Recent & Best of Random Fragments:

Monday, January 2, 2012

   The Ruins in Bright Angel Wash -  It is the end of 2011 and the weather has improved over the last ten days or so.  We've had temps in the 50s in Flagstaff and I have been jumping back into some serious efforts to get into shape.  A few days earlier than this hike I went up to the top of Mt. Elden, here in Flagstaff, which is just a tick under 9,300 feet in elevation (from 7,000 foot Flagstaff).  It felt good and the trail was fine.  So, I decided to do a hike down the Bright Angel trail.  I knew that the trail would be icy, and I was not disappointed.  But, I also knew that it would be a nice warm day down in the canyon and that there wouldn't be too many folks on the trail.

To read the full hiking blog, go to The Ruins in Bright Angel Wash
located in the Hiking Grand Canyon section of the Kaibab Journal.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

   Advice for Ron Paul - The Iowa caucuses are just a few days away.  Earlier for this election year than in years past.  In fact, I participated in the caucuses in 1976, when I was in my senior year at Drake University.  Great fun, but clearly they were held while school was in session.  Anyway, the expectation is that Ron Paul will win, or finish a close second.  He has spent a great deal of time, energy and effort in this state.  The question is, what will he do with his showing to ratchet up to the next level.  Most pundits keep saying that he is maxed out at about 20% approval among voters and if he doesn't change his style, I would agree.

     But, unlike most pundits, I like Ron Paul.  It takes a while and you really have to listen to his message carefully, but if you do, you may find he is the most sensible candidate in the race.  Yet, his opponents have hijacked the narrative on him as a crazy person.  That is not only unfair, it is just laying the groundwork for what the Dems would say should Paul win the nomination.  But, I don't think he can win the nomination, but can change his tack to further his cause.  To wit . . .

Demote foreign policy as a campaign issue.  The hullabaloo mostly comes from Ron Paul's foreign policy.  So, why not just refuse to go down that road?  Indeed, there is virtually nothing in his Plan to Restore America that deals with foreign policy.  Acknowledge that fundamental international relationships are not likely to change under a Ron Paul term (or, two).  Maybe something like getting rid of half the military installations around the world would be enough.  If absolutely nothing changes in the foreign policy arena, but enormous advance is made on the domestic front, it wouldn't bother me.  It's still much better than what we're likely to get.  Maybe even an acceptable foreign policy wonk for VP would help in this regard - I saw a news bit on Condi Rice that made me think this could be the right choice!

Focus on specific domestic issues.  The next step should be a shortened explicit wish list for domestic policies that are practicable in a first term.  Once outlined, it can become the point of discussion, argument and debate.  List the 2 specific cabinet offices to get rid of - Energy and Education probably, although Commerce, Agriculture, Labor and Transportation are also on my list.  Tout the fact that you're leaving Homeland Security in for now.  When it comes to the Fed, the call for an audit is a good start, but it probably best not to push the envelope on his proposal to End the Fed.  Simplify his tax reduction proposals and get them out front and center.  Finally, he has a specific list of regulations that should be eliminated.  He should focus on his plan for regulatory reform that will reduce the regulatory bias that is present in government anyway.

Angle for the Convention.  The GOP Convention is probably the last stop on the Ron Paul train.  I think that he should use his voter support to leverage a prime time spot at the convention, where he can lay out a modest agenda for President Romney to follow after he beats Obama -  End those departments, cut taxes, keep federal spending to no more than X% of GDP, place a sunset on all regulations, etc.  This is the best way to insure that the agenda doesn't die with the end of his campaign.  Getting a Marco Rubio on the ticket as veep may also insure that the cause has some longevity.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

   Why Do We Read? - I was having an interesting conversation with someone about how we just don't remember the things we read.  Especially, the books, et al., that we read for pleasure.  I can often say whether a book was good or not, but can't ever recall any specifics to back up those opinions.  So, what was the point?  Good question.  Yet, I have always liked to read and still do so.  I have lots of books, and plenty of them I will never read despite my best intentions.  Very few have I read more than once.  The short stories of Philip K. Dick come to mind, and I have read parts of the Lord of the Rings more than once (but, I've seen the 3 movies more than that!).  But, those are exceptions to the general rule.  However, I have a hard time giving them up.  I always look at them and think that I might read them again.  But, why?  Well, because I don't remember any of the details.  And, therein lies the dilemma I am wrestling with - why do we read?

     Years ago I read John Kenneth Galbraith's autobiography, A Life in Our Times, which I really liked.  But, why?  Well, I remember it as being well-written (which is true of his books anyway) and full of details about being raised in Canada and ending up at Harvard and working for the price control agency during WWII, as well as doing a study of the value of our strategic bombing during WWII (or, was that in another book?) and working for the Kennedy administration.  But, I clearly don't recall any but the barest of details - the kind you could write out in a paragraph not unlike the one you are reading!  I do remember one specific comment of his that has stuck with me for years (yes, I read it a long time ago).  Once he finished writing a book he would sit down and write up a page, or two, of comments and notes about it so that he wouldn't forget what he had read!  To this day, I do the same with nonfiction books.  In fact, I can't read something of substance without a pen and pencil, pad of paper and sticky notes at the ready.  Consequently, it takes me a long time to read these books, but I have notes to refer to so that I can recall what I learned.

     For books I use in my teaching that is not the case.  Forgetting what I read, that is.  I read them over and over, if not in their entirety, then at least major sections/chapters.  I take voluminous notes and often have put together PowerPoint slide shows to draw out the details for my students.  Of course, what my students do is read them once and don't take notes and forget what they've read pretty much as soon as they put the book down.  But, that's not really their fault, is it?  And, clearly, our educational establishment would never think to require the level of effort necessary to insure that students actually understood what they have read.  But, that is the topic for another blog.

     As I noted in my previous blog (On Storage), I have a lot of DVDs.  And, I watch them.  Frequently and repetitively in some cases.  And, I am sure that I remember more from a movie (even one I have only seen once) then I have from the most recent novel I have read.  And, that got me to thinking about whether we could have a world without a written language, or perhaps only one we use infrequently.

     For example, the signs on the highway almost always have a picture of an airplane when the airport exit is coming up.  I suppose we could say that signs posting numbers don't count anyway (speed limits, highway numbers, etc.).  But, in the far off future, we may be doing everything by voice anyway . . .

     Well, that illustrates the idea.  It just seems to me that written content will become increasingly obsolete.  Funny thing for me to claim, since I like to write!  So, from books-on-tape, to pictures on the McDonald's cash register, I can easily imagine that the written word will get scarcer and scarcer.  When we can just verbalize our requests for information and get it back in a spoken, or visual, manner, what will be left to write?  And, will we still read?

Friday, December 23, 2011

   On Storage - As I gaze over my rather extensive collection of DVDs, I keep thinking about the future of storage.  I know, it doesn't seem very interesting, but it is to me.  [So is how aluminum is made, but that will have to wait for a later time.]  I can remember the days before we could tape TV shows and there was no such thing as a movie rental business.  I can still remember wanting to watch a new show that was called "Star Truck."  But, I missed seeing it because it was either on too late or it didn't command a sufficient vote to allow watching on our small black and white TV.  It was only years later, when I saw reruns of this show, that I realized it's title was "Star Trek"!  But, with just four channels (plus or minus), shows appearing as reruns wasn't all that common.  So, if you missed something, you just missed it.  Then, along came video tape.

     I missed the Betamax wave, thank goodness.  [I also pretty much missed 8-track tapes, too.]  But, eventually a VHS player/recorder was cheap enough to buy, as was the tape.  Now, you could actually tape shows, and buy (or, rent) copies of movies.  And, thus began my video collection.  I taped mostly movies and mostly I never watched them!  Well, in economics we talk about something called a "reservation price," which is what you'd pay just on the off chance you might want to "consume" some good.  So it was with these movies.  I didn't do much insofar as TV shows goes except for the Babylon 5 series.  I taped the original airing (at the slowest speed; 6 episodes to a tape!), and then I taped the reruns on TNT when they picked up the fifth season.  Then I taped them all again when the shows went to the Sci Fi channel and they were aired in letterbox.  Now, I did watch the whole series a couple of times, but not the Sci Fi version.  Of course now I own the DVDs (and have watched them all the way through at least twice).

     The advent of the Laserdisc interested me a lot, but was way too expensive for my tastes.  I can remember another student in grad school musing about being able to buy a multi-disc set of Lawrence of Arabia.  I am pretty sure that was before the restored movie was re-released to theaters in 1989 (which I saw twice within a week).  And, during a film festival on campus one year that featured movies by Orson Welles, I caught a session with Roger Ebert who was using a Laserdisc to go through Citizen Kane practically frame by frame.  Too cool, but still too pricey.

     So, I was quite enthusiastic about the DVD revolution and started to build quite a library of movies.  When blu-ray came along (I decided to give HD DVD a pass) I was leery of replacing my DVDs.  So far I haven't really done that, with a few exceptions.  The blu-ray player does a good job on DVDs - in fact, if you couldn't play a DVD on the blu-ray I am sure I would not have moved that way.  Now, I pretty much only buy blu-ray discs to add to my DVD collection.  [If you click on the picture of my videos, above, you'll see a larger image and can see my copy of the Lost series on blu-ray next to my DVD copy of Repo Man.] 

     But, I wonder why.  It seems to me (and, probably everyone else), that the whole "on-demand" market is just going to get better and better.  Why not just pay $1 every time you want to see your favorite movie rather than pay $20 to own a copy.  I do like the extra features on the discs, and the on-demand services will have to find a way to include that if I am going to switch sooner rather than later.  Still, it makes me think that my lifelong quest to obtain these movies has been for naught.  As it is, I already get sucked into watching a movie on my satellite service even though I own a copy!  Just last night - an hour of Battle: Los Angeles.  I suspect the current generation doesn't feel as compelled to acquire and store movies, books, and music.  My book collection is also too large, although I am loathe to give up any of my really old Grand Canyon tomes.  And, while my music collection isn't that large, there was a time when I had lots of vinyl, and even 45s before that.  Now, you just skip out to iTunes or Google Books and find everything you could want.  Maybe in another 20 years, you won't find home libraries, or video and music collections.  Everyone will just have electronic access and our days of personal storage will be over.  Sort of like in Fahrenheit 451, but in a nice way.  Insert smiley face here.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

   Post-Thanksgiving Workout - A couple of days after Thanksgiving, I did a day hike in the Grand Canyon with hiking buddies John Eastwood and Bill Ferris.  [The photo to the right shows John and Bill hiking over the Tonto trail as it leads to Indian Garden.  Click to see a larger image.]  I decided to ask the editor of the Daily Sun if he'd be interested in a story for his weekly Outdoors column, which runs each Tuesday.  He was enthusiastic and I penned something quite quickly.  He said it would run the next week (so, a bit less than two weeks after Turkey Day).  But, we got a big snowstorm that weekend and he couldn't resist writing up some cross-country skiing story.  And, I got bumped the next week as well.  Finally, the story ran on Tuesday, December 20.  Here is my version, which is slightly different than the one he ran, but with his title:

Walking off the holiday meal Dennis Foster It is a couple of days after Thanksgiving and time to do some serious work to counteract the effects of all that turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and, yes, the pumpkin pie.  Living in Flagstaff, there is no better way to do that than to take a day hike in the Grand Canyon.  Especially when the weather is terrific – clear blue skies and balmy inner canyon temperatures. So, along with two hiking buddies, we headed out of town at 7 a.m.  Our plan was to hike down the South Kaibab trail to the Tonto trail, then over to Indian Garden and hike back up to the rim on the Bright Angel trail.  The total distance is about 13.5 miles and each trail segment – South Kaibab, Tonto and Bright Angel – is about 4.5 miles. The temperature was right about freezing when we started down the trail at nine o’clock.  We were in the shade and it stayed cold until we reached Cedar Ridge 1.5 miles down the trail.  The trail was busy with hikers but not crowded like at other times of the year. As we continued down we got to see some of the work that has been done on this trail over the last couple of years.  The improvement on the section through the Redwall is especially noticeable, as the rocky stretches have now been replaced by well formed steps. At eleven o’clock we reached the junction with the Tonto trail.  We headed west and began to contour our way through Pipe Creek canyon.  This trail gets a lot less use and is in a much more primitive state.  Not surprisingly, over the next three hours, until we reached Indian Garden, we only saw two other groups of hikers. Pipe Creek is perennial which makes it a great attraction at any time of the year.  We pulled in here a little after noon and ate our lunch.  The low lying winter sun quickly set behind the South Rim above us, encouraging us to move on.  From here we hiked in the shade of the towering façade of the South Rim nearly all the way to the Bright Angel trail. Just before reaching Indian Garden, the trail passes by the site where Ralph Cameron once had some tent cabins for rent.  I brought along a copy of a photo of these tents that was published in National Geographic in 1914.  We found the little terrace where these tents once stood, along with a few pieces of metal. At Indian Garden there was construction going on at the restrooms along the trail and the day use area was closed.  So, we rested in the campground area, snacking and filling up our water containers.  During the winter, the water faucets along the trail above Indian Garden are turned off, so you need to have all you’ll need when you leave here. We started out of Indian Garden at 2:30 p.m. and within fifteen minutes were back into the shade, permanently.  As we climbed up the trail, it got colder and colder.  By the time I reached the rock with the ancient pictographs, about two miles from the rim, I was back to wearing my fleece jacket and a headband around my ears. I was the last of the group to reach the rim, topping out at just before 5:30 p.m., as the setting sun was casting a dim light that had turned the very top of the north rim purple, signaling the end of a perfect hiking day in the Grand Canyon.  Perhaps a reward is in order.  I wonder if there is still pumpkin pie at home? Dennis Foster lives in Flagstaff and has been an avid hiker in Grand Canyon since 1977. For More Information: Bright Angel, Tonto and Hermit Trails:  For information on these, and other inner canyon trails, there are many trail guides available. Among the most readily available is Scott Thybony's "Official Guide to Hiking Grand Canyon."  You can find this at area bookstores, or online, at the Grand Canyon Association website. Backcountry Permits:  Find information on permits and trip planning at http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm Grand Canyon:  To learn more about visiting the Grand Canyon go to www.nps.gov/grca.  Or, you can find information at www.grandcanyonscout.com Click on any picture (except granary closeup) to see a larger image.  I knew this was wrong! On the improved Redwall stretch. Group photo at Pipe Creek. John silhouetted against Isis Temple.  Zoroaster looms over Pipe Creek ... ... and the small granary within!

The paper ran two photos - the group shot and the view of Indian Garden that appear above.  I have added a few others of interest.  Some notes:

The thermometer at Cedar Ridge.  The photo shows that the "reading" was some 58 degrees.  Funny, since that is higher than the forecast high on the rim.  And, it was still early in the morning (9:30 am) and everyone was bundled up.  I'd say it was in the mid to upper 30s, making this 25 degrees too high.  I have often noticed this during the summer, when it will read 90 degrees plus, or even one hundred, when it is clearly not that hot.  So, this must be part of the Park Service's deception plan to discourage hiking in the canyon!  Seems like the Department of Justice has been trying to emulate them!

The granary in Pipe Creek.  The photos above show the view looking back across Pipe Creek, with Zoroaster (and Brahma) in the background.  Quite impressive, especially when you note that there is a tiny granary tucked away under a ledge at the base of the Tapeats.  The close up version is a bit fuzzy, but you can see the dark hole in the middle where the opening is.  In the thumbnail of the bigger picture you can kind of tell where it is, but if you click on it and get the full image, you should be able to see the opening better.  I have hiked by this before, but it was back in the 1980s.  I'll have to look up those old photos some day!

Editor's literary license.  In the published story, the editor inserted, "after taking the shuttle bus to the trailhead," after my comment about starting down the trail at 9 a.m.  That wasn't true, but I can see his interest in describing to the general public how to access the trailhead.  What really happened is that we parked at the nearby picnic area and walked to the trailhead.  That worked out for us as John's wife, Kathy, came along but didn't want to do the whole hike.  She only went down to the top of the Redwall (which is still 4-5 miles round trip) and then drove over to the Bright Angel lodge, where she picked us up.  Sweet deal for us, otherwise we'd have had to budget in another hour, or so, for transit.  Ugh!

More editorial additions.  In the paper version, there are some additional comments from the editor on the icy conditions of the upper couple of miles on these trails.  [Funny, that didn't make it into the web version, nor did my "For More Information" section.  Hmm.]  That was a key attraction to us - absolutely no snow or ice on these trails for our hike even though it was right after Thanksgiving.  We did have some snow fall weeks earlier, but it was all gone for our hike.  I did, however, bring along my Kahtoola micro spikes just in case!

The Cameron tent cabins.  I mentioned these in my story on the backpacking trip from Indian Garden to Hermit published almost exactly a year ago (Back in the saddle).  But, I didn't have room for photos.  So, when we neared the Bright Angel trail, we matched up the old photo I had copied out of the National Geographic Magazine from 1914 (that the Kolbs had taken which was part of their long story in this issue) and scouted out the site...  

     1/2012 update:  The photo I used from this hike didn't really match up perfectly with the old Kolb photo.  So, on a later trip (BA Wash ruins) I spent some time trying to better line up the view.  That is shown above, where I have indicated corresponding physical features with the arrows (blue for the rim and yellow for the big rocks).  The short salmon arrows show where the Plateau Point Trail is today versus back in the early 1900s.  I've used the other salmon arrows to show where Cameron's tent cabins would be today, as well as where the Kolb's photo studio was located.  I have scouted around for any sign of the Kolb residence, but haven't found anything.  You can see another structure in the new photo, which I believe is part of the old power plant.  It could be that the Kolb residence was completely removed with any usable material going into the power plant buildings.  [Click on the photo above to see a bigger image.]

     Another obvious change is that there are now lots of big trees in the Garden Creek drainage.  It used to be that this are flooded rather often, which is why Cameron's facility was well up above the bed.  Indeed, if you wander around the campground area here you will notice a number of retaining walls whose purpose is to divert water away from this area.

