re: ["It's an outrage. However, what Slider said isn't exactly
true. There are some people who won't take him seriously unless
he has his facts correct....Congress' retirement benefits are
an outrage, but some people will read what you wrote and disregard
it because a one or two-term congressman gets no pension,"]
Puh-leeze....
Was it like I told America there were "57 States?"
"It is wonderful to be back in Oregon. Over the last 15 months,
we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now
been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii,
I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to
visit, but my staff would not justify it."
-- Presidential Candidate Barack Obama
latimesblogs.latimes.com
--------------
Was it like I stood before America in the Caterpillar plant
in my home state, and told both workers, and the American
public that my proposed stimulus plan would not only stop
the layoffs, but allow Caterpillar to rehire workers they
just laid off...
Only to have the CEO of Caterpillar have to go on national
television the same day to deny it, and say - no, that's not
true, we will continue with the 22,000 layoffs?
blogs.abcnews.com
--------------
Was it like I stood before union workers and promised them
that I'd repeal part of NAFTA, only to have my adviser
(Austan Goolsbee) tell the Canadians privately, not to worry,
because it's just campaign rhetoric?
abcnews.go.com
laborradio.org
article.nationalreview.com
---------------
Was my post about the pension plan of Congress, or the "outrage"
over politicians who filled their pockets with banking lobby
money, and then rolled over and rubber stamped bank legislation
for the next ten years allowing unregulated derivatives via
the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, the repeal of
key components of Glass Steagal, the SEC removal of leverage
limits & the allowance of self-regulation by the Wall Street
investment banks, the use of Fannie & Freddie as a toxic waste
dump, the use of the rating agencies as rubber stamps,
ultimately allowing them to crash not just the U.S. economy,
but the global financial system as well... while collecting
hundreds of millions in ill-gotten gains?
The single most insignificant point of my entire post, was
the pension plan of Congress.
And you want to nit-pick the semantics of Congress' pension plan?
Okie dokie...
re: Pension Plans For Members Of Congress:
senate.gov
senate.gov
c-span.org
The term for a U.S. Senator is six years, and they are
"fully vested" after five years.
But, a Congressman would need to serve 2 two year terms, and
one year of a third term.
And their retirement annuity may not exceed "80% of his or her
final salary."
Mea F'n Culpa...
Hopefully this won't ruin my political aspirations,
SOTB
PS: And how about that Dick Cheney?
Given all the torture memos, videos, photos, and the new
revelations about Cheney's use of "private hit squads" that
reported directly to him...
"Children sodomized at Abu Ghraib, on tape"
salon.com
"Executive 'assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney"
rawstory.com
minnpost.com
Keith Olberman on Cheney Assassination Squads...
youtube.com
Wouldn't you think that the one guy in the entire world, who
would ride quietly off into the night, never to be heard from
again (in a country without a US extradition treaty)...
would be Dick Cheney?
But, Nooooooooooo
Cheney's all over the Sunday talk shows and openly criticizing
Obama's policies?
boston.com
Riddle me this...
What entity, with obviously more political power than Obama,
would give Cheney the confidence to not just "not worry"
about prosecution, but the chutzpah to go on National
Television and rub it in Obama's face?
Chew on that one for a while.
And yet again, the Obama sheeple are left holding another
empty campaign promise bag, and they're not too happy
about it...
thenation.com
freerepublic.com
"... human rights groups took issue with Mr Obama's
declaration – issued alongside the memos – that agents who had
used methods regarded as torture would not be prosecuted.
Amnesty International said: "The US Department of Justice
appears to have offered a get-out-of-jail-free card to people
involved in torture."
It added: "Torture is never acceptable and those who conduct I
should not escape justice."
The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the freedom
of information lawsuit in California that left the administration
feeling it had no choice but to disclose the memos, wrote an
open letter to Eric Holder, the Attorney General.
It demanded he appointed an independent prosecutor "to
investigate who knew about and authorised the Bush
administration's torture policies" and bring prosecutions
if warranted.
Reaction in the Middle East suggested that Mr Obama's effort
to build bridges with the Muslim world in the wake of Mr Bush's
"war on terror" and conflict in Iraq would be adversely affected.
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights in Cairo said the
decision would encourage other nations to let abuses pass.
"Obama told us he will hold to account the people who
committed a crime or a human rights violation," he said. "So
this is a wrong signal to the perpetrators of human rights –
especially Third World countries." |
