Category Archives: Politics

Politics, Science and Edumacation

Betwixt and Between on Green

Rule #4: There are always tradeoffs

This is especially true of consumer safety. It’s not good enough to say, “We must DO something!” about a problem — you have to be aware of the problems that something is creating.

To wit:

For decades, California has been the only state in the nation to require the use of highly toxic fire-retardant chemicals on cribs, infant carriers, strollers, nursing pillows, changing tables, high chairs and other baby products.

Regulations mandating the treatment were well intentioned. Who wouldn’t want to protect children from fire?

But there is a complete lack of evidence that using the chemicals saves lives, and a growing body of research suggesting that exposure to fire retardants is dangerous.

Last year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued statements strongly discouraging the use of fire retardant in home furniture, including baby products. The federal agency’s scientists cited numerous studies linking fire retardant exposure to cancer, birth defects, reproductive problems, thyroid disorders, hyperactivity, learning disabilities and a plethora of other health concerns.

Making matters worse, California’s law has meant that baby products are often treated with the chemicals even in states that don’t require such treatment. To avoid manufacturing two separate lines, one for California and another for other states, many manufacturers make their products sold in other states to California standards.

During the 80’s, there were a series of sensational stories about kids’ cribs, toys and clothes bursting into flame at the slightest spark. I can remember ominous videos of pajamas being lit on fire by investigative reporters. This panic, of course, produced a needlessly hysterical response in — stop me if you’ve heard this before — California. They demanded that everything on Earth be slathered with fire-retarding chemicals. No one ever tried to evaluate what new risks were being incurred — kids were catching on fire! Anything is justified.

Oh, but it gets worse:

I got a cold chill as I read this article yesterday on the Metro crash investigation:

“In the aftermath of the crash on the Red Line between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, Metro officials analyzed track circuit data and found that one circuit in the crash area intermittently lost its ability to detect a train. The circuit would report the presence of a train one moment, then a few seconds later the train would “disappear,” only to return again.”

It sounded to me like the same problems that have been encountered on the Space Shuttle, nuclear power plants, and various military systems. And that problem is tin whiskers.

The backstory: When people first started building electric circuits, they used tin metal to solder the interconnections between the copper bits. It wasn’t long before they noticed the tin would get “furry”, growing spiky whiskers as the part was used. These spikes could grow long enough to short out the circuits, and then were so weak that they would break off right after doing so. A smart metallurgist figured out that adding a small amount of lead to the tin alloy stopped this behavior. And so the electronics industry grew, and electronic circuits got so small and fast and reliable that they ended up in nearly every control system – with a bit of solder in every one of them.

In the early 2000’s two things happened: Europe passed legislation that prohibited lead in consumer products, and at the same time, the production of interconnection technologies went global. So even though only European markets mandated this change, producers all over the world had to comply. And that means that consumers all over the world were getting lead-free electronics, many times without knowing it. Many times the same part number started showing up with lead-free solder, making this trend very hard to track.

So yesterday, I dropped a note to one of my expert friends, who agreed with me that the circuitry in the Metro replacement part, more likely than not, contained lead-free solder. And then, he pointed out the likelihood that the latest Airbus crashes had lead-free solder components in their flight controls.

Environmentalists and consumer protection advocates always forget something: polluters do not pollute because they are evil and chemicals are not put into our products to poison us. These things are done for real reasons. Now sometimes those reasons aren’t worth it (lead, for example) and sometimes the bad stuff can be replaced with less bad stuff (um, lead, for example). But we always have to keep in mind what those evil substances were used for.

Kids are not putting electrical circuits in their mouths. Motherboards are not being dumped in rivers. The risk of using lead in solder is minimal. But the risk of not using solder appears to be catastrophic. That would suggest a pretty obvious course — except to politicians and environmentalists.

