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Acceptable behavior for a Supreme Court nominee?

June 30th, 2010

Until now, I really couldn’t see anything  that should disqualify Kagan from serving on the US Supreme Court.  Certainly don’t agree with her political views, likely positions on issues, and anticipated willingness to set aside the US Constitution when she believes it is the right thing to do, but that’s what we get for electing Barack Obama.

But now…

Now that we hear that she altered a statement by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to word it such that it would not be a “disaster” for President Clinton’s position on a partial birth abortion ban, essentially withholding the truth from Congress… a willful act of deceit…  she should be disqualified from consideration.

Have our standards dipped so low that we are ready to appoint to our highest court, for life, a woman who had no problem changing the meaning of the conclusion of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to suite the political goals of her boss (President Clinton) and to support a position she very likely holds herself.

From FoxNews:

As a Republican-controlled Congress in the 1990s debated whether to ban the controversial procedure, Kagan wrote a memo in which she expressed concern about a statement that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologist was going to release that revealed its panel of experts found no circumstances in which the procedure was the only option for saving the life of the woman.

“This, of course, would be a disaster,” she wrote.

Kagan revised the language so the final statement in 1997 said that the partial-birth abortion “may be the best and most appropriate procedure in particular circumstances to save the life or preserve the health of the woman.”

So.. the final statement went from no circumstance where partial birth abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother… to a statement where partial birth abortion is the best option to save the life of the mother.

Yeah…  those two statements mean the same thing….

Call it what you want… I call it perpetrating a fraud on the American people….

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Posted in Abortion, Politics | No Comments »

Surprised how Obama “solves” problems?

June 18th, 2010

President Obama is a lawyer, an academic, a community organizer and a real good teleprompter reader.

So why is anyone surprised he “solves” problems with lawsuits, enlists the aid of folks who collect degrees to discuss theories of how to solve a crises, twists the arms of the evil doers in big business and thinks if he just keeps reading that teleprompter we will all realize that he is doing everything anyone could ever ask of a president.

I am tired of hearing talking heads give Obama a partial pass because “no one” could solve the crises in the Gulf.  I contend a good project manager with solid critical situation management skills and decent communication skills would have handled this situation better than the current cadre of politicians and paper hangers.

One of the first things a leader should do when forming a team is to recognize his weakness and ensure he has at least some folks on his team who have strengths in those areas.  In Obama’s case, this would mean having folks on his team who are not political hacks, lawyers, academics, etc…

In some cases our president did this (Robert Gates), in others he chose to fill positions with political hacks (fill in the blank).

Unfortunately, the administration folks in position to respond to the crises in the Gulf were, in my opinion, ill-prepared to do so.  But that need not be a problem if they (again) recognized their weaknesses and brought in the RIGHT expertise.

So, what would someone with crit/sit management skills do in this situation?  Off the top of my head…

  1. Identify current lines of communication, authority and escalation paths
  2. Assess the current situation, identifying areas of greatest risk
  3. Form a core team of folks who will lead the attack on each risk/problem area
  4. Establish the rules of engagement (no looking back, no pointing fingers, no fast forwarding beyond the current situation to focus on punishment or even root cause analysis); insist the team focus on the goal
  5. If anything distracts the team from focusing on the goal, eliminate the distraction
  6. Assess proposed solutions based upon available data and prioritize their implementation… you don’t have time to wait for input from every source… the decision to wait has it’s own consequences

How would this have helped?

I know it seems pretty basic, but what this approach would have led to is a clear understanding that there are three or four or five risk areas that need to be addressed.  Think they already know this?

Assuming BP has the lead on the capping of the well, who has the lead on preventing the oil from reaching the shore? Who has the lead for addressing cleanup once it reaches the shore? Who has the lead on the clean up of oil currently still in the Gulf?  Who has the lead on preventing the oil from getting into the Gulf Stream and heading up the coast?

If you believe BP owns all of this, you are reacting to the anger this situation generates as opposed to breaking this into focus areas.  Being angry is understandable and natural, just not helpful.  We can kick there tails after this is all over.

Once you have identified the areas that need to be addressed, you need one owner for each.  Not a team.. one person who owns pulling together a team of experts to quickly identify potential solutions, prioritize them and implement the first of them within 24 hours.  Think that’s too fast?  Can’t be done?  That’s why you need clear lines of communication and escalation paths.

For example… need booms from Maine by tomorrow morning?  Use military transports, charter planes, whatever it takes and worry about billing BP later.  This is a crises, no time to worry about distractions like funding.  Think $20 billion BP set aside ($5 billion per year) is a lot of money?  Our national debt is growing at a rate of $5 billion per day!  I think we can all agree this is a crises of national importance that should take priority over some of the crap that $5 billion a day is paying for.

