There is Still Hope

There seem to be few issues preventing Americans from voting for Sen. Obama, but thankfully abortion is one of them. A new poll highlighted in the Washington Times by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner shows that a majority of evangelicals young ones in particular-refuse to betray their pro-life convictions on Election Day. "While young evangelicals... have become more liberal on other social issues... we do not see the same movement toward a liberal position on abortion," said pollster Anna Greenberg.

Although Sen. Obama is still widely popular among young voters, abortion could prove to be a losing issue for the Democratic candidate. Today's teens are far more pro-life than their parents, according to a Pew survey released earlier this year. Those beliefs could easily push them away from a candidate with a 100 percent approval rating from Planned Parenthood. For more on the Senator's policy, check out FRC Action's new video, "Draw the Line: Barack Obama and Partial-Birth Abortion," now available online at www.frcaction.org.

Source: FRC

More Social Issues

Next week, more voters will decide the fate of gambling in their state than any other values issue. And in every instance but one, the question before them is not whether to limit gambling but to expand it. Please consider the following initiatives very carefully. Each one will have a significant impact on your communities and families.

Arkansas: Initiative 3 would amend the state Constitution to allow lotteries.

Colorado: Amendment 50 may be called the "Limited Gaming Initiative," but the measure actually increases gambling in the state with provisions that would allow 24/7 casino hours.

Maine: Question 2 would authorize Olympia Gaming of Las Vegas to operate a gaming facility at a single site in Oxford County. This proposal would also lower the legal age for gambling from 21 to 19 and lower the legal age to work in a casino from 21 to 18. The same proposal would also allow the casino to extend credit to gamblers, which is currently prohibited under Maine law.

Maryland: Question 2 asks voters to approve the placement of 15,000 slot machines at five locations throughout the state.

Massachusetts: Question 3, the only anti-gambling measure on U.S. ballots this year, would shut down the state's two dog racing tracks by January 1, 2010.

Missouri: Proposition A would repeal a state law that limits gambling losses to $500 in a two-hour period.

Ohio: Issue 6 would authorize the building of a $600,000,000 gambling "resort" near Wilmington. If passed, it would be Ohio's first casino. For more information, check out www.frc.org for a 2008 Ballot Watch.

Source: FRC

The State of The Congress

Two years ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pledged to transform America with the most ethical Congress this country had ever seen. Since 2006, voters have yet to see any revival of responsibility in Washington. Instead new charges of corruption have been leveled at leaders from both parties. From Reps. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) and Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) and now Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), integrity is becoming the exception to the congressional rule. Yesterday, a federal jury indicted the Alaska Senator on seven counts of filing false financial statements. The once-powerful Stevens, who was the Senate's longest-serving Republican, is vowing to return home and "ask for [Alaskans'] vote." However, if 2006 is any indication, Americans are not interested in reelecting men of questionable character to Congress. Voters have been burned in the past for trusting Republicans to address these scandals internally. Despite several new charges on both sides of the aisle, both parties seem indifferent to this arrogance of power and refuse to weed out improprieties. If our leaders refuse to restore basic decency to American democracy, then voters must do it for them. But voters should keep this in mind as well: if politicians in Washington can't be trusted, why give them more power?

Source:FRC

Are We That Fickle?

In the midst of the media storm surrounding the upcoming elections, there’s one news item you may have missed. An economic crisis is upon us and Sarah Palin is at the center of it. What’s the cause of this crisis I’m talking about? Her glasses.

In less than one month’s time Sarah has become a household name. Everyone has an opinion about her. But whether you’re Republican, Democrat or Independent, there’s one issue regarding the vice presidential nominee on which the majority agrees. We love her glasses! I suppose not since Ben Franklin invented bifocals have spectacles captured our fancies so.

Women (and even men) are flocking to their opticians in search of Governor Palin’s Kawasaki 704 series designer specs. In less than two weeks, the Japanese company that manufactures the $375 frames received 9,000 global orders. That’s more than they normally produce in a year! I’m no economic analyst but there’s no way supply can meet that demand.

According to Governor Palin’s optician, she selected her now-famous frames from hundreds of choices. I’ve worn glasses almost my entire life and know what a difficult decision this is! After much searching she selected just the right pair for her and the rest, as they say, is history.