     I imagine that Indian Garden was a pretty hot place back in the day!  In fact, the tent cabin site now lies alongside the Tonto trail.  It used to be part of the old Bright Angel trail, which went east out of Indian Garden and then followed a ravine down into Pipe Creek.  Along this old trail there are a few old Indian ruins that I keep meaning to visit.

Monday, September 19, 2011

   Random Fragments - I should probably do more of these, but so it goes . . .

If it's not a choice, it's not a problem.  I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab, WiFi only.  I got it because I got my dad the same thing, but with 3G service so he could connect to the web through something other than his obsolete dial up modem and laptop with Windows 95!  I spent a couple of days learning how it works and then drove up to Denver and spent a couple of days with him going over features (he really likes to do on-line banking).  OK, insofar as it goes.  But, when I ask him about it, and he tries to explain what happens when he makes certain selections, I had trouble following him, even though its Android system is quite similar to my smart phone.  So, I got one for me, but I don't need the 3G so I just got the WiFi model.  Turns out to be a bit of a mistake.  Some operating differences, and, as I have come to find out, some connection problems.  Apparently, when my wireless router has to make some IP changes, the Samsung won't figure that out and it gets hung up trying to connect.  From what I have read on the web, I might have to do a factory reset, or I might have to find some special software that will allow me to detect and delete the cached file that the Samsung is storing the IP address in, or something else.  Anyway, after reading about this in three, or four, on-line forums, I went to the Samsung site to see if there was info out there.  Nothing!!?!  So, I decided to fill out an e-mail from their help section.  It required me to identify the type of item, make, and model number.  But, when I chose mobile device and wifi tablet, it wouldn't give me a choice for model number nor let me enter one.  Consequently, it wouldn't take my e-mail!!!  Aargh!!!  So, I chose a Sprint smart phone instead and in my message I wrote that "This is not what I have!!!!  But, you won't let me choose what I have!!!" and so on.  We'll see.  Seems like I should be able to do a work around, but maybe a pain in the  . . . samsung!

NAU 9/11 flag flap.  Some of my students were handing out small American Flags at the University Union last Friday, in commemoration of 9/11.  They had a permit to set up a table outside for this.  Then, it started raining and they moved inside, staying out the way and continuing with their activity.  Then, the powers that be descended upon them.  The quick-witted organizer filmed it and put it up on YouTube.  The story was picked up by Drudge and showed up in a Fox News blog as well as a Townhall blog.  The local paper ran a front page story on it as well.  Much of the local response is both predictable and inane.  This shouldn't even have been an issue.  The school officials should have just found a way to accommodate this group of students - did I mention that there were 3 of them?  Just looking around, there were more students congregating in ad hoc groups than these three.  And, did I mention that these were small flags that you can hold in your hand, or maybe tape to your pencil?  Clearly, they represented a threat to the public order.  I haven't checked recently, but I thought that at Tiananmen Square, the rule was to break up groups of five or more.  Perhaps, officials at NAU can relax their standards and adopt the more liberal Chinese rule?  But, that's not how bureaucrats think.  And, certainly that's not how they think when it comes to conservative students.  It's too bad we can't just have a "Use Common Sense" rule!  Later, I was talking with a student about this issue and was told that in the morning there are usually 20-40 students lined up in this very space, at the Starbucks, blocking the doors and congesting the whole area.  Nobody ever comes out to ask for their permit.

Katrina made me do it!  I was watching John Stossel's most excellent show, Stupid in America.  He raised the point that there are now more kids in charter schools in New Orleans than in public schools.  The reason?  Hurricane Katrina.  It wiped out so much infrastructure that the city was pretty much forced to allow for competition (i.e., capitalism) in order to meet their education needs.  Hmm . . . quite a lesson here, but nobody else seems to be talking about it!  Indeed, he had one commentator remark about how we tend to reinvent ourselves after such natural catastrophes, and he cited the San Francisco earthquake and the Chicago fire as additional examples.  But, of course this is disingenuous.  It misses the point that it takes a natural disaster to finally allow us to throw off the shackles of corrupt government and give the market a chance to bloom, reinvigorating our lives.  If only we could learn that lesson without having the natural disasters!!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

   Hiking the Gems in GC - I have hiked the Grand Canyon for over thirty years and covered some pretty spectacular terrain.  Yet, I had never done the so-called "Gems" hike, which is hiking along the Tonto Trail between Boucher Canyon and the South Bass Trail.  This past spring break, I got a chance to do this hike, in no small part due to my continued recovery from an operation to replace my torn ACL.  If you hit this just right, as we did, it can be a magical and pleasant trek that offers lots of grand scenery, brushes with history and ample water.

To read the full hiking blog, go to The Gems:  South Bass to Hermit
located in the Hiking Grand Canyon section of the Kaibab Journal. 

Friday, August 19, 2011

   Perry-Romney 2012 - I don't really know much about Rick Perry, and I can't say that I really trust Mitt Romney to hold to free market principles, but I am rather attracted to the idea of this pairing for the next presidential election.  I haven't really looked around to see if anyone else has opined on this match up, so it is not likely to be much of an original thought with me.  Still, I like the idea of a businessman (or, woman) as a member of the national ticket, and so I like Romney in the supporting role.  I know that the press has taken Perry to task for his recent comments on the Fed and man-made global warming, but I found his comments refreshingly honest.  So, while my enthusiasm may not last (exactly what did happen to Gary Johnson's invisible campaign??), I offer up this preliminary bumper sticker (ah, if only you could download it into your LCD device!) along with some miscellaneous comments:

Prosperity.  I think that the key to the next election will revolve around the economy and what the electorate finds most compelling (again, not exactly rocket science).  I pondered about how to play off the P and R in their names and was considering "Prosperity & Revitalization."  Yuck.  I was put off by the idea of it standing for "public relations," but opponents will probably find that a suitable come back.  In the end, I liked that I could use the P and R together.

Renewing the American Dream.  I was considering "restoring" instead, but didn't like the idea that it just argues for a return to the good old days, since there is plenty to complain about them!  I settled on "renewing" because it allows one to be forward looking and yet argue for a reinvigoration of all that we like about the "American Dream."

The shining city on the hill.  OK, I stole that visual from Ronald Reagan's famous allegory.  In fact, I stole the image (I mean, made fair use of that image) from some Reagan site.  I tried to make the path of "Prosperity" lead to that idealized "shining city on the hill."

The star.  OK, I also stole the star.  From the McCain campaign of 2008.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

   The Civil War @ 150 - I was visiting family back in the Washington, D.C. area and, as I am wont to do, I made sure to see some Civil War sites.  As luck would have it, this year marks the beginning of 4 years of events commemorating 150 years since that time, and the biggest kickoff was going to be a re-enactment of the Battle of Manassas/Bull Run.  Over 8,000 re-enactors were participating in this event, and I was able to go.  We arrived early - 

a bit after 6 a.m., caught a shuttle to the grounds (about 2 miles from the actual 1861 battle, but relatively close to the the site of the 1862 battle).  There were bleachers and standing room areas and the place was packed to the gills.  It was a hot and humid week in the nation's capitol, and free water was being constantly distributed.  Since this was the real start to many more such commemorative events, I decided to ask the editor of my local paper if he'd be interested in a story.  He was, and it ran on Sunday, August 7.  Here is the article, along with some of my photos:

The Civil War: Let the re-enactments begin Dennis Foster      In the early afternoon of July 21, 1861, Captains Ricketts and Griffin marshal their artillery batteries into position to attack the unsupported flank of Colonel Thomas Jackson’s brigade.  The thunderous roar of the Federal cannon fills the air.  The Confederate cannon respond in kind.  Smoke covers the field as the first major battle of the Civil War rages on over the plains of Manassas. Confederate forces (foreground, left) trade gunfire with Union troops in the early morning battle.  Confederate forces are outnumbered and are soon to retreat from Matthews Hill.      During a scorching week this past July, over eight thousand participants have come to a small town in Virginia to help commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Manassas, the first large scale conflict of the Civil War.  They have come to re-enact the battle, wearing period clothing, armed with period weapons and giving the tens of thousands that have come to watch a brief glimpse of life during that turbulent time.  They are living in camps on the grounds and spend time practicing battle formations.  As we walk around the encampments in the early morning hours, you can half close your eyes and feel as if you have been transported back in time.  Some soldiers are starting to get up, while others stoke small fires.  Others are practicing drills, while a blacksmith is already hard at work.      We marvel at the bravery and courage of men thrust into war.  We know that there are no bullets, and that the cannon fire blanks, but still we feel some of the realism of the actual event.  We follow the successes and failures of both sides, as this is a war among ourselves.  We can extol the virtue of men fighting for what they believe in, for a cause that unites them, even if the reasons for war, as is so often the case, are flawed. *****      Earlier in the day Federal forces, commanded by Colonel Burnside, marched around the Confederate left and crossed the Bull Run nearly undetected.  They were slowed down when Generals Bee and Bartow rallied their men to make a stand on Matthews Hill.  With the entry of Colonel Sherman’s brigade, the Confederate lines crumbled and they retreated to nearby Henry Hill, where Colonel Jackson had just deployed his men.  Jackson’s Virginians stopped the Federal forces, earning him the famous nickname of “Stonewall” Jackson. Last of the Confederate forces engaged in battle before giving up Matthews Hill.  Following the Union success at Matthews Hill, a lull was punctuated by an artillery duel.      Of course the issue of slavery is unrelentingly entwined into the birth of the Civil War.  Clearly, it was the driving force for secession in the seven states of the deep South that left the Union before President Lincoln even assumed office.  However, this motivation becomes more complicated for four other slave states that refused to secede until hostilities broke out and President Lincoln called for the raising of an army to quell the rebellion by force.  And, even with one-third of the states in secession, there still remained four other slave states that remained with the Union.      Likewise, when it comes to the personalities involved, the issue of slavery was convoluted in a way that today we can hardly understand.  The sitting Vice President under Lincoln owned slaves at the outset of the war.  General Grant had owned at least one slave in the late 1850s.  Confederate General Longstreet owned no slaves.  General Pickett, who led a futile charge at Gettysburg, not only didn’t own slaves, but was vocal in his opposition to this execrable institution.      Indeed, if the Civil War had ended with a Federal victory that day near Manassas, it isn’t clear that slavery wouldn’t have persisted for years, or decades, to come, as Lincoln had no initial intention of challenging slavery in the existing slave states.  It wasn’t until the fall of 1862, with the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation that abolishing slavery became a formal goal of Union efforts in winning the war.      Today, we have the luxury of knowing how the Civil War turned out and that the terrible price, paid in blood, bought an end to slavery.  Consequently, we can be more detached and relive the battles, immerse ourselves in the tactics and strategies of the two opposing armies, while acknowledging Robert E. Lee’s famous words, “It is well that war is so terrible lest we should grow too fond of it.”  *****      The battle seesawed throughout the afternoon, but the arrival of fresh Confederate troops tipped the balance and broke the Federal attack.  As their lines came apart, the retreat turned chaotic and Major Stuart led his cavalry in pursuit.  This attack was met by Major Sykes’ U.S. Regular Infantry, which formed an “infantry square,” a defensive formation that ended the attack and allowed the Federal forces to withdraw.   The battle for Henry Hill with Confederate forces (under Jackson), on the left, hold off Union advance.  Union lines begin to break as fresh Confederate forces are thrown into battle.      The events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War will continue for the next four years.  They will offer innumerable opportunities for us to study and contemplate this period of our history.  And, at the end of the day, we can recall these words from President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, “With malice toward none, and charity for all . . . let us strive on . . . to bind up the nation’s wounds.” ***** Dennis Foster has lived in Flagstaff for more than 20 years, but was born in Washington, D.C.  He has maintained a strong interest in the Civil War and has visited many of its battlefields.  For more information:   The National Park Service maintains most of the Civil War battlefields and will be offering many commemorative events.  Find out more on their web page: http://www.nps.gov/civilwar150/  You can find a more comprehensive listing of Civil War activities here: http://www.civilwar.org/150th-anniversary/  Perhaps the most notable re-enactment will occur at Gettysburg, in 2013.  Keep up with this event through their Visitors’ Bureau: http://www.gettysburg.travel/ To read more on the Civil War, James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom is an excellent place to start. To learn about the individual battles of the Civil War, The Civil War Battlefield Guide, published by The Conservation Fund is an indispensable resource. Cavalry on parade. The 2nd So. Carolina String Band. A small unit of Union infantry do some early morning drilling in preparation for the coming battle. Hard not to root for both sides! Stonewall Jackson statue.

     A few additional comments . . .

Jackson a general.  I relied on the official program for military rank - Burnsides & Sherman were both colonels at this time.  But, later I read that Jackson had been promoted to general a month before the battle.  So, I missed that.  Also, I identified Bartow as a general, although he was a colonel at the time of battle.  He died shortly after being wounded during the battle and was the first brigade commander to die in the Civil War.  He was posthumously made a general, so I thought it fitting to refer to him that way.

Slavery.  As I point out in my article, slavery was an undeniable motive force in inciting the Civil War.  Yet, today Confederate re-enactors, and those that embrace their southern heritage, would have nothing to do with slavery.  Instead, they focus on other aspects of what is often referred to as the "War of Northern Aggression."  And, I for one, am glad they do.  While some deride Confederate symbols as synonymous with slavery, others have pointed out that slavery existed for more years under the "stars and stripes" than it did under the "stars and bar."  Additionally, if slavery is the one single criteria for judging the moral worth of the cause of the Confederacy, consider that such a criteria would tend to make our victory in the Revolutionary War regrettable.  After all, Britain abolished slavery in the 1830s, and if we had lost that contest in 1776, perhaps slavery would have ended earlier for us.  Food for thought.

Blacks were in attendance.  There were some blacks at this event, and some even participating in period costumes.  Not in large numbers, to be sure, but I think more than you would see at a NASCAR race, or at the Grand Canyon.  At the battle re-enactment site, and for the overall commemoration, there were a number of events that focused on blacks during the Civil War, whether slave or free.  One fascinating story in this regard involves "Gentleman" Jim Robinson, a free black man living on his farm at Henry Hill.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

   The Loneliness of the Long Distance Commuter - I recently returned from a trip to the Washington, D.C. area.  I go every few years to visit family.  I usually try to plan some activity that will take me to some Civil War battlefields and this trip was no exception.  But, more on that later.

     While there, I took two metro trips into town.  That's the map to the right.  It seems reasonably efficient and I don't mind riding it.  I don't want to think about how much it cost and whether or not it was worth taxpayer money.  And, I don't want to think about the fact that the government runs this operation.  Indeed, there is a proposal to add another line - the Purple Line - and quite a bit of opposition to it.

     But, what I noticed, once again, was how solitary the riders were.  Virtually everyone, especially during the rush hour commute to work, was a sole rider.  And, while the car was jam packed with people, everyone maintained his/her own distinct eco-vironment (that's probably not a word, so when it is, remember I coined it!).  That is, people were engaged in their own personal activities - reading a book, reading a paper, reading a Kindle,  or doing games, reading, or e-mail on their phones.  And, kept their eyes averted from making contact with anyone else.  It was really quite bizarre.  Apparently, it is a violation of common courtesy to look around at people.  Which is what I did.  But, not that much.  I tended to look out the window a lot.  When you get to the tunnels, that is pretty boring!

     So, why is it that in this place of socialization, people do not socialize?  Sure, there must be some unsavory folks here, but I suspect most are OK people.  I guess it is because people feel like they are forced to socialize because of their need for this transportation.

     You do see a difference during the off-peak hours when there are more tourists.  They are in bigger groups and tend to be much more chatty.  You also see this at the shuttles up at the Grand Canyon (where everyone on board is a tourist!).  So, it must have something to do with how voluntary the experience is - the less so, the more one isolates themselves.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

   Backcountry Plan 2¢ - The National Park Service was soliciting comments for their revision of the backcountry management plan for Grand Canyon.  I previously blogged on the bigger picture here, Wilderness Bull.  But, with the deadline finally arriving (Monday, June 27), I did post off the following comment on-line:

     Yes, I do use too many exclamation marks.  But, since they mostly ignore whatever I have to say, I suppose I feel like the added emphasis might actually pay off.  OK, probably not.

Wednesday, June 18, 2011

   Wilderness Bull - The National Park Service is beginning the process of revising its Backcountry Management Plan for Grand Canyon.  They held a "scoping" session on the campus of NAU and I went to look over their material.  As I was considering their proposals (which are only tentative as of now), I was struck by how convoluted and contorted their plans were and I realized that this was all due to one key issue - most of the land in the park is "proposed" for wilderness designation in accord with the 1964 Wilderness Act, and the NPS manages those lands accordingly, even though Congress hasn't made any decision in this regard.  So, I asked the editor of the local paper, the Arizona Daily Sun, if he would be interested in a guest editorial on the issue of wilderness, as opposed to me writing something about the backcountry plan itself.  He was, and I did.  Surprisingly, I sent it off a bit after noon on Wednesday, June 8 and he ran it the very next day, and he used my title, which is unusual.  Here it is:

     I was able to do pretty much all I wanted with this editorial.  I probably could have made a stronger pitch to the new incoming superintendent, but he hasn't even gotten here yet!  The web responses were interesting and many were supportive.  I was kind of surprised that some people get the idea that the park doesn't need wilderness designation to be managed that way.  And, I really hate the idea that it would take an act of Congress to allow bicycles on the Cape Solitude road.

     To the right is the current map the park is using that shows their proposed wilderness areas.  It is linked to the 2010 update on their proposed wilderness document.  The map doesn't show the existing wilderness areas around the park and only identifies some of the other lands without any context.  For example, the lands to the east are Navajo and the tribe doesn't allow any development there.

     A few readers took issue with the fact that I am an economist.  It shows how little most people know about the subject.  Perhaps that will be the subject of a later editorial?

