2 Diasporas

Posted on November 18, 2011 by markinaustin

Courtesy of The Economist.

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The Age of Reason

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

Julia Sweeney on the Age of Reason, from her one-woman show “Letting Go of God”.

“This meant I was a Libra?”

Includes a cute story about getting pitched on Mormonism by two Mormon missionaries.

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Bits & Pieces (Thursday Night Open Mic)

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

The class divisions of Occupy Wall Street:

“Would you share your iPad with those shiftless hobos down in bumtown?”
“No,” he says, without missing a beat. “But I think everybody should have access to technology.” He then goes on to clarify: “This is a personal possession. I’m against private property. This is personal property.” Ah, I see the difference!

The big decisions about OWS are being made in the atrium of the Deutsche Bank. Irony!

Joe Biden’s Transparency Meeting closed to public and press. Now, that might be hypocrisy.

Ace of Spades continues to Bash Herman Caine, and notes that even Dennis Miller is off the Cain Train.

So, Google finally rolled out Google Music. Control your disappointment. I installed Spotify and immediately started having fun discovering and re-discovering all sorts of cool music for free. I’m not remotely excited by Google Music. I do hope they get better. But if I’m shopping for music, I’m still going to buy it from iTunes. If I want to discover music? Spotify.

More exciting than Solyndra, more likely to pay back it’s investors, too, it’s Shapeways 3D printing. I see a point, in about 15 years, where 3D printing is available to individuals for a reasonable price, and within a decade where actual 3d printing takes the place of manufacturing in many cases, making limited runs or easy customization possible for all sorts of products at low price points.

None of this will help me with my bath tub. There’s a crack in it, it leaks. My wife won’t let me patch it with epoxy (my solution to everything) and put a tub mat over it, but several calls to professional tub repair people results in bitter disappointment. It’s just not possible to patch and refinish cultured marble, at least without much time and expense, and nobody in town does it. I’ve got one option—replace the tub! Or stop taking baths. In a bathroom that I’m betting had the tub installed before the sheetrock was hung. I don’t see, otherwise, how the tub would fit through the door. Yay!

I hope all your days were better. Got a dozen things that need attention as the house falls apart, and it’s giving me migraines. But, all first world problems, so I suspect I shouldn’t complain. Have a great night!

— KW

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For Michigoose: Why Do We Have Brains?

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

Our brains exist to enable motion. At least, that’s what Daniel Wolpert thinks. 

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GPS is "Fair Game"

Posted on November 17, 2011 by novahockey

Here’s an alternative view on the GPS tracking debate.

“The intense debate the case has already elicited among legal scholars, civil rights and libertarian activists, and those particularly concerned with public safety and national security is largely focused on the question: what would the Founding Fathers have said about the case? As I see it, at least equal weight should be accorded to the question: How well are our public authorities doing in their dealings with criminals? Who needs more tools and who should be denied access to cyber-age technologies if we are to keep a balance between our profound and essential commitments to privacy as well as our security?”

The full editorial is on CNN.

As I have nothing nice to say, I’ll remain silent.

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Nevada Goes After the Robo-signers

Posted on November 17, 2011 by lmsinca


Photo above is apropos of nothing, just a pretty pic of our loofah scrubs we make every year.

Here’s the real story. I can’t count the number of times over the past year I’ve been told this was a non-story. A few people on the left said it was peanuts compared to the real criminal behavior and some on the right said it didn’t matter, the people being foreclosed on were behind on their payments and would lose their homes anyway. Of course, I may have been wrong but I always believed that fraud is still fraud, and on this scale it indicates a much larger danger to the rule of law than people were willing to admit. It’s a little frightening when you realize the scope IMO.

The Nevada attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto has just filed a 606 count indictment against two title officers in a single county, Clark County, for supervising the filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent documents in a robo-signing scheme.

On the one hand, this indictment is not as gratifying, say, as busting Angelo Mozilo. On the other hand, if low level supervisors in bank frauds face the risk of serving time, you are going to find a ton fewer people willing to take that job. Those higher up on the food chain might also have to be a lot more careful and pay the people involved more money, which in turn undermines the basic logic of these abuses, which is cost savings.

In addition, as mob prosecutions have shown again and again, you start by going after the foot soldiers in the hope that they roll people higher up on the food chain.

And at a minimum, this action says that the law and due process matter, and violations, particularly large scale, systematic violations, can and will be punished.

From the press release:

“According to the indictment, defendant Gary Trafford, a California resident, is charged with 102 counts of offering false instruments for recording (category C felony); false certification on certain instruments (category D felony); and notarization of the signature of a person not in the presence of a notary public (a gross misdemeanor). The indictment charges defendant Gerri Sheppard, also a California resident, with 100 counts of offering false instruments for recording (category C felony); false certification on certain instruments (category D felony); and notarization of the signature of a person not in the presence of a notary public (a gross misdemeanor)…

The indictment alleges that both defendants directed the fraudulent notarization and filing of documents which were used to initiate foreclosure on local homeowners.

The State alleges that these documents, referred to as Notices of Default, or “NODs”, were prepared locally. The State alleges that the defendants directed employees under their supervision, to forge their names on foreclosure documents, then notarize the signatures they just forged, thereby fraudulently attesting that the defendants actually signed the documents, which was untrue and in violation of State law. The defendants then allegedly directed the employees under their supervision to file the fraudulent documents with the Clark County Recorder’s office, to be used to start foreclosures on homes throughout the County.

The indictment alleges that these crimes were done in secret in order to avoid detection.”

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Bits & Pieces (It’s Hump Day!)

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

What’s money really worth? The dollar value of the metal in coinage. 

Yes, McWing, I picked this up from Ace of Spades. How much does it cost to print a dollar bill, and how much of what is in circulation? There’s a lot in circulation, and in 2011 it costs about 9.1 cents per note.

***

IN 1974, K-Tel released a compilation album (both on vinyl and 8-Track) called Dynamic Sound. I’ve got a Spotify list that reconstructs that album’s playlist, but not the fade and ka-chunk of the 8-Track switching tracks (there is an iPod/iPhone app that I believe does this). You have to have Spotify to listen to it, however. I don’t pay for the mobile and other features, but the free account is teh awesome.

Why did I do that? Because K-Tel’s Dynamic Sound has never been available, since original release, yet I listened to that eight track a hundred times between ages 5 and 10. It, along with the soundtracks to the broadway musicals Hair and Jesus Christ: Superstar, were as formative as any of my other music. And my sister listened to it a lot, and I thought it might make a nice Christmas gift to put it altogether for her. It’s interesting to listen to something you heard a hundred times as a kid, but includes songs that I literally have not heard since 1978 or so.

If you’ve got Spotify, I also recommend Planet P’s 1931. It’s a concept album dealing with the rise of Hitler. And Tony Carey is an awesome song-writer.

***
The Plastic Billionaires do a lovely cover of Brian Eno’s “Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)”. From their album Bankrupting Tiger Mountain (By Credit Default Swap). Which is, in fact, just a great cover album of Brian Eno’s 1974 classic. 

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Do the Twins get SS Survivors’ Benefits? I Report, You Decide

Posted on November 16, 2011 by markinaustin

Capato v. Commissioner was decided in favor of the twins in the Third Circuit and the Supremes have granted Certiorari.

This is again a case where science may be outrunning the law as written.  Here is what happened:  Mr. Capato was dying of cancer.  He and the Mrs. preserved his seed for later use.  He died.  She then conceived, 18 months after his death, by IVF, twins;  his biological children, no doubt.

On behalf of the twins, Mrs. C. filed for SS survivors’ bennies.
The claim was administratively rejected, then rejected by a USDC.
The 3d Circuit reversed and remanded for a fact finding.

This is a statutory, not a constitutional, case.   I believe the Supremes can reverse and render the Circuit, from my reading of the statute, and I am dubious as to the relevancy of the case law the Circuit cited.

