Term Limits

I've never been an advocate of term limits for members of congress . I've always considered the vote was the ultimate limit on congressional terms. But, in view of recent events on the political scene I've changed my mind. The tipping point for me was when politicians defeated in primaries refused to concede defeat and launched themselves as independent candidates instead of backing the winners. They just can't accept defeat.

Time has come for an amendment to the Constitution that reads: "No person shall be elected to the Senate more than two times, nor serve more than twelve years; and no person shall be elected to the House of Representatives more than four times, nor serve more than eight years."

In days long gone people elected to congress were businessmen, farmers, preachers, or just plain ordinary folks. They served and then returned home to resume their life. Not so now days. We have professional career politicians made up mostly of lawyers, bureaucrats, and political hacks. They spend most of their time and effort so soundly entrenching themselves in office that they accomplish little else. Over time they build such a strong constituency of special monied interests it is difficult, if not impossible, to unseat them. They stay so long they truly believe they are entitled to retain their seats of power in spite of all else, and the longer they stay the more prone they become to unsavory deals of self enrichment.

Anymore it costs so much to undertake a campaign for congress that only the very rich or very well politically connected with special interests are able to run for office.

Term limits may, just may, kind of level the playing field.

Addendum: After I posted this I talked with my son via phone and he told me about this URL that aptly describes precisely what I mean. It is an audio but very funny and appropriate.

http://www.itsnotyourseatlisa.com/

Cat Crap - Excerpt from My Log of Daily Events

For years I've kept a record of my daily events. Also, I'm a vivid dreamer and for years I've recorded my dreams. I'm now editing the dreams and thinking about having them published as a fun kind of book to read. Going back through my daily logs to extract the dream descriptions I came across the notation below. At the time it wasn't that funny, but now in retrospect its kind of funny, so I thought I would share it with you all.

06-17-02: My day did not get off to a good start. First thing this morning after I made coffee and got dressed I went into the garage and found a pile of crap on top of the new Lincoln. I then noticed a number of things were scattered on the garage floor, including the bag of cat food. A stray cat has been coming around here the past couple of months eating Dude-Dute's food. Recently I've began to empty Dude-Dute's bowl so the stray can't get anything to eat. I've also been closing the garage doors. Last night I apparently closed the stray cat inside the garage and he proceeded to trash the garage and dumped a pile on top of our new Lincoln. Sure enough. I found him hiding under the car. I got the BB gun and popped him good. He ran underneath the old Lincoln. I looked all around and couldn't see him. I decided he was hiding up under the hood. I had Pat start the engine and sure enough he came running out. I shot at him with the BB gun but missed. It's hard to hit a running cat. I cleaned the crap off the top of the car and Pat and I went to K&G Restaurant for breakfast.

Recession Over?

A few days ago some egghead in the elitist eastern ruling class declared the recession ended June 2009. Its incredible how out of touch with reality those people are. Obama's "Summer of Recovery" fizzled this summer, and his "Fall of Recovery" is in decline.

This is a strange recession. We have 9.6% national unemployment with about 15 million workers unemployed. That doesn't count the under employed and the ones that have given up seeking employment. Yet, the government and Wall Street fat cats are doing very well. Large corporations are making profits and are sitting on the sidelines with bundles of cash waiting to see what happens. The government expands and hands out pay increases to cronies and fat bureaucrats.

Has anyone noticed manufacturers are cutting corners to make profits. My wife is a tenacious shopper. She reads the labels on everything. She has called it to my attention numerous times that groceries and other items at the stores are a little smaller, or if the container is the same size the contents are a few ounces less than before. They are not only cutting quantity, but also cutting quality.

No one seems to want to work for less. Two guys came by our place the other day and wanted to cut down eight dead trees in my yard. They would cut down, trim and cut into sawlogs for $125 a tree. I would have to use my tractor and loader to pick up and haul them into the pasture and burn them. They said they needed the work, but wouldn't deal on the price of $1,000.

So just how deep is the recession? Is it contrived by those in power to bring about "change we can believe in"?

Condescending Obama

Is it just me or what? Has anyone else noticed how condescending Obama is when he speaks. Its like he is lecturing us as though we know nothing about any thing he happens to be opining about. His most favorite phrase is "Let me make it clear." What is more and more clear to most of us is his thinking is more and more muddled. Someone somewhere installed in that young man's head of mush that he is a superior above the rest of us. I don't think even a sweeping change in the political scene in November will alter his attitude and position.

Nice Rain

We've received a little over three inches of much appreciated rain since it started earlier this week. The pasture has greened up nicely. Lots of our vegetation is still trying to recover from the drought of last summer. For some there is no recovery. Seven of the large oaks in front of the house died from the drought and oak wilt. When oaks are stressed from lack of moisture they become very vulnerable to the oak wilt, a deadly disease for oak trees once it gets established. There is no known cure for it. I 'll have to cut them down later this year when the weather cools enough to work with the chainsaw and not get over heated. At my age that is a primary concern when doing heavy work. The other victim of the drought has been the Saint Augustine grass in the yard. It has been victimized by the Take All Root Rot fungus.