28th Ammendment

Here's an idea that was passed to me and I am passing it on ...

No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S. military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50% of their pay. While Politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.

Monday we learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if news networks will broadcast it. 

When you add this to the below, just where will all of it stop?

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed while citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.

If each person that receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."

Taking the Euro-zone crisis to another level - national insults!

Headlines out of Germany are getting nasty.  Have a look at this CNBC article by Senior Editor John Carney.  There's some pretty inflammatory overtones.  Wonder if leaders in some Euro-zone countries will take offense to Germany's "holier than thou" attitude?  Coming from a country that pretty much set the world's record for 'unholy' achievements, you could see where comments like those that the article speaks of could lead to some very nasty retorts.  If this escalates it could potentially unwind the momentum that appears to be going in the direction that Germany wants.  I hope they put a lid on this before that happens!

Euro-Zone Get's Sick and Asia Takes the Medicine

One of the most interesting and positive aspects to the Euro-zone crisis is Asia's response. China's new five year strategic plan is a game changer! Their stated move to greater internal consumption, and increased currency valuation will reduce their dependency on foreign exports at a time when Europe's demand for exports will drop. Given recent announcements on rates and reserves, It appears that china may be stepping up those efforts.

From a world GDP standpoint, it is easy to imagine that china's acceleration may overshoot Europe's slow down. A similar dynamic can happen in India. Furthermore, let's give some credit to the new thinking in Europe about capitalism and competitiveness. Behind the scenes of the protests there is growing recognition of the unsustainable nature of their entitlements and work rules. Europe is awaking to the fact that they can not survive unless they can compete in the world economy. (No more free lunch.) Furthermore, the same market forces that are driving up their borrowing rates are demanding a systematic response that is grounded in a sound economic development growth plan. Therefore, as the euro-zone transitions from a deficit financed economy to a self-sustaining economy we can expect the returns to work their way into equity futures. Simply put, the average European has to make a greater contribution to productive society.  German Chancellor Merkel would like the "writing on the wall" to be somehow structured into the treaties as a price for a euro rescue. You have to give her credit for having nerves of steel! She dangles her euro partners' feet over the cliff knowing they are tied together at the waist.

Last but not least, as if the USA Fed needed another reason to maintain aggressive monitory policy, they surely have it. USA reserves, hot off the presses, are pouring into Europe to help their bank solvency. Back home in the near-term the success of USA treasury auctions is off the Fed and markets minds. Inflation is tame enough to keep a less weary eye on. As for US's defecit, there's much to not like about the dysfunctional way we arrived at deficit reduction but it is reduction. All focus is on growth to bring down unemployment. And even with the most partisan congresses I've ever known, there is unanimous belief that we need to create private sector jobs and reduce waist in government.

The only question in developed countries is where does the growth come from, or more specifically how do we achieve lasting, not artificial, private sector jobs?  Some of the answers are obvious, an so the question is more whether or not we have the political will to make the changes that will spur growth!

Could have heard a pin drop ...

The following was forwarded to me and I just wanted to share it!  That's the nice thing about a blog.

Hearing the Pin Drop

At a time when our president

and other politicians

tend to apologize

for our country's prior actions,

here's a refresher

on how some of our former patriots handled

negative comments about our country.

* * * * *

When in England ,

at a fairly large conference,

Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury

if our plans for Iraq were just an example

of 'empire building' by George Bush.

He answered by saying,

"Over the years, the United States

has sent many of its fine young men and women

into great peril to fight

for freedom beyond our borders.

The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return

is enough to bury those

that did not return."

You could have heard a pin drop.

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk,

was in France in the early 60's

when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO.

DeGaulle said

he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded,

"Does that include those who are buried here?"

DeGaulle did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop.

There was a conference in France,

where a number of international engineers were taking part,

including French and American.

During a break, one of the French engineers said,

"Have you heard

the latest dumb stunt Bush has done?

He has sent

an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims.

