This is so wrong in any number of ways

NYC Parks Dept Xmas Party

How Will Creationists Explain This Away

Nothing irks me more than people who deny science and think of evolution as a theory.  You cannot use logic to change their mind and I like to believe that logic can always prevail.

Billion year old water

Sad, but true

I may have used that title before, but it fits here.

I went to a golf simulator and discovered what I already knew.  The best golf course for my inability to generate more club speed is The Links in Vermont.  But I am not going to move back there for that.

What I really want to write about today is the desire of the Congressional Republicans to prevent the government from operating.  The list of things they are doing to retard the never ending need to improve the efficiency of government has become stunning.  We have to have a government and it needs to operate efficiently.

In no particular order:

Refusing to vote on any number of administration appointments below the cabinet level.

Refusing to vote on any number of federal appointed judges.

Refusing to allow a conference on the budget to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills (how does 1 senator do that?)

Refusing to consider technical changes to the Affordable Health Care Act.  May I remind my readers that ObamaCare was designed by the Heritage Foundation (now headed by Jim DeMint) and 1st implemented in Massachusetts by Governor Romney.  ObamaCare is a Republican Policy and all they want to do is repeal it, rather than work with it. I don't understand what the GOP congress stands for on healthcare.

I am sure there are other things the Congress is not doing, but those are the big ones.

Tax Reform has Become an Absolute Necessity

I have discussed in passing in earlier blogs that tax reform was something that I thought was a good idea.  However, the Congressional reaction to Apple's testimony on taxes was dismaying.  I didn't like what some of the more vocal Democrats said about tax avoidance (when everything Apple does is legal)  and I didn't like the more vocal  Republicans who hinted that not paying taxes was patriotic.  That sort of stuff is what the IRS needs to police to be fair to those of us who do pay taxes.

Every publicly listed corporation pays the taxes that they legally owe.  How do I know this?  Because I have worked for public corporations and every one of them had IRS personnel in their offices almost every day of every year reviewing the compilation of the tax returns and the supporting materials for the entries.  Generally accepted public auditors also reviewed the supporting materials.

But that does not mean that many US Corporations are not paying a fair share while they are following the rules of the law.  Right now, the US 35% tax rate is higher than almost every other country.  US companies have every incentive to keep profits they earn overseas in lower tax countries in those countries.  Furthermore, companies have the ability to re-domicile themselves and only pay US taxes on US operations.  I don't find that particularly patriotic, but you cannot argue that Corporations have an obligation to be patriotic, only to generate the highest returns for their shareholders.  I have seen more than one corporation re-domicile themselves to cease US taxation of foreign earnings.  Apple has not done that and that is why the Democratic criticism is off the mark.

The fact that Corporations have no obligation to be patriotic is why they should not have a right to contribute in unlimited fashion to political campaigns.  Citizens United did not address the obligation to be patriotic.  But every citizen of the US has an obligation to be patriotic and paying taxes is one of those obligations.

The government has an obligation to create a framework for taxes that is fair to everyone and provides the revenues that the government needs to meet its obligations.  The US cannot have a tax rate that is higher than other countries without creating an incentive to move income to those countries.  The US must reduce its corporate income tax rate to a level that removes that incentive.  And since many companies do not pay the listed tax rate because of special items in the tax code, those items must be removed or at least limited, so that corporations pay for the government services they consume.

Corporate tax reform is a critical necessity.  And while that is being done, we might as well limit deductions to for individuals to $100,000 or some similar large value to remove incentives that might be created for the well-off to avoid taxes they would otherwise owe.

Bridge Collapses and Infrastructure Spending is at 20 year low

Another House of Representatives GOP Inconsistency

After spending years criticizing Fannie and Freddie for getting involved with non-traditional mortgages, the House Committee yesterday criticized the new Consumer Protection Agency for trying to limit non-traditional mortgages.  Let us not forget that non-traditional mortgages severely ruined the American Dream for many people.

However, I have long been against Federal Farm Subsidies, but been dubious that anything would be done about it because nothing else unites Democrat and Republican members of the House like charity for farmers.

However, I had a small hope that tea party GOP members might provide a small window of opportunity to address farm subsidies.  That hope is dashed with this little piece of news that the fox is in the hen house.

