Wikileaks, Cancun, Food & Lame Ducks

The Federal government is the victim of yet another terrorist attack, this time at the hands of Wikileaks which released 250,000 pages worth of classified documents. In the past Wikileaks dumped documents relating to the Bush administration, which is perhaps why the current administration seemed less than interested in prosecuting the matter. Now the leaks involve his administration almost exclusively. I suspect Obama will change his tune. These leaks significantly hurt the United States abroad, which is the entire goal of Wikileaks. Information that should remain internal has now been leaked and it hurts us in the Middle East, in Asia and in South America. While it is mildly amusing to see that Hillary Clinton wanted information about Argentina’s President concerning her drug use and mental stability, that request needed to remain priviate and classified because it’s leak hurts the standing of the US in Argentina. It doesn’t matter whether their President has a drug problem or is or isn’t mentally stable. That information is important so that the Secretary of State will know how to deal with or what to expect from her. It isn’t just Argentina’s President who is the subject of these leaks. There are negative things said, suggested or investigated concerning every leader in the Middle East, Russia, and Asia. These leaks destroy the credibility of the United States in the international community. Furthermore, if we cannot keep this sort of information classified and out of the hands of terrorists, why ever would we think that the government should be trusted with our private and personal health care files? The Obama administration and the Federal government generally have proven their incompetence and ought not be trusted with any sensitive information about individuals.

Guardian UK: US Embassy Cables: UN seeks answers from Washington

Thousands of scientists with a political agenda will descend on Cancun, Mexico for yet another conference on global warming. Most if not all the scientists will be flying in for their stay in luxury accommodations in Mexico. No word as to whether they’ll plant trees in order to offset their phony carbon footprints. One group of left-wing radicals wants to halt economic growth in the developed world for 20 years via government controlled and enforced rationing. Prof. Kevin Anderson insists that rationing wouldn’t lead to a recession and it wouldn’t lead to a worse lifestyle. The good Professor insists that rationing would just cause us to make some adjustments in our lives. By adjustments he of course means we’ll be giving up some of our freedom. Rationing has always lead to poverty and starvation. During WWII, the government in Britain rationed everything imaginable until 1954. The result was a disaster. The black market thrived, people went without all because of government. Interestingly during WWII Hitler did not ration food because of the disaster food rationing had been for Germany during WWI. Government enforced rationing will lead to a lower lifestyle for those of us in the United States. Make no mistake, that is the goal. These arrogant political ‘scientists’ want to control us. They’re experts after all, they know better. They sit from their arrogant perch at one luxury resort after another telling us how we must be controlled by the government for our own good. They want to ration our lives away. Do you think they will be subject to rationing laws? Of course they won’t. Whenever government rations the elites are never denied, they are never without. It is only us little people who have to suffer the negative affects of rationing. After all, the elites know what’s good for us. Or so we’re expected to believe.

Telegraph UK: Cancun climate change summit: Scientists call for rationing in developed world

The Senate passed a major food regulation bill yesterday that will result in more expensive food for Americans. The country doesn’t need more food regulation, it needs less. All that food regulations do is keep small food producers out of the market by making the barrier to entry to expensive to enter the market. The excuse for the new regulations are a handful of salmonella outbreaks. Does anyone really believe that more regulation would have prevented those outbreaks? It’s nearly impossible to make and sell unpasteurized cheese in the United States. It is illegal to import and sell Italian Pancetta in the United States because it’s allegedly dangerous. The Italians never seem to get sick off of pancetta, one wonders why our government believes Americans will. More inspections and more regulations are not the answer for salmonella problems in food. This isn’t 1901, we don’t have serious food production problems. Truth be told, the free market was taking care of food production problems long before government stepped in with regulations. That said, there is always going to be a certain amount of risk in eating food and no amount of government regulations will protect us from every possible threat. Banning unpasteurized cheese isn’t protecting anyone from anything other than enjoying fine cheese. Banning Italian pancetta and other such products isn’t protecting anyone from anything other than enjoying the best pancetta in the world. Yet rather than cut back on regulations the Senate, including around 10 Republicans, want more regulations and more money spent. Thankfully the Senate bill includes a fee increase, which is a tax according to the Constitution. All taxes must originate in the House, which has not yet passed this food bill. Therefore, there is a serious question as to whether the Senate will have time to debate and vote on this bill prior to the end of their session.

The Blaze: Senate Passes Food Bill
Roll Call: House May Block Food Safety Bill over Senate Error

Washington is broken and one of the problems with it are lame duck Congressional sessions. They were a problem four years ago when the Republicans tried passing a bunch of bills before the Democrats took over and they’re a problem this year as the Democrats seek to push through unpopular bills before the GOP takes over in January. I think it is completely  unnecessary to have lame duck Congressional sessions. The GOP won 63 House seats because the American people rejected the Democrats vision for this country. The Democrats shouldn’t be allowed to force that vision on an unwilling public for two months. Two hundred plus years ago it took months to discover the winner of a Presidential race, it took a considerable amount of time to count votes. A hundred years ago it still took a considerable amount of time to count votes and determine the winners of elections. Today we know the makeup of the new Congress before the night of an election is over. Within a week or two nearly ever race is certified. In order to fix Washington and rid this country of lame duck Congressional sessions I propose a Constitutional amendment to move the date to swear in the new Congress to the last Monday in November. I would also ban Congress from meeting between election day and the new swearing in day absent emergency situations. This amendment would ensure that the American people are heard and it would ensure that outgoing Congressmen don’t pass bills that the people clearly do not want passed. What do you folks think?

RCP: End the Lame-Duck Sessions (David Harsanyi)