I have a file for this. It's called "Stupidity"

Lately, I have noticed more and more things going on in the world which make absolutely no sense to me. I am not a brilliant person, so why is it that people who are purportedly brilliant do such stupid things?
Anyway, here's just a sample:

May 18/2009 DEBKAfile's Washington sources report that the gap between US president Barack Obama and Israel prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Iran was wider even than on the Palestinian issue. Overshadowing their outwardly easy conversation was the US president's growing inclination to meet Iran halfway on uranium enrichment and call off UN and American sanctions if Tehran allows international monitoring of the process.

OK first of all- the occupant of the oval office (I got that title from someone else, and I really like it- OOO for short) is inclined to meet a nation (who has said at every given chance that they want to wipe the State of Israel off the face of the planet, and shout death to America "the great Satan") , half way in uranium enrichment which everyone knows is working towards nukes?! OK, like the sanctions have really worked, but come on! Do you really think Tehran will allow international monitoring?! Will this be anything like the oil for food fiasco which paid the Saddam Hussein regime so handsomely? Is the international community really that much different from the UN anyway?


Next,
Our intelligence sources report that Obama is seriously considering taking up the Anglo-German proposal for an international monitoring mechanism strict enough to preclude Iran's attainment of weapons-grade enriched uranium.
The president was convinced by American intelligence and nuclear experts that this can be done. He also believes that nothing will persuade Tehran to cede its right to enrichment activity on its soil.

OK. Now correct me if I'm wrong here. First the OOO is considering a proposal which will be strict enough to finish Iran's chance to get W.G enriched uranium, but in the second breath- he believes nothing will make Tehran to stop making it?! Hello? Why bother then, if you think they will do it anyway?! Again, telling someone who hates you to "stop it" (insert teenager sibling whine here) is not necessarily going to get them to stop- no matter how many countries ask them!

Next.
Israeli intelligence and military experts take the opposite view. They believe the Anglo-German plan gives Iran the perfect cover for concealing its race for a nuclear bomb, a misgiving shared by the political and military establishments of the moderate Arab governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

Uh, yeah!

It is their view that if Obama adopts this plan, Iran can be sure of arriving at a nuclear weapon capability by the end of 2010.

Ditto!

This dispute did not come up in the Obama-Netanyahu conversation. Both skated around the Iranian nuclear threat separately without touching on options outside diplomacy. The US president said he was in the process of "reaching out" to Iran and was confident he could persuade Tehran's rulers that a nuclear weapon was not in their best interest if they wanted to be fully accepted as part of the international community. He did not mention uranium enrichment or a military option against Iran. Neither would he accept a deadline for negotiations with Tehran, except to say that at the end of the year, "we will see where we stand."

OK, this is what REALLY gets my hair in a knot! Our own Department of homeland security deems people such as yours truly a dangerous threat because I believe not only in the Bible, but also the prophecies concerning the end times. Yet- our same government is confident that they can persuade a leader who believes that their own version of the end times is close to being fulfilled, and they are willing to blow themselves and others to smithereens to usher in their mahdi?! You've got to be kidding me! It's clear that OOO has NO clue in the religious beliefs of the Ayatollah and Amadinijhad! He knows I am dangerous- but willing to cut these guys some slack?
Get a clue people. Iran will continue to build their weapons no matter how nice we play. If we don't help- Israel will do it themselves, but I think this is what is meant to happen anyway, and OOO will not have to worry about it anymore, and the leg tingling excitement of change can keep on killing our country.

Then there is this little tidbit. I am shaking my head in wonder as I re read this.

Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’ (Update2) Share Email Print A A A
By Roger Runningen and Hans Nichols
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

Our current deficit spending is unsustainable. So what's Obama's answer? Simple silly! Spend more!

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Ours maybe, but I doubt yours. Got a question for you though. Every time I hear anything about taxes or tightening belts (ours not yours) you always claim it's for the children. Say, is this massive debt load for the children too?

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

NO! Really?!

Earlier this week, the Obama administration revised its own budget estimates and raised the projected deficit for this year to a record $1.84 trillion, up 5 percent from the February estimate. The revision for the 2010 fiscal year estimated the deficit at $1.26 trillion, up 7.4 percent from the February figure. The White House Office of Management and Budget also projected next year’s budget will end up at $3.59 trillion, compared with the $3.55 trillion it estimated previously.

Uhm, weren't the liberals screaming when Bushs' deficit was like 1 hundred billion because of the war? Where's the peeps for this more than a trillion in 100 days? A billion/ a trillion? What's the big deal?

Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.

Now please, Democrats used to do this backwards math where they would claim republicans were cutting spending on things (thereby hurting the poor and the children) because they would only RAISE the funding by like 20 percent from the previous year. So, now they have a different math system- spend another 81 billion, but cut back 17 billion, and that's a GOOD thing. OK.

Entitlement Programs
In his New Mexico appearance, the president pledged to work with Congress to shore up entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. He also said he was confident that the House and Senate would pass health-care overhaul bills by August.


HOW? WITH WHAT?

“Most of what is driving us into debt is health care, so we have to drive down costs,” he said.

Yeah, by picking which old people and disabled to screw by passing them over for someone you deem to have more of a chance of a productive life. Look at Europe- France, Great Britain and Canada!

Obama prodded Congress to pass restrictions on credit-card issuers, saying consumers need “strong and reliable” protection from unfair practices and hidden fees.

“It’s time for reform that’s built on transparency, accountability, and mutual responsibility, values fundamental to the new foundation we seek to build for our economy,” the president said.

Sure, there's that word "transparency" again. Gee, I thought he was talking about his own, not everyone else's. Silly me.

Obama called on Congress to send to him by May 25 a bill that would clamp down on what he says are sudden rate increases, unfair penalties and hidden fees. He also wants the measure to strengthen monitoring of credit-card companies.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the credit-card bill last month after adding a provision requiring banks to apply consumers’ payments to balances with the highest interest rates first. The bill also imposes limits on card interest rates and fees.
The Senate continued debating its version of the bill today. It would require credit-card companies to give 45 days’ notice before increasing an interest rate. It would prohibit retroactive rate increases on existing balances unless a consumer was 60 days late with a payment.
The president said Americans have been hooked on their credit cards and share some blame for the current system. “We have been complicit in these problems,” he said. “We have to change how we operate. These practices have only grown worse in the midst of this recession.”

What's this we business? I operate the same way I always have OOO. If I can't afford it- I don't buy it! It's called a budget. You ever hear of one?

The American Bankers Association, which represents card issuers, has warned lawmakers and the Obama administration against taking punitive action or setting requirements that are too stringent. Doing so, the lobby group says, would limit consumer credit and worsen a credit crunch.
Obama said that restrictions “shouldn't diminish consumers’ access to credit.”

Oh, OK. Isn't giving credit to people who couldn't afford houses a big part of how we got into this mess?!

Uncollectible credit-card debt rose to 8.82 percent in February, the most in the 20 years that Moody’s Investors Service Inc. has kept records. Lawmakers have said they’re under increasing pressure from constituents to respond to rising interest rates and abrupt changes to consumers’ accounts.
Obama held a White House meeting last month with executives from the credit-card industry, including representatives from Bank of America Corp. and American Express Co. Afterward, he told reporters that credit-card issuers should be prohibited from imposing “unfair” rate increases on consumers and should offer the public credit terms that are easier to understand. '

That I can understand, but at the same time, people ought to know credit companies are sharks. Who would want one, when these same companies send applications to grade school kids?! Anyway, where in the Constitution does it say the Feds have any right to tell private industries how to charge things?!

“The days of any time, any increase, anything goes -- rate hike, late fees -- that must end,” Obama said today at Rio Rancho High School. We’re going to require clarity and transparency from now on.”

Funny, I thought you promised that before you were elected. So, it's from now on is it.... BTW, I'm getting as tired of hearing about transparency and reaching out as I am of the word "change".

He also said the steps he has taken to stimulate the economy and start the debate on overhauling the health-care system are beginning to take effect.

And how is forcing doctors to buy millions in computer programs so the government can have every citizen's medical and other records on computer files helping the economy?

“We’ve got a long way to go before we put this recession behind us,” Obama said. “But we do know that the gears of our economy, our economic engine, are slowly beginning to turn.”

Yeah- maybe in the government sector! Or those run by the unions, or if you work for community organisers like ACORN!

Taking questions from the audience, Obama repeated his stance that he wants legislation to overhaul the health-care system finished before the end of the year, saying it is vital to the economy.
Health-care costs are driving up the nation’s debt and burdening entitlement programs such as Medicare, the government- run insurance program for those 65 and older and the disabled.

Uh, NO. Sorry OOO, I don't have health care, but that's not what's killing us. It's the "hidden taxes" you are shoving on the working and unemployed poor! Sure, the outrageous taxes on the wealthy aren't hidden- you want us poor folk to be angry at all those greedy rich. The rest of the money comes from the poor schleps like us. You know, higher property taxes because our governments couldn't balance a budget if their lives depended on it. Because our government schools are out of money that was supposedly coming from all those lottery winnings. Higher gas costs because you think raising taxes on oil companies is a new found wind fall. Higher car prices to come because of your dedication to an unproven, but very profitable politically correct idea of Co2 (which we need by the way) is killing the earth by frying us. Like it's working in California.No, OOO. It's not the health care that's killing us. It's the thought of government controlling everything that is killing us. Like the government has done so well with other entitlements like social security and Medicaid/medicare, or the system for our returning wounded vets!

OH speaking of which:

The programs’ trustees reported May 13 that the Social Security trust fund will run out of assets in 2037, four years sooner than forecast, and Medicare’s hospital fund will run dry by 2017, two years earlier than predicted a year ago.

Oh, that's nice.
There's more, but that's enough sarcasm for one night.