     My editorial triggered a responding guest editorial, "Grand Canyon a deserving wilderness," authored by some local environmentalists.  Their editorial lays out some of the facts and issues surrounding the wilderness issue, but didn't address my contention that it is unnecessary in order for the park to manage these lands in this way.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

   A Quiet Mt. Humphreys? - This past weekend, hiking buddy John Eastwood, his new dog, Buddy, and I took a trek up Mt. Humphreys, the highest point in Arizona (12,600+ feet).  We could see snow on the peaks, but thought we'd make it to the top without much trouble.  I did bring along a pair of Kahtoolas, and, in retrospect, John should have as well.  We mostly encountered snow along the shady, northerly-facing part of the trail that winds its way through the forest.  There, we were often trekking across packed snow that was 3 to 4 feet above the trail.  It was cold, and everything was quite solid on the way up.  We left the lower parking area at the Snowbowl Ski Area at 7:45 a.m. and headed up alongside the chair lift, until we reached a road.  From there, we followed a ridge up until we met the trail.  So, we cut off some snowy sections, but we still had quite a bit to cover before popping out onto a southerly-facing section that then climbs above the tree line and to a saddle, between Humphreys and Agassiz, where there is a good resting spot out of the elements.

     And, elements we did have!  The saddle is at about 11,500 feet and John had seen a weather forecast for 50+ mph winds at that elevation, with a daytime high of only 35 degrees.  It was very windy over the whole trip and especially so as we neared the summit.  That got me to thinking about the whole "natural quiet" issue, about which I just blogged with regard to the Grand Canyon.  You see, that phrase does not mean quiet, even though advocates imply that to be the case.  It really means that all the noise you hear is not man-made.  And, today we had lots of noise.  So much so, that it was hard to hear each other even when yelling.  At the summit, we guestimated that the winds were blowing upwards to twice has hard as we had been experiencing.  Maybe that would make it about 70 mph.  It felt like we could easily blow over the side, which causes one to crouch down low and take steps with great care.  I determined that if the wind is able to blow your hiking pole sideways, it's blowing too hard!  We stayed at the top for hardly ten minutes.  I was reluctant to taking off my pack and dig around for something to eat.  I just didn't trust that something might blow away, into the Inner Basin.

     I did get a chance to pull out my phone and send a photo to friends and family.  But, even just taking off my gloves for a couple of minutes practically gave me frostbite!  Not the cold so much as the wind.  I wore my balaclava from the saddle to the summit, and then back down to the saddle.  Brrr.  Once back to the saddle, we grabbed a spot that is always leeward here and had something to eat and rested for the better part of an hour.

     Coming back down, we decided to make an earlier departure from the trail, to avoid all the snowpacked sections, or, at least, many of them.  So, we reached a switchback and started down.  We were quite successful at this, and hardly had to cross any snowy areas.  Indeed, we were usually following some multi-colored ribbons that someone had strung up in the trees, perhaps to mark this more direct route through the woods.

Click on any photo to see a larger image.
Starting hike from Snowbowl.	"ASU 1962" along short cut way down.	Snowpacked trail in shady spots.
Past the saddle, bundled up!	From the summit to Agassiz	John & Buddy at the summit.
A view into the Inner Basin.	Dennis & Buddy at saddle.	Agassiz and the ski runs.

     It was a long day.  We started at 7:45 a.m., reached the summit at about 12 noon, were back down to the saddle at 1:15 p.m., where we rested until 2 o'clock.  Then, we packed up and headed down the trail, reaching John's truck at about 4:30 p.m.  It was a nice hike for me, even if it did take all day.  It is the first significant hike I have done without my neoprene knee sleeve in over a year.  It felt good and I look forward to more hikes this summer.

Friday, May 13, 2011

   Good Copter, Bad Copter - The National Park Service has released an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with regard to overflights at the Grand Canyon.  This process has been going on for years, and I wrote a blog, Noisy Grand Canyon?, in 2006 in response to their original scoping session.  I also wrote an editorial during one of my stints with the local paper on natural quiet, which is the driving force behind this effort to restrict overflights.  The EIS release was accompanied by some open houses on the topic, and, as usual, Flagstaff was included.  So, I went.  At the time I was wrapping up a hiking story for the paper and asked the editor if he would like an editorial on this overflight issue.  He was interested and, in fact, had already received an editorial blasting the park service's proposal as being woefully insufficient.  It took a few weeks to get this one done, due to the crush of my other obligations, but with a comment period open until June, it wasn't necessary to rush.  I submitted it in early May and it ran, side-by-side with the other editorial, on Wednesday, May 11:

     I think that my commentary speaks for itself and doesn't need any elaboration.  The other editorial, by Deanna Wulff, really seemed to make my point.  She was all about banning helicopters because they intrude on her ability to enjoy solitude in the canyon.  Her tone and opinion didn't surprise me, but I will make a few comments nonetheless:

Solitude at night.  She relates her experience of being ill-prepared for her first hike in the canyon and spending a night "under the gentle moonlight" in "quiet solitude."  OK, I get it.  And, I have lots of cool experiences with the quiet that fills up the space at night.  But, that isn't going to change.  There are no overflights (of the touring variety) allowed from one hour before sunset to one hour after sunrise.  [The current EIS wants to push that to a couple of hours.]

The entitlement problem.  She writes that she "moved to Flagstaff, so I could hike in the Grand Canyon . . . Unfortunately, I discovered the assault of a flyover zone."  So, we can establish that these overflights came before Ms. Wulff arrived, yet she seems quiet comfortable imposing her view of what is acceptable, and unacceptable.  Although I have labeled this the "entitlement problem," perhaps I should have labeled it the "arrogance problem."

The flyover zone.  The uninformed reader will probably think that helicopters fly over the entire canyon all the time.  Of course, they don't.  They have two specific flyover zones and Ms. Wulff doesn't acknowledge that one can seek out fantastic hiking opportunities elsewhere in the canyon out of earshot of these helicopters.  But, not necessarily out of earshot of all helicopters.  Pictured to the right is a park service helicopter flying way outside of these zones which we encountered on our recent hike through "the gems."  It was searching for an ultralight vehicle and its pilot that went missing a couple of days before our hike began.  We saw it fly up and down the canyon once, or twice, each of the first three days of our hike.  [Go see a map of the areas searched by air!]  This kind of noise is not included in the EIS.  At the open house I attended, an official told me, "It is a matter of health and safety."  Well, I can't argue with that, having been the recipient of just such a health and safety visit.  But, I think it is disingenuous to restrict the "noise" of the commercial overflights when there is noise from these NPS flights.

The world is full of noise.  Well, sure, but she infers that there is no quiet anywhere.  Quite absurd.  Here in Flagstaff, a short drive can take you to innumerable quiet locales.  And, with great scenery to boot.  And, that is true even in the big city.  I used to live in Honolulu.  On the weekends I would hike up the Manoa Falls trail and it didn't take long to feel like you were light years from civilization.  That has been true pretty much anywhere I have lived.  Ms. Wulff's characterization is just exaggerated ranting and raving.

The wishes of the one versus many.  You couldn't find a more apt example of the desires of the few (hikers) trying to overwhelm the desires of the many (tourists).  Yet, Ms. Wulff asks, "Should an individual have the right to fly over the Grand Canyon at the detriment to everyone else?"  She has the question phrased backwards.  It should be, does she have the right to an absolutely quiet Grand Canyon to the detriment of the thousands that also want to see its majesty and beauty?  Apparently, the answer is, "Yes."

An arrogant philosophy.  She ends by claiming that, "[t]he park should be approached with reverence."  Says who?  Says her, and others of her ilk.  And, does that make her right?  No, it only makes her arrogant.  She can enjoy the park in solitude if she is willing to work at it.  She is being accommodated by the current rules imposed on overflights.  But, that just doesn't seem to be enough for her.

Wednesday, May 5, 2011

   Atlas Annoyed - I don't know if it is some kind of cosmic joke.  If it is, I just don't get it.  I have seen Atlas Shrugged twice and been sorely disappointed both times.  Not by the content, but by the presentation.  I saw it in Phoenix and couldn't believe that the movie could be so dark.  Not in a figurative manner, but really hard to see.  It was like taking a picture at dusk with your flash turned off.  The outdoor shots were OK, but all of the interior scenes were just hard to see.  I pored over the reviews on the web and came to the conclusion that it wasn't the film, since nobody else commented on that.  Instead, I figured, it must have been the movie theater.  Seeing as how there was only the one place showing this movie in all of Arizona, it seems like a shame.

     So, I was prepared to wait until the DVD comes out and then see a well-renditioned copy of the film.  But, then, a local entrepreneur managed to make arrangements for the film to come to Flagstaff for a single showing.  I went, hoping to get a better presentation, but, alas, I am starting to shrug something fierce.  I can't say that it was too dark, but being in the second row may have something to do with my perceptions.  But, it was not sharp and clear.  All of the wide shots were made up of fuzzy little objects.  The drive to Wisconsin looked like a silver smudge moving across the screen.  The close ups of the actors were fine, as the distorting effects were minimized as a consequence.  But, everything else was blurred.

     And, then there was this distracting effect of cutting off the tops of people's heads.  In at least a half dozen scenes, there is a speaking character whose head, above the nose, is completely off screen.  Yikes!  Is this just a bad joke?  I sure hope it isn't some kind of artsy-fartsy attempt to make a statement.  If so, it doesn't work.  And, I really don't believe that was the intent.

     What am I to conclude?  Well, even though there were only 300 copies of the film distributed for theatrical release, I must have seen a bad copy.  I am quite sure that the one I saw in Flagstaff must be the same one shown in Tempe.  And, the theaters compound the problem with poor projection equipment and lax oversight with regard to the quality of the product.  This isn't the first time that has happened, but I couldn't be more aware of the seeming irony given that this film is about how smart and driven people, who make our lives better in a thousand different ways, are constantly being degraded and torn down by shallow and incompetent fools.  Apparently, these shallow and incompetent fools are responsible for producing, distributing and showing this movie.  We have seen the enemy and he is . . . pretending to be one of us!

     On the other hand, this morning I watched a movie I had recorded on my DVR.  It was called, "Hunter Prey," came out just last year (I had never heard of it) and was being shown in high def on Showtime.  With a budget only 3% as large as Atlas, it was crystal clear, easy to hear and light years better than what I had just seen on the big screen.  And, at 53 inches, watching on my TV is a very acceptable alternative to the big screen at the theater.  Maybe it is just time for me to totally give up on "going to the movies."  Granted there is the socialization element, and the sound, but there is so much quality variation that I am just not sure it is worth it.  Better to wait a few months and watch a really good copy of the film.  Maybe it is time for me to return my Harkins loyalty cup!

     I think that a well-lit, well-framed copy of Atlas Shrugged (Part I) will be great to have and to watch.  The theatrical version was a total blow out.  If they really do Parts II and III, I am pretty sure I'll wait for the DVDs.  But, after watching a second time, I do have one other complaint about the film - Dagny Taggart's heels were too tall.  It took me a while to realize that her clunky style of walking was due to this fact.  But, there is a scene where we get a close up view of the heels (did I mention that I was in the second row?) and they must have been 6 inches.  Maybe the intent was to make her real tall and tower above everyone else.  Maybe.  But, it really is just impractical for her, and not at all consistent with how I remember her character from the book.  More suitable for going out clubbing than for a crisis manager.  Is this really any way to run a railroad?

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

   Woods at NAU - I first encountered the work of Tom Woods when I read about the "Great Depression of 1921."  [Or, watch the excellent video posted up on YouTube, or read Bob Murphy's account in the Freeman.]  I liked it so much, I used some of this material as part of my annual contribution to the Economic Outlook Conference, organized by the business college at Northern Arizona University (NAU).

     Then, I fell into the Mises Academy, an on-line series of courses with an Austrian bent.  Although I had heard of its most famous member - F. A. Hayek - I knew next to nothing of this school of economic thought.  Over the late spring, summer and fall of 2010, I signed on for six of their courses.  One of the first was a course on the Great Depression, taught by Tom Woods.  I had been using some material on this subject in my money and banking classes for a couple of years (The Forgotten Man and Rethinking the Great Depression).  So, this was an excellent opportunity to add to my knowledge and to learn more of the Austrian perspective.  During the course, the topic of "nullification" came up, as Woods had just published a book on that subject.  He was also going to be teaching a class on the subject, so I decided to enroll in that one as well.

     It was a great class.  It is really a history class, which is Woods' expertise, and it is difficult for me to branch out beyond economics, especially in the middle of a school semester, but it was fascinating.  In the late fall of 2010, he spoke at Grand Canyon University, in Phoenix, and I drove down to see his presentation.

     Ever since then, I had thought about getting him to speak at NAU.  But, my enthusiasm waned a bit as the months rolled by and my attention was diverted to other matters.  Then, an Arizona state senator proposed that a committee be formed, in the legislature, that would consider whether certain federal laws should be nullified (which would then go to a vote before the legislature).  And, editorials popped up, along with misinformed letters.  So, I was re-energized, decided to strike while the iron was hot, and made arrangements for Tom to speak at NAU.

     So, on April 6th, he came to town.  Before the talk, I arranged to host him for dinner with some of the students in the NAU Conservatives (which I serve as the faculty advisor) and my new public choice class.  Pictured above (click to see a bigger image), clockwise from my empty seat, are Jacob, Shantell, Tom Woods, John, Beth, Christian, Carolina, Meagan, Rachael and Dustin.  It was a great time and I am sure that all of my students enjoyed this opportunity to meet with, and talk to, Tom Woods.  [They also liked the fact that I was subsidizing their meal!]

     The event was great.  About 175 people were in attendance.  I was hoping for more, but that's a good crowd.  Bob at Reclaim Liberty has posted a podcast of the speech!  Elisha at the Flagstaff Liberty Alliance was active in drumming up support and even staged a rally out in front of city hall!  And, the local paper featured a very positive story on the event, on the front page!  There were also a lot of letters and most were positive, which surprised me a bit.  Overall it was a great time, but it did wear me out with the logistics and arrangements.  I think I will content myself to being a follower while I restore balance to my life!

Related blog:  Nullification, AZ

Monday, March 21, 2011

   Banning Campfires - A group of residents has recently formed to push for the forest service to permanently ban campfires in our local forests from May 1 through to the start of our "monsoon" season, usually in early July.  It is an idea that presumes we can just legislate fires away and that we know with certainty that May 1 is the right date for such a ban.  That is the wrong way to address this issue.  There are smarter ways to minimize the risk, and I, for one, am also concerned about these fires.  To the right is a photo taken during last summer's "Hardy" fire.  It was within a couple of miles of my house and I had gotten a robo-call from the county to be ready to evacuate if it came to that!  The photo shows the billowing smoke rising above the nearby Little America hotel.  It was started by a transient who was camping out in the woods.  Since that is, in and of itself, illegal, how likely is it that this person would have obeyed any law that prevented campfires?  None.  But, if we can only wave our magical government wand, we can make all these problems disappear!  [Click on the photo to see a larger image.]  So, literally minutes before heading out the door for a six day hike in Grand Canyon, I sent off a letter, which ran in the local paper on the 17th: 

A few notes . . .

Fixed rules frustrate everyone.  We have a fixed rule for winter-time parking on the street.  None is allowed beginning November 1.  Yet, many winters see little, or no snow in November.  So, why not park on the street then?  Well, the excuse is, "Just because."  Awful.  Why not just declare certain days as prohibited parking, based on the snowfall?  Indeed, can't we figure that out for ourselves?  If tow companies could earn a profit towing cars parked on the street after 8 pm, then I suspect people would be very careful about being cavalier about this.  Likewise, if we have a rainy late April and the forests are not especially susceptible to fire danger in early May, why have a mandatory ban?  Then, people will ignore the law, weakening its force.

Fires that won't be stopped.  As I alluded to in the letter, and wrote about, above, the Hardy fire was started by a transient.  The kids' fire was also nearby my house - a couple of miles to the northeast.  That was the "Christmas Tree" fire.  We may have been in a ban at the time, but how is that going to stop these kinds of fires?  Also, another fire we've had was started by a forest service employee, who was welding some equipment and a spark flew off to start a fire.  Another fire began from sparks from a blown out tire.  A few years back, we had a big fire which was the result of a prescribed burn done in the spring (where they burn off these piles of dead wood) that hadn't gone completely out.  And, then there was the huge Rodeo-Chediski fire that was started by a lost hiker and a fire fighter that wanted more work (it was two separate fires that merged into one).  Bans won't stop these fires, nor, of course, ones that are nature-caused!  A better general solution has been to promote forest thinning, with which we have had some success.

Monitoring is inevitable.  Even if there is a ban, someone will have to monitor it.  Presumably, that means the forest service, since I am sure there would be no end of conniption fits if citizen groups started patrolling the forest in search of violators!  And, if the forest service has the personnel to enforce a ban, don't they have the personnel to just go and check for inadequately doused campfires?  And, if they don't, how will such a ban be enforced.  I think my idea of a volunteer group that merely goes out to check on these abandoned campfires is far less likely to result in confrontations and some escalated police action.  A few of the comments on the web indicated support for this idea!

Related blog:  Fire as Failure.

Monday, February 21, 2011

   Nullification, AZ - State Senator Lori Klein wants to create a committee that would look at federal laws to determine whether or not they are constitutional, as viewed from the state's perspective.  If they have a suspect law, the legislature can vote on whether to "nullify" its implementation in Arizona.

     Wow!  I have had the chance to study this issue last year when I signed up for Tom Woods' class at the Mises Institute.  He had written a book titled, "Nullification," pictured to the right (and linked to Amazon).  I was thoroughly fascinated by the topic, about which I knew so little, not surprisingly, since I am a product of government schools.  He went over the origins of this idea, and I was easily convinced of its legitimacy.  The states formed the federal government to act on their behalf with regard to expressly delegated powers.  But, the federal government often oversteps its bounds (well, today, it is continuous).  So, who is to decide when this happens?  Most people would say that the federal courts, and, ultimately, the Supreme Court, are the final arbiters in these matters.  But, Jefferson, et al., argued that makes no sense - how can you trust an agency of the federal government to really be impartial in a dispute between a state and the feds?  That's not to say it can't happen, but there is a bias and conflict of interest here.  State nullification, whereby a state decides that a federal law is unconstitutional, is the solution, and one that is continuing to be practiced, even if rather informally.

