Tomorrow's Elections

Not a lot of contests on the ballot for tomorrows election and one can expect the standard, disappointing, local election turnout. The main event of course is the school committee and I'm deciding if I'm going to “bullet vote” for Steve Rivkin. I like what Rivkin's had to say and appreciate his willingness to insist on data and information, rather than the usual goven by feel approach that (rightly or wrongly) I've associated with the Amherst schools. The debate, for me, over a single (aka “bullet”) vote for Rivkin isn't in opposition to Irv Rhodes. Given factors like experience, name recognition, and the number of lawn signs out, I think he's going to win. The sole vote for Rivkin is to boost his chances.

I think John Coull, given his experience and personality, deserves a place on the Redevelopment Authority.

As for Library Trustee, I'm still deciding. I don't like Carol Gray's suggestion that you get rid of staff COLA's to balance the budget. It's the librarians, after all, who are the information specialists and make the place go. Libraries tend to be the single free educational/social benefit offered to adults in any community.

No other contests on the ballot, not even town meeting in my precinct.

Another Mission Accomplished

From the smoldering ruins of the clown show known as the Bush Administration comes the Boston Globe story that:

Just months before the start of last year's stock market collapse, the federal agency that insures the retirement funds of 44 million Americans departed from its conservative investment strategy and decided to put much of its $64 billion insurance fund into stocks.

The person in charge of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation was a former Lehman Brothers managing director. So the fund that's supposed to bail out failing pension funds may need a bailout. Of course the claim is the PBGC had to change its investment strategy to avoid a bailout.

Heckuva job.

Cosmic

Here's one way to gain some perspective --the Astronomy Picture of the Day -- this is The Seahorse. (Click to enlarge the image.)

Say amen....

Limbaugh's Unrighteous Hold on Christian Right

Looters

A David Leonhart piece in the Times worth reading.

Daylight Savings

We've now sprung ahead -- ostensibly to save lots of energy -- but it turns out that daylight savings (concept attributed to Ben Franklin) really doesn't accomplish that goal very well. Two economists from University of California at Santa Barbara, Matthew Kotchen and Laura Grant, using data from Indiana suggest that it not only fails to save electricity but may actually increase costs to consumers in terms of electricity and environmental impact (NBER Working Paper No. 14429, a short article is here).

A Department of Energy study concluded that the practice saves 0.03% of electricty consumed over a year or 0.02% of the total US energy consumption in 2007. A savings but hardly impressive. Its actual impact may vary from location to location around the country, save Arizona and Hawaii where folks haven't found a need for the practice.

The DOE study found "statistically insignificant" changes in gasoline consumption which challanges one of my pet theories for DST: it prompts you to go to the mall after work, rather than home 'cause its dark, which is why retailers argue for it. Maybe the most powerful explanation for continuing the practice is golf.

Mr. Market and the President

I should have shut the TV off this morning after the Van Morrison interview, only to let things slide into "Face the Nation" where Bob Schieffer repeated the tired canard about "the market," to wit:

"It seems as if every time the Obama Administration announces a specific effort to help the economy, Wall Street tanks."

Mr. Schieffer would be well advised to watch the March 4th edition of the Early Show, wherein Jon Stewart not only shreds the shouting heads on CNBC but succinctly explains why Mr. Market ain't a reliable political indicator (my favorite: it tanked when Truman announced an end to World War 2). He might also wander over to FiveThirtyEight for a more indepth treatment on Mr. Market, politics and the economy.

I'm sorry, so sorry...

Say you're sorry to Rush, courtesy of the DCCC

Man of Steele

From the Bad Reporter.