Good Monday morning Burt. A good description of politician's egos. Sure hope Pelosi looses all those perks and that Harry Reid winds up in an assisted living home somewhere in the Nevada desert. However, I so distrust this administration that I am very wary of what the October surprise may be. We have had Tricky Dick and Slick Willie but they were the good guys compared to the gangsta currently inhabiting the White House. While everything points to a beat down for Dems in November, things could still go south if Reps don't get solidly on board with the 70% of the American people who are opposed to Obamacare, Immigration Reform (Amnesty), building the Ground Zero mosque, out of control deficit spending and on and on and on.....Good Day Burt!

Burt, I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned '...it must be awfully easy to believe you have achieved royal status.' I think that's just what the politcal class thinks of themselves. And perhaps that's just as well, because if I remember my wold history, that's the kind of thinking that leads to revolution. Heck, our Declaration of Independance gives us the moral obligation to overthrow a despotic government. What I can't believe is that your fellow Californians would still vote for Nancy Pelosi. It's sad that the reason so many politicians win elections is not because they are on the right side of any particular issue, or because they are looking out for our best interests, but because they can deliver the money back to their home state. "Why did you vote for Pelosi?" "Well, she may be bats#!t crazy, but she brings home the money, so I'll keep voting for her." Shame on us for ever giving Congress such complete control of the purse strings. You know that when it comes to appropriations and handouts, congress-critters are coing to reflexively vote for their home state, whether that's the best choice or not. Like a hypothetical ocean research lab in North Dakota. Just because the Congressman from ND happens to chair the Ways and Means committee or some such foolishness.

I needed a few good "yucks" this morning. Monday's are always a tough day to start the week. Apt description of today's elite politicos.

As for the Clintons, well as the author stated it was their money, however it does remain to be seen if they somehow "recoup" there expenditures.

I have no ill will against Chelsea, that she campaigned for her mom, was what any child would do for their own parent. My hope is, is that she's just stays away from politics. She seems to be a nice young lady, smart, and amiable. It'd be a shame to see her become dirtied by becoming involved in the world of "Oz" D.C.

Since you brought up the subject ...

By: John Popovich

Before I came to Cincinnati, I was a news reporter at WOC in Davenport Iowa. I covered a lot of city council and a lot of political stuff. One of the guys I covered was Ed Mezvinsky, who was the Congressman from Iowa's first district. Seemed like a pretty nice guy, but when he ditched his wife for a New York reporter, the Iowa voters ditched him. My most vivid memory is that he sat on the House Judiciary Committee that was deciding the fate of President Nixon. Anyway, years later, "Fast Eddie" got caught with his hand in the till. He cheated investors out of more than $10 million dollars. He went to prison for several years. His son married Chelsea Clinton.

Leaders are always determined by their followers. The fact that we have raised up disgusting and disastrous leadership over this country is our fault, not theirs. And replacing them is about as trivial and pointless as replacing the capstone on any pyramid.

A proposed law, the Enumerated Powers Act, sponsored by Rep. John Shadegg will force Congress to re-examine the role of the national government.

In light of our national government's blatant unconstitutional oversteps, let's support the congressman by contacting our representatives and asking them to sign on, and pass into law, this needed checks and balances on an out of control, over-spending, and unresponsive to citizen’s demands elected parliament.

We need to put the president, senate, and congress on notice and "in their places” before it is too late.

Please send to friends, family, neighbors and others to support this compulsory proposed law.

This is likely one of the best law proposed in over a century to put back into place the checks and balances on an over-bearing, intrusive, and out-of-control national government

http://vodpod.com/watch/2171885-enumerated-powers-act

Please support and pass on to EVERYONE.

@Morgenstern: Thank you for putting it in more salient terms than I often read. Just yesterday afternoon a first-time California political candidate and I were discussing the generally deplorable atmosphere into which he would be entering (if only to replace/displace the very timorous and unreliable "republican" candidate whose campaign he had been hoping to help) when the dispiriting realization of this electorate's "disgusting and disastrous" demeanor and values hit us like a runaway freight train.

