Congress Votes to Increase Member's Petty Cash Account by $93,000!

After shaming the CEO and Presidents of the Big 3 auto manufacturers for taking private jets to Washington to attend hearings, blasting the oil companies for huge profits while Americans suffer unders high gas prices and berating executives for taking large bonuses, the Congress has the nerve to vote themselves a $93,000 increase in their petty cash accounts.

According to Congress, they need the money in order to stay in contact with their constituency. I have added the video from Fox News that broke the news for your convenience. Currently, they receive $1.3 to $1.6 million already and Senators receive almost twice as much.

I guess we should be happy that it was only a $93,000 increase in the petty cash. All Americans are cutting back on spending and reducing their household budgets. Congress is once again proving to the American people that they have a separate standard. "Do as I say, not as I do" is their motto.

My wife works for a private Christian school and some of the families have had to leave due lay-offs and the downturn in the economy. These parents wanted a Christian-based education for their children and now they are forced to take them out of school and place them in public school.

So, we all need to tighten our belts more so that Congress can have more money to increase petty cash and spend more money on pet projects and pork.

With no job and 5 kids, 'better to end our lives,' man wrote

Once again, unemployment takes its toll on the American family. This time the toll was quite costly. A man killed his wife, 5 children and then himself. Ervin Antonio Lupoe faxed a letter to a Los Angeles television station, KABC, detailing his problems and hopelessness. Mr. Lupoe concludes his letter by saying the following:

"Is there no hope for a widow's son?"

Is there no hope for anyone during these tough times? The government says that they are working on it. Companies are showing no confidence in the economy and laying off more and more people. This week alone companies announced 70,000 more job cuts with more on the way. No one has any confidence in our system and things are looking like they are getting worse.

Gas prices are on the rise again. People are facing uncertainty at every turn and no one really seems to care. In a few weeks, we will forget about Mr. Lupoe and his family and go about our merry way as if nothing happened until we see another tradegy occur.

When will this end? When will we as a nation come to the aid of other people? This should not have happened. We all are to blame for this man's actions. According to counselors at a Los Angeles suicide call-in center, they say many of the calls they're getting these days are about lapsed health insurance, foreclosures, bank problems and unemployment benefits.

I, too, face the same things as well. Since I'm a type 2 diabetic, no, and I do mean NO, insurance company is willing to even touch me. They push me back to the state to the high risk pool with premiums so high I can't even consider paying. My COBRA benefits are a joke. They will only cover me for 60 days and after that, I will continue to pay until the money runs out.

We all are waiting for relief, but it looks like it will never come. I'm not talking about government relief. I'm talking about everyone, business and individuals, coming together and working this out. Hospitals and medical programs working together to get people the coverage they need. I guess I'm expecting way too much from people.

Did we forget about how things were? People worked together and solved problems rather than sitting around waiting for the government to move. I guess bought into the lie that the government is here to help us. All I know is that the government has no problem helping itself to the cash in my wallet.

More Lay-Offs Ahead

According to an article by Reuters, 70,000 people in the United States and Europe will have their lives turned upside down. After having the employment rug pulled out from under me, I am finding it more and more difficult to find a job in this market.

I have seen a number of job postings frozen or removed. Some employers are no longer hiring and they all say the same thing, "We don't know what the future is going to hold for us." Corporations lack confidence in the economy. I, too, lack confidence in the economy not because the outlook is bleak. My confidence is weak due to the fact that we are making the same mistakes over and over.

The governments around the world want to help, but throwing good money after bad does not make any sense whatsoever. Think about it. In most cases, we are enabling companies to continue to pay high salaries to their executives and provide them with bonuses. Companies are paying executives bonuses to lay people off in order to save the company.

In Sunday school a couple of weeks ago, a friend and member of my class, Dean, made an observation and it makes a lot of sense. When a company first gets started, they spend money to get talent and produce new products. I see the balance sheets of some companies and I am sickened by their cash reserves. I'm not asking them to spend everything, but employees and employers need to work together to keep the company moving forward. Too many people have been thrown to the curb like waste and left to fend for themselves.

As I look at the faces of individuals who show up to job fairs, I see the despair in their eyes. It is the same despair I saw in the eyes of the men photographed during the Great Depression standing in job or bread lines. There are times when I hear the song, "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?"

Woman Auctioning Off Virginity

I was reading a CNN article about a 22 year old woman in San Diego, California who is auctioning off her virginity to the highest bidder. According to the woman who goes by the name of "Natalie Dylan", she has received a bid of $3.8 million from a 39 year old man in Australia.

