Grave Danger

Major news outlets have been reporting on the grave economic situation we are facing.  There has been a big effort to publicize the necessity to pass the “Economic Stimulus” Bill.  In fact President Obama has hit the trail to try to sell this to the country at different ‘Town Hall’ style meetings around the country.  I’ve read the following analysis of the bill from the AP and heard several thoughts on this on the web and radio.

AP analysis

Now if the situation is as grave as it is being reported shouldn’t the congressional pet projects wait.  If the economy is teetering on the edge of collapse, then are these the kinds of things our tax payer money should be heading towards?…

“There's $1 billion to deal with Census problems and $88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building next year. The Senate would devote $2.1 billion to pay off a looming shortfall in public housing accounts, $870 million to combat the flu and $400 million to slow the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia.”

or….

“$40 million to convert the way health statistics are collected — from paper to an electronic system —

I don’t think so.  I don’t see how these items will stimulate the economy.  If the economy is the priority, then the focus of the bill and the amendments should be stimulus.  Quite frankly, I fail to see how funding a switch from a paper to electronic system will stimulate our economy or spending a billion dollars to clean up the census.  This appears to be politics as usual.  Where is the change? 

If Obama or Pelosi is really this passionate about this, then this bill should be covered item by item with explanations on how this will directly stimulate this economy.  If this recession has us one foot in the economic grave, then they owe it to the American people to explain how they are spending our money.

Bits and Pieces

I've sort of been out of action this week. There have been some topics on my mind so I'm going to do it all in one post!

"God Bless the USA"
On "American Idol" this week, contestant Kristy Lee Cook sang "God Bless the USA." The judges loved it but the next day the media and critics trashed it. Why? Because they said she sang a patriotic song full of schmaltz and flag waving lyrics and she tried to make people vote for her by singing a song about America. They found it deplorable and they ripped the song apart.
Typical liberal media - if you sing a song about America it's a horrible song, horrible lyrics and nothing more than flag waving.
I'm going to guess if she sang a Green Day song bashing President Bush or sang a Dixie Chicks song ripping on the U.S., they would have loved it.
If you made a song in this country that says the U.S. is the devil, you win a Grammy. If you write a song about America and being proud of it, you're the worst person in the world.

Forest Lake High School
This week in Forest Lake Minnesota, a military group was supposed to give a speech at the high school to social studies classes. The group consists of Iraq war veterans and they go around the country talking about their experiences and what is going on in Iraq.
Well that speech never happened because some anti-war hippies started calling the high school threatening to protest if the speech happened. The event was moved to a local Legion and high schoolers could go if they wanted, and many did.
Now the anti-war zealots are saying how this group has a political purpose and how they were going to talk about why we should stay in Iraq. The group has acknowledged that they are in favor of the war and carrying out the mission, but they said their speech in the school would not include these views and instead would just talk about their military experience and what is going on in Iraq.
What's amusing is how Democrats throw a fit over a military group coming to speak because they think it's "political" but there is no problem with teaching only evolution, allowing teachers to spout their political opinions in the classroom, requiring kids to learn sex education and how to use a condom earlier and earlier every year, teaching about global warming even though it's not a proven fact, and inserting materials in social studies text books about 9/11 showing why we have to understand why Arabs might be mad at us, i.e. what America has done "wrong." All of these are political situation yet all are allowed in the public school system.
But you try and bring some military members in to talk and they get shown the door. God forbid you let students listen to real heroes compared to watching celebrities.

Oh, and yesterday some local idiots held a protest outside a military recruiting office. You know the type - where they lock themselves up so no one can get in.
Ya, always smart to prevent people from joining the military. You wouldn't want to prevent people from signing up for a service that protects your rights to PROTEST!!!

Conservatives v. Liberals and Charity
Conservatives are always painted as rich, arrogant snobs who don't care about anyone but themselves and their pocketbooks. Liberals are portrayed as caring and sensitive and always willing to help people out. Well here's some stats from a George Will column that shoot that down:

- Liberal families' imcomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative familes;
- Conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227);
- Residents of the state that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George W. Bush;
- Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average;
- In the 10 reddest states the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states donated just 1.9 percent.
- People who reject the idea that "government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality" give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.
- Al Gore gave .2 percent of his family income, one-seventh of the average for donating households.

But the theory of the Democrats is that Gore "gave at the office." In other words he used public office to give other peoples' money to government programs.

Presidential Candidates Traveling
Sen. John McCain has come under criticism recently for taking trips overseas at taxpayer expense. Those opposed to it think he's wasting taxpayer money for his presidential campaign. Normally I would agree that excessive travel is unnecessary for politicians, however in this case I think it's somewhat justified. And not just for McCain, but for any top presidential candidate.

I'm not saying that last year every candidate should have been doing the same thing. But I think when you get down to the final two (or in this case three) candidates, it's important that they know what's going on in the world. These candidates could be working with foreign leaders in less than a year. Personally I'd like it if they knew what was going on in the world and who the other leaders are. That way they can get to working with them right away and skip all the introductions!!
McCain has done it, Hillary has done it. But Obama? Nothing. No foreign travel. Just goes along with his lack of experience in any area if you ask me.

Random Thoughts

Some observations:

1) Why do people in Minneapolis drive sooooooooooooo slow on sidestreets??? They are the type that start breaking halfway down the block even though the light is green, just in case the light turns red.
And I'm really starting to be a fan of banning cell phones while driving because half the time those are the people driving 10 under the speed limit!