The relevant part of the statute as quoted by the Circuit:

…the child (a) must have filed an application for benefits, (b) must be unmarried and less than eighteen years old (or an elementary or secondary school student under nineteen), and (c) must have been dependent upon the deceased individual at the time of his or her death. Id. §§ 402(d)(1)(A)-(C). [at p. 6].
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The Circuit remanded to the District Court for a fact finding about dependency:

…are the undisputed biological children of a deceased wage earner and his widow children, within the meaning of the Act? The answer is a resounding ―Yes.‖ Accordingly, we will vacate the order of the District Court in part and remand for a determination of whether, as of the date of Mr. Capato‘s death, his children were dependent or deemed dependent on him, the final requisite of the Act remaining to be satisfied.6
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HOW can a fact finder deem the children conceived 18 mos. after his death to be dependent upon him at the time of his death, when they did not exist in any sense of the word?  Seems to me these twins are cut off as a matter of law.

This Court did seem to claim that these children were protected under a “liberal construction” of the law, and here that is not a political statement but a reference to a statute that is supposed to be interpreted liberally in favor of the beneficiary, in its own terms.  I quote:

The purpose of federal child insurance benefits is not to provide general welfare benefits, but to replace the support that the child would have received from his father had the father not died.  Jones ex rel. Jones v. Chater, 101 F.3d 509, 514 (7th Cir. 1996) (citing Mathews v. Lucas, 427 U.S. 495, 507-08 (1976)); see also Adams v. Weinberger, 521 F.2d 656, 659 (2d Cir. 1975) (the purpose of the Act is to provide support to children who have lost actual‖or anticipated‖ support). In general, the [Act] is to be accorded a liberal application in consonance with its remedial and humanitarian aims. Eisenhauer v. Mathews, 535 F.2d 681, 686 (2d Cir. 1976).
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To me, either they are protected under this liberal interpretation of the law as a matter of law, or they are not, as a matter of law.  I think they are not, but most important from my view is I do not think that there could be any relevant facts that bear on the decision.  It must be a matter of law, IMHO.

Ashot?  QB?  Any thoughts?  If the Supremes took this one, they must have something to say.

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A Map of the Brain

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

Science is awesome. And our brains are complicated. And it’s amazing that we can think with this thing.

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Morning Report

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1250 -4.1 -0.33%
Eurostoxx Index 2263.9 9.850 0.44%
Oil (WTI) 101.91 2.540 2.56%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 77.974 0.042 0.05%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 2.02% -0.02%

Euro sovereign yields are stable this morning, with Italy a little tighter and Spain a little wider. Oil is rallying on news that ConocoPhillips will reverse a pipeline which will move oil from the Central US to the Gulf Coast. There has been a glut of West Texas Intermediate in the central US, which has caused US oil (West Texas Intermediate) to trade at a substantial discount to International oil (North Sea Brent). At the moment, WTI is trading at 101.90 a barrel, up 2.50 vs Brent at 112.36 up 20 cents. Libya has also accounted for some of the premium as well, but the biggest driver is the absolute glut of oil in the central US.

In economic data we had the Consumer Price Index, Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization, and the NAHB Housing Market Index. All of these indices were net positives for the market, with the CPI indicating inflation remains under control, and industrial production, capacity utilization, and the NAHB index higher than expected. While these indices are still at soft levels, there is improvement, and the show that a double dip is not in the cards. While Europe is still the wild card, people are so pessimistic that the “black swan” may in fact be a garden-variety recession and not a financial catastrophe. Food for thought.

Bloomberg has a story about how there may end up being 200,000 job losses in the financial industry this year. It shows how utterly clueless the Occupy Wall Street people are. They imagine everybody is getting six and seven figure bonuses. Instead they are getting pink slips.
Business is terrible and people aren’t getting paid. The one thing OWS does not understand about the Street is that you eat what you kill. If you don’t generate revenue, you aren’t getting paid, no matter what fraternity you went to, who your parents are, etc. The fantasy that connected people are sitting on their duffs and making multimillion dollar bonuses is just that – a fantasy. Most senior people I know who lost jobs in 07-08 are still unemployed, even if they had nothing to do with subprime loans.

Chart: Capacity Utilization.

This chart gives a picture of how much slack there is in the manufacturing economy. Levels are back to the mid level of the 02-08 expansion, though less than the 90s. It certainly indicates that inflation will not be a problem, and that capital expenditures will be on hold for a while. Still, the trend is positive.

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