1962 PSAC Report

In 1962 the President's Science Advisory Committee published a report entitled Meeting Manpower Needs in Science and Technology.  The "PSAC Report" declared that the acceleration of graduate training in engineering, mathematics, and physical sciences, especially at the doctoral level, was a matter of urgent national priority requiring immediate action, without which severe shortages of engineers and scientists would occur. Engineering was identified as an especially crucial area. The federal government was to provide the funds needed, through increased research expenditures, provision of training grants, and fostering of new centers of scientific excellence. The country was, of course, reacting to shocks to its prestige caused by the success of Sputnik, and was also riding the crest of the greatest economic boom in its history, and these events simultaneously provided both the motive and the means for a major expansion in engineering graduate programs. Engineering education responded immediately, and the numbers of graduate students rose to unprecedented heights. (Just eight years later, the magnificent declarations of the PSAC Report were negated by a new conventional wisdom—that Ph.D.s were a drug on the market.)

Chicago

The prosecutor was waiting for the Federal investigation to be completed.  Sounds reasonable to me.

The facts are much worse than Ferguson.

I'm still opposed to "in your face" protests such as the #BlackLivesMatter people seem to feel entitled to.

I watched the CNN Sixties last night.  It refreshed my memory on Martin Luther King, Jr. a little and Bull Connor a lot.

Chicago was lucky that this information was not released to the public a year ago.

Why Republican Candidates SHOULD NOT Have (a program for women)

Our country is unique in how we came into being.  We revolted from the rule of Great Britain but we did not revolt from the Magna Carta nor English case law.  We came into existence as a separate nation during the last half of the 18th Century (1750 - 1800 CE).

English common law is said to be in effect in every state except Louisiana.  Florida accomplishes this in Title I, Chapter 2 paragraph "2.01 Common law and certain statutes declared in force.—The common and statute laws of England which are of a general and not a local nature, with the exception hereinafter mentioned, down to the 4th day of July, 1776, are declared to be of force in this state; provided, the said statutes and common law be not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States and the acts of the Legislature of this state."

In our recent relations with Iraq, we seem to have forgotten that although the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, our constitution wasn't adopted until September 17, 1787 (Year of our Lord) and the 12th year of our Independence.

The Declaration of Independence took our Founding Fathers 6 pages to write.

It took them 18 pages to write the basic constitution and 3 more pages for the first 10 Amendments. Therefore, it took our Founding Fathers only 21 pages to create The Constitution of the United States of America and Found a nation.

Our Founding Fathers were a product of their times.  The (First) Great Awakening was a significant factor.  Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, in particular, were influenced by the French Revolution.

The French Revolution was an influential period of social and political upheaval in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799, and was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire. The French Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship by Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the French Revolution profoundly altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics. Through the Revolutionary Wars (including ours)  it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East.

"The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State."  was ratified as Amendment XI on February 7, 1795, the 24th year of our Independence.

My page count for the first 10 Amendments includes Amendment X.  The first 9 Amendments only require 2 pages.  The 10th Amendment was considered to be very important to our Founding Fathers, it is a part of the "Bill of Rights".

Meanwhile, in France, Following the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt and attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes. Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789. The first year of the Revolution saw members of the Third Estate taking control, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and a women's march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. A central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy. In a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793, the 22nd year of our Independence.

The French rebelled against the clergy and the aristocracy.  They created Secular Humanism..

In our country, The Great Awakening kept us close to the straight and narrow.

The differences between our countries is highlighted by Charlie Hebo.

Our Amendment X says:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." 

There's nothing in The Constitution of the United States of America for a Federal Government role in the Liberal Left's current favorite agenda item.

The Great Awakenings

The problem with Great Awakenings is that there is another on the way in less than 100 years.

 

1.  First Great Awakening

 

The First Great Awakening began in the 1730s and lasted to about 1743, though pockets of revivalism had occurred in years prior, especially amongst the ministry of Solomon Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards's grandfather

 

2.  Second Great Awakening

 

The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival that occurred in the United States beginning in the late eighteenth century and lasting until the middle of the nineteenth century. While it occurred in all parts of the United States, it was especially strong in the Northeast and the Midwest. This awakening was unique in that it moved beyond the educated elite of New England to those who were less wealthy and less educated. The center of revivalism was the so-called Burned-over district in western New York. Named for its overabundance of hellfire-and-damnation preaching, the region produced dozens of new denominations, communal societies, and reform.

 

3.  Third Great Awakening

 

The Third Great Awakening in the 1850s–1900s was characterized by new denominations, active missionary work, Chautauquas, and the Social Gospel approach to social issues.^[7]  The Y.M.C.A. (founded in 1844) played a major role in fostering revivals in the cities in the 1858 Awakening and after. The revival of 1858 produced the leadership, such as that of Dwight L. Moody, out of which came religious work carried on in the armies during the civil war. 

 

The Christian and Sanitary Commissions and numerous Freedmen's Societies were also formed in the midst of the War.

 

4.  Fourth Great Awakening

 

The Fourth Great Awakening has not received the acceptance of the first three. Advocates such as economist Robert Fogel say it happened in the late 1960s and early1970s. Others call this the Charismatic Movement. Some of the ministers of the Charismatic Movement were Kenneth Hagin, Chuck Smith,John Wimber, and Kathryn Kuhlman. The Vineyard Movement and Calvary Chapel emerged during this movement. Both these movements still exist. Expository teaching along with the Signs and Wonders movement emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Mainline Protestant denominations weakened sharply in both membership and influence while the most conservative religious denominations (such as the Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod Lutherans) grew rapidly in numbers, spread across the United States, had grave internal theological battles and schisms, and became politically powerful. Most of these organizations still stand today.

