Apr 30, 2013
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 30, 2013 | Comments Off
The New York Times is reporting that members of the Senate are working “quietly” to bring back a new gun control measure to the floor of the Congress after the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey Amendment.
There are a couple of things we wish point out in how the Times spins this issue and how there are some real, uninformed clowns in Congress.
Drawing on the lessons from battles in the 1980s and ’90s over the Brady Bill, which failed in Congress several times before ultimately passing, gun control supporters believe they can prevail by working on a two-pronged strategy. First, they are identifying senators who might be willing to change their votes and support a background check system with fewer loopholes.
Loopholes? The issue with the Manchin-Toomey Amendment was not so called “loopholes” but the fact that the bill was too restrictive and onerous. If the bill had simply stuck to the idea that if one buys a gun at a gun show, they need to complete a background check, very few people would have complained. Instead, the Amendment tried to overreach into every transaction, even those between private parties within a state, and people said “we don’t want that.”
But we’ll let the Times speak for itself as to what the “loopholes” are:
“We’re going to work it hard,” Mr. Manchin said Thursday, adding that he was looking at tweaking the language of his bill in a way that he believed would satisfy senators who, for example, felt that background checks on person-to-person gun sales would be too onerous for people who live in rural areas far from a sporting goods store.
Those concerns were an issue for Alaska’s senators, Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Mark Begich, a Democrat.
Got that?
The Times article never states a “loophole,” but yet to demonize those who voted against the bill, they turn the reasons around. Instead of accurately saying right out of the gate that people voted against the bill because it was too restrictive, they say they voted against it because “loopholes” weren’t addressed.
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Mar 24, 2012
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 24, 2012 | 2 comments
It is a joyful day here at Raised On Hoecakes as Congress, having solved all problems facing the country (including the problem of Congress itself) has found itself so bored and without anything to do it needs to look at the NFL “Bounty Scandal.”
In case you aren’t familiar with the scandal, the NFL’s New Orleans Saints had a program of giving extra money to defensive players for certain types of plays, the most troubling of which were plays where a player ended up being hurt. The program was run by players, but coaches and members of the organization knew of the program and knew it was against the rules of the league.
The program runs in violation of league rules, and the investigation showed that Saints players received $1,500 for a “knockout” hit and $1,000 for a “cart-off” hit, with payouts doubling or tripling during the team’s three playoff appearances.
A memo sent to clubs throughout the league included a statement on how Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma put up $10,000 cash as a bounty before a playoff game, a source familiar with the memo told NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora.
The memo also said Mike Ornstein, a noted marketing agent who has close ties to Saints coach Sean Payton and has worked with him on projects in the past, put up money as a bounty at least twice.
The program also entailed payments for interceptions and fumble recoveries, which also violates league rules against non-contract bonuses. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will determine the appropriate discipline based on the investigation, the [NFL] said in a statement.
After an extensive investigation where several members of the Saints’ organization lied to league investigators, the NFL handed down penalties to the organization with player specific penalties to follow. Those penalties include:
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Sep 10, 2011
Posted by AAfterwit on Sep 10, 2011 | 1 comment
We wanted to take some time to digest the speech that President Barack Obama gave before a joint session of Congress on Thursday night. We have read and re-read the text of the speech several times to make sure we aren’t inferring anything the President did not say.
So we know that we are late to the “analysis party” of the speech. In the day and age of 24 /7 news, 7 minute segments of pundits jabbering passing as “expert, all encompassing analysis,” instant messaging, texting, social media and live blogging, we know we are not exactly timely.
But we didn’t want to be typing while angry. We didn’t want the post we wrote about the speech and the President to be filled with four letter words and name calling. We weren’t going to stoop to calling the President a “terrorist” or say “take the son of a bitch out.” We’ll leave that type of rhetoric to the left.
(Oh Lord, we just realized we typed “president” and “take the son of a bitch out” in the same sentence. We’ll let you know if the Secret Service calls on us or gets the reference.)
But back to the speech.
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Aug 3, 2011
Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 3, 2011 | Comments Off
To be kind, Vice-President Joe Biden does not have what others have – a filter between his brain and his mouth. Well, that may even be a little unkind. Anyone who stands in front of a microphone enough times is going to say something that is ridiculously stupid and moron. They will say something that leaves people scratching their heads and wondering “where did that come from?”
For Biden, his gaffes are almost a bizarre art form. It is as if instead of “cap and trade,” Biden believes in “gaffe and say” where he purchases “gaffe ‘credits’” from others and then uses them when necessary. And trust us – it is necessary a lot.
