The NRA - This Gun Organization For Hire.

Many years ago, there were a series of novels written about a private detective named Mike Hammer. One of the more famous of these novels was entitled. "This Gun For Hire." Now we have "This Gun Organization For Hire", as the NRA has, and is, selling out to the highest bidder, that being the gun manufacturers. They perpetrate this chicanery on the American public, by spreading rumors that the government wants to take your guns away, thereby working the gun nuts into a frothy frenzy. Of course this is nonsense, but as we learned from Hitler, The "Big Lie" as a propaganda tool can be quite effective.

The NRA tells the gun nuts that, "We have your back." Not so, as the NRA owes only one allegiance. They are in the hip pockets of gun manufacturers and both these manufacturers and the NRA have but one goal. Sell, guns, guns, and more guns. Of course if you're one who wants to buy guns, guns and more guns, then the NRA is your cup of tea.

School children and theater goers alike are slaughtered in huge numbers by crazed gunman with weapons that fire a number of bullets in just a few seconds. The NRA's response to this is to put even more guns in schools wielded by armed guards, which is tantamount to trying to fight a fire by pouring gasoline on it. Then they duck behind the dubiously worded Second Amendment by saying law abiding citizens have a right to buy and keep all types of guns. Here is a recent quote by the NRA.

"Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation," the NRA said in a statement. "Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy."

This is one of the stupidest statements I have ever heard and is consistent with another big lie the NRA delights in spreading. It goes something like this. According to the NRA, there are crooks and bad people, and there are good people. The crooks and bad people shouldn't have guns, but many do, and the good people should have guns to protect us from the bad people with guns. Black and white, with no gray, and everyone placed into a neat little box of good or bad. That is pure folly, as over 60 percent of gun violence in this nation is perpetrated by people with no prior criminal record. In other words they are US!

On the opposite side of the coin, here is what Henry Blodget from the Daily Ticker had to say.

"The Second Amendment was written 220 years ago when 3.9 million people lived in America and the most powerful guns available were single-shot flint-lock muskets. Even if you ignore the "well-regulated state militia" clause in the Amendment language, it is reasonable to wonder whether the "Framers" had today's commonly available modern assault weaponry in mind. (Also, the Constitution is occasionally modified when it becomes outdated and/or inappropriate. Slaves were legal in those days, too.)"

Of course, criminals are guilty of much of the gun violence, but the shooter in the theater in Aurora, Colorado had no prior criminal record. The shooter in the Sandy Hook school killings had no prior criminal record. Over 60 percent of the people who injure or kill someone with a gun have no prior criminal record. All of these people are part of the "law abiding citizens" the NRA says would suffer by new and stricter gun laws.

The NRA says we need to put more emphasis on mental health. Obviously we do, but not at the expense of having the gun nuts and their lobby run roughshod over the interests of the American people.

To drive my cars, I need to be licensed, and so do the cars. Yes, people with cars kill and injure people, but not with nearly the same intent of deadly mayhem as do people with guns. Is it too much to ask that we control, and license guns and the people who own them, as we do cars and the people who drive them?

Yes, people in this country have a right to own guns. I may not entirely agree with all of that right (there is the "well regulated militia" aspect), but it is the law and I respect the law. But with rights comes responsibility, and that responsibility needs to be spelled out in an ironclad way by new and tougher gun laws and (the only area in which I have ever agreed with the NRA) more vigorous enforcement of the current gun laws. It is a felony to lie on a background check, but few are prosecuted. That should stop.

We are a nation of laws. We are a nation of rights. We are a nation of responsibility. It will take a strong dose of all three to even begin to reduce the gun violence in our country.

Is it time? No, unfortunately, it's way past time!

Pity The Poor Republicans

As is keeping with my policies, I never post a new blog entry unless I feel I have something worthwhile to say. Posting daily or even weekly is not something for which I have ambition.

I did not post a new entry during the final months of the presidential campaign, as news articles and blog posts were in an over needed abundance. However, now that the results are in and President Obama has been re-elected, there is much to be said about the Republicans and their own post election in-fighting, whining and gnashing of teeth.

The Republican party is made up of many different factions, some conservative, some V-E-R-Y conservative, and some moderate. Perhaps the title of this blog entry should have read, "Pity The Poor Moderate Conservatives", as that wing of the Republican Party has been silenced almost completely by the in-your-face hard line conservatives. And where exactly did this Tea Party/Religious Right stand put the Republican Party? As Mr. Rogers might say, "Can you say on the outside looking in?" Mitt Romney lost big time by over one hundred electoral college votes, and the Tea Party, which was originally formed to help elect conservative candidates, had just the opposite effect.

The Republicans pinned their election strategy on the white male voter and true to their predictions they won that vote. I'm a white male voter who did not vote their way, but the majority did. The rest of the very diversified American public, however, did not see it that way, feeling the Republicans, in both actions and intent did not represent their best interests.

The white male is no longer the dominant element in our society, and that is what progress is all about. We are a stronger nation because of our diversity. The old guard Republicans don't like that fact, but not liking it and clinging to outdated precepts won't change it. The Republicans were yesterday's news in today's election.

