Author Archives: Tom Liberman

Phony Corporate Tax Dodgers Facebook Post

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Tax CompaniesOne of my friends shared a post from US Uncut’s Facebook page and because I’m not a friend of them I couldn’t comment. It made me angry so I’m going to write a blog instead of a comment.

The image portrays a white man complaining about his taxes and wanting to see a picture of the “ghetto” family he is supporting. This image naturally enraged some people and they attached a little picture below it showing various corporations who supposedly don’t pay federal income taxes.

The images included Walmart, Kaiser Permanente, Citibank, and BP (British Petroleum).

Why am I angry about the image. Let me explain.

Walmart is one of the companies that I would call a good tax citizen. They don’t have an army of lawyers and generally pay fairly close to the ridiculous 35% corporate tax rate. They were one of the companies that expressed a strong desire to lower the corporate tax rate to 11% percent and remove all loopholes. I’m a proponent of this strategy.

Most of the Enterprise companies in the world are against this, although their publicity staff pretends otherwise. The reason being that they employ a large staff of corporate lawyers and generally pay nothing in corporate taxes, in fact they get refunds. The 35% rate largely only applies small and medium-sized businesses who can’t use tax shelters offshore and other methods used by Enterprise companies.

Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit organization. Yes, they don’t pay taxes, but they don’t distribute profits to shareholders and they funnel earnings back into the company. Its inclusion on the list is ridiculous.

Citibank belongs on the list. They are one of the Enterprise companies that uses offshore companies and other methods to avoid paying any taxes. They also benefited from the government bailout program in 2008 although they repaid all loans with interest resulting in a profit for the U.S. government.

Finally, BP. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out. It’s a foreign company. They don’t pay income taxes on operations in the United States but do pay local taxes. From what I can find they don’t have access to a lot of the loopholes domestic companies have and they pay the standard rates. So it’s hard to justify putting them on this list.

There are plenty of companies out there that don’t pay much in taxes and could easily have been put on this list.

This sort of laziness bothers me. I mean really, how hard is it to find four Enterprise U.S. companies that use loopholes to pay little or nothing in taxes? A quick internet search takes seconds. Do it yourself and see how easy it is.

If you want to make a point by using an example, at least find a good example. Otherwise I’m going to doubt your entire argument, as should any critical thinker.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Chelsea O’Donnell and the Role of the State in Crime

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Chelsea-odonnellThere’s an incredibly interesting story in the news involving the daughter of celebrity Rosie O’Donnell. The reason it is so interesting to me is that it illustrates the struggle between those who advocate the power of the state and those who argue for the rights of the individual.

Most of my Libertarian and Anarchist friends and acquaintances are pretty strongly in the camp of the individual and while I am as well, I do recognize the state has a role to play in a civil society. Police have an important and useful function as does government.

The particulars of this case are that Chelsea O’Donnell is a seventeen year old girl which puts her right on the verge of adulthood and emancipation. She voluntarily went to the home of a 25 year old man. She has been described in various media outlets as having an undisclosed mental illness.

The man in question, Steven Sheerer, has now been arrested and charged with distribution of obscenity to a minor and endangering the welfare of a child. He apparently sent obscene material to Chelsea and lured her to his home.

From a Libertarian perspective the fact that Chelsea is almost an adult and went of her own free will is a compelling argument. We Libertarians and Anarchists don’t think the state should be in the business of protecting us from ourselves. The reality of this case is that Chelsea, while close to having reached her majority, is still legally a juvenile. There is also the important factor of her mental illness. This story resonates with me, I have a niece who is developmentally disabled. It would be easy for an unscrupulous person to convince her to do something that is not in her own interest.

It’s clear to me that people who are not capable of making decisions must be protected from those who would use them for their own nefarious ends. While the idea of a society in which everyone leads their own lives free of the state is very appealing, we Libertarians and Anarchists must remember that there are not only those among us incapable of making good decisions but also those who prey upon the weak.

Even those who have reached their majority and are of sound mind can be tricked, duped, lied to, preyed up, and even physically coerced into doing things that are not in their interests.

Where does the state intervene? When is our folly the business of the government?

