:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Friday, February 27, 2004 ::

BW Online | February 13, 2004 | The Biggest Bomb in Bush's Budget:

"It seems that no one outside the Bush Administration has anything good to say about the federal budget -- with good reason. The government's finances are a fiasco of mammoth proportions. Thanks to fiscal profligacy, more and more voices are heard arguing that America is rushing headlong into severe economic decline."

It may be a bad sign for the Bush administration if the business press gets them in their sites

:: Jim Nichols 2/27/2004 11:36:00 PM [+] ::
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Greater Sacramento added jobs in 2003 - 2004-02-27 - Sacramento Business Journal:

"It was the worst year since 1993 for job growth in the region, but Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties saw job growth of 1.2 percent for the year, according to revised figures issued Friday. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/27/2004 11:32:00 PM [+] ::
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Sacramentans spend 11 days a year getting to work - 2004-02-26 - Sacramento Business Journal:

"Sacramento commuters spend an average of 21.9 minutes getting to work each day, tying them with Portland, Ore., for the 40th longest commute among America's largest cities. "

I'm not sure why public transportation isn't higher on the priority list of more people. If you make it cheaper and faster for individuals to get to work, create tax incentives for using public trans. when going to and from work; you save people both time and money.

:: Jim Nichols 2/26/2004 05:32:00 PM [+] ::
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Study: California job loss could accelerate swiftly - 2004-02-26 - Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal:

"Nearly 40 percent of companies in California are planning to move jobs out of state according to a new study paid for by the California Business Roundtable, a pro-business lobby in Sacramento. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/26/2004 05:29:00 PM [+] ::
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Why we aren't really who we say we are...
The Kerry Cascade - How a '50s psychology experiment can explain the Democratic primaries. By Duncan Watts:

" We think of ourselves as autonomous individuals, each driven by own internal abilities and desires and therefore solely responsible for our own behavior, particularly when it comes to voting. No voter ever admits—even to herself—that she chose Kerry because he won New Hampshire. To acknowledge that our decisions might not, in fact, be ours at all, but instead might be a reflection of what we think everyone else thinks diminishes our sense of individuality. That's why we prefer to invoke other explanations for why we did whatever we did—Kerry supporters might talk about his 'electability,' but they believe the support for him has some other basis, such as foreign-policy experience, than just following the crowd. Even Asch's unwitting subjects—clear victims of manipulation—when interviewed afterwards gave other rationalizations for their decisions, some of them succumbing to what Asch called a 'distortion of perception' in which they perceived the majority as being correct. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2004 08:11:00 PM [+] ::
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Study: Loss of manufacturing jobs worse than thought - 2004-02-25 - Sacramento Business Journal:

"More than 261,000 manufacturing jobs and $98 billion in gross sales of California-manufactured products disappeared in the three-year period between 1999 and 2002.
The loss in manufacturing jobs is particularly damaging because manufacturing jobs pay exceptionally well -- almost 50 percent more than the average of all California jobs.
For decades, manufacturing jobs in California have been the prized 'one-way ticket' to the middle class for those on lower rungs of the job ladder (in particular the Latino worker).
Manufacturing jobs have a pronounced 'multiplier effect' -- they create jobs in other sectors of the economy, at a rate at least twice that of the trickle-down from the retail industry.
California legislation in recent years has had a noticeable anti-manufacturing bias.
State and local land-use policies make the development of manufacturing facilities difficult.
'As a result of all these factors, doing business in California is more difficult and more expensive than in neighboring states. California is drifting down the path of becoming a region of smaller storefront companies. Many of the large or mature companies are taking all or a portion of their operation out of town,' Kosmont says. 'We are losing high-pay manufacturing jobs and replacing them with lower-paying or minimum-wage jobs.' "

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2004 07:49:00 PM [+] ::
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Religion on the brain
I'm reading a book right now by Pascal Boyer called Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought.


