JDPFu.com 2025

In this thought provoking article, Indian science writer Pallava Bagla provides a one-sided, trust-everyone description of red tape causing delays with US payloads on the recent Indian moon mission. In the purely scientific world, where there aren’t any political considerations and everyone in the world is good, his arguments make sense. I’d like to live in his world, but you and I don’t.

Pakistan

The US has agreements with countries other than India. Perhaps Pakistan needed assurances that India wouldn’t get any knowledge that could be turned to military use? Getting multiple countries to talk takes time, agreements take longer. Perhaps those assurances for Pakistan could be leveraged for other US desires? If India had heard the details of this, would that have condemned the India/US agreement completely?

US Export Laws

The US is a country with laws. Those laws apply (mostly) to everyone and there are very few times when the President can simply order something to occur. Agencies may be told what the outcome should be, then it is left to those agencies to find a way to get to that desired outcome, legally. I’ve seen that in my time at NASA. Sometimes bad ideas and bad science are forced onto the agency for political reasons. Sometimes the agency loses track of the political issues and jumps ahead for the science aspect, then gets pulled back. The best NASA administrators tend to be very smart scientists with good political skills. The contractors involved simply want to make money first and gain knowledge second.

Military Uses

Many space science inventions have multiple purposes: scientific, commercial and military. Many scientists only see the scientific uses. Commercial secrets also have national boundaries when those secrets have military applications. Almost everything used in space has multiple military applications. It isn’t the decision of a company to determine which secrets can be shared with foreign countries or companies. I’d like to think we (the US government and US companies) have learned from prior mistakes., but without any oversight from outside the directly engaged parties, I fear we will. BTW, I worked at a different Loral subsidiary than the one who lobbied to sell China satellite technology.

I don’t profess to understand US foreign relations with either India or Pakistan and definitely don’t understand the difficult dynamics when all three countries are involved. However, not including those concerns in the article is a disservice to readers. Calling it red tape isn’t accurate.

President Obama calls Kanye a Jackass. Up to this point, I haven’t been very impressed with his administration. Perhaps I’ve been too hard on the man?

Good call, Mr. President

now about that health care plan.

In this BBC News Article, it is reported that the Brazilian President wants assurances from President Obama that the USA military in Columbia will not perform any other tasks than drug fighting in Columbia. A long contract with Ecuador ended last year and the USA negotiated for military placement in Columbia. There are less than 1,000 troops and 600 contractors located here.

President Chavez is hinting that an invasion is being planned. Not likely.

A few thoughts on health care reform.

Background

1. I pay for private insurance as an individual
2. I have a high deductible plan. Anything under $5K a year is my problem with ZERO insurance involvement.
3. In the last 18 months, I’ve had ZERO health claims or non-routine doctor visits.
4. My rate for coverage has gone up over 30% in the last 18 months.
5. I’m healthier now than when I first signed up since I’ve lost some weight and lead a much more active lifestyle.

I saw this story from the BBC today. The headline was Hacker renews extradition fight. After reading the story, I got that he’s afraid to come to the USA.

Gee, I wonder why?

Charges

He allegedly broke into 97 computer systems at NASA and US Navy in 2001-2002 causing $800,000 worth of damage. He claims to have been looking for information on UFOs. British police arrested him in 2002. If convicted, he could face 70 years of imprisonment.

I’m sorry for that

Ship the guy here, put him on trial and, if guilty, send him to prison. Simple. His, “I am sorry for that” doesn’t cover the damages. The fact that he can’t work in IT anymore isn’t anyone’s problem, but his. If he did the crimes, he needs to be punished by incarceration, IMHO. His apology makes me believe he actually did the crime, unless there were circumstances we don’t know about (which is likely).

He claims that being taken from his family is a psychological hardship. Yes, it is. He’s going to be in prison where you have to do what you are told and normal freedoms are removed. Isn’t that the point? He should be happier that the time would be spent in lush federal prisons, not cheap state prisons.

Actions have consequences.

