The real victims of the federal government shutdown
Jim is the operator of a small business in Washington, D.C. and his business is conducting tours of the nation's capital. Since the shutdown he's had seven groups who were scheduled to take tours over the next ten days call and cancel. He can't replace that income because he has no idea when he can go back to giving tours. No one will schedule with him right now.
Carol is a veteran who was injured in Afghanistan. She applied for disability benefits from the VA for her injuries and her claim, after 17 months was denied. She located a pro-bono lawyer to help her prepare her appeal and it was completed today. She can go ahead and submit it, but because the Board of Veterans Appeals will not issue any decisions at all while the government is in "partial shutdown."
Mike and Suzanne are in their 80s. Mike is a veteran of World War II and the couple barely scrapes by on her social security and his VA disability. He is 100% disabled. His benefits were paid on October 1st as scheduled, but if the shutdown lasts more than a week or two, his November 1st check will not be paid until new funding is authorized by the Congress. The VA will run out of money before then.
Lisa is a clerk for a federal judge. She is a lucky person in that she is considered an "essential employee" and will not get a furlough notice in two weeks when the federal court system also runs out of money. Then she gets to continue working, without pay. She will be paid for all that work whenever a budget is signed into law, but while there is no funding, she doesn't get paid. How will she pay her bills in November if the shutdown lasts 28 days like it did the last time this happened?
These are composites based on actual people impacted by the shutdown. No one's real name or situation has been described accurately enough to allow anyone to be identified. But their pain and that of hundreds of thousands of others is real.
Senators Ted Cruz and Harry Reid may be fighting like cats and dogs on the floor of the Senate, but I'm sure things are civil in the Senate Dining Room where the food is supposed to be excellent and the prices are some of the best bargains in the District of Columbia. The members of the House and Senate have private gyms. They get the best medical care available at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. And they will continue to get paid during the shutdown.
Something is rotten in Washington.
* * *
I had an idea this morning. I was driving to Santa Monica so I could teach my morning class and the perfect compromise for the bickering political parties in Washington, D.C. became clear.
Suspend the penalty, but not the mandate.
The Tea Party people can't argue that the net effect is unfair, since now both business and individuals will not face a penalty for failure to comply. They can't argue that since President Obama gave an extra year to business to comply, individuals deserve an extra year. If the mandate is law, but the penalty is voluntary, both sides get what they want.
Then next year when this comes up again just before the November mid-term elections, let the Republicans threaten to shut down the government again, because they don't want Obamacare to survive; but they don't have the votes to repeal it. They wouldn't dare.
I've read the entire text of Obamacare. I did not see any provision giving anyone the power to actually collect the penalty. It is assessed, but statutory authority for the IRS to collect it isn't in there anyway. At least not that I saw. Now you may choose to interpret that other sections of the United States Code that empowers the IRS to collect other government debts like student loans, will also empower it to collect the mandate penalties of Obamacare. That will undoubtedly be just one of many future challenges to the Affordable Care Act.
I shared my idea with my students. They think it's brilliant and much too simple and elegant to ever happen. I think they are right.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Why couldn't I finish this yesterday when I started it? Oh yeah, all the interruptions. Sorry folks, it was one of those days. Today will be another (blog started Tuesday morning, finishing it up at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday).
Someone should start a new website, www.policechase.com to document all of the chases we see on TV, and those TV chooses not to air. There can be a Hall of Shame for everyone who gets caught and a Hall of Fame for everyone who gets away. Of course that would be empty since no one ever gets away.
How many times must you show someone how to do something before you're allowed to be a tiny bit impatient?
Am I having trouble sleeping on the nights after teaching because it energizes and drains me all at once?
Why are people upset that Justin Bieber's bodyguards had to carry him up to the Great Wall of China? My opinion of him can't go any lower than it is already.
Maybe if people wouldn't make videos that are potentially embarrassing, we wouldn't need a law banning "revenge porn" in California.
A laundry supervisor at a L.A. County detention facility may become an inmate rather than a worker after he was busted bringing in drugs. Why would a laundry supervisor have trouble staying "clean"?
I understand pride in one's home state but New Mexico residents need to chill about the Frito pie thing.
The Tampa Bay Bucs really screwed the pooch in this John Freeman thing and they need to make amends, and quickly.
Does the closing of the New York City Opera mean the city is no longer as interested in "culture" as it once was? Maybe it's more about people being less willing to pony up $7 million to save a poorly run operation when the economy is still in dangerous territory?
* * *
October 1st in History:
331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
959 – Edgar the Peaceable becomes king of all England.
1189 – Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Knights Templar since 1184, is killed in the Siege of Acre.
1553 – Coronation of Queen Mary I of England.
1787 – Russians under Alexander Suvorov defeat the Turks at Kinburn.
1791 – First session of the French Legislative Assembly.
1795 – Belgium is conquered by France.
1800 – Spain cedes Louisiana to France via the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
1811 – The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoléon the previous spring.
1827 – Russo-Persian War: The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.
1829 – South African College is founded in Cape Town, South Africa; it will later separate into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools.
1832 – Texian political delegates convened at San Felipe de Austin to petition for changes in the governance of Mexican Texas.
1843 – The News of the World tabloid begins publication in London.
1847 – German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
1854 – The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American system of watch manufacturing.
1880 – John Philip Sousa becomes leader of the United States Marine Band.
1880 – First electric lamp factory is opened by Thomas Edison.
1887 – Balochistan is conquered by the British Empire.
1890 – Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.
1891 – In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.
1898 – The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie.
1903 – Baseball: The Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series.
1905 – František Pavlík is killed in a demonstration in Prague, inspiring Leoš Janáček to the piano composition 1. X. 1905.
1908 – Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.
1910 – Los Angeles Times bombing: A large bomb destroys the Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles, California, killing 21.
1918 – World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia", capture Damascus.
1920 – Sir Percy Cox lands in Basra to assume his responsibilities as high commissioner in Iraq.
1928 – The Soviet Union introduces its First Five-Year Plan.
1931 – The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York opens.
1936 – Francisco Franco is named head of the Nationalist government of Spain.
1937 – The Japanese city Handa is founded in Aichi Prefecture.
1938 – Germany annexes the Sudetenland.
1939 – After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile Nazi forces enter the city.
1940 – The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.
1942 – USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru not knowing she is carrying British PoWs from Hong Kong
1942 – First flight of the Bell XP-59 "Aircomet".
1943 – World War II: Naples falls to Allied soldiers.
1946 – Nazi leaders are sentenced at Nuremberg Trials.
1946 – Daegu October Incident occurs in Allied occupied Korea.
1946 – Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom.
1947 – The North American F-86 Sabre flies for the first time.
1949 – The People's Republic of China is established and declared by Mao Zedong.
1957 – First appearance of In God We Trust on U.S. paper currency.
1958 – NASA is created to replace NACA.
1959 – The 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China is celebrated across the country.
1960 – Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1961 – The United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military espionage organization.
1961 – East and West Cameroon merge to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
1962 – First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
1964 – The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of University of California, Berkeley.
1964 – Japanese Shinkansen ("bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.
1965 – General Suharto puts down an apparent coup attempt by the 30 September Movement in Indonesia.
1966 – West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with eighteen fatalities and no survivors 5.5 miles south of Wemme, Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9.
1968 – The Guyanese government takes over the British Guiana Broadcasting Service (BGBS).
1969 – Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.
1971 – Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1971 – The first brain-scan using x-ray computed tomography (CT or CAT scan) is performed at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London.
1975 – The Seychelles gain internal self-government. The Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands and take the name Tuvalu.
1975 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
1978 – Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1978 – The Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party is founded.
1979 – Pope John Paul II begins his first pastoral visit to the United States.
1979 – The MTR, the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, opens.
1979 – The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.
1982 – Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a Constructive Vote of No Confidence.
1982 – EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1982 – Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).
1985 – The Israeli Air Force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization Headquarters in Tunis.
1987 – The Whittier Narrows earthquake shakes the San Gabriel Valley, registering as magnitude 5.9.
