2020

Another year is ending, this one also concluding a decade.  It would be a good time for a retrospective piece on the past ten years, but lots of other entities are doing that.  I'll just stick to my usual review of the things I wanted to have happen this year, and consider some things I would like to see happen in 2020.  We'll again start with the prior year's list, with comments in ALL CAPS:

The resignation or impeachment of a mentally unstable and unqualified president -- again, no names.
IMPEACHMENT HAPPENED.  I CARRIED THIS OVER FORM THE PRIOR YEAR, WHICH TURNED OUR TO BE VERY PRESCIENT.

The electric vehicle becoming America's fastest growing (by percentage) seller.
THIS IS HAPPENING IN THE U.K. BUT NOT IN THE U.S.

Alabama and Clemson and New England to have poor football seasons.
THEY WEREN'T POOR, BUT ALABAMA AND NEW ENGLAND AT LEAST HAD DOWN YEARS.

Some major medical breakthrough, perhaps a vaccine to eliminate a dread disease.
NO.

Consistent, moderate summer rain in central Iowa.
YES.

A priest actually arrested and charged and jailed for past sexual abuse.
THIS DID HAPPEN IN PENNSYLVANIA.  IT WAS TOO PREDICTABLE, AND NOT NEARLY ENOUGH.

More cities allowing app-based scooter rentals.
WHILE MORE CITIES DID ADOPT THEM, OTHER CITIES STARTED TO RESTRICT THEM.

Another scandal that ruins another Fox (News) TV personality.
NOT REALLY, ALTHOUGH THE PRIOR SCANDALS AND CURRENT PROPAGANDA AT FOX DID CAUSE SHEP SMITH TO LEAVE.

U.S. restaurants that allow payment by app, OR that bring the credit card reader to your table.THIS STILL HASN'T RECEIVED WIDESPREAD U.S. ADOPTION, WHICH IS SORT OF INFURIATING.

Me traveling to one of the five continental states in which I've never set foot.I WAS ABLE TO CROSS OFF NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTH CAROLINA FROM MY LIST.  DOWN TO IDAHO, MICHIGAN, MONTANA, AND NORTH DAKOTA.  (IT WAS ACTUALLY SIX.).

Now, for 2020 I'd like to see these things happen:

Me traveling to the final four U.S. states in which I've never set foot.

A new president-elect and a corresponding surviving, independent, democratic republic.

More chances to make a hole-in-one (which means more time to play golf).

Widespread acceptance of plant-based meats on restaurant menus.

The Minnesota Twins to break their streak of 16 consecutive playoff game losses.

Consolidation in the video streaming service industry.

A Summer Olympics without scandal.

Greater federal regulation of Facebook, and less people using it to show me pictures of their food.

A new artist who brings back the sound of classic rock.

That I never order from a bar that tells me it has no Crown Royal Apple.

The Catholic Reformation

Looking back on the label-tags on this blog site, I'm surprised to see that 'religion' is one of the most used.  I didn't recall writing much about the topic, I suppose because it's been a few years since I've made more than a passing reference to it, and frankly, I haven't been a big fan of religion for a while.

That streak gets broken today, in order to write about the sexual abuse scandals that are (still) engulfing the Catholic Church.  We've known for many years now that some of the clergy have used their positions to abuse children.  It's widespread enough that I had to reflect on whether I, a product of Catholic schooling and a former mass server, may have been abused.  (I decided No.)

We've known for a lesser time, however, that despite promises to the contrary, the church has done virtually nothing to stop the perpetrators, nor to keep it from happening further.  And now we're finding out that nuns have also been part of the abused, and part of the abusers.

Of course, this is outrageous.  As I write this, the church hierarchy is meeting in Rome at the pope's request, trying to figure out how to stop the cover-ups, and somehow move forward.  No one knows what's going to happen, if anything, but it seems one thing that must happen isn't even on the table -- publicly identifying and prosecuting those known to have committed abuse in the past.

Of course, this is even MORE outrageous.  The old men who collectively run the Catholic Church, including the pope, continue to close ranks to protect their own.  They somehow seem to think this is a winning strategy, as they have for the past decade or two.  They continue to fiddle while Rome burns, semi-literally.

This inaction is immoral at the least, and criminal at the most.  Speaking for myself (but probably parroting others), Catholics aren't going to come back to the church unless the abusers and their protectors are arrested, placed in handcuffs, prosecuted, and jailed if proven guilty.

In the meantime, since the church is a benevolent (or maybe malevolent?) dictatorship and the leaders can't be voted out, I believe there's only one thing true Catholics can do to effect change:  Reduce or cut off the money supply.  In other words, limit alms giving to non-monetary or specified local needs.

