Gold prices plummet!

"Bruce Remick" wrote in message
...

"Jerry Dennis" wrote in message
...
On Sep 26, 6:10 pm, sgt23 wrote:

HUGE amount of snippage

Then why not limit politicians to one term in office so politics do
not get in the way and then maybe they will be able to make rational
decision. Then we should make it illegal too take any bribes from
lobbyist and the such. Maybe our politicians need baby setter too
watch they're every move?

Sadly, a one term congressional term wouldn't work. Nothing would get
done. Wait a minute, maybe that's not a bad idea. One-term limits.
Let's think about this. One term, nothing gets done, ergo, nothing
gets damaged. Since nothing gets done, the side benefit is that we
won't need Congress. No Congress, HUGE tax savings since the great
majority of the Legislative Branch would fold. One-term limits.
Interesting.

Seriously, there was a discussion in my High School Civics class
(during the Nixon presidency) about term limits. The thought was two
terms for senators, increase representatives terms to three years and
limit them to four terms. That way, no politician would end up being
a Ted Kennedy or Phil Grahm, namely a political lifer that couldn't
survive doing a real job in the real world. Imagine, having to
actually WORK for a living and them pay the taxes on the bills they
passed.

Jerry the Ponderer
____________

I think it's a workable idea. No one politician should be able influence his
peers and national policy based entirely on seniority, simply by getting
reelected repeatedly by residents of one state. A four to six year term could
be spent entirely on the nation's business, with no time wasted campaigning
for another term. This alone probably wouldn't eliminate the "pork" issue.
Hopefully though, term limits would attract those who *really* want to serve.
Maybe there should be a realistic minimum age, too. Give a potential
candidate a while to experience the workplace and establish some real world
credentials that voters could evaluate, beyond simply posing with his or her
perfect family in campaign ads and expounding on things he or she values.

Limit senators to 2 six year terms and congressmen to 5 two year terms.
Pay them a salary that is equal to 4 times the minimum wage and cut out money
for travel allowances, jaunts, vacations etc to any place but their home state.
Get rid of their pensions & lifetime health insurance.
Limit their staff to 2 aides for a senator and 1 aide for a congressman.
Furthermore, makes paid lobbying a felony punishable by life imprisonment at
hard labor.
Ditto for anyone making or accepting a bribe.
Require ONLY government funding for campaigns.

The Giant Brain wrote:
"Bruce Remick" wrote in message
...

"Jerry Dennis" wrote in message
...
On Sep 26, 6:10 pm, sgt23 wrote:

HUGE amount of snippage

Then why not limit politicians to one term in office so politics do
not get in the way and then maybe they will be able to make rational
decision. Then we should make it illegal too take any bribes from
lobbyist and the such. Maybe our politicians need baby setter too
watch they're every move?

Sadly, a one term congressional term wouldn't work. Nothing would
get done. Wait a minute, maybe that's not a bad idea. One-term limits.
Let's think about this. One term, nothing gets done, ergo, nothing
gets damaged. Since nothing gets done, the side benefit is that we
won't need Congress. No Congress, HUGE tax savings since the great
majority of the Legislative Branch would fold. One-term limits.
Interesting.

Seriously, there was a discussion in my High School Civics class
(during the Nixon presidency) about term limits. The thought was two
terms for senators, increase representatives terms to three years and
limit them to four terms. That way, no politician would end up being
a Ted Kennedy or Phil Grahm, namely a political lifer that couldn't
survive doing a real job in the real world. Imagine, having to
actually WORK for a living and them pay the taxes on the bills they
passed.

Jerry the Ponderer
____________

I think it's a workable idea. No one politician should be able
influence his peers and national policy based entirely on seniority,
simply by getting reelected repeatedly by residents of one state. A
four to six year term could be spent entirely on the nation's
business, with no time wasted campaigning for another term. This
alone probably wouldn't eliminate the "pork" issue. Hopefully
though, term limits would attract those who *really* want to serve.
Maybe there should be a realistic minimum age, too. Give a
potential candidate a while to experience the workplace and
establish some real world credentials that voters could evaluate,
beyond simply posing with his or her perfect family in campaign ads
and expounding on things he or she values.

Limit senators to 2 six year terms and congressmen to 5 two year
terms. Pay them a salary that is equal to 4 times the minimum wage and cut
out money for travel allowances, jaunts, vacations etc to any place
but their home state. Get rid of their pensions & lifetime health
insurance.

In other words, make the politicians experience life as experienced by their
typical constituent.

