William Larson's Most Excellent Letter

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Dear neighbors and fellow citizens,

I write you as an independent-minded Democrat sickened by the corporate bailouts, yet extremely concerned by inconsistencies and dangers I see in your “populist” movement. My hope is that you will genuinely consider the following points, offered in respect.

Of first concern is the theoretical basis so often quoted by your members – i.e., returning to the original intent of the Founding Fathers and a strict interpretation of the constitution (as written in the 18th century). In fact, it is a misguided premise that there was any consensus among the original framers.

History clearly shows that the Fathers were sharply divided. Federalists, such as Hamilton and Adams, favored a strong central government; Republicans, such as Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, favored states' rights. Interestingly enough, the same conflict separating us now separated them.

There was one great difference between then and now, however. The unshakable faith of our ancestors in the need for ongoing negotiation! And their guts in staying at the bargaining table, sacrificing rigid positions for the national good. This was our founders original intent.

Secondly, there's no evidence suggesting our ancestors believed they had finalized a governing document meant never to be changed. In 1791, four years after our Constitution was ratified, the first U.S. Congress added the first 10 amendments – the Bill of Rights. Further amendments were added in 1795 and 1804.

Finally, in 1865, 1868 and 1869, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments abolished slavery and guaranteed full citizenship rights to racial minorities. These amendments were fully in line with the attitudes of the Northern Founders, and later, in 1920, the 19th Amendment was added, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

Constitutional history therefore points to one inescapable conclusion. It is impossible to be a true Constitutional originalist while, simultaneously, celebrating our country's ban on slavery and the granting of full citizenship to racial minorities and women.

One can't have it both ways. You either accept the injustices preserved under the original Constitution, or you believe in the amendment process that views the Constitution as a “living document” meant to evolve with the unfolding of our nation. Anything else is a deceit.

A far more crucial concern relates to the notion that the Tea Party is simply a populist grass roots movement. Accumulating evidence strongly suggests that several large corporations are co-opting your “insurrection” on behalf of their long-time agenda to basically eliminate governmental regulation of industry (particularly environmental protections). Please read Jane Mayer's article in the current New Yorker Magazine to see how corporate giants like Koch Industries are using the Tea Party to maximize profits by fighting governmental oversight of any sort (remember the Gulf oil spill?).

If you think this is mere liberal rhetoric, consider the words of Bruce Bartlett, as quoted in the Christian Science Monitor.

A conservative economist who worked for one of the Koch think tanks, Bartlett links Koch Industries to the Tea Party: “By giving money to educate, fund and organize the Tea Party protestors,” he states, “they have helped to turn their private agenda into a mass movement . . . trying to shape and control and channel the populist uprising into their own policies.” (September 19, 2010: “Who's Picking Up the Tab for the Tea Party?”)

Believe it, Koch Industries, et al have a huge vested interest in sabotaging constructive political discourse at all levels. This danger far outshines that of higher taxes or “creeping socialism.”

Abraham Lincoln saw it back in 1865 when he lamented, “Corporations have been enthroned, and corruption in high places will follow.” What's happening here is the old divide-and-conquer ploy used by invaders throughout history. By driving us apart, the corporate global cartel is co-opting you into a profit-driven crusade that will land us in a one-world government faster than the United Nations ever could. And friends, you are falling for it hook, line and sinker.

Please understand! I'm not saying your anti-tax crusade lacks merit. However, like moderate Christians and Muslims, I believe that core spiritual values have a role in formulating public policy.

Both religions teach compassion and care for the poor, along with fairness in our business and civic dealings. Corporate bailouts and giveaway tax breaks for the wealthy simply don't meet these criteria. What does meet this standard is negotiated agreements that includes the very best of what all sides have to offer. As tough as it may be to stomach, we need each other.

So here's a new “call to arms”: The only chance we have of sorting out our vast confusion of values, needs and politics is to stay at the negotiating table and work out meaningful compromise. That was true in the 18th century, and it's true now.

If we fail, we very likely do not deserve the rich living tradition bequeathed us by our divergently minded — but uniformly committed — forefathers.

William Larsen lives in Nevada City.

American NAZI Crossroads Propaganda

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If you believe Ami Bera is some unknown, uneducated, out to make some bucks in politics, bad person to vote for, you are probably being influenced by groups like American Crossroads which is currently attempting to smear Dr. Ami Bera of UC Davis who is running for the 5th Congressional District. Their ad is classic propaganda, same brief mention over and over attempting to tie him to a semi angry scowl picture of Obama and Obamacare, with nary a mention of the fact that Ami Bera is a practising MD and professor at UC Davis.