'Culture', Healthcare, Politics

Midweek Linkorama

2 Comments

Too many stories to comment on:

  • Yesterday was, indeed, the 81st birthday of sliced bread. Question: what was sliced bread the best thing since?
  • Healthcare by the numbers.
  • All right, tough guy. What the hell are you doing tasering a teenage girl who has not committed a crime? I understand the motive — I can think of a bunch of teenagers I wouldn’t mind tasing myself. But you’re supposed to be a cop.
  • If there’s one thing I can agree with liberals on, it’s this. Multi-millionaires should not be getting $2.4 God-damned billion dollars to build a ballpark. It’s outrageous and, contrary to the claims of owners, does nothing to benefit the economy.
  • It’s no surprise to me that job training is a fiscal black hole. In the end, no job training can ever substitute for work experience. And that has to be acquired the hard way, unfortunately. If it were possible to jump fields and earn six figures right way, certain industries would go completely belly-up.
    • Politics

    Friday Linkorama

    2 Comments
  • Greg Easterbrook castigates the greens for making the perfect the enemy of the good.
  • The Waxman-Markey bill has got to be one of the most overloaded pieces of legislation ever to slither through Washington. My favorite part? Tariffs on any country that doesn’t limit greenhouse gases. Because nothing stimulates an economy like destroying free trade.
  • The Democrats — again — do special favors for unions. I’m getting to the point of almost being shocked at how craven they are.
  • Barney Frank, never one to pass up a horrid idea, wants to blow the TARP funds on re-inflating the housing bubble. Do these guys never learn anything?
  • For anyone who remembers how corrupt and vile the Democrats were the last time they were the majority part, this is not a surprise.
    • Politics

    Honduras

    That notorious right wing rag — the New Republic — scolds Obama over his response to the events in Honduras. I must say that I agree. People seem to placing the “will of the people” and “democratically elected leader” over the rule of law and the will of the legislature. It doesn’t matter how popular or democratic this asshole was — what he was doing was illegal. If George Bush had tried to keep himself in office after January, I would hope our military would have arrested his ass.

    In the meantime, Obama continues to disappoint, now supporting a UN resolution in favor of Zelaya. Because there’s nothing the UN (and apparently now Obama) like more than an autocrat. Out of curiosity — is the UN condemning Iran?

    Law and Order, Politics

    Monday Linkorama

  • The stimulus package is starting to look worse and worse. This big story of the second half of this year will be the media slowly awakening to how big a cesspool of corruption it was. If only we had a party to take advantage of that that wasn’t filled with religious pinheads.
  • At the risk of being labelled a pinko communist liberal, I have to agree that Juvenile Life Without Parole should only be reserved for the most heinous of crimes. A rape at age 13 crosses me as a good reason to lock someone up for a long time — but for the rest of their life?
  • If find this post from Ezra Klein (and the comments) to be hilarious. Our system of government is designed to slow change, to avoid radical action. Apparently, that’s a good thing when conservatives are in charge, bad when liberals are in charge. And it’s especially bad if the slowness of the system allows legitimate criticism and public concern to derail bad legislation.
  • Prediction: in the end, the Iranian regime will turn Neda into a martyr … for their side. The similarities between the old Communists and the Islamists continue to grow.
    • Humor, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Wednesday Linkorama

    So much going on the internets, so little time.

  • Ah, the irony. Pat Buchanan never fails to embarrass. This was the conference where he said that Sonia Sotomayor was obviously an affirmative action baby because her English was less than stellar as a law student.
  • And speaking of racist fucktard “conservatives”, here’s Nixon, saying abortion should be reserved for rape and mixed-race babies.
  • If you want to know why I’m so hostile to unions — or more precisely, their cozy relationship with politicians — here’s another reason. 700 NYC teachers are paid to … not teach.
  • Kick. Ass.
  • I’m been blogging enough on Iran at the other site, so I’ll post some updates here. The Iranian government is charging $3,000 bullet fees to the families of people they’ve murdered. Obama is slowly toughening his language, to depressing and predictable “there you go” condescension from “conservatives”. The reformist candidate may have been involved in the Beirut bombing, although that hasn’t stopped us from working with Khadaffi. And finally, a portrait of the woman murdered by the Basij. Oh, and the Iranian government is banning the soccer players who wore green armbands.
  • Only in America. Birds hit plane. Pilot saves all passengers aboard by landing in Hudson. Passengers sue airline. Media backs passengers.
  • This has to be deliberate.
    • Politics

    McCarthy Goes Non-Linear

    If you want to know why conservatism has collapsed, look no further than Andy McCarthy’s repugnant post at NRO. Sample quotes:

    The fact is that, as a man of the hard Left, Obama is more comfortable with a totalitarian Islamic regime than he would be with a free Iranian society.

