Lunacy's not bad,—¡Just mad!

C.C.B.D., Lille, France

2011-05-06T21:08:00.018Z

I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Francis Lecaé and his dogs Arry & Circeé de la Saulaie Maraiche, who are working on advanced French Ring titles, at Club du Chien de Berger d'Utilité de Lille (http://www.wix.com/matthiasdeknuyt/ccbdlille and also http://www.vanthangijzer.nl/Lille2008.html). The idyllic meadow amidst the ruins of an ancient citadel and the friendly social atmosphere belie the intensity and dedication of handlers, decoys and dogs.

La Saulaie Maraiche, Esplechin, Belgium

2011-05-05T19:25:00.001Z

9 week old Gabby attacks a burlap bag while her brother Gauthier watches his aggressive sister at work.

If you lose your phone, what privacy will you lose as well?

2011-04-26T18:30:00.001Z

In Syria security forces have quickly suppressed demonstrations by grabbing mobile/cellphones from dissenters and then tracking down all the contacts in that suspect's network. A twitter, or a mobile net, can be a tool for disseminating information or it can be a web that traps dissenters. Without a means of quickly erasing or deleting information on the phone, the contents can become a tattle-tale implicating relatives and friends—without security that prevents unauthorized access to a phone's contents a person's privacy is easily violated, even from such a simple event as losing the device.

Alexis Madrigal in his piece in the Atlantic, What Does Your Phone Know About You? More Than You Think, says that 'Figuring that I've got nothing to hide or steal, I'd always privileged convenience over any privacy and security protocols. Not anymore. Immediately after trying out Lantern, I enabled the iPhone's passcode and set it to erase all data on the phone after 10 failed attempts. This thing remembers more about where I've been and what I've said than I do, and I'm damn sure I don't want it falling into anyone's hands.'

It's worth taking a moment and thinking about all the information the little chip on your phone contains and what would happen if it became available to someone without your best interests at heart tomorrow.

Alkaia as a Puppy—Texas Longhorns & Horses

2011-04-26T08:17:00.001Z

Alkaia Playing with a Crab

2011-04-25T06:15:00.001Z

Pam Green's Classic—"Don't Buy a Bouvier!"

2011-04-24T16:16:00.001Z

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER! by Pam Green (c.1992)

(This article, written many years ago, has become a notorious classic in Bouvier circles. It has been reprinted many times by clubs to use for the education of prospective Bouvier owners. I give my permission freely to all who wish to reprint and distribute it in hopes of saving innocent Bouviers from neglect and abandonment by those who should never have acquired them in the first place.)

Interested in buying a Bouvier? You must be or you wouldn't be reading this. You've already heard how marvelous Bouviers are. Well, I think you should also hear, before it's too late, that BOUVIERS ARE NOT THE PERFECT BREED FOR EVERYONE. As a breed they have a few features that some people find charming, but that some people find mildly unpleasant and some people find downright intolerable.

There are different breeds for different needs. There are over 200 purebred breeds of dogs in the world. Maybe you'd be better off with some other breed. Maybe you'd be better off with a cat. Maybe you'd be better off with goldfish, a parakeet, a hamster, or some house-plants.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO THE BREED *CHIEFLY* BY ITS APPEARANCE. The appearance of the Bouviers you have seen in the show ring is the product of many hours of bathing and grooming. This carefully constructed beauty is fleeting: a few minutes of freedom, romping through the fields or strolling in the rain restores the natural look. The natural look of the Bouvier is that of a large, shaggy farm dog, usually with some dirt and weeds clinging to his tousled coat. His esthetics are those of an unmade bed. Remember that the Dutch nickname for the breed, "Vuilbaard" means "dirty beard". The true beauty of the Bouvier lies in his character, not in his appearance. There are many other breeds whose natural beauty of appearance far exceeds that of the Bouvier. Some of the long-coated and most of the short-coated breeds' appearances are less dependent on grooming than is that of the Bouvier. (See also the section on grooming below.)

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU ARE UNWILLING TO SHARE YOUR HOUSE AND YOUR LIFE WITH YOUR DOG. Bouviers were bred to share in the work of the farm family and to spend most of their waking hours working with the family. They thrive on companionship and they want to be wherever you are. They are happiest living with you in your house and going with you when you go out. While they usually tolerate being left at home by themselves (preferably with a dog-door giving access to the fenced yard), they should not be relegated to the backyard or kennel. A puppy exiled from the house is likely to grow up to be unsociable (fearful and/or unprovokedly aggressive),unruly, and unhappy. He may well develop pastimes, such as digging or barking, that will displease you and/or your neighbors. An adult so exiled will be miserable too. If you don't strongly prefer to have your dog's companionship as much as possible, enjoying having him sleep in your bedroom at night and sharing many of your activities by day, you should choose a breed less oriented to human companionship. Likewise if your job or other obligations prevent you from spending much time with your dog. No dog is really happy without companionship but the pack hounds are more tolerant of being kenneled or yarded so long as it is in groups of 2 or more. A better choice would be a cat, as they are solitary by nature.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU DON'T INTEND TO EDUCATE (TRAIN) YOUR DOG. Basic obedience and household rules training is NOT optional for the Bouvier. As an absolute minimum, you must teach him to reliably respond to commands to come, to lie down, to stay, and to walk at your side, on or off leash and regardless of temptations. You must also teach him to respect your household rules: e.g. is he allowed to get on the furniture? is he allowed to beg at the table? What you allow or forbid is unimportant; but it is *critical* that you, not the dog, make these choices and that you enforce your rules consistently. You must commit yourself to attending an 8 to 10 week series of weekly lessons at a local obedience club or professional trainer and to doing one or two short (5 to 20 minutes) homework sessions per day. As commands are learned, they must be integrated into your daily life by being used whenever appropriate and enforced consistently. Young Bouvier puppies are relatively easy to train: they are eager to please, intelligent, and calm-natured, with a relatively good attention span. Once a Bouvier has learned something, he tends to retain it well. Your cute, sweet little Bouvier puppy will grow up to be a large, powerful dog with s highly self-assertive personality and the determination to finish whatever he starts. If he has grown up respecting you and your rules, then all his physical and mental strength will work for you. But if he has grown up without rules and guidance from you, surely he will make his own rules and his physical and mental powers will often act in opposition to your needs and desires. For example: he may tow you down the street as if competing in a sled-dog race; he may grab food off the table; he may forbid your guests entry to his home.

This training cannot be delegated to someone else, e.g. by sending the dog away to "boarding school", because the relationship of respect and obedience is personal between the dog and the individual who does the training. This is true of all dogs to greater or lesser degree, but definitely to a very great degree in Bouviers. While you definitely many want the help of an experienced trainer to teach you how to train your dog, you yourself must actually train your Bouvier. As each lesson is well learned, then the rest of the household (except young children) must also work with the dog, insisting he obey them as well.

Many of the Bouviers that are rescued from Pounds and Shelters show clearly that they have received little or no basic training, neither in obedience nor in household deportment; yet these same dogs respond well to such training by the rescuer or the adopter. It seems likely that a failure to train the dog is a significant cause of Bouvier abandonment.

If you don't intend to educate your dog, preferably during puppyhood, you would be better off with a breed that is both small and socially submissive, e.g. a Shetland Sheepdog. Such a dog does require training, but a little bit goes further than with a Bouv. In the opposite direction, if your goals in obedience training are oriented towards success at high level competition (HIT, OTCh, and Gaines), please realize that the Bouv is not among the half dozen breeds best suited to such highly polished performance. (Bouvs can, with adequate training, excel at such working competitions as agility, carting, tracking, protection and herding.)

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU LACK LEADERSHIP (SELF-ASSERTIVE) PERSONALITY. Dogs do not believe in social equality. They live in a social hierarchy led by a pack-leader (Alpha). The alpha dog is generally benevolent, affectionate, and non-bullying towards his subordinates; but there is never any doubt in his mind or in theirs that the alpha is the boss and makes the rules. Whatever the breed, if you do not assume the leadership, the dog will do so sooner or later and with more or less unpleasant consequences for the abdicating owner. Like the untrained dog, the pack-leader dog makes his own rules and enforces them against other members of the household by means of a dominant physical posture and a hard-eyed stare, followed by a snarl, then a knockdown blow or a bite. Breeds differ in tendencies towards social dominance; and individuals within a breed differ considerably. Bouviers as a breed tend to be of a socially dominant personality. You really cannot afford to let a Bouvier become your boss. You do not have to have the personality or mannerisms of a Marine boot camp Sergeant, but you do have to have the calm, quiet self-assurance and self-assertion of the successful parent ("Because I'm your mother, that's why.") or successful grade-school teacher. If you think you might have difficulty asserting yourself calmly and confidently to exercise leadership, then choose a breed known for its socially subordinate disposition, such as a Golden Retriever or a Shetland Sheepdog, and be sure to ask the breeder to select one of the more submissive pups in the litter for you. If the whole idea of "being the boss" frightens or repels you, don't get a dog at all. Cats don't expect leadership. A caged bird or hamster, or fish doesn't need leadership or household rules.

Leadership and training are inextricably intertwined: leadership personality enables you to train your dog, and being trained by you reinforces your dog's perception of you was the alpha.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU DON'T VALUE LAID-BACK COMPANIONSHIP AND CALM AFFECTION. A Bouvier becomes deeply attached and devoted to his own family, but he doesn't "wear his heart on his sleeve". Some are noticeably reserved, others are more outgoing, but few adults are usually exuberantly demonstrate of their affections. They like to be near you, usually in the same room, preferably on a comfortable pad or cushion in a corner or under a table, just "keeping you company". They enjoy conversation, petting and cuddling when you offer it, but they are moderate and not overbearing in coming to you to demand much attention. They are emotionally sensitive to their favorite people: when you are joyful, proud, angry, or grief-stricken, your Bouv will immediately perceive it and will believe himself to be the cause. The relationship can be one of great mellows, depth and subtlety; it is a relation on an adult-to-adult level, although certainly not one devoid of playfulness. As puppies, of course, they will be more dependent, more playful, and more demonstrative. In summary, Bouvs tend to be sober and thoughtful, rather than giddy clowns or sychophants.

A number of breeds retain into adulthood a more puppyish and playful disposition, e.g. Australian Shepherd, Malamute, and others. Quite a few are far more dramatically demonstrative and/or more clingingly dependent, e.g. the Golden Retriever.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU ARE FASTIDIOUS ABOUT THE NEATNESS OF YOUR HOME. The Bouvier's thick shaggy coat and his love of playing in water and mud combine to make him a highly efficient transporter of dirt into your home, depositing same on your floors and rugs and possibly also on your furniture and clothes. One Bouvier coming in from a few minutes outdoors on a rainy day can turn an immaculate house into an instant hog wallow. His full beard soaks up water every time he takes a drink, then releases same drippingly across your floor or soppingly into your lap. (It is of course possible to cut the beard off and to keep the feet clean-shaven year-round to reduce mess.) Although it is technically true that Bouviers do not shed, you will find that the grooming process usually results in balls of pulled out hair tumbleweeding their way about your house, unless you deposit same directly from comb into a trash basket. I don't mean to imply that you must be a slob or slattern to live happily with a Bouv, but you do have to have the attitude that your dog's company means more to you than does neatness and you do have to be comfortable with a less than immaculate house.

While all dogs, like all children, create a greater or lesser degree of household mess, almost all other breeds of dog (except the Old English Sheepdog) are less troublesome than the Bouvier in this respect. The Basenji is perhaps the cleanest, due to its cat-like habits; but cats are cleaner yet, and goldfish hardly ever mess up the house.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU ARE FASTIDIOUS ABOUT UNPLEASANT ODORS. Bouviers are one of the more flatulent breeds of dog. While the volume and aroma of the emissions depends partly on the diet, about half an hour after his meal your nose knows! (As the period of maximum emissions lasts only half an hour to an hour, it would not be unreasonable to put the dog outdoors in a fenced yard for this period.) The Bouvier coat, when damp, tends to smell rather swampy. A wet Bouv confined to a car or small room for an hour or so can create an aroma even the least sensitive will perceive. Some people consider the Bouvier beard to have noticeably unpleasant body odor even when dry and recently groomed. The Bouvier beard tends to retain particles of food, which soon become offensive if the beard is not washed frequently.

Almost all of the short-haired breeds, other than hound breeds or afield-bred (oily coated) Chesapeake, are less likely to offend the nose through general coat/body odor. I'm sure many other breeds are less flatulent, but it is difficult to get reliable information on this as few owners care to discuss the issue.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU DISLIKE DOING REGULAR GROOMING. The thick shaggy Bouvier coat demands regular grooming, not merely to look tolerably nice, but also to preserve the health of skin underneath and to detect and remove foxtails, ticks, and other dangerous invaders. For "pet" grooming, you should expect to spend 10-15 minutes a day (e.g. while listening to music or watching television) on alternate days or half an hour twice a week. Of course any time your Bouv gets into cockleburs, filigree, or other coat-adhering vegetation, you are likely to be in for an hour or more of remedial work. During "oxtail" season, (western US), you must inspect feet and other vulnerable areas daily. In Lyme disease areas during tick season, you will need to inspect for ticks daily. "Pet" grooming does not require a great deal of skill, but does require time and regularity. Keeping the dog in a short or semi-short "working clip" substantially reduces grooming time, but does not eliminate the need for regularity. "Show" (beauty contest) grooming requires a great deal of skill and considerably more time and effort or expensive professional grooming.

Almost every Bouvier that is rescued out of a Pound or Shelter shows the effects of many months of non-grooming, resulting in massive matting and horrendous filthiness, sometimes with urine and feces cemented into the rear portions of the coat. It appears that unwillingness to keep up with coat care is a primary cause of abandonment.

Many other breeds of dog require less grooming; short coated breeds require very little. The Rottweiler has a temperament and personality similar to the Bouvier, yet requires little grooming.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU DISLIKE DAILY PHYSICAL EXERCISE. Bouviers need exercise to maintain the health of heart and lungs and to maintain muscle tone. Because of his mellow, laid-back, often lazy, disposition, your Bouvier will not give himself enough exercise unless you accompany him or play with him. An adult Bouvier should have a morning outing of a mile or more, as you walk briskly, jog, or bicycle beside him, and a similar evening outing. For puppies, shorter and slower walks, several times a day are preferred for exercise and housebreaking.

All dogs need daily exercise of greater or lesser length and vigor. If providing this exercise is beyond you, physically or temperamentally, then choose one of the many small and energetic breeds that can exercise itself within your fenced yard. Most of the Toys and Terriers fit this description, but don't be surprised if a Terrier is inclined to dig in the earth since digging out critters is the job that they were bred to do. Cats can be exercised indoors with mouse-on-a-string toys. Hamster will exercise themselves on a wire wheel. House plants don't need exercise.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU BELIEVE THAT DOGS SHOULD RUN "FREE". Whether you live in town or country, no dog can safely be left to run "free" outside your fenced property and without your direct supervision and control. The price of such "freedom" is inevitably injury or death: from dogfights, from automobiles, from the Pound or from justifiably irate neighbors. Even though Bouvs are home-loving and less inclined to roam than most breeds, an unfenced Bouv is destined for disaster. Like other breeds developed for livestock herding, most Bouvs have inherited a substantial amount of "herding instinct". which is a strengthened and slightly modified instinct to chased and capture suitable large prey. The unfenced country-living Bouv will sooner or later discover the neighbor's livestock (sheep, cattle, horses, poultry) and respond to his genetic urge to chase and harass such stock. State law almost always gives the livestock owner the legal right to kill any dog chasing or "worrying" his stock, and almost all livestock owners are quick to act on this! The unfenced city Bouv is likely to exercise his inherited herding instinct on joggers, bicyclists, and automobiles. A thoroughly obedience-trained Bouvier can enjoy the limited and supervised freedom of off-leash walks with you in appropriately chosen environments.

If you don't want the responsibility of confining and supervising your pet, then no breed of dog is suitable for you. A neutered cat will survive such irresponsibly given "freedom" somewhat longer than a dog, but will eventually come to grief. A better answer for those who crave a "free" pet is to set out feeding stations for some of the indigenous wildlife, such as raccoons, which will visit for handouts and which may eventually tolerate your close observation.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY, FEED, AND PROVIDE HEALTHCARE FOR ONE. Bouviers are not a cheap breed to buy, as running a careful breeding program with due regard for temperament, trainability, and physical soundness (hips especially) cannot be done cheaply. The time the breeder should put into each puppy's "pre-school" and socialization is also costly. The "bargain" puppy from a "back-yard breeder" who unselectively mates any two Bouvs who happen to be of opposite sex may well prove to be extremely costly in terms of bad temperament, bad health, and lack of essential socialization. In contrast, the occasional adult or older pup is available at modest price from a disenchanted owner or from a breeder, shelter, or rescuer to whom the dog was abandoned; most of these "used" Bouviers are capable of becoming a marvelous dog for you if you can provide training, leadership, and understanding. Whatever the initial cost of your Bouvier, the upkeep will not be cheap. Being large dogs, Bouvs eat relatively large meals. (Need I add that what goes in one end must eventually come out the other?) Large dogs tend to have larger veterinary bills, as the amount of anesthesia and of most medications is proportional to body weight. Spaying or neutering, which costs more for larger dogs, is an essential expense for virtually all pet Bouviers, as it "takes the worry out of being close", prevents serious health problems in later life, and makes the dog a more pleasant companion. Bouviers are subject to two conditions which can be costly to treat: hip dysplasia and bloat. (Your best insurance against dysplasia is to buy only from a litter bred from OFA certified parents and [if possible], grandparents. Yes, this generally means paying more. While bloat may have a genetic predisposition, there are no predictive tests allowing selective breeding against it. Your best prevention is not to feed your dog too soon before or after strenuous exercise.) Professional grooming, if you use it, is expensive. An adequate set of grooming tools for use at home adds up to a tidy sum, but once purchased will last many dog-lifetimes. Finally, the modest fee for participation in a series of basic obedience training classes is an essential investment in harmonious living with your dog; such fees are the same for all breeds, though conceivably you will need to travel a bit further from home to find a training class teacher who is competent with the more formidable breeds, such as Bouvier. The modest annual outlays for immunizations and for local licensing are generally the same for all breeds, though some counties have a lower license fee for spayed/neutered dogs.

All dogs, of whatever breed and however cheaply acquired, require significant upkeep costs, and all are subject to highly expensive veterinary emergencies. Likewise all cats.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU WANT THE "LATEST, GREATEST FEROCIOUS KILLER ATTACK DOG". Although the Bouvier's capability as a personal protection dog and as a police dog have been justifiably well publicized, and occasionally dramatically over-stated, the Bouvier is not any more capable in these respects than are half a dozen other protection breeds. Nor are all Bouviers equally capable: some are highly so and some moderately so, but many have insufficient natural capacity for such work. Due to his laid-back disposition, the Bouvier is, if anything, a bit slower to respond aggressively to a threat than are most other protection breeds. For the same reason, however, The Bouv is perhaps somewhat more amenable to control by the handler and somewhat more willing to refrain from biting or to stop biting when told to do so. Whatever the breed, before the dog can be safely protection trained, he must have great respect for the leadership of his handler and must be solidly trained in basic obedience to that handler. Equally essential, he must have a rock-solidly stable temperament and he must also have been "socialized" out in the world enough to know that most people are friendly and harmless, so that he can later learn to distinguish the bad guys from the good guys. Even with such a dog, safe protection training demands several hundred hours of dedicated work by the handler, much of it under the direct supervision of a profoundly expert trainer. Please don't buy any dog for protection training unless you are absolutely committed to the extreme amount of work that will be required of you personally. Also talk to your lawyer and your insurance agent first.

In contrast to the protection-trained dog, trained to bite on direct command or in reaction to direct physical assault on his master, the "deterrent dog" dissuades the vast majority of aspiring burglars, rapists, and assailants by his presence, his appearance, and his demeanor. Seeing such dog, the potential wrong-doer simply decides to look for a safer victim elsewhere. For this job, all that is needed is a dog that is large and that appears to be well-trained and unafraid. The Bouvier can serve this role admirably, with the added assets of generally dark color and shaggy "bestial" appearance adding to the impression of formidability and fearsomeness. If the dog has been taught to bark a few times on command, eg "Fang, watch him!" rather than "Fifi, speak for a cookie", this skill can be useful to augment the deterrent effect.

Other breeds of dog which are equally suitable for protection or for deterrence include the Doberman, Rottweiler, German Shepherd, Briard, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, and Belgian Malinois. Of these the first 3 are recognized by the general public as "police dogs" and are probably far more feared by most potential criminals than is the Bouvier. The Malamute, though not suitable for protection, is quite effective for deterrence due to his highly wolf-like appearance.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU WANT A TOTALLY UNAGGRESSIVE AND UNPROTECTIVE DOG. Most Bouviers have an assertive and confident personality. When confronted with a threat, a proper Bouvier will be somewhat more ready to fight than to flee. Thus he may respond aggressively in situations where many other breeds back down. Most Bouviers have some inclination to act aggressively to repel intruders on their territory (i.e. your home) and to counter-act assaults upon their pack mates (you and your family). Without training and leadership from you to guide him, the dog cannot judge correctly whom to repel and whom to tolerate. Without training and leadership, sooner or later he may injure an innocent person who will successfully sue you for more than you own. With good training and leadership from you, he can be profoundly valuable as a defender of your home and family. (See also remarks on stability and socialization above.)

If you feel no need of an assertive dog or if you have the slightest doubts of your ability and willingness to supply the essential socialization, training and leadership, then please choose one of the many breeds noted for thoroughly unaggressive temperament, such as a Sheltie or a Golden Retriever.

DON'T BUY A BOUVIER IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO COMMIT YOURSELF FOR THE DOG'S ENTIRE LIFETIME. No dog deserves to be cast out because his owners want to move to a no-pet apartment or because he is no longer a cute puppy or didn't grow up to be a beauty contest winner or because his owners through lack of leadership and training have allowed him to become an unruly juvenile delinquent with a repertoire of undesirable behaviors. The prospects of a responsible and affectionate second home for a "used" dog are never very bright, but they are especially dim for a large, shaggy, poorly mannered dog. A Bouvier dumped into a Pound or Shelter has almost no chance of survival -- unless he has the great good fortune to be spotted by someone dedicated to Bouvier Rescue. The prospects for adoption for a youngish, well-trained, and well-groomed Bouvier whose owner seeks the assistance of the nearest Bouvier Club or Rescue group are fairly good; but an older Bouv has diminishing prospects. Be sure to contact your local Bouvier club or Rescue group if you are diagnosed as terminally ill or have other equally valid reason for seeking an adoptive home. Be sure to contact your local Bouvier club if you are beginning to have difficulties in training your Bouvier, so these can be resolved. Be sure to make arrangements in your will or with your family to ensure continued care or adoptive home for your Bouvier if you should pre-decease him.

