Quote of the Day
I will speak ill of no man,
and speak all the good I know of everybody.
Benjamin Franklin
AG Holder Expands Government Data Retention Period
From 6 Months to 5 Years: Thumbs DOWN!
The idea is fairly straightforward: suppose John Doe, not a terror suspect but whose data is under surveillance by the National Counterintelligence Center, is identified as being in contact with a confirmed terrorist. The government could go as far back as its monitoring on email, phone calls, etc., as far back as the history allows the government to identify prospective other terrorists in a cell from prior contacts. What's wrong with this? Plenty. Your government is stalking you without probable cause or due process on the possibility one day you are in contact (knowingly or not) with an identified suspect. "Oh, you can trust us to be straight arrows", say the bureaucrats: "You can audit what we're doing." Even if you assume audits are foolproof and adequately designed, there is the question of a de facto presumption of guilt in being monitored in the first place, the likelihood suspects are working around data collection anyway (e.g., disposable cellphones, email or Internet accounts, etc.) and there is a slippery slope argument: why 5 years? Why not 6 or 10 years? Why only emails, cell phones, car tracking devices, whatever? STOP THE MADNESS! A person probably is more likely to die from being hit by a drunk driver or a criminal than being killed by a terrorist. Is there no end to federal empire building? Isn't it time we said no to oppressive federal scope creep?
House Votes to Eliminate Medicare Cuts Board
and Promote Medical Tort Reform: Thumbs UP!
This passed under a largely party-line vote. I was unfamiliar with and puzzled by the Medicare Cuts Board elimination (other than the fact it was established by ObamaCare): don't we have an enormous unfunded liability issue with Medicare? Wouldn't we want to make it nonpartisan (because Congress will shy away from any politically difficult Medicare cuts given the powerful senior lobby, which would all but kill any cuts whatsoever)? Or was it motivated by Palin's pithy "death panel" charge? What about the counter-arguments that this committee wasn't looking to ration care but find other savings?
What I believe that the Republicans are doing here is basically saying the following: we are already reimbursing doctors and providers below market for Medicare patients. Any cuts by this board would likely further drive doctors away from serving seniors. Besides, we already know about the fact that the Democrats have never seriously made any efficiency cuts during the four decades of operations. We need to spin this government monstrosity off to the private sector and convert the program into a means-tested subsidy program. (I want to see more details over guaranteed issue for seniors.) I agree that the spin-off to the private sector is in the best long-term interests of the country.
The long-overdue tort reform was a non-starter with Democrats as a whole (their special interest trial lawyer supporters vehemently oppose the change to cap punitive damages).
It's Not Just Manufacturing, Stupid!
Disingenuous politicians like Barack Obama and Rick Santorum wring their hands over what has happened to manufacturing and want to shift the tax code to favor manufacturers--they've pointed out the decline of manufacturing relative to GDP.
But wouldn't we consider the fact that the value of goods dollars relative to services dollars has reduced by half over the past 4 decades a good thing? MJ Perry of the Carpe Diem blog asks the really relevant question that most pandering politicians never ask: is this drop in the relative percentage of goods peculiar to the US or true of the world in general?
- "World manufacturing as a share of world GDP fell from 26.6% in 1970 to 16.2% in 2010."
- "Manufacturing’s declining share of GDP in the U.S. ]went] from 24.3% in 1970 to 12.8% in 2010."
Political Humor
"Yesterday the prime minister of Ireland made President Obama an honorary Irishman. As a result, President Obama awoke this morning with a hangover and a job at the fire department." - Conan O'Brien
[Fed Reserve chair Ben Bernanke got nervous when Obama asked for his pot of gold.]
"This weekend President Obama will visit the border that separates North and South Korea.
[Not to be outdone, this weekend future Obama voters will visit the border that separates old from New Mexico.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Little River Band, "Happy Anniversary"
