http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/dem-rep-says-al-qaeda-no-longer-a-threat-osama-bin-laden-threatens-france/
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010
US Postal Service: a public employee pension and healthcare management organization that delivers ma
Things are so backwards from where they once were. It used to be that the Post Office served the taxpayers. GM used to build cars that people wanted to buy. State government was set up to protect taxpayers. In all of the above cases, those notions have been turned on their heads. The Post office now primarily serves its employees and their unsustainable pension obligations. Same with GM. Same with the state government. As was pointed out not long ago by Mark Perry:
Add to that the US Postal Service (USPS), which is now essentially a public employee pension and healthcare management organization that delivers mail on the side with a large $33.5 billion deficit. This year, the USPS is set to lose another $7 billion that it doesn't have because it is entirely paid for by the taxpayer. The USPS is also faces $54.8 billion in unfunded retiree health and pension obligations and we are on the hook for that too. It will be paid by the bankrupt federal government that continues to spend more that a $1 trillion over what it has every year by borrowing from foreign countries that don't necessarily like us and printing money that devalues our currency. Did I mention that we are $100 TRILLION short in liabilities for social security and Medicare? Doug Bandow has this great piece on the USPS that was picked up by the Oakland Press: Postal Bankruptcy: U.S. Postal Service drowning in debt and out of lifelines
If Congress were to take away the Post Office's monopoly on first class mail, I bet that private companies would do far better in delivering it. And did you know that the Post Office contracts with private carriers for its packages? What does that say about "efficiency?" The Post Office doesn't know what efficiency and affordability are. Speaking of UPS and Fed Ex, that reminds me of this from last year: Video: UPS vs. FedEx
A quote from a few years ago: "If you're not familiar with General Motors, it's a health care benefits management firm that sells cars for a loss as a side venture."Updated version: "If you're not familiar with the state of California, it's a public employee pension management organization that runs a state on the side with a large $19 billion deficit."
...In early July, the post office, which can hike rates on its own if the increase doesn't exceed the inflation rate, filed for a special increase of two cents for first class mail and varying increases for other services with the Postal Regulatory Commission. The commission rejected the hike in September, ruling that the Postal Service's problems were structural, rather than a result of the recession. In any case, raising rates won't save the Postal System.Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution gives Congress the power (one of 17 enumerated powers) to establish a Post Office. But:
The USPS is in crisis. It is locked in a declining market. It can only survive with indirect taxpayer subsidies and a ban on private competition. Instead of forcing Americans to pay more for less service, Congress should open mail delivery to all comers.
...Congress is not required to institute government mail delivery, let alone a public mail monopoly. Today there is competition only in packages and urgent delivery. For regular mail, you must use the USPS, or else.It's interesting to note that packages delivered to your local Post Office are outsourced to UPS or FedEx. Natch. I gotta think that either of those two would do way better with regular mail delivery too. But it's not about value added to the taxpayer. It's about maintaining the public employee healthcare and pension benefits. And the USPS will defend its turf:
In 1844, for instance, the noted libertarian Lysander Spooner set up a low cost delivery service among Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Congress responded by imposing fines on private mail carriers. More recently the post office threatened to sue Boy Scouts who proposed delivering Christmas cards during the holidays. When the USPS learned of companies sending international mail abroad with traveling employees, it demanded payment for services not rendered.As with other taxpayer-funded monopolies, the money on the inside stays on the inside via corruption:
All the while postal rates steadily rose, more than 50 percent faster than the rate of inflation. A first class stamp today would cost 27 cents rather than 44 cents had rates merely matched the inflation rate since 1960. In contrast, bulk mailers enjoy artificially low rates due to the political clout of these businesses.
The post office also takes care of its own. In September came revelations of no-bid contracts to former postal executives for "knowledge transfer." One former vice president received a $260,000 contract to talk to the man who replaced him.And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the key nugget of that article. There' more good info there (such as: since 1971 the post office has lost money in 24 of 38 years, the USPS workforce is over 700,000, the average USPS salary is $83,500 making postal employees among the highest paid semi-skilled workers around, there are 36,500 post offices in America - 26,000 of which lose money - which is more than the combined number of Starbucks, McDonald's, and Walgreens, but the average number of weekly postal customer visits was 600, or one-tenth the average at Walgreens alone) so I recommend reading the whole thing. Meanwhile, the Post Office wants to get paid all its money but deliver mail fewer days. As I wrote in August: Postal workers to protest 5-day delivery plans at Detroit rally, union prez: "ending Saturday mail service would slow service, drive away business and lead to the demise of the world's most efficient, affordable and trusted postal system". The Post Office is efficient and affordable? Even Obama would laugh at such an assertion. In fact, he pointed out last year that the Post Office "always has problems" relative to private companies like UPS and Fed Ex:
In short, the post office has a "customer last" philosophy. Americans exist for the postal service, not the other way around.
