So I’ve been seeing many tweets today from @PoliticalMath regarding the data from Recovery.gov. Among my favorites was:

CA zip code 95814 added 75,000 jobs. Population: 16,600. That’s 5 jobs per person! http://bit.ly/14Uijc

As I read into the issue more I found that much of the jobs “saved or created” went to government agencies as this BigGovernment.com blog post shows:

But the most relevant information on Recovery.gov is that most of the jobs created or saved are in the public sector. For instance, according to Vice President Biden, out of the 640,329 jobs, 325,000 went to education and 80,000 to construction jobs. The difference we will soon find out is going to other government jobs. You need more evidence? 13,080 grants went to the private sector, and 116,625 went to [federal] agencies.

Even when the money went to private ventures was completely wasted:

First, $159 billion has been spent so far. That’s $248,273 per job. However, when you look at some specific contracts that were awarded you find that some jobs were created or saved at an insane cost to taxpayers. For instance, $1,359,633,501 were awarded to CH2M WG IDAHO LLC, in WA to create 2,183 jobs. That’s $622,827 per job. That’s not as bad though as the $258,646,800 awarded to the Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC in NY, to create 25 jobs. That’s over $10.3 million per job.

The whole stimulus is a joke and it always has been. Many conservatives complained about this boondoggle far before it was a law. When will the liberals learn you can’t buy your way out of a bad economy. You can in fact deregulate and lower taxes to improve and encourage the economy. Instead they have focused on ways to spend and regulate more. There is an excellent video from Reason.com about the a private analysis of stimulus spending by Recovery.org. Cross-posted at RightSideofTech.com

There are no more vivid impressions on life than those from your childhood and I can still remember mine about China. Books like The Story About Ping and The Seven Chinese Brothers fascinated me with their watercolor prose and mythological timelessness. I can also remember a time as a very young boy when I was in the garage with my father. He was fidgeting with some cheap gadget he had recently bought and then cursed in frustration as it snapped in half. He handed me the pieces to investigate and there I had my first experience with “Made In China” as I read it off the back of one of the fragments. “Made In China?” I inquired. “Yes,” my father kvetched, “everything made in China is crap.”

The term “Made in China” really started in 1978, when Deng Xiaoping opened up several Special Economic Zones along China’s eastern coast. In these zones, for the first time since the dominance of Mao, regular citizens were allowed to openly engage in business. It is no surprise that some of these SEZs, such as Shenzhen, quickly became a place where the adventurous type could find his fortune. Despite the traditional Chinese stance denouncing traders as the lowliest class, the Chinese as a people have always been natural entrepreneurs. Like my father calls them, they are the Jews of Asia. (Like from all great minds, his wisdom often seems contradictory.)

How times have changed since the days when almost all Westerners had only a few simplistic evocations of China: the exciting and mystical exoticism of storybooks and kung fu movies, the cold, gray symbolism of Communism, poverty and leftover feudalism and, more recently, the image of billions of blissfully ignorant smiling factory workers producing the low-end products gracing endless shelves at Wal-Mart. The rising influence of China a.k.a. The Sleeping Giant is now impossible to ignore and therefore our ideas must evolve and grow along with China else we will be forever trapped in a child-like and perhaps dangerous fantasy.

Growing numbers of people are well aware of this phenomenon. What else could explain the exponential jump in American students of Mandarin Chinese? Individual states in the US have seen students studying Mandarin increase from practically zero to thousands in just the past few years. The so-called “Third Wave” of international expatriates is at its crest as droves of job hunters and thrill-seekers make the trek once overwhelmingly made in the opposite direction. The popularity of Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese film, music, art and books has been slowly but surely growing in the West, making the Japanese Manga/Anime craze of yesteryear seem downright conventional. Just recently, a handful of Chinese rock bands just capped off a nationwide tour in the US, playing their last show as headliners at the Chinese Culture Festival in Washington D.C.

Of course, one only has to open a newspaper or turn on the television to get a picture of what is happening in China these days. More so than ever before, nearly every political decision made by the Chinese government is talked about and milled over by countless editorials and talking heads. More interestingly, what used to be only criticism has begun to develop into praise, even envy, of the way the Chinese do things. For example, Thomas Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times that frequently used to bemoan the Chinese reluctance to improve human rights and the environment, now can be seen applauding the Chinese system for its success in getting quick and practical results – especially in contrast to the currently bedraggled partisan politics in the States.

