Everything You Need to Know about Government Bureaucracy

Daniel J. Mitchell  / Townhall Finance

 

Since I’ve already created a Moocher Hall of Fame to acknowledge the strangest and most reprehensible examples of government dependency, it’s occurred to me that there also should be a Bureaucrat Hall of Fame to highlight the government employees that have figured out how to most successfully rip off taxpayers (and here are some good candidates for charter membership).

But what if an entire bureaucracy was eligible?

The paper pushers at the Veterans Administration sure have figured out how to milk the system.

Check out these excerpts from Associated Press report.

Nearly 80 percent of senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs got performance bonuses last year despite widespread treatment delays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals and clinics, a top official said Friday. …Workers at the Phoenix VA Health Care System — where officials have confirmed dozens of patients died while awaiting treatment — received about $3.9 million in bonuses last year, newly released records show. The merit-based bonuses were doled out to about 650 employees, including doctors, nurses, administrators, secretaries and cleaning staff.

Mass Shootings: It’s Time To Go Back To Institutionalizing The Severely Mentally Ill

Rachel Alexander / Townhall Columnist

 

The left consistently blames guns for school shootings, while mostly ignoring the big elephant in the room: mental illness. Up until the 1960s, the severely mentally ill were locked up in psychiatric hospitals, for their own good and for the protection of society. The ACLU and the left changed that, by successfully suing to get them released out onto the streets. So now, they make up much of our homeless population. From there, many have predictably ended up in our prison system. The rate of mental illness in U.S. prisons is five times greater than in the regular population, and people with serious mental illness are three to four times more likely to be violent than others.

While access to guns has decreased, there is one common denominator that most, if not all, mass shooters reflects, which is mental illness. While some liberals are finally gingerly mentioning mental illness now, most liberals dare to state the obvious - the mass shooters should have been locked up when there were telltale signs. In 2005, Virginia Special Justice Paul Barnett wrote in an order that future Virginia Tech mass shooter Seung-Hui Cho "presented an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness," but instead of committing him to an institution - which would have also removed his ability to buy firearms for his future mass shooting - he only recommended outpatient treatment. The mother of Adam Lanza, the Sandy Creek Elementary School shooter, who was also one of the victims fatally shot by him, had been making plans to have him institutionalized. The mother of Elliot Rodger, the 22-year old who went on a shooting and knifing spree in Isla Vista, Calif., last month, called the police on her son prior to the shooting incident. While in college, he tried to push a girl off a ledge.

The father of Jared Loughner- who seriously injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and fatally shot others in Tucson - used to disable his son’s car every night in order to stop him from leaving the house, confiscated his shotgun, and urged him to get help for his erratic and drug-addicted behavior. Lanza was heavily addicted to violent video games, and apparently refused to talk to anyone, including his dad and brother. He would communicate with his mother, whom he lived with, only over email. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot fellow students at Columbine High School in 1999, were both addicted to violent video games and discussed building explosives on their blog.

Iran’s Supremo: ISIS and USA have common goal “to create a war in Muslim world”

 

Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

 

He might be right about the Sunnis of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, whom he terms “takfiris” — that is, Muslims who declare other Muslims to be infidels. But he is certainly incorrect about the U.S., which is so far from trying to create a war in the Muslim world that it is still fondly hoping that Muslims will “overcome” the Sunni-Shia division — as Condoleezza Rice put it in 2007.

“Iran Supreme Leader’s Twitter Account Warns Of ‘War In Muslim World,’” Reuters, June 19, 2014:

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Twitter account Iran experts believe is run by the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in comments apparently inspired by Iraq’s turmoil, accused Sunni militants on Thursday of wanting to bring about a war in the Muslim world.

Shi’ite Iran has been alarmed by rapid territorial gains made in Iraq by the militants of the ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL), which seeks a caliphate ruled on medieval Sunni Muslim precepts in Iraq and Syria.

ISIL’s advances pose a threat to the survival of Shi’ite-majority Iraq as a united country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government, an ally of Tehran, has called for military help from the United States, Iran’s longtime foe.

