Political Commentary

Thanks to Uncle Steve who sent me this, and thanks to Sharon who motivated me to share!

- - - - -- - - - - - - -

Whether you be a democrat or a republican, these are interesting facts and I sincerely think that it is time that we AMERICANS take back our country from the politicians and make them work for US as they should be doing. Its time that THEY have to live by the rules that they set for US.

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts – of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way. There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.

They and they alone, have the power.

They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

And now my commentary. It took me a while to figure out that this is right. Its not just good reading and its accurate for either party. Part of the problem is that there is too much corruption in office. When the new guys come in, they can't buck the system. One or two, or even 10 guys with morals and ideals can't go in the face and win against all the rest who are taking money and/or using their position to use their power unwisely. So, what can we do? That's the hard part. We actually do need to pay attention and DO something.

We need to know who our senators and representatives are and we need to know what thye are doing. Do you? I don't. Not yet. We need to find out if the people we are electing are doing what WE want them to. If not, we need to vote them out. Yes, we have that power! Find out what they are doing and get rid of them if you are not happy with their results. If every one of the 545 people was replaced, what do you think would happen?

All the change they promise could happen. They would be able to start fresh and ignore the lobbyists and high interest groups. So, no matter what your political affiliation, get on this! Read this commentary again, see if it makes sense to you, and then check out your state government's websites. You don't have to know about all 545 people, just the ones in your state. You can do that! Take advantage of this voting year. This is OUR government. Let's make sure it represents US.

Doldrums

Today was the first day of school. I intended to take lots of pictures, since it was Marian's very first day ever. Unfortunately, I was given a handout that said the bus would arrive at 8:31, which was a dirty, dirty lie. So it arrived as we were walking out the door at 8:25 (and they said he was late!). This means that Joshua and Marian raced to the bus and Marian panicked, thinking they would leave her behind. Not really how I hoped thier first day would go.

And I enrolled Joshua in the Spanish Emmersion Program, so he spends half his day (math and science) in Spanish only. He hated it. I said he had to try it till Christmas. We'll see how it goes, and I'll hope like crazy that his math and science skills don't slip too much.

I spent the day doing absolutely nothing. I let Callie watch PBS and I did nothing. It was great. And then Dan emailed and called. He had really wanted to do this military commissions and be defense for Gitmo detainees, but today he was told they want someone with more trial experience and preferably a higher rank. He is pretty disappointed. I am too. I am glad he will have better hours and less stress, but I know how much he wanted a law billet, and its disappointing. So we went out to dinner. It was to celebrate the kids' first day of school, and ease the pain of Dan's lack of law for the next 2 years.

And I'm feeling glum because I'm not all settled in. The house part is great (except for those last couple boxes....). It feels like home, but nothing else does. And I'm thinking that I don't really like having to make friends. Its such an ordeal, to find people and see if we click; To find people with kids the same ages, who parenting doesn't make me want to scream; To find moms who's kids get along with mine, or who have something in common with me; To find moms who have time and energy and interest in making and maintaining a friendship is pretty tricky, and I'm thinking its not really that much fun. Yet I must make the effort, and perhaps by Sunday I'll be in the mood again. I like making easy friendships, where you click right off the bat. That is fun. Wish me luck.....

Random Things

One of the great things about our house is this tree in front. It is a little tree with lots of branches for the kids to climb on. So far they have managed to not break any off, although I am concerned about that sometimes.

Callie is a good tree climber. She does get stuck the most though. Delaney is trying to be like her sister, but has not managed to get off the ground yet.

Joshua and Marian are pros here. They get high enough I worry about tree-tipping or snapping branches. So far its been okay. Well, except for that little bat in Joshua's hand. We did have to have a discussion about not wacking the branches.

Yesterday while I took Callie to Target with me, Dan took Joshua, Marian and Delaney to Mount Vernon. They had a good time. They spent 3 hours traipsing around the place checking stuff out. Dan said it was worth it to get year passes.

Marian on the wall, with the river in the background. She's a cutie!

Way cute! Joshua and Marian as George and Martha Washington.

Dan said this was Delaney's favorite thing. When you pushed the buttone, it made animal sounds. Delaney loved running around pushing the buttons.

Callie

Callie makes me laugh. She just does the funniest things. On Tuesday I took the kids in for physicals, which is a whole nother story in itself. I'll just say we survived, and leave it at that.

So, as we're in the room, Joshua has his shirt and shoes off while the nice doctor is poking at him. Callie wrinkles up her nose and asks me, "Do you smell something?" I do not. She looks at me again with her wrinkled up nose. "I smell something!" I can't figure out what she's talking about. I can't smell anything unusual. She insists she smells something. I'm frantically wondering if she's pooped in her pants. Nope. I check Delaney's diaper. Nothing. Callie asks me again if I smell something. I say "No, what is it that you smell?"

She giggles and says gleefully, "Joshy's feet!"

We're Tourists, that's Right!

It would be silly not to take advantage of opportunity, so Saturday morning we played tourist. It took us about an hour to get into DC and then we spent several hours walking. We wanted to visit as many of the memorials that we could. No easy task with 4 children 6 and under! They argued a lot about who's turn it was to ride in the stroller. All of them, even Joshua, who is clearly too old to be in a stroller!
Fresh off the metro and just getting started! Yep, I even had the kids all in matching shirts. Way cute... or corny.


We saw the Washington Monument, but didn't go in. The kids wanted to chase the hoards of geese on the lawn, but got over that reeeeaal quick once they realized that where there is that many geese, there is that much poop.

I really enjoyed the WW2 Memorial. I had not seen it before and it was impressive. The kids just liked the fountains. I had a really cute picture of the backs of the older 3 all checking out one of them, but Marian was picking a wedgie and that kinda ruined it. Here I am with the kids before we got into it.

Callie is such a cutie! She was always up for posing for a shot for me!

Well, Marian poses too, it just looks more like posing! And Joshua usually tries to make his awful "Calvin" face. This was one of my favorites, because you can see the Lincoln Memorial in the distance behind them. If you turned and faced the other way, you could see a line to the Washington Mem. Pretty cool.

This was Delaney's mode of transportatin after the first hour. She was content. And then she fell asleep. Dan got quite the workout, carting her extra 25 pounds around.

This is my favorite memorial, and the one that gets me the most emotional. I didn't cry though; Dan would think I was silly. And the kids were a distraction, so I was okay. The kids were pretty good and asked questions, even though I don't think they really got it. Marian wanted to pick up all the things people left at the Wall, and Joshua couldn't understand why people would leave things. It was still a good experience for all of us, I think.

You can see the fence around the Lincoln Memorial here. That's why we didn't attempt going in. Too complicated to get there with tired cranky kids, not to mention the stroller. Joshua took this shot. Isn't it totally our family?! Marian in her little world, Callie kicking back, Delaney hiding, and me and Dan just hanging out and posing!

So, we had a good morning, although we walked a lot and the kids were pooped. I had gone prepared with a backpack of snacks and water bottles, all of which was consumed before we got back home. I don't think the kids enjoyed it as much as Dan and I, so next time we'll do something more fun for them. Maybe the Smithsonian, or we found out the aquarium will be $20 to get the whole family in. Some other weekend....

This is what Dan did with the kids while I was napping! They all played happily together for over an hour with this couch fort! I don't think they have quarrelled at all today! (knock on wood!) They have been doing great together and I'm so happy about that!