 

5.  Fifth Great Awakening

 

This Awakening Consisted of Two Major Revivals: The Toronto Blessing and The Brownsville Revival.

The Toronto Blessing describes the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF), a neo-charismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Participants in the conferences and meetings sponsored by TACF have reported healings, incidents of personal transformation and a greater awareness of God's love. It has also been referred to as the Father's blessing, the Anointing, the Awakening, the Renewal, the River and the Fire. The blessing has become known for ecstatic worship, including what is known as falling or resting in the Spirit, laughter, shaking, and crying. "Holy laughter" was a hallmark manifestation, and there were also instances of participants roaring like lions. Another "manifestation of the spirit" encountered at these meetings was a gesture commonly called "crunching" consisting of a vomit-like heaving as a reaction to inviting God to "cleanse" one's emotions or releasing forgiveness to those involved in past negative experiences. Leaders and participants claim that these are physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit's presence and power. One TACF teaching, the Golden Sword prophecy, has been spreading among charismatic churches.

The Brownsville Revival (also known as the Pensacola Outpouring) was a widely reported Christian revival within the Pentecostal Movement that began on Father's Day June 18, 1995, at Brownsville Assembly of God (a church in the Assemblies of God) in Pensacola, Florida.  Characteristics of the Brownsville Revival movement, as with other Christian religious revivals, included acts of repentance by parishioners and a call to holiness, said to be inspired by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Some of the occurrences in this revival fit the description of moments of religious ecstasy. More than four million people are reported to have attended the revival meetings from its beginnings in 1995 to around 2000.

I have borrowed heavily from the Wikipedia entry on Great Awakenings

Proposed ABA Code of Ethics

Members of the IEEE (Engineers) are ethically required to correct errors.  The IEEE Code of Ethics is available at http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html  .  The major change in adapting it for lawyers was removing the decision making responsibility which was mentioned as the first part of #1.

We, the members of the ABA, in recognition of the importance of our laws and regulations in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree:

 

1.    to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;

2.    to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to affected parties when they do exist;

3.    to be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data;  

4.    to reject bribery in all its forms;  

5.    to improve the understanding of law; its appropriate application, and potential consequences;  

6.    to maintain and improve our legal competence and to undertake legal tasks for others only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations;  

7.    to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and correct errors, and to credit properly the contributions of others;  

8.    to treat fairly all persons and to not engage in acts of discrimination based on race, religion, gender, disability, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression;

9.    to avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious action;  

10.  to assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in following this code of ethics.

 

Engineers are not particularly appreciative of having (not so technical) errors pointed out to them but learn to tolerate it gracefully.

Fair and Equitable Distribution of Assets

Should a 75-year-old Man Be Able to Keep What He Has Earned?

I was much more interested in Gloria Steinem than Bella Abzug but I did support equal opportunity for everyone.

I attended the Republican Convention that nominated George Allen for Governor.  I got involved through the efforts of Ann  of the Republicans for Choice movement.  I was more anti-Government involvement in family matters than I was FOR a woman’s right to choose.

I am now involved in a dispute with my ex-spouse over alimony and a fair and equitable distribution of assets.  I share the 5^th District Court of Appeals with Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman.

That Court has remanded my case to the lower court.

Florida is a “no fault” state and I have been told by practicing lawyers that “the law is gender blind.”

Florida’s Dissolution of Marriage process is so bad that the Florida House and the Florida Senate passed a major alimony reform bill.  Under pressure from who knows where, Governor Scott vetoed it.

Everybody now knows much more about the veracity of lawyers than I did 5 years ago.  Obama lied.  Debbie Wasserman Schultz lied.  Diane Baccus-Horsley lied.  I thought the Judge could tell that $28,800 a year and $4,000 per month were not the same.

There were so many errors in BaccusHorsley’s closing that I could not easily figure out what to object to or complain about.  Other than the stereotypical no good male narrative (with which I disagreed of course), there was little in her closing.

I identified 45 false assertions in her closing.  She acknowledged one as a scrivener’s error.  These out and out lies were not adepuate justification for the Florida BAR to discipline Ms. Baccus-Horsley.

Judge Charles J. Roberts of the 18^th Circuit Court in Brevard County Florida found concerning income:

“8  INCOME:  The Court has determined the income of the parties as follows

A)     Respondent/Husband’s monthly income

a.       Social Security

b.      Zzz

c.       …

B)      Petitioner/Wife’s monthly income

a.       Social Security

b.      Zzzz

c.       …

C)      There is great disparity in the income and assets of parties.  The Respondent/Husband has 82% of the family income and the Petition/Wife has 18%”

My reading of the Florida statutes says that the Judge is supposed to come up with a fair and equitable distribution of assets before he addresses any possible need for alimony.

Judge Roberts was so misled by Ms. Baccus-Horsley that he did not do that.

From the beginning, I have stressed to my lawyer that I was only interested in a Fair and Equitable distribution of assets.  She thought that she and I might have a difference of opinion about that.  I was willing to acknowledge that “Fair and Equitable” is a little open to interpretation.

With equal rights and equality for women taken into account, a reasonable interpretation of “Fair and Equitable Distribution of Assets” would be in the same proportion as they were earned with the premarital and nonmarital stuff set aside.

MH370 Search

The search area was redefined today.  A number of media people have implied that the previous search efforts were "wasted".

As frequently happens, the truth is that the previous efforts have been devoted to searches in what was thought to be the most likely area in which MH370 disappeared.

Had they been directed otherwise, there would be good reason to consider them wasted.

Regimented Theory

Regimented theory is our overall science, the sum total of our best and most objective knowledge about the world, reformulated in the clearest and simplest form.