As popular as they are today, Sarah Palin’s glasses will become yesterday’s news. While much of our attention is fixed on who will lead our country come January, we must remember politicians come and go. But there is one leader who has, does and will stand the test of time: Jesus. As we set our sights on the future, let’s never forget on whom we need to fix our gaze. And let’s offer Him our one-of-a-kind devotion.

Key Social Issues

As the elections draw near there are very important issues that the voters will be deciding. California's ballot initiative may be receiving the most attention, but there are plenty of important values issues to go around. Next week, voters are considering measures in 33 states on everything from prostitution to casinos. These are the key social questions around the country. California: Proposition 4 would create a limited statewide parental notification law. If it passes, doctors would be required to call home before performing an abortion on a minor girl.

Colorado: Also known as the Personhood Amendment, Question 48 would define a "person" as "any human being from the moment of fertilization." If successful, this initiative could have a significant impact on future abortion laws.

Michigan: Proposal 2 would allow human embryos created for fertility purposes to be used for research, leading to the destruction of these embryos and undoing a 1978 law banning the killing of human embryos.

South Dakota: Except in the cases of rape, incest, or threats to the mother's health, Measure 11 would amend the state's constitution to protect the unborn in South Dakota.

Washington: I-1000 would legalize assisted suicide, allowing doctors to order lethal drug overdoses for patients with six months or less to live. Family members would not have to be informed.

Get informed and get out and VOTE!!!

Source:FRC

First Comes Love, Then Come Taxes

If Barack Obama's "family-friendly" tax code sounds too good to be true, a little research into his plan proves that it probably is. Senator Obama says that under his proposal, "families" (i.e., married couples) making less than $250,000 wouldn't experience a tax increase. But he also says that single people earning less than $200,000 would face no tax increase. In other words, if you are a cohabiting couple each making $200,000 a year ($400,000 total), you will be spared a tax hike, but if you're a married couple who each makes $200,000 a year, you would likely face a substantial tax penalty. Talk about a marriage deterrent! On page five of his six-page plan, it states, "Obama would work with the Treasury Department to adjust the thresholds of these rates slightly to ensure that no married couple making less than $250,000 (or single making less than $200,000) was affected by these changes." Of course, it won't just be wealthier families who find themselves burdened by Obama's plan. The Illinois senator has said that he opposes making President Bush's tax cuts permanent, meaning that every family would experience a tax increase after the per child tax credit and marriage relief expires.

Source:FRC

Can Dead Fish Vote???

Just when you think it can't get any crazier in this election year another "crazy" story comes out. It seems that in Illinois which happens to be Senator Obama's home state, a dead goldfish was registered to vote. Read Story Here.

More on Barney

Congressman Barney Frank, one of the bozos responsible for pushing the sub-prime mortgages, said in an interview this week that now is the time to start making sure we 'increase spending' in order to help the current financial mess. Let this be exhibit 'a' in support of the 9% approval rating Congress is currently enjoying. Can you believe this bozo???

They are at it Again

Just when you thought congressional approval ratings couldn't drop any lower, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced plans for a new economic stimulus package. The ink on Congress' $700 billion bailout bill is barely dry, yet House Democrats are back at it, adding to America's tab by the hundreds of billions. Ironically, Pelosi and company still believe they can solve this crisis by exacerbating the problem that got us here, spending money America doesn't have. In the latest proposal, liberals are trying to bribe voters with their own money. "Re-elect us," Pelosi seems to say, "and Congress will send you a check." What Pelosi doesn't mention is that this package won't create wealth but redistribute it. With a price tag that could climb upwards of $200 billion, the Democrats' plan would increase funding for unemployment benefits, food stamps, and "infrastructure." States that find themselves in financial trouble would also profit. The plan would create an economic crutch for those who spent unwisely, rewarding irresponsibility and plunging America even deeper into debt. At a press conference, the House Majority Leader said, "That is something that we all know that we have to do." On the contrary, what Congress needs to do is stop fooling itself into believing that it can deliver real relief with paternalistic payments when fundamental tax fairness for families needs to be made permanent before the bills for these billion dollar bailouts come due.

Source: FRC.

