11%, 8%, and 78%

I am not one to put too much credit in a poll but when poll after poll is coming up with statistics showing how truly angry the majority of the population of this country are the polls really cannot be ignored.

11% and 8%.

It is worth putting the above percentages by themselves in an incomplete sentence to highlight the numbers. These are the current approval ratings for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid respectively. These numbers come from CBS News, definitely not ideologically right-leaning news organization.

Another day and two new polls showing the American people are strongly against the health care plan President Obama signed into law. According to CNN, 59% of Americans oppose President Obama's plan. And according to CBS News, 48% of Americans oppose the plan (with 33% in strong opposition) compared to only 37% who support it (with only 13% in strong support). Digging deeper into the CBS poll, we find that 76% of Americans disapprove of how Congress is handling its job on health care, 46% think Congress has spent too much time on health care, and 49% believe the rules and procedures used in Congress to get the current health care bill passed have been mostly unfair.

78%.

That is the percentage of Americans polled that think ALL members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate should be replaced. It will be an interesting election in November.

The 'Evil' Makers of Cheerios

Last year the Food and Drug Administration decided that the manufacturer of Cheerios should not boast about some of the cereal's health benefits. "We have determined [Cheerios] is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug," the FDA said in a letter to General Mills. A drug? Like Cocaine? By this logic, consumers would need a prescription to buy a box of the oats.

So this is why the FDA doesn’t have the time or personnel to approve the long list of lifesaving drugs that are waiting in limbo for the OK for use by the public.

The FDA has lost three federal court decisions challenging its restrictive labeling policies. the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that it was "skeptical the government could demonstrate with empirical evidence" that health claims made with appropriate disclaimers would "bewilder" consumers, as the FDA claimed.

I am bewildered.

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Kudos to CNBC in their use of the Huffington Post as a reliable source of information on what is going on in our government and the financial institutions in this country. Of ALL of the news sources available to them, AP, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, they chose ‘comedy central.’

Thank You, Mr. President

While watching the health care summit I was angered by the fact that the President of these United States, a man with a political science background and professor in the subject, would call a meeting for the express purpose of trying to embarrass the Republican members of Congress, interrupting them continuously, making jokes at their expense, and generally behaving as a ‘dictator’, not as an equal. I have a question: Mr. Obama, just where in the Constitution, the law of our land, does it say that the President can ‘dictate’ to the Senators and Representatives? You are equal partners, and not wanting to sound too over-simplistic, here is what the Constitution says: Congress creates the Bill and the President signs it into law. The Presidents job from that point on is to enforce the law.

Nowhere in the Constitution are you given the right to speak longer than anyone else in the room just because you are President. Nowhere in the Constitution are you given rights that put you and the government above the wishes of the majority of the people of the United States. Just who do you think you are? Nothing more than some politico that was elected at a time when people were looking for some change from George Bush, and you promised that change. But what are we seeing from you? The arrogance of someone who actually believes that he is superior to those around him, and worse yet, thinks he knows what is best for those around him and for the country at large. You are wrong!

Mr. President, you do not have any rights above anyone else in this country, whether politicians of an opposing Party or the taxi driver in New York or the businessman in Texas or the baker in San Francisco. Just where in the Constitution is it written that the President can write law? It sickens me to see the blatant abuse of what Mr. Obama perceives as his rights to dictate to the attendees of the meeting. Mr. Obama, these people represent us, the people of this great country, and they are your equals under the law, and all of you work for us. We are the boss of the show, not you. Your job is to sign Bills that Congress creates, and if there was a line item veto available to you and you changed any part of the Bill both the House and Senate would have to approve your changes. It is called checks and balances to prevent this country from becoming a dictatorship.

Mr. President, when you interrupted Representative Cantor, who was holding up the huge monstrosity of a Bill and talking about specific concerns of his constituents, and told him it was nice he brought props to the meeting but props are not helpful, I had to laugh out loud. The Bill is a prop? Perhaps to you it is but not to the majority of concerned taxpayers in this country and their children and grandchildren.

