Defense spending, a big reason for our national debt

Finally there is some much needed talk in Congress about paring down our massive defense budget during these deficit worrying times. Both some Republicans and Democrats talking who share concern over our national debt. Yes, if you want to cut the budget, defense is a big chunk of the spending.

Future generations might not miss the penny

Canada is more innovative than USA with their currency. They are phasing out pennies. USA currency is so caught up in inertia that change is hard. Canada has already done away with 1 dollar bills. They use coins instead of 1 dollar bills. They also have a 2 dollar coin. They use the Looney and the Tooney.

We may have to do things like retiring our penny and use higher numbers on our money due to inflation. It's kind of like "add another zero, for instance." Things like Quantitative Easing when the Federal Reserve puts lots of new money into the economy can lead to inflation. Most likely, new money needs to be created to provide funding for the huge federal debt. Inflation appears to be really low these days, but certain sectors, like house values and healthcare costs often inflate ahead of the rest of the economy.

As for across the board inflation, future generations wouldn't really see the difference since they would be using the higher numbers from start on their money. Inflation does ravage the savings of current generations. That is a problem.

As we struggle with our huge national debt, maybe we shouldn't feel guilty about the debt stealing from future generations if we inflate our way out of the debt. We are stealing from current generations, however. Its current folks who have savings in money that's being devalued.

Life goes on and we adjust. At least Canada wouldn't be stuck with piles of almost worthless pennies around.

Ghostly Dahlquist Building comes back to life

The Dahlquist Building is coming back to life. I just ate at Dashi Noodle Bar which is one of two businesses redeveloping the main floor.

Back in 1976, a fire ravaged the upper floors.

See pictures from 1976 Western Front newspaper.

I watched having just come out of an art class at WWU (then WWSC). As I walked out of the art building, a column of smoke could be seen rising from downtown Bellingham. It lured me to the excitement. Passing my sister's house as I ran down the hill, I knocked on her door and she came running also. We got to the corner of State and Holley just as the roof was collapsing sending flames so high that folks reported seeing it from Mount Baker. More sirens whaled as extra firefighters rushed to the scene, but my sister started leaving the corner. I followed asking why she was leaving just at the climax and she remembered that she had run off leaving the door to her house wide open. She thought she had better head back before folks wandered into her place.

In the years since that fire, the Dahquist stood mostly empty like a haunted shell. Some taverns and a dingy looking cafe called "The New China Cafe" occupied the downstairs, but much of the time, even that was empty. I kept calling it the haunted building. Well, now it's coming back to life. Dashi Noodle Bar is in one store front with Acme Farms & Kitchen soon to operate out of the other.

Several days ago, someone was shining a bright light at the Dahlquist. Were they making a movie? Who knows. Reminds me of that day in 1976 when Bellingham firefighters shined floodlights into the second floor windows to look for hotspots after dousing the 3rd floor fire.

Future plans call for restoration upstairs as well.

I'm glad to see the building coming back to life.

* Doing a Google search, I found an interesting article in the April 30 2012 Bellingham Herald by historic writer Dean Kahn.

Winter ride at Lake Padden

Thin ice, sunset, Lake Padden Saturday afternoon bike ride to and around the lake.

Pictures from an earlier ride to Padden in November 2012.

Bike ride up to Lake Padden along Padden Creek in Samish Hill Neighborhood of Bellingham.

Cool looking steam rising from power plant

Cool looking because that power plant is not normally used unless it's really cool weather. It's usually used for peak power demand; like when folks turn up the heat. We've had some cool, clear days recently. Frosty with lows around the 20s. Typical of winter.

Orange cloud band of sunset and windows of YMCA near by. Power plant, which is located on Bellingham's waterfront, burns natural gas. It used to be a co-generation plant when Georgia Pacific pulp mill used it's leftover steam. Now, with Georgia Pacific gone, the power plant runs alone; when in use. I think it's been upgraded so more of it's waste steam runs another turbine to generate power, rather than going to the Georgia Pacific that isn't there.

A few proposals are circulating to incorporate this plant into the redeveloped waterfront using leftover heat again. That is, if the waterfront development ever gets going. Woops, I forgot to read the last update in the newspaper on that.

Photos from a crisp winter ride

Looking out toward Olympic Mountains south of Bellingham Bay.

