Representative Weller: Man of Principle

Friends,

Okay, so that whole bail out failed in the U.S. House of Representatives. Why? From the sound of it, sounds like people just don't trust George Bush so much as to tell them the weather outside right now, or a bunch of Republicans got their feelings hurt by that mean ole Nancy Pelosi. So, how will this be spun into a political platitude to be repeated ad naseum? Probably something about Main Street or Wall Street...whatever, just if I wind up picking grapes in California, I'm gonna be pissed. You better be right, Congressman. You damn well better be right.

I don't fully understand the ramifications of the collapse of the credit market, but when I start hearing people smarter than me talking about a looming Depression, even if it is crazy Jimmy Cramer, I start to get nervous because, well, I don't want to stand in line for bread. I don't want to stand in line for soup. I don't ever want to think of what I have now as "the good times." I just think that whatever tax burden we would have to endure to dodge a Depression-sized bullet we should take on, partisan bickering aside.

I also think this points to something else that's bugged me about politics is career politicians. According to that NY Times article it seemed like a lot of people were more afraid of getting re-elected than making the right choice. What kind of shit is that? They are elected to serve the country not to keep their jobs. It's not like their only other option for employment is fucking Kinko's or answering telephones. Just, again, they better be right.

This made me look at the people who voted tally that C-SPAN puts together (take a look of the title of this bill, by the way and if it makes any sense to have that, unless C-SPAN made a mistake). And checking it out, first off, my man Tim Walz (D-MN) voted against this, which surprised me a little. And impish Dennis Kucinich (D-Hot Wife) voted against it, too. Probably, as they'll say, because it didn't help Main Street, which I'm not even sure what that means. I don't think government action can order Ma and Pa to open a goddamn ice cream parlor in down town Pleastantiville USA in the first place. And hell, come on, Walz, you represent the district were Main Street was written for fucks sake. Anyway, sorry. I don't know why I'm acting like I know what I'm talking about here, except that, apparently, this thing was supposed to stop an economic depression, they didn't vote for it, and the best reasoning I've heard is, "doesn't help Main Street" which gives me no hope that this was done for any logical reasoning.

So, what really makes me scratch my head is that one represenative, just one, abstained from voting for this. Barring anything terror-related in the coming months, this is the biggest political event outside of the election this year, and one guy, one brave soul from Illinois decided he'd rather have a chili dog than make a stand one way or the other. That man is Congressman Jerry Weller, 11th District of Illinois. Take a bow, Jerry. You saw the coming avalanche, smelled the fire smoldering, heard the man choking at the table behind you and heroically thought, "Hmm. Let's see how this plays out."

viva el mustache