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Shirley Sherrod, former USDA employee, and victim of the Tea Party Movement

The USDA (and the White House) are learning that the hard way. Shirley Sherrod, who had been canned by the US Department of Agriculture because of “racist’ comments, has continued to be vindicated for the harsh way she was booted out because of fear of political reprisals, instead of investigating the truth.

Articles on CNN and MSN highlight the embarassment that was felt because of instead of properly investigating a serious accusation, they moved straight to forcing her to resign.

In case you don’t remember the case, Ms. Sherrod was the USDA’s rural development director in Georgia. A ultra-conservative blogger named Andrew Breitbart, attacked her taking a 1986 speech to the NAACP out of context, portraying her a bigoted black woman, who refused to help a farmer to the full extent because he was white. The reality of the matter, that was a small section of a speech which covered racial tensions that ended up becoming dissolved, and really helped to bring everyone to a better place.

Now that the NAACP has provided the full video of the speech, a lot of people are eating crow. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who forced her out several months back, offered her a position. She declined, however she may be interested as working as a consultant in civil rights work with the agency.

The crow was not limited to Mr. Vilsack however. NAACP to the White House and Obama have had to unceremoniously remove their feet out of their respective mouths. And as for our whiley tea party blogger who underscores how selfishly disturbed that movement is? Sherrod is suing him, as she should. I’m not sure of his intentions, but it underscores how the tea party movement has sought to pervert our ideals, under the guise of returning us to the “christian’ nation that we once (never) were.

If the administration has its way, these soldiers may have to use private insurance to pay for treatment of war related injuries after being discharged

One of the things I most hate to hear is when veterans of the U.S. military get screwed by the government. There was once a time when the military provided everything when you served, and when you got out you were taken care of. After someone has intentionally put themselves in harms way for the protection of this country, it seems like such a small thing to do.

Yet recently we’ve been hit with newsbreak after newsbreak of vets getting the short end of the stick. I remember watching to 60 minute special after the Walter Reed news broke. Sickening. I remember hearing about a kid – just 19 years old – who had been sent off to Iraq and within a couple of months had his leg blown off. He was given a medical discharge and sent to the hospital to get a prosthetic and go through therapy. Then the army comes and wants their $20,000 bonus back because he didn’t serve his full term. Are you serious? The Army should have changed its campaign posters to “Join the Army, where it’ll only cost you an arm and a leg. Or a leg and $20,000.” It was sickening.

Now we hear about the lack of basic cleaning of equipment has put numerous veterans at risk for dangerous infections, including hepatitis and HIV. Appalling.

But it gets worse. The Obama administration has found a way to fully fund the VA medical system – charge the vets. That’s right, even for battle related wounds, the VA system would charge veterans’ insurance for medical care, putting veterans at the mercy of their insurance benefits. Something isn’t right there.

Obama is trying to fill a $540 million budget gap, so he plugs it with the money of the veterans. Wow. I guess their blood in the battlefields wasn’t good enough, now we need their money too.

Our government needs to take a step back and take in everything. What all is this and other recent policies (I.E. 90% retroactive taxation on bonuses) doing? It is eroding the public’s trust in the government. Including the trust of the men and women who risked so much to keep us around. It is a shame, truly a shame, that we have sunk so far.

Removing the FFELP would dramatically alter the education financing landscape

I started wondering if Obama’s claim that doing away with the FFELP -  Federal Family Education Loan Program - would actually save taxpayers money, so I started doing some digging. Thankfully, someone did the leg work for me. I did a quick check through their numbers and seen that they were pretty accurate in their claims.

The administration claims that they will reduce costs by $4 billion dollars a year (read original article on munky.org here), mainly due to removing the subsidies. However, in 2006, when the same argument existed, America’s Student Loan Providers released a whitepaper outlining flaws in the math. The government had significantly overstated the cost of subsidies for FFELP and significant understated subsidies for the Direct Loan Program.

