Hypothetically speaking

One of the great things about being human is trying to predict the future. I'm not talking about building nests like birds or laying in provisions like bees, I'm talking about predicting the future of the world.

When we look at the events that occur, we try to place them within some internal construct. This internal construct is usually made up of core beliefs about nature and man. However, beliefs are no substitute for facts.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/stats/6090_ch2.htm

One belief is that welfare has some benefit beyond the individual payments. The above graph would suggest the opposite. While the population of the US has grown, the percent on welfare has remained relatively the same, taking into account the legal reforms that changed the impetus and eligability for welfare in the mid 1960s and 1990s. Using a medical model, if there was a serious disease that affected 2-5% of the population and we spent billions on treatment and decades later it still affected 2-5% of the population, I doubt that anyone would claim that we had conquered the disease. Some might claim that we should have been trying harder to solve the problem.

The problem, of course, is that some people cannot work and others believe they cannot, which in our society is looked at as the same thing. DocBrain sees about as many MR and CP people who would really like to work as mentally and physically normal people who are trying hard to avoid it. Yesterday, one young girl with MR and epilepsy cried about how she wants to work but is being held back. Another patient, a 50 year old healthy man, threatened that I would be responsible for anything bad that happened on the job to his coworkers if I dared to release him to work. I was his last hope, as two other doctors had released him to work earlier that day.

The points? Things are usually not as simple as we think they are. Governments can solve problems that have to do with human nature only if coercive force is used. Throwing money at a problem does not solve the problem. Only human will, work, and wisdom can do that, and no government has a monopoly on any of these.

Farewell, Falwell

Whatever one may say about Reverend Jerry Falwell, he certainly had the conviction of his beliefs. Wending his way between the superficiality of modern America and the core beliefs of a moral code based on a God centered religion, Jerry Falwell was able to grab public attention and to focus it on moral issues that trouble many people of faith. While Reverend Falwell did not speak for DocBrain, I do appreciate the contributions he made.

Liberal fear and loathing of the Christian right is based on the belief that the Right has the power in the material-secular-political sphere to take away hard-earned rights. This fear is, of course, based on the liberal concept that rights are at the discretion of the government and do not need a self-evidency that would prevent them from being abrogated. Self-evident rights can clearly be seen in the outcome of evidence...observations of the goodness of these rights. Unfortunately, many "rights" have only negative evidence, or evidence that additional freedom produces negative results. Easy divorce = children out of wedlock = children growing up without a father in the home = increased suicide rate. Right to welfare without responsibility = children raised without proper parenting = poor education = increased criminality. Right to unlimited abortion = weakening of the family structure = increased casual sex = increased STDs = reduced population growth = increased need for external sources of labor = immigration problems. I could go on, but you get the idea. This is not to say that Reverend Falwell was correct in all that he said. But to oppose him, some rational evidence of his fallacy would have been helpful rather than the rhetoric of hate.

Rest in peace, Reverend Falwell.

A growth industry!

DocBrain's mother used to joke about the stock market "buy low, sell high". Of course! What everyone wants to find is a growth industry, something that is poised for growth. DocBrain knows one and will share it with you. Ready? Here goes. Plants!

DocBrain believes that plants are on the verge of a major growth spurt and here is why. Global carbon dioxide levels are rising slowly. Whatever the reason, they indeed are going up. In temperate climates, the CO2 levels rise during the winter and fall during the summer due to photosynthesis. However, there still is room for growth. Plants apparently need at least 200 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, the higher the better. A greenhouse can drop 100 ppm in one day. Parts of the US have about 600 ppm CO2, mainly in the northeast during winter and the midwest during summer. At 1000 ppm, plant growth rate is double that at normal levels (340 ppm).

Rather than sinking billions into finding ways to penalize industry and force companies to develop artificial ways to dispose of their CO2, why not encourage industries that produce large amounts of CO2 to purchase or sponsor and maintain green areas, such as parks and nature preserves? We all then get to enjoy the extra green areas, and we reduce the CO2 accumulation. Whatever doesn't get used by these parks will hopefully be used by the aquatic plants in the oceans. This will lead to more food for the small aquatic animals and hopefully to a rebuilding of the reefs. Individuals could also do their part by planting more green in and around their homes. We could even have a law that requires all those who live in public housing to have at least 1 plant for every welfare recipient. Further, we could require that everyone who receives money from the government (52% of the population) must have at least one green plant.

Here is what the CO2 looks like:

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/carbontracker/index.html

Healing from within

DocBrain is pleased to see that, in spite of nearly 50 years of free sugar thanks to the well-meaning but short-sighted welfare system and "affirmative action", the African-American community is healing itself, weaning off of the tasty but dangerous. Broken homes, drug and alcohol abuse, children as income streams, drug dealing as a respected career choice, a culture of underachieving, short time horizons, use of language that excludes and isolates, fostering of racism with external blame for internal problems and internal protection for the undeserving is beginning to be openly debated, debunked and questioned. Initially, this critique was by the ignorable "right wing sell-outs" such as Bill Cosby, Larry Elder and Thomas Sowell, but it is now gaining steam, with Barack Obama standing up for progress. New voices such as James Collier (http://actingwhite.blogspot.com/) are also coming to the forefront of this debate about the future direction of the African-American community.

As an external observer, DocBrain does not have the "street cred" to comment in depth on this issue. DocBrain sees the true dividing lines in society as not by skin color, but by behavior, values, and social class (how other people see your worth). Class is attained either by birth or achievement. When by birth, it is by the achievement of prior generations, to be enhanced or squandered. DocBrain would be as uncomfortable around Condolezza Rice as around Queen Elizabeth, not a race thing, but a class thing. DocBrain believes that by focusing on behavior and values, anyone can raise their class. Doing this without parental support, from a broken home, with peer pressure in the opposite direction, and with a safety net of "white racism" as a defense against criticism, makes success virtually impossible. With no irrefutable data to support the contention of "genetic inferiority" and with the collapse of almost all racial barriers, there is becoming no where for an apologist to turn but inwards. DocBrain might drive by your neighborhood with the doors locked, but he strongly hopes that you are starting the process that will lead to your grandchildren and his grandchildren equally earning the right to sit in the boardrooms together.

My friends, and all of you are my friends...

When DocBrain took public speaking in high school, his teacher used the above line as an example of triteness. It is where you go for flash and no substance. In professional wrestling, they call it going for the cheap pop from the audience. This is somewhat funny to watch on TV, but only because those playing and those being played are both in on the act. "How are my favorite fans here in Philadelphia!" The Philadelphians pop, but they also know that the same wrestler will use the same line in Des Moines tomorrow night. Unfortunately, this nudge and wink does not seem to be what is happening in politics, where it seems that no one is getting the joke.

The Congress sends an unpassable bill to the President filled with cheap pops: "Remove our troops from Iraq according to this quick, unrealistic, and now public-to-our-enemies timeline" and of course, here is some much added on pork to pop our local local constituents. In wrestling, the one who doesn't give the cheap pops is, of course, the heel, the bad guy. So, in sending this on, they have tried to place President Bush in the role of the heel. If only he would play the game, but apparently, he didn't get the script, so he is talking about doing the right thing and finding the best approach to fund the war, get the troops home, and avoid spending on possibly wasteful projects that should be considered each on their own merit.

Pelosi seemed to be fighting back tears on the news this morning as she pledged to work with the President to reach a solution.

DocBrain finds it so funny when people see politicians as faces and heels. Life is too short to make Congressional politics just another house show.