Finally, the Democrat-controlled Congress gets something accomplished.

Time to rename a few post offices. And fund the Iraq war. And impeach Bush/Cheney.

No doubt huh vernon. For once a democrat initiative the republicans didn't filibuster.

"There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."

-- Mark Twain

Oh great they give themselves a raise while the rest of the country remains static... nice.... damn I chose the wrong profession.

As Bush would say, this just shows the economy is strong. Hell, if they had just put the COLA towards the cost of Iraq, we could have funded another .00043 seconds of it.

Who can deny that the poor congressmen and women haven't earned this?

(That's sarcasm for you Sniper, cause I know you don't get it.)

The economy sucks, Let's give ourselves a pay raise

Signed Democrats.

The economy is booming, Let's give ourselves a pay raise.

Signed Republicans

It's got to be tough getting by on a 170 k a year and having so little information in order to figure out what the next big stock will be.

Time to clean house!

Yes, we can see we congress doesn't think we have an inflation problem.

It's got to be tough getting by on a 170 k a year and having so little information in order to figure out what the next big stock will be.

Hahahahahah!!! I had to flag that funny...

and they wonder why their approval ratings are at record lows.

Robert Byrd - the highest paid clansman in the country 188,100.

Robert Byrd - the highest paid clansman in the country 188,100.

Posted by 2fast4u at 2008-01-09 10:09 PM | Reply

Plus, KKK Robert Byrdman has broken the $3Billion dollar mark in earmarks....the largest for a single Congress person of all time. KKK....way to go.

Remember! You get what you vote for!

what a bunch of fuckheads..Why dont they lower the salary to 20,000 a year, no health insurance and get rid of the lobbyist COMPLETELY? That would make sure we don't have lifetime senators and congressmen and truly elect people that want to serve the constituents.. not a bunch of scum sucking parasites taking advantage of the corrupt American political system making CEO salaries and cashing in after their tenure as lobbyist or influence peddlers..

50 BILLION (or some outrageous number) projected in defaulted mortgage back securities in 2008.

watch the small and medium size banks collapse that cannot flip all of the bad paper.

bail out the banks. check.

bail out wall street. check.

fuck the consumers and the home owners. check.

give myself a raise. check.

What in the hell for?!

If i performed like THESE nimrods, i would be out of a job.

In business, results talk and BS walks.

It seems to be the opposite in politics.

I'm tired of ALL of the SOB's.

Too bad the Libertarians or Ron Paul don't have a chance.

The only reason Ron Paul doesn't have a chance is because of defeatist people that say Too bad Ron Paul don't have a chance.

Only a 4,100 dollar increase?

My, how frugal of them.

Medals of Freedom all around!!, sez Spud /snark>

Be Well.

My suggestion:

Take members of Congress off the federal payroll and let each state legislature determine the salary for their own members of congress. Why should tax payers from Florida help pay for a member of congress from California? Seems fair to me.

The Toad

Time to clean house!

Posted by wisgod

Man truer words were never spoken. Vote out the incumbent no matter what. Even if you like him or her. After two or three election cycles we could have a whole new crew. Even if they are just as crooked as the last ones, they wont be as well organized. None of this senior congressman bending the junior congress to their will. Why should we elect new blood if when they get in they have to vote the way their party leaders tell them.

"The only reason Ron Paul doesn't have a chance is because of defeatist people that say Too bad Ron Paul don't have a chance."

Well that and the fact that the vast majority think he is a lunatic.

It's nice to see our reps won't be in bread lines anytime soon. Contrary to most here, I think RAISING the compensation (while also term limits and restrictions on transitioning into lobbyist) will encourage a better crop. Perhaps also tie compensation to the nation's bottom line. Run deficits, lower comp.

Run, win, serve your terms, return to private life.

Why? If I'm a successful business person, knowing I'd only have a couple of terms (at best), would I really forsake a lucrative business and undergo the bitter battles for the chump change they work for now? Let's face it, the compensation is much less than what most any of these people could otherwise earn.

The day of the layman winning a Congressional seat is over. The compensation, at present, is largely symbolic... particularly the raises. But could we maybe attract good quality people with the set up I'd proposed? Thoughts?

""But could we maybe attract good quality people with the set up I'd proposed? Thoughts?"

Let's start with the teachers.

Perhaps Congress should have their pay tied to the average American's income, if it goes up with the corresponding tax revenue increase then their pay would rise, if the average income falls then so too would their pay.

This raise is long overdue. I mean they have been slaving away working two or three days per week for almost a whole year now!

They need this raise to conteract the burnout they must be feeling.

Just look at all the fillibusters the republitards have used this year. No more easy up or down votes anymore. No sir. Obstructionism is hard werk and must be compensated.

Hooray for them.

Danni such pie in the sky thinking will surely not work in Congress.