Financial Apocalypse

I don't believe one U.S. political party or the other is specifically to blame for our own financial crisis. There is plenty of blame to go around and the problems have been developing for years. That said, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the U.S. stock markets are tanking especially hard right now in part because investors believe Sen. Barack Obama is going to win on November 4th. As polls for Obama and Congressional Democrats have risen and Americans have begun to sense that Obama's election as president and expanded control of Congress by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid and their liberal allies is inevitable investors' fears have not been calmed. They have been exacerbated. True, investors don't see a complete and convincing economic rescue plan from Sen. McCain. But they see disaster in Obama's plan and the likelihood of full control of the U.S. government by the Democrats. The Obama-Pelosi-Reid prescription, after all, is the worst possible medicine for the economy. Fact, $1.3 trillion in new federal spending, dramatic tax increases on small businesses, dramatic tax increases on big businesses, dramatic tax increases on those who create wealth, a major new tax on energy producers, as well as nationalized health care system. We are not simply on the brink of a serious recession; we are on the brink of another Great Depression. How, then, will massive tax increases and massive government spending help us fight our way out of this crisis? Answer: it won't. And Main Street and Wall Street know it. Just ask Joe the Plumber.

Source: J. Rosenberg.

Obama's Abortion Extremism

Sen. Barack Obama's views on life issues ranging from abortion to embryonic stem cell research mark him as not merely a pro-choice politician, but rather as the most extreme pro-abortion candidate to have ever run on a major party ticket. Read Story Here.

When Does Life Begin?

I had posted this before, but since we are getting ready to vote in one of the most important elections of our time we need to meditate on our values, and we need to find out whether the values of those that are seeking our votes align with the values that God has given us. So here it is again.

You saw me before I was born. (Psalm 139:16 )
So when does life begin? It’s one of the most debated legal questions of our day. The dispute has spread so wide and far and created so much division, that the U.S. Supreme Court has been forced to weigh in on it. Every state has had to deal with the issue when passing and enforcing laws. Every country has had to decide where it stands on the matter of what to do with a life inside of a mother’s womb.
When does life begin? Only when we answer this critical question can we know how to answer the abortion debate.
For believers the question takes on a different form. We need to ask ourselves, Where does God stand on the issue? And that question is dealt with definitively in Scripture.
“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:15-16 , italics mine).
According to God’s holy Word, life begins at conception. Your life began before your mother and father knew they were going to have a child. Your days were numbered before you were a twinkle in your daddy’s eye. God knew your soul before he decided to place it into a body.
The debate on life is really nothing more than a question on the authority of God. If you believe that God created us and that Scripture is his inspired Word, the question has already been answered. There is nothing left to talk about. God weighed in on the debate before it ever became a debate. We simply have to ask ourselves whether we’re going to take his Word as truth or continue arguing our opinions.
How much easier to simply leave it to God to answer the big questions of life and concentrate instead on trusting what he says.

Thoughs on Self-Discipline

God wants me and you to develop a self-discipline that pushes us to do things, even as others are giving up.

Over the years, I’ve observed six key expressions of self-discipline:
People with self-discipline master their moods. They live by their commitments, not their emotions. People who do the right thing even when they don’t feel like it accomplish most of what gets done in the world! “A man without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls” (Proverbs 25:28).

People with self-discipline watch their words. They put their minds in gear before opening their mouths. “He who guards his lips guards his life” (Proverbs 13:3).

People with self-discipline restrain their reactions. How much can you take before you lose your cool? “If you are sensible, you will control your temper. When someone wrongs you, it is a great virtue to ignore it” (Proverbs 19:11).

People with self-discipline stick to their schedule. If you don’t determine how you will spend your time you can be sure that others will decide for you! “Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility … Make the best use of your time” (Ephesians 5:15–16).

People with self-discipline manage their money. They learn to live on less than what they make and they invest the difference. The value of a budget is that it tells your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went! “The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets” (Proverbs 21:20).

People with self-discipline maintain their health. That way they can accomplish more and enjoy their achievements. “Every one of you should learn to control his body, keeping it pure and treating it with respect” (1 Thessalonians 4:4).

The disciplines you establish today will determine your success tomorrow. But it takes more than just willpower for lasting self-discipline. It takes a power greater than yourself: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).

The more I accept God’s control over my life, the more self-control he gives me.

