Month: September 2013

Why We Must Reset the Fiscal Debate: 15 Charts | Center for American Progress

The government will most likely be shutdown as of midnight today……and after that butt fuck is solved then we will have the debate on fiscal policy and debate ceiling and other delays to keep from working on real problems for a country that is losing itself slowly……..

I know economics make most ill but this has graphs in it that is easy to read and understand……a good place to start if you want to keep up with the comical ramblings of a broken political system….

 

Why We Must Reset the Fiscal Debate: 15 Charts | Center for American Progress.

A Shutdown? But What Will Really Happen?

We are looking at a governmental shutdown as of midnite today…….not all the clowns are in the same car………

Lots of talk about the impending government shut down…….well back in the days of Clinton and his much talked about shutdown cost the country….what?

The last two shutdowns during the Clinton era — one lasted six days in 1995 and another stretched 21 days at the end of 1995 and beginning of 1996 — cost the country 0.5 percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP) growth and more than $2 billion (in today’s dollars) in unnecessary expenses — as government employees abandoned their jobs to prepare for the shutdown. Economists estimate that were a short-term shutdown to occur next month, it “would do significant economic damage, reducing real GDP by 1.4 percentage points.” A two-month shutdown could “precipitate another recession.”  (thanx to think Progress)

(Thanx to ABC News for photo)

But in today’s screwed up political world what will it cost our country if these dipshits get their way and shut down the government……

FINANCIAL SERVICES. The Small Business Administration will stop making loans, federal home loan guarantees will likely go on hold, and students applying for financial aid could also see delays and backlogs in applications.

ARMED FORCES. U.S. troops serving at home and abroad could stop receiving paychecks if the shutdown continues for an extended period and changes of station would also be delayed and facility and weapons maintenance would be suspended. Families back home would also be impacted.

HEALTH CARE. The National Institutes of Health will stop accepting new patients and delay or stop clinical trials. Medicare and the Veterans administration will continue paying out benefits, but new filers could face delays and doctors and hospitals may also have to wait for reimbursements.

PUBLIC SAFETY. The Environmental Protection Agency would stop reviewing environmental impact statements and food inspectors would stop conducting workplace inspections unless there is an imminent danger. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms could stop processing applications for permits.

SECURITY AND TRAVEL. The Department of Homeland Security would suspend the E-Verify program, which helps businesses determine the eligibility of employees, creating hiring delays. The State Department will also likely halt new passport and visa applications.

PARKS AND RECREATION. The National Park Service sites and the Smithsonian Institution will be shutdown. During the 1990s, 368 sites closed down and approximately 7 million visitors denied entry.

DISASTER RELIEF. In preparation for a potential shutdown, the Utah National Guard is holding off on sending a team to help rebuild areas in Colorado devastated by massive floods last week. More National Guard engineers are desperately needed to repair major roads and bridges in Colorado. Roughly 240 Colorado National Guardsmen currently working on flood missions are also in danger of losing funding.

A little something for thought…….if the shutdown occurs government employees will be sent on furlough and get NO pay……that is all but one group of government employees……the US Congress….their pay will continue….so the people that cause the problem get to continue their pay and benefits while the rest of the country suffers…….

Explain to me again why!  Why do we allow these asswads to continue their clown acts and still get paid for being screw ups……?

But what if we avoid the shutdown?  What then?

We’re less than a week away from a possible government shutdown, but it probably won’t come to pass, writes Matthew Yglesias at Slate. The safe money right now says that Ted Cruz won’t be able to fend off the inevitable result: Republicans will agree to yet another last-minute resolution that keeps the government running for another month or two and includes funding for ObamaCare. Hence no shutdown, which has to be good news for everyone, right? Nope, writes Yglesias: “I’m rooting for the opposite, and you should be, too. A little government shutdown isn’t the worst thing in the world, and it’s much better to have this fight now rather than entertain months of herky-jerky crisis.” By “this fight,” Yglesias is including the looming deadline to raise the debt ceiling. A shutdown is small potatoes in comparison to the political and financial crises that would result from a default, or even the threat of one. John Boehner wants to bargain for concessions with President Obama, and Obama refuses. Given the public disapproval of the “shutdown-or-defund strategy,” Yglesias thinks that the GOP would cave quickly during a shutdown on both the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling. We’d be safe through the next election, after which lawmakers could revisit everything—perhaps even the very existence of a debt ceiling. “By contrast, if we avoid a shutdown, we’ll have simply teed ourselves up for another crisis a few weeks later,” he writes. “Bring on the shutdown.” Click for Yglesias’ full column.

I await some of my Tea Party friends to tell me why they would want a shut down……what would it really accomplish?

All this vitriol is just too weird….it looks like there are some that want our government to implode…..what would that do?