I came across something interesting; he's talking about the question of whether religion is innate in the genes. He says the question is meaningless; he uses the example of catching colds, and remembering melodies. Basically it runs like this--human beings can catch colds, we have respiratory organs that provide a site for tons of pathogens including those of the commons cold; we remember tunes cause part of our brain can store series of sounds and easily remember relative pitch and duration. But there are no common colds in our genes and no melodies in our genes either.

What is in the genes is a tremendously complex set of chemical recipes for the building of normal organisms with respiratory organs and a complex set of connections between brain areas. Normal genes in a normal milieu will give you a pair of lungs and an organized auditory cortex, and with these the dispositions to acquire both colds and tunes.

So having a normal brain means you have the ability to aquire religion.

:: Jim Nichols 2/24/2004 07:53:00 PM [+] ::
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Scratch the idea of Blogging on Hegel and Schopenhauer. I am not very confident in my interpretations of them, hell i'm not very confident of anything I do in philosophy. Poltics, sure; culture, great; but philsophy throws me for a loss. I have to read a whole lot more before I start to even make a dent in the quality of textual analysis I do.

:: Jim Nichols 2/24/2004 07:35:00 PM [+] ::
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I'm sorry he lost his job overseas but...

"Its not easy to be retrained at 54"

What and its easy to be trained at 23?
What about the person who needs that job in India?
The only problem with outsourcing jobs is that we do not have a strong social safety net to retrain and upgrade skills of workers while they are waiting to find a new job.

:: Jim Nichols 2/24/2004 03:50:00 PM [+] ::
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The Economic and Social Case for Homosexual Marriage:

"A review of the research published in the American Sociological Review indicates clearly that gay parents raise children who are every bit as capable on a wide range of measures as children brought up by straight parents. Indeed, because for most gay parents having a child requires overcoming numerous obstacles, there is evidence to suggest that gay parents are better caregivers.

On the other hand, it is certainly the case that, on average, children with two parents do better in life than children that grow up in single-parent households. Children of single parents, for instance, are 1.7 times more likely to drop out of high school. But the reason has nothing to do with whether those children are adequately prepared to live in a society made of men and women. The ?empirically verified common wisdom,? to borrow a phrase from Kolasinski, is that it has everything to do with growing up in loving and financially stable homes regardless of whether those homes are headed by straight or gay parents. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/24/2004 03:28:00 PM [+] ::
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California Insider - Lockyer recall planned:

"Ted Costa and Howard Kaloogian, two men who helped get the Davis Recall off the ground before the professionals took over, are threatening this morning to recall Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer if he doesn't move quickly to stop the gay marriages ongoing in San Francisco."

:: Jim Nichols 2/24/2004 02:49:00 PM [+] ::
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Chomsky on NYT's op-ed page
Op-Ed Contributor: A Wall as a Weapon:

"It is a virtual reflex for governments to plead security concerns when they undertake any controversial action, often as a pretext for something else. Careful scrutiny is always in order. Israel's so-called security fence, which is the subject of hearings starting today at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, is a case in point."

:: Jim Nichols 2/23/2004 05:56:00 PM [+] ::
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"Reason is the law of the world and...therefore, in world history, things have come about rationally" --Hegel

Hegel looks outward towards Man as a social being--the outer life of man, he uses world history to illustrate Reason. Schopenhauer looks within man and forms his thesis by "following facts connected with the inner life of man":

"The will, as the thing in itself, constitues the inner, true, and indestrucible nature of man..."

At least in Hegel's Reason in History and Schopenhauer's The World as will and Idea we have two different starting points... Hegel is looking at the rationality of the world and Schopenhauer is looking at the rationalilty of man's nature.

:: Jim Nichols 2/23/2004 03:42:00 PM [+] ::
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19th cent. Philosophy

I have a 1500 word essay due, on the following topic, in my class:

Hegel declared that “Reason is the law of the world” (p. 62), while Schopenhauer maintained that “the intellect is a mere accident of our being” (p. 100). Explain what was meant by each of these philosophers, and whether and to what extent their views are in conflict. Show what arguments (if any) the two used to arrive at these two apparently opposite conclusions.

