Washington's Wake

I read about the following bon mot from Chrissy Tingles.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: “Will the Democrats running for the House re-election, they’re all running for re-election under the Constitution and the Senate candidates, will they run away from President O’Carter? I mean, will they run away.”

Hmmm… Speaking of Jimmuh Carter.

( h/t The Professor)

Apparently the only difference between a bad recession and a depression is how people feel. Well, dammit, people are depressed.

To me this is the Secret Depression.

I drove almost 300 miles yesterday through more than 40 communities all over New Hampshire and saw so many businesses closed it was breathtaking. In fact, it made me think of towns in Massachusetts and how many “For Lease” and “For Sale” signs there are.

The real unemployment rate is close to, if not over, 20% – one in five. Businesses are sucking capital out of the economy by the trillions of dollars, waiting for the big crash that they believe will inevitably come soon so that they can take that cash and make the biggest killing in US history.

It’s more interesting than that to me, I can’t help but think that this economy isn’t the only stealth event, it seems to me that we’re already involved in a world war and nobody wants to call it that. We focus on Afghanistan and Iraq, which makes sense, but the behaviors of North Korea, Russia (toward the US and also in Georgia), Turkey, Hezbollah, Venezuala and on and on all seem to be those of active war.

I can’t help but wonder, are we just lying to ourselves? It seems like this is a war and a depression, and no one wants to talk about it.

Just sayin…

I know, I know, this is fantasy, but I really do think this would be the solution that would solve America’s problems.

a) Constitutional amendment requiring US Budget to follow Standard Accounting Practices as required by law for publicly traded companies.

b) Constitutional Amendment Requiring that No Congress is bound to any spending of any previous congress. (Which is to say, there is no such thing in any budget as ‘mandatory spending’)

c) Constitutional Amendment Forbidding Union Contract Agreements with any Government Employees – State Local or Federal.

d) Constitutional Amendment Forbidding Borrowing Beyond %50 GDP without Super Majority Vote.

e) Constitutional Amendment requiring roll call votes on any bill or amendment that involves spending. 

f) Constitutional Amendment requiring hearing for recommendation of removal of any congress member that misses more than 25% of votes in a 6mos period.

g) Repeal of 16th Amendment

h) Increase number of representatives from 435 to 2000+ with budget for staff of 2 per rep. (one in district, one in washington) This would, actually, cut the number of employees and lower the budget. No more than 2 staff per committee or leadership position.

i) Constitutional Amendment forbidding the use of public funds for primary elections. Single run-off election top to vote getters go on final ballot, then final ballot. No party advantage.

Please watch the following video and tell me that what she says is not the scariest thing you’ve heard from a potential Supreme Court nominee?

This woman should be nowhere near the Supreme Court. This non answer shows how extreme she really is. How can she sit there and not say that such a law would be unconstitutional? If the republicans had any nuts, which they don’t, they would filibuster this nominee until November. I won’t hold my breath waiting though.

suppose the oil’s coming
like a plume of endless death
and lousiana’s cryin
as her fish run out of breath
suppose the gulf is burning
and the men there got no hope
poor louisiana’s dyin
and the hang man’s outta rope
 
America, America
I watch your labored breath
tell me tell me darling
Is this oil spill your death?
 
suppose the guns are loaded
like the notion of a war
and washington’s on fire
like so many years before
suppose the taxes risin
like the shackles on a slave
freemen with blood a-boil
how’d you think they will behave?
 
America, America
I watch your labored breath
tell me tell me darling
Is this argument your death?
 
suppose the drug cartel’s coming
like a new king with his men
and Arizona’s dying
as her border blurs again
suppose  the budget’s broken
and the money’s growin’ tight
poor california’s burnin
and it just don’t seem quite right
 
America, America
I watch your labored breath
tell me tell me darling
Is this really just your death?

A new bill would let BO police the Internet for “Nation Security Reasons.” And why not? I mean, he’s done such a stellar job at everything else. It’s about time he got his golden fingers shoved into the works of the web. Before we know it, we’ll ALL be singing the praises of his highness. Whether we like it or not.

