Empty Exercises

Empty exercises, those exercises of political, economic, religious, whatever, that "fake out" their constitency, but show their efficacy in doing a job that they have been put in place to represent their constituency, team, whomever, and make themselves valuable and stay in their positions.
A prime example is the Republican Party in the majority within the current U.S. House of Representatives.  Another would be the Republican Party in the House that voted to impeach then President William J. Clinton. 
The current Republican Party in the House, has introduced bills that they know will never pass the Senate or the veto process of the President.  They are doing what they were elected to do by their constitutency, and their political party.  What these political people are forgetting is; they were put in their positions to represent the people.  They are supposed to receive the information presented to them in Congress and vote for the greater good instead of taking their preconceived ideas of their constituency and party to vote in a block.  They need to acheive the passage of bills that will actually pass through the House/Senate and President.  It is ideally why they were put into office.  Empty Exercises WASTE TIME! 
When you are thinking about who you want to support for a political party, insure you watch their previous performances, their support for legislature, their language in the public.  There is a Senator who recently made a statement of fact, in a speech, but when shown that he had made a error, he simply said that any of his public speeches are not statement of fact.  I think he needs to re-think that statement, our representation is in those positions to gather in all the data, make a judgement on the issue and state to his constituency what he has found out and why he agrees or disagrees.

Victory does not have to include violence!

Victory, victory, victory!!!  The Egyptian population, led by youth and technology led a non-violent revolution to oust their leader of nearly three decades.  This revolution is setting the example for the Arab world.  It can be done without weapons!! Congratulations to all the people who participated in the win and the clean-up.  Did you see everyone cleaning up after themselves?  EVERYONE pitched in!!  Yahoo!!!!
Now the hard work begins.  With the assistance of the military, the civilian population can now start the very difficult job of organizing political parties, having committees seek out what needs changing within the government/Constitution, organizing fund raising, seeking people to run for office, ensuring safety for all concerned, GETTING THE ECONOMY BACK ON IT'S FEET, putting many of the unemployed college educated people into jobs where they can use their learning as an asset and help get the country back on it's feet.  The effort before them is daunting, it will take every fibre of strength within their bodies to make this all work.  But, if they can make a revolution go off as well as they did this one, WORKING TOGETHER IS ALREADY A GIVEN!!

Tucson Tragedy demands gun control

Common Dreams.org is a wonderful addition to the internet.  One of the latest articles is from Harvey Wasserman, Jan 13, 2011 "The Second Amendment Demands Gun Control."  Mr. Wasserman is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information Resource Service, and writes regularly for http://www.freepress.org/.
The Second Amendment supports the control of guns--not slaughter that compromises our security.
The debate that has occurred during the past few months from Sarah Palin and her "crosshairs" on certain "districts" and the Foxnews opinionists is long overdue.  Perhaps a suggestion that may help both sides of the debate.
Here is what the Second Amndment actually says:
     "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state,
       the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

According to Mr. Wasserman:  "...the right to bear arms is granted only in the context of a well-regulate militia and thus the security of a free state."
"A National Guard, yes.  Heavily-armed lunatics roaming the streets unregulated?  Never."

