Don't pay Congress during shutdown ... Thx Marge R!

First major agency offers phased retirement; shutdown tips for contractors; a bid to freeze congressional shutdown pay

 

GovExec Today Problems viewing? View as a web page     September 22, 2015     HUD Becomes First Major Department to Offer Phased Retirement for Employees // Kellie Lunney Department is restricting the opportunity to partially retire while working part-time to certain workers for now. Contractors Reminded the President Always Wins in Shutdown Battles // Charles S. Clark Veterans of past stalemates stress that when agencies close, the situation stays fluid. Brought to you by Thomson Reuters BRING THE FACTS INTO FOCUS Thomson Reuters CLEAR is a powerful investigative platform with a comprehensive collection of public and proprietary records providing the most up to date information about people and businesses to help you build safer communities. Further advance your capabilities with real-time incarceration and arrest records, batch alerts, and 50 state DMV data, all accessible from CLEAR's easy-to-use online platform. See how CLEAR can work for you. Congress Should Not Get Paid During a Government Shutdown, Says Lawmaker // Kellie Lunney Bill would prevent future legislative bodies from receiving salaries during a government closure. IRS Phone Service Got Much Worse in an Otherwise Solid Filing Season // Charles S. Clark Watchdog says agency planned ahead for last-minute tax law changes. What Facebook's 'Lean In' Guru Can Teach Troops // Mohana Ravindranath "If the U.S. military can get this right, other industries will follow," Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said. Study: Drivers Have More Stressful Commutes Than Transit Riders or Walkers Do // Eric Jaffe Transit riders and walkers, who avoid the "unexpected delays" of traffic, stack up better in a new survey. Papal White House Visits Are Special, But They Sometimes Get Awkward // George E. Condon Jr. Meetings between popes and presidents have ranged from memorable to prickly. Vetoed Drone Legislation the Right Step for Growing Industry // Gary Shapiro and Brian Wynne Drones may represent the ultimate in disruptive technology. 'Appalling' Is the Right Word for the Civil Service System // Howard Risher Let's fix workforce management once and for all. Your State's Tax System Probably Isn't Fair // Dave Nyczepir The fairest structures generally have lower sales and excise taxes, a new WalletHub survey shows. Video: Spy Agency's Open Source Mapping Tool Helps First Responders Save Lives // Caitlin Fairchild GeoQ has helped in crises around the world. Life Won't Get Better for Renters // Gillian B. White Millions more will struggle to make monthly payments in the next decade. The Future of Space Exploration, According to Congress // Clare Foran Mars, Europa and the search for life in deep space. Brought to you by Thomson Reuters BRING THE FACTS INTO FOCUS Thomson Reuters CLEAR is a powerful investigative platform with a comprehensive collection of public and proprietary records providing the most up to date information about people and businesses to help you build safer communities. Further advance your capabilities with real-time incarceration and arrest records, batch alerts, and 50 state DMV data, all accessible from CLEAR's easy-to-use online platform. See how CLEAR can work for you.   GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE // CUSTOMER SERVICE // CONTACT US // PRIVACY POLICY // UNSUBSCRIBE This message was sent from Government Executive to kanzurem@aol.com. You have been sent GovExec Today because you have opted in to receive it. Note: It may take our system up to two business days to process your unsubscribe request and during that time you may receive one or two more newsletters. Thank you for reading GovExec Today.  Government Executive Media Group, 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037

Thomas Sowell- Who shut down the government? ... Thx Ramey H!

Thomas Sowell

10/4/2013 12:01:00 AM - Thomas Sowell

Even when it comes to something as basic, and apparently as simple and straightforward, as the question of who shut down the federal government, there are diametrically opposite answers, depending on whether you talk to Democrats or to Republicans.

There is really nothing complicated about the facts. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted all the money required to keep all government activities going -- except for ObamaCare. This is not a matter of opinion. You can check the Congressional Record.

As for the House of Representatives' right to grant or withhold money, that is not a matter of opinion either. You can check the Constitution of the United States. All spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives, which means that Congressmen there have a right to decide whether or not they want to spend money on a particular government activity. Whether ObamaCare is good, bad or indifferent is a matter of opinion. But it is a matter of fact that members of the House of Representatives have a right to make spending decisions based on their opinion.

ObamaCare  (The Affordable Care Act)is indeed "the law of the land," as its supporters keep saying, and the Supreme Court has upheld its Constitutionality. But the whole point of having a division of powers within the federal government is that each branch can decide independently what it wants to do or not do, regardless of what the other branches do, when exercising the powers specifically granted to that branch by the Constitution.

The hundreds of thousands of government workers who have been laid off are not idle because the House of Representatives did not vote enough money to pay their salaries or the other expenses of their agencies -- unless they are in an agency that would administer ObamaCare. Since we cannot read minds, we cannot say who -- if anybody -- "wants to shut down the government." But we do know who had the option to keep the government running and chose not to. The money voted by the House of Representatives covered everything that the government does, except for ObamaCare.

