I received an email today from a museum that I care deeply about, the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. Some of its funding is threatened since the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has been effectively shut down. When I investigated further, I discovered that IMLS also supports many other Missouri organizations […]
Thank You, Blaine Luetkemeyer
I sent a message to Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer. (I even wrote it myself, without the help of ChatGPT. ?) I received this letter back. I have rarely felt that my opinion was so heard and that I was so valued as a constituent. Thank you, Rep. Luetkemeyer and your staff, for modeling thoughtful communication.
You Pay $0.00
My wife is on Medicare and had cataract surgery. We just got the statement of benefits for the first eye. Total you pay: $0.00 Yay socialized medicine!
We Will Not Yield
I was deeply disturbed by the hatred visible in Charlottesville. I was deeply disturbed to hear Donald Trump equivocate on opposition to neo-Nazis and racists. After Trump was elected, I remember having a conversation with a friend, in which I told him about my fears. I knew that Muslims would be killed, simply because of […]
Why Do We Argue About Immigration?
Did you see that Tweet storm? It said, Today, we are “protecting” ourselves… against being flooded by immigrants from the middle east. This is fantastic. … We do not need to be protected against immigrants from these countries–on the contrary we want to stretch out a helping hand, to save those who have managed to […]
Transgender in the Bathroom
This week included a watershed day for me: the first time that I knowingly used the men’s room with a transgender man. I followed a trans man into the bathroom and guess what happened: Nothing special. I used the urinal. He used a stall. I left. He left later (I presume, since I have seen […]
You want me to register my WHAT?
To operate an automobile, I have to register the vehicle with the state government. I also have to register myself, demonstrate that I have been trained in the safe operation of the vehicle, and maintain a government issued license for vehicle operations. I am limited in the types of vehicles that I may own and […]
Where You Get Your News Affects Global Warming
What you read might make the earth warmer. To be more precise, what you read will have an impact on the laws that your government passes to regulate business and environmental concerns. Public support for fixing the problems causing climate change is plummeting while scientific consensus about the problems and solutions is coalescing. The “big […]
Missouri Teachers Challenge Facebook Ban
Good news: The Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) filed a law suit on Friday challenging Missouri Senate Bill 54, also known as the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act. The MSTA has asked the court to block implementation of the law pending a review of its constitutionality. In addition to the problems that I cited in […]
Bad Policy: Forbidding Social Network Contact Between Teachers and Students
Missouri is in the process of implementing a particularly bad law, forbidding contact on social networks between teachers and students. Formally, this is Missouri Senate Bill 54, the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act. The aim is laudable: protect vulnerable kids from predacious educators. Unfortunately, the law as written, and as being implemented by the school districts, […]
“Secret” Trick for Estimating Social Security Retirement Benefits
If you are a working adult in the US, you have received an annual letter from the Social Security Administration for the last decade or so which estimates your retirement earnings. The “Social Security Statement” clearly and concisely presents your earnings history and explains what monies you, and your family, will be eligible for based […]
I Appreciate Taxes. Think I’m Crazy?
The California Assembly just passed a bill which would require on-line retailers, such as Amazon, to collect sales tax. A key problem underlying governments today (federal, state, county, and municipal) is that they have less revenue than expenses. (Very few governments are running at a surplus these days.) Interestingly, we-the-people are both the “owners” of government […]
CIA WTF?!
From the it-makes-me-proud-to-be-a-taxpayer department comes the news, reported by the Washington Post, that the CIA has launched a task force to asses the impact of the WikiLeaks exposure of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables. And the name of the task force (drum roll, please) is: WikiLeaks Task Force! Yup, you read it right: […]
US Troops Returning Home from Iraq
I love to start my day with an uplifting tidbit of news like this: Barack Obama is bringing all but 50,000 US troops home from Iraq at the end of this month. US President Barack Obama has confirmed the end of all combat operations in Iraq by 31 August. Some 50,000 of 65,000 US troops currently […]
Ban the Bikes!
St. Charles County, MO, will try to ban bicyclists from using some state highways, as reported in the Suburban Journals, Bill would ban bicycles from some highways in St. Charles County. How wrong can you get? In the year 2010, amidst all the hue and cry about poor health, obesity, and greenhouse gases from automobiles, Councilman […]
Copyright Madness
You may not be aware of some of the insanity which current copyright laws create in many countries, not just the United States. Here are two songs which you may think are free and clear but which are, in fact, copyrighted and subject to royalty payments: Happy Birthday to You The Chicago-based music publisher Clayton […]
US Immigration Reform for Immigrants’ Descendants
If you are a US citizen then you are almost certainly the descendant of people to immigrated to the United States. As you consider your position on immigration reform, please look at the issue from at least two perspectives: How do immigrants affect you and your loved ones today, and, just as important, how would […]
USPTO Grants Patent On ’60s Era Billing Method
Back in the Old Days, I had to pay for computer time on Michigan Terminal System (MTS) at the University of Michigan. It was a simple system: the more you used, the more you paid. MTS charged for CPU time, RAM used while your program was running, disk space used to store your files, I/O […]
Trouble’s Brewing
I just read a shocking article in the paper about a newly available intoxicant. It starts on the front page and continues for almost the entirety of page A8. That’s a lot of words for our local rag. Here are a few quotes so you can understand why so many people are concerned: The clerk at […]
Health Care Reform is About People, Not Money
Health care reform is about people, not money. Specifically, it is our opportunity to assure that all Americans have access to good health care, not just the lucky 4/5ths of us. If your mom came to you for help getting medical care, your first response would be, “How can we make that happen?” Your first response […]
