U.S. Half-Measures in Syria Are Worse Than Doing Nothing - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
"The road to Damascus is a road to peace," Pelosi announced then in her glib fashion. The same Pollyanna views have, until now, characterized the Obama administration's "reset" with traditional enemies, who are looking for soft spots in the U.S. belly.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
SSA Disability Fraud Arrests Should Extend Beyond Puerto Rico - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
SSA Disability Fraud Arrests Should Extend Beyond Puerto Rico - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Government programs always begin with the best of intentions. Some Americans of an earlier age had little or no income when retired at age 62 and so were offered retirement benefits. Since wives of the 50s and 60s often stayed home to attend domestic affairs, an array of spousal benefits were added. Then children's benefits. And survivor's benefits. And when earnest, hard-working construction people fell from buildings, or factory workers suffered heart attacks, strokes, or developed terminal cancers and were too weak to work, Social Security Disability paid them benefits.
That was all well and good until disability became institutionalized and, to a degree-automatic. According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly 11 million people were receiving disability benefits at an annual cost of $136 billion in 2012. With that many people receiving disability benefits, the definition of "disabled" would have to include maladies of a less severe nature than those for which the program was intended.
Seventy-five people were arrested yesterday in Puerto Rico and accused of defrauding the Social Security Disability program.
Government programs always begin with the best of intentions. Some Americans of an earlier age had little or no income when retired at age 62 and so were offered retirement benefits. Since wives of the 50s and 60s often stayed home to attend domestic affairs, an array of spousal benefits were added. Then children's benefits. And survivor's benefits. And when earnest, hard-working construction people fell from buildings, or factory workers suffered heart attacks, strokes, or developed terminal cancers and were too weak to work, Social Security Disability paid them benefits.
That was all well and good until disability became institutionalized and, to a degree-automatic. According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly 11 million people were receiving disability benefits at an annual cost of $136 billion in 2012. With that many people receiving disability benefits, the definition of "disabled" would have to include maladies of a less severe nature than those for which the program was intended.
Seventy-five people were arrested yesterday in Puerto Rico and accused of defrauding the Social Security Disability program.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Governor Chris Christie Throws His Spear in the GOP Sand - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Governor Chris Christie Throws His Spear in the GOP Sand - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made a cannonball splash at what some in the the media are calling the GOP "summer camp." By accounts such as those in the Boston Globe, the governor's speech was an improvement over his lackadaisical recitations at the GOP national convention in 2012.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made a cannonball splash at what some in the the media are calling the GOP "summer camp." By accounts such as those in the Boston Globe, the governor's speech was an improvement over his lackadaisical recitations at the GOP national convention in 2012.
Christie has a definite flair for practical politics, a major factor in how Republican Christie could win the governorship in decidedly blue state New Jersey. You do that by being the prototype "Jersey Boy" and Christie is surely that-wisecracking, brusque, blunt, and irreverent. He doesn't stroll the New Jersey boardwalks with sleeveless tee-shirt and tattooed arms but he does the next best thing.
Christie's Twitter profile provides the clues: "I've got the keys for 4 years. Let's party! Except for teachers and public workers. You have to put the beer down. Immediately. Now go get me a sandwich." Funny stuff, even in Georgia.
(turn the page. read the balance, hit the linked title)
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Quinnipiac Poll Shows De Blasio Leading, Quinn Trailing Among Democrats in NYC Primary Race - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Quinnipiac Poll Shows De Blasio Leading, Quinn Trailing Among Democrats in NYC Primary Race - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Mr. de Blasio is currently saturating New York airwaves with a political ad narrated by his mixed-race teenage son, complete with 70s style big hair. To complete the one-size-fits-all social issues candidate, New York insiders know that de Blasio's interracial marriage survived the gay liaisons (reported on the Politicker site) of wife Chirlane McCray.
Is there a candidate who can top that? Is there a candidate who can match de Blasio in the egalitarian touchstones of race, gender, and social advocacy?
Mr. de Blasio is currently saturating New York airwaves with a political ad narrated by his mixed-race teenage son, complete with 70s style big hair. To complete the one-size-fits-all social issues candidate, New York insiders know that de Blasio's interracial marriage survived the gay liaisons (reported on the Politicker site) of wife Chirlane McCray.
