Time to start off a new week.  Let’s hope this week has less tragedy than last week. 

Will Japan get their nuclear power plants under control?  Will fighting in Libya stop?  Will the Government keep running?  Will we have a break from man-made and natural disasters?

And then there is that secret Leprechaun and pot o’ gold coming up on Thursday.  Any good recipes or events?  Where is the best place to drink green beer?

Your choice of conversation.

 

137 Thoughts to “Open Thread……………………………………..Monday, March 14”

  1. http://www.cnbc.com/id/41969508/ is an interesting article.

    Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages

  2. Actually that article is horribly offensive. Why on earth would social security be labeled ‘welfare?’ Workers have paid in to that system their entire working lives. That is not welfare. Additionally, they have also paid into medicare.

    Those who continue to think of older Americans as parasites, even though they do not use those specific words will find themselves voted out of office. For all those 78 million baby boomeres who are going to be bankrupting the system and taking the ‘welfare’ that they have bought and paid for over the years, there will be voters tho send those who criticize packing. There are consequences for the arrogance of youth.

    That article was very insulting. If someone wants to write an article like this, perhaps they need to use different vocabulary or talk about people who haven’t paid into these programs.

  3. Emma

    And then there’s Big Love. Who knew Alby owned a convenience store?

  4. Second Alamo

    Generations of inner city families supported on my tax dollar while I worked to earn the income from which the taxes were taken, and now I’m being lumped in with those that I was forced to support by simply expecting a return on my lifelong investment into Social Security? Shades of Logan’s Run I’d say! Never mind the fact that now I’m forced to support even more people who aren’t even here legally while my own support wanes.

  5. Need to Know

    This Social Security debate is similar to the one we had earlier on MH about unemployment insurance. Some characterize unemployment insurance payments as “welfare.” In fact, we have all been paying premiums for unemployment insurance, even those who are self-employed, and have a right to those benefits just as we do from our homeowners insurance if our house catches on fire.

    Social Security has always been sold to the American people as a retirement and pension system. We earn a retirement benefit by paying into the system during our working years. The problem with Social Security is not the elderly beneficiaries, but the corrupt politicians who have bought votes for decades by promising unearned benefits paid for with the premiums workers have contributed, and by raiding Social Security whenever they think they can abscond with the money to use for whatever purposes they want.

    Ostensibly, the Social Security trust fund will have a surplus for many years to come, and its assets are invested in safe, US Treasury assets. Not so. When politicians raid the Social Security Trust Fund, the Treasury uses non-negotiable types of debt. It does not issue Treasury bonds (the kind in which we could invest). They are essentially worthless IOUs the government writes to itself.

    If a private pension were run the same way the Federal Government runs the Social Security program, anyone and everyone associated with it would be in prison along with Bernie Madoff, another famous Ponzi scheme crook.

    Don’t blame the hardworking Social Security retirees for this mess. Blame the crooked, thieving, lying politicians who have turned what was supposed to be one of our key retirement assets into another Ponzi scheme.

  6. That’s how it hit me, SA. I saw red when I read the title. When I think how many years I have paid in, it makes me want to go postal to think that people now consider me a welfare recipient. He’ll, I am still paying in, big time.

  7. Need to Know

    @Second Alamo

    SA is absolutely right. Jimmy Carter was the president whose advocacy got Social Security benefits for “immigrants.” No distinction between legal or illegal. Worst President EVER!

  8. I don’t believe that illegal immigrants collect social security now. If they are collecting SS it is with a fake number. NTK, you have any facts on how many are collecting SS?

    I don’t mind anyone collecting social security if they have paid in to it. SS is pro-rated on average earnings and duration etc. I don’t even spouses who haven’t worked getting their husband’s SS. The home paid in to the program.

    What I am furious about is people like SA and me being lumped in as welfare recipients. I don’t think so!!!

  9. I just heard on TV that American wages have been fairly frozen for the past 30 years. The top rungs are the ones that have sky rocketed. The top of the top would be the hedge fund owners who write themselves a check for billions and are only taxed at 15%.

    These are the people that we are protecting from tax increases because they contribute to campaigns. Shame shame shame!!!!

    They need to pay their fair share…these millionaires and billionaires. Why certain people in the middle class are being duped into protecting them I simply do not know or understand.

