First Blog

What we see in the current political races, both Democratic and Republican, is a race to the extreme.  The Democrats are not only drifting left but racing that away.   There is no limit to social programs they propose; cost seems not to be an option. The Republicans are constantly invoking the Reagan litmus test of conservatism.   Realism is lost.  The Republican candidates, such as Cruz, argue against the non-conservative purity of Trump.  They view this as key.  Each of them scrap against the over who is the most pure.  Ronald Reagan has achieved political sainthood.   Programs are irreverent; purity is. For the Democrats, both contenders are vying to inherit the Obama legacy, and both are traveling even further than Obama even dared toward the progressive agenda.  Both are trying to capture their base.  For the one, the rich are an infinitely taxable asset.  For the other, the rich comprise an achievement goal.  Both are dead wrong. The news outlets love this.  It gives extreme

Most of us have debt.   We may owe money to the bank or favors to our friends.   We may owe allegiance to our country, company, or commitments.   We may owe a debt to ourselves for things we have or have not done.   We live in a sea of debt, most of it simply the cost of living.   Those of us without debt are either lucky or just not living.    Another form of debt, technical debt , has emerged only in last 25 years.   Originally, it was created as an aspect of computer code.   When a large code is created, many decisions must be made.   Often budget or time issues take a commanding position.   Sometimes, the quality of the software engineers is not up to the tasks of the complex demands.   Similarly, the knowledge base can be insufficient to proceed correctly.    The orders may be, “Get the code online and quickly, and reduce the costs wherever possible.”   The debt is with the readjustments, fixes, and rewriting of the code as it fails or becomes outdated.   Similar notio

We frequently see "man on the street" segments on various channels of how ignorant Americans are about geography.  We're not discussing where Burkina Faso is on the map but where the heck is Iowa? Many, too many Americans just don't know.  The why is simple; it is simply not taught well in the schools.  Here's how I taught my kids the states and the world years ago.  I posted a map of the USA on the wall near the breakfast table.  This map contained only the states without names.  Every morning while the kids were scarfing up their corn flakes, I would point to various states and ask what state it was.  By and by, they knew every state, including the little ones. This took years.  So, repetition over  years does work.  Indeed, this is the way for example that math is taught, though in a more formalized way. So, let me make a suggestion to teachers for grades K-8.  Every morning, show the map of the USA without names.  Point to states and ask the class which it

Looking only at one candidate, we can learn several lessons about all candidates.  Anyone following the current national reality show, which is Republican Presidential politics, is probably amazed at Jeb Bush’s precipitous fall in the polls.   On the ground, I imagine Jeb Bush is also amazed.   Indeed, it is amazing from a qualifications viewpoint.   Bush does have some impressive credentials complete with executive experience.      In the Bush camp, it is not a stretch to conclude that Donald Trump is viewed there as similar to the elder Bush’s nemesis, Ross Perot.   It cost the election for Bush in 1992.   So it was decided to attack Trump.   An attack was launched with his “Chaos candidate” remarks made at the last debate.   It has intensified.     Is it working?   Doesn’t seem to be.   Bush is now developing a last stand policy in Florida, seemingly ignoring Iowa and New Hampshire.   This strategy reminiscent of Rudy Giuliani’s similar Florida policy in the previous

I used to like Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina for her practical viewpoints on how to proceed to restore our nation to its former greatness. She seems experienced.   She seems knowledgeable.   She does make some great sound bites.    Yet she scolds, and even preaches to us, explaining mostly how she is the perfect choice to solve the big problems of our day, and also how she could confront delimit and then defeat Hillary Clinton.   She deprecates everyone, not just the democrats.      She talks to us as if we are ignorant and the government is doing nothing and can do nothing.   On security, she talks about applying big data algorithms as though she understands them, but she betrays her ignorance of the size of the data sets (zettabytes) she wishes to examine.   Her broad strokes on security are designed only for the masses and newscasts.  Let’s face it.   The Presidential job has become almost too large for anyone.    We, the country, may be seeking what we cannot ha

What is remarkable about this cycle of presidential political polling is that Donald Trump is well ahead, nationally at least.  His competitors, particularly the governors are trashing his every effort.  Cruz and Rubio are a bit more coy. The others get so little coverage its hard to say what they think.  Trump, it is said polls from the hard right, i.e. non-intelligent folks that believe hard right things.  But 41% is a number so high, it kinda defies understanding.  On the other had Hillary Clinton has been drifting to the left - to shore up support with the far left constituency (and money), and everybody expects her to drift toward the center after her inevitable nomination.  Good.  Hillary is doing what such folks do.  Predictable. The mystery is those confounded Republicans.  The governors and just about everyone else have maintained their political positions, not going left or right but by millimeters, just as they cast them months ago. They chastise the front-runner, but to

What concerns me about Republicans is that there seem to be candidates from moderate to far right all advocating courses of action, many contradicting the other.   Moreover, many seem to have a firm constituency that believes in the correctness of their proposals.   It is the lack of internal consensus that is of greatest concern.   All camps delight in extolling their virtues in equal measure to their opponents’ faults.   Another, most troubling concern, is that of the polls.   In this cycle, we see complete amateurs vying for the top spot, with essentially no records of achievement – except possibly with giving speeches.   Overall, there is so much internal dissent, it has become disturbing.  Pollsters, even the most honest, have little experience polling preferences among such a large group of participants.   They give percentages of error not sustainable even by elementary statistical methods.     Moreover, they have no method of accommodating newsworthy visibility.    Yet, po