For a government setting the level of how much to regulate is seen, on the right as something of a tighrope, and on the left, mostly as something which is required but which has little if any downside … the only question for them is how much and will it be enough to do what they hope (if not of course, more will be needed). This is unfortunate because, there is a very significant downside to setting to high of a regulatory burden, namely it can slow or in some cases completly stifle growth. First off, a little clarfication is needed. The term regulation can be widely interpreted as any government law or prescription. Some regulations then, might be conducive to growth like the regulations establishing tech corridors, which can by local proximity allow synergies to develop between neighboring firms. The common meaning of regulations when discussed in the context of business and growth are restrictions and rules of conduct and practice and licensing requirements. This latter meaning is the one I will adhere to in the following. I should also make clear that there are other private and government protocols which are similar to regulations, but not the sort of thing I mean to discuss here. Those protocols (sometimes government enforced, but more often (?) just agreed upon by industry groups) also are called standards. Standard voltages, connectors, or other specifications (consider the plethora of Internet RFCs for examples). These are protocols which when enforced by law and the government are (again) by definition regulations but serve a different purpose. They are different in kind from emmision limits, testing requirements, minimum price/wage laws, and so on. Read the rest of this entry

Good morning. So, what do y’all prefer, normal (~ a sentence or fragment), brief (one-two words), or extended comments with my links? Or should I more regularly mix it up?

1. CZ factory. I noted before I’m thinking of picking up a 9mm pistol … some reviews put the CZ and Bereta at the top of their list.
2. Purple. Not purple. 
3. Unhappy with a former President, noted here and here. “Unhappy” may be putting it a bit mildly.
4. Praise for a former President.
5. A faith journey.
6. Touch the sky.
7. A prediction on the future of liberalism. 
8. Our current President and relations with the press.
9. Environment or redistribution?
10. About them big oil profits.
11. Smash! Bang! Booom!
12. Are you too amazed CBS would play this?
13. SpaceX and its future.
14. One perspective on the Catholic position on contraception and abortion.

Good morning. Well, yesterday I went for brevity. Today, the reverse.

1. Well, a book suggested for reading on healthcare. It seems obvious to me at least that two of the thesis noted at the start are correct, that governemnt invovlement in healthcare over the last century is the primary cause of the cost increases … and that the notion that the government can spend my money more wisely than I is indeed the crux of the ideological divide. I think that last part misses the other half of the “my money” division … in which the reason in which the left thinks that the “rich” should be taxed at whatever rate they can manage is because they believe the rich came by their money dishonestly. If they felt that the rich got their money through their talents and hard work … they’d be less inclined to tax them differently than anyone else.
2. Oil. Hmm, Obama is shutting down yet more domestic drilling and exploration. I think this is like the other week where Mr Obama in his budget rebuttal to Mr Ryan stated clearly in the opening that we can’t solve our problems by cutting out waste … and his of the four primary means at which he offered to attack our deficit one of the primary ones was (you guessed it) cutting out waste. And, now that gas prices are high he decides the solution is cutting down on the domestic supply as aggressively as he can manage and going after “waste and fraud” in the oil industry. This has been said before and had little effect. If the Democrats want to claim he’s a really smart guy. What is their evidence? ‘Cause he keeps doing really really stupid things.
3. Birtherism? Why now? asks Mr Schraub (as a side note when I read this I’m confused as to whom the “pathological liar” is meant to be, it could be interpreted as either Trump or Obama. I’d go with both). Why did he prolong this. I think he thought it was to his advantage. Why turn now? But for the question of how? Here’s a suggestion, it’s part of the Rush plan done the Obama way.
4. On that topic, it is claimed “everywhere” (that is lots and lots of people) claim this won’t turn any “birther’s” opinion cause it “wasn’t based on reality anyway.” This one turned, and I’d have to say I think the polls about the numbers of the “birthers” in the GOP are likely way off. Take a straw poll of your GOP friends. See if 1 in 3 or 1 in 2 is a reasonable number … not by any count of mine (and I suspect yours too). And here’s why that’s a dead issue anyhow.
5. Here’s a question for the AGW crowd. Why do you believe the firm accuracy of those models (which basically are computer aided story telling) when important new effects keep turning up? I think the “A” part of AGW is a religious not scientific belief for that crowd. Show me the basis for your belief if it is not. This is science not personal religious encounters after all. Show me the data. 
6. Talking truth to power about education. I think the absolute statement that education can’t help the, well, stupid among us isn’t exactly right. I can help a little The question is one of cost/benefit. Education is not what separates a Mr Witten from a Mr Biden (or take any other publicly known moron) in intellectual acuity. I’d asked this before. What benefit do we (or he) reap from bringing the reading level of an intellectually incurious individual from 4th to 6th grade reading level or teaching him geometry. It takes great effort by our educators. What is the benefit? Here’s another point on education. Remember the (real) lesson from the Tuskegee airmen movie. The way to raise people up is not to lower standards, but the reverse. If you want to raise educational levels … set higher standards that need to be met. It’s kinda just that simple.
7. Two on car tech, lasers in the engine and the an X-prize car goes to the tunnels. I wonder if they’re going to market anytime soon on that latter. That might replace my Insight, which by the way with its new MIMA installed took its first semi-long road trip this week. I got 85mpg for the 300 miles … 80 on the way out (on wet roads in the rain!) and 94 (!) on the way back (with a 20mph tail wind). 

