SC State Alumnus invokes Gen. Sherman's burning of Columbia in his response to SC Legislature

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, famous litigator

“I want to serve notice to the General Assembly in Columbia,” SCSU Orangeburg alumni chapter Willie B. Owens said. “You thought it was hell when Sherman hit Columbia, but just wait. Within a few days, we're going to file a lawsuit of $500 million on behalf of South Carolina State University.”

Not to take anything away from lawsuits, but I'm pretty sure no one ever said "Litigation is hell".

$4.4 Billion Just Isn't Enough Money, You Guys

I mean, what can you even get for $4.4 Billion these days, anyway?

A review of IRS spending by the Free Beacon shows the agency has spent a massive amount on what it labeled as IT/software and data processing contracts in the past five fiscal years. The official government’s spending website shows the IRS spent $4.4 billion during this time period.

You can't really expect the IRS to run an IT system that preserves e-mails on that kind of shoestring budget, can you?

IRS delenda est.

Medicaid Is Costing States More Money Than Expected - Also Medicare Doesn't Really Work Anyway

Gee, who could have possibly predicted that a government program would be more expensive than originally forecast?

Before President Obama's law expanded Medicaid eligibility, millions of people who were already entitled to its safety-net coverage were not enrolled. Those same people are now signing up in unexpectedly high numbers, partly because of publicity about getting insured under the law.

For states red or blue, the catch is that they must use more of their own money to cover this particular group.

You know, there are lots of folks who are arguing for South Carolina to expand Medicaid because it's "free money" from the federal government. As seems to now be the case, South Carolina's Medicaid expenses are going to be going up anyway.

This also doesn't address the more important fact that Medicaid doesn't actually improve medical outcomes for people relative to being uninsured.

Ultimately, the authors concluded that, “This randomized, controlled study showed that Medicaid coverage generated no significant improvements in measured health outcomes in the first two years, but it did increase use of health services, raise rates of diabetes detection and management, lower rates of depression, and reduce financial strain.”

So, the study suggests that expanding Medicaid is one way of reducing financial pressure on low-income groups, but it’s costly and does not improve their health.

Another interesting finding was that though medical spending increased among Medicaid enrollees due to more prescription drug usage and doctors’ visits, the study “did not find significant changes in visits to the emergency department or hospital admissions.” This undercuts another favorite talking point of liberals, which is that expanding insurance actually saves money by reducing costly emergency room visits.

But hey, for some people, the only way to improve a failing government program is to enlarge it.

Columbia Will Be Getting Minor League Baseball (Again)

In a 4-3 vote last night, the Columbia City Council decided to fund the construction of a baseball stadium in the Bull Street Development. Here's what the developer hopes it will look like:

Proposed stadium rendering via Hardball Capital

I'm not exactly thrilled with this whole deal, but I really do wish the best for this project. is a success. I'd love to see a vibrant Bull Street development area, I enjoy baseball, and this picture looks cool. This is one of the times that it would give me no pleasure to say "I told you so."

Come on Columbia. Don't screw this up.

California Liberals Get Hit With a Clue Bat

This has to be my favorite story so far about the ACA rollout. It's priceless. If you don't want to go read the whole thing, I'll give you the highlights. However, you should go read the whole thing.

Cindy Vinson and Tom Waschura are big believers in the Affordable Care Act. They vote independent and are proud to say they helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama.

They're just two Californians living the liberal dream. They're really excited about Obamacare being active, because they buy their health insurance on the private market. Accordingly, they were interested to see how that might affect their existing policies. It's all sunshine and puppy dogs, right?

Vinson, of San Jose, will pay $1,800 more a year for an individual policy, while Waschura, of Portola Valley, will cough up almost $10,000 more for insurance for his family of four.

Whoa! I'm pretty sure that Vinson and Waschura thought that someone else would be paying for all this great coverage. You know, the rich!

"I was laughing at Boehner -- until the mail came today," Waschura said, referring to House Speaker John Boehner, who is leading the Republican charge to defund Obamacare. "I really don't like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this. When you take $10,000 out of my family's pocket each year, that's otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy."

Hey, now! Look who's starting to talk like a Republican, talking about his family's money and the local economy. That's just crazy, winger-talk. To quote John McClane: Welcome to the party, pal.