Can Dead People Vote?

Apparently they can in Texas, where one county found that 4,000 of its registered voters were dead but even that didn't stop many of them from voting!

The excitement over the spike in voter registrations has quickly turned to suspicion as officials in almost a dozen states have launched investigations to determine whether these nine million Americans are actually eligible. In the weeks leading up to November 4, the New York Post found dozens of people who have different names but share the same story. Most of the accounts, like Christopher Barkley's, are from swing states and involve ACORN, the "community activist group" with ties to Obama submitting the bulk of the new voter applications. Barkley says he was "hounded" to register by ACORN workers in Ohio, a crown jewel of the presidential race. "I kept getting approached by folks who asked me to register. They'd ask me if I was registered. I'd say yes, and they'd ask me to do it again." Ohio voter Lateala Goins told a Post reporter, "You can tell them you're registered as many times as you want; they do not care. They will follow you to the buses, they will follow you home..." Another man in Cleveland says he "was given cash and cigarettes" by ACORN representatives for registering a whopping 72 times in the last year and a half.

Here in Florida, a state that President Bush won by less than 600 ballots in 2000, the Sun-Sentinel discovered that more than 30,000 felons are still on the rolls, despite the law rendering them ineligible. Although 11 states are investigating ACORN's role in widespread election fraud, time is short. With the nation on edge and Americans sharply divided as to who can lead us back, democracy cannot become corruption's next victim. Regardless of who wins, we all have a stake in an honest process.

Are We on a Slippery Slope???

First it was the bailout of AIG, then it was the $700 billion "rescue plan", now the government is "mulling" over the possibility of taking over banks the same way that is happening in England. i don't know about you but when the government starts taking control of private industries, there is a word to define it and that word is socialism. Interesting times we are living. Read story here.

Get Informed, Get Your Guide and Vote...

If you're wondering what tops Congress's wish list, try job security. Given the choice, a Rasmussen poll shows that almost 60% of Americans would clean House literally and fire every member of Congress. Only 17 percent of voters would be willing to keep the legislature we have now. And for good reason! While there are some very good men and women presently serving, the Congressional majority has been more hostile to American families than any contingent in history. With their values assaulted almost daily, voters have grown increasingly frustrated with our leaders, and Congress' single digit approval ratings show it. To help educate you about the men and women competing for your support, FRC Action has just released their latest Congressional Voter Guide. From abortion and hate crimes to marriage and gun control, they show you where the next class of leaders stands on some of the year's hottest issues. With an important election on the horizon, please do your part. Log on to www.frc.org for the information you need to make an educated decision. And while you're there, check out the Presidential Voter Guide.

On November 4th, make a difference by voting your values.

Source: FRC.

Are We Raising a Generation of Cheaters???

Cheaters may not prosper, but according to a new ABC story, they do graduate. As technology evolves so has intellectual dishonesty. According to writer Dominick Tao, the Internet has become a haven for students who are both browsing and sharing ways to outsmart their teachers. Helped by everything from invisible ink pens to YouTube videos, this moral indifference is spreading faster than the products that fuel it. In a shocking national poll, more than 70 percent of college students admitted to cheating at least once. When it comes to personal integrity, these young adults just don't get it. Considering the culture they live in, who can blame them? They've been taught by Congress, Wall Street, and Hollywood that the ends justifies the means. Unfortunately, this collapse of values at college has even wider implications. Not only are we raising a generation of moral relativists, but we have done so while witnessing what this deep seated corruption can do to our country. It levels corporations, tarnishes our political process, and breeds an incredible mistrust between voters and their elected leaders. Until we get down to the business of instilling a sense of honesty and ethics into society, we are only cheating ourselves.

Source: FRC, ABC News.

What Your Tax Money is Doing !!!

I wrote before that I would let you guys know who are the biggest offenders in this mess that we call "our economic crisis". Well here is the next one. If you'd just gotten a government bailout, you might be tempted to hold a retreat at a nice California hotel and that's exactly what American International Group (AIG) employees did. And their executives Blew $440,000 of yours and mine tax money. Read Article Here.

What the Bailout has really Done.

Washington has just put every member of your family deeper in debt. Washington added $700 billion to what we owe, making our debt $11.3 trillion. That amounts to $37,667 for every man, woman and child in America. Several hundred million of this $700 billion bailout went for “pork barrel” spending which is unrelated to the financial crisis.