The Senate chose not to vote to authorize that money to be spent, because it did not include money for ObamaCare. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he wants a "clean" bill from the House of Representatives, and some in the media keep repeating the word "clean" like a mantra. But what is unclean about not giving Harry Reid everything he wants? If Senator Reid and President Obama refuse to accept the money required to run the government, because it leaves out the money they want to run ObamaCare, that is their right. But that is also their responsibility.

You cannot blame other people for not giving you everything you want. And it is a fraud to blame them when you refuse to use the money they did vote, even when it is ample to pay for everything else in the government. When Barack Obama keeps claiming that it is some new outrage for those who control the money to try to change government policy by granting or withholding money, that is simply a bald-faced lie. You can check the history of other examples of "legislation by appropriation" as it used to be called. Whether legislation by appropriation is a good idea or a bad idea is a matter of opinion. But whether it is both legal and not unprecedented is a matter of fact.

Perhaps the biggest of the big lies is that the government will not be able to pay what it owes on the national debt, creating a danger of default. Tax money keeps coming into the Treasury during the shutdown, and it vastly exceeds the interest that has to be paid on the national debt. Even if the debt ceiling is not lifted, that only means that government is not allowed to run up new debt. But that does not mean that it is unable to pay the interest on existing debt.

None of this is rocket science. But unless the Republicans get their side of the story out -- and articulation has never been their strong suit -- the lies will win. More important, the whole country will lose.

obama, the shutdown and rules for civility ... Thx Judi C!

Obama, the Shutdown and 'Rules for Radicals' By Rick Jensen

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | "Republicans are terrorists!" "Arsonists!"

When President Obama chastised Americans to show restraint in political discourse, he obviously wasn't talking to his own party ... or himself.

And why should he? While conservatives are reading Russell Kirk, Edmund Burke and William F. Buckley, liberals read Saul Alinsky.

Saul Alinsky, whom Buckley noted may be the greatest organizational mind in history, was a legendary community organizer and socialist inspiration to leftists. Hillary Clinton wrote her college thesis on Alinsky's writings. L. David Alinsky, Saul's son, applauded Barack Obama, saying "Obama has learned his lesson well" from his father.

Recently, we've witnessed Obama and other Democrats exhibiting the lesson taught as "Rule number 12" in Alinsky's seminal work, Rules for Radicals, which is:

"Destroy the Individual"

"RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)"

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So, while President Obama negotiates with terrorists, he refuses to negotiate with fellow Americans. Republicans are the enemy and each one who represents his or her constituents by fighting for smaller, more efficient government must be demonized.

And so goes the demonetization:

Democratic Representative and party leader Nancy Pelosi calls fiscally responsible Republicans "Legislative Arsonists."

Senior Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer actually described duly elected Representatives fighting for responsible spending as having "bombs strapped to their chests."

Yes, that's the White House calling Republicans "Terrorists" because they won't raise taxes and increase spending thoughtlessly.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Republicans "have lost their minds."

Harry Reid is the Democrat who advises President Obama not to negotiate with Republicans. Yes, that sort of tactic would go over very well in the national media if a Republican behaved that way, wouldn't it?

DNC Leader Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz calls Republicans "unhinged."

You could easily make the case Shultz has shaken loose the screws of her own hinges many times in public, but that's not the point.

The point is that our President sets the agenda and the tone. So, what is he telling his party's leadership behind closed doors after he stands before America and calls for "civility?"

Since he's used the phrase, "kick ass," in public that's likely the message behind closed doors.

In public, he calls for "negotiation" and "talks" about the budget impasse.

In private meetings, his "negotiation" sounds more like, "Y'all give up yet?"

White House Press Secretary and all-around spokesweasel Jay Carney demonstrated that he got the real message, calling budget-wielding Republicans "extortionists."

Yes, I just called Carney a "spokesweasel." I will often correctly identify political players with an accurate title. And, unlike our President, I haven't called for "civility."

I'm just noticing how the Democrats are playing this while it seems many people have missed the radical rules they employ.

As subtle as an Obama drone strike, Democrats have also demonized Republicans as Nazis.

Last year at about this time South Carolina Democratic Chairman Dick Hartpootlian equated Governor Nikki Haley with Eva Braun and California Democratic Party Chair compared Paul Ryan with Joseph Goebbels.

In wartime, propagandists often demonize their enemies as less-than-human, with epithets such as "Japs," "Gooks," "Krauts" and "Zipperheads."

This is what Democrats consider to be "civil" today.

In addition to their Republican enemies, Democrats are proving every day that they are at war with Americans who believe that, sometimes, government isn't the solution, it's the problem.

Democrats are tripling the cost of individual and small-group health insurance, failing to establish something as common as a competent web site for Obamacare and forcing poor people who have no internet account to create an email account to manage their Obamacare policies with financial penalties.

Barack Obama marketed himself as the "transformative" candidate.

America has been transformed.

"Terrorist" and "Nazi" Republicans need not apply.

Does the Democratic Party have anyone who'll actually negotiate?

Yes. Joe Biden.

As reported by Politico, Harry Reid put an end to that, telling Mr. Obama to forbid Joe Biden from negotiating with Republicans because he has a bad habit of getting bipartisan deals done. 

Shutdown Government ... Thx Sarah R!

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We could only hope....