Another example… the Dutch offer assistance and expertise and you determine that is your best bet for cleaning up surface oil? Accept their offer of assistance (you should have been given absolute authority to do this), insist that the Jones Act be suspended, and get those ships headed our way.  If for some reason you lose the Jones Act fight, the ships could always turn back, but by waiting until you have all the loose ends tied up, you allow valuable time to pass.

Appear that solutions provide by the team of experts are not working? By now you should have already been soliciting ideas from the huge knowledge base that is the American people.  Anyone have any idea who to contact with an idea for capping the well?  I had an idea three weeks ago and no one could tell me who to tell…  providing ideas should be as easy as calling a hot line.

Now with multiple teams attacking the major sub-problems within the crises and reporting daily into the crit/sit manager, sharing progress and solutions across the teams, synergies will start to develop.  Maybe the guy protecting the shore would prefer chemical dispersants not be used because it makes the oil difficult to block with booms… that would be a good thing to know.

You also have to realize that no matter what you do, some problems might not be solved, but attacking early and fast gives you the best chance of overall success.  Wouldn’t you prefer to capture the oil within a 300 yard radius of the leak than within a 300 mile radius of the leak?

This would have worked.  Still could although the problem grows by the day.

I’ll even offer a suggestion of the teams that should be formed and charged with attacking the issues (probably better suggestions could be made by folks who have more knowledge in this area… crit/sit manager should rely on those experts when forming the teams):

  1. Capping the well:  BP with leading experts engaged from deep well corporations, especially if any have ever developed a contingency plan to respond to a similar crises
  2. Defending the shore (close to shore): Army Corps of Engineers with resources provide by National Guard units from each state impacted
  3. Shore Clean Up: EPA with aid of HAZMAT experts and National Guard units
  4. Gulf Clean Up: Coast Guard with support from any country, company or organization with experience cleaning up this kind of mess
  5. Protecting the Gulf Stream?  I have no idea.. if the clean up is ineffective, this may not be possible.. but not a bad idea to kick this one over to a group charged with coming up with any ideas that could work (like a giant filter stretched int he path of the oil slick)

Probably holes in this analysis, but this is off the top of my head.  My point is… who is leading this type of effort today and, if no one, why not?

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Posted in Environment | 1 Comment »

Beginning of an Obama slide to sub-40% ?

June 16th, 2010

With the folks in the MSM, and even MSNBC, starting to lose confidence in President Obama, the non-Fox News viewing public is getting exposed to a less filtered view of his presidency.

Without that rose colored TV screen spewing positive reinforcement about the wonderful world of Obama, the president’s approval rating is likely to take a significant hit in the next few months.

Assuming the trend continues, and external events do not intervene in the slide, would not be surprised to see Obama’s approval numbers dip below 40% in the next 3 to 6 months as reality sinks in and folks realize what a really poor job he is doing as an executive.  This really should not have been a surprise since he had no resume to speak of prior to the election and, sad to say, he fooled the majority of our country with words read from a teleprompter.

Even more sad… we likely learned nothing from this and we WILL get fooled again.

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Posted in Random | No Comments »

Three years ago today on Thinkin’Bout Stuff the subject was… Horseshoe Crabs?

June 10th, 2010

Hey, it’s not all about politics.  And it is a myth that conservatives do not care about the environment and all the critters on this planet.

Three years ago an article on the harvesting horseshoe crabs caught my eye because I grew up on the Jersey shore and was always fascinated with them as a kid.

Now with the environment under assault by the disaster in the Gulf, and the anemic effort by BP and the Obama administration to protect the sensitive southern shore, thought I’d dredge up this three year old post.

Quick update… in 2009 the harvesting of horseshoe crabs continued in Delaware.  Because it takes years for horseshoe crabs to reach sexual maturity, not entirely clear what the long term impact will be.

___________________________

Horseshoe Crabs in the News – June 10, 2007

That’s right folks, the topic of the day is horseshoe crabs.

Growing up on the Jersey shore, I became fascinated with these misunderstood creatures. Sometimes I would walk the beach along Sandy Hook’s bayside as the horseshoe crabs crawled onto the beach to mate. Being surrounded by hundreds of these prehistoric creatures was an amazing experience.

On one occasion, when I was about 19, I found several horseshoe crabs flipped onto their backs to bake and die in the midday sun. As I righted them and helped them back into the water, I was approached by a group of “fishermen” working with nets (illegal in this conservation area) who tried to stop me because in their country it is well known that the horseshoe crab, with its long tail that resembles a deadly spike, are evil and must be destroyed. The depth of their ignorance stunned me at the time, but it is possible to see how ignorance could turn to fear based upon their somewhat intimidating appearance:

I tried to convince them these were harmless creatures and that they were a critical link in the ecosystem, but they continued to go about their business flipping crabs onto their shells to bake… so I drove to the nearby ranger station and reported them.