The life span of a Bouvier is from 10 to 15 years. If that seems too long a time for you to give an unequivocal loyalty to your Bouvier, then please do not get one! Indeed, as most dogs have a life expectancy that is as long or longer, please do not get any dog!

In Conclusion

If all the preceding "bad news" about Bouviers hasn't turned you away from the breed, then by all means DO GET A BOUVIER! They are every bit as wonderful as you have heard!

If buying a puppy, be sure to shop carefully for a *responsible* and *knowledgeable* breeder who places high priority on breeding for sound temperament and trainability and good health in all matings. Such a breeder will interrogate and educate potential buyers carefully. Such a breeder will continue to be available for advice and consultation for the rest of the puppy's life and will insist on receiving the dog back if ever you are unable to keep it

However as an alternative to buying a Bouvier puppy, you may want to give some serious consideration to adopting a rescued Bouvier. Despite their responsibility of their previous owner, almost all rescued Bouviers have proven to be readily rehabilitated so as to become superb family companions for responsible and affectionate adopters. Many rescuers are skilled trainers who evaluate temperament and provide remedial training before offering dogs for placement, and who offer continued advisory support afterwards. Contact local Bouvier breeders or Bouvier club members to learn who is doing Rescue work.

An Afterward

I first wrote this article nearly 10 years ago. Since then it has become a classic of Bouvier literature, reprinted many times. Since then I have spent nearly 5 years in Bouvier Rescue, personally rescuing, rehabilitating, and placing 3 or 4 per year and assisting in the placement of others. Very little has needed revision in this new addition.

For more information about rescuing a Bouvier des Flandres, please contact:
Pam Green
du Clos de la Fourriere
9269 Mace Blvd.
Davis, CA 95616-9602
(530) 756-2997

Can Butterflies Cause Tornadoes?

2011-04-24T15:52:00.001Z

Trevor Burrus (CATO) in More on AEP v. Connecticut: Sue the Butterflies of Regulate Them? makes the point that 'Taking the [pseudo]scientists at their word, we’d have to include at least every car owner, every coal power plant, every natural gas power plant, every cement producer, every forester, and the fabled effects of bovine flatulence. And not just every one of these in America, but every one in the world. The scope of this case and the numerous trade-offs involved make it utterly inappropriate for judicial resolution.

The supposed link between the power companies’ emissions and the alleged global warming harms resembles a Rube Goldberg device of conjectures that stretches back millions of years.'

Of course, there are several fallacious arguments being advanced by the States in their litigation against power companies—first of all, the false claims being advanced by the Global Warmists are preposterous when viewed from a long-term, paleo-climate, point of view. If this argument was correct then human bonfires caused the last ice age to recede—when in fact the earth has cycled many times between warm and cold periods. The Climategate revelations should cause all but the most partisan Global Warmists to pause and examine the climate data falsifications, omissions and suppressions associated with the pseudo-science of Global Warming.

Secondly, to use the courts to settle a disputable causal claim will create a morass of law suits in which no final scientific facts can be mustered to support arguments, therefore resulting in a tangle of conflicting settlements beyond any of our current regulatory or legal complexities.

Lastly, if everything causes everything else, then nothing causes everything as well, and all theories become extinct—science becomes meaningless epitaphs or at best empty shibboleths—in other words, science becomes a partisan expression of beliefs, the new Religion. By the way, what are Global Warmists after—Global Icing?

Alkaia's First Time in a Corral with Sheep

2011-04-24T14:14:00.000Z

Watching other dogs work.

Working up prey drive.

Light line attached for guidance.

Learning with 'light' sheep.

Status & Stasis

2011-04-23T21:27:00.001Z

   I once knew a couple that had married 5 times, with the commotion of a divorce 4 times in between (maybe it's more by now) when they had reached their mid-thirties. A younger friend on mine appears to be on track for easily topping that record.   After she recently posted a revised FB relationship status I commented:

      WOW—neat.

   Did all this happen in the space of time it took me to take an extended nap? Hopefully it's the same g(a)u(l)y so that you can extract every possible microgram of penance from their repentant soul before you viciously dump h(e)i(r)m on the most trivial of whims to their great despair.

   GRrr—elATIon—S.H.I.T.s — hum bug. Enjoy. ;-)

The status didn't survive my next nap, but the relationship appears to have lasted.

[S.H.I.T. = Severe Histrionics In Transitions]

Predator & Prey—Neither Praise nor Blame

2011-04-23T13:32:00.003Z

In this sequence of Alkaia's first exposure to sheep, Miss Congeniality—for Alkaia's a Bouvier bitch that never barks, growls, whines, snarls or howls—worked herself up to a fever pitch of excitement when she recognised that the white critters ran from the black critter. After having her first lesson and getting a good workout, she surreptitiously wormed herself into the corral and gave chase to the 'light' sheep already well-accustomed to evading Coyotes.
She eventually got close enough that I was able to voice command her to come and sit—neither commendation or condemnation was earned for the chaotic romp—this is not obedience training, it is obedience to natural law, or rather coaxing out that instinctual behavior. As Mark Twain commented in his Letters from the Earth—

"My lords, He is making animals. Will it please you to come and see?" They went, they saw, and were perplexed. Deeply perplexed—and the Creator noticed it, and said, "Ask. I will answer."

"Divine One," said Satan, making obeisance, "what are they for?"

"They are an experiment in Morals and Conduct. Observe them, and be instructed." There were thousands of them. They were full of activities. Busy, all busy—mainly in persecuting each other. Satan remarked—after examining one of them through a powerful microscope: "This large beast is killing weaker animals, Divine One."

"The tiger—yes. The law of his nature is ferocity. The law of his nature is the Law of God. He cannot disobey it."

"Then in obeying it he commits no offense, Divine One?"

"No, he is blameless."

"This other creature, here, is timid, Divine One, and suffers death without resisting."

"The rabbit—yes. He is without courage. It is the law of his nature—the Law of God. He must obey it."

"Then he cannot honorably be required to go counter to his nature and resist, Divine One?"

"No. No creature can be honorably required to go counter to the law of his nature—the Law of God."

After a long time and many questions, Satan said, "The spider kills the fly, and eats it; the bird kills the spider and eats it; the wildcat kills the goose; the—well, they all kill each other. It is murder all along the line. Here are countless multitudes of creatures, and they all kill, kill, kill, they are all murderers. And they are not to blame, Divine One?"

"They are not to blame. It is the law of their nature. And always the law of nature is the Law of God. Now—observe—behold! A new creature—and the masterpiece—Man!"

Alkaia as a Puppy—Fetching with a Light Line

2011-04-22T14:08:00.002Z

Only the Jury can Convict

2011-04-22T14:05:00.000Z

The principle that juries should 'vote their conscience' is the main thread in Live Free and Nullify by Carla Gericke. This is an important idea—for juries are part of the local community and can perceive the justice or injustice of draconian sentences and the severe impact they have on individuals who have neither injured anyone or been charged by another citizen of a crime. As the collected fines from more and more misdemeanours, many consisting of victimless crimes, become a source of income for City Hall's profit center—and when public records become permanent tags on individuals, a corrective to the abuse of power is needed. When Americans turn snitch on one another, when all the witnesses are government informants, when the State passes laws that infringe on individual liberties—there seems to be no other remedy except for conscientious jurors to vote their conscience.

The Only Way to Regain Control

2011-04-21T23:09:00.000Z

Don't Raise the Debt, Balance the Budget Petition to:
My U.S. Senators

Whereas: Instead of working to cut taxes and spending, the politicians in Washington are pushing even more Big Government schemes and ramping up spending like never before; and

Whereas: This ever-increasing government spending, both at home and abroad, has put the average American family on the hook for nearly $800,000 when factoring in the long-term costs of social welfare programs that are already "locked in"; and

Whereas: Allowing politicians to keep spending American taxpayers' dollars without any restraint will very likely result in economic ruin for the United States; and

Whereas: A Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment would not allow politicians to run massive deficits, and instead would actually make them stay within a budget like average American families; and

Whereas: A Balanced Budget Amendment is the best way to stop our out of control federal government from taxing and spending the American economy into collapse;

Therefore: I urge you to cosponsor and seek roll call votes on the Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment.

Technology & Liberation—Free & 'Freed' Markets to the Left & Right

2011-04-21T18:10:00.004Z

   Douglas E. French, President of MISES, is a clear and methodical speaker who delivers an important talk, Strategies for Changing Minds Towards Liberty, as to how technology is empowering individuals and subverting Government's monopoly on information. As POTUS attempts to leverage the FaceBook crowd with rhetoric, his top-down, one-size fits all, anti-entrepreneurship Statism is being challenged by Google, Khan Academy, LINUX, YouTube, WikiPedia and a dozen other ventures that are 'emerging' from bottom-up collaboration. The continued expansion of the Imperial Presidency and a bloated bureaucracy embodied in the IRS, EPA, DEA, DOE, DOA, TSA, CIA—a near endless bloat of regulatory restrictions administered by apparatchicks—can still suppress the budding efflorescence of freedom and reason.
   It goes without saying, this is why Google is such a threat to tyrannies such as China and Iran—information is power.

   Again, great message—one spot troubles me though, the 'Griggs vs. Duke Power Co.' citation, probably based on O'Keefe and Vedder's paper 'Griggs v. Duke Power: Implications for College Credentialing' as to why universities hold a monopoly power of accreditation seems to be a stretch. Companies can still administer aptitude tests that are job-related—much like the US Navy did to screen us into the nuclear power program—they just can't be generic screenings.
   I would tend to agree that there's a bubble in college education that's about to be popped by online learning systems like Khan Academy, but there will always be an important institutional niche for universities as locations where mentor-apprentice relationships are developed in complex fields—medicine, nuclear physics, electronics &c.—careers that truly require the intense theoretical and practical devotion.

   Roderick T. Long makes some interesting points in his MISES talk on How to Reach the Left (Strategies for Changing Minds Towards Liberty.  He readily admits that the aristocratic Left, the Teddy Kennedy's and Barack Obama's, are a lost cause—but there is an anti-privilege Left that can be in alignment with Libertarian ideas.
   The core point is that the Left and Right mistake the existing economic order as a result of free market operation when in fact it is due to cronyism, favouritism, regulation, subsidies, direct and indirect grants and monopoly protection (including in the labour market the alliance between government and unions.)
   In other words, the military-industrial-university-labour complex (an extension of President Eisenhower's military-industrial linkage) that exists today is not the 'freed' market—it is the result of monopoly power gained through access to government regulations that exclude competition to allow conglomerates and corporations that span the country and the globe. E.g., ObamaCare™ is a boon not for American health, but for Health Maintenance Organisations, the American Medical Association, and is especially sweet for Insurance Companies!
   Liberals and Conservatives are equally interventionist and differ mainly in the means, not the desire to manipulate and control through Government edict—not only at home, but abroad (it is no small coincidence that Bush and Obama are spendthrifts and activists domestically and internationally.) It is time to create a 'freed' market that will function outside of the reins of a few privileged oligarchs.

Other People's $$—OK—Give My Grades to Someone Who Hasn't Earned Them, Are You Crazy?

