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I Political Patronage System-We Will Decide Who Become President Successful Canidates Must Be Dumber Than A Door Knob; Easy to Manipulate

II Should Former US Congressman Bob Goodlatte Run IF Mr. Donald Trump Pead Innocent By Reason Of Mental Defect?

III We Are Here To Pass Water In The Coffin Of The Dearly Departed -Tombstone-Would You Get Off Your Dead Ass & Go Back To Work?

IV 72 Year Old Batchelor Seeks Wife-Divorced-Passes Away The Wisdom of Maxine On Old Folks Lives On

VI Our Web Services Have Been Fagged By Facebook And Google Gooooooly-Shazamm!!!
V V Ancient Aliens Have Returned And Taken Up Operations At Skin Walker Ranch -Professor Einstein Weight In On Issues Of Relocation of Alien Species

I Vladimir Putin & Evil Empire Threatened Nuclear War -Loses & Executed By President Of Russia Volodymyr Zelenskyy

II US Senator Mark O Hatfield: Declared Dallas Police Chief Pussy Galore Texas Fictious Conviction Overturned- Not Well Recieved

III Organized Crime Control of HUD-Homelss Programs The Homeless Are Pawns Used To Destroy Billions of Dollars of Real Estate

IV President Joseph Biden Calls For Nursing Home Reform 2 Mlllion Reported Dead After Donald Trump Suspended Nursing Home Oversight

V The National Debt Was $15.4 Trillion (2011) How The Health Care Industry Is Bankrupting the United States

Editorial Department Link You don't have to call me Your Majesty any more and can get up off the floor; stand up and speak. Wait where are you going-back to the Plantation

By Brian Ross (@brianross)
Matthew Mosk (@mattmosk) ,
Rhonda Schwartz Meagan Chuchman (@megcourtney)
Aug. 27, 2012

Former super lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- who served 43 months on fraud, bribery and tax evasion charges -- has come to the Republican National Convention in Tampa seeking redemption through honesty. And in the process, he is helping pull back the shroud on what really occurs in the bars and back rooms of the nation's lavish political conventions.

"Virtually every interaction that a lobbyist has with a Congressman is money well spent, from the lobbyist's point of view," Abramoff told ABC News.

In Tampa, that lavish spending is well underway -- largely undeterred by stormy weather. On Sunday, a top D.C. lobbying firm rented out the Tampa Art Museum for an elegant reception behind a heavily fortified security perimeter. Donors willing to pay up to $25,000 to help Republican U.S. Senate candidates were treated to an invite-only concert with big-name bands that included the Commodores. The cost was underwritten by major corporations that have extensive needs from Congress, including AT&T, AFLAC, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

This, Abramoff said, is where the real work of the convention occurs. And nowadays, he considers it an ugly business.

"If you're conveying something of value to a public servant, a tee time [on the golf course], a meal, a fundraising check what is that, other than a bribe?" he said. "In Washington, it's impolite to say this, and I've been attacked vociferously for saying this, and I used to participate in it. But the truth is, it wasn't fine when I was doing it, and it's not fine now."

His conviction in 2006 was the conclusion of one of the biggest scandals to hit Washington since Watergate. It revealed that he had used restaurants, golf, and luxury vacations to try to co-opt the support of key members of Congress.

It's been nearly two years since Abramoff was released from federal prison. Today, he is a chastened man, crusading against the practices he had used to gain access to the most powerful people in Washington. Abramoff still needed permission from a parole officer to leave the state of Maryland. But his mission in Tampa is not, as it once was, to burnish the reputations of high paying clients. It is to explain to the public what is really taking place on the party yachts and in the cigar lounges outside the convention hall.

"Lobbyists and special interests aren't going to be spending their money to promote and support events like this out of altruism and the goodness of their heart," he said. "They're doing it because they have an agenda. They may be good agendas, by the way, but they're still agendas that are fed by an improper use of financial resources in a way that tilts it away from members deciding things only on their merits."

With music blaring and umbrella-toting security guards escorting paying guests from their limousines, the party hosted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee was evidence of those financial resources at work in Tampa. But none of the six U.S. senators in attendance saw the event as problematic or troubling. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, left the Commodores concert at 9:30 p.m., staying only long enough to mingle with donors and accept a greeting from the evening's host, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Asked on his way out the door if he believed the lobbyist in attendance and the corporations who sponsored the event had spent the money to gain access to him, Sen. Wicker smiled broadly.

"Well, I don't know. I don't think so," he said. "I've been going to these since 1968, and it's changed a lot, no question about it. Conventions used to be more substantive." Pressed on the question, Wicker again said he did not feel uncomfortable with what he described as a "nonstop" schedule of events outside the convention hall. "There are better ways to influence me," he said.

Huffington Post 04/05/2011 04:02 pm ET | Updated Jun 05, 2011
Pay Back the Money Borrowed From Social Security?
By Sen. Don Riegle , Lori Hansen Riegle

Throughout its 75 year history, Social Security has provided critical economic security to millions of retirees, families, children and the disabled. Social Security is paid for by the dedicated contributions of workers and their employers, has administrative costs of less than one percent, and since it cannot borrow to fund its operations, Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. No wonder that Americans from all walks of life consistently and overwhelmingly support our nation’s most successful social insurance program — a level of support that is not achieved by other governmental programs.

Social Security currently has a $2.6 trillion surplus which has been building up since the 1983 amendments and is intended to help absorb the retirement of the baby boomers. This surplus is invested in US Treasury securities that are backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. According to the Social Security Trustees 2010 report, Social Security can pay full benefits until 2037, at which time, if nothing were done to strengthen its financing, Social Security would still be able to pay about 78 percent of benefits. This quarter of a century means there is time to strengthen its financing without cutting benefits for future beneficiaries. The American people will insist that Congress do what is needed for the program to pay full benefits and protect these benefits they were promised and have earned. Pay Back Social Security — The Government Has Borrowed More from Social Security than any Other Entity or Foreign Government

Another argument made by Social Security opponents to raise fear about the national debt is how much our government has borrowed from China. They never mention how much our government has borrowed from Social Security. In fact, the government has borrowed more from the Social Security surplus than it has from any other source in the world, including China. As a result, Social Security now “owns” nearly 18 percent of the federal debt, making it the largest single holder of US debt. The government owes almost twice as much to Social Security as it does to China and Hong Kong. Why aren’t the opponents worried about paying back Social Security — why aren’t they talking about repaying this debt to the American people? According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s “Monthly Statement of the Public Debt of the United States” (9.30.10), the total debt was $13.562 trillion and was held as follows:

US Holders of Debt
42.1 % — US Individuals and Institutions
17.9 % — Social Security Trust Fund
6.0 % — US Civil Service Retirement Fund
2.1 % — US Military Retirement Fund

Foreign Holders of Debt
11.7 % — Oil Exporting Countries
9.5 % — China and Hong Kong
6.3 % — Japan 1.4 % — United Kingdom 1.3 % — Brazil 1.6 % — All other foreign countries

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