Cleo's Mom

My grandparents emmigrated here as children and my grandmothers never worked outside the home. People qualify to collect SS when they have contributed to it (except for those early ones who were the first to collect). I am not aware of anyone getting SS who didn't contribute to it.

All four of my grandparents were immigrants and they all received social security. So, ariscus99, is your point that immigrants shouldn't receive social security? And 7.65% on the first $90,000 means the rich get off the hook, AGAIN. I mean wouldn't it just be a shame if limbaugh, hannity, beck, colter and palin had to pay 7.65% on everything OVER $90,000 that they earn? Taxing them would go a long way to helping social security remain solvent. Just tax 100% of your wages & earnings.

So, this is what some republicans think about women? Why am I not surprised. This is utterly shameful: Last week a talented, young woman full of promise came to me with a flier her family received in the mail from the Republican Party. As she handed me the mailer, with a sense of disappointment and hurt, she pointed to a line in the flier that read, 'Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and send her back to the kitchen.' The young woman, her heart heavy, then said, "I can't believe that this is how some people value women. And, even if they do, I can't believe that they would feel comfortable promoting it in a flier like this." And then, this bright, capable woman, who I know to be ready and able to do great things for our community and nation, said this: "I don't know why I even went to college; if this is how people treat you, what's the point?" The mailer was supported by funds from a Republican multimillionaire challenger by the name of Tom Ganley who has decided he wants to take my place in Congress. Ganley placed a huge advertisement in the flier to build support for the campaign to - how did they put it - oh, yes, to get me "out of the House and back in the kitchen." Betty Sutton is a democratic congressman from OH 13th district.

August 12, 2009: Republican Sen. Grassley on pulling the plug on grandma with healthcare reform: Grassley: Government shouldn’t ‘decide when to pull the plug on grandma’ By Jason Hancock 8/12/09 11:13 AM WINTERSET — Americans should be scared of provisions in a health care bill currently in the U.S. House because it will allow the government to have a say in end-of-life decisions, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley told a crowd of more than 300 Wednesday morning. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks to more than 300 in Winterset Wednesday morning. “In the House bill, there is counseling for end of life,” Grassley said. “You have every right to fear. You shouldn’t have counseling at the end of life, you should have done that 20 years before. Should not have a government run plan to decide when to pull the plug on grandma” March 24, 2010: Singing a different tune now and taking credit for healthcare-THAT HE VOTED AGAINST- in true republican hypocrisy (reminiscent of the stimulus hypocrisy) Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has long been a vocal critic of the Democrat's health reform efforts, but today he started taking credit for some provisions of the bill, and talking up his own role in crafting the legislation. In a release sent out by his staff to reporters today, Grassley says the bill will "hold tax-exempt hospitals accountable for the federal tax benefits they receive" thanks to his work. The full text of his release is after the jump. Grassley has been among the most vocal opponents of Democratic reform over the past year, but he's also known as one of the biggest flip-floppers on the issue. At the start of the process, Grassley was expected to be among those Senators working to craft a bipartisan bill. But it wasn't long before he abandoned that effort, and helped to start the "death panel" meme heard at town halls across the country throughout last summer.

ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL: FINANCIAL REGULATION EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AFTER 9 a.m. Monday, April 26, 2010 Two-Thirds Back Financial Reform; The Question: How Far to Go Two-thirds of Americans support stricter federal regulation of banks and other financial institutions, and by a double-digit margin the public trusts President Obama above the Republicans in Congress to handle the issue – a caution flag for the GOP in an election year. The public supports reform overall by 65-31 percent, a broad margin that’s been steady since mid-winter, and favors Obama over the Republicans in trust to handle it by 52-35 percent, a 17- point advantage for the president in this new ABC News/Washington Post poll. The issue of trust was brought up on this forum. Looks like the people trust Pres. Obama over the republicans. And they support financial reform of wall street. So, if the republicans want to stand with wall street (again) on this issue, they do so at their own peril.

»« prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | next » Of course after making people think they are completing a government census form we get to the REAL reason for the mailer: SEND US YOUR MONEY. THERE ARE STILL A FEW STRIP/BONDAGE CLUBS WE HAVEN'T VISITED YET. :thumbup:

Looks like the "moral" republicans are up to their old tricks: The Republican National Committee is continuing to send out a misleading fundraising mailer labeled "Census Document," just weeks after Congress passed a law aimed at banning such mailers. In response, the Democratic member of Congress behind the new law slammed the RNC for "trying to make a buck on the Census." But Michael Steele and co. are claiming the law doesn't cover their mailer. An RNC mailer obtained by TPMmuckraker bears the words "Census Document" and, in all caps, "DO NOT DESTROY/OFFICIAL DOCUMENT," on the outside of the envelope. In smaller letters, it says: "This is not a U.S. government document." The new law requires, among other things, that such mailers state the name and address of the sender on the outside of the envelope -- something the RNC's missive doesn't appear to do. Inside, a letter from RNC chair Michael Steele, dated April 12, asks recipients to fill out a questionnaire about their political views, and solicits donations of as much as $500 or more. from: tpmmuckraker Samples to follow.

