Just a few observations...

With numerous issues and events taking place during the past week, I thought I'd just offer a few quick observations on the ones I found most interesting.  Here are my quick hits:

1)  A memo from the upper echelon of the White House recently surfaced regarding the slow down in spending (not "cuts" as the media keeps reporting) known as the sequestration.  The memo advised those departments who had to scale back a wee bit on spending to make sure they kept in line with the White House drumbeat of how painful these "cuts" (aka:  a temporary tiny spending slowdown) will be.

From the Washington Post:

"In the internal email, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service official Charles Brown said he asked if he could try to spread out the sequester cuts in his region to minimize the impact, and he said he was told not to do anything that would lessen the dire impacts Congress had been warned of.

“We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS" would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be,” Mr. Brown,  in the internal email, said his superiors told him."

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/5/email-tells-feds-make-sequester-painful-promised/#ixzz2N9qhuMpA
 

One question, if the White House has even had to cancel White House tours (hosted by unpaid volunteers, no less!) BECAUSE of the sequestration - why in the world did our newest Secretary of State, John Kerry, pledge almost $250  million dollars in aide to Egypt - a country led by the Muslim Brotherhood???  Why is the United States giving $15 million to Pakistan?  Why is the government buying new TSA uniforms for $50 million dollars?  Why aren't journalists directing such questions at Obama?   Scary thought that the President of the United States - who takes an oath to protect our nation -  is doing everything he can to make the citizens "hurt" as much as possible simply for his own political purposes...   

2)  Lefties, and communists everywhere were besides themselves with grief  this past week with the passing of Venezuela's evil anti-American, socialist dictator Hugo Chavez.  (What was very surprising was that Obama did not order flags flown at half-mast to honor Chavez!) After all, given their political ideologies, Chavez and Obama are practically twins separated at birth!) 

During his reign, Chavez took from the producers of his own country, attacked the rich, seized lands, and kept the poor equally miserable, while pretending he was a president for "the people."   All the while Chavez himself accumulated great wealth and power - at the expense of "the people," of course.  (Sound familiar?  Should be.  It's what Americans are currently experiencing at the hands of The One.)  I only wish that  who were head-over-heels in adoration with Chavez, like Hollywood socialists Sean Penn, Danny Glover, and Oliver Stone, etc., would just move to Venezuela and stay there. 

Good riddance, Hugo Chavez. 

3)  Interesting note.  The WIAA High School Boys Basketball finals were televised this weekend.  Several really good games were played. 

What was noticeably missing during the broadcasts, however, were any of the usual commercials run by WEAC (Wisconsin Education Association Council)  If anyone else watched the WIAA high school sports finals on television in prior years, a standard fixture were the WEAC ads.  They were the ones stating that "each child deserves a great school!"  During the ACT10 protests in Madison, most in the state learned how ironic this motto really was.  After all, in past years, school administrators and school boards struggled for ways to balance budgets while WEAC officials refused to accept financial concessions that would have helped maintain quality programming for students.  Prior to ACT10, school districts across the state had to layoff teachers, increase class sizes, and cut student programs simply because WEAC refused to budge on accepting temporary pay freezes, or contributing a tiny portion of their on pay towards their own health insurance and pension plans.  (See:  The Bad Old Days of Collective Bargaining" for more information.)  My guess is that WEAC, which after ACT 10 lost a lot of members now that teachers can no longer be forced to join (and pay hefty union dues), doesn't have the money to spend on false advertising anymore.

4)  Kudos to Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)  for his recent filibuster designed to bring attention to how Obama & Co. are ignoring the United States Constitution.  Senator Paul talked on the senate floor for almost 13 hours, pointing out that the drone program Obama has in place should NOT be allowed to target American citizens on American soil.  From The Washington Post:

“I will speak until I can no longer speak,” Paul said as he began. “I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.”

A small - yet very important - victory came after the filibuster, when Attorney General Eric Holder sent Paul a letter saying that the Obama Administration would not use drones on Americans on American soil.  This was the answer Paul and others were seeking - the answer that Obama and Holder and Co. refused to conceed  to prior to the filibuster.  Paul forced their hand, brought attention to what the Obama Administration was trying to do, and won.  Now if only more Republicans and conservatives in Washington D.C would grow a spine and stand up to Obama.  America and Americans would be better off. We need people in Washington D.C. willing to defend our Constitution and stand up for the rights of the American people.

...and last but not least:

5)  On his radio show Friday, March 8th, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh talked about a study on bloggers.  It seems that many of the younger writers are becoming afraid to post blogs for fear of the nasty comments that will come their way.  In addition, some bloggers have taken to not accepting comments at all.  Limbaugh stated that the most mean-spirited and hate-filled comments come from....take a guess....those of the liberal ilk.  The study also wondered if the people posting such awful comments would behave the same way in person.  It concluded that some,  indeed, are as nasty in person as they are when hiding behind fake names and throwing mud.  Amazing. 

Isn't it disappointing that people cannot write a post without expecting vile, obscene, hate-filled, and personal attacks to be thrown at them?  I know.  Every one of my posts receives many of such comments, which I am able to delete - thankfully.  (I have considered posting some of them as a "blog topic,"  and include the commentors "monikers,"  but I don't think the folks at livinglakecountry.com would find such a post acceptable.) 

A very sad comment (no pun intended!) on society today.