the same TSA that is deploying millimeter wave scanners to provide images of people under their clothes. Do you really trust some entry-level security person to not enjoy checking out pictures of your naked daughter?

Improvising in Salt Lake City

2008-06-01T02:12:00.002-04:00

I am on my way out to Yellowstone for a week of vacation, but my trip did not quite start as planned. My flight out of DC was delayed about three hours, which meant that any chance of making my connection in Salt Lake City vanished faster than tax dollars being spent by Congress. Rather than wait until tomorrow with the vague hope that Delta might actually put me on a flight to Salt Lake, I changed my hotel plans from Billings to Salt Lake, took the flight out, and am spending the night in Utah. This means I should actually make it out on a flight to Montana tomorrow morning.

While I was waiting around in DC, I watched the Democrats work on trying to figure out what to do about Florida and Michigan. It was amusing watching all of the parties jockey for position. Of course, Clinton herself originally agreed that the Michigan votes would not count for anything, and now her team is horrified that Obama might get some votes from Michigan's compromise. Her desperate attempts to drive the Democrats into the ground are pretty much the only thing that might save the Republicans this fall.

The naked truth

2008-05-31T00:33:00.003-04:00

The Detroit Free Press had a funny story this morning about a naked man walking through someone else's apartment. I used to live at Huron Towers, where the incident occurred, and most people on the upper floors leave their sliding windows open and unlocked. I can just imagine the shock some resident had seeing a naked guy stroll through his apartment.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-25T22:10:00.002-04:00

So far, my Memorial Day weekend has been pretty active. I headed out to Shenandoah National Park for some hiking. I had also planned on going camping, but the park was very busy, and all of the campgrounds had filled up by the time that I reached the park. Since I had not originally planned on backcountry camping, I did not have my pack with me, so that ruled out that option. Still, despite the change in plans, I had a very enjoyable time hiking. I hiked down the White Oak Canyon Trail about three miles, and got to see two of the six waterfalls along the river. I have posted pictures from my hike online here.

A waterfall at White Oak Canyon

Today, I rode the W&OD Trail from Sterling to Purcellville and back, for about a forty mile ride. Despite it being the holiday weekend, the trail was not too busy. I was running a little slow by the end of my ride, which means that I really need to work on getting myself back into shape.

Goose Creek

Take me out to the ball game

2008-05-22T23:35:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I went with my roommate to National's Park to watch the Phillies play against the Washington Nationals. Actually, it is probably more accurate to say that the Phillies walked all over the Nationals, since the final score was 12-2. Oddly enough, it was the first major league baseball game that I have attended since 1984. It was a little strange for me to be sitting in the stadium as opposed to watching the game on television. Nationals Park is actually pretty nice, and it is amazing to see how much the area near the Navy Yard Metro has improved.

Memorial Day weekend is almost here, and I am looking forward to the holiday. The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend, and I am planning on spending much of it enjoying the great outdoors.

The nanny state in the kitchen

2008-05-19T21:14:00.003-04:00

The Washington Post is running a series of articles discussing the childhood obesity epidemic. Today's article was bemoaning the fact that the government is failing to take action. Various interest groups want the government to impose changes on the food industry, and restrict advertising that could reach kids. However, the concept that the government should be directly responsible for the nutrition of our kids is ludicrous. People are responsible for how they choose to eat, and if they have kids, they are responsible for what their kids eat. If the government wants to help, then it could encourage nutrition education in the classroom, since that helps individuals make informed choices. But setting limits on what types of food are available completely undermines the concept of individual responsibility.

I can imagine what life would be like if the government started regulating what people could eat. "You are not allowed to eat a hamburger today - you have to eat tofu. And because of last year's Farm legislation, tomorrow you will have to eat two portions of corn." Can you imagine living life like that?

Fun with government

2008-05-16T00:52:00.004-04:00

Well, I managed to resolve my issues with Arlington County. I had to research Virginia's vehicle laws in order to find my answer, and once I cited the appropriate section of Virginia's vehicle code, Arlington County was satisfied. It is amazing how much easier the Internet has made researching legal issues. Twenty years ago it would have taken me hours, if not days, sitting in a library trying to find an answer like that. (Of course, twenty years ago I would have been in high school, and wouldn't have had to deal with anything like this.) Now it only takes an hour or two entering search terms into online government portals, sitting in the comfort of home.