Brian--Not to defend California, but Pelosi is a member of the House, not the Senate. Therefore, you can't blame the entire state. She represents a district of San Francisco, a district where, no doubt, transgenders represent a substantial voting bloc. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, on the other hand, are U.S. senators. And for that, California is guilty as charged.

Morgenstern, I disagree that we are all guilty of electing bad people. I believe it is the system that's terrible. Most politicians spend most of their time raising funds in order to run for re-election. When they have finally achieved so much seniority that they no longer have to worry about being re-elected, they inevitably come to view themselves as all-wise and all-powerful. Everybody curries favor with them and hangs on their every word. You merely have to watch Nancy Pelosi stride down a corridor while a score of flunkies scurry to keep up. Without her office, she would just be another old woman with bad plastic surgery. As it is, she's second in line to the presidency if Obama is done in by an exploding ego.

The answer is term limits for congress and the senate. Perhaps even single terms. I also want term limits of nine years for Supreme Court justices, with one judge leaving the bench every year, so that by the end of the ninth year you have an entirely new crew. And with an eight year term, two or perhaps even three presidents get to make the appointments.

Regards, Burt

p.s. Sorry, that was supposed to be a nine year term.

Burt

Nice job, Burt. I do believe you're right. These pols spend too much time in D.C. and start believing their own press. Pretty soon, they start to think they really are all-powerful. That's precisely what the Founders tried to prevent when they set up our system to favor "citizen-legislators" who would serve for a few years and then retire -- back into private life, where they would take up gainful employment once again. Today, we have scores of representatives who have never held a real job in the lives, yet still believe themselves fit to judge those who do.

Morgenstern is party right. We are partly to blame, for we are the dupes who re-elect these crooks, like Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd. But that's not the whole story.

A much more pressing and dangerous problem is the mainstream media, which flat-out lies to the American people on a daily basis. We've caught them red-handed with the revelations of the Journo-List scandal. And to cite just one example, when the Bell, CA city council pay corruption scandal broke, the media uniformly buried the political party of the perps (Democrat), while trumpeting the party of those charged with finally investigating them. So when Democrats screw the people, the media calls them merely "politicians" but when they can be seen as meting out justice, the media hastens to call them Democrats. Does anyone believe that if the guilty parties had been Republicans, the media would have done the same thing?

During the 2008 campaign there were endless examples of the media outright lobbying and openly campaigning for Obama, while working triple-time to smear the McCain-Palin campaign. Yes the People are to blame for allowing themselves to be so easily manipulated, but the media consciously undertook that manipulation while pretending to be objective reporters of the news. It was a scam of monumental reporters, which is why I dubbed them "kingmakers" as Obama was sworn into office.

What chance do Americans have to make informed decisions about their representation when the media is now in the business of lying to us? To take back America, we must take back the media.

Burt,

I think our founders vision was for congressional offices to be filled by patriot citizens who would assume that responsibility for a time, in service to their country, and then return to the private sector and live with the consequences of their governance. I think two terms in any office should be the limit, but I'm not so sure about your idea for the Supreme Court. I would worry that, with that much turnover, eventually we would seat a majority of activists who could, and would, do a lot of damage in a short period of time. Much like the majority of activists who are running our country at present. Perhaps we need a confirmation process which establishes which nominees actually get that the Constitution is rule of law, and their job is to apply it to legislation, not to legislate.

At least, that's how it works in my dreams.

p.s. By the way, the coolest thing about your columns, Burt, is that you read and participate in the following comments thread, so instead of a sermon, we get a discussion. I like your style.

Term limits would be a fine thing and I agree with Norge's view of our Founders' vision. Under which alternate reality would our life-long electors pass that rule? They ensure that the legislation they pass for us "masses" does not apply to them and that they have their own system of pay, compensation, perks and benefits. Perhaps a better question is: which revolution would they like to see repeated in 2011; the American or the French?

PS: personally, I prefer the French. It seems to have been more permanent.

Alas, as I said, thats only how it works in my dreams...