Undoubtedly so, many things Chinese are not met with open arms. In fact, many people’s perceptions of China are still so much like the foggy and unknown (and therefore threatening) concepts previously mentioned. For example, recall the recent Chinese company’s purchase of Hummer. Many Americans were aghast to behold the loss of a quintessential American icon: the bold, braggartly and bombastic SUV once driven by the Governator himself. Cable news scaldabancos from coast-to-coast enlivened the fears of many Americans: China is an unstoppable colossal firebrand that, if it is anything like the West was centuries ago, will utterly destroy us. The best expression of this was relayed to me by my friend who was chatting with a cowboy in a bar in Texas. As my friend ordered his beer, the older roughneck said: “Hopefully I won’t be alive to see it, but one day you’ll be payin’ for that beer with Chinese dollars.”

So, let’s put this all to rest. First of all, most Chinese wouldn’t believe you if you told them that China would soon become the world’s superpower. It would be akin to telling a geek in high school that one day he would be a rich and suave playboy. “But I can barely get a date now,” he would lament. Most Chinese don’t see what we see – a fast rising economy and world influence projected by a media saturated with their successes. Instead, they see the China of everyday life and recent past: dirty, poor and still in many ways backwards.

Assuming that China does become Number One, that old cowboy was right about one thing: he won’t be alive to see it and it’s perhaps likely that neither will many of us. Although upwards of half of the general populations of developed nations like the USA and Japan believe that China already is or soon will be the world’s superpower, experts estimate that even if this occurs, we still have another forty years or so. Their journals and articles are littered with language like “not anytime soon” and “nowhere close.” So if you are waiting to pay for that beer with “Chinese dollars,” by that time it’ll be a real flat one.

OK, so worst case scenario: we wake up tomorrow and the Chinese are our new overlords. At this point only one question would remain: how bad is it? Well, historically speaking, not too bad. The Chinese have also been a world superpower many centuries ago. Although they would demand tribute from surrounding areas, they were never too aggressive. China’s borders have pretty much been the same throughout the ages, meaning they were never too interested in vast conquests or takeovers. China, or Zhongguo in Chinese, literally means “The Middle Kingdom”. Could this be because they are so focused on their own business? One can only hope.

As I’ve said many times here increased regulation including net-neutrality regulation will result in poorer quality services and/or higher costs.  This is a natural byproduct of governmental interference in the market.  Gizmodo had an article that articulated this very point in regards to the recent regulation called for by the FCC chairman Julian Genachowski.  The regulation he called for has resulted in AT&T allowing VOIP on the iPhone.  AT&T is allowing it not because they feel it’s good for business.  Rather they are seeking to be ahead of the regulations forthcoming and provide a way for them to justify price increases. It’s always been my opinion that the FCC and Congress should spend their time and energy increasing competition and seeking ways to break up these sudo monopolies owned by the telco and cable companies.  Instead Obama’s administration will monkey with the market decrease quality and increase prices.  Further placing the US at a disadvantage on the world market. Cross Posted at RightSideofTech.com

Forget about any moderation in the U.S.; it’s our civic duty to push everything to the point of bizarre. Take freedom for example, now we have a whole new level of freedom — the freedom to be as stupid as we wanna be. “Stupid” is now the new “smart.” If you have potential to be “outrageously stupid,” congratulations, you could go far. You could become a millionaire with your own reality show, or a TV/radio talk show host, maybe a news anchor, or a politician or maybe even president of the United States! The more outrageously dense you are, the more potential you have for hitting it big! Goodness, are you still using your brain? What are you, stupid!?

Turn off and dumb-down. Why do you think when President Obama planned to give school children a pep talk to study hard on their first day of school that some parents and teachers refused to have the children listen to his speech? Those adults knew that being smart would only lead to children working harder! Why work when you can be rich and famous just by being an obnoxious dolt? Barack Obama may be the Commander-In-Chief, but so was George Bush. Now admit it: Between the two, who has more money and fun? Heh, heh, heh!

