Greetings All, Wherever You Are
It’s five o’clock on Sunday and you know what that means; it’s time for another Baja Arizona Kos Open Thread. Click through if you’re interested in news, views and items of interest from beautiful Baja Arizona.
Happy Birthday Social Security!
The Social Security Act was signed on August 14, 1935, making that program 81 years old today. I was reminded of this fact by an email from Victoria Steele. I have to say, the Steele campaign does email pretty well. There’s none of this bad news, impending disaster stuff that was so popular with candidates in the last cycle. Her emails are always positive and thoughtful and she doesn’t bug me to death like say, Tim Canova, who was spamming me twice a day. I finally sent him some money and unsubscribed. Twice. Anyway, here’s Victoria’s from this morning:
Azazello,
On this day in 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law and remarked:
”We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age."
Social Security is an earned right of working Americans. Join me to help protect and strengthen Social Security by:
- Keeping the retirement age where it belongs
- Raising the cap on Social Security contributions—wealthy people must pay the same percentage that all of us have to pay
- Guaranteeing that annual cost of living adjustments are the first priority in our budgets
Social Security is a sacred agreement between all workers – we’ve paid into this system all our working lives and we deserve all the benefits we have been promised.
Please donate now to help elect me to Congress because fighting to protect and strengthen Social Security is one of my top priorities.
Sincerely,
Victoria
Victoria Steele for Congress www.victoriasteeleforcongress.com
In case you’re wondering what Wall Street Neoliberals think of Social Security, here are some remarks from Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Lloyd, of course, belongs on anybody’s short list for the title of Biggest Asshole in the Universe. This 2-minute video, which won’t embed, is clipped from a CBS News interview recorded in 2012, after Goldman Sachs got a huge taxpayer bailout and paid their employees monster bonuses. ☛ YouTube
Monsoon News
It looks like our monsoons have dried up for the next few days. There was a lovely little storm here in Midtown Tucson last night. It started off with a lightning show up in the Foothills, and I enjoyed watching the storm as it moved slowly southward before dropping some rain on Rancho Tres Palmas. Two Arizona counties made a Top Ten list of counties with the most dangerous floods. A survey by WeatherDB has Coconino County at #6 and Pima County at #8. Meanwhile, Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson had to be rescued by the Tucson Fire Department from a flooded wash. Supervisor Bronson will probably not be charged under the Stupid Motorist Law since there was no barricade at the wash, just fast-moving flood water.
Comedy Anyone ?
If you want some laughs, and have half an hour to kill, this week’s edition of Arizona Public Media’s Arizona Week featured interviews with the three Republican candidates for US Senator from AZ. They are: Johnny Mac, like always, “Chemtrail Kelli” Ward from Kingman and Clair Van Steenwyk from Phoenix who is running in the Republican primaries for the US Senate and the House in CD-8 at the same time.
Are You Ready ?
Football season is almost here. The Arizona Wildcats are in Ft. Huachuca getting ready for their first game on September 3 vs. BYU. This vid caught my attention last week. It’s an interview with Jay Dobyns who played wide receiver for the ‘Cats from ‘82 to ‘84. After graduating from the UofA, Jay tried pro ball for a while and then went to work for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. One of his assignments for the ATF was to infiltrate the Hell’s Angels, which he did. Jay wrote about that experience in his book No Angel. The interview is about “Jaybird’s” beef with his former employer.
OK …
That’s all I got for this week. How ‘bout you, anybody out there ?