bush is no longer relevant

[radfringe]

an hour or so ago I was listening to Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana talk about energy policy

for the most part it was much of what we've heard before but have yet to see actually put into action

but what struck me was a statement that he made (paraphrased) "..the governors have to take the lead, it's sad but clear that Washington won't"

Schweitzer is not the first I've heard say something similar in the past 2 or 3 months. I've heard it from other people on C-Span and they are all not Dems, some are researchers, business leaders and the like. And the subject matter has not been energy or the environment. It's been on foreign policy, domestic/foreign business, healthcare, minimum wage, social security etc.

their speeches were not focused on a 'bash the bush' theme, their talks were based on a specific topic of concern. Things that can be done, things that need to be done. In most cases the "we have to do it because DC won't" message came up during the Q&A session

there are many states raising the minimum wage and not waiting for the republican congress or bush to do it. Many states are no longer waiting and are enacting policies and legislation regarding many different issue which at one time they would have waited for some leadership or guidelines from the federal government.

to be a leader, you have to have followers and it looks like the followers no longer want to follow. leaders at the state/local level are saying "I'm tired of banging my head against the bush and GOPer wall, it needs to be done so we'll just do it."

I don't think it's anticipation of a Dem take over of the congress or that bush is/will be a lame duck. It's frustration with the politics as usual and culture of corruption. It's frustration with special interests writing the legislation and GOPers rubberstamping it through. It's frustration with unfunded mandates. It's frustration with talking and having the rubberstampers/bush administration no listening. So they are simply saying - you don't want to listen, fine, we'll just do it without you.

[Nite Owl]

1. And we should have the majority of

governorships if the polls turn out right. I think this is a good take, there will be more done on the local level. I don't know much about Schweitzer but he was on Colbert last night and he is a very likeable guy, very down to earth and real. We need people like him to turn things around.

[CrispyQ]

2. I recently read an article where Schweitzer talked about

the Blue Bridge -- the bridge of Rocky Mt. states from Canada to Mexico. We have Bill Richards in New Mexico & Ritter has a good shot of capturing Colorado. Hmmmm, Wyoming. Ok, well, we have some work to do!

But Schweitzer is right. People are sick & tired of listening to the empty spew coming from DC while we watch our country disintegrate as they stuff their pockets full of our tax dollars.

We the People are gettin' pissed.

[radfringe]

3. the point of my argument

was not Schweitzer per se, but rather what he said about not expecting or waiting around for bush/gopers to do anything that needs to be done

it's a similar situation I have at work where we really don't have a full time manager, we have a couple of heads of departments who are next to useless.

there are 3 of us, myself, the purchasing manager and the tech service manager - whenever and wherever we can - if something needs to be done we just go ahead and do it, let the department heads know about it later

the so-called president of the company is based out of St. Louis (we're in PA) and we see him maybe 4 times a year for a couple of days at a time with very little interaction with anybody

if we need anything in terms of equipment or policy decisions that we can get through a back door - we figure out how to initate rule#2 of my business rules to get it done

Rad's business rules:

1. Logic does not apply
2. When the right person gets pissed something will be done
3. if you don't own the company then you are expendable

a recent example of rule#2: my printer died, I located one through a vendor we deal with for office supplies. It was about $80, I put in a request with the purchasing manager and was told he couldn't authorize computer equipment, I would need to get authorization from computer department in St. Louis

so I sent an e-mail, explained my printer died, sent the spec/cost, and received an e-mail back that said "that's a shame" period.

well, my job involves the need to print serial number labels, brouchures, tech manuals, invoices etc.

so I went to the "president's office" swapped my busted printer for his (same model etc). the "president" showed up a week later, when he went to try to print he discovered his printer was broken. He went to purchasing manager, told him to get a printer, purchasing manager said he needed permission from computer dept. in St. Louis. President told him the hell with that just take the money from petty cash and get him a printer. so he did

two days later president returned to St. Louis, I took the printer I had swapped earlier and swapped it for the new one (all the same make / president is not very computer literate so when he returned a few months later he didn't even notice the swap)

point is - it was necessary to get "president" pissed in order to get something done.

in this case governors and others are pissed that nothing is getting done so they are saying the hell with it - we do it ourselves