My Reason For Voting Democratic And Why I Care About The Future

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June 29, 2011 - Posted by ExtremeLiberal | Photography

5 Comments »

I’m with you on that one.

Comment by Roberta in MN | June 30, 2011 | Reply
I see where Sen. Joe Lieberman is teaming up with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to cut $600 billion from Medicare over the next decade by raising the retirement age in increments. I am 72, was healthy as hell up to age 65 but over the past 5 years have become diabetic, hypertensive, had pre-cancerous spots removed/biopsied from my skin and still forming colon polyps that can become cancerous. The latter have to be removed periodically at a cost of several thousand dollars each time. There is no way I could stand before a classroom 8 hours a day, now, spend a few more hours in meetings, grading papers, making lesson plans like I could only 6 years ago. With diabetes, my energy levels ebb and flow. I have to watch out for hypoglycemic reactions where I get weak, lose vision for a time, etc. With today’s more undisciplined students, a teacher must be in good health, on top of all situations at all times.

Since age 65, I have been rapidly losing friends and classmates seemingly weekly with the death rate increasing lately as we are now over age 70 for the most part. I am almost afraid to check the obituary page in my old Hoosier hometown newspaper. But I guess by raising the retirement age, the government won’t have to pay out all that money since so many of us will be dead, never needing to touch the funds we deposited with the government over our whole working lifetime.

However, the USA has slipped to 36th in the world of nations in life expectancy which reflects badly on our healthcare here. Total population life expectancy of those born this year will be 78.37 years (males: 75.92 years and females: 80.93 years). However, those living longer tend to be white collar, higher income persons whereas those who do manual labor, make the lowest wages aren’t seeing such an uptick in longevity.

http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/are_all_americans_living_longe.php

The number years expected for those white males age 70 born in 1939 is 9.42 years (living to age 79.42 years…so there is a 50-50 chance I have 7 years of life left). However, if I had been born in 1850 when medicine was mostly herbs and leeches, it would have been 10.2 years meaning I might have expected to live until age 80.2 back in the day! So has there been much increase in life span or is it that more children and young people are surviving thus helping out the average?

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html

Comment by grantinhouston | July 1, 2011 | Reply
The GOP “balanced the Texas budget” and the special session of the legislature (101/49, GOP/Democrat majority) has just adjourned. No taxes were raised on the rich and the middle class and poor will take the hits. One big cut is nearly $5 BILLION to education with the state allowing larger class sizes and school districts to “furlough” teachers WITHOUT PAY a few days each month. I was most disgusted to read a statement from Rep. Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands) who said:

“This will allow school districts to lower schoolteacher pay to save jobs. Most teachers care about each other. If they can save jobs by taking a day or two of furloughs and even take a small pay cut, they will do it”

I worked up to $40K a year after 15 years of teaching at my retirement in 2005! Yes, make some of the lowest paid professionals be the sacrificial lambs (because they care so much about people) so millionaires won’t have sales tax applied to any yacht priced over $250,000 when many are sold upwards into the many millions. (The yacht tax exemption didn’t pass the Senate so there was at least a little bit of sanity).

Gov. Perry vetoed the “no texting while driving” law, but does get to KEEP SECRET the amount of money we taxpayers will pay his state police security detail for the next 18 months, evidently so we won’t know of his travel plans (like a secret meeting last weekend in Colorado with the Koch Brothers that has been exposed!). Watch for Perry to announce after his August 6 Prayer Rally! He says he won’t announce plans before that event as he doesn’t want to appear to be pandering to the religious REICH. Perry also didn’t get his “sanctuary city” bill passed that mimics Arizona’s “papers please law”. That was due to REICH-wing billionaires like Houston’s Bob Perry (no relation to the governor), a big homebuilder, and San Antonio’s Charles Butt, CEO of the large HEB supermarket chain and hospital magnate Charles Leininger all lobbying against the bill. The three men have given tens of millions now to Republican campaigns over the years and they ALSO employ a large number of Hispanics, many of whom might be illegal!

Comment by grantinhouston | July 1, 2011 | Reply
Frank Rich in the New Yorker writes, “The president’s failure to demand a reckoning from the moneyed interests who brought the economy down has cursed his first term, and could prevent a second.”

http://nymag.com/print/?/news/frank-rich/obama-economy/presidents-failure/

Obama opponents have done a good job of associating Obama more with Wall Street than with Main Street, making Geithner their whipping boy, even though the Republicans are more in bed with the corporate bankers.

Comment by grantinhouston | July 4, 2011 | Reply
Mugsy posts about the dumbing down of America, especially when folks listen to the likes of Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman, Glenn Beck who revise “history” to match their ideologies.

http://mugsysrapsheet.com/2011/07/04/those-who-do-not-remember-history-will-simply-edit-wiki/

Comment by grantinhouston | July 4, 2011 | Reply