National Guard Reenlistment Bonus Clawback - Major Injustice

I just read in today’s LA Times (article by David Cloud) that the US Army National Guard is clawing back reenlistment bonuses that were paid out years ago as part a fraud.  I believe this is a total miscarriage of justice and could impact future recruitment and may increase future military labor cost.  Congress has the power to correct the problem and should do so quickly. I have written Darrell Issa and Dianne Feinstein asking them to take action.

As a retired USAF Colonel, I understand the importance of recruiting bonuses, and the tough decisions made by enlistees.  My 18 yr old granddaughter just signed up with the National Guard in response to generous bonuses offered.  How does she know if 10 years from now, the Government could try to claw back that money from her?  By clawing back those paid bonuses, the trust in Government bonuses could be reduced, and the salaries (and bonuses) required in the future to retain a quality force will increase as a result.  

When a soldier makes the often gut-wrenching decision to reenlist, a bonus is a key part of that decision.  Is the bonus being offered large enough to provide compensation for the expected years of hardship, family separation, and a chance of being killed or wounded in action? The soldiers who accepted the bonuses in question did so good faith when signing on.   In most “refund” situations, some product is returned in exchange for cash.  In this case, the soldiers are being forced to repay money received, but will NEVER get back the years of service they provided to the country.  

I believe it is necessary to prosecute, penalize, and obtain restitution from officers and recruiters who knowingly earned bonuses fraudulently.  It is totally unfair to force the victims to repay their bonuses. Congress should clearly state that the intent, in this situation, is to penalize those who knowingly committed fraud and not the victim enlistees!

San Diego County Tax Collector escheating of funds owed to citizens and business appears to be government theft

The San Diego Union Tribune today (Sep 10,2016) had an article by Joshua Stewart:  "Deadline Nears for County Refunds" that pointed out that monday Sep 12 is the deadline for people who may be due a check from the San Diego County Treasurer to file a form to request the funds or they will be "escheated" to the government, and the rightful owner will never again be permitted to claim the funds.  The San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Dan McAllister says he is confused:  "Why wouldn't anyone want some quick and easy money?"  There are more than $352,000 in funds waiting to be claimed. McAllister says he "has a team of investigators that try to track down people who might have a claim to the funds."  I looked at the list of funds, and the majority of the funds belong to banks, mortgage companies, title companies and even a trailer park.  You can't tell me that Dan McAllister's team can't find Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, or First American Title Company.  Is he really trying to find the rightful owners?  Or does he want to capture the money for the County?  I think it appears to be theft!
I understand that the county is authorized to do this under California Revenue and Taxation Code sections 5097 and 5102  It does make some sense to put pressure on citizens and agencies to "close the books" on old accounts.  In the past, when all records maintained on paper, it was expensive to keep, file, search, and find records.  Now that technology permits very easy record keeping, there is minimal additional expense involved in maintaining records.  I believe it is time the state rules on escheatment of funds be modified to allow for funds to be claimed after longer periods of time than just 4 years.  Of course, a penalty, such as 10% per year could be levied for periods after the 4 yr period to encourage closure of accounts.  In addition, the Government agency should not be permitted to escheat the funds unless it can honestly show that it really did make an attempt to contact the rightful owner.  I'm not sure that holding a little "press conference" or putting an article in the newspaper constitutes a valid attempt.
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AmeriCorps workers helped young women get abortions | TheHill

This is another example of why the United States doesn't need any more right-wingers in control.  The biggest problem in the world is that we humans are having too many unwanted, and unneeded babies.  Americorps (NCCC)  mission is:"To strengthen communities and develop leaders through team-based national and community service". Americorps has paid staff, but uses millions of volunteer hours and millions of dollars of donations.  Americorps includes programs such as Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, FEMA volunteers, etc.,   So recently in New York Americorps "developing leaders" trying to help young women obtain abortions for babies they probably don't want, can't afford, and wouldn't be capable of raising properly, are in trouble for doing so.  See this article:  AmeriCorps workers helped young women get abortions | TheHill  So, it appears that anyone working or associated with AmeriCorps are "gag ordered" to not talk about abortion to women in need.  Why would people ever volunteer for such an organization?  Why would people now be willing to donate to such an organization?  In effect, the Republican right wing is trying to impose their religious beliefs on anyone working or volunteering for that agency.

Sometime after I registered to vote in California as a Republican when I moved here in the early 1970s, I think the so-called Christian right-wingers hijacked the Republican party's platform and somehow got their position onto the party platform.  I've never understood how the party could rationalize having their so called "pro-life" position, and at the same time be strongly in favor of death penalty, and no limit on ownership, use, or carrying of guns.  Of course they all claim to be followers of Christ.  But Christ would not have supported death penalty, and certainly would not have supported owning or carrying a weapon.

