WASTEBOOK 2013

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.12.17
Source:  coburn.senate.gov
My Comments:
Things our Congress seems to think are more important than our government's promise to those sailing, walking, and flying into harm's way to protect our country.
This also one of the reasons that our budget remains unbalanced.

• Suggestion:  No Presidential, Vice-Presidential, Cabinet Secretary, or Congressional pay, retirement pay, or benefits until the budget is balanced and not balanced on the backs of government workers, military retirees, or Social Security recipients. 

W.C.  

Progressives on the Take

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.12.17
Source:  Robert Scheer on Creators.com
My Comments:
More of that promised transparency.  Talk about having the foxes guard the hen house.

W.C.  

Are You Consenting to Surveillance Right Now?

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  201312.17. 
Source:  Jacob Sullum on Creators.com
My Comments:
This one is pretty scary.  If the Supreme Court backs the Obama administration we have lost a majority of our once sacrosanct right to privacy.  And this from an administration that claims it exists to protect our rights.

W.C.  

Harvard-trained attorney sentenced to 28 years for Navy charity scam, Alabama donors among those targeted

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.12.16
Source:  Leada Gore via AL.com
My Comments:
His sentence is way too short in my opinion.  If it was up to me they would throw away the key.

W.C.  

White House delayed enacting regulations to help get president re-elected, says Washington Post

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.12.16
Source:  Debbie M. Lord via AL.com
My Comments:
Looks to me like someone knew all those promises about keeping plans & doctors was really a whopper.  It makes one wonder how many others we have been told.

W.C.  

Poll: Obama's health care overhaul seen as eroding coverage

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.12.15
Source:  The Associated Press via AL.com
My Comments:
This poll seems to verify what many Conservatives and Libertarians predicted would happen but our Commander-in-Chief is still claiming that his program will reduce health care costs.

W.C.

comments Keep that oil pipeline away from our water supply

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.12.15
Source:  Charles Hyland on AL.com
My Comments:
It amazes me that the simple solution of changing the route of this pipeline to avoid gthe watershed for the largest supply of drinking water for a metropolitan area with over 400,000 people in it is fought so successfully by this pipeline company.  Too much of this crony politics seems to exist in a government that is supposed to look out for the good of its citizens.

W.C.

comments New book tells what happened to Obama campaign's 'Julia'

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.12.15
Source:  J. Pepper Bryars on AL.com
My Comments:
This new series of books looks to be interesting.  I'll have to read it and check its assumptions and conclusions against what I have observed in real life.

W.C.

Economic Reality and the Minimum Wage

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.. 
Source:  Steve Chapman on Creators.com
My Comments:
An extremely accurate assessment of the effects of an increase in the minimum wage.
I can remember the high school kids that were hired for summer work at the plant that I was working at in Georgia back in the mid 70s.  When the minimum wage went up to $3.35 in 1981 the number of those summer hires went way down.
Another place where this effect really showed up was at filling stations.  I can remember making just over $1/hr at a station I worked at one summer.  We had more summer workers on the lot than we had gas pumps.  When a customer drove up we pumped their gas, checked the fluids under their hood, cleaned their windows, and it asked vacuumed their floor mats and checked the air in their tires.  All this with a smile and Green Stamps.  As the minimum wage ramped up over the years the number of filling station workers ramped down until with today's minimum wage we have to do all of that for ourselves and those jobs are no more.
I can also remember the large number of migrant farm workers that came into town to help harvest the potato crop.  Then the government started to ramp up the wages that they had to be paid.  One of my uncles was the first local farmer to buy a machine that took 4 men to operate but it dug, picked up, and graded potatoes by size and dumped them onto wagons to be hauled back to the barn for bagging.  4 men + that machine replaced several hundred migrant workers and removed the need for housing them.
The net result in each case was fewer jobs.  This has been documented time and again but our professional politicians never seem to grasp this.  Too many of them, our current president included have never had to run a business and make sure that business could make its payroll.  It's obvious that too many of them don't understand operating within one's means and on a realistic budget.

