Deficits:
Through the first ten months of fiscal year 2009 the federal deficit is $1.3 trillion. CBO predicts that the FY 2009 deficit will reach a record $1.6 trillion, which is 3.5 times more than FY 2008′s record deficit of $458 billion.

Debt:
The total national debt is $11.6 trillion. Debt held by the public, which excludes intergovernmental debt and debt held in the Social Security Trust fund, is $7.3 trillion. The Office of Management and Budget predicts that the national debt will rapidly rise to $23.3 trillion by FY 2019 under the President’s budget. Treasury Secretary Geithner sent a letter on August 7, 2009, asking Congress to raise the debt limit above $12.1 trillion.

Jobs and Unemployment:
The unemployment rate in August was 9.7 percent, up from 7.6 percent in January when the President took office and is the highest level of unemployment in 26 years. 14.4 million job-seeking Americans are without jobs. Since the Democrat “stimulus” was signed into law in February, two million Americans have lost their jobs.

Income:
Personal income in the month of June was down $133.1 billion from the month before the “stimulus” was passed.

“Stimulus”:
To date, the White House reports that $80.9 billion of the $787 billion “stimulus” bill has been paid out. Of that spending, $26.8 billion has been spent on Medicaid grants to States, $13 billion for State education funding and student aid, $15 billion for unemployment insurance, $13 billion for one-time Social Security payments, and $3 billion for food stamps. Only $1.7 billion or 0.2 percent has been paid out for transportation infrastructure projects.

Government Spending:
In FY 2009, the government will spend an estimated $3.65 trillion, surpassing last year’s record for federal spending by $670 billion. Over the last year, Democrats have increased discretionary spending (including the “stimulus”) by 25 percent and non-defense discretionary spending by 57 percent.

If anybody wants the text that I have of the exchange between us as background for your voting decision this November, please contact me. My contact information is easy to find online.

Hey guys, noted former Democrat and political opportunist Scott Saionz called me a Marxist for questioning whether John Connolly should be representing the Republican point of view for the Press & Guide:

http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2010/07/10/opinion/doc4c333f4c1d921217768191.txt#blogcomments

My grandparents would have been killed by Stalin if they hadn’t, as DPs in Europe after WWII, gotten a grant from the Tolstoy Foundation to come here. A Marxist is about the most insulting thing you can call me, and yet Scotty here did it without a second thought, presumably just to score points by defending his writing-skill-challenged political ally.

How’s that for connecting with your potential constituency, huh? I was undecided on the County Commission race, but will definitely be voting for Woronchak now. If nothing else, it demonstrates painfully clearly that Scotty can’t prioritize.

The funny thing is, when I wrote that comment originally, I had Scotty in mind as a possible candidate to replace Connolly. I mean, he’s an atrocious writer, but he’s better than Connolly at least. I’m starting to change my mind about that…

The blue trash containers you have seen were the ones used in the pilot area during the evaluation phase of the program. Most of those have been collected and replaced by the new gray ones, though there are still some out there in the pilot area. The blue ones are now being issued out to businesses that do not use dumpsters, so that they have a standardized pick up system as well, instead of placing trash directly on the ground for pickup.

I agree with you. It is a shame that we have to vote for only one party in the primary election. I have voted in every election since I have been of voting age and, yes, it does seem that, sometimes, it is voting for the lessor of two evils.

I am going to go and pick up a voters guide from City Hall and really do cramming before the primary.

Everyone needs to get out and vote. It is a privilege that most countries don’t have.