Washington State could go back to charging more for license tabs

They say the gas tax isn't enough to cover cost of roads in Washington State because more fuel efficient cars are buying less gallons of gas. Also people may be driving less. Other sources of revenue are being considered including the possibility of tracking cars with GPS and charging an additional fee on a per mile basis. Some folks think this GPS solution is unworkable and also some folks feel it would be a violation of privacy for the government to track private cars with GPS.

So, maybe we could go back to higher license fees as an alternative source of revenue; rather than GPS tracking?

The license tab was a broader tax base than just the gas tax alone, but it was thrown out by voters, in 1999, as part of Tim Eyman's famous Initiative 695. Before 695, more revenue was available from license tabs and the tax was graduated. Expensive cars paid more while less expensive cars paid less. 695 gave a break on the cost of license tabs, especially the higher cost for more expensive cars as it lowered the rates and made the rates more like a flat tax. Regressive.

695 was tossed out by courts as unconstitutional after that 1999 election, but governments have, to some extent, preserved it's intent. Maybe the license tab fees could be revisited?

More recently, the state is holding some meetings discussing alternative revenue sources in light of the falling gas tax revenue.

Some folks say that the license fee was siphoned away from roads before I-695. In truth, a lot of it went to non car transportation. Much of the funding for public transit came from the license tabs and people tend to forget that public transit can help automobile drivers by reducing overall traffic.

Why does it cost so much to build roads in Washington State? Part of that may be the high cost of land needed to build new road capacity. Also the high cost of living, especially in central Puget Sound region, tends to bring up labor costs and so forth.

We got a classy state here, but we can't have it all. Million dollar homes and inexpensive roads. It doesn't necessarily add up.

I don't drive. I ride my bicycle. I know, I'll never get people to stop griping. Maybe the license tab shouldn't have been broken in the first place, but on the other hand, if they decide to track cars with GPS, I'm okay with that also.

They can even track my bicycle. Wait a minute, they'd be charging me a tax also. I'm almost okay with that; a reasonable fee at least. Traveling through Wisconsin on a bike tour, I didn't mind buying the day permit that helped pay for maintaining Sparta to Elroy Trail. Year permits are available also. The permit is good for many of the Wisconsin bike trails that charge for their use. I think the Wisconsin program is run by their state department of natural resources.

Now why have I gotten on that subject? Oh oh, I've opened a Pandora's box now.

Legalization of marijuana in Washington is largely driven by sound financial reasons

Saves money on incarceration, courts and police time. A new source of revenue for state taxation when the distribution network is set up. Conservatives often hate this kind of thing. They are always griping about making state government more efficient, but they (stereo typing on my part) oppose so many things that can put the fiscal house in order. Of course the Libertarians tend to be happy with this kind of thing and Libertarians can be found on both the left and the right of the political aisle as well as other spots on and off the chart.

I'm not a libertarian either, but would most likely call myself a maverick who tends to lean liberal. I just see hypocrisy in a lot of conservative efforts to balance state budgets. More states should try legalization of pot and so should the feds; and I don't smoke pot either; or at least very seldom, if I do.

Federal Debt is not necessarily stealing from future generations

Federal debt is borrowing from current generations who have savings. Future generations don't have any money yet.

If we have to print money and inflate our way out of debt, it's current generation's savings and assets that will be affected. Future generations don't have anything to loose yet. If inflation means that the dime becomes the new penny and the ten dollar bill becomes the new one dollar bill, future generations aren't going to know the difference. They will just be born into a world where the penny is silver colored instead of copper and they will just build from there. Maybe they'll still call it a penny as the dime can be renamed the penny.

It's current generations who have saved money in today's dollar that will loose value. Inflation is less of a problem to folks yet unborn as they can just pick up where we left off. Today's dollar is worth less than the dollar of the 1930s, but modern life is still richer than the 1930 in many ways at least. They didn't have MP3 players or Google in the 1930s. Some folks might have preferred the life of the 1930s to now, for instance when one could fish without a fishing license and the world was less crowded, but that doesn't have to do with the dollar's value.

Generations not yet born will not notice the difference if there is across the board inflation before they arrive. They'll just be used to using the dime as the penny, but of course transactions are often by computer these days; rather than using coins.

Inflation is a problem for current people, especially people with savings.

