Heart of Darkness?

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Port McClellan, via Drudge, links today to a nighttime satellite photo of North and South Korea that is, well, night and day.

The article featuring the photo is from the Daily Mail of London, not exactly the New York Times of credibility (though the NYT isn’t exactly the NYT of credibility any more, either). The story begins:

North Korea might now have The Bomb, but it doesn’t have much electricity

As the world grapples with how to rein in the “axis of evil” state which this week conducted a nuclear test, this spectacular satellite photo unveiled yesterday by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld shows in stark detail the haves and have-nots of the Korean peninsula.

The regime in the north is so short of electricity that the whole country is switched off at 9 p.m. – apart from the capital of Pyongyang where dictator Kim Jong-il and his cohorts live in relative luxury. But even there, lighting is drastically reduced.

The result, as shown in this picture taken one night earlier this week, is a startling contrast between the blacked-out north and the south, which is ablaze with light, particularly around major cities and the capital, Seoul, in the north-west of the country.

Mr Rumsfeld showed the picture to illustrate how backward the northern regime really is – and how oppressed its people are. Without electricity there can be none of the appliances that make life easy and that we take for granted, he said.

A Hoax?

While the photo is illuminating, the absolute darkness in North Korea outside of Pyongyang is almost too absolute. Then there were some things in the Mail article that kind of tweaked my antenna. Reading over it again, I couldn’t find any reference to just where Secretary Rumsfeld was and who he was talking to “yesterday” when he showed that photo.

Could it be a hoax? It’s easy to be alert to fake or misleading information coming from the left, and in fact this skepticism has had to become standard procedure. I hope, however, that I can be as sensitive to similar bad vibes even if the pictures or news line up with my own expectations or world view. A lie is a lie, whether “left” or “right”; in fact I’d be even more outraged if I discovered a lie that was from “my side”. The truth is sufficient for our arguments.

Therefore I did a little checking. I couldn’t find anything about a similar speech by Secretary Rumsfeld on the CNN, Fox or Snopes sites (or anything about “Rumsfeld North Korea Satellite Image”), but a Google search did turn up a presentation he gave that included this satellite imagery — on December 23, 2002, linked on GlobalSecurity.org.

It appears the image is authentic, even if the latest reporting is suspect. I’m glad I took the time to poke around a bit before passing it on.

As for the conditions the people of North Korea are living under, I suggest that the not give up on Kim Jong Il just yet. He is showing that he won’t rest until his whole country is glowing in the dark. (But that’s just my opinion).

Bogus? Is that you?

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He’s back. (And here and here.)

Or maybe not.

Doug’s been away so long it’s almost kind of hard to remember his style. The new posts are very good, so they could easily be from Doug. But there seems to me be a bit of, oh, Tucci-ness to them, too. That guy gets around the MOB quite a bit (keep your doors locked, people), but he’s mostly been associated with a certain group that’s been known to play a good-natured blogging prank or two.

I’m hoping it’s the real deal. Welcome back, Big Fella.

Shiver

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The weather is a tease. She blows in my ear but I know that before long she’ll slap my face. This morning is “brisk” and “crisp.” I stepped outside in my shirtsleeves to get the newspaper and saw the first frost on the ground and felt the pleasant half-shiver as the cold finger ran playfully up my spine.

Walking across Hennepin Avenue later my long leather jacket felt good across my shoulders as the puffs of my breath in front of me said, “You’re alive!” Dry leaves scratched across the pavement beside me, running before the inevitable. For today, though, it is at bay and the hot cup of coffee feels good in my hands.

You magnificent bitch.

AARP poll says Baby Boomers are stupid

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Actually, I don’t think that that was what the AARP set out to poll, but the stereotype of Baby Boomers as shallow and self-absorbed couldn’t help but be burnished by an article I saw in a daily news bulletin put out by the A.M. Best company. This article (subscription required) covered a press release from AARP describing the overwhelming support among voters for national health care coverage:

Most Baby Boomer-Era Voters Support Universal Health Insurance, AARP Poll Says

WASHINGTON October 10 (BestWire) — Most voters say they are likely to vote for candidates who express support for the concept of national health-care coverage, according to a poll of 1,500 likely voters commissioned by AARP.

More than three-quarters of likely voters — 77% — said they are “very likely” (41%) or “somewhat likely” (36%) to vote for a candidate who supports a plan for national health-care coverage, the seniors’ lobbying group said. Nearly eight in 10 of all of those polled — 78% — said the federal government should ensure that everyone has health insurance. Sixty-one percent strongly agreed.