Is there a candidate who can top that? Is there a candidate who can match de Blasio in the egalitarian touchstones of race, gender, and social advocacy?
Monday, August 12, 2013
Corn-Ethanol Lobby Hits the Blend Wall - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Corn-Ethanol Lobby Hits the Blend Wall - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Aside from ethanol slowly but methodically destroying all the small engines of America, there is another problem called the "blend wall." What the blend wall means is that American cars can only tolerate ten percent ethanol. Going beyond that on most conventional vehicles means that, if you put more than 10 percent ethanol in your gas tank, the auto manufacturer will not honor the guarantees they made when you bought the vehicle.
If the manufacturer found out you continuously poured water in the gas tank, they wouldn't honor the warranty either, but that's similar to what you'd be doing by using an 11 percent ethanol-fuel blend or higher blend.
Aside from ethanol slowly but methodically destroying all the small engines of America, there is another problem called the "blend wall." What the blend wall means is that American cars can only tolerate ten percent ethanol. Going beyond that on most conventional vehicles means that, if you put more than 10 percent ethanol in your gas tank, the auto manufacturer will not honor the guarantees they made when you bought the vehicle.
If the manufacturer found out you continuously poured water in the gas tank, they wouldn't honor the warranty either, but that's similar to what you'd be doing by using an 11 percent ethanol-fuel blend or higher blend.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
New York Mayor “Carlos Danger” Said Today… - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
New York Mayor “Carlos Danger” Said Today… - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
What's next? "Carlos Danger" dolls with autographed underwear that, when squeezed, urge you to vote for Weiner?
What's next? "Carlos Danger" dolls with autographed underwear that, when squeezed, urge you to vote for Weiner?
Sunday, July 21, 2013
The Big Belly Solar Powered Trash Can Enviro Boondoggle - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
The Big Belly Solar Powered Trash Can Enviro Boondoggle - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Cities Struggle to Find Out How Best to Sell a $4000 Solar-powered Trash Compactor to a Gullible Public
Cities Struggle to Find Out How Best to Sell a $4000 Solar-powered Trash Compactor to a Gullible Public
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Murky New York Hate Crime Conviction Reversed by Appeals Court - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Murky New York Hate Crime Conviction Reversed by Appeals Court - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Aren't all homicides and violent assaults hate crimes? Does an assailant stab, bludgeon, or shoot another person with affection and caring in their hearts? One would think so, inasmuch as hate crimes laws elevate crimes committed against certain social categories of individuals and diminish those crimes which have traditionally carried the heaviest sentences.
Aren't all homicides and violent assaults hate crimes? Does an assailant stab, bludgeon, or shoot another person with affection and caring in their hearts? One would think so, inasmuch as hate crimes laws elevate crimes committed against certain social categories of individuals and diminish those crimes which have traditionally carried the heaviest sentences.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. John McCain Have it Wrong About Cutting Egypt Aid - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. John McCain Have it Wrong About Cutting Egypt Aid - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
None of that seems to bother Sen. Paul who, in lawyerly fashion, trots out the 1961 law that might have supported Adolf Hitler whose Nazi Party in 1932 won 33 percent of the vote in the German elections.
None of that seems to bother Sen. Paul who, in lawyerly fashion, trots out the 1961 law that might have supported Adolf Hitler whose Nazi Party in 1932 won 33 percent of the vote in the German elections.
Another Republican Sen. John McCain uses the same 1961 basis to withhold the money the U.S. was prepared to offer the Muslim Brotherhood government.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
New Social Security Benefit Entitlements in Today's Same-Sex Supreme Court Ruling - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
New Social Security Benefit Entitlements in Today's Same-Sex Supreme Court Ruling - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
The ruling mandates the federal government to follow the law of the states in granting equality between same-sex and heterosexual marriage. Gay couples in states which don't recognize same-sex marriages do not have this advantage and may consider moving to states expanding their financial benefits.
The ruling has interesting implications beyond the issues of inherited property by surviving same-sex marital partners. If the federal government must extend all federal entitlements to same- sex married partners in 12 states, there would be new social security benefit entitlements created by the ruling.
The ruling mandates the federal government to follow the law of the states in granting equality between same-sex and heterosexual marriage. Gay couples in states which don't recognize same-sex marriages do not have this advantage and may consider moving to states expanding their financial benefits.
