This Picture Is Worth $700 Billion!

Yes it was but look at the elation on the faces of these Democrats!

Bush will be gone in 3 1/2 months but we are stuck with these losers!

The key features of the plan:

Subsidy to a bow and arrow manufacturer

Expanded mental health funding

Rail expansion for California

Money for the Puerto Rican Rum Lobby

And everyone is complaining about the "Bridge To Nowhere"

This bill illustrates how the government works and it is there in all of it's glory for all of us to see. Pretty UGLY, huh?

Our Republic is in shambles but ALL of our issues are not related to Bush.

It is time for term limits and time to get fresh blood and representatives in Congress who are not beholden to special interests.

Yes, it appears as if Judd Gregg is complicit in this sham and is one of "them".

THIS ELECTION IS ABOUT "US"-Those who want limited government and government out of out lives.

AGAINST "THEM"-Those who think that people can't do it without government and government should intrude on our lives and be the great equalizer.

To me anyway, the choice is clear!

Getting a little divisive here Bill?  Setting term limits is the government telling the voters "You do not have the right to choose who you want to represent you."  If I think someone is doing a good job, I want the right to vote for them.  Period.  I don't need the government telling me I can't vote for who I choose because they have too much experience.  Sounds kind of Communist to me.

I am not thrilled with the bailout either, believe me.  My representative voted against it.  But, as much as I dislike (and usually make fun of) Judd Gregg, I am willing to give him credit for trying his best not to make a very bad situation worse.  I still will probably never vote for him.  I don't know the answer to this mess.  In the future, hopefully this will be a lesson to us all.

Bill, if you truly believe you can make it in the world with no help from anyone, you may be in for disappointment.  What if your paycheck bounced?  What if, after paying for insurance all these years, your insurance refused to pay your hospital bills?  You might need someone to enforce the laws.  What if a family member of yours needed nursing home care, and you had to pay $10,000 a month for care?  How long could that person last without government assistance?  Or if you had a family member born with disabilities, how long could you provide without help? 

 I am one of the most independent people I know, and I am willing to admit I am not an island.  There is no us versus them, you are not that different from me.

I'm sorry Dave, spin is far more important than facts.

The mission is far to important to be truested to facts.

Good bye Dave.

HAL

Bottom line-these representatives go to Washington and gather all of this power and stay there for their entire lives.  Take poor Ted Kennedy.  Every election about 40% of the population votes against him.  I have friends who have had to live with his politics for over 35 years, since they had the opportunity to vote.  He is so ingrained in politics and unions and special interest groups that he represents a sliver of the population.  

People in Massachusetts (many of them) have the attitude that my father was a Democat, my grandfather was a Democat, I am Italian, I am Irish, etc.  that they just keep voting in the same politicians.  Charles Rangel is another one who recently broke IRS laws among other things.  The list is too long to mention.  They need to step aside out of decency and give others a chance.....it was NEVER meant to be a career by our forefathers.

Next, getting help.  Yes, we all need assistance at some time in our lives but a cradle to grave society founded on safety nets and special programs to meet any hardship is Socialism, plain and simple.  Look at Obama's health care plan or even Hillary's.  They would cost twice as much as this bailout EVERY YEAR.  So if the bailout is costing every taxpayer $159,000 as the news reports say, universal health care would put each houshold in the hole $318,000 each year.

Look it is not about helping people it is about creating dependency on government and how progressives feel that government needs to control everyone's life and destiny and make things "fair".  Life is not fair and I for one do not want government bureaucrats (those who would fail in the private sector) determining my health care and whether I was going to live or die.

The "us" vesus "them" is those who want to live in a self reliant, self determined way and those who want government to take care of things for us and tell us what to do.

Which one are you, Barb? 

But, if no one likes Ted Kennedy, who keeps voting for him?  I don't like Judd Gregg, but a lot of people do, I have learned to live with it.  Why do others have to have their way all the time? 

Yes, my parents were/are Democrats.  Their parents were.  My grandmother actually protested Reagan on when he refused to increase social security benefits repeatedly.  She and her husband worked all their lives, raised a family, they were not cradle to grave recipients.  The reason we need safety nets, like social security, is because what is the alternative?  If investing for old age becomes soley up to the individual, what becomes of the sick, the elderly, the disabled if they can't take care of themselves?  Do you kick them to the curb, and step over them when they die?  Of course not, you wouldn't want that either. 

The majority of Medicaid money goes to nursing homes.  Who's taking advantage, no one wants to be there.  Yes, there are abuses on welfare and social programs, just as there are abuses on Wall Street, but somehow I feel worse for some poor idiot who thinks of welfare as a decent way of life (it's not all big screen TV's and the good life, believe me), than I think of a billionaire who thinks conning people out of their money is.  We can no more stop helping those who need it because of a few thieves then we can end private industry because there are a few con artists. 

 We can, as a state and a nation, spend our money smarter instead of blanket "No handouts, no bailouts."  You are already paying for everyone's medical services.  When people can't pay their bill, they go without preventative care, when they get sick and they have to be treated, it is more expensive.  And they still can't pay, so the costs go into the provider's rates, which you pay, by higher premiums on your insurance.  Because the provider and the insurance company aren't going to eat the cost.  Spend smarter. 

