The Republicans, in their zeal to reshape our country into the image in which they think it should be, have targeted a number of "Whipping Boy" issues. These include environmental protection, planned parenthood, Medicare, no new taxes (or even keeping some of the existing ones), and Social Security. Each of these needs protecting, particularly Medicare and Social Security.
Every American Citizen with a regular job pays a portion of their wags into funds set aside for Social Security and Medicare. These funds in turn support monthly payments to older and/or disabled citizens in the form of a monthly check. The people receiving these checks have, in turn, paid into the Medicare and Social security funds for decades during their working years. If a person who is receiving a Social Security check also is still working, they pay additional monthly amounts into these two funds.
I know many of you are saying, "I already know this, so why are you telling it to me?" I am mentioning it because the Republicans are making a concentrated effort to greatly weaken Social Security or eliminate it all together. Consider what Presidential candidate Rick Perry recently said. Yes I know, Perry is not anywhere close to being the brightest bulb in the light fixture (didn't we just get rid of a president from Texas with a similar comprehension problem?), but his words do reflect the thinking of a great many Republicans. He said: "Social Security is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie. ... It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them."
I will hate myself in the morning for saying this, but in spite of his ridiculous words, he is correct about one thing. The current Social Security program will not be there long term unless a few basic changes are made. More about that in a moment.
All retirement age generation have used Social Security to cushion the fact of not having a regular working man or woman's income anymore. For some it is their only income, while for others it is a needed supplement to their pension or investment income. For all but the very wealthy, it fills a vital need in a retired person's quality of life.
History shows us that the Republicans have always hated Social Security, dragging their feet on this issue as far back as when it was first voted into existence. To them it is socialism, and to a degree they are right, in that one generation funds the retirement of an older generation and then, in turn, some future, younger generation funds their retirement, and so on. While this is not socialism in the strictest since, it does contain elements of that philosophy. In spite of the Republican rhetoric to the contrary, partial socialism for the good of great segments of the population is not bad, nor evil. Remember, it is called "Social" Security
History has many yardsticks by which to judge a particular civilization. One of those yardsticks is how well they provide for their people. Does a government simply discarded the sick and the elderly, or do they offer programs and system that assist the financial burdens of these groups? Social security and Medicare are the right thing for a country to do. No other justification is necessary.
Now, as for the increased funding that Social Security will require....there is a very simple way to boost the reserves of this program, and that is to collect the Social Security tax on all wages of all US citizens. Currently, that tax is only withheld from the first $106,800 of a person's yearly earnings. There are certainly other ways to make the wealthy pay their fair share of the expenses of running our country, but increasing the Social Security withholding to cover all wages is a good start.
Finally, consider what Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had to stay on the subject In an op-ed piece, that has been published in many U.S. newspapers, Sanders wrote, "As corporations over the last 30 years destroyed the retirement dreams of millions of older workers by eliminating defined-benefit pension plans, Social Security was there paying full benefits. When Wall Street greed and recklessness caused working people to lose billions in retirement savings, Social Security was there paying full benefits.
Showing posts with label mental health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental health. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
The Crazies Are Among Us
Maybe it's just me, or maybe it the greater communication pathways open to the world in the last ten to fifteen years, but more than ever, it looks like the crazies are not only running wild, but growing in number. Here's a sampling.
Nut job Harold Camping held a news conference on May 23rd. Of course the 23rd was a day that wasn't supposed to happen since 'ole Harold predicted the world would come to an end on May 21st. When it did not, Harold disappeared for a day and then re-emerged on the 23rd to say that his calculations had been wrong and that the world would actually come to an end on October 21st of this year. Harold didn't just predict that the world would end on May 21st, he spent one million dollars advertising this off the wall prediction through billboards and by other means. By the way, he didn't just predict that the 21st of May was the day the world would end, he further refined that by saying it would happen at 6:00 PM EST (daylight savings time, of course).