What does he intend to do,

bomb them?"

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly:

"Our carriers have

three hospitals on board

that can treat several hundred people;

they are nuclear powered and

supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities;

they have three cafeterias

can feed thousands of people three meals a day;

they produce several thousand

gallons of fresh water from sea water each day;

and they also carry half a dozen helicopters

for use in transporting victims and injured

to and from their flight deck.

We have

eleven such ships;

how many does France have?"

You could have heard a pin drop.

A U.S. Navy Admiral

was attending a naval conference that also included Admirals

from Great Britain, Canada, Australia and France.

At a cocktail reception,

everyone was chatting away in English

as they sipped their drinks

when a French admiral suddenly complained that,

whereas Europeans learn many languages,

Americans learn only English.

He then asked,

"Why is it that we always

have to speak English in these conferences

rather than speaking French?"

Without hesitating,

the American Admiral replied,

"Maybe it's because

the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans

arranged it

so you wouldn't have to speak German."

You could have heard a pin drop.

I am proud to be of this land we call AMERICA.

If your're proud to be an American,

go ahead,

feel free pass this on!

It's Not Fair and It Is Bankrupting America

I got a call for my property rental and I asked the prospective tenant what he does for a living.  He said he was retired.  I said, oh you sound so young.  He said he was 47.   I responded, so you must be a civil servant to retire so young.  He answered, "yes, he was a civil servant."  Then he said.  "that's the only way to afford retiring at my age - you either have to be independently wealthy or a civil servant."

It should not be possible for a person to work for 20 years in a civil servant position funded by taxpayers, and then be able to retire with the level of salary and benefits that allow them to retire and live off the taxpayer for the next 30 plus years!  If this man lives to an average life expectancy of around 80 years ago he will be earning nearly twice as much being retired than he earned while he was working. That's wrong!

Taxpayers don't enjoy these benefits and they certainly can't afford to support others with their taxes so that they can enjoy these benefits!   This man, and millions like him, enjoy entitlements, (pensions, health and insurance benefits, special aid programs, etc.) that are out-of-whack with what the average employee is able to afford for themselves, and it is unfair for the rest of us to carry the burden of others who worked for government.  Why should a civil servant or union worker be entitled to more for the work they do than a non-government worker?   It's not fair and it is bankrupting America!

Here's another example.  Earlier this year I volunteered to help a homeless shelter plant some flowers.  It was a lousy rainy day and the last thing I wanted to be doing was work outside, but I made a commitment and I figured I was going to get dirty anyway so what's the difference if I got wet too.   I arrived and went straight to work.  The shelter director told me there was over 100 people on any given night at the shelter.  She also had quite an ambitious amount of garden beds that she wanted me to clean up and plant flowers & vegetables in.

Given the volume of work and the fact that I wanted to finish up in a few hours, I asked the shelter director if she would ask a couple of the shelter's "guests" to give me a hand?  I told her I would show them what to do.  I was floored by her response.  She told me that she could not ask any of them to help me!  Why, I asked.  Get this answer --- if any of them got hurt (planting flowers!) the shelter would be sued!  I told her you have got to be kidding me!  Nope, she said, not kidding!  That's wrong!

People who are on the public troth should be required to do something in exchange for their benefits.  Anything!  There is a way that anyone can be productive.  Frankly, I think the less pleasant the work the better!!  This way they are motivated to get off of government assistance!  And, while they are on it they can at least be productive members of society.  That would be positive on many levels!

It's examples like these above that are why the Tea Party is gaining so much support!  Many of us are fed up with the outrageous ways our government is spending America into bankruptcy.  We need more common sense approaches to the problems with government spending.  Besides spending less, we can get more bank for our buck by changing our foolish laws which make it possible for shelter residents to live scot-free and civil servants to collect a pension at age 47 when they could still be working. 

All European Life Died in Auschwitz

(The following was forwarded to me - in a chain.  I post it pass it along too.)

 ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ
  
 The following is a copy of an article written by Spanish writer  Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper on Jan.  15, 2008. It doesn't take much imagination to extrapolate the message to the rest of Europe - and possibly to the rest of the world.
  
 REMEMBER AS YOU READ -- IT WAS IN A SPANISH PAPER
 Date: Tue. 15 January 2008 14:30
 
 ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ
 By Sebastian Vilar Rodrigez
 
 I walked down the street in Barcelona , and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz ... We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen
people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.
 
 The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.
 
 And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.
 
 They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime. Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
 
 And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.
 
 We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.
 
What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe ..
 ***********************************
 
 A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves.
 
 Absolutely No Profiling!   Pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test.
 
 These events are actual events from history. They really
 happened! Do you remember?
 
 HERE'S THE TEST
 
 1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
 a. Superman
 b. Jay Leno
 c. Harry Potter
 d. A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and
 massacred by:
 a. Olga Corbett
 b. Sitting Bull
 c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
 a. Lost Norwegians
 b. Elvis
 c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
 a. John Dillinger
 b. The King of Sweden
 c. The Boy Scouts
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
 a. A pizza delivery boy
 b. Pee Wee Herman
 c. Geraldo Rivera
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
 a. The Smurfs
 b. Davey Jones
 c. The Little Mermaid
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
 a. Captain Kidd
 b. Charles Lindberg
 c. Mother Teresa
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
 a. Scooby Doo
 b. The Tooth Fairy
 c. The Sundance Kid
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
 a. Richard Simmons
 b. Grandma Moses
 c. Michael Jordan
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
 a. Mr. Rogers
 b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
 c. The World Wrestling Federation
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
 a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
 b. The Supreme Court of Florida
 c. Mr Bean
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
 a. Enron
 b. The Lutheran Church
 c. The NFL
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
 a. Bonnie and Clyde
 b. Captain Kangaroo
 c. Billy Graham
 d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
 
 14. And now we can add: In 2009, 31 people wounded and 13 American Soldiers murdered on base at Fort Hood by a Major that was known as...
 a: You guessed it - A Muslim male extremist between the age of
 17 and 40.
 
 No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling.
 
The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000; that is ONE
 BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population.
 They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
 Literature:
 1988 - Najib Mahfooz
 
 Peace:
 1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
 1990 - Elias James Corey
 1994 - Yaser Arafat:
 1999 - Ahmed Zewai
 
 Economics:
 (zero)
 
 Physics:
 (zero)
 
 Medicine:
 1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
 1998 - Ferid Mourad
 
 TOTAL: 7 SEVEN
 
 The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000; that is FOURTEEN MILLION or about 0.02% of the world's population. They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
 
 Literature:
 1910 - Paul Heyse
 1927 - Henri Bergson
 1958 - Boris Pasternak
 1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
 1966 - Nelly Sachs
 1976 - Saul Bellow
 1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
 1981 - Elias Canetti
 1987 - Joseph Brodsky
 1991 - Nadine Gordimer World
 
 Peace:
 1911 - Alfred Fried
 1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
 1968 - Rene Cassin
 1973 - Henry Kissinger
 1978 - Menachem Begin
 1986 - Elie Wiesel
 1994 - Shimon Peres
 1994 - Yitzhak Rabin
 
