Buying Time But Little Else

I get a kick out of the fact that everyone is hailing huge success because the Republicans are offering the President a short term increase in the debt ceiling, which he might sign (or might not), in return hoping to get more time to discuss spending and the debt.

I for one am not clapping and cheering.  This could have been done in a timely manner if Ted Cruz hadn't gotten on his quixotic campaign to defund Obamacare.  By the way, where is he?  Has anyone seen him lately?

So what are we gaining other than six weeks to catch our collective breaths before we go through it again?

To make any progress a few things need to happen.  The President has to understand that in his role as leader he is expected to do just that to get the sides to come to an agreement even if not perfect.

Harry Reid has to bring legislation submitted by the House to a vote.  We need names on record as to what they vote for and against.  It's the only way we can hold individual Senators responsible.  I see Mr. Reid is planning to run again.  The people of Nevada will have to decide whether they want to continue with an obstructionist or opt for someone who might actually care about the country.

The Republicans have to control the Tea Party mavericks.  They aren't about to change themselves.  They obviously don't have the intellect to know which battles they can win and which they cannot, not to mention which ones they should even challenge. In their way they are as bad as Reid and the President.

And the President.  You all know how I like to rag on him.  A lot of this could have been avoided if he had talked with both sides and told them to get their act together rather than preaching to his select audiences and disparaging Republicans. That does not make for cooperation.  I'd rather see him win his battles with well thought out suggestions, a willingness to admit he isn't always right and compromises accepted with grace.

I realize why he's doing it the way he does.  He wants so much to regain the House in 2014 but even as bad as the Republicans are it's anything but sure. I also don't think he has a clue as to how to lead.  He's never had to do it and I don't see that he has an appetite for learning be it domestic policy or foreign.  His way is to threaten and punish and he does that well from the little old couple in the corner house to the small business man to the military and the media.

It's no way to run a country.  Any country.  But especially the United States of America.  If government doesn't soon change it's ways we'll become merely the States of America.  United will be a word as foreign to us as civility.

A Few Thoughts On The Stalemate

Obamacare.  How many people realize the bill being fought over is not the one passed by the Democratic House and Senate?  This is thanks to Presidential meddling where he took it upon himself to grant waivers without Congressional approval.

This smacks of dictatorship and in my opinion should negate the law.  It isn't how we make nor amend them.  I don't buy that executive privilege gives that right.

That being said and since no one else is saying it I'll move on.  The Tea Party Republicans, as any sane person will agree, had no chance of winning the defunding issue nor should it.  One doesn't defund to fix.  You either repeal or repair.  The issue shouldn't be tied to the CR but then we shouldn't be having CR's in the first place.

Though too late at this point because of ego and pride on both sides, this might have been a reasonable fix for the mess that didn't have to be.  The President could quit giving speeches and actually sit down with the Republicans.  Let's say Boehner for the sake of discussion.  "I will admit over reach in giving the waivers to Congressional members and staff. I will rescind all waivers I have given in return for the CR." Boehner accepts and promises to get it past his obstructionists by showing some leadership himself. Obama tells Harry Reid to get it done.

For now even forget the tax on medical devices.  That can be done in Congress in time. So can everything else that needs fixed and a lot does.

What they seem to forget is at the moment they don't have the votes and unless they win in 2014 they won't. Obamacare is the law.  If it's as bad as we're to believe it will collapse from within.  If it can be fixed, give fixing it in incrementals a chance.

We're stuck with the bunch we have now but we won't be forever.  The lesson we should take from this is to make our voices heard more quickly when something displeases us.  Waiting until Washington  takes the rumblings and makes them it's own defeats all of us.

They Deserve Better

It started with sequestration when White House tours were canceled.  Not suspended for they have not yet been put back in practice.  Because they cost the government a stupendous $17,000 a week.  How many of those tours could be run for the cost of one of the President's golf outings  for which we pay dearly?

