The Goat Pen

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:49 pm The minimum age for being elected to Congress should be 35.

The mandatory retirement age for congressmen, senators, president / vp, cabinet members and members of the judiciary should be 75 with a maximum age of 71 to assume office for all but the house with the house being 73 due to two year terms (unless the person is assuming office to fill out a term).

Term limits for house and senate members should be set to a maximum of 12 years of service.

The constitution should be amended to do away with the bullshit emanating from Citizens United with federal campaigns and related ads being limited to those paid by the candidates with limits on who can donate and what can be donated.

The constitution should be amended beyond that to address redistricting and elections by requiring redistricting strictly on population / geographical basis by equal numbers of map makers from whichever parties have enough registrations in each state with review via electronic and federal means to ensure — as much as possible — that gerrymandering didn’t occur.

The Constitution and the founding fathers did not fail us. We failed them by not updating the damn thing like we should have because we made the country so divided that such updating via amendment is nearly impossible.

I don't have a problem with any of this. Does that mean we can retroactively fire AOC for being too young to be elected in the first place?

innocentbystander wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:46 pm Death is God's business. Its not ours. When we start making His job our business, that is when we are listening to the Devil. I am totally serious here hedge.

The military-industrial complex disagrees.

"Human beings are in the business of creating life"

I'm in the business of destroying life. That's what my feminists masters told me, anyway...

Things rocky on the home front?

Do I need to make the 75 minute drive to come comfort the MIF?

I hope she has had her flu shot though or has already had it since I’m at home with it now…

innocentbystander wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:51 pm

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:49 pm The minimum age for being elected to Congress should be 35.

The mandatory retirement age for congressmen, senators, president / vp, cabinet members and members of the judiciary should be 75 with a maximum age of 71 to assume office for all but the house with the house being 73 due to two year terms (unless the person is assuming office to fill out a term).

Term limits for house and senate members should be set to a maximum of 12 years of service.

The constitution should be amended to do away with the bullshit emanating from Citizens United with federal campaigns and related ads being limited to those paid by the candidates with limits on who can donate and what can be donated.

The constitution should be amended beyond that to address redistricting and elections by requiring redistricting strictly on population / geographical basis by equal numbers of map makers from whichever parties have enough registrations in each state with review via electronic and federal means to ensure — as much as possible — that gerrymandering didn’t occur.

The Constitution and the founding fathers did not fail us. We failed them by not updating the damn thing like we should have because we made the country so divided that such updating via amendment is nearly impossible.

I don't have a problem with any of this. Does that mean we can retroactively fire AOC for being too young to be elected in the first place?

The problem is zealots like you.

Way to high. 60 to run for President or anything else imo. That way if ya get 8 years you're out by 68. Enough time to write a book and enjoy life before your mind goes. Around 72 or so.

Yeah, but here's what we might be in store for if we set an age cap:

Thankfully in my plan, he couldn't run. He is funny though. No one wants to turn it over to Millennials. Gen X baby. It's our time. We'll set Gen Z straight. Just gotta let the Millennials pass on through.

"Your plan." That's funny...

in other news , just prior to passing the chips bill, Pelosi sold her Nvidia stock at a $341K loss.

Why would she sell at a loss? Because she knows she is going to be spotlighted for insider trading.

hedge wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 3:38 pm "Your plan." That's funny...

I still have 6 years to run!

eCat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 4:22 pm

in other news , just prior to passing the chips bill, Pelosi sold her Nvidia stock at a $341K loss.

Why would she sell at a loss? Because she knows she is going to be spotlighted for insider trading.

$341k? What’s that? Like 5 or 6 3090’s?

Opinion piece in today's NYTimes by Norman Lear on his 100th birthday:

Well, I made it. I am 100 years old today. I wake up every morning grateful to be alive.

Reaching my own personal centennial is cause for a bit of reflection on my first century — and on what the next century will bring for the people and country I love. To be honest, I’m a bit worried that I may be in better shape than our democracy is.

I was deeply troubled by the attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021 — by supporters of former President Donald Trump attempting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Those concerns have only grown with every revelation about just how far Mr. Trump was willing to go to stay in office after being rejected by voters — and about his ongoing efforts to install loyalists in positions with the power to sway future elections.

I don’t take the threat of authoritarianism lightly. As a young man, I dropped out of college when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. I flew more than 50 missions in a B-17 bomber to defeat fascism consuming Europe. I am a flag-waving believer in truth, justice and the American way, and I don’t understand how so many people who call themselves patriots can support efforts to undermine our democracy and our Constitution. It is alarming.

