No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for January, 2010

January 12, 2010

Trust Us!

by @ 5:20. Filed under Politics - National, Transportation.

That seems to be what the TSA is asking us to do as they look to deploy the full body scanners.

This article at Cnn.com outlines a battle between a civil rights group and the TSA over the capabilities and the implications of those capabilities, that the scanners have.  The civil rights group raises concerns about the storage and security of body images that are scanned.  The TSA claims that the scanners have no ability to store or transmit the images.  “Not so,” says the civil rights group who points to the design specs of the machines which required an ability to store and transmit an image.  “Relax,” says the TSA.  The store and transmit functionality is only there for testing of the machine.  The TSA further claims that no one at the airport can put the machine into “test mode” and that the machine itself has no storage capability.

You’re kidding right?  Why is it that bureaucrats continually think that the public is so naive and gullible?

First, technologies have advanced to the point where the scanning or processing device has no storage capacity on it.  Even so, is it really so difficult to have storage devices somewhere else on the network?  What?  they claim no network?  Well, that doesn’t pass the smell test.  The TSA tells us repeatedly that the people who review the scans are sitting somewhere completely removed from the scanners themselves.  Is the TSA suggesting that the images are being sent to these people via carrier pigeon? Or, do they want us to believe that the scanner and the viewing device are hardwired across the airport?  Are there cables running across the runways to some building on the other side of the airport?

Second, does anyone really believe that the scanned images are not being stored?  No images are being stored for training purposes?  No images are being stored to review in the event of a later identified security breach? The TSA is so confident about its legal position that it will save no images to combat the ACLU lawsuits?  Like hell.

Listen, I’m not saying not to do the body scanners.  Personally if I thought they would make us safer, I, like most men, don’t care.  Hell, I’ll walk through naked and not bat an eye although there may be a few TSA folks who would scream like someone just shot them in the retina with a laser!  On the other hand, most women I know react in abject horror to the notion of their under things (and I don’t mean clothing) being seen on a scanner. 

I’ve chronicled my own travails with the TSA.  You’ll have to take my word for it (unless you were at the Christmas DR where you could have personally verified it), I’m no threat to anyone.  But, under the guise of “doing something,” the TSA has made it significantly more inconvenient for me to fly.  I’ll guarantee you that if I got on board a plane, told everyone I was on the TSA list and asked if they felt safer as a result, not a person (assuming Mrs. Shoe wasn’t on the plane) would raise their hand to say, “Yes! 

The fact is that until the TSA is willing to start doing some level of profiling, be it identity or behavior, these scanners will not make us any safer than the scanners and processes being used today.  The only thing these scanners would do is allow the Obama administration to point to them and claim that they had done something in response to the Christmas bombing attempt. In short, this looks like yet one more “solution” brought to you by the people in housed in the Alfred E. Neuman federal building. Their only request is to trust them!

January 11, 2010

Socialism Is So Passe!

by @ 5:14. Filed under Economy, Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius were out touting a new study on the benefits of placebocare this weekend.  The study purports to show that industries with higher health care costs grow at a slower rate than those with lower health care costs. In an effort to somehow draw an “OMG” from the reader, the Center for American Progress cites:

Over the period 1987 to 2005, for example, the workforce in the amusement
and recreation industry—where about 29 percent of workers have insurance through
their jobs—grew by about 2.1 percent. In contrast, in the hotel industry—where 54 percent
of workers have employer-provided insurance—the workforce grew about 1 percent.
And in the paper industry—where about 85 percent of workers have insurance—the
workforce shrank by 1.9 percent.

While this is not the point of this post, I can’t pass by without saying “no shit Sherlock!”  The study claims to normalize the results for a whole host of factors but isn’t this one of those times where all the economic mumbo jumbo isn’t really necessary?  Isn’t this handled with a good ol’ fashioned smell test?

Is it really so hard to understand that between 1985 and 2005, the amount of discretionary income increased significantly thus increasing money spent for “entertainment” and “hospitality?”  Is it also so hard to figure out that those two industries are fairly labor intensive and that there doesn’t appear to be any immediate automation solutions for the ride operators at Disneyworld or housemaids at your favorite Motel 6.  On the other hand, automation in nearly every manufacturing process has been replacing the need for DNA based humans at a rate multiple times faster than evolution can generate a human who never tires or needs sustenance.  Is it really so hard to figure this stuff out?

Anyway, back to the point of the post.

