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Tag Archives: POLITICS

The Washington Marathon


The Washington Marathon is a major event often accompanied by the Washington Two step or the D.C. reel. A little heralded athletic event occurred in Washington D.C this week . The “running of the Congress” is a great event that has gained major significance over the past 3 to 6 months. Our Congress has tacitly avoided doing their jobs for  a while. These past several years have seen the Congress have their way with us regarding the economy, elections and who knows what else. These Needers and buskers have spent more time on the air and in the media “defending” their views than doing the actual work we pay them so dearly for. I wonder what kind of Xmas they are having in comparison to a majority of Americans who are affected by their inactions. It seems to me that these folks take every opportunity to avoid their work such as the Susan Rice issue, which turns out be someone elses fault (if there is any) but look at the time spent in pursuing something that did not require the time. That is time that could have been spent on the economy. Government is broken and we all know it but the disconnect is clearly in the Congressional halls. Election is the only and best remedy we have to correct this situation.  Voters who do not see the folly of party line voting need to take the blinders off to see all of  the issues involved. The actions of Congress has taken  the air of  an advertising on the scale of drug manufacturers touting a new product and telling you to ask your doctor about it..

Afghanistan


The seemingly ongoing attacks on NATO and American trainers in Afghanistan has reached proportions that would indicate we need to get out now. The police and Armed forces we have been training and working alongside have in essence turned against us. If this is the trend of things and the will of the Government then we need to pack up and leave. The amount of funding we are providing is better used here at home rather than somewhere we are not wanted. Understanding that the people of Afghanistan are as in the dark as we are regarding their government so the question is who do we really need to be connecting with? We certainly have our own issues with our Government but we have enough media coverage to allow for an informed idea of what our government is doing , or do we? In the past we have allowed our Government (the Congress) to do what they felt was best for us but now we should realize that they (the Congress) has fended for themselves not so much for us . At the same time they have managed to fool us into keeping them in office for terms that exceeded their usefulness. We are now in an extended war that has had us in a foreign country with a no win situation and jumping back and forth over borders fighting an unrecognizable enemy. We must remember or recognize that no war is waged without the Ok from Congress, no taxes are levied without Congress, no laws are enacted without Congress therefore our fiscal problems should be laid at the door of Congress lest we continue to wage unwinnable wars costing money that can be better used at home. No more Korea’s, Afghanistan’s or Vietnam’s lets take care of our selves for a change.

Opinion 6.1.2012


Reading the various opinions in Today’s SJ-R that range from Bank losses, socialist leanings of the government and our Novernor, I am thinking that the ideas and opinions of the several writers while valid are pronounced in a vacuum. The writers have to look further afield than the issues they opined about. First we as voters have endorsed the actions of the Federal and local governments by tacitly ignoring the missteps of our elected officials as long as we got what we needed or wanted. If these judgment errors did not interfere with our lifestyles or inconvenience us in any big way then we looked the other way. I am not excluding myself in these actions but I have come to understand that we voters want it all as long as we do not have pay for it or are not required to do anything to get it. It is unfortunate that we have taken up the cause of Government malfeasance when our Commander in Chief is not white, this has afforded that same Congress and others to use that as a tool to keep us occupied rather than with what they are doing to us or not doing for us. The long serving Congress under several Presidents are the people who we need to look at for the poor performance of our Federal Government. No President Black or White can do anything without the approval of Congress and that Congress is less an extension of the people who elected them than people who use their office to further their own agendas. To address the writers, keep writing your opinions and express them to your elected Congressional representative , Federal and State. There can be no change in our Government until we the people let them know we are dissatisfied as I do.

Is It Possible?


Recent media accounts of discussions about the expansion of Chicago’s O’Hare airport and the subsequent comments by the Governor appear to be at odds (maybe). The Governor wants an airport to service the Will county area (remember Peotone?) and southern Cook county. Would it not make more sense to improve The Springfield airport, The Bloomington airport and Midway? I submit that an improvement in any and all of these airports would create jobs for a larger area of the state and increase the much needed traffic to those areas. I do realize that Springfield and most of the counties are not regarded as part of the State of Chicago but didnt’ the “other” Illinois help elect the current Governor?

