Concerning Issues: Gun Control, Social Security.

Two important issues are in the air now: gun control and Social Security - modification of the latter being a part of President Obama's budget proposals.

The President's original gun control proposals have already been diluted to eliminate any ban on sale of assault weapons. Now the concentration is on background checks. Even that proposal is causing consternation among certain strains of gun owners. Having read around to discover why, I found that the main objection is that they suspect that the registration of gun ownership, the holding of, and access to such registers by government would be unacceptable. It is surmised that, if ever a tyrannical government were to take over the nation, first thing they'd do would be to use any register of gun owners to rapidly confiscate all weapons. I'll try not to scoff, which was my immediate reaction. It could happen, though.... I guess. One day. Maybe. Couldn't it? The objection I see to the current proposal is that background checks are already part of the law - and that law is not being properly adhered to by all, including the authorities. Why would we expect that an encore would be treated any differently?

Is this really the best that can be done: the least we can do? If the NRA and its members are blocking every avenue, why not take an alternative route for now, consider that violence in general is being fueled by more than just the easy availability of guns? How about some restraints on depiction of violence in movies and video games? I know the arguments against this, but the fact remains that in this technological age more people do have far greater access to depictions of violence in fantasy situations than they've ever had before. Even when not seeking it we can all stumble upon heavy doses of violence in movies and TV drama. It draws the crowds, gets attention, encourages retailers to buy advertising time. Violence and sex, twin ensnarers of the human psyche, twin cash cows. Sex - well, okay that's a bit different, but treating violence as entertainment has to be wrong, measured by any yardstick.


Re: Social Security, and that peculiarly named "chained CPI" - sounds like something bikers might pin to their leather jackets. The President is allegedly trying to get Republicans to agree to fairly mild tax increases on the wealthy by offering up benefit reductions on incomes of senior citizens who, by the way, have contributed to their retirement benefit throughout their working lives. Nice, eh? If the Republicans go for it, which isn't at all certain (thank goodness) the measures won't affect seniors much immediately, but over time they would reduce Social Security retirement benefits by a significant sum, no longer linked as they'd be to cost of living increases (Consumer Price Index - CPI). It's the fact that Social Security should be "on the table" at all that's most concerning, and placed there by a "Democratic" President too! FDR must be rolling. If this measure is voted in, it'll be opening the door for further and deeper incursions in future years.

Social Security In Danger

The Koch Brothers (notes on their astrology appear in archived post http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2011/03/brothers-koch.html) are now plotting and aiding the dismemberment of Social Security in the USA.



As someone who was able to retire at age 60 with a UK civil service pension and a state pension from the UK at age 65, I appreciate how fortunate I am. I realise how dreadfully unfair it would be, especially to people now in their late 40s to mid-fifties who have dutifully paid their taxes throughout working life, to now be confronted with this possibility on their horizons.

With every week that passes I become more disillusioned with this nation - a beautiful, beautiful land, kindly, friendly people, with evil, corrupt and greedy corporatist scoundrels in charge. The people have allowed it to descend as low as this though, over several decades. They need to wake up - and quickly!

In case non-US readers are unclear, Social Security in the US is a federal government programme, funded through dedicated payroll taxes, to provide retirement and disability insurance, unemployment benefits and other social programs.

Robert Greenwald this week at Common Dreams wrote that the Koch Brothers have spent millions funding opinion-forming propaganda to undermine this vital public service : See HERE

Documents and interviews unearthed in recent months by Brave New Foundation researchers illustrate a $28.4m Koch business that has manufactured 297 commentaries, 200 reports, 56 studies and six books distorting social security's effectiveness and purpose. Together, the publications reveal a vast cottage industry comprised of Koch brothers' spokespeople, front groups, thinktanks, academics and elected officials, which has built a self-sustaining echo chamber to transform fringe ideas into popular mainstream public policy arguments.

"The Koch brothers job is to do everything they can to dismember government in general," Senator Bernie Sanders says in this video. "If you can destroy social security, you will have gone a long way forward in that effort."