Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It is dedicated to those who died while serving in the armed forces.
Today, for an hour, or only a minute, we need to think about the dead. The ones who would be here today except for prideful politicians and a few genuinely evil dictators. Fathers and sons. They didn't "willingly sacrifice themselves on the altar of freedom" as we will hear so often today. We put them there. We decided that our nation, our way of doing things, was important enough to put those fathers and sons between our nation and those who would harm it. We asked, and for their own reasons, they answered.
We must dedicate ourselves to being worthy of what we asked. Study the issues. Vote. Despise and rebuke the corrupt. Get off the sidelines. Carry the ball one step for those who can't.
Have that barbecue today - the dead would, if they could. But tomorrow, in your heart, try to make it the day after Memorial Day, and not just Tuesday.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Check My Math
I just filled the gas tank on my little Scion xD. It's a nice car; I've had some trouble with the passenger-side cup holder (it sticks) and the stock tires wore out completely in 35,000 miles, but it's reasonably stylish, reliable, and equipped.
Anyway, filling the gas tank: 9.707 gallons at $3.699 per gallon cost me $35.91. That's less than it cost me a few months ago, more than it cost me a few years ago. But what if I were in Ireland? What would it cost me to fill my little four-banger with enough gasoline to commute back and forth for a week?
Gasoline (petrol) costs an average of €1.659 per liter just now. The current exchange rate is 1.275 USD per euro; that is (I think) $2.11 per liter. You can cram 3.785 litres into each US gallon. That means gasoline costs $8.01 per gallon in Ireland.
Filling my little four-banger Scion xD would cost me just about $77.72. That's for the same gasoline that I buy here in Berlin, Massachusetts.
When I paid for my gasoline in Massachusetts, just about $2.28 out of the $35.91 went to taxes. That means (I think) that the real cost of the gasoline, including drilling, refining, and profits, came to $33.63. So, unless my math is wrong (and it sure could be), the Irish government and the EU are collecting $44.09 in taxes from their citizens (more or less) each time a citizen puts a tank of gasoline in their little european four-banger. For those on the other side of the pond keeping score, that's just about €35.11. Per tank. Every time.
Now, if I was Greek or German or Irish (wait - I am Irish), before anybody in government talked to me about raising taxes or implementing austerity measures, I'd want someone to, oh I don't know, audit the books, maybe?
Anyway, filling the gas tank: 9.707 gallons at $3.699 per gallon cost me $35.91. That's less than it cost me a few months ago, more than it cost me a few years ago. But what if I were in Ireland? What would it cost me to fill my little four-banger with enough gasoline to commute back and forth for a week?
Gasoline (petrol) costs an average of €1.659 per liter just now. The current exchange rate is 1.275 USD per euro; that is (I think) $2.11 per liter. You can cram 3.785 litres into each US gallon. That means gasoline costs $8.01 per gallon in Ireland.
Filling my little four-banger Scion xD would cost me just about $77.72. That's for the same gasoline that I buy here in Berlin, Massachusetts.
When I paid for my gasoline in Massachusetts, just about $2.28 out of the $35.91 went to taxes. That means (I think) that the real cost of the gasoline, including drilling, refining, and profits, came to $33.63. So, unless my math is wrong (and it sure could be), the Irish government and the EU are collecting $44.09 in taxes from their citizens (more or less) each time a citizen puts a tank of gasoline in their little european four-banger. For those on the other side of the pond keeping score, that's just about €35.11. Per tank. Every time.
Now, if I was Greek or German or Irish (wait - I am Irish), before anybody in government talked to me about raising taxes or implementing austerity measures, I'd want someone to, oh I don't know, audit the books, maybe?
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Nazis and Gay Marriage
I have spent a lot of time thinking about gay marriage over the past few days. Here, briefly, are my thoughts:
1. Hey, Barack - stop asking Michelle and the girls what they think about things, reach across the aisle, and help get folks back to work. Three-and-a-half years in it's probably too late, but at least folks would know your head was in the right place.