Back at ya. :eek:

Thanks, BJean :eek:

In the continuing saga of "follow the money" to the nut-teas I offer the following: Tea party to Stalin: thanks! Yashia Levine at Alternet:"The tea party movement's dirty little secret is that its chief financial backers owe their family fortune to the granddaddy of all their hatred: Stalin's godless empire of the U.S.S.R. "The secretive oil billionaires of the Koch family, the main supporters of the right-wing groups that orchestrated the tea party movement, would not have the means to bankroll their favorite causes had it not been for the pile of money the family made working for the Bolsheviks in the late 1920s and early 1930s, building refineries, training Communist engineers and laying down the foundation of Soviet oil infrastructure. "The comrades were good to the Kochs. Today Koch Industries has grown into the second-largest private company in America." So, who's the communist now? :eek: Add this to the money from Massey coal mine CEO who contributed to the nut-teas.

With regard to the Arizona law - now that the police will be pulling over people of "color" - John Boehner (a/k/a Mr. Coppertone) had better stay out of Arizona - he's likely to be pulled over because he's orange. On a serious note, what you will see as we get closer to election time and the republicans desperately needing the latino vote, is that they will be talking out of both sides of their mouths.

Whatever the stimulus contributed to the deficit, it was worth it and the right thing to do. Thankfully, we have brains back in the White House and someone not afraid to tackle the tough problems. Anyway, without the stimulus the umemployment would be around 15%. That's millions more not paying taxes, millions more getting unemployment, food stamps and many other government aids. All of this lost revenue and increased demand for programs COSTS the government a great deal of money. That INCREASES the deficit. On the other hand, the best way to reduce the deficit is with a healthy economy and that's what Pres. Obama is doing with his economic programs and financial reform. And BTW, the CBO projected that the deficit for the current year is $1.5 trillion while next year it should be about $1.34 trillion. So it is going down. Add to that that much of the TARP (bailout) money has been paid back and has ended up costing the government less than than expected. Around $117 billion, even though the original bailout was around $700 billion. And GM has paid back it's government "bailout" 5 years ahead of schedule, with interest. All of this is good economic news, but some just like to keep yapping about the same old, same old. :biggrin:

I posted the report yesterday - post #1266. But how can this be since someone on here posted that the wonderful insurance companies don't drop people when they get sick? I guess that's because she's usually wrong.

I'm glad you brought up bush's legitimacy. Just for a moment imagine this scenario: 2008 elections: Mccain gets more votes than Obama but it comes down to one state, let's say Illinois, where Obama's brother is governor. And a lawsuit allows the supreme court to decide the election. It's a liberal supreme court. They give it to Obama. 5-4. Then 9 months after Obama takes office, Al-Qaeda attacks the world trade center while he reads "My Pet Goat" to a group of children in Chicago. Vice President Biden is hiding in a bunker. As a result of this attack, he then invades a country that didn't attack us. Let's say Syria. And he does it with lies about WMD's. But he uses fear about the attack to get congress to go along. And the democrats say that if you don't go along, then you are with the terrorists. Nothing he predicted about this war, from the length, to the cost, to the reason for it was right. And 4000+ soldiers die. He then expands welfare, food stamps, and all government subsidies to the poor and expands medicare drug plan and takes a surplus and turns it into a deficit because none of it is funded. CAN YOU EVEN BEGIN TO IMAGINE WHAT THE NUT-TEAS, RIGHT WING EXTREMISTS AND REPUBLICANS WOULD DO WITH THE ABOVE SCENARIO? AND YET WE ALLOWED ALL OF THIS UNDER BUSH AND IT'S OBAMA WHO IS QUESTIONED ABOUT BEING A LEGITMATE PRESIDENT? :biggrin: GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!

