TF58XK62MN28GJ57

Wheat harvest is underway in southwestern Illinois. I got this shot of my brother combining today. 

Why are members of congress paid by the federal government

You hear it all the time. Those bums in the U.S. congress -- your elected Senators and Representatives -- are overpaid, get cushy pensions and exemp themselves from most of the laws they pass. Lately this organization doesn't seem to accomplish much either.

Maybe there is a solution to a few of these shortcomings. I've begun to ask myself why members of the U.S. Congress on the federal government payroll in the first place? Pick a Senator, any Senator. How about Harry Reed of Nevada? He's probably the least liked but better-known members of the Senate. Why does my federal income tax pay his salary? Shouldn't the fine folks of the state of Nevada pay his salary?  He represents the state of Nevada and lives there, too. Then there's my two senators in Missouri, Roy Blount and Claire McCaskell. Not that the wonderful folks of Missouri couldn't do better. At least we don't have Harry Reed. But that's not the point of this essay. Roy and Claire represent me and every resident of the tax paying citizens of Missouri. Simply put, our congressional delegations should be paid by the state which they represent.

This idea upsets the apple cart in so many ways; some good and some not as good. The state legislatures would set the salaries of their congressional delegations, including pension and healthcare  benefits. That means senator from Florida and a Senator from Iowa would be paid different amounts. So what? The whole body would no longer be able to vote themselves pay raises. That also means congress folk would be under the pension systems of the states they represent. We could go on and on.

I'm just throwing out this idea. I can't believe I would be the first one to think of it, but it's time to do something.

StayCation

We have decided this year to stick close to home this week. There's something to be said for staycation. I have been doing lots of reading and catching up cataloging and organizing my photo collection. Every day we try to see a sight close to home, and here in St. Louis there's lots to see. Yesterday afternoon we left home, not knowing exactly where we would end up. Then we ended up at the Arch. I've been going up in the Arch for 40 plus years. Then last year I don't know what happened, but I'll just say I'd rather not go up in the Arch anymore. I've always been afraid of heights anyway. But my son and wife don't mind the ride, so while they were up on the observation deck I stayed on firm ground and got some photos.

Which leads to what else I've been doing. As a very amateur photo hack I always shoot in JPEG. Then I've been reading articles about how you get much better control shooting RAW files, fiddling with them in a program like PS Elements and then converting to JPEG. I'm liking the results.