Thursday, February 5, 2009

A Civics Lesson

I'm sure many of you must wonder, "How did katdish get so darned smart?" Okay, so maybe not, but cut me some slack, I'm trying to introduce a blog post, here. I don't know what kind of learner I am, but I know that if you put something in the form of a catchy song, I'm very likely to remember it. I owe much to Schoolhouse Rock, including acing my 12th grade government exam where we had to write out the preamble to the Constitution. Does anyone remember that one? Very catchy indeed.

So anyway, I make a concerted effort not to discuss politics on this blog. I have already broken one of two of the rules about never discussing religion and politics. But this stimulus package is really astounding me. How can you spend your way out of debt? Why do I have to be fiscally responsible, but Washington wants to act like Amelda Marcos on a shoe shopping spree? Here's my basic understanding of how a bill becomes a law:



Well, comparatively speaking, judging by the size of that little bill sitting on the steps on the capitol building, I imagine the president's stimulus bill would equate to something like this:



Or maybe that's just representative of the collective egos of our elected officials. (Sorry about the s-bomb in there, btw.)

21 comments:

Sherri Murphy said...

I think I will send a letter to Wahington. I persoanlly have tried spending my way out of debt...it didn't work. But I have a shoe collection Amelda Marcos would salivate over! (Mine were all off the clearance racks, of course).
I for one, would much rather have a governemnt not teetering on Depression, rather than walking around in some great "shoes".
(That I personally "footed" the bill for!)
Although, if the shoes were given some guidelines and forced to walk in the right direction, I wouldn't mind so much.

Beth in NC said...

I'm with you! And I'd be in trouble if it weren't for Schoolhouse Rock growing up! For instance: A noun is a person, place, or thing. OR Conjunction junction, what's your function? Hookin' up clauses and makin' them run right! OR When you skate a figure eight ... I could go on, but I'll spare you.

Seriously, God help this country and surround Obama with some people HEARING FROM THE LORD.

katdish said...

Sherri - you could appear before a senate committee and tell them the dangers of certain types of footwear.

Beth in NC - Schoolhouse Rocks rocks! I still find myself singing those songs. I have them on DVD and CD, but my kids don't seem to enjoy them as much as I did. Darned cable tv blinded them to true art!

P.S. - I lived in Charlotte from kindergarten to 2nd grade.

Stephanie Wetzel said...

Dude, why are you the ONLY blogspot blogger with the wonky layout? Your post today is actually appearing in two columns.

For someone who makes so much fun of sherri for her linking disability, you'd think you'd have a pretty blog.

I'm just sayin.

Oh yeah. And I think the stimulus is hooey.

BTW, where's the s-bomb you dropped? I'm so disappointed that I missed it!

WV: awsly
New slang for awesomely. All the cool kids are saying it.

Helen said...

For people who want the "rich" to pay more taxes, there sure are a lot of Dems coming out of the woodwork who did not pay theirs. Yeah, I know, mistakes happen. But $100,000 mistakes? Someone suggeste in the letters to the editor section at the Sun-times yesterday that they just do a legislature lottery for cabinet positions. Once it is announced, they will be scrambling to pay their back taxes before they have to worry about being vetted, and then we could use that money that never otherwise would have gotten paid for a stimulus package.
And that was the best idea for a stimulus package I read. Yeah, sometimes sarcastic ideas really are the best ones...

Anonymous said...

It happened again. Poor Helen! Why is she always the victim of these technical malfunctions?

jasonS said...

I definitely don't understand the logic of all this. I guess that's why I pray, pray, pray and send letters when I can.

wv: enerr- a new fragrance by Calvin Klein.

Ryan B said...

I love Schoolhouse Rock. I would have no idea what a part of speech was without it. Conjunction junction, what's your function?

Tony C said...

Wow...we actually learned something on Saturday mornings back in the day.

I had to go to Conjunction Junction and watch too.

Good memories.

Anonymous said...

I don't watch the news much so thanks for bringing me up to date!

Anonymous said...

I LOVED that little bill clip. I was hoping that he would be a law by the end! Yessssss....

[I kind of figured he would, since it was the whole school buses stopping at railroads thing and they totally do that (which actually is pretty annoying, but that's beside the point). And, I was imagining fourth graders across the country pulling for this sad, little guy. Schoolhouse Rock wouldn't have wanted to let the kids down. Therefore, I concluded that he would become a law. But, I was still a little worried that I would be wrong. I didn't want him to die. He waited so long.]

Beth said...

You're right! I saw on the news tonight that the economic stimulus bill is like 900 pages long. Some of our lovely elected officials could hardly pick it up! One guy was ripping pages from it and I l had to laugh...

katdish said...

Steph - Why ya gotta be a Blogger hater? Personally, I think it's your computer. I see no such anomoly on my computer screen.

Helen - your brain is showing again.

Clyde - have we met?

Jason S. - you are like some kind of word verification ninja.

Ryan/Tony - yeah, love that conjunction, conjunction what's your function? hooking up words and phrases and clauses. I could recite that whole thing. Hmmm....

Pete - you were aware that we have a new president, right?

Angela - well, as long as you didn't overanalyze it or anything. Because that would be so unlike you...

Beth - dang, I missed that! That would be hilarious!

Anonymous said...

Can you imagine the smore you'd make with the stay puff marshmallow man? (sorry - unrelated to the actual bill at hand...but I can't think of anything tasty from that!)

WF-woliz - the special socks that you wear with the snuggy (or slanket)
-Tamara

Jeff said...

oops - typo...I meant wv...not wf ...I'm new at this blogging thing
-Tam

Anonymous said...

aacckkk....I didn't mean to publish under Jeff....the pressure's too much...must stop....sigh


wv:gacke - how I feel right now

Duke of Perukenstuke said...

Anonymous, I have accidently posted under my husband's google signature so many times, I now sometimes post as Notbob. It happens...

Anonymous said...

And I didn't even mean to be ironic...

katdish said...

Ooooo, Tam! Very nice word ferification! (really) I'm impressed.

P.S. - You crack me up.

P. P. S. - You too, NotBob

Anonymous said...

You mean I shouldn't try to spend my way out of trouble?

But every time I buy something with my credit card, I end up with more money in there! (at least, the balance is higher so I assume that means I have more money!)

Anonymous said...

I'm having trouble connecting the dots between the Bill and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Is the Marshmallow Man's name Bill? Is Bill Murray the little Bill on the steps and not the roof?

Do I need to go back to bed and just start over again?

(Yeah, the whole spending package thing is beyond my ken. Are we doomed?)