debates

I am glad that women are getting a shot at the highest offices and I thought she handled herself pretty well last night. She stuck to what she seems to know best, no matter what the question was. Biden didnt always answer the question either. Biden made points with the alternative energy plan, which McCain is very vague on. I also like Obamas plan to renew the infrastructure- bridges, roads, sewers,highways- creating 5 million AMERICAN jobs that cant be sent overseas. I am not so crazy about that racist Rev Wright, or Obamas wife. I also like Obamas plan to make the Iraquis use the 80 Billion dollar surplus they have to fix their own country, not using our money. I like McCains idea that we cant leave Iraq until they are stable and able to defend themselves. Both plans would leave it up to the commanders on the ground to determine when its safe to draw our troops down- smart.

comments

At the Monday Special meeting there was NO oppurtunity for the people to speak. Luckily Dotson spoke for the average resident's concerns and was again the ONLY one making sense. The bottom falls out of the stock market and the effects are felt all around the world. Greedy and crooked Wall street bankers, etc have robbed and pillaged the banking system for their own benefit and that of special interests. Sound familiar? it should. its in these times of fiscal unrest and turmoil that our Council decides to increase our debts by 2.5 million dollars. Not only that, they agreed to pay a full 1% more than was originally agreed upon, costing us, the taxpayers, an EXTRA 20k per year for the next 20 years in interest. we were lowballed again, at the original 4.22 %, and wound up paying the 5.22% rate in the end. A classic bait-and-switch lowball approach that STILL works! That approach will ALSO work with the new gym, starting at 6.8 million, and if you look at their past records, will end up 20 million-plus and take FIVE years to finish. In addition, there will be NO deadlines or penalties written into the contract, constant change orders will lead to millions in cost overruns, and they will continue to raise our fees and taxes to pay for their insanity/lack of judgement/criminality (your choice). We will be stuck paying the bills for the next 20 years. Business as usual. Their pattern has become clear over the past 3+ years and a couple of botched construction projects. On a day when the stock market lost almost a TRILLION dollars of wealth, our Council adds 2.5 million to our debt load, knowing we are sliding into a deep recession at least and people are resorting to garage sales to keep the lights on, as the City Manager said. There was originally hope that the Mayor,Council and City Manager were just inexperienced, naive, inept and/or unqualified for the job, but since they have shown NO improvement over time and continue to throw our tax dollars away by the truckloads, its IMPOSSIBLE to believe anymore that they are just clueless incompetents botching each and every project they have presented to them. NOBODY can be that cluelessly incompetent ALL the time without a HINT of improvement over several years. Its IMPOSSIBLE to be THAT absurdly unconscious ALL the time! A more suspicious, sinister, yet sensible person might believe they are being paid to make these incredibly expensive decisions (to the people). Rigged bids, constant change orders leading to 300-400% cost overruns, no transparency, giveaways of community services, and lowball initial estimates that grow exponentially might be considered signs of corruption, no?

Green Home Show

Building show: Smarter homes, water out of air
Posted by Elsa Wenzel 11 comments.Share
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SAN JOSE, Calif.--The West Coast Green 2008 building show kicked off on Thursday, for the first time in this city with one of the nation's most ambitious "greening" plans.

During our sneak peek at some of the 400 exhibits, products that caught our attention included a device that seemed to make water out of thin air, a solar-powered table, home energy automation systems, and better concrete blocks. Check out the video below for more.



Element Four
Element Four claims to extract water from the air. Its Watermill appliance is supposed to supply enough water daily to quench the needs of a six-person family. It costs around 35 cents to produce more than 3 gallons of drinking water each day, according to the British Columbia-based company. The Watermill is set to become available next February for around $1,300.

CEO Rick Howard said he'd like to create different versions of the 300-watt Watermill, perhaps powered by the sun or wind. He sees the technology as ideal for household use during emergencies, as well as for people in the developing world. It could even customize flavored water, Howard added.

As air enters the Watermill, humidity condenses on a patented coil, and passes into a reservoir. Water passes through a carbon filter and past a germ-killing UV light. The product could be hooked up to a kitchen faucet.

Most drinking water technologies, by contrast, take dirty or salty water, or even sludge, then purify it.

Intelligent Forms
This Vancouver design firm's $14,000 solar panel-topped table could become a fixture on the decks of cruise ships and on poolside patios of the well-heeled and eco-chic. The weather-sealed, stainless-steel shell encases a 110-volt outlet and USB ports meant for a laptop and various gadgets. Beneath the SOlo lounge table's top are an inverter and 18 batteries of 12 volts each.

"Everything we did we tried to stick with local suppliers and as much recycled content as we could," said co-founder and designer Keith Doyle.


Adura Technologies
Adura Technologies of San Francisco specializes in wireless lighting controls for commercial buildings, which make up nearly 20 percent of U.S. energy consumption and carbon emissions. The system can be installed within light fixtures, without running wires or tearing up walls, and controlled remotely with an iPod or other handheld device. The company, a 2005 winner of the California Clean Tech Open competition, is closing a $5 million Series A round of financing.

Agilewaves
Agilewaves of Menlo Park, Calif., makes energy monitoring systems to help homeowners see and control their use of gas, water, and electricity. At West Coast Green, Agilewaves demonstrated its product within a showcase home made from five shipping containers.

The company integrated its product this summer with home control systems from Crestron.

"We can now truly make a smart home," said David Brock, chief technology officer. "You may set up your carbon budget, and this system will tell the home control system that it needs to reduce the carbon footprint. Maybe that means reducing your lights by 20 percent by turning off nonessential appliances."

Integrity Block
Integrity Block of Los Altos, Calif., aims to build more sustainable buildings from the bottom up by reinventing the lowly concrete block. Cement manufacturing increasingly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and cement can't be recycled easily. Integrity Block, by contrast, says it uses an engineered soil composite, including recycled materials, resulting in 40 percent fewer carbon emissions.

"We have a block that's inherently sustainable," said company co-founder Randy Schmitz.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is on the advisory board of Integrity Block, which raised $2.7 million in capital in June.

oil facts

Kwasiowusu - Typical uninformed response. Check your facts.

75% of US Oil soes not come from terrorist staes. Canada and Mexico alone account for 35.6 of oil imports in the US.


http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

Total Imports of Petroleum (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country YTD 2007


CANADA 2,458 21.6%
SAUDI ARABIA 1,435 12.6%
VENEZUELA 1,363 12.0%
MEXICO 1,593 14.0%
NIGERIA 1,054 9.3%
IRAQ 473 4.2%
ANGOLA 554 4.9%
RUSSIA 419 3.7%
ALGERIA 722 6.3%
VIRGIN ISLANDS 327 2.9%
BRAZIL 204 1.8%
ECUADOR 195 1.7%
COLOMBIA 138 1.2%
UNITED KINGDOM 319 2.8%
NETHERLANDS 126 1.1%
11,380
of course, the 25 % of our oil that we get from terrorist states DOES go to buy bombs, guns, etc to fight us.

interesting view

What everyone seems to be clueless about is the development of fusion nuclear plants, which a prototype is being designed and will be built in France. It is supported by a consrium of gevernments including the US, Japan, Europeans and also China.

Fusion nuclear plants use helium as fuel rather than radioactive uranium and unlike conventional nuke plants, there is no waste, the fuel is totally consumed in the process. Sounds too good to be true, but it is. The big problem is that there is only a handful of helium available on the planet. But it is available in great quantities on the moon because, helium which comes from dust that the sun throws off is collected on the moon but due to the earth's atmosphere, very little makes it through.

This actually has been know for a long time by scientists and that is why when they designed the shuttle fleet it was to be able to transport people, equipment and materials to the space stations orbiting the earth and the moon and then from the space stations transport them via lunar modules. There would ahve to be accomodation camps on the moon for people to operate the plant which would process moon dust into helium and then transport it to the lunar orbiting space station and then onward to planet earth. It is said that one shuttle load of helium, equivalent to about a railroad boxcar, can power 40 to 50 nuclear fusion plants across the US for a year which is about the number of electrical plants that it takes to supply the US with electrical power.

