We rested up in Santa Fe for a couple of weeks after over 3 months riding buses, photographing the disappearing wildlife, and camping in our little dome tent in four countries in southern Africa. (To people who say " I want your life!" I say where were you all those years when we were teaching in the public schools in inner city Austin? Invariably they say " I couldn't do that." Heh. )
Here we are at 62, retired, and looking forward to claiming our Social Security after paying in for all those years.
Yeah, I know, our money went to pay for those older than us, like my mother, now 80.
My mother. A life long Democrat.
Well, my mother is nervous and angry about all this talk of cutting Social Security she hears on the cable TV news. ( I wish she would not watch that sh*t. But she lives alone, its 'free' with her rent. So she flips back and forth between CNN and Fox, sometimes watches MSNBC.)
My mother is confused. You see, she also LOVES Barack Obama, as we do. But like us, she gets confused when she hears a Democratic President speak of changing or making adjustments to Social Security. To her, if 'its not broke, don't fix it.' Well?
And look, yes, President Barack Obama is not the only Democrat. However he is President, therefore he is the symbolic head of our party.
My mother and Nancy
My Mother. What strong, loving, wonderful woman. Like us, she also admires Nancy Pelosi. She is proud of Nancy for all those years of standing up to Republicans.
Birthday as a Travel Excuse
I turned 62 in June, and my wife will also turn 62 early September. We are using her birthday as and excuse to hang out at the end of the summer here in Greater Yellowstone. Also, one of our favorite regional music groups is playing in Jackson Hole, so we will splurge and go hearthe Miller Sisters Band at the Silver Dollar Bar this Friday night and dance the night away!)
Here we sit this beautiful afternoon in the parking lot of the National Park Service Visitor Center in Jackson, Wyoming, feeling exuberant after getting our Senior Pass! Wow! After all those years paying taxes, this is a great deal.
Anyway, while my wife fixed our lunch in the back of the camper, I looked at Google News and, damn, if we had been in Santa Fe today instead of up here and preparing to go kayaking, we could have gone to see Nancy Pelosi !
Pelosi vows to protect Medicare, Social Security
Democratic Party leader appears with Luján at Santa Fe senior center
Steve Terrell | The New Mexican
Posted: Monday, August 29, 2011 - 8/30/11
Man, have I been wanting to hear more Democratic leaders standing up for our Social Safety net. My wife and I have been to 48 countries over the years, have friends on four continents, and even though I realize how poor our net is compared to theirs, I want it preserved....
Heeeeeerrrrre's Nancy:
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Party leader in the U.S. House, found a friendly and receptive audience Monday at a federally supported senior center in Santa Fe.
The California lawmaker and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., spoke at the Mary Esther Gonzales Senior Center about protecting Social Security and Medicare during the ongoing deficit and budget battles in Washington, D.C.
Pelosi, former House speaker, said the words "Social Security" shouldn't even be used in the same sentence with "deficit reduction."
.
Period. Hear that, Mr. President? Please quit talking about the deficit. Hear that, 'third way' types?
Pelosi, former House speaker, said the words "Social Security" shouldn't even be used in the same sentence with "deficit reduction."
Yuh! Huh! That's what I'm talking about. I want to hear MORE Democratic Leaders stumping around the country, reassuring Seniors and others that Social Security is not the problem, the deficit is not the problem. Maybe even talk about a massive direct hire government jobs program?
As Meteor Blades predicted some time ago:
That Congress, I'm sure I don't have to remind anyone, will contain more obstructionist Republicans – perhaps many more – than it does now. We know full well what to expect from them on the jobs front.
Even under the best political circumstances, there are no silver bullets for the job crisis. And, yes, it is a crisis. For instance, America needs a new trade policy and an industrial policy. But there are some things that can be done that do not depend on reordering our country's interface with the rest of the planet. One of those is repairing old infrastructure and creating new, as davej recently hammered home. Getting Washington to do these things, however, is another story.
MB was soooooo right. The Republicans in this Congress, well, don't want to blow my Rocky Mountain High just now thinking about teh crazies.
It is a crisis, as MB said, and there are solutions. As the elections get closer and closer, we need Democrats walking and talking for solutions, the Republicans be damned.
My Mother is Worried About My Brother
My mother is also worried about my brother, who turned 60 this year. NAFTA paved the way for his union factory job to go to Mexico when he was 52. He has floundered, got retrained, worked temporary jobs, but has been able to find NOTHING to compare to that middle class job of 25 years. His wife almost left him after he started drinking. He has been sober AND out of work for over a year. His wife, the poster child for the chronically underemployed college graduate, still has a job albeit nothing near the income that my brother had in the union one. Their house is paid for. Barring a health emergency, they might get by til they can turn 62. But of course they cannot get Medicare until, well, when? Hopefully that will not change.
My mother still worries...and millions more with unemployed in their families worry as well.
Our Democratic Party
Should not we as Democrats, faced with this massive economic crisis, expect our party's leaders to stand out front and push for doing the right things like those discussed by Meteor Blades above?
Well HELL yes.
The news article concluded with Nancy giving them what for:
"Why didn't [Republicans] say 'boo' when [the deficit] was being amassed by President Bush?" Pelosi asked. She blamed the current deficits on tax breaks for the wealthy and "two unfunded wars."
"Democrats know how to reduce deficits," she said. Former President Bill Clinton, who left office in 2001 with a budget surplus, proved that, Pelosi said.
Pressed on what should be done to help make Social Security more sustainable, Pelosi said the U.S. tax code — which she said is full of "distortions of the free market" — should be overhauled.
Yes! Snarl! Growl! Show some teeth, Democrats! Way to go, Nancy!
(Heh. Sorry, just had to share a pic I took in RSA recently.) Yeah, and yes how about those unfunded wars?
BFRL
Then, who could have expected it, but there it is, the article ends with no questioning of the obligatory Big F*cking Republican Lie (TM):
In a written statement emailed after the event, Tyler Q. Houlton, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said, "Nancy Pelosi and Ben Ray Luján should be honest with New Mexico voters and admit to the damage they've caused to Medicare. It's disingenuous for Pelosi and Luján to claim they have protected Medicare when they voted to gut the program by $500 billion to fund their government takeover of health care."
-----------------------
This is what they are going to be trumpeting in the run up. This is what we must fight back against!
Somewhere between kayaking, photographing moose/wolves, and enjoying the incredible scenery in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, I will write an LTE to the author of that article and question the Republican crap, like he should have.
For those who also yearn to take some action, there is always the Democratic Party campaign and GOTV work to be done.
strong>I also want to invite you, if you have not already done so, to sign up with Van Jones and the thousands of others who are working to
Rebuild the Dream
President Barack Obama said today:
Just read an article that says the President is talking 1 million new jobs today. Hope my brother gets on of those. :)
Thanks, Mr. President, more like this.
Link below the fold in the update.
4:32 PM PT: Breaking:
President says US could add 1 million jobs!
http://www.reuters.com/...
Yes!