Grounds For Impeachment, Part 4: Don't Take My Word For It, Listen To What Prominent Liberals Also Think

The past week has been some pretty heavy stuff as we first spent three posts discussing the 61 reasons, lies, deceptions, incompetence, and failures that cannot be used to impeach President Obama and remove him from office. The first post in that three part series can be found at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/01/part-1-first-twenty-failures-of-obama.html

Then we spent another three days finding 59 examples of illegal behavior, lawlessness, and anti-Constitution behavior that are grounds for impeachment and removal from office. The first part in that three part series can be found at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/01/grounds-for-impeachment-part-1-obama.html

As I have mentioned numerous times in this blog, I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life and I have been of voting age since the 1970s. Until 2010, I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life. Thus, I do not think anyone could honestly accuse me of being a conservative or a Republican whose writing this past week is just a hatchet job, a politically motivated attempt to smear this President.

Regardless of what you think of myself, my views, and my writings relative to the disaster that I feel is the Obama Presidency, consider some views of citizens who certainly would not fall into the conservative/Republican political spectrum and how distressed they are about the Obama Presidency:

Nat Hentoff was a journalist and columnist for “The Village Voice,” for over five decades. The Village Voice has been around for a very long time, it is a New York City periodical that tends to lean liberal and left in its writing and tone. The article I read about Mr. Hentoff stated that he is often portrayed as the “conscious” of liberalism. Mr. Hentoff is also portrayed as an authority on the Bill of Rights and Supreme Court cases

Apparently, Mr. Hentoff, despite his long time liberal credentials and leanings, did not like Obama from the start, writing a column shortly after Obama’s first election where he warned us of the impending damage Obama might to do to the nation. He said the President “was going to be the most destructive, dangerous president we’ve ever had.” 

Five years later, this liberal seems to have hit the nail right on the head, believing that Obama is the most dangerous and destructive president America has ever had:

• “He’s [Obama] in a position now where he feels he can do whatever he wants to do.” 
• “He’s the boss and hardly anybody cares enough to stop him.”
• “He doesn’t seem to think to give one damn about the separation of powers.”
• “This is the worst state, I think, that our country has ever been in.” 
• “Never before in our history has a president done these things.”
• “Even worse [the state of the country today] than Woodrow Wilson’s regime, when people could be arrested for speaking German.”
• “What Obama is doing now is about as un-American as you can get.”

Needless to say, Mr. Hentoff appears to support the impeachment of President Obama despite his liberal background and leanings.

Wikipeida says Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator and political activist. He has been a long time critic of U.S. foreign policy, U.S. military forays, and generally has been considered a left/liberal leaning citizen and political activist. 

In a recent interview published on the Alternet website, he also comes down hard on the danger and lawlessness of Obama:

• “I personally never expected anything of Obama, and wrote about it before the 2008 primaries. I thought it was smoke and mirrors. The one thing that did surprise me is his attack on civil liberties. They go well beyond anything I would have anticipated.”
• “What it is is the same kind of commitment to expanding executive power that Cheney and Rumsfeld had. He kind of puts it in mellifluous terms and there's a little difference in his tone. It's not as crude and brutal as they were, but it's pretty hard to see much of a difference.”
• “It's an enormous expansion of executive power [NSA spying on citizens]. I doubt that they can do much with this information that's being stored.”
• “It's interesting to see the way in which due process is being reinterpreted by Obama's Justice Department in regards to the drone killings. Attorney General Eric Holder was asked why the administration was killing people without due process. Well, there was due process, he said, because they discuss it within the executive branch. King John in the 13th century would have loved that.”
• “Obama's Attack on Civil Liberties Has Gone Way Beyond Imagination.”
• “President Obama promised to have the most “transparent administration” in the history of our nation. Methinks this should go down as another one of Obama’s famed lies — and there are many. As ESPN college football commentator Lee Corso would say, ‘Not so fast my friend.’” 

Mr. Chomsky will never be mistaken for a neo-con Republican or anything close to that politically. However, he also recognizes the danger and illegality of the Obama administration.

According to a recent report in Politico, the left leaning, Obama cheerleading liberal New York Times apparently has at least one executive who is also upset and very concerned about the anti-Constitutional behavior of Obama. New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson is quoted by Politico that President Obama’s White House is the “most secretive White House” that she’s covered during her long tenure as a political journalist:

• “I spent 22 years of my career in Washington and covered presidents from President Reagan on up through now, and I was Washington bureau chief of the Times during George W. Bush’s first term.” 
• “The Obama administration has had seven criminal leak investigations. That is more than twice the number of any previous administration in our history. It’s on a scale never seen before. This is the most secretive White House that, at least as a journalist, I have ever dealt with.”
• “I would think that it [“it” being did Obama know the massive government spoying was going on] would have to. I don’t know that, but certainly enough attention has been focused on this issue that, if he departed from the policies of his government, I think we’d know that at this point.” 

In support of Ms. Abramson’s observations, the Politico article also dug up an older quote from the Times Editorial Board that was published earlier in 2013:

The Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news.

So even if you do not believe me and my 59 reasons why there are more than sufficient grounds for the impeachment and removal from office of President Obama, consider that the “conscious of liberalism,” a famous long time left leaning political activist, and some high ranking executives of the New York Times are pretty much in alignment with my conclusions:

“Never before in our history has a president done these things.”

“Obama's Attack on Civil Liberties Has Gone Way Beyond Imagination.”

“It’s on a scale never seen before. This is the most secretive White House that, at least as a journalist, I have ever dealt with.”

“The Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news.”

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

January, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 1: Obama's Lies Of The Year, NASA's Wasteful Earthbound Spending, ESPN's Tax Breaks, and More

It is the start of another month which means another round of reviewing all forms of political class insanity from the American political class. We have spent the last week reviewing the myriad of ways that the politicians in this country waste our hard earned wealth on insanely stupid and unnecessary programs and projects. We have spent the middle of the past four months discussing the worst piece of legislation ever written by Washington, Obama Care, and its reign of terror. Over the next few days we will be reviewing general political class insanity in all of its forms.

1) The Bankrupting America website documented some of the latest stupid and wasteful spending from the NASA organization:

• $18,000 to study what happens when 20 individuals spend 70 consecutive days in bed.
• $3 million for a seminar hosted with Georgetown University on how Congress works.
• $390,000 to develop a comic superhero to teach children about the climate change.
• $125,955 to build a 3D pizza printer.

Not only are these stupid expenditures but one has to wonder why NASA of all organizations is trying to find out how Congress works or are worried about teaching kids about climate change. I could have answered their questions a lot more cheaply: 1) Congress does not work and 2) climate change is still open to scientific debate and question.

2) We have reported on many, many shameful instances of the American political class giving unneeded corporate welfare tax breaks and dollars to major corporations. Auto and bank bailouts. Insurance company perks via Obama Care. Marketing dollars for foreign and domestic marketing activities (e.g. the Ex-IM Bank which caters almost solely to Boeing’s aircraft customers).

To this list of corporate welfare recipients, the New York Times recently did an investigative piece on how well ESPN, the premier sports network has worked state level politicians for unneeded tax breaks and benefits:

• With nearly 100 million households paying about $5.54 a month for ESPN, regardless of whether they watch it, the network takes in more than $6 billion a year in subscriber fees alone every year before counting advertising revenue and other sources of revenue. 
• However, ESPN has received about $260 million in state government tax breaks and credits over the past 12 years.
• These figures were compiled by a New York Times analysis of public records. 
• Included in these tax breaks is $84.7 million in development tax credits for a film and digital media program and savings of about $15 million a year after the network successfully lobbied the state of Connecticut for a tax code change in 2000.

Seems everyone gets tax breaks in this country now except for the people that actually pay the bulk of the taxes. Pathetic waste of taxpayer wealth and an insult to those that pay for these tax breaks to unworthy and wealthy corporate welfare recipients.

3) We have been fighting in Afghanistan for over ten years. We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars and lost thousands of lives of our brave armed forces. However, the Associated Press reported on December 25, 2013 that the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Kabul was hit by at least two Taliban rocket or mortar rounds before dawn on Christmas. So much spent and after more than ten years we have not even secured the capital of the country from attacks. 

Pathetic leadership, pathetic strategic thinking, wasteful use of valuable human and financial resources for nothing in return by the Washington political class, spread over two Presidential administrations.

4) The following insanity is both a good news and a bad news story. According to a Newsmax report from December 17, 2013, a $2.8 million fraud by Florida welfare recipients was busted in a two-year sting by law enforcement authorities that is expected to bring more than 60 arrests. The sting operation was operated by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Sixty-one arrest warrants had been issued, with 21 people arrested so far and facing federal charges, Bradshaw said.

The sting operation was called "Operation Money Tree" and it was started after a grandmother called authorities when she learned that the father of her granddaughter traded his electronic food stamp card for money instead of buying groceries for her granddaughter, authorities said.

The cards were allegedly traded at a small grocery store in Palm Springs, authorities told WPTV. The clerks at that store would give the suspects cash and keep half the profits for themselves. For example, if a food assistance welfare recipient sought $100, the clerk would charge $150 to the card — handing the cash over the suspect, authorities said. 

The good news is that finally someone in the government at some level is doing something about the rampant fraud and taxpayer ripoffs in government welfare programs, ripoffs that waste tens of billions of dollars every year. The bad news: these types of operations should be going on every day in every state and at every level of government to protect taxpayer assets from criminal fraud.

The sting operation brought some high tech tools into play that the article estimates will save just the state of Florida over $60 million a year. It can be done, we just do not have the politicians in office that have the time, smarts, and desire to fix what robs taxpayers.

5) The Washington Post has always been a strong advocate, and many cases protector of President Obama and his administration. Thus, when they attribute three of the biggest lies of 2013 to the President, you have to assume they were whoppers and not open for being biased. 

In fact, as we have previously reported, the Post named one of the President’s lies as the biggest lie of the year in 2013, namely the falsehood that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” under Obama Care. The following were the three lies from the President in the Post’s annual “Biggest Lies of the Year Analysis” from their website along with their justification for their putting the lie in their top ten:

“If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it.” This memorable promise by President Obama backfired on him when the Affordable Care Act went into effect and millions of Americans started receiving cancellation notices. As we explained, part of the reason for so many cancellations is because of an unusually early (March 23, 2010) cut-off date for grandfathering plans — and because of tight regulations written by the administration. This was our most popular fact check of the year — and Obama’s pledge also was also named PolitiFact’s “Lie of the Year.”

“The Capitol Hill janitors just got a pay cut” President Obama offered an evocative image at a news conference when the sequester struck – janitors sweeping the empty halls of the Capitol, laboring for less pay. But it turned out that he was completely wrong. Janitorial staff did not face a pay cut — and Capitol Hill administrative officials even issued a statement saying the president’s remarks were “not true.” Then the White House tried to argue that janitors at least faced a loss of overtime. That was not correct either. The episode was emblematic of the administration’s sequester rhetoric.

“The day after Benghazi happened, I acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism.” President Obama did refer to an “act of terror” in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attack, but in vague terms, wrapped in a patriotic fervor. He never affirmatively stated that the American ambassador died because of an “act of terror.” Then, over a period of two weeks, given three opportunities in interviews to affirmatively agree that the Benghazi attack was a terrorist attack, the president obfuscated or ducked the question. So this is a case of taking revisionist history too far for political reasons.

Given the Post’s previous Obama positive bias and the fact that it had no problem putting three of the President’s statements in their top ten lie list, including giving him the top spot for lie of the year, it makes it difficult to believe anything this President says or his administration spokespeople say going forward. 

The bond of trust has been broken when the integrity of someone’s lies are proven time and time again to be false and self serving. Makes it difficult to believe that anything good will come out of this administration going forward when most people will not believe anything it says.

And these three in the top ten lies do not include a bevy of other lies and falsehoods from the Obama administration:

• The targeting and destruction of the First Amendment rights of Tea Party citizens and organizations was not the result of “rogue” IRS agents out of the Cincinnati IRS office as was claimed.
• The Benghazi terrorist attack was not the result of an obscure video as was claimed repeatedly by Obama administration spokespersons, a lie they knew was false from the get go.
• The lies and coverups about how the Obama administration, via the National Security Agency, was not secretly collect mega amounts of communications data from EVERY American are too numerous to mention here.
• The Obama Care lies that did not make the top ten list could have included the false promises that if you like your current doctor you can keep it, if you like your current hospital options you could keep them, that the average American family will see an annual $2,500 drop in their health care premium costs, that the legislation will not add a single dime to the national debt, that the ten year cost of the legislation will be less than $900 billion, etc.

Lies, falsehoods, and deceptions, Hardly the type of behavior Americans expect and should receive from the leader of the nation. Insanity.

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

We are just getting warmed up. The insanity from the American political class, along with the lies, continues in a never ending stream of insanity and insults.

June, 2013, Political Class Insanity, Part 3: Dissing ESPN, Detroit Going Down, Chimps Living The Good Life, And More

This is the third in this month’s series on political class insanity. In the first two posts we learned that the Federal government has gotten so large that even when they try, the Washington politicians cannot catalog and track every Federal organization. We found out that the political class has spent money on a project to teach certain species of fish how to survive predator attacks. We have found out that the ATF was not able to secure a quarter of a ton of explosives that has recently been stolen by unknown robbers.