But looking at the shuttle program over the last thirty years, it has been an abyssmal failure compared to the stunning success that the US Space program enjoyed in the 1960's when under the leadership of President Kennedy, he boldly challenged the space agency and Amwerica to land a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade. We have sorely been without such leadership and that is the underlying problem.

These fusion plants would eliminate the need for all coal and the oil and gas used for electrical generating plants. The facilities to build and maintain the lunar plant and transport systems can be located in those areas that supply coal and the people in the region would have opportunity to be educated and trained to work in this new industry.

The plants can be designed and built after the prototype is designed, tested and proven. The lunar transport system can be designed and built from now. It can probably be in operation by 2020 with full build-out by 2030. It would of course have to be an international consortium to build and operate to avoid a star wars scenario for control.

Green thoughts

by hhandyman October 1, 2008 10:25 PM PDT
I know Mr. Pickens heavily Publicly lobbied plan for Windmill has his push to make money on compressed natural gas sales as his key of course it does not consider the rate home heating and commercial uses of cng would increase costs to the middle and lower class bottom line..
His windmill proposal does not include the new major backbone high tension power lines to distribute from remote locations.

Why not use a lower tech method of energy storage & distribution and at each turbine site take the more recent tech for to supply the water from air distill water from air then thrugh electrosis convert it to compressed hydrogen gas and a local fueling station for hydrogen powered transportation simulator to the tests in Canida with the solar fuel stations, and Pipe the excess gas for safer transfer as soon as your at a reasonable transfer distance to a high population area convert back to power via fuel cells.
It appears to be less damaging to the land to bury mildly compressed hydrogen fuel line than to have all that structural steel crossing vast spaces of land and the high levels of Magnetic force around the lines wont be present
If their was a leak it is ligher than air so would harmlessley dissapate as it floats to the surface and beyond and in dry climate areas take the water created as a waste product and use it for agriculture or if pure enough to drink provide water for consumption this would be great for a Vegas like area where population is growing and water is extremely short supply.

A common mans thought to the worlds Power problem

residents not protected

The point is well-taken about the possibility of a 15k contract locking us into a 185k loss. The City Manager and City Attorney wouldnt be THAT stupid and reckless, would they? I really wouldnt put it past them to try, however. The CC contract had NO requirements of the quality of the materials used and NO deadlines or penalties. It took TWO years to enclose a 520 square foot structure that already was 50% there. The current bathrooms are 1116 square feet and have taken TWO years SO FAR to build, also having no dealines and no penalties attached. Deadlines and penalties are an accepted and expected part of ANY construction contract throughout the entire industry, but NOT ours. The City Attorney, at the behest of the City Manager, constructs these contracts without ANY of these protections for the City OR the residents. They arent interested in protecting the residents from outrageous costs and losses- just the special interests. They SAY they feel our pain but refuse to share any of it. Everybody else is reducing their budgets, including Hialeah, and they have done NOTHING to reduce their operating expenses! ZIP. ZERO. In fact, they tried to ADD two new positions which would increase our payroll costs! What kind of fantasy world are they living in? Earth to Council ! Budget cuts are needed and we can start with an easy 200k cut in losses at the pool. NOW.

due diligence finally?

Apparently Mr Dotson has had enuf of the childishness and drivel that heas been posted here in the past; to the point where he rarely has much to do with this site anymore. I would encourage him to return again as there is considerably more substance and civility than before now. Interesting letter in the Gazette this week about millage rates in various cities in S Fla. The writer was tentatively right about the possible benefits of annexation IF 1) we could get an equitable settlement of boundaries and not just take whatever VG dictates 2) their is no significant pollution, as one million-dollar cleanup would wipe out any possible benefits 3) if we can get a fair and equitable settlement of mitigation fees from the County so we wouldnt have to pay them ad finitum for doing nothing 4) if we can control the zoning so we can control the quality of the businesses there and guarantee that a bevy of low-income high rises, peep shows, and/or sex motels are not built there, then it might make make sense for Miami Springs. All of that would require DUE DILIGENCE, something the Mayor and Council refuse to do. They wont even let the people vote on multi-million dollar projects that will affect the financial strength and social character of Miami Springs for decades. The Mayor and Council take whatever numbers the City Manager gives them as gospel, even tho he has a consistently laughable record of construction cost estimates and cost overruns for projects he is responsible for in the past three-plus years.

over the abyss

Anybody with ANY common sense, personal or civic pride, or conscience would be embarrassed and ashamed to sign off on this new gym deal. The Mayor, Council, and City Manager are not impeded by ANY of those qualities however, merrily and blindly driving us over the abyss. They are so focused on their agendas they dont, or wont, even consider anything else. It is truly a sad situation: sad for them to be so blindly ambitious as to sell out their neighbors to accomplish their own personal legacies; and sad for the residents, who will be saddled with this unnecssary and unaffordable white elephant for the next 20 years, if we dont go bankrupt first. Fees and taxes will continue to rise as cost overruns and change orders escalate 300%, 400% and more. Contractors will laugh all the way to the bank (Happy talk for them). Residents of many years will lose their homes and their history here in the Springs as a result. The legacy of this Council, Mayor, and City Manager will be one of fiscal irresponsibility, greed, blind ambition, and corruption. IF its true, as some of those in town say, that it is goal of the City officials to bankrupt the City so the Latin Builders can develop condos on the golf course, we are certainly on the rapid road to insolvency. Its a sad situation for the residents BUT a great situation for the contractors- 200 acres of prime property, just waiting to be developed, once we are bankrupt. That prediction is happening right before our eyes, even as we speak. And nobody seems to care.

easy triples

The REAL PROBLEM with the new gym is those who believe it will ONLY cost ten million. A review of the City's recent construction projects indicate it will be an EASY TRIPLE of the intial 6.8 million figure. The 150k CC enclosure initial cost estimate wound up costing us well over 400k. The bathrooms can easily be built for 140k (and that includes a FAT 25% profit for the contractor) yet are closing in on 500k, if not more. Both are EASY TRIPLES, and the new gym will be too. TWENTY million, easy, and FIVE years to build (it took two years to build each of the little CC adition and the bathrooms). MILLIONS will disappear, and constant change orders and cost overruns will occur, just like before. Taxes and fees will continue to rise to pay for this colossal stupidity and the residents will be surprised, somehow, when we go into bankruptcy. The contractors will laugh all the way to the bank with their 300%, 400% and more profits and we will be bled dry. History will repeat itself, as apparently no lessons have been learned. Ignorance is bliss? Most of the time people get outraged and incensed when their money is stolen, but our Silent Majority doesnt seem to mind being mugged a bit. Can it be that they dont SEE what is happening? Or is it that they dont care? or both? Another sad situation. This IS Unhappy talk, of course, and will upset some of our residents, mostly the special interests. The truth hurts sometimes.

pool issues

There is no doubt that swimming is one of, if not the best exercise workout there is. the problem is not the swimmers or the benefits of swimming. We need to optimize and monetize the swimming pool to maximize the income to at least the breakeven point and minimize losses. Right now it is an expensive luxury for a few admirable-but-expensive local kids. EVERYBODY should be charged a fair sum to use our pool, and it should be run as a business. If it cant be run at least at a breakeven enterprise it should be closed down once school has started and not opened again until school closes for the summer, as a cost-reduction measure. Kids can build their stamina, character, and disciplne at nearby facilities just as well as here, and at considerably lower cost to the MS taxpayers. It could be seen as a bonus to enhance the efficiency of under-utilized pools by having more swimmers using their facility.
Refusal to even consider doing this is just another example of a Mayor, Council, and City Manager who have stopped listening to the people and continue to mismanage our City and assets at the taxpayers expense. Change is needed and coming- the sooner the better.

