March, 2016, Part 2, Political Class Insanity: EPA Coverup, John Kerry Cluelessness, Hillary Does Black Voiceovers, 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.

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.

Let’s get started with the latest insanity from today’s American politicians:

1) I am sure many of you are already just as tired as me with all of the political tomfoolery going on from both Democrats and Republicans as it relates to the 2016 Presidential campaign. So many promises on how government is going to solve all of our problems, despite government, and the politicians and bureaucrats that operate it, having never resolved any major issue in the past five decades regardless of who is in office. 

But somehow the same people that got us into these problems, Clinton, Sanders, Rubio, Cruz, etc., are the very people that were in office when these problems went unresolved or were made worse. But somehow as President, they want us to believe that all of a sudden they have the magic elixir that they have been hiding to fix all of our problems.

But maybe Americans are finally figuring out that those who want to be President are not worthy of that office or any other government office. According to an article from Steve Ralston, writing for Joe The Plumber website on January 8, 2016, a recent Gallup poll found that:

• 69% of those polled said that “big government” is the biggest threat to America vs. “big business” and “big labor.”
• This feeling of disgust with government is strong the political spectrum with 88% of Republicans, 67% of Independents, and 53% of Democrats all believing big government is the biggest threat to the country.
• This is the second highest disgust level with big government in the 50 year history of the poll, second only to the 72% level from 2013.
• Back in 1985 only 50% thought that big government was the biggest problem.
• During the Obama Presidency, the average finding in the poll finding for big government being the biggest threat to the country has been 64% vs. 56% over the Bush Presidency.

So sad that Americans think government is so dangerous to their lives and their freedoms. But the article goes on to cite other polls that show further disgust with the political class:

• A related poll asked, “Is corruption widespread throughout the government in this country, or not?” which found that a whopping 75% of those polled believe it is. 
• That 75% finding is up substantially from the 67% level from 2007.
• Confidence in Congress is at a historical low of 8%. 
• 49% of those polled claim that government poses an immediate threat to rights and freedoms, up from just 30% in 2003.

So sad that our political processes have fallen so far that we view our government processes and those that operate it as corrupt and the main danger to our freedoms. Insane.

2) ISIS has become the most vicious, blood thirsty, and well financed terrorist group in the world. They regularly behead people for trivial reasons, they enslave and sell women and children, they throw homosexuals off of towers, stone women to death for the smallest things, and have carried out terrorist attacks around the world. They are bad, vicious, and dangerous.

So what is Secretary of State John Kerry doing to mobilize the world’s forces of good to contain and eradicate the ISIS threat? According to the LA Times, Kerry recently flew to LA to meet with Hollywood executives to discuss various topics including what to do with ISIS. Yes, the same people that gave us “Weekend At Bernie’s” are now consulting with the Federal government on how to combat ISIS. Rather than consulting with foreign governments and allies, military experts, our intelligence agencies, and Middle East experts, we are asking Hollywood for their views on combating terrorism. 

And even sadder, Kerry thought the meeting went great, uploading a photo of the meeting on Twitter, saying, "Great convo w studio execs in LA. Good to hear their perspectives & ideas of how to counter #Daesh [ISIS] narrative." The meeting included executives from NBCUniversal, Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and the Walt Disney Co. This is what passes for strategy in the Obama administration, Hollywood. Pathetically insane. 

3) We have not discussed the insanity emanating from the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign. If we did, between the Benghazi lies, the email server lies, the mishandling of top secret government documents lies, and a whole set of other Hillary lies, we could be writing 25 hours a day. However, we did pick out one HIllary episode that is particularly pathetic.

Chuck Ross writing for the Daily Caller on February 16, 2016, reported on how Hillary Clinton imitated an African-American stereotype voice. She was meeting with Al Sharpton, looking to get his endorsement for her Presidential effort. At the end of the meeting she commented, “My lips are sealed!” using a black stereotype accent. 

If you or I did such a thing in front of a liberal politician, we would likely be accused of racism. Hillary Clinton does it and everyone present laughs. Just another example of a politician telling us what to do while they do just the opposite. We are supposed to obey Obama Care but the Washington politicians break the law to subsidize their health insurance costs. We are supposed to give up our guns while they are protected by armed guards. We are supposed to be sensitive to other races while they can imitate the stereotypes of those races. Pathetic. 

To see Clinton’s racist voice over go to:

http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/16/ma-lips-ah-sealed-hillary-uses-black-accent-in-chat-with-sharpton/#ixzz411r70Eho

4) Staying with “do as I say and not as I do,” consider recent news regarding a massive coal mine spill in Colorado. Recall that the EPA screwed up a while ago and allowed a massive flood of pollution to pollute some pristine waterways in Colorado. If an American citizen had done even a fraction of that type of pollution, they would likely already be in jail. But since government employees committed the pollution act, no one has gone to jail.