At age 42, he should have learned that already. If I hacked into a British military system, I would expect to be caught, extradited, tried, and, if found guilty, serve a sentence in a prison. Duh. Hackers should know by now that you always jump through systems in countries that aren’t friendly to your target system/country. Don’t do any damage to the middle systems. If you don’t know how to accomplish that, you have no business attempting the break in.

Reporters in North Korea

This article is about the reporters who were convicted of entering North Korea illegally while filming at the Chinese border in March 2009. I have to assume they did this act. Entering any country illegally has consequences. They knew that. Both Ms Ling and Ms Lee had to know they were doing something illegal (though ignorance is no excuse). The article says they would be sentenced to 12 years of “reform through labour”. This seems an excessive time to me, but I don’t make the laws of North Korea. If that is the normal penalty, they should serve it. I’m disappointed that the USA government is asking for their release. Laws need to be followed regardless of who you are or who you know.

During the White House briefing around 1pm ET today, a reporter asked whether we should read anything into the fact that President Obama went golfing during this health crisis. Then they asked over and over about the steps and testing that our President has undertaken.

There are 20 confirmed cases in the USA as I write this and none required hospitalization. Mexico has 80 deaths, so we all want to know what the difference is between USA and Mexican health? Could it be that treatment for this flu in Mexico may be limited in rural locations and it is likely that the person with the flu isn’t completely removed from the infective agent. I don’t know if that is true or not. Most, if not all, people in the US were infected by someone who recently traveled to Mexico.

Duh. The President’s Health is Fine.

The President hasn’t been anywhere near anyone that could have the flu, much less swine flu, so there’s no need for him to get the flu vaccine (if he didn’t already get it a few months ago) or for him to start taking anti-viral medication or take “TheraFlu.” Heck, if I got the flu, I wouldn’t do anything besides eat, rest and shower every other day. I haven’t had the flu in years.

The President is fully connected to his staff at all times. He can be on a conference call in the time it takes to dial the number. He shouldn’t alter his schedule. He isn’t a Medical Doctor. What is he going to do that his staff and existing people in the CDC won’t do anyway? Nothing.

In short, relax folks unless you feel sick AND traveled to Mexico in the last 5 days and visited a location with impacted people or animals. Follow the CDC recommendations
- talk with a doctor if you have flu-like symptoms and could have been exposed
- stay home if you are sick; keep you kids home when they are sick
- wash your hands

I’d be interested in knowing the total number of flu cases today as well. Let’s guess there are 10,000 people in the USA with any form of flu and 20 of them have this version of swine flu. That’s just 0.02%. You are more likely to die an a car accident this year (1:6500). Are you going to stop driving?

Japan Taking Steps

So Japan is using thermal imaging to screen airline flights from the USA. I guess having a higher than normal temp is part of having the flu. While that’s true, I find that having an increased temp at the end of an international flight is common for me … usually because I didn’t get a chance to use the toilet before landing and really, really have to go. Then there isn’t a bathroom available until after customs, at least in 6 countries that I’ve traveled to/from. I recall just Costa Rica having toilets available before customs. There are no direct flights between Mexico and Japan.

Depending on your personal beliefs and where you live, how to deal with the Somali pirates may range from kill them all, to take away there tools, to give them money so they don’t need/want to be pirates.

Critical Items to any Solution

1. Deterrence. Any solution that isn’t a deterrent to other Somalis to start or continue being pirates is unacceptable.
2. The risks must outweigh the rewards. Break a leg or an arm at every encounter with every pirate. Some have suggested that cutting off fingers or tongues would be a better deterrent. That would be permanent. A broken leg would cause 6 weeks of healing.
3. Remove the tools of the trade every time there’s an encounter. They leave every encounter without communications, guns, GPS devices, with just enough food and fuel to get back to the mainland. Sadly, we can’t take their small boats, since they will need them to fish and return home. Unless we sink those boats and parachute drop them back home. Hummmm.
4. No rewards. No payments. Period. We shouldn’t pay them for not being pirates or jail them outside Somalia or pay any ransoms. Let them keep the cargo. It appears that most of the ships taken recently carried food aid. What can they do with grain when at sea? Send in the SEALS, SAS, Dutch, French, German commandos for target practice.
5. I read here that Somalia was 100% Islamic. I’d be curious to know what Islamic law says should happen to the pirates after they are inhospitable towards travelers of the sea.

