May, 2016, Part 3, Political Class Insanity: Nobody Likes Clinton and Trump, Afghanistan Fail and More

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time again to review the latest political class insanity from the American political class. Each month it takes us multiple posts to cover the wasteful spending, incompetent government organizations and employees, government programs that usually make a problem worse than resolving it, inane and idiotic politician comments, etc. In fact, last month we set a record, needing ten full posts to cover it all.

To review past posts on this insanity and idiocy, just click on the first few posts in each month listed to the right of this page. After reviewing just a handful of these insanity posts we think you will agree that we are currently being served by the worst set of American politicians ever to hold office in our entire history.

It looks like our politicians have been especially insane over the past month or so let’s get started with the latest insanity from today’s American politicians:

1) As of the April 29, 2016 issue of The Week magazine, not one of the five remaining Presidential candidates, Trump, Kasich, Cruz, Sanders, or Clinton, was regarded favorably by a majority of those polled by a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Trump was the most disliked candidate with 65% of those polled viewing him unfavorably and only 24% viewing him favorably. 56% view Clinton unfavorably and only 32% view her favorably but that gap between the two measures is getting worse over time, doubling in the past month of that issue of The Week.

Bottom line: our political processes are so broken in this country that even the last standing candidates are viewed with disdain by the majority of Americans. Maybe it is time to change the processes since what we have now is obviously not working.

2) Staying with that same issue of The Week, an article in that issue reviewed how a Taliban truck bombing in the center of the Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, killed at least 64 people and wounded hundreds more. Many of those hurt and killed were women and children and other other civilians. At the same time of the bomb’s detonation, Taliban gunmen entered the government’s National Security Directorate building, that nation’s equivalent Secret Service organization, and began firing.

Thus, after more than a decade of supporting the war effort in Afghanistan, trillions of taxpayer dollars spent, and thousands of U.S. military personnel killed and wounded, this country still cannot stop a massive bombing within the capital’s city limits and a direct attack on what should be a secure branch of the government. From Bush to Obama, what a massive military, foreign affairs, and economic failure.

3) We often talk about how screwed up the country's tax code is today. It is long, cumbersome, impossible to police, and detrimental to economic growth. An article from The Atlantic, that was summarized in the April 29, 2016 issue of The Week magazine, outlined how out of the $4 TRILLION in profits that the top 50 American companies made from 2008 through 2014, $1 TRILLION of those profits have been left off shore in other countries to avoid paying the second highest corporate income tax rate in the world in the U.S. 

Imagine how much good $1 TRILLION would be for this economy if the political class actually had put together a coherent tax code that encouraged companies to invest in America rather than stranding a trillion dollars overseas, a trillion dollars that generate no taxes for the Federal government and create no incremental economic advantages for American workers. Insanity...with a lot of zeros attached to that dollar sign.

4) Staying with the same issue of The Week magazine, April 29, 2016, there was a synopsis of an article written by Malik Jalal for The Independent in England. Mr. Jalal claims that he is a member of the North Waziristan Peace Committee, a group of Pakistani tribal leaders that are trying to find peace among the warring parties in Pakistan, parties that include the Taliban. He claims that while his own government recognizes their mission and search for peace, the Obama administration has ruled them as a terrorist group aligned with the Taliban and has been trying to kill him with a series of drone attacks since he has been placed on a U.S. kill list.

As a result, multiple times U.S. drones have attacked him or what they thought was him with the following results:

• The first drone attack destroyed his car and injured his nephew who had borrowed the car while killing four innocent men in an adjacent vehicle.
• The next drone attack blew up a car similar to his, killing another four innocent Pakistanis.
• The next attack killed three more innocent victims.
• A fourth drone strike, aimed at tribal leaders, killed 40 people.
• 51 people killed without successfully killing the intended target.
• He also claims that U.S. drone attacks kill nine Pakistani children for every successful killing of an intended target. 

I have no idea if he is telling the truth. But if he is telling the truth, how much more insanity, wasted taxpayer wealth, and killing of innocent civilians will there have to be before the Obama administration takes a hard look at what looks like a horrible military and public relations program.

5) We always like to give equal time to corrupt politicians regardless of what level of government they serve. Natalie Johnson, writing for the Washington Free Beacon on May 3, 2016, helped us with that objective when she reported that former New York State Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver, was sentenced in Federal court to 12 years in prison on corruption charges. In addition, Silver will have to pay back $5.2 million in the money he stole and another $1.75 million in criminal fines.