There is a country where all males between the ages of 18 and 65 belong to the "Militia". The largest national celebration is the "National Turkey Shoot", where the nation finds out who is the best shot.  To accomplish this Turkey Shoot, all males are issued the latest rifle, army uniforms, helmet, etc.  the militia meets periodically in there own "locale" plus serve a "tour of duty, usually two weeks during the summer--there are no exceptions, when your tour of duty comes up, you must go.  As a militia member you are expected
to know all about your military, including gun safety.  The country is the best defended, best equiped military in the world.  Airplanes are hidden in small hamlets and use streets to take-off and land, artillery positions are within false-fronted mountains, supplies are within false-side walls, all roads and bridges are tank-trapped and have hidden explosive charges that can be exploded from a central command post, the entire population takes part in assisting, and the government has planned for the protection of the population.
In all major cities, there are underground shelters fully stocked with rations, beds, hospitals, sanitation,water, you name it, for the entire city population. 
This nation has a proud heritage in their military.  At one time, their troops were the highest paid mercenaries, because they always won battles.  Currently, their troops are still paid warriors, Paid by the Vatican.  Yes, those young men standing guard in the black and orange pantaloons with a pike for protection(a long stick with a metal point).  These positions are passed from father to son.  Their heritage is Swiss.
Yes, Switzerland is the country referenced here.  They protect there country so well, that when Hitler was looking to move into France in WWII, he had two choices, one was Switzerland, the other was Belgium.  He knew he would never make it through Switzerland because of their preparation, so he chose the other route.  Switzerland is known for it's neutrality, banks, wonderful food, and nice people.
Perhaps, our government could glean some of what the Swiss do and apply it to our 2nd amendment situation.  It would take plenty of work, however, it would take care of our "gun situation" and it would take care of our "men" situation.  All men between the ages of 18-65 would be in the militia.  We could still have a voluntary army such as we currently have, however, the only way you could get into the "voluntary army" would be to have served in the militia and obtained skills that could be used in the "voluntary army".   If you let your imagination run away with yourself, this would eliminate many problems.  For example: Young men would not be allowed to go to college without serving say, 18 months after they graduate from high school in the militia, then they could go to college, say with money from still serving in the militia, or scholarships from the militia for being the best rifleman, the best mechanic, etc. 
Problem youths would be eliminated.  The militia would establish military discipline and the young people would come into the college world invigorated and excited to accomplish their next level.  Oh, you say, no one does that to their youth.  Germany does.  German 18 year-olds are required to do just as I have described above.  Except for those 18 year-olds that have passed the Arbeitur.  That is the exam all German youth's must take to graduate from Gymnasium, or high school.  Those student's have their entire college education paid for by the state. Real incentive to achieve!!
All students would have the opportunity to attend college.  Rich alumni's children would not be the only ones attending college's.   I think you see where this could continue.  You don't have to believe what I have written.  I have placed a link for your viewing about the Swiss Army and it's preparation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEOLonBfaD8
The Swiss have the luxury of being able to trust their government and the government has the luxury of being able to trust their people.

Republicans signal intentions--but, are they going to be productive?

The Republican Party will be assuming control of the House of Representatives soon, but their early messages from newly appointed committee chairmen indicate stall tactics and wasted time.
There has been word from these committee chairmen that they are going to call all the Democratic Administration Cabinet Officers in to their committees to explain why they spent so much money in the past two years. In my opinion, this is a waste of time. The Republicans only want a stage from which to present their particular views against what the Democrats accomplished--but notice, absolutely nothing will be presented to "correct" what the Democrats have accomplished.
They are going to attempt to repeal the Health Care Bill, that has already been signed,sealed and delivered. They might get a repeal measure through the House, but won't get it through the Senate, remember, the Senate has a Democratic majority, plus they won't get it past President Obama's veto and there are not enough votes to override the President's veto in Congress (there must be 60% in each house to override a Presidential veto).
This is the kind of thinking you must develop if you going to be an EDUCATED CITIZEN. The Republicans are doing the same thing they did with former President Bill Clinton and his impeachment. EVERYONE KNEW THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH VOTES TO CONVICT PRESIDENT CLINTON in the Senate, but the Republicans wanted to put a black mark on President Clinton's presidency, so they proceeded with the impeachment and trial. The Republicans are going to have their hands full with the new Tea Party members that were elected this term. The Tea Party members are upset with everyone, including the Republicans. Look at their pledge to America last year, they listed many items they wanted to do, but did not list one single way to correct the situation, they wanted to call for a meeting of constituents and have them find out how to correct the situation. That is not leadership.
One other small point, President Clinton's presidency gave GWB $282 Billion in surplus. After eight years of Bush, Obama was faced with the largest deficit since the Depression, you might ask, where did all the money go? Hummmm, let's see, contracts being let to "friends" without the bidding process, two questionable wars--off budget--filling the pockets of lobbyist and friends, the list goes on and on. It will be interesting to see how the Republicans jump on Obama's spending. The Republicans are going to open the proverbial can of worms.