The Tea Party wants to return the country to the good ole' days, when in fact, the good ole' days weren't all that good or fair to a large segment of the population. Women, blacks, gays, and other minorities were persona non grata in those days which the Tea Party wants to throw us all back into.

Added to this right wing folly are reports that some far right Tea Party (that may be a redundant phrase) types are circulating petitions to formally request that their states secede from the United States. Of course, these efforts are futile as even most right wing Republicans, not to mention Democrats, will see that these feeble efforts are quashed.  Still, it does show the warped mentality of some of the more super fringe elements of the Republican/Conservative movement.

And we shouldn't forget the 3,000 pound elephant in the room that no one in the Republican party will mention, and that is racism. There are many rednecks (and also some white necks) in our nation who are bigots and the thought of a black man being president sends them into a frothy mouth frenzy of panic.  I have absolutely no sympathy for these buffoons, as their prejudiced opinions have no relevance in modern times. They are a living example of a square peg in a round hole.

Finally, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate, is not very adept at hiding his agenda, which wants to get rid of Social Security and Medicare. He sees both programs as socialism, instead of a fair government taking care of its senior citizens, both financially and health wise. Sadly, many Republicans agree with him. Meanwhile, the Tea Party arm of the party wants to roll back much of the social progress our nation has made over the past decades. This in spite of the fact that, in this past election, four states approved gay marriage, and two approved the recreational use of marijuana. Times change, attitudes change, demographics change, but the Republican powers stick to their same old tired line of protecting the super wealthy and big business at the cost of everything else, including the rank and file citizen. The mind boggling fact with all this is that the Republican leaders are still scratching their collective head and wondering why they didn't win, which is sort of like the guys at the slaughter house wondering why the steers didn't vote for them.

As a Democrat, I probably should be applauding the fact that the Republicans, even after their stinging defeat, still do not have a clue. Trouble is, I don't. We need two functioning political parties, if for nothing else to keep each other in balance. Instead, we have the party of "NO" trying to put roadblocks, at every turn, in front of a president and party who are trying to make things better for our citizens. It's disgusting.

I have no advice for the Republicans, as they are much like the alcoholic or chronic over eater, in that only they can fix the problem. While there is no danger of my becoming a Republican, I would feel much more kindly towards them if they would right their ship, try to understand the changing mood and makeup of our nation, join the rest of us in the twenty first century, and work towards the betterment of our country. If they want to be taken seriously in a future general election, they need to tell the Tea Party/Religious Right/Wealthy fat cats to stuff it. As the old saying goes, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is a strong sign of stupidity."

Amen to that, brother!

We will now pass the collection plate and take up a collection to aid our poor misguided Republicans.  I'll contribute a penny. Perhaps the likeness of Abe Lincoln will be a start in showing them where they went so terribly wrong!

Ready, Aim, Fire!

The recent incident in Florida in which an innocent teenager was gunned down by a man with a Neanderthal mentality is terribly tragic, but not unique. The fact that it is not unique constitutes another terrible tragedy.

Florida has a law known as "stand your ground" which means a private citizen may use firearms against any person they deem is an immanent danger. They are allowed to do this at home, on the street, in a restaurant, in a park, and anywhere else. It seems, by the lack of an arrest of the Florida shooter, that this laws protect those who actually were in immanent danger, as well as those who were not. All they must do to comply with the law is to state, after the fact, they thought they were in danger.

The "stand your ground" law is a dangerous law, as the Florida killing illustrates.  What makes it even more dangerous than one might suppose is that it is not just a Florida law, but laws like it have been passed in twenty one states in our nation.

What would possess state governments to pass such off the wall legislation? As Mr. Rogers might ask, "Can you say NRA?"  The NRA is driven by some $200 million dollars a year, mostly from gun manufacturers and gun sellers to use their influence to see that America becomes an armed camp.

They are now urging bills that would allow concealed weapons in day-care centers and school buses. The more places that allow gun (concealed guns in most cases), the more guns that can be sold and the more profit the gun sellers and manufacturers will make.

Getting back to Florida, Brian Malte, of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said, "Florida is the NRA Utopia. They make it as easy as possible to carry a loaded gun in public, virtually anywhere. And then instill the mentality that you can shoot first, ask questions later."

In Arizona they recently considered a law that would make it legal for anyone on the campus of public colleges and universities to carry a gun. I am not a big fan of the Arizona governor, but to her credit, when this law was actually passed in her state, she vetoed it. The NRA, no doubt, will surely try there, again.

The NRA and other pro gun organizations and individuals will tell you that armed citizens will counteract the guns in the hands of felons and other criminals. Well, that sounds pretty good until you are faced with one startling fact. Two thirds of the gun violence in this  country is committed by these same citizens, who prior to their act of violence, had no criminal record. To use that old phrase, "We have met the enemy, and it is us," seems quite appropriate here.

In a recent op-ed piece, Gail Collins of the New York Times said," I am thinking that the best solution for all concerned would be a strict national gun-control law that makes it very difficult to get a concealed weapons permit, permits gun dealers to sell only one handgun per individual per year, and makes it illegal for even permit holders to keep handguns anywhere but their home, store or car glove compartment unless they are employed in the security business." 

