Pay Raises for Congress!

I think President Obama has already gone over the fiscal cliff!

 How can it possibly be acceptable to all of us, struggling to make ends meet, to increase the salary of the very people who have done so little (perhaps nothing) to earn any pay at all!? This is grossly unjust. People in Congress should consider it a privilege and a responsibility to represent the American people. In fact, they should receive no salary at all...only enough to offset their necessary expenses. Working in Congress should never be considered a career...and there should be NO Career Politicians! There should be term limits for both houses (say, 1 term for the Senate and 2 terms for the House).

I have no idea what the Vice President does but it seems he has not earned a penny. A raise? No way! All of them should have their wages reduced or eliminated...not increased. This is all total bull!

While I'm at it, concerning term limits...the Supreme Court Justices should also have a term limit (say, 10 years). Also, the President should be limited to one term (say, 6 years).

Our government needs a serious makeover and this two-party system doesn't work for The People. Corporations are not people and do not deserve the same rights as a single American citizen. Financial institutions and insurance conglomerates are out of control. We deserve affordable health care, educational opportunity, a secure nation, responsible representatives, government accountability, etc. We do not deserve the current state of affairs. It's time for real change.

This is insane!

Stop handing out our hard-earned taxes to other countries. Stop arming the world. Do not start any more wars! Stop building roads and bridges everywhere but here! Close the tax loopholes that allow the filthy rich and corporations to avoid taxes. What say we institute a nationwide flat tax to go along with term limits!? What say we make thieving politicians accountable?

I want change!

Career politicians are the scum of the earth.

That's how it looks from my little house in Fall City and I suspect it looks the same from every other town in the country. Of course, I fully expect every so-called conservative to take an opposite stand. They seem to be narrow-minded, racist, religious fanatics with no sense of reality. I do pity them.

Last Garbage Day Before Christmas

I am a Social Security recipient. (I'm olde!) There seems to be great concern about the long-term viability of the system and Conservatives call the entire thing an "entitlement" and want to abolish such things. Indeed, for me, Social Security is an entitlement! That is not a bad thing! It is the proper description of the situation as it is. I AM entitled to my benefits because I paid into the system for almost fifty years!

What can be done to rectify this, potential disaster as the US is currently facing a "Fiscal Cliff" with the shitball conservatives taking a stance in direct opposition to my own well-being?

Currently, employees pay 6.2% of their wages until they earn $110,100 in a given year into the system. 

First, the income cap should be going in the opposite direction...income earners should be contributing from the highest, downward to the $110,100 threshold which can be adjusted up or down as needed.

Second, there should be no cap on income at all. If a person earns anything over the cap of $110,100 in a year...that person should continue making contributions for his/her entire year's income. That would immediately remedy the problem.

Third, assuming our inept government is not prepared to adopt either of the above...the $110,100 cap on income should be raised to at last $200,000 to $250,000. 

Any of the above, three options will immediately solve the Social Security issue.

As to our "Fiscal Cliff" and aside from Social Security...cut back on our handouts to the rest of the world! We (taxpayers) just can't continue handing our money out to the rest of the world! I really have no idea how much money is given to what countries but it has to stop (or at least cut it in half for starters)! No more billions to Egypt! No more billions to Israel! No more billions to anyone! Okay...cut it all in half right now. The result: financial security for the United States and a solution to our own economic challenges. We can focus on helping ourselves for a change, eh? This isn't about "Entitlements"! It's about caring for our own citizens first ( ! )...for a change.

Then...we can get down to the business of removing tax breaks for the wealthy, bailouts and subsidies to corporations, and maintaining a military-industrial stance while starting inane wars around the world. Maybe we can close up the tax-evasion loopholes utilized by people like Romney, eh?

Mid-December Garbage Day

It's just quiet here in Fall City. There was a police shooting (killing) of a somewhat deranged character the other morning. Time keeps on keepin' on...and sometimes I don't know who I am. I continue to monitor world events through various news outlets but there seems to be no relevance to my own essence. Here (in Fall City), we're into the rainy season. It gets colder and colder and then storms seem to roll in. While it appears there is nothing but a harsh, cold winter on the way, the temperature hovers in the mid-thirties and there's only a cold rain...for months! Such is life in the Northwest. I miss the seasons of the Northeast while I attempt to keep the wood-stove burning. (Summers are dry...and short here!)

Michelle Obama for Senator!

Unfortunately, Washington DC does not have any representatives in the US Senate. If that were the case, I'd be in favor of Michelle Obama running for the position in the next election (which could be 2014). Alas, that is not the case.

So...I suggest she should do two things:
One...make it known to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn that she wants the open Senatorial seat in the event that Senator Mark Kirk is forced to resign as a result of the stroke he suffered in January of 2012. Also, I suppose it's possible to remove him from office since it's already nearly a year that he's been out of work.
Two...make it known that she will be running for that same position in 2016.
Even if Senator Kirk steps down (or is removed) sooner rather than later, I believe the Obamas will find a way to make it work for their family during several stressful years of transition.

Barack Obama will be out of office in 2016 and they will likely move back to the Chicago area. It's Michelle's turn!

In fact, it's also Hillary Clinton's turn. Hopefully, she'll choose to run for President in 2016 (rather than settle in as Mayor of New York).

One can dream, eh? President Hillary Clinton...Senator Michelle Obama. It just sounds right!

Yee gods! If Michelle Obama plays her card right, she could be President in 2024! She'd only be sixty, right?

Indeed, one can dream. It just feels right. (I certainly don't want any of those conservative 'wack-jobs' stepping in to start new wars, deplete my Social Security and further destroy our economy.)

Another Garbage Day!

Things are relatively quiet here in Fall City. Tomorrow marks the first day of public-sanctioned gay marriage and marijuana use in this state. Concerning the marijuana, it's unfortunate that the state is going to spend an entire year coming up with regulations for growing. I'm ready to plant right now! In fact, I don't use the stuff but it would certainly put my little field to good (profitable) use.

Today was another garbage day. I've been thinking about garbage days...the Earth is about 234 billion garbage days old! If I were to have tossed 50 lbs of junk in the can on every garbage day that ever came around...I would have discarded about 5.85 billion tons by now. Since it happens I'm not the only person dumping garbage...just imagine how much trash may have built up in all these years! Where is it all? They just take it away and I never see it again. (By the way, it seems the garbage man must have the best job in the world because it seems he only works one day a week...garbage day.)

Of course, if one accepts the Christian belief that the Earth is 6,000 years old, then I would have to revise my "garbage day" age of Earth. That would mean the Earth is only 312,000 garbage days old and I would only have discarded 7,800 tons of trash in that time. That's still a lot of trash, especially when factoring in the same amount of junk disposed of by all the other people!

It seems to make a lot of sense to pursue space exploration. By far, the best way to get rid of all this garbage would be to simply jettison it into space. After a few billion garbage days, there could be enough junk tossed "out there" to form an entire new planet. We could have a contest to name the place, eh?

Actually, when considering what all we would be sending "out there", we should also include nuclear waste. That stuff takes so long to degrade that's it's best to just get it all off the planet right from the start. Since it might be part of the new planet formed from garbage...that would render the place, uninhabitable. Alas!

Oh! One more thing...if we were to spew out all our waste at a volume sufficient to create an entirely new planet, wouldn't that mean there would be nothing left of Earth? We would HAVE to go live somewhere else because there would be nothing left here. I think this is giving me a headache. Maybe we shouldn't have so much waste. Maybe there should be no more nuclear waste. Maybe we should just...evolve. (...just a thought on this relatively quiet day in Fall City.)

Any other suggestions?