Too Much News, Not Enough Time

I thought summer was supposed to be when things slowed down and we had a little extra time on our hands. But the last couple of weeks have been somewhat hectic. There have been doctor visits and medical procedures for various family members. Nothing serious - mostly routine maintenance - but its fallen on me to provide transportation and convalescent care.

Then there's been some home repair issues, both at our primary residence and at the lake cabin, which required my presence and involvement.

Our daughter just got her learners permit, and I'm the designated instructor, so that gobbles up the hours.

And finally, the world has been going crazy. I won't go through all the happenings. Most people with any sense of awareness in the world around them are probably more up-to-date on current events than I am. I will, however, touch briefly on two of the issues I find extremely troubling.

U.S. Government Arms Narcoterrorists

Federal agents can't account for more than 1,400 guns after a widely criticized operation aimed at tracing the flow of weapons to Mexican drug gangs...

Of 2,020 guns involved in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives probe dubbed "Operation Fast and Furious," 363 have been recovered in the United States and 227 have been recovered in Mexico. That leaves 1,430 guns unaccounted for, the sources said.

But the ATF knowingly allowed individuals to purchase weapons that they knew would end up in the hands of criminals on both sides of the border. And when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in Arizona in December, two AK-47 variants that were allowed to "walk" under the program were found at the scene.

This is not the way to maintain good relations with your neighbor. More troubling, this has led directly to the death of at least one U.S. LEO, and who knows how many Mexican and American citizens. Whose bright idea was it to allow over 2000 weapons to be handed over to criminal and terrorist organizations? Who knew about it, and when? Heads should roll, up to and including Eric Holder. If he didn't know about it, he should have. When I was in the military I was responsible for the actions of soldiers under my command. That concept of personal accountability seems to be lost on the current occupant of the White House and his appointees.

Which brings us to issue #2 - the contretemps over the debt limit, and obama's unconscionable threat to withhold Social Security checks.

In his effort to blackmail Republicans into agreeing to potentially job-killing tax hikes on businesses and investors, Barack Obama has announced that he may choose to not send out Social Security checks to senior citizens on August 3rd, sneering "there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it."

Which strikes us as a little odd. After all, if no debt ceiling agreement is reached, the government's bills will be paid in the order that Obama decrees.

In other words, if the checks don't go out it will be because that's the way obama wants it. But you don't hear his lackeys in the lamestream media mentioning that fact.

And money is flowing in to Social Security every day, meaning that its "coffers" should be full-to-bustin' with cash which has allegedly been accumulating for decades...suggesting that it should be other programs that bring in no money which should be the first to go unfunded.

But nooOOOooo, the president would prefer to inflict the greatest and most visible pain that he possibly can... essentially making his elderly hostages shriek in terror in hopes of getting the Republicans to pay a $2 trillion ransom.

What a despicable lying bully. Contemptible doesn't begin to describe that sack of shit currently befouling the Oval Office.

While the two issues above are indeed serious, they pale in comparison to the fate threatening citizens of Minnesota. As a result of the ongoing state government shutdown due to a budget dispute, millions of Minnesotans are now facing life without beer.

The MillerCoors brewing company will soon be forced to pull 39 brands of beers from every restaurant, bar and liquor store in the state of Minnesota.

It's all because the company wasn't able to renew their brand label registration far enough in advance before the state's government shut down.

"What that means is they're not able to either distribute or sell their product in this state," said Doug Neville, spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

When Andrew Oliver of Minneapolis heard the news, he headed over to Surdyk's Liquor to stock up on Miller Lite, his wife's favorite beer.

"We just had a kid, so she's looking forward to Miller Lite."

We have a candidate for Mother of the Year.

MillerCoors, a joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors (TAP), actually put in for the label registration renewal back in mid June, but that application wasn't accepted because they "overpaid their fees," according to Neville.

A second attempt at renewal could not be processed before the license expired on June 30, and the government shut down the next day, Neville said.

But Julian Green, a spokesman for MillerCoors, insists that the original application made it in before the deadline, and therefore, the license should have been renewed. Furthermore, Green said, the state never returned the original check for the fee, and now has two checks from the company.

Typical government. The taxpayer pays before the deadline - twice!!! - and the government can't process either one in a timely manner. But it damn sure holds on to the funds, while at the same time punishing the taxpayer for the government's incompetence.

And in typical government fashion is short-sighted about the whole thing. 

"With a 38% share of the marketplace, we believe that the state revenue or the state taxes that we would provide certainly would be sorely needed in the state of Minnesota," Green said.

Run guns to Mexico. Take away Social Security checks. But by God if the government denies me my Shiner there's gonna be hell to pay...