Congressional Amendment

I’d like to propose the CONGRESSIONAL AMENDMENT OF 2012.
1) No member of Congress can serve more than three (3) full terms. He or she may serve a partial term in addition to the three full terms but only if elected/appointed to fill the remainder of the term of a member of Congress who has either retired or died while in office. They may even serve three non-consecutive terms-but no more than that. The Founding Fathers were “citizen-legislators”-not career politicians.
2) Congress can no longer have automatic pay raises that are based on the complex system of calculations as used by the United States Office of Personnel Management. Congressional raises for any year may either be based upon the Consumer Price Index or can be raised NO MORE than 3% - which ever is the lowest. The members of Congress must then actively vote on their pay raises in “full-view” of the American public.
3) Congressmen past, present, and future will no longer receive retirement benefits through the Federal Employee’s Retirement System (FERS). Instead, all of Congress will have to use the Social Security System-just like the rest of America. ALL future Congressional retirement funds will "flow" directly into the Social Security system. Furthermore, those Social Security funds CANNOT BE moved to any other part of the government financial system but MUST be used for Social Security payments. (Let’s see if the members of Congress try to “tinker with” the Social Security System once they themselves are an integral part of it.)
4) Congress must participate in the same health care system as other American citizens. There will be no more using the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and having the Federal government-i.e., the American citizen-"pick up the tab" for their excesses concerning their health. They can purchase a healthcare plan from any healthcare provider for the same price as the average American citizen does. (Think we’ll see HONEST AND JUST healthcare reform now?)
5) Once a Congressman reaches the end of his/her term limit, he/she can neither be hired by a lobbyist organization or a "think-tank" nor start either one or the other of their own for a period of ten (10) years. There can be no “trading” on what he/she has learned about the workings of this country on the “open market.
6) ALL members of Congress will be subject to the SAME LAWS as the rest of America. Senate. For example, Congress cannot pass legislation which allows its members to participate in insider trading while making it a criminal offense for the rest of America.
America is tired of the members of Congress using their positions of authority to “pad” the insides of their own wallets and bank accounts at the expense of the general public. Time to climb down out of your “ivory towers”, gentlemen and gentleladies, and get a real job. Welcome back to the REAL WORLD!

Missing person????

Who said I was missing just because I'm unemployed and not receiving benefits? And what is the )&)&_^_)(^%$$)%$$$(*(* reason everyone seems to believe that I need "RETRAINING" simply because there are no jobs here in Martinsville/Henry County VA? I hope that evryone doesn't think that President Obama will need retraining once he leaves office! I just need to actually receive some of those extended unemployment benefits getting "passed around" right now!

Listen to this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When you read in the papers that your state's unemployment is X%, ask them if they're counting the unemployed who have stopped receiving benefits. The Virginia Employment Commission does NOT COUNT those unemployed who have stopped receiving benefits so the actual unemployment rate in the Commonwealth of Virginia is much, MUCH higher than the reported 9.7% - much more like 15%!

This is the man we elected?????

In the nationally syndicated article by AP writers Matt Apuzzo and Justin Juozapavicius, the "White House" (I didn't know it could speak! - much less care about the unemployment crisis the country is experiencing!!) is quoted as saying that it's "UNFAIR" to judge the effects of the stimulus by the unemployment rate because no amount of stimulus money was going to keep the country's businesses "up and running"! Wasn't that the WHOLE POINT of the stimulus package? Or am I missing some pertinent information here? I was told by the senior senator from Virginia - in a rather lengthy email - at least for him - that the stimulus was supposed to provide and create jobs by funding work on infrastructure - it has but the jobs are only temporary and were already filled when the stimulus money was handed out. When I pointed out those self-same facts to Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), he failed to respond. Funny, huh? And here in good ol' Martinsville, most of the stimulus money we received was given over to keeping our police force functioning and our teachers employed. Again , all that money would have had greater effect if it'd been given to the unemployed and let them find some of the jobs that still exist. The nation of Sweden - one-fourth the size of the United States and with roughly one-eighth the population - supports its unemployed workers by paying them 80% of their last salary or wage until they find work or finish their education toward a new career. Wonder what the reason is that the "RICHEST NATION in the world" can't do the same?

Update!

Martinsville's unemployment rate went up to 22.1% last month. Oh yeah, that stimulus program is REALLY COOKING NOW!

This sounds serious!

In an article from the Associated Press, 1.3 million Americans are scheduled to lose their unemployment insurance benefits before the end of THIS year! (See today's issue of the Martinsville Bulletin!)In a related article - also from the Associated Press, less people are recieving higher payouts from their own unemployment insurance benefits. Seems the President should have worried more about the economy and a lot less about health care - at least for now!

This is getting better?????

In May 2008, Virginia’s unemployment rate was 3.6%. As of May 31, 2009, the state’s unemployment rate had doubled to 7%. According to the Virginia Employment Commission, June’s unemployment rate is LIKELY to be higher. “With the recession, this is the worst summer job market in nearly THREE DECADES”, reported the VEC. And, although stimulus money is starting to create jobs (WHERE? NOW? NOT HARDLY!!!), job losses continue for auto industry-related suppliers and dealers, the VEC said, and will probably (PROBABLY?)“create additional unemployment for several more months.”

LOCALITY MAY 2008 MAY 2009
UNITED STATES 5.2% 9.1%
VIRGINIA 3.6% 7%
Alleghany County****** 4.8% 10.5%
Bedford 5% 9.6%
Bedford County 3.2% 6.7%
Blacksburg Metro 3.9% 8.9%
Botetourt County 2.9% 6.7%
Buena Vista 4.9% 7.7%
Charlottesville Metro 3% 5.9%
Craig County 4% 7.6%
Danville Metro *** #3 6.8% 13%
Floyd County 3.6% 7.7%
Franklin County 4.6% 8.5%
Giles County 4.1% 9.6%
Harrisonburg Metro 3.5% 6.5%
Henry County** #2 7.4% 15.2%
Lexington 5.2% 9.4%
Martinsville* #1 10.4% 21.9%
Montgomery County 3.4% 7.1%
Norfolk/Va.Beach/Newport
News 3.8% 7.0%
Northern VA Metro 2.8% 5.3%
Patrick County #4* 5.4% 12.6%
Pulaski County 4.6% 12.4%
Radford 4.7% 9.6%
Richmond Metro 3.9% 8.1%
Roanoke 4.3% 9.2%
Roanoke County 3% 6.1%
Roanoke Metro 3.7% 7.5%
Rockbridge County 3.5% 6.7%
Salem 3.2% 6.4%
Winchester Metro 3.9% 4.2%

(The Northern VA Metro area consists of the cities/towns of Alexandria, Manassas, Falls Church, Woodbridge, Reston, Annandale, Fairfax, and Arlington.)

(The Danville Metro area consists of the towns of Danville, Gretna, and Chatham in addition to the county of Pittsylvania.)

- This an excerpt from an article in the Wednesday, July 1st edition of THE ROANOKE TIMES as written by Duncan Adams (duncan.adams@roanoke.com)

A word about the unemployment rate in Patrick County – The Martinsville Bulletin rates them as the #6 area in unemployment but according to the above figures, it appears to me they rank 4th.

ALL CAPITALS and asterisks ARE MINE!!!!!!