Friday...Finally

This certainly has been a long week, hasn't it? I think it's the time change, or the fact that we have a 3-day weekend. I'm still not used to going to work in the daylight, things look so weird. I guess I shouldn't get used to it, in a short time we'll be coming to work and leaving work in the dark.

Weekend Plans
This long weekend is not shaping up into too busy a weekend, I don't have much planned...yet. Tonite is 'King John' at the Tavern, Sunday I'm going to dinner at a co-workers house, Monday I'm meeting a friend for breakfast/lunch and I'm cleaning. I'm going to touch-up the paint in my 'craft' room (I've decided to leave it the color I painted it, just get new curtains) and clean toilets. WoooHooo. There may be a nice hike to take on Saturday, I'll look into that.

Thoughts
President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Develoment Act was over ridden by Congress. The Bill calls for more funding for the Army Corps of Engineers and Bush called it 'too expensive'. This entire scenario brings up several 'issues':

1) Funding for the Army Corps of Engineer. IMHO, this value of this group is questionable. They seem to have done as much harm as good. Take the 'fixing' of the Everglades, for instance. They installed a series of canals and such to keep South Florida from flooding so much, and in the process seriously harmed the Everglades and are spending more money to 'fix' that problem. And they keep dumping all of Atlanta's drinking water to keep some mussels alive.

2) Line Item Veto - This tool has been debated for decades. Governor's have this tool, the President should also have this tool. When a Senator presents a bill to be voted on, while it's still in a committee, other senators can tack small spending addendums to this bill. The Senate and the President can only approve the Entire Bill or reject the Entire Bill. (This says it all !) A Line Item Veto will allow the president to approve or reject certain portions of the bill. This will reduce 'pork barrel' spending . In '96 Clinton was given this tool for a short while, until Rudy Giuliani, as Mayor of New York, sued the government over some items Clinton vetoed. As long as each party doesn't allow the other party this tool, we will never get anywhere.

3) President Bush's Domestic policy. Does he even have one? He's vetoed 3 bills his entire term, 2 of them dealing with domestic spending. (The 3rd one dealing with setting a troop withdrawal date for Iraq, but that's another rant. ) I think he could at least used a more descriptive term to describe why he vetoed it: It was too expensive. This coming from the President that has gotten us $9 TRILLION in debt, with the second highest amount going to the Defense Department. (Do a Google search on 'National Debt' and there are a lot of cool pages, a lot of it non-partisan)

The man who shot George Wallace will be released from prison this week. Arthur Bremer who shot Wallace in 1972 in Laurel, MD at a political rally is being released on good behavior after serving 53 years. Yes, I remember when Wallace was shot. I didn't really comprehend what was happening, but I remember my Dad was crying. (He was a big Wallace fan. I really don't want to go there.) In some ways, I feel for this guy. He could be shot by some crazy White Supremecist now (and probably will. Can you say 'Hold a grudge'?) . Would that be justice? Justice has already been served, in some ways. This guy shot and wounded Wallace and left him in a wheel-chair, all over Wallace's civil rights beliefs. To shoot someone over their political views is stupid, to shoot someone for any reason is stupid. And no one has the right to condem someone to a wheel-chair for life, regardless of your political or social views. So what is justice in this case?

The body of a taxi driver was found in his cab in neighborhood near mine. I'm thinking getting some decorative bars and putting on my windows. That still won't stop bullets....

On a brigher note, Have a Great weekend!

More to come...
As things happen, I'll be posting. Thanks for taking the time to read. You're opinions are welcome but if you have to start calling me names, don't bother, I won't read them. As my Dad says 'Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one.'