I don’t think the lines are crisp and there will always be difficult situations. I largely argue on the side of individual freedom, but not always.

In this situation I think the state has a compelling case. I insist they prove it in a court of law but I do not condemn them. I praise the excellent police work of the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department who sent officers door to door. I applaud the officer who thought Sheerer evasive in his answers and eventually found Chelsea.

What do you think?

Should the Police have Intervened in this case?

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Rise of the Demagogue – Lessons of Trump

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trumpThe presidential campaign of Donald Trump is raising some ire across the country. Trump is an anti-establishment candidate for whom reality apparently has little or no meaning. I’m not going to talk about his policy statements, his personal insults against anyone who dares disagree with him, his rather naive view of how complex is the world, or anything along those lines. Today I’m going to talk about how Trump is merely a precursor to what is coming.

By and large there is a theme in contemporary media, be it mainstream or alternative. That theme is fear. The general message is that any political candidate, any voter, or any person who does not agree with the promulgator of the story is a danger. A threat to the nation. Someone who will destroy the United States. Any idea different than that being suggested will immediately or relatively quickly bring an end to your safety.

Your way of life is in danger. The other side is an active enemy out to destroy you. That’s the promulgation of fear and that’s the message.

What’s most interesting about this message is the motive of those that deliver it. By and large they fully understand they are saying things that are factually and demonstrably false. They know the threats they repeat endlessly are merely phantoms used to frighten people into voting for a particular candidate or legislation.

For the most part the people that are doing this know when to rein in the threats before stirring up so much fear that people react with violence.

What they don’t understand is that they are clearing the path for a demagogue.

Did President George W. Bush understand that his policy against Iraq would create ISIS?

Did President Eisenhower realize that by supporting the coup against Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953 that he was essentially creating the entire terrorist world that exists today?

Did President Reagan realize that by aiding Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo he was largely creating the Mexican drug trade?

They should have but they didn’t. We live with the results of their fear mongering.

What Trump represents is the inevitable result of state or mass-media sponsored fear-mongering. Those that use fear to spread their ideas are eventually usurped by those working the same tools but without the moral character to understand the dreadful consequences of their actions.

Those that created the environment of fear do not get to reap the rewards. They get put up against a wall by their misguided followers because, in the end, the original fear-mongers aren’t willing to go all the way. So they die horrible deaths.

Reason is the first casualty to the sword of fear.

Take note, Roger Ailes’s of the world. Take note. Trump is only a partially realized shadow of the kind of leader that is coming. You won’t be able to control that leader.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Bat Girl was a Hottie Orion Slave Girl?

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Yvonne_CraigSad news today from the entertainment world in that an actress named Yvonne Craig passed away.

If you knew of her it all it was probably because she portrayed Barbara Gordon on the original Batman television series. Batgirl. What took me by surprise was that she played Marta the green-skinned Orion slave girl serving a lifetime sentence in the episode Whom Gods Destroy of the Original Star Trek Series.

An independent, intelligent, beautiful young woman superhero seems fairly passe in this modern age but in many ways Craig was real pioneer. I’m of the age that I well remember Barbara Gordon on the original Batman television series. She only appeared in the final season of the show which is a shame. Perhaps it’s just my foggy memory but I recall enjoying her role immensely.

In my adult life I find independent and intelligent women to be those I’m most attracted to. Perhaps Craig is at least partially responsible for that. Who can say with any real certainty?

Still, it’s a sad day.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Little League Softball Team Plays to Lose?

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SouthSnohomishLitttleLeagueThere’s an interesting story in the news about the South Snohomish girls softball team in the Little League Softball World Series. It seems they rested most of their best players and were defeated in a game that didn’t matter to them but did matter to another team. The South Snohomish girls were handily defeated which knocked another team out of the tournament.

That team, Central Iowa, who earlier lost a close game to South Snohomish, protested the result. They claimed the result was invalid. The tournament officials agreed and decided that the two teams had to play a playoff game to see who advanced. Central Iowa won and advanced.

I wrote a blog back in August of 2012 about an Olympic badminton team that apparently intentionally lost a match in order to further their long term possibility of advancement. I’ll reiterate my points.