Joe pays the price

McCain has voted WITH Bush over 90% of the time over the past 8 years. We have the largest deficits in HISTORY. Republican deregulation has allowed greedy and crooked Wall Steet bankers and mortgage brokers to rob and plunder the financial system at will, with NO regulation or oversight, until it is on the verge of collapse. Do we REALLY want or need another term of Bush's policies? Can we really afford it? Same problem here in MS, where special interests feed at the public trough while Joe Sixpack loses his job and his house, resorting to multiple garage sales to keep the lights on and feed himself and his family. Joe is asked to foot the bill for repeated incredibly stupid blunders by officials at a local and national level. Billy is a staunch Republican and putting forth the Republican policy- HUGE deficits for special interests are somehow good things, for everybody but Joe Sixpack. He gets hosed- again. Still.

play it again

CEO for Washington Mutual got 13.7 million dollar sign-on bonus and severance pay for THREE WEEKS work there. Other executives got multi-million dollar severance payouts. Shareholders got..... hosed..... nothing. Their shares are worthless. The rich get richer and the little guy gets the shaft. Sound familiar?

American democracy in action

I see no reason why the McCain camp cant make their own MS for McCain signs. America is a land of equal oppurtunity, and free speech. Stealing others signs is childish and unAmerican, also illegal if I remember correctly. The campaigns heat up. Its the democratic process at its best! The passion! the debate! the discussion! the fire! What a country!

immunity granted

*Ann Taylor* closing 117 stores nationwide A company spokeswoman said the company hasn't revealed which stores will be shuttered. It will let the stores that will close this fiscal year know over the next month *Eddie Bauer to close more stores*Eddie Bauer has already closed 27 shops in the first quarter and plans to close up to two more outlet stores by the end of the year.*Cache closing stores* Women's retailer Cache announced that it is closing 20 to 23 stores this year.*Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines* closing 150 stores nationwide The owner of retailers Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines Plus Sizes will close about 150 nderperforming stores this year. The company hasn't provided a list of specific store closures and can't say when it will offer that info, spokeswoman Brooke Perry said today.*Gap Inc. closing 85 stores*In addition to its namesake chain, Gap also owns Old Navy and Banana Republic. The company said the closures - all planned for fiscal 2008 - will be weighted toward the Gap brand.*Foot Locker *to close 140 stores. In the company press release and during its conference call with analysts today, it did not specify where the future store closures - all
planned in fiscal 2008 - will be. The company could not be immediately reached for comment
*Wickes* is going out of business.Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores. Wickes, a 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month. *Goodbye Levitz / BOMBAY - closed already* The furniture retailer, which is going out of business. Levitz first announced it was going out of business and closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910 when Richard Levitz opened his first furniture store in Lebanon , PA. In the 1960s, the warehouse/showroom concept brought Levitz to the forefront of the furniture industry. The local Levitz closures will follow the shutdown of Bombay. *Zales, Piercing Pagoda closing stores* Alright you naysayers, with all your Unhappy Talk, see what you have caused? I am Happy to report that the City of Miami Springs has done NO belt tightening, cut NO jobs or budget,yet raised all their fees and taxes significantly to pay for all the new debt, and has actually tried to add a couple of extra employees during this "correction". Just because everyone else on the planet is laying off, closing stores,and tightening their belts doesnt mean we have to follow their lead! We are immune! See what Happy Talk will do for you? I feel better already.

correction

It is not completely accurate to say that we are paying 50k a year per swim team participant, as during the Summer many others use the pool. It IS accurate to say that we could probably save close to 200k a year by closing during the school year. Six kids costing us $200,000 for those 9 months comes to over $36,000 each in cost savings if the pool is closed for that time period. Thirty six thousand divided by 9 is $4,000 per month per kid in savings. There may be staffing issues and maintenance questions but a $200,000 savings is hard to turn down. Since there are no contracts involved there shouldnt be any legal ramifications to consider either.

vicious cycle

New York City isn't alone. According to a recent survey by the National League of Cities, 64% of 319 cities queried say they're less able to make budgetary ends meet than in 2007. That's a huge turnaround from last year's survey, in which 70% of cities said they were in better shape than in 2006. State governments -- pretty much everybody but the government in Washington, D.C., which can print money -- are in the same boat.

The vicious economic cycle this sets off works like this: A slowing economy reduces tax revenue, which leads to budget cuts, which reduces economic activity even more. Which cuts tax revenues. Which leads to even deeper budget cuts.

new home sales down, unemployment up

•On Sept. 24, the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes had dropped by a seasonally adjusted 11.5% in August from July's already low levels. Sales of 460,000 for the month were down from the 520,000 new homes sold in July and the 500,000 sold in June. Sales for August 2008 were down 34.5% from sales in August 2007 and reached their lowest monthly total since 1991. The inventory of unsold new homes fell for a 16th straight month but still amounted to a 10.9-month supply at recent rates of sale.

•On the same day, the Labor Department reported that new unemployment claims had risen to a seasonally adjusted 493,000 in the week ending Sept. 20. That was up from 461,000 the week before. The total number of new and continuing claims climbed to 3.5 million, about 1 million more than at the same time in 2007. Recessions typically see new weekly claims rise to 500,000. The economy isn't quite there yet, but it's getting very close.

are we there yet?

•New orders of durable goods -- cars, furniture and other items that are expected to last three years or more -- fell 4.5% in August, the Commerce Department reported, after posting slight gains in July, June and May. Even after the exclusion of orders for aircraft, which fluctuate wildly from month to month, and automobile sales, which everyone knows are in the tank, new orders were down 3% in August.

•On Sept. 25, General Electric (GE, news, msgs) told Wall Street to expect earnings of $1.95 to $2.10 a share in the third quarter of 2008 and not the $2.20 to $2.30 a share it had projected earlier. In addition, the company said it wouldn't raise dividends in 2009. That will mark the first time in 21 years the company hasn't raised its annual dividend.

•On Sept. 26, the Commerce Department (boy, those guys just keep dishing out the bad news lately) announced that the economy had grown at an annual rate of 2.8% in the second quarter of 2008, instead of the 3.3% calculated just a month ago. Corporate profits fell 7.1% from the second quarter of 2007.

recession now?

It looks like we've reached that point in an economic downturn when the negative trends start reinforcing each other.

In New York City, for example, a slowdown in the real-estate industry and a meltdown in the financial industry will result in a huge decline in tax revenue. The city saw hard times coming and put aside a rainy-day fund that will bridge the gap in fiscal 2009. But the city now calculates it will face a $2.3 billion budget gap in fiscal 2010. To prepare, officials will cut about $1.5 billion in expenses over the next two years.

cut the losses

Swimming is an excellent workout and builds endurance, discipline, and character. No doubt about that. All of that can be gained at any nearby pool in town, however. It may be an inconvenience to go to nearby pools for those half-dozen kids and their parents. To remedy that they could petiton the Council to transport thrm to Hialeah, Doral, etc utilizing the jitney. Or the parents of these kids should get together and pay at least a breakeven amount to practice here. The other 14,000 residents should not be asked to further subsidize the swim team because losing over three hundred thousand dollars a year on six kids means we are paying FIFTY THOUSAND a YEAR, a THOUSAND dollars a week for each one of them. That makes NO sense, especially in these troubled financial times. Its clearly a luxury we can no longer afford. That much is easy to see.