Limit their staff to 2 aides for a senator and 1 aide for a
congressman. Furthermore, makes paid lobbying a felony punishable by
life imprisonment at hard labor.
Ditto for anyone making or accepting a bribe.
Require ONLY government funding for campaigns.

In other words, make the politicians be as honest as they demand everyone
else to be.

James the Interpreter

Term limits eh? Thought we had those in November, known as the voting
booth on election day. Don't like em? Toss em out! Seems like we would
have no incumbents re-elected if it was up to me.

"The Giant Brain" wrote in message
...

"Bruce Remick" wrote in message
...

"Jerry Dennis" wrote in message
...
On Sep 26, 6:10 pm, sgt23 wrote:

HUGE amount of snippage

Then why not limit politicians to one term in office so politics do
not get in the way and then maybe they will be able to make rational
decision. Then we should make it illegal too take any bribes from
lobbyist and the such. Maybe our politicians need baby setter too
watch they're every move?

Sadly, a one term congressional term wouldn't work. Nothing would get
done. Wait a minute, maybe that's not a bad idea. One-term limits.
Let's think about this. One term, nothing gets done, ergo, nothing
gets damaged. Since nothing gets done, the side benefit is that we
won't need Congress. No Congress, HUGE tax savings since the great
majority of the Legislative Branch would fold. One-term limits.
Interesting.

Seriously, there was a discussion in my High School Civics class
(during the Nixon presidency) about term limits. The thought was two
terms for senators, increase representatives terms to three years and
limit them to four terms. That way, no politician would end up being
a Ted Kennedy or Phil Grahm, namely a political lifer that couldn't
survive doing a real job in the real world. Imagine, having to
actually WORK for a living and them pay the taxes on the bills they
passed.

Jerry the Ponderer
____________

I think it's a workable idea. No one politician should be able influence
his peers and national policy based entirely on seniority, simply by
getting reelected repeatedly by residents of one state. A four to six
year term could be spent entirely on the nation's business, with no time
wasted campaigning for another term. This alone probably wouldn't
eliminate the "pork" issue. Hopefully though, term limits would attract
those who *really* want to serve. Maybe there should be a realistic
minimum age, too. Give a potential candidate a while to experience the
workplace and establish some real world credentials that voters could
evaluate, beyond simply posing with his or her perfect family in campaign
ads and expounding on things he or she values.

Limit senators to 2 six year terms and congressmen to 5 two year terms.

Twelve and ten years sounds too long to me. Too much of an opportunity to
become corrupt.

Pay them a salary that is equal to 4 times the minimum wage and cut out
money for travel allowances, jaunts, vacations etc to any place but their
home state.

Or maybe pay them an *hourly* wage for the time they actually work. And I'd
offer them mileage reimbursement for legitimate business travel, just like
other government workers get. No taxpayer-paid jaunts or "fact-finding"
foreign trips where they receive a VIP tour and return home as "experts" in
that country's issues.

Get rid of their pensions & lifetime health insurance.

No need for a pension with a single six year term. If not already insured,
they could select from a list of health plans, just like all govt workers
can, and have a portion of their premiums subsidized by the govt for the
period they're in office. After six years on the job, they would lose that
(subsidized) insurance and will have to cope with whatever guidelines the
rest of the civilian population lives with.

Limit their staff to 2 aides for a senator and 1 aide for a congressman.

And these staffers would be selected from a pool of volunteers.

Furthermore, makes paid lobbying a felony punishable by life imprisonment
at hard labor.

With the Internet, there would be no need for lobbyists at all. All
pertinent background information and opinion on any subject could be Googled
by a volunteer staffer.

Ditto for anyone making or accepting a bribe.
Require ONLY government funding for campaigns.

And there should be imprisonment and hard labor for any candidate placing
more than one placard on a grass median strip within a mile of another.


There.

Jud wrote:
Term limits eh? Thought we had those in November, known as the voting
booth on election day. Don't like em? Toss em out! Seems like we would
have no incumbents re-elected if it was up to me.

Unfortunately, the political machinery fails to serve up the best
candidates, so we are repeatedly faced with the choice between tweedledee
and tweedledum. So it ends up being the devil we know, way more often than
it should.

James the Disenfranchised

Bruce Remick wrote:
"The Giant Brain" wrote in message
...

"Bruce Remick" wrote in message
...