He was found guilty of getting $5.2 million from his corruption activities over a two decade period. These illegal activities, from a legal perspective, involved honest-services fraud, extortion and money laundering. The good news is that he was caught and found guilty and will spend 12 years in prison. The bad news is why did it take 20 years to get him for his corruption. That’s the insanity of the whole situation.

6) Citizens Against Government Waste are an organization that identifies and shames wasteful government spending in Washington. Every year, they publish their annual”Pig Book” which documents the worse pork barrel spending and wasting of taxpayer money by the political class in Washington in the past 12 months. This year they added another feature to their website which documents their “Pork Of Shame,” some of their most egregious wasteful spending of taxpayer wealth. A few "Pork Of Shame" entrants include the following idiotic spending of Congress:

• $15 million for “wood utilization research.”
• $681,000 for one latrine at Fort Harrison.
• $77.2 million for bike paths.
• $10.1 million for peanut research.
• $7.3 million for grasshopper research.
• $1 million for a dinosaur exhibit at the LA Museum
• $273,000 to “combat Goth culture.”
• $3 million for the Alaskan “bridge to nowhere.”
• $350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.
• $16.1 million for brown snake research.
• $500,000 for the Sparta Teapot Museum.
• $1.8 million for “swine odor and manure management.”
• $948.6 million for Abrams tanks... that the Pentagon does not want or need.

The entire list can be seen at: http://cagw.org/reporting/pig-book/pig-book-timeline

Keep in mind, as we often remind readers, that while the Washington political class was spending real dollars and taxpayer wealth on these inane projects, millions of Americans were going hungry, were homeless, were drug addicted, were unemployed or were without proper health care, including thousands of our veterans. 

Now ask yourself if we really needed to spend $500,000 on a Teapot museum and not on these unfortunate Americans. 

Did we really need to spend over a quarter of a million dollars to combat a lifestyle choice, Goth, and not on on these unfortunate Americans? 

Shouldn’t people or industries of these vested interests, e.g. the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the pork industry, the peanut industry, etc., pay for their own interests and either let the taxpayers keep their own money or divert this vested interest money to the unfortunate Americans who need help.

Just another set of outrageously bad priorities in this country as forced on us by the political class. 

That will do it for today’s insanity. Bad spending priorities, political corruption, a potentially ineffective and inhumane drone military program, a stranded trillion dollars, failure in Afghanistan, and leading political figures that no one likes. You cannot make up this insanity, it is too gruesome and original. More tomorrow.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

April, 2012 Political Class Insanity - Part 2: Fannie Needs More Money, Food Stamp Nightclubbers, Unauditable Government And More

Yesterday we reviewed the latest political class insanity and idiocy from our politicians, as identified by Reason magazine over the past four weeks or so. Let's continue our march through the insanity today with a few more insanity tidbits from a variety of other sources:

- An article in the March16, 2012 issue of The Week magazine reported that Federal government mortgage giant Fannie Mae is asking the American taxpayer for another $4.6 billion to cover fourth quarter, 2011 financial losses. Including this latest request, the total taxpayer bailout of this dysfunctional entity is now more than $116 billion, less about $20 billion it has paid back in dividends.

Thus, on average, every American household has paid over $800 towards the financial solvency of this mismanaged government organization. This does not include the billions of dollars that have been used to bailout its sister organizations, Freddie Mac and the FHA, and does not include the future taxpayer bailouts that will be needed since the political class has been unable, unwilling, or incapable of finding a way to remedy the ills in all of these government functions.

- From the January 20, 2012 issue of The Week magazine, it was reported that undercover U.S. and Mexican anti-drug agents laundered millions of dollars for a Mexican drug lord after they had infiltrated the drug lord's organization. The money laundering was part of the undercover operation.

Unfortunately, after the agents laundered the money, they lost track of it. Sounds a lot like another sour Federal government drug sting when it allowed thousands of military weapons to illegally walk over the border into Mexico as part of the ill-fated "Fast And Furious" program. Unfortunately, those weapons have been used to kill U.S. Federal agents and innocent Mexican citizens while many of the weapons ended up in a drug cartel's arsenal. Seems like the Keystone Kops could do better undercover work than these Federal agencies.

