Another day; the wait continues for a resolution.

I believe the report yesterday that September was the wettest month in recorded history here in Maine and that the first nine months of the year were also the wettest. My bones confirm the report. Today was an uncomfortable one at my Senior Fitness session. Every move that involved bones and a joint hurt with each motion. I’m sure it’s the weather as yesterday, when the sun was out for five or ten minutes, I had more ambition than I’ve had for a while. Then the muggies and the cloudiness moved back in and this morning I’m paying for it. Let me quickly point out that even these conditions leading to this complaint is far, far better than the potential alternative.

What could be an interesting Tuesday is underway. Like every day we have no idea how it will end but we do know it will be dominated by the financial market crisis that Congress is debating. A plan voted on by the House of Representatives yesterday was defeated. Naturally the Democrats are blaming the Republicans for the defeat, but as many Democrats as Republicans voted against it.

Some blame a speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just before the vote for the defeat. While calling upon Congressmen to pass the bill, she lambasted the ones she most needed for support. I read one report that said many “yes” votes turned to “no” during that speech. Maine’s two Congressmen, Tom Allen and Mike Michaud, split with Allen voting to support the plan.

President Bush continues to take the biggest blame for the mess as he has done for virtually everything that has happened in the U.S. for the past seven years. Notably absent from the debate is a call from Congress for an investigation into the cause. I wonder if that could be because the Democrat controlled Congress doesn’t want people to know that it all started under Democrats who on at least two occasions passed either Executive Orders or laws that required financial institutions to diversify their lending practices to include low income people, most of whom would never be able to repay their loans.

If they told the people that President Bush began warning of this impending crisis when he was first elected and tried several times to get Congress, both Republican and Democrat controlled sessions, to reform the credit industry, they’d lose their whipping post. Therefore, so far we haven’t seen that clamor for an investigation. What we are seeing is the group responsible for the mess blaming the President, the institutions required to make the bad loans, and the people who haven’t paid them back. And we’re expecting this group to resolve the problem.

We’ll see what comes forth today although I believe the House won’t debate anew until Thursday.

GiM