Memorial Day

Time to remember the sacrifices of those who died for their country.


http://marines10.blogspot.com/


Semper Fi

"If Hemingway Had Written a Racing Novel"

"If Hemingway Had Written a Racing Novel" is a series of great stories by Rich Nisley. I am not a big fan of racing, but his stories kept me glued to the pages. He really made racing drivers and cars come to life. I encourage anyone to read it.

And his book, "The Ragged Edge" is another great read. Great story line with plenty of racing thrills

craighullinger@gmail.com

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"Rich Nisley's "If Hemingway Had Written a Racing Novel" is a first-class collection of motor racing fiction. Each of these stories, excerpts of course, made me feel like the proverbial kid in the candy store with nose to glass. Before finishing my first read through this collection I ordered five of the featured books from various booksellers and I know I won't be
disappointed. 


This is a very well thought out gathering of stories that will inspire you to delve into these great books and enjoy well written novels about racing drivers, cars, and series from around the globe, literally Grands Prix to small-town circle tracks. Mine is a glowing review of Nisley's excellent collection because the book deserves it. He has done much more than organize a wonderful anthology; he has reawakened avid motor racing readers like myself to a largely untapped treasure chest of great motor racing stories. My encouragement to any reader is don't miss this racing book.you will not be disappointed. 


And don't miss his novel, The Ragged Edge."

W. Barker

Click here for Amazon "The Ragged Edge"

Click her for Amazon "If Hemingway Had Written a Racing Novel"

Rasmussen Poll

Obama 45%, Generic Republican 44%

For the third week in a row, voters remain almost evenly divided over whether they want to reelect President Obama or elect a Republican to replace him.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

  

Are you Conservative, Liberal, or Middle of the Road?

The short survey on the link below will tell you if you are liberal, moderate, or conservative. The questions are a bit simplistic but are ok for a quick and dirty summary of where you stand politically.

We would be interested in how you came across here and if you think the quiz is an accurate reflection of what they believe. 

 http://people-press.org

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I was very afraid I would be a liberal or a conservative, in which case I would have been very embarrassed. Thank goodness I am a fine upstanding moderate. Or I guess a Post-Modern, what ever that is.

There, I feel a lot better. My results below:

  Post-Moderns

13% OF THE PUBLIC

What They Believe

Generally supportive of government, though more conservative on race policies and the safety net

Strongly supportive of regulation and environmental protection

Most (56%) say Wall Street helps the economy more than it hurts

Very liberal on social issues, including same-sex marriage

One of the least religious groups: nearly a third are unaffiliated with any religious tradition

Favor the use of diplomacy rather than force

Who They Are

The youngest of the typology groups: 32% under age 30

A majority are non-Hispanic white and have at least some college experience

Half live in either the Northeast or the West


_________________


I suppose my slogan could be:


The Few, the Proud, the Post-Moderns


Maybe I better work on that.


A majority (58%) live in the suburbs

63% use social networking

One-in-five regularly listen to NPR; 14% regularly watch The Daily Show


Thanks to my friend Author Taffy Cannon for submitting.

Federal Debt

Federal debt - We must get control of this debt, using a combination of tax increases and spending reductions.


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

Deficits

Interesting graph from the National Journal. What if omits from the deficit are the rising costs from Medicare, Medicade, and Social Security.


Any reasonable person understands that we must control these deficits, and that we can and must do this with a combination of tax increases and expense reductions. Unfortunately we don't have very many reasonable persons in Congress.

Read the rest of the story on the link below:




http://www.nationaljournal.com/budget/the-chart-that-should-accompany-every-discussion-of-deficits-20110512?mrefid=mostViewed&sms_ss=email&at_xt=4dd402a8490adc6d%2C1

Presidential Election

President Obama does look vulnerable in the next election. The economy is recovering very slowly. If the Republicans can nominate a competent attractive candidate they have a chance.


Liberals and Conservatives should remember that we moderates are the deciders. About 40% of the electorate always vote Republican and 40% always vote Democrat. We middle of the road 20% decide elections. And right now we are not impressed with either side. Can't we do better?



Conservatives chortle at the thought of beating President Obama, but then you start looking at the Republican Candidates. Pretty grim.


Huckabee ?  Took himself out, good idea.


Palin ?  Please. An attractive speaker, not ready for prime time.


Newt?  Oh, my. Nevah Happen, GI.  Smart guy, lots of negatives.


