It's About NOT ONE MORE THING

Dear America,

so this morning I did something I have never done before...

I called every single Senate Republican's office one by one until done.

Why?

Little old g thing was doing her civic duty -- and bending the ear of any office that would listen, for as long as she could, on behalf of the upcoming vote in the Senate that suspends the debt limit and gives another two years of busting budget caps and big government run amuck courtesy of the everlasting disappointment, the disHonorable Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky  (DC office number: 202-224-2541).

It's a fascinating experience if you, yourself, need any encouragement to dive into the pig trough that is congress, the cutting edge of bureaucratic slop and entitlement gluttons and crony, conniving capitalists laughing all the way to the edge of reason and jumping in anyway. 

And because the experience is simply too good to keep to myself -- let me share the rapture that sometimes sounds like the person on the other end of the line couldn't give a flying hoot, as in, press one to leave a message, press two if you wish to speak to someone, press three if you request a letter back, press four if you even think we care (kinda made that one up). 

Now, to be honest -- MANY of the offices actually had a real live person answer!  What a wonderful world is that!    And even SOME really sounded like they did care, to the extent they wanted to even have the zip code from where I called in the great US of A... for the record, you know.

And the shock, when speaking to Sarah at Senator John Hoeven's office (the Honorable Senator from North Dakota:  202-224-2551).    God love her, she even wanted to know WHY little old g was standing firm against the measure.  We actually had a real live conversation (for about a minute and a half).  But it felt like she really was listening; but who really knows, anymore, right.

Another observation, and maybe it's just me -- but as I made the calls, the intimidation factor decreased.  For at first, when somebody answered -- I was like, wow, this is really his office...I was tongue-tied... tripping over everything I wanted to say.  Then, slowly, with practice, it got so easy.  By the end of the entire process, I was almost demanding the person listen to every bit I had to say on the matter -- realizing and enlightened by my own personal power.  After all -- they work for us for jiminy crickets.

So without further delay:  CALL your SENATORS, call all of them if you dare.  Tell them to stop; tell them to stop working together right now.  Seriously. Stop.  Not one more thing.

Here's a leg up and over the fence:  Senate Conservative Fund offers a perfect link to all the numbers, HERE. (highly recommend donning a pair of rubber knee-high boots before you holla, gets a wee bit messy).

And just in case you are wondering -- the House wasn't safe today either.  Those guys got a fax, courtesy of Grassfire!  Love those guys! They make it soooooo easy to roll in it without really lifting a finger or even getting dirty.

Now one more funny thing to share.

It was when I called Senator Charles (Chuck) Grassley's office (the Honorable Senator from Iowa: 202-224-3744).  And bear in mind, he has been in office over 30 years, right.   Well, when you call his DC number -- if he doesn't have anyone in the office, or if the lines are busy, there is NO voicemail,  It just rings and rings and rings (which, if you follow along with G, just yesterday we were lamenting the loss of the old-fashioned telly...not really...but let's just say, all of a sudden, the realization that there are some guys in office stuck in the twentieth century made me giggle a little.)

Anyway -- this is really all there is to say on the day.

CALL.  FAX.  Get on that shiny new Iphone6S.  Whatever floats your boat through the moat that protects congress from the dumb-ass country bumpkins like us (tee hee).  

And speaking of us --

and it's, yet again, a carry-over from yesterday's say, how about that David Axelrod?

Plucked from the political muck and mire at the disseminating pages of The Daily Caller, the world according to Axelrod begins with this honorable distinction:

Former Obama advisor David Axelrod says the Tea Party is “fundamentally anti-government, populist in its notions, and this is a direct appeal to that group that is very anti-Washington.”

yes, please.

In a weird, ironic, noxious way -- Axelrod understands me better than my own republican representatives.  Isn't that a kick in the donkey's ass.  

But just to be clear, Mr. Ass'lrod -- you left out a pretty big word:   BIG.   The Tea Party, the lip smackin' sweet Tea that it is --  IS fundamentally firm against BIG government.  Because Big Ass Government is fundamentally against the people (I mean, talk about hoof and mouth disease run a foul...) 

And when BIG ASS Government works fundamentally against the health and wealth of the people, we rise, and come together to defend all things that matter.  Even if it takes an hour out of our morning to make 54 phone calls to the Senate and send about an equal number of faxes to the House. We might even smoke some hay afterwards just to soak up all the rewards of doing the right thing.

And lookie there; what a perfect segway on to the campaign trail...

So tonight -- in hopes of clearing the field, we await the possibility that one of the republican candidates really steps in it; wonder who that will be?

yes.

indeed.

It's official.

I've worked myself into a tizzy...a sticky wicket...caught in my own slop of annoyances large and small.

I better go.  Hate to put a hoof in the mouth.

Make it a Good Day, G

It's an Everybody Understands But Washington Thing

Dear America,

"All Americans, 

both beltway politicians and those on Main Street, 

have to do some serious soul-searching 

to bring their country back 

from a potential financial abyss"  

-- Xinhuanet.com -- 

This from China's leading on line news website, a site ranking "around 160th on its [U.S. based, Alexa website ranking system] list of 108 million global websites. Its ranking places Xinhuanet third among the world's news websites, narrowly trailing BBC and CNN, but far ahead of Reuters, The Associated Press and AFP (Agence France-Presse)."  To read the complete article from China's view, go here.
  
Now, what America finds newsworthy and the reasons why may be for entirely different reasons -- or is it motives...