The final question that I have to ask is why are you not addressing the economic situation in this country, something that the majority of the people in this country are concerned about? The longer you postpone addressing this issue and continue along the path of forcing a health care bill on all of us the less likely you are to be re-elected. This holds true for the other members of Congress as well. What are you all thinking? Are you all really so immersed in your Socialist values that you will do anything, including hinder your own careers, to have universal health care?

On the other hand perhaps it is for the best for the economy if you do not try to ‘fix’ things the way you have at General Motors, Chrysler, AIG, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. The economy will roll along gradually fixing itself without ‘stimulus’ funds, and the companies that are solvent will survive and the ones that are not will go under. That is the way of healthy economies….

So I guess a thank you is in order to you, Mr. President, for staying out of the way when it comes to the important stuff!

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And in the same vein a special mention has to be made to Senator Barbara Boxer, who was talking to a group of Senators and referred to We the People as, and I quote, “Our people.” She also needs to read the Constitution and see just who runs the show in the United States. Since she is down in the polls for re-election I would say she should read the Constitution a couple of times.

As the Olympics Wind Down

Just a special thank you from me, someone who has enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics over the decades, and congratulations to all of you who participated. Over the next four years I am going to have to brush up on the rule book for Curling, something that I just do not understand AT ALL (I actually can follow Cricket easier than Curling), but other than that flaw in my knowledge base it was a blast.

This morning in the Wall Street Journal a writer named Hannah Karp wrote about how it would be great if the Olympics gave medals for losing and mentioned which countries have finished last in the medal count over the years. She picked on in particular, a Polish female speedskater, calling her and her fellow countrymen 'laggards' who should get medals for last place. She then wrote, "There are growing numbers of Olympic fans who feel that winning is overrated." Aside from Ms. Karp being slapped by General Patton or screamed at by Vince Lombardi in years past let us analyze the Olympic winners and losers and what they have in common.

First, let us look at the total number of athletes participating compared to the total population of each of the countries those athletes represent. Just the fact that they are the BEST in their country and are sent to represent that country on a worldwide stage is a great accomplishment. Participating is great, and winning is even better. There was a country that not too long ago finished close to the bottom in the medal standings in the winter olympics but athletes from that country still competed and improved and eventually that country moved its way up the medals count with the efforts of Bonnie Blair, Tara Lapinski, Bode Miller, Eric Heiden, Tommy Moe, Bill Johnson, Kristy Yamaguchi, the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team, and countless others that trained and gave their sport all the time and effort that they had. Until the author of this article can go out and compete shoulder to shoulder with the Polish speedskater the author choose to mock at the beginning of this article she should think about whether she is competent enough in any sport to compete at a worldwide level in that sport - then maybe she could write intelligently about the athletes competing in the Olympics right now. And perhaps Ms. Karp should watch as Justyna Kowalczyk skis the 15K cross country race before she discounts Poland as a country of worthwhile competitors.

A Prediction

I believe that the federal government is going to start investigating Ford, Nissan, Honda and any other competitors to General Motors and Chrylser, using the Toyota gas pedal problem as an excuse. This is how the federal government runs business - through sneaky, shady dealings. This is not how businesses are run in this country. This is not how the free market works. Will this force consumers to buy GM products? No, it is just going to make people angrier than they already are. The federal government needs to grow up and act like adults, not vengeful children.

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I didn't have long to wait - it was announced this afternoon on ABC News that the U.S. government regulatory group that keeps track of public safety will be investigating suppliers to Ford, Nissan, and Honda. No mention investigating General Motors and Chrysler.

Who Says Politicians Aren't Rational?

Here is a toast to that gentleman of the House of Representatives Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio. He truly believes that the We the People need to have information put into "simple words that we can understand."

Next thing you know he is going to say that a fairness doctrine needs to be re-instituted so that Americans can receive the right information over the airwaves. Oh, wait a minute he already said that - just a few days ago.

Here are some more of his simple words, and I quote, “It is the Government’s job to put America back to work.”

Why shouldn’t the government put America back to work? Politicians would run the government, which would be running the government running the business…

Will Rogers once said, "I don't make jokes, I just watch the government and report the facts."