What is going on in Europe?

[Big Daddy]

term limits would work wonders.

Daddy, your right about this; however, I don't see how it could happen. These people will not give up power.

I would like to inject something that I have thought for a long time. It is the way our congress is paid. Their salary comes out of the federal budget, and they control the federal budget. What a deal!

I would suggest that each state pay it's representation in D.C. out of the state budget which is controlled by the state legislators. To carry it further, I think that each county budget should control the salary of their legislators, but this would have to be done as each state sees fit.

This would not help the perks that these people get from their corporate buddies, but it would allow the people to have some control.

As far as corporate money in government goes, wouldn't it be neat if our elected people were required to wear coveralls to work with their corporate sponsors patches on them like NASCAR drivers do?

You're right. Since they would have to pass that law it will never happen. Good idea about the states paying the reps. In addition the reps should have to jet pool and be on a strict expense account. But once again, that would have to be in a bill passed by them.

Never happen.

 

[Homesteadmom]

term limits would work wonders.

Daddy, your right about this; however, I don't see how it could happen. These people will not give up power.

I would like to inject something that I have thought for a long time. It is the way our congress is paid. Their salary comes out of the federal budget, and they control the federal budget. What a deal!

I would suggest that each state pay it's representation in D.C. out of the state budget which is controlled by the state legislators. To carry it further, I think that each county budget should control the salary of their legislators, but this would have to be done as each state sees fit.

This would not help the perks that these people get from their corporate buddies, but it would allow the people to have some control.

As far as corporate money in government goes, wouldn't it be neat if our elected people were required to wear coveralls to work with their corporate sponsors patches on them like NASCAR drivers do?

You're right. Since they would have to pass that law it will never happen. Good idea about the states paying the reps. In addition the reps should have to jet pool and be on a strict expense account. But once again, that would have to be in a bill passed by them.

Never happen.

Not if Nasty Piglosi has any say in it. she likes her private jet we bought for her to fly home to SF every night in(we also buy the fuel & pay the pilot).

 

[VT-Chicklit]

Ms Pelosi is not satisfied with any jet that can get her back to California without layovers. She insists on a G5 jet from the military and when one is not available, her people get nasty with the pentagon. She has even tried to fly her spouse on one on a trip over seas! She was politely told that spouses were not allowed!

 

[sylvie]

Ms Pelosi is not satisfied with any jet that can get her back to California without layovers. She insists on a G5 jet from the military and when one is not available, her people get nasty with the pentagon. She has even tried to fly her spouse on one on a trip over seas! She was politely told that spouses were not allowed!

Nice try. Judicial Watch's documents don't prove their allegations.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7057198&page=1

 

[sylvie]

Not if Nasty Piglosi has any say in it. she likes her private jet we bought for her to fly home to SF every night in(we also buy the fuel & pay the pilot).

Name calling is a substitute for rational fact based arguments against the idea or belief on it's own merits. Please show respect and just make your point.

 

[Big Daddy]

Thank you Sylvie. It's always nice when someone post some facts to back up something vs regurgitating rhetoric. I think we can all agree on one thing. Too many of our elected officials take care of the people that supply the most money to their re-election campaigns. So far Obama has done what he said he would in his campaign. The spending budget he just signed was from the last administration and he would not have signed it except the government has top have money to run on. He has stated that any earmarks in the next bill will have to be posted on the websites of the reps that are proposing them and will have to be justified or he wont sign the bill. So lets wait and see if he does that. He is repaying the people that contributed to his campaign the most. That would be the American people. Most of his campaign was financed by individual contributions from private citizens. He won because he got a huge block of voters that had never bothered to participate to get out and vote.

 

[Homesteadmom]

Not if Nasty Piglosi has any say in it. she likes her private jet we bought for her to fly home to SF every night in(we also buy the fuel & pay the pilot).

Name calling is a substitute for rational fact based arguments against the idea or belief on it's own merits. Please show respect and just make your point.

