On the Bus

Gazing out the window as the bus was leaving a stop this morning, I noticed a burly younger fellow emerge from the nearby drug store with a bottle of soda in his hand and make a determined sprint for the moving bus. He was built and ran like a Big Ten fullback and before the bus had begun to merge into traffic he had reached the door and the driver kindly stopped and opened it. He bounded on but didn't drop any money in the fare box, showing the driver a card and then sat down. I wasn't aware of anyone being able to ride the bus for free, except perhaps a company driver. Then I looked at the fare schedule up among the advertisements. Nobody, even the aged, ride for free. Except disabled veterans. This guy had to be one. OK, maybe his disability was unrelated to his mobility. Maybe he had mental issues. Or something wrong with his innards. But isn't a mobility disability what deserves free public transportation? Or is free passage a bonus for any kind of degradation?

CIA Pension Fund Going Bankrupt

This is fabulous. The federal agency given the task of compiling the info the country needs to survive in the hostile world has somehow mismanaged its own retirement accounts, the size and scope of which are secret. They need a little over half a billion dollars in the next budget to avert bankruptcy. And they have a total UNFUNDED LIABILITY of over $6.4 billion in their pension account. Remember, this is an agency of the federal government, the same folks that in one role or another tell the financial industry how to manage its affairs and want us to surrender up our own hard-earned funds for them to wisely disburse. Mark Steyn has a great take on it here.