WHAT IF MOSES WERE ALIVE TODAY?
If he were, what changes would he bring to the present situation of our government, you might be surprised.
1) THOU SHALL NOT HANG AROUND TOO LONG
I like this one. Term limits for the Congress and Senate. Does not apply to jail terms. A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. Term limits are found usually in presidential and semi-presidential systems as a method to curb the potential for dictatorships, where a leader effectively becomes "president for life". We recently had an "idiot for eight".
This differs in the nation building process where the "president serves till they shoot him" as will happen in Afghanistan. In our country the problem is business as usual for the elected ones who seem to hang around like a perpetual dose of clap or Herpes B.
2) THOU SHALT NOT STUFF-ITH WITH UNCLEAN PORK
We need the line item veto. To make every bill stand on it's own, no more backdoor deals, no more lobbyists, and big business controlling the country. What we have is a bunch of car salesmen. It's not what they tell you, it's what they don't tell you.
Doing business as usual has been tolerated for too many years, if you want to call it business. We the taxpayers we pay these people to produce. If they can't do the job, fire them. We didn't hire them to stand there, make grandiose speeches and cause half the problems.
As many of you will notice when you watch C-SPAN, most of the Members of Congress are speaking to an empty hall, thats why the cameras are fixed and don’t pan around. They are just filling the Congressional Record so they can claim they were working.
Just have mercy on those poor stenographers, who have to listen to all this congealed manure while the other "public servants are probably being served by a public servant of their own, a barmaid". Solution, make it mandatory they have to listen to their own party bullshit and any bill being read for the record requires mandatory attendance.
3) THOU SHALT NOT ACCEPT COINAGE FOR FAVORS
No more lobbyists. The term lobbyist is nothing more than a nice word for crook. There are some things the Ru-Ru death penalty, often found in really old Tarzan movies should be used for. Using your power as a Member of Congress for personal gain through " donations" to your political agenda are about a corrupt a thought as I can imagine.
Declare a three day open season on lobbyists or find a Supervisors of Lobbyist Affairs Panel (SLAP) headed by an individual with the tenacity and personal fortitude of Joseph Stalin. We have the ammo, they just have to line them up carefully. Leave it to 'Big Joe' and he'll get things in order.
4) THOU SHALT DROP THE 60/40 VOTE
And watch the GOP drop their drawers. It is sorely needed. Eliminate the 60/40 vote and incorporate majority rules. No, we are not going socialist, no it's not a trick, we are going majority rules, primal and basic. The 60/40 rule was a great idea at one time but today is misused as a tool.
Then and maybe I'm dreaming, it would reduce the pressure of being a party person, and being what you were elected for. A duly elected official representative of the people. Not a duly elected representative of the party. Frankly Washington has to go back to work on fixing itself and the country. not fixing elections, and abusing the powers of state.
5) THOU SHALL MAKE THE SUPREME COURT MORTAL AGAIN
END MUMMIFICATION - The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President. First mistake.
Then they go through a series of “trials administered by the biggest crooks in the land” and confirmed. Once appointed, Justices effectively have life tenure, serving "during good behavior". Which in my opinion “is an opinion”. Unfortunately, their term concludes only upon a) death, b) resignation, c) retirement, or d) conviction on impeachment. I would add e) stupidity f) lack of common sense. Second mistake. Lets change that to ten years and a review for ten more.
Lack of common sensitivity and production were not included in the job description. Some have died in office, still showing up every day, producing little or no productive work, they just weren’t notified yet that their brains had passed on. But still they managed to write numerous books and jurist papers on topics like "Fart vs. Belch on Illegal Methane Production".
What we need is a Supreme Court of those who are of the people, for the people, by the people. Not selected by political substance, conservative vs. liberal, or any other leaning. It's OK to be all about the Constitution, it what makes our country unique but I believe it is not eternal. Eternal in it's tenets, but flexible in how it carries things out.
It's time to take that prestigious position and modernize things. Like colored robes, they look too morbid. Nothing is wrong with the Constitution, no one wishes to change it's basic precepts. But, it has to stay in touch with modern times. seems too may of the judgement are 5-4. Thats not a rout in any book.
We are all not citizen farmers, there are fewer Blacksmiths and Heraldic scholars. We are a nation of good people, 350 million strong, depending on a government; of the people; for the people; and by the people. We had few lobbyists and corruption in the old days. We had a common cause and it was Freedom, not greed.
6) THOU SHALT NOT STUFF THE BALLOT BOXES
The Court meets in Washington, D.C. in the United States Supreme Court Building. The Supreme Court is sometimes informally referred to as the High Court, or by the acronym SCOTUS.
In the public arena, it is on occasion referred to by other terms I cannot use here that Rhyme with Scotus. The current Roberts Court (2005–present) began with the confirmation and swearing in of Chief Justice John G. Roberts on September 29, 2005, and is seen as more conservative than the previous court. He was appointed by Bush. No comment, but less than one year and a half later:
The single worst decision ever made by the court.
The issue of campaign finance has led to the single most divisive decision in the history of the court allowing Corporations unlimited campaign contributions. This was the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Please protect the public by changing this law by federal caps and limitations. We make laws by each citizen having a vote. Corporations are not voters. They do not have a vote but the powerful contributions to specific organizations will lead to even dirtier politics and politics are dirty enough. Health Care and Banking Reform proved that.
7) THOU SHALT NOT GET A PASS! (HANG EM' HIGH)
They lie, they cheat, they steal, and they get caught and walk away. If this was the old West they would be tarred and feathered or worse, if this was Egypt, they would be boiled in oil, cheap oil no less, right from the Sun God EXXON, none of the good olive stuff for these goniffs.
