Another news cycle has floated past. Morning always brings a news revelation. It may be something we would consider unimportant, those usually happen on a "slow news day." Or it may be something of great consequence; the latest natural disaster, tornado, hurricane, mudslide, sinkhole, flood. It could also be a political disaster or scandal.
This morning is no different; Senator Byrd died, no great shocker, he was 92, Supreme Court Justice Nominee Elana Kagan's confirmation hearings begin today amidst a cloud of ,"does she have enough experience to be on the Supreme Court?", The General McChrystal gaffe, and yes, still that oil.
Yes the oil that continues to flow out of the earth and into the Gulf of Mexico continues to plague us. It is still flowing, it has not been resolved and the massive amount of oil that has already flowed out into the water is looming over us like a serpent ready to strike the mainland in disastrous ways. There is the potential hurricane that could push oil far inland along the Gulf Coast, the prospect of floods of oil flowing into New Orleans after the floods of Katrina are still haunting the residents of the Big Easy. All of the wildlife will be dead, if not dead already. And where will this floating oil-berg go? The oil that is already out and floating around, will they be able to suck it up and get it out of the water? I don't think so, not all of it. It will be in the gulf for decades to come, it may move with the Gulfstream tides up the East Coast soiling beaches in it's wake.
I know this is the third time I have sounded the alert on the oil spew. But I feel that we are still not paying enough attention to it as a disaster. I don't have that reassurance that it, "will be ok" eventually. Nobody is even saying that, and they shouldn't say it. I don't think we have any idea what this is going to do to the US economy, the US ecology and the long term viability of the area. Can you say 2012? I know that is a bit over the top. Lots of doomsday believers think that natural and man made disasters will kill us all in 2012. I don't think this is part of that theory but I do think it is more serious and deserves more attention than our government is giving it.
The appearance of inaction seems to be linked to some political endgame. Let's not let other countries help us. If we do that, it appears that the government cannot take care of it's own problems. HA! I think it would serve the Democrats better and Obama better to bring in ANY help necessary to get this job done, no matter what the cost. Screw the stimulus, the bailouts, and all of the pointless Census jobs that were created. Our taxpayer money needs to go where it is needed most. We need to be bailing out the Gulf of Mexico, literally. We need as many boats, volunteers, experts from any country to be involved as will get the job done post haste. Why is this not the top priority second in line only to the troops at war in the Middle East? If it is, it really doesn't feel like it is.
Yes, there are other things going on. We have an immigration mess heating up like crazy. My simplistic solution to both the war and the illegal immigration problem is bring our troops home now and station them at our borders with orders to shoot anyone that tries to cross illegally. Period. We cannot have any meaningful legal immigration policy or reform without control of our borders, especially our southern border. We cannot allow drug thugs to control parts of Arizona. That is pure insanity. This is OUR COUNTRY, not theirs and we need to be in control of our own destiny. Arizona has done us a favor is forcing this issue to the forefront. Many previous administrations have pledged to reform our immigration system but none have addressed it at all. This administration may be forced to.
We also are at war in two countries that we have no business being in. I feel for those troops giving their blood, sweat and tears for this country and knowing that we are there for no good reason. Any of the good reasons to be fighting there have long since passed. We need to be bringing our troops home now, en mass. We are not supposed to be nation building. If we are, there are many other hot spots around the world that could use assistance and we have neither the money or manpower to help any of them.
Let's concentrate on our own country and let the chips fall where they may in Afghanistan. Our military was not permitted to fight with all of it's might in either Iraq or Afghanistan. We could have blown the Tora Bora mountains to bits to kill Bin Laden, the Taliban,and their ilk, but we didn't want to lose the"hearts and minds" of the Iraqis or Afghanis. We were too concerned about civilian casualties. You can't fight a nice war. War is ugly, innocent people die, that is how war is fought. Do Hiroshima and Nagasaki bring to mind a nice war? Does anyone think that because we spared civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, we now have the hearts and minds of the majority of Iraqis or Afghanis ? We may have some but by no means do we have the majority. They are countries of separate tribes that have no desire to live the way we live.
The economy rounds out the trio of other problems lurking over us this summer. It is an ugly summer to be sure. Not a whole lot to be cheerful about. We are all in a default position of keeping our heads down and hoping this all passes us over like a stray tornado. Hoping the oil stops flowing, hoping our troops can come home soon, and safely, hoping the immigrants stop flowing illegally into our country, and hoping we don't lose jobs, lose homes, lose our standard of living. All of these other crises are fueling the economic crisis.
The oil situation will cost the taxpayer one way or another, whether it be higher fuel costs due to slowdowns in oil production, or reimbursement of people in the Gulf region who have lost their businesses, homes, etc. BP will go bankrupt eventually and then we will have to shoulder the financial burden for their mess.
The war is costing billions of dollars a month. Those are dollars we pay to supply the troops, pay bribes to local tribesmen, and for logistical support. That can all be eliminated when we bring them home. It makes good economic sense.
The illegal immigration issue is costing us billions if not trillions in lost revenue every year. The wages that are not taxed, the jobs that are taken by illegals that could go to Americans that are collecting unemployment. The money that illegals make here and send out of the country. The amount we spend patrolling the borders but don't allow the border patrol to do that much to deter any further illegal immigration is money not well spent. The amount we spend in social programs for illegal immigrants, the welfare, the food stamps, the low income housing, not to mention the free health care for anyone coming into the emergency room. We all pay for that. That is a major contributor to our health care crisis.
The economy has been a mess on it's own as well. The banking crisis, the mortgage foreclosure disaster, the credit card mess, the American Automobile Manufacturers bailout. This list goes on and on. It is hard to believe we are in any kind of recovery. Pundits play with the numbers so it looks like things are better than they are. The jobs numbers are one area that are tampered with and spun a lot. The government hired almost 1/2 million census workers. Those Census jobs will not spur any other job creation. They are not producing any product that can be sold. And they are temporary government jobs. They are not helping anyone. Have you gotten a call from these people? I have gotten 3 calls and I sent my form back all filled out the day I got it!! They are calling me for NO GOOD REASON other than to justify their jobs!
The housing numbers continue to go up and down. More houses sold one month, less sold the next. There is a house in my neighborhood that has been for sale for months. My neighborhood used to turn houses over in less than 1 day on the market. That was the market a few years ago. We have one acre lots, underground utilities, desirable school district, and a cul de sac located in suburbia. Sellers here used to get bidders that got involved in bidding wars to buy. Now a house sits (albeit overpriced) for months unsold. That tells me the real story. There are houses selling, if the buyer is willing to take a big hit in price. There are loans out there if you have stellar credit only. There are cars selling but dealers are getting very low profits for these sales. There are a few jobs here and there but they are not higher paying permanent jobs. The employers are also taking a heads down until the crisis passes stance. Economically speaking, things are not really that much better than they were a year ago.
So what do we do with a summer full of bad news and worse news? We need to take a vacation! That could help do a little stimulating of the economy and get us in a better mood. It is really good to get away from reality once in a while. Go visit some of the lovely beaches on the East Coast while they are still lovely and before the Hurricanes start coming. Go see some historical locations and try to remember what life used to be like here in America; go to a theme park and ride some thrill rides to get some endorphins flowing again. This Spring has seen an endorphin drought of the first magnitude. Visit Arizona, if you dare, to thank them for trying to get us to focus on our national security. Visit Washington, well, maybe not!! We don't have a lot to thank them for lately!! Actually, we can thank them all in November! 8-)
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