In fact, I am talking about the fact that our government seems to have discovered a method by which to speed up time. This must be the case, as President Obama signed House resolution 627, (better known as the Credit Cardholder's Bill of Rights) into law yesterday. Setting aside the abuse of the Founding Fathers by the use of 'Bill of Rights' here, the abuse of the English language in calling this protection, and the continued abuse of the banking industry in putting this into law; I find that there is a problem here. (Of course the number of problems with this legislation are far too numerous to mention without getting far off of the subject at hand, but I may attempt to address them next week in another posting.)
The problem that I see here is that while the law was passed by the House on April 30th, it was only passed by the Senate on April 19th. Signing into law on the 22nd means that there were only three days between passage and signing. But how could that be? President Obama promised us that there would be a wait of at least five days between the passage of a bill and signing it into law in the name of government transparency.
Oh sure, I know that when we passed the second round of bailouts, there was no time to waste. The economy was in immediate danger and the legislation needed to be signed to avert disaster. Of course when it came to pass the latest federal budget, there was no time to waste either (apparently there was no time to read the entire budget bill either, but again, I digress). Again, the economy was in dire straits, and the people (?) must be served (have you noticed a certain level of sarcasm here).
With HR 627 however, nothing in the legislation takes effect until 12 months after the date of signing or June 30, 2010; so obviously there should have been no rush to get this one signed into law. Now I'm sure it can't be that the President has gone back on his word for transparency in his Administration, nor could it be simply that the President is being disingenuous with us (more sarcasm ... you decide). I can only assume then, that government scientists, working in secret government labs, and after exhausting government funded research; have discovered a way to speed up time, turning 3 days into 5 days. I wish to congratulate these geniuses on solving one of the great problems of the ages. I am sure that when the actual announcement is made, that this group of dedicated explorers in the sciences will receive all wealth and recognition that they deserve (you know, a Nobel prize like Al Gore's).
Speaking of wealth, I sure wish they would share this knowledge with me. Payday isn't until late next week, and I could use a trick like this to get me to it in a hurry.
On a serious note:
This is Memorial Day weekend, and while we are all looking forward to enjoying the first 3 day weekend of the summer, let's not forget those who served, those who continue to serve, and those who gave the ultimate service in protecting the freedom this country continues to enjoy.
1 comment:
There is so much paper and money flying these days, the reprocussions will be felt for generations. (Evidently not today though, at least in my bank account!) Big business once again gets a slush fund to waste, and we get higher gas prices, taxes, yadda, yadda, yadda. What else is new?
I would like to second your thanks to those who have served and are still serving. I'm thankful for the safe return of two of my "adopted" sons from Iraq, one just last weekend. My son in law, Matt, should be winging his way to the States from Korea as I write this, and in less than two weeks, I go to visit your niece and great-niece posted in Germany. I am especially missing our father this weekend. His favorite, "Band of Brothers" was on, and I could almost imagine he was sitting there watching it with me.
May they all return home safely and soon!
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