SPQR

Spring Break

Sarah arrived from Costa Rica safely Sunday. Lots of photos. I'll post a couple soon. Let's see, three meals a day, seven days a week, that means she had a grand total of twenty-one beans-and-rice based meals.

Sounds good to me.

I've been quiet lately because this is Spring Break for me. I built a pretty neat bicycle head and tail light system.

My father's been out for a few days and we went rowing around here.

Not that you care.

FYI, I'm not bringing up Terri Schaivo.

Congrats to Ben for popping la pregunta grande the other day.

Privatizing Social Security

By Harry C. Kiely
This from Sojourners

How many times can President Bush get away with crying wolf? First came the "weapons of mass destruction." Congress believed him and committed our nation to a tragic war in Iraq, based on lies and deception. Then there were the massive tax cuts for the rich, guaranteed to get the economy going again. The result? The budget surplus was traded in for a giant deficit to be passed on to our grandchildren.

With Social Security, the president is at it again. The whole system is moving into crash mode, he says, so we need to take radical steps to rescue it. (Question: Why did the president wait until after the big tax cuts to go into panic about Social Security?)

Let’s get one fact straight right now. Social Security is not only not in jeopardy, it is in fact healthy and robust. The authority for this assertion is none other than the nonpartisan Social Security trustees, whose job it is to monitor this vital program. According to the trustees, the Social Security trust fund can pay full benefits through 2042. The Congressional Budget Office, also nonpartisan, goes beyond that and sees full solvency through 2052. Long before reaching those projected deadlines, minor course corrections can be applied and assure the Social Security program for an indefinite period.

If we pay attention to our common life, we know that if a lie is repeated often enough, it becomes the accepted wisdom. Such has been the case with Social Security. For 20 years, the Wall Street investment industry has been disseminating reports about the imminent shortfall of Social Security when the baby boomers start retiring. So pervasive has been this disinformation campaign that reporters for the mainstream media treat it as common knowledge. Today, many workers under age 40 believe Social Security will not be there for them when they retire.

WHY WALL STREET’S sudden interest in ordinary people, including the millions who have been kept out of poverty through Social Security support for seven decades? The answer is simple: profit. Servicing the accounts made possible by partial privatization would net the investment firms many billions of dollars.

But privatization would be a disaster for the Social Security program. As it now works, Social Security is a social insurance program that guarantees an annual income for life for retirees and for the disabled. Conversion of even part of the present program to an investment program would automatically cut back on the guarantee and subject the investment portion to the risks of the market. The purpose of Social Security is to provide not wealth but security. Most people on Social Security say they like it that way and that they would not favor risking the loss of that guarantee.

A warning was provided last year when the Medicare prescription drug plan was rammed through Congress with virtually no debate. That bill was written mostly by lobbyists for the pharmaceutical companies and HMOs. The legislation for "saving" Social Security inevitably will be strongly influenced by companies that will profit through its conversion.

The bottom line: If we want to assure that Social Security will continue on its present path of providing a guaranteed secure income for retirees, survivors, and the disabled, we are going to have to fight for it. The "guarantee" is no longer guaranteed.

Fidel Natstro

Thanks to Peter for this glorious redistribution of pixelated resources.

Good Question

"[E]xtreme circumstances" ... mean...what is often called the ''ticking-bomb" scenario: A deadly terror attack is looming, and you can prevent it only by getting the information your prisoner refuses to divulge. Torture might force him to talk, thereby saving thousands of innocent lives.

Should he be tortured?

That's a very high price to pay for a very worthy principle.

Thanks to Peter for this conservative article that manages to ask a pretty good question.

Fidel Mad!

Angry at Forbes for recently listing him among the world's most wealthy people, Fidel Castro recently had this to say:

Once again, they have committed the infamy of speaking about Castro's fortune, placing me almost above the queen of England. Do they think I am (former Zairian President) Mobutu (Sese Seko) or one of the many millionaires, those thieves and plunderers, that the (United States) has suckled and protected? What they should be doing is looking for the money of all those people.

Sarah's in Costa Rica

Well, I haven't heard from her, but I wasn't expecting to. I'm sure they got in fine last night.

Kinda lonely waking up in bed alone.

Tonight my mother and I are off to the Covenant alumni dinner in Miami.

_______________________________________________
Update:

Still no word. That's ok. We didn't think she'd be able to.
Alumni dinner was worth the drive.

Riding to Work

So I'm back to riding my bicycle to work. Feels great. I've been spending some time working out the best way to better mount the rack that caused the last crash and, as you may recall, broke my ankle.

Anyway, I made this map of my very short three-mile morning commute.

Today is a half-day schoolwise, I had a couple of relatively pleasant parent-teacher conferences regarding lazy students and that sort of thing.

Guajira

My beautiful wife Sarah is off to Costa Rica on Sunday for one week with a missions team from her school. She's been preparing and packing and buying little things for the trip. They will be doing light construction work and working with many groups of children.

Until three weeks ago, she was heading to Cuba, but their group was sent an encoded email from an underground church telling them that they had been threatened with arrest from the government if the team visited them. So Cuba's off.

Arctic Wildlife Refuge

This from today's John Kerry email reeling from yesterday's 51-49 Arctic Wildlife Refuge defeat.

George W. Bush and the Washington Republicans have a plan to sell off our public lands to powerful special interests. As a result of their ruthless drive to undermine America's most beautiful natural treasures, the oil rigs are closer to the Arctic Refuge than they have ever been. But, the Bush administration's own scientists and economists admit that the Republicans' plan will not make us less dependent on foreign oil and will not lower prices at the pump. We have to put America's energy future in the hands of Americans - by inventing our way to real energy independence and having energy sources that create jobs and lower prices.

One of my liberal students said last week, "Who cares about Arctic animals? It's just snow and stuff." Well, not consistently liberal.

Should we be drilling up there? I've read that the unproven reserves could provide a maximum of only six months energy for the US.

There are topographic computer programs that allow industrialists to clear-cut huge portions of wooded national parks by meticulously keeping the cut trees out of the line of sight of park visitors. Is this something simliar where, if we don't see it, we don't care?

Alberto Gonzales!

From Sojourners (before Gonzales was confirmed):

Alberto Gonzales' record on issues of torture and international law is cause not only for deep concern - the Senate should oppose his nomination. When our country's reputation for abiding by international law is already suffering, the United States simply cannot afford to support a man who has advocated for ignoring international law.

Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey O. Graham have challenged Gonzales, saying, "When you start looking at torture statutes and you look at ways around the spirit of the law...you're losing the moral high ground. Once you start down this road, it is very hard to come back."

America must have an attorney general with a consistent record of taking the high road on human rights.

Covenant College on Wikipedia

I created a small entry on Wikipedia for Covenant College in hopes that someone might expand on it.

Any takers?

I didn't participate in the 'walk for peace' because Iran

I haven't (like many) suspected that the Bush administration is setting its sights on Iran.

I didn't, that is, until I heard President Bush's self-defense.

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table."

This can't be happening.