Congress Fiddles While America Burns

I am scratching my head lately at what Congress calls productivity. I question their priorities.

Here are some things that I am thinking our leaders should be working on:

1) Our educational system - other countries are investing in their youth while our schools are crumbling and closing. A recent educational ranking put our kids at 18th in the world. 18th? We're spending billions in Iraq and our kids are not the #1 on the list?
2) Savings - the government has to give us a "stimulus package" so that we can pump more money into the economy? Where is the "savings package?" The majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Very different than 50 years ago...
3) The housing market - Foreclosure rates are up 40-50 % in the past year, much due to unscrupulous bankers feasting on a hot market and the naivety of some.
4) Credit - The average American has approximately $9000 of credit card debt; and no savings. You think the mortgage crisis is bad, just wait until this one falls out. The mortgage bankers will look like saints to the credit card companies.
5) Eating Habits - Americans are digging their graves with their mouths; eating the crappiest food ever made on earth. If you want to get a idea of how some restaurants are slowly killing us, read this article from MSNBC called "The 16 Secrets the Restaurant Industry doesn't Want You to Know" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22220895/ It is a SCARY.
6) Behind bars - Did you know that now 1 out of every 100 Americans is behind bars? Annual prison spending went from $11 billion to $49 billion in 2 decades. This is called a "clue" that something is fundamentally wrong with our society.

We need leaders that will attack these issues with vigor and repair the heart and soul of America.

And here is what they are currently working on:

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By RICHARD SANDOMIR and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTPublished: February 28, 2008

WASHINGTON — A Congressional committee asked the Justice Department on Wednesday to investigate whether Roger Clemens made false statements under oath about his suspected use of steroids and human growth hormone, strengthening the possibility that he could be charged with perjury.


Now, not to knock baseball. It's a great sport. One of my favorite childhood memories is meeting Hank Aaron in Atlanta and having my photo taken with him.

But let's call baseball what it is - a game. It's a game where men are dressed up in cute little uniforms, take a piece of wood and try to hit a ball with it.

Now I ask you, why the hell is Congress spending valuable time investigating baseball players?! Did I miss learning about the baseball branch of government when I was growing up?

Once again, God Bless baseball, but if the game were to stop forever tomorrow, America would be bummed, but we would go on. We would not shut down and the American way would not collapse.

My point is that Congress has many other priorities to work on. Our country is a freight train heading for God knows what and our leaders are interrogating Roger Clemens?

The spirit of Nero is living in Washington.