- During a recent Federal budget debate, Nevada Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, lamented the fact that proposed budget cuts of the Federal government budget might result in the elimination of the "Cowboy Poetry Contest" which is held annually in his home state.
Really, is this how we are going to go about deciding how to get our financial house in order, debating whether a poetry contest deserves government funding support? Our national debt has recently raced past $14.2 TRILLION and this is the best Senator Reid can come up with, whining about a poetry contest? Pitiful.
- USA Today reported on March 23, 2011 that four U.S. Senators want to get involved with and ban software applications that identify the likely locations for DUI checkpoints around the country. These applications are now available on a variety of electronic devices including smart phones. The Senators got together and sent letters to Apple, Google, and Blackberry to quit selling these applications on their devices.
Okay, I am definitely in favor of keeping drunk or impaired drivers off of the road. Most sane people would also. But ask yourself, in a poll of Americans, how high do you think "smartphone DUI applications elimination" would rate in the top 25 concerns of Americans? Does anyone think it would get ranked higher in importance or urgency above the escalating national debt, failing public schools, the failed war on drugs, home foreclosures, high unemployment, illegal immigration, high health care costs, high taxes, the divisiveness in the country, or any number of more important issues?
Bad, bad set of priorities when four Senators, and more wastefully, four Senate staffs, get together to draft and mail a letter on this topic. Pitiful waste of money and resources, you're U.S. Senators, work on the big issues.
- Without a national, sane, and coherent energy policy and strategy for the country, it is not surprising that the political class cannot develop rational energy programs. The most wasteful and useless program is the billions and billions of dollars that the Federal government has spent over the years promoting the development and use of corn based ethanol as an alternative energy source. Bjorn Lomborg, writing for Slate.com, recently had his article, "End The Ethanol Scam Now," summarized in the March 25, 2011 issue of The Week Magazine. According to Mr. Lomborg
- The Federal government spends $6 billion a year to promote ethanol use. [Note: the article specifically states this is for ethanol promotion, I believe the actual farm subsidies to grown corn for ethanol ethanol in this country is much higher]
- As a result of this effort, one sixth of the world's corn supply, enough to feed 350 million starving people for a year, gets pumped into American cars.
- This government emphasis on corn based biofuels actually increases greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere since forests are chopped down to plant more corn.
- According to the article. Al Gore admits that his support of corn ethanol was in part driven by his desire to get Iowa farmers' votes during his Presidential run.
- The March 18, 2011 issue of The Week Magazine had a snippet from the Washington Post which reported that House of Representatives Republicans have reintroduced Styrofoam cups and plastic plates into the Capitol cafeteria. These articles were banned when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the House and she mandated the use of recyclable utensils and cups made from corn starch.
I cannot decide which is worse, the current Republicans who took time out of their schedule to make this change or Nancy Pelosi who took time out of her schedule to make the original change. Don't these people have better ways to spend their days and resources? Oh, yes they do, these better priorities are listed above under the section on why are four U.S. Senators worrying about software applications. I wonder if the use of corn starch based products under Pelosi's watch also contributed to world wide starvation by diverting corn products into plates?
It never ends, does it? Bad politicians working on bad priorities and coming up with bad policies and results. As a result, our financial wealth and taxes slip away as does our freedom and liberty to keep government minimal and out of our lives.
That is why Step 39 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" is so important. Step 39 would impose term limits on all Federally elected officials. By allowing these people to stay in office as long as they do has not worked. We need a way to refresh the process with new people and new ideas. Otherwise, the supplies in the Capitol cafeteria will keep changing, depending on what party is in charge. This is no way to run a country.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment
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