There were other instances of insanity and lunacy from the political class this past month and they can be found at:

http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-2013-poltiical-class-insanity-part.html

http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-2013-political-class-insanity-part.html

But we are not done, as the following insanity shows:

1) The country has a national debt of about $17 TRILLION. There are over 20 million Americans who are unemployed or under employed. A very small percentage of this year’s college graduates are finding a job in their field, if they can find a job at all. Our schools still under educate our kids and our lost war on drugs continues to empower and enrich violent drug cartels. The cost of a gallon of gas is up about 80% over the past few years.

The country faces a lot of dire issues but what is a leading, long time Senator worried about, according to a short blurb in the May 26, 2013 issue of the Tampa Bay Times? Senator John McCain is upset, and plans to take legislative action, because cable and satellite providers charge their customers for receiving ESPN broadcasts even if they do not watch ESPN.

The Senator wants to pass legislation that would unbundle cable and satellite program offerings so that those that do not want ESPN do not have to pay for ESPN. If you asked Americans what are the most pressing issues for themselves and their families, do we think that ESPN bundling would make the top fifty or top hundred? Horrible set of bad priorities.

It is becoming clearer and clearer that the reason these politicians work on these minor, idiotic issues is that they do not know how to fix the real issues that affect most of us. Rather than work on issues whose solutions constantly elude them, they work on stupid issues that they may be able to affect but which have little impact on the lives of most of us.

2) The Institute For Energy Research reported on a Department of Energy (DOE) report on its website on May 8, 2013:

• Remember that President Obama promised in 2008 to create 5 million “green jobs” by directing taxpayer wealth towards renewable energy companies and projects.
• These 5 million jobs would be created over a ten year period.
• However, the latest DOE report quantifies how that effort was going and the news was not good.
• Since 2009, the $26 billion that the DOE has given out in its alternative energy loan guarantee program has created….wait for it… a grand total of 2,298 jobs.
• This comes out to about $11.45 MILLION for each "green job" created.

Pitiful waste of taxpayer money. Even if the President was able to create 5 million jobs, at this rate the total cost to the American taxpayer would be over $57 TRILLION, more than three times the size of our current total national debt of $17 TRILLION.

But of course, at this rate, the President will never get close to 5 million “green jobs” in the next six years to meet his ten year goal. Just another example of politicians not having a clue on how economics works or how to be fiscally responsible with our hard earned money.

3) A May 13, 2013 Associated Press (AP) reported on how the inability of the American political class to understand economics or be financially capable may lead to the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States. The city of Detroit used to be the fourth largest city in the country. It used to have one of the highest per capita incomes of all cities in the country. But as the AP article points out:

• The first report by Detroit's state appointed emergency manager finds that the city is broke and at risk of running completely out of money.
• This would result in employees not getting paid, city worker retirees losing their pensions and current city residents seeing even deeper cuts in municipal services.
• The city’s net cash position, the amount of cash in its accounts after the bills are paid, was negative $162 million in late April.
• The current fiscal year’s budget deficit could be as high as $386 million even though just a few months ago it was thought to be only $327 million.
• The city’s long term debt is $14 billion.

Let’s be honest, the financials of the city are not likely to improve much unless it declares bankruptcy. The political class in Detroit has taken a proud city with a great financial future and destroyed it in less than fifty years.

4) Political class insanity is not unique to the United States.

One of the big whines of President Obama is that the wealthy in this country do not pay enough in taxes even though a very small percentage of Americans pay the overwhelming burden of Federal taxes. As we have claimed and proved many times in this blog, we do not have an under taxation problem in this country, we have a government over spending problem in this country.

The cause of our national debt, and the national debt of most countries in the world, is that governments spend too much money on non-effective and inane programs and projects. Such is the case in France, which in 2012 raised the top marginal tax rate to the insane level of 75%. In other words, French citizens whose incomes exceeds a certain level have to give the French government 75% of the amount they earned over that limit.

This nonsense, of course, has led to many wealthy French citizens to just simply leave the country to avoid this tax oppression, leaving the French government with less tax revenue than before the tax increase but the same amount of spending. A recent report from Reuters shows the insanity and the logical conclusion of this class warfare and tax the rich idiocy.

