The Troubled State of the Union | Capital Commentary

The Troubled State of the Union | Capital Commentary by Amy Black.  MGB: The White House actually has some concrete proposals that both add up and provide money for job creation.  They are mostly based on Simpson-Bowles and could be enacted in time (with the sequester delayed) if Boehner is willing to to take yes for an answer.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/deficit_reduction_table_bucketed_r8.pdf  

Drone Strikes, ‘Imminence’ and the Need for Judgment, Part I | Capital Commentary

Drone Strikes, ‘Imminence’ and the Need for Judgment, Part I | Capital Commentary by Ben Littlejohn.  MGB: It is much more complicated in philosophical terms to justify a drone attack than to identify camps as being affiliated with some branch of al Queda and by nature dangerous to the United States.  If an American citizen is part of such a camp, he is committing treason against the Untied States and if he cannot be prosecuted, he can be killed as an enemy combatant.  On the more philosophical argument, such preventative action is the world, including the corporatocracy defending itself from revolution.

Deciphering the Administration’s New Proposed Rules on the Contraceptive Mandate | Capital Commentary

Deciphering the Administration’s New Proposed Rules on the Contraceptive Mandate | Capital Commentary by Stanley Carlson-Thies.  MGB: Religious employers who are not churches are, in effect, agents of the government seeking to regulate the right to use contraception freely.  That would be equivalent of trying to ban it, which would violate the whole privacy chain put in place by Grisswold v. Connecticut.  I doubt that this will happen.  This situation will be ended quietly, as the entire issue was meant to activate women for Obama for the 2012 election.  Now that the election is over, accommodations will be made.  Note also that contraceptive coverage has been mandatory on preventative policies purchased outside since December 2000. The only questions now are mandates and copays.  As for whether these procedures cause abortion, they don't.  Life does not begin until gastrulation, when the genes of both parents control development.  When only maternal genes control, the maternal soul is controlling as well - if you define the soul as the energy in the life force that keeps it from achieving entropy.  At gastrulation, a new energy takes over for a unique individual.  In other words, the Movement could win the issue by conceding this point.

Filling the Gap in Health Coverage Among the Poor | Capital Commentary

Filling the Gap in Health Coverage Among the Poor | Capital Commentary by Michelle Crotwell Kirtley.  MGB: Medicaid should be entirely federalized.  Indeed, if the mandates are not as strong as subsidies and pre-existing condition reforms, dealing with both Medicare and Medicaid, as well as uninsured adults (who are often treated in hospitals, as I was, for free), may be dealt with via a subsidized public option (funded by a payroll or consumption tax) or a full on single-payer system (with opt outs for employers who desire to do so).

From NIH to Nada? The Fiscal Cliff and Federal Research Funding | Capital Commentary

From NIH to Nada? The Fiscal Cliff and Federal Research Funding | Capital Commentary by Hilary Sherraft.  MGB: The reason this is not getting much press is that we have been through so many games of charade on the budget over the past two years that we know all sides are bluffing, have already worked out a solution and are engaging in histrionics to keep the peasants happy.  Government has become public relations, which is sad for those of us who really want progress and open discussion.  It is actually more troubling than thinking that there are those who would send health funding off the cliff.

The Impact of the Sequester on our National Defense | Capital Commentary

The Impact of the Sequester on our National Defense | Capital Commentary by Steven E. Meyer.  MGB: This story has two sides.  The first is that we seem to be the enforcers of a Pax Americana, which we are largely funding through deficit spending.  The CBO has released a study that shows, however, that defense is not what will grow in the future, nor will entitlements or discretionary spending.  It is net interest that is set to grow as we continue to borrow from the people who hold our debt as they continue to roll it over for their own reserve currency and fund management purposes.  One would think it would make more sense to seek a tribute payment for defending the world, include more international input into defense strategy and end our borrowing habits accordingly.

Politics & Prose | Capital Commentary

Politics & Prose | Capital Commentary by Byron Borger.  MGB: See these book reviews, especially the first on human trafficking.