The ruling has interesting implications beyond the issues of inherited property by surviving same-sex marital partners. If the federal government must extend all federal entitlements to same- sex married partners in 12 states, there would be new social security benefit entitlements created by the ruling.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
My Country Wrong or Wrong? - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
My Country Wrong or Wrong? - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
What ever happened to "My Country Right or Wrong?"
It used to be that there were patriots and traitors, and never the twain would meet. But with political and strategic challenges of the type generated by the Edward Snowden electronic surveillance revelations, the twain often intersects, and the left's positions are often interchangeable from the right's.
What ever happened to "My Country Right or Wrong?"
It used to be that there were patriots and traitors, and never the twain would meet. But with political and strategic challenges of the type generated by the Edward Snowden electronic surveillance revelations, the twain often intersects, and the left's positions are often interchangeable from the right's.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Ben Bernanke’s Public Trial on the Charlie Rose Show - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Ben Bernanke’s Public Trial on the Charlie Rose Show - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
The financial and political worlds are buzzing today about what President Obama said Monday to Charlie Rose in an NPR interview. President Obama, who makes a sport of choosing his words at a glacial pace, added one more to his panoply of gaffes in his clumsy assessment of Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke.
"Well, I think Ben Bernanke's done an outstanding job. Ben Bernanke's a little bit like Bob Mueller, the head of the FBI, where he's already stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to," the president was quoted.
The financial and political worlds are buzzing today about what President Obama said Monday to Charlie Rose in an NPR interview. President Obama, who makes a sport of choosing his words at a glacial pace, added one more to his panoply of gaffes in his clumsy assessment of Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke.
"Well, I think Ben Bernanke's done an outstanding job. Ben Bernanke's a little bit like Bob Mueller, the head of the FBI, where he's already stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to," the president was quoted.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Add Syria to List of Obama Foreign Policy Failures - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Add Syria to List of Obama Foreign Policy Failures - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Writing in 2007, USA Today describes how the Bush administration tried to prevent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from traveling to Syria on a "message of peace."
Writing in 2007, USA Today describes how the Bush administration tried to prevent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from traveling to Syria on a "message of peace."
"We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace," Pelosi told reporters then.
Since then, Pelosi's "road to peace" was traveled by Hezbollah fighters who came to help Assad take back key rebel-held territory. The Russians also have helped Assad's prop up his regime, continuing to supply Assad with the latest weapons, and providing backing at the U.N.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Strassel: An IRS Political Timeline - WSJ.com
Strassel: An IRS Political Timeline - WSJ.com
What's a BOLO List? It's the White House indirect order for the organs of government and society to attack Obama opposition. It means "Be On the Lookout" for conservative thinkers and think-tank organizations.
Kim Strassel's timeline is telling, and is as good as we can get to solid proof Obama ordered IRS targeting of conservative groups.
As Rush Limbaugh said recently, there are no evidential documents "proving" that Adolf Hitler had anything to do with the extermination of Jews during WWII.
Obama's not Hitler, but he's the perfect example of an anti-colonial leftist for whom the end justifies the means. In other words, he's willing to use government bureaucracies like the IRS and the Justice Department to suborn free speech and thought.
What's a BOLO List? It's the White House indirect order for the organs of government and society to attack Obama opposition. It means "Be On the Lookout" for conservative thinkers and think-tank organizations.
Kim Strassel's timeline is telling, and is as good as we can get to solid proof Obama ordered IRS targeting of conservative groups.
As Rush Limbaugh said recently, there are no evidential documents "proving" that Adolf Hitler had anything to do with the extermination of Jews during WWII.
Obama's not Hitler, but he's the perfect example of an anti-colonial leftist for whom the end justifies the means. In other words, he's willing to use government bureaucracies like the IRS and the Justice Department to suborn free speech and thought.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Samantha Power's promotion to UN ambassador is a major disappointment | Fox News
Samantha Power's promotion to UN ambassador is a major disappointment | Fox News
However, it didn’t take long before Power’s decades of big talk was put to the test.
In a position of power and proximity to the president of the United States, from which she could meaningfully act against any unfolding injustice, Power was largely silent and completely ineffective.
