Tombstones on the Friday OPEN thread
John T. McCutcheon | Wikimedia Commons | New text by Lynda K
July 29, 2011 - 10:00 AM
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July 29, 2011 - 10:00 AM
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Divide and Conquer.
Step1 complete.
Step2 coming 2012.
Obama 2012
“….Tommy. Thing were different when our parents were little. Hard work, sacrifice ans self reliance were cherished and there was shame in accepting government handout.”
For those of you who know Dublin Dawg from this blog, he’s gotten really creepy again over on the Blue Ridge Caucus blog. Threatening to “take care” of people outside the blog and posting that he enjoyed watching me bowl the other night — a lie that I guess was supposed to rattle me or something, but a really weak lie since I don’t bowl during the summer. Apparently he got mad because a few folks (including me) mentioned that he had been kicked off this blog for his language and threats.
good post terps
Very good Lydan K.
@3 Thanks for the update Cindy Brady.
The problem with your idea of “sharing” is you should have everything I do even though you didn’t “earn” it. That is not sharing.
So Terps, what did the disabled, elderly, orphaned and unemployed do “back in your day”. The only people who want to go back are the people who never suffered or knew anyone who did, under that “shame in accepting a government handout” mentality. A lot of very wealthy people got that way by accepting a “government handout” too. How awful does someone’s life have to be before we as a nation can offer them a hand up in Terps world view?
gdad, I’m finally up and running with bowling again on a regular basis, got a used ball from a friend who had a few spares he no longer used. And, I’m starting to get my average up…I’ve tacked on 19 points per game since last week. Just need the consistency to shake out right…our league starts at the end of August.
In some ways the following is related to Lynda K’s pic.
http://tinyurl.com/3s7bxyj
**
Whom Should the Treasury Department Pay First?
Russell Korobkin • July 29, 2011 12:46 pm
SNIP
This view implicitly underlies the common assumption that bondholders will be paid first. It isn’t that they have some superior moral claim to be paid compared to, say, social security recipients or federal employees. The problem is that, if we don’t pay our bondholders, they (and others like them) are likely to refuse to loan us more money in the future, or at least demand more compensation to do so. (The bondholder gossip network is extremely efficient thanks to the news media and rating agencies).
SNIP
A very different approach would be to allocate incoming revenues based on the principle of equality. Rather than paying some in full and others not at all, this approach would counsel toward paying everyone to whom the government has a moral obligation — as a result of contract, promise, or reasonable reliance on the expectation of payment — the same amount. This approach would lead the government to pay bondholders, social security recipients, Medicare and Medicaid providers, etc. etc. 60% of what they have been promised (they get an IOU for the rest).
SNIP
A third approach is to pay in order of the recipients’ need. Those who want to pay social security recipients first are implicitly adopting the need principle, based on the terrible thought of old people being evicted and eating dog food. The need principle has a lot of appeal, and especially so if we assume everyone will ultimately be paid and only issue is timing….
SNIP
Yet another approach is to try to pay those with the strongest moral claim to receive money from Uncle Sam first. One might argue that this principle would dictate that soldiers serving in Afghanistan or Iraq get paid first, since they are risking their lives to protect the rest of us.
SNIP
**
Other ideas?
If it were your call, who would you pay first?
Amen #2.
Also, I don’t mind sharing; I give a good % of personal income to charity every year. I do mind gov’t forced sharing. I give my money to charities that I know are well operated and are doing the most with my money as possible, not hack agencies like ACORN and the lot.
Related to my last comment:
http://tinyurl.com/3nhuwn5
**
Doctors, hospitals fear getting stiffed by U.S.
By Parija Kavilanz @CNNMoney July 29, 2011: 12:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies might not get paid for products and services if the federal government defaults on its debt next week.
SNIP
“We felt is was important to tell our members for be ready for this,” said Dr. Roland Goertz, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “It is highly likely that there will be some impact upon Medicare payments.”
The American College of Surgeons sent out a similar alert via e-mail to its members this week, warning them that “if Congress and the president do not raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, there is a chance that Medicare claims will not be paid.”
**
Run for the hills! It’s another evil commie plot disguised as sustainability!
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/294405
Yep, Virginia Tech is no longer Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange…they’re just red.
And we really will, this time for sure, the last time was another mathematical error, have the Rapture come October.
/sarcasm off
Somehow, I think there’s a greater chance of spontaneous human vanishing than there is of a global UN conspiracy to implement ‘communism’.
And I think there’s absolutely zero chance of that happening too.
