House Republicans Leaders Refuse to Bring Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill to a Vote

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For comparison, $64 billion was allocated for Katrina in 10 days.

Shame.

House Leaders Draw Ire for Dropping Sandy Relief Package

House Republicans have reversed their pledge to take up an emergency aid bill this week for states devastated by Superstorm Sandy. The move potentially leaves the $60 billion aid package to die at the end of the legislative session Thursday.

The House was expected to consider the bill today but dropped it following lengthy talks on the "fiscal cliff." The decision drew harsh condemnation from both sides of the aisle.

Republican Rep. Michael Grimm of Staten Island — one of the areas hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy — said, "It is with an extremely heavy heart that I stand here almost in disbelief and somewhat ashamed." Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York blasted his colleagues for failing to take urgent action.

"Hurricane Sandy struck on October 29th, eight, nine weeks ago. It’s unprecedented that it should take so long. I can understand — I would not sympathize, but I can understand — with members who might say the amount requested is too much, we should change it, we should quibble with it, we should debate it.

Fine. But to ignore it, to ignore the plight of millions of American citizens? Unprecedented, disgusting, unworthy of the leadership of this House. They should reconsider, or they should hang their heads in shame, Mr. Speaker."

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - 'Why the American People Hate Congress'

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The metals had a nice run higher, but gold was capped below 1700 and silver at 31.

Aside from the phony fiscal cliff, nothing has changed.

I am sure Chris Christie speaks for quite a few Americans as he slammed the Republican leadership of the House for their irresponsible inaction and duplicity.

I wondered if Governor Christie, and the people of his state and of New York, were being spanked for his walking the devastated cities and beaches with Obama in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. No one likes to be Katrina'd. If so, Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor are even lower than I had imagined. I prefer to think that they are not malicious, just arrogant and detached from the common people whom they serve.

"It is why the American people hate the Congress."

I don't think anyone should 'hate' anyone else. Perhaps it would be better to say that this is why the Congress has historically low approval ratings of around ten percent. And they don't seem to care while they are getting paid by serving wealthy benefactors.

Does the government of Greece care what the people think? Egypt? Ireland? Spain? Join the club.

Some of the Congress should be encouraged to find productive employment elsewhere. And the method by which they are paid and funded needs serious reform.

C. S. Lewis: On Hatred, and the Blinding Power of Extremism

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“Now that I come to think of it, I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions, but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner.

For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life—namely myself.

However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.

Consequently, Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word of what we have said about them needs to be unsaid.

But it does want us to hate them in the same way in which we hate things in ourselves: being sorry that the man should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that somehow, sometime, somewhere, he can be cured and made human again.

The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out.

Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that,' or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible?

If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils.

You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black.

Finally we shall insist on seeing everything -- God and our friends and ourselves included -- as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

FDR: Advice to Young Progressives

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It is interesting to compare Franklin Roosevelt's advice to the Young Democrats of his day, to the actions and politicies of the present Democratic President.

"From the beginning, democracy has meant progress and its battle ever since Jefferson's time has been a steady conflict with the forces of reaction and special favors. Every time the policies involving greater opportunities for the common man have triumphed, our political enemies have sought to minimize those policies and to neutralize the decisions of the people. Today is no exception to that classical course of events.

Uniformly the party of Nicholas Biddle of Jackson's time, of Quay and Hanna of the Cleveland era and of the Theodore Roosevelt period has bowed to the progressive wing to the extent of pretending accord with the objectives of the progressive administrations but has found fault with the methods requisite for putting and keeping these principles at work.

Uniformly have they appealed to such elements in our own party as dreaded the departure from ancient habits or were responsive to the powerful agencies that financed and controlled local politics. Probably the hoariest story of corruption in American elections is the history of those monied magnates who contributed vastly to the campaigns of candidates of both parties with the idea that they could continue control regardless of the way which the political cat jumped.

