“Bull Shit” – Part Deux

Remember a while back I talked about the game “Bull Shit.” Well friends, I think we need to revisit that topic.

With just a several weeks into this new administration, I can’t help this feeling once again that we were all fed a nice big stack of election campaign lies. Just because the liar is charming and charismatic, doesn’t mean that the lies are no less real.

OK, so what do I mean when I say lies. If I promise you one thing during the campaign, and after the election I can’t do it, is that a lie? Some might argue that circumstances alter things, but I think they are just trying for an “out” to a situation they honestly don’t want to admit to.

There is an old saying “how do you know a politicians lying ? his lips are moving!” As funny as it might seem, I think it is a sad condemnation of our current political mess. What happened to the virtues of honesty, or integrity, or character ? Have we sold these traits out for some false sense of hope and change ? Will we continue to believe the lies just because someone flashes that trademark smile and the media swoons and continues to feed us the same old worn out campaign propaganda that just won’t pan out ?

The media has sold out. If you turn to them for your opinion you are hopelessly lost. Journalistic integrity has gone the way of the dinosaur. There was a time when journalists and news reporters where the pitbulls of the people. They asked tough questions, they showed no mercy, demanded accountability and answers and yet they did it in a professional manner with out sarcasm, personal opinion, or bias. Think this exists today ?

I am not talking about the broadcasters on your local news. No the ones I am talking about are the talking heads on the cable networks. The ones who are so obsessed with self, that they can hardly pry themselves away from their mirrors in order to read the drivel being spoon-fed through teleprompters.

When reporters take up the political mantra of any group, they cease to be journalists and become a media extension of that group. If you take umbrage to the actions of any particular political personage, that’s fine. Keep it on point, factual and honest. When you become pedantic in your whining and you words only come in two tones: venomous or sarcastic, then you need to find new work.

We are one month in to a marathon game of Bull Shit and the American public is losing. It’s not as if the Obama Administration is stupid. They aren’t, they’re just politicians. The funny thing is that was the one thing they claimed they weren’t.

They touted themselves as being “different” than what was in Washington. They campaigned on being the alternate to four more years of the same old politics as usual. But it’s no real change at all. They lied about Iraq. They lied about guns. They lied about the economy. They lied about the size of government. Basically, they lied to you to get you to vote for them and now your stuck. Actually, after you read the part about the economy your more likely to believe your gonna be screwed, and rightfully so.

On the Campaign trail Obama proposed pulling our troops out of Iraq by the end of 2008. “The days of our open-ended commitment must come to a close.” Washington Post,Jan. 31, 2007 . Now, according to the Associated Press, the open-ended commitment has been replaced with “as many as 50,000 troops to remain behind to train Iraqi forces and protect U.S. interests.”

On the Campaign trail Obama supported gun rights. At an Idaho rally on Feb. 02, 2008 he stated ‘I have no intention of taking away folks’ guns.’ Not long after he followed up with a seemingly different take “We can have a reasonable, thoughtful gun control measure that I think respects the Second Amendment and people’s traditions.”

Yeah, has anyone heard what the new Attorney General Eric Holder considers “a reasonable, thoughtful gun control”? Holder already has tried to link the Mexican narco-wars to U.S. gun sales and go after supposed “assault weapons.” Now mind you, Mexico is a land out of control. They can’t control anything, illegal immigration, corruption, kidnappings, gangs, drugs…….. but you know, we need to lend them a hand. So you in Idaho, yeah Joe Citizen, kiss your legally owned semi-automatic rifle goodbye. But you know, it’s just “reasonable, thoughtful gun control.”

The sad thing is that the whole “assault weapons” concept is a sham. It is a PR stunt that actually allows politicians to claim they are doing something, when in fact they aren’t. FBI statistics showed the original AWB had no impact on crime. An 2004 study commissioned by the Department of Justice noted that should the ban be renewed it’s effects on gun violence were likely to be small at best, and perhaps too small for reliable measurement, due to assault weapons rarely being used in gun crimes even before the ban.

The bottom line is that politicians are loathe to actually do something constructive and address the real issues, like how to incarcerate people for breaking the law. So the whole AWB is a typical political smoke and mirrors op.

Now what about Obama and the economy. OK, let me be the first to say I am not a math whiz by an stretch of the imagination. But according to him, and his minions, his budget won’t hurt the 95 percent of Americans who will get a tax cut.

OK, so can someone explain why an editorial in the Wall Street Journal (February 27, 2008) showed (Using 2006 tax records) how a tax hike won’t begin to pay the 2010 budget of $4 trillion. Even if the government took every penny made by those who earn $250,000 and above, it would only meet one-third of the goal.

To pay for that whole $4 trillion budget, the government would have to take “every taxable ‘dime’ of everyone earning more than $75,000.” That would just barely meet the goal. But remember, those are 2006 numbers when the economy was good.

A tax cut for 95 percent? That’s not very likely. The government will give money with one hand and will then take it back with interest with the other.

But don’t worry, the media will continue to praise the lies and tell you how finally “Hope & Change” has come to Washington. All the while keeping one eye on the mirror.

Oh, and of course if it doesn’t quite pan out the way it is supposed to, it’s obviously someone else’s fault (hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge…….. Bush)