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Mark Steyn: "The Governing Institutions of the United States Are Utterly Repulsive

 and disgusting."

So says Mark Steyn, noted conservative author, columnist and political observer. From an article at The Daily Caller, this excerpt:

On Hugh Hewitt’s radio Thursday, National Review columnist Mark Steyn gave a scathing rebuke to the U.S. federal government on the heels of its reopening on earlier in the day.

“Well look, you know, in my book when it came out, whatever it was, a couple of years ago, it had a very simple point, that the question was whether the governing institutions of the United States of America were capable of meaningful course correction,” Steyn explained. “And I think we’ve just seen, whether you fall on Jonah [Goldberg]’s side or on your side, the net result is that we keep telling the world that we’re not capable of serious course correction. And that’s a problem. And I well understand why people like Ted Cruz get impatient with it. They’re right to be impatient with it.”

“Right now, the governing institutions of the United States are utterly repulsive and disgusting,” he continued. “This bipartisan bill agreed yesterday includes $175,000 dollars to the widow of the late senator, Frank Lautenberg, because apparently, it’s the tradition of the Senate to give significant six-figure payments to the widows of distinguished senators. Why is that in this bill? It’s nothing to do with this bill. And that’s why government, more spending, more debt, another trillion dollars as we float free of the debt ceiling, we’re telling the world that this is just the way it is now. No serious course correction can be mounted by America’s governing institutions. That’s a hell of a message.”

Read the whole thing. 

Thomas Jefferson on National Debt

"America's Most Irresponsible"

Tea Party Patriots has listed the 62 U.S. Senators who have consistently voted to increase America's overspending.

Check to see if yours are on the list, here. Sadly, I'm not surprised that both of ours are on there.

It's HIS Fault: a Recap

With the understanding that, no matter what we do, say or forward, we will never ever change the mind 
of a committed ideologue, I hope you all will understand that that is not the intent of forwarding this on. 
We do so in the hope that it will help the 80% of math and fact challenged Americans to get a grip on 
reality, thus enabling them to get off the fence under their own power rather than be violently pushed 
off by the coming onslaught of lying left wing media losers.

So... let's examine exactly whose fault this is. B-b-b-But It's HIS Fault The Washington Post babbled again today about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this BULL. So once more, a short civics lesson: Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that  controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for FY 2008 & FY 2009 as well  as FY 2010 & FY 2011. (FY = fiscal year) In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise  on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing  continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office.  At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets. And where was Barack Obama during this time?  He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills,  and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009. Let's remember  what the deficits looked like during that period:   If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican  budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit  spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes  Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.  If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is "I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th."  There is probably no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us tells someone else.  This is your chance to make a difference. Stay Focused, Connected, Informed and Inspired.

I'm Encouraged...

... by three of the letters to the newspaper editor, today. Excerpts:

On the subject of D.C. gridlock:

"Since the Reagan years, partisan politics and resulting Washington gridlock are bigger problems than any other challenge we face as a nation. We, the voters, are responsible.

"Regardless of party we all want very much the same: campaign finance reform, comprehensive energy policy, health care changes, term limits, deficit reduction, financial institution regulation and more. But Washington seems incapable of legislation advancing the people's needs. The legislators we have elected are more interested in staying in power than risking good legislation that makes the other side look good. The minority party, regardless of party, is now always "The Party of No."

"I want leadership. If my legislators do not break ranks and vote across party lines 10 percent of the time, or reach across the aisle and co-sponsor meaningful legislation, I will donate to and vote for their next election opponents. I pledge to do this in primary and general elections regardless of party affiliation. If 10 percent of this nation will do the same, maybe we can get our legislators working for us again."

He gets it.

On the subject of health care "reform":

"Re: Letter ...., Feb. 27, "US can afford health care."

"She is right -- millions are wasted at taxpayer expense, but what in the following line does she not get?

"We are broke.

"We are borrowing money and printing money like never before in our history. Do you really believe that the federal government which wastes billions of our taxpayer dollars, is going to run the health care system in any kind of a responsible way? There seem to be people out there who don't care what health care costs or who pays for it or even if we have the money to pay for it; they just want it. Reform, yes. Government takeover of health care, no. I think we still might be able to recover from being broke but the clock is ticking. ...

"One form of irresponsible spending does not justify another round of irresponsible spending."

She gets it, too.

On the subject of corruption in Juneau, re: a proposal to let lobbyists spend up to $50 buying meals for legislators, without the legislators having to report it (currently a $15 limit):

"To be fair to all state employees, I should be able to buy a nice dinner for a plow operator who clears my road first, or for a state trooper who gives my excuse for speeding some extra consideration. Of course, there really is no such thing as a free lunch, so instead our legislators should be forbidden from taking anything in exchange for their time or consideration.

"I have more empathy for the person begging at a street corner than I do for someone on the state payroll who barters power and self-respect for dinner and drinks. Vote the freeloaders out."

My faith in my fellow Alaskans is somewhat restored. People are waking up to what's going on; I pray they don't fall asleep again, this time.