I have a voice - and this is where my voice takes flight.

April 24, 2012

Going postal

by Nori — Categories: Government, Social networking, Wising up — Leave a comment

The USPS is facing big problems. They can’t afford to meet their pension obligations, a problem which is the result of poor management (nobody can do poor management quite like the government), union manipulation (the root of the pension problem in the first place) and a really poor business model. So, what to do, what to do.

I have a few suggestions.

Charge a premium for home delivery. The farther out you are, the more it costs and the cost is per mail delivery. You have to pick how many times a week you want it delivered and on what day(s). That would offset the cost of manpower and fuel to get the mail out to those of us who truly live in the sticks and reduce the man-hours of the people doing the delivery. The postage charges would be for getting the mail from the sender’s local post office to the post office of the receiver, not for home or business pick up and delivery.

With this you have to have a way for people to get and send their mail at no additional charge, so offer a free drive through service for mail collection and dropoff. Have it open from 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. This would be good for people who work. Postal customers could collect their mail before or after work or at lunch. This would also greatly reduce rural mail theft.

Then add volunteers to the postal service like they’ve done at the libraries which have gone private. Volunteers and a pickup window will have the benefit of rebuilding some of our sense of community. Seniors and stay-at-home parents can work shifts. Turn this into a community effort. The unions will scream loudly, but I like that noise . . . yeah, I get sadistic glee when the unions scream.

To cut down on junk mail, which is a total waste, charge much more for bulk mail. MUCH more. With the internet, there’s less and less need for this type of mail and most people would be happy to see it go away.

Or, we could just privatize the USPS. That would solve all the problems in one decisive action. The government does nothing well, so let the private sector take over the task of handling our mail.

April 20, 2012

April 4, 2012

Assigning homework

by Nori — Categories: Government, Politics, Taxing the American Public, Wising up — Leave a comment

If you’ve been following the news, you know SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) had hearings last week on three things involving the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act.

On day one they heard arguments to determine if they could hear arguments . . . it was one of those “it’s a tax!”, “no, it’s a penalty” things that involved defining the parameters of the argument based on past legislation and the wording of the law.

The second day had arguments about the constitutionality of the Individual Mandate (you MUST buy health care or pay a penalty). The most profound bit of that was the question “can the government create commerce so they can regulate it” and that whole thing didn’t go very well for the government. Their guy came across as far less than competent and prepared. The final guy arguing for striking down the mandate was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I’ve listened to this bit more than once. The guy is brilliant.

The last day was on another bit in the legislation involving Medicare/Medicaid. That didn’t go so well for the defense either. In all, as CNN attested, the current administration got their collective butts kicked. It made me smile.

So POTUS (President of the United States) got all officious and up in the face of SCOTUS and said there was no precedent for SCOTUS to reject what the legislators had created, that it was totally constitutional, any rejection would be completely politically driven . . . blah, blah, blah. The next day he backtracked a bit but essentially said the same thing, how dare SCOTUS take into question the constitutionality of this “essential” piece of legislation.

This political faux pas caused great humor, commentary and apoplexy (2)(3)(4)(5) among the constitutionally more savvy set as they compared POTUS’s history as a student and professor teaching the Constitution against the completely false assertion that SCOTUS has no power to overturn legislation that lacks a constitutional base. In all, I find it pretty amusing. If you want a sampling of what’s out there beyond what I’ve listed here, plug this into your search engine and start reading obama constitution professor supreme court.

POTUS’s inadvisable comments caused another court to exercise a little judicial outrage. The federal judge in another case assigned the administration some apparently much needed homework.

…a federal appeals court judge in Texas — troubled by Obama’s remarks about the propriety of unelected judges striking down acts of Congress — ordered a Justice Department attorney to give him — within 48 hours — a three-page letter, single spaced, specifically referring the president’s statements and what they mean.

5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry Smith said he wants to know the position of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department on the concept of judicial review.

“I want to be sure that you are telling us that the Attorney General and the Department of Justice do recognize the authority of the federal courts through unelected judges to strike acts of Congress or portions thereof in appropriate cases,” Smith said.

The judge made the request during oral arguments in a separate challenge to another aspect of the federal health care law…

So we’re all waiting to see what the administration submits, if anything. More hilarity is sure to ensue.

April 1, 2012

Still riding the “ain’t no such thing” global warming horse

by Nori — Categories: Economics, Energy, Feeding the Soul, Government, Politics, Wising up — Leave a comment

The rain can stop any time now. If it doesn’t, I’m considering ark building as a potential hobby.

There’s lots going on in the global warming debate. Much of the steam has seeped out of the global warmists’ engine. Poland, among other EU eastern border countries, has told the rest of the EU to eff off, they’re going to continue to use their plentiful coal to produce the energy needs of their country. While that was a big thing when they started spouting it at the initial upswell of the global warming debate, now the figurative flipping-off is causing nary a ripple.

