A Screaming Dolphin

Apparently the White House’s information systems work great—except for records retention, of course.

If any publicly-traded company had done what the White House had done with respect to the preservation of e-mail from top executives, that company would have faced serious consequences. As it stands we seem to be willing to let our government get away with piss-poor records management.

Quite simply, a lot of what whitehouse.gov is saying just doesn’t pass the sniff test. If information systems are really that bad in the Executive Offices, then we should all give up and go back to post-it notes. (Now, incompetence and malfeasance in government IT is nothing new, but when it comes to the President’s office, one would at least hope and expect that some sort of coherence and intelligent backup strategy existed.)

Those who want to study this Administration will find themselves slightly hampered…

Well, not really a break, as I’m in class, rather happily listening to Dr. Frisch talk about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and how insolvency is going to happen in Medicare/aid fairly soon.

But it is a break from the drudgery and the writing. The sky is falling with respect to California’s budget (insolvency is expected by August of this year-that’s not good!) and with respect to information security.

The bad news is, we’re doomed.

The good news is, we have job security.

Research conducted this semester is proving interesting, but not in originally expected ways. It turns out that we’re not as safe as we think (with respect to FDA’s regulation of medical devices), as secure as we think (with healthcare IT privacy-it’s a complicated mess and quagmire), and that autism and mental retardation groups don’t use the Internet to its fullest potential to mobilize everyone (possibly not as effective as people think or wish).

I would really, really like to go to SANS this summer. It’s sort of a shame that they don’t offer scholarships for us college student folk who don’t have employers who are willing to send them on a junket. Go take a little training, polish the information security skills, and the like.

We’ll see.

I’ve been, in short, all over the place the last few weeks. Right now, I’m sitting on my butt in Daytona Beach owing to all one hundred and thirty of Delta’s MD-88s and -90s being grounded for wiring inspections. The late-night inbound to DAB was cancelled last night, meaning that the early morning (0600) airplane was in turn cancelled (no equipment), and there were a hundred or so angry people milling about the terminal this morning when I arrived to tap in my pass code to recieve the dreaded “Delta 142o (DAL1420) has been affected by an irregular operation–consult an agent for assistance.” I don’t know when I’ll be able to get out of here. Suffice to say, the maintenance genies are out of their bottles and it’s starting to become boring.

Something like 124 operations are being cancelled as of 0300 Eastern time today. Lovely stuff.

Last week I was in Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki is a nice town–thanks again to the Helsinkilainens who took us out–and despite the fact that going to Finland was for a class it was the most vacation I’ve had in recent memory. I learned more and saw more in a week than I can possibly jot down here.

I turned around the next day from LAX (well, Santa Ana actually) and came to Daytona Beach, to see grandma, ignoring the fact that I have classes this week. Hmm. Oops? I almost…well, no, I don’t feel very bad about it. Apparently I’ve been assigned a shit load of work in my absence, which is not entirely unexpected.

Riding on Finnair was choice, too, both directions, and has made me seriously consider not working for a U.S. carrier. I honestly wonder, is it really that hard to be friendly, polite, and courteous? I don’t speak Finnish, but I’d sure like working (and living) there. There are actually a few universities (UMN comes to mind) that do offer the language (fluency is required for Finnair and Finncomm, and Finnish or Swedish for Blue1…) , and I might just punch out of here.

Speaking of that, my frustration with IHTFP is starting to reach record levels. Even though I’ll take it in the shorts if I transfer somewhere at this late time, I still might.  I’d sort of like to feel like I actually got a university education out of my university education, although perhaps I’m asking too much of the system. I have resolved to get credit for the flying I’ve done–they WILL grant me credit for it if they’re truly a “student-centered” university that is dedicated to producing “well-rounded” individuals.

We’ll see. I get the feeling the answer will be no, but it won’t hurt to ask.

When I get back from Helsinki, I’m going to take that jarful of pennies I have and make them into ‘real money’. Then I’m going to write a check to the Department of the Treasury to pay down the Federal (Public or National) Debt.

Why? Why would I give the money away?

Well. The penny is basically valuless anyway and it’s not like that currency is doing any good sitting there. That, and if the Federal Debt isn’t paid down in pretty short order all of my money will be useless/valueless anyway, so it’s in my interest to spend a little to get apossibly larger benefit. I actually think that the U.S. Treasury should collect all the pennies and issue ‘real’ currency (nickels or better), then pay down the public debt with the difference. Or better yet: you, the concerned citizen, could take all your pennies in, get them converted, and write a check to the U.S. Treasury, with “public debt gift” in the memo field.

