Last night I attended the Pacers v. Suns game. The highlight of the night, and the reason why this game was basically sold out earlier this week, was that Reggie Miller's number was to be retired at halftime.

Let me just say this flat-out: Reggie is a class act. His humility and respect--for his family, his team, and for the game-- are the marks of a true professional athlete. Watching him play, when I was a kid growing up, and seeing him until the end of his career, has been a true pleasure. And I am happy to see him go out with such style.



Now, Governor Mitch Daniels was also there. In fact, he was one of the guys who did the introduction for Miller. But when Daniels' name was called over the PA, numerous people throughout the arena erupted in loud boo's. First of all, I think the people who don't like Daniels, take that position because they are afraid of change, and Daniels has been a very active governor. But nevertheless, even if your criticism of him is legit, show more respect (both for our governor and for Reggie Miller) than to boo at Daniels during this event. I'm ashamed of my fellow Hoosiers for that incident.

Nancy Pelosi (on the recent incident where Congresswoman McKinney struck a Capitol Police officer): "I would not make a big deal of this"

Speaker Hastert's spokesman: "How many officers would have to be punched before it becomes a big deal?"

After firing Mike Davis (who replaced Bob Knight at IU), the university has now hired Kelvin Sampson. Formally the head coach of Oklahoma, Sampson is getting mixed reviews from IU basketball enthusiasts. Josh Claybourn at In The Agora says that Sampson is a good cultural fit for IU with a strong basketball pedigree. Bob Kravitz, columnist for the Indianapolis Star, however, is critical of Sampson's performance at Oklahoma and of Sampson's possible ethical violations there.

I didn't realize the history of Coca-Cola was so shady. Well, here are a few tidbits from its Wikipedia article:

- the man who invented the drink, John Pemberton, was a morphine addict.
- Pemberton sold the rights to the drink to 3 different parties, originally creating market confusion
- one of those buyers was his alcoholic son, Charley Pemberton
- exclusive rights to the formula and name were eventually purchased by Asa Griggs Candler
- Chandler incorporated the Coca-Cola Company (the current company) and had the business records of his previous company, the Coca-Cola Corporation burned


...workers putting up a Coca-Cola ad on a building in downtown Indy. Coke is one of the sponsors for the Final Four. (source: Indianapolis Star)

Well, it happened... again. The U.S. news media has a nagging way of giving very little coverage to elections in foreign nations. Usually, the election happens, and we get a few articles covering it the day after--and then nothing else. Certainly none of the media would cover it before it happened. No no. They're too busy covering the American presidential election almost 3 years away, and yes, the Aruba case.

Well, I have not done a good job covering it either, so perhaps I should take my own advice.

This AP article sums up the election results fairly nicely. Before Ariel Sharon fell into a coma, he formed a new "centrist" party by the name of Kadima (meaning "forward"). This party, led now by interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, won the plurality of vote casts and will likely form a coalition government with the Labor party and at least one of the minor parties. The conservative party, led by Bibby Netanyahu, came in third.

More importantly, what is the significance of this election? Well, back on 9/14/2005, I wrote:

At this juncture (as perhaps any juncture) the biggest threat lies with hardliners on both sides of the conflict. On Israel's side, Netanyahu has threatened to run against Sharon, in a move that could fracture the Likud party. Should he come to power, he has vowed to reinstall settlements in the Gaza Strip, which would set the peace process back significantly.

So much has changed since I wrote that. As was already stated, Sharon left Likud as it moved to the political right, and formed Kadima, and then he had the stroke. Olmert appears to be in line with Sharon's policy of unilateral withdrawal from certain disputed territories, including some in the West Bank. Unfortunately, the situation has changed in Palestine for the worst, with Hamas taking power. Hamas is openly refusing to work with Israel in any peace process, and it refuses to give up its tactics of using violence against civilians.

If only we could get both sides with progressive leadership.