Good morning. A (mostly) one word edition.

1. Hell.
2. Reprised.
3. Debt.
4. Crops.
5. Purple.
6. Faux-coding.
7. Soteriology. Actually, Ms Theodoris raises a point of question for the Penal Substutionary crowd. That is, if there was no ressurrection, how would that have affected his penal substitution? Would you still be in sin and why?
8. Paschal-flashmob.
9. Drone-warfare.
10. Ideology.
11. Carbon.
12. P90.

Good, err, whatever.

1. Revisiting the St. Gregory Palamas/Barlaam debate from a Western angle. That is to say, the essence/energies, uhm, thing.
2. A kerfuffle in the philosopher’s corner of the blogosphere, i.e., the Synthese problem.
3. Homophobia … not, or so says someone with a bit more skin in the game than I.
4. That decline in education.
5. Ooh, a closet Lenin/Stalin fan.
6. What strikes me as theodicy done wrong.
7. This years “carbon hypocrite” gold medal winner.
8. 60 minutes at the Holy mountain.
9. Apparently economics, in Mr Krugman’s view, doesn’t apply to some commercial transactions.
10. What distinguishes Syria and Libya, for the White House and policy? Some grist for that argument.
11. A coming crises?
12. Groceries and education.
13. Mr Obama and, uhm, torture … defend and deflect (now that he’s no longer running).
14. Who is close to the truth, pig or rat? I’ll go with the pig.
15. Finally, a non-trivial religion/separation Constitutional case.
16. Zooom.
17. Prayer … and remarks regarding its efficacy.
18. Some good links here.

Good morning.

1. Oh, I wrote about the Hymn of Cassia the other night. Here’s an clip in English and not Greek.
2. For those who like the “where’s the library/bathroom at?” joke.
3. Cinema.
4. Yah, that’s a likely suspect. Or not.
5. Rich or not? My suspiscion is that they don’t feel rich because perceive themselves (likely rightly) as running in the same hamster wheel as they did when they were making far less.
6. Book borrowing coming to the kindle?
7. Anti-war movement?
8. And some targeted questions for Mr Obama’s supporters. This is the point of the Loyal opposition vs party in power. The questions raised are to be answered by those proposing policy. So …. answer, em!
9. If a Corporation did this or a private individual … they/he’d be facing jail time. Why does the White House not even face censure?
10. A bike that is more than a little weird.
11. Stupid AGW proponents tricks.
12. A new suggestion from the White House. Good idea or not? Why?
13. CFLs in the news, here and here.
14. Big fat Greek (Orthodox) Pascha (Easter).

Good morning.

