But now, Kevyn Orr, the Emergency Manager, is seeking to freeze the city's pension plan.

Details of the pension freeze were outlined separately in a memo provided by Tina Bassett, a spokeswoman for the trustees of Detroit's General Retirement System. The memo said that the city's defined-benefit pension plan would be closed to new members as of Dec. 31. Further benefit accruals would be halted on that date for city workers already vested in the pension plan, but they would keep the pensions that they had earned up until then.

That type of pension freeze is legal and fairly common in the private sector. But public employees' unions in many states say it would be illegal for their members, because of statutes and constitutional provisions that apply to governmental workers.

The Detroit pension freeze would also halt payments of other nonpension benefits that have been made for many years, including distributions to active workers. Retirees would no longer receive yearly cost-of-living adjustments. Current city workers would be shifted into new defined-contribution plans, similar to 401(k) plans, which would comply with the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, according to the memo.

Much like his notion that the price of being an American is being 'taxed' with worrying about Syria.  

The present air quality is vastly improved from 35-40 years ago, thanks to the EPA and the Clean Air Act, which created the South Coast Air Quality Management District to combat the problem.

The notion that SoCal residents should now gladly forgo improved air and water quality and return to the polluted days of yesteryear, simply to mollify the greedy likes of corporate executives who always seem to find regulatory compliance "too burdensome," regardless of the regulations at hand, is going to be a non-starter with a decisive majority of them.

Please don't insult everyone's intelligence here by listing the same tired litany of complaints about high taxes, gun laws and environmental protection that we've been hearing from the right for decades now, and then insisting that these are the issues everyone is talking about. While I've no doubt that you find them important personally, I'd say the odds are better than even that you do not speak for "most residents of California."

Because truth be told, the only ones who are talking about such "concerns" ad nauseum are the usual suspects, i.e., the same obnoxious handful of loudmouthed wingbats who regularly parrot whatever they heard from a certain oxycontin-addled lardass and his reality-challenged cohorts on AM squawk radio.

That list of complaints seems to be the same for every right winger, no matter their residence.  We get it, you all think your taxes are insanely high, when in reality, they are average or below average on a global scale.

Regularly threatening to hold government hostage -- in all or in part -- unless or until a political minority gets its way is not. Rather, that's called coercion.

And while coercive tactics can be successfully employed over the short term, an over-reliance upon them in lieu of long-term policy development or sound strategic planning generally leads to electoral defeat (if not disaster), because voters will eventually tire of the manufactured crises and obstructionism such tactics tend to engender.

One need only look to the present circumstances faced by an almost thoroughly marginalized California GOP, to note the ultimate political fate awaiting those who would desire to rule but otherwise disdain to actually govern, and whose presence serves only to retard the scene.

Might be the way the GOP thinks the way government should be run, but it's not part of the democratic process.

And sorry but the democratic process is basically majority rules.  And the only reason the GOP is pulling this move is because they are the majority in the house, which wasn't true when the legislation was passed.  They tried, 40 times I believe, to use the democratic process to repeal the law, that didn't work, now onto tomfoolery and budget extortion that they know cannot possibly work without 2/3rds in all of Congress.

Like Obama is going to a sign a law refunding his pet legislation...  Making this non-sense, nothing more than a publicity stunt.

McCain knows it, so does nearly every functioning politician on Capital Hill.  Cruz and Co are acting like children who don't get their way and think if they cry loud enough the rules will get bend.  Now they are realizing just how bad of a idea that was, but can't seem to get the crazy to realize that ACA is here to stay, at least until they get a majority in the House, a filibuster proof Senate, and the White House.  

From the ACLU:

IF YOU ARE STOPPED FOR QUESTIONING
Stay calm. Don't run. Don't argue, resist or obstruct the police, even if you are innocent or police are violating your rights.

Keep your hands where police can see them.

Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, calmly and silently walk away. If you are under arrest, you have a right to know why.

IF YOU ARE CONTACTED BY THE FBI
If an FBI agent comes to your home or workplace, you do not have to answer any questions. Tell the agent you want to speak to a lawyer first.

If you are asked to meet with FBI agents for an interview, you have the right to say you do not want to be interviewed. If you agree to an interview, have a lawyer present.

You do not have to answer any questions you feel uncomfortable answering, and can say that you will only answer questions on a specific topic.