Make Congress earn their pay....Guest Blogger: Kelly from Basil's World Forum

     I am sick and tired of hearing about which party is responsible for downfall and destruction of whatever.  Plainly put, hardly anyone is happy with Congress.  Therefore, I am proposing a change to the Congressional pay structure and how Congress does business.  This change would ensure each congressional person keeps in touch with his/her ward and votes in the way each ward wants them to vote.
     My proposal is a pay for performance system.  The system is already in place for GS workers and is called the NSPS system.  The NSPS system would need to be tweaked a little but here is the gist of the system.
     Each American citizen receives a voter registration card upon turning 18 and when they register to vote.   Each quarter, the citizens of each congressional ward would log into a secured website and rate his/her congressional person.  Each ward would be required to have no less than 50% of its citizens voting and the rating must be a favorable rating for their congressional person to receive a monetary award.  No bonus is awarded if the percentage of citizens is not met or the rating is not favorable.  I understand that there are times that each congressional person needs to vote against what the citizens of their ward want and might affect their bonus but remember, they volunteered to be Congressmen/women (sounds familiar to military folks). 
     The Congressman/woman would be paid on a base salary in addition to any possible bonuses he/she might earn.  This base salary would increase in steps depending on the number of years served and number of subcommittees he/she served in (very similar to the military pay chart).  This base salary could only be increased by a 2/3rd majority of the citizens of the US, not by Congress themselves.
     What would this new pay system do?  This pay system would encourage and entice each Congressman/woman to not just work for the people of their ward but work together to get laws, budgets, and other items passed (or fail, depending on the outcome).  It might not reduce pork-barrel spending but it would cut it down.  It would also make each Congressman/woman responsible for informing their ward of their record. 
     Why this proposed new system will never come to be.  Congressmen/women would hate it.  It would make them responsible to others besides themselves.  It would reduce their vacation time, free time away from work, and any other frivolous events.  It would increase their responsibilities to the average citizen and reduce their money inflow from businesses.  It would eliminate those individuals now serving in Congress who are there for the money and fame.  Finally, it would eliminate the elitist attitudes because they must report to the citizens of their ward, thus making them servants of the people (this should sound familiar to everyone). 

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Where do stories come from?

I was recently in a discussion about where inspiration comes from for writing.  Is it something that you sit down and plot out.  Draw outlines.  Timelines.  Notes. Have all of your characters been fleshed out and are they ready to go before the story starts.

Well, maybe many writers do just that.  Perhaps even most writers do.  But to be honest, that's just not how it happens for me.

All of the stories I have thus far written were based on either spontaneous images that popped into my mind or dreams that I had.  The writing just flowed from that point.

For the drafts I just sat in front of the computer and typed what come out of my finger tips.  I would actually end up running out of time to write with story still spilling from mind.  On the occasion that I got stuck on a particular plot or detail, I'd go outside take a walk for a mile or two and by the time I got back the story started rolling again.

In other words, the stories come to life practically on their own.

What caused that to happen?  I would contribute it to at least three factors. 

1. A boring childhood.
      -I grew up in a family whose primary activities were work and television.  Work was whatever you did all day, and after we'd plop down and watch TV until bedtime, with a break for dinner at 5.  Little in the way of extra-curricular activities (I did do scouting for a few years, once week or so for a couple of hours) until my high school years when I joined the theater group.

2. Insomnia
     -since I was a little kid I have often had a hard time fallign asleep or staying asleep at night.  Many hours of my childhood were spent staring into the darkness.

3. a vivid imagination
     -as a six year old I remember going to bed at 8pm and laying there listening to the voices from the television in the living room.  I watched in my mind every episode of Columbo, The 6-Million Dollar Man, and Hawaii 5-0.  Then I would act out my own episodes after my parents went to bed  at 11.

By the time I hit high school I could do improvisational acting at the drop of a hat. Give me a character, and a scene...or even just a prop or an empty stage and I could give you thirty minutes of whatever came to mind.  I even did a bit of standup and improv comedy for a couple years as an adult, but never really took it far...not a good family lifestule for the most part.

The improv acting continues today. I regularly do shows for my church organization of about a hundred and fifty teens.  They are monologue acts telling the story of Biblical or historical characters.  I seldom use a script, and have few props, usually just a grey wool blanket and a walking stick for ancient characters, a chair or an article of clothing (hat or umbrella, etc) for modern characters.  I pretty much just wing it. I do of course already know the story and have read it many times to be familiar with the characters, but as any actor will tell you the story or book is not a script.

My writing and my acting seem to come from the same fountain. Both are spontaneously created entities that come to life and flesh themselves before my very eyes, or the eyes of my audience.

Is natural as in genetic? Probably not.

Is it natural as in a product of environment?  I'd say so.

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How to lose an election...

I have found a propensity among bloggers and reporters talking politics to get really rude and start shouting, blabbering and losing their minds in an uncontrollable descent into personal attacks and stupidity that most listeners just walk away from. They, in the words of John Scalzi, "lose their shit".

Now, I make a concetrated effort to sound reasoned and thought out before I open my pie-hole, especially when it comes to politics and religion. As soon as a person freaks out and starts name calling / ranting and spouting whatever random diatribe they can quote from rote, the audience tends to shut down.

On the other hand, when a person can keep their stuff together and speak in an organized and well thought manner under fire the audience will gravitate towards that person even if they don't agree.

For the speaker it's kind of like being a recruit in the Marines. You have three or four big, mean, fire spitting Drill Instructors screaming incoherently into your ears and randomly throwing stuff around you, maybe even occassionally flicking your forehead with their rock hard finger nails or snapping the bridge of your nose with the brim of their smoky hats.

In the midst of the melee you are required only two things, don't flinch and answer the question that the most senior DI is asking you. That question being something as benign as "What is on the menu for lunch."

If you can handle all of that explosive rage filled pressure and tell the Senior DI, "Sir, it's chicken fried steak and mashed potatos with gravy, sir!" in a calm ordered voice without freaking out on him, you win?.you get to pass to the next level.

If, on the other hand you panic and start screaming back at them to "Leave me alone! One at a time! I can?t focus!" then you lose. At best you get recycled, more likely you're on the way home...no glory...no brotherhood...loser.

The party that loses it's shit, loses the glory. Plain and simple.

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Deals on Wheels

OK, gotta brag a bit here.

The nice thing about gas prices being so high is that nice big cars and trucks and really...really..cheap.

My teenage son and I went out car shopping over the weekend.  He wanted  to get a decent car for about $6,000.  We expected to find a little rice rocket (Nissan, Honda, Suzuki) etc with about 60k-100k miles on it. That's what we did find.  There were a few US models also, but they were in either really bad shape or had really high miles.

Until......

We popped into the Mercedes dealership and upon perusing their really high priced used lot (five year old Acura's and Mercedes still go for 20K...gulp), but then it appeared before us.

The Land Yacht. 

A 2000 Lincoln TownCar, seriously Mafiaso looking long black beasty with all tan leather interior.  Massive, and immaculate.  It had 36k little old lady miles on it.  You know the kind that says she drove it to the grocery story and back once a week, and visited her great grandkids once a month for eight years.  The car is basically new.

And get the price...$7000. 

Now you may say, "Yeah, but that thing eats up the gas."

To get the Honda Civic he wanted, with only 36k miles on it would have been about $12,000.  That's a $5k difference. Do you know how long it would take to make up that difference and start saving money by buying the smaller car?  A long, long time. 

And, he looks good in it.  The 260 pound football lineman looks much more natural in this car then any of those little toy cars, even though he is half Asian.

So yeah.  While my son doesn't have the cool car with the Tokyo Drift kit on it...everyone's head turns to see who's the mafioso that just pulled into the school parking lot.  And I just thought that was worth sharing. 

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Snooze Button Trickery!

I have an old clock radio next to my bed. It helps me wake up in the morning.  It's a really nice one for its age.  I paid $100 for it new. How old is it?  Well it has a cassette player in the top.  I think I got it in 1995.

I hate it now.  Why because the Snooze button and Off button are a whole 1/2 inch from each other and after rather late, tiring night I hit the wrong one and was two hours late for work today.....grrrrrr.

Anybody got a suggestion for a good  clock radio?

Basil

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