Stop Buying Congress Breakfast, and Kid Cleaning Crew

Saw a piece on the news tonight, department of defense spent $12 for bran muffins, $10 brownies, even coffee that was something like a billion dollars an ounce, crazy! I imagine there are arguments, things are expensive, it's a hard job, you name it. Answer me this, why are we buying them anything at all? Who bought breakfast for you this morning? They want to cut costs, let them eat their grape nuts before they go to work! Write your congressional representative and tell them you want the free start breakfast stopped.

Kids covered the pool today, we are slugs, always late doing it. It took them longer to blow up the float than it did to put the cover on. Scared me to watch them try and figure out the best way to blow it up, but they did it! Since they were so quick with it, and I had captive minions, we did a little fall cleaning to knock down the dust. Kids ask great questions. Told the boy to take the picture off the wall and dust behind it, he said why? The girl came in, said why is he cleaning behind the pictures? I am actually scared to tell the wife this story!

Election Ads Finished, Both TV and Politics Back to Normal

It is so good to turn the television on and not see all those political ads, now I can watch Viagra and whiskey ads in peace. Local news was hard to figure out, some won who you thought would, other lost, hard to track. We kept a Dem for Gov, but got Rep for congress. I'll be waiting to see how long it is before it returns to normal. Just had 2 years of R's riding the D's, saying nothing will work, now they are in charge, see how long it takes this speaker to be accused of having a private agenda, of course he was the one making the accusations! We I take over things will be much smoother, just wait for it!

Are There Really Dead Zones In Our Oceans?

Global warming, wars all over the world, violence in our cities, and now I read about dead zones in our oceans. Dead zones? Sounds like something Stephen King should write about. Do they exist? How should I know? I don't have a dead zone test kit from Acme. All I can do is decide which of the 2 sides I choose to believe. Like most things the 2 sides are diverse in their opinions of if it exists, why it exists, and who is to blame for it. I sure wish I could believe our leaders, but you know.

So these said dead zones, why are they there? Are they a naturally occurring phenomenon, caused by plant life and small animals, martians who are waiting to colonize the earth, or is it runoff from our crops? Once again, it depends on who you talk to, or listen to. Did we have this problem back in the 50's, and did the government tell us truth about it then, or cover it up like they do now? How are we supposed to decide for ourselves? Should I believe what I'm told blindly because we have a Republican or Democrat in the White House, or in charge of Congress? Please, get real!

Are our fish and crabs going to be gone soon? Is it safe to eat what's left? Is it global warming making the farmers put nitrates into the water? Why don't we send Consumer Reports Magazine in to investigate, they are totally non biased, right? Can it be fixed? How much will it cost to not only stop it, but then to fix it and make it all better? Wow, I'm confused, and just a bit fed up. Do I need to make up some buttons demanding farms are forced out of business? Hm, that means no food, and that's a bad thing. If we can't trust the government, then who do we turn to?

I say we all start growing our own food. They want to make me responsible for my own social security, why not my own food. How much land do I need for my own food? Give each one of us a parcel of land to farm, if I do it wrong and it pollutes, I don't eat. OK, that doesn't make sense, but how about we make the people responsible follow the rules. Farmers have to do what they need to do to fix the problem. Builders can't build right on the water, no matter how nice the houses are. That means for everyone, even the rich. We stop polluting our streams. No more fines, you pollute, you go to jail. There, I came up with a couple of ideas, now it's your turn. Tell me what else we can do, make a comment to help us all.

Congress Bails Out Greedy Home Buyers

Let me tell you how dumb my wife and I are. When we bought our home, the bank told us how much we were qualified for. We both looked at the number and said no way! There is no way we can afford that much. We looked at it logically and decided on an amount we were both comfortable with. What kind of fools are we? If we had bought an outrageously expensive home, it turns out our Uncle Sam would have come to the rescue.

The current Congress has OK'd a bail out of the people who bought more home than hey could afford. Stay with me, because I must not too smart when it comes to number figurin. 400,000 people are said to benefit from this money. Near as I can figure, if you divide 400,000 into 300,000,000,000 you get $750,000 per loan. Someone with more edumacation check that one and see if I did that right? If I'm wrong, sorry for taking up your time on a dead end road. If I'm right, HOLY CRAP!

Does that mean that the feds are going to broker new mortgages for these people, at a better rate, at a lower cost, so they can afford something, they shouldn't have bought in the first place? Well kiss my grits! I see the Democrats were true to their word and got rid of the frivolous spending! What was it they said they were going to do? I see no difference. The Dems and the GOP both posture too much, and get too little done. Both sides keep talking about what they are doing for the middle class. I am pretty sure I am still in the middle class, unless I have slipped down a notch. All I see is both sides making it harder for me to put food on the table, to put fuel in my mule, buy gas for my ass! We are supposed to pick a new President from one of these teams? Good luck!

