Thank goodness the most recent Academy Award ceremony was held on February 24th.
If it was held one week later, it might have been cancelled due to a lack of Hollywood funding. You see, the impact of cutting the increase in our federal budget by less than 3% will be almost unimaginable.
In fact, it was up to President Obama and his cabinet to remind everyone, including House Speaker John Boehner and those unfeeling, uncaring Republicans of all the dire consequences. Indeed, the sequester would really have a devastating effect.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is very concerned about the potential 45-minute delay in air travel.
He also worries about the reduction in the number of TSA employees who scrutinize airport security monitors in order to determine if grandpa has a book, a box of chocolates, an iPad, or a case of ammunition in his suitcase.
Judging from my past experience, it usually takes three TSA workers to figure that out.
The NASA budget cut is most bothersome since the prime directive was to inspire Islamists worldwide about their role in space exploration.
Thus, the president took special interest in that.
We were also reminded that for the academic year of 2013-2014, the National Science Foundation (NSF) would have fewer grants to distribute to those professors who are required to publish or perish.
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We should also be very upset that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will reduce spending after learning from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) that the SEC hasn’t filed criminal charges against any of the Wall Street banks.
More than likely, if they had new funding, the SEC would embark on legal action against former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine and all the other illustrious thieves. Yet, perhaps my biggest concern, which has also been realized by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, is the reduction in the defense budget.
Aircraft purchased by the Air Force and the Navy will probably require a cutback of one plane a piece which of course would be cataclysmic for the defense contractors, not to mention the capability our national defense itself.
You just never know who’s going to repeat a sneak attack like Pearl Harbor. The recent deployment of a mere 100 military troops to Niger in order to protect our drone stations now becomes a top concern.
If we have a sequester, how will we track all those terrorists and their families and friends? In addition, salaries, expenses, and governmental overhead are never part of the equation when discussing the impact of the sequester on children, the elderly, or even puppy dogs. It’s just too dreadful to consider.
Given the length of time of the most recent Academy Award ceremony, maybe the sequester date should have been February 1st, not March 1st.
But in that case, we would have been deprived of watching First Lady Michelle Obama announce the nominees for Best Picture, and that truly would have been tragic.
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