More of the Same

Just over and over.

I had barely finisded writing last Sunday's posting before the news started changing. An earlier report indicated that the Nuclear Reactors were beginning to stalilize but a few hours later they were trying to go critical again. As of last night things were not much better but you can't always depend on the news being right. Only time will tell the true story.

My favorite anchor on Fox Business News network is Gerri Willis and even though she has read several of my e-mails on her program, I still don't think she fully understands exactly what Washington politicians (all parties) mean when they say; "We can't balance the budget until or without doing something with entitlements" (meaning Social Security and Medicare). They produce data like; "Entitlements take up fifty-seven percent of all Federal spending or Social Security is the single largest Federal spending program and then say; Most people just don't understand the problems created for the Federal Budget by Social Security and Medicare." I have written about this several times and more than once promised that time would be the last but for some reason I just can't let it go. One more time I will point out the wrongness of their reasoning while admitting that there must be reforms made in the program for Social Security to even survive. CAPITALS USED FOR EMPHASIS.

IN NINETEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY, CONGRESS PASSED A LAW SETTING DOWN GUIDELINES AS TO HOW THE SURPLUS MONEY COLLECTED THROUGH THE FICA (PAYROLL) TAX WAS TO BE MANAGED. THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND WAS CREATED TO BE USED AS A DEPOSITORY FOR ALL PAYROLL TAX MONIES. THIS TAX MONEY, IN THIS TRUST FUND, WOULD BE USED TO PAY ALL BENEFITS TO ALL SOCIAL SECURITY RETIREES AND ALL MEDICARE BENEFITS. SURPLUS MONEY IN THAT TRUST FUND COULD BE BORROWED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND REPLACED WITH "SPECIAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES" (IOUs). AT THE END OF TWO THOUSAND AND TEN THERE WAS A SURPLUS OF OVER TWO AND A HALF TRILLION DOLLARS IN THAT TRUST FUND IN IOUs. (ALL OF THAT SURPLUS MONEY CAME FROM THE PAYROLL TAX NOT INCOME TAXES). AT THIS TIME, THE PAYROLL TAX STILL FUNDS ALL OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE BENEFITS. THE CUTTING OF TWO PERCENTAGE POINTS OFF THE PAYROLL TAX, EACH EMPLOYEE, FOR ONE YEAR WILL FORCE THE TREASURY TO BORROW MONEY TO BUY BACK SOME OF THOSE IOUs IN ORDER TO PAY FULL SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE BENEFITS. THE MONEY IN THOSE IOUs HAS ALREADY BEEN SPENT AND NOT COUNTED AS PART OF OUR NATIONAL DEBT. THAT BUY BACK, BY NECESSITY, WILL CONTINUE INTO THE FUTURE UNTIL ALL IOUs HAVE BEEN REDEEMED. IF THERE HASN'T BEEN SOME KIND OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE REFORM BY THEN THERE WILL, AGAIN BY NECESSITY, EITHER BE A DRASTIC CUT IN BENEFITS OR THE BENEFITS WILL BE PAID PARTIALLY OUT OF THE TREASURY (INCOME TAX MONEY). NOTHING SHORT OF CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE BENEFITS (TRY THAT OUT FOR SIZE) WILL CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT THE BUDGET DEFICIT OR THE NATIONAL DEBT. TO ARGUE OTHERWISE WOULD BE, AT THE BEST, FUZZY MATH AND AT THE WORST (JUST SHORT OF LYING) SMOKE AND MIRRORS.
IF WASHINGTON CAN BLAME ALL OR MOST OF THE DEFICITS ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE THEN THEY CAN CONFUSE THE ISSUES ENOUGH TO GET REFORM PASSED. THAT MAY BE GOOD STRATAGY BUT IT IS STILL DISHONEST AND AN ATTEMPT TO HIDE THEIR OWN INEPTNESS. IS THAT THE KIND OF GOVERNMENT WE WANT? REMEMBER THE FIVE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS THAT IS TO BE CUT OUT OF MEDICARE (WASTE AND FRAUD AND PAYMENTS TO DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS) THEN USING THAT MONEY TO HELP FUND OBAMACARE? THAT MONEY, IF IT EVER EXISTED, COULD BE USED TO KEEP MEDICARE SOLVENT A WHILE LONGER.