 On CBS Face the Nation, presidential advisor David Axelrod summed it up like so:

 “The tea party brought us to the brink of default... It was something that should never have happened that clearly is on the backs of those who were willing the see the country default, those very strident voices in the tea party...This is essentially a tea-party downgrade.”

Read more on Newsmax.com: Axelrod: Tea Party to Blame for S&P Move
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Oh Axelrod, do you really think we are that stupid?  Washington has been operating without a budget -- let alone a fiscally responsible one -- going on TWO years now.  hello...don't even get me started on the unbridled spending sprees of the last hundred years.

And the White House, which decidedly went into immediate modus discreditus of the credit rating downgrade, citing that the findings and following decision making by the S&P to essentially lower America's credit rating was entirely based on bad math. 

Here's more from Axelrod:

“We can debate the strength of the analysis they did...They made an egregious error here, but theirs was largely a political analysis, and that is what we should focus on.”

and a statement from Geithner:

so little Timmy said, oh right, in April...that there was absolutely "no risk" -- none, nada, zippo -- he assured us that the United States of America would NOT lose it's AAA credit rating.  He promised the world that reforms would magically appear and be put in place to remedy the situation without further ado.  Duly noting all the political wrangling, he understood how some people might look upon Washington as a "hard place to read;" but have no fear, he said -- ultimately -- there is no risk to the nation  (if not the entire world); resting America's future upon false promises and empty convictions by letting us believe that Washington would do the right thing.

The S & P has been clear -- even to the extent of being quite specific with the numbers; they wanted to see at least 4 Trillion dollars in debt reduction; they even wanted to have assurances that the road ahead would lead to living within our means (translation: a balanced budget).   And they are just as clear in spelling out the reasons for the downgrade in their statement released to the public, which you can read here.  It's not political; it is a pragmatic understanding that this President, and certainly everyone within his administration, should be entirely grateful.

But this was little Timmy's reply to the S & P (getting a little testy I might add):

"They've handled themselves very poorly. And they've shown a stunning lack of knowledge about the basic U.S. fiscal budget math." 

[right, as it was flawed by 2 Trillion dollars]

The S & P makes a number of salient points, one of which:

"Our opinion is that elected officials remain wary of tackling the structural issues required to effectively address the rising U.S. public debt burden in a manner consistent with a ‘AAA’ rating and with ‘AAA’ rated sovereign peers (see Sovereign Government Rating Methodology and Assumptions,” June 30, 2011, especially Paragraphs 36-41)"

Basically, without elected officials doing a little "soul searching,"  the chance for America to return to fiscal solvency is slim to none.

China, the country who buys most of our debt, understands this.

The S & P understands this.

With market reaction of the last week telling us everything we ever needed to know, Wall Street understands this.

Main street understands this.

The average Tea Party Patriot understands this.

And you know it girlfriend -- my homegirls at  SMART GIRL POLITICS understands this.

Even the average democrat, republican and independent with half a brain, understands this.

How can Washington NOT understand this and make the structural changes necessary, like, ah yesterday?

The spin on this is a crying shame.  If it weren't for the House, having the 2010 invasion of the Tea Party spirit as according to the people's mandate to change the Washington establishment, who knows where we would be.   The only voice of reason has come from the Tea Party representatives, and a fraction of others who held onto fiscally conservative convictions.

The White House should be praising the Tea Party for holding the line so firm -- even though, we -- those connected to the Tea Party cause and agenda -- all know it wasn't firm enough, now was it?  you know what I'm talkin' about.  The narrative is that the Tea people in general are happy, and that after all is said and done, the freshmen and active Tea Party congressmen were supposedly celebrating a major coup.  Really? Is that so?   In actuality, not so, ah so, the Tea people were are entirely displeased.  You will just have to take my word on that

Over the weekend The Daily Bell took a poll; as I recall, the question went something like this: "What will the S & P downgrade impact be?"  going thru the choices -- a) dollar goes down, gold up b) politicians will heed the warning... c) no one really cares what this mainstream mouthpiece says -- and last, d) pass the popcorn, the show is about to get really crazy.

[Now, just so you know, I quickly went to (d)..not only for the free popcorn, but c'mon, ya just gotta figure this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship or something; I mean, geeze louise, something really great crazy is about to start, it's time to hang onto our hats]

Turns out, at the time of the polling, a) reached about 38% -- b) next to nothing -- c) not much better -- while d) got the most of the vote @ about 49% of the Daily Bell visitors for the day.  It may have changed since, I haven't checked.

But the thing is, we the people are onto something; Washington, not so much.  They wouldn't understand what it meant to keep a meaningful distance from the debt ceiling even if it hit them upside the head.

"Despite this year’s wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently."

Washington just doesn't understand.

and given we are on such a downer these days, here's something funny going around --

[picture GWB] 

"know what else Obama 

inherited from Bush...

a 'AAA' credit rating."

Guess mainstream media won't be mentioning that; certainly Xinhuanet.com will be mum just the same.  But the Tea people -- we might just be running on that come 2012.

Time will tell -- and that only works if we have time left.

Word on the street, seconded by Timmy Geithner, is that there is no risk of running out of time.   none, nada, zippo, no way, no how, not under his watch.[and supposedly, the White House is sticking with Timmy for the time being]

Perhaps if we all cross our fingers and do a little soul searching things will all work out in time.

Make it a Good Day, G

It's late -- in preparation for tomorrow, when my girl comes home from vacationing with her dad -- I have made a jump on the day so that I can have more of the day to play.  As it would work out, I am up late enough to see how the market is opening on the other side of the world.  The Asian market opened on a downward slope, at times losing up to 4% -- you can go here for more -- who knows what the morning light will tell us.