Day: April 12, 2011

What Is It That Pelosi Did?

I mean besides being a Democrat……..

Mention the name Nancy Pelosi and you will send a conserv into a rage that could be just short of a stroke….she is a socialist….she is a dictator…..she is a liberal….she is too partisan….well hell….you have heard all the diatribes linked to her name……but think about it what did she do?

Besides being a rallying point for the GOP and Tea Party….what did she and her House do while in the majority?  Let me see…..Recovery Act, Obamacare, Wall Street reform, an equal pay act,……..let me see she (Pelosi) and her friends (Dems) passed many bills that became law….but she was demonized for political effect……

I am NOT saying that I agreed with everything the she and the House did….far from it….I believe that they dropped the ball on numerous occasions…….that aside…the House did accomplish lots under her leadership…….

Now fast forward you time machine and let us look at the present Congress…..under the leadership of Boehner what has the House accomplished so far?  Have they created any jobs?  Have they actually tried?  Instead of looking at what can get our country back on track, they (GOP) has concentrated their efforts on NPR, Planned Parenthood, and instead of trying to find a budget compromise they have instead felt that the destruction of social programs is more important….when will the new leadership and the new House start working on bills that mean something?

Granted this Congress has about a year and half before they are a failure….but they are off to a good start…..in the mean time, where are the jobs we were promised by almost every Repub that ran for office in 2010?  Will they actually get to that?  Doubtful!  After the shutdown crap moves on….we will be at the crossroads of another budget debate…this time for 2012.  Will we ever get to the jobs thing?

The House and its GOP members seem to be working on talking about everything but what needs the attention….JOBS!  It seems to me that anytime major issues need to be addressed we resort (by we I mean the Congress) back to emotional issues so we do not have to deal with real problems……let us be real for a moment….the budget?  Everybody is fixated on the planned parenthood thing….and that makes it more an abortion debate than a budget debate…..it is a diversion of thought…once again NO one seems to be serious about this thing…..lots of on camera bluster and cowardly votes after the cameras are turned off….

At least with Pelosi and her gang….we had major problems addressed and yes as always someone tried to turn them into a game and NOT a discussion……Once again…I am not saying that I think they (Dems) did a good job with the laws they passed only that they were at least semi-serious about major issues…..

Some Things Are Not Important!

Daily Agitator

There are many sensational subjects that the media fixates on…education….they report and do nothing else…..energy and push the oil stocks……of course they love the international stuff because they can report minutely on the happenings……they report on all the good news in the markets (good only for the rich)…..and they seem to care not about some things or they touch on it for 30 seconds and spend  10 times that on Charlie Sheen…..I have been an outspoken critic of our media and the reporting standards….if it does not help ratings…it is NOT news…….

But there is a story that seems to fall between the cracks because NO one wants to hear it……that subject is poverty and homelessness…..Debra Watson has written a good piece…quoted here in part…..

In the two years since the onset of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, the number of children living in poverty increased from 14 million to 16 million, the US Census Bureau reports. The US government estimates that 25 percent of children in America will soon be living in poverty.Recently, the National Alliance to End Homelessness reported that between 2008 and 2009 a majority—31 of 50 states and the District of Columbia—had increases in their homeless counts. The nation’s homeless population increased by approximately 20,000 people from 2008 to 2009, a 3 percent increase. There were 656,000 homeless in 2009, up from 636,000 in 2008.

Its new report, State of Homelessness in America, highlights that nearly 4 in 10 homeless were living unsheltered, on the street, in a car, or in another place not intended for human habitation. In Wisconsin, twice as many people experienced homelessness without shelter in 2009 as did in 2008.

Key indicators of housing crisis tracked by the group went through triple-digit increases in vastly disparate locations. In Louisiana, (where Hurricane Katrina and flooding ravaged New Orleans nearly six years ago), the homeless population, sheltered and unsheltered, doubled.

A section of the report looks at the causes of rising homelessness. The fall in wages and other supports at the bottom of the income scale is notable. While real income among all US workers decreased by 1 percent in 2009, poor workers’ income decreased even more, dropping by 2 percent to $9,151. Poor workers in Alaska, the District of Columbia, Maine, and Rhode Island saw their incomes decrease by more than 10 percent.

Homelessness and poverty are growing at an alarming rate and yet NOTHING is being done or even addressed by our elected officials in Washington….as if it does not matter to them…..there is a good possibility that it does NOT matter!

Where is the concern for the poor?  They (Reps) spend an inordinate amount of time fixated (God I love that word) on the plight of business….this society is dying slowly…..and with the help of those we elected to protect us from disaster….the American people are SO SCREWED!