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JEFF Neely is the government official who made a video of himself living large in a hot tub at a 2011 conference in Las Vegas - at taxpayers' expense.
This is in sharp contrast to President Obama's admonishment to bailed-out businesses in his first month in office: "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."
Neely is not the only government official visiting Vegas and other vacation lands.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., is investigating 77 such conferences by the General Services Administration alone. Neely works for the GSA.
The agency suspended the program in April. Why wasn't this done in February 2009 when the president said private business could not do this?
This is do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do governance.
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POWER outages left 670 million residents of India without electricity this week. That is nearly double the combined population of the United States and Canada.
India over the last 20 years has emerged as an economic powerhouse.
But its future is threatened by its failure to modernize critical infrastructure like its power grid.
West Virginians got a taste of what that means with the June 29 super-derecho.
The United States should learn from India's mistake and put a priority on an orderly replacement of its own aging power grid.
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ALCOA and Saudi Arabia are developing a fully integrated mine-to-rolled-product aluminum complex.
"The automotive facility in the Ma'aden-Alcoa aluminum complex, Saudi Arabia will be one of the largest and most efficient aluminum complexes in the world because it will comprise a mine, alumina refinery, aluminum smelter and rolling mill and will be producing lightweight aluminum for use in vehicle manufacturing," azom.com reported.
Members of United Steelworkers Local 5668 in Ravenswood and opponents of coal-fired electric plants might keep this in mind.
Competitors are everywhere, and they are not sitting still.
THE American Civil Liberties Union has again threatened to sue the Wood County school system over same-sex classes at Van Devender Middle School.
Sarah Rogers of the ACLU demanded that school officials sign an agreement to end the classes. Dean Furner, attorney for the school board, replied.
"However, after much study and debate amongst administration, myself and the board, the board voted to not sign this agreement," Furner said.
"We are in no way trying to be illegally discriminate or trying to undermine the goals and activities of the ACLU," Furner said in a letter.
"Nevertheless, we believe that our program is in compliance with the law and that we are conducting ourselves in a legally proper fashion by continuing with our single-sex program now in operation at Van Devender Middle School."
The ACLU has the luxury of concentrating on manning feminist bastions. Van Devender Middle School has the much more demanding challenge of nurturing actual girls - and boys.
Outside special-interest groups should not make that job any more difficult than it is.
The ACLU's highhanded, threatening behavior is offputting in the extreme.
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REPUBLICAN Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia and Democratic Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta led a group of civic leaders who pushed for a $7.2 billion project to unsnarl traffic in Atlanta.
A ragtag collection that included the Sierra Club, the NAACP and the Tea Party opposed the proposal, which called for adding 1 percent to the sales tax.
On Tuesday, voters overwhelmingly defeated the referendum, 63 percent to 37 percent.
"Let this send a message," said Debbie Dooley, a Tea Party leader. "You have to earn our trust before asking for more money."
That's a message that resonates nationally.
The national debt is barreling toward $16 trillion, and $1.3 trillion annual deficits are projected for as far as the eye can see.
People are fed up.
The only surprise was that the vote against this proposal was not higher. People would rather wait in traffic than give the government another dime.
Given government's track record, that is understandable.
***
JEFF Neely is the government official who made a video of himself living large in a hot tub at a 2011 conference in Las Vegas - at taxpayers' expense.
This is in sharp contrast to President Obama's admonishment to bailed-out businesses in his first month in office: "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."
Neely is not the only government official visiting Vegas and other vacation lands.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., is investigating 77 such conferences by the General Services Administration alone. Neely works for the GSA.
The agency suspended the program in April. Why wasn't this done in February 2009 when the president said private business could not do this?
This is do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do governance.
***
POWER outages left 670 million residents of India without electricity this week. That is nearly double the combined population of the United States and Canada.
India over the last 20 years has emerged as an economic powerhouse.
But its future is threatened by its failure to modernize critical infrastructure like its power grid.
West Virginians got a taste of what that means with the June 29 super-derecho.
The United States should learn from India's mistake and put a priority on an orderly replacement of its own aging power grid.
***
ALCOA and Saudi Arabia are developing a fully integrated mine-to-rolled-product aluminum complex.
"The automotive facility in the Ma'aden-Alcoa aluminum complex, Saudi Arabia will be one of the largest and most efficient aluminum complexes in the world because it will comprise a mine, alumina refinery, aluminum smelter and rolling mill and will be producing lightweight aluminum for use in vehicle manufacturing," azom.com reported.
Members of United Steelworkers Local 5668 in Ravenswood and opponents of coal-fired electric plants might keep this in mind.
Competitors are everywhere, and they are not sitting still.
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