Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

Although I have been an Obama fan since 2008, there are a few things happening, or not happening, in his administration that leave me wondering if I have been backing the wrong horse. Not that I wish I had voted for John McCain or Mitt Romney, but I wonder if some other liberal might have been a better choice, although I have no idea who that would be. Today’s headlines indicate that Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, has been chosen to fall on her sword for the problems facing the 2010 Affordable Care Act web site. Although she says she gave the President regular reports on the progress of the program, she is ultimately responsible for the problems. This is true to some extent, but whatever happened to Harry Truman’s sign, “The Buck Stops Here?” Apparently it has been replaced by one that says, “It’s not my responsibility.” The second thing that has me concerned is the NSA’s insistence that the President was not informed about the bugging of governme...

During the early 1950s I worked for a large manufacturing company – I believe there were over 4,000 employees. The company bigwigs prided themselves on being in the forefront of technology, so the decision was made to upgrade the data processing system, as it was called in those pre-IT days, to take advantage of the new equipment and methods which had been developed during wartime. After many months of planning by highly trained analysts, a new system for streamlining the order processing, shipping and billing procedures was ready to go. The changeover was scheduled to take place over a weekend. Haha. Now I am speaking about a rather large system: this company was shipping fifty freight-car-loads and over 200 truckloads of product each day. One can see that any delay would cost big bucks. For three weeks not one item of product left the plant! Those individuals responsible for installing the system were working over 100 hours per week in order to get it going! After th...

As I write this, the shutdown blame game continues in Washington. According to the GOP, the Democrats refuse to compromise. The argument is, “We need more time to analyze this 2,500-page train wreck.” My question is: Given that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed three years ago, how much time do you need? The Republican answer: Eternity. If that’s true, you must have stupid analysts. Another GOP argument is that the individual purchase requirement in the law is unconstitutional. The law was duly passed by the Congress, signed by the President, and upheld by the Supreme Court. Unconstitutional? I think not. Next argument: The President has broken the law by postponing the health care employer mandate. October 1 st was specified in the law – he is overstepping his power by deferring the requirement. But wait – the implementation of all laws is prescribed by the agencies charged with enforcing them. Federal agencies have almost unlimited powers concerning the rules c...