Brave New World Musings on Social Security Ending Paper Checks

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday April 17, 2012 · 4:25 AM PDT

2012/04/17 · 04:25

This diary was triggered by news about Social Security Payments, but that is not the main thrust of the diary. The key point here is our society's rush towards a total destruction of any shreds of privacy, and the government's rush to permanently store data on literally every aspect of our lives.

Don't wait for Social Security check in the mail
Mail drop: Social Security payments, other federal benefits, switching soon to direct deposit

Starting next year, the check will no longer be in the mail for millions of people who receive Social Security and other government benefits.
The federal government, which issues 73 million payments a month, is phasing out paper checks for all benefit programs, requiring people to get payments electronically, either through direct deposit or a debit card for those without a bank account.

The changes will affect people who get Social Security, veterans' benefits, railroad pensions and federal disability payments. Tax refunds are exempt, but the Internal Revenue Service encourages taxpayers to get refunds electronically by processing those refunds faster than paper checks.

About 90 percent of people who receive federal benefits already get their payments electronically, the Treasury Department says. New beneficiaries were required to get payments electronically starting last year, and with a few exceptions, the rest will have to make the switch by March 2013.

"It's just that natural progression of moving to how people are used to receiving their funds," said Walt Henderson, director of the Treasury Department's electronic funds transfer division.

Poll

15 votes Show Results

So How Do You Feel About Our Brave New World?

15 votes Vote Now!

So How Do You Feel About Our Brave New World?

I Have Nothing to Hide. Bring on the Chip Implants

1 vote

Count me out. I think I will be a Luddite on this issue.

12 votes

This is All for the Best in this Best of All Possible Worlds

0 votes

A Chicken in Every Pot, and Anal Probes for Everyone

2 votes

Krugman on the Total Failure of Austerity and the Defict Hawks

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday February 21, 2012 · 4:04 AM PST

2012/02/21 · 04:04

Romney is now running against Santorum on the claim that he, Romney, is the true Deficit Hawk(tm), while Santorum is just really a Democrat in GOP clothing. I know, it makes no sense, but what coming out of the mouths of any of the GOP candidates has made sense, or been supported by logic and facts and reality, in a long, long time?

And in Washington, the GOP stays on track with its plan to privatize and basically destroy Medicare, all in the name of fiscal austerity. Now one more time, how anything will be saved by replacing the most effective program in the nation's history, with cost overhead that runs at 5%, with privatized insurance that seniors cannot afford, run by companies that have taken 20 to 50% of all premiums as profits, while denying benefits and refusing to cover pre-exiting costs, still escapes my mind. But then, I still insist on using logic and looking at the facts, not the wet dream of the corporate oligarchy to suck up not just 40% of the nation's wealth, as they already have, but not to stop until they have it all.

Paul Krugman, you know, the economist with a Nobel Prize for actually doing the reality based research on economics, points out in his latest column the sheer folly of the deficit hawks, and the threat it represents to our nation's economy.

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday January 30, 2012 · 6:00 AM PST

2012/01/30 · 06:00

College and university administrators are squealing like little piggy's in response to President Obama's demand that they do something to make the cost of college education affordable again.

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 22, 2012 · 5:15 AM PST

2012/01/22 · 05:15

There has been much in the news the past few days on the take-down of Megaupload.

The US government dropped a nuclear bomb on "cyberlocker" site Megaupload today, seizing its domain names, grabbing $50 million in assets, and getting New Zealand police to arrest four of the site's key employees, including enigmatic founder Kim Dotcom. In a 72-page indictment unsealed in a Virginia federal court, prosecutors charged that the site earned more than $175 million since its founding in 2005, most of it based on copyright infringement.
As for the site's employees, they were paid lavishly and they spent lavishly. Even the graphic designer, 35-year-old Slovakian resident Julius Bencko, made more than $1 million in 2010 alone.

The indictment goes after six individuals, who between them owned 14 Mercedes-Benz automobiles with license plates such as "POLICE," "MAFIA," "V," "STONED," "CEO," "HACKER," GOOD," "EVIL," and—perhaps presciently—"GUILTY." The group also had a 2010 Maserati, a 2008 Rolls-Royce, and a 1989 Lamborghini. They had not one but three Samsung 83" TVs, and two Sharp 108" TVs. Someone owned a "Predator statue." Motor bikes, jet skis, artwork, and even 60 Dell servers could all be forfeit to the government if it can prove its case against the members of the "Mega Conspiracy."