And speaking of who’s having more fun: Just when you think you’ve seen it all, guess who’s sticking his tongue at us (literally!) on TV — none other than former GOP House Speaker, Tom Delay, on Dancing With The Stars. I had hoped to be entertained; instead I was being grossed out by Tom Delay’s dance stylings of shaking his booty and having his icky hands all over two-time champion, Cheryl Burke. He had to mention that his demands were met to get her as his dance partner. Eeeww. Watching him dance makes me want to shower.

“The Hammer” as he was called in congress, is indicted by a Texas grand jury on criminal charges of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws. It has been three years now, and the prosecutor has yet to bring the case before a jury. Yes, even he’s dumbfounded, no doubt.

Turn the channel and surprise: Former GOP governor Sarah Palin is on the news. She’s in Hong Kong addressing finance professionals as the keynote speaker at the annual conference of brokerage investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. Previous speakers at this conference were Alan Greenspan, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Hey, who needs brains when you’re Sarah Palin? The world is her oyster bar to slurp up.

Then the heckler that refuses to get out of our face, GOP Representative, Joe Wilson is keeping us posted on his success. Thus far, he’s collected $2 million for deriding the president in his childish “town hall” outburst. But wait, now he has an action figure too. That’s right, a Joe Wilson doll programmed to utter, “You Lie!” selling for $39.95. Truly a must have for every child: A heckling “You Lie!” non-action action figure.

If you still think it pays to be smart in life, just see how much more it pays to be an absolute doofus. Reality show, soon-to-be-divorced couple, Jon and Kate Plus 8, is the perfect example. They have earned more just by being their screwed up selves, having their screwed up lives with their eight children being filmed in front of millions to gawk and admire. Kate is bent on continuing her Hollywood lifestyle regardless of how it affects the children’s well-being, and Jon is simply running around like a dog trying to be with as many women as possible. Can someone please tell him not every woman is a fire hydrant.

Nonetheless, they have eight children to send to college…wait a second, if dumb is the new smart, the children have no need for college. There you go — more money for mom and Rover.

So stop being a fool asking smart questions when brain-numbing questions are the trend now. Even news reporters know, asking a freaking foolish question over and over again, will eventually land the important, “gotcha!” slip up from the person being interviewed. Catty remarks are always better than facts. Boring facts do nothing for enquiring minds.

Therefore, here’s to us all for pushing freedom of speech and civil rights to glorious heights of bombastic absurdity. So-called values such as dignity, ethics, morals and proper etiquette require too much thinking. Puh-leeze! Stop thinking so much; why waste time? Intelligence is out; stupidity is in. Until people stop being rewarded for being as stupid as they wanna be, acting stupidly holds more promise than responsible consciousness. Oh-oh, I’m starting to feel an urge to heckle already!

Enough is enough. GOP conservatives are pushing the envelope with their boorish, childish behavior. What makes them think it is acceptable in civilized society to act irresponsibly and express any unfiltered negative thought that runs through their minds? Isn’t part of being a mature adult the ability to be respectful of others and not behave like bratty children, yelling and screaming and saying whatever mean, ugly notion they can think of just to get their way? Is this what we want our children to aspire to as adults – that it’s fine to behave like big bratty children and never grow up?

How disrespectful of the GOP conservatives to spread a malicious campaign about President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren being a political ploy to indoctrinate them for political gain. There is nothing wrong, and everything right about the President of The United States telling children on their first day back at school to study hard and do well. Former Presidents Reagan and George Bush senior did the same. Where was the uproar over their speech to school children back then? Why the uproar now?

And where are all the weenie democrat lawmakers on this? Why aren’t they speaking out and standing behind their president on what would be a good example to children to do well in school? They should be outraged by the ridiculous antics the conservative GOP are pulling, while they just stand by and watch. Are lame democrats doing their civic duty by allowing GOP conservatives to create chaos in the U.S.? When will they take control and fight the outlandish disrespectful behavior?

GOP conservative talk radio & TV show hosts the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Bill O’Reilly are the worst examples of adults behaving like brats. What’s worse is that they behave as though spreading ugly, negative thoughts is fine, and they have a right to say whatever nonsense they can think of just for their own giddy pleasure. This is understandable behavior from children, but not adults who should have the maturity to conduct themselves as such. These people are regressing and taking the country down with them.

