5.28.10 MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER!

several articles from world mag..

the big nudge by janie b. cheany, 5.22.10, p28..the government turns to science to manipulate our behavior

..'it's one thing to delve into behavioral science around the dinner table and another to make it a matter for government policy. an essay by andrew ferguson in the weekly standard examines how the nanny state proposes to pull on a lab coat and base its regulatory powers on science rather than fiat. behavioral science, to be exact. the president has surrounded himself with intellectuals who believe there's no school like the behaviorist school for remaking society. 20th century standards like executive order 12866 which required a cost-benefit analysis on each new regulation, are hopelessly out of date.

a great deal has been learned since that time, president obama wrote in a memorandum shortly after taking office: far more is now known about regulation - not only about when it is justified, but also about what works and what does not. the memorandum ordered a review by the office of management and budget to, among other tasks, clarify the role of the behavioral sciences in formulating regulatory policy.

the report was due within 100 days. that means it's about 12 months late. perhaps the review board took some time off to study the Procrastination Effect.

the proposed change in regulatory policy is based on studies that claim to show a pattern of 'predictable irrationality', meaning humans acting in ways contrary to their best interests. they choose chocolate seven-layer cake over an apple for dessert, consistently drive over the speed limit and fail to replace outdated attic insulation. sometimes they even vote republican. since appointing jackbooted thugs to make people behave would be unpopular, regulatory policy should be based on the 'nudge', an incentive strategy sometimes called 'libertarian paternalism'.

for example, rather than offering a 401(k), employers will be required to enroll everyone in the plan and offer an 'opt out'. cigarette warnings will be larger with smaller words and fruit will be placed in front of pie in the school cafeteria. and so on.

a policy introduced with some fanfare 15 months ago seems to be on the back burner now. perhaps someone noticed that 'libertarian paternalism' is an oxymoron or that theoretical conclusions from university experiments don't translate to desirable behavior.

'cognitive dissonance' was unknown to jonathan edwards, who saw a clear correlation between a man's mind and his will. a drunkard reaching for his next drink knows the drink will satisfy him at that moment, enough to outweigh the consequences. no social norm or product placement will sway him until his mind changes - even to admitting he's a wretched man trapped in a body of death (romans 7.24). god places the responsibility where it belongs: on the individual.

do we really know 'what works'? what are the chances that a program of 'nudging' irrational creatures into making the right choices will sooner or later eliminate the choice? new york state is now considering a bill to automatically enroll new yorkers as organ donors, unless they officially opt out. which is the tyrant: the government that holds citizens responsible for their actions, however irrational or the government that assumes responsibility for its citizens, however benevolent?'

paul ryan, wisconsin republican, p31

..after a decade of near anonymity in congress, ryan's 2007 ascension as the ranking republican on the house budget committee gave him the staff resources and the clout to let out his inner economist. he now also is senior member of the tax writing house ways and means committee. from those perches he has crafted a roadmap to:

1. privatize medicare and medicaid
2. provide vouchers for many federal programs
3. replace employee-sponsored health insurance plans with individual health insurance plans with individual tax credits
4. impose tougher controls on federal spending.

the congressional budget office, the nonpartisan number crunchers, determined that ryan's roadmap delivered on its promises of balanced budgets and smaller deficits (unlike its projections for obamacare). under current policies, the cbo concludes that the nation in 2080 will devote 34% of its gross domestic product (gdp) to government spending; under ryan's plan, the cbo predicts that federal spending in 2080 would fall to less than 14% of the gdp while the government would enjoy a 5% annual surplus. and all without raising taxes. in fact, ryan proposes a flat tax of two rates: 10% and 25%..

..ryan ran for reelection in 2008 using an early version of the roadmap. the district's residents did not blink, giving ryan 64% of the vote. and that with obama winning his district by about 5%. so it is clear to ryan that people are ready to be talked to like adults..they are ready to have these ideas presented to them and they want to choose the path of american exceptionalism, not managed decline..

..there are two kinds of people up here, be-ers and doers..there are a lot of people who come to congress from both parties who just want to be a congressman. keeping the job is the ultimate goal..to ryan, the doers - the ones with the ideas - have to 'take this place over'..

what did you expect? paul david tripp, worldmag, 6.5.10, p.31

..'you both bring something into your marriage that is destructive to what a marriage needs and must do. that thing is called sin..(which) is essentially antisocial. we don't really have time to love our spouse...because we are too busy loving ourselves..we turn our spouses into vehicles to help us get what we want or obstacles in the way of what we want..God's grace is meant to bring you to the end of yourself so that you will finally begin to place your identity, your meaning and purpose and your inner sense of well-being in Him..'

i thank God for my marriage for it was, from my end, an exact match of the above comments. it was the beginning of hope born out of hopelessness.

premature dispatch by matt anderson, p65

'the transplant industry is extremely interested in the definition of death. transplants now include kidneys, hearts, livers, pancreas, corneas, lungs and other body parts. even a face has been transplanted. these transplants allow recipients to continue their lives, lives which may have been marred without a transplant. but the number of needed organs exceeds the number of available organs for transplantation. on this shortage stands the definition of death. liberalize the definition od death and increase the number of abailable organs.

medically, death occurs when the heart stops and breathing stops. these two parameters defined it for millennia. but with medical technology, applying that definition has become fuzzy and troubling. death now includes brain death and cardiac death, with cardiac..the most controversial..a hear stopped for 5 minutes defines cardiac death for transplant in most circumstances. some places use two minutes..in colorado, some pediatric transplant doctors wait only 75 seconds..one family member told of the transplant doctors calling ..twice a day to see if she would consent to use of her child's organs for transplant.

examples of liberal definitions of death are not hard to find. many european countries now have an opt-out law instead of an opt-in law., which means organs are deemed available without consent - unless the decedent of the decedent's family specifically denies permission. new your assemblyman richard brodsky recently proplsed the same rules for new york..however, such a law could force patients to be donors against their will. also, patients fear doctors might not work as hard to save their lives if they are viewed as prospective donors..'

right now i am a piece of detritus in an angry sea. i remind myself of isaiah's words, 'the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked'. 59.20f i am a foul nothingness carried along by forces well beyond my control. (in my own mind i once ruled over all, as hard as that is for me to imagine at this time.) the weird thing is that while being nearly bereft of any, what i would call, human emotion i seem to be in strange possession of..Him. (vs.19 I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith the Lord and i will heal him.) all the promises of His mouth seem to be mine even in the midst of total sin and chaos. who can understand...maybe He has me in an ezekiel experience where ezekiel reports that he 'sat where they sat' among the hopeless captives, taken from their home country to a land far away.. who sat by the river chebar waiting to see what would happen to them..i just don't know. i just know that in the midst of personal devastation on many levels He is mine and He is enough. how can i make any sense of what is going on, but He knows what He is doing. may He destroy me utterly if that would most advance His cause. may He bring me to the utter and ceaseless end of myself where i have become an unchangeable zero and His beauty, holiness, power is seen! that is all that matters in this vapor called 'life'. whether or not i have life may He grant me Life.

hope you have a good week. love, dad