Congress and the President told us that the $700 billion bailout for banks and Wall Street was necessary to help Main Street, and it had to be done RIGHT NOW.  No time to stop and think about doing something actually useful - if we don’t give the financial industry all our money RIGHT NOW the whole economy will grind to a halt.

Well, the stock market is still falling, more layoffs and plant closings have been announced, and government officials are actually using the word recession as something more than a vague concept that could be rendered obsolete merely by throwing money at banks.

So what is going to get done with this $700 billion?

Suntrust announced better than expected profits, but says it still expects to take advantage of the bailout money.  PNC is using our money to buy up National City.  So far, the bailout is being used for the big banks to get bigger.  How does this help the economy?  How does reduced competition in the banking industry help consumers and small businesses?

It doesn’t.  It only helps the big banks.

Does it help those of us actually paying our mortgages on property that was overpriced due to the artificial demand for housing created by a mortgage pyramid scheme that separated those who generated the loans (and collected their commissions) from those who had to actually collect on them?

It doesn’t.  The bubble has burst and our equity is gone.

On the other side, we have politicians calling for the government to step in and let people keep homes that they were never able to afford and should never have bought in the first place.  When did “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” become “you owe me a house and a car”?

Maybe the entire working middle class of America should go to Vegas, keep gambling until all the credit cards and home equity lines are completely maxed out, and declare bankruptcy.  It seems to be working for the banks and for Congress.

The latest attempt at Welfare for Wall Street is underway in the Senate, with a new bailout bill, not restructured to get taxpayers more for their money, but with other, totally unrelated, items added to it.  Apparently, Harry Reid thinks a spoonful of sugar will help the bailout go down.

The bailout now appears as an amendment to a bill requiring health insurance to provide mental health coverage that is no more restrictive than general medical coverage.   Also packaged in with this is another one year patch on the Alternative Minimum Tax (how about a permanent fix for this indexing it to inflation,  boys & girls?), the extension of tax breaks for alternative energy and conservation (should have been passed on its own months ago), and tax relief for disaster victims.

These are all separate issues that need to stand (or fall) on their own, not be used as excuses to waste taxpayer money on insulating banks from their own bad business decisions, and further proof of why we need the Legislative Accountability Amendment.

The bailout is dead. Long Live the Bailout!  H.R.3997 – Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, was voted down in the House of Representatives this afternoon.

When just about all of Congress realizes something is a BAD IDEA, even if some of them think its a necessary BAD IDEA, then you know it is a bad idea. Why are we even considering throwing good money after bad, now that even Wall Street has had to acknowledge that the housing bubble mortgage fraud securities were a bad idea. For years, they profited by driving up the cost of housing for all Americans. Under the marketing banner of making home ownership affordable for more people, they made it actually affordable for fewer.

Why should anyone help out someone who did that? Because if we don’t give them more of our money to lend us, they won’t lend us any more money? They made loans to people they knew couldn’t afford to pay them back, so now they won’t loan money to people who can? Is this really behavior that should be rewarded?

If we need government spending to kick us out of recession, isn’t there a better way to do this than by buying up bad loans in the hope that they will somehow turn good and get us our money back? Somebody out there still has the blueprints for the Yugo.  Let’s bring that back.

Wouldn’t it be better to put that money into building something we can use? Wouldn’t investing in infrastructure be better than investing in an already fallen house of cards?

John McCain proposed a $300 million battery development contest. Pocket change compared to what he’s willing to spend to protect overpaid shell game perpetrators. Guess he really doesn’t understand economics. Obama thinks if you add in caps on executive compensation and help some people stay in homes they never should have bought in the first place that makes it a good deal. Can’t say I think much of his grasp of economics either.

If the government is to take our money and redistribute it, it should be for the things we know need to be done but that on an individual level always seem to take a back seat to getting this month’s bills paid. Like energy technology that gets us off of petroleum addiction and cleans up our air and water. One of the obstacles to large-scale solar and wind power is building the infrastructure to get big empty spaces hooked up to the power grid.  Battery costs still make hybrid and electric cars cost 20-25% more than gasoline models.

What could we do with an extra $700 billion in education? This country became great on the force of ingenuity. There was no problem that couldn’t be solved by a combination of brains and hard work. How did we let that go? Where did the idea that being smarter than the average bear was evil come from?

Why does even your average Congressman think this bailout is a bad idea? Because we’ll never have anything to show for our money!

What would you do with $700 billion? Call or write your representatives, and tell them what you expect to get for it.

S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act of 2008, is one of those bills written by an industry for the sole benefit of that industry.  The RIAA and MPAA are currently trying to stampede this through Congress without anybody noticing.

Among it’s provisions to drastically increase copyright enforcement at the expense of fair use rights is allowing the federal government to sue citizens in civil, not criminal, court on behalf of Big Content.  Not only does the RIAA want your grandma’s house, they want you to pay for their legal bills to steal it!

