Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Obama: Sex, Lies and Videotape...Okay, Just Lies

I'm confused.  Obama said that if we liked our healthcare insurance we could keep it.  Obviously that is not true for millions of individuals.  His statement secured his re-election, but now that the truth glares us in the eye, what was really going on with his "promise?"

1. He was misquoted.
2. He misspoke.
3. The teleprompter was incorrect.
4. He lied.

If you're a brainwashed product of our public education system and throw the answer "government" to any problem or need, then 1, 2, or 3 are correct.  If you can discern logically and think for yourself, then you know the correct answer is #4.

The amount of backpedalling and covering up generated by the Administration is heading into Silly Land.  Even the New York Times has entered the arena, offering a lending hand highlighting the "misspoke" excuse and blaming Republicans for an overblown controversy.

Hardly.

The ObamaCare failings are in their infancy.  What people don't realize is that it's only going to get worse from here.  Just wait.  The website debacle and Obama's false promises are Phase 1 of the disaster.  The people need the truth.  We're nearing DEFCON 1 with this crisis, but the media continues to coverup for their golden boy as they whitewash the issue, while much of America remains in the dark.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Bigger Lies

President Obama's Lackeys are in full battle mode trying to explain his lies about ObamaCare using the politicos best weapon: even bigger lies.

Let's start off with the lie that must be redeemed: 
You can keep your healthcare insurance plan; you can keep your doctor; premiums will be $2,500 less with Obamacare; 
You can keep your healthcare insurance plan; you can keep your doctor; premiums will be $2,500 less with Obamacare; 
You can keep your healthcare insurance plan; you can keep your doctor; premiums will be $2,500 less with Obamacare...repeated ad nauseum until it was accepted as truth.

Enter judgment day.  

The day we found out our insurance plans were cancelled.  The day we found out we couldn't keep our doctors.  The day we found out ObamaCare actually costs thousands of dollars MORE than we were already paying.

Now Obama mouthpieces are busy bailing water from the sinking ship.  

Some of their hail marys:

The bigger crisis is that insurance companies are selling junk policies...

He didn't mean what he said, you're misinterpreting him (implied: because you aren't as smart as he is)...

George W. Bush...

He isn't responsible for what (the evil, behemoth) insurance companies do, it's their fault...

Only 3 percent of Americans have private insurance (which is 15 million people, btw)...

He compressed something extremely complex into one line and that's a difficult thing to do...

George W. Bush...

Anyone who questions Obama is being dishonest...

Democrats are the only ones who care about the uninsured...

The Tea Party...

Anyone who questions Obama is a racist...

...and so on.

The fact remains clear that the failing of the ObamaCare website is only the tip of the iceberg.  Over the next few months we'll learn firsthand how this program will negatively impact millions of Americans and strangle middle and lower class households.



Thursday, October 31, 2013

More Franklin Stoves Less Solar Panels

In 2010 to resounding applause, President Obama touted Abound Solar as American's investment into green energy that would give us 1500 permanent jobs.  Today, it's bankrupt, leaving behind an empty shell of a building filled with broken glass and toxic waste.  Unsold inventory including 2,000 solar panels, which would have been sold to offset some of the hundred of millions of dollars in losses, have mysteriously disappeared.

With the $2 billion the federal government poured into green energy initiatives in the past few years, none of the companies highlighted by President Obama and drooled over by liberals are in existence today.

While one can certainly question the viability of green energy firms, the bigger picture here is worth scrutiny.  Why should government and not private enterprise promote any industry?  The marketplace will determine the viability and necessity of consumer goods, not the feds.

History proves that a majority of our modern conveniences, those that keep us safe or make our lives easier, have been born of private enterprise.  The great inventors of the last century weren't working for the government.  They were private entrepreneurs and they gave us the technological foundation of what we have today.  They are not the evil people portrayed in Common Core classrooms, they are benefactors of our modern way of life.

Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin stove that used less wood and prevented fires.  He felt the benefits of this new kind of stove were so important that he sidestepped a patent on it so that everyone could benefit from his invention.

Private industry not the American government will bring us innovation and technology.  Private enterprise will give us better, faster, safer products and services.  The government cannot cherry pick that which they "feel" are worthy, or the ones they "want" to succeed based on political and social ideology.

The marketplace is the great equalizer.  The American people cannot be forced into buying what they do not desire.  Businesses cannot run at a loss.  The government cannot and must not prop up industries that simply do not work...yet.  If solar energy is our future, then it will be cost-effectively born of private endeavor.