In fact, a Congressional report recently found that two different Federal agencies published misinformation and inconsistent explanations of the Federal government’s role and incompetence in the Gold King Mine water contamination last summer. That contamination involved 3 million gallons of water polluted with mercury, arsenic, and other metals flowing into creeks and rivers near Silverton, Colorado.

Congressman Rob Bishop, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee stated that: “This report peels back one more layer in what many increasingly view as a pattern of deception on the part of the EPA and [Department of Interior].” The report concluded that explanations from the EPA and Department of Interior “offer shifting accounts of the events leading up to the spill and contain numerous errors, omissions, and inconsistencies, some of which are not attributable to error or incompetence alone.”

Errors, omissions, inconsistencies, errors, incompetence. Sounds like a typical government effort and operation. Unfortunately.

5) We pay the Federal government and the Washington political class billions and billions of dollars every year to protect our lives, our families, and our property. You would hope that being paid that much money would encourage those in charge to do the best job possible in providing that protection. And as always, hoping for hope from American politicians never works out.

Consider a recent article national defense by Sandy Fitzgerald, writing for the NewsMax website:

• A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official is on public record claiming that he was ordered by his superiors to purge records of people with ties to Islamic terrorists.
• The former official, Patrick Hanley, was recently quoted in an article by The Hill: "After leaving my 15-year career at DHS, I can no longer be silent about the dangerous state of America’s counter-terror strategy, our leaders’ willingness to compromise the security of citizens for the ideological rigidity of political correctness—and, consequently, our vulnerability to devastating, mass-casualty attack."
• Haney claims that the Obama administration has "engaged in a bureaucratic effort" to purge any raw material and intelligence that DHS has been gathering for years, leaving the United States more open to massive terrorist attacks.
• He also claims that, "Even worse, going forward, my colleagues and I were prohibited from entering pertinent information into the database," relative to an important terrorism case from several years ago.

So sad this this President cannot even say ”Islamic terrorism.” Now he is accused by a brave American of actually covering up Islamic terrorism links, evidence, and data. And it is not like Islamic terrorism is not present in our country today, considering just the following small examples of such:

1. Christmas Bomber case in 2009.
2. 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
3. Military installations attack in Tennessee in 2015.
4. Detroit “honor” killer Rahinm Alfatlawio in 2011.
5. Amine El Khalifi who plotted to blow up the U.S.Capitol in 2012.
6. Oklahoma beheading suus[ect Alton Nolen in 2014.
7. Recent San Bernardino shooting.

Maybe if the DHS had been allowed to their the jobs they are paid to do and not inhibited by the Obama administration, these plots and actions might have been foiled earlier and American lives saved. Just saying.

So, today’s insanity includes the Obama administration intentionally making it difficult to capture terrorists, Hillary Clinton doing her best stereotypical black woman voice imitation, EPA coverups, John Kerry being...John Kerry, and Americans increasingly afraid of their own government. More insanity 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

October, 2014 Part 3 Political Class Insanity: Sex For Cougars, Art For Walls, A Least Productive Congress 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.” this is the third entry in this series for this month, with the first two posts appearing over the past two days. For the latest insanity, read on:

1) Recently we discussed the reality that this Congress is on track to enact the fewest piece of legislation than any other Congress over the past 60 years. With all of the major issues facing the country today (e.g. failing public schools, a lost war on drugs, terrorism, leaky borders, etc.), this Congress has done nothing to alleviate those crisis and improve the lives of Americans.

And how much do they get paid for basically doing nothing except taking extended vacations? The Heritage Foundation recently published some interesting and depressing numbers in this area, courtesy of writer Romina Boccia: 

• At a base salary of $174,000, members of Congress make more than 95: percent of American income earners. 
• They earn more than three times what the median U.S. household earns.
• Once their generous benefits are added on top of their high salaries, total Congressional compensation comes out to $286,000 per year. 
• To add insult to injury, one member of Congress argued recently even this generous compensation level wasn’t enough and that members of Congress also should get a housing stipend.

Good work if you can get it. Especially when you do very little to deserve it. This is no more evident in the Congressional budgeting process for the Federal government. Or the supposed budgeting process. According to Heritage, when it comes to passing annual spending bills, members of Congress have not accomplished that in full and on time since 1997. 

Amazing, for the past eighteen years, Congress has failed to execute its primary mission in life, pass a comprehensive, timely and effective budget, regardless of which party controlled what parts of Congress. When you have a flawed budgeting process in life you usually end spending more than if you had budgeted in a timely manner and with attention to detail. 

