Now that we have a record-setting winter behind us, this spring, summer and fall are going to seem extra special for most of us. I guess the extreme winter weather conditions are humbling, at best.
We can put away our winter coats, boots and hats
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"Where Olmsted County News Comes First"
Online Edition
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Volume ∞ Issue ∞
- 5:36:49, May 15th 2013 - Frank Hawthorne - Though I hated to see you reference Glenn Beck by name [Three Times ... [Read More]
- 11:42:07, May 10th 2013 - yenken - I feel very sorry for those who have commented do far, as when you stand fa ... [Read More]
- 12:10:25, Apr 26th 2013 - Frank Hawthorne - Mr. "Cabtrom's" garbage-out[burst]--in response to Ms. Reisner's w ... [Read More]
- 9:51:50, Apr 24th 2013 - jeff pischke - To Jerry Grehl, the number to the fillmore county sheriffs office is 7 ... [Read More]
- 9:27:24, Apr 22nd 2013 - Cabtrom - Blah blah blah, garbage in garbage out! ... [Read More]
- 7:00:49, Apr 11th 2013 - Donald Pierce - Col. Stan Gudmundson hit most of the important nails squarly on the h ... [Read More]
- 12:44:54, Apr 4th 2013 - Frank Hawthorne - My compliments to Ms. Hammer for giving us well-crafted "Rachel Rea ... [Read More]
- 5:09:06, Apr 3rd 2013 - truthiness - I see this is dated April 1. That explains it! ... [Read More]
- 12:04:33, Apr 3rd 2013 - Frank W. Hawthorne - Say WHAT?!? Stan's American-Pie [In SKY] is Falling--Not Again? ... [Read More]
- 12:40:21, Mar 29th 2013 - Jacob - It's a shame that so few people care about making their voices heard. If we ... [Read More]
9
With the recent USPS decision to close 223 mail processing facilities, do you think they are moving in the right direction?
13
Should government eliminate subsidies for ethanol and oil industries?
The Invisible Lawmakers
Mon, May 20th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
Comments
Want to know what’s causing a lot of people in Washington to work long hours right now? Here’s a hint: it’s not immigration reform or gun control or, for that matter, any other legislation coming down the pike. Instead, it’s a pair of three-year-old laws.
The Affordable Care Act (known to most Americans as Obamacare) and the Wall Street reform act known as “Dodd-Frank” both became law in 2010. Most people consider these major pieces of legislation old news, but that’s because their civics teachers misled them back in junior high school. In the How-A-Bill-Becomes-A-Law version of Congress that many of us were taught, the story ends when the bill is signed by the President. It doesn’t. In fact, the President’s signature is more like a starter’s pistol.
Because after a bill becomes law is when legislative language — which is often deliberately vague and imprecise, in order to wrangle as many votes as possible — gets interpreted and turned into regulatory language. In other words, Congress drafts a rough blueprint; only then does the federal government decide how the machinery will actually work.
And that’s where money — lots of money — stands to be won or lost. A few years ago, a group of academics studying tax disclosures related to a single 2004 piece of financial legislation found that firms lobbying for a particular provision made $220 for every $1 they spent on lobbying. Which may help explain why, as the Center for Responsive Government recently reported, the health care industry has spent more than $700 million on lobbying Congress and executive agencies since health care reform passed.
Indeed, the political fight that began with the drafting of legislation continues long after a bill is enacted into law — not for days or weeks or even months, but sometimes for years. Unlike the legislative process, which for all its faults is generally visible and accessible to the public, these battles tend to be invisible and inscrutable.
The first arena in which they take place is within the agency or agencies charged with drafting and enforcing the rules that give teeth to legislation. This process can be lengthy — according to one corporate law firm that has been tracking the rulemaking process for Dodd-Frank, only 38 percent of the rules required by the legislation had been finalized by the beginning of May this year. Special interests trying to have an impac .....
[Read the Rest]
The Affordable Care Act (known to most Americans as Obamacare) and the Wall Street reform act known as “Dodd-Frank” both became law in 2010. Most people consider these major pieces of legislation old news, but that’s because their civics teachers misled them back in junior high school. In the How-A-Bill-Becomes-A-Law version of Congress that many of us were taught, the story ends when the bill is signed by the President. It doesn’t. In fact, the President’s signature is more like a starter’s pistol.
Because after a bill becomes law is when legislative language — which is often deliberately vague and imprecise, in order to wrangle as many votes as possible — gets interpreted and turned into regulatory language. In other words, Congress drafts a rough blueprint; only then does the federal government decide how the machinery will actually work.
And that’s where money — lots of money — stands to be won or lost. A few years ago, a group of academics studying tax disclosures related to a single 2004 piece of financial legislation found that firms lobbying for a particular provision made $220 for every $1 they spent on lobbying. Which may help explain why, as the Center for Responsive Government recently reported, the health care industry has spent more than $700 million on lobbying Congress and executive agencies since health care reform passed.
Indeed, the political fight that began with the drafting of legislation continues long after a bill is enacted into law — not for days or weeks or even months, but sometimes for years. Unlike the legislative process, which for all its faults is generally visible and accessible to the public, these battles tend to be invisible and inscrutable.
The first arena in which they take place is within the agency or agencies charged with drafting and enforcing the rules that give teeth to legislation. This process can be lengthy — according to one corporate law firm that has been tracking the rulemaking process for Dodd-Frank, only 38 percent of the rules required by the legislation had been finalized by the beginning of May this year. Special interests trying to have an impac .....
[Read the Rest]
Murdering ourselves
Mon, May 20th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
John Adams once said that “democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide”. In a book first published in 1942 economist Joseph Schumpeter asks the question,
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May is Bed & Bread Club month; a focus on food and shelter programs
Mon, May 13th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
By Dave Ferber
As one of this area’s social services organizations The Rochester Salvation Army continues to provide local programs dealing with hunger and homelessness. We routinely encounter all facets of the human experience and we are very g
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Hidden Worlds
Mon, May 13th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
Have you ever read about the maze of tunnels that exists under Paris, Rome, London, etc.? There used to be shows about them on the History Channel back when the History Channel actually had programming about history. Or maybe on the Learning Chan
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Baby Steps Toward Full Equality
Mon, May 6th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
Spring is a time of new beginnings, new life, and growth. Finally, winter is leaving us, kicking and screaming as it exits.
Social and cultural changes move at a snail’s pace and years of seasons come and go before evidence of change breaks gr
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Correction - 5.8.13
Mon, May 6th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
In the May 8, 2013 Olmsted County Journal, in the article, A life lost too early: Byron High community plants tree, it was incorrectly stated that the tree was donated by Sargent’s Nursery. The tree was donated by Mosquito Squad of SE MN and was p
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How Politics Has Changed
Mon, May 6th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
When two senators recently got into a spat over whether the Boston Marathon bombings were being politicized, the news was everywhere within minutes. Reams of commentary quickly followed. In the maneuvering over gun-control legislation, every twist a
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One Moment, Please... Connecting with you
Mon, May 6th, 2013
Posted in Commentary
Posted in Commentary
I have thanked our readers and advertisers in the past, but I am reminded to say “thank you” again after our engaging open house held last Wednesday, May 8. On the eve of what we hope will be the last winter storm of this crazy and long season,
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