November 28, 2007
by Mary MacElveen
It was reported recently that thousands of employees lost their jobs at Chrysler. This is just one more example of this government's ineffectiveness at handling the economy.
Now we have the town of Orme, Tennessee going without water. At night you have the town mayor, Tony Reames opening up a valve so that the folks of this town can have three hours of water. It is their time to do the laundry, the dishes and hopefully squeeze in a shower before he is forced to turn it off.
According to the AP, "The mighty waterfall that fed the mountain hamlet has been reduced to a trickle, and now the creek running through the center of town is dry." Yet one does not sense any urgency coming from congress to deal with the drought situation gripping the South East. Droughts like hurricanes and fires have a devastating affect as well. They affect the lives of human beings. Those living in this area of the country seized by this drought are forced to live with these restrictions. It also affects the commerce of this area as planted fields dry up yielding little. One can only pray for those farmers seeing their crops destroyed.
While Americans are facing foreclosures which some estimate to be over 2 million, again, where is the sense of urgency coming from congress and let us not leave out the Bush administration to deal with this emergency?
At the closing bell on a recent Friday and as reported by Bloomberg News, the price of oil per barrel closed at $95.93. It is reaching that magic number of $100 per barrel and yet where is this government to handle this? With winter upon us many middle class Americans will feel this bite into their budgets as they try and heat their homes. My suggestion: Instead of buying children tainted toys made in China, buy them sweaters, socks and slippers made in the United States for Christmas.
As you will see, I hyperlinked some web sites that are selling American made products and by the way, those socks are crazy and wild. The kids will love them. Also those sweaters are handmade and one has got to love the cute toddlers they chose to model them. It may bring back Christmas to what it was supposed to be. Before our addiction to gadgets we exchanged simpler gifts. Besides in choosing American made products we are helping our fellow citizens.
With China showing little regard for the safety of our fellow citizens, let us reciprocate in kind.
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You may be asking why I am bringing these hardships up. Well I do receive the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) email alerts and now I know what our congress has been working on. Nope, it is not cutting off the funds to this blasted war. I wish it was though.
According to the CBO report (pdf) you will be shocked to read at how your congress has been working so hard for you the American tax payer.
"H.R. 3712, a bill to designate the United States courthouse located at 1716 Spielbusch Avenue in Toledo, Ohio, as the "James M. Ashley and Thomas W.L. Ashley United States Courthouse"; and H.R. 3315, a bill to provide that the great hall of the Capitol Visitor Center shall be known as "Emancipation Hall." Gee, and we pay these congress members why?
While the CBO reports, "these bills would have no significant impact on the federal budget and would not affect direct spending or revenues." You would think they would be working on something far more important. It would be a sight to see in which a farmer whose crops have dried up confronting one of these congress members responsible for these bills. I think I would pay to see that one.
Then we have the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007 (pdf) also known as H.R. 900 which according to the CBO, "H.R. 900 would require Puerto Rico to conduct a plebiscite (a direct vote where an electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal) by the end of 2009 on whether the island should retain its current relationship with the United States or pursue a permanent non-territorial status." It may be important to the island of Puerto Rico, but seriously how important is it to the continental United States when Americans are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet?
In the past when I used to campaign for various candidates no matter what party, I used to tell them to take their tax bills, utility bills and increased mortgage payments into the voting booths and vote accordingly. It only serves as a reminder to them as they vote for their respective candidates.
I for one have had my belly full of these politicians.
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Mary MacElveen [send her email] is a freelance writer who maintains a blog at http://www.marymacelveen.com. She has been published by many other websites, and has been a guest on the Jay Diamond Radio Show on WRKO in Boston and has also appeared on CNN. She has done numerous web broadcasts for sites such as RadioLeft.com, TVNewsLies.org and FranklySpeakingRadio.com.
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