Good Politician Bad Politician

Property is the fruit of labor. Property is desirable, is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently to build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence. – Abraham Lincoln

I should know better by now than to do such irresponsible things as keeping track of those weasels in D.C and Sacramento. Don't worry, it's sunny and I'm enjoying some landscaping in my tiny plot in deepest darkest dense Los Angeles. If this becomes a habit then feel free to send out the wagon and butterfly net. First the bad politician.

Norm Coleman (R, MN) [apologies for previously calling him G] has this gem:

In an effort to provide relief to homeowners who are facing foreclosure due to difficulty with their mortgage payments, Senator Norm Coleman yesterday introduced the Home Ownership Mortgage Emergency Act (HOME Act). The HOME Act would allow homeowners who are 60 days late in their mortgage payments to withdraw penalty-free up to $100,000 from their retirement accounts through 2009 for the purpose of refinancing into an affordable mortgage or avoid foreclosure.

Used to be not so long ago that your home was your retirement. The worm has turned and your retire is your home.

But wait... that's not all. Young Coleman is not so much a pie-in-the-sky dreamer. He's already "helped":

Additionally, he is a cosponsor of the Mortgage Cancellation Relief Act of 2007, which will make mortgage debt forgiveness tax-free.

Gives flesh to the words: "No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session." [poss. attr. Judge Gideon J. Tucker]
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All may not be lost however. There are still honest politicians. Ooops, sorry about all that beer that just ruined your keyboard. I don't know how it happens but occasionally it seems there are a very few able to avoid the lure. This is California State Senator Tom McClintock. He had his 15 minutes as the man who lost to Da Governator in the recall election a few years back.

McClintock has this refreshing bit of common sense from the land of fruit and nuts:

The True Cost Of The Global Warming Farce
Excerpt:
Last year, in the name of saving the planet from global warming, California adopted the most radically restrictive legislation anywhere in the nation, including AB 32, which requires a 25 percent reduction in man-made carbon dioxide emissions within 13 years.

To put this in perspective, we could junk every car in the state of California RIGHT NOW – and not meet this mandate.
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Sorry to be so long winded, seems to be a hazard of exposure to politicians.