Saturday, April 4, 2009

Politics, corruption

Corrupt And Spineless Politicians

Corruption and spinelessness have been entrenched in politics back as far as the eye can see, and to document the sheer historical absurdity would consume volumes. Let’s focus on recent machinations, and that should give you a good idea of how it has always been in one form or another.

Barack Obama has signed the pork laden omnibus spending bill that included 9000 earmarks, junk attachments worth billions that benefit individual lawmakers and their cronies. Both Republicans and Democrats have their hand in the till on this one, so the protests over the waste of taxpayer dollars never rose above a murmur. Obama was the man who promised to crack down on this type of wasteful spending, but when it came time to put this money where his mouth is, he folded like a wet noodle. “Next time” he promises. Yes, another promise from a politician.

Speaking of folding like a wet noodle, in a shameful display of subservience, when the U.N. Secretary general called the U.S. deadbeats for not paying U.N. dues on time, congressman and senators alike were slobbering all over themselves apologizing for essentially nothing. The U.S. kicks in 22% of the budget for the U.N., just so they can tell us how to run our lives. How’s that for spine? Where are our elected leaders, the defenders of the Constitution, the representatives of the people? You tell me. Maybe they’re preparing the next pound of pork they intend on stuffing into the next spending bill.

That may very well be what they’re doing. Politicians have no problem spending your money. Case in point, the recent TARP bailout, designed to prop up failing lending institutions. By all accounts it has been a dismal failure, as the initial amount wasn’t nearly enough, and the failed behemoths are clamoring for more of your money. It looks like Washington is ready to hand it over too. Hillary Clinton was in China recently and down on knees begging for more money to throw down a sinkhole, using the American taxpayer as collateral. Every American should have been embarrassed that she put the issue of human rights on the back burner when she got there, despite her promises to the contrary. When she came face to face with Chinese leaders she, like Obama, folded like a wet noodle.

Politicians fold though, and they fold often. Pandering for votes is almost a comical example of how spineless a vote-getter can be. Take for example the immigration issue. American politicians have a tendency to slap Latino voters across the face, assuming they think as a mob and do not want the border secured-for one reason or another. Promises of “amnesty”, and “paths to citizenship” abound every election cycle, not because of any benevolent feelings for illegal immigrants, but because they are fishing for votes. Even in the face of a drug war in Mexico that the U.S. government revealed makes that country one of top national security threats, the wimpy politicians still cower to the illegal alien lobby, looking for votes and afraid to confront at the same time. If there is any shame there, you can’t see it.

As I said, this would consume volumes. This is just a small taste of what has happened lately. Imagine the entire history of a country…

Author:

rjjrdq’s America

You Know What They Say About Fools...

  • It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and leave no doubt. --Mark Twain
  • However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him. -- Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
  • [Politicians] never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge. -- Thomas Reed
  • He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks. -- François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
  • The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer
  • Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom. -- Elizabeth Gaskell
  • Looking foolish does the spirit good. -- John Updike
  • Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. -- Mark Twain
  • A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. -- William Blake
  • A fool must now and then be right by chance. -- Cowper
  • It is better to be a fool than to be dead. -- Stevenson
  • The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. -- Mark Twain