cut the losses

Swimming is an excellent workout and builds endurance, discipline, and character. No doubt about that. All of that can be gained at any nearby pool in town, however. It may be an inconvenience to go to nearby pools for those half-dozen kids and their parents. To remedy that they could petiton the Council to transport thrm to Hialeah, Doral, etc utilizing the jitney. Or the parents of these kids should get together and pay at least a breakeven amount to practice here. The other 14,000 residents should not be asked to further subsidize the swim team because losing over three hundred thousand dollars a year on six kids means we are paying FIFTY THOUSAND a YEAR, a THOUSAND dollars a week for each one of them. That makes NO sense, especially in these troubled financial times. Its clearly a luxury we can no longer afford. That much is easy to see.

greed and corruption

Greedy and/or corrupt power brokers with little oversight or regulation have robbed, raped, and plundered the financial system on a national scale, leaving the taxpayers, Joe Sixpack, to bail their sorry butts out. The same thing is happening locally, just on a much less costly scale. Instead of disappearing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a national stage, our inept/uninformed/corrupt power brokers are merely disappearing hundreds of thousands of our hard-earned tax dollars. They too, are raising our taxes and fees to the local Joe Sixpacks to pay for their greed and corruption. We probably cant fix Washington, but we CAN fix our local problems. April is coming soon. Dont forget.

oily advice

McCain has FIVE Big Oil company executives advising him on energy policy! Check it out. Havent we been robbed by Big Oil enough?

campaign pros and cons

Isnt it possible that Obama was simply acknowledging some points that he and McCain agree on? There ARE a few. I like McCains stance on Iraq, as I dont think we can leave until the country is stable and able to defend itself. With the apparent success of the surge that day may be getting closer as we speak. I dont think I could stand another term of Bush economics, where the oil companies and millionaires get tax breaks with the outside possibility that some may eventually trickle down to the average guy on the street. I like Obamas alternative energy plan as we cannot just drill our way out of this energy crisis. I also like his plan to rebuild our nations aging infrastructure, creating good jobs for AMERICANS that CANT be shipped overseas. I like the Pickens Plan of using wind power across Texas and the Midwest to create clean power and save our natural gas for our vehicles. For me, the jury is still out on Obamas wife and Rev Wright. Those are, however, personalities, and dont detract from Obamas ideas. I could live with a 16-month pullout of Iraq IF the ground commanders approve AND we leave a substantial contingency force AND we send 12-15,000 troops to Afghanistan, where they are badly needed. Palin is too conservative for me altho I am glad to see the ladies getting a shot at high office.

Haldol needed

"There's a monster amount of fear out there. This is global contagion. It's no longer just the United States," Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, N.J., told Reuters.Congress has to come up with a new plan, "or the damage is unimaginable," Henry Herrmann, CEO of mutual fund company Waddell & Reed, told Bloomberg News. Oh no ! Unhappy Talk is back! and its spreading all around the world! Smug contractor please come back! We want to hear your Happy talk stories about how the special interests and happy contractors will laugh and sing all the way to the bank! Sheer idiocy tonite. Borgemann convened a special session to get the vote on the loan done before Suntrust goes under. It dropped over 13 % today. The Mayor drummed up a phony sense of urgency for this ridiculous project and pushed it thru, even tho there IS no real need for it and we cant afford it. Who wants to bet that our taxes and fees continue to rise for the dursation of this project? The over/under is 20 million and 5 years to complete. Any takers? Dotson made a strong plea for some sense of fiscal sense but it fell on deaf ears. Youngs was late and it appears clear that he has lost his job AND any common sense or backbone he may have once had. Another sad thing to see. A heavy dose of Haldol is needed for this Mayor, Council, and City Manager to stop the insanity! Delusions of grandeur abound, and they are certainly dissociated from any sense of the real world, or real people and their current realities of daily living. If only they cared about anything other than their legacies and the special interests. Sad to see us sold out by outsized egos and ambition. In April, dont forget.

colossal corruption ?

The Dow dropped an alltime record of 700 POINTS ! The Nasdaq dropped 200 points ! Billions of dollars were lost today and there is NO guarantee this is the bottom. The Mayor and his Council decide this is the perfect time to go MILLIONS of dollars into debt on a new gym we cant afford and dont need! Pure, unadulterated craziness, if not collossal stupidity or corruption! NOBODY can be THIS stupid ALL the time. They MUST be paid off to CHOOSE to do this!! NO other reason makes any sense. No honest person with a lick of sense would do this under THESE conditions because spending money you dont have and likely wont get is a recipe for certain disaster! Remember this in April.
Where is the smug contractor with his Happy Talk when we need him? The special interests are the only ones who will benefit from this new gym construction. The residents will get robbed - AGAIN. Take in all this senseless stupidity so you wont forget when April rolls around.

osterich approach fails again

The Dow is down another 280 points and the Nasdaq down 95 points. Where are the "Dont worry, be happy.. all we need is more Happy talk" idiots when we need them? The head-in-the-sand approach rarely if ever works for anybody with a brain. While the banking syatem goes down the tubes and takes the stock market with it, the Mayor and Council raise every fee possible to the residents and take on MILLIONS more in city debt! How absurdly stupid can they get? Deaf, dumb, and blind- they got them ALL covered!

more memo

City Manager memo dated Feb 19,2008, "The most recent estimate we have received regarding the amount of tax dollars that would be reduced in the upcoming (2008) budget is roughly 600k. Add to that the 400k that we should normally go up for inflation and we are now another $1,000,000 behind. Now add to that the 800k from the current year and we now find ourselves $1.8 million behind where we might have been. Add to this that our Cost of Living Index in S Fla is 5.8 % and you can see where something has to give". So in Feb we have a projected deficit of 1.8+ million at least (and could be as much as 3.2 million), that has somehow, miraculously disappeared. It has disappeared by increasing the fees and taxes of the residents, not by cutting City expenses, as NO cuts have been made at the City. NONE. It is apparently the responsibility of the City to consistently disappear our tax money in LARGE amounts and the residents responsibility to continuously refill the coffers when they run dry. If City officials cant waste our money fast enough in each and every construction project, and somehow theres some money left, they will just allow anybody and everybody to use our facilities for free, at the residents considerable (300k+ loss for the pool alone)expense. This is a recipe for disaster, of course. No enterprise can continue to operate with LARGE, unreasonable, and inexplicable deficits indefinitely.

blind ambition, costs

The City Manager said in the last meeting that Doral was going to pay 15k, which should just about pay for the gas they use during the Winter. If the real costs for gas during the Winter are 8k a month that 15k wont even come CLOSE to paying for itself. We need the average numbers for the past couple years to see what it REALLY costs every Winter. It would be helpful to know how many gallons we generally use, as gas prices are MUCH higher now and we would have to figure that in the calculations. We should AT LEAST break even, if not make something to pay for the chemicals, staff, etc. The costs of Phase II and III to us for Linear Park are NOT clear at this point. Anybody know the answer to that question? Phase I SOUNDS pretty good but we have been drawn into bad deals in the past by a lowball initial price. Once we have committed some funds to a project the REAL prices show in the form of constant cost overruns and change orders and the intial estimates triple or quadruple, or more. It has been the pattern of the Mayor and Council for the past 3 1/2 years, at least. They offer no responsible oversight and ask few questions of the City Manager and dont hold him accountable. They have not been accused of doing anything close to due diligence in years, instead ruling by Mayoral decree. He decrees that any option that could interfere with his personal legacy to be unworthy of inquiry, debate or investigation. He cannot see beyond his personal ambition and ego, to what the residents can reasonably afford in these difficult times. That is truly a sad situation, for everyone involved.