The U.S. Penny as an example of inability of Congress to govern

Our U.S. government is faced with many large, complex problems that don't have easy answers.  Many of our problems involve decisions, or a series of decisions to be made by Congress and the President that require a trade off between long and short-term effects.  In order to properly make that type of decision, some sort of model has to be made to determine if the overall benefit of a decision is worth the cost.  As a result, there are very few simple "right or wrong," "black or white" decisions.  Politicians love to use sound bites and emotional appeals to justify their decisions, even if the decision-making models clearly indicate their position is not in the best interest of the company.
Rarely are decisions easy and simple.  However even when ALL evidence points to an obvious decision, our Congress seems to still be unable to make a good decision.  A perfect example is the U.S. penny.

According to Wikipedia, between 2011 and now it has cost between 1.67 cents and 2.41 cents to manufacture and distribute a penny depending on the market fluctuations of the raw materials.  So, each year the Government loses money producing the coins. In 2013, the Government lost $55,000,000.  Nickles also cost almost twice as much to manufacture as their face value. The decision to eliminate the penny seems to be a "no brainer" -- no models decision models, and no emotional attachment to that decision.   Pennys are a nuisance, and most consumers hate using them.  There have been multiple proposals brought up in Congress starting in 1990 to eliminate them, but the bills have never been approved.  The President has stated his support to eliminate the penny.   There is a belief that elimination of the penny could be a slight contributor to inflation.  However the Federal Reserve is trying hard to create just a small, controlled amount of inflation to help the economy.  So we would have to assume that the Fed would also be in favor of doing it.
What is stopping us?  There is one company, Jarden Zinc Products who is apparently the sole US source for the penny blanks.  Jarden has paid lobbyists who continually work to keep the penny.  Presumably the lobbyists and Jarden provide some sort of benefit to a sufficient number of congressional representatives that bills to eliminate the penny are unable to pass.   Many other countries have eliminated their equivalent lowest currency, but the US has not.

I think the US should plan to phase out the penny now, and eliminate the nickle a year or so after that.  Meanwhile, we should get the dollar coin into more circulation by phasing out the paper one dollar bill, and start production of a five and ten dollar coin.  So many of our transactions are now done electronically that it almost seems that we are on a trend that could eventually eliminate the use of actual physical currency.

  

Congress Approval Rating lower from Republicans than Democrats

Gallup just reported that 16% of Democrats approve of what Congress is doing, while only 13% of Republicans approve. Gallup also point out that the poll is reversed from the typical situation where members of the party in control usually report a higher approval.  So, since the Republicans are in control of both the House and the Senate, that Republican voters would think better of congress than the Democrats.
Is it any wonder that Donald Trump, an "outsider" who does not completely follow the right-wing agenda is getting so much traction among the Republican voters?  Republican voters are more angry with Congress than Democrats, so possibly that is pushing them to vote for a presidential candidate who is not part of the "establishment."
I think part of the problem is that the Republicans seem to take such hard stands on so many "hot button" issues that they alienate multiple demographic groups.  They could lose one or two groups, but their hard stance on so many issues has made many of those members very unhappy.
Some of those groups:

• Health Insurance -- Republicans have continually voted to kill "Obamacare" and have said multiple times that they will come up with an alternative program to replace it.  But they have NEVER come up with a real, comprehensive and feasible program to replace it.  How many Americans know or have a relative who is benefiting from that program?  
• Gay Marriage -- Republicans have fought Gay marriage by every method possible, using legislation, lawsuits and intimidation.  Obviously, they have turned off most gays.  Since almost everyone has gay friends or relatives, how many of us would vote against Republicans if only because of their long-standing fight against gays? 
• The Environment -- Republicans have been proud of their continual fight against any protection of the environment, and have generally voted against all laws to protect the environment and maintain adequate funding for EPA.  Because of that, most strong environmentalists have voted Democratic and the Republican party has given up on them.  However, now they have clearly lost a 20 year battle against global warming mitigation.  The majority of the US population lives in coastal regions that will be severely affected by rising oceans, and the midwest is already being hammered by the global warming caused tornados.  How many of those additional citizens will worry about that, and be turned off from voting Republican because of it?
• Immigration -- Our Republican congress has been unable to come up with any sort of plan for resolving the illegal immigration problem.  The lack of progress has clearly angered all recent immigrant families.  The "wall" between Mexico and the US is purely symbolic.  With the modern drones, electronics, and the huge Border Patrol staff, I doubt if it would make any difference.  We need clear policies!  The H1B and H2B policies are, in many ways, worse. 
• Abortion -- Right-wingers claim that life begins at conception, so any abortion is murder.  Their theology for this claim is rather weak, and was not a real teaching of Christ.  However, they want to force their religion onto all US citizens by banning abortion.  It is similar to Muslim countries forcing women to wear chadors or not drive, even if they don't believe in the religion.  One of the world's greatest problems is overpopulation.  Another problem is unwanted, unloved children.  How many citizens have been turned off from voting Republican because of this bizarre platform.
• Guns -- Republicans have generally refused to pass even minor restrictions on guns and gun ownership.  It is very hard for me to understand how they can rationalize a belief that all life is sacred with the concept that everyone should carry a gun.  Christ would have never carried a gun, knife, or sword, but how can that policy relate Christians with NRA policies?  With so many murders, gun injuries, accidental shootings and police shootings in the US, it would seem that almost everyone would have a family member or neighbor who has been affected by gun violence.  How many of them would be turned off from voting Republican?  

