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.