Author: Nate

On the disconnect between Congress and real people…

From Stephan’s blog: I’m running for congress. its got great benefits

Yes congress people pay into SS fund.
Members of Congress under FERS contribute 1.3 percent of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2 percent of their salary in Social Security taxes.

but they don’t tend to collect SSI.
Why?
Because federal employees have great pension and other benefits.?
Maybe.
Because they tend to get lucratic jobs in the private sector often as lobbyists immediately after leaving office?
Again, maybe?
Because 1 in 4 house representatives and 1 in 3 senators is a millionaire?
Hmmm? Getting warmer.
All of the above and they tend to be well paid professional business owners who have other options.

Do I think that whether they are or aren’t paying into the system would have a great deal to do with their decisions on SS?
No

Do I think that being rich might?

Go read the rest.

Reason to be less pessimistic…?

Monday’s NYTimes column by Paul Krugman:

After November’s election, the victors claimed a mandate to unravel the welfare state. But the national election was about who would best defend us from gay married terrorists. At the state level, where elections were fought on bread-and-butter issues, voters sent a message that they wanted a stronger, not weaker, social safety net.

I’m not just talking about the shift in partisan alignment, in which Democrats made modest gains in state legislatures, and achieved a few startling successes. I’m also talking about specific issues, like the lopsided votes in both Florida and Nevada for constitutional amendments raising the minimum wage.

Since the election, high-profile right-wing initiatives, at both the federal and state level, have run into a stone wall of public disapproval. President Bush’s privatization road show seems increasingly pathetic. In California, the conservative agenda of Arnold Schwarzenegger, including an attempt to partially privatize state pensions, has led to demonstrations by nurses, teachers, police officers and firefighters – and to a crash in his approval ratings.

(quote fixed)

Part of a big mess of to-read links this morning. Via The Sideshow, with a lot of good stuff today.

The mark of a true gentleman.

Opinion: A Gentleman Never Discloses…

I must say, the quality of discourse in this country has taken a sharp plunge of late, not only among the ruffians and ne’er-do-wells from whom one expects coarse speech, but among gentlemen of letters and esteem. I have, with my own ears, several times in the past week, heard the elder sons of prominent families introduce into mixed company subjects formerly reserved for private discussion among gentlemen. It pains me even to raise this point, but following a string of recent events, there is no question that the adage bears repeating: A gentleman ought never to disclose…

Go see the rest. (Warning, explicit content.)

From the Onion, via a post on DBA

Life imitates art…

“SMOKING GUN” PROOF THAT ILLUMINATI PLAN TO ATTACK ON 9/11 AND BEYOND WAS WELL KNOWN AS FAR BACK AS 1995!

In 1990, role-playing inventor, Steve Jackson, was planning his newest game, which he would ultimately call the “Illuminati — New World Order” Game, or “INWO” for short. Jackson was creating a game that would hit very, very close to home, very close to the actual plan of the Illuminati to propel the world into the New World Order — also known as the Kingdom of Antichrist. As we shall show you, Jackson issued playing cards, three of which foretold the events of 9/11…

Funny stuff. At least I hope that these guys are trying to be funny. If not, one scary bunch of nutters… but good for a laugh in any case!

link via my brother… I assume I missed this when it made the Daily Illuminator?

Heh heh, he said…

It’s been a while since I plugged my favorite online comic, Space Moose:
Go read Space Moose in Antlers of the Damned…and you can check out an actual Chick tract: Dark Dungeons if you haven’t seen what being parodying by the Space Moose strip.

Or Space Moose and the Time Machine

Or … well, I better stop.

Whatever happened to Beavis and Butthead anyway?

I guess we’d all better stop eating salt…

From a site talking about the evils of sucralose sweetener:

Splenda is approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar, but the sweetness is forced, not like a natural sugar the body uses for fuel, says Dr. Hull. And although corporations say Splenda is safe, they have said the same thing about aspartame, which is now linked to disease and obesity. They also claim that the chlorine atoms in Splenda are altered and therefore safe, yet it’s known that any animal that eats chlorine (especially on a regular basis) is at risk of cancer.

Emphasis mine. Common table salt, in case you forgot, is NaCl/Sodium Chloride; for that matter, the body uses chlorine atoms internally for a number of purposes, including producing stomache acid.

This is not to say that sucralose is safe or not, just that the argument this kook is presenting is, well, silly.

I just *LOVE* zealots…

Minister ex-communicates members for not backing Bush

The minister of a Haywood County [North Carolina] Baptist church is telling members of his congregation that if they’re Democrats, they either need to find another place of worship or support President Bush.
Already, the Reverend Chan Chandler has ex-communicated nine members of East Waynesville Baptist Church. Another 40 members have left in protest.

During last Sunday’s sermon, he acknowledged that church members were upset because he named people, and he says he’ll do it again because he has to according to the word of God.

Chandler could not be reached for comment today, but says his actions weren’t politically motivated.

Via MyDD (selected quote theirs)