What’s interesting in the news today?
First up, the fuzzy math continues.
From CNSNews “The Treasury Department’s latest official daily accounting of the U.S. government’s receipts, expenditures and borrowings–released this afternoon at 4:00 p.m.–indicates that the legally limited debt of the federal government has now been exactly $16,699,396,000,000 for 100 straight days.
The Daily Treasury Statement released today showed the status of the government’s accounts as of the close of business on Friday, Aug. 23. Because the Treasury does no business over the weekend, the federal government’s debt did not change on Saturday or Sunday.
The statement for Aug. 23 said the federal debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress was $16,699,396,000,000—or $25 million below the current limit of $16,699,421,000,000. Every Daily Treasury Statement since May 17 has also shown the legally limited debt at $16,699,396,000,000, or $25 million below the limit.”
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I’m sure all the young folks who voted for the president will be happy to hear this.
From Forbes “No, Obamacare Is Not A Good Deal For Young People In The Long Run, Not Even Close”
“Progressives are becoming increasingly concerned at the prospect of millions of uninsured young people deciding to push the easy button next year by simply paying a very small finerather than obtain health coverage. Consequently, they have turned to a new argument to get those under 30 to act against their self interest by signing up for the Exchanges. Now we are being told that Obamacare will be a good deal for young people in the long run since whatever short-term losses they incur in the form of higher premiums will be more than made up later when they are older and get to pay lower premiums than they would in today’s market.
But those making these arguments haven’t offered any analysis to back up their claims. The conceptual point evidently is supposed to be intuitively obvious. As Ezra Klein puts it:
Young people grow old. Healthy people get sick. Rich people become poor. The people overpaying to keep costs low today are the people underpaying 10 or 20 years from now.”
Pay more now, less later. Got it.
That’s good, because they’ll still be paying their student loans back 20 years from now too, so they’ll need the extra cash. 🙄
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Isn’t it nice when govt rewards it’s own incompetence?
From TheWaPo “While veterans waited longer than ever in recent years for their wartime disability compensation, the Department of Veterans Affairs gave its workers millions of dollars in bonuses for “excellent” performances that effectively encouraged them to avoid claims that needed extra work to document veterans’ injuries, a News21 investigation has found.
In 2011, a year in which the claims backlog ballooned by 155 percent, more than two-thirds of claims processors shared $5.5 million in bonuses, according to salary data from the Office of Personnel Management.”
“Beth McCoy, the assistant deputy undersecretary for field operations for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), said bonuses for claims processors were justified because, even though the number of backlogged claims was rising, workers were processing more claims than ever.”
“But News21 found that regional office management gave bonuses to some employees even as their claims backlogs grew. During 2012, Office of Personnel Management records show some of the most troubled offices gave their employees the most extra pay.”
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This one? Yes please. 🙂
From TheNYTimes ” Some of the early shots in the Republican primary battle against Senator Lindsey Graham have been fired from this tiny community on the northern border of the state where the Civil War began.
A small group called Carolina Conservatives United, one of dozens organized loosely under the flag of limited government, low taxes and strict adherence to the Constitution, sent out images last week of a milk carton bearing Mr. Graham’s face and asked Gov. Nikki R. Haley to issue the state’s version of an Amber Alert to find its missing senator.
“Lindsey Graham has not been seen in the state of South Carolina for most of the last two years,” said Bruce Carroll, the chairman of the group.
Conservatives in South Carolina are eager to oust Mr. Graham, who has enraged the far right for, among other things, reaching across the aisle on immigration and supporting President Obama’s nominations for the Supreme Court. Tea Party supporters called him a community organizer for the Muslim Brotherhood when, instead of heading home for the Congressional break this month, he went to Egypt at the request of the president.”
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And this last one I’m unsure on. I can see their point, but at the same time they shouldn’t be allowed to simply get out of it completely either. They have a certain obligation and responsibility here that cannot be denied or shirked. But one thing I am sure of is that they need to reform the way they currently do things. This works for no one.
From Bloomberg “Ari Schochet has grown so accustomed to being sent to jail for missing alimony payments that he goes into a routine.”
“Schochet, who said he worked as a portfolio manager at Citadel Investment Group Inc. and Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) and once earned $1 million a year, has been jailed for missing court-ordered payments at least eight times in the past two years as he coped with the end of his 17-year marriage.
