On the surface the stories are just old and new.
But if signal flares count for anything, they are going off now
at a rate that rivals the Fourth of July fireworks over the
Washington Monument.
First (but of course), America’s Barney Frank.
The story dates from 2007. Various news outlets (CNN,
Washington Examiner) report that Congressman
Barney Frank has been to Brussels and, as well, London. On the
trip with him is his House Financial Services buddy, Rep. Maxine
Waters. How did they get there? After all, this is the crew
(along with another HFS Committee member, California’s Brad
Sherman) who would soon be hauling carmakers and bankers in front
of their committee to complain about the use of private jets from
those who accept taxpayer dollars.
Well, they flew, of course. Specifically on a Boeing 737
Executive Jet operated by 201st Airlift Squadron of the D.C. Air
Reserve Guard. Which is to say, a jet paid for by the taxpayers.
You. Were they cramped in their seats? No. We learn that the
Barnster and Maxie were in “plush first class seats.” They had 34
to chose from. Plus, according to CNN, a conference area with
table and full length couch, retractable movie screens that pop
out of ceiling to see the latest movie, and a galley for full
meals, snacks, and appetizers. This leaves out the Air Force
stewards at their beck and call, not to mention the usual staff,
both civilian and military.
Cost to hike Mr. Frank and Ms. Waters and their entourage across
the pond to a couple European capitals and back? $10,000 an hour.
Cost for that part of the adventure? $160,000.
Let’s move Down Under.
As we speak, stunned Australians are in the process of recovering
from a vicious fire that has killed at least 200 people.
Let’s have a victim speak for himself. The account is from the
theage.com.au (caution, a profanity ahead.):
ANGRY residents last night accused local authorities of
contributing to the bushfire toll by failing to let residents
chop down trees and clear up bushland that posed a fire risk.
During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs
Creek on Melbourne’s northern fringe, Warwick Spooner — whose
mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their
home in the Strathewen blaze — criticised the Nillumbik
council for the limitations it placed on residents wanting the
council’s help or permission to clean up around their
properties in preparation for the bushfire season. “We’ve lost
two people in my family because you dickheads won’t cut trees
down,” he said.
“We wanted trees cut down on the side of the road … and you
can’t even cut the grass for God’s sake.”
Later, the meeting was cut short when Mr Spooner’s father,
Dennis, collapsed in his chair and an ambulance had to be
called. Despite losing his wife and son and everything he
owned, a friend later said he had not stopped or slept since
the weekend.
Another resident said she had asked the council four times to
tend to out-of-control growth on public land near her home, but
her pleas had been ignored.
There was widespread applause when Nillumbik Mayor Bo Bendtsen
said changes were likely to be made about the council’s policy
surrounding native vegetation.
But his response was not good enough for Mr Spooner: “It’s too
late now mate. We’ve lost families, we’ve lost people.”
Last, but not least, let’s move on to the story of Dutch Member
of Parliament Geert Wilders. Here’s the story in brief as
reported by the Guardian (UK):
Geert Wilders, the rightwing Dutch politician accused of
Islamophobia, was today refused entry to the UK after arriving
at Heathrow airport in London.
Wilders was due to show his 17-minute film
Fitna, which criticises the Qur’an as a “fascist
book,” at the House of Lords today. But on Tuesday he received
a letter from the Home Office refusing him entry because his
opinions “threaten community harmony and therefore public
safety.”
Now let’s just stand back a moment here and take a good long look
at what we are seeing.
First, it needs to be said that Members of Congress should get
out in the world. That caring for the environment is a good
thing. That bigotry is never a good thing. Yet in each and every
one of these cases we see something that should scare the living
bejeebers out of you.
Congressmen Frank and Waters have spent considerable time lately
using their government power to go after private businessmen for
abusing taxpayer dollars. Their pal Congressman Sherman has
specifically hammered both the bankers and the carmakers hauled
before their committee for the act of simply owning and using
jets for, presumably, business purposes. Nowhere that I have
heard have the bankers and carmakers been charged with using the
company jets for obvious playtime stuff like, well, Ms. Waters.
She, you see, followed her trip to Brussels with Barney with —
in the same week — another government trip to the warm climes of
Trinidad and Tobago. With her husband along.
Were the travels of Barney and Maxine reported as some sort of
earthshaking scandal? Are you kidding? Hey, just another day at
the trough with the taxpayers footing the bill. Why was it no big
deal? Because, you see, Barney and Maxine and their congressional
pals work for the government! There is no such thing as an abuse
of taxpayers money if this is the government.
If then-Merrill Lynch chairman John Thain spends a million bucks
of the firm’s money pre-bailout to redecorate the office in the
middle of tough times, the guy is an idiot who should be fired.
(Actually, even he realizes he was an idiot and he was
fired…but that is or should have been between Thain and his
bosses. which is to say a board of directors and shareholders.
Our opinion doesn’t count — nor should it.) Thain was a piker
when compared to the government boys and girls who, thanks to the
“Title VI, Financial Services and General Government” section of
the “stimulus” bill, are set to get “not less than $6,000,000,000
(which) shall be used for construction, repair, and alteration of
Federal buildings.” Alteration. That’s government-speak for
redecorate. (A hat tip to the Wall Street
Journal’s Dan
Henninger.)
In other words, if some private sector guy is insensitive enough
to blow a million bucks of his company’s money in a display of
bad judgment at a bad time for the economy, off with his head.
But $6 billion for the federal government version of the same
thing? Noooooooooo problem. Let’s get those new drapes for the
Commerce Department! The government shall not be trifled with!
Which, with infinitely more tragic results, is the story with our
Australian friends. In obeisance to the gods of environmentalism,
Australians are waking up to the realization that some 200 people
are now dead because the government (catch that word “government”
again) was not to be trifled with. Common sense? Cutting down
“native vegetation”? What, are you crazy? The government said no,
and that’s final. Or was, at least, until a little mass death
grabbed everybody’s attention.
Last but certainly not least is the unsettling case of the Dutch
MP and would-be filmmaker Mr.
Wilders. Let’s put aside Wilders’ film on Islamofascism, since
(presumably) most of us have not seen it. Let’s posit that Mr.
Wilders is, say, a Dutch version of America’s David Duke or Al
Sharpton. Mr. Duke is in deserved obscurity precisely because the
American people have a Constitution that lets them take him or
leave him — and they left him. Ditto Reverend Sharpton. Yes he
gets PR, yes he agitates on the radio. But President Al? The good
Rev has, with his own effort, turned himself into a joke in most
quarters. Yet even where he is not taken seriously, no one of any
substance is disputing his right to rant. Not so over there in
Britain, where our good cousins in a fit of government-gone-even
wilder have barred MP Wilders at the proverbial gate.
What is going on here in these several incidents is, as has been
noted with increasing alarm (finally) in conservative precincts
— the deification of government. You can fly the government
equivalent of corporate jets, replete with plush seats,
government stewards and movies at your seat while you appetize —
and no one blinks. Ruin the economy with your government power as
did Congressman Frank and company? Don’t worry, we’ll all look
the other way. No pesky hearings or prosecutions for those guys!
You can redecorate $6 billion worth of government offices or
build whole new ones and no one is supposed to care. But woe
betide he or she if they dare to use Australian common sense that
shrieks “cut the damn grass” or tries to visit Britain with a
film questioning the violence of others. The government will have
none of that, mate. Community harmony and all of that.
In an era of instant communications, the global left is making
what eventually will be a huge mistake.
The rest of us are not asleep.