Fiscal conservatism isn't dead, but can it gain real traction? Well, the first thing we need are leaders in the GOP who take it seriously. When Bush pushed the prescription drug plan last term, he showed how little fiscal matters mean to him. Andrew Sullivan explains why the plan is far worse than it even seems at first:

Once you have laid the groundwork for a new entitlement, the full power of the state is involved. Once you have conceded the principle that all seniors should be able to get the latest drugs by borrowing other people's money, it's weird to put any restrictions on demand - it will soon grow exponentially, and the "donut hole" will surely be removed by a future Congress. So we'll soon shift to a system of fantastically expensive free drugs of all kinds for all seniors and a crippling of the pharmaceutical industry's research and development arm.

The headline says it all: Brain Cells Fused with Computer Chip

...

And yes, this is one of my favorite themes on this blog. I have written about it six times before: 3/21/05 (general philosophy of the matter), 4/30/05 (human bodies being used to transfer electronic information), 6/25/05 (man moves bionic arm with brain), 8/09/05 (hearing aids with super-human hearing abilities), 10/28/05 (technology that allows a human to be controlled via remote control), 2/08/06 (contact lenses suited to specific athletic performance).

As you surely know, thousands of immigrants have taken to the streets in several American cities, protesting proposed legislation in Congress that would make illegal immigration status a felony and would tighten the nation's immigration laws in other areas as well.

I have mixed feelings about the protests themselves. Large numbers of the protesters have been carrying Mexican flags and shouting "Mexico!" but from reports I've read, many are also carrying the American flag and chanting "USA!"

Regarding immigration, my stance is as it was before: crack down on illegal immigration, for security reasons and to protect the rights of the immigrants themselves, but also make it vastly easier to enter this nation legally and to gain U.S. citizenship.

Some of these protesters sure seem to have a point:

"We construct your schools. We cook your food," rapper Jorge Ruiz said after performing at a Dallas rally that drew 1,500. "We are the motor of this nation, but people don't see us.

"Enough is enough of the xenophobic movement," said Norman Martinez, 63, who immigrated from Honduras as a child and marched in Los Angeles. "They are picking on the weakest link in society, which has built this country."

"When did you ever see a Mexican blow up the World Trade Center? Who do you think built the World Trade Center?" said David Gonzalez, 22, who marched in Los Angeles with a sign that read, "I'm in my homeland.'"

I read an article about the release/rescue of the Christian "peacemakers" in Iraq, and I was severely disappointed in the group's statement. In the middle of the statement, the following phrase stuck out sorely:

"We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end."

No no no. You don't get it. Even if you think the invasion of Iraq was illegal and even if you feel that that invasion has caused suffering in Iraq, it is still ridiculous to assert that 'insecurity' led these insurgents to capture you. The insurgents are after one thing: power. Most of these insurgents are former Baathists and Sunnis who seek to install their own totalitarian regime a la Saddam Hussein. They are motivated by hate--hate for Shia and Kurds, hate for Jews, hate for Americans--and they wish to have sufficient control to act on that hate.

I refuse to let them be portrayed as insecure victims. If there is any insecurity in Iraq, it's because too many Iraqis are too stupid to stop killing each other.

Now I certainly respect the goal of these "peacemakers." Who in America really doesn't want peace for Iraq? But they are utterly blind to humans and human nature.

I've been arguing for quite some time that China's superheated economy was going to encounter an inevitable challenge: increasing labor costs.

As China develops and promotes more labor-friendly legislation (see Brian's comment under the China-Walmart post below), the cost of that labor increases, and the single biggest asset China has, cheap labor, is reduced.

This Financial Times article also discusses the effect of increasing energy costs on the Chinese economy.

Despite the increase in costs, China's economy remains quite strong, but if unforeseen global factors cause it to falter, what then? How will China's unelected totalitarian leaders react in the face of economic challenge? Will the Chinese threaten their authority?

Idiotic.

Google is increasingly showing that it wants to be a major player in the internet portal business (principle competitors: Yahoo, AOL, and now Microsoft). Its latest edition is Google Finance, a convenient place for business news, stock quotes, etc.

At first glance, the site's interface is already superior to its competitors. It's simple, easy to read, and very quick. On the downside, the page does not offer any stock analysis tools.

So check it out... Just don't quote AAPL on it, or you'll be a bit depressed.

Helen Thomas, longtime White House correspondent, should be banned by the White House from attending any future Presidential press conferences.

Her behavior at this latest one was despicable. After the President let her ask her question, she immediately interrupted him once he began speaking, and she continued to interrupt repeatedly throughout his response. Respect and decorum must not be passed to the wind, and Helen's age or experience should not give her a free pass to ignore these principles.

This is what happens to people who are too critical of any policy of the Chinese government...

Maybe Walmart, who has planned to stage a major expansion of their presence in China, will be powerful enough to effect change... Oh wait, never mind. Walmart's greed will cause it to bow down to the Chinese government's totalitarian policies, just like other American companies have done.

The Notre Dame men's basketball team had a rough season this year--losing numerous extremely close games to stellar Big East opponents. And now to cap it off, they lost to Michigan in double overtime in the 2nd round of the NIT.

As Sean explains, this really is the most appropriate cap for a cursed season such was this.

Gene Simmons



I'm not kidding. He and his marketing company have signed up with the Indy Racing League to promote Indy car racing, including the new campaign "I am Indy."

In other IRL news, NBA star Carmelo Anthony has become a co-owner of one of the IRL's racing teams. Again, I'm not making this stuff up.

Time Magazine's cover story this week is called "The Multitasking Generation" and it discusses how the increased role of electronic gadgets in kids' lives may not be such a good thing, as it requires an unprecedented level of multitasking.

Congrats to Time for writing about this... Too bad they're a year late. I first wrote about this on March 11 of last year and then again on April 8. In my first post I wrote:

"Technology often promises to make our lives simpler and easier, but while this is a dubious claim, it is nonetheless moot, because we do not want our lives to be simpler.

No, the modern man (and woman) craves sensory overload, and technology is the great enabler of this escapade. Afterall, technology is and always has been merely an extension of human will and desire...

Nevertheless, I think most people have a point of saturation: the point at which this deluge of media and communication input is simply too much too handle. At this point, annoyance is inevitable, and loss of productivity highly likely."

...

Hey, I gotta give myself some credit once in a while :-)

The more I hear of NASA's lunar and Mars' plans, the more I am impressed. The latest news is that NASA is going to use one of the largest rockets ever built to carry up most of the spacecraft, launch the astronauts and other parts of the craft on a smaller rocket, have the two dock in space, and then head to the dark side of the moon to conduct missions on a much greater scale than any of the Apollo missions.

The hope is that we can identify some geography and resources on the Moon to create a base for launching to Mars. The program's timeframe may not be ambitious, but its goals are. That's half the battle.

Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave but don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.

Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.

Run, rabbit run.
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down it's time to dig another one.

For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave.

Today, March 15th, is modern equivalent of the Roman "Ides" (roughly, middle) of March. It is that date that history tells us that Rome's most famous (or infamous) citizen was assassinated by a group of Roman senators in 44 B.C.

I really enjoy Roman history, and took many Classics courses during my undergrad years, so here are some facts about Caesar you may find interesting. Hopefully Brendan will supplement whatever I may miss.


























- Caesar's full name was Gaius Julius Caesar; "Julius" is not his first name, in the modern sense, but is rather the name of his familial clan; in Latin, his name would be pronounced "Yulius Kaisar"
- Caesar held the title of Pontifex Maximus, the same title today given to the Pope
- The German title "Kaiser", and the Russian "Tzar" are both based on variations of Caesar's name
- Caesar frequently suffered from bouts of epileptic seizures
- It is probable that Caesar, before his rise to power, had a homosexual relationship with King Nicomedes of Bythinia; the Roman historian Suetonius remarked "Caesar may have conquered Gaul, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar!"
- Caesar was not only a brilliant general, but also rivaled Cicero in oratorical skill
- Our modern calendar, with some minor adjustment, is the result of Caesar's reforms; the year was established as 365 days, with a leap year every 4th year; to rectify the imbalance of the previous Roman calendar, Caesar extended the year 46 B.C. to 445 days
- A victim of premature balding, Caesar wore his hair forward to cover the bare spots on his head
- Caesar was stabbed 23 times before he was killed; many of his assassins wounded each other in their assault
- Julius Caesar's last words were probably not, as Shakespeare would later write, "Et tu, Brute?", but instead were more than likely Greek: "Kai su technon?" (You too, my child?)
- Caesar died at the feet of a statute of Pompey the Great, his arch-rival, in a temple built by the same

Pi

Note: I wrote those 60 digits from memory. I'm glad I still got it.

