You Want Change? Try These Ideas

A friend recently sent this email to me. It is an article published in an Amarillo paper last October.
The 'Guest Columnist' spouts one lie after another and no one seems to realize it.
The facts she gives are ripped from the text of a hoax email that has been passed around for ten years!
I am angry at Congress too. I want to change some things too.
But this lady is a liar, she has been fooled or she has an agenda.
No matter the reason, the fact is she is DEAD WRONG!
Read her column first and then read my rebuttal below!

You Want Change? Try These Ideas
Each presidential candidate is giving his rendition of the changes he wants for America.
Here are a few that I believe all Americans want.
Limit Congress from serving more than two terms. That is all that presidents are allowed.
Stop Congress from voting for their own raises. How did that ever get started?
Stop paying for lawmakers' high-priced insurance premiums. After all, they are only part-time employees. They might pass some law changes on the insurance companies, if they had to find one.
Stop paying lawmakers their full salary after serving just one term, or at retirement. We need to get rid of that pension plan; they've let other companies get rid of theirs. You were lucky to get 40 to 50 percent of your salary after working somewhere for 35 years, but they get 100 percent.
Make Congress pay into the Social Security system. They make laws for it. If they spent some of their own money, they might be interested in making it solvent.
Stop handing out aid to illegal aliens. If we did, then Medicaid and the food stamp program would have enough money to aid the aged and the poor.
Secure our borders.
Stop allowing babies born to illegal aliens in the United States automatic U.S. citizenship.
Stop the abuse of our benevolent welfare system. We feed children free meals three times a day until they are 17. Churches give away good, clean clothes. Companies buy and donate school supplies. Emergency rooms provide health care at taxpayer expense and the food stamp program is buying food at home. What are parents doing for their children?
Have a computer program that cross checks Social Security numbers with fingerprints to stop fraud on many fronts. Use it on voter registration, too.
Stop bailing out mortgage companies and banks that give loans to people who cannot afford them.
Stop companies from paying CEOs and other executives outrageous salaries and bonuses while doing away with workers' pensions.
Stop all unnecessary spending so we will have the money for our nation's security, and to help needy and elderly Americans.
Stop permitting anyone to have a photo with their face covered on driver's licenses.
Whoever wins the presidency will not be able to make these changes.
Only members of Congress can do this, as they are the lawmakers.
I don't believe Congress is interested in changing anything, do you?

1) If we enforced term limits on our congressmen we would be cutting our
throats to avoid a hang-nail!
I can't stand people like Reid, Pelosi, Feinstein,Franks etc. I believe they are ruining our country, However if I take away the right of Massachusetts to keep Kennedy and Kerry in the Senate for decades, I also keep Texas from retaining someone like John Cornyn as long as we need him.
Congress does not need to be regulated the same as the President, they are our face and voice in Government.
This is a pet trick of the left! They make you think you are limiting government but you are really limiting the people's right to have their say in who represents them. Term limits are a bad idea for other reasons too. But I have more to say about this email.

2) Congress does NOT receive 100% of their pay at the time they retire after serving only one year! That is another wacko lie. Congress gets paid a retirement based on the length of their service. Only those who have been in service for 25 years or more generally receive the maximum the law will allow 80% and that is based on many factors including how much they paid in and their salary at the time they retired. They pay 1.3% of their annual income into FERS or 'Federal Employee's Retirement System'.

3) It is a BIG LIE that Congress does not pay into Social Security!
Before 1983 Congress paid into what was called CSRS or 'Civil Service Retirement System'.
In '83 they scrapped CSRS (see Public Law 98-21) and began paying into Social Security.
Congress currently pays in to Social Security 6.2% of their income.

4) The Food Stamp and Medicaid system does not serve illegal aliens. That is another LIE.
They will be able to help the disabled and poor if Liberals would stop using them as tools to
keep poor people poor and lazy people lazy! Illegals are not the ones ruining welfare and government handouts..... Liberals are! She actually gets around to agreeing with me in her next bullet point.

5) She proposes that Congress stop companies from paying CEOs exorbenant salaries!
How does she propose we do that? Is she suggesting that the Federal Government come in and
dictate wages paid by private industry? Perhaps Stalin would like government to have such power over the people but as for us 'free people' we like limited Government not monster dictatorships! Sure it is outrageous, but so are many things people do.... we just don't need Uncle Sam being Big Brother!

6)If Government wanted to do something about the subprime mortgages they should
scrap CRA 'Community Reinvestment Act' signed by Carter in '79. It has been added to
and added to over the years and has become a goliath that threatens banks with anti defamation lawsuits if they don't loan to poor blacks! Once again the solution resides in limited not all encompassing government!

7) NO ONE has ever been permitted to have a driver's license with their face covered!
She picked this one from the story two years ago about the Muslim woman in Florida who filed suit claiming discrimination because she couldn't wear her hijab for her driver's license photo.
She lost her case and NO ONE before or since has been permitted to cover their face on their DL photo! This lie doesn't make sense. What agenda or purpose is she serving by telling this whopper? Is she really this mal-informed?

Is the Amarillo Paper really so ignorant they would print this?

Over all I find this E-Mail hoax to be disgusting and a flagrant attempt at passing off multiple lies and hoaxes in on fell-swoop!
It is designed to reduce faith in our leaders and ultimately in America. Sure we have some problems and any one with half the sense God gave a bull-gnat knows the majority of Liberals in Congress are Socialists and Marxists.
They also know true Conservatism is under represented in Congress and THAT is the root of all our Congressional problems.
If you receive this or any E-Mail you are unsure about, send it to me squamata22@gmail.com
I will gladly respond ASAP.