W.C.

Big trolls vs. small trolls: The real battle behind patent reform

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.22
Source:  InfoWorld
My Comments:
Interesting article about how large technology firms want to be free to troll their patents and at the same time be protected from smaller patent troll firms.
Personally I have never understood software patents since I've never understood how one can patent a thought process.  When I write code I set down and analyze a problem and think of a way to calculate a solution to the problem.  For example many years in the past if I needed the average for three numbers I might have devised the formula,

A = ( v1 + v2 + v3) / 3

Since this was a new solution I apply for and get a software patent for:

 A = (v1 + v2 + v3 + ... + vN) / N

which is a general solution for solving an average.  Sometime later when another coder independently writes an equation to solve an average for three numbers,

vA = (s1 + s2 + s3) / 3

which is extremely similar to my general solution.  So I contact them and demand royalties for violating my patent.  Now I realize this example is extremely simple but that is the principal and it makes understanding software patent difficult for me.

W.C.

Did a Top Obamacare Tech Official Mislead Congress About the Decision Not to Implement Obamacare's Shopping Feature?

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.22
Source:  Reason
My Comments:
Interesting article on the accuracy of the statement by Deputy Assistant IT Director Chao that there was a technical reason for not allowing the "anonymous shopper" option on the Healthcare.gov site and that political reasons did not exist.

W.C.  

Democracy and the Filibuster

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.24
Source: Creators
My Comments:
Interesting article on the real history of the filibuster and the fact that this so called "nuclear. option" does not really have any constitutional issues nor does the filibuster date back to the time of the founders.
I do remember that it was not that long ago that the Republicans had a majority in the senate and threatened to adopt this same rule change when the Democrats were using the same tactics to block nominations coming to a vote.  The thing Sen Reid needs to remember is that when the tide swings the other way and the Republicans again a the majority they will already have this rule change already in place to block filibusters by the Democrats.
It a lot like the line-item-veto.  Both parties are willing to trust their president with this power but neither is willing to trust a president from the other party with this power.  Well what kept the nomination filibuster in place when the Republicans were in power was the fear of not being able to use it when they needed it.
I tend to think Sen Reid and his friends lost sight of this and will be insisting that the filibuster rule be reestablished when their party is again a lame duck majority.  The problem is the Republicans will then be able to restore this new rule rightly claiming the last minute rule change was the work of a lame duck majority.  If not changed back  by Reid and company the new Republican majority will not have any reason to change it to allow filibusters by their opponents.

W.C.  

You call it "incentives"; I call it cronyism (Scott Beaulier)

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.21
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
The examples cited are in Ms and Al but the same events can be found in every state.  I tend to agree with the author.  Stadiums for privately owned teams should be built by those teams since they are used to generate the enormous cash flows those teams enjoy.

W.C.  

Today’s Wealth Destruction Is Hidden by Government Debt

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.. 
Source:  Ludwig von Mises Institute
My Comments:
Interesting article about how current government policy is diluting the hard earned savings that those of us have put away for our retirement years.  We really need to look closely at candidates and their record before electing them to office.

W.C.  

Obamacare website not secure, vulnerable to hackers, technology experts tell Congressional committee

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.19
Source:  AL.cp,
My Comments:
Another unforeseen side effect for Obama Care, using the Healthcare.gov website could be hazardous to your economic health and identity security.

W.C.  

Who Knows Best

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.19
Source:  Creators.com
Sometimes I disagree with the lady but I always read her opinions as I respect her ability to analyze a situation and draw conclusions based on on the facts and her own value system.  She almost always exposes enough of the facts to allow me to apply my own value system and draw my own conclusions.  That last paragraph ending with "Worked last time." is in my opinion a fine prophesy of where we are heading politically.
National health programs, which started with the very conservative Otto von Bismark in the 1880s, may be a good idea if implemented in a slow and carefully designed method so as to insure that it does not destroy the national economy.  The problem is Obama Care was implemented in neither a slow or carefully designed method.  Like many medicines, too much, too soon with no consideration for side effects can be fatal to an economy.

