Manic Melon

Shutting Detroit Down

PS, also loving the Zac Brown Band.... check 'em out

If we wanted to see some action from Washington that inspired confidence... Picture this:

Obama and the house/senate announce they are putting a new bill to the floor for a vote. It's a bill that changes the pay structure for the congress/senate and all cabinet positions.

By passing it, it shows that washington has volunteered to be paid on performance, with their full salary used to buy stock options in the S&P500 that they may only redeem at the end of their term. (easily done btw)

If the market goes up over the next few years as their policies allow us to recover as a nation, they'll do well. However if the economy goes down, the options will basically be worthless.

I know that I for one would like to see this passed, and it is my opinion that such acts that make you clearly accountable are just what we need, and at the end of everyone's term they'll get just what they deserve (for better or worse).

The 1,000-plus-page spending bill includes hundreds of pages of pet spending projects inserted by lawmakers, ranging from:

• $185,000 for coral reef research and preservation in Maui County, Hawaii
• $55,000 in meteorological equipment for Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif.
• $9.9 million for science enhancement at historically black colleges in South Carolina.
• 775 pages of earmarks, funding programs that include local museums, colleges and infrastructure projects.
• $764,000 for the Lake George Watershed Protection Initiative in New York, requested by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York;
• $9.9 million for South Carolina's historically black colleges and universities, requested by House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, South Carolina;
• $1.1 million requested by Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker, both of Tennessee, for water treatment plant improvements in Tennessee's Unicoi County, as well as $300,000 for a sewer extension project in another county.
• $713,625 Woody Biomass at SUNY-ESF. Walsh and Schumer sponsors
• $951,500 Sustainable Las Vegas. Berkeley and Reid sponsors.
• $24,000 A+ for Abstinence. Specter is sponsor.
• $300,000 Montana World Trade Center. Rehberg sponsor.
• $950,000 Myrtle Beach International Trade and Convention Center. Graham sponsor.
• $200,000 Oil Region Alliance. Peterson sponsor.
• $190,000 Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY for digitizing and editing the Cody collection. Barbara Cubin is the sponsor
• $143,000 Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Las Vegas, NV, to expand natural history education programs. Sponsored by Harry Reid
• $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Honolulu, HI, for educational programs. Sen. Daniel Inouye is the sponsor.
• $381,000 for Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY for music education programs. Jerrold Nadler is the sponsor.
• Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, would spend $3.8 million on a Needles, Calif., highway.
• Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the top Republican on Senate Appropriations, backs earmarks including a $950,000 nature education center in Moss Point, Miss. He defends earmarks.

Sadly, I fear we will not take the correct action until all alternative responses have been exhausted.