Open Government Dialogue
« Back To OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

rsgallaher

User Profile Image rsgallaher
Member since : May-30-2009 (Verified)
2 Ideas, 32 Comments, 9 Votes

User Activity Stream

Ideas Posted

I personally audited the Air Force connection with the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in 2004 to see how much money federal prison camp labor was saving the government and to see if prison labor was in unfair (unlawful) completion with local labor.

In the Air Force Budget I found the lease fees paid by the BOP to the Air Force and found the BOP was paying the Air Force $6,000,000 per year in rent. This was off the charts on how much I suspected it to be. So, I asked for a copy of the lease from the Air Force under the Freedom of Information Act. To my surprise I found the real lease was $6,000 per year.

I then reviewed the Air Force budget and found that the data entered in the Air Force budget was not entered in thousands as the budget showed. So, a $5,000 dollar lease looked like $5,000,000 in the Air Force budget.
When I noticed this problem and reported it the Air Force budget was removed from public view and classified.

Why was this important? The Military leases tons of property to banks, restaurants, you name it, it is probably there on the bases around the world. With three zeros added to the income statement it did not look like the Air Force was spending as much as they really were spending when adding to the expense report of the budget.

The military expenditure was hundreds of Billions of dollars off. They were spending far more than reported or authorized by congress.

To my knowledge this problem has never been fixed to date.
It was "classified" and hidden by the Air Force.
NOTE –I’m not an environmentalist or tree hugger. This just makes sense.
Simply put, current roads are built and designed for vehicles that use some type of fuel, gas, natural gas, electricity, etc… These roads are “mostly” funded through fuel taxes.
Cut all outside federal funding for roads designed only for use of fuel based vehicles and divert all funds to Foot / Bike paths or “Rails to Trails” programs like the privately funded program in Georgia.
1 ) This would greatly increase fitness reducing medical costs.
2 ) This would reduce emissions and greed house gasses. (I would ride a bike everywhere if I could ride away from the killer cars.)
3 ) Create recreation areas for the masses.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 4205 Ideas
12345678910….168169Next »

Comments Posted

rsgallaher 9 months ago
If you paid into the GI program.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
GI BILL? You must have never served because you must fund your own GI bill. You must put your own money in the Montgomery GI bill program to qualify. You can be a felon in prison and still use this program.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
"We learn that the whole world does not have to change just to make it easier for us."
I guess Obama still hasn't learned this.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
Obama did drugs as an adult. He smoked lots of pot in California. He also sold drugs to live in New York. (He never had a job and still hung out in the NY bars) He was the "cool Hawaiian". Don't you know Hawaiian is the best pot in his time. Obama may have even been arrested under one of his many aliases.
Yes he is a hypocrite. He as would not be President if he would have been busted (or if they found out he had been busted).
rsgallaher 9 months ago
It makes me madder than hell that the "FEDERAL" government is worried about controlling individuals.
The union of states should keep their noses on the union of states issues.
What the hell do drugs have to do with the union of states? Nothing.

I vote to disband the so called "United States"

Let the state governments take care of their own people as sovereign nations.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
I say disband the current federal government and have each state become it's own country with a union and currency like the EU.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
More important in a few years more savings will be available for lending.
Interest rates will remain low due to the large amount of money available for lending.

Note - All income tax is already built into the price of everything you buy. This way of taxing will make China finally pay taxes.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
Bigger selling point, it is a renewable resource making it good for the environment.
rsgallaher 9 months ago

@ethridgl- "free from the violence that the drug war causes" - Prohibition is a type of civil war the government has waged against the people. This expensive "war" has now spread around the world. That is why government contractors are in on the money. Believe me there is far more money in drug interdiction than there is in drugs. This is a big expensive government spending problem.

@tammerfadel- I've voted Republican all my life and most of Republicans understand the problem not as users, but as a big expensive government problem. Sadly:
Most of the Democrats love to do drugs or accept the use of drugs, but also love to spend tax dollars to buy votes.
Most of the Republicans don't do drugs and don't accept the use of drugs, but want to control how people live through government regulation.

With any luck the United States will go broke and be dissolve into 50 separate countries. Then people can move to the countries they want to live in under laws that the people there want and can control.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
Surplus money?
Did you even read this?
rsgallaher 9 months ago
@witchwindy - You reminded me of another point I forgot.
In the federal prison camp system “the government free labor system” over 50% are there for non violent drug crimes. This “free” labor is used to maintain, build, and manufacture products at cost savings of 10’s of billions of dollars to the government.
What will the government do without this involuntary servitude?
Also, there are law firms that specialize in criminal drug defense. Lawyers give more money to political campaigns than any other group. They do not want drugs legal, even the lawyers that do drugs. Money talks in politics and without large donations (bribes) to politicians like the lawyers give the law will not change.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
@mrmikemiller - As a person that directly worked in counter narcotics for the United States over seas, I think I know more about government spending than a bumb that sits around getting high all day.
Again it is your choice and I have no problem with it. We need someone to make the french fries.