- The Rose Supper Club in North Montgomery, Alabama is holding a series of Friday night promotions that allow anyone with a Federal food stamp debit card to pay a half price cover charge of $5. This debit card is part of the Federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which was designed to provide food support for Americans living at near-poverty levels.

Which raises the obvious insanity questions: if you are living so close to the poverty line that you require the American taxpayer to feed you, where did you get the money to go out clubbing at the Rose Supper Club? Shouldn't you be using that $5 dollar cover charge to buy some real food for yourself and your family? Wouldn't the money you will be spending for alcohol at the club be put to better use for your own food needs?

And the most important question of all: shouldn't the Federal government have people at the club to see who is actually abusing their food support from the American taxpayer and immediately take steps to 1) strip those people of their free ride and 2) prosecute them to cover past payments made to them?

- According to an April 2, 2012 Washington Post story: "The chief of the General Services Administration resigned, two of her top deputies were fired and four managers were placed on leave Monday amid reports of lavish spending at a conference off the Las Vegas Strip that featured a clown, a mind reader and a $31,208 reception.

The GSA Inspector General also found that:

• Federal conference spending guidelines and rules were substantially violated.
• The total cost of the conference was well over $800,000.
• This $800,000 figure including six "scouting" missions for the conference which ended up at an "opulent" hotel.
• It also included the misspending of $2,000 for a conference party.

The political class in Washington was quick to chime in with rightful condemnations. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) called the incident “a stupid and infuriating waste of taxpayer dollars.” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said it reflects the “waste that exists in a bloated Federal government.”

Unfortunately, if Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Issa, along with their peers in Congress, had actually been doing their committee jobs and Congressional oversight responsibilities, maybe the wasteful spending would not have happened in the first place.

- And finally, the last bit of insanity this month from the April, 2012 issue of Reason magazine. It seems that the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Federal government's audit experts, issue an annual report on the financial status of the Federal government. They issued their latest report in December, 2011 entitled, "Financial Report of the U.S. Government.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the government's financial and audit experts found the following situations present in the Federal government's financial operations:

• The report concluded that it could not render an overall opinion of the government's financial statements due to "widespread material internal control weaknesses, significant uncertainties, and other limitations."
• The agency cited three overriding problems with the government's financial statements including  poorly prepared consolidated financial statements, problems with tracking and accounting for transactions and balances among many Federal entities, and serious financial management problems with the Department of Defense that made its department's financial statements "unauditable."
• The report also concluded that the financial statements and tracking in the Social Security and Medicare organizations were also so bad the audit experts could not even come to a final opinion on the state of these organizations' financial situations.

The only firm conclusion that the GAO could develop was that "absent policy changes, the Federal government continues to face an unsustainable long term fiscal path." In other words, we are about to go over a fiscal insolvency cliff as a nation, the GAO just does not know where or when.

Let's review. The American taxpayer continues to unnecessarily fund dysfunctional Federal government mortgage and housing agencies and lavish government parties.

The American taxpayer continues to fund food stamp relief for people who have enough money to go nightclubbing, at least in Alabama.

The American taxpayer continues to fund incompetent drug war stings that lose the assets involved in the stings, whether it is weapons or laundered money.

The American taxpayer continues to fund Federal government operations that are an accounting disgrace, and no doubt wasting hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars a year due to inefficiency, waste, and criminal activity. To say that any government organization is "unauditable" is an embarrassment beyond belief.

And the worst insanity and idiocy of all, in the face of all the waste the political class and the government it runs incur on the taxpayers of this country, is President Obama's insistence that taxes go higher for many Americans. Until the government fixes Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA, stops wasting money on employee parties, tightens up the food support program, learns to run a tight sting operation, and actually has an accounting system in place that can accurately account for every single taxpayer budget dollar, no American should allow any politician to have a single additional penny of their hard earned wealth.

To not demand such accountability of the political class is the true insanity of our times and out lives.




"We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

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.

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.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment

Earmarks To The Right Of Them, Earmarks To The Left Of Them Into The Valley Of Waste Rode Every Politician Imaginable.

Today we do a take off on the famous Alfred Lord Tennyson work, "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" which contained the memorable lines "Cannon to the left of them, cannon to the right of them... into the valley of death rode the 600." Unfortunately, we have more than 600 politicians that constantly charge through the Valley of Waste.

