SOME MONDAY MORNING OBSERVATIONS

Read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headlines today. One that stood out was a suicide by a 60 year old man who jumped from the Westinghouse Bridge to the railroad tracks below.

On a clear day, and by standing on our second floor side porch in Forest Hills, you could see the bridge in all it's glory. It was one real driving threat in the winter due to it's smooth surface and the cold winter air passing over and under it. It also was a bridge where you soon learned to slow down when exiting west due to the expected speed trap as you headed for Ardmore Boulevard - Route 30.

But, in Pittsburgh East, the bridge was known more for the tendency of people to jump from it. The attraction baffled me as a child and even more now that I'm a seasoned adult. There has to be an easier way to go.

The bridge did accomplish one thing however.

It was the maturity tool that my parents occasionally used to illustrate the need to pick your friends carefully and to think for yourself.

"Well, then I guess if (fill in a name) told you to jump off the Westinghouse Bridge, you'd do that too."

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Just read an article in the USA Today regarding lobbyists who were former congressional aides or retired congress members. One lobbying group's website boasts that 54 former Senate and House members "have staff alumni at our firm."

A total of 149 former members of Congress were registered to lobby in 2009. Unfortunately, similar figures are not available for former staffers. However, a 2006 examination by National Journal found that 107 of 635 top-salaried aides who worked in Congress from October 2003 through march 2004 - or nearly 17% - had taken lobbying or government-relations jobs."

Earlier this year, Barney Frank, D-Mass chairman of the House Financial Services Committe criticized a former aide for joining an industry lobbying group after working on a sweeping financial regulation bill. The former aide joined a lobbying firm that is a clearinghouse for derivatives, which would be subject to regulation under legislation now in Congress.

Now there's a pot and a kettle in an angry exchange!

Several people were quoted in the article and one Senator recently introduced legislation that would impose a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress . It also would increase the cooling off period for congressional staffers to six years before they can lobby."

Hmmm, who needs a calendar to determine if it's an election year?

Dave Weinhold, president of the American League of Lobbyist, said "It's unlikely many lawmakers would support a bill that limits their future employment."

Finally, a lobbyist that got it right? What is it that we don't understand?
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To end this blog on a upbeat note, I recently re-read an E-mail entitled, "And that's when the fight started." Here are a couple of tongue in cheek excerpts that reminded me of the old late 40's/early 50's radio show, "The Bickersons" with Don Ameche and Frances Langford:

"My wife and I are watching "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, "Do you want to have sex?"

"No," she answered.

I said, "Is that your final answer?"

She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying, "Yes"

So I said, "Then I'd like to call a friend."

And then the fight started . . .

Finally, my favorite: "My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat along at a nearby table. "

My wife asked, "Do you know her?"

"Yes," I sighed. She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since."

"My God!", said my wife, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?"

And, then the fight started.. . .

Have a great Monday!