I understand the idea that everyone should do their best at all times but that’s just not the reality of the world when it comes to sports. In major league sports draft position becomes important and a team might well want to lose a game in order to get a better draft choice. In any round-robin sort of tournament, like the one in question, there are going to be situations one where team has guaranteed advancement and would prefer not to play too hard in the last, meaningless game.

Punishing South Snohomish for not trying hard enough is seriously hypocritical. What the administrators of the league are saying is that you have to pretend to try harder. They know the format makes for situations like the one that occurred. It’s hardly the first time a team has done what South Snohomish supposedly did.

Who is to make the judgement about the definition of trying hard enough?

In this case the coach of South Snohomish rested players and used bench warmers in order to have a better chance later in the tournament. Is that against the rules now? Should the tournament officials make out the starting lineup? If an error occurs in a similar situation should they have a do-over if an official rules it was intentional?

It’s so arbitrary.

The solution I offered in my original blog was that when it is clearly advantageous for a team to lose they should declare that they want to lose before the start of the game. Then play the game hard. If they happen to win, it counts as a loss anyway.

I know many people won’t like that idea but the alternative is that a team pretends to try hard while really trying to lose. Is that what we want? This illusion? This fantasy of effort?

I absolutely think the Central Iowa should be sent home and the South Snohomish team allowed to advance.

What do you think?

Did the Tournament Organizers do the right thing?

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Charged with Disorderly Conduct for Cracking Open Car Door

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William ReeceA young man opened the door to a moving car and yelled “Pigs” at nearby officers. They chased him down and arrested him for Disorderly Conduct.

To Protect and to Serve on full display.

Read my take on events here.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Sports and the Nature of Capitalism – Spieth vs Day

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Spieth-Day-Shake-handsOne of my favorite sporting events of the season is the PGA Championship; thanks in no small part to the enlightened view those in charge take as far as online viewers are concerned. This attitude along with the incredible final round between the two leaders brought to mind why competition is the method by which the best results in life are found.

There are two lessons to be learned here. Both from the streaming coverage provided during the PGA championship and the spirited final round of the event itself between Jason Day and Jordan Spieth.

First as to the viewing pleasure I enjoyed.

In the last few years there’s been a slow but steady shift of people away from traditional television viewing habits to online viewing. I’m one of those that no longer has a traditional television. I consume media via my computer using tools like Hulu, NetFlix, ESPN3, and other content providers. It saves me money and allows me access to only the events I want to watch. The problem is that many content providers don’t see those of us who have eschewed television as a market. Major League Baseball, for example, has a blackout policy that means if I purchase their baseball package I can watch every game of every team except my home market team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Yeah, so, not buying that.

The PGA tour has a livestream channel but whether or not the event broadcasts is rather haphazard from week to week. Some events show nothing at all while others show only on Thursday and Friday, others show all week. The PGA 2015 Championship has a plethora of streaming coverage and have had so for the last few years. They embrace online viewers like myself and I’m grateful to them. They have a featured group channel which is outstanding. You get to watch one group for an entire round. They have a par 3 channel. They have a general broadcast channel.

The point here is that when you broadcast a sporting event you want the largest possible audience. Yes there are advertisements but I gladly put up with them. It is my opinion that by embracing, rather than fearing and excluding, the growing online audience the PGA promotes their product. They bring in new fans. They do themselves, the game of golf, and the fans of golf a great service. That’s smart business. The rise of online media consumption, as opposed to traditional television viewing, has increased the number of ways I can watch a golf event. It has given me more options and more entertainment. It also generates new revenue for the content creators and providers. All good things.

As to the second reason competition is great.

The 2015 PGA Championship pitted Jason Day and Jordan Spieth in the final round. Often times these sorts of pairing don’t result in a great competition because one player does well while the other does poorly. That was not the case this time. Day and Spieth both played well and the drama was intense and exciting. Day eventually emerged triumphant by a seemingly large margin but the reality is that until the last hole there was tremendous doubt. That made for a gripping story and an entertaining event.

Competition is a good thing.

Good for the players who must rise to occasion and reach heights they would not have otherwise achieved. Good for the audience who watches such drama. Good for the content providers who get advertising dollars. Good for advertisers who get good publicity for their spends.

