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Friday, November 4, 2011 at 05:26PM 
Friday, November 4, 2011
Feature: CEI's Capitol Hill briefing on E-Verify ended in a loud, lively debate between panelists and legislative staffers.
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CEI, E-Verify, Illegal Immigrants, Pension Deficits, Pension Frauds Friday, June 24, 2011 at 09:09AM 
Social Security
The AARP has acknowledged that Social Security benefits cannot be paid out indefinitely at current levels.
Research Associate Adam Michel responds.
"The AARP’s seeming willingness to compromise in order to offer long term solvency to Social Security is a compromise that unions would be wise to observe. Big Labor has dug in their heels all over the United States by opposing any reform to pensions or collective bargaining agreements. This stubborn reaction to change neglects that most states will be facing insolvent pension funds within the next 15 to 20 years. If unions won’t let states reduce their workforce, lower wages or restructure pensions, where will the money come from to fix pensions? The only option left is to raise taxes, forcing taxpayers to subsidize government employees’ retirement."
Public Sector Unions
Public Sector Unions are putting taxpayers on the line for over0generous pension programs.
Vice President Iain Murray comments.
"Without significant reform, which will necessarily involve cuts in promised pension benefits, the rest of us are going to have to work for years to pay for other people to live in pampered retirement. And there is no other word for that than theft."
Water Bureau Politics
Portland Water Bureau administrator David Shaff decided to drain 8 million gallons from one of the city reservoirs after security cameras caught a man urinating into the basin.
Senior Fellow Greg Conko comments on Shaff's controversial decision.
"[U]rine from a healthy adult is sterile, it’s already composed mostly of water, and a few ounces of human urine diluted into 8 million gallons of water would expose drinkers to a minute quantity of contaminants measured in the parts per billion range, if not parts per trillion. And the Water Bureau even acknowledged that the reservoir water is commonly exposed to large quantities of animal urine and fecal matter, animal carcasses, trash, and other 'pollutants.'
What I think is most telling, though is Shaff’s explanation for the decision: 'Nobody wants to drink pee, and I don’t want to deal with the 100 people who would be unhappy that I’m serving them pee in their water.' How fantastic is that? The Water Bureau decides to waste a few thousand dollars and a few million gallons of perfectly fine water just because the administer doesn’t want to get a few angry phone calls."
AARP, CEI, Pension Deficits, Public Employees, Social Security, Unions Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 08:31AM 
May 17th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued a statement on the Treasury's suspension of investments to and taking loans from federal employee pension funds:
"When it came to avoiding the hitting the debt ceiling, the Obama-Geithner Treasury Department's first choice was to tap federal employee pensions — their very first choice. This should serve as a warning against Obama Administration plans to eliminate 401(k) tax deferred savings accounts, and replace them with government-managed retirement annuities.
"A decade or so from now, when the national debt becomes so large that it cannot be refinanced, let alone be repaid, the Treasury has tipped its hand on whose moneys will be taken first: the American people's retirement savings. If our spending is not brought under control now, the first victims of the sovereign debt crisis will be Baby Boomers' retirements.
"As the Treasury tries to avoid hitting the debt ceiling, the American people will learn more about the choices the Treasury will make when the nation really does default down the road. Everyone should be guarding their retirement savings closely against government seizure, and demanding that government cut spending, balance the budget, and restore order to the nation's fiscal house."
ALG, Debt Ceiling, Pension Deficits, US Treasury Monday, May 9, 2011 at 02:41PM
CBO Pension Report
A new Pew Center report estimates that the nation's public pensions are underfunded by about $1.26 trillion. The CBO elaborated on the Pew Center report and took a close look at the discount rate used in the $1.26 trillion estimation.
Labor Policy Analyst Ivan Osorio responds to the CBO report
"The uncertainty over state and local government pensions funds’ total shortfall underscores the difficulty of addressing the underfunding problem, but addressed it must be. Better identifying the problem helps, and the CBO joining the discussion goes some way toward that. However, the policies it lays out here are problematic."
HIV Testing
The Adult Industry Medical Foundation used to regularly test adult film stars for HIV---but it closed down, after years of harassment from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Policy Analyst Michelle Minton comments on the clinic's closing.
"For years the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has attacked the AIM clinic, claiming that it was not sufficiently treating actors and provided a false sense of security. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation was primarily pushing for mandatory condom usage on porn sets. As I wrote last year in the LA Times, it is perplexing that AHF, which supposedly cares about the health and wellness of porn actors, has relentlessly attacked the AIM clinic over many years."
Recently-passed laws in Florida ban bestiality and sagging pants.
Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young explains.
"The bestiality bill, SB 344, is rather, ahem, detailed. I will spare you those details, and only point out that the bill would make it illegal to '[k]nowingly engage in any sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal.' That means if someone unknowingly engages in the same (how?), they have not committed a crime. One wonders if any offenders will try to use that defense. The baggy pants bill, SB 228, requires all Florida public school districts to add a droopy pants ban to their dress codes. The bill also prescribes punishments. First-time offenders get a verbal warning. A second offense means a suspension from extracurricular activities for up to five days. Every offense after that means up to three days of in-school suspension and no extracurriculars for up to 30 days. The student’s parents also get a note from the school."
CEI, Florida, HIV/AIDS, Pension Deficits Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 07:32AM In her February 9, 2011 column on Sunacom.com, New London Town Administrator writes:
"One would think that with what have been called “the sins of the past” addressed, the NHRS was on the road to improvement."
"The huge unfunded liability resulted from inadequate investment returns, flawed funding methodologies, and ill-advised gains sharing."
"The current method of solving NHRS problems by passing costs onto the employers (property taxpayers) needs to end."
"...New London’s employer contributions to NHRS have more than doubled from 2006 to 2011, and the Kearsarge Regional School District’s employer contributions have doubled in four years, from $800,000 in FY 2008 to a budgeted $1.6 million in FY 2012."
"...State Senator Jeb Bradley proposed legislation that would reform the retirement system by making a number of critical changes to state law, such as: changing the minimum retirement age for Group II employees from 45 to 50, and changes the minimum years of service from 20 to 25..."
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http://sunacom.com/columnists/newlondon/newlondon-02-09-11.html
Downshifting Costs, Pension Deficits, Sunacom in State Budgets 
