Good Works?

“Why is it per se wrong to work for the government? Let’s say you’re working as a firefighter. Or a teacher (presuming you aren’t indoctrinating your students with statism, of course). Or a librarian in a public library. Or a doctor who works at a government hospital. Or someone who builds roads for the government. I could probably think up more examples, but . . I don’t see any NAP violation, at least as such, in taking any of the above jobs.”

It is very wrong, dear reader.

It’s just that most people don’t realize it – because they only see one half of the equation. The “good” – but not the bad.

This dangerous illusion must be dispelled.

The fact that a “good person” (not meant ironically) does “good work” (again, not meant ironically) with resources taken by force from an unwilling victim doesn’t negate the fact that a victim has been created. This is the essential point.Someone else has been harmed – perhaps even killed - in order to provide the alleged (or even actual) good.

At minimum, some other person – some victim – has been cowed into submission using the implied threat of physical violence.

It doesn’t get more wrong than that.

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OBAMACARE GIVES STUDENTS EXPENSIVE LESSON IN BIG GOVERNMENT

Traditionally, students at America's universities and colleges were able to take advantage of "bare bones" health insurance policies; that's no longer an option thanks to ObamaCare.

The schools are now forces to choose between offering more expensive coverage, or none at all.

The new rules affect a broad swath of American schools, especially the small ones. At Bowie State University in Maryland, the cost of student health insurance policies went from roughly $100 a year to $1,800 a year.

Many students are now forced to fend for themselves, which is often no bargain - let alone a problem given the massive failures associated with the Healthcare.gov roll-out.

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Conservative Activists Plan To Elect Shadow President If Obama Doesn't Resign By Black Friday

Revised Declaration of Independence, 'government-in-waiting' plans shared at 'second American revolution' kickoff

Approximately 100 conservative activists gathered in front of the White House on Tuesday for a kickoff of what organizers call "the second American revolution."

The event could easily have been mistaken for a tea party rally, with American and Gadsden flags, a smattering of biker jackets and a few lawn chairs.

Freedom Watch founder Larry Klayman, who emceed the event, told attendees if President Barack Obama does not resign by Nov. 29, conservative activists will meet in Philadelphia to elect a shadow government.

"We've got God on our side," Klayman said. "He's going to make sure we win this revolution."

The so-called revolution will be nonviolent, he said.

Klayman is suing the Obama administration in a bid to end the National Security Agency's phone and Internet surveillance programs. He said at the rally that Obama "has broken into 300 million homes" with the programs.

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Obama Removes 'God' From Gettysburg Address

Washington DC talk show host Chris Plante reported today that Barack Obama omitted the words "under God" from the Gettysburg Address when reciting the great speech for a Ken Burns documentary.

Burns had filmed all living presidents as well as various Hollywood personalities and luminaries to pay homage to the speech which was delivered by Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago, today.

Plante broke the story on Washington DC talk radio station WMAL on his mid-morning program, "The Chris Plante Show."

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Harry Reid Considering Rules Change To Curb Minority Power To Block Presidential Nominees

Senate Democratic leaders who have grown frustrated with the repeated Republican rejections of President Obama's judicial nominations are seriously weighing a historic change to the chamber's rules that would neuter use of the filibuster by the minority party.

"I'm considering looking at the rules," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday following a closed-door meeting with Democratic senators.

The rules change was a main topic of conversation at the meeting, Democrats said as they left. Some Democrats have already been contacted by Reid about supporting the rule change. Reid needs 51 votes to change the rules and Democrats control 55 Senate seats, but some Democrats are wary of changing the way the chamber is governed, in part because the rule change could be used against them if Republicans take control of the Senate in the 2014 elections.
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Marc Faber Exposes The Consequences Of A Dysfunctional Political System

As H.L. Mencken opined, 'The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.'

It is no wonder that, according to a Gallup Poll conducted in early October, a record-low 14% of Americans thought that the country was headed in the right direction, down from 30% in September. That's the biggest single-month drop in the poll since the shutdown of 1990. Some 78% think the country is on the wrong track.

Some readers will, of course, ask what this expose about the political future has to do with investments. It has nothing to do with what the stock market will do tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or in the next three months. But it has a lot to do with the future of the US (and other Western democracies where socio-political conditions are hardly any better).

I have written about the consequences of a dysfunctional political system elsewhere. In May 2011 I explained how expansionary monetary policies had favoured what Joseph Stiglitz called 'the elite' at the expense of ordinary people by increasing the wealth and income of the 'one percent' far more than that of the majority of the American people.

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Gitmo Good Life: U.S. Spends Millions On Landscaping, Art Classes For Terror Detainees

Thanks to a multimillion-dollar federal contract, Guantanamo Bay prisoners can enroll in seminars to learn all about basic landscaping and pruning, calligraphy and Microsoft PowerPoint while the U.S. figures out what to do with them.

Prisoners also can get in touch with their artistic sides.

“At a minimum, the art seminar shall include water color painting, charcoal sketching, Arabic calligraphy, acrylic painting and pastel painting,” contract records reviewed by The Washington Times state.
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Can You See Friday Yet?

Government To Investigate Government Over Jobs Manipulation Report

As a result of yesterday's report  that Census was caught manipulating the September 2012 jobs report, the BLS provided the following response via CNBC:

"the incident has been reported to the Commerce Dept Inspector General Office for investigation. We no further (sic) comment."

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World War II Mortar Round Found In Hagerstown Home Safely Detonated Near Airport

A World War II mortar round was detonated during a controlled explosion Monday night near Hagerstown Regional Airport, the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office said.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Edward Ernst said a man found a 75 mm mortar round while he was cleaning a home Monday afternoon at 526 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown.

He said the man took the ordnance to the Western Enterprise Fire Department, where firefighters requested help from the fire marshal’s office bomb squad.

Ernst said fire marshals drove the mortar round to Washington County-owned property off Air View Road and detonated the ordnance at about 8 p.m.
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Woman Hailed By President as Obamacare Success Story Now Can't Afford Obamacare

While Their Kids Sleep, These Parents Pull Of This Amazing Stunt...

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Craig Calls For Elimination Of Common Core National Test

Harford County Executive and candidate for Maryland Governor David R. Craig called today for the state’s withdrawal from the common core national test, citing a lack of clarity over how much the new system will cost, concerns about test questions and that only 9% of teachers feel ready to implement it.

“There are red flags going up everywhere threatening the statewide K-12 education system, and it’s time to cut our losses now,” said Craig. “Common core has its own set of issues and the national test that is lumped in with it just compounds the problem. The State Department of Education is embracing a federal education agenda that forces too many changes onto teachers and students at once, and it’s time to put the word ‘Maryland’ back into our schools.”

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which goes by the letters PARCC, is a national testing organization that received part of a $330 million federal grant to implement the test in 18 states that have adopted common core. Despite the federal grant, the organization estimates the cost to administer the test will be nearly $30 per student, at least $2 million more than the Maryland state test being phased out.

“I have not seen one example of a government expenditure coming in below estimate,” said Craig. “This is a floor of what taxpayers can expect to pay to implement the PARCC test, not a ceiling. Let’s see the bill because whatever the final amount due is will be coming out of the budget for teacher salaries, school supplies and building construction.”

Harford County Public Schools has budgeted $18.5 million to implement the test. At a stop at a county public school classroom this week, Craig took note of confusion over the wording of a test question that baffled the teacher, the student and the county executive himself.

“The problem with outside groups designing tests is there is no accountability in the classroom,“ said Craig. “When I was a teacher, we developed our own tests and our students then could measure up with any other student in the world. They are making this far too complicated. Let teacher’s teach.”

A survey released November 13 by the Maryland State Education Association shows just 9% of teachers across the state feel that their school has the technological and physical capacity to administer the PARCC exam. This summer, state test scores dropped dramatically as common core was being rolled out.

PARCC tests are being piloted in Maryland and other states this year and they will replace existing Maryland assessments beginning in 2014-15. By ending Maryland’s involvement in PARCC, the state would join Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma and Utah in removing the test from state classrooms.

Craig has previously called common core a “great mistake.”

More Money From Rising Gas Tax Going To Mass Transit

Maryland needs to continue to invest more in public transportation as it sees a boost in funding from the rising state gas tax, transportation experts said Monday at annual transportation summit of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

The panel, featuring high-ranking officials from the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), unanimously lauded the passage of HB 1515, the Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act which increased transportation funding — to $4.4 billion over 5 years — through the hotly-debated gas tax increase and other transportation revenues such as bus fares and vehicle registration fees.

Panelists for the Greater Baltimore Committee discussed plans for the expansion of the DC Metro System, highlighted recent improvements made to the Baltimore Lightrail System, and emphasized the importance of expanding the state’s public transportation system to support sustainable growth in the region.
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Darrell Issa Sends Letter To Census Demanding Info On Alleged Fake Jobless Data

The House Oversight and Reform Committee is demanding answers from the director of the Census Bureau after a news outlet reported that Census employees may have fabricated data for a jobs report that showed a significant drop in unemployment under President Obama just a month from Election Day 2012.

Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote Tuesday to Census Bureau Director John Thompson calling the allegations in the New York Post "shocking." Issa requested information about Julius Buckmon, the employee the Post said fabricated data after being unable to reach the people who had the information he needed.

The jobs report, released in October 2012 just ahead of Election Day, showed that the unemployment rate had dropped under Obama from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent even though the economy had added only 114,000 jobs.
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Police: Son Likely Stabbed Va. State Sen. Creigh Deeds, Shot Himself

The day before he apparently stabbed his father at the family’s home in rural Bath County, the son of Virginia state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds underwent a psychiatric evaluation but was not admitted to a hospital, because no bed was available.

Deeds was listed in fair condition late Tuesday after his son, Austin, stabbed him in the face and chest, then shot himself in what investigators suspect was an attempted murder and suicide.

The incident thrust the senator back into the spotlight after several years of quiet. Deeds (D) vaulted to the statewide political stage in 2009 as the Democratic nominee for governor, only to lose to Republican Robert F. McDonnell (R). After the defeat, Deeds went through a divorce and largely receded from public view, even though he stayed on in the Senate.
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Obama's Legacy: More Americans than Ever Reject Government Role in Health Care

In a stunning reversal, a new Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans (56 percent) do not think it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have health coverage. The new poll reports that just seven years earlier, the American majority (69 percent) had the opposite view, believing that government was responsible for ensuring all American have health care.

The public’s shift from giving government a greater health care role started before President Obama’s first term. It picked up steam with an all-time high this year as Obamacare—the President’s signature domestic legislation—has largely botched its much-hyped rollout.

Interestingly, attitudes across three partisan groups, Democrats, Republicans, and independents, have all moved away from the idea that health care coverage is the federal government’s proper role, Gallup reports. Today, 86 percent of Republicans, 55 percent of independents, and 30 percent of Democrats believe the government should not be involved with health care. Gallup predicts Obamacare’s implementation will continue to drive the public’s perceptions about U.S. health policy:
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Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Press Release 11-20-13

On Saturday November 16, 2013 at approximately 1745 hours the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office responded to Stephen Decatur Highway in the area of the Frontiertown Campground Berlin, Worcester County, Maryland for a reported pedestrian struck by a vehicle. Upon arrival Deputies located the victim who had been able to get himself off the roadway and call 911. The victim told Deputies that he was walking north on the shoulder of Stephen Decatur Highway when he was struck from behind by a vehicle. The victim was unable to provide any further information on the vehicle except that it continued north on Stephen Decatur Highway. There were no witnesses to the accident. From evidence recovered at the scene Deputies were able to determine the striking vehicle to be a dark red GM passenger car that has a missing passenger side mirror and possible passenger side damage.

On Monday November 18, 2013 an individual who Deputies identified as Dolores Jean Miles, 92 female of Berlin, Maryland contacted police in reference to being involved in an accident on 11/16/2013 in front of Frontiertown. Deputies were able to match the evidence recovered at the scene to Miles’ vehicle, a 2009 maroon Pontiac passenger car. Investigation is still ongoing.

Maryland Prepares Move Back To Paper Ballots For Elections

Local election officials are already expressing uncertainty about what could go wrong when the state switches from an electronic voting system to using paper ballots in the next two years.

By the 2016 presidential elections the state will replace touch-screen machines and make a fundamental shift to the way voters cast ballots.

“This is a big transition for us,” said Montgomery County Board of Elections Deputy Director Alysoun McLaughlin. “Everything from set up, to warehouses, to the voting experience is based around touch screen [voting] machines.”
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Inside The Hidden Tech Battle Over A Smartphone "Kill Switch"

There's a hidden battle over stolen smartphones. Last year, more than 1.5 million Americans had their devices taken, and New York City saw a 40 percent jump in smartphone thefts. There is a solution, known in the industry as a "kill switch."

But, as CBS News senior correspondent and FBI insider John Miller reported on "CBS This Morning," that idea has been met with some heavy resistance.

It can happen anywhere anytime -- walking on a city street, or even buying tickets for public transportation. Thieves will do almost anything to get their hands on smartphones.
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