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Massachusetts 13-year-old suspended for bringing butter knife to school | Fox News: "When the school's vice principal reportedly saw Morgan with the butter knife during her lunch period, he brought her into his office and issued her a suspension."
Suspended for a butter knife?!?
Friday, March 29, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Jim Harper's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week | Techdirt
Jim Harper's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week | Techdirt: "I think a lot of people believe so strongly in democracy that they apply their ideal vision of Congress when they think about what Congress and the government might do. The reality is very different.
It's not that all members of Congress are gomers. They and their staffs are very smart, very dedicated people. But they haven't got the knowledge to organize a society as large, diverse, and open as ours. "
It's not that all members of Congress are gomers. They and their staffs are very smart, very dedicated people. But they haven't got the knowledge to organize a society as large, diverse, and open as ours. "
Three Years of Broken Promises | Cato Institute
Three Years of Broken Promises | Cato Institute: "in a study of more than 11,000 plans on the individual market released this month, less than 2 percent of existing plans are in compliance with the law’s benefit requirements. While current plans are technically grandfathered in, allowing people to keep them for now, any change in the plans requires that their coverage be brought into full compliance, even if that means more expensive plans that include new and unnecessary benefits. Moreover, because non-compliant plans cannot enroll new members, most of the existing plans will eventually disappear, requiring even those members who have been grandfathered in to switch plans eventually."
"12 percent of companies have already been notified that their current coverage will be canceled or will not be renewed because it doesn’t meet Obamacare requirements."
"the CBO has raised, from 4 million Americans to 7 million, its estimate of the number of workers who will be dumped from their employers’ health plans and forced into the exchanges. "
"A survey of physicians conducted by Deloitte found that 59 percent of them expected that at least some doctors will retire early as a result of the health-care law and that others will scale back their hours."
"under Romneycare, the average wait to see a primary-care physician increased from 33 to 55 days"
"insurers are warning that enactment of the law’s provisions next year could as much as double some people’s premiums in the small-group and individual markets."
"according to the CBO, the total cost of exchange subsidies under Obamacare has increased by $125 billion, on a year-over-year basis, since initial estimates."
"Senator Jeff Sessions, in an analysis based on information provided earlier this month by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), has found that Obamacare would actually add $1.4 trillion to the national debt over the next ten years, and as much as $6.2 trillion over the next 75 years. It is true, as the GAO pointed out, that this is only one interpretation of the data (though one they call “reasonable”), but the scenario that Senator Sessions lays out reflects the concerns expressed by the Medicare trustees, the Congressional Budget Office, and the office of the chief actuary that the cost-containment mechanisms in the health law will not be sustained over time. Even if Senator Sessions’s analysis is off by, say, a couple hundred billion, it stretches credulity to call Obamacare “fiscally responsible.”"
"the March edition of the Federal Reserve’s “beige book,” a compilation of regional economic surveys, reports that employers continue to cite Obamacare and uncertainty over the rising cost of health insurance as a reason they are not hiring in the wake of the recession. “Employers in several Districts,” the report says, “cited the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.”"
"The latest CBO estimates suggest that, by 2023, there will still be more than 30 million uninsured Americans. For all the enormous cost and disruption caused by the Affordable Care Act, it will provide insurance for less than half the Americans currently without coverage. Further, only 25 million of them will actually receive proper insurance (and subsidized plans, at that). The remaining 12 million are merely dumped into Medicaid"
"According to the CBO, by the end of the decade almost 11 million fewer Americans will have private unsubsidized health insurance than do today."
"12 percent of companies have already been notified that their current coverage will be canceled or will not be renewed because it doesn’t meet Obamacare requirements."
"the CBO has raised, from 4 million Americans to 7 million, its estimate of the number of workers who will be dumped from their employers’ health plans and forced into the exchanges. "
"A survey of physicians conducted by Deloitte found that 59 percent of them expected that at least some doctors will retire early as a result of the health-care law and that others will scale back their hours."
