Category Archives: Corruption

Don’t Cry for Argentina, Cry for Us

Posted on by Standard 4

All of this talk about “the fiscal cliff” sounds so sudden, so personal.  Like something that happens to you, and me, as individuals.  We fall off the cliff, like Wiley Coyote, and it hurts for a minute.  Then we are right back chasing the Road Runner.


The dirty little secret is we have screwed things up so badly for the next generation – maybe several generations – that it is beyond the point of repair.

Economics is not a mystery.  There is a ton of historical evidence about what happens when you try to goose the economy and stave off debt by printing fiat money – it’s called inflation.  Argentina wrote the book on how to create rampant inflation.

In the 1980s the inflation rate in Argentina ran in the triple digits.  When it hit 12,000% in 1989, suddenly everybody was broke – even those who worked hard, saved money, and played by the rules.  You have money?  Big deal!  It doesn’t buy anything!  All of the predictable ugly behavior occurred – stores were looted, violent protests  erupted, and politics devolved into a cesspool of corruption.

Argentina_158624432_620x350 In 2001 the IMF bailed out Argentina, preventing bloody revolution.  In exchange, there were strings attached:  you will manage your economy conservatively, and you will hold inflation to sane levels.  Twelve years later, Argentina is on the verge of being tossed out of the IMF, and perhaps the G20 for failing both dictums.  Stores are again being looted.  Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is accused of “cooking the books” by reporting much lower inflation rates than actual.  While government reports claim inflation rates of 8% to 10%, life on the street shows a rate closer to 25%, and accelerating.

Sound familiar?

Our Federal Reserve, in cahoots with our administration, is pretending that we have no inflation in the US.  By holding interest rates to near-zero, they “think” they are stimulating the economy and tempering unemployment.  But it’s not working.  Banks, because of the risk of a rapid increase in interest rates down the road, aren’t loaning money to businesses.  Consumers who rely on interest from savings have puckered up.   And investors seeking decent returns gobble up riskier investments, building dangerous bubbles just waiting to pop.

Our government is trying the old “cook the books” strategy too.  While our administration claims success at creating jobs, our rate of labor force participation declines, and “real unemployment” takes a toll on American workers.  Last week 20,000 applicants scrambled after 1,500 available  flight attendant jobs at bankrupt American Airlines, who cut 2,200 higher-cost employees in a contract buyout.  And another 90,000 Americans chose permanent disability over the fight for jobs in December – breaking another record and holding unemployment rates conveniently and artificially low.

We are told that there is no inflation in the US.  But anyone who has been to a grocery store, a gas station, or any other destination not frequented by beltway-insiders knows better.  I freaked when I recently saw plain old hamburger at $6 a pound at a discount supermarket.

In 2001, Pat Buchanan wrote a blistering and revealing article about the debacle in Argentina.

It is a catastrophe for South America’s second economy and nation. Four years deep in recession, with unemployment at 18 percent, tax revenues vanishing and credit rating ruined, Argentina will now resort to the printing press. Fiat money – a “third currency,” the “argentino” – will be introduced in January.

“Printing money to satisfy the popular desire for spending unmatched by taxation is a recipe for chaos,” warns the Financial Times. “The new currency would then swiftly disappear into the hyper-inflationary flames.” Rely upon it. For the Peronists are less concerned with chaos than victory in the March elections.

For this disaster, Argentinians are, themselves, to blame. They have repeatedly elected demagogues and wastrels who misruled and looted their nation.

His scary prediction came true then for Argentina.  We’re next.

Who will write our epitaph?  And will our children and grandchildren forgive us?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Have I said to much?
There’s nothing more I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do
Is look at me to know
That every word is true

Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina (Evita) – Madonna

Shrinkage: Our Embarrassingly Tiny Attention Span

Posted on by Standard 4

Have you heard anything lately about the September 11 debacle in Benghazi?  Me either.

In the weeks before the election, Obama and Clinton told us repeatedly that they would have to complete an investigation before they could explain why they lied repeatedly about the attack and the American deaths. benghazi_attack_us_politics_2012_09_12

Did they ever complete the investigation?  Is there an investigation?  Would they reveal what was learned if there actually was an investigation?

