TRIVIA ONCE AGAIN

The underwhelming response to my previous blog on the trivia questions has inspired me to
do it again. ( Total responses to last one, ZERO ) Here is a selection of the questions:

1)What is a 1 followed by 100 zeros called ?
2)What was the name of Daddy Warbucks Indian servant?
3)A 1975 miss USA became a TV super heroine. Who was she ?
4)Who is famous for helping slaves escape via the underground railway ?
5)What is the Scottish term for " times gone by"? Spelling counts .
6) Who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin ?
7) Rip Van Winkle woke up where ofter a 20 year nap.?
8)What US president pardoned Tokyo Rose ?
9) Recently, a 4 million year old fossil of a young woman was discovered. What is her name?

CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS BLOG

Damit ! The stupid spel check doesn't werk four titles. Eye may knot yous it
anymore. It should have red YOUR SCRIBE THE GOURMET.

YOUR SCRIBE THE GOUMET

We gourmands are well known for our love of fine foods. We are adventurous and love
all foods ( Except for oysters, snails, egg plant, rocky mountain oysters, liver except for
pattie de foys grass, and a few other things too numerous to mention here. I will explain
as soon as I get out of this parenthesis )

A new taste treat which I discovered recently is Orowheat sandwich thins. This consists of
packages of 8 loaves of bread, each loaf less than 1/2 inch thick and each loaf with only two slices per loaf. Both slices are end pieces or crusts which, on a normal loaf I generally discard as
inedible. Much to my surprise and delight, these crusts make for the finest sandwiches, or, if
toasted to a crisp and served with a fried egg are a gourmands dream of the perfect breakfast
dish. Kudos to Mr. Orowheat.

On an entirely different subject, it is snowing like mad even as I write and has been now for several hours. You Yankees may not find this worthy of mention but it is rare here. Houston will soon be paralysed. We have about an inch accumulation so far.

TRIVIA AGAIN

Our team won the trivia game at the Burlap Barrel last Tuesday. I have selected a few of the more interestung questions to give my readers a chance to check their
knowledge.
1) What is the minimum age needed to be elected to the U.S House of Representatives?
2)Which vice presidents are documented to have shot someone while in office ?
3)What is the capital of Ghana ?
4)Brass is an amalgum of what metals ?
5) What vitamin is required for blood to clot ?
6)There are 7 denominations of US bills. Which of these have pictures not of presidents?
We peoudly walked away with a $40.00 certificate for free drinks

























































g

RIDICULOUS TRFFIC FINES

Our wonderful city of Houston fathers, aided and abetted by the financial minions
who are their masters , have decided to balance the city budget at the expense of their
citizenry. The hapless victims are the drivers of automobiles. Here are a few examples:
Ten miles per hour in a school zone- $245. This happened to Jan yesterday. As she was slowing down from 50 mph she was clocked by a flatfoot going 30. This guy was doing what he was told to do. Catch everyone he could . I suspect that he makes his quota every day.
Running a stop sign- $230. I do this all the time. Some officious bureaucrats have spread these signs everywhere, whether or not they are needed. A note of caution:
make sure there are no cops in the vicinity if you care to follow my example.
Seat belt violation- $150 . It may be sensible to fasten the seat belt at all times
but I object to being told that I must. I often do not
buckle up for short trips. One of these days they will nab me. When it happens, it will make me very angry.
Be especially careful not to have any firecrackers in your possession. $421. It's better to have open containers of alcohol in motor vehicle. Only $270

SPEL CHEQUE IS FOUR SISSIES

It's bin sum thyme since eye have ritten without spel cheque. It is fore sissies. We educated peepul due knot knead it. Eye rite this weigh two sho won and awl that wee due knot. Wee awl no how two spel. Hour skools taut us this. Wee due knot know y won wood knot no how. Due yew sea what aye meen ?

SPEL CHEQUE IS FOUR SISSIES

SPEL CHEQUE IS FOUR SISSIES

Jan's trivia

Our weekly trivia game at the Burlap Barrel is in trouble. Our wonderful friend who ran the game suddenly died at the age of 53. We are trying to keep it going and Jan
was the next caller. Following are a few of the trivia questions which she asked:
What do the initials tips stand for ?
What does anosmia mean?
What is a group of crows called?
What is the name of the only dog breed that cannot bark?
In baseball, what is a ball that hits the foul pole called?
Name 3 European countrries beginning with the letter A,
Poor Jan, she was criticized by some of the players who thought her questions were too hard. She vows to never call again.