Emperor Dan urged me to theme DC around St. Patrick's Day this week, and as you can see, I have done just that. Hope you like... the colors are a bit bright, but it's only for a week.

Being a Catholic and ND alum, St. Patrick's day has been a significant day on the calendar for several years now. Admittedly, though, I can't claim the Irish heritage to truly appreciate the holiday.

For more on the holiday, see this Wiki article on it, and also check out the Wiki on Saint Patrick, himself, the patron saint of Ireland.

On this date in 1879, Albert Einstein was born (check out his Wiki). Best known as the world's all-time most innovative physicist, Einstein also dabbled in philosophy.

As these quotes show, Einstein espoused an interesting blend of humanism and a belief in God. I have always found his practical and subtle observations about life to be inspiring.

- "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."

- "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish."

- "That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

- ...and on this one, I'd say bloggers are definitely proving him wrong: "An oligarchy of private capital cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society because under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information."

As many of you know, I tend to hold onto some quirky traditions, and one of those traditions dates back to high school. Our freshman year football coach posted a portrait of Albert Einstein on the outside of the door to the coach's office. The message to our team was clear: play smart (or as he liked to put it: "grow a brain"). Echoing the sentiment, I put a small portrait of Einstein up in my room at home, and I continued the tradition by posting one in my dorm rooms at Notre Dame. Unfortunately, I have let the practice lapse now that I'm in law school.

If I were so lucky to have beer flow from my kitchen faucet (see Dan's post below this one), I might have a facial expression similar to this:

Can I do the dishes, Mom? Please!!!

After I ordered my delicious lunch of a chicken nuggets combo from Wendy's this afternoon, the total came to $4.16. I handed the clerk a $10, and she returned to me a $5 and 84 cents rolled out of the coin dispenser. That is, three quarters, one nickel, and four dull faded pennies.

Now, the quarters I'll have use for: when laundry time rolls around, they'll do their part to keep my whites whiter and all that good stuff. The nickel, too, will come in handy: a late night craving for sour cream and onion chips might send me to the vending machine. But those four lonely pennies... I doubt very much they'll come to much use at all.

So let's get rid of them.

That's right, I think we should abolish the penny; it's time has past. Surely, at one time in our history, pennies were useful and helpful in monetary exchange. But a unit of currency is only so valuable as it accurately and precisely reflects the exact worth of an item, within the limits of practicality. For example, a widget might truly be said to be worth more than 99 cents, but less than a dollar. However, we would never want to create a unit of currency such as a half-cent, or a quarter-cent, just so we could be slightly more accurate in assessing the true value of the widget. At some point in our history, maybe a century or two ago, this might have been helpful, but not today.

And now, the time has come when using 1 cent values is also unhelpful; more of a hindrance than a boon. I suppose back when you could actually purchase an item for a penny, or a few pennies, one could justify their use. But is this still true today? Of course not. There's no place you can buy "penny candy" outside of throw-back soda-jerk shop. The cheapest thing you can get out of a vending machine would require 50 pennies probably. In 1900, a penny's difference in a 5 cent apple throws off its valuation by 20%; a century later, even 4 pennies' difference on a 99 cent apple distorts its value by a mere 4%. The natural progression of inflation, in both prices and wages, has doomed the penny.

No one carries around pennies in their pockets anymore. Sure, if you get change, you'll take them. But would you stoop to pick one up off the street? Pennies are so insignificant that most stores have a "take a penny" bin right on the counter top, to enable customers to make even change when they buy something and inevitably don't have the pennies to cover it. If stores and consumers alike are so willing to give away pennies, they can't be worth it to keep producing.

Pennies are even becoming obsolete in commodites like gasoline, commonly valued by the cent. Will it really be a burden for drivers if gas is rounded up to cost $2.50 per gallon instead of $2.49? Most people, if they don't already avoid change by paying via credit card, will pump extra (wasted) gas anyways to avoid a total that will produce pennies when they go inside for change.

