::::: : the wood : davidrobins.net

My name is David Robins: Christian, lead developer (resume), writer, photographer, runner, libertarian (voluntaryist), and student.

This is also my son David Geoffrey Robins' site.

Canoeing around the University

News, Bad Drivers, Political, Guns ·Wednesday June 25, 2008 @ 22:11 EDT (link)

20080615: Updated my resume for my PMP application. Honey and I went to Duvall Park and played ball and then sat in camp chairs and read in the morning; went out to the UWa. Waterfront Activities Center in the afternoon and canoed for about an hour. We got very close to ducks, Canada geese, and a couple of cranes, which was amazing. Got home around 1900, cooked.

20080617: Joined the NRA ($35 - $10 Glock discount = $25/a.; they have $1000 life memberships too, which I may consider at some point, if I ever think I'll be a member for more than 40 years). Supposed to get a magazine and membership card in the mail.

Bad driver: WA 210XSO Silver Honda Civic EX let in not one but two queue-jumpers on 51st between WA-520 and 156th (around 0930).

Another bad driver in the evening: 1645 on Avondale (turned off Novelty Hill at 208th); WA 800 RVD burgundy Honda Pilot, with flames around the Honda logo (who is he kidding, unless it's meant to indicate it uses a lot of gas). Queue-jumping, i.e. passing just to be an asshole, without hope of actually going faster (due to traffic volume).

20080618: Did some pruning outside; grass is still short, can wait until the weekend to cut again as long as the rain holds off. Uploaded resume to PMP application: all that’s remaining is one of my recommendations, my personal statement, printing the application (it's listed as a step—I guess they want you to have a backup, since it is an online application), and paying; it's all due by July 1.

20080619: Took Honey to the airport to fly out to WV: left at 2130, got home at 2300 exactly; some construction near the airport and on I-405.

20080621: Gun show day! Joined WAC at the Monroe gun show ($35, minus show entry fee); bought a pistol rug ($8) and a 10-round Glock magazine (for Canada if I ever get a PAL ($8, down from $10), and 500 more rounds of 9mm ammo (S&B 115 grain FMJ from Surplus Ammo).

20080624: Called Honey in WV. Jim Cameron (Cameron Construction) came by with his painter to prepare an estimate for painting work (outside wood, steps, rails, and some minor touchup inside).

20080625: Still monitoring GunBroker Springfield Armory 1911 EMP auctions—one used item went for around $850, new seem to be going for around $1050; their site is down now with SQL errors all over the place (first time I've seen that). Worked on PMP personal statement; pretty much finished; I hope they don't expect it to be too long, I've made it basically a summary, since they also want a resume and academic summary as part of the package, so there's no point in being repetitive.

The Government is Not Your Daddy blog has a new post up: What is Conservatism; well worth reading. It discusses how the United States was founded on the principles of limiting government, rather than government power; individual responsibility, rather than collectivism, private property versus communism, and free markets rather than central planning. I particularly liked:
I’m not against all taxation. I recognize that you don’t get something for nothing. The protection of my rights as a citizen, and our national sovereignty, is worth a lot to me. And I’m willing to pay for that. But I’m not willing to pay for everything else anybody wants that they can’t afford to pay for themselves. If you want something of value, you have to provide value in return. Just because you can’t afford something, doesn’t give you the right to take it out of my pocket. Nobody owes you anything, except what you earn.
Well said, Peggi. Obamunisti non carborundum. I don't think I've ever met anyone whose views align so well with mine.

The socialism of Barack Hussein Obama III

Political ·Sunday June 22, 2008 @ 18:22 EDT (link)

Economy: Let me quote from Obama's page: "I believe that America's free market has been the engine of America's great progress. … We are all in this together… we all have a stake in each other's success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers." And there's the socialist coming out: reading between the lines, he's justifying the type of taking that take not from the rich, but from the working, and give to the indolent, to the illegal alien, to the couple that has children they cannot afford, all of whom who expect the government, that is, people that work to subsidize them. Whenever a politician says "we", keep a good grip on your wallet. Let's enumerate how he plans to rob from the useful and give to the useless, shall we?

One of the problems with Socialism is that if everyone is paid the same, there's no incentive to work harder, no incentive to develop new more efficient methods and technology. Pandering and theft are Obama's two actual campaign planks.

Let me just rant a bit about the term middle-class Americans, which Barack really likes to throw around—he wants to give them their cake and let them eat it alongside a chicken in every pot and a Hummer in every garage. Here's a secret: everyone thinks they're middle class, including people on welfare. Here's how they arrive at it: to most people, there are three divisions: poor, middle class, and rich. They aren't poor, they reason (let's face it, if you're in the United States legally, are able-bodied and of sound mind, haven't crapped out kids you can't afford, and are willing to go where the jobs are, it's pretty hard to be poor), but they aren't rich—they've seen how Donald Trump lives on T.V., and they aren't drinking champagne and getting whisked around in limousines. So, by the middle ground fallacy they believe they're middle class; and perhaps they are, by their definitions of rich and poor, but then by that so is 99% of the country, so the distinction ceases to have much meaning. It's just a phrase used to pander, to say "We're here for you, we're not trying to give anything to the evil rich." Don't buy it. Pretend the words aren't there.

Category Costs Who Pays Who Benefits
Economy
Tax cut for working families Pure pandering. Taxes are a percentage; that percentage even increases the more one makes, which people have the gall to call progressive (it may be a technical term, but it's certainly a loaded one). Where are these $500 and $1000 gifts to "middle-class Americans" going to come from? That's right, other "middle-class Americans"—the ones that are working just a bit harder. (Also, why for "families" and not singles? Does he count childless couples as "families"?) "Middle-class Americans" that work and/or provide jobs (capitalists). "Middle-class Americans" that don't work (dedicated communists, or "Obamunists").
Simplify tax filings This is is something I believe I can support, if it doesn't cost an inordinate amount. I personally don't find it all that complicated: we always file paper taxes and it takes us about half an hour with a calculator each year to put everything together; presumably filing online is even easier. Barack wants to make tax filing easier for middle-class Americanspeople that don't pay capital gains tax, by "using information from banks and employers." The only issue I see is privacy, but since banks and employers are already reporting information to the IRS, I see no harm in correlating it: why should I have to submit W-2s and 1099s to the IRS when they already have the information? I'd pay, say, $10 to save a half-hour a year in filing time. Everybody. Accountants? People that like their privacy? Everybody, I hope.
Fight for fair trade Sounds good: even protectionism is a good thing for Americans if it keeps jobs and enriches the nation; screw the global economy, support your country. So far so good; although I doubt the WTO will be as cooperative as he thinks and we'd probably do better to get out from under than unelected body. I'm also behind amending NAFTA to be more in our favor; the U.S. should not maintain agreements that are not in our interest (and canceling or amending isn't reneging; we are not refusing to stand by the terms of the agreement, just offering to either renegotiate in good faith, or to let everyone walk away). Sellouts to China, India, the European Union, etc. Everyone else (patriots?)
Transition assistance Weaselly, though—it looks like more free (or tax-free) money. I support education, I support retraining, but I don't think I should have to pay for someone else's education or training. Taxpayers. Freeloaders.
Support job creation More wolves and sheep luncheons: the government has never been efficient at creating jobs; it just sucks more money from the tax-paying. Private industry has always been much better at creating jobs and directing research. Taxpayers. Freeloaders.
Invest in U.S. manufacturing, create "green" jobs The first is fine; but let the market decide if it wants it or not, and how best to make it happen. Taxpayers. US industry, environmentalists.
Next-generation broadband Extremely high, if taxpayers are forced to pay to get broadband Internet to areas which aren't profitable for existing companies. Taxpayers; non-users. Very rural areas.
"Open Internet" (network neutrality) Somewhat sound in principle, but I also think it's fair that if a company pays for infrastructure, it should get to control it. However, since usually companies that lay network infrastructure are highly subsidized (in costs and in use of public land), I think a feasible compromise would be to let a company be able to control these subsidized networks for a limited non-renewable period (one to five years, depending on the network), and then it reverts to common carrier status. Customers of and companies that build infrastructure. Internet users.
Support unions, protect strikers There's too little support for employees to choose not to unionize; will his proposals force unionization on workers that don't want it? Our freedom to associate already implies unions, since a union is just an association of like-minded people, exercising their rights. No government intervention is needed, unless other laws (assault, intimidation) are being broken. Taxpayers. Lazy workers.
Raise minimum wage. Sure, raise it to $100/hour. That'll help everyone! Wait, it won't? Price caps (floors) aren't magic? You don't say. He also wants to "increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs": why should I pay for someone else's bad decision to have kids they can't afford? Workers: companies may want to hire someone at $5/hour, but not at $10/hour, so they just get by with fewer employees. Research, perhaps—technology will evolve to eliminate even more labor-intensive jobs. Unemployment service workers.
Universal mortgage credit Restructuring of tax law will fall on everyone (presumably renters will be hit hardest since they won't get the credit). If you have a mortgage, itemize, you lazy idiots. Renters. Poorer homeowners.
Home loan bills I agree with some of the fraud prevention ideas in principle, but what constitutes fraud? If someone signs a contract without reading and understanding it, the fault is theirs, not the mortgage broker's. As it is their fault, nobody should be helping them avoid foreclosure: it is their just desserts. Responsible owners/renters. Irresponsible homeowners.
Credit card bill of rights Mostly a bad idea. Currently, credit card companies must disclose changes to the agreement and cardholders can cancel their card if they want to; nobody forces them to keep it. Applying interest rate increases only to future debt makes credit card companies pay the difference; that and any rate ceilings will make it impossible for lower-income people or those with lower credit scores to get credit; the risk to the companies is higher than the return. Not the credit card companies, that's for sure. People with poor credit, taxpayers. Government bureaucracy.
Cap payday loan interest See credit card caps, above.
Reform bankruptcy laws for medical crises Are you kidding? If I as a taxpayer have to end up footing the bill for someone's medical procedure, damn skippy they'd better end up bankrupt and have to pay back whatever they got. Taxpayers. The indolent and those that don't plan ahead; a very few true hard-luck cases.
Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) He wants to bring coverage to businesses with 25+ employees, instead of the current 50+. Either those businesses will have to fire a lot of people, or go under due to their new costs. Small businesses; taxpayers; people that want to work. Nobody, really; maybe a few baby factories.
More child freebies More of my taxes to people with kids, discriminatory flex-time for parents, more "free" after-school programs. Repeat after me: if you can't afford to have children without government help, you cannot afford children: DO NOT HAVE THEM and we'll all be happier. Me, and others like me without children; responsible parents. Irresponsible parents.

