Shame On Us.

       800,000 plus people learned the meaning of being poor. If they didn't know, they learned the importance of charity and the need to care for their fellow man. What's most unfortunate is that the principles of the shutdown, both parties in Congress and the President,did not learn the hard truth. They did not face days of not knowing if they would lose their homes, their next meal could be questionable.
       These leaders carried on as if nothing had changed. Paydays were met, life was good and disagreement was easy to live with. No cost to them. Their daily bread was as sweet as ever. Somehow this isn't right. The next time some leader or group of leaders decides to shut down the government, there is no fair or good reason they shouldn't suffer right along with the government employees.
       Unfortunately, far too many leaders are far too wealthy to be concerned with that loss of income. What a shame that you have to be rather comfortably wealthy to be an elected leader in this country. Smart, successful businessmen don't always make smart, successful government leaders. Some do, some don't. Look at Lincoln. Think he could get elected today.
       Today you can't get elected unless you've got the money to buy your way in. The Supreme Court assured us of that in their decision involving money in politic. It's no longer 'one man one vote' now its all about the dollar. Without it, you can't get a vote. Money will decide who will run for office and who will not be heard above the din of cash flowing.

Just A Few Problems.

       The State Department had to postpone a conference on border security because of the shutdown. The shutdown was caused because Trump wants a wall for border security. The Coastguard is required to continue working without pay during the shutdown. Isn't the Coastguard required to guard our coast, among other things? Isn't that border security too? Then there's the FBI. They would like to get paid before they all lose their homes.
       Isn't it true that the Republican party is,officially, backing Trump in this standoff. All for a border wall that almost nobody along the border wants. It seems that the folks most likely to need a wall say it just isn't needed. And, isn't it true the Democrats say we should reopen the government first and then argue about an unneeded wall.
       Of course Trump realizes that if he reopens the government and gets some 800,000 people paid he would then have no leverage to get that wall built. His only hope for the wall is to starve nearly an extra million Americans. He realizes the advantage of starvation, when it comes to his agenda. Let em eat cake. It's a plan somebody else tried. She failed, but she's no Donald Trump.
       If only he could withhold pay for all the Democrats in Congress. Hey, he could withhold all the Republicans too, even himself. After all, he's a billionaire. Wouldn't matter to him. It might hurt Ruddy but somebody's gotta pay. Maybe he'd stop appearing on TV. That would boost Trump's ratings.

No to Public Takeover.

       The latest wet dream for Republicans is privatizing the VA healthcare system. Send veterans to private healthcare for all their problems. That way they can bankrupt the VA in short order. The advantage to the veteran under this arrangement is much longer waiting times and less facetime with the doctor.
       Sorry Charlie, but America's healthcare system is far inferior to the VA healthcare system. Now I admit, the VA doesn't have all disciplines in all locations, but there is already a solution to that problem. In such cases veterans can transfer to a private specialist and still receive regular care at the VA. And at much shorter wait times.
       Why is it that every so often the Republicans want to eliminate perfectly good systems and institute much more expensive and worse solutions. Could it be that there's more money to be made by the new choice? You do know who pays for these ideas, don't you? It's you, and every other tax payer.
       The only thing the VA needs is more processors. People who process new enrollees. You can't fight two wars for too many years and have far too many new veterans in need of care, and give the VA less money to handle the crush. The public may be slow to pick up on the mess, but we're not dumb. We can see how badly Congress and the Administration are screwing up. We don't need any more nonsense.

An Iron Curtain.

       President Trump is now asking for a steel barrier instead of a concrete wall. Steel or Concrete, what's the difference? The former Soviet Union, Russia, built one, it was called the Iron Curtain. It failed. The question is this; do we want all the world leaders standing on the Mexican side hollering "Mr. Trump, Tear Down this Wall!"
       And all the worlds leaders will do it because we will have no friends left to stand by our side. We won't have friends because Mr. Trump will have alienated them all. Just think back to when President Reagan uttered those words to President Gorbachev. Tear Down This Wall. And the Soviet Union, in shame, tore down the wall, or rather, allowed it to be torn down.
       "Mr. Trump, Tear Down This Wall!" A better way would be to say, Don't build it in the first place. We need border security, that's for sure. We need it along the Mexican border, we need it at all our seaports and we even need it along our Canadian border. Not all to the same degree, but we need it. We can't build walls at New York City, or Boston, and we certainly can't afford a wall all along our Canadian border, but we need security. So lets stop acting silly about a silly wall and start considering smart technology. Build walls in places where they make sense and more 21st century security elsewhere.
       What we don't ever want to see is the whole world standing on the Mexican side yelling "Mr. Trump, Tear Down This Wall." It would be embarrassing. We don't need an Iron Curtain along any of our borders. We're not isolationists and never will be. So Mr. Trump, Stop Asking For an Iron Curtain Wall.

Some Of This, Some Of That.

       Say, Trump has increased the debt by $2 Trillion in two years. I heard it claimed he's running the government like one of his failed businesses. Ya know, he managed to accomplish that by not having half of his staff and all of his departments are half staffed. So I guess, if he fired everybody, he'd be in debt twice as much for the next two years. His plan is to explain that the country can't afford to get rid of him or the debt would double again.
       He seems to be using our country as an experiment to see if he can get away with gutting America. Make America Great Again is his slogan, but he seems to be doing everything he can to make it second class again. Or maybe third class. Which would you prefer 800,000 unpaid workers or a Wall?
       Those workers can stay unpaid for years as far as Trump is concerned, and he thinks they'll like it. I'll bet he would leave them unpaid until the wall is completed. I still think a moat would be better. Even guards in prisons are in that unpaid worker group. What if they decide to go on strike? Maybe Mr. Trumps sons could pull some guard duty.
       Maybe we should charge a tax on every Congressman and woman and every Senator and the President of one percent of their net worth for every day the government is shut down. I'll bet the government would be up and running by Monday morning. It's funny how money makes honey flow. I'm in favor of border security, but walls just don't work. At least not on the scale Trump envisions.

No Border Wall, I Think.

       Well the shutdown continues and no matter who you blame, it's still shut down. I just don't agree with a sea to sea wall and it doesn't matter whether it's concrete or steel slat or a white picket fence. I think it's a dead issue. So maybe we need to come up with some other approach to border security. How about a moat? With alligators in it. That would certainly deter people from crossing over. Of course, if people stopped crossing over, we'd have to come up with a source of alligator food. Maybe a series of chicken ranches or pig farms.

       Okay, bad idea. What about some newer technologies? And more well trained personnel? I suppose there would be some areas where we'd have to put up some walls. Heck, we already have some walls in place. But instead of $5.6 billion, we'd only have to come up with maybe $1 billion. And you can forget about Mexico ever paying for it. If there are as many terrorists as Mr. Trump has suggested, from time to time, maybe ISIS would be willing to pay for a new wall. After all, we're giving back Syria, what more do they want?

       I'll bet a good deal maker could pull it off. Trouble is, I can't think of a good enough deal maker, how about you? Can you think of someone? Okay, so much for that idea. We could put up signs that read COME TO AMERICA. EVERYTHING IS FREE. And in smaller print it would read "just give up your first born." Hey, we're already doing it, this would just make it all legal.