Congressional Reform Act of 2011

I received this as a forward in email.  Some of the ideas are interesting.   


The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified!  Why?  Simple!  The people demanded it.  That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.


Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.


If you forward this to 20 people then in three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.  This is one idea that really should be passed around.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011

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.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.  Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.  The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! 

AT&T buying T-mobile is a bad idea.

There are currently 4 large wireless providers.  AT&T has agreed to purchase T-Mobile for 39 Billion.  You've no doubt read about this in many other places. 

There is a good breakdown of the pros and cons of the merger from Tim Karr. 

Here's a few thoughts I have about it.

1. The merger is guaranteed to cost people jobs.  Practically all T-Mobile stores and kiosks will be put out of business, in favor of already existing AT&T stores and kiosks.  Many of the admin and support staff that perform the same function at the two companies will end up being cut from T-Mobile, because there is already someone to do that at AT&T. 

2. AT&T worked real hard to brag about how 95% of the country was already covered by their network when Verizon was pointing out that it has better coverage of 3G than AT&T.  T-Mobile will not increase the amount of coverage that AT&T has.

3. T-Mobile uses a different technology than AT&T, so the fact that more towers will be in the same area will not increase the bandwidth available for AT&T customers.

What I believe this actually comes down to is that AT&T is buying the customers that T-Mobile has.  When there is enough competition in the market this is not an issue, because the customer that didn't want service with AT&T in the first place and went to a competitor can just leave AT&T and do it again.   This time however I'm not sure they will be able to.   T-Mobile has historically been the cheapest wireless provider which has drawn in many price conscious consumers.   Now those same people will be tied to AT&T with the cheapest option off the table when looking to leave.  They will be forced to pay more.

I'm sure I'm not the only one asking this, but are those customers worth $39 Billion?  Is that a good price to pay for that many wireless customers?   I expect a percentage to leave, my guess is that between 25% and 50% of them will leave as soon as their contract is up.  Anyone whose contract runs out between now and the merger may already jump ship and choose a different provider.  

Would the $39 Billion be better spent upgrading the 4G network?  Isn't that enough money to cover the entire country in 4G?  Doesn't the 4G network stem the tide of customers already leaving and open the doors to new customers looking for faster service?   Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know what's going on behind closed doors, I don't know for sure what happens in those meetings.  An invest and be the best strategy is a slow way to get customers.  However, it pays to be the leader, to be the best.  Those are the things that keep customers longer.   Retention is cheaper than earning new customers, and I have a feeling that AT&T is going to lose in the retention battle.   It may jump out in front with a big purchase of customers, but it will also have $39 billion less to invest in improvements, which just means that they will leave.   

Verizon, I think you've got it right.  Continue to invest in improving your network and stay better on price than AT&T, many of these customers will be yours, and when they are, they will stick around.

Diet - Week 4

The slow carb portion of my diet is completely gone.  I have continued eating healthier.  My breakfast is still for the most part carb free.  I've found that I am full longer when I don't eat toast or cereal at breakfast time.

My lunches and dinners are still low in carbs.  I've cut bread except for once a week subway night.  I've gotten used to eating soups without any crackers.  That's probably huge considering I used to eat an entire sleeve of Ritz with a bowl of soup. I did have nachos one night, and I had a DQ blizzard on Sunday, which is not a cheat day. I'm still trying to keep all soda out of my diet.  I've started drinking green tea during the day.  I haven't had a craving for the carbonation like I used to have.  I don't think the green tea is doing that, but that has been what I've started drinking in place of diet pepsi.

In line with the 4-Hour Body I'm fine with my calories fluctuating and not being the same every day.  Since I'm not on board with basically using laxatives on my cheat day to make sure all of my extra food is gotten rid of I've decided that my cheat day is bigger than a normal day, but I won't let myself eat just as much of anything as I can.  I have let myself eat any types of food without concern on that day, just not to an absurd quantity.

I have continued to try and work in more exercise.  I'm trying to use muscle building as a way to make me stronger and look better.  I used to be a running machine, and I still love and want to run, but I am trying to do more with weights than cardio.  I'm sort of following the minimal workout to biuld muscle that is listed in the 4-Hour Body.  I'm pushing myself to max for shoulder press, pull downs, leg press, and bench press.  I've definitely been pushing hard because my muscles ache for days after a hard workout.   As the weather has gotten nicer I'm also trying to get out and do more outside.   Sunday for example I took the kids to the park and ran for about 15 minutes.  I'm not sure how long it was, but it felt good.

Today was another weigh-in day.  I still have not had a big drop in weight.  However it's down another pound.  In 4 weeks I'm only down 4 pounds, however, I'm down 6 inches total, and 2 of those are from my waist.

I'm happy that progress is still moving in the right direction.  My plan for the next week is to eat well, exercise well, and drop 2 pounds.  It would be the first 2 pound drop in weight, but I'm going to see if I can make it happen.

Slow Carb diet - Week 3

I am no longer following the slow carb diet strictly.   I interpret that as a good thing though.    The purpose of the 4-Hour Body is to experiment with your body.  I have been eating much less white carbs.   I have had a few sandwiches, but not any toast by itself.    I have only had pasta on cheat day.  

For the most part breakfast still consists of eggs, onion, beans (red, black, or pinto), spinach, and peppers.   I find that when I eat a nice breakfast of this stuff I'm full all the way until lunch without needing a snack.   I also have been feeling very much awake with this as my food.

I have cut most soda out of my diet.   I occasionally have a diet pepsi, or diet mountain dew, but usually only if I'm going to drive.   I have not bought a case of either in over a month.

I am not a caffeine free nut.  I drink coffee every morning, and I will have an occasional cup of tea.

I am trying to include more exercise.   Every Monday my kids go to gymnastics at a gym, and I get to work out when they are there.   I am also trying to get another workout in during the week.

This past week I ran about 3/4 of a mile on Saturday, the first running I've done in a while.  Monday I lifted a few weights and then ran on a treadmill for 15 minutes.

Today is my weigh in.   I've done OK.  I'm only down 1/2 an inch total, but it's all in my waist.  My pants are starting to fit me a little better, instead of me spilling out of them.   I expect that in the next 2 weeks I'll need to start wearing a belt.  That is awesome.    I am also down 2 more pounds.   I'm thinking it was close to 3.  I got on the scale and it teetered back and forth between the two numbers.   I weighed myself several times and each time it teetered on the number.  I decided to go with the more conservative number.   I'd rather be honest about how much I'm losing than lying to myself.  

Where I'd like to go

There's not really a reason for this post. It's just a thought that crossed my mind.  

There are places in this world that I would like to visit.  Kind of a travel bucket list.   I'd like to get to all 50 states, but that's only kind of a like to.

I definitely want to get to:

• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Brazil, something about Sao Paolo has always interested me.
• Ireland
• Greece
• Germany

There are several more that would be nice, but these are the ones that really have a hold of me somewhere deep inside.