It turns out that Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee (GOP from Frog Jump, Tennessee - rural towns in the South have much better names than rural towns in the North) is a recipient of millions of dollars of farm subsidies.  He has not only voted for bills that would increase those subsidies while voting to cut spending elsewhere to pay for those increases, he is a leading proponent of cutting $20 bn from the food stamp program which is also in the Agricultural Bill that allocates money to farm subsidies.  He clearly favors charity for himself over those who are in need.

GOP Supports Non-Traditional Mortgages

The GOP House members today ripped into Richard Cordray, candidate to head the CFPR, because the CFPR wants to limit less than prime mortgages.  You know the type of mortgages that brought on this deep recession that has cost all of us some deep level of economic distress and required the deficit spending that the GOP hates.  Hasn't the GOP learned that less than prime mortgages are BAD!!!

Yet another reason to not vote for the GOP.

Where will this go?

I quote the Morning Plum from the Washington Post.

"GOP DEEPLY DIVIDED OVER BUDGET TACTICS: This is a telling divide: Senators John McCain and Susan Collins are tearing into Rand Paul and Ted Cruz over their continued insistence that Republicans refuse to enter into budget negotiations with Democrats. Paul Cruz are insisting that if Republicans do that, Dems will be able to sneak a debt ceiling extension into any deal, depriving Republicans of their leverage."

"What this shows, again, is that the far right is preventing Republicans from engaging in basic governing, and instead is insisting that they stick to tactics such as threatening to destroy the economy to get their way."

I hope this guy didn't have children

because they will be challenged in the IQ department.

$82 mm check kiting to support cash rich business

Maybe a Consensus on a Carbon Tax will Develop Eventually

But not in time to prevent the disappearance of some low lying places.

Insurance Companies to the Rescue, Eventually?

Well, it didn't take long

for me to break my pledge.  The pledge not to write run-on sentences about politics.

One irony of the GOP glee at trying to make major scandals out of the editing of talking points, a GOP appointed IRS guy doing the Democrats dirty work of trying to determine if political organizations are political or societal serving organizations which is a legitimate IRS decision (the IRS did get over zealous, but it was a GOP guy in charge), and the Administrative Branch trying to find who leaked something that was still TOP SECRET is the following:

I know you forgot the beginning.

One irony of all this is it will kill any chance of a grand bargain on the budget.  The GOP won't agree to revenue raises.  The Democrats will not agree to entitlement cuts.  No one will get appointed to any job that requires Senate approval and that will fix the budget deficit (GDP growth will help too) because no one will be collecting paychecks from doing necessary jobs.

Then the Democrats get to run on we fixed the budget deficit without cutting spending so the voters can have their Social Security and Medicare with no changes.  Then the baby boomers will start collecting and buy that no changes are necessary.  And we will have a financial disaster in 10 to 15 years with only tax raises as a feasible solution.  Contemplate that RedStateVT.

US Politics is now a Farce (And that includes the AARP)

And I will not be commenting on it very much.  Thank goodness I have work to absorb my mental energy.

These two columns sum everything up pretty well as to why none of us should take what we see in the media or goes on in D.C. most days with any seriousness.  When we get to a real crisis point, there will be a compromise, so we might as well not pay attention until there is a crisis.


Link 1


Link 2


One last thing.  I joined the AARP so I would hopefully find health insurance if I needed to.  They were absolutely no help with that.  Now they are polluting my inbox with messages that say in essence "contact your legislators so there is no change to Social Security or Medicare".  AARP knows very well that neither program can meet all its obligations without either more revenues, tighter control on costs or some change in the promised benefits.  But their emails say "Just SAY NO".  It didn't work for Nancy Reagan's War on Drugs" and it won't protect retirees' benefits.  Changes are necessary and for Social Security, changing the CPI calculation is a relatively painless way to improve the situation.  I will not be renewing my AARP membership because their discounts are not at places we will stay.

I Finally Found a Jennifer Rubin Quote I Agree With

On former Governor Sanford's House of Representative's Win Yesterday.

"Whether we are becoming a more libertarian or a libertine society is a matter of debate. But the real take-away is that Republicans talk a good game on “family values” but don’t take it all that seriously."