     So, enter a host of local politicians, seemingly influenced by Woods' book, that have taken up the cause.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Arizona.  Still, there was a negative editorial in the local paper, and a couple of ill-informed letters.  Consequently, I decided to jump into the fray, and penned a letter that ran in Sunday's paper.  Here it is, along with the title the editor gave it:

A few notes . . .

These cases are hard to argue.  The health care debate may be the straw that broke the camel's back in this matter, but there are plenty of cases to cite where nullification was used to justify non-compliance.  Those that argue against this idea must accept the federal government's stance on all of these issues.

The Raich case.  Another in a string of awful cases, whereby the federal government uses (or, abuses) the commerce clause to regulate purely in-state activity.  Justice Thomas' dissent is especially powerful and worth reading.  In his opening paragraph, he notes, "If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything–and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers."

The Civil War issue.  One of the current public members of the Daily Sun editorial board penned a column blasting this nullification effort, claiming that the South Carolina case was resolved by the Civil War.  Of course, that is more than just wishful thinking, it is wrong.  That action created a lot of tension, but lead to a resolution of the tariff issue (which northern states used to harm southern states).  The issue of secession is separate from nullification, and, indeed, one of the major arguments backing up nullification is that it would make states less likely to invoke secession!

The Supremacy issue.  Left unsaid is anything about federal laws trumping state laws due to the "supremacy clause."  But, this is not true.  The trumping only applies to expressly delegated powers.  For example, the state of Arizona can't independently decide against NAFTA - the federal government is expressly granted the right to make treaties.  My letter was running a little long, so I had to omit a short paragraph on that topic.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

   Random Fragments - Odds and ends, some serious and some not, to ring in the new year . . . 

Global What-ing?  We began the New Year in Flagstaff with incredible cold.  I couldn't believe it, so I snapped this photo from the TV screen showing the current temperature as -18 degrees.  Apparently the lowest measurement in the area was an unbelievable 30 degrees below zero.  And, by the way, this is Arizona!!!
     So, on New Year's I headed down to Phoenix for a couple of days.  On the morning of January 3rd, just before heading back to Flagstaff, I took the picture to the right, showing that there was still some snow in the back of my pick-up.  Really!  Snow remaining in my pick-up after three days while parked outdoors in Phoenix.

The reporting of numbers. Did you ever wonder about how different numbers are reported differently?  Well, it probably isn't that big a deal.  But, it crossed the threshold of my consciousness when I was listening to a radio report on the performance of the stock market.  The reporter said something like, "The Dow was up 54 points today..."  Of course, that has meaning to us.  The point is that if the Dow had closed at 11,723 it really wouldn't mean anything to us.  Now, that isn't always true.  When the Dow crosses some magical number (10,000 or 12,000), then that is how it is reported, because it seems more meaningful.
     Now, on the other hand, the weather is always reported in absolute terms - "The high today is forecast to be 53 degrees."  They don't say that the high today is expected to be 3 degrees more than yesterday.  That wouldn't help anybody understand what is going on.  So, interesting to think about how different numbers are reported differently depending on what it means.  Well, interesting to me anyway!

What does it take to be a Dean?  When the Dean of the W. A. Franke College of Business (here, at NAU) moved up to a VP position at the university, the administration embarked on a "nationwide" search for his replacement.  That was a few years ago.  Before the process got too far, the economy tanked, budgets were cut and the search was postponed for a couple of years, until now.  We are back in search mode, although, we have just heard that state funding for next year may be cut by 20%, so it isn't clear how this will all play out.
     Anyway, the Provost gave us an update a while ago and mentioned about how, as a former Dean, her having a degree in anthropology wasn't an impediment to her overseeing budgeting decisions for the Physics Department.  Okay, I get it.  But, then, in the next breath, she reviewed the requirements for our new Dean.  Here is part of the requirement:

     So, while she could oversee a Physics Department, she couldn't be the business school Dean?  And, why does being a Dean require a PhD?  That's like saying that the head of Ford must have a degree in mechanical engineering.  And, when we think about how people become skilled, why would you expect that someone that has a "record of accomplishment" in teaching and research to have any level of competence in running a college?  Absurd.  And, people wonder why the education establishment is so messed up.  On my way out of this meeting, I commented to one of my colleagues, "Bill Franke, whose name graces our college, who earned millions by being a successful businessman, wouldn't be eligible to run our college, even though I bet he could do a good job."

The Arizona Shootings.  Of course, for the past week, the news has been dominated by the shootings in Tucson, aimed at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, which resulted in the deaths of six bystanders, and the wounding of fourteen others, including Giffords.  Of course it was a horrible crime and one that everyone condemns.  Of course it is used by some to advance anti-gun, anti-conservative, anti-Tea Party and other agendas.  I get it.  Stupid.  Transparently stupid.  But, I get it.
     But, that's not my beef here.  I am more concerned with the unfolding travesty of our legal system that is likely to drag out and pervert the administration of justice in this case.  We all know that any trial is many, many months down the road.  It may ultimately take years.  And, that, I do condemn.  The talk of an insanity defense alerts us to the notion that as clear cut as this case is, we can expect the mockery of justice to be paramount.
     So, why not a speedy trial?  It seems to me that a trial could start right now, run about a week and an execution could be scheduled for next week.  That is justice.  That this case can't be handled immediately shows how broken the system is.  The killer was caught in the act.  Any "impairment" defense must crumble in the face of the fact that he knew how to acquire a gun, and bullets and aim and shoot.  Consider, by way of comparison, the assassination of President Lincoln.  He was shot on April 14.  It took a while to unravel the conspiracy, but not forever!  The trail began on May 1 and lasted seven weeks.  The verdict was issued on June 30 and the conspirators executed on July 7.  Less than three months.  On April 1st, the same amount of time will have passed in this case and I doubt that much will have been.  That it will also be April Fools Day will be too ironic.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

   Getting to Kolb Natural Bridge - In the fall of 2010, I had the good fortune of participating in the fourth Grand Canyon Hikers & Backpackers Association hikers' symposium, titled, "Echoes & Reflections."  I had chosen to tell the story of a day hike I took up to Kolb Natural Bridge while on a six day solo loop hike through Nankoweap and Kwagunt canyons, at the eastern/northern corner of the main part of Grand Canyon.  Since I have pulled together photos from that trip and scanned them into my computer, I figure I should add a hiking page to my site with this story...

Read the full story:
Getting to Kolb Natural Bridge
in the Hiking Grand Canyon section of the Kaibab Journal

Sunday, November 21, 2010

   TSA - The Stupid Agency - The recent hullabaloo over the full body scanners and the invasive pat downs at airports is a classic example of the insanity we should come to expect from government bureaucrats who are given the power to make decisions that affect our lives.  They refuse to see the situation in its entirety.  They want to frame the issue only in a way that allows them to exert more power over us.  There are at least these three important points to make in this "debate:"

We know how to defeat terrorists.  When faced with a new threat, we learn and adapt.  Following the plane hijacking of 9/11, the passengers on Flight 93 acted to prevent a recurrence of what had happened in New York and in Washington.  It didn't take years of study to come up with a plan of action.  The lesson here is to rely on the individual action of the passengers themselves to prevent terrorist actions.  Given a suitable level of screening, to detect guns and knives, it is virtually impossible today for a group of men to take over an airplane "armed" with box cutters.  Indeed, the threat today is not that someone will find a way to take over a plane and use it as a weapon.  Instead, it is that a terrorist will do something to blow up the plane.  So, how do we stop that?  Simple - rely on the passengers to self-monitor their own behavior.  That is how the shoe bomber was stopped.  That's how the underwear bomber was stopped as well.  The solution to this problem is not to waste ever-growing amounts of money on these ridiculous scanners and a bloated government agency.  Instead, it is to scan for the big stuff, keep the pilots safe, and let the passengers and flight attendants use common sense curb any hostile actions.

Market solutions are better.  This is yet another example of why markets are better than government.  There have been plenty of people saying that they'd rather be safe than sorry (or, dead!).  That, of course, ignores the relative danger we'd face in the absence of these so-called security measures.  Let's keep the procedures in place to avoid a repeat of 9/11 style attack.  But, since only the individual plane is now at risk, let individual airlines decide on whether to use "enhanced" screening techniques.  If passengers demand these procedures, airlines will provide them.  If they don't, then airlines won't.  The market can better cater to our wide variety of tastes and preferences (even for risk) than can the government with its one-size-fits-all solution.

Why only airline passengers?  Noting that it is only the planes that are at risk, why is it that only airline passengers are subject to these searches?  Well, simply because they can, even if it creates an obvious disparity in how different people are treated differently.  That is, why not do similar screenings for people boarding a subway, or a bus, or a train?  Clearly, the inconvenience far outweighs the benefit.  Does anybody remember the Madrid bombings or the bombings in London?  These terrorist actions show that targets are fungible.  Who, after all, could possibly stop a suicide bomber from running into an elementary school and wreaking havoc?  Well, when it happens I am sure that we will then spend an inordinate amount of time, energy, and money on turning schools into fortresses.  [Although, mass shootings on college campuses hasn't resulted in that outcome . . .  yet.]  There are an almost infinite supply of terrorist targets.  We can't body scan everyone engaged in everyday activities.  Let's just do more to allow for individuals to act rationally.  And, get rid of these scanners, pat downs, and, while we're at it, the TSA!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

   The Fire Pelosi Bus Tour - Republicans are, I think, holding their breath in regard to the upcoming election.  That they will do well is not in doubt.  But, with control of both the House and the Senate, the stakes are pretty high.  So, GOP chairman, Michael Steele, is on a cross-country bus trip (which is all the rage these days!) to "Fire Pelosi."  That is, to take control of the House and get a Republican Speaker.  And, once again, our location at the intersection of two interstate highways puts us on their itinerary.  [We had visits by the Ending Earmarks Express a few years back, and the Tea Party Express a year ago.]

     So, on a pleasant October day - a bit cool in the shade, but still t-shirt weather - the "Fire Pelosi" bus tour rolled into our fair burg, sometimes derisively referred to as "The People's Republic of Flagstaff."  But, this blue island is surrounded by a decidedly red state.  And, the GOP candidate for the House - Paul Gosar - has, I think, a decent chance of winning this November.

     The event was held at Gosar's headquarters.  There was a BBQ from noon until 2 p.m.  I pulled in around 1:15, and got one of the last burgers, and still had to wait about a half hour until the bus arrived.  It was a small, but decent crowd.  There were some protesting Dems on the street, but they kept their distance.  Well, except for one person, but so it goes.  Steele worked the crowd, shaking hands, taking pictures with folks, and autographing protest signs.  He was quite personable and gave a pretty good pep talk.  Here's a snippet I got on my phone video:

     I was able to snap a few photos as well . . .

Click on any photo to see a larger image.
The crowd wasn't enormous, but big enough in the People's Republic!	GOP Chairman Steele felt right at home meeting the folks in the crowd.	Lots of the people here wanted to get a photo in front of the bus.

     I'm thinking that the days of Flagstaff being on these itineraries is not likely to last.  Someday, the highway from Phoenix to Kingman (US 93) will be expanded into a four lane divided highway.  In fact, I am quite sure I read that there is some effort to make this a part of the interstate system.  Then, going from Phoenix to Las Vegas will pass us by.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

   Biased "Inside NAU" - Senior Research Fellow Jay Greene just published a study through the Goldwater Institute titled, "Administrative Bloat at American Universities."  Using a government database, he finds that per pupil administrative employment/cost has been rising over the time frame studied, 1993-2007.  He argues (persuasively), that universities should be experiencing economies of scale so that these "overhead" costs should be declining.  [Not in an absolute sense, but in a proportional sense - that is, while student enrollment is rising, one would expect administrative costs to rise as well, but at a slower rate.]  Indeed, if they experience diseconomies of scale, then that means the university system is too big.  You can see his full presentation (45 minutes) at the Goldwater Institute home page as of now, or the copy posted up at YouTube.  It is well worth watching - he fills in some of the back story here as well as some of the controversy this study has generated.  His basic argument is that the subsidization of universities, by the state and federal governments, provides administrators the distorted incentive to grow their own budgets and salaries.  In a market economy, where students are paying the entire cost of these services, that wouldn't happen (because students wouldn't see any benefit and would go elsewhere).

     So, how do you think university administrators will react to this study?  Well, no surprise, they don't like it.  A short article on this study appeared on the front page of the Daily Sun.  Most of the comments on-line indicate that the writers didn't understand the argument, nor took the time to actually read the report.  The story also included comments from Tom Bauer, who is the director of the university's Public Affairs Office.  Shortly thereafter, his office, which e-publishes a weekly newsletter called InsideNAU, had their lead story blasting away at the Goldwater study.  That surprised me because this newsletter is generally the model of boring cheerleading for the university.  The newsletter characterized the GI as a "politically motivated think tank" and as "a special interest similar to those they are quick to criticize."  Instead of acknowledging that this can be a problem, and one that the university has to monitor, they have taken an aggressive stance of attacking the messenger to distract us from the message.

     Indeed, the justification for their disdain for the study, as it may relate to NAU, was stated in five bullets:  NAU's tuition is lower than peers, enrollment has grown quite a lot, NAU has a lot of residential students, it has extensive "distance learning programs," and that more research is being done.  The first three are totally irrelevant to the arguments of this study.  The last two seem relevant, but if the university isn't going to quantify their impact, all they do is lead to the false impression that administrative costs have risen faster than enrollment because of an ever faster growing distance program and research agenda.  If that were true, they would trumpet this result and say, "See, we are the good guys that have actually reduced administrative bloat."  But, sadly, they didn't.

     So, I got into this when a colleague sent me a note asking, "Why are conservative or libertarian think tanks the only institutions that are politically motivated?"  Exactly.  They would never characterize any other group this way, and it just goes to show you the inbred bias that permeates the university culture.  I penned an e-mail to Bauer and copied a contact of mine at the GI:

     The response by Bauer was disappointing to say the least, but not exactly unexpected:

     Maybe he just doesn't get it.  Which tells me the bias is pretty deeply ingrained.  And, if you think an apology is coming, don't hold your breath!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

   The LCD Bumper Sticker - I have this feeling like I am the inventor of a few items over my life.  I don't know if it is some kind of evolutionary survival tool - that I have this feeling - or, if it is real.  When I was working the graveyard shift at the Colorado National Bank in 1976, I wore a set of headphones that tuned in radio stations.  I dreamed up an alternative, where you could play tapes.  And, according to Wikipedia, Sony developed their famous Walkman just a couple years later.  So, I am probably due huge amounts of money.

     At the same time, I also invented (in a virtual sense) the moped.  There had always been motorized scooters, but my vision seemed to presage the huge jump in demand in the late 1970s/early 1980s.  Well, at least I think so.

     And, in an earlier blog, I commented on the idea of self-orienting maps.  Since we now have a nice way to time stamp our ideas, I am pretty sure that when this comes into being, I will be credited as a co-creator.  Of course, I won't have been responsible for any of the real work, but, hey, it's still my idea.

     So, in that vein, I have recently invented the LCD bumper sticker.  Not a bumper sticker that has lousy looking LCD script, like they sell over at Zazzle.  Yeech.  [Although, I have bought some cool stuff from them.]  And, not the lame looking LCD license plate holders that apparently exist somewhere.  No, I am thinking about a device that would attach to your bumper, or car trunk, that would be an LCD screen.  It would be bright and clear, like cell phone displays are.  You can plug it into your trailer hitch connection to power it on when you drive, so it can be off (or removed for storage) while you are parked.  What is doubly cool about this is that you can program in new bumper stickers all the time!  I think it would sell like hot cakes.  Feel like a jerk for putting on that Obama/Biden sticker a couple of years ago?  Well, now you can remove it, or change it to something more appropriate, like "Don't build the Ground Zero Mosque."  Is your favorite team playing a tough game this weekend?  Then, change out your sticker to read, "Broncos Rule! Raiders Suck!"  [That was just an example.]    Maybe you'd like to display a cool scenic photo you took of the Grand Canyon.  The possibilities are endless.  And, you can download new stickers from the web and send them to your device wirelessly.  Or, hook them up to your computer to download new images.

     I suspect they'll be a bit pricey at first, which is why you won't see Ron Popeil pitching them.  But, I am sure that people will really snatch them up.  I did some web searching and found that VW had plans for a similar thing back in 2006.  But, it seems that it was built into the bumper, and I have never seen them.  I'll take two when they come out.

Friday, July 30, 2010

   Friedman Birthday Party - After Milton Friedman died in 2006, Tom Jenney decided to host a casual meeting of folks on the anniversary of Friedman's birthday - July 31.  Jenney is the State Director of the Americans for Prosperity - Arizona organization, which had been the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers.  I first met Tom back in the late 1990s, when he was working at the Goldwater Institute and they were publishing a monograph I wrote on transportation issues at the Grand Canyon.

     I had been thinking of emulating Tom's annual celebration.  Maybe next year.  This year, I decided to trek down to Phoenix to help mark this day.  Well, actually, a day early.  The meeting was held at Mama Java's on Friday night (the 30th) even though Friedman was born on the 31st.  Well, it's not a perfect world!   It was a nice small, intimate, venue and we pretty much took over the place for a couple of hours.  I had some kind of iced dark chocolate mocha something-or-other, with whipped cream, and it was fabulous.

     The night started off with an hour long video on Friedman's life.  Cara Lynn and I sat with Claire, a summer intern at Goldwater, and Robert Teegarden, a consultant/advocate of school choice.  [You can see a little bio on Robert, who is a board member of the ASTOA.]  Then, Tom turned it over to Clint Bolick, also from Goldwater, and Robert to talk about school choice issues, about which Friedman was heavily invested.

     We wrapped up the festivities with an old video that Tom dusted off.  He was doing a sound check on an upcoming interview of Friedman, and was operating the camera (at the Cato Institute).  Consequently, he decided to quiz Friedman on some economic issues, primarily economist Steven N. S. Cheung's take on the famous "Fable of the Bees."  Perhaps it will land on YouTube someday??

