I spent over an hour watching this debate on cspan yesterday (I just got old, apparently) and was BLOWN AWAY by the idiots that sit on the hill.

The delay is because ONLY 95% of the US (according to Nielsen on Jan 22nd) were ready. the other x million (I say 'x' b/c the number changed every 3 minutes) will not have access to the E.B.S. (which is also available on radio - which at my last check was staying analog) and with tornado and hurricane season beginning march 1 / april 1 respectively, we cannot afford to not be able to communicate with people.

The transition was supposed to happen AUTOMATICALLY when 85% of the country was ready, and feb. 17 was the fail-safe.

Those for the bill whined that they needed the 115 days b/c the "previous administration failed so completely". here are my thoughts.

1) these guys were in office and responsible for the legislation - not Bush.
2) Obama is Change, but once again - the government is lying to America. "we promise we will switch on 2-17. We even sold the bandwidth and cashed the check." oh wait... Bush sucked. That's why no one realized till 14 days out that 100% might not be ready... forget half of us actually helped write this bs bill.
3) STHU. the guys for the switch all said they spent time in their districts talking with the elderly and others who would be affected, and had numbers in the hundreds still waiting... those against it had numbers in the 6-8 thousand range and never mentioned getting their butts out on the front line.
4) emergency workers need the bandwidth more than the few who are not ready.... a number shrinking by 300,000 to 400,000 per week.
5) after 9 months of the rebate card program, you idiots are JUST NOW figuring out that 3rd class mail plus 90day expiration don't go together. you own the post office, morons. print more stamps... it DOES seem to be the answer to everything on the hill lately.
6) the fund to finance the rebates ran out of money. we need 225m more. you are trying to get a check 900 BILLION, morons. print more money... it does seem to be the answer to everything on the hill lately.
7) keep America #16 (we were 3 four years ago) in broadband connectivity... that's JUST what we need.
8) Obama got advice from a dude who owns clearlink (a company wholly not ready for 2-17.. and would GREATLY benefit from the delay.)
9) Everyone PROMISES this is a one time delay. Oh! YOU PROMISE! well, since you have a track record of keeping your word on this one...
10) I mean what's the harm in 115 days? really? S. T. H. U! Go call grandma and ask if she has cable. If she doesn't know... visit (she misses you anyway) if she aint ready.. make her ready... you can afford the 40.00 for the woman who sent you 20.00 every holiday until you were 18.
11) There is NO excuse at this point. If you are against it no, you should have been fighting harder 6 months ago when you had time to fix it... too late sucker... go apologize to your district on why you let them down so bad, then go kill yourself for being such a hypocrite.

Personally, I am so past ready, and hate those stupid commercials... 3 years is too long to ask for 115 more days.

Sorry... this one pisses me off.

How about the Faith-based office speech this morning? awesome.