I guess it had to happen, the mayoral campaign in nearby South Bend, IN turned negative thanks to one of the candidates. But, I still say that the apparent value of being mayor of debt-ridden, over-taxed, and deemed a dying city by Newsweek Magazine, South Bend, Indiana is such a lucrative position that it is worth getting down and dirty to win the election. Recognizing that South Bend is only about 100 miles east of Chicago I guess it is not surprising to see Chicago-style political negativity incorporated into the May 3rd multi-candidate race.
Let me note that I am not a resident of South Bend, but I do reside in a bedroom community that is significantly influenced by the inept government in South Bend and St. Joseph County, so the mayoral race impacts me financially.
Last evening while viewing television I saw a negative mayoral campaign commercial aired by Ryan Dvorak, one of three Democrat candidates running against young (age 29) Pete Buttigieg (pronounced Boo-ti-judge), who reportedly has the largest campaign war chest of $250,000. His parents are educators and Buttigieg graduated from Harvard, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and his career thus far has been spent in the private sector working for the international consulting firm of McKinsey & Co. He is also an officer in the US Navy Reserve.
When I saw the Dvorak commercial I immediately noted several claims that just did not hold one ounce of honesty pointed at Buttigieg, or even the claims Dvorak made of his own record. He seems almost desperate to attain the mayor’s seat of power, influence and rewards. He should know, because he comes from a long standing South Bend political family.
For the record, Ryan Dvorak is one of the Democrat members of the Indiana House of Representatives who deserted their post when they recently fled to Urbana, Illinois so the State House would not have a quorum. Thirty-seven of the forty Democrat members of the House abandoned their Oath of Office. Of those thirty-seven, were four who represent districts within the local area called “Michiana:” Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, Craig Fry, David Niezgodski, and Ryan Dvorak. Both Ryan Dvorak and Craig Fry are running to be mayors of the two largest cities in St. Joseph County, IN, with Fry on the ballot in Mishawaka and Dvorak in South Bend.
I don’t know about you, but I would not support anyone who was AWOL from their elected office such as Dvorak and Fry, because I wouldn’t trust them to flee if/when the going gets tough again.
Bauer and Fry hold lucrative administrative positions at Ivy Tech, a community college, which essentially makes them built-in lobbyists for all education issues. Young Ryan Dvorak is the son of the St. Joseph County Prosecutor, and he is floating bogus claims in his negative campaign commercial boasting that he has experience balancing budgets. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1996, went to work for then local US Congressman Tim Roemer 1996-2001, and has served in the Indiana House since 2002. What budgets? He is but one member of the Indiana House of Representatives and “HE” did not balance ANY budget all by himself.
With the Primary election coming next week it will be interesting to see if we have politics as usual in South Bend. In your Commander’s opinion the three deserters should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. Unfortunately for some reason the voters in South Bend are no different than they are all over the country; they do not consider conflicts of interest and campaign commercials that contain blatant lies to be a problem.
Somehow we survive, but the taxes caused by these complicit conflicted clowns are killing all of us.
COMMANDER GRANGER
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
SEN. HARRY REID AND NINE FELLOW CLOWNS IN CHINA
Your Commander was enjoying a pleasant Easter afternoon watching a televised golf tournament on Hilton Head Island (a beautiful place we love to visit), while also browsing on my computer when I ran across an article on Forbes.com, and I almost lost my lunch.
The link is below, but the details of this latest fiasco by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and his cast of fellow characters is short so you need not hit the link, unless you want to check my reporting accuracy.
http://blogs.forbes.com/kenrapoza/2011/04/21/what-will-sen-harry-reid-bring-back-from-china/
In essence the story reports the fact that during the current two week Senate Recess, Reid is leading a group of nine other Senators for what is called a “meet and greet” with senior Chinese officials. The first question I have is who approved this trip, and how much will it cost the American taxpayer? It would be interesting to determine who made-up the official party beyond the ten U.S. Senators, and who is paying for them? Was the trip even necessary and in the best interest of the American public?
The Forbes article written by Eric Breaker indicates that Senator’s Richard Shelby (R-AL), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mike Ensi (R-WY), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Reid’s Communications Director John Summers make-up the official party. I have further learned that enroute to China the entourage made a stop in Macao, which would suggest Reid was placating the gambling businesses in his native Nevada and exposing his fellow Senators to the gambling dens they operate in the Far East too.
