Sequestration Kabuki takes a dangerous turn. Michelle Obama and the Oscars. A few words on education.

View 764 Wednesday, February 27, 2013

“Do not ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Mass Release of Immigrants Is Tied to Impending Cuts

Federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from detention centers around the country in recent days in a highly unusual effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said Tuesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/us/immigrants-released-ahead-of-automatic-budget-cuts.html?_r=0

BOB WOODWARD: Obama Is Showing ‘A Kind Of Madness I Haven’t Seen In A Long Time’

The Washington Post‘s Bob Woodward ripped into President Barack Obama on "Morning Joe" today, saying he’s exhibiting a "kind of madness I haven’t seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.

"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying, ‘Oh, by the way, I can’t do this because of some budget document?’" Woodward said.

“Or George W. Bush saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to invade Iraq because I can’t get the aircraft carriers I need?’" Or even Bill Clinton saying, ‘You know, I’m not going to attack Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters,’ … because of some budget document?"

“The Defense Department said in early February that it would not deploy the U.S.S. Harry Truman to the Persian Gulf, citing budget concerns relating to the looming cuts known as the sequester.

"Under the Constitution, the President is commander-in-chief and employs the force. And so we now have the President going out because of this piece of paper and this agreement. ‘I can’t do what I need to do to protect the country,’" Woodward said.

"That’s a kind of madness that I haven’t seen in a long time," he said.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bob-woodward-obama-sequester-republicans-2013-2#ixzz2M8Ad82th

The New York Times headlines about the early release of 30,000 prisoners in anticipation of the sequester had been out several hours. It caused mutterings about impeachment – after all, this is an illegal act. Congress has mandated the detainments and appropriated the funds, yet criminals are being released into the population. Take care that the laws are faithfully enforced and all that.

Shortly after that, the White House announced that the releases were not due to the President, nor even to the Secretary of Homeland Security. They were the actions of career bureaucrats in ICE, and the President only learned about them by reading it in the newspapers. Neither he nor his cabinet were aware that this was coming. I am astonished that the President would admit that this sort of thing can go on with no one held responsible for it.

I don’t usually follow breaking news, but this did seem unusual. Doubtless you will hear more as the story unfolds.

The fact remains that the Federal Government will spend $15 billion more this year than last, and 30% more than was spent in 2007.

Phil Gramm: Obama and the Sequester Scare

Governing isn’t about blaming someone else. It is about choosing.

. . .

The first Gramm-Rudman sequester took effect on March 1, 1986. It cut nondefense spending by 4.3% and defense spending by 4.9%.

The most recent estimate by the Congressional Budget Office for this year’s sequester is that nondefense spending will be cut by 4.6% and defense spending will be cut by 7.9%. While the sequester will reduce spending authority by $85 billion, the actual cuts that will occur in 2013 will be $44 billion. That is a mere 1.2% of total federal spending this year.

The first round of cuts under Gramm-Rudman weren’t so devastating that Congress and the president rushed to repeal them. In July 1986, Congress had the opportunity simply to stop the sequester after the Supreme Court invalidated its triggering mechanism. Instead it voted overwhelmingly to reaffirm the across-the-board cuts. The vote in the Democratic House was 339 to 72, and the Republican Senate approved it by acclamation, not deeming it worthy of a roll-call vote.

In 1987, Congress fixed the triggering mechanism and restored the sequester in Gramm-Rudman II. That deal would have cut nondefense discretionary spending by 8.5% and defense spending by 10.5%, far greater cuts than will be triggered this year. Yet a Democratic Congress and a Republican White House came together to replace that sequester with spending cuts in fiscal years 1988 and 1989 that were larger than those called for by Gramm-Rudman II.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323384604578327792209356054.html

The Kabuki Theater continues as the President threatens to cut park rangers, first responders, border guards, food inspectors, and air traffic controllers. Bunny inspectors are safe.

Senator Gramm continues

While history shows that a divided government can enact significant spending cuts as an alternative to sequesters, that doesn’t appear to be the path Mr. Obama intends to follow. Instead of protecting civilian defense workers, the president will continue to force the Pentagon to buy biofuels at $27 per gallon to promote his green agenda. Instead of protecting children from cuts in nutrition programs, the president will continue to allow $2.7 billion of fraud and mismanagement he has identified in the food-stamp program. Instead of protecting Medicare from a 2% cut, the president will ignore $62 billion in annual waste that his administration has identified in Medicare and Medicaid.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I am persuaded that the use of the phrase “Big Sister” in my comments on Madam First Lady’s Oscar presentation was inappropriate and denigrates the office. Of course “First Lady” (“First Spouse”?) is not a constitutional office but I understand the point. The Royal Consort holds an important place in the American social system and rightly so. When she appeared on that enormous screen with troops in the background I was reminded of Big Brother in 1984. I won’t apologize for thinking it, but it was not an appropriate thing to say. I have considerable mail including some exchanges of views on this subject and they’ll be in an upcoming Mail. I will agree that Mrs. Obama added glamor to the Oscar ceremony.

The education crisis continues and no one seems interested. Smart people avoid the school system entirely, or inoculate their children against incompetent reading teachers who don’t know that if a child can’t read by the end of first grade something is very wrong by teaching them to read themselves before they get to school. One way is with Mrs. Pournelle’s Reading Program. I wrote a discussion of what it is and does some time ago, and it is still available. Obviously children can learn to read without any program at all, but this one works and is easy to use even if it’s a bit old fashioned looking. If this program or something like it were used in Head Start a lot of the US education crisis would be ameliorated. I realize that sounds like an outrageous claim, but I have good reason to make it. In my discussion I say

We know of no case in which a student (who knows spoken English) has completed all the lessons of any version of the program and remains unable to read English.

We know of no other software that can repeatedly show a year’s growth in reading ability in four months and under.

The first statement remains true. I am not aware of any contradictions to the second, but I said it many years ago and I have not followed what is now available out there.

Amazon warns iOS users to not update Kindle app due to glitch

A bug in the e-reader app update erases users’ Kindle libraries from their Apple devices. Amazon says it’s working with Apple to release a fix.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57571544-94/amazon-warns-ios-users-to-not-update-kindle-app-due-to-glitch/