Arkady's Thoughts

This is a developing story, but it would appear that three people were involved in a shooting at Fort Hood.  Twelve people are reported dead with over 30 wounded.  It is absolutely devastating for our veterans to be attacked on our home turf and my sympathies go out to the families of the fallen.  The allegedly lone shooter is also dead and has been identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan a recent convert to Islam.  A psychiatrist who complained about going to Iraq/Afghanistan.  Two others were taken into custody, but it appears to be unclear as to whether they have been released yet.  In an interview with a Colonel Terry Lee who worked with Hasan at a hospital, Fox has learned that Hasan has made comments about our flawed foreign policy and expressed a desire that "muslims have a right to rise up to the American aggressor". More updates and reaction coming. Update:   Cousin of the shooter has told Fox News that Hasan has dea...

I cannot begin to describe how disappointed I am with today's passing of HR 3548 despite local papers cheering this as a triumphant victory of prudent and benevolent lawmakers.  At a whopping 43 billion dollars this bill is aimed to extend jobless benefits ( only 2.4 billion for that ) and provide billions more for people to buy houses while handing over 33 billion dollars to home-builders !  Home-builders got filthy rich during the boom and now they are being funded by OUR money?  Instead of allowing the housing bubble to deflate at a normal rate Congress has approved an extension for the $8,000 dollar first time credit, relaxed income limits and is now providing a tax credit ($6,500) for those already living in the home for five years.  How does providing 6,500 dollars to people who owned a home for five years help the housing market?  This is just pointless distribution - another idiotic Keynesian handout. The Treasury Department estimates that more than 1...

Republicans under the leadership of John Boehner actually submitted a half-decent proposal that according to the CBO will save us 68 billion over 10 years at a cost of 61 billion.  This may appear to be neutral in terms of cost, but the plan heavily leans on HSAs and malpractice reform to drive down costs and ultimately - REDUCE INSURANCE PREMIUMS - something sorely missing from the Democrat plan despite mind boggling costs.  Democrats can still claim that they are covering more uninsured, but this is a smoke screen considering plenty of uninsured are uninsured by choice.  Those that cannot afford insurance will at least see falling premiums and become insured if the prices are affordable. The problem with our health system is not the number of uninsured, but the crippling cost of current insurance because it is subsidized by government!  If we were to remove the ridiculously stupid employer matches (that most of us "enjoy") and disband the unconstitutional Medica...