*I'm liking the bailout plan they were floating on the Daily Show last week. Instead of showering money on wasteful and badly run banks to help them acquire healthy ones, it would be better to buy up the mortgages and the consumer debt. This still gives money to the banks, but it applies it directly to the people losing their houses and frees up consumers to spend again, helping the economy. The debt could then be moved from high interest to low interest debt which people could pay back the way they do student loans. It directly helps working and middle class people and still keeps the banks from folding. Again, I'm not angry at the ordinary workers at these institutions, but the upper management who think it's okay to buy expensive corporate retreats on tax payer money and such.

*Can someone explain to me why hiring people to rebuild crumbling schools is wasteful? The schools need rebuilding and construction pays well for the workers doing it? Why is this being labeled pork? I've taught in crumbling rabbit warrens where it's too loud from the crowding for people to hear. I've had to stop teaching because the heating system pipes were banging too loud. I've had no heat. I've had rooms with not enough chairs and desks in a school with flaking paint and half the lockers they needed. I've had kids complain because they never got to do real science experiments because the school was only budgeting $400.00 a year for 180 kids to have 180 days of science classes. You do the math. Ever teach in a portable on a hot day when the manure from neighboring farms filled the air with a certain not so special something? This isn't waste. This is investing in the future while making jobs today. same with renovating federal buildings to make them energy efficient, jobs today, money and fuel saved tomorrow. It's not pork; it's really good planning.