Live by the E.O., Die by the E.O.

"E.O." stands for executive order, which is one* of the ways Obama and the Democrats are bypassing the mostly deadlocked Congress.  The latest instance was Obama's order yesterday requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave.

I agree with Obama's goals but the means are not the most desirable.  What happens to Obama's EO's when a Republican president is inaugurated?  By the same authority Obama used to issue the order, the Republican can issue an order to cancel it.  The two parties have played this game for 30 years or more on abortion and foreign countries; it's one of the first things a new President does--reverse the EO on federal money, abortion, and foreign aid (too lazy to look up the provision, but I think it's the "Mexico City policy").

Now abortion can be a special case, since it continues to be a hot button issue.  It's quite possible that federal contractors won't care by the time the next Republican president is inaugurated and Obama's EO will stand.  But the ideology of the issue is clear.  A Democrat is imposing a new governmental burden on private enterprise and I, the Republican determined to battle for less government, use reversing Obama's EO as a symbol of my determination.


* Regulations are the other way, but I'll save that for another day.

Haying in the Lake District, UK

Reading James Rebanks "A Shepherd's Life".  

Rebanks' family liveds in the Lake District, mostly raising sheep on the "fells" (mountains).  I'm halfway through and enjoying it. What struck was his description of haying in the fields on the valley floors, particularly one year when it rained so much the hay was entirely ruined.  Any dairy farmer in the Northeast could  feel the pain.

But apparently English hay is more productive than upstate NY hay, or else the humidity in summer is a lot worse.  He writes of having to "turn" the hay two or three times to ensure proper drying.  That seems a lot, though I have to admit our hay fields were not the best.  But I hired out a couple summers and didn't see any hay fields much more productive.  

At another point--he writes as if the farm is on the smallish side, but also mentions "thousands" of bales of hay.

It's almost always interesting to read about the lives of farmers in other places. 

Soft-Hearted Feds and Trump

According to this Politico piece on Donald Trump's wars with local officials in Palm Beach, he was able to buy a $10 million mansion (Mar-A-Lago) for less than $3,000 down payment.

No wonder The Donald doesn't respect us.

Read the piece--it's fun.

Reality Bites: "nothing is ever where it says it’s supposed to be"

The quote is taken from a Technology Review piece on a brick-laying robot.  The full quote is from a human, not the robot, who observes that the reality on a building site doesn't match what is in the drawings/specs, so one challenge for the robot is to be flexible enough to handle minor deviations (the human bricklayer handles the major ones).

"Irreparable Damage"

Viewers with alarm sometimes use the phrase "[x] caused irreparable damage to [y]."

Sometimes that's true, sometimes it's all water over the dam, or water under the bridge.

I'm sure my relatives and teachers in childhood caused irreparable damage to my prospects of every becoming President.  I merely have to point to the fact that I've never become President and my chances of becoming President are now slightly smaller than the chances of both the Washington Nationals and the Washington Redskins making their playoffs.

My point: "irreparable damage" may often be quite correct, but it is not synonymous with "major damage."

The Virtues of Presbyterianism

Via a tweet from Noah Smith, a blog post noting two studies on the (positive) impact of missionaries in India (health) and Africa (literacy).  Presbyterians weren't the only denomination sponsoring missionaries, but they did a lot.  That's one benefit of believing one knows the truth and has the duty to spread those truths to the world.  (There's downsides to such beliefs, but that's not the subject of this post.) 

I think the denomination has lost that certitude; certainly it seems to be dwindling as its older adherents die.

Barney Frank's Lessons for BLM etc.

Barney Frank in his memoir Frank talks about effective politics, using the National Rifle Association as an example.  He wrote the book before the Black Lives Matter organization/movement came into being, but I'd apply his lessons, as I recall them, to BLM. Important things:

• having supporters in many congressional districts.
• having specific "asks"--something the representative can do.
• keeping rhetoric and congruent--don't take positions or make threats you can't back up.
• build a reputation.
• pick your spots to demonstrate your power.

Ode to American Beauty

Just to show that one of those lefty historians can enjoy American beauty, we present Taking the Long Way Round.

Just a taste:

New York was an absolute revelation. Is there any place more lovely in the summer than the Finger Lakes region? I have never seen the like.

But read the whole thing.

Good Sentence from a Conservative

"Ignorance is the natural state of human affairs, and all of us, from addlepated reality-television enthusiasts to theoretical physicists, are almost entirely ignorant of almost everything."

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/423065/finance-economic-ignorance-journalism

Firing Employees

Government Executive has a piece on firing federal employees.  It's all very nice, but it misses an issue which can be as important: the economists call it "opportunity costs".

A manager has many demands on her time, demands mostly over which she has no control.  It's the in-basket, which keeps filling up. In an office with several or many employees, there's also an urge to devote time to your employees, and to be fair to them.  (Not that I achieved that, but I could be made to feel guilty about failing.) And if you'd like to think of yourself as an effective manager, you probably have dreams of your own you want to implement. (I had too many.)

Now if you have an employee who's marginal, what the rules say is you need to devote time to him: counseling, training,  documenting actions, etc. etc. The rules are all very well, certainly they fit the golden rule, they're what I'd want applied to me.  But spending the time is the killer; it takes away from the in-basket, it takes away from paying attention to other employees, and it kills your dreams.