W.C.  

Libertarians should take a seat at the Republican Party's table

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.17
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
An interesting and really logical idea in my opinion.  The Libertarians that are already in the Republican party (IE the Paul family) have had an effect on the party's positions and an increased Libertarian presence would tend to increase that effect, and maybe even become a major wing in the Republican party.  I for one would welcome this influence as I have tended to be a conservative who finds many things in common with Libertarian thought.

W.C.  

The Economics of ObamaCare

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.14
Source:  Ludwig von Mises Institute
My Comments:
Of particular interest to me is the secgtion titled, The “Unintended” But Entirely Predictable Effects, which explains how these "unintended" effects were entirely predictable, and But the President Said I Could Keep My Plan, which documents that administration officials were forecasting this outcome.  The Job Losses reiterates what anyone who has anyone with a modicum of understanding of economics expected to happen.
But the president continues to say these effects were not expected by him.  Either he is a total idiot or a bald faced teller of untruths.  Read the article and then you decide.

W.C.  

Monsanto’s Friends in High Places

http://mises.org/daily/6580/Monsantos-Friends-in-High-Places

Orig Post Date:  2013.11.09
Source:Ludwig von Mises Institute  
My Comments:
Interesting article on "politics as usual" and not just in the current administration.  How government policy is potentially shaped in ways that are not necessarily in the best interest of the American people.

W.C.  

Obama: 'I am sorry' some lost insurance under Obamacare after assurances they wouldn't

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.. 
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
Of special interest to me is the statement that they knew cancellation of plans would happen back in 2010 and they still said people could keep their plans.

W.C.  

The White House Fable Factory

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.. 
Source:  Creators.com
My Comments:
It's amazing how a little  truth alters perceptions.  Too bad the executive branch and its allies do not understand this.  Thank you Michelle for your service to the American people.

W.C.  

Mississippi woman beats up would-be purse snatcher at Mobile gas station

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.27
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
My heroine, no other comment needed.  I hope they throw the book at the perpetrator.

W.C.  

Blue Cross notifies 87,000 Alabama policy holders that plans don't meet Obamacare standards, won't be available next year

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.29
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
When companies lie in their ads they are charged and fined by the government and often forced to take back their products.  When politicians lie in their campaign ads it's just politics as usual.

1.  Under Obamacare we will be able to keep our existing plans if we are happy with them.  This article gives witness to the falsehood of this statement.
2. Obamacare will cause medical costs and premiums to go down.  Based on reports on new and existing policy costs this is another lie.
3.  Obamacare will be good for the economy.  Based on the two previous statements one has to worry about the accuracy of this statement.

Someone's pants are definitely on fire and we the people have been duped.

More Reading:

• Move Over, Obamacare. Here Comes Obamaschool
• Rep. Martha Roby co-sponsors legislation allowing people to keep their current healthcare coverage under Obamacare
  W.C.  

Ben Stein on the delicious ironies of Obamacare

Link To Article`

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.19
Source:  ALcom
My Comments:
This is a situation that is hard to understand.

W.C.  

Senate funding measure includes $174,000 death gratuity to widow of multi-millionaire Democrat Senator Frank Lautenberg

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.16
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
This one is disturbing.  Congress takes care of itself ahead of the country is the perception here.

W.C.  

It Depends on What the Meaning of 'Settled Law' Is

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.16
Source:  townhall.com
My Comments:
Interesting commentary and fairly convincing.

Obamacare should have to be voted on again by Congress, this time as a tax (Your view)

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.16
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
Interesting point and maybe even a valid one.  The Supreme Court ruled ObamaCare was Constitutional since it is a tax.  If ObamaCare is a tax then it was not legally passed since taxes and spending bills must originate in the House.  Looks like another potential court challenge to me.

