What’s interesting in the news today?
The shutdown continues. And so does the petty nonsense and closings.
From TheWashingtonExaminer “Most of the furloughed Department of Defense civilian employees will be recalled, according to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who acknowledged that government lawyers interpreted a Pentagon funding law passed on the eve of the shutdown too narrowly.
“Today I am announcing that most DOD civilians placed on emergency furlough during the government shutdown will be asked to return to work beginning next week,” Hagel said Saturday.”
“House Republicans passed the Pay Our Military Act to the Senate on the eve of the government shutdown in order to insulate the Pentagon from the effects of the lapse in government appropriations.
The Senate passed and President Obama signed the measure, but the Pentagon furloughed about 400,000 civilians anyway.”
Of course they did. This is supposed to be painful because that’s what Obama wants.
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Boehner continues to refuse a stand alone CR.
From Bloomberg “U.S. Speaker John Boehner said the House can’t pass an increase to the U.S. debt ceiling without packaging it with other provisions — a nonstarter for President Barack Obama.
“We are not going to pass a clean debt limit,” Boehner said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” program. “The votes are not in the House to pass a clean debt limit.”
“Boehner said he believed the country could end up in default if Obama doesn’t negotiate. “That’s the path we’re on,” Boehner said.
Boehner’s comments came as the stalemate between the White House and House Republicans showed little sign of thawing just 11 days from when Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told lawmakers the U.S. will exhaust measures to avoid breaching the debt ceiling. The House and Senate aren’t scheduled to be in session today and there are no meetings planned between the two sides.”
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Say it with me now….. Most transparent administration evah! 🙄
From HotAir “Remember when the media rushed to talk about transparency in the Barack Obama “Hope and Change” era? Good times, good times. Leonard Downie, who once worked as the executive editor of the Washington Post and wrote a novel about Washington corruption and the Iraq War, finds a bigger and non-fictional problem in the successor to George W. Bush. Downie gives the Post a preview of his report from the Committee to Protect Journalists which outlines the Obama war on reporters and their sources:
“A memo went out from the chief of staff a year ago to White House employees and the intelligence agencies that told people to freeze and retain any e-mail, and presumably phone logs, of communications with me,” Sanger said. As a result, longtime sources no longer talk to him. “They tell me: ‘David, I love you, but don’t e-mail me. Let’s don’t chat until this blows over.’ ”
Sanger, who has worked for the Times in Washington for two decades, said, “This is most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered.”
Many leak investigations include lie-detector tests for government officials with access to the information at issue. “Reporters are interviewing sources through intermediaries now,” Barr told me, “so the sources can truthfully answer on polygraphs that they didn’t talk to reporters.”
Nice.
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And a new term of the Supreme Court is about to start. Should be some interesting cases to follow.
From TheLATimes “The Supreme Court term that opens Monday gives the court’s conservative bloc a clear opportunity to shift the law to the right on touchstone social issues such as abortion, contraception and religion, as well as the political controversy over campaign funding.
If the justices on the right agree among themselves, they could free wealthy donors to give far more to candidates and parties and clear the way for exclusively Christian prayers at local government events.
In other cases due to be heard this fall, the justices are likely to uphold state bans on college affirmative action and block most housing bias claims that allege an unfair impact on blacks and Latinos.
They may also give states more authority to restrict and regulate abortion.”
Let’s hope so. 🙂
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Wandering Views 
When I worked for the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) shutdowns never had an effect on us.
Others got what amounted to paid vacations. Only they couldn’t go anywhere because they had to be available..
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But they could cut the grass and paint the bedroom.
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“Maine Doctor, Michael Ciampi, Cuts Out Insurance To Reduce Costs For Patients”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/29/dr-michael-ciampi_n_3354120.html
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“This is most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered.”
Others have also said this, but there is clearly something eerily nixonesque about the current president.
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Saw this on Facebook, & thought of Ricky Weaver…
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/bruce-bawer/three-cheers-for-poland/#.UlIQiQbl2Pc.facebook
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This one ticks me off. So our veterans are denied access to their memorials, folks are barred from National Parks, and in many cases evicted, and yet this group and their Dem/RINO supporters are given access. For a rally for non-citizens. Disgraceful.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2536908
“A planned immigration reform rally will take place on the National Mall on Tuesday even though the site is closed due to the government shutdown.
