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Pennsylvania school district to lose $147G grant after teachers union balks at training | Fox News: "The union contends the district applied for the grant in January� 2011, at a time when teachers were working under an expired contract and negotiating the current pact, which went into effect retroactively to July 2011. Runyon said the training program, which includes some aspects his members find objectionable, should have been part of talks."
It was just a possibility -- why should it be rejected just because it wasn't included in the contract negotiation.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Cell phone subsidies claimed by many who can't prove eligibility | Mobile - CNET News
Cell phone subsidies claimed by many who can't prove eligibility | Mobile - CNET News: "The agency figured that around 15 percent of users would be determined ineligible, but the tighter rules discovered a lot more than that.
A review of the program by The Wall Street Journal found that 41 percent of the 6 million people who benefited from Lifeline were unable to prove their eligibility or failed to answer requests for verification from their carrier.
In total, the government spent about $2.2 billion on Lifeline last year.
Mobile phone subscribers pay around $2.50 per household to fund Lifeline and other subsidized programs. That money is used to pay carriers $9.25 per customer each month to deliver free or cheap mobile service, according to the Journal. Funding for Lifeline has risen over the years as more carriers have jumped onto the bandwagon."
"Until recently, subscribers didn't have to offer any proof of their income level. They could continue with the program without having to periodically verify their eligibilty. And no checks were made to see how many people in a household were taking advantage of Lifeline."
A review of the program by The Wall Street Journal found that 41 percent of the 6 million people who benefited from Lifeline were unable to prove their eligibility or failed to answer requests for verification from their carrier.
In total, the government spent about $2.2 billion on Lifeline last year.
Mobile phone subscribers pay around $2.50 per household to fund Lifeline and other subsidized programs. That money is used to pay carriers $9.25 per customer each month to deliver free or cheap mobile service, according to the Journal. Funding for Lifeline has risen over the years as more carriers have jumped onto the bandwagon."
"Until recently, subscribers didn't have to offer any proof of their income level. They could continue with the program without having to periodically verify their eligibilty. And no checks were made to see how many people in a household were taking advantage of Lifeline."
Reflections on Gun Control by a Second Amendment Advocate | Cato Institute
Reflections on Gun Control by a Second Amendment Advocate | Cato Institute: "but that would also mean individuals trying to defend themselves would not be seriously hampered by a 10-round limit. They too could reload very rapidly."
Reloading rapidly can require practice and criminals may practice significantly more than the average gun-owner.
"Criminals typically use handguns; assault weapons are expensive and difficult to conceal."
"Jamaica is particularly revealing. Beginning in 1974, handguns were virtually banned. You could get them with a license, but you had to prove need, and licenses were almost never issued. Since the ban, the murder rate has soared to become one of the highest in the world—now more than double other Caribbean nations, six times higher than before the ban, and a dozen times the U.S. rate. Naturally, the ban is not wholly to blame, but it certainly did not help."
"Banning popular semi-automatic rifles, merely because they come equipped with a pistol grip or some other attachment that has no effect on their lethality, makes no sense whatsoever."
"Survey data indicate that less than 2 percent of guns used by criminals are bought at gun shows and flea markets—and that includes sales through licensed dealers."
"That’s a conviction rate of 5/100ths of one percent. Either the remaining denials were false positives — legitimate purchases unjustly blocked by NICS — or, if the denials were proper, then 99.95 percent of the 79,000 rejected applicants escaped punishment. Neither conclusion offers much hope for an expanded system of background checks."
"A significant number of checks last 72 hours, and most gun shows are two-day events."
"because drugs are illegal, participants in the drug trade cannot go to court to settle disputes and enforce contracts. As a result, disputes are resolved by force. Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration has 10,000 agents, analysts, and support staff, who could be fighting terrorism or real crime—including gun violence."
"It is not the government’s role to pay for private medical care unless third-party rights are involved."
"It’s true that an armed guard did not prevent Columbine; but neither did the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines then in effect. Moreover, the rules of engagement, which have since been changed, told the armed guard at Columbine to wait for SWAT team backup. No wonder the guard did not stop the carnage; although he did delay the killers, which gave some students time to escape."
"Congress has no role to play in funding armed school guards"
"In Norway, with tight controls and licensing, Anders Breivik gunned down 69 people. Here in the United States, our worst incident killed 38 elementary school children in Michigan. The weapon of choice was bombs, not guns."