As long as we keep refusing to fix things, we get nowhere.   

You think that government is the answer.  Government is comprised of single tasking bureaucrats who are generally appointed by partisans.  You want them deciding anything?

You complain about Medicare?  Why do you think it is so screwed up?  The answer is government.

We need successful small businessmen and businesswomen to show government how to manage and about fiscal responsibility.  No, not the magnates on Wall Street but people who have success records and principles.

Look at immigration.  Instead of managing the issue, government has let it go.  Now they even have people recruiting for seasonal work, etc.  They are nothing more than high paid enablers of the problem....employed by the government.

Government workers are 40 hour employees and after lunch it works out to be about 35 hours,  That is why they are inefficient.  What can one get done in 35 hours?  NOTHING.  My job takes about 65 hours per week and I multi-task all day long.

Get that kind of effort out of a government or GOD FORBID, a state employee.  Government is not the answer.

A litmus test should be given to any individual before we offer assistance.  Once you allow the government to get into the mix on health care, there is no turning back and it will be rationed with long, extremely long waiting times.  England 9-12 months for a breast biopsy, Canad 8 months for the same, rheumatoid arthiritis medicine not allowed in Great Britain.  In France, by-pass surgery denied to citizens over 70.  With a bypass they might have 15 years left.  What is a life worth?

If you socialize medicine, it will only benefit those who do not have it now while reducing the quality for those who presently have it. 

Who votes for Kennedy?  Unions, minorities, Boston residents and the super wealthy liberals who, no matter what, a tax increase will not put a dent in their Nantucket lifestyle.

No one wants to kick anyone to the curb.  We do have so many "victim' groups in American today placing blame on everyone else.  It is sickening.  The choices one makes NEVER gets mentioned.  We all screw up but how many chances do we give to chronic 'victims'? 

More neocon talking points, Bill.  Don't you get tired of spewing this stuff?  I'd rather have a career government bureaucrat making decisions than an insurance adjuster whose annual bonus is based on how many things he can deny.  Duh.

Yes Michael,

I bet you do want a government hack to depend on.  That seems to be your style.

You want a Nanny and to be taken care of, without personal responsibility for your own emotional and moral choices.

Blah, Blah, Blah, indeed! 

Judgmental are you much eh Bill?

The bomb thrower is back, more name calling and labeling from a blogger who is long on insults and short on facts. Don't worry Michael it appears that the dogs you run with might soon be having their day. The government will soon own all our mortgages, our retirement accounts and yes even our health care. If past is prologue they will demonstrate the same care and compassion as the IRS or the Indian Affairs Bureau.

The wishes are always sweeter, before they come true. I wonder will you be intellectually honest when it all come tumbling down and admit the government can't do it all or will you find some conservative to blame then? Never mind I already know the answer to that one.

Scott

I don't think Government is the complete answer.  But private industry can't do it all either, look at what has happened.  Someone has to make laws, the greed of the human race will always eventually take over. 

And actually, I'm not complaining about Medicare.  It is better than nothing, but to say it could not be improved is blind talk. 

Where do you think Wall Street came from?  At one time, way back,  it was "successful small businessmen and businesswomen...... people who have success records and principles."  It just became corrupt over the years.  Any government, from 2000 years ago, has always had corruption, and it always will.  All we can do is minimize the damage.  And I'm sorry, I do see many hardworking state employees, who care about their jobs and do their best.  Just because you close your eyes doesn't mean they aren't there.  Often, they are not the ones you see leading the show.

 As for who votes for Kennedy?  "Unions, minorities, Boston residents and the super wealthy liberals" are people, too and are entitled to choose their representatives, which is not really our business, we are in NH.  We shouldn't be allowed control over who Massachusetts people vote for. 

 "We all screw up but how many chances do we give to chronic 'victims'?"  I am the first person to say take responsibility for your actions, and I, too get very angry when I see people taking advantage of the system.  I remember when my kids were younger and I was alone, and had day care to pay, etc.  Things were rough for years, just part of life.  I made too much for earned income credit, which is fine, I never liked the program anyway.  But, if I had two kids and a spouse who "wanted to stay home and raise our children," I could have had it.  But, instead I was paying for people who chose not to work, with my piddly little amount of taxes I paid.  That's wrong.  But, no one chooses to be born disabled, no one chooses to be old and unhealthy, and no one chooses to come home from a war injured.  These people need, and should get our help, whether they "deserve" it or not.   And no matter how little I've had, there were always those who had less.

 So why, even though I keep pointing out all the places we agree, do you have to keep finding the places we don't? 

Look who is talking, Michael.

  Scott, he never went away, he has been hiding in the bushes, waiting for the attack.  But, Michael is a good person, just mis-guided.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt if you say so. But actions speak with so much more authority then words.

That is the progressive strategy; no matter what, 'speak truth to falsehood and make sure that it sounds realistic'.

They are a sorry bunch who are interested in winning at any cost.  Get ready for retribution around every corner if they win.  They are not tolerant of anyone but those with their own belief.