As much as it was difficult dealing with Arlington County, it could have been much worse. There was a news story yesterday about how a one year old baby was issued a subpoena to appear in court. The court ended up dismissing the subpoena, but it takes quite a bit of human error to issue a subpoena to a baby. Of course, this happened in Virginia...

Arlington County strikes again

2008-05-12T20:41:00.002-04:00

Living a commuter life between two different states is not easy, and involves a lot of attention to detail. I have been very careful to follow all the rules in keeping my legal domicile in Michigan while working in Virginia. This has meant a complicated tax situation, including paying the trolls at the People's Republic of Arlington for annual personal property taxes on my car. And now life has just gotten more interesting. The County of Arlington has an ordinance that allows it to fine vehicle owners $100 per year if their car is not properly licensed. Recently, they have decided to interpret that as meaning that any car with out of state plates is not properly licensed, and thus must pay the fine with their annual property taxes. Basically it's a tax on all of the commuters from out of state. So much for equal protection under the law. I'm sure a Federal Court would find Arlington's stance unconstitutional, but it would cost far more than a hundred dollars to challenge it.

Of course, because I am a Michigan resident, Michigan law requires me to have my car registered in the State of Michigan. If I were to register my car in Virginia as a non-resident in order to get Virginia plates, I would be committing a misdemeanor the second I drove back home. As I have no desire to abandon my home in Michigan and establish a domicile in Virginia, it looks like I will be stuck paying the folks in Arlington another $100 per year.

Digging deeper into debt

2008-05-04T23:19:00.002-04:00

Last week, the IRS started the process of sending out economic stimulus payments to US taxpayers. Usually, I would be happy at the thought of getting "free money". Unfortunately, I see the stimulus checks as being terrible economic policy. The US government is deeply in debt, with out of control spending, and the government is digging deeper into debt to send these stimulus checks out. It is equivalent to an individual with maxed out credit cards taking a cash advance to buy himself (or herself) something nice just to feel good. That individual will eventually have to repay that debt, and in the same way, the taxpayers are now on the hook to repay this "stimulus".

The theory behind the stimulus is that taxpayers will use the money to continue their behavior of consumption. With an extra $600 in hand, taxpayers might buy big screen televisions, spend it on vacations, or perhaps just use it to fill their gas tanks for the next two months. These purchases would theoretically reduce financial pressures facing businesses, and depending on how much you believe in supply-side economics, might come close to generating tax revenues equivalent to the stimulus package.

The problem is, US consumers are up to their eyeballs in debt. Many are behind on their credit cards and mortgage payments. So it is possible that a significant percentage of people will just apply the money to existing debts in order to avoid debt collectors or foreclosures. Others will save the money away in order to just survive this recession. In the event that consumers take the fiscally prudent approach, the stimulus will not generate significant amounts of increased business or tax revenue, and US taxpayers will be sitting on an additional $160 billion of debt. It is ironic that the economic stimulus only works if US consumers continue with their unsustainable spending.

The stimulus package would be less objectionable if the government had reduced spending to cover at least half the cost of the package, perhaps with the hope that supply-side economics would took care of the remaining half. It would also be completely different if both the deficit and the overall debt were not excessive. The projected deficit for 2008 will be $410 billion, and the debt as of today is $9.34 trillion dollars. Even assuming a GDP for 2008 of $14.1 trillion dollars (BEA value), the deficit to GDP ratio is 2.9%. While theoretically, short term deficits are not the end of the world, with Social Security digging into the red in 2017, we can't afford to be digging ourselves deeper into debt right now.

From deserts to beaches

2008-04-29T00:46:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I went out hiking at Joshua Tree National Park. It was my first time hiking in desert conditions, and while the weather was pretty nice, I made sure to bring lots of water and sunscreen. It was an interesting park, with conditions ranging from almost completely barren, to beautiful patches of desert plants in full bloom. The Joshua Tree is a very unusual tree, as it is a member of the Lily family as opposed to a traditional tree family. The tree is fairly rare, appearing mostly within the Mojave Desert at higher elevations.

I have posted the pictures from my trip to Joshua Tree National Park online here.

After I was finished with my conference sessions today, I went driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. I took some pictures along the beach about half an hour before sunset.

Sunny in California

2008-04-27T00:15:00.002-04:00

Today, I flew out to California from Virginia. I connected through Minneapolis for the second time in a week, and my inbound flight was late. I was a little worried about having to stay overnight in Minnesota, given that it was cold with a little bit of snow. I had packed for California, and didn't have anything warm with me. Thankfully, I just barely made my flight, and continued out to Anaheim where the weather was a balmy eighty-seven degrees.

