Guitar Hero and Rock Band creator, Eran Egozy recently invited From the Top‘s Christopher O’Riley to the offices of Harmonix to play Rock Band 3. While rocking out to Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” Chris had a chance to pick the brain of one of the most innovative game creators of our time. For more information the Rock Band series and Harmonix, visit www.harmonixmusic.com.

The article Infographic: Tax Breaks vs. Budget Cuts compares the size of some proposed budget cuts along side some tax breaks for the wealthy.

I’ll give you one line of the chart:

Programs At Risk
$44 billion – All programs at risk combined

Tax breaks for the wealthy
$42 billion One-year cost of extending Bush tax cuts for top brackets (FY2012)

I am not sure if the $42 billion for the Bush tax breaks is a summation of the rest of the tax breaks in the chart or is a completely separate tax break.  Read the article to see if you can figure it out.

I went back and added up all the other tax breaks and the come to about $46.7 billion.  I guess this means that the Bush tax cuts are a separate item.  In other words there is about $88 billion per year in identified tax cuts that could be rescinded to help balance the budget.

Watch the video to see what’s in it for the Koch brothers. There is a similarity to what Enron did to California. It cost the citizens of California billions of dollars.

Contribute now to Support 14 Bold State Senators in Wisconsin.

I hope this isn’t too bothersome to my cousin who works for Wells Fargo, but this story is too good not to post.  The story has nothing to do with him, personally.

Wells Fargo Meeting Today With Philly Homeowner Who “Foreclosed” On Them (Here’s How He Did It)

I did attend the rally mentioned by the SEIU in my previous post, Join The Revolution.

I have posted pictures on my web site photo album Pro Labor/Middle Class Rally.

Contrary to what the Tea Partiers were saying, the Wisconsin Union agreed to the governor’s request for give backs.  It wasn’t enough for Gov. Walker to accept yes for an answer in the bargaining process.  The governor further wanted to cut off the union’s rights to bargain.  Obviously the governor has an agenda that reaches far beyond fiscal responsibility for the state.

As I head off to the SEIU rally in Boston, it is nice to know what I can expect when peacefully assembling to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The fun starts at about 37 seconds into this video.

You can get more details about this incident in the story Veteran’s Group Demands Apology From Sec. Of State Clinton published in the Sky Valley Chronicle of Everett, Washington

This is a 15 minute talk by Patricia Burchat.

How on earth is this political? It frequently occurs to me when I learn about stuff like this, that the people who are arguing over whether or not evolution is real, are missing some even bigger questions than that. I wonder if they have any inkling about how puny the question of evolution is in the midst of these other issues.

MardyS recently posted a link to a book review on his facebook page.

How We Know by Freeman Dyson is a book review of The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick.

In the review Dyson says, Thanks to the discoveries of astronomers in the twentieth century, we now know that the heat death is a myth.. It seems to me that some of his discussion about the myth does not seem to be cognizant of dark energy as discussed in the video clip.

Speaking of the heat death paradox, Dyson says,

The best popular account of the disappearance of the paradox is a chapter, “How Order Was Born of Chaos,” in the book Creation of the Universe, by Fang Lizhi and his wife Li Shuxian.

Creation of the Universe published in Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., 1989.

Freeman Dyson is a world renowned physicist. I find it unlikely that I would know more about this subject than he does. I must have some misunderstanding if it seems to me he has some things wrong or at least not explained well.

The second amendment to the U.S. Constitution says:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

This amendment says we have the right to keep and bear arms.  Does it also require that to exercise that right we must join a well regulated militia such as the Army, Army Reserve, National Guard, or one of the other military services?

Would the National Rifle Association be so adamant about preserving the second amendment if the enforcement of the  responsibility were backed up by applicable law as well as the right?

I think my interpretation of the second amendment is novel because of the way it makes the connection between the clause “A well regulated Militia” and the clause “shall not be infringed”.

Previously I had heard two points of view. One being the idea that “well regulated Militia” was just a clause explaining why the founders thought up this idea, but it had no other relevance to the unlimited right to bear arms.  The other point of view was that the clause “well regulated Militia” was necessary to the interpretation of the clause without much explanation of how that necessity was to be interpreted.

My interpretation says that to have your right to bear arms without infringement requires that you be in a well regulated militia. Since the Equal Rights Amendment has not been added to the Constitution, how can the Supreme court apply equal rights to their interpretation?

Of course it would be up to the Supreme Court to decide what “a well regulated Militia” means.  Could “a well regulated Militia” have regulations about your right to bear arms?

Apparently the Supreme Court has already decided that they do not agree with my argument.

Rene Churchill supplied a link to the Supreme Court decision that covers the issues I raised.

See if you can understand how the majority opinion can include

a. Well-Regulated Militia. In United States v. Miller, 307 U. S. 174, 179 (1939), we explained that the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. That definition comports with founding-era sources. See, e.g., Webster (The militia of a country are the able bodied men organized into companies, regiments and brigades . . . and required by law to attend military exercises on certain days only, but at other times left to pursue their usual occupations);

and still not entertain my interpretation.

Notice that the section quoted does not say that a Militia comprised all males whether or not they were organized and attended mandatory training. I wonder if the Supreme Court would consider the Klu Klux Klan to be a well regulated militia. Certainly the army of the Confederacy was a well regulated militia.

I wonder if this quote also implies that women are not protected by the second amendment? Since the Equal Rights Amendment has never been approved for addition to the Constitution, how can the Supreme Court justify the extension of this right to women? Did the founding ancestors anticipate this in what they wrote?

For further clarification of the value of this discussion see my posting Of Mice And Men