Ray's Political Page

Ok. I give up. There are many issues out there our elected officials feel important enough to pass laws and spend billions of dollars on. Many of them seem to be feel good pork, how can I spend my money (not taxpayers but Congress's money) to get myself elected again. I get a number of emails from family and friends that say "pass this along." While I can not vouch for the authenticity, they do represent what I feel is the truth (otherwise I would not post them).

• A Congressman's Retirement System
  Of course it is human nature to be good to yourself, so I am sure regardless of political party, Congress will always pay themselves more. Your Congressman has a sweet deal for retirement, probably better than most CEO's and they make a LOT of money. In the early 80's Congress decided to hold up the Social Security system by changing the Federal Retirement system from CSRS to FERS. This added a LOT of people (including the military) to the paying roles of our Social Security system. It turns out that in the long run this change is probably MORE EXPENSIVE to the taxpayer than the old system but does allow a federal employee to change jobs and retain some portion of the retirement they paid. Congress however excluded themselves from this. Read the letter to find out how you too can become a millionaire.
• Immigration - The United States of America also has a culture.
  Historically, immigrants to our Nation have felt honored and happy with the chance to make their lives better. They were willing to work and work hard, knowing they had opportunities to improve their own lot and that of their children. We have our parents and their parents to be thankful for this great gift.
  Today, immigrants expect and demand all of the benefits this nation has to offer. Our politicians and many liberal entities (read "The Press") also feel this is justified. So not only do we have to give them opportunity now, but we must also give them handouts, provide for their well being and that of their families. I believe in many cases better than that we provide to US Citizens themselves. We do this and give them the right to speak their own language and wave the flag from where they came. This letter makes some great points. I recently sent a letter to my representative (Neil Abercrombie, D) and senator (Daniel K. Akaka D).
  The Senator feels as part of free speech and a representative democracy, we don't need to declare English our official language. Because the United States needs to do business overseas, we need to allow other languages here in the United States. I believe it costs us far more than it gains us. See his letter here.
  The Representative feels that since we have not had an official language for 200 years we don't need one. (ed: Sir, times change, people used to WANT to learn the language, we had no need for such a change.) See his reply here.He also claims this encourages a narrow view of the works discriminates against citizens who primary language is not English (ed: can you say children of ILLEGAL Immigrants (I will never use the politically correct phrase of "undocumented")). The Representative believes that every American should learn and be proficient in English (why can't I order in English as some McDonald? Ask the former Comptroller of Maryland who had trouble ordering a hamburger because the English spoken was so bad. He was a Democrat too!!! Made for great talk radio at WBAL) a few years ago (about 2004).
• Andy Rooney - Comments on many United States of America issues
  This one was sent to me in an email. While I tried to verify the script directly from the 60 Minutes website, I was not able to. I did however find this posted in several places. Andy, if you said this YEAH! If you did not, I apologize for misquoting you and I hope you agree with it as well.
• The President of the US has proposed pay changes for Federal Employees not in CONUS.
  This one hits home for me, no real information on it yet but I have sent my opinion to my congressmen.