This entire trip stinks to high heaven, but I bet nothing will ever be said or done about this blatant abuse of our precious treasury dollars. Do the words ARROGANCE, SPECIAL PRIVILEGE, AND CRIMINAL WASTE come to your mind? They sure do to mine.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to determine what other trips were conducted by the other Senators and members of the House during his important two week recess? When is this crap going to stop, and who is going to do it? ROME BURNS WHILE NERO FIDDLES. Your Commander does not appreciate the heat, certainly does not approve of the use of our fiddle without them even asking, and suggests we get the offenders out of the kitchen!
COMMANDER GRANGER
The link is below, but the details of this latest fiasco by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and his cast of fellow characters is short so you need not hit the link, unless you want to check my reporting accuracy.
http://blogs.forbes.com/kenrapoza/2011/04/21/what-will-sen-harry-reid-bring-back-from-china/
In essence the story reports the fact that during the current two week Senate Recess, Reid is leading a group of nine other Senators for what is called a “meet and greet” with senior Chinese officials. The first question I have is who approved this trip, and how much will it cost the American taxpayer? It would be interesting to determine who made-up the official party beyond the ten U.S. Senators, and who is paying for them? Was the trip even necessary and in the best interest of the American public?
The Forbes article written by Eric Breaker indicates that Senator’s Richard Shelby (R-AL), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mike Ensi (R-WY), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Reid’s Communications Director John Summers make-up the official party. I have further learned that enroute to China the entourage made a stop in Macao, which would suggest Reid was placating the gambling businesses in his native Nevada and exposing his fellow Senators to the gambling dens they operate in the Far East too.
This entire trip stinks to high heaven, but I bet nothing will ever be said or done about this blatant abuse of our precious treasury dollars. Do the words ARROGANCE, SPECIAL PRIVILEGE, AND CRIMINAL WASTE come to your mind? They sure do to mine.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to determine what other trips were conducted by the other Senators and members of the House during his important two week recess? When is this crap going to stop, and who is going to do it? ROME BURNS WHILE NERO FIDDLES. Your Commander does not appreciate the heat, certainly does not approve of the use of our fiddle without them even asking, and suggests we get the offenders out of the kitchen!
COMMANDER GRANGER
HAVE WE LOST OUR MINDS OR JUST SOLD OUT?
The political pundits say that the mother’s milk of politics is money, and it is your Commander’s opinion that the massive amounts of money flowing into the coffers of politicians on the Federal, State, and local level is simply destroying our democratic form of governance. PAY FOR PLAY is a term that has become popular with the trials and tribulations of ex-Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich, but it actually defines the basic problem confronting government at all levels of the American society today.
In South Bend, IN (the community next door) the local Mayoral election is taking place. The top four candidates have raised amazing amounts of money for their Primary Campaigns. One young candidate has raised over $250,000 dollars, and three others have raised about $100,000 each – and we are talking about a mid-size Indiana City.
Our President is off flying all over the country while Rome burns during the two-week Congressional recess, and he is expected to raise over $1 billion for his forthcoming Presidential re-election campaign. This situation is repeated all over the country with each person running for Senate and House seats that require their solicitation of huge sums of money to pay their promotional expenses, which in the long-run really represent the cost of attaining the desired office.
Let me draw your attention to an extremely informative article that recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The article is interesting from the stand-point that the big Wall Street Hedge Fund Managers are switching their bets when it comes to buying their influence in the next Presidential election.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703461504576231121265117538.html#printMode
The thing that jumped off the page at me when reading this article was the astounding amounts of money pumped into these political contests. Please don’t tell me that when a politician receives huge individual contributions such as reported, that it does not buy not only direct contact, but support of the contributor’s special interests. Here we go again with PAY FOR PLAY, and it has totally corrupted the political process in this country.
How can our political leaders criticize political corruption and malfeasance in governments of other countries when it is rampant here in the good old USA?
More than a half million dollars is flooding into the Mayor’s race in little old South Bend, Indiana, and we know that our current President will raise over $1 Billion for his next race. Apparently the political offices have become so lucrative that those running for office are eager to pay almost any amount of money to PAY FOR PLAY, because the pay-off apparently is making it a good business deal for them….not the American taxpayer. We are coming out on the short-end of another sharp stick that is poking at our eyes more and more each passing day.
