Wednesday, March 10, 2010

VIRGINIA SENATOR MARK WARNER held a job fair in Stafford, Virginia last week. Here is an excerpt from an email he sent describing the job fair:
There has been a lot of talk recently about the apparent gulf that exists between what we're talking about here in Washington and the economic uncertainty that too many Americans are experiencing in their daily lives.

An event I hosted in the Fredericksburg area earlier this week illustrated this economic anxiety in a powerful way.

My office sponsored a federal job fair at the Stafford County campus of Mary Washington University, and more than three-dozen federal agencies were represented -- from the Transportation Security Administration, to the Peace Corps, to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The response was overwhelming -- literally overwhelming.
Somewhere on the close order of 7,000 (!) job-seekers attended. And this in a part of the U.S. that has a relatively low unemployment rate in comparison to the rest of the country.

Here is an excerpt of my response to Warner's email:

Sir, here are some additional data points for you to ponder.

I was not there, although I had intended to go. I am presently underemployed; part-time for now, soon to be part-time (on call).

My wife, an elementary teacher locally, probably will be laid off next year.

My daughter, who is in Connecticut, has already been laid off once in 2009. Luckily, she has since found another job.

My son may soon lose his job as a result of the Obama administration's canceling the Constellation (manned spaceflight) program.

My granddaughters will almost certainly be saddled with a multi-trillion dollar debt from the Obama administration -- and to be fair, the Bush administration that preceeded it -- efforts to "fix" the economy.

So for God's sake, please stop! Everything the Obama administration and Congress has done -- and is doing -- is creating more damage. You are not helping.
Senator Warner's speech on the Senate floor is here.
OBAMACARE means a two-tier health care system. This is a surprise?
BAN FISHING? Is there anything the Obama administration won’t do?

Environmental Puritianism at its best.
WHAT AN IMAGE: Michael Moore doing jumping jacks. Pass the Pepto Bismol.
STIMULUS? More like a sedative. “This is not another Great Depression, at least not yet, and the economy may recover on its own, if the government will let it. But Obama today, like FDR in the 1930s, cannot leave the economy alone. Both have felt a need to come up with one bright idea after another, to ‘do something’."

I’m reminded by a song introduction many years ago by Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary: “You’re really, really going to want to sing along. Please ... don’t.”

The same applies to Congress and the Obama adminintration. You’re really, really going to want to do something about this recession. Please don’t.
53% OF AMERICANS are opposed to ObamaCare. Is it a coincidence that this is about the percentage of Americans who actually pay income taxes?
MAYBE THE BETTER WAY is to barricade the swamp to keep the alligators inside.

Here’s another suggestion: Cut their pay, keep them at home.
THE TOOTHLESS HOUSE ETHICS PANEL: “Congressional ethics is the ultimate oxymoron.”
BINGO! Charles Krauthammer: “I have got a rule of thumb in Washington — if you ever have a choice between a conspiracy theory and shear [sic] incompetence, it's always incompetence.”
ARTIFICIAL STUPIDITY: when natural stupidity isn’t enough.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE endangers health care. This must stop at once!
I CAN BARELY STAND Shepard Smith’s Fox Report as it is. Here’s why.