I'm tired; I need to take a break. Education is next; I think you can see the trend: don't work, get free stuff from those that do. Where, oh where, is the community of producers like in The Fountainhead, and when can we leave the indolent thieves behind? Parts 1 2 3 4 5.

Books finished: Welcome To the Monkey House, Pawn of Prophecy.

DVDs finished: The Fast and the Furious, The Pelican Brief, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Basic Instinct 2, Double Jeopardy.

Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Club orientation

News, Guns ·Saturday June 14, 2008 @ 19:36 EDT (link)

20080607: Chip Dusseau (of Coldwell Banker Bain's Redmond Ridge office) here to talk about selling the house; may be able to get it on the market for July. We'd like to move back to Redmond or thereabouts, so I'm closer to work and Honey's closer to school; also, it makes us more mobile.

20080608: Got GRE analytical writing score back (and others, but I knew them since they were computer-scored: perfect 800 on the quantitative (math), 700 on the qualitative (verbal), top 3%). Perfect 6.0, despite my gun metaphors, and claiming the semi-automatic handgun as a positive (personal defense) technology in my issue paper (this is surprising because schools lean liberal, as, presumably, do the grad students who do a lot of the GRE grading, and liberals are anti-gun).

20080611, 12: Had some yard maintenance done by Scott's Landscape Service: pruning, weeding, trimming, and replacing some of the outdoor lights that got topped when the tree fell (or by the construction workers).

20080612: Bob sent in his letter of recommendation for my graduate school (PMP) application. Finished some more of the online PMP application (courses, recommendations) and had it send an email to EB, my other reference. Still need to finish personal statement and upload a resume.

20080614: Went to SVRC orientation, handed in application and (½-yearly) payment, got a temporary badge (real one will be mailed); I can start using the range July 1 (I could probably start earlier; nobody would know, but it'd be morally wrong since I only paid their ½-year rate).

In general orientation didn't tell me much that was new, just a few things about the gate combination, opening the first aid/telephone room, and clarified a few things: cease-fire on the rifle range extends to the pistol range, but not vice versa, and (aluminum) cans can be shot at at either range (even though the web site says otherwise, or perhaps implies steel cans; steel targets aren't allowed because of the possibility of ricochets, and paint/oil cans aren't allowed because of toxicity; glass is out because it gets everywhere; plastic bottles are fine).