Now, that's more like it.

The efforts of Congress this past week, passing crutial bills, working together, compromising, looking out for Americans, that's what a Congress is supposed to look like. Look how much they accomplished in one week, what if they would work that hard at what else is on their agenda and actually clean up the legislation, clean up the I.R.S. write-offs, not pay our vendors until the actually complete the work as designed, stop the over-runs. This mid-term election was a wake-up call for all politicians--they still must account to the people. The voters CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

New Leadership, new ideas?

Congratulations to the Republican Party. They have regained the House of Representatives majority and will receive the benefits including Committee Chairmenships and Majority Leader ( who is third behind the President) and a whole set of things they want to change/repeal. Almost immediately, they are going after allowing the tax cut on those over $250,000 to be extended and it appears that Mr.Obama is going to go along, as long as no one else has taxes applied. This will be a reprieve for the very wealthy as their tax cut was running out December 31, 2010, as it is predicted, it may be extended 2 or 3 years. No politican wants to raise taxes in this economy, immigration is going on the backburner, a possible trade war is brewing world-wide, currency changes in America and China are also possibilities, cuts to the budget are being directed at sacred cows--a sacred cow is an untouchable item in the budget. An example, defense budget is usually never touched,however, there is discussion about a possible 30% cut, pulling troops out of countries, an example would be pulling troops out of Japan, South Korea, and Europe, think of the possible savings. But, social security benefits are not going to be touched, in fact, there is talk of a $250 across the board, one-time check in January. Why won't they touch the biggest "sacred cow", social security? Social security benefits for the most part, go to elderly people. They are the people who study the elections and VOTE more than any other group. I hope I have whetted your appetite for items to investigate in Congess. This when you start studying for the 2012 election. The stakes will be bigger. The President will be re-elected/elected, all House of Represenatives, and 1/3 rd of the Senate. Depending what the Democrats do, or the Republican do, that election may set the tone for the next four years.

Power Shift--The headline in the AZ Republic Nov 3rd

Thank you all for voting. This turnout was very high for a mid-term election. It showed that people wanted to get their message out to the world.
The big winners were the Republicans. They took the House majority back, as well as help from Tea Party winners. The loser, the Democrats, losing the majority in the House of Representatives, but retaining the majority in the Senate.
Majority means a great deal in either house. First, the majority party gets to set the agenda, they get the
Chairperson of the active committees.
That Chairperson sets the agenda for the committee. If you are a House member and you want your bill to be considered by a certain committee, you must place
bill in the "hopper" and that bill is then doled out to the various committees that would have oversight on that specific bill. The committee would look into
the possibility of passage and would have hearings to gather evidence to support the passage of the bill.  But, if you are not the majority party,
or have made an enemy of the chairman, or the chairman needs a "favor", etc. your bill may end up at the bottom of the agenda and may never see the light of day.  All bills must start over each legislative session.  A legislative session is two years.  If your bill never gets discussed, it may never get voted on, thus is the "game" of politics.  Commonly known as "you scratch my back, I scratch your back." 
What exactly is going to get done this coming legislative session?  Well, the Republicans have an agenda that is completely the opposite of the agenda the Democrats have, but the Republicans do not have any power to get bills passed the Senate, nor passed the President. And, the Democrats do not have the power, nor the votes to get things passed in the House of Representatives and  the President has the power of the veto.  That means he can stop a bill by refusing to sign it.  Now Congress can "override" a veto with a 2/3rds majority--commonly known as a "super-majority", in both houses, which is very difficult to obtain.  In reality, there will be a STALEMATE for the next two years, where virtually NOTHING will get done!!