Every month we devote multiple posts to this insanity and never seem to be able to catch up with it all. The first post in this month's update can be accessed at:
1) Althougth most of the political class insanity we cover is focused on the idiocy coming out of Washington, local and state political class politicians also do their best to waste money and spend their time on idiotic priorities. Consider recent shenanigans and bad priorities of the state government in New York.
The New York State Assembly recently approved legislation that would prevent people from getting close enough to big cats to snap photos with them. Apparently so-called tiger selfies photos are big on some dating sites and apps such as Tinder, Hinge, and OKCupid. Apparently, some people think that having their picture taken with a tiger will help them land a better date and mate.
Our schools continue to under educate our kids, drug abuse is still a large problem, state government budgets are in need of tightening and better prioritization, and probably a whole other set of problems exist in New York state that are more pressing, more widespread, and more important than addressing the idiots who take pictures of themselves with live and dangerous tigers and lions. If you are too stupid as an adult to get too close to a wild feline than the consequences should be yours to bear, not a problem with the state government who should be working on far more important issues.
2) To show you how bad our priorities are relative to politicians in this country, consider the fact that a non-politician, Hillary Clinton, will be getting $225,000 to speak at a university fundraiser later this year. Thus, for one NIGHT of likely boring and self centered discussion, she will make more than eight times what the average U.S. family makes in one YEAR.
I am sorry, but I know of no current living human being who is worth almost a quarter of a million dollars to hear speak. There is nothing that one person could tell me in that one night that is worth close to that amount of money. So many more Americans could be so much better served than paying her $225,000 for one night. My gosh, she and her husband are worth well over $100 million so she certainly does not need the money.
For example, students at the same school, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, have recently been outraged that the institution is raising tuition by a whopping 17%. These tuition raises have outpaced the rate of inflation, causing more students to graduate in debt. In Nevada, the average college student graduates with nearly $20,000 in loan debt.
Although small relative to the bigger loan debt problem, maybe that $225,000 would be better spent on helping those students get what the university is supposed to be providing, a good, solid, and cost effective education rather than pandering to just another would be politician with a quite unremarkable resume.
3) The scandal and murders at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were horrible and probably were preventable, given the security warnings that had been identified prior to the terrorist attack that night almost two years ago. That attack should have served as a wake up call to the Federal government, specifically the State Department, that steps needed to be taken so that foreign diplomats and their staffs never faced such life threatening circumstances again.
It should have served as a wake up call but apparently it did not. Two years after Benghazi, embassy security at U.S. diplomatic posts around the world is still falling short. This is the conclusion of a new report on “Diplomatic Security” by the Government Accountability Office which shows that the security problem is still leaving U.S. personnel serving overseas at unnecessary risk. This is especially troubling since the rise of terrorist spin offs from Al Qaeda is rising dramatically.
Almost two years after Benghazi, the GAO found that the State Department:
- Lacked a fully developed risk management policy to coordinate these security activities.
- It was not clear to the GAO what standards apply to some facilities, and in others, it took eight years for standards to be identified.
- Overseas Buildings Operations tracks facilities in a database whose was found to have reliability issues.
- The Office of Diplomatic Security and Overseas Security Policy Board establishes security standards but those standards are not consistently applied.
- Diplomatic Security and the State Department Office of Inspector General’s assessment of vulnerabilities were not always accurate.
- Diplomatic Security’s data was also seen as unreliable.
- The State Department sometimes approves waivers for security protocols, those waivers are not always according to the rules and regulations.
4) For a good laugh, visit the following link:
There you will see one of the funniest and most pathetic video clips of Washington politicians ever. While celebrating the fifty year anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, Congressional leaders got up and joined hands while hilariously trying to sing the classic civil rights song, “We Shall Overcome.”
It is pretty obvious that most of them did not want to be that close to their political opponents to begin with but to have to hold hands with them is so….icky. It is like they are all back in kindergarten and are afraid they will get coodies from each other.
Pathetically funny and another example of how dysfunctional our political class has become when standing next to each other is obviously painful and indicative of why adult conversation and thoughtful compromises are impossible to pull off with this set of current politicians.
5) But most Americans do not have to view the video discussed in the above point to prove to themselves how inept our current politicians are. According to a recent poll of Americans by Gallup, Congress' approval rating has officially sunk to a 41-year low. Other dismal findings from the poll:
- Congress' current rating is also the lowest recorded for ANY institution tracked by the polling agency since 1973.
- Only 7% of respondents have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress.
- This is a three-point decline from 2013, when 10% of survey respondents said they had confidence in Congress as an institution.
- When Gallup first started gathering polling data on Congress in 1973, Congress enjoyed an approval rating of 42%.
- About one-third of poll respondents said they have “some” confidence in Congress, while about 50% said “very little” and 7% said “none.”
- Of the 17 major institutions tracked by Gallup over a 41-year period, Congress' current 7% approval rating is the lowest ever recorded by the polling group.
- “Confidence in Congress has varied over the years, with the highest levels in the low 40-percent range recorded in the 1970s and again in the mid-1980s. Confidence rose in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but has declined since 2004, culminating in this year's historic low,” Gallup reported.
- Gallup also found that three in four Americans have high confidence in the U.S. military with a total of 74% of survey respondents reported having a “great deal” or “quite a lot of confidence” in the military as an institution, while roughly 20% said they have “some” confidence.
As our insanity posts continually prove, we are stuck in a rut with those that control government operations. From politicians worried about low priorities tiger selfies or their own outrageous speaking fees, their inability to play nice with each other or protect our embassies around the world or resolve any issues that result in historically bad approval numbers, the need for term limits has never been clearer to make the insanity stop. You can help in that effort by visiting:
And joining the fight to stop political class waste, lunacy, and insanity. Until then, drop back tomorrow to see what more insanity is brewing in Washington and state capitals around the 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:
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:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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