Ron Paul?  Way too conservative.


Trump?  The little flash he had shows how dissatisfied the party is.


Pawlenty? Mitch Daniels?  Might be OK, but challenged on the charisma end.


Paul Ryan is a very bright attractive guy. Too inexperienced I think, and will get crucified for his budget leadership.


Too bad the Terminator was not born in this country. Maybe Republicans could forge a birth certificate. But his latest scandal would be tough to overcome.


I think Mit Romney would probably have the best chance to wind moderates away from President Obama. But the Republicans seem to think he is too liberal.


Interesting how this cast makes John McCain look good. 


Conventional wisdom has it that the Bush brand was demolished. But Jeb Bush looks better to me then most of the candidates.  


We may get someone coming out of left field, the way Obama and Carter did. Someone who is not on the radar screen, since no one looks all that good.


Right now, it looks to me that Obama will win unless the economy is very bad, and if the Republicans can find a competent candidate. Of course it is a long way till the election - and lots of things can happen.  It will be fun to watch and listen to the angst of the conservatives. And lets hope they can nominate a real leader.

The Missing Fifth

Interesting article by David Brooks.

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: May 9, 2011

In 1910, Henry Van Dyke wrote a book called “The Spirit of America,” which opened with this sentence: “The Spirit of America is best known in Europe by one of its qualities — energy.”

 

"As my colleague David Leonhardt pointed out recently, in 1954, about 96 percent of American men between the ages of 25 and 54 worked. Today that number is around 80 percent. One-fifth of all men in their prime working ages are not getting up and going to work."

Read more from Brooks at:

Go to Columnist Page »

David Brooks’s Blog

 

The Conversation

 

 

       

Federal Workers

Too Many Federal Workers?

BY ALLAN HOLMES   09/07/10

Over the weekend, Amity Shlaes, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the differences between private and public sector workers. She sketches out the history of unions in the federal government and what she concludes as a rather obvious point: If we just had fewer government workers, we would spend less on paying them.

She writes:

Another factor leading to the rise of the public unions is the decade-over-decade increase in the size of government. Not only through the New Deal, but also through the 1950s and onward the number of workers in the public sector grew. By 1962 they represented an eighth of the national work force. If we did not have so many government employees today, the cost of sustaining them would not be so high.

Here is the number of federal employees by decade (in millions and excluding U.S. Postal workers), as listed by the Office of Personnel Management:

1940   0.70
1950   1.44
1960   1.81
1970   2.20
1980   2.16
1990   2.25
2000   1.78
2009   2.10

There were fewer federal workers in 2009 than in 1990, 1980 and 1970. Now take a closer look at the OPM table. Much of the growth, understandably, occurred in Homeland Security agencies, increasing from 70,000 to 180,000 - a jump of 110,000. Justice Department jobs went from 98,000 to 113,000 -- more than 15,000 new jobs added. (Again, crime and more Homeland Security related.) Jobs at the Veterans Department increased from 220,000 to 297,000 -- that's 77,000 more federal workers. Again, a result of Homeland Security, or rather staffing up to take care of thousands of veterans coming home from two wars. And there's a lot of information technology jobs in there.

So, taking those three areas, the number of new jobs created in the last 10 years, which can be traced back to 9/11, was 202,000. That by itself accounts for nearly two-thirds of the total federal workforce growth from 2000 to 2009, which was 316,000 jobs. Hold those steady since 2002 (or even allow for some growth), and you would have less than 1.9 million workers in 2009, or slightly more. That's about the same number of federal workers in 1962, the year Shlaes chooses as her benchmark to compare the number of government jobs to the number in the private sector (with public sector jobs accounting for an eighth of all jobs). Remember, that was before the Great Society programs geared up, popular programs that needed a slew of federal managers and clerks to oversee.

By the way, the number of jobs at the Interior, Transportation and Treasury departments fell from 2000 to 2009. And those at Health and Human Services, Education and the Social Security Administration grew from 1.26 million to 1.39 million -- 130,000 jobs over 10 years, or about 13,000 new positions a year as the health industry expanded at a torrid pace.

It helps to understand what tax dollars are paying for so that people have some perspective of what they are buying - as in this case homeland security and wars. After 9/11, the public was demanding the federal government do something. It did -- and it took people to manage it. That puts much of the criticism leveled at the federal government into perspective.

