Pre-Vacation Rantings

Well, forced vacation/time off is right around the corner and fortunately I get to spend a good chunk of that time with friends and family from around the country, so today just a quick hit list of all of the crazy stuff going on.

- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Dem) was asked if he would support a pledge that every member of the House actually READ the health care bill before they vote on it. I mean, what a NOVEL concept! Wait, isn’t that their JOB! The only thing more preposterous than the concept that a pledge like this would have to be proposed is Hoyer’s reaction to it, “If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes.” Okay, I understand that the bill will probably approach TWO THOUSAND pages. I also understand and have stated REPEATEDLY that if a bill is too long, then the people are getting hosed by something in it. Wouldn’t you think as a congressman you would want to be looking out for your constituents? Three words: READ THE BILL! Call your congressman and tell them if they vote for a bill they didn’t read, then you won’t be voting for them because they aren’t doing their job!

- “Every dime” of the stimulus was supposed to be tracked on the Recovery.gov website so that the American people could see exactly where their money was going. The idea was that people would be so encouraged by the administration’s openness and effectiveness in turning the economy around that it would change the whole tenor of the country and renew the trust of the people in their government. It’s failed and failed badly. Quite frankly you really can’t see where much of the money is going yet. Only 10% of it has actually gone out despite the urgency in passing the bill and the assertion that these were all “shovel ready” projects. They are even talking about ANOTHER stimulus package, but fortunately there have been some reality checks here, so hopefully THAT won’t happen. However, let me draw your attention to the Recovery.gov website itself. Despite spending millions on the site, it is nearly useless. So, what are we going to do? You guessed it! We are going to shovel more money at it. $18 MILLION MORE!!! Are you kidding me?

*****Update: HotAir.com has the connection between the website contract and... Congressman Hoyer who doesn't like to have to read bills. Classic. Looks like the web company got a thousand to one return on their contributions. Not bad. Don't worry though, when Obama is President all of this pandering, cronyism, and back scratching will be OVER... oh wait.

- According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Federal deficit for the first nine months of the fiscal year is $1.1 TRILLION. Let that sink in for a minute. Federal revenue for the year is estimated to be $1.5 TRILLION. We have already spent 73% MORE MONEY than we will take in for the whole year, and with three more months to go. Do we really want to start talking fiscal responsibility?

- Czars. This “non-cabinet” cabinet post is accountable only to the President. They have no accountability what-so-ever to congress or the people. There are 15 cabinet positions (Secretary of…). There are over 20 Czars and growing all of the time. And they don’t come solo. They have a whole staff. And YOU are paying for each and every one of their salaries. Just think, more and more power being consolidated in one place, further away from the people, further away from accountability. Is that the change we need?

- There is an AMAZING phenomenon that is starting to happen. People are actually starting to tie this hurricane of bad policy to the President. President Obama’s Presidential Approval Index (Percentage Strongly Approving – Percentage Strongly Disapproving) has gone into the negative and today hit -8. 38% of the people now Strongly Disapprove of the job the President is doing. Which really begs the question, “why aren’t the other 62% paying attention?” Actually they probably are paying attention, but they either already work for the government or they think their best job prospects are getting a job working for the administration. Hmmm… I wonder if I could be like the “Snippy Comment Czar”. I like it.