Day: January 16, 2012

WRITING: Entering

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Entering

The captain walked to the back of the hovel. “All secure, Sergeant?” “Yes, sir.” “Report!” “3 of ours KIA, 2 WIA, 4 natives wasted. We breached as planned. No resistance; till we found the old man in the back bedroom. He started firing; caught us by surprise. Number One, WIA, was the first man; lost an ankle. The next three caught rounds in the face; killed instantly. Including the Louie. Fifth, a knee. Sixth, Tom, got him. The men wanted some payback and wasted 3 other ragheads.” “Very well. Get the wounded back to base fast. Load the dead. Search for weapons and contraband. Back to base for replacements. And, get an new interpreter. Can’t believe we hit the wrong address again.” The captain went over and took a shiny new Colt 1911 from the dead old man’s hand.

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? . . .” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The captain wondered what it would be like at home if this was done. Result would be the same. Resistance? Can’t afford to lose three men in security operations. This adventure would end quickly. No way 100,000 Americans could police millions of ragheads. Be the same at home. Anyone’s home. Maybe next time they’d just go for a ride around town and back to base. He had family he wanted to go home to. They all had family they wanted to home to. Even the ragheads had family they wanted to go home to. Damn politicians!

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INTERESTING: Of course, the diktat is the problem

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-13/deaths-show-schools-need-power-of-the-epipen-margaret-carlson.html

Deaths Show Schools Need Power of the EpiPen
By Margaret Carlson
Jan 13, 2012 5:19 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

Proposed Solution

After a 13-year-old in Chicago died from eating Chinese food cooked in peanut oil at a class party, Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk introduced a bill modeled on the defibrillator legislation signed by Clinton. It would allow schools in every state to stock unprescribed EpiPens. In addition, the legislation would remove civil liability for the emergency use of EpiPens and provide incentives for underfunded schools to purchase them.

There no doubt will be legislators who complain about government spending and unfunded mandates. But to save a child like Ammaria isn’t hard. You don’t need to find a cure for a complex disease like cancer. You don’t need to revolutionize an industry, as Ralph Nader did with auto safety. All you need is empathy, common sense and a hundred bucks.

*** end quote ***

Of course, the “law” is the problem. It makes it impossible for intelligent human beings (i.e., principles; teachers; nurses; para-professionals; Mom; Dads; Janitors) to help their fellow man (i.e., the children in their custody).

Of course, the EpiPens, and anything else that’s needed, should be in place, ready for use, legal to use, and covered by appropriate liability relief.

Of course, the biased media has to take a swipe at the Tea Party and Fiscal Conservatives. (“Complain about spending and unfunded mandates”)

Can we point out that Gooferment Skrules, Gooferment diktats, politicians, and bureaucrats are really the root cause of this terrible tragic deaths?

If parents bought education for their children in a competitive market, you can be sure that the Owner of that school would have EpiPens and that the parent would have authorized the Owner of the school to take all actions necessary to protect their child.

Gooferment diktats, what you’d call “laws” — “laws” are like the “Law of Gravity”, the “Law of Supply and Demand”, or even the “Law of Unintended Consequences” — a real misnomer, are the problem and are not adaptable to changing conditions. A child has to die to prompt the Gooferment to do their job.

Politicians and bureaucrats are slow to react. In a free market, if your slow to react, you’re out of busniess.

So, stop the slam on the Tea Party and Fiscal Conservatives and aim at the politicians and bureaucrats who deserve the scorn!

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INTERESTING: What’s “possible”?

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http://cafehayek.com/2012/01/two-caplan-gems.html

Two Caplan Gems
by Don Boudreaux on January 8, 2012

*** begin quote ***

I tell my students that time is too short to worry about what’s merely possible.  Nearly everything that is possible will never occur.  The range of the possible is enormously larger than is the range of the plausible; the range of the plausible is larger than is the range of the probable; and the range of the probable is bigger than what (if we’re speaking of the past) has actually occurred or (if we’re speaking of the future) what will actually occur.

*** end quote ***

“Possible”  >  “Plausible”  >  “Probable”  >  ( “actually occurred” | “actually will occur” )

BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt) …

∑( “Possible”  | “Plausible”  |  “Probable” ) = 1

What I’d call: “Someone always wins the Lotto!”

So, perhaps life is too short.

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INTERESTING: Ship disaster brings back a memory

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http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/story/2012-01-15/Prosecutor-says-captain-left-ship-early/52579406/1

Prosecutor says captain left ship early
By Laura Bly, USA TODAY

*** begin quote ***

In a chaotic scene eerily evocative of the Titanic — which struck an iceberg and sank a century ago this April — at least five people have died and 15 remained missing Sunday after a state-of-the-art cruise ship hit an unidentified reef or rock and toppled over just off Italy’s Tuscan coast on the evening of Friday the 13th.

*** and ***

There was no lifeboat drill after the ship’s departure from Citavecchia (Rome), and passengers complained that the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate and delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of them to be released.

Some passengers jumped into the sea while others waited to be plucked to safety by helicopters, and some lifeboats had to be cut down with an ax.

Under U.S. Coast Guard and the International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea regulations, cruise ships must conduct a safety drill within 24 hours of sailing with instructions on the use of life jackets and how and where to muster in an emergency.

But passengers are not required to attend, and cruise lines vary in how quickly they hold the drill and how stringently they enforce passenger participation.

*** end quote ***

I can only remember being on commercial boats a few times in my life.

One cruise (i.e., “Days Of Our Lives” theme) and two ferry rides in Switzerland.

The NCL ship out of Miami had the required drill as we were leaving the harbor. And, the Captain, who’s name I don’t know was a stickler. The bars would NOT open until all passengers were at their station, verified by their room attendant, and identified by their floor supervisor. The process took ten minutes because as the Captain explained that there were a two non-cooperating passengers and two other discrepancies in the manifest. He apologized and, when he said the non-cooperators would be returning to shore on the pilot boat, the crowd cheered. Then he dismissed us with “The bars are now open. Have fun.” I have no idea if there were any non-cooperators. Nor if there were discrepancies. Nor, it there was anyone kicked off. But the bars did open. And, I felt confident that this guy was running his ship. Maybe it was all show and “theater”.

The two Swiss ferry rides had their drill after every stop. The ferry paused as soon as it pulled away and their was an airline safety briefing. In four languages. Two different “ferry lines”. But it seemed like the were following the same script. And, the crews were serious. No kidding around. Before and after the briefing, they were down right jolly; during, stern.

Maybe this is stuff that consumers have to demand. BEFORE they buy. Self-defense.

Maybe the bad press will make even bigger bargains?

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