David Sloane, AARP’s director of government relations, said the polling data show that most baby boomer-era voters are reacting to health insurance becoming less affordable and less accessible. “The voter anxiety reflected in this poll is the result of a system that is inefficient, at the mercy of uncontrollable costs, and is leaving tens of millions of people without health insurance,” Sloane said.

… (snip) …

AARP’s poll surveyed likely voters age 42 and older, finding that nearly all (93%) are registered to vote, and that an overwhelming majority (86%) say they plan to vote next month. Fifty-six percent said they “always” vote, and 31% said they “nearly always” vote. Older voters show up at the polls more consistently than younger ones, according to the poll data, with 65% of those older than 60 saying that they always vote, compared with 50% of those aged 51-60 and 44% of those aged 42-50.

More than half of those surveyed said they are “very interested” in this year’s election. Yet as of Oct. 2, only 47% said they had given “quite a lot of thought” to their choice of candidate. Many remain undecided about both House (60%) and Senate (50%) races.

When asked about health insurance, older voters were more likely than younger ones to vote for a candidate who supports national health insurance. Forty-three percent of those aged 61 and older said they would vote for such a candidate, compared with 46% for those aged 51-60 and 32% of those aged 42-50. More younger voters, those aged 42-50, said they would be “somewhat likely” to vote for a candidate supporting national health care. Only small minorities said they would be “not very likely” to vote for candidates who support such a plan, with 9% of those aged 42-50, 6% of those 51-60, and 9% of those older than 61 agreeing.

I’ll leave it to more experienced poll-busters (Mitch, David, King?) to dig into this, but I have to seriously wonder what kind of sampling went into selecting these 1500 likely voters, and just what questions were asked (and how they were worded). This information wasn’t offered in the original AARP press release, but I’m speculating it was along the lines of “Would you rather use your own hard-earned assets to pay for your healthcare when you’re older or would you like an ice-cream sundae with whip cream and a cherry?” Hmmm, tough choice. Ice cream?

Of course, just about everyone likes ice cream, but the reality of a single-payer, national health insurance system is more like sour cream, neither of which are that good for you. It hasn’t worked in Cuba (unless you’re Fidel Castro, in which case you can apparently live forever), and in Great Britain and Canada it may even kill you, as I posted a couple of weeks ago. Sure, these programs always sound “fair”, especially if you don’t realize how much you’re paying for it (which is the reason our current flawed and counter-intuitive health system has managed to keep tottering forward). The Boomers, most of whom are beginning to realize they’ve underfunded for their dreams of golden retirement (at least they’ve got a killer sound-system and the big-screen plasma tv) are looking for another answer. The problem is they’re only being given a choice between two systems, one just slightly less imperfect than the other. They’re ready to jump at the “something for nothing” deal because that’s what they’ve come to expect as their due, but just wait until they need that hip replacement and have to wait more than a year to get it — or even find out that the government has decided that they’re too old or incapacitated to justify spending any more of its resources on them. This is not a generation that reacts well to being denied.

Okay, I’ll admit that that’s an unfair and extreme characterization of a generation that I find myself in (although at the tail end). What really gets me upset, however, is the proposition that if what we currently have doesn’t work then there’s only one other option. We shouldn’t have to keep propping up this misbegotten and artifical system we currently have, but we definitely don’t need to switch to an even more oppressive and inefficient model (especially when it’s been proven not to work). What we need is a market-driven healthcare system that takes the purchasing power out of the hands of third-party payers or the government and into the hands of the consumer, allowing us to buy healthcare the way we buy groceries or auto insurance.

Will it be easy? No. Will it be painful? Yes. Has this generation ever taken the path that wasn’t easy or that offered pain? Anecdotally, the evidence doesn’t look very good. There’s a lot to be unlearned, and special interest to be overcome, but we’ve got a chance to bite the bullet and do it — and leave a lasting legacy (instead of a curse) for those that come after us.

Update:

Along these lines, Policy Guy recommends a book, The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care.

Unlimited spending tops unlimited revenue

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The sulfur Hugo Chavez said he was smelling recently was most likely coming from the burn rate of his country’s prodigious spending, which is outpacing even the vast oil reserves of Venezuela. From the Wall Street Journal (subscription required for full story):

Venezuela Has Deficit As Chávez’s Spending Outpaces Oil Gains
By RAUL GALLEGOS
October 10, 2006; Page A6

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s spending has exceeded his government’s gains from oil sales this year, resulting in a deficit that many believe will grow in coming months. The Andean country’s accumulated deficit stood at 4.9 trillion bolivars ($2.28 billion) at the end of July, according to the latest central-bank figures.

Venezuela’s oil industry accounts for about one-third of gross domestic product and one-half of government revenue. “We expect to see a deficit of $7.7 billion this year,” or 4.3% of gross domestic product, said Andreas Faust, an economist at Banco Mercantil in Caracas.

