CRUNCH TIME

We're two days away from either elation or crushing despair.  The future hangs in the balance.  We stand on the brink of disaster or the renewal of the promise of America generations have fought for and built.

Joe Biden lays out what is at stake sucinctly and clearly.  Take a few minutes to hear what he has to say:  http://www.barackobama.com/video/id/oBVyZZvdGso?utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_content=Please+watch+and+pass+it+on&utm_campaign=em12_20121103_jb_sen&source=em12_20121103_jb_sen

I personally don't believe a word that comes out of Romney's or Ryan's mouths.  They will say anything to deceive the public and get their way.  Potential dictators always act that way.  Lies are their stock in trade and the litany of lies has been pointed out before in this blog and to anyone who pays attention and thinks as they listen.

They have promised that they won't touch the benefits seniors are presently receiving.  If you believe that, I have a bridge in New York I'd like to sell you.

Even if that were true, do we not care what awaits every American citizen as they inevitably age?  If it were not for the wisdom of past generations, millions of seniors, including Phyllis and I, would be homeless, destitute and probably long dead.  I know for sure that Phyllis' heart condition, which is under control due to Medicare and four stents, would have taken her long ago.  As it is, we can live, not lavishly, but with a modicum of comfort and dignity.  Do we want less for our children and grandchildren?

For millenia, the human race struggled and most died young, many after intense suffering.  My great grandfather lived to 69 and died in his sleep of a sudden heart attack.  A stroke took my grandfather at 72.  He suffered from high blood pressure.  My dad lived to 95.  Mother to 98.  According to my last checkup, I just might exceed that.  I couldn't have even had that checkup without Medicare. 

I remember how unnecessary and superfluous it looked to pay into Social Security and Medicare back there in my younger years.  When we are young, we feel indestructable and chafe about all that money that we could really use right now going into something that will pay off only if we reach that age that seems so far away.  I face the same mindset in trying to convince people that the ethereal future benefits of Aflac insurance really are worth the present inconvenience of the small premiums that must be paid.

We're no longer hunter gatherers doomed to following the herds and braving the elements to survive for a few harsh years until our teeth decay and break and our physical prowess declines to the point that we can no longer hack it and we have no choice but to lie down and die miserably and youthfully.

We should be progressing, not turning back the clock.  Not returning to the miseries of a few short generations back just so the super rich can lord it over those who are less fortunate and scornfully say, "Let them eat cake" while seated on their posh furniture in their opulent estates.

WARREN BUFFETT -- A BALANCED PATRIOT

The January 23 issue of Time had a picture of 81-year young Warren Buffett on its cover and a five-page article on this astute and patriotic American financier and philanthropist. It's rare and refreshing to find a billionaire who is a liberal and not set on reducing everyone not in his privileged class to the category of a menial serf good for nothing but haughty contempt and grist for the corporate mill.

I've stated before that I deeply respect this man, along with Bill Gates. I hope a few more wealthy people share their attitudes, but I only know about them.

I don't automatically dislike wealthy people. They are just as human as am I, and I've had some horrible attitudes predicated on mostly religious nonsense in my past. I've had to repent of and grow out of those attitudes. I'm sure Warren Buffett has grown during his life also.

Too bad Warren is as old as he is. He'd made a good senator, representative or president. The man sees things clearly and he's fair and sensibly minded. However, he probably wouldn't stand a chance just because he is so sensible and fair. An astounding number of American citizens can't see an inch ahead of their big, self-centered, religiously deceived, dumb noses.

All my life, I've marveled at how so many people despise history. They daydream through history classes and don't bother to deeply reflect back on the past they themselves have experienced. So, today we have the spectacle of people actually condemning the hard fought for and well thought out social programs men like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhauer, John Kennedy, Harry Truman, etc. dedicated their lives to championing.

I hear bullshit such as, "Social Security is broke!"

IT ISN'T!"

Crooked politicians misdirected its funds so tax cuts could be given to the wealthy one percent and corporations. Those funds are guaranteed by government securities that are just as binding as are obligations to China or any other entity. As long as the fiat money system goes on, Social Security is as solvent as anything in this crazy world can be!