"under Romneycare, the average wait to see a primary-care physician increased from 33 to 55 days"
"insurers are warning that enactment of the law’s provisions next year could as much as double some people’s premiums in the small-group and individual markets."
"according to the CBO, the total cost of exchange subsidies under Obamacare has increased by $125 billion, on a year-over-year basis, since initial estimates."
"Senator Jeff Sessions, in an analysis based on information provided earlier this month by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), has found that Obamacare would actually add $1.4 trillion to the national debt over the next ten years, and as much as $6.2 trillion over the next 75 years. It is true, as the GAO pointed out, that this is only one interpretation of the data (though one they call “reasonable”), but the scenario that Senator Sessions lays out reflects the concerns expressed by the Medicare trustees, the Congressional Budget Office, and the office of the chief actuary that the cost-containment mechanisms in the health law will not be sustained over time. Even if Senator Sessions’s analysis is off by, say, a couple hundred billion, it stretches credulity to call Obamacare “fiscally responsible.”"
"the March edition of the Federal Reserve’s “beige book,” a compilation of regional economic surveys, reports that employers continue to cite Obamacare and uncertainty over the rising cost of health insurance as a reason they are not hiring in the wake of the recession. “Employers in several Districts,” the report says, “cited the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.”"
"The latest CBO estimates suggest that, by 2023, there will still be more than 30 million uninsured Americans. For all the enormous cost and disruption caused by the Affordable Care Act, it will provide insurance for less than half the Americans currently without coverage. Further, only 25 million of them will actually receive proper insurance (and subsidized plans, at that). The remaining 12 million are merely dumped into Medicaid"
"According to the CBO, by the end of the decade almost 11 million fewer Americans will have private unsubsidized health insurance than do today."
OUSD Made Wrong Decision to Close American Indian Charter Schools | Cato Institute
OUSD Made Wrong Decision to Close American Indian Charter Schools | Cato Institute: "The Oakland school board has voted 4-3 to shutter three of the highest-performing schools in the state: the American Indian Model charter schools. The decision was based on alleged fiscal improprieties by Ben Chavis, former head of the schools and the man who raised them to educational greatness."
Outhouses pit Amish against Ohio county health department | Fox News
Outhouses pit Amish against Ohio county health department | Fox News: "Over the pleas of the local Amish community, a northwest Ohio health board decided to go ahead with plans to condemn two newly constructed Amish homes because they don't have required septic systems for their outhouses."
Monday, March 25, 2013
Why the Size of Government Matters | Cato Institute
Why the Size of Government Matters | Cato Institute: "The further government gets from its core functions, the more it gets involved in areas where it just isn’t qualified to do a very good job. We have 126 separate federal anti-poverty programs, at a cost of $668 billion per year, yet poverty has hardly been dented. We spend more on education every year, but test scores remain stagnant. The stimulus bill spent as much as $540,000 for every job it created. Social Security is a giant pyramid scheme. Medicare and Medicaid are models of inefficiency."
"Washington is a town with 12,390 registered lobbyists and a special-interest association on every corner, from the American Dehydrated Onion and Garlic Association to the National Balloon Council. But why are they there? Because the government is involved in everything from dehydrated onions to balloons.
You can decry the influence of lobbyists and money on politics all you want, but those who are taxed, regulated, paid, hired, or controlled by the government are naturally going to try to influence how they are taxed, regulated, paid, hired, and controlled. Nor should it be a surprise if these interests try to rig the game in their favor by, say, securing special tax treatment for themselves or encouraging greater regulation of their competitors."
"Washington is a town with 12,390 registered lobbyists and a special-interest association on every corner, from the American Dehydrated Onion and Garlic Association to the National Balloon Council. But why are they there? Because the government is involved in everything from dehydrated onions to balloons.
You can decry the influence of lobbyists and money on politics all you want, but those who are taxed, regulated, paid, hired, or controlled by the government are naturally going to try to influence how they are taxed, regulated, paid, hired, and controlled. Nor should it be a surprise if these interests try to rig the game in their favor by, say, securing special tax treatment for themselves or encouraging greater regulation of their competitors."
