Our Nation Keeps Driving With The Check Engine Light On

Every time the CDC opens its arrogant and ignorant mouth, I want to buy ammo and canned goods...Tweet by John Nolte (of Breitbart)

The "check engine line" is on. We all know what that means. Something just might be wrong with our vehicle. Most drivers will take their car in for service as soon as they have the time. Others will neglect the warning and continue driving with the light on. This administration has been driving with the check engine light on for six years. Unfortunately, it's the scenario that has befallen the entire nation. 

Winston Churchill once said, "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. ..It's inherent virtue is the sharing of misery." Churchill could have made that statement about the United States today. And while progressive ideology may not meet all the criteria of socialism, it comes damn close---too damn close.

We've witnessed this failure, malfeasance, dysfunction and incompetence throughout most of the entire federal system of government in recent years from HHS to Veterans Affairs to the DOJ to the IRS to Congress to the executive branch. It appears we've reached the point where our government can't do anything right. With the current Ebola crisis, they can't even reassure the nation appropriately. For example, how do you explain the government and the director of the CDC telling the public that you cannot get Ebola while riding on a bus? Yet, from the other side of their mouth, they warn individuals who have experienced a high risk of exposure to avoid getting on public transportation. Put that in your WTF? file.

John Podhoretz reminds us that throughout all of these scandals and crises, we have an administration that has not been able to come up with one original policy or strategy. (The House is currently holding a committee meeting on the response to Ebola in the U.S.---it's about damn time considering Ebola is not a new disease. Considering we imported a vicious disease into the country. Let's stop importing Ebola into America). We have an administration and Congress that appears to be directionless. Just as disturbing, we have a government that turns everything it touches to crap.

It's also a government that makes every decision based on political correctness and on political outcomes. And while that can often be annoying for most rational people, it becomes more serious when Americans are dying from policies emanating from political correctness. That was conspicuous in the Ft. Hood shooting. It's also apparent in our government's approach to terrorism and now to Ebola.

Let's pray the outcomes of the mid-term elections will be to get the nation's check engine light checked out.

Postscript: Since this was posted, America spoke and rejected progressive policies. Nevertheless, the president---again---flipped Americans the bird with his recent immigration announcement. Also, we now know that Obamacare is indeed resting on a lie as Gruber revealed recently. And foreign policy remains in shambles.

Let's Stop Kidding Ourselves: Ebola Is A Political Issue As Well As A Crisis

"The smallest mistake can be fatal." Peter Piot, the guy who discovered Ebola in 1976

We have to stop kidding ourselves. Ebola is a political issue as well as a crisis. And how do I know that?  When Rahm Emanuel was Pres. Obama's WH Chief of Staff he said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste." In short, he was talking about taking political advantage of any serious crisis confronting the administration. by using the crisis to its advantage.

With the news today that a second nurse has come down with Ebola, it shows  that the Obama administration is unable to deal with any crisis let alone a less serious crisis than Ebola. I pointed this very fact out in my previous post yesterday (if you have a moment, check it out).

I have some knowledge about medical care. I spent most of my career in either health care or behavioral health care. As an Air Force medic, I worked in the emergency room. In fact, as young guy, I worked as an orderly in the emergency room of a large urban hospital. I only bring this to your attention because of the latest reports regarding Mr. Duncan. Nurses reported that he was waiting in the ER before treatment.

That alone raises several questions: How many people was he in contact with in the ER waiting room? How many patients did the medical staff who treated Duncan initially go on to treat other patients? How many patients did the two nurses who have now come down with Ebola treat before they were placed in isolation? How many staff were they directly in contact with? How many people in the community did they come in contact?

As a point of perspective, a recent piece in the Washington Post reported that one doorknob can infect up to 60% of people working in a building within 2 hours. We also know that over 233 medical personnel have already died who treated Ebola patients---trained medical personnel who wore protective clothing.  We also know the NNU (National Nurses United) reported this week that 85% of the nurses they surveyed had not yet received training in Ebola protocol. 

And while efforts to reassure the public so panic does not set in is an appropriate approach, it's more important to communicate the truth. And that's what's been lacking with this current crisis. For example, in the last 4 weeks, we've been told:

• Ebola is a difficult virus to catch.
• Ebola is a fragile virus.
• We've been following the established protocols to avoid transmission.
• When a carries is not symptomatic, the virus cannot be transmitted.
• The CDC said "any hospital" in the country can handle the virus.
• The CDC told us they are well prepared to deal with Ebola.

Yet, with all of these facts, another nurse who cared for Mr. Duncan has come down with the virus. And to add to the seriousness of this news, she flew on a Frontier flight earlier this week. In addition to this current transmission, a nurse in Spain is currently fighting for her life. A UN worker died from Ebola in Germany after returning from Liberia. And there are other examples.