2011-04-21T15:58:00.003Z

   The classic experiment in working Communism was conducted with the same results as every other time I've heard of it being done when 'The College Republicans at the University of California-Merced ask(ed) fellow students, who support raising taxes on the rich, if they would be willing to redistribute their GPAs. They don’t think it’s a good idea because they earned their grades.' (Students not eager to redistribute GPA score)
   The unsurprising results—I merit my grades, why should someone who didn't work for theirs get mine? But someone else's money—well, the system's not fair, it's OK to take it from them and give it to someone else who is needy. Everyone loves a free-ride!!
   An entitlement mentality will impoverish us all. How distinct this faux largesse to the older American tradition of charity and philanthropy—individuals earned their money and distributed it as they saw fit—museums, endowments, universities, foundations, charities, parks, monuments &c. Now it's done through forceful Government intervention to maintain a Nanny State in which most are endowed and few need to innovate and struggle. A recipe for failure.

Alkaia & Vital — Padre Island, Texas

2011-04-21T14:16:00.000Z

Mexico’s Drug War Body Count — America's Unquenchable Thirst for Drugs

2011-04-21T14:08:00.001Z

The fact that 'More than 37,000 people have perished in the violence since President Felipe Calderon sent the military after the drug cartels in December 2006. Despite the growing tally of victims, Calderon insists on staying the course with a tenacity worthy of George W. Bush and his misguided crusade in Iraq' alone would make reading 'Mexico’s Drug War Body Count Mounts | The National Interest Blog' a sad affair—these are civilians not military forces with the means to defend themselves!!

   Our failure to forget that Prohibition's legacy was violence and corruption makes this tragedy even more despairing—it's purely and simply a waste of resources and lives driven by our insatiable appetite for drugs and our hypocrisy.
   The latest mass grave is just a two hour drive from here—we are fools to believe this level of chaos can be contained by a border wall—that the destruction of Mexico, the subversion of its fragile economy and society, will not leave a deep wound that will impact our country.
   The so-called 'War on Drugs' has already poured precious American resources into an endless sinkhole with no measurable results (look at the DEA 'statistics' & have a good laugh at their lack of effectiveness, which always calls for more resources as a remedy), shifted law-enforcement into SWAT teams that invade American homes, and diverted police efforts from investigating and solving crime to the more glamorous 'War on Drugs'.

Alkaia, Vital & Riot—Romping in the Shallows

2011-04-21T01:17:00.000Z

Deficit Demagoguery—POTUS Tries to Beat Standard & Poor's

2011-04-21T01:06:00.009Z

   Take a brief look at the charts presented in 'What Forced President Obama to the Deficit Cutting Table?'—at a glimpse you can see the different approaches to the deficit issue. There's a big difference between the President's 'tax them until they don't bleed any more' and the other options, none of them goes far enough.
   The timing of the President's rhetoric (it can hardly be called a plan yet), tardy as it was, could cynically be looked as arriving just before Standard & Poor's devaluation of America's spendthrift ways. S&P's devaluated the Bush-Obama administration of American finances, but inevitably Bush-Obama are devaluing our assets to PØØR—it's not just that America's worsening credit rating will result in losing the US dollar's privileged position as the world's currency, cause increased borrowing interest rates to pay off ballooning debt payments, and lead to flight of investment funds from American enterprises to other countries; but the increased taxes and rising inflation will inevitable pinch the budget of ordinary Americans (especially since the Government does not acknowledge that an inflationary spiral is well under-way.)
   As Daniel Hannan puts it—'‎'You cannot spend your way out of a recession; you cannot borrow your way out of debt' ... 'Everyone can see that you are the devalued [President] of a devalued Government!'
   Also refer to Robert P. Murphy's 'Uncle Sam: Busted' article—the train wreck is not being adequately addressed by either the Left of the Right.

Stock Dog & Herding in the Hill Country

2011-04-20T16:38:00.001Z

The Texas Hill Country Stock Dog Association announces 'the return of our annual Member’s Clinic May 7-8, 2011. Ron Burkey has agreed to be our clinician again this year. The clinic is open to all members of any handler level as well as any dog breed. Don’t sleep on this opportunity work with a wonderful handler and clinician, slots will fill up fast! To reserve your spot, please contact Richard Mueller at rbmueller@gmail.com'

At $25 per day for THCSDA members, the price is right!!

Alkaia as a Puppy—Fetching a Half-Filled Water Bottle From the Ocean

2011-04-20T12:31:00.000Z

Breed All About It - Bouvier des Flandres

2011-04-19T15:57:00.001Z

A short synopsis of the Bouvier des Flanders on YouTube. ;-)

Alkaia as a Puppy—No Sun Burnt Noses Here

2011-04-19T08:56:00.000Z

Boy, 12, Busted Over Spilled Milk Incident | The Smoking Gun

2011-04-18T16:15:00.000Z

The factory school system at work—browse the reader comments & weep or cry, depending on your polarity in interpreting events. For me, spilt milk and the violent response of adults to a child's refusal to not clean it up is not indicative of a healthy educational environment, but more of the coercive mentality of a gaol.

Eden is that old-fashioned House—Emily Dickinson

2011-04-18T15:45:00.007Z

Eden is that old-fashioned House

We dwell in every day

Without suspecting our abode

Until we drive away.

How fair on looking back,

the Day We sauntered from the Door—

Unconscious our returning,

But discover it no more.

Doggie Boots—Hound in the Boots

2011-04-18T15:25:00.003Z

Texas briars and stickers are driving me to purchase boots for Alkaia—no Puss in the Boots here, just a Hound in the Boots. Now to size what were once her tiny little paws using the sizing guide provided by Dog Boots Active. In this picture her paw is full of horse manure after romping around with the other dogs at Horses on the Beach on Padre Island. She lay contentedly in the truck for the ride home and half-way there regurgitated her fill of already horse-digested hay!

Alkaia as a Puppy—Where There's Manure, There Must Be a Horsie

2011-04-18T00:50:00.000Z

Alkaia Running Along Tidal Flats

2011-04-16T22:47:00.000Z

Beware of the Man with the Sword

2011-04-16T22:43:00.002Z

The FED chairman and Treasury Secretary, Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner, are supposedly impartial technical specialists, but have of late become apparatchiks in the best style of former high level Communist party experts of the now defunct U.S.S.R.—the parallel is disturbing given the nature of our unprecedented spending spree and its potential disastrous consequences. That two individuals, as pointed out by Daniel J. Mitchell in his Why are Geithner and Bernanke Trying to Panic Financial Markets with Debt Limit Demagoguery?, that are supposedly beyond politics, are taking such a biased and partisan stand as to declare that not increasing the debt limit will cause financial meltdown is irresponsible and not conducive to a rational debate on balancing our out of control budgetary process.

Alkaia as Puppy with Light Line

2011-04-16T17:46:00.000Z

Alkaia & Texas Wildflowers

2011-04-16T17:44:00.000Z

Alkaia is Antilyssic—¡Straight for the Water!

2011-04-16T15:42:00.001Z

Alkaia, Vital & Riot Romping in Shoreline Flats

2011-04-16T15:36:00.003Z

Cado Running a Horse to the Corral for the Evening

2011-04-16T15:13:00.003Z

American Mavericks—a great place to listen to musical creativity

2011-04-16T00:27:00.000Z

A classic website with some of the most interesting and innovative music likely to be encountered in America. ;-)

Ayn Rand—You Can Have it Any Way You Want, as Long as it's My Way

2011-04-16T00:24:00.004Z

   Joy Pullman's review of the movie version of Ayn Rand's Fountainhaid seems to be a well-balanced criticism of how orthodoxy kills freedom—to the point where the new movie seemed leaden to her. One of her observations is that Rand was a believer in solipsism, which has logical contradictions involved in believing in only one's self and trying to live within a social contract, and this conflict lies at the heart of the current tension between duties and rights. For Americans, the explicit enumeration of rights was a necessity under King George III, duties were implicit, but now in an entitlement-minded society perhaps responsibilities need clarification—what does being a citizen mean?

   Do we need to go as far as stopping the automatic granting of citizenship to anyone born on American territory? Should citizenship be restricted to only those that have served the Nation, as in Heinlein's Starship Troopers? The fact that everyone can suck on an obese Nanny State's tit means that someone, somewhere has to feed the Beast as well—that's the current battlefield—at least until fat momma has to go on dialysis due to kidney failure.

   In any case, let's see what the movie actually feels like when viewed.

Ai WeiWei—an inspiration for all ages and a criminal in China! :-((

2011-04-15T19:46:00.001Z

This is a much more graphically realistic image of the Chinese government's crackdown on Ai WeiWei than what I've come across, compare the Telegraph's rather matter-of fact photo: [www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8432272/China-breaks-silence-on-Ai-Weiweis-detention.html}

If art is living truth, ala Socrates or Moore or Galileo, then this man is a living work of art—a treasure for all ages and an inspiration for all those who believe in the divine spark of each individual's soul.

From $Billions & $Trillions to an average taxpayer's $Thousands

2011-04-15T19:06:00.003Z

'... consider a hypothetical Philadelphia area resident who is 37 years old (the median age in the metropolitan region in 2009), has a college degree, and earns $45,565 annually (the area's average per-capita income that year). According to our calculations, based on current tax rates and a projected life span of 80 years, that person will pay more than $420,000 in taxes to finance federal government spending over the rest of his or her lifetime. If invested over the next 43 years, that money could be worth much more than $1 million.

Of our hypothetical worker's $420,000 in taxes,

—$58,658 will pay interest on the federal debt

—$22,972 for administrative costs and personnel benefits

—$53,146 to finance national defense

—$52,238 for Medicaid

—$32,746 for welfare

—$84,272 for Medicare

—$85,637 for Social Security.' [Grasping budget's billions and trillions - Page 2 - Philly.com]

Well I've Already Admitted Lunacy, but Never Idiocy

2011-04-15T17:43:00.001Z

‎ The Left & the Right throw out the usual ad hominim attacks—in this example, supporters of federal control over the education agenda label anyone not in favor as crazy.

'How convenient! Rather than dealing with the absence of education in Article I, Section 8, which lays out the federal government’s specific powers, you just dismiss as nuts those who think the Feds should be bound by the document through which their powers come.' Neal McCluskey.

p.s. If you don't think your tax dollars are being wasted, then take a look at Neal's Figure 2, Inflation-Adjusted Federal K-12 Spending per Pupil and Achievement of 17-Year-Olds, % Change Since 1970. :-((

Video Games—from lack of empathy to killing

2011-04-15T17:35:00.002Z

‎"We might prefer to see children reading or getting exercise and interacting with the real world by playing outside, but video games are definitely preferable to most television. But video games can also be superb at teaching violence—violence packaged in the same format that has more than quadrupled the firing rate of modern soldiers." LCOL Dave Grossman, 'On Killing', 315.

Why the Farm is not a Good Metaphor for the School

2011-04-15T14:57:00.003Z

The metaphor of SCHOOL is a FACTORY or SCHOOL is a FARM in which standard products are manufactured or harvested; and that EDUCATION is a MEAL which is CONSUMED or PREPARED are part and parcel of the 19th century (19C) Zeitgeist. These ideas had currency and led to the 19C factory school model—cookie cutter students produced by standard methods using standard curricula (n.b. this was not usually the case in Prussia! Vide-Henry Barnard's reports on foreign education available through Google Books.) Mr. French seems to have fallen into these metaphoric fallacies.

We do agree that a government monopoly in education, like most monopolies is not often productive of the variety a modern economy requires, and in fact can be a dangerous machine, not only for training or education, but for indoctrination (especially given the 19th century factory school model currently being used in most schools.)

