I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Enjoyful

I think Bristol benefits more from her mother's fame than from her personal choices.  I would hope she presents the reality of the teen pregnancy situation, and that people believe what she says.  Too much to hope for?

On a different topic, have our congresspeople and the persons shouting "shut it down" considered the cost of shutting down the government?  MSNBC takes a look back at the 1995 shutdown:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/07/6425029-the-cost-of-keeping-the-lights-off

 

rosemary-b

Do the people yelling shut it down know that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will have their pay delayed until the govt is up and running again? They are Federal employees too. How is this supporting our troops?

3monstmama

it is known that the military will not get paid -- thats why certain elements wanted to pass another continuing resolution that would fully fund Defense for the balence of the year [paying the troops] while allowing the government as a whole to pnly march on for another week.  Only problem with that is the ideological riders relating to abortion that were attached to it PLUS if you are going to cut budgets, shouldn't Defense [one of the largest parts of the budget] be on the block along with everything else?  How can that budget get a pass while everything else gets looked at via microscope?

Is it fair that some things are subject to cutting but others glide through?  I think not.

I can appreciate that Some People believe they have the will of the people who elected them to office to do certain things HOWEVER we all didn't elect Some People.  Some of us elected OTHER People. 

If everyone in the country thought that Some People were right, we'd be a one party system.  We aren't.  Thus the need to compromise. . . just like in kindergarten. . . . .

I shudder to think what the Some People will do when the debate starts over the debt ceiling. . . .will the EU help bail us out when they are down with helping Portugal?

crazy4carrots

Ahhh..the art of compromise.  Isn't that what politics is really all about?  But politicians these days seem to believe that politics is a blood sport and, regardless of who won the election, it's turning out to be "my way or the highway" and the people who exercised their franchise are forgotten.

BarbaraA

Not to be a PITA but the democrat - controlled congress *should* have passed the budget back before the last one expired 9/30/10. They chose NOT to (and they COULD have passed it with sheer numbers, just like they rammed all the other stuff through) because they were afraid of our response in the November elections.

The people spoke and now we are in this morass.

Just saying.

River_Rat

Barbara, I agree that the last congress should have passed the budget.  I don't see how the election would have gone worse for them than it did and it was a very poor political calculation.  I also think that the political calculations going on now from the other side are not going to help anyone.

I think that having a political system whereby all eligible voters had to vote or be fined (like Australia) and where campaigning didn't drag on for so long and interfere so thoroughly with governing (like Canada) would be helpful.

BarbaraA

R_R, I totally agree. This is so ridiculous, I pretend to be from Canada when I go on vacation.

annettek

i don't little Bristol was hired because she has insight - it was the cash and it is the wrong message since her family does have celebrity- to me her *stardom* is little different then those sorry &sses on "Teen Mom". There are actully teen girls trying to get pregnant so the can get ON THE SHOW...

A better spokesperson would be someone who actually suffered the consequences-I can't see where Bristol has much suffered - she got a gig on Dancing with the Stars-a new house- took her baby daddy back-broke up withhim (WHY WOULD I EVEN KNOW THESE THINGS ABOUT HER? it is weird beyond belief

...why not show a single mom who raised her kid on her own...working three jobs...I know plenty of them...they are real and they KNOW the consequences.

and i don't see the comparison to an alcholic- apples to oranges..two very different things

3monstmama

I think we all agree that a budget should have been passed--is that not what we send everyone there to do?  But this isn't the first government shut-down or even first almost government shut-down.  This one is getting attention because people have seen it on the radar screen since November.  The problem is always the same---one side or the other trying to get all their own way without taking into consideration that everyone voted and no one way is right.  Trying to push something through with riders that are unrelated to the budget is not really trying to pass a budget.  It isn't when the OTHER People attach riders to the defense budget, it isn't when Some People attach them to the budget as a whole.

As was said in the Washington Post this morning, "the two sides know where the money in the budget is.  If we were really just looking behind the couch for coins, this would be finished already."

But its not about the money---Its about the ideology.  We don't have a one party system.  That means both parties--or more--need to be included and neither should be going my way or the highway.

Again, the really worrisome part is what happens when the debt ceiling issue hits the fan. . . .how many of those legislators really get the economics and politics of NOT raising the limit?

annettek

ok i am making cuttlefish and spinach...we shall see how it turns out...

BarbaraA

3Monst - I am SO with you on NOT raising the debt ceiling. That just exacerbates the problem and lets the morons (both parties...thank you very much) keep spending our money on unneeded stuff.

I feel like flying up there and hanging out at the Hawk and Dove until one of them shows up then get in their face and have at it. Then wait for the next one.

bluedahlia

I agree with you annettek.

3monst.....it all boils down to self-interest.