Books finished: Waterdeep.

DVDs finished: Basic Instinct, My Cousin Vinny.

The socialism of Barack Hussein Obama II

Political ·Monday June 9, 2008 @ 21:33 EDT (link)

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

—James Bovard

Continuing on with a freedom-and-cost-based analysis of B. Hussein's issues, since I couldn't find one, and needed to set out clearly why Obama is bad for (working) America.

Regarding voting, I'd actually prefer to enforce an ID to ensure that non-citizens aren't voting; in fact, I'd even suggest that if one doesn't work one doesn't vote (it would help the "vote to get more free stuff" trend), or perhaps that only people that are net taxpayers (vs. tax receivers) can vote, modulo certain disabilities etc. Voting elects politicians, politicians control tax dollars, so if you're not contributing to the pile, why should you have any say in what's done with it?

(This entry used to be in prose form, but then I realized there'd be a whole lot of duplication, given that socialism isn't all that creative: workers pay taxes, non-workers collect free stuff—at least they get marks for consistency.)

Category Costs Who Pays Who Benefits
Civil Rights
Hate crimes Justice: crimes against so-called minorities will get harsher punishment than the same crime against a non-minority; freedom of speech: people will fear to express their opinions (e.g. against homosexuality) because those opinions are now "hate crimes". Anyone with anti-establishment or anti-popular views (this would legitimize juror bias). Hate crime laws are bogus: they give license for witch-hunts against thoughtcrime, no matter who controls the government. It is the act, not the thought, that should be punished. Minorities; liberals; dictators.
End deceptive voting practice Probably code to spend federal money to print voting pamphlets in more languages (learn English!) English-speaking taxpayers. Illegal voters and anchor babies, or legal immigrants that refuse to learn English (and this would be a disincentive).
End racial profiling Security. Over-sensitive political correctness will stop police and airport security from doing their work. A dilapidated car cruising an expensive neighborhood driven by someone out of the demographic probably is up to no good, but now stopping them to ask a few questions will no longer be allowed. I'll trust that police who have been patrolling a neighborhood for decades have good instincts about who shouldn't be there, and not tie their hands. Furthermore, it's not white grandmothers that are trying to blow up airplanes; it's middle-aged Arab men, and profiling saves lives. Travellers, law-abiding citizens. Terrorists.
Reduce drug sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Security. I have it on good authority that crack is a worse drug: so why shouldn't worse be punished more? Law-abiding citizens. Illegal drug users. If minorities are the ones using crack cocaine, as Barack alleges, wouldn't the better solution be for them to stop using it?
Expand drug courts More drug offenders on the streets. The heading sounds good, but he actually means that he wants to keep drug offenders out of jail and on the streets. Oh boy, can we? " Illegal drug users.
Affirmative action Businesses will have to hire minorities over qualified applicants; this is simple racism/sexism. Didn't someone famous once wish that "[his] children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character"? Businesses, qualified applicants. Minorities.
Disabilities
Provide Americans with disabilities with the educational opportunities they need to succeed. Probably weasel words meaning he wants other people to pay for said education.

I'm not against giving some help to those that truly need it, but the help should be (a) voluntary, which means that (b) I (or an organization that I trust and give money to) can judge need, not some government bureaucrat with too many applications and too little time.		 Taxpayers. Disabled people—and anyone who can trick the government, which isn't known for its discernment.
Support independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities. Although he doesn't say it explicitly, I'd imagine what he means is to pay for this "community living" using my taxes. It's expensive enough to pay for my own housing, let alone everyone else's. " "
Increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities. Unless he just means to go and encourage them to apply for jobs rather than relying on government handouts (which would be great), it hints of affirmative action, for which see above, substituting disability for race. Qualified workers, businesses. Unqualified workers.

I think this needs to be continued. The next section is Economy, and reading some of his policies is making it hard for me to keep down the delicious dinner that I just ate, especially when he claims to support the free market in one breath but then espouses socialist reapportionment in the next. Parts 1 2 3 4 5.

DVDs finished: The Contract, Saw IV, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Species: The Awakening, Next, Thr3e, Swimfan.