If Congress were to take away the Post Office's monopoly on first class mail, I bet that private companies would do far better in delivering it. And did you know that the Post Office contracts with private carriers for its packages? What does that say about "efficiency?" The Post Office doesn't know what efficiency and affordability are. Speaking of UPS and Fed Ex, that reminds me of this from last year: Video: UPS vs. FedEx
As usual, powerful unions are in the middle of the problem.
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FOX News: Terror Suspect Gets Victim Status in Polish Probe
I thought you might be interested in this article: Terror Suspect Gets Victim Status in Polish Probe.
Morning Bell: Red Tape Rising
Next January the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to issue new regulations on emissions from boilers used in facilities like oil refineries, paper mills, and shopping malls. The EPA claims their new regulations will only cost the economy $9.5 billion by 2013. But the American Chemistry Council says the cost will surpass $20 billion and kill 800,000 jobs. Who is right? We don't know. But what we do know is that if you total up all of the new regulations already passed by the Obama administration last year, using their own cost estimates, fiscal 2010 saw the largest increase in regulatory burdens placed on the U.S. economy in the nation's recorded regulatory history.
According to a report released last month by the Small Business Administration, existing total regulatory costs already amount to about $1.75 trillion annually. This "hidden tax" on the economy is nearly twice as large as the sum of all individual income taxes collected last year. Adding to this burden, federal agencies promulgated 43 new rules during the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010. The total cost of these rules, each one individually calculated by the Obama administration itself, was $28 billion. Only two of these new rules reduced regulatory costs, and then by only $1.5 billion. On net, the Obama administration inflicted $26.5 billion in new regulatory costs on the economy last year. The biggest costs last year all came from the EPA including:
- Fuel economy and emission standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles. Annual cost: $10.8 billion.
- Mandated quotas for renewable fuels. Annual cost: $7.8 billion.
- Efficiency standards for residential water heaters, heating equipment, and pool heaters. Annual cost: $1.3 billion.
- Limits on "effluent" discharges from construction sites imposed by the EPA. Annual cost: $810.8 million.
As high as this $26.5 billion total is, as the above boiler example shows, the actual costs of all these new regulations is almost certainly much higher. First, the cost of non-economically significant rules—rules deemed not likely to have an annual impact of $100 million or more—is not calculated. Second, no costs were given for 12 of the rules that were deemed economically significant. But most importantly, the costs that were given are likely minimized because the regulators are allowed to make up the cost of their own regulations. A 2005 Office of Management and Budget Report to Congress found that regulators underestimated the costs of their rules 34% of the time.
As bad as last year's rising tide of red tape was it does not hold a candle to the tsunami of regulation the Obama administration is planning to inflict on the U.S. economy during their final two years in office. The 2,319 page financial regulation bill requires 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies. The 2,700 page Obamacare bill contains more than 1,000 instances where Congress instructed HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to regulate the health care industry. And the Federal Communications Commission is considering implementing, for the first time in the history of the internet, "net neutrality" regulations that will undermine investment incentives, thereby robbing the nation of much-needed broadband upgrades.
The left likes to peddle the myth that President George Bush deregulated much of the U.S. economy. But this is just plain false. By every objectively measurable metric, the size and scope of the regulatory state grew significantly under his tenure. But President Obama's regulatory regime is currently rising at more than twice the rate as President Bush's did. No wonder our nation's job creators can't help us escape near double digit unemployment.
Quick Hits:
- Contrary to White House claims, The New York Times reports that it is Democrats, not Republicans, who have spent the most money on campaigns this year.
- The voting machine technicians in Clark County Nevada, where there have been reports of irregularities, are members of the Service Employees International Union.
- Gov. Edward Rendell (D) signed an order Tuesday effectively banning further natural gas development on Pennsylvania land.
- Fired NPR analyst Juan Williams told the Diane Rehm show yesterday that NPR was biased toward liberals and intolerant of a diversity of opinions and that "people at NPR have to be held accountable for their words and actions."
- Unions Do Fire Some People After All.
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Voting Machine Irregularities Reported in North Carolina- Machines Changing Votes From GOP to Dem (V
Another incident of voting machine irregularities was also reported yesterday in North Carolina. A voter said he pushed the button for a straight-party Republican ticket and the voting machine screen displayed a ballot with all Democrats checked. The problem was reported in two different counties.
