Save Social Security.

I have written many posts about this issue and instead of repeating myself again I though I would re post an article by Bernie Sanders that Evil Socialist we keep hearing about.

Why Do Republicans Hate Social Security?

By Sen. Bernie Sanders, Reader Supported News

22 September 11

epublicans hate Social Security because it has been an extraordinary success and has done exactly what it was designed to do. It is the most successful government program in our nation's history and is enormously popular.

When Social Security was developed, 50 percent of seniors lived in poverty. Today, that number is 10 percent - still too high, but a testament to the success of Social Security.

Republicans have spent years demonizing Social Security and spreading lies about its sustainability. They want to scare Americans and build support for making drastic cuts to the program or privatizing it entirely. Their long-term goal is to end Social Security as we know it, and convert it into a private account system which will enable Wall Street to make hundreds of billions in profits.

The truth is that, today, according to the Social Security Administration, Social Security has a $2.7 trillion surplus and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 25 years.

Further, because it is funded by the payroll tax and not the US Treasury, Social Security has not contributed one nickel to our deficit.

Now - in a prolonged recession that has decimated the poor and middle class and pushed more Americans into poverty than at any point in modern history - we need to strengthen Social Security. That's why I, along with nine co-sponsors, have introduced the "Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act." This legislation would lift the Social Security Payroll tax cap on all income over $250,000 a year, would require millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share into the Social Security Trust Fund, and would extend the program for the next 75 years.

Join me now as a citizen co-sponsor of the Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act.

For 76 years, through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American. The most effective way to strengthen Social Security for the next 76 years is to scrap the payroll tax cap for those earning $250,000 a year or more.

Right now, someone who earns $106,800 pays the same amount of money into Social Security as billionaires like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. That is because today, all income above $106,800 is exempt from the Social Security tax. As a result, 94% of Americans pay Social Security tax on all of their income, but the wealthiest 6% do not.

That makes no sense.

The "Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act" will ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security without cutting benefits, raising the retirement age or raising taxes on the middle class.

Join me and Democracy for America in fighting to strengthen Social Security - Sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of the Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act.

Social Security is keeping tens of millions of seniors out of poverty today. I can think of no more important issue facing our country today than making sure that Social Security remains strong for generations to come.

Thank you.
-Bernie
Senator Bernie Sanders
US Senator from Vermont

I could not have said it any clearer. If we allow Republican leaders to mess with programs that work we deserve what we are going to get.  Remember that Medicare is not in the trouble that they are trying to sell .you. I can think of a couple of fixes myself and I am just a retired old teacher.

They just keep lying to us.

I was going to end the year with a couple  posts about the lies we have learned in our lifetime. I started doing some research and taking notes on lies written in books throughout American History. I gave up. There is just far too much material to put into a couple of articles.  I will just post ,or reveal ,a lie told to the public once a month or so. I would like to start out retelling one I wrote about in 2010. Remember the Alamo?

I do I was even stationed there in 1966.  I visited it a time or two.  I studied the battle in school and watched three movies about this part of American History.  But like most history the truth is usually shrouded in myths and half truths.

The Alamo was a battle to protect Slavery. Yes!  as horrifying as it sounds it is true.Texas was still part of Mexico after its War of Independence from Spain. But the land attracted so many American settlers, that they soon outnumbered the Mexicans. Incredibly, that was just fine with the Mexican government. In fact, many Texans wanted Texas to become a Mexican state.

But trouble started brewing in 1829, when slavery was banned throughout Mexico. This angered settlers who moved to Texas specifically to establish Southern-style, slave-powered plantations. Texas was briefly given an exemption, but in 1835, General Santa Anna revoked it.

This angered many Texans and they started to resist and break free from obeying Mexican law. A secessionist movement started and Santa Anna was sent to put this rebellion down. One wonders how many of the uneducated men who died there knew all of the facts.

A war started that the Mexicans were not prepared to win. Texas became a free country,for some.

Texas became a free nNation a year latter and slavery lasted until the Civil War. Those are the facts  just the facts.

A Christmas story, from my point of view.

It is Dec. 21^st. and I am watching the news on the inability of the Congress to pass a payroll tax cut for another 60 days. Instead a group of Republicans will not vote on this bill without adding a bunch of unrelated crap to its passage. These days remind me of the end of the great 35 years from 1945 until 1980.  Sit. Back and listen to my story, at least the way I saw and remembered it. In 1976 Jimmy Carter was elected President; He was a breath of fresh air after Nixon and Ford.  He was smart and had a lot of good fresh ideas. He served as President from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. Noteworthy foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration's achievements included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska Lands act.

He did face a major problem though.  The world was in the middle of a great recession created in part by his predecessors Nixon and Bush 41.  He also faced a Congress that had no intention of helping him pass any laws that would help the country in the future. The Democrats wanted their power back and the Republicans just said no to everything he proposed.

The result was the end of the good times. Ronald Reagan was elected. The world Economy stalled for another two years until his massive military buildup started. The, unpaid for spending started and the good times rolled.  He eliminated all the reforms President Carter started, He forgot and ignored peace talks in the Mid-East. He forgot and dismantled our energy policy while doing the same to clean water and air. In fact deregulation of Wall Street started and kept the ball rolling. Rolling down hill to the demise of the American economy.

His Vice President Bush 41 was elected and he continued the deregulation of many banking laws. Once your local bank was required to keep 80-90% of your investments on reserve.  Soon they were allowed to count their loans of your 80-905% loan as new monies, To loan again. There was no over oversight. Local banks were loaning millions fron one simple $250,000 investment.  There,in effect, was no required Federal Reserve.  Small commercial banks were allowed to invest your money with the elimination of the Glass Steagall Act, passed by Republicans and signed by Bill Clinton. This Bill was Veto proof and would have passed anyway.The Savings and Loans were the first to fold and were bailed out by Bush 41 using your SSI money. A crime I consider the start of a long list of evil doings.

 After Clinton was elected he continued the Bush Practices, although the economy looked good it still was only a shell waiting to crack.

Next Bush 43 was elected and continued the spending. He doubled down though. He passed an unfunded Medicare Part D program that cost billons but did very little to the prices of drugs to seniors. There was no regulation or mandate to allow the Gov. to buy drugs in bulk at reduced rates. He next gave everyone tax cuts while starting two major wars. He plunged us more in debt; by doing this he put all of our social safety net programs in trouble. This had been an aim Of the Republicans since the 30’s How dare these peasants and workers buy cars and homes let alone send their children to College  !l This was the final attack on our safety net and the middle class. Then Obama was elected with the Idea of hope and change. In his three yrs. in office the Republicans have refused to help pass any legislation to help him, He is a danger to their plans and must be destroyed at all costs. The Republicans are very close to to their plans of returning to the good of 30’s, Enjoy your the little security you have feft because I see an end to Medicare,SSI,and home ownership by the middle class.  WAKE UP!  HELLO,anyone paying attention? Oh, and have a Merrry Christmas !

There is a lot of fraud and the poor are doing very little of it.