How do I get in on some of this cash? How is it going to work? What company is going to get rich off of this 300 billion? How many service charges and handling fees are there going to be? Is the money going to be paid back by the same jerks that couldn't afford it the first time? I'm no economist, but that seems pretty dumb to me. Is Congress going after the fly by nights who found these loans for people? How about the banks that gave it to them? When will I get my 300 billion back, and from whom? Why do I feel like this is going to be another Katrina disaster. You know what I mean, here's money, is it fixed now?

I can't tell you how many "new" houses are for sale in Perry Hall. Well, I can tell you, but that's not the point. The point is it's every where. Until we go after the people that caused this, I am still not able to afford food, gas, electricity, and gas to cook and heat my hot water with. How do I make them pay for what they have done? They are living in multi million dollar homes, paid for on the back of these defaulted loans. Is there no penalty for that? Isn't that the financial equivalency of reckless endangerment? Please don't tell me they will make more money from the 300 bil! It's time for some new ideas, some new plans, a way of putting the lid down on this downward flow. Maybe we can get Jesse "The Body" to run for President? He can't be any worse then the 2 choices, or the 2 teams being offered!

Bush Plays Politics With Our Pocketbooks.

I said the other day I was shocked to side with the President on any issue and that I wouldn't be surprised to be right back here talking about him in a few days. Guess what? I'm back! Bush today, in a purely political move, lifted an executive order banning offshore oil drilling. He said he did it to help the average Joe make ends meet. Oh Bite me! He did it to make it look like the Democratic controlled congress was trying to keep a foot on the throat of America by not changing the law prohibiting offshore drilling. By doing so I guess the thinking is the average American is supposed to say, "Hey, the Republicans tried, I'm voting Republican!" The problem is they are probably right.

You cannot rationalize, on paper or otherwise, that our president is any smarter then the average American. If you have had the opportunity to meet many people, you will know what a scary thought that is. He has no cares for me, he proved that with his holier than thou stand on stem cell research. He has used the argument that it may take several years to realize any gas from offshore drilling, but the longer we wait, the longer it will take to get the gas. Sucks, don't it? That's the same thing I thought about stem cells while I watched my body atrophy and digest itself, all the while knowing you did it because of your strong beliefs. I wonder if one of the twins was an MS'er if his beliefs would change.

He can't blame the Democrats for the original ban, it was a Republican who thought it was important enough to sign the original order banning the drilling. What was that chaps name? Oh yeah, it was Daddy Bush. That should make interesting Thanksgiving dinner conversation! Seems the President is making a habit of not following his father, first Iraq, now this.

I'm sure this will become a major issue in the election, with each candidate having opposite views on offshore drilling. Do you think that's why McCain changed his mind and is now in favor of it? It doesn't matter, by the time the election is here both the stars will probably flip on this, and many other issue. Take the money the government will sink into everything offshore, the 300 billion, with a B, that the feds want to give the mortgage guys, and all the money spent on the 2008 Presidential race and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I bet we could have a viable electric car for the average Joe to drive?

Congress Works Together To Make A Problem Bigger

It looks like after a long period of fighting, Congress is finally working, and heading in the same direction, straight down! Senator Dodd seems proud of the bipartisan effort. That's nice, to be proud I mean. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. What's that old saying about opinions? So what is the issue that brought our law makers together? Did it have to do with saving children, or the elderly? With making our neighborhoods safer, or more appealing. No, they decided to insure 300 billion dollars in new mortgages, helping 400,000 homeowners.

Yippee? How am I supposed to feel about this? To make matters worse, this looks like it is going to be one of a handful of times that the President and I are on the same page. President Bush has said he is going to veto the bill if there aren't major changes to it. Now I don't know what the changes are, hopefully not something that will have me back here tomorrow talking about him, but at least for now it doesn't look like it will happen. Not now, but it will happen. It's an election year.

Like I said yesterday, this campaign so far has cost a fortune, but we ain't seen nothing yet! This is where all the posturing, all the smoke, and all the mirrors disappear. Now we see up the politicians skirts and see what they are really made of. The Democrats and the Republicans are bipartisan when it comes to this issue, the issue of either gaining, or holding onto control. Sure they would agree to bail these people out, it would give them the opportunity to say, "look what we our team did for you". What a fool I am, we are paying our own mortgage!

300 billion, with a B! It is unimaginable that Congress would even think of doing this. It is time for we Americans to stand up, and in one loud voice say, "ENOUGH"! Instead of us saying great, look what they are doing to help us, we should be saying look what they are doing TO us. We can't let this happen so the politicians can jockey for position in the next election. Call someone, write someone, put on your button. Tell them no, I don't want to pay for anyone else to live in a home they knew they couldn't afford. I won't be able to afford that and pay for my own.