Tagged: government
The Register – NASA sells PC with restricted Space Shuttle data
Soooo, let me get this straight. You want me, to trust our government to do what’s right for me, and to expect them to know what’s good for me, when other government agencies can’t even follow basic rules like freakin’ triple erasing your hard drives before dumping them?
NASA officials failed to wipe sensitive agency data from computers before releasing them to the public, a violation of procedures that are part of the plan to securely end the Space Shuttle program, an audit released on Tuesday said.
Read more…NASA sells PC with restricted Space Shuttle data • The Register.
More Bailouts: Auto Industry
This is getting ridiculous. I ranted about the bailouts before, I’ll do it again. SAY NO TO THE BAILOUTS! Now, Pelosi and Co. want to bailout the auto industry. ARE THEY FREAKIN’ NUTS!?! The most sensible comment on this actually came out of the White House:
While companies like Toyota and Honda were spending money on R&D for efficient, hybrid cars, Detroit was spending money on Hummers and gas guzzling trucks.
Now they want help because they made some stupid choices over the years. And to top it off, the freakin Dems are pushing for this bailout. This, on top of the news that the Wallstreet companies that received bailout money continue to spend on huge bonuses. In fact, news came out that AIG, which recently asked for more bailout money, spent $343,000 for a two day “sales meeting” at luxury resort in Arizona:
“A hotel employee told (ABC), ‘We can’t even say the word (AIG).'”
Write to your representive in Congress and tell them NO MORE TAXPAYER FUNDED BAILOUTS!
2004: Realignment, Now More than Ever
An 2004 article by Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard, after the Republican victories in the House, Senate, and with Bush being reelected, exclaiming how the Republican majority was “expected to last for years, maybe decades”.
For Republicans to slip into minority status again, [Burnham] says, it would take a monumental party split like that in 1912 or “a colossal increase in the pain level” of Americans as happened with the Great Depression. Neither is likely.
The point of the article, IMHO, is that nothing is permanent and anything can change in an instant. Even for Democrats. So unless Obama can truely usher in an era of bipartisanship, we’re doomed to repeat history.
It’s All About The Money
As the election season heats up I think we, as ordinary citizens, watching the convention coverage and the morning talk shows, listening to the left leaning or right leaning commentators, the pundits, the gurus, the historians, the know-it-alls, the O’Reillys, Limbaughs, Matthews and Olbermanns, need to remember that [IMHO] it’s all about one thing:
$$ MONEY $$
Democrats and Republicans alike need to give outlandish, roaring speeches, make fun of the other team, so that they can rally their base and bring in more money through donations and contributions to their respective parties and elections.
Pundits and commentators need to make bold predictions and make outlandish statements so that their value increases. They need to be loud, hard, and controversial. They need to be a part of the news and make news. They feed off of one another by bashing each other. And if they’re popular enough, they get invited to participate on the news/talk show circuit such as MSNBC, FOX News, or CNN. The more popular they are, the more they make, the more books they can sell, and the more viewers the programs get. The more viewers they get, the more the networks can charge for advertising. The more they charge for advertising, the more money the networks make. Also, the more viewers they have the more consumers big companies get to see products they advertise through commercials, and the more money they make selling their products. The more money companies make, the more their stock value goes up, the more they can spend on lobbying Washington, the more they can contribute to politicians and political parties.
And around and around we go. Obviously, this is a simplified analysis, but you can get the essence of it. We just need to take everything we hear with a grain of salt. Understand where it’s coming from, and why.
What does that mean for us ordinary citizens? Maybe just more of the same no matter who gets elected.
What’s Wrong With Congress
A great opinion page in the Christian Science Monitor by Mickey Edwards, describing what’s wrong with Congress today. Basically, how Congress has become an extension of the Executive Branch, rubber stamping the President’s orders. Instead, members of Congress should:
“come from the states they represent and to serve as a check on – not enabler of – the president. “
We are no longer a sovereign nation
When our elections are openly influenced by forces outside of our country. In order to lead, we need to become independent again, and grow an extra set of brass balls. Of course, there are some nations that have bigger cojones than us.