Water, Water Everywhere

Keeping with my Mars theme for this weekend……..the US has sent numerous vehicles to the red planet, Mars and most are going for one reason only……….search for life……..so far not much has panned out…..until lately………

If you hear a dull roar, it’s probably just the collective scream of science buffs the world over. NASA’s Curiosity rover has found water in Mars’ soil, and the BBC describes it as a “surprising amount.” The find occurred at the hands of Curiosity, which scooped up a bit of dirt, heated it to 1535 degrees Fahrenheit, and found about 2% of that soil, by weight, was H2O, bound to other minerals. The news came from a series of five papers published in Science yesterday, and it’s knowledge future astronauts can make real use of. “If you think about a cubic foot of this dirt and you just heat it a little bit—a few hundred degrees—you’ll actually get off about two pints of water—like two water bottles you’d take to the gym,” explains Curiosity researcher Laurie Leshin. And it’s not just the amount, but the extent, that’s interesting: “This dirt on Mars … seems to be about the same everywhere you go,” says Leshin, meaning those astronauts could “quite easily extract water from almost anywhere.” But Gizmodo shares a bit of a buzzkill. “We didn’t find evidence of organic molecules in the soil. So, this doesn’t have a very big bearing on the life on Mars discussion,” Leshin explains. And the Guardian has a warning for those future visitors: The soil they’d be exposed to also contains perchlorate, which hinders thyroid function.

This is monumental news!  Now we can look closer for those little green guys with the bulbous heads……or we could just wait for them to show in their giant walkers……either way……life on Mars is getting closer……

Would You Volunteer?

The weekend and time to lighten up a bit….we have all had enough gut wrenching reports and we need to think of stuff on the lighter side…..

You could volunteer for the Peace Corps or Americorps or for some charity but these people have volunteered for a one of a kind mission……..from Salon.com…..

Mars colony

Mars One

Only a few dozen will be chosen for the 2023 mission to colonize the red planet.

Five months after the Netherlands-based private spaceflight project Mars One announced it would begin accepting applications for a one-way trip to the red planet, 202,586 people from more than 140 countries have submitted videos explaining why they should be chosen for the mission.

The first of four selection rounds ended August 31. Now, the Mars One selection committee will spend the next several months narrowing down the applicants. There are even plans to launch a reality TV show to choose the final candidates. The goal is for 24 to 40 people to begin a seven-year training program in 2015. Then, working with the private space flight company SpaceX, Mars One hopes to send the prospective Martian settlers to the red planet in teams of four, beginning in 2023.

Okay my question is…..would you volunteer for a one way mission?  If so….why?

Will Boehner Survive?

We hear daily that the Speaker of the House, Boehner, is losing control of his people…….that the Tea Party crowd will do what they want and disregard anything they do not agree with…..while that may be an admirable characteristic….it does little to get this country moving in the right direction…..

We have the budget debate sneaking up on the Congress….the debt extension is coming and the debate of the deficit looms……..what can we expect from the Congress….I mean besides another repeal Obamacare vote?

Several insiders tell the Huffington Post that John Boehner could exit the House speaker role after 2014, despite his July assurances to the contrary. “The speaker has made clear publicly he intends to remain in his position in the next Congress,” says a Boehner rep. But others close to the speaker suggest otherwise: “He has to say that. He can’t not say that. The minute you say (you’re leaving), you’re done”—but “everybody around him thinks this is his last term.” “It’s the overwhelming, working assumption as people are making strategy going into 2015 and 2016,” says another GOP figure. For one thing, HuffPost notes, Boehner might not be able to keep the job even if he wanted it. Tea Partiers nearly voted him out last time around, “and that group of opposition has only grown,” notes another insider. On the other hand, the speaker fears the prospect of a GOP in disarray should he leave. Meanwhile, several names have emerged as replacements, led by Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the Financial Services Committee chair. Click for more.

Will the House actually get some work done before the end of the year?  Well not much in September….they only work 9 days this month….great job…..health insurance, gym access, retirement and only a part time employee…….not a bad gig if you can afford it.

How long will we, the voter, allow these worthless lumps of crap continue to ruin the country and it economy?  Personally, as long as the voter worries about Buck County Tennessee and not the country then we are doomed for this type of do nothing government…….both parties have turned the country into a throbbing massive lump of contradictory issues with NO solutions in sight.

The Complete Guide To The GOP’s Three-Year Campaign To Shut Down The Government | ThinkProgress

I know that I do not agree with many of my conserv friends but we have to admit that we have had a crappy three years, at least when it comes to doing actual governing……and now we have the threat of the government being shut down, which by the way if it does Congress still gets paid while so many other government employees are sent home…..why is that?

The Complete Guide To The GOP’s Three-Year Campaign To Shut Down The Government | ThinkProgress.