"Jerry Dennis" wrote in message
...
On Sep 26, 6:10 pm, sgt23 wrote:

HUGE amount of snippage

Then why not limit politicians to one term in office so politics do
not get in the way and then maybe they will be able to make
rational decision. Then we should make it illegal too take any
bribes from lobbyist and the such. Maybe our politicians need baby
setter too watch they're every move?

Sadly, a one term congressional term wouldn't work. Nothing would
get done. Wait a minute, maybe that's not a bad idea. One-term
limits. Let's think about this. One term, nothing gets done, ergo,
nothing gets damaged. Since nothing gets done, the side benefit is that
we
won't need Congress. No Congress, HUGE tax savings since the great
majority of the Legislative Branch would fold. One-term limits.
Interesting.

Seriously, there was a discussion in my High School Civics class
(during the Nixon presidency) about term limits. The thought was
two terms for senators, increase representatives terms to three
years and limit them to four terms. That way, no politician would
end up being a Ted Kennedy or Phil Grahm, namely a political lifer that
couldn't
survive doing a real job in the real world. Imagine, having to
actually WORK for a living and them pay the taxes on the bills they
passed.

Jerry the Ponderer
____________

I think it's a workable idea. No one politician should be able
influence his peers and national policy based entirely on
seniority, simply by getting reelected repeatedly by residents of
one state. A four to six year term could be spent entirely on the
nation's business, with no time wasted campaigning for another
term. This alone probably wouldn't eliminate the "pork" issue.
Hopefully though, term limits would attract those who *really* want
to serve. Maybe there should be a realistic minimum age, too. Give
a potential candidate a while to experience the workplace and
establish some real world credentials that voters could evaluate,
beyond simply posing with his or her perfect family in campaign ads
and expounding on things he or she values.

Limit senators to 2 six year terms and congressmen to 5 two year
terms.

Twelve and ten years sounds too long to me. Too much of an
opportunity to become corrupt.

Pay them a salary that is equal to 4 times the minimum wage and cut
out money for travel allowances, jaunts, vacations etc to any place
but their home state.

Or maybe pay them an *hourly* wage for the time they actually work. And
I'd offer them mileage reimbursement for legitimate business
travel, just like other government workers get. No taxpayer-paid
jaunts or "fact-finding" foreign trips where they receive a VIP tour
and return home as "experts" in that country's issues.

Get rid of their pensions & lifetime health insurance.

No need for a pension with a single six year term. If not already
insured, they could select from a list of health plans, just like all
govt workers can, and have a portion of their premiums subsidized by
the govt for the period they're in office. After six years on the
job, they would lose that (subsidized) insurance and will have to
cope with whatever guidelines the rest of the civilian population
lives with.
Limit their staff to 2 aides for a senator and 1 aide for a
congressman.

And these staffers would be selected from a pool of volunteers.

Furthermore, makes paid lobbying a felony punishable by life
imprisonment at hard labor.

With the Internet, there would be no need for lobbyists at all. All
pertinent background information and opinion on any subject could be
Googled by a volunteer staffer.

Ditto for anyone making or accepting a bribe.
Require ONLY government funding for campaigns.

And there should be imprisonment and hard labor for any candidate
placing more than one placard on a grass median strip within a mile
of another.

There.

Amen. And amen.

James the Rancorous Reformer

In article
,
Jerry Dennis wrote:

[snip]
Seriously, there was a discussion in my High School Civics class
(during the Nixon presidency) about term limits. The thought was two
terms for senators, increase representatives terms to three years and
limit them to four terms. That way, no politician would end up being
a Ted Kennedy or Phil Grahm, namely a political lifer that couldn't
survive doing a real job in the real world. Imagine, having to
actually WORK for a living and them pay the taxes on the bills they
passed.

FWIW, Kaleefornia has had term limits since 1990 (lifetime maximum six
years in State Assembly, lifetime maximum eight years in State Senate),
with rather mixed results. Most of the politicians seem to spend much
of their time angling for their "next job", bouncing between state
offices, county offices, federal offices and various local/state/federal
"boards".

By the time a State assembly/senate member figures out how things
actually work, they're out the door due to term limits. And there is
absolutely NO CONSISTENCY at the state level, with a new Speaker /
Senate Leader every two years, each with a different personality,
experience, background and agenda. Some of us fondly remember the "good
old days" with long-time State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in charge
of running the state, regardless of whichever gubbernator happened to be
in office at the time ...

