The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, is moving ahead with plans to charge U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder with "contempt of Congress", for his refusal to cooperate in the Congressional investigation into the horribly mismanaged, criminally botched, gun-running program the Justice Department was running on the Mexican border.
That's what the papers are reporting.
But hey, if you want to charge someone with "contempt of Congress," then you're going to have to charge me too. The archives of Zyzmog Galactic Headquarters show just how much contempt I have for the currently seated Congress of the United States.
In fact, if the honorable Speaker is going to charge me and AG Holder with contempt, he might have to charge 240 million other Americans with the same offense. According to the latest polls, between 75 and 79 of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job right now, and it would be fair to say that most, if not all, of those 75 to 79 percent have nothing but contempt for today's U.S. Congress.
Here is a measure of our contempt:
Dear Senators and Representatives: have you stopped being idiots yet? How's that budget coming? How about that tax code rewrite? Social Security reform? Have you stopped messing with our schools? Have you stopped catering to the banks, the insurance firms and the other too-big-to-fail companies that do more favors for you than we, the average Americans, can do for you?
Are you still blindly voting the party line? Are you still spending money that isn't yours to spend? Are you still voting to give to the military, things that the military has said they don't want, and don't need? Are you still filling the pork barrel for your state, for your constituency, even to the point of making "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" deals with your colleagues who have their own pork barrels to fill?
Have you rewritten things so that your families and fortunes are subject to the same challenges and difficulties as the rest of America, or are you and yours still exempt from so many of the rules and regulations the rest of us have to live under?
Are you still quietly voting yourselves pay raises or other emoluments that the rest of us cannot get? Especially those of us who are still without a job, even though we voted to send you to Washington?
Do you feel even the slightest twinge of guilt after reading this, or do you instead feel as much contempt for the American people as they feel for you?
Showing posts with label pork barrel politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pork barrel politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Dear Congressman: Grow up, already
To all the members of the Congress of the United States:
You haven't learned a single thing.
The compromise upon which you settled, in order to bring an end to the debt-limit crisis and avert a larger crisis, was admirable. We must give you credit for that. But the acrimony, the stubbornness, and the brinksmanship which preceded the compromise were deplorable and childish.
Or, in more common language, your behavior sucks. Your attitude sucks. You're acting like a bunch of little babies. If I were a private businessman, I would never hire someone like you to work for me. If I did, you would alienate all of my customers. My suppliers would refuse to do business with me, and my best employees would resign, all because of you. You would ruin my business.
Immediately after the compromise became law, you ran out of town en masse for your summer break - leaving undone all sorts of important tasks that had been repeatedly deferred because of your STUPID arguing over the debt limit. The most visible of these undone tasks was the FAA funding bill that needed closure, in order to pay air traffic controllers, repair many of the nation's runways, and generally keep air travel safe.
Once again, if you were a salaried employee at my business, I would fire you for such immature behavior. Even teenage burger flippers are more responsible than that. And we pay you, as senators and representatives, to get the important stuff done, not to punch a time clock. Hourly employees punch the time clock; salaried employees stay until the job is done. Do you not understand that?
If you don't understand that, then you've lived in Washington for too long. It's time for you to come home permanently, and not just for the summer.
Now, traditionally, on summer break, you meet with your constituents back home. This year, many of you are breaking with tradition and hiding from your constituents. The number of so-called "town hall" meetings you are holding has been sharply curtailed, and many of these meetings have been replaced with invitation-only events, or events which carry an admission charge, or carefully scripted and fiercely moderated Internet events. These events allow you (or your handlers) to control who has access to you, and what they're allowed to say to you.
In a way, I can understand the change. On CNN and other television news outlets, we've seen video of town hall meetings and other face-to-face events in 2011, which have been hijacked by organized groups and used to promote their own narrow agendas. Don't worry about those people. Let them hijack the events. The rest of us won't put up with it for long, and we'll use the power of We The People to shut down those disruptors. But for you to attempt to hide from your constituents, and to surround yourselves with fans and sycophants, is cowardly and immature. When we elected you, we thought you had more courage than that.
We can still vote you out of office. And believe me, we will. I'm surprised that none of you have faced a recall vote yet - my guess is that the inertia of the American voter is temporarily saving some of your hides. But in November 2012, We The People will definitely make our voices heard.
And don't tell us you didn't see it coming.
You haven't learned a single thing.
The compromise upon which you settled, in order to bring an end to the debt-limit crisis and avert a larger crisis, was admirable. We must give you credit for that. But the acrimony, the stubbornness, and the brinksmanship which preceded the compromise were deplorable and childish.
Or, in more common language, your behavior sucks. Your attitude sucks. You're acting like a bunch of little babies. If I were a private businessman, I would never hire someone like you to work for me. If I did, you would alienate all of my customers. My suppliers would refuse to do business with me, and my best employees would resign, all because of you. You would ruin my business.