W.C.  

Little Caesars rolling pizza kitchen to feed 325 homeless, hungry residents in Huntsville on Sunday

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.12
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
This is another reason I am glad I am a Little Caesar's customer.  This is an excellent example of Corporate America doing good.

W.C.  

Let's hope that Obamacare will cover shrinks (Opinion from John Robb)

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.11
Source:  AL.com
My Comments:
Pretty good opinion piece which tells some economic truths.

W.C.  

Americans can't count, and not so good at tech -- report

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.19
Source:  http://news.cnet.com
My Comments:
I'm finding this article disturbing.  I worked for years in an industrial training center and we depended on our entry level students having reasonable math skills and the ability to solve problems.  I can't think of a job that I had where I did not use these skills.  If Americans are losing these skills that are absolutely necessary in our modern world we are in big trouble.

W.C.  

The Sadistic Strategy of Obama & Reid

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.03
Source:  Creators.com
My Comments:
 Pat tells it like it is.

W.C.  

Seedco: Obamacare's Fraud-Stained Navigators

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.01. 
Source:  Creators.com
My Comments:
Interesting.

W.C.  

The Beltway Lies of the Obamacare War

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.01 
Source:  Creators.com
My Comments:
Another home run for Pat and based on the previous post containing reader responses to a newspaper it seems quite a few agree with him as to who is at fault.

W.C.  

Shutdown, Obamacare in in the crosshairs (Press-Register Sound Off)

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.10.01 
Source:  Mobile Press-Register via Al.com
My Comments:
Some interesting  comments on Obama Care and the Shutdown.
I do agree with the writer who points out that the Republicans have bent over backwards trying to negotiate a deal.  It is the President, Senator Reid, and their supporters who are causing this Shutdown and I believe the majority of the American voters know this.
I also agree that the Congress, the Executive, and their staffs should have their medical benefits withdrawn, especially those who get benefits for life for less that 10 or more years of service.

Intellectual Property is Not True Property

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.09.19
Source:  Ludwig von Mises Institute
My Comments:
A very interesting article on why a too broad interpretation of what constitutes intellectual property is not in the best interest of our society.
I subscribe to the Mises Daily via email and find many of them to be interesting and thought provoking.

W.C.  

Four privacy settings you should enable in iOS 7 immediately

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.09.19
Source:  ZDNet
My Comments:
Disclaimer:  I don't use an IOS device.
But I do believe this article contains vary good advice for anyone who does and either has or will install iOS7.

W.C.  

Deadly Combination: Political Correctness in a Gun-Free Zone

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.09.18
Source:  creators.com
My Comments:
One of the best analysis of the problems political correctness introduces to security concerns that I've seen.  Strangely the politically correct crowd claims that an equal for all society is their goal but in practice their pet special interest groups get special treatment which in the cases cited have resulted in the death of innocents.

W.C.  

How to ruin Labor Day

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.08-4. 
Source:  Al.com
My Comments:
Sort of reminds me of what happened at gas stations.
When I was a teenager I worked one summer at a gas station for at the rate of $10/day for an 8 hour shift.  When the customer's car pulled up to the service island one guy pumped the gas, another one checked under the hood and if asked the tire pressure, and another one cleaned the windows and if asked would vacuum the floorboards.  The station had 6 islands and each crew of 3 covered 3 islands.  We had one guy in the back just doing oil changes, another fixing flats and changing tires, and another washing cars. The station also had 2 full time mechanics in addition to the station owner who was the head mechanic.  This was at the busiest station in a major southern city and the owner was making a good living while providing all these summer jobs.
Then along came several minimum wage hikes and look at the typical station in the same area today.  The customer pumps their own gas, wipes their own windows if the station has a squeegee out there (about half of them), checks their own oil, and if they want their floorboards vacuumed there may be a coin operated vacuum for the customer to use.  And many pumps take credit cards thus making any interaction with station staff (these days 1 cashier whose job is in jeopardy) unnecessary.

