Another week

I'm glad I'm not president. King George II here doesn't really have much power, which is one of the strangest things here in the US political system. Without taking any party stance, it seems that democracy over here isn't all it seems. The President, billed as the most powerful man in the world, is really quite impotent. What happens is he gets voted in for his first term The first year he's finding his feet and realizing he can't change much. The second year of his term he brings in some contentious legislation that Congress try to stop. The third year he's thinking about how to win his second term and doesn't do much. The fourth year he's electioneering and doesn't do any polital stuff. Then, he wins his second term. The contentious stuff he pushed through in his first term starts to bite him. The cabinet falls apart with some scandal or other. Then, in year three and four, he tries to ensure that another member of his party wins the next election, so he brings in fluffy laws that pander to people's wants. Then the cycle begins again. I'm contsantly amazed by how politicians treat people here. A common theme is that they don't do what people want, but what they think best. Here where I live, they want to buld three (yes three) sports stadia. One for the loser football team, one for the once great baseball team, and one for the university football team. The politicians want to put up sales tax in the county where the baseball team resides, so presumably no-one else from any other county will use it. They have stated openly that they won't have a referendum on this as they know the people will reject it. But, they say, they'll still do it anyway. Great democracy? I wonder. There are dozens more examples, which makes me ponder what their definition of democracy is. I always thought it was a government for the the people or by the people, didn't someone famous say that? When did it change?
Anyway, back to George II. He has tried, I think to be decent in what he does, but Iraq is a quagmire, fuel prices are high and no-one is seriously trying to push for alternatives. The only people getting rich are the oil companies. CEO's of companies get huge salaries and payoffs even when they bankrupt the company, and married people pay more tax than single people. Middle class and poor people get poorer, it's illegal to pay overtime to salaried staff (honest), while politicians get free golfing holidays from lobby groups, along with free houses etc.
Sorry I'm sounding like a leftie,(I'm not), but why and how do things get like this? What happened to common sense, decency, and serving the public?
Finally, several months ago Ted Kennedy was ranting and raving at Judge Alito as the poor guy was trying to get on to the supreme court. Alito had been a member of a group in university that had a bad record on how they treated women or something obscure. The hypocrisy was sickening. This was the same man who drove his car into the sea, left a girl passenger to drown in a most horrific way imaginable in the same car, and did not tell anyone about it for at least eight hours. Way to go Ted.