Thanks to Mark for contributing the following proposal:
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 let’s 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. Read the rest of this entry »
Every year when I prepare my income tax return, I check it once, twice, three times, and sometimes even four, to make sure I didn’t make an arithmetic mistake or leave something off the form that should have been there. And every year I hold my breath (not literally) until the return comes back and I get my refund, afraid that the IRS will find a mistake. Maybe I am just too cautious, I don’t know. I just know I don’t want to tangle with the IRS over my tax bill. I wish some other people would exercise that kind of caution, especially congressmen and new members of the president’s cabinet.
I was impressed with President Obama’s confession on NBC Nightly News Tuesday night when he said, “I made a mistake, I screwed up.” He was talking about the failure of his vetting process that led him to pick Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle for his Cabinet when both of them had failed to pay back taxes, or report income that would have been taxed. I was feeling good that the president was taking the heat for making the wrong choices, quite a turnabout from former President George Bush’s firm denials that he ever made a mistake. Then Obama said something that didn’t set well with me. He said he didn’t think Daschle intentionally did anything wrong by not reporting all the income and benefits he had received. Read the rest of this entry »
Written by Elyse Johnson
The chilling crowded streets were beyond exhilarating for an aspiring “poli-sci” student. There was never a better time to go to D.C. Everyone you accidently bumped into had the nicest (sometimes unexpectedly nice) demeanor. Everyone who came was there for one reason: to see a change in the world and to witness history. Most people who went were told they were crazy for going, but we all responded, “We’d be crazy not to go.” Sure it was below freezing, and, yes, there was no telling if you’d be able to see a thing, but my mother reminded me the night before the inauguration “You’re not there to see Obama’s twinkling eye but rather, to be able to say you were there and you were why that twinkle was there that day.” Read the rest of this entry »
posted
Feb 10, 2009 by Lamar Thames