Have we lost our collective minds or have we just sold-out for whatever handout we can collect from these public servants and duplicitous politicians?
COMMANDER GRANGER
In South Bend, IN (the community next door) the local Mayoral election is taking place. The top four candidates have raised amazing amounts of money for their Primary Campaigns. One young candidate has raised over $250,000 dollars, and three others have raised about $100,000 each – and we are talking about a mid-size Indiana City.
Our President is off flying all over the country while Rome burns during the two-week Congressional recess, and he is expected to raise over $1 billion for his forthcoming Presidential re-election campaign. This situation is repeated all over the country with each person running for Senate and House seats that require their solicitation of huge sums of money to pay their promotional expenses, which in the long-run really represent the cost of attaining the desired office.
Let me draw your attention to an extremely informative article that recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The article is interesting from the stand-point that the big Wall Street Hedge Fund Managers are switching their bets when it comes to buying their influence in the next Presidential election.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703461504576231121265117538.html#printMode
The thing that jumped off the page at me when reading this article was the astounding amounts of money pumped into these political contests. Please don’t tell me that when a politician receives huge individual contributions such as reported, that it does not buy not only direct contact, but support of the contributor’s special interests. Here we go again with PAY FOR PLAY, and it has totally corrupted the political process in this country.
How can our political leaders criticize political corruption and malfeasance in governments of other countries when it is rampant here in the good old USA?
More than a half million dollars is flooding into the Mayor’s race in little old South Bend, Indiana, and we know that our current President will raise over $1 Billion for his next race. Apparently the political offices have become so lucrative that those running for office are eager to pay almost any amount of money to PAY FOR PLAY, because the pay-off apparently is making it a good business deal for them….not the American taxpayer. We are coming out on the short-end of another sharp stick that is poking at our eyes more and more each passing day.
Have we lost our collective minds or have we just sold-out for whatever handout we can collect from these public servants and duplicitous politicians?
COMMANDER GRANGER
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
WHITE HOUSE ARROGANCE
With our great country consumed in three Wars, all essentially in the Middle East, and our economy mired in deep unsustainable debt what is one of the big stories appearing in the Washington Post today…”OBAMA TO SPEND WEDNESDAY POLITICKING WITH OPRAH IN CHICAGO, CAMPAIGN DONORS IN NEW YORK CITY”.
I find this disgusting. It proves the real motivation of the current Administration is getting their man RE-ELECTED when the primary goal should be serving the American citizens, and addressing the pressing issues of the day. It seems to me that if the current president has fulfilled campaign promises, and handled domestic and foreign affairs well, campaigning should be easier and less time and dollar intensive.
Here is a link to an Associated Press article in The Washington Post that ties directly to my recent essay regarding to the costs of a presidential overseas trip on Air Force One.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-spend-wednesday-politicking-with-oprah-in-chicago-campaign-donors-in-new-york-city/2011/04/27/AF3BWXvE_print.html
When you read this article you quickly learn that the real priority projects taking our President’s time and attention are self-interest (birth certificate), and not the real pressing matters most important to the future of our country. I will not repeat what is outlined in the Associated Press piece, but clearly Air Force One will need replacements for its tired engines, and you and I know that the Democrat Campaign Committee will not be footing the bill for those expensive replacements.
Be prepared America, you are about to be screwed again.
COMMANDER GRANGER
I find this disgusting. It proves the real motivation of the current Administration is getting their man RE-ELECTED when the primary goal should be serving the American citizens, and addressing the pressing issues of the day. It seems to me that if the current president has fulfilled campaign promises, and handled domestic and foreign affairs well, campaigning should be easier and less time and dollar intensive.
Here is a link to an Associated Press article in The Washington Post that ties directly to my recent essay regarding to the costs of a presidential overseas trip on Air Force One.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-spend-wednesday-politicking-with-oprah-in-chicago-campaign-donors-in-new-york-city/2011/04/27/AF3BWXvE_print.html
When you read this article you quickly learn that the real priority projects taking our President’s time and attention are self-interest (birth certificate), and not the real pressing matters most important to the future of our country. I will not repeat what is outlined in the Associated Press piece, but clearly Air Force One will need replacements for its tired engines, and you and I know that the Democrat Campaign Committee will not be footing the bill for those expensive replacements.