The reason he ran afoul of the law was simple. He was out of work for most of that time, a victim of a weak economy, and he ran through his savings trying to pay his wife alimony and child support that totaled almost $100,000 a year.”
“Schochet and ex-spouses in similar changed circumstances say New Jersey’s law unfairly imposes lifetime alimony on them. If they fail to make payments, like the $78,000 a year Schochet owes his ex-wife in alimony, they can be jailed for contempt of court regardless of whether they have a job or resources.”
Thoughts?
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Wandering Views 
The “tiny community” the NYT is talking about is Lake Wilie which is withing commuting distance and likely a bedroom community of Charlotte..
Graham was a fine congressman until he got Potomic Fever.
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Last night on Fox News, they showed a clip of Miley Cyrus, who was a former Disney girl, in a dance for some TV program. She was dressed in a two piece flesh colored “swim suit” or some such. Her dance was border-line porno.
They discussed Miley and the dance, but the most pertinent comment was made by a woman who said it sadly reflects the state of culture today.
Like the well rehearsed “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl half-time several years ago, it is an attempt to move the Overton window from “radical” to “acceptable” in the decency scale.
It is a losing battle, but we need to resist this as much as possible.
The sad thing for me is that I understand that Miley came from a Christian home where her father is Billy Ray Cyrus, a big name in modern country. I’m not familiar with him. I’m still locked in the 40’s and 50”s.
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Chas, here are a couple good articles on the Miley-MTV segment:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/mobile/article/trevinwax/i-weep-for-miley
And:
http://www.air1.com/blog/brant/post/2013/08/26/miley-cyrus-MTV-culture-and-the-need-for-adults.aspx
” … Adults are supposed to protect young people. Adults are supposed to refuse to treat young people like little gods, put them on pedestals, and parade them on stages. But adults do it, anyway, and our culture is just dumb, and just numb, enough to act like it’s perfectly normal. Turns out, as we’ve always known, celebrity messes with people’s heads, particularly the young. … “
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I refuse to watch any garbage,disguised as entertainment, especially if it comes from NBC, CBS, ABC or MTV.
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Here is my take on Miley Cyrus. There seems to be an odd thing going on in social media among the youth. I think this helped lead to the fall of Miley as well as the fall of other young stars. A young star becomes the next new thing. They rise to the top, go through the roof. Everybody loves them. Everybody talks about them. Then something strange happens. The fans start to turn on them. This is especially true when a star has a reputation for “wholesomeness”. Probably why it seems to happen to Disney stars so often. You start to see “I hate so-and-so” pages on face-book. The media begins to feature negative stories on them. Other “stars” make snide remarks about them. It becomes very stylish to hate the star. I’m not sure where this comes from. Maybe it’s like when a older child decides Barney the Dinosaur is lame and teases a younger sibling for liking him. It is sort of their way of saying. I’ve outgrown that. I’m older and cooler than you. Then again it may be an attempt distance one’s self from the little people and the common folk. Trying to prove you aren’t just a mindless follower. But it happens. Anyone who still claims to like star is treated like the little brother still clinging to Barney. The young star is left wondering what they did wrong. They didn’t change. Why aren’t they wonderful anymore? This is usually when they star decides it’s time to grow up. Be more edgy, more outrageous. It’s downhill from there. It either works for a short time until they have to go a little farther and a little farther or it doesn’t work. Tthey disappear until they turn up on the news after an arrest or drug overdose. When that happens people will either lament the fall of a talented young soul who meant so much to them as a naive and idealistic youth or they will proclaim loudly and often to anyone who will listen how much they don’t care about this has-been who they never liked that much anyway. When did we get to the point where not caring for a particular kind of music is not enough, we have to hate.
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I prefer Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato to Barney the Dinosaur.
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Looks like the reports of the Syrian govt using WMD’s have been a false flag event. This UN investigator says it was the Syrian rebels, not the govt. Given the radical elements in the rebel groups, it wouldn’t surprise me at all. If we’re gonna start launching cruise missles over it, can we at least make sure we target those responsible? John McCain will be crushed by this news, since he soooo wants to back Al-qaeda in this one.
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/
“Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday.
Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels seeking to oust Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve agent.”
“But she said her panel had not yet seen any evidence of Syrian government forces using chemical weapons, according to the BBC, but she added that more investigation was needed.