At the same time, I have been moved by the courage of the handful of conservative Republican lawmakers, lawyers and former White House staffers who resisted Mr. Trump’s bullying. They give me hope that Americans can find unexpected common ground with friends and family whose politics differ but who are not willing to sacrifice core democratic principles.

Encouraging that kind of conversation was a goal of mine when we began broadcasting “All in the Family” in 1971. The kinds of topics Archie Bunker and his family argued about — issues that were dividing Americans from one another, such as racism, feminism, homosexuality, the Vietnam War and Watergate — were certainly being talked about in homes and families. They just weren’t being acknowledged on television.

For all his faults, Archie loved his country and he loved his family, even when they called him out on his ignorance and bigotries. If Archie had been around 50 years later, he probably would have watched Fox News. He probably would have been a Trump voter. But I think that the sight of the American flag being used to attack Capitol Police would have sickened him. I hope that the resolve shown by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and their commitment to exposing the truth, would have won his respect.

It is remarkable to consider that television — the medium for which I am most well-known — did not even exist when I was born, in 1922. The internet came along decades later, and then social media. We have seen that each of these technologies can be put to destructive use — spreading lies, sowing hatred and creating the conditions for authoritarianism to take root. But that is not the whole story.

Innovative technologies create new ways for us to express ourselves, and, I hope, will allow humanity to learn more about itself and better understand one another’s ideas, failures and achievements. These technologies have also been used to create connection, community and platforms for the kind of ideological sparring that might have drawn Archie to a keyboard. I can only imagine the creative and constructive possibilities that technological innovation might offer us in solving some of our most intractable problems.

I often feel disheartened by the direction that our politics, courts and culture are taking. But I do not lose faith in our country or its future. I remind myself how far we have come. I think of the brilliantly creative people I have had the pleasure to work with in entertainment and politics, and at People for the American Way, a progressive group I co-founded to defend our freedoms and build a country in which all people benefit from the blessings of liberty. Those encounters renew my belief that Americans will find ways to build solidarity on behalf of our values, our country and our fragile planet.

Those closest to me know that I try to stay forward-focused. Two of my favorite words are “over” and “next.” It’s an attitude that has served me well through a long life of ups and downs, along with a deeply felt appreciation for the absurdity of the human condition.

Reaching this birthday with my health and wits mostly intact is a privilege. Approaching it with loving family, friends and creative collaborators to share my days has filled me with a gratitude I can hardly express.

This is our century, dear reader, yours and mine. Let us encourage one another with visions of a shared future. And let us bring all the grit and openheartedness and creative spirit we can muster to gather together and build that future.

God Bless Norman Lear.

So I had a Microsoft Meet with a few corporate folks yesterday, and this one fat chick started talking way too much. She started talking about how the people on the street begging for money were really scammers who were playing us. Apparently one of them had a motorcycle or something and that was proof that he didn't have any problems. I wanted to just reach through the screen and punch her fucking teeth out. People have problems, bitch.

You sure showed her…

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:55 pm

innocentbystander wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:46 pm Death is God's business. Its not ours. When we start making His job our business, that is when we are listening to the Devil. I am totally serious here hedge.

The military-industrial complex disagrees.

Where I grew up, the Military Industrial Complex was Raytheon. Them and Draper. In all my years, I knew of very few people who worked there.

That complex, its nothing like it used to be DS.

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:58 pm

innocentbystander wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:51 pm

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:49 pm The minimum age for being elected to Congress should be 35.

The mandatory retirement age for congressmen, senators, president / vp, cabinet members and members of the judiciary should be 75 with a maximum age of 71 to assume office for all but the house with the house being 73 due to two year terms (unless the person is assuming office to fill out a term).

Term limits for house and senate members should be set to a maximum of 12 years of service.

The constitution should be amended to do away with the bullshit emanating from Citizens United with federal campaigns and related ads being limited to those paid by the candidates with limits on who can donate and what can be donated.

The constitution should be amended beyond that to address redistricting and elections by requiring redistricting strictly on population / geographical basis by equal numbers of map makers from whichever parties have enough registrations in each state with review via electronic and federal means to ensure — as much as possible — that gerrymandering didn’t occur.

The Constitution and the founding fathers did not fail us. We failed them by not updating the damn thing like we should have because we made the country so divided that such updating via amendment is nearly impossible.

I don't have a problem with any of this. Does that mean we can retroactively fire AOC for being too young to be elected in the first place?

The problem is zealots like you.

Even when I agree with you, you still behave like the asshole that you are.

Go break up another marriage, you homewrecking ambulance chaser.