"If a coal, oil or gas company pulled something like that the EPA would send out SWAT teams and the U.S. Marshals to track down the offenders, bankrupt or not."
- National Legal and Policy Center, a think tank



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

We're Not Their ATM Machine

"There is no ribbon-cutting ceremony for taking out the trash, fixing a broken railing, or filling a pothole," Tom Coburn (R-OK) commented, regarding the unglamorous nature of running the country.  He was speaking specifically about the National Park Service but using it as a microcosm of what is wrong with our government and the inability of Congress to do necessary work.

That's the problem, Congress focuses on the exciting, the sexy, and the splashy.  The activities that garner press coverage, constituent accolades, and campaign contributions, instead of concentrating on what gets the job done.

Recently I had a banter with some friends over a local school bond up for vote.  They were for it and I was against it.  They argued with me, "if you could just see the state of the schools, the leaky gym when it rains, you'd know how important this bond is!"

My argument back?  The state needs to put repairs into its budget to handle these issues with current dollars, not keep coming back to us taxpayers like we're their private ATM machine.  If we have to learn to live within our household budgets, then the politicians need to do the same with the people's money.  

We need to hold our politicians to higher standards than they even realize they can attain.  They need to start looking at taking out the trash, fixing broken railings, and filling potholes as not only necessary work, but their most important work.  If we keep placating them with ribbon cuttings for special-interest museum openings, then we're just letting them skate.  We need to show up with posters asking why the high school still has a leaky gym, or why the National Park Service pays $52,000 per year for a condemned but historical building they can't afford to fix yet alone maintain.  

We need to question our representatives on their motives and we need to remind them that their job is to caretake.  They need to spend more time opening up work orders to make repairs than opening a new historical site we can't afford.


Monday, October 28, 2013

United States of Amerika

The nightmare began in the predawn hours of August 6, 2013...

Audrey Hudson's husband had just left for work when her dog started barking furiously at the front window.  Peeking out from behind the curtains of her Maryland home, Hudson drew a breath in sharply.  Dozens of law enforcement personnel in full body armor surrounded her home.  The phone rang; it was her husband in the driveway.  "Open the front door."

Hudson, a journalist for the Washington Times, and her husband were held captive by armed guards from the Maryland State Police, United States Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security for hours in their kitchen.  Under the pretense of looking for unregistered guns and a potato gun, they searched and seized files of documents and personal notes from the journalist's home.

At one point during their captivity, an agent asked Hudson if she was the same journalist who wrote a series of articles criticizing the DHS Federal Air Marshal program.  She admitted she was.  The agent responded, "Those stories were embarrassing to the agency."

Five weeks later when Hudson was able to retrieve her files from Homeland Security, she realized that much of what they'd taken--all notes and documents relating to her Federal Air Marshal stories--exceeded the limitations of the search warrant.  The government had no legal authority to take what they did.  Currently, Hudson and the Washington Times are preparing to take legal action.

The state and federal officials didn't seize anything relating to illegal guns or potato guns.  They seized legally owned guns, but no records of gun sales in her files or computer.  Hudson also learned that the Coast Guard had accessed her personal Facebook page.  Her husband is a civilian Coast Guard employee.  It's interesting to note that Hudson and her husband have not been charged with a crime.

But, why would the agencies do this?

Hudson offers, "I think they found a great way to get into my house and get a hold of my confidential notes and go through every other file in my office."

It's a frightening day for every American as we realize that the government can storm into a journalist's home, hold her and her husband captive, and use a sham warrant to sneak out files relating to a story critical of the government as well as legal guns.

United States of Amerika.



Thursday, October 24, 2013

Republican Civil War: Conservatives' Losing Proposition

It's no secret that there's a civil war brewing in the Republican Party.  Experts agree that there is about a 50/50 split between those leaning toward the Tea Party and those supporting the Old Guard.  The result of this discourse is that conservatives lose whether they side with the Tea Party or not.  Liberals have a real chance to strike gold in the next few years taking advantage of internal warring within the GOP.

Many of the Old Guard are calling for the Tea Party to hush up, sit down and play along because they see that infighting will only weaken their chances in the midterm and 2016 elections.  While silencing the Tea Party and promoting unity sounds like a good plan, the problem the Tea Party argues is that status quo will continue: big government will flourish, and the conservative and Libertarian views will be watered down within Capitol Hill power plays.  The winners will the Old Guard, keeping their positions and padding their pockets.

