"... and then the low income guy says to the other low income guy..."

In the recent Republican debate Mitt says Newt is a career politician, Newts comeback is equally true.  He said, “The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is because you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994.”   I think intention is as important as an achieved result in most cases and this is one of them.  Newt succeeded where Mitt failed, still both of these pots were calling the other black!  And I believe Mitt would have been very happy to have been a career politician had he won in ’94!

Although I am largely conservative in my politics (definitely not Republican) I cannot see either of these two ‘pots’ winning against a sitting president.  If the Republican base is serious about changing the fortunes of our country why do they keep turning to the tired, duplicitous, fat cat politicos?

A side by side comparison of Romney and Gingrich will reveal essentially the same story, albeit the names have been changed… to give the appearance of uniqueness only.  It’s true only Gingrich has an illicit affair to account for, so I concede that Mitt Romney has demonstrated loyalty in a fashion that Newt has not, but the convenient changes of position on key subjects will haunt both of them and I think make either unelectable.  If you are keeping score remember that the ‘names’ have changed not the intention behind the change.  One flips on abortion, the other flips on Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.  One flips on state run health care, the other backs much of the Obama health care passed last year.  Both are clearly out of touch with the middle class of America and both are clever at redirecting the conversation away from their obvious flops (Check out The Floposphere to keep up on political flops).

In this political season with the stakes so high you have to question the long term viability of a political party that refuses to cut the cord from politics as usual.  Oh that’s right… I don’t want any of them!!!  Voters Against Incumbents has a plan, if only the party faithful would read it.

Thanks for reading this far.

School yard fights are the stuff of epic battles

… between the forces of good and evil.  Curiously, the ‘black hats’ and the ‘white hats’ were easily spotted. At that age we were all a very unsophisticated  rogues, our intention to fight was always part of the rite of passage.  Win or lose, that ritual, that dance, had to happen.

Rumors of an after school fight always spread quicker than crying babies in a nursery. Once the rumor starts it gets a life of it’s own.  You’d be surprised that one such rumored fight I was associated with drew a huge show of support for me even before it started. The girls all advised to not fight, the boys wanted to be my number one, holding my coat and books during the event.  Even my brother heard about the fight and his class was in another building altogether.

Still there were more rumors of fights than ever actually took place. Some kids seemed to like the recognition and status that even the rumors brought to them, you know, as a fighter, willing to stand their ground, someone not to be trifled with.

Childish wars give way to serious ones

… the kind where people we know run off to fight for ‘freedom’ and never come back alive.  The rules of school yard engagement are tossed out and replaced by the world of political hidden agendas.  I think World War II was the last noble war (if there is such a thing), the black hats and white hats were easy to spot.

Many saw World War II as a racist conflict with an effort to clear the world’s table of Jews, but in the final analysis, it was just about one person lusting for things that weren’t his to begin with.

Clowns ARE the left, jokers ARE the right

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Democrats have been responsible for the United States being in World War I, World War II, Vietnam and Bosnia, but Republicans have laid at their feet some ugly military involvements too.  Eisenhower brought us the Korean War for example (…we never left either), Bush 41, Desert Storm.  Bush 43, gave us the longest (though not the bloodiest, that would be the American Civil War) military involvement in our history,  our presence in Afghanistan, with Iraq following close behind; many political pundits do not see a soon exit from any of the current theaters of war.

The United States has injected itself into Afghanistan and Iraq in an effort to root out the ‘bad guys’; now we face the prospect of more military ‘injection’, this time  in Libya.  If you believe our involvement is over in Libya now that the evil Muammar Ghaddafi is dead then you are not paying attention to history.

Eight years of killing folks in other countries

… should give us cause for pause regarding Libya.  An eager Bush administration seeking to expand it’s influence, would have entered Libyan airspace at the first signs of serious local unrest and his political opponents would have screamed foul! Yet, when President Obama appears slow to ‘inject’ he gets called out for his slow response to the freedom movement there, even from within his own party. 

So now, we’ve touched another country with our war machine, we’re saving lives by dropping bombs… not sure that really washes but it’s what we’re told.

Democrats like to believe this cause is more noble than those of the last administrations war rationales and want us to weigh in quickly and decisively; suddenly the potential loss of American lives is worth it all in order to dispatch with our arch foe, Col. Ghaddafi.  Republicans, for their part really really really want to join in (I think it’s part of their DNA) but for the sake of politics and giving any appearance of supporting THEIR arch foe, the ‘socialist’ President Obama, they choose to be the voice of caution. NOW the Republicans want clear objectives, timelines and accountability to Congress.  Talking points never die, they just change sides.

