70th anniversary of the JEEP!!
As the new Congress sets out to trek this country back to the top of the mountain, with rhetoric of fiscal spending and by finding a new patriotic tune for these new leaders to follow, one has to wonder why on earth are they wasting money on the reading of the US Constitution before the introduction of each bill on the Congressional floor?
It will cost taxpayers close to $150,000 to read the US Constitution with each bill. Some may say “This is something we should’ve been doing all along” but when it comes to turning a corner and saving a few bucks, this is not necessary. I can understand at the beginning of each session after a break but then again, according to the Congressional calendar, there are quite a few breaks. However, every dollar needs to be added up and as much as I love our US Constitution, this is unnecessary.
Coming up in a few short weeks will be the Bicentennial birthday of President Ronald Reagan, the House of Representative leaders have asked the members to come forth onto the House floor and speak about Ronald Reagan and his legacy. Do we not have more troubling things to complete then to do this?
It will cost taxpayers close to $50,000 when a member of Congress will stand at the podium and speak of President Reagan on his bicentennial birthday.
There is no doubt in my mind that President Ronald Reagan was a great man, in and out of politics, well liked by even his most ardent enemy, and one of the Top 5 Presidents in our history. But I say this is something that can be done by a member of both parties at the beginning of the daily session.
President Reagan’s legacy seems to grow more and more, but he did have his faults that his followers fail to mention. Yes, President Reagan was the right man and the right time leading our country out of the dreaded 70’s that many believe to be the darkest time of the 1900’s, equal to that of the Great Depression. A black eye with Vietnam War, Watergate, a disgraced President, a cumbersome President and the awkward simpleton President, fuel embargos, a disastrous hostage rescue are just the top of it.
However, President Reagan helped defeat the Russian bear with overspending on defense, which led to Dick Cheney’s plan of dissecting and downsizing our military a few years after President Reagan’s tenure was over.
Now many blame democrats for the downsizing of our military even in today’s world. Secretary Gates released his plans to cut funding on unnecessary projects, streamline other initiatives and those very same plans that Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and so on trample upon. Yet no one hears of the 23 GOP leaders and Tea Party members that want more Defense spending cuts, but the media will only allow us to hear about the Democratic plan and link it to the mythical radical Muslim President Obama.
Americans for Tax Reform leader Grover Norquist, Freedomworks CEO Matt Kibbe, Rep. John Campbell (R-Ca), Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tx), and even former Gov. Mike Huckabee are amongst the "23" calling for larger defense spending cuts, yet the mantra states "it's a Democratic agenda to cut our defense."
Did everyone forget or not listen when Pres. George W. Bush underfunded the health care of our returning soldiers by $2 billion? Tried to deny health insurance for National Guard and Reserve members? Forced 200,000 service members to wait six months for medical visits? Cut $1.5 billion in military housing?
For all those who are against the plan of spending cuts and the notion of destroying our military, please lay blame on those of the GOP side as well. We’ve come a long way from the tree hugging communist loving days to label all Democrats. Those are the lore of yesteryear, yet the Media on both sides of argument will have you belief that they never went away, that they’ve been hiding in the shadows of Congress for the right time to re-introduce themselves to Americans.
Laying labels on a party or a member of a party does nothing but help the opposition in their fight. We’re told Newt Ginginch was a Conservative from the day he entered Congress, yet truly he wasn’t one until the Freshman Class of 1994 pushed him in that direction. We’re told that Republicans want the federal government out of State business, but if that was the case then they would never have passed “No Child Left Behind.” And if we are to believe that Republicans are against government handouts, and then they would never have given Stimulus checks to the American public in 2001 and 2003.
Our history is not read by us anymore, it is told in lore and myth by entertainment and political opinionators ad sometimes they leave out the juicy stuff to make a radical point to change judgment.
"Nothing But Lip Service," Army Times, June 30, 2003
The Tax Debate Nobody Hears About," Washington Post, June 17, 2003
U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs, September 2002
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Press Release, January 31, 2003
thinkprogress.org/2011/01/20/republican-study-committee-defense
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