Maybe that will be simple enough for even Washington to understand. Last night I checked some of the fruit trees and they seemed to have weathered the cold snap okay. If it just don't get any worse we may have some fruit this year. Thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned. - William

Spring Fever

Or Hay Fever?

We, here on the hill, have been feeling puny all week with my symptoms beginning early Monday morning which developed into a nice case of springtime alergy by Wednesday night. Started taking Claritin Friday and I am some better but still somewhat woozy from the medication. My posting, this week, will probably be shorter and maybe a little more rambling, if that be possible. I am trying to write from memory, right off the top of my head, and most of you know there is not much left there either inside or outside but that's another subject better left until later.

As an update to my letter and e-mail writings to my Senators and Representative, I still have recieved no reply worthy of consideration from any of them. At this point, I am not promising to vote against them but I may just sit out my first election since the first Eisenhower race. I am even more certain now that none of our elected officials really care what we think or want.

There is still not much on television except bad news, the Japanese neuclear reactor problem seems to be stabilizing but the war (or whatever it's called) is still raging in Libya and things are heating up all around the Mid-east. Algeria may be on the verge of exploding so it seems to be just beginning instead of getting better.
After more than three hundred years of French Colonial rule Algeria gained its independence in 1962. After six years of ever increasing protest the French just packed up and went home. I believe their government now is, more or less, a dictatorship run by, or at least strongly influenced by, the military. This seems to have been the prevailing form of government in the Middle East for the past, in some cases,hundreds of years but one which is fast falling out of favor at this time. Since that area is already heavily Islamic there is not much doubt as to the outcome of these revolutions, if successful, and the subsequent elections. Will their governments be radical or moderate, friend or foe? That is the question.

We seem to have been added to one of those FWD., FWD., Fwd. e-mail networks and now and then we get one which we think may be worthy of repeating. We don't have many e-mail friends and don't want to risk that friendship by involving them in those networks so we never forward what we receive but I will include one in this posting. "Billy Graham was returning to Charlotte, N.C. from a speaking engagement and when he got off the plane his limousine and driver were waiting for him. As he prepared to get in he hesitated and spoke to the driver. 'You know' he said 'I am 87 years old and have never driven a limousine,. Would you mind if I took the wheel for a while?' The driver said 'No problem. Have at it.' So Billy gets into the driver's seat and starts off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie trooper operating his first speed-trap. The long black limo went by doing 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. The trooper pulled out and easily caught up and pulled the limo over, got out of his patrol car, walked up to the driver's door. When the glass rolled down he was surprised to see who was driving. He immediately excused himself, went back to his car and called his supervisor and said, 'I know we are supposed to enforce the law---- but I also know that important people are given certain courtesies, I need to know what I should do because I think I just stopped a very important person.' The supervisor asked, 'Is it the governor?' The young trooper said, 'No, he's more important that that.' The supervisor said, 'Oh, so it's the President.' The young trooper said, 'No he's even more important than the president.' The supervisor finally asked, 'Well then, who is it?' The young trooper said, 'I THINK IT'S JESUS BECAUSE HE'S GOT BILLY GRAHAM FOR A CHAUFFEUR!'"

This being very early on a Sunday morning B.C. (before coffee) my thinking is not at its best so without adding any more to that (you can do your own) I will thank you for your time and input. Stay tuned. - William

The Truth

Revisited

After this posting, my intention is not to write anything else about Social Security and Medicare until Representative Paul Ryan unveils the Republican plan to reforn both of those programs to keep them solvant for our future generations. At that time I will probably question how the reforms will balance the budget and help cut our National debt during the next twenty years. It is my belief that nothing short of cutting benefits to current Social Security retirees, which no one will even talk about, will do anything except raise the budget deficit and the National debt because of the forced borrowing by our Federal Treasury to redeem those Special Government Securities (IOUs) in the Social Security Trust Fund as needed to pay current retiree benefits. It is still my contention that those Government Securities, which represents the surplus Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund money that has been borrowed and spent by our Government, are not counted as part of our debt and if the need arises for the Treasury to buy back all of those IOUs our total National debt would go up to about seventeen trillion dollars. That need to buy back those IOUs begins this year because of the two percentage points cut in the payroll tax which was passed as part of the Bush era tax cut extension. Nice, isn't it?