     Being an economics student as an undergraduate, I know I was exposed to Friedman's ideas, but I can't say that anything in particular stuck with me.  In graduate school, at the University of Hawaii, there were some strong Friedman supporters and, indeed, he had made a visit to the campus sometime in the years before I attended (so, before 1977).  But, I mostly fell in with the Keynesian types here, and didn't pay much attention to Friedman, beyond what was required in my coursework.

     In 1984, while on a year-long leave of absence from my Ph.D. program, I found myself in Flagstaff, teaching an introductory course in microeconomics at the local community college.  [Actually, it was an extension of a CC from another county - we didn't have a CC in our county at the time.]  The class was being taught by a local banker who got transferred off to another state barely a week into the class.  I happened to be around and got tapped to replace her.  She had scheduled video showings of Friedman's Free To Choose series.  She got the bank to pay for the loan of these videos, so I decided to keep them on the schedule.  I was mesmerized by them.  I would say that this was the beginning of my shift in philosophy, away from the Statist viewpoint and toward the individualist viewpoint.

     Later, I would say it was in the late 1980s, when I was finishing up my Ph.D. and teaching at the UH, I read Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom.  From the very beginning, I was bowled over.  I soon made it required reading in some of my classes.  I haven't continued to use this book, although I still have a high regard for it.  [These days, in my principles classes, I use Anthem and How Capitalism Saved America.]

     A great time had by all.  For some more on Milton Friedman, consider these links:

Friedman's autobiography, written for the Nobel foundation, upon the receipt of his Nobel Prize, but updated in 2005.

Rose and Milton Friedman started the Foundation for Educational Choice, to carry on his vision in this area.

An example of Friedman's clear-headed thinking doesn't get any better than in his famous essay, "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits."  Use it to tweak the noses of your liberal friends!

Go to BrainyQuote to find a boatload of cool things Friedman said.

And, finally, catch this short video on Milton Friedman's life:

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

   Fire as Failure - Over Father's Day weekend we had two big fires in Flagstaff which attracted quite a bit of national attention.  On Saturday (the 19th), the Hardy Fire was started about a mile from my home, although I don't think that it would have spread this far through residential areas.  Still, a local hotel (Little America) was evacuated, and we received a robo-call from the county that we should be ready to evacuate as well.  That fire was started by a transient, which is pretty much an annual thing here in the early summer.  As such, there isn't much we can do about this problem except bear the burden of fighting such fires.

     On Father's Day (the 20th), we had the much bigger Schultz fire.  It had erupted in a major way while we were having lunch at a local restaurant.  As we left, we drove up to Route 66, where I snapped the photo to the right when we were about a half block from city hall.  [No, I wasn't driving!]  We drove on up to McMillan Mesa, and parked in the lot of the USGS office, where we could more clearly see the origin of the fire - in the pass between Mt. Elden and the San Francisco Peaks.  That is where I took the picture to the left, showing the extent of the smoke pluming behind Mt. Elden. [Click on either photo to see a larger image.]

     This latter fire was started from campfire that was not properly put out.  It's still smoldering even now, nine days later.  And, it isn't surprising that the same old arguments are being made with regard to what should be done to prevent this from happening again - (i) increase education among campers, and (ii) close the forest during peak fire season.  The former is laudable, but doomed to failure, while the latter is an abject indicator of the failure of the Forest Service (and, by extension, the government) to adequately maintain the environment.

     We all know what must be done to prevent these fires - more monitoring and/or development.  But, without the budgetary resources to accomplish the former, we end up with awful choices like "close the forest down."  Here are some better solutions . . .

Provide developed campsites.  The camping in this area is mostly "at large," although there are some regular spots that campers use over and over.  Maybe some more developed camping areas (yes, for fees) would provide a better opportunity for the clueless to experience the outdoors without endangering everyone else.

Form volunteer forest caretakers.  We mostly have this problem for only two months - May and June.  Following a decent winter, May isn't usually a problem.  And, if the rainy season starts on time, July and August are usually better.  So, why not form volunteer groups that drive along the popular forest roads and take an inventory of campers in the evening, and then return in the morning to insure that all campfires are put out?  I am sure that plenty of people would sign up for such a group.  They aren't out to harass, or confront, anyone - just to make sure that nothing dangerous is left untended.

Revert to logging the forest, even if on a lower scale than the past.  One thing we can be sure of - people (or, firms) with private property at risk tend to take steps to reduce that risk.  Suppose that a firm had a contract to the timber in this area.  Wouldn't they find it in their best interest to provide the kind of monitoring necessary to protect their interests?  I should think so!  But, the politically correct way to think about this is that it is better to let 15,000 acres burn up than it would be to harvest timber on, oh, say 5,000 acres.

     I don't really expect any of the above ideas to take hold, because they go against the grain of sappy environmental thinking and the unwillingness for any government entity to reducing its power and authority.  Indeed, the local paper had a story about how a thinning project was to take place along Schultz Pass in 2007.  But, an environmental group appealed the project, and it never got off the ground.  Well, it's thinned now!  Too bad we can't sue these environmental groups for putting us all at increased risk.

Friday, June 18, 2010

   Atonement and Fear - The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has generated lots of heat, but little light.  The Congress had Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP (formerly British Petroleum, but, apparently, now just "BP") testifying yesterday on Capitol Hill.  In the grand scheme of things, it is useful to put BP's feet to the fire and do some investigating.  But, having Congress do this is . . . well, totally bizarre.  But, the whole event reminded me of something that Fox News Channel's Judge Andrew Napolitano always likes to say:

He attributes this to Thomas Jefferson, although there is more than a little dispute on that accord.  Jefferson probably would sympathize with the sentiment, even if he never actually uttered/wrote those words.

     Anyway, I was thinking of this quote as I was watching Hayward testifying.  It seemed to me that he had the look of fear on his face.  As if the explosion of Deepwater Horizon oil rig isn't going to cause BP enough pain and suffering, he knows that our government can completely ruin him.  So, he comes to the Congress, with hat in hand, head bowed before the almighty "representatives of the people," to atone for his sin - he runs a big oil company - and beg forgiveness.  Clearly, he is sorry about the accident.  How can he not be?  And, clearly, he wants to find out why it happened so that they can take steps to reduce the likelihood of it happening again.  That's just prudent behavior.  And, clearly, he accepts that BP will have to pay out lots of money to those that were harmed by this accident.

     But, in an era where the government can take over banks and car companies, it surely looks like BP is poised on the brink of a different abyss.  One where the government imposes so many penalties upon them that they must fail.  At least, fail insofar as being a privately-held company.  I can far too easily envision a future where the federal government is the major stockholder in BP.  And, that is chilling.  Or, worse - tyranny.

Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, testifies before Congress.	Judge Andrew Napolitano, not to be confused with our ex-governor.	Thomas Jefferson, to whom the quote is often attributed.

     I suppose it was too much to hope for that Hayward would go to Congress and "give 'em hell."  But, that's just not in the cards these days.  If he spits in their eye, they'll just rake him over the coals and then take his company.  I am reminded of some of the capitalists in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged that don't hold back in criticizing the government for its regulation and control of business.  Where are these capitalists today?

     Still, I must admit that I am getting a little satisfaction from BP's squirming.  They have been a leader in cozying up to the green movement and embracing the whole global warming nonsense.  And, they have contributed more to President Obama's campaign than they have to any other politician in the last thirty years.  So, if they do some twisting in the wind over this oil spill fiasco, I'm not going to be too sympathetic to their circumstances.

Friday, May 14, 2010

   Immigration Idiocy - The illegal immigration law that was recently passed by the state legislature has raised complaints from the usual suspects - those that can't read, or won't read, and want to put all issues into the framework of race.  Unfortunately, that included the esteemed members of the Flagstaff City Council who are clueless when it comes to understanding the proper role of government.  Also clueless is the Faculty Senate at Northern Arizona University.  But, that's nothing new.  So, can it be of any surprise that they voted overwhelmingly to condemn this new law, and characterized it (the law) as racist?  No.  So, I penned this retort to this action, which ran in the paper this past Tuesday:

     Most of the web comments, both to the original article and to my letter, agreed with my basic contention.  Indeed, I don't think you can find a better example to illustrate the shallowness of the Faculty Senate than to go out to their website.  On the right-hand side, you'll see a virtual suggestion box.  Upon a moment's reflection, you will note that it is, in fact, a shredder!  So, that's where all the good ideas go.  Another letter ran today, also critical of the Faculty Senate, where the writer chastised them for this "[g]reat exercise in critical thinking."

Friday, April 23, 2010

   Free (Market) Health Care - The local paper ran a story about a freshman student at NAU that required expensive tests and surgery while being uncovered by any insurance.  Presumably, this was meant to show how bad the system is, and how much better it will be with under the reforms recently passed.  It quickly prompted me to pen a letter, which ran in the paper today:

The editor had written that he wasn't running many letters criticizing the health care reforms because he just wasn't getting any.  Maybe I'll start writing on this topic more regularly.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

   The 3 Foot Rule - Recently, a bicyclist contended that a city bus did not give him three feet of clearance, and videotape from the bus shows that this was, in fact, the case.  But, the cyclist was in a bike lane and the question that began to swirl about was whether he was due this minimum distance.  After some thought, the city attorney decided that the bicyclist  was right and asked the police to ticket the bus driver.  The local paper editorialized on the matter, and while the editor wondered if we weren't splitting hairs here, he didn't really dispute the city's conclusion.  But, they also published the relevant law, to wit:

     Well, I am a reasonably smart person, and as I read the law, the city's conclusion seemed unwarranted.  I did some web searching on the meaning of "overtaking and passing."  I found a lot of references to this phrase, and a very good review at Wikipedia.  Interesting, much of this comes from other countries.  But, the bottom line seemed to be this - the phrase refers to making a maneuver where you go from being behind someone to being in front of them.  Driving by someone in another lane is not what "overtaking and passing" means.  And, if it does, then we need another phrase to describe the action I've just described.  So, I decided to post off a quick letter to the editor, which ran on Tuesday, April 6:

 
     I used to have a traffic engineering handbook around the house, but must have gotten rid of it some years ago.  One of the things I picked up from this tome is that, like lawyers, engineers are pretty careful with using words that have particular meaning, even if we often toss them around more casually.

     While I have written a number of letters and editorials on what I thought to be much more contentious issues, I was surprised that as of today, some four days later, my letter is in the "most commented" category, with more than twenty replies.  Some nice, some not.  I thought to jump in, but I thought my letter was, if anything, somewhat pedantic.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

   Ken Burns' Avatar - When PBS aired Ken Burns' 12 hour documentary, "The National Parks," I recorded it for later viewing.  This past week, I have finally gotten around to watching it - pretty much an episode each night.  I am through four episodes and have two left, but feel compelled to do a bit of blogging about what I have seen so far.

     On the one hand, at least this epic isn't all about race, which is the theme of his earlier works, The Civil War and Baseball.  I think that race has to be a major theme of the "The Civil War," but he pushes the agenda a bit far in that  documentary.  Still, I give him 5 stars for that film and I own a copy.  But, then he goes over the top with this theme in the later "Baseball" documentary, which led me to get tired of it and stop watching somewhere along the way.  At least in "The National Parks," the issue of race (primarily with regard to Native Americans) seems more muted.

     That got me to thinking about it a bit more.  Clearly, we can all despise the fact of the Civil War, so making it all about race and an indictment against white Americans works.  And, really, baseball is just a game, so who really cares if that story can also be made all about racial injustice?  But, the parks story presents a filmmaker like Burns with a dilemma.  While he could make this all about race, too, he is in a bind since he wants to extol the virtues of the National Parks.  Flawed though those virtues are.  So, I am glad that he had to squirm in making this film, and couldn't play the same race card he usually does.

     Still, he does have another card to play - businesses are bad and greedy and we should hate them.  So far, over the course of six hours, the drumbeat against business has been unremitting.  Even when a business seems to be getting good treatment, there is usually a twist in the end - for example, the railroads helped to preserve some places, but it was so they could profit, hence they could not be trusted.  A particularly memorable story involved James Hutchings, who built a hotel in Yosemite Valley.  He was roundly criticized in the narration, and one early tourist is quoted as complaining about the cloth dividers which separated the upstairs rooms.  The intent was clearly that Hutchings was trying to scam tourists by charging a lot and providing little.  Yet, in the next breath, the narration goes on to describe how Hutchings hired John Muir to build a sawmill and that one of the first things he built were walls to separate the hotel rooms!

     The story of the Grand Canyon is also long on indictment of business, especially in the form of Ralph Cameron.  Yet, there is no mention that Cameron actually bought the Bright Angel Trail from the previous proprietor - the implication is just that he owned the trail by being there.  And, while the Kolb brothers get generally good coverage, not a peep about Mary Colter, nor the Fred Harvey Company.  Indeed, I am quite astonished at how many spectacular shots of the eastern portion of the Grand Canyon have been shown without a single sighting of the Desert View Watchtower!

     So, it seems to me that this 12 hour indulgence in anti-business rhetoric is really just Burns' version of James Cameron's Avatar.  Really cool pictures, but the story drags on far too long, and no 3-D glasses.  I guess that expecting Ken Burns to be "fair and balanced" was just hoping for too much.

Friday, February 12, 2010

   SCOTUS for Free Speech! - The Supreme Court struck a blow for free speech with the recent Citizens United decision.  The case revolved around whether certain McCain-Feingold restrictions were constitutional.  The group, Citizens United, had put together a political video, but decided that circulating it would violate the law and took their challenge to the highest court in the land.  To my mind, the whole campaign finance reform movement has been a farce, at best, and wholly antithetical to the precepts of the first amendment to the constitution, at worst.  I can vividly recall seeing video footage of Warren Rudman (Rep) and Eugene McCarthy (Dem), both retired senators, walking up the steps of the Supreme Court Building, in contesting these laws.  But, I don't remember the specific circumstance, so I couldn't find a web link.  Still, McCarthy was an early opponent of these laws, and participated, at some level, in the reasonably well-known Buckley case.

     One might think that liberals would be more inclined to embrace free speech, but I am coming to the conclusion that the only two "values" liberals really have are (i) government is good, and the bigger, the gooder; and (ii) business is bad, and the bigger, the badder.  Still, the ACLU took Citizens United's side in this case, and the Huffington Post has an unusually cogent and thoughtful commentary up on its site by the former executive director of the ACLU.

     So, there are issues here that have been debated for some time.  The ruling by the Supreme Court is not especially broad, although there is talk that McCain-Feingold is headed for the trash heap.  In the local paper, they published a special commentary on this subject by an academic at NAU's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.  Given the venue (the paper's ad hoc "Coconino Voices" column) and the extended length, one might expect a polite and civil commentary.  Sadly, that was not the case.  Instead of taking the high road, Robert Schehr launched into a screed against the court, calling for the impeachment of the justices voting for free speech (i.e., in the majority).  Well, I couldn't resist penning a response, and the paper published my letter yesterday.  Of course, I don't get as much space as Schehr did, but I think I got my point across:

A few other points are in order here:

The Barack Obama story.  The CU web site mentioned this tidbit, but I went web searching to insure it was accurate before including it in my letter.  Indeed, I sent the letter to the editor (rather than use the on-line submission) in order to include that support, because I feared that he would think it was nonsense and we'd have to dance around the issue, or that he would drop it out of the letter, and I didn't want that to happen.  So, the state of Illinois has a Campaign Disclosure site, where you can search their database for this information.  I did two searches - one for "Citibank" and another for "AstraZeneca" (in the "Last or Only Name" box) and got a list of their contributions.  They both made small ($1000 and $500) donations to the "Friends of Barack Obama," one in 2001 and the other in 2002.  These are exactly the kinds of corporate donations that have people up in arms.  They were, of course, for his campaign for state office, not his race for the U.S. Senate - such a donation would be, and still is, illegal.  AstraZeneca is a British-owned firm, although the donations came through their Delaware offices.  So, in his State of Union address, I don't know if Obama is being disingenuous, or just plain hypocritical, when he said, "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities."

Money as free speech.  When I first read Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom, I was instantly convinced by his argument that political freedom is an illusion without economic freedom (although the reverse need not be true).  That is, you can't exercise any political freedom without economic resources.  So, if you don't have access to money, you don't have the ability to operationalize any political freedom.  Powerful stuff.  And, quite frankly, in a country where the political opinion is pretty much 50-50, the "money" isn't just on one side of the political spectrum.

There are risks from corporate donations.  Most opponents, Schehr included, make the mistake of thinking that giant corporations can just pour money into a campaign and win.  Laughable.  First, stockholders may react quite unkindly to this kind of expenditure, and even write restrictions into their own firm.  And, again, in a 50-50 country, can a firm, especially a giant firm, really afford to potentially alienate half its customer base?  I don't think so.  Consider the left wing opposition to advertisers on Glenn Beck's most excellent show on Fox News.  These advertisers never endorsed Beck's opinion of anything, and he isn't running for office, yet they were cowed into pulling ads on one of the most widely seen shows on cable - which is what advertisers want.  So, how likely is it, really, that they contribute money directly to a political campaign?  Slim and none.

Corporations need not be large.  The other big issue here, which I mention in the letter, is that the complaining about "corporate donations" only presumes large corporations.  As I just noted, these firms would be skating on thin ice to engage in much of that kind of activity (if legal).  More likely, you'd get small groups that have to incorporate in order to conduct their business.  And, they are the ones most likely to jump into the political fray - e.g., the Swift Boaters of 2004.  The "corporate" designation is legal necessity.  But, all you ever hear about is the scare tactic of the big corporation.  Indeed, here in Flagstaff, one resident has a business selling t-shirts.  A couple years ago, he was selling shirts that said, "Bush lied.  They died." along with the names of fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Despicable.  But, the state legislature decided it should be illegal.  Also, despicable.  And, eventually overturned by a court.  The main argument was that he shouldn't be allowed to profit from his free speech.  Yeech!