WITN reported:
The Sun Journal reported:
A Craven County voter says he had a near miss at the polls on Thursday when an electronic voting machine completed his straight-party ticket for the opposite of what he intended.
Sam Laughinghouse of New Bern said he pushed the button to vote Republican in all races, but the voting machine screen displayed a ballot with all Democrats checked. He cleared the screen and tried again with the same result, he said. Then he asked for and received help from election staff.
"They pushed it twice and the same thing happened," Laughinghouse said. "That was four times in a row. The fifth time they pushed it and the Republicans came up and I voted."
M. Ray Wood, Craven County Board of elections chairman, issued a written statement saying that the elections board is aware of isolated issues and that in each case the voter was able to cast his or her ballot as desired.
Chuck Tyson, chairman of Craven County GOP, remains skeptical. He has been communicating with Wood about the issue and was invited to a meeting Wednesday with state elections officials. There were no further details about that meeting.
"Something is not right here," Tyson told the Sun Journal. He said he "got two or three calls" from people describing the same problem while they were voting.
"I'll be matter of fact, I didn't find that press release satisfactory," Tyson said, referring to Wood's written statement.
Tyson reported other problems as well, including long lines waiting for just two voting machines in Havelock, and machines reporting 250 ballots cast where 400 voters had signed in to vote.
This follows the news yesterday of voting machines irregularities in Nevada.
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/voting-machine-irregularities-reported-in-north-carolina-machines-changing-votes-from-gop-to-dems/
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Dem Senate Candidate Manchin Says He Didn’t Understand Obamacare When He Endorsed It (He Supported I
What a pathetic excuse. West Virginia Senatorial Candidate Joe Manchin told reporters that he didn't understand Obamacare back when he endorsed it in March.
Yeah, right.
Obviously, he still didn't understand Obamacare two weeks ago when he said he still supported it.
The Politico reported, via Free Republic:
The Democratic Senate candidate from West Virginia, Gov. Joe Manchin, says he didn't understand key details of the health care reform legislation when he publicly endorsed it in March — an endorsement he has since withdrawn.
"Reaching as far as they did in the — in the weeds of the bill that we didn't know about, no one else knew about until it came out — knowing that, I would not have supported that or voted for that at that time," Manchin said on "Fox News Sunday."
Asked about areas where he disagrees with President Barack Obama, Manchin cited the health care reform legislation Obama signed in March.
"The health care reform is far overreaching in areas that I don't agree with — the 1099 part of that, the mandates. Also, the firewall's not strong enough for abortions. I'm pro-life. And we're just a different type of Democrat here in West Virginia," Manchin said. (The "1099″ reference is to a revenue-raising provision that requires businesses to report more transactions to the IRS.)
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/dem-senate-candidate-says-he-didnt-understand-obamacare-when-he-endorsed-it-he-supported-it-2-weeks-ago-too/
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Fraud: Harry Reid's union thugs illegally paying people to vote with free meals, gift cards
From the Las Vagas Sun (via memeorandum), here is the election law:
Nevada law (NRS 293.700) provides that, "A person who bribes, offers to bribe, or use and other corrupt means, directly or indirectly, to influence any elector in giving his or her vote or to deter the elector from giving it is guilty of a category D felony and shall be punished as provided in NRS 193.130."…Here's the headline of the LV Sun article: Angle campaign attorney: Reid "intends to steal this election if he can't win it outright", and the letter from Angle's counsel:
As Sharron Angle's campaign attorney, I am sorry to report that the Democrats and their cronies are up to their same old tricks, of trying to manipulate the election in hopes of skewing the results in their favor.When did we get to the point that as conservatives, we can't just win election but must win them outside the margin of ACORN fraud?
Two days ago, the Democratic Secretary of State announced that voters can be provided "free food" at "voter turnout events." Harry Reid has been offering free food and, according to other reports, some Democratic allies such as teachers' unions are offering gift cards in return for a vote for Reid.Before we were even able to document the reported infractions to report to the authorities, the Democrat Secretary of State slammed the door shut on preventing this behavior and issued a public statement permitting these ACORN-style tactics. THESE are the kinds of shenanigans that can turn this race.
Harry Reid intends to steal this election if he can't win it outright. ...
Understand, EVERYTHING we have worked for in the last year could be destroyed by dirty tricks and criminal acts in the next 8 days. As Sharron's first line of defense on these matters I am absolutely committed to making sure this won't happen.
What Harry Reid is doing is clearly illegal. ...
