CORRECTION, IT'S NOT AN OBAMA PHONE!

CORRECTION, IT'S NOT AN OBAMA PHONE

As promised when I started this blog, I will always admit it if I have posted incorrect information. I try to do extensive research and haven't had to clarify or change anything so far, but here goes my first clarification.

In my post on this subject I said I couldn't track down where this program came from. Turns out this free phone nonsense was started under Reagan (it's nonsense no matter who started it), and it has been expanded upon and changed over the years. So I apologize, it should not be called the Obama Phone. It could be called the Reagan Ringer or the Government Gabber, but no matter what it is called with a multi-trillion dollar deficit it shouldn't be happening. Cuts need to be made everywhere. We no longer have the money to frivolously spend here, there and everywhere.

One other fact? It is administered by phone companies and partially paid for by federal and state fees attached to your phone bills. So we are still footing the bill. The phone companies who administer this program? They outsource their customer service to India. Too bad that the "fees" we pay are not used to provide Americans with jobs.

Ron Kind Listening Session Today

Today I attended Kind's listening session in Hudson. He has represented the 3rd Cong. District since 1996, 13 years. During the session today he talked about earmark reform and how it is long overdue. He said Social Security adjustments have been delayed for too long. He said large corporate farmers have received most of the farm subsidies and this has to change. He said "the deficit is unsustainable." He said he supports leaving the Bush tax cuts on anyone earning over $250,000, those "rich bankers and Wall Street types", because we need to raise revenue. But the gentleman in the audience who asked about the Bush tax cuts was certainly no "rich banker or Wall Street type."

He didn't get to my question, but if he had I would have asked him, Where were you for the last 13 years if you think these things have now gone on long enough? He's voted with Nancy Pelosi 93% of the time. That should tell you everything you need to know about Ron Kind. I believe Pelosi does not represent the values of Western WI, and according to his voting record, neither does Ron Kind.

I will mention one last thing. When I have attended these sessions in the past they have put the question sheets in order of your arrival so if you arrive early you have a good chance of getting called on. So I arrived very early and was one of the first to submit a question. Because of my early arrival I expected to be called on. However, I sat in the very front of the room and observed Mr. Kind's aide previewing the question sheets and separating them into two piles. At first I thought he was separating them by subject. But two piles wouldn't fit that agenda. He then handed Mr. Kind one of the piles and the aide kept the other pile. At that point I knew I would not be called on. Mr. Kind's office knows who I am.

They don't know me by face, but they certainly know my name because I email them and call them regularly, each time filling in my name. I was absolutely certain my question was put into the pile that the aide kept to himself. I can hardly wait until November, 2010 to throw him out of office. He's been there way too long.