I can call her anything I like it is called free speech!! I base that name on a lot of things I have read about her & heard her say! A lot of things she has wrong btw!

 

[me&thegals]

Actually, regarding free speech, this is what Nifty had to say about it recently:

"A few reminders on proper forum etiquette: http://www.ehow.com/how_2106033_use-pro uette.html

1) We must respect that others have different opinions, but we must be civil and friendly even if we don't agree.

2) If you ever feel a post is directed to you personally and that someone may be "attacking" you, by no means respond publicly. Hit the report button on the bottom of that post and the SS staff will review and take action if needed.

3) Express your differences of opinion as such.

4) Remember there are lots of challenges with communicating by text only. So much is lost (tone, body language, etc.) which can cause a HUGE miscommunication problem. Per wikipedia:

"Some researchers put the level of nonverbal communication as high as 80 percent of all communication. More reasonably it could be at around 50-65 percent. Thats exactly what Mehrabian discovered in his communication study. He found that only 7 percent of communication comes from spoken words, 38 percent is from the tone of the voice, and 55 percent comes from body language."

So, you can see that in cases where people are reading and then posting replies to a comment, especially one that has a lot of emotion, a TON of information can be lost or miscommunication. This is usually responsible for 90% of the problems on forums which cause threads to be locked or removed.

We encourage everyone to be VERY careful as they read AND reply to posts on a forum (i.e., have a thick skin when reading and be very friendly and clear when posting).

5) Be careful how you reply to someone posting their opinion and how you react to "attacks". Never flame a person for their opinion. Examples:

Bad:
"You're pretty dumb for believing that! Let me tell you that I know I'm right and you're wrong..."

Good:
"I see what you are saying. I personally believe that xxx yyy...."

Bad:
"How dare you call me dumb you jerk!"

Good:
--- Do not reply publicly but report the post to the staff.

Again, our goal is to continue to foster open, educational, and friendly discussion, and as the forum grows we want everyone to keep this in mind.

Keep up the great work and the fantastic conversations. This forum is already chalk full of really valuable information!"

 

[reinbeau]

While I agree we shouldn't be calling each other names, I really don't have a problem with someone calling a public figure a name, especially if that public figure is particularly odious to the poster. Nancy Pelosi most definitely has demanded a jet that can return her to California without refueling - people at her level are granted certain privileges (Homeland Secruity since 9/11) under the guise of keeping them safe, I believe she's pushing it. There is no need for a non-refueled jet, she can do with what she has now at her disposal, it's far more than most have.

Now, to the name calling. The problem is some people here like Pelosi, and some don't. You can get upset at the name calling, or you can recognize that it's utter frustration speaking - and the name caller needs to realize that they run the risk of offending other posters here when they use or abuse the name. We're all adults here, let's try to act like it. I've always thought it was adult to not demand people talk a certain way, on the other hand, name calling is for little kids, sometimes the little kid gets the better of us, but try to squash it.

Moderating these subjects is particularly difficult for me, I am very unhappy with what's going on (namely Pelosi & Co.), being an independent conservative. I am responding to a report here, I don't want anyone miserable over this thread, on the other hand, I don't want to stop spirited debate. Keep it on an intelligent, adult level and carry on.

 

[me&thegals]

When a person despises Pelosi, it's easy to not get offended. But, if it were someone a person really liked, then it's easier to see how offensive it is.

I thought the point of Nifty's post was to keep this site civil, and being ugly about a political party that obviously some people on this forum support is not really civil.

I really disliked a lot of Bush's policies, but how helpful would it be for me to start calling him nasty names and then, when some expresses offense at that, call it free speech? Just because it CAN be said does not mean it SHOULD be said.

Besides, I don't think people are having "poor-me" hurt feelings over Pelosi. I think people just think it is rude, obnoxious and unnessary to behave that way on a public forum, repeatedly.