Dennis B Murphy >>>>>>>>>>

Blog: Thoughts and Commentary

December 2007

12.31.07 WOW- another year gone by!! I've had a rather lazy week, I haven't ridden the bike much at all, but it has been rather cold. We spend the week rather close to home. We went to family on the 24th and 29th in Muskegon and Kalamazoo, but otherwise avoided unnecessary travel.

See you in the new year!

12.26.07 I've begun doing a bit of research to debunk the Reagonomics/Libertarian strains we see people cling to like a religion. The Great Depression- certainly the years leading into the depression and the years of the depression should be instructive. Some historians and economists blame Smoot-Hawley (which limited trade with the USA in a protectionist manner). Certainly this did impact the depression but it did not start the depression.

Let's examine some patterns:
-a society experiencing growing inequality between the rich and poor
-massive tax cuts for the wealthy
-govt controlled by the Republican Party in majority and in the presidency
-no division between banking and investment which allowed for speculative investing
-adherence to the gold standard

Sounds like now doesn't it, though it really was the late 1920's into the the early 1930's. This belies the argument that tax cuts are necessary for economic growth (i.e. the lie that is Reagonomics). While one can argue for tax cuts for various reasons- the idea that if the wealthy kept their money simply because they would "invest" is a lie. Just as during the depression, people are NOT investing in productive activity that stimulates the economy down to the lower levels- what they did then and are doing now is basically financial arbitraging, shuffling money from one stock to others- creating productivity isn't the point, investing in companies (which hire people and pay wages and make things) isn't the point- the point is simply to get the most money back by pressuring for stock value increases, selling and repeat. Their concern is not for productivity or "trickle down." Unfortunately, our tax policy via capital gains tax policy.

During the Depression, 25% of the population had over 50% of the wealth- these people weren't "investing" even though they'd just had huge tax cuts a few years prior.

Broad based tax cuts do stimulate the economy- because the people that get the tax cuts at the lower and middle level DO spend and spur demand. Quite Keynesian, of course. But the wealthy simply re-invest in more money-generating (but not necessarily productive trickledown) financial activities.

A couple of side notes- In the book Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Kennedy notes that previous great powers such as the Netherlands and Great Britain ceased being great powers as they also became more oriented toward monetary activities. Also, nations that departed from the gold standard saw a sooner alleviation of the depression in their country's economy than did nations that clung to the gold standard.

12.25.07 Lazy day. After spending last night (Christmas Eve) with Joni's family and staying up late - we finally went to bed about 3am! Slept in until nearly 11am this morning and actually had to wake up Brenden.

Interesting comment on the MMBA bulletin board. In a thread about a woman speeding down a hill on bike at 68mph, I mentioned it could be fatal and one acquaintence, a vocal Christian, commented "are you afraid of death because you're an atheist." Uh? Rather a dumb statement. Why would one be afraid of death if you are an atheist? It would seem to me that the fear of death is what drives the need and desire to believe in an afterlife. As an atheist, I accept the finiteness of life and existence. If anything, I am afraid of NOT living life to the fullest.

12.21.07 Short ride today. Got home early from work for the holidays (everyone else at my office left before me- except Steve- we left at the same time). So, home during daylight and Joni was out shopping so I hit the road for a little over an hour. It was 38 degrees so I rode one less layer today, but I should have kept the boots on over the shoes- my toes did get cold.

12.20.07 No biking- I came home today planning on riding out on the road on my now road-worthy Trek, but the rear tire is flat. I just put a new tube in. But I also changed the rear tire and admittedly did not check the inside of that tire, so something may have been in it to puncture the tire- and those were some super light Specialized tires too! Most likely the next time I ride will be Saturday morning- I will fix the flat tonight.

12.19.07 Travel days for work on Tuesday and Wednesday- to Taylor, MI and then south to Georgetown KY. Kentucky weather was like Michigan in October- nearly balmy. On the way back, mid-afternoon Wednesday, I drive right by the exit for the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky. The location is also home to Answers in Genesis- another creationist organization. It was a rather morbid curiosity that had me exit and drive up to the museum. The parking lot wasn't packed, but it was steady. Families exiting and entering the museum pulling their soon-to-be-science-distorted children along. I asked a lady what the entrance fee was (figuring it would be $5-6-8, heck maybe $10). $19.95 she said. WHAT! Twenty bucks?! No way. I might s pend ten dollars to go through that "museum" but not twenty. A family of four could spend $60-80 to visit. A yearly membership is $130. Why would you get a yearly membership? After all, what changes? Isn't the "science" of creationism set in stone (no pun intended) by the Diety? It's not like NEW revelations will be forthcoming. Or, as in the case of REAL museums with REAL science, that a new scientific discovery will found. They even have a planetarium- I wonder if they do the "Joshua commands the sun to stand still in the sky" trick in the planetarium. (Answers has a quite humorous rationalization for this event- which really doesn't explain it at all. AIG claims that the original authors of the biblical passage used the language of "observation." Okay.. so they OBSERVED the sun standing still, which, as AIG points out correctly, doesn't mean the sun circles the earth. But AIG doesn't really say what it does mean and what the ancients did observe. The sun stood still. Since we know the earth circles the sun, the only remaining option is that the earth ceased to rotate. Or that it suddenly tilted drastically on its axis so that the middle-east was quickly bathed in a 24 hour light much as the north pole sees months of daylight during seasonal axis tilts. Either way- too funny).

12.16.07 Afternoon update- got the Trek road ready. I put matching Bontrager Jones tires and new tubes on the wheels, installed clipless pedals and moved the light mounts off the Cannondale Rush to the Trek. I won't get to ride now until Thursday due to a business dinner on Monday evening and Tuesday/Wednesday business travel.

Joni's birthday today.

I rode the bike Thursday, but the weather dropped and last night we got hit with several inches of snow. I should NOW get off my lazy butt and get my Trek roadworthy. I will take a few days off anyway. I've got a mysterious pain in my left knee area- outside area, which indicates perhaps the LCL (lateral collateral ligament) or a nearby muscle or some such. It feels the sam as the injury I suffered in 1986 at USMC OCS boot camp (though then it was both the left and right knee).

I shoveled for about 45 minutes this morning- and it wasn't a huge storm, by any means.

We saw The Golden Compass last night- excellently done. It pretty much ended in a manner that requires the sequel. The movie is based on the first book of a trilogy called His Dark Materials. The original first book is called Northern Lights, but the USA publisher changed the title and also edited out a few scenes from the UK publication. Phillip Pullman, the author, is an atheist and this trilogy is considered the Anti-Narnia. Much of the theological-critical aspects of the book are removed from the film, however.

Brenden is getting more hours working at PacSun. He was originally mostly "on call," but has actually picked up hours and got his first paycheck (one shift for about $30).

12.09.07 Birthday... Dec 8th- not much fanfare, I stayed pretty low key. I went out in the morning for a bike ride for 1-1/2 hours, but otherwise didn't do much for the weekend.

Cheryl got me this birthday card- quite clever...

We say Beowulf yesterday afternoon- interesting visual effects, especially the 3D version we saw. One odd anachronistic aspect was the Angelina Jolie character of Grendel's mother, as she exits the water to confront Beowulf, her character (aside from being completely -animated- nude) has what clearly is supposed to be spiked heels. UH? about 3000 years too early! Otherwise the show, action etc were good. I am not enamored of the facial aspects of this type of film-making. It's not really 100% animated, thus giving you a cartoon, but it's also not really a human film. The most disconcerting aspect is the faces- expression on this pseudo-animation is stiff and the eyes lack life. CGI in something like Lord of the Rings or King Kong was better with facial expressions much more real on the "animated" creatures.

Jeez I hate cars- I love driving- just hate maintenance issues. Brenden's power steering was repaired Friday at a cost of $420 and promptly blew out again Saturday night. The car is back in the shop today.

Brenden's first day at work Sunday night third shift was a short one. He got out to the Amway plant and checked in, parking passes, oriented, etc. The shift starts at 1100pm. He was home by slightly after midnight because a conveyor or some such went out- they sent the department home.