Tomorrow, I plan on going hiking out at the Joshua Tree National Park, which is about two hours west of here. The park is a desert environment in the mountains, so this will be a bit of a new experience. Hopefully, I will be able to get some good pictures while I am there.

Trip to Colorado

2008-04-22T23:51:00.002-04:00

I was out visiting Colorado this past weekend, and went hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park. Despite being fairly warm in Denver, the weather was very cold and windy up in the mountains. I went hiking out from Bear Lake to Emerald Lake, and progress was a little slow due to deep snow on parts of the trail. I had not expected that I might need snowshoes at the end of April. I had a great time hiking, although I managed to get a decent sunburn. Sunscreen is always important at ten thousand feet above sea level.

The sky towards the north was a beautiful dark blue.

The wind was kicking up snow off the peaks, and blew through the valley near Emerald Lake. Emerald Lake is underneath all of the snow in the valley.

I thought that this tree looked particularly interesting.

A bird landed in a tree right next to me, and posed for a picture.

These rock formations are an interesting contrast to the rugged features of the rest of the park.

Doing a lot of nothing

2008-04-13T21:56:00.002-04:00

After having had several weeks of non-stop activity, this weekend was a little different in that I was able to take the weekend completely off. The weather was a bit dreary, and I contemplated getting a few hours of work done. But instead, I decided to actually sit back and relax. For the most part, this meant sleeping in, watching TV, and surfing the web. I think I watched more TV yesterday than I have in total over the past two months. I can't say that the quality of the TV watching was all that great, but it was nice to just zone out.

Next weekend, I am taking a long weekend and heading out to Colorado. My nephew is having his baptism next Sunday, and so the family is gathering together for the event. I will arrive out there a little early, and go hiking in the mountains on Friday. I am hoping that I get a fair number of good pictures while I am out there, since my picture collection has been a little limited of late.

The "Blueprint" for a disaster

2008-04-08T21:12:00.005-04:00

On March 31, the US Treasury Department announced a plan to overhaul the regulatory structure of US financial markets. A detailed description of the plan (called the "Blueprint") can be found here. One of main features of the plan is that it shifts a significant amount of regulatory authority from various government agencies and concentrates them in the Federal Reserve. In addition, the plan would give additional regulatory authority to the Federal Reserve. While the goal of streamlining the regulatory process is admirable, adding additional regulatory oversight to the government has significant risks. Unfortunately, the single most important problem with the plan is the goal of transferring regulatory authority to the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve is an independent central bank that is not part of the Executive Branch.¹ While it receives some oversight from Congress, there is little that Congress can do to the Federal Reserve other than passing legislation. This approach is meant to minimize the effect of politics on monetary policy. Minimizing political effects on monetary policy is valuable, since it provides for a much more stable banking system. Unfortunately, regulation is a different activity. How regulation is applied is often an inherently political activity. If the voters want to force a change on how the Federal Reserve regulates the markets, they do not have the capability to vote for new members of the Board of Governors. Instead, voters would have to petition Congress to write new legislation - and hope that the Federal Reserve properly implements it.

Regulation of the financial markets should remain within the confines of the Executive Branch, based on clear legislation provided by Congress. Concentrating significant regulatory power in an organization that is not directly answerable to the citizens of the United States is a recipe for disaster.

March draws to a close

2008-03-30T14:05:00.003-04:00

The month of March has been pretty busy for me. I have had several work projects that have kept me busy, and on top of that, I have had lots of little things that have been vying for my time. I did manage to get out and enjoy the day yesterday, and went out hiking on the Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls. The weather was a little chilly from a DC perspective, although it would have been quite normal in Michigan.

A scary bedtime story

2008-03-18T11:45:00.002-04:00

As if the current financial mess is not enough, this Washington Post article reminds us that the long-term financial mess is just beginning. Social Security will start spending more than it takes in sometime between 2015 and 2020, depending on which of Social Security's estimate models you use. The raw data from Social Security's 2007 OASDI Report can be found here. The concept that Social Security has a "trust fund" (shown as "assets" in the SSA data) is a shell game, since the money would have to come out of the main Federal budget.

The following graph is from the same report, and is based on their "intermediate" cost model. The intersection between the blue line (income excluding interest) and the red line (costs) is the point at which costs will exceed incoming taxes. Worse, if the economy ends up in a multi-year recession, payrolls will decrease, which means that the day of reckoning for Social Security will be here even sooner.