Posts Tagged ‘congress’

Sometimes Journalists are Morons

December 22nd, 2009
by Jack

Ever feel like you agree with someone on principle but get angry when you realize their an idiot. I was reading an article by David Rivkin and Lee Casey of the Wall Street Journal and just about blew my top off. I agree with what their saying but they kind of missed history class.

From the Wall Street Journal

For nearly a hundred years, federal power has expanded at the expense of the states—to a point where the even the wages and hours of state employees are subject to federal control. Basic health and safety regulations that were long exercised by states under their “police power” are now dominated by Washington.

The courts have similarly distorted the Constitution by inventing new constitutional rights and failing to limit governmental power as provided for in the document. The aggrandizement of judicial power has been a particularly vexing challenge, since it is inherently incapable of correction through the normal political channels.

There is a way to deter further constitutional mischief from Congress and the federal courts, and restore some semblance of the proper federal-state balance. That is to give to states—and through them the people—a greater role in the constitutional amendment process.

The idea is simple, and is already being mooted in conservative legal circles. Today, only Congress can propose constitutional amendments—and Congress of course has little interest in proposing limits on its own power. Since the mid-19th century, no amendment has actually limited federal authority.

But what if a number of states, acting together, also could propose amendments? That has the potential to reinvigorate the states as a check on federal power. It could also return states to a more central policy-making role.

The Framers would have approved the idea of giving states a more direct role in the amendment process. They fully expected that the possibility of amendments originating with the states would deter federal aggrandizement, and provided in Article V that Congress must call a convention to consider amendments anytime two-thirds of the state legislatures demand it. As Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist Papers of this process: “[W]e may safely rely on the disposition of the state legislatures to erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority.”

What the Framers did not anticipate, however, was the profound reaction to their own “runaway” convention in 1787. By junking the Articles of Confederation in favor of a new Constitution, they gave us strong and stable government. They also showed exactly what constitutional conventions can do. As a result, no similar body has ever been assembled, and even suggesting a new convention can freeze the marrow in constitutional lawyers.

Hmmm…. the ability of the states to directly make amendments. Where have I heard that before. Oh. Wait! It’s called the Senate! Well, the old senate. Maybe if they read the constitution they would have noticed that in 1913 the seventeenth amendment was  ratified making the senate directly voted in by the people. Before this legislation Senators were elected by the State Legislatures. Which is why we have a bicameral congress, one part is elected directly by the people and the other is by the state government (which is elected directly by the people). It was this awesome nifty thing that allowed the states to make sure one state’s population couldn’t control another state through the Federal government. The State would be able to appoint people that would ensure that the states stayed powerful and the federal government wouldn’t slowing but surely make them obsolete.

So!? Why not just redact the 17th amendment? We did it to prohibition and that turned out well for us! I mean it is stupid to have two houses in congress that are elected to do the same job by the same people. It’s like having two carpenters build 2 different chairs, argue about the best design of a chair, then compromise and build a third chair and then charge you for three chairs; but you get one.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Trackback Commentary | No Comments »

My Worst Fear Has Come Alive – Ft. Hood

November 6th, 2009
by Jack

For years now my worst fear is that their would be an attack on an American military installation that would show the world that the United States military isn’t safe on it’s own bases.  I came to this realization and fear when I first joined the military.  I had always assumed like many Americans that Soldiers while on base are always armed.  It seems logical; Our fighting forces always ready to fight.

I however quickly learned that this wasn’t true.  In many cases, Soldiers are not even seeing their rifles for 6 months to 2 years at a time.

The federal government, especially the military has the biggest problem with trust.  The official explanation for Soldiers not being armed is that they are all living in the safest gated community in the United States.  However, on Army and Marine bases especially, the perpetrators are those already living on the inside.  I’m sorry but some of our service member’s are criminals who just haven’t been caught yet, and in some cases they have been caught (that’s what a MORAL WAIVER is for).  I hate to say this but the Air Force tends to have the ability to be picky about who they hire.

From a second amendment standpoint; “good” service members aren’t even safe in their own homes.  While gun ownership laws continue to get stricter, most Americans still have the right to bear arms in their own home.  They feel safe with a gun under the pillow.  Service member’s are not allowed to possess personal firearms.

While in government housing (which is mandatory for most) the possession of a firearm is a crime.  A service member can own a personal firearm but must put it in the base armory.  For example, when a Soldier wants to go hunting he/she has to sign out their OWN gun from the armory.

