Murphy Moving On

For John, BLUF:  Our Mayor is going to explore new areas.

Over at the Gerry Nutter Blog is a report that Mayor Patrick Murphy announced on WCAP that he is not going to run for another term.

I didn't catch the report myself.  I am sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for the plumber.  But, back to the announcement:

He feels he has made many contributions but it is time to focus on other things and let others have a turn to serve and help their city.

I think that statement is just right.  And it is time for others to step up and have their turn.  Sometimes that "turn" is just about running for office, to keep the others on their toes as our elected representatives, to remind them of their own "mortality".

Thanks, Gerry, and thank you Patrick Ó Murphy.

Regards  —  Cliff

Avoiding Sequestration

For John, BLUF:  There is no avoiding Federal Spending cuts and new taxes, unless you want to end up like Argentina.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Per The New York Times, President Obama is going to Congress to try and avoid the Fiscal Cliff, Obama Offers Deficit Savings to Head Off Automatic Cuts.  Mr Stephen Crowley reporting.

President Obama on Tuesday called on lawmakers to quickly pass a new package of limited spending cuts that can head off the automatic, across-the-board reductions that are set to take effect on March 1.

Mr. Obama said the Congress should delay the automatic cuts for a period of months to give lawmakers a chance to negotiate a full budget that permanently resolves the threat of the so-called sequester.

“They should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms” to put off the automatic cuts, Mr. Obama said Tuesday, adding that there is no reason to put at risk “the jobs of thousands of Americans.”

"Thousands" of jobs?  Hundreds of thousands of jobs.  The thing is, as the Congress cuts spending it is doing what the Sequestration was designed to accomplish.

There is no free lunch.

And if you believe in Keynesian Economics you are rejecting the application of good engineering principles.

Regards  —  Cliff

Careful How You Point

For John, BLUF:  The VEEP sets a very bad example for school children.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Over at ¡No Pasarán! there is a caption contest going.

Frankly, it is our own Vice President, Joe Biden, setting an extremely poor example for children everywhere.  Extremely poor example.  If he was a real First Grader he would be suspended for a week or maybe even expelled.

His target is Monsieur François Hollande, but no one knows who he is this side of the pond.  He is the honorary proto-canon of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, in Rome, believe it or not.

Back when I was in the Fighter Dodge, one gestured with one's elbow, rather than point with fingers.

Regards  —  Cliff

WMD in Iraq vs Benghazi

For John, BLUF:  Turns out that Bush and Blair did not lie about WMD.  The Intel was wrong and they believed it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

From Yale Law Professor Stephen L. Carter we have this article on reviewing the intelligence on WMD♠  at the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  His lede:

Remember the debate about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction?  It’s back for an encore, thanks to Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, who remarked at a hearing recently that whatever went wrong in the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi disaster, it wasn’t as bad as the Bush administration’s insistence that those weapons existed.

Key paragraph:

One of my favorite historians, Andrew Roberts, insists that Corera’s research “explodes that myth completely.”  That seems to me too strong.  Rather, Corera offers a nuanced perspective that should serve as corrective to some of the sillier conspiracy theories that still abound.  His account is unlikely to convince all the doubters, but should be studied nonetheless for the lessons it carries—lessons to which President Barack Obama and his administration should pay close attention.

But, perhaps aren't.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Once upon a time WMD meant nuclear weapons.  Then the Soviet Union convinced the United States to include Chemical and Biological weapons.  Today, thanks to the thoughtlessness of the US Congress, it is any not so big chemical explosive bomb.

Super Bowl Offense

For John, BLUF:  Aren't we all part of the human race?

Per Mary Katherine Ham, over at Hot Air, the VW Super Bowl ad is facing some controversy.  Frankly, it has been called racist.

It has a man from Minnesota, sometimes seen as a dour group, (a Caucasian, perhaps one of the frozen chosen) speaking with a Jamaican accent, encouraging his co-workers to be happy.  It is humor through juxtaposition.

It was funny.

UPDATE:  Title typo.

Regards  —  Cliff

Debt Crisis Continues

For John, BLUF:  From a Fiscal pont of view the US is in trouble, on the way to creating a new acronym, "US PIGS".♠  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Below I have quoted a short portion of a longer paper by Mr Ron Boehmer, from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.♥  The paper is Our Debt Problems Are Far from Solved.  There you have it, in a title.  Incidently, I have deleted foot notes from this extract.

