THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS

An email that I received today - LIKE IT!

Congressional Reform Act of 2010

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. Our Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators. Serve your term(s), then go home and go back to work.

1) Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below:
A) Two 6-year Senate terms
B) Six 2-year House terms
C) One 6-year Senate term and three 2-year House terms.

2) No Tenure / No Pension:
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay once they are out of office.

3) Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security:
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund will be moved to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds will flow into the Social Security system. Congress participates with the American people.

4) Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5) Congress will no longer vote themselves pay raises. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6) Congress loses their current healthcare system and participates in the same healthcare system that the American people have to participate in.

7) Congress must equally abide by all laws they they have imposed on the American people.

8) All contracts with past & present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11:
The American people did not make these contracts with Congressmen, Congressmen made them for themselves.

Haven on the Prairie

St. John Lutheran Church near Winthrop, Minnesota in rural Sibley County.

The temperature this day was relatively mild (in the 30's F) for the beginning of February, but a west wind was blowing unabated at about 30-40 miles an hour from the fields behind me! I could barely get my car door open to get out!

The church has two dates on it - 1892 and 1948, so it was apparently added onto later in its life. It must have originally been a German Lutheran church, because the plaque above the round window reads "EVANG. LUTH. ST. JOHN'S KIRCHE". I haven't as yet been able to find any information on the Internet about this rural gem. It appears to still be in use. I'd love to learn more about its history, if there is anybody out there who knows about this place.

You can view more shots of this beautiful little country church in my Two Churches set on flickr.

Ringer 1988-2008

Ringer
Originally uploaded by FlappinMothra

Just thought I needed to make a tribute to my old guy. Just lost him last September and I miss him so much! This photo is on my desktop, and it looks like I could just reach out and pet the old guy!

Hope you're happy and warm somewhere, my old "roady" boy....

US Auto Makers

Wake up Congress! It doesn't sit well with any of us to rescue companies that have been idiots, BUT you HAVE to look at what will surely happen if they go under. My company, for one, will be part of the carnage. We make industrial saws and hydraulics for many of the thousands of US manufacturing companies that supply the US auto makers. We also sell directly to the US auto makers - NOT Toyota, NOT Nissan, NOT Honda - Ford, Chrysler and GM. If that market goes away, we, a manufacturing company of some 80 years, WILL go under, as will so many, many other small manufacturers all over the US. The effect on the already pathetic economy will be nothing short of devastating.

This is NOT just about auto companies - it's about almost every manufacturing company in the US. Yes - the ones that haven't moved their manufacturing overseas. The ones like us who put "Proudly Made in USA" flag stickers on our saws - part of the ROOT of what America is all about. You CANNOT let this happen.

Ely Trip 2008

Just got back from a fantastic trip to the Minnesota north woods with my roommate, my sister, my great nephew and great niece. We camped on Loon Island on Big Lake off the Echo Trail north of Ely.

We camped, swam, fished, paddle boated, visited the North American Bear Center and the Dorothy Molter Museum in Ely, and basically had a wonderful relaxing time.

The weather couldn't have been better - sunny and in the 70's almost every day. It rained overnight one night, but was beautiful again the next day.

View a slide show of the trip.

College Tuition Through the Roof

I've been looking at finishing college (finally after over 25 years) and I can't believe what I'm seeing! When I started at Bemidji State in 1974, the cost was about $8 a credit. In 1979 at North Hennepin Community College the cost was about $15 a credit. The next year at UMD it was about $21 a credit. Note - numbers may be wrong but they're close. These were quarter credits, mind you, so you have to look at the cost on a per year basis because it's all on a semester system now. One semester credit at BSU now costs about $220. So...

1974/75 Tuition Only BSU (based on 15 credits a quarter): About $360 a year (3 quarters)
1979/80 Tuition Only NHCC (based on 15 credits a quarter): About $675 a year (3 quarters)
1980/81 Tuition Only UMD (based on 15 credits a quarter): About $945 a year (3 quarters).
Note, U of M was higher than the other state schools, so I won't calculate anything using that amount. 2008 Tuition Only BSU (based on 32 semester credits for the year): $7,040 (2 semesters)

Oh my GOD.....

OK - let's see. I've been a working stiff for all these years making unskilled wages. If my unskilled wages would have gone up at the same rate as tuition has gone up:
Compared to 1974 I'd be making about $65.00/hr.
Compared to 1979 I'd be making about $80.00/hr.
Believe me - it's not even close - not even a fourth! The only other things I know of that have gone up at rates like this since the 70's are gasoline and corporate executive compensation. Everything else has gone up a lot, but not at these rates.

First of all, I want to give myself a sound thrashing for not having finished in a timely manner what I started nearly 35 years ago, but since crying over that spilled milk is futile, all I can do is ask now... WHAT has happened here? Something here just doesn't smell right to me. How could college costs have gone up so much in 30 years? Where is all of this money going? WHO can we hold accountable for this? How can anyone afford to go to college? Maybe younger people can, but at my age, I can't go into the kind of debt that it would take to finish. What a ridiculous situation this has become.

End of flap...
Mothra

Statin & Cholesterol Woes

I think I'll start out discussing the statin/cholesterol war that I am waging. My doctor pushes statins (of course) but my system can't handle statins for more than about a year. My muscles turn to stone, basically. The drugs work great on the cholesterol, but the side effects, for me, are prohibitive. I am reasonably active; I can't have muscles that cramp up just from walking.

There's a lot of stuff out in Webland about this, with suggestions for substitutes, etc. but it's hard to wade through it all. One study will say a substitute is great, another study says it is worthless. Cinnamon is supposedly a possible way to lower cholesterol and blood sugar; a substance called Policosanol is promising in some circles but worthless in others; red yeast rice is thought to be a help (but in fact contains lovastatin); exercise, some say, is the key. Snake oil salesmen are touting this or that wonder drug. Big drug companies are (of course) pushing the statins. Message boards make claims about grapefruit and honey, this, that, and the other thing being the ultimate solution.

WHERE is there a place to get information on lowering cholesterol from QUALIFIED people who are driven by the desire to help people, not just by the almighty buck?? I like my doctor, but her knowledge surely is, in many ways, controlled by the big drug money that "educates" her about drugs. Somebody out there must have some honest, unbiased and untainted answers. Aye, but who????

End of flap...

Happy trails -
Mothra