An infuriating missive

I received this in my email tonight...

GovTrack.us Tracked Events Update

This is your email update from www.GovTrack.us. To change your email updates settings, go to your account settings page.

You are currently monitoring: Rep. Holden [D-PA], Sen. Casey [D-PA], Sen. Specter [R-PA], H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Congress will next meet on Feb 23, 2009.
Feb 17, 2009 - Bill Action
Law Enacted: H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
This bill has become law.
(You are seeing this event because you are tracking H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)

"The right of representation in the legislature [is] a right inestimable to [the people], and formidable to tyrants only." --Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Too Punny to Pass Up

Taken from the Bill

I'm just going to copy and paste from the Senate stimulus package and let you see if you think this will create jobs:

• $200,000,000 - Department, other than the Forest Service, for necessary replacement, modernization, or upgrades of laboratories or other facilities to improve workplace safety and mission-area efficiencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary:
• $400,000,000 - farm ownership loans (lots of jobs to be had on farms nowadays!)
• $275,000,000 - Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations
• $65,000,000 - Watershed Rehabilitation Program
• $100,000,000 - National School Lunch Program equipment assistance
• $500,000,000 - SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM FORWOMEN, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN (WIC)

I'm getting tired, and there's 756 pages to go...click on the link and check it out for yourself.

Contact Your Senator

Here's an email reply sent to me by one of my Senators, Arlen Specter.

Dear Mr. Tubbs:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The concerns of my constituents are of great importance to me, and I rely on you and other Pennsylvanians to inform me of your views. I will keep your thoughts on this matter in mind. Thank you again for writing. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website at http://specter.senate.gov.

Sincerely,

Arlen Specter

I know this is a form email...but it's important to communicate with our representatives, and since the direct election of Senators, they have become our reps as well.

So, contact your senators for the vote tomorrow, but only if you agree with me!

Menagerie of Incompetence

The circus on Capitol Hill is alarming...not because of the dancing elephants, braying donkeys or those miniature rinos...it's the clowns...you know, the creepy clowns that are supposed to make you laugh, but you can't see behind all that makeup so, you're just not sure. One thing I know for sure...they're never very comforting.

Does anyone really think that this bill will help what is going on?

Our President today said, "Our nation will sink into a crisis that at some point we may be unable to reverse." This to my mind reveals a hard-line Keynesian economic view that is truly nonsensical.

1. He believes that an Act of Congress will save us from an economic crisis.
2. He believes that we will reach an economic point of no return

Truly, this is obtuse.

First, Reagan understood, and with the help of Congress, helped us recover from the ill-suited (and ideologically similar to our current President) Jimmy Carter. He understood that government is not the solution, but the problem. So, he set about lowering tax rates and getting government out of the way...which inevitably led to a tremendous amount of production by individuals in the free market.

When government tries to help people, it is legal plunder. Federal government is not there to help me...it is there to protect my rights and defend me from foreign invasion.

So, in the case of this travesty of a bill, the dems are not even pretending to put things in there that are stimulus related...it's a power grab, plain and simple. And our President is standing behind his party, come hell or high water...irrespective of the horrendous nature of the bill.

Second, markets have cycles...there's no such thing as a point of no return, unless you're talking about massive government intervention claiming that regulation is needed more than economic freedom. That's still not a point of no return, but it's sure as heck close.

So, the clowns, instead of making us laugh, continue to spout doom and gloom unless "something" (i.e. pork for me and my friends) is done immediately! Oh, and don't listen to Rush.