Why this issue now and why should we care?

From AP: A judge has struck down Delaware’s two-year ban on harvesting horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay, saying the crustaceans’ population is healthy enough to allow a limited harvest.

The state failed to prove its case in favor of the ban, Superior Court Judge Richard Stokes ruled Friday in a lawsuit filed by two businesses involved in the harvest and sale of the crabs. He said that while the crab population was seriously depleted by overharvesting through 1998, it has since stabilized.

The judge said allowing a limited crab harvest of 100,000 males would have a “very minimal effect” on the crab population.

100,000 males? Aside from wondering how the judge plans to enforce a limit of 100,000 males, what measures have been put in place to ensure that this judge is correct in his assessment that the harvesting will have a “very minimal effect”? What if he is wrong? From 1990-1995 the horseshoe crab population in Delaware dropped from 1.2 million to 200,000.

Aside from the arguments that were presented to the judge regarding the impact on a food source for endangered migratory birds, who rely on horseshoe crab eggs, if horseshoe crabs were to be driven to extinction, the loss would be significant. This would not be just another lost species.

The horseshoe crab has existed, virtually unchanged, for about 350 million years! They are extremely valuable to the medical community because of their copper based blood (as opposed to iron based.. like us, which is why they have blue blood while we bleed red), and are a key component in the shore ecosystem.

Hope this judge is right…

Update: In case you were wondering, this harvesting the judge is referring to is not for medical purposes. From Horseshoe Crab.Org:

In shallow water, horseshoe crabs are collected by hand from a small boat using a clam rake, and the animals are not injured during this process. In deeper water, a dredge is used, and in this case, some horseshoe crabs do get injured. Injured crabs are released immediately and most will survive. It is quite common to find crabs with “scars” of old injuries that have healed.

Once the crabs are caught, they are transported to the laboratory from the fishing pier by truck. Sometimes a refrigerated truck is used, but as long as the animals are kept cool and dark during transport, they exhibit no adverse affects. During the bleeding process, up to 30% of the animal’s blood is removed. Research has shown that once returned to the water, the horseshoe crab’s blood volume rebounds in about a week.

It takes longer for the crab’s blood cell count to return to normal, about two to three months. Theoretically, crabs can be bled several times a year, but LAL manufacturers bleed them only once per year.

Studies done by the Associates of Cape Cod show that not only do the crabs survive one bleeding, but that they can be captured year after year to donate their life-saving blood-much like human blood donors. In addition, their studies indicate that crabs, which are bled and returned to their spawning area, will continue their breeding activity without any ill effect.

The companies that produce LAL go to great lengths to ensure that the animals used in the making this valuable, life-saving test are handled with care and respect. They recognize that a stable horseshoe crab population is vitally important not only to the biomedical community, but also to the survival of millions of shorebirds, sea turtles, and other marine creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with this remarkable creature. These companies will continue to support sound, scientifically-based conservation measures that will ensure a sustainable population for the future.

Interested in learning more? Some great sources of info:

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Obama living up to pre-election expectations?

June 6th, 2010

Taking a trip back in time to see how perceived ideas about candidate Barack Obama have translated into the reality of President Barack Obama.

Back then many of us were concerned that his lack of experience in any kind of leadership role would lead to missteps large and small on a daily basis and an inability to respond to crises in an effective and timely manner.  Thinkin’ we were spot on on these points.

But some pointed to other skills Obama possessed that would serve him well in his role as president:

  1. Incredible communication skills
  2. Proven judgment
  3. Deals with people well
  4. Understands issues
  5. Brings people together

I think it is safe to say our president has not demonstrated a proficiency in any of these skills.

  1. He is as dependent on the teleprompter as we suspected
  2. He has prioritized a not-so-hidden agenda over critical issues facing the nation and has made wave-of-the-hand decisions with a so-it-is-written mentality on complex issues such as detainment of terrorists at Gitmo
  3. He has taken an extremely partisan approach to governing while treating those with dissenting views as imbeciles
  4. He seeks to understand issues that are not important to him on a very cursory level
  5. His efforts to bring people together have been limited to patching up differences he has contributed to (beer summit) and disingenuous attempts to reach across Party lines to  solicit ideas he has no intention of considering for a moment

How’s that compare to what we thought two years ago?  Pretty much spot on.  Even if we set aside ideological differences that cause us to look longingly to 2012, so far Obama has done little to inspire confidence in his ability to lead.  We have had disasters and crises that have been made worse by incompetence in this administration;  if we are hit with a a crises on the scale of 9/11…

What if North & South Korea go to war? What if we receive intelligence that Iran is prepared to launch a nuclear strike on Israel? What if the USA loses its triple-A rating and the economy collapses? What if China decides now is a good time to attack Taiwan? What if the unemployment rate spikes after the census workers’ time runs out? What if the current disaster in the Gulf turns into the last straw for a fragile economy?

