ENOUGH Already!

ENOUGH Already!
Saturday afternoon I was watching different news and business programs. From time to time the past couple of days (including today during a break) I was listening to some talk radio. The majority were talking about the Stimulus Package, how the Republicans have been in charge for the past eight (8) years, Rush Limbaugh, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi traveling in a government jet, and how much “pork” or “earmarks” are in the Omnibus Spending Package.

I believe that everything in life happens for a reason. Case in point, Saturday afternoon at approximately 5:30 PM the power went out at my house. Turns out that it was a transformer on a pole adjacent to my back yard, the power was out for me and three other neighbors. I won’t bore you with all the details, I’ll just say that it took eleven (11) and half hours to restore the power and while pulling the truck out of my yard FPL knocked my satellite dish out of alignment. Like I said everything happens for a reason, and the reason for this was that prior to the power failure I found myself yelling in frustration at my TV (as I watched one of the news programs) ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

I am so sick and tired of hearing about Stimulus Package, how the republicans have been in charge for the past eight (8) years, Rush Limbaugh, and how much “pork” or “earmarks” are in the Omnibus Spending Package. Democratic members of Congress and advisors keep saying that the Republicans have been in charge for the past eight (8) years, counting on the majority of people that have been moved to become involved in the political process aren’t familiar with how Congress and the line of succession works. No the Republicans haven’t been in charge for the past eight years, the president for those years was a Republican. If the Republicans were in charge for all of those years Nancy Pelosi would not have been the Speaker of the House for the past two, Harry Reid would not have been the Majority Leader of the Senate for the past two years.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have been in their leadership roles because the Democrats have had the majority in both houses, they’ve been in charge. The Republicans need to quit criticizing Speaker Pelosi for flying in a government jet instead of the much cheaper commercial airlines. Regardless if you like her or not the Speaker of the House is second in line of succession. After the 9/11 attacks security was increased for the Speaker of the House, realizing that the line of succession needed to be protected in order to ensure that our government could continue to function should the President and Vice President both be incapacitated. If it really bothers you, then change the line of succession back to the Secretary of State being second and the Speaker of the House being fourth like it used to be (I think it was during the 60’s or early 70’s that the succession was changed). If you’re not sure if I’m correct about the Speaker’s position all you have to do is Google Secretary of State Alexander Haig or the attempted assassination of President Regan and see the big “flap” that was raised when Secretary Haig said at a press conference while the president was in surgery that he was in charge (because of the line of succession) until the Vice President returned to the White House.

In case members of Congress hadn’t noticed, the Stimulus Package passed and was signed into law. In other words, it’s over. There were valid arguments, many points raised by the Congressional Budget Office, but it’s over for now. If the Congressional Budget Office is correct and the Stimulus only generates 1.5 or 2 million jobs instead of the 3 to 3.5 that the President says, if it takes 2 to 3 years to actually stimulate the economy instead of the immediate to 1 year, then raise those issues. How about a novel idea; fix the problem. Stop making statements that causes doubt in the stability of our financial system, I am tired of having to grab the bottle of Zantac before reading my latest statement. At this rate I would have done better to take all my severance pay and DROP monies and placed one BIG bet at the tables in Vegas instead of investing the money.

Let me preface this by saying that I regularly listen to Rush Limbaugh’s program. I don’t always agree with him, but he does raise valid points and criticisms, on both the Democrats and Republicans. Rush does generate discussion. Having said that I believe in the grand scheme it was a mistake for the President and his Chief of Staff to continually go after Rush. You are the President, why lower the prestige of the office to attack a private citizen. Unless of course you are also going to attack program hosts on Air America, like Al Franken.

Your continuous comments about Rush are causing people that don’t mind thinking for themselves to research what you claim, and if they continue to find that what you claim doesn’t quite match up with the facts you can lose their support. I went to CSPAN’s web site and watched Rush Limbaugh’s entire speech to CPAC. I thought it was a very good speech; he raised some valid points, and actually praised President Obama’s skills as a speaker. Another negative if you’re not a fan of Rush Limbaugh is that you keep his name in the headlines, which is something that Rush really doesn’t need any help at. The only good thing that has come out of the Rush attacks is that it distracted people from the issue of the “earmarks” in the proposed budget, or the fact that “earmarks” that President Obama either submitted or cosponsored last year as a Senator were being revised to remove his name from them.

If you have problems with the proposed budget/ Omnibus Spending Package, don’t vote for it as is. Try to amend it, or if you are not allowed to amend vote against. And finally, don’t you dare tell me later that you voted for it but didn’t read it. I couldn’t swallow that with the Stimulus Package. How can a congressperson say that they voted for something because it is good for the country and then admit that you didn’t have time to read it.

If Congress wants to save money; how about abolishing the Congressional Budget Office? The CBO reviewed the Stimulus Package, cited some problems, and instead of addressing the issues their report was ignored.

Anyway, like I said, ENOUGH Already!!!! THAT’S MY OPINION, WHAT’S YOURS?