Shame on the folks too unaware that will fall for this NAZI style propagnada, It's straight out of 1984.

BTW, American Crossroads does not identify its funders or principals on its website.

Getting Everyone to Read, Do Math

This is an updated version of something I've been pushing since the 1980's.

My simple simple system for getting kids to read is as follows:

1 free large flatscreen tv to each at risk kid household.

Free subscription at top level to Sat TV provider.

For each 1/2 hour of viewing, kid must input the answer to 20 math facts problems, e.g., 8 x9 =?

No sound, just subtitles.

1/4 of shows viewed must come from educational channels, National Geographics, NASA, PBS, History, Biography, etc.

Get two 1/2 hour math problem sets in a row correct on first try, earn 1 hour of audio viewing, but subtitles still visible.

These can be varied, but you get the basic idea.

Yes, they can use a calculator, but given the amount of viewing, over time, the whole household will learn those facts.

Main code to make the set operational for three days at a time is sent to, the kid’s principal.

Set will not accept external inputs, other than mated Sat dish receiver.

You're A Good Man, President Obama.

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The Great Pumpkin thinks so too.

Tax Stock Trades, A Reference List

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I will make a list here of sites that discuss the topic:

http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/30/how-to-tax-wall-street-give-it-to-main-street/#comments

Pay Off the Nat'l Debt by TAXING STOCK TRADES!

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I'm not the first to figure this out, but it is so obvious. .025% of each trade, paid by the buyer, goes to the USA Treasury.

So here are some numbers to play with:

"About 2,000 million exchanges are made every day on the New York Stock Exchange. In March 2010, the average daily volume was 2,128,546,521 shares traded daily. The number of shares traded changes every day and is generally between 1.5 billion and 2.3 billion."

If each share is worth on average $20, and we take 2 billion shares per day on average, that would be 40 billion dollars per day. $40,000,000,000, at 25 cents per $100 would be: $100,000,000 /day into the US Treasury. That might help a bit. And that's just the NYSE.

Are You Rich, or UltraRich, or Poor TPP?

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The Tea Party's core people are all richie wannabees, and so they want the government welfare for corporations to remain in place. It gives them a feeling of belonging to the wealthy and ultra wealthy, even as it drains their pocket books and wrecks the country.

Who are the wealthy and the ultra wealthy?

Thanks to Merrill Lynch we know. As following their habits is important to Merrill, they did a background report. Rich includes individuals with $1,000,000 or more in liquid invest-able cash, beyond all the stiff they own like houses, horses, yachts, etc. The ultra rich are those who have $30,000,000 in invest-able cash, as per above.

Collectively they own $37,000,000,000,000 or 37 trillion, which is 20% of this country, up from 8% in 1980.

They invest their tax breaks by loaning money to the US Government, and fleecing the tax payers in endless cycles of interest.

Everyone else is "little people." They snigger at us, and pay Rush to Goebbelize TPP members.

Helping the Poor

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Helping the poor.

I would set up the best set of public restrooms and showers/washing machine areas in the world.

I would then set up micro atm accounts, for those homeless willing to be identified, so that they have a place for stashing and getting cash.

The third leg is a phone/message system, set up with the ATM, where homeless can check for messages for odd jobs, etc. A website for potential employers to set who is available, (work history, skills) would be nice. To join this system, part of that ID check would be verification of American citizenship. I would have no intention of setting up anything that would encourage yet more illegal immigration. In fact, this might have the opposite effect.

One location for both, preferably next to the police station or CHP, or other very public protected place. Someone who has become homeless who is not breaking the laws, other than not having a domicile, will find these features very useful in getting re-established.

The phone/message system could be upscaled for the successful homeless to a limited cell phone.

Prop 16, Smart Meters, HA!

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Driving rates upwards, forces more solar investment by home owners, while PG and E waits for a major cost breakthrough in the technology, at which point they will charge ratepayers for PG and E to adopt the new technology. Remember PG and E could care less about anything other than profit for the parent PG and E company. They don't want local govs to be able to buy their own newer and cheaper, solar installations, and Prop 16 is a very major pre-emptive strike to insure this goal. Vote no on 16. If you vote yes, you will help preserve Old California Money, based in Atherton and Hillsborough. Can't use ampersands in Google blog.