"Fact finding" trips to tropical islands is much more demanding than teaching children. Let's be practical here.

If we don't pay our Congressman five times the national average we will not attract the great talent we have in Congress right now.

Danni,
Since when do you represent the vast majority?
You must be getting delusional.
Obviously you haven't been paying attention to all of the people waving Ron Paul signs. The ones that pelted Hannity with snowballs! Bumper stickers everywhere. The blimps flying in every major city. The fact that he has raised more cash than any other candidates from grass roots, and no corporate money. That fact that the military supports him over all others.
This Ron Paul juggernaut is just getting started. And the fact that they so blatantly cheated Ron Paul and Obama bin laden in New Hampshire is going to really get us Ron Paul fighters fired up.
Pretty soon you will sound as ridiculous as GZ, Right is Right, and Rob the Hole with your lame defence of your political views against Ron Paul.
Is the slander tactic working? No!
What's next? Gay porn in the mail for Ron Paul by an un-sourced applicant?
Hahaha!

"The blimps flying in every major city"

Um, what?

Yeah, Ok. Of course they aren't flying them over every major city all at once. But where ever they have been having the elections and major sporting events, in major cities.

"what a bunch of fuckheads..Why dont they lower the salary to 20,000 a year, no health insurance and get rid of the lobbyist COMPLETELY? That would make sure we don't have lifetime senators and congressmen and truly elect people that want to serve the constituents."

Because then the only people that would volunteer to do those jobs would be people that are independantly wealthy. In other words, those interested in the power that being a congressperson affords. I suspect that this is already the case to some degree, since $190,000 is chumpr change for someone with the resposibility of a member of conrgress. In a civillian job, these folks could likely demand a lot more. As crazy as it may sound, I would contend that we might actually want to pay them more, in the millions possibly, so that we could attract the talent that normally goes to the private sector. We don't need politicians whose whole life experience is political. The cookie cutter profile of the average politician includes prep school, followed by an Ivy league udergrad degree, followed by law shcool, follwed by some sort of low level political position. Most come from wealthy backgrounds and probably aren't overly concerned with the paltry paycheck provided by the US taxpayers. What they enjoy is the power that comes with the position.

The guys we need to be attracting are the proven managers; people like Bill Gates and Jack welch, and younger managers like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Dudes have proven that they are both creative and driven.

""And the fact that they so blatantly cheated Ron Paul and Obama bin laden in New Hampshire is going to really get us Ron Paul fighters fired up.""

Tell you what Jeff, you go ahead and campaign as hard as you want over there in Denmark.....you silly person.
Jeff....here is a clue....Ron Paul will not be nominated by the Republican Party for president....he will not be elected president of the United States. Silly people like you will scream and yell but the US will carry on, with an IRS, and Ron Paul will be a forgotten memory.

Silly people like you will scream and yell but the US will carry on, with an IRS, and Ron Paul will be a forgotten memory.


Shameful. Ron Paul is championing movement. And his flaws may give some pause...yet getting rid of the IRS is an excellent example of why sounds bites are misleading. Taxing the profits - or gain - of a corporation is within the Constitution limits. So in reality the IRS would continue to exist, but they would only be collecting taxes on corporations.

Silly girl.

Or do you prefer grrrl?

I was thinking yesterday that 101's spy cam description forgot to mention the tattoos. What a prude, eh?

Statsists (and by statists I mean all those that would opt to use government to enforce ideology) hate Ron Paul because he would squash the coersive power that these people rely on to force their values upon others. Without this mechanism, the socialists would have no way to make society give up its money for the "common good."

I'm not yelling and screaming.
But I will keep sending money, and spreading the info the best I can.
This is about more than Ron Paul. Its about the idea of freedom, liberty, less government, lower taxes, eliminating corruption in government, and bringing America back to the way the founding fathers intended it to be.
A communist heart like yours would never understand these things though.

At least the Dems did something.

"When you look at this graph, it renders it meaningless. What these folks have accumulated outside of their salary is everything. They would take a salary of ZERO and it wouldn't matter one bit for most of them."

Exactly.

BTW Danni,
Did you check out Ron Paul's reply to the racist allegations on the back page?
Of course you didn't....

""Its about the idea of freedom, liberty, less government, lower taxes, eliminating corruption in government, and bringing America back to the way the founding fathers intended it to be.""

Yeah, we're going to go back to the government of 1776. Everything will be wonderful and free men will work hard and make fair wages and keep their income and prosperity will flow and flowers will grow, the sun will shine, birds will sing.
And then....we'll all wake up from our acid trip and go back to living in the 21st century.

The only reason Ron Paul doesn't have a chance is because of defeatist people that say Too bad Ron Paul don't have a chance.

Posted by JeffnDenmark


Absolutely true!

