*Facepalm*

For those of you that don't spend way too much time online, that means exactly what it reads as. When you screw up, and you put your face in your palm and go "doh!" like Homer Simpson.

That's sorta what its like to live in Illinois right now. Why? Well, our (ex)governor was just impeach and removed from office. And now, the guy he appointed to Obama's Senate seat is..well, facing questions of his own about why he neglected to mention, nay, denied, contacts with Blagoevich's people before he was chosen for the Senate seat.

If Mr. Burris truly has nothing to hide (right...) he would have said it all at the hearing where he claims now he didn't have enough time to answer the question fully. I personally think saying pretty much "I had no contacts with Blagoevich's people." is sort of final when you'd then have to explain how, "Except for the ones I did have contact with. And, yeah, I was gonna be a head fundraiser for Blago."

I don't see how those jive really. Oh wait, they don't.

So, Mr. Burris, again, what an ethically minded person would have done when offered the seat is say "no thanks, sir, I've been working for you and it might look inappropriate." Simple, effective, honest.

No, instead, he drags our state into the mud, AGAIN, and is staunchly refusing to resign, or even admit wrongdoing. Just that he left somethings out. Oops!

And, Mr. Burris, I think you should have to pay for any future special elections if the state assembly votes to have those in the future. Yay, lets waste millions of dollars on special elections when the system works just fine when honest (or, at least as honest as politicians get) hold power.

What a mess.

Why?

This is possibly my favorite question. I want to know why. Sometimes this is good, sometimes its bad. But, really, at the core of things is because I love knowing how things are connected.

I'm asking Why? a lot right now as our Directing Pastor, Dr. Timothy Bias, the man who helped me so much, the man who married me, is being moved to a church in Ohio.

I knew this day might come, when he would leave, either through retirement or placement, but I had hoped it would not be so soon.

I just want to know why. And, I guess, sometimes the answer really is because. Because God is sovereign, and knows more than me. Because God can use Him there. Because God sees that it is time for someone new to lead our church and carry us further along the journey. Because because because.

Sadly, even with all the becauses, I can't be happy about this right now. I just have to trust I suppose.

The Trillion Dollar Question

Answer this, you could probably make yourself lots of money.

The economy is in trouble. Too many Americans carry too much debt they can't pay on or that the equity isn't worth the amount of the loan.

The solution to getting out of economic crises is spending money.

Americans are spent out.

How are we going to fix this? Spending is what got us into this mess. Spending beyond our means as a nation artifically ramped up the economy and prices.

So, now, that we can't spend as much, how are we supposed to kick start a sagging economy?

I think this is the question that is making economists and heads of banks wet themselves daily.

Burn it Down and Walk Away

The title is a line from one of my favorite Zao songs, 5 Year Winter, which is pretty much the best breakup song ever. Yes, ever. (Also, Zao has a new album coming out! GLEE!)



However, right now, as America heads deeper into, take your pick, 1)the worst financial crisis since the depression, 2)a bad crisis, but not as bad as the late 70s, early 80s, 3)a recession and a bad situation, but if we just hang out it will be business as usual in a couple years, I really feel it applies to more.



Now, I'm not a radical liberal commie pinko (though, at the rate I'm going....) because all that stuff doesn't work any better. But the system is broken. Not just the financial system. Not just unfettered capitalism, not just our governing system, not just the system of regulation or oversight. The entire intertwined system is broken and now is the perfect time to begin to fix it.


Will it be difficult? Yes, but we are facing great difficulty now as it is. Will certain people (with lots of money and power) be upset? Yes. But this must be done. We must seperate the power of goverment from the power of lobbyists/big business.


Tom Daschle is just the latest, but most prominent, person to show the problems with this. Aside from not paying his taxes, how did he think it was ethically ok to move from his job as lobbyist/consultant, some of his work which was on behalf of healthcare companies, into leading the department of HHS is strange enough. But, the fact he has made over $5million since leaving office in his job "bringing people together," code for hooking up lobbyists with current politicians, is troubling to me.


Now, Daschle is far from the only one. My own ex-congressman Bob Michel, is currently lobbying on behalf of the pharmeceutical industry. This saddens me because the pharmeceutical industry is directly responsible for a part of the rising health care costs in this nation.

Since President Obama is putting a $500k executive pay cap on companies recieving bailout money (yes, its only symbolic) this would be a perfect time to start putting in more than symbolic measures across the board. This symbiotic relationship of Congress, lobbyists, and corporations must stop. Its bad for the country. Its bad for everyone, except a small group of people who make lots of money doing it.