Education Does Not Equate With Smart Or Savvy

I have friends with nothing more than a high school education, if that, who I would much rather see in Washington than those who are there now.

It's because they have something too many of our politicians do not.  Common sense.  Maybe it's because they haven't been pampered throughout their lives, have worked hard to live their lives and know how to think.

Let's look at the Ted Cruz situation one more time.  I'll give him an "A" for tenacity and an "F" for common sense and thinking things through.  It's why I doubt I could support him or those who followed him in lock step for higher office.

You often hear Obama supporters praise his intelligence and insight. Here's one from his top advisor who has unprecedented privileges.  Is it because of statements like this feeding an insatiable ego?

From Valerie Jarrett,  she of questionable ethics herself,  in an article by John Fund, "I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary.  He knows how smart he is...He knows how perceptive he is.  He knows what a good reader of people he is.  And he knows that he has the ability - the extraordinary, uncanny ability - to take a thousand different perspectives, digest them and make sense of them, and I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually...So what I sensed in him was not just a restless spirit but somebody with such extraordinary talents that had to be really taxed in order for him to be happy...He's been bored to death his whole life.  He's just too talented to do what ordinary people do." 

Wow.  Give him a cape, a crown and a scepter and he's good to go sit at the helm of all we mere mortals. Well, we did indeed put him there, twice.  You have no idea how close I was to losing my breakfast when I read this.  But I understand he thrives on this illusion.  What would he be without it?

His attitude, while perhaps not in as lofty terms, is held by many of his underlings in government.  They alone know.

So.  A lot of people have extraordinary talent, are smart and perceptive.  Many try to put it to good use. If he reads people well he obviously has no respect for what they think. His digestion of thousands of perspectives paralyzes him as shown by his actions toward Syria and now Iran to name two.

If he's never been challenged intellectually it's because he hasn't wanted to be, not because there was no opportunity. He's bored?  I would be too if all I did was play on someone elses money instead of doing some productive work to benefit those who put him in the position to  do so many things other than what he's doing. Is it because he's chosen to isolate himself from reality and doesn't know what to do when faced with it?

If he's too talented  and bored to do what ordinary people do, perhaps he shouldn't be President.  All that God-given ability, if he's so smart, shouldn't be wasted.  We should have peace, prosperity, secure borders, a strong private sector and fuel independence.  Surely all that talent, properly directed could have achieved this.

The Democrats say the ACA debacle is by design by our extremely clever and talented leader because the goal all along has been for single payer health care.  Why would someone so able accept a watered down version when he had the votes to push through anything he wanted? And why does that bill have 1,563 "The Secretary shall determine" in it leaving Sebelius to rewrite the bill as she so chose making much of what the President touted a lie after the fact?  How perceptive is that? Just bored perhaps. Dare we share some of his unhappiness at this point?

No.  He and so many like him are not as smart nor nearly as clever as they think.  They may have more book learnin' than the average citizen but they're no where nearly as smart. I hope.  Time will tell if we're savvy enough to not only sense what's wrong but to do something about it.

Beyond The Subleties Of Spying

Since Edward Snowden made public the fact that the NSA is spying on virtually everybody the controversy over it just isn't going away.

Everyone does it.  Some countries have more sophisticated means than others.  There was a time I'd have thought we'd be among the best because of our technological superiority.  That's questionable now unless you figure that's why contractors are hired to do the actual work.  The government is proving to be lousy at such things.

We are not, however, all that more able than other countries when it comes to electronic know how and the use of same.  It's why there is so much space junk.  All those communication satellites floating about above our heads.  They aren't there merely to forecast the weather.

That's why I find it amusing how many leaders are shocked, shocked that their phone calls are being caught up in the sweeps.  Just as are ours.

Then it occurred to me there might be something more behind it.  Our allies have not been happy with our weak to non-existent support in matters of extreme importance to them be it monetary policy or military policy.  Perhaps they'd like to punish us in a way that would give themselves the upper hand in righteous indignation.

Embarrass us.  Consider who has taken us to task.  Brazil, Mexico, France and Germany to name but a few.  It must stop they say.  It's a disgrace and an insult for us to be so engaged while behind their backs their spys are going about the very same business.