Op-Ed: The truth on background checks
Op-Ed: The truth on background checks: " The researchers gave this number for all transactions, including family inheritances and gifts, not just "sales." Count only guns that were bought, traded, borrowed, rented, issued as a job requirement or won through raffles, and 85 percent went through federally licensed gun dealers; just 15 percent would've been transferred without a background check.
(By the way, that survey also found that all gun-show sales went through federally licensed dealers."
"the claim that checks have stopped 1.7 million prohibited sales. In fact, these were only "initial denials," not people prevented from buying guns.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives dropped over 94 percent of those "initial denials" after preliminary reviews. Further review cleared at least a fifth of the other 6 percent."
"Remember the five times that the late Sen. Ted Kennedy missed flights because his name was on the anti-terror "no fly" list? By Sen. Schumer's method of counting, that means the “no fly” list stopped five flights by terrorists."
(By the way, that survey also found that all gun-show sales went through federally licensed dealers."
"the claim that checks have stopped 1.7 million prohibited sales. In fact, these were only "initial denials," not people prevented from buying guns.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives dropped over 94 percent of those "initial denials" after preliminary reviews. Further review cleared at least a fifth of the other 6 percent."
"Remember the five times that the late Sen. Ted Kennedy missed flights because his name was on the anti-terror "no fly" list? By Sen. Schumer's method of counting, that means the “no fly” list stopped five flights by terrorists."
Friday, March 22, 2013
Feds: NY slaying, child rape suspect removed ankle monitor so quickly may have fooled system | Fox News
Feds: NY slaying, child rape suspect removed ankle monitor so quickly may have fooled system | Fox News: "Authorities say he removed and reassembled the bracelet so quickly that it may have prompted what appeared to be a false alarm or the alarm may have gone undetected for hours.
It was almost five hours before the Colorado company monitoring the bracelet notified court officers in Syracuse. Officers had told the company not to notify them of brief interruptions of monitor signals because they were getting alerts when they simply hit against something."
It was almost five hours before the Colorado company monitoring the bracelet notified court officers in Syracuse. Officers had told the company not to notify them of brief interruptions of monitor signals because they were getting alerts when they simply hit against something."
Ron Paul Responds to the Federal Reserve - Campaign for Liberty
Ron Paul Responds to the Federal Reserve - Campaign for Liberty: "While the Fed has for several years criticized Congress’ inability to get its fiscal house in order – ignoring its own responsibility in enabling the government’s massive deficits and debt – the Fed is now alarmed about the across-the-board sequestration “cuts.” But the cuts that so worry Bernanke are not even real cuts, as, under sequestration, the Federal budget will still increase by trillions of dollars over the next ten years."
"One month of Fed money-printing undoes more than a year’s worth of sequestration, yet Chairman Bernanke expects us to believe that “monetary policy cannot offset a fiscal restraint of that magnitude.”"
"One month of Fed money-printing undoes more than a year’s worth of sequestration, yet Chairman Bernanke expects us to believe that “monetary policy cannot offset a fiscal restraint of that magnitude.”"
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Sheriff in Utah proposes having some seniors wear ankle monitors for safety concerns | Fox News
Sheriff in Utah proposes having some seniors wear ankle monitors for safety concerns | Fox News: "The monitors would be voluntary and offered to residents for about $4 a day, or $120 a month. Police would monitor the person's movement only when the family contacts them.
The county would make no money off the program, but it could cut costs by avoiding having to deploy numerous officers for long stretches to find people, Fielding said. Searches can require dozens of officers and the use of ATVs, snowmobiles and other equipment, and they easily cost tens of thousands of dollars."
The county would make no money off the program, but it could cut costs by avoiding having to deploy numerous officers for long stretches to find people, Fielding said. Searches can require dozens of officers and the use of ATVs, snowmobiles and other equipment, and they easily cost tens of thousands of dollars."
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