Libya has joined the ranks

… of other African nations with their own (un)civil war. Many call the unrest in the middle east the ‘Arab Spring’.  I’ve listened carefully as the ‘suits’ have all said the new generation of freedom fighters in Libya only want democracy and freedom but many of those fighting to overthrow the Libyan dictator came over from other theaters of war where they fought against the United States.  Clearly many of those same soldiers, anti-West fighters from Afghanistan and Iraq, wear a different political skin while in Libya. It would seem they now covet our military help.  Leaders in the US are rightly cautious about providing arms to this suspect group, we haven’t truly seen what their leaders (many of whom are still behind the scenes) lust for yet. 

Now we discover they want Shari’a law in place and pledge to be a moderate Muslim nation.  More rumors.

So then, if we continue to inject into Libya, why not Yemen or Syria?  I would prefer we exit from all of our military involvements at this point, I have no more wish to hear of young people being killed for another man’s lust for what isn’t his to begin with.  “But wait!”, they say, “We’re fighting for a noble cause, we must stay the course!”  How many times have you heard that our soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq to protect our freedoms?  How many times have you heard that our borders are safer for it?  Since going to war with these countries I have lost many of the freedoms I once enjoyed, and am told that if I dispute the value of these new measures (read, the Patriot Act) then I am not a good American.  Nothing more than a rumor I say, this presumption our involvement is for noble reasons.

Show me an army big enough to invade us and I’ll show you an America willing to defend itself at all costs.

Winning the war over there but losing the one at home

And what of the drug war raging at our doorstep on the US-Mexican border? Maybe when the killing is actually closer to home both conservatives and liberals will come together in a decisive manner and learn how to end a war quickly. But that’s just a rumor too.

Thanks for reading this far.

No need for crowd control

Witnessing history is not something one should do casually, although that is precisely what happens more times than not.  For instance, the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, I wonder how few were actually in attendance on the beach that day to see that moment in time.  Another, the first successful phone call by Alexander Graham Bell, prior to cell phones and the internet it was the single most influential advancement effecting communication.  Who could argue the sweeping changes in civilization because of Thomas Edison and the light bulb.  As an aside, did you know that Edison bought the famous light bulb patent from a Canadian?  Were you also aware that Bell was Canadian too?

Would Bell approve?

Cause and effect, that’s what we’re really discussing today.  For example, have you ever wondered where the first yawn happened and by whom?  It’s lost for all time, but wouldn’t you like to know whom it was the cursed humanity with the first yawn? When I see a person yawn, I start to yawn too.  And if I’m being fair, my yawn yields the same result in someone else that had the unfortunate glance in my direction as I did, thus starting a cascading effect on untold people. It’s a silly cause and effect analysis I suppose but you also get the point don’t you?  Some actions ripple beyond what we ever expected from them.

I have often marveled at the significance of the proverbial “last straw” dynamic that occurs in historical events.  Consider for a moment, what was the final event for Egypt or Rome, the last straw to set in motion it’s eventual demise.  It could have been something as obvious as a political decision or as obscure as an attitude change in one person that started the dominoes to cascade out of control.  It doesn’t really matter that the process took  centuries to fully run it’s course, it’s that it happened.

The United States was recently humiliated by a historical lowering of it’s global credit rating.  Presumed to be the strongest, successful, most free country in the world by most of it’s citizen, the rating agency that publishes a country’s credit worthiness determined the US was no longer as safe as it once was in financial terms.

The US has always maintained a AAA rating since the ratings system began, likely taking it for granted that it would always be so.  It’s not as if our government didn’t have a chance to change it’s fortunes, the country’s debt challenge has been mounting for years.  Historians will write about this event, will it be the last straw to start the down turn of our country to it’s eventual place in folklore?

I hope this isn't too subtle for the US Treasury

In case you missed it, this is history in the making!

Each side of the political aisle really want the same thing, don’t they.  Democrats want us to believe they want to make things right by …

• raising taxes and …
• cutting military while
• not touching all the duplicated and wasteful processes in our bloated government (that would mean they’d have to lay off tens of thousands of their loyal voters).

Oh, almost forgot, they want to

• increase the national debt and …
• have rich folks pay for it.

