I think we can all agree, our State is in a sad state

I've seen lots of stories in the news recently (especially on the Fresno Bee website) about the California legislature. Most of the local stories lament the 2/3 requirement for tax increases, I think that most journalists have never met a tax increase they don't like, but that's not what I want to talk about. I think that most people across the spectrum can agree that our government is failing us. I do think the overall tax system needs to be repaired, but that's a thought for another day.
I haven't done any real research on the subject, but here is my simple, three part solution to solving the problems of our statewide elected representatives (these should go for Constitutional officers as well as the Legislature), who seem to have more loyalty to party and self than to the people they supposedly serve.
First, eliminate all income, reimbursements and benefits outside salary. Does anyone really think that more days in session equals better lawmaking? It only equals more per diem payments to everyone involved. I also think that term limits should be repealed in conjunction with removing any and all retirement benefits for elected officials. Service to the public should be a calling, not a lifestyle. Salaries would need to be raised by a substantial amount, doubling or tripling the base salary, but that would still result in a net decrease in outlays for the State. Also the staffs should be reduced by 50% across the board. We should be paying for elected officials to do the work, not unaccountable hired help.
Second would be the move to a part time legislature on a two year cycle. One year would be devoted only to a two year budget, the second to all other legislation. That would provide them less time to ruin our lives with unnecessary legislation that contributes to what was reported as a $500 billion hit to the State's economy EVERY YEAR. Each session would be of a limited time, to allow the elected officials more time to spend in their districts.
Finally, any elected official should be barred from employment by any State entity (except another elected office) for life (removing the gravy train of serving on unelected boards and commissions), and barred from employment by any lobbying entity for 4 years once they leave office. Again, public service should not be a means to an end. There should also be similar restrictions for legislative staff as well, to eliminate the idea that there are only a small portion of the population that are professional 'governors' of the State's affairs, and that they should just move from one position to another, helping 'run' all the different parts of government. This smacks of the inbreeding problems of the European monarchies of the 17th - 18th centuries. New blood is a good thing!
Citizen legislators should be just that. This would bring people from all walks of life to Sacramento for a while, then, hopefully, they would go back to their old career once their elected term ended.

What, exactly, am I running from?

I bought a new pair of running shoes this week. Even better, I actually used them last night for the second time. I'm not sure second time is really accurate. I mean, I wore them on the treadmill at the gym for 45 minutes, so that should count for something, right? I broke them in on the actual open road tonight for another 45 minute run. Again, perhaps run isn't the correct term for what happened out there. Maybe a little background is in order.
About 18 months ago I was given an opportunity to join a wellness program sponsored by my then employer. I jumped in with unbridled enthusiasm, mostly because the program was so darned easy! Simple, calorie balancing meals throughout the day, mixed with a 6 day per week, 30 minutes per day workout program. I was desperate to lose weight, at that time I weighed over 150 Kilos (I'm so embarrassed about the actual number that I'm daring you to do the conversion to find out the number in pounds), and had tried and failed at a number of diets. Long story short, the program worked. I lost about 65 pounds in 5 months, and then slowly lost another 20 pounds over the next 7. Then in February, I got laid off. And I held firm for a few weeks with the exercise and diet, but slowly pulled away. Part of my weight problem is probably recognizable to 90% of people out there who have one too: I eat because I'm unhappy, then I'm more unhappy because I don't like the way I look and feel after overeating. That cycle is almost perpetual motion, someone should figure out a way to harness that energy, it could solve the world's energy demand for years to come. But I digress. I fell back into my old ways and realized that I have put back on 15 pounds. And it's not like I feel good about the food that I've been eating. To the contrary, I've been sliding into eating, well, not to put too fine a coat of lipstick onto this pig, but I've been eating crap.
I needed a new goal. So I set one. My cardio workouts (which are 3 per week, the other 3 days are weight workouts) have consisted of time on the treadmill at a fast walking pace with a medium incline. This gets me to a specific heart rate during exercise (I use a Polar monitor for accuracy) that is supposed to maximize my fat burning potential. Which sounds good, but I actually want to do two different things with my workouts moving forward. I want to get out of the gym and into the real world. I'm doing that with this so-called running. Second is that I want to participate in a real world athletic event by the end of the year. My first thought was an event in my home town called the 'Turkey Trot,' however, they have moved that 10K run from Thankgiving Day proper to the Saturday prior, and I won't be able to attend.
But somehow I will participate in some run, more likely around Christmas, I am even more determined than ever. I don't want to be concerned about a scale reading, I want to celebrate an accomplishment out in the real world! Eventually, I hope those real world accomplishments will give me the confidence to get back to my real love, in terms of working out, swimming (there's no way I'm going to put on a swim suit in front of people right now!) So finally to finish my story about last night: my first run in the wild was more a mix of fast walking and what can only generously be called jogging, but as I've heard too many times, every journey begins with the first step, or attempted stride as the case may be.

