http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/nancy-pelosi-minority-leader_514993.html

Today I spent 4 hours on the internet catching up on my RSS reader, Face Book messages, email, Hulu and YouTube.  Digital Media (TV, internet, iphone, etc.)  seems to be overtaking my life.  It’s time for a little balance.

To the Editor:
I object and take exception to everyone saying that Obama and Congress are spending money like a drunken sailor.  As a former drunken sailor, I quit when I ran out of money.

Bruce L. Hargraves
USN Retired
Worland

Thankfully, neither my daughter who was driving this car or the driver of the other vehicle were seriously injured.  However, slightly higher speeds, or the other driver hitting my daughter just a fraction of a second sooner – and the outcome could have been much, much worse.  Cars can be fixed or replaced.  Nothing can replace my daughter.

Do I hear an amen?  Oops!  Sorry – sort of.

http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/tea_partiers_and_the_new_party.html

My $0.02 worth of a response went as follows:

Dear Joe,

Sorry, but I’m rather pessimistic if only because so many people are receiving all sorts of government assistance and/or their jobs are tied into an expanding government.  When Nancy Peolsi can get away with claims that the new healthcare initiative will immediately create 400,000 jobs – and no one (so far as I heard) bats an eye that these will be federal government jobs to deploy and monitor Obamacare, it tells me that not enough people understand macro economics, the necessity of reigning in the size of government, and how the size of government has a direct effect on individual freedoms. 

To that end, I believe very few people will actually be willing to shrink the size and scope of government and cut themselves out of something they feel they’re entitled to.   How many parents will turn away Pell Grants for the college aged children?  How many people will say “No, thank-you” to receiving Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?  Will my neighbor, who just retired from 30years in the military be willing to reduce his $85,000/year pension?  Is it possible to reduce the expenditures towards education – say, to the percentage as it was in the mid 1960s?  What farmers are going to forgo farm subsidies?  Why the hell are tax dollars still supporting (at least to some degree) National Public Radio?  Give me a little time, and with hardly any effort, I bet I can come up with >100 programs in which people are dependent on continuing government spending. 

I don’t see that the current Republican leadership, as listed in the article, has the courage to go after big government spending and entitlements because they’re too concerned about getting re-elected.  And realistically, I believe part of that lack of vision, direction and leadership is driven by the memory of what happened with the Contract for America circa 1996 when the “masses” supported the Democratic side of the isle with regard to shutting down parts of the government when there wasn’t appropriated money.  It is unfortunate, but I think the relatively few numbers of people who comprise the heart and soul of the Tea Party will be voted down by the masses such that the Tea Party is doomed to be a vocal minority.  I regret to say that the liberals have won.  And the long term effects, I believe, mean that this country has in essence lost its ability to be self-governing.  We have become a nation of spoiled children who’ve grown up with no one ever saying “no” to our neverending demands to acquire what we want through someone else paying for it.  That’s where I’m at.  Moreover, I see it as futile effort to spend my personal time and money to ‘right’ (pun intended) the ship. 

Lets face it, those in Washington, or even at state and local levels are fulfilling the “desires” of that for which they’ve been voted into office.  Perhaps I should take comfort in Scott Brown’s election to the Senate to replace Ted Kennedy.  But I guess I don’t.  At least not yet.  Hopefully it doesn’t come to this – but it may be necessary for a severe economic depression to bring about monetary policies and changes in government spending that current leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties are unwilling to do.  Until then, I will certainly vote for – and maybe even support with my money – those whom I believe will limit and hopefully reduce the size of government.  I guess that’s all I can do.

68% are angry:  (551,088 votes)

24.8% are excited:  (200,868 votes)

6.3% don’t know what to feel:  (50,851 votes)

0.9% indicated ‘other’: (7,278 votes)

I think it’s a fair assumption that the majority of MSNBC viewers (and therefore, respondents to this poll) are liberal.  Yet, by an almost 3:1 margin, respondents are ‘angry’ with the new healthcare legislation and feel that its implementation by President Obama and Democrats with no bipartisan support from Republicans will harm the economy.  Doesn’t this poll closely mirror what other polls have been saying for some time?  This makes me wonder, will liberals take note and say, “Hmm, what’s going on here?”  Well, if these poll numbers carry into November, I suspect the President and Democrats will take note.

All-Digital Winter Garage Sale

Middle aged male tired of constantly losing to the ‘digital aspects’ of everyday life and being considered dumber than a 5th grader.  As of today (except for the help required to get this memo posted) I’ll be writing with paper and pencil, listening only to AM/FM radio in the car, doing home musical recordings on a cassette tape, talking with others through a landline phone, checking out books from library, subscribing to a daily newspaper, submitting the 1040 long form via the US Post Office and using a camera that accepts Kodachrome film.

For Sale:

• Computer preloaded with software – new $1.00 (half a CD wedged inside)

• USB interface – new $0.50 (bent knobs)

• 40” flat screen TV – new $5.00 (orange juice stain on front)

• Digital Camera – new $0.10 (thumb dent on side)

• DSL router & home wireless system – new $0.25 (cracked front panel)

• GPS unit – new $0.05 (Regret not buying protection plan against being dropped)

• Digital Thermometer – used once $0.01 (best not used orally)

• XM/Sirius Radio – slightly used.  Take over payments.  (Display brighter than an LED flashlight.  Black sock included for nighttime driving.)

• Guitar effects processor – good condition ($0.75) (May have been inadvertently bounced off wall while unplugging)

• DVD player & 5.1 surround system – still in original box $3.00 (orange juice may have leaked into box)

Free:

• Cell phone/MP3 player/camera – new (It’s somewhere along Wilderness Run Road in Eagan, MN.  I’m sure the snow bank it hit cushioned the impact.)

No reasonable offers refused