Where's The Pork?

I got an e-mail from a man I used to work with, stating that all of the items in the stimulus bill that are going to our state are nothing but "pork". So, being the curious soul that I am, I read the list of projects set out for the state of Arkansas. There were a hundred some-odd, and, for the life of me I can't see any pork. They are all projects that will go to infrastructure, and will require hiring workers to carry them out. There are improvements or replacements of bridges, dangerous highways, lane widening or adding more lanes, all very much needed. If you have ever driven Arkansas' highways, you know what I'm talking about.

I fear that my friend and others like him have just not been listening. President Obama is starting to do everything he set out very clearly in his campaign speeches. They are the things that we elected him for. He said we were going to spend our way out of the recession, starting with infrastructure. He said he was going to address education and health care, entitlement programs and the environment, at the same time because they all depend on each other to succeed. Besides, in spite of what the Republicans think, we CAN do more than one thing at a time. We're multitaskers. Just ask anybody.

Still, we have people who are apparently thinking, "I didn't know he was going to do (THAT!") Insert whatever program you don't like.

It has been a little over a month since Pres. Obama took office, and already he has accomplished more than any single president since LBJ. Okay, Clinton did a lot of good things, but he completely muffed it on health care, dooming us to sixteen more years of higher and higher costs and coverage for fewer and fewer people. George W. Bush managed to get a deeply flawed prescription drug plan passed that helps the insurance and pharmaceutical companies a lot more than individuals. If you want to call that progress, go ahead. I won't sign up until that donut hole is plugged, and the program actually benefits me.

We have become such an impatient society, with our desire for instant gratification, that we can't seem to realize that real change, real improvement, takes time. I'm willing to wait and watch and then, after all of Obama's ideas have had time to take hold, we'll see how well (or not) they are working.

Until then, I hope he keeps going around the Washington media and taking his plan directly to the people. I'm going to read the various websites that have been developed to explain all of his plans. And, I am going to stay positive.

Stay tuned.

In Other News...

Hey, Aretha! Queen Elizabeth called. She wants to know where you got that hat, and if there's a matching purse!

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Hillary Clinton was sworn in as Secretary of State in a private ceremony last night. This morning, she greeted about 1,000 State Department employees. There will be a renewed emphasis on diplomacy, and she assured the employees that she wants their feedback, which was met with applause and a big sigh of relief.

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President Obama signed four Executive Orders this morning, making it official that the detention center at Guantanamo will be closed within a year. One of the orders did away with the torture and abuse of the detainees.

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If you want to know what President Obama has planned for other areas of interest, I urge you to go to http://www.whitehouse.gov the official website. I think you might be impressed, as I was, with how user-friendly it is, and the openness with which he sets out his plans.

No mumbo-jumbo on this site, any more. Let the sunshine in!

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Caroline Kennedy has taken her name out of consideration for Hillary Clinton's replacement in the Senate. This clears the way for Governor Patterson to appoint Andrew Cuomo to the seat, if he chooses to do so. Of course, there are other names on the short list, but by appointing Cuomo, he effectively rids himself of a powerful gubernatorial candidate in the next New York election. We'll be interested to see what he decides.

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I hope everyone is satisfied that President Obama has properly taken the Oath of Office, now. I guess I can always hope, but there will be those who will find little things to nitpick, no doubt. This afternoon, in a press conference, the Press Secretary was asked by Chuck Todd, of NBC, who should know better, if President Obama would now have to re-sign the exuctive orders that he signed before repeating the oath.

ooooh-oooh-oooh (hand in the air) Let me answer to that question. President Obama automatically and officially became the President at high noon on January 20, as set out in the Constitution. The Oath of Office is a formality, the words of which are provided in the Constitution and the do-over was an attempt to satisfy the media and those who were nattering away, mindlessly, about the snafu made by the Chief Justice.

By the way, don't you think it's odd that some people would be such sticklers about the mis-placement of a word, and yet those same people never utter a sound about the addition of four words, "so help me God" that are not present in the Constitution's version? I'm just sayin'.

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President Obama will be allowed to keep his precious blackberry, but with some rather stringent restrictions. Another little problem solved.


Stay tuned.