Be prepared America, you are about to be screwed again.
COMMANDER GRANGER
THE LIKABILITY GAP
Today’s Wall Street Journal contained a powerful article by Daniel Henninger titled “Obama’s Likability Gap”. Here is the link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658704576275061542909404.html#printMode
Henninger has some very strong sentiments expressed in his opinion piece. He also ponders whether Obama’s smoking cessation may have an impact on his recent testy demeanor.
Your Commander wonders if Henninger is just one of a growing number of journalists expressing their increasing concerns relative to Obama’s administration. It is becoming evident that if the Republicans don’t drop the ball, which they are famous for doing, they just might find one of their own gracing the halls of the White House after the next election. Oh, but did I mention the GOP needs to come up with a solid candidate first?
Patience and time will tell.
COMMANDER GRANGER
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658704576275061542909404.html#printMode
Henninger has some very strong sentiments expressed in his opinion piece. He also ponders whether Obama’s smoking cessation may have an impact on his recent testy demeanor.
Your Commander wonders if Henninger is just one of a growing number of journalists expressing their increasing concerns relative to Obama’s administration. It is becoming evident that if the Republicans don’t drop the ball, which they are famous for doing, they just might find one of their own gracing the halls of the White House after the next election. Oh, but did I mention the GOP needs to come up with a solid candidate first?
Patience and time will tell.
COMMANDER GRANGER
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
WHEN AIR FORCE ONE TAKES WING
Recently my Editor was in Washington, D.C. conducting business and took some additional time to visit some of our most significant national treasures, such as the Lincoln Memorial, Air and Space Museum, and The White House. It was near the latter that she spotted a wonderful book titled "AIR FORCE ONE – The aircraft that shaped the modern Presidency" by Von Hardesty with a Foreword by CBS Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer.
This is a wonderful soft-cover book, oddly shaped (9 ¼ by 9 ¾), and carries the story from the first flight by President Teddy Roosevelt with one of the Wright Brothers through President George W. Bush’s presidency on today’s Air Force One. To say the book is amazing is an understatement and every American should be interested in the facts and figures presented within its covers.
Hopefully you can find a copy of this book at your local bookstore or local library, because it is well worth your time and effort to be informed about this unique part of the government of the United States.
There is a special feature presented, which unfortunately I cannot copy for inclusion here because it is spread over two adjoining pages. When our President travels overseas on official business aboard Air Force One it takes a massive number of airplanes and personnel to support, serve, and protect our President. While I knew each flight outside the country was a significant undertaking, I did not fully understand the scope and expense involved. Here are the details represented on pages #156 and #157 of the book.
Every time Air Force One departs for an overseas trip the journey is supported with the following equipment and personnel:
Two VC-25 (747 aircraft) - one for the President and one backup aircraft - there are 8 crew members, 17 support personnel, 20 security personnel, 30 presidential staffers, 13 journalists, and one physician on the President’s plane and the backup plane has a crew of 8 and 6 support personnel.
One #747 Press Plane carrying approximately 156 people – Crew, Support, and Press.
Three #C-17 Cargo Planes with support personnel. One carries a crew of 4 and approximately 53 security personnel, the second carries a crew of three, and the third carries another three crew members.
Two #C-5 Cargo Planes with support personnel. One with a crew of 6 and 50 security personnel; the second has a crew of three.
One E-4 Operations plane –Flying Command Plane – with a crew of 61.
Three KC-10 Tanker Refueling planes- with a crew of 4 each.
Three KC-135 Tanker Refueling plane- with a crew of 4 each.
Three VH-10 Helicopters with a crew of 4 each.
Four Limousines and six or more SUV’s.
That represents approximately 475 people on 18 aircraft with four limousines and six SUV’s, and we have not considered the cost of the jet fuel, food, and expense of the personnel all in support of one president traveling to some site outside of the country for official government purposes. It is impossible to even estimate the cost of each trip and I suspect that it is impossible to accurately separate expenses accurately between what is appropriate to charge the government and a specific political party.
It is your Commander’s guesstimate that we are talking well over a hundred million each time the President travels overseas and millions when he flies to Indiana or Montana to meet with workers in an auto factory or western ranches.
Can you imagine the impact of the sight of Air Force One has on arriving in some Third World Country with this entourage? The arrogant ugly Americans arrive to save mankind.
