Author: coastcontact

I am a somewhat cranky but mostly optimistic 65 plus who refuses to give up on this maddening world. The purpose of this BLOG is to express my feelings, thoughts.

“60 Minutes” Interviews the Candidates for President

I saw the 60 Minutes presentation of interviews with President Obama and Mitt Romney.  They did not impart anything consequential.  Both men stated that their views on the direction America should take are significantly different.  They are correct.

The most informative comments were at the end of each interview.  Both were asked about their vision for the nation.  Their responses were similar but the words they used, I believe are telling.

Romney used one word, Freedom.  The opportunity to freely build the business you want.  The idea of drawing the world’s best and brightest to the USA for innovation of new things.

Obama said he saw his objective to provide all Americans the opportunity to succeed without regard for their race, religion, sexual orientation, or other differences.

I am troubled by the Romney comment about the 47% of the population that pay no income taxes. “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”  I worked all my life and now I rely on Social Security and Medicare for the larger part of my income.  I am no bum and keep my home in excellent condition.  I pay my property taxes on time.  I resent his implications.  If you are part of the 47%, you should too!

You are the 47 Percent

By Joel Mathis in the Los Angeles Daily News, September 23, 2012

Are you married? Have a job? How about a kid or two? Did you get a tax refund last year because your status as a working par­ent made you eligible for an Earned Income Tax Credit?

Congratulations: Mitt Romney thinks you’re a welfare-addicted bum.

See, when Romney talks about that 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income taxes, he’s talking about you.

 You may not think that’s true, because of course you pay plenty of taxes – there’s the payroll tax that comes out of your check every week, the fee that goes to pay for Social Security. And of course, the world is a maze of taxes for you: Every time­ you fill up the gas tank or buy a birthday gift for the kid, the price is a little higher because of the extra few cents that goes to the state or local governments.

Surely Romney’s talking about somebody else?

Somebody who sits at home and waits for a gov­ernment check they didn’t earn?

Nope. He’s talking about you.

See, to get to that 47 percent number, Romney has to include folks who actually work but didn’t officially pay income taxes because they didn’t earn enough, or because they qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

 Nearly two-thirds of Romney’s laggardly 47 percent paid payroll taxes.

And to state the obvious: You generally have to be on a payroll to pay the payroll taxes. You have to have a job.

Now: Romney obviously wasn’t taking you into account when he said that 47 percent is “depen­dent on government” and “entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”

Which is the problem: Romney wasn’t taking you into account. He and the rest of the Republi­can Party have been so solicitous of so-called ‘job creators” that they’ve treated job doers rather shabbily. It’s something to think about when you vote in November.

Los Angeles Pension Reform Proposal

Here is a proposal I can enthusiastically support for the city of Los Angeles.  The proposal was sent out from Councilman Mitchell Englander’s office.

The Pension Reform Package comes before the City Council next week. To see the LA Times story, click here.

The Basics of the Pension Reform Proposal

1. Moving the retirement ages up from 55 to 65 years to reflect trends that people are living longer and able to work longer.
2. Capping the maximum retirement allowance at 75% of an employee’s final compensation instead of up to 100%.
3. Eliminating pension spiking by setting an employee’s pension on a 3-year salary average rather than one year.

4. Modifying disability retirement benefits to avoid spikes in the number of disability retirements.

5. Eliminating the current 50% survivor continuance benefit and providing employees with an option to purchase a continuance for their surviving spouse or domestic partner.

6. Capping future retiree annual cost-of-living adjustments to 2% with the option for the employee to purchase up to 3%.

7. Controlling retiree healthcare costs by limiting the benefit to retirees only, not their dependents.

Freedom of Speech

Anti-jihad ‘savage’ ads going up in NYC subway NEW YORK (AP) — A provocative ad that equates Muslim radicals with savages is set to go up in the city’s subway system as violent protests over an anti-Islamic film ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad sweep over much of the Muslim world.

“Innocence of Muslims” is the Muhammad movie that was the excuse for riots throughout the Muslim world.  Google was asked to remove the movie clip from Youtube but they refused, sighting their first amendment rights.

The American constitution’s first Amendment says

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Americans of all stripes hold those words as important as any in the bible.  We go to war to defend the freedoms we have.  Many elsewhere do not agree with this belief.  They believe that the United States has a responsibility to muzzle words or actions they consider disrespectful.

It’s a conflict of beliefs that could lead to a breakdown of relations with other nations.

I believe Americans really take these words in our Declaration of Independence to heart

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I believe Americans will fight, if necessary, to defend the American ideals.  Thanks, Thomas Jefferson.

Prayers for Obama

I received this cleaver tounge-in-cheek email today.


Obama Is the shepherd I did not want.  


He leadeth me beside the still factories.


He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.