Follow the pirates back home or to the mother ship and take all the guns, GPS, radios, and as many of the boats as possible away. Place all the pirates on board the smallest craft possible 20 miles from shore.

Certainly a private security firm or 10 could work out a business model to provide arms and/or soldiers for legs of the trip where pirates exist in world. These security firms would need to be registered with the countries of origin and destination. That registration would help with any laws preventing fire arms on ships in ports. Obviously, this is possible since military ships dock in ports around the world today and they include trained marines with guns AND rifles.

Combat pirates with multiple countries working together. There can’t be more than a few thousand actual pirates. After a while, most of them will have broken legs, no guns, no GPS, no radios and no boats with which they can continue. Every year, a few new, young pirates will take up the effort. After a few of them get broken legs or “don’t come back”, the risk will clearly outweigh the rewards and it will cease to be a problem like it is today.

Obviously, there are some issues to be resolved with this plan.

See google is evil …. or just doesn’t want any hassles over what they index going forward.

Basically, google wants to not be sued over any content they come across – however they come across it.
Like lambs to the slaughter, we are.

I’ve pointed out how google wants to know their customers previously

This guy has a good point – public officials should be video and audio recorded whenever they are doing the people’s business.

I’ve felt since the Rodney King trial that the right of the public to know something shouldn’t be absolute nor necessarily immediate.

Trials should be video taped and all tapes made public 60 days after the completion of the trial – jurors, not to be shown. Hostile witnesses should be given the opportunity to be hidden too. Also, plaintiffs should have the option to not be seen, unless they wish to – I’m convinced that ugly people are convicted too often. We’ve all looked at someone and determined he is guilty.

Any conversion with any public official acting in an official capacity should have an implied right of audio/video recording, period. That goes for police, military, TSA, dog catchers, CDC, Presidents or government teachers and government garbage collectors. No exceptions. Just think how much cleaner governments around the world would be if they expected every conversation was recorded? Graff would be reduced tremendously.

Think about it. Keep an MP3 player/recorder with you always.

Ok, the USA is a nation of immigrants. My grandparents were not born in this country, yet both of my parents were able to go to college and almost all of their children did as well. Many of my cousins also went to college too. A few of my siblings have advanced degrees. Not bad for a family living in small-town North Dakota, if you ask me. I like immigrants with this caveat – legal immigrants. In fact, I worked for a company that was founded by a foreigner that hired both foreigners and US citizens. To my knowledge, each was in the USA legally and I have no reason to think they were not. I count them among my friends. These people were Egyptian, Israeli, Turkish, Chinese, Australian, Swedish, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Indian and from the USA.

But there are a few problems. Some would-be immigrants have been taking advantage of our country’s good nature. Our free public education for anyone, our free medical care for anyone in need, our country’s capitalistic ideals and our historical love for immigrants (US citizenship is available to anyone born on USA “soil”).

Now onto the thoughts … what ought to be changed to remove the incentives for illegal immigration and honestly to make that immigration difficult or impossible.