The following is a more in-depth analysis and sheds some light on this: From NBC's Mark Murray The new Pew survey showing that only 22% of the country trust the federal government in Washington is receiving lots of attention -- and deservedly so. But the poll doesn't ask why people aren't trusting the federal government and whom they are blaming for the distrust. Fortunately, our January NBC/WSJ poll delved into these questions. In that survey, just 28% said that the federal government was healthy or working ok, versus a whopping 70% who said it wasn't working or was unhealthy. By comparison, in Dec. 2000 -- as the Bush vs. Gore presidential contest was still unresolved -- our poll showed that 55% said the federal government was working, compared with 43% who said it wasn't working. (This was when we were coming off the 8 great years of Clinton) Strikingly, the Jan. 2010 NBC/WSJ poll found that the public was blaming congressional Republicans and congressional Democrats more than they were President Obama: 48% said they blamed congressional Republicans for not finding solutions to the problems the U.S. is facing, 41% blamed congressional Democrats, and 27% blamed Obama. (More blamed republicans than democrats or Obama - hmmm). And why isn't the public trusting the government? That Jan. 2010 poll found that 93% said there's too much partisan fighting between Democrats and Republicans; 84% said special interests have too much influence over legislation; 74% said the government isn't doing enough to regulate Wall Street; (I agree with THESE people) 61% said Democratic majorities are trying to push through legislation without bipartisan compromise; an equal 61% said Republicans are trying to block any Democratic legislation without bipartisan compromise; 58% said the federal government is doing too much; and 47% said Obama is failing to provide the kind of leadership needed on the economy and health care. So, when we get into the details of why people don't trust government, I actually agree with some of their observations.

I liked the following letter to the editor because it is so true and profiles so well the wrong-thinking by so many and whey they are wrong: Everyone in this great nation relies on everyone else via government: Lately, I've engaged in many debates with folks who truly believe they have made it in America all by themselves on only their grit and hard work. So they don't want to be forced to help anyone else through taxation or through government. OK, there is no doubt that grit and hard work should be seen as necessary and produce very positive results in life. But to say that any citizen has received no assistance from fellow citizens is just a plain lie. We all are responsible for many parts of "the commons." The commons are those areas of our society that are not (yet) provided by private corporations -- fire departments, police departments, EMS, our military, roads, bridges, utilities, elections, clean water, safe drugs ... and many, many other areas of our daily lives that are helped and supported through "we the people" in the form of our government. In our debates, I ask my friends, "Do you or any of your family own a business and receive special tax and liability benefits from our government?"; "Does anyone in your family receive Social Security checks, or go to the VA, or use Medicare or Medicaid?"; "Ever get a student loan or Pell grant, or SEOG grant and any other government help for education?"; "Do you like that your bank deposits are guaranteed to be there even if the bank goes belly up?" and on and on. Bottom line: Our country is great because of our grit, determination, hard work and also because our Founders wanted "we the people" in the form of a government to "promote the general welfare." To think that anyone in this country made it on their own without the help of anyone else currently or who came before them is just a lie.

Well, real estate values are declining, if the company goes out of business, pension funds can be lost (unless guaranteed by that pesky government- same for the IRA's), stocks can tank (we all saw that). And as far as SS goes, the government will not let those who paid into it go without it, but they will probably raise the retirement age. That's almost a given.

Well, while you just continue to bash the government and offer no solutions and just come off as another angry person, Pres. Obama is just going along, solving the big problems and doing a great job. Go Obama! He turned the tanking economy around He provided healthcare to most of the uninsured and stopped insurance abuses. He is taking on wall street with regulations so that they can't do what they did to cause this economic crisis ("regulate, baby, regulate" :biggrin:) He passed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act He addressed nuclear proliferation. And lots more. And all this in just 18 months. WOW.

So, you keep your money under your mattress? If not, and you use a bank, you are trusting in the government to insure your deposits (FDIC). The FDIC was demonized back in 1933 just like the current financial regulations are by the republicans - who stand with wall street, not with main street, like I do. And BTW, I didn't put all my eggs in one basket but everyone who had a 401(k) or had any investments in the stock market -WHICH BY THE WAY IS WHERE REPUBLICANS WANT YOU TO PUT YOUR MONEY WHEN THEY ADVOCATE FOR PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY - lost almost half their deposits. It was what we were told to do to be responsible and help provide for our old age. Isn't that what you always advocate with your "save $25/week" advice?

Just make sure that you don't accept social security or medicare. And no, you didn't contribute to it for yourself. Your current contributions are for those who are getting it now. Future workers will be contributing for you. So, save big now. Hey, the stock market went up from 6000 to 11,000 under the 18 months of Obama, so start investing for your golden years since you don't want the government to provide for you.

Been shown a million times. Does not satisfy the whacko birthers.

And as far as people not having trust in the government - 1) It's an easy target 2) People have no idea what the government does or provides 3) When some crisis (like the economic crisis) happens the first thing people say is: SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE. Now, who do you think they mean? WalMart? McDonald's? No, they mean the government. They want the government to solve the problems but blame it when it does. It just shows how uninformed people are.