"Researchers could not identify a single gun-control regulation that meaningfully reduced violent crime, suicide, or accidents. In 2003, the CDC reported on ammunition limits, restrictions on purchase, waiting periods, registration, licensing, child access prevention and zero-tolerance laws. Conclusion: None of the laws demonstrably reduced gun violence."
Reloading rapidly can require practice and criminals may practice significantly more than the average gun-owner.
"Criminals typically use handguns; assault weapons are expensive and difficult to conceal."
"Jamaica is particularly revealing. Beginning in 1974, handguns were virtually banned. You could get them with a license, but you had to prove need, and licenses were almost never issued. Since the ban, the murder rate has soared to become one of the highest in the world—now more than double other Caribbean nations, six times higher than before the ban, and a dozen times the U.S. rate. Naturally, the ban is not wholly to blame, but it certainly did not help."
"Banning popular semi-automatic rifles, merely because they come equipped with a pistol grip or some other attachment that has no effect on their lethality, makes no sense whatsoever."
"Survey data indicate that less than 2 percent of guns used by criminals are bought at gun shows and flea markets—and that includes sales through licensed dealers."
"That’s a conviction rate of 5/100ths of one percent. Either the remaining denials were false positives — legitimate purchases unjustly blocked by NICS — or, if the denials were proper, then 99.95 percent of the 79,000 rejected applicants escaped punishment. Neither conclusion offers much hope for an expanded system of background checks."
"A significant number of checks last 72 hours, and most gun shows are two-day events."
"because drugs are illegal, participants in the drug trade cannot go to court to settle disputes and enforce contracts. As a result, disputes are resolved by force. Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration has 10,000 agents, analysts, and support staff, who could be fighting terrorism or real crime—including gun violence."
"It is not the government’s role to pay for private medical care unless third-party rights are involved."
"It’s true that an armed guard did not prevent Columbine; but neither did the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines then in effect. Moreover, the rules of engagement, which have since been changed, told the armed guard at Columbine to wait for SWAT team backup. No wonder the guard did not stop the carnage; although he did delay the killers, which gave some students time to escape."
"Congress has no role to play in funding armed school guards"
"In Norway, with tight controls and licensing, Anders Breivik gunned down 69 people. Here in the United States, our worst incident killed 38 elementary school children in Michigan. The weapon of choice was bombs, not guns."
"Researchers could not identify a single gun-control regulation that meaningfully reduced violent crime, suicide, or accidents. In 2003, the CDC reported on ammunition limits, restrictions on purchase, waiting periods, registration, licensing, child access prevention and zero-tolerance laws. Conclusion: None of the laws demonstrably reduced gun violence."
10-year-old child killed, 2 others wounded in apparently random Minn. shooting | Fox News
10-year-old child killed, 2 others wounded in apparently random Minn. shooting | Fox News: "A gunman apparently firing randomly at guns killed a 10-year-old and wounded the child's mother and another woman Monday night, Oakdale's police chief said."
This is in a suburb where you wouldn't expect that!
This is in a suburb where you wouldn't expect that!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Obamacare's 'Giveaway' Is Anything But Free | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute
Obamacare's 'Giveaway' Is Anything But Free | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: "Indeed, as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations in December, the Obama Administration reportedly offered to change from the 90/10 match for Medicaid expansion to a “blended rate formula,” which would merge the new expansion reimbursement rate with existing Medicaid and SCHIP formulas, creating a federal funding level somewhere in the middle, but below 90/10. While the administration eventually backed off that offer, it shows just how tenuous federal funding promises really are."
Eric Cantor Hawks Medical Industrial Policy | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute
Eric Cantor Hawks Medical Industrial Policy | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: "empirical studies suggest that the rate of return on publicly financed research is much lower than that of research financed by the private sector. While the private sector may be more focused on applied research, and the government is more effective at basic research, the distinction between those categories is rapidly disappearing.
Second, we should ask whether government funding of medical research is really necessary. There is no proof that the private sector is incapable of financing medical research, either for profit or as charity. While private companies undoubtedly have an incentive to fund research that they believe will ultimately prove profitable, even “orphan” drugs — one of the least profitable lines of research as they are designed for a small number of people with rare disorders — have found funding through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other charities."
"No evidence shows that government bureaucrats have either the qualifications or the incentives to make better decisions than private individuals and organizations about what research should be funded. After all, government involvement in research inevitably injects politics into scientific questions.