I'm having a whole lot of trouble getting started because I see a lot of similarities in Hegel's Reason and Shcopenhauer's Will. Even though I believe they would each argue the other is nuts...

I think i'm going to try something new and blog on it for a while to see if it leads me any where. If anyone has any thoughts (other than the fact that i'm off my gord) please email me... its up at the top but here it is again just for show: JimN4@yahoo.com

:: Jim Nichols 2/23/2004 03:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Nader 2004

Here's my take on a Nader 2004 campaign. I'll call it the Kucinich factor. I assume most people who voted for Nader tend to be idealistic AND intelligent. (Thats my key assumption... if untrue all bets are off) I think that having one more person attacking Bush from the left is a good thing. I think sticking Kerry next to Nader makes Kerry seem centrist; you can't argue Kerry's a Mass. Liberal when Naders railing on and on about Universal Health Care. I don't think Nader will draw a large vote, I truly believe most his former voters and allies want Bush out more than they dislike Kerry. I'm glad Nader's in, I want to hear him rail against all the hobgoblins he rails against--someone needs to be talking about it; but I'm certainly not going to vote for him.

:: Jim Nichols 2/22/2004 05:08:00 PM [+] ::
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'Breathalyzer in every car' bill passes house:

"Some state lawmakers are convinced they have the answer to solve the D.W.I. epidemic and want to require everyone on the road to take a breathalyzer test before they can start the engine of any vehicle."

I wouldn't have a real problem with this...

:: Jim Nichols 2/22/2004 04:32:00 PM [+] ::
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CBC.ca - Hot Type - Season 2003-2004: "Episode Overview

Author: Noam Chomsky
Book Title: 'Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance'
Original Broadcast Date: December 9, 2003

Hot Type with Evan Solomon in conversation with Noam Chomsky."

:: Jim Nichols 2/22/2004 03:37:00 PM [+] ::
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Wow this is old...

Marilyn Manson:

"Their newest album, Antichrist Superstar, definitely won't win them any new friends among guardians of public morality. But if you're a frustrated teen trapped in an ugly tract home you may well feel that these ghouls are singing your song. "

I remember when this article first came out... I thought they were the most post-punk rock thing ever....

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 10:19:00 PM [+] ::
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Intelligence: C.I.A. Admits It Didn?t Give Weapon Data to the U.N.:

"The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged that it did not provide the United Nations with information about 21 of the 105 sites in Iraq singled out by American intelligence before the war as the most highly suspected of housing illicit weapons."

Turns out two governments were lying about weapons of mass destruction... oh wait maybe Iraq wasn't lying... Iraqi scientist were lying to Saddam... Saddam was lying to the U.N.... the U.S. was lying to the U.N.... and the CIA was lying to everyone.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 09:13:00 PM [+] ::
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IBER Research, UC Berkeley: Matthew Rabin, MacArthur Foundation Fellow,:

"I'd call what I do 'psychology and economics' or 'psychological economics.' Economics has a foundation in psychology: it assumes that people are 100% rational, that they're completely self-interested, and some ancillary assumptions. We say, 'Those assumptions that economists traditionally make are at times, and in some important ways, wrong, and here are some better assumptions about people to replace them with.'"

"Psychology and Economics." Matthew Rabin. January 1997.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 08:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Good news for Dem's
Disenchanted Bush Voters Consider Crossing Over:

"In the 2000 presidential election, Bill Flanagan a semiretired newspaper worker, happily voted for George W. Bush. But now, shaking his head, he vows, 'Never again.'

'The combination of lies and boys coming home in body bags is just too awful,' Mr. Flanagan said, drinking coffee and reading newspapers at the local mall. 'I could vote for Kerry. I could vote for any Democrat unless he's a real dummy.'"

Both my mom and my grandmother (back south) both are registaring negative views towards Bush and Co.. Granted both are Democratic leaning anyways, but they both seem to be getting the negative vibes from their friends, which could be a really good sign. Lets see if its strong enough to reject 100 million in tv ads.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 08:11:00 PM [+] ::
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The philosopher is the man who has to cure himself of many sicknesses of the understanding before he can arrive at the notions of the sound human understanding." --Wittgenstein

Sound human understanding? What, that there is no question to be asked; therefore nothing to be answered for and/or with?

Silence? Silence.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 04:09:00 PM [+] ::
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"I've met God across his long walnut desk with his diplomas hanging on the wall behind him, and God asks me, "Why?"
Why did I cause so much pain?

Didn't I realize that each of us is a sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness?

Can't I see that we're all manifestations of love?

I look at God behind his desk, taking notes on a pad, but God's got this all wrong.

We are not special.

We are not crap or trash either. We just are.

We just are, and what happens just happens.

And God says, "No, that's not right."

Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can't teach God anything." -Fight Club

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 06:44:00 PM [+] ::
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"We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won't. And we're just learning this fact. So don't fuck with us." --Fight Club

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 06:41:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - 'Sex and the City' May Get Big-Screen Treatment:

"The four women who have spiced up Manhattan's singles scene for six seasons on 'Sex and the City' may be headed to the big screen after their upcoming final romp on HBO, the network said on Wednesday. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 05:25:00 PM [+] ::
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MSNBC - We Had Good Intel—The U.N.'s:

"'We were all wrong,' says weapons inspector David Kay. Actually, no. There was one group whose prewar estimates of Iraqi nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities have turned out to be devastatingly close to reality—the U.N. inspectors. Consider what Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear agency, told the Security Council on March 7, 2003, after his team had done 247 inspections at 147 sites: 'no evidence of resumed nuclear activities ... nor any indication of nuclear-related prohibited activities at any related sites.' He went on to say that evidence suggested Iraq had not imported uranium since 1990 and no longer had a centrifuge program. He concluded that Iraq's nuclear capabilities had been effectively dismantled by 1997 and its dual-use industrial plants had decayed. All these claims appear to be dead-on, based on Kay's findings."

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 05:16:00 PM [+] ::
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California Insider - Liz Hill: gov's budget won't close shortfall:

"Even if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wins approval for his bond measure and all of his budget proposals, he still will face a budget gap of more than $7 billion a year from now and an ongoing shortfall of about $5 billion, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said in her comprehensive review of the governor's fiscal plan. "

I don't know how i'm going to vote on the bond. I wish there was a "yes if..." choice on the ballot. I'm for the bond if they raised taxes. But i'm not thrilled about the idea of paying off a bond tomorrow if they won't raise taxes on people today. But if the bond doesn't pass i'm afraid there will be even more cuts in programs--not that cuts would be necessary, there would be other ways but the other ways just aren't politically appealing to most voters.

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 05:11:00 PM [+] ::
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A Two-Man Race Too Late for No. 2?:

"fully four-fifths of the voters in Wisconsin said they would be satisfied if Kerry wins the nomination, according to the exit poll conducted by the National Election Pool."

Yeah but would that "non-democratic" 38% of the electorate be satisfied if kerry wins?

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 08:48:00 AM [+] ::
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Governor Is Raising Funds Faster Than Davis:

" Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is collecting money to promote his March 2 ballot measures at a clip of $121,313 a day ? far outpacing Gray Davis at the height of the former governor's fundraising."

:: Jim Nichols 2/17/2004 03:36:00 AM [+] ::
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"It is not necessary for you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it... If it were necessary for any among us to complete the work, then we might break off in despair, because the work can never be completed." --Rabbi Tarphon

:: Jim Nichols 2/17/2004 12:38:00 AM [+] ::
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the american street: Making My Point:

"Here's a news story about a Bush visit to a factory that demonstrates my point in my previous post:

'As he entered, a half-dozen workers were steadily polishing windows, as if Bush had walked into an ordinary shift on President's Day. News cameras snapped away as Bush picked up a caulking gun and hugged workers.
Five minutes after Bush and his entourage of journalists left, the factory floor was deserted, and there was no sign later in the day that production had resumed.