And what do we do with all these surplus pennies? I throw mine in a mug. Several mugs, in fact. And while I count and sort my quarters, dimes, and nickels every few months, I can't remember the last time I tried to sit down and count pennies.

Finally, I now apologize to President Lincoln (who will still be on the $5 bill), and also to all of you readers, for the following summation: pennies make no cents.

This is real. Really.



[hat-tip to Chris for the link]

The Chinese media praised Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee, with China Daily even saying, "Ang Lee is the pride of Chinese people."

However, the state-run TV network also cut some things from his speech at the Oscars: his reference to Taiwan and Hong Kong, and his words of thanks to the two gay cowboys portrayed in his film.

In my mind, this epitomizes the Chinese government's hypocritical control of information. They praise the man for his work and then they censor his very words regarding that work. Where is truth left in all of this?

Roger Ebert has a column posted that sums up many of the critics out there who feel that Brokeback Mountain was snubbed for Best Picture because of homophobia in Hollywood. He then discounts these opinions and explains that Crash was simply the better film of the two. I'm inclined to believe him, so the matter's closed in my mind.

John Fund of the Wall Street Journal asks: "Are there no limits to how arrogant and out-of-touch America's Ivy League schools can get?"

No! No, John, there's no limit at all to the ridiculousness and hypocrisy that modern academia is capable of.

Yale University apparently has admitted and is presently "educating" one Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi. Mr. Hashemi must have great creditials to have matriculated in such a prestigious center of learning: stellar test scores, diverse life experiences and strong letters of recommendation. Perhaps from this guy:















That's right! You see, if one bothers to glance at Mr. Hashemi's resume, you'd discover he was previously employed by the Taliban as its deputy foreign secretary!

Yale justifies admitting Hashemi because he has reportedly renounced his old ways and committed to a new lifestyle. Tell that to "Ziba Ayeen, a Afghan-American who fled her native land with her family in the 1980s, [who] isn't amused by such thinking. 'The irony of Yale educating an official in a regime that barred women from going to school is too much.'"

Not enough irony for ya? Ponder this: Yale, one of the institutions that fought tooth and nail to keep the U.S. military off its campus because of its Don't ask, don't tell policy, is now content to admit and educate an official of a regime where homosexuals were regularly "thrown into ditches and then had concrete walls bulldozed over them."

But hey, where's the harm in a little "diversity" on campus, right? I guess if they want to admit him, that's their decision. But just one suggestion: if he enrolls in any aviation courses, have the good sense to put him on double secret probation.

It sure does't seem like it. A bombing in India today has killed 12. (warning: graphic photos included with that AP article)

Tip to Iran: if Cheney invites you out on a hunting trip, politely decline... (sorry, that was just too easy)

In all seriousness, though, here's the article. Iran is increasingly being isolated for its refusal to work with the Atomic Energy Agency. Even China is putting diplomatic pressure on them.

In recent years, in furtherance of their sacred duty to right the injustices of the world (is this what I'm paying for?), law schools across the nation began to restrict the ability of military institutions to use their campuses for recruiting purposes. The justification for limiting access to campus was that the military's policy of banning homosexuals from serving openly in the Armed Forces ran contrary to many law schools' own non-discrimination policies.

In response, Congress passed the Solomon Amendment, which stated that any institution of higher learning, or any part of thereof, that denied military recruiters equal access to the same resources given to other employers would lose federal funding. (Interestingly, student financial aid funding was exempted from this provision.)

Many law schools and law professors banded together into FAIR: the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights. FAIR filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment, claiming that conditioning the receipt of federal funds on providing access to military recruiters denied the law schools their First Amendment rights. Specifically, that law schools' freedoms of speech and association were abridged by forcing such a choice.

Yale, Harvard, Stanford and all the other luminaries of the legal world sent their best and brightest to the plate for the court battle, and they prevailed in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. But if you'll excuse the Lee Corso reference: not so fast, my friends!

In an 8-0 judicial spanking, the Supreme Court yesterday rejected FAIR's argument, reversed the Third Circuit, and ensured the enforcement of the Solomon Amendment. The decision almost surely would have been 9-0 had Justice Alito voted (he was not present for the consideration of the case).

