Friday, May 10, 2013

Friday, Friday time to relax, Friday!

We haven't heard anything from the Centist Party (which is still just me at this point) lately but now there's a new idea.  The Centrist Party wants to either amend the 27th Amendment, or add a new Amendment to the Constitution.

The idea is that members of Congress and the President have responsibilities that they aren't carrying out.  The President has a deadline to deliver a budget to Congress.  Congress has a deadline to act on that budget.  We had a balanced budget act that is no longer worth the government-issued paper it was first printed on.  Gramm-Rudman-Hollings was superseded by the Budget Enforcement Act, which is even worse.

So here's the plan.  Step 1.  We pass a constitutional amendment that mandates that unless the President delivers the budget on-time, his (or her) pay stops until the budget is delivered.  Each day of pay lost to failure to submit the budget on-time cannot be recovered.  Each day where the President in violation of this rule will result in a proportional reduction in the President's retirement benefits.  A two term President serves for 732 days, so every day of noncompliance is a 1/732th reduction in retirement pay in addition to salary.

Every day that Congress fails to pass a proper budget (not a continuing resolution), the members of Congress do not get paid.  Further, the annual contribution made to their retirement plan for that calendar year is reduced by 1/365th for each day the budget is late in being passed.

We aren't in a position to pass a balanced budget act just now, but it is a goal to strive for.  Should we ever be fortunate enough to get there, once the budget is balanced, we should pass a law that says from that point forward, every day that Congress is spending more than the balanced budget allows without generating off-setting revenues, they also lose one day of pay and retirement benefits.

Why is it people insist on doing really dumb things behind the wheel?  Yesterday I saw someone turning left across a busy street where there is a clearly posted "No Left Turn" sign.  I saw someone in the left-turn lane at the intersection of La Cienega and Olympic (they were Eastbound on Olympic) suddenly see an opening and turn right across three lanes of traffic instead of going left.  An idiot pulled right in front of me at one point and I nearly locked up my brakes avoiding a collision.  Of course, he was texting at the time.

Want to take Mom out to eat on Mother's Day, but you're a little light in the wallet?  Take her to Hooters.  Mothers who show up on Mother's Day get to eat for free there.

Dennis Rodman is going back to North Korea, because as he puts it "Obama can't do s***".  Do us all a favor, Dennis.  Get yourself a "yobo" and stay there.

Give Maxim Magazine some kudos for a sense of humor.  Manti T'eo's fake girlfriend Lennay Kukua came in at #69 on their annual list of the hottest 100 women.  There's a photo of a bikini on an invisible woman shown.

This Date in History:

On this date in 70AD, Titus lays siege to Jerusalem.
On this date in 1497, allegedly, Amerigo Vespucci leaves Cadiz for the New World.
On this date in 1503, Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and renames them Las Tortugas after all the turtles he saw.
On this date in 1773, Britian's Parliament passes the Tea Act.
On this date in 1774, Louis XVI becomes King of France.
On this date in 1863, General "Stonewall" Jackson dies, 8 days after being wounded.
On this date in 1865, Jefferson Davis is captured.
On this date in 1869, the "Golden Spike" is driven into the ground at Promontory Summit, Utah, signifying the completion of the first Transcontinental railroad.
On this date in 1872, Victoria Woodhull becomes first woman nominated to be elected President of the U.S.
On this date in 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit.
On this date in 1908, Mother's Day is observed for the first time.
On this date in 1924, J. Edgar Hoover is named head of the FBI.  Reportedly, he wore matching bra, panties and garter-belt under his business suit at the swearing-in ceremony.
On this date in 1940, Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the UK.
On this date in 1962, Marvel Comics releases the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
On this date in 1975, Sony introduces the first Betamax in Japan.

Famous Folk Born Today:

John Wilkes Booth
Alfred Jodl
Fred Astaire
David O. Selznick
Denis Thatcher
Nancy Walker
Pat Summerall
Barbara Taylor Bradford
Gary Owens (in Beautiful Downtown Burbank)
Donovan
Meg Foster
Tito Santana ("that's Tito, Jesse."  "That's what I said, Chico."
Chris Berman
Sid Vicious
Rick Santorum
Bono
William Regal
Rachel Gordon

Movie Quote of the Day comes from 1982's "Tootsie":

Michael Dorsey: You should have seen the look on her face when she thought I was a lesbian.
George Fields: "Lesbian"? You just said gay.
Michael Dorsey: No, no, no - SANDY thinks I'm gay, JULIE thinks I'm a lesbian.
George Fields: I thought Dorothy was supposed to be straight?
Michael Dorsey: Dorothy IS straight. Tonight Les, the sweetest, nicest man in the world asked me to marry him.
George Fields: A guy named Les wants YOU to marry him?
Michael Dorsey: No, no, no - he wants to marry Dorothy.
George Fields: Does he know she's a lesbian?
Michael Dorsey: Dorothy's NOT a lesbian.
George Fields: I know that, does HE know that?
Michael Dorsey: Know WHAT?
George Fields: That, er, I... I don't know.