Some large corporations are exempt from McCain-Feingold.  Surprised to learn that "media" corporations don't have to abide by some of the McCain-Feingold restrictions?  Well, not really, when you consider how politics is done.  And, I suspect that most people would probably agree with the exemption, but it is still a case of playing favorites - only certain corporations get free speech rights!  Indeed, over the last election cycle, there had been some talk of prohibiting bloggers from political speech as part of these ridiculous laws.  So far, that hasn't happened.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

   In Search of Dreamers - Over the Thanksgiving break of last year, I was able to backpack into Trinity canyon, so that I could "finish" up my spring break hike that was cut short by an accident.  I was interested in being able to spend some time looking for traces of an old survey crew.  Bill Ferris and I found the sites I wanted to find and got some great photos.  Bill wrote up a great trip report on his blog, and I solicited the local paper for an opportunity to write about our little adventure.  The editor was quite interested and my story ran on January 19, 2010.  The story appears below, although I have added in a number of photos that were not in the paper.  With time, I expect to add this full story in the Hiking Grand Canyon section of the Kaibab Journal.

In Search of Dreamers by Dennis Foster      In 1916, George K. Davol convinced the Santa Fe Railroad that it would be worthwhile investing in a project that would enhance the allure of the Grand Canyon and entice more tourists to visit that awesome natural wonder.  The project was an aerial tramway that would stretch between the two rims of the mighty canyon.  Passengers would “sail” over a breathtaking landscape as they plied their way down from Hopi Point to Dana Butte to the Tonto plateau and then up to the Tower of Set, and further up to Horus Temple and Osiris Temple, then crossing over Shiva Temple before touching down on the North Rim. Click on any of the photos, below, to see a larger image.  1919 survey crew poses at North Tonto camp.  We found the campsite - a terrace in Trinity canyon.       Today, we can only half close our eyes and imagine such a spectacular voyage.  In the fall of 1919, barely six months after the Congress designated the Grand Canyon as a National Park, Davol, with the blessing of the Park Service, began his survey.  It would involve at least a dozen men, last more than three months and chart out a route to the Tower of Set before the vagaries of winter closed down their efforts.  In the spring of 1920, the Park Service nixed the project, and the survey was never completed.      Fast forward to November of 2009.  Bill Ferris and I have plans to hike into Trinity Canyon, west of the popular Phantom Ranch.  We have six days to reach the spot on the Tonto plateau, below the Tower of Set, where I had to be airlifted out of the canyon this past spring, when I suffered a debilitating injury to my foot.  That accident prevented me from completing a nine day hike from Crazy Jug Point to the South Rim, and I was quite keen to “finish” this trek in the manner I had intended. Some of the 1919 crew pose at the site of their 1919 "North Tonto" camp.  Bill and I tried to recreate the pose, but we seem to have suffered from some kind of mirror-image bias!  To the right is the supply tram link that brought supplies up to the north Tonto, near the campsite on a higher terrace.      With six days, we had time to do some exploring.  So, I brought along some old photos of this 1919 survey.  They rigged up short “supply trams” across the canyon to facilitate their work, and I suspected that we would be able to find the remains of one such tram terminus, on the Tonto plateau, as well as their nearby campsite.      Ninety years after the survey crew departed, we found their campsite on a flat terrace by matching up this location with the old pictures.  Lucky for us, as the site looks to have been scrubbed clean – all we found in the area was a washer, a nail and a small bolt.  It appears that they did a good job of cleaning up after themselves. The survey crew mans the top of the supply tram link on the Tonto, north of the Colorado River. Below, I pose in the spots where two of the survey crew were stationed.  I didn't like the exposure of the spot where the third crewmember was standing - there was a drop of over a hundred feet!       We turned our attention to the tram site and wandered along the rim of the Tonto plateau, overlooking the Colorado River.  Aided by the old pictures, we soon stumbled across supplies left behind and tucked away under a ledge – coils of rope, small buckets of screws, bolts and nails, some kind of gate, and odd pieces of the machinery used to make the tram work.  There may be more in this cache, but the mice have had many decades to pile up sticks and twigs in the gaps.  Given its rather obscure location, I would not be surprised if we were the first ones to gaze upon this site since the survey crew stuffed these supplies under this ledge, no doubt expecting to return the following spring to continue with their work. These blocks mark tram terminus.  Bill perched above cache overhang.  Coils of rope and buckets.       We had rain the last night we were in Trinity.  And, we could see snow on the rims in the morning.  Not entirely unlike the Davol survey crew’s experience.  We packed up and made our way back to the campground near Phantom Ranch, leaving behind the dreams of a different era. Dennis Foster has been hiking in the Grand Canyon since 1977 and has spent over 300 nights camped in the canyon’s backcountry. ******************** For more information: To learn more about this survey:  Read Jim Ohlman’s “The 1919 Transcanyon Aerial Tramway Survey,” in A Gathering of Grand Canyon Historians, edited by Michael F. Anderson, and available from the Grand Canyon Association. Photos from the survey:  Visit the Special Collections and Archives Department of Cline Library at Northern Arizona University.  The Robert Ryan Collection (he was a member of the survey crew) is available on-line. Grand Canyon:  To learn more about visiting the Grand Canyon go to www.nps.gov/grca.  Follow the link to “Backcountry Hiking” to learn about the permit system for inner canyon camping.  OR www.grandcanyonscout.com .

     The paper only used the old photo of the group at the campsite, and the photo of Bill and I posing, but none of the materials left under the overhang.  Bill and I are now keen to search for the terminus on the south Tonto.  And, I am still interested in finding the final campsite, located atop the Redwall, north of the campsite we found.  That was, in fact, the main object of my interest, but the route up through the Redwall looked more than a little rough, so we decided to look for the remains of the Tonto operation.  Also of interest, to me at any rate, is that the editor choose to use my working title as the title for the newspaper article.  A first, I think!  Invariably, he changes my titles, to make them more interesting.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

   Hollow Avatar - The movie event of the season is the popular Avatar.  We saw the 3-D version at our local theater.  Of course, it was visually stunning.  The 3-D effect is quite good and the special effects are top notch.  The story, on the other hand, was a stinker.  The whole "bad guy industrialist" versus the "peaceful nature lover" is a tired theme, and not especially poignant here.  Better, on that score anyway, is Dances with Wolves, although I'd even rate that as "thick" on the sappiness scale.

     There are, however, two major complaints I have with the storyline, beyond the tired nature of the theme.  While watching, I was thinking that a prominent dimension was how a society with low/no technology can't co-exist with a society that has a high level of technology.  Wouldn't the story have been better if James Cameron had played this more as an inevitability?  Of course (spoiler alert!!), in the end, the "bad" guys lose, so that would have to change.  Still, I think that he could have done a better job of invoking our pathos by making the humans seem less "bad" and the aliens as less "noble."  Ambiguity on this score would make this a movie to remember instead of one that will likely be soon forgotten.

     But, there is a more fundamental shortcoming to this story.  Upon a little reflection, the Na'vi are a rather sad race.  They seem cool, but really it is only true insofar as Sully learns about these new and different people.  But, then what?  What do they do?  They seem only to produce body decorations.  They don't have industry.  No universities.  No research and development facilities.  They are, at the core, intelligent animals that refuse to use their intelligence.  Some have argued that the story is a metaphor for the clash of cultures that occurred between Europeans and Native Americans.  But, really it is more like the "clash" between Europeans and the buffalo.

     Indeed, I was reminded of my trip to Antarctica.  We visited many penguin colonies.  Instead of being struck by the awesome beauty of nature I was more struck by the fact that their entire existence is built around survival - breeding and eating.  The Na'vi, at least insofar as they were presented in the movie, likewise seemed to live their lives the same way.  Some may argue that they were living in "harmony" with nature.  But, that means stagnation.  No inventiveness.  No intellectual curiosity.  None of the (best) attributes that we would ascribe to our humanity.  Maybe a better movie would have painted these aliens as glorified plants, albeit with some intelligence.  Then, the moral conflict of how humans treat them would have been more ambiguous.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

   The GC Permit Shuffle - Last month, the Park Service announced a new permit policy for backpacking in the Grand Canyon.  It eliminates the walk-in request, in favor of mailed/faxed requests, for the first month that permits are available.  For example, on June 1st, one can apply for a permit to do a trip in October.  Because the park is deluged with fax requests on the first of each month (well, not every month), if you walk in on the first, or even on the second, day of the month, you are likely to get your request filled well in advance of all the faxed requests.  That will change on February 1, 2010.  Now, only faxed requests will be taken during June for October hikes.  Walk-in requests will not be accepted until July 1st, for October hikes.  [Well, the walk-in will be treated like a faxed request - drop it off and they'll add it to the pile.]  There were a few letters printed in the local paper complaining about this policy change.  I thought to write a letter as well, but approached the editor about possibly writing a longer commentary.  He agreed, and my "guest editorial" ran in the Arizona Daily Sun on Wednesday, November 25th, the same day I left for a six day backpacking trip in the canyon.

Some further comments: 

The "fairness" issue.  This drives me nuts!  The Grand Canyon Hikers group on Yahoo was full of comments about how this made the process more "fair" by making the odds more equal.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  They only see that they are getting better odds, hence that it must be "fair."  Really, it is all about greed, but people usually don't want to admit that!  I addressed this issue before, when I noted that rarely do these people take a holistic view of these matters.  Which brings me to my next point.

Changing rules negates our choices.  The worst part of this kind of change is that it penalizes people who have acted on the incentive structure created in the first place.  Maybe the old rule was "bad," but we have been living with it for quite a while and have adapted.  Now, the time, energy, effort and money we have put into this adaptation is made worthless.  And, does anyone at the Park Service factor that into their decision-making?  Of course not.

A market-based solution still "hurts" me.  Another point that few seem to get is that I am worse off with a market solution.  Prices rise, and I must compete with the fictional backpacker from New Jersey for a permit.  If he/she is willing to pay more, they get the permit.  That is quite likely if it is their once-a-year trip to the canyon, versus being just one of a half dozen trips I make annually.  But, I understand the "fairness" of such a system and am willing to support it, even if it reduces my chances relative to the current system.

My web rating was quite low.  I only got 1.4, out of 5, stars on the web, with an amazing 53 chiming in.  Too bad the web comments were down (while the paper migrates to a new platform), otherwise I might have been able to get a lively debate going here.  I suspect that most of the negative scores came from river runners that hate commercial outfits and wish that they had a much smaller allocation.  But, as I noted in my commentary, if it wasn't for these commercial services, you'd probably have to plan such a trip a year in advance, which is just wasteful.

Privatizing would raise quality.  Absolutely!  It certainly can't lower it!  For years, I have dreaded an overnight stay at the Bright Angel campground because the restroom facilities are just atrocious.  If these campgrounds were private and competitive with one another, I don't think that would be the case.  Indeed, the restroom at Phantom Ranch is in much better shape.  Hmm . . .  Lesson learned!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

   Can Obama Govern? - A little more than a year after he was elected to the most powerful position in the world, the answer is unequivocal - No.  And, really, we shouldn't be surprised.  People who are good at one thing are rarely good at something else.  For example, we really don't expect that an NFL quarterback can be a good running back, or receiver, and certainly not a defensive linebacker.

     Still, we oftentimes will try to project competence across differing areas.  Candidate Barack Obama showed us his superior rhetorical skills.  From that, many projected that aptitude onto the ability to govern.  And, that hasn't worked out.  Obama seems to relish the idea of being President without really having any serious interest in governing in a manner that leaves us better off after his term(s) in office than we were before he started.  He jets off to Copenhagen to make an Olympics pitch.  He travels around the world speechifying on what is wrong with America.  He takes his family on a vacation to the Grand Canyon and Martha's Vineyard.  He seems mesmerized by the spectacle of the presidency and not so intrigued by its hope and promise.

     He dallies on the war in Afghanistan.  He pushes us into more dependence on the government.  He is reckless with how the government should spend taxpayer money, be it on the stimulus or health care, or, coming soon, the cap and trade boondoggle.  He associates himself with the most radical of ideologues.  Yet, I recall his stirring words during the campaign, when he implored us to work together to solve problems, when he promised "change we can believe in," when he was adamant about bipartisanship and transparency.

     And, those things have not happened.  He did not take on the mantle of the stern schoolmaster and force the cantankerous children that populate the House and Senate to sit down and chart an agreeable course into the future.  Instead, it has been the Democrat leadership that has taken control of the process and is steering us into disaster and calamity.

     Now, I don't really believe that Obama disagrees with the other Dems in terms of the policies being pursued.  But, that is not what he promised during the campaign.  But, why should we have expected any different?  He had not a shred of governing experience.  He only had experience as a successful campaigner and articulate speaker.  The conclusion that must be drawn, and it is not a surprising conclusion, is that Obama is a typical politician.  He is not exceptionally gifted at telling the truth, nor at rising above the fray of politics-as-usual.  While one may argue that the hope and promise was our fantasy projection onto Obama, I still remember his words.  And, they were not words I put into his mouth. 

Sunday, September 13, 2009

   Flagstaff Tea Party - It is hard to believe that it has been two weeks since the Tea Party Express rolled through our fair hamlet of Flagstaff.  I think it must be our auspicious position on Interstate 40 - a few years ago we were also favored with a visit from the Ending Earmarks Express - since we are smack dab in the bluest of the blue areas in this otherwise red state.  I guess that makes sense, as the government is the largest employer here, and by a long margin!

     The party started in the early evening, but folks started assembling well in advance of six o'clock.  One of the highlights was that we were featured on Fox News, especially at the front end of both the Hannity show and On The Record with Greta Susteren.  I taped those shows and could see part of my sign showing though those closer to the camera.  The two sides of my sign are shown to the left and right, above.  Cara Lynn also made a sign (see below) as did a colleague of mine who retired a few years ago - LOL to the right.

     The crowd was large and enthusiastic.  The folks running the show have honed their message and staged an event that is informative and entertaining.  While we had some mighty dark clouds threatening, we stayed dry.  We also heard from some local voices, including Tom Jenney, the Arizona director of the Americans for Prosperity.  Tom and I go back to the days he was the Communications Director for the Goldwater Institute.  We also heard from Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin, who is one of a small group of politicians that I really believe would be great for our state in a higher office.  While we currently have an unintended Republican governor (because Dem Janet Napolitano left to become Homeland Security Secretary in D.C.), I still like Martin's chances in the primary and general next year.

Click on any photo to see a larger image.
The "manufactured" crowd had manufactured signs? Not!!	I didn't even see this sign until near the end of the event.	The rally was held at the Tea Party Express buses.  No rain on our party.
As dusk gave way to night, the crowd remained strong and attentive.	I guess Dean Martin is running for governor - I pegged it in 2006.	Cara Lynn waves to passing motorists.

     There were a handful of protesters and they lined up on the opposite side of the street.  I didn't realize that they were protesting until we were about to head home and decided to spend a few minutes on the street waving to passersby.  There were some catcalls going on back and forth across the street, but it seemed mostly in good fun.

     On the other hand, I did have an interesting encounter with one of the food vendors, who asked why everyone was opposed to health care.  At first, I thought he was just making a joke.  But, he went on, and despite my attempt to be both reasonable and courteous, wouldn't really listen to any other view.  His opinion was succinctly stated as, "The job of government is to take care of us."  I don't think he heard my reply that there is no such role for government spelled out in the constitution.  But, I think that his view is exactly what the left-wing believes and it is so antithetical to the founding principles of our country that it is a wonder their heads don't explode from their inability to resolve the contradiction between liberty and freedom, on the one hand, and the desire to take what isn't theirs, from someone else, and justify it as being somehow "just."

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

   Is It Health Insurance? - There is so much awful about the current efforts to "reform" health care, that it is hard to find a place to start any critique.  The presumed motivation of lowering costs and making it more accessible seems laudable, but then the solution should be more competition and less government.  And, anyone who is paying attention to this issue knows that this juggernaut is moving in the opposite direction.  One slice of the current debate that has me constantly cringing is the issue of insurance.  We hear all about the millions of people without health insurance.  The contention is that we can (partly) solve our problems by roping these folks into an insurance pool.

     First, let's dispense with the magnitude of the problem.  When it comes to the actual number of "uninsured" there are easy ways to deflate these figures into something a heck of a lot less than the 47 million we often hear hyped in the media.  Take out 10 million illegals, 17 million that earn more than $50,000 a year and those that choose no insurance because they feel healthy, and you may be left with 7 to 8 million people.  That is something on the order of 2% to 3% of the population.  It hardly seems like a crisis point for the country.  And, under a free and competitive environment, I suspect that 80% of these people could be adequately served.

     But, this still begs the question of what is meant by " insurance?"  Simply put, insurance is a mechanism to protect your wealth when you encounter some event that would otherwise wreak havoc on your finances.  You are not insuring your house, or your car, or your health.  It is your wealth.  If you have no wealth, then insurance isn't especially an issue.  When we hear the argument about "universal coverage," we aren't talking about insurance.  We're talking about defined benefits, that pretty much everyone expects to access.

     You buy insurance to protect yourself from unexpected calamities.  You don't buy insurance to gas up your car, or replace the tires.  You don't buy insurance to paint your house or have a new roof installed.  One of the problems with health insurance is that these are exactly the kinds of items covered - doctor visits, shots, etc.  That is not what I want to insure against.  I expect to make those kinds of payments.  I want insurance for the big things - like cancer - that I hope will never happen.  One reason that the cost of insurance is so high is that the wrong things are being paid for, and I am quite certain that will continue under "universal coverage."

     If we are all going to use the coverage, then it isn't insurance.  Over time, we will have to contribute as much into the system as we get out of it.  Now, that isn't perfectly true, since this will also be like "progressive" taxes - richer people will pay more.  But, insurance isn't about richer people paying more.  It's about individuals paying the expected amount of the weighted odds of "collecting" on the insurance.  That is, if you have a 1% chance of a total loss to your $200,000 home over a twenty year period (e.g., fire), then your insurance would cost $2000 over that time frame, or $100 per year.  If the odds are 100%, then there is no insurance you can buy!  That's the way it works.

