Senior Citizens

Tom Harkin-Mark Begich Senate Bill On Social Security Longevity Essential To Become Law!

Ronald 17 Comments

Social Security, begun under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1935, has been a life saver, a guarantee that senior citizens, widows, orphans, and the disabled will always have a safety net.

But with the number of people on Social Security rising rapidly as the Baby Boom Generation ages, there is a need to insure the long term future of the program, not only for people born between 1946 and 1964, but for all citizens who are paying into the program, and want to be insured that they will be able to collect when they reach retirement age, along with widows,orphans and the disabled.

So Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Senator Mark Begich of Alaska have proposed what others have suggested over the years, but has never happened.

That is, that there be no limit on income taxed for Social Security, just as there is no limit on income taxed for Medicare!

Presently, the income limit taxed is $113,700 in 2013, with the tax being 6.2 percent of income.

If the income limit taxed is withdrawn, there will be enough funding for Social Security for the long term future, and it is unfair that higher income earners have had a free break from being taxed, putting the burden on the lower income workers!

Additionally, the cost of living increases should be based on inflation reality, rather than the “chained CPI”, which distorts inflation on a lower level than costs which affect senior citizens!

If we do not treat the elderly and the disabled with respect and consideration, what kind of a nation are we, particularly for those who have limited ability to continue to earn income to stay out of poverty, particularly in a time of increased medical costs, high unemployment, and lower home equity for millions of people entering their “golden years”!

48th Anniversary Of Medicare: Time For Celebration, And Concern About Pension Issue Displayed By Detroit Fiscal Crisis!

Ronald 19 Comments

Medicare became law on July 30, 1965, 48 years ago, and America has never been the same!

Imagine America without this most significant Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society program, which gave the elderly, those over 65, peace of mind, knowing that they would be able to afford to survive, many on fixed incomes in retirement. without the fear of being unable to have medical treatments, including surgery that could prolong life! Nothing has been as important since the passage of Social Security under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1935!

My own mother had open heart surgery at age 80 in 1987, and lived another four years, due to Medicare, and the number of such situations are in the millions!

Yes, there is a budget crisis involving Medicare now, but that is not a reason to wish to do what Congressman Paul Ryan, head of the House Budget Committee, has proposed, to have a voucher system for future retirees, something that will assure poverty and lack of medical care, and shortening of life span. Such an idea is immoral!

The answer is to raise the percentage of tax paid on Medicare, as an essential to promote security for the senior citizens and prolonging the quality of life, as part of the responsibility of all of us for our parents and grandparents!

And not only should Medicare be protected, but also what has happened in Detroit, the threat of NOT paying pensions to senior citizens who have dedicated their lives to public service, because of a financial crisis, reminds us of the urgency of not only protecting those in Detroit, but ALL public workers who do their years of service, and should be guaranteed payment of their pensions until death, no matter what the cost!

Anything else on Medicare or pensions is unconscionable, immoral, unethical, and ultimately illegal!

This nation cannot afford to do anything else in meeting its obligations to the elderly, and if that requires higher taxation, so be it!

Bill Maher On Ronald Reagan Two Weeks Ago: Right On The Mark!

Ronald 18 Comments

Comedian Bill Maher is famous, and infamous, for stating outrageous opinions, and sometimes, he states opinions through humor that one can find unacceptable, or disagree with.

But other times, he is right on the mark, and such case occurred two weeks ago, when he dared to challenge the mythology around President Ronald Reagan.

The Republican Party and conservatives tend to worship the ground that Ronald Reagan walked on, and while interpretations of Reagan will continue to evolve, both positive and negative, what Maher had to say about Reagan in a negative way, makes a lot of sense!

Maher said that Reagan, by his comments and his actions, fit the following profile:

That Reagan was the forerunner of the Tea Party Movement, that he was anti government, that he believed in busting unions, that he was anti abortion, that he was insensitive to gays on the issue of AIDS, that he was anti intellectual, that he cut the taxes of wealthy people while raising taxes on the average middle class person, that he worshiped the military industrial complex, that he believed Medicare was Socialism and that senior citizens were waiting for handouts on the program, that he promoted states rights, that he spread the myth of the welfare queen in Chicago who was black, and that minorities were waiting for the government to support their needs, described the New Deal as Fascism, said that unemployment compensation was a prepaid vacation for freeloaders, that he had no concern for the poor, that he said trees cause pollution, that he promoted hate of government, and that he is the man most responsible for our decline since the high point of the economy and wages in 1973!

Can anyone deny that all of the above is true and factual, based on what Reagan said and did, in and out of the Presidency?