Before we fall on the floor, holding our sides and laughing at Harold, we should consider the terrible heartache and suffering Harold's prediction cause to those who were taken in by him. His latest predictions resulted in chaos among his followers and others who believed him. Some quit their jobs, others sold all their possessions before the rapture date, and one mother tried to kill her two children. If Harold isn't the wacko to date for 2011, he is certainly a strong contender for that honor.
Then there is this quote, which appeared recently in the Huffington Post.
"On fringe sites around the web, a new conspiracy theory is being cultivated: the Jan. 8 shootings in Tucson, Arizona that took the lives of six and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), never actually took place."
This, in spite of the great number of people who were killed or wounded by the deranged gunman. The main architect behind this conspiracy theory is a man named Ed Chiarini. This Harold Camping wannabe claims that the whole shooting story is a government hoax and that all participants were actors from either the Tuscon area or Hollywood.
To further compound the tragedy for the families of the victims (and some of the wounded themselves, who have since recovered), followers of this conspiracy theory showed up at their homes demanding to see photos of the incident and claiming they don't believe it ever happened, adding salt to the wounds of grief stricken family members and survivors.
Finally, we have the latest from the Tea Party. Hey, when nut jobs are mentioned, can the Tea Party be far behind? Here's a quote from TV Weekly Magazine:
"The Tea Party Patriots, Georgia-based but claiming 1,000 chapters nationally, are instructing members to remind teachers that a 2004 federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons the week of Sept. 17, commemorating the day the document was signed. And they'd like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.
The center's founder, W. Cleon Skousen, once called Jamestown's original settlers communists, wrote end-of-days prophecy and suggested Russians stole Sputnik from the United States. In 1987, one of his books was criticized for suggesting American slave children were freer than white non-slaves."
Here's another crazy claiming the end of the world (move over, Harold), God wrote the constitution, the Russians stole Sputnik from the US (perhaps from area 51?), slave children were actually the freest of all children, and anyone who who falls into his disfavor is a communist. How the Jamestown settlers offended him is a mystery to me.
In years past some self-proclaimed prophet clad in a dirty white robe and sandals might stand on a park bench and proclaim to the world that Betty White was the Antichrist, or that the sun actually revolved around the earth, but by and large, they were small-time and harmless. Now, with the Internet, email, text messaging, social networks, smart phones, up to the minute 24 hour TV news, and the rest, these village idiots have risen to the level of a major, and sometimes dangerous, nuisance.
Technology is not the problem, but the use of technology for the purpose of deception, spreading lies, and fear mongering seems to be a growing problem. Of course, those who accept at face value these outlandish claims also bear a large part of the responsibility for not separating what is feasible and logical from what is not. P.T. Barnum has been proven right, once again.
Whatever news source you prefer, more stories of new crazies are sure to appear before too long. They are, unfortunately, part of the world in which we live.
Nut job Harold Camping held a news conference on May 23rd. Of course the 23rd was a day that wasn't supposed to happen since 'ole Harold predicted the world would come to an end on May 21st. When it did not, Harold disappeared for a day and then re-emerged on the 23rd to say that his calculations had been wrong and that the world would actually come to an end on October 21st of this year. Harold didn't just predict that the world would end on May 21st, he spent one million dollars advertising this off the wall prediction through billboards and by other means. By the way, he didn't just predict that the 21st of May was the day the world would end, he further refined that by saying it would happen at 6:00 PM EST (daylight savings time, of course).
Before we fall on the floor, holding our sides and laughing at Harold, we should consider the terrible heartache and suffering Harold's prediction cause to those who were taken in by him. His latest predictions resulted in chaos among his followers and others who believed him. Some quit their jobs, others sold all their possessions before the rapture date, and one mother tried to kill her two children. If Harold isn't the wacko to date for 2011, he is certainly a strong contender for that honor.
Then there is this quote, which appeared recently in the Huffington Post.
"On fringe sites around the web, a new conspiracy theory is being cultivated: the Jan. 8 shootings in Tucson, Arizona that took the lives of six and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), never actually took place."
