Haiku 062009

waves of water
from the lawn sprinkler...
surfing robin

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Recently, we read the following:


NBC Washington: “99-Year-Old's Water Bill Jumps Almost 4000%” by Matthew Stabley

“Stop complaining about your utility bills. Jeannette Cohen's water bill jumped almost 4000 percent.

“The 99-year-old northwest Washington woman insists it must be a mistake. Usually, her water bill is $30. In March, she did a double take.

" ‘I got my usual bill and opened the envelope and looked at the amount,’ she said. ‘Huh? I looked again.’

“It was $1,181.

“Cohen complained and had plumbers check her house twice. Usually, she uses about 3,000 gallons of water per month. D.C. Water and Sewer Authority's records show that 139,876 gallons went into her house that month, and they insist she must pay for them.

" ‘It's just so obvious that, as the plumber said, You couldn't use that much water,' she told News4's Tom Sherwood….”

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And we thought:

… Not if Cohen's in fact one of Cheney's new sub-contractors – for secret off-site waterboarding assignments… =)

Haiku 031909

neighbor's dog
the rabbit skips on
ice water

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Recently, we read the following:

Associated Press: "Livid Democrats demand AIG return $165M bailout bonuses"

"Talking tougher by the hour, livid Democrats confronted beleaguered insurance giant AIG with an ultimatum Tuesday: Give back $165 million in post-bailout bonuses or watch Congress tax it away with emergency legislation. Republicans declared the Democrats were hardly blameless, accusing them of standing by while the bonus deal was cemented and suggesting that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner could and should have done more…."

"Fresh details, meanwhile, pushed outrage over AIG ever higher: New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reported that 73 company employees received bonus checks of $1 million or more last Friday. This at a company that was failing so spectacularly that the government felt the need to prop it up with a $170 billion bailout....

"The financial bailout program remains politically unpopular and has been a drag on Barack Obama's new presidency, even though the plan began under his predecessor, George W. Bush. The White House is well aware of the nation's bailout fatigue — anger that hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have gone to prop up financial institutions that made poor decisions, while many others who have done no wrong pay the price…."

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And we thought:

.... On the other hand, while they rail against the AIG executives, these same Democrats (like their Republican counterparts) are keeping mum about -- and won’t give up -- their own spending bill earmarks (i.e., pork), running in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Are the mirrors in the Capitol too fogged up they can't see their own faces?....



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