Obama and Sebelius are touting that the Senate version of placebocare will dramatically slow the rise in costs for healthcare.  They further claim that while lowering costs, it will dramatically increase “benefits” for all us schlubs.  Their specific list of benefits are:

_People with illnesses or medical conditions will be able to buy affordable health insurance.

_Children with such conditions will no longer be denied coverage.

_Small-business owners who can’t afford to cover their employees will get tax credits to help them do so.

_Insurance companies will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers and will be prohibited from dropping coverage when someone becomes ill.

“In short, once I sign health insurance reform into law, doctors and patients will have more control over their health care decisions and insurance company bureaucrats will have less,” Obama said.

I’m not the PHD that the earlier study researchers are but I have a couple of questions:

  1. How are you going to slow the growth of “costs” when you will need to add 100s, 1,000s, probably 10,000s of new federal employees to manage the monstrosity that will be placebocare?
  2. How are you going to slow the gowth of “costs” when you will be providing below cost health care for:  People with illnesses or medical conditions who are not currently able to buy affordable health insurance and Children with such conditions who will no longer be denied coverage, Small-business owners who can’t afford to cover their employees tax and finally Insurance companies will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers and will be prohibited from dropping coverage when someone becomes ill?

Folks, while there has been plenty of happy talk about “hope and change” for reducing the cost structure of health care, I have not yet seen even one concrete example of where placebocare will enable that to happen.  I have seen numerous examples, as the ones I just listed, where placebocare will force insurance companies to take on dramatic increases in costs.  Somehow, the folks in Washington believe that they can force companies to accept new costs and prevent them from passing those costs on to their customers.

There has been considerable discussion about whether Barack Obama’s policies are leading us towards Socialism.  Big government, all controlling, massive public programs all sound like the economies we see in Europe.  In fact, I believe Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would like us to look like Europe.  However, we’re not headed towards Europe of the 21st century, they are past that.  we’re headed directly towards Europe, specifically, Italy of the first half of the 20th century.  If you take a look at what is happening to industry after industry under the Obama administration, you will find something that looks surprisingly like Mussolini’s approach in Italy.  Folks, with what has happened to banking, car production, healthcare and soon energy under the EPA’s threats, we have zoomed right past Socialism and are implementing on a full scale the economics of Fascism.

Damn, Obama Was Right!

by @ 5:13. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

Throughout the campaign and regularly since his inauguration, now President Obama, has been telling us how “Green Jobs” will lead the way to prosperity in our economy.  High pay, sustainability, friendly to the earth have all been arguments he’s made for the creation of “green jobs”.  It appears he got at least a part of his promise right.

On Friday (how come they always announce these things when they think people are paying the least attention?) the White house announced $2.3 billion in tax credits to create ‘green jobs.”   The plan is to create 17,000 green jobs.  If they’re successful, those jobs will be worth over $135K each!

The median family income is around $50K/year.  at $135K per job, the families that get this federal handout will earn better than 2X the average national income! 

While I certainly favor tax credits as a means of market stimulation over direct government purchases, I don’t like credits that apply to specific industries or jobs.  That folks, is thinking you know better than the market, where the money works best.  As a second thought, at this level, one that is certainly not sustainable and highly subsidized, what will happen to these jobs in the second year when the tax credits cease?  Who thinks these jobs are “sustainable” without lots of additional government help to sustain them?

I worked for a guy once who operated in a way that if he believed it to be true, it was.  It didn’t matter what laws of physics or economics his “beliefs’ violated.  He was not a well liked person and eventually failed as a result of his caustic, “nobody is as smart as me,” attitude.  The only difference between he and President Obama is that President Obama can cause money to be generated to create the illusion that he’s right.  In the end, he will be just as big a failure!

January 8, 2010

Shoebox held hostage by the TSA – Day 5 update

by @ 12:11. Filed under Miscellaneous.

As I continue my wandering through the TSA labyrinth, I have learned a few things.

First, when you file your “redress” you are given a “redress control number.” From what I’m reading, it appears that this number, if all things go well, will become my magical key to regain my flying rights. It appears that if they agree I am who I am, I won’t actually come off of their ineffectual list. Rather, I will provide my RCN to airlines when I book a ticket. They will then cross reference this RCN with the “this guys is a bastard” list and because I have a RCN, they’ll know I’m not a bastard.

In short, it looks like I have hope. The problem is that the only hope I have is placing my confidence in a federal bureaucracy!