Given the deficit reduction enacted in the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) and the recent American Tax Relief Act (ATRA), several commentators have suggested that the task of controlling the debt is almost complete.

President Obama recently remarked that "the consensus is we need about $4 trillion to stabilize our debt and our deficit, which means we need about $1.5 trillion more."  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, meanwhile, has argued that $1.4 trillion of additional deficit reduction would be sufficient for the time being.  And then there is columnist Paul Krugman, who writes that the deficit is "a problem that is already, to a large degree, solved."

While the deficit reduction enacted to date represents notable progress, our debt problems remain far from solved.  By our estimates, lawmakers have achieved only slightly more than half of the minimum necessary deficit reduction to achieve sustainability over the next decade (and less than 40 percent of the savings in the Simpson-Bowles plan), only one third of the deficit reduction needed through 2040, and only one sixth of the deficit reduction needed through 2080.  Moreover, much of the savings already enacted represents the easier "low-hanging fruit" of deficit reduction.

Despite the $2.35 trillion in enacted savings, debt remains on an upward path -- on course to exceed 100 percent in the early 2030s, 200 percent in the 2050s, and 300 percent in the 2070s.  These levels are clearly unsustainable.

Rather than allowing the debt to grow or just barely stabilize the debt, lawmakers must put the debt-to-GDP ratio on a clear downward path.  This will require at least $2.2 trillion in new savings through 2022 and substantially more over the long-run.  By doing so, lawmakers would be able to provide wiggle room in case projections change, fiscal flexibility to deal with unforeseen events, and increasing the chances that debt will remain under control through at least the next few decades -- not to mention the economic benefits of lower debt levels.

Agreeing to $2.2 trillion in tax and spending changes will not be easy.  But in our view, it is the absolute minimum necessary to ensure the debt is on a sustainable path.

For more information, contact Mr Ron Boehmer by phone: (202) 596-3611 or e-mail: Boehmer@CRFB.org.

Who do we contact if we are concerned?

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  PIGS stands for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.  Sometimes it is PIIGS, with Ireland the second I, although I think that economically they aren't near as in trouble as the others.
♥  Alice Rivlin is on the Board of Directors, which suggests to me it is a seriouos organization.

Who Owns Your Kid's Drawing?

For John, BLUF:  Here is a School Committee out of control and demanding copyright privileges for the work of kids and teachers.

Copyright in these United States is out of control!

And it will bite us, bad, as it stifles creativity.

First off, copyright periods are getting longer and longer.  Soon the heirs of Lincoln will be on us about use of the Gettysburg Address.  Eventually the descendents of Moses will be complaining about people freely using the Ten Commandments.

And in Prince George County, Maryland, outside Washington, DC, the School Board is considering rules to make the work of teachers and students—and students—copyrighted with the rights assigned to the School District.

Here is the lede:

A proposal by the Prince George’s County Board of Education to copyright work created by staff and students for school could mean that a picture drawn by a first-grader, a lesson plan developed by a teacher or an app created by a teen would belong to the school system, not the individual.

So, your First Grader colors a picture and does a good job at it, the work belongs to the school.  Not a big deal if it is on the frig, but it could be a big deal if you post it on your blog and your blog has advertising.  What if you Eleventh Grader does a science fair project and it turns out to be innovative?  What about a Twelfth Grader's essay for college?

And, it just isn't in school, per this paragraph from the article

It’s not unusual for a company to hold the rights to an employee’s work, copyright policy experts said.  But the Prince George’s policy goes a step further by saying that work created for the school by employees during their own time and using their own materials is the school system’s property.

Here is Professor Ann Althouse's comment:

God forbid that teachers might become entrepreneurial about their creations and amass personal wealth.  It's important to keep them inside the system, teaching their wards that the government needs to possess everything in order to ensure that no one gets more than her share.

Copyright in these United States is out of control!

And it will bite us, bad, as it stifles creativity.

If you create something and keep it to yourself, fine.  If you create something and put it out there, there comes a time when you need to release it to the rest of us to tinker with.  Think of it as being like your children, who become independent when they turn 18, or 21.

For those of you quick to blame President Obama for things gone wrong in this nation, don't blame him for this.  This is squarely on Congress.  While this particular incident is from a School Committee, the general trend has been set, over the years, by the US Congress—the people we send back to Capitol Hill election after every election.

I hope our School Committee, and our Commonwealth Department of Education is NOT going to engage in this kind of thing.

Hat tip to the Althouse blog.

Regards  —  Cliff