A Good Dose of Andy Griffith is What the Doctor Ordered!

I like to watch a lot of 1950, 1960 and 1970 TV shows. I probably catch 3 or 4 reruns of the Andy Griffith show every week. The show last night really "struck a chord" with me. It made me think of more innocent times; a time when neighbors really cared about each other. With today's "toxic mortgage" discussion in the background, this show really drew my attention.

In the episode; a local Mayberry family is going through some tough times and is going to have their mortgage foreclosed by the "Scrooge" like character, Ben Weaver, who owns Weaver's Department Store. Of course, Sheriff Taylor has to serve the papers on this family that is an important part of the community. The family; down on their luck had a few children, not 14 children like "Octomom".

While the community worked on ways to assist the family, Andy was faced with a dilemma. It was his responsibility to serve the foreclosure papers. He was deeply concerned because the Ben Weaver character only wanted to foreclose so he could build a new factory. Andy knew the law and as we all know, had unique ways to walk around it when it involved people. Andy reasoned that the law required the homeowner to have full knowledge of the foreclosure action; therefore, if he stole his friends glasses, he would be unable to read the foreclosure documents. Of course, Andy stole the glasses and the foreclosure action was delayed long enough to find a resolution. That resolution involved shaming the Ben Weaver character into giving the good folks some more time to settle their debt. In the end, the factory took a back seat.

Wow! What a powerful message. People are given a break and can stay in their homes; and, this is more important than the new factory. Whenever I hear political pundits referring to those that have "toxic" mortgages as "losers", I am disgusted by their attitude. Every Mayberry loving American should be disgusted too.

Sheriff Taylor and Aunt Bea didn't consider those people losers. Heck; they didn't consider Otis Campbell to be a loser. Everyone in the community was important. Where have those times gone? We all accepted and loved the message back in the 1960s. Why do we have to listen to the hatred spewed forth on talk radio against some people that have been eaten up in this economy?

I think each and every American needs another good dose of Andy Griffith, Mayberry and the values of true patriots. During the election, I had a nice dose of the old Andy Griffith and the, now old, Ron Howard. If you want to see how these men have responded to today's politics during the election of 2008, follow the link (click here).

I'll continue to watch the Andy Griffith Show to regain my balance from today's "talking heads" that don't know what they are saying. By the way, Andy did return his friend's glasses. We all should have the vision of Sheriff Taylor.

tomtoak

Defining Stupid

I need to define stupid. I'm looking for just the right words here, so bear with me while I think out loud; idiotic, dumb, unconscionable, imbecilic, putrid, unintelligent, thick, witless, dopey, brainless, daft, mindless, laughable, puerile, asinine, irresponsible, senseless, short-sighted, ill-advised, fatuous, half-baked, inane, crack-brained, Governors of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina, and Idaho. I'll go with the Governors of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho. Crack-brained is a nice touch though!

You see, these great leaderes are the ones that want to turn down that horrible economic stimulus money; that's right, the crack-brained Republican Governors of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho. I hope the voters in these states take note. Remember, they are all Republicans.

Of course, it's all posturing and I'm sure that they will not become all of the things I listed above; or will they? I'm not taking bets on this one folks. To hear them talk, they seem to be covering all of the "stupid" bases! Stupid is what crack-brains do.

Hats off to the other Republican Governors that supported the President. Maybe your crack-brained friends will turn down the money and your states can benefit significantly by receiving additional resources. Governor Carcieri; you escaped this one. At least you're not talking about turning down the help that Rhode Island so desperately needs. You should have supported the President though. Funny thing here; I just found out that our Governor is on a week's vacation.

Blog On

Stimulus Bill Passes as Boehner Whines

Thanks to the Democrats and 3 brave Republicans, the stimulus package made it through Congress to the President's desk. Republican John Boehner of Ohio, the House Minority Leader, threw a tantrum of sorts by dropping the entire bill on the floor and expressing his outrage at his fellow legislators. This is what he had to say last night as reported by multiple sources; "The bill that was about jobs, jobs, jobs has turned into a bill that's about spending, spending, spending".
This is the very same John Boehner that said the bill was too large to read. Do you think he actually read the bill so that he could comment on it?

