When Did We Lose Control?

The House passed the new bail out bill on Friday that was not very different from the one rejected earlier in the week except this one included many more pork barrel add ons which were needed to basically bribe Representatives to change their votes.

Millions to make wooden arrows

Hundreds of millions to corporations in America Samoa

Even huge tax breaks for the American film industry.

To name a few

So our trusted Representatives allowed the stock market to fall almost 1,000 points this week because they would not vote on a package unless it included add ons of personal interest to them.

Someone should check how many of these Representatives have financial interests in America Samoa or the film industry or in all of the other add ons that are going to cost tax payers nearly half a billion dollars over the next 10 years.

Not since the days of Tammany Hall have so few taken from so many for personal gain.

And it doesn’t stop with the bail out.

Let’s take wind power for example.

All of us have seen the advertisements by T Boone Pickens for alternative energy sources such as wind power.

We were happy to see that many in Congress agree with this plan but again when you begin to peal away the onion you see why.

Take for example the House Speaker who supports this plan.

She might have let us know that one reason for her support might be that she bought nearly $100,000 worth of CLNE Corp stock on the day of the initial offering.

CLNE just so happens to be Picken’s company.

It also happens to be the sponsor of Proposition 10 a ballot initiative in California that would give nearly $10 billion to renewable energy incentives which would include wind.

Unfortunately this is just one example.

I am sure further examination would find many such connections with the billions of pork that was added on to the bail out bill.

The problem is here will never be any investigation of this money or the lobbyists or corporations attached.

So even in a bill that should have no add ons wound up with too many to count.

Pork associated with personal interests of our Representatives not the well being of our economy.

Again when did we lose control?

And this is not only at the federal level.

Mayor Bloomberg has decided he does not want to give up his job as mayor of New York City when his is term limited out.

So now he is going to have the City Council pass a bill to extend term limits for him and the City Council members.

So even though the citizens of New York City have voted twice to keep term limits they are going to be ignored or at least not given a chance to vote on them again because the mayor doesn’t want to give up his job.

Not really the way government is meant to work.

It’s like changing the rules after the last strike is called or the last minute runs off the clock.

What ever happened to Government of the people, by the people, for the people?

I guess it only refers to the people in government.

Over 150 years ago Henry David Thoreau stated

The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.

Today they have not only gotten in the way but have basically locked the rest of us out

When we first began to allow this to happen is when we lost control.

And the last couple of weeks are just an example of the consequences that we the people will continue to pay.