Nevertheless Education is the ability to self-learn; or, in other words, the art of inducing and producing critical thinking in an individual. It is a lifetime endeavor and can have both formal and informal periods. {Vide—J. Zull, 'The Art of Changing the Brain'}

Mr. French mentions Luke Nosek's "20 under 20"—watch Salman Khan explaining the idea of self-learning in this video [http://youtu.be/gM95HHI4gLk], he'll discuss the 20/20 vision as well. Khan Academy videos and interactive exercises allow Palo Alto schools to flip the school day—kids watch lectures at home and do exercises in school. Additionally, as you'll see, there is 'no child left behind'—there are 5th graders doing calculus while others are working on 4th grade material—advancement is purely on mastery not age cohort.

Lastly, Andrew Warwick in 'Masters of Theory' makes a strong case for the importance of mentorship in developing professional competence in Mathematical Physics—others have argued similarly to explain why certain universities developed expertise and specialized in certain fields, e.g. German 19th century organic chemistry [J.B. Morrell's works refer]—the point being that personal example and motivation have an important place in training and education, after all, we are emotional creatures not computer programs. The most important aptitude in scientific endeavours, which curtails messianic closure, is technical and professional competence.

Don't pay for the EU pet travel forms (EU Form 998)

2011-04-14T17:34:00.002Z

   Travelling throughout Europe with your pet is relatively easy and so is taking your pet there and back, if you figure out the paperwork, which is not necessarily a trivial undertaking to the uninitiated. The basis is the EU Form 998 which is available at the official European Commission's website [EUROPA > European Commission > DG Health and Consumers > Overview > Animal Health and Welfare], but a simple Google search for EU form 998 doesn't get you there without at first encountering all the hucksters that want you to pay for the free form.

   The EC's website is not to be lauded for facility of access though, or at least its banner—
   does not lead one to believe that there's going to be something in there for the pet lover and not the pet connoisseur (they do eat puppies in Korea after all!)

   In any case under the tab labelled 'Movement of Pets (Dogs, Cats and Ferrets)—Non-Commercial Movement from Third Countries' you will find all the documentation and regulations for pet travel in Europe that your veterinarian will need.

Where do all the knuckle-heads come from?

2011-04-14T14:09:00.001Z

Ludwig von Mises opined that the progeny of capitalists become the greatest opponents of the system! 'The cousins derive their revenues from the firm or corporation. But they are foreign to business life and know nothing about the problems an entrepreneur has to face. They have been brought up in fashionable boarding schools and colleges, whose atmosphere was filled by a haughty contempt for banausic money-making. Some of them pass their time in nightclubs and other places of amusement, bet and gamble, feast and revel, and indulge in expensive debauchery. Others amateurishly busy themselves with painting, writing, or other arts. Thus, most of them are idle and useless people.'

So, in order to redress the wrong of not having inherited the reins of the corporation, they drift into politics and seize the reins of the State—a confiscatory monopoly with the exclusive right to use power over its citizens and to wage war. Is it any wonder that the progressive agenda has resulted in so many wars?—War Against Poverty, War Against Drugs, War Against Ghadaffi, War Against Sadam Hussein, ... And that the hawks are such grandiose mediocrities like Sir Edward Kennedy ...

Is staging Fabianne Cherisma's corpse a laudable image?

2011-04-11T21:18:00.002Z

The next time you feel moral outrage at an image or a news report, you might think about venting a bit of that anger at the news 'provider' or 'writer' or 'photographer'. The news media is an industry, a business, with an aim to provoke a reaction, and garner profit—i.e. by presenting a view that will invoke emotions.

The nature of news 'gathering and presentation' in unstable and violent areas, of necessity, often implies the need for personal courage and risk by reporters—at least that's my underlying assumption. And of course, there's underlying 'bias' depending on organisational politics, the pose or frame or angle selected to tell the story or present the image, which does not of necessity imply moral turpitude.

But there's a line of transgression when exploitation is premeditated to such a degree, as in the image in this article of reporters squatting like vultures around Fabianne Cherisma's corpse, that the lie of a random image becomes a violation of decency and humanity.

I'm currently so enraged that I'm of opinion that the fabrication of 'a scene encountered in a chaotic land by a reporter seeking to expose crimes' is such a falsification as to make the messenger worthy of having her tongue pulled out or his eyes seared—at least their camera trigger finger lopped off.

Claude Frédéric Bastiat— the Broken Window Fallacy

2011-04-11T14:25:00.000Z

The Broken Window Fallacy—that war, tornadoes, tsunamis, governments create wealth by employing people to repair damage, was countered by Bastiat's showing the alternative: keeping what you currently have and using the money to make something else. This collection has Bastiat's major works, you can also go to Google Books and view them for free since the English translations were all done in the 19th century and the copyright has expired. ;-)

Clockwork and guesswork—the predictable and the untractable

2011-04-10T01:05:00.001Z

'Isaac Newton was possibly the most brilliant mind ever. But when it came to the financial bubble of his day, the South Sea Company bubble of 1720, he displayed Ed Bottum’s rule. He was an early investor in South Sea stock, doubled his money, and sold out. The stock went on up, and Newton bought back in, only to suffer large losses when the bubble collapsed. He wrote disgustedly, “I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.”'

Perhaps Science is finding a new force, but Society is losing its old force

2011-04-09T23:57:00.000Z

Scientists believe there's a possibility that a new particle or force not seen before might make sense out of discrepant data. Ironically, the discrepancy of trillions in the national budget also require some theoretical speculation, yet that seems to be the furthest thought on Bernanke's or the President's mind. The Keynesian paradigm remains in force—spend, spend, spend and all will be OK.

As the Herd Trundles on Over the Cliff

2011-04-09T14:15:00.001Z

What an obverse (not to say perverse) interpretation of events: a contrarian would say that Democrats & Republicans are marching the country lemming-like over the cliff!! NPR is so embedded in the spending culture and is so afraid of existing in a competitive environment that it doesn't even see its unconstitutional bias when it comes to illegal spending and the necessity to curb it. :-(

Why does GNP include Government Spending as Wealth?

2011-04-08T16:24:00.011Z

When economists talk about 'expanding the pie' they mean creation of wealth through innovation, creativity, cooperation and competition in the marketplace. When politicians talk about 'expanding the pie' they mean profligate spending of taxpayer created wealth through redistribution programs. One version creates and enriches, the other spends and impoverishes.

Fahrenheit 451—ijtihad and jihad

2011-04-08T12:23:00.007Z

Lars Vilks makes explicitly and implicitly some crucial points—the act of individuals burning ‘scriptures’ (compilations of myths) is not the same as the imposition of those scriptures on individuals. Sharia is government, judicial and religious authority all rolled up into one—just like the Torah for the Jews and the New Testament for the Catholic Church were at one time—but in the end, all who live by a book, not their hearts and minds, will end up being skewered and burnt as heretics by the strictures of their own book.

The view that Western culture can understand, but not reject Islam or Hinduism or Cannibalism—that all cultures are equally valid—is a naïve and dangerous faith: why not bring back Stalinism or Nazism as well? For 1,000 years, Sharia has banned ijtihad (mental struggle—the complement of jihad—physical struggle) and created a stagnant and repressive culture (Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451′ with its book burning fire-men comes to mind).

The West rejected, starting with the Rennaissance (recall Pico della Mirandola’s ‘Oration on the Dignity of Man’), a life based on myth or superstition and adopted a culture of dissent and discussion in which individual choice and responsibility were enshrined—thank you for continuing to keep that tradition alive.

Neither goose or gander or gosling or egg want the mandate

2011-04-08T01:55:00.001Z

'Now we learn that even one of the law’s staunchest supporters and apparent co-author is running from the law. Representative Anthony Weiner, a Democrat who proclaimed last September that he “wrote the bill, the bill and I are one,” is now looking for ways to get his hometown of New York City out from under the new mandates. He joins a burgeoning number of unions and businesses who have already sought waivers from the law.' Diane Cohen

BUSH = OBAMA = Spend & Burn BUBBAS !! :-(

2011-04-08T01:51:00.001Z

'In fiscal year 2001, which ended in September 2001 but was mostly set in place before President Bush took office, the federal government spent $1,863 billion. After seven years of Bush and a Republican Congress, spending was more than a trillion dollars higher—$2,983 billion in FY2008. Then the financial crisis, TARP, the stimulus, and the omnibus spending bill came along, and FY2011 spending is estimated at $3,819 billion—$836 billion more than just three years earlier, and $1,956 billion more than when Bush took office a decade ago.' David Boaz

Nero fiddles as the Capitol ignites in flames

2011-04-08T01:45:00.001Z

'I'm mystified by Maya's [MacGuineas] reference to an "opening bid" by the White House. What on earth is she talking about? Obama punted in his budget and didn't even endorse the findings of his own Fiscal Commission.' Daniel J. Mitchell

Tom Mullen's observations on Government action = Force-full action

2011-04-07T18:42:00.002Z

“Our legislators are not sufficiently apprised of the rightful limits of their powers; that their true office is to declare and enforce only our natural rights and duties, and to take none of them from us. No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.” Thomas Jefferson

Milt Rosenberg's interview with Dr. Bart Ehman to discuss his new book, FORGED

2011-04-07T18:20:00.003Z

The Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are

Forgeries, false attribution, fabrication and falsification—it's all there. Great discussion on comparative religious studies, biblical archeology, religious history, heresies, &c. &c. ;-)

'Persuasion' archives at Mises.Org

2011-04-07T18:12:00.002Z

'In a speech to the U.S. Senate on March 14, 1834, Henry Clay said, "The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites tbe public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments."'

The Online Learning Revolution

2011-04-07T18:06:00.002Z

Salman Khan with Google's backing is changing the way that kids learn math, biology, chemistry ... In fact, some schools using his system have actually 'flipped' their schedules—lectures are done at home and homework is done in schools where the teacher can help students out.

How about a 5th grader who asks the teacher how to use the chain rule in Calculus with the teacher replying that it's been a long-time, but they could sit down & figure it out together?

Individualised progress reports, &c &c ... ;-)

So, TV or video games—or both?

2011-04-07T17:54:00.002Z

'“Evolved,” you ask? Oh, yes. Here is her argument: Since the introduction of World of Warcraft, its players have invested a collective 5.93 million years in making the stockholders of Activision Blizzard very happy. And 5.93 million years is a decent approximation of the length of time that has elapsed since the first hominid stood erect. So, you see? Of course, by that logic, the high school class of 1962, which has spent a collective 16.3 million years sleeping since graduation, are even more evolved. We should probably all have those big bulbous, hairless heads that science fiction has so often predicted. (Some of us have at least mastered the hairless part.)

“Reality is broken” is her premise, and I have no doubt that typical gamers would agree. There’s no arguing with the premise, for the simple reason that it is meaningless, except perhaps as a way of avoiding the fact that reality is hard. But it has a certain buzz value, and it got this PhD holder in “performance studies” her 20 minutes onstage at TED, where every idea is a Big Idea.' Robert McHenry

This observation that millions of hours are being wasted on video games, also applies as well to the time spent in front of a TV. Curiously, in the military we have used both techniques to increase the performance of our sailors and soldiers, and there are video games that are challenging and complex scenarios (simCity, simAnt ... series or Civilization come to mind), but like all things in life—too much of a 'good' thing can become an evil.

Tax & Tax until the Turnip bleeds!