1989 – Denmark introduces the world's first legal modern same-sex civil union called "registered partnership".
1991 – The Siege of Dubrovnik begins.
1992 – Cartoon Network begins broadcasting.
1994 – Palau gains independence from the United Nations (trusteeship administered by the United States of America).
Famous Folk Born On October 1st:
Sallust
Richard Stockton
William Boeing
Yip Man
Vladimir Horowitz
Bonnie Parker
Sam Yorty
Walter Matthau
James Whitmore
Jimmy Carter
William Rehnquist
Tom Bosley
George Peppard
Richard Harris
Julie Andrews
Stella Stevens
Rod Carew
Spider Sabich (it was murder)
Stephen Collins
Cub Koda
Randy Quaid
Mark McGwire
Zach Galifianakis
Rupert Friend
Movie quotes today come from the very underrated "Wild Geese" from 1978. Starring Richard Burton, Richard Harris (today's honoree), Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger and Stewart Granger, it's a "mercenary" movie:
Faulkner: I'm dry when I work.
Sir Edward Matherson: Yes, so I've heard.
Faulkner: There's a separate clause in my contract that says my liver is to be buried separately with honors.
Sir Edward Matherson: I'm not a very humorous man.
Faulkner: So I've noticed.
#2
RSM Sandy Young: Some of you know me already! Those of you who don't are in for a great, big fuckin' surprise! For those of you who do can expect an infinitely more horrible time than they can remember! Any man here who steps out of line and I will kill stone dead, it will not worry me in the slightest! There are no Queen's regulations here! When I say jump, you ask how high,Do I make myself clear? I want to hear it! Do I make myself clear? RIGHT! On the command Right and Left turn, A and B squads turn to the right, C and D squads turn to the left. SQUADS! Right and Left TURN! Right! Let's drive for our first heart attack shall we!
#3
[after womanizer Sean Finn fails at a simulated parachute drop]
RSM Sandy Young: That was LUDICROUS, sir. You're jumping from an aeroplane, not a whorehouse window. Do it again.
#4
Sir Edward Matherson: [laughing] Well, then I suppose you'd better kill me.
Faulkner: You're a remarkable man too, Sir Edward. So I suppose I better had.
Carol is a veteran who was injured in Afghanistan. She applied for disability benefits from the VA for her injuries and her claim, after 17 months was denied. She located a pro-bono lawyer to help her prepare her appeal and it was completed today. She can go ahead and submit it, but because the Board of Veterans Appeals will not issue any decisions at all while the government is in "partial shutdown."
Mike and Suzanne are in their 80s. Mike is a veteran of World War II and the couple barely scrapes by on her social security and his VA disability. He is 100% disabled. His benefits were paid on October 1st as scheduled, but if the shutdown lasts more than a week or two, his November 1st check will not be paid until new funding is authorized by the Congress. The VA will run out of money before then.
Lisa is a clerk for a federal judge. She is a lucky person in that she is considered an "essential employee" and will not get a furlough notice in two weeks when the federal court system also runs out of money. Then she gets to continue working, without pay. She will be paid for all that work whenever a budget is signed into law, but while there is no funding, she doesn't get paid. How will she pay her bills in November if the shutdown lasts 28 days like it did the last time this happened?
These are composites based on actual people impacted by the shutdown. No one's real name or situation has been described accurately enough to allow anyone to be identified. But their pain and that of hundreds of thousands of others is real.
Senators Ted Cruz and Harry Reid may be fighting like cats and dogs on the floor of the Senate, but I'm sure things are civil in the Senate Dining Room where the food is supposed to be excellent and the prices are some of the best bargains in the District of Columbia. The members of the House and Senate have private gyms. They get the best medical care available at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. And they will continue to get paid during the shutdown.
Something is rotten in Washington.
* * *
I had an idea this morning. I was driving to Santa Monica so I could teach my morning class and the perfect compromise for the bickering political parties in Washington, D.C. became clear.
Suspend the penalty, but not the mandate.
The Tea Party people can't argue that the net effect is unfair, since now both business and individuals will not face a penalty for failure to comply. They can't argue that since President Obama gave an extra year to business to comply, individuals deserve an extra year. If the mandate is law, but the penalty is voluntary, both sides get what they want.
