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May 16, 2009

RayFltr --- socialism - disaster prevention - healthcare women - Notre Dame - African food crisis - immigration - AfPak - Cheney - torture

 
Good story - Norway - outside the financial crisis - maybe socialism isn't so bad after all ---
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Disaster prevention - an issue close and dear to many of us - Brazil - flooding - even with a potential saving of $10 for every $1 spent on prevention - nothing is done - deja vu all over again - will we ever have the political leadership for planning for the future? - doubtful - sad but true ---
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Healthcare - not for women - we can/must do better - insist on change in healthcare reform ---
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The Notre Dame dust-up - what a sad commentary on our country that this is controversial - Mario Cuomo's quote is particularly meaningful ---
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But my favorite writer - James Carroll - says it is very important - points to the rising fundamentalism in the Catholic Church - if the Catholic Church becomes more fundamentalist - its large presence throughout the world will have a major impact on the globe - a TomDispatch piece - I thought very revealing ---
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African food crisis - I agree almost completely with what is said here - the problem is food access not production - from my experience in more than 30 countries in which I always asked myself - what would be the problem if ag output market price was guaranteed in US dollars at world prices to the farmer on site? - almost always from my perspective production wouldn't be a problem - it might be markets, storage, transportation - generally it was the political/economic system - that doesn't mean something can't be done - it must be an integrated approach including rural development ---
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Retirement for many ---
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Is there a possibility of change in the 'drug war' - health issue? - maybe ---
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Immigration - human rights - justice - under-class - subhuman - abuse of women - leadership? ---
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AFPAK - Pipelinestan - Black gold - Blue gold - energy/drug intrigue - energy poker? - Russian roulette? -  I've provided stories about these 'games' before - it continues with Pepe Escobar - is Obama's AfPak really about energy?-  not terrorism? ---
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Maureen Dowd is sometimes questionable but this piece by her on Cheney is tops.  Really lays out the case against Cheney's 'flip-flop' ---
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And Garrison Keillor - Cheney - Republicans - 'we are what we are' - a little lift ---
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Boy Scouts training to fight terrorists - huh? ---
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If you can stomach another story about torture - it's hard to read but if we give up reading - is that inaction? -does that pass as acceptance? - how do we keep pressure on the issue but not become numb? ---
The first is regarding the recent death of a 'ghost prisoner' in Libya and the second is from an earlier piece by the same author ---
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And then - tortured to death - homicide is an uncomplicated crime - no possible equivocation like torture - 100 homicides? - what next? ---
zzzzzzzz
60/70s - great - keeps raining - where is the sun? - enjoy the weekend

May 16, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 15, 2009

Letters to --- WashPost - Social Security - Ponzi scheme


Dear Editors:
 
Finally some enlightenment.   You say in your editorial that - "Furthermore the size of the Social Security surpluses has shrunk, posing a problem for the government since it relies on these funds to help plug its deficits. .... forcing the cash-strapped feds to borrow even more than they had expected."   It appears that the crisis isn't the Social Security program but the fact that there will be no surpluses to skim.   Or in other words there won't be any excess Social Security tax receipts from the working class wage-earner to pay for tax cuts and bailouts for the rich.   So we'll have to cut benefits in order to keep the margin for skimming - a classic Ponzi scheme.   How clever.
 
Sincerely,

May 15, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 13, 2009

RayFltr --- Journalists imprisoned - day laborers - domestic violence - financial - Social Security - AfPak - Israel

Mother's Day ---
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The release of a US Journalist in Iran is good news and the Media pressure was great but Glenn Greenwald reminds us that the US imprisoned an Al-Jazeera Jounalist for 6 years without charges, an AP Photographer for 2yrs in Iraq and continues to hold in prison Journalists in Iraq.  Where was/is the Media world's pressure about these?
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Day Laborers - left at the curb - endemic throughout our country - a national disgrace - they contributed to the economic growth - no safety net - underclass - where is our humanity? ---
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Domestic violence - economic abuse - Nick Turse tells the story in TomDispatch - where is the light at the end of the tunnel? - budget cuts in social programs affect the possibility of jobs for the abused - what strength of character and hope to not give up ---
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Unleash the communities - I thought this very apropos - particularly for Virginia - State restrictions on local communities to raise revenue as they want is very controlling and allows ideologues too much power - in Virginia - in my opinion - eliminating the Dillon rule restricting local control would be the fastest, best, and most democratic way to help the financial crisis ---
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Financial recovery? - Nobelist Stiglitz says don't break out the champagne yet - hitting bottom doesn't mean recovery - he paints a rather sobering picture yet - but I think he is being realistic ---
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Social Security - James Galbraith on how it could help with recovery ---
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AfPak - Amy Goodman interviews Andrew Bacevich - historian, military, lost a son in Iraq, conservative - wow!! - talk about a realist - very sobering - unwinnable ---
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AfPak - Chris Hedges - war correspondent - gives some some historical context from mid-80s and how we helped bring in the radical forms of Islam and laid the basis for the current Taliban - from people who were there - I also don't think it's winnable in any sense ---
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Israel - peace doesn't pay ---
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Somalia - piracy - high tech - London input ---
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Inequality of environmental pollution - poor - black - latino - bear the burden ---
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Whole Foods - good Corp? - not below the surface - anti-worker - cut health benefits - anti-union - second-largest anti-union retailer next to WalMart ---
 zzzzzzzzz
50s/70s - cool - rain - nice - flowers are lasting longer - yard work - behind - enjoy

May 13, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 12, 2009

Letters to --- WashPost - Broder - Ombudsman


Dear Editors:
I am curious as to why in your editorial - Sunday May 10th - on the increase in debt and deficit, you refer to Social Security as does David Broder in his OpEd.  What does SS have to do with the deficit or debt?  Nothing.  The current deficit and debt are caused by the unbudgeted and unnecessary war in Iraq and the greed of Wall Street Casino players over the past decade.  Interestingly, you both seem concerned about the entitlement programs of SS, Medicare, and Medicaid but say nothing about the 'entitlement' mentality of Wall Street for excessive pay.  Why do you continue to mislead your readers and add to hype by grouping SS with Medicare and Medicaid?  Medicare and Medicaid are health problems and must be solved with the healthcare fiasco.   SS does not belong with the other two as it is self- funded.  I would like to hear you explain to a worker in his forties why it's OK to skim some of the revenue - that he thought was being paid into SS for his aging years - and spending it on wars, tax cuts for the rich, and bridges to nowhere and then when there is no longer any excess to skim say we have to cut benefits so there will continue to be some excess for skimming.
 
After 8 yrs of zero budgetary accountability and honesty regarding the funds necessary 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 thus causing the collapse of the base economy; and after using more than a trillion dollars of Social Security revenue to mask the actual costs involved and thus continue the charade; just where would you expect to find the fat to trim?  Have you no 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.  And what does the Post do?  Ignore the reality.  It's time to pay the piper. 
 
Using SS revenues as part of the general budget results in lower income persons actually paying a greater marginal (income) tax rate than millionaires.  Thus someone at the bottom of the wage scale has a marginal rate of about 15% - primarily FICA - 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?  A person earning $100k in wages has a higher marginal rate (25% + 12.6% FICA) than someone earning a million in wages (35%).  Even Warren Buffet doesn't think that's right.
 
Social Security benefits need to be increased so the elderly dependent on them for a minimal living (more than 22% of elderly) 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 securities purchased by excess SS revenues should have the first priority for repayment before those held by China 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 Government bonds are the safest investment.  Apparently, in times of crisis, people are willing to pay the Treasury to allow them to buy the bonds.
 
I would think that newspapers have sufficient problems in survival without increasing that risk by purposely misleading their readers with slanted reporting.
 
Sincerely,

May 12, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)