    Someone is drinking kool aid. Meanwhile, cops, teachers, nurses and firefighters are being set up as the rich bitches. The world is insane.

    400 people have half of the nation’s wealth. What’s wrong with this picture?

  10. NTK and I crossed in the mail. I agree with his larger paragraph! Americans are being duped.

    Jimmy Carter has a few stiff contenders for that title. I am irritated over the Panama Canal still.

  11. Need to Know

    Moon – read my previous post! I’m taking your side on that, and agreeing with SA about Social Security benefits.

    Social Security has many, many more benefits than retirement. It’s largely those other benefits that drain the resources from the system. Immigrants should not have been given full rights to all Social Security benefits. Even if immigrating legally, no one should be allowed to show up here and immediately be eligible for the same benefits that you, SA and others have been paying taxes all of your life to fund. The US is the only country in the world that does not verify that someone can support themselves and their families without any public assistance from US taxpayers before admitting them in. We have some rules and laws on the books, but they are not enforced.

  12. George S. Harris

    NTK says, “Social Security has always been sold to the American people as a retirement and pension system. ” I don’t believe that to be the case. When Social Secrity started, it was to provide income for the elderly and others affected by the Great Depression.

    But as far back as 1912, Theodore Roosevelt said, “We must protect the crushable elements at the base of our present industrial structure…it is abnormal for any industry to throw back upon the community the human wreckage due to its wear and tear, and the hazards of sickness, accident, invalidism, involuntary unemployment, and old age should be provided for through insurance.”

    When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1935, he said:

    “We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.”

    Many things have been added over the years including disability and medical care. My wife draws Social Security Disability because of two strokes. And I sure don’t consider it a “retirement” for her.

    While private pensions may not be run like Social Security, certainly state retirement plans are and I am not so certain that this is not true for “private pensions”. Many pension plans are not funded at anywhere what they need to be sound. Why do you think the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation was formed? To bail out busted retirement funds.

    Yes, we are “entitled” to receive payments from Social Security, but if you look at your Social Security account, you will find that should you live a long life, you will draw far more out of Social Security than you ever paid in. I don’t consider it “welfare”, but it does provide a pretty good ROI.

  13. And NTK and I still appear to be crossing in the mail. LOL Sorry about that.

  14. Cato the Elder

    Emma :
    And then there’s Big Love. Who knew Alby owned a convenience store?

    Bill needs to improve his aim.

  15. @George, as long as the government isn’t using the SS as an ATM, there is also that notion that for every one of us who lives to collect, there are a bunch of poor souls who don’t make it that far and have paid in up until the time of their demise. Granted, more live than die so that has to be factored in.

    The politicians and media need to stop talking about SS as though it is welfare. It isn’t. They also need to stop making threatening noises to people who are approaching SS age and pension age. No one likes to live with that hanging over their heads.

  16. Sorry, I have neglected Big Love. I am with Emma. That convenience store was just too convenient. Albie just appears out of the store room? Give me a break. Prison schools in Utah?

    Bill should have finished the job and just shot Albie in the arse.

  17. Cato the Elder

    My ideal ending to Big Love would involve Nikki and Rhonda trapped in a car on the railroad tracks and getting plowed by a freight train.

  18. Need to Know

    I know something about Social Security, retirement planning, etc. and can participate in that discussion, but have no idea what “Big Love” is, or who Nikki and Rhonda are, and why I should care if they are about to get creamed by a freight train. I assume we are talking about some sort of fiction?

  19. Cato I want Albie and that adrogenous Green woman in that car on the tracks.

    NTK, its an HBO show that ends forever next week. Sort of like the Utah Sopranos.

  20. So…speaking of fiction…are we all going to die from radiation poisoning like On the Beach?
    (old post WWII novel about radiation poisoning from war)

    How about the stock market? Will Japan hurts us that much?

  21. Need to Know

    We don’t buy any of the premium channels. With kids in the house we don’t want to risk exposing them to the vulgar stuff broadcast on those channels. The stuff on basic cable channels is bad enough. We actually save money by just renting only the movies we want to see, and every now and then when HBO or one of the others produces something really good like the “John Adams” series buying the DVDs (or Blu-Rays).