(It’s going to be like $10…but every little bit helps.)

I like to read newspapers; there’s something reassuring about getting your news in print. It’s a lot like listening to the calm, restrained voice of National Public Radio (although the local station, KCRW, occasionally has unrestrained voices on To The Point, but they make up to that through the dour intensity of The World or All Things Considered): it seems less energized, less hyped, less aggravating, than television news.

And newspapers seem to be more inclined to give equal time to stories of actual importance. The New York Times has a story today on Page C1 that covers how lenders are still spending on ads, despite the high rates of default and foreclosures in the mortgage markets. Fascinating, isn’t it? That story is right next to the story of how the British government is going to nationalize Northern Rock, Britian’s fifth-largest lender. It’s odd to note that Richard Branson and company had initially wanted to take over Northern Rock…something tells me that, despite my fear of businessmen, Branson could have turned it around. (Branson is not your average businessman, of course. He’s got several very large screws loose, but is crazily profitable. Odd.)

So Countrywide-BofA and Wachovia are still advertising mortgages and re-fis, despite the fact that they are losing money by the bushel, and foreclosing on people’s houses. I find that somewhat contradictory…after all, if I were in charge of a business that was losing money on its main “product” I would start looking for a new product.

There are other things in the newspaper today that make me scratch my head. Other than the banner headlines of why you should fear ground beef and how Kosovo has declared its independence–neither of which is particularly surprising nor shocking–there’s a little item down at the bottom of A1 that says this:

A nationwide study has found that the uninsured and those covered by Medicaid are more likely than those with private insurance not to recieve a diagnosis of cancer until its late stages.

So the healthcare business is callously and recklessly playing with people’s lives and not giving them the proper preventative and early-stage care that they need to nip cancer in the bud. And they’re doing this on basis of what kind of insurance you have. Lovely. God bless America. This is called playing dollars with people’s lives.

There’s an item in here about further outsourcing (how business processes, like accounting and payroll, will likely be offshored–also lovely) and an item about Facebook’s account deletion process. There’s a full page Delta ad on the end of Section A–nice to see the widget being boldly emblazoned everywhere–and polls and analysis about the Democratic primary…and the normal, corner-page coverage of John McCain and how he’s going to treat the President–if at all. There’s the op-eds, which, oddly, I haven’t read yet.
A newspaper is a wonderful thing. There’s something legitimate about it that television and the Internet simply can’t duplicate. I hope we still have newspapers, because they are a great mixture of information and commentary.

Guess what? Tonight at midnight, your Fourth Amendment rights to privacy (protections against unreasonable search and seizure, really, but it works out as privacy) will no longer be abridged by the telecoms. It’s a good day to be an American and a good day to be reminded of certain liberties that we should be extremely fond of and that are critical to the fairness and transparency of our system. Telecom companies will be liable for abridging your civil rights and can be sued successfully. It’s a beautiful thing. Telecoms will once again be telecoms and not extensions of spy agencies.

Maybe, just maybe, Congress and various agencies will now have the huevos required to stand up to the Presidency and start unravelling the other lies and willful deceptions that this Administration has committed in the name of quote-protecting the American people. Maybe now we can get rid of the unethical and inappropriately-named USA PATRIOT Act and start restoring our country, setting some meaningful priorities like civil liberties, effective airport security, and fixing the country’s crumbling infrastructure. Fixing No Child Left Behind. Ignoring the Bush tax cuts. Dealing with the either approaching or already-arrived recession. Restoring the social safety net…the list goes on. The recent detour through abridging our civil rights is over and now it’s time to do actual governing.

Maybe Congress will fail to fund the Iraq war. I doubt that this will happen and I don’t think it’s an effective method of terminating the war since it literally means we’d be playing politics with national defense and could be reckless, and would put our men and women in uniform at risk. But we need to end the war now. (We needed to not be there in the first place, as it turns out.) Someone with more creative legislative talent than I should figure this out and do something about it.

One thing is certain: there’s a lot of actual work to be done—the actual work of running the government of, for, and by the people.

Wow. Impressive. Gotta have that paperwork in place!

Air travel involves risks and could result in damage to property, injury to persons, and death. Please be informed that the California State University assumes no liability for damage, injury, and death, which may occur during air travel required by the California State University-affiliate programs.

That’s on the “Air Travel Notification Form” I am signing as a part of going to Finland over spring break. Lovely. I don’t recall signing any such paperwork with regard to driving my car to and from the California State University, Channel Islands, or its affiliate programs. Motor vehicle travel involves risks and could and does cause serious injury, property damage, or death, on a regular basis. Far more regularly than flying.

