Universal Time: Nothing To Crow About

Two Johns Hopkins professors, both with apparently too much idle time, have concocted a cockamamie idea.  They are advocating for Coordinated Universal Time.  No more  pesky time zones to decipher. The world's clocks would all be synced to display the same hour at the same time.

In practical terms, that means that regardless of the position of the sun in the sky, every clock in every town and village on planet Earth would be set for the same, exact hour, minute and second.  If it's 7 a.m. in Dubai, then it's 7 a.m. in Bug Tussle, Texas.  But it may be sunny in Dubai and dark in Texas.

The professors, Steve Hanke, an economist, and Richard Conn Henry, an astronomer, are scholarly serious, we think.  Their idea was chronicled in a recent edition of The Wall Street Journal, which treated the subject with journalistic reverence.  But today that means diddly as you know.

The professorial duo argue that people would rise with the sun and retire for the evening at dark, no matter the time.  Our body clocks would recalibrate in a matter of days.  Apparently, these guys have never flown across multiple time zones and the international dateline. It will befuddle your body.

By now you are probably perplexed about the benefits of change? Why mess with centuries of time keeping?  Because, you ancient Neanderthal, the world would be a simpler place.  Whether you're traveling or managing an international business, you wouldn't be stumped about the local time.

These erudite intellectuals point out that whole industries already operate on a universal clock, such as airlines, the stock market and the international space station. Even our nation's railroads use a modified version.  Why can't the rest of us march in a timely matter to their clock?

To give you a preview of life under Coordinated Universal Time, the sun would begin to peek over the horizon in the United States about noon. (That would be perfect for us seniors).  But the sun would set around midnight.  And people today howl about Daylight Savings Time!  Whew!

First I am certain the National Rooster Union (NRU) would crow foul (or fowl?). These poor birds would never know when to signal it was morning.  Should they let loose at 5 a.m. or when the sun rises?  And what about all those nocturnal animals?  It would drive bats batty.

Teenagers might like the idea of sleeping until noon before their school day begins at 4 p.m. However, they sure would be grumpy working on homework until 1 a.m.  Bars would be open until 8 a.m. Drunk driving would become a national pastime. Only Budweiser would cheer.

Long haul truck drivers would pull over at a rest stop at 2 p.m. but they couldn't snooze because of the blinding sun.  The nightly news would begin at midnight when most folks would be too sleepy to watch. Prescriptions for sleeping pills would quadruple. Everyone would have two My Pillows.

July 4th fireworks would be scrapped because who wants to stay up until after midnight to gaze up at a few bursts of color?  Count me asleep.  Napping could become a lost art.  Can anyone justify reclining in a barcalounger at 6 p.m.?  Working the night shift would be everyone's worst nightmare.

Couples would stop having children.  Imagine the difficulty of training your newborn when to sleep and when to wake.  Churches would shutter their doors because worshipers would keep arriving at odd hours.  A flummoxed parishioner might ask: "I thought sunrise service was at 7 a.m. not noon!"

However, there would be one benefit.  Congress would still convene at 9 a.m.  That means most of us would be sleeping.  Legislators could pass bills, condemn colleagues and alter our lives with rules while we are kept in the dark.  Come to think of it, that's one thing that wouldn't change.

Congress: Stop The Budget Madness

The Republican controlled Congress has shredded its promises of fiscal responsibility.  Spineless House and Senate members rubber stamped a stopgap spending bill last week that likely will tack on another $1 trillion to the already bloated national debt.  Conservatives are feeling betrayed.

The House struggled to pass a $1.3 trillion spending package in the wee hours after months of wrangling.  The 2,232-page appropriations bill was rushed to the Senate for approval, allowing legislators little opportunity to wade through the morass of appropriation items.

Many senators admit they did not read every page in the omnibus spending package before it was approved just after midnight. Democrats share in the blame for going along with the compromise, which included funding for many of their pet projects in exchange for votes.

What has not been widely reported is the $1.3 trillion represents a mere down payment on a two-year budget agreement.  The appropriation approved last week only funds the federal government through the current fiscal year, which ends September 30.  Then the drama will begin anew.

News coverage has failed to mention the gargantuan budget only addresses discretionary funding. It does NOT include entitlements, such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.  There also is not one single dime in the budget for interest payments on the inflated national debt.

In bowing to pressure,  the GOP surrendered the high ground of fiscal conservatism. It has no one to blame but itself for the capitulation.  The party is a captive of Washington's chronically dysfunctional budget process.  However, Republicans have the power to fix it but they are cowards.

Almost 44 years ago, Congress approved the Budget Act of 1974 legally requiring members to pass an annual budget. After the president submits a budget proposal, the House and Senate are supposed to adopt their own budget resolutions and follow with spending bills to fund the fiscal plan.

Since the passage of the budget law, Congress has a abysmal record of adhering to its own appropriation deadlines.  Lawmakers have managed to meet their legal deadline just four times in four decades.  For the last six years, not a single appropriation has been enacted by the deadline.