--
Ken Barr Numismatics email:
P. O. Box 32541 website: http://www.kenbarr.com
San Jose, CA 95152 Coins, currency, exonumia, souvenir cards, etc.
408-272-3247 NEXT SHOW: NCNA Vallejo 09/26 (Sat. only, no table)

On Sep 27, 8:48*am, Jerry Dennis wrote:
On Sep 26, 6:10*pm, sgt23 wrote:

HUGE amount of snippage

Then why not limit politicians to one term in office so politics do
not get in the way and then maybe they will be able to make rational
decision. Then we should make it illegal too take any bribes from
lobbyist and the such. Maybe our politicians need baby setter too
watch they're every move?

Sadly, a one term congressional term wouldn't work. *Nothing would get
done. *Wait a minute, maybe that's not a bad idea. *One-term limits.
Let's think about this. *One term, nothing gets done, ergo, nothing
gets damaged. *Since nothing gets done, the side benefit is that we
won't need Congress. *No Congress, HUGE tax savings since the great
majority of the Legislative Branch would fold. *One-term limits.
Interesting.

Seriously, there was a discussion in my High School Civics class
(during the Nixon presidency) about term limits. *The thought was two
terms for senators, increase representatives terms to three years and
limit them to four terms. *That way, no politician would end up being
a Ted Kennedy or Phil Grahm, namely a political lifer that couldn't
survive doing a real job in the real world. *Imagine, having to
actually WORK for a living and them pay the taxes on the bills they
passed.

Jerry the Ponderer

Now days if you get into a discussion at a high school, you best go
into great details about who your talking about. They will have no
ideal. Believe me I tried talking to my 17 year old cousin about
politics and the events going on in the world and she had no ideal
about where or who I was talking about. Now if I bring up music or
T.V. Shows her IQ fly's up about 100 points.

On Sep 27, 11:11*am, "Mr. Jaggers" lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com
wrote:
Jud wrote:
Term limits eh? Thought we had those in November, known as the voting
booth on election day. Don't like em? Toss em out! Seems like we would
have no incumbents re-elected if it was up to me.

Unfortunately, the political machinery fails to serve up the best
candidates, so we are repeatedly faced with the choice between tweedledee
and tweedledum. *So it ends up being the devil we know, way more often than
it should.

James the Disenfranchised

We should them a psychological test before entering off, and visit to
therapist once a week lol.

"Jerry Dennis" wrote in message
...
On Sep 26, 6:10 pm, sgt23 wrote:

HUGE amount of snippage

Then why not limit politicians to one term in office so politics do
not get in the way and then maybe they will be able to make rational
decision. Then we should make it illegal too take any bribes from
lobbyist and the such. Maybe our politicians need baby setter too
watch they're every move?
===================

Sadly, a one term congressional term wouldn't work. Nothing would get
done. Wait a minute, maybe that's not a bad idea. One-term limits.
Let's think about this. One term, nothing gets done, ergo, nothing
gets damaged. Since nothing gets done, the side benefit is that we
won't need Congress. No Congress, HUGE tax savings since the great
majority of the Legislative Branch would fold. One-term limits.
Interesting.

Seriously, there was a discussion in my High School Civics class
(during the Nixon presidency) about term limits. The thought was two
terms for senators, increase representatives terms to three years and
limit them to four terms. That way, no politician would end up being
a Ted Kennedy or Phil Grahm, namely a political lifer that couldn't
survive doing a real job in the real world. Imagine, having to
actually WORK for a living and them pay the taxes on the bills they passed.

Jerry the Ponderer
=====================

There is an alternative to statutory term limits as a way to maintain
turnover in Congress. It's called "elections". Stop routinely voting for
the incumbents and you'll have the desired turnover.

The problem is that, as with so many aspects of republican (small r) forms
of democracy (small d), what's good for your state and district
representation - re-electing someone so they rise in seniority and power on
the Hill and can bring home the bacon - is not good for the nation as a
whole. Surveys show that people in general are dissatisfied with almost
every aspect of Congress. But when you ask about their particular
representatives, the answers usually are to give them high approval ratings.
"Get rid of all the incompetents and thieves and lying self-serving career
political animals. Oh, but not my guy. He's doing a great job for me."

In fact, when viewed that way, statutory term limits actually thwart the
wishes of voters. IOW, they are an infringement on voters' civil rights.
There have been cases where statutory limits were imposed locally in a wave
of righteous wrath, only to be rescinded a few years later when voters
realized that the limits also applied to their favorite office holders.

This is a particular application of the "tragedy of the commons," which is
an especially intractable problem of human behavior.