This may explain why our national debt has ballooned to an amazing $18 TRILLION since 1997, we have had no budget process in operation to contain out of control spending. It certainly explains the reality that at $286,000 a year, the 535 members of congress are grossly overpaid relative to performance.

2) Since the Obama administration has come into office:

• The number of Americans receiving food stamps has increased by about 50% despite the fact that we are many years away from the end of the last recession, a sad commentary on the economic ignorance of Washington politicians.
• Currently about 46.5 million Americans get government food assistance every month.
• 46.5 million people is almost equal to the entire population of Spain.
• It is equivalent to 71% of the French population and 76% of the Italian population.
• 46.5 million people would fill Yankee Stadium about 925 times, according to data from the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

So if the economy is doing so great, how come there are still over 46 million Americans in need of food assistance? Or is the program so corrupt that there are millions or tens of millions of people ripping off the government and taxpayers every month? 

In either case, this is either a major break down of government efficiency or just another example that shows Washington politicians have no idea how to implement economic policies that encourage economic growth and less dependence on government assistance.

3) California is in really bad financial shape. They are facing billions and billions of dollars in future debt obligations, they have had trouble balancing their state budgets over at least the past decade, their school systems need more financial support, etc. So what are their politicians considering doing in the Los Angeles area?

According to an article from the Heritage Foundation written by Kelsey Harris, citing the Wall Street Journal, state politicians and special interest groups are potentially going to allocate upwards of $10 million to build a dedicated freeway overpass that would allow wild cougars to travel and mate more safely. Yes, $10 million to help cougars find mates.

How many more teachers could be hired in the L.A. area for $10 million? How more homeless could be fed and sheltered for $10 million? How much more debt on future taxpayers could be avoided for $10 million? Horrible set of priorities if a cougar driven freeway overpass is even being discussed as a use for taxpayer money.

4) The Independent Journal Review and writer Jim Bogash reported some distressing and disgusting news relative to the Boston Marathon bombing victims. Apparently, according to Federal law, these victims do not have to be paid any insurance money because the parameters of what defines a terrorist attack under Federal law were not met.

You might ask how can this be since even the President said: “Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians it is an act of terror.” Sounds pretty straightforward, “an act of terror.” But wait, he did not say “terrorism,” and that is the glitch.

It seems that the Treasury Department has not deemed the bombings as an act of terrorism, as per the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was passed after the 9/11 attacks. It is a federally-administered and underwritten insurance program for terrorism-caused damage, designed to compensate policy owners in the event of a man-caused disaster.

Twenty-two Boston-based companies carried that insurance and for insurance pay-out purposes, the attacks have not been classified as acts of terror. The law’s says that insurance losses must exceed $5 million to be certified as terrorism, and so far only $1.9 million in claims have been issued relative to the Boston bombings. The reality that terrorists blew up bombs, killed people, maimed people, and caused damage is not enough to make the bombings an “act of terrorism.” The dollar threshold was not met.

Thus, according to Washington, and to the relief of the insurance companies, blowing up Americans in a major American city, resulting in deaths and maiming, is not terrorism. Unbelievable.

5) One last piece of insanity for today. Keep in mind that millions of Americans are hungry and homeless, untold numbers of veterans are not getting enough medical care, the Federal deficit is about $18 TRILLION, and annual Federal government deficit spending is still about half a trillion dollars a year.

Which is why spending half a million dollars on artwork for the San Diego’ San Ysidro Land Port of Entry is a tragic waste of money.

The Weekly Standard recently ran an article that described how the U.S. General Services Administration has paying $500,000 in estimated art commissions for Phase 3 of a $735 million project to renovate and expand the busiest land port in the western hemisphere. The taxpayer funding for the art commission comes from the GSA’s “Art in Architecture” program. The program reserves “one-half of one percent of the estimated construction costs for each new federal building” for pieces of art.

Thus, this is not an isolated waste of half a million dollars. There is an actual formula to use to divert taxpayer dollars into decorations for new construction. On the GSA’s website, there is a justification for the program, saying the program intends to facilitate “meaningful cultural dialogue between the American people and their government,” by installing permanent works of art in Federal buildings throughout the country.

How about we bypass the “meaningful cultural dialog” and feed our hungry, shelter our homeless, treat our addicted, or just stop wasting taxpayer money on useless pieces of art until we have taken care of the myriad of other problems in this country?

That’s it for today: wasteful spending on useless art, bureaucratic nonsense on the definition of terrorism, helping cougars get sex, tens of millions of Americans on food stamps, and a least productive Congress and Washington political class. Tell me that is not all 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