Jim Wheeler
BS, USNA, Annapolis, 1959; MSA, The Geo. Washington U., 1975; Submariner, Commander, USN, 1959 - 1981; Aerospace battery engineer & mgr., 1981 - 1999; Political affiliation: Mainly of the Democratic persuasion but not a fan of the extremes on either side.
Copyright Notice
Still Skeptical After All These Years by James R Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at jwheeler59@me.com. Copyright 2015 James R. Wheeler
Category Archives: Federal Government
Past As Prologue
I recently came upon a 1949 review of George Orwell’s then-new dystopian novel, 1984 and was struck anew by its insight into human addiction to power. Power is intrinsic to the motivations of oligarchs, dictators and, I dare say, to … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics / Morality, Federal Government, Politics, War
Tagged 1984, corruption, Trump
8 Comments
Secrets
As flaps go, the one about Hillary Clinton’s classified emails is one for the history books. It might even be pivotal in the general election. But how many people actually understand the nature of the problem? Not many, I submit. … Continue reading
Traitor or Patriot? Initial Impressions.
Contrary to my normal inclinations and following the historic NBC interview with the most controversial figure in the history of U.S. intelligence, I feel a need to express my initial impressions of Edward Snowden. Prior to the interview I had … Continue reading
Kip Complainer
Currently making the rounds of the TV networks is one Kip Hawley, former TSA Administrator from 2005 until January, 2009. He’s pushing his short new co-written book that complains about (what else?) the TSA. In a recent op-ed for the … Continue reading
Creep
As a retired military officer I note with both interest and alarm that our armed forces are becoming ever more top-heavy and expensive. A USA Today front-page article says that pension benefits are now so lavish that some of the … Continue reading
Financial Reputations
Americas have a continuing love/hate relationship with government. On the one hand we hate to be told what to do, but on the other we like to have someone in a neutral corner to arbitrate disputes in the interest of … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Government size, Personal Finance, Privacy
Tagged Big Brother, bureaucracy, Credit history, debt, Employment, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Great Depression, red tape
1 Comment
Uncle Sam’s Protection Racket
George Will, that persistently pedantic pundit of politics, now chooses in today’s Joplin Globe (3/14/11) to peruse the constitutionality of mandatory health insurance, i.e., the Affordable healthCare Act, a.k.a., ObamaCare. I enjoy watching George on television, but his writing, not … Continue reading
Budget Geometry
As old Senator Everett Dirkson once famously and sarcastically said, “A billion here, a billion there, and first thing you know, you’re talking real money!” In these times of budgetary crisis, I wondered if there’s a better way for us … Continue reading
Posted in Fiscal Policy, Government size, Uncategorized
Tagged billion, Coin, fiscal accountability, government budgeting, million, money, Peace Dollar, trillion
2 Comments
Gas Prices Bad For The Economy!
Headlines seem to be a bit like movie titles. I understand there is no prohibition or law against using a movie title that has been used before, and I think book titles are the same. Similarly, headlines are apparently made … Continue reading
Still Skeptical After All These Years 