1. Weight loss and the bike.
2. I don’t get the “why” of the relevance of this.
3. For the first time, the birther movement’s point is finally made clear.
4. Boots on the ground (soon?) in Libya?
5. Teaching maths.
6. Two on abortion, numbers and Wisconsin.
7. One of my favorite hyms of the Lenten/Paschal cycle.
8. Simon Not-Peter and the Resurrection.
9. Progressive women doing bad bad things.
10. On that “weather is getting worse” meme, which has the distinctive charactaristic of being wrong.
11. The utility of a gang, err, pack of wolves.
12. The “best”? Seriously! Wow. So the “death panel” team thinks this is a good move? Riiiight.
13. No.

Tonight (Tuesday Night) during Palm/Holy week in the Orthodox tradition the Wednesday morning Matins service is held. Toward the end of this service the Hymn of Cassia (Kassia, Kassiani) is sung. 

Sensing Thy divinity, O Lord, a woman of many sins
takes it upon herself to become a myrrh-bearer,
And in deep mourning brings before Thee fragrant oil
in anticipation of Thy burial; crying:
“Woe to me! For night is unto me, oestrus of lechery,
a dark and moonless eros of sin.
Receive the wellsprings of my tears,
O Thou who gatherest the waters of the oceans into clouds.
Bend to me, to the sorrows of my heart,
O Thou who bendedst down the heavens in Thy ineffable self-emptying.
I will kiss Thine immaculate feet
and dry them with the locks of my hair;
Those very feet whose sound Eve heard at dusk in Paradise
and hid herself in fear.
Who shall reckon the multitude of my sins,
or the abysses of Thy judgment, O Saviour of my soul?
Do not ignore Thy handmaiden,
O Thou whose mercy is endless.”

During the service, elsewhere in the service (in verse) the story of the harlot washing Jesus feet with Myrrh at the Pharisee’s house is interwoven with comparisons with Judas as he prepares his betrayal.

Recently, in the news, more accounts of scandals in the Catholic episcopacy have apparently resurfaced. Those who feel this is an indictment against Christianity and the Church in general forget that the Church is not a collection of good people gathering together to do good works. A better description would be more akin to a hospital for the wounded, who are ministered not by the well, but are tended by other whom are just as wounded. Those who pretend they are well, might not seek a hospital.

Re-read the prayer above. This poem/hymn is the heartfelt plea written by an ascetic monastic nun in late antiquity. She was a Saint, but this is the cry of her heart (and not on account her view of someone else’s). Like last night’s gospel reading (the Woe to you Pharisees and Scribes, Hypocrites!) … the protagonist is not some other whom we might look down upon, but us. The distinction (made clearly in the service) is not that she sins “more than us” but that she repents (and we so often do not).

One of the more outrageous conceits found even among Orthodox (who should know better) is to regard those outside of the Church as “more” sinful than those inside. Perhaps we might be more aware of how we fall short of the mark.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Good morning.

1. The whole “there are no no good faith arguments for X” is … what logical fallacy? Because it certainly smells like one.
2. I’d like to see a rational liberal response to this question (more here). I suppose the counter question might be, why is it wrong to bring a gang of people with vuvuzelas to an Obama rally?
3. This is not unrelated.
4. Diabolical (?) treatment of Christians.
5. Something of a role reversal indeed.
6. Will things flip in Afghanistan?
7. Hoooonk.
8. Absent a public very prominent apology from the White House, Mr Obama is an ass.
9. Verse, for Holy Week.
10. Dreams of the urban cyclist … with a lady in a red dress?
11. Someone wonders whence the personal and business debt? Check interest rates, I’d think.
12. So, would you recommend this or something in 9mm (like the 92FS)?
13. Catholic epsicopal scandals noted.
14. Baikonur and space.
15. Some philosophy.
16. And … a history lesson.

Good morning.

1. Evil and strategic imagination.
2. The corruption of secret knowledge.
3. You just can’t say that dude, I guess.
4. Thanking the President? More here.
5. Libya. Here and here. So, if regime change is the goal now … but not 4 weeks ago. What changed?
6. Green stimulus … green in the sense of graft.
7. Climate predictions disapparating, to borrow a Potter-ish term.
8. The decline and fall?
9. Lining them up and knocking them down.
10. Mr Obama and signing statements.
11. Some verse.
12. The physics of the bike ride.
13. I too like their music.
14. Considering the “for whom” and secondary education.
15. “We need a better ruling class” … without considering that the rulers we have are a product of our society and the particular nature of our electoral process.