The Democrats are giddy with anticipation of more showdowns between the Republican establishment and Tea Party activists.  Any familial bickering within the GOP only fuels nasty primary races and divides a voting block, allowing Dems to slip in with a secure base and win elections.

Many don't understand why the Tea Party would fight the status quo to the detriment of the party.  It's actually an easy answer.  The veterans of the Republican Party are adept at playing Washington politics.  They know how to secure backroom deals and compromise their beliefs, not to push their agendas, but to secure their reelections with earmarks and pet projects that benefit their home states.  They have cleverly mastered the game (that the Democrats play, too) that ensures money continues to flow in a steady stream to their personal accounts.  All politicians understand that a few terms in office is all they need to become millionaires.

It's sad that I don't have enough time or space to pick apart each politician for scrutiny or even to detail each politician's trickery, so I'll give just one example; one politician/one issue as a template for what happens in Washington.

Ever wonder why Speaker of the House John Boehner actively pushes for the Keystone pipeline?  He has personal money tied into companies that would benefit greatly from construction of it.  The companies also are huge campaign donors of Boehner.  

Do other politicians do this?  Of course!  It's prevalent on BOTH sides of the aisle for multiple issues.

These shenanigans by the Republican establishment are the Tea Party's beef.  The Tea Party wants smaller government, less powerful politicians, and they want to separate the private interests of politicians from their public duty.  No small feat in a town that lusts only for money and power.

The Democrats are also scared of the Tea Party because of their appeal to independents for a less-intrusive Nanny State.  That's why Dems liken the Tea Party to Nazis, call them racists, and even recently tried to link them to the KKK.  Any horrendous lie is fair game when you want to bring someone down who threatens your goose laying the golden eggs.

If the Tea Party continues their fight, the Republican Party will have to change.  The change will be arduous, and will leave the party unsettled for years.  Will it come together again as a force?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  It could emerge as something else or split up completely.  My personal hope is that will morph into a better representation of conservative political values and eschew the social dogma that separates the Libertarians from the social conservatives and excludes the independents.

As the Republican Party undergoes these changes, the Democrats will secure their stronghold and thus their liberal agenda of inflated social programs for America.  For Liberals, their utopia is at hand.  For Conservatives, the sun will set on the era of free enterprise and a truly representative government.





Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Fall On Your Sword, A Washington Tradition

President Obama was blindsided by the problems with the Affordable Healthcare Act's website says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a recent interview.  He was completely in the dark.

Ah, Washington, you're so precious, it's politics as usual.  Protect your man at the top.  Fall on your sword.

Sebelius went on to say that the president knew nothing of a test run site crash before the inaugural launch.  Keep in mind, this was a test run that included only 200 people instead of millions they expected the first week and they left Obama out of the loop.

Um, wait.  This is the president's signature piece of legislation, his legacy, his gift to America, and they shielded him from potential problems, huge problems?

I'm tired of being force fed these illogical talking points.  Not only from the Dems but the Reps as well; it's prevalent on both sides.  The media laps up this stuff like kittens' milk and feeds it out to us as if they'd just discovered King Tut's tomb.  See?  President Obama wasn't incompetent, he was clueless!  (Yeah, that's so much better.)

Seriously, I don't care if you lean right or left, if you have one brain cell in your electronics-addicted noggin you're going to say, "this doesn't make sense."  It doesn't.  If there is anything that would completely encompass the president's time it's anything to do with his premier law, the one he got through that the Clintons couldn't.  The president is going to nurture this puppy like a show dog.  He's going to throw everything at it to ensure its success.  Like a captain of a ship on its maiden voyage, he's not going to snooze in a hammock and let others take the helm of his baby, he's going to steer it from port.

Unless they lied to him.  And, then we're all in bigger trouble than we can imagine.  I'm really hoping Sebelius is fibbing here and Obama was aware of the problems because the alternative is bleak: we have a commander in chief who cannot stand bad news and his underlings know it so they keep mum.  History proves that it usually does not end well for a ruler who cannot hear the word "no," but I digress.

Truth is, we'll never really know.  Like trained parrots, the media will continue to record and replay any nonsense that suits their cause.  And the people in power will always rely on a Sebelius, or Emmanuel, or any other lackey who will receive a big payout down the road to fall on their sword for their king.  It's a Washington tradition.




Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Watergate Was Child's Play

I miss the days of Woodward and Bernstein.  In case you're young and you don't know, they were REAL journalists, not the media drones we have today.  Through solid investigation they sniffed out a bigger story from a "third rate burglary" of the DNC in the Watergate complex that revealed a system of political plots and crimes.  Their detective work resulted in the indictments of 40 White House officials and eventually the resignation of President Nixon.  They didn't stop until they exposed the truth.

