January 28, 2010
But They'll Rock at Health Care Part XCIII
250,000 White House Staffers, Visitors Affected by National Archives Data BreachA data breach at the National Archives and Records Administration is more serious than previously believed. It involved sensitive personal information of 250,000 Clinton administration staff members, job applicants and White House visitors, as well as the Social Security number of at least one daughter of former Vice President Al Gore.
Of course, your private medical information will be fine.
December 30, 2009
But They'll Rock at Health Care
Not me, IBD:
Hat-tip: Ed Morrissey
December 23, 2009
But They'll Rock at Health Care
I really resent TaxProf Blog's blatant spin on this issue. I would have entitled it "IRS Gets 30% Right!"
TIGTA reviewed a sample of ITIN applications and found that almost 70% contained significant errors and/or raised concerns that should have prevented the issuance of an ITIN. The IRS estimates that it has issued more than 14 million ITINs as of December 2008.ITINs are intended to provide tax identification numbers to resident and nonresident alien individuals who may have U.S. tax reporting or filing obligations but do not qualify for Social Security Numbers, which generally are only issued to U.S. citizens and individuals legally admitted to the U.S.
Hat-tip: Instapundit
December 22, 2009
He Hate Me
Capturing my thoughts in the wake of the Nebraska (and Louisiana and Vermont and Massachusetts and Connecticut and NEVADA) windfalls.
love it. nice XFL connection.
Posted by: AlexC at December 22, 2009 5:27 PMNovember 18, 2009
But They'll Rock at Health Care, Part XCIV
November 17, 2009
But They'll Rock at Healthcare, Part XCIII
Third call today from the Nebraska Correctional Facilities Victims Notification Unit. Notifying me of an upcoming parole hearing for some guy I never heard of. (I got a new landline installed for work, the previous owner of this number gets a lot of calls from debt collectors.)
To stop the calls, all I have to do is enter the four-digit PIN number I registered with. Of course, I did not register and do not have a PIN. I have learned that they are serious about calling back.
They do leave a number to call but nobody answers.
UPDATE: It gets better. I have now called five numbers and finally found the right office. They can't turn it off because I don't have the PIN. They have to be certain that I am not the criminal turning it off to keep bad testimony from my parole hearing. I told young Justin that I'm certain it is easier to get out of jail than to stop these calls.
Just imagine when you start receiving calls from the Federal Correctional Facilities Residents Notification Unit, telling you to surrender on such-and-such a date for not having sufficient health care, or else they'll come get you.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at November 17, 2009 2:14 PMWith apologies to Cheech & Chong: "Enter zee PIN number, Old Man!!!"
Posted by: jk at November 17, 2009 3:13 PMOctober 22, 2009
Paying People to use Green 'Lectricity
For some reason, John Stossel questions government’s ability to run health care:
Now I hear about another absurd green energy subsidy: government subsidizes wind farmers so much that, in Western Texas, they run the turbines even when nobody wants electricity. because the grid there has a limited capacity, wind farms literally have to pay companies to take the extra energy: This April, the price of electricity in Western Texas was negative 23% of the time.
This follows up on his post on free golf carts (costing less than the tax break). I have seriously considered a golf cart. I live on a course and it would rock for trash runs and trips to the strip mall 3/4 mile across the course. Hey, free stuff from the gub'mint! Go Obama!!
October 8, 2009
But They'll Rock at Heath Care XCIII
Not me, Cap'n Ed, worried about felon census workers:
If the properly processed criminal record checks are any indication, the Bureau may have let a large number of violent criminals slip through the cracks. Of the prints that were properly checked, about one percent, or 1,800 workers, had criminal records that name checks failed to identify.Of these 1,800 workers with criminal records, about 750 had their employment terminated or further reviewed due to criminal records that included crimes like rape, manslaughter and child abuse. Projecting these numbers to the employees with spoilt prints, the GAO came up with the figure of 200 census workers that may have had serious criminal records.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of turning Census Bureau workers away from our doors as we do with partisan community organizers. In their rush to hire, probably brought on in an attempt to alleviate the unemployment numbers (the money this year came from the stimulus package), the Census Bureau botched a process that private-sector employers routinely employ, and hired hundreds of felons to demand our personal information on our doorsteps.Imagine how the Obama administration will handle hiring in the public-option health-insurance agencies …
Haven't seen a census taker since we moved to the farm. Must be 'cause if you don't live in town, you don't count.
