LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

So Simple, A Member

Of Congress Could Do It

Well, you should have guessed it! The fools in Congress gave themselves a pay raise!

The raise, totaling about $4,200 a year combined with the $5,000 raise they gave themselves last year, at the height of the gas prices of $4.50, almost equals $10,000 in two years, times 535 members of Congress is $5,350,000 added to $169,000 current salary equals $145,765,000 a year that we have to pay this group of incompetents.

How nice. We have to struggle with over-priced gas, rising inflation and about 5 million members of our labor force being laid off, while these part-timers pull dollars out of our pockets whenever they feel a pinch.

How does one start a ballot initiative to either dismiss this Congress or drastically reduce or eliminate them?

1. Reduce their salary - now $169,300 annually - to a sum voted by the states they represent and freeze it for five years.

2. Reduce their retirement benefits to "zero."

3. Eliminate their "cost of living" benefits.

4. Stop charging "lease car costs" to the taxpayer.

5. Stop representative's free use of the Capitol Physicians healthcare office.

6. Discontinue representative's free use of Bethesda Naval Medical Center for operations and procedures.

7. Cancel life insurance programs (FEGLI or Federal Employees Group Life Insurance) which, of course, the taxpayers fund. In addition, expose what amount representatives are insured for and the cost!

8. Reduce election campaigns to two weeks.

9. Eliminate pay for time when they are campaigning and not working.

10. Make election costs paid for by taxpayers be borne by the representatives.

11. Reduce congressional staffers to two per representative.

12. Cancel the ability of the Congress to vote themselves raises at will.

13. Stop paying health insurance premiums when they become eligible for the benefits and then taxpayers pick up their tab.

14. Eliminate the "Franking Privilege" (Use of free mail for their communications. They can use e-mail.)

15. Eliminate the use of military or other government transportation paid for by taxpayers for representatives for other than government business or charge them.

16. Eliminate the use of oversized SUV's or limousines for hauling any member of Congress around for any function or charge him for the privilege.

17. Eliminate lobbying, totally. Jail both briber and bribee when caught. Minimum suggested penalty: five years for first offense and barred from re-election.

18. Eliminate the privilege of being free from arrest in all cases!

19. Initiate 'Term Limits" for all representatives.

20. Eliminate the six indoor parking spots and two outdoor spots. All members of Congress and most of their senior staffs are granted parking privileges.

21. Eliminate "ear marks" from congressional bills.

22. Eliminate "pork" in bills and projects.

23. Prosecute bribes - such as paid vacations, free lunches, dinner, or any other items - from lobbyists that are intended to sway a representative's vote!

24. Representative's use of the prefix "The Honorable" before their names and substitute "Hey Stupid!"

Don Plezia

Spring Hill

Hate Speech On Display

Re: The column that appeared in the Dec. 19 edition of the Hernando Today.

Mr. Haynes says that he is happy to see such incidents like the one in the state of Washington in which an atheist sponsored display was placed next to the crèche in the capital rotunda critical of religion in general on the basis of freedom of speech.

I suppose then that it would be OK for someone on Martin Luther King Day to place a display next to a statue of the Rev. King deriding him. I mean, we are talking about freedom of speech are we not?

The problem I have with Mr. Haynes' column is that there is an underlining theme in his column that suggests that he has a problem with religious displays on government ground. After all, the Constitution clearly states that we have the "freedom of religion" not "freedom from religion." To quote from Mr. Haynes' own column: "Like it or not, the days of religious monopoly in government settings are numbered."

Well, here is a message for Mr. Haynes: Christmas is a federal holiday, so unless Congress passes a law to state otherwise, it should be treated with respect.

The problem that I have with the situation in the state of Washington is what is written on the display. It makes fun of people of faith. I am talking just about Christians, but it makes fun of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and all the other religions of the world. It is pure and simple a form of hate speech. For the life of me, I do not know why atheists have to attack people of faith.

What is so offensive about believing in a supreme deity of any kind?

Peter Stathis

Spring Hill