Some of our “favorite” blunders include:
“Look, John’s last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs.” –Joe Biden, Athens, Ohio, Oct. 15, 2008
“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.” –Joe Biden, apparently unaware that FDR wasn’t president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and that only experimental TV sets were in use at that time, interview with Katie Couric, Sept. 22, 2008
“Stand up, Chuck, let ‘em see ya.” –-Joe Biden, to Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, who is in a wheelchair, Columbia, Missouri, Sept. 12, 2008
Even when he isn’t speaking, Biden seems to have foul-ups follow him like a shadow on a summer day. In March of 2012, the train station in Wilmington, Delaware was to be renamed in Biden’s honor after and extensive, costly and over-budget renovation. The press was there, Biden was there, workers and people of Wilmington were there for the occasion. In something out of a badly written comedy skit, the CEO of Amtrack, Joseph Boardman, Amtrak board member Jeff Moreland and the head of the Federal Railroad Administration, Joseph Szabo, had to take cars to the event because the Amtrack train carrying them from Washington broke down. That’s right. The celebration of travel by rail and the renovation of the station was delayed by a train breaking down.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Of Biden’s latest “faux-pas’” one is definitely true, the other he denies.
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Jul 14, 2011
Posted by AAfterwit on Jul 14, 2011 | Comments Off
Dear Mr. Bolden,
There is always something sad in witnessing the fall of a man who has served his country so well. As a United States Naval Academy graduate, you entered the Marine Corps where you flew in the Viet Nam war, led men and women as their commander in the First Gulf War, and helped train men and women of the Navy and Marines as Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy. You were selected to NASA’s astronaut program where you flew on no less than four shuttle missions, serving both as a pilot and as a commander.
No one could or should disparage what you have done prior to being appointed NASA’s head by President Obama in 2009.
However, after assuming that position, you have been not only less than successful, you have been a failure.
Your most famous statement to this point had been when you told the world in July of 2010, that President Obama had asked you to reach out to the Muslim world.
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Mar 31, 2011
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 31, 2011 | Comments Off
Back on May 17th, we wrote a post on “Another Example of Why the Government Shouldn’t Try to Control the Market.” To summarize, in 1983, the government passed a law called the “Orphan Drug Act” (ODA) which gave incentives to drug companies to research and develop drugs for rare diseases.
Twenty eight years later, a pharmaceutical company named KV Pharmaceuticals applied for and was granted a patent on a “combination drug” that was available, but not patented. KV Pharmaceuticals then announced the price of the drug would rise some 10,000%. People were outraged.
Yesterday, the FDA announced that they would allow a cheaper version of the drug to be sold, effectively ending the exclusive patent KV Pharmaceuticals had.
“There were concerns about the quality of unregulated drugs, and as a result, the FDA has given exclusive manufacturing to St. Louis company KV Pharmaceutical. But for the government to give the exclusive rights of the drug to a single company who now wants to significantly profit from the manufacturing of this drug is quite alarming, inappropriate and immoral,” (Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing editor of health at FoxNews.com and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey) said. “This drug is not expensive to manufacturers, as proven by the independent pharmacy services who have been providing this drug for as little as $10 per injection.”
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Mar 30, 2011
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 30, 2011 | Comments Off
Years ago, I worked in a store that was on public street. All of the management staff drove to work as no mass transit came within any type of walking distance. We coped and parked on the street, feeding the parking meters like some insatiable coin eating monster.
There were times when you couldn’t get to the meters. Whether it was because you were dealing with a customer, the boss was calling or you simply forget, far too often there was a slip of paper from the local police department on the windshield. Most of the management staff was racking up 2 – 3 tickets a month worth about $80, plus we were feeding the meters. Other managers in other stores didn’t have that problem as most of the other stores were located in malls. It was not uncommon for us to feel that by working at this busy store, we were actually taking a pay cut because of the parking.
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Mar 17, 2011
Posted by AAfterwit on Mar 17, 2011 | Comments Off
It always seems to start out innocently enough, doesn’t it? Someone sends a letter to some Congresscritter saying “these people need help!” In this case, the people needing help were people with rare diseases. By definition, a disease that is rare is not going to affect a large number of people. Because of the cost of developing new drugs, drug companies are somewhat reluctant to develop drugs that may be used to treat the people with a rare disease because the market is limited and the chance for profit, small.
It is a cold reality. Drug companies, like all companies, are in business to make money. The money they make allows more research, pays employees, buys new equipment and pays dividends to stock holders who have taken a risk in investing in the company. I realize that some people are going to say that drug companies are “heartless bastards” for making a profit. Fine. The next time you go to work and don’t expect to be paid, then you can talk. Until then, apply the golden rule of treating others as you want to be treated. You work for money. So do drug companies.
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