US Air Traffic Control:: Total Managerial Incompetence

I want to privatize US air traffic control.  That would be truly less government.  The Canadians have privatized air traffic control.  You know how liberals love to talk about how Canada does things.  The air traffic control fiasco is just another example of total managerial incompetence in government.  This incompetence is a direct result of the incentives that face government employees who make managerial decisions.  The bigger the government, the more secure your job is.  When faced with cuts, the government typically cuts the most visible services in order to get their budget restored.  This strategy is so common it has its own Wikipedia entry.  However, the FAA has a long history of such managerial incompetence.  In a recent example, the FAA did not managed to modernize US air traffic control, while wasting billions of dollars trying.  Government employees want to maximize their budget, so cost overruns are good for them. This administration's political reaction to budget cuts should make everyone think twice about allowing big government to run anything economically important, especially air traffic control.  

Description of Canadian Air Traffic Control

http://www.navcanada.ca/NavCanada.asp?Language=en&Content=ContentDefinitionFiles%5CNewsroom%5CBackgrounders%5Cairtrafficservices.xml

Article on FAA History of Waste

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/346688/extravagance-faa

Cuts Politically Motivated

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/the-faa-fiasco-90603.html

Wikipedia Entry for Washington Monument Syndrome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_Syndrome

Arms Race: Missile Defenses v Rogue State Nukes

The Iranians are threatening Israel with annihilation, not the other way around.  Iranian demonstrators have been encouraged by their government for years to chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”  ever since 1979.  The ayatollahs say they will wipe Israel off the map.   My guess, based on the Israeli view of the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust, is that Israel will use their nukes if they have to, especially when the Iranians explicitly threaten them.  The fact is that Israel has nuclear capable ballistic missiles that can reach Iran.  My guess, based on their view of the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust, is that Israel will use their nukes if they have to.   Israel also has a formidable air force.  However, it's likely that only the US, and not Israel, has the capability to significantly damage Iran's nuclear program with conventional weapons.  If the US does not take care of the Iran threat, then we may force the Israelis to use their missiles with nuclear warheads to preclude an Iranian nuclear breakout.  The only thing that could stop Israel from attacking is a significant missile defense capability.  So as it stands now, it’s a race between Israeli missile defense and Iranian nuclear weapon development.  The president says that all options are on the table.  However, he seems to be signaling, with all of his diplomacy, that the US will sit this one out militarily.  Does that seem like a smart thing to do?  

The US needs robust missile defenses as well.  Missile defenses make a small number of ICBM's less valuable.  They would tend to discourage North Korea from trying to build enough ICBM's to be effective as a credible threat to the US, because the cost would be prohibitive for them.  The argument that US missile defenses might offend the Russians and Chinese is appeasement pure and simple.  The liberal line on these issues is always in favor of spending less on defending ourselves, so we can spend more on domestic "investment," like Solyndra and Fisker.  It's how liberals buy their votes, but  it is not a rational approach to defending ourselves.

Article on need for missile defenses

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/346579/our-much-needed-missile-defense

Description of Israeli Ballistic Missile Capability

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ICBMs

Immigration: 840 Pages of Unreviewable Discretion.

Marco Rubio was quoted in National Review Online saying the Senate immigration bill is only 840 pages. There is no way I want the government to be able to hide its arbitrary actions behind a screen of 840 pages of poorly and hastily drafted law, exceptions and regulatory guidelines.  The bill gives the Executive branch the ability to waive many of the key provisions of the law, according to another National Review article.  Worse, the bill says that these waivers are “unreviewable discretion.”  Remember our current president already thinks he can pick which laws he enforces and which laws he can ignore.  The House should reject this mess and pass a simple bill.  It should greatly expand H1B Visas and create a guest worker program.  People should be able to qualify for either, whether they are in the US or outside.   If they qualify, then their immediate family should get residency permits.  Shirt tail kin should not be allowed to piggy back on this status.  Extended stays on public assistance should be prohibited.  The bill should be 50 pages tops.  The Democrats should have to explain to Hispanics and Asians why the Senate won't vote on it because unions don't like it.  Conservatives would be able to show that we are pro immigration as long as it's legal.  The "Comprehensive Solution" on any issue is always a mirage.  Liberals promise such a solution for two reasons.  If they get it passed, government gets bigger and more complex.  If they fail to get it passed, Liberals can blame conservative obstruction for the failure to achieve the mirage. 

Rubio quote:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/346362/marco-rubio%E2%80%99s-radio-row

Ability to Waive provisions:  

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/346345/immigration-power-grab

Birthers Have it Backwards

Liberals feel strongly that questioning where the President was born is racist.  They argue that nobody asked about McCain’s birth because he’s white.  For liberals questioning McCain’s birth see the New York Times headline, Feb 28, 2008: "McCain’s Canal Zone Birth Prompts Queries About Whether That Rules Him Out."  As far as the President's birth, I think he was born in Hawaii.  However, I think the reason he won't release his college transcripts is because he probably claimed to be Kenyan in order to have an easier time getting admitted.  Further, in the bio he supplied to his publisher in 1991, he claimed to have been born in Kenya.  (See the link below.)  So like Elizabeth Warren, with her claim to American Indian minority status, I think Obama claimed to be Kenyan when he was not in order to game the system.  

NYT on McCain’s birthplace

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/politics/28mccain.html?_r=0

Obama book jacket

http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/24/reminder-before-obama-ran-for-president-he-falsely-claimed-to-have-been-born-in-kenya/
Obama's Columbia ID Card
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202467252549549&set=a.1523751900695.2070445.1441543769&type=1&theater