Maybe citizens think that Obama won, so there’s no point investigating any further, or even discussing what has been uncovered.  Congressmen Issa and Chaffetz appeared to be very interested in getting to the bottom of the disaster.  What happened?

Certainly the mainstream media will not besmirch their anointed ones.   In the absence of any news, we Americans will either assume the matter has been satisfactorily resolved, or will forget it ever happened, our tiny attention spans distracted by the latest “crisis dujour”.   The story would be buried forever but for reporting by bulldog conservative blogs such as Brietbart.com.

Here is a great synopsis and reminder of the severity and importance of the Benghazi story, and the cold-blooded complicity of our administration:

Let’s not let this important story, or the memory of Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, and Tyrone Woods, fall victim to attention span shrinkage.

Thanks to EG Pettis

Tom Balek – Rockin On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Ba de ya, say do you remember
Ba de ya, dancing in September
Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day

September – Earth Wind and Fire

“US Government, Sorry I’m Not Able to Take Your Call”

Posted on by Standard 8

When any organization gets too big it becomes hard to manage.

That doesn’t mean it can’t be managed.  Many huge companies are very well run.  Most people would agree that our military sets a high bar for disciplined management.  Operationally, at least.

Why is our federal government such a disorganized, inefficient mess?  What is lacking in the federal government world that other large organizations seem to have in abundance?

We do have organizational charts for our federal government.  There is an interactive one online.  Here’s the short version (click to enlarge):

The full version with all of the departments and all 3 million federal employees would probably cover the floor of Cowboys Stadium in a 12-point font. Of course within a nano-second, it would be obsolete.

Most Americans would expect to see our President in the top box.  After all, he has been known to say “the buck stops here,” even while pointing fingers in every direction and blaming historical figures for the nation’s problems.

The official federal org chart has “the Constitution” in the top box.  It would make more sense to me with “We the People” at the top.   We can hire and fire all those below us on the chart.  We can hold the President, the Congress, and (through appointments) the Supreme Court accountable.  It is up to us, as voters, to make sure that everyone in the federal government is doing what we want them to do.

But we citizens don’t agree on much of anything.  Many of us don’t really care how our government operates.  And even if we did, the organization is so huge that we have to rely on layers and layers of managers who we don’t know and will never see.

Is there anything we can do?  Where do we “citizen managers” start?

I think the first thing we should do is check to see who is at work.  Here is my plan, and I would like you to join me.

Go to www.usa.gov and pick out five federal government employees.  It’s really easy to follow the links through the website to identify agencies and administrators at every level.  You might choose agencies in your hometown, or an office in which you are interested.  Or maybe you will just pick names and phone numbers at random.

At 2:30 on any weekday afternoon, or at 1:00 on a Friday, call the people on your list to see who is at work, and who is taking the rest of the day off.

In the unlikely event the federal employee you are calling actually answers the phone, say “Hi, I’m a taxpayer, and I’m just calling to make sure you are on the job.  Thank you!”

If not, leave a message of your choice, maybe something like:  “Hi, I’m your boss, a taxpayer; it’s 2:30 pm and you should be working.  I am going to follow up with your supervisor.”

Here are my random calls at 2:30 this Tuesday afternoon:

  • Rosanna Goodwill – Acting Director of Civil Rights, Federal Railroad Administration:  recording said she is “away from her desk, leave a message.”
  • Neil Moyer – Acting Director of Office of Policy, Federal Railroad Administration:  recording said he is “not available right now, leave a message.”
  • Don E. Watson – Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Advisory Board:  recording said he is “not available to take your call, leave a message.”  I wanted to ask him why we need his agency.

I left messages for each, expressing my disappointment that nobody in federal government is at work this afternoon.

I will allow that there are times when someone is legitimately not able to answer a call.  But I’ll bet the answer rate is under 10% after 2:00 every afternoon.  I have tried this experiment many times, and have never had my call answered.  Not once.