From a security forces perspective it even gets scarier.  A base with approximately 30,000 workers on it is going to have a police force of about 90 to 120 Department of Defense civilian police officers and military police combined.  Most bases work with three shifts, so that’s about 30 police officers protecting sometimes up to 40 to 80 square miles at one time.

Now while the off duty officers might be only 2 to 10 minutes away, they cannot respond.  Security forces (civilian and military alike) currently have to sign out their weapon at the beginning of each shift.  So if their was some kind of major attack on an installation; the police force would be quickly overwhelmed as their relief would have to first arm up before responding.

We have all given up the responsibility of protecting ourselves to police officers.  When a big scary person with a gun comes after you, what do you do?  Call the Police?  Why?  It’s simple, they have guns!  If this was anytime for the 1920s it was a simple solution, “Paw and Maw git yer gun!”  (unless of course they were already touting it.

Excerpt from this thing called the constitution:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Some people argue that the right to bear arms is referring to that of the military.  However, the use of the comma in the bill of rights is clearly used to show separate rights.  The comma is kind of used as saying this is a right, and oh by the way this is also a right and don’t confuse it with the previous this I states.  Like in the 1st amendment the freedom of speech is broken down with a comma showing that the freedom of the press, religion, and to peaceably assemble are all separate and equal rights. Plus, this little thing that states “The right of the people” I mean if the dudes that wrote the constitution meant it to be just the military they would have stopped at the word militia.  But, they were very smart and continued on with, that’s right adding in other people, like you and me!  The People!

Then their are those who say that to bear arms doesn’t include on your person.  A simple look at the word “bear” in the use of a verb reveals this in my trusty dictionary; “to hold up; support; to hold up under; be capable of; to hold or carry; to exhibit; to show; to have and use.”  Then my ever useful thesaurus says, “carry, convey, deliver, ferry, fetch, lug, move, pack, take, tote, transfer, transport.”  To just prove a point the antonym of bear is that of which gun laws provide, “refuse, take, throw away.”  Plus, the word Keep is usually a dead give away.

To boot at the end they added in this thing that says, “Shall not be infringed.”  By definition adding laws that govern the right to bear arms in itself is an infringement.

My point is that if you every watch a western, all the good guys aren’t calling cops to help them.  They all had guns!  You defended yourself!  While I believe we should have a well armed and powerful police force, I also believe that everyone has a responsibility to protect themselves.

If everyone is armed you will still see shootings, but you would never see one person kill 12 people and harm 30 others. You might get two people before the whole  crowd guns you down.

Currently their is a bill before congress H.R. 675 that would change the status of DOD police officers to Federal Police Officers.  They would be allowed to carry weapons at all times, make arrests and enforce laws.  They currently can subdue civilians but have to turn them over to local police.  Who in many cases just release them.  For an example, if a civilian brought a firearm onto a federal installation the DOD police would then arrest them, call the county police department, who would then show up and release the person because they didn’t break a state law.

While I think all citizens should be able to carry firearms on their person at all times without the government arresting them, I do think the DOD police should be able to enforce other laws.

When I use the term DOD police I’m referring to th Department of Army, Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force police.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Government Stupidity, News Blog | 2 Comments »

Government Health Care: Yea We Got That!

September 22nd, 2009
by Jack

Well we all know about Medicare, but most people probably have never heard of Tricare.  Tricare is the health care provider for our nation’s military.  It’s free for active duty Soldiers and their families.  While it covers retirees, it’s not free and until recently it wasn’t available to reservists.  Why did the military open up Tricare to reservists?  You would think it’s because the deployment rate of the reserves, but that’s not it.  It turns out it was cheaper for the military to fund a program for reservists where they pay for coverage then when they come on active duty for their deployment, to fix all their problems.

I’ve been activated for deployment twice and I know all about this.  An entire unit shows up to this thing called SRP, (an SRP is basically a process of making sure all your paperwork, medical issues and equipment is ready for deployment).  The biggest deal with these things are the medical review.  When my unit was deployed, half of the people inside the unit had teeth pulled.  That’s right!  Teeth pulled!  It’s cheaper for the government to just pull your teeth out than fix them.

Well about two or three years ago, the military opened up Tricare to reservists, and about one year ago they opened up a dental plan.  The problem was they were losing to many people through the SRP process (if your too broken to deploy, they won’t send you) and it was costing the government a lot of money to fix people’s issues.