(I’m pointing out the absurdity of hold-harmless agreements here, not just because they’re specific to air travel. Save us all from the lawyers, please!)

I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television, but it would appear that said form also indemnifies the air carriers themselves for damages. That’s not necessarily something I feel comfortable doing, seeing as how air carriers are directly responsible for the safety of their operations. Not that I expect Finnair, and whomever (presumably American) we’re flying on from here to JFK to have an accident.

We now return you to your regular, post-six-PM semi-comatose clockwatching  state.

Sorry about the shameless rip. But, the following is true with respect to Federal entitlements: they are a political and fiscal dirty litte secret. We’re talking about something like $80 trillion in liabilities between now and 2080 and there is no way to pay for them.

If you are a citizen of this country and/or you pay taxes, you need to read this.

Don’t just say “Oh God, there he goes again, yelling that the sky is falling.” This is a very, very real and very, very large problem that my generation will have to deal with within our lifetimes and could very well lead to the financial downfall of this country. Basically, it could lead to the total end of the party—not the political parties—but the (great, raging) party that is our country’s financial well-being.

I’m talking about Social Security—the conservative’s favorite target—only to a small extent. This is a small piece of the entitlements pie. Those entitlements are quite manageable. All that noise about Social Security is a great distraction when it comes to addressing the real fiscal abyss: Medicare and Medicaid.

Entitlements—like SSA, Medicare, and Medicaid—are called mandatory spending. Their outlays are required by law and each fiscal year the Federal government is required to find some way to write all those checks. There are interest expenses that a government in debt (like ours) has to pay, and then there’s discretionary spending, which is where all the earmarks and “pork-barrel” spending exists.

As it stands right now (FY 2007), entitlements are approximately 50% of the Federal budget. Interest on the debt is about 9% of the Federal budget, with the remainder of rhe budget as discretionary spending. Now, our population is getting older, and health care is getting more expensive, for reasons that I do not fully understand. Social Security itself is manageable, but Medicare and Medicaid spending will, at its current rate, consist of some 30% of our gross domestic product by 2080. That’s not 30% of the Federal budget. That’s thirty percent of all the money spent in the United States economy!

How much money are we talking about? The comptroller-general of the United States estimates that the Federal outlays between now and then will be about $70 trillion (that’s with a ‘t’) dollars. Even the most optimistic estimates of Federal government revenues indicate that massive deficits will be accrued unless we do something, and very, very soon, to reform these programs, control the cost of health care, and find new sources of Federal revenue.

How many candidates are talking about that?

You know, that thing that goes clatter-clatter-clatter whine clatter-clatter while printing on tractor-feed continuous paper.

I need (okay, I want) one with a USB port that is cheap but fast and dependable for printing things like FAA DUATS, flight plans, and the like. (They’re the best for it, I’ve found, and I would like to have a good dependable dot-matrix.) I don’t need to print anything even approaching letter quality, so that’s out of the question.

Thanks in advance.

Wow. I’m surprised at this from the NWS:

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA
903 PM PST THU JAN 24 2008

LOS ANGELES CA-
903 PM PST THU JAN 24 2008

…A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 945 PM PST FOR
   SOUTHWEST LOS ANGELES COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA INCLUDING
   THE CITIES OF MALIBU…PACIFIC PALISADES AND TOPANGA..

AT 900 PM PST…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO
INDICATE VERY STRONG ROTATING THUNDERSTORM. IT WAS LOCATED OVER
THE EASTERN HALF OF MALIBU AND WAS MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT
20 MPH. CITIES THAT WILL BE IMPACTED BY THE CELL INCLUDE
MALIBU…PACIFIC PALISADES AND TOPANGA.

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES…EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE…LIE FLAT IN THE
NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

LAT…LON 3411 11884 3414 11860 3402 11860 3402 11866
      3401 11867 3401 11877 3399 11880 3400 11882
TIME…MOT…LOC 0503Z 209DEG 18KT 3432 11854

It seems the folks at the National Weather Service forecast office in Oxnard (did you know their local office was NOT in Los Angeles, but in Oxnard?) are busy tonight with weather they very rarely get to see.

Tornado warnings are issued by the National Weather Service when a hook echo or other prominent doppler radar features indicative of a thunderstorm are detected, and tornadogenesis is considered likely in the warning area…generally within the next hour. A rotating thunderstorm is considered likely to produce tornadoes. Those outside should seek shelter right now.