Okay, clearly there are more important issues in the world. But I find this kind of interesting in a geeky way, and thought I'd, um, add my two cents.

The US used to have half-penny coins, until they were ditched in 1857. It's hard to accurately figure inflation over a century and a half, but my best I'm-not-an-economist estimate based on resources I could find online suggest that the 1857 half-penny had the buying power of approximately $0.38 today.

So, really, we could probably stand to get rid of nickels and dimes too, and pushing on ditching quarters. (We could round sales tax *down* to the nearest $0.50. Heh.)

Bill Clinton could run for President, and mop the floor with the cerbrally challenged Chimp from Crawford. Hillary might be pissed off at hubby stealing her thunder, but the electoral landslide would reverberate for years.

Having been in government and a close observer of how power is used within government I would say that the 22nd amendment by and large is a good thing. However, I do think the people suggesting it be thrown out also have a point. Perhaps modifying the amendment so that a President can only serve two terms consecutively with a one or two term interval between Presidencies would be a solution. The reason the 22nd is good is because it causes the breakup of executive power, which, if in the same hands for too long is always a bad thing even when one considers that the great FDR held power for much longer than 8 years. These days, the accumulation and use of executive power for illegitimate reasons is too frequent to begin with. If Presidents could be elected over and over again it would only get worse and likely much, much, much worse.

See, I save them for years, then I round um all up and last time I did it I had 50 bucks in pennies. So me, I like the penny.

As for the 22nd amendment, uh no don't ditch it. I don't agree that the second term means you get lazy sloppy and don't care. I think what happens more frequently is that you don't care about polls or public opinion or doing as many political favors and manuevering. You try to push more of your agenda through that you wouldn't try in your first term for fear of not getting re-elected. Sure it would be nice if we could get Clinton again, but I'm not gonna rearrange the system because we may get GWB again. Just like I don't want to abolish the admendment that states you have to be a natural born citizen to become president because people were swooning for The Governator Arnie.

What we really should eliminate are the "goal tenders" AKA "goalies" from hockey, soccer and any other sport in which such a position is found. There is no particular rationale for having them, other than ironbound tradition.

I agree term limits are one of those things I'd like to see left behind, or at least extended to three or four terms. Presidents (usually) mature and develop and it takes a few years to get really good at it, and then ... poof. It's over.

To say that Bush, as a second term president, is the "the one person who does not have to care" about the consequences of his actions because "he has transcended the risks and rewards of American politics" is quite a stretch. While it's true that second term presidents don't have to worry about re-elections and can focus more on what they want to accomplish, this works both ways. Presidents can also worry less about lobbyist efforts and media twists to public opinion to push through needed legislation. Assuming Congress co-operates.

That's the crux here. Up till now, the Republican controlled congress HAS co-operated with Bush. At this point, Bush has done far more than lie to Congress. He's violated the law so many times I've lost count. Impeaching him at this point should be a simple matter. So why hasn't Congress started the process?

Tossing out the 22nd Amendment would be a very bad idea. It's all that stops "King George" from becoming so in fact.

I would love to see a matchup between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. My Republican friends get infuriated by me saying this, but you'd have to be pretty hidebound or downright stupid to bet against Clinton. So, let's repeal the 22nd Amendment, by all means. Seeing Clinton wipe the floor with Bush would be beautiful. Maybe Bill could even get an endorsement from George H.W. Bush. Not likely. Bar would be pissed, and her wrath would be formidable.

In fact, it's straight from a Craigslist rant!

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/110504612.html

I'm sure the remark about Ariel Sharon was intended to be funny, or a comment on Robertson's rant, but I didn't quite "get it" and it sounded rather disrespectful. Surely we're made of better stuff than that which spews from Robertson's mouth?

Harry Reid is upset that Las Vegas has been dropped from the list of high-risk terror sites. Here in Albuquerque, we're upset because we can't get more than minimal DHS funding. I mean, we've got:

* A nuclear weapons design laboratory

* A couple thousand or more nuclear warheads stashed in bunkers

* A major Air Force Base, collocated with one of the biggest civilian air hubs in the area

* An Intel chip plant

* Oh, and we're represented by Republicans: Representative Heather Wilson and Senator Pete Domenici

What more does it take? Yeah, Michael Chertoff has to go.