MOTHER NATURE

You can imagine my surprise when I observed a female ( Nameless to protect the Innocent ) in a state ( to put it as politely as possible ) of dishabille dancing about on
my back lawn. She purportedly was doing a rain dance. This was two weeks ago.
Since then it has rained continuously every day for the last two weeks. The stressed trees and flowers have picked up and even the lawn has greened up. The weeds are also thriving. This marks the end of the drought which has afflicted us all summer long.
Not only Houston, but the rest of the state is also being drenched with flash floods
and mud slides everywhere, much too late for the ruined agriculture but at least
replenishing the lakes and aquifers.
But enough about the weather. I would much rather mention the great honor bestowed upon our leader, Barak Hussien O'Bama. THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
He now joins the ranks of such luminaries as Yasar Arafat, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore.
How proud we must all feel.

SEOND CHILDHOOD?

Now that I am completely cured of my recent prolonged and horrid malady my
brain, now relieved of the stress of infirmity, has taken a peculiar turn. I awoke this
morning with " Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport and the dish ran away with the spoon "
This little nursery rhyme has lain dormant in my mind for perhaps 78 years.
Later in the day another of these things popped up. "A froggy would awooing go"
but the rest eluded me. Has anyone ever heard this one?
"Said the monkey to the owl, what'll you have to drink ? Said the owl to the monkey, I'll have a bottle of ink.' There must be more to it than that.
Another diddle diddle one- "Diddle diddle dumpling mice and John( or my son John) went to bed with his stockings on"
Do all these early memories indicate a second childhood ? They were certainly buried deeply in my memory and I wonder why they came pouring out now.

MORE ANIMAL STUFF

We have previously discussed feral hogs and bee problems but we have by no means exhausted this subject. It has come to my attention that the batratia are also in trouble. We are told that the frog and toad population has declined precipitously and those that survive are likely to be deformed in variously horrid ways. I personally have not observed this. Indeed, we have numbers of chirping frogs in our own garden as well as an occasional toad and they seem perfectly healthy. ( One exception: one toad that I ran over with the lawn mower )
Now we are told that we are being overrun by deer. Someone took the time to count them and came up with 20,283,415 deer and that is only in Texas. Those Texas deer that I have seen are smallish but am told that they are edible. We Americans have become lazy. No more hunter gatherer types , we get our meat from the grocery store. How pathetic we all have become. Meanwhile, the deer population continues to grow and they are becomin ever more destructive.

II AM BACK

By now I have lost all of my erstwhile faithful readers and so I write mostly for my own amusement. As many of you know, I have been under the weather ( to put it mildly) for the last month or two and am still in a recovery mode. This is a painfully
slow process which leaves me bemused, bewildered, discouraged and a bit depressed
from time to time. But enough about me.

A horrid program last night on TV was on the subject of feral hogs. It turns out that they are spreading so rapidly that controlling the numbers is almost impossible. Not only are they very prolific, for some reason each generation is getting much larger and they are even meaner than before. These beasts are dangerous. I foresee the day when camping out will be impossible. Even hiking will be too dangerous. The pigs are destructive and apparently fearless. I wonder if they are good to eat. Probably too
tough to chew and perhaps have acquired a gamy flavor. This is almost as bad as the
dying out of our bee population.

NOT DOING SO GREAT

When one starts to pile on the years things start to go wrong. Several rules must be followed to insure ones quality of life. Rule # 1, try never to fall. Broken hips are the worst thing that can happen, closely followed by broken arms and ribs. In my case,a broken rib. Very painful but a fairly quick healing of four or five weeks seems
to have taken care of that. However , the potent painkillers caused some other unwanted after effects which I suspect may have caused me to be awaiting surgery
on my plumbing system in the next couple of weeks. Not a pleasant prospect.

Jan was driving me about ( I find driving difficult for the moment ) and was hit by a careless driver, causing $2500 of damage. His insurance company ,Safeco, is a bunch
of crooks who claimed it was Jan's fault. Ridiculous ! Our insurance Co., Farmers has come through with flying colors. What a wonderful bunch they are. They were more than helpful and are dragging the other insurance company to arbitration to get back our deductible portion of the bill the balance of which they paid at once. We are supposed to hate all insurance companies. I love Farmers.