Eight years and counting

I started following an interesting Twitter account a couple of weeks ago. This account (@WWIIToday) is sending updates around the 70th anniversary of events from World War II. While there are arguments around the official start date of the war, there is some consensus around September 1, 1939. This is the date that Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and plunged Europe into devastation. Just over two years later, the span of the war spilled onto the global stage with the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese forces. December 7, 1941, "a date that will live in infamy" changed our nation. The politics of the Great Depression had already put its stamp on America. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal established our first real social services safety net to ensure that all citizens would not slip through the cracks. But Pearl Harbor united the country for a singular purpose, and no sacrifice was too great, no innovation too small. The war was over in less than 4 years after America entered the fray. We were brought in against our will, but ended it with the two biggest bangs ever unleashed on humanity to force our enemy into surrender.
My roommate woke me up 8 years ago stammering about a horrendous plane crash in New York. I was watching live when the second tower was struck, instantly realizing that this was no accident. 9/11 became a rallying event for my generation, just as Pearl Harbor was for my grandparents. But 9/11 didn't last. It didn't take long after the initial shock wore off that we went back to our hyper-partisanship that had been the norm for the prior 10 years. (Incidentally, I don't mean to speak ill of the recently deceased, but in my opinion the spiral into the current state of name calling and invective from both sides of the aisle can be traced back directly to Ted Kennedy's treatment of Robert Bork during his Senate committee hearing for confirmation to the Supreme Court.) Now to be clear, I would probably be classified as a conservative Republican, but I am completely against the war in Iraq. To be sure, Saddam Hussein was an evil man, but we should have had all of our ducks in a row after taking care of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If we had focused our energies there, maybe we would have already captured Osama bin Laden, and wouldn't be seeing a resurgance of the Taliban in those countries. But we were attacked, and I do support declaring war on those who did us grievous harm.
But we didn't really go to war. We were told to go shopping. The old Vietnam era quandary of 'Guns and Butter' has reared its ugly head upon us 8 years later, and we are now experiencing a major recession. I'm guilty of some glutteounous consumerism during this time, but I'm definitely trying to change. My question is simple: why weren't we asked to sacrifice for our country?  I think we squandered an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we subsidize various sectors of the economy that end up forcing us to depend on imported fossil fuels.
We have had brave Americans in harm's way for 8 years now. That is twice the length of time we spent in World War II. It's time to get our act together, pull together, and defeat our enemies around the world. 9/11 is not a day to try to push a new plan for National Service, that diminishes the memory of the victims that made the ultimate sacrifice. 9/11 should be a day for a new plan to win the war on Terrorism. And it's disappointing that the current administration has begun to change it's terminology in an attempt at revisionist history. It's also no surprise that the news headlines today also mention the Senate approving massive military budget cuts requested by the administration. I do not approve of speeches asking us to try to understand the mindset of the hijackers, equating their desolate upbringing to the despicable acts they inflicted upon our nation. The only reason I want to understand their mindset is so we can figure out a way to use it against them while hunting them down.
No nation is perfect, especially ours. But taken in its entirety, America is the greatest nation on Earth. The millions of people attempting (and succeeding) in migrating to our shores proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt. We have flaws, but that's simple to explain. We are a nation of human beings, and humans are flawed. But in the neighborhood of nations, ours is the house where all the other kids want to come to play, and everybody wants to be friends with the parents. We don't need to apologize for every single one of our little mistakes, we should be focusing on all of our successes. So let's succeed against our enemies, be good neighbors and friends for those who are willing, and move forward into the rest of the 21st century. But never forget those 3000 victims from 8 years ago, and the only service we should be looking into when remembering is service that would help our nation's military finish this war as soon as possible. And history shows that once we've defeated our enemies, we do everything we can to turn them into our friends. Because that's the American Way. Anything less, and any other plans for commemorating today cheapens their memory.