Opinions


The Opinions regarding the pension games, medicare cuts are just more indications why we need political reforms. The Scamocrats and Dupublicans have all at one point led us down the garden path. Look at this scenario: If you owned a business and discovered you had a dishonest employee, would you keep them on the job? We the voters have over 700 employees at the state and federal level who are dishonest yet we still have them on the job. Isn’t it time we got some new employees?

Political Blather


Blah, blah, blah. The political climate is close to what I imagine bedlam would have been. The spin doctors are spinning, the advertisers are advertising and the poster makers are making posters but none of this tells us what they will do when elected. We voters should realize that nothing is ever done overnight and never will be. To become angry with the people we elected because they did not accomplish what they said they would as fast as we would like is being naive if not a bit stupid. There is or never will be an elected official or office seeker who will not tell the voters what they want to hear in order to assume an office and this thinking crosses all political lines. So it is reasonable to think that we the voters are more at fault than the people we elect. The office seekers and holders are too afraid of being ousted for telling the truth so they feed our fears with innuendo, lies and other made up stories. The founding fathers never intended serving the people as a lifetime job but our current servers have managed to stay on long after their usefulness.

The Future of Congress


This recently this hit my inbox, I believe this is something that will help us move forward. I have been in favor of term limits for a long time and major changes in the term limits of our Congress, the long term Congressional members have become talking heads taking care of themselves as they have no fear of the voters and believe they can continue to mislead the public.

Subject:New Amendment

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why?
Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make the current contract with members of Congress. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

What About The Public?


The president has frozen the pay of civilian government workers, but what about the Congress? My understanding is that the Congress has control over its own pay structure and increases. The laws affecting Congressional wages and compensation are written and adjusted by the Congress itself, so how can a fox monitor the other foxes in the henhouse? The last 10 years in politics has shown how little our elected officials care about the voters until election time comes around. The 2 major political parties have failed the voters time after time even though once in a great while there are individuals who show some signs actually of working for the people. These few individuals are never appreciated until they have passed on or retired. The current group could all be removed without as much of a ripple in the mess we currently have but sometimes a house cannot be economically repaired and has to be torn down and rebuilt. The two major political parties are too busy trying to appease the loudest and most affluent voters that they have ignored the lesser voters while professing to work for the average person. The sitting Congress has mastered the art of “politispeak” and have had no problem going back on their words with the ease of a hot knife cutting  butter. The voters of America need to move out of their comfort zones regarding race, money and political leanings to unite for a more open Congress where we really get correct information.

Here We Are Again!


What will it take for the voting public to pay attention to what our representatives are not doing for us? The local Illinois representatives want to maintain secrecy over open government. These “servants” of the people are busily keeping some constituents happy and others are left in the cold. A vote is the driving force behind all elections and to achieve that goal our representatives will say anything, agree to anything to stay in office. It all comes back to the voters allowing our representatives serve(?) more than 2 terms in office. There is no better way to for voters to have control over their representatives than limiting the time they serve. If these representatives cannot accomplish what needs to be done in 2 terms, then why do we need them? If there were no political parties, no PAC’s and no special interest groups  then maybe the elected representatives could work as a cohesive unit to get the work of the people done. We as voters have been advertised into electing the same mistakes time after time and regretting it each time yet we forget each time we hit the polling booth. Change is only accomplished by the voters and not the person running for  or serving in the office.

Chance for Change


The recent elections have shown that the American people are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, however the major party winners are touting their parties victories without realizing that these changes are not based purely on party based campaigns but more on putting some different people in to the mix. These shakeups bode well for the future. As any seasoned politician should understand their constituents are choosing officials with more thought and with less influence from political rhetoric. We may at last get the changes sought with some major party figures now in place to make a good study on passed legislation
and tweak where needed. What they accomplish with this opportunity will show if they can do what they said they would or if it is just another political ploy for power. The voters now have a taste for blood (so to speak) and are no longer listening to half truths and innuendo.