• Change the citizenship requirements such that only children born of parents (2) here legally are automatically USA citizens. Children born from a single citizen can stay, but only become citizens upon turning 18 and passing the normal citizenship exam. Children born here my illegal immigrants are exported with the parents to the parent’s country of origin.
• Remove the health care incentive. Triage is provided to all, but once stabilized, illegal immigrants are deplored to their country of origin.
• Remove the education incentive. If you aren’t here legally – parents and children, public education at any level is denied. That’s primary, secondary, and colleges, period. English as a second language classes are removed from all public institutions. Private schools are free to do as they like, of course, provided that no public funds are provided for those programs.
• Remove the ability to be employed illegally. Fine heavily any company who employs anyone here illegally. Make the law have a penalty clause, say $50k per person (inflation adjusted) and have a significant amount of the penalty be turned over to any non-government person, here legally, to encourage disclosure of illegal immigrants or anyone who has overstayed their visa.
• Remove the ability to rent or sell property to illegal immigrants or anyone who has overstayed their visa. Fine heavily any company or person who provides housing to anyone here illegally. Make the law have a penalty clause, say $50k per person and have a significant amount of the penalty be turned over to any non-government person – here legally, to encourage disclosure of illegal immigrants or anyone who has overstayed their visa.
• Remove the ability for illegal immigrants to own a US-based company or do business from inside the USA with our companies. No bank accounts with addresses outside the USA, no PO Boxes. This will be a difficult element to craft so that foreign businesses aren’t penalized, but people in the country illegally are prevented from gaining access to our banking system.
• Remove the ability for illegal immigrants to have a State provided drivers license or other identification documents. Fine countries that provide diplomatic paperwork beyond the “normal” number required for a diplomatic purpose. International drivers’ licenses are probably fine, unless abused.
• Remove the ability for money earned in the USA to be sent easily out of the country. Tax at least 25% of cash sent overseas that is sent outside the banking system by non-corporate accounts when 1 side isn’t a USA-based company.
• Any illegal uncovered by any government entity must be deported. If they are found committing a crime – immediate deportation and the laws of their country for the crime should be applied, provided it is a crime in the US state too. Anyone not here illegally should be rewarded for turning in someone here illegally.
• Bill for services to originating countries. The countries that help their people illegally get into the USA should be sent a bill for every hospital visit, every prescription drug, and every hour of public schooling provided. If they refuse to pay for the use of our infrastructure services, we freeze their banking accounts and apply tariffs against trade with those countries products.
• The current ability for citizens to sponsor their family for immigration needs to be carefully revisited.
• Requirements for immigration should include the ability to write and speak English to some defined level, perhaps speak at a 1st grade level and write at a 4th grade level? Language is our culture and different languages fracture our combined culture. Sadly, I’m afraid we need a law that states English is the official language for all government paperwork.
• Enact the [[FairTax]] system. This method of revenue generation hits anyone here illegally with additional consumption taxes since they wouldn’t receive the rebate meant to offset taxes for food every month.

Ok, what happens with all of these items deployed? Housekeeping, lawn care, and other menial jobs now cost more. As wages for these jobs increase, more and more legal immigrants and lower end households will take those jobs. When a lettuce picker earns the same as a truck driver, we’ll know that lettuce is properly priced. Teenagers will also learn about hard work – I washed dishes and my friends worked detasseling corn. Hard work both, but wages will increase due to the removal of the underclass that are illegal immigrants.

I’m realistic. The people here illegally already need to become legal or leave. With the road blocks listed above, folks here illegally will have a very hard time and anyone that gets caught housing/employing will . There needs to be a way for them to stay, but it must not be easy. Based on the age of the person, their wife, and number of children, a scale – not progressive – needs to be determined whereby they pay their back social security taxes, their back Medicare taxes, their back income taxes and all other taxes (state, import, etc.). The path should be towards legal immigration, not rewarding folks who are already here that broke the law when they entered. Basically, these payments should be high enough to encourage folks already here to leave and come back legally, within the quota for their country.

Some of these ideas are really terrible, even scary. There has to be a better way, but we need to make it difficult and unprofitable for anyone or any other country to support illegal immigration into our country. Perhaps some other thoughts will hit me over the next few days.

Summary: legal immigrants help our country and reinvigorate our capitalistic society. We like legal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are a drain on our society and destroy the belief in fair play that our country stands for. Jumping out of line isn’t fair.

We aren’t at war today, but soon, we will be from the inside.

Boortz has some interesting thoughts on immigration too