[cref congressional-term-limits Reposted] by request from November 2006…

I think it’s time to discuss congressional term limits once again.

There are way too many old fossils in the House and in the Senate in both* parties.

Terms were set by the Founders at two years for the House and six years for the Senate for some very good reasons.

The Founders wanted to minimize the disruption to a person’s life and livelihood while he (or she) served the people in the House of Representatives. They didn’t set a limit on the number of terms, but expected that citizen representatives would serve a term or two and go back to their regular lives.

The Senators were appointed by the states until 1913 when the 17th Amendment instituted direct election of Senators. The term has always been six years. This ensured some continuity. Each state had four continuous years of the same two Senators (barring death, impeachment, or resignation) and each Senator had six continuous years (to go with the two years for each House Representative).

The Twentieth Century brought with it career politicians. Gerrymandering districts aided re-election of incumbents. No one in Congress wants to give up their perks.

This is my new idea. Term limits, but they are only continuous.

It would work this way: A member could serve in the House of Representatives for no more than six continuous terms (12 years). Then he or she would be required to take at least one term off, at which point the (former) member could run for the post again.

In the Senate, the same 12 years would apply, but in this case it would be two continuous terms and he or she would have to take a break. The (former) Senator would have to take the entire six year term off – no fair running for the other Senator’s seat when it may come up…

Just my opinion, but getting some new blood in the House and Senate may help real things get done. Ethically it may help as well. If you can’t promise more than 12 years out…

Then, of course, there’s my wish that for every new law an old, obsolete law is actually repealed and taken off the books, but that’s another story…

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Added February 2009…

Currently the succession for the Presidency is:

1. VP Joe Biden (served 6 [36 years] terms – would have started 7th if not VP)
2. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (currently serving her 11th term [20 years+])
3. Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (91 years old – currently serving his 9th term – over 50 years in the Senate!)

According to Wikipedia (with all due caution) the top 3 (in years) for both House and Senate are as follows (Biden used to be 4th…):

*currently all the top fossils are in the Democrat party.

Charlie Rangel (D-NY 38+ years = 19+ terms!) and Pete Stark (D-CA – 36+ years = 18+ terms!) round out the top 5 in the House. The list at Wikipedia lists all longtime congresscritters, not just the incumbent ones, and the Senate list only had 3 incumbents on it.

When our state and federal representatives make the laws that govern their districts’ composition and make laws that favor incumbency, it’s hard to see that there’s any Hope ™ for Change ™ at all, at all.

This Monday Morning it’s Groundhog Day. The movie with Bill Murray will be on FX at 6:00 Eastern.

This year the Vernal Equinox (first day of Spring) is on March 20th.

There are 46 days between now and then.

That’s 6 weeks and 4 days.

So, even if the groundhog sees his shadow there’s still 6 weeks of winter left no matter how you look at it.

moar funny pictures

On Democracy in America (1835, 1840):

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A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

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America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

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Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.

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The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.

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The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.

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Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.

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It has been four years since John Kerry promised to sign his SF-180 and release his military records. He has yet to do so.

Fabulous commercial:

click for video

Geraldo Rivera is just as insane as Blagojevich is…

Watched Swing Vote this past weekend, and if you haven’t seen it you ought to. So many truisms, many, many funny moments. It had me laughing out loud.

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Fly Me to the Moon is a very cute little movie. Nostalgic too. Three little boy flies stow away on Apollo 11 so they can go to space and the moon. The CGI of the moon landing is terrific.

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I wonder what people who get on an airplane for the first time think. I mean because the aisles on TV and in the movies are so wide, and there’s room between the rows… Real airplanes aren’t like that at all.

As sung at the National Prayer Service this morning at the National Catherdral.

I don’t know who the singer is, but he is wonderful. A commenter at YouTube says his name is Wintley Phipps.