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News/Politics 3-2-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, you decide.

Just a few, then I’m taking the day off. 🙂

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A little honesty from Democrat Pat Caddell, about the Obama admin.

From FoxNews

“In my lifetime, in over 40 years in national politics, Mr. Obama is the only  president who comes close to rivaling Richard Nixon for fundamental  disingenuousness.

However, some things never change, just as Woodward and Bernstein were  attacked then by the establishment mainstream media for daring to question a  president — or do a story that they wouldn’t touch — they are once again  attacking Woodward the way they did when he and  Carl Bernstein pursued  Watergate.

As the youngest person on Nixon’s enemies list in 1972, I am particularly  sensitive to a White House where they have utter disregard for trampling on  dissent and on the rights of individuals.”

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Someone followed Joe Biden’s shotgun advice. And was promptly arrested.

Way to go Joe. 🙄

From USNews

“Vice President Joe Biden told Field & Stream magazine in an interview published Monday, “[if] you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.”

Coincidentally, a 22-year-old man in Virginia Beach, Va., was charged Monday with reckless handling of a firearm after doing just that a couple days earlier.

Local TV station WAVY 10 reports that the man observed two masked men leaning into his bedroom window. The men allegedly had weapons and told him to close his bedroom door. He stepped outside of his bedroom and did as instructed, then fired his shotgun through the closed door and then several more times at the window.”

And don’t forget, he’s handling the gun control push for the Obama admin. 🙄

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The Canadians are officially smarter than us. At least they see the obvious problem, and acknowledge it, unlike our govt..

From TheGlobeAndMail

“The United States has shifted course to provide aid directly to Syria’s rebels, but Canada doesn’t have enough confidence in them to follow suit.

It is a rare international question where the two allies are taking different views: Canada, which was gung-ho about helping rebels in Libya, thinks it’s too risky to fund those in Syria.”

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9 thoughts on “News/Politics 3-2-13”

  2. Mr. Cadell better watch his backside, especially near a door. The White House just might send a Syrian rebel with a shotgun after him per Papa Joe’s advice.

    Just trying to tie in the three stories, you know.

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  4. What? No sequester news? No deaths or dismemberments? No super duper storms?

    I haven’t felt any earthquakes 130 miles from one of the most seismically active areas on the planet. (The coast off Petrolia, CA.)

    And no tsunamis here in Crescent City, where we really do pay attention to those big waves, those really, really big waves!

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  5. We do have defense contractor friends who are losing work. There is talk of cutting our military retirement health insurance, but I haven’t seen anything definitive. All our friends got other jobs after they retired, but not everyone has been so fortunate.

    A friend yesterday spoke of how few full time jobs are being offered–part time because of the health care questions. And for young people trying to get started–a terrible economy to try to get established. 😦

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  6. sequester?
    An interesting map courtesy of Addicting Info (leftist site) allows you to see how much each state will be cut and which programs.
    http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/28/how-much-will-the-sequestration-affect-your-state-interactive-map/

    It varies from a low of 9 million in Vermont (not surprising a small state with very few social issues) to over 1.2 billion in Texas (the only state over a billion). That Virginia and Maryland were nearly as high isn’t surprising given their proximity to DC. Some states linked to the defence industry were also quite high — Washington State, Hawaii Utah,etc. Defense also explains the huge difference in cuts to Mississippi and Alabama and between Kentucky and Tennessee. Cuts to senior programs explain Florida’s cuts.

    An interesting generalization one can make from the map is the largest cuts are going to so-called red states whereas New England and the Upper Midwest will suffer minor cuts in comparisons, especially if you do it per capita. Comparing Texas to California for instance you will see that military cuts are nearly the same but there is almost a 500 million difference in public health programs. Now there’s two explanations for this. The first and most plausible is beyond the DoD money (which explains Hawaii and Washington) the “red” states receive more federal money and programs. Or there’s a nefarious plot by Democrats to punish the red states. The latter is unlikely since the budget cuts were agreed to as part of the debt ceiling deal and the cuts are across the board.

    The former view is reinforced by the consistent Republican leadership to have Obama “own” the cuts. Their deal (mentioned by AJ yesterday) rejected by Democrats and tea party types alike would have the sequester remain in place but allow Obama discretion in spending. In other words, Obama would have his name on every cut. Essentially, they wanted to abandon any role or responsibility. And given the extent of cuts in Texas and others especially on a per capita basis its no wonder some Republicans are hoping to dump it on Obama’s lap.

    And another interesting discussion arising through sequestering is the implicit admission that Keynes is/was correct. The economic ramifications of a federal spending cuts are bemoaned by both the left and right

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  7. Michelle — your health care comments raise an other mistake made the Obama administration in health care reform. They made two big mistakes among others: one, they kept the semi-private health care insurance involved not even creating a public alternative, and second they kept health care insurance tied to work. Now, there are enforcement mechanism that can be created to prevent companies from tying to circumvent the policy but it would have been more effective (and radical) to eliminate both private insurance companies and the workpace and move to single payer or insurer. I’m quite sure Obama didn’t take this approach because it was too radical and “socialist”, but in retrospect they called his Bob Dole plan socialist anyway so he should have gone all in.

    In the long term, companies are better off offering full time work and health insurance. A comparison between Costco and Walmart seem to indicate its better to use the Costco approach. Essentially its better to have employees committed to the long term success of a company and offering part time jobs with no insurance isn’t the way.

    A personal anecdote; the restaurant industry is notorious for employee turnover. Its a high pressure job yet offers uncertain hours and no benefits. I worked for various restaurants until I was offered a job at an English pub. They guaranteed 30 hours minimum and offered a basic drug and dental plan. I worked there for the next two years and nobody ever left, almost unheard of in the industry. The pub also had far less “food waste” and “beverage over pours” than most pubs I worked at. There was no training cost (all employees came with several years experience elsewhere) and very little drama (most restaurants feature at least one dramatic “I quit” scene a month usually Friday at 6:30)

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