Political Class Insanity, June, 2012 - Part 2: More TSA Incompetence, Shipping Solar Dollars To Canada And More

Today will complete the review of the latest political class insanity that we have come across over the past month or so. Yesterday's post covered the first set of idiocy, waste, and bad priority setting that the political class constantly reigns down on us. Yesterday included the continuing saga of Washington wasting billions of dollars on unneeded and foolish alternative energy projects, a U.S. Senator more worried about kids' seating arrangements on airplanes than the major issues facing the country, the city of Chicago's multiple payments to a local strip club establishment, and other follies and disgraces from the political class.

Unfortunately, one day was not enough to present all of the insanity, as the following examples show:

1) Seems like we can never get through a month without some insanity from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). According to a May 16, 2012 report from the Associated Press, a TSA security supervisor at Newark Liberty Airport is facing criminal charges because it is alleged that he assumed the identity of a murdered New Yorker from long ago and used that identity to become an important person in airport security. His arrest raises questions about whether the TSA actually knows the real identities of people who work in airport security around the country and are responsible for our safety.

Although the TSA requires background, criminal, and terrorist checks for employees who work at airports, the suspect got through the screening processes simply because he worked at the airport for so long and the TSA did not do a separate check that would verify his real identification, according to the AP report.

Other distressful findings from the article include:

• A Congressional committee responsible for homeland security recently held an oversight hearing where a senior TSA official, assistant administrator John Sammon, said he could not assure lawmakers there were no other such cases around the country.
• "We don't know whether they are who they say they are," said Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
• Apparently, individuals who pose a threat can obtain government security badges for U.S. airports because the TSA inadequately investigates the backgrounds of badge applicants, said the agency's acting inspector general, Charles Edwards.

Much like every other government agency we review in this blog, one would have thought and hoped that some government agency, any government agency, would know how to do their job by now. That is what they get paid to do and have been doing it for years, decades, or centuries. But alas, the main agency which is supposed to protect us at our airports does not even know how to do background checks. Insanity.

2) According to a May 10, 2012 article, that appeared on the Nevada Journal website, a Canadian company behind a recently opened Nevada solar energy facility could legally to receive up to $50 million in Federal tax credits under the Obama’s stimulus program, even though the solar plant created only two full-time jobs.

The Nevada Journal article cites a Department of Interior memo which identifies Enbridge Energy Partners, a Canadian-based company with extensive energy holdings in the U.S., as a company that “can apply for payments of up to 30 percent of the eligible costs of the project — approximately $50 million.”


Thus, not only were only a minuscule number of jobs created by this Nevada effort, two, but we are going to have to send $50 million out of the country to attain this less than lofty job creation goal of two as a result of this effort. Insanity.

3) I have often referred to some of the inane comments that Nancy Pelosi has made over the past few years when it comes to her gross misunderstanding of economic theory and thought. However, I recently came across another high ranking of the Washington political class who is just as uninformed about basic economic theory.

A few months ago, White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett was speaking at the Student Summit at North Carolina Central University where she hilariously claimed unemployment checks stimulate the economy: "And so we need to make sure that we continue to support that important safety net. It not only is good for the family, but it's good for the economy. People who receive that unemployment check go out and spend it and help stimulate the economy, so that's healthy as well." Her actual comments can be heard at: http://mrctv.org/videos/white-house-senior-advisor-unemployment-stimulates-economy

So in Ms. Jarrett's world, the more people that are unemployed the more jobs will be created because unemployed people go out and spend their unemployment checks and create jobs... Thus, I have to assume that her economic policy, if she was boss, would be to make sure everyone did not have a job but received and spent unemployment checks in order to create jobs for everyone.

Is it any wonder that underemployment and unemployment continue at record highs for record periods of time as the national debt quickly approaches $16 TRILLION when these are the types of people in charge? Insanity.