In the last two months we have written both of our Senators and our Representative asking for the truth about the condition of the Trust Fund but, at this time, we have been ignored by one Senator and our Representative and after receiving two form letters, which didn't even address our concerns, from the second Senator he, too, has ignored our third e-mail. Is there a conspiracy in Washington to cover up their, and past governmental, misdeeds? Does this come natural to all politicians or do they have to go to special schools to learn double-speak and skating around the edges?

Do you remember the years, 1977 through 1979? I'll give you a few hints about 1977; Jimmy Carter was President, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi was the Shah of Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini was in exile. In October of 1977 opposition to the Shah had built to the point of hugh protest which sometimes ended in riots or violence by both sides. After just over a year of those protest, on January 16, 1979 the Shah left Iran, leaving the Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar (a long time opposition leader himself) to rule in his stead. Bakhtiar immediately freed all political prisoners and allowed exiles to return to Iran. He ask the, just returned, Ayatollah Khomeini to create a Vatican-like state in Quom, promised free elections, proposed a "National Unity" government including Khomeini's followers but Khomeini rejected Bakhtiar's demands and appointed his own government. Ayatollah Khomeini is no longer ruling Iran but followers rule with the same iron hand. Do you remember the 1979-80 "Hostage Crisis" which probably did more than any other one thing to get President Carter defeated even though he had several other strikes against him such as allowing the Moslems (Islam) to gain control at all. It does appear that our Government has a history of backing the wrong side. Is that what is happening now? Will all the "Middle East", as I suggested in an earlier posting, end up being another Iran?

Do you remember Algeria and what happened there in 1956 through 1962? After more than three hundred years of French Colonial rule there was an uprising and a change of governments. Now there may be another but that will be left for another time, meanwhile thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned, - William

Japanese Tsunami

Then Back on the Hill.

Even though it means repeating myself I want to stress the problems facing the Japanese, especially the low income, the elderly and the disabled, as they go about trying to dig out of the natural disaster which devastated their country just a few days over a week ago. In my opinion, as stated before, the news media has and are still spending, too much time focusing on what might happen to the nuclear reactors "if this or if that" takes place. Of course, it was news worthy and should have been reported and should continue to be reported but---. The biggest threats to the people in Japan, at this time and the near future, are the lack of food, water, warm clothing and housing. The Red Cross and other Charities can take care of most of those needs (threats) if given the money and opportunity. That is what should be stressed at this time.

Our yard and garden work continues to make some progress even though it is slower than it once was. Some spots are still a little wet and the weather isn't quite warm enough to do everything that needs to be done but we can do a little at a time and eventually get it done. Our Irish Potatoes are starting to break out of the ground (what few we planted) and our cucumbers, squash and tomatoes that were planted in individual cups are starting to come up but the peppers are a little slower. We had thought about not even trying to plant a garden this year but I guess there is just something about spring that makes us want to get out and work (play) in the dirt and we really needed something to do. Too much "Sitting at home with nothing to do" is not good for a person's health and at our age we need all the help we can get.

One of the best words to describe our working and the one we use most often is "piddling" as in "dawdle" which, in turn, means "to waste time" but we don't think of it in that sense. In a commercial on television, I believe it is for Celebrex, the announcer tells us that; "A body in motion tends to stay in motion" and that is what we want - "To stay in motion". We may not get as much done but at least we are still moving.

Most of our fruit trees and other flowering shrubs, except for the apples and blueberries, have either already bloomed or are starting to bloom now. I hope that we don't have weather cold enough to kill them. The plum blooms have already turned brown and are falling off but the peaches and pears are just now in full bloom.

I thought maybe we could get by for a few days without having any more bad news but yesterday's news was mostly all about Libya and the United Nations passed Resolution setting up a "No Fly Zone" (over Libya), along with authority to use any force necessary to defend the Libyans from their own Dictator "Qaddafi", which is to be led by European and a few Arab Countries with the help of Canada and the United States. Late yesterday afternoon the coalition began launching missiles at Libyan Military Bases. I don't know where it will stop but hopefully it will be successful.

Next week is to be (according to weather reports) almost summer time with temperature getting up near eighty degrees or slightly above with no rain until next Wednesday. Should be good weather to work outside. It makes a person want to start planting but we'll try to put it off for a while yet. Thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned, - William

Earthquake and Tsunami

Nuclear Power in limbo.