Agreeing on Economic Opportunity? | Capital Commentary

Agreeing on Economic Opportunity? | Capital Commentary by Michael Gerson.  MGB: With one third of adults not functionally literate, there is quite a bit to do - more than the government can do alone.  Employers need to be brought into the act - funding either new employees or funding a charitable organization to do so in lieu of tax payment - with funding to include a stipend for the worker equivalent to the minimum wage (and $9 is not enough) and health insurance coverage with either the sponsoring company or the training provider.  The era of second class pay and health care needs to be ended, as its roots are deep in our racist past.

A Fitful and Timely Compromise? | Capital Commentary

A Fitful and Timely Compromise? | Capital Commentary by Perry Recker.  MGB: The simple fact that the EPA can act alone is incentive for the Republicans to finally come to the table.  Not much else will do so.

Disability and the American Way | Capital Commentary

Disability and the American Way | Capital Commentary by Holland Steward.  MGB: While I agree that the disabled deserve to be treated within the blessed community with love, there are some things that the government does not do - although individuals could do a better job in facilitating welcoming communities for those who need them, rather than rejecting them in fear.  That is especially the case with the mentally ill, even more so with the more severe illness.

Encouraging New Immigration Proposals | Capital Commentary

Encouraging New Immigration Proposals | Capital Commentary by Julia K. Stronks.  MGB: It would be better to eliminate all restrictions as well as right to work laws.  The market would then have the right number of immigrants enter and not one more, as if they are to be hired at a union wage, the advantage of employing a shadow economy is overcome.  The fact is, on the verge of compromise in 2010, the issue of birthright citizenship was raised loud and clear - and likely by the food industry.  I don't expect less this time and I note, rather cynically, that 55 Democrats and 4 Republicans does not overcome 60 votes.

Religious Liberty, Majority Rule and the Contraception Mandate | Capital Commentary

Religious Liberty, Majority Rule and the Contraception Mandate | Capital Commentary by Timothy Sherratt.  MGB: Making employer fiat the mechanism to prohibit private reproductive rights rather than the state would undermine the privacy decisions allowing them in the first place.  To replace the tyranny of the state with the tyranny of the employer is simply not acceptable.  Additionally, as life can be demonstrated as beginning at Gastrulation, there really are no moral issues to be addressed.  Until that point, the blastocyst develops under the guidance of only the maternal genetic code.  It is not an individual and may indeed twin.  That makes it a potential life, not an actual life.  Interestingly enough, if the Church would agree to such a dividing line, it would have a more compelling argument against abortion - although not enough to overcome the problems of turning miscarried embryos into legal individuals.

Serving Others: A New Lens for Political Engagement | Capital Commentary

Serving Others: A New Lens for Political Engagement | Capital Commentary by Dynan Crull.  MGB: In earlier days the  Church and Crown worked more closely to handle the needs of the poor, although the resources were not vast to do so.  It is not untoward to set up such systems now and include within them employers as well.  As for the super storm - some of this type of damage had been predicted before.  Indeed, on the History Channel just as Irene was coming up the coast, they aired a show about New York City experiencing a Category 3 Hurricane.  If this becomes the norm every few years, it may just be time for the state to use its power to declare some areas uninhabitable and pay the residents to live someplace else so that future instant charity can be avoided.  One wonders how many biblical disasters were really bad engineering.

Russia Blew Up the Adoption Bridge. Now What? | Capital Commentary

Russia Blew Up the Adoption Bridge. Now What? | Capital Commentary by Jedd Medefind.  MGBI often wonder how far foster care and adoption services go, especially when they act quickly, when it might be better to foster the entire family - including the parents (or at least the mother).  That would get rid of the impression that foster services are glorified kidnapping.:

Christians for Compromise | Capital Commentary

Christians for Compromise | Capital Commentary by Clay Cooke.  MGB: The fiscal cliff was about the budget basing of certain tax reforms.  It was a minor issue and all for show.  The real scandals in society where uncompromising leadership is needed and is sorely lacking is the problem of personal indebtedness where institutions have more rights than individuals.  This is closely followed by the subservient state of most of the workforce and the taking of a portion of their wages by the ownership of the enterprise.  In short, capitalism is the problem.  Where is the voice we need that will refuse to surrender?