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Montebello E-News

 March 31, 2010

Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity. Nicola Tesla, scientist and inventor, considered the "Father of Physics"

If we use Tesla's statement as a criterion for what we expect of our Montebello high schoolers taking science, then our high schoolers fail, no matter how well they understand science.

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A volcano in Montebello? On March 19, a documentary called "Split Estate" was shown at city hall. I did not see any youth present. Youth are not engaged in our community. That some of them help at Thanksgiving and Christmas events is not engagement. There is a tangible gulf, physical, as represented by the fences and locked gates around our schools, and psychological, as represented by the lack of interaction with anything and anybody outside those fences and locked gates. Analogize this to a volcano soon to erupt.

If the Feds cannot get it right, what are we to do? I spent a little time in Sacramento working for a state assemblyman about thirty years ago. I remember something called a "technical bill". That was legislation to correct mistakes in legislation which had passed. We are witnessing the same with the Federal health-reform bill which became law last week. There is a technical bill to fix mistakes in the new law. Is anybody asking what in our system lets such mistakes happen? Could our democracy function better if it operated differently?

This pie might give you indigestion. On page 90 of the IRS instruction book, there are two pie charts, one for Federal income and the other for Federal expenses. (See "Is It Too Much to Ask" below about unnecessary pages.) 39% of the Federal government's income is from personal income taxes, while 10% is from corporate income taxes. The biggest expenses are Social Security, Medicare, and other retirement services, at 37%, while national defense, veterans, and foreign affairs come in second at 24%. Interestingly, the income from Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and retirement taxes is 30%, while the expenses are 37%. Does that mean that we are running out of money in those funds?

The Ferguson Wellman story. I received an unsolicited mailing in early March from an investment firm. A professionally-done four-color annual report was enclosed. I was angry. What an unconscionable waste. I wrote the company to say as much, asking that they compensate for the waste by planting trees and stating as much in any unsolicited mailings. On top of that, an idea occurred to create a product which would help companies and the public become more aware of waste.

So, maybe there are absolutes in life? I prefer that we stay out of the affairs of other countries, because we might do more damage than good—the law of untended consequences, "LOCO". However, this abstract brought two things to mind: (1) women should have a right to an education, and (2) if somebody acts violently intentionally, he should expect a violent reaction. The only question, "There must be women who prefer the traditional lifestyle. Could there be room in a country like Afghanistan for the traditional woman and the modern woman?" The Afghan government's plan to make peace with the Taliban is alarming some women who value the gains in women's rights made in the years since the fundamentalist group was deposed. Women's groups have reportedly not been asked to participate in negotiations. "We don't want them to stop us from getting an education or working in an office," said Malalay Jan, 18, who attended a girls school that was burned by suspected Taliban militants. An abstract in UN Wire based on an article in the Washington Post, March 16, 2010.

Is it worse than we thought? A talk was given at the University of California, Berkeley, on March 11 by Dr. Kristie Ebi, PhD MPH . Here is the announcement which I received on March 9: Climate change is projected to have far-reaching effects on human health and well-being.  There is a growing consensus that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events will likely increase over coming decades as a consequence of climate change, suggesting that the associated health impacts also could increase.  Indirectly, climate can affect health through affecting the number of people at risk of malnutrition, as well as through alterations in the geographic range and intensity of transmission of vectorborne, zoonotic, and food- and waterborne diseases, and changes in the prevalence of diseases associated with air pollutants and aeroallergens.  Climate change has begun to alter natural systems, increasing the incidence and geographic range of some vectorborne and zoonotic diseases. Climate change will make more difficult the control of a wide range of climate-sensitive health outcomes.  Policy makers need to understand the potential impacts of climate change, the effectiveness of current adaptation and mitigation policies, and the range of choices available for enhancement of current or development of new policies and measures.  

Throwing garbage in a neighbor's yard. There are those who would say that this is happening all around the world, and we are the ones throwing the garbage. The UNDP Armenia has released a thorough and alarming study conducted by the Stockholm Environment Institute on The Socio-Economic Impact of Climate Change in Armenia. The 130-page report was written by Elizabeth A. Stanton, Frank Ackerman, and Flavia Resende, who are highly respected experts in the field of environmental economics. The study points out that climate change will have far-reaching effects on social and economic life, and the ability for people to adapt will depend on whether or not funding will be available to support adaptive policy measures and how quickly these policies can be implemented. "Armenia’s future economic development will depend on the decisions that the current generation makes about investments in adaptation [to climate change]," warns the report. ... Jason Sohigian, http://www.asbarez.com/75746/climate-study-predicts-water-shortage-in-armenia/

President Obama is a liberal President? The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday. The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean. Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html

There has been mention of the "auto pilot" in government, people mindlessly doing their jobs. Here we are trying to be less wasteful and I get this unsolicited mail from the Federal government: This package contains two types of payment vouchers, one for making estimated tax payments for the 2010 tax year and another for paying the balance due on your 2009 Form 1040. Read the information below to see if you need to use any of the vouchers. If not, you can discard them. ...

The large sample ballots for the recall last month seemed so wasteful, because of unnecessary pages, because every voter, instead of every household, was mailed a sample ballot, because I received two sample ballots. I remember that, at the February candidates forum, a member of the League of Women Voters thought that it was necessary that everyone receive a sample ballot when I pointed out that the city could save money by pointing candidates to the League's Smart Voter Web site to post campaign information.

It is interesting that we have a clash of goals. We generate considerable waste in the fallacious belief that people would read sample ballots. Or are we satisfied that one out of ten does? It would cost less to mail a postcard, telling voters that they could go to Smart Voter or could request a sample ballot by mail. As for the few who prefer a sample ballot in a language other than English, would it not cost less to pay an interpreter to translate? Or even better, to upload an instruction video which a son, daughter, niece or nephew could access for the voter?

My IRS 1040 and California 540 books take up much room, waste much paper and ink. We very much are on auto pilot. And there is a mountain straight ahead in our flight path.

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter, and for submitting stories to “Montebello Memories” at the Web site.