The Case Against Massive Legislation

I've long been an advocate of tackling large tasks piece meal.  The reason is that often the big picture is just too overwhelming  and it either never gets done or the end is sloppy at best.

Such is the case with Obamacare.  We first had thousands of pages in one bill, way too much for those who were to vote on it to read.  So they didn't.  The staff relegated to the task weren't necessarily knowledgeable about the intentions and implications of the content to give an accurate briefing to their Congress people.  Thus the infamous enjoiner from Nancy Pelosi that it needed to be passed so we could know what's in it.

Forget partisanship, the bill was a disaster in the making from the get go. Little more need be said when the very implementation of the basics are being delayed right and left because the mechanics aren't ready.  Pair that with the waivers being sought you're losing funding before it even gets out the door not to mention being unfair by playing favorites especially when it comes to Congress themselves and their staff.

Add the President to the mix with his unlawful awarding of waivers and delaying implementation of certain aspects over others, it's not a pretty picture of executive arrogance and constitutional malfeasance. He does not have the right to change or refuse to obey written and passed law on his own volition.  Yet he does and there is no recourse.  That is a slap in the face to the very essence of how our government is designed to work.

Beware immigration reform.  The same pattern is emerging.

So what will happen.  Being a pessimist by nature when it comes to government I expect two things.  Immigration reform will never happen even with the Gang of Eight working together.

Two,  heaalth care reform, once implemented, will bear little resemblance to the law as passed.  That can be good and bad.  It's bad under any circumstance if it's done by presidential dictate.

I suspect, however, what's happening is a clumsy effort to bring about a one payer system.  National Health Care.  Do you think we have an economic crisis now? You haven't seen anything yet!  It's the details you know, those devilish details. Your witnessing what happens when they're ignored or not even considered.

Secretary Sebelius says the current goings on aren't bait and switch.  We'll see.

News And Entertainment - One And The Same?

I've been watching the hullabaloo on FOX over who will lose their time slot when Megan Kelly moves to prime time the first of September.

Even though Greta Van Susteren has the weakest ratings she appears to have the better agent because she is expected to hold at 10 o'clock.  Sean Hannity is slated for change.  I'm guessing a non-prime slot and a whole lot more money, but who knows.  None of them are worth watching unless your are interested in a 'conservative' rehash of the day's news plus too much fluff like the video of the day.  Never-the-less the speculating has been fun.

I had come to believe the line between news and entertainment couldn't get more blurred but oh, how wrong I was.  Remember the commercial where Alec Baldwin tells an airline passenger not to worry with him at the controls because he had played a pilot?  Well, now he's going to play pundit and where else but msnbc?  I love it!

If I want whiny or righteous indignation I watch FOX.  If I want anger and nastiness I watch msnbc.  If I want to watch line straddling I watch CNN. It really doesn't make much difference since the slant is predetermined and never wavers.

I read Baldwin's rants on the Huff Post occasionally and of course we're always reminded of his Irish temper whenever a photographer happens to get too close.  I expect his demeanor will carry over to his new gig.  After all he's played it before.

Now, where to go for news?  Maybe I'll bookmark the Washington Post now that Jeff Bezos has bought it. I understand he's a hard nose of a boss and obviously a successful businessman.  My curiosity is piqued as to how he's going to turn an obsolete though storied rag into a money making venture.  Maybe rags to riches will have new meaning. Besides I prefer print media.

The fun and speculation has about run its course with the FOX escapade except for the final details.  Now I can begin trying to think of who else msnbc might recruit to become the 12th angry man.  Maybe it will be Bill Clinton.  He'll be pretty upset if the Hillary bio pic gets trashed and no one can do angry better than he.  I can just imagine his red face now.

There's something about those Irish pundits.  Matthews, O'Donnell, Hannity, O'Reilly and now Baldwin.  Gosh, I wish they were all on the same network. Then I wouldn't have to watch any of them!

McCain And Graham - Past Their Prime

What happens when politicians have outlasted their usefulness?  They meddle.

Jimmy Carter is the champion of meddling even today but two Republicans are running a close second.  How can two be second?  Because you never seem to see one without the other.

Lindsey Graham, the oh so pious yet vague Senator from South Carolina, will at least have to face some challengers in 2014.  Failed presidential candidate and self anointed maverick McCain will be around for awhile yet.  I'm thinking if Graham goes, though, maybe McCain won't be able to find another willing partner.  I've always wondered that if these two are as right about things as they tell us they are, why more of their ilk haven't jumped on their bandwagon.

The administration has them pegged.  They can be used, rolled, whatever you want to call it as long as the reward is face time on camera.  Sometimes it works for them, sometimes not.

I'd say McCain and Graham's recent trip to Egypt to let them know what they must do to retain our favor might not sit well with the Egyptians and might do the administration more harm than good.  They went with the administration's 'blessing' but not at it's request.

Imagine the chutzpah involved in suggesting the release of Morsi and some of their political prisoners might be negotiated in return for concessions from the interim government.  They aren't even part of the administration, thank you very much.  We have a Secretary of State to handle such matters.  And making a joke about what is or isn't a coup.  Talk about abusing political correctness on a grand scale in another country! Let it go, John.  It's right up there with 'bomb, bomb Iran' on your top ten bad joke list.