It is your Commander’s strong suggestion that presidents give some serious thought to reducing the number of flights he/she commits on behalf of their Presidency for the economic benefit of the American taxpayer. I agree that it is necessary to attend some of these meeting in foreign lands and I totally understand the importance of extensive security for our President, but equally there must be some additional consideration to the expense of these ventures.
Domestic trips do not require as many planes, personnel, etc., however, they are not cheap either. Just after addressing the nation about the need to share the pain in resolving our budget woes, Obama went off again on Air Force One to Chicago for a political rally and major fund raising gathering. One wonders who is watching how the cost of such travel is accounted. I bet the good old American taxpayer is charged, but we will never know the real answer to my concern.
Would it not be prudent for our President to stay in the White House, and work a full five or six days per week as the average hard working American is required to do? The president can always slip away to Camp David, which is not shabby, and save us a ton of money. Your Commander asks the question…What would our Founding Fathers think of the frequency of air travel by Barack Obama, and the costs attributable to today’s American President?
COMMANDER GRANGER
This is a wonderful soft-cover book, oddly shaped (9 ¼ by 9 ¾), and carries the story from the first flight by President Teddy Roosevelt with one of the Wright Brothers through President George W. Bush’s presidency on today’s Air Force One. To say the book is amazing is an understatement and every American should be interested in the facts and figures presented within its covers.
Hopefully you can find a copy of this book at your local bookstore or local library, because it is well worth your time and effort to be informed about this unique part of the government of the United States.
There is a special feature presented, which unfortunately I cannot copy for inclusion here because it is spread over two adjoining pages. When our President travels overseas on official business aboard Air Force One it takes a massive number of airplanes and personnel to support, serve, and protect our President. While I knew each flight outside the country was a significant undertaking, I did not fully understand the scope and expense involved. Here are the details represented on pages #156 and #157 of the book.
Every time Air Force One departs for an overseas trip the journey is supported with the following equipment and personnel:
Two VC-25 (747 aircraft) - one for the President and one backup aircraft - there are 8 crew members, 17 support personnel, 20 security personnel, 30 presidential staffers, 13 journalists, and one physician on the President’s plane and the backup plane has a crew of 8 and 6 support personnel.
One #747 Press Plane carrying approximately 156 people – Crew, Support, and Press.
Three #C-17 Cargo Planes with support personnel. One carries a crew of 4 and approximately 53 security personnel, the second carries a crew of three, and the third carries another three crew members.
Two #C-5 Cargo Planes with support personnel. One with a crew of 6 and 50 security personnel; the second has a crew of three.
One E-4 Operations plane –Flying Command Plane – with a crew of 61.
Three KC-10 Tanker Refueling planes- with a crew of 4 each.
Three KC-135 Tanker Refueling plane- with a crew of 4 each.
Three VH-10 Helicopters with a crew of 4 each.
Four Limousines and six or more SUV’s.
That represents approximately 475 people on 18 aircraft with four limousines and six SUV’s, and we have not considered the cost of the jet fuel, food, and expense of the personnel all in support of one president traveling to some site outside of the country for official government purposes. It is impossible to even estimate the cost of each trip and I suspect that it is impossible to accurately separate expenses accurately between what is appropriate to charge the government and a specific political party.
It is your Commander’s guesstimate that we are talking well over a hundred million each time the President travels overseas and millions when he flies to Indiana or Montana to meet with workers in an auto factory or western ranches.
Can you imagine the impact of the sight of Air Force One has on arriving in some Third World Country with this entourage? The arrogant ugly Americans arrive to save mankind.
It is your Commander’s strong suggestion that presidents give some serious thought to reducing the number of flights he/she commits on behalf of their Presidency for the economic benefit of the American taxpayer. I agree that it is necessary to attend some of these meeting in foreign lands and I totally understand the importance of extensive security for our President, but equally there must be some additional consideration to the expense of these ventures.
Domestic trips do not require as many planes, personnel, etc., however, they are not cheap either. Just after addressing the nation about the need to share the pain in resolving our budget woes, Obama went off again on Air Force One to Chicago for a political rally and major fund raising gathering. One wonders who is watching how the cost of such travel is accounted. I bet the good old American taxpayer is charged, but we will never know the real answer to my concern.