Norge and Morgenstern: Am I going to have to separate the two of you? While I agree that my plan for the Supreme Court is not fail-proof, I prefer it to the current system, whereby Obama, who has replaced two judges already in 18 months, could ruin the Court for the next several decades before he's done. I'd hate to see Thomas and Scalia packing their robes, but I would gladly drive Ginsburg to the bus terminal.

Norge: Thanks for the thumbs-up, but I'd like to think that the coolest thing about my columns would be the columns. But I'll settle for what I can get.

MichaelSSEC: I am less concerned with the media than I used to be. The fact that the major networks along with MSNBC are losing viewers nearly as quickly as the newspapers are losing readers is cause for jubilation. Thanks to talk radio, FOX NEWS and blogs such as this one, millions of people are waking up. Of course none of us could have done it alone. Fortunately, we had Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Waxman, Waters, Grayson, Weiner, Schumer and Barney Frank, to help us open America's eyes to the dangers of leftist theology.

Regards, Burt

Burt, You are right that the Founders idea of Supreme Justices with lifetime tenure has run its course. Initially intended to allow said Jurists from being beholden to pandering, special interests or party affiliations and merely to act on interpreting a plain document was quickly seen as the weak link in the 3 branches of Gov't. I too toyed with the idea of 9 year terms for SCOTUS, but was fearful of a 2 term Democrat (As unlikely as it seems) loading up the bench with at least 8 ideologues. That is why I suggest 18 year terms to minimize the damage rendered. As interminable as 18 years seems, in the history of the Supreme Court almost half served more than that and almost 20% ruled for 27 years or MORE.

Burt, I agree that the Leftist bias has driven away readers and viewers to the point where most of them are struggling to survive, but that actually makes me more concerned instead of less so.

In a rational world, news outlets that lied to their customers would simply fail and be swept away by those that preserved their customers' trust. Unfortunately we don't live in a rational world. The MSM and the Democrats are talking about a major bailout of the newspapers, and of course that will lead quickly to the "nationalization" of network television news -- a la Obama's chum Chavez in Venezuela.

That's the radicals' dream, isn't it? Instead of willful, eager cooperative control over 95% of the media, having enforced 100% control much the way Pravda was in the former USSR? They talk about it every day.

You're right of course, about FOX and talk radio and the Internet. I have hope that the truth genie is out of the bottle, with the Internet. That's why Obama is trying so hard to install the framework for taking control of the thing. But I doubt it can be done. China's been trying it for a long time, with modest success. And they never had to contend with Libertarian-minded Americans who would make it their mission in life to see any such effort fail spectacularly.

Sometimes I think this is the most dangerous time to live since the Civil War. Sometimes I think it's the most exciting time in living memory. I guess maybe both are true. I have faith that these radicals ruling us at present will discover that their rule is far more tenuous than they suspected -- and our consent is about to withheld quite sharply. Viva La Liberte!

Burt, there is a way to put the supremes and the inferior judges (this is James Madison's term) in their place, it is impeachment. Not following the Constitution as written (see article 3, section 1, "The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.") qualifies as bad behaviour. Anyone want to bet that the members of Consgress will ever impeach a sitting supreme?

Petition for Proposed Constitutional Amendment

Term Limits and Office Tenure- Hear Ye and Pray Adapt Our Petition,

READ and Copy this proposal, then on back: sign your name once on one copy. Print full name, date, city, state, and zip. Give to another citizen and voter. Last signee; please mail to your Governor, Representative, or one of your Senators.