After I tell people (voters) what Ron Paul is going to do as President, they say "I like what I'm hearing but he doesn't have a chance of winning". And every person, (around 50), has said these exact words!!!

Most Americans are ignorant and complacent. The apathy in our voting practices comes from the feeling that we won't make a difference.

"Yeah, we're going to go back to the government of 1776. Everything will be wonderful and free men will work hard and make fair wages and keep their income and prosperity will flow and flowers will grow, the sun will shine, birds will sing.
And then....we'll all wake up from our acid trip and go back to living in the 21st century."

Totally preferrable to a system where semi-free men work hard, only to see thier fair wages confiscated by a government for redistribution to those that opt not to lend themselves as a valuable member of society. You will nnot and can not be free when the government takes your property and uses it not for the common good, but for redistribution to a selected class.

""Its about the idea of freedom, liberty, less government, lower taxes, eliminating corruption in government, and bringing America back to the way the founding fathers intended it to be.""

Yeah, we're going to go back to the government of 1776. Everything will be wonderful and free men will work hard and make fair wages and keep their income and prosperity will flow and flowers will grow, the sun will shine, birds will sing.
And then....we'll all wake up from our acid trip and go back to living in the 21st century.

Posted by danni



Danni, you are a frustrated old qoot!

What exactly do you want from Government? Barack? Hilary? Rudy? Huckabee? Are they going to give you what you want?

Yeah, we're going to go back to the government of 1776

So Danni, your way of saying that a good plan for government (probably the best in history), is to say that it's old?

Please. Tell me how government could be made better in this country? Do you even know?

I get a kick out of people that think it would ever be able to tax corporations.

Corporationgs produce products that are sold to end user consumers who ALWAYS ALWAYS pay the taxes.

How about we do away with MOST all of FEDERAL GOVT. with the exception of INTERSTATE Highway systems, The Postal Service and a strong Military.

Every thing else should be LOCAL.

My cousin moved to Australia and lived there for about 5 years. He's since, moved back (a few years ago) and complains bitterly about the lack of social help here is "The States"

He praises the British (and European systems) on social welfare. The government-run medical system is better, the assistance for housing is better... on and on.

He has a very limited skill set when it comes to getting a job, but he is very intelligent. Back in the day, when we were in school, he scored the highest in the county on the ACT and the other testing of the day, Got accepted to Brown University with a scholarship (but didn't go). Dropped out of University in his Junior year.... Classic underachiever.

Loves Australia, hates it here. He should go back.

How about we do away with MOST all of FEDERAL GOVT. with the exception of INTERSTATE Highway systems, The Postal Service and a strong Military.

Every thing else should be LOCAL.

Posted by Kris_P_Bacon


How about bringing ALL our guys home from overseas and closing ALL of our military bases that are not domestic?

What exactly do you want from Government? Barack? Hilary? Rudy? Huckabee? Are they going to give you what you want?


Posted by Eddie at 2008-01-10 11:14 AM |


Danni wants the same thing the rest of them want. FREE STUFF that they have a right to. Like garaunteed physical well being and a steady supply of spare parts. A free home and a free education in social sciences. She won't be able to make her own toilet flush or change a light switch but she'll be gifted at making you feel good about cleaning up shit.

What Danni and those like her really want is to "FEEL GOOD". Reality be damned.

Actually Obama raises an interesting point in advocating a unity executive. Bringing both parties together is exactly what Mike Bloomberg will run on if he decides to campaign. Obama knows this. To win voters outside the core interest groups, the Mavens of the Democratic Party, Obama must appeal not only to the new and young voters but to independents and Republicans.

Take John McCain. I don't agree with troops overseas when our borders are wide open. The only way to meet those two needs as he says he will do will require a large increase in our military, already authorized. Yet, I can think of no one in the government I'd rather have in charge of Homeland Security than John McCain.

Milt Romney would be excellent at Commerce.

So promises can be made and kept.

The quantum shift however will come from the evangelicals and all Obama has to do is incorporate into his platform is an acknowledgment that Life Begins at Conception.

That one statement brings together scientific truth and moral doctrine. How you deal with it? Town Meetings. Let every community speak, and remember that we live in a Republic and our Constitution protects us from the Tyranny of the Mob.

And so Obama could be protected from the Tyranny of the Mavens.

They put Hillary over the top in NH with the assistance of their Boy Toy closet bigots.

They are as corrupt and evil as toady ta dowe.

"What Danni and those like her really want is to "FEEL GOOD". Reality be damned."

But she doesn't want to use her money to do it. After all, you can donate your own money to charity to your heart's content and no one will stop you. Instead she would attain this good feeling knowing she had money the money of others to "good use."

The thing that the fiscal socialists all have in common is a shared sense of moral superiority that rivals pretty much anyone on the right. Systems that include slavery or facism are completely acceptable and even prerferrable when they counter those naturally existing tendencies that can lead to things like income inequality, without respect for the actual root causes of this inequality.