And, as Spieth’s sportsmanship in defeat so ably displayed, there were no real losers. Yes, Day won but Spieth gained as well. As did we all.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

 

 

Kim Kardashian, Diclegis, and the FDA

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kim-kardashian-diclegis-minThere’s an interesting story about government regulations making the rounds involving Kim Kardashian and a drug called Diclegis. At question is the fact that Kardashian is essentially a paid sponsor for Diclegis through her Tweets, Instagram photos, and Facebook posts.

This sort of sponsorship deal is not new. Companies pay celebrities to mention their product in apparently normal social media interactions.

What’s different in this case is that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has laws about advertising products without mention side-effects and other drugs which are dangerous to take with the original drug. In this case Diclegis can often cause drowsiness and it should not be taken with alcohol or other sleep inducing medication. If people take Diclegis and then go out driving, they risk the lives of many other people.

Kardashian does not mention these side-effects or incompatible drugs in her various social media advertisements. The FDA now wants to fine her for these violations.

The FDA was created back in 1938 as knowledge of what was going into food and drugs became more well-known. There were any number of cases where people ingested lethal substances when they thought they were taking medicine or normal food. A particularly loathsome case involved the deaths of thirteen children here in my hometown of St. Louis traced to a tainted diphtheria anti-toxin.

The question for me is complex.

Does the government have constitutional authority to protect people from the food and drugs that manufacturers produce, advertise, and distribute? Clearly, yes. Congress has given them such authority and the constitution does not forbid it.

Does the government act in the people’s interests with such authority? Now it becomes tricky. Certainly the idea of the FDA is good. We want to protect people from toxicity in our food and drug supply. We want to protect people from unscrupulous manufacturers selling their snake-oil. We want to prevent people from taking Diclegis and then driving in their cars.

But do FDA regulations accomplish these things? I think the answer is largely, but not completely, no. We’ve all seen drug commercials that go through an endless litany of possible dreadful side-effects and warnings. Do these warnings prevent people from mixing drugs or driving cars while taking the drug?

We must be responsible for ourselves. We must investigate the drugs we are taking. We must listen to our trained physicians who are prescribing them. If we are not doing so, then that’s our fault. The FDA shouldn’t be able to tell Kardashian to tell all the side-effects of every drug she mentions as part of a paid advertisement.

That being said, I’m not totally opposed to the FDA. I do think they have a useful function in our country. I think the FDA can and should test drugs and food. They should post all the pertinent information on readily available websites for We the People to look at. Then, with the aide of our physicians, we can make informed decisions. If a drug kills people the government can and should arrest those responsible for its distribution. If a physician lies about side-effects to a patient to sell more of a drug then that physician should be prosecuted.

There will always be snake-oil salesmen (see Dr. Oz) who find ways around government regulations. We must always be responsible for ourselves. No amount of regulation will save us if we are not.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

How to Succeed in Business – The American Way

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donald-trumpI’ve been watching the rise of Donald Trump as a viable political candidate with some interest of late and I just saw a sound blip that I thought was very telling.

At question was the fact that Trump led business endeavors have gone bankrupt four times. Trump correctly denied that he had ever gone bankrupt. He pointed out that virtually everyone you see in the business section has used Chapter 11 laws to their advantage and that only Trump is being singled out.

He’s right. I don’t say this to defend Trump. I say this to point out that the way to succeed in business in the United States is to start a company, pay yourself and your chosen friends a huge salary, take out as many loans as possible for as long as possible, and then declare bankruptcy leaving the banks to make up the lost capital by overcharging average citizens. This is our business model now.

If you are a small or medium sized business owner trying to provide a quality product at a reasonable price, trying to employ good people to enrich their lives, and trying to earn a good living; you’re headed for disaster. If you think pro-business Republican candidates are on your side, you’re living a lie. I’m not saying Democrats are any better but if you keep voting for Republicans you are voting against your interests.

There was a time when good business owners did stress making a great product or providing a good service. When employees were part of the team for life. When profit was nice but not the most important factor. Those days are gone.

