MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

(Cash for Clunkers, Congress, N. Korea)

I have been working on the 2nd part of my health care blog but I just had to address some unbelievable issues that has developed.

Cash for clunkers - The ideal has some merit but it also has some problems including showing the ineptness of this current congress. The idea is to give people incentive to trade in old gas guzzlers for new cars which will stimulate the American auto makers. Here's the problems: 1) Why are my tax dollars going to help my neighbor buy a car? (Common problem of liberal politics.) 2) The majority of the cars being sold are foreign. Although many foreign cars are made in the U.S., the U.S. auto makers are the ones who need the boost. 3) The list of the cars available include the Hummer H3 with an average of 16mpg. Not very "Green". 4) If I was in the market for a car I would just go out and buy a junker to trade in. Not really stimulating anything. Finally, the billion dollars budgeted for this program was gone in 2 1/2 weeks. This is the same body of people who want to take over 17% of our economy with health care reform. Makes me nervous.

Congressional Traveling - Times are tough. Everyone is cutting back. I run a business and when income is down I cut back. Not our congress! We have the largest budget deficit in the history of this nation. Individual income tax revenue is down 22% and corporate is down 57%. "This is the worst financial crisis since he depression!" So what does our congress do? They buy 3 Gulfstream Jets to taxi our Congressional leaders around the country and around the world. The order was originally for one but congress recently added another $130 million dollars to the defense budget to purchase two more of these elite aircraft. These are the same leaders who chastised the auto makes for flying corporate jets to Washington to make their case for federal bailout money. The congress thinks spending money is their duty and they will not neglect their duty!

North Korea - Now this item will not get the support of all who read it. To be honest, I have not totally settled this in my mind. Two reporters were recently captured and convicted by the N. Korean government of illegally entering the country and sentenced to 12 years hard labor. President Clinton was asked to make a trip to meet N. Korean leader Kim Jong Il and negotiate for their release. Remember, Kim Jong Il is a part of the "axis of evil" and had been defying the UN and the world with his nuclear ambitions. Also, when Clinton was president he had a deal with the N. Koreans only to have them renege on their end of the deal. So Clinton did not get on a plane unless he already had a deal in place before he left. I know these two American women were released unharmed but we have a policy that we do not negotiate with terrorists because it only promotes more terrorism. The N. Koreans treated these women very well because they were just using them as bargaining tools to get what they wanted and that was world recognition to gain more favor among his people and that is exactly what he got. Just look at his face in the picture with President Clinton. Its great they are now free and hopefully the end cost will be small.