Guest Editorials
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This little item was sent to me by a well meaning friend not too long ago. Obviously, like many of us he is fed up with the idiots "we the people" have been sending to Washington, DC over he past couple of decades (maybe longer depending on your age). It is a well meaning email but there are a couple of problems with the "solution" as described below:

            Congressional Reform Act of 2010

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
Everyone knows that term limits are built into the system. If the voters don't like the incumbents they can vote them out of office when they come up for re-election. The obvious problem with this is that it doesn't always work for several reasons:

1. Incumbents have name recognition, generally larger war chests, and the backing of the party to which they belong making it difficult for challengers who are not independently wealthy to break into the lineup sufficiently to get the name recognition necessary to build a war chest and garner the votes regardless of the righteousness of his/her platform.

2. Don't assume that the voters don't want the incumbent to remain in office. The voters may see congressional seniority as a pathway to getting more Federal/State money into the state/district to create jobs, build infrastructure, schools.  libraries, etc.

3. Just because you don't like the Congressman/Senator doesn't mean that others don't like them. Many congressional districts have been gerrymandered into districts favorable to one party over another. If you are a democrat living in a republican district you are less likely to like the winner in an election than if you lived in a district that voted predominantly for the party you favor. Remember, California votes for Californian  politicians and New Jersey generally has no say in how they vote. You may not like their congressmen/senators but that is really just too bad for you.

4. It has been said that a twelve year term limit on office holders seems reasonable for if you can't get it done in twelve years something is seriously wrong with your program or the office holder is not playing nicely with the other children in Congress. The President only gets eight years in office. A twelve year term for Congress give a congressman the chance to screw with at least two Presidents while in office. That said, given the glacial pace of Washington politics twelve years to get meaningful legislation through the House and Senate many in congress who opt out after twelve years may never see their legislation enacted into law.

2.  No Tenure / No Pension: A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
I say, Twelve years or bust. If the congressperson can't make it through two elections then no pension for them. They have to be in it to win it. All pay and benefits end with the end of service.  
 
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.
You may have read that Members of Congress do not pay into Social Security. Well, that's a myth.

Prior to 1984, neither Members of Congress nor any other federal civil service employee paid Social Security taxes. Of course, the were also not eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Members of Congress and other federal employees were instead covered by a separate pension plan called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act required federal employees first hired after 1983 to participate in Social Security. These amendments also required all Members of Congress to participate in Social Security as of January 1, 1984, regardless of when they first entered Congress. Because the CSRS was not designed to coordinate with Social Security, Congress directed the development of a new retirement plan for federal workers. The result was the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act (FERS) of 1986.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
Members of Congress under FERS contribute 1.3 percent of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2 percent of their salary in Social Security taxes.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
For two years, at this writing, retired folks have received no COLA increases because the government has decided so. This might change when congressional pay is at stake. All will benefit from the greed of the few.

 6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
Congress gets the same health care benefits as regular federal employees get. They become vested after five years of service.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
Amen! One country for all, one law for all, always.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.  
I really don't know what this means. However, Congress is supposed to be responsive to the American people but that, in itself, provides a plethora of conflicts as we are a nation of conflicting opinions and viewpoints even without the input of PACS and other special interest groups that pour untold millions of dollars into the political coffers of both parties. With today's internet connections every citizen has a direct input to the their representative, twenty four hours a day. Use what is yours to influent and question your representatives in Congress, State Houses, and Municipal Offices. Let them know what you think and that you are watching them as they work. If you don't do this then all the new rules we can ever come up with will have no meaning.

Web Guy - 11/5/10

As if you needed another reason to hate Wal-Mart:
Injured Woman Wins Wal-Mart Saga
A crusade by MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann on behalf of a former Wal-Mart
employee who suffered a head injury has ended with the big retail giant backing down.

Other web sites about Wal-Mart
Buy from Wal-Mart and support the Chinese economy!
What is the REAL cost of shopping at Wal-Mart?
http://wakeupwalmart.com/facts/
Keeping an eye on Wal-Mart
http://walmartwatch.com/
How Wal-Mart accelerates the shipping of jobs overseas
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

Is ACRE, the Association of Commuter Rail Employees, a Cult?
Read this Guest Editorial by
Mary Donch of BLE&T Division 127 (Metro-North Commuter Railroad)
and decide for yourselves!

Been drinking? Don't show up for work!
Rule "G", Rule "T" and the Neverevers
 

The Railroad Industry's Solution to Truck Competition?
Treat truck drivers like locomotive engineers!

The railroad industry can't fight it's way out of the meltdown
it has caused by poor management.
Now it wants to put it's employees, customers and the public at risk!
Remotely Controlled Trains. What's in it for you!
 

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