Immediately after the compromise became law, you ran out of town en masse for your summer break - leaving undone all sorts of important tasks that had been repeatedly deferred because of your STUPID arguing over the debt limit. The most visible of these undone tasks was the FAA funding bill that needed closure, in order to pay air traffic controllers, repair many of the nation's runways, and generally keep air travel safe.
Once again, if you were a salaried employee at my business, I would fire you for such immature behavior. Even teenage burger flippers are more responsible than that. And we pay you, as senators and representatives, to get the important stuff done, not to punch a time clock. Hourly employees punch the time clock; salaried employees stay until the job is done. Do you not understand that?
If you don't understand that, then you've lived in Washington for too long. It's time for you to come home permanently, and not just for the summer.
Now, traditionally, on summer break, you meet with your constituents back home. This year, many of you are breaking with tradition and hiding from your constituents. The number of so-called "town hall" meetings you are holding has been sharply curtailed, and many of these meetings have been replaced with invitation-only events, or events which carry an admission charge, or carefully scripted and fiercely moderated Internet events. These events allow you (or your handlers) to control who has access to you, and what they're allowed to say to you.
In a way, I can understand the change. On CNN and other television news outlets, we've seen video of town hall meetings and other face-to-face events in 2011, which have been hijacked by organized groups and used to promote their own narrow agendas. Don't worry about those people. Let them hijack the events. The rest of us won't put up with it for long, and we'll use the power of We The People to shut down those disruptors. But for you to attempt to hide from your constituents, and to surround yourselves with fans and sycophants, is cowardly and immature. When we elected you, we thought you had more courage than that.
We can still vote you out of office. And believe me, we will. I'm surprised that none of you have faced a recall vote yet - my guess is that the inertia of the American voter is temporarily saving some of your hides. But in November 2012, We The People will definitely make our voices heard.
And don't tell us you didn't see it coming.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Dear Congressman: you can still be fired, you know
To all of the members of the Congress of the United States:
Remember when I told you, on behalf of millions of fed-up Americans, that if you did not resolve this debt-limit crisis by the deadline, we would fire you? Well, you're not out of the woods yet.
The President and key Congressional leaders have hammered out a compromise solution to the crisis. Nobody is happy with it, but everybody can live with it. Our recommendation, the recommendation of WE THE PEOPLE, is that ALL OF YOU ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES approve the solution. Vote for it. Pass it.
It's a real shame that you had to wait until you heard the rumblings of the granite pillars on Wall Street, as the still-fragile US economy threatened to come crashing down again, before you finally got serious about this. You know, you can give all the speeches and press conferences and interviews that you want; you can talk and talk and talk because that seems to be THE ONLY THING YOU ARE ANY GOOD AT, but all that talk doesn't solve the nation's problems - and frankly, we're tired of hearing you talk.
I listened to an interview with a member of Congress on NPR this morning, and all this politician wanted to do was talk. He didn't want to answer the interviewer's questions, and he didn't want to report on how he was participating in resolving this crisis. He just wanted to talk. He wanted to make sure we all heard his side of the story. I just wanted him to SHUT UP AND GET TO WORK.
And that's why we elected you all in the first place. Shut up, roll up your sleeves, get to work, and fix things. That's what WE THE PEOPLE are doing, and you shouldn't be any different.
Oh, one more thing, in case you missed it: we, the people of the United States, are serious about this. And we're seriously pissed. At you.
Remember when I told you, on behalf of millions of fed-up Americans, that if you did not resolve this debt-limit crisis by the deadline, we would fire you? Well, you're not out of the woods yet.
The President and key Congressional leaders have hammered out a compromise solution to the crisis. Nobody is happy with it, but everybody can live with it. Our recommendation, the recommendation of WE THE PEOPLE, is that ALL OF YOU ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES approve the solution. Vote for it. Pass it.
It's a real shame that you had to wait until you heard the rumblings of the granite pillars on Wall Street, as the still-fragile US economy threatened to come crashing down again, before you finally got serious about this. You know, you can give all the speeches and press conferences and interviews that you want; you can talk and talk and talk because that seems to be THE ONLY THING YOU ARE ANY GOOD AT, but all that talk doesn't solve the nation's problems - and frankly, we're tired of hearing you talk.
I listened to an interview with a member of Congress on NPR this morning, and all this politician wanted to do was talk. He didn't want to answer the interviewer's questions, and he didn't want to report on how he was participating in resolving this crisis. He just wanted to talk. He wanted to make sure we all heard his side of the story. I just wanted him to SHUT UP AND GET TO WORK.
And that's why we elected you all in the first place. Shut up, roll up your sleeves, get to work, and fix things. That's what WE THE PEOPLE are doing, and you shouldn't be any different.