'Here's something the Reagan people knew: only the pictures matter. Once Michael Deaver, one of Reagan's marketing wizards, was asked about a news story that showed pictures of Reagan at photo-ops, while the voice-over talked about how Reagan was misleading people by using these photo-ops to give impressions that were actually the opposite of Reagan's policies. Deaver thanked them for showing the pictures (just spell my name right) and said the voice-over and the facts don't matter -- what mattered were the pictures people saw because that is what formed their impression of events."

:: Jim Nichols 2/16/2004 11:51:00 PM [+] ::
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Election 2004

I keep seeing a lot of comparisions with 2000 going on right now. On Meet the Press Sunday Tim Russert put up a chart showing the close race that occured in a number of states. One thing though, all of those number include Nader and Buchanan. What I haven't seen are numbers that remove Nader and Buchanan from the equation and compare all of those close states. Now I know Nader may run, but he's going to get nowhere near the vote he captured last time. What are the numbers when its straight Blue vs. Red?

:: Jim Nichols 2/16/2004 11:47:00 PM [+] ::
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When Philosophy Makes a Difference:


"A modern philosopher who has never experienced the feeling of being a charlatan is such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading"

--Leszek Kolakowski

:: Jim Nichols 2/15/2004 02:09:00 PM [+] ::
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Study: State's poor not as hard hit by recession - 2004-02-13 - Sacramento Business Journal:

"California's recent economic downturn has not hit poor residents nearly as hard as have recessions of the past - nor has it significantly increased poverty - according to a study released Friday by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)."

:: Jim Nichols 2/13/2004 05:36:00 PM [+] ::
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Proposition 55 - University of California -:

UC Regents Endorse Prop. 55 Education Bond

The University of California Board of Regents has endorsed the Facilities Bond Acts of 2002 and 2004, which would provide funding for K-12 and higher education facility needs through 2006.

On Nov. 5, 2002, California voters approved Proposition 47, the state bond measure that will provide $13 billion for school facilities, with 59% of the vote. It authorized more than $11.4 billion for K-12 and $1.65 billion for higher education capital projects. The companion measure, on the March 2004 ballot as Proposition 55, would provide funding for facilities for public schools throughout the state – including $10 billion for K-12 and $2.3 billion for higher education.

In all, the legislation which placed the bond measures on the ballot (AB 16) authorizes a total of $27 billion in general obligation bond funds over four years to help fund K-12 and higher education facility needs. The measure received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Legislature.

UC would receive approximately $345 million per year for capital outlay for the four-year period covered by the two bond acts. The California State University and the California Community Colleges would also receive capital projects funding.

University of California's projected capital needs total $600 million per year through 2006. The university expects enrollment growth of approximately 63,000 additional students between 2000-2010.

A copy of Proposition 55 and ballot arguments, visit the Secretary of State's Proposition 55 web page. Complete 2002 election returns and county-by-county results for Proposition 47 are also available on the Secretary of State's election returns page."

:: Jim Nichols 2/12/2004 04:21:00 PM [+] ::
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UC Davis News & Information :::

"Even with a 400-year history of attracting immigrants from around the world, the United States continues to prefer newcomers with white faces, says UC Davis immigration historian Bill Ong Hing.

In his new book 'Defining America Through Immigration Policy,' Hing explores links between traditional racial concepts of who is a true American and how we enforce federal immigration policies.

'Immigration policies are not simply reflections of whom we regard as potential Americans, they are vehicles for keeping out those who do not fit the image and welcoming those who do,' says Hing, a professor of law and Asian American studies.

In his book, Hing shows how immigration policies excluded the 'undesirable Asians' in the 19th century. He also covers the 1917 literacy law; the 1952 act that excluded communists, homosexuals and other undesirables; discriminatory quotas; and diversity visas.
He also explores why Americans condone policies that push Mexican migrants to travel north through remote, uninhabited deserts, placing them in mortal danger.

