US Dept. of Education Survey

[safety frog]

At my office we received today a federal express overnight package to the "resident" at our office. (not Resident on this community)

Inside was a 4 page questionnaire with cover letter to resident. No Name. Included was a return envelope, paid.

I understand that they need to collect data, but this seems like a complete waste of money.

A Fed Express overnight letter is at least $10.00.

The USPS is going bankrupt and the USA uses Federal Express overnight? For an anonymous survey? Overnight?

We stood with the fed express delivery guy trying to decide to even keep what appeared to be JUNK MAIL, till we opened it. He said many people were not accepting the package as it appeared funny.

Why do folks have no faith in our government? As Jeff Foxworthy says "Here is your sign." This is just not funny compared to the Administration stopping the Key Stone Pipeline from Canada. It appears Washington has done nothing to fix that problem, bring oil to the USA and create jobs as Gas goes over $4.00 up towards $5.00 per gallon. Sorry "Here is their sign!"

[shawn_oneil]

That is stupidity.
I don't believe sending out the survey via USPS is any better. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Shawn

[curt]

Gas prices are going to go up inexorably over time. It's nothing to do with what the president does, Republican or Democratic. The XL pipeline won't make any difference in the short term and not much in the long term. The main driver of prices is world demand and world instability. The pipeline company does not have control of the oil. The Canadians will sell to the highest bidder.

[Rob C]

This is just not funny compared to the Administration stopping the Key Stone Pipeline from Canada. It appears Washington has done nothing to fix that problem, bring oil to the USA and create jobs as Gas goes over $4.00 up towards $5.00 per gallon. Sorry "Here is their sign!"

Let's be accurate. Here is the statement from the WH. The Administration was acting responsibly when forced to make a decision during a politically sensitive time. Obama could have bypassed the state of Nabraska, ignoring their issues with an executive decision, federal vs. state, but he didn't. You'd think the GOP would be very supportive of that...right? Unless, of course, their only goal is to tank the current POTUS. The GOP has lost its way.

The President welcomes today’s news that TransCanada plans to build a pipeline to bring crude oil from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the Gulf of Mexico. As the President made clear in January, we support the company’s interest in proceeding with this project, which will help address the bottleneck of oil in Cushing that has resulted in large part from increased domestic oil production, currently at an eight year high. Moving oil from the Midwest to the world-class, state-of-the-art refineries on the Gulf Coast will modernize our infrastructure, create jobs, and encourage American energy production. We look forward to working with TransCanada to ensure that it is built in a safe, responsible and timely manner, and we commit to take every step possible to expedite the necessary Federal permits.

Separately, TransCanada gave the State Department advance notice of its intention to submit a new application for the cross-border segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, from Canada to Steele City, Nebraska, once a route through Nebraska has been identified. House Republicans forced a rejection of the company’s earlier application in January, by not allowing sufficient time for important review or even the identification of a complete pipeline route. But as we made clear, the President’s decision in January in no way prejudged future applications. We will ensure any project receives the important assessment it deserves, and will base a decision to provide a permit on the completion of that review.

[curt]

The GOP has lost its way.

I strongly agree. I grew up in a Republican family and I am still a registered Republican, but the current GOP is wacko at every level.

[safety frog]

Sorry I have little faith in what this White House has to say.

[Rob C]

Sorry I have little faith in what this White House has to say.

How about the Republican Senator from Nebraska?

Our need for energy is important to our daily lives and our economy and oil is among the energy sources that will help us meet this demand. An oil pipeline, known as the Keystone XL pipeline, has been proposed by TransCanada Corporation to deliver oil from its sources in Canada, Montana and North Dakota through Nebraska to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. This pipeline has the potential to help our country meet our critical need for energy.

For more than a year, I repeatedly raised concerns about the original route of the pipeline that would have cut through the Sandhills and the Ogallala aquifer, posing a threat to our greatest natural resource. I’m not against oil pipelines or tar sands oil, but the original route was wrong. I am pleased that after hearing the concerns of Nebraskans, TransCanada agreed to voluntarily move the Keystone XL pipeline’s route around the Sand Hills.

[curt]

Sorry I have little faith in what this White House has to say.

OK fine but why do you take GOP propaganda at face value (my impression of your posts over last year or so).

[LM]

I have little faith in what ANY of them have to say...democrats or republicans!

I'd like to see all of the presidential candidates, who spend millions and millions of dollars trying to get elected, each use 5 million dollars of this money being raised/spent during elections to actually DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!! Got a great idea? Nice...spend $5 million of your own money to make a difference...if you don't get elected...at least you've done something productive for our country while campaigning! Everybody wins and the money spent is not all for nothing.

It's so frustrating when the politicians spend and spend and spend while the rest of us try to figure out ways to save money so we can do silly things like heat our homes and feed our families.

[Rob C]

I have little faith in what ANY of them have to say...democrats or republicans!

I'd like to see all of the presidential candidates, who spend millions and millions of dollars trying to get elected, each use 5 million dollars of this money being raised/spent during elections to actually DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!! Got a great idea? Nice...spend $5 million of your own money to make a difference...if you don't get elected...at least you've done something productive for our country while campaigning! Everybody wins and the money spent is not all for nothing.

It's so frustrating when the politicians spend and spend and spend while the rest of us try to figure out ways to save money so we can do silly things like heat our homes and feed our families.

Now we're talking about campaign finance reform and whether or not $ = speech.

[LM]

While I'm off topic...

I also think that if all the senators and people involved in government had to live on regular salaries, like regular people...let's just throw out a number of $60,000 a year....maybe they would actually come up with some real solutions regarding affordable health care, rising gas prices, wage freezes, etc...

Perhaps if they had to actually pay 20% of their weekly salary for a crappy health care plan and had to pick up their own tab no matter where they go, they would be more agreeable to coming up with solutions instead of just coming up with the next election-winning strategy.

Okay...I'm done with my off-topic rant. I feel better now!

[Rob C]

I don't think it's their salary that's the problem. Most of them have plenty of money before they enter Congress. I think it's the amount of money needed to actually run for office that results in those already very well off winning.

Not to mention having the ability to take 12 months off to run around the country / state campaigning. It just isn't conducive to every day people who have bills to pay and a limited income dependent upon them actually showing up for work.

[safety frog]

Wow, The main point was the the Dept. of Education in Washington is using Federal Express versus the USPS for overnight deliver of a survey to "Resident" in this case a company address and it looked like JUNK MAIL. No wonder the USPS is going bankrupt as well as the whole country! The oil pipeline was a secondary example.