Are unmanned aircraft, known to have difficulty avoiding collisions, safe to use in America’s crowded airspace? And would their widespread use for surveillance result in unconstitutional invasions of privacy?
via SFGate.
Yes, and no seem like pretty straightforward answers to these questions.
But the elected idiots who man the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus have taken over $8 million in campaign contributions from drone developers.
So do you feel safe yet?
Black Friday gun sales hit an all time record high last week with demand for new firearms so overwhelming that it caused outages at the FBI background check center on two separate occasions.
Fueled by fears that the Obama administration will go after gun rights during a lame duck term, the FBI reported 154,873 background check requests on Friday – a 20 per cent increase on last year’s record total of 129,166 checks.
via Infowars.
Good time to be in the gun manufacturing business.
So says the Commercial Club of Chicago.
In a memo to its members, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago said last week’s elections didn’t bring in an influx of lawmakers willing to deal with the pension crisis but instead leaves taxpayers with “more legislators who aren’t prepared, or willing, to make the tough decisions necessary to save our state.”
“We are writing today to let you know that the pension crisis has grown so severe that it is now, unfixable,” said the letter co-signed by Miles White, chairman of the Commercial Club; Jim Farrell, chairman of the Civic Committee, and Ty Fahner, president of the Civic Committee and Commercial Club.
via Sun-Times.
Miles White is the Chairman and CEO of Abbott Labs. Jim Farrell is the retired Chairman and CEO of Illinois Tool Works. Ty Fahner is a partner at Mayer Brown where he handles tax, bankruptcy, and securities matters. These are not dumb guys. They understand finance and are used to dealing with large numbers.
The headline is of course misleading; the problem is fixable. It’s really just that every week that’s wasted means the solution will be more painful. The Commercial Club outlines what it thinks needs to be done:
This is pretty painful for the pension members. Naturally there will be some pain on the taxpayers as well. It’s a bad situation that’s only getting worse by the day.
As organized labor loses leverage in a race-to-the-bottom global market, some workers are becoming so disillusioned by what their unions can, or rather can’t, do for them that they want out. The disaffected include dozens of machinists at Caterpillar Inc.’s plant in Joliet who crossed the picket line during a strike last summer and are planning unfair labor practices complaints against the union.
Organized labor’s slippage is most acute in the manufacturing sector, which has lost 4.7 million jobs and seen membership shrink by almost a third since 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, private-sector union membership stands at just 6.9 percent nationally and 10.6 percent in Illinois. …
Many rank-and-file employees have opposed unions all along, of course. Despite organizing drives, workers have turned down collective bargaining at automobile plants across the South. Legislatures in 23 states have enacted “right-to-work” laws that allow employees to opt out of dues-paying membership at union shops; Indiana joined this camp early this year.Now some workers in union-friendly states are turning on their brethren over strikes.
These are good jobs that pay well. Most people really want to work. Yet the unions get in they way somtimes… and yes, sometimes it’s the companies that get in the way. The big difference however is that the company is the one taking the risk. The shareholder or owner is placing his or her money on the line. The union is not.
Successful risks should be rewarded. Bad risks are punished. That’s how people learn; how the cream rises to the top.
You can take all the money in this country and redistribute it equally to each person. In ten or fifteen years those who are “rich” will be rich again. Those who are “poor” today will be poor again.
It’s very much like the story of the talents; Matthew 25:14-30.
A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans’ e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law.
CNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans’ e-mail, is scheduled for next week.
via CNET News.
Very sad.
This is Squealer right after they send Boxer off to the glue mill:
“It was the most affecting sight I have ever seen!” said Squealer, lifting his trotter and wiping away a tear. “I was at his bedside at the very last. And at the end, almost too weak to speak, he whispered in my ear that his sole sorrow was to have passed on before the windmill was finished. ‘Forward, comrades!’ he whispered. ‘Forward in the name of the Rebellion. Long live Animal Farm! Long live Comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right.’ Those were his very last words, comrades.”
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Talk about not letting a crisis go to waste.
It’s Friday morning, and so far today, the Obama administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its reguations.gov website.
In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices – an average of 68 a day.
via CNSNews.com.
Shear insanity.
Makes me think of the old Guns & Roses song Signs.
We’re no longer free. Very sad.
Mel Bernstein, owner of Dragonman Arms in Colorado Springs, told KOAA-TV that sales of semi-automatic weapons had boomed in recent days.
He said: “We’re going from normally six to eight guns a day, to 25. I stocked up, I got a stockpile of these AK-47s, we’re selling these like hot cakes. Luckily I had an idea of what was going on because it happened with Clinton.”
Mr Bernstein said he normally orders up to 7,000 rounds a week from distributors but could now only get hold of 3,000 because of demand.
John Kielbasa, owner of Fernwood Firearms in Hankins, New York, told CNN: “Sales are up. I had a guy waiting here first thing in the morning (the day after the election.) He came in, bought two AK-47s. It’s going to be good for me for business.”
via Telegraph.
Again from the U.K. No U.S. paper wants to touch this right now. They wrote all about it before the election when it would drive gun-control folks to the polls. Now, it’s the other side of the sword; Obama is the greatest gun salesman of all time.
Even if Obama manages to slip something by the Congress the damage is done. 12.7 million background checks in 2008 alone. The number’s only gone up… every year since. Obama in office is responsible for 5 – 6 million new guns sales since 2008. Crazy.