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 |
| SS & MORE PART 14 | July 05, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 14A | July 18, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 15 | July 19, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 16 | Aug. 03, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 17 | Aug. 15, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 18 | Aug. 29, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 19 | Sept. 12, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 20 | Sept. 26, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 21 | Oct. 10, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 22 | Oct. 24, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 22 EXTRA | Nov. 04, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 23 | Nov. 07, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 24 | Nov. 21, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 25 | Dec. 05, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 26 | Dec. 19, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 27 | JAN. 03, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 27A | JAN. 05, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 28 | JAN. 17, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 29 | JAN. 31, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 30 | Feb. 14, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL1 | Feb. 21, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 30 EXTRA | Feb. 23, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 31 | Feb. 28, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL2 - 59 | Mar. 06, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 31 EXTRA | Mar. 07, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 32 | Mar. 13, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL3 - 1 | Mar. 20, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 32 EXTRA | Mar. 24, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 33 | Apr. 10, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL 4 - 2 | Apr. 17, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 34 | Apr. 24, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL5 - 49 | May 01, 2012 |
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Please note.
2. An unlikely agreement.
3. Don't shut down the Government again.
4. Essay from the book "Contemplating Life."
5. Sign out.
PLEASE NOTE
Hello, my friends. I just want to mention, again, that I really lost a large number of readers when I said I was going to stop my blog and then two weeks later realized that I didn't want to do that at all. I had been averaging 200 readers a month and since the posting about shutting down, there have been about 25 to 30 of you still with me.
I not only should not have done that, but I did it at a critical time. The time that I need to help, even more, to filter out truth and help you to "VOTE AN EDUCATED VOTE." I pledge to you that I will try harder than ever to provide information that is worth of your time.
I want to, once again, ask you to help me get readers back and/or get new readers. I have now made 55 postings over the past 16 months and there are many more to come. Thanks for your help and remember it is now easier to post comments.
Finally, a reminder of the posting schedule. OBOF is posted on Tuesdays ,by noon, every other week. The essays from the book "Contemplating Life," along with a few additional tid bits, is posted, by noon, every other Tuesday between the OBOF posstings.
AN UNLIKELY AGREMENT
by Ezra Klein
Columnist & Commentator
Here's a lede I don't get to write every day: President Obama and Mitt Romney actually agree on something. Something fairly big. And yet, it still may not happen.
In 2007, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which lowered the interest rate on federal student loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. But the law was temporary: It expires this July. Obama wants to extend it. The difference for a student using the loans is about $1,000. On Monday, Romney said he would like to extend it, too. The question is, will Congress cooperate?
I asked Boehner spokesman Michael Steel whether House Republicans thought they could get this done. “The rising cost of tuition is a serious problem for students and their families, so it’s unfortunate that Washington
I'll take that as a "maybe" on the question I asked, and a "definitely not" on the question I didn't ask ("Do Republicans think House Democrats did a good job in 2007?").
The issues, as with most anything in Washington
And this would be a very strange time to cut back on efforts to make college affordable. Over the last few years, states have jacked up tuition in order to make it through the recession. That's made it tougher for students to afford college even as it's becoming more important for them to go there. "In the last 30 years, the typical college tuition has tripled," writes Derek Thompson. "But over the exact same period, the earnings gap between college-educated adults and high school graduates has also tripled. In 1979, the wage difference was 75%. In 2003, it was 230%."
We've got a lot of questionable priorities in this country. But helping kids afford higher education really isn't one of them. That's why this is, as far as I can tell, the first legislative issue of the campaign in which Obama and Romney have actually agreed. The question is whether that'll be enough.
~~~
DON'T SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT AGAIN
by Ezra Klein
Columnist & Commentator
Something happened in the Senate on Thursday. Something surprising. Something encouraging. Something almost...functional.
You might remember that, in August 2011, Congress almost defaulted on the national debt. Eventually, the two parties reached a deal -- the Budget Control Act -- that would, among other things, cut more than $900 billion from the discretionary side of the budget over the next 10 years. This wasn't exactly a shining moment in the history of the United States
In recent months, Republicans have begun arguing that the spending levels set out in the Budget Control Act aren't low enough. Those are "ceilings," they say, not "floors." And so, where the BCA permits $1.047 trillion in discretionary spending, the House budget resolution dragged that down to $1.028 trillion. And remember, if the House and Senate don't agree on a spending level, the federal government shuts down.