Oh, one more thing, in case you missed it: we, the people of the United States, are serious about this. And we're seriously pissed. At you.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Dear Congressman: get this done, or you're fired
To all of the members of the Congress of the United States:
I will make this simple. I speak for millions of Americans when I say this. Please listen carefully. Your jobs depend on it.
We are sick and tired of watching all the posturing and politicking that is going on in Washington right now. Your playing around with this debt-ceiling issue has to stop. You must put aside your party affiliations and your power-grabbing maneuvering. If you cannot do this one thing - that is, work TOGETHER to resolve this issue - then NONE OF YOU DESERVE TO HOLD your current jobs.
And we, the people, WE WILL FIRE YOU. We will elect a completely new slate of Senators and Representatives, a group who can and will work together for the common good, who know when it is time to set aside their differences and come up with solutions to complex problems, solutions that ultimately will benefit their constituents and the country as a whole.
If you were in private industry, you would have been thrown out on your asses long ago. Private enterprise would never stand for your stubbornness, your grandstanding, your ultimatums and your refusal to cooperate with each other.
Get it?
If you can't do this one thing, then you are a pathetic waste of taxpayer dollars, no matter how many other noble deeds you have done while in office. Ordinary Americans' livelihoods, not to mention the national economy, hang in the balance here, and you're farting around playing politics.
None of us want to hear your excuses. And don't bother blaming it on the other guys. We want deeds, not words. Get it done, or get out of the way so somebody else can get it done.
I will make this simple. I speak for millions of Americans when I say this. Please listen carefully. Your jobs depend on it.
We are sick and tired of watching all the posturing and politicking that is going on in Washington right now. Your playing around with this debt-ceiling issue has to stop. You must put aside your party affiliations and your power-grabbing maneuvering. If you cannot do this one thing - that is, work TOGETHER to resolve this issue - then NONE OF YOU DESERVE TO HOLD your current jobs.
And we, the people, WE WILL FIRE YOU. We will elect a completely new slate of Senators and Representatives, a group who can and will work together for the common good, who know when it is time to set aside their differences and come up with solutions to complex problems, solutions that ultimately will benefit their constituents and the country as a whole.
If you were in private industry, you would have been thrown out on your asses long ago. Private enterprise would never stand for your stubbornness, your grandstanding, your ultimatums and your refusal to cooperate with each other.
Get it?
If you can't do this one thing, then you are a pathetic waste of taxpayer dollars, no matter how many other noble deeds you have done while in office. Ordinary Americans' livelihoods, not to mention the national economy, hang in the balance here, and you're farting around playing politics.
None of us want to hear your excuses. And don't bother blaming it on the other guys. We want deeds, not words. Get it done, or get out of the way so somebody else can get it done.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
I Was Right - But I Wish I Wasn't
In a previous blog entry, concluding my observations on President Obama's inauguration, I warned:
"The way politics in Washington works, the ruling party always becomes the irresponsible party. The gridlock that occurs when the president is of a different political party than the Congressional majority is always unfortunate, but at least it allows the checks and balances system to work the way it's supposed to. Besides, the problems associated with gridlock are nothing compared to the rampant irresponsibility that takes over the legislative branch when the president and the Congressional majority are of the same political party. I fear that the Democratic majority in Congress will now try to get away with as much as they can, as Congress has done in the past."
Well, I was right. I just didn't expect that it would happen so soon. Our elected representatives and senators in Congress have hijacked Obama's economic stimulus legislation and loaded it down with pork. Yes, folks, we're back to business as usual in Congress. And this time it's not the Republicans piling on the pork, but the majority party, the Democrats, just like I said it would be.
In fact, every single Republican in the House voted against the stimulus package, but the Democratic majority was enough to carry it. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Americans are outraged. (Google for "stimulus package pork" and read some of the editorials.) I'm outraged. You should be outraged. Write to your senators and representatives, and tell them just how you feel about it.
"The way politics in Washington works, the ruling party always becomes the irresponsible party. The gridlock that occurs when the president is of a different political party than the Congressional majority is always unfortunate, but at least it allows the checks and balances system to work the way it's supposed to. Besides, the problems associated with gridlock are nothing compared to the rampant irresponsibility that takes over the legislative branch when the president and the Congressional majority are of the same political party. I fear that the Democratic majority in Congress will now try to get away with as much as they can, as Congress has done in the past."
Well, I was right. I just didn't expect that it would happen so soon. Our elected representatives and senators in Congress have hijacked Obama's economic stimulus legislation and loaded it down with pork. Yes, folks, we're back to business as usual in Congress. And this time it's not the Republicans piling on the pork, but the majority party, the Democrats, just like I said it would be.
In fact, every single Republican in the House voted against the stimulus package, but the Democratic majority was enough to carry it. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Americans are outraged. (Google for "stimulus package pork" and read some of the editorials.) I'm outraged. You should be outraged. Write to your senators and representatives, and tell them just how you feel about it.
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