On the other hand Republicans want us to believe they want to turn the ship around by …

• not touching military budgets
• not raising taxes and then
• lay off tens of thousands of government workers while calling it a ‘tough decision’ we all have to make.

Oh, almost forgot, they want to

• make sure the wealthy get more tax breaks because
• they actually think the rich folk will spend their ‘personal’ money on hiring more people.

I'll take those back now

When a country refuses to balance their budget (three straight Obama years without a budget at all) and refuses to balance their checkbook (lets just raise the debt ceiling), the keys to this kingdom need to be put into other hands.  Perhaps we should pool our resources and get the US Treasury Department a FreeCreditReport.com account, hmmm.

Each side of the political aisle really want the same thing, don’t they… but at what cost to us?

In case you missed it, this is history in the making!

Thanks for reading this far.

Making pitches, fielding questions

Much like baseball’s annual spring training leagues in Florida and Arizona, the early positioning for Presidential hopefuls has already started. The election isn’t until 2012 and spring training for The President’s League is in full swing.

The ‘games’ are largely held in Iowa and New Hampshire because they are the  “impact states” due to their early primary elections.  This year, it’s mostly the Republicans and a few independent politicians that attend the political spring training since no one in the Democratic party wants to signal a run at the White House this early.  That would be political suicide, to run against your own party’s sitting President.  The 2008 President’s League was far more interesting due to the wide participation by all parties.  We hope that President Obama will have some strong challenges from within his own party too, competition is good for what is at stake.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this year’s President’s League, it’s important to know who is attending, what they are saying, and who ISN’T attending and why.  Remember, our stand is to remove all incumbents from office until we have a fresh, uncompromised congress to count on.

By contrast, in our times we look at such stealth actions as highly questionable at best, at worst, worthy of full investigations and prison.  Equally ironic is the apparent fact that the Tea Party movement of today is slowly being cast as a bunch of hooligans, worthy of jail for their misguided movement against taxation.

At what point did it become a bad thing to side with a movement that wants to keep money in your pocket?

It’s fascinating to study how major ideas and movements get named and even how the images of those names evolve. For example, the earliest reference to those who followed the teachings of Christ were referred too as Christians, much like we understand the term Romans to mean those from Rome.  Only later was the term used to more broadly define loyal subjects the government of Rome. It was Romans that really first used the term Christian as a way to label a movement, it was a derogatory term initially, at the very least, a non-flattering label. In the earlier church followers of Christ referred to themselves as “Believers”, not Christians. It would be like a Liberal (politically speaking) calling himself a “tax and spend” Democrat, or a Conservative embracing the tag, “fear mongering” Republican.

So, now we have a modern day populous movement called The Tea Party movement.  Although the movement has many conservatives, it is a much broader political movement that includes many politically independent voters and a surprising number of center leaning liberal voters.  The movement’s focus is on taxation.    One high profile politician attempted to minimize the movement by saying it was not a true ‘grass roots’ cause but an ‘astro turf’ movement instead, suggesting it was not authentic or genuine.

Opponents of the Tea Party movement refer to supporters as ‘tea baggers’, a derogatory term about a sex act between two males.  It’s never a smart play to introduce this kind of rankor, history shows these labels often energize people to support the movements (instead of either sitting on the sidelines or being reluctantly against them) when it is determined the slurs are particularly grievous and unfair. It is clear by the results of the mid-terms, the grass roots support for the Tea Party ideals was much greater than anyone predicted.

Curiously, the presence of hardcore Tea Party candidates in congress has incumbent conservatives on edge, the new congressmen and senators clearly won election through a movement not entirely supported by career politicians. Any ugliness that may arise between them can cause veteran politicians problems with reelection later on.

Thanks for reading this far.

The Face of Unemployment

Since late December 2008 I have been unemployed for more than 12 month(9.5 months, then again for 2.5 months).  I’ve exhausted savings, extended credit and finally took a job 2000 miles from my family so that I have the best chance to ‘turn the ship around’.  Oh I nearly forgot to mention, I’m a computer programmer with a wonderful resume.

So here I am, a well educated professional with little optimism about where my next contract will come from when the current one concludes; and like far to many Americans, I wonder how we got to this point?

While I carefully rebuild my business I am confronted by how a new congress will move to stabilize a shaky economic recovery and if I can even plan a strategy that will insulate me from their hapless political agendas.

I’m not in favor of tax increases. I believe we have a government that is far too bloated and can easily be cut back.  It’s true, it will be at the expense of ten’s of thousands of government employees, but I’m sure we can figure out a parachute for them considering the billions of dollars we will save as a country.

