Non-Controversial Topic Mid-Day Open Thread
— andy

Discuss.

Posted by: andy at 03:35 PM | Comments (280)
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The Sargasso Sea of Federal IT projects
— Monty

So the ObamaCare IT wildfire is still out of control.

Any enterprise IT project is hard. Government IT projects are an order of magnitude more difficult.*

A lot of federal agencies (Immigration, IRS, etc.) have a huge amount of legacy data sitting in mainframe databases. And these mainframe systems are, in many cases, a decade or more behind the technology curve. It's not just a matter of "implementing an interface" to the data -- it requires an enormous amount of heavy-lift to just extract the data and make it visible to the outside world in a usable form. And that's before you start worrying about things like security, normalization, or data-transformation.

A lot of the kids doing the programming of these systems have never worked with legacy stuff written in COBOL and stored on mainframes. In fact, the agencies themselves often have no idea how to modify the mainframe stuff -- all the programmers who wrote that stuff retired years ago. It might as well be written in Sumerian cuneiform for all they know. And if you, as an external entity, want a data feed from these systems and request a SOAP or REST web-service interface to the data, you're certain to get a blank stare or a "Huzzat?" response. Or you might get some atrocious botch written by a contract programmer brought in two days before that barely works even when all the conditions are perfect, and breaks immediately when approaching any kind of boundary condition.

Worse yet: there is no institutional memory. You'll spend weeks solving some problem or other only to discover quite by accident that some other programmer went through the same hassle the year before, but no one thought to write down how he did it or what the solution was. I've been on government IT projects where no one can even find the source code to the systems we were asked to maintain. You have to deal with civil-service lifers who are "in charge" of the project, but have absolutely no computer or IT management background. You run into inter-service turf battles, procurement headaches, long delays in communicating with project principals...Christ, the list is endless.

Federal government IT contracts are the Sargasso Sea of computer programming.

*Andy sends a link that explains in detail why this sort of thing is so complicated.

[UPDATE] For those of a technical bent, Jazz has a more detailed explanation of the issues that crop up when handling data in large IT projects.

Posted by: Monty at 10:00 AM | Comments (284)
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A soupçon of DOOM
— Monty

This is just a little DOOM appetizer, my groovy babies, a few DOOM-y links to apologize for the lack of a bigger DOOM meal on Monday. Savor the flavor!

For liberals, the answer to every government screw-up is...more government!

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn calls pension crisis an extreme emergency. He's reserving the term "calamitous crisis" for when the zombies attack.

You know, when people decide to stop having sex because it's too much bother, it might be time to just write them off. If you can't even motivate people to do the wango-tango without governmental intervention, it's time to let nature take its course.

Obamanomics is every bit the success that ObamaCare has turned out to be so far. Forward!
more...

Posted by: Monty at 08:55 AM | Comments (323)
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READY TO POST// The plain language in Obamacare allows for its destruction
— Purple Avenger

This could have been a thing prior to post-Constitutionalism

...The Affordable Care Act authorizes subsidies only for policies purchased 'through an Exchange established by the State.'

A different section of the law empowers the federal government to set up its own exchanges for each state that chose not establish one.

But government lawyers have argued that 'Congress made clear that an exchange established by the federal government stands in the shoes of the exchange that a state chooses not to establish.'

The Treasury Department, they contend, 'has reasonably interpreted the Act to provide for eligibility for the premium tax credits for individuals in every state, regardless of which entity operates the exchange.'

But that amounts to the federal government ignoring the letter of the law, lawyer Sam Kazman says.

And 'without those subsidies, the employer mandate isn't triggered...

...that could make the entire Obamacare system unsustainable.

Foolishly worded law is still the law. A past SCOTUS judge, Benjamin Cardozo, once tersely remarked in an opinion on a case where the law was ineptly written and produced unintended results: "Words matter." When the language was clear, plain, and STUPID, he properly opined that was NOT the court's problem to fix.How times have changed, eh? In our post-Constitutional Calvinball era, words mean whatever you want them to mean, so of course this case will go nowhere even if it makes it to SCOTUS.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:42 AM | Comments (275)
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Broken Narrative Alert: Arkansas Voters Blame Democrats More Than The GOP For The Shutdown
— DrewM

A confession up front: I'm being somewhat dishonest here. I don't care about polls in general and I've spent a good bit of time dismissing the post-shutdown polls as irrelevant a year away from an election. I still think that's true but it's important to point out to the people who live and die by polls that there's another side to the story.

With that out of the way....

When it came to the partial federal government shutdown, Arkansans blamed the president and Democrats. A full 37 percent of respondents and 39 percent of likely voters blamed President Obama and the Democrats for the shutdown. Only 26 percent of respondents and 27 percent of likely voters blamed the Republicans in Congress.

John Boozman received his lowest approval ratings yet, 34 percent of likely voters, down from 45 percent last year. His disapproval rating jumped to 29 percent of likely voters from 18 percent last year.

Only 34 percent of likely voters approved of Mark PryorÂ’s performance, down from 53 percent last year. His disapproval ratings were also dramatically higher, with 44 percent of likely voters disapproving of his performance, up from 21 percent last year.

Now you might say, "It's Arkansas, nothing but a bunch of redneck hillbillies there. Of course they are going to side with the GOP".

Not so fast my anti-hillbilly friends. Arkansas is a deep red state in terms of presidential elections but it has a Democratic governor and that Mark Pryor fellow who is deeply unpopular is a US Senator and member of the Democrat party. He's also up for re-election next year.

Yes, the GOP took a hit on the "Generic Representative" ballot but that's not going to appear on a single ballot next year. People with real names, and real records like Mark Pryor are.

It's a long way out and a lot can happen in a year but all things considered, Pryor isn't sitting around thinking "Thanks to the shutdown I've got the GOP right where I want them!".