Then next year when this comes up again just before the November mid-term elections, let the Republicans threaten to shut down the government again, because they don't want Obamacare to survive; but they don't have the votes to repeal it. They wouldn't dare.
I've read the entire text of Obamacare. I did not see any provision giving anyone the power to actually collect the penalty. It is assessed, but statutory authority for the IRS to collect it isn't in there anyway. At least not that I saw. Now you may choose to interpret that other sections of the United States Code that empowers the IRS to collect other government debts like student loans, will also empower it to collect the mandate penalties of Obamacare. That will undoubtedly be just one of many future challenges to the Affordable Care Act.
I shared my idea with my students. They think it's brilliant and much too simple and elegant to ever happen. I think they are right.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Why couldn't I finish this yesterday when I started it? Oh yeah, all the interruptions. Sorry folks, it was one of those days. Today will be another (blog started Tuesday morning, finishing it up at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday).
Someone should start a new website, www.policechase.com to document all of the chases we see on TV, and those TV chooses not to air. There can be a Hall of Shame for everyone who gets caught and a Hall of Fame for everyone who gets away. Of course that would be empty since no one ever gets away.
How many times must you show someone how to do something before you're allowed to be a tiny bit impatient?
Am I having trouble sleeping on the nights after teaching because it energizes and drains me all at once?
Why are people upset that Justin Bieber's bodyguards had to carry him up to the Great Wall of China? My opinion of him can't go any lower than it is already.
Maybe if people wouldn't make videos that are potentially embarrassing, we wouldn't need a law banning "revenge porn" in California.
A laundry supervisor at a L.A. County detention facility may become an inmate rather than a worker after he was busted bringing in drugs. Why would a laundry supervisor have trouble staying "clean"?
I understand pride in one's home state but New Mexico residents need to chill about the Frito pie thing.
The Tampa Bay Bucs really screwed the pooch in this John Freeman thing and they need to make amends, and quickly.
Does the closing of the New York City Opera mean the city is no longer as interested in "culture" as it once was? Maybe it's more about people being less willing to pony up $7 million to save a poorly run operation when the economy is still in dangerous territory?
* * *
October 1st in History:
331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
959 – Edgar the Peaceable becomes king of all England.
1189 – Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Knights Templar since 1184, is killed in the Siege of Acre.
1553 – Coronation of Queen Mary I of England.
1787 – Russians under Alexander Suvorov defeat the Turks at Kinburn.
1791 – First session of the French Legislative Assembly.
1795 – Belgium is conquered by France.
1800 – Spain cedes Louisiana to France via the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
1811 – The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoléon the previous spring.
1827 – Russo-Persian War: The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.
1829 – South African College is founded in Cape Town, South Africa; it will later separate into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools.
1832 – Texian political delegates convened at San Felipe de Austin to petition for changes in the governance of Mexican Texas.
1843 – The News of the World tabloid begins publication in London.
1847 – German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
1854 – The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American system of watch manufacturing.
1880 – John Philip Sousa becomes leader of the United States Marine Band.
1880 – First electric lamp factory is opened by Thomas Edison.
1887 – Balochistan is conquered by the British Empire.
1890 – Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.
1891 – In the U.S. state of California, Stanford University opens its doors.
1898 – The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie.
1903 – Baseball: The Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series.
1905 – František Pavlík is killed in a demonstration in Prague, inspiring Leoš Janáček to the piano composition 1. X. 1905.
1908 – Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.
1910 – Los Angeles Times bombing: A large bomb destroys the Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles, California, killing 21.
1918 – World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia", capture Damascus.
1920 – Sir Percy Cox lands in Basra to assume his responsibilities as high commissioner in Iraq.
1928 – The Soviet Union introduces its First Five-Year Plan.
1931 – The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York opens.
1936 – Francisco Franco is named head of the Nationalist government of Spain.
1937 – The Japanese city Handa is founded in Aichi Prefecture.
1938 – Germany annexes the Sudetenland.