I’m not in favor of tax increases as a proposed solution to our woes, nor do I think tax cuts will somehow super energize small businesses to start hiring new employees either. The motivation for any business, be it small or large, to hire additional employees is to fill needs brought on by growth in sales. How reckless to suggest a small business should hire more staff without the underlying sales merely because of a small tax cut.

I’m not in favor of tax increases but (and this is a big BUT) here’s where I start to have some indigestion; when we discuss extending Bush era tax cuts (did I mention hapless policital agendas?),

I don’t see the wealthy on the picket lines holding up their signs, I don’t see them at the rally’s protesting against the onset of increased taxes, in fact, I don’t see them at all.

What I see is a very cleverly crafted campaign that successfully engaged the lower middle classes to protest on their behalf.

Sorry, no wealthy folks here!

When a person hits a certain income level they can hire the best CPA’s and financial advisers to skillfully guide them to lower taxation than most of the rest of us pay. I can’t afford these strategists any more than most average Americans (can you?) and it does beg the question, why should we have to “hire the best CPA’s and financial advisers to skillfully guide” in the first place, just to pay our fair share of the tax burden? One could certainly argue here that the middle class is paying in excess of their fair share of taxes because they are either unaware or unable to use carefully hidden tax loophole available to wealthier Americans.

Shame on Congress for conceiving a tax system that is so complex that entire careers are made by some to just read the yearly updates to the US tax code and pass on the changes to other tax professionals.

It’s time Congress takes a serious run at a simplified tax code, one without clever loopholes, one that can be understood by anyone with a ninth grade education and one in which everyone contributes except the most needy among us.

If you did not vote against incumbents you can expect to get the same results from Congress you’ve always gotten, more hapless politcal agendas.

Thanks for reading this far.

Standing Tall

“Put up or shut up”, “Put your money where your mouth is”, “Go big or go home”, “The piper always needs to be paid” or it’s variation “Time to pay the piper” … and now, “Vote your mouth” should be joining the crowded list of cliches on the public landscape.  With all the talk of voting out the hooligans in Congress all the rhetoric stops in the voting both.

As an advocate for change among all political groups I find it refreshing, liberating and a bit lonely to be voting my convictions this season.

If you are wondering, I did not vote for a single incumbent!

For me, the journey to standing tall, albeit alone at times, began when I was 10 years old. It was during my tenth summer that I refused to go with my brother into the near by woods to light up some ill gotten smokes.  Like many kids of my day, we’d swipe our parent’s cigarettes and steal away to a near by wooded area to act  “older than our years” by smoking them.  I was never able to tolerate inhaling the smoke, the coughing fits were more than I expected from such an effort.  So, on this day I refused my brothers proddings to join him.  I knew I’d won my first “Standing Alone Trophy” when he warned me of the consequences if I ratted him out, then off he scurried into the woods to smoke.  I never smoked after that and he, on the other hand has had a life long struggle with it.  Perhaps the turning point for both of us was that fateful summer day.

A time or two, when it never crossed my mind,  another such “Standing Alone Trophy” would appear when someone

Acting older than we are

recognized (credited or blamed) me for doing so.  This time I was 11 years old, living in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Washington DC,  just minutes from the White House.

It wasn’t unusual to have friends from other countries, in fact, I thought it was quite normal since it had always been that way.  My best friend, Paul, was from England, his father was an embassy worker.  He was shorter than most and had a chip on his shoulder because of it; though Paul was popular with the girls drew some unsavory attention from one local thug named Frank.  One day, Frank came looking for Paul and was going to teach him a thing or two.

It all started with name calling, first Frank insulted Paul, Paul returned with his own verbal attack not realizing Frank had it in for him all along.  I heard the exchanges and came quickly to Paul’s side, insisting Frank to leave him alone.

I stood in Frank’s path at a critical moment and suddenly I, not Paul,  had his full attention.

I pushed him back as best I could only to discover he could throw a solid counter punch to my best shove.  Frank landed a  blow flush to my cheek, so hard in fact that my tooth broke through my cheek and started to bleed.   The bloody mess allowed me to exit without really ‘losing’ the fight, after all, I was wounded in the preamble to the real fight.  I was taken to hospital and stitched up, both inside and out on my cheek.  Later that night, Frank and his older brother appeared at our

Outta my way skinny!

door.  Frank apologized for hitting me and showed me the cut on his knuckle from the blow.  No one dared stand up to the bully Frank until that day, somehow his perceived power over the weaker ones was diminished thereafter.  The second “Standing Alone Trophy” is now apart of my personal folklore.

