--- On Fri, 7/4/08, Denys Beauchemin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Not to worry, if BO gets elected, we will soon reach your prices and
probably go higher.  When the infants got back in control of Congress gas
prices surged.
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My brother in law, who is in the entertainment business in Hollywood/LA and
is of course a liberal/Democrat, has told me I'm one of the few people he
can actually have a political discussion with that doesn't end up being a
yelling match with everyone involved pissed off at each other. I respect
that and appreciate his opinions, even if we don't agree on some things. He
asked me in one discussion if I had ever thought I was more a Libertarian
than anything else - I probably am.

Having said the above, I'd rather have the Republicans in charge of Congress
and spending too much money and a reasonably decent economy that is growing,
than the Democrats and a lousy heading to worse economy with them still
spending too much money and promising more of the same. Keeping in mind of
course that the money the politicians are spending is either our money or
borrowed, and the payments on that borrowed money will be on the shoulders
of the next generations for multiple decades.

The power of the purse is also the power to destroy, and destroy from
within. If one takes an objective look at the money spent by Congress each
year and searches to find authorization in the U.S. Constitution, I would
hazard to guess there's precious little beyond tariffs on imported goods and
providing for the common defense, and the regulation of commerce between the
States.

The Presidential Impoundment Act, vetoed by Nixon and passed into law by
Congress overriding Nixon's veto dictates that the President cannot prevent
money from being spent that Congress has authorized. Deficit spending is the
fault of the Congress, not the President and is the source of a good deal of
ire that blame is not properly laid where it belongs.

I lived in D.C. when the debates were going on in the House and Senate about
the Impoundment Act, and attended some of those sessions in the House and
Senate. It was engrossing to see how offended individual members of Congress
(on both sides of the aisle) were that the President would dare to impound
funds allocated and authorized by Congress. The pervasive attitude was
Congress was the King, and the President merely the bookkeeper.

I've also personally seen Senator Ted Kennedy drunk on the floor of the
Senate, but that's an issue for another discussion.

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