The robber barons simply want to leave millions of people holding an empty bag -- just as our ancestors who lived long enough were often left destitute prior the the New Deal. Most people didn't even live to 65 back in those days. Leave it to the idiots who shout "socialism" about anything benefiting the common citizen, and we'll soon be back to those days of short, brutal, poverty filled lives for the average citizen!

If you don't have this issue of time, go find one at the library and read what this honorable and very wise American has to say. And, while you're at it, go online or look up a good history book to get some real history about what has transpired in the history of this nation and the world in the last three quarters century -- unless you happened to be in the educated minority who already knows.

OF LIES AND LIARS

Rick Perry came out and labeled Social Security a "ponzi scheme." 

In this world there are "lies" and "damn lies."  Perry's statement is a "damn lie," and he's a "damn liar."  I think he knows it, too.

If Social Security is a ponzi scheme, your life insurance policy (if you're wise enough and employed enough to have life insurance), car insurance and homeowners insurance and any other type of insurance you carry is a "ponzi scheme."

I carried life insurance for many years.  I never collected a dime because I was lucky enough to escape the "grim reaper," until the present anyway.  Somebody else got a share of my premiums when someone in their family or business suddenly and unexpectedly died. 

Do I consider myself a victim because I personally didn't get my money back?  Was I "ponzied?"

Of course not!

I had the protection of that policy during the time I carried it to protect me and mine against the vagaries of happenstance.  If I had suddenly died, those dependent on me would have had something to fall back on while they got on with their grieving lives.

I've paid out a whole lot more in auto insurance premiums than I have ever collected.  Same with homeowners insurance.  I don't resent or feel victimized when I pay my premiums and I hope I never have a future claim.  What I pay in goes into a big pot that protects a huge pool of policy holders against possible future disaster--including me.

Social Security is a national insurance policy everybody pays into.  A certain number are never going to collect on that policy because they won't live that long.  But, if they do, the protection will be there, and I can tell you from personal experience that it means a great deal to me.  I would be destitute and homeless without it.

Social Security will be solvent for a long time.  It has had to be tweaked in the past, and it will need tweaking in the future to keep it viable.  Do you still pay the same auto insurance premiums you paid a decade ago?  Of course not.  Why would you think Social Security won't need any adjusting?  Economies don't stay static.

This is just more of the push to return us to a Dickensian world of robber barons and basically destitute masses of underprivileged serfs who have nothing to protect themselves from total penury.  It would be nice if we could all be as lucky as Rick Perry who can look forward to a comfortable future as he continues to drink and eat from the public trough--with guaranteed retirement, medical coverage, and a host of other perks that would be a "ponzi scheme" if they were directed toward common citizens.

RICK PERRY, YOU'RE A LYING, DISGUSTING HYPOCRITE!

WHAT DOES THE TEA PARTY "SPIKE" THEIR TEA WITH?

Never, since I abandoned Armstrongism have I heard so much insane nonsense coming out of human mouths as I have heard since the founding of the "Tea Party!"  A few of my one-time friends and fellow cultists are now staunch members of that bewildering aberration.  They just can't get away from extreme approaches and simplistic (read godly) thinking.

I know they're not smoking marijuana.  There's nothing "mellow" about them.  Too angry.  Too extreme.  Too know-it-all dogmatic.  Not at all tolerant of anything else but their extremist dogmatism.

So, maybe they're putting something in their tea.  Could it be mushrooms or LSD? 

Something is causing them to be wackier than Tasmanian Devils in a bee's nest.

I guess it's just the same old thing that afflicts the Republicans in general but carried to an extreme.  They want that "Old-time Religion" and all the other old-time Dickensian crap that goes with it. 

Down with Social Security!  Down with Medicare!  Down with anything that made America great for a few, now endangered, decades! 

Up with the aristocracy and the robber barons!  Up with self-agrandizment and self-centeredness! 

Down with public schools -- they teach "evulooshin!"  Down with any sense of public concern and welfare or helping hands for those who are poor and weak!  If they aint rich, it's their fault.  But, we're gonna make sure our kids git a good private, or (gasp), home schooled education and know how to properly kiss the asses of all the Bible thumping Jesus pushers.

Ah! 

That's the answer!

THEY'RE HIGH ON RELIGIOUS CRAP!