Veterans Day

Remembering those who served in the armed forces.

Update on my Fantasy Congress

I never posted who I chose for my fantasy congress. I have the link to the side of my blog as well as here.
I posted earlier how the game works and can be found in my archives for October 22nd. I started out in 30th place, with a score of 85, but got booted to 49th place, with 85 points because other competitors picked better candidates than myself. Scores are set to zero right now because Congress is in recess. Once Congress reconviens, the battle will begin.
I belong to Public League 8 and my team is simply named "paindepedent's team."
The members I picked(which was before election day 2006) are as follows

Members of the House
Paul Kanjorski (D) PA-11
Jim Kolbe (R) AZ-08
Tim Holden (D) PA-17
Barney Frank (D) MA-04
Melissa Hart (R) PA-04
Loretta Sanchez (D) CA-47
Ron Paul (R) TX-14
Dennis Kucinich (D) OH-10
Michael Fitzpatrick (R) PA-08
Tim Murphy (R) PA-18
Rahm Emanuel (D) IL-05
Stephanie Herseth (D) SD
Members of the Senate
Joe Lieberman (I/D) CT
Arlen Specter (R) PA
Lincoln Chafee (R) RI
Evan Bayh (D) IN

You pick twelve Represenatives and four Senators
It really looks as if I need to pick some new members LOL.
That time will come in January.

The Votes Have Been Counted

The votes are counted and the results are in. The Democrats have control of both houses. Some people are very excited, while others are very upset about the results.
In reality, Americans decide who will be representing them. America's voice has been heard.
Am I optimistic about the Democrats taking over? I will be much more optimistic when the ticker with the national debt starts to decrease. Will I think it will happen? Probably not.
The GOP had twelve years to promote their agenda such as abortion. Abortion is still legal. Did they promote fiscal responsibility? Smaller government? Again look at my counter for the nation debt.
Do I do believe that Democrats will solve the problem. Again, probably not. I am willing to bet the ticker on my right hand side of the blog will decrease.
If the Democrats do not solve any problems, elections are in two years. They can be voted out!
The economy is showing signs of slowing down. Consumer spending dropped slightly, in spite of the holiday season. Does it mean Americans aren't spending as much? Probably so.
The economy is something I will be keeping an eye on.

The Day After the Election

This election day was very exciting, but most of my predictions came true.
I expected that Ed Rendell would be re-elected Governor of Pennsylvania.
I expected Bob Casey, Jr to defeat Rick Santorum.
I predicted that the House would be Democratic controlled.
However, as it looks now, I did not expect the Democrats to take over the Senate. I thought it would remain a dead tie.
There were some upsets in the state level which I am not going into. I could go on all day and night plus next week about that.
I may have some politics based posts on my blog, but not as many as I used to post. I am going to direct the format of my blog to include events that I may have an opinion on, things about my personal life I may want to share, and possibly include topics about other things I enjoy.
I am not going to frown over the GOP's losses and the Democrats victories. I am not going to elaborate at voter fraud and the stories I heard about dead voters that voted yesterday and the people who were harassed by telephone, by repeatedly calling registered voters claiming to be one candidate, when in fact it was a lie to enhance a competing candidate chances of winning the election.
What really surprised me is Rick Santorum's speech when he learned of his loss to Bob Casey. I was not a supporter of Rick Santorum in anyway, but my opinion of changed slightly, that he said nothing negative about the loss. I am sure he was devastated by the loss, but he cut his losses, and gave a speech of encouragement for his successor.
I really hope for the best for Rick Santorum and his future endeavors. I give my best wishes for Bob Casey, Jr and hopefully he is successful in what he does.
Same for any other candidate that may have won or lost in yesterday's election, I hope the best for them in their endeavors and can make the country more optimistic and succeed.

And the Adventure Begins

Today is the day.

Millions of Americans will be heading to the polls, but not without some chaos mixed in.
It varies from the voting machine malfunctions to the incident in Virginia. Are the dead voting for Democrats today? Are the Republicans putting registered voters on the felons list? Can you think of both sides manipulating to get their results?
I did my part by casting my ballot. Just like President Bush encouraged all Americans to vote. I encourage all others to do the same.

For those who didn't vote yet, I highly encourage everyone to have their voice heard. It is a shame that many European countries beat the US in voter turnout, but always remember this. Countries that have democracies elections are in the minority. People in any countries have no voice and cannot choose or select the people that run their government. Sometimes they are punished for doing so.

I have a few last minute links to add like
www.vote-smart.org and another site that keeps track of the officials you have elected into office. This site www.govtrack.us keeps the record of every politicians voting record.

24 Hours

It is less than 24 hours from election day. It will be one of the most interesting mid-term elections and voter turnout is expeted to be high. At least for mid-term election.

I have read several newspapers from around the state and many people are not happy with the performance of the house and senate.

Both parties have lawyer waiting to settle any possible complications during the close and tight elections.

I will as well as most Americans will be keeping a close eye on news websites and television to keep up with the election results.

Especially with the Pennsylvania elections. They will be given quite a bit of attention. The GOP took over the House in 1994. Those races that are affected will be watched as well.

It will be a tough challenge for the GOP. The Democrats are hoping to regain control of both houses for the next session of Congress.

I am not making any predictions myself. Most of you know how I feel about the current two party system. If you don't you should know I don't care for either Democrats and Republicans. Both parties have their saints and black sheep.

I am quite sure this will be an interesting election.For those interested in polls check out galluppole.com.

Also, I wish I would have found this sooner, but there is a new ticker on the right giving national and state by state average gas prices.

Sunday Post #7

I was not going to originally write about this, but I may not be posting for awhile because I have fallen into a great depression. I am going admit I have a severe issue with depression and bipolar disorder. It has been to a severe point where hospital admissions were required.
Maybe someday I will share what happened, but now it is not the time to do so.
It may be just a day or two, a few weeks, possibly a month. When you get into deep depressions, it becomes more than mental. It become emotional and physical as well. I want to thank all of you that have visited my blog and hopefully I will get back to myself again someday.


VOTE
My Original post was going to include more about this, but see comment above.
Election day is only 2 days away. I encourage all Americans that are registered to get out and vote. I am not endorsing any candidates.
If you do not vote there is a 100% change your voice will not be heard.