Back to co-authoring: ECMA documentation no more

News, Work, Guns ·Friday June 6, 2008 @ 21:40 EDT (link)

20080529: Emailed question re: cans at SVRC; the rules appear to conflict: "no cans" vs. directions how to set up cans as targets. The info@ guy forwarded to the club president; no answer yet. It's possible cans are allowed on the rifle range but not the pistol range, since the prohibition appears in the pistol range rules.

My HDMI cable from Amazon arrived. (Note: be not deceived: don't buy expensive HDMI and other digital cables; digital signal isn't subject to degradation in the same way (i.e. it is, but it's pretty much an all-or-nothing proposition) as analog.)

20080530: Got TruGlo Tritium Fiber Optics (TFO) sights installed; posted to the Gun Club @ Microsoft forum and someone here in Duvall replied offering to put the sights on for me. Due to a Glock slide modification in recent models, he had to mill down the front sight and screw so it fit properly.

My HDMI-DVI adapter arrived. Honey had Chelsea from school over, we got pizza for dinner. When we got back from dropping off Chelsea, I connected the Myth box to the TV via the HDMI cable and DVI-HDMI adapter (together they were under $10 from Amazon). I had to tweak my xorg.conf file a bit (searched the web, this thread was helpful, mainly the bit about not treating it as a TV; I changed the Monitor HorizSync/VertRefresh to their values, set Screen DefaultDepth to 24, Screen/Display Depth to 24, and commented out the Screen "ConnectedMonitor" and "TVOverscan" options as well as Screen/Display's Modes: defaults work fine). Wow, HD is pretty! I had a test HD episode of Grey's Anatomy saved, and it looks wow.


Pin right through the zipper! 20080603: Amazon order arrived (DVDs, range bag, pistol rug (which was defective and had to be returned, fortunately they pay return shipping), and staple gun).

20080605: Got our ECMA standards deviations shirts: green with a cream-colored sigma (sigma, for standard deviation, get it?)

20080606: Hallelujah! Free at last from ECMA documentation, and back to doing the work I signed up for: Word development in C++. C# was fun for a while, but dealing with deviations is tiring, because the whole framework was badly designed by a non-developer; kudos for doing it, sure, but I'd rather waited and had it designed right, and then much of my work would not have even been necessary. Onward to co-authoring!

Books finished: The Revolution, Tantras, In the Gravest Extreme.

DVDs finished: A Few Good Men, The Score, The Brave One.

The socialism of Barack Hussein Obama

Political ·Saturday May 31, 2008 @ 14:55 EDT (link)

Liberalism is a whimsical luxury of the very rich—and the very poor, both of whom have little stake in society.

—Ann Coulter, Slander p. 31, quoted in If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans

It seems that socialism only differs from Marxism in that Marxism requires a revolution and its rhetoric is a bit more insane; so although some call B. Hussein Obama a Marxist, we really have to withhold judgment until the revolution.

Objectivists and libertarians criticize socialism as devaluing the individual, and making people incapable of choosing their own values, as decisions are made centrally. We also reject socialism's indifference to property rights. (From Wikipedia's Criticisms of Socialism.)

Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor may be great if you're Robin Hood and the poor are peasants with no food and the rich are corrupt thieves, but when you're the government, the poor live in houses and have two cars and three televisions, and the rich are ordinary people, then it becomes just plain robbery.

With that in mind, let's take a look at Obama's issues page through the lens of freedom: do his ideas promote freedom and choice, or do they promote more government taking and control? Parts 1 2 3 4 5.

DVDs finished: Hide and Seek.

Ashley and Shawn's wedding

News ·Friday May 30, 2008 @ 20:17 EDT (link)

My cousin Ashley (Ruth Nicole) Martin and Shawn (Donald Skallrud) Camp were married today aboard the ship Queen of Diamonds near Vancouver, BC (ceremony at 1830). We were invited but couldn't make it and wish them all the best.

Books finished: Shadowdale.

DVDs finished: Gone in 60 Seconds.

They probably thought it was a good idea at the time

News ·Monday May 26, 2008 @ 22:41 EDT (link)

I'm referring to British Columbia, and having their capital on an island, which may have been good for defensive purposes back in the day, but in modern times (at least until the MythBusters furnish us all with our own jetpacks) it leaves people at the mercy of infrequent and expensive ferries.