------------------------------------------------
  
http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs041.htm  

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Significant Points

• With about 2.0 million civilian employees, the Federal Government, excluding the Postal Service, is the Nation's largest employer.

• About 85 percent of Federal employees work outside the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

• A substantial number of job openings will arise as many Federal workers are expected to retire over the next decade; competition is high during times of economic uncertainty, however, when workers seek the stability of Federal employment.

..............

There will be a substantial number of job openings as many Federal workers are expected to retire over the next decade, although job prospects are expected to vary by occupation.
Anne's note:  the largest percentage of Federal workers are at or near retirement age -- and are therefore at the top of the pay scale for their occupation.  

(Various hiring freezes in the last couple of decades). The IRS is currently under a hiring freeze, and cannot replace of  move/reassign workers when someone retires or leaves the Government.  
......................

Management, business, and financial occupations. Management, business, and financial workers made up about 34 percent of Federal employment in 2008..

Professional and related occupations. Professional and related occupations accounted for 33 percent of Federal employment (table 3). The largest groups of professional workers were in healthcare practitioner and technical occupations; life, physical, and social science occupations; and architecture and engineering occupations. The Federal Government also employs a substantial number lawyers, judges and related workers who, interpret, administer and enforce many of the country's laws and regulations.

Office and administrative support occupations. About 14 percent of Federal workers were in office and administrative support occupations. These employees aid management and other staff with administrative duties, such as scheduling appointments, drafting e-mail and other correspondence, maintaining financial documents, and executing purchase orders. Administrative support workers in the Federal Government include information and record clerks, financial clerks, and secretaries and administrative assistants.

Service occupations. Service workers hold a relatively small share of Federal employment, compared to their share of all industries combined. About 5 percent of service workers in the Federal Government were protective service workers, such as correctional officers and jailers, detectives and criminal investigators, and police officers. These workers protect the public from crime and oversee Federal prisons.
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Anne's note:  as noted above, 67% of the Federal workforce is engaged in professional occupations, requiring college degrees.  A low skill job, such as a janitor, is generally not on the Federal payroll because our real estate leases are turn-key operations, and the janitors are hired by the lessors.
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In 2010, the IRS had a workforce of 94,711. That’s higher than in any year since 2004, though below the peak employment in 1992 of 116,673.

* The size of the workforce is smaller today than when Lyndon Johnson was president, yet there are about 110 million more Americans now.

* In the past 10 years, 100,000 federal civil servants have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

* Since 1992, 2,965 federal civil servants have been killed while on duty, including 24 in war zones. “Their sacrifice is just as dear” as the sacrifices by those in the military, Berry said.

With facts such as these, federal workers have something “to fight back with,” he added.

Berry said there should be a way to honor civilian employees who die on duty, something like the Purple Heart for members of the armed services. “We need to be thinking about how we can best honor them,” he said.

The focus on federal employees continues on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, when the Senate’s federal workforce subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), holds a hearing on “Inspiring Students to Federal Service.” On the agenda is the executive order designed to facilitate the recruitment and hiring of students that President Obama signed in December.

Several of the town hall speakers lamented comments by politicians that undercut federal employees. Most of those remarks have come from congressional Republicans, but one of the speakers Tuesday, LaHood, is a former Republican congressman, and he strongly backed federal workers and the president’s support for them.

“I despise that,” LaHood said of attacks on employees. The “easiest thing” for a politician to do, he added, is to take potshots at government workers.

Though going after government workers is easy, politicians love to be seen praising veterans. They should know, as Berry pointed out, that 30 percent of the government’s new hires last year were vets. Furthermore, hiring of vets increased by 2,000 last year compared with the year before, even as overall hiring dropped by 11,000; and 25 percent of civil servants are veterans.

Osama Bin Laden

Congratulations to all those who found and killed Osama Bin Laden.

A very evil individual. The world is a better place without him.

11/11/11

DID YOU KNOW THAT: 

This year we're going to experience four unusual dates.

1/1/11,
1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11

 And that's not all...

Take the last two digits of the year in which you were born - now add the age you will be this year, and the result will be 111 for everyone!

This is the year of Money!
 

This year, July has 5 Fridays 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays.

Also, this year, October will have 5 Saturdays, 5 Sundays and 5 Mondays.

This happens only every 823 years.

Strange, but true. I think.


Thanks to Louise Hullinger for sharing.