Senior Citizens

The True Nature Of Republican Anarchism Reveals Itself!

Ronald 4 Comments

The Republican Party has moved so far to the Right that the list of outrageous views and statements that can be compiled gets worse all of the time! There seems to be no limit to their nastiness, selfishness, mean spiritedness, and anarchistic statements against government!

Witness the following in no special order:

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in California, condemns the entire New Deal and Great Society, saying Social Security and Medicare have been a total failure! He seems to suggest that such parts of the social safety net should be phased out, and demonstrates no recognition of how these programs have made old age much more dignified over the past 50-80 years, plus offering assistance to widows, children, and the disabled!

Virginia Congressman and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Wisconsin Congressman and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan say that earthquake and hurricane relief will be dealt with, but that equivalent budget cuts will have to be arranged to cover those costs! This will affect average Americans and cause more joblessness, and shows absolutely no concern about the economic effect on the long range future of the nation!

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, running for President, says that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) should not exist and is unnecessary, as the states and local governments can handle natural disaster, describing that as the response in past storms in Texas decades ago! He conveniently forgets or is ignorant of the fact that the worst hurricane in history, in Galveston, Texas, part of his district, experienced 6,000-12,000 dead in the year 1900, because of lack of awareness and response to that hurricane! Paul wants to go back a century, and what he is calling for is anarchism of the worst kind, such hatred of national government that he would leave recovery to states, particularly in the Gulf area, which historically have had just about the worst concern and commitment to their citizens, particularly the poor who are always more often the victims of natural disasters!

There will be more outrageous statements and criticisms of the federal government on the role they should play regarding the social safety net, and the reaction to natural disasters. We are living through a time of lunacy and insanity, of anarchism just as dangerous as any Islamic terrorist could ever present to our nation!

And sadly, it is also some Christian “terrorists”, just as dangerous to our nation, who are claiming that these natural disasters visiting the Atlantic Coast are due to gay marriage and abortion and having a black President! And the hatred prevalent at some church services conducted by these lunatic pastors against Barack Obama is terrifying! Jesus Christ has been totally distorted in his message of compassion and love by these reckless, hate mongering pastors who manipulate gullible followers in a dangerous, inciting manner!

We are in a very dangerous political climate that makes one wonder about the stability of the American republic!

Congressman Allen West Should Be Censured For His Vitriolic Attack On Debbie Wasserman Schultz!

Ronald 1 Comment

South Florida has a very large number of senior citizens, who will be affected by the Republican attempt to gut Medicare and Social Security.

Congressman Allen West, one of the most right wing conservatives in Congress, has come out for such cuts, and his colleague, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is also chair of the Democratic National Committee, criticized his action that will hurt his own constituents. She did not issue a personal attack on West, but when he heard what she had said on the floor of the House of Representatives, he went ballistic!

Already seen as a “loose cannon”, who was forced to leave the military in 2004 because of mistreatment of an Iraqi prisoner of war, West lashed into a bitter personal attack, saying Wasserman Schultz did not act like a lady, and he would not give her, therefore, appropriate respect ordinarily due a fellow member of the House!

West called his colleague “vile, unprofessional, and despicable”, and accused her of “heinous, characterless behavior” unbecoming a member of Congress!

What West needs to do, but will certainly not do, is look in the mirror, realize his temper tantrum was way overboard, and apologize to Wasserman Schultz and all women in America for his lunatic temper and lack of respect for women!

Why has West not learned to be civil, cordial, and congenial with those he does not agree with? Does he really think that hitting someone over the head symbolically with a hatchet is the way to solve disagreements?

West should be censured for his vitriolic attack, as unacceptable behavior! Wasserman Schultz criticized his policy views, while West did a character assassination, totally uncalled for!

However, no such censure will occur, and the best result will be the defeat of West in his congressional district by former West Palm Beach mayor Lois Frankel! This is certainly one of the most significant House races for 2012, even before yesterday’s events!

Florida Republicans Declare War On Democracy In Florida: Making It More Difficult To Vote!

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The Florida legislature, more than two thirds Republican, in league with Governor Rick Scott, has decided to take democracy away from the people of the Sunshine State, and in so doing, return Florida to the first half of the 20th century, and in many ways, to the late 19th century.

The goal in America has been to expand the right to vote, not inhibit it, but remember Florida, as a southern state, did everything it could after the Civil War and up to 1965, a full century, to deny African Americans the right to vote.

Now the legislature has decided to do the following:

1. Cut early voting before election day from 14 days to eight days, making it more difficult for many voters to participate, since many may not want to wait in long lines, particularly senior citizens. One third of Florida voters went to the polls before election day, and this will make it more difficult for them to do what they prefer, and assuredly will cut down the vote numbers.

