Thoughts on the State of the Union and Other News

Some thoughts on recent newsworthy events of the past few days:

The United States Postal Service recently announced that in a few months it will stop delivering mail on Saturdays. It is estimated the move will shave about $2 billion off of its annual losses. Should the post office attain its savings goal, it plans even more cost-saving measures, like not delivering mail on the other days of the week either. Just think of the savings if the post office never delivers any mail!

In response to an oversight request from four Republican Senators, the Department of Homeland Security admitted that it does not track immigrants who become welfare dependent. They pursued zero cases last year. They actually initiated one case last year, but it was soon withdrawn. To actually track immigrants’ use of welfare would be like, um, you know, hard and stuff. Fortunately, DHS has done a fine job of producing videos like the nearly award winning Run, Hide, Fight video, which was required training material for Border Patrol agents. Their other training video, Duck, Cower, Befuddle, was very ably followed by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the night of the Benghazi attack. It’s good to know someone takes the DHS training videos seriously.

President Obama delivered his State of the Union address in prime time Tuesday night. He claimed that he doesn’t advocate for bigger government, but smarter government. If that’s the case, he and the rest of his bunch better leave town soon. We’ve been witness to the stimulus plan that didn’t stimulate, the shovel-ready jobs that weren’t (yuck, yuck) exactly shovel-ready, Solyndra, subsidies for a car nobody buys (Chevy Volt) and on and on. We’ve seen big and dumb government (see USPS and DHS above) and I’m ready for an alternative.

Yet, after listening to Obama Tuesday night, there was nothing small about his proposals. He offered up barrels full of new programs and spending that he claimed would “not add one dime to the deficit.” And if I had a dime for every time over the last four years that he had made that bogus claim, I could pay of the debt myself and still have a little left over for a couple of trips to Starbucks and a jumbo box of Junior Mints.

Admittedly, I did not see the first part of Obama’s State of the Union address as I was otherwise engaged in some economic stimulus of my own. (I was searching for a Valentine’s Day gift for my wife that was not a 9-foot tall Vermont Teddy Bear.) Once I got home and turned on the remainder of the speech, it took no time at all for my wife to become incensed. She spent most of her time looking for a large object to hurl at the television. I spent most of my time trying to direct her to a room with a cheaper TV. An acquaintance later suggested that had my wife actually been successful in her endeavor, I could apply for a new Obama television. The only problem, I hear, is that the only network you can get on the thing is MSNBC. Nonetheless, I put an order in. I’m a little concerned, though, that mine might be delivered via drone. The post office could be taking the year off.

Early television ratings for this year’s State of the Union address were off sharply from last year. Planning has already begun for the 2014 address and Beyoncé is being considered as halftime entertainment. I’m already making plans as well – I will make sure all my televisions are bubble wrapped well in advance.

And in perhaps the biggest recent news, that which has so much of the media aghast, we learned that Marco Rubio gets thirsty. This is clearly in sharp contrast to Barack Obama, who has said on numerous occasions “make no mistake” that when one is parched it is a “false choice” to take a sip of water.

Curtice Mang is the author of the new book, The Constitution – I’m Not Kidding and Other Tales of Liberal Folly. He can be contacted at www.mangwrites.com, where one can also purchase his book; or contact Curtice at mangwrites at cox.net.