The case is a major one, involving international cooperation between the US, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Canada, and the Philippines. In addition to the arrests, 20 search warrants were executed today in multiple countries.

Why the Feds Smashed Megaupload

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 14, 2012 · 4:09 PM PST

2012/01/14 · 16:09

Professor Krugman, in a recent column in the New York Times, points out what finally may be seeping into the consciousness of many Americans at this point.

Simple truth in political assertions seems to be an endangered species.

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 20, 2011 · 4:47 AM PST

2011/12/20 · 04:47

Faxed to the Indiana Congressional delegation this morning. With copies to Sen. Reid, Rep. Pelosi, and the White House. (At first I wrote to "my" Congressional delegation. Then I changed the wording to fit reality better.)

In 2009, the GOP supported a two month extension of the then current payroll tax holiday. They argued that it was important still because it would "effectively stimulate the economy."

Of course that was before the GOP decided to reject any and all attempts to stimulate the economy, and then to do two things again and again: 1) lie about the obvious successes on keeping us from further collapse when the stimulus measures passed two years ago worked, including saving American automobile manufacturers; 2) at the same time always show up at events celebrating an economic success due to one of the stimulus package programs, in order to take credit for it on TV and before the cameras.

I know, who would have ever dreamed the GOP was capable of such hypocrisy?

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday December 10, 2011 · 9:33 AM PST

2011/12/10 · 09:33

This post is being faxed to my Indiana Congressional members, Pelosi, Reid, and the White House.

Bruce Bartlett is not exactly what one can call a lefty, socialist, liberal, or any other typical slur so casually slung about by the right wing reactionaries who have taken over the Republican party.

Bartlett was in fact a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush. Pretty serious GOP credentials, I would say.

Regarding the fact that the GOP has basically for the past few years done everything in its power to sabotage any economic recovery, Bartlett had the following to say at a symposium hosted by the New America Foundation in Washington D.C.

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 28, 2011 · 5:19 AM PST

2011/11/28 · 05:19

At what point will the American people realize that the net result of all the actions of our political class in Congress, the Executive, and the Judiciary since the turn or the century is to walk us faster and faster down the path away from a Rule of Law under a Constitution and Bill of Rights, into the gaping maw of the police state?

The American Sheeple appear to be more concerned about shopping on Black Friday or watching the latest so-called "reality" show on television, than about the fact that their civil liberties are no longer being chipped away, they are being demolished in chunks with each passing day.

This is what a bill introduced in the Senate will do, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The legislation has the potential to in fact appear to turn the military into a domestic arm of selective arrest and internment of American Citizens for whatever passing reason seizes the fancy of the whoever is in power at the moment.

After the Civil War, the Posse Comitatus laws were passed, intended to if not ban the use of military in domestic law enforcement, at least insure that the military was used only under strict Constitutional guidelines. The GOP has sought to weaken this stricture repeatedly, just as they have sought to abolish adherence to Habeas Corpus, one of the oldest lynch pin principles in western law insuring against unjust imprisonment.

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 23, 2011 · 5:03 AM PST

2011/11/23 · 05:03

Seriously now. Why did I not just intuitively realize that the solution for the skyrocketing rates of poverty and hunger among American children was as simple as returning to the good old days when children were free, FREE I say, to work all day in menial jobs like doing the janitorial work in their schools.

As Newt so sagely recommends, you get to save all kinds of money by firing all the adult custodial workers, and just have one full time supervisor to direct the kids on their daily rounds of mopping and cleaning toilets.

Here is the response from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL–CIO.

Go to the link and sign the petition.

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 21, 2011 · 5:31 AM PST

2011/11/21 · 05:31

The UC Davis Facebook Page has been an unrelenting disaster for the school since police officer John Pike choose to swagger by a line of kneeling, unresisting, passive and non-aggressive students, and spray them point blank in the face and mouth with pepper spray. Which, by the way, is classified as tear gas in the California penal code, and its use unless in self defense is a felony criminal act.

I will say this for UC Davis administrators. It must have taken some real guts for whoever owns responsibility for the Facebook page to leave it up, given that it has filled with thousands of critical comments in the past few days.

Officer Pike is not having a good day this morning on the Facebook page. He has become the subject of the latest Internet meme, photoshopped images of him using pepper spray to blast everyone from the baby Jesus to the presidents on Mount Rushmore.