Now we have another crisis on our hands.  The funding of government programs in return for a variety of choices in trying to mend the debacle in the making that is Obamacare.  Nix.  Nothing.  Shut down everything that will be a disruption to the everyday citizen like barricading the World War II Memorial where Honor Flights of veterans come often. This memorial was privately funded and is staffed with unpaid volunteers.  The excuse for the barricade is that park staff is qualified to give CPR.  You know, I rather think those who accompany the veterans on these trips also have knowledge of the technique and as far as I know 911 works even in D.C.

This is nothing but pure pettiness.  Say what you will about the stupidity of how the Republicans have been handling the Obamacare debate, but the Democrats, especially the White House, should be given no slack when it comes to their response.

The youngsters and the veterans, the future of our country and those have served it well, have both been slapped in the face by this White House. It has disgraced itself beyond words.

What, I wonder, are we in between the two generations going to do about it?  It's time, you know.

The Hypocrisy Of It All

Ron Fournier wrote an interesting piece in the National Journal wondering if we're seeing the beginning of the end of Washington as we know it. His thought is that the Millennials will get to the point that I have; they'll be so disgusted with government as it is they'll take the bull by the horns and change it.

The Millennials and a whole lot of we old timers feel much the same way.  We've gone from dysfunctional to non-functional and everyone shares a piece of the blame. Take Michele Bachmann telling Greta last night that Congress deserves the subsidies! And I read today where John Boehner spent weeks trying to cook up language with Harry Reid to make them possible without drawing much attention. Fortunately for Boehner the President took care of it for him.  What hypocrites!

So what do we have here?  Five parties, maybe six?  On the Democratic side we have the progressives and the moderates, such as they are.  On the Republican side we have the conservatives, the tea party conservatives, the social conservatives and the moderates, such as they are.

Throw into the mix the independents that tend to be a combination of the parts with a dash of Libertarian thrown in for the heck of it.

So there is no cohesive group in either party.  Plus, they've all become little more than self righteous name callers no matter how much they try to tell us its all for us.

What's needed is an outsider and that just may be the old thorn in the side, Chris Christy.  He has his own ideas on how to fix the disconnect in Washington.  If it sounds familiar it's because it's how it used to work and how it's supposed to work. He'd call leadership into a room and not let them out until the problem was solved - with him leading the discussion.  Not dictating; leading.

He also suggested he'd make off limits the places congressional members rush to after confrontations to lambaste one another.  No media until a real meeting has been held producing real results.  That would be a shock to all sides and a refreshing change for those of us who listen to them.

I hope the Millennials do get angry enough to motivate themselves.  Even though Christie is a bit older, maybe his approach would be one they'd like.  To them it may seem to be reinventing government.  To those of my generation it may seem more like returning to our roots.  I can live with either.

What I can't live with is what we have now.

There's Something Fundamentally Wrong

The Greatest Obstructionist

There is something fundamentally wrong when Congress can approve legislation without first having read it.

There is something fundamentally wrong when it passes that legislation with the support of only one party and one house.

There is something fundamentally wrong when the minority of a party totally disregards the opinions of the majority and holds them hostage to a singular way of thinking.

There is something fundamentally wrong with leadership who cannot or will not lead.  If it costs a career in politics so be it.  There are others. Do it for the country who elected them and in which they too live.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a government that exempts itself from the laws forced upon its people.

There is something fundamentally wrong when neither party is willing to negotiate in good faith.

There is something fundamentally wrong when the Senate majority leader single handedly can prevent legislation from going to the floor for debate.  It's not his government; it's ours.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a President who will negotiate with know terrorist states for dubious ends yet will not negotiate with the opposition party. He is a mere mortal, not God nor King.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a President is so enamoured by his own ego and self-righteous sense that rather than lead a debate opts to do nothing.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a people who allow themselves to be run roughshod over because they are too apathetic to become informed.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a people who elect the people who do this to them what's more allow them to remain in office.

I am so thoroughly disgusted with government as a whole I put a Dogwalk pox on it's entirety.