MYTH: Welfare recipients commit a lot of fraud, at the expense of American working people.
FACT: Besides the fact that a lot of welfare recipients are American working people, a study in Massachuse­tts showed that vendors committed 93% of welfare fraud. This aspect of the welfare system drastically­y needs reform: it is harming recipients as well as taxpayers. But all of the political attention is on limiting the amount of money going to recipients­. And although the fraud by welfare vendors is terrible, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the burdens on the American taxpayer of military fraud, government waste, and corporate welfare. The Savings and Loan bailout alone cost $132 billion Welfare Fraud Stories committed Welfare Fraud or closely related crimes as a result of their ... health care fraud in the United States - more than half of it to organized crime

The poor have no voice because on many reasons ,one being the demise of ACORN, and other advocates that fight for and protect the poor. Can we really a Christian nation with  the largest Defense budget of all other nations combined.? Don't forget our 700 military bases and the fact that all major wars of this modern era were started by us.

The insanity of it all !

I knew when low voter turn out helped sweep the GOP into office in Ohio this past November that we would then see some stupid ideas being introduced. For example, unemployment is 9% and instead of that being a priority the Ohio GOP instead have introduced six anti-abortion bills.The stupidity also led Ohio State Senator Tim Schaffer (R-31) to introduce a bill requiring a urine test as a requirement for state public assistance.

The Ohio Senate is considering the bill that would require anyone applying for heating, housing, medical or food assistance to submit a urine sample.
People who fail or refuse the test would not qualify for aid.
State Sen. Tim Schaffer says the bill will weed people out who abuse the system.
“What the legislation does is, it makes sure that when Ohio taxpayers are asked to provide human services to a family, that the money is being used to buy things for the family,” Schaffer said.
State Assistance May Require Drug Tests !

I get a sad kick out of morons like Schaffer who don’t understand how public assistance works. They operate on false assumptions. Schaffer is wrong in his intent that “the money is used to buy things for the family…”
State assistance is rarely actual cash. Heating assistance is a voucher, food stamps are now debit cards, medical payments are made direct payments to the provider from the state.
A friend pointed out too that a urine sample will usually not detect alcohol. NOR will it detect cocaine if they last used a week ago or more.
People on public assistance have to jump through so many hoops as it is. The false assumption of wide spread fraud personalized in the old Reagan era “welfare queen” smear just doesn’t exist since the welfare reform work in the mid 1990′s.
Tim Schaffer and those who have no current idea how the public assistance system works, need to take a test before they can introduce new laws about it.

I know that some poor people are good at gaming the system but for the most part they just need a helping hand. The wealthy also game the system. The only difference is that corporate welfare costs the tax payers much much more.

Texas Toast !

Now, we don't know who will win next year's presidential election. But the odds are that one of these years the world's greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is aggressively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge. And, in a time of severe challenges – environmental, economic, and more – that's a terrifying prospect. Let’s explore their stance on climate change.

Texans are famous for their creative ways of describing their hot summer weather.

Colorful sayings include “hotter than a stolen tamale,” “so hot the hens are laying hardboiled

Eggs and “hotter than Lucifer’s oven.” But, as the state of Texas displays more

And more of the harmful effects of global warming, we may need to add new—if less

Elegant—turns of phrase, like “hot enough to triple heat-related deaths,” “warm enough

To wipe out coastal communities as sea levels rise,” or “hot enough to turn spring into

Summer.”

The “greenhouse effect” is what makes life on our planet possible. Greenhouse gases like

Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor trap some of the sun’s energy to warm the

Earth’s surface to a livable temperature. But an overabundance of CO2, through the

Burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil, are turning the greenhouse effect from a

Beneficent process into a harmful one. As humans burn fossil fuels, greenhouse gases

Have accumulated to where they exceed their natural levels in the atmosphere and trap

More heat than needed. The greenhouse gas most implicated in this process of global

Warming is carbon dioxide. This is not news because we have been teaching it in general science class

For years.

Signs f climate change, or global Warming are

Floods are expected to increase in frequency and severity

The United Nations weather agency says

That large cities can expect to suffer twice as many deaths from heat waves by 2020.

Drought.

Change in Seasons

Global warming already has disrupted our normal cycles of spring and fall. The increase

In CO2 has led to the spring arriving 10.8 days earlier than it did in 1959. Likewise, the

Winter season has come progressively later in the Northern hemisphere since 1840. Lakes

And rivers freeze an average of 8.7 days later, and ice cover begins melting 9.8 days

Earlier than it did 150 years ago.

According to a 2004 study published in the Nature, up to 37% of 1,103

Species studied could face extinction or near-extinction as a consequence of global

Warming.

Rising Sea Levels/Melting Ice Caps.

Another health risk global warming poses for Texas is that warming weather is expected

To be favorable to the spread of pests, including some species not indigenous to the state

Which will migrate north as the climate changes? The West Nile Virus, for instance, has

Succeeded in spreading beyond its original tropical home partly because the climate of

The U.S.’s southernmost states are gradually becoming more suitable for disease-bearing

Mosquitoes and other invasive tropical species.

Ozone/Pollution that can damage lung tissue.

Insurance

A less-understood aspect of the economic costs of climate change is how global warming

Will rise—and likely already is rising—Texans’ insurance rates. Although the federal

Government doesn’t appear to take global warming seriously, insurance companies most

Assuredly do, and must adjust their rates accordingly.

The sad part of this whole outcome is that the states in the South, the ones who vote for climate change deniers will be the first affected.

these messy facts do get in the way .

FACT CHECK: "Job losses"

The USA has been generating jobs in private industry for 22 months. The stimulus worked. We've also seen massive job losses from local/stat­e government slashing in very unhealthy ways (teachers/­p0lice).

FACT CHECK: "Job Creators"

In 2009, in 2010, and in 2011, we've seen an increase in millionair­­es/billio­nair­es. The generation of wealth/cap­ital is going just fine.

FACT CHECK: "Cash Flow"

Corporate America is sitting on $3.6 trillion in cash rather than investing it into jobs and Main Street.

FACT CHECK: "Worker Productivi­ty"

Not only is the USA #1 in the world for productivi­ty, but it continues to increase. We have standards, protection­s, labor rights, and work ethics. Workers and unions are NOT the problem in the USA.

FACT CHECK: "Consumer Confidence­"

We used to maintain high consumer confidence even as we swiped credit cards to the max and lived in homes we couldn't afford. We're seeing confidence collapsing­, but we're also seeing incredible debt reduction.

Households have reduced debt by $549 billion since 2007, including mortgages and massive credit card debt reduction.

FACT CHECK: "Competiti­ve CEOs"

Our CEOs get paid 300-400:1 against average workers. Our competitio­n?

Japan = 11:1
Germany = 12:1
France = 15:1
Italy = 20:1
Canada = 20:1
Britain = 22:1

Our main economic competitor is now China and their average CEO pay is $180,000.

The FINANCIAL economy is pulling away from the REAL economy... exploiting the USA.

