CITY BEAT: Can you hear us now Congress?

Columns

Related Photos

Mark Scheer

February 12, 2012

By Mark Scheer Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Sun Feb 12, 2012, 11:02 PM EST

Column by Mark Scheer — Feeling down? Depressed? Upset because another football season has ended?

Confused because people actually watch things like “The Bachelor” or “The Voice?”

Take heart, good people.

Remember: There’s almost always someone worse off than you.

Take, for example, members of the U.S. Congress.

These guys and gals have fallen so far from grace they are now even starting to make reporters — generally considered among the most-loathed human beings on the planet — feel good about themselves.

A Gallup Poll released last week showed members of Congress hitting an all-time low, even for them.

Americans’ approval rating of the leaders of their own country is now at 10 percent.

Ten percent!

That basically means nine out of ten of us now believe Congress is doing a poor job.

Those nine are no doubt wondering who the 10th person is so they can find them and pummel them with ridicule and scorn.

Like the Buffalo Sabres the last couple of months, the folks in Washington, D.C. just can’t seem to beat anybody.

How bad is it?

BP after the great Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 had a public approval rating of 16 percent.

Socialism, the economic system that for years ruled the day in communist Russia, scored a 33 percent approval rating among Americans last month.

Waterboarding, a form of torture — torture, mind you — got a 50 percent when Americans were asked if it should be allowed.

Then there’s the banks.

During the 2008 financial crisis, 18 percent of Americans still expressed confidence in the nation’s banking institutions.

Even Richard Nixon got better ratings than this current crop in Congress.

Yes, the man who brought America Watergate, had a 24 percent approval rating during one of the most scandalous episodes in U.S. history.

All this is bad enough, but the one that really gives me pause involves Paris Hilton.

In August, a poll showed that 60 percent of Americans considered her the most unfavorable celebrity.

That same poll showed 86 percent Americans hated Congress just as much.

In my job I sometimes wonder what it takes for people in power positions to get the message, understand what needs to be done, realize that the current course of business isn’t working and a new direction is needed, and soon.

When most people like you less than polluting oil companies, communists, waterboarders, greedy bankers, disgraced former presidents and Paris Hilton, shouldn’t that tell you something?

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Columns

HAMILTON: Dandelions, parades, broken poles and people
There are still those remnants of the fading bouquets of floral tributes that still hang at that base of a tree on city hall’s lawn. It is near where, last year, from his shiny silvery cart, Melvin Johnson sold hot dogs and sausages to both city employees and passerbys while his tiny white dog excitingly yelped at anyone that came near.

May 24, 2012 1 Photo
No Headline Provided
May 24, 2012
GLYNN: Gillibrand seeks help for prime bread-winners
A recent report shows that working mothers across the Empire State earn nearly 15 percent lower pay for the same work as men.

May 23, 2012 1 Photo
BRADBERRY: There really are spirits in the water
Over the centuries since it was “discovered” hundreds of millions of people have traveled from every corner of the world to visit Niagara Falls making it the most visited of the great waterfalls on the planet.

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
CONFER: The reality of rationed health care
The ongoing debate over Obamacare has brought to light the concept of rationed healthcare. Opponents of health care reform keenly point out that while the bill never explicitly calls out rationing, it features certain provisions that will lead the markets to adjust to strict federal demands and, therefore, dispense certain procedures in smaller amounts or not at all. Because of it being the first time that the subject has really come up in public circles, most people, especially on the right, believe that rationing is something new. It’s not. The free markets have been practicing that for quite some time. I should know; with a 4-inch long, 1-inch wide scar running south of my belly button – and a couple of related scars around my groin – I could be the poster child for rationed health care.

May 21, 2012 1 Photo
CITY DESK: A regrettable error
We owe Carol Sensabough an apology.

Several weeks ago, the long-time reader and Niagara Falls resident sent a letter to the editor explaining that she took offense to some of the things written by a syndicated columnist, Stephen Dick.

May 21, 2012 1 Photo
HIGGS: Niagara Falls' own West Side story
Trusello’s Bakery was on Elmwood behind the family home at 840 19th St. The family, Richard, William (Billy) and Sam along with two sisters, lived in the house.

May 21, 2012 1 Photo
GLYNN: Falls, Ont., rolls out red carpet for Wallenda
Before Nik Wallenda even started practicing his high-wire routine in downtown Niagara Falls, state Sen.George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, had noted the warm welcome the tightrope walker received across the river.

May 20, 2012 1 Photo
HAMILTON: Civic ‘ParticipAction’ can work too
Back in the 1970s, our Neighbors to the North ran a national campaign called ParticipAction to encourage Canadians to get off their butts and do things for the sakes of their bodies.

May 17, 2012 1 Photo
GLYNN: Graduates find they’re in staggering debt
Countless senior citizens often gripe about something, sometimes even with good reason. Perhaps they should consider themselves fortunate, compared with the younger generation.

May 16, 2012 1 Photo
More Columns Headlines

Columns

Search Results

Related Photos

CITY BEAT: Can you hear us now Congress?

Site Map

Contact Us