The Republican Party Losing Its Future By Refusing To Accept Their Shortcomings And Promote Change!

Ronald 71 Comments

The Republican Party is, obviously, suicidal, as it is taking the wrong and unpopular stand on so many issues:

Refusal to back any gun regulations, even after the Newtown Massacre, alienating many mothers and parents.

Refusal to move much on illegal immigration, alienating Hispanics and Latinos, and Asian Americans.

Refusal to stop attacks on women’s rights, alienating large numbers of educated, suburban and young women.

Refusal to stop the attack on Social Security and Medicare, alienating millions of people nearing retirement, and many senior citizens.

Refusal to recognize that gay rights and gay marriage are the future, and therefore, alienating both gays and lesbians and their supportive families and friends, while at the same time, many of these Republicans have been married more than once, and have no concept of “family values”.

Refusal to cooperate on creating a budget that will pass both houses, and face the reality that taxes will have to go up, even more so now that there is growing danger of war with North Korea and/or Iran.

Refusal to repudiate their own Tea Party extremists, who will destroy the party’s future, as they will defeat responsible conservatives, but be unable to win seats in the US Senate or the White House anytime soon. As it is, the Republicans could have won Senate seats in Nevada, Colorado and Delaware in 2010, and Indiana and Missouri in 2012, but Tea Party supporters promoted lunatic nominees over responsible conservatives, and because of that, the Democrats were able to gain seats and keep the majority!

The Republican Party is living in illusion, in denial, in a time warp, in a parallel universe, and they are allowing the evangelical right wing Christians and the radio talk show hosts and Fox News Channel to steer them so far to the right that the majority of the American people will repudiate them for the long run, until they finally get the message, that the nation is a centrist nation, unwilling to cater to right wing extremists!

No Matter What Supreme Court Decides On Gay Marriage, Republican Party Is On Wrong Side Of History!

Ronald 29 Comments

The Supreme Court may decide to deal with the issue of gay marriage in a very narrow sense, rather than a broad sense, due to the possibility that Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito may influence Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy to join their side, as they do about 70 percent of the time.

But no matter what happens, the Republican Party will suffer, since the momentum of history is moving the nation toward acceptance of gay marriage, with young people having no problem accepting it, and senior citizens, a majority of whom oppose it, soon to be gone from the scene. And the Republican Party officeholders caving in to their conservative evangelical Christian base will marginalize them very soon.

It is interesting that Republicans NOT in office, more than 100 of them, have endorsed gay marriage, while only Ohio Senator Rob Portman has been willing, among Republican officeholders, to back the concept. So such hate mongers and extremists as Bryan Fischer, Gary Bauer, Ralph Reed, and Tony Perkins hold undue sway over the party, and the effect will be that the GOP will be unable to compete on an even basis for the Presidency and the Senate, although they may be able to hold on to the House of Representatives, due to gerrymandering which helps to set up rural districts that will continue to resist cultural change.

But again, in the long run of history, the Republican Party is painting itself into a corner, and burning their bridges behind them, as the population changes and social attitudes become more tolerant.

“47 Percenter” Mitt Romney Gains “47 Percent” Of Final Presidential Vote, From The True “Moochers”: The Ultimate Irony!

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Mitt Romney lost the Presidency for many reasons too numerous to list here, but ultimately, his “47 percent” comment, denigrating nearly half of the nation as “moochers”, did him in.

So now, the ultimate irony: Mitt Romney ended up winning 47.49 percent of the total national vote for President! So the “47 percent” candidate won “47 percent”–so appropriate!

And get this, he won the “Moocher Vote”, defined differently than he portrayed it!

After all, he won a majority of the wealthy, who “mooch” off all of us through corporate “welfare” and Bush tax cuts!

And he won a majority of the senior citizens, many of whom are better off than everyone else through America, but of course became so because of Democratic programs and laws, not Republican laws, which have never benefited the older part of our society. It is Social Security and Medicare, Democratic designed programs, which have made senior citizens as prosperous as many of them are!

And Romney won the “red” states of the South and Great Plains and Mountain West, which are, in most cases, the poorest states, who continue to get “handouts” in the form of shifting of tax benefits from the more prosperous, “blue”, Democratic states in the Northeast and New England, the upper Midwest, and the Pacific Coast states.

So, the TRUE “moochers”, the “47 percent”, voted for the “47 percenter”, Mitt Romney!

Bobby Jindal Tells Republicans To Stop Being “Stupid” Party! But Is That Possible?