Let Freedom and Capitalism Ring!

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Sell off Yosemite and Yellowstone Parks to private enterprise. Kick the government out of the entertainment and physical fitness industries. No socialism nowhere. Are the German's still renting out their army's like they did to the Brits? Cool! Sign them up for a 20 year lease, no socialist military. So what if they lost to George Washington! Let Fed Ex and UPS bid for the post office, and make every road a toll road, owned by the adjoining parcel owners in proportion to appraised value and acreage.

Let capitalism and freedom ring!

"Cleanup, Baby, Cleanup!"

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How soon before the Nevada County Tea Party Patriots sends a group of volunteers to the Gulf to:

"Cleanup, Baby, Cleanup!" ????

Future Transit Structure, Avoiding Ozone

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High quality, efficient, mass or, staged and grouped transit, is the answer. Linking via cell phones for local jitney pickup, coupled with larger vehicles for longer distances. The key to local delivery of goods is secure and cooled 4x4x4 cubes at each house. The buyer is a pedestrian, comes home to roll interior cart to house entrance. Have another bunny with a pancake, your grandchildren will understand this perfectly, as adults in 2040.

Video Game Proposal

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Vast Wasteland Awaits Bottom 95% of USA Citizens

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The new minimum wage will be a world wide phenomenon, and 95% of Americans who have not amassed enough capital to live off the income, and a fully paid for place to live, can expect their standards of living to plummet. We are returning to the serfs and nobles of the early Middle Ages. One might also expect the value of real estate to drop like a rock too, except for one thing....

Those in the top .1% abroad will buy their summer/seasonal homes here, so high end resort areas will boom, or at least not lose value. Likewise primo cities, like San Francisco.

What to do with Goldman Sachs Contributions?

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All major receivers of Sachs cash should get together, and jointly give every cent to the results of a nationwide poll of the top 100 best charities in an 8 week video shootout, American Idol style. The top five vote getters split the main pot, each vote costing 50 cents, which is also added to the pot. The early rounds voting costs go to the charities voted for. Simple, simple!

Living in a Lumpy Culture

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We escaped Europe because we were "weird." We agreed to "get along" once we got here, which basically meant we didn't hang those who were members of other escapee groups on sight, with a few notable exceptions. Even by the change of the century in 1900 many Protestants thought Catholics were secretly arming and training for a takeover, down in Los Angeles, see Keith Lummis's autobiography.

Today of course we have far more differences as we've dumped in folks from a much wider range of cultures than Northern Europe. Now the Tea Party is trying to become what their ancestors tried to escape, a dominent force that rejects any idea or culture that doesn't fall within their strict limitations of how the world should be. The Tea Party may become the blinders on the horses that pull the USA over the cliff and into cultural oblivion. It's up to the rest of us to stop them. They are not for the ideals embedded in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. They are using those documents to cover their naked narrow minds.

I Like the Palindrome Collection from Chu

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Speaking about motivations, the Queen of the Baggers, the Killa from Wasila is now knocking down about 12 million a year from here speaking engagements while flying around the country on private jets and demanding that any speaking engagement (and God knows speaking is a term we use loosely when it comes to Caribou Barbie) she agrees to get highly paid to do, has to insure that she'll have no pesky questions coming directly from the people who are expected to pay $500.00 a ticket to hear her mash up Republican-bagger talking points.Look, there's no doubt that the the people who are manipulating that bagger masses will do whatever they can to not only undermine Obama, but destabilize the entire idea of government as well so they can create their idea of heaven, a totally corporate run, privatized state.The poor baggers are dupes and they've yet to learn that fact.

Payless should be in conversation with Carly Fiorina on the future of the USA for at least 2 hours, live and unrehearsed. We'd all learn a lot.

Illegal Aliens, SOLVED!

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"But our handicapped language no longer supports a clear discussion of the illegal alien problem. "

Nope, it is not a language problem. It is a logic problem. Why do the come? They come for money. How do they get money? They often work for it, and an employer gives it to them.

How do you efficiently stop the cycle?

You fine or jail the employers, if they are caught hiring illegals. How will they know? After the first 100 are sitting in jail, having paid out $10,000, no one will hire anyone.

Oh really? A new industry will spring up, that creates biometric ID for workers, having very carefully vetted them. Employers will pay to have the vetting company issue a bond certifying the bear of said ID to be a citizen of the USA.

