...and we have a new 790 billion dollar stimulus package.

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Watching the members of congress grilling the bankers was fascinating. These guys are real noble bastards. Yup.
Can someone tell me why these questions didn't come up before any TARP money was given to them?


Then next we get to Bernie Madoff (and I suspect numerous others like him we'll find out about as we go on).
These scandals are going to make Enron look like chicken feed.
Bernie's wife apparently withdrew 15 million dollars before he was "arrested" (ten million days before).
A whistle blower named Harry Markopolos tried to turn in Madoff to the SEC and offered to help catch him years before this broke, but he was ignored. Apparently Bernie had a protective bubble that covered extreme corruption.
Wall Street is only about money, money and getting more money.

It's obviously not the American worker or borrower that caused this mess, it really is the fat cats.
Insurance companies, banks, major corporations are not there for our health and happiness, they are there to own, work and take advantage of us.
Oh, crap I sound somewhat Marxist. Damn it. Sorry about that... not really.

Speaking of... Today's Sarah Palin's birthday, not a National Holiday (at least not yet). She shudders and moves on.

So today we have a 790 billion dollar stimulus package. I hope it lends a hand to the real everyday people out there, the ones who need some help.

I hope it's worth every single dollar: It won't be, but baby I still can dream.

G'night,
Have to catch up on computer work tomorrow.

Laura

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Reasonably disgusted with congress... but what else is new.

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I absolutely hate to be right when it's something that I was hoping I was just too cynical about and was really wrong...
But- So much for the bipartisianship. No, I didn't think in a million years it would happen but I figured I could hope anyway.


Rush Limbaugh hopes Obama fails because he disagrees with his policies...
Sarah Palin is drooling at the chance to have the repubs run her in 2012.
Everyone's got their motives and designs, no one wants to cooperate and make things work.

More of the same old shit.

Why?
Because they can?
Because they're ALL children? Obnoxious children that MUST get their own way or no way at all.

Don't they believe there's a real economic disaster on the horizon?

At this point I'd rather they gave everyone money to pay off existing debt then play this game. Hey, show me the money!

I'm sick of it. Both parties do it. Obama has really tried and a few weeks in and nothing but criticism.
Golly gee, if only we could vote for the economic stimulus... we would, but of course we can't because we just don't like it.
So the repubs say nay and the dems vote it in so if something goes wrong then the republicans will harp on it for 2012 starting, well, right about now I'd say.
Limbaugh is at least honest this time, I'm pretty sure he and many others would like to see Obama fail.
Because it's not the country that comes first with them... it's saying outrageous things to keep people listening to them.
Money, money, money. That's what it's really about. if suddenly they became reasonable no one would listen.

Our elected officials can't even agree on extending the digital signal for the tv... nope, because damn that's really important.

Fine. Interesting situation we find ourselves in. What exactly are we (the working class backbone of this country) supposed to do? Sigh. Patience dear Laura, they know what's best for us, right? Um, right?

Obviously if it was left to the republicans and they had the majority, NOTHING would be getting done just for spite.
So I guess the majority of people that voted Obama in don't count for anything.

I'm feeling really, really frustrated and angry.

Or as Stealers Wheel put it:

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you. the working class.
everybody struggling to get through.

Yay.

G'night

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Tomorrow!!! Finally it's tomorrow!!! Inauguration Day is finally here.

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G'bye George Bush not sorry to see you go.
Hello President Barack Obama, very happy to see you and good luck with the mess we're in.

Did catch up with all the news I missed yesterday due to my playing in the snow!
I'm heartened by the changing of the guard as are most of us who are really hopeful that President Obama will be better prepared to work with the war in Iraq and our economy. I think it's going to be tough.

They keep talking about Obama's 89% approval rate and how 79% of the people just "like" him and feel he'll be a good president.
The thing that keeps bothering me about these stats (aside from the fact that I took a lot of statistics courses and realize how sketchy they can be) is that there were quite a lot of people attending McCain/Palin rallies that seemed very unhappy with Obama and even a bit scared and angry about him. Where did these people all go off to and are they actually in the count?

Didn't get that much out of the Rhom Emanuel interview (NBC) or David Axlerod's (ABC) as far as what the state of the union might actually be or if the stimulus package will truly fix things. Rather anxious about the amount of spending we don't have. Isn't that what got us all into this mess in the first place? The interviews only brought more questions into my mind.
I want to be supportive and get behind fixing the future, but I'm a bit unsure about what will end up in the plan. I know Obama says there won't be any unnecessary pork but I'm having trouble believing it. How much will creating jobs cost and what kind of jobs will they be? Construction won't work for many that need jobs... what other jobs are we talking about?