I don’t know if our government employees care if we catch them slacking.  If nobody ever checks on them, they might start to wonder if it matters whether they are there at all.   Anyway, we are the bosses, and we should make at least the minimum effort to supervise our employees.   Please make some calls!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Okay. So no one’s answering.
Well can’t you just let it ring a little longer, longer, longer, ohhhhh!
I’ll just sit tight, through shadows of the night.
And let it ring for evermore.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Telephone Line – Electric Light Orchestra

Life In The Banana Republic

Posted on by Standard Reply

Back in the day we watched action adventure movies about Americans traveling in exotic far-flung countries.  It was so very foreign to our small-town Montana sensibilities – the drugs, the shady intrigue, the beautiful women.  There was poverty and danger around every corner, and it seemed that nothing could be accomplished in these mysterious places without paying off some government official.

We called them “banana republics” – countries where life was tough, the government was corrupt,  and only those with connections, wit, and maybe weapons avoided an unhappy fate.

We were enthralled with tense scenes from places where the government was all about secrets and raw, cold power; where ordinary citizens hid behind gray walls and doors, afraid of making some political “hit” list.  Everyone was poor – except those who worked for the government or had connections.  Personal success was just a distant dream, as winners and losers were chosen by the powerful.

It could never happen here.  We have checks and balances, and a president couldn’t just make laws, seize property and control businesses without the consent of the legislature.  This is America.  There’s no corruption here.  Our government leaders would never lie to us, or hide the truth.  Besides, our news people will always tell us what’s really going on, right?  And we have fair elections, where legal citizens get to choose how the government will affect their lives.

Drugs are illegal here.  Aren’t they?  I mean, I think they used to be.

And we don’t have to worry about people here being dirt poor, relying on scraps and handouts from the government.  Most of our people have jobs, and own their own homes, right?  We still manufacture stuff, and have plenty of our own cheap energy for our cars and houses, and everybody has a bright future here.  We still go to church on Sunday and take care of our neighbors and families.  Don’t we?

I’m sure glad we live in America, and not in one of those banana republics.  We have nothing to worry about here, let’s just party on.  Let’s have another joint.  Wanna dance?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

They’re pickin’ up the prisoners
And puttin em in a pen
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
Rebels been rebels
Since I don’t know when
And all she wants to do is dance

All She Wants To Do Is Dance – Don Henley

I Marked Dozens of Ballots

Posted on by Standard 4

On election night, I worked at the vote tabulator machine in our county courthouse for ten hours.  The machine was a total disaster.

I was supposed to be an election “watcher”, keeping an eye on how things were working as part of our voter integrity project.  But our county’s ES&S 650 tabulator machine was so dysfunctional that I, and two other election “judges” (one Democrat, one Republican), ended up manhandling the machine and the ballots until 2 am just to get the vote count for our county done.

Our tabulator machine jammed and rejected ballots continually.  Our election official had to mark hundreds of ballots with a sharpie just to get the machine to recognize them as ballots.  For a while we had bipartisan remediation teams who negotiated and fixed ballots that were poorly marked or had overvotes.  When they left, we had to fix them at the machine on the fly.  I personally marked dozens of ballots to make them acceptable to our tabulating machine – darkening circles, fixing cross-outs, whiting-out overvotes, etc.

Phones were ringing – our secretary of state and news media wanted final counts.  Pressure mounted.  Ballots flew all over.  Scans and re-scans and more re-scans.  By the time we finished at 2 am, we were exhausted.

We unpaid volunteers worked our butts off, and without us the count would never have been completed.  Did I see any corruption?  Absolutely not.  Was there opportunity for corruption?  Hell yes!  Do I have confidence in the quality of the count?  Not much.  Who knows how many ballots were not counted, or were duplicate counted?

Earlier in the week, we ran a test batch of ballots through our tabulator in which nearly half the candidates and issues on the ballots were miscounted by the machine, according to triple-checked manual audits.

This year there was much attention paid to voter integrity before the election, and competing claims about whether or how much chicanery was happening at the polls.  What many of us learned is that the problems are not in the front of the house.  They are in the back, where the ballots are counted.