Now, maybe future folks who would stand to inherit lots of money will be diminished if those assets are affected, but I'm not too worried about that.

Across the board inflation isn't really a problem for people who are not yet born, but there is one problem. Inflation is uneven across the economy. That's a big problem. Some things are inflating terribly while other things hardly inflate at all. This "shearing" in the economy could effect future generations, but folks born in future times will have to fix these kind of problems so the economy continues to work. Hopefully these problems are being addressed now, so we, who are alive today, can continue to function as well.

Our most important gift to future generations is simply a world that is livable. The debt isn't stealing from them, if anything, it's stealing from people alive today.

Makes water less boring

Drinking just plain water can be kind of boring and one is tempted to drink fruit juice or even soda pop instead; thus ingesting too much sugar. One good thing about saunas is that one can get somewhat dehydrated and then just plain water tastes pretty good.

Saunas give regular tap water more of an appeal and make it easier for me to drink more water. I don't go for real hot saunas, however. I go in for a fairly short period and then go back and forth as it's more of a social time for me at the YMCA than anything else.

As for body cleansing properties, I don't know if it's that big a deal, but it does make me work up a thirst that can be quenched by nice cool water. I'm getting into the habit of drinking water more and fruit juice less. A good way to cut down of sugar since most Americans have way too much sugar in the diet.

Dancing is another good way to work up a thirst. There's one dance here in Bellingham entitled "Sweat Your Prayers."

Soda pop, that's even worse than fruit juice. I don't drink that very often. I use Stevia to sweeten my chocolate milk rather than the regular chocolate syrup they use in commercial chocolate milk.

I drink some fruit juice and even a small glass of soda pop once in a while.

There was an interview on Diane Rhems about too much sugar in American diets. They talked about crushing 6 oranges into a glass of juice versus eating 6 oranges. One gets the sugar of 6 oranges from the glass of juice, but one wouldn't normally eat that many oranges in once sitting if they were eating the oranges as oranges. Maybe better to just eat one or two oranges and then drink water. Less sugar and more fiber.

My blood sugar level is still pretty tame compared to the average American.

Biking into another year

From start of Marine Drive overlooking Bellingham Bay.

Good advice not to run down hill

Back when I was in middle school, a youth camp counselor gave good advice to the folks in our cabin. Running down hill is bad for your joints. I'm glad I heard that advice early in life as I have not done much downhill running. My knees and joints are still working fine many years later.

I jog carefully and mostly on the level or up hill.

Another year of lights

Much of the town seems dead on Christmas unless one has nearby family and, of course, except for the lights. These aren't even Christmas lights, but theater lights at Bellingham's new 16 screen cinemaplex. It was bustling. Parking lot full, people milling about and lights reflected on moist sidewalk to give the affect of a rainbow path to the city of Oz.

And there are those home dwellers that go all out.

House with neon sign for Hardware Sales in background. Reminders of the shopping frenzy.

Another peace sign in Christmas lights. These are fairly common in Bellingham.

Yard light.

The NRA's costly new government program

Ironic that the National Rifle Association is calling for a costly new government program. Armed guards in every school. Many NRA members are anti government spending so what's up? They're trying to find some way to address public concern over school shootings without backing off from their radical stance of no changes to the nation's gun laws. It's posturing.

The Department of Education has counted 98,817 public schools in the United States and an additional 33,366 private schools. That's a lot of schools which someone has to pay for guards in; if people buy the NRA plan. I think there are better ideas.

I hope folks who were using the old Mayan calendar have gotten a new calendar by now

Just a reminder for folks using the Mayan calendar. A certain phase of that calendar doesn't go beyond the day when Gregorian calendars show the date 12/21/2012. New calendars are available at many spots including some retail shops. New calendars are easy to come by.

Looks like I'll need a new calendar also. I've been lazy about updating things around my place.

Happy Holidays from Robert Ashworth

A friend of mine found this picture she took of me as she was sorting through an old box of her things. Picture taken around 2007. Time to start thinking about Spring cleaning. Nearing the Solstice. Image taken in Bellingham's Fairhaven District by Sycamore Square.

A post I put on Facebook that got a lot of likes from several sides of the aisle

So I decided to share it here also.