So the Egyptians have now officially been warned by our twin mavericks that their aid money might be in jeopardy if they don't admit to our terminology then apologize for it and do the bidding of these two. Wow. Never mind what the Egyptian people want. Why are they there again?

I don't think the Egyptians are concerned.  The Saudis have offered them far more in aid than we have.  They have successfully made the administration look weak for having these two appear to be roving ambassadors even though it's another self appointed title.

It's bad enough when the administration makes blunders.  They don't need the help of two from the Republican side making it worse.  So what's the end result of this exercise in narcissism?  I can't believe I've extended the term beyond  the presidential persona, but I have.  In spades.  So, we have a failed trip at tax payer expense and the contempt of the Egyptian people and their interim government for having interfered where it wasn't needed or wanted.

And you wonder why the world looks at us as inept, weak and inconsequential.

Gamesmanship Versus Fair Play - There Is A Big Difference

We have a problem in this country which I don't think the founding fathers anticipated. The President as renegade.  It is what happens when the President is accountable to no one and when he chooses to flout the law there is no recourse.

It seems to be emerging as common practice with Obamacare.  The latest has Congress complicit right along with him.  Just when I thought Congress may finally be getting it, they prove me wrong once again.  You see Obamacare was written so that Congress would have to buy into it just as the rest of us. Lots of us have been calling for that for a very long time - you pass it, it applies to you as well as the rest of us.  No matter what the content.

Some of the worry about Obamacare is the cost.  How it's going to be unaffordable for many or their premiums will increase dramatically rather than decrease.  Congress would have to give up their Cadillac plans and participate side by side with us.

But if you can imagine, they are whining that they can't afford the premiums and need an exemption.  Not only they themselves but also their better paid staffers.  Consider the Congressional salary of $174,000.  And many staffers making $100,000 +/-.  Also bear in mind that this is written into the law the President signed.  But of course we know no one had read it.

So rather than telling them to learn how to budget, he promises to fix it.  And he did. He made arrangements for  the Office of Personnel Management to write regulations allowing for the financial relief for members of Congress and their staffers - all government employees.

This type of shenanigan requires passage by Congress.  Obama didn't fear the Republicans would object but rather that they'd want to add more.  Of course he is right.  Republicans want that sweetener just as much as the Democrats.

Laws are becoming what they are at the pleasure of the President, not because Congress passed them and he signed them. Strange bedfellows they may be but bedfellows never-the-less. This goes way beyond class warfare.  This is a war between those in politics and the people.

I can't help but  think even those politicians I look on with a smidgen of hope aren't doing anything for my benefit.  Even though the reason may not be readily apparent, be sure it's for them.  I'd guess re-election so the game can continue.

Do they even know their approval rating is 14%.  If they know it, do they care?  More importantly how many of us know it and even more, do we care?  I don't care that it is so low, but I really care about why!

Rancor Within The Ranks

In a way I'm happy to see the power struggle within the ranks of the Republican Party.  Leadership is weak and consensus non-existent.  They need both.

Who can get excited about Mitch McConnell or John Boehner?  Both persona's shout BOR-ING.

The same can be said about Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid too.  And they're having some of the same problems as the Republicans.  The young bucks don't toe the line. New leadership is needed on both sides of the aisle and the young bucks need some schooling that current leadership seems unable to provide.

The Republicans seem to have a problem with defining terms.  Like what exactly is a conservative these days?  Is it the belief in small government and fiscal responsibility or is it that plus all the 'conservative' social issues which have no place in governance?  It needs to be cleared up.

To make matters worse they seem to have a problem deciphering the difference between compromise and capitulation.  They have a tendency to cave to what the liberals want while getting nothing in return.  On the other hand they can be incredibly, stupidly stubborn like thinking they can defund Obamacare with the threat of shutting down the government.  Obama is never going to go along with it so why waste the effort?  There is no positive outcome should they insist on trying.

Their time could be better spent.  Instead of fighting like they do with the Democrats among themselves, they ought to sit down privately and talk through their differences.  When the continuing resolution vote comes around in September it would be wise to come forward with a unified face.

Or are they beyond having the ability to do so?  Are they so caught up in animosity with anyone who disagrees they are blind to what they're doing to their own party, never mind the country.

There won't be a viable third party before 2016 but there might as well be - a third, a fourth, maybe even a fifth because the voters will follow where their personal interests lie without regard for the country as a whole.  The social conservatives will follow a Rick Santorum. Centrists may follow a Chris Christy.  Those with a Libertarian/isolationist bent will look to a Rand Paul.  All under the guise of Republicanism. Yet none of them actually are because they don't follow a main stream.  Thus a divided party adding to an already divided country.

Until the end of September.  That's all the time they realistically have because campaigning for 2014 will be heating up.  If the Democrats take the House and hold the Senate it's all over for the duration. By 2016 the country will be beyond recognition from what it had been to generations past and quite likely beyond redemption for generations to come.