2. College students and newlyweds with a name or address change will have to cast privisional ballots, which might not be counted, as there will be no allowance to change information as one votes. Half of all provisional ballots were not counted in 2008.

3. Groups that help register voters, such as the League of Women Voters, would only have two days to return the registration cards to the supervisor of elections, or would face the possibility of fines up to $1000, plus volunteers who made mistakes in voter applications could also be fined.

Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson made a public appeal to prevent these changes, but the GOP went ahead and did it anyway, so it is a bad sign for the future of Florida democracy!

Imagining If Medicare Had Never Become Law Under Lyndon Johnson

Ronald 2 Comments

At a time when the Republican Party has advocated by a formal vote in the House of Representatives that they wish to privatize Medicare over the next decade, therefore ending a program that the vast majority of them voted against when it first passed in 1965 as a part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, let us just imagine that Medicare had never occurred. How would America be different?

The effects of NOT having Medicare pass and be part of the American safety net would be the following:

1. Millions of senior citizens, who were taken out of poverty by the security of their medical bills being paid, would have instead remained in poverty and become a burden on theiir children, if they had any, and if they were willing to put themselves in dire economic straits to help their parents.

2. The longevity rate for senior citizens would have been much lower, as many, being unable to pay for medical services at an advanced age, would have died instead. Therefore, the life span increase in America, which has advanced so much since 1965, would not have occurred for anyone but the elite wealthy.

3. The quality of life for older people, their state of mind and sense of security in older age, would have deteriorated through constant concern about money and health.

4. The family unit of parents and chldren, grandparents and grandchildren, so important as part of what makes America a sucess, would have been cut short by money standing in the way of good health and long life span.

5. The contributions of senior citizens to our economy, our workforce, and the real life accomplishments of many to our advancements as a society, in so many intangible ways, would not have happened. People do not stop being positive forces for change and for good when they reach the “golden years” of 65 plus.

Medicare helps make America a more humane society, giving dignity and a sense of mental relief to those who have done so much for this country, through producing their offspring and contributing in their work life to the advancement of the nation that they helped create.

Of course, there is no doubt that Medicare was created nearly fifty years ago with the expectaton that people would not live as long and healthy lives as has occurred. And of course, costs of the Medicare program have skyrocketed, and there are concerns over the long term health of the program. And, yes, there is corruption and fraud in the sytem which needs to be rooted out.

But the answer is to reform the system, not destroy it!

The answer is to recognize that the tax base for Medicare will have to go up, and that there must be methods developed to root out waste and fraud, and that some tinkering with the system of costs must be enacted, not an easy thing to do, but essentiial as future generations will want to have the same security and sense of dignity that their parents and grandparents have had for nearly a half century.

America will not be the same if our nation rejects the needs of senior citizens, and throws them to the wolves. A society which does not take care of its elderly in a decent way is a society which has lost its principles, its bearings, and its purpose!

Town Halls Turn Against Republican Budget Plan To Destroy Medicare As We Know It: A Reversal Of 2009-2010!

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In 2009-2010, the Obama Health Care plan received belligerent responses in many Town Halls for Democratic members of Congress, leading to much controversy and many confrontations!

Now, the tables have been turned, and Republican members of Congress are discovering in Town Halls that their constituents do NOT want Medicare destroyed, which the Republican budget plan of Congressman Paul Ryan represents!

The problem is that 235 Republicans in the House of Representatives just voted a week ago to adopt the Ryan plan, and as many predicted, it is becoming an albatross around the necks of the Republicans, and could lead to a massive switch in seats again, putting the Democrats in control of the House of Representatives after the 2012 election results are in!

What the Republicans refuse to recognize is that the American people, by large margins, including Independents, Republicans, and even Tea Party Movement people, want Medicare preserved as it is!

It is not just the senior citizens of this nation who like Medicare; it is also their children! And also, the seniors are not just selfish for themselves, but really feel strongly that their children and grandchildren should be entitled to the same excellent health care represented by Medicare!

Yes, Medicare is expensive and has cost overruns! But the answer is not to change Medicare into a voucher system which will victimize future senior citizens, but instead to TAX appropriately, as every other Western industrial nation does, so that EVERYONE is entitled to excellent health care in the long run, not just the short run!

And it is time to TAX the WEALTHY and the CORPORATIONS, both of which have a responsibility to all of us for their good fortune, and must play their role in promoting the best health care available!

