Heads Up for a Change in this BLOG

The name of this blog Coastcontact’s Postscript Weblog tells readers nothing about the purpose of this writer. While I have had many people from all over the world make comments about my opinion, I suspect there are many who do not read any of my postings. So I have decided to rename the blog to something that reflects my intent. Since most of the commentary is about the world of politics, law, and things happening I have chosen a name (from the available names) that reflects my purpose.

The new name will be An Alternate Opinion. The URL for the website will be Analternateopinion.com and will still be managed by WordPress. This changeover will occur over this Memorial Day Weekend. It will only happen if I am able to understand and complete the process. The link referral to analternateopinion.com is now working. A new theme format will be implemented over the weekend. There may be a few trial changes.

Houston, We Have a Problem!

The tragic Gulf oil disaster of the past five weeks finally focused Congress’ attention on the serious safety problems with offshore drilling. But why does it take a national disaster to get their attention?

A bill to make our food safer has been sitting in Congress, near final passage, for a year. It would increase inspections and help food companies catch contaminants before the food gets to our local supermarkets.

Both the U.S. House and Senate passed Wall Street reform bills, but now a final bill must be worked out between them – and the lobbyists will be pressing for loopholes!

The Obama administration says the federal government payroll will grow to 2.15 million workers this year. This number includes the military. There will be 1.43 million civilian workers on the payroll in fiscal year 2010. More surprising is that this number does not include postal workers. My source for this data is a Washington Times article dated February 2, 2010.

Despite this enormous staff our government has failed to provide the health and safety, protection for our wild life, or the security we desire.

The Food and Drug Administration has not protected society for a laundry list of errors caused by both food processors and drug manufacturers. A recent good example is Yaz and Yasmin. There are issues about its safety but the product is still being sold. Remember the Peanut Corporation of America? That company was selling contaminated product and was shutdown only after the spot light of the news media was focused on the issue. Just today there is concern about children’s over the counter Tylenol and other child medications.

The Securities and Exchange Commission had data warning about Bernie Madoff but did nothing to stop his Ponzi scheme. More recently the news reports that members of the SEC staff have been spending their days looking at internet porn sites. There has been no effort to ensure the accuracy of bond rating agencies.

The President fired his chief coordinator for terrorist tracking as the result of the stumbles that have occurred. The Christmas Day bomber failed as the result of his incompetence. The Fort Hood massacre plan went undetected. The Times Square bomber failed as the result of his incompetence.

Now we have the Minerals Management Services Department of the Department of the Interior that clearly has not carried out its responsibilities in the Gulf Of Mexico.

Are Americans supposed to have confidence in their government? Of course, but we do not. Is it likely that another president could do a better job? It’s not likely because the bureaucracy is too big. If the government can’t do the job then why are we paying those high taxes?

Steps to Solve the Immigration Problem

NBC is devoting a significant part of today’s programming to the immigration issue. Doug McIntyre is a columnist in the Los Angeles Daily News. This column appeared on May 22, 2010 on the front page. I agree with most of what is written here. This well written article deserves everyone’s attention.

The debate over immigration has degenerated into idiocy, with dueling boycotts and pickets outside basketball games. When Phil Jackson becomes Hitler it’s time to pull the plug on the stupidity and solve the problem.

Extremists demand either open borders or mass deportations. Tragically, our cowardly or pandering leaders have allowed the extremists to set the tenor of the debate by ducking the issue for decades. Here are the 10 points I believe would actually solve the problem:

One: Build a fence. Not a flimsy chain-link job we all hopped as kids, but a 1200-mile, Gulf-to-Pacific double fence with a road down the middle patrolled by ICE agents.

A physical barrier is essential. You can’t reform it if you don’t control it.

Two: It’s time for a tamper-proof national ID card. One third of illegal immigrants come here through our airports. They’re students, tourists and guest workers who simply vanish when their visas expire. Like it or not, we’re all going to have to “show our papers.”

Three: Sanctuary city laws have to go. Local law can’t undermine Federal law. Special Order 40 should be nullified.

Four: Employers who knowingly hire illegal workers should be jailed. A few CEOs doing the perp-walk will send a powerful message – we respect and protect the value of labor.

Five: Eliminate birth right citizenship. It’s hard to imagine the authors of the 14th amendment ever intended it to reward law-breakers by creating a loophole for anchor babies.

Six: Once the Federal Government has demonstrated actual control of our borders, we need a top to bottom reform of the legal path to citizenship. It shouldn’t take years and cost many thousands to come here. We also need to be picky about who we let in – for both security reasons and for the economic health of the country. Talent and skill should be a priority.