This is actually a powerful example, too, of the impact that art can have on how a moment in history is perceived, interpreted, and remembered. One need only look at the impact of poster art for the past hundred plus years, which was done just today in this excellent article: Occupy poster art joins lineage of resistance messages.

I suspect Officer Pike is not enjoying the consequences of his actions at the moment. I only hope this serves as a wake up call to America that we are teetering on the verge of a police state, and I hope people are asking themselves whether this is where we want to go, or if this is what America is all about.

The following were collected from the UC Davis Facebook page this morning. They need to be archived as a part of this moment in history.

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday October 06, 2011 · 4:30 AM PDT

2011/10/06 · 04:30

I admit to having mixed feelings about the assassination of al-Awlaki. From the WikiPedi article:

On September 30, 2011, in northern Yemen's al-Jawf province, two Predator drones fired Hellfire missiles at a vehicle containing al-Awlaki and three other suspected al-Qaeda members.[226][227][226][228] A witness said the group had stopped to eat breakfast while traveling to Ma'rib Governorate. A Predator drone was spotted by the group, which then tried to flee in the vehicle.[229] According to U.S. sources, the strike was carried out by Joint Special Operations Command, under the direction of the CIA. U.S. President Barack Obama said:
The death of Awlaki is a major blow to Al-Qaeda's most active operational affiliate. He took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans ... and he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda. [The strike] is further proof that Al-Qaeda and its affiliates will find no safe haven anywhere in the world.[226]

I tend to agree with the commentary quoted from Josh Marshall, a little further below. al-Awlaki was in essence acting in a capacity of war against the United States. We don't apply the same legal standards to enemy soldiers in the field as we (used) to apply to our civilian population.

There are Constitutional scholars who have been decrying our march away from the Rule of Law and the restraint on actions by those in power provided by the Constitution for years, experts that I highly respect, who totally disagree with me on this, foremost among them Glenn Greenwald. He sums it up in the title of his commentary on this event: The Due-Process-Free Assassination of U.S. Citizens Is Now Reality.

Poll

56 votes Show Results

So How Close Are We to a Police State?

56 votes Vote Now!

So How Close Are We to a Police State?

Your paranoia is showing

9 votes

It's OK, I have nothing to hide

0 votes

I am somewhat concerned about threats to due process

5 votes

I think we are on verge of a police state, but not there yet

14 votes

It is too late. The Constitution and Rule of Law are dead

24 votes

I see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing

4 votes

Dwight David Eisenhower, Commie Socialist President

HeartlandLiberal

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday August 06, 2011 · 8:20 AM PDT

2011/08/06 · 08:20

I have been reading up on the sorry state of America's national infrastructure. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, America is in pretty desperate straits. Our roads, bridges, airports, and water supply systems nationwide are literally crumbling and decaying right before our eyes. Here is their report card and estimated costs to fix the problems as of 2009, which is apparently the latest full report card they have issued. So these estimates and the cost are probably much higher by now, I would guess closing rapidly in on $3 trillion dollars needed repairs and replacements.

2009 Grades
Aviation D
Bridges C
Dams D
Drinking Water D-
Energy D+
Hazardous Waste D
Inland Waterways D-
Levees D-
Public Parks and Recreation C-
Rail C-
Roads D-
Schools D
Solid Waste C+
Transit D
Wastewater D-
America's Infrastructure GPA: D
Estimated 5 Year Investment Need: $2.2 Trillion

Report Card for America's Infrastructure

Newer
Older

RSS

Brave New World Musings on Social Security Ending Paper Checks

Krugman on the Total Failure of Austerity and the Defict Hawks

Vulture Capitalism Is Alive and Well In Universities Across America

Megaupload Take-Down, Copyright and IP, and Why SOPA / PIPA Are Still Bad Law

Post-Truth American Elections

Payroll Tax Holiday, Income Inequality, GOP Hypocrisy, and the Fall of Rome

Bruce Bartlett on GOP Economic Sabotage: A Letter to Congress

"The Homeland is Part of the Battlefield."

It's a Hard Knock Life. AFL-CIO Response to Newt.

UC Davis, John Pike, and the Birth of a Meme

Secret "Kill Lists", Secret "Patriot Acts", the Emerging Police State, with Poll

Dwight David Eisenhower, Commie Socialist President