Letter to WSJ "Taking the Earth temp requires... lots of thermometers"

Saturday, November 5, 2011 2:56 AM

Chicago Saturday AM 5 November 2011

Editors, The Wall Street Journal

Gentlepeople:

The Wall Street Journal article “Global Temperatures: All Over the

Map ” of Saturday 5 November opens “Taking the Earth's temperature requires more than lots of thermometers. It also relies on surveying tools, satellites—and confidence in statistical models used to put the numbers together.”

This is the first of seven references in the article to “models” or

“statistical models”, a fundamental tool of the global warmists.

Not mentioned is the 4.5 billion year age of the planet which, if

plugged into a statistical model of an 80 year human lifetime shows

one Earth year being 0.562 seconds of that life span, meaning humans first appeared in our model earth 39 days ago; Earliest known use of charcoal (carbon) by humans, for the reduction of copper, zinc and tin ores, was 54 minutes ago to our 80-year-old. Humans had no idea of measuring temperature before Galileo's 1593 invention of the thermometer , 4 minutes ago to our senior citizen. Discovery of carbon dioxide in 1630? 3 minutes 30 seconds ago.

If you took our geezer's blood pressure as 130/70, then took it again 5 minutes later and got 135 over 75, would you start making funeral arrangements?"

Arnold H Nelson (72bc)

Letter to ChiTrib US Presidents & US national debt

Chicago AM 3 November 2011

Voice of the people, Chicago Tribune

Gentlepeople:

The Chicago Tribune on Sunday 30 October featured an impressive graphic at the bottom of page 27 titled “Commanders-in-debt” showing Federal debt accumulated by presidency. In case the reader needs reminding, it is pointed out that “more than 60% of that amount has accrued in just the last decade.”

That decade is essentially the current and immediately preceeding presidents'. President George W Bush is listed as having accounted for 32.8% of the national debt, and President Obama only 28.9%. Some people will say: “Hey, look, the evil George W Bush accumulated more national debt than the sainted Barack H Obama.” Do they go a little further and realize that it took George Bush 96 months do his part ($51 billion per month), and only 33 months ($131 billion per month) for the current President to do his. At this rate President Obama will leave President Bush in the debt dust around November 15 of this year. Will the Chicago Tribune note this event in another article?

Arnold H Nelson (48bc)

Letter to New York Times on Flat Tax Editorial

Chicago Tuesday 1 November 2011

Editors, The New York Times

Gentlepeople:

The New York Times editorial “Flat Taxes and Angry Voters” opens

“... Americans are now telling pollsters they want a tax system that raises more money and is more fair by asking the rich to pay more.” In November 2010 a Tea Party invigorated Republican party took 63 House of representatives seats away from the Democrats, effectively telling their elected officials they wanted, among other things, a flat rate tax for all citizens.

The editorial continues: “Take the flat tax plan of Gov. Rick Perry of Texas... what it would really do is give high-income Americans a big tax break, while almost everyone else could expect relatively modest tax savings or none at all.” That 'everyone else' must certainly include the “47% of Households” who pay no income taxes at all (New York Times Tuesday 13 April 2010.)

The editorial concludes “The country also needs a ... tax system... that strengthens progressivity.” Progressivity is easy to strengthen, but there are limits to how far you can go – Soviet Russia and North Korea are two examples.

Arnold H Nelson (50 bc)

Letter to WSJ on their "More Medicare Cuts" editorial

Chicago PM Friday 6 August 2011

Editors, The Wall Street Journal

Gentlepeople:

The Wall Street Journal Review and Outlook “More Medicare Cuts” of Thursday 4 August does as fine a job as can be expected explaining “the debt deal's health-care bookkeeping,” concluding “The only durable way to control long-run costs without hurting patients is a reform agenda akin to Paul Ryan's 'premium support' plan", and “reformers need to continue their effort to persuade voters that it is a better option than all the others.” Voters are obviously the last word in this discussion, but because of the Current tax Payment act of 1943, are all but completely removed from the situation at the most crucial point, their personal bank accounts.

Medicare is paid out of the US general fund, which got its biggest boost in history from the ratification of the 16th amendment, requiring every citizen to send a check to the Treasury every March 15 to pay a tax on their annual income. This link was broken by the 1943 act moving the check writing responsibility from the 90% of individual voters who are wage earners to employers. If the check doesn't get to the feds, the employer goes to jail, never the wage earner.

Since every employer is required to send in this tax, they have no competitive incentive to do anything other than add it to the price of their product, resulting in the 2011 Statistical Abstract of the United States showing 37% of all personal income taxes came from employer bank accounts, not voters'. So we end up with 1/3 of all federal income ($2.345 trillion in 2009) coming from a silent, painless national sales tax.