Now I could sit here and explain it, but the boys over at studentloanfacts.org have done a pretty good doing that for me. Quoting from the source, what is in the government’s version, and how it was changed:

 

 

• Count FFEL program costs for 1992 and 1993 – years in which the Direct Loan program did not exist – Eliminating them makes cost estimates fairer and more meaningful.

Effect on Subsidy Rates: FFEL program, reduced to 9.10 percent; Direct Loan program, increased to 1.76 percent.

• Include cost estimates for 2002-2004, years whose loan cohorts have yet to go into repayment – Eliminating them makes estimates more reliable and fairer.

Effect on Subsidy Rates: FFEL program, reduced to 8.66 percent; Direct Loan program, increased to 3.83 percent — cost differential is reduced to 4.83 percent.

• Do not include the Direct Loan program’s administrative costs – Counting them makes estimates more accurate and fairer.

Effect on Subsidy Rates: FFEL program, increased to 9.52 percent; Direct Loan program, increased to 6.23 percent — cost differential is reduced to 3.29 percent.

• Do not include tax revenues generated by FFEL program loan providers – Including tax revenues makes estimates more accurate and fairer.

Effect on Subsidy Rates: FFEL program, decreased to 7.62 percent; Direct Loan program, decreased to 6.17 percent — cost differential is reduced to 1.45 percent.

• Do not account for the risks to direct loans from defaults, consolidations or interest rate fluctuations – Adding a risk premium of 0.25 percent to the government’s discount rate makes estimates more accurate and fairer.

Effect on Subsidy Rates: FFEL program, remains at 7.62 percent; Direct Loan program, increased to 7.67 percent — cost differential is eliminated. 

As usual, the government does a half-ass job of figuring the true cost of things. All this in an attempt to look like they are doing something positive. Positive things lead to re-elections, we know how that story goes.

What the FFELP really does for us is give us expanded options for providing student loans. It creates competition, keeping rates in check, and provided a benefit to loan providers by offering special rate reductions. These rate reductions add up.

Plus the government is a poor manager of money, and is unqualified to act as a bank. Part of the reason I’m vehemently against the nationalization of banks.

Want the facts? Go to the Federal Student Loans Fast Facts page on studentloanfacts.org. Then write your congressman. Thankfully about.com has a good page with tips and how to find out who your congressperson is – just click here to find out more.

Now you see it, now you don't

All we heard about on Obama’s inauguration was how well everything went safety wise. No assassination attempts, none completed either. However, I was somewhat shocked to come across the news of a very real and dangerous threat that had luckily been averted.

James G. Cummings, both a millionaire and a white supremacist, was found shot to death in his home on December 9th. So what does a dead millionaire who hates blacks have to do with a mass murder plot? It was what was found in his home. According to an FBI field intelligence report:

 

According to the FBI report, Cummings had four lots of one gallon containers of bomb-grade hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium (also radioactive), lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium (radiation booster), boron, black iron oxide and magnesium ribbon.

While the radiation levels from Cummings initial device would have not have been physically significant compared to its explosive and toxic effects, had Cummings set off the device in Washington DC, during Obama’s Presidential inauguration, its psychogenic effect may have hospitalized thousands.

 

Rich white supremacists with bomb-making material and radioactive material, now that is scary. Had this guy pulled it off, he would’ve been the most loved white supremacist and most hated filthy wretch of the earth. Beyond the radioactive and explosive materials, I was shocked to see thermite on the list, along with magnesium ribbon. I haven’t seen these things since the Anarchist cookbook was cool (maybe it still is, I dunno). If you ever have some free time and money to spare, and hate a jerk who drives an expensive car, put a little bit of thermite on his hood over the engine and ignite it with a magnesium ribbon. It’ll burn through the hood, through the engine, through the pavement until it runs out of fuel.