Seven: Children who were carried here by their parents, often as infants, should be allowed to go as far in life as their ability and ambition can take them. Children shouldn’t suffer for the actions of their parents.

Eight: Create a guest worker program that’s enforceable – that means a way to verify a worker actually leaves the country at the end of his or her contract.

Nine: Immigrants have to make a commitment to be American. You are not a traitor to your race when you embrace the land you have voluntarily entered – a country that takes you in, protects your rights and offers boundless opportunities. A little gratitude goes a long way.

Ten: Only after the first nine steps have been taken should we grant amnesty. Allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country under some kind of sub-citizen designation would create second-class citizenship. We all have to be in this together.

Doug McIntyre’s column appears in the Los Angeles Daily News on Wednesdays and Sundays. You can reach him at dncolumnist@dailynews.com.

Dancing with the Stars

Nicole Scherzinger and partner Derek Hough dominated throughout the 10th season of the hit ABC show

A very well deserved award.

Nullification of Federal Law: The Issue Is Back

From the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: nullification
Doctrine upholding the right of a U.S. state to declare null and void an act of the federal government. First enunciated in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798), it was expanded by John C. Calhoun in response to the Tariff of 1828. Calhoun maintained that a state “interposition” could block enforcement of a federal law. The South Carolina legislature agreed by passing the Ordinance of Nullification (1832), threatening to secede if the federal government forced collection of the 1828 tariff duties. Pres. Andrew Jackson asserted the supremacy of the federal government. The U.S. Congress passed a compromise tariff bill reducing the duties but also passed the Force Bill, which authorized federal enforcement of the law. The South Carolina legislature rescinded its ordinance, but the conflict highlighted the danger of nullification.

Are we about to re-fight the Civil War? The question of nullification and secession were settled by that war. When the United States won that war over the Confederate States, the right to succeed from the union was settled. Apparently nullification was thought to still be a legal right. However, when President Eisenhower, a Republican, sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School to enforce the order to integrate, that issue was settled. Or was it?

The Tea Party Patriots are using the argument of the right to nullify Federal law by sighting the 10^th amendment to the constitution. The two laws they want to nullify are the new health care law and laws restricting the right to bear arms.

Alaska State Rep. Mike Kelly, sponsor of the Alaska Firearms
Freedom Act is a bill similar to other state’s freedom firearms acts. The proposed law states that if ammunition and weapons are made and used within the state then Federal law does not apply.

I oppose all laws that prohibit the use of Marijuana. Marijuana, for any use, is illegal under Federal law. If the state of California legalizes the use of this substance and it is banned by the U.S. government then I would want congress to change Federal law. I would not be in favor of nullification. My reason is simple. The United States is one nation. It is not a confederation of independent states.

Rand Paul and Patrick Henry, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!”

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death were the last words of a speech given by Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775 to a Virginia convention. This one famous speech gave Patrick Henry a place in history books but he was never heard again.

Rand Paul has performed a service for all Americans. He has defined the Tea Party position on a multitude of issues. That puts him on the fringe of the political spectrum. Everyone will find some views of his as correct. He seems to have issues with the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, and President Barack Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill Friday as anti-business and sounding “really un-American.” Rand Paul just wants to re-make America. (Update: reported late on CBS radio news that he doesn’t want to share his views on Meet the Press.) He is a Libertarian.

I found this appropriate Los Angeles Times editorial page comic commentary.

The reason that the Libertarian Party has not been successful is they hold views that most people find objectionable. Everyone will find something in his views that are acceptable. Just read this list of libertarian positions.

Fiscal Policy: Very right-libertarian. The Libertarian Party opposes taxation in pretty much all forms, and deals with the revenue loss by opposing entitlement programs in pretty much all forms. This means that people keep more of what they earn, but it also means that there is no social safety net. And ambitious new proposals–such as universal pre-kindergarten and universal health care–are obviously not compatible with this objective.

Corporations: Eliminate all federal subsidies to private corporations, as well as all antitrust laws.

Public Services: Eliminate the Postal Service. Transfer all government services, from public schools to landfills, to private ownership.

Property Rights: Would restrict public domain to immediate public use, and sell or give away most public property to private owners.

Criminal Justice: Would eliminate all antidrug laws and legalize prostitution. Would end random police roadblocks.

Free Speech: Would abolish the FCC and allow private ownership of broadcast frequencies. Opposes all restriction of free speech, including free speech restricted in the name of national security.

Church and State: Calls for reduced IRS regulation and monitoring of tax-exempt churches.

Second Amendment: Strongly opposes all gun control, as well as regulation of alternative weapon technologies (mace, Tasers, and so forth).