The fact is the administration's first failure was not to stop flights coming into this country on a temporary basis from the infected regions. That would have been a common sense approach. Instead, we now have two transmissions of Ebola in the United States for the first time in our history. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Atlantic Ocean was the perfect barrier to the virus spreading to America. And while I'm at it, how does spreading Ebola to America contain it? The single most important protocol this administration failed to follow: WAS TO KEEP EBOLA OUT OF THE U.S. 

Ebola is a political issue. The Obama administration is directly responsible for this viral WMD being transmitted in the United States. Hopefully, we won't see any other Americans infected. But even the CDC director doubts it. It might be the first time he's been right---unfortunately for all of us.

Ebola: As Experts & The Government Trip Over Their Own Rhetoric, Who Are We To Trust?

Concerning Ebola, the American people should take comfort knowing they will be covered as soon as we can get the O-Care website working...WH Press Secretary

Four separate studies in the last 12 years report that anywhere from about 100,000 to 250,000 patients die each year from medical errors in hospitals.  We've seen a variety of infections spread through many hospital and clinical settings because there are many occasions when even medical personnel fail to follow the most simple protocol---washing their hands and sanitizing patient rooms and public areas. Yet, the CDC and the government keep making absolute statements about their ability to contain Ebola.

Of course, we all have a responsibility to ensure we don't instill hysteria in the general population. But we also have a responsibility to tell Americans the truth rather than fiction.

• "We will stop Ebola in its tracks in the U.S." 

That statement was made by Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the CDC. (By the way, every time I watch him on TV, it reminds me of an SNL skit. He gives me the willies).

• "We feel confident there won't be an outbreak." 

That statement was made by Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

• "More than 233 doctors and nurses have died from Ebola in Africa this year...The fatalities also include Dr. John Dada, who was a renowned epidemiologist."

That was from an article by Betsy McCaughey, Chair of Reduce Infection Deaths and a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.

• "This is a very sophisticated city, a very sophisticated hospital. The chances of it {Ebola} being spread is very, very scarce."

That statement was made by Texas Health Director David Lackey. 

• "Eighty-five percent of nurses surveyed by National Nurses United reported that they have not yet received any training in caring for an Ebola patient."

The point of all these examples (and there are countless others) begs the question: Can we trust a government to handle a vicious disease like Ebola when its incompetence was on full display regarding the  VA medical system as well as the many problems associated with Obamacare?

• "The smallest mistake can be fatal"

That from Peter Piot, the man who discovered Ebola in 1976.

So---do you feel lucky?

Sources: USA Today, Zero Hedge, US News & World Report

Postscript:

Since this was posted, we have an Ebola outbreak now in NYC.

The Progressive Political Class Keeps Embracing & Adopting Policies & Practices That Always Fail

Just three weeks ago, we had an effective weapon against Ebola here. It's called the Atlantic Ocean...My Tweet this week

• "The world is at hell's doorstep."  That's from Michael Goodwin who wrote about the Obama administration's proposal to close Gitmo and bring more terrorists to our own shores. 
• In the last six years, we've watched the progressive political class draw red lines through American healthcare, American influence, American strength, American prestige, the American economy and now through American security. Infused in the middle of all of these failed policies and practices, we've been witness to intolerance, lies, identity politics, hypocrisy, arrogance and remarkable blunders. 
• In all of this, there are only a few conclusions any rational observer can arrive at. For one, it's apparent the progressive political class could care less how these failed policies affect most Americans. As I wrote just last week, they keep flipping us the bird. It should also be obvious to most Americans that progressives are generally bad at everything and good at nothing. They keep leaving corpses in their wakes with their foolish practices. On the local level, no where is this more in evidence than in the failures of most progressive city municipalities. On the national and international level, Pres. Obama said it himself at a DNC fundraiser: "There's a sense...the world is spinning so fast and nobody is able to control it." That statement came from the President of the United States. With the exception of Jimmy Carter, I would never have envisioned any president making that disturbing statement. For example, I don't recall FDR saying anything remotely similar during World War II. In fact, I don't recall Lincoln saying anything as discomforting during the Civil War. Obama's statement actually appears to indicate a president who has "checked out"---given up. Peggy Noonan summarized better than could I when she wrote, "There's a sense of an absence where the president should be."
• So all of this and more should surprise no one when an outstanding student of politics like Michael Goodwin writes, "The world is at hell's doorstep." The fact is the world has been at hell's doorstep on countless occasions. In addition to what I referenced above with Lincoln and FDR, John F. Kennedy faced an even more menacing threat from the Soviet Union with their intentions of placing nukes in Cuba in the 13 days in October of 1962. It's generally believed we were within minutes of a nuclear holocaust.
• So forgive us Mr. President when we don't pay attention to your crying us a river. The fact is your policies created the very atmosphere we and the rest of the world are now facing. You and the progressive political class should stop whining about the cynicism in the country---cynicism you created. 
• As we face serious enemies to mankind and Western civilization with both global terrorism and Ebola, it's time to lead. Anything else should be considered executive malfeasance.