The People

One of the most pompous things that American governments like to do is describe its actions as the actions of “the people”. This has bothered me for a long time.Β 

While America does host elections and public participation is an important part of American government, it’s a serious misnomer to claim the actions of the government are the actions of the people, especially the body politics of a whole. Those who choose and are allowed to vote in our country set the guard rails for how both legislators and government employees act but citizens as a whole have very little say in the day to day operations of government. They can protest against the actions of their government and put elected officials on notice that they may be voted out of office but ultimately have very little say in the day operations of government.

Even American Democracy isn’t necessarily cracked up to what it claims to be at times. American elections are almost a choice between a Democrat and a Republican. There are primaries but they are only open to party members. And even if you have a candidate you like who becomes elected to office he or she is just a compromise. Your unlikely to agree with all of their views. And elections are full of rules and regulations that bend the will of the voters, so things are much less democratic then one might think.

I am not saying we should get rid of democracy, but I do think the actions of the state are not the actions of its people but are the result of actions of the many bureaucrats and the regulations they promulgate both formally and through practice.

worst U.S. interstates, due to terrain

worst U.S. interstates, due to terrain

I have to agree strongly with Interstate 68 through Cumberland, Maryland. That is a cluster -- you drop from 70 MPH and make a hard 40 MPH left turn after descending a steep hill. Then throw in a bunch of city traffic merging on and exiting the interstate. It's so bad they've built massive concrete walls, so that when big rigs crash, they won't hopefully burn all of the downtown.

Earlier Sunsets in August

Days are getting steadily shorter in Albany …

Tonight the sun will set at 8:14 PM with dusk at 8:46 PM.
Next Tuesday, the sun will set at 8:05 PM with dusk at 8:36 PM.
Saturday August 12th, the sun will set at 8:00 PM with dusk at 8:30 PM.
Tuesday August 22nd, the sun will set at 7:44 PM with dusk at 8:15 PM.

And on Thursday, August 31st, the sun will set at 7:30 PM with dusk at 7:59 PM.

Dusk

Foxconn’s corporate welfare deal will cost Wisconsin taxpayers more than 3 billion dollars / Boing Boing

Foxconn’s corporate welfare deal will cost Wisconsin taxpayers more than 3 billion dollars / Boing Boing

"The recent trumpist trumpeting about the plans of Chinese manufacturer Foxconn to open a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin omitted a few key details -- like the fact that Foxconn is being given a sweetheart tax-break that's topped up with 15 years' worth of guarantees of up to $200m/year in cash subsidies at taxpayer expense -- a record-setting taxpayer subsidy that exceeds the previous Wisconsin record-holder by a factor of fifty."

"The total bill for this incentive package that Wisconsin is giving the super-profitable Chinese manufacturer? Three billion dollars."

"But there's more! Wisconsin cities will also have to provide incentives, including hundreds of millions more in infrastructure, and exemptions on environmental rules that will allow Foxconn to pollute watersheds, drain water habitats, and reengineer Wisconsin's freshwater sources, up to and including Lake Michigan."