3monstmama

BarbaraA I do not think we are on the same page re debt ceiling.  IMHO they have no choice but to raise the debt ceiling.  Do we really want to default or be downgraded on our credit?  I think not.  Which is not to say that something shouldn't be done about spending.  Why do I pay more taxes than a big corporation?

Anyone read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson?  He is the one who has gone around Pakistan and Afghanistan building schools in itsy bitsy communities.  He has done more for our image as Americans in that region with his itsy bitsy schools and more for encouragement of democracy by educating people than anything else ESPECIALLY things like sending troops and having wars.  And yet, the one thing that is on the plate to cut--even as I type-- is food aid.  The one thing that keeps increasing is purchase of guns.

Me, I'd rather have the butter than the guns.

Not sure about dinner tonight---its date night and we are going to a gallery walk. . . .

bluedahlia

We had Wendy's tonight.  Had to run errands so no time to cook.  That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

annettek

skipped the cuttlefish and went for grilled flat iron steak and brown/wild rice and a weirdo bean salad i invented...first two were good, the salad is a bit dumb..i might like it better tomorrow-i will do the cuttlefish tomorrow when huibby leaves for Austin to go watch grown men beat themselves to a pulp...

BarbaraA

3monst, I still think we should not raise the debt ceiling (but they will). JMO.

So tonight is dinner at my favorite local restaurant. This is courtesy of a gift card given to me by a sales guy from work in appreciation of the two weeks of work I put in on a request for quotation he had. Nice! My favorite dish is Tuscan pot roast with horseradish mashed potatoes. Yum! I am starving myself all day to be ready.

River_Rat

Now that I am calmer about the budget crisis I have to add to my statement that the Democrats should have passed a budget last November.  If you remember the Republicans were blocking votes on everything until the big deal on the tax breaks.  I just wish that the Democrats had managed to get a vote on the budget included in that package.  That would have been about the only way that they could have done it.

I also ran across a nice opinion piece by Dana Milbank on the reasons that Glenn Beck's show worked for awhile and why it no longer works for Fox:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2011/04/06/AFNEgnqC_story.html

IronJawedBCAngel

This is what is happening in McConnell, Paul, and Whitfield's backyard. Many of us are one illness or car repair from being where these people are. Is this what they envision for America when they promote shared sacrifice?

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/No-room-for-families-at-shelters-sent-to-woods-instead-119448789.html 

BarbaraA

IJBCA, we have a tent city here which was decimated in the violent storm last week. The homeless folks living there lost everything they had, which wasn't much. Not the right way to do thing, I think.

http://www.pinellashope.org/

I think you should send that link to your senators and congressmen.

IronJawedBCAngel

I send letters to them all of the time.  From the responses I get back, I would say my letters fall on deaf ears.  I am taking it one step further this time.  I have sent the link to other political organizations and national media.

Enjoyful

It seems that the Republicans may shut down the government over $300m for Planned Parenthood funding.  Really?  They'll hold the service men and women and SS recipients hostage for that?  Dipshits.

IJ, the Republicans & Tea Partiers don't care and they never will.  After all, it's not the homeless who fund their campaigns.  

Enjoyful

I certainly hope that our congress people not pay themselves during the shutdown.  No agreement, no pay.  Seems fair to me.

Kindergarten

I just had to chime in here, my husband asked: Are we exempt from paying taxes too,  while the government is in shutdown mode?I thought that was funny, I wish for that!!! Also I know the issue of Planned ParentHood is a heated one, but I as an anti-abortion, pro-life believer, I am not too happy that 300 million dollars is planned on being appropriated for Planned ParentHood either!!! Have a great day, Kathy

konakat

Nice -- using soldiers and the poor as pawns in their "ideological battle".  Sure, the Congress people could withhold their salaries in "solidarity" but really, it's not quite the same effect it will have on those who really need the money to live.

Enjoyful

Hi Kathy!

Planned Parenthood does much more than abortions, and there are "no abortion funding" strings attached for government contributions in place already.  So, while federal funds pay for PP operations, none of them fund abortions.  You could argue the point that without federal funds, they wouldn't have enough contribution money for abortions, but they also wouldn't have enough for their very useful, non-abortion activities.

I don't like my tax money going for oil company subsidies, but I don't see them arguing that point.  Hrrrmph!

E

rosemary-b

Glen Beck has only been on the air 27 months? It has been a long 27 months.

BarbaraA

The stopgap bill the reps are trying to get passed funds the armed services until 9/30/2011.

Enjoyful

Yes, but it also includes more outrageous cuts.  And probably some more tax breaks for the wealthy, though I don't know that for certain.  Just being snarky because I'm pissed off.  It costs a lot of money to shut a government down and restart it.

BarbaraA

I am pissed, too. I want to see what is in the stupid stopgap bill so I can make up my mind. I don't want the government to shut down either. The congress is pushing me closer and closer to anarchism.

Alpal

So much for waving the flag - just don't pay the troops.  Hypocrites.