"Dylan" has a MySpace page and advertises herself to the world. She started the auctioning off of her virtue in September after hearing about an Italian model reportedly planning to sell her virginity for more than $1 million in September. Dylan said she was inspired by a report of a Peruvian woman who put her virginity up for sale.

She is looking at this as a good "business opportunity" and hopes to cash in big on her virtue. Dylan points out that she is pro-choice and women have a right to do whatever they want with their bodies. She admits that this is prostitution and that's the reason is using a brothel in Nevada to handle the details of this auctions. Prostitution is legal in parts of Nevada.

What has become of our society when women can auction off their virginity as a trophy to men who prize the taking of a virgin? It is a very sad commentary on how low we have sunk. I guess I live in a fool's paradise and believe that there are certain things that are sacred. But, times have changed and we see the further erosion of our society. We treat people like cattle and wonder about our inhumanity. Don't you see the irony? We barely know our next door neighbors yet we know more about the people halfway around the world who are suffering. Our neighbors could be suffering from the loss of a loved one or from cancer. We just don't take time for them. But, we have all of the time to look overseas to find out about them.

I believe we need to start at home first. Get to know your neighbor. Reach out to him. It is a simple start. If we cared more about others, then they would care more for themselves. Didn't Christ say something about that? Yes, He did. Look at Matthew 22:37-40. Here it is for your convenience.

37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

In verse 40, Christ points out that if we follow the two laws that he has given us, everything falls into place for us and everything must hang on these. Think about it today.

Ethics in America: What Happend?

I was reading an article about the ethics crisis in America reported by by Carey Gillam in Kansas City with additional reporting by Ed Stoddard in Dallas and editing by Eddie Evans.

The article discussed the two many things that has caused our economy to fall and our lives to just fall apart. I think you already know the first one. I keep mentioning it over and over in my blog entries. Yes, greed. According to the article, "greed and lack of accountability are blamed for the suffocating personal debt borne by millions of Americans and the toxic financial products that led to the decline of several U.S. banks and brokerages."

We have gone too far, ladies and gentlemen. Our entire economy has one basis and that is trust. Trust in our banks. Trust in our reserve system. Trust in our mortgages. Each one of these things requires trust. When you abuse that trust, the economy begins to fall apart. We can no longer trust our relationships with banks and the like. What has happened?

President Obama said it best during his inauguration address. He said, "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

What new age is he talking about? As I write my blog entry, I have a stock ticker running on my PC to watch what the market is doing. If someone says the wrong thing or a scandal is announced, the market reacts with lightning speed. I have seen stocks drop a large part of its value with hours due to issues. If we have no trust in our economy, do you honestly believe that it will rebound? If we continue to be greedy, do you honestly believe that it will rebound? I think we all know the answers to these two questions.

Stock Market Below 8000

The Dow Jones dropped 332 points and closed below 8,000 points today due to the losses reported by the banks. The Royal Bank of Scotland's forecast that its losses for 2008 could top $41.3 billion. OUCH!

Normally, when a new President takes his oath of office, there is much rejoicing. The stock markets usually rebound a bit and there is optimism in the air. Not today for President Obama. I think one article that I read summed it up best, "Stocks, Bonds Greet Obama with Bronx Cheer".

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that President Obama is not going to dedicate himself to working on this problem. I'm saying that it is going to be a hard journey for all of us. The economic downturn has been extremely painful for a lot of people. I feel for each person that I meet. I have talked with a lot of people who have lost their jobs or have problems making their bills. It tears my heart apart when I hear the stories of people who have lost so much and had so little in the first place.

As I keep saying, we got ourselves into this mess and we need to work together to get ourselves of it. It will take the efforts of each of us to make it through this tough time. If generations before us can do it, then we can do it.

Bush commutes border patrol agents' sentences

President George W. Bush, in a final act of clemency, commuted the prison sentences of two U.S. Border Patrol agents but steered clear of any high-profile pardons for former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby and others.

Bush commuted the 11-year prison sentence of Ignacio Ramos and the 12-year sentence of Jose Alonso Compean, who were tried for shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks in a case in Texas that drew widespread attention.
Click here for the complete story.

I am glad that the President granted clemency to these 2 border agents. They were tried and convicted for doing their job. I completely disagreed with the prosecuting attorney's position on this case.

Are we to simply allow people to flood across our borders and not even try to stop them? The agents got 11 and 12 years for trying to stop a known drug smuggler from coming into our country. They didn't kill him. He refused to stop and they stopped him.

President Bush, thank you for granting clemency to these two agents.