May 29, 2011

COLUMBUS: In Oklahoma and Kansas they are accustomed to tornados, but this spring they have been hitting people that aren’t expecting them. Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Joplin, Missouri took the brunt of deadly tornados. About the only solution is to build underground, then a tornado can’t get you.

Of course, then along comes a flood and drowns out that idea. With a flood, you need to build up in the air so the water can flow along below you.  So I guess you gotta live in an elevator. Then you pick your level based on what disaster is predicted for that day.

Ohio is contributing more than it’s share of water to the Mississippi River flood. It has rained almost every day since early March and a lot of that water has ended up in the Mississippi. But enough of it stayed in Ohio that farm fields are too wet to even walk on. Iowa may have got their corn planted but Ohio is only ten percent done. It’s so wet, farmers need flotation tires for their tractors and corn planters. Not the wide, low-pressure tires. But tires that will actually float.

Isn’t Social Security supposed to have plenty of cash to last another twenty or thirty years? Then why does Treasury Secretary Geithner say that if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, the first thing he will do is stop sending out Social Security checks? If there’s money in that account, then keep paying the folks. On the other hand, if that account has been emptied out like every other one in Washington, then admit it, and raise the future eligibility age up to where it needs to be to get in the black.

Then there’s Medicare. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it’s perfect as is, just leave it alone. But Congressman Paul Ryan says in about ten years it will bankrupt the country and he proposed changes to keep it afloat. Now how can two bright people serving in Congress look at the same thing, and see two entirely different outcomes?

We all ask, why do politicians wait until the last possible minute to tackle a problem that’s been in clear view for years. Well, ever since Ryan introduced his bill to reduce the federal deficit for the long haul it has been tacked on a wall in Washington, and Democrats (and a few Republicans), are throwing darts at it. The aim, no matter which party, is to wait for the other guy to make the first move, then oppose it and try to keep the voters ignorant through the next election.

Republican candidates for President keep popping up. Every time one prospect drops out, three more jump in. Sarah Palin has a bus, but it’s gonna take more than a bus to hold ‘em all. They need a train with a bunch of coach cars, and a caboose to carry their excess baggage. A  few of  them have excess baggage they hope to lose. Some candidates admit that most of the country does not know them. Shucks, even the other candidates don’t know them.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“People are voting policies now, not (political) partys. We are living in a time when if one or the other of these partys don’t start delivering an economic government to the people, they are both going out on their ears.” WA #521, Dec. 18, 1932

 “Congress won’t have anything to settle much (in the next session), outside of unemployment, two billion deficit, arrange extra taxes where they will do least harm next November, relieve Wall Street and think up something new to promise farmers.” DT #1672, Dec. 2, 1931