Congress Is Healthy, Wealthy and Unwise

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) surprised no one by blaming the failure of the extension of unemployment benefits on the Bush administration (Dec. 29). Has she forgotten that the Democratic Party controlled the Senate and did not act on the bill until Congress had almost adjourned? She cannot blame the president for that. Did she forget, also -- like her “right-wing conspiracy” theory, when critics of her husband accused him of lying in the Monica Lewinsky scandal -- that the bulk of corporate mergers (banking, industry, marketing) occurred during the Clinton years? Did she forget the thousands laid off as a result? Finally, did she forget that the Clinton administration did not effectively deal with Osama bin Laden and associates, leaving our country at the mercy of them? Before Clinton criticizes President Bush she may want to consider judging him on his own merits and not on the record of her impeached husband. The kettle cannot call the teapot black.

Michael Rives

Los Angeles

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Re “Congress Set to Do Battle Over Extending Jobless Aid,” Dec. 28: The image of pigs, snout deep into the trough, has so far been enough to cover the excesses and self-indulgences of the power structure of recent years. However it doesn’t quite describe the full depth of what just occurred in Congress when it unashamedly voted itself yet another raise to an already generous salary while cutting off funds for those for whom there were no jobs available.

How can these people sleep at night knowing how they have combined greed and evil in one blow? Not to mention the fact that there isn’t another job in the world where the employee tells the employer how much money and how often to raise the amount. The taxpayers do without government-funded health care while paying their taxes into government-funded health care for members of Congress, but not for themselves. Isn’t there something wrong with this picture? What is next?

Paulette Mansfield

Canoga Park