Another One Bites the Dust

By Chuck Marshall

     It seems the US federal government has revealed itself to be as good at protecting our "so called" leaders, as our "so called" leaders are at running the country.  In other words, not good at all.  The breech with the White House intruder a few weeks ago has exposed how weak and ineffective the secret service has become.   I think we've all considered that if a wacko like Omar Gonzalez  (the army veteran/White House intruder)  can crawl over the fence (in broad daylight !)  and get all the way into the depths of the White House, then it is not a stretch of the imagination to consider any terrorist  organization doing something similar to a much more devastating consequence.  

     For now, the Obama administration is offering  up the head of the secret service, Julia Pierson for the unforgivable sin of answering  questions without clarity and/or confidence. It's probably true that she's not  qualified for the job but that should not be of any surprise, neither is the one that appointed her.  The "shi...er.... stink rolls downhill ", and here is the most current example of that cliche.  I only saw a few minutes of Ms. Pierson's interrogation by Congress but I must say it didn't look good.  Her expression is that of a Basset Hound that just peed on the living room carpet.   Since my flavor of today is Cliche's I must say  "The pot is calling the kettle black"  as Congress interrogated her for her incompetence.   Watching "congressional inquiries"  always makes me think of the Spanish Inquisition or the Salem Witch trials, where the sins of the one accused  are far outweighed by the sins of the accusers.  The congressmen that speak the loudest and with the most vitriol are also probably the ones most guilty of leveraging their own position for personal gain.  I see a future lobbyist in those faces.   

"So we beat on, boats against the current....borne back ceaselessly into the past".  That quote by F.Scott Fitzgerald seems somehow appropriate as we examine another symptom of our broken government and its never ending cycle of incompetence.  I sigh with great frustration.  When  does it all end?  "Gatsby believed in that green light, that orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us.  It eluded us then, but that's no matter... tomorrow we'll run faster, reach our arms out further......"    We're on a political treadmill of frustration and incompetence.   A wise and intelligent government seems as elusive as ever... as tragic as The Great Gatsby.  We seem always to strive but never reach that high plateau of governing that America deserves.  

In my humble opinion.....