Just as there are progressives in the Republican ranks, so there are reactionaries in our own party. Political affiliation is often the child of hereditary principles, begotten in the first instance of issues of terrific importance in the beginning but which have no more significance at present than the inflamed controversy of a century and a half ago as to whether the Capital of the United States should be at Washington or somewhere on the Monongahela River.

Always has it been the aim of the enemies of liberalism to seek to attach to themselves such members of our party. Sometimes they have succeeded; sometimes they have failed.

When they have succeeded they have not infrequently been successful in their efforts to supplant a Democratic administration with a Republican administration. Such happenings, though they have brought dismay for a period, have not sufficed to stop the general and inevitable movement to make our country a better country for all of us rather than to make it a lush pasture for the seekers and holders of privilege.

Every Democratic Administration has left a progressive mark on our own history and has influenced world progress as well. But when it has been succeeded by a typically Republican Administration, progress has slipped backwards—sometimes a few feet and often many miles. It has been said that a great many voters today want us as a nation to stop, look and listen. What they fail to understand is that nations cannot stand still because by the very act of standing still, the rest of the procession, moving forward, inevitably leaves them in the rear. Therefore, their desire to stand still actually means moving backward in relation to the rest of the world.

Republican and Democratic reactionaries want to undo what we have accomplished in these last few years and return to the unrestricted individualism of the previous century· Republican and Democratic conservatives admit that all of our recent policies are not wrong and that many of them should be retained-but their eyes are on the present; they give no thought for the future and thus, without meaning to, are failing to solve even current social and economic problems by declining to consider the needs of tomorrow. Radicals of all kinds have some use to humanity because they have at least the imagination to think up many kinds of answers to problems even though their answers are wholly impracticable of fulfillment in the immediate future.

Liberals on the other hand are those who, unlike the radicals who want to tear up everything by the roots and plant new and untried seeds, desire to use the existing plants of civilization, to select the best of them, to water them and make them grow-not only for the present use of mankind, but also for the use of generations to come. That is why I call myself a liberal, and that is why, even if we go by the modern contraption of polls of public opinion, an overwhelming majority of younger men and women throughout the United States are on the liberal side of things.

In considering the present and the future of American politics or policies, you have the right and the duty to say to those who want to stand still—Have you no program other than standing still? We are not satisfied if you tell us glibly that you believe in taking care of old people, that you want the young people to have jobs, that you want everybody to have a job, that you believe in a fairer distribution of wealth—we insist in addition that you give us specifications of how you would do it if you were in power."

Do not let the reactionaries and the conservatives get away with fine phrases. Pin them down and make them tell you just how they would do it.

The Democratic Party will fail if it goes conservative next year, or if it is led by people who can offer naught but fine phrases.

Last Winter, in speaking at the Jackson Day Dinner, I referred to the sad state the country would be in if it had to choose between a Democratic Tweedle Dum and a Republican Tweedle Dee. I want to amend that simile, so let me put it this way: The Democratic Party will not survive as an effective force in the nation if the voters have to choose between a Republican Tweedle Dum and a Democratic Tweedle Dummer.

If we nominate conservative candidates, or lip-service candidates, on a straddle bug platform, I personally, for my own self respect and because of my long service to and belief in, liberal democracy, will find it impossible to have any active part in such an unfortunate suicide of the old Democratic Party.

I do not anticipate that any such event will take place, for I believe that the Convention will see the political wisdom, as well as the national wisdom, of giving to the voters of the United States an opportunity to maintain the practice and the policy of moving forward with a liberal and humanitarian program. A large part of the responsibility for such a choice of fundamental policies lies in the hands and in the heads of the younger men and women of the nation. Be vigilant to keep Tories from controlling your own ranks—just as vigilant as you will be to keep Tory Republicans from controlling your own nation."

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Advice to the Convention of Young Democratic Clubs of America, August 8, 1939

Unfettered Capitalism and the Great Crash of 1929

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“The man who is admired for the ingenuity of his larceny is almost always rediscovering some earlier form of fraud. The basic forms are all known, have all been practiced.

