Congress Needs Expiration Dates-Impose Term Limits

Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte-Win McNamee/Getty Images

The United States has reached a time when citizens must evaluate their senators and representatives with greater care.  Ham on Wry chose the photo at left because it was recent, not because they are all Republicans.  No matter what their affiliation, all members of Congress should have expiration dates, similar to outdated food in a supermarket.


When the framers of the United States Constitution created it, America was sparsely populated with most people living along the eastern seaboard.  They couldn't have envisioned a time when candidates elected to Congress would consider it a career choice.  In colonial times, people couldn't afford to serve in either the House or the Senate without having to work at another job.  Not so in 2012.  Now members of Congress can serve as long as they are re-elected, despite experiencing a slowdown caused by advanced age. 

How can voters determine if someone has stayed too long and has run out of fresh ideas?  The complex answer involves many factors, some of which are almost impossible to detect.  If a member of Congress has dementia, it limits ability to reason logically.  If readers think that could never happen, remember President Reagan showed signs of it when he was first elected and it progressed to Alzheimer's before he left office.  Few voters spend hours watching Congress at work, and, therefore, can't see whether an official adopts an intransigent stance that blocks action from proceeding to conclusion.  We saw that when the 112th Congress took us to the brink of fiscal disaster before an eleventh hour vote.

Now that the election is over, the time has arrived for a national dialogue about how to ensure Senators and Representative don't stay past their prime.  Although this blogger favors term limits, which would serve that purpose, many other viable options must exist.  Starting the discussion in various forums will at least identify workable solutions that can lead to a Constitutional amendment.  We limit the President of the United States to eight years, and those who have served two terms leave office looking more haggard and with a head of gray hair.  If citizens believe a president can execute on promises in a maximum of eight years, why do we allow members of Congress to remain for decades? 

Senator Robert Byrd spent 51 years in Congress before he died, and Representative John Dingell has served since 1955.  Dingell will be serving his 29th term.  C'mon!  Despite the fact that he has support, does anyone believe he still has the capacity to handle the job effectively?

Logic and reason tell me the answer is "no". 

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Kids' Plea for Cat Goes Viral on Facebook

Photos from Marisa Urbano's FB page

Dan Urbano got a huge surprise last week, after he promised his 7-year-old son Remi that he could have a cat if the picture his mom Marisa posted November 7 on Facebook got at least 1,000 likes.  It received 110,000 likes, 110 times as many as the required number, so Urbano honored his pledge to Remi and his daughter Evelyn, whose smiles won the hearts of FB users.

The family adopted the cat over the weekend at Gifford Cat Shelter in their hometown of Newton, Massachusetts.

Hairietta L. Pawturr has now joined the Urbano family and appears quite contented in the photo at right as she shares the bed with Remi.  He planned to choose a male cat and name it Hairy Pawturr, but Hairietta stole his heart, so he altered the name to fit the circumstances.  Her middle initial L. refers to the likes garnered on FB, which allowed her to find a new home.

Dan Urbano learned a valuable lesson in all this.  Never underestimate the power of FB to make wishes come true.

Ham on Wry takes delight in writing about something other than politics in this post and hopes readers find it entertaining.

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The Movie Argo Spurs Reflections

 

argothemoviewarnerbrothers.com

This blogger highly recommends Argo, not only for its entertainment value, but also because it reveals a spellbinding true story based on the escape of  six American Embassy diplomats  who hid at the home of the Canadian Ambassador in Iran during a 1979 invasion of the embassy, until they were rescued in a hastily created plan hatched by Tony Mendez, a CIA operative, and his boss Jack O'Donnell. 



This movie can engage almost anyone.  It mesmerized me, and, apparently the entire audience, but that's not the point of this post. 

Although treated as more of a backdrop in the movie, the Canadian Ambassador, Ken Taylor, his wife, and their Iranian housekeeper played instrumental roles in eventual success of the plan. They kept the Americans safe and hid their existence from the Iranian government.  Taylor not only provided a haven for the Americans, he helped to scout the airport and bought the plane tickets that they used to escape.  His wife supported him, and the housekeeper lied to investigators asking questions about the Americans at their home, who were supposedly scouting out locations for a sci-fi movie.

