There are two possible outcomes:
If the result confirms the hypothesis,
then you've made a measurement.
If the result is contrary to the hypothesis,
then you've made a discovery.
Enrico Fermi
Liberty Thought of the Day
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| Courtesy of Libertarianism.org |
There can be little doubt that a poison gas attack by the Syrian government against civilians would be a crime against humanity, and there are some troubling reports from local hospitals. I've seen reports on Drudge and elsewhere hinting on possible US/British cruise missile deployment. I would remind Obama that we are not the world's policeman, Syria has not attacked the US, and only Congress has the power to declare war.
Casey's Cookies
Everybody knows about Wendy Thomas, Dave Thomas' red-haired daughter after which he named the namesake hamburger chain. Casey Torman, a young woman with Goldenhar Syndrome, is the inspiration behind a cookie business built around developmentally disabled adults. If you are interested in ordering Casey's Cookies, click here; those blueberry and white chocolate cookies sound amazing (damn my diet!).
Elton John Still Has It: His New Song "Home Again"
Secession Fever Hits Colorado
There has been momentum for state secession or splitting since the tragedy of Obama'a reelection, based on frustration with irresponsible leftist redistribution, morally hazardous policies, and other economic-illiterate interventionist policies. A few weeks back, I featured a clip from Texas secessionists and there is also discussion of Texas' option on admission to the Union to split itself into up to 5 states. I discussed the unhappiness of west Maryland counties earlier this week, and there has also been talk in Louisiana and South Carolina, among other places. But rural Colorado counties are particularly upset over state "progressives" imposing a minimum alternative energy mandate for rural utilities, which is effectively a mandated price increase on rural citizens. This may be the most serious attempt with relevant ballot question and sympathetic county leadership, perhaps the most serious effort since West Virginia split from Virginia during the Civil War.
Social Security Disability: 3 Years Until Reserve Depletion and Counting
Familiar readers should know the basic story here: in 1984 Congress"reformed" (i.e., liberalized) disability to include more subjective categories, and since then claims have boomed, far beyond allocated reserves. Of the 12.4% social security portion of shared (employer/employee) payroll taxes (the remainder goes to Medicare), 1.8% goes to disability. Abuse is rampant; it has become a way for many older unemployed workers to bridge the gap to regular pension eligibility. In the cited DeHaven piece, he talks about one such "disabled"man at his fitness center whom also parked in a handicapped spot, but engages in robust workouts with no hint of disability. Granted, it is hard to judge based on anecdotal evidence, but it seems like every time I turn on cable TV, there are ubiquitous legal firms promising to deal with SSA "so you don't have to". [Expletive deleted.] Clearly, qualifying criteria need to be tightened and fraud detection expanded (hint: consider privatization), but I don't suffer fools gladly. (One fix would be to slightly increase payroll taxes, but how much do you want to bet they'll make up the difference from pension reserves?)
One of the Democratic call-ins to the below interview starts spouting the "Obama math" (you know, 57 states) nonsense that social security is well-funded; Democrats have listened to this swill so many times they actually believe it; there are still some people whom believe that ObamaCare will "cut" the deficit, just like people believed in Medicare cost projections... (It is amazing how many people believe that Obama is "intelligent" when he says stuff like wanting to deepen Gulf ports of Charleston, Jacksonville and Savannah" (none located on the Gulf).)
Okay, let's review this one more time. The federal government repackages the payroll taxes to current beneficiaries, not like how you contribute real 401K or IRA money. If it has money left over, it issues an IOU and uses the money to pay for Congressional overspending. It's not "real" money. Note that since 2010 we have been running deficits in social security--so the government has to tap into interest payments or principal of the social security reserve. If and when a reserve note is redeemed, the Congress has to come up with the money to pay for it. In effect, Congress simply gets the money not from general revenue but through public debt. Now it is true in the case of disability, it will continue to collect that 1.8% on current workers, which may fund up to 80% of current checks assuming no disability funding fix as described above by 2016. But two things: (1) not a dime is being saved for future payment to current workers, and (2) Congress has to make up the 20% shortfall. New taxes and new workers are unlikely to bridge that gap. My guess is that they will shift money from pension to disability allocation, which of course means the pension portion is even more underfunded.
Linda Ronstadt: Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease
Our beloved late Pope John Paul II suffered from this terrible disease (as well as a prominent former heavyweight boxing champion and comedic actor). The disease has cruelly stripped the most popular female pop singer of the late 1970's of her ability to sing. There are many Ronstadt solo hits I'll cover in my musical interlude series, but my overall favorite is her second hit from the Bluth Fievel films:
Whoops! Our Collective Bad! City Demolishes Wrong House--Again....
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Gary Varvel and Townhall |
The Beatles, The Full Abbey Road Medley
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