Sequestration Looms While Congress Whines

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Navy Secretary Ray Maybus/Politico.com

Once again, Congress has brought the nation to the brink of disaster as sequestration draws near.  This blogger echoes the words of Navy Secretary Ray Maybus, who said, in part, "Everybody knows sequestration is just a bad idea and the notion of somehow playing around the edges to make a bad idea a little bit better is not a solution. The solution is to fix this thing and the president has presented a balance, a strategic and comprehensive approach,” when he appeared on Starting Point Tuesday morning.  Perhaps every concerned citizen should call their senators and representatives with the chant, "Fix this thing, now!"

While the effects of inaction remain unclear, government agencies are already taking action in planning for the worst.   Airports have warned that TSA security checks will involve more time and longer lines and some flights will be cancelled, the Department of Defense predicts the nation will face greater security vulnerabilities, and expected budget cuts prompted the Department of Immigration to release some illegal immigrants today.

In his typical hardline approach, John Boehner refuses to accept responsibility for the coming debacle and admonished senators to "get of their ass" and pass a sequester replacement bill.  He is nothing if not an eloquent speaker.  Here's a newsflash, Mr. Boehner.  Everyone need to do something, including you, and I don't mean pouting, scowling and posturing in front of cameras.  Perhaps if you spent more time working and less time on the golf course or on the beach--wherever you maintain your ever-present tan--our country might not have reached the brink of financial disaster once again.

In case members of Congress haven't noticed, the vast majority of Americans are disgusted with the lack of action on a serious problem.  Everyone in Congress deserves a comeuppance, and I have the perfect solution.  Alter their pay to an hourly wage paid at the current minimum of $7.25, because they aren't producing measurable results.  Americans get more service from workers at McDonald's and Target than they do from elected politician. 

I leave you with the following message to our lawmakers.  Listen more, talk less, and work together.  Oh, and read All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.  It will remind you about working well together, respecting others and their opinions, and sharing.  No recess until you finish the assignment!

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Congress Has Misplaced Priorites

nsba.biz

Ham on Wry has lost all hope of Congress accomplishing anything worthwhile during its next session, given the continued posturing and Republican stonewalling of President Obama on almost every front.  It seems a majority of congressional members are serving a master not named in the United States Constitution: financial supporters, both individual and well-shrouded groups, that contribute to campaigns.  The Preamble to the United States Constitution contains a clause stating that one of the reasons for establishing the constitution is to " Promote the general welfare."  This blogger can't speak for other citizens, but I don't feel promoting the general welfare has a high priority in the 113th Congress, especially in the House of Representatives.

Readers will recognize the photo above taken from a previous post as John Boehner, Speaker of the House.  Although he claims to understand what it's like being poor, I believe any comprehension he might have had once is long forgotten.  He claims that people make minimum wage because they bring few, if any, skills to the workplace and will have little chance of developing them in minimum wage jobs.   He, therefore, objects to President Obama's proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9/hour, explaining, “When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less it.  At a time when the American people are still asking the question ‘Where are the jobs?’, why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people?”  Notice his enlightened view of the president's attempt to pay workers a living wage.

Mr. Boehner, and many of his colleagues who have served multiple terms in office, have profited mightily from their time in office.  He is a millionaire many times over with no worries about how to feed his children and keep a roof over his family's head.  Companies like Walmart, Target, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Starbucks are doing quite well, thank you, and can afford to pay their workers a higher wage, but they fear how it would impact earnings.  I suggest that Mr. Boehner, and any other member of Congress who resists raising the minimum wage, live for a month on minimum wage and see how they fare.  I predict some might change their tune. 

Startling but true, the current minimum wage, $7.25, has less value than the $1.60 paid in 1968, which would be worth $10.56 today.  President Obama's request for a $9.00 minimum wage falls below that.  Congress has no problem voting its .own raises, but balks at elevating the earnings of the working poor.  I am sick of hearing all the nonsense and sick at heart for the intransigence of the very people elected to work on behalf of the nation's citizens.  Voting is the sole power citizens have to voice their objections to the status quo, yet states continue to send the same inept people to make our laws and handle our finances.  If these buffoons worked for a business, a vast majority would have been fired long ago.  When will America wake up from its long winter's nap?

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Imagine a World Without Music

Afghan National Institute of Music website photo

How many readers shudder at the thought of no Ipods, no music download, no radio stations, no concerts?  Probably not one can envision a world without music, but people in Afghanistan were forced to live that way under Taliban rule.

Banned by the Taliban when it took control of Afghanistan in 1996, music returned to the country when Dr. Ahmad N. Samast established the Afghan National Institute of Music in 2010, after four years of fundraising and garnering support from the global community.  There, the Afghan Youth Orchestra formed and has a vision of performing around the world.   Many of the students are orphans or street children, some of whom had never seen a musical instrument.  Females comprise one-third of the orchestra, an astounding statistic, given their subjugation under the Taliban.

The United States State Department welcomed the Afghan Youth Orchestra February 4, and were treated to a special concert,  Newly-appointed Secretary of State John Kerry surprised the visitors and confessed he had played in a rock band in his yourth.  The AYO is led by violin teacher William Harvey and clarinet teacher Ustad Farid Shefta and comprises a combination of Afghan and Western instruments in its repertoire.

news.yahoo.com

On Thursday, the orchestra performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and will entertain  at Carnegie Hall February 12.  Funded by the US State Department, the World Bank, and other global supporters, the tour will last two weeks.  Dr. Samast, the founder, hopes that the AYO concerts will change the perception of Afghanistan and offer an example of how the culture has changed with boys and girls performing side-by-side.

Ham on Wry delights in this news because music is the message of the soul and transcends language barriers.  This blogger wishes AYO success on all fronts.

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Alabama Boy Rescued After FBI Kills Captor

abcnews

Ethan, the smiling 5-year-old pictured above, escaped harm when and FBI Swat team stormed the bunker where he had been held for six days.  The FBI had been monitoring the situation since he was captured and grew concerned when negotiations with Jimmy Lee Dykes, the man who abducted Ethan from his school bus, deteriorated.  They killed Dykes and took the rescued boy to a hospital where he was reunited with his family and his favorite dinosaur.

FBI Special Agent in Charge, Steve Richardson reported that Ethan was doing fine.  "He is laughing, joking, playing, eating."  He later added. "He's a very brave little boy. He's very lucky. "The Dothan, Alabama hospital placed the boy in a private area guarded by heavy security.  Ethan suffers from Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD, which requires regular doses of medicine as part of his care, but he was not physically compromised during his ordeal.

Associated Press

After killing the bus driver who tired to protect Ethan, Dykes took his hostage to an underground bunker, 6 feet by 8 feet, and allowed the FBI to provide coloring books and medicine for the boy.  They had been observing the bunker from a camera buried under four feet of soil, and decided to act swiftly to rescue Ethan when they noticed Dykes with a gun.

Neighbors reported relief that the ordeal had ended and were not surprised at the outcome.  Dykes served in Viet Nam and was an anti-social loner who was prone to violence.  One neighbor reported that he had killed his dog with a lead pipe.  No motive for the hostage taking has yet been revealed.

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