W.C.  

No Syrian War to Save Obama's Face!

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.09.04
Source:  creators.com
My Comments:
Another very good evaluation of why we don't need to attack Syria.

W.C.  

Obama's Case Against Attacking Syria: What He Said About the Requirements for War Before He Was President

Link To Article
Orig Post Date:  2013.09.03
Source:  creators.com
My Comments:
A very interesting Op/Ed on what Senator Obama said about invading Iraq.  I agreed with the Senator back then and still believe he was right on this subject then.  Too bad that he seems to have changed his mind now that he is the president.

W.C.  

It's Not Just One Judge

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.08.29
Source:  http://www.creators.com
My Comments:
This judge has been reelected several time with no opposition.  Next election someone needs to step up and run against him.  He doesn't deserve to be in office in both the article author's opinion or mine.

Several years ago I read about a proposed method of appointing judges and confirming their remaining in office that seemed to make sense to me.

On a judicial vacancy:

1)  Two or three candidates nominated in order of preference to the executive by a commission consisting of 8 members:

• 1 member appointed by the executive who shall chair and only vote to break ties.
• 1 member appointed by the majority leader of the senate and confirmed by that body
• 1 member appointed by the majority leader of the house and confirmed by that body.
• 1 member appointed by jurisdiction bar association
• 1 member appointed by the senior prosecution official (atty gen, DA, etc) in the jurisdiction.
• 3 members elected by the jurisdiction in non-partisan elections.

• Judicial candidates must be at least 25 years old and be 6 years less than the jurisdiction's mandatory retirement age and have a license to practice law.  The candidate must have resided in the jurisdiction for 3 years.

2)  The executive has 30 days to select a candidate from the submitted list and submit their name to the senate for approval, if the executive does not act the first name list is submitted to the senate for selection after 30 days.

3)  The senate has 30 days to accept the nominee.  Failure to act is the same as acceptance.

4)  After appointment the Judge must be reconfirmed by the electorate in their jurisdiction every six years beginning at the first general election that falls at least three years after their first appointment.

5)  Once appointed judges are not to participate in partisan politics (no contributions, endorsements, etc.)

6)  Seated judges would be subject to removal by either

• reaching the jurisdiction's mandatory retirement age.
• failure to be reconfirmed by the electorate which will make the judge ineligible for reappointment for a period of 4 years.  This has no effect on the individuals license to practice law.
• automatic impeachment on indictment for a criminal offense.  Conviction makes the individual ineligible to ever be reappointed.  License to practice law would be revoked in this case.
• On impeachment by the senate after indictment by the Judicial Supervisory Commission.  This is intended to handle the case of a judge who has displayed poor health (physical or mental) which prevents them from performing their duties.  A judge with health problems that could lead to impeachment can avoid this by voluntarily stepping down thus avoiding impeachment.  The involuntary impeachment makes the individual ineligible to ever be reappointed but has no effect on the individuals license to practice law.

 This system attempts to minimize partisan politics in the appointment process and makes the judges still answer directly to the people since they must reconfirm the appointment every six years.

W.C.  

Will Boehner Stop Our Rogue President?

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2013.08.29
Source:  http://www.creators.com
My Comments:
     This is one of Pat's better Op/Ed pieces and I highly recommend reading it.

W.C.  

The Truth About SwedenCare

Link To Article

Orig Post Date:  2010.. 
Source:  http://mises.org/
My Comments:
    This is a very interesting, thought provoking, and a bit scarey article about what life is like under SweedenCare which is touted as socialized medicine at its best.  The author actually lived under this system and has knowledge of how economies word.  Klaus Bernpaintner is a Senior Fellow of Ludwig von Mises Institute Sweden.
    In my opinion this is a good picture of where ObamaCare will take us.

W.C.