April, 2014 Poltiical Class Insanity, Part 6: A Foreign Policy Failure, A Photo Op Disaster, A Unite Nations Disaster and more

This post starts the second week of posts this month that covers the never ending political class insanity, idiocy, and wasteful spending of our politicians. Their insanity has been dramatically increasing over the past year or so, an increase that will probably result in a record number of posts this month to cover just the past thirty days or so of their antics.

This post starts the second week of posts this month that covers the never ending political class insanity, idiocy, and wasteful spending of our politicians. Their insanity has been dramatically increasing over the past year or so, an increase that will probably result in a record number of posts this month to cover just the past thirty days or so of their antics.

As you go through their actions that waste our wealth and reduce our freedoms you will probably come to the same conclusion that I have: we are currently governed by the most corrupt and inept set of politicians in the history of our country.

1) In previous posts we have frequently reviewed how Obama’s promise to have the most transparent administration of all time has become a joke. He has tried to prosecute more government whistleblowers than all previous President’s combined, he has delayed or ignored Congressional requests for documents and information, he has delayed or ignored citizens requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act, he holds fewer open ended press conferences than just about every previous President, etc.

An Associated Press analysis put them figures to verify that this is truly a very non-transparent administration, despite Obama’s promise:

• In 2013, the Obama administration denied 6,689 out of 7,818 requests for so-called expedited information requests processing, a process that moves an urgent request for newsworthy records to the front of the line for a speedy answer, or about 86%.
• For comparison purposes, the Bush administration denied only 53% of such requests in 2008.
• Obama’s EPA denied 458 out of 468 expediting requests, a whopping 98%.
• The State Department under Hillary Clinton was not much better, denying 332 of 344 such requests or more than 96%.
• The Homeland Security Department denied 94% of expediting requests.
• The Justice Department, which denied AP’s request for video its investigators obtained days after the Navy Yard shooting, denied 900 out of 1,017 such requests.
• The AP analysis showed that the delay time in fulfilling request for information was getting worse over time, not better.
• In addition to denying the request for expedited requests and denying regular requests for government information, the Obama administration and the Federal government it operates, has many times also simply claimed that they couldn’t find any records or documents being requested.

You cannot claim to be running a transparent administration when the levels of delaying, denying, and claiming ignorance when it comes to Freedom Of Information Act requests is so high. Another Obama deception and/or Obama administration incompetence. In either case, pathetic leadership and dishonesty to the max.

2) I have often made the observation that this President seems more in love with athletic team photo ops than any other President. Over the years, Obama has had White House photo ops with every possible professional baseball, football, hockey, and basketball championship team along with numerous photo ops with college championship teams including a college shooting team. Oh, and let’s not forget Olympic teams and who knows what other kinds of athletic teams and competitors he has taken time to have a photo op with.

This fact was driven home when he recently had another athletic photo op, this one with the reigning Major League baseball champs, the Boston Red Sox. Which raises a good question: how come this President always seems to have enough spare time to meet and greet with these athletic teams but never seems to have the time, or the will, to meet with our wounded soldiers in hospitals?

How come he never seems to have the time, or the will, to meet with the parents and families of those he left for dead at our consulate at Benghazi to update them on his promise to track down those responsible for the murders of their family members?

How come he never seems to have the time, or the will, to visit a food bank or a homeless shelter to see how millions of Americans are still suffering as a result of his failing economic policies long after the recession ended?

How come he never has the time, or the will, to host a White House photo op with an outstanding teacher, a heroic fireman or policeman, or an ordinary citizen that is giving back to their community?

How come?

3) A recent national poll shows that even Americans have doubt about the foreign policy strategies and abilities of this current Presidential administration. A new Quinnipiac University national poll shows that the American public is divided whether President Barack Obama or Russian president Vladimir Putin is the stronger leader: “It’s a tossup on who is a tougher leader, President Barack Obama or President Vladimir Putin, as Americans weigh the heavyweight standoff over Ukraine,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll that conducts research in several states, in a release.

The poll of 1,578 registered U.S. voters nationwide between March 26 to 31 found that:

• Americans give Obama low marks for his handling of foreign policy issues.
• 55% say they disapprove and 39% say they approve of his foreign policy actions.
• Regarding the situation in the Ukraine, 47% of those polled disapproved of Obama’s actions while 41% supported him.
• Approximately 80 percent of those surveyed in the new Quinnipiac poll said they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” that the Ukraine situation could lead to a larger crisis that would require U.S. military action.
• In a related foreign affairs poll, an Economist/YouGov poll in March of 1,000 adults found three out of four Americans viewed Russia’s Putin as a strong leader while less than half regarded Obama as a strong leader.

Thus, not only is the current President seeing his overall approval ratings slipping, these two polls show that he is also showing consider inability to put together and execute a sound foreign policy, especially if Americans view Putin more favorably than Obama and the vast majority of Americans have concerns about the Ukraine situation getting further out of control. More political class ineptness, this time a perceived ineptness and weakness on the global stage.

4) Sometimes you have to wonder how the political class thinks since logically, many of their actions and policies have no basis in the realities of the real world. Consider the United Nations. According to a recent article by Tom Rogan writing for the national Review, in the relatively recent past, the United Nations:

• Had no ability to punish or sanction the Russia invasion and land grabbing of Crimea.
• It had no impact on the genocide in Rwanda
• It was incapable of stopping the genocide and mass murders in Bosnia.
• The article correctly concludes that the United Nations now exists only to “promote empty handshakes, photo opportunities, and polite conversation.”

Not mentioned in the article is the additional failures of the United Nations:

• It failed to end the mass starvation in the Sudan over the past decade or so.
• It failed to curtail the growing nuclear weapons threats of North Korea and Iran.
• After sixty years it has failed to bring peace to the Israeli and Palestinian situation.
• It has failed to end the piracy issues of Somali pirates.

Truly a dysfunctional organization, similar to the American political class and its similar ability to only succeed in empty handshakes and photo opportunities. However, given this reality of incompetence, the Obama administration is proposing a thirty percent increase in American taxpayer wealth being sent to the United Nations and other failing international groups. Talk about throwing good money after bad money.

After almost seventy years of United Nations bungling, the American political class should either be demanding massive changes to the United Nations operations to make it more effective or just quick the organization and save the taxpayer money that has been aimlessly and uselessly send to it over the decades. Sending the United Nations more money before fixing is dysfunctional is just pure insanity.

So let’s review: the Obama administration has not found time to fulfill legal and necessary Freedom of Information Act requests but the President has more than enough time to get his photo taken with rich athletes, the majority of Americans view this President as weak and his foreign policies as ineffective, and the political class wants to give even more taxpayer wealth to an ineffective and corrupt United Nations. Insane.

And more insanity to follow over the next few days.

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Please visit the following sites for freedom:

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http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
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