The manners of capitalism improve. The morals may not...

When the modern corporation acquires power over markets, power in the community, power over the state and power over belief, it is a political instrument, different in degree but not in kind from the state itself. To hold otherwise — to deny the political character of the modern corporation — is not merely to avoid the reality. It is to disguise the reality.

The victims of that disguise are those we instruct in error. The beneficiaries are the institutions whose power we so disguise. Let there be no question: economics, so long as it is thus taught, becomes, however unconsciously, a part of the arrangement by which the citizen or student is kept from seeing how he or she is, or will be, governed...

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.”

John Kenneth Galbraith

"To allow the market mechanism to be sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment, indeed, even of the amount and use of purchasing power, would result in the demolition of society.

For the alleged commodity "labor power" cannot be shoved about, used indiscriminately, or even left unused, without affecting also the human individual who happens to be the bearer of this peculiar commodity. In disposing of a man's labor power the system would, incidentally, dispose of the physical, psychological, and moral entity "man" attached to that tag.

Robbed of the protective covering of cultural institutions, human beings would perish from the effects of social exposure; they would die as the victims of acute social dislocation through vice, perversion, crime, and starvation.

Nature would be reduced to its elements, neighborhoods and landscapes defiled, rivers polluted, military safety jeopardized, the power to produce food and raw materials destroyed...

Undoubtedly, labor, land, and money markets are essential to a market economy. But no society could stand the effects of such a system of crude fictions even for the shortest stretch of time unless its human and natural substance, as well as its business organization, was protected against the ravages of this satanic mill."

Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, 1944

Why A German Pilot Escorted An American Bomber To Safety During World War II

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Once in a while, you hear an old war story that restores your faith in humanity. Usually it involves a moment of quiet in the midst of chaos; some singing or the sharing of a few condiments. But how many of them take place in mid air?

This is the remarkable story of a crippled American bomber spared by a German fighter pilot. After the two planes' pilots had a mid-air moment of understanding, it didn't seem likely that they'd ever see one another again. Only they did, and became closer than brothers. Make sure you watch the video in the article.

Why I'm mad at Mike Daisey

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I saw "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" in October and I had my doubts about how much of it was true as I was sitting in my seat at the Public Theater in New York. (Which I noted in my review.)

It was clear to me that Mike Daisey was delivering a performance with his monologue. The way his voice would rise and fall, the quotes and scenarios that seemed too perfect, it smacked of acting, not delivering a speech. And that made me wonder how much of his story about traveling to China and talking to workers who assemble Apple products was embellished. After all, we're paying $80 for a ticket and we want drama, emotion, conflict.

I also couldn't believe that the workers at the Foxconn plant were so eager to talk to him, through an interpreter. China is, after all, a repressive, totalitarian country. Daisey doesn't speak the language, doesn't know the culture. But as I said at the time, he's a performer not a journalist and he's allowed to take artistic liberties. Despite my reservations, I found the piece compelling.

So I wasn't surprised when the radio program This American Life, which had aired an excerpt of Daisey's show, announced last week that parts of it were fabricated. Quotes and some of the things Daisey said he saw on his trip to China were made up. I can't say that I felt let down because I wasn't totally taken in by it in the first place.

But then I found my program from the Public Theater and saw something that I'd forgotten. It says, in big, bold letters, that The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs "is a work of nonfiction." Which clearly, it wasn't. That made me mad. He willfully misled his audience. And it wasn't necessary. With a little more effort and ingenuity, he could have written just as compelling a piece but made it truthful. On top of everything, he's guilty of lazy writing.

Then today, reading Daisey's response made me even angrier. Instead of taking responsibility it appears that he's trying to turn the tables, to shift the discussion from his work in a way that I find offensive.

He seems to think that by focusing on the deceptions in his monologue, we're being drawn away from the larger and more important question of how workers in China are treated. But he couldn't leave it at that. He chastises us for what he perceives as our moral failing. "If you think this story is bigger than that story, something is wrong with your priorities."