This behavior encourages fiscal irresponsibility.  Senators and representatives are either too lazy, too incompetent or too disorganized to meet their goal.  There is no excuse for what passes as fiscal planning in Washington.  This is reckless chaos.  No business would operate this way.  

Americans have grown weary of the seemingly perpetual threat of a government shutdown as an excuse for abusing the federal budget process.  Members on both sides of the aisle wink at deadlines.  Their disregard for the process is deliberate and dishonest. 

The dirty little secret is that Congress prefers a frenetic pace.  In the final hours, members shoehorn pork barrel projects into the thousands of pages, hoping no one will notice until its too late.  Members votes are often exchanged for pet projects.  It's congressional bribery underwritten by taxpayers.

The midnight scramble also keeps the public from learning the details until the budget has been shoved across the finish line.  Members don't have to handle all those angry calls from constituents.  As soon as the gavel falls, members hotfoot it out of Washington for recess.

The charlatans refuse to face the music for their negligence.  When pressed, they blame the budget process. They blame the opposition party. None of that matters to Americans.  Members jobs are to fulfill their obligation to fund the nation's priorities in a timely, responsible manner.    

Representative Paul Mitchell of Michigan has joined some of his colleagues in demanding more accountability from Congress.  They have proposed a bill that requires Congress to pass a annual budget by June 30.  It's officially called the Protecting Our Children's Future Act (HR5214).

Under the bill's chief provision, if Congress fails to meet the budget deadline, members pay will be withheld. In other words, No Budget, No Pay.  Currently, there is no penalty for Representatives and Senators if they are derelict in their duty to enact appropriation bills on schedule.  

The measure would also streamline the process for passage of appropriations bills in the Senate, which often bogs down the budget process with archaic procedures.  Even when the House meets appropriation deadlines, the Senate drags its feet to force desperate short term measures.

In addition, the legislation would require zero-based budgeting.  Historically Congress uses baseline budgeting, which assumes the previous year's expenditures are the starting point. The new methodology would force the government to justify every dollar of spending each fiscal year.

Republicans hold the majority.  They have the ability to end the unscrupulous budget finagling in Washington.  They can clean up the swampy mess.  If Republicans won't keep their promise of fiscal responsibility, they deserve to be a minority party again. 

Birth Tourism: Your Tax Dollars At Work

Most taxpayers have never heard of the thriving cottage industry of birth tourism. Thousands of foreigners are traveling to the United States under false pretenses each year for the sole purpose of giving birth to a child.

Often these pregnant women enter our country on temporary stays granted by the government. Some obtain student visas. Others arrive as guest workers. Those who can't get some kind of temporary status come as tourists.

Many, but not all, new arrivals receive free health care. But the real prize is something worth a lot more. Under the law, any child born in the United States automatically becomes a citizen. It matters not that the woman is a citizen of another country or that she may have arrived illegally.

No wonder birth tourism is booming. California officials recently shut down a makeshift maternity ward in San Gabriel that was catering to birth tourists from China. For a fee, Chinese women were given a chance to deliver their babies in the U.S. to guarantee citizenship.

When they raided the location, officials found 10 mothers and seven newborns living in three townhouses that had been converted into maternity wards. According to authorities, Southern California has become a hub for the nascent industry.

The Center for Immigration Studies recently released a report showing that nearly 200,000 children were born in the U.S. to temporary foreign visitors. In at least 20 percent of these cases, the women came to the country for the sole purpose of giving birth.

Those statistics only tell half the story. The study also found that another 300,000 children are born to daughters of illegal alien parents each year. The government automatically confers citizenship on those children.

You're excused if you have never heard about these issues. The mainstream media has deliberately suppressed the news because it does not fit with their immigration views. However, a group of congressmen has taken notice.

More than 70 House members have signed on as sponsors of the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 (HR 140), introduced by Republican representative Steve King of Iowa. The bill would require at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident for a newborn to receive automatic citizenship.

The proposal makes so much sense that its chances of becoming law are almost nil. Opponents will claim that bill flies in the face of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

The amendment, ratified by the states in 1868, was originally aimed at providing citizenship to children born of African slaves. Supporters never imagined the law would be abused by foreigners bent on gaining citizenship for their babies.

Proponents of HR140 contend the amendment gives Congress the authority to define birthright citizenship. The United States is one of only two industrialized nations--the other is Canada--to grant birthright citizenship. By the way, Mexico has no such law. Yet Mexican officials support birthright citizenship in the U.S.

If the birthright bill ever becomes law, it likely will land in the laps of the Supreme Court justices. Democrats will no doubt challenge the law on the basis that the 14th Amendment cannot be altered in any way.

Meanwhile, taxpayers must pick up the tab for this foreign exploitation. They are on the hook for health care for the mother and newborn. Once the babies are U.S. citizens, they have the same rights as all Americans, including access to free government medical and welfare programs.

No question these are unintended consequences of the 14th Amendment. Now it is up to Congress to fix the mess. It will require political courage because the Democrats, Latinos and immigration activists will take umbrage.

Unfortunately, political courage is one commodity in short supply in Washington these days.