Now, as good as that quote is, here's the best one. Seriously, hold on to your butt. Ready? Ok. Here's where he gets hit with the Clue Bat:

"Of course, I want people to have health care," Vinson said. "I just didn't realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally."

I love it. Love it. He wants people to have free stuff. He just doesn't want to be the one who pays for it. This probably sums up every liberal program ever thought up. I love the thought of this liberal Californian finally having the reality of math hit him in the head. When you give free stuff to one person, you don't just magic it up out of thin air - someone has to pay for it.

You can almost use this quote like a template and put anything in. "Of course, I want people to have _________," Vinson said. "I just didn't realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally." See? Works for whatever you want.

Welcome to the real word, y'all. I wonder if they can relate to some folks who think they are Taxed Enough Already. Maybe? It always cracks me up that liberals like these folks think that they are the smartest people ever, but can't figure out that 2 + 2 = 4. I would like to conclude this post with a direct letter to these two Californian liberals.

Dear Waschura and Vinson: 

Remember how funny it was when Pelosi said they had to pass the bill (in the middle of the night on Christmas eve with only Democrat Votes and parliamentary tricks and payoffs) so you could find out what was in it? Remember how you screamed that anyone opposed was a racist teabagger? Remember how you giggled every time you said teabagger? Remember how happy you were when it was signed by the President? Remember how many times you've said "It's the law!" Remember all that? 

I do. 

Not so funny now, is it?

Sincerely,
Permanent Press

Service Academy Football Games Will Be Played

Happy Thursday.

Apparently, the government knuckle-heads who wanted to cancel service academy football games for purely theatrical reasons have been taken out back and shot.

Football will be played.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled governmental incompetence.

The Vets Have Control of the Memorial!

As part of the government shutdown, the government apparently is required to perform more work than normal, and erect barricades and have Capitol Police keep Americans from visiting memorials and parks. That may work for some of the more peaceful nature-lovers visiting Yosemite, but it certainly ain't working on the WWII vets who showed up to visit the WWII memorial and found it closed.

They went right past the barricades, like they were trained to do, so long ago.

Via @LeoShane

Everyone knows that "shutting down" memorials and monuments is just theater. No one works there, and it actually takes more work to keep people out. It's like the sequester. Certain people want to make this shutdown as painful as possible to prove a point. I don't get this kind of theater anyway.

I tell you what, this government shutdown is hitting me hard. I forgot to fill up my gas tank yesterday and with the Dept of Energy shut down there may not be another chance. Maybe I can find a mule or something to pull my car around. I also drove to work despite forgetting that the Department of Transportation was closed. I guess I'll be walking back home.

It's all a big joke.

Monday Headlines 9-30-13

Don't have time for a long commentary-type post, but here are some events that I'm seeing around the midlands and the country:

1. Columbia City Hall renovations are finished, but a little more expensive that originally intended. They originally budgeted $500,000, but ended up spending over twice that: $1,113,411 as of late last week. Bryan's status: not surprised.
2. Gamecock QB Connor Shaw is out for two weeks. He has a "sprained shoulder" (his throwing shoulder), the team will be relying on Dylan Thompson for awhile. Bryan's status: not optimistic.
3.  Eric Holder and the DOJ are going to sue North Carolina over their new Voter-ID laws. It astounds me how people let these guys make racist arguments for how Voter ID is discrimination. Bryan's status: Bryan's status: annoyed at the DOJ.
4. Government Shutdown Looms. Apparently, the folks running the government are having a little disagreement on something, and a government shutdown might occur. For those of you unfamiliar with a government shutdown of "non-essential" workers, it looks a lot like a weekend. Bryan's status: Whatever, bro.
5. Remember the "hockey stick" graph? Yeah, that was totally bogus. Bryan's Status: Shocked!*

*just kidding, not really shocked.

Highest Paid State Employees

Before you click on this link to show you the answer, take a guess. Who do you think is the highest paid state employee in your home state?

I've left you a clue below the jump.

Rusty DePass on the Compress Warehouse Deal

Rusty DePass nicely sums up the City's decision to purchase the Compress Warehouse:

In voting to spend $5,650,000 to purchase a dilapidated warehouse where a developer had proposed to build student housing, the Columbia City Council completely caved in to “preservationists” who talk the talk but want the rest of us to walk the plank to pay for their very expensive hobby.