On a happier note, we now have a resident rabbit in our yard. He has hung around now for about a month. I wonder why he has selected us but we are happy to accommodate him ( Her). I wonder if we should feed him and if so, what.

ECONOMICS REVISITED

I refer you back to my prescient and brilliant series of bolgs of some time back.
As you probably know, the US has been loosing competitive position vis a vis
the rest of the world, in particular, Japan and now ( alas ) China. American industries, one after another have fallen prey to the foreigners. Our industrial base has eroded
so badly that we now import all those items that we once produced. This process
has been going on now for perhaps fifty years.

What, you may ask, brought this on. Simple-Our minimum wage has once again gone up, making us even less competitive than before. Just as bad, business
profits will go down. More people will not get the jobs that might have been available.
Congressional madness continues unabated.

Update on rib situation- The rib seems to be healing on schedule. However, the painkillers have had terrible effects which I am taking care of one by one. Now I
am without energy or strength or appetite. The medical people have taken over my
life for the time being. I don't think I will share the details at this time.

MORE ON BROKEN RIB

We know that we risk boring our family, friends and other admirers with
the broken rib saga, but that is all that is on my mind these days.
Treatment for broken ribs consists of nothing but pain pills. Day one: heavy dose of
advil. Day two: heavy dose of allive. Days 3, 4 and part of five: codeine. The codeine was most effective for pain relief but has several terrible side effects too horrible to mention. Today ,back to advile. I would rather suffer a bit more pain than continue with the codeine. My doctor assured me that each day I would feel better and sure enough, I do. I like to think that a heavy dose of advil will be sufficient for the next month or so.

Not being able to leave the house, I suffer from what is know as cabin fever.
It is not easy to fill the day with useful activities. Television gets boring and repetitious. My boggle game is not up to the old standards although I have played it even more than usual. All we seem to get on TV is ever more Michael Jackson
and Sara Palin. The Jackson stuff is turning negative ( about time ) and the Palin
stuff remains poisonous. I confess that I like Sara allot although I would never consider her for president. That might be a sexist thing on my part.

We are now well into month two with temperatures above 100 degrees. The garden
looks pathetic. The tomato and bean crops failed completely and I fear for the
papaya tree.

UPDATE ON BAD DAY

As I suspected, I have a broken rib. I recommend to one and all to try not to have
this happen. The doctor put my on a remarkably strong pain killer regimen and it
seems that that is the treatment . Time will take care of the healing, or so they say.
This is my first overtly broken bone. I injured my neck bone when I was 17 and have had a permanently stiff neck ever since. I injured my jaw bone in my 20s and now
my jaw cracks when I eat. Maybe these were broken but not for sure.

Back to the Jackson saga---The media has still not let go of this story. My conservative sources are more fascinated by the press hysteria than the actual story itself. I am reminded of the Princess Di story. She was turned into a saintly icon
in spite of her very checkered past. Our African American community did something
similar when OJ was acquitted.

A VERY BAD DAY

July the 7th, a day that will live in infamy. This is our duplicate bridge day
and Jan and I have concluded that our game is deteriorating. We were beaten soundly
by players who should have been easy prey.

Arriving home from this discouraging experience, I found that the stock market had taken another tumble.

Off we went to our weekly trivia game at the Burlap Barrel. We usually stop on the way for a McDonalds sandwich. I hate the drive in windows so got out and ordered
at the counter. Leaving the premises I stumbled and fell heavily on my right side.
I lay there stunned for a moment and somehow managed to get to my feet and stagger to the car. I had Jan drive me home and since then have spent the most painful time of my life. I usually tough it out but this was too much. I went to my doctor and all he did was put me on painkillers and said I would be better each day for the next 4 or 5(!) weeks.


On another subject, have you heard enough about that Jackson freak ? Are people crazy or what?

HATS

Prior to JFK almost all men wore hats. They were called fedoras. Why they wore them I can not imagine. JFK killed the hat industry. He famously refused to wear one, to his eternal credit.

The military have always worn some sort of headgear. The US Army at one time had neat, rectangular shaped caps that opened up and fit snugly on ones head.
General Sha-----(I can't recall the idiots name )decreed that henceforth the army would wear berets. He must have admired the French military so now US troops look like French troops. Interestingly, the idiot berets were purchase from China at $5.00
each. Ten million were ordered.

Some officious bureaucrats decided, some years ago, that we must wear protective headgear when riding bicycles. The result----We see perfectly competent riders decked out in what is, perhaps, the most ridiculous, repulsive things on their heads. If I still rode a bike I would either quit riding or become a scofflaw and do without the helmet.
The nanny state is still in action.

UTTER FRUSTRATION

My dear old computer quit functioning last week. I did a moderately intelligent
thing. I called a geek. Abdul arrived the other day as he said he would and , indeed, the computer now works. The problem is, at his recommendation I was switched from
ATT to Comcast which Abdul assured me, was much faster and greatly superior. He was
partly right, It is faster. The problem is, I am finding it difficult to find anything . I did finally
locate my huge address list but it isn't compatible with comcast. Worse yet, my e-mail
is now different. Here it is . tomsc2@comcast.net. I would greatly appreciate anyone who
happens to read this to send me a message.
I suspect that it might be possible to transfer all the addresses to the new system. I await
the arrival of a friendly and free geek to show me how. Meanwhile, I guess I must e-mail everyone with the new data.
Almost as bad, I have not been able to access my Merrill Lynch stuff at all. I fear it mat have disappeared. It will take me some time to reconstruct it but I can't find any way to do so. HELP ,
HELP !
The good news, my boggle game is still there.

ANOTHER VIEW

NOSTALGIA

We were lucky enough to run across a program of big bands of the early 20Th century
on public television . We were blessed during that time with a bunch of wonderful Jewish song writers and lyricists who gave us all the oldies that we love. The bands were wonderful, the vocalists superb, the lyrics meaningful. We spent several hours of listening pleasure.
Unfortunately, public TV has a bad habit of interrupting the good programs with tedious
solicitations for contributions. That's why clickers were invented. We clicked away to CBS
which was running the Tony awards noncommittally. What a bore ! The costumes were elaborate and the singing was delivered with great gusto but not one note was or will be memorable. In short, the music was borderline lousy. I understand that people pay big bucks to see these productions. There must be some better way to spend the $100+ which we understand it costs to get in.
I forgot to mention that the oldie bands often played muted trunpets which no one seems to do anymore. It softens the brassy sound and should be revived.

New Patio picture

Here is our new patio as referenced in my last post!

NEW TERRACE

The last month or so has been traumatic. A low bidder fly be night person put in the new terrace so badly that we had to have it replaced. This involved getting the old concrete out and pouring the new. It turned out so badly that both Jan and I were disgusted. Meanwhile, the fly by night collected his modest charge and disappeared.
With much help from some of the kids ,a competent person was hired to redo the whole thing.
Once again the concrete was removed and new concrete poured the way it should have been the first time. A beautiful mottled ocher color was incorporated right into the concrete and a pattern was put in while the concrete was still fresh. Turned out great.
We threw a small neighborhood party last night and inaugurated it. Once again, we are sleeping at night without having to worry about such things.
Speaking of incompetent people, my newly contracted tax preparers finally finished my 2008 tax return. They had no clue about how to handle some of the items on my return. I think they did a poor job but at least I finally got something off to the dear old IRS.
I also got a nasty note from the afore mentioned IRS about my 2007 return. I have turned this problem over to a CPA who seems to know what he is doing.
We will be off the North Carolina in about twenty days. Many of my vast readership may join us there.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Why do you suppose that almost all professional basketball games are played late at night ?
Although I am not a big fan of the game, when the Houston team got into the playoffs I got
excited and watched all the games at the expense of a decent nights sleep. Children most
likely never get to see these games, much less go to them. By the way, attending games has
become ruinously expensive thanks to the ridiculous salaries payed to the enormous thugs
that we seem to like to watch.

Why do the auto companies think that we need autos that can go from 0 to 60 in 4,5,0r 6 seconds and reach speeds of 130+ miles per hour ? When is the last time you got going that fast that quickly and why did you do it ? Top speeds of 100 mph should be sufficient. How about
0-60 in 12 seconds ? I have noticed that some of the overpowered cars cut out half the cylinders
when cruising at highway speeds. Engines half as powerful but differently geared to allow decent
acceleration would make the cars acceptable. They might use much less gasoline as well.

Yesterday was a good day. My incompetent tax preparers finally got my 2008 return done.
I don't think they did a good job and even I spotted a few errors. Heretofore, I have done my own returns but decided this year to get it done. Big mistake. The other good things : Jan and I
won our duplicate bridge game rather handily. All we get for this is the glory but we feel more
than adequately rewarded. Tuesday is trivia night at the Burlap Barrel and our team came out ahead. Here we won $40.00 of free drinks. I wonder if we are getting smarter or if everyone is getting stupider.

