RANT Alert! Read at your peril.

I'm a quiet kind of guy. I don't talk a lot; most conversations with me are about 20% me and 80% you. Often I have trouble choosing the exact word I want. I was taught not to interrupt others; not many people were taught that or if they were they don't remember the lesson. They also were not taught how to listen; they are thinking about their next speech instead of listening to whoever is speaking.

I don't really care to speak in public though I can and have. Once of my ex-bosses suggested I should become a member of Toastmaster's and I enjoyed that. It was a great experience; you think out what you are going to say and the audience actually listens. One of the things I like about blogging it that it is written. I have the opportunity to say something, something I've thought out, without the interruptions of others. Of course, not many people READ this blog but that's ok. LOL, I'm an acquired taste!

There are problems in this country that aren't being addressed and I'm getting tired of it. Here, in no particular order are some of the problems I'd like to see addressed. Let me know if I've missed your favorite; maybe I forgot it or maybe I don't care but if you don't yell, we won't know.

1. Institute term limits for members of Congress. Like 2 terms max.
2. Get rid of the special Congressional retirement program.
3. Pay our members of Congress more; nothing over the top but well. They have a hell of a responsibility and deserve compensation; particularly if they are only going to be there for a short time.
4. Overhaul our legal system removing about 90% of the laws. Right now if you kill a cop, it's one law; if you kill a kid, it's a different law; if you kill a pregnant woman, it's another law. This isn't rocket science; kill someone and you get punished. Judges get paid to differentiate between levels of awfulness.
5. Get rid of the civil crime vs criminal crime. I personally think O. J. Simpson had something to do with his wife's death but at the criminal trial he was found innocent. I think it's a travesty that he was then chased through the civil courts and ordered to pay restitution to anyone. (Glad to see that the jerk managed to find his way into jail anyway!)
6. Stop the automatic granting of citizenship to children who are born here of parents who are not from this country. If you want to move here, fine, do so. But if you are going to be here; be here. Become citizens; pay taxes; learn English; become Americans as so many immigrents have done before you. You, too, will make this a better and stronger country. Don't pretend you are still in your home country; you aren't. If you don't like the rules here, leave.
7. The whole issue of health care is fouled up. I expect it to get worse before it gets better. Small businesses cannot afford to insure their workers; large businesses cannot afford to insure their many retirees; states cannot afford to foot the bill; the federal government cannot at this level of taxation. One problem that no one talks about is that none of us gets out of this thing called life alive. We have created an environment where extreme measures are taken to keep someone alive who is going to die anyway. I have personal experience with a woman who was in extreme pain whose doctor wanted to give her iron injections to keep her alive a while longer. Why!
8. Make most drug use legal. If you are high on something that costs $5 at Walmart you probably won't have to become a criminal to support your habit. Not to mention the fact that the country wouldn't have to support the thousands or even millions of people who are living in jail because of this foolishness. And if someone overdoses, let them die.
9. Change the way lawyers are paid. Make it an hourly wage that's reasonable. And make documents shorter; like a will that's over 5 pages is way too detailed. We have a Trust document that is somewhere around 100 pages and it's not like we are the Rockefeller's! This isn't rocket science either; when I die I would like various things to happen. How tough is that?
10. Executive pay in this country is totally stupid. The asshole at the top basically does nothing special so he/she should get maybe 20 times someone working in the factory/office/field. No more. The closed club of "Board Members" is doing nothing for the ordinary stock holder or the company. Nine out of ten companies could dump their CEO and promote someone from about 5 management layers lower and would do better the next year. Oh, and the head of every company doesn't have to be a CEO - our local electric utility just renamed the General Manager to CEO - what a joke! He's the same dumbass managing the same nitwits but NOW he's a CHIEF EXECUTIVE!

Please note that this post is basically a rant. I'm sorry about the rant. I'm not suggesting many fixes for these problems. I'm just tired of all the politically correct crap that we call 'discussing the problems' in this country that actually ignores the problems.

Have a good day and be careful, it is VERY dangerous out there!