India and China are building thorium nuclear power plants patterned on research the US did middle of the last century. As a country, our failure to embrace our own research and our inability to be nimble in retrenching to a better/safer/cheaper nuclear technology is leaving egg on our faces. It’ll be interesting to see what Japan does over the next 10 years.

The EPA has backed off on its suit against a gas drilling company in Texas. It seems the methane in the drinking water was a pre-existing condition. Who knew?! <rolls eyes> I’m hoping the ruling against the EPA on the Sackett case in the Supreme Court was a bit of a wake-up call but I’m wasting zero time and energy holding my breath in anticipation. Governmental arrogance is a well established trait unlikely to change.

I read a really good article on Climate Realists this morning about past warm periods/droughts (decimated the Roman population) and wet periods (people literally had limbs and digits falling off) and plague (fleas brought in by the rat migration due to drought). I need a time machine so I can send those who think we actually have any influence on climate back in time. I’ll even let them pick ice age or drought! See how generous I am?! And no, I’m not bringing them back. I envision this as a one-way trip. I see it as their civic duty to reduce the current population’s influence on the climate by engaging in a little population reduction, a nice little bit of forced altruism.

So, today we’re testing to see if you’re up on the facts on CO2. Yeah, that’s me, poking people through the bars of their cage. <evil laugh> I have to get my ever-so-cheap thrills where I can. It is, after all, still raining.

So, pick one.

I think ALL of the CO2 in the Earth’s Atmosphere is from man.
I’m not sure how much “Man Made” CO2 is in the Earth’s Atmosphere.
There is .04% CO2 in the Earth’s Atmosphere and of that “Man” has added an extra 4% (1 part in 62,500)

If you pick the first, the time machine line forms to my left. If you picked the second, I’m a little surprised you stayed awake long enough to read all the way through this post. You can go back to sleep now.

March 27, 2012

On Nancy Reagan and Jane Fonda

by Nori — Categories: Feeding the Soul, Government, Politics — Leave a comment

Does it bother you at all that avowed socialist Jane Fonda is slated to play the iconic Nancy Reagan? I have to say . . . it bothers me a lot. Not only because I don’t want the nation’s memory of Mrs. Reagan soiled by being associated with such an un-American person, but because I don’t think Fonda is a good enough actress to pull of the quintessential and beloved First Lady and wife of one of our most successful Presidents ever.

March 24, 2012

What’s in it for me?

by Nori — Categories: Feeding the Soul, Government, Politics, Wising up — Leave a comment

Are you a fully actualized citizen? You can determine your status by answering one question. When you reflect on the federal government and ponder “what’s in it for me”, what are your expectations? What is it you expect the government to do for you?

If you haven’t really studied government, how it was designed to work by our founders, how it works now, how the changes impacts the citizenry and the direction our country’s headed, you may not see the pitfalls before us. Let me give you just a little food for thought.

In my view, a fully actualized citizen is one who, when questioning the role of government and what they have to gain, thinks about the natural rights of liberty and property as defined by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They know to get ahead they must work harder AND smarter, but they expect to be able to benefit from their efforts and sacrifice. They expect to bear the penalties of their mistakes. They have embraced their freedom and revel in it.

Someone who has not yet reached full maturity in their citizenship is someone very concerned about “fair”. Any benefit they could potentially receive by direct action of the government are perceived as rights to which they feel entitled . . . right to health care, right to a job, right to a house. The catch-word for this class of citizen is “fair”, I want my fair share, he has more than I do that’s not fair. They have no concept that “fair” is actually “fair and equal under the law”. It isn’t “you get the same”, it’s “you get treated the same”, a wholly different thing.

The only thing we are truly entitled to beyond the liberties and freedoms defined in the Constitution and Bill of rights is freedom of opportunity. Anything or anyone who reduces this right is negatively impacting your natural right to success as each of us defines it.

This country used to be about freedom, the right to work hard . . . or not, the right to strive to better your existence . . . or not, the right to think and dream and live to the best of your ability. This is the ideal of advanced citizenship as defined by the Constitution and Bill of Rights!

I read a really interesting article last week which resulted from the parasite woman in Boston wanting her birth control paid for by taxpayers. I posted the link to that article in a previous post. Sometimes things click and this morning the entitlement mentality, feminization of manly men and the dependency of women (see aforementioned article) all coalesced into a whole in my mind. Our country is made up of those who are philosophically women/children who want/need to be taken care of by others. These people don’t want to think for themselves or sacrifice/strive to the degree necessary to care for themselves. They are a sub-class of citizenry, the philosophically dependent.

Our country is also comprised of citizens who embrace our freedoms and celebrate the independence that goes with it. These citizens emulate our founding fathers in their desire for self-actualization. They work hard, they play hard, they sacrifice and suffer to achieve. They understand true freedom means being independent to succeed or fail. They understand failure isn’t the end, it’s just a lesson for what doesn’t work. They don’t turn to the government to fix their failure but retrench and start again. These are the advanced citizens.