Fixing this scam would not need a Constitutional Amendment, only a House majority, 60 Senators, and a President with backbone enough to change the US Tax code from "every employer making payment of wages shall deduct and withhold upon such wages a tax..." to "every employer making payment of wages shall pay all of those wages to the employee...." The employer would still calculate the tax, including a note: "Here is how much the feds are expecting you personally to send in within 30 days."

Requiring individual wage earner/voters to write checks to the feds for 20% of their take home every month would go a long way to convincing them that sensible legislation like Paul Ryan's would be a vast improvement over the unsustainable mess we have now.

Arnold H Nelson in Chicago

Letter to UK Financial Times on Obama

Chicago USA Thursday 4 August 2011

Editors UK Financial Times

Gentlepeople:

The Financial Times' Tuesday 2 August article “Obama’s image takes a beating” opens “As Barack Obama celebrates his 50th birthday on Thursday, there are no shortage of things he could wish for.”

With the debt-ceiling resolution of Tuesday 2 August Barack Obama could care less if anyone thinks he 'took a beating'. He got exactly what he wished for: removal of all possibility of getting involved in any silly 'debt-ceiling' game the legislature likes to play with itself, so he can spend all dollars necessary to buy a 2012 reelection victory.

The article closes with: “Still, it is little comfort to a man who ... [still has] Friday’s looming unemployment data to look forward to.”

Except for a few months with a New York law firm (where he felt he was “behind enemy lines”) Barack Obama's entire career has been in the most leftward part of the public sector.

Since becoming President Barrack Obama has increased George W Bush's 2008 5.8% unemployment rate to 9.2%. The President has replaced Bush's unprecedented average monthly $20 billion deficit his own $125 billion average monthly deficit. The first black president was supposed to 'bring us together' in race relations, and they have only gotten worse.

Everything he does as President brings the country closer to failure, closer to his lifetime goal of reading from his teleprompter on national TV: “The country is failing... but it's too big to fail. To keep the country from failing I am issuing an executive order nationalizing every activity in the country. Everyone will responsible only to the Federal government. Every need, housing, food, healthcare will be furnished free by the federal government. Your local commissar will be in touch with each of you in the morning. Thank you and good nite.”

Arnold H Nelson in Chicago

Letter to WSJ on a debt deal the founders could love

Chicago Tuesday PM 2 August 2011

Editors, The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal article “A Debt Deal The Founders Could Love” of Tuesday 2 August says “Many people … think that Washington has been spending like a drunken sailor since President Obama took office....”

In its the first 6 years the George W. Bush administration ran an unheard of $20 billion average monthly deficit. With the Democrats running the House for its last two years, that figure was raised to $25 billion. Now the Obama administration, in just 29 months has an average monthly deficit of $125 billion, five times the evil George W Bush. Is there a more formidable metaphor than drunken sailor?

The article continues describing the Founders' intentions for the Senate “to represent the interests of the states and to serve as a check on 'the impulse of sudden and violent passions...' or the danger of 'factious leaders' offering 'intemperate and pernicious resolutions' that might in time characterize the lower house.”

The Senate was just that until the arrival of its first party leader in 1920, 3 complete Senate elections after passage of the 17th Amendment, making the Senate elected directly by the people just like the House. About the only thing keeping it from 'the impulse of sudden and violent passions' of the house is it is only ¼ the size of the House. And if you can imagine a more 'factious leader' offering 'intemperate and pernicious resolutions' than Harry Reid, you need psychiatric help.

The article concludes “Rarely in our system do the participants, ... achieve all or even most of their goals in a single political battle.” Sunday night, a debt-ceiling deal was reached that will raise the federal debt ceiling and permit continued borrowing to fund federal government operations through 2012 rather than just for another six months.

That is exactly what the White House wanted: remove all possibility of getting involved in any silly 'debt-ceiling' game the legislature likes to play with itself, so they can spend whatever dollars necessary to buy a 2012 victory.

The Founders are rolling in their graves seeing us reduced to two parties, one who will do anything to win, and the other avoiding doing anything that might offend someone.

Arnold H Nelson in Chicago

Chicago PM Saturday 23 July 2011

Editors, The Wall Street Journal

Gentlepeople:

The Wall Street Journal Friday 22 July OpEd “Time to Take Alaska Out of the Icebox” refers to the Arctic being subject to “increased access from climate change”, now having “melting sea ice and thawing tundra”, and being ”home to... fresh water... increasingly important in a warming world.” These statements are presented without a shred of corroboration or attribution, no different than than saying “the sun rises in the east.”