America needs regulation to function properly

The GOP thinks Americans can and should take care of all of their problems, That is, each citizen, like an island, fends for himself in a world where the invisible hand of the market serves as regulator. Democrats believe something very different. They believe in the principles set out by President Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican and my second favorite President, in his 1910 speech in Osawatomie, Kan., and echoed by President Obama in his address there last week. That is America and Americans are better when citizens work together and watch out for each other, that cooperating protects and helps the individual and the country as a whole.

Republicans don't believe in that. They want to set up a country where every person is responsible for every aspect of daily life, from ensuring drinking water is safe to reducing workplace hazards. The GOP wants to shred regulations that protect citizens, even eliminate the federal agencies that enforce them. Congressional Republicans have worked to defund the Environmental Protection Agency, a move that would "empower" each citizen to persuade big industrial polluters to limit the particulates, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and lead belching from smokestacks. WE could do that ourselves right?  NOT!

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said he'd reverse laws forbidding child labor -- the same regulations Teddy Roosevelt endorsed to keep youngsters in classrooms and out of factories. In a nation deeply concerned about the quality of schools and the quantity of imported oil, GOP candidate Rick Perry plans to close the Education and Energy departments. Republican candidate Ron Paul would abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the organization citizens created to aid fellow Americans who fall victim to natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.

But that's just the point: Republicans don't believe Americans should help each other -- they should only help themselves. In the GOP view, greed and selfishness aren't sins. They're virtues.

The concept is citizens working together for their mutual benefit and the advancement of their nation. American citizenship is not, Roosevelt said in his New Nationalism Address in Osawatomie in 1910, all about individual enrichment: It is about country and our children’s future.

Both Presidents think the general public needs protection from big banks and corporations that are stealing from the wealth of this great nation. Together we are stronger and we need a rewarded hard working class.  That is the main point of the OWS movement. It is not about government handouts like the Fox media is trying to sell you. It is about a fair deal between corporations and workers. Who in their right mind can be against that kind of future for their own children Regulation is needed to protect the poor from the wealthy two headed monster

It's just common sense. ...

Climate change poses a serious threat to public health. This is just an undeniable fact that some Republicans want to overlook because of the lobby against Climate change and their money.

Rising temperatures are expected to have an impact on all aspects of the public health infrastructure from air and water quality to food safety.   A warmer atmosphere, for example, retains more water, increasing the likelihood of historically heavy rains, which can subsequently overwhelm treatment facilities and spread disease. Rising temperatures can also exacerbate smog, causing increased instances of respiratory illness, or alter the incidence of insect-borne diseases like Lyme, West Nile virus and others.

The largest waterborne disease outbreak in the United States -- in Milwaukee in 1993 I believe, was preceded by the heaviest rainfall in 50 years.  That event, an outbreak of the microscopic parasite cryptosporidium, resulted in 403,000 cases of intestinal illness, 54 deaths, and nearly $100 million in health-related costs.

While none of these events or can be directly tied to climate change, scientists note that events like these are certain to increase as average temperatures on the planet continue to rise. Do the wealthy care? Not really because they will have the money for quality Health Care for their children and grandchildren. That is what makes me so mad about stupid working people voting for these idiots.

Mind boggling inaction by our political leaders has led to virtually unfettered climate change and has increased the chances of catastrophic weather events that put the lives and livelihoods of every American at risk. This is not simply about saving the polar bears. Climate deniers must understand that this is about our economic viability as a country. Look at the drought devastation in Texas this year, and the effect that has had on everything from beef prices to Christmas tree stocks. And that was one single year. Imagine the entire future ahead of us filled with similar climate change-rel­ated disasters. Unfathomable.  Yes things seem alright now but when you can’t feed your hungry children it will be too late. As a parent it is your duty to educate yourself on this issue and not listen to political deniers and skeptics. The issue is so important that the life of the planet is at stake. Please wake up!

Even if you don't believe in global warming, doesn't it make sense to protect the planet from pollution? How can we think that there is no effect to the tons of pollution spewing into the air every day? One does not need to be a scientist to realize that the air and the oceans can only absorb so many toxins before it become toxic. We should be teaching children and adults to conserve, recycle and respect nature just because it is the right thing to do. It does not matter what political party you belong to. It's just common sense. ...

For what it's worth--by Buffalo Springfield 1967

For what it's worth--

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody'­s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Not much has changed has it?
The Government still treats civil disobedience the same way.... with violence.

Michelle my belle ( ding-dong)

Mrs. Bachmann recently stated that the OWS movement is composed of a bunch of freeloaders that want free stuff!  Look as this list of bailouts.

The corporations wanted and got bailed out. Now they and their American mouthpiece­s want the 99% to pay the price. The list of institutio­ns that received the most money from the Federal Reserve can be found on page 131 of the GAO Audit and are as follows...

Citigroup: $2.5 trillion ($2, 500, 00­0,000,000)

Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion ($2, 040,00­0,000,000)

Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion ($1, 949,00­0,000,000)

Bank of America: $1.344 trillion ($1,344, 00­0,000,000)

Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion ($868, 000, ­000,000)

Bear Sterns: $853 billion ($853, 000, ­000,000)

Goldman Sachs: $814 billion ($814, 000, ­000,000)

Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billion ($541, 000, ­000,000)

JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion ($391, 000, ­000,000)

Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion ($354, 000, ­000,000)

UBS (Switzerla­nd): $287 billion ($287, 000, ­000,000)

Credit Suisse (Switzerla­nd): $262 billion ($262, 000, ­000,000)

Lehman Brothers: $183 billion ($183, 000, ­000,000)

Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion ($181, 000, ­000,000)

BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion ($175, 000, ­000,000)

And many many more including banks in Belgium of all places.

The Occupy folks don't want others to pay for their stuff. They, as the rest of us in the 99% are tired of paying for the billionaire’s tax breaks and private jets and their privileged lives. It is WE who are paying. It is THEY whom you and your party are protecting from participat­ing in OUR efforts to rein in debt. You and your party believe we should pay for their financial security by reducing our financial security at the time in our lives when it's most needed by those NOT IN THE 1%. You seem to think we should underwrite their priveleges by having less medical coverage in our late years, less schooling for OUR kids while theirs get Legacy acceptence and don't require student loans.

Didn’t everyone think that with the bank bailouts to help get them out of debt would be passed on to their customers?  I thought that banks would use this money to restructure bad loans and help their customers keep their homes. Instead they put this money into the pockets of their employees and still foreclosed on people who had home loans through them. Fair? I blame our leaders for not requiring our banks to give every foreclosed home owner a new loan with fair and fixed interest rates.  The banks were using our tax money to solve their problems why not be fair to their customers?

What to do?

I have spent the weekend listening and watching our political leaders ,and their minions, try and crystalize their positions on issues.

I must admit that mine have changed slightly over my life.  Take abortion for example. I used to be pro-choice in my views most of my life. Although I have not become pro-life I have tempered my very complex position to one that I can live with. One that seems, to me, to make sense and .in my view, seems to solve most of the problems between the two sides. Basically though I am the same person, with the same core beliefs, that I had since I was 18 yrs. Old.