The GOP War On Women and Children: Despicable And Disgraceful! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, appointed by President Ronald Reagan 25 years ago, and arguably the most conservative Justice in more than half a century, recently stated that women were not protected in the Constitution.

That shocking statement seems to be working itself out in the attack of the Republican Party, in Congress and in the states, on the rights and freedoms of American women and children.

Witness the following:

Republicans are trying to reduce women’s access to abortion care, and have been also trying to redefine rape, so as to lessen the opportunities or reasons for abortion.

A South Dakota legislator proposed a bill to make the murder of an abortion doctor justifiable homicide.

The party in Congress is trying to eliminate one billion dollars aid, including food, to low income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and children.

The party in Congress has proposed that hospitals be able to reject an abortion for a woman in danger of dying as a result of medical problems from the pregnancy.

Head Start, started under President Lyndon Johnson nearly fifty years ago, has been marked for a billion dollar cut in funding, eliminating spots for 200,000 children.

The Republicans want to cut spending on employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens, with two thirds of them being women.

The GOP called on Friday for elimination of all federal funding for Planned Parenthood health centers, which promotes responsible family planning.

And this series of actions against women and children are sponsored by people who profess to be “good Christians”, religious people who demonstrate absolutely no concern for life once it is born, and are mean spirited and nasty in their vicious attacks on women’s rights! 🙁

The Republican women in Congress, as a group, make one wonder how women could be so uncaring and lack compassion for those less fortunate, whether poor, young, or elderly. In many ways, they are actually worse than the Republican men! There is no way that Jesus Christ would approve of these “true believers”, who he would consider hypocrites in the extreme! 🙁

The Reality Of Budget Cuts To Come In The 112th Congress: The Poor, The Young, The Retired To Suffer Greatly While The Rich And Privileged Suffer No Pain! :(

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We hear a lot these days about “cost cutting”, and “budget cuts” and “reckless spending” as code words for what the 112th Congress under House Speaker to be John Boehner will be addressing next year.

What it comes down to, though, is that the rich and privileged and the corporations will suffer no pain at all, and instead the poor, the young, and the retired (mostly elderly) Americans will bear the brunt of such a dramatic slashing of the budget!

It means that medical care will be denied, as it is, for instance, in Arizona to Medicaid recipients who need heart, lung, kidney and liver transplants, and instead will die, being given a “death panel” decision by Governor Jan Brewer! 🙁

It means that class sizes will be dramatically raised, making educational conditions in thousands of school districts across the country far worse than they already are!

It means that crime fighting and fire fighting will be impeded, which will affect poorer communities more than wealthier areas within the states!

It means many prisoners will be released because of overcrowding and budget cuts in state prisons, and that will add to the crime rate, particularly in poorer areas!

It means that college students in community colleges and state universities across the nation will, in many cases, be priced out of higher education, or go so deep into debt with rising tuition and housing costs, that they will be forced into bankruptcy in future years! 🙁

It means that dedicated civil service employees who have devoted their lives to serving the public in many capacities will now be cheated out of labor arrangements and retirement plans that they thought were legally binding!

It means that basic amenities such as parks, beaches, libraries, and other public services will be cut back dramatically, making the quality of life far worse!

It means that basic services to the elderly poor will be cut back, endangering many in their health and safety, and the whole concept of the “golden years”!

The more one thinks about this series of realities, the more the inequities of the situation scream out. So the rich and privileged will do just fine, while large portions of the population will suffer in an age of selfishness and greed, unparalleled since the 1920s and the previous Gilded Age (1865-1897), which one would think we would not repeat.

And now we will have a Republican leadership that does not apologize for this circumstance, and instead embraces it with impunity! 🙁

Chris Christie Of New Jersey: Education, Senior Citizens, Disabled Are Not Priorities! :(

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The new Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is rapidly becoming a favorite of right wing Republicans, as he is speaking out strongly against teachers’ unions, telling teachers if they don’t like pay cuts and freezes, they can go elsewhere for a job!

He also just vetoed a bill passed by the Democratic legislature to raise taxes on 16,000 people who are millionaires, as a way to restore property tax rebates for senior citizens and the disabled! But oh well, that is THEIR problem, if they cannot pay property taxes, already the highest on average in the nation! 🙁

The average millionaire will get a tax cut therefore, while the average homeowner will pay more, at a time when unemployment is so high in the state, and drastic service cuts are being made!

The image of the GOP helping the rich, and not giving a whit for the poor or middle class continues, and it makes one wonder why would anyone from the middle class vote for the Republican party? Why is it they seem to be so blind to how they are being victimized constantly by a party which only cares about those on top, not those in the middle or the bottom of society? 🙁