This, in spite of the great number of people who were killed or wounded by the deranged gunman. The main architect behind this conspiracy theory is a man named Ed Chiarini. This Harold Camping wannabe claims that the whole shooting story is a government hoax and that all participants were actors from either the Tuscon area or Hollywood.
To further compound the tragedy for the families of the victims (and some of the wounded themselves, who have since recovered), followers of this conspiracy theory showed up at their homes demanding to see photos of the incident and claiming they don't believe it ever happened, adding salt to the wounds of grief stricken family members and survivors.
Finally, we have the latest from the Tea Party. Hey, when nut jobs are mentioned, can the Tea Party be far behind? Here's a quote from TV Weekly Magazine:
"The Tea Party Patriots, Georgia-based but claiming 1,000 chapters nationally, are instructing members to remind teachers that a 2004 federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons the week of Sept. 17, commemorating the day the document was signed. And they'd like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.
The center's founder, W. Cleon Skousen, once called Jamestown's original settlers communists, wrote end-of-days prophecy and suggested Russians stole Sputnik from the United States. In 1987, one of his books was criticized for suggesting American slave children were freer than white non-slaves."
Here's another crazy claiming the end of the world (move over, Harold), God wrote the constitution, the Russians stole Sputnik from the US (perhaps from area 51?), slave children were actually the freest of all children, and anyone who who falls into his disfavor is a communist. How the Jamestown settlers offended him is a mystery to me.
In years past some self-proclaimed prophet clad in a dirty white robe and sandals might stand on a park bench and proclaim to the world that Betty White was the Antichrist, or that the sun actually revolved around the earth, but by and large, they were small-time and harmless. Now, with the Internet, email, text messaging, social networks, smart phones, up to the minute 24 hour TV news, and the rest, these village idiots have risen to the level of a major, and sometimes dangerous, nuisance.
Technology is not the problem, but the use of technology for the purpose of deception, spreading lies, and fear mongering seems to be a growing problem. Of course, those who accept at face value these outlandish claims also bear a large part of the responsibility for not separating what is feasible and logical from what is not. P.T. Barnum has been proven right, once again.
Whatever news source you prefer, more stories of new crazies are sure to appear before too long. They are, unfortunately, part of the world in which we live.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Guns, Hate Speech, and Those Poor Tea Party People On Social Security.
I had intended to write more frequent blog entries here, but my silence has been deliberate and self imposed. After the attempt on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords life, the murder of six and the wounding of many in Tuscon on January 8th, everyone, left, right, or in the middle, who could uses a word processor, typewriter (any of those still around?), or a quill dipped in ink had something to write about those events. I choose to let the dust settle before commenting. I did so, as I wanted to think about and weigh all the events which had transpired, as well as what had been said in the wake of those events.
Almost immediately after the shootings, many on the left said the gunman was driven my harsh gun related rhetoric from the right. The right countered by saying that they were only exercising their free speech rights and that nothing they said was ever a trigger for an individual's actions. I thought about this a bit before realizing that both the left and right were wrong.
The gunman that caused all the carnage in Tucson, is a demented, nut case, who was driven by inner forces far worse than the words of the right. He slipped through life without ever receiving the mental health treatment he needed, and passed the background check required of all (OK, all except at gun shows) gun purchasers. More than the words from the right, our mental health system, and the inadequate information in our firearms background check procedure are more to blame.
So, while the right may be off the hook for this one, that by no means is the end of the story. Their public uttering of "reload", "in our cross hairs", "2nd amendment solutions" and other words of hate and thinly veiled calls for violence have been, and will no doubt will be in the future, just the catalyst to push some wild eyed, un-informed zealots over the edge to commit violent acts. All the right's denials to the contrary, their repeated words of hate do have an effect on violent acts in our nation.
As do you all, I wish only the best for congresswoman Giffords in her fight to recover.
Speaking of congress, the house is now controlled by the Republicans, but I'm guessing you already knew that. I have already discussed with you their plan to undo the advantages of the new health care laws. Now, they have set their sights on Social Security. Their main tactic is telling us that Social Security is broke, when in fact, it is not. Social security has enough funds and resources to pay out every dollar that will be owed for the next twenty eight years. It is far from broke. Sometime in that twenty eight year period, changes will have to be made so that Social Security may continue long into this decade.. An obvious fix is to raise the ceiling on the amount of a person's income on which social security tax can be collected, but I will leave that to the Democrats and Republican's to duke it out over.