Want to succeed in business? Give yourself and your friends a huge pay raise. Take out as many loans as possible. Drive your company into the ground. Declare bankruptcy.

Then what, you ask?

Do it again!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

The Girl in Glass – Available Now

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The-Girl-in-Glass Freedom is free, it just isn’t safe.

My new book is now available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013HHFETY……

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/566695

Home Page: https://www.tomliberman.com/b…/the-girl-in-glass-i-apparition

The Gray Lord doesn’t believe in interfering in foreign nations or arresting dissidents.

The Gray City is surrounded by enemies but the most dangerous are internal usurpers bent on shaping the nation to their own ideology. They argue Tanelorn must attack her enemies to ensure the people’s safety.

Can three teenage girls save a nation from itself?

Advertising Foreign Policy – Iran Nuclear Deal

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modern-advertising-methodsWhat has come of the United States of America when we have to spend millions of dollars advocating our foreign policy?

I don’t care if you are for or against the Iran Nuclear Joint Plan of Action. You can hate it. You can love it. You can think it will lead to a nuclear Iran or prevent a nuclear Iran. You can’t possibly think it is a good thing for the United States of America that special interest groups are spending tens of millions, likely eventually hundreds of millions of dollars, trying to influence public opinion to their cause.

They are doing this in the hopes that people will call and write their representatives in Congress and thus swing votes in one direction or the other. I have no doubt they will succeed in swaying people’s opinions. I have no doubt these people will contact their representatives and thus the vote of the men and women who decide foreign policy.

What do we call such an outcome? Democracy in action. To paraphrase Mr. Mackey, Democracy is bad, mkay. I explained exactly why this is case in a blog post back in February of 2012.

Does anyone seriously think it’s a good idea to have foreign policy decided by a popular vote? Have you seen who wins the popular vote for the best restaurant in town?

This is the future of our country. Fear based advertising dictating important policy decisions. Vote your conscious? Vote what you think is best for the country despite the political ramifications? Not a chance.

It doesn’t matter which side wins this debate, this is the new paradigm for all major political decisions in the United States. This is what you country has become. You’re welcome to it. Me, I thought out of control spending on election was horrible. This … I can’t even find the words.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Very Soon!

 

Fourth Degree Arson for Burning a Flag?

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burning a flagA woman named Patricia Cameron organized a rally in which the Battle Flag of Northern Virginia was burned in a charcoal grill. She’s been given a summons for fourth degree arson. Welcome to the United States of police intimidation.

Here’s what happened:

In the aftermath of the Dylann Roof murders, Cameron went to a local park with a few friends, laid the flag on a pole in a barbecue pit, sprayed it with lighter fluid, lit it, and then another protester held onto it in the grill while it burned.

Here’s the crime she’s being charged with:

… a person who knowingly or recklessly starts or maintains a fire or causes an explosion, on his own property or that of another, and by so doing places another in danger of death or serious bodily injury or places any building or occupied structure of another in danger of damage.

It’s clear to me that Cameron started a fire but it’s also completely obvious to me that there was no danger to the structure or any bystander. They were cautious and careful in their protest. It is an area where barbecues are often held although this particular pavilion was not a barbecue pavilion. I’m sure much more dangerous fires, and by that I mean fires that are hardly dangerous at all, take place in that park every weekend.

The police then conducted a two week investigation of the incident and showed up at her door at midnight to give her the summons. Really? Midnight?

This is simply a case of police officials using their power to intimidate and harass citizens and waste tax-payer money.

Here is a video of the entire incident.

Manitou Springs Police spokeswoman Odette Saglimbeni said, “We’re just looking at the safety of anyone around there, and city property as well. Those flames got pretty big pretty quick.”

Those flames got pretty big, pretty quick? Wow. I’ve seen bigger flames at a fish fry. I can only guess the police in Manitou Springs don’t have to worry about real crimes, either that or they’re a bunch of jerks.

Tom Liberman

Infidelity Exposed by Strangers at Baseball Game

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busybodyI just read a story about a pair of women who noted that the woman in front of them at an Atlanta Braves baseball game was sexting with a man all the while sitting with her husband. They took pictures of the texts, wrote a note to the man with their phone number, and sent him the incriminating photos when he replied.