If everyone within (what they'd say on the radio) "the sound of my voice" were in agreement with me, I'd only be preaching to the choir. Diversity of thought makes it more interesting and I believe in civil discussion. I put this thought on someone's thread and it received so many likes I decided to put it on my own wall also.

New movie theaters in Bellingham, Pickford and Barkley

Yes, the Pickford twin theaters. I don't go to movies often so I just got around to seeing a movie at the new Pickford space in downtown Bellingham even though the new space has been open for quite some time now.

A non profit and independent theater that's quite successful. It's new space is nice. Stadium seating.

I saw Chasing Ice, a documentary about someone's quest to place cameras around several glaciers to record the retreat of ice due to global warming.

Next day, I biked out Railroad Trail to Barkley Neighborhood to see what the new Regal Barkley Cinemas look like, now that they are finished. 16 screens, stadium seating, even an IMax. Someday, I'll get around to actually seeing a movie out there, but at the rate I take in movies, it will be a while.

What looks like a wetland mitigation / runoff retention pond is now celebrated with nice fountains. I got there just as a rare and brilliant sunset was happening.

But then along the trail comes this ominous warning sign saying one would be trespassing past here. Trail just continues to parking lot and a bike rack. What about connectivity between the theater and the other bike trails around Barkley? What about welcoming access from non motorized corridors? I proceeded anyway and nothing bad happened. No lightning strikes or anything.

Theater lighting is impressive. Parking lot almost full, but the bike rack was empty. It was chilly, but not a bad day. At least there is a pretty nice bike rack.

Bellingham Herald reports grand opening a success with first proceeds to local charities. Even in these recessionary times, new theaters have been built in Bellingham. Regal closed 2 of it's old locations in Sunset Mall and Sehome Village to consolidate it's market to the New Barkley Cinemas and its other remaining facility at Bellis Fair Mall.

Bellingham still has an economy partially propped up by being close to the Canadian border and spinoff from the success of Vancouver's metropolitan economy.

New theaters shimmering through the trees as I head back toward home. Someday I'll go to another movie, but I'm not in a big hurry. It will still be there when I'm ready.

Washington State University Radio turned 90 on December 11

December 11 was the 90th anniversary of KWSU Radio in my hometown of Pullman, WA. This alluring music was the lead in piece for a show called Concert Serenade (I think that's what it was called) that used to come on the air at 11 AM during my high school years. KWSU has now grown into Northwest Public Radio and it's many stations across Washington State, including KZAZ in Bellingham at 91.7 FM. Congratulations to Northwest Public Radio and enjoy a few minutes of The Young Prince and Princes from Scheherazade, by Rimsky Korsakov.



Studios of Northwest Public Radio in the old part of Edward R. Murrow Communications Center at Washington State University.

Tower for KWSU 1250 AM west of Pullman, WA.

Birthday celebration for Edward (Egbert) R. Murrow who spent some of his childhood in the town of Blanchard, Washington, just south of Bellingham.

First gay marriages on steps of Whatcom County Courthouse

I also like the reflection of background trees in the courthouse windows. Whatcom County Courthouse in Bellingham soon after marriage equality went into effect in Washington State.

Entitlements versus sense of entitlement

Folks on both the left and the right often confuse the concept of entitlements with the sense of entitlement. This influences the debate over things like the Fiscal Cliff.

Entitlements are obligations or promises that the government has made to various people. Social Security and Medicare are among the biggest entitlements. These are promises that the government has said it will provide due to various acts of legislation governing things like Social Security.

Sense of entitlement is a different concept. That's more related to the concept of being "spoiled," of the feeling that, the world owes one a living. Folks often get used to a certain standard of living and they have expectations that this standard will always be available. Sometimes poor people may have a sense of entitlement, but middle class and the wealthy have this also. The wealthy who always expect taxes to be low and the country to be functioning, military and all, have their sense of entitlement. One often hears that spoiled American tourists have a sense of entitlement over conditions in hotels and so forth as they travel to countries where things are different.

Getting back to the other use of the word entitlement, the government uses this concept in it's budget planning process. Entitlements are promises that have already been made by legislation, such as Medicare benefits, which people are already relying on. These are fairly inflexible obligations in the budgeting process as opposed to the concept of discretionary spending where the government has more leeway for change from year to year.

Discretionary spending includes many things. Its the running of the government where choices are made to appropriate money for each fiscal year. Most of military spending probably falls in the category of discretionary spending even though some of the military budget is things like entitlements promised to veterans.

A big problem faced by budget planners today is that most of the budget is devoted to entitlements. With medical costs rising and the retirement of post war baby boomers, Medicare costs are projected to eat up just about all of the budget in the future leaving practically nothing for discretionary spending. Practically nothing for basically running the government from tiny slices of the budget for NASA, the FBI and other discretionary spending. A fairly large slice of discretionary spending goes to the Pentagon. Even the vast defense budget may get squeezed out from future Medicare obligations, if certain trends continue.

While promises for things like Social Security and Medicare have been made, promises can not always be kept. These promises can be conceivably broken if there just isn't enough money to go around. Also the entitlements that are promised to future generations can be scaled back. The amount of money that the government has to spend is dependent on a strong economy with the collecting of taxes.

There is another kind of promise that has been made that could threaten the ability of the federal government to meet its financial promises. That threat is something called Grover Norquist. It's a pledge that many members of Congress have signed saying they'll never allow taxes to be increased. This gives the government less flexibility on the revenue side as it struggles to balance it's budget. Conservatives have often pressured their Congressional representatives to sign the Grover Norquist Pledge, but this can cause problems as costs for things like Medicare keep rising.

Even without Grover Norquist, the government has trouble collecting enough money to meet it's expenses. That's why we have to keep borrowing money, thus adding to the Federal Debt. The amount of tax that the government can collect also depends on the strength of the economy. It depends on how much taxable income is out there.

People on the left often say that Medicare and Social Security are not entitlements, but they are things that people have earned. This isn't totally true. In some cases, Social Security and Medicare pay out more to an individual than the individual has paid in. In other cases, the opposite is true. People sometimes pay more into Social Security than they get back; especially if they die before they retire, for instance. These programs are not just like bank accounts, but they are also of our country's social safety net. Without the safety net, life in society would be a lot rougher so I am in favor of the safety net.

Many folks do seem to have the other kind of entitlement; the sense of entitlement that we can have everything from low taxes to a strong safety net to an always prosperous economy.

In the final end, it always seems to depend on the math; even for the entitlements that the government has promised. It only works, in the long run, when the numbers add up.

Bellingham art walk, or in my case the art run

Artistic silk screening shop is one of many businesses on the Friday night art walk. This photo taken during the day.

Bellingham Art Walk was fun last Friday. It happens the first Friday of each month. Galleries and artsy shops open. People mingling downtown. I met a friend for dinner and when I was just about to the cafe, I realized that I left my outer jacket in a coat closet at the Light Catcher Gallery. The Art Walk became the Art Run for me as I ran back to retrieve my coat. It didn't take long. My friend and I had a good dinner. Lighted bikes, from the lighted bike Christmas parade were visible around town as well, out the cafe windows and so forth. I was in it last year. Downtown Bellingham can be fun.

Two paths to marriage equality. By court order, or voter approval

It's really good that the voters said yes to marriage equality here in Washington State. The cases that are now coming up to the Supreme Court are about constitutional rights versus the states where voters voted against gay marriage. For instance in California, where voters opposed marriage equality by supporting California Proposition 8 several years ago. Now Proposition 8 is being tested in the courts, but no matter how the Supreme Court rules, in this case, Washington State's voter approved law is still safe, as far as I know. Hope the court rules in favor of tossing out California's anti gay marriage Proposition for the states that weren't as fortunate at the ballot box.

States where voters approved gay marriage in 2012 are Washington, Maine and Maryland.

In Minnesota, voters turned down a proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage. Attitudes of voters seem to be changing fairly quickly on the gay marriage issue. Maybe California will take another vote someday, but in the meantime, that case is before the Supreme Court.

Governments need the revenue from pot as a business model. Hurray Washington State.

I hope the Federal government doesn't fight Washington State's new law legalizing marijuana. Governments at the federal, state and local levels all need the revenue from pot as a business model. Also less costs for law enforcement and incarceration. I don't even use pot that much, myself, but I look at the math. It's the budgets stupid.

I heard that the largest clinic for free healthcare in the county is the county jail. Interesting perspective. Wouldn't have thought of that, but it sounds logical. Medical care is a big expense in the jail. I heard that on the Joe Show on Bellingham's Progressive Talk KBAI when they interviewed County Councilman Ken Mann. He was on that show recently discussing county business including the plans for a new jail, and other county matters.