Good morning.

1. I’m confused by the phrase “cap Medicare at GDP + x%”, because taken at face value that caps it at all we earn plus some. That’s no cap.
2. Letters from a farmer.
3. Stupidity in Illinois.
4. The fantasy of Mr Krugman, the RSS lede line, “privatization doesn’t reduce costs” … you know except for usually it does. Or is that “making it public means cost is no longer a consideration” somehow on his planet doesn’t mean costs increase. 
5. Still not reading Ms Delsol, Unlearned Lessons being quite the primer on a secular defense of human exceptionalism.
6. Past slogans coming back to bite?
7. Da big bike race in May, after Amstel Gold this weekend, “la doyenne” is the next.
8. Contra Ms Rand.
9. Hmm. I thought Christ was to judge at the final day … not steve.
10. More on Minsk.
11. Watching the watchers.
12. The word for our future.
13. Although I’m looking for my next car, more fuel efficient than the last, price is a consideration.
14. Duh.

Good morning.

1. A curious mix of data.
2. Silly writers, confused that slavery entails “no open cell door”.
3. White house transparency, not. Yet another broken promise.
4. Which leads me to a question, what would this man have to do for those of you who voted for Mr Obama to vote for a Pawlenty or Romney instead? Commit rape? Drop an atom bomb? What!?
5. Becoming an expert.
6. So, besides pedophiles … to what market is this product targeted?
7. Drop the drinking age?
8. Talking about health care.
9. More on the Minsk bombing.
10. Smarter routing.
11. Mr Obama’s recent speech. Some remarks on that here.
12. And a highlight of the difference between his and Mr Ryan’s proposal.
13. On soteriology.
14. Haiti and infrastructure.

Good morning.

1. Pick 10, what would be in your list of ten? 
2. No no no no. Schools are accountable to parents, not the other way around.
3. “Obama doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular” … doesn’t that define “pragmatism” as your overarching political meme?
4. Marijuana and energy.
5. A consequence of avoiding detention and denial … “just kill ’em” becomes the only alternative. Ooops. Or was that intentional?
6. More on that here (for you North-East Coasters, something to fill your time with on the weekend).
7. Evil and the fairy tale.
8. More on the Minsk bombing.
9. Islam (moderate), reform or PR?
10. What’s your graph look like? Mine’s not a bell curve. Or if you insist, the mean is at 0.
11. Honesty and taxes … a correlation examined.
12. Exactly! Heh.
13. Wealth distributions.
14. Surprised to agree with Mr Paul.

Good morning.

1. Famous people, comment “Phil” is of note (HT: Monkey Cage).
2. Finding Sharia in unexpected places.
3. Freedom of speech and climate.
4. The “ideal candidate” … on what planet? What criteria?
5. Of crime and punishment.
6. I’m having trouble imagining a tactic that would be less intelligent or less ethical.
7. Coverage? Reuters vs bloggers (more here). Bloggers win.
8. Huck goes to Russia?
9. Obama and the debt limit contra Obama and the debt limit. We have met the enemy and he is us?
10. Heh!
11. So, stop watching, duh.
12. So, a challenge. Put the “Obama doctrine” into words that make sense, unlike this post.

This weekend my wife and I witnessed a performance by Muti and the CSO of Verdi’s Otello. Superlatives fail me (that is I can’t express in words adequately (with superlatives) how the performance was received by myself).

However, I have not read (the Shakespeare) or heard or read much on the ethics of the Iago/Othello/Desdemona, uhm, kerfuffle. Any recommendations for good commentary by people of insight? One co-worker noted that the “Venetian” Shakespeare plays get short shift in the modern world, because they steer to close to unsafe waters (Shylock as Jew and Othello as Moor (Black)). 

Anyhow your recommendations would be appreciated.