WITH PORK AND EARMARKS, IT'S BUSINESS AS USUAL!

In a Congressional effort to restore a functioning government and to end a budgetary impasse, one would hope that our "public servants" who have committed their lives to unselfishly serving the United States of America would have focused totally on the task at hand.  However, in the recently completed agreement to end the shutdown, our ever opportunistic Solons in D.C. sealed the deal by loading on several million dollars worth of our tax monies for pet projects that had nothing at all to do with the business at hand.

And, before we get too jubilant over the reopening of the government, it might be well to remind ourselves of a few things.  For one, those people in D.C. on opposite sides of the aisle just do not like each other.  In fact, there is no love lost between right and left on the political spectrum, and this will make it more difficult than ever to expect these "statesmen" and "stateswomen" to work toward a modus vivendi.

The agreement to end the shutdown provided that spending could resume - but only until the middle of January.  And, with so much rancor existing between the concerned parties, it is beyond one's imagination that, come January, the warring factions will bury their hatchets and work together for the good of the country.

Our aloof president, who has "red-lined" this country out of virtually all of its allies in the Middle East, never pretended to give any leadership toward compromise on what he considers his crowning achievement - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  At the same time, Obamacare has badly stumbled coming out of the gate, giving more fuel to critics who see the present administration as totally incompetent.  Once again, presidential leadership will be nil when crucial budgetary matters must be resolved.  Why do I have a feeling, dear readers, that, in the final analysis, we are all about to be red-lined?

A quick check of the polls reveals that the president's approval rating is steadily dropping toward the 40% range.  Congress, with its recent debacle over the shutdown, rates about as low as a trip to the dentist.  If for some reason there were a "love-fest" in Congress, just how many Americans would have any trust left for the principal actors at this point?

To make matters even worse - if that's possible - the shutdown -ending deal was marked by a significant amount of pork and earmarks being attached.  There was 2.2 billion for dam completion in Kentucky, 450 million for flood relief in Colorado, 636 million for tackling wildfires,  and even 174,00 to the multi-millionaire widow of deceased Senator Frank Lautenburg of New Jersey, who probably considers the death benefit to be nothing more than chump-change.

So, dear readers, we seem to be stuck between that proverbial " rock and a hard place."  It is most apparent that, no matter the gravity of matters to be considered before the august body of Congress, any and every opportunity will be taken to advance the extraneous interests of our "public servants."

The pundit Lou Dobbs was fond of saying that our country had "...the best government that money could buy."  I, for one, am becoming more and more convinced that our present government would not be worth buying, no matter the price.

Deo vindice!