4)An Associated Press article from May 10, 2012 reported on the dire financial status of the U.S. Post Office:

• Second quarter losses were $3.2 billion, more than three times higher than the same quarter last year.
• Year-to-date losses are $6.5 billion, about two and a half times higher than the same period last year.
• The Postmaster General estimates that financial losses could exceed $14 billion this year and go to $21 billion a year by 2016 under a business as usual scenario.
• First class mail volume continues to decline, down about 4% on a year over year basis, as first class mail is replaced with email and other electronic communication vehicles.
• Despite the obvious declining health and viability of the current Post Office business model , the Washington political class has been unable to agree on both long term and short term fixes and has actually become part of the problem as the Congress continues to stymie logical and needed reforms being suggested by Post Office management.

Who wants to bet that no action will be taken until next year since our politicians are not courageous enough to face the problem during an election year, preferring to dodge the issue and allow the American taxpayer to take on a larger and larger role of bailing out another floundering government operation?

5) According to a USA Today article that was summarized in the May 18, 2012 issue of The Week magazine, 93% of immigrants applying for U.S. Citizenship can correctly answer six out of ten questions about United States history. In a survey, only 65% of native born Americans could correctly answer six out of ten of the same questions correct.y. Does anyone still think that we do not have a major crisis in this country with the under education of American kids?

6) According to a report from The Hill on May 21, 2012, the Health and Human Services Department has recently signed a $20 million contract with a public-relations firm to highlight part of the Obama Care legislation. This PR effort is supposed to educate Americans about how to stay healthy and prevent illnesses.

Now, while I am a great believer is preventive health care actions and life style choices, and I also believe that getting Americans to make better health, eating, smoking, and exercise decisions would be much more effective than most of the bureaucracy within Obama Care, why did the Obama administration commit $20 million to this effort just weeks before the Supreme Court is to rule on the Constitutionality of the entire legislation?


What if (hopefully) the Supreme Court finds the entire law invalid and we have to start over again with health care reform? Wouldn't the more prudent action have been to delay the signing of this contract for just a few weeks to see if the Obama Care mandate for the contract was still valid? Seems like the political class and Federal bureaucrats are back into their silly Ready! Fire! Aim! mode. Insanity.

7) Mayor Bloomberg of New York City created quite a stir recently when he announced that the city might make it impossible to buy 32 ounce or 64 ounces of soda in one container at one time since soda makes people fat. At about the same time he heartily endorsed Donut Day and has previously enthusiastically endorsed the annual hot dog eating contest in his city, a contest where contestants shove dozens of fat laden hot dogs into themselves in a very short amount of time. Little bit of hypocrisy, and insanity, Mr. Mayor?

8) And finally, proof that political class insanity does indeed cross international borders. According to a June 5, 2012 Associated Press report, Russia is about to pass a law that makes it more of a crime and more expensive to participate in an unauthorized public demonstration than to mishandle nuclear material. The AP report detailed various crimes currently in effect in Russia:

• Prostitution: A fine of 2,500 rubles ($75).
• Illegal use of an automobile: 120,000 rubles ($3,600).
• Nuclear materials storage violations: 5,000 rubles ($150) for regular citizens, 40,000 ($1,200) for public officials.
• Performing an abortion without medical qualification: 80,000 rubles ($2,400).
• Violating safety precautions in designing, building and using nuclear energy facilities that could cause danger or radioactive contagion: 200,000 rubles ($6,000).

If, as expected, the proposed demonstration bill becomes law, protesters whose rallies aren't officially sanctioned will face fines of up to 300,000 rubles ($9,000), up from the current 2,000 ($60). Seems like freedom costs a lot more in Russia while crime appears to pay more.

That should do it for this month. A serious fear and belief I have is that as the November election gets closer and closer, the insanity levels will increase to levels never seen before as the political class delays beyond November any hard decisions on the issues that face Americans today, wastes more taxpayer money on short term expenses that benefit only their reelection chances, leave silly and ineffective strategies and programs in place (such as the idiotic sense that unemployment benefits are good for the economy), continue to allow a dysfunctional TSA to muddle along while endangering the traveling public, etc.

The really serious fear is that even after the November election, the insanity will continue, regardless of who gets elected.


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The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.


The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.


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http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/