Read the whole thing. I'm all for the preservationists buying the warehouse. Then they can actually own this historic, run-down cotton warehouse that they love so much.

Oh, the preservationists don't actually want to use their own money to buy it? Why is that, exactly?

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/26/2741970/depass-another-bad-deal-courtesy.html#storylink=cpy

Food Stamp Recruiter?

Wait I'm confused. We have people who are paid to "recruit" other people to enroll with the federal government's food stamp program? This is an actual job?

I have no words.

USC Research Professor Galls Me

Some professor at USC (Prakash Nagarkatti) says that the sequester is going to hurt USC's funding for basic research, and that's going to hurt the local economy because of...well he's a little fuzzy on that.

Here's what he says:

In 2012, USC received a record $238 million in external research funding, more than 60 percent from federal sources. Every $1 of research funding generates an estimated $2.21 in local economic growth, making the impact of USC research more than half a billion dollars.

First of all, we're not even talking about losing a half billion dollars of money from the economy even if you assume for the sake of argument that the multiplier effect of this money is correct as Keynesian economic theory would have you believe. Let's assume that his economic assumption is totally right. I'm not going to address economic theory and the multiplier effect today.

Let's just talk about this guy's little research program.  (By the way, this guy ain't an economics professor.) I'm not a scientist, but it looks like he's into research smoking pot as it relates to cancer. If someone can decipher what the heck he's actually researching, let me know. But I digress.

Ok, so last year alone, USC got $238,000,000.00 in funding for research. I don't care who you are, that's a lot of money. Ok, so 60% of that came from federal sources, which is $142,800,000.00. With me so far?

Ok, so now the big, scary sequester is here. For those of you who don't remember, the sequester is cutting 2.23% from the federal budget. So 2.23% of $142,800,000.00 is $3,184,440.00.

To recap, in 2012 USC received $238 Million dollars. For that year alone. For just research. Now, USC faces the possibility that it's only going to receive $234.8 Million in 2013? We're talking about a little over $3 million dollar cut. That's not that big of a difference.

However, this professor says that  "sequestration could cost USC up to $12 million in competitive federal grants." Ok, fine. Even using his numbers, that means USC research has to subsist on $226 Million each year.We're talking about a 1.74% funding decrease here, pal. You can still buy a lot of pot and Cheetos for $226 Million.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/03/2704915/nagarkatti-sequestration-will.html#storylink=cpy

Oh nooes! Only $226 million (each year) to research and study things! What will become of us?

Here's the part that really galls me:

While we understand the difficult budget situation our country faces, and recognize that shared sacrifice is the only path to recovery, our research universities are significant contributors of growth and prosperity.

Shared sacrifice? This professor is saying that USC and Columbia are going to really suffer if the extra $12 Million of Uncle Sugar's money don't come to his little research programs. What part is he sacrificing? He can't even sacrifice a little bit of his research program in our shared sacrifice. And he's not just talking to his pals about this over coffee. He's running an op-ed in The State to try and convince everyone that he can't do without his precious little 1.74% of a funding cut, and saying that we need to engage in "shared sacrifice" so he can keep researching stuff with no decrease in funding.

Maybe he should get some people to research the word "shared".

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/03/2704915/nagarkatti-sequestration-will.html#storylink=cpy

Cry me a river.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/03/2704915/nagarkatti-sequestration-will.html#storylink=cpy

City of Columbia To Buy Compress Warehouse

BAD IDEA. The City is going to raise taxes by $7 Million to buy the building and land for $5.65 Million.

The City of Columbia should not be in the real estate market.

White House Cancels Tours - Blames Sequester

The peasants will no longer be allowed to tour the king's castle. Why? Apparently sequester has forced "staffing reductions" to the White House.

Oh, you would like a list of the people who were let go? No problem. They are:

That's the complete list we have so far.

Jon Stewart Mocks the Sequester DOOM!

If Obama has lost Jon Stewart, he's in trouble.

Understanding the Sequester (Pie Chart)

http://www.investors.com/editorial-cartoons/michael-ramirez/645725

You know, to hear some people tell you about the sequester, we're DOOMED! March 1 will be here soon. What do you think will happen?

I think this pie chart really puts the cuts in perspective. They're not really that big. To put it another way, this year, the cuts are $85 billion, leaving the government with a nearly $3.6 trillion budget.