Why does it matter whether the prosecutions are civil rather than criminal?  Because civil cases are decided by a preponderence of the evidence, not guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Big Content is an industry that can’t figure out how to deal with the technological changes that have made their stranglehold on making and distributing professional level music and video something akin to Ford trying to bring back the Model T.  Their business plan no longer works, and their response has been to sue their customers, and try to convince the public that piracy, and not changes in the market,  are responsible for their problems.

Anyone in Congress who votes for this bill should definitely be considered bought and paid for, and any of them who vote for this bill and ever express a belief in “free enterprise” will have given you indisputable evidence which end they are talking out of.   Way beyond a reasonable doubt.

Further adventures in indoctrination rather than education at Grayson High School. From the most recent email newsletter:

GRAYSON TEENAGE REPUBLICANS (G-TARS)
The Grayson TeenAge Republicans (G-TARS) is now an active student club affiliated with the Young Republicans, the Georgia Republican Party, and the (national) Republican Party. Our next meeting is on September 2nd after school in room 1.553. Our plans include a voter registration drive and activities in conjunction with the Gwinnett Republicans in addition to guest speakers. Students who are interesting in finding out more about our organization are welcome to come to the meeting, talk with our sponsors (Mr. Wade and Mrs. C. Edwards), or talk with the president of the club, Mallory Davis.

Republican Principles

• Individual ability, dignity freedom and responsibility are basic to good government.
• The free enterprise system and encouragement of individual initiative and incentive are musts for a strong economy.
• Government exists to protect the freedom of each individual, not to restrict it.
• Government should get involved only in those things which people cannot do, or cannot do so well for themselves.
• Both government and society should assist those who cannot provide for themselves and should help them become self-supporting, productive citizens with pride in their independence.
• Equal rights, equal justice, and equal opportunity belong to all, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin or sex.
• The preservation of our nation and the security of our citizens depend on every citizen’s respect for the constitution, the laws and the courts.
• Government must maintain sound money and responsible economy. The rights of life and liberty are meaningless if citizens are deprived of their property through excessive taxation, inflation and government waste.
• World peace and friendship will continue through strength.

Are there equivalent clubs for Democrats, Libertarians and Independents at Grayson High School?

Will the initial meeting include an explanation of how the Bush/Cheney administration (and their Georgia YesMen in the Senate and ConYesMan Linder in the House) have repeatedly violated every one of the “principles” you attribute to the Republican party?

Let me make some suggestions:

Explain how the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 allow Customs officials to take their iPod and laptop at the border for any or no reason whatsoever. Supposedly to fight terrorism, but also so that the Justice Department can sue you on behalf of the RIAA if you can’t prove that you bought all the songs on there legally.

Or maybe explain how going to war in Iraq to boost oil company profits and provide no-bid contracts to the Vice President’s former employer is free enterprise.

Or how anyone who looks Middle Eastern is a suspected terrorist, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin or sex.

Or how President Bush has respected the Constitution by pushing for laws that trash the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure, while claiming that anything his buddies do is a secret and Congress and the people of this country aren’t entitled to know about it.

Or how it is sound monetary and fiscal party to borrow huge sums to fight a war while giving tax cuts to the richest Americans.

Or how “world peace and friendship” are enhanced by unilateral invasions and torture of prisoners.

The following article was in the first newsletter issue of the school year for the high school my daughters attend:

GOD’S GOT GRAYSON PRAYER WALK
Since the great success of last years Prayer Walk where hundreds rallied together in prayer, the community of Grayson gathers again on August 25th, 2008 at 7:30 PM for another Prayer Walk. The God’s Got Grayson gathering will be held at Grayson High School near the front entrance (prayer leaders will be available to guide and assist).

Supporters and Leaders invited to participate in the event include Mr. Keith Chaney – Principal, GHS / Mr. Mickey Conn – Head Football Coach, GHS / Rusty Maddox and Bob Evans – Leaders, Men’s Fellowship / Brian Krawczyk - Leader, Young Life / Jill McEwen – Leader, Mother’s In Touch / Steve Traylor – Executive Pastor, Snellville Baptist Church / Buddy Hoffman – Grace Fellowship Church / Jonathan Howes – Graystone Church / and The Entire Community of Grayson.

When I emailed the school principal to state my feelings on the use of public school property for a religious event (separation of church and state – if you think that’s a bad idea please move to Iran – oh it’s only a bad idea if it’s  YOUR church attached to the state?), he replied “This is not a Grayson High School sponsored event.”

Mr. Chaney, it is a held on Grayson High School property and publicized in Grayson High School newsletters but it is not a “Grayson High School sponsored event”? Is “I found a loophole, so it’s OK” really the message you want to teach our children?

What about the children who aren’t members of a Christian church?  What message does this send to them?  That those who harass them for not being Christian (and what would Jesus think of that behavior?) have the blessing of the school administration?  Is that the indoctrination desired here?

I have been generally rather horrified at the state of our education system lately.  The recent expansion of “standardized testing” is one example.  It forces teachers to teach one particular set of trivia, since a student’s year of hard work can be erased by not knowing enough of that trivia to pass the standardized test.  This turns our schools not into educational institutions but into places where young people are indoctrinated with particular points of view.  The teachers I remember learning the most from were the exceptional ones who could present things in their own style. The micromanaging of the syllabus reduces the effectiveness of the best teachers, while doing nothing to weed out those who are simply bad teachers.

In Gwinnett County, Georgia, the Superintendent of the Board of Education has recently come under fire for making the observation that there are not many blacks living in Idaho.  How that statistically verifiable statement could possibly be offensive to anyone I have no idea, and I certainly do not approve of someone being fired or forced to resign over something that petty.  However, I would welcome anything that gets Alvin Wilbanks out of public education.  He has been one of the leading proponents of runaway standardized testing on a national as well as a local level, and was one of the architects of the No Child Left UnIndoctrinated legislation.

Why do I oppose standardized testing?

First off, if you give someone a test and never return it to them to show what they got right or wrong and why, the test has no educational value whatsoever.

Secondly, the focus on these major tests places an undue amount of stress on the students.  How would you feel if at your job you were given an annual test knowing that if you did not answer enough questions correctly, your pay for the last year’s work would be taken back from you?  Do you know of any business (or even governement agency) that implements a policy that stupid?

Thirdly, standardized tests are used by politicians to claim credit for “improving education” when the scores go up year over year, even though the politicians had nothing whatsoever to do with the process, except most likely to make it more difficult for teachers to do their jobs properly.  And of course none of the politicians would EVER even CONSIDER manipulating the tests from year to year to make themselves look good…

Teaching is  a profession, and the only involvement politicians should have in public education is to make sure the professionals have the tools they need to be successful.  If you needed open heart surgery, would you want your surgeon to have your Senator looking over his shoulder telling him where to cut?  Didn’t think so.

The only measurement of our education system that matters is how many students make it through to graduation from high school and how many of those students are prepared at that point for success in higher education and/or in the workplace.   Education does not stop with graduation; it continues for as long as you live.  The purpose of K-12  is to make sure that each student knows not a particular set of trivia, but how to evaluate and acquire the knowledge needed at each subsequent stage of life.

Standardized test do nothing to improve the education process, nor do they accurately measure the success of that process.

While the mainstream press only seems to pay attention to the debate about offshore drilling, there is a very serious energy issue that Congress has so far been unable to act on.

The current credits for the development of solar and wind power expire this December, and so far eight different bills which included their renewal have been killed in Congress.  Many wind and solar projects are unable to get further bank financing until this issue is resolved.  John McCain has filed to bother to vote on any of those bills in the Senate, and Barack Obama voted against the most recent one as he did not like other things bundled into the bill.

The funding of research and development into commercial applications of solar and wind power is much too important to let it get “bundled” with other items.  Renewing these tax credits needs to be done as soon as Congress goes back into session, and should not be held hostage to the debate over offshore drilling or whether or not to release oil from strategic reserves.

I would like to see the following enacted into law:

Any corporation receiving either direct monetary assistance or loan guarantees from the Federal Government shall be subject to the following restrictions:

No employee’s total annual compensation package, including any deferred compensation accruing, may exceed the salary of the President of the United States.

All “golden parachute” clauses in the contracts with current or former employees are immediately declared null and void.

The corporation may not loan money to employees or directors.

The corporation is forbidden to engage in any lobbying activities at any level of government, nor may it contribute financially to any organization which engages in lobbying.

I would also like this to apply to any corporation filing for bankruptcy protection. It is really disgusting to see corporate executives raking in millions of dollars while dumping their pension responsibilities on US taxpayers. Yes, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is us, and that’s who pays at least some of the pensions every time a company decides to dump its pension obligations via bankruptcy court.
Corporate welfare is not the free market at work, and We the People Have a right to expect something in return for our tax dollars, and the right to demand that no corporate executive claim to be worth more than our exective.

The July 15th primary election in Gwinnett County, Georgia showed up a problem with our country that no one seems to be talking about.  One of the questions on the ballot was “Are elected officials being held accountable for their actions?”  83% voted “No”.  Yet mere months after the Gwinnett County Commissioners commited Gwinnett taxpayers to thirty years of funding a stadium for the Atlanta Braves farm team, all the incumbents were voted back in.

Mike Beaudreau got 69% of the votes in the Replublican primary for his district, and the only Republican running for chairman who is not currently on the Commission got only 10% of the votes.

So who exactly do those voters think ought to hold the Commissioners responsible?

Are they waiting for God to strike them down with a lightning bolt?

Even though you can’t write in votes in a primary, you can still not cast a vote for those running unopposed.  Only about 10% of Republican voters did that in this election in Gwinnett.  The percentage was a bit higher on the Democrat side, but still not enough to get anyone’s attention.

If you’re not willing to vote out those who have shown they don’t represent you, how will you ever get actual representation?