1939 – After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile Nazi forces enter the city.
1940 – The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.
1942 – USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru not knowing she is carrying British PoWs from Hong Kong
1942 – First flight of the Bell XP-59 "Aircomet".
1943 – World War II: Naples falls to Allied soldiers.
1946 – Nazi leaders are sentenced at Nuremberg Trials.
1946 – Daegu October Incident occurs in Allied occupied Korea.
1946 – Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom.
1947 – The North American F-86 Sabre flies for the first time.
1949 – The People's Republic of China is established and declared by Mao Zedong.
1957 – First appearance of In God We Trust on U.S. paper currency.
1958 – NASA is created to replace NACA.
1959 – The 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China is celebrated across the country.
1960 – Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1961 – The United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military espionage organization.
1961 – East and West Cameroon merge to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
1962 – First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
1964 – The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of University of California, Berkeley.
1964 – Japanese Shinkansen ("bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.
1965 – General Suharto puts down an apparent coup attempt by the 30 September Movement in Indonesia.
1966 – West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with eighteen fatalities and no survivors 5.5 miles south of Wemme, Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9.
1968 – The Guyanese government takes over the British Guiana Broadcasting Service (BGBS).
1969 – Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.
1971 – Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1971 – The first brain-scan using x-ray computed tomography (CT or CAT scan) is performed at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London.
1975 – The Seychelles gain internal self-government. The Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands and take the name Tuvalu.
1975 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
1978 – Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1978 – The Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party is founded.
1979 – Pope John Paul II begins his first pastoral visit to the United States.
1979 – The MTR, the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, opens.
1979 – The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.
1982 – Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a Constructive Vote of No Confidence.
1982 – EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1982 – Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).
1985 – The Israeli Air Force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization Headquarters in Tunis.
1987 – The Whittier Narrows earthquake shakes the San Gabriel Valley, registering as magnitude 5.9.
1989 – Denmark introduces the world's first legal modern same-sex civil union called "registered partnership".
1991 – The Siege of Dubrovnik begins.
1992 – Cartoon Network begins broadcasting.
1994 – Palau gains independence from the United Nations (trusteeship administered by the United States of America).
Famous Folk Born On October 1st:
Sallust
Richard Stockton
William Boeing
Yip Man
Vladimir Horowitz
Bonnie Parker
Sam Yorty
Walter Matthau
James Whitmore
Jimmy Carter
William Rehnquist
Tom Bosley
George Peppard
Richard Harris
Julie Andrews
Stella Stevens
Rod Carew
Spider Sabich (it was murder)
Stephen Collins
Cub Koda
Randy Quaid
Mark McGwire
Zach Galifianakis
Rupert Friend
Movie quotes today come from the very underrated "Wild Geese" from 1978. Starring Richard Burton, Richard Harris (today's honoree), Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger and Stewart Granger, it's a "mercenary" movie:
Faulkner: I'm dry when I work.
Sir Edward Matherson: Yes, so I've heard.
Faulkner: There's a separate clause in my contract that says my liver is to be buried separately with honors.
Sir Edward Matherson: I'm not a very humorous man.
Faulkner: So I've noticed.
#2
RSM Sandy Young: Some of you know me already! Those of you who don't are in for a great, big fuckin' surprise! For those of you who do can expect an infinitely more horrible time than they can remember! Any man here who steps out of line and I will kill stone dead, it will not worry me in the slightest! There are no Queen's regulations here! When I say jump, you ask how high,Do I make myself clear? I want to hear it! Do I make myself clear? RIGHT! On the command Right and Left turn, A and B squads turn to the right, C and D squads turn to the left. SQUADS! Right and Left TURN! Right! Let's drive for our first heart attack shall we!
#3
[after womanizer Sean Finn fails at a simulated parachute drop]
RSM Sandy Young: That was LUDICROUS, sir. You're jumping from an aeroplane, not a whorehouse window. Do it again.
#4
Sir Edward Matherson: [laughing] Well, then I suppose you'd better kill me.
Faulkner: You're a remarkable man too, Sir Edward. So I suppose I better had.
posted by me at 5:50 AM
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