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Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared that the Republican Party has to stop acting “stupid”, and must stop backing no increase in taxes on the wealthy, and insulting the intelligence of voters by crazy statements and viewpoints.

This all sounds very good in theory, but is what Jindal suggests really possible?

The answer is NO, as the following evidence demonstrates:

1, The Republican Party insulted their own history by having loony, nutty, whacky candidates in the race for the Presidency, including Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Rick Santorum. And Santorum made it clear that the Republican Party would never get the backing of intelligent, educated, smart people, which is absolutely the case right now

2. The Republicans settled on Mitt Romney, who looked reasonable in 2011, but in order to win the nomination of his party, totally transformed himself into a mean, nasty, hard hearted candidate who was willing to lie, to deceive, to change his views daily, deny his whole political heritage, and came across ultimately as totally insincere and untrustworthy. Many people found Mitt Romney obnoxious, feeling privileged and entitled, extremely phony to the core, and just wanting the campaign to end so that they no longer had to see his face and hear his voice!

3. Mitt Romney proceeded to pick an absolutely horrible Vice Presidential running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who came across as totally ideological, and alienated senior citizens and others with his call for privatizing Medicare and Social Security, and his extreme right wing agenda to cut the budget ruthlessly, without ever raising any taxes on the wealthy, who have had a ten year break from reasonable taxation, because of the Bush tax cuts. Ryan helped Romney to lose the “battleground” states, and his appointment showed poor judgment by Romney.

4. The Republican Party declared “war” on women, Hispanics and Latinos, young people wanting to get an education, senior citizens concerned about Social Security and Medicare, the disabled concerned about Medicaid, those who cared about the environment and consumer rights, those who support labor rights, African Americans who saw racism in the GOP message, and many others who were totally turned off to the party message.

5. The conservative media are like poison to the Republican Party, as are the social conservatives who want to interfere with people’s private lives based on promoting theocracy in America, and the Grover Norquist promotion of never, under any circumstances, raising taxes—all of this makes the Republican Party totally toxic to most voters. And of course, the decision to repudiate science in favor of religion shows how backward the party has become.

6. To believe that the Republican Party will change under these circumstances is to be naive, and any change would seem to be phony and just looking for votes, not a sincere reform or conversion.

The Republican Jewish Coalition, Israel, And Barack Obama: A Total Failure To Change The Jewish Vote

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The Republican Jewish Coalition made every effort to defeat President Barack Obama, but failed miserably!

In 2008, 78 percent of American Jews voted for the Democratic nominee; in 2012, after spreading lies and mistruths about Obama and Israel, the end result was that Obama received 70 percent of the vote, a total smack to the deception practiced by the RJC!

Why did 7 out 10 Jews remain loyal to Obama and the Democrats? The answer is that they knew that Obama had given more aid to Israel than any other President, including the IRON DOME missile system; that the Democrats were the party of social justice, as shown through Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ObamaCare, along with civil rights legislation, environmental legislation, and stood for women’s rights; and also that the Republican Party wished to cut back on all these accomplishments, including wiping out ObamaCare.

Additionally, many American Jews do not trust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it is now known that even people within his own government and military feel Netanyahu is too trigger happy, wanting to start a war with Iran before diplomacy has played its course, and that Netanyahu favored the Republicans and Mitt Romney from the beginning. So the question was: Should our President have to bow to every demand and detail that Netanyahu insists upon? Is he our President, instead of Barack Obama? And is it not true that Defense Minister Ehud Barak (former Prime Minister) and President Shimon Peres have raved about the support of Israel by our President?

Face the facts: The RJC was more concerned about preserving the wealth of Boca Raton Jewish residents and others elsewhere who are extremely wealthy, and do not wish to pay their fair share of taxes, as evidenced by the meeting in Florida of wealthy Jews where Mitt Romney said his famous “47 Percent” statement that harmed him greatly in the end result!

Also, Orthodox Jews as a group have a problem with socially tolerant views of abortion and gay rights, and are not seen as great advocates of civil rights for other minorities, other than themselves, sad to say!

And it is not just the RJC that was disgraceful!

It was also House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, the only Jewish Republican on Capitol Hill, who has made it his mission to destroy ObamaCare and privatize Medicare, and is very mean spirited in his relations with the President, and is also well known for his attempts to undermine House Speaker John Boehner, who he would love to replace!

And also, House Republican candidate Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, who lost to Lois Frankel, has the same agenda as Cantor. And Josh Mandel, the GOP nominee who lost to Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, ran a nasty, undignified campaign, and made clear that his goal was to promote the Tea Party radicalism of his party, rather than be part of the great majority who see their faith as connected to social justice!

Fortunately, both Hasner and Mandel lost handily, and it would be no loss to the nation if neither ever runs again, with their agenda to help the rich and powerful, and ignore the needs and wants of women, labor, minorities, gays, and senior citizens!

If Obama Loses, We Lose MUCH More Than He Loses!

Ronald 4 Comments

President Obama has made the statement that were he to lose the Presidential Election Of 2012, he and Michelle would do just fine, and that is certainly true.

After all, he has been President, will go down in history as a President who had some positive effects on the nation, and will be able to spend the rest of his life with great earnings potential, and rising popularity over time, and would be mourned when he dies, with a state funeral, and always be part of the story of American history.

Being a one term President, he would be likely to have a lower ranking in the list of Presidents, as Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush have had, along with William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, and Gerald Ford, the five Presidents of the 20th century who lost reelection.

Obama has had a record deserving of being listed higher, but he needs a second term to reach the ranks of the more outstanding Presidents.

But, ultimately, the biggest loser if Obama is not reelected, are:

Women–who will see their movement toward equality and dignity stalled or reversed in massive ways.

Gay men and women–who will likely lose the advancements on gay rights and gay marriage, and true equality in all ways.

Hispanics and Latinos–who will see more anti immigrant backlash, and will lose the advancements for young Immigrants under the proposed DREAM Act.

African Americans—who will see greater racism and discrimination, and setbacks in the promotion of equality and fairness of treatment.

Labor–who will see more attacks on workers rights, favoritism toward corporate employers, loss of collective bargaining rights, and setbacks in the lives of ordinary, struggling Americans who have no union representation.

Environmentalists–who will see more oil drilling, air pollution, refusal to understand the dangers of climate change, and allow economic development that endangers the health of millions of Americans, all for the motivation of profit over health concerns.

The poor–who have rough lives, will see a lack of concern or action to deal with the reality of child poverty, homelessness, hunger, the lives of single mothers, and further condemnation of the poor, reminding us of the Gilded Age and Social Darwinism.

The Middle Class–who will suffer further degradation, loss of opportunity to advance, and the potential for their children to succeed being lessened dramatically.

Young People–who will have fewer opportunities to advance in education and work, and will be embittered and disillusioned about the American Dream, which will be unfulfilled for millions.

Senior Citizens–who will have to live in fear of dangers to Social Security and Medicare, and will lose the sense of security and contentment in their older years.

The Disabled—whether young, middle aged, or old, who will see a loss of concern and support, as through Medicaid and other government programs.

Civil Libertarians–who will see further erosion of the Bill of Rights, and the promotion of narrow minded views of Muslims and Hispanics-Latinos by government policy.

The Peace activists–who will see America engaged in more wars, because of the power of Neoconservatives who will promote further foreign adventures.

Military Personnel and Veterans–who will see more soldiers killed in the future, and more ignoring of the needs of veterans who are fortunate enough to come home alive.

Educators and Intellectuals–who will be less appreciated and admired, and will be labeled “Communists, Socialists, Terrorists” by people in the Republican Party, who will do everything they can to attack education and freedom of thought, and call critics “unpatriotic”.

So Barack Obama will do just fine if he loses, but we, the American people, will lose so much, and it will transform our lives in so many negative ways that most people cannot conceptualize or imagine!

The Developing Gender, Age, And Racial Gap In American Politics Will Determine The Future

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What is becoming more obvious by the day is that America is facing a major split politically over the nation’s future. It will show up in the results of the Presidential Election of 2012.

A gender gap, already present, is growing, between the majority of women, who vote Democratic, and the majority of men, who vote Republican.

An age gap is also widening, as younger voters tend to trend toward the Democrats, while senior citizens seem afraid of the future, including the racial changes coming in the population, and are tending Republican, even though the Republicans should be seen as a threat to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

There is also an obvious racial gap, with the majority of whites voting Republican, while the majority of African Americans and Hispanics-Latinos are voting Democratic.

This split, along gender, age, and racial lines presents many challenges to the winner of the election, and indicates the stresses and tensions within the nation, as we see an aging white population, and an emerging, much younger and growing minority community becoming the major factor in the future of American politics. It also shows the growing conflict between men and women over their roles in American society, as women become the challenge to men’s dominance economically.

The old traditions are being upended by a changing dynamic that will affect policy making in the future. And it will also affect both the Democrats and Republicans as they come to grips with the political future. The party which accepts the future will dominate, while the party that resists the future will suffer!