Beth,

I think your comment was meant to be directed at Steve, but it ended up in my email alert and I was puzzled when I read your post, until I backed up and read Steve’s post again.

Good point, Phyllis.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of this paper before, either.

Steve,

Interesting avatar you have chosen.  Does it fit or is it a bit of humor? 

Well, there’s your problem, you’ve decided your opinion of Michelle Obama and no one’s going to change that.  It wont matter what she says, as far as you’re concerned.  Nothing like a closed mind.

I can’t imagine Laura Bush or even Hillary saying anyone accused them of sounding like a "white girl" either, but I know when I’m talking to someone on the telephone that I’ve never seen before, I can often detect that they are black by the way they talk, so don’t tell me that people don’t notice that.

Out of curiousity, I’d like to pose this question or questions:

What would happen, if our Administration decided NOT to bail out anymore banks, auto manufacturers, no additional money to AIG, no stimulus money to the states or anyone else, for that matter and just freeze things as they are, until things get better.  Freeze gasoline prices, food prices, salaries, no bonuses to anyone, freeze Government salaries, medical costs, pharmacy costs.  Would you be affected?  Could you live with it?  Could our economy recover on it’s own?  Sure banks might have to close, people would lose more jobs, food banks might not be able to supply needy families, savings accts. and investments might be lost, but Americans could pull themselves up by their bootstraps, right?

It would be a challenge for all of us to meet in the act of survival, but I wonder what it would be like if we made that choice.  Troops coming home from overseas might find no jobs awaiting them and there’s be no money to hire new people in the working segment.  Obama said he was willing to try something new if his vision didn’t work, so if we are so sure he’s going in the wrong direction, imagine what it might be like taking this route, just freeze everything as is, until things get better on their own. Do you think that would happen?

It’s the money and the power brokers.  That’s the chain that needs to be broken.

Almost every Congressperson and Senator is:

1. a lawyer

2. has been a Rep. and then became a Senator, or

3. a Governor and then became a Rep. or a Senator

4. has amassed many years in one or the other or both, the House of   Rep. or the Senate

5. was born to wealth or became wealthy in order to run for office or had wealthy backers expecting favors

6. has scandals and rumors or proof of wrongdoing while in office

7. is or probably will be making plans to run for President in the next available election and doesn’t do anything that isn’t going to do or add something for themselves personally i. e. Chris Dodd said he wouldn’t be running for the Senate again, which will let him use his re-election funds for an upcoming bid for the Presidency

I have little use for either bloated party or puffed up member of Congress.  They have gradually proved how corrupt the legislative branch is.  Back to Liz Peek’s original topic, the grandstanding was obviously staged to try to make themselves look like caring elected officials looking out for the American citizens-but their behaviour was too transparent and their little act didn’t work, nor did it advance any solution.

I can see where the Congress might listen to, or use Newt Gingrich as their excuse, or even wives refusing to pull the children out of their schools to follow the husband’s political transfers, however there are thousands of other families whose husbands are in service to their country that are separated for months to years at a time, while the husbands are deployed on ships or overseas or in other parts of the country or world.  It isn’t a hardship that so many of us have faced in our own lives that I find it hard to feel sympathy to their plight.

They wanted the job and asked for it, so I think the least they can do is give their whole hearted attention to it.  I just don’t think they’re doing that and with free transportation to go home every weekend, why not?  It doesn’t cost them anything, but their inefficiency, lack of focus and incompetence costs the whole nation.  if they’re going to do the job, then do it well and I just don’t think they do.  There’s not enough oversight on them and I think it is time, there is.  I don’t mean to sound like a harpie, but they have it so easy and cushy and they take advantage of us with so little to show for their positions.

