Where was this McCain last fall?

Gateway Pundit has a post quoting John McCain speaking to the Senate regarding the Stimulus bill. I hadn't thought of it this way - and I have seen many different charts and examples people have made regarding how much money this is and how it could be better spent. But this really brings it home. What are we going to get for our money? Here is what McCain had to say:

"I'll tell you how we got here, Mr. President. We got here here by the Speaker of the House saying, "We won, so we wrote the bill." That's not what the years I've been here is called bipartisanship. So without the votes of 11 democrats and without the votes of a single Republican the bill emerged from the other body and came over here... The bill was written with negligible input from this side of the aisle.

So what are we up to now? We are up to approximately one trillion dollars... The Congressional Budget Office yesterday said that this legislation would increase employment by the end of the 4th quarter of 2010 by 1.3 million to 3.9 million jobs... I did the math... A 1.2 trillion dollar bill, 3 million jobs, is $923,997 for each job.

...Maybe we should go back to the beginning here.

They wont go back to the beginning, they will shove this through and we will be in debt for years because of this. All they really need to do is mail each of us a check with a disclaimer that if we cash this check we must spend at least 75% of the money right away in the United States (paying mortgages, buy televisions, cars, something). That would sure help everyone - businesses, homeowners in trouble, and people like me that would like to buy a new car but can't really afford it right now (and I don't really need it - just want it). Although I would most likely head to Disneyland if this happened, helping the airlines, hotels, rental cars, restaurants and entertainment industry. But NOOOO that would not give the government control of the money to dole it out as they see fit.

Yes - I am one of the Evil Twins

Yesterdays Seattle Times had an article about Julie Kempf, a candidate for King County Elections Director. This article was about allegations that she forged documents, impersonated a government employee and tried to run over a police officer, plus a few other issues. I am one of the people that her forgeries and impersonations were out to hurt. As she called us, The Evil Twins. Myself and my Evil Twin have always wondered how she did what she did and what ever happened to all of this. We were never told. However, her actions had a HUGE impact on our lives. We paid a price for her lies, ultimately creating a hostile work environment where we could not trust many people. That environment led to a "perfect storm" if you will and set me up to be in a position to blame for major issues later. I am not, and never will, saying that I did not make mistakes - I did. However, I did not make all of the mistakes that were blamed on me and had upper management in my office and the county not had to deal with these allegations against me earlier that year, perhaps they might have had more opened eyes when I was dog piled on for every mistake made in 2004. Either way, I have for 5 years wanted to know what happened and how she did what she did. I paid the price for her actions, even if she didn't. I had an employee who after this absolutely did not trust me. And I always have believed that my supervisor believed these allegations as well. I wish she had been charged, because she did cause us harm. But I do find some relief to know how she did it and that me and my Evil Twin where not the crazy people involved in this.

Inauguration Day

Carl Jeffers just announced on KIRO radio "this is like the world's inauguration day - He may be the first President of the world". Wow. This is the kind of thing that worries me, but that is for another day. Today is a day to celebrate a new President and hope for a new direction for our country. I am pleased to see so many people so excited about the inauguration. When I took my daughter to school every person in the school that I saw was watching the inauguration speech. The crossing guard told me that she had not seen very many kids today and thought that many of them may have stayed home to watch the inauguration. I think that is great, I love to see people involved in they way this country works and I hope that all of these people that are so involved now will stay involved. But the cynic in me thinks that may not happen. I hope I am wrong. I also hope that President Obama is successful and that this country gets back to work. I did not vote for President Obama, but I support him 100%. He is the President of the United States and that should always be respected. I am certain that I will not always agree with the decisions that are made, but I will always respect the office and person. I guess that is why I was so saddened when I was reading about parts of the Inauguration Ceremony that I missed. It sounds to me that the Obama's and Bush's treated each other with respect, and possibly even admiration? But the people there to watch booing the outgoing President? Shameful. I know that there are strong feelings against President Bush, I don't personally agree with everything that he has done. But I do believe that he sacrificed and made the best decisions that he could. Either way, to cheer "na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye!" as he is leaving Washington DC makes me sad for our Country. I don't think that people should act this way, and I hope that President Obama brings some solace and maturity to the people that have behaved like this. All I would say to those people is, you have gotten what you wanted - will it turn out how you want? To President Obama, I hope that you can make these people happy. If not, I am afraid that they will blame you for their own misfortune as well. Because obviously they can not be held accountable to their own actions. Otherwise they might not treat the highest office in our land, and the person most representing our country, with such disrespect.


I am hopeful for change, I believe that President Obama will do his best to deliver change. I hope that the country is also willing to change... Calling names and booing is hopefully behind us. Time to get to work and take responsibility for own actions.

I can't believe it - it's a TUNNEL!

What a joke! Two years ago we voted down the tunnel option but now that Governor Gregoire has been re-elected it is OK to build a tunnel? And this new technology is going to make it cheaper? I will be very surprised if it actually comes in on budget - or even close to it. And they are going to pay for this in part with an increase in King County car tab tax of 1%. How can that happen - what happened to the $30 car tab initiative??? I can't wait to see what Tim Eyman has to say about that! Going with the most expensive option and the most difficult option during these economic times is surprising. The article and subsequent comments at the Seattle Times was interesting, but I must admit my favorite part (and the part I agree with most) is the last sentence - they do just want a pretty park!

If you are unhappy about this decision - make sure you remember when it is time to vote this Fall. I think that if more people paid attention to what was going on, and got involved in the process, we could change the way things are done around here. I hear enough people call into radio programs and say "How can we change this!" well the answer is - get involved! So that will be something else that I will have to add to my goals for this year. How can I get involved and help make a change to how things are done around here? I will have to find out... Stay tuned!