There’s an assortment of things that the federal government does that are legitimately political, in my opinion. We argue in this nation about, say, whether we should have unlimited welfare benefits or if we should cut them off after a certain amount of time. That’s a political argument; some take the position that having unlimited benefits is the way to go because people need them, others say that we need to cut them off at some point because that will encourage people to make do for themselves.

But many things that the government does just shouldn’t be political. I’ll use… oh, my own agency, the FAA. It’s not a political question to, say, establish how much separation we should be using between aircraft; it’s a safety issue. We’ve developed many of our standards over decades through extensive research, and continue to hone and refine our rules. As new technology or information comes out, we can adjust those standards.

For example, several years after the Boeing 757 was introduced, the FAA increased “wake turbulence” standards for the airplane. That’s the distance behind it that we need to use for other aircraft. Previously, an aircraft had to weigh 300,000 pounds or more to be classified as a “heavy”, meaning extra separation behind it due to safety issues (turbulent air can flip or crash smaller planes.) We did this because we realized that, even thoough the 757 is smaller than that, its unique wing design was still causing problems.

Now, had airline industry officials had the final say, this rule might not have gone into effect. The additional spacing means that we can’t land as many airplanes in a given amount of time at a busy airport, because we can’t pack them in as tight on final approach; less planes means more delays and less profits.

Safety, though, demanded the additional spacing. We see an echo of this debate today when we view the problem with the Airbus A380, the new superjumbo airplane; it’s so big that it needs additional spacing behind it, even more than the Boeing 747- which gives the 747 a sales edge over the A380 because it doesn’t mean as much delay at airports.

I bring all this up because in the George Bush Administration, policy is too often set by political considerations, not hard science. From the New York Times:

In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president’s priorities.

…

Business groups welcomed the executive order, saying it had the potential to reduce what they saw as the burden of federal regulations. This burden is of great concern to many groups, including small businesses, that have given strong political and financial backing to Mr. Bush.

Consumer, labor and environmental groups denounced the executive order, saying it gave too much control to the White House and would hinder agencies’ efforts to protect the public.

The problem here is that Bush is in the pocket of his donors; placing a political person in charge of reviewing each agency’s actions threatens to reduce that agency’s ability to issue regulations or conduct business based not on political considerations but just plain old science and fact.

So, back to the FAA for an example- if enough businesses who happen to have “given strong political and financial backing to Mr Bush” demand (through the political appointee) that the FAA not issue any regulation for additional separation behind the A380 (because to do so would cost them money), it could be putting the flying public at risk. Likewise, the converse is also true; if the FAA’s technical people wind up saying that additional separation isn’t needed, but Boeing and other non-Airbus manufacturers have enough political pull, they could wind up getting a regulation put into place that’s unneeded- and which hurts Airbus’ sales.

In the past, all of these kinds of things were worked out through a fair review process. Companies and concerned individuals of all political pursuasions were allowed to comment on proposed federal rules, and then ultimately (in theory) the federal agency would do what the science showed was best (taking into account other considerations, like cost benefits and so forth). Now Bush is trying to subvert that process and get his own political lackeys in there.

This is why we shouldn’t allow politics and policy to mix if we can help it. Unfortunately, it’s also yet another example of why the Bush Administration is bad for America.

(Edited later to add:)

I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t even think of this until after I read the comments that pointed it out. It’s scary just how true that analogy is, and scarier that this kind of thing doesn’t upset a ton of people who honestly seem to think that Bush is doing a good job.

Okay, heading out of town for a few days. Dunno if I’ll blog- probably not, but if I get bored, maybe. Skiing in Whistler! Yay!

I’m 38. God, that sounds old. When did I get old? I know, I know- it’s not really old. But it SOUNDS old to me; I still think, in my head, that I’m in my mid-20s. I probably act like it too. I can retire in 9 years, and I think like a 24 year old. Is that a tad scary?

I’m playing around with a couple of programs to do blogging. Well, I tried one, and already deleted it, even though it’s got some promise- Windows Live Writer. The problem with it is that, in typical Microsoft fashion, it comes attached to a ton of other crap that just clutters things up. Too bad, because the actual program itself seemed pretty cool; I was actually quite impressed.

The other one is a program called BlogDesk, and it’s really quite nice. I don’t know if I’ll keep it but I’m going to give it a good look and trial when I get back.

I have an awesome housekeeper/dog nanny who will care for Indy over the next couple of days. She rules.

Okay, time to pack and forget something… hope you have a good weekend!

So Tuesday evening was the time for the President’s annual State of the Union speech. A surprising number of people either don’t know or have forgotten that this speech isn’t just something he does for the heck of it, or to screw up our TV schedule; the President is required, by the Constitution, to give a report to the Congress on how things are going and also to give them some things that he thinks they need to work on.

From Article Two, Section 3:

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;

So. President George W Bush comes before us Tuesday night to tell us how he thinks things are going.

Well, here’s what I think of the State of the Union. Surprisingly, it’s not as bad as you might think.

The Union- the nation of the United States of America- is still doing okay. We don’t have war on our shores, the economy isn’t in the tank, the air is still clean enough to breathe and the water is okay to drink (despite the huge increase in sales of bottled water over the past 10 to 15 years.)

Unemployment is okay; there’s some indications that it’s underreported, but we’ve had that for a long time.

Internationally, things are doing okay, too. We’re not gravely threatened by external foes. We are stuck in a war, and it’s costing us great gobs of money, but it’s not something we’re completely stuck with. While obviously any death hits the family and friends of the killed soldier hard, and any wound is something brutal for our men and women to suffer, the fact is that the war in Iraq isn’t nearly as costly as other wars, during other times, of our nation’s history.