How the healthy banks were strongarmed into TARP

by @ 7:58. Tags:
Filed under Business, Politics - National.

(H/T – The Right Scoop via Ed Morrissey)

BB&T CEO John Allison spoke with Fox Business Channel’s John Stossel about how BB&T was forced to take TARP money despite being sufficiently capitalized…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCEdy_yHkQE[/youtube]

To wit:

– The Bush-era regulators “kindly informed” BB&T that the capitalization rules would be changed for banks who did not succumb to TARP to levels that even BB&T could not meet.
– Fed chair Ben Bernanke, Time’s “Person of the Year” for being instrumental in the federalization of the economy, didn’t want we the people to realize which banks were in trouble.

Revisions/extensions (8:32 am 1/8/2010) – Had the hat-tip links reversed. OOPS!

Shoebox held hostage by the TSA – Day 5

by @ 7:22. Filed under Miscellaneous.

This video from ReasonTV (H/T – Eric Odom) explains everything you need to know about Shoebox’s situation…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaHqD5OAYi0[/youtube]

January 7, 2010

Roll bloat – yet another Rule 2 addition

by @ 19:45. Filed under The Blog.

Since The Anchoress was kind enough to link to yesterday’s Social Security post, and since she has the gift of prolific prose, it’s definitely time to put The Anchoress on that gigantic roll to your right.

New Years’ Resolution from Rebecca Kleefisch to state government

by @ 17:39. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Given that the GAAP deficit for FY2009 was larger than the amount of Porkulus used to try to plug the sucking chest wound black hole that is the Wisconsin state budget, Rebecca Kleefisch has a short message for the politicians in Madison, both now and those that will arrive next year…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3pcMvb0SRk[/youtube]

Somebody has to be responsible around here.

Well Duh!

by @ 11:42. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I’m scanning the various websites that I regularly peruse and am beginning to wonder if I have had some kind of a Rip VanWinkle episode and have just awoken on April 1st.  The other option might be that the MSM has finally collapsed and The Onion is now writing all “news” stories.  Can any of this stuff be real?

Nelson: We should have waited on health care:Senator Nelson is in full CYA mode as he sees the public outcry increase over his support of placebocare.  Following the selling of his vote, he tried the “no, I didn’t get anything special.  Everyone will get the Medicaid support,” approach.  That didn’t stem the pitch forks and torches streaming towards his office.  Now, he’s trying a twist on the Obama approach claiming “this isn’t the health care bill you thought you knew!”  Along with, “I wish we could have focused on other things!”

Um, Senator Nelson, your vote is what caused the legislation to move forward.  If you had really thought that other things should have been focused on, the withholding of your vote could have caused that to happen.

Or, how about this:

National security adviser: Airline bomber report to ‘shock’– A simple response, “Ah, NO!”  The only thing “shocking” about what we will read in this report is that several bus loads of inept, uber politically correct politicos still have their jobs and haven’t been shipped to some Arctic outpost!  The only person in America who will be “shocked” by this report will be Janet Napolitano whose eyes will be opened for the first time, to the fact that they system DID NOT work as planned!

And finally:

TSA Agent Arrested at LAX – What’s not in the headline is that he was arrested after acting erratically and shouting:

“I am god, I’m in charge.” 

The article goes on to imply that his shouts were drug induced.  Drug induced?  Like hell!  If every TSA employee who had a god complex was arrested and fired we’d have a far smaller TSA with absolutely no decrease in air safety!

Shoebox held hostage by the TSA – Day 4

by @ 10:35. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I got a copy of my passport, a copy of my driver’s license and a signed copy of some useless form bundled up and sent to the TSA today. I asked Mrs. Shoe whether on the envelope, I should address it to:

Moron – TSA

I thought it would get my envelope to the top of the stack. She didn’t think being at the top of the stack would be a good thing.

When they find their inner Denny Green and realize that “I was who I thought I was,” or something like that, will they actually send me a note and say “just kidding!” Or, will I just magically be able to use the kiosks again just like I magically ceased to have the ability to use the kiosks on Monday?

ChickenS*!?

by @ 5:17. Filed under Elections, Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

I hate to say “I told you so!” But, “I told you so!”

A week ago I told youabout the debate that Birdman and I were having about placebocare.  In a nutshell, Birdman believes that eventually, self preservation will rule and some portion of the Democrats will jump from the placebocare express.  My argument has been that this train was not going to stop.  Democrats who got in the way would be rolled over and those who voted for it and got nailed by their constituents, would have cushy administration jobs promised to them.