The fact is, in today's modernized world, institutions fail without funding. Therefore, to remain viable, such institutions are motivated to reform.

Make no mistake, stopping the flow of money to dioceses and the Vatican will reform them, and fast.

Unfortunately for the needy, doing this will create collateral damage, no doubt.  But at this point, does anyone what to argue it's better to serve a vulnerable population with unchecked, potential pedophiles than it is to simply reduce services?

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  The Catholic Church needs swift and permanent reform, and it's going to take more prosecution and/or less money for it to happen.

License To Drive Wrecklessly

This month in Iowa, the media has reported on two events that confirm we have a two-class system. No, I'm not referring to the upper and lower economic classes.  I'm referring to government and non-government workers.

You see, it's come out that our governor-for-life Terry Branstad and his entourage don't have to worry about speeding when driving around Iowa.  His state trooper driver was clocked many weeks ago doing almost 90 miles per hour, and when another trooper tried to report it, he eventually lost his job.

Talk about hypocritical.  This the governor that's supposedly so concerned for Iowans' safety?  The governor who's putting all kinds of my tax money into a program to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation? (Aside: That ain't going to happen in farm country.)  Hey Terry, stop putting the people who employ and pay you at risk by being late and allowing your driver to go an unsafe speed!

To top this off, now it's been reported that many government vehicles are being exempted from photo-enforced traffic violations.  3,200 license plates have this special exemption (they are not in the usual state license plate database), presumably because they may have a need to be anonymous - for example a law enforcement purpose.

The thing is, law enforcement equates to only a handful of these exempted plates.  How is it that folks who drive vehicles for agencies such as the Iowa Lottery need this exemption?  And regardless, are they not as dangerous to other Iowans if they are speeding or running red-lights?  At the least, it's dumb law.  At the most, it's probably unconstitutional.

And so the government-versus-private sector two-class system in Iowa continues.  You'd think the governor would do something about this scandal - if he wasn't so busy setting a bad example.

The Nonprofit World

If you follow the news closely enough, you're bound to read almost weekly about a case of financial scandal and/or embezzlement. And if you're keeping track, it doesn't usually involve the Enrons of the world. While the national media gives notoriety only to the biggest, the reality is that 4 out of 5 times these scandals invlove nonprofit institutions.

According to a 2008 New York Times report by Stephanie Strom, fraud and embezzlement in the non-profit charitiable sector account for a loss of $40 billion a year. It's an eye-opening read at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/us/29fraud.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=strom+light&st=nyt
Before I get back to that article, let me say that I worked at a not for profit organization for 12 years. It was not a charitable organization, but it still relied on the kindness of strangers ('members') to provide the operational compensation and infrastructure. These 'members' were not individuals, but rather other organizations that banded together in the name of sharing services. Those other organizations, of course, got their funding from either end-use customers and/or taxpayers.

While this sounds like a great money-saving idea, in practice it doesn't work so well. Whether it's a nonprofit charittable entity, or a not for profit trade association, or (egads!) a governemntal entity, it lacks two things that matter the most to successful organizations: Competition and oversight. Without competition, no one has any external motivation to be above average, and eventually the organization will be run based on jumping over the lowest bar possible.

But to get back to the New York Times report mentioned earlier, it's oversight that's the real problem. Even though I was directly involved in more than one annual audit each year as a benefits/finance director, I could identify many instances where the wrong person in the right place could have misappropriated or embezzled funds. Even if that didn't happen, on many occasions I witnessed our executive director allow member dues to be used for questionable expenditures. The best example was always sending him or his favorite friends/employees to resorts for all-expense-paid conferences at which no one had any business attending. The board of directors either wasn't told or didn't care about this, after all, they got to go to some of those conferences, too. Take my word for it, this happens frequently at nonprofit/govermental institutions.

I was reminded of this again over the weekend when a financial scandal was revealed at the Iowa Association of School Boards. It's a classic case of lack of oversight in one of the most non-competitive worlds out there, public schooling. And it makes me ill, because it's another waste of my tax dollars. (Follow the trail....I pay property taxes, which go to my school district, which uses them to pays dues to the Iowa Association of School Boards, which misappropriates them.)

Anyone living in central Iowa will also remember the CIETC scandal of a few years ago, when a state jobs training agency was exposed to have misspent millions in Iowa taxpayer dollars. At least people went to jail for that, although I don't recall getting my tax money refunded.

Let's all wake up and smell the coffee. We don't need better oversight of nonprofits/associations/governments - we simply feed fewer of them and the noncompetitive, non-oversight world in which they exist.