Would it not be prudent for our President to stay in the White House, and work a full five or six days per week as the average hard working American is required to do? The president can always slip away to Camp David, which is not shabby, and save us a ton of money. Your Commander asks the question…What would our Founding Fathers think of the frequency of air travel by Barack Obama, and the costs attributable to today’s American President?
COMMANDER GRANGER
Monday, April 25, 2011
MILLIONAIRES IN CONGRESS
Today I was trying to find some information relative to the number of junkets being taken by members of Congress during the current two week Easter recess. At the same time President Obama is flying all over the country raising campaign funds for his re-election run. Unfortunately I have thus far not been able to determine which members of Congress are on a junket or where they are traveling, let alone who is traveling with them and who is paying for the trip.
My purpose in trying to determine some definitive information on this subject is to find out if and who is really checking and auditing these trips, some of which are conducted on the backs of the American taxpayer. I will continue to look and, hopefully, will locate some information and report back to you at that point.
While on my junket search I came upon a website written by a man named Mark Schumacher and an article of his titled “Too Many Millionaires in Congress – Time for Just Representation.” From the little I have read of his work so far, Schumacher appears to be a provocateur similar to your Commander.
Did you know that 60% of the NEW Senate and 40% of the NEW House members are millionaires? I wonder what the real percentage is of the total membership. Certainly most, if not all, of the old timers in both Houses are very wealthy cats, too. Here is the link to Schumacher’s article for your information.
http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/too-many-millionaires-in-congress-%E2%80%93-time-for-just-representation/3319
Schumacher makes some sound points, especially about the perks and travel that our supposed leaders take off the backs of the taxpayers with little or no checks and balances. While I have no personal axe to grind against successful people, I do have a growing concern that we have permitted our elected leadership to become extremely wealthy, over-perked, excessively overly-privileged, exempt from rules that apply to everyone else, and isolated from the realities that are confronted by every day Americans.
It is your Commander’s opinion that the president and the members of Congress are so isolated from the realities of day to day life in America that they can no longer serve our best interests effectively. They simply just don’t get it anymore when it comes to understanding our problems, and they simply do not care if we think that is a serious problem, because we cannot do anything about it. We can, because our votes put them in and our votes can take them all out of office. However, how do we get rid of their fat pensions and life long perks once they have served a mere six years?
With the ranks of the entitlement crowd growing each day we are now reaching the point where our government spends as much on welfare and entitlement projects as we take in with our federal income tax. At that point we resemble lambs going to slaughter, because our government is committing fiscal suicide.
COMMANDER GRANGER
My purpose in trying to determine some definitive information on this subject is to find out if and who is really checking and auditing these trips, some of which are conducted on the backs of the American taxpayer. I will continue to look and, hopefully, will locate some information and report back to you at that point.
While on my junket search I came upon a website written by a man named Mark Schumacher and an article of his titled “Too Many Millionaires in Congress – Time for Just Representation.” From the little I have read of his work so far, Schumacher appears to be a provocateur similar to your Commander.
Did you know that 60% of the NEW Senate and 40% of the NEW House members are millionaires? I wonder what the real percentage is of the total membership. Certainly most, if not all, of the old timers in both Houses are very wealthy cats, too. Here is the link to Schumacher’s article for your information.
http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/too-many-millionaires-in-congress-%E2%80%93-time-for-just-representation/3319
Schumacher makes some sound points, especially about the perks and travel that our supposed leaders take off the backs of the taxpayers with little or no checks and balances. While I have no personal axe to grind against successful people, I do have a growing concern that we have permitted our elected leadership to become extremely wealthy, over-perked, excessively overly-privileged, exempt from rules that apply to everyone else, and isolated from the realities that are confronted by every day Americans.
It is your Commander’s opinion that the president and the members of Congress are so isolated from the realities of day to day life in America that they can no longer serve our best interests effectively. They simply just don’t get it anymore when it comes to understanding our problems, and they simply do not care if we think that is a serious problem, because we cannot do anything about it. We can, because our votes put them in and our votes can take them all out of office. However, how do we get rid of their fat pensions and life long perks once they have served a mere six years?
With the ranks of the entitlement crowd growing each day we are now reaching the point where our government spends as much on welfare and entitlement projects as we take in with our federal income tax. At that point we resemble lambs going to slaughter, because our government is committing fiscal suicide.
COMMANDER GRANGER
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