As I look as potential presidential hopefuls for the next four years I am disheartened.  President Obama seems to lack the leadership that he needs to move this country forward. He still has deep ties to the Wall Street Bankers that supplied him the money to win office the first time. I also feel that on some issues he looks at opinion polls instead of listening to his own heart.

As I look at Mitt Romney I see a person that has changed his positions on all important social issues during his life. That scares me when a person denies who he is because of political expediency. There seems to be a lack of character on display in this man and I feel ashamed for him.

Newt Gingrich seems to be a very disturbed person. He throws ideas out there without thinking of what he is saying. An example would be the Child Labor Laws passed to protect our children. He seems to care little for the poor children of America. He also worries me because he actually thinks he is smart and knows what is best for the rest of us while at the same time justifying a moral bankrupted life himself.

If asked to choose between these three people I will have to look at that long list of Presidential candidates and see if I can support someone else who has the country’s wellbeing at the forefront of their policy.  Do any of these people exist?  I just do not know. Honesty and leadership seem in short supply in our list of potential leaders. They all seem either crazy or fascinated with all the money thrown at them.  What to do?

Political thoughts of the day.

Many who may read this blog might think I am an Obama fan. I am not. I think he is lazy and not a very good leader. I think that when he extended the Bush Tax cuts he showed what he thinks of working people. I do not believe he is a supporter of the 99% and in some ways looks down on them.

He is no different than any other Senator.Congressman,or any other federal elected or appointed official. "WEALTHY"  They become so full of themselves that they can't understand what the average American has to go through to pay the bills when sick or to send their children to college when they have worked hard and deserve it.

Mr. Obama seems to revel in his role as President. He seems happy and to be enjoying his life. I do not respect him or his policies. Remember he did appoint all Wall Street men to run our economy and when they resigned he appointed more of the same. They seem to be running things not him.

I am very disappointed with him as President and the only thing that would convince me to vote for him again would be the thought of Newt Gingrich as President. 

Mandating Coverage ?

This whole debate on mandating coverage is so arcane...t­he vast, vast majority of republican­s who are arguing against the mandate HAVE INSURANCE, and their coverage is more expensive because of people who DON'T HAVE COVERAGE. So, on principle (supposedl­y--more likely on political grounds) they OPPOSE something that is to everyones' benefit--e­specially theirs--be­cause it's supposedly unconstitu­tional, but the only issue of unconstitu­tionality is in requiring someone to pay for insurance from a PRIVATE PROVIDER. There's all sorts of constituti­onal ways around this, one of which being a SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM, wherein it would be paid for by a TAX. Or by levying penalties, or posting a bond. In other words, there are all sorts of ways to get the money, its just a matter of what you want to call it, and the political price you pay for calling it whatever you choose to .

Let's be clear, before Obama passed the Affordable Care Act (that, for obvious reasons, the GOP prefers to call 'Obamacare­', because they hope people won't learn the fact that it essentially­ makes care more affordable­), MANY Republican­s strongly supported the individual mandate. Not only Romney, but also 2008 candidate John McCain, and many others. So the difference between the GOP and the Dems, when it comes to HC, has NOTHING to do with the individual mandate. The main difference between GOP and Dem proposals was and is that the Dems ALSO wanted a long list of mandates for health insurance companies, AND a lot of subsidies for people who couldn't afford to buy coverage, AND the same access to HC for families and small businesses as members of Congress have, whereas the GOP has always strongly opposed these things. Conclusion­: the GOP only uses the individual mandate to try to get support for a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, because what they actually want to repeal are the other 1999 pages of the bill ...

As one friend told me "don't mess with my health care"  He has good care provided through his wife and her high powered job. He could care less what problems others have.  This coward never even thinks about the problems his own children or other family members will face in the future.

Let me be clear. I feel that any Christian worth his or her salt should feel that health care is a right and a wish of the savior. What kind of person or Christian can you be if you care about your own care but not the care of others. I want my taxes not to go to wars or tax breaks but to the health care of my fellow citizens

It is a sin,in my opinion , to sell health care like care insurance.  People deserve better than that.

1945 to 1980 were the golden years for the middle class !

The Constitution of the United States was drafted in 1787, and included several provisions regarding slavery. Section 9 of Article I allowed the continued "importation" of such persons, Section 2 of Article IV prohibited the provision of assistance to escaping persons and required their return if successful and Section 2 of Article I defined other persons as "three-fifths" of a person for calculations of each state's official population for representation and federal taxation.[27] Article V prohibited any amendments or legislation changing the provision regarding slave importation until 1808, thereby giving the States then existing 20 years to resolve this issue.

This flaw in our Constitution allowed 100 years of free work by over 12,000,000 slaves stolen and kidnaped from their homeland. Can you imagine how much free labor this gave slave owners? 12 million workers foe over 100 years.  These slaves never worked 8hrs, a day either.

Slavery transformed America into an economic power. Enslaved men women and children labored to make millions for their masters-and apparently this tradition has continued to the present moment, despite the collapse of the pillars upon which this Republic was supposedly built.

 

Having made their fortunes in the deep south, planters turned their attentions to politics; becoming congressmen, governors and presidents. "Cotton and the slave-labor force that made the production of cotton possible were incredibly powerful economically and politically in the Nineteenth Century as in the Twenty-First Century-economic power translated into political power."

 

"In the seventy-two years between the election of George Washington and the election of Abraham Lincoln, fifty of those years see a slave-holder in the White House." It is the slave-holders who write the laws, it is slave-holders that adjudicate those laws; it is slave-holders that enforce those laws. "The United States is truly a slave-holding Republic."

 

In the north, though they had abandoned slave-labor in their own region, northerners were making huge profits from slavery. Cotton generated an extensive textile industry in New England. Insurance companies insured slaves as property (much as they do today, when corporations are allowed to insure their workers). "Many Wall Street firms got their start as middle-men in the cotton trade. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts called it [Wall Street] 'The Lords of the Loom and the Lords of the Lash." To survive slaves made families out of strangers, to replace what was no longer present by blood alone.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is just one family that made its fortune from slavery. There are too many to mention  I t is safe to say that many families that made their money from shipping, cotton tobacco, banking, ship building, textiles insurance, shoes and many others all made their fortunes  either directly or indirectly from slavery. The economy of this great country was built on slavery.

Even after slavery was abolished large companies found ways to make money from white immigrants. They had no homes of their own because with no job security and therefore no access to homes or schooling for their children.  Many died of treatable diseases because of a lack of healthcare. At the same time many wealthy families made more money than ever.

Then came the start of WWII. After the war came the magical 35 yrs. Of Union membership. The unions helped provide access to Public education. They elected Gov. Leaders that helped pass laws to aid and protect workers. They provided contracts with retirement, 40 hr. work weeks, paid vacations decent wages and health care policies. Unions banded together to help create the middle class. With Job security families could buy homes, cars and send their children to colleges.  The middle class was the American dream.

This lasted only 35 yrs. Until the election of Ronald Reagan. Regulations and Unions came under attack and have been in free fall since.  With this the middle class is in decline and Americans are being treated like slaves once again. The future looks dark and hopeless. Too bad that voters won’t wake up and vote in their own interest. They need to demand that money be taken out of politics. They need to vote for people who agree and represent the poor and declining middle class. If not, those were some 35 yrs, the so called golden yrs.

