More recently, the current and expected failures of Obamacare, the nonsensical economic stimulus programs such as Cash For Clunkers and Cash For Appliances, the fatal Fast and Furious drug running fiasco, and other such short term problems make one wonder how inept can Washington be, both short term and long term, to not be able to seemingly resolve any challenge. The Federal government has been around for over two hundred years, many of our current politicians have been in office for decades. You would think and hope that once in a while, given this experience, a problem, any problem would get resolved.
But then you hear a politician speak and examine their thought patterns and you realize why nothing has ever been solved. The latest example of such a case is relative to the ongoing sex scandal regarding former CIA Director David Petraeus. As you probably already know from a recent post,
http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-latest-inductees-into-political.html)
and ongoing news reports and Congressional investigations and hearings, Petraeus had to resign his CIA Director post when it came to light that he had been involved in adulteress affair with his biographer for a long period of time.
This affair had the potential to put national and military security at risk since such behavior opened up Patraeus to the threat of blackmail since 1) he had been entrusted with the most top secret information and plans of our national security establishment and 2) he had been married for decades. Congressional hearings need to find out if any secrets were compromised or any intelligence or military operations (e.g. the terrorist attack at the U.S. Libyan consulate in Benghazi) were sub optimized as a result of the affair.
Before we talk about the dearth of politicians problem solving skills, let’s try to establish how much money Petraeus has made and was making as a result of his government service. Believe it or not, I could not find out online how much salary a CIA Director annually. I do not know if it is classified or just hard to find.
However, given that the President earns about $400,000 a year, members of Congress and top White House staff earn about $170,000 a year, it is probably a safe bet that the Director of the CIA is making several hundred thousand dollars a year. This would place him well within the top 3-4% of earners in the U.S. today.
This CIA salary is in addition to the money he made as a top general and how much money he will earn as a result of his Federal retirement benefits, as described by the Celebrity Net Worth website:
A four star Army General earns the military pay grade of “0-10″. The 0-10 base salary for someone with 38 cumulative years of service is $19,566.97 per month, or $234,803.64 annually. In 2010, at the peak of his Army career, Petraeus’s salary was $290,000 per year because he was serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chief of Navy Operations, Commandant of the Marine Corps and Army/Air Force Chief of Staff. As a retired four star General, David Petraeus is entitled to an annual pension of $220,000 for the rest of his life. He’s also free to get a new job in retirement and therefore earn two incomes. On the other hand, if Petraeus loses his security clearance from this scandal, it may limit the types of jobs he would be able to take. Petraeus may also have cost himself the ability to join the lucrative speaking engagement circuit, which could have earned him $100,000 – $200,000 per event.
I review all of this to establish that Petraeus is probably not hurting for money, both short term and long term.
Which brings us to California Senator Diane Feinstein. The good Senator was recently questioned on the Sunday television talk show, “Meet The Press,” and was asked about the Petraeus adultery affair. Her answers make you really want to shake your head relative to her problem identification and root cause analysis abilities:
“Here’s a man, and you see Time Magazine, and you see the medals he has. You see the stars. One day, he takes all of that off. He’s in a plain blue suit like this. He looks no different from you or you or you. Having said that, there’s no entourage. There’s no driver. He gives an order at the CIA. There’s discussion. There’s flak. People don’t like this. And then he goes home to wash dishes. It is a major adjustment. I think we need to look at this transitioning of people. I think we need to look at our tours.”
Her actual video discussion can be accessed at:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/feinstein-petraeus-cheated-because-he-had-no-entourage-no-driver-had-wash-own-dishes
So let me get this straight, as analyzed by Ms. Feinstein:
- The CIA Director gave in to his sexual urges, endangering the national and military security of the nation by opening himself up to the potential of blackmail, all because he now has to do the dishes.
- The CIA Director gave in to his sexual urges, endangering the national and military security of the nation by opening himself up to the potential of blackmail, all because he no longer had a driver to drive him around.
- Even though the CIA Director had made, was making, and will make enough money off of the American taxpayer to put himself in the top 3-4% all American wage earners, he could not afford to hire someone to do the dishes or drive himself around and thus, gave in to his sexual urges.
- Even though the CIA Director had made, was making, and will make enough money off of the American taxpayer to put himself in the top 3-4% all American wage earners, we need to spend more taxpayer money to ease his “transition” from a military life to a civilian life. This use of taxpayer wealth is apparently more important than helping the 23 million Americans who are currently unemployed or under employed, in Ms. Feinstein’s view.
Where do these political people live? The lack of a chauffeur or a dish washer is the cause for a potential national security breach? If that is the case, it is not Petraeus’ fault, it is the fault of whoever submitted him for the vital position of CIA Director and the fault of those in Congress who approved his appointment if washing dishes was enough to set the man off on the road to adultery.
Is it any wonder then that no problem facing the American public ever gets resolved? The really worrisome fact is that Senator Feinstein is the actual head of the important Senate Intelligence committee. If this is the depth of her problem solving skills, washing dishes causes adultery, then be scared, be very scared.
This is just another example of why Step 39 from “Love my Country, Loathe my Government" is so important. Step 39 would impose term limits on all Federal politicians, “one and done.” Letting current politicians stay in office for decades has not resolved any of our major issues. If we impose term limits, at least we have a chance to get some different people into Congress and the White House on a regular basis and hopefully, some of them might actually be able to resolve a problem or two.
Lord knows the current set of politicians sitting in Washington are unable to do any real problem analysis and solving, as witnessed by the latest from the head of the Senate Intelligence committee. Dish washing and chauffeurs, I am pretty that these were not the root causes of the adultery problems and resultant national security problems of David Petraeus. At least not in our world and our reality, a world and reality that I increasingly believe many of our politicians do not inhabit.
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 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.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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