    I know about Bill Maher because I’ve watched him in hotels while travelling. I cannot stand that guy. Vulgar, offensive, not funny. No match for the more class-act of Jon Stewart.

    1. @NTK,
      You can get child lock outs now for stuff you don’t want your kids to see.

      Not to sound like an old fuddy duddy but I have been appalled by some of the trash on cartoons. Just plain old fashioned cartoons. Just way too much bathroom humor that is vulgar. Not George Carlin but everything else that your mother would spank you for if she caught you. I care more about that kind of vulgarity than anything I have seen on Big Love this year.

      And you should probably rip out all the networks. They are coarse. I don’t mind coarseness here. I am probably the worst offender. But this is not a kids blog. The only thing I really hate here is bathroom or nasal humor. Other than that….

  22. Cato the Elder

    I don’t see any long term risks from the Japan thing, frankly, other than the short term whipsaw from the negative headlines which will continue to flow during the near term. Japan or no Japan we’re due for a more substantial flush than we’ve seen thus far. There’s been a short term change in character in the market, and I’m using any strength to reload short positions. This ain’t over yet, at least in my opinion.

  23. Steve Thomas

    “So…speaking of fiction…are we all going to die from radiation poisoning like On the Beach?
    (old post WWII novel about radiation poisoning from war)e”

    Little chance of that Moon. Radiation poisioning has two considerations: Duration and Intensity. OTB( One of my favorite books) was a post-war scenario, where intensity was so high, the duration didn’t matter. Someone living close to the reactors might have cause for concern, but the danger decreases with distance. Way over here on the East Coast, we have little to fear. Even if one of those reactors went up like a bomb (almost zero chance of that) we’d be OK. Look at all the testing in the 40’s and 50’s in Nevada and elswhere. There are many matters much more pressing to worry about.

    One thing I am concerned about is the factions who will use this as a means to kill the US Nuclear Energy program, just when it looks like it might start growing again. The entirety Japan has historically been geologically unstable. The same cannot be said of the US, but the anti-nuclear energy crowd will not make this distinction. France gets 80% of its electricity from Nuclear, and has done it without incident. We as a nation have to realize that “peak oil” is real, and at present there is absolutely no economically viable, large scale replacement for fossil fuels. None. Zero. Nada. This means that until such time as we have figured out what the “next” thing is, we have to stretch what we have. We ain’t getting any more of it. Production is declining, while demand is growing. Nuclear is not “the answer”. It is a way to keep us going long enough to find “the answer”.

    For those who’d like to understand what “Peak Oil” is, or for those who want to deny the reality of it, I would encourage you to read the Hirsch Report, a 2005 study comissioned by the DoE. http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/others/pdf/Oil_Peaking_NETL.pdf

    If you want the Reader’s Digest version, wikipedia has a pretty good article on it.

  24. Big Dog

    http://blogs.roanoke.com/datasphere/2011/03/virginias-multi-racial-population-increases/

    Some interesting data – PWC and the two cities are true “melting pots”.

  25. Big Dog

    http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/279937

    At this rate, all the GA will give local schools in a couple of years are piles of
    mandates.

    Rough time all for school boards, the blog Not Larry Sabato today has a posting
    questioning elected school boards in Fairfax County – Too Conservative claims
    Loudoun County has the worst SB – and Manassas City activist are upset over their
    SB and the low MCPS showing in a recent WaPo story on ROI.
    (FYI – Manassas Park, who opted to keep their appointed board, was a star in
    the recent WaPo return-on-investment comparison between local systems).

  26. Juturna

    I’m still waiting for business leaders who have facilitate the break up of the unions to now focus on lowering the cost of living………

  27. @Big Dog

    I would say that at least one of those activists you speak of just hates public education and has said so for year. Who cares what he thinks. He obviously doesn’t understand AYP and what all that entails. (neither do most people). I don’t think that MC fared too poorly and that people are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

    MC stands out because of several factors. There is only 1 high school. Compare it to any of the schools in PWC with similar demographics and you will see the same thing. The only reason the county comes out on top is because it is large enough and has enough high schools in more homogeneous neighborhoods to dilute some of the criteria that lowers MC’s rating.

    Any time you have schools with high percentages of minority, special ed, esol, and economically challenged students, you are going to generally end up looking like Stonewall, Garfield, OHS, etc.