 

I have paid SSI taxes for my whole life.

I have paid SSI taxes for my whole life. I worked for two years slinging burgers for $.85 an hour. I worked in the United States Air Force for four years.  I also held side jobs during this time.  I worked in a meat packing plant for over a year. I worked at a school bus garage all through college and for two years after I started teaching school. I worked In a foundry for four years during my summers. I had my own carpet business for two years.   I paid between 5 to 10 % of my salary to SSI all this time. My employees also paid the same amount to match my contributions. I also paid 1.45% to medicare my whole working life with an employee match. This is my money and it was intended to provide a retirement check to the elderly when they retire.  The money is held in trust by a six member board.

Social Security contributions which are not needed to pay current benefits are invested in government securities which are required by law to have maturity dates with due regard to the needs of the trust funds. The government also pays interest to the trust funds, at a long term rate determined by law. The government uses the invested funds to finance other government spending. The government owes the money which the trust funds have loaned to it and the government will have to repay it as the securities come due. That is until this Congress passed legislation to allow them to default on their obligations. Never heard about that on your local news did you!

Many people think that Social Security tax contributions are held in individual interest bearing accounts earmarked for their retirement needs. Social Security is actually an intergenerational compact, in which the Social Security taxes of today's workers fund benefit payments for today's retirees. It is basically a pay-as-you-go system, but for the last decade, the trust funds have been building large reserves to help finance the retirement of the baby boom generation. By law, Social Security monies are invested in Treasury bonds. Social Security, in effect, loans money to the government, as does any other investor who buys Treasury bonds. And the government has always paid Social Security back with interest.

This debt is listed as part of the national debt.  Congress is trying to sell the American public on the idea that these funds will not be there for you and your children if cuts are not made. The Republicans are a bunch of lying ass holes.  The system is solvent until 2016 and if the Congress pays back the hard earned money they borrowed from the American workers it will be solvent until 2046.  If they really want to save it there are many easy fixes they can use.  The fact is that they have taken my and your hard earned money and are not going to pay it back.

If you are waiting for the media to make this clear to you, you will never see the day.  To pay back these loans they will have to raise taxes on the wealthy and to close tax loopholes.  Never never going to happen.  That is money I paid into the system and I want it paid back.

I am a Progressive and proud of it.

You may have heard some talking heads on TV telling you how bad Social Progressives are.  Here are some facts and you can make up your own mind.

The second Progressive movement was started by a Republican named Robert LaFollette.  He was trying to seek social and economic justice for all people.

Here are some of the reforms they championed:
1.  Civil Liberties
2.  Direct elections
3.  Fair taxes
4.  Conservation of resources
5.  Banking Reform
6.  Control of lobbyists
7.  The 17th amendment (direct election of Senators)
8.  8 hr. workday with overtime.
9.  Child Labor Laws
10 Public Education
11  19th. amendment ( womens right to vote)
12.  Trust Busting
Here a a partial list of some famous Progressives in the United States

Ben Franklin,Thomas Paine,Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Ralph Nader, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt,  Martin Luther King and finally Barack Obama.

As you can see these people were not against America or dangerous. They were trying to protect Americans against Corporations.

I felt that I needed to cover this issue again.  I have been listening to people call each other Democrats, Republicans,Conservatives.and liberals. These are the principles I believe in. I will vote for any candidate who espouses these principles.  I also take offense at anyone who would call me or any of these Progressives Socialists. I just proves how dumb they really are. I have also been accused of discussing politics on FB. I never waver from discussing issues and policies.  I could care less if a candidate is from one party or another. I care if politicians want to represent me or only voters that can give them money. I can't afford to give money to politicians so I want to now how they feel and vote on issues .

Please do not call people like me a Socialist. It is wrong and shows how uneducated you are on the definition of that movement. 

Flag and Church

I am an American. I was born here and feel fortunate to have grown up in the 50’s and 60’s when life seemed simple. I served my country four years as a radar repairman in the Air Force. Most of my time was spent on little isolated radar stations.

I have usually been proud of my country but do acknowledge the mistakes we have made in our short history. As Americans we have great freedoms that we need to protect and guard for our children and their children. I feel it is my duty to speak up when I see these freedoms attacked or weakened.

I have not been very happy the last three years since Obama was elected President. My negative feelings started when Obama was attacked for not wearing a flag pin. I thought ,really, you have to wear a flag pin to show your patriotism ?  My negative feelings continued when he was attacked for his religious practices. These feelings of mine came full circle when the president was criticized for not mentioning God  during his Thanksgiving address.

This is not the America I know. In My country respects freedom of speech and religion. One is not attacked because they do not follow the examples of the majority. My America encourages its citizens to decent and question authority.

I have noticed that many of my fellow citizens are scared to admit that they may not believe in Christianity as fervent as others. I have watched as people fall all over each other to convince their family,friends or employees that they are good Christians. I have received posts on FB that dare me not to repost religious sayings.  I also watch as my fellow citizens fly their American flags every day and profess their loyalty.

I am a good Christian and a loyal American.  I do not think that I owe it to anyone to prove this. My freedoms are very important to me and therefor I choose not to fly my flag in protest to our health care system. We are the only Major country that does not use the taxes of its citizens to  provide a national health care system. If fact our leaders are talking about taking away our Medicare system for the elderly.  I will not go to church until our religious leaders demand access to good health care for all Americans. They ask for their 10% though.

I will live my life according to the teachings of Christ and with the liberties given to me by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

I expect to be judged in a neg. way, by my fellow citizens. I just don’t care. I choose to protest in my own small way.  Will not fly the flag or attend any church until my rights and the needs of the sick  are respected.

In My America a person should not battle illness and have to worry about bills from so called health care providers.

Why I support the 99% and the OWS movement.

1.  No other country pays their executives like American companies. Look at Toyota. They have been kicking Ford's butts for decades and yet the Toyota CEO was paid $900,000 in 2008 and Ford's got $187 MILLION! What makes us think we can have a sustainabl­e economy if we're paying our CEOs 200% more than the foreign competitor­s that are out performing them? Japan has a 30% flat corp tax and we all know American corps aren't paying anywhere close to the 35% corp rate after all their Bush Tax Cuts. Japan also has free basic medical care for it's people, yet we keep hearing the corporate whiners claiming taxes are killing them and they need less regulation­. What a load of BS! I'm crying a river for the rich man.

2.  "Job creators" is the second biggest lie ever perpetrate­d on the American public, right behind "Trickle-d­own" economics. Of course, the goals of both are the same: Enrich the rich and obliterate democracy.

3.  There are lots of people who still have jobs, and homes and cars and whose kids are in college etc. who do not, yet, consider themselves hard done by. That is mainly because to date they have some isolation from the economic downturn. Their turn will come and they will join those protesting­, if not in body at least in mind. Eventually the movement will develop a common goal and focus on achieving that goal. When they have the organizati­on and support necessary to call say a national strike and have it happen, then they will become a power and politicall­y minded people (shudder) will flock to their banner. Not until. Fragmentat­ion, divide and conquer remain the strength behind the establishm­ent an a myriad of issues currently hold sway.