The County paid the City of Miami Springs $440,000 a year to administer the Water and Sewer Dept. City officials have indicated in the past that a significant portion of their time was taken up, supposedly, in this administration process. Now that our Water and Sewer Dept NO LONGER EXISTS shouldnt the City officials involved in the previous "administering process" take a BIG pay cut, since there IS no W & S dept to administer? Are they supposed to be paid FOR DOING NOTHING? less responsibility, less pay, right? Thats how it works in the business world, why not here? It amounts to a HUGE pay raise for the City Managers, Finance, and the head of Public Works! MORE money disappearing without any kind of explanation! They dont care if the residents have to sacrifice their homes and their savings as long as THEY are not asked to sacrifice anything! Why are THEY not sharing at least SOME of the pain? They obviously just dont care about the residents, just their legacies.

memo update

City Manager memo, dated 2-21-08," As you all know, the recent tax reform easily passed statewide by roughly a 2-1 margin. The margin was even greater in Miami Springs where 72% of those who voted wanted this amendment." The people overwhelmingly want some form of tax relief. One way to provide some relief is to cut expenses. Of the ELEVEN possibilities listed to do that NONE have been implemented. ZERO. ZIP. NADA. 1) No COLA suspension 2) no salary freezes 3) no reduction or adjustment in free health benefits 4) certainly no Across The Board reductions OR any reductions, period 5) no pension buyouts 6) no hiring freeze (in fact tried to add two positions) 7) no end, reduction, or suspension of longevity pay 8) no Part-time city on a 4-day workweek 9) no consolidation or elimination of any depts 10) no elimination, suspension, or reduction of training benefits 11) no govt consolidation of services. The City functions as it always has- no reductions or pain shared there. What DID happen? 1)Garbage and trash fees increased 2) recreation and childcare fees increased significantly, along with building permits and occupational licenses 3) millage rates are up from 6.3% to over 6.4%. All of the changes wound up costing residents more in fees and taxes. When the City Manager says,"None of this will be accomplished without pain", he is obviously talking about the pain to the residents in higher taxes and fees, because City officials have not suffered at all so far- only the struggling residents. Why are they not sharing the pain? There is plenty to go around. A large majority of people voted for tax relief and, instead got their taxes and fees increased significantly by a Mayor and Council that are only focused only on their personal legacies. Their answer to residents losses of jobs, homes, and futures? have another garage sale... just dont ask US to make any sacrifices or share in any way the pain we have caused !!!!

housing market for sellers and buyers

Top 5 things homebuyers and sellers should do now
It’s no lie: The real-estate and financial markets are a mess right now. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t people looking to buy and sell homes. If you’re one of them, here are tips to help you weather current conditions.

By Melinda Fulmer, MSN Real Estate

More on MSN Real Estate
■Tell us: How is the housing crisis affecting you?
■How the financial crisis affects mortgages
■Will Fannie and Freddie takeover help housing mess?
With bank failures and bailouts topping each day's headlines, it's hard for most buyers and sellers not to get discouraged. But for many, the show must go on, due to job relocation, divorce, space or school needs.

MSN Real Estate asked mortgage and real-estate experts for their advice to buyers and sellers caught in the market's downward spiral. Here are their top five tips for those navigating the mortgage crisis.

5 homebuyer tips
For some buyers, it is the best of times and the worst of times. Homes in many areas are selling for as little as half of what they were fetching two years ago. But, with the number of foreclosures continuing to rise in many markets, it's also hard to determine how much lower home values will drop.

The lending climate is difficult, too. While rates on many types of loans are at historic lows, fewer people are qualifying for them. So, experts say, it pays to prepare a little before you dip a toe in these treacherous waters.

1. Amass a decent down payment, but not at the cost of your emergency fund
After the excesses of the past few years, brokers say, you will need a substantial down payment to get good financing. The no-money-down era of lending is gone, and most buyers should expect to put anywhere from 5% to 20% down, unless they qualify for an FHA loan, which requires 3% down (3.5% as of Oct. 1.)

The less you put down, the more you're going to pay for mortgage insurance.

But be careful not to drain your bank accounts, either, in this age of financial and job uncertainty, says Rhonda Porter, a certified mortgage planner. She recommends that buyers practice making six months of mortgage payments into a bank account to use as an emergency fund.

What’s your home worth?Find out what your home is worth in one easy step!
"This isn't the time to be buying a house and tapping everything you have in the bank," Porter says.

2. Choose a loan originator wisely
Selecting a good mortgage broker or lender is one of the most critical and difficult tasks for buyers, since there are currently no national licensing standards in place. Porter recommends that buyers start out the old-fashioned way, by taking referrals from friends and colleagues.
Buyers should ask how long a broker has been in business, do Internet searches to see if his or her name is mentioned in unflattering or criminal ways and check his or her record with state regulatory agencies.

Porter recommends looking for originators that are FHA certified because they have more hoops to jump through to get that status and because it gives buyers the option of an FHA loan. These have had favorable rates compared to other loans lately and they require smaller down payments.

Once buyers have narrowed their list to three names, they should interview these brokers or lenders and get pre-qualified with at least two of them to see what range of options they can offer. A good broker, she says, will ask a lot of detailed questions about your income and assets up front, so there will be less of a chance for surprises when it is time to get approved for a specific purchase.

3. Get pre-qualified as early as possible
There are a couple of reasons for this, brokers and agents say. First, buyers need to know how much house they can afford and what kind of money they will need for down payment and closing costs, says Miami real-estate agent Sandra Fernandez of Realty World International Gateway. "I tell my clients, 'Let's do this right from the beginning. Let's make sure you qualify, and make sure you know what amount you qualify for,'" she says.

More on MSN
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Slide show: How much house can you get for $200,000?
.There's no way to get good estimates on rates, brokers say, unless you pre-qualify, because the lending landscape has changed dramatically.

Clear this hurdle and ask for good-faith estimates and the costs associated with those rates to use in your calculations. This is simple and doesn't require a lot of documentation. That comes later, when you get pre-approved for a purchase.

Getting pre-qualified early also can give borrowers with decent credit time to make small adjustments that will affect their credit score, and get better rates.

Credit scores are put in bracketed ranges for pricing, Porter says, so missing a range by a digit or two, could set you back 1/8 to 1/4 of a point over the life of the loan, she says, and add to your closing costs.

Get all your documentation together — pay stubs, bank statements, etc. — before you start hitting open houses, says Holden Lewis, who covers mortgages for Bankrate.com.

4. Reduce your exposure to risk
Once you have selected a mortgage broker or lender, it's time to start checking out houses. Make sure your agent has done all his homework about the areas you're interested in before you take your first tour.

In addition to analyzing trends in value, agents should be scanning foreclosure data (from notice of default to bank repossessions) to make sure they know where the deals are, and whether or not there are so many foreclosures in the neighborhood that they'll pose a threat to home values in the years ahead.

In foreclosure-riddled Homestead, Fla., Fernandez says, some lenders are accepting half of what a property sold for several years ago, even though some properties in the area are listed for much higher.

Once you've found a property you want to make an offer on, ask for a contingency in the contract that lasts longer — through closing if you can manage it — that will allow you to get out of the deal without penalties if your financing falls through, says Jon Eisen, a San Diego mortgage broker and certified financial planner.

5. Get a rate lock — with a key
The turmoil in the financial markets has had rates really fluctuating, making it difficult to know when to lock in a rate. Your best strategy is to work with a lender who offers a float down. This is a chance to renegotiate your rate if it drops substantially — by a quarter-point or more, Porter says. So, before you settle on a lender, ask if it provides this kind of flexibility to borrowers. That said, Porter adds, you still need to lock in a rate within 30 days of closing.

5 tips for sellers
It will come as no surprise to most sellers that buyers have the upper hand in today's market, with its large supply of houses. But there are things that sellers can do to make the process less painful.

1. Wait, if you can
In very troubled markets such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, South Florida and Southern California, you're better off waiting to sell — if you can manage it. With half the homes for sale in the Southern California market identified as bank repossessions, it would be harder for buyers in this area, for example, to fetch a great price for their home.

With rents strong, it makes more sense for some homeowners to rent out their home, rather than sell and take a loss. Be aware that renting out your home could increase your home insurance. Also, you would have to report the rental income on your taxes, though you’d be able to deduct things such as including mortgage insurance, homeowners association fees, maintenance, etc. (Read more on how to rent out your house.)