    MP schools are an anonomly to the entire state. There are no answers there.

  28. Juturna, they are going to be too busy keeping their jobs.

    What a sad state of affairs when fools (I never listened to my mother) believe public servants are breaking the system rather than millionaires who want to avoid being taxed.

    They have somehow convinced good lawmakers whose campaigns they contribute to to protect their assets at all costs. War on the public servants is going to turn into war on the millionaires very soon. People are wising up. Wages have been stagnant in the case of buying power for 4 decades.

  29. Thanks Steve. Good discussion. When I was a kid everyone thought they were never going to reach adulthood because of nuclear explosion.

    I share your concern that this disaster might usher in a fear of using nuclear reactors for fuel purposes. Yesterday I embedded a map that showed where all our reactors were. Pretty skimpy in the west. Of course, there is no need to build them on fault lines.

  30. Need to Know

    @Moon-howler

    I’ve heard about child lock-out things on TVs but really just don’t want to bother with it. We don’t watch so much TV anyway. At dinner time, the TV is shut off. Yesterday afternoon the whole family was out in the backyard enjoying the nice day with no TV at all.

    I agree about the cartoons. We’ve bought DVDs of older cartoons and Disney stuff that we don’t have to worry about. The little ones know that their Blu-Ray copy of “Bambi” is coming this week and they’re fired up about seeing that movie.

    We told them that we would take them to the theater to see “Tangled” once, or we would buy the Blu-Ray for them to have to see as often as they wanted. They opted for the Blu-Ray and it’s on pre-order. It’s good to teach lessons about making choices early and not letting them think they will always get everything they might want.

    Aside from what we rent or buy on Blu-Ray, the only things I watch anymore are “Jeopardy,” “Fringe” and an assortment of news and discussion shows. Sometimes a movie on Turner Classics. I used to really like the History Channel but it’s no good any more. All you see there now are people digging through piles of crap, aliens, Bigfoot, “prophecy” shows and rubbish like that.

  31. PBS has wonderful shows. I agree History Channel has gotten junky. Every once in a while it comes out with something good but you really have to go fishing.

    I like the HBO series. They are adult, however. I wouldn’t want to watch them with my grandchildren. I only get one premium station and that is HBO. If it weren’t for the series I wouldn’t even get that. Netflix is a far better deal. My 5 year old gdaughter loves the iPad. She has books I have gotten her either free or inexpensive, kiddie games and she can use netflix for children’s movies. She is entertained for hours. I am in the room with her so no inappropriate films are watched or have been tried.

    I have been very impressed with the kid friendly side of iPad. She wanted one for her birthday which was recently. I told her to ask her rich grandma.

  32. Big Dog

    M-H,
    Agree with you about Manassas City schools.
    The Vice Mayor’s blog My Side Of The Fence has a new posting on the
    issue.
    And I too am interested in the good MP performance with challenging
    demographics not unlike Manassas or portions of PWC.
    (MCPS’s Supt. Pope came from the MP school system).
    What can we learn from them.

    1. The difference in MP and MC is more evenly distributed heterogeneousness, if that makes sense. @Big Dog

      They haven’t offered up any ‘this is how we do it.’

      All sorts of people have wanted to know.

  33. Cindy B

    Daniel Duke wrote the book about DeBolt & the school system:
    http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4579-the-little-school-system-that-c.aspx

  34. Big Dog

    Thanks Cindy. Perhaps Manassas should hire Dr. DeBolt as a consultant.

    (Have to point out that many students are getting a first rate education in
    Manassas City schools. Seniors have been accepted by top schools
    including appointments to West Point, Navy and the Air Force Academy).

  35. marinm

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20042299-503544.html

    Michigan bill would impose “financial martial law”

    This one has had me scratching my head for a bit with me trying to figure out what I think about it and if I support it or don’t.. I’ve finally decided that I support it.

  36. Pat.Herve

    I could not support that new law – I am not sure of all the criteria to appoint an ‘Emergency Manager’, but it does give the Governor the power to remove elected officials, break contracts and sell assets! The EM will have the power to make contracts null and void – all this from an appointed official, and the EM does not even have to have a public meeting – talk about removing rights from the constituents.