If a disease affects a favored political constituency or can mobilize a telegenic celebrity spokesman, it is likely to receive boatloads of money. If not, it is likely to be relegated to the back of the scientific bus.if private companies believe governments will pay for research, they may simply withdraw their own money. Thus, government funding in this area doesn’t result in more research, just a different funding stream."
"former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni has warned that congressional mandates to spend money on specific diseases have undermined the agencies’ research."
"an analysis of NIH grants found that black research scientists were 10 percent less likely to receive research funding than a white scientist from a similar institution and with the same research credentials.
Some researchers worry they can have their grants cut for challenging the scientific consensus or for reaching conclusions that are politically controversial. This is dangerous, because a willingness to rethink current theories is a key to scientific advancement."
Second, we should ask whether government funding of medical research is really necessary. There is no proof that the private sector is incapable of financing medical research, either for profit or as charity. While private companies undoubtedly have an incentive to fund research that they believe will ultimately prove profitable, even “orphan” drugs — one of the least profitable lines of research as they are designed for a small number of people with rare disorders — have found funding through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other charities."
"No evidence shows that government bureaucrats have either the qualifications or the incentives to make better decisions than private individuals and organizations about what research should be funded. After all, government involvement in research inevitably injects politics into scientific questions.
If a disease affects a favored political constituency or can mobilize a telegenic celebrity spokesman, it is likely to receive boatloads of money. If not, it is likely to be relegated to the back of the scientific bus.if private companies believe governments will pay for research, they may simply withdraw their own money. Thus, government funding in this area doesn’t result in more research, just a different funding stream."
"former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni has warned that congressional mandates to spend money on specific diseases have undermined the agencies’ research."
"an analysis of NIH grants found that black research scientists were 10 percent less likely to receive research funding than a white scientist from a similar institution and with the same research credentials.
Some researchers worry they can have their grants cut for challenging the scientific consensus or for reaching conclusions that are politically controversial. This is dangerous, because a willingness to rethink current theories is a key to scientific advancement."
How will the Catholic Church handle a living ex-pope? - CSMonitor.com
How will the Catholic Church handle a living ex-pope? - CSMonitor.com: "That could produce a situation where the former pope says one thing on an important matter, while his successor says something different."
Being Protestant and not having one church leader that seems like a weird problem to have.
Being Protestant and not having one church leader that seems like a weird problem to have.
Drone Policy Must Include Checks and Balances | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute
Drone Policy Must Include Checks and Balances | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: "Courts, the memo argues, should not interfere in the president’s evaluation of due process rights, which he extinguishes by labeling you a terrorist."
"So a president, consulting with officials he can fire, is using a secret process that he can change to kill whomever he wants, wherever he wants, whether or not there is a war on, by saying the words al Qaeda. "
"So a president, consulting with officials he can fire, is using a secret process that he can change to kill whomever he wants, wherever he wants, whether or not there is a war on, by saying the words al Qaeda. "
Get the Feds Out of Infrastructure | Cato Institute
Get the Feds Out of Infrastructure | Cato Institute: "Consider the two oldest federal infrastructure agencies — the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. Their spending, often on water infrastructure, has always been based on pork-barrel politics, not “directed to the most effective” projects. Both agencies have been known for fudging their analyses of dubious proposed projects to gain approval. In his 1971 book on the Corps, distinguished engineer Arthur Morgan found that “there have been over the past 100 years consistent and disastrous failures by the Corps in public works areas … result[ing] in enormous and unnecessary costs to ecology [and] the taxpayer.”"
"Routes through rural areas account for only a small fraction of riders and cause most of Amtrak’s financial losses. Those routes exist because every lawmaker wants a train through his or her state, but it means that investment gets steered away from where it is really needed, such as the Northeast corridor."
"Routes through rural areas account for only a small fraction of riders and cause most of Amtrak’s financial losses. Those routes exist because every lawmaker wants a train through his or her state, but it means that investment gets steered away from where it is really needed, such as the Northeast corridor."
BBC News - Twins' DNA hinders France sexual assault investigation
BBC News - Twins' DNA hinders France sexual assault investigation: "Police have been told it would cost upwards of 1m euros (£850,000) to conduct an ultra-sophisticated genetic test that would be able to tell one set of the twins' DNA from the other."
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