Now they get a censure, a slap on the wrist and next week back to normal. Why, because they are judged by a group of their own peers and since they all have deals we don’t know about, nothing ever gets done. They are conjoined and sharing the same bloody blood.
We call it the henhouse game. One hen, five hundred thirty-five wolves. One of them will eat the hen but they all know they could be the one. So they look the other way. Tomorrow another hen will be procured.
In the movie Clear and Present Danger, Harrison Ford playing Jack Ryan calls out the President who tries to convince Ryan that he now holds "a chip in the big game" by being in the loop of what happened, Ryan can use the President for special favors; the President calls it the Washington two-step. I call it treason. Ryan tells the President that he intends to blow the whistle at a Congressional Oversight Committee session despite the damage it could do to his career. He walks out of the Oval Office and begins his testimony to Congress. We need more Ryans...
8) THOU SHOULD NOT ELECT SCHLEPS
The year is 2010 and as an example of whats going on, we'll use the the State of Florida. Our election calls for both Senate and Governor. Charlie Crist, the present governor, a populist career politician is trying to make the leap for the Senate. Running for the position after some of the lesser candidates dropped out are two men. McCollum and Scott. McCollum, a former Member of Congress, Attorney General for Florida and a local son of the state of Florida. Yes he is a career politician and has served well. Not a brilliant career, but fairly clean and serving. Could not raise enough money to go against the very wealthy and dubious Rick Scott whose claim to fame is a resume of a professional crook.
Rick Scott, got caught stealing from Medicare, but managed like Tom Hayward of BP to get out with 300 million taxpayer dollars as a golden parachute. He has nothing to offer, no political time, but he has money. He robbed the people of Medicare funds through the hospital chains he built. The losses to Medicare totaled 1.7 Billion (B) which meant some did not get what they were needing so he could become wealthy. He should be running for President of his cellblock, somewhere in that thievery, someone suffered horribly because of him.
So Florida can look forward to nothing, a contest of an citing political players, two rich millionaires with no experience and very dark backgrounds, little truth, very little transparency, lots of rhetoric, cute slogans and nothing substantial. This is a joke, no one is a leader and the answers are all party line BS.
This state is in trouble and the good guys, those caped crusaders looking to solve things are stuck, because they missed a flight, broke down on the highway or overslept or like most Floridians can get lazy sipping on pina coladas, enjoying a day on the beach and eating dinner out in our fine seafood restaurants.
9) THOU MUST SERVE THY COUNTRY
No more free rides in our society. Social security and any other federal benefits only if you have served your country by two years service within any branch of the military or civil service. Just like the Israeli’s do. You serve your country, by earning extra points in mentoring, furthering education, helping communities and that covers a better education you should receive in turn. Long overdue.
10) HEALTHCARE REFORM (EQUAL FOR ALL AND NO CHEATING)
The model for Medicare and Medicaid was originated in the health-insurance, retirement programs created to circumvent wage and price controls during World War II. Today, third-party payers comprise 86 percent of American health-care payments. Most patients never see this. This funding comes from taxes, premiums, wage deductions. It is old outdated and inefficient and is corrupt.
When costs exceed income, our national debt goes ballistic. Almost a fifth of our GDP is devoted to health care, roughly twice other countries, yet our healthcare system is rated as average in the world regardless of the stories you hear from the providers.
Not the tips though. Our Members of Congress did very well with the Health industry who gave out 300 million dollars on flat out right election aid, which in Brooklyn we would call “Billions Retributed in Benevolence for Express Services”. “BRIBES for short”.
Healthcare is like our education system.
We have the best doctors and facilities in the world but our overall medical system is ranked twenty seven. Our educational system in the world is the best but our kids rank twelfth in the world. Fortunately they can text very fast. That is critical on job resumes today. A nation of idiots with great finger dexterity. Well, picking coffee beans requires finger dexterity, if we had coffee here. That stuff in Louisiana is chicory.
Our system is racked with inefficiency, inflation, waste, corruption and is abused daily. The estimates, nothing is conclusive because they can’t add that high, offer an amount of 50-80 billion as stolen each year from Medicare and Medicaid alone. Everybody steals from Medicare and Medicaid. Including Federal employees.
Rick Scott, as above, running for Governor of Florida retired with 300 plus million dollars from his hospital chain after it was disclosed the chain was accused by the government of $1.7 billion dollars in health care fraud. Lots of money lost, lost service and care for those who really need it. No chump change here, this is big theft and bigger dollars.
Birds Do It, Bees Do It, Now the FEDS Do It!
For 2009 a high amount of Federal employees were collecting disability and reporting to work every day. The Government Accountability Office issued a report that showed at least 1,500 federal employees may have wrongly received benefits. Almost 1.7 million per month.
The group's investigation, which focused on two Social Security programs for people who have limited incomes due to disabilities, found several specific cases in which beneficiaries were earning well above the income cap while still receiving benefits.
The report also found problems in the private sector. The GAO found 62,000 workers who received commercial driver's licenses after they were deemed eligible for full disability benefits, "an indication that these individuals may no longer have serious medical conditions." The investigation revealed 7,900 people with "registered transportation businesses receiving the benefits. The GAO clarified that a more thorough investigation would be needed to see whether those payments were fraudulent, improper or both.
Bottom line: The system is no good, unfixable as it stands and unfair. We need reform, not the watered down version passed. We need health care for all, we need it under one umbrella, simplified and send the crooks to jail. Too many have made fortunes from an industry that should be serving all of us. Cure of illness should not be a factor dependent of financial ability. It has gone too far.