Swordsman & Geek
2/24/2009
Kissing Shadows
I arrived in Spain at about 11 AM on February 19, 2009. More importantly, I was immediately wrapped into the embrace of my best friend and wife. I’ll be traveling around Europe for about 5 weeks and our goal is to spend as much of that time together as possible.
~P.
2/18/2009
I am heading off to Spain this morning to see my wife for about 5 weeks. Many miles lie between us and I’ll cross them one-by-one.
~P.
2/6/2009
**Phone rings**
Technician: This is Capoferro Tech Support, can I help you?
Caller: Yes, I am currently in a duel and I would like some help.
Technician: Can I get some information about your opponent?
Caller: Sure. He has a sword.
Technician: Can you tell me anything else?
Caller: He’s got black hair and brown eyes.
Technician: [audible sigh]... Can you tell me if he is skilled, unskilled, or bestial?
Caller: How can you tell?
Technician: A bestial fencer will throw many blows with great impetus and has no understanding of tempo or measure.
Caller: I don’t think that’s him; he’s just standing there.
Technician: Does he have his sword out?
Caller: Yes and it is pointed at me.
Technician: Are you within his measure?
Caller: I don’t know.
Technician: Can he currently strike you with a lunge?
Caller: Yes, he’s already hit me twice… I’m bleeding a bit from the shoulder. That’s why I called you.
Technician: You should have told me that first. I need you to immediately retreat out of distance.
Caller: Ok… I have retreated… He seems to have relaxed a bit.
Technician: That’s good. I need to know if your opponent is clever.
Caller: **Loudly aside** Hey, are you clever or what? **Into the phone** He says he isn’t clever.
Technician: I want you to assume the guard and cover the inside line with your blade. Turn your point towards his forward shoulder aligning your edge so that you cover his blade with your strong against his weak.
Caller: Ok… this seems to be working. I think he might be impressed or something. He might even be afraid. I love fencing!
Technician: Now, he should execute a cavazione and try to strike you on the outside high line. Be ready to counterattack by rolling your hand into secunda, closing the line and counterthrusting. Are you ready?
Caller: Ok.
Technician: I want you to gradually move forward with tiny steps directly towards him.
Caller: Ok… I’m taking tiny steps… He hasn’t done anything yet. I think it may be working. Oh oh… he attacked the outside just like you said!! I’m counterattacking!! Ahhhh Ahh ohhh ohhh!! He feinted!! He feinted!! He parried my counterattack!! I’m bleeding again!! Yes.. I’m definitely bleeding!! I hate fencing!! I hate it!!
Technician: Calm down. Calm down! I need you to listen to me. I need you to retreat out of distance again.
Caller: Ok… Ok… I’m retreating. He relaxed again. What would happen if I rushed him? Would that work?
Technician: It would probably work for him.
Caller: What does that mean?
Technician: Don’t worry about it. Here’s what you need to do.
Caller: Ok, I’m ready.
Technician: Are you out of distance?
Caller: Yes.
Technician: Can you see the adversary?
Caller: Yes.
Technician: When you are ready, I want you to repeat after me. Are you ready?
Caller: Yes.
Technician: “I want to sincerely apologize for having offended you.”
Caller: **Loudly aside** I want to sincerely apologize for having offended you.
Technician: Now put your sword away and see if he lets you leave.
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For the record, covering the inside line and counterattacking the cavazione in 2nd is Plate 7. I’ll leave it to you guys to figure out what the clever fencer’s response was.
2/5/2009
This is a quote from a Republican friend of mine and I responded with, “They aren’t words… It’s just vocabulary. What do you think a stimulus package is?”
The Republican response was, “Tax cuts.”
Of course it was tax cuts. With these guys it is always tax cuts or deregulation. They still fervently claim that deregulation of the free markets wasn’t the problem which would be hilarious if it wasn’t so painful at the moment.
Deregulate the power industry and you get Enron.
Deregulate the banks and you get a credit liquidity crisis we haven’t seen since the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
It might have something to do with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act of 1933. Glass-Steagall was the post-crash law that kept banks from speculating in the markets. It was repealed in 1999 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act sponsored by Phil Gramm, Jim Leach, and Thomas Bliley. (All three are deregulating Republicans and Phil Gramm was McCain’s economic adviser in the recent campaign.) If we move forward in time 9 years to 2008, we see that America’s largest bank, Citigroup, started trading in mortgage-backed securities and we play the game to its obvious conclusion.
The simplistic version of the tax cut argument is “trickle down economics” ala Reagan-onomics. The idea is that when businesses succeed, they spread the wealth. There is some truth to that, but it isn’t the whole truth and it’s like asking a four year old where potatoes come from. Ask for a simple answer to a complicated question and you won’t get much useful nuance. (Like seeds, fertilizer, ideal temperature, or crop yields for example.)
We don’t want business to fail, but we also want to regulate their behavior to prevent fraud (Enron, WorldCom) and dangerous behavior (child labor, toxic waste, banks speculating in high-risk markets).
Tax cuts don’t do anything for people that are too poor to pay income taxes and the unemployed won’t get a bounce either. It boggles the mind to think that Republicans want to hand some unemployed construction worker a tax cut. You know what a 25% income tax cut does for an unemployed construction worker? Let’s do the math:
Income = $0
Tax Owed on $0 = $0
Tax cut on Tax owed = $0 x 0.25 = $0
Jobs Created = 0
Tax cuts tend to help the rich more which I am sure is a big shocker. In addition, the GOP wants to take money away from the one organization big enough to dump additional money into the market. It’s like a drowning guy choking the lifeguard.
There seems to be a complete disconnection in the Republican mind between government spending and jobs. I guess they imagine that roads and bridges just build themselves or maybe government workers are lazy or something. The problem is that it doesn’t hold up to any sort of scrutiny because government spending covers:
These are obvious examples and there are plenty more that aren’t as obvious. For those keeping score all of these provide jobs and a benefit to our society.
Not all debt is bad. I don’t like debt any more than the next guy, but I used debt to buy a car. I use that car to get to work and it improves my life and my ability to provide income to my family.
Likewise, government debt spending can provide us with a significant benefit if it is well spent. That should include infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, green power), job creation, and yes… even targetted tax cuts. If you cut out all the spending, you’re choking the lifeguard and you drown.
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