2) I live in Minnesota and I don't care about college hockey. There, I said it. I really don't care about the Gopher hockey team. But you're sort of forced to care around here. But really, I have no interest in watching them on Friday and Saturday nights and I don't care that their star player just left for the NHL. I guess I'm not a true Minnesotan!!!

3) Never trust Bill Parcells. Everytime he says he's retiring, he comes back within two years. I think I said this last year when he "retired" from Dallas and said he was one. Well now he's back as the Director of Football Operations for the Miami Dolphins, which basically means he'll fire the head coach after next season and take over the job himself.
How many times has Parcells "retired" now? And is he not one of the biggest jerks in sports? I'm not a Terrell Owens fan, but it's funny how well behaved he is this year now that Parcells is gone.

4) Just curious if Democrats were going to jump on their anti-war hero Rep. John Murtha for appropriating $166.5 million in earmarks for defense spending to his home district in Pennsylvania?
After all, isn't that their constant bash against VP Dick Cheney - that he gave defense contracts to his company Haliburton??
Hmmmm, seems that Murtha is making millions for companies in his district. In other words, money for votes. Funny that he's Mr. Anti-War, yet he has no problem getting defense contracts.
Yet, there is complete silence from the left. Shocking!

5) A letter to the editor in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune said that "the Bush administration has left a grotesque trail of blunders, lies corruption and illegal cover-ups." Of course nowhere in the letter did the writer list these "lies" that liberals constantly whine over. I'd like to see a list please with evidence and details of each "lie." There is a letter everyday saying that Bush lied, yet I've never seen what he's lied about.
The writer also said "the American people want President Bush held accountable for using torture." Nice of him to generalize. I'd appreciate if he didn't include me in that statement and in fact, I'm all for torture if it saves lives. And I think a lot of Americans are in favor of it if they don't know about it.
Let's see - another 9/11 or torturing a scumbag terrorist with knowledge of a bomb plot. Ya, let's try talking to him and see what he says. Give me a break!

6) With all the news lately about subprime mortgages and foreclosures I started wondering why the lenders are always the ones to blame? Yes, there are predatory lenders out there and they should all be prosecuted and kept out of the profession. But why is the borrower never to blame?
I'm sorry they can't afford their house and are being thrown out, but at the same time they are the ones that signed the contract and knew the terms all along. If they barely had enough money when they bought the house, then they should have forecast that they might not be able to afford it in the future. Of course the lender is going to say you "qualify," that's their job. But it's the borrower's job to know their own financial situation and to deal with it. It's not everyone else's responsibility to bail you out of your situation.
If you didn't understand the terms of the contract then you should have asked for legal advice or had someone else review it. Don't sign it!!
I get so sick of people who get themselves into financial problems because they spend money they don't have on plasma TVs, buy houses they can't afford, buy cars they can't afford, have children they can't afford and rack up bills on stupid things they can't afford - and then come crying to the government for help when they can't afford it. And then everyone else who is responsible with their money gets stuck footing the bill. What a country!

And with that I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Ooops, I'm not allowed to use the word Christmas am I??

Random Thoughts

How come when there is a fight in the NBA the media and fans go nuts about how horrible it was and how the NBA is nothing but thugs.
But yet there are fights much worse in the NHL every night that include blood and no one says a thing? I mean in the NHL the refs don't even break it up, everyone backs up and lets them fight for a minute or so.

Random Thoughts

Why does everyone have a problem with my shoveling? When I shovel my sidewalk I only shovel the width of the shovel, I don't shovel off the whole width of the walkway. Why spend time shoveling two feet of snow on a part that no one walks on??
How often do two people walk side-by-side up a sidewalk to a house? There usually isn't enough room when there isn't snow. So why exert energy doing it?
Yet everyone keeps making comments on how I shoveled this past week.
If you have a problem with it, the shovel is right next to my door. Feel free to go to work!

Why is there a tip jar at places like Papa Murphy's, Starbucks and Chipolte?? No, I won't give you a tip! If I'm going to tip these workers then I should be tipping at Subway and McDonald's as well. I would rather tip at Subway because a person making a sub is doing much more work than a person filling my coffee cup.
Papa Murphy's really bugs me. One of the reasons for getting pizza from them is that you don't have to tip the delivery guy, you are picking it up. But yet they put a tip line on the credit card bill and they put their cup out with "Tips" marked on it. I always make a big point of putting a big line thru the tip line to emphasize I'm not tipping them. I'm sure they are giving me the finger when I turn and walk out, but oh well. If you want to work for tips then you should go be a waiter.

Random Thoughts

How come there are never any "normal" people at a hospital? It always seems like I'm surrounded by nutjobs and really odd people.
Do "normal" people not go to the hospital or do they have private hospitals that no one knows about? Or is it just because "normal" people don't feel the need to go to the doctor for every ache, pain or sniffle they have thereby costing taxpayers millions of dollars in health care costs?

And what about gas stations? Do you ever see normal people at those either? I don't.

Random Thoughts

You know you're at a ghetto gas station when there is a sign on the pump saying "Please turn down stereos when pumping gas."

When I go into a coffee shop I always wonder what all these people are sitting around talking about. I'm not talking about the students who are obviously there studying. I'm talking about the other people who always seem to be in deep conversations, taking notes and staying for hours having these discussions. What important topics are they discussing? What world problems are being solved? How come I'm never invited to a coffee shop to have one of these deep conversations?

Why is it so hard to find a new job? Why does it have to be a 24 hour job to search for jobs? I don't want to network anymore. I want to send in a resume, get an interview, be offered a job and move on with my life!