No Warranty Expressed or Implied

The idea behind the electoral college is pretty much the same idea as the two houses of Congress. It is an attempt to balance states with people versus states without. Congress In the case of Congress the House of Representatives has different numbers of representatives for each state, determined by population. Thus this house represents the will of the majority of people. The other house of Congress, the Senate, has the same two senators for each state. This allows states without population to have equal influence. Two side notes about the Senate are relevant. First, the Senate is the "upper" house and has arguably more power . The Senate approves treaties and confirms Supreme Court and federal judges, flag officers, and cabinet members. They also conduct impeachment trials. Second, Senators were originally elected by the legislatures of states, not directly by the people. The 17th Amendment changed that. Unfortunately this means that many of the most important decisions ma...

I'm suffering through a spate of phone calls from some con artists who say they're from Apple computer. Apparently my iCloud account has been compromised. I'm pretty sure it hasn't because I don't have an iCloud account because I don't own any Apple equipment (Hurrah for Linux!), Apple wouldn't contact me this way anyhow, and this is a documented, known scam . So I've already done all of the usual things. I registered my phone on the National Do Not Call Registry  years ago. I filled out a complaint with the FTC . I blocked the first number but they change it every time so the calls keep coming at 5-10 minute intervals. Fortunately I'm retired and have time on my hands. So now it's a game. Excellent . Caveat Note that I'm talking about scam calls here. There are a lot of exceptions in the Do Not Call law : political organizations, non-profit organizations, telephone surveyors, informational calls, debt collectors, and companies that have an e...

I always thought of the American Dream as the freedom to have a decent life. To work and be rewarded, to be free from persecution. I suppose that in my mind it was the small town America of Ray Bradbury and Norman Rockwell . Admittedly that's a bit vague. James Truslow Adams is often quoted in this context from  The Epic of America  (1931): The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. ... It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. This seems reasonable and not too far from what I believe (and better said). Yet in the 21st Century we seem to be following a different dream. Now we seem to ...