Of course what Collins is advocating in her op-ed piece is no more than common sense, and while the NRA may be flush with cash, they are significantly over-drawn on their common sense account.

So the gun carnage in our country continues, while the NRA is screaming, "MORE, MORE, MORE." They love to say that guns do not kill people, people kill people. That is both true and incomplete, as in fact, people with guns kill people, as the NRA makes doing so easier and easier.

I do think the NRA has missed one important area where guns should be legal, if not mandatory. That would be in the shower. Picture, if you will that while taking a shower you hear what you believe to be an intruder in your house, or worse yet in your bathroom. You grab your gun (a water proof one, of course), leap naked from the shower, assume a slight crouch, and while holding your gun with both hands, holler (in your best Clint Eastwood impersonation) "Freeze, punk." Then all you have to do is to wait until the intruder keels over, either from fear or laughter.

Hey, the NRA being what it is...it could happen!

Occupy Wall Street - A Different Take

It has been featured in the newspapers, magazines, and local and national TV news. I'm talking of course about what is commonly known as "Occupy Wall Street."  It has also been described in various ways, some of which are "The voice of the people", "The liberal answer to the Tea Party", or "A sign that a change is coming."

As a liberal Democrat, one would think I would embrace this movement with open arms.  I'm not sure how you embrace something with open arms, but you get the idea.  The problem is I don't.  ahh....but then again, I do.  Confused?  Me too.

Protests make those involved and many not involved with them feel good, because they are doing something.  They often are a fore runner of a more permanent action, cause, or movement.  Also, they bring light to a problem that needs fixing, and the banks are certainly a problem that needs fixing.

However, in looking at the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, and now in other US cities, there are troubling aspects, not so much because of what is happening, but more because of what is not happening.  First and foremost, where is the organization and where are the stated objectives?  I have made no bones about that fact that I do not like, or respect the Tea Party movement or what they stand for.  However, only a fool would claim they are not organized.  They are, and that's what makes them so dangerous to our country.

Like most mass movements, Occupy Wall Street is a conglomerate of different factions.  The unemployed are a large part of the crowd, as are the employed who are just managing to get by.  But so are the anarchists, and the hangers-on, and thrill seekers who have nothing better to do.  The anarchists are dangerous and want to cause mayhem and destruction.  The hangers-on and thrill seekers just get in The way.

Many of the major banks were saved with a bailout (a loan that has been almost entirely repaid, not a hand out as the Tea Party claims).  They were saved from conditions which they created for themselves with greed, fraud, and just plain bad business practices.  Saving them was a bitter pill, but as I have pointed out in the past, not saving them would have made the financial condition of our nation far, far worse than it already is.  What we need now is government regulation (with teeth) that will force them to start circulating (via loans and other avenues) the trillions of dollars on which they are currently sitting.  We need that money to flow through our country once again.

Some in this new movement want to shut down Wall Street, and while Wall Street, itself, has some answering to do for some of its transgressions and shady deals, we must never forget, that the investments of many average Americans are also tied up in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, and harming Wall Street also harms all of those citizens, their families, and their retirement.

So, will any long lasting good actually come from the Occupy Wall Street movement?  I sincerely hope so, as it could be the start of a needed political force to offset the stupidity of the Tea Party.  If this is to happen, however, we will need less people in the demonstrations dressing like zombies (never have quite figured that out other than some type of street theater) and more organization, goals, and plans to achieve those goals in order to get the money flowing in this country again, create jobs, and stop the banks from lining their own pockets at the expense of average Americans.

If we can do that, the Occupy Wall Street movement will have positive results for the country.  If not, it will soon be a forgotten footnote in history.

The Ignorance of Bigotry

(Revised and Corrected 09/25/2011)
Usually, all my blog entries are first time originals. However, as it often does, history has a habit of repeating itself.  Recently, at the exercises in hog wash the Republicans call debates, several occurrences have again demonstrated just how stupid some segments of humanity can be, and just how low they can sink.  These two references came not from the debaters, but from the audience.  I am referring specifically to the audience clapping when the fact that Texas has had hundreds of  state sanction executions was mentioned, and to the "Yeah's" that were heard from the audience when one of the debate moderators asked if a 30 year old man, with no health insurance, and in a life or death situation, should be allowed to die.  In the case of the latter, it should be noted that not one of the debaters chastised the audience for their actions.

Ignorance, stupidity and bigotry are old friends, and I wrote an article on one of my websites (http://www.kenkreps.com/) about that very subject some three years ago.  I am going to take the liberty of re-introducing that article in this blog entry, because since I wrote the article, little has changed, and in some ways the situation has become worse.  I will apologize in advance for it's length, but there was much to say and to digest about the subject. Of course, when I first wrote the article the Tea Party was not the uninformed nuisance it is now.  Had it been, it would have been mentioned prominently,

Here now is.........

The Ignorance Of Bigotry
By Ken Kreps
© 2008

Most writers believe approaching a single subject in an article or essay is usually best. They think you should define your case, make your point, end the article and move on. I usually agree, but not today, as I want to discuss two subjects that, while they may not seem related, I believe are, at least in the way they illustrate the overall decline of our country. I say this with absolutely no glee, as I love our country and am saddened by what is happening to it.
 