And don’t give me any hogwash about God telling them to behave in this atrocious manner. Blaming God for one’s bratty behavior is a poor excuse for wanting to act like an imbecile. Shame on them. I would like to know what God they are praying to that accepts such abominable conduct?

My God is a loving God that tells me to respect others, and not to be mean, ugly and wish ill will on others. This is from the bible – GOP conservatives claim to be religious Christians, but can God really be happy with such mean-spirited behavior? It would do well for those claiming to be religious to read the bible – and understand it. There is absolutely no excuse for such irresponsible, child-like behavior, unless they are children.

To the democrat & the respectable GOP lawmakers, I say it is time to lead the country and teach citizens to act as respectful, responsible adults! It is your civic duty to take control over the chaos that the wayward conservative republicans are creating and bring order and dignity to the nation again. This, I repeat, is your civic duty. Shame on those politicians that continue to stand by and allow a boorish few to create havoc and bring down the nation with such blatant disrespect.

Do it for the children, because what they are seeing is that there is no need to grow up and take responsibly for their actions. If errant adults can do it and become feared and famous, then why can’t they?

The number of people who I consider great can be counted on one hand. Many have done good works, perhaps even great works, but to place someone on a level of greatness, well, it’s a whole other level. Anyone considered great in my book, must be able to overcome extraordinary obstacles, and leap beyond that to do extraordinary things. Overcoming tragedy, or a tragic mistake, is one thing; but to go beyond the personal tragedy and accomplish feats that benefit others, is another – it simply speaks of greatness.

Edward “Ted” Kennedy did just that. Many have long forgotten the tragedy in 1969 when Kennedy, driving under the influence of alcohol after a party, drove off the Chappaquiddick bridge with his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. The campaign staffer drowned, but worse, Kennedy survived and failed to report the accident to authorities until several hours later.

It was the scandal that shook the nation. People were outraged – not only because of the tragedy, but also because after being found guilty, Kennedy received only a two month suspended sentence for a misdemeanor charge. It was just too obvious that some strings were pulled and that Kennedy was let off easy. Kennedy’s political career looked almost certain to be over. He was damaged goods and back then, there was little if any tolerance for someone exhibiting poor judgment and character.

But if ever there was a good example of someone who had not squandered the public’s faith and generosity after given a second chance, it was Ted Kennedy. Since then he worked tirelessly pushing civil rights, education and health care legislation to move the country and the world forward. His accomplishments were many, and certainly regained the public’s trust.

What I found so intriguing about Kennedy was his unending effort that went well beyond what was expected of him after Chappaquidick became a thing of the past. Perhaps his religious upbringing, or his cultural and family influence, drove him beyond mere self-preservation into near obsessive selfless service. But even those influences fall short of what could be a deeper motivation – by causing the end of someone’s life, he had a mission to give as much as he could of his own life. Life does not always go in a straight line, and Ted Kennedy rose above his failings to improve the lives of all. That was no minor feat – it was greatness.

Today columnist John C. Dvorak made the claim that Vivek Kundra was a phony.  In his story he disputed the education and qualifications of Mr. Kundra.  Among the claims he made was that Vivek Kundra had lied about his MS degree in Information Technology.  It appears shortly after the release of this blog entry GigaOm reported:

University of Maryland University College spokesman, confirmed that Kundra graduated from the school with a Masters of Science in Information Systems Management.

This fact seems to clear up the fact that he did in fact have a MS from University of Maryland.  However there still is no evidence he had a degree in Biology as he claimed in his Washington DC bio. While the education stuff is entertaining and controversial I find the questions about his background more interesting.  Here you have a man placed in charge of multiple billions of dollars of US IT spending.  This same man seems to lack any significant experience in IT that would justify such an important position.  While I agree that he is more than willing to throw resources towards Web 2. 0 technologies this will not solve the underlying problems that exist in Federal IT spending and implementation.  The fact that he spent $18 million dollars to build Recovery.gov is ridiculous.  His spending might be justified if he had made significant improvements in data availability.  However according to OMB watch:

…administration has yet to release much new information that wasn’t previously available online.