     So, if we all expect to use health care, say to the tune of $500,000 each, then that is what we'll have to pay for.  You can't insure against it.  You can only tax people this amount in order to "cover" us.  That is a fraud.  Insurance is insurance.  Benefits are benefits.  Confusing the latter with the former is just another example of political doublespeak.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

   NAU Parking Newspeak - There are so many colossal issues to write about (health scare, cap and tax, and innovation-killing taxes, to name a few), that it is easy to be overwhelmed by such a task.  So, I'll defer on those for now, and focus on a local matter that has me especially irritated:  on-campus parking at Northern Arizona University.  Last year I paid $60 for a permit in an unpaved lot on the edge of campus.  This "yellow" permit was good only in that one lot, Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

     Right next to this yellow lot is a paved commuter lot, which requires a "black" permit.  During the summer, this lot is mostly empty.  Since it can rain a lot during the summer, the yellow lot can become quite a mess.  So, at the end of this past spring term I wrote to our Parking Services and asked if they wouldn't allow the yellow permit parkers to use the adjacent lot during the summer, which would help extend the life of the unpaved lot.  [I also blogged about this last summer - Spaces, Spaces, Everywhere]  The reply I got was disheartening - this lot was scheduled to close down this summer, paved, and turned into another commuter lot.  The yellow lot was to be no more.  The income effects on me are significant - today I bought the only kind of permit available to me, at a cost of $314.  That's more than a whopping 500% increase in parking fees for me!

     So, today I have been looking over the Parking Services' website, and I am just amazed at how good an example it is of fuzzy logic, misdirection, obfuscation, and, well . . . Orwellian newspeak.  To wit:

The purpose of meters.  The home page notes, "Meters on campus have been reduced to open up more student parking. Meters are intended for visitors. Student permit owners are prohibited from parking at meters."   Well, I understand that parking should be made available to visitors, and I understand the notion that the metered parking should be reserved for these visitors.  But, why is the prohibition only applied to students?  I wrote to Parking Services and asked if faculty could park at the meters and received a reply of "Yes," noting that, of course, we have to pay for the meter.  So, if they are intended for visitors, but employees can park there, but students can't, what do we conclude?  It's not rocket science.

The purpose of the "Park N Stay" lot.  From the home page, "Park & Stay, originally intended for residential students as a means to decrease vehicles driving on campus, was only being used by commuters. Therefore, it will be paved and converted to commuter parking."  This is false.  The lot was designed to do exactly what it says - get people to park in this one lot and walk, bike, or bus around campus.  The point was to reduce on-campus traffic.  And, the idea is sound.  The fact that a lot of folks like me (especially, the staff), who work on that end of campus, found this to be a nice choice doesn't negate the fact that I did not drive around campus to other lots (my permit wouldn't be valid).  Now that the lot is being paved over, the justification for it has changed in order to validate this decision.  I don't know if this would make Orwell proud, or have him rolling over in his grave.
     Also, I should note that declaring it as "intended for residential students" is also disingenuous.  Those students have to buy "red" permits and can only park in their residential zone on campus.  That is, they have no ability to drive around campus to other lots during the day anyway!

Efficiency is in the eyes of the permit holder.  We have only four categories of parking permits - employee ($314), student commuter ($324), student on-campus resident ($324) and our new parking garage ($418).  Insofar as the latter is concerned, the web page states, "Parking Garage permits will only be permitted to park in the garage to ensure this facility is efficiently used and vehicles are not taking a second parking stall elsewhere on campus."  How is it possible that a full garage is a meaningful measure of efficiency?  Well, it isn't.  But, it is symptomatic of the kind of "thinking" that goes on in government agencies.  Efficiency refers to how well we use our scarce resources relative to our needs and desires.  That's why my college dean has his own parking space, even though he is gone every other week on some kind of fund raising effort.  It would be the height of inefficiency to require him to stay at the college every day just so his parking space can be occupied.  [Of course, a better way would be to auction off spaces, maybe on a daily basis . . .]

The ecoPASS as fraud.  Don't want to pay to park on campus?  Well, there is another option - get an "ecoPASS" and ride the bus into school.  And, it's free!  Of course, it isn't free.  You have expend an inordinate amount of time, energy and effort to use the bus system, especially if you live many miles from campus.  On their ecoPASS page, they state, "Using your ecoPASS helps reduce campus traffic congestion, lessens the impact on employee parking, reduces air pollution, and expands the range of cyclists and walkers."  Does it?  Probably not.  You face increased congestion for on-campus bus services.  What lessening the "impact" on parking means is beyond me, but if it was something real, they wouldn't mind letting garage permit holders park somewhere other than the garage!  And, the last thing I want to see on campus is an increased "range of cyclists."  They are already a hazard to my health!  The web page touts the pass as a way to "Relax On Your Way To Work."  That doesn't sound like any bus system I've ever heard of.  In fact, I recently received an e-mail from a student of mine that just started working in Washington D.C. and has to take the not-so-relaxing metro to work every day.  Her take - "Being productive during the commute is tough, especially when you have zero personal space most days. Sometimes the occasional person tries to pull out a laptop and work on the train, and it never lasts long with how close people cram in. I generally just read the paper in the mornings, but a lot of people sleep, such as the fellow next to me this morning that I had to keep pushing off my shoulder."  Yeech!
     But, there is one more point here.  Not only is this a fraud insofar as our choice go, but it is an accounting fraud as well.  The passes are not free.  The university has to use taxpayer money to pay for them.  And, the bus line, also a government entity, will no doubt count this money as "revenue" rather than as part of its taxpayer support, thus claiming that they are moving closer to being a break-even operation.  I can already feel the chill running up and down my spine in anticipation of reading such a pronouncement. 

Friday, July 10, 2009

   Of Mules and Men - The National Park Service is considering whether to change property rights, with regard to mule travel, at the Grand Canyon.  There were some public "scoping" sessions back in early June.  I attended one, but there wasn't any formal decision to study and comment on - it was all very open ended.  I challenged one of the park spokesman here with the comment that there must be some agenda motivating all this time and energy.  I suspect it is an attempt to reduce and restrict mule travel in the canyon.  He said that the ongoing "conflict" between mules and hikers necessitated a periodic review of these conditions.  I suggested that the appropriate solution to dealing with any perceived "conflict" was to expand the trail infrastructure to accommodate more users, but that I doubt whether anyone at the park service would ever seriously consider such an outcome.  So it goes.  The photo, above, shows the mule barn at the Grand Canyon (click to see a larger image) - the oldest commercial facility currently being used in the United States, as I understand it.  Since the park finished its 1995 General Management Plan, this has been on the chopping block.  As usual, the idea is to preserve the structure and turn it into an interpretation site, while moving the actual operation somewhere else, mostly out of sight of the visitors!

     The deadline for commenting on this issue was June 22, and I didn't realize that until June 23.  Doh!  But, whatever action they decide to pursue, there will be another public airing, so I can comment then.  Still, I penned the following letter to the editor of our local paper, which ran on Tuesday, June 30:

A few other comments:

The selfish issue.  I am always amazed at how easily people fail to see the "selfishness" of their opinions.  Instead, they seem to think that their "vision" is a reflection of a true and just outcome.  I guess that makes them rather pretentious, and, as I infer, not at all tolerant of others.
     This issue is made even more awful, in my opinion, when I read some comments that mules should continue because they help those who cannot physically hike these distances.  The presumption is that if you are healthy enough to hike, you shouldn't be allowed to ride the mule.  Yeech!  I have only ridden the mules once, and clearly I am able to hike.  It was a fantastic trip - I was having a great time looking all around me at the Grand Canyon instead of looking down at the trail!

Expanding the infrastructure.  While nobody with any authority will ever consider this, I do have a more specific suggestion here.  Improve the Hermit's Trail and re-establish the old Hermit Camp.  In other words, turn it into a "Phantom Ranch Lite."  Don't allow the mules back on this trail, so that it can be a viable alternative for hikers, complete with canteen, bunkhouses, et al.  Re-establish the old tram as the supply conduit.  That way, the park would not only honor the history of the area, but actually build on it!

I am not such an outlier on this issue.  One other letter was published by the newspaper on this topic, and also in favor of the mules.  And, some of the Yahoo group (Grand Canyon Hikers) seem fine with the mules as well (although, perhaps a minority).  Also, when I was up at the park on July 1st to stand in line for a November hiking permit, another local came up to me and commented that he mostly agreed with me on the points raised in the letter, and he is well-connected to the liberal side of this community.  And, my letter received a 3.8 rating on the web (out of 5.0) with 29 "votes."  That wasn't enough to crack my way into the top 5, but a very respectable score all in all.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

   Shamans' Gallery - For some years, I have been thinking about a return to Shamans' Gallery, so that I can take some digital photos.  After my first (and only) visit in 1996, I thought that this could be done as part of a really long day trip from Flagstaff.  Cara Lynn was interested in going, so off we went on the Sunday before Memorial Day, 2009.

 
For the full story:
Tuckup Trail to Shamans' Gallery
in the Hiking Grand Canyon section of the Kaibab Journal

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

   Self-Orienting Maps, et al. - This past Memorial Day weekend, Cara Lynn and I took a day trip to see Shaman's Gallery (or, is it Shamans? or Shamans'? or, call it Gordon's Panel).  Anyway, on the road we were listening to the radio and some commentator on NPR was whining about the demise of newspapers and how they would miss the tactile sense of holding the news in their hands, while sipping on their latte.  Give me a break!  That got us to talking about how innovations are, by and large, improvements.  So, while I am not inclined to sit down with my cup 'o joe and a Kindle, I can imagine that innovations will continue apace and we will have a suitable substitute for the "newspaper experience."  Some years ago, I had heard of paper thin LCD screens that would allow for downloaded material into a book that you could read as a book.  [And, when you were done, you can just clear the pages.]  The technology goes by the name of "electronic ink," or "electronic paper."

     So, with our thinking caps on, we developed how this would work to supplant newspapers.  First, pick the newspaper size that suits you.  Then, hook up to the internet (hmm . . . can this be done wirelessly?) and download whatever paper you want.  Or, some combination of papers.  And, you can tailor the paper as you see fit - sports first, or national news, maybe with a cartoon at the bottom of each page, instead of all on one page.  You can read it as four pages, and hit scrolling buttons to advance to later pages.  Or, you can jump to the rest of the story you are reading directly.  At first, I doubt that this faux newspaper will really feel like a newspaper, but over time, it may well resemble the real deal.

     And, that led us to another innovation:  self-orienting maps.  As we were traveling along dirt roads, mostly unmarked, I was armed with a topo map and estimating our position by noting when we would meet up with intersecting roads.  Remarkably effective, although there are more side roads than are shown on the old map!  Well, the dilemma here is that maps are oriented with north at the top and we were driving south.  I have almost always kept the map in its printed orientation and made mental notes that roads on "map left" were going to show up on my right, and vice versa.  Yeah, that gets confusing.  But, on my recent spring break hike, I noticed that Bill Ferris always held his map oriented to his direction of travel.  Then, he just needed to read labels and numbers sideways and upside down.  After a while, I decided I liked this approach.  So, on our drive to Shamans Gallery, I decided to orient the map with south at the top.  That worked great, but we still had to contend with reading information upside down.

     But, we got to thinking about the newspaper idea and decided this technology would also work for maps.  First, it would be cool to just download your map onto a standard sized sheet (bigger than 8.5 x 11, I would think).  And (a drum roll, please), as you turned the map to orient it in the direction you are traveling, the labels and numbers would rotate with you!  Sign me up.  And, if you could write electronic notes on your map (with a stylus), you can then download it to your PC when you get home.  Probably there are plenty of other accessories that people would want on these maps.  Perhaps, I'll solicit ideas from the folks at the Yahoo Grand Canyon group.

Monday, January 19, 2009

   Dismantling Our Heritage - We went up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for a day trip.  We had a few things we wanted to do.  More on that later.  While up at Powell Memorial, we were dismayed to see that the park service has finally gotten around to dismantling the headframe to the old Orphan Mine, shown to the right (click any photo to see a larger image), which is probably about fifty years old.  It is a sad commentary on the NPS, which extols the virtues of historic structures, but only as long as they think that these structures are worth preserving.  For years, they have also wanted to tear down the Thunderbird and Kachina Lodge.  Thankfully, that has not yet come to pass.

     So, why were we up at the canyon?  Many reasons . . .

Kolb Exhibit.  I wanted to see the exhibit at Kolb Studio on historic mapping of the Grand Canyon.  [Until 2/15/09, you can read more about this here - Mapping the Grand Canyon. Later, visit their archives to find out more on this exhibit.]  These exhibits usually last for many months, so I do have ample opportunities.  But, we missed out on this during our December backpacking trip to Phantom Ranch.  This day trip afforded us the time to really peruse this exhibit.  I give it 4.5 stars - alas, no copies of Walcott's maps from the early 1880s were included.  An oversight, in my humble opinion.  Also, it is interesting to note that when Emory Kolb died, the studio was turned into a bookstore for the Grand Canyon Association, ending its historic use in favor of something else that the NPS endorsed!

Drive new & improved Hermit Road.  I also wanted a chance to drive the newly reconstructed Hermit Road (aka, West Rim Drive), which runs the eight miles between the Bright Angel Lodge and Hermit's Rest.  The road had been in very poor shape for a number of years.  I think that the park service should have added a direct road from Hermit's Rest back to the South Rim Village, so that hikers could access the trail here year round, without having to rely on the awful shuttle service.  But, it was not to be.  The new road looks just like the old road, except it isn't crumbling nor wavy.  But, no wider than before!  No bike lanes!  And, parking for the 2+ months of its being open to the public is woefully inadequate.  The photo, to the right, shows parking at Powell Memorial, which is typical of the viewpoints along this road.  Wouldn't some angled parking here have doubled the available spaces at little additional cost?  Probably, but that's not the way the park service thinks.  But, there was one major improvement, which gets my full support.  The restrooms at Hermit's Rest have been totally redone.  Now, there are four little building (see photo), each with two units.  They are roomy and include hand sanitizer dispensers.  There are also some vending machines here (drinks and snacks) and a water fountain that works during the winter.  A vast improvement over the older facility, even though these are outhouses and not flush toilets.

Meal Ready to Eat - a field test.  We also used this opportunity to try out some MREs that Cara Lynn got from an old friend.  MREs are "meals ready to eat" and are used by the military.  I tried one at home, but those are rather ideal conditions.  [Even so, I mistakenly added a package of salt to my instant coffee.  Bleech!  All I can say is that it sure looked like a sugar packet.]  Cara Lynn had a chicken and noodles meal, while I had the beef enchilada.  Very good, with just a little bit of a learning curve on our part.  The meals heat up when some chemical pellets are activated by air and water.  Works well to generating a hot meal, although the staying power of the "heaters" is not enough to really get your hot drink up to speed.  Still, I am impressed with the quality and variety of items included.  A slight breeze caused us to make sure everything got tucked under something heavy.  You can see Cara Lynn's meal to the right.  Yes, it included the M&Ms.  I would say that they are a bit too heavy for backpacking purposes, but they were nice on this cold Saturday in January.  We ate at the picnic area by the Hermit trailhead, as did three other groups of visitors.  Too bad you can only drive out here in December, January and part of February.  You wouldn't expect the shuttle bus riders to haul out picnic supplies during the rest of the year.  So it goes.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

   Klaatu Goes PC - We went to see the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still last week.  I give it three quarters of a star, but I'm not really sure why.  Maybe it was just the neat twist of the alien/s having landed years earlier and snatched some DNA to use to make a human that can be sent to us for the purpose of interaction.  Yeah, in the original, you have to believe that Michael Rennie was a human from another planet, as if that was the natural order of things.  Beyond that, there isn't anything about this movie to recommend.

     But, that is not why I am writing about this film.  Instead, my beef is that the film has stood the premise of the original on its head.  In the 1951 epic film, Klaatu has come to Earth to issue a warning to us not to take our fighting, now that we have nuclear capabilities, beyond our planet, which would threaten other worlds.  [Hmm, sounds a lot like the current Israel/Gaza conflict!]  Although he "came in peace," he was rude not to have called ahead - maybe then he wouldn't have gotten shot at!  Still, his character was supposed to be naive about the specifics of our culture and a big chunk of the film shows him getting to know us better.  His only demand was that he present his message to a diverse group that represented all the various peoples of the Earth.

     The new Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) is, well, an idiot.  He is supposed to know all about us, and even seeks out another alien living among us for a report.  Yet, he doesn't seem to understand how to communicate with us.  Indeed, he doesn't really have a message to relay to us.  Instead, he is here to destroy us in order to "save the planet."  I guess you could say that he is a metaphor for environmental extremism.  If they hadn't played him so serious, but, instead, more delusional (or, even insidious, like the villain in the new Bond film, Quantum of Solace) then I might have given this movie a full star.

     After seeing the new version, I pulled out my DVD copy of the original and watched that, paying closer attention to the message of the film, because I was sure that it had been totally perverted by the remake.  And, that is certainly the case.  I jotted some of the key passages in Klaatu's final speech, which left me admiring that film even more:

     To my surprise, I have just discovered that Klaatu is a libertarian!  While the filmmakers were not trying to promote this kind of interpretation, it is the inescapable result of how they sought to operationalize their anti-war sentiments.  Here is what we get from the passages quoted above:

Limited government.  This interplanetary association has only one purpose - secure individual freedom from aggression.  That is pure Ayn Rand material.  There isn't any aid and assistance to us, to help in our dismantling of weapons.  There isn't any interplanetary definition of marriage.   There isn't any common currency standard.  Nothing but just the protection of the individual from force of violence.  You can't get any more libertarian than that.

The state doesn't regulate behavior.  They just don't care what we do, as long as we're not violent.  No social conventions to enforce.  No behavior to criminalize.  A libertarian's dream world!

Free enterprise is embraced.  I love the line about pursuing "more profitable enterprises."  It doesn't have to refer to making money, but it explicitly allows for that outcome.  And, the concept of free enterprise is really the expression of capitalism.  I doubt that many viewers would walk away from the movie thinking that Klaatu's message is that capitalism is best, but that's what he said.

A strict enforcement of property rights.  The notion that the robot police force has a simple mandate, and that it is carried out automatically, and, apparently, swiftly, means that property rights are pre-eminent in this system.

A de facto encouragement of economic growth.  Capitalism requires property rights, lest there is no trade, and relies on voluntary transactions.  The threat of force and violence deter these transactions, so their elimination would sow the seeds of dramatic economic growth and development.