A message posted in English on the Twitter account @khamenei_ir said the Sunni militants wanted to foment distrust between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, a goal they shared with “arrogant” powers – normally an Iranian codeword for the United States and its Western and Israeli allies.

The message referred to “takfiri” militants – Sunnis who proclaim followers of other sects of Islam to be infidels and therefore legitimate targets of holy war.

“Muslims should be aware of Takfiris and arrogant’s common goal to create a war in Muslim world – both Shias and Sunnis should be vigilant,” it said.

“The great danger of the Takfiris is not about killing innocents, although that’s a crime, a big crime.

“Yet greater danger of Takfiris is to make Shias and Sunnis distrust one another; this is a really great danger which fulfils goal of arrogants.”…

Kerry Raises ‘Global Warming Consensus’ To 99 Percent; Obama Compares Skeptics To Those Who Believe Moon Made Of Cheese

by Bob Livingston  / Personal Liberty Digest

UPI FILE

The theory of man-made global warming is based on spurious science, phony statistics and outright lies; so it’s no surprise that a known liar and propagandist for the regime and green energy boondoggles, none other than Secretary of State John Kerry, has pulled another bogus figure out of his pompous hat.

Speaking at a State Department ceremony last week, Kerry proved the old saw that figures don’t lie, but liars will figure. It has long been established conventional wisdom — despite evidence to the contrary — that “97 percent of scientists endorse man-made global warming.” Obviously, Kerry has nothing important to do as Secretary of State, given that there is no terrorist organization currently putting our $750 million embassy in danger by trying to depose our puppet government in Iraq with backing from our supposed ally, Saudi Arabia, while our supposed enemy, Iran, is offering to help us prop up our puppet; there is no U.S.-backed insurgency in Syria; there is no U.S.- and International Monetary Fund-instigated conflict in Ukraine; the U.S. isn’t firing drone missiles at people around the globe; and our southern border isn’t being invaded by illegals swarming in from and at the encouragement of Central American countries. The 97 percent figure is one Kerry has repeated ad nauseam. But now Kerry has upped the ante.

“When it comes to climate change, when it comes to food security, we are literally facing a moment of adversity — perhaps even dire necessity,” Kerry said at a State Department food security award ceremony. “It’s hard to convince people — hard to convince people of a challenge that isn’t immediately tangible to everybody particularly. But it is clear to at least 98, 99 percent of all the scientists in our country that to confront these challenges, we must invent and we must innovate, and most of all, we need to work together and we need to get to work.”

Why not go all the way to 100 percent? Without a doubt, that’s where it’s headed after the 98 percent to 99 percent estimate makes the rounds for a while.

Op-ed: 

ISIS...a creation of Obama's doing   

By: Diane Sori

“But I want to see a strategy."
- New House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaking about Obama's Iraq strategy

Saying that nobody in Washington wants to send U.S. troops into Iraq right now, new House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy stressed that a military option does need to be kept on the table, but as I see it the main problem with Iraq right now is that Obama and his administration lack NOT only a clear plan on exactly what to do but any plan at all.

Sending in 300 military advisers who like before will have their hands tied behind their back in regards to anything but trying to win the 'hearts and minds' of the enemy is absolutely NO response...is absolutely NO plan...to help stop the forward moving incursion of ISIS...especially in light of the fact that over the past 48 hours the ISIS flag now flies over yet another four Iraqi towns as they move southeast towards Baghdad itself.

ISIS...believed to currently have about 10,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria...with their numbers growing daily...is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a known terrorist freed by Obama in 2009, who upon his release vowed to "see you in New York," and I guarantee you it was NOT to go sightseeing. And while NOT the head of ISIS at the time of his release, Obama still willingly chose to free a man...a terrorist...who had a $10 million reward already placed on him by the FBI for information leading to his capture or death.