2011-04-05T15:24:00.002Z

“Nor should the argument seem strange that taxation may be so high as to defeat its object, and that, given sufficient time to gather the fruits, a reduction of taxation will run a better chance than an increase of balancing the budget. For to take the opposite view today is to resemble a manufacturer who, running at a loss, decides to raise his price, and when his declining sales increase the loss, wrapping himself in the rectitude of plain arithmetic, decides that prudence requires him to raise the price still more—and who, when at last his account is balanced with nought on both sides, is still found righteously declaring that it would have been the act of a gambler to reduce the price when you were already making a loss.” 1933 Essay: The Means to Prosperity, section I: The nature of the problem, p338, The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, Macmillan Cambridge University Press, 1972

[Cf. Daniel J. Mitchell's post: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/a-victory-for-the-laffer-curve-a-defeat-for-englands-economy]

Ayn Rand's 'Fountainhead' in a 9 minute video

2011-04-02T19:39:00.002Z

How to pay for the USG's 2011 budget by seizing all the wealth from greedy corporations, fat cats and sports starts (also those 'useless Hollywood idiots'). ;-)

If Women Ruled There Would Be Peace

2011-04-01T22:22:00.005Z

It has been said that if women ruled there would be more peace in the world, but events seem to defy that innocent prediction:

'In the end, the Valkyries got their war. Clinton's advice, along with that of Samantha Power and Susan Rice, who have all loudly called for U.S. military intervention in the past, convinced President Obama to override Gates and Mullen's objections, and to launch what Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman aptly characterized yesterday as "just the most muddled definition of an operation probably in U.S. military history."' [Christopher Preble, 'Obama's Power Problem, and Ours', Cato at Liberty, 01.04.2011]

For those of you that are sucking down Iodine pills

2011-04-01T17:20:00.000Z

Putting things into perspective can help since natural causes of radiation & radioactivity are part & parcel of living on a fragment of an exploded star.

Education = Self + Learning

2011-04-01T16:18:00.006Z

How about a 'revolution' that happens one child at a time to unfold each individual's potential—now that would be something—Salman Khan through his free online Khan Academy videos reaches 2,000,000 individual learners per month!

Technology innovations and reductions in cost are converging to personalise learning. For example—converting an eBook reader into a low-cost web browser. This can be done by 'rooting' the reader, a process that shifts the machine to Google's Android operating system as demonstrated on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUoHALWvPts&feature=p layer_embedded). Notably, YouTube is owned by Google, and Salman Khan's Khan Academy is being sustained by Google—these Nerds are gonna change the world!!

It's interesting to observed that Bill Gates is still 'rooted' to the old scheme of 'fixing schools' and donating billions to the 'cause'. But costs matter: DC public schools—$28,000/pupil/year failures; private schools—$7,000/pupil/year with better results; Khan Academy—internet access + reader (100's of dollars/pupil/year) with personalised results.

So, after you 'root' your E-reader you have a cheap iPad which permits access to Khan Academy educational videos, which means even poor kids will have access to world class instruction and learning !! ;-)

p.s. MIT posts all its lectures online.

Beethoven's Nightshirt

2011-04-01T16:07:00.001Z

DNA tested, OK, but the reconstituted 'Nightshirt' Sonata sounds a lot like the Arietta from Sonata 32, Op. 111 ... ;-)

Liszt Competition Streaming to You

2011-04-01T16:04:00.002Z

The schedule for the upcoming Liszt competition which will be streamed live. ;-)

Devil's may lie

2011-04-01T14:52:00.005Z

'Saints may always tell the truth, but for mortals living means lying. We lie to protect our privacy (“No, I don’t live around here”); to avoid hurt feelings (“Friday is my study night”); to make others feel better (“Gee you’ve gotten skinny”); to avoid recriminations (“I only lost $10 at poker”); to prevent grief (“The doc says you’re getting better”); to main- tain domestic tranquility (“She’s just a friend”); to avoid social stigma (“I just haven’t met the right woman”); for career advancement (“I’m sooo lucky to have a smart boss like you”); to avoid being lonely (“I love opera”); to eliminate a rival (“He has a boyfriend”); to achieve an objective (“But I love you so much”); to defeat an objective (“I’m allergic to latex”); to make an exit (“It’s not you, it’s me”); to delay the inevitable (“The check is in the mail”); to communicate dis- pleasure (“There’s nothing wrong”); to get someone off your back (“I’ll call you about lunch”); to escape a nudnik (“My mother’s on the other line”); to namedrop (“We go way back”); to set up a surprise party (“I need help moving the piano”); to buy time (“I’m on my way”); to keep up appear- ances (“We’re not talking divorce”); to avoid taking out the trash (“My back hurts”); to duck an obligation (“I’ve got a headache”); to maintain a public image (“I go to church every Sunday”); to make a point (“Ich bin ein Berliner”); to save face (“I had too much to drink”); to humor (“Correct as usual, King Friday”); to avoid embarrassment (“That wasn’t me”); to curry favor (“I’ve read all your books”); to get a clerkship (“You’re the greatest living jurist”); to save a dollar (“I gave at the office”); or to maintain innocence (“There are eight tiny reindeer on the rooftop”).

And we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk, as reflected by the popularity of plastic surgery, elevator shoes, wood veneer paneling, cubic zirconia, toupees, artificial turf and cross-dressing. Last year, Americans spent $40 billion on cosmetics—an industry devoted almost entirely to helping people deceive each other about their appearance. It doesn’t matter whether we think that such lies are despicable or cause more harm than good. An important aspect of personal autonomy is the right to shape one’s public and private persona by choosing when to tell the truth about oneself, when to conceal and when to deceive. Of course, lies are often disbelieved or discovered, and that too is part of the pull and tug of social intercourse. But it’s critical to leave such interactions in private hands, so that we can make choices about who we are. How can you develop a reputation as a straight shooter if lying is not an option?' Judge Alex Kazinski, 9th District

Thanks to Tim Lynch from CATO for directing me to this ruling (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/false-statements-free-speech-and-sniper-fire/)

Homegrown Incompetents

2011-04-01T14:47:00.003Z

In case you were wondering where in the world we find the theoreticians that lead us into war, depression and failure: Yale, Harvard, Chicago ... Look no further than those intellectual hotbeds of Utopian thinking—our law schools. The Bubba network is self-righteous and self-perpetuating, and because they do not suffer from the effects of their policies, having ensured they are well-taken care of, the craziness will continue ad nauseum—or until the country is bankrupt.

The New International

2011-04-01T14:39:00.002Z

"AT MY DIRECTION" : 'It is not just that this president, like others before him, ignored Article I of the Constitution. Nor is this president the first to shun moral complexity in favor of a Manichean outlook. President Obama is the first, however, to assert that his broad powers to initiate war should be limited primarily by people who are outside the American social compact.' (John Samples)

Not only does POTUS not read Bills before he signs them, not care about the Constitution, but he's willing to turn the whole mess over to an International Community that certainly will never read either.

A bit over the top—but there's some truth in the matter: don't pick fights you can't win.

2011-04-01T14:31:00.002Z

"These people will be serving the public only in the sense that the bull will be serving the cow." Robert Higgs.

The Soviet Union failed with its 5 year plans, so we adopted the same system!

2011-04-01T14:14:00.006Z

Jeff A. Tucker's piece on the USG's 'morass of incompetence and quagmire of subjectivism' is a welcome statement showing how our regulatory system is out of control. In a sense, because it is so out of control and tries to do everything for everyone it can be 'proven' to work for everyone—or conversely to protect no one from anything. Unread by legislators, but created, expanded and enforced by bureaucrats it is a daunting obstacle to progress. Even our esteemed Congressmen recognise the problem:

“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill’ … What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” – John Conyers, July 27, 2009

— & yet Rep. Conyers voted for the 2,700 page Health Care Bill and 2,300 page Banking Regulation Bill!!! Which are now being further expanded into a regulatory scheme. :-(
But, at this point complaining is a moot point, after all, what's 5,000 unread pages to a 350,000 page unread thicket of contradictions and restrictions? :-((

In case I decide to photograph again

2011-04-01T14:11:00.000Z

Mo' Doggie—or Modoggies of controversy.

2011-04-01T14:07:00.001Z

For those dog lovers that are looking for more than a little bite.

Did the Nobel Committee regain its sanity?

2011-04-01T14:03:00.001Z

Congratulations Lars!! I was getting to think that the Nobel Committee could only recognise politically-correct establishment 'prophets' like Al Gore or Barack Obama, and had lost all its moral authority in not supporting iconoclasts. Again, my deepest appreciation for your work, and congratulations, mani. ;-)

IRAQ THE MODEL

2006-09-16T11:03:00.000Z

IRAQ THE MODEL

Your comment on the dictators of the region quaking in their boots at the 'chaos' after the liberation of Iraq is on the mark. Freedom of expression, freedom of choice and freedom from oppressive regimes is a threat to every regime in the Middle East except Turkey and Israel. It is ironic that western media and commentators can't see the ironic reality behind the Secretary General of the United Nation's comment. It is also an important truth that more Iraqis need to find the courage to do what you are doing.

mani malagón

Apparatchiks

2006-04-03T07:40:00.000Z

Apparatchiks

3 April 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

¿Is the import of words any surprise?
That thoughts shape minds,—and minds shape deeds seems clear,
To most humans except those safely hid;
Or, should I say safely ensconced up high,
In your citadels of white ivory,—
Tenure not touched by life’s realities;

You do apologize for Stalin’s ills,
You’ll write a moral thesis for Nazis,
Obtuse, abstruse and obscurantist writ,
You’ll pawn off as profundity quite deep,
Though you cannot explain in language plain,
Your deconstruction of reality;

So when you argue against government,
It’s not against cannibal Idi’s reign,
Or to declaim the killing fields’ bone graves,—
You see the Taliban as just a tribe,
Or Rwandan genocide as white’s fault,
And only find blame in Western man’s ways;

Harems and eunuchs in Islamic life,
Are just peculiarities so quaint,
An evil empire filled with mullah’s hate,
Enslaving women to a menial role,
Lives on and you can’t raise a single voice,
Just make apologies for its death throes;

It’s not for you to praise peculiar traits,
Like individual liberty and speech,—
You loved the Soviet’s order so neat,
Cuban cigars and vodka with caviar,—
The life of intellectuals is so hard,
You can’t take time to recognize what’s right;

Or how the English singular will,
Destroyed millennial institution’s reign,
That haunted every civilization,—
Oh yes, slavery ended from the West,
And still in Africa it continues,
To say nothing of traffic in women;

But faults that all societies have felt,
And only Western life has grappled with,
Are vapidly admired in other realms,
And Hitler was just another great man,
That Heidegger and Derrida can praise,
For philosophy has no other aim;

You claim it’s all a story anyway,
And that your babble can capture life’s sway,
That myths can substitute for reason straight,
And visions can supplant all science says,—
So go and find your witchdoctor to heal
The ills that every mortal must soon feel;

And deconstruct yourselves out of a job,—
¿Can’t you at least do this necessity?
¿For if you truly believe there’s no truth,—
What purpose has a university?
It’s funny that Derrida laughed at you,
Having long since abandoned his methods;

But that impenetrable shield you wield,
Of words that hold no meaning or import,
Will not protect you from the Taliban,
Or from another book-burning madman,
And when the ghettos you’ve incited burn,
And you in safety watch with joy and glee;

Remember that civilization frail,
Can collapse with Tsunami suddenness,—
And you are ill prepared to hunt and fish,
And no one will take you for a shaman,
And paper books burn too quick for night’s fire,
And you’ve no calluses for work or life.