The first topic I want to bring to your attention is the dumbing down of our nation, or perhaps the better term would be the numbing down of our country.
 
For starters, our television programming has been invaded by something called reality TV, which is in itself a misnomer, as there is nothing real about it at all. We are inundated by hordes of vocalists (and their surly judges), phony races across the world, houses being rebuilt before our very eyes, dancers pulled from other occupations, and displaying various degrees of talent (I for one, was thrilled to see Cliff from Cheers dancing his little heart out), a new show with phony pirates, and people trying to win a prize by "surviving" on some desert isle. While there are a few good dramas left on television that both entertain and cause you to think (such as Criminal Minds, or the CBS show, Jericho, which was cancelled and then brought back to the fall schedule due to an unprecedented and massive ground roots campaign by fans of the show), and a few others that are just a real hoot to watch (such as Boston Legal), much of the programming from which we have to choose is mindless drivel, all presented to us under the umbrella name of "Reality TV". The "Survivor" series supposedly pits one team against another, alone on some remote isle. Of course they are not alone, but instead surrounded by large film crews, network and support people, all there to film it all for later broadcast. I'm not saying the whole thing is staged, but it certainly is not two lonely teams battling each other while stranded in the middle of the wilderness.
 
Reality TV exists because (1) it's inexpensive to produce (compared with dramas), and (2) it is popular, especially with the buying age public that advertisers so dearly love. The fact that it's popular is cause for concern. There is no mental challenge in watching reality shows; there is no reason to think. You need only to sit on the couch or your favorite chair and gaze at a television screen as time passes you by. Reality TV is indeed the land where the individual thinking process goes to die. Yet sadly, it's what many people in this country accept as entertainment, even as it dulls their minds.

If you think a number of minds in this country aren't dull, here's a case in point of an occurrence I'm sure many of you have experienced. You walk into a fast food restaurant and after placing your order, your total bill is….oh, let's say it's $7.53. You hand the counter person ten dollars and then, as they are entering the amount you gave them into the register, you think to hand them three pennies, so as to not get any pennies back in your change. Nine times out of ten the counter person looks at you with a blank stare that says, "duhhhh", and they have no idea how to calculate the extra three cents you handed them into the amount of change you have coming to you. They have always relied on their register to tell them what to do. They don't think, they react, and now you have introduced something into their process of making change, which they don't know how to handle. They are unable to reason it through, as they are unaccustomed to having to think on their feet.
 
Then, of course, there is the case of the missing "G", as to many Americans the letter G seems to have totally disappeared from their vocabulary. Instead of saying doing, they say doin', instead of getting, it's gettin'. It's not that most people don't know better, as they do. It's caused mainly by out and out laziness, as well as unwillingness to attempt to speak even passable, correct English. Many think it really doesn't matter, but it does. Once, for any reason, they step out of their circle of similar friends, they will be judged by how they speak, as there are still plenty of people in the United States who feel the way you speak says something about who you are. This may not be a fair way to judge people, but it is often the way it's done. To some, repeatedly hearing someone say goin', gettin', and sleepin' doesn't fill them with a sense that they are hearing an intelligent person. Mind you I didn't say educated, I said intelligent.
 
Because of mindless TV, electronic machines that do the thinking for us, hours spent looking for entertainment on the Internet, eagerly following the latest sleaze from Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and others, blasting tunes into our ears from Ipods, playing electronic games to excess, many Americans have no intellectual curiosity which causes them to want to understand how something works outside their own environment, or why something exists. Some do, of course (and thank God for them), but far too many do not. It is little wonder that on the Jay Leno segment called, "Jaywalking", several people didn't know what state Chicago was in, while others thought Al Gore was the first man to walk on the moon. In keeping with that, in a recent survey, one out of five surveyed believed the sun revolved around the earth.
 
One of the greatest intellectual minds of the twentieth century, Carl Sagan, had a wonderful catch phrase he called "The Joy Of Knowing", which means simply taking the time to study and understand something for the pure joy of knowing how, why, where or when.

Throw rap music (there are two words that don't belong together, if ever there were any) into the mix with its women bashing, in your face style, performed by people of marginal talent, who profess to all the world how cool it is to be a gangster (or is it gangsta'), and you have one more plank in the system that is producing the uncomprehending masses which plague this country. While rap may have social relevance to some, it sure as hell isn't music, and those who record it have in no way earned the right to be called artists. Come on. People, it's chanting pure and simple. It's bad rhymes passed off as art. When it comes to rap, the emperor truly has no clothes.
 
The brain drain in this country is tremendous, and while there is truth in what some say about it being the fault of our education system, it's also the result of an individuals choice to float through life in our cocoon like environment with little effort made towards thinking, or investigation. We often marvel at the brainpower of people from Asian countries. Yes, they do seem intelligent and mentally nimble and they are. They're that way, not because they have superior brainpower, but because they have superior intellectual curiosity, as well as superior educations.
 
Millions of Americans are simply apathetic to facts or reason. They don't investigate or research, and often form opinions based on trivialities. Or worse, they form no opinion at all.
 
It's these people who mainly comprise the second group on which I now wish to focus. That would be the group that takes no interest and feels no compassion about the plight of others. Some in this group are out and out racists, many just don't care, and still others are ignorant as to what the real issues are.