March 17, 2012

Parasites

by Nori — Categories: Economics, Politics, Social networking, Taxing the American Public, Wising up — Leave a comment

Have you had days when you didn’t feel particularly nice? I think we all do. Now that I’m older, I generally try to rein in the chaos-generating waves, where in the past I would have let my pencil fly. So, here is the kinder, gentler take on Sandra Fluke and the argument she’s put forth.

Has the Sandra Fluke thing bothered you at all? I have to say, it’s bothered me on a number of levels. I’m wondering if her last name isn’t a signifier. You do know what a fluke is, don’t you? It’s a parasite which leeches your nutrients and weakens you. It’s a bit ironic that Ms. Fluke is studying to be a lawyer, a totally different kind of parasite AND shares the name of a class of parasites.

So why do I have trouble with Ms. Fluke’s stand on the taxpayers paying for her birth control?

The entitlement mentality (“you owe it to me”). This is just wrong, but it is what we get when we raise a generation of citizens with an absence of ethical self-actualization. This is the “easy path” generation. They are not an accurate reflection of the ideology that built this great nation. The French, they are among us.
Since when did women’s “rights” include me paying your bill? A woman has the right to equal opportunity, not the right to be turned into a dependent of the taxpayer.
It embraces the socialistic ideology of equality without effort. While she is fully capable of finding an extra $9 a month to pay for her own birth control, she feels she should be entitled to someone else picking up the tab. It does not speak well of her that she’s unable to budget her resources sufficiently to handle this herself. Sadly, she’s of an age where she will probably never gain that degree of ethical self-actualization. A parasite is born.

Maybe the movement chose the wrong person as front person. To choose a lawyer in training who shares a name with a common parasite may have just been a wrong move.

Here’s a psychotherapist’s take on the whole affair. If you read nothing else about the Sandra Fluke affair, please make the time to read this.

February 17, 2012

February 2, 2012

Google, thanks and goodbye

by Nori — Categories: Feeding the Soul, Social networking, Wising up — Tags: big brother — Comments Off

Google has recently changed the way they are managing their privacy policies with no option to opt out of the targeted advertising that will result from the change. Being the anti-social anti-authoritarianist I am, that makes me uncomfortable. Can you say “big brother”? Being the reactionary I am, you just know I had to do something about it . . . and I did. So, Google, thanks and goodbye.

While I could give each of my presences in Google-land a different login so my separate activities remained . . . well, separate, I think that’s a bit pointless when all my identities use the same computer. Hello? Connect the dots here. I wouldn’t put it past Google to tie all those presences together and worsen the problem. No thanks. Hmm, I didn’t mention being paranoid, did I? Well, maybe just a little. So I chose to take a different route and divest myself of as much of my Google usage as I comfortably can.

Up until last night I used Google four ways; mail, chat, search engine and rss reader. I have a GMail account which I don’t use as a mail client. That account allows me access to GTalk which I do a stunning 12 times a year . . . maybe. This puppy’s not used enough to do any harm. I’m almost never there and when I do kick GTalk on I make a point to go into my GMail account and clean out the YouTube notices. (Note to self, cancel those YouTube subscriptions and kill that info source.) I use Google as my primary search engine because the way Yahoo handles click-throughs on image searches is really frustrating. I won’t change this because if I’m not signed into a Google account, my search results aren’t tied to me so no harm there. The one that was going to bite me was the rss reader. <wince> I read a fairly prolific number of items each day, so that one I had to change.

Last night I went in search of a new rss reader. The first one I downloaded wasn’t making me smile but the second one is definitely going to work. I’m now happily using BlogLines. And, I have to say, it is impressive. It makes the Google rss feed reader look like a kindergarten app. <wince> Sorry Google, but in comparison, you suck.

So here’s the silver lining thing . . . I never would have considered trying BlogLines if it hadn’t been for Google’s policy change. Thanks Google!

February 1, 2012

Pay no attention . . .

by Nori — Categories: Economics, Politics, Wising up — Comments Off

. . . to the man behind the curtain.

I’m pretty sure everyone’s seen the ad with the cartoon characters representing the tapped out Federal Reserve with Ben Bernanke and Obama hiding in the vault with all the government IOUs. You get a real feel for the slight-of-hand going on in our government. I don’t know about you, but I find it really distressing.

Yesterday I watched a video about a company Romney managed that was deeply engaged in Medicare fraud to the tune of massive amounts of money. Politifact judged the video to be mostly true. Romney managed to divest himself and Bain Capital of the company at exactly the moment the Feds descended on the company with warrants. Romney was either a clueless manager and the timing if the divestment was fortuitous or he is one clever bastard willing to countenance fraud in search of a better bottom line for Bain Capital. Let’s call this a smoking gun and move on.

Then, this morning the CATO Daily Podcast was on Romneycare. The podcast is mostly about the fact checking of Santorum’s claim that Romneycare increased free-ridership five-fold, but that’s not the most illuminating piece of the podcast. Right at the end of the podcast is the real jewel.

Listen all the way to the end and then tell me what you think. Clever bastard or ignorant dupe? After you finish the podcast, you should have a clue what I think.

Older Posts »