 Physics:
 1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
 1906 - Henri Moissan
 1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
 1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
 1910 - Otto Wallach
 1915 - Richard Willstaetter
 1918 - Fritz Haber
 1921 - Albert Einstein
 1922 - Niels Bohr
 1925 - James Franck
 1925 - Gustav Hertz
 1943 - Gustav Stern
 1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
 1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
 1952 - Felix Bloch
 1954 - Max Born
 1958 - Igor Tamm
 1959 - Emilio Segre
 1960 - Donald A. Glaser
 1961 - Robert Hofstadter
 1961 - Melvin Calvin
 1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
 1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
 1965 - Richard Phillips Feynman
 1965 - Julian Schwinger
 1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
 1971 - Dennis Gabor
 1972 - William Howard Stein
 1973 - Brian David Josephson
 1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
 1976 - Burton Richter
 1977 - Ilya Prigogine
 1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
 1978 - Peter L Kapitza
 1979 - Stephen Weinberg
 1979 - Sheldon Glashow
 1979 - Herbert Charles Brown
 1980 - Paul Berg
 1980 - Walter Gilbert
 1981 - Roald Hoffmann
 1982 - Aaron Klug
 1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
 1985 - Jerome Karle
 1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
 1988 - Robert Huber
 1988 - Leon Lederman
 1988 - Melvin Schwartz
 1988 - Jack Steinberger
 1989 - Sidney Altman
 1990 - Jerome Friedman
 1992 - Rudolph Marcus
 1995 - Martin Perl
 2000 - Alan J. Heeger
 
 Economics:
 1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
 1971 - Simon Kuznets
 1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
 1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
 1976 - Milton Friedman
 1978 - Herbert A. Simon
 1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
 1985 - Franco Modigliani
 1987 - Robert M. Solow
 1990 - Harry Markowitz
 1990 - Merton Miller
 1992 - Gary Becker
 1993 - Robert Fogel
 
 Medicine:
 1908 - Elie Metchnikoff
 1908 - Paul Erlich
 1914 - Robert Barany
 1922 - Otto Meyerhof
 1930 - Karl Landsteiner
 1931 - Otto Warburg
 1936 - Otto Loewi
 1944 - Joseph Erlanger
 1944 - Herbert Spencer Gasser
 1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
 1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
 1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
 1952 - Selman Abraham Waksman
 1953 - Hans Krebs
 1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
 1958 - Joshua Lederberg
 1959 - Arthur Kornberg
 1964 - Konrad Bloch
 1965 - Francois Jacob
 1965 - Andre Lwoff
 1967 - George Wald
 1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
 1969 - Salvador Luria
 1970 - Julius Axelrod
 1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
 1972 - Gerald Maurice Edelman
 1975 - Howard Martin Temin
 1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
 1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
 1978 - Daniel Nathans
 1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
 1984 - Cesar Milstein
 1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
 1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
 1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
 1988 - Gertrude Elion
 1989 - Harold Varmus
 1991 - Erwin Neher
 1991 - Bert Sakmann
 1993 - Richard J. Roberts
 1993 - Phillip Sharp
 1994 - Alfred Gilman
 1995 - Edward B. Lewis
 1996- Lu RoseIacovino
 TOTAL: 129!
 
 
 The Jews are NOT promoting brain washing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims. The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants.
 
 There is NOT one single Jew who has destroyed a church. There is NOT a single Jew who protests by killing people.
 
 The Jews don't traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.
 
 Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.  Muslims must ask 'what can they do for humankind' before they demand that humankind respects them.
 
 Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel's part, the following two sentences really say it all:
 
 'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more  violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." Benjamin Netanyahu
 
 General Eisenhower Warned Us It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.
 
 He did this because he said in words to this effect:
 
 'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'
 
 Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.
 
 It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way.
 
 Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.  
 How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center 'NEVER HAPPENED' because it offends some Muslim in the United States ?
 
 It will take only a minute to pass this along.

Super Committee

Super Committee stands for: S - selfish. For putting self interests and political interests ahead of the country's interests. U - underhanded. For not negotiating in good faith. P- pricks. For screwing America E - eggheads. For lacking common sense. That's all it would take! R - rejects. For being the wrong ones for the mission. Throw them out! C - cowards. O - oblivious.  M - maddening.   M - meatheads. I - incompetent. For being unable to do their job. T - toothless. For not taking a bite out of our national deficit. T - tease. For being all talk and no action. E - endless waste of time. That's what they will go down in history for. E - eat shit. For what America wants everyone on the Super Committee to do!!