Damascus has recently facing growing Western accusations that its forces used such weapons, which President Obama has described as crossing a red line. But Ms. del Ponte’s remarks may serve to shift the focus of international concern.”
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Driversguy, Larry and Bob are sooo last week. They should be eaten with ranch dressing. 🙂
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Meanwhile, is the Syrian government doing anything to show they were the “victims?” Are they taking steps to keep citizens safe?
Who are these rogue rebels? Where did they get the poison? How hard is it to make? What can a local citizen do to protect themselves?
Where are the investigative reporters asking reasonable questions?
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Good articles on the Miley Cyrus thing, Donna. Here’s another one I liked:
http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/08/26/offensive-absurd-and-pornographic-on-mtv-you-say-i-cant-believe-it/
“We are the Culture of Death, the Culture of Nothingness. Miley Cyrus is but one small consequence of it. Go onto a college campus on any Friday night and you’ll find thousands of other consequences behaving in a fashion pretty similar to Miley’s VMA performance. Every once in a while we catch a glance of ourselves in the mirror and recoil in horror because, as it turns out, being a society without any sense of discipline, decency, character, and self respect, really isn’t as cool as we might have imagined.”
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If the rebels were the ones who gassed the civilians, the rest of the world is blaming Asad. Meanwhile, the Obama administration, along with the Brits are preparing for an attack on Syria.This is precisely the reason we should follow the Constitution and only go to war when Congress declares War.
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Re: Miley Cyrus, It didn’t happento Debbie Boone. She has been respectable all her life. Still is. When Miley gets her age, she’ll be a has been.
There are no good guys in Syria. No good guys.
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Has anyone else noticed that Christians had more liberty under the dictators-Iraq, Lybia, Egypt. Syria, ever Iran before the democratically elected tyrants took over?
Has anyone noticed that Islam and Democracy are incompttable?
If the military ever loses control of Turkey, the same thing will happen there.
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kbells — this is one of the odd times we agree.
Child stars have a hard time growing up. For female child stars it may even be harder as they seek to assert a grown up identity and for some this means shaking off the “safe Disney approved” label and moving on to something else. Before Cyrus, there was Lohan and Spears and before that there was Elizabeth Berkely from Saved by the Bell who thought performing more or less naked in Showgirls would be her ticket into adult roles and out of the teen roles she had been typecast in. Males child stars also crash and burn but not usually on stage.
As for the outrage that’s all over the internet and news, can we save that for something to be really outraged about — wars, famines, bank fraud, exploitative wages, etc
Here’s a link which shows what really is outrageous
http://mileycyrustwerkingonreality.tumblr.com/
As for Miley Cyrus as an example of declining morality, please …… nothing has changed since I arrived on this planet. Before Cyrus there were others and before them there was of course Madonna and before there were others — if you’re curious check out Wendy O. Williams — the ultimate punk shock rocker, nothing comes close to topping what she did and attempted to do before they would arrest her.
As a public school teacher people frequently comment to me about “today’s kids” and expect me to agree. And I can’t. I honestly can’t see much difference in the behavior today as in the 70s when I grew up.
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It would be nice to have absolute proof before the planes leave the deck of a carrier. Constitutionally it would be nice to have this debated in Congress (or Parliament) but since WWII its barely happened.
Given the last decade, we’ve all become quite skeptical of the party line and for good reason. In the past Bosnians fired on their own people and blamed it on the Serbs. In the Dirty Wars (which I heartily recommend you read) the author recounts times when Afghan officials would accuse people they didn’t like or who was a rival of being a member of al-queada or the Taliban and the US would then bomb them. The dictator of Yemen became brilliant at manipulating American officials to not only go after al-queada but also tribal groups that opposed his rule. Similarly, Somalian warlords played the same game with the US.
Now in Syria — we have a chemical attack. Assad knows this is the red line for Obama so why would he so blatantly cross it? Makes no sense … so false flag maybe?? Since the Syrian opposition is composed of many factions, some of whom don’t like each other its quite possible one faction attack an other faction’s civilian base and then blamed it on Assad.
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Chas — its not that democracy and Islam are incompatible but democracy (with modern media) and minority rights are incompatible. This process where Christians communities are forced to flee was repeated before. Prior to modern liberalism (the 19th century type not what the Americans call liberalism) and democracy. Ethnic groups were frequently scattered amongst each other. Occasionally differences flared up but usually the groups either cooperated or at least left each other alone. As states centralized, conformity and loyalty was demanded. With a personal monarchy that can be done while maintaining one’s own culture — just swear allegiance. But as democracy spread and political parties jockeyed for power and a base, ethnic and religious differences became more important.