Social and Charity Organization Managers get greedy as organizaitons grow

I received a card today in USPS mail  from "Helppetshelters.com" that said that the Humane Society (HSUS) was spending more money on its own pension plan than it does to help pet shelters.   --I have no other information.   The mailer was apparently sponsored by Rick Berman's Center for Organizational Research and Education (CORE), which has been called "a PR front" for fighting against environmental causes. So the information in the mailer and website could be strongly biased.   I was always a small-time contributor to HSUS and thought they were a worthwhile cause.  I'm very surprised, and saddened that another nationwide charity organization has succumbed to the greed that so many other large organizations seem to also.   This follows news that the Wounded Warrior Project was doing similar things--collecting immense amounts of money, and then spending it on the paid employees with somewhat lavish salaries, benefits and parties--leaving a small percentage for the actual wounded veterans.

I can understand how organizations made up of many volunteers can eventually decide that they need to hire a small professional staff to provide continuity and help the organization achieve its goals.  However somehow, the management and staff of those organizations lose sight of the mission, and try to make them profit centers.  However, it takes a very strong board of volunteers to supervise organizations like that and keep control on salaries of CEOs, top level staff and their associated expenses and benefits.

I've suspected that the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America also got hijacked by their paid professionals, and the right-wingers who want to proselytize children into believing their perverted forms of Christianity.  They, also, were very good organizations with many volunteers, but now are just a shell of what they could have been.

Canada Leading the Way on Cable Unbundling

David Lazarus had a column in Sunday Feb 21, 2016 San Diego Union Tribune entitled: "Want to have control over your cable bill?  Move to Canada"   On March 1st Canadian cable companies will be required to offer a basic bundle of local channels for around $25, and then offer individual channels or small bundles of channels for "modest" monthly fees.  This will allow Canadians to tailor their channel package the way they want it.  It will also prevent the cable companies from charging for channels we don't want, such as the expensive sports channels.  The understanding is that all viewers are subsidizing the sports networks.  
Cable companies are in somewhat of a "death spiral" -- As their rates go up, viewers are defecting to internet, netflix, hulu, amazon, and youtube types of viewing.  As more viewers defect, the cable companies have to spread their overhead across fewer viewers, and are forced to raise their rates.  Sports franchises make a large percentage of their revenue from TV licensing, and have continued to pay extremely high amounts to franchises, which in turn, allows them to pay extreme salaries to sports stars, and executives.  If more viewers unplug from cable, or, in the future unbundle the sports channels, the cost to those who want to view cable sports channels will also have to rise -- another element of the cable death spiral.
This ala carte style of channel selection wouldn't have been possible until a few years ago.  Now the technology is available, and cable operators are stepping up to building the capability with digital cable connections.   It will be interesting to see how that works in Canada.  If it works OK, I suspect that the concept might spread within the US as well.   It is possible that the Canadian Cable operators will come up with a good pricing strategy that keeps many viewers.  Conversely when viewers are faced with individual channel pricing, they may opt for a very minimum set of choices, and cable operators will be squeezed.

Israel Works Hard to Stoke the Fires of their Conflict with Palestinians

The Washington Post today (Jan 19, 2016) reported that Israel is destroying homes of relatives of Palestinians who might have been involved in some sort of attack on an Israeli citizen or property.  World Bulletin reported that they are even destroying a family home of a boy who was accused of stabbing an Israeli.  This is clearly a form of "Collective Punishment" which is just another form of terrorism.  The Israeli government, by punishing extended families and neighbors tries to terrorize the Palestinians into compliance with their harsh policies.  All of this is done without fair trials or any reasonable form of just due process.  I'm pretty sure that Israel knows that this won't stop reactions from Palestinians --but probably hopes it will actually make the Palestinian citizens more angry and stir up even more hatred and resentment.  Israel wants the conflict to continue, so they can continue to receive the $1 Billion per year from the US, and financial support from so many other countries.  Israel continues to build more of their settlements on prime Palestinian territory and continues to blockade the Palestinian controlled territories so those people will not have the capability to build a viable economy and government.

During this Syrian refugee crisis, Israel has an opportunity to be a good world citizen.  They could take on Syrian refugees.  They could help refugees come across the border from Syria and help them get on safe boats to get to other countries of refuge.  But it appears they have only provided some assistance to refugees when they arrive at locations like Greek Island of Lesbos.  Instead, they are participating in treatment of Syrian refugees similar to how WW2 Jewish refugees were treated.