We start today with reports out of California. Recall that the state government of California is about $20 billion short in its next fiscal budget. The LA Times has run a series of articles this week that tell how some state welfare recipients have been using their welfare debit cash cards not to buy food and clothing but to visit strip clubs and casinos where they then received cash from the ATM machines at those locations. The obvious conclusion is that the welfare money from those debit cards was then used as entertainment at either the strip club or casino where that ATM machine was located. The Times estimates that at least $4.4 million was cashed out using welfare debit cards at casinos and over $12,000 was used at strip club ATMs.

Now, it could be that somebody on welfare just happened to come across a needed ATM machine inside a casino or inside a Strip club and nothing nefarious went on. However, it is doubtful that nothing nefarious went on for over $4 million worth of cash outs. Second, this is the amount of fraud that state investigators have identified, how much more fraud of this type and other types are also going on in a state about to go bankrupt? The state is now blocking those ATMs at strip clubs and casinos from accepting welfare debit cards but obviously, a welfare recipient could almost as easily take cash out of their debit card in a local supermarket before going over to the strip club or casino, which would still constitute fraud. Another government program that sounds great on paper but as usual, gets fouled up in implementation, much like every other government program.

There is some good news on the fraud and waste front. Three people in the New Jersey state government have set up a website, "Report New Jersey Government Waste" (www.stopgovernmentwastenj.com) which allows state workers to identify waste, fraud and abuse within their own departments via an online form process. A person may remain anonymous if preferred. However, if their suggestion is implemented, they could be eligible for extra paid vacation days. An enhanced form of recognition in the form of cash is being considered but has not been funded yet.

The originators' strategy was based on a simple problem analysis (how quaint, politicians doing a root cause problem analysis!) and their conclusion that the front line government workers are the best source of information on wasteful government spending. Given that New Jersey is about $10 billion short relative to its next fiscal budget, these three New Jersey politicians (Caroline Casagrande, Declan O'Scanlon and Jennifer Beck) should be applauded for thinking out of the box relative to taming wasteful government spending. Or maybe, they read Page 5/Step 1 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" which proposed the exact same process for the Federal government.

No blog on government waste would be complete without a quick visit to my favorite website, www.cagw.org, the website for Citizens Against Government Waste. Every year they publish their annual "Pig Book" which categorizes and documents the thousands of wasteful spending items in the Federal government budget and who sponsored the waste. If Step 44 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" was implemented, almost all of these wasteful spending issues would go away since Step 44 would prohibit any Federal spending for any program or project unless it significantly impacted the lives of citizens form at least five states. If a program did not meet that criteria, the Federal government would leave the funding up to those states involved and the saved Federal tax dollars would be used to reduce taxes and the national debt.

Thus, in closing, just a smattering of wasteful spending form the "Valley Of Waste" known as the 2009 Federal budget, as documented in the 2009 Pig Book:

• $2.2 million for the state of New York's Center For Grape Genetics. Given that the New York wine and grape industry is worth about $6 billion, the Federal government should make New York state or the industry pay for the Center.
• $1.8 million for swine odor and manure management research in Iowa. I told you that Federal wasteful spending stinks. Let the people in Iowa cope with the smell or fund their own research.
• $866,000 for stable fly control in Nebraska.
• $1.8 million for a honey bee lab in Texas.
• $243,000 (and $12 million since 1995) for floriculture support in Hawaii even though the floriculture industry in that state is worth over $105 million. Obviously, the in state industry has enough pollen to cover the $243,000.
• $200,000 for the tattoo removal violence prevention program in California. Let's see, remove tattoos, violence goes down. I don't think so. Anyway, let California pay for it. Oops, they cannot because their money is being spent by welfare recipients in casinos and strip clubs.
• $800,000 for a New Jersey program to prevent malaria and dengue fever. Trust me, having lived in New Jersey most of my life, there is not an $800,000 malaria and dengue fever problem in that state.
• $5 million for lighthouse improvements at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Hey, if the Statue Of Liberty did not get any federal tax dollars for its improvement and restoration, the lighthouse at Apostle Islands should not get any either.
• $270,000 for the Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Study in Washington state. You cannot make this stuff up.
• $400,000 to save the Salisbury House in Iowa, home of cosmetics pioneer Carl Weeks. Same argument here relative to the Statue Of Liberty.

That's enough for today, the Valley Of Waste is wide and deep, we will ride into the Valley in the future whenever we want to get depressed.


Our new 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.

Also visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/