The Democrat-controlled United States Senate under the leadership of Harry Reid, D-NV, has done virtually nothing since it began on January 5th of this year.  Indeed, the Democrat leadership in the Senate  --  and in the United States House of Representatives, during the leadership (if you can call it that) of San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi when she was speaker for 4 years before the Republicans took control this past January  --  has not passed a budget as required by law for a number of years. 
 
On the other hand, the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed its budget, as required by law, earlier this year.  The House Republicans have also passed over 25 major bills to create jobs in America, a nation which has suffered a 9% unemployment rate, on the average, under Barack Obama since he became president almost 3 years ago.
 
Before the Republicans adjourned for Christmas in the House of Representatives last week, they passed a spending bill  --  now signed into law by Obama  --  which will fund the government until the end of the 2012 Fiscal Year on September 30th. 
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Being a Pastor of Senior Citizens, I was appalled to read a letter to the editor of The Contra Costa Times yesterday (1/27/11). A senior citizen, Christine Wasserbauer of Concord was hurrying home having just exited a bus and crossed in the center of the street after seeing there was no traffic. The street was clear and she proceeded. She had to urgently get to the bathroom due to medications she has to take.

A motorcycle cop, roared into the scene, stopped the woman and lectured her. She explained the situation. Instead of letting her get home, the officer continued to hold her and wrote out a $136. ticket for jaywalking.  Meanwhile, the woman soiled herself, which is extremely degrading and dehumanizing to senior citizens. This thoughless cop delayed her in order to bring in extra cash for his city government.

This woman was not doing anything that endangered the community like DUI. She was trying to get home as quickly as possible and made certain the street was clear before crossing.  Again,she had a medical issue. And she was fined $136.00! read more »

Although it's far from a surprise and has long been predicted, it's finally a reality: Social Security is now officially paying out more than it is taking in.

Of course, Social Security has taken in more than it has paid out pretty much since its inception...which would lead a normal person to think there's a big fat piggy bank just waiting to pay out all those benefits, right?  Wrong.  The truth is that the government has faithfully borrowed every dime of that surplus over the years and spent it on, well, everything.

Bruce Krasting looks at the public data on the Social Security "Trust Fund" and points out that the numbers are headed in the wrong direction...pointing out that this wasn't expected to happen for another five years or so.

This is the cost of the protracted recession and the failure of the
economy to generate new jobs. The 2008-2009 increase in benefits was at
a nosebleed level of 9.5%. That level has collapsed to 3.9% in the
2009-2010 period.  ... read more »

As pretty much anyone and everyone who's paid any attention to the news for the past generation knows, Social Security, as it is currently configured, is going to run out of money.  It's simple math.  But it has always (to a great many people) seemed like a distant prospect, not something that demanded to be dealt with right now.

For decades and decades, the program has muddled along, with a few tweaks here and there, running a surplus of funds paid it by workers versus benefits paid to retirees.  And, of course, the federal government "borrowed" those surpluses from the Social Security fund and spent them on just about everything else under the sun.  Which means there has been an ever growing IOU in the "trust fund".  Couple this with the beginning retirements of baby boomers, and many people have pointed out that it's going to be a problem sooner rather than later.

Well, guess what?  That day of reckoning is here.  Via USA Today: read more »

Today's lesson, boys and girls in Congress, will begin with a story and end with a proposition!  Get out your notebooks and start writing!

Winds of change are a'blowin'!!  It's like somebody exclaimed out loud"--wait a minute!  This isn't right!  This isn't working!"  We stepped back and took a good, long, studying look.

 The crowd began to stir. 

"What is that guy DOING?

"That's MY hard-earned money you're partying with, boys!"

"Are you saying I should unselfishly consent to die while you abscond with everything I earned in honest wages?"

Yep!  Listen to that wind!  We worked hard.  We learned our work ethics from honest, respectable parents and grandparents.  We believed in our country.  We trusted a man was true to his word, just because we knew that if we expected respect, we had to behave accordingly.  When did it become a game, an irresponsible pasttime, to get away with as much as one dared to push the limits of self-respect to, with selfish whims?

We were impressed less with the plain, ordinary, hard working man, and overly awed by the rakish, boy rebel, glamorized on screen. 

We admired him, and didn't we get our FILL of his kind?!!  Our heroes were still heroes as scoundrels--"boys will be boys" was our favorite  phrase of pardon for outrageous indignities.  Even some girls joined in on the careless wantonnesses of the age.  And nothing could make the kids happy again!! read more »