From Fine? Why Fine?
It may be petty but I found this poke in the eye to be most satisfying.
Me too, Rob.
April 6, 2005
Forward
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Regulating cornrows
Government regulation excludes many people who would really be good at something by limiting, artificially, those who can enter some particular professions. John Stossel has an interesting piece on typical government involvement.
Some years ago, a married couple, Taalib-Din Uqdah and Pamela Farrell, went into business braiding hair, African-style. They called their shop Cornrows & Co. If politicians’ speeches are right, Uqdah and Farrell were heroes: Inner cities need businesses, and the couple had built a booming business in Washington, D.C. They had 20,000 customers, employed 10 people and took in half a million dollars a year. Some women came from as far away as Connecticut, six hours away, to have their hair braided by Cornrows & Co.
The local cosmetology board got involved, and the Uqdahs spent ten years fighting them in court. The board insisted they needed a cosmetology license to braid hair.
In order to get one, Uqdah would have to pay about $5,000 to take more than 1,000 hours of courses at a beauty school….
Uqdah says the braiding he provides can’t be taught in schools and shouldn’t be licensed. “I’ve watched little second-grade girls sit down and braid each other’s hair.” …When he argues that different hair requires different skills, he says, licensed cosmetologists “go into denial. They like to think that they know how to do it all. And they don’t.”
I’ve run into the same mentality in the public education world. Denial is powerful. Very powerful. Nobody can teach in our public schools unless they get a “license” from the education department of a state university. It doesn’t matter if they are capable or not, only that they complete the program with at least a 2.0 GPA. A “C” average. In other words, get through the indoctrination and regurgitate the precise information fed to you by the education establishment. If you decide to argue the logic, educators go into denial.
Ain’t gubmint good?
BCRA Rules and Comments
Richard L. Hasen is the primary gatekeeper on the FEC’s rulemaking process regarding BCRA and internet communications. He has an analysis of the Constitutional aspects of this case. I can only offer my personal views.
The real issue in my mind is whether the Congress is really interested in true campaign finance reform. Campaign finance reform. Of course, this is how Congress generally sells something they want to keep hidden just a bit. Make it about money going to politicians, but don’t actually do anything about money going to politicians.
Restricting campaign spending doesn’t eliminate the money going to politicians. Instead, it limits money going to everyone else. Politicians can still collect money from just about anyone willing to give it to them. That’s the real problem.
The Proposed Rules regarding internet communications are now posted on line at the FEC’s site, and the comment period is open until 3 June 2005.
The Commission also seeks comment on whether bloggers, whether acting as individuals or through incorporated or unincorporated entities, are entitled to the statutory exemption. Can on-line blogs be treated as ‘‘periodical publications’’ within the meaning of the exemption? See 2 U.S.C. 431(9)(B)(i). If not, why not? Is the media exemption to be limited to traditional business models, meaning entities that finance operations with subscriptions or advertising revenue? The Commission also seeks comment on whether on-line forums qualify for the exemption.
Any restriction at all on blogs is an attack on free speech. Period. Exemptions for traditional media are an affront to free speech as well. Congress and the FEC have absolutely no authority to regulate what discourse gets published in a newspaper. Giving them an exemption is a backhanded way of implying that the government could restrict them if it chose to do so. The same is true for blogs, and television, and radio. Any mention of media in any way carries this same implication. Let me reiterate: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
How much clearer can you get?
William Randolph Hearst made a fortune with bias. Bias in the media isn’t necessarily bad. There simply must be options. Blogs provide that. Fifty years from now historians will note how the current media lean and how they’ve handled policy issues. And what bias they brought to their reporting. Blogs are quite open about their leanings already, and provide a much more trustworthy perspective than do traditional media if only because you know the shopowner and what he stands for.
If Congress wants to eliminate the influence of Big Money™ in politics, they need to do something other than pass laws on how that money is spent. Instead, they need to limit how that money is collected. Once again, I propose that the only true campaign finance reform law which makes any sense at all is to limit donations to candidates and political parties to individual American citizens. No groups of any kind are allowed to donate.
What incumbent has the guts to propose such a thing?
Time for all who write and read blogs, and depend on them for some kind of sanity check during any election, to read the proposed rules and offer comments.
All comments must be in writing, must be addressed to Mr. Brad C. Deutsch, Assistant General Counsel, and must be submitted in either electronic, facsimile, or hard copy form. Commenters are strongly encouraged to submit comments electronically to ensure timely receipt and consideration. Electronic comments must be sent to either internet@fec.gov or submitted through the Federal eRegulations Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.
If the electronic comments include an attachment, the attachment must be in the Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) or Microsoft Word (.doc) format. Faxed comments must be sent to (202) 219–3923, with hard copy followup. Hard copy comments and hard copy follow-up of faxed comments must be sent to the Federal Election Commission, 999 E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20463. All comments must include the full name and postal service address of the commenter or they will not be considered. The Commission will post comments on its Web site after the comment period ends.