During the last election season, we heard ads spouting how we must regain our prominence as the leader of the free world.  Argo clarified that this nation has always counted on our allies in times of trouble, and we must give credit to all of them.  Canada has helped us many times before and stands as an example of what cooperation among nations can accomplish.  We live in a complex time, and we must focus more on collaboration, not only within Congress, but with the world.  American can't do it alone.

Those who trumpet a call to invade Iran or Syria or any other troubled nation have lost touch with reality.  With a population of just under 315 million, the United States doesn't have enough people to fight wars everywhere a skirmish exists, which emphasizes the need for alliances with other world powers. China and India each have over four times the number of people than the United States. 

The situation depicted in the movie occurred over thirty years ago, and, even then, we could not have accomplished the rescue without help.  Any person who serves in government and calls for us to act alone in any aggressive action against another country should think again.  We have lost far too many young men and women who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in unnecessary wars, and we can't afford to do so again.  Human losses are the most tragic reflection of that statement, but the outrageous monetary costs have done damage to our country as well.

Patriotism means more than joining the military and going to war.  It also means preserving the vision of our country's founders and the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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Governor Scott Woefully Lacking in Leadership Skills

Forbes.com


 

Florida's governor doesn't govern in a manner conducive to moving the state in a positive direction.  The most recent case in point involves the voting debacle heaped on citizens by combining a shortened early voting period with an exceptionally long ballot in many parts of the state.  Once again, Florida is the laughing stock of the nation as the only state that didn't report election results on November 6. 

Ham on Wry chose the picture at right, because any governor who oversaw such a disaster should express chagrin about the mess.

However, Governor Rick Scott proves an exception.  He doesn't have the good sense to apologize.  No, instead he offered excuses as to why it occurred.  Readers should know that the final tabulations weren't announced until November 10, showing that Obama won the state.  Citizens have come to expect such behavior from a governor who cares more about reducing business taxes and paying large incentives to attract business than he does in education and programs designed to help people with disabilities.  It seems he missed the civics lesson that discussed constitutions and their purpose to protect the citizens that reside in the area they cover.  That purpose doesn't alter from state to state, and most states model their constitution after the United States Constitution.  Perhaps he should read the state constitution so he can better understand his role.

Scott might have pulled the wool over the eyes of uninformed voters when he was elected in 2010, but those voters didn't read the mountains of evidence linking him to the Columbia/HCA Medicare fraud that required the organization to pay a $1.7 billion dollar fine, the largest fine of its kind ever levied.  Instead, they believe him when he said he took responsibility for it and had no knowledge it was occurring.  Phooey!  The board booted him three weeks before the investigation, and he emerged relatively unscathed.  If a CEO accepts the compensation and benefits of the position, he must also accept accountability for illegal activities.

Unfortunately, he chose to move to Naples, Florida, and lives in an area of other uber-rich transplants.  He doesn't care about Florida, its people, or its environment.  He cares about Rick Scott.  He even stooped to running an ad in which his mother said, "He's a good boy."  Ha!  What would anyone expect a mother to say.  Perhaps he was a good boy, but he's not a good governor.  The only hope for Floridians who consider this state their true home is that the Democratic Party offers a credible candidate in 2012.  Florida can't afford Scott for a second term.

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Hallelujah! Obama Wins Electoral and Popular Vote

Yahoo/Carolyn Kaster/AP

The 2012 election season seemed interminable and was fraught with far too many ads and excessive money spent by corporations and innocuous sounding organizations that shouldn't have been allowed to weigh in on who should be President of the the United States.  That's fodder for a future blog, however.  This post celebrates President Obama's re-election in a time of global upheaval that requires continuity of leadership.

No matter which candidate a person chose, the country must unite behind President Obama to accomplish some of the daunting tasks that face us as a nation.  Rather than adopting implacable approaches along party lines, members of Congress must approach their work with an attitude of compromise.  America can't afford the kind of situation that led us to the brink of financial disaster during the last session.