Due to a quirk in the law that raised the top marginal tax rate to 75%, more than 8,000 French households’ 2012 tax bills topped 100% of their annual income. Reuters said that the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a retro tax levy last year on 2011 incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3 million euros ($1.67 million).

Yes, the French political class is so insane and incompetent that it wants more than 8,000 of its citizens to give it over 100% of what those citizens actually earned in 2012. Even the American political class has not gotten that greedy or oppressive…yet.

5) Although not a great sum of money relative to overall annual Federal government spending, the following example from the Washington Guardian on February 9, 2013 is a great example of government spending that has gotten out of control over time.

According to the article from the Guardian, the National Institutes of Health, the government's medical research arm, is spending about $12 million annually to care for some chimpanzees that are currently and were formerly used for research,. This care is given to them in an animal retirement sanctuary in Louisiana.

Before going any further let me say I am for the humane care of all animals. It is probably a good bet that some of these chimps made contributions to society that were positive. They deserve to be treated well as they get older and are no longer needed for health related research.

However, in 2011, American taxpayers supported 713 animals at a cost of $11.6 million, according to NIH records. But in 2012, the price tag for their care rose to $12.4 million, even though NIH supported 40 fewer chimps at the sanctuary. Thus, the per chimp cost went up 13% in just one year, far beyond the rate of inflation.

But the cost rise pales in comparison to another measure. The $12.4 million annual cost is about half the annual cost to run the ENTIRE National Zoo in D.C. Something is wrong. Either the National Zoo is under funded and they do a remarkably efficient job or somehow the cost of running a chimp sanctuary in Louisiana is not being efficient.

Again, I am all for being humane to animals. But something is wrong when the cost of that humanity goes up more than six times the rate of inflation in one year and that cost is about 50% of the cost of operating a much larger government operation, the National Zoo. This is how government costs in any government organization gets out of control and how before you know it, we have a $17 TRILLION national debt.

Unfortunately, we are not done with the latest political class insanity. More to come 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:

http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Why Cancer and Washington Politicians Both Suck

Apologies first: I tried to find a better word than "Sucks" for the title but having observed the workings of the Washington political class over the years and having lost close friends, family, and parents to cancer, "Sucks" is the best description. I apologize if that offends any reader.

While out driving this morning I was listening to the local ESPN radio station. The main focus of the discussion that was underway was about the sports-related auctions they are running this week to raise money for the V Foundation. The V Foundation and ESPN have been strong partners since that night in 1993 when legendary college basketball coach Jimmy Valvano made one of the most inspiration speeches of all time.

At that time, Mr. Valvano, was valiantly fighting his own battle with cancer which he poignantly discussed at the 1993 ESPY Awards. That earth moving speech can be seen at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuoVM9nm42E

That night Mr. Valvano announced that, in cooperation with ESPN, a new cancer fighting foundation was being put in place to battle all forms of cancer. The ensuing V Foundation has been in operation since then and, according to  the foundation's last annual report, the organization has raised  $120 million in its fight against the scourge of cancer.

The great thing about the V Foundation is that 100% of all direct contributions to the fight and the net value of all fund raising events go to making financial support commitments to people, scientists, and doctors battling cancer. The noble mission of the organization is as follows:

Our Story

“Don’t Give Up . . . Don’t Ever Give Up!”®

Serving as the heartbeat of The V Foundation for Cancer Research, formed by ESPN and Jim in 1993, his words throughout the ESPY speech have never been more meaningful. After being diagnosed with cancer at the young age of 46, Jim dreamed of finding cures for cancer. Passionate and committed, he wanted to see his fight through to victory. As a former coach, he began to recruit his team of family and friends to lead the Foundation in his quest to eradicate the disease.

As a cancer patient, Jim recognized the need to invest in young physician/scientists to help establish their careers—after all, someone had invested in him early in his career! Addressing the need to help early-career cancer investigators develop into promising future research talents was the first goal of the Foundation. The V Scholar concept was developed in 1994 to address that need. Today, this highly respected award is eagerly sought by young physician/scientists at the nation’s leading cancer centers.

As with any patient, Jim discovered first-hand how slowly science progresses from the lab to the patient’s bedside. He wanted faster solutions, more progress and better answers. Eight years after his death, The V Foundation announced its Translational Research Grants, designed to accelerate laboratory findings with the goal of benefiting patients more quickly.

Although Jim lost his battle with cancer less than two months after delivering the ESPY speech, his dream of a cure lives on through research grants bestowed in his name. The V Foundation has awarded more than $90 million to more than 100 facilities nationwide and proudly awards 100% of direct donations and net event proceeds to cancer research.