Well excuse me but I'm capable of doing both - being concerned about the conditions for workers AND the fallout from the lies in Daisey's monologue. I really resent his sanctimonious attitude. I'm not the one who sat in front of an audience, told them in the program that what they were about to hear was true and then lied.

I guess now, I feel less inclined to give Mike Daisey any more of my time or money.

If you want to learn something about Apple's manufacturing plants in China or the company's history and culture, I recommend stories from The New York Times and Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. Both are authoritative and insightful.

President Obama's "We Shall Overcome" moment on gay marriage

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President Obama finally had his "We Shall Overcome" moment today when he endorsed the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry the person they love.

Congratulations, Mr. President. It's about time. 

Forty-seven years ago, President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to introduce the Voting Rights Act. He talked about the efforts of black Americans to secure for themselves "the full blessings of American life." He said, "Their cause must be our cause, too." He even invoked the words of the civil-rights anthem, "And we shall overcome."

The president's remarks today saying that he believes same-sex couples should be able to get married were not as dramatic or momentous as Johnson's a generation earlier. Made during an interview with ABC News, they lacked the eloquence of a prepared speech.

There was no mention of repealing the odious Defense of Marriage Act. He didn't vow to fight for same-sex marriage. His deference to the states on the matter was a bit troubling. (States' rights, did that not ring a bell for anyone at the White House?)

Yet despite all of that his words, based on his own experiences and his religious convictions, sounded sincere. I like that he mentioned the Golden Rule: Treat others as you want to be treated. And they are powerful for the way they frame the debate. The president finally figured out how to use the White House as a bully pulpit.

It's practically impossible today for any straight American to say that they don't know a gay person. They are our friends, our family, our teachers, our colleagues, our loved ones, our neighbors.

As President Obama said, they are members of his staff, people in committed relationships. They are soldiers and sailors fighting on his behalf. Their children are friends with his daughters. The president of the United States made the issue personal. There are people in his life who are gay and lesbian. And he doesn't see any reason why they should not be allowed to get married.

Anyone - and by that I mean my fellow straight Americans - who cares about this country becoming a more equal place for all of its citizens has a stake in this. The president's comments don't change anything but they push homophobia and anti-gay rhetoric a little further to the fringes of American society - where they belong.

A couple of years ago, Frank Rich wrote in The New York Times that as more people have come out of the closet, we've learned about those in our lives who are gay. "It is hard to deny our own fundamental rights to those we know, admire and love."

I believe that with all of my heart. Today, I'm proud that my president believes it as well and was not hesitant to say it. Their cause must be our cause, too. That statement rings as true today as it did in 1965.

I Found the Cloud - It's Over Here

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I don't usually like to go on rants - but I watched a video tonight from a local news station that simply pushed me over the edge as far as what the general public thinks this magical, mystery "cloud" thing is. I know I am a techie, and live and breathe this stuff, but come on......


KXAS reports on an AT&T data center that is referred to as this newfangled thing people call "the cloud". You get on those "computer screen thingy's" and what you see on your screen 'somehow' comes from this "cloud".

Further observations:

Title of the article: "Take a peek inside the AT&T data center that's home to a big chunk of the web".

Whoa.... slow down there.... what's this 'web' thing, I thought it was about a cloud? How much exactly is a 'big chunk'?

"It's the electronic brain behind things like....."

I thought Google was our third brain? So it must be like the Wizard, behind the curtain.

"without it millions of businesses would grind to a halt. Millions of customers would be cut-off from services they can't live without"

... as they show nothing but 3 different ways to check your Facebook page.

"We wanted to show you the James Bond style door we passed through - no chance."

A prox-card to get in a cage? Man, here I've always wanted to be like James Bond and I HAVE been every day at work. I even have biometrics that I have to pass through!