Organizers for the “Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform” were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday.
A few scattered barriers around the park have signs informing visitors that the area is closed as a result of the government shutdown.”
“About 30 members of Congress are expected to attend the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.”
Once again, one set of rules for the commoners, but special treatment for the ruling elites and their hopefully future voters. Citizens are barred, but exceptions are made for non-citizens, and make no mistake there will be numerous non-citizens attending whose presence alone violates our immigration laws. They get a pass, we get locked out. Don’t seem right.
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I love this: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/07/truckers-for-the-constitution-plan-to-slow-dc-beltway-arrest-congressmen
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DrivesGuy,
I’m reading the comments from that now. Hehehe. 🙂
Part of me wants to shout “Lock it down boys!” 🙂
But that wouldn’t be cool if you live there. It’s bad enough on a good day.
Civil Disobedience rocks! Unless you’re stuck behind them…. Then not so much. 😯
So if you’re heading that way, avoid the Loop.
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Glad you liked the article. Everyday people taking a stand. We will not go quietly into the night. 😉
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Apparently the ACA isn’t a job killer. Walmart has learned that it pays in the long run to hire full time workers.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/09/25/wal-mart-returning-to-full-time-workers-obamacare-not-such-a-job-killer-after-all/
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Just read an article on Facebook that says it is by a retired constitutional lawyer who has read the entire Obamacare bill and evaluated it based on the constitution. Has anyone else read this?
The Truth About the Health Care Bills
– Michael Connelly, Ret. Constitutional Attorney
Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200:
The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009.
I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.
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Those of you who have been to Washington know that it doesn’t cost the government anything to visit the Lincoln Memorial, nor the Vietnam Memorial. They are just there. Same as WW II.
I’ll bet they didn’t shut down the GW Parkway the way they did the Yorktown-Jamestown Parkway.
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Jo, John Roberts needs to read that.
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Many of those positive elements of Poland could be attributed to the Czech Republic as well.
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I hear on Fox News that an illegal immigrant can legally practice law in California.
Also, a child in California can have more than two legal parents.
I wonder who pays child support (or who gets it) when they divorce?
Who does a minor list as his parent on the school forms?
Does anyone in California have a brain?
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I know.
The brains in California stay out of politics.
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Karen, Thanks for the article. My Dad said the Poles make something very much like our Chicken-fried steak. He loved the place. Tychicus, Is there a similar dish in the Czech Republic?
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RW: They do have that dish in the CR, but the most typical dish would be a pork-dumplings (different than our dumplings)-sauerkraut meal.
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I was looking at the World Bank graph of healthcare spending I posted yesterday. Singapore spends less than 5% of GDP on healthcare. The US spends 18%. Singapore has per capita income almost equal to the US. Life expectancy in Singapore is 82, three years longer than the US. I am adding Singapore to my short list, but it is too small. It needs to acquire more territory.
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How can the truckers slow down the Beltway when it is already a parking lot at rush hour?
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The article on Poland comments on the near-absence of hajibs in Warsaw. Living in Poland in the early 90s I seem to recall many women wearing hajib like scarves and shapeless dresses to the floor. Of course they were nuns but the uniform is remarkably similar.
Ricky — Singapore has a mandated savings/insurance plan ie not much different than the ACA. Why not support Obamacare and stay in the US rather than move to Switzerland, Singapore and other countries which have similar systems.
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Chas, I used to have a brain. I’m pretty sure I did.
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Singapore has a lot of rules. I didn’t see any cars with dents. I don’t think that you are allowed to chew gum. Very well regulated state. Didn’t see many homes, it is mostly high rise apartments.
The fact that we can have individual homes is simply amazing. I flew from Hong Kong to San Francisco once and couldn’t believe the difference just from the air.
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Singapore is small and homogenous. Funny, HRW, about nuns, but then they chose, didn’t they, and don’t require every other woman to hide . . .
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HRW, As I have said before, my problem with Obamacare is that it does not reform or dismantle Medicare, Medicaid and the other federal healthcare programs. It is like putting a skin graft over a malignant tumor. Singapore spends 5% of GDP on healthcare. With our socialist approach, we spend 18%.
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Anonymous, Singapore is small and homogeneous. How does that impact healthcare costs?
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