However, if you are moving up to a larger home, agents say, and have lived in your current house for at least five years, you might be better off acting now. The reason? You can score a bargain on the more-expensive house you're moving to at the same time rates for conforming loans are relatively low. "You are going to give someone worse treatment on the other end," says Lee Tessier, a Baltimore Re/Max agent.

2. Get your home in great shape, but at minimal cost
With so many houses on the market, curb appeal is more important than ever, Fernandez says. You need buyers to be impressed so they'll want to come inside for a look. And having your house in pristine shape definitely sets it apart from a lot of the trashed foreclosures on the market.

However, spending a lot of money to whip your home into shape isn't recommended in the current low-ball market. So, focus your efforts on small projects that make your house seem fresh and less of a fixer.

3. Price it right
Be realistic and you will be rewarded. In many markets, homes priced just under market value are getting multiple offers, agents say, while their higher-priced competitors are getting low-balled.

Fernandez recommends sellers get an appraisal of their property done before they set a price with their listing agent.

Home Affordability Calculator Yearly gross income $
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And sellers who are in a hurry to sell could offer a home warranty as an incentive, or offer to pay a portion of closing costs to help buyers who may just squeak through on financing. (Read "8 ways to sweeten the deal on your home.")

In her troubled Florida market, Fernandez says, some sellers are even offering bonuses to agents who bring in a buyer.

4. Don't go FSBO
Houses no longer sell themselves. You need someone with a lot of experience to give you advice and a lot of time and energy to do everything necessary to sell your home. Look for a hard-working agent who will give it to you straight on pricing, but still protect your interests once offers start rolling in.

Here are a few things to look for:

■Find someone who is accessible and returns calls quickly.


■Select an agent who will give your home a real Web presence with lots of photos or a virtual tour.


■Pick someone willing to do open houses for potential buyers (not just brokers).


■Find someone who sells a lot of homes in your area. Ask for recommendations at your local board of Realtors or ask receptionists at top brokerages. These established agents are better networked and, therefore, usually better able to land a buyer. (Read more on finding a superstar real-estate agent.)

5. Ask for a pre-approval letter with any offers
With so much turmoil in the lending market, mortgage brokers say sellers should take measures to protect themselves.

Make sure the buyer has access to solid financing, before you limit your options. And just as buyers may seek a longer contingency for financing, that's something sellers should avoid.

If the buyer won't go for that, you could ask for his earnest money to be released in various stages during the purchase process so there's less chance that you waste time and money, mortgage broker Eisen says

a palin rumor debunked

It looks like the Sarah Palin rape-kit myth is still alive and flourishing. A reader sent along this editorial in the New York Times today by Dorothy Samuels decrying the policy and asking Palin to give voters an explanation.

Unfortunately, all this piece does is help perpetuate the myth. Thankfully, in addition to the blog posts I linked to in my first post about this, Jim Geraghty at the National Review Online has done his own thorough debunking, which I quote from below.

Samuels writes: "[W]hen news of Wasilla's practice of billing rape victims got around, Alaska's State Legislature approved a bill in 2000 to stop it." However, the Alaska state legislature did NOT pass the bill in response to Wasilla's policy of charging rape victims. As Geraghty points out, the bill came about because hospitals were charging victims.

Lauree Hugonin, director of the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, spoke at several committee meetings. She noted in response to Smith's comment that while he had not found an instance where law enforcement has forwarded a bill, "hospitals have. It has happened in the Mat-Su Valley, on the Kenai Peninsula, and in Southeast, and that is why the bill is being brought forward."

Further evidence that the law was not targeted at Wasilla:

Yet in six committee meetings, Wasilla was never mentioned, even when the discussion turned to the specific topic of where victims were being charged. (The Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the surrounding region—the most densely populated region of the state, and roughly the size of West Virginia—is mentioned in passing.)

Samuels also quotes from an article in the local Wasilla paper that police chief Charlie Fallon didn't want to pass the burden along to taxpayers. That is an undeniably boneheaded and offensive statement. What she leaves out is his statement that he was TRYING to bill INSURANCE COMPANIES, not victims. "In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible," is what he said. The story is old and incomplete. It doesn't say what Fallon would do if the insurance company rejected the claim. But the current mayor of Wasilla says there is no record of a victim being charged for a rape kit.

Lastly, Samuels claims that the Palin campaign has not addressed the issue and has released a statement saying only that "Prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault is a priority for Gov. Palin." However, Palin addressed this matter two weeks ago: "Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella told USA Today in an e-mail that the governor ‘does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test.' "

I did make a small error of my own in my first post about this matter. I wrote that a quote from a Democratic legislator in Alaska that Palin likely didn't know about the policy brought me little comfort. I misread his quote. In fact, that legislator, Eric Croft, said he believed that Palin DID know what was going on, and he's helped smear Palin by saying that the legislation came about because of Wasilla.

I think we can all agree that victims should not have to pay for their rape kits. And billing insurance companies is a far from ideal solution. Reimbursing a victim with state money after she's already had to pay out of pocket is even worse. But it's a problem that's hardly been exclusive to Wasilla or Alaska. Fortunately, states have been quick to pass laws against such practices once word gets out.

But the fact remains that this is a nasty and untrue rumor about Sarah Palin that's been circulating for weeks. If you're an Obama supporter who gets frustrated that people still believe he's Muslim or won't put his hand on his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance, you should understand the frustration that Palin supporters feel when this slime is taken at face value.

pay toilets

Crap and Trade, Revisited
Posted Friday, July 18, 2008 8:43 AM By William Saletan


Last week, I looked at the economics of pay toilets and argued that the toilets should pay you. In India, a pilot project is cleaning up the environment and trying to generate fertilizer by paying people to use "eco-sanitation" toilets. Meanwhile, American cities are charging people to use expensive, high-tech, energy-consuming Automated Public Toilets (APTs). Does the American approach really make sense?

Now it turns out that in at least one city, we're not even getting nicer toilets for our money. Two days ago, Seattle dumped its APTs. Reason No. 1: They'd been taken over by druggies and hookers. Reason No. 2: They were "less cost-effective than regular public restrooms."

And how. Unlike other cities, Seattle wasn't charging APT users. But the eye-popping number is the cost of its units. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that according to the manufacturer, "A single stall automated toilet now goes for $200,000 to $220,000 plus on-site installation." And that's not even the real number, by a long shot. The total cost to the city, including maintenance, has been about $1 million per toilet.

How can toilets cost that much? Read the reviews. They have "handsfree washing and drying ability and an emergency button that automatically dials 911." They have "automated floor scrubbers" and are "cleaned by jets of water between each use." They have "metal doors that open at the press of a button and stay closed for up to 20 minutes. The units clean themselves after each use, disinfecting the seats and power-washing the floors."

Nice, huh? So how did they get taken over by junkies and prostitutes?

One reason seems to be that Seattle put them in places where that was likely to happen. Another reason could be that the toilets were free. I doubt it, since free APTs on skid row in Los Angeles haven't suffered the same fate. A third explanation is privacy: 20 minutes to yourself in a sealed chamber is perfect for taking care of your next fix or giving a blow job.

The toilets ended up so gross and scary that even homeless people wouldn't use them. One woman supplies this fantastic quote to the New York Times: "I used to smoke crack in there. But I won't even go inside that thing now. It's disgusting."

As a result, the APTs failed at the basic job of any public toilet: curbing outdoor excrement. A city spokesman ruefully tells the Seattle Times: "Even when these restrooms were running, we were still getting reports of people urinating and defecating in public." The spokesman says that at this point, Seattle "doesn't have a plan for providing public-restroom services" and is still "trying to figure it out."