The founding fathers said as soon as serving in congress became a profession instead of a duty it would become corrupt and need a revolution. With the average American making around 45K it is way too clear that people seek the position for wealth, which will always attract the wrong leadership. If the pay was meager, only the caring and truly qualified will apply.

These guys have no shame. $4,100 is less than one small kickback. Why bother?

It's the principle of the thing, Sully, it's the principle.

"If the pay was meager, only the caring and truly qualified will apply"

We should elect teachers?

"""What Danni and those like her really want is to "FEEL GOOD". Reality be damned."

No, I obviously live in reality while those who keep with the stupid mantra of "small government" in a country with 350,000,000 people make me laugh out loud. Y'all want to go back pre-1960's and thin it would ba a panacea...I remember what that panacea was like for many people and it was just third world level poverty. That would be the result of what many of y'all THINK you want.

"If the pay was meager, only the caring and truly qualified will apply."

That's totally incorrect. Smart, capable people are going to expect to be rewarded for thier service. If your statment were true, then you would see more high value laborers like doctors and lawyers making far less than the standard six figures. Even at their current wage, congressmembers are making far less than they could on the civillian side, and I doubt you'd find one among them that did it for the money.

Talent equates to value, and the most valuable units of labor are most likely not going to give their time away for free. They are going to want a certain level of remuneration for the work they put in. They should.

Of course we don't hire candidates, we elect them, most of the time not based on actual ability or talent.

"Y'all want to go back pre-1960's and thin it would ba a panacea...I remember what that panacea was like for many people and it was just third world level poverty."

Really? Might that have possibly been because those people were unproductive, an all other things being equal, society rewards productivity, not the lack of. So the only real change is that now the unproductive class is supported by a productive class, and that's progress? What do you call it exactlt when one person can make claim on the wealth produced by another? Slavery, isn't it? If not, slavery is very close.

By and large the underclass in this country is in that position through their own choice, and even they live at a level comperable that to your average eastern European, and far above what would be considered prosperous in europe. They are able to maintain this lifestyle not because of what they have done, or what value they have provided for society, but rather what others have done for them.

You get rid of government coersion and redistribution, and you are still left with a situation where society can take care of the less fortunate, albeit voluntarily. No one is going to stop you from donating your money to charity. I suspect that most socialists understand that there is a certain class of people in this country that would never be voluntarily supported by society. It seems that amongst socialists the argument is that people should be forced into doing so, whether they'd like to or not.

"Even at their current wage, congressmembers are making far less than they could on the civillian side, and I doubt you'd find one among them that did it for the money."

Considering Congress is comprised of a majority that has completely betrayed most of their campaign promises, I don't see how one can argue that they sought office for the purpose of improving things. Once they get in, it is all about pandering to the right people.

"What Danni and those like her really want is to "FEEL GOOD". Reality be damned."

But she doesn't want to use her money to do it.

Actually, this is not true. Socialists are willing to put most or all of their money up for "The Cause" but want everyone else to do the same.

Trouble is, is that other people make way more money and put forth way more effort to earn than the standard Socialist.

What would be fair is that everyone pay the same amount. NOT THE SAME PERCENTAGE.

A progressive income tax is not fair!!!

No, I obviously live in reality while those who keep with the stupid mantra of "small government" in a country with 350,000,000 people make me laugh out loud.

You saying this and you laughing out loud does not make me laugh. It makes me depressed to see that Americans are too ignorant about government to even comment on a forum properly.

The fact that the Federal should be kept small was written into the Consitution in 1776 and has been ignored over the last 50 or so years.

The military should be a third its size and the domestic programs should be handled by the State.

We should either correct this situation and shrink government to pre 1913 levels or change the Constitution.

They would take a salary of ZERO and it wouldn't matter one bit for most of them.


www.freerepublic.com

Posted by eberly

great suggestion.. make it ZERO. why pay them to fuck up the country.

Danni,

What's wrong with the Fed Gov't in 1776 (but you meant 1784). I asked you this question before, but you probably realize that you made a mistake by saying it?

"If i performed like THESE nimrods, i would be out of a job."

Actually, if you performed like these nimrods, you'd be in jail, as would any trustee who did to their pension plans what Congress has done to Social Security.

When you look at this graph, it renders it meaningless. What these folks have accumulated outside of their salary is everything. They would take a salary of ZERO and it wouldn't matter one bit for most of them.


Thanks for the link. I was actually just wondering how many of our representatives are millionaires--it looks like nearly all of them are.

I'm surprised that there are some Congressmen with a networth of below $50k. That seems pretty low for a middle age homeowner or someone with any kind of IRA.

Politics aside that really isnt a HUGE, out of line raise.

We gave everyone in our company a $2000.00/year raise this year (on top of bonuses)