Ya’ll have a nice weekend/week, I’m going to enjoy a day full of firearms tomorrow and then a week spent in the Richmond area.
I’m trying to decide if the Tea Party is a bunch of traitors, or just stupid and brainwashed. Watching the GOP twist in the wind trying to keep them happy is entertaining, either way.
This fiasco is going to be laid 100% at the door of the Republicans. If nothing else, the country’s getting a good look at what happens when they’re given a little power (in case anyone had forgotten).
Here’s a pretty simple but effective representation of the US debt:
http://usdebt.kleptocracy.us/?utm_source=SocialMedia
More appropriate caption:
“Here lies all the lies”
I changed my gravatar again…I always call myself a “Statue of Liberty American” and I found this neat pic of NYC and The Lady, so I borrowed it.
The tombstone is for this country’s prosperity as we knew it, which is rapidly disappearing. I think the 2012 death date means if 0bama is re-elected, it’s the death of America. Fprtunately, it doesn’t have to be that way.
America right now owes the Tea Party a great deal. They are fighting for our lives in a very courageous manner.
Good ones:
http://tinyurl.com/dzoqps ck out 07/27/11 & 07/22/11
0bama Job Approval rating at all time low – 40%, thanks to his mishandling of the debt ceiling debate.
http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7l2lDDNObS0ApP5XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1bzdrdWFrBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0FDQlkwNV8xNDE-/SIG=12n2ldgm1/EXP=1311990021/**http%3a//www.gallup.com/poll/148739/Obama-Approval-Drops-New-Low.aspx
Odd how this isn’t reported anywhere in the mainstream media, especially since the debt ceiling story is in the news 24/7. Gee, how could they have missed this? LOL.
Idiot Boy is going down in flames.
#3 I recall him saying to you he wanted to settle with you “mano a mano”! Did not realize he was booted. Guess he is so in love with his “Dawg” moniker he can shed it and reinvent himself…
Very good read:
http://tinyurl.com/3m3onwq
**
The great divide
By Charles Krauthammer, Published: July 28
We’re in the midst of a great four-year national debate on the size and reach of government, the future of the welfare state, indeed, the nature of the social contract between citizen and state. The distinctive visions of the two parties — social-democratic vs. limited-government — have underlain every debate on every issue since Barack Obama’s inauguration: the stimulus, the auto bailouts, health-care reform, financial regulation, deficit spending. Everything. The debt ceiling is but the latest focus of this fundamental divide.
SNIP
We’re only at the midpoint. Obama won a great victory in 2008 that he took as a mandate to transform America toward European-style social democracy. The subsequent counterrevolution delivered to that project a staggering rebuke in November 2010. Under our incremental system, however, a rebuke delivered is not a mandate conferred. That awaits definitive resolution, the rubber match of November 2012.
SNIP
**
Meant to say “cannot shed it”…
Gdad, I’m curious as to your reaction about Dublin confusing me with you, during an email exchange. It was a bit disturbing and threatening.
O’Reilly re: TP debunked:
http://tinyurl.com/44wprgp
So… Rightwing, are you saying that if federal income taxes went away you would continue to send that same amount to a private sector corporation who would then be responsible for taking over the job of providing for those folks who cannot do so for themselves?
Democrats rejected out of hand the GOP bill, really before it passed the House. I thought 0bama called for compromise. I don’t see an ounce of compromise from him or the Democrats.
The Tea Party’s last gasp for air was tonight. Boehner was forced to accept their radical agenda in an attempt to save his speakership. And he still only got his bill passed by aa 3 vote margin. 22 mostly sane Republicans voted against it and all the Democrats. In less than two hours, the Senate, on a bipartisan vote of 59-41 disposed of it. Now the Tea Partt becoms irrelevant as the adults in the Senate will pass and send over a sensible compromise to settle the issue. Boehner will be forced to round up enough Republicans to join the Democrats in the house and pass it. Or the Republicans in the house will forever be tarred with the brush of being the gang that attempted to take the economy down.
They have been outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and shot down.
Perhaps Krauthammer could give me tonight’s winning Mega-Millions numbers? Quickly, please.
#24 Yes, I understand something like that happened, AO. The Dawg is one strange and sometimes disturbing character. And then he suddenly makes this weird comment that he enjoyed watching me bowl a few nights ago. Of course he obviously had no idea that I don’t bowl in the summer. Bizarre.
#9 OJ, I’ve got the new ball and am ready to go. Congrats on the average increase.
