Joey’s Take: Keeping It Real

I have to apologize for going silent for the past two weeks. My campaign computer was attacked big time by viruses. If I were paranoid, I would blame it on a vast left-wing conspiracy aimed at shutting me up. But I’m a reasonable dog, so I’ll try not to buy into all the conspiracy theories. Instead, I’ll focus on real issues that matter to real people in the real world.

On the eve of the president’s speech to schoolchildren, a few media outlets trotted out Oprah’s list, prepared for the inauguration, of how children can serve their president. Funny, I thought it was his job to serve us. But I’m just a dog. What do I know?

It did get me thinking about how the role of a public servant has changed. The time was when we had citizens serving in a part-time Congress and then going home to take care of business. Now, we have professional politicians who position themselves as leaders, not servants. Yet, ironically, we have a woeful dearth of leadership in federal government.

So here’s a revolutionary thought: My campaign will be based on service – not leadership. If I’m elected, I pledge to:

• Be a servant, not a leader.
• Keep my paw out of your pocket and keep special interest paws out of my pockets.
• Make congressional pay merit pay. Senators and congressmen and -women who don’t show up for work, read the bills they vote for or live by the laws they pass shouldn’t get paid.
• Tie congressional salaries to the economy. If there’s no COLA for Social Security or government workers, there should be no pay raise for the servants in Congress. Period.

I’m Joey. I’m running to be your servant in Congress. And I approved this message.

Playing Politics

Remember that incident Democrats, including Sen. Obama, tried to blow up into “Attorney-gate” under President Bush? They didn’t like the fact that he replaced nine U.S. attorneys midstream, claiming it smacked of politics. Never mind that these attorneys served at the pleasure of the president and at least one of them had spent a number of years threatening to quit.

Now just five months into his term, President Obama seems to be playing politics with a government watchdog who blew the whistle on two of the president’s supporters who misspent AmeriCorp funds. For his trouble, Gerald Walpin, inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service and a Bush hold-over, was abruptly fired last week by Obama.

When the president’s action was questioned by senators, including a few in his own party, the character assassination began. Walpin’s, that is. The White House released a letter from a senior counsel to the president that justified the firing based, in part, on what it called Walpin’s “confused, disoriented” behavior at a board meeting a few weeks ago when he allegedly was unable to respond to questions, according to the New York Times.

(If that’s grounds for dismissal, the president has a lot of people to fire. Have you seen the video of the congressional hearing in which Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., questions Elizabeth Coleman, the Federal Reserve inspector general? She comes across as somewhat confused and unable to respond to the questions she’s asked.)

A president has the right to appoint whom he wants to various positions -- and get rid of whom he wants. But unlike Obama, Bush didn't stoop to character assassination, even though it meant he put his own reputation out there to be hung.

The 'Safe' Retirement Bet

If Social Security is your retirement nest egg, you're sitting on a rotten egg. The bad news out today is that Social Security and Medicare are going broke faster than the government had projected.

That's right, the trustees for the fund reported today that Social Security will be dried up by 2037 -- that's four years earlier than they had predicted last year. Now before you start doing the math to see if you can squeeze your retirement in under the line, keep in mind that the trustees expect Social Security to start spending more (on actual Social Security, that is) than it takes in by 2016.

As for Medicare, it's going to be broke by 2017. And it's already spending more than it takes in.

This is one problem the Dems can't blame on President Bush. He tried to get Congress to address this issue, but the Dems pretty much accused him of Chicken Little rhetoric and continued spending their way through the funds.

The bottom line? Investing in lottery tickets for retirement may be a safer bet than Social Security!