Why I'm a Democrat

Wealth has a natural tendency to accumulate - the poor can't save; the rich can and do. The resulting concentration, unrestrained, leads to explosions - eg the French revolution. Republicans' behavior has consistently opposed any retraint on accumulation, any effort to moderate extremes of wealth and poverty, while Democrats support such restraints.

Further, Republicans tend to be more hawkish in foreign policy, and less empathetic with people who succumb to whatever forces depress them.

I'm willing to listen, but so far I'll stick to being a dependable Democrat.

Don't cut the inheritance tax

Robin Hood serves an essential stabilizing function in any society.

Bin Laden

Having found myself utterly unable to understand bin Laden's and his supporters' rationale for their suicide bombings, I looked for and found his recent presentation. Having read it, I think much can be gained by initiating a dialog, in the Times editorial pages, between him and responders to his many statements. He, or at least some of his followers, might even be persuaded to change their tunes. And maybe the US might recognize the validity of some of his grievances.

Some years ago Mr John Stoessinger taught that differences where one party was right and the other wrong were relatively easy to settle. Problems persist when both are right, to at least some degree. I think this is a case in point, and that if both sides understood the validity of their opposition, progress could be made toward resolution.

Sunni Rationale

Reading the Times (at least parts of it) has failed to leave me with any comprehension of the rationale of Sunni leaders when they persuade followers to commit mayhem. How do they think they benefit by killing unarmed people and inciting retaliation? There must be some such rationale, and I feel that Times reporters need to interview those leaders and explain the reasoning, whatever it may be, to your readers.

Israel

As long as there are Muslim and Christian nations, there is need for a Jewish nation. If world-wide separation evolves between politics and rerligion, Israel can shed its Jewish identity, but not until that day.

Note to David Brooks

Your article "The Morality Line" makes me think you're one of the few people to whom I should offer my thoughts about free will. I hope you'll read this.

Each of us is at any point in time the sum of his heredity and life history. An all-knowing entity could therefore, knowing this background and the details of any situation, predict our behavior. Accordingly, neither praise nor blame, pride nor shame, reward nor punishment has inherent legitimacy. I agree with the scientists you reference that we do not have free will

Bob Herbert supports Al Gore's program to stop releasing CO2 during electricity generation within ten years. I'm scared green that this may be nowhere near enough.

CO2 now in the atmosphere is causing a continuing increase in global temperature. Atmospheric CO2 is currently increasing at a considerable rate, more for transportation and heating than for electricity. Even if all production of atmospheric CO2 is stopped within ten years, CO2 in the atmosphere will continue to rise for some time, causing an icreasing rate of rise of global temperature. Temperature will continue to rise until the CO2 level declines well below its peak.

I have no idea when the global temperature will peak, or at what level. I don't know how far sea level will rise (When must Long Island be evacuated?), how lethal hurricanes and tornadoes will become, what species will become extinct, but I'm scared silly. Since I'm 86, those events will probably not ruin my life, but I have a grandson and many great nieces and nephews.

The danger to humanity from imminent climate change seems to me far more severe than that from Al Qaeda, Mugabe, Putin, China, etc. Why has the Times not provided the necessary news and editorial coverage warranted by the danger?

Powered Roads

Professor Thrun and Mr Levandowski propose computer control to improve road usage and to save energy. I suggest that more energy could be saved by centrallizing power generation: let the road power the vehicles en masse. Electric motors could propel the cars, drawing power from the road while it's available and from batteries elsewhere. Alternatively, mechanical power could be transferred from the highway to cars. Advanced light rail systems use linear motors: perhaps the in-car components could be combined with driving motors for operation off the powered higheway. Appropriate fees could be charged with "Easy Pass".

Friendly Fire

Today's article about the danger to undercover police officers reinded me of my wartime work designing IFF equipment - Identification, Friend or Foe. We used coded electronic challengers and automatic responders so a fighter could quickly decide whether he had a target in sight. Those devices were bulky and expensive then, but cheap interrogators could easily be mass produced now. Responders would have to have frequently changed codes to prevent self-protection by miscreants. The policemen most in danger could be appropriately equipped. I conceive a system that would instantaneously issue an electronic challenge whenever a policeman's hand touched his gun. A response within milliseconds should abort even the quickest draw.

Jobs

I'm having an awful time understanding why we're wasting millions of man-hours - a major national resource - when economic pump-priming funds are available. They'd be so much more effective as stimulators as salaries to the currently unemployed. Surely there are needs that are currently going unfilled. They could provide free entertainment to my wife and me; we haven't been to a movie since Madoff confessed last December. Roosevelt was able to get WPA and CCC working. Let's make the jobs!

Unemployment

Unemployment does more than devistate its victims, both financially and psychologically. It wastes an important societal resource. We are all made poorer by it, as we would be if a year's worth of wheat or corn were dumped in the ocean. The goods and services that could have been provided by unemployed people will never exist.

It occurs to me that the unemployed themselves may be able to solve, or at least ameliorate, the situation. They could meet in appropriately sized groups to brainstorm for ways for any or all of them to produce wealth. They could also educate each other. Perhaps some organization will agree and start a ball rolling.

Estate Tax

I'm perturbed by the hiatus in estate tax for at least one year. That tax is a very limited levelling influence on society, which is sorely in need of such influences. Wealth has enormous tendency to accumulate, and while some of that tendency benefits society, its excesses - ie when most of the natiional assets reside in only a few hands - are distinctly harmful to the vast majority of the population. Besides, this is a very bad time in the economic cycle to introduce a new reduction of federal income.

Corporate Campaigning

The supreme court's rejection of corporate campaign spending limits ignores an important point. People have the right to free speech - not dollars. Organizations of people have that right to the extent that their members agree to the speech, one person, one vote. Corporations don't work that way. They represent stockholders who control them in proportion to their stock ownership. If corporate decisions regarding political speech were made with the approval of their stockholders - one person, one vote - there would be no conflict.

I believe there are, and should be, limits on political spending by individuals. Similar limits should be imposed on organizations, based on the numbers of people they represent.

Stacked balls

Problem: Compare stacking efficiency of balls in a large volume - rectangular arrays settled one atop another vs triangular arrays similarly settled. Latter gives more balls per unit area, but layer height is greater.

Let ball diameter = 1.

Case 1: Area per ball = 1. Height = .707

Case 2: Area per ball = .866 Height = (that of a tetrahedron with side = 1)
(2/3)^.5 = .707

No difference!

Rights

Every human, by virtue of being human, deserves life, liberty and respect - at least until he denies them to other humans. That limitation applies not only to nazis, mafiosi and skinheads, but to Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics, Protestants, Jews and
Muslims.

Random killings support no cause. Americans, Israelis and Arabs must all be called to account.