Here's a wild idea: Bag the high-tech fetish. Put up plain old public toilets. That seems to be the lesson from yesterday's New York Times:

Rather than automated toilets, some cities are looking for cheaper alternatives that would be cleaned by human attendants. One prototype, to be installed next month in Portland, Ore., would cost $50,000 each, compared with some $300,000 for an automated unit. Randy Leonard, a Portland city commissioner, helped design that toilet, which in addition has open gaps at the top and bottom of the door, a feature discouraging drug abuse, prostitution and the like. But given that lesser privacy, it is unclear how popular such a toilet might be ...

Sorry, folks: Lesser privacy is the price you have to pay to keep out the druggies and hookers. And human attendants are the price of keeping toilets affordable. For the cost of one APT, you could put up six to 20 of those low-tech Portland units.

Now, if the Indians can just figure out how to monetize the waste, we can start paying users. Eco-san, anyone?

blessings of age

Age, Wealth, and Medicare
Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 7:59 AM By William Saletan


Should Medicare pay big bucks to extend people's lives past 100?

I've been noodling that question since Friday, when the New York Times ran a story headlined, "Rise Seen in Medical Efforts to Treat the Very Old." The story focused on a woman who got a pacemaker and defibrillator a month before her 100th birthday, apparently courtesy of Medicare. Estimated cost: $35,000. The doctor who did the surgery "said that he has implanted about two dozen devices like hers in patients 90 or older over the past five years," according to reporter Anemona Hartocollis. Other doctors said they've done similar procedures on patients in their mid- to late-‘90s.

There's going to be a lot more of this, Hartocollis pointed out. Doctors say they're doing more and more bypasses, cancer surgeries, cataract operations, and joint and valve replacements on people 90 or older. The population of U.S. centenarians (people 100 or older) has nearly doubled since 2000. Trends suggest that within 40 years, it could exceed 1 million.

The objection to spending Medicare funds on all these procedures is obvious: The money would be better spent on younger patients.

The rebuttal offered in the Times is that people who survive to very old age are particularly healthy. They've "demonstrated a survival prowess," said one medical expert. "The older you get, the healthier you've been." The implication is that they're worth spending money on because they'll live longer.

I wonder whether this rebuttal looks at the question the wrong way. Suppose we were talking about wealth instead of age. A woman with an unusually large fortune asks for an investment in some project of hers. Her advocate points out that people with lots of wealth tend to have accumulated it through unusual talent or connections and are therefore more likely to get the best return on money invested in them.

We'd see that argument as rewarding and compounding inequality. Why not look at age the same way? Isn't health, like wealth, an unequally distributed asset? Isn't it, in fact, the ultimate asset? And if that's the case, should we means-test people on Medicare not just for wealth, but for age?

Actually, means testing is the wrong term. Age isn't really a means; it's more like an end. So let's call it an ends test. The theory is that just as some people have enough money, others have had enough time.

If you make it to 100 and can fund your own surgery, that's terrific. But Medicare should focus its resources on people who haven't been as lucky as you. Living to 99 is no tragedy. It's a blessing.

equal oppurtunities for women

The female suicide bombers have struck again. And again. And again.

Yesterday morning, I wrote about a woman who blew herself up in Iraq last Thursday. The body count in that attack was eight. I don't remember what the count was in terms of how many women had done the deed this year.

Anyway, that number is already obsolete. By the end of the day, three more women had killed themselves. The body count in yesterday's attacks exceeds 60, with more than 200 others wounded. The Los Angeles Times reports:

According to U.S. Army figures, 27 suicide attacks this year have been carried out by women, compared with eight in all of 2007 ... A tally by The Times indicates that about a quarter of all suicide attacks this year in Iraq have been conducted by women.

Again, the Washington Post explains why women are delivering the bombs:

Wearing their flowing black garments, they can carry hidden explosives past most checkpoints because customs of modesty prevent male guards from frisking them. On Monday, four female suicide bombers in two Iraqi cities used this tactic to enter areas defended by hundreds of soldiers and police officers.

The New York Times adds:

Police officers interviewed at the scene said that the authorities had heard that six women would blow themselves up in the area. "We can't search women," complained Atheer Allawi, a police officer. "They are wearing abayas, and God knows what they can hide under them."

And again, Iraq failed to provide enough female security officers to do the job. The Associated Press reports:

Iraqi security forces had deployed about 200 women this week to search female pilgrims in Kazimiyah, but the attacks took place along the procession some six miles southeast of the shrine. There were too few women guards to search people in the procession itself.

The bombings will continue until we get the message: Stop treating women as though they're too meek to fight and kill. They're already killing. Search women. Deploy women.

aging and erectile dysfunction

No Chubby For Old Men
Posted Thursday, August 07, 2008 7:45 AM By William Saletan


If you're looking for interesting bathroom reading, allow me to recommend Urology. The July issue is chock full of page-turners: "Robotic Prostatectomy," "Scrotal Mass with Bladder Outlet Obstruction," "Histologic Comparison of Pubovaginal Sling Graft Materials," "Multi-Drug-Resistant Bacteremia After Transrectal Ultrasound Guided Prostate Biopsies," and my favorite, "Modern Management of Adult-Acquired Buried Penis" (it's "a result of obesity" - don't ask).

Seriously, though, I want to talk about an article in the July issue. It's called, "Does ‘Normal' Aging Imply Urinary, Bowel, and Erectile Dysfunction?" Here are key excerpts from the abstract:

We assessed if urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction and associated bother were part of the "normal" aging process in the general male Dutch population. ... Three thousand eight hundred ten (3810) men responded (81%), mean age 67 years, range 58 to 78. ... Bowel dysfunction and bother were not related to age. Erectile dysfunction was reported by 19%, ranging from 12% in the youngest to 26% in the oldest group ...

Conclusions: Urinary and bowel dysfunction were not part of the "normal" aging process. Erectile dysfunction was significantly more prevalent in older men.

And here's the headline on the Reuters write-up: "Erectile dysfunction may be ‘normal' with age."

The curious thing here is the word normal. It's being used in this context to mean age-related. Most men in the sample didn't have erectile dysfunction. But because ED's frequency increases with age, and because we think of aging as a universal process accompanied by physical decline, ED seems normal.

Since "urinary and bowel dysfunction were not part of the ‘normal' aging process," the authors conclude, they "may well be related to prior treatment" in men who have been treated for prostate cancer. This appears to make them logical targets for prevention or remedy. Does the opposite implication follow for ED? Does its "normality" make it a less compelling target?

There are many plausible ways to think about normality and health. Age-dependence is one of them. To me, the authors' framework makes sense: Medicine should focus first on maladies that strike some people unusually early in life. Maladies that accumulate with age are less unfair. They're also less tractable, since they're more biologically inherent.

ED, however, is a confounding example because it's in the process of being transformed from a "normal" to a commonly treated condition. Bob Dole made his famous ad for Viagra in 1999, when he was 76. In the last decade, 35 million men have used Viagra. Millions more have taken similar drugs such as Cialis or Levitra. Modern man has set out to conquer the ancient loss of manhood.

Which brings us back to the question posed in Urology: Does normal aging imply ED? The answer seems to be: It used to. And that's not just a change in the way we think about erections. It's a change in the way we think about aging.

prostate cancer update- Slate

The Price of Survival
Posted Friday, August 08, 2008 7:49 AM By William Saletan


When is a life-threatening disease not worth treating? When something else will kill you first.

This week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new guidelines for prostate cancer screening. The New York Times explains:

Prostate cancer often progresses very slowly, and a large number of these cancers discovered through screening will probably never cause symptoms during the patient's lifetime ... Past task force guidelines noted there was no benefit to prostate cancer screening in men with less than 10 years left to live. ... The new guidelines take a more definitive stand, however, stating that the age of 75 is clearly the point at which screening is no longer appropriate.