Plus whoever in the hell missed the millionaire white supremacist buying uranium and thorium?! Had he been a dumbass hillbilly buying a bunch of fertilizer, the FBI would’ve been on him like white on rice, forcing him to prove he wasn’t a modern Timothy McVeigh (that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time). Geeze, we have all these intelligence agencies out there tracking movement of all sorts of stuff in an attempt to stomp out terrorism, yet they managed to miss a guy whose idol was Hitler who managed to get radioactive material?! Is this the homeland security Bush envisioned?!

The worse part was that outside of Maine (which is where this occurred), this event was unheard of. I wouldn’t have even known had I not stumbled across it on Wikileaks.org. People talk about Mainstream Media missing the point, here you go. Not only can your not believe what you hear, you also have to believe what you cannot hear. Ironic, given that less American’s are Christians then they were 20 years ago, and one of the staples of Christianity is believing in something you’ve never seen. But that’s a topic for another day.

I honestly hope for the sake of arguement that this story winds up being false. I got an email military.com with a link to an article about an Army 1st Lt. who is on a suit to prove the POTUS is a legally born U.S. citizen. It this is true, it makes me sick to my stomach.

So what’s the deal? According his letter on defendourfreedoms.com, 1st Lt. Scott R. Easterling states

“Until Mr. Obama releases a ‘vault copy’ of his original birth certificate for public review, I will consider him neither my Commander in Chief nor my President, but rather, a usurper to the Office — an impostor.”

A 1st Lt. in the Army?! You’ve got to be kidding me! If they verify that he is a part of the suit against Obama – in an attempt to make him provide a vault birth certificate – he’s going to get hit with conduct unbecoming of an officer. He’s out, done for. He could potentially get a dishonorable discharge (if they wanted to make an example of him), which is fairly equivalent to a having a felony on your record.

I just unnerves me about people like that. Some say he is defending his freedoms. Unfortunately he forgot to read the paperwork when he signed up. He’s government property now, being in the military takes away a number of rights. There are a number of rules and procedures to follow by, which he did not follow. Plus there is a high esteem for the President when you are in the military, whether or not you personally like the guy. He is your Commander in Chief, he is the President.

All I have to say is at least he wasn’t in the Corps. The Marine Corps are the president’s own, so that would be an even more unnerving insult.

Apparently though, a large number of people are in on this California lawsuit. I guess they all decided to get high, then during a munchies run, came up with the idea to sue. And of course, California is full to the gills of followers (no offense to my California leaders), so it’s easy to create the bandwagon.

It’s still just shocking to me that the Army gave that idiot a silver bar!

This cell could one day open up new treatments for a variety of conditions

Hallelujah. I was reading that Obama is apparently switching the Bush position by 180 degrees on this one. Thank goodness. That conservative approach just showed how brain dead those conservatives were.

Stem cell research has high hopes among many scientists. Because of its properties of being able to turn into any other kind of cell, it could be a key to saving livings, extending lifespans, curing diseases, etc. Instead of promoting and nourishing this science, the Bush administration strangled it tight, citing ethical reasons.

However, consider this. While this country was imposing super-tight rules regarding such research, other countries, particularly in Europe, opened their doors. So now America is already behind in the race.

As for the ethical concerns, many were squashed a year back when one of the scientists who first discovered these cells also found a way to create them using skin cells. I’m sure there are some limitations, but it has shown that there are multiple ways to derive these cells.

We also call into the mind of where the stem cells primarily come from: embryos. It is a hotly contested debate over when you can officially determine something alive. Personally I believe you can consider it life, however I also believe that abortion is a woman’s choice. For the hardcore religious who claim it is murder, read the section about though shalt not judge, then leave me alone. Yet what can’t be debated is that abortion is legal, and thousands of embryos are being discarded of every year. I would rather those embryos didn’t die for naught.

If 1 life was lost yet even 2 lives were saved, what do you think? If 1 life was lost and a thousand were saved, what would you think?