We The People of the United States of America,… is the beginning phrase of the Constitution of the United States, announcing that, as individual citizens, we are all in this together, this life, this liberty, this pursuit of happiness, this nation - together. Specifically in the context of, Benjamin Franklin’s quote to the delegates of the Continental Congress at the signing ceremony of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, “We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately”. Our Constitutional Officers should always be mindful of this phrase, for it also means that; as a democratic popular plurality, the combined populations of the other several states Must have a passive veto over the populations of each one of the other several states, in both the immediate sense, at every election of the President by the people’s election of the Electoral College, so also over the Congressional delegations of the several states, and over all other of the Constitutional Officers and all other classes of government employees, by imposing limits upon office terms & tenure of office, by amending the Constitution to include a prohibition against the whole state or a district within that state, continuing to send the same Person as Senator or Representative. Thus Amended, to inhibit power concentrating into the hands of the Few, to keep the Few from holding office indefinitely and wielding undue influence over national legislation beyond an approximate time span of One generation, and impose limits upon all Federal employment to insure civil servants must probably work a portion of their careers in personal or private employment independent of public service. or dependency upon government. These things to further guard against oligarchic tendencies of human nature, or the schemes of designing men, and help curtail despotic familial political dynasties, diminish the possibility of wealth and power accumulating into the hands of tyrants. To achieve these goals, it is essential to the well-being of the American Republic that term limits as well as office and employment tenure be defined by Amendment for every Federal employee, especially the Constitutional Officers: President, Senators, Representatives, the Justices and Federal Judges, Secretaries of the Departments, Consuls and Ambassadors, and commissioned military officers, and all other lesser officers, hired workers, and contractees.

Term and Tenure Limits

Proposed Constitutional Amendment as follows:

We The People of the United States of America, forever Renounce the use of Force: Armies, Navies to make aggressive War, declared or nor, for the purpose of conquest or dominion. No Person, upon sole reason of quantity of debt shall be deprived of life or liberty; and the Congress shall make No Debt for the Nation or the several States, lest the appropriated monies be for exigencies of War or of the common defence.

The Person, a Citizen, whether being; Elected, Appointed, or Commissioned; such that each of these officers, not elsewhere provided for in this Constitution, shall have been a Citizen of the United States seven years; and Cadre military, hired civil servants, and contractees of all inferior offices shall be a Citizen. And these Persons upon candidacy and/or nomination for office, and before Sworn or Affirmed to office, to prove literacy and to Know Thine Oath, shall read aloud and whole, in English, henceforth the official language of the Land, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States; before a randomly Called and Sworn Jury of one hundred Citizen peers of the vicinage of the Person; Jurors being empowered to annul such candidacy and/or nomination by three fourths majority. Citizenship is not required of non-cadre enlisted military lest secrecy be a necessity in the performance of their regular duty.

No one Person shall be an employee of the United States as any Officer or subordinate- receiving an emolument or profit, for a span longer than thirty-eight years. A Citizen only, shall vote in the vicinage of the state wherein they reside, proving residence of seven months per anum; for elective offices and/or issues in federal, state, or local elections or referendums within the United States or any jurisdiction thereof. And the Will of the People as determined by vote tally shall not be challenged, stayed, or negated, by any Person, Citizen, Judicial Court, or Officer of the United States or of any State, lest the resultant margin be less than one percentile. And no Justice, Judge, or other Officer shall cite any other source save this Constitution to decide the constitutionality and meaning of the Laws of the Land, or treaties made in pursuance thereof; or to decide any cause of action.

The President; -he, in the event of a vacancy of Office not elsewhere provided for in this Constitution, shall appoint Constitutional Officers, military Flag officers, and other inferior managerial and staff officers made by Congress, to take office with the advise and consent of the Senate; such that all terms of appointment and commission, and of election, begin upon the day of Senate consent, certification of election, and upon Oath or Affirmation. Each Person appointed to be twice eligible for appointment of the same Office, except military officers thrice eligible for appointment. So, the President, –he, shall appoint Supreme Court Justices; and Judges to the Bench of inferior courts made by Congress, to a term of eleven and nine years, respectively, though not subject to His forbearance. So, the President, -he shall appoint Secretaries, Generals, counselors, chairmen, directors, ad-ministers, and other officers of the Departments to one term concurrent with his own term; and subject to his forbearance as chief executive. So, the President, -he shall appoint Ambassadors and Consuls to a term of five years, subject to his forbearance as the President, head of state; with Senate consent to affirm to Office or recall from Abroad or Office, all these officers of state. So, the President, -he shall appoint to a term of five years, Flag-officers of the military, though these be subject to his forbearance as commander-in-chief, and he may repost or retire military officers by his own initiative.

