The Evil Atheist Bastard

The State of Our Union, From "Pass-over" Country.

Ladies and Gentlemen, esteemed comrades, loyal readers. 

I come to you this day to speak on the State of Our Union.  And it ain't pretty.  After confronting the potentially disastrous "Day Without Illegal Mexican Alien Workers," and the Annual Abu-Grab-Ass day, I can safely say that America has moved on and at the very least we are maintaining the "same ole same ole."

But as the founding fathers taught us, when government is concerned, there is no such thing as a static government.

With that in mind, I present MY State of Our Union Address.  In part one, we'll discuss THE hot-button issue of the day, Illegal Immigration.

Take the Racial Profiling Quiz!

UPDATE!  In light of my recent post on racial profiling, I've bumped this little quiz up a bit.

Thanks to the fine folks at Alarming News I bring you a Quick Quiz.  Take it and let me know your score in comments or on the boards!

Good luck, I scored 100%

Retirement Pensions in Danger of Socialization?

In a recent article I covered here on Social Security and Private Pension plans being in a state of emergency, we got our first glimpse of the Government stepping in and bailing out Private Pension Funds in a manner similar to the infamous Savings and Loan bail-outs.

Time for Tax Reform!

It's beyond time for Tax reform, but if you need evidence for the need to overhaul the tax system, look no further than this next story:

That's right, the IRS Juggernaut took in over $61 BILLION IN ONE DAY and that's WITH THE BUSH TAX CUTS INTACT!

Not only that, but the paragraph also SHATTERS the concept of the Demo-commie mantra from 2004 of "Tax cuts for the rich" are irresponsible and will balloon the deficit.

Social Security v.s. Private Accounts

There is an interesting column on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times (of all places) regarding Social Security v.s. the Private Accounts that the government of Chile adopted back in 1981.

The writer compares his projected Social Security retirement income to that of his friend in Chile who owns a private retirement account:

I wanted to compare our pensions to see the results of an accidental experiment that began in 1961, when he and I were friends in second grade at a school in Chile. He remained in Chile and became the test subject; I returned to America as the control group.

As it happened, our countries have required our employers to set aside roughly the same portion of our income, a little over 12 percent, which pays for disability insurance as well as the pension program. It also covers, in Pablo's case, the fees charged by the mutual-fund company managing his money.

(He) called up his account on his computer and studied the projected retirement options for him, which assume that he'll keep working until age 65 and that the fund will get an annual return of 5 percent (which is lower than its historical average).

After comparing our relative payments to our pension systems (since salaries are higher in America, I had contributed more), we extrapolated what would have happened if I'd put my money into Pablo's mutual fund instead of the Social Security trust fund. We came up with three projections for my old age, each one offering a pension that, like Social Security's, would be indexed to compensate for inflation:

(1) Retire in 10 years, at age 62, with an annual pension of $55,000. That would be more than triple the $18,000 I can expect from Social Security at that age.

(2) Retire at age 65 with an annual pension of $70,000. That would be almost triple the $25,000 pension promised by Social Security starting a year later, at age 66.

(3)Retire at age 65 with an annual pension of $53,000 and a one-time cash payment of $223,000.

You may suspect that Pablo has prospered only because he's a sophisticated investor, but he simply put his money into one of the most popular mutual funds. He has more money in it than most Chileans because his salary is above average, but lower-paid workers who contributed to that fund for the same period of time would be in relatively good shape, too, because their projected pension would amount to more than 90 percent of their salaries.

By contrast, Social Security replaces less than 60 percent of your salary - and that's only if you were a low-income worker. Typical recipients get back less than half of their salaries.

...if you contribute for at least 20 years, Chile guarantees you a minimum pension that, relative to the median salary, is actually more generous than the median Social Security check.

"I'm very happy with my account," he said to me after comparing our pensions. He was kind enough not to gloat. When I enviously suggested that he could expect not only a much heftier pension than mine, but also enough cash to buy himself a vacation home at the shore or in the country, he reassured me that it would pay for only a modest place.

I'm not sure how much consolation that is, but I'm trying to look at the bright side. Maybe my Social Security check will cover the airfare to visit him.

So there you have it.  All things being equal (contributions to the funds), private accounts that are owned by the people and managed by financial professionals turn out MORE money and a better retirement than does the Social Security system.  That said, why is it that there is such a fuss on the Left about keeping the old system?

Well, for one, it gives them an entire group of people to scare at election time.  Social Security is the Third Rail of Politics after all.  If I had a dime for every time I heard a liberal claiming that the Republicans were going to cut social security and put grandma out in the street, I wouldn't need to worry about my 401k or the social security I won't have in the event I make it to retirement age.

Secondly, it's a massive bureaucracy and money pit, meaning that liberals can keep it around as a way to get more money out of your paychecks and into the Federal Government.  The more the government controls your life, the more the liberals like it.  It gives them control over your entire life after retirement and they are counting on you being scared enough about losing that retirement to keep them in power.

And Finally, it's one of the last remnants of the Liberal Glory Days, when they were in power and dominated the government and they hold onto it for dear life.

But why not make it better or preserve it in the face on failure?

I don't think that anyone can come up with an answer for that one.  If we can assure people of a better retirement that will actually be there 30 or 50 years from now, then why not fix the problems and make the system work for everyone?

I for one support the idea of private accounts and personal ownership.  Ask yourself...  Why is it that the Democrats are so against you OWNING your own retirement account which will have better returns than those you will ever get from social security?

