This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Government Incompetence

  • More Government Ak-yur-uh-see

    Yesterday, the USPS honored US the late entertainer and author Maya Angelou. They issued a stamp in her honor.

    There’s only one teeny little problem. The stamp apparently features a quote that isn’t Angelou’s.  Rather, it’s a slightly-modified version of a phrase actually written by children’s author Joan Walsh Anglund in 1967.

    It’s not the first time recently that the USPS has Fornicated Fido, though. In 2010, the USPS issued a stamp honoring the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, the stamp used an image of a Las Vegas replica of the statue instead of the real thing.

    We vets shouldn’t really be surprised at this kind of stuff. As Jonn noted here at TAH multiple times, vets have seen government at its best . . . and at its worst. And we know – from firsthand experience – that there’s usually not a helluva lot of difference between the two.

  • More From That “Most Transparent Administration In History”

    Well, the current       DC clown krewe       Administration has been at it again. This time, they’re “helping us” see how our government spends our taxes.

    A Bush Administration law mandates that the US Government set up a website that provided “full disclosure to the public of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds”. The requirement was effective at the beginning in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007.

    That website evolved into USAspending.com. Until recently, it was actually quite useful and searchable.

    Now, it’s been “improved” by the current Administration’s       political henchmen       employees. And now, when you use it . . . you can’t find squat.

    A cynic would say that’s deliberate, because the previous version rather exposed the current Emperor’s nakedness when it came to wasteful spending occurring on his watch.  But that can’t possibly be the case from this “exemplar of open, honest government” we have in DC today.

    The Washington Free Beacon has an article giving more details. It’s definitely worth spending the time to read it.

    “Most transparent Administration in history” my ass.

  • More Secret Service News

    Well, it looks like the Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy will be testifying in Congress again tomorrow about the latest Secret Service troubles.  Since his last appearance went just oh so “swimmingly” that was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

    But it also looks like he’ll be going alone.  That’s in spite of the fact that the Congressional Committee before which he’ll be giving testimony has requested that four other individuals also testify.

    Predictably, neither ranking member of the Committee is exactly happy about this.  I can’t say that I really blame them, either.

    I said earlier when surveillance footage possibly related to the incident couldn’t be located that this looked pretty bad.  Now I’m really scratching my head and wondering what’s going on.

    With this stunt, IMO Clancy has just made this thing look a whole lot worse.  A cynic might even start muttering about the possibility of a cover-up.

  • About That Possible US-Iranian Nuclear “Deal” . . . .

    This headline hits the main point.  But it doesn’t tell the complete story.

    Khamenei calls ‘Death to America’ as
    Kerry hails progress on nuke deal
     

    For those who can’t place the name: “Khamenei” above refers  to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Iran’s Supreme Leader.  In Iran, his opinion matters far more than that of the Iranian president.

    So, to recap:  the leader of Iran has just once again called called for America’s “death”. But irrespective of that fact, the current      DC clown krewe      Administration is still trying to give away the farm in a nuclear agreement with Iran – even though Iran considers us an enemy.

    Brilliant.  Just freaking brilliant.

    What’s more, it appears that even Europeans are getting worried that we’re giving away too much to get a deal. Hell, France is pushing for a much harder line on any Iranian deal than our own SECSTATE. Given France’s history and its pro-Arab and pro-Iranian bent over the last 2 decades or so, when your country is taking a more supine position than the French . . . something is seriously wrong.

    I really didn’t think it was possible for a US Administration to screw things up “by the numbers” in foreign policy worse than Carter’s gang of clowns and amateurs did back in the late 1970s. But I have to admit I was wrong.

    In foreign policy, this current Administration is clueless. Simply clueless.

  • About That Recent Secret Service Incident . . . .

    The new Director for the US Secret Service, Joe Clancy, was questioned by members of the House  recently at a closed-door hearing.  The subject:  the recent late-night incident where two senior agents, apparently after having been out drinking, who may have been drinking earlier that evening, reportedly nearly ran over a suspicious package at one entrance to the White House with a government vehicle after arriving on-scene.  That incident is now under investigation by the DHS Office of the Inspector General.

    Two surveillance videos were provided to Congress.  One showed little of the incident.

    When asked, Mr. Clancy told the Representatives was that additional surveillance video of the incident may not be available.  Secret Service policy apparently is to erase surveillance video after 72 hours.

    Now, I’m going to ignore the question of why White House surveillance video isn’t archived to digital video and retained for far longer than 72 hours (storage is really pretty cheap these days).  But it seems to me that if you had an incident at the White House involving a possible bomb and/or potential agent misconduct, you’d flag all surveillance video showing anything that might be related to that incident and keep copies until all actions relating to the incident and its investigation had been completed.

    The fact that any available video of an incident like this – which is under investigation – may have been erased IMO smells. Badly.

    But maybe that’s just me.

     

    (Note:  first paragraph above has been reworded to more accurately reflect what is publicly known regarding the circumstances of the incident in question.)

  • Think It Can’t Happen Here? Think Again.

    Well, you’d be wrong – it already does, albeit thankfully only fairly rarely. And this latest incident in Detroit provides yet another example.

    A man asked two people whether they were Muslims before stabbing them at a Southfield bus stop on Saturday, the victims told police.

    We already have some radical Islamists among us today. And with the current      naïve DC clown krewe’s      Administration’s proposal to quadruple the number of refugees from Syria admitted to the US, we’ll almost certainly only see more such incidents.

    Sheesh.  We seriously need some adult leadership in DC.

     

    (Note:   first link has been updated with a story providing more details.) 

  • Yer Sunday Silly: Look, Up In the Sky! It’s a . . . WTF?

    Well, it appears we in the USA have no monopoly on government stupidity – or gullibility. Looks like the folks in New Zealand can give us a run for out money.

    In the city of Auckland, the city council commissioned some public art. They paid the artist the equivalent $147,000 (US).

    They got what is purportedly a sculpture of a cloud – indeed, it’s titled “Transit Cloud” . It’s currently suspended over a walkway near a major transit hub, on public display. It’s seen by thousands daily.

    I say it purportedly looks like a cloud because, well, that’s not exactly what I’d say it looks like to me. But I guess YMMV.

    The sculptor says his “sculpture” was indeed supposed to represent a cloud, and further that he “was confident it would look different once 50 metres (165 feet) of neon lights were connected to it and lit up inside the structure.”

    Yeah, right. Somehow, I don’t think so – at least not in broad daylight when people can see it.

    You could not make this sh!t up if you tried.

  • Just When You Think They Can’t Get ANY Stupider . . . .

    . . . you read something like this.

    Seven months after federal officials fired CGI Federal for its botched work on Obamacare website Healthcare.gov, the IRS awarded the same company a $4.5 million IT contract for its new Obamacare tax program.

    The Daily Caller today has an article with more details. It’s worthwhile – if depressing and infuriating – reading.

    It will be so damn nice to see the current      band of clueless idiots      DC clown krewe      Administration end. Maybe then we’ll see adult leadership again.