The NGO community was left wondering which Samantha Power was getting to speak inside the Oval Office.
More from Richard Grennelll
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/06/05/samantha-power-promotion-to-un-ambassador-is-major-disappointment/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2VOH8q7q3
However, it didn’t take long before Power’s decades of big talk was put to the test.
In a position of power and proximity to the president of the United States, from which she could meaningfully act against any unfolding injustice, Power was largely silent and completely ineffective.
The NGO community was left wondering which Samantha Power was getting to speak inside the Oval Office.
More from Richard Grennelll
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/06/05/samantha-power-promotion-to-un-ambassador-is-major-disappointment/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2VOH8q7q3
NJ Governor Chris Christie Shines the Light on Christie 2016 - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
NJ Governor Chris Christie Shines the Light on Christie 2016 - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has the characteristics of a distant planet with a mass so dense as to draw all light back unto itself. The brusque New Jersey governor's latest feat of celestial magic was to pick October for a special election to replace Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died and left the vacant seat to be filled.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has the characteristics of a distant planet with a mass so dense as to draw all light back unto itself. The brusque New Jersey governor's latest feat of celestial magic was to pick October for a special election to replace Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died and left the vacant seat to be filled.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
New York City FBI Agent Robbed of M-4 Assault Weapon and His Auto (Again) - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
New York City FBI Agent Robbed of M-4 Assault Weapon and His Auto (Again) - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
The New York Post came up with a typically clever headline to lead off a story about an FBI agent who had his car and rifle stolen last night in Ozone Park, an upper middle-class neighborhood in the borough of Queens. Calling the weapon a "dolt-action rifle" was about right.
The New York Post came up with a typically clever headline to lead off a story about an FBI agent who had his car and rifle stolen last night in Ozone Park, an upper middle-class neighborhood in the borough of Queens. Calling the weapon a "dolt-action rifle" was about right.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Is There an Un-subsidized Tesla Model S in Your Future? - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Is There an Un-subsidized Tesla Model S in Your Future? - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
My point is that there are many advantages to having a vehicle which helps the owner do things (often at less cost and damage to the environment) other than drive down Hollywood Boulevard feeling more pious than a Prius owner. You can fit more stuff in a pickup truck than you can any sedan and that means less trips to the vendor, less fuel burned, and less hiring of bigger trucks as delivery vehicles for products you might need to manage a household.
My point is that there are many advantages to having a vehicle which helps the owner do things (often at less cost and damage to the environment) other than drive down Hollywood Boulevard feeling more pious than a Prius owner. You can fit more stuff in a pickup truck than you can any sedan and that means less trips to the vendor, less fuel burned, and less hiring of bigger trucks as delivery vehicles for products you might need to manage a household.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Teams with Tumblr CEO David Karp to Talk the Deal - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Teams with Tumblr CEO David Karp to Talk the Deal - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
High school dropout like Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp doesn't have such mundane concerns. According to the IT website smh.com, Karp once said he didn't want to be "gobbled up by big media company." In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Karp told users "we're not turning purple" and then he punctuated his statement with an F-Bomb.
High school dropout like Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp doesn't have such mundane concerns. According to the IT website smh.com, Karp once said he didn't want to be "gobbled up by big media company." In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Karp told users "we're not turning purple" and then he punctuated his statement with an F-Bomb.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Possible Political Murder Stirs National Elections in Pakistan - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Possible Political Murder Stirs National Elections in Pakistan - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
All told, 150 people have died in a Pakistani election that sometimes seemed to favor the bullet over the ballot.
The top man of the TPI, Imran Khan, is a nationally idolized soccer star whose reform party has surprised the nation by becoming its third largest. Khan has accused rival MQM (Muttahida Quami Movement) of sending two men to shoot PTI Party Vice-President Ms. Hussein to death just outside her home in the affluent Karachi Defence suburb.
All told, 150 people have died in a Pakistani election that sometimes seemed to favor the bullet over the ballot.
The top man of the TPI, Imran Khan, is a nationally idolized soccer star whose reform party has surprised the nation by becoming its third largest. Khan has accused rival MQM (Muttahida Quami Movement) of sending two men to shoot PTI Party Vice-President Ms. Hussein to death just outside her home in the affluent Karachi Defence suburb.
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