Reporters today don't have that same daring and determination.  I miss investigative journalism (sniff).  I miss a media that despite personal political beliefs would investigate the death out of a smoking gun no matter on which side of the aisle it fell.  Our government is ripe with smoking guns these days and we have a press corps snoozing on the sidelines disinterested in the thievery and destruction happening on Capitol Hill.

Journalists today are lazy and overly political.  They take biased talking points as fact and use press releases to write their stories.  They bury stories that don't mix with their own ideology and they highlight what appeals to them, thus distorting the truth for the American people.  While we don't have a state run media, we have a media so entrenched in promoting pet social and political causes that they prefer not to do any real work, any real digging to expose the atrocities happening behind the scenes.

Of the following list of recent woes, tell me, just tell me, how many of these were fully sniffed out by journalists?

1. Campaign slush funds used for lavish personal trips--why is this legal?
2. Government contracts in "no bid" situations using foreign companies.
3. One waterway project budget increased from $779M to $ 2.9B in a bill re-opening government.
4. Certain political groups targeted or shutdown by overseeing government agencies.
5. Government can without due process kill an American citizen on foreign or domestic soil.
6. Government can detain without due process an American citizen for any length of time.
7. Government purchase of 2 Billion rounds of ammunition over the last few years.
8. Eighty-two congressmen have paid family members working in their offices.
9. Physical barriers purchased or rented and the manpower to erect them to prevent citizens from entering federal land.
10. Fake federal employee created as an alias to send emails written by real staff member.  Fake employee given award.

Why haven't these things and the multitude of other infractions been investigated to death anywhere but on blogs?  The reason so many people in power--whether a government agency, politician or agent, or a business owner like Martha Stewart--detest bloggers is that they threaten a person's status and power.  They also mostly point out the truth.  Bloggers are blasted for being "rogue" or "conspiratorial," and truthfully, any nutjob can have a blog, I've got two!  But the point is that the only real investigation is not happening in newsrooms across the country.  We have an army of media asleep on their watch.

Reporters need to leave their political ideologies at home and when they enter the workforce they need to understand that their job is not to "report" the news, but investigate it.  Ask questions!  Don't take talking points as fact; they need to do their own research and determine the truth, even if it doesn't align with personal beliefs.

God, I miss Woodward and Bernstein...



Friday, October 18, 2013

Small Business Appreciation

Article: Dead body found in duct work of business that had been closed for several months.

The piece went on to detail neighbors' views that the empty storefront needed addressing.  And, one comment in particular caught my eye:

"Put another business there that could generate jobs for the community, or maybe a community center for children," said (one neighbor).

"Put another business there."  Really?  And, who would do this?  The government?  Just put another business there, that simple.

This manner of thinking highlights the problem with our educational system: people are completely clueless as to how business operates, who runs business, or even the risks involved.

Every high school student should take a semester course in entrepreneurship.  Not to build up a generation of entrepreneurs--let's face it, you're either born with the spirit or not--but to give the students, a majority of them who will work for someone else, a healthy appreciation for what goes into running a business.  They need to understand taxes, payroll, federal and state rules and regulations, insurance, and the plethora of other details and legalities of running a real business.

Instead of teaching "class warfare" and portraying business owners as evil, we should foster understanding of what business owners, especially of the small business variety, endure to make their dreams a reality.  Sure, there are greedy, stick-it-to-the-employee business owners out there, but they are the minority not the majority.  The majority of small business owners take pride in providing goods or services and jobs to the community.  Most of them are not rich fat cats trampling on the poor, but rather, hard working people taking risks, providing opportunities, and supporting the community.

Whether it's a mom and pop shop or a large corporation, our future workforce should understand that their job security rests solely on the success of the business with whom they're employed.  When they fully appreciate the magnitude of what it takes to keep a business afloat and generate jobs for the community, they may garner sympathy rather than animosity towards business owners.

Most business owners have walked in the shoes of both employee and owner, but most employees can't say the same.  How would our workforce change if employees truly grasped the strife, sacrifice, and satisfaction that accompanies business ownership?




Thursday, October 17, 2013

Headlines Sell, Not Necessarily Tell Truth


A woman’s health advocate that I follow bemoaned the fact that a great article on her cause blatantly lied in the headline stating that she’d cured herself of the disease.  She was disheartened by the media error but understood the reality: she could ask for a correction, but not necessarily get it, even though it was a blatant lie.