Speaking of Congress, every year they vote themselves a substantial raise.  Do you think they have earned it?  Have we ever had a say in whether they get a raise or not?  Do they have outstanding benefits?  Do they work long hours to earn their income?  Do they get money from lobbyists who want voting favors in their interest, whether it’s in our interests or not?  AIG is not the only ones who should be giving back money for doing a shoddy job.  Changes I would like to see:

Raises that are determined by merit and the voting public when it’s time for reelections of the Senate and Congress.  Term limits, so they can’t make a career of politics and become richer in the process.  Actual work day weeks, much like what we do in the public sector, at least a Monday through Friday 8-5 work weekday.

No voting allowed on any bill they haven’t read and understood thoroughly, so they can’t use not having read it as an excuse.  No additional pork can be added to any bill-if it’s a worthy cause, it can stand alone.  No money can be given to any Senator or Rep. by any Company seeking favors.  If Corporations want to give money to the Government, it has to go in a fund that’s partial to no one politician to be used for example, a general re-election campaigns that a set amount can be withdrawn by each individual seeking re-election, so no one has an advantage.  They’d really have to work for their votes based on what they can offer to our common good.

Obviously, I’ve been daydreaming again about the "what-if’s" and I’m sure that some lawyer could find loop holes in this in order to circumvent the intent.  It isn’t just AIG.  Did you watch the smugness of the politicians grilling Mr. Liddy, the newcomer to AIG who makes $1.00 a year for his services?  Can you imagine any of our politicians doing that?

I remember watching Frank Langella’s Dracula in a theatre with a friend and he was the sexiest Darcula ever.  My friend was so taken by the moment, she was breathing loud and heavy and if he had come down into the theatre off the screen, he could have had his way with her right there.  I was so embarrassed that if I could hear how she was turned on, so could everyone around us.  Later, we laughed about it when I teased her about controlling herself in public.

Thank you.  I don’t think I’m alone or unique in my view, but Thank you.

The Democrats and the Republicans are not working together to help matters-they each have their own agenda and it’s not necessarily in our interests that they are concerned.  The Democrats are drunk with power and the Republicans can’t wait to see Obama fail.  Neither is acceptable.

Neither side wants to give up power, earmarks or lobbyists who line their pockets with bribes.  If Obama suggests something that might deprive them of power, earmarks or lobbyists bribes, they are going to resist and refuse to cooperate.

Example, Steny Hoyer,"I don’t think the President has the ability to tell us what to do."  He is just oneDemocrat example who proves to be an anathema to any progress.  Pelosi is another one and I could name more on both sides of the isle, but why bother.  No one is going to change their thinking.  We need to clean house in Congress, get rid of the bad apples, the ones who stand in the way of progress, preening and posturing at every  opportunity.

I think much of what Obama has done is in trying to get help out to those who need it quickly and he is new but I still believe he’s trying to do the right thing and trying to do his best.  Look at where the "experts" have brought us-to the brink of disaster.  He is learning on the job and that may not be a bad thing, just wish he had more time to realize there are those in Government who will try to bend the rules to gain their own selfish ends and destroy him in the process.  When you choose cabinet members to fill vacancies, you try to choose someone who has some experience in the matters they are going to be overseeing, and those people are not always the best choices, but I believe Obama has a good heart and good intentions to help our country regain it’s former high esteem of years ago.  He doesn’t fit in with the governemnt officials in Washington who want to do "business as usual" and that’s going to make his Presidency more difficult.

Things I would like to see accomplished during his term, Universal Health Care for all Americans, based on the best of other programs in existance; Free education for all those who want it and Technical Schools available for those who don’t want college; help for those who are looking for jobs and job placement for the unemployed; public works programs to rebuild the infrastructure and develope energy sources, wind and solar; auto production for energy efficient cars and trucks.  Four years is not enough time to accomplish all that, but I can see where some of the money could be recovered to cover some of these programs and also the ones who will fight it from ever becoming a part of our way of life. 

Yes, you can separate Obama from the Dems in the house and the senate-few of them share the same vision as the President.  After all, what’s in it for them?