I told you so!

You’ve heard the news, Byron Dorgan of ND and Chris Dodds of CT have both announced they will not run next year.  The reasons for not running are obvious.

For Dorgan, he represents one of the most conservative states in the nation.  He has ignored polling that made Ben Nelson look wise in his placebocare vote and flipped his constituents the bird by voting for placebocare.  Numerous polls are out showing that if the current Republican Governor of ND ran, Dorgan would pine for the level of support that Walter Mondale received in his race against Ronald Reagan.

Dodd’s the same but different.  Placebocare isn’t his undoing, the financial debacle of last year was.  Turns out Chris was getting some special favors from the folks he was supposed to be policing.  Even the normally reliable Democrat voters of Connecticut couldn’t stand the level of corruption and hypocrisy that Dodd portrayed.  All recent polls showed Dodd losing to everyone and anyone in a Senate rebid.

There have been several Democrat Representatives that have announced their retirement.  However, none of those have the visibility of either of the two Senators who recently announced their retirement.  Rumors and most prognostication, say that we are no where near the end of the announced retirements.  I expect we may well hear similar announcements from Blanche Lincoln, Arlen Specter and (get ready, here’s my big bet) Harry Reid.

The latest generic Congressional ballot poll by Rasmussen shows the Republicans now leading by 9 points.  The most notable part of this astounding lead is that it is not so much that the Republicans are getting more support as it is that the Democrats are losing support on each and every front.

As they do every time they get power, the Democrats have over reached and tried to foist their vision of remaking the country not in the mold of Europe, but Eastern, Soviet Bloc, Europe, upon all of us.  Fortunately, they are being resisted on all sides and will surely lose their stranglehold on both Houses this year if not their leadership altogether.

While I’m obviously happy about what is happening to the Democrats I am disappointed by one thing.  The people who think Marxism is such a great thing that they are voting to have it implemented against the people’s will should have to stand for another election and get the final verdict of their constituents.  If they did, I have no doubt they would hear, loudly, clearly and in a snarky British accent:

“YOU are the weakest link.  Goodbye!”

January 6, 2010

Social Security crater – November 2009 edition

by @ 23:38. Filed under Social Security crater.

The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Chief Actuary finally got around to posting the detailed November numbers for Social Security, and things have only gotten worse:

  • The combined OASDI (Old-Age Survivors and Disability Insurance) “Trust” Funds posted a $5.858 billion primary (cash, non-“interest”) deficit for November, the worst monthly performance since monthly records began in 1987.
  • The 12-month OASDI primary surplus was only $9.598 billion, also the worst 12-month performance since monthly records began.

Since there won’t be an cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits, the combined funds may yet avoid a 12-month primary deficit in 2010 by the skin of its teeth. However, that is dependent on an improvement in the wage situation, and specifically an improvement in the job prospects of those between 62 and 67 years old. Somehow I don’t see the trend of older and higher-earning workers losing their jobs disproportionately reversing.

If you think that’s bad, the DI (Disability Insurance) portion is even worse. I had not taken a very close look at it before, but perhaps I should have because it has entered the last stage of a fund collapse – cannibalization of principal:

  • For the 50th straight month, going back to October 2005, the DI Fund ran a 12-month primary deficit, this time hitting a new high of $21.399 billion.
  • Outside of the “double tax-collection” months of January and April (when it recieves both the quarterly estimated income tax payments, also received in June and September and the quarterly tax on benefits, also received in July and October), the last time the DI Fund posted a monthly primary surplus was September 2007 (which itself is a “tax-collection” month, specifically of the quarterly estimated income tax payments). One would have to go back to March 2007 to find a month outside of a “tax-collection” month with a monthly primary surplus, and all the way back to May 2003 to find a month outside both the “tax-collection” and “tax-season” months (January through April) with a monthly primary surplus.
  • A similar monthly situation with the overall DI Fund exists – outside of the “double tax-collection” months and the semi-annual interest-crediting months (June and December), the last time it posted an overall monthly surplus was September 2007; and outside of tax or interest “enhancements”, the last overall monthly surplus was posted in July 2003.
  • All that has led to the DI Fund entering a 12-month overall (which includes the effects of “interest”) deficit beginning in February 2009, which means it is redeeming more US Treasuries than it is buying. That 12-month overall deficit, which has existed since then, has now hit $10.525 billion, the first time it topped the $10 billion mark.

