Interesting Scarcity

Scarcity:

"...a chief sign of this malfunction is that you dream of possessing something, rather than using it. (Timothy Ferriss offers similar advice on planning your life: ask which ongoing experiences would make you happy, rather than which possessions or status-changes.)

But the really fundamental problem with desiring the unattainable is that as soon as you actually get it, it stops being unattainable. If we cannot take joy in the merely available, our lives will always be frustrated..."

Name that Party: Hussein Edition

Here is another chance to play Name that Party!

According to the indictment, the Iraqi Intelligence Service paid $34,000 through an intermediary to Life for Relief and Development, the charity that employed al-Hanooti, to pay the delegation's travel expenses. In September 2002, al-Hanooti traveled to Iraq with three members of Congress whom he believed to be sympathetic to lifting the economic sanctions against Iraq.

The U.S. led an invasion into Iraq, starting the war, in March 2003.

The indictment did not name the lawmakers, but Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California made a trip to Iraq at that time.

I know it is tough to guess the party. Just try. You might get lucky.

Obamas' Income

Go to the TaxProf Blog to see the returns. Funny how the Obamas' income skyrocketed after getting elected. Hmmmmm.

Ghandi, Where Are You?

This is really tragic, but might be a watershed moment of humanity:

"Paramilitary police opened fire on hundreds of monks, nuns and Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China yesterday to demand the return of the Dalai Lama."

Tyrants really have not changed all that much in the last 10,000 years. Only now, there are video cameras and Internet reporting. This is going to get good when the Olympics comes. The world will be watching.

Hillary's Balkan Adventures

Update and Bumped: Drudge links to this CBS YouTube video. Wow. Seared indeed.

Now if we could only unearth John Kerry's Cambodia adventure.

Hillary's Balkan Adventures, Part II - Fact Checker:

"'I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.'
--Hillary Clinton, speech at George Washington University, March 17, 2008.

Hillary Clinton has been regaling supporters on the campaign trail with hair-raising tales of a trip she made to Bosnia in March 1996. In her retelling, she was sent to places that her husband, President Clinton, could not go because they were 'too dangerous.' When her account was challenged by one of her traveling companions, the comedian Sinbad, she upped the ante and injected even more drama into the story. In a speech earlier this week, she talked about 'landing under sniper fire' and running for safety with 'our heads down.'

There are numerous problems with Clinton's version of events."

Imagine my surprise at the embellishments.

Moral Leakage

NY Governor Billed Hotel Trysts As "Constituent Services":

"NY Governor Paterson may have used campaign funds for his hookups.
This was Paterson's first week in his new job.
Last week the previous Democratic Governor stepped down after being caught in a prostitution ring.
The New York Daily News reported:

Gov. Paterson admitted Wednesday he may have improperly billed his campaign for at least one hotel tryst with a girlfriend."

I call this moral leakage. When you are doing something dishonest, it takes a complex system to then systematically cover it up. If you are like me and your memory is failing, I would find it hard to lead a double or triple life like these guys have done. Eventually, you slip, get caught and then it all crashes.

That is why I have found it far better to be honest and transparent. This does not mean telling everyone everything, but don't lie, obscure or mislead; it will come back to haunt you.

It all comes down to morality. If you are engaged in moral acts, then you should not have to hide. If you are not, then you won't. Of course, the only danger is your acts will be misinterpreted which is why you must take the time to make sure everyone understands what you are doing and why. That is not to say that either the past or present NY governor will be able to place their actions in context....

That Way Is Closed to You

You can never go back.:

"Maybe there are stupid happy people out there. Maybe they are happier than you are. And life isn't fair, and you won't become happier by being jealous of what you can't have. I suspect the vast majority of Overcoming Bias readers could not achieve the 'happiness of stupidity' if they tried. That way is closed to you. You can never achieve that degree of ignorance, you cannot forget what you know, you cannot unsee what you see.

The happiness of stupidity is closed to you. You will never have it short of actual brain damage, and maybe not even then. You should wonder, I think, whether the happiness of stupidity is optimal - if it is the most happiness that a human can aspire to - but it matters not. That way is closed to you, if it was ever open."

Sad, but true. True and uplifting. Your choice, but not really.

Joy in the Merely Real

The joy of the real world:

"For what sin are rainbows demoted to the dull catalogue of common things? For the sin of having a scientific explanation. 'We know her woof, her texture', says Keats - an interesting use of the word 'we', because I suspect that Keats didn't know the explanation himself. I suspect that just being told that someone else knew was too much for him to take. I suspect that just the notion of rainbows being scientifically explicable in principle would have been too much to take. And if Keats didn't think like that, well, I know plenty of people who do.

I have already remarked that nothing is inherently mysterious - nothing that actually exists, that is. If I am ignorant about a phenomenon, that is a fact about my state of mind, not a fact about the phenomenon; to worship a phenomenon because it seems so wonderfully mysterious, is to worship your own ignorance; a blank map does not correspond to a blank territory, it is just somewhere we haven't visited yet, etc. etc..."

The closing line is priceless.

You might say that scientists - at least some scientists - are those folk who are in principle capable of enjoying life in the real universe.

Exactly.

I Just Could Not Resist Any Longer

So, I am traveling on business in Mexico City two weeks ago. When I arrive at my hotel, the bell boy (Eric) asks me where I am from. When I tell him Texas, he proceeds to quiz me on my favorite candidate. So, when a bell boy from Mexico City asks me for whom am I voting, I think to myself, how can I remain non-partisan on my Blog? I mull it over and here I am.

I will be commenting on politics, but (hopefully) from a unique and uniquely cynical point of view. None shall be spared, Democrat, Republican or otherwise, as I hold those that seek political power in utter contempt.

What to look forward to:
1) Where is your candidate this Sunday? For those that think one party is superior on Church/State separation, let's find out where they appear each Sunday.
2) Where does your candidate stand on free trade?
3) Where does your candidate stand on government spending?

Oh, and I might even blog on intersection of radical religious movements with politics. Is that acceptable in this day and age? Do I care? We'll see.