4.  I feel sometimes like those in the middle class don't actually comprehend the kind of wealth enjoyed at the very top... they see the Kardhashia­n's and the Paris Hiltons, and they believe this is the top. But they never see the super yachts (larger than many military vehicles) - with the heli-pads on top; the private islands, the 20 homes scattered around the globe... nor do they have the experience to know that frankly, the more money one makes the less work one actually performs.

5.  If you work hard and go to school you may feel insulated from these issues. I promise you that soon you will see the light when your middle class lifestyle is gone. The American dream used to be accomplished by hard work and sacrifice. Not anymore. Soon all of the middle class will become worker bees and like it.  Who cares if a few lazy people support OWS. The goals of OWS are to protect the middle class working Americans. They do not want to save social programs like welfare. Their aim is to save programs that workers already have their money invested in like Medicare and SSI.  I know some of you feel safe and insulated from bad times but just wait and see what the future holds for you. America is still a wealthy country and it is not too late to fix these economic problems. Soon it will be.  We need to get our health care spending under control and pay people a fair wage for their work. We don't need food stamps and welfare programs. We need to stop the income gap from getting larger. There is only so much of a pie to go around.

The supercommittee negotiations have failed.

 The supercommittee negotiations have failed. Why? Because Republicans simply REFUSED to make billionaires and big corporations lift even one finger to help reduce the debt. In fact, they’re demanding TAX CUTS for their biggest benefactors, the top 1%.

Instead, here’s who Republicans think should shoulder the burden: Seniors on Medicare. Middle class families who want to send their children to college. Every American receiving Social Security. The unemployed and all those who are suffering the most in this economy.

There’s no other word for it but disgraceful. Democratic senators won’t stand for it. I won’t stand for it. And I know you won’t, either. It’s time to unite with one clear voice and demand that Republicans stop putting the wealthy at the head of the line.

We’ve ended up at this stalemate because these radicalized Republicans refuse to deal. If we don’t stand our ground now – and if we allow them to take the Senate in 2012 – we will lose our ability to stop them from unraveling our social safety net right out from under the Americans whose lives depend on it.

That’s why we’re speaking out, and saying “no more. It’s time for Republicans to listen to the vast majority of Americans and stop putting billionaires before the rest of the country. Americans need to support OWS and make their demands known at the ballot box this year. People must come out and vote their own interests or the American dream will be put on hold for generations. Your children will suffer as living and working conditions will revert back to the 20's.

This issue is that important folks. This is no time to vote a Party line. The Republican position on these issues are transparent in their aim to support and protect the wealthy. Stand up now before it is too late. Your children and grandchildren will either remember your courage or lament your stupidity.

Wallmart sucks

Wallmart,

I know that I have called Wallmart evil in the past and I plan on doing so again on the eve of a day of thanks. I have no thanks for Wallmart moving into my community.  They treat their workers like slaves.  I could write about all the wrongs done to employees but would rather go in another direction in this blog.

Wallmart keeps its prices low by using a couple of different practices.  They pressure  suppliers to keep pri !ces low or they will not carry their product in their stores. Many suppliers are able to meet Wallmarts demand by making products of cheaper materials. Let me give you an example.  Hanes makes a t-shirt with a lay flat collar. The shirt Hanes sells in Wallmart ,at a cheaper price, must be made from cheaper materials than the one they make for other stores like Penneys,  I found this out by buying shirts from both places. There is a big price difference but Wallmart’s t-shirts do not hold up as well. The ones from Penney’s or Kohls, seem to be made from better materials. Tires are another example, Firestone and Goodyear sell tires at Wallmart that look the same and have the same name as their best sellers but are not the same. They are made from cheaper materials. Ask your local tire dealer.

I have no proof but I have heard that Wallmart also sells outdated computers in new shells in order to make more money. They also deal with companies that use child labor to produce inferior products.

I would not trust anything sold at Wallmart. Customers have no idea what they are buying or where it comes from. Wallmare is simply a new looking junk store.  I would not even trust a coffee cup bought at that store let alone food products.

I once asked an employee if they carried bike chain lube for my bike. They said no and could not order any because they did no ordering but just sold what was delivered to their store.

Fracking Ohio

Fracking in Ohio has become an issue because of  Marcellus Shale. These companies pay a huge amount of money to the mineral rights to a piece of land. They pay anywhere from $100,000 to $250.000 for farm land between 50 and 100 acres. This is usually a negotiated one time lump sum payment to the land owner. 

Next they divide the land in 650 acre sections to drill in. Fracking is a practice of drilling down then sideways under the property of others. A lot of dangerous chemicals are used to pump this gas out.

If your land lies anywhere in this 650 acre plot you are entitled to royalties equal to the percent of land you own.  Once a well starts producing a land owner of a plot about the size of a 75 acre farm could receive royalty payments as high as $3,000 to $5,000 a month for as long as 10 to 15 yrs.

If you own a small farm you could be in line to receive as much as $250,000 to $500,000 for your gas rights.  This anmount of money is too large for most residents of Columbiana County to pass up. Most farmers are not thinking about their water table of the future of the water in their area. The promise of money has blinded them.


I just hope we all don't have to pay for their greed.  Time will  tell.

Looking back at History.

I have not written a blog in a while because I felt all tapped out. As I watch the Republican debates I wonder if my recall of recent history is real or a figment of my imagination ? 

Didn’t President Bush destroy a balanced budget by giving out tax cuts to everyone?

Didn’t President Bush start two wars without paying for them?

Didn’t President Bush tell the public that the economy was sound and two weeks later tells Congress that the economy was in danger of complete collapse?

Didn’t President Bush insist on the Tarp bailout to save the banking system from a complete collapse?

Did I remember these events correct or not?

Enter President Obama full of hope and change.

Didn’t the Republicans refuse to vote for any bills that the Democratic Party sponsered?

Didn’t the Republican leaders state that their main goal was not to help the country but to make Obama a one term President?

The Republicans have refused to talk about any bill or budget that would both, raise taxes and cut spending. They refuse to acknowledge that their party played a big part in the mess our economy is in. They would rather protect the wealthy than the working middle class. How can voters agree with them? I find it hard to believe that voters support a party that wants to cut programs paid for by pay role taxes like SSI or Medicare.  Medicare has not raised its 1.45% tax on workers since it started. Since that time medical costs have risen 10 times faster then  workers pay. Why does the Republican party blame the program instead of high medical costs? 

The Republic Party has been on a 65 year quest to get rid of SSI and a 50 yr. quest to destroy Medicare.  The fact is that the wealthy do not want to pay any amount to these programs to help the masses. They love their money way too much and resent poor or working families. They wonder why they deserve anything except a paycheck. A public education for everyoue ?  They ask Why.

Is this the kind of society that good Christians really foresee in the future?  If the elderly could not afford their health care in 1962 how can they afford them today without these programs?

