Furlough Notice

[SDO]

The Federal Government is currently shut down. Although the SDO spacecraft continues to be monitored and the science data continues to be generated, the Goddard website at sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov may be unavailable.

More...

[ripple]

Isn't that just like telling us that the shops are shut ? It happens around this time most recent years .
Far more interesting are the claimed reports that US military has never been on higher alert and that if you are in the least paranoid you might imagine that steps are being taken which you would find if martial law was about to be declared .
Not that any of us here take the slightest notice of speculations unsupported by hard evidence . !!

[A Voice from the Mountains]

Posted by ripple (here)
Isn't that just like telling us that the shops are shut ?

Inasmuch as public solar activity reports are comparable to shops, then yes.

These shutdowns usually only serve to show how useless government is and how well we get along without them. The most important services (mail, military, etc.) are still funded, but all these bells and whistles, not so much.

[Tam]

The government may be shut down, but Congress is still being paid by we the people.

So as far as I'm concerned, they're essentially on paid vacation.

Not that they were working 50+ hours a week to begin with.

Or even 40.

Or even 30.

[A Voice from the Mountains]

Some Washington insider (who I unfortunately forget) once explained that most congressmen spend about 80% of their time being wined and dined by lobbyists. The other 20%, they might do actual work. And of course that's exactly when those same lobbyists show up asking for favors. This is the swamp.

This kind of lobbying is illegal in my home state of Virginia. We had a very good Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, who was taken out of politics prior to the 2016 election because his wife accepted some jewelry and Bob failed to report it as a gift to himself. The liberal media breathlessly denounced him like the Red Guard, meanwhile in Washington DC, where our federal politicians work, it's not even illegal, but a mundane occurrence. Just one more example that if it weren't for double standards, they'd have no standards at all.

[Tam]

Yup.

If we want to even begin to undo some of this ****, here's the bare minimum:

- Illegalize gerrymandering
- Illegalize lobbying. Yes, there are some benefits to it, but the pros do not outweigh the cons.
- No more electoral college. It's a dated system.
- No super PACs
- No private donations for presidential campaigns
- No campaigning using those cheap commercials or rallies. Candidates must prove their mettle with rigorous debates and public forums. Posters and flyers and such allowed.
- Term limits for Congress
- Salaries go away with shutdowns

Maybe if we do all that, we'll start to see a change.

Of course there's way way more to it, but that much is a start.

[lake]

No one, in any country, should be in a position of power for more than 2 years.

There should be no career politicians, this should not be a job!

It should be an honer to serve and those who do participate should be 'normal' working people who have been put forward by their community.
They should receive the same salary as the average worker but also recompensed for their lose of time whilst working for the benefit of the greater mass.

After 2 years....thats it, you have done your service (as wanted by your community)

NO career politicians end of story.

As an aside....a corporation is a dead thing and should never have any rights of a living being.......so bloody wrong. ALL CEO or CFO or whatever....should be totally libel for ALL actions of any company or corporation.

[A Voice from the Mountains]

Posted by Indigris (here)
- No more electoral college. It's a dated system.

I agree with most of what you said, but not this. The electoral college exists to protect the sovereignty of the states. We are the United States in the plural. We were never intended by the founders to be a centralized behemoth of a country, and we can not function in that way.

Otherwise California and New York would be forcing socialism down Texas' throat during every election, etc. and civil war would be inevitable. I would personally fight to defend the Constitution, including the electoral college, and I wouldn't be alone. So you'd have that to deal with. Probably best to leave it alone, just like the 1st and 2nd amendments (not to mention the 10th, which is the relevant one here).

We are a federal republic for a reason. The states have irrevocable power under the Constitution. The federal government cannot override state sovereignty in this way.