There is more money involved than you will see in 10,000 life times.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
@rg.viza - I'm sure the crew of Mexicans that just put a new roof on my house are not paying income tax.
They work as independent contractors and are paid with a 1099 on a fake SSI.
50% of the construction in America is done under the table.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
Drug enforcement is a huge business. Even the military and military contractors are in on the game. There is as much money spent on drug enforcement as there is in street value of all the drugs. I have seen this first person.
In the current economy what will these drug dealers do if marijuana was legal and people could grow their own? What will the DEA employees, the cops, or the prison guards do? Not to mention all the judges and lawyers. What about the contractors that provide the billions of dollars in equipment to fight the “war” on drugs.
The truth, there is nothing wrong with smoking, eating, or drinking marijuana. The problem is that there is far too much tax money being pilfered by the “non drug dealers” for them to agree to a legalization of any drug.
Drug illegalization is driven by leaches living on the tit of the government.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
The alcohol model is best as some people cannot function on drugs and should not operate motor vehicles. Also parents should be able to limit the use up to age 18.
No drinking until age 21 is dumb and I think unconstitutional age discrimination.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
This was a private project. The land was donated and the people that ride bikes donated money to pave some of the trail.
It goes from Atlanta to Birmingham, AL (Not all paved) but it is a trail away from cars and their mindless drivers that run over people on bikes.

They are used so much even criminals started using them and they now have police patrols.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
@copleyki I forgot I was dealing with people that may be 13 years old.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
I hate to break it to you but America is the land of the "Keep your mouth shut".
Even if you know people are dying.
Break your silence and you may die too.
I’m not kidding, when people heard what your government did to me, they were afraid to be around me.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
@ copleykj - Dude slow down. Take another puff.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
Miami has one of those modern commuter rails to nowhere that the bumbs can't even afford to sleep on.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
When gas goes to $10 a gallon the poor will need a way to get around for free.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
If you don't think a company is tacking on your income tax to the current price of whatever your buying you have no business discussing economics.
Go run a business and you will find you must put the entire cost of your employees including all the income tax into the product or service you are selling.

Everyone already pays this tax.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
This is something that they have been trying to do but it just doesn't work under any administration.

You must understand that a government service employee has management then a layer of executives appointed by the president to oversee that branch of government.

When a employee finds a problem if it does not make management look good they will hid it.

Why? it is political. Remember how things went bad for FEMA in Katrina? And how Brownie was doing "a heck of a job".
This was an embarrassment to the administration. It would not matter who was president they are always looking for re-election. So, Brownie had to go because he made his boss look bad.
Well let's say I found a problem that was costing the government way more than it should, or was killing people or whatever bad thing you can think of...
I go to my boss with it... If it was his fault or he should have caught it do you think he will push it forward? NO
Then let's say I go to the "Hot Line" to report the problem. The management knows it was you. Because if you report waste the first thing they ask is did you go through management.
Now you get kicked out of your office job and are shoveling shit.
You think the courts will protect you with the laws that supposedly protect "Whistle Blowers", NOT TRUE
You see federal judges are just as political as elected officials.
They are after all appointed by the President.
No one wants to make one of the Presidents agencies look bad because it makes the president look bad.

Speaking from experience and someone that has gone through the entire system it is broken beyond repair.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
All federal funds should be and I believe are under this umbrella.

You can sue on behalf of the people.

Few know this because the process is closely guarded.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
There is a lot of training out there like this already it is just hard to find.

I found and took tons of training through the CDC, FAA, DOT, Air Force, etc... Some still required payment for the books but many online were completely free.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
It is called waste fraud and abuse.

Few people know that this program / legal avenue exists.

Anyone can sue on behalf of the United States Government.
There is a procedure you must follow but it is there and can be done.

I personally know someone that got very rich doing this. He got 1/3 of what he saved the Government in Medicaid fraud. It came out to 3 million dollars.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
May be the only thing to save American product production.

This would put American product production costs equal to China's.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
Repeal the Controlled Substances Act.

This is a free country and people should be free to live as they wish if they are not harming another person.
All drugs should be like alcohol legal but harsh penalties for those that use them and harm others.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
All employment is up to the person employing you.
If you smell you are not going to work for me.
Sorry, that is life.
Obama doesn't want white people working for him, so he looks for other people to work for him.
If I want to discriminate like Obama I can.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
Agreed however Bikes paths that are engineered like the rail roads and highways are a better form of short distance transportation.
10 miles in an hour is not hard to achieve on currently converted abandoned rails made into bike trails.
I’m not a fitness freak or heath nut. I’ve tried this out in as bad a shape as I’m in and if I can do it anyone can.
Note – My father at 83 can do ten miles on a bike on the old rail trails bike paths in Georgia. He is a model of health because he exercised twice a week all his life.
rsgallaher 9 months ago
I agree with this.
Much like the current Aviation system.
But the people and products that use they system must fund it completely through usage taxes.
All Roads should also be completely maintained and built with usage taxes.

rsgallaher 9 months ago
Maintenance and new Roads should be and are partially funded by those that use them through gas and usage taxes. If taxes were at the level they should be you would see almost all long distance freight hauled by train.
Just so you know, the food you buy that was hauled by the truck has this tax already in the price. Trucks pay a very large road usage tax as they cause so much wear on the roads, some as much as $10,000 per year. So those 200 new computers have the transportation costs (taxes) built into them. These are the taxes that fix and maintain your roads and bridges.
If only fuel taxes had to be used to install and maintain roads and bridges you would not have a 100 million dollar “bridge to nowhere” being contemplated by congress.

Afraid of a bike? I’m kind of out of shape and no I’m not good with hills. But, railroads in most cases use less than a 3% grade. This can be achieved in all but the most hill laden cities like San Francisco. Even in those cities a ski lift type system can be used to assist people up hills.

It is not safe to travel on America’s roads with a bike.