So there’s obviously a problem in the Gulf. Neither the government nor BP has exactly showered themselves in competence. The governments job was to think of these problems ahead of time and ask all drilling companies how they would fix the issue. Obviously the government did not do its job. Hey, it’s the government, when have they ever been competent at doing anything? As for BP, they too are being idiots on this. In their case, they are getting punished in the market. That’s how it’s supposed to be. If they actually get this thing under control, they may recover. If not, hello bankruptcy court.

And how are the government agencies being punished for their incompetence?

“This is one of those 9/11 opportunities where you can rally the country to move in a different direction,” said Lisa Margonelli, energy director of the center-left New America Foundation in Oakland.

Ahh yes that’s the ticket. Instead of reviewing what went wrong, lets push for more government action. Let’s see. The existing government agencies are incompetent. So let’s create more government agencies. How do these morons live every day? Seriously. We see case after case of government incompetence and yet their first thought is, lets have more government.

Doubling down on incompetency is not going to make things better. You have the tools available right now. Killing the economy for your own pet peeves like cap and trade is not going to fix this oil spill. Stop using a crisis, which you created, to go ahead and continue on your radical remake of America. If you had actually shown that any of your government answers worked, you may have a case. Instead, day after day we see that old truism, government is not the solution, government is the problem. That you can’t see that shows your blindness to the real world.

Israel? Korea? China? Brazil? Turkey? England? Afghanistan? Australia? Oil Spill? Canada? Immigration? Arizona? Stock Market? Everywhere you turn it seems Obama is failing again and again? Why?

It seems to me that the filthy secret is this: Liberalism is a failed and flawed philosophy. So many people say it, but it seems the point of that is missed in a more general way. Incompetence IS part of it, but it’s really not all of it. Obama’s administration is doing most of what they want most of the time, and yet everywhere things get worse and worse.

Our image is spiraling downward on all fronts, diplomatically, militarily and economically, and there is a simple reason — they are wrong. They make a few basic assumptions about the nature of man — freedom — government and governance that are all completely wrong. It’s really that simple.

They assume man is too stupid or incompetent to take care of himself.

They assume security is more important than liberty.

They believe government is the solution to all problems big and small.

They assume they have the right to govern with an iron fist because they believe their mandate is that overwhelming.

These assumptions and beliefs ensure their failure. If they trusted their citizens, if they protected liberty of the individual over the sensibilities of their group-constituents – if they ruled in a limited way slowly pushing toward their (ridiculous) goals of ‘fairness’ they’d have a lot more success.

In some ways, we’re lucky they’re stupid. The alacrity of their failure might allow (i stress the might) us to do an about face and save ourselves from imminent destruction. I admit, the damage their doing might be irreversible, but at least their incompetence and blindness to the fact of their philosophical deficiency gives America a fighting chance to claw back to freedom.

I noticed on the front of the paper I picked up today, up in the corner of the front page was a blurb: “Hurricane Season Begins.” It snuck up on me this year. I was surprised to see that note “so soon.”

I have family who live on the Gulf Coast, and friends who live in Louisiana, so hurricane season is one where I’ll actually pay a little attention to the national weather, rather than just checking our local forecast when we have outdoor plans. The season always has an underlying tension to it. At least for some of us. Apparently not for everyone.

Like, you know, not the President of the United States.

As much as I believe man made “Climate Change” — or the phenomenon formerly known as “Global Warming” — is a bunch of bunk, I still believe it’s important to be environmentally responsible. In our household, we compost what we can, and we reuse and recycle almost everything else. Old t-shirts live again as paint shirts and then as rags for washing cars and floors; baby food jars get donated to churches and schools for crafts; egg cartons get saved for a local farmer with chickens. But we don’t freak out about driving our car or using coal-sourced electricity. I would consider myself “environmentally conscious” but not a “tree hugger.” After all, trees are renewable too.

My point being, I would expect B.O., with all of his “green” rhetoric, to, you know, be doing something about the mess down in the Gulf. Didn’t he say something like “Never again” in regards to a President handing a national environmental disaster as poorly as Katrina was handled? I mean, I really expected some change in the problem solving policy. Some better leadership. Some CHANGE.

…All right, you got me. I expected nothing of the sort. After all, the Conman in Chief is about words and nothing more.

Anyhow. The NRSC puts these thoughts more eloquently than I have. Check out the video below.