This country has millions of illegal immigrants. Yes, there are some unsavory types among them, but most are hard working men and women, wanting only a better life for their families and for themselves than they could have in their native country. But to hear the ranting of some people, all illegal immigrants are drug-using criminals who are only here to free-load off the welfare and medical systems, rob, pillage, and plunder. My many concerns about our president non withstanding, even a broken clock is right twice a day, and I believe many members of congress and George Bush are right with their new approach to immigration, an approach that gives these immigrants a more clearly defined path to citizenship. While far from being a perfect piece of legislation, it is a major step in the right direction. Even though I am unaccustomed to agreeing with the president (Editors Note: This article was written when Gorge W. Bush was still president), he was correct when he said, "It's the right thing to do."  Some say, "They don't speak our language" when, as previously pointed out, some of our own citizens don't speak "our language" all that well, themselves. You hear people say,"They have strange customs," or "They're just not like us." They forget, when our nation was formed everyone had strange customs, and one nationality was for from being like another. Our country was formed by many cultures, and many languages, all contributing something good (and yes, sometimes something bad) to create the most diverse country in the world. I am half German and half English, and most of us can trace our ancestry back to another country. Only American Indians are real Americans, while the rest of us are imports. How quickly some of us forget.
 
One Neanderthal Republican senator called the new, immigration proposal "a free get out of jail card." With that remark, he neatly illustrated the feelings of many (see next paragraph) that illegal immigrants are all akin to criminals. He's wrong, of course, but it's still sad to hear an elected official openly display his prejudice and ignorance in public, as he did. To regard any human being that way because of their nationality, color, sexual preference, beliefs, how they got to this country (without understanding why), or their religion (or lack of same) is simply wrong. Dead wrong! Sadly, the new immigration bill may be scuttled, as many Republicans seem more hell-bent on building fences, then they do in building understanding.
 
I have an old college friend who I am still in contact with by e-mail. This man is an intelligent college graduate who was both a brilliant and gifted musician when I first met him in college. I went to college on a music scholarship, and all the scholarship students had some degree of talent or we wouldn't have been granted a scholarship. This man, however, was clearly head and shoulders above all the rest of us in talent and proficiency on his instrument.
 
He now sends me e-mails with attachments, some of which are vile enough to have come straight from the KKK's headquarters. They attack in the basest of language, illegal (oh my, how they do love that word, illegal) immigrants (especially those from Mexico), Muslims, with claims that all the many millions of Muslims in the world are evil and want to destroy us, and other tirades which attack most groups who do not conform to the white, Christian, conservative, rigid definitions, which many on the right cling to like a life preserver in a churning sea.
 
This man, who I looked up to so much in college, is educated, but I'm afraid his intellectual curiosity, and the compassion that often accompanies it, may have passed him by. He lives in Texas, which could be part of the reason for his bigotry, as Texas isn't the most enlightened place on earth. As a native born Texan, I have not only the right to say that, but I have experiences (from having lived there) to back up that statement. I have no doubt my old college friend knows exactly where Chicago is, but he seems not to understand the terrible plight of the many unfortunates in the world. Mind you, there is a great deal to like about this person and I still hold him in high regard, as we go too far back to feel otherwise. I must admit, however, to not understanding what motivates him to express (and, I have no doubt, believe) such opinions.
 
It is a sad fact that many people in this country (both educated and uneducated) need someone to look down upon, and who better a target for their disdain than illegal immigrants and/or Muslims. The "I'm better than them," syndrome is alive and well in many parts of our nation. Those of us who live in this country are certainly more fortunate than so many of the world's population, but in no way does that make us superior to anyone.
 
At the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, we keep prisoners without charges for an indefinite period of time. Most of these men have no access to lawyers. Lest you think I'm soft on terrorists, think again. Terror suspects should be tried and if convicted, sentenced to long prison terms or death, depending on the severity of their crime. They should not be held indefinitely without formal charges levied against them. They also should not be tortured or worse, sent to foreign countries to be tortured. What happened to our moral compass that many of our citizens think illegal confinement and torture are now OK? Yet, you hear people say, "They're terrorists, so anything goes." Trouble is, some of them aren't terrorists at all, and even our own government has said as much when they are released without charges and sent home to try to put their life back together. Our "one size fits all" treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo is no more than a more severe rehashing of the Joe McCarthy era where factions of our country said, "Even though I have no real proof....you are a Communist because I said you are one." Except today, it's "You are a terrorist because I say you are one."
 
I'm sure many of the detainees at Guantanamo are guilty of a terrorist act, or aiding those who were. Charges should be filed against these individuals and trials should commence. Holding trials for suspects, presenting evidence, having the accused represented by counsel, punishing the guilty, and setting the innocent free is one of the cornerstones on which our country was built. By not doing so we are acting a great deal like the totalitarian nations we profess to detest. We are lowering our moral standards in order to fight people who have low moral standards. Go figure. The real terrorists want to kill as many of us as they can, of that I have no doubt, but they also want to change our way of life. Once we leave the high road, employ the same vile tactics as the terrorists, and lower our standards of conduct as a nation, to a degree the terrorists have succeeded. They have changed our way of life. They have made us a little more like them. Due process and honesty are what has separated this country from the rest for over 200 years. Without it we become just another country out of many. Did we learn nothing from the wrongful internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II?
 