Well, sort of. The new guidelines do draw the line at 75. But the rationale hasn't really changed. Here's the key paragraph from the report:

In men age 75 years or older, the USPSTF found no direct evidence of benefits of prostate cancer screening. However, the USPSTF was able to establish an upper bound for the potential magnitude of the benefit of treating screening-detected prostate cancer in this age group, by extrapolating from evidence of treatment for clinically detected prostate cancer in this age group. For a population of men with an average life expectancy of 10 years or fewer, the USPSTF determined that the benefits of prostate cancer screening and treatment would range from small to none.

In other words, men 75 years or older aren't worth screening because their life expectancy is 10 years or less. This matches the logic of the previous guidelines ("Older men ... who have a life expectancy of fewer than 10 years are unlikely to benefit") and, as the report notes, similar guidelines issued by professional medical associations. It also matches a study, cited in the key paragraph, that compared "radical prostatectomy" to "watchful waiting" in two groups of men. The study found that with prostate removal, "The absolute reduction in the risk of death after 10 years is small."

More to the point, the 75-10 equation matches current U.S. life expectancy tables. The guidelines clearly identify life expectancy as a key factor in setting limits to screening:

The USPSTF found convincing evidence that treatment for prostate cancer detected by screening causes moderate-to-substantial harms, such as erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence, bowel dysfunction, and death. These harms are especially important because some men with prostate cancer who are treated would never have developed symptoms related to cancer during their lifetime.

According to the latest U.S. government data, remaining life expectancy for a 75-year-old man is 10.8 years. But that number applies only to the most recent year on the table, 2005. If you scan up the column of numbers, looking back in time, you'll see that remaining life expectancy for men at 75 has been edging up. Since 1980, it has increased by two years. And if you look at tables going further back, you'll see that a 75-year-old man today can expect as much remaining life as a 70-year old man could expect in 1975.

In other words, life expectancy is increasing, and as it does, the age at which slow diseases are worth testing and treating also increases. Three decades ago, by the logic of the 10-year limit, a 70-year-old man wasn't worth screening for prostate cancer. Today, he is. We have extended his remaining life to the point at which prostate cancer would shorten it. By preventing and treating other diseases, we have made this one worth preventing and treating, too.

So don't count on the screening line to hold at 75. Over the next few decades, it could easily rise to 80.

One way to look at this trend is that the job never ends. The more we accomplish, the more work we have to do. It's exhausting. Maybe we should back off and respect nature's limits.

The other perspective is that there's nothing more liberating -- nothing more human -- than shattering old expectations. This boring little tweak in the recommendations for prostate cancer is actually this week's episode of the biggest story in the universe: biological emancipation. In the beginning, we accept a cause of death as nature's course. Then we call it a disease and study it. Then we push life expectancy to the point at which the disease is worth treating. The truest measure of progress isn't what we achieve. It's what we undertake.

happy talk as a cure

There's a sense afoot that the real problems we face aren't the crippled financial system or the slowing economy, but rather all the bad stuff people are saying about them. In other words, not enough Happy Talk. To ward off panics, financial media organizations are keeping Unhappy Talk to a minimum. "We're very careful not to throw words around like 'meltdown' and 'free fall,' " CNN correspondent Ali Velshi, who is getting mucho face time thanks to the meltdown and free fall, told the New York Times. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal is engaging in un-Murdochian restraint, banishing words like crash and pandemonium. Maybe I have a limited vocabulary, but I'm not sure how else to characterize a month in which the country's largest financial institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, had to be nationalized; Lehman Bros., the fourth-largest investment bank, filed for Chapter 11; AIG, a component of the Dow Jones Indsutrial Average, had to turn over most of its stock to the government in exchange for an $85 billion loan; the government had to guarantee money-market funds to stop people from hoarding cash under their mattresses; the nation's largest savings and loan, Washington Mutual, failed; and the nation's greatest financial minds declare that a bailout the size of the Netherlands' GDP is needed to stop the bleeding. Yes, we have to be careful about crying fire in a crowded theater. But calling Wall Street's a meltdown a meltdown is more like crying fire in a crowded inferno. the problem isnt too many greedy and crooked politicians and special interests, its a lack of Happy Talk! We could start by talking about HOW WELL the greedy and crooked politicians and special interests are doing! at a national level all the way down to City Hall.

Happy Talk solves the problems?

There's a sense afoot that the real problems we face aren't the crippled financial system or the slowing economy, but rather all the bad stuff people are saying about them.

In other words, not enough Happy Talk.

To ward off panics, financial media organizations are keeping Unhappy Talk to a minimum. "We're very careful not to throw words around like 'meltdown' and 'free fall,' " CNN correspondent Ali Velshi, who is getting mucho face time thanks to the meltdown and free fall, told the New York Times. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal is engaging in un-Murdochian restraint, banishing words like crash and pandemonium. Maybe I have a limited vocabulary, but I'm not sure how else to characterize a month in which the country's largest financial institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, had to be nationalized; Lehman Bros., the fourth-largest investment bank, filed for Chapter 11; AIG, a component of the Dow Jones Indsutrial Average, had to turn over most of its stock to the government in exchange for an $85 billion loan; the government had to guarantee money-market funds to stop people from hoarding cash under their mattresses; the nation's largest savings and loan, Washington Mutual, failed; and the nation's greatest financial minds declare that a bailout the size of the Netherlands' GDP is needed to stop the bleeding. Yes, we have to be careful about crying fire in a crowded theater. But calling Wall Street's a meltdown a meltdown is more like crying fire in a crowded inferno.

greed and corruption

Congress is rushing to put together a HISTORIC, 700+ billion dollar bailout of our financial institutions brought about by greed and corruption at the highest levels, all the way down. Still, the local contractors arent worried a bit somehow. They smugly suggest that all is well-THEY will get THEIRS, and apparently thats all they are concerned with. They can bank on their usual 300%, 400%, and more profits from the Mayor and the Council to see them thru. That their neighbors (who are paying the contractors outrageous profits with their taxes) are losing their jobs, homes, and futures bothers them none. THEY are getting THEIRS. They are confident that, when the well is dry, like the federal government, they will be bailed out and more funds raised to continue to pay them their outrageous profits. Much like the oil companies, we are being hosed BIG TIME.

debates ?

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The Mayor and the Council, with a big assist from the City Manager, have mismanaged and misappropriated EVERY city project for the past 3 1/2 years, at least, to where hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars have disappeared into the pockets of contractors. Does ANYBODY dispute this? They have paid 300%, 400%, and more for cost overruns and constant change orders, over and above the usual and customary costs. Is there ANY debate about that? Is there ANYBODY who would like the specifics again? They are readily available. Is there ANYBODY who disputes that ANY enterprise overpaying on a regular basis 300%, 400% and more will eventually go bankrupt? Is there ANYBODY who wants to make the case that paying those outrageous sums are good business? and viable? If so, let them state their case. Special interests and contractors probably think its good business FOR THEM. Taxpayers get hosed in the process tho, because its THEIR tax monies that are disappearing, and their fees and millage rates that are rising to cover the money that is disappearing into the contractors pockets.

debates ?

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The Mayor and the Council, with a big assist from the City Manager, have mismanaged and misappropriated EVERY city project for the past 3 1/2 years, at least, to where hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars have disappeared into the pockets of contractors. Does ANYBODY dispute this? They have paid 300%, 400%, and more for cost overruns and constant change orders, over and above the usual and customary costs. Is there ANY debate about that? Is there ANYBODY who would like the specifics again? They are readily available. Is there ANYBODY who disputes that ANY enterprise overpaying on a regular basis 300%, 400% and more will eventually go bankrupt? Is there ANYBODY who wants to make the case that paying those outrageous sums are good business? and viable? If so, let them state their case. Special interests and contractors probably think its good business FOR THEM. Taxpayers get hosed in the process tho, because its THEIR tax monies that are disappearing, and their fees and millage rates that are rising to cover the money that is disappearing into the contractors pockets.