Prior to the French Revolution, France was not French. There were Bretons, Ocs, Italians, Wallonians, Germans, Romansh to name a few. But once loyalty was demanded by the state not the monarch, everyone became French or else.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a collection of disparate ethnic groups who some times had internal quarrels but usually left each other alone. After WWI, identity politics played a bigger role in central Europe. Jews were discriminated against but so were Hungarians and Germans outside of Hungary and Austria. Poland stressed Polish Catholicism at the expense of Jews, Orthodox Ukrainians, Baltic and German Protestants. And after WWII,, the Soviets with western permission cleaned up central Europe. They moved Ukrainians east, Poles west, Germans west, Lithuanians north, Jews anywhere but there. In Romania, Germans and Hungarians were also deported.
the same pattern is going on in the Middle East. Initially secular Arab nationalism drove Arab decolonization and Arab Christians enthusiastically joined in as they were part of that identity. For the most part, Arab independence ended in secular dictatorships in North Africa as well as Syria and Iraq. Some of the forces rebelling against the dictatorship are now using religion as a base of support instead of nationalism. This leaves Christians as supporters of secular dictators.
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And quote of the day …
Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.
George Orwell
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Aj: It looks like your Syria link is to a May 6 article in the Washington Times. Or can the WT see into the future?
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Tychicus,
Yes it is. The confusion was mine. However, it shows they’ve done it before, and are certainly capable of doing it again. And McCain and the Obama admin have left it out of the discussion on who is responsible this time. The UN has not yet determined who did what yet this time.
HRW,
“Now in Syria — we have a chemical attack. Assad knows this is the red line for Obama so why would he so blatantly cross it? Makes no sense … so false flag maybe?? Since the Syrian opposition is composed of many factions, some of whom don’t like each other its quite possible one faction attack an other faction’s civilian base and then blamed it on Assad.”
I agree. And it’s obvious that things are at a standstill for the rebels. The only way that changes is if the US and others destroy Syria’s missle and defense systems as well as command and control structures. That is exactly what the cruise missle is designed for. What we do here will determine the outcome and who controls Syria. Many of the rebels are aligned with Al-Qaeda and other extremists. I simply do not understand how backing them does anything for US interests, or for anyone else in the region, and most importantly it will do nothing for the people of Syria. They will be the ones living under the new rulers. Sharia law and oppression is their idea of governance, and they’ll use their religion to justify it. I just don’t get it.
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HRW, I agree with your post at 19:14.
I voted for McCain in 2008, but am not sorry he is not the president. Other than being more reckless on foreign policy, how would McCain have been different than Obama?
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Since WWII, US presidents with the possible exception of Carter have conducted the same foreign policy. And Obama has continued this policy. The only differences between Bush and Obama are of degrees — Obama doesn’t favor “enhanced interrogation” nor is he a big fan of Gitmo (but has no problem with proxy cites elsewhere — Gitmo is bad PR) . Obama favors JSOC, CIA, and other covert wars as opposed to conventional warfare. Given this, McCain would probably favor “boots on the ground” more whereas Obama would be more content with firing missiles from a few ships and sending in JSOC and other spooks.
The Syrian opposition ranges from secular youth who seek western style democracy to traditionalist who come from non-Alawite tribes to foreign religious nuts. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have poured millions into the Syrian opposition and with money comes a voice hence Sunni al-queada types. As to why the Saudis and Qatar wants to oust Assad — perhaps they know he’s on the way out and they just want to control the outcome. Or some have speculated there’s an oil pipeline planned from Qatar to Saudi to Syria to either the Mediterranean or through Turkey and onto Europe. Building a pipeline through Syria allows Qatar/Saudi to stop using the Persian Gulf which they share with Iran.
I don’t think most Syrians (Syrians are modern and mostly secular) want to let the Saudis determine their future but the chaos of the last two years has given them a way in. Here, I think the US gov’t is probably debating supporting secular idealistic Syrian rebels with little money or supporting Saudis with money and oil (Assad is not an option — he’s Putins friend). Past history indicates the US will pick the latter and the UK, France and others will fall in step. Yes, France is in this one — they’ve been interfering in Syria/Lebanon since the Crusades.
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