Nascar race for Google cars?

The thought just crossed my mind. Google's driver less cars driving themselves in a race. What a concept.

A train of thought that led me there was thinking about the problems of bicycle racer Lance Armstrong. His wins have been disqualified from Tour De France races due to accusations of unnatural and technological things done to the body that provide an unfair advantage.

I hear that race officials are having trouble establishing who did legitimately win those races since the second, third, and so forth cyclists may have been doped as well.

Should they just drop those rules and have the Tour De France be a match of technology, rather than a match of the pristine human body? There's another kind of racing called Nascar where the power comes from machine rather than human. There's still the driver, however. The skill of the driver.

Wait a minute. We can eliminate the driver also. Have a Nascar race for driver less Google cars. Then, maybe it's the skill of the programmers who design the driver software. Eventually, it will all be the machines.

That's my foray into talking about sports.

Better to say saving rather than killing two birds with one stone

For instance, bicycling is a good way to kill, or better to say save, two birds with one stone. Save fossil fuels, get exercise. Many other birds as well. Use less space to park and so forth. You get the idea. Better to say saving birds rather than killing them.

Want a level playing field? Sure

The rich and their big corporations will "level" the playing field. Level it alright, with their bulldozers and wrecking balls as in "this old place has been leveled."

Level can have several connotations.

Fond memories of George W. Bush?

On BBC Radio from London, they recently interviewed someone from an institute connected with former President Bush. He was talking about why he thought Romney lost the election. Basically Romney was more harsh than Bush, if you can believe that. I can. Bush did support some immigration reform that included a guest worker program. Bush added prescription drug benefit to Medicare, Bush funded a lot of AIDS work in Africa, Bush often called himself a "compassionate conservative." Romney and Ryan's talk about cutting Medicare, and so forth was harsher and didn't go over with the voters. Interesting perspective.

I feel that the Republicans have gotten worse for several reasons. One reason (besides the power of the hateful mega churches) is that people are freaked out about the deficit. Tea party Republicans feel we can't have "business as usual" when it comes to the deficit. Bush was often accused of spending like a drunk sailor as he cut taxes, started wars and expanded, rather than proposing to slash, Medicare. Romney/Ryan came along later with a slash, slash, slash message that even made George Bush look nice. Maybe Romney was just set up to it. As governor of Massachusetts, he might have been more moderate, but harsh conservatism was taking over the Republican party at that time. Now the Republicans are doing some soul searching and it is interesting to hear the various perspectives.

I'm glad Obama won.

York neighborhood free table

Historic piece. Table is no longer at that location.

Good idea for reducing clutter and often finding things one needs.

Table looks a bit empty when I took this image, but often there is quite a bit of good stuff there.

This table is well maintained out of the rain. It is lighted and even offers a plugin to check electrical items.

Privacy on Facebook; an oxymoron. Who would go to something like Facebook to look for privacy?

Privacy on Facebook is an oxymoron, but that's okay with me. Kind of funny hearing people worry about privacy on Facebook. I think something like Facebook is the last place one would expect privacy. The things I post on Facebook are intended to be shared publicly.

Ironically, something posted on the open web (outside of one's circle of Facebook friends) is likely to have less audience than something posted inside Facebook since Facebook alerts one's friends whenever things are posted. In the 1990s, that process was called "push technology;" a term that seems to have fallen by the wayside more recently.

Something on the open web, such as this blog, is not found as often. People have to surf to the site.

If one is famous, then web sites and blogs get bigger audiences. Otherwise, web sites just get a few Google searches and maybe some friends will look, but most won't bother unless it's brought to their attention. In some cases, the media will notice an obscure web site and bring a bunch of readers; for a while at least. 15 minutes of fame. On Facebook, things are brought to people's attention; at least to the attention of one's friends.

Another worry that some folks might have about posting on the open web is employers who might do Google searches. I guess I'm not that worried about employers because I may not ever look for another job, I'm almost retired. Also, if I was looking for another job, I would want my new employer to accept me for who I am. I share most of who I am and if I'm embarrassed to share something, I hide it from my friends also, or at least I wouldn't potentially broadcast it to all my 260, or so, friends on Facebook.