While I did not see any evidence of intentional fraud at our county, in our small town, where friends and neighbors treat each other with respect and honesty, I can’t vouch for the many other counties nationwide using the same dysfunctional ES&S 650 tabulator system.  And with or without intentional vote fraud, the integrity of the process and count results is not good.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

If you need someone to count on, count me in
Someone you can rely on through thick and thin
When you start to count the ones that you might ever doubt
If you think of counting me, count me out

Count Me In – Gary Lewis and the Playboys

Now I’m Pissed

Posted on by Standard 9

I try to be civil in my discourse.  I try to avoid hyperbole, or vitriol, or coarse criticism of those with whom I disagree.  But this is personal.

Today, President Obama’s Special Assistant for Disability Policy, Kareem Dale, made a public statement that has me spitting nails.  Dale said the president would “protect the disabled” and  declared that ”people with disabilities are going to be absolutely killed under Mitt Romney’s plan.”

His rallying cry to the Democrat faithful was “Let’s win this motherfucker.”

Here’s the truth.  I have a son who is totally blind.  He lives fairly independently in his own condo in Charlotte, North Carolina.   After he busted his butt to graduate from college, he moved to Charlotte in the hope of getting a job with the school district there as a teacher’s aide.  After volunteering for two years teaching braille and computer skills to blind elementary students, without pay and trying to get a foot in the door, he learned that the teachers’ union would not allow any aides to be hired, because they were not required to be union members.  Thanks to the union, he is one of Obama’s 8% unemployed.

At this point I want to add that my son has never asked for or received a penny from the government, aside from disability services while at school.

Until a few years ago, my son had access to the federally funded handicapped bus system in Charlotte, NC.  This network of small buses enabled handicapped citizens to live independently, by providing door-to-door service (for a fee) to go shopping, to work, to a restaurant, etc.

Then Obama happened, along with a Democrat sweep of power in Charlotte.

Suddenly the handicapped bus program was gutted.  Service was completely cut off to the majority of clients in Charlotte, including my son.  Why?  Was it the result of a budget cut because of mean conservatives?  No, the funding which was previously available to the disabled community was re-directed to fund a $1.6 billion expansion to the urban light rail system, which was, and continues to be, severely underutilized and bleeding cash.  The few who do ride the light rail usually don’t even pay their fares – payment is expected to be voluntary, and with no enforcement, guess what?  Nobody volunteers to pay.

The authorities admitted that, because riders don’t pay what it costs to transport them, they are subsidizing light rail passengers to the tune of $7 per trip.  Coincidentally, the cost of transporting a handicapped citizen (who does pay a fee) to the grocery store is . . . $7 per trip.

The Obama administration is all about picking winners and losers when it comes to federal dollars.  And the losers in this case were those least able to defend themselves – the non-union, unorganized, and few-in-numbers handicapped community.  The winners?  Yup.  Obama lobbyists and contributors, locked-in urban Democrat voters, and Agenda 21 advocates.

You will never find any conservative – citizen or leader – who would withhold services from the truly needy or the handicapped.  But our so-called “liberal” friends?  Give me a break.  They would sell their mothers for a vote.

Today, thousands of handicapped citizens of Charlotte have lost a good portion of their independence thanks to Obama and the Democrats.

So, Mr. Partially-Blind Kareem Dale, Mr. Hot Shot Obama Administration Lackey, Mr. Foul-Mouthed Over-paid Affirmative Action Government Employee, don’t give me one more word about how ”people with disabilities are going to be absolutely killed under Mitt Romney’s plan.”

Things were great until your boy took the reins.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Too damned mad for a song today

Isn’t Mexico A Foreign Country?

Posted on by Standard 2

Have we completely forgotten about our neighbors to the south?  In last night’s “foreign policy” presidential debate, Mexico was not mentioned.

At least 60,000 have died in Mexico’s drug war over the last five years.

Repeat, and pause.  At least 60,000 have died in Mexico’s drug war over the last five years.

Moderator Bob Schieffer doesn’t think Mexico is important enough to justify wasting a question.  Neither Obama nor Romney took an opportunity to mention Mexico, or illegal immigration, or violence on the border, or the flight of US manufacturers across the border, or our dependence on Mexican oil, or our lust for Mexican drugs.  The Hispanic vote does not seem to be of concern to anyone.  Apparently, neither is the ongoing human carnage.

The focus of the entire debate was the Middle East.  Watching the proceeding, one would never know that just a stone’s throw from U.S. soil our Mexican neighbors suffer and die every day at the hands of criminal thugs and a corrupt legal system.  Or that Latinos, primarily of Mexican descent, will make up a third of our population by 2050.

Like it or not, our country is becoming browner.  Our future is intertwined with Mexico’s.  The nation, while sadly adrift, is not without merit, talent or resources.  It seems to me that even a little bit of attention paid to Mexico could deliver rewards – plus, we should sleep better at night.  We ignore Mexico at our peril.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Never mind your name, just give us your number
Never mind your face, just show us your card
And we want to know whose wing are you under?
You better step to the right or we can make it hard

On the Border – the Eagles

The Spinning Wheel of Soft Corruption

Posted on by Standard Reply

Two political television ads for opposing candidates are running concurrently in Montana and they illustrate with startling clarity how our national politics has devolved.

One says Senator Jon Tester can’t be trusted because “he received more money from lobbyists than any other DC politician”:





The opposing ad rips Congressman Denny Rehberg for publicly stating that “lobbying is an honorable profession.”





Both candidates are guilty as charged –  they accept money from lobbyists.  A lot of it.  Because they have to.

It is the spinning wheel of soft corruption, and it spins day after day, election after election, in races large and small all over the country.  It takes a lot of money to get elected, so politicians accept donations from special interest groups who seek to control or influence their votes.  The special interest groups have a lot of money to give them, because of the huge profit opportunities that exist in a “government gone wild.”

Can a candidate avoid the spinning wheel?  Is it possible to raise a competitive war-chest of funds without selling at least a part of one’s soul?

Ask Sharron Angle, who challenged the Godzilla of the Democrat party, US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for his seat in 2010.  Her brilliant new book “Right Angle” peels back the curtain to reveal how ugly the political process has become.  Sharron tells the story of a fellow assemblywoman in the Nevada legislature who admitted she couldn’t support Angle’s bill because she had accepted a contribution from the casino lobby, as did nearly every legislator in Nevada – except Sharron Angle.  Sharron confronted her (former) friend:

“You can say you hate the bill.  You can say that it is unconstitutional for government to interfere with regulations on private business.  You can say that it is not Republican and would send the wrong message about its support of less government regulation.  But do not ever tell me you’ve been bought!”

I said it so coldly that I shocked even myself.  She was stunned, too.

“I have not been bought!”  She was emphatic.

“Really?” I said.  “Let’s review our conversation.”

Sharron Angle could not be bought, and was still able to win a seat in the Nevada legislature.  She narrowly lost in the big race against the incorrigibly corrupt Reid, whose special-interest contributors included, against all reason,  the National Rifle Association.  She says,

“It takes courage to resist.  It takes insight to recognize the trap.  Some do, many more do not.  Easy money is the lobbyists’ deadly Kool-Aid.  It is the same corruption that John Adams recognized and said would destroy our Republic.”

Last year in a brief personal visit with Denny Rehberg, we were bemoaning this very issue – the spinning wheel of money and soft corruption that makes the political world go ’round.  Rehberg said, “I don’t need to run for the Senate.  My spot in Congress is probably secure for as long as I want it.  The only reason I decided to put myself and my family through this is we can’t afford to leave the Democrats in control of the Senate and this seat is important.”

That makes me feel a little better.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Another timeless classic featuring
David Clayton Thomas

What goes up, must come down
Spinnin’ wheel, got ta go round
Talkin’ ’bout your troubles it’s a cryin’ sin
Ride a painted pony,
Let the spinnin’ wheel spin

Spinning Wheel – Blood, Sweat and Tears

Absentee Ballots – Invitation To Voter Fraud

Posted on by Standard 11

There are so many things going haywire in our nation that you just can’t keep up with them all.

