The wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool does from his friends.
Chinese Proverb
Tweet of the Day
" Like the president, [Mario Cuomo] never quite figured out that there was more to his job than making speeches." - Kevin Williamson
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) January 3, 2015
Williamson on political succession:my examples: Gov. Grover Cleveland v. Cuomo, Gov. Stevenson v. Blagojevich, Sen. Robert Taft v. Brown.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) January 3, 2015
Image of the Day
Eat 'Em Up, Coogs!
How many times do you see any football team come from behind by 3 touchdowns in the last 4 minutes of play, a streak that included two improbable recovered onside kicks, a fourth-and-long touchdown pass and a 2-point conversion? Two of the touchdown passes and the 2-point conversion to the same wide receiver, Greenberry?
I don't usually cover the football games, including those of my alma maters, in the blog. And I'll admit an embarrassing truth: I watched part of the third quarter on ESPN and was so demoralized by Pitt's dominance at that point of the game that I turned it off. What tipped me off was getting an alumni promotional email earlier this evening touting the victory; I was a doubting Thomas and had to Google the game to learn about one of the most unlikely comebacks in sports history.
Chutzpah and the Federal Employee
Usually wherever I've worked there's been some kind of joint employee fund (a few bucks per month) to cover certain consumables (e.g., bottled water, coffee, creamer, artificial sweetener, napkins, paper plates, plastic utensils, etc.) if and when you wanted to participate; I've also worked at places where employers either furnished related items as a perk or budgeted for a certain quota. (In terms of the latter, I once did a gig at Odwalla, a nutrition products company which was eventually acquired by Coke; every period we would get a ration of company coins which could be used to purchase company products. In terms of the former, I remember once designing a more usable interface for generating 4-color plots (the original interface required making explicit decisions for some 80 or so plotter variables); we subsequently had a nice stream of revenue just generating plots for clients. A manager, though, complained to me that selling one or 2 plots barely paid for stocking the company refrigerator with drinks.) Not an exaggeration: the manager trying to recruit me for the position that brought me to California actually used a company vending machine that dispensed soft drinks at a quarter per can as an employee fringe benefit. And in many cases, employees might bring back surplus items (e.g., sweetener packets) if they went out for a fastfood lunch.
I've also brown-bagged my lunch over the years and/or brought coffee or a thermos with me to work; it never occurred to me that employers owed me lunch or various consumables. I'm a paid professional; I have to eat whether or not I work for the employer: employers rarely furnished lunch or dinner except in certain time-sensitive circumstances like doing some key maintenance or upgrade activities during mealtimes, where they needed us to work while eating (hence, the IT staple of ordering pizza, which I've often turned down because of carbs). Now most employers usually might have some refrigerators and/or microwaves for employee use. But really--you can buy bulk supplies of plastic cutlery, napkins, cups, etc., very cheaply at warehouse stores like Sam's Club or your local supermarket, no big deal.
So there's just something that I find really annoying about federal employees appealing a GAO ruling against taxpayer funding of said personal consumables and this statement: "The NWS employees organization objected and the subject went to arbitration. The arbitrator at the time sided with the employees that providing the disposable items could lead to a healthier, and thus more productive, workplace." (The affected Commerce Department is appealing the ruling.)
Are you kidding me? It's bad enough these employees get up to six-figures in salary and benefits, but they are bitching about paying for their own disposable items? "“In most places you can’t run out to Burger King and grab a burger to bring back to work,” [Sobien] said. “Many eat at their work station while monitoring weather.”"What does that have to do with the taxpayer footing the bill for your disposable items? The sense of entitlement is astounding... Do they really want to swap stories? I once did a gig in the Provo, UT area where my only options for a late midnight dinner (building access issues after prime business hours) were a Wendy's, a Taco Bell or a greasy all-night diner. In fact, late dinners, airport food, even college food which I thought I had finally put behind me (I worked for a college software vendor in 2008) were part of the lifestyle of a road warrior.
A Recommendation for Majority Leader McConnell: Give Obama TPA Authority
There are two trade acronyms that readers should be aware of if they aren't: TPP and TTIP. In essence, these are prospective favored trade zones, including lowered tariffs and other protectionist trade policies, involving the Pacific and European Union economies respectively. It is often all but impossible for trade pacts to be negotiated as individual legislators want to protect their own parochial protectionist interests on the import side, where crony interests worry about low-cost foreign vendors undercutting profits and grabbing market share. TPA (fast track) authority basically limits legislator mischief to sabotage an agreement by ruling out amendments and filibusters and gaining a commitment to an up or down decision within a limited number of days of deliberation.
Frick in this piece notes all the hype regarding potential trade with Cuba with 11M vs. 320M people--which still requires a Congressional repeal, easier said than done in a GOP-controlled Congress. TPP and TTIP would provide far more potential consumers of American goods and services. I have my own concerns about TPP and TTIP, because I see them more as mercantilist cooperative arrangements; I myself am willing to declare unilateral free trade, but at minimum I think that any constructive movement towards trade liberalization is worthy.
Facebook Corner
(Proud To Be an American). Thousands of American workers will be impacted by the pay hike in this state (Washington). View below
Economically clueless illiterates--celebrating pricing less qualified workers out of the labor market. God damn the idiots who support these cruel prohibitions against gainful employment!
(Cato Institute).The new issue of Regulation Magazine discusses obesity and how nudging by government differs from nudging by markets...
I remember that the military had a different way of dealing with those extra pounds--and it wasn't nudging. When I showed up a few pounds over my height limit in Orlando (my duty assignment), I was promptly assigned to the "fat boys' program", which meant mandatory exercise at the end of the duty day outside, in clear view of personnel leaving for the day exposed to their ridicule.
The FDA should stop approving the awful crap in our food. When babies are obese it's not because they are lazy.
Nonsense. There isn't a lot of scientific evidence linking food additives to obesity. There is some discussion promoting breastfeeding, watching the pregnant mother's diet, limiting the baby's consumption of juices, etc.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of the original artist via Patriot Post |
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| Courtesy of Chip Bok via Townhall |
Glen Campbell, "Houston (I'm Comin' To See You)"