MV Coho (Port Angeles ferry) 20080521: Pick Mom up at airport; leave work 1830, get to airport at 1930 (the "with traffic" time from Google; traffic indeed was miserable). Waited about 30 minutes, since the plane wasn't as early as predicted, drove home, got back around 2100, made dinner (Honey had the baked potatoes on since they took longer), and looked at the route for Friday.

20080522: GRE today; started filling out my online UWa. application. Went shooting at Wade's, but mom didn't want to shoot, so I only shot 3 targets and Honey shot 2. Getting some good groupings, but I think the sights need adjusting (my TFOs should arrive soon, anyway).

20080523: Long day… didn't sleep (we'd stayed up until 0130 or so and needed to get up at 0330, so sleeping would have just made us groggy). 0330-0400: Showered and shaved. 0400-0410: Packed the car (stuff to do on the ferry, drinks and snacks, Mom's luggage, maps).
0410-0500: Drove from Duvall to Edmonds; bought ferry ticket ($27.85 for vehicle and three passengers).
0545-0615: Edmonds-Kingston ferry.
0620-0720: Arrived at Port Angeles, bought ticket for ferry to Victoria ($72 plus $11 on-line reservation fee; Mom paid for the ferry).
0820-1000: Port Angeles-Victoria ferry.
1000-1030: Customs, unloading, met Mom's friend, etc.
1030: Parked in a lot at Quebec and Montreal streets; Mom's friend paid ($1.50 Canadian).
1030-1200: Walked around Victoria, around the downtown, went into a few shops, not all that exciting.
1200-1300: Ate at Smitty's, since I was misled by its fish and chips sign to think it wasn't a chain. Should have gone to the pub across the road. Not terrible (comparable to Denny's or Shoney's) , but there were so many better places around.
1300-1350: Walked back by the Victoria waterfront, took some pictures.
1350-1400: Met back at car in lot at Quebec and Montreal streets (we'd agreed on 1400, but were both early; truth be told we had Mom pegged at being 10 and 15 minutes late respectively).
1400-1515: Drove up to Chemainus.
1515-1545: Walked around Chemainus, stopped at the information center, and at a park; saw Mom off at the ferry (left 1555).
1545-1720: Drove up Highway 1 to Duke Point. Highway 1 could really use some more signage.
1720-1745: Arrived at Duke Point ferry, bought ticket ($30.30 Canadian for vehicle and two passengers, woman was shocked, shocked I say, that I don’t carry change).
1745-1945: Duke Point-Tsawwassen ferry.
1930: Coffee/pastry on the Queen of Alberni, the ferry from Duke Point (Nanaimo) to Tsawwassen (Vancouver).
1945-2300: Arrive back home (Highway 99 in Canada to I-5; short lines and no trouble at the border, even a "welcome home" from the customs agent).
20080524, 25: Stayed home, watched movies, Voyager, Charmed, and That '70s Show.

20080526: Updated Broadstripe (cable ISP) stats (also emailed to work Duvall Employees alias):
For March 2008 (starting March 9): average daily downtime was 2.23% (~32 min./day)
For April 2008: average daily downtime was 2.46% (~35 min./day)
For May 2008 (to date): average daily downtime was 0.45% (~7 min./day) April to May shows a 5x improvement (maybe it's infrastructure improvements, maybe it's just all the people moving to Verizon). Perhaps Broadstripe will become like Duvall ("Don't come here, there are zombie deer...").

Books finished: Dracula.

DVDs finished: The Man in the Iron Mask, Storm of the Century, Rendition, Disturbia, Spider-Man 3.

On Government II: lest I appear hard-hearted

Political ·Monday May 19, 2008 @ 00:01 EDT (link)

At the national level, read Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor, which uses the metaphor of a lifeboat, with rich countries inside and poor countries swimming outside. Rich countries have capacity to sustain themselves with an additional "safety factor" so that they are robust against natural disasters; poor countries usually have neither.
Suppose we decide to preserve our small safety factor and admit no more to the lifeboat. Our survival is then possible although we shall have to be constantly on guard against boarding parties.

While this last solution clearly offers the only means of our survival, it is morally abhorrent to many people. Some say they feel guilty about their good luck. My reply is simple: "Get out and yield your place to others." This may solve the problem of the guilt-ridden person's conscience, but it does not change the ethics of the lifeboat. The needy person to whom the guilt-ridden person yields his place will not himself feel guilty about his good luck. If he did, he would not climb aboard. The net result of conscience-stricken people giving up their unjustly held seats is the elimination of that sort of conscience from the lifeboat.