Finally, there is another group in this country that is vilified on a daily basis. Actually, there are many such groups, but this one seems to get some of the most vile comments from our citizens. The homeless in this country are looked upon as some sort of pond scum. Many say the homeless want to be homeless (an absolutely absurd remark), or they only became that way due to laziness and a refusal to work. When we see one coming towards us on the street, we look the other way and avoid them as much as possible. We treat them as if they weren't there. Are there homeless who are lazy bums, or out and out crooks? Of course there are, but to paint the entire group with a broad brush of bigotry is not accurate or fair, certainly not Christian, and identifies our nation as uncaring to the rest of the world. How a nation treats it's own poor and disadvantaged says much about the character and soul of that nation. Most cities deal with the homeless problem by moving them from time to time out of the line of sight of most residents and tourists. God forbid someone would see that "our" city actually has homeless people in it. Some faith-based organizations try to help the homeless and for that I am grateful. I was never very big on asking faith-based groups to become involved in charity work, as some of these groups like to mentally hit anyone they help over the head with the bible, first. It's not religion these folks need, but instead, food, shelter, medical care, and a sense that someone cares about them as human beings. Once they are on their feet, if you want to try to "save their souls" that's your business, but help them first, preach to them second. To their credit, some faith-based organizations do exactly that. As I said, I am grateful to these groups, but saddened that our own government doesn't take some of the billions from Bush's folly (the war in Iraq….WAKE UP Democrats, that's why we elected you!) and use it to offer significant help to the homeless and low-income people in our nation.
 
Of course I haven't really touched on the prejudice which blacks, gays, women, the working poor, the elderly, and other minority groups still face daily. Nor have I mentioned the recent loss of civil rights we have all suffered due to certain unconstitutional sections of the Patriot Act. But then, if I explored each of those topics in detail I would be writing a book, and not an article.
 
As long as we have non-thinkers in large numbers in this country, we will have bigots who show intolerance towards those who do not conform to their narrow, inflexible standards, for it is ignorance that fuels the fires of prejudice. Ignorance and a lack of education are not always in lock step with each other, as educated people can be ignorant and uneducated people can be enlightened. Basic education in some form, is offered to nearly everyone in this country. Thinking and understanding takes a little more individual work. A non-thinker, who cannot or will not reason things through, is a bigot waiting to happen.
 
If each of us can influence just one person to think, to be curious, to be willing to wade through the hype to find the facts, to refuse to accept the old tired excuse, "That's the way we've always done it," we can help make a difference. Indifference, bigotry, and prejudice can be eradicated to a great degree, but it will take years, and it will take hard work. When you see or hear prejudice, expose it for the cancer it is. Let people know it is not acceptable and you will not tolerate it. That, and encouraging your children, family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances to think and reason, can some day bring this country back to the ideals on which it was founded. Hate and ignorance are slippery slopes, while reason and understanding are always the best building blocks to insure a solid foundation for our nation.

THINK AND CARE!

Keeping "Social" in Social Security

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.

"Despite its success, Social Security faces an unprecedented attack from Wall Street, the Republican Party and a few Democrats. If the American people are not prepared to fight back, the dismantling of Social Security could begin in the very near future," Sanders writes.

How do we fight back? How do we protect Social Security? What can we do? It's a process of several steps, the first being returning the House of Representatives to the control of the Democratic party, for as long as the Republicans rule in that governing body (with their Tea Party influenced nonsense) the threat of an attack on Social Security, as well as other citizen safety nets will continue.

Please don't misinterpret what I am saying to mean that the Democratic party is perfect, as they are far from being that. However, they clearly represent the best hope for continuing proven programs that benefit the average American citizen. And after all, isn't that what a government is supposed to do?

An Anarchist By Any Other Name.......

Most people when asked to describe an anarchist would offer something like, "It's a person who wants to abolish government at all costs, and where any cost justifies the means." Some definitions may differ slightly but that's the general idea. The "any cost" that most anarchists use is wanton violence and destruction. Burning buildings, attacking people, and in general creating as much mayhem as possible.

That was then....this is now!

To be sure, the old style anarchist, described above, still exist, as the recent senseless riots in Great Britain suggest, where anarchists, mixed with common criminals, who are only there to steal, destroy parts of London, and other towns. However, a more deadly form of anarchist has now reared it's ugly head, mainly in the United States. They don't burn buildings, they don't physically attack people and they present themselves as upright citizens trying to help their country. Never-the-less, they pose a deadly threat to our nation.

Who are these people? They are the ones who either ignore or don't realize what a debt ceiling really is (it allows our country to pay the interest on current debts, and is not a check for new spending). They were willing to see the country default on it's financial obligations (for the first time) and go down the tubes to prove a point that government is too big and must be cut down....way down.

Make no mistake. This group has clout, far more than an anarchist with a home-made bomb. They have sent people to the highest governing body of our country, the Senate and the Congress. This group is known as the Tea Party.