He guideth me in the path of unemployment,
For his party’s sake.


Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.
He has anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days
Of my life, And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.
I’m glad I am American,
I am glad that I am free!
But I wish I was a dog,
 and Obama was a tree!
Where does one get this sticker?
PRAY FOR YOUR PRESIDENT !
Psalm 109:8
My wife and I were in slow-moving traffic the other day and
We were stopped behind a car with an unusual Obama
Bumper sticker on its bumper.
It read: “Pray for Obama Psalm 109:8”
When we got home my wife got out the Bible and opened it
up to the scripture. She started laughing and laughing. Then she
read it to me. I couldn’t believe what it said.
I had a good laugh, too.
Psalm 109:8 ~
“Let his days be few and brief; And let others step forward to replace him.”

At last — I can honestly voice a biblical prayer for our

President! Let us all bow our heads and pray.

 

Brothers and Sisters… can I get an  

AMEN!  If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t been in bed with a mosquito.

The Real Mitt Romney

Wow!

Mother Jones magazine obtained this video clip.  It tells what Mitt Romney thinks about 47% of us.

Responding to a question from a donor about how he could triumph in November, Romney replied:

  • There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

Romney went on: “[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

How stupid can this man be?

As reported by the Associated Press; 

According to the TaxPolicyCenter study, 38 million — half of those who owe no federal income taxes — escape owing money to the IRS because their income is too low. For them, merely using the standard deduction, personal exemptions and other basic parts of the tax code allow them to avoid income taxes.

Overall, 93 percent of those who owe no federal income taxes earn $50,000 annually or less. But 5 percent of them earn $50,000 to $100,000 and the rest — around 430,000 nonpayers — earn more than $100,000 annually. That includes 4,000 households earning more than $1 million a year, thanks largely to tax exempt interest, reduced rates on capital gains and dividends and other deductions.

This entire event is not going to derail the Romney campaign.  Obama made his remarks about some people clinging to their guns in 2008 and it made little impact on his win – but we all know what he really believes and that comment will have an impact on this election.

The question is: what does Romney stand for and what would he do as president?  Unless he can provide convincing answers his chances to win the election are considerably diminished.

Shopping in London or Paris – It’s Really the Mall of America

We just visited London and Paris in the last week of August.  To our surprise many of the stores are the same brands we see at our local indoor upscale malls.  What a disappointment!

 Steven Erlanger wrote about this very same disappointment in his September 14, 2012 piece in the N.Y. Times.  His article titled “The Champs-Élysées, a Mall of America” points out that you can see the same old stores you saw back home on this boulevard that was supposed to be “the most beautiful avenue in the world.”  The same stores are also seen on Oxford Street and elsewhere in London.

You know – the Gap, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, and Tiffany & Company.  The only stores missing were Macy’s and Neiman Marcus.

Champ Elysee next to McDonald’s

Mr. Erlanger’s article included pictures of street vendors selling junk from sidewalk blankets outside McDonald’s.  That is an accurate depiction.  The above photo was taken by me on August 30, 2012. 

There is a 15 minute wait for food service in McDonald’s and that busy store is short on available tables.  A 50 something French woman standing in front of me said she loves McDonald’s.

Actually the variety of unique retailers was more interesting in Toronto’s Eaton Centre.

Innocence of Muslims

“Innocence of Muslims” is the Muhammad movie by Sam Bacile (which is believed to be an alias for Nakoula Basseley, a Coptic Christian from Egypt) that caused Muslims to kill United   States ambassador, J Christopher Stevens. The anti Islamic video claim Islam is a lie and Mohammed was a pedophile.

The movie clip is a clumsy effort to identify Mohammed as a sadistic killer, a rapist and a plunderer. The use of this clip as a justification to attack American embassies is difficult to understand as the government of the USA has supported the Arab Spring. If Muslims believe that all non-Muslims must be killed than the message is communicated. Many Islamists must be happy to watch the unjustified attacks we have witnessed this past week.

My opinion is the United States should minimize its connections with an Arab world.  Another reason to end our reliance on Arab oil.

Damn Women Drivers

This morning on the Interstate,
I looked over to my left and there was a

Woman In a brand new Cadillac Doing 65 mph

With her face up next to her rear view mirror

Putting on her eyeliner


I looked away For a couple seconds…

to continue shaving
And when I looked back she was
Halfway over in my lane

Still working on that makeup. As a man,
I don’t scare easily

 

But she scared me so much I dropped
My electric shaver Which knocked

The donut Out of my other hand.

In all the confusion of trying to straighten out the car

Using my knees against The steering wheel,

It knocked My Cell Phone Away from my ear

Which fell Into the coffee Between my legs!

Splashed, And burned Big Jim and the Twins,

Ruined the damn phone,Soaked my trousers, And disconnected an

Important call.

 

Damn women drivers