Not-So-Super Committee and Extraterrestrials

Dear Mark: I don't believe there are enough bold leaders in Washington these days. It was refreshing to hear about a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging the Supercommittee to go big when it comes to reducing the deficit. With a $16 trillion national debt, do you think the Supercommittee has the stuff to it takes to go big? — Balance the Budget Bowie

Dear Balance: First of all, as if Washington politicians weren't already overly stuffed with self importance, they actually had the chutzpah to create a SUPER committee. It couldn't simply be a "Select House/Senate Debt" committee or a "Special Budget Crisis" committee. It had to be a "SUPER" committee, implying the members have superior knowledge, wisdom and judgment compared to us mere mortals. Just imagine the epic battles fought behind closed doors to sit on this illustrious panel.

With the Nov. 23 deadline looming, I don't feel like the committee has the man parts to decide where to eat lunch let alone "go big" on solving our budget crisis. I agree that it is refreshing to hear Democrat Heath Schuler and Republican Mike Simpson lead a group of 100 House members in urging the Supercommittee to go for $4 trillion in budget cuts instead of the $1.2 trillion the committee was required to find. Despite this bipartisan effort from House members, the question remains: Will the over-inflated yet fragile egos of many on the Supercommittee allow them to "go big"?

I sit on an editorial board comprised of liberals and conservatives, and we all agree that if given the Supercommittee's task we could easily find the necessary cuts to achieve their stated mission. So if a small group of commoners using kitchen table economic principles can find a solution to the nation's budget problem, why can't a group of highly educated politicians do the same?

Simple — today's politicians are so beholden to special interests that they are paralyzed to take any kind of meaningful action.

They are also so insecure about the next election they routinely exchange moral and ethical principles for votes. Many politicians are so full of themselves that they honestly can't imagine how normal Americans wipe their uh ... noses without a bureaucrat and a new law overseeing the process. With this in mind, the budgetary gridlock occurs when both sides run out of accounting tricks while trying to fool the electorate.

Sen. Chuck Schumer believes the committee may fail, and for once in my life, I tend to agree with him, but for vastly different reasons.

Dear Mark: Thousands of people signed a petition asking the government to acknowledge "an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race." The White House denied that the government is withholding any evidence of extraterrestrial life from the American people. Don't you find that hard to believe? — Star Trek Stan in Santa Fe

Dear Star Trek: I'm not sure why our government would hide any evidence of life outside of our planet, but government cover-ups don't surprise me in the least. Phil Larson, a member of the White House Office of Science and Technology policy, responded: "The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race."

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I respectfully submit to you House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as evidence to the contrary ... I'm just saying.

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