A FEW BAD DAYS

If there is something that can be put off, always do so . Also, never be pressured
by your spouse to do things that you don't want to do. This thing was the continual
complaint about the condition of our back patio which, over the years had developed
many large and unsightly cracks. We (she) decided to fix it.
We got a nice lowball quote and ordered the work done. What the quoter didn't know was that the concrete to be removed was six+ inches thick and had hardened
over the last 40 years. Three days of jack hammering is almost more than one can
bear. A mountain of chunks blocked our driveway for days. The coloring added to the concrete is splotchy. The mess left behind was unbelievable.
Jan was in serious danger when she told me that she hates what they did. I don't care for it too much either but would cut my throat before mentioning it.
The final parting indignity-As they moved the patio table back to the patio, somehow the glass top shattered into millions of tiny shards. I didn't see what they had done to cause this so we took the loss and didn't argue about it. Today we went out and purchased a new table and umbrella. Jan isn't my mom but happy mom's day.
The moral of the story ( if there is one): You gets what you pays for.

WORST NIGHTMARE

Just got a call from Virginia ( sister, not the state ) and she tells me that they had a terrible accident which destroyed their little Prius and bruised the sisters in the car pretty much. Injuries were confined to bruises all over and considerable soreness.
The nightmare part of the story is what might have been. Here we all are, driving about every day and at any moment we can get injured or killed. I think about this often. I don't want any dead family or friend. Do what I do. Drive slowly and carefully
so that if you do crash, you might survive.

DOOM AND GLOOM

Two dark and rainy days in a row and more to come tomorrow has done nothing to make thing rosier. I am being attacked by the IRS again. When I think of the puny little summ that they want from me and compare it to the trillions being spent by the Obama administration I wonder why they are after my few thousand dollars. I have finally given up on the idea that I can do my own taxes and have hired a professional who seems to be having trouble solving my problem. This in turn has caused me to have trouble sleeping. That, of course, is stupid as it solves nothing.
My skin doctor tells me that I need an operation in a hurry. He should have been nicer to me since I have helped him make payments on his fancy Mercedes. Tuesday I go in for what is really a very minor surgery but, since I am on a doom and gloom kick, I am allowing this to help keep me awake.
I will not burden my vast readership with any more of my troubles. Next time you hear from me I feel sure that I will once again be my usual amusing self

TWITTER

One keeps hearing about twitter or twittering(tweeting). Just what is it ? I see that the messages on twitter are very limited. My blogs, usually brief, are not limited. I can write on forever if it suits my fancy.
Unfortunately, the blog seems passe now , leaving me and fellow blogers in the dustbin of history. Modern technology has left us behind.

A FEW MORE THINGS THAT i LIKE

I forgot to mention in previous blog that I like policemen, firemen and soldiers.
I admire also such people as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, appliance fixers and other such types.
Stangely, I like all the lawyers that I have dealt with as well as CPAs. My, what an extensive list ! Polititions, not so much.

WHAT DO I LIKE ?

From a previous blog it was suggested that I become a nudist. Even in those days long gone, when I looked pretty good even naked, I still wore clothing. They tend to keep one warm as well as hide ones physical shortcomings. So, I don't hate cloths but have a minimal interest in them.

What do I like ? 1) Dogs{ They are loyal, protective, affectionate, playful and insufferably cute.
Where in this world can we find different species so attached to one another ? They can be a bit smelly but nobody is perfect.

2) Books: I don't love all books. The ones I like best are short with very large print. ( As one grows older ones eyesight grows dimmer and there may come a sad point at which reading becomes difficult or worse, impossible.) Also important, good writing, good stories, be they fiction or non fiction. History and historical fiction appeal. Humor is preferred over tragedy. Strangely,I dislike book stores. They are overwhelming with thousands of books, 99.9% of no interest.

3) people : Sadly, there are people that I don't much care for such as the liars, cheats, criminals and the stupid. Those I do like :The intelligent, friendly, generous, loyal , affectionate ( the same qualities I like in dogs ). Th0se that I like most should have a sense of humor (i e, they laugh at my mots).

