I'm not sure if there is an actual "First Rule of Bureaucracy", but if there is I'm sure it's something like, "Job security is directly proportional to the number of stupid new rules you can dream up."
We started another new custom home last week. We're to the point now of putting up the perimeter silt fence (to please the Federal bureaucrats at the EPA*) and bringing in the trash dumpster. Now we find that we must have yet another permit, this time to bring a dumpster onto our property, something we've been doing for years.
It seems this large Dallas-area suburb now wants us to declare what's going in the dumpster.
Me: "Uhh....trash, Sir!"
City Dumpster Police: "What kind of trash?"
Me: "Construction trash, Sir!"
City Dumpster Police: "Specifically, what kind of 'construction trash'?"
I'm so tempted to say, "Scrap lumber, plywood, roofing, cardboard boxes, Jimmy Hoffa's body, leaking barrels of toxic DDT, old bloody wound dressings from the illegal AIDS clinic next door....you know....the usual."
*Speaking of the parasites in Washington, did you know I have to pay a 3rd party inspector to come and check our "storm water runoff mitigation compliance" twice every month and within 24 hours of every 1/2" rain, at a cost of $75 per visit? (You can "self inspect", but they'll hang you if you're audited.)
This adds about $1,500 to the cost of every home I build, yet another example of why homes cost so much. IMO we have way too many people doing similar unproductive tasks that add absolutely nothing to our economy. They make a living, a very good living I might add, by leaching on to those who actually produce something of value.
Just sayin'.
S
A guy called to ask a favor of his friend, and the friend's little 5-year-old son answered the phone with a whispered "Hello".
The guy asked, "Is your dad there?"
The kid whispered, "Yes, but he can't come to the phone right now."
So the fellow asked, "Well then, is your mother there?"
Again the kid whispered, "Yes, but she can't come to the phone either."
So the guy asked, "Well, is there any adult there I can speak with?"
The kid whispered, "Aunt Betty and Uncle Fred are here, but they're busy, too."
The fellow said, "That's strange...what's going on?"
The child whispered once again, "Oh, they're just talking to the police officers."
The guy, now alarmed, asked, "POLICE? Oh no...oh no...what's wrong? What are they doing?"
The kid again whispered, "They're looking for me."
*Heehee* Hang on...it's Hump Day.
S
The story read, "The White House is debating whether the disadvantages of an accelerated pullout of American troops from Afghanistan outweigh the advantages of staying."
Um....WHAT advantages are there in staying in Afghanistan, Mr. President? I must have missed that memo. Didn't we go in there to make the Taliban "government" turn over the Al Qaida operations there? Didn't we support the various Afghan tribal factions in their effort to run the Taliban out of power, and then go in and get the important Al Qaida operatives one at a time? Didn't we do that? Osama bin Laden IS still dead, right?
What are we there for now? Are we trying to set them up with a strong national government, complete with a unified army and security forces capable of defending their own territory? I'm not sure they even WANT that, Mr. President. They are a tribal society. That's where their loyalties are, not with a unified national government. Based on all I've read they've never had a unified, strong national government, so why would they want one now? Oh sure, they have lots of people signing up to be soldiers and police, because we're paying them about 3 times as much as their civilian pay would be.
Mr. President, I don't think you'd upset too many Americans if you sent in all the transport planes we have, load up all the troops, load up all their stuff, maybe sterilize those poppy fields on our way out, and let's have one helluva parade here to welcome all our folks home. And leave Afghanistan and their 13th century society right were it is.
I'm sure we'll still have enough paid informants and satellites flying overhead to let us know if Al Qaida tries to re-establish any terrorist training camps there. And if they try, I'm pretty sure we have the technology to deal with it. I would hope that a B-2 over Afghanistan at 2 in the morning could outrun a rock thrown at it in anger.
S