The Republicans hate the Social Security system, and would like to phase it out entirely. They don't like the government giving seniors a helping hand, a helping hand I might point out, which these same seniors have been paying into all of their working life. Instead of Social Security, they want people to invest in the stock market for their retirement. This logic is great for wall street, but turns into silly putty when you consider that (1) many people would not do so, and (2) the market is subject to many external forces, which means it has great highs and lows, which means if you happen to retire at the wrong time, too bad for you.
Consider this. Social Security has worked, as planned, for seventy five years. Before Social Security, five out of ten seniors lived at or below the poverty level. Since Social Security, that number is one in ten. Those are simple figures to understand. If you are a senior, the Republicans want to phase out your social security, if you are not a senior, they want to phase it out before you get to retirement age. I wonder how some older Tea Party members will feel when they realize the very political party they helped put in control of the house of representatives wants to weaken or destroy a major source of income they will enjoy in their older years. Maybe they should have paid more attention the first time around, but then the Tea Party was never big on listening to the facts.
More later..............
Almost immediately after the shootings, many on the left said the gunman was driven my harsh gun related rhetoric from the right. The right countered by saying that they were only exercising their free speech rights and that nothing they said was ever a trigger for an individual's actions. I thought about this a bit before realizing that both the left and right were wrong.
The gunman that caused all the carnage in Tucson, is a demented, nut case, who was driven by inner forces far worse than the words of the right. He slipped through life without ever receiving the mental health treatment he needed, and passed the background check required of all (OK, all except at gun shows) gun purchasers. More than the words from the right, our mental health system, and the inadequate information in our firearms background check procedure are more to blame.
So, while the right may be off the hook for this one, that by no means is the end of the story. Their public uttering of "reload", "in our cross hairs", "2nd amendment solutions" and other words of hate and thinly veiled calls for violence have been, and will no doubt will be in the future, just the catalyst to push some wild eyed, un-informed zealots over the edge to commit violent acts. All the right's denials to the contrary, their repeated words of hate do have an effect on violent acts in our nation.
As do you all, I wish only the best for congresswoman Giffords in her fight to recover.
Speaking of congress, the house is now controlled by the Republicans, but I'm guessing you already knew that. I have already discussed with you their plan to undo the advantages of the new health care laws. Now, they have set their sights on Social Security. Their main tactic is telling us that Social Security is broke, when in fact, it is not. Social security has enough funds and resources to pay out every dollar that will be owed for the next twenty eight years. It is far from broke. Sometime in that twenty eight year period, changes will have to be made so that Social Security may continue long into this decade.. An obvious fix is to raise the ceiling on the amount of a person's income on which social security tax can be collected, but I will leave that to the Democrats and Republican's to duke it out over.
The Republicans hate the Social Security system, and would like to phase it out entirely. They don't like the government giving seniors a helping hand, a helping hand I might point out, which these same seniors have been paying into all of their working life. Instead of Social Security, they want people to invest in the stock market for their retirement. This logic is great for wall street, but turns into silly putty when you consider that (1) many people would not do so, and (2) the market is subject to many external forces, which means it has great highs and lows, which means if you happen to retire at the wrong time, too bad for you.
Consider this. Social Security has worked, as planned, for seventy five years. Before Social Security, five out of ten seniors lived at or below the poverty level. Since Social Security, that number is one in ten. Those are simple figures to understand. If you are a senior, the Republicans want to phase out your social security, if you are not a senior, they want to phase it out before you get to retirement age. I wonder how some older Tea Party members will feel when they realize the very political party they helped put in control of the house of representatives wants to weaken or destroy a major source of income they will enjoy in their older years. Maybe they should have paid more attention the first time around, but then the Tea Party was never big on listening to the facts.
More later..............
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