How To Fix Congress

Congressional Reform Amendment

1.  Term Limits.
         12 years only, one of the possible options below:
           A. Two Six-year Senate terms
           B. Six Two-year House terms
           C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
 
2.  No Tenure / No Pension.
         A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. 
 
3.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.  All future funds flow into the Social Security system and 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 a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

I Love History

I can not remember a time when history was unimportant to me. I can remember in school that most of my class mates found this exciting subject boring to the nth degree. Remembering names and dates is not exciting to most people and it is not really all that exciting to me. What got me really hooked on History early on was the stories connected with those names and dates.

Behind each event in history is a fascinating tale if you look for it. I would read the short notation in my history textbook and head straight for the library to search for the rest of the story that I knew was there. When history is viewed in this way we are filled with the emotions of people being hurt, or having their hopes fulfilled. We feel the joy of their success and the crush of their failures.

The same holds true for studying the bible. A  list of dates is nothing but the stories are powerful. Reading the list of begats will bore you to tears but to ask, “Who were these people?” makes a big difference. Their legacy provides us with an example of how to life a godly life in relationship with God. We become part of God’s history.    

What to CUT in the Federal Budget

Salary of the US President ...................$400,000


Salary of retired US Presidents .............$180,000


Salary of House/Senate .......................$174,00​0


Salary of Speaker of the House ............$223,500


Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders ...... $193,400



I think we found where the first cuts should be made ! 

Thoughts on Marriage

Note how Ephesians chapter five verse twenty-one starts us off; “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  Be subject to one another is an important concept in the Christian Marriage. For the Apostle Paul to say this in a very male dominated world is astounding.  Yet through out this section on Christian marriage that theme predominates.

          The introduction of the wedding ceremony that I use states, “Marriage is a relationship of mutual trust and esteem, blessed by God for the security, enjoyment, and growth of a man and a woman.” When any couple chooses to be married in a church or by a Christian Minister their vows are made not only to each other but also to God. A vow made to God is a sacred promise to be taken carefully and fulfilled with all devotion.

          Far too many men feel that they have the right to beat their wives to keep them in line. Like the man who was hauled before the Judge for hitting and beating his wife.

The badly bruised wife was telling the judge her story: “Your honor, he gets up every morning and starts knocking me around the bedroom. He hits me in the head with his fist. Sometimes he uses a shoe. If I don’t fix his meals just the way he likes them, he throws the pots and pans at me. If I dare open my mouth, he hits me with a beer bottle.”

Looking at the husband, the judge asks, “What do you have to say about his?”

“You can’t believe a word that woman says, your Honor, she’s punch drunk.”

Men who bring harm to their wives violate their vows to God as well as to their wives and put their own souls in danger. It is therefore a double sin!

          No person has the right to beat another. A Christian husband, according to Paul, places himself between his wife and any harm even to the extent of giving his life for her. As Christ gave himself for the church, Paul says this is the example for the Christian husband. The partnership between husband and wife is ideally so complete that they are as one person before the Lord. 

A Blind Mind's Eye

A Blind Mind’s Eye

Growing up I never quite understood the term “Mind’s Eye” although I never really gave it much thought either.

Recently my wife read a report in a Discover magazine that spoke of a man having an operation and afterward his mind’s eye went blind. The report talked about his struggle to adapt to the difference in his ability to remember things. This reminded me of the day when I discovered that most people had a “Mind’s Eye” and it was something I never had.

I was taking a class in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Texas in Austin. The class was all about how ancient cultures developed. A lot of it was hands on, like how to knap flint into arrow heads and hand axes. That was the class that got me hooked on anthropology/archaeology and other earth studies.

During one class session the professor began teaching us about how different people perceived the world around them. During the class we learned that about five percent of people have a mind’s eye that sees in 3D in living color and they are part of the vision.  Forty-five percent have a mind’s eye that sees a color movie on a flat screen.  Another forty-five percent see the movie in black and white. The professor then told us that the last five percent listens to the radio in their head with no internal visual effects.

I was stunned when I realized that I was in that last group and I now knew the meaning of the Mind’s Eye. My dreams and day dreams are all like listening to an audio book. I close my eyes and it is dark inside. Now I am married to a woman who is in the first five percent and we have had many discussions about our different perceptions. I have trouble remembering people’s names and word association does not help. She can see their face along with a printed bio of their life and relationships in her head. She is so helpful when I say “Who is that?” and she has her vision.

So what percentage of mental vision are you in?