From the article: ".... so secret, we can't even tell you where it is. We can say it is somewhere in North Texas"

Ok -- it's just a guess, but.... 900 Venture Dr., in Allen, Texas. Using the information from the video -- 8 generators and 5 chillers I go to this cloud thing and a map web site and type in "AT&T texas". I come upon a site in Allen Texas, turn on the satellite view and get this:


View Larger Map

8 generators, 5 chillers.



Enjoy

View more videos at: http://www.nbcdfw.com.

TechWise TV Tours Cisco's Allen, Texas Data Center

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Last week Cisco released a really nice TechWise TV tour of their new Allen, Texas data center. First of all - Kudos to Cisco for explaining this level of detail about their new designs. Although much of what they showcase as cutting edge design methods are just that - they are things I've seen recently pop up in a number of other presentations about new data centers being built by Colo's, REIT's, etc. Extra credit to Cisco for making it a 720p video :)
I always notice the brands used within the data center, and as such, here is what I saw in their video:

• Panduit cabinet infrastructure products
• Eaton power equipment
• Omni-ID products used for RFID tracking of equipment
• Trane Chillers
• Dolphin Water Care - water treatment
• EuroDiesel

They have created this interactive tour as well to walk through the various components of the data center.

The Silver Fox: Vivacious Variant of Vulpes Vulpes

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image credit

Many people think the silver fox is a species related to the red fox. But they are the same species. The silver fox looks so different to the red because of something called melanism. Effectively, this is the opposite of albinism - it is the development of a dark pigment in the skin or fur of animals.

So, although a silver fox may look like a visiting relative it is still the Vulpes vulpes that we see more regularly in its red form. However, the rarity of this melanistic mutation has meant that throughout history the silver fox has been even more persecuted than its red counterpart.

Mapping The Census: A Dot For Every Person

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Brandon Martin-Anderson, a graduate student at MIT's Changing Places lab, was tired of seeing maps of U.S. population density cluttered by roads, bridges, county borders and other impediments. Fortunately for us, he has the technological expertise to transform block data from the 2010 Census into points on a map. One point per person, and nothing else.

You can see the map here.

Top 10 Reasons Why We Know The Earth Is Round

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The concept of a spherical Earth dates back to ancient Greek philosophy from around the 6th century BC, but remained a matter of philosophical speculation until the 3rd century BC when Hellenistic astronomy established the spherical shape of the earth as a physical given. The Hellenistic paradigm was gradually adopted throughout the Old World during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.



YouTube link

I Found the Cloud - It's Over Here

To contact us Click HERE
I don't usually like to go on rants - but I watched a video tonight from a local news station that simply pushed me over the edge as far as what the general public thinks this magical, mystery "cloud" thing is. I know I am a techie, and live and breathe this stuff, but come on......


KXAS reports on an AT&T data center that is referred to as this newfangled thing people call "the cloud". You get on those "computer screen thingy's" and what you see on your screen 'somehow' comes from this "cloud".

Further observations:

Title of the article: "Take a peek inside the AT&T data center that's home to a big chunk of the web".

Whoa.... slow down there.... what's this 'web' thing, I thought it was about a cloud? How much exactly is a 'big chunk'?

"It's the electronic brain behind things like....."

I thought Google was our third brain? So it must be like the Wizard, behind the curtain.

"without it millions of businesses would grind to a halt. Millions of customers would be cut-off from services they can't live without"

... as they show nothing but 3 different ways to check your Facebook page.

"We wanted to show you the James Bond style door we passed through - no chance."

A prox-card to get in a cage? Man, here I've always wanted to be like James Bond and I HAVE been every day at work. I even have biometrics that I have to pass through!

From the article: ".... so secret, we can't even tell you where it is. We can say it is somewhere in North Texas"

Ok -- it's just a guess, but.... 900 Venture Dr., in Allen, Texas. Using the information from the video -- 8 generators and 5 chillers I go to this cloud thing and a map web site and type in "AT&T texas". I come upon a site in Allen Texas, turn on the satellite view and get this:


View Larger Map

8 generators, 5 chillers.



Enjoy

View more videos at: http://www.nbcdfw.com.