Unfortunately, I don't think this administration can be embarrassed.  Now I would be.  First that I had an Ed Snowden on staff in the first place, second that he got clean away after absconding with the proof he needed and the idea that a "loyal" American would feel his government was so in the wrong he'd make it public.

Then I'd be embarrassed that the leaders of those countries who had at one time been good friends seem more than willing to jab us with that knowledge.  How dare we, number one; and how could we be so inept, number two.

Well, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany and the rest of you, we're pretty good at inept these days.  Mock us if you will, we've had numerous cracks at you in the past.

It suggests to me they have a waning sense of or interest in our friendship these days. Friends don't publicly humiliate friends.  If their actions are reflective of those bonds perhaps it's time to reassess how we treat our friends.

A Fundamentally Transformed America - Is This What We Want?

Obama promised he would fundamentally transform America.  He has succeeded beyond my wildest nightmares and I fear the worst is yet to come.

While our domestic issues continue in chaos, our  members of Congress hardly speak to one another and the followers of the individual parties become insulting and vile when commenting on opposing points of view.  What happened to the once proud, civilized, accomplished American?

What's even worse is how the rest of the world sees us. At first they seemed puzzled that we re-elected this President.  They don't seem to comprehend our class envy or the demand for purist ideology that we seem to demand.  Where did it come from?

They also don't understand why America's resolve on the international stage has become a state of appeasement.  It started shortly after Obama was elected.  We all know and debate the "apology" tour.  Do we remember that to appease the Russians he withdrew ballistic missile defense sites from both the Poles and Czechs?

We've essentially deserted Iraq.  We've backed the wrong side of nearly every revolution in the region from Iraq to Egypt, twice, to Libya and Syria.  Our allies are dropping us like flies. Why?  Because we've given Assad a pass to please Russia.  The chance that all his chemical weapons will be destroyed is remote.  There's too much chaos.  In return for lip service that our President desperately wanted to believe, Assad gets to continue slaughtering his people.  With the stressed circumstances of bordering countries trying to help those who flee Syria, don't be surprised to see skirmishes beyond Syrian borders begin to break out.

One of the few remaining allies that have strength beyond mere survival has finally told us to go pound sand.  Saudi Arabia, while not the perfect ally, but  then none are, was never-the-less a strong one.  They have become so disgusted with Obama's wavering as foreign policy they've decided to partner with the French and Jordanians in helping the Syrian rebels. Plus we're playing footsies with Iran and getting periously close to allowing them to continue enriching uranium. The Saudis aren't too happy bout that either and will no doubt seek to so arm themselves.

Pair that with the NSA follies where conversations not just of security agencies of other countries have been tapped, but right up to and including the leaders themselves.  Like Germany's Merkel.  She is not happy and she is but one.

Some of us who should have known better turned a blind eye to Obama's socialistic tendencies when he was running for President. His lack of experience and his ego.  We're paying for it now.  What is hard to understand is why he seems to be taking such delight in the suffering going on in his own country.  What drives him?  Or is he even driven? Or  is he so completely detached and this leadership stuff is left to be the work of fools?  Well, witht the ACA fools we've got.

No man may be an island unto himself but in his case I wish he were.  Instead he's turning our country into one - one no one wants to come to except for nefarious reasons. What will become of us?  Our former allies will form other alliances knowing we can no longer be counted upon, nor trusted.  How will we sustain ourselves when there is nothing more to tax and no one cares enough to come to our aid without extracting a huge price?  With nothing to pay the price no one will be there.

Oh, don't be so doomsdayish you might be saying.  Well, did you really expect to see the country in the state it is now when you voted for him? Bush can only be blamed for so much.  The Republicans can only be blamed for so much, the same with the media.

Somewhere along the line, the President will have to pay the piper whether he wants to or not because in time his followers will no longer be willing to take the fall that should be his.

Two Different Worlds - The Governmet and The Rest Of Us. It's Time To End It.

The government and its employees owe us an explanation and a heap of apologies for abusing our tax dollars and our trust.

 Look at the abuse  of which we've been the recipients. We've seen  many of the agencies being loose with our money for entertainment purposes which they claim as workshops.  We've seen our military getting stiffed on their benefits.  We've seen them shove legislation down our throats that is so bad they've had to rush it through without even testing the roll out software lest a challenge actually be won. We've seen how the IRS has gone after the non-profit designations of organizations daring to use the term patriot or something similar in their names.  We've seeing them punish J.P. Morgan Chase for the very favor they asked of them - buying up those lousy mortgage backed securities held by Bear Sterns and Washington Mutual.