Mr. Chávez has continued to fund popular social programs that include free health care, education and subsidized food, as he seeks another six-year term in office in December elections. He has raised salaries of state workers, continues to fund state enterprises and gives soft loans to favored industries. Many analysts expect total spending to surpass 120 trillion bolivars or almost 40% of GDP by year’s end.

State spending has pushed up prices for goods and services, resulting in 12.5% inflation as of September.

Maybe Chávez is racing his North Korean friend with the mushroom-cloud hair to see who can run their country into the ground first.

Let’s hear it for the Boy

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I work for a company in the risk assessment business. There are elements of our business who take more than a casual interest in the weather, as it can mean billions of dollars in claims and millions of dollars in capital that has to be set aside as reserves. One of our industry publications had this report today:

The climate phenomenon El Nino made an unexpected return this year, and its influence on world weather patterns could have an impact on the property/casualty insurance industry — including fewer hurricanes for the rest of the 2006 season.

El Nino is a large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate phenomenon linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central equatorial Pacific. Steve Smith, an atmospheric physicist and senior vice president of Carvill’s ReAdvisory, said “a weak El Nino” formed about a month ago and appears to be affecting hurricane formation.

“I wouldn’t expect too many hurricanes for the rest of the season,” Smith said.

The Colorado State University-based Tropical Meteorology Project was even more blunt, lowering its tropical storm forecast to below-average activity for the rest of the season and predicting no tropical cyclone activity in November, “largely due to the rapid emergence of an El Nino event during the latter part of this summer.” Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

“A hurricane is kind of like a heat engine in the atmosphere,” said Peter Dailey, lead meteorologist for catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide Corp. “It can be disrupted by mixing the atmosphere. When we have an El Nino event, it tends to increase the wind shear in the Caribbean.”

So far, there have been nine named storms this season, and not one hurricane has made U.S. landfall.

Robert Hartwig, senior vice president and chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, said El Nino’s influence on hurricane formation is “a beneficial impact.”

Ahhh, warming water means fewer hurricanes and, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the typical El Nino effect on global weather means warmer than average winter weather in western and central Canada, which translates to a warmer than average winter for western and central U.S. — including our own Minnesota. Maybe I didn’t need to buy my wife the new pair of flannel lined jeans and microfleece long underwear at Cabelas for her birthday after all. Maybe I can negotiate a lower fee upfront with the guy who plows my driveway.

Of course, El Nino weather patterns also usually mean more storm activity in California and more nor’easters in the northeast. Oh, those poor blue states. I bet Karl Rove had something to do with this.

19 years ago today…

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The Twins were on their way to winning their first World Series … and the Bride (not yet the Reverend Mother) and I were on our way to 19 consecutive winning seasons, with good prospects for many more and a great farm system producing future champions. I’m even happier today than I look in this picture. Looking back I can honestly say I’d do it all again the same way … except for the photo, and those glasses.

Where does the weekend go, and what does it do when it gets there?

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I was supposed to take the canvas awnings off the house over the weekend so they can be stored for the winter. It was sunny and warm on Saturday, which would have made for ideal conditions — except for the 20-25 mph wind gusts. My family says I worry too much about things, but if I do it’s because I have a good imagination that makes it easy to envision worst-case scenarios taking place before my eyes. So, take stiff winds, a 40-foot extension ladder, large canvas surface areas and my own natural grace that has put me on the losing side of disputes with gravity many times and I had no trouble picturing myself doing a Flying Nun impersonation somewhere over my back yard. The clincher in my decision for staying earth-bound, however, was that the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers were playing football Saturday afternoon.

No, I had no desire to shirk my chores and actually watch them play against Penn State; it’s just that when the Gophers play football against ranked opponents, spectacularly bad and nearly unexplainable things happen. When such eery forces are afoot in the land it is wise not to take any unnecessary chances. In recent years the Gophs have found ways to blow a three-touchdown lead in the last 8 minutes of a game, snatch defeat from the jaws of certain victory with a botched punt and many other comical indignities I’ve tried to repress. This time they scored a touchdown in overtime and missed the extra point. Then, just when they had turned Penn State away with a fourth-down, game-winning play they get flagged for a phantom pass interference call, you knew it was going to happen again (and it did).

