Quote of the Day
He gains everyone's approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.
Horace
FAA Partial Shutdown and Kicking the Can Down the Road
Just a brief note about the FAA budget partial shutdown controversy that was shamelessly used by "Republican" Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood. Last year the National Mediation Board ruled that relevant union certification only required a net plurality versus majority vote of target membership. The Republican House rolled back this reform, plus stripped out subsidies favoring rural airports. The Senate Democrats refuse to accept these modest reforms to the FAA budget, which I highly favor, and the result is a few thousand FAA employees furloughed, no authority to collect certain taxes, while Senator Schumer and other Democrats once against put their parochial (union) interests above fiscal responsibility on behalf of the American taxpayer. Obama has also vowed to veto any NMB rollback.
Schumer was particularly obnoxious, referring to the controversy to the GOP holding a gun to the heads of Democrats. Schumer has now become yet another nominee to my tongue-in-cheek 2011 Jackass of the Year award. I didn't mention it in past posts, but former Congressman David "Tiger Blood" Wu was also nominated to the already crowded field. Nadler used the term "hijacking".
The announced compromise puts aside the union issue, but a bare-minimum Senate would approve an interim House measure (with stripped rural subsidies) and LaHood would restore certain stripped subsidies using his own effective authority.
Gore Calls For an "Arab Spring in America":
Both Thumbs DOWN!
Apparently Al Gore doesn't note that the real tyranny in America is the leadership in the US Senate and the White House. It's not ObamaCare, one of the largest entitlement programs in the history of the US, pushed through without a single GOP vote and the worst crony deal making in the Senate or Dodd N. Frankenstein "reform".
Al Gore wants you to believe that the Tea Party is little more than a thinly-veiled cover for the billionaire oil brothers, the Koch brothers. Yup, I haven't received a single penny from the Tea Party and the American people voted several Tea Party-supported candidates into office, but Al Gore wants all you lower middle-class workers not paying a dime in federal income taxes to make sure "rich" people pay their fair share...
Apparently global warming has melted down his remaining brain cells....
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Eagles, "Take It To the Limit". One of my favorite song titles of all time, given two math degrees...