At first we dismissed these people as ignorant rubes who had little idea as to what went on in the real world. That was our mistake. Even though they represent only a small percentage of the American population, they grew in power and numbers and sent lawmakers to Washington who had one single agenda. These people were not sent there to make laws, but to destroy many of the old laws which protect our citizens; to weaken and destroy our current form of Government, and to throw many of our less fortunate citizens under the bus. They want to destroy the social safety nets which have taken many decades to build. Social Security? Wreck it. Medicare? Cripple It. Fair union wages? Get rid of them. Pure and simple, folks, this is anarchy wearing a different cheap suit, and trying to look respectable. They firmly fit the description of anarchists because they are bent on destroying our current form of government. This political form of anarchy is far more destructive than the violence of traditional anarchists.

By and large tea bagger members are the vastly uninformed following leaders who are financed by some well heeled special interest groups. They don't think, they react. They don't lead, they follow. They swallow half truths (or no truth at all) and believe what they want to believe, and not the facts, or the truth. Since the majority of Tea Party member are not wealthy, they seem much like a man in a tree with a saw working to bring down the very limb on which he sits. They ignore the fact that the tax load for most wealthy Americans is too small, while complaining that their tax load is too large. They raise their fist at meeting against adequate health care for all, when many of them are the beneficiaries of that same health care. They are quick to quote that government should be by the people, while short changing the important fact that it is also for the people. I won't even get into the "God is on our side" drivel many of them spread, as that is best discussed at another time.

They want to see government chopped down at the knees, and to hell with the fallout of human suffering this would bring about. They are the direct cause of the credit rating of the United States being lowered, as Republican and Democratic leaders, and the president had agreed in fact on a much larger debt reduction, coupled with a modest raise in revenue, before the flapping of mouths from House tea party members scuttled it all.

If I sound like I have no respect for the Tea Party, it's because I don't. Ignorance at any level should never be rewarded with kind words or even with indifference. Ignorance should always be fought with truth and reason.

The Tea Party won't listen to the truth or to reason, but just maybe they will have to listen to our votes next year.

The Politics Of NO!

No is one of the most often used words in the English language.  We say it to our kids, our pets, and to each other many times in a day.  Much of the time we use this word, there is a valid reason behind it, but other times there is none.

Some people get in the habit of saying no to almost everything. We've all known a few like that and they can be quite irritating.  However, worse than an individual naysayer, there is now a group of people in our country to which "NO" really means "I'm going to tell you how you should live your life and under what rules you should live it.".  This group of people goes by several names.  They may be called the Tea Party, hard line conservatives, social conservatives, or the religious right.  It matters little what they are called, but it matters a great deal what they want to do to the lives of rest of us.

They are against....well....they are against almost everything.  Of course we all know that being for or against something in our nation is not against the law.  In fact, that type of spirited debate is one of the strengths of our country.  It's what free elections are built upon, as we each decide which candidate or ballot measure to vote for, or not.  That's the way a democracy works.

However, while a belief of being against or for something is a right of all United States citizens, forcing, or even trying to force, all of us to adhere to that belief (or set of beliefs) is not.  That stops being a democracy and slides into the realm of a dogma.

The above mentioned group of people would like for gays to disappear, and God forbid that any of them would be allowed to get married.  Some from this group believes that being gay is a condition that can be cured, instead of an act of birth.  They want women to hold their place and never compete with men.  They want evolution to not be taught in our schools, but instead, would prefer the teaching of a pseudo science they have named "creation science."  A segment of the creation science crowd will tell you with a straight face that the earth is really only ten to twelve thousand years old.  Yeah....right!  They want only English spoken in our nation.  They want our borders locked down tightly so that, no one who isn't a white god fearing Christian American ever be allowed in, failing to realize that immigration is one the building blocks that made our nation strong, and that some of our ancestors (and theirs) weren't exactly legal when they came to this country. If you are of a faith other than Christianity, well then out you go because we can't have that, can we.  Further, they want a government in which religion is the driving force, thereby ignoring the separation of church and state so wisely outlined by our founding fathers.  Health care?  Hey, if you can afford it, fine...if not, too bad. They certainly don't think we need those pesky health care laws that allow many millions of our citizens access to decent health care.  Entitlements?  Surely, they say, we need to get rid of them, except of course, the ones that pertain to us.  And, oh yes, while we are at it lets get rid of welfare and food stamps, as well, since all those people are nothing more than lazy freeloaders.

Then, of course, less out in the open is their belief that blacks and other minorities are inferior, and oh Lord, they think, now we even have a black president....the shame, the shame. 

Simply put, these are the people who want to tell you how to live.  If you are liberal, a racial minority, gay, not of the Christian religion, or not of any religion at all, a union member, or any other designation they wish to assign to you that shows you are not one of them, they want to pass laws to make you conform to their way of thinking, and they are prepared to organize against any candidate that doesn't fall in line with their thoughts about such laws

Easiest would be to just dismiss them as a group of village idiots who don't realize what humanity is really all about.  This would be a grave mistake, as they represent a dangerous obstacle to the democracy guaranteed all citizens by the constitution.  They want to put anyone who doesn't swallow their brand of social engineering swill in the back of the bus, or in some cases, throw them off the bus entirely.

