PAY FOR PLAY IN WASHINGTON

After the very disturbing disclosures involving impeached Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich’s “Pay for Play”, the story continues to have legs in the media. The federal government has some very strong evidence on tapes, but has yet to file an indictment. We have all known for years that part of the political process is negotiation, then compromise, leading up to final legislative action.

Unfortunately of late, we have seen an increase in the breakdown of the ethical standards surrounding our political leadership, and all too often proper judicial action is not been taken against the offending politicians. A perfect example is the ex-Governor Elliott Spitzer of New York, who by his own admission committed federal offenses, but has not been charged by the authorities.

There are numerous examples of politicians in Washington, both Republican and Democrat, and within various State governments that have gotten away with grievous actions and the ethics committees or authorities fail to act appropriately. Apparently the same rules do not apply evenly to all individuals. Examples of outlandish behavior have repeatedly been ignored with individuals such as Senator Teddy Kennedy D-MA, Congressman Charles Rangel D-NY, and Senator Larry Craig R-ID to name a few. Lately it appears to be alright to not pay ones appropriate tax obligations, because little or no actions are taken against some people. Hell the ex-Mayor of Washington, DC, Marion Berry, was found guilty of not filing numerous tax reports and was placed on parole. He failed again to file his taxes and he still remains out of jail. Why should anyone pay their taxes with these double standards?

As the huge Stimulus Bill moved through the House and has now been passed in the Senate by the narrowest of margins, one has to be very suspicious. When the House Bill failed to secure any support from the Republicans along with a handful of Democrats there were few eyebrows raised, but when the Senate Bill passed with three Republican votes one must wonder just what those Senators received for their votes.

It has been widely reported that President Obama was disappointed to have no support to his Bill from the House Republican members. Thus it is obvious that great pressures were placed on some Republican Senators to sway their vote. Time will tell just what the pay off was for Senators Susan Collins and Senator Olympia Snowe both of Maine, as well as Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. If you do not think Pay for Play came into this vote then you are damn naive.

Apparently there is a real dispute brewing between Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and in all likelihood the final bill will be changed when the vote is taken. Is it not a very sad situation that we the public do not know what the contents of the bill are before the vote. Once the legislation is passed there is nothing we the people can do about the consequences.

The natives are very restless. Just look at what happened to the stock market after the passage of the Senate part of the stimulus and the announcements made by Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner a few days ago. Wall Street did not like the lack of particulars given by Sec. Geithner and the market closed down 301.99.

I suspect that the President will ultimately get his Bill passed, but he cannot bully his way, even though he thought he could just because he won the election. There are still over 45 million citizens out in the boonies who did not vote for Obama. Hold on to your wallet, because we are all in for a very bumpy ride. The honeymoon is clearly over for President Barack Obama. One television pundit suggested that the President should stop acting like the campaign was still on and he should start governing.

There are obvious signs that the sheep have awoken, and are not just doing exactly what the dog is telling them to do.

COMMANDER GRANGER