This is a microcosm of the sad state of our media actually.  It's never about the truth but the headlines.  When we don't investigate and do our own research, especially as it relates not only to our health but our government, and just listen to the headlines and talking heads, we're not getting the whole story, or maybe even a correct one.

Look at two very different headlines regarding the recent Gallup poll showing Obama’s approval rating dropped to 37%.

Associated Press:  Poll: No Heroes in Shutdown, GOP Gets Most Blame
Fox News:  Gallup: Obama Approval Rating Nears Historic Lows

What is the take away here?  Obviously that news is slanted to fit the political ideologies of the editorial staff.  Make no mistake, if the editor is pro-Obama, then the headline won’t scream a bad approval rating or offer the total truth in reporting.

As thinking, intelligent women and men, we owe it to ourselves, our friends and families to "question everything” and not just take the news as fact.



Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Promoting Welfare, Not Providing It

Article: Walmart shelves emptied by EBT recipients with little or no balances left on their cards after food stamp computer glitch.

I'm not sure which is worse, that so many people were affected by the glitch (thus, we have an extremely large number of people using food stamps), or that they felt entitled to steal when they realized they could get anything they wanted?

What if we lived in a world where instead of demanding the government do more for its citizens, it actually helped citizens provide for their own needs?

The government's role is to promote the general welfare, not provide welfare.  Our government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising food stamps and enrolling more people into the program.  Why?  Because a government that feeds its people, controls its people.  The more needs our government provides for us, the people, the more powerful government becomes.  

Politicians like two things: money and power.  (Well okay, sex, too, but that falls under power.)  When they hold the pursestrings, when they dole out our food rations, our healthcare rations, our unemployment and welfare rations, our cell phone and internet rations, our housing rations...all of it, they have complete control of our lives.  The rationale for the rations?  Ultimately their importance, power and control.

They get income and healthcare free for life.  They get perks and bonuses.  They get sinecures after their terms (IF their terms end!) provided by their largest corporate campaign donor.  First St. NE in DC is really Easy Street, you know.

As a side note, if you're able to lie, cheat, steal and people love you (you have that magnetism that some are born with), then go into politics.  You'll do well, VERY well.

The EBT card glitch is nothing but a symptom of a growing disease in our government, in our social mentality.  Under the guise of "helping the less fortunate"(which, when done for real is noble and expected of any government!), the United States has expanded the hand out programs from a beneficial help to those truly in need, to the ignoble goal of subsidizing lifestyles.  And, under the Bush and Obama Administrations, these problems and programs have taken off, growing like Jack's magic beans into a stalk so high, we may eventually find the giant.




Thursday, October 10, 2013

No One Gets A Pass

The biggest problem with the shutdown is not the Republicans, Democrats or even Obama.  The biggest problem with the shutdown is that it exposes the politicians' behavior--all of them!--to real scrutiny.  The CNN poll on Monday showed that the American people as a whole blame Republicans 63%, Democrats 58% and Obama 53%; and all three are in a tie as far as Independents are concerned.  No one gets a pass in this mess.

Sure, the media is slanted toward the left, everyone knows that.  Some outlets more than others, except for Fox News (for exact stats of left vs. right reporting see the Pew Research Center study).  But, the polls are the polls.  You can spin the results of a poll, but hard, cold numbers speak for themselves.

The American people look at the behemoth that is our Federal Government and they are not pleased.  They don't like the way this latest "game" is being played out.  The only winners that could come from this mess are the politicians themselves, not the American people.  We are the losers in this blockage, and we'll be burdened with the outcome.

Gratefully, the people are speaking up, according to the polls.  They don't like the squabbling that has become mainstay in Washington.  They want harmony rather than discourse, and they want the government to work FOR them rather than AGAINST them.  This shutdown is really an indication of what Washington does best: look after its own. 

Right now we have a bunch of career politicians who know they've got it made.  Regardless of what they do, they'll leave office as millionaires.  They'll leave office with their padded accounts and promises of sinecures at corporations that financed their elections.  They'll be on Easy Street while relegating us, the people they've sworn to serve, to Skid Row.

So, what can we do?  We can vote.  We can inspect our elected officials not just vote party lines.  We can vote for candidates that support term limits.  We can vote for candidates that promise to never utter the phrase, "I will not negotiate."  We can vote for candidates that want to work with the other side, who don't use rhetoric, who want to reform bloated programs.  We can insist on this because that is in our power, the power of an election and an ousting of that which does not comply.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The Evil Rich Are Our Country's Best Hope

The "evil" rich are at it again! 