If you are anything like me, they make you mad as hell.  And to quote that famous line from the film, Network, we should all be screaming, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."  I urge you to fight these people who want to steal our country with whatever means you think best, be it your money, your voice, your actions, or all three.

We have a fight on our hands, and we sure as hell better win it.  In fact, it's time the rest of us said NO....not in this country!

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.

The War On The People.

If you still have doubts about the Republican controlled House of Representatives favoring big business over the welfare of the people (in this case the citizens of the United States), consider the following two articles from yesterday's  paper.

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON —

House Republicans said Wednesday that a new government agency designed to protect consumers from problems with mortgages, credit cards and other lenders has too much power. They also criticized it for participating in a federal-state effort to force mortgage servicers to change the way they foreclose on troubled homeowners.

The bureau is chiefly designed to give consumers simplified information about financial products and protect them from unfair practices. Priorities Warren (Editors note: The chief of the new bureau) considers important include regulating mortgages, credit cards and non-bank financial companies like mortgage brokers, payday lenders and private providers of student loans.

GOP lawmakers also challenged the bureau's role in a push by federal agencies and the 50 state attorneys general to force five large U.S. banks to agree to make it easier for struggling homeowners to avoid foreclosure and rework their mortgages.

And then there is this:

By Kathleen Hennessey

Tribune Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — A House committee on Tuesday advanced a bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases, boosting a top Republican priority and aiming a blow at the Obama administration and states that favor tougher environmental regulations.

The bill was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a largely party-line vote. Republicans argued that action by the EPA, coming after Congress failed to pass a climate and global-warming bill, would impose burdensome and unnecessary rules on industry.

Democrats cast the measure, called the "Energy Tax Prevention Act," as a skirmish in an ongoing GOP war on the science of global warming. The bill is unlikely to win significant support in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority.

The Republicans would like to weaken the environmental protections we enjoy, while at the same time allowing credit card companies, banks, payday lenders and the like continue to gouge the public with unjust and sometimes illegal practices.

I particularly liked the phrase where the Republicans say "would impose burdensome and unnecessary rules on industry."  Would one of those rules be about not killing some of us with their toxic waste?

Some days, I don't have to write this blog, as the Republicans all but write it for me.

More later............................

The Taking Of America

In the 2010 elections, the Republicans won the House of Representatives, made gains in the Senate (but are still not in control) and elected a number of state governors.  This was in part fueled by people's dissatisfaction with the economy and jobless statistics, and also in large part, by the lies and distortions spread by the Tea Party.  However, history is what it is and those people came into office.

The Republicans saw this as their chance to change the political landscape and direction of our country with sweeping neo-conservative changes.  They set about to do this with a coordinated effort by the House of Representatives and Republican controlled states.  The current poster boy of these efforts is Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin. 

Through Walker's efforts and possibly illegal actions (yet to be determined in court) by that State's Republicans, the state workers (300,000 of them) were stripped of their collective bargaining rights.  Fifty years of progress was wiped away in thirty minutes.  That there will be a long lasting backlash to Wisconsin Republicans for their actions is not in question, as that is assured, and while I support the state workers in Wisconsin in their fight to win back their collective bargaining rights, there is far more at stake here for all of us, regardless of the state in which we live.  If you are a union worker, state or private, if you are on Social Security and/or Medicare (or soon will be), if you want clean air and a safe environment now, and in the future, if you are not a union worker, but enjoy certain safeguards guaranteed by the federal or state governments, if you want a country that puts the well being of it's citizens ahead of all else, you should be gravely concerned.  The reason for this concern is that the neo-conservatives now in power want to change all this.  They care about the rights of big business, not the worker's rights.  To this end, they want to do away with, or severely cripple all unions, public and private.  They are willing to sacrifice our environment in the name of business profits.  They want to dilute and, if possible, eliminate Social Security and Medicare.  Most of all, they want to cripple the people who support the Democratic Party, so as to insure Republican domination for decades to come.  They want to reshape our country in a way that serves, the wealthy, and big business  (particularly, oil, insurance, and banks).  They want to strip away many of the governmental restrictions that protect people like you and your family, and they want to take us back in time to when the average citizen was thrown a few crumbs, but had little say in how our country was run.

They want to cut needed programs in education, the arts, help for the disadvantaged, and in many other social areas in our nation.  They abhor the thought of new taxes, even though there are obvious areas where they are needed.

Consider this:  The Republicans will continue the protected tax structure of the wealthy, while not raising the Social Security payments to it's recipients.  They will not consider collecting the Social Security and Medicare tax on any incomes above $106,800 per year, again giving the wealthy a free ride.  They will not consider reducing the subsidies that oil companies and other selected businesses receive.  Yet, by taking these actions, our national debt would all but disappear in less than a decade.  Our citizens expect certain safeguards which have been in place for many years to continue, but instead of raising the above mentioned revenue, the Republicans prefer to try and balance the budget on the backs of the working class and retired citizens in this country.  What's wrong with this picture?  I say again, we have three weapons to fight their taking of America,  We have our voices, our votes, and our contributions to just causes.  It will take all three to put these charlatans out of office and return our country the fair and just nation it was and should be again.

We'll talk later....................

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..............