12.06.08 It was 23 degrees tonight and a shorter ride- I used the new WoolieBoolie socks I just bought- they seemed to help for that period of time at least. I had my first spill too- going about 7-8 mph and the bike went out from under my on the Kent Trail which was snow covered ice. I hit the ground on my left hip and knee, but was okay.

12.05.07 I tried the toe warmer chemical pads this evening- they did NOT work.. by just over an hour riding my toes were so cold it hurt. Temp was 22degrees. I did as before and hit the house at the 1-1/2 hour mark. I will need to keep experimenting with other methods to warm my toes and if all fails, perhaps by actual winter riding boots in January.

12.03.07 We had perhaps 50-60 people show up in total for Brenden's graduation party. The Keg of Root Beer was a hit. We have about a gallon left of the 7-gallon keg. I need to return it today to get my $80.00 deposit back.. the deposit was twice the cost of the root beer- taps are valuable, apparently.

We have so much food left- When we were gathering supplies Saturday, I tended to steer Joni low on most products and we still had quite a bit left. I packed as much into the freezer as I could. Joni and I got all the stuff home, packed, cleaned and put away in a couple hours.

Joni had wanted to utilize Qdoba taco bar program, but Saturday morning she had second thoughts about the cost ($450). So 900am we were out at Gordon's Food Service and Meijers pricing the same program and came in at half or less of that cost by doing it ourselves- Mostly you pay for the set up and take down by Qdoba. We cancelled the Qdoba (24 hours notice is required) and picked up the rootbeer and went home to begin preparing food. Taco meat, taco Chicken, lettuce, onions, shredded cheese and tortilla shells were what we purchased ready to go. We bought tomatoes at Meijers which I cut those up myself- Gordon's had none ready to go).

We then went to the Day's Inn to check the electrical outlet availability (Three weeks ago, we rented the conference room at the nearby Days Inn). The manager let us into the conference room and it was a mess- Carpet remodelling materials and equipment everywhere, hard pavement floor exposed!... pretty much the same condition it was when we originally rented the room. "Don't worry, " he said, "it will all be cleaned up and looking nice by next week." Next week?! I told him the reservation was for TOMORROW. Oh? After a quick doublecheck with the computer system, he then said he'd get housekeeping working on it. We drove by about 1000pm and peeked into the windows and it looked fixed up from what I could see. And it was. But had we not stopped by Saturday morning, very likely we'd have walked into a disaster Sunday at 100pm.

Biking note: The weather caught me unprepared for my biking- I will spend Tuesday evening getting the old Trek road ready (new tubes etc) so as to be able to ride without putting all the snow, ice and slush on my Rush... I will still ride the rush if I do a trail or some such (like Yankee or Custer or Poto). My bike computer seems to be sensitive to the temperatures- it hasn't worked on a ride the last three times, but in the house it seems to work.. go figure!

12.01.07 Well, I should have biked this morning.. cold but clear. I put it off because we had lots of planning for Brenden's graduation party. Joni was going to getQdoba taco bar... at $450- ouch. As we discussed it about 9am, we decided to do a quick visit to Gordon's Food Service and evaluate this concept. The net result was to put the taco bar together on our own, we thus spent the rest of the day shopping, getting party items (decorations, color coordinated plates and table covers) and food. Other items are coming courtesy of the family (beverages, deserts, etc).

We rented a conference room at the nearby Day's Inn due to weather and space at our small house. We decided to check on this as well this morning. We paid a visit to the hotel at about 1030am and the manager (owner?) took us to the conference room... and it was a MESS! We asked how this was going to be ready for the party and he said it would be fine in a week.... a week?!! uh, NO, the party is tomorrow! So back up front and he confirmed with his computer program. Jeez, had we not stopped in, we'd have had a huge unpleasant surprise tomorrow morning.

Anyway, the weather hit hard this evening, sleeting freezing rain and snow.. I won't ride my bike in this- at least not my Rush.. I will need to get my Trek up and running next week now that inclement weather is upon us.. I've put it off and now won't ride until I get it going (unless the weather clears next week)./