Stimulus - You Gotta Be $%^&*&^ Me!

Stimulus. The stimulus package is the worst piece of legislation I have ever seen. I have personally read some of it (I am like many of you in the Legislative and executive branches and have been too busy to read it in its entirety) and it appears to be a VAST collection of personal projects of various congress-persons and senators and contains very little that will have an immediate effect on the economy (most spending seems to be far in the future). Aside from that, none of you could possibly read the final bill before voting on it (at least a no vote …is a position that could be supported…such as I could not in good conscience vote on a resolution I have not thoroughly read and understood and not just a vote of convenience or partisanship). The fact that it passed through Congress with NO ONE (if you did I would love to hear from you...but I have no confidence that there was anyone that has) in the entire Congress being able to read, digest and understand its contents, is a very sorry indictment on every single elected official there. What is worse is an indictment on the American public for allowing it to happen, not being completely outraged at Congress’ actions and for not recalling every single person there. You are elected to make decisions that are in the best interest of ‘we the people’. The fact that you all voted without having read the document in its final entirety and allowing time for open public discussion is an abdication of your responsibility, if not blatant misfeasance (my cynical side says MALFEASANCE). The rush to 'do something' (or at least have the appearance of having done something) seems to have overridden any common sense or responsibility you all should feel. I find it difficult to express my total disbelief in this action without cursing profusely. You all should feel ashamed for what you have done (this is assuming some of the politicians there have a conscience or moral principles). You should be shaming everyone of your peers that supported this measure on their misfeasance at every turn. To vote on a piece of legislation, spending our tax dollars, on an issue like the economy, in such a rapid and opaque manner and NO ONE seems to see the problem inherit in that is amazing. The worst is that we (the American public) allowed it to happen and took no action and did not seem bothered. Many argue this was public support for the measure (tacit endorsement), others will argue that it was fear about the economic crisis. I believe it was that most Americans have abdicated their responsibility to be an educated voter, knowing the issues, or having an opinion, or holding our elected officials responsible for their actions. Most of the public seems more intent on whether or not Jessica Simpson has gained an inordinate amount of weight or not, rather than how you are spending our tax dollars. I put this down to the ‘dumbing’ down of America. Most mainstream media devotes a lot of space to entertainment ‘news’ and the remainder heavily biased news. To get a comprehensive picture of the political scene, you are required to all source search. Most American’s are too lazy to do more than one news source (if that) much less, multiple sources. So in that respect I hold myself and the public in contempt and we deserved what we got. The media also shares in the blame for this cluster. It used to be a virtue in the media to report the events and leave bias as much as possible. Now it is not just the editorials or political commentators, that write a biased point of view (the only place where any bias ought to be), but every story and even what stories are reported exemplify bias. The coverage (how, when, and what was said) of the tea parties across the country was an ideal study of the bias of the main stream media outlets. The White House Press Secretary for all practical purpose was running the show on some outlets and others might just as come from the Republican National Convention (although one particular program, did show some Libertarian political views). Shame on the mainstream media, you have lost your objectivity and credibility, I encourage the media to return to their roots of attempting to remove bias, vice blatantly shaping everything to a particular bias. I propose we all take action to prevent this happening in the future.