This is the basic metaphor within which we must work out our solutions. Let us now enrich the image, step by step, with substantive additions from the real world, a world that must solve real and pressing problems of overpopulation and hunger.

The harsh ethics of the lifeboat become even harsher when we consider the reproductive differences between the rich nations and the poor nations. The people inside the lifeboats are doubling in numbers every 87 years; those swimming around outside are doubling, on the average, every 35 years, more than twice as fast as the rich. And since the world's resources are dwindling, the difference in prosperity between the rich and the poor can only increase.
If the rich countries absorb vast numbers of poor immigrants, they will first lose their safety factor, and then lose the capacity to sustain themselves, being dragged down to the level of the very nations they were trying to help (but at least everyone's equal, right?)
The fundamental error of spaceship ethics, and the sharing it requires, is that it leads to what I call "the tragedy of the commons." Under a system of private property, the men who own property recognize their responsibility to care for it, for if they don't they will eventually suffer. A farmer, for instance, will allow no more cattle in a pasture than its carrying capacity justifies. If he overloads it, erosion sets in, weeds take over, and he loses the use of the pasture.

…

On the average poor countries undergo a 2.5 percent increase in population each year; rich countries, about 0.8 percent. Only rich countries have anything in the way of food reserves set aside, and even they do not have as much as they should. Poor countries have none. If poor countries received no food from the outside, the rate of their population growth would be periodically checked by crop failures and famines. But if they can always draw on a world food bank in time of need, their population can continue to grow unchecked, and so will their "need" for aid. In the short run, a world food bank may diminish that need, but in the long run it actually increases the need without limit.

…

My final example of a commons in action is one for which the public has the least desire for rational discussion - immigration. Anyone who publicly questions the wisdom of current U.S. immigration policy is promptly charged with bigotry, prejudice, ethnocentrism, chauvinism, isolationism or selfishness. Rather than encounter such accusations, one would rather talk about other matters leaving immigration policy to wallow in the crosscurrents of special interests that take no account of the good of the whole, or the interests of posterity.

…

To be generous with one's own possessions is quite different from being generous with those of posterity. We should call this point to the attention of those who from a commendable love of justice and equality, would institute a system of the commons, either in the form of a world food bank, or of unrestricted immigration. We must convince them if we wish to save at least some parts of the world from environmental ruin.

Without a true world government to control reproduction and the use of available resources, the sharing ethic of the spaceship is impossible. For the foreseeable future, our survival demands that we govern our actions by the ethics of a lifeboat, harsh though they may be. Posterity will be satisfied with nothing less.
I had the following quote under a cut in my previous piece, but it's more apropos now:
I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold.

For the word "We" must never be spoken, save by one's choice and as a second thought. This word must never be placed first within man's soul, else it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils on earth, the root of man's torture by men, and of an unspeakable lie. The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages. What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and the impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey?

But I am done with this creed of corruption. I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: "I."
—From Anthem, Ayn Rand
I don't agree with "I" being a god, per se, but the idea is sound: any time a politician says "we", he's picking your pocket. A person can be generous; a nation cannot, for if but one tax-paying citizen of that nation does not wholeheartedly agree (or is not duly compensated by desired services) with the giving of their labor to the causes to which the rulers decree, such apportionment is theft.

It's not the person that wants to reduce government and social programs that is hard-hearted, it is the person who believes that he has the right to demand that his fellow citizens give to him of their labors that which he has not earned.

Everyone has a particular cause that they think is worthy. One may think social medicine is good, another social security, another national parks, libraries, cathedrals, or railroads; anyone has the right to freely give to support these things, but not to demand that others do the same.

DVDs finished: Shooter, The Number 23.

South Sound Gun Tour

News, Guns ·Saturday May 17, 2008 @ 18:55 EDT (link)

We slept 4 hours, got up at 0800, and went on the South (Puget) Sound Gun Tour, a drive down to the Puyallup fair and then to several gun stores near our route; at each location I priced a Glock 19 as comparator (no, it's definitely not statistically valid, why do you ask?) (prices are cash, new, with standard 2 x 15 round magazines and usual case components): Until now, I thought $519.99 (Discount Gun Sales) was good (at least I was never fooled into thinking that $539.99 at Wade's was a good price). Low to high is $60, or about 12%; it pays to look around.

DVDs finished: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

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