  37. Wolverine

    Michigan is a state where many of the municipalities, once industrial centers now bereft of industries, jobs, and their tax base, are in serious, serious fiscal trouble. That last time I was in my Michigan hometown, Mrs. W and I even had to do the caretaker work on the graves of my father and grandparents in one of the city cemeteries. Tough times can call for tough measures. Just hope it is only temporary. These cities and towns are going flat broke without much hope in sight.

  38. Juturna

    So, does anyone know the scope of the impact of the problems in Japan has on the auto industry?

  39. Juturna

    I meant understand the scope…. Another major explosion and an idea that the containment housing has been breached.

  40. It appears that Dr. DeBolt actually went in to Manassas Park and did a Stand and Deliver. For those who haven’t seen the movie, it is a must see.

    Look at the Manassas Park band the next time there is a parade. I have never seen a band with that kind of pride. They radiate pride in what they are doing.

    I don’t think MC or PW could ever emmulate them. It goes back to what I said about evenly distributed heterogeneousness. The DeBolt team must had done a hell of a selling job about education being the great equalizer to the parents. That council used to be about as backwater as it gets. My husband once tried to put word processing systems into city government…not a fleet, just one or 2. You would have thought he wanted to put in star trek technology. Many on the council were very resistent to technology or anything modern. I can still remember the names of the people he bitched about. No superintendant stayed more than a year or so. They couldn’t stand it. MP killed the desire for change.

    Good for the DeBolt team. They did what needed to be done and what many said couldn’t be done. However, that wouldn’t work in MC. MC doesn’t have the history that MP does. There is no comparison.

  41. Juturna

    Here’s reason for gov’t owned utilities – TEPCO

  42. Part 2. MP has also infused big bucks into their school system. They have new buildings. Your feet used to stick to the floor of the old buildings. They gave the kids a sense of pride rather than sending the message that they were park kids and headed for semi skilled jobs. They paid their teachers good salaries. I know people who left the county for the Park. I thought they were nuts at the time. Not so. Over $8000 difference in pay between Park and County with County being low man on the totem pole. That speaks highly of the dedication shown by the Park. They sought to attract and retain high quality people. The people I know who went that direction were quality teachers.

    I am impressed. Thanks Cindy.

    Watch their band next time you have a chance. It says it all!

  43. Marin, why would you support a power grab? What if one day your thinking isn’t in line with the in crowd? I hope they all go to jail.

    Stealing from the poor to give to the rich is UnAmerican. These clowns unfortunately have delusions of grandeur. They think they are in with the rich kids on the block who they are protecting. Actually the rich are contributing to their campaigns.

  44. Cato the Elder

    re: Japan and the auto industry. Honda, Subaru, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Mazda all have about half their production capacity in Japan. Toyota has the majority of their capacity outside Japan. Parts and other tooling is often manufactured in Japan and shipped to the US for assembly. The plants have about two months worth of part inventory on hand at any given time and I think they’ll be back up and running by then so it’s hard to envision any long term disruption. For certain brands like Lexus, which are 100% manufactured and assembled in Japan (with the exception of one model in Canada) you’re likely to see a backlog.

  45. Emergency management is being used in Virginia also. If the patriot act scared some folks, what does the concept of emergency management do?

  46. Juturna

    Thank you. I’m not sure that two months is enought 🙁

  47. Cindy B

    Dr. DeBolt spoke to last year’s Leadership Prince William class when we had our education session. I remember that he held off his retirement to stay on task for Manassas Park schools.

    Dr. Pope spoke at that session, also. I think Manassas has the people and the resources to do anything we set our minds to — just need to bring diverse people together (empower those already there who haven’t been active voices) and get the conversation going from dialogue to action.

    http://www.everyday-democracy.org//en/Issue.2.aspx

  48. Manassas can do anything it sets its mind to do. It just can’t use the Manassas Park model.

    The first thing that needs to happen is for leaders not to listen to the nay sayers who sit around cracking on MC schools. They don’t even have a dog in the fight. their opinion is irrelevant.

    There are thousands of success stories. I wouldn’t pay any attention to that assessment.

    Put up the money to attract dedicated people and keep them there. You will get a bad apple or 2. There are people who love to sing about it and blame the City. the county gets them too. However, they get diluted.

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