Bottom line, embryonic stem cell research exists, and it is going to continue to exist. America is not so powerful as to snuff it out because a handful of conservative republicans believe it is unethical. We’ve let a lot of opportunity slip out of our hands because of this Bush folly, and I’m glad to see Obama taking steps to correct it.

America wants to believe it is the best and smartest country in the world, a leader in technology and science and mathematics. However, we have managed to lose our bragging rights over the years because our government has cut funding that promotes the sources. Schools focused away from hands on science and budgets for fairs and other science related fun activities have been slashed. Academic funding has been slashed. Government programs to promote a love for science has been slashed. The majority of our engineering students aren’t even American anymore.

So yes, putting funding back on the table is a small step in the right direction. Let’s see how many more steps this administration has in it.

Even This Image is Taboo

I’m no gun expert, but I do appreciate firearms. Yet the subject of guns is extremely taboo in this society, which is amazing given that we have a constitutional right just for them. Given that our new president has made it clear that he doesn’t like guns, I decided to think about and given my own interpretation to the second amendment.

  Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791.

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.

I have heard many opinions on this, with interpretations in each corner. Now I will give you my not so law-schooled opinion, but the opinion of someone who has great interest in the period of history surrounding this amendment.

First off, the well regulated militia. At the time in America in which this was written, we didn’t have so much of a standing army. In fact, Washington (the original G.W.) and other leaders of the continental army disarmed and went back to a more philosophical life. They didn’t believe in the standing army.

Many today argue that since we have a powerful standing Army, that it suggests that the right to bear arms is limited for that fact, given that our country has round the clock security. To them, they are wrong. First off, the ignore the fact that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Period. Those words “shall not be infringed,” cannot be construed or interpretted differently.

However, more can be taken from this. Consider the line “being necessary to the security of a free State.” Many interpret this being the security of the United States, better termed as national security. However, this is not how it is put, and given one of the main driving forces of the Bill of Rights, this was intentional. Thomas Jefferson believed that a country (even a ‘free’ democracy) needed a rebellion every 20 years or so. Given the wording in the Declaration of Independence, our fore-fathers understood that once a tyrannical leader commits too many crimes against his own people, the people have the human right to rebel. (more…)

Has the administration done its homework?

The first go around of the bank bailout has had mixed results. Things didn’t get much better, but they didn’t get much worse either for the most part. So it can be considered both a success and a failure, depending on who you ask. Instead of taking a seat and crunching who needed what, they forced the big banks to take a check, then handed out funds to the others who requested them.

Now we are in phase 2. The calamity that surrounded the first bailout has diminished – however relative – and everyone has more time to think and act. This time, the government is going to use a “stress test” on the banks to figure out who needs what and how badly. These tests are supposed to see if the banks can handle not only what the government expects will happen, but will also test to see if they can stand on the “worst case” scenario: 10% unemployment and another 20% drop in home prices.

Some thoughts on this whole bailout mess. I supported the first bailout. I knew it wasn’t perfect at the beginning, but the price for perfection was too high. America’s financial institutions were in dire straights, and needed help quickly. I was furious at the congressmen and women who were quoted as saying things like “I don’t see the need for it” or “how is this going to help main street?” Some pushed back saying that they wouldn’t support it because their constituents wouldn’t get any benefit from it. Since then we’ve learned just how much Wall Street affects main street. I’m glad it passed, I just hated it took so long. I remember just after one senator – I believe Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma (what a character) – made a comment about not seeing the need to rush things, WaMu failed and Wachovia teetered into competing suitors. These was an urgent need.

Now onto the next $350 billion. I like the concept of the stress test. Now that we have some time to breath, let’s size up the team. My only concern is the worst case scenario may be a bit optimistic. Although a number of good signs have come across throughout the markets (more in-depth studying of our recent lows find that they were not as bad as 11/20 and 11/21), there is still more than can hit the fan, and probably will. Our economy is being shaken up, and there are still more feathers to ruffle. I should hope that home prices don’t drop more than another 20%, but unemployment may hit the 10% mark. Lets hope neither happens.

