March 17, 2009

Thoughts of Obama from Bama

Week Eight – Unbridled Hypocrisy

“An ounce of hypocrisy is worth a pound of ambition”
Michael Korda

Hypocrisy, acrimony and self serving rhetoric are as synonymous with Washington, politicians and government bureaucrats as white is to rice. In fact, this type of scurrilous behavior has been a mainstay in our nation’s capital since our country’s founding. Unfortunately, as of late, the hypocritical behavior of our nation’s lawmakers and the new administration has reached levels never witnessed before and has spread faster than kudzu through the halls of congress and the oval office.

Week 8 of the “Yes We Can & Yes We Will, Lie, Deceive, and Make Fools of We the People” crowd began with one of the most hypocritical actions ever taken by a U.S. President. After making all his previous Bill and Executive Order signings major media events with a cast of thousands on hand and a global TV audience, with absolutely no fanfare what so ever, in the dark of night, behind closed doors and without a TV camera in sight, Mister new era of government transparency and openness signed into law a $400 billion dollar plus omnibus budget bill to fund the activities of the federal government for the rest of fiscal year 2009.

Just as a little reminder, this stealth spending bill was packed with more pork than Michael Moore’s XXX large Fruit of the Loom boxer shorts (I can only hope he truly opts for the boxers, the visual of Michael Moore in tighty - whities is an image I’d only wish on a worst enemy). Basically funding discretionary spending, the bill is eight percent higher than last year’s budget in a period of time with almost zero inflation. The bill is also chalk full of over 8,500 earmarks worth about $7.7 billion and is on top of the President’s $1 trillion plus Stimulus/Socialist Spending bill already approved by the democrat controlled politburo, I’m mean, congress. And as for the senior senator from New York, little Chucky Schumer, and his comments on the senate floor suggesting we the people don’t care about the $7.7 billion in earmarks and the unnecessary 8% increase in spending, all I can say is he really must be either one can short of a six pack and/or blinded by arrogance to make such asinine, elitist and ludicrous comments.

The entire process employed to achieve passage of this bill just smacks of D.C. at its hypocritical worst. Events leading up to its passage included:

1. Comrades Pelosi and Reid delayed a vote faced with a veto by W because of the wasteful spending and earmarks hoping for an Obama victory in the fall.
2. Candidate Obama promised earmark reform and to go through every budget line by line to eliminate waste.
3. President Elect and President Obama repeatedly reiterated earmark and budget process campaign promises
4. As news of the thousands of earmarks representing billions of dollars finally broke through the main stream media elite’s Obama protection filter the “Yes We Can Lie and Deceive Ourselves Out of Any Situation” group at the white house devised a strategy blaming W again as they were victims and had inherited this awful budget. The media elite embraced this story of woe and we the people get the short end of the stick again.
5. And finally, as previously mentioned, the bill was most unceremoniously signed behind closed doors in the dark of night in the Senate’s Men’s Room, at least as rumor has it, (right after they checked all the stalls to make sure Senator Craig wasn’t lurking in the shadows hoping to score a date for the evening) without a reporter or TV camera anywhere to be found. Considering the fact that this president appears on at least two to three made for TV events daily and gets more face time on the tube than Ryan Seacrest, Paris Hilton, the Video Professor and the Sham Wow TV Spokesman combined, the absence of coverage speaks volumes about the corruption and wasteful spending this bill contains.

Hypocritical actions and behavior seemed to dominate the entire week. A few more examples included the Presidents continued rhetoric about the dire economic crisis being his number one priority while his Treasury Department remains woefully understaffed. To date, only one appointee has been approved by the senate and three have withdrawn because of vetting issues. It’s hard to finance a hostile socialist government takeover with only one overworked, underpaid and under loved tax cheat at Treasury, the one and only Tim “Turbo Tax Cheat” Geithner.

The President also keeps playing the victim card claiming out of one side of his mouth how he inherited this mother of all economic crisis, including W’s unprecedented federal debt, while proposing out of the other side of his mouth the addition of $3.2 trillion to the debt during the first two years of his administration, compared to the $3 trillion W added over his eight years in office. At that pace and if elected to a second term our conversion from a representative republic form of government to one big happy Spanish speaking socialist commune will only add $12 - $13 trillion to the national debt. Now that’s certainly change we all can sure as hell believe in.

Week eight ended with our entire federal government at their hypocritical best with the public flogging of AIG. No doubt the taxpayer funded bonuses to AIG execs is a callous abuse of the public trust and another glaring example of unbelievable boneheaded management decisions, but when compared to the frivolous, wasteful, under the table, and totally out of control spending of President Obama and Congress, both sides of the isle, AIG’s financial transgressions seem trivial and even inconsequential.

The moral outrage expressed about AIG’s financial mismanagement by President Obama, Senator “VIP CountryWide loan boy” Dodd, Barney “Freddie in the Fannie Mack” Frank, Charlie “I just forgot to pay those taxes” Rangel and I’m sad to say even my very own senator from the great state of Alabama, the Honorable Richard “Mr. $800 thousand earmark for Catfish Research” Shelby, rings hallow when considering their advocacy of unprecedented massive deficit government spending; taxpayer funded under the table political payback to special interest groups (unions and ACORN); funding programs that will triple or even quadruple the national debt and in general spending we the people’s money with the reckless abandon of Bill Clinton unleashed at a reunion of female white house interns.

There is a thin line between hypocrisy and bald face lies. Our new President seems to cross that line far too frequently and with entirely too much ease in the advocacy of his irresponsible spending, massive tax increases, redistribution of wealth and hopes for a socialist U.S. government and society. To end the hypocrisy and shine a light on the deceptions our diligence, active participation, vocal opposition and informed dissent will be required now more than ever.

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”
Ron W. Garikes