'The American public has come to devalue the lives of undocumented Mexican border-crossers, having been conditioned to view these people as something other than potential Americans,' Hing says.
The events of Sept. 11 reminded Americans that the United States is a nation of immigrants that has grown increasingly diverse since 1965, Hing says. However, the acts of terrorism also triggered broad government targeting of racial and ethnic groups.

'Our nation's immigration and refugee policies tell us much about ourselves, including whom we tolerate, much less respect,' Hing says."

:: Jim Nichols 2/12/2004 04:18:00 PM [+] ::
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Haiti rebels angry, but disorganized | csmonitor.com:

"For eight days now, Haiti's fourth-largest city has been controlled by an armed rebel gang whose barricades on the national highway have cut the country in two. The port city echoes with automatic weapons fire, and dark smoke billows from burning car hulks blocking the streets. As many as 50 people have been killed, and the police have abandoned more than a dozen Haitian cities and towns as the violence spreads. "

Its sad I know next to nothing about this country, or whats going on right now. A person should know their neighbors...

:: Jim Nichols 2/12/2004 04:14:00 PM [+] ::
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California home prices jump nearly 18 percent - 2004-02-12 - Sacramento Business Journal:

"Demand for housing in California helped push housing prices to record levels in the fourth quarter of 2003, up 17.9 percent on a year-to-year basis, the California Association of Realtors said Thursday.

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during the fourth quarter hit $391,680. For the year as a whole, the median price of an existing, single-family detached home was a new annual record at $372,720, also a 17.9 percent increase compared to 2002. Record high prices were noted in all parts of the state, the association says.

The Sacramento area experienced a 16.5 percent increase over a year ago as the median price rose to $262,210. That's 3.7 percent higher than the third quarter. Broken down by counties, El Dorado County reported a 13.6 percent increase over last year from $279,000 to $317,000; Placer was up 17.6 percent to $350,000 from $297,500; Sacramento County was up 16.9 percent to $268,909 from $230,000; and Yolo County was up 12.4 percent to a median of $286,500 from $255,000. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/12/2004 04:11:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Israel to Shun World Court Hearing on Barrier:

" Israel said on Thursday it would not attend a World Court hearing on whether it should tear down a barrier taking in Jewish settlements on occupied West Bank territory that Palestinians want for a state. "

Where's Bush--aka the great defender of human rights--when you need him.

:: Jim Nichols 2/12/2004 03:16:00 PM [+] ::
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Another great quote

"I envy people who drink - at least they know what to blame everything
on." -Oscar Levant

:: Jim Nichols 2/11/2004 11:10:00 PM [+] ::
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The question no one is asking...

I know i've been gone. I've surely lost some readers. I had been getting pretty good about posting. Lots going on in my life right now so blogging hasn't been a top priority. Hopefully part of my "getting back to normal" focus will include some posts every now and then.

:: Jim Nichols 2/11/2004 11:09:00 PM [+] ::
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They call him a strong leader... but the generals don't seem to agree...
Military Costs: Service Chiefs Challenge White House on the Budget:

" In an unusual public display of differences with the White House, the top officers of the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force all raised questions on Tuesday about how the Bush administration plans to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after the current financing runs out at the end of September.

Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, three of the four chiefs of the armed services expressed concerns about a financing gap, perhaps of four months, for the two missions, whose combined cost is about $5 billion a month.

They were left out of President Bush's budget request for the 2005 fiscal year, with the administration saying it would make a supplementary request for up to $50 billion, probably next January — after the elections this year."

:: Jim Nichols 2/11/2004 05:20:00 AM [+] ::
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courtneylove.com: "On Hole's 1994 masterpiece, Live Through This, she inhabited teenage misfits, bored housewives and beauty queens with total conviction. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/11/2004 05:03:00 AM [+] ::
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