Is this problem that hard to understand or am I just too idealistic? Can't we just fix these programs?  Didn't Rpnald Reagan fix SSI with a modest tax increase?

I causes me wonder that Republicans blame Obama for all the problems we face today when the past President and Congress caused their share of them. Instead of trying to help the President they are trying to make it worse and blame everything on him.  The history on this issue is not that old and I find it offensive that people today choose to overlook the past and blame all problems on Obama.

I also find it hard to be around or even have a discussion with morons that hate so much and can’t see the forest through the trees.  Sometimes I just want to say to them that it is not political but historical.  The facts are the facts. These people give no credit to Obama and no blame to Bush. Are we all Americans or menbers of just a Political Party ?

J T must go.

A judge should maintain and enforce high standards of conduct and should personally observe those standards, so that the integrity and independen­ce of the judiciary may be preserved. 
A judge should not: solicit funds for, pay an assessment to, or make a contributi­on to a political organizati­on or candidate, or attend or purchase a ticket for a dinner o other event sponsored by a political organizati­on or candidate. (From: CODE OF CONDUCT FOR rUNITED STATES JUDGES)

How independen­t can a judge be in cases that directly affect Koch industries­, if his inept wife received $ $680.000 from a Koch-funde­d organizati­on for basically doing nothing? If the US justice system has wants to maintain an ounce of integrity, Thomas needs to go. 

 

How can a man of the Court hold a grudge that long?  He must have a serious character flaw that makes me believe Miss Hill.

 

 

Let's fix our problems. Social Security.

Social Security. The Social Security program faces a long term financing shortfall. The trust fund’s reserves are currently projected to cover payments until the end of 2037.


Increase worker and employer contributions. Workers and their employers currently pay 6.2 percent of earnings up to $106,800 into the Social Security system, or a maximum of $6,622 each per year. Self-employed workers are required to pay 12.4 percent of pay up to the same cap. If the contribution rate were increased by 1.1 percent to 7.3 percent of earnings, Social Security’s projected deficit would be eliminated. Using this fix, a worker making $43,451 in 2010 would face a tax increase of $478 a year, or $9.19 a week, and the employer would face an identical increase.

Boost future contributions. Taxes don’t need to be increased immediately because there is currently enough money in the Social Security trust fund to pay out scheduled benefits. For example, the Social Security tax bite could be increased from 6.2 percent to 7.2 percent for workers and employers in 2022, and to 8.2 percent in 2052, which would also completely eliminate the shortfall. Alternatively, taxes could be gradually ramped up by 1/20 percent annually for 20 years, which would decrease the Social Security deficit by about 69 percent.

Modify the Social Security tax cap. Workers pay into the Social Security system on earnings up to $106,800 in 2010. About 83 percent of worker earnings were subject to Social Security payroll taxes in 2008. If all earned income above $106,800 annually were subject to Social Security contributions but did not count toward benefits, Social Security’s projected deficit would be completely eliminated. If the higher income counted toward Social Security benefits, about 95 percent of the shortfall would be absolved. Other ideas: apply a new Social Security formula to earnings above the current cap or raise the amount of the income cap to apply to 90 percent of all worker earnings.

Veterans Day

The conservative claim that most youth enlist due to patriotism and the desire to "serve one's country" is misleading. The Pentagon's own surveys show that something vague and abstract called "duty to country" motivates only a portion of enlistees.

The vast majority of young people wind up in the military for different reasons, ranging from economic pressure to the desire to escape a dead-end situation at home to the promise of citizenship.

Over all, disenfranchisement may be one of the most accurate words for why some youth enlist.

When mandatory military service ended in 1973, the volunteer military was born. By the early 1980s, the term "poverty draft" had gained belief  the belief that the enlisted ranks of the military were made up of young people with limited economic opportunities. 

Recruiters may not explicitly target "the poor," but there is mounting evidence that they target those whose career options are severely limited. According to a 2007 Associated Press analysis, "nearly three-fourths of [U.S. troops] killed in Iraq came from towns where the per capita income was below the national average. More than half came from towns where the percentage of people living in poverty topped the national average."

I will not bring up race in this discussion but it is a part of it. When I enlisted I did so because of limited options. It was either join or be drafted.  I had no money for a higher education or any pull for a guard appointment.

You can thank a vet today but I would have felt a lot better if all of able youth would have been made to join the military to serve their country.  Military people serving 7 or 8 tours is a sin. I think most vets got the short end of the stick and the rest of you got off Scott free.  I have two family members that got deferment after deferment to stay out of serving in the 60's. I have two family members serving that never completed High school. Something is wrong here. So today  don't thank me for serving 4 yrs. because I had no choise.

 . I just wish all citizens my age would have had to carry more of the load. The same is true of today.  Very few wealthy patriots are doing any thing but making more money off of these wars. Don't thank Veterans today but give them a job.or help in some way. They carried the load for the rest of you. I was given the GI Bill that helped pay for most of my school. Thanks for that.

SB 5 may be dead but the dream lives on.Beware!

As happy as I personally am about the results last night, I seem to recall a certain "shellacking­" the Dems took in the mid-terms, leading me to believe that this country is suffering some kind of Bipolar voting disorder.

Everyone has become so reactionar­y, which is ultimately the result of people being terrified. They vote for whomever or whatever seems to have the "answer" in that given moment, rather than realizing that silver bullets are only for werewolves­. Face it folks, this is going to be rough for a very long time and all of you would do well to support logical legislatio­n, rather than reacting to whichever direction the pendulum swings tomorrow.

I would like to remind my teacher friends that the Devil still runs the state and the fallen Angels still run the Legislature. They can close and consolidate schools if they want to. Do not think you have won. Be vigilant and keep up the good fight for what is right. Remember the 99% is still fighting for all of us. Please support them.

Ohioans should recall this servant of the rich governor Kasich. You can be sure he will come up with another push to decimate collective bargaining for government employees and then onto reducing wages for the employees of corporatio­ns. With reduce government cost, then the state can give more tax cuts to the rich. What a perfect cycle of deceit for the 99%.

Lady Liberty is standing a lot taller tonight!

Fracking Poses Risks in Ohio.

In their quest to expand in the state, the oil and gas industry in Ohio is quick to say that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is safe and has little impact on the environment. However, some in the state are concerned that Ohio’s gas drilling regulations aren’t strong enough to ensure people there won’t see the same type of water contamination problems that have plagued the industry elsewhere.

n July 2009, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Ohio’s laws governing gas drilling were among the most lenient in the nation. Since then the state legislature passed Senate Bill 165, the first comprehensive overhaul of drilling regulations in 25 years. However, critics of the new law, which meets the approval of the oil and gas lobby, complain that it does not do enough to protect public health and the environment.