A while back I was talking about the difference in lane conditions between your basic Joe Bowler league and the pros. There’s a league in Roanoke where the bowlers bowl on all 12 patterns the pros use, a new one each week for 12 weeks. A lot of these guys average 220 or better at their home house. The best average among them in the pro condition league is 184.
Suzie writes, “Obama Job Approval rating at all time low…”
That’s because most Americans want him to tell the republicans to “sit on it and spin”. He is being way too conciliatory. I’m all for working together to solve problems but time after time he has given them opportunities to resolve this in a fair and balanced way but they don’t budge an inch… never have. We are all tired of Obama doing all the budging. There comes a time when you just have to walk away from the table, do the right thing, and take matters into your own hands….
given them opportunities, OBAMA? really, when, what where and how…never saw THAT…only to spend more and more and more and more with no debt reduction, obama is a loser
I’m trying to decide if the Tea Party is a bunch of traitors, or just stupid and brainwashed. Watching the GOP twist in the wind trying to keep them happy is entertaining, either way.
This fiasco is going to be laid 100% at the door of the Republicans. If nothing else, the country’s getting a good look at what happens when they’re given a little power (in case anyone had forgotten).
Yeah, imagine that! Somebody wants the government to spend no more than it takes in.
The Tea Party and like-minded conservatives were elected in overwhelming numbers last year to rein in government. They will be lauded at election time for doing their jobs. 0bama has spent us into obllvion, and he and the Democrats want to do more of it. Do you honestly think they will be rewarded for destroying the country?
Seriously, how can any of you leftwingers NOT support a balanced budget amendment. How can that possibly be a bad thing?
That’s because most Americans want him to tell the republicans to “sit on it and spin”. He is being way too conciliatory. I’m all for working together to solve problems but time after time he has given them opportunities to resolve this in a fair and balanced way but they don’t budge an inch… never have. We are all tired of Obama doing all the budging. There comes a time when you just have to walk away from the table, do the right thing, and take matters into your own hands….
Are you serious? 0bama has done nothing but taken to the airwaves to trash republican proposals while presenting none of his own. He’s going down in the polls because he’s an incompetent socialist ideologue.
0bama has dropped by the greatest percentage among independents, moving from 41% down to 34%. He’s moving dangerously close to Carter territory.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/07/obama-hits-low-of-40-in-gallup-tracking-poll/1?csp=34news
This weeks caption thread plus the TP attack on “Agenda 21″ came to mind when I saw page 9 this story http://tinyurl.com/3n4ah2a
**
The Weekly World News tabloid dove in with the headline “Castro trained killer sharks to attack U.S.”
**
BTW, enjoy all the pix.
Sad news for the foodies. However not a problem for of locally.
http://tinyurl.com/3p5w3dk
**
30 July 2011 Last updated at 09:08 ET
El Bulli, ‘world’s best restaurant’, closes
A Spanish restaurant repeatedly voted the best in the world has served its final dish to the public and is closing its doors for the last time.
El Bulli, owned by award-winning chef Ferran Adria, will mark the end of a remarkable 27-years with a special sitting for staff and their families.
The eatery, in the town of Roses, has topped a renowned World’s 50 Best Restaurants list a record five times.
SNIP
**
[sarcasm]
Heck, at only $360 a meal, they should reopen in Roanoke.
[/sarcasm]
The only people polling worse than Obma are republicans in congress.
Re: #10
More on who gets paid / who gets deferred: http://tinyurl.com/3oljqau
**
U.S. weighs post-default payment priorities
By: Times-Dispatch Staff The Associated Press
Published: July 30, 2011
WASHINGTON –
If the government can’t pay all its bills come Wednesday, odds are it will pay bondholders. Social Security and Medicare recipients will be high on the must-pay list, too. Likely losers: federal workers in jobs deemed non-essential, private contractors and state and local governments.
It seems politically certain that active-duty members of the military would be paid, but there are no guarantees as the government decides which of its 80 million monthly payments to make and which to set aside.
SNIP
**
DaveH, I saw in the NYT that there’s a documentary or movie about El Bulli coming out, I can’t recall if it’s on TV or in the movies.
I’ve seen it on the Travel Network, and what those guys were doing with the food was really miraculous.
DaveH
Anthony Bourdain is doing El Bulli on his shown No Reservations this coming Monday night. Travel Channel at 9 pm. Check it out.
Good point Kristen, I do not think they mean to be the people they have spent their lives calling “traitors” but it is the reality they are pushing. Republicans hate Obama more than they love America and they (and their minions) are proving it every day, showing it proudly to the whole world and undermining the greatest nation on earth in the process. It is a sad spectacle and yes, if it was us, they would have called us “traitors” and “hate America loons” long ago. It is obstruction and treason when we do it and it is patriotism and “saving the nation” when they do it, only it isn’t!