     So, while the new, politically-correct, version of this movie is a stinker, turning Klaatu into a bullying socialist tyrant, the original version gets five stars from me.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

   Financial Market Turmoil - With the recent turmoil in financial markets, and given my relative advantage in this area (I have been teaching a course in "Money & Banking" the last four years), I asked the editor (Randy Wilson) of the Daily Sun if he would be interested in an editorial on the topic under their "Coconino Voices" banner, which is an irregular platform for locals with expertise to spout off about things they know something about.  He was enthusiastic about this, and even though I finished it off on Friday (10/3), he got it on the main editorial page for Sunday.  While it has been a couple of days since then, surprisingly there are no web comments on my opinion piece.  That seems odd, although Randy told someone else that he did expect to see some letters come in on my editorial.  We'll see.  Still, my colleague Doug Brown, who is quite the polar opposite of me insofar as politics and economics goes, told me that he was asking his students to comment on my piece as part of a homework assignment.  So, that's good news and I'll be interested in hearing how they react to it.

     As you can note, the theme here is that there has been too much regulation in this industry and that our current (and future!) problems stem from these regulations, not from "greed" nor from "poor oversight," hence the nod to Hayek with the "fatal conceit" reference in the title.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

   The Five Ring Circus - I have never been much of an avid follower of the Olympics.  I have only seen bits and pieces over the years, although I do remember catching some of the major events from time to time.  This is especially true of the summer version, when there is so much else to do with my time, energy and effort.  The winter version, on the other hand, fills up dead space in my schedule.

     So, since the games have begun in Beijing, I have tuned in a few times, on a sporadic basis.  And, what do I see?  Well, there is beach volleyball, some kind of handball version of soccer, some kind of stick version of broomball, archery, more beach volleyball, some "real" volleyball, water polo and some women's weight lifting.  I must say that I scratch my head and ponder exactly what the Olympics are supposed to mean.  And, then, there is the issue of how many medal opportunities a participant may have - for swimmer Michael Phelps it is quite high, while for a basketball player it must certainly just be one.  So, how do you compare the performance of the two?  Well, here are my suggestions . . .

Eliminate team sports.  To my eye, the Olympics should be about individual achievement.  So, team sports should be tossed.  No water polo.  No soccer.  No hockey.  No softball.  Those might be interesting games, but they should only appear in some other venue.
   Exceptions:  Teams where the competition is not one-on-one, like rowing and relays.

Eliminate games entirely.  I don't think chess is an Olympic sport . . . yet!  But, tennis is, and it shouldn't be.  The Olympics are a competition, but not one in a game.  No tennis.  No ping pong.  No badminton.

Eliminate competitions based on judging.  Any competition where the participant must look up to see how they scored among a set of judges doesn't cut it with me.  There must be rules for competitors, and some enforcement mechanism, but let's just throw out all the "sports" that get scored.  No pommel horse.  No rings.  No synchronized swimming.  No diving.  No trampoline.
   Exceptions:  Change the gymnastics "competition" into truly athletic events - who can jump the most pommel horses in one minute, etc.

Crown one champion.  Whoever wins the decathlon, or some variation thereof, would be deemed "the Olympic Champion."  Score this as currently is done, or come up with some alternative scheme that can produce an overall champion that excels across many fields.  The modern day triathlon is really a better indicator of who is "best" than is someone who wins nine medals in closely related competitions.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

   The Dirty Dozen - Such is the title of a new book by Robert Levy and William Mellor.  [The image to the right is linked to the Amazon web page.]  It is the story of the "worst" twelve Supreme Court decisions in the modern era, meaning since about the Great Depression.  Yes, way too many would otherwise come from the first hundred years!  Author Robert Levy was featured at the Goldwater Institute this past week as part of their "Who's Writing Now?" series, which Cara Lynn and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend this past Thursday.

     Levy gave a fascinating talk to the crowd of one hundred, or so, out on the patio behind the institute building.  He pursued a law degree in his mid-40s after having been a successful entrepreneur.  He clerked for Clint Bolick, who is currently the director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at Goldwater.  Bolick said that Levy, now a senior fellow at Cato, was the most unusual law clerk they ever had - during his lunch breaks at the firm, he would be on the phone to his broker buying and selling stock!  And, apparently, doing quite well for himself.  In fact, the firm not only offered Levy a job, but put him on their board of directors.

     Levy was a very engaging speaker and had the crowd listening in rapt attention.  The stories of these cases, chosen in part from a survey he and his co-author conducted among other lawyers, were fascinating, if brief for this venue.  Still he talked to us for close to an hour and took questions at the end.  Afterwards, we got a copy of his book (not available at stores until May 1), and Cara Lynn got Levy to sign a copy for us.

     The book is great.  The chapters can be read in whatever order you wish.  I started with some of the more peculiar economics-related cases - Wickard v. Filburn (Congress can pass a law that you can't grow wheat for your own consumption because it interferes with interstate commerce!); the Gold Clause Cases (where a building owner in Des Moines had to keep the rent on his 143,000 square foot office building fixed at $23,000 from 1933 to 1993 because the government ended the gold standard!!); Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc. (Congress can defer its legislative abilities to unelected bureaucracies - in this case the EPA - who can establish rules, determine penalties and adjudicate guilt!!!).

     Why is it that these cases are unfamiliar to me?  I am reasonably intelligent and well-read.  I guess that they just didn't make it into the educational curriculum at the schools I attended, probably because they are so crucial to the foundation of the current welfare/nanny state mentality that so infects the body politic.  Yes, we did cover the Dred Scott case, but that didn't make Levy and Mellor's book because it was an old case, and, of course, since overturned by constitutional amendment.  And, there is another thing.  Someone asked Levy if the notion that the constitution is a "living document" was legitimate.  Absolutely not, was Levy's response.  That notion denigrates the value of the constitution, making it meaningless.  Times do change, and the framers constructed a method by which we can amend the constitution to reflect those changes.  This has been done seventeen times.  Yet, we have been inculcated with the notion that the "living constitution" is some kind of special gift, when, in fact, it is a curse.  Two thumbs up.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

   All Quiet on the Western Front - In late October, we drove up to the Grand Canyon to attend the second annual Grand Canyon Hikers Symposium, sponsored by the Grand Canyon Hikers & Backpackers Association.  Great stories all day long.  On our way out of town, the sun was setting behind the helipad, in Tusayan.  We stopped and I was able to snag this great shot of the helicopters at rest. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

   When the Poor are Fat ... - The Trust for America's Health has issued its annual report on obesity in America.  I have no qualms with the bottom line (pardon the pun) - it is getting wider all the time.  Why, just last week, I was having breakfast with Sue and Tom, my sister and her mate.  Tom had just returned from a three week motorcycle cruise around a big chunk of the country and was noting how many fat people he saw on his travels.  I pointed out to him that the three of us had just ordered four breakfasts (at our favorite place - the Cracker Barrel), so we could split the order of pecan pancakes.  Well, none of us are obese, but we can each lose ten pounds.  Still, lifestyle is everything, isn't it?

     One thing that interested me about the report is the "connection" between obesity and poverty.  "Eight of the states with the highest poverty rates are also in the top 15 states with the highest obesity rates," according to the report (p. 15).  This observation should cause pause, not so much about the problem of obesity, but about the definition of poverty.  It seems clear to me that we have defined poverty in a dysfunctional manner if it can include people who eat too much.  I thought poverty meant that you didn't have enough income to properly feed, clothe and shelter yourself.  If poor people are fat, then they are, ipso facto, not poor.  There cannot be any other conclusion.

     A huge problem with the tenor and tone of this report is its advocacy for government involvement.  The report was funded by a private group, and, as best I can tell, it wasn't funded with any taxpayer money.  They seem to have a good handle on measuring the problem, and suggesting ways to combat it.  But, the report harps on the role of government, even to the extent of providing a host of public opinion survey results, showing how much people agree that the government should be involved.  Yeech.  Some of their proposals include:

-- "Restricting the sale of foods of poor nutritional value in schools."  [p. 45]
-- "Increasing the minimum food stamp benefit."  [p. 45]
-- "Providing subsidies to farmers' markets to accept Electronic Benefit Transfer cards."  [p. 46]
-- Provide "subsidies for growing fruits and vegetables."  [p. 46]
-- "Encourage new building design that encourages use of staircases rather than elevators or escalators."  [p. 79]
-- Use "[s]tate and federal transportation dollars ... for mass transit, sidewalk, and mixed use opportunities rather than be focused on highway construction."  [p. 79]
-- "The federal government should develop and implement a National Strategy to Combat Obesity."  [p. 93]
-- Require that "private employers and insurers ... ensure that every working American has access to a workplace wellness program."  [p. 94]
-- "Provide No or Low Cost Physical Activity Opportunities ... such as YMCAs."  [p. 97]

     There are many good ideas here, but using the government as the blunt force instrument to operationalize them is a huge mistake.  It is bad enough that we have to use government to deal with a host of real ills that afflict us.  But, this notion that something so controllable at the individual level must call into being a gigantic bureaucracy and boatloads of regulations is just mind numbing.

Monday, July 23, 2007

   Remembering Peppyr - For about a year, Peppyr had been feeling the ill effects of old age.  We celebrated her 15th birthday this month, with special dog treats from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  But, her worsening arthritis, the loss of some forty percent of her weight, an increasing inability to stand, and a dramatic lessening of appetite, led us to have her put to sleep this past Friday.  She was a great companion and the first dog I've ever had.  The sadness felt by Cara Lynn, Eric and me is certainly a testament of how easily it was for us to project some of ourselves onto her.

      I have a great many fond memories of Peppyr.  I took her hiking a lot.  I can still see her trying to hop up the steep steps on her first hike on the Fatman's Loop at Mt. Elden.  She was to the top of Mt. Humphreys at least twice.  We would often hike up, and jog back, along the trails at Sandy Seep and the Inner Basin.  Our longest hike together was from the Inner Basin to the Mt. Elden trailhead parking lot.  We were both tired and sore for some days afterwards.

     She came along on many camping trips to the North Rim - Saddle Mountain, Jumpup Canyon, and Crazy Jug were favorite spots to camp.  The photo, on the right, shows us looking over a benchmark site above Hack Canyon in 2004.  I am reasonably sure that she was the first dog to walk across the old Navajo Bridge, below Lees Ferry, as we happened by there right after the new bridge opened for business (but, before the ceremony marking its use).  I also took her on some road trips - a couple of times to visit family in Denver, and once on a trip to Fargo.  But, mostly we spent our time together hiking, especially in Flagstaff.

     There are tons of humorous moments that I recall - like her chasing after snowballs in the deep snow of the front yard.  She would stick her nose into the spot where the snowball had landed and try to fathom what had happened to it.  She never did catch the LED pen light shining on the carpet.  Nor, did she ever manage to catch her tail, as I recall.  Also, she was great at holding a dog biscuit on her nose until I allowed her to lean over, let it slide off, and eat it.

     I got Peppyr from the Humane Society in August of 1992.  She, and two siblings, were the last of a large litter available for adoption.  Exactly what kind of dog she was, besides "Humane Society Special," was unclear.  She had a cool distinctive white tip to her always-curly tail, and her paws looked like someone had dipped her into white paint.  The short hairs on her spine would shoot straight up when she got into an attack mode, which wasn't very often.  She was very good at "fetch" but not so good at "let go."

     The decision to put Peppyr to sleep was not an easy one, but we'll have many good memories to keep with us.  During our final visit to the Canyon Pet Hospital, I should also note that the reception staff, the techs and our vet, Dr. Chris, showed us a great deal of kindness, consideration and professionalism.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

   Saving Places - A bout with the flu, a week backpacking in the Grand Canyon, and a boat load of grading have kept me relatively idle on the blog front.  Time to jump back in . . .

     In the 1995 General Management Plan, adopted for Grand Canyon, the Park Service planned to demolish the Thunderbird and Kachina Lodges, which are located on the rim of the canyon, between the El Tovar Hotel and the Bright Angel Lodge.  Why?  I suppose the short answer is, "Because they can."  I think, though, that this proposal speaks to a deeper character flaw in the people that run the NPS, in general, and the Grand Canyon, in particular.  They hate tourists.  They don't want people to go to the Grand Canyon, and, if they must come, they don't want to stay near the rim.  I guess that having people really close to these magnificent views would somehow harm the canyon.

     In the late 1990's, I circulated a flyer around during the Earth Day celebration on the campus of Northern Arizona University, which asked people to write to the superintendent to "Save the Kachina" and to "Save the Thunderbird."  OK, so it was a bit tongue-in-cheek, since the nutjobs that attend these "rallies" are not really interested in development that promotes tourism.

     Thankfully, the park service has been unable to carry through with this part of its plan.  So, the lodges remain.  A few years ago, while the Canyon Forest Village proposal was getting the approval of our county Board of Supervisors, the demise of these lodges was the focus of some attention.  The board decided that 900 rooms, at CFV, was enough, but allowed for the possibility of future expansion, contingent upon the removal of the Kachina and Thunderbird.  Somehow, the notion that tourists should stay overnight 7 miles from the rim, rather than right on the rim, was thought to improve the quality of their visits.  Or, not.

     Last week, there was a "listening session" held at the Museum of Northern Arizona, where local park officials, including the Superintendent from Grand Canyon, would hear what people had to say about the parks.  I wanted to attend, and actually planned on it.  But, the information on the timing of this session was incorrect in the local paper, so, alas, I was unable to go and have my voice heard.  But, I am sure that all the usual suspects (i.e., local activists) did attend.  In a follow-up article on this event, in the local paper, former Grand Canyon resident, Bruce Aiken, made some disparaging remarks about the Kachina and Thunderbird lodges.  So, I thought to pen a quick response, which ran in the paper this past Easter Sunday:

     In 2018 and 2021, these two lodges will be 50 years old, and may become eligible to become historic sites.  It is not a slam dunk, and it is possible to get on the list earlier, but I will bet that the park service will continue to try to tear down these buildings before they can be officially recognized as part of our history.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

   The Unimportance of Education - For many years there has been an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with public education.  The basis for that discontent is the inability to produce students that are truly educated.  In the grade schools, the pressure to pass students through the system, without an education, can be somewhat tempered by vigilant parents.  And, the whole choice/voucher debate will, hopefully, push the system towards more and more competition.

     Education is, after all, a very personal and individual quality.  I often tell my students that I can't "teach" them anything; that "teaching" is a misnomer.  I can talk; I can cajole; I can threaten; I can entice; I can penalize; I can reward; I can even entertain.  But, I cannot "teach."  What is really happening is that students are learning.  Or, not.  I do try to help them, but, it really has more to do with them than it does with me.  I don't take any credit for the A+ student, but, neither do I take any blame for the F student.  I provide them with the opportunity to learn, and, then, I judge them accordingly.  Indeed, my primary task is to judge them, based on how they have demonstrated what they have learned.

     At the university level, where I "teach," we are constantly under pressure from forces that work towards an erosion of our educational standards for the students that we graduate.  The more robust the competition for students, and the less a financial role that is played by the state, the more likely it is that these forces will be effectively balanced by the desire, on the part of students and parents, that our college degrees actually represent the earning of an education.

     Of course, there have been critics.  The seminal work by Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind, is a powerful indictment against a system that places more value on self-esteem than on developing a reasoning faculty in students.  A recent essay by one of my favorites, Arnold Kling, laments the proliferation of "Wizard-of-Oz diplomas" - ones that looks good on paper, but are hardly worth the paper they are printed on.

     At the university where I "teach" we are being quickly propelled towards a world where all we do is give out Wizard-of-Oz diplomas.  Our president has said, over and over again, that every graduating high school student in Arizona should go to college.  And, we are becoming blindingly focused on the "retention" of these students, since every student in our university means more money from the state and the feds.  Now, the public choice economist in me understands full well why the president of a large state university would argue for more students and argue for keeping them in school longer.  What does dismay me is that there aren't more (or, any?) voices out there questioning such a transparent conflict of interest.

     It wasn't too many years ago that the mindset of the administration was much more focused on graduates that were well-educated.  At least, that was the case in the business college, where I work.  [In the education college, they don't seem to have focused on education for at least a generation; for a prime example see one of my earlier blogs.]  The classes I am primarily responsible for, were described as "weed-out" classes by a former dean.  That probably sounds rather impolitic, but the mindset was that our graduates would be better-served with a diploma that actually means something about the level of their education.  A marketing student would call this the "branding" effect.

     But, now, that has changed.  Our current charge is to "produce diplomas."  There is the addendum of, "but, not by lowering standards," but that is just disingenuous double-talk.  The quality of our students hasn't changed, in any appreciable sense, in many years.  We don't really have much in the way of an admission standard.  And, they are, by and large, the products of a pretty awful public secondary school system.  On average, the students I see don't know how to write well, don't like to read much and are not inclined to think.  They believe that hearing me say something is equivalent to their having learned something.  And, we seem to be on the crest of a wave that will validate this belief.  I now tell my students that there are two goals they may pursue at the university - getting a degree and getting an education.  One is easier than the other.  One presents the illusion of success.  One will short-change them in the long run.

     I don't know how this will all turn out.  I suspect that we will delude ourselves that our standards have not fallen, while we watch more and more skilled work being done abroad.  There may be some private sector responses that will help to alleviate this proliferation of the Wizard-of-Oz diploma, but that requires students pay again to get the opportunities that were missed the first time around.  Over the years I have been teaching, one suggestion that I would make, that would likely raise the educational attainment of students in a dramatic fashion, is to raise the minimum age for college to 21, or 22.  If someone wants to go at 18, or 19, or 20, they can pay a premium for that option.  If they are very smart and test well, they can earn scholarships to pay that premium.  Otherwise, most of the students I see really would be better off by making their college years the ones from 22 to 25 rather than 18 to 21.  After all, the collapse of the social security system will necessitate later retirement ages anyway, so why be in a rush to start a 40, or 50, year career?  It probably would be less of a burden on parents as well, as they can insist that their children provide more financial resources for their own college education.  Well, it's just an idea.