The financial crisis is the result of power-hungry politicians telling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make loans to people who could not afford them, and then Fannie and Freddie forced the banks they serve to do the same. Those who lived inside their means and bought what they could afford are seeing their retirement funds going down the drain while the responsible parties pocket their millions.

I don't know about you but I'm are fed up!

We must demand open congressional hearings to investigate this matter. If we don’t act now, the politicians will sweep this under the rug.

• I want to know who did what, when and why that caused this crisis.
• I am fed up with politicians mismanaging my money.
• I am fed up with politicians “taking care of your buddies” in smoke-filled back rooms.
• I am sick and tired of having my money taken from me and squandered by Washington for political gain.
• I am tired of individuals doing a shoddy job of running a quasi-governmental operation and being paid $90,000,000 with our tax dollars.
• We must demand an explanation of how this crisis happened and who was responsible for it.
• If laws were broken, we want those responsible prosecuted.
• For those who acted unethically, we want to know who they are and what they did.
• We want hearings on this matter, and we must demand that they be open, not behind closed doors.
• We hold Congress responsible to get to the bottom of this matter so that it will never happen again.

Source: AFA

Meet Barney.

I'm still mad about the whole bail out deal, so I decided to research it, well the more I learn about the financial mess our government is in, the more I see how the liberals got us in this crisis and now want the government to get us out. I think that what we need is a thorough investigation of this whole thing. Those found breaking the law need to be prosecuted. What I will do is this, when I find out about an individual that may have done something "fishy" I will write about it, I will name names and give you all the information I come across. The first guy I want you to learn about is congressman Barney Frank democrat from Massachusetts, read this article, to learn more about Frank and to better understand why we are in this mess. Here is another article about Frank. Stay tuned there is more to come.

Get Informed

With just weeks to go before a climactic presidential election, all eyes are on the national stage. But the stakes are equally high if not higher for the country's congressional races. We've all watched as Congress has muddled its way through the last two legislative sessions, increasing its attacks on the American family and leaving critical issues like the sanctity of life, cloning, taxes, hate crimes, and marriage in limbo. This all culminated with the fiasco of the "bailout bill". To help you navigate the candidates on November 4, FRC Action has released its first installment of the Congressional Voter Guide. In it, America's next leaders are asked what their positions are on a host of key issues. Log on to www.frcaction.org and download your copy, which compares House and Senate candidates in 25 hot races. Look for phase two of FRCA's Voter Guides to hit the site next week.

Do your part to elect men and women of character tomorrow by getting informed today!

More Thoughs on the Bailout

What do NASCAR, the Motion Picture Association, and Puerto Rico rum makers have in common? They all benefited from the Senate's $700 billion economic bailout plan. Hoping to entice the bill's skeptics with some familiar bait, the upper chamber sweetened its deal with more than a billion dollars in tax breaks for special interests. As the Dow plummets, unnerving investors from coast to coast, the House approved the Senate's bill. With the economy hanging in the balance, more responsible members were faced with the question-to pork or not to pork? And while the Senate managed to slip in relief for manufacturers of toy arrows, its quiver contained little for American families. As the sun sets on President Bush's tax cuts in 2010, leaders may use these amendments to leave the impression that the major tax issues have been addressed. They couldn't be more wrong. To restore confidence we must actively pursue tax simplification and permanent tax relief. Energizing the economy means expanding the IRS's grace not to a handful of niche markets, as the Senate suggests, but to all Americans, especially American families. If our leaders are this determined to bail out Wall Street, how much more concerned should they be with rescuing the family from our suffocating tax policy?

Source:FRC

They Did it Again!!!

Once again we have been had by our so called representatives. The vote is in and the "rescue plan" passed. Never mind that we the people were against it. But I guess we are to stupid to know what we want and they have to tell us what is best for us. The final count was 263 in favor and 171 against. I applaud the 63 democrats and 108 republicans that did not compromise their character and stood on their convictions and voted the will of their constituents. As for the rest of them, I hope we remember come November. I will personally find out how my representatives and senators voted and I will hold them accountable in November. Hope you do the same. If you don't then you don't have a right to complain.