Writing for the Court, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that FAIR's claim that the law schools' exiling of military recruiters from campus was constitutionally protected "plainly overstates the expressive nature of their activity and the impact of the Solomon Amendment on it, while exaggerating the reach of our First Amendment precedents." Roberts went on to say that Solomon does not curtail freedom of association rights either, since law school are still free to protest their opposition to Don't ask, don't tell in a number of ways. "A military recruiter's
mere presence on campus does not violate a law school's right to associate, regardless of how repugnant the law school considers the recruiter's message."

While the ruling is a victory for recruiters, I fear it will do little to reduce the pervasive hostility toward the military present on most elite law school campuses. In fact, the decision will more than likely inflame it.

First of all, I was right in my Best Picture prediction (see below)... Crash took home the big Oscar. See all the results...

Second of all, the Pope now has an iPod Nano. Cool.

Last week Apple made a couple product announcements that have got me thinking. And this has not been my usual sunny-eyed pro-Apple propaganda, but actual critical thought.

First, they came out with 2 accessories for the iPod: a $99 leather iPod case which is overpriced and under-featured, and a $349 iPod Hi-Fi boombox. The latter is, atypically for Apple, quite bland in style. I think Apple was trying to copy the iPod's simple and sleek look, but they failed. My biggest problem with these products, though, is that they encroach on third party accessory producers.

Microsoft is finally getting serious about digital music with its "Plays for Sure" standard, which is quietly being adopted by numerous digital music player manufacturers and a handful of online music stores. While Apple is still dominant in this area, driving accessory manufacturers away is probably not the wisest move when facing competition from Bill Gates and company.



Second, they came out with new Intel-based Mac Minis. These are nice machines--powerful and cheaply priced. And they come with easy TV-video out and Apple's new FrontRow software and remote control which allow the machine to operated from the comfort of your couch, with access to all your songs, movies, photos, etc. That's the good.

The bad is what Apple did not come out with: a computer or screen with DVR functionality. While Apple is positioned to make a strong play in the DVR field (think of being able to seamlessly record TV into your mac, switch to play iTunes through your home entertainment stereo system, and copy recorded TV shows to your iPod), they continue to refuse to make the leap to DVR.

And I think I know why. Apple already sells several TV shows via the iTunes Music Store, and they are continuing to increase their content from two of the major networks, ABC and NBC. The latest news is that they are also in contact with several movie studios to offer full-length feature films via the ITMS. All of these companies would probably oppose an Apple move into DVR (especially the networks) and would probably withhold licenses from Apple if they moved into that area. Thus, Apple is being forced to choose between DVR and the ITMS-iPod product line. If this be the case, then Apple is being quite wise by protecting the latter.

Back in 1984, the government broke up AT&T (Ma Bell), arguing that it had become a monopoly. It still existed, but only as one of many "baby bell" companies serving different regions of the country. One of those was Southwestern Bell (SBC). After that date, SBC got bigger and bigger, including a takeover of Ameritech the company that served the Indiana area.

Then, just this year, having grown quite big, SBC bought out AT&T itself, but it took the AT&T name. And with the latest news that the new AT&T plans to buy-out BellSouth in a $65 billion merger, it seems that the new AT&T is not much different than the old AT&T. This merger will make the company substantially bigger than Verizon, its next biggest rival.

Surely I'm not the only one who sees a bit of irony in this whole thing.

Check out her "predictions" for the Oscars... Not only is her tone that of a bigot, but she shows that she has not a shred of movie judgment.

The Best Picture Oscar is going to go to "Crash" and not to "Brokeback Mountain." You can bet on it. And the talking point all of next week will be whether some homophobia lingers amongst the Academy's old-timers and that is what robbed Brokeback, the movie that has nearly swept the rest of the awards shows.

Btw, I should note that this post was written at 5:12 p.m. today.

