A law to act Responsibly

“In a perfect world, Congress would not have needed a law to act responsibly, to remember that every dollar spent would come from taxpayers today – or our children tomorrow,” Obama said of the "pay-go law". Obama signed this law in February, a day after, he authorized $1.9 trillion more federal debt.

So, since the signing of the "pay-go law", let us look at how our elected officials are doing.
Remember the H. R. 4691 (Temporary Extension Act of 2010), any normal person would assume they have the cost for the bill covered, right?
No they did not.

The estimation is the net impact on the deficit will be $ 8,580,000,000.00 in 2010 alone.
So haw can congress pass H.R. 4691? Well, they declared the law, complete with several special interests amendments, an emergency, which bypasses the "pay-go law".

Now just look how much smarter our elected officials are than we are.  They found ways to pay for anything they think will keep them in power. They pass these laws that "restore" the requirement that the law already required and expected, for them to not spend more than we gave them, but they left a loop hole in case they thought it might not get them elected.

Oh, and remember the Senator Jim Bunning from Kentucky and how he was criticized by most of his colleagues and the press for holding up H. R. 4691?  Does any one remember or bother to find out why he did it?
He did it because he was insisting that he and his colleagues follow the "pay-go law" and the constitution that they agreed and swore to follow.

Our elected officials are smart.
But how responsible are our elected officials?

Summary of the Law.
SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROVISIONS.
SEC. 3. EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT OF PREMIUM ASSISTANCE FOR COBRA BENEFITS.
SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAMS.
SEC. 5. INCREASE IN THE MEDICARE PHYSICIAN PAYMENT UPDATE.
SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF MEDICARE THERAPY CAPS EXCEPTIONS PROCESS.
SEC. 7. EXTENSION OF USE OF 2009 POVERTY GUIDELINES.
SEC. 8. EXTENSION OF NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM.
SEC. 9. EXTENSION OF SMALL BUSINESS LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM.
SEC. 10. SATELLITE TELEVISION EXTENSION.
The Full Text.

"Open" organizations and alliances.

I am tired of these "organizations" and/or "alliances" and  that state they are out to solve a real problem for the "World", the "Internet" or "society" and they use terms like, "Open" and "across public and private sectors" and "..an open global standard." or "..provide the consumer with ultimate flexibility, mobility, and ease of use.."

You look at the current members and they are all "large" companies and not a single consumer.

You want to read the specifications of the "open" organization or alliance, well you will have to join.

Or you want to use this "Open" technology, well then you have to join.

Some of them even for you to even say that you are compliant, you will need to use, this usually means buy, a specific chip form a specific vendor in your product to be able to be "compliant" with the "open" standard.  Or you need to obtain "permission" from the copyright or patent holders implement the code or technology in your product.

They may even state a "no-cost" permission. But what if that patent or copyright holder becomes acquired by another company or just gets into a little money issue? Could you now be forced to pay royalties to the patent or copyright holder?

Then when you look into how to be a member, you find out that you must be willing to pay the minimum $1-4K to join. Oh, you want to have a say in the organization or specification or sometimes even to provide constructive comments, that will cost you $50k.

Come on, you organizations know who you are, have some integrity.