Welcome to your Friday open thread. It’s Friday of our holiday-shortened work week. How was your week? I’m already ready for the weekend. Blurgh.
Rep. Paul Broun, freedom clown:
Today, I introduced a unique bill that goes in a completely different direction than everything else we’ve been hearing out of Washington. It would force politicians to start practicing what they’ve been preaching by lowering the debt ceiling from $14.3 trillion back down to $13 trillion. Admittedly, this is not your run-of-the-mill kind of law, but it would make it imperative for Congress to think outside of the box and come up with ways to pay off a portion of our debt while drastically cutting back spending. Since 1996, the national debt has increased by an inexcusable $8.79 trillion. I firmly believe that this calls for emergency measures to reduce the debt.
I don’t think the media has been very good at explaining the debt ceiling but not raising it means a 40% cut in the budget. Since domestic spending is only 18% of the total budget that means all programs like NASA would be gone and the rest would have to come from the Pentagon and entitlements (Social Security & Medicare). A 40% cut would be devastating, but I guess that’s not devastating enough for Paul Broun.
Senator Inhofe sure is a privileged arsehole. Remember the story of Inhofe landing on a closed runway and scaring the crap out of workers on the runway? He was sanctioned by the FAA for that and now he’s introducing a bill as revenge.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) is pushing a bill that would protect pilots from “agency overreach” by the Federal Aviation Administration, in response to his own experience at the mercy of the FAA after he “scared the crap out of” airport workers last year when he landed his Cessna on a closed runway.
“I was never fully appreciative of the feeling of desperation until it happened to me,” he said.
The bill is expected to be introduced Wednesday and called the “Pilot’s Bill Of Rights.” As Jim Myers of the Tulsa World reports:
Inhofe said his bill also would address what he called the “rubber-stamp” approach routinely taken by the National Transportation Safety Board when FAA actions are appealed; would allow a pilot to appeal to a federal court; would simplify the so-called Notice to Airmen system for providing relevant information to pilots; and would require a review of the current medical certification process.
“It’s our job in Congress to ensure that there are appropriate safeguards in place to prevent agency overreach,” Inhofe said. “This bill provides that.”
“Now that is just a matter of fairness,” he added. “If a person is going to be accused of something, he has to know what he is being accused of.”
Oh how noble he makes his bill sound. Jerk.