Rotting from Within

Government is inherently corrupt.  The fact that anything gets done ostensibly to benefit the governed that also doesn’t diminish individual freedom and line the pockets of those governing is most often just an oversight.  Our founding fathers knew this and did their level best to construct a mechanism of governance which would minimize this genetic flaw … at the expense of substantial legislative, executive and judicial efficiency.

However, almost 240 years later, the devilishly devious minds of our elected snollygosters have managed to circumvent most of these Constitutional barriers … the latest being the legislation that became law last night in Washington.  From Politico we read about the law that broke our latest fiscal impasses:

The legislation also includes a McConnell-written proposal that would allow Congress to disapprove of the debt-ceiling increase. Lawmakers will formally vote on rejecting the bump of the borrowing limit - if it passed, it could be vetoed by Obama. 

 The deal would also deliver back pay to furloughed federal workers, require a study of income verification for people seeking health-insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and also allows the Treasury Department to use extraordinary measures to pay the nation’s bills if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling in a timely fashion.

Other than a little window dressing that means nothing to our power-lusting President, this is a rollover.  Basically, the power of the purse, as granted to the legislature in the Constitution, has been greatly usurped by corrupt politicians of both stripes in Washington ... much of this prerogative is now the President's ... a very dangerous thing.  For what?  So that many in Congress might get a puff-piece in the New York Times or help insure their re-election … read and weep: The Conversation.

Oh yes, and Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, also gets a $3 billion piece of pork for his state, Kentucky … see: The WFPL News.  I suspect there are surely some other bits of bacon also included in this legislative travesty.

QED

Afterward: I was right about the additional bacon, see: The Hill Story.

Canary Time?

The second Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been captured alive and we all hope he sings like a canary. (I say “we all” excepting maybe Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky.) There is a whole lot more to this story that needs to be uncovered and perhaps a little "water up his nose" can help Dzhokhar remember the details ... and prevent the next such attack?. 

While reading about Dzhokhar life (see: Boston Globe Story) I am struck with a certain sadness in that an immigrant to this country can receive so much yet turn around and bite (off) the hand that feeds him. And, equally disheartening, he was given so much with really so little to offer. In days past, immigrants have come here with high hopes and ideals and, as a consequence, have quickly assimilated ... and given their all to help build our great nation.  I think that this truth may be slipping away ... possibly due to the laxness of our immigration system?.

Dzhokhar's brother, Tamerian Tsamaev, apparently had more drive and promise (see: Breitbart Story) ... yet was sidetracked in a sinister direction by a sinister devotion. And I don't feel any more comfortable with the myriad other Tsamaev relatives who are and have been in our country ... even that uncle who denounced these two monster brothers.  He seemed, to me, to be grandstanding and disingenuous.  While the father, back in Russia, threatens ... if Dzhokhar is killed "all hell will break loose."  Might this still hold if he is eventually executed?  

And this Tsamaev extended family is once more indicative of a broken immigration system.  They all were granted political asylum to enter into the United States ... yet the father can return to Russia with impunity?  What an outragous sham!

We have all been impressed with the professionalism and competence of all our law enforcement agencies. However well they responded to this atrocity, I am still struck by the political overtones that prevailed here … particularly the unexplained delays.  Was the release of those key photos of the suspects held back until after President Obama spoke at the memorial service here in Boston?  If so, then that poor MIT policeman probably paid for this Presidential posturing with his life.  

And one last sniping comment … why must those update briefings be fronted by our politicians.  After all, it was law enforcement which had all the salient facts.  Our governor and mayor … and all those lesser political hacks standing in the background were, to me, just so much window dressing.