When no one is looking, how will you vote?

I think it’s the moments we stand alone that define us, for good or bad, we are exposed to the universe for who we are. I “voted my mouth” this election season, the plan for reclaiming our government is a good one but only works if we are willing to stand alone, even if others quietly betray their own rhetoric and vote for the known candidates.

The ballot box

I submit to you a list of seemingly random statements and observations.

• Single issue voters, the political scene is never short of their kind.  Politics is replete with politicians that curry their vote.
• Politicians conveniently adjust a soft political position to that of a hardliner to gain the advantage of single issue voters just waiting to be heard.
• Remember when politicians would chair public meetings to discuss the subjects on the minds of their constituents, I don’t.
• The Pro-Life crowd, all willing to sacrifice their living children for those not yet born
• The Pro-Abortion (oops, Pro-Choice) activists, defenders of the right to enthusiastically recommend the termination of life.
• The Pro-Green troops, willing to destroy anything that appears to be a symbol of earth’s destruction.
• The Pro-Industrialist (oops, Capitalists) who believe they can actually take from all the planet has to offer without some future consequence.

Speech to voters

American politics is full of extremes, we no longer embrace the more peaceful center which provided a place for everyone to speak their mind.  I come from a conservative background, don’t be hating!  Our kind? We lament the passing of wholesome, religious-centric views, we believe our legacy is one of “right choices” that are the very foundation of the success of our country.  Our self-righteous view willingly believes these illusions

We believe ourselves to be accepting, in Christ-like fashion of people in any condition they find themselves.  Yet, and this is a big “yet”, it took the 60′s to break loose the broader inclusion of our citizens from historically fringe positions.

Curious that a secular movement was needed to really move forward the Christ-like ideal of loving people for who they are first, then discussing how to best fulfill our country’s destiny of being a place of true freedom second.

So here we are some 40 years after that “Inclusion Revolution”, and we’re still struggling with many of the same issues.  The issues are not truly the same, they have evolved, most getting clouded in misdirection from the politicians and the special interest groups.

We’re fully gripped with the mid-term election process.  The Democrats are struggling to provide reasons why voters should send any of them back to government (both state and federal of course) while Republicans have been trying every way possible to hitch their wagon to the populous “Tea Party” movement in an attempt to clean up a sullied, albeit recent, past of spending like drunken sailors.

The most dangerous kind of voter is the “Single Issue” voter.  These are the folks who willingly cast aside sound judgment for their own self-center cause. 

 Single issue voters give us Presidents like Jimmy Carter who easily won the formitable Christian block of voters with his folksie, outspoken views on faith during his election.  They gave us a second Bill Clinton term too.  Clinton, a President that managed to survive impeachement over a sexual encounter that would have cost any other corporate leader his job and bank account.  The women’s movement went to work dismembering years of national retraining regarding sexual harrassment in the workplace to keep their guy (or better, the guy married to Hillary) in office.  Let’s not forget the second Bush election, all made possible by single issue voter’s believing that without him in office the country would be lost to terrorists.

Forget our Presidential election mistakes, how about all of the Senators and Congressmen we sent back merely because they were in “our party”.  Officials caught lying about military records for example, somehow being returned to office for no other reason than their party needed them to “keep the majority” grip on Congress. 

When candidates get sent the message that their opportunistic “extremes” won’t win them elections, I think America will be governed better.  The best way to halt this is to voter against incumbents!

We have a plan, it’s a good one, you should consider it. Just read the About page at “VotersAgainstIncumbents.org” and you’ll see how simple and rational this strategy is.

The Magnificent Eagle

I recall during the 2004 election season that many well known Hollywood types would offer sound bites expressing fear, even panic, at the thought of another four years with Bush in the White House. Many declared they’d move out of the country for fear of losing their privacy to the Right Wing Wackos, authors of the Patriot Act.  In 2008, the same garbage was spewed by “the other side” when the thought of living under the liberal tyranny of an Obama administration loomed.  No one has left the country of course, it was all grand standing. Too bad, I don’t think it would be so bad for many of the extremist on both sides of the aisle to depart our borders.  I’m not alone in this thinking either.

We ought never be characterize ourselves as lofty, magnificent creatures like eagles or bears or lions;

No, we are best understood as FROGS!

