Sat, Nov 21st - 5:11AM
radical proposal
From an E-Mail I recieved:
"The 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 must 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.
Reduce Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State). Then, reduce their 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 their 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 improve efficiencies. It
might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country!
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 1911when 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 had 3 senators that
were not doing their jobs for the 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they
all have accepted 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, tax payers could save a bundle. Now they get full retirement after serving only ONE term.
IF you are happy with how Congress spends our taxes, delete this message. Otherwise, I assume you know what to do.
Comment (1)
|
|
Tue, Jul 14th - 3:13AM
NASA upset with astronaut's "prayer walks"
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Astronaut Don Merkley has space-walked six times, repairing broken latches, attaching antennae to the space station — and praying over all the earth.
"I intercede for each continent as I pass over it," says Merkley, an evangelical Christian. "I have the high ground, spiritually speaking, over the prince of the air. It’s a tremendous faith boost."
But his superiors at NASA are not enthusiastic. Last month they discovered Merkley’s blog, CovertheEarthInPrayer, where he talks freely about his "orbiting prayer efforts" and publishes lists of topics he is praying for on each mission. Apparently in response, NASA issued a memo reminding astronauts that they should focus entirely on NASA business while in space. Merkley took it as a direct slap.
"That’s like telling me not to think of my wife while I’m working," he says. "It’s ridiculous."
Since then, the normally insular Christian aeronautics community has rallied behind the veteran astronaut. Some fans tote placards at shuttle launches with slogans like "National Atheist Space Administration." Merkley has become a bona fide hero to many.
"We follow every blog post and pray for him when he’s directly overhead," says Janet Dewar, a mother of six who uses Merkley’s efforts in her homeschool curriculum. "You don’t realize how encouraging it is to know that someone sixty miles up is bathing the planet in prayer."
Merkley asks believers to partner with him during his space-walks. A recent Merkley blog post read, "I’m going up next week to do some repairs on the Space Station. I’ll be ‘prayer walking’ the entire time from 9 am to 1 pm GMT. Join me in prayer when I pass over!"
Many churches organize all-night prayer meetings while Merkley is space-walking. Some even send him lists of their own prayer requests so he can offer them "from high places."
Merkley says he doesn’t want to make trouble at NASA, but his ambitions are grand.
"I hope to prayer walk the moon and claim it for the Kingdom one day," he says. • article here: http://www.larknews.com/december_2008/secondary.php?page=2
Comment (3)
|
|
Name: Smokey the Dog