Allow me to repeat that – the DI Fund is now in the final stage of a fund collapse – the exhaustion of principal. In this case, that principal, as of November 30, 2009, was $202.265 billion.

If one thinks that December, and specifically the semi-annual interest crediting that happened last month, is going to be the saving grace, the OACT has bad news. While the detailed December numbers are not available, the investment holdings for December are. I cannot explain why the investment total in that time series is consistently somewhat higher than the time series of trust fund operations linked to above, but it is close enough for government work.

The first item of note is the DI Fund investment balance. It dipped from $202.531 billion in November to $199.760 billion in December. That would be the first overall monthly deficit in December for the DI Fund since 1993, just before a change in the percentage of the payroll/self-employment tax designed to prop up the DI Fund took effect.

The second item is the OASDI Fund investment balance. It rose only $24.153 billion between November and December to $2,518.541 billion, less than half of last year’s November-to-December increase of $52.37 billion and the lowest November-to-December increase since 1997, when the OASDI Fund investment balance was $655.449 billion. I hope for this country’s sake that it’s just an anomaly. If not, then it is almost certain that the combined funds have gone into a 12-month cash deficit mode because the “interest”, which is credited on both the redeemed securities and the ending balance, should be somewhere north of $58 billion.

Revisions/extensions (7:45 am 1/7/2010) – Added the significance of the very-disappointing December OASDI Fund increase.

R&E part 2 (3:04 pm 1/7/2010) – Thanks again for the link, Ed. For those of you not coming here from Hot Air, Ed reposted charts of the last 23 months’ performance of both the OASDI and the DI “Trust” Funds.

For those of you coming here from there, stick around and enjoy the hospitality.

R&E part 3 (9:16 pm 1/15/2010) – I found at least a partial explanation of the December “anomaly” courtesy the Treasury Department – the January 3, 2010 Social Security payments were “acclerated” into 2009. A longer explanation is over here.

2010 and the Republicans

by @ 16:07. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Many conservatives (including me) are encouraged by what appears to be the public’s rejection of the leftism that is being foisted upon us by a left wing president and far left leadership in the House and Senate.  Democrats should be in trouble in November.  And it is easy to infer from this that Republicans are in good shape.  Not necessarily.

The Hill reports that the Republican National Committee (RNC) has little cash on hand, and is very concerned about finances as we head into the 2010 election cycle.  The article raises a number of factors that contribute, most of which make sense and seem legitimate.  But one would think money would be flowing into GOP coffers like never before, given the prospect of a very successful mid-term election.

I think this is, in part, the result of the discontent among the GOP base.  Never before have I lived through a time when grass roots Republicans have had less faith in Republican leadership. The sentiment seems to be that in November we will exchange a bunch of irresponsible, excessive spending, corrupt Democrats for a bunch of irresponsible, excessive spending, corrupt Republicans.  That doesn’t exactly make one excited to start writing big checks to the RNC.

My theory is supported by the fact that while the RNC is struggling, there still seems to be money out there for individual Republican candidates.  In other words, grass roots Republicans will give money to people who will likely uphold the Party values and beliefs. The challenge for the GOP going forward is to get conservatives back on board.  That will not be easy, given the history of ideological betrayal.

And what happens if the GOP doesn’t take this concern seriously?  Well, all you need to know is that in a recent poll, Americans were more likely to be favorably predisposed to people holding “Tea Party” values than Democratic or Republican values.  Maybe that is why RNC Chairman Michael Steele recently came out and stated that Republicans have failed by wavering from core conservative principles.  We’ve heard that all before Mr. Steele.  Sounds good in an election year.  But you better find a few Republican elected officials who walk the talk.

Roll bloat – WTF took me so long edition

by @ 15:47. Filed under The Blog.

And that’s the blog name of Chris from Racine – Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. I just hope she doesn’t hit me at the next Drinking Right for taking 2 months to notice she headed out on her own.

Shoebox held hostage – Day 3

by @ 11:09. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I’ll start chronicling my adventure through the TSA.

Monday, after I was notified that I was a suspected terrorist, I asked the gate agent, “Is this going to happen again?” I was told nonchalantly as if this happens all the time, “Yes, probably.” She took a luggage tag and wrote on the back, “TSA.Gov,” and said, “It takes a while to get off but start here.”