"Democrats should also recognize that, as the Cook Political analyst David Wasserman tweeted last night,  there is  “fundamental problem for Dems: if they can’t beat Sanford”: How can ”they beat less damaged GOP candidates” in other races? In a gerrymandered country, they probably can’t. Their consolation prize is the ability to mock the GOP’s obsession with “traditional marriage” only when it comes to gays."

Burials and Symmetry

I learned this morning, with no surprise, that irresponsible ownership of a home and its grounds has more legal responsibility than ownership of a gun.  Apparently, a victim of a person who maintains a gun in an irresponsible manner has no right to sue them in many states and there are certainly no legal consequences.  The article cited a 5 year old who was given a kid's rifle and killed a 3 year old.  All the Sheriff could say, "Tragic, but there are no grounds to arrest anyone."  What about the parents?

The NRA keeps saying "Guns don't kill people, People kill people."  But they would fight the passage of any legislation that would establish minimum standards for maintaining a gun in the home so that unforeseeable tragic events do not happen.  That would at least provide symmetry with the responsibilities of home ownership.

The dead Marathon Bomber is apparently causing small minded people problems in Worcester, Ma.  They are upset that the funeral home there agreed to manage the body.  Since it turns out the Russians did not want to allow the body back into Dagestan, it has to go someplace.  So small minded people are in more places than Worcester.  The man is DEAD!!   He CANNOT harm anyone in the funeral home.

The real issue is the cemeteries.  They don't want him buried on their grounds.  I guess it would upset the neighbors to have a dead terrorist in the plot next to theirs.  I was going to suggest cremating the body, but I did Google the question and found the following on an Islam education website.  Islamic dead people are buried, not cremated because that is what is in the Koran.  I respect the right of anybody to follow anything they want to, but shouldn't a religion also try to keep up with the times and technology.  If we keep burying everybody, the whole world will be cemetery eventually and there won't be any land left for growing food, playing sports or living.

The article says:
"One of the reasons for this is that our knowledge of what happens to the person after death is limited, and, therefore, God alone knows what is good and bad for us in an ultimate sense."

Wait a minute!  Even a religious person knows what happens after death.  The Soul goes to heaven (or perhaps hell) and the body become decomposed by WORMS and BACTERIA and other processes.  And if you don't believe in souls or heaven, well then you just rot in the ground.  Cremation just speeds the process up.

So I guess the bomber will have to be dressed up and tossed into the sea like Osama bin Ladan was.  No cremation, just pollution of the ocean.

The House of Representatives: 9 more years of idiocy.

“When the caribou want to go on a date,” he told a House hearing, “they invite each other to head over to the pipeline.”

My friend RedStateVT already knows and applauds this state of affairs, but the rest of my readers might find this essay illuminating as to why the President cannot get even the most basic bill enacted into law without a crisis at hand to force a vote.

Tom Egan Essay

Unfortunately, this is not good for the country.

Quick thoughts, I am supposed to be working and I am busy.

Just sold my Vimplecoms and need find a Russian asset to replace it.

1.  The additional Marathon Bomber arrests.  I was initially wondering how the younger bombers college friends could be guilty of aiding and abetting.  This is why it pays to reserve judgment.  Now I know they knew their friend was accused, took a text message from him and acted on those instructions  discarding some of his belongings.  That is aiding and abetting.  At the very least they should compensate the authorities for the cost of digging through the garbage dump to find what they discarded.  At the most, they deserve a some time in jail (but hopefully not enough to radicalize them).  On the other hand, these are not the smartest people.  They were driving a car with "Terrorista" on the license plate.  I think UMass Dartmouth needs to review their admission standards.

2.   Pat Toomey, the GOP senator from PA who worked on the Gun Background Check legislation, confirmed that Senators dare not provide a positive vote for anything the President wants or they will face a primary challenge from the Right.  On that basis we will have no progress on anything because the GOP cannot vote for what is right for the country if the President wants it and the Democrats will never support what the GOP wants and the President, in turn, would veto.

3.  Governor Cuomo is power politician.  Well, it isn't pretty, but that is what it takes to run a state with dysfunctional and dishonest legislature.

4.  Everyone is complaining that ObamaCare is raising healthcare costs when all anyone complained about was rising healthcare costs before ObamaCare was even a vision.  Perhaps, ObamaCare has not had a change to work on all aspects and, perhaps, it needs some modifications.