the $1.1TRILLION dollar tarp (bailout) I was against it from the start, in fact Roy Blunt voting for the first bush bailout was the genesis of my campaign to run for the 7th district seat. (even before he announced he was running for the senate)

but lets assume that the money was going to be spent regardless, instead of just handing it over to bankers and investor banks, what if we had just paid off 1/16 of all outstanding mortgages? (residential mortgages total about 16Trillion.)

$10,000 off your $160k house? wouldn't that helped a little more than what we have? the instant surge into the banks would have still happened, but consumer debt would have been reduced immediately. many people would have spent a similar amount on other items. I don't support spending all that money in the first place, but it was/is spent in the worst possible way, when it could have been done to actually help the people, not the "special people"

I took a poll on facebook the other day, "should people recieving public assistance be subject to drug testing? and denied benefits if testing positive?"

duh. I would go a step further, and have them pay back what they have recieved over time, and have a limit on having additional kids while on the dole. if they want to do drugs and birth kids they cant support, they need to find other funding sources than the hard-working taxpayers.

once upon a time, the churches fufilled this role, and they had no problem demanding behavior changes for support. and frankly, its the churches and private social groups job, not the government's job to administer aid to the poor. its the job of the government to ensure life and liberty, to allow for the pursuit of happiness, not guarantee results.

Two powerful Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they knew they got low mortgage-rate deals in a lender's VIP program but thought the special treatment was a "courtesy" or the same as "frequent flier" discounts, The Washington Times reported Wednesday.
Both vehemently denied any wrongdoing or ethical lapse in the mortgage deals, which came to light a year ago and triggered investigations by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
"I thought this was like a frequent-flier program," Sen. Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said of the special benefits. "I thought nothing of it."
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said an account executive at Countrywide Financial Corp. told him that the VIP status was "nothing more than ... courtesy stuff."
A Countrywide official who handled the loans had said that both senators knew they got preferential treatment in the form of waived fees and points that likely saved them tens of thousands of dollars. (Washington post/Fox news)

perhaps people that stupid shouldnt be serving in congress. Gee I didnt know I was getting special treatment... frequent flier? what you buy a house a week?

“I would hope that a wise Hillbilly Redneck with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a bunch of unelected lawyers and lobbyists.”

I was on the radio this past week, and was asked about my positions on farm policy. we were discussion multi-national corporations that have seed patents, and generally control our food supply. I replied that small farmers have been the backbone of our food chain for generations (duh) and that should remain so. given the limitations of spur of the moment sound bytes, I wanted to give a fuller answer. I have no problem with large corporations, as long as they act ethically and in the country's best interest. when they only pursue the bottom line, at the the expense of morals and ethics, I have a problem with that. much of the issues we face as a society have their basis in a lack of general ethics. we need a stable and safe domestic food supply. we don't need criminal aliens picking our crops and defecating in the fields causing e-coli outbreaks. we need small farmers, using traditional heritage seed (or at least having easy access to it) and those farmers sending a part of that to local retailers. there is a realistic purpose for mega-farms and multi-national food sources, we like tropical fruits and vegetables, and we need off-season food from the southern hemisphere, but we need a stable and sustainable domestic food supply first. if we were to isolate ourselves from our foreign food supply due to war or such, where would the typical city dweller get food? we used to feed the world with our excess, now we import a huge amount. why? often its the government messing with our Ag policy in ways that hurt us, but benefit some interest group. its time we had a government that looks out for us first.

I think a Hillbilly, Redneck with the wealth of all his experiences, can make a better decision than 435 lawyers and lobbyists...