John and Laura Arnold just gave $10M to the National Head Start Association.  The donation will go towards keeping the program running in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi during the government shutdown.

And, if the government had taken their money through outlandish taxes or socialization, they'd have none to give.  People who do not have money have no clue how much money, vast amounts of it, that rich people give to help those less fortunate.  This class warfare stuff is squelching the American Dream.  If you don't make money, you can't donate anything to charity but your time, and let's face it, everyone loves your time but they need your money, too.

A lot of folks of means donate anonymously, for differing reasons, but still without credit.  In my dad's obituary this past summer, I talked about all the things he gave outwardly, but never mentioned all the things he gave privately or in secret.  I don't even know most of them, but I know this: he was a fairly successful man tho had a charitable heart and always had an item to donate or a C-note for anyone in need.

Most well-off Americans act in a similar vein.

The American Dream has been destroyed and replaced by a Benevolent Government that gives us almost all we want.  We no longer have to worry about meeting our own needs because our government will give it to us.  Likewise, we no longer have to worry about giving to poor because our government will do it for us.  The more our government gives, the more it takes away from average citizens, and I'm not talking about money.  I'm talking about fellow citizens coming along side those in need and tangibly helping them.  Forging connections and intimacy.  When we believe government is tackling the problem by taking our taxes and feeding the hungry, we can sit back and relax, our work is done.  We don't have to touch it.  And, that's a loss for everyone.

Giving should be a time of connection.  It should be about breaking down socioeconomic barriers.  Even those "evil" rich who give anonymously, give outwardly, too, of their time and talent, as do peoples from all points on the economic spectrum.  

We need to keep the American Dream alive so that we can all strive for success so that we have more to give.  The more we give of our money and talents, the more we receive in return; the more we actually touch hearts, not just feed bellies.   


Monday, October 7, 2013

Washington Preschoolers

Current political maneuvering in Washington takes me back to my children's preschool years.

"I won't fund that!"
"I'll close this!"
"It's mine!"
"No, it's mine!"

My tween children today exude far superior control of their emotions than the officials--and I use that term loosely--we elected to office.  

When the National Park Service tried to shut down Mount Vernon, a privately funded operation that takes no federal money, I felt they went too far.  In reaction to the Republican stance of not approving a budget unless it defunds ObamaScare, the feds have gone nuts trying to inconvenience the very citizens they're charged with serving.  I was wrong.

Just read a bit about the feds putting cones near Mount Rushmore, blocking the pull-off lanes to eager vacationing picture-takers.  Um, excuse me?  Doesn't it take much more manpower and money to erect the blockage rather than just leaving it "as is?"

A fed employee stated what's really going on: "We've been told to make life as difficult for people as we can," an angry Park Ranger told the Times.  "It's disgusting."

Indeed.


Friday, October 4, 2013

Not A Superpower, But A Mediocrepower


The shutdown doesn't affect most of us here in the US, but I have a couple of good friends who don't know how they'll pay their bills or buy groceries during this siege.  President Obama is quick to blame the Republicans, but I think both Obama and the Republicans share equal blame.  A new poll released today confirms that sentiment among the American people, 25% blame GOP and 24% blame Obama.  

There is much political play happening in Washington.  A lot of programs are being cut and shut down by the White House that don't even receive federal funding and thus shouldn't be affected at all.  For instance, hundreds of privately funded parks have been closed that receive zero federal funding.  

On a related note, we, the people of the US, still cannot visit our "People's House," the White House.  It remains closed to tours by the Obama Administration after his last spat with the GOP.  

As an American, I'm sick to death of the squabbling that is status quo in Washington.  It affects us ordinary citizens and our country aversely.  I have been of legal voting age since 1984, and have paid close attention to politics.  I've never seen grown men and women so pouty, so "stamping their feet" and acting like toddlers in my life.  They have lost their decency and ability to negotiate with each other.

When President Obama needlessly cancelled his trip to Asia, my heart sunk.  He's doing it to show the American people how "bad" the Republicans are.  And, he's not the only one.  Boehner is standing firm on a losing proposition, leaving no wiggle room for negotiations.  We have leaders in Washington who put their personal political concerns ahead of our country's best interests.  

America is a different animal than she's been in the past, and I blame the leaders in Washington on both sides.  They are greedy, out for only themselves and their own powerplays, and extremely disinterested in doing real work to make our country great again. 

We are no longer a superpower, we are a mediocrepower.