It’s like whack-a-mole.   “Federal Land Grabs!”  Bam!  “Agenda 21!”  Bam!   “Election Fraud!”   Bam! Bam! Bam!  You can’t keep up – when you try to smack down one issue, two or three more pop up.

Yesterday a friend and I made a trip to our County Courthouse to meet the Clerk and Recorder and learn all about our old ES&S 570 tabulator (vote counting machine).  We wanted to know exactly how this thing works and if there are any weaknesses or opportunities for hanky-panky.  We were warmly greeted and our Clerk went out of her way to answer all of our questions.  She even took time out of her busy day to give us a test drive.

The machine is a pretty clunky old gal, but understandable and serviceable.  There are opportunities for people error, but the machine itself is pretty fool-proof as near as we could tell.  However, our visit actually pointed us to an unexpected and much bigger problem – absentee ballots.

Our secretary of state, Linda McCulloch, insists “voter fraud is nonexistent in Montana“.   If your local fire chief tells you “fires are nonexistent in my town”, you’d better start looking for a new fire chief.   He not only may not see fires that do occur, he also doesn’t feel the need to prevent them.  Great gig if you can get it.

The fact is, our absentee ballot system is a neon-flashing, irresistible invitation to any unscrupulous group wanting to control an election.  Here’s why:

Every voting jurisdiction in Montana, and in most states, mails absentee ballots to out-of-state addresses.  Many are sent to people who previously lived in the district.  Some are college students who originally registered using their parents’ address.  In any event, if someone is registered to vote in the district, all they have to do is request an absentee ballot, fill it out and sign it, and return it to the county clerk.  As long as they keep voting, they remain registered at the last address on file and can continue voting forever, regardless of where their ballot is sent.  They never have to set foot in the state.

I asked our clerk if they check to see if these out-of-state absentee voters are also registered to vote in other states.  “No,” was the succinct reply.

How many votes in Montana elections are being placed by people who no longer live here?  Or perhaps never did?  How easy would it be for me to register to vote in Montana, using a fictitious name and/or address, and then ask for an absentee ballot to be sent to me in Newark, New Jersey?  Using technology, why couldn’t I do this a thousand times or more?

It may sound like too much work for an amateur like you or me for just one vote.  But elections are no longer just about choosing the right person for a local government office.  There are huge government dollars at stake and deep pocket special-interest groups who will do and spend whatever it takes to throw an important election – think, for instance, Al Franken.  And what’s the down-side if you get caught?

The only verification of absentee voters is a brief check of the signature on the envelope against the scanned signature on the registration at the secretary of state’s website.  In our courthouse, whoever gets the mail performs this function.  It is unsupervised and unscientific at best (I watched a small batch being checked-in and saw a very suspicious signature accepted.)  I know there are many conscientious employees in our county offices, but if it’s a busy day, especially in a very large district, is this a step that might get skipped?  Following up on a suspicious signature is tedious and time-consuming.  Who would know the difference?

We all love the convenience of absentee voting, and its use is exploding all over the country.  I maintain that vote fraud will explode right along with it unless we take one or two preventative steps:

  • stop mailing absentee ballots out of state
  • develop a nationwide registration system and cross-check registrations, similar to that built by True The Vote, a national voter integrity advocate group

I know my libertarian friends oppose national ID cards and related identification processes such as fingerprint and retina imaging, but this would be yet another perfect justification for their use.

This is not an indictment of our County Clerks and their employees.  In our sparsely-populated, rural state, there is probably less election fraud than in populous areas.   In larger cities, where ballots are handled in huge batches and nobody knows anybody else, and where votes are worth big money, it looks like easy money.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

This video of the Who in 2001 includes
bassist John Entwistle just before his death, and
Zak Starkey (Ringo’s son) on the drums –
sure looks like his Dad, but plays even better!

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

Who Are You – the Who