I went off, found my gate and got connected to the Internet. I looked up TSA.gov and found a site with this title: The Traveler Redress Inquiry Program. Apparently, after the TSA unilaterally puts you on their list, you have the ability to plead with them to take you off. You do this by sending them copies of your passport, drivers license and other government issued IDs. Hey, don’t you think they may already have access to all of those? Don’t you think they could have figured out I am who I am BEFORE they put me on their damn list?

If I was a terrorist, I would be called “alleged” even though I had been witnessed as actually having done something. If I was a terrorist, I would be innocent until proven guilty! However, because my name somehow is an alliteration of someone elses, I’m guilty until I can prove my innocence!

Is it just me or does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?

January 5, 2010

Pinning them back up – the Confidential version

by @ 20:55. Filed under The Blog.

Pin-up model and crack shot Phelony Jones has reopened The Confidentials. Trust me; it is a good read.

Free Shoebox!

by @ 19:45. Filed under Miscellaneous.

In case you missed the travails of Shoebox’s attempts to travel the last couple days, he somehow got slapped onto one of TSA’s watch lists. Until they straighten things out, there will be a new counter on the site.

Hey hey, ho ho. Shoebox should be free to go.

$2.7 billion GAAP deficit is just the tip of the iceberg

by @ 17:38. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Some people have been all over the revelation from Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance president Todd Berry that Wisconsin ended the 2009 fiscal year with a $2,712 million general fund GAAP deficit, a brand-new record and an increase of $209 million over FY2008. A quick, untrained look at the actual report from the state controller is actually scarier:

  • The “unreserved fund balance” deficit in the general fund was $3,121 million, which was $269 million higher than it was in 2008. From page 28 of the report, “A deficit unreserved fund balance represents the excess of the liabilities of the General Fund over its assets and reserved fund balance accounts. Reservations of fund balances of governmental funds represent amounts that are not available for appropriation. Examples of fund balance reservations reported in the General Fund include reserves for encumbrances, inventories, prepaid items, and the Budget Stabilization Fund.”
  • The net asset situation is also not good (see page 22). While the total net assets for the state was $11,831 million, it represents a drop of $970 million (or 7.6%) from FY2008.
  • Continuing on that theme, the largest portion of the net assets, capital assets, was a net $17,142 million. You may have noticed that it is significantly higher than the net assets. Allow me to explain this.
  • Once the $17,142 million in capital and $3,600 million in “restricted” (by either the state Constitution or statute, and not available for day-to-day operations) assets are subtracted from the net assets, the “unrestricted” net assets, which the report notes would be available for day-to-day operations if it were a surplus, ran a deficit of $8,910 million, an increase of $817 million from last year. Again quoting the report, “Therefore, based on this measurement, no funds were available for discretionary purposes.”
  • Because for accounting purposes, long-term obligations are recognized at the time they are incurred, two items weigh heavily on that negative “unrestricted” net asset number – the $2,712 million general-fund deficit, and $16,328 million in long-term obligations. The latter number, which includes $975 million that is due by June 30, 2010, is a $17 million increase, due entirely to a $462 million (5%) increase in “governmental activity” long-term debt.

And then they came for Michael Yon

by @ 13:42. Filed under Law and order, Politics - National.

If Shoebox was wondering who the TSA would flag after him, he need not wonder any longer. Ed Morrissey reports that Homeland Security agents detained Michael Yon as he returned to the US from Afghanistan via Hong Kong because he refused to tell them how much money he makes. Quoting from Yon’s Facebook page:

Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eventually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from the border bullies.

When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect can that can be expected from our border bullies.

I would say that it’s un-fucking-believable, but given that the immigration/customs/security apparatus is interested in everything BUT stopping illegal aliens and terrorists, it’s entirely fucking believable.

Revisions/extensions (8:45 pm 1/5/2010) – There’s more from Michael Yon from Big Government, including the fact that it was TSA goons that accosted him.

Is it Just Me? Update

by @ 10:55. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I just tried getting my boarding pass for my flight back to MSP.

Guess what!?

I have to go see the gate agent again!

Help! 

Getting through airports is bad enough.  When you’re a consultant who travels for a living on the damn aluminum birds, this is more than a mere inconvenience.  Standing in line for extra HOURS for someone to look at my drivers license and call a disembodied voice somewhere in the ether, to get an “approval code” to issue me a boarding pass is absolute nonsense!

Write your Congressperson!  Have them tell the TSA to release Shoebox!

Hey, hey, ho, ho, Shoebox should be free to go!

Hey, hey, ho, ho, Shoebox should be free to go!

Hey, hey, ho, ho, Shoebox should be free to go!

Hey, hey, ho, ho, Shoebox should be free to go!

Transparency Anyone?

by @ 9:45. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Here is an excerpt from a speech given by Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama in September 2008.  “I’ll make our government open and transparent so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people’s business. As Justice Louis Brandeis once said, sunlight is the greatest disinfectant. As President, I will make it impossible for Congressmen or lobbyists to slip pork-barrel projects or corporate welfare into laws when no one is looking because when I am president, meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public. No more secrecy.”

Today C-SPAN has asked Congress to open the health care reform negotiations taking place “behind closed doors” to the media.  It will be interesting to see the Administration reaction to this.  You will notice President Obama’s comments do not just address actions of the Administration.  He specifically refers to “. . . meetings where laws are written. . .”

In my three decades of following politics I do not remember a time when there were more shenanigans pulled by members of Congress in order to push through legislation that is resoundingly unpopular with the “folks.”  I think the least the President and his congressional allies can do is allow us to watch them give us the proverbial finger.

NRE 2009 Awards – Person of the Year

by @ 5:00. Filed under NRE 2009 Awards.

Welcome to the 5th and final day of the NRE 2009 Awards. Today, we name our people of the year. As a review, here is the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, 1/2
– Dumbest Thing Said, 1/3
– News Story of the Year, yesterday

And the nominees are…

The Tea Party Protester (from RealDebate) – For the first time in their lives many people are getting off the couch, making their own signs and letting their voices be heard. They’ve been called every name in the book by the hate left and still they come. The country figured out that “Hope and Change” was code for a massive expansion of government debt and an even bigger grab of personal rights from a far left wing that thinks it can provide a better life for the individual citizen than the individual citizen can for themselves.

The men and women in the Armed Services (from Big G)

The Tea Party Movement (from Shoebox) – while this has taken various forms throughout the year, the notion of conscientious objectors from the right has never been seen before.  Without the people in these efforts we would likely have seen health care reform skate through Congress.  Without these people we may well have seen cap and trade enacted.  While clearly the people with the biggest surprise impact in 2009, the true proof will be seeing their impact on the 2010 races.

Sarah Palin (from Phineas) – Don Surber makes a great case, so I’ll let him do the talking. An excerpt:

Ordinary people did read her book and they were impressed. The people who shop at Wal-Mart bought 1 million copies of her autobiography in just 2 weeks. Thousands of them stood in line by the thousands in the freezing nights of November and December just to get her autograph. She is of them — a hockey mom who is naive, unsophisticated and learning just how rotted from within America’s political system has become. She beat corruption in Wasilla. She beat corruption in Alaska. And well, she finished 2009 with a higher approval rating than The Won.

The Honduran people (by steveegg) – When former Honduran President Mel Zelaya tried to set the stage to be El Jefe for Life, the army, Congress, and Supreme Court teamed up to enforce the very-strict Constitutional prohibitions against multi-term Presidents. When the entire world tried to descend upon Honduras to restore their favorite Marxist, the people rose up and said, “Hell no.” When Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the Europeans said that they wouldn’t recognize the pending Presidential elections, they went ahead with them and held a rather-clean election.

January 4, 2010

Is it Just me?

by @ 9:47. Filed under Miscellaneous.

My flight to MKE was unremarkable in everyway. I checked in on line, went through security without a hitch, had the same crabby flight attendants and voila, landed safely in MKE. This morning is a different issue.

So I leave DR last night and head to Chicago. I’ve got meetings in Louisville today and tomorrow and thought that was the best way to make the trip.  I stayed at a hotel and headed to ORD early this AM.

I get to ORD 2.5 hours before my flight. I go to the kiosk to get my ticket and get a message that I must see an agent! Well, at Ohare, seeing an agent is not an easy task. They are always understaffed and never seem to figure out what their big flying days are to get additional people lined up.

After an HOUR, I got to an agent. She promptly informed me that I had been place on the flight security watch list!

Huh?

Folks, many of you met me yesterday. For those who haven’t, I’m male, middle age, as caucasian as they come. My last name is of the most serious German heritage one could want. Either this is a big screw up by UAL or something has seriously changed in the past 24 hours.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, although I did see a black helicopter at the airport this AM, but do you think the Obama administration is again finding ways to overreact so that “The One” isn’t made to look stupid again?