Today, five days after one of the worst earthquakes in recorded history and the ensuing tsunami,Japan is still reeling with the future of its economy and its nuclear power very much in doubt but knowing the history of Japanese industriousness gives hope that their future, though not very bright at this moment in time, will eventually return to some semblance of normality. That being as it is and with no intention of taking anything away from the seriousness of the calamity in Japan and the long road which is to be traveled, not only by the Japanese but by all the industrialized world, before we can look back and say; "A job well done" but it is my opinion that too much of the news today is stressing the dangers associated with the generation of nuclear power, not only in Japan but even here in the United State.

I make no claim as to being an expert on nuclear power plants but I have had some experience with Atomic [nuclear] Bombs after having witnessed the detonation of such a device from a distance of about seven miles and walked in the dust, created by that explosion, of Yucca Flats, Nevada less than two hours later. That walk took us up to a point a few hundred yards from ground zero where we inspected heavy equipment [tanks, trucks and so forth] for damage even to the point of climbing on top of tanks with no thought of radiation. In fact, we were not even told anything about radiation and at that time, 1951, few people outside of hospitals, or Los Alamos, New Mexico, even knew what it was and especially not twenty year old soldiers.

I very well remember that we were told to sit down facing away from ground zero for even with dark glasses we could not have looked at the fireball created by the detonation without getting eye damage and the force of that blast could have knocked a person down if standing and not expecting it. After several seconds we were allowed to turn around, still wearing dark glasses, so we could view the mushroom shaped cloud rising slowly into the atmosphere with the fireball glowing brightly. This group of soldiers were from the 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, which was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and was used as atomic guinea pigs as the first humans to participate in an atomic bomb test.The purpose, as stated by the Department of Defense, was to find out what effects, both physical and physiological, atomic warfare would have on our soldiers in combat. That test was the first of several years of such testing and I am fairly certain that every person involved in those test was warned not to talk about their experience under the threat of being tried for treason if they did.

Most of the soldiers involved in those first tests are no longer living with many of them dying from cancer or cancer-like diseases. In my opinion, many diseases can be caused or made much worse by being exposed to excess radiation and even though our government has and never will admit that those test had any adverse effects on us guinea pigs, I am sure that too many have died much too young for their deaths not to have been helped along by that excess exposure to atomic radiation.

Whatever the future, for all of this world, holds it can be enhanced by our participation in the forming of events which will follow, as in any near disaster, and at this time it appears that help being given and offered, will probably bring Japan back into that future. Let us all hope and pray that it will continue. Thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned. - William

Eminent Domaine

To have and to hold?

What does Harvey Davis of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Susette Kelo of New London, Connecticut have in common? Eminent Domain.

In 1997, Susette Kelo, a forty year old nurse had saved enough money to buy her own home, an older cottage, in a blue collar area known as Fort Trumbull, in New London, Connecticut overlooking the seacoast. The house needed a lot of repairs, painting and so forth, but she didn't care. She painted it pink [see "Little Pink House" by Jeff Benedict] and moved in. Several months later the New London Developement Corporation [NLDC] sought to buy her, along with her neighbor's, property in an effort to locate the new global research and developement headquarters of Pfizer, Inc., the world's largest pharmaceutical company, in that area. Susette and some of her neighbors refused to sell and on the day before Thanksgiving they found condemnation papers affixed to their front doors [Eminent Domain] and they had ninety days to move out.
Susette and her friends fought back and after losing all appeals in the City of New London and with the help of the "Institute for Justice" in Washington, D.C. they filed a suit against the NLDC, a case that would eventually end up being decided by the Justices of the United States Supreme Court.
On June 23, 2005, about eight years after she bought her house and painted it pink, Susette Kelo and her neighbors lost their last appeal by a vote of five to four in the Supreme Court but even though her case was lost she was awarded a more adequate settlement which included the moving of that little pink house to another location to be used as a museum. It was torn down, board by board, and re-assembled on another lot. As for Susette Kelo, she bought a house on the other side of the river, situated on a small hill overlooking the area where her former home once stood. In 2008, when the book was written, nothing had been built on any of those vacant lots. Pfiser, Inc. had located their headquarters elsewhere.

