How Do You Spell Dysfunctional?

BULLSHIT  is the proper noun for this statement from the co-chairs of the Select/Special/Super Committee charged with finding $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction in the next 10 years as reported in the WSJ (see below).

Obama is the easy target, but it's our Congress that has failed us. No visible leadership will stand up and vote what must be done to correct our fiscal path. The only credible voice, IMHO, is Paul Ryan in the House of Representatives. He speaks truth. Most of he rest speak nothing but empty partisan rhetoric. Will the real leaders please stand up?

Deficit Panel Leaders Fail to Reach Deal

"WASHINGTON — After one last bout of fitful but futile talks, Congressional negotiators conceded the obvious: that the joint Congressional committee charged with drafting a deficit reduction package would miss its deadline this week. But they did not quite give up the ghost of a chance that a solution might be found later.

“After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee’s deadline,” said a statement issued late in the afternoon by Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas and Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the panel’s Republican and Democratic co-chairs.

“Despite our inability to bridge the committee’s significant differences, we end this process united in our belief that the nation’s fiscal crisis must be addressed and that we cannot leave it for the next generation to solve,” they said. “We remain hopeful that Congress can build on this committee’s work and can find a way to tackle this issue in a way that works for the American people and our economy.”"

VJ Day Video in Hawaii

A special thank-you to my childhood friend, Mike, now an accomplished graphics artist, for sharing this superb video of the spontaneous celebration when the news broke in August 1945 that Japan had surrendered after years of of bitter warfare in the Pacific region.

As a child, I distinctly remember my father celebrating by blasting the leaves off a tree in the yard with his shotgun. America was ecstatic after so much bloodshed and sacrifice by the 'Greatest Generation' in WWII.

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.

Search can't scale without social, and Bing has Facebook and Twitter on its side | TechRepublic

The massive amount of information that humankind creates is becoming evermore difficult for search engines to master. This story examines what Bing and Google are up to to.

" throughout all of human history up until 2003 we created 5 exabytes of data (five billion gigabytes). We now create that much every day. In 2011, we’ll create 1.8 zettabytes of data (a zettabyte is a 1000 exabytes). That’s up from 1.2 zettabytes in 2010, and we’ll be creating over 20 times that by 2020."

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Face Recognition Moves From Sci-Fi to Social Media - NYTimes.com

People have no inherent right to anonymity that I can find in our Constitution. Nevertheless, we all hope that we can have it in this electronic age. In my view, our anonymity evaporated the day we ordered Caller ID or began participating on the Internet. You can pretend to be anonymous, but that's a pipe dream given today's data mining technology.

 "...As SceneTap suggests, techniques like facial detection, which perceives human faces but does not identify specific individuals, and facial recognition, which does identify individuals, are poised to become the next big thing for personalized marketing and smart phones. That is great news for companies that want to tailor services to customers, and not so great news for people who cherish their privacy. The spread of such technology — essentially, the democratization of surveillance — may herald the end of anonymity..."

Facial recognition is but one more tool available, now to the masses of cell phone camera users, that drives the nail in coffin of Mr. and Ms Anonymity. Or I suppose we could all wear masks or burkas.

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A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search - NYTimes.com

Corporate welfare based more on ideology than realistic economics is not good for America's fiscal health. Any policy that builds in a no-fail parameter is simply bad public policy, except for projects that are for the military, or health, or the environment, or... pick your favorite.

"...The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google..."

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Scuffer Syndrome Ends

Our male Airedale Terrier, Scuffer (age 9), several years ago was infected with Lyme Disease. The primary symptom was an inability to walk normally. His rear end would not function properly and he would drag himself along with mostly his fore legs. This 2006 video shows how it affects him.He also will sometimes cry in pain when he moves. He had a few episodes of this starting in 2005, but for the past 2-3 years he showed no symptoms.

For the past few days, the 'Scuffer Syndrome' reappeared. Today, he's normal again. We remain puzzled as to what causes this and the vets are baffled, too. Even an MRI shows no abnormalities that would cause this behavior. I think it may be neurological triggered by episodic infections somehow associated with the Lyme disease.

But we are so thankful that he seems to have returned to normal. I took him for a short walk on leash this afternoon and he was the normal Airedale we love.

Italy Struggles with Austerity, Growth, Debt and New Leadership

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/world/europe/silvio-berlusconi-resign-italy-austerity-measures.html

Italy's politics are far more complicated than ours. This brief summary of the austerity and stimulus measures shows how deeply ingrained is patronage and spending. Italy would benefit enormously if people just paid their legitimate taxes. It's estimated that tax avoidance/evasion in the 'shadow economy' is 22.3% of Italy's GDP.( From this link: "According to a 2007 paper by Austrian economist Friedrich Schneider, the shadow economy in Italy accounted for 22.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), that of Spain 19.3%; Portugal 19.2% and Greece a staggering 25.1%. By comparison, the U.S. shadow economy was 7.2% of GDP. A recent European Union report came up with similar figures.")

"...The measures are aimed at reducing Italy’s $2.6 trillion public debt and increasing growth by selling $21 billion worth of state assets and increasing the retirement age to 67 from 65 by 2026. It also would loosen the power of professional guilds, liberalize municipal services and offer tax breaks for infrastructure and companies that hire young workers..."

Click here for more details of the various changes that are being voted by the Italian parliament.

The Inequality Map - NYTimes.com

I had never experienced the humorous side of David Brooks. This is hilarious AND poignant.

 "Foreign tourists are coming up to me on the streets and asking, “David, you have so many different kinds of inequality in your country. How can I tell which are socially acceptable and which are not?”"

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Obama Administration Delays Decision on Keystone XL Pipeline - NYTimes.com

TeamObama punts an important decision, seemingly for political reasons. Will the real leaders please stand up?

"“I support the State Department’s announcement today regarding the need to seek additional information about the Keystone XL pipeline proposal,” the president said in a statement. “Because this permit decision could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment, and because a number of concerns have been raised through a public process, we should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood.”"

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European economies: Europe's deepening crisis | The Economist

European economies: Europe's deepening crisis | The Economist:

Contains a map of Europe including the Euro zone and how other countries' currencies are connected ...or not. Norway, Switzerland and Great Britain seem less affected.

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