If you think government run health care is great.  Let me tell you about my experience.

Sure, while your on active duty it’s totally free!  You just show up and they take care of your problems.

However, it’s been my experience that they make it very unpleasant to go.  First off, ever wake up in the morning and feel like total crap?  Of course everyone does.  That’s when you call up work and call in dead.  Sometimes the best remedy is just rest.  Why go to a doctor if you know you just need some good old Zs?

Not in the military!  If you wake up and you just need some rest.  SICK CALL!  See the military (and government for that matter) has a process for everything.  If your sick, go to sick call.  Their view on it is; your not a doctor, so you can’t make a judgment like that on your own.  Want to go to sick call?  The night before you have to see your supervisor and fill out a sick call form.  You have to show up for the morning formation;  Usually around 4:30 or 5am (forget about that recommended sleep I was talking about earlier).  Then, you can be taken to the hospital or local clinic.  Since sick call is at a specific time, the waiting line is incredibly long.  I mean who thought sending everyone to the hospital at the same time was a brilliant idea?  So after you’ve waited around for a couple hours you finally get to see a medic.

Now be careful; I love medics, but those guys will try and convince you that you need an IV!  You go in for a headache and their like, ‘what you need is some H20 in your veins!’  Why do they want to stick you?  Well they need to do so many ’sticks’ a year to stay certified.  So they are always pushing for IVs.  My recommendation is if you came in with a hangover… take the IV, it’s WONDERFUL!

Now sick call is for minor things, if your issue turns out to be something bigger.  They will then schedule you to see a specialist.

Another problem is sometimes your chain of command will give you a hard time about seeing a doctor.  Just like a normal business, nobody likes to lose their employee for a day or two.

I’ve also heard people complain that health care insurance companies force people to go to only doctors inside of their plan.  That you have to call ahead to, ‘OK’ seeing a doctor.  Guess what!  Tricare does the same thing.  In my opinion they are even worse.  I had to get a physical and was told my closest choice was an hour and a half away.  Recently for a flight physical I had to get my eyes checked.  Even though their are plenty of doctors that do Eye Refractions, if I wanted the government to pay for it I had to go to the closest government medical facility.  It just so happens that it was about three hours away.  Efficiency, nope.

I’ve heard congress talking about preexisting conditions a lot recently.  Which kind of makes me laugh because of the enlistment process.  Everyone knows recruiters will tell you anything to get you into the military.  However, did you know that their are people whose job revolves around making sure you can’t make it into the military?  When potential recruits make the decision to join the military they take them to a place called MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station).  Now it’s the recruiters job to make sure you get into the military, and it’s MEPS job to make sure you don’t.  WAH!?  Yes!  The medical department at MEPS is tasked with weeding out people who are trying to enter with preexisting conditions.  Most people think they are just trying to see if you meet the standard of what is expected of a service member.  It’s just not true.  You see many people try to enter the military to get free health care.  They find out something is wrong with them that will costs MEGABUCKS, and they figure my only choice is the military.  Well, the truth is the government doesn’t want to fix broken people.  They, just like a corporation have to worry about costs.  Nobody wants to take on someone who already has problems.  So, if your planning on joining let me tell you, ‘those doctors at MEPS aren’t your friend!’

Don’t get me wrong.  It’s nice having free health care while on active duty.  Except, it’s not really free.  My taxes and your taxes are paying for it.  The military is full of great doctors who really care about helping troops.  My opinion is that health care is too big of an issue to pass it through quickly and it’s just sounds too complicated as some of the plans are 1,000 pages long.  It sounds like a lot of loop holes to me.

Free Market Military supports the effort to change the law so that health care can be bought across state lines.  If the president wants competition, start with allowing companies to go to any state!  That’s a no brain`er.  I think they should pass a bill now for tort reform and health care across state lines.  Once that’s done, hey, let’s see if we still even need the public plan.  Maybe, it will fix itself… with the FREE MARKET!

In my heart I’d really like to support single-payer solution.  Our taxes pay for police, fire departments, mail; why not my doctor?  If I thought it would work, I would support it.  Frankly, I think the only thing the government would do is mess it up.  I’ve always thought of the government as this person who is suppose to protect you and enforce standards.  But, if the government becomes your provider… who’s going to protect you from the government?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in News Blog | 1 Comment »