Alabama Republican Introduces Bill to Eliminate Overtime Pay

I wouldn’t have believed it had I not read it for myself from the official Congressional website.

U.S. Representative Martha Roby, a Republican from Alabama’s 2d Congressional District has introduced H.R. 1406, officially named the “Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013″ which would END the requirement of the Fair Labor Standards Act for employers to pay Time-and-a-Half to employees for every hour worked over 40 in one week.

http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1406

The Congressional Budget Office has reported on the bill, and in part wrote that:

Suicide, Libertarianism, and Religion -or- Why “No man is an island.”

FACT:
Las Vegas has the highest metropolitan suicide rate in the U.S.

“I’ll add that there’s one more feature here, of Las Vegas, which I think bears mentioning. And that is what I kinda’ think of as a sort of “frontier culture” mentality among residents, and I think, even among visitors.

“That Las Vegas is this sort of place of place of total license. You know… its the ‘Wild West,’ it’s an open frontier for all kinds of immorality and exploration of vice, and… the entire self-branding of Las Vegas as this place where that is not only tolerated, but actually sanctioned.

“You know, the “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” kind of mentality – produces, I think, a kind of… sort of libertarian ethos of ‘go it alone, do it yourself.’ And help seeking in this sort of framework is perhaps not accepted or valorized the way it is other parts of the country.

“These kind of cultural arguments are always very hard to make. They always sound deeply unscientific. But, in a lot ways, I think that’s exactly where a lot of the explanatory power comes from… is in this understanding the culture and values underlying people’s behavioral sense.”

- Matt Wray, sociologist, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, and co-author of a 2008 paper entitled “Leaving Las Vegas: Exposure to Las Vegas and Risk of Suicide” / excerpted from Freakonomics Radio, episode #92 “Gambling With Your Life,” released April 27, 2011

Of late, attention has been increasingly given to the suicide rate of veterans returning home from the horrors of war in the Middle East, specifically, from their numerous extended tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While in retrospect, many acknowledge that

Mitt Romney chooses Paul Ryan as running mate; Damage Control begins

Paul Ryan, ‘Brown Noser’? The Wikipedia Edit Wars Begin for Romney’s Running Mate

By Megan Garber

Aug 11 2012, 9:13 AM ET

Now that his candidacy is official, Paul Ryan’s Wikipedia page will become a battle ground.

Paul Ryan’s classmates vote him “Biggest ‘Brown-Noser.’” pic.twitter.com/P2DrIncJ Photo via Twitter via @ryanlizza – Washington Correspondent for The New Yorker, Contributor for CNN

In high school, Paul Ryan’s classmates voted him as his class’s “biggest ‘brown noser.’” This little tidbit is a source of delight for political opponents of the Wisconsin representative-turned-Romney-running mate; to his supporters, in general, it’s an irrelevant piece of youthful trivia.

But it’s also a tension that will play out, repeatedly, in the most comprehensive narrative we have about Paul Ryan as a person and a politician and a policy-maker: his Wikipedia page. Late last night, Politico reports – just as news of the Ryan choice leaked in the political press – the first substantial edit to that page removed an extant “brown noser” mention:

removing prom king and brown noser from article –see discussion on “talk” page

But then another user put the “brown noser” mention back in. Because: relevant!

And then another user removed it again, explaining:

Removed unnecessary statement from Early Life about … “Brown Noser.” This is not needed in article is not common in such brief survey sections.

As of this writing, “brown noser” stands. As does a maybe-mitigating piece of Ryan-as-high-schooler trivia: that he was also voted prom king. But that equilibrium could change, again, in an instant.

Now that Ryan’s confirmed,

Thinking of Liberty, Freedom, Rights and Responsibilites… and not so much about Ted Nugent

Some may not be familiar with Ted Nugent nor the “Motor City Madman” antics for which he became renown… or infamous, take your pick.

Certainly, there are things about which many of us are passionate, and hold dear – among them, family, freedom, and for some, firearms.

While by no means am I anti-gun, I am anti-nutcase. To be explicit, the reader should understand that what I mean to express by that sentiment, is that no one takes the ramblings of a madman seriously, and to be taken seriously, one should not behave or carry on as a madman. When on one hand someone appears civil, well-spoken even erudite, then later appears obscenely venomous, vitriolic, rude, crude and perhaps even diabolical, then it causes one to wonder if there is some degree of mental instability present, such as – for example – schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Individuals with such mental defect are automatically excluded from, and denied firearm ownership.

Since 1968, federal law has forbidden firearm ownership to those whom are declared mentally unfit. However, the problem with that has been twofold, which means that first and foremost, a court must first

Secret Service Investigating ex-Rocker Ted Nugent for Terrorist Remarks against the President

Ex-rocker Ted Nugent made some violent, extremely vitriolic and blatantly ignorant remarks at at the National Rifle Association‘s 2012  Annual Meetings in St. Louis on April 14, 2012. He was speaking to Cam Edwards and took questions from NRA members.

Specifically, the most virulent remark he made concerning the security of the leader of the free world was that ”If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” 

His extremist remarks have now apparently garnered the attention of the United States Secret Service, which is charged with protection of the president.

The Secret Service takes all such threats against the president‘s life seriously, and investigates them all, because at their heart, they are terrorist threats.

It is a violation of federal law to threaten the president.

Specifically, 18 USC § 871 – “Threats against President and successors to the Presidency” – addresses that crime.

The New Yorker Magazine reported Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 10:17AM EDT that “a spokesman for the Secret Service tells us, “We are aware of it, and we’ll conduct an appropriate follow up.”"

Popularly known as “The Motor City Madman,” it is also well documented that Mr. Nugent

Newt Gingrich says he Opposes Child Labor Laws

I continue to write about how the GOP (that’d be the Republican Party) has been hijacked by radicals, most notably and recently the “TEA Party” movement, which I call “TEApublicans.”

Here, we have not mere prima facie evidence, but irrefutable proof positive – Newt Gingrich in his own words – say,

“You’re going to see from me extraordinarily radical proposals to fundamentally change the culture of poverty in America.”

What many – if not most – do not know, is that Newt Gingrich has never been considered “conservative” by conservatives.

In fact,

Free Market Government Deconstruction -or- What’s happening here?

Ed Note: What you’re about to read is a letter which I had sent to a long-time and very close friend after having read the article supplied via link at the close. 

This is as clear a picture as any.

The driving & motivating philosophical ideology of those Radical Republicans – among whom Newt Gingrich is chief – is wholesale de-regulation in every area, even to the extent that government is disbanded – thus resulting in anarchy.

They believe in a “Free Willy, Free Market” that is utopian & idealistic in nature, meaning it is a fantasy, rather than a solution based upon reality.

They are – as I have proclaimed for years –