May 17, 2011

Santiago, Chile

There are certain times in life when a man is faced with overwhelming adversity… times when he has no reason to adhere to society’s norms anymore. It is in these instances that the true quality of his character comes shining through.

One of these situations is when he’s broke. Dead, flat broke. Some people, even when staring deep into their own financial abyss, still hold to their moral principles, honor their obligations, and keep their word.

For others, the boundaries of morality are quickly blurred into shades of gray, and things like fraud, thievery, and deception become perfectly legitimate tactics in their minds.

Speaking of broke, faced with what is tantamount to the official insolvency of the United States of America, policymakers have opted to seize funds from the retirement accounts of public sector workers in order to keep the government running.

Wow. America’s leaders are willing to engage in cannibalistic thievery in order to continue funding government operations. I wonder what sorts of operations are so important that they are willing to steal from their own people in order to finance? Any ideas?

Apparently, starting a shooting war in Pakistan was at the top of their list.

In the most insulting, disingenuous display of insensitivity and lack of regard following such a momentous financial decision, the US Defense Department decided to send helicopters into western Pakistan in a search for more ghosts. Pakistani military fired on the choppers, and the choppers fired back.

Seems like a good use of confiscated funds, no?

Never fear, though, the cracker jack squad of politicians in the 112th Congress is clearly hard at work, spending all of their time and attention at resolving the debt crisis and budget troubles.

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas, for example, proved to America that she’s focused like a laser beam when she introduced bill HJ Res. 64 on Friday afternoon. What exactly is HJ Res 64? It’s a resolution to express support for designating September 2011 as Gospel Music Heritage Month.

The similarities to Nero playing his fiddle are all too obvious.

Adding injury to insult as it were, Ms. Jackson-Lee followed up HJ Res 64 with the introduction of HR 1900, yet another bill to give TSA sweeping powers over “surface transportation” such as train stations and bus terminals. Now you can be molested in planes, trains, and automobiles. Coming soon: shopping malls!

Not to be outdone by Ms. Jackson-Lee, Senator Barbara Boxer just introduced Senate res 177 to designate May 15th through May 21st 2011 as “National Public Works Week.” Wait a sec… that’s this week! Well what are we waiting for, comrades!?! Grab a shovel, there’s dams to build!



To cap things off, President Obama is getting ready for his highly publicized trip to Ireland next week where he will visit the ancestral home of his great great great grandfather, a small town called Moneygall.

About 298 people live in Moneygall. The town has swelled for the last two months as US Secret Service agents and the President’s administrative entourage have descended upon the town to prepare for his visit. Important issues must be tended to… such as, “what kind of beer will the President drink?”

I couldn’t even begin to estimate what the cost of this trip will be to US taxpayers… but somehow I doubt it’s worth a single penny of seized funds.

Like I said, there are certain times in life where a person’s true nature comes shining through. The government is telling us here that, even when faced with insolvency, it will happily confiscate any source of capital it can, and then continue squandering it all on useless folly.

It really leaves me wondering when people are going to wake up and say to themselves, “Enough is enough!”