Posted by: johngalt at October 8, 2009 3:57 PMI don't think I've ever seen a census taker. Filled out a couple of forms, but that's all I remeber.
Posted by: jk at October 8, 2009 5:30 PMA friend here was doing part-time census work, going door to door, complete with that ridiculously designed PDA-wannabe. So it's still done, I just don't know how often.
As I've mentioned before, I live on a private road. An added benefit is: no trick-or-treaters.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at October 8, 2009 9:49 PMI have to admit I didn't know that we still took the Census by going door to door. I have never in my life seen a Census worker and I have spent most of that living in big cities. Like JK I have filled out a few forms but that was it. I am still amazed that we only do this every 10 years - it doesn't take a day and half carriage ride to get from Richmond to Baltimore anymore. With the increased mobility of people I think the Census is as wrong as it is right. I can search 100,000 items on Google in 0.1 second but it still takes us 10 years to count our people?
Posted by: Silence Dogood at October 10, 2009 9:06 AMWell, the Constitution dictates ten years for reapportionment. I would not like to see that increase in frequency -- they cause enough trouble once in a decade.
Funny, I'm a big technocrat but I am less sanguine than you about our ability with all technology at hand to conduct an accurate census. Many opportunities exist for graft and chicanery, plus it is a difficult problem,
Yeah I suppose the do cause enough trouble once a decade. But, keep in mind that the Census count attributes district boundaries and level of representation. For example, next election the city of Detroit will still have electoral power even though its population may have decreased dramatically. Hey, I am just trying to make their trouble causing proportionate!
Posted by: Silence Dogood at October 10, 2009 2:40 PMSeptember 25, 2009
Price Contriols Don't Work, Huh?
Remember when the 111th Congress stepped up to protect us little guys from the mean old credit card companies? They were going to dictate terms that are fair. Scrivener notes "Politicians shocked! Price controls produce the same result as always."
After passing the new law by an overwhelming vote, it hailed its achievement as a great bipartisan act of consumer protection.*But now Reps. Barney Frank and Carolyn Maloney, the prime political movers behind the new restrictions, are shocked and appalled to find that credit card issuers are raising interest rates before the effective date of the new law, as per their press release ...
Pew Charitable Trust reports that interest rates have spiked by an average of 20% on credit cards representing more than 91% of the $864 billion in outstanding credit card balances. It’s clear that credit card companies are taking advantage of this period between the signing of my bill and the current effective date,” Rep. Maloney said. “The breadth and depth of the rate hikes happening now point to the need for faster consumer protections. Americans need relief now.”
I just hope that there are no unintended consequences of their dictating terms to health insurers. Nah -- certainly, they've figured all that out...
"... a great bipartisan act of consumer protection." A great act of meddling with the markets.
"... Americans need relief now..." Is there such a thing as Pyrrhic relief? One more relief like this, and we'll be totally bankrupt. Oh wait, we are already. Nevermind.
Is it not amazing that, no matter what the government does in its efforts to manipulate the economy, it always - WITHOUT FAIL - has exactly the opposite effect. Current economy policy may be proof that insanity is truly defined by doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting the results to change from prior attempts.
Posted by: Keith at September 26, 2009 12:47 PMIn light of our pragmatism debate, I am curious exactly how bipartisan the vote was. Anybody (well, everybody) better at this than I am? I am trying to find the bill and the roll call. I am guessing that it's "the usual suspects" in the GOP giving cover.
Posted by: jk at September 26, 2009 1:07 PMNope. Mea Maxima Culpa! The bill passed the Senate 90 - 5. Bipartisan as a pay hike!
Posted by: jk at September 26, 2009 1:09 PMSeptember 15, 2009
But They'll Rock at Health Care XIV
I created a new category for this. I like to oppose ObamaCare on first principles, but the craptastick reputation of other government services can be very effective. Some people would not know an enumerated power if it bit them in the ass (I think that's in Article III) but the DMV and Post Office are universal.
TaxProf Blog reports that the IRS is going to get serious about protecting your data, now (after) 500 laptops are missing.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report yesterday noting that after the loss of nearly 500 laptop computers, the IRS has improved its procedures for protecting confidential taxpayer data and guarding against the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information if laptops are lost or stolen in the future. Significant Improvements Have Been Made to Protect Sensitive Data on Laptop Computers and Other Portable Electronic Media Devices (No. 2009-20-120).
Hat-tip: Instapundit who says Horse, Barn Door