2. Anybody comparing gay marriage to slavery or conservatives to Nazis needs to read a book on slavery and then watch a documentary on the holocaust. Saying two guys can't get married may be intolerant, but it's not quite the same thing as if, say, the state of North Carolina used tax money to construct and operate a murder mill and crematoriaum where 3,000 people a day got converted to ashes. This may in fact be a civil rights issue, but let's keep this crap in perspective.
3. Anybody on either side of the issue suggesting that the Union be dissolved over gay marriage needs to read a book on the Civil War. One with pictures. For the most part, I'd rather talk all day than get shot. Or shoot someone.
So those are my thoughts. Read a couple of books, watch a movie, go to work, and don't shoot anybody. A philosophy for the ages.
1. Hey, Barack - stop asking Michelle and the girls what they think about things, reach across the aisle, and help get folks back to work. Three-and-a-half years in it's probably too late, but at least folks would know your head was in the right place.
2. Anybody comparing gay marriage to slavery or conservatives to Nazis needs to read a book on slavery and then watch a documentary on the holocaust. Saying two guys can't get married may be intolerant, but it's not quite the same thing as if, say, the state of North Carolina used tax money to construct and operate a murder mill and crematoriaum where 3,000 people a day got converted to ashes. This may in fact be a civil rights issue, but let's keep this crap in perspective.
3. Anybody on either side of the issue suggesting that the Union be dissolved over gay marriage needs to read a book on the Civil War. One with pictures. For the most part, I'd rather talk all day than get shot. Or shoot someone.
So those are my thoughts. Read a couple of books, watch a movie, go to work, and don't shoot anybody. A philosophy for the ages.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
No, You Can't
For reasons I have outlined often in Facebook, I see the marriage issue as being far more complex than people have been willing to admit. Obama does not have the authority - moral or legal - to change the law.
In the United States, the President (somewhat analogous to the Government or the cabinet in Ireland) may propose laws for the congress (similar to the oireachtas) and has the authority to unilaterally veto laws passed by congress (I don't think that Ireland has an indivdual with that authority).
The congress *can* pass a law that is vetoed by the President, but such an override requires a 2/3 majority vote in both houses (senead and dail).
The judicial branch (again, similar to but different from the Supreme Court in Ireland) rules whether laws are constitutional.
Obama's power in the matter of gay marrige is currently limited to proposing new laws or amendments to the US Constitution and keeping the issue in the national spotlight. If congress were to amend the consitution, or if the United States Supreme Court were to rule that gay marriage was a constitutionally-protected civil right, Obama would then have the authority to send in federal agents and would have the authority to deploy combat units of the National Guard to enforce the law.
US National Guard troops were deployed in the United States to enforce civil rights laws in the 1960's. Some states - like Utah, Michigan, Louisiana, Texas, Utah, and Virginia - might be willing to use their own National Guard troops to resist.
The idea of using F-15s and Abrams tanks on US citizens on US soil so that a couple of gay guys can walk hand-in-hand down the the Main Street of A$$hole, Nebraska, as well as the streets of Provincetown, Massachusetts, seems pretty stupid to me.
In the United States, the President (somewhat analogous to the Government or the cabinet in Ireland) may propose laws for the congress (similar to the oireachtas) and has the authority to unilaterally veto laws passed by congress (I don't think that Ireland has an indivdual with that authority).
The congress *can* pass a law that is vetoed by the President, but such an override requires a 2/3 majority vote in both houses (senead and dail).
The judicial branch (again, similar to but different from the Supreme Court in Ireland) rules whether laws are constitutional.
Obama's power in the matter of gay marrige is currently limited to proposing new laws or amendments to the US Constitution and keeping the issue in the national spotlight. If congress were to amend the consitution, or if the United States Supreme Court were to rule that gay marriage was a constitutionally-protected civil right, Obama would then have the authority to send in federal agents and would have the authority to deploy combat units of the National Guard to enforce the law.
US National Guard troops were deployed in the United States to enforce civil rights laws in the 1960's. Some states - like Utah, Michigan, Louisiana, Texas, Utah, and Virginia - might be willing to use their own National Guard troops to resist.
The idea of using F-15s and Abrams tanks on US citizens on US soil so that a couple of gay guys can walk hand-in-hand down the the Main Street of A$$hole, Nebraska, as well as the streets of Provincetown, Massachusetts, seems pretty stupid to me.
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