The Draft: Calls for the abolition of the Selective Service System and amnesty for any citizen who has ever resisted the draft.

Reproductive Rights: Pro-choice, but opposes all federal funding of abortion and most federal entitlements for women who choose to carry their pregnancies to term, including the child tax credit. Opposes involuntary or fraudulent sterilization.

LGBT Rights: Opposes “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Believes that marriage is a private contract, and should yield no government benefits regardless of the gender of the partners.

Immigrants’ Rights: Argues that borders should be open but surveilled–everyone who does not pose a threat to public health or national security should be allowed to enter the country legally. Would eliminate all federal benefits to undocumented immigrants.

Summary Of Key Provisions Of Senate Financial Overhaul Bill

I wanted restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act. It was the most far reaching of any financial control law in American History. The new law may be an improvement but I fear the details will provide loopholes that will not fulfill American needs.

Following is a an abridged summary found on Morningstar.

-NEW REGULATORY AUTHORITY: Gives federal regulators new authority to seize and break up large troubled financial firms without taxpayers bailouts in cases where the firm’s collapse could destabilize the financial system.

-CONSUMER AGENCY: Would create a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within the Federal Reserve, with rulemaking and some enforcement power over banks and non-banks that offer consumer financial products or services such as credit cards, mortgages and other loans.

-DERIVATIVES: Would require the vast majority of all derivatives trading be executed on a public exchange as opposed to between banks and their customers as many contracts are currently written.

-FINANCIAL STABILITY COUNCIL: Would establish a new, nine-member Financial Stability Oversight Council, comprising existing regulators charged with monitoring and addressing system-wide risks to the nation’s financial stability.

-OVERSIGHT CHANGES: Would eliminate the Office of Thrift Supervision, but an attempt to strip the Fed of its oversight of thousands of community banks in the bill was reversed with an amendment.

-FEDERAL RESERVE OVERSIGHT: Calls for a one-time government audit of all of the Fed’s emergency lending programs from Dec. 2007 onward, including facilities used to help deal with the collapse of Bear Stearns & Co. and the program to stabilize asset-backed securities markets.

-BANK CAPITAL STANDARDS: Under an amendment adopted unanimously with little fanfare, the bill would force banks with more than $250 billion in assets to meet higher risk- and size-based capital standards.

-CREDIT RATING AGENCIES: The bill will establish a new self-regulatory organization for credit rating agencies designed to eliminate a conflict in the current system where an institution pays for its rating and, at times, shops for the best rating it can get for the lowest price.

-INVESTMENT ADVICE: Several Democrats had hoped to tighten regulations for broker-dealers who give investment advice, but they weren’t given a floor vote on their amendment despite near constant lobbying from consumer groups.

-MORTGAGE RISK: Would require firms that securitize mortgages and other loans to hold a portion of the risk on their own balance sheets, but–under an amendment added on the floor–also would direct regulators to establish a category of less-risky mortgage products– primarily fixed-rate, fully amortizing loans–that would be exempt from the risk-retention rule.

-HEDGE FUNDS: Would require hedge funds that manage more than $100 million to register with the SEC as investment advisors and disclose to the agency information about their trades and portfolios.

-CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: Would give shareholders of public corporations a non-binding vote on executive pay, and would give the SEC the authority to grant shareholders proxy access to nominate directors.

-INSURANCE: Would create a new Office of National Insurance within Treasury to monitor the industry, recommending to the systemic risk council insurers that should be treated as systemically important, as well as coordinate international insurance issues.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Just two months ago (March 22) Republicans, especially talk radio and cable TV commentators, were banging the drum calling for repeal of the new health care plan. It seemed that they had their cause for the November election. As we move away from the passage of health care the focus has changed. No wonder. We have had the scare of the Times Square bomber, the BP oil spill, and the Greek financial crises to occupy our time along with a few other unusual occurrences.

Predicting the outcome of the November congressional elections would not be a worthwhile endeavor. Yet, I must point out that there has been a lack of focus on the state of this economy. The words “jobs, jobs, jobs” rings in my ears. “It’s the economy, stupid” was a phrase in American politics widely used during Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against President George H. W. Bush. The words were coined by Clinton campaign strategist James Carville refers to the notion that Clinton was a better choice because Bush had not adequately addressed the economy, which had recently undergone a recession.

There has not been one plan enunciated by either political party offering a solution to our on going 10% unemployment situation. We all know that the unspoken real number is 15%. It has not been addressed. Incentives to bring jobs back to this country are all mediocre.

Government’s failure to do its job is going to result in many incumbents in both political parties finding new jobs.