Stay tuned!

Update:  Saw this article in the USAtoday while on my flight….I wonder if this had anything to do with my new status?  I read another article that said the new rules went into effect at midnight…would at least explain why I was able to fly yesterday unmolested! USATODAY

NRE 2009 Awards – News Story of the Year

by @ 5:00. Filed under NRE 2009 Awards.

Welcome to Day 4 of the NRE 2009 Awards. Today, we focus on the biggest news story of the past year. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, 1/2
– Dumbest Thing Said, yesterday
– Person of the Year, tomorrow

And the nominees are…

Tea Party protesters rise up, Democrats double down (from steveegg) – It would be infinitely easier to focus on one half or the other, but it has been a year-long test of wills between those who generally like a small government and free enterprise and those who generally liked the Soviet Union. The first exchange came in February, when, even before Rick Santelli made his famous call for a little Tea Party on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago on July 4 on CNBC, grass-roots protests rose up against the prospect of Porkulus. It’s been an episode of escalation since, as every refusal to listen to the public by the Commun…er, Democrats has led not to the usual descent into disillusionment, but to ever-louder calls for small government and free enterprise.

Honorary mention goes to the demise of the daily home-delivered newspaper in Detroit, as Gannett Newspapers, owner of the Detroit Free Press and operator of the Detroit News, dropped the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday editions of their home-delivered products.

Climategate (from RealDebate) – Actual data that is hurtful to global warming claims are hidden, people with opposing views are shunned and ignored, those who are propagating this sham are making billions on it. The biggest crime of the news event of the year is that the US new media isn’t covering it yet.

The ACORN Stings (from Shoebox) – Simple and effective.  Has there ever been a story so completely ignored by the major media that had such a significant response by Congress?

George W. Bush is no longer the President (silent E) This is the story that the left so eagerly reported on, and leading up to, January 20th of 2009 but seemingly was forgotten shortly afterwards by news outlets and the Obama Administration.

Rep. Joe Wilson shouting “YOU LIE” to president Obama during a speach to a joint session of Congress (silent E) No truer words have ever been spoken in that room….. The look on Nancy’s face was priceless.

The administration’s attempt to turn the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) into a propaganda arm for Obama policies (from Phineas) – Big Hollywood covered this pretty thoroughly and FOX mentioned it in its list of news stories the MSM missed,  but that’s it. Yet the attempt of the Obama White House to turn the non-partisan NEA and the artists it supports into a megaphone for its policy preferences should worry anyone who thinks about it.

January 3, 2010

NRE 2009 Awards – Dumbest Thing Said

by @ 5:00. Filed under NRE 2009 Awards.

Welcome to Day 3 of the NRE 2009 Awards. Today, we focus on the dumbest thing unleashed into the public consciousness. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, yesterday
– News Story of the Year, tomorrow
– Person of the Year, 1/5

And the nominees are…

“Uh, a good, solid B+,” President Barack Obama describing what grade he’d give himself (from steveegg) – Outside of laying groundwork for a rule-by-fiat system and handing out “cash from his stash” (which itself was in the running), Obama has done absolutely, positively nothing. It doesn’t matter whether one looks at Teh Won’s record from the right, the middle, or the left – there is no actual “there” there. As of the 12/22/2009 Rasmussen daily tracking poll, more people strongly disapproved of Obama’s job performance than even somewhat-approved of it. I’d give him a gentleman’s D.

“We ‘misread’ the depth of the economic troubles we inherited and we still expect more new jobs in the long term as the spending pace from the $787 billion stimulus plan quickens,” Vice President Joe Biden (from RealDebate) – Hey Joe, you might want to start thinking about taking responsibility for your role in our current mess. Remember this one Joe?

“If we don’t pass it, here’s the guarantee…….. the federal government will go bankrupt,” Barack Ussein Obama (from silent E) – Economic GENIUS!!!!

“…that I inherited from the previous administration” (from Shoebox) – Never has there been a president who has taken so little responsibility for so many problems.

The system worked……. (silent E… Can I add another??) Janet Napolitano….. Mentally unequipped to perform her duties.

“Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. That has to be good for American artists.” (from Phineas) – That amazing bit of fawning nonsense was spoken by Rocco Landesman, head of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Stalin would have blushed.

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