This is in response to a post on Nation Natter.


I completely agree with your post. Our economy is at an all time low, people are job-less and trying everything they can to provide security for their families. Using taxpayer money to support the "plummeting economy" is just plain stupid.
You are also completely correct is blaming Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. As the treasury secretary, he above all people should know when the economy is in trouble and he should know how to help if it is. Either he has no idea what he's doing, or he is ripping of the American people. Is it just coincidence that the major companies that need money just happen to be run by his friends? That remains to be seen, but it is not looking very good on their part. The $700 billion bailout package seemed immense to me before but after seeing the connecting website and the estimated $7.5 trillion I was shocked. Way to many middle and lower class Americans are struggling to get by and asking them to help bail out CEO's and rich corporations is just appalling. If the government continues down this path I can't see how the economy will get any better. I can only hope that we will be able to find the right course before that happens.

In one of my previous blog entries I wrote about the comparisons that were made between the terms of President Nixon and President Bush. After reading the article and being blown away by the contrast I decided to dwell a little deeper and read Final Days, written by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they followed the complicated story that was the Watergate scandal. My main reasoning was I wanted to read for myself the real emotions that Nixon felt knowing he had betrayed the country’s trust and compare them with the way Bush is reacting to his own administrations failures. After reading the book I found that Nixon was truly and deeply hurt by what he had done, not to himself, but rather to the American people and the country he really loved. He showed that by calling and apologizing to friends and family, showing true human emotion. President Nixon may have had a lot of faults and he definitely did some illegal things. Given all that, he still knew it was wrong and admitted to his mistakes and I believe it when he meant he said he never did it for “personal gain, never.” He resigned not to protect his image but rather to protect the American people. He felt that a President on trial “would not be fair to the country.” There in lies the difference between Bush and Nixon. Bush still to this day has not admitted that the failures of his administration were in fact, his. He chooses, however, to blame intelligence reports, which really sounds like a big game of he-said, she-said. Being the President means having to make tough decisions and with that comes the responsibility of those decisions.

This post is in response to a post I read on Chase Reyn's Govt Blog.

Chase, I agree with almost everything you have said. Our government has made a mockery of itself and us in turn by its actions in the past few years. "America,land of the free," is not really a term that I feel applies to our citizens anymore. With the privacy acts passed by the Bush administration and the constant war, have we really been free? Of course we've enjoyed physical freedom, but many have had to endured the captivity of knowing a loved one may be gone and everyone is suffering from the economic crisis. So no one is free from bills or pain or pressure. The only thing we disagree on is I am confidant that a Democrat is the answer for our problems, and specifically Obama. This country is in desperate need of change and there is no one obviously more qualified. I do hope that you will see the eventual good and come on over to our side!

The earth we live in is going through many changes. While we have only ourselves to thank for the good and the bad, many people feel that there are things we can do to better the environment that we occupy. For example, consider the greenhouse effect, a topic that is the basis for an enormous amount of debate in our world and our government toady.
The greenhouse effect is the ability of our planet to absorb the suns visible and ultra violet radiation. The radiation is then released and absorbed by carbon dioxide and other gases in the earth’s atmosphere. By preventing the radiation from escaping into space the gases help to warm our planet. These gases, also knows as greenhouse gases, have become increasingly abundant in our atmosphere and have caused the earth’s annual average temperature to rise slightly over the past few decades. The concern is that the increasing temperature may have immense effects on our climate causing vast geographic transformations. Some greenhouse gases, such as Ozone, are also amongst the leading causes of air pollution; which the World Health Organization estimates to kill 2.7 million people each year. Many people feel the reduction of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the earth’s air would help to curtail the harm being done to our environment.
While our government has done a decent job of passing laws regulating the emission of these gases, much more still needs to be done. We cannot continue poisoning our planet and continue to get away with it. The government has to be the leader in helping scientists uncover the truths behind the greenhouse effect.

It seems that the thirst for oil is taking a turn back home for Americans. In a recent commentary in the Austin American Statesman, (no first name given) Williams writes that the Bureau of Land and Management (BLM) in Utah had planned to sell close to 400 acres of beautiful red rock wilderness to companies allowing them to drill for oil. Thanks to the “public outcry” the BLM met with citizens and finally thanks to the extreme pressure put on them they deferred the lease. Williams states that the “greed, speed and scale” of the oil industry and the “oil-loyal administration” is disastrous for our nation and can only lead to destruction of American land. He feels that many states have already “been laid to waste” citing examples of towns such as Pinedale “that experienced its first ozone alert” in 2008 and later found its water wells contaminated after oil and gas developments were set up close by. Although the land in Utah is safe for now, the land is just deferred. This pretty much means that the BLM is just waiting until the next quarterly sale to offer the land up for money again unless “we, the people, act.” Williams proposes for Americans to vote for the Red-Rock Wilderness Act in 2009, which would finally put the almost 10 acres of remarkable land in protection where it belongs. I completely agree with all of Mr. Williams assessments. I understand that oil is a necessity but not at the stake of endangering the communities and environment that would have been affected by these oil sales. This article has made me take a closer look at how we affect the people around the world with our oil-based priorities.

He Is Not A Crook! Or Is He...?

In a recent commentary Erza Klein (associate editor at the American Prospect) reported in the Las Angeles time on the contrast between the Presidencies of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. Mr. Klein, who also runs his own blog, shows the differences in how our current President is handling the legacy he is leaving behind and the manner in which Nixon handled his. Erza tells the readers how Americans have endured the different ways in which President’s have dealt with the hardships that have faced our country. They have trotted many a soldier to war, violated our privacy and brought our economy to ruins. Even though these qualities fall into a few presidential tenures in American history, this may be the first time that our leaders are not taking responsibility for their actions. Klein writes that by Nixon confessing “his sins,” he advocates for Americans to render him a “complete and tragic figure.” He feels that Americans need “national closure after a President has betrayed the public trust.” The fact that Bush is neither willing to admit his faults and explains “every day has been pretty joyous” is really a slap in the face to all Americans who have suffered during this regime. Instead, our former President drops the fault on “intelligence failures.” Thankfully the entire population is ready for a change and it is soon on the way. In the meanwhile, I will be waiting along with Mr. Klein and others to see if Bush will quit “hiding behind partisanship, and [admit] the failures of his Presidency.”

Bailout Funds

Our economy today is facing a major financial crisis. From homeowners to the auto industry, people are losing jobs and opportunities to provide for their families. With the current unemployment rate increasing, it is becoming harder and harder for American’s to survive the economy. As if this is not enough, the washingtonpost.com reports that Treasury department officials are attempting to lay the foundation to receive the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue package from Congress and have approached President-elect Obama to help their cause. Obama’s team is trying to persuade Treasury officials to use the second half of the funds to help homeowners and the auto industry, but Treasury Secretary Paulson “has been resistant so far.” Many people disapprove giving money to the Bush administration because they feel that so many previous funds were “misused.” This article is worth reading because it illustrates the ineptitude of our current administration to learn from its previous mistakes and finally help the people who really need it.