Each of the several states shall be entitled to three Representatives, and no more than fifty-three Representatives, one of which shall be elected by the general electors of the whole state and shall be the Spox of the State congressional delegates, the remaining Representatives allotted to the several States per the Census, shall be elected within a district made by the state legislature. Each Representative shall be elected by the general electors of the state such that each citizen shall vote election of two Representatives. The Representative shall have a term of two years, and be nine times eligible for election, no more than eighteen years. In the event of a vacancy of office, the Governing executive of the state, with consent of the state legislature, shall appoint a Representative for the remainder of the vacant term, and No Representative elected from one state or district within that state shall ever be elected a Representative by any other of the several states. A majority of all Representatives must be present to constitute a Quorum to do business provided each State shall have one Representative present.

Each Senator shall be elected by the general electors of the whole state; such that each citizen shall vote election of three Senators, one each upon bi-annual years. The Senator shall have a term of six years and be thrice eligible for election no more than eighteen years. In the event of a vacancy of Office, the Governing executive of the state, with consent of the state legislature, shall appoint a Senator for the remainder of the vacant term, and No Senator elected from one state shall ever be elected a Senator by any other of the several states. Each Senators staff shall be provisioned by the State. A majority of all Senators must be present to constitute a Quorum to do business provided each State shall have one Senator present.

The Congress shall meet at least once per year, commencing the third day of January, excluding Saturdays and Sundays, no less than eighty days, nor more than ninety-nine days; the President may waive this provision calling a Special Session, or the Congress may assemble should imminent danger to the Union or to any of the several States will not admit of delay. Upon certification of election of the new Congress, each Elected shall take their Oath or Affirmation and assume their place. The members of the House of Representatives shall number no more than three times the number of members elected to the Senate.

Caseace: Maybe we can split the difference and make the terms 13 1/2 years. Anything would be better than these lifetime tenures. In too many cases, it breeds, not independence, but arrogance.

Burt

Caseace; When researching for my proposed amend above- I did a check on all SCOTUS justices and my math about 3 yrs past though possibly incorrect, showed an avg. tenure of just above 13 years, but recent justices due to life expectancy are increasing that avg. monthly.

Enema, Since 1970 the avg. Supreme Court Justice tenure has been 25.5 years, prior to that it was about 15 years. Believe me I am with you and anything would be an improvement. I also postulated that given a limited term on the bench would encourage older, dare I say wiser nominations since an appointment could be made without such far reaching time horizons to take into consideration.

Burt, your insight and common sense make you an American treasure. As to some states' constant reelecting liberals like Pelosi and Reid to the House of Representatives: This is akin to most of us constantly trying to clean our house of vermin and the liberals defy us by always putting the rats back in.

Love to see everyone's thoughts and ideas and I agree that term limits are a must. Although there is a lot more interest in government & politics these days, the problem is still apathy.

There are still too many citizens that are uninformed about their representatives and IF they vote, they just pick names in their party; some even pick names at random. Talking to people about their choices, I'm amazed at what little effort they put into such an important task.

People think their vote doesn't matter. I'm hoping, this year, that all the informed people are helping their uninformed friends make better decisions, so we can turn this thing around before it's too late. I, for one, am putting a lot more effort into it from now on.

I'm surprised! We all seem to be making comments mostly -itchin' & moanin' about our plight without making any substantive proposals. Well I have attempted to fill that void & no comments per se about my Amendment which is in form to propose before Congress, We may differ on the details such as term years, but I assure everyone that I have thought this out & like the Federal Constitutional Convention debates (Madison) I can defend, reason, explain, each proposed phrase. Where are You? If we are to save our nation short of bloody civil war we must make a stand on the Constitution, You may believe It will do no good, but we must show our political advesaries that we still believe in the lasting principles of the Constitution and our Republic, that though we believe in originalist interpretation we also believe in correcting obvious flaws, that we do not believe the document is either a living or a sacred document beyond amendment nor do we like being dictated to by liberal activists who trot out the Constitution for show only when it suits their agenda.