Obama did what he always does in his appointments.  He choose a candidate that was politically connected over skill set and experience.  That is why he choose a Leon Panetta for CIA Director.  He choose a politically connected individual over someone with a strong military or intelligence background.  Consistently he has proven that he would rather find someone that benefits him in some politically strategic way rather than choose individuals for their qualifications and experience.

If my father were still alive, I’d be worried. I would want to know exactly on what grounds did the Cambridge police have to arrest the Harvard professor. This would concern me because, you see, my father could easily have been Professor Henry Louis Gates being taken away in handcuffs with his mouth agape.

My father, bless his soul, was one of those belligerent cantankerous old geezers that at times, someone would wish to haul away in handcuffs. It’s actually pretty funny when I think about it – my own dad being dragged away just for being himself! He would be exactly like that professor in the photo, wild-eyed, cursing and screaming at the police! Of course he wasn’t that way all the time – just if you happened to catch him in a bad mood and started bothering him. But he surely would be hot and bothered after returning from a long trip exhausted, and then having to break into his own #@&!!! front door because the #@&!!! door wouldn’t open, and then having the #@&!!! police come by asking him if he’s the owner of the #@&!!! place or if he’s trying to burglarize it. Yes, absolutely that could easily have been my dad being taken away in handcuffs. And that is why, if my dad were still alive today, I would be very concerned.

People really have the Cambridge incident entirely wrong. Cambridge Sergeant James Crowley was not, and is not a racist. And Professor Henry Louis Gates was not, and is not a dangerous man. But instead of seeing the incident for what it was – a legal issue – it was hijacked as a race issue. Moreover, till today it’s still being looked at as a race issue, which is ludicrous.

What simply happened was, there were three combustible words thrown in to ignite the entire situation. Whenever you have these words involved – Arrest, Race and Stupid – all thoughts of basic civil rights go out the window. The problem is those three words together hit a nerve in most people, so rather than viewing the situation as a legal issue, suddenly the issue becomes racism.

Given the choice between having to think about law or racism, guess which one wins out? Everyone has an opinion on racism, but not many have an opinion on law – unless it’s coming down on them personally.

All of the uproar only confirms that people love getting their ire up about racism. But try talking to them about civil rights and their eyes glaze over. Worse, if it requires any kind of thinking, by the time they get pass the word “civil,” their minds have already gone to their happy place. They much prefer to talk about racism. “Racism” is much sexier than “civil rights.”

And people do love being titillated. Which explains why public opinion is formed mostly on the basis of appearance and chatter these days. If anyone’s in trouble, the first thing they’ll do is immediately contact the media and present their side of the story. With the public now being judge and jury, it’s all about public relations, marketing, and presenting everything in a nice neat little package to win people over and sway their thinking. So now, really, ask yourself: Is it “my” opinion, or am I just being manipulated?

Sergeant James Crowley was not lying when he said he’s not a racist. He’s not. Racism wasn’t the problem; his abuse of power in the situation was. He was given two identifications verifying that Professor Gates was indeed the owner of the home. Sergeant Crowley should have left the premises at that point. What was the reason for the arrest? That the professor was going to hit him with his cane?

Granted, police work is difficult, but it is imperative that ordinary citizens have the right not to be arrested in their homes over a personality conflict. This was a personality conflict.

Sergeant Crowley’s actions were wrong and the simple solution was that he needed a little time off.

Perhaps the sergeant might have been concerned about being fired or ruining his good record after facing the professor who demanded his badge number, supervisor’s name and even possibly threatening a lawsuit. This may have triggered the sergeant to take the drastic measure of making an arrest. I understand why the officer did it, and why he continues to defend his actions, but nonetheless, it was wrong. This needs to be made clear to him.

Thus, after all is finally said and done, the teachable moment in all of this will be: We certainly know how to rile up the nation in just three little words.

Apparently the Obama administration did not get the memo that its 2009 and not 1692. On the Whitehouse.gov blog a post encourages readers:

If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

This reminded me of the Salem witch trials where people were encouraged to turn in their neighbors for “fishy” behavior. In addition to this odd behavior Redstate.com is reporting the Obama administration is using provisions from the Broadband Data Improvement Act to gather information on individuals with broadband access including IP address, address and Internet access points on the home. I’m not normally one for conspiracies but this has all the makings of a good one. Cross posted with Rightsideoftech.com