Knell of Doom

Last week the first baby boomer applied for social security.

People may play politics all they want but the iron laws of mathematics cannot be toyed with. In the next decades more money will go out of the social security fund than comes in. Much more. If the politicians can't make provisions now, then how will they ever be able to do it in the future?

We need to note that the Democrats in particular have blocked any reforms. They may become known in history as the party that created social security in the twentieth century and destroyed it in the twenty-first century.

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Pictured: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935.

What Is This Kyoto Treaty Thing?

Can somebody please explain to me what the big deal is with the Kyoto Treaty on global warming? One of the first things George Bush did was to come out against it. He did a trip to Europe in 2001 (before 9-11) and was roundly denounced for it. Afterwards, a funny thing happenned. The obvious question was posed . Why hadn't any of the other countries ratified it?

Before Bush there was Clinton. The treaty had come up for a vote in the US Senate. It was unanimously voted down. This always struck me as a significant fact. Every Democrat had voted NO on the treaty. AND no other nation had ratified it.

After the Bush European trip, where all those politicians had bashed Bush and America for the attention of all those voters back home, European ratification became an issue. So, they had a big meeting in Vienna (rather than just going ahead and ratifying it). There they added a little clause at the end of the treaty. "None of this is legaly binding." Then they ratified it.

This has always struck me as a significant addition. Since then the announcement by one nation or another that they will fail to meet their Kyoto targets has been a routine part of the news.

So, what's the big deal with this Kyoto Treaty thing?

Don't Sue God

because he might answer back! This is a funny story in the news that I thought I'd share with you.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/ ... 3986.shtml

This guy in Nebraska - Nebraska! - Aren't they level-headed in Nebraska? This story belongs in California. Anyway this guy in Nebraska sues God. Wants a court order to make Him stop world suffering or something like that. Says he just wants to make a point. But then God answers back. The court official says that His papers just "miraculously appeared" on the desk. - In keeping with the spirit of the story, no doubt. So now, the plaintiff has an actual lawsuit on his hands!

Jay Leno opined that this lawsuit is very unfair to God. God is in heaven. Where in heaven is He going to find a lawyer?

Religeon vs. Science?

May I suggest a little humility from both sides. Claims of knowledge on the part of science - especially as to what is known about the origin of the universe - are being made which way over reach what is actually known and are belied by the frequent changes in the theories.

As for religeon, I think that we ought to take the Bible literally unless there is significant scientific evidence to the contrary. It seems pretty clear to me that the Bible was not intended to have the scientific exactitude for dating that us moderns are used to. Mankind's very concept of time has evolved since ancient days.

To be fair here, today's aggressors do seem to come from not from science itself but from left-wingers who use science to advance an anti-Christian agenda. Creationism controversies in the news have wanted to include "intelligent design" as well as evolution in the schools. The other side has wanted only their own views taught. Even despite their lack of tolerance for the other side's point of view, the evolutionists would still have my sympathy if only they weren't so militant about it.

Here is an interesting article about the latest developments in this area from science's point of view.

Wonders of the World

7 new Wonders to match the 7 original wonders. A private group conducted a global poll. People voted, American Idol style. It seems a little interesting as it reflects opinions on such things. As much as I worship Jesus Christ, the statue in Rio hardly ranks as humanities greatest accomplishments. Other entrants were similar. So many for Latin America, so many for the Middle Ease, and so on.

Here is the newest list. This is from the National Geographic.

• Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Great Wall of China
• The Colosseum, Rome, Italy
• Petra, Jordan
• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Chichén Itzá, Mexico
• Taj Mahal, India
• The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
• The Colossus of Rhodes, Greece
• The Lighthouse of Alexandra, Egypt
• The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece
• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq
• The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Turkey
• The Temple of Artemis, Turkey

Just wonder why the Voyager* didn’t make it. Imagine standing in New York and hitting a golf ball to a hole in Los Angeles and scoring a hole-in-one. That was Voyager. One can think of a number of fantastic things mankind has accomplished in recent centuries.
As for the original wonders of the ancients, for the technology of their day, they really were Wonders of the World. The Colossus of Rhodes is an excellent example.

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* Voyager is the name of the spacecraft that flew by the outer planets and eventually left the solar system entirely.

Will Big Business Pacify the Clash of Cultures?

Here's an interesting article from the London Times about the world situation.

One theory about the clash of cultures such as Islam and The West is that religeous and ethnic ties are so strong that they drive groups of people apart. This articles factors in economic issues.

This kind of reminds me of the border states in the US Civil War. In the pre-war years, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were strongly pro-south and pro-slavery. Yet, when the war came and the chips were down, they sided with the Union.

Kentucky was especially interesting. A Confederate invasion in 1862 gave it every opportunity to side with the South. But for them, with the Ohio River to the north and the Mississippi River to the west, the economic ties to the northern states neutralized the pro-southern leanings. Other states further south didn't have that geographical proximity.

Now days, geographical proximity isn't as important to economic inter-dependence. So that's the direction policy should go: create more economic inter-dependence. The article doesn't mention that this was Kissinger's general strategy in the 1970's.

One byproduct of this thesis, is that free trade policies would be more desirable than protectionism.

Another Nutty Lawsuit

And this one's even worse than the last one. (The Cheeseburger Guy.)

This time a guy is suing his florist. He bought some flowers and the florist sent a thank you note to his home thanking him for his business. The wife called and asked the florist to fax over the receipt and the details of the transaction. The florist's employee did. Big deal?

The note accompanying the flowers said, "Just wanted to say that I love you and you mean the world to me! Leroy." Well, it turns out that the flowers went to old Leroy's girlfriend instead of his wife. Big deal now!

Leroy is suing for $1 million dollars for mental anguish and for the additional amount he expects he will have to pay his wife in the divorce* - because she found out he was cheating on her. He believes that this is the florist's fault, not his.

The florist's spoksman offered this lame defense: "We are not responsible for our customer's conduct." Clearly, the poor spokesman it totally out of touch with the world of modern litigation.

More details about the case here.

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* Did I mention that his wife is divorcing him? His wife is divorcing him.

Yet ANOTHER Big Bucks Lawsuit

In this litigation happy society, these kind of lawsuits come up all the time. Lawsuits where someone does something stupid and gets hurt. Rather than just chalking it up to one of life’s lessons, they find someone else to blame. Someone who has deep pockets, for choice.

Remember the lady who spilled some hot coffee on herself? Even though the cup plainly was marked “Extra Hot”? She sued McDonalds and got millions.

Yesterday, another guy sued McDonalds for giving him a cheeseburger. Turns out he is allergic to cheese. He wants $10 million.

According to the lawsuit he ordered his quarter-pounder without cheese and then, “From this point forward, Mr. Jackson repeatedly asked as to the status of his food and whether it had no cheese, and took multiple preventive steps to assure his food did not contain cheese." When he got the burger, he bit into it, tasted cheese, and had to make an emergency run to the hospital where he almost died.

Too bad that the “multiple preventive steps” he took did not include LIFTING THE BUN OFF THE HAMBURGER TO CHECK IT BEFORE BITING INTO IT!!

While we all sympathize with people with severe food allergies, we wonder why the whole rest of the world is responsible except for the actual person himself?

Anyway, McDonalds probably doesn’t have to worry about this one because anybody who behaves the way this plaintiff claims he behaved in this affair and faced the consequences he claimed he faced, probably won’t live long enough to get to trial.

More details here.