And don’t forget to write to your own senators and congressman. BCRA needs to be repealed. The First Amendment must be enforced. And offering exemptions is a violation of those rights. I recommend writing to those in Congress and offering your own solution. And copy those folks on any communication you send to the FEC.
Swarm. It is the only thing they understand.
**** UPDATE ****
Ryan is being accosted by those who think BCRA is a good thing. Unfortunately, they can’t say why.
April 5, 2005
Pulitzer
Greyhawk asks which MilBlogger has better photos than the ones which received Pulitzers this year.
Actually, I’d say most of them are better.
And if you know of a MilBlogger whose photos aren’t featured, put a link in Greyhawk’s comments.
**** UPDATE ****
Larry has the real scoop on this year’s Pulitzers.
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Robert The Counter
When I was a sophomore in high school, I spent many of my summer days at the swimming pool. On two days of each week I gave one or two of those hours to CHAP kids. Children Have Potential. All were physically or mentally handicapped in some way. I helped teach them to swim and enjoy the water, and their parents got to relax and watch as someone else paid attention to their children. And I don’t mean that the parents dumped them on us. They watched in joy seeing their children having fun with others in a way they seldom did.
Varifrank spent a summer as a camp counselor doing something similar. He expresses the lessons learned quite well while talking about Robert. The value of a single life.
Frank also links to other tales of one person’s reaching higher, and the effect is has on the whole world. Take the time to read his post, and all those he links to.
Each of these men made choices in their lives that bettered not only their lives, but our lives as well. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “ What is the worth of a new born babe?”
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Golf Scramble
With the right group, a scramble can be a lot of fun. That’s how it worked out yesterday. While the group ahead of us were four good golfers who wanted desperately to win the tournament, we simply enjoyed the afternoon. That enjoyment was dampened a bit due to slow play by the “pros” ahead, but we made do.
My partners were Chris, Tracy, and Brad. Of the four, I’m probably the best all-around golfer. But Brad and Chris could launch the ball. A long way. In many directions! Having said that, we still managed 3-under for the round. A tie for last.
There was a lot of food and beer available. Free. I ate too much, although I don’t really drink very often when playing golf. I stuck with water and Dr Pepper while my partners took care of their share of beer, and mine.
Humor abounded. Every one of us hit the big ball before we hit the small one at least once off the tee. We even had a couple of whiffs, and a tee shot that rolled three inches (I’m being generous!). On the last hole Brad topped a shot which rolled about twenty yards. Another group was driving by on the way in and he jumped in the cart and quickly drove up to his ball. He picked it up and exclaimed, loudly, “I got your ball, Chris!” for the benefit of passers-by.
We started the round on a par three hole. Chris put his tee shot about eight feet from the hole. We all missed the downhill slider for birdie. On the next hole, Chris nearly drove the green. Three of us made great chip shots, but not one held the hard green. We missed that long birdie putt, too. Had we made those putts, the round might have been quite different. We probably would have been much more serious about the score.
Nah.
Putting is the bane of scramble golfers everywhere. And it all seems so simple. Four golfers get to watch each other’s putts roll toward the hole. If it misses, the next person has a good idea of where the ball should roll, right?
Well, one thing I’ve learned over the years is that everyone putts a little differently. Most scramble groups are folks who don’t play together regularly, and have no idea how their partners putt. Some people drive the ball well past the hole, others roll it just enough to get to the hole. Some putt firmly on a putt with a lot of break, and others play more break and let the ball drift to the hole. If a ball skids before rolling, it holds the line better initially, but then slows and breaks more. For all those reasons, and probably a dozen more I don’t grasp, it is hard to predict the line of a putt for someone else. Especially for someone you don’t see play on a regular basis.
I played in a scramble last year where this was readily apparent. The three other guys in my group all missed a putt which had, in my mind, a huge break. Theirs didn’t break as much as I thought they should. I rolled the ball from about fifteen feet and played it about six feet above the hole. It went in. But I tend to read putts from Newton’s perspective–I think “gravity.” I try to put the ball into position where gravity takes over and pulls the ball to the hole.
My perspective would have done nothing to help the other three on their attempts because they all have different vision of the roll.
So it was yesterday. Beyond the simple ability required to make the ball go where we wanted it to go off the putter face, we had to see the bigger picture. And we didn’t.
But we had fun. And helped raise a lot of money for Jerry’s kids.
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April 4, 2005
Windy Stuff
Off to a tournament for the day. It is for MDA, and a scramble. I don’t care much for scrambles, but this is for a good cause. The wind is supposed to be up to around 40 knots this afternoon. That makes the holes along the bay a bit testy. But we get to pick the best of four shots each time, so that is mitigated a bit.
My game may be the comic relief for the day.