Story courtesy of the Washington Post's Josh Kraushaar who notes that this type of dissatisfaction with a Democrat Senator has to have other incumbents up next year worried.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:37 AM | Comments (234)
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Wednesday Morning News Dump
— Pixy Misa

• Obama Admin Tells North Dakota's BCBS To Not Release The Number Of People Who Successfully Enrolled
  
• It Appears That Health Plan Prices Without Subsidies Are Sitting Open On The Internet
  
• NYT: Obama Disengaged During Syria Briefings
  
• Sebelius Laying The Groundwork For Her Spot Under The Bus
  
• The Obama Administration Draws A Red Line And Defies Reality To Intrude
  
• 90,609,000 Americans Not In The Labor Force
  
• 13 Of The Most Embarrassing Obamacare Launch Failure
  
• Steny Hoyer Wants More Money To Fix The Obamacare Exchanges
  
• Flesh Eating Drug Reportedly Spreading In The USA
  
• Irony: Chris Matthews Hosting Gala For Mental Health
  
• Fecundophobia: Growing Fear Of Children And Fertile Women
  
• There Have Been Two Nuclear Related Mishaps This Year By The Air Force
  
• White House Official Fired For Tweeting Under Fake Name
  
• That Ain't Triangulatin'
  
• Sowell: Being Offended, Inc.
  
• Goldberg: A War That Might Happen
  
• Healthcare.gov Often Lists Wrong Prices For Its Coverage
  
• Nice Correction WaPo
  
• Amputee Paralympian Has The Best Halloween Costumes
  
• Not All Government Ventures Are Failures
  

Follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:30 AM | Comments (310)
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Top Headline Comments 11-23-13
— Gabriel Malor

Happy Wednesday.

Standard operating procedure for the Obama Administration: Sec. Sebelius says Obama didn't know his Obamacare website wasn't ready to launch. "'We (had) hoped that they had their 'A-Team' on the table' from the start, Sebelius said of the contractors and agencies responsible for the project."

Hoped? As if this project wasn't entirely in the Administration's hands to oversee. She implies that they just left it up to "hope" that it would work out right . . . but we know that's crap--the contractors had told HHS that there were problems and HHS made the decision to launch anyway.

Sebelius is going to have to come up with better answer than this for her testimony before Congress next week.

---

AoSHQ Weekly Podcast: [ RSS] [iTunes] [Download Latest Episode]
Now on Stitcher

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:52 AM | Comments (343)
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CNBC: The Place For Terrible Stock Advice And Not So Subtle Bigotry
— Pixy Misa

In a segment discussing the September jobs report, CNBC host Steve Liesman tries to pin the poor jobs report on Ted Cruz and the shutdown. more...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:16 PM | Comments (117)
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READY TO POST// It seemed like a good idea at the time
— Purple Avenger

Kissing lions, snuggling barracuda, investing with Bernie Madoff, doing some recreational smack on the weekend; these are the kind of innocent mistakes we all made at some point or other in our lives.

Getting married may also fall into that it seemed like a good idea at the time category. Calling in bomb threats because you forgot to confirm your wedding venue and get necessary paperwork is also a perfectly reasonable mistake anyone could make too, right?

When I'm going to miss an appointment, the very first thing that leaps to mind is to call in a bomb threat. That's pretty much my instinctive "go to" play for almost everything; forgetting that its a pretty stupid thing to do just kind slips your mind sometimes though and some mall or other building is getting evacuated. Look, you didn't really mean it, you just forgot it was a really stupid thing to do and slipped up. Do over, right? Mulligan.

Sorry, it just kinda seemed like a good idea at the time.

...a bomb hoax on his wedding day to try to prevent his bride discovering he had failed to complete the paperwork required for them to marry.

Neil McArdle, 36, had forgotten to fill in the necessary forms but could not face telling his fiancee, Amy Williams, because the wedding was "all she talked about", Liverpool crown court heard...

...Police quickly traced the call and he was arrested the same day. He admitted to his "embarrassment and shame" that he had panicked over bungling the forms and staged the bomb scare.

Williams has stood by the defendant, the court heard, and they are still together...

Love apparently conquers all; even profound stupidity. Whoops, no mulligans or do overs for this rocket scientist. True love is gonna be on hold for 12 months.

...bridegroom has been jailed for 12 months after staging a bomb hoax...

more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 12:41 PM | Comments (170)
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Amounting to Nothing... A Change of Pace - [Niedermeyer's Dead Horse]
— Open Blogger

It's late in the day. Time for a change of pace from the rage-inducing threads pertaining to the enscrewening.

How about some pop culture news?

15 carats. Kanye "Gay Fish" West popped the question to his baby-mama with a 15-carat diamond ring. Now, this isn't exactly Liz and Dick we're talking about here, but Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. I'll admit it: I'm ashamed to know who they are.

News from the Big Apple:

Rock candy can be hazardous to your freedom.

Happenings on the left coast:

Los Angeles green-lights streetcar project based upon back of the envelope estimates. Actual cost has now doubled. Yes. I'm glad you asked: Federal funds were used for this project.

And in the world of science:

Is it time to stop the fight against saturated fat? One doctor thinks so.

News of the creepy kind:

Aaron rents settles with the FTC after charges of, well... Let's just say the NSA has nothing on them.

Why not a National Enquirer headline while we're at it?

Corey Feldman is talking. After alleging that Corey Haim had been haunted by sexual abuse, leading ultimately to his death, he refused to name names. Now he's written a book. I predict it will be a best-seller.

And...

What would a news round-up be without mentioning Florida?

Some people take their beer very seriously.

One last thing:

Here's a neat photo for you.

Now, off with you. You have serious commenting to do.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 01:58 PM | Comments (207)
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