Why all of this?  The parties I'll cede to poor judgement stemming from a tin ear, arrogance and greed.  The inability to get our veterans affairs straightened out is sheer incompetence. The The health care debacle and the IRS witch hunt are both vengeful power plays as is the Morgan Chase affair.  In the latter case it's because one time golden boy Jamie Dimon had the audacity to criticize Obama's handling of the economy.

For pure pettiness, however, a case in Arizona takes the cake and should scare you to death that the government is going to play a major role in your health care.

A study showed that there was no such thing as affordable housing for deaf seniors.  Think about the needs of the deaf.  Phones, doorbells, fire alarms, etc.  With that in mind HUD helped fund a 75 unit apartment building in Tempe Arizona specifically designed for seniors who are deaf or deaf/blind.

It is now 99% occupied but HUD is threatening to pull all federal housing aid to Arizona because this unit violates civil rights law!  It gives preference to those who are - deaf!  Citing some regulation they should have been aware of, they now say only 18 hearing impaired people can reside there.

Not that 75 apartments solves the housing problem for the hearing impaired but it's a start.  The building should be a prototype for other senior housing, not something to get caught up in governmental regulation and red tape.

It isn't just the politicians that are strangling the life out of the country.  It's the government bureaucracy as a whole.  Where else could you work where you'd get back pay for having been laid off and collect unemployment to boot?

If Ted Cruz and his ilk really want to fight for us make everything equal. Every single thing. The sooner government and government workers have to play by the same rules we do, the sooner this nonsense will disappear.  It's always more fun to bully the underdog or toy with him or ignore him completely.  The trouble is we're the underdog.

Egocentric Government - It Has Nothing To Do With Us

I've been thinking about why politicians, from the President on down are so bull headed and nasty.  They are a totally egocentric bunch and we are left out of the equation.

I won't say that all members of Congress are stupid though they certainly act that way more often than not. Those who do, do it for survival. This last debacle is the perfect example of how and why.

Ted Cruz has presidential ambitions.  That's a given.  To succeed he has to gain an edge on his would be competitors so he gambled  by tying Obamacare defunding to the budget and default debate.  He lost.  It isn't that he wasn't forewarned that it was a suicide march.  Everyone from more experienced colleagues to constituents  to pundits told him so but he did it anyway.  Why?

He'll be the first to tell us it was for us.  I don't think so.  It was for his own future.  Not because he didn't know better but because the 31 year old President of Heritage Action, the one who orchestrated the whole ordeal, used his position to threaten sitting officials with primary challenges.

So who is this power monger, Michael Needham?  He's president of Heritage Action, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation, probably the best known of the conservative think tanks.  To me, advanced in years as I am, I question the wisdom of a 31 year old. As with Obama, he lacks the real world experience to be dictating policy.  But dictate he did.

Now he admits, after the damage has been done, that Obamacare won't be repealed until at least 2016 if at all but is proud as punch of the uproar he caused.  He figured we wouldn't get how bad this legislation has been constructed by ourselves.  No one is so obtuse as to not have noticed the roll out thus far has been a disaster.

I'm tired of the influence these think tanks hold over our politicians.  And tired of how our politicians bow to them. If they were truly serving their constituents they wouldn't be following Pied Pipers of the special interest groups.  It is, however, all about the money that will flow to their future campaigns if the bidding is done.

Consider the Heritage Foundation for just a minute.  It's current President is former Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC.  He is an ideologue happy being surrounded with fellow ideologues even if it means losing. No political party can survive with this type of governing philosophy.

This is but one example of many.  All parties fall prey to the such movements.  They distort truth to the point it's difficult to decipher.  We lose.

I had a brief moment of hope when I saw four people introduced to debate the budget issues before the next go round.  It lasted until I read that the entire committee will consist of 29 members. People with agendas made that decision.  Twenty nine ideologues in one room.  What do you get?  Nothing. we've been there and done that how many times?

One more time.  We lose.  Special interests and outside influences other than constituents be damned!