On Wednesday, the administration sent House Republicans a letter saying there would be no further negotiation on this point. "Until the House of Representatives indicates that it will abide by last Summer's agreement, the President will not be able to sign any appropriations bills." If Republicans wanted a shutdown, in other words, they could have one.
But then a funny thing happened in the Senate. Daniel Inouye, the Democratic Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, tried to get his committee to agree on spending levels for fiscal year 2013. Tried, and succeeded. The vote, which was in essence a vote to abide by the caps in the BCA, passed his committee 27-2. Even Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted for it. "His support now, together with [Lamar] Alexander, allows the process to move forward and seems to put to rest fears that he would obstruct out of loyalty to the House leadership," reported David Rogers.
This doesn't mean we'll have an agreement. The House could simply refuse to play ball. Key Senate Republicans could come under Tea Party pressure and change their minds. But, for now, the fact that Senate Republicans have signed off on the BCA makes it more difficult for House Republicans to shut the government down over it.
"CONTEMPLATING LIFE"
This is the fifth of a series of essays that I told you about sometime ago. By way of clarification, I will open with the first paragraphs of the last CL posting, which will lead us right into this essay.
I want to tell you about an incredible man. He was born in the poorest of the poor. Despite unbelievable odds in his early years, he managed to get through early school years and went on to obtain a Ph. D. in economics. It just isn't possible to imagine the obstacles he faced and conquered to get to that point.
He was a Professor of Economics Emeritus, Eastern Illinois University
Also, for the past 17 years he has been writing weekly essays "Contemplating Life," that are published in five newspapers in Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, and Virginia. He has compiled 77 of these essays into a book and it is from these 77 that I am going to post some of the essays.
The reason for telling you this is that the Tuesday between the Tuesdays that I post the "Opinions Based On Facts," I am going to post one of the essays from the book, "Contemplating Life."
The man that I have been talking about is Allen W. Smith Ph. D. and I have the greatest respect and admiration for him. I have found these essays to be very enlightening and comforting. I hope you will also.
~~~
My personal note - Floyd
Considering our country's present situation and some of the outlandish proposals that are set forth, almost everyday or so, the following essay seems to me to be most appropriate. I believe you will gain a lot from reading this essay.
AN ESSAY FROM THE BOOK
"CONTEMPLATING LIFE"
BY
Allen W. Smith Ph.D.
“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls
wisdom.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Common sense is not nearly as common as one might think. Biased opinions, based on misinformation or a lack of information, are often passed off as common sense when they are actually closer to nonsense. Many people are so wedded to their own opinions and way of thinking that they label them “common sense” and can’t understand why everybody else doesn’t think the same way.
The term common sense originated with the publication by Thomas Paine in 1776 of a pamphlet called “Common Sense.” This pamphlet was a brilliant statement of the colonists’ cause. It demanded complete independence from Britain
Common sense is really sound, reasoned thought and ideas simplified to make them more readily understood by the general public. It is the product of rational and objective thinking. It may or may not be the majority view on any given issue. Sometimes large numbers of people are influenced by a charismatic leader to support ideas and policies that are not based on rational, objective thinking. Such was the case in Germany
Many people confuse common sense with the “conventional wisdom” of the moment. Conventional wisdom is not wisdom at all. It is simply the most popular opinion on an issue at any given time. It is the majority viewpoint which may or may not be accurate. There is a tendency for people to want their thinking to conform to the thinking of most other people. Instead of thinking for themselves, they adopt the popular thinking of the day.
Religious and racial bigotry are products of such thinking. There was a time in the American South when segregation was supported by a majority of the people in many communities. This thinking was based on ignorance and the desire to conform to the thinking of others. Although many people probably knew in their hearts that they were wrong, they continued to support the views of the majority and insisted that their thinking was based on “common sense.” Their thinking may have been common in the sense that it was the majority viewpoint, but it was certainly not sensible.
Common sense does not come easily. It requires the acquisition of knowledge and serious thinking on the part of every individual. To simply adopt the thinking of the majority and call it common sense is intellectual laziness. Such a practice may be very common, but it definitely does not make good sense.
~~~
If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, (I know correct grammar would be "doesn't", but the saying wouldn't have the same feeling with doesn't.) I'll talk with you again on Tuesday, May 8, 2012, with an issue of OBOF.
There may also, be an EXTRA of OBOF later this week.
God Bless you all.
Floyd
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