Such statements are common in current news and commentary, often supported by “mathematical models.” An interesting model here would be projecting the planet's 4.5 billion-year age on to that of an 80-year old human, giving one earth year equivalent to 0.56 seconds of an 80-year-old geezer's lifetime. This would show mankind's first foray to the north pole in 1909 occurring 51 seconds ago. If you took our geezer's blood pressure as 130/70, then took it again 51 seconds later and got 132 of 68. would you start making funeral arrangements?

The article continues citing activities of Russia, Canada, Norway and Iceland to capatilize on the alleged increased relevance of the Arctic, but that “the U.S. has left Alaska in the icebox.”

The article suggests policy initiatives the US might consider if we want to catch up. Oddly enough one of these is “We will also need to revitalize our icebreaker fleet to support Arctic maritime activities.” Arctic ice is melting... and we still need icebreakers?

Arnold H Nelson in Chicago

Letter to WSJ on Political Party colors

Chicago Thursday PM 7 July 2011

Editors, The Wall Street Journal

Gentlepeople:

The Wall Street Journal on Thursday 7 July has a map on the top half of page A6 showing the current distribution of US state legislatures between Democrats and Republicans. It is eye-catching because it uses brite red and blue colors to distinguish between states with Republican and Democrat control of legislatures.

Unfortunately you mimic a convention the left wing press (initially by an aspiring national newspaper best known for its street boxes looking like TV sets) has used since the 1994 takeover of the House of Representatives by the Republicans (after 40 years,) indicating the Democrats as Blue and Republicans as red.

This flew in the face of convention dating back to the birth of modern governments, where the left has always been represented by red (red China, red guards, red Russia, etc.) We have left and right wing parties too, but the left wing party is the Democrats. Blue (the color of the Air Force and the Navy BTW) should be used for the Republicans, red for the left wingers.

As the largest circulation US newspaper, it seems odd that the Wall Street Journal wold fall for this misleading convention. Why not use a convention instantly and naturally recognized by everyone. If that confuses anyone, that's their problem.

Arnold H Nelson in Chicago

Letter t National Review Mag on MEdiscare

Chicago PM Tuesday 5 July 2011

Editors, National Review Magazine

Gentlepeople:

NationalReview Magazine's 20 June The Week item “Republicans and Medicare” says of Medicare “The program is popular.” Some background may explain that popularity:

Medicare is paid out of the US general fund. That fund got its biggest boost in history from the ratification of the 17^th amendment, which required every citizen to send a check to the Treasury every March 15 to pay a tax on their annual income. This crucial link was broken by the 1943 Current Tax Payment act moving this check writing responsibility from the 90% of individual citizens who are wage earners to employers. If the check doesn't get to the feds, the employer goes to jail, never the wage earner.

But the act also required the employer to give each wage earner a written statemnt with every pay check effectivly saying “You earned, and your employer paid,” so not only are wage earners not sending in any actual dollars, they are continually remindeed that if it wasn't for the feds, the wage earner would have got the money. Dream on.

Even more invidiously, since every employer is required to send in this tax, they have no competitive incentive to do anything other than add it to the price of their product.

This has resulted in the 2011 Statistical Abstract of the United States showing in 2009, 37% of all personal income taxes came from employer bank accounts. Social Security works under the same scam – adding in that 36.1%, you get nearly ¾ of all federal income coming from a silent, painless national sales tax.

Fixing this scam would not need a Constitutional Amendment, only a majority of the House of reps, 60 Senators, and a President with backbone enough to change the US Tax code from "every employer making payment of wages shall deduct and withhold upon such wages a tax..." to "every employer making payment of wages shall pay all of those wages to the employee...." The employer would still calculate the tax, including a note: "Here is how much the feds are expecting you personally to send in within 30 days"

A final assault on credulity: National Review Magazine writes 147 words on Medicare, not a one even a hint of questioning where in The United States Constitution there is justification for it.

Arnold H Nelson in Chicago

Chicago PM Tuesday 5 July 2011

Editors, the Voice of the People, Chicago Tribune

Gentlepeople:

A letter in the Tuesday 5 July Chicago Tribune asks: "Why doesn't

Chicago put up signs like Evanston has, saying [bicycle riding on sidewalks]

is illegal and violators will be arrested...."?

Is the writer referring to Evanston Wyoming? I regularly walk between the

Davis street CTA station and the NU campus, and I can attest there is such

a sign - the one time I was able to read it, I needed to dodge at least a

dozen bicyclists. There may have been more - it was dark at the time.

Arnold H Nelson in Chicago