After the tests, the government (and the banks) will be in a better position to judge their capital positions. If more capital is needed to maintain solvency, then that bank has 6 months to raise private capital before the government purchases preferred convertibles to boost it’s financial position. In theory, eventually these preferred convertibles will later be converted to common shares, increasing its health in the stock market and potentially giving the taxpayers a reward (maybe).

Will it work? That we’ll see. As a long term bailout program, it is much better than our original TARP program. Although I think the option to invest directly in the banks was better than asset recovery (which would’ve taken much longer), it was not designed to be an everlasting measure. I am hopeful that this administration used its time and political chips wisely on this one. It could still fail, but with careful planning and a little luck, it might just work.

Raptor hanging out with an F-16

After checking through my email, I noticed that my twitter was now being followed by RaptorJobs. I’m not going to begin to wonder how they caught my feed, but I’m thankful someone noticed.

I guess I have a soft spot in my heart for the F-22 Raptor. Aviation in general. I’m still a college student, and I plan on transferring next year for Aerospace Engineering. One day I’d like to see myself working on designing the next Raptor: the fastest, stealthiest, deadliest plane in the sky. A truely start of the art aircraft that is light years ahead of anything else that spends its time in the sky. Well, unless you believe in UFO’s, because I don’t know if we’ll advance to that in my lifetime (one can only hope).

Beyond the practical and defensive reasoning behind supporting the Raptor, there are other, pragmatic reasons as well. If we shelf the Raptor, we might not hurt only our own defensive/offensive capabilities, but we may also stunt the science behind it. America is suffering from a loss of brain power. We are educating foreign students at our schools so they can become the top in their field back in their home. Unfortunately, kids nowadays are not as interested in science as they once were.

We’ve been sufferring for a long time under an education system that only prepares kids for a standardized test. Education fails to understand the point. It’s not about getting the answer, it is about how to get it. Sure, we can teach kids to use the calculator for math. At some point though, they can’t go any farther. Because once you reach a certain level, you don’t have a pretty little formula to plug the numbers in and make it work. You have to figure that out. Kids aren’t getting that.

They only thing outside of competitive education (where some kids are going to fail) that can inspire today’s youth to become something more is by seeing the results of others inspiration. That F-22 is an inspiration. If you can’t give the kids science fairs, if they are too busy “learning” to be able to have fun with school, then please don’t take away the only hope we have of the future.

So what drove me to want to grow up and be a “rocket scientist”? Space, although far removed from the time of the Apollo missions, was still cool. The Shuttle program is only slightly older than I am. I used to look up to the stars at night. I was the nerd with the telescope and the book of constellations, trying to make them out in a city sky far too bright to make out a fraction of those crystal specks in the universe. I would build and launch model rockets, even making my own one time out of a wrapping paper tube. My first try didn’t turn out that well, but after a couple of goes I made a pretty damn good rocket.

Kids need that nowadays. And schools need to realize that standardize testing is a farse, it only hurts more than it helps. Standardized testing means we are to be standardized people, and we are not. Give the kids a hands on approach to learning, that’ll help the drop out rate. Some kids are going to fail, we can’t help that. Lowering your standards (i.e. Dallas) only makes matters worse. If a student fails a test the first time, he failed the damn test. End of story. We don’t get second chances in life, and if we raise them to think there is always a do over, then we’ve failed them.

So to Obama, if you ever read this, don’t kill the Raptor. You’ll kill the spirit.

F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter

In a final note to this though, I’m including an image of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. You will notice similarities between it and the F-22, although they are no identical twin. The F-22 is older though. See what daring breakthoughs bring you? Unfortunately, the F-35 is not a valid consideration at this time, as it is not production ready. Yet had the government scrap it’s spending on the F-22 in the first place, we would’ve never had it’s little brother.