When Bears Rant…..people should listen

MoonHowler

I got the following email last night.  It seemed to be more than a rant.  Often our words are careless–like when we call something people have paid in to most of their lives an entitlement, like someone is doing them a favor. 

Go Bear!

Guest post by BEAR Jones

The following is a rant, feel free to delete without reading!

I spent some time today looking over my Federal Earnings Record.

I started paying Social Security Taxes in 1959 (year before I graduated High School)

I started paying Medicare Taxes in 1966

I continued paying both until I retired in 2005

I’m 69 years old now and those A-holes in Washington say I’m in an “Entitlement Program”

I feel like I spent 40+ years paying “Retirement Insurance” premiums. Now they want to screw with the funding of these programs! I’m not even complaining about all the tax money I gave Federal , State and Local government to fund their activities.(which I’m still paying) I held up my end of the deal with the Government and they shouldn’t be allowed to change their end of the deal.

 Sorry, I needed to vent…..Bear

We all need to think before we call Social Security and Medicare ‘entitlement programs.’  It sounds like our retirees are on some sort of free hand-out program rather than something they have paid in to their entire lives. 

[Plan taken down.  Too expensive.  But the rant remains.]

An Interview with Newly Retired Justice John Paul Stevens

MoonHowler

There is a fascinating interview with newly retired Justice Stevens on the  NPR site.  Stevens is an active 90 year old who plays tennis several times a week and who spent 35 years on the Supreme Court.  Today was the official first day of retirement since the current Supreme Court recess was over.  Stevens was appointed by President Gerald Ford. 

The interview includes the scope of Steven’s life experiences, where he sits watching Babe Ruth hit a homer during the 1932 World Series against the Cubs  to his throwing out the first pitch of a Cubs game when he was 85 years old. 

From the NPR interview:

 

A Fundamental Dispute

Stevens and Scalia have gone at each other on many subjects, but their core disagreement is over Scalia’s espousal of originalism — the idea that the Founding Fathers intended the Constitution to mean only what it meant at the time of enactment, no more and no less. Or, as Scalia puts it, “the Constitution that I interpret and apply is not living, but dead.”

Stevens disagrees. “To suggest that the law is static is quite wrong,” he says. Stevens argues that “the whole purpose was to form a more perfect union, not something that’s perfect when we started. We designed a system of government that would contemplate a change and progress.”

This clash of views is exemplified in a 1990 opinion Stevens wrote, which invalidated the Illinois patronage system as a violation of employees’ First Amendment rights to freedom of association.

Stevens notes that when he first encountered the question, he thought the claim had no merit. After all, as Justice Scalia would subsequently observe, patronage existed at the time the republic was founded. But Stevens, upon examining the question, reached a conclusion exactly opposite of what he originally thought. 

 

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to Retire at the End of the Session

MoonHowler

Justice John Paul Stevens has announced he will retire at the end of the session this summer.  Justice Stevens is the oldest of the justices  and will be  90 active years old on April 20th, according to the NY Times, he still plays tennis.  He was appointed by President Gerald Ford in 1975.   He has served through the terms of 7 presidents. 

Justice Stevens is seen as one of the liberals on the Supreme Court.  He would classify himself as a conservative. 

He sent his letter of resignation to President Obama today.  His retirement does not come as a surprise.  It was hinted at in the NY Times several weeks go because he only hired one new law clerk.  Most justices have 4. 

Justice Stevens seems like an institution on our Supreme Court.

Charlie Gibson Signs Off ABC “World News”

MoonHowler

 

 
 

In September ABC announced that long time journalist Charlie Gibson would retire.  Tonight as throngs of family and friends and dignitaries honored him, Charlie Gibson signed off World News for the last time with the following words:

As has been mentioned a time or six over the past week — this is my last broadcast in this chair.  And it’s hard to walk away from what I honestly think is the best job in the world — but my parents taught me you should understay — not overstay your welcome.  And there is so much to do.  In the years I have left, I don’t want to miss any of it.

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