Danni's Blog

This was an email received from my dad. I usually delete such things, especially since what it proposes is so obviously “out there” & would never happen – thus it’s really no more than tongue-in-cheek humor. BUT it also hits so close to the truth of the issue hat I couldn’t resist posting.

When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers.  The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well.  Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of “tough decision”, and his board of directors gives him a big bonus.

Our government should not be immune from similar risks.

Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members and Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Also reduce remaining staff by 25%.

Accomplish this over the next 8 years. (two steps / two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.

Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:

$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay / member / yr.)

$97,175,000 for elimination of the above people’s staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each member of the Senate every year)

$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (Those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion / yr)

The remaining representatives would need to work smarter and would need to improve efficiencies. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country? (Now there’s a new idea!)

We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what your representative is doing.

Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of representatives was established.  (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few).

Note:

Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems.  Also, we have  senators that have not been doing their jobs for the past 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have been accepting full pay.  These facts alone support a reduction in senators & congress.

Summary of opportunity:

$44,108,400 reduction of congress members.

$282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.

$150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.

$59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.

$37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.

$8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings. (That’s 8-BILLION just to start!)

Big business does these types of cuts all the time.

If Congresspersons were required to serve 20, 25 or 30 years (like everyone else) in order to collect retirement benefits there is no telling h ow much we would save. Currently they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.

I’ve been participating in a political forum of sorts at http://whitehouse2.org. One of the issues under consideration is “Restore Separation of Church & State.” There’s been a discussion going on over a talking point that I added to the issue: “Restore” implies that something has been removed.

In the interest of not wasting work/time, I wanted to post some of that discussion here.

So, here is the point as I posted it:

But in the name of “Separation of Church & State,” many ARE being prohibited in the free exercise thereof by Atheists and the PC crowd.

(Originally posted on this blog December 18, 2008, lost & recovered on January 9, 2009.)

For the past – what? three? five? – years, the Christmas season has been accompanied by protests over its very existence. Atheist are offended by the very celebration of “Christmas.”

They’ve tried to change the name of the celebration.

They’ve tried to remove all symbols of the celebration.

What they’re actually trying to do is remove CHRISTIANITY from the face of the Earth! Well, I don’t have time to go into that here and now. Let’s suffice it to say, “Go ahead and make a bigger fool of yourself.”

I just want to add my 2¢ to the current topic…

Why are Atheists attacking Christmas? Because they don’t believe in God, much less his son, Jesus.

And they are perfectly within their rights to believe or not believe as they choose. After all, this country was started by people seeking refuge from persecution – especially religious.

Remember, in the Motherland they were actually killing people for not believing, or at least practicing, the state-endorsed religion. In some countries Protestants were being executed (sometimes officially, sometimes not), in other countries it was Catholics, in others Jews. That’s why the Third Article of the Bill of Rights states:

“Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.”

Do I REALLY have to explain in modern terms what this means about the freedom to worship, or not worship, as the individual, or group, wishes?

What Athiests seem to forget is that their rights end where they infringe on the rights of others.

Christmas is a Christian holiday. It is also commonly celebrated by non-Christians because it’s FUN! You like fun, don’t you?

Yes, our modern-day celebrations have borrowed some elements from other religions and festivals. That doesn’t mean that us Christians don’t keep in mind the Reason for the Season, nor the Christian symbolism of those borrowed secular elements.

Nobody’s telling Jews not to celebrate Hanukkah.

Nobody’s telling Africans not to celebrate Kwanzaa.

Nobody’s telling Muslims not to celebrate Ramadan. (Before anyone comments, yes, I know it’s not necessarily celebrated in December!)

Yet it’s perfectly alright to tell Christians that we can’t celebrate Christmas. It’s perfectly alright to trample all over the individual and collective rights of Christians that are supposedly protected by the Third Article of the Bill of Rights, just as everyone else’s is.

So… If YOU don’t want to celebrate Christmas, don’t. Nobody’s forcing you to.

You can celebrate the “Winter Festival” if that’s what you want it to be. And you can celebrate it in any way you like. Well… as long as your celebration is a peaceable and lawful one. No human sacrifices or public orgies – both of which would violate all sorts of city, state, and federal laws!   Hey… go jump in an icy lake if that’s what you feel like!

But stop trying to infringe on the rights of Christians by telling us we can’t celebrate Christmas! If someone tells you “Merry Christmas,” take it for the good wishes that are intended and get your panties out of a wad. Don’t you think Christmas is stressful enough without you adding to it by taking offense with well wishes?

(Originally posted on this blog December 20, 2008, was lost & recovered on January 9, 2009.)

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked without fear,
‘Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!’
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.

To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said ‘Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.’
‘It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,’
Then he sighed, ‘That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.’
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.’

‘So go back inside,’ he said, ‘harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.’
‘But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
‘Give you money,’ I asked, ‘or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.’

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
‘Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.’

PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq