Here are a few of the topics of the day:

“Did you plug the hole yet daddy?” asks the President’s daughter about the 5 week old oil leak in the Gulf. I know that little girls think that their daddy is a hero that can do anything – especially if their father is the President of the United States. In reality, the President has no business sealing oil leaks – that should of course be left to oil drilling types suh as BP. This notion that Big Government bureaucrats are “supervising” and “approving” each step of the operation is ridiculous – as if to say that the bureacrats know what to do to stop the leak. The President of the United States and the Federal Government have no role in stopping the leak other than providing any supporting equipment and manpower that they may have that could be of some use to the experts. Claiming that BP was knowingly unsafe afer they were awarded a safety prize for that very oil rig is an issue that can be examined once things are more under control.

Andrew Cuomo Picks Robert Duffy for His Running Mate for the NY Governor’s race. His critics pointed out that Cuomo’s “diversity” is suspect now because he chose a white male. I suppose that they expected him to pick a black male, a hispanic female, an Asian, an illegal alien, a handicapped person, a homosexual and a Muslim as part of his new team. Choosing someone just because of their race or sex makes as much sense as not choosing someone because of their race or sex. In trying to show how “diverse” they are in some sort of social experiment, people tend to forget the actual job that they are being elected to perform.

Reality of Cuts Hitting Disabled Bus Riders. Here is a story from Nassau County, NY about “devastating cuts” of  $1.2 million for certain bus services for handicapped people. The Newsday article has a picture of an upset woman in a wheelchair and quotes such as “No more social life” and “It’s pretty much a death sentence”. The story involves U.S. Circuit Court judges, attorneys, County Legislators and bureacrats. While my heart goes out to these people, it does bring up an interesting point: How much of our lives have we let ourselves become dependent on Big Government for? When a particular group of people with certain special needs has a problem, the knee-jerk reaction is to ask Government to force other people to pay for their needed services – as if there is some bottomless pit of Big Government funds. Other alternatives include banding together with other similar-needs people and pooling resources, starting a church group, getting private donations, or even starting a charity –  I’ll even donate money to your worthy cause – or even be a volunteer driver! You may find that going the private route may get you services far and above the Big Government route. I know that it is harder getting started and much easier to simply have Government bureacrats force the money out of people for you.

Despite Recesion, Auto Insurance Costs Rise – What surprises me is that some find this surprising. When money is tight, some people tend to look to cash cows such as insurance companies or Big Government for some “free money”. The possibility of “phony or exaggerated claims” is being looked into. Maybe establishing a new bureacracy to oversee the issue is the answer – at least that will create some new Big Government jobs.

Supreme Court Nominee Kagan has no Experience- In the long and growing list of Obama nominations that are quite surprising, Elena Kagan is selected for Supreme Court Justice – the Judicial Branch of the Federal Government. Kagan has no judicial experience. The person put in charge of the treasury Depatment which includes the IRS was found to have cheated on his taxes when he was selected! I find it difficlt to believe that of all the millions and millions of citizens, there is not a qualified one for the choosing. Of course the President and Chief Executive himself had no executive experience either before he was President. He did claim however that his mere running for President for two years was worthy enough to be counted as executive experience.

2010 Census Response Rate of 72% – According to the census.gov website, the Census National Prticipation Rate is 72%. The question is though, if the purpose of the census is to find out how many people there are, how do we know what percentage responded – unless we already know the total? This reminds me of the mindset that does studies to “prove that there is global warming” where they already have the answer and then try to prove it. I’ve often wondered how – with all of the Bureaus and paperwork and forms of Big Government – they do not know that I already exist somehow. Just like on my 1040 tax form. I realize that, other than my deductions that I claim, everything that I put such as my salary, interest income and investments – they already were notified about. I guess they just want to see what I am going to put. Someone told me that there is some law that prevents the census from using information from other branches of Big Government. This may or may not be true. I do know that such a law would gurantee employment to the 635,000 census takers – at least temporarily holding the line on the national unemployment rate.