Another Presidential Magic Trick

It should be obvious that the President has relatively little to do with the tax structure and government expenditures/debts. Yet debts and taxes are talked about as if the President were responsible, when in fact, and by Consititutional law, the Congress is solely responsible for all these items. The President cannot make a new law. He can only act on the laws passed by Congress.

In many ways the President is a figurehead and a whipping boy, serving to take the blame for the sins of Congress. The media focuses on the election of the President as if it really mattered, when what the American people should be paying attention to are who we elect and re-elect to Congress. We are encouraged to focus on the Presidential election, just as the stage magician urges us to look at the wrong hand. This simple trick serves to keep us functionally almost impotent.

Instead of the Presidential election occupying our attention, we should be looking at the voting records of those who represent us in Congress. We should be looking at how they voted on the bank bail-out, and how they monitored the expenditure of the billions spent and where that money went. We should be looking at how they vote on tax structures, public health and welfare, Social Security. They should not be allowed to continue cheating the American voters and blaming it on the sacrificial lamb, the President.

I am in favor of voting them out.

Is there a universe in which supernatural events can occur?

I had a dream last night that clarified for me a “thought problem” I have been considering. First, the dream: I am in Heaven as The Official who must ask each person who has left the earth for an accounting of what they have done. I am calm, dispassionate, unmoveable by threat or promise. God appears in the chair beside me. I feel a mild surprise, but after all, He has now left the earth and no longer has a part in human affairs. Thus it falls to me to question Him.
He sits facing another direction, smoking a cigar, looking bored. I ask “Will You answer my questions?”

He replies “I am God. Who are you to ask Me?”

With no hesitation nor emotion I say “You made the Rules. Will You abide by them or not?”

The dream ends, but the question remains.

Now the “thought problem” I have been considering. In the multiverse, in which all the “constants” that can vary may vary, each universe will be different. If the degree of attraction between opposite charges varies, chemical combinations may or may not form, or form in unimaginable ways. If gravity varies, planets and stars may form in some but not others. Perhaps even the speed of light or the rate of the passage of time can be different.
Each universe unfolds as it must. But what is the “must”?

Within our universe there are some laws that cannot vary, as well as many that can. The constant of gravity may change, but the acceleration of matter in a gravity field will occur, even if the rate of acceleration differs. Even if time runs “backwards” in any given universe, within that frame causes precede events. Entropy occurs on whatever time scale we consider. With a change in the speed of light in a vacuum, the relationship between mass and energy may change. “Constants” may vary, but the laws describing the relationship between constants cannot.

It’s interesting to consider what may change from universe to universe, as well as what cannot change. One thing that must be invariant is that within each universe everything is bound by the laws of that universe. There cannot be a universe among all the infinite universes in which events occur that are outside the bounds of the laws of that universe. Thus the existence of “supernatural” events is simply not possible either in our universe nor in any other.

The question as to whether God has to follow his own rules remains unanswered.

Uncle Charley on Self-Inflicted Wounds

"How did Bobby Joe get himself so whacked up?" Charley asked as we left the hospital.

"He lost control of his motorcycle out on Highway 9. He wasn't going all that fast, he said, just hit a sandy patch. Good thing he's got insurance," I said.

Charley looked thoughtful for a while. Then he said "I have some problems with medical insurance".

"Don't we all."

"Nah, I'm not thinking about costs and stuff, at least not directly. Now with Bobby Joe, I'm glad he's got medical coverage. But he wasn't doing anything wrong. That accident was just something that can happen when you ride a two-wheeler. I sure wouldn't feel the same way about his situation if he'd have been drunk."

"Hmm." I said. "You thinking that if he'd been drunk he shouldn't be covered by his medical insurance?"

"That's exactly right!" Charley said with some emotion. "Why should we all have to chip in on his medical bills when he done it to himself? Because that's all insurance is, you know, just us chippin' in in advance".

"So maybe it should say on the medical policy that you're not covered if you weren't being reasonably cautious?"

"More than that," Charley answered. "Why should we pay for somethin' stupid you do, like drinking and driving? Or if you get lung cancer after smoking 2 packs a day for 50 years? You want to take the risk, that's ok with me, but why should I pay extra because you don't take care of yourself?"

"You got a point," I said. "Maybe if people knew they weren't going to get covered for stuff like that, they wouldn't do it in the first place."

"Right. I'm thinking about other stuff too. For instance, if you have an accident driving your motorcycle without a helmet, the costs should be on you, not on the rest of us."

"I think that some Harley drivers have a saying 'No Helmets On Harleys'. That's kinda macho but they have a right to ride the way they want. But I don't want my rates to be higher because they want to ride without helmets."

Charley thought for a while. "How about all the motorcycle riders who don't want to wear helmets have their own insurance program? That'd solve that problem."

I laughed. "Sounds good. The principle being that other people don't pay for your risky behavior. And how about people that eat themselves into being so fat their knees and hips won't handle the stress? They should have to pay for their risks and replacement joints too."

Charley smiled. "I can see it now. They got their own insurance program. Call it Health Care For The Obese. I like it. Heart attacks wouldn't be covered, or diabetes, or atherosclerosis. We don't want to limit their freedom, we just want to limit our costs."

"How about people that attempt suicide and don't quite make it?" I asked. "And what about smokers?"

"I guess people that started smoking after the Surgeon General posted those warnings knew what they were doing. So, no medical treatment for lung cancer or COPD for them, unless they have their own insurance group. Plus they gotta pay higher rates to cover family members that got hit with second-hand smoke."

"So our motto is 'Pay For Your Own Risks Or Don't Take Them'. They need Tobacco Users Insurance."

"Sounds great to me," Charley said. "Insurance companies need to limit their costs, and so do we".