A relatively young organization, The V Foundation has a strong presence in the scientific community. The Foundation is guided by an elite, all-volunteer Scientific Advisory Board who recommends the research projects funded. This Board is comprised of top physicians and research scientists from prominent universities and cancer centers throughout the country. Working with this team of talented professionals, we are proud to carry out Jim’s vision for the future.

Jim’s dream of finding a cure for cancer is one shared by millions. Although we have not yet achieved this goal, every day we get a little bit closer and will continue to honor his inspiring words, “Don’t Give Up . . . Don’t Ever Give Up!” ®

Please consider making a financial donation to this wonderful organization at the following link:

https://secure3.convio.net/jimmyv/site/Donation2?idb=1315255878&df_id=2863&2863.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=7lkr1471y2.app304b

Which gets us to the political class portion of our discussion today. The V Foundation has done wonderful work in raising $120 million over the past twenty years or so and getting that money to the front lines to battle cancer. But let's put this Herculean effort of the V Foundation in context of how much our politicians in Washington waste away EVERY WEEK OF EVERY YEAR:

• According to nonpartisan, knowledgeable sources, the Federal government wastes between $70 and $90 billion a year in just the Medicare program, losing that much via wasteful spending, inefficiency, and criminal fraud. Using the lower $70 million estimate, we can easily calculate that the Federal government wastes 11 times more EVERY WEEK OF EVERY YEAR via Medicare than what the V Foundation has raised in twenty years.
• According to nonpartisan, knowledgeable sources, the Federal government wastes between $40 and $60 billion a year in just the Medicaid program, losing that much via wasteful spending, inefficiency, and criminal fraud. Using the lower $40 billion estimate, we can easily calculate that the Federal government wastes 6 times more EVERY WEEK OF EVERY YEAR via Medicaid than what the V Foundation has raised in twenty years.
• Earlier this year we reported that the Federal government wastes about $17 billion a year in just one of its national unemployment programs, losing that much via wasteful spending, inefficiency, and criminal fraud. Using the $17 billion estimate, we can easily calculate that the Federal government wastes 3 times more EVERY WEEK OF EVERY YEAR via just one of its unemployment programs than what the V Foundation has raised in twenty years.
• Our most popular post ever by this blog reported on how the U.S. Navy used $300 million to build two new, state-of-the-art Navy supply ships. The Navy then decided these new ships were no longer needed and incurred another $10 million to turn these new, unused ships into scrap metal. This one time wasteful spending of this $310 million of taxpayer money is more than two and a half times what the foundation has raised in twenty years.
• Earlier this week we reported on the latest farm bill passed by the U.S. Senate, a farm bill which included $190 million in annual taxpayer funded tobacco subsidies. This annual subsidy to an industry that has a direct causal link to cancer is 58% larger in one year than what the V Foundation raised in twenty years.

We could go with other examples of political class waste but you get the idea. Many people are working hard to support the fine efforts and successes of the V Foundation while our political class in Washington dwarfs their fundraising effort by unnecessarily wasting tens of billions of dollars every year, giving back nothing in return to the American public.

Imagine what good could be done to benefit most American families, the majority of which have already faced cancer or will have to face cancer at some point in the future, if the political class had the brains, courage, will, and unselfishness to trim just a fraction of this wasteful spending and divert it to wonderful and productive organizations such as the V Foundation. Just imagine.

Step 1 and Step 4 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" outlines a process for doing just this. Rather than allowing our tax dollars to go to criminals and criminal organizations that feast on the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of Federal programs, Step 1 and Step 4 calls for the reduction in waste and spending and the diversion of the fruits of that effort into fighting cancer and several other major diseases of our times.

These Steps would certainly be a better service to Americans than subsidizing the tobacco industry, building Navy ships for no reason, etc. I know that other fine organizations are also fighting cancer and they are also worthy of  our support. I only wish that someone in Washington would finally do some real work, set the right priorities, and stop wasting our taxpayer dollars on priorities that have nothing to do with saving American lives.

While the V Foundation has done so much, as have other organizations, it is so sad that so much more could be done if only we had real, unselfish leadership running the Federal government instead of fake, selfish, and self enriching politicians.

Again, the link to donate and support the V Foundation efforts is the following:

https://secure3.convio.net/jimmyv/site/Donation2?idb=1315255878&df_id=2863&2863.donation=form1&amp



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 http://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/