It’s a story that is both of the modern age and one that is ages old. If you know someone is cheating on their spouse, or see some other perceived ethical failing, should you inform the presumed aggrieved party?

I may get a lot of heat for this but I think the women who wrote the note were in the wrong. It’s just not their business to inform the husband of the cheating.

One reason is there is some chance the couple has an open relationship wherein they have sex with others. It’s also possible that the man is having many affairs and the woman is having her revenge. It’s possible the man is abusive. Anything is possible but those aren’t really the reasons that I’m against exposing such things.

I’m just of the opinion that it’s not our business, even more so when the effected parties are complete strangers. People who meddle in the affairs of others claiming they are doing good generally cause far more harm than the ills the claim to be solving.

I know that people will ask me if I would want to know if my girlfriend or spouse was cheating on me. The answer is that I wouldn’t want someone else telling me. I wouldn’t be particularly grateful to the tattletale.

If I had witnessed the exchange I’m pretty sure I would have said nothing.

What would you have done?

Would you have Exposed the Cheating Spouse?

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015

 

 

 

Is Shaving Your Legs a Double Standard?

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Suzannah WeissThanks to my Facebook friends I’ve been made aware of a story about women shaving their legs in the news. It’s really about one woman not shaving her legs and she uses the argument that women shaving their legs is a double standard.

Suzannah Weiss wrote the piece for Yahoo! Beauty and seems to think a couple of things. That women shaving their legs when men don’t is a double standard. Also that women largely shave their legs to please men. She mentions that some women shave their legs because they like the look and they should be able to make that choice without judgement.

I suppose Weiss is simply trying to be encouraging to other women out there who don’t want to shave their legs. Perhaps she is trying to shame men who prefer smooth legs on women. I can’t speak to her motivation but the idea that it is somehow a double standard seems wrong to me. If a woman shaving her legs is a double standard then so too must be a man wearing a tie, a woman in high heels, a man who shaves his face, either sex who shaves their genitalia.

Weiss then goes on to explain that a great barometer of a man’s respect for a woman is if he thinks a woman is obligated to look pleasing to him. If a man expects a woman to look nice for him, apparently he is a bad fellow. Likewise it seems that it’s at least a negative thing for a woman to want to look pleasing for a man. If she wants to do it for herself, that’s fine. But wanting to look nice for a man? No good.

I’m a Libertarian. I believe we should always do what’s in our best self-interest. But this doesn’t mean we should be isolated. What is often in our self-interest is doing things that are pleasing to those around us. This is how we form friendships, relationships, and manage to exist in society.

One thing I noticed in the picture to the article Weiss is wearing a flower in her hair. Did she do that to please herself? Could not someone argue using her exact same points that wearing a flower in her hair is misguided attempt to be pretty to those around her? That men don’t wear flowers in their hair. Are flowers in the hair a double standard? Are men who like women with flowers in their hair somehow worse men? Are women who put flowers in their hair to please men wrong to do so?

If a woman wants to shave her legs to please a man, to please herself, or because she’s a competitive swimmer, more power to her. If she doesn’t want to, for whatever reason, fine again. If men like shaved legs on a woman, good for them. If they don’t, fine and dandy.

For purposes of full disclosure, I love smooth legs on a woman.

Tom Liberman

Who is to Blame for Throwing Urine on Chris Froome?

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Fan-Urine-Chris-FroomeAccording to Chris Froome the responsible party is our favorite whipping boy, “The Press”.

First the story. The Tour de France has been plagued by Performance Enhancing Drug scandals almost since it was first run back in 1903. Things got very ugly when Lance Armstrong admitted to doping during his record breaking seven victories. There are members of the public are skeptical of anyone who performs well in the annual race and the 2013 winner, Chris Froome, was doused with urine by a fan during the 14th stage of this year’s race.

My issue is that Froome laid blame squarely where it did not belong. Here’s the quote that so aroused my ire:

I certainly don’t blame the public for this, it’s certainly a minority of people out there ruining it for everybody else … I would blame some of the reporting on the race, it’s very irresponsible.

