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Who Cares?

By John Riley

Try to read the Bill below.  Is there any wonder government works (or doesn't) the way it should on behalf of the citizens as it was intended to?  WHY? Very few average citizens even care, THAT'S WHY!

Very few citizens know what is going on in their LOCAL government, much less in their state capitals or Washington!!  As a result, it only gets worse from here on out.  Policy decisions are more and more convoluted and common sense is nearly non-existent!

But so what!  It's only our tax dollars (and the massive amount of debt piled up on us and our future generations as far as the eye can see) that pays for more and more nonsense.

Reasonable people would have said NO MORE a long time ago.

Apathy and thus Government itself have a solid hold on the citizens now, and we are no longer reasonable people as a whole.  We buy every slick gizmo and gadget (or policy decision) known to modern man, and we are afraid to demand our money back on bad merchandise or even fraudulent deals dished out by "our government".  Our government is out of control (the slave HAS become the master), and we are numb. 

We will certainly deserve what we get, and get what we deserve and our children and grandchildren will be stuck with the bill to pay for the mess AND the bill to clean it up.  And we wave our flags and call ourselves "proud Americans"? 

Being "proud" of what our nation once was while we allow it to be systematically distorted and destroyed is nothing to be proud of.  Let's be honest, we as a nation no longer honor our country nor our freedom and liberty as previous generations did. WE TOOK IT ALL FOR GRANTED!  Most of what goes on today would have never happened if we had REALLY cared. 

We "pledge allegiance to the flag" AND "to the REPUBLIC for which it stands" and care not as our republic morphs into the "democracy" our founding fathers feared and tried to warn us against.  Oaths of office are hollow and un-enforced while the UN becomes more of an influence on our nation than its own citizens. Our Constitution is ignored, and we lose more and more of our "Bill of Rights" as we scurry around in pursuit of worthless paper (and now digital) dollars when in fact no fiat currency in the history of the world has ever survived. 

Many work hard for their political party and not for our nation!

And we call ourselves "proud Americans"!  Proud of what?  What we once were, or what we are today and will be tomorrow as a result of inaction, ignorance and apathy?  Are we proud that we have been foolish beyond belief? 

When the Republic unravels and fails, it certainly won't be the first time in history that one has!  History DOES repeat itself when people don't learn from (or they forget) history.  And it sure won't be an easy task for our grandchildren to recover from our foolishness. May God grant them the knowledge, wisdom and strength to overcome it!   

Skies don't fall, but republics do!

JR

----- Original Message -----

From: D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

To: jriley8609@msn.com

Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2006 2:07 PM

Subject: The Salvador Dali Rule

D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

THE SALVADOR DALI RULE:

Yesterday we celebrated our first victory in the House -- the passage of a rule about how Congress would vote on the so-called lobbying reform bill. This rule prevented amendments to the bill and gave us hope that Downsize DC could escape burdensome new regulations. But we couldn't figure out the impact of the rule just by reading it. We needed people who understand Congress-speak to interpret it for us.

Yesterday we gave you a link to go read the rule for yourself, so you could see how convoluted and confusing it is. Predictably, given how Congress seems to do everything, the link didn't work. So today, for your amusement, horror, befuddlement, and maybe even enlightenment, we provide the text of the rule here.

You will notice two things about it. 1) Readings of the bills are constantly waved (we need the Read the Bills Act!). 2) The language about amendments to the bill is extremely confusing, convoluted, and seemingly contradictory. Salvador Dali could have written it. See if you can understand it . . .

"Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4975) to provide greater transparency with respect to lobbying activities, and for other purposes. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their designees. After general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. In lieu of the amendments recommended by the Committees on the Judiciary, Rules, and Government Reform now printed in the bill, the amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the Rules Committee Print dated April 21, ! 2006, modified by the amendment printed in part A of the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as adopted in the House and the Committee of the Whole. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment and shall be considered as read. Notwithstanding clause 11 of rule XVIII, no further amendment to the bill, as amended, shall be in order except those printed in part B of the report of the Committee on Rules. Each further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. All points of order against such further amendm! ents are waived. At the conclusion of consideration of the bil! l for am endment the Committee shall rise and report the bill, as amended, to the House with such further amendments as may have been adopted. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions."

I don't know about you, but I just reread that and I'm laughing my head off. I also feel inspired to send another message to Congress asking them to . .

PASS THE "READ THE BILLS ACT"

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