Most of all, the birthers must abandon the notion of proving that President Obama was not born in the US and place emphasis on moving toward a balanced budget and significantly reducing debt without destroying necessary programs that benefit this country's citizens.  Most important of all, Donald Trump needs to shut up and concentrate on something other than politics.  His opinion holds no more weight than any other citizen. In fact, this blogger would take delight in media silence when "The Donald" waxes political.

Voters can work on repealing Citizens United, which opened the door to the barrage of political messages heaped on us for most of the year.  If all that money had gone to iimprove the economy, our lives would have improved drastically, and television viewing would have been more enjoyable.

Congratulations, President Obama.  May you use your last term in office wisely.

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Women Beware! Romney Platform Resembles a Hooked Fish

zephyrcove.com

 



Remember this image when voting Tuesday.  Romney has flip-flopped more during this campaign than the hooked fish in the photo.

In the early days of his campaign, he advocated overturning Roe v. Wade, which would effectively end women's abortion choices, getting rid of Planned Parenthood, and abandoning the health care initiative set to begin next year.  Bad news for the poor and women in general. 

Whether a woman would make a personal choice to abort a fetus or a man objects to abortions should not affect a woman's ability to make that choice.  Abortion does not belong in the political spectrum because no one can know all of the conditions that exist when someone makes that choice.  For those who protest that pregnancy is God's will and no human should tamper with it, miscarriages or spontaneous abortions, as the medical community labels them, remain a conundrum.  Most women who abort live with emotional turmoil surrounding that decision for the rest of their lives. 

This blogger is old enough to remember when abortion was illegal, but that didn't stop women from seeking them.  It meant that they often faced unsterile conditions during the procedure.  The Bible that I studied never appointed humans to act in God's stead and pass judgment on fellow humans.  That is a man-made creation.  This country has more pressing issues than that of abortion.  When American society can solve the problem of caring and nurturing children who exist outside the womb, we will have accomplished something noteworthy.  That social problem looms large and must be solved by more than just more laws.  It starts when the baby is born.  America's murder rate exceeds that of all other first world nations, but we still have laws that don't properly vet gun buyers.  The assasination attempt on Congresswoman Gifford and murder of several in the group listening to her speak and the massacre at a Colorado movie theater illustrate gun use gone wild.

Romney has also waffled on his campaign promise to cut taxes 20% for all taxpayers.  Perhaps he succumbed to all the fact-checking organizations that called him out because it would be impossible to implement that change without huge cuts in important safety net programs, such as Social Security, Medicare,  Health Care, and other programs designed to assist the most vulnerable in our society.  Now he claims that he will raise the tax rate on the wealthiest Americans, something Obama has advocated throughout his term and still exists in his platform.

Romney and his family members won't be affected because of the vast wealth he has accumulated, but people in the middle class and below will.  That group comprises a majority of the citizens in this country.  So, when voting, consider which candidate would be attuned to what will benefit the majority of Americans.

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Romney Ad Lies About Jeep Jobs Going to China

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Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Mitt Romney continues airing an ad that claims Chrysler will send Jeep production to China.  Evidently, Romney believes he knows something that Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne refutes in his statement,“Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand. It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.”  

In fact, the only mention of adding jobs in China referred to Chrysler's mention increasing production in China for vehicles for use in China.  Chrysler plans to add 1,100 jobs in Toledo, Ohio to build the new models of Jeep.

So, Mr. Romney, drop the pretense and scrap the ad.  You failed to mention that Chrysler has added about 7000 American jobs, since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.  Compare the strides made by both Chrysler and GM to the performance of the financial services firmed bailed out during the Bush administration.  The facts about their continued missteps can't be denied.

Speaking of facts, isn't it time you revealed the specifics of your tax plan.  Everything this blogger has read about your proposal to cut everyone's taxes by 20% state that it can't be done without massive cuts to crucial programs.  Stop spouting generalities and provide voters with specifics.  I know it's difficult, but you don't have much time left.  "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Am I the only one that sees Romney's nose growing?

 

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