Yep, Obama is still beating the pants off Congress in the “approval” polls.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/
RCP Average 7/14 – 7/29 Approve 44.6 Disapprove 50.3 OBAMA
RCP Average 6/9 – 6/28 Approve 19.2 Disapprove 73.4 Congress
I’d like a self proclaimed liberal to explan to me which “truth” you and Obama are trying to promote?
A couple of months ago, when Paul Ryan said that we would need to reform Social Security to keep it from bankrupting the Country, the left ranted that there was plenty of money in the Social Security fund and accused the Republicans of being “fear mongers” to even suggest such a thing!! Accused them of only saying this trying to “undermine” Obama.
A couple of weeks ago, Obama said that he couldn’t promise that Social Security checks would go out if he weren’t allowed to borrow more money to pay them.
Seriously!!?? WHICH is the real “truth” here?
If the FIRST paragraph is the real truth…..then who is making “idle threats” now? Who is fear mongering? Who is poltically postering?
IF the second paragraph is the real truth…..and we are actually THIS CLOSE to not being able to pay our Retired and our Vets..then…man, we are in some Serious trouble!!…and need to do something immediately!! Doncha think?
Which is the truth?
Dan
“The only people polling worse than Obama are the Republicans in Congress”
And the 14 ( or is it 18 or 24 or 200) candidates for the Republican nomination for President. And that approval rating for ex pres GWB isn’t
exactly on top of the mountain either.
Suzie @ 9:01
You are so right!! It is the polling numbers of the Independents that they really need to be watching. I am pretty sure that the Independents support is not dropping because Obama is not being “liberal enough”. Independents, who are not looking at the situation through partisan blinders are taking notice that:
1) Obama and the liberals did not do their jobs by passing a budget at all while they had the majority.
2) That Obama has presented no solutions, he is just rejecting anything that the Republicans may propose. They took notice that the CBO, In February told Obama that they don’t rate speeches, before HIS “solution” was shot down 97-0.
3) They have noticed that Moody and S&P have said that the REAL threat to our AAA credit rating is the fact that we have uncontrolled borrowing and spending. Unless we make some significant progess in cutting spending, we will most likely lose that crefit rating, whether we raise the debt ceiling or not.
4) They have noticed that the Republicans offered a short term solution to carry us through the current “crisis”, and Obama rejected it because it wouldn’t last through the next election. They are seeing that Obama seems to be placing more importance on being re-elected than he does in offering or considering any real solutions. Obama is becoming abundantly clear on that every time he gets on TV and blasts the Republicans. Only the die-hard left are supporting his “tactics”…the Indies are seeing right through them.
5) The elderly and the Vets are not falling for this…they know who to blame if they don’t get their checks….after all, didn’t Obama blast Paul Ryan a couple of months ago for even suggesting that there might be a problem with being able to continue Social Security as it is?
6) The Indies are seeing that the Tea Party are not just talking heads for the establishment Republicans…that we call them out too for not doing the right thing. So, unlike the fawning left that ignore the obvious to cheer for “their team, and their man”, no matter WHAT!!..the Indies are beginning to see that it is the Tea Party who are the ones really standing up and trying to do what is right for the Country…even if we have to “call out” the Republicans to do it. The hypocrisy of the left is becoming abundantly clear to the Indies, while. I believe the legimacy of the Tea party is growing in their minds.
The only people polling worse than Obama are the Republicans in Congress
People don’t approve of Republicans in Congress when they think they aren’t being conservative. Last fall, their approval was less than it is now at 24%. We saw what happened. 63 new GOP seats. 6 senate seats. Right now, people are disappointed that the GOP leadership wasn’t in lockstep with the popular Tea Party.
If we end up getting a balanced budget amendment, the GOP polling would soar.
Wrong yet again:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html
Congress has not enjoyed any popularity in a long time and it has been getting worse. The buyers remorse is obvious. Enough people are simply not dumb enough to fall for the right wing and TEA Protest propaganda anymore. A representative democracy is not meant to be “majority rules” for governance and having the muscle still means you have to care for and made decisions in the best interests of the entire nation. Conservatives are refusing to do this and it is telling on them.
TEA Protest propaganda
Cut spending. Hold the line on taxes. That’s what the Tea Party promised. That’s what they were overwhelmingly elected for, and that’s what they’re doing. On what basis could there be buyers’ remorse?
