With almost a year to go in his presidency, Bush took a record-breaking 879th vacation day early this year (2008) — which works out to be more than a THIRD of his Presidency, and more than any other president in our nation’s history.

Just think…

In his first 6.7 years in office, Bush had already taken 418 days of vacation.

That’s 62.4 vacation days PER YEAR (a little more than 12 work weeks/3 months)

Multiply 62.4 days a year by eight and you get 499 total days of vacation — yet Bush has now managed to amass 879 with almost a year to go.

Yeah…

That’s leading by example, alright…

What a work ethic!

Bush even slammed Congress for getting ready to go on vacation while he — yep — was GOING ON VACATION!

Sheesh.

And the “545 People” piece supposedly by “Charlie” Reese that keeps popping up in recent blogs & websites? It doesn’t show up in the archives where his King Features Syndicate articles appear (it’s CharlEY, by the way — http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese-arch.html), nor did a search at the “Orlando Sentinel” site reveal a title even close to it (he wrote for them from 1971-2001). His last column, “Goodbye” was published on 30 August 2008. So either this is a very old piece from Mr. Reese that’s not available online from its original source, or one of those questionable email forwards that’s either been edited from an old article by Mr. Reese — or just a completely false item attributed to him, since there doesn’t seem to be a transparent, original source for the article. (Remember all the stuff supposedly written by George Carlin? He blasted all of it — http://georgecarlin.com/home/dontblame.html).

Give an original source that is under Charley Reese’s byline, not just a cut/paste of some wanky email forward. Read More: Snopes.com doesn’t have a writeup on it yet, but they’ve been queried about it. Stay tuned…

Glad you left the insightful comment. Visit again sometime.

However, Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats of not doing anything. How many Republicans actually stayed to protest on the floor? Was it 20? May be 40, but certainly not anywhere near the 202 Republicans in the House. Those who weren’t there can be considered as enjoying their vacations, just as the Democrats.

Why doesn’t Bush order a special meeting of Congress to get something going? The Republican’s “leader” does have the power to do this.

And, be real. If more oil drilling started today, it will not make one iota of difference in the supply…..we wouldn’t get one drop for probably another 10 years….and someone made the comment that this will help us in the next 10 to 15 years, until newer sources of energy (”alternative”) become available????? That’s absurd.

By the time we get one more drop of oil out of new reserves, the price of oil will be double or triple what it is now, and what will we save, 4 cents a gallon, if that? In order to drill in these places, it will take a ton of money, especially if we have to be “surgical” about drilling in places like ANWR.

Just to announce we are drilling for more oil will not necessarily lower the price of oil. The price of oil did NOT go down in response to the Saudis announcing their increase in output a month or so ago.

I’m not saying “don’t drill”; I’m saying that these Republican lawmakers are being dishonest with their rhetoric and hissy fits. Drill more, but push hard for more alterntive energy sources as well. When T. Boone Pickens pushes for wind power, you know there’s a problem with oil.

National Emergency Declaration is Needed

“The Government Non-Technical community (the Senate and the Congress, in particular) are in far better shape than the Government Technical community, to appreciate the world implications of the pending economic disaster. I am hopeful that both the environmentalists and the Government Non-Technical community will rapidly unite in a common goal to get this vacuum energy program launched, under a National Emergency declaration. If so, then they can solve the energy crisis and the pending economic crisis, in fairly short order, and permanently.”

In the conclusion of his paper The Unnecessary Energy Crisis: How to Solve It Quickly Bearden again states the urgency of replacing our centralized power grids with highly dispersed and local taps on the freely flowing energy of the active vacuum. Given the abilities of the Tesla howitzers, the power grids of all nations are sitting ducks.

“Personally, the present author regards the increasing energy crisis as the greatest strategic threat to the United States in its entire history. I will do anything within my power to help prevent what I perceive to be the looming economic collapse of the Western world, preceded or accompanied by a sudden, explosive, all-out and continuing exchange of the WMD arsenals of most of the world.

…In the name of all humanity, let us begin! Else by the time this first decade of the new millennium ends, much of humanity may not remain to see the second decade.” http://www.cheniere.org/techpapers/Unnecessary%20Energy%20Crisis.doc

MEG Generator

“FREE ENERGY Home Generator - Zero Point Energy Off the Grid” Is this the end of the internal combustion engine? Will we finally be able to drive past gas stations with a friendly wave and a honking horn? Will we be disconnecting from the power grid or even selling power back to the electric company? We’re about to find out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgQXYBRYwbg Note: Elected representatives regard their constituents’ comments with a high degree of respect - If you are sending an email be sure to enter: American Energy Independence into the subject line.

Here are links that will provide you with your representatives name and address:
http://www.usa.gov/
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
American Energy Independence Day 2008 - America Get Involved! http://www.AmericanEnergyIndependence.com

545 People By Charlie Reese —

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congess does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like ‘the economy,’ ‘inflation’ or ‘politics’ that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel