WELCOME TO OPINIONS BASED ON FACTS (OBOF)
Name | Published |
OVERVIEW | Dec. 28, 2010 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 1 | Dec. 30, 2010 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 2 | Jan. 10, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 3 | Jan. 17, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 4 | Jan. 24, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 5 | Jan. 31, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 6 | Feb. 07, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 7 | Feb. 14, 2011 |
SPECIAL ISSUE | Feb. 18, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 8 | Feb. 21, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 9 | Mar. 01, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY PART 10 | Mar. 07, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 1 | Mar. 14, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 1A | Mar. 21, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 2 | Mar. 25, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 3 | Mar. 29, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 4 | Apr. 04, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 5 | Apr. 11, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 6 | Apr. 18, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 7 | Apr. 25, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 7A | Apr. 29, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 8 | May 02, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 9 | May 09, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 10 | May 16, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 11 | May 24, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 12 | Jun. 06, 2011 |
SS & MORE PART 13 | Jun. 20, 2011 |
SOCIAL SECURITY & MORE PART 13
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Opening thoughts - Money giveaway.
2. This is the most important posting thus far.
3. Hypocrisy.
4. Republican Presidential Candidate Debate.
5. Grover Norquist.
6. Social Security.
O P E N I N G T H O U G H T S
WANT TO WIN SOME POCKET CHANGE? I offer you a challenge. The third person who writes me a comment about this posting by e-mail, not comment at the end of the posting, but e-mail, I will send you $25. You will never make $25 easier. My e-mail address is fab_80@cox.net
The fifth person to write will receive $15. I am sure you realize I will have to have a mailing address in order to send you your money. Now, as I have said before, I promise you I will not give your e-mail address to anyone.
You don't have to agree with me, but agree or not, tell me why, in as few or as many words as you wish. I will not list your name, your e-mail address or your mailing address in my posting.
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POSTING THUS FAR
This is the 28th posting, or message, that I have put on this blog, since I started it on Dec. 28, 2010. What follows is truly historical from the standpoint of SAVING THIS COUNTRY. Sound ridiculous? Mark my words, the greater portion of everything that happens to our country, in a positive manner from now on, will be because of the actions, now and in the future, of this Senator. Due to the importance of this development this posting will be lengthy, but I promise you, it will be worth your time.
That's quite a statement and maybe you won't feel about it as I do, but the actions of one United States Senator has caused a crack in the GOP's adhering to a "no new taxes" orthodoxy, which has proven, up to now, to be more powerful, than the desire to balance the budget.
I have said before, in case some of you missed it, that I am a Democrat. I am not a dyed in the wool extreme left Democrat. I am a Progressive, but again, not an extreme Progressive. I try hard to keep an open mind and look at all sides of an issue. Having said that, I also acknowledge, that I have become very upset, disappointed and, at times, outraged with the Republican Party.
Now again, having said that, I recognize that there are those in the Republican Party that are sincere thinkers and should be taken seriously. I think that they do have the best interest of the country at heart.
In my last posting I said that I would do some research regarding Grover Norquist and report more in this posting as to his background and how he has become so powerful to have all Republican legislators, House and Senate, sign a pledge not to raise taxes without corresponding tax cuts. Thanks to my son, he has researched this for me and has come up with 28 pages about Mr. Norquist. I will get to that later in this posting.
That pledge is the one thing that is behind all of the stalemate between Congress and the Administration on all fronts of reducing the deficit and raising the Debt ceiling.
It is my belief that our country is truly in serious danger, if this pledge continues to control the Republican Party, so that nothing can get accomplished. That is the reason that I have said that the actions of this one Senator may very well, as things progress, save this country from damage beyond repair.
What about this Senator and who is he? He is Senator Thomas Coburn (R OK). What has he done that makes me feel this way? First, and without spending an hour trying to find which one of my postings I reported this, Senator Coburn has been having open words with Grover Norquist for many months about Norquist's rigid position regarding the raising of revenue.
Senator Coburn has been calling for a cancellation of the Ethanol tax credit, which represents $6 billion per year. This and Senator Coburn's disagreement with Norquist, came to a head starting on 6-14-11 when Senator Coburn, bravely and successfully, pushed his amendment on Ethanol to a vote in the Senate.
The amendment failed 40 to 59. But, 34 Senate Republicans voted in favor of the amendment. This in total defiance of Norquist previous notice that voting for this amendment would be considered a violation of their pledge.
At this point, it should be noted that the amendment failed by the Democrat vote, supposedly, based on a procedural maneuver that they did not like. The following is an interview between Lawrence
O'Donnell "Is this vote today a break in the lock that Grover Norquist has had on Republican voting in the Congress on tax issues?"
Coburn "Well, I think you all overstate the influence Grover Norquist has. He certainly has some influence. I think our greater roll is to do what we think is in the best interest of the country right now, given all the problems that are in front of us and I was pleased to see 34 Republicans join with me and say we are going to eliminate all ear marks, not just the appropriation ear marks, but the tax ear marks as well, and so, if you will remember, the ear mark history came from an amendment I offered on the "Bridge To No Where." That started the battle and hopefully this will start the battle to end tax ear marks."
O'Donnell "Senator, I would love to discover that I have over estimated Grover Norquist's power on taxation in this country" (Coburn interrupts.)
Coburn "I think you are going to find that out. As we are told to fix the problems of this country, your going to find out that Republicans are going to wind up making the votes that will compromise and solve the problems, because the country has to have it. We have to abandon Party and we have to do the principle thing, which is, how do we build a compromise that actually solves the problems in front of our country."
O'Donnell "Grover Norquist has said about you and is prepared to say about other Senators. About you he said "He lied his way into office." Because you offered an amendment that would close a tax loophole, that was, basically, a corporate tax loophole that, therefore, raised revenue on certain tax returns. He's obviously going to use that technique on other Senators who are running for reelection. In the Republican cloak room today, what was the talk about what Grover Norquist" (Coburn interrupts)
Coburn "There wasn't any talk! There wasn't any talk!! He's not going to do anything. Between now and the next year, as we go to solve these problems, everybody knows there's going to have to be a compromise on some sort of revenue increases as we make the major cuts. That's just facts. You can deny it. Grover's old news. It doesn't matter what he says, it doesn't matter what he wants, he's old news and we're going to fix the country. Some of that is going to be revenue increase and that is the only way your going to build a compromise and get it signed by the President. I understand that and everyone else does. The fact is most people won't admit it."
O'Donnell "Senator Coburn, you got 40 votes on the floor, but because you brought it up in a procedurally unusual way, that certain Senators voted the other way because of procedural reasons, not because of the substance of your amendment. Is it your sense that if you had brought this up in a clean way, so that there was no procedural argument with Harry Reid, about how it was brought up, do you think more Democrats would have joined you with this vote."
Coburn "Oh, I think there is no question that we would have had 63 or 64. But it brings up the question. The Senate is suppose to be the body where you have the right to amend and we were shut out on the Small Business Innovation bill and we were going to be shut out on this bill. So the reason we used cloture to bring in this amendment, which is well within the rule 22 of the Senate, you've been around here, you know those rules."
"The reason we lost votes today was, because the Majority Leader broke arms to make people and they are scrambling to find another way to vote this so they don't look so bad. So you'll see this vote or similar vote that will come right back to the Senate in a week or ten days so they have a cover vote so they can say "I voted against this, but I voted for this."
O'Donnell "Are you going to continue to bring up other amendments on other vehicles where you think you can?" ( I could not understand the word O'Donnell used where I have used the word "vehicles." I have no idea what that means and I am not sure the word was vehicles.)
Coburn "I am going to continue to bring up amendments that eliminate stupid policies by the Federal Government. If I can bring up 100 I'll bring them up, because I've got 100 stupid examples."
O'Donnell "Senator Coburn, thanks for being with us tonight."
The next development really upsets me.
It turns out that the Democrats were not unhappy about a procedural matter, they were unhappy because the amendment wasn't a Democrat amendment.
As Senator Coburn said would happen, the amendment came up for a vote again, two days later, on 6-16-11 and passed 73 to 27, again with 33 Republicans voting for the amendment. What made the difference?
The difference was that this was a Dianne Feinstein (D CA) amendment with Senator Tom Coburn a co- sponsor. There is no question, but what the Democratic Senate Leadership got with Coburn and said, in essences, We will see to it that it passes if you will let it be a Democrat amendment.
Senator Coburn, being the type of man he is and wanting to get the amendment passed, agreed. It takes a big man to do that and it is shameful for the Democrats to do that. This is exactly what Senator Coburn said would happen in his interview with Lawrence
H Y P O C R I S Y
I had not planned to get into this, but it seems I am going to have to. I am sure that, by now, most of you are familiar with the Anthony Weiner, (D NY) scandal. I, in no way shape or form, condone Congressman Weiner's action. However, in light of the point I want to make, it must be kept in mind that Congressman Weiner never had any physical contact with any of the women involved and never met them face to face. Also, so far, there is no evidence that he has broken any laws, unless you consider lying and if you consider that breaking the law there will be no congress.
Now, as of June 8 almost all of the leadership and others in the Republican Party have called for his resignation. They are being very vocal about it. They carry on about money he has donated to other Democrat candidates, that it is tainted money. That is so ridiculous. The money he has given has nothing whatsoever to do with the immoral action he has performed. Now, whether or not he should resign is not up to me and I am not taking a position on it.
My concern is the double standard set up by the Republican Party with regard to punishment for sex scandals. They are even setting this up to hurt the entire Democratic Party. BUT WHEN IT HAPPENS TO A REPUBLICAN IT IS A DIFFERENT STORY.
That's right, there are four Republican legislators that have done much worse and there has not been a cry for any of them to resign. The worst example is Senator David Vitter
On Dec.19, 1998 Representative Livingston, who was next in line to be speaker of the House, resigned due to a sex scandal. At the time, he called for Bill Clinton to also resign. Since Livingston resigned, the then, Rep. David Vitter became speaker and also called for Clinton
All of this even though he had been exposed as being on the list of a DC madam who ran a prostitution ring. Senator Vitter was exposed to have had sex with the upscale prostitute and paid money for it.
He admitted to all this, but did not resign and is now having fundraisers for reelection. No one in the Republican Party ever called for him to resign. He actually broke the law by paying for sex to a prostitute and was not even asked to resign.
Representative Weiner has not broken any laws, has never even met the women involved, face to face, but they are clammering for him to resign. This simply personifies the many other things that are wrong and threatening to our country by the Republicans. IT'S ALL WRONG IF ANYONE ELSE DOES IT, BUT IT IS ALRIGHT IF WE DO IT according to the Republican doctrine. HYPOCRISY AT IT'S HIGHTEST.
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
DEBATE JUNE 13, 2011
I did not listen to the Republican Presidential candidates debate on June 13, 2011. I have listen to a number of accounts relating to the debate.
Everything that I heard were comments in generic terms. A lot of it was the usual call for "repeal of Obamacare." That is what we hear, in some form or other, every week.
Maybe I have just missed it, but I have never heard any Republican tell specifically what is wrong with Obamacare. They talk about the 2,700 pages, which I reported about in my last posting, that actually boils down to just 200 pages that refers to health care. There wasn't one word about Education, Jobs, the Middle Class or any specifics about anything. The entire debate had one theme and one only, tear down Obama.
They even all nodded along when one called the Obama administrations "destructive force," and they said nothing when another said the President has "embraced our enemies." That statement is darn near TREASON. This shows us what we will be hearing from now to Nov. 2012. We have to be ready and willing to fight back on stupid stuff like this.
GROVER NORQUIST
WHO IS HE ?
WHY HAS HE BEEN SO POWERFUL?
The following is a factual statement of his background.
Grover G . Norquist, a native of Massachusetts, has been one of the most effective issues management strategists in Washington
Mr. Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a taxpayer advocacy group, he founded in 1985 at President Reagan’s request. ATR is a coalition of taxpayer groups, individuals and businesses opposed to higher taxes at the federal, state and local levels. ATR organizes the TAXPAYER PROTECTION PLEDGE, which asks all candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. In the 112th Congress, 236 House members and 41 Senators have taken the pledge. On the state level, 13 governors and 1249 state legislators have taken the pledge.
Norquist chairs the Washington, DC - based “Wednesday Meeting,” a weekly gathering of more than 150 elected officials, political activists, and movement leaders. The meeting started in 1993 and takes place in ATR's conference room. There are now 61 similar "center-right" meetings in 47 states.
Mr. Norquist also:
- Serves on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association of
America - Serves on the board of directors of the American Conservative
Union . - Serves on the board of directors of The Nixon Center
- Serves as a Contributing Editor to the American Spectator Magazine.
- Serves as president of the American Society of Competitiveness.
- Authored two books Rock the House and Leave Us Alone – Getting the Government’s Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives
In the past, Mr. Norquist served as:
- A commissioner on the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce.
- A commissioner on the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service.
- Economist and chief speech-writer,
U.S. - Campaign staff on the 1988, 1992, 1996 Republican Platform Committees.
- Executive director of the National Taxpayers’
Union . - Executive director of the College Republicans
Mr. Norquist holds a Masters of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, both from Harvard University Washington , DC
MY THOUGHTS
Well, in view of the above, it's easy to see how he has gained so much power. There no doubt are times when a strict approach to holding taxes from increases is appropriate. Such is the case back in 1980s when the rate for the wealthy and corporations was 70%. Conversely, there are times when increases are appropriate and needed. Taxes and revenue are not always the same thing. Revenue can involve matters other than taxes.
The point is YOU JUST CAN'T BE RIGID ABOUT ANYTHING. Times change and needs change. You have to be flexible. This applies to Government or person. A better way of life is what America
Government is suppose to do for it's people what they can't do for themselves. What those things are can be argumentative, but as a nation progresses through it's various stages of development, things that people can't do for themselves also change. What the needs were in 1960 or 1970 have very little bearing on what our needs are today. WITH AN OPEN MIND AND FLEXIBILITY ALL THINGS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED.
If we had a little more open mindness and flexibility in Washington
I'm sure there are thoughts about which I will disagree with Senator Coburn, but whatever they are they will not change my respect for him. I think he is quite a man. There are exception to all rules and I have said, in the past, that I would not vote for a Republican. However, Senator Coburn is one for which I would consider an exception to my rule.
Norquist must be a brilliant man to have accomplished as much as he has, but I think he needs just two things more to his agenda. OPEN MIND AND FLEXIBILITY.
S O C I A L S E CU R I T Y
TWO IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
The horizon is beginning to look like Social Security may be coming to the forefront again with a call for some changes. We must keep a close eye on the developments. Things have been real quiet about it for some time. That's when you have to watch out for a boot to drop on you. I'll certainly try to do that. In the meantime keep these thoughts in mind and use them anytime you might get in a conversation about Social Security and entitlements.
1. SOCIAL SECURITY HAS BEEN, AND IS, A SELF SUPPORTING PROGRAM. IT IS THE MOST SUCESSFUL GOVERNMENT PROGRAM THAT HAS EVER BEEN PUT IN PLACE .
2. GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR
STEALING THIS $2.6 TRILLION AND SHOULD HAVE TO REPLACE IT SOME WAY WITHOUT MAKING THE TAXPAYERS PAY AGAIN. ONE WAY WOULD BE TO TAX THE WEALTHY, WHO GOT A GREAT BENEFIT, FROM THIS $2.6 TRILLION, TO BEGIN WITH.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Keep in mind that I have some money in my pocket that's burning a hole there and I just got to get it out, so, write me at my e-mail address fab_80@cox.net
I'll be talking to you again on Tuesday July 5th.
Floyd
