PAY CUT?????????????
DIGNITY OF THE JOB?????

Pelosi, you blind, self-deceived human being, forget about your future paychecks. You're going to PRISON. Hopefully

Originally posted by normal_human_being
i echo everyone's sentiments here on the thread but someone (or many someones) continue to vote her into office.

Have you ever been to San Francisco? It doesn't surprise me in the least they vote her back into office like clockwork. If California is the "land of fruits and nuts" SF is their Mecca.

I was stationed in Monterey for a while at Naval Post Graduate school. We got SF TV stations. Some of the legislation they passed locally is a reflection of their idiocy. Personally as long as they keep that crap local who am I to judge - I won't ever live in a place like that. The problem is that Nancy thinks that her constituents are representative of America.

They have outlawed toys in children’s meals, coke machines, pet stores, and a myriad of other things but they have free bleach and needles on every street corner. The drug addled homeless flock there and thrive in the entitlement society. The streets are packed with piss and feces - it is the dirtiest city of its size I have ever seen. Traffic is horrendous.

The whole problem with the Representative system we have is that everyone thinks the problem is everyone else’s Congressman who are up to all the shenanigans. They think their Congressman is a great guy/gal which is how we have a 10-15% approval rating but an 85% incumbent reelection rate.

The only solution to this issue is term limits. Force them to be citizen representatives rather than career politicians. ( I vomit a little whenever I use career and politician in the same sentance - that should never be.) Our founding fathers were all reluctant Statesmen who did their duty and expected little in return.

Now politicians have become a ruling class who has voted themselves all manner of exceptions and entitlements - a Cadillac of retirement plans and health care etc. I say they should get whatever the military gets if that. Most of them are already millionaires.

I personally think anything related to Congressional, Senatorial or Presidential pay, staff budgets, benefits and travel should be approved by public referendum.

Pelosi: "undermines the dignity of the job". I totally would not have led with THAT kind of a statement. Cross-dressing kitty juggling and sending "get rich quick" emails to Nigeria would improve their dignity a good bit.

What Pelosi SHOULD have said is; "If we don't pay Congress people more money, someone else is going to fill that gap. Honesty doesn't come cheap with people like us." It's way cheaper to pay Pelosi an extra million, than forcing her to beg for two million from Raytheon.

Yeah, and don't start getting smug Republicans about Pelosi. You're guys are just better crooks.

Agree with the OP, as well as other posts. If someone in thier private sector fails to do their job with competence, they either get reduced paid or get fired. Why should congress be any different?

Originally posted by VitriolAndAngst
Pelosi: "undermines the dignity of the job". I totally would not have led with THAT kind of a statement. Cross-dressing kitty juggling and sending "get rich quick" emails to Nigeria would improve their dignity a good bit.

Reminds me of a line I used to use when I was in Army Recruiting.

People would ask; "what are you going to do after this assignment?"

I would reply very straight faced.

"Well, I will probably have to go prostitute myself at the local bus station for a few months till I get my self respect back after that I'll play it by ear..."

Needless to say it was a # assignment. It was the "while I recover from wounds job"; full of the worst Soldiers and useless group of liars and cheats in uniform.

At a time when more American's are taking pay cuts as well as the cost of everything rising around them, I can't believe how out of touch and idiotic these morons are.

They need to take 50% pay cut at least, and also the gravy train money they receive from corporations and banks needs to come to and end.

Sums up the thread rather nicely.

Nancy, thanks for summing in one sentence the core problem with Congress.

If members of congress were picked the same way as juries were I'd imagine that congressional gridlock would at least be more entertaining to listen to.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Should I blame the people who always vote for the two party monopoly, should I blame the media that ignores third parties or should I blame our evil representatives?

How can someone blame a stupid person for being stupid? They can't help it!

Thanks for the thread Neo96. On this one we agree completly.

I could have swore I saw congress getting a pay raise not to long ago in a few news articles.

Originally posted by Golf66

Originally posted by VitriolAndAngst
Pelosi: "undermines the dignity of the job". I totally would not have led with THAT kind of a statement. Cross-dressing kitty juggling and sending "get rich quick" emails to Nigeria would improve their dignity a good bit.

Reminds me of a line I used to use when I was in Army Recruiting.

People would ask; "what are you going to do after this assignment?"

I would reply very straight faced.

"Well, I will probably have to go prostitute myself at the local bus station for a few months till I get my self respect back after that I'll play it by ear..."

Needless to say it was a # assignment. It was the "while I recover from wounds job"; full of the worst Soldiers and useless group of liars and cheats in uniform.

I guess you got a bit of the "lower entrance standards" the military adopted.


I know it's a bit off topic -- but I just talked to a buddy about his "officer days" in the army. Like you point out -- it wasn't full of "heroism" or any kind of horrible misdeeds. He said it was a lot of stupid stuff that he tried to keep his men from doing (he was at the rank of Captain). Basically, everyone was on a 12 hour shift -- 12 on, 12 off. The mindless tasks that he kept them busy with were NOT to instill discipline or battle readiness -- it's basically because he's got high testosterone 18-year-old kids with no common sense and trained to kill. They are useless for police actions and are not trained for them. All of their training was around removing conscience, being pointed at a target, and creating as much destruction at target zero as possible. When not doing such a thing; which is most of the time. They had to be busy. Keeping them busy was 90% of his job.

I really think we need a movie that let people see behind the curtain. Other than a total farce like "McHales Navy" -- I've never seen a war story that captured this reality. They are always too dramatic, too depressing, or too heroic -- few troops really are involved in atrocities or saving someone's life, usually they are doing something boring or asymmetrical warfare (pounding someone with sharp sticks to dust), or racing through a city trying not to get shot.

Sounds like you were involved in some kind of depressing police action. I knew a man at my old job who had a son in Iraq. His job was to hunt down people suspected of taking pot shots at US troops in the city. Watched the YouTube video of it. There yelling "yee-haw" and all the usual bravado as they go through city streets and spent .5 seconds deciding friend or foe. A lot of people wouldn't understand that the COMMON way to deal with murdering people you don't know is treating it like a sporting event. It's intense and stressful. The man's son didn't seem to be depressed about his actions -- but it did take it's toll as everyone in his unit besides him was eventually killed off.

When he was done with his tour, he came back to the states and a few months later died in a car crash.


>> The military really needs to have some facility and program for helping troops when they come back to civilian life. There really isn't much military training that has a place in civil society, nor are the "instincts" you learn going to serve you well waiting in line at the DMV.

Originally posted by VitriolAndAngst
I guess you got a bit of the "lower entrance standards" the military adopted.

Yep, 2005-2006 lean years for military recruiting - anything with a pulse and not too many felonies was fair game. It made me sick to my stomach to see the idiots, criminals and dick-ups we put in. Especially in the Baltimore-D.C. Area where less than 1 of every 10 kids can pass the ASVAB with a high enough score to even enlist.

I'd catch some applicant in a blatant lie for a "waiver request" only to be told to let it slide. My philosophy is men who will lie to gain entry are the same kind who will lie when asked if they have completed weapons maintained so they can get 10 more minutes of sleep and latter get people killed when a crew served weapon malfunctions at a key time.

I only hope these guys got weeded out. Either that or there will be a whole lot of SSG and SFC in uniform right now with very little brains and questionable integrity - not a smooth combination. My fondest wish for those in the field of recruiting who were happy just make their numbers with some really questionable cases was that they have to leave recruiting and go back and lead them in units.

I personally never had to serve with any because I was an SF Officer by trade and never got to see low tier enlistees.