What projects will be funded? I suppose if I trusted our elected officials (and it's really hard to do that these days) I'd feel that we'd have an efficient stimulus package. Lean and mean. The problem is that I think congress can't get out of it's own way for the most part. I do believe we have a short window of effectiveness for all this though. What to do, what to do...

I wonder if Palin is sitting in Alaska hoping Obama fails and the republicans will run her to come in and F things up further save the day. Nasty old media made this whole economic mess up to thwart their economic plans, wait, McCain/Palin didn't seem to have one did they?

Please put Bernie Madoff in jail along with anyone else like him. Are his assets frozen like mine would've been? I hope so.
Weasel of the worst kind and he doesn't even get it.

*******
Okay so I'm going to stop being worried, tomorrow is the start of the Barack Obama presidency and I along with the majority of this fine country will be watching it on the tv, computer and enjoying the start of a new administration.

Went out and took some nice snowy photos today I'll post them after President Elect Barack Obama IS President Barack Obama. Sounds good to me!

G'night,

Laura
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Twenty-four days left of Prince George and his band of not so merry men...

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Good God, I'm starting to think that our country is run by a bunch of selfish, angry, incredibly dumb and totally spoiled children...
What is it that has me bothered now?
The cd "parody" that Chip Saltsman (who's jockying to to lead the Republican party) sent RNC members titled "We Hate the USA" which was some kind of ill advised Christmas gift.

One of the songs on this wonderful cd was sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon.
Except that it was titled "Barack the Magic Negro." Amazing. Doubtful that Peter, Paul and Mary liked that infringement.

Great now they think they not only have to remain politically incorrect but they have to be bleepin' lousy comedians too?
Oh, I'm sorry it was only intended as a joke...
Yea. A disrespectful shot at the first black President who hasn't even yet taken the oath of office?
Talk about poor taste... The Chipster apparently didn't get the memo the RNC surely must have sent out about not being seen as racist or doing anything stupid at Christmas time. Remember Jesus the uniter not the divider?

So Saltsman has come out of the closet officially... as... stupid and tacky? Yup.
Ya'll want to have a beer with the Chipster, Cheney, Bush, McCain and Palin? Don't forget to invite Joe the, um, Plumber.
The song was heard last year on the Rush Limbaugh show, and though he was criticized for playing it, nothing happened to Mr."do as I say and not as I do" Limbaugh. So Don Imus had to go and Limbaugh stayed? Not even the obligatory firing and then rehiring? How disappointing.

Which brings me to this thought: Why isn't being called "Joe Six Pack" offensive to people?
What exactly is being implied by that label anyway?
Was I a soccer mom because I ferried my kids around? I'm pretty sure I was atypical and definitely didn't adopt a sports team.
I seriously hate stereotypes they're so damned limiting especially when you start living according to them.

Our political system has me so frustrated, it would be laughable perhaps if it wasn't my country flailing around instead of working together. I hope Obama is right and it is still possible to get things done because congress is a joke no matter who's in the majority.

The education of our people isn't even a prime concern anymore... I've listened to a procession of presidents now that stated that they would be the one that would put education first and fix our public school system. Yeah. Right.
Affordable college... Uh, huh. Universal standards for teachers. That's funny.

We're reaping what we've sowed these days and totally unprepared for hard times, so hope they don't come.
Scam artists rampant in the system like Madoff, officials ignoring warnings deliberately, economy going to hell in a hand basket but hey, everything's fine Joe six pack, jus' have another beer... We're watching out for you.

*********************

So this is christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very Merry christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

John Lennon (Oct 1940-Dec 1980)
Still think of John at Christmas.

Politics as usual gives me a headache these days
Like the saying:
If you're not outraged
You're not paying attention.

G'night,
Sorry I'm so, err, grumpy.

Laura

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Twenty-one days (gasp) to E-Day... so close and yet so far.

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Just got back from NYC.
If you get the chance go see Lewis Black in person definitely go!
He's pretty damn funny.
I also recommend the "Black on Broadway" dvd.
Unless you don't like swearing then he'd drive you nuckin futs.
Gorgeous evening in the city, just perfect.

So today I heard the stock market closed down a bit.
Rather volatile market place these days.
Also heard congress has a 12% approval rate...
So much for our leaders and representatives.

So Palin interviewed with Limbaugh, now there's a surprise.
And she's too busy to answer any questions from reporters at her rallies.
What a joke.

Tomorrow will be the debate, we'll see how it goes.
It at least has the best chance of enlightening us to the workings of McCain's mind at this point.
I've lost track of where he's been versus where he's going, it keeps changing.

Could it be that they actually get asked some hard and difficult questions?
Could it be they might actually answer them?

Goodnight,
Stay calm and collected if possible.
Be back after the debate!

Laura

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