Really? You don’t blame the person who filled a cup with urine, waited for your pass, screamed “dope”, and threw it on you? That person is apparently blameless? It was the press who somehow forced the spectator to act that way? What utter nonsense.

The press reports that riders in the Tour de France might be doping and that’s irresponsible? They suggest that Froome, a former winner, might be cheating and that’s completely out of the question?

I’m not saying those who write sensationalist stories attempting to get people riled up rather than reporting facts are somehow good people. It’s despicable to accuse someone of cheating when you don’t have reasonable evidence or shady circumstances to suggest as much. I’m just saying that, beyond any doubt, the person responsible for throwing the urine is the person who threw the urine! I mean, it doesn’t require an advanced degree is Blameology.

This idea of blaming the press or some organization for an individual’s behavior is rampant. We blame ISIS for domestic terror attacks. We blame racist organizations for mass shootings. We do this because they are convenient targets. The press is such an easy target in this case and often seems to be so.

I find it most useful to blame the person who acts in an egregious manner. I’m of the opinion that assigning blame appropriately is an extremely important part of finding solution. If we blame those who are not responsible then the chances of arriving at successful outcome is all but impossible.

I think the goal should be to solve problems, not lay blame on those who we perceive to be enemies. I’m naive that way.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015

 

Parks Department Wants to Stop Selling Bottled Water – Lobbyist Convince Congress Otherwise

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parks service water stationYet another example of who actually runs this country was in display when the National Parks Service found that the clean-up cost associated with plastic water bottles was eating up their budgets and the bottles themselves were becoming a fairly large trash problem.

Many of the parks in question decided to stop selling plastic water bottles and install watering stations where visitor can fill up their own containers. An elegant solution that solves the trash problem, the recycling problem, and also allows park visitors to keep hydrated at a significantly lower cost.

Apparently not. The lobbyist for  the bottled water industry have spent half a million dollars bribing … er … lobbying Congress to prevent the Parks Service from stopping sales of bottled water.

I want to be clear. The Parks Service is not banning bottled water if people want to bring their own. They are simply not selling it anymore. They are providing a cheaper and clearly better system. They will sell reusable containers for people to use at the water stations or simply allow people to use their own.

Congress is now in the process of preventing the Parks Service from implementing the change. The arguments they use are laughable. Basically that by not selling bottled water they are encouraging the drinking of soda which is unhealthy. That park patrons might die of dehydration because they can’t afford a reusable container as opposed to a bottled water. The reality is much more obvious. The bottled water companies have lucrative sales of their products at our National Parks. They don’t want to lose those sales to water stations.

This is the country in which we live. Congress members do not care about this country. They do not care about you. They simply care about who is going to pay for them to be elected so they can enjoy the graft associated with being a politician.

Representative Keith Rothfus of Pennsylvania, where the bottled water industry is quite large, is leading the charge to prevent the Parks Service from making the change. Hmm, I wonder why?

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015

El Chapo Guzman Escapes

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El ChapoOne of the leaders of the Mexican drug trade, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, escaped from prison the other day.

Guzman’s story is so illustrative of why the United States should not be meddling in the affairs of foreign countries that I can’t pass it up without writing a blog, although I’ve done so before.

The entire Mexican drug trade exists largely because of President Ronald Reagan. Yep. You heard me right. I’m not some crazy, anti-Republican democrat. It’s the truth. There are some pretty important people in the United States who have no desire to extradite Guzman to the United States because of the stories he can tell. Stories about high level Reagan administration officials who are still alive and who still wield influence in our nation.

Guzman worked for a man named Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (who likewise has never been extradited despite the fact he ordered a DEA agent named Enrique Camarena tortured to death). Gallardo built the entire Mexican drug trade with not only the knowledge of the United States government but with their help. Why? Because he was funding the Contra revolutionary group that President Reagan wanted to use to oust the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

Yep. I’m not making this stuff up. Do you remember Iran-Contra? That’s where Oliver North helped sell anti-aircraft missiles to Iran in order to get money to fund the Contras. There is considerable evidence to suggest that North was also working with Panamanian strong-man Manuel Noriega to directly bring cocaine into the United States via the CIA in order to use that money to … yes … fund the Contra.