Just the "body count" details

Toss a frog into hot water and it makes a hasty retreat to cooler places, it instinctively knows you only get boiled if you are on the dinner menu.  Place a frog in a nice cool pot and it’s as happy as any amphibian could ever be, however (and this is a big ‘however’), slowly increase the temperature to the boiling point and the frog will not move to free itself. It would appear that frogs only object to the suddenness of being cooked. Hence, cooking us all over a long period of time and we’re not particularly alarmed.  I think I taste best with lots of spices.

I was sent a link to a YouTube video about the 2010 Census.  It’s a bid disturbing, frankly speaking. Over the past 234 years we’ve been “slow cooked” by an expanding government with a voracious appetite.  This water is feeling a bit to warm to me.

Fast Tube by Casper

I make no secret of the fact I am disenchanted with what has become of our political scene, even to the point of starting this website as a platform to express my angst.  It’s appropriately called Voters Against Incumbents.  I’m not so sure the 2010 Census folks will be happy with me when I turn them away with only the “body count” details of those in my home.  I think that is protected and authorized in our constitution.  The thought that being compelled to disclose more is frightening.  For those of you who truly know me, you know when I say that even under a Republican controlled government I’d be equally afraid, you know I’m being straight and honest. IS NO ONE GUARDING THE HEN HOUSE IN OUR GOVERNMENT?

If I must be a frog, then I am choosing to only remain in the water for brief periods. This way, when I MUST be in the water I’ll know if I’m on the dinner menu.

Thanks for reading AND watching this far.

Clowns to the left...

Ever get a song in your head, then you can’t get it out?  I have days like that.  One morning I can recall waking up and out of nowhere I started singing a variation of The Birthday Song. An obscure version that most have never heard and this sorry piece of lyric writing commands my attention for the better part of the morning.  I even passed the “curse” on to a few others.

So, the other day I’m watching the news and pondering my navel when I turn to my wife start singing the lyrics from the Stealers Wheel song “Stuck in the Middle with You.”

Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you

This morning I am reminded of that song once again.  I work from home, often finding myself, legs up on the coffee table, reclined on the chesterfield (that’s for my Canadian family), laptop whirling away as I program, with the national news on the television.  The mind is an amazing thing, I can be head-down writing code and I hear something totally outrageous being reported oinly to have it jerk me out of my programming moment to listen more intently.  This day was such a day.

It’s no secret that I am “done” with insider politics, today’s news beckons a national voter response.

Clowns to the left of me

Rangel and Nixon... hmmm

My lead nominee for “poster child” of the Voters Against Incumbents movement is Charlie Rangel (D NY).  For those of you who don’t know him, he’s the head of the House Ways and Means Committee.  His position as Chairman is to watch over the writing of our nation’s tax codes and laws.  The precise wording that our tax codes are born with come from this committee or at the very least are approved by them.

Charlie has a long, questionable, and very documentable history of slight-of-hand tax reporting misques of his own. The latest is his failure to report on his taxes that his personal estate and holdings is easily worth double.  He has misrepresented his personal wealth so often that anyone else with the same track record would have been prosecuted as a tax evader long ago.  Congressman Rangel’s exploits have finally come under review by the Congressional Ethics Committee after much publicity from news and crys of “foul, foul” from Republicans.

Today, the clowns on the Ethics Committee determined the honorable chair of the most powerful committee in Congress will keep his chairmanship, and all Democrats came out of a closed door meeting voicing support for him.

Jokers to the right
A bill submitted by Washington State Representative Brian Baird (D) was soundly rejected by the Senate Finance Committee, Chaired by Senator Max Baucus (I), that would have required legislation to be posted on the Internet for a full 72 hours before a vote could take place on the National Healthcare Reform bill.  This isn’t the first time the idea was turn down.  The Democratic controlled committee defeat the previous effort 12-11.  Mad Max and My Way Harry are on record as saying, they’d have nothing to do with letting Americans have unfettered access to the details of the bill by posting it on the Internet. It would seem that not only do our representative NOT read some of the most important bills before them, but Congress doesn’t want you and I to read them either.

Max Baucus with Harry Reid... Harry show his distain

Stuck in the Middle with You
Here we are, once again, looking at the clowns and jokers and wondering why they are still in office.  I have found one thing to be true as I educate people about the condition of our government, when those of us STUCK IN THE MIDDLE learn what is really happening we are ready to VOTE AGAINST INCUBMENTS.