What a Joke...

I have been watching on and off the so call debate in the house of representatives about the so called "rescue bill". These guys and gals are amazing at talking a lot and saying nothing. How can they sleep at night? How can they sell their integrity for power? Is amazing. I guess that old saying still holds true today. absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is an election year and these guys are counting on us the people having a short memory like we have had in the past. I hope that we don't, I hope that we are mad enough to remember come November.

More Pork!!!

Here are some more "pork" that our tax money is helping "bail" out, oh I'm sorry should I use the term the politicians are using now? "rescue" plan. Stuffed into the 451- page bill are more than $1.7 billion worth of targeted tax breaks to be doled out for a sty full of eyebrow-raising purposes over the next decade. Anyways here are some of them:

* Wool research.

* Auto-racing tracks - $128 million. (bet you NASCAR is smiling).

* Corporations operating in American Samoa - $33 million. (What???).

* Small- to medium-budget film and television productions - $10 million. (HuH???)

* $223 million package of tax benefits for fishermen and others whose livelihoods suffered as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

* $3.8 billion health-care provision that forces insurance companies to provide coverage for mental-health treatment equivalent to the coverage they provide for physical illness.

Now can somebody please tell me what all of this has to do with "rescuing" Wall Street? I'll tell you, NOTHING. This is just a transparent attempt at buying the votes of those congressmen/women that voted NO on Monday.

What effect will this bill have if it passes? The Congressional Budget Office said the package of breaks including obvious pork and some more defensible tax-relief measures will add about $112 billion to budget deficits over the next five years because the bill doesn't contain enough offsetting revenue hikes to keep the budget balanced.

Are You Kidding Me????

I don't know about you guys and gals, but I'm mad as hell at our senators. Those guys that we elected to represent us who constantly ignore us, who think that we are stupid and need to be told how our money needs to be spent. Yea I'm mad at those spineless cowards who yesterday passed a $700 billion bill. Yea and that includes the two presidential candidates who voted for this bill. Are you kidding me? A bill filled with "pork". Let me give you a couple of examples the bill gives millions of dollars for, ready for this? rum research, yea you heard right. Here is another one, tax break for a toy company that makes wooden arrows. Yea you heard that one right too. I don't know about you but it gets me mad to see these sanctimonious wind bags being so gracious with my tax money. So what can we do? We can hope that the guys in congress stay true to their course (I doubt it) and vote it down again. At least the congress showed more sensitivity to their constituents and listened. But it they buckle to the pressure and vote this bill into law, then I hope you remember when November comes around and you can exercise your biggest weapon against these guys and that is your vote. Get informed, find out who voted for this bill and make them pay come November.

"If You are Ashamed of Me"

The Virginia State Police Department now joins Saudi Arabia as one more place where the name of Jesus cannot be honored in an official ceremony. Six of the 17 police chaplains in the Virginia State Police have resigned in protest over a new directive from Superintendent Steven Flaherty that bans the use of "Jesus" or "Christ" in prayers at such functions as trooper graduation ceremonies and the annual memorial service for fallen officers. Flaherty singled out the name of Jesus for censorship because he wants to be "inclusive and respectful of the varied ethnicities, cultures and beliefs of our employees." However, it's apparent that his definition of "inclusive" extends only to those who are offended by the exercise of First Amendment rights. The superintendent is bowing to the pressure of liberal groups such as the ACLU who believe that our Constitutional rights of freedom of speech and religion are trumped by the "right" not to be offended. I applaud these six chaplains for their courageous stand to defend their right to pray according to their conscience.

More on the "Bailout"

Someone once said that the U.S. Senate is like a "cooling saucer," where the passionate debates of the House of Representatives are tempered in the high atmosphere of the upper chamber. Tonight, when the Senate votes on a $700 billion financial rescue plan that both party leaders in the Senate are embracing, that saucer may look more like a buffet platter. The three-page bill that launched the debate in the House earlier this week has expanded to well over 400 pages. Some of the provisions, like expanded FDIC insurance amounts for bank deposits, are reportedly drawing more grassroots support. The Senate bill also reflects some tax add-ons, dealing with such topics as the refundability of the child tax credit and education tax breaks. In other words, Congress is in session and people with pens and barrels of red ink are writing into the night.