It is up to states to regulate hydraulic fracturing, thanks to the so-called “Halliburton Loophole.” This loophole, which exempts fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, was included in the 2005 Energy Act. It was pushed by then-Vice President Dick Cheney, once head of Halliburton, a major player in the fracking



 Some Facts About Fracking:

• Drillers are exempt from EPA guidelines like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act
• Drilling releases Nitrogen Oxide and Volatile Organic Compounds, resulting in destructive surface smog. In fact, In the drilling rig-studded Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming, levels of smog-forming ozone reached 123 parts per billion earlier this year—worse than the worst day in Los Angeles all last year.
• Researchers have found almost 600 different chemicals in fracking fluid, including benzene, a known carcinogen
• Over 80,000 pounds of the fracking fluid are injected into the earth's crust to frack each well. Wells can be fracked over a dozen times during the production cycle.
• Up to 80% of the Fracking Fluid remains in the ground and is not biodegradable
• Injection wells to dispose of contaminated fracking water in Arkansas were linked to hundreds of recent earthquakes and ordered to shut down.

Are large land owners in Ohis selling our health and safe drinking water down the drain just to make a a little cash? Will our drinking water be in daanger from all these wells. Are the series of new earthquakes in Ohio a being caused by this drilling?

T Boone Pickens is a big proponent of this drilling and is also the largest owner of clean water in America. Can anyone put two and two together !

The men behind the war on women.

I remember when one of the most virelently expressed arguments against JFK being elected was that he, as a Catholic, would "do the Pope's bidding."

Times have changed. But only on the surface.

Because there's no difference between Catholic Bishops and "Christian­" evangelica­ls doing their best to make women "barefoot and pregnant" again....o­r Wall Street doing the same thing to workers.

Like most giant, controllin­g institutio­ns, the Catholic Church is about power and money. Look at the real motives of the institutio­ns that try to control people, not just women, and it's always about power and money. They say it's about "freedom" or "decency" or "the will of God" but dig down below the bull and you'll find.....t­he desire to get, or keep, power and money.

Abortion is a personal decision involving a woman's right to her own reproducti­ve system. It is not the role of government to determine specific morality - but to uphold the Constituti­on. The right of a women to privacy has been upheld by the Supreme Court - and is not the premise of lawmakers to take that right away. Since when can religious lobbyists decide what a woman may do with her body? We have turned the clock back nearly forty years, and it is horrifying to see where this country is going. Enough. Just enough.

I can't stand to see men of God ,who allow and protect child molesters, point their fingers at woman and tell them what they must do. Most of these men are ignorant on the subject of sex and contraception any way.

I vote for stupid.

The Congressional Budget Office reported this week, the average real income of the top 1 percent grew by an astounding 275 percent. And that is after payment of the taxes that the superrich and their Republican  find so unfair.

Those three decades of  greed unleashed by the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s will be marked by future historians recording the death of the American dream. In that decisive historical period the middle class began to evaporate and the nation’s income gap increased to alarming proportions. “As a result of that uneven growth,” the CBO explained, “the distribution of after-tax household income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979: The share of income accruing to higher-income households increased, whereas the share accruing to other households declined. ... The share of after-tax household income for the 1 percent of the population with the highest income more than doubled. ...”

No wonder, since it was the bankers and the lawyers serving them who managed to end the sensible government regulations that contained their greed. The undermining of those regulations began during the Reagan presidency, and so it is not surprising that, as the CBO reports, “the compensation differential between the financial sector and the rest of the economy appears inexplicably large from 1990 onward.” .

In the face of the evidence that class inequality had been rising sharply in the United States even before the banking-induced recession, it would seem that the Occupy Wall Street protests are a quite measured and even timid response to the crisis.

Maybe justice will prevail despite the suffering that the 1 percent has inflicted on the foreclosed and the jobless. But to date those who have seized 40 percent of the nation’s wealth still control the big guns in this war of classes.

I fear not because every politician,even Obama, Owes their political power to Wall Street money.  I see no future for Americans except to take it or fight back. These Wall Street Protesters will  get hammered in the press until they give up .  No Large group of Americans will stand up for what is fair because they are either too complacent or too  stupid.

Texas Tea !

The embassy compound in Iraq is by far the largest the world has ever seen, at one and a half square miles, big enough for 94 football fields. It cost three quarters of a billion dollars to build . I was thinking of writing a big blog on the reason for this but I can sum it up in five words. Black Gols,Texas Tea,Oil. Why waste my time.

United States Air Force.

I remember July 17^th.very well. It was the day I was leaving for the United States Air Force.  I joined the Air Force instead of waiting to report on my draft day.  My dad took me to Lisbon Ohio where a bus was waiting at the court house to take me to Cleveland Ohio. A group of about ten boys were met  by local church women who gave each of us a small Bible, a cheap razor,and a pack of chewing gum.  The bus ride took about two hours and delivered us to the famous Terminal Tower in Cleveland.

We were processed for a couple of hours and sworn in. All we were allowed to bring were the cloths on our back. We were to catch a plane that night but trouble was brewing in Cleveland and we were sent to a Hotel for one night. That night turned into three because we found ourselves in the middle of the Huff Area race riots. We spent three days in dirty cloths and were not allowed to leave the Hotel.

On the fourth day we ,somehow, were transported to the air port to board a plane for San Antonio Texas the site of basic training.  It was not a straight through flight though. We stopped in Detroit and another four stops before arriving In  Texas.  24hrs. later

We arrived at Lackland AFB after a 24 hr. flight including layovers.  We were bused to our base and issued winter field jackets from WWII.  WE stood at attention for over an hour until we were led to our barracks.  We finally received some sleep after 48 hrs. of being awake.

The build up to the Viet Nam war left a shortage of supplies. That meant no uniforms for another seven days. We still had to wear the clothes we had on our backs that we had when we left Lisbon almost two weeks before.  I actually spent the first week wondering what a big mistake I made and eating anything they put in front of me. I wish I could tell you things got better but it took a while for that to happen. I did enjoy the day they cut my hair off because the weather was hot,hot,hot. That felt good.  I did not enjoy showering with 60 other guys and they made you shave every day whether you needed it or not.

I was an experience That I did not enjoy but it went fast and after rounds of testing I was sent to Keesler AFB in Mississippi for a year of electronic training.  These two states ,Texas and Mississippi are two states I never will return to for any reason.

Class Warfare or a Revolution ?

Recently An old man from our town wrote a letter for the Editor of the paper decrying the evil Wall Street Protesters. What do these dirty people want he asked?  He stated that they were nothing like the Tea Party he belongs to . The Tea Party,he says , have nice quiet gatherings calling for less Gov.and lower taxes. I have a few answers for him in this post especially about class warfare. I would really like to address his point about the Tea Party's goal of keeping allegiance to the Constitution. A little lesson is needed here.

It is only class warfare with the rich that feel feel threatened­. They have bought our government out from under us so that it is no longer representa­tive of the people it governs. they have made our government tyrants giving the bankers and mortgage lenders and hedge fund managers all of the common treasure collected from all of the people.

This isn't just "class war", this is a revolution­. It is time to throw out the obsolete and corrupt and non responsive government and replace it with one that represents the INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS of this country again!!!!

We hold these truths to be self-evide­nt, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienabl­e Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Government­s are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructiv­e of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government­, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

Who wrote that ? Thomas Jefferson fron the Declaration of Independence. He is often spoken as one of our six founding fathers. Then again what does he know compared to a Tea Party Menber.