4) Miscellaneous: TV ( I'm addicted but selective), card games,boggle ( yes, I still play it frequently ), a rum and coke cocktail in the evening with convivial friends, certain writers. Mark Twain pops into mind. Like some of the old poets each sentence and phrase is polished and honed, every word just where it belongs. Reread, as I have, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
Memorable lines follow one another in a writing tour de force.

5) I love my family and my country.( How sad to see it in such dire straits.

There are more but this is a sample of some of the things I like.

Good thing everyone isn't like me.

I find most of the thing people do to be, at best , peculiar. The pathetic attempt
to be different, or to express oneself by looking unique ( It hardly ever works ) or to
embellish ones appearance through strange artifacts is alien to my nature. Following are a few examples:
Nail polish : It looks very unnatural and most often ugly. Hands are not usually thought of as objects of beauty. Toe nail polish borders on the insane.
Body piercing : What a repulsive, primitive thing to do to ones self. Ears are bad enough but the piercers don't stop there. Noses, tongues, nipples and other body parts which we are too delicate to mention, are all subject to this barbarism.
Tattoos: They stay on for life. You better not put something on that you might later want off.
Mustaches : Men don't get off free. How about facial hair ? If one is not an Iraqi, one should not have a mustache. There are a few exceptions. Tom Sellick would look naked without his. Clark Gable , with his carefully clipped one looked good. Adolph Hitler ( No No, just kidding ). Many men now sport the Arafat look which extends well beyond the upper lip. It looks pretty sloppy to people like me. But mostly, beyond being unsightly, the mustache seems unsanitary for various reasons I would rather not talk about.
That's enough for starters. How about cosmetics, clothing, and, most importantly, jewelry. I hate jewelry. If it were up to me, the entire industry would disappear.

VALENTINES DAY

Valentines day has never been a favorite of mine. Starting well in advance of the day we are importuned by merchants and loved ones to unlimber the billfold and purchase jewelry, flowers, cards and candy, all at inflated prices, to present to the females of our choice.
The Valentine concept is unbelievably sexist. It is blatant discrimination against
men. Why should the ladies not get goodies for the men. We are loving and considerate and deserve some sort of recognition. I hasten to mention here that I hate jewelry and consider flowers to be a waste of money. However, a nice box of chocolate bon bons would be most welcome.
Thanking you in advance for your generous contributions. I feel sure that you will all agree with me and start a new valentine tradition.

ANSWERS

Nobody asked but the answers to the true or false were true, true, true and false.

That false one is a surpprise. It turns out Sherlock Holmes never did say "Elementary my dear
Watson". I wonder where that idea ever came from.

On a completely different subject- If people don't stop saying "if you will" all the time I fear that I shall go mad. It is the new fancy way of saying the hateful " you know" .

TRIVIA

The weekly trivia game at the Burlap Barrel has been revived and I volunteered to
do the questions. Following are a few samples of these.
The following ones are true or false

For reasons unknown, a ducks quack doesn't echo.
All the gold ever mined would fit in the average sized condo.
Boxing champ, Gene Tunney, lectured on Shakespear at Yale.
Sherlock Holmes "Elementary my dear Watson" was said only two times.

Here are a few general questions

What is Michelle Obama's maiden name?
What was DR Jeckel's firstname?
Who was appointed to fill Hilary's senate seat?
we all know the first three presidents. Who were the next three?
What is entomophobia?
Bejamin Kubelsky was a famous comedian of vaudville, radio and television. By what name
do we know him.

I have a bunch more questions but I don't wish to burden my friends, relatives and other admirers brains lest they suffer from mental fatigue.

The Bailout Plan

It begins to look like the bailout is going to be the biggest earmark ever. Every senator and representative wants in on this. Pork barrel spending on steroids. This is the worst oinker since the bridge to nowhere.

I have a plan which will never be enacted which may not solve the economic problems but could help at least part of it. The stock market has lost maybe 40% of its value. My plan could fix that.
The tax laws are such that business is unfairly treated. Profits are taxed at perhaps abut 35%.
From this already taxed amount they may pay out dividends as they see fit. Then the recipients of the dividends are taxed again, perhaps as much as 35%. This is the well known double taxation
My suggestion : Pay out dividends as an expense and pay taxes on whatever is left. Dividends would go up enormously and stock prices would soar. The rich would get richer ( Horrors ) but the rich are not the only shareholders. Perhaps as many as 50% of the population will benefit through holdings in IRAs, 401Ks, trusts, and other types of accounts.
Simple, sensible measures are not usually what our governing elite think of.