Read it and Weep, I know Ben Franklin is

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112%20HR%203261.pdf
This act would make it illegal for an internet service provide, or search engine to allow access to a foreign site that is accused of US copyright infringement. The ramifications are enormous. Those of you who like facebook, twitter et al, beware big brother will check all your links for you and shut it down.

Big Brother is at it Again

So, instead of airlines (yes those same companies we bailed out in the 80's and 90's) doing the right thing and reducing or better yet getting rid of baggage fees and instead just charging more per ticket up front, Congress is sticking their nose where it doesn't belong again.

Airlines, and other companies are supposedly allowed, in this supposedly Capitalistic country, to charge what they want how they want. If airlines want to continue to screw over the public, and keep crying poverty, they have that right. They DO NOT have the right for government handouts however. 30 years ago the airline industry was deregulated. That means the government was not going to tell them how to run their business. Theoretically it also means no government handouts when you are going under.

Is the airline industry, as it stands, or wobbles now, indispensable? I say it isn't. I say some company will come along and fill whatever holes the industry leaves behind as they collapse under their own weight. Now comes the kicker and this can be a blog in and of itself, the major problem is the retirement system that the legacy airlines have to deal with because the "American" unions demanded it. Unions by definition are communist- everyone gets and equal share.

Southwest Airlines has a series of commercials that deal with baggage fees. If the public hates the fees enough, they will fly Southwest, or any other company that doesn't charge them. Personally, I think it should be incorporated into the price of the ticket. You will yell and scream thats not fair, if I don't have any bags I shouldn't have to pay. GUESS WHAT! If you are middle class you are going to pay. The rich don't care, the poor can't afford the ticket. Guess what. The middle class has always paid since the Ancient Greeks invented the class. It is not going to change. The sooner people realize that, the sooner they can do something about their situation. Either get fired and go on unemployment benefits where you can actually wind up making MORE money than your current job is paying you, or try climbing up the ladder and get rich. Good luck.

Now the REALLY funny thing is according to the article, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/22/senate-bill-aims-to-block-airline-baggage-fees/?cmpid=cmty_email_Gigya_Senate_Bill_Aims_to_Block_Airline_Baggage_Fees , my friend Rabbi Ari Schochet, sent to me the Senate's excuse for considering this bill is... are you ready?... Homeland Security. There are apparently a plethora of carry on bags because no one wants to pay the fee for checked baggage, which means the TSA has to scan all those bags. Sigh I think I just heard Ben Franklin sobbing.

So what's the problem?

Representative John Conyer, Jr. (D-Mi) is quoted as saying "We don't read most of the bills. Do you really know what that would entail if we read every bill that we passed?" Congressman Conyers then answers his own rhetorical question, asserting that if they did it would "slow down the legislative process".

It took 28 congresses from 1789-1845 to fill 5 volumes of "Statutes at Large".
Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage.

In the mid to late 1800's one volume was filled by approximately 2 congresses (4 years) each.

Three volumes (117-120) were filled by 108th congress.

Yes, I know things were a lot different back then, but why are we filling three volumes of legislation in two years? What are they legislating and why?

Call me crazy but maybe it's time for our Representatives and Senators to stop collecting money from lobbyists and actually READ the statutes that they are voting on.

Trying to do too much

Why would a company (google) that does something so extraordinarily well that they can make millions of dollars from that one thing start doing other things? The answer of course is to make more money. The problem is you start to forget what made you rich to begin with- search engine. You then try to fix what isn't broken and let what people hate about your product (lack of sorting) continue on. I mean really the basics of a database is the ability to sort- how can you have a database that you can't sort. Google is losing it by trying to do everything. (Yes I know its ironic I'm using a google product to post this)

Good Old American Greed

1999: JS retires from Penn State Uni (PU)
2002: JS allegedly sodomizes a 10yo boy in the University's field house; a graduate assistant sees him doing it and instead of immediately calling 911 to report a crime in progress a responsibility for anyone who witnesses a crime- failure to report could lead to accessory charges, decides to go home and tell his dad. The next day he went to the head coach JP and told him. JP told the president and provost of the university. What further obligation does JP have? What further responsibility does MM, the witness?
2011: The alleged crime comes to light. JP announces his retirement at the end of the season, he is 84 and a revered coach. Mind you the grand jury did not indict JP though they did indict the president of the university. Why then did the university's board of trustees decide to fire JP affective immediately and yet MQ will have his usual position on the field on Saturday. Let's see which way does the board look tough? Firing a BMOC like JP or a nobody witness MM? Personally I think the students were right to protest. The so-called riot started after the police arrived. Last time I checked protesting was still legal in this country- of course with the Patriot Act who knows about that.
I am not loyal to PU or JP by any stretch of the imagination but the board of trustees fired the wrong man. Let JP retire in dignity.