Sharon N writes: “….A couple of weeks ago, Obama said that he couldn’t promise that Social Security checks would go out if he weren’t allowed to borrow more money to pay them.
Seriously!!?? WHICH is the real “truth” here?….”
First of all, that is not what Obama said.
Obama was asked about this in a July 12, 2011, interview with CBS News anchor Scott Pelley. Here’s their exchange:
Pelley: “Can you tell the folks at home that, no matter what happens, the Social Security checks are going to go out on August the 3rd? There are about $20 billion worth of Social Security checks that have to go out the day after the government is supposedly going to go into default.”
Obama: “Well, this is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans’ checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out each month.”
Pelley: “Can you guarantee, as president, that those checks will go out on August the 3rd?”
Obama: “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue, because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.”
Social Security is a mandatory program supported by a trust fund, so Social Security benefits don’t have to be formally approved by Congress every year. However, Social Security Administration employees are paid through appropriated funds. The real question about a government shutdown was whether those employees would be kept from going to work and if so, whether the checks would sit idle rather than arriving in mailboxes nationwide… not whether there would be money in the Social Security coffers to pay those checks.
There are enough funds that will pay the social security, military and the interest on our obama debt, he is a known and proven liar, why do some still continue to invest their souls in this idiot I have no idea.
I for one am proud of our freshmen who stick by what WE THE PEOPLE really want…the rest of them are sewer sludge on this country.
#53 Gotta pay for that Bush and Reagan debt, too, pammala.
Right pammala. And WE THE pEOPLE consists of the 32 5 of the people who support that agenda. The other 68% of us are the sewer sludge Get real. Just because you think YOU are we the people does not make it so.
“A representative democracy is not meant to be “majority rules” for governance and having the muscle still means you have to care for and made decisions in the best interests of the entire nation.”
This is EXACTLY what the Tea Party, and other concerned Americans have been saying all ALONG!!!!
I was going to type more on that note….but, thought, maybe it’s best you self proclaimed liberals think on that statement awhile.
Or is that too much to expect?
SharonN
Social Security funds are in a trust fund. That Money has been investedin bonds, Tbills, and secure instruments and guarantees the solvency of social security through 1935, if the U.S. Government does not
default on its debt!. Those funds are not as liquid as the cash income that comes into the U.S. Treasury each month through tax cleections and payments. The bills, including social security checks, veterans benefits, etc are paid from those monthly collections. The problem with paying all the bills, including social security checks on time in August is a cash flow problem. The Social Security trust could liquidate some of its holdings by selling back or cashing in paper it holds from the federal government. The problem is, the federal govt. does not have the money to cover those funds must borrow the money, which means the debt ceiling must be increased to cover them. You clearly don’t understand the
concept of cash flow or the concept of the social security trust fund.
A representative democracy is also not supposed to mean that 20% of the members of one house of Congress in a bicameral legislature which shares the reins of government with an executive branch whose heads are elected by all the people, not just a majority in 20% of the contry’s legislative districts should be allowed to obstruct the legislative process and drive the country over an economic cliff.
Dave, I think you mean 2035.
Thanks Debbie. Sometimes its hard for us WWII babies to admit thatwe’ve gotten this old!
From Dave @ 5:25 on 7/31
“The Social Security trust could liquidate some of its holdings by selling back or cashing in paper it holds from the federal government. The problem is, the federal govt. does not have the money to cover those funds must borrow the money, which means the debt ceiling must be increased to cover them.”
Isn’t that what I said?
So, the solvency of Social Security is guanranteed only until 2035?
The current situation would seem to indicate that it will not be “sustainable” even THAT long, but let’s say that you are 100% correct..it is guaranteed solvent until 2035. That is okay with you? That is good enough?
That is SO GOOD that any mention of needing reform by any Tea Partier or GOP Congressperson, or President is met with name calling, vilification, and accusations of wanting to throw Granny over the cliff.
You all seem to be perfectly satisfied if we can just save Social Security for 24 more years. And you call US being the ones to say “I got mine, heck with anyone else”. ??? Interesting.
Another point, we can have a bunch of job killing, price increasing EPA regulations shoved down our throats because the global warming alarmists are trying to say that we cannot “sustain” our planet the way we are going beyond the next 100 years. And yet, call the GOP fear mongers for suggesting that we need to take some steps to “sustain” their Social Security “safety net” beyond the next 24 years….and refuse to consider doing anything about that.
Even more “telling” is the fact that the left and Obama continue to believe that the majority of Americans do not notice these things. LOL.
oh you mean bambams debit..gotcha