Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (214303)	1/5/2005 2:54:13 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1579124

Watched the interview with Amber Fry [the S. Peterson case] last nite. I had never heard the taped conversations between them. What a frigging nut case that guy is. Totally and completely delusional........do you think he would have voted for Bush if he weren't in jail? <g> ted

To: Road Walker who wrote (214303)	1/5/2005 5:12:16 PM
From: Alighieri	Respond to of 1579124

Conservative not-for-profit thinktank scams elderly with Social Security fundraising letters blasting liberals Filed under: * General — site admin @ 11:50 am Email This Thinktank preys on seniors in Social Security scare campaign Click here to view the letter. By Larisa Alexandrovna \| RAW STORY Staff Writer A conservative not-for-profit thinktank has targeted seniors in at least three misleading scare-tactic letter campaigns to raise money for their own organization, RAW STORY has learned. The D.C.-based thinktank, The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), warns seniors in its most current mailing about the crisis facing Social Security, which many leading economic leaders have debunked as myth. The letters are sent on behalf of “The National Retirement Security Task force,” a project of the organization. The president of NCPPR, Amy Moritz Ridenour, asks in one such letter obtained by RAW STORY, “Should we put most of our time and effort into fighting to prevent liberal big-spenders from draining an estimated $100 billion from the trust fund? Or should I go head to head against the left-wing’s reckless use of $70 billion tax surplus when they promised to put our Social Security first?” The letter later refers to “radical liberals… increasing the amount of Social Security benefits subject to tax as a way to generate more revenue for them to spend.” According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Social Security can pay full benefits as promised until 2052. Thereafter it will be able to pay about 75 percent of pledged benefits–which would still be more than is paid today. A senior economist dealing with Social Security issues at the progressive thinktank The Center for American Progress, Christian E. Weller, Ph.D, contested many of Ridenour’s assertions. “The figures the [letter] uses are probably correct,” Weller said. “However, the political attribution is not. We have a fiscal policy crisis engineered by failed supply side policies and not a Social Security crisis.” “After reckless tax cuts in the 1980s, it was a Democratic administration that generated the first federal government surpluses in decades and used Social Security surpluses in part to pay down the federal debt,” he said. Ridenour’s letters promise that each senior will be made a delegate to the task force by filling out a survey and contributing “urgently needed” funds. The Center, however, lists its 2002 IRS reported income at $6.7 million. NCPPR Executive Director David O. Almasi confirmed that the Center runs the task force. When asked why there was no reference to the task force on the group’s website, Mr. Almasi remarked “that we did not currently have Internet access at our office.” Mr. Almasi said he was not aware of how much was collected from the mailing or how many individuals had donated. He suggested that this reporter contact Ridenour directly. Ridenour did not respond to requests for comment. “We send many such mailings on behalf of our organization and Ms. Ridenour personally reviews each one,” Almasi said. He would not disclose the company employed to handle the mass letter campaigns. RAW STORY has learned, however, that Center uses Response Dynamics, Inc. as their direct mail company. Response Dynamics is currently fending off allegations of fraud for donation requests sent to elderly Republicans on behalf of the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign. Such mailings raised an estimated $6.3 million. The money, however, was actually funneled to College Republicans. Little of the money went to the national campaign. Response Dynamics is not new to fraud allegations targeting the elderly, as the San Francisco Examiner reported in 1998. In their mass mailings, key Democrats are generally named as the “villain;” one letter was titled: “You won’t believe what Bill Clinton has in store for Washington.” Some have expressed concern about the possibility that Response Dynamics was responsible for bogus letters sent during the 2004 election cycle notifying African American voters of false polling place or Election Day changes. RAW STORY has been unable to confirm this allegation. The Center runs an initiative called Project 21, a controversial anti-NAACP program to promote conservative African American issues. The group also runs a spin-off venture called Envirotruth, a lobby “dedicated to providing truth on environmental issues.” Envirotruth is funded by Exxon Mobil. Dr. Weller said the federal government’s revenue shortages and the social security “crisis” were manufactured by conservatives. “The reversal of the federal government’s fortunes came due to several massive tax cuts proposed and shepherded through by the Bush administration,” Weller asserted. “This is a general revenue crisis engineered by conservatives,” he added. “This is neither a Social Security crisis nor is it the result of progressive policies.”