What actions is this administration taking to prevent these crises, as well as many others lurking out there, and to prepare a response if any occur?

At this point it feels like they are prepared to litigate any and all crises into submission… that’s not leadership, that’s formal finger pointing after the fact.

Let’s hope that a change in congressional leadership in 2010 will provide  sufficient legislative leadership to compensate for executive leadership.

_____________________________________

From June 30, 2008,  Clark outlines Obama’s qualifications for prez:

Finally! Someone can tell me why I should vote for Obama. According to General Clark on Face the Nation:

“… what Barack Obama brings is incredible communication skills, proven judgment, you look at his meteoric rise in politics and you see a guy who deals with people well, who understands issues, who brings people together, and who has good judgment in moving forward.”

<snip>

“Barack is not, he is not running on the fact that he has made these national security pronouncements. He’s running on his other strengths. He’s running on strengths of character, on the strength of his communication skills, on the strengths of his judgment, and those are qualities that we seek in our national leadership.”

<snip>

“There’s not a learning period in this job. The next president’s gonna have to step right into the job, he’s gonna have to have the policies there…”

So… instead of experience or concrete solutions, Obama brings:

  • Incredible communication skills
  • Proven judgment
  • Deals with people well
  • Understands issues
  • Brings people together

Sounds like the qualifications for a Customer Services Rep (CSR).

That aside, assuming we really don’t mind him not having any experience or concrete solutions to problems (beyond taxing the wealthy and increasing the oil supply by taxing big oil (like any tax on oil companies wouldn’t be passed down to you and me, and how does that increase supply?)), assuming these really were the qualifications for president and not a CSR, does Obama have what it takes to be a CSR… err.. president:

  • Incredible communication skills
  • Proven judgment
    • Really? The depth of a person’s judgment can be inferred from the company he keeps. Which is why we tell our kids to not hang with drug addicts and delinquents (advice Obama apparently did not heed in his youth… a pattern of poor judgment that continues today)
  • Deals with people well
    • Was inclined to give him this one… then I remembered how he keeps dragging race into the campaign while accusing others of dragging it into the campaign. Accusing people of racism without any evidence does not indicate an ability to deal well with people in my view – check out this clip from CNN — by the way, CNN’s Cafferty (at 2:04 in the clip) all but accused Republicans of being racists and none of their analysts thought Obama’s statement was out of line

(unfortunately the video was taken down since the original post)

  • Understands issues
  • Brings people together
    • Can anyone give us an example of Obama bringing people together?

Watch the whole Clark thing here…

YouTube Preview Image

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Posted in Election 2008, Election 2010 | No Comments »

Just posting copyright text from Kagan’s thesis

May 15th, 2010

*** Received a question about publishing Supreme Court nominee Kagan’s Princeton thesis.  It has been available on the Internet on some sites, but the only legitimate source is Princeton University since they hold the copyright, so it will not be published here***

From the collections of the Princeton University Archives, Princeton, N]

These documents can only be used for educational and research purposes (“fair use”) as per U.S. Copyright Law (text below). By accessing this file, I agree that my use falls within “fair use” as defined by the copyright law. I further agree to request permission of the Princeton University Library (and pay any fees, if applicable) if I plan to publish, broadcast, or otherwise disseminate any material held by the Library. This includes all forms of electronic distribution.

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Updated Unemployement Charts – How’s that Stimulus Bill Working Out?

May 10th, 2010

The unemployment charts (links on top of this page) have been updated with the most recent data.

The first chart shows that, for folks 20 and over, there is still a big gap between the unemployment rate of men and women.  Probably a logical explanation for this if you take the time to dig through the data…  types of work men typically do being hit harder? Men being targets because of higher salaries compared to women?

Second is a straightforward unemployment rate chart for 16yrs and older.

Third chart had to change this time around because of available data on the Bureau of Labor Statistics site.  The data I was using appears to be gone, but I did find data focused on non-farm jobs in the private sector… so I replaced all months with this new data.

This third chart uses February 2009 as the baseline, when we were promised the stimulus bill would create 3,500,000 new jobs by 2011.  This chart extends to December 2011 to give the folks in power the entire year of 2011 to accomplish this task.

Unfortunately, we have lost jobs since the start of the stimulus, so the stimulus now needs to create 6,871,000 jobs by the end of 2011 to reach the total of 3,500,000 promised. That is an average of 343,550 new jobs per month, every month, between now and the end of 2011.

Seems a bit unlikely…

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Posted in Economy, Obama, Pelosi, Politics, Reid | 1 Comment »

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