In 1975 Harvey Davis bought an abandoned train depot from the railroad and established his family owned automotive repair shop. He has been there ever since. In anticipation of the time when he would be forced to move he bought, in 2006, land a few miles away but now finds himself facing neighbohood opposition. They don't want the property rezoned for commercial use. The City of Winston-Salem has offered to pay Mr. Davis almost seven hundred thousand dollars plus moving expense but he doesn't think that is a fair value for his property and unless he can get his other property rezoned he has no place to go.
According to Fox News, City Officials of Winston-Salem claim they need the property in order to secure federal funding for a high speed rail project. NEWS FLASH! Presaident Obama has doggedly insisted on giving away more taxpayer money under the guise of building a high speed rail line while AMTRACK has yet to turn a profit. After being turned down by several states, it appears that he has found a taker in Winston-Salem, N.C..
Late last year the officials of Winston-Salem, having reached no compromise with Mr. Davis, filed for Eminent Domain. This is an on-going case and in many ways the Davis case is completely different from Kelo's Supreme Court battle but both appear to be the taking of private property for public use without adequate compensation. If it, too, goes to the Supreme Court it will probably be years before any decision will become final. Just as Kelo was, is it any wonder that Harvey Davis feel that he is being railroaded by the city.

The big news for the past few days has been, and will continue for a long time, the earthquake off the coast of Japan with the resulting Tsunami. That brought on non-stop coverage on television almost as though the rest of the world was standing still. Hopefully everything will be getting back to normal, if that will ever be possible, in a few weeks. Thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned, - William

Here on the Hill

Has Spring Sprung?

{Up to this time I have written nothing about the problems in Wisconsin between the union and the state government which is controlled by the Republicans while the Democrats are Absent With Out Leave (AWOL). Tuesday afternoon I heard that Governor Mark Walker (R--Wi.) was thinking about offering the Democrats a compromise which prompted me to offer both sides a solution. Governor Walker and the Republicans could offer to take Collective Bargaining off the table if the unions would agree to split campaign donations evenly between the two major parties or allow each member to keep the part that was to be donated [to campaigns] and decide where they want their money to go. If they are looking for a compromise check this out.]

For the last two weeks we have had typical spring-like weather with some days feeling more like early summer, then a cold front comes through and we go back into late winter. We have also had our share of rain with a few thunderstorms. Here on the hill we have been doing some work outside, raking leaves, pulling weeds and transplanting flowers [general clean up], tilling for new flower beds and getting the garden ready for potatoes [just a few] cabbage [eight plants] and a pound of onion sets. We set up a table in the sun room and planted tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumber seeds. It may have been the wrong time but we transplanted a row of garlic even though we hardly ever use it in any way.

I guess it was thirty or more years ago that I put pen to paper and attempted to write, what I had hoped to be, the lyrics for a song but the fact that it has never been recorded must mean that, if not a complete failure, it was not a notable success. It, too, was included in the book "Expedition to Nowhere" which was published and copyrighted in 1986. I feel like this is a good time to include it here.

"Make a Glass Eye Cry"

"I was sitting at the table playing a game of solitaire / when this slightly drunken gentleman said, can I pull up a chair / I said go right ahead my friend for I can use some company / but later on I couldn't believe the things he said to me.
Now you talk about your sad songs, I thought I'd heard them all / beginning with Hank Williams and later Tom T. Hall / when they sang about their troubles and the loves they had to die / but the stories he was telling Lord, would make a glass eye cry.

He sat there for about an hour talking about his woes / said trouble is my middle name, I know just how it goes / whatever it takes to break a heart I know what it's about / for when they passed out misery it wasn't me that got left out.
Now you talk about your sad songs, I thought I'd heard them all / beginning with Hank Williams and later Tom T. Hall / when they sang about their troubles and the loves they had to die / but the stories he was telling Lord, would make a glass eye cry."

Time, as they say, may be our greatest ally but in this case we're having a spell of stormy weather, most of the night and on into the morning but it is to be better for the next few days. Thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned. - William

P.S. Dear Seeker;

Are you the one who is the last of those immortal warriors who dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of the dark [darkness - evil]. If so I want to thank you for taking the time out of what must be an extremely busy schedule to comment on my last blog posting [March 3,]. Until now, I wasn't really sure anyone else was reading it. It is only my opinion and always subject to critical review. Anything expressed as an honest opinion or a fact [as to the Fair Tax] is welcomed. Thanks again for your comment. - William

P.P.S. On the other hand if that band of warriors was immortal then why was only one left? - William