What about letting the little whiners have their outrageous pay and bonuses then just tax the heck out of them - say 91% minimum. We could get something back at least.

I think I know why the Republicans are complaining about everything in the Stimulus Program that isn't a tax cut. First, they have always based their decisions regarding government on ideology and second, they hope the stimulus package will fail. Since they aren't voting for it, they can then claim that it's Obama's program in time for the mid-term elections. Politics as usual and be damned with the country.

Crabby--Either you got a bad bunch of CFL bulbs or there is an issue with your wiring, dimming switches counting as a part thereof. I have installed nearly two dozen of the little buggers and have yet to have one burn out. And, yes, when they do burn out, they will go to the county's hazardous waste disposal terminal.

I make a trip to the hazardous waste disposal terminal about once every six months. Usually our collected hazardous waste is a small amount; but, fortunately, it is only a total of two miles of extra driving from a restaurant where I meet fellow retirees for breakfast every few weeks.

Crabby didn't know about dimmer switches, but:

1. since only two are on dimmers, which Crabby hardly ever uses and

2. since this building was renovated three years ago with all new wiring passing all inspections and

3. since Crabby bought her CFLs at several stores (supermarket, Home Depot, CVS, etc.) over time, so she doubts it's a bad batch of bulbs...

Crabby, on a limited budget, is not reinvesting in CFLs. She is waiting for the new LEDs that are expected to be on the market soon and do not have toxic disposal issues.

CFL's - Tried it and didn't like it. I don't know about longevity - we're up to about 8 months using it in a computer/desk lamp. As a "light" for reading, I couldn't and thought it was my problem until others spoke of the same problem.

(dot)com issue - yes, I find I do that often because I don't need dotcom when I sign in for email etc. - so yes, when it is needed I often forget. It seems many of us are more creatures of habits than we would like to think.

Bailouts/stimulus - we are in new ground - the New Deal is a bulding of a cornerstone and I am glad we are in a movement of stimulus rather than remaining stagnant.

Only three Republicans in Congress seem to remember how to get some of what you want by giving up some of what you want. It's called negotiation, people. (I have, by the way, never been prouder of our two Maine Senators.)

The rest seem to be under the impression that the last two elections didn't happen and that the GOP can still act in its high- and heavy-handed manner.

I replaced all of the light bulbs in my apartment with CFL bulbs two years ago, and they are still going strong. You must have gotten into a bad batch.

Ronni, the Republicans are suddenly anti-spending, since there is a Democratic administration and the new spending is meant to help some of us lower- and middle-income citizens. They were all for wildly over-spending on a destructive and meaningless war, so long as there was a Republican administration, and the money went to their buddies in the so-called defense industries (the military-industrial complex General Eisenhower warned us about).
Borrowing from other countries and putting our children deeply in debt meant nothing to them back then. Now apparently many of them are hoping for the economy to fail so they can get back into office in 2010. The best we can hope for is to see some good results before then, but it might take longer.
Senator McCain has been in lock-step with his party and nasty about the stimulus package, and so have most of his fellow Republicans (Boehner in particular). They despise the three who voted for their country and not with the party. Gee, fellows, not so long ago you all were bragging about mavericks!
I think they crawled out of their nurseries lisping, "Tax cuts--tax cuts--"

Joni--I should think that the rest of the Republicans would love the three who voted for the stimulus package. After all, the three were able to negotiate to get what they wanted to the tune of 45% of the package's being for tax cuts at the expense of schools and other worthwhile spending. After his big show of not following the failed policies of the previous administration, I find it appalling that Pres Obama is willing to sign the horrid bill that the stimulus package has become.

Pete needs to remind me what the three republicans gave up in negotiation. From such an incredible position of weakness, I'd say that they did all right for themselves.

I must be missing the point but I'll ask you folks to explain this to me: The country is over 1 Trillion dollars in debt, right?

The states are running out of money to pay employees and those 6 million plus people out of work, right?

There is a billion dollar stimulus package on the table to 'jump start' the economy, right?

Uhm, where is this money coming from?! This all sounds like bad math and counterfeiting to me.

What's scary about all this is we have been on the Fiat system since Nixon!

Now we have new bucket heads grinning in our face, 'spitting' on our heads and telling us happy days are here again because it's raining money!

Why give the banks money or the homeowners money or GM money? Why single out one particular group and reward it only? Why not distribute money among taxpayers and let us all jump start the economy?