 

So as al-Baghdadi and his ISIS forces will most likely soon take the entirety of the mostly Sunni Anbar province, they now control...as much needed bases for redeployment...Al-Qaim (situated on the Syrian border), Rawa, Anah, and Husaybah (62 miles from Baghdad). And with the Iraqi army abandoning the area's command center, their bases, and their weapons, there is NOTHING in ISIS' way to stop them from reaching their goal of creating a totally sharia compliant state. And with these four towns situated alongside a main highway from Syria to Baghdad...a highway soon to be littered with the headless corpses of any who oppose them...it now becomes easy for them to sweep in from the west and lay siege on Baghdad itself.

And add into this mix that ISIS has already taken over the town of Rutba, located on the main road between Baghdad and Jordan...a mere 90 miles from Jordan's border. Remember too that ISIS has vowed to kill King Abdullah II and topple the Jordanian monarch because of his close economic ties and friendship with Israel, and by taking Rutba they can easily send cells into Jordan to try and do just that.

But NO worries for all is well because Obama has sent in 300 military advisers to shore up the problem...but it's more like 300 military advisers who will soon be without their heads.

And the problems in Iraq go even deeper than just the ISIS incursion for everyone forgets the third party in the mix...the Kurds to the north. The Kurds who Shi'ite Saddam Hussein gassed and who Shi'ite al-Maliki pays little mind to now have security forces in Iraq...at a checkpoint about 12 miles from Kirkuk...a city the Kurds now control after the Iraqi Army fled...a city rich in oil and oil revenues.

Remember, what the Kurds want more than anything is their own state free of Iraq and anyone else trying to hold dominion over them. And if they can defend their borders while NOT getting dragged too deeply into Iraq's Sunni vs. Shi'ite battle, the Kurds could be the biggest winners in this whole assorted mess, seeing their dream of uniting the Kurdish minorities from Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran into one Kurdish state becoming a reality. But that can only happen if they play their cards right...and only if they can bring the oil rich city of Kirkuk under permanent Kurdish control after the Iraqi crisis has abated one way or the other.

And know that the Iraq crisis will indeed abate after time even as the death toll continues to rise, for it's in the natural scope of things that all things...even war...eventually come to an end. Iraq will either fall completely into the hands of the ISIS insurgents or Iraq will push back with or without U.S. help. And while it has become apparent that the Iraqis most likely cannot do it alone NO matter how many times Obama spews that this is an Iraqi internal political issue...that this is all al-Maliki's fault because he has ignored Sunni concerns and governed solely in the interests of the Shi'ite majority...the advances by ISIS have actually now merged the wars in Syria and Iraq into one hellish battle.

And these battles are indeed joined together as one for the simple fact is that when ISIS took control of certain northwestern Iraqi towns that it made it possible for ISIS to continue to fight Syrian troops while at the same time being able to safely retreat to Iraq 'rear areas' to regroup, and that when fighting Iraqis they could go to Syria to do the same thing. And Obama cannot continue to ignore this fact for if he does the entire Middle East will go up in flames. And might I add flames of his own doing for it's his Middle East policies...or lack thereof...that have caused this problem in the first place.

Always remember, by Obama's announcing the date of our Iraqi pullout ISIS was given the time to turn itself from the then floundering 'al-Qaeda in Iraq' into the well-financed, well-organized, and highly effective fighting force that it is now, and that they were able to do so on their time table NOT on Obama's...as they now were given the chance to lay low and regroup until they saw just the right time and opportunity to move in...which of course they did.

So as Obama keeps insisting that there is NO military solution alone to the Iraq crisis...as he continues to say that he has NOT demanded al-Maliki's resignation but that he wants some form of government of national unity (like the Iraqis care what he wants)...as he had Joe 'foot-in-mouth' Biden speak to al-Maliki as well as to his Sunni rival parliamentary speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, and to Masoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, about unity against ISIS and the need to form an inclusive government (guess he wants ISIS in that government)...as John 'Swiftboat' Kerry is soon to arrive in Iraq to screw things up even more...Israel remains on alert for what happens in Iraq could be the lynch-pin to unleash full-fledged war against them. 

 

And I can assure you Obama and his cronies will NOT like the outcome of that war one little bit...and that my friends is the only bit of happiness in this whole assorted mess. 

 

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REMINDER!!!

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