© Copyright 2005 Manuel Fajar (FictionPress ID:426079).

The Nidé Twins and The Giant Yeitso

2006-03-01T18:21:00.000Z

The Navajo and Uranium
—The Nidé Twins and The Giant Yeitso,—
A Tragedy of the Nuclear Age.

Fides et Ratio

10 February 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas

We are an accident of Nature’s whim,
With mind of convolutions creased so strange,
Mélange of senses formed like bouillabaisse,
Cognitive dissonance rules our brain’s ways,—

We love gods that can act at distances,
Hurling lightning, spewing lava or hurt,
ICBM’s our closest approach yet,
To that divinity that Heaven dwells,—

We struggle to let go animism,
Old lore that was so reassuring strong,
A consolation for we understood,
All God’s intent for nature and for man,—

But no consoling credence lives here now,
It’s time for us construe Nature again,
With symbiosis and ecology,—
Lest man’s success become His final doom.

In Navajo folklore, the Nidé Twins, born of mother Earth, slay the Giant Yeitso, a monster that roamed Tsoodzil (Mt. Taylor), the sacred mountain, and harmed humans. The Twins had supernatural assistance to avoid Yeitso’s weapons and were given lightning bolts to kill him. The remnants of that battle can be seen in the molten lava flows on Tsoodzil’s side. Today, the Navajo have named a yellow monster, Leetso, uranium. , This new myth, created in the crux of health crisis, aids the Navajo battle a complex problem.

Man uses culture to expand his ecological niche. Culture amplifies reflex, instinct and emotion with a flexible tool that extends man’s domain over nature. Man’s ability to find and utilize new sources of energy permits his numbers to increase dramatically beyond any Malthusian prediction and to evolve complex economic ecologies. His success at placating hunger and lasciviousness for millions is truly amazing.

But, as modern man’s sophistication of explanation increases his predictive and manipulative power, he is caught with a concurrent decrease in his ability to use his physical senses to understand that revealed reality. His myths, religions and anthropomorphic explanations of the universe cannot protect him in the complex world he has created and will not prevent ecological tragedies; and, though without myth and religion perhaps he may be hopelessly adrift, their manipulation at the hands of ‘the faithful’ have often led to genocide. For those reasons Western Civilization developed philosophy and science, as creative myths, for dealing with the monster creating, teratogenic, capabilities of the modern world.

This short paper briefly explores some aspects of the interplay of myth and science in the 20th century ecological tragedy of the Nidé nation with uranium. An attempt to understand the effect of myth and science, of man as a deme and avatar (a reproductive and economic agent), is more than just a historical exercise, for as oil prices soar upwards and industrial nations look for other energy sources, nuclear power becomes more and more of a necessity; and, quite ominously, as nuclear weapons continue to proliferate, it will not be long before they are again used. This time, not in the hope of ending a world war, but of inciting the world’s demise.

The themes of conservation (saving for) and preservation (saving from) will be mentioned in a brief history of the Navajo that shows how they adapted and adopted new cultural forms in their quest for survival. Perhaps, the underlying deep question is, whether a creature that is rapidly changing culturally can exist in a homeostatic relationship with his environment (in holistic terms as an ecology including biology, economy, …); and, conversely, when economic and ecological pressures drive human migrations and cultural transformations, will those changes be accompanied by a culture of conservation?

It is probably likely, that conditions far from equilibrium (whether they be a result of ecological change or cultural change) will not promote an ethos of conservation or preservation (for man’s instinct for personal and tribal survival will be the pressing driver of human actions.) And, if an ecological perspective is required, is man’s intellect even capable of understanding the myriad interactions and relationships? Is myth, or religion, the only available method of approaching such a holistic endeavor? An attempt to sketch an answer to these questions is best left for another moment, for the time being let’s look at the history of the Navajo and Uranium.

The Navajo, and their close relatives the Apache, migrated to the American Southwest in the 1400’s. Navajo legends, however, all state that they were created and placed in their homeland in the mountainous area between Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The first apparent problem is that Navajo legends were an oral tradition and were only written down in the middle of the twentieth century. The second problem is that the legends are an emic construct, not an etic explanation. They served to validate existence, not to formulate consistent causal explanations. The conditions of existence when the Navajo arrived were that the Pueblo Indians already had possession of the land; the need of the newcomers was, not for a history of their migration and arrival, but for myths to justify their presence.

The Navajo traded with the Pueblo Indians and learned many of their sedentary skills. Sheep and horses, introduced by the Spanish, allowed the Navajo to develop a lifestyle and system of wealth based on sheep. The Navajo throughout their history displayed a tremendous degree of cultural flexibility and ability to adopt and adapt to new ideas. Through difficult times in the 1900’s, including warfare with settlers and the U.S. Army, forced relocation to reservations and a vertiginous drop in their numbers, the Navajo eventually succeeded in rebounding in population and expanding their national territory to its current size.

The Navajo nation suffered the ravages of the early 20th century influenza epidemic; and, economically deprived times in the late 1930’s due to the depression that was exacerbated by U.S. government action to severely cull sheep herds to curb overgrazing causing heavy soil erosion. Even though oil was found in the Navajo nation in the 1920’s, during the depression many Diné men had to leave their homes to find work.

The war brought some economic respite to the Nidé. Navajos served valiantly as soldiers and the Navajo language was used as an unbreakable code. Additionally, uranium, which had been found in Navajo lands at the turn of the century, became a boom industry under government incentives that allowed many Navajo to work as miners closer to home.

But sometimes the invisible impacts human lives drastically. Man lives on the remnants of an exploded sun (a fusion reactor) that receives most of its energy from the sun (radiation) and whose radioactive core generates terawatts of energy. Some of those radioactive materials are dispersed in the earth’s mantle and when concentrated can combine to create either controlled or uncontrolled releases of radioactive emissions: nuclear reactors or bombs. And, even in their natural form and concentrations, these radioactive elements in rock or earth formations can be harmful to human health through chronic exposure.

The invisible hands of the global economy and war created the necessity to mine uranium. At stake was the very survival of America. There is little doubt that if the Nazi government had arrived at the atom bomb first, they would have used it on London and then on New York. And, that the deployment of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki probably saved at least a million allied casualties by precluding an invasion of a Japanese homeland controlled by an unswerving military clique. The Axis powers had all enshrined the irrational as their ultimate faith.

But neither science nor religion prepared Americans for the health impacts of radiation exposure or the devastation of atomic explosives. Myth, the precursor to science often serves man well. When conditions are stable and equilibrium is reached myth may be the most comforting and necessary of all beliefs; and, for times of change science with its predictive scheme can often provide a path of mastery for new domains. But, there are circumstances in time and confluences of events when neither cultural adaptation, emic or etic, serves man well. The mining of uranium was such a case.

In the middle of the twentieth century a cross-roads of national security, market forces, scientific ignorance and government inertia allowed several thousand Navajo (Nidé) miners to be exposed to higher than normal radioactivity (Radon) levels that led to the premature deaths of hundreds due to lung cancer. Almost as quickly the mines were abandoned, leaving deep shafts and redistributed potentially hazardous materials, to leach into ground waters and create a pocked landscape. Some of those hazardous materials were used in the construction of dwellings. Half a century later the Nidé nation passed laws forbidding the extraction of uranium from their lands. But, this all started innocently enough.

Uranium, coal, gas and oil were mined on Navajo lands for decades before the 1930’s. Vanadium was mined in the twentieth century for use in the processing of steel. As radium and atomic elements became discovered and studied they were introduced into society. Bright yellow and orange luminescent paints had radioactive components. Wine glasses that glowed in the dark and luminescent watch dials were all part of the marvel of the atomic age. Large doses of X-rays were used for diagnostics and the treatment of cancer, nuclear isotopes were used with few restraints in internal medicine, everywhere it seemed that the atom would provide unlimited benefits without exacting any costs. Eventually in the 1950’s the atomics of inheritance, DNA, was discovered along with the effects of radiation on those cellular processes. A new era of understanding dawned.

Exposure to radiation and radioactivity can have chronic or acute effects. Low doses exceeding tolerance thresholds over prolonged periods can lead to cancers or leukemia; while large doses in a short time span can kill. Ionizing radiation (X-rays and gamma rays) and radioactive particles [neutrons, protons, electrons, alpha (a Helium atom stripped of electrons)] energetically interact with biological processes. They can damage cellular walls, disrupt chemical reactions, damage DNA, create free radicals and in large doses cause lesions and burns, or even death.

The many mechanisms of biological damage are not the focus of this paper, the point is that radioactive materials radiate energy and emit energetic particles. To block high energy radiation and neutrons, shielding, such as lead sheets or concrete barriers, is required; and, to screen for large particles, such as alpha and beta (that have a low capacity to penetrate skin but can damage soft lung tissue) coveralls and masks are required.

In the case of mining activities the main problem is controlling the fine particulate that can become airborne. Radioactive material control processes (including ventilation) have to put in place to ensure the radioactive ore is only located where it is meant to be stored. And, monitoring and personnel exposure procedures have to be instituted. These procedures include appropriate garments, radiation detectors, filtered masks, control of dosage and appropriate decontamination procedures to ensure the radioactive material is not dispersed uncontrollably in the environment or taken home.

The U.S. Government, who for decades was the only purchaser of uranium, did not take any of these actions, as a consequence many miners suffered illnesses and premature death brought about by the lack of radiological control practices. But, as is normally the case, the story is more complicated than it appears at first glance; there were many rational individuals trying to do the right things.

The difference in the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) action with beryllium and uranium—acute vs. chronic effects,—poison vs. radioisotope,—points out some of the complexities. Democracies and their bureaucracies respond to abrupt crisis (like Yanomamö leaders they are only able to operate by consensus); but have a poor record of acting on perceived threats. Beryllium killed several persons in Massachusetts and was clearly a strong poison. The AEC’s New York Operations Office (NYOO) promptly placed into effect tolerance limits and further illness was avoided. But, the Division of Biology and Medicine (DBM) was opposed to the NYOO’s actions because they felt the AEC was not entitled to set health and safety regulations!

When the NYOO took the same position with uranium, that it had with beryllium, AEC headquarters took uranium purchasing responsibility away from the NYOO and created a new section to handle purchases. In effect, AEC headquarters caved in to DBM demands; and, uranium mining went unregulated for years. But, unlike beryllium, uranium mining was being done in the remote southwest and the effects of lung exposure to radon took decades to develop cancer.

And, many other things associated with uranium did not go as we would have hoped: revelations by the U.S. Government’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE) of repeated poor judgment in conducting human radiation experiments with a disregard of ethical restrictions that existed in American scientific and medical circles are chilling. A sobering reminder, that unless strict and clear guidelines are publicly enforced, even the best intentions with unproven technologies can lead to disasters.

The additional facts that individuals used government security classifications to hide their actions from public scrutiny; that sick patients were used without their informed consent as part of experiments with radioactive substances; that 200,000 sailors and soldiers, the ‘atomic veterans,’ were exposed to atomic blasts to determine military abilities in a nuclear war environment without their informed participation; that children were exposed to non-therapeutic radiation doses for experiments; while, at the same time, the U.S. Government publicly tried German physicians for their callous disregard of prevailing medical ethical standards in the conduct of their human experiments, is also cause for sobering concern.

