Public V. Private Sector: Who's Compensated More?

The answer depends on who you ask. Each side of this debate trots out statistics showing that public sector workers get paid more or less than others, depending on who did the survey and the methodology. Finding accurate, unbiased data is not easy. That said, there are some surprises in this fight. Total compensation for government workers has actually risen more slowly in the two states seeing the biggest fight: Ohio and Wisconsin. By some measures, private workers may have done better the last decade — but few have those juicy pensions.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134065799/Truth-Squading-Public-Private-Pay-And-Benefits?ft=1&f=1003

hamid karzai barak obama hillary clinton george w bush nancy pelosi

Throwing in the Towel on the Constitution

Jonah Goldberg, NROArticle 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires that each new president take the following oath:I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.President Obama announced this week that he will violate that oath.In a decision hailed by gay-rights activists, the White House announced that it will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the grounds that it has suddenly dawned on the president and attorney general that...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/02/25/throwing_in_the_towel_on_the_constitution_251097.html

harry reid john mccain al gore bill clinton newt gingrich

The Feds Are Prepared For A Shutdown, Are You?

Time is running out for Republicans and Democrats to come up with a budget deal. If they don't reach one in eight days, the federal government could shut down — much like it did about 15 years ago.

In case that happens, all federal agencies are required to draw up contingency plans. And when budget discussions on Capitol Hill start to disintegrate, they hustle to update them. So if you're planning on doing anything soon that requires the hand of a bureaucrat or a visit to federally owned property, you might need to do the same.

Other than the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who could be sent home without paychecks, the first people to notice a government shutdown would likely be some vacationers.

Take the Schissel family, for example, who are visiting Washington, D.C.

"We were a little concerned we booked the vacation several weeks before we were aware of the shutdown," says Scott Schissel, who's traveling with his wife and their two kids. "Thankfully, we got here just in time."

"I assume we would have been locked out of the White House and the Capitol building and potentially even the national monuments, which we did all this week," said the Westwood, Mass., resident.

During the shutdowns in 1995 and 1996, more than 360 national parks from Yosemite to the Washington monument — and dozens of museums — closed their doors.

Alice Rivlin, head of the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton, remembers it well, and recalls how those shutdowns affected more than just vacationers.

"Things that people need to get approved when they are doing ordinary business like buying a house or processing a loan — those things come to a screeching halt," she says.

The Budget office helps agencies figure out what they should and shouldn't close.I n 1996, the Clinton administration had to call back nearly 50,000 Social Security employees because of backups with new claims and other services.

Rivlin says figuring out what's essential isn't so easy.

"The one I didn't expect was the laboratory animals," Rivlin says. "You can't just walk away from the building and leave the animals to starve. You have to have somebody there to feed the animals. Now you wouldn't have thought of that off-hand. But it's an example of a lot of little things that can't be left to chance once you are shutting down the government."

The rule is that federal workers stay on the job during a shutdown if they're involved in protecting life or property. So last time around, air traffic controllers and prison guards kept working. An agency also stays open if its funding source is independent of Congress, such as the post office.

But passport services, which you might find at a post office, would be an exception to the rule. In the last shutdowns, some 200,000 passports went unprocessed.

Moreover, 3,500 bankruptcy cases stopped cold.

That's because even with automated forms for such federal services, someone has to be on the other end to process them. So take note: Any shutdown this spring would run smack into tax season and student loan applications.

Despite any inconveniences to taxpayers, lawmakers would still collect their paychecks. They're exempt from shutdowns, though some Democrats are pushing a bill to change that.

Lawmakers have yet to agree to take up that measure as they're in a standoff about what to do before next Friday when government funding runs out.

If they can't reach agreement, Schissel says so be it.

"I think it's important to come to grips with a realistic budget," Schissel says. "If it takes a budget shutdown for both sides to reach a fair compromise, then it's probably worth it."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134043241/the-feds-are-prepared-for-a-shutdown-are-you?ft=1&f=1003

sarah palin al sharpton bill oreilly fox news hamid karzai

Man's First Best Friend Might Have Been A Fox

In a dusty, ancient burial site in northern Jordan, archaeologists have made a startling discovery: a fox buried alongside human remains.

It seems some 16,000 years ago, several millennia before any animals were domesticated, humans may have been making an early attempt to keep pets. Red foxes, to be precise.

It's a surprising find, Cambridge researcher Lisa Maher tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "When we were first excavating the site, we thought it might have been a dog," she says. It wasn't until her team analyzed the animal's remains that it realized it was a fox.

That the fox was a pet is only one of several possibilities, however. It may instead have had totemic or spiritual significance to the culture. But Maher's team compared the burial site to sites from 4,000 years later, when domesticated dogs did accompany human burials. The similarities suggest "that it probably was a more emotional relationship of one particular fox to one particular person," she says.

Those similarities are also significant because they highlight a continuity in mortuary practices through time, Maher adds.

"We're seeing these things, these similarities in mortuary practices and relationships to humans and animals in a much greater time depth than we had previously," she says.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/19/133898499/mans-first-best-friend-might-have-been-a-fox?ft=1&f=1007

sarah palin al sharpton bill oreilly fox news hamid karzai

Debate Heats Up Over Public And Private Pensions

A leading pension expert says people in the private sector have pension envy because it seems their public sector peers are getting a better deal in retirement. But that envy may not last long as state and local governments struggle to pay for those benefits.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134037785/debate-heats-up-over-public-and-private-pensions?ft=1&f=1003

john mccain al gore bill clinton newt gingrich sarah palin

Analysts Say A Government Shutdown Is No Joke

In nine days, the federal government could shut down unless Democrats and Republicans can reach an agreement on a spending bill for the rest of the year.

Time is running out in this high-stakes budget showdown.

In private, talks continue on a possible compromise, but in public, the two parties are squaring off, trying to make sure that if there is a shutdown, the other side gets the blame.

"People should be careful about, you know, being too loose in terms of talking about a government shutdown because this has — this is not an abstraction," President Obama said at his press conference last week. "You know, people don't get their Social Security checks. They don't get their veterans payments. Basic functions shut down. And that also would have an adverse effect on our economic recovery."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/24/134000945/analysts-say-a-government-shutdown-is-no-joke?ft=1&f=1003

al sharpton bill oreilly fox news hamid karzai barak obama

High Honors: Living Soldier Awarded Medal of Honor for Afghanistan Service

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Source: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/yiuutNZBnTo/

al sharpton bill oreilly fox news hamid karzai barak obama

Wis. Governor Receives Prank Phone Call

Political pranks are hardly new, but when a sitting governor in the midst of a high-stakes fight with organized labor is punked by someone pretending to be a major conservative contributor, people take notice. Someone pretending to be David Koch, a businessman who has contributed heavily to conservative candidates and causes, taped a lengthy conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The recording became public Wednesday.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/23/134003982/Wis-Governor-Receives-Prank-Phone-Call?ft=1&f=1014

sarah palin al sharpton bill oreilly fox news hamid karzai