Last Saturday, an elderly gentleman sheepishly approached my borrowed desk at the South Bend Public Library. As a volunteer with the Notre Dame Tax Assistance Program, I perform free tax preparation services for members of the South Bend community whose income falls below the poverty line. Most of these people are entitled to tax benefits, such as the earned income credit, but are unable to decipher the U.S. tax code, which was written by monkeys. Anyhow, the man identified himself as a 78 year-old widower, living entirely off of meager social security benefits. After reviewing his situation, I had to tell him that due to a seemingly arbitrary change in tax law regarding his disability credit, his normal refund would be reduced by $300 dollars this year.

Flash forward to Wednesday afternoon. W-2 in hand, I sat down to prepare my own tax return. My family could be described as economically well-off. In fact, my parents’ income is high enough to preclude them from realizing any benefits for having dependent children. Additionally, the earnings from my summer internship were actually higher than the annual earnings of many of the Tax Assistance Program participants. However, I was able to find a glaring loophole, through which I can claim my sister as a dependent, even though I contributed exactly $0 to her support. Long story short, I’m not paying any taxes for 2005. Furthermore, if my sister was just one year younger, I could have finagled it such that my refund would have been larger than the taxes I paid!

It’s times like this that make me especially proud of our government, which is literally stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. Now, I’m not using this isolated example to argue that we’re employing some sort of wacky regressive tax policy. In fact, the top 50% of wage earners in this country are paying 97% of the taxes. However, I am deeply concerned that many poor people can fall through these kinds of cracks, and equally concerned that rich people can climb up through them. I guess this is just one of many examples of the utter incompetence of the state.

Long hailed as a health care paradise, it appears that Canada's system of socialized medicine is breaking down. Although accepting payments for health care services guaranteed by the state is outlawed, that doesn't seem to be stopping private clinics from opening all across the True North at the rate of a new one every week.

With a shortage of doctors due to lack of incentive and an overflow of patients who do not discriminate based on what health problems truly require medical attention, the wait periods for some basic health care services are causing many Canadians to re-think the benefits of socialized medicine. Consider the following lag times:

Referral from general practitioner to a specialist: 8.3 weeks
Appointment with specialist to treatment: 9.4 weeks
Referral from GP to treatment: for oncology, 5.5 weeks; for orthopedic surgery, 40 weeks

"This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years." - Dr. Brian Day, Vancouver

This is what happens when a nation decides it will ignore the market entirely: everyone is equally miserable. But, hey! Their prescription drugs are a steal!

Ash Wednesday falls 40 weekdays before Easter. Easter falls on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the first full day of the vernal equinox. (see the Wiki)

In the Catholic Church, the priest marks a cross made of ashes on each person's forehead, and says "Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return." The ashes are made from the burning of the Palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. The ceremony is perhaps my favorite of the year, as its ritual is so potent with spiritual symbolism.

The ashes have always symbolized to me Jesus's sacrifice by dying for us on the cross, and how it is that eternal sacrifice which governs our personal sacrifices and introspection over the Lenten season.



I'm not familiar with how different protestant denominations ritualize this day, but I suspect that the Lutherans employ some similar rituals as the Catholics.

...

On a humorous note, I ran into this movie cover when I was doing some Google work (I can't fathom how bad this movie must be):

Today marks the beginning of the 40-day Lenten season for Christians, ending with Easter, celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ. Catholics and Protestants both celebrate Lent, but celebration of the season among Protestants is inconsistent between sects and overall usually less formal and fervent than among Catholics.

For my non-Catholic readers, here is a brief outline of the Catholic practices during Lent. (You may also check out this informative Lent FAQ). I write these because I have encountered a surprising number of misconceptions in my lifetime.

- Abstain: on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays during Lent, Catholics are called to not eat meat; fish and other seafoods are okay, as are eggs. I have also heard, though I cannot find any official support for this, the notion that abstaining must also cover alcohol and sexual relations.

- Fast: on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics are also called to eat only a couple necessary and modest meals and to not snack in between meals.

- Give something up: the key to giving something up, such as candy or pop, during Lent is self-discipline. Catholics are encouraged to make a positive vow during Lent, as well, such as doing acts of charity.

- Prayer and Penance: Catholics are also asked to spend more time praying and in spiritual introspection than they otherwise would. This practice is also common among Protestants during Lent.

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During the Lenten season, I will also write posts for each of the significant holy days. See the above post for Ash Wednesday.