October, 2014 Part 2 Political class Insanity: Idiocy At Homeland Security, Dead Veterans Calling the VA, Failed Econmic Policies and More

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time to check in with the American political class to see what insanity they have wrought over the past month or so. It is always amazing to follow the exploits, quotes, and actions of our politicians and the government entities they operate to see how often idiocy, incompetence, and heartbreak are almost always the output from their actions.

We started dong these updates several years ago, usually taking one or two days every month to get all of their insanity covered. Unfortunately, over time, the insanity has seemed to accelerate almost exponentially, causing us to now have to take six or seven posts each month to get it all in. This month will be no different. As our foreign policy implodes, the economy stagnates, and the midtem elections approach, the insanity levels are intensifying daily.

To check out past instances of political class insanity in this post, simply go to the first week of each month and check out the posts that begin, “Political class insanity.” For the latest insanity that we started reviewing yesterday, read on:

1) The Washington Examiner had an article by Becket Adams on September 24, 2014 that showed that the current set of Congressional people were on track to be the least productive Congress in the past six decades, as measured by passing the fewest pieces of legislation into law. Given that Congress has granted itself an almost two month holiday and will not return to Washington until the end of the second week in November, it is highly unlikely they will go on a tear and start passing a bunch of legislation that is either enacted or is effective.

The legislation they did pass and enact comes out to only 165 bills, of which 21 one of them simply renamed a government or post office facility. The historical number of laws enacted over the past sixty years looks like the following:

Now there are a number of valid ways to look at this chart:

• Given that the current members of Congress are incapable of resolving any of the major issues facing American today, maybe it is a good thing that they are the least productive in that anything they do enact (e.g. Obama Care, Dodd-Frank, etc.) have been an absolute disaster in so many ways.
• Now while Nancy Pelosi blamed Republicans for shutting down House of Representatives activities five days sooner than usual, it is doubtful that five days would have made any difference in this Congressional period of incompetence.
• Plus, Ms. Pelosi failed to mention that the House Of Representatives has sent over 350 passed pieces of legislation over to the Senate for consideration of which each one has been blocked by Democrat Harry Reid from even being considered in the Senate. Thus, maybe the fault lies in the past two years of blockage by the Senate and Reid, and not a meager five day shortening of House time.

Personally, I am glad they do not pass many bills, their actions when the do act usually means less money in my pocket and less freedom in my life. Which is sad when you consider that we want our elected officials to do the least amount of work as possible in order to minimize their damage rather than maximize the benefits to the nation.

2) Since the Great Recession began, the Federal government has put in place the following unprecedented programs:

1. It spent over $800 billion on a failed economic stimulus package.
2. Via the Federal Reserve Board, it has kept interest rates at historically low levels for a historically long time.
3. The Fed has also pumped several trillion dollars into the economy via its quantitative easing programs.
4. Additionally, the country has been experiencing an energy boom driven by new technology that should have made economic growth easier by reducing energy costs for every American.

If we had a competent political class that knew anything about economic policy and strategies, these four conditions should have seen an economic boom for all Americans over the past four years. Instead, the incompetence in economics in Washington has led to the following realities, as outlined in a recent U.S. Senate report:

• An amazing and depressing statistic shows that nearly one out of every four Americans aged between 25 and 54, usually prime career and working years, is currently without a job in this country.
• This comes out to 28.9 million Americans who are not employed, paying taxes, supporting their families, or saving for their retirement, despite the four economic drivers listed above.
• These tens of millions of mostly able bodied Americans have either became so discouraged that they left the labor force entirely, or they are in the labor force but unemployed. 
• Amazingly, this huge group of non-employed Americans is more than 3.5 million larger than before the recession began in 2007, again, despite the four epic economic drivers listed above.

Only in Washington can the political class slash interest rates, waste $800 billion on something falsely called an economic stimulus program, and print trillions of new dollars to flood the economy and still come up with no sustainable or recognizable economic growth. Pathetic.

3) The following piece of insanity is truly depressing and pathetic. It has been no secret that the Veterans Administration (VA) has done a horrible job providing medical care to our veterans. Veterans have died waiting for care or having their treatments or doctor appointments secretly postponed so that VA executives could hit their numbers and collect their large bonuses.

This tyranny and disregard for life was dramatically demonstrated recently when the family of a U.S. Marine veteran is demanding answers after VA records indicated that their son had canceled a VA appointment….. four days after his death. Corporal Jordan Buisman died on Nov. 26, 2012 while waiting for an appointment with a VA doctor in Minneapolis. 

According to a TV news investigation by station KARE, the VA records indicate that Buisman called to rescheduled his appointment on Nov. 30 even though he had died four days earlier.

Apparently, two former VA employees filed a whistle blower complaint with the VA’s Inspector General’s office, claiming they were instructed to falsify records to make it appear that veterans were cancelling or delaying appointments. They say the practice allowed VA managers to cover up long appointment delays.

Both of the female whistle blowers claim they were fired after they objected to fraudulent VA practices such as this. They are legally contesting their. In addition to this scandal of unilaterally cancelling the corporals’ doctor’s appointment, his mother claims that her son had tried to make an appointment with a neurologist for a seizure disorder and had already been waiting 70 days before he passed away: "If he had been seen sooner or expeditiously, he would have possibly still been alive. The expert gave him more than a 50% chance of still being alive today had he seen a doctor right away," she said.

So, not only did he die because the VA could not provide timely medical support, a saga that is happening all to often, but the VA added insult to a fatal injury by claiming he himself cancelled the long awaited appointment while dead.

4) One last piece of Washington insanity today and it is a doozy. When you read the following, ask yourself the following question: in what alternative reality do people like this clueless government bureaucrat live in to think that his logic makes any sense in the real world.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson recently testified at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing that granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens already in the United States could encourage terrorists among them to come out of the shadows: “From my homeland security perspective, I want people who are living in this country undocumented [meaning they are here illegally] to come forward, to get on the books, and subject themselves to a background check so that I can know who they are…” 

So in his world and reality, terrorists, cartel members, criminals, child molesters, rapists, murderers, etc. who are here illegally will identify themselves to legal authorities such as the Department of Homeland Security once amnesty is granted? How insane is that outlook on life? 

This is the man, who holds a Cabinet secretary position in the federal government, who is entrusted with the security of our continental United States, who actually believes if we grant amnesty, criminals and terrorists will “come out of the shadows” and submit themselves to a background check! How did this guy ever get nominated for his position, never mind confirmed by Congress?

At least one member of Congress at the hearing did voice some sanity at these incredible naive remarks. Congressman Lou Barletta was apparently also incredulous at hearing Johnson’s testimony: “Do we honestly believe that any would-be terrorist or criminal or drug dealer is going to come forward to have a criminal background check done on them? They’re going to continue to remain underground. Nobody with a criminal record is going to come forward.” 

This incredible insanity and idiocy can be viewed at the following link which has the testimony cited above:

http://allenbwest.com/2014/09/head-homeland-security-granting-amnesty-will-encourage-terrorists-come-forward-friggin-kidding/

That is enough insanity for today, more to follow over the next couple of days. Unfortunately, you cannot make this stuff up: a high ranking government official expecting terrorists and criminals to turn themselves in, dead veterans calling in to cancel their VA appointments, failed economic policies, and a useless and non-productive Congress. Varied and different and all pathetic.

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

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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