Talk About Debt and Reckless Spending

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 29 Aug 2007 at 07:48:48 PM GMT is:

$8,985,524,742,395.99

The estimated population of the United States is 302,841,041so each citizen's share of this debt is $29,661.04.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of$1.42 billion per day since September 29, 2006!

Please note that the new national debt limit is $9 Trillion. At the present rate of $3 Billion a week for the Iraq War the limit will have to go up again in a year.

Bush's Latest Threat

In a speech this afternoon to the American Legion, the man who sits in the White House and plans his warped view of the world, stated: "I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Iran's murderous activities." Does that frighten you? It does me.

He is upset that Iran in shipping guns to Iraq. That's just a drop in the bucket when compared to the billions worth of arms we have shipped.

He is upset that Iran wants an atomic weapon. We have thousands, but he wants exclusivity and control.

He is upset that some members of the Iranian army are in Iraq. Hell, we have 167,000 troops there plus God knows how many contractors.

He is upset that Iran is formenting trouble in the region. What he doesn't want to admit to himself is the fact that no one can exceed the trouble he has caused in the region.

He has taken us down a dangerous path, and like any child that has gone bad, he is blaming everyone else for our deadly problems that he caused.

I repeat...does this frighten you? It does me, and should you.

Michael Vick Sorry?

Dear editor:

Michael Vick, after pleading guilty to charges in federal court for dog fighting, has issued the usual celebrity “mea culpa” and apologized for his actions. He was sorry for his “immature acts,” his lying to the commissioner of the NFL, for his role in a gruesome dog fighting ring, and apologized to “all the young kids out there.” He also has suddenly, and rather quickly, claimed to have “found Jesus” and turned his life over to God. Baloney.

It is obvious that the Atlanta quarterback isn’t sorry for his actions, but rather sorry for getting caught. He’s sorry that he has been suspended indefinitely from football. He’s sorry that he is going to prison. He’s sorry that he has lost a huge annual income from the Falcons. He’s sorry that the team wants the signing bonus of $22 million back. He’s sorry that he has lost all of those lucrative product endorsements. And he’s sorry that everyone sees him the way he really is.

A Plan to Stop the Poisonous Imports

Why is there so much confusion on what to do about all the dangerous imports coming in from China? To date there have been recalls on imports of toothpaste, pet food, toys, and who knows how many other products that have undetected problems. Does the inaction in Washington have anything to do with the fact that the Chinese Government has bought so many of our government bonds due to our trade imbalance and deficit spending that they practically hold a mortgage on America?

If these products were coming from domestic factories the FTC, the FDA, the Congress, the President and the Justice Department would be all over the companies producing these tainted products. Now, since the products are from another country, it seems everyone is walking around with the excuse that these dangerous items are beyond our in-factory inspection reach and there just aren’t enough port inspectors to inspect anything but a tiny percentage of these imports. But, the solution possibly could be very simple.

The large companies producing all of these products in China (and other countries) have representatives and inspectors in-country that are supposed to be checking on everything made there. But are they doing their job? Are they overlooking things for the sake of price? Are they worried about delivery schedules? Is money exchanging hands? We’ll never know.

The U.S. Government should take very firm steps in demanding that these giant importers make sure that the proper testing and inspection is done during the manufacturing of the product. It is the responsibility of the American manufacturer to see that these protections are in place. And if they don’t, and poor or dangerous products enter this country, the U.S. Government should take unprecedented steps. First the company must be fined, and not a slap on the wrist fine, but with an amount that will hurt, as in tens of millions of dollars. Secondly it should put a restrictive quota on imports the American company can bring in of that particular product category. If it happens a second time the fine should graduate higher, the third time higher, etc, and the quota be cut even further. The government must make the fines so punitive that the company comes to the realization that it would be cheaper to at least quadruple their inspection efforts and people.

It would also be cheaper for the companies than facing all kinds of lawsuits from injured or dying consumers.

Rebirth of the County Unit System

It looks like we are about to see the rebirth of the County Unit System that was outlawed by the courts in Georgia in 1962. I’m talking about a proposal dubbed the “Presidential Election Reform Act” that is being pushed in California by a lawyer representing the California Republican Party.

At present, California allots all of its 55 electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections, a practice followed by most states. A few states allot their electoral votes based upon percentage of votes cast statewide. But the new California proposal is a throwback to the days of one party dominance and segregation, but not for the purpose of segregation but rather to guarantee a Republican victory no matter what the statewide vote shows.

A little history. The County Unit System was used by the State of Georgia beginning in 1917, during the days of Democratic Party dominance, to determine a victor in its primary elections. Simply put, a county (there are 159 in Georgia) received ‘unit’ votes based upon population. The eight most populous (urban) had six ‘unit’ votes each, the next thirty (medium) had four each, and the remaining 121 (rural) counties had two each, for a total of 410 county ‘unit’ votes. As a result, the small counties with two votes each had a majority (242), despite having only one-third of the population. This allowed the Democratic primary to be controlled by the less populous rural voters and the party machine. Four tiny counties in South Georgia could outvote populous Atlanta. For instance, Eugene Talmadge won the 1946 primary with 244 country unit votes as opposed to 144 for his opponent James Carmichael, even though he had lost the popular vote by 16,000.

In 1963, the county unit system was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Gray v. Sanders, finding that the system violated the ‘one man, one vote’ principal.

Now comes the Republican Party in California, resurrecting that old unconstitutional system, and pushing to allow the statewide winner of the popular vote two electoral ballots (there are 55,) and each voting precinct to cast one electoral ballot. The thinking here is that there are more small “Red” precincts than there are “Blue” ones, thereby guaranteeing a win for the Republican Presidential Nominee. Evidently they don’t feel the ‘one man, one vote’ principal means anything, and the illegal Georgia County Unit System lives again.

We shouldn’t allow this to happen, no matter what the state or the controlling party. We need ‘one man, one vote.’

Fixing America's Infrastructure

It looks like the government will continue to spend $3 billion a week on the war in Iraq, but will not be able to come up with the $65 billion it will take to fix the 70,000 bridges in the United States that have been deemed “structurally deficient.”

There is a very simple solution to this problem. I’m sure if Halliburton and KBR would open bridge building divisions that they would receive non-competitive contracts for fixing the bridges and the money would be “found.” This would take care of the needs of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and friends. Nothing like sharing the spoils of disaster.