In fact, under the sequester the government will spend about $60 billion more than it did in 2008 just on what are called domestic discretionary programs — like education, law enforcement, highways and the environment. That's an increase of more than 10%.

I understand that the sequester is going to cut across the board. Good programs that don't waste money will lose funding along with the wasteful, useless, bloated programs. But the government will spend more the year after. The spending is set to increase at the same rate as always. We're just having a one-time cut, then we'll continue to spend more each year.

We're driving towards a cliff, and instead of accelerating at full speed, we're just going to tap the brakes for a second, then accelerate at full speed again. Maybe we are DOOMED. Just not the way people are saying.

Debt Ceiling Being Raised - GOP Surrender

Sorry I haven't had a post in awhile. I was busy lawyerin'.

Hey! Remember when the GOP was going to fight Obama on the debt ceiling and try to get cuts equivalent to any raise in the borrowing level? Good times.

Looks like the GOP has decided to waive the white flag and raise the debt ceiling in exchange for nothing. The second part of the bill (withholding pay for Congress if no budget is passed) is just a gimmick.

Does anyone really think Congress is going to withhold their own pay? Yeah, me either.

Surrender. Get used to it, GOP.

Unheeded Advice from George Washington

Here's an admonition in George Washington's Farewell Address that everyone seems to have forgotten:

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.

Looks like we missed the boat on that one. Sorry, George.

South Carolina Bridges Falling Down?

Johnny Irish brings this article to my attention, which discusses the condition of South Carolina's bridges. Apparently, it's not so great.

South Carolina has more than 12 hundred of what the Federal Government calls "structurally deficient" bridges.  That means they are in poor condition or worse. Another 800 are considered obsolete.

Wow - 1200 have structural problems. That seems like a lot of bridges. So what are we going to do about this? The "stimulus" that came and went a couple of years ago apparently has not been effective at updating our bridges. Where did that money actually go?

Fiscal Cliff Negotiations

Ok, fine. I'm giving up on the the "no politics" rule. President Obama finally came out with his offer to solve the fiscal cliff "problem" that Congress created. It's not really a problem, because that's what everyone agreed would happen. Both houses of Congress and the president all agreed on this horrible event. Let's not forget that. In any event, here's Obama's opening bid:

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner presented the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a detailed proposal on Thursday to avert the year-end fiscal crisis with $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, $50 billion in immediate stimulus spending, home mortgage refinancing and a permanent end to Congressional control over statutory borrowing limits.

Ok. Taxes go up, we spend more, and Congress can't control how much we borrow anymore. Wait, what? I get that Obama wants to start with taxes, but he wants to now have more stimulus spending, and Congress won't be allowed to control the debt ceiling anymore. Is this plan supposed to reduce the deficit? I don't really get this at all, except that I'm pretty sure the Republicans are going to cave on this eventually. Here is what I expect to happen:

We'll have moderately long negotiations, lots of bluster, and right before the cliff hits, the Republicans agree to tax increases on high earners, more spending, and some theoretical cuts to be named later...maybe. The GOP will say "This was the best deal we could get". The economy will continue to suck, and the GOP will get blamed for not having even higher tax cuts and more stimulus spending.

Here is what I would do if I were in charge of the Republicans. I like to call it the "Joshua" strategy. (You'll see why a the end.) I know the economy is going to suck as long as we keep spending and taxing. I know the media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) are going to blame me for it. Either way, if I agree to a deal or not, the economy is going to stay in this horrible shape or get worse. The only question is how do I not be held responsible for the cratering value of the dollar, the higher taxes, inflation, and high unemployment.

Let it Burn.

I tell Obama in a public press conference that I am against raising taxes on anyone, and I am against spending more Federal spending. However, I tell him that I am going to give him everything he wants without asking anything in return. He wants taxes? However much he wants on whatever income levels...fine. He wants more Federal spending? Sure. Spend as much as you like. Heck, even have a budget. Or not. Either way, he can simply write down what he wants to do, I'm going to say "Sure, pal. You can do whatever you want, but I'm telling you now that it's not going to work. Don't come crying to me later."

All the GOP members vote "Present", and the bill can pass through the house and senate with universal Democrat support. Obama signs it and everything will be peachy. Or it will burn, and then we get back to basics.

Watch the video below. If you don't know this movie, stop reading my blog, go watch the movie and come back. I'll wait.

Strange game, this "politics". The only winning move is not to play.