Monthly Archives: June 2013

Duck Sex and Essential Government (Part I)

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

I’ve been observing the genitalia of ducks for several years now. Did you know, the female duck has an anatomical part similar to a cork screw that acts as a deterrent to male ducks the female is not interested in, uh, screwing?

Well, I should clarify that statement.

I really haven’t been studying the under carriage of ducks. Patricia Brennan has on my behalf and yours. She’s a professor at the University of Massachusetts who studies duck sex under what has become an 8-year project under a $384,000 (what we presume to be an annual) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which you and I support with our tax dollars. Continue reading →

A Changing World

BY GARY JOHNSON
Reprinted from Loose Change (TCBMag.com)

The National Security Agency’s Prism revelations have contributed to America’s growing ambivalence and fear around privacy and personal data. Who knows what legislation may result from it all.

I know that, like many fellow citizens, I was not alarmed by our government’s data-gathering practices. I am more alarmed by what private enterprise can and may do with my data. But, for me, that’s an old saw.

Author Mitch Joel released a book, Ctrl, Alt, Delete, that attempts to establish a certain level of fear and foreboding in us by offering up some staggering statistics indicating how our world has changed, transformed by the digital revolution. It’s yet another police siren the digerati persists in blowing and I’m not sure why.

We know the world is changing, for God’s sake. Rather than dish facts, how about demonstrating some traction and results? Continue reading →

State Department Acting Undiplomatically

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

As if President Barack Obama didn’t have any embarrassing issues to deal with, now come the reports – not proof – of some really ugly allegations. The original reporting came from CBS which came into possession of a memo from the Diplomatic Security Service alleging wrongdoing and possible interference in at least eight investigations.

According to CBS, among the allegations were:

  • A U.S. Ambassador having “routinely ditched” his security detail to meet up with prostitutes in a public park.
  • Members of Hillary Clinton’s security detail procuring prostitutes while overseas which activity, the report claimed, was “endemic.” Continue reading →

Tread Carefully on E-Verify

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Republicans have rightly condemned both the costs and the intrusiveness of Obamacare. They believe, and I agree with them, that the new law will increase health premiums, hurt innovation, cost a boatload of money (actually, more than a couple boatloads), drive down quality, and put the power of health care decisions in the hands of government bureaucrats.

Republicans have a healthy skepticism of an overbearing and expensive government, and they have consistently voted to defund it or repeal it on dozens of occasions.

If too much government is a bad thing when it comes health care, why is it suddenly a good thing when it comes to hiring a nanny, getting some help with the lawn, or hiring a short-order cook at the local deli. Continue reading →

Tracking My Calls

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

I am trying to get spun up over the story about the National Security Agency tracking every phone call made by every customer using a cell phone over the Verizon network. But, I can’t.

I don’t think it’s a big stretch to think that the NSA is also tracking your calls if you are on AT&T’s network, T-Mobile, Sprint or the Harry’s Cell Phones & Discount Beer network.

As I understand it, the NSA isn’t listening in to our phone calls – or at least they haven’t been caught at it yet. They are tracking the number called, the calling number, the duration of the call, and the location of the calling and called phones. Continue reading →

Privacy in the Age of Exhibitionism

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Privacy is over-rated.

We say we want our privacy, but we really don’t care that much about it. The government wants the privacy to invade our privacy in order to sniff out terrorists. Despite the best efforts of Rand Paul and the ACLU, most Americans are just fine with that.

Polls show that when there is a competition between privacy and security, the American people pick security every time. Continue reading →

Getting Good Help is Never Easy

BY GARY JOHNSON
Reprinted from Loose Change (TCBMag.com)

“If one wanted to crush and destroy a person entirely…all one would have to do would be to make him do work that was completely and utterly devoid of usefulness and meaning.”—Fyodor Dostoevsky

My father-in-law owned restaurants. Like retail, it was a rough, tough business. His loudest and most common gripe was not being able to find good help. Competent, trusted waitresses, dish bussers, bartenders, even managers were hard to find. And the good ones were even harder to keep, many jobs back then being thankless tasks for pennies and nickels. Continue reading →

Protecting Chinese Oil

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

According to the Washington Post, 6,648 U.S. service personnel were killed in Iraq starting in April, 2003. The vast majority of those killed, 4,588 or 69 percent were young people under the age of thirty.

I am not going to re-litigate the Iraq war today. Or, probably, ever. But I do want to point out an issue that has arisen over what has happened to all the oil in Iraq over which, according to many, we had gone to war to protect for our own use.

It didn’t work.

According to an article by reporters Tim Arango and Clifford Krauss in the New York Times over the weekend, “Since the American-led invasion of 2003, Iraq has become one of the world’s top oil producers, and China is now its biggest customer.” Continue reading →

Thanks Frank

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Frank Lautenberg died today. He was 86.

Most political pundits will immediately turn their attention to Chris Christie and whom he will appoint to the Senate to replace Senator Lautenberg.

There’s not a lot of sentimentality in Washington, so that’s not that unusual. You die in Washington, and the first thing people think about is who will take your place. Continue reading →