(I know this is bordering on heresy for a progressive to say, but hear me out.)

But here’s the deal- we have huge flashing warning signs all over the place. This President’s policies threaten to overwhelm our Union and take this nation right down the crapper.

Our federal budget is in horrible shape. Luis pointed to this chart on his blog; I’m going to be a bad netizen, steal it, and repost it here…

As you can see, Bush has the federal government spending WAY more than it took in. He’s been absolutely horrible for the nation’s fiscal policy.

Our educational system is showing some strains, too. Our students need better education, better preparation for the ever-changing world economy. Our schools and colleges and universities need investment in technology, in capacity, in infrastructure… and they’re not getting it.

Our economy has some serious structural problems. Our taxation system is set up in a way that rewards being rich already; the working poor and the middle class are steadily losing ground. We carry monster amounts of debt, and if the housing market correction were to get worse we could be in serious trouble with foreclosures and people losing their homes.

The environment is hurting, too. Bush Administration policies have encouraged polluters, discouraged cleaning things up. Our air might be clean enough to breathe, but it’s getting worse. Same for the water, for our environment. Our national parks and forests need repair and investment, and instead we’re swapping them out to private companies for the profit of stockholders, not the people of the United States.

Our civil rights have taken a big step backwards under George Bush. He believes he can open our mail, tap our phone calls, snoop through our bank records, and generally ignore the Constitution whenever he sees fit. His own Attorney General doesn’t understand that when the Constitution says that the right to habeas corpus cannot be suspended (except for invasion or rebellion), it means that every citizen in the United States has that right, all the time. Even uber-right-wingers can’t figure out what on earth the Bush Administration is saying that for.

Internationally, while an American citizen can still travel safely, we’re doing poorly as well. North Korea built and tested nuclear bombs during Bush’s Presidency, which threatens to destablize eastern Asia. A nation we must come to grips with, China, is gaining strength and influence in the region thanks to Bush ignoring things and letting them get out of hand there.

Europe doesn’t look to us for leadership anymore. Africa’s death spiral into war and AIDS and misery continues, as has the slaughter in Darfur. South American nations are looking to Cuba for guidance instead of to the United States.

And of course there’s the Middle East. The situation in Israel is still a mess, although in one of the few glimmers of hope it seems that there might be some action there. But the war in Iraq has proven to be a fairly complete disaster. Terrorism is far, far worse now than it was before we went in; there’s not a fully functional government there.

Iran has moved towards building a bomb and Bush now threatens them instead of working with them, as a bipartisan group charged with suggesting fixes for the situation declared we should do. Our soldiers are stuck in the midst of a civil war that has at least three sides, plus is still trying to occupy a nation which plainly doesn’t want to be occupied.

Afghanistan is getting worse; opium production has skyrocketed and although this is good news for herion users, it’s bad for the United States since Al Qaeda is reaping the gains from the poppy crops. Our hold on the Afghan situation is growing weaker.

Of course, Osama bin Laden still runs around free. Post 9/11, Bush has managed to get Saddam Hussein (who didn’t have anything to do with it) deposed and then executed, but it appears more and more clear that Pakistan has been playing the US for fools; they’re probably supporting Al Qaeda and helping to hide Osama and his band of terorrists.

So we have big problems all over the place. Most share a common thread- lack of planning and insight, a lack of intelligent thought and careful consideration, a lack of actually doing something smart about problems. The federal budget, the tax policy, the condition of our governmental agencies, the environment, the disregard for science, shredding the Constitution, our relations with other parts of the world, nations developing the A-bomb, and of course the biggie, the war in Iraq.

The single best measure that Bush could propose to Congress that would help the United States is the immediate resignation of Vice President Cheney, followed by the immediate resignation of George W Bush.

That, folks, is the State of the Union. Overall, we’re still the United States. Our people are among the most optimistic, brightest, hard-charging, can-do people in the world. We have people still risking everything they own and their very lives to get here; this is still an awesome place to live. The grand experiment in Democracy that was started over 230 years ago continues to thrive.

But our leadership isn’t just bad; it’s terrible. We’re not planning for the future and we’re doing stupid things everywhere we look. There isn’t, in my opinion, a single major thing that’s become better since Bush took charge.

The Union? It’s still hanging in there. The guys in charge stink.

We’ve taken the first steps towards changing that, but we need- we MUST- continue to attack. We must drive this President from office. He and the Vice-President should be impeached and booted, unceremoniously, from office. Barring that, we must get a Democrat elected in 2008. The very future of the nation depends on it.

In a way, I’m not that concerned with the State of the Union in 2007. I’m deeply, gravely concerned with the future State of the Union.

So over the past few years, I haven’t really skiied all that much. I used to be very, very into skiing. I taught part-time so I could get a free ski pass, and living just 40 miles or so from Washington’s best ski resort, Crystal Mountain made it easy. I’d get myself into two or three 4pm shifts a week, then ski on my two days off and again before those later swing shifts.

But for a variety of reasons, I kind of fell away from it. Now I’m just a vacation skiier, only going a few times a year. I kind of miss it but then again skiing is a pretty dang expensive hobby.

This week is my birthday (man, I’m old) and I’m going to Whistler for a longish weekend. Should be a great time- they’re like the rest of the Pacific NW and just wallowing in snow up there.

Wish me luck! Here’s a few skiing/mountain pictures for you…

Here’s me during my first winter as a regular instructor at Crystal; before this I worked for the Ski School in the race department. Mt Rainier in the background, just 12 miles away or so and 14,411 feet high…

Heavenly, at Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California… gorgeous views!

Mt Bachelor, Oregon