Incredible Shrinking Country - NYTimes.com

This is an interesting article that points out the problems involved with the lower birth rate and aging population.

Incredible Shrinking Country - NYTimes.com:

I'm also interested in reading the book: Children of Men --a 1992 book by P. D. James

EDITORIAL: Time to tweak Prop. 13

EDITORIAL: Time to tweak Prop. 13  Editorial in today's NC times addressed the issues very well -- Our legislature needs to have some guts and make some serious changes in prop 13.

Single-payer: If Obamacare is struck down, will the nation reconsider single-payer health care? - Baltimore Sun

I would have much rather preferred that our Government institute a Government-run healthcare system.  It is interesting that now even doctors are thinking the same thing.  This Obamacare concept is a compromise with the insurance industry that continues an expensive and wasteful layer of insurance companies which distort and sub-optimize the delivery of healthcare.  It also continues the expensive financial drain of liability insurance and lawsuits from scarce medical care resources.

Single-payer: If Obamacare is struck down, will the nation reconsider single-payer health care? - Baltimore Sun:

Protect Our Data! A Digital Consumer Bill of Rights | PCWorld

Protect Our Data! A Digital Consumer Bill of Rights | PCWorld:

PC World editor, Mark Sullivan has written several editorials in PC World.  He has also posted a video: http://www.pcworld.com/article/250251/a_digital_consumer_bill_of_rights.html

His editorial in February 2012 hit the nail on the head!  However his editorial in the “Consumer Watch” section of the May 2012 PC World issue focused down on the critical issues:
1. We have the right to know what any internet company plans to do with our data
2. The data we store or post “in the cloud” is our property. The internet company doesn’t gain rights to it by posting it on their web site
3. We have the right to expect reasonable protection of our data
4. If the Government wants to monitor our digial transmissions, they should get a search warrant first

Prior to computers, when a person was suspected of committing a crime, law enforcement could obtain a search warrant.  With that warrant, usually police would grab the suspects files and notebooks, bank records, photos etc.  After everyone started getting computers, the police would focus on hard drives of the suspect’s computers.  Generally that contained most of the critical evidence, since data was moving from paper to computers.  Now everything is moving to the “cloud” or smartphone.  Because of this, we now need the same protections for our digital data that we have always had for our other personal property and information.  I believe the intent of our Bill of Rights was to protect this information.  

Gaza man killed by soldiers as thousands protest Israel policy - CSMonitor.com

Israel seems to be able to keep the Palestinian dispute alive by continually fighting terrorism with terrorism.  Their actions are about the same as the other despots
Gaza man killed by soldiers as thousands protest Israel policy - CSMonitor.com:

Truth-Testing on the Internet : MOAA

The Military Officer's Association of America (MOAA) published an excellent article listing web sites to visit to check out rumors that get passed around on the internet.

Tech Tactics - Truth-Testing on the Internet : MOAA:

I've found that as we get closer to elections, the amount of "fake facts" that get circulated around increases a lot!  I believe there are professional organizations who work to create these "fake news articles" and they distribute them very effectively!  They seem to know that a lot of people actually believe these fake articles and they help to get people to vote the way they think.

I suggest that anyone who receives a forwarded e-mail with news that seems shocking or unlikely that they check it out using one of the web sites mentioned in this article.

IRS policies help fuel tax refund fraud

I had heard that the IRS was going to "speed up" the tax refund process.  However I had no idea that the IRS would bypass simple, reasonable verification processes in order to speed up the process.  This is absurd!
IRS policies help fuel tax refund fraud, officials say - CNN.com  Sure, it seems like speeding up the process makes sense.  However only for citizens that are filing from the same address as previous years.  It also seems like it wouldn't be too hard to verify the W-2 amount on the return form matches what the employer sent in.