Video: Kim Il-Sung's 100th bday

An excellent video by a skateboarder who happened to travel to North Korea during Kim Il-Sung's 100th birthday. You wonder how many of these people are just faking it in order to avoid a firing squad.

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Houstonians fight back against TSA public bus searches

Who ever thought TSA raids on public buses was a good idea? When you've pushed Texans too far with so-called national security, you should know that you've gone much too far. (And yes, Houston is mostly a Democratic city though it's still conservative compared to other parts of the country.) Read the rest of this post...

SEC investigating possible Hollywood bribes in China

I'm no fan of Hollywood and would laugh if they violated the law but the love of god, can the SEC please investigate Wall Street and their actions that led to the crash of 2008? (Searching for bribes handed out in China is like searching for espresso in Italy. It's everywhere.) These side shows that are meaningless in the big picture and do nothing to prevent the next crash are really annoying. Insider trading wasn't what caused the crash nor were the possible bribes in China to film movies. Whoever is leading these silly side shows needs to get a clue that Americans are a lot more upset with what ruined the economy than these efforts. More on the SEC effort to chase Hollywood, from the NY Times. Read the rest of this post...

Romney tells youth to take risks, borrow money from parents

Uhhhh, sorry Mitt but not everyone was raised in a household where dad had millions just laying around to be handed out to the kids. In yet another sign of his complete lack of understanding of the real world, Romney is missing the point that the parents of regular kids have been hit hard during the last few Republican recessions and are still trying to recover. Romney needs to take a few spare dollars of his own and buy a clue because he is so hopelessly out of touch. I took plenty of risks joining the startup software world but could never have imagined borrowing money from my parents. This latest blunder is as silly as Cheney talking about selling on eBay as a way to get rich a few years back. Really, Mitt?

"This kind ofdivisiveness, this attack of success is very different than what we've seen in our country's history," Romney told students and supporters gathered at Otterbein University in central Ohio. "We've always encouraged young people — take a shot, go for it, take a risk and get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business."

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Don't let business lobbyists kill the Post Office

That headline isn't mine, it's Taibbi's, and it's nicely direct. In addition, this post has an Action Opportunity, something you can actually do.

As you may already know, the USPS is going broke, thanks to Bush II and a 2006 law that forces it to fund its pension obligations completely for the next 75 years — and complete that funding in 10 years.

As you'll read below, because money earns money, no one (literally, no one) funds pension funds more than 30%.

Now Taibbi (all emphasis mine):

In 2006, in what looks like an attempt to bust the Postal Workers' Union, George Bush signed into law the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. This law required the Postal Service to pre-fund 100 percent of its entire future obligations for 75 years of health benefits to its employees – and not only do it, but do it within ten years. No other organization, public or private, has to pre-fund 100 percent of its future health benefits.

"No one prefunds at more than 30 percent," Anthony Vegliante, the U.S. Postal Service's executive vice president, told reporters last year.

The new law forced the postal service to come up with about $5.5 billion a year for the ten years following the bill's passage. In 2006, before those payments kicked in, the USPS generated a small profit. Not surprisingly, the USPS is now basically broke.

And the reason is obvious — unions, plus privatization:

The transparent purpose of this law, which was pushed heavily by industry lobbyists, was to break a public sector union and privatize the mail industry. Before the 2006 act, the postal service did one thing, did it well, and, minus the need to generate profits and bonuses for executives, did it cheaply. It paid for itself and was not a burden to taxpayers. ... This is a classic example of private-sector lobbyists using the government to protect its profits and keep prices inflated.

Taibbi's piece explains all the non-postal benefits of having post offices in a great many places not served by profit-hungry businesses.

Action Opportunity — Senator Bernie Sanders has a bill to delay the worst outcomes, such as Saturday closings.

Sen. Sanders is pushing a bill that would delay the end of Saturday delivery for two years, and prevent a number of post-office closings, but the writing is on the wall, unless there's a public outcry.

We have more about that bill here.

You can let your senators know that you strongly support that bill. Here's a nice list. And thanks!

(Update: Deleted an errant link.)

GP

(To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius)
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Steely Dan - Do It Again

It's been a vacation week this week for me which meant limited time online. Jojo and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary as well as ten years since we dropped everything and backpacked for a year. It's been a great time during our break and fortunately the weather has held up nicely. We've been doing our part to help the Greek economy down in the Cyclades. The history here is amazing, dating back to 3600 BC when the Minoans settled from Crete. The Minoans were so advanced that they had running hot (via warm springs) and cold running water. Later, others including the Romans and eventually the Venetians settled in the area. Fast forward to modern day, many locals are worried about a slow summer season due to the ongoing economic problems in both Greece and Italy. There's a concern that the rioting in Athens might also scare away foreign tourists, but they insist that the riots are much more contained than TV news shows. (Which is not unlike the Paris riots a few years back that hardly appeared in Paris, but TV news showed something radically different from reality.) They also recognize that the banks (many of them foreign) have screwed Greece so there is justification for people being very angry with the banks. For now, everyone is in a wait and see mode. Read the rest of this post...