I did manage to get the leaves in the front yard mulched, but about half of them are still on the trees despite the winds. It’s a good feeling to get things accomplished, but I spent most of the time I was doing that thinking about another “Dad” responsibility that was coming up. We’ve just added another teenage daughter to the family for the forseeable future, to go along with the Mall Diva and the near-teen Tiger Lilly (anybody got a spare bathroom you’re not using? Can I borrow it?) It’s been an unexpected, but not unwelcome, event though it is a bit different to assume responsibility for someone just a few days short of 17 years old, especially when she comes equipped with a would-be boyfriend. The young swain was to present himself to the Reverend Mother and I for the first time Saturday afternoon for our “little talk” and I spent my leaf-collecting time pondering the proper accessories.

In the end, I decided to go without the gun or the knife, but I think I still got it across to the young man that I take this seriously, and clearly laid out my expectations and his responsibilities if he wants to have the privilege of spending time with one of mine. He listened very respectfully, and had her home only one minute late. Do you think I should also have him fill out the application? (There’ll be more about our new daughter as time goes on, but first I have to decide on a proper blog nickname for her; these things have a way of suggesting themselves, so be patient).

Saturday night the rest of us watched the movie, “My House in Umbria”, starring Maggie Smith, who was excellent. It’s a mystery movie, which we like, but it had the added appeal of being set on location in the Italian countryside. Umbria looked very much like Tuscany where we were back in May, and we were all wistful at the views of the scenery and the house and the garden. I liked the movie a lot, but the girls weren’t as impressed. I thought it was an interesting movie with a twist on the mystery genre in the way it went about unveiling its clues at a leisurely, sun-washed pace.

Sunday morning we made our usual preparations for church and we even got home in time for the kick-off of the Vikings game. I’m getting pretty frustrated with the Vikings offense. It’s supposed to be some version of the West Coast Offense, but it looks more like a “Let’s Coast” offense. When you hear “West Coast” you think sunshine, sporty convertibles, tanned blondes who wink at you and a diverse, high-powered style of offensive football that combines the power and grace of surfing. The Viking’s version is more like ice-fishing. In Cleveland. In February. While you’re sitting on a plastic bucket. The problem as I see it is that the defense knows the quarterback can’t get the ball deep without it hanging up there like a pinata, so they cheat up and crowd the passing lanes, making it even harder to complete the short passes. It’s boring, turgid and as predictable as Brad Johnson throwing the ball five yards on third and nine. Thankfully the defense is awesome this year, and it actually outscored their offensive counterparts this week as the Vikings defeated a Minnesota coach’s best hope for job security: the Detroit Lions.

When our golfing partners cancelled on us later in the afternoon I got a chance to flash back to the good old days of Denny Green clock management by watching the Cardinals-Chiefs game on one channel while also monitoring the over-hyped return of Terrell Owens to Philadelphia as the Eagles hosted the Cowboys. If there’s anything I enjoy in sports — even more than watching Phil Mickelson kack up a big lead or having the Yankees bounced from the play-offs early — it’s seeing Terrell Owens get his feelings hurt. Ahhh, it was a good day. Time to kick back and reflect and enjoy the evening — oh, hey, don’t I have a blog?

Challenging Word of the Week: billingsgate

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Billingsgate (BIL ingz gate)
noun

Billingsgate is foul and abusive language, coarse invective. The word comes from Billingsgate, London, for hundreds of years the site and name of a fish market where fish sellers and porters were notorious for their foul, coarse language. The market was near a gate in the old city wall named after a property owner, Billings. To talk billingsgate (sometimes capitalized) is to indulge in vituperation and vilification. The women who worked there were particularly offensive; from the Middle English fisshwyf we get fishwife, a term applied to coarse, vituperative, foul-tongued women who belie the traditional gentility of their sex. These lines appear in The Plain Dealer, a play by the English poet and dramatist William Wycherley (c. 1640-1716):

QUAINT: With sharp invectives—
WIDOW: Alias, Billingsgate.

My example: Rosie O’Donnell’s billingsgate tendencies have been on view since she joined “The View.”

From the book, “1000 Most Challenging Words” by Norman W. Schur, ©1987 by the Ballantine Reference Library, Random House. I post a weekly “Challenging Words” definition to call more attention to this delightful book and to promote interesting word usage in the blogosphere. I challenge other bloggers to work the current word into a post sometime in the coming week. If you manage to do so, please leave a comment or a link to where I can find it. Previous words in this series can be found under the appropriate Category heading in the right-hand sidebar.

It’s That Time Again!

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Yes, it’s that beautiful time of year; with leaves changing colors and the air getting colder*…

Time to break out the wrist sweaters!

This is the very last of the 899 pictures we took in Europe. We were at the airport to go home, and my carry-on luggage was so stuffed that I couldn’t fit my wrist sweaters anywhere, so I had to wear them.

*The air is supposed to be getting colder, right? Though I personally am not opposed to 70 and 80 degree weather for fall…
My mom and I support global warming!