Here's another little fun story about John Boehner that may shed some light on how he operates when dealing with the people's business. In a Gannett News Service story from March 20, 2007, Nicole Gaudiano reports about Boehner's appointments to key Congressional committees. The issue concerned the appointment of Maryland Republican Wayne Gilchrest to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. It seems that Boehner would not appoint anyone to the committee unless they deny that humans are responsible for climate change. The following exchange was reported in the article; "I said, 'John, I can't do that' " Gilchrest, R-1st-Md,. said in an interview. "He said, 'Come on. Do me a favor. I want to help you here' "

No moderate Republicans or science-minded members were appointed to this key science committee by Boehner. Do you now think that Republicans can effectively lead this Country - find solutions to our energy problems - work towards cleaning the environment and solving our Nation's most critical challenges? With Boehner's leadership, no they can not. Boehner is wrong, wrong, wrong.

We need politicians that are willing to debate issues and arrive at solutions together. When you have a John Boehner that tries to close the dialogue at the start, you have lost the ability to govern effectively. Mr. Boehner, you are the idiot of the day.

Blog On

Republicans Still Don't Get It

On today's "Meet The Press" I had to listen to Republican Senator John Ensign from Nevada whine about the stimulus package before the Senate. What really gets to me is when Republicans throw out information that purports to be fact, when actually, they are being dishonest. I guess you could say they are lying to the American people. Ensign said today: "Economists are saying this stimulus plan is a disaster" Now I don't doubt that Senator Ensign found an economist to say something close to this. Let's look at the broader facts.

In Today's Washington Post, this is what was said in this regard: "...an overwhelming number from both parties are saying that a government stimulus package -- even a flawed one -- is urgently needed to help prevent a steeper slide in the economy." They are talking about economists here. The article went on to say: "Many economists say the precise size and shape of the package developing in Congress matter less than the timing, and that any delay is damaging".

In fact, of the few economists that opposed the stimulus, some of them are changing their position because the Federal Reserve Board has no more room to drop interest rates. Also reported in the article was a statement that alluded to the Senate changes: "Most economists agree that the Senate alterations in the plan would undermine stimulus aims". The change that I am most concerned about is the removal of a significant portion of stimulus aid to the states.

During this crisis, the country has lost 3.5 million jobs to date with half of that occurring in the past 3 months. January saw a decline of 600,000 jobs. That's 20,000 jobs lost each day. What the hell are the Republicans thinking? It would be quite the spectacle to see a Republican filibuster. As they blabber away, each hour almost 1000 jobs would be lost. Maybe its time to watch them blabber? If I did not care so much for the people affected, I would say blab on.

It will be interesting to watch this play out as the Republicans are removing aid to their own states. I hope they are walking into a disaster. It would be a disaster of their own making. How can they deny the needs of their own states? Voters take note! Nineteen Republican governors were calling for this much needed aid while their Senators play politics as usual. They are denying their own Republican governors? There is only one word to sum up most Republican legislators at this point in time: disgusting.

Unfortunately, the Senate changes probably won't mean much in Rhode Island as we have a governor that does not believe in putting anyone to work. He would take the stimulus money and find a way to give it all away. What do you want to bet that we will be bailing our Twin Rivers. Rhode Island has to be the only state that has backed a casino. Carcieri's policies have lead to the worst decline in employment this state has seen in decades. He talks a good game of putting the private sector to work, but he has been a dismal failure in this regard. He certainly won't go out an hire public employees because his vision is to dismantle public service. I take that back, he may give his favorite cronies a state job at $150k per year, but nothing for the rank and file. You know, the real people that get things done. Walk on Steve Cass!!

Blog On