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May 09, 2009

RayFltr --- pragmatism - health - forests - drones

Good story - dolphins - pirates ---
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Obama - ruthless pragmatist? - moral leader against inequality? - political power - economic power - financial well-being - Robert Reich ---
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Why is single-payer health off the table? - physicians demonstrate at hearings ---
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Save the forests - keep roadless ---
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Drone strikes in Pakistan - collaborative damage is excessive - 14 Al Queda - 700 civilians dead - partial cause of Pakistan losing control over its own population - is Pakistan chaos our aim/goal? ---
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And in Afghanistan - collaborative damage - truckloads ---
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Bailout justice - John Ashcroft giving advice on justice - incredible - picking-up people off the streets - denying them their rights - now consultant/advisor of 'justice'? - that is the major problem with our political class - there is no shame ---
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zzzzzzzz
60s/70s - damp - rainy - cool - Spring will come - before Summer

May 09, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 07, 2009

Letters to --- WashPost - budget woes


Dear Editors:
 
I find it interesting that there seems to be concern about Obama's 'modest budgetary trims'.  Why would it be different and where would the 'large' savings be?  After 8 yrs of zero budgetary accountability and honesty regarding the funds to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or the GWOT if you prefer.  After more than 8 years of goosing the Wall Street Casino players to take more risks with other peoples money so they could feather their own nests and thus causing the collapse of the base economy.  After 8 yrs of using more than a trillion dollars of Social Security revenue to mask the actual costs involved and thus continue the charade.  Where would you expect to find the fat to trim?  Read the costs regarding the 'pipes' failures for the water district in just this area and then multiply by the thousands across the country to get an idea of just the minimal infrastructural costs we are facing.  And we still have people unwilling to invest in the base economy of the country rather than continue the reckless tax cuts and program cuts putting recovery at ultimate risk.   It's time to pay the piper.
 
Sincerely,

May 07, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Letters to --- WashPost - Ignatius OpEd - Social Security - Retirement


Dear Mr. Ignatius:
 
Thanks for your OpEd regarding the problem of boomers' retirement.  I think you should also enlighten people about what the reality of the Social Security program is.  More than a trillion dollars of SS revenue has been used over more than the past decade to hide the true budgetary deficits.  This has resulted in a direct transfer of funds from the working wage earner to pay for tax cuts for the rich, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or the GWOT if you prefer, and bridges to nowhere.  Now when it is time to pay back those funds the cry is to cut benefits in various ways so the skimming can continue.  This results in those lower income persons actually paying a greater marginal (income) tax rate as the FICA tax is being used for budgetary purposes.  Thus someone at the bottom of the wage scale has a marginal rate of about 15% or the same as the person at the top whose primary income is from capital gains, dividends, or - hold your nose - 'carried interest'.  Where is the fairness let alone justice in that?
 
Social Security benefits need to be increased so the elderly dependent on them for a minimal living can survive the recession.  I have no problem with the benefits being taxable for those like me for whom they are supplemental. Social Security needs to be taken off-budget and bonds purchased by excess SS revenues should have the first priority for repayment before the Chinese and others. 
 
Certainly SS revenues shouldn't be put at the mercy of the Wall Street Casino players.  If nothing else the past year has taught us that US Gov bonds are the safest investment.  Apparently, in times of crisis, people are willing to pay the Treasury to allow them to buy the bonds.
 
Sincerely,

May 07, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Letters to --- WashPost - George Will


Dear Editors:
Would you please put poor George Will out of his misery and allow him to move to the Washington Times.
 
Sincerely,

May 07, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 06, 2009

RayFltr --- Tibet - Haiti - Obama - Israel - torture - ICE

Good story - Tibet - China - Dalai Lama - progress? - hope - a start - dialogue ---
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I think this is a good story also - shows that we actually have a President who wants to listen to the other side - inspires at least some confidence he is trying to reach outside the 'bubble' ---
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Hurricane season coming - Haiti - already a disaster - economically - environmentally - little hope - poorest nation in Western Hemisphere - 80% of population - less than $2/day - when will we take a serious interest and effort to turn it around? - decline continues ---
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Bill Moyers says that Obama seems to be 'owned' by the financial complex - I'd like to think not but agree that I'm not too happy with his financial advisors ---
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Defiance of International law - Israel - exploitation of Palestinian resources - mining/construction material - S'OK - it's for security purposes - incredible ---
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I found this interesting - why are people who believe like Ronald Reagan did about torture now considered to be hard-left? - really shows how far the political spectrum has shifted to the right - what used to be center or even right-center is now considered left - incredible ---
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And what is really bad is the media's complicity - the Post won't call it torture because the Bush Administration doesn't - HUH? - and the Post wonders why it's losing readers ---
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Deporting US citizens - not entitled to legal representation - your word against the 'Government' - illegal until proven citizen - but how? - 'ICE doesn't make mistakes' - can't we get better qualified people in ICE? - have we become a banana republic? ---
zzzzzz
50s/60s - cool - rainy - Spring is limping forth

May 06, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 03, 2009

RayFltr --- energy - torture - rape kits - hedge funds

Good story - I thought this was great - perseverance - hard work - love - and talent - piano ---
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Obama's first hundred days ---
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With regard to Chrysler bankruptcy - Obama's push against some Hedge Funds' unwillingness to take the offer - and their response.  Steve Pearlstein has it right.
 
—"[s]ince when did any of these guys ever worry about fairness?"—and points out that the one group that "can claim to have been treated unfairly in this process, it is us taxpayers." While the UAW will get 55 percent in return for accepting lower wages and $4.6 billion in cash that had been promised, and Fiat will get up to 35 percent for "management oversight and technology that it has already developed," the U.S. and Canadian government will get a mere 10 percent in return for loans worth $15 billion. "You don't have to be an investment banker to see that that is hardly sufficient compensation for a loan so risky that there isn't a private lender in the world willing to make it."
--- WashPost
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Specter ---
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 Cutting spending on pandemic flu preparation? - shortsightedness - again ---
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Largesse - waste - ineffectiveness - how much is left if contracts are subbed five times with 15% being skimmed off each time? - just like Katrina response - unfortunately, the projects that do work and are effective don't get the recognition deserved and are hurt even worse by the 'bad' ---
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We are all torturers - in our name - where was everyone the past 8 yrs? - Naomi Wolf ---
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Virtual strip search - having gone through this recently in Tulsa - it is very intrusive - I don't think it's necessary - it is basically degrading - a short piece by EPIC ---
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Untested rape kits - a national disgrace - criminal neglect - thousands of untested rape kits mean that repeat offenses are prevalent - convictions are lost - and that even the possibility of closure for the victims is impossible - PBS NOW had a program on this last Friday about the tens of thousands of kits sitting on shelves waiting to be analyzed - Kristof continues - where is the outrage? - where is the justice? - where is Congress? ---
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Internet privacy - EPIC's testimony before the House ---
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And where do you want your data stored? - FBI seizes data Center - losses to businesses, individuals - without recourse - relocate to Canada/Mexico/Caribbean? -  not so great for the US economy - there must be a better way ---
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Energy-Brazil - forward looking - they have major problems yet in land-use - I question the biodiesel part but think that Brazil has great potential and possibilities - deforestation isn't fixed yet - but they may have a better grasp of a sustainable mixed energy policy than we do ---
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zzzzzzzzz
50s/70s - nice - rain - nice - flowers everywhere - nice - enjoy the weekend

May 03, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)