How Bad is It?
So bad that the Italian PM is selling off luxury cars from the govt garage —
Link is here if you have a hankering. But it goes to show that when it gets right down to it, the flash is fine, but they would rather keep their pay checks coming in.
Now this could apply to alot of political situations —
* I’ll believe that global warming is serious when they stop flying all over the globe screaming about it.
* I’ll believe they will end govt waste when they stop having $35k rubber chicken plate dinners.
* I’ll believe they will get serious about the national debt when they disband the Federal Reserve.
* I’ll believe Corzine is headed for jail when I see him at the arrainment in an orange jump suit.
A guy could make a living just selling the bumper stickers….
![](http://www.parentalrights.org/vertical/Sites/%7BC49108C5-0630-467E-9B9B-B1FA31A72320%7D/uploads/%7B3EA8D754-D841-4FF4-882C-32895D89991D%7D.PNG")
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Is this any different than U.S. government employees using government credit cards for personal travel and other luxuries … a Senator buying $31,000 in jewelry from his grand daughter with campaign funds … the government spending nearly $700,000 on a play to promote the global warming hoax?
I could go on, but I have to get back to work.
[2]
“In broader terms, we might add: the tendency of power to manifest hubris, arrogance, bullying, deception and the substitution of rule by Elites for rule of law.
Natural selection isn’t only operative in Nature; it is equally operative in human organizations, economies and societies. People respond to whatever set of incentives and disincentives are present. If deceiving and conning others is heavily incentivized, while integrity and honesty are punished, people will gravitate to running cons and embezzlement schemes.
What behaviors does our Status Quo reward? Misrepresentation, obfuscation, legalized looting, embezzlement, fraud, a variety of cons, gaming the system, deviousness, lying and cleverly designed deceptions.
Let’s connect the pathology of power and the behaviors selected by our Status Quo. What we end up with is a system that selects for a specific category of sociopaths: those whose only competence is in running cons.
No wonder we have a leadership that is selected not for competence but for deviousness. What’s incentivized in our system is spinning half-truths and propaganda with a straight face and running cons that entrench the pathology of power.”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/03/system-select-incompetent-sociopaths.html
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[4]
BC,
The difference is, what you are describing is US govt largess. What the Italians are doing is recognizing that the largess cannot continue and the Pols keep their jobs. Not that we are any better off than the Italians, fact probably worse. Its just that the Italians have arrived there first. Eventually we will too. It will just take an implosion of public pensions, or student loan debt for it to be recognized.
[5]
Talking of cars, why did GM just inform their dealers to stop selling the 2013/2014 chevy cobalts?
[6]
Govt spends billions for Big Data collection systems. Then they are foiled when — http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140327/10164226710/boston-bombing-suspect-avoided-cia-fbi-because-his-last-name-was-misspelled-dhs-database.shtml — somebody misspells a perps name, making it inaccessible in the system. Sigh….
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“…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ”
We’re either there…or real damn close!
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drdog09 #5 –
Yep. Between this and the ignition switch problem, look for another GM bailout.
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I have received more political mail and email from some real @$$holes this week:
* An email from John McCain from some group that wants to start WWIII
* Two emails from Boehner looking for money
* An email from Paul Ryan looking for money from the GOP
* An email from John Bolton for his PAC for neocon candidates who want to start WWIII
I wouldn’t p!ss on any of the four of them if they were on fire.
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current results in the March Madness pool:
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Eph has come outa NOWHERE to have a real shot at ‘The Title’
realistically it is between ‘ImFromHollywood1’ (my son’s best friend…who really IS a co-star in a TV series), and Eph. But yours truly, JR, could sneak in if a few upsets happen! 👿
Sadly, my son (‘HOOPIE Lewis…’), has the same final picks as ‘ImFromHollywood1’…so he can’t jump over him.
Let’s the game, uh, continue!
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In addition to all the upsets, the majority of games this year have been very close. It almost seems like wearing a dark jersey (the lower-seeded team) is an advantage.
Wait, isn’t it racist making the lower-seeded team wear dark? I’m so confused.
Thanks for running it again this year, JR.
[13]
Shake shake shake your body…shake it all da time..
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci15481673#summary
[14]
13,
wonder if JM felt that one….