We've seen evidence of this sort of voter 'enticement' by groups such as ACORN - where, in 2008, two ACORN workers in Milwaukee were accused of offering pre-paid gasoline cards or restaurant gift cards to people in exchange for registration.
John Fund wrote in his book Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy, cited reports from the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (South Dakota) and the election in 2004, where certain residents were quoted saying that "people on the streets were saying you go vote, they would give you gas money, $10, maybe a pack of cigarettes..."
Now, this week in Las Vegas, at our election hotline, we received reports that some teachers' union representatives were offering Starbucks cards to people to get them to vote for Harry Reid. It is even more disturbing and may be possible that they are using their influence and authority as educators to entice students on behalf of Reid.
...The right to vote is a precious one - and it carries with it somber responsibilities. The Democrats' willingness to allow voters to be enticed with a promise of any thing of value is a debasement of the process- and it may just destroy everything we've worked for. ...
Sincerely,
Cleta Mitchell
Counsel to Friends of Sharron Angle
Republican Nominee for U.S. Senate, Nevada
P.S. I've been in this business a long time. I have never before been so convinced that a candidate would reach so low in order to be victorious. ...
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Fraud, fraud everywhere… FRAUD!
News from Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
One of the bluest of the blue metropolitan areas in the country. Heavy Democrat demographics. Heavy union membership. Heavy participation by state, local and county government officials. And a load of absentee ballots.
A trio of Bucks County residents backed by the county Republican committee say they have evidence linking Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy's campaign to a scheme to flood the county voter registration office with fraudulent applications for absentee ballots.
In a petition filed Tuesday, county Republicans say the name of Murphy's campaign manager appeared on a Bristol post office box where voters were urged in a series of letters paid for by the state Democratic Committee to send absentee ballot applications.
The county Republicans submitted with the petition a photograph of a note inside the mailbox that said, "Tim Percico and Paul Hampel only pick up mail." Tim Persico is Murphy's campaign manager, although his name is misspelled in the note. Hampel is a volunteer for the Democratic state committee who said he collects mail from the box.
…
In response to the Republican petition, the Bucks County Board of Elections scheduled a hearing 9:30 a.m. Friday at the courthouse to hear evidence of what the Republicans characterize as a coordinated effort to trick voters into improperly applying for absentee ballots and efforts to submit fraudulent applications for absentee ballots.
"While some of these invalid applications have been caught and rejected by the Board of Elections, we believe many other defective and objectionable applications were inadvertently approved by the Board of Elections due to the pervasive nature of the fraud," the petition says.
The petition also asks county election officials to secure all completed absentee ballots at the courthouse in Doylestown until the board of elections can conduct an investigation of the claims.
Smells like SEIU, doesn't it?
Here's the scam: You get a boatload of people to send in applications for absentee ballots. You send in so many that the local officials can't possibly examine them all for propriety in the rush to process so many. The ballots are returned to a central location, where people "not connected" with the Democrat organization complete the ballots and mail them in, swamping the system with absentee ballots that were dutifully signed off on by the Registrar's office and by all appearances, look valid.
Kudo's to the watchful Republicans who filed the petitions. This is the kind of stuff that's been going in in places like Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and other Democrat districts for decades. Stopping it will take a long term, concerted effort by local, honest citizens who believe in the principle of "one man or woman, one vote."
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ibleedcrimsonred/OvJu/~3/mF7Qs_P0Nos/fraud-fraud-everywhere-fraud.html
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Wikileak: Saddam Hussein Kept Secret Stash of Mustard Gas
The documents showed that US troops continued to find chemical weapons and labs for years after the invasion, including remnants of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons arsenal -- most of which had been destroyed following the Gulf WarWell I'll be darned....
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GOP Headquarters in Denver Vandalized Twice This Past Week
GOP headquarters in Denver were vandalized twice this week.
Officials are not clear if the vandalism was politically motivated.
The Denver Channel reported:
The Denver County Republican headquarters were vandalized twice this past weekend.
On Saturday night, someone used a hammer to drive 17 holes into the stucco building and through a sign for Ronnie Nelson, a Republican candidate for state House District 5.
And on Sunday, someone ripped signs off the side of the building and threw them on the street, said Denver County Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call. The four 5 feet by 8 feet campaign signs, belonged to John Suthers, Ken Buck, Scott Gessler, and Ronnie Nelson.
It's not clear if the vandals were politically motivated or if there were just creating mischief.
"We are not sure if this vandalism is politically motivated," Call said, "but we would hope that those who do disagree with us are able to do so in a way that is not disagreeable. Our parties have different ideas about how best to fix this country, and that discourse is important, but it needs to be conducted civilly without resort to violence and vandalism."
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