A concern that often eludes us as man changes his environment at a faster rate than human biological and cultural systems can evolve. Real dangers arise, including unintended effects of promised benefits. For example, new chemicals; thousands of artificial chemical agents are currently in use, and hundreds are invented yearly, without any screening for teratogenic effects. Because the etiology of cancer formation or growth of deformed embryos is so complex and can take many years to develop; and, the ethical implications of research on humans are inherently prohibitive in nature, modern society remains at the same crossroads that the Nidé encountered with uranium: invisible assailants and no weapons to fight them.

But leaving aside potential problems, even the remediation of physically realizable actions, like sealing mineshafts or disposing of hazardous materials, is extremely costly to do correctly after the fact. Of the roughly 1300 mines that were opened, about one half have been sealed. And, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (starting in 1997) radiation and radioactivity surveys of Navajo lands and waters give these preliminary results:
Out of 27 hogans (a Navajo hut) surveyed, 2 were found to have radiation levels significantly enough above background levels, that razing them was warranted;
Out of 226 water sources sampled, 90 were found to pose elevated health hazards (primarily unregulated water sources used for stock or by persons without running water); and,
Airborne radiation surveys indicated that there are 15 square miles of territory with elevated radiation readings. ,

There are many other reports of groundwater contamination or reposition of radioactive millings and other natural phenomena acting on uranium mine residue. In the meantime the Diné have implemented laws to stop uranium mining, have started environmental survey and educational programs, and are using the court and legislative processes to seek redress for the ills they have suffered.

The Navajo nation changed its governance after the discovery of oil on their lands. Oil leasing requirements and the increased complexity of their dealings with private and U.S. government agencies required adaptation. But, along with the adopting of ‘outside’ processes, the Navajo have also maintained many of their traditional cultural activities and values. These traditions emphasize the costs of excess, something that our larger American society is only starting to understand: all choices have costs and consequences that must be valued within a cultural context.

It has been a slow process for American society to start addressing the human and environmental legacy of uranium mining on Navajo lands. Over fifty years elapsed before surveys were commenced; it was only in 2000 that the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was signed; and, then it took one more year for it to be funded. As it was, the burden of proof was placed on the miners and any use of tobacco excluded compensation. Additionally, only one strain of lung cancer qualifies for relief under RECA.

Part of the justification given by some activists for stopping uranium mining is that defiling the Earth violates an existing tradition of respect for the sacred mountains passed down by their Nidé ancestors. This seems to go against the fact of historic land utilization patterns. But, perhaps denial of mining rights is the only realpolitik available to the Navajo in bargaining with the U.S. Government. For there is strong pressure to commence mining operations again, to build a uranium enrichment facility and to build a nuclear waste repository on Navajo lands.

All, perfectly feasible projects; and, all probably necessary in the long term. However, all will be required to provide a laborious technical assessment for long-term ecological and economic viability. So, who is going to read and understand these reports? Who is going to convince the Navajo community to proceed? Who is going create assurances that the U.S. Government is acting in good faith after decades of inaction? Who is going to make the final cost/benefit decision?

The recent Navajo creation of the yellow monster Leetso, uranium, an enemy that must be vanquished, with its devious nature (as well as the virtues of the heroes that must emerge to combat or tame Leetso) are a necessary step in assigning attributes and properties to a problem that they must contain. This emic explanation places the problem within a cultural context. And, in the long run if there is a ‘solution’ to this catastrophe it will take a flexible admixture of science and myth to fight the many monsters that must be subdued. All ‘hard’ facts presented by science need to be embedded in the ‘soft’ facts of values before a society will take action. The illusion of dichotomy is false.

The emphasis on one aspect of a multifaceted problem will lead to a dad end, just like reproduction without survival is an empty act. Securing economic resources will always be the final determinant of whether reproductive efforts succeed. Man, like all animals, acts as both an avatar (economic behavior) and as a deme (reproductive behavior in a population) that incorporates energy and DNA flows (ecology and genealogy.) It is the way that man describes his participation in these cycles that determines his approach to them. Psychology is a subset of biology is a subset of economy is a subset of ecology—they can be studied separately, but they are all irrevocably intertwined. In the meantime, the Navajo are involving science more and more in their approach. Their local Diné College has started a Uranium Education Program. And, ten million dollars worth of further studies on the impact of radiation have been initiated.

These are important steps for Navajo culture; for while man has at his disposal a broader range of cultural adaptations than any other animal he is not immune to self-delusion and deception. Culture, by its pliable nature, affords man the tools to find new energy sources as well as to guide behavior. In the western tradition man has struggled for centuries, with many bloody disputes, over what the correct balance between myth and science should be. Myth looks to the past, and relies of faith,—it has no predictive component. In a real sense it is like evolution: the historic remnants of what worked previously. Science, on the other hand, by its very structure is founded on reason; and, requires extrapolation and verification. Both have been seriously abused and misused; and, it seems almost by reflexive default, that any forced exclusive imposition of either ends up harming more than helping.

Communism, socialism, and republics have to greater or lesser degrees (usually directly proportional to the concentration of power) acted with disdain for individual lives and with a partial view to the total lifetime costs associated with decisions. Perhaps the Navajo have been more aware of costs because they have been geographically and socially circumscribed are a smaller nation. (Carneiro, Chagnon) Being surrounded reduces choices and increases the costs of the constrained choices that are available.

True costs, in an ecological sense, cannot be indefinitely postponed. There are many occasions like the fights over Kennewick Man, stem cell research, global warming, depleted uranium, nuclear power generation or genetically engineered foods where myth and science come into direct conflict; and, where there exists a mismatch between real and perceived costs. , Such clashes are difficult to resolve within current dichotomies (man vs. nature, male vs. female, objective vs. subjective, human vs. divine, etic vs. emic, maternalistic vs. paternalistic, material vs. ideal, right brain vs. left brain, cost vs. benefit, nature vs. nurture, etc.)

Although dualities help to highlight categories for analysis, in and of themselves they are insufficient to make judgments: values are required for synthesis and action to occur. On the one hand, it was in the neglect of values, that already existed in the American democratic tradition, from which the tragedy of the Navajo and uranium grew out of; and, which highlights a more pervasive problem. The continuing failure of America to reform a public education system that leaves 20% of Americans functionally illiterate; and, places more emphasis on compliance and attendance than on individuality and intellect is at the heart of the matter.

Complex technologically oriented societies require a vibrant political discourse and citizen participation in decision making to allow exploration of all the difficult choices. For culture adapts myth and science is part of culture, but it tries to avoid distortion in adaptation by basing explanations on observation and data. This does not mean that there are not disagreements about just what is observed and what it means, on the contrary, but it is precisely that disagreement and discussion that is required.

Man’s need to use human centered belief systems to understand, balanced with the use of reason to quantify and measure, is one route out of despair at the cataract of change that daily overwhelms his life. , Is it not too much to hope that man can find and implement systems and world-views that place him in a closer homeostatic balance to the ideals of ecological conservation and preservation of biological diversity: i.e., an ethos conservative of life and liberal of possibilities while respecting individual choice? Man’s flawed growth is exasperating, but should never dim hopes that Faith, Reason and Love can sustain humanity; or, dismiss the examples of effectively run organizations like the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program that has operated millions of nuclear reactor hours without an accident, or of individuals with moral backbone like Admiral H.G. Rickover that implemented the program.

Perhaps religion is the conservative counterweight to science’s liberal creation; but, more fundamentally an ecological perspective like John Holland’s Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) with all the detailed, interlaced strands, instead of Shepard Kresch’s vague hints of war and trade networks (without delving into the details of those networks) as drivers of behavioral change will become more and more a mandatory part of man’s thinking process. Although any system complex enough to describe man’s environment and his interactions with it will require dedicated effort to understand, many individuals and institutions have started on this holistic path.

And, there is hope of success, for complex systems like nuclear power generation are studied and comprehended; and, strict safety guidelines and procedures have proven to be effective (at least in democratic countries where the state must respond to its citizens.) Man need not retreat back to smoky fires in sandstone caves. The essential point being, that all attempts to broaden comprehension expand not only horizons of understanding and manipulation, but also empathetic vision. New models and vocabularies are created: metaphors that expand and enrich humanity’s cultural world.

For although man’s heritage, his evolutionary fitness, if you will, is to fill his gut, satiate his lust and watch his children grow; not, to look at long-term trends of even a few years or to delve into complex relationships and interactions. (One has only to briefly scan news headlines to see that humans build houses on beaches where tsunamis crash on them, where volcanoes erupt on them, where rivers flood them, where mountainsides slide down on them, etc.) Man does possess tremendous inherent capacities for observation, introspection and regeneration; and, for myth creation and elaboration. And, maybe storytelling of a hero’s battling insurmountable odds, that atavism of man’s huddling by a fire, is one key to successful adaptation.

One final thought: surprise is in the nature of the chaotic systems that drive human lives, whether they be energetic, biological, economical, or ecological linkages that bind us in complex ways. Albert Einstein’s thought that “men are like drifting sand, and one is never certain what tomorrow will lay above him,” should give man pause as he seeks solutions for a victory over nature. Migration, extinction or adaptation has always been the fate of all species. In that light, the continuing saga of the Navajo and Uranium, and their cultural adaptation in the face of adversity and continual change, leaves much to think about; especially, about what tales of horrible monsters, and how astutely and nobly they were battled, man will tell his children and grandchildren.

Man The Ape That Hurls

2006-01-19T14:20:00.000Z

Form tends to follow function is the compelling trend of natural selection. So why is the human cranium perched as it is on a three curved spine? The argument that bipedalism requires a balanced cranial stance with 180 degree freedom of motion is not compelling, since other bipedal animals have not converged to this form. However, a gimbaled, binocular device for accurate targeting during rock throwing would confer a distinct survival advantage since it would permit action at a distance.

Man, the generalist, is generally attributed with a very good ability to run, swim, brachiate, or climb, but not the best, as would be expected if those modes of transport were the primary functional design natural selection was working on. An evolutionary period of millions of years should have permitted convergence to a more efficient method of locomotion. Even his eye design is flawed. Where he is the undisputed king is in throwing accurately.

It is probable that both Darwin and Wallace were correct: tool use and environmental changes both were the agents driving human bipedalism. But, the primary functionality that allowed proto-human survival, both interspecies and intraspecies, and was the forcing function for evolutionary modifications leading to bipedalism was throwing.

The existence of manuports that could have served as grenades or fastballs could be evidence that this was the first tool used in human warfare or hunting. And, would also have served defensive purposes. Of course, hunting sticks, clubs, spears, atlatls, and other projectiles that emerged with time would all have required a highly developed method of aiming and throwing that had already been preselected.

The ensuing spiral of group warfare and environmental pressures from improved hunting efficiency coupled with environmental changes could have been the spark that led to several human diasporas. And, more importantly the increased hunting efficiency and protection afforded in our escalating arms race would have allowed further neoteny and accelerated selection for a larger brain.

¿Are You A Prick? (test)

2005-05-01T13:55:00.000Z

The Are You a Prick? Test
written by me,
using OkCupid's test publishing tools

republican devotion

2005-04-21T13:59:00.000Z

republican devotion

4 March 2005
Corpus Christi, Texas

two hundred and forty million citizens,
yet we can barely man ten divisions,
thank god for men like captain dave rozelle,
lost a leg,—amputee,—goes to iraq,

i know war’s a horrible devotion,
mangles our finest bodies,—destroys minds,
but i remember a republic once,
fought multiple enemies,—punic wars,

every citizen was a soldier then,
with enemies at rome’s gate,—no one feared,
undefeatable as long as mothers
said, “¡come back wearing your shield, or on it!”

Evolutionary psychology and man's madness

2005-01-16T12:07:00.000Z