To Live and Die in the United States of America

I had hoped that I wouldn't be forced to take up the story of Terri Schiavo since everyone else is blasting the story from the rooftops and debating the issue at work, in the home, on TV and everywhere else for that matter.

I won't bore you with the details, the accusations, and the emotional context of the story. Instead I want to take this opportunity to talk about the whole circus economy the media has built around this tragic story.

It all comes down to this. These people are not interested in the fate of Terri, nor are they interested in the pain of the family of the afflicted woman. To the media, this is another story that grabs the attention of the public and puts them in front of the TV, standing at the News Stand or sitting in the car listening to Talk Radio hosts give us their opinions on why Bush was right to sign Terri's act or why he was wrong.

It's all about ratings and thus, money.

Terri Schiavo should be allowed to die. Is starving her off the best way to do that? No, but we don't allow anything else. I understand that the family is hurting. I can't imagine ANYTHING harder than seeing a loved one in the state that this young woman has been for the last 15 years. I've lost loved ones in my time on this planet and I've been fortunate to have seen them all go suddenly and not have to live a nightmare like the family of this woman has been subjected to.

I had to make a decision, with my mother, in regards to the life of my Great Grandmother on my birthday last September. She had come down with pneumonia over night and the sickness and her age combined to shut down her kidneys. We were asked, given my great grandmother's age, if we wanted the hospital to employ what they call Heroic efforts to revive her should she pass or take a sudden turn for the worse. We discussed it and we decided that not only would she not have wanted us to put her through the remainder of her life hooked up to machines but that we would leave it to her and her god.

That night, I held my great Grandmother's hand and told her I loved her. I watched her fight with the nurses over the oxygen mask (she refused to let them put it on telling them she didn't need it). I Heard her say her goodbyes and I watched her go to sleep.

Later that night, she passed on. She left this world the way she lived in it, on her terms, and I am glad it happened that way.

There has to come a point where the family stops being selfish about this sort of thing and begins to deal with the fact that someone important in their lives is no longer going to be with them. There has to come a point where what's right for everyone involved, including the stricken, outweigh the wants of the grieved. No matter how hard it hurts, we all have to let go. It's been fifteen years and it's time for Terri's family to let Terri go.

Maybe Terri told Michael that she would rather die than be subjected to just the sort of existence that she's been in for the last 15 years, maybe she didn't. How would the family know? With the absence of a Living Will, there are only two people on this planet that know if Michael and Terri had that conversation and of those two, only one can tell us which way that conversation went.

But, honestly, it's not important whether that conversation went one way or the other.

Michael has moved on, he's had no choice. His wife is gone. And really, who could blame anyone for doing so? He's seen, first hand, that his wife isn't with us anymore. If Terri had simply written out a Living Will, none of this would be happening today.

But after 15 years of court battles and false starts, the end is in sight.

After a Midnight Marathon session, The House and The Senate passed Terri's Law with not a single Democrat showing up to vote. The law basically gives the family a chance to argue their case once again, only in a Federal Court this time. George W. Bush rushed back to Washington to sign the legislation giving Terri one last shot at a continued existence that I would not wish on anyone, friend or foe.

Were the republicans wrong to do what they have done here? I don't think so. I applaud them for standing up for a single life, but the government has more pressing issues to worry about like fixing Social Security, winning the War on Terror, and growing the government to yet another record level. We didn't need an all-nighter on Capitol Hill for this.

I have no doubt that the Federal Judge hearing this argument will side with Michael and allow this woman to finally rest in peace. Is there anything that the family, or their attorney, can come up with that hasn't already be argued over and over again for the last 15 years? Is there anything that changed the report of the medical professionals who testified that Terri's brain had suffered enormous damage and continued to deteriorate over the years to the point where much, if not most, of her cerebral cortex has deteriorated away and been replaced by spinal fluid?

The Doctors that Terri's parents have hired do not dispute the physical damage done to her brain, but they claim there are new therapies that could improve her condition. Twice now, courts have found that such claims are without merit. Nothing that any doctor can do will every bring this woman back. There is no growing a new brain.

Is there anything that's changed since the medical professionals testified that, barring an act of God, Terri would never recover? No, there is nothing new.

The family is so unwilling to let go of Terri that they have personally attacked Michael, accused him at attempting to kill Terri, and accused him of wanting to see Terri dead. So adamant are they to continue this woman's existence that they are willing to do or say anything in the hopes that somehow, some way they can have their sister and daughter back. The problem is that they can never have her back.

In the end, Terri will be allowed to die, Michael will be allowed to move on, The family will grieve and the media will move on to the next "cash cow" story. Someday, Terri's family will realize that everything they have done to "help" Terri and to prolong her life may well have been the exact thing that she never wanted to endure. They may come to realize that it's better to let go out of love, than to desperately hold on out hope and fear of the loss. I grieve for Terri's family, I really do, but it's long past time to let go. You've done everything that could have been asked of you.

I wish that in cases like this, that they allowed something other than just pulling the tube and letting her starve.

There is something good to come of this horrific story, and that is that everyone will have Living Wills in their minds now, I know I plan on writing mine up soon, and I'd ask you to look at this story and see if you would want to go on in this kind of situation, because it could happen to you...

Oh the Torture!

All the torrid details are here.
So there is a secret Pentagon manuscript that "somehow" got leaked to the AP that details some of the TORTURE techniques used in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man's face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider's written account.

It sounds too good to be true doesn't it? I mean really, it's like the plot line of a porno movie or something...