COCKROACHES + THUMBS UP/THUMBS DOWN = US SENATE

First let me thank Tom Degan of The Rant for giving the the push to do this. No Tom , you do not know me, but yesterday I printed out 113 pages of your post's and read them all. I enjoyed them all and realized " i can do this too". So here goes. I have no idea where or how this will go out or who will read it, but at least i can try and get all this of my chest. So here goes!

What you might ask do cockroaches and thumbs up/thumbs down have to do with our Senate?
Well i don't know how any of you out there ever watch C-Span, but i am an avid watcher and that is exactly what they are like.
Nine times out of ten whenever a senator is speaking, they are speaking to an empty room. The chamber has no one of an importance other than whatever yo yo is sitting up on the dais and whatever bored clerks are sitting around picking their noses. Rarely if ever is there another senator in the room to even HEAR what someone is ranting or raving about. Yet when it is time for a vote, out they come scurrying from all available doors, slowly at first, then like when you turn on a light in the middle of the night and watch the cockroaches run into hiding out come the senators to cast thier votes.
Bad enough that none of them want to be the first to cast their vote, because they are not capable of free individual thought, no this is nothing but pack mentality. They have to wait and see how the tide is churning to decide how to vote. It is obvious to anyone who is watching this travesty, how they fence sitters wait on the sideline's watching and waiting, counting to see how they will vote. Worst offenders of this are the so called Presidential candidates. For they must you see only be seen on the side that is "politically correct" and have to wait until the last second to cast their votes.
Which brings me to the "thumb's up/thumbs'down" schtick.
I am sure each and everyone of you has seen one movie or another with the gladiators in the ring of the Colosseum in ancient Rome, where the emperor of the time decided their fate with a flick of their wrist. Thumb up they lived. Thumb down they died.
Well this is the procedure our conceited, self centered, egotistical, better than the rest of us snobs cast their votes.
That's right. These obnoxious self serving shits stand and wait to be noticed by the clerk calling the role to see them and then with puffed out chests give the thumbs up or down as a way to cast their vote and then scurry away. Back to whatever hide-e-hole they were snuggled in, doing whatever so important thing they were doing before the vote that they could not be bothered listening to another senator speak.
This is but one of the noxious habits that i have observed that really piss me off about this entire system of ours.
One of my other favorite's is when a message is being delivered from either the house to the senate or from the senate to the house, they must be announced, then CURTSY prior to delivering their message. In 2007 they have to curtsy. Give me a break.
Their make believe courtesy to each other makes me want to vomit. My dear friend, my esteemed colleague, the senior senator from...what a crock of horseshit. Oh, and they must address all of their comments to the chair. Enough, i am ranting here.

I guess the main point to this entire blog is the question of why there are not term limits for members of congress, both houses?
I am a firm believer that one of the main reasons that this idiot in chief has gotten away with so much for so long is because of his unwavering support of both parties in congress.
No other president, at no other time, would ever, ever have been allowed to decimate the Constitution to the degree this man has without the consent of congress no matter how unintentional.
But we must remember that it was a Republican congress until last year, that more or less rubber stamped every thing his little twisted heart wanted, and now have the audacity to bitch and moan when steps are taken to try and reign him in.
Sadly though he Democratic congress lacks not only the spine but the balls as well to definitively stand up to the prick in chief, call each and every one of his bluffs and get control over its own party members.
How dare Pelosi declare that "Impeachment is off the table" as her first statement ? Please tell who died and made her Queen of the house ? How dare she come up with such a blanket statement against the will of the majority of the people t in the country.
This is the main argument for term limits.
These older statesman have been there for so long and become so entrenched in their positions and attained such powers to control votes that they have become dangerous to our alleged system of checks and balances.
Not only with their power to control and sway votes, comes the power from all of money which has come their way from the lobbyists that have been influencing them for more years than we can count. Why do you think the call the senate the "millionaire's club" ?
Senior Senator. A very very dangerous title. These people have been chairmen of committee's not for years but for decade's. They switch chairmanship's with presidential parties, but they stay the same and retain their power to influence and sway.
Pity for to new kid on the block who finds themselves caught in he cross hairs of two of these relic's on an issues they feel strongly about that they will not allow to happen.
If you need proof of how bad this problem is, if offer you the following list of members of the house and the senate.
In the senate i only listed the members who have held their position for 20 years or longer.
In the house members who are there 32 years or longer then a numerical count down to 14 years or long, seeing as there are so many more members.
Read them and Weep:

Senate:
BYRD 59 YEARS
KENNEDY 44 YEARS
INOUYE 44 YEARS
DOMENICI 34 YEARS
BIDEN 34 YEARS
LEAHY 32 YEARS
STEVENS 30 YEARS
HATCH 30 YEARS
LUGAR 30 YEARS
BACUS 29 YEARS
COCHRAN 29 YEARS
SPECTER 26 YEARS
LAUTENBERG 26 YEARS
DODD 26 YEARS
BINGAMEN 24 YEARS
ROCKFELLER 22 YEARS
MCCONNELL 22 YEARS
KERRY 22 YEARS
SHELBY 2 1 YEARS
MCCAIN 20 YEARS
REID 20 YEARS
ROBERTS 20 YEARS

Don't forget some of the above may have served some time in the house prior to moving over to the senate.

HOUSE

DINGER 52 YEARS
CONYERS 42 YEARS
OBEY 38 YEARS
RANGEL 36 YEARS
YOUNG C.W 38 YEARS
REGULA 34 YEARS
SHUSTER 34 YEARS
STARK 34 YEARS
YOUNG DON 34 YEARS
MURTHA 34 YEARS
MARKLEY 32 YEARS
MILLER G 32 YEARS
OBERSTAR 32 YEARS
PAUL 32 YEARS
30 YEAR MEMBERS 4
28 YEAR MEMBER 5
26 YEAR MEMBERS 10
24 YEAR MEMBERS 11
22 YEAR MEMBERS 5
20 YEAR MEMBERS 18
18 YEAR MEMBERS 16
17 YEAR MEMBERS 16
16 YEAR MEMBERS 49

So there you have the worst offenders. Are you happy with this picture ?
I got this information from the senates own website, in the bibliography section, looked up each person one by one for the information.

The bottom line is this. The lump sum total of all these folks years of service (?) COLLECTIVELY
is the following:

SENATE: 1,362 YEARS
HOUSE: 4,627 YEARS

So, my final thought, my final question to you all is this:

WHEN DID PUBLIC SERVICE STOP BEING A SERVICE AND BECOME A PERMANENT CAREER?