Naples -- a non touristy treasure city

Ah... Naples.  Helen and I visited Naples for one day in 2009 and agree wholeheartedly with what is said about this unusual city here. It has a very real old world feeling.  How about the incredible buildings surrounding the endless square in one of the pictures? What's more we lucked out in finding the Reggia di Capodimonte Museum which was full of incredible Medieval paintings from the Farnese family collection one would expect to find in Le Louvre, El Prado or St Peter's.  Here are a few shots from that museum and a few from around Naples while on our very informal taxicab tour. A city build amongst hills and on the water as well.

Our secret find of a museum with many different galleries all beautifully organized.

 The museum viewed from an inside courtyard.  It dates from the early 17th century.

 A landmark palm tree just in front of the museum.

 A shot of the endless square and the architecturally classic Medieval buildings surrounding it.

 Naples is a city one should not miss on any visit to Italy and yet most people do.  Our driver "proudfully" poses

Blacks and socialism

Here's a particularly interesting "take" on the subject of why blacks have underperformed over the years.  The author of this piece, John Rossomando, makes the case that it is the fault of the victim mongers who have sold many blacks on the idea they are owed everything because they were denied everything under slavery.  Most interesting is the thread of comments where a black lawyer takes on those who agree with the author, and almost supports the argument for socialism.  Not quite, but almost.  In the thread are some interesting links to articles and studies that shed some light, or at least provide a point of view, on the cause of the financial meltdown.

Financial system fixed...or not?

Having just finished reading "Too Big To Fail", it seemed to this layman that the various powers to be staved off a crises but didn't bother to address the underlying problems.  The single major underlying problem seems to be the leveraging of the big banks assets that allows and encourages them to engage in risky loans to whomever and to make these big bets on whatever through their trading desks.  It's obvious that banks are willing to make risky loans and take huge risks because they are "playing" with someone else's money.  And they have a lot of it to play with.  Competition being what it is if bank A takes gets involved in some profitable but risky venture, bank B is not going to be far behind because it doesn't want to be left out.  And so on with banks C, D, etc.  Next thing you know and there's a lot of credit being exposed that in the final analysis the taxpayers are guaranteeing insofar as regulators think these banks are too big to fail and they present a systemic risk.  Hedge fund manager Paul Singer, who saw the sub-prime problem in advance, comments here on things as they presently stand after the bailouts, consolidations and so forth of the past few years, all in turn chronicled in "Too Big to Fail".  Singer is not sanguine about the reforms that have been put in place to address the underlying issues.  He thinks nothing has changed and that the next crisis is baked into the cake.

McCain's Early Recognition of Fannie/Freddie Crisis

It is beyond distressing that the democrats have essentially avoided responsibility for the financial meltdown caused by their complicity in preventing the reforming of these GSEs over the years.  The record is right here for everyone to see.  No media weighed in on this scandal except Fox News and perhaps even they could be faulted for not making an even bigger deal out of this issue on an ongoing basis.  What's to be done if clowns like Barney Frank and Chuck Schumer continue to get reelected (which they did) and wield great influence in the Congress (which they still do) even after evidence of their horribly bad judgement and outright incompetent leadership?  Until people like this are expunged from key decision making positions in our government, we are all doomed.

Our Enemy, The State --Albert Jay Nock

What's going on in Wisconsin and in other states trying to roll back the power of public service unions, goes to the heart of what is meant by government, freedom and the State.  This essay by a libertarian, Albert Jay Nock, who lived through the take over of the government and the State by the Democrat Party and the New Dealers describes the difference between the government and State and why that distinction is important to our freedom.  As it stands now, the unions have pretty much hijacked the State and the conservative government administration in Wisconsin (and elsewhere) is trying to reclaim it on behalf of its constituency -- the citizens.  We are at an inflection point when we can go in one of two directions, depending on the outcome of this struggle between the government and the unions.  If the unions win, we will continue down the path of collectivism and more government intrusion in our daily lives and less personal freedom.  If the government succeeds in rolling back the power of the unions to control the State,  the size of government and its role in our lives can in turn be rolled back.  For those who believe limited government equals freedom, this latter case is the preferred outcome.  Otherwise the Obama agenda of socialized medicine, et. al., will prevail and we are to be diminished as individuals.  There's a lot at stake in Wisconsin and in other states.

So much for Mayor Bloomberg the savior

NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has cut a wide swath in big city politics for the past 10 years.  His legacy will be far from positive, as we see from this Commentary article by Fred Siegel and Sol Stern, two of the more astute and brave investigative reporters on the scene today.  It's pretty clear that Bloomberg is yet another megalomaniac who craves attention.  In his case he has so much wealth he's able to buy just about all the attention he needs.  Meanwhile he's leaving a train wreck for the next mayor to clean up.

The demise of oral communication

Most adults of my generation often comment on the use of the word "like" by today's youth.  I often find myself counting the "likes" offered up by youthful and often not-so-youthful commenters on news programs during the course of an interview.  It is a breakdown of the capacity to think and express thoughts coherently, which according to at least one professor stems from a diminishing ability to think in the abstract.  The cause of this disability is in the realm of speculation, however one professor observing the change in speaking patters of his students over time opined it has to do with teaching in middle and high schools these days.  It appears there is no focus on the basics, that any form of expression is okay and permmisible  Must not be critical otherwise might damage student self esteem.  This sounds like the end result of political correctness, multiculturalism and affirmative action in play.   This article enlightens on the history and development of this disease.