What a sordid, sick, sad tale.

This is the result of our meddling. This is one of the legacies of President Reagan.

All because we wanted to influence the political situation in Nicaragua. When the Sandinista government came into power, President Carter didn’t like them but he agreed to allow their legally held elections to stand and refused to get involved. President Reagan reversed this policy when he came into power.

You may not like President Carter very much and you may love President Reagan. At least be aware of the realities of their policies. President Carter isn’t guiltless in the meddling game in that he continued our misguided attempts to influence the country of Iran. Those policies largely created the entire terrorist network that exists today. Yay for meddling!

We should stay out of the affairs of foreign countries even when we don’t like their policies. This meddling is directly responsible for both the rise of terrorism and the rise of the Mexican drug trade.

Oh and end the War on Drugs.

Tom Liberman

Physics Defying Baseball – Misleading Headline

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Physics Defying Baseball

In an attempt to make up for my lack of a Misleading Headline of the Week for the last few weeks; I’m posting a second one today

Eugenio Suarez attempts to field a ball that defies physics screams the headline.

Really a first rate Misleading Headline from Chris Cwik and Big League Stew. Not only is the headline bad but the entire article goes into zones of stupidity rarely seen. It’s really awful. You have to read it to fully appreciate how bad it is.

No the ball did not defy physics.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015

Sharks Swim in Boiling Water – Misleading Headline

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Boiling Water SharksI’ve been derelict in my Misleading Headline duties for a few weeks, finishing up The Girl in Glass I: Apparition taking priority but I’m back with a doozy.

It’s Shark Week on Discovery and that brings any story on sharks out of the woodwork and into the headlines.

Amazing footage of sharks swimming in boiling water around a volcano is completely baffling scientists screams the ridiculous and misleading headline.

The story, as is often the case in these situations, is actually quite interesting.

A team of scientists lowered a camera into an inactive, underwater caldera. Basically the giant hole from a collapsed volcanic eruption. The keyword here is, of course, inactive.

Yes when the underwater volcano is erupting it spews forth highly toxic gases and heats up to thousands of degrees. When it’s inactive it’s simple ocean habitat. Sharks swim in the ocean. So there you go. Still it is pretty cool footage. Go take a look at the article but ignore the headline.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015

What is the Work Week?

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standard work weekThere have been a number of stories in the news this week about something called the Work Week.

We had Jeb Bush suggesting that people need to work more (he “clarified” suggesting he meant part-time workers need full-time jobs, but honestly, that’s not what he meant). A number of people are advocating reducing the Work Week to 32 hours.

The problem seems to me that there is a total disconnect between what the work week means and what people think it means. I aim to rectify that.

The Work Week in the United States is generally defined as Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with an hour for lunch. There are many permutations but largely the perception is that people work 40 hours a week at their jobs.

This is, of course, absolute bollocks! There continue to be a number of jobs where people work while at their office and leave work behind when they leave. These sorts of jobs a becoming an increasingly smaller part of the whole. With our phones, tablets, home computers, and other technologies we work wherever and whenever work needs to be done. The idea of a standard work week is utter nonsense for a growing number of people in the United States and other countries in this Information Age.

One of the metrics by which we measure how much work is done is called Workforce Productivity. The problem is that hours worked no longer has meaning in the equation. That hasn’t stopped people from trying to use that particular equation to calculate how productive we are. Productivity goes into many other economic equations defining the health of a nation. If one of the key measurements is no longer valid then I wonder about the entire equation. Are economic decisions being made at the highest levels of government and business that have no basis in reality? In my opinion, yes.

The reality is that people who work in Information Age jobs work far more than they report working. They are on their phones working for ten minutes here and ten minutes there. They are not in the office but they are working. While it’s possible people over-report time away from the office working I’m of the opinion that most people under-report and by a fairly significant amount. This throws all productivity measurements into disarray.

If we want to get a true indication of productivity we must accept this new paradigm for workers.

If we continue to follow outdated and mathematically flawed models we can only make bad decisions.

The idea of the Work Week is dying and we must accept that. Work can be done from anywhere, anytime.

Do your Over Report or Under Report your Working Hours?

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015