Of course the Repubbys who hire cheap labor and depend on it for union busting will never let it go through. Americans won't pick crops? Elephant exhaust! For $20/hour they will. Pass the cost on to the consumer. Oh, the consumer will only buy produce from overseas? Overseas doesn't produce enough. California exports food.

Dems want voters? Nowhere near as bad as Repubbys want their illegal workers.

Corporations Need Litter Boxes, etc.

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Corporations are not people, and they are not potty trained either. They need to stay outside the legislative arena, and survive on their, "invisible hand of the free markets" rather than the iron grip of their lobbyists.

Teachers have it SO EASY!

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"Teachers are very well paid and compensated relative to actual time spent in the classroom." You try teaching and grading papers and holding parent conferences at the same time. That's multi-tasking I'd lie to see. Now let's see you get it all done in 8 hours, so you can head for a brewski.


Summer the season and the portion of summer that teachers get are two entirely different animals. Add in in service training days, and summer can be less than 9 weeks long for a teacher. The unpaid overtime of grading papers and after school meetings more than makes up for any lost "summertime." Plus, to have a decent salary, worthy of other professionals, you need to teach. "Summer School." Whoopido!

Engineers vs Social Scientists

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There's been quite an interesting battle going on at The Union newspaper in the commenting area, working the gay vs. Fundy angle. This is my last post in that area.

Keachie, Release 4.0 wrote:

It is entirely possible the critter known as Mom of Four is actually an engineer of a rightish persuasion who feels that his areas of expertise are God's highest gifts to humanity, and that he has been entertaining himself by pretending to be a halfwit social scientist.

While exploring the root sources of existence itself are notable endeavors, and you can always get reportable results of some kind when smashing sub atomic pumpkins together with the extreme expenditures of energy and resources, I wish to note here that looking for the root sources of human conflict and ways to ameliorate them is actually an even higher calling, precisely because the problems are more difficult and the answers are more elusive.

More on this concept later.

Why We've had a 1/3rd Dropout Rate for 80 + Years

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From a psychological point of view, it is not hard to understand the 1/3rd dropout rate that never goes away. From the beginning, 1st grade and up, kids are "graded." Not surprisingly, those at the top of the scale, tend to stay there, and so on.

After 8 to 10 years of humiliation at being on the bottom, those kids say, "enough is enough, I'm out of here." Classes where they can be rewarded for achievements outside the reading, writing, and math skills sets, sadly seem to be the first to be chopped. Art, music, and voc ed cost more money, but pay back by generating islands of success for the kids at the bottom, and give them reason to live, and a chance to rub shoulders and even surpass the academic breadwinners. Overall, they raise all boats, and allow for for more than just the high SAT performers to feel good about themselves, and to go on to serve themselves and society better

Difference Between Rush Limbaugh & Dr. Dean Edell

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Given a choice between Rush and Dr. Edell, for an emergency appendectomy, who do you pick? Who do you think will live longer? Exactly what is it about Dr Edell's show that you find, "political?" Even with the very best MRI, X-ray, CAT Scans, and blood tests, it is very difficult to tell the difference between a liberal and a conservative. Someday, however, they may be able to detect the hardening of the neurons in the latter...rimshot!

Foothill Snobbery Club

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(A Response to a poster who complained about "flatlander bicyclists" riding in pairs.)

I have never encountered a pair of bicyclists who did not promptly single file themselves, allowing me to get by easily. Seems to me that in terms of being, "down to earth," those closer to the center of the planet would have an edge over those who place themselves on high pedestals, raised SUV's, etc..

By the very act of proclaiming themselves "better" because they were "born" here, the members of the Foothills Snobbery Club display their lack of maturity. Just because I was born in San Francisco, and just because it was founded 50 plus years before Grass Valley even saw the white man, and just because we are world class famous, and have more spectacular earthquakes, and a rapid transit that works, it doesn't make me any better than members of the fussy FSC's.

Everything Explained

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The rich in this country are so short sighted to have sold out to the lure of cheap labor overseas. Their apparent goal is a world wide minimum wage, and they don't care if the bulk of this country goes to hell, as long as they've got theirs. The leaders abroad are smirking at the stupidity of the American wealthy, and smacking their lips.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2010/01/26/MNE21BL4Q3.DTL&o=3#ixzz0dqZBg59w