    …

    Because of obvious divergences (inequality for women and non-Muslims, hatred of homosexuals) radical Islam and radical Leftism are commonly mistaken to be incompatible. In fact, they have much more in common than not, especially when it comes to suppression of freedom, intrusiveness in all aspects of life, notions of “social justice,” and their economic programs.

    …

    The key to understanding Obama, on Iran as on other matters, is that he is a power-politician of the hard Left : He is steeped in Leftist ideology, fueled in anger and resentment over what he chooses to see in America’s history…

    Later, he defends these remarks.

    Look, I disagree with Obama on a lot. And there are parts of the left that not overly fond of freedom — the real freedom to live your life, not the phoney-baloney freedom of cradle-to-grave government subsidies.

    But to equate that with the murderous evil regime in Iran that literally proclaims to rule by divine right? Where’s Godwin’s Law when you need it?

    This is not limited to McCarthy. I’ve heard Limbaugh, Hannity and others say the same thing. Obama is an angry black man. Obama hates America. Obama gave me back acne.

    It’s the tired exhausted rhetoric of those who are bereft of ideas. They know how to solve the problems of the 1980’s but have no idea what to do about the problems of the 2000’s. It’s the kind of shit we used to hear from the Left when they were bereft of ideas (“Republicans hate black people. Republicans want poor people to starve. Republicans want rivers to be polluted.”)

    It rallies the base. But it turns off that middle third of the electorate that is actually paying attention and actually has an open mind. Anyone with half a brain can see that Obama does not hate America and is not an angry person. But, apparently, half-brains are in short supply at NRO.

    Healthcare, Politics

    Monday Linkorama

  • The CBO — a relentlessly non-partisan group — estimates Obamacare will cost $1 trillion. The solution? Silence the CBO. But remember, it’s only conservative who ignore hard facts and data.
  • Here’s the way you know who to favor in the Cheerios debate. CSPI is in favor of the government; therefore that position is the wrong one.
  • Watchdogs are off again on a condom study costing 400 grand. And suppose this study leads to some change that results in preventing a handful of AIDS cases? My read is that this study was peer-reviewed. We need lawyers to stop grand-standing about it.
  • Mexico is liberalizing their drug laws. A blood all-out war will do that.
  • Time Magazine continues to prove what a worthless rag it is — running a story about bullet trains that parrots the party line completely.
  • Radley Balko points out that the only promises Obama is breaking are those that would limit his own power. He has yet to break a campaign promise that would expand it. And so it goes.
  • Fat people live longer. Now I get to bash the CSPI twice in one linkorama.
    • Healthcare, Law and Order, Politics

    Midweek Linkorama

  • A chilling recollection of the Khmer Rouge. I recently watched a documentary on S-21 that was horrifying.
  • How “empathic” is Sonia Sotomayor? Not empathic enough. She let a innocent man rot in prison because of a procedural error. Biden was right — she’s definitely got the cops back.
  • Something to remember. That claim that 100,000 people a year die of medical errors? Garbage.
  • San Francisco is forcing its residents to compost.You just know this is something — like food miles — that’s going to turn out be a net negative for the environement.
  • Let’s promote US tourism by charging every immigrant $10. Do our politicians ever think about the laws they pass? Like … ever?!.
    • Politics

    Problems at the UN

    I really don’t understand the affection so many people have for the United Nations. It has its uses — mainly in giving a floor for countries to spew words, as opposed to bullets, at each other.

    But the UN human rights record is atrocious, with a bunch of gangsters using the floor to throw praise at Cuba. And their peace-keepers are notoriously ill-behaved, allowing violence to go on, raping women and, recently, taking food from starving kids.

    We need to see the UN for what they are not what we wish they were.