Thoughts on Obama and Cuts to Social Security-Can’t Truss It

Wanna remind folks that tomorrow (wed April 10th 2013) President Obama will present his budget proposal.. Within that proposal are plans to cut social security to the tune of $112 billion dollars..Social security is already suffering in two main ways.. First, its being called an entitlement and we see very little correction with that labeling. Words are important, because it implies that folks who receive social security are somehow gaming the system vs having paid into it over a lifetime.. In short Social security is being ‘dehumanized’.. It’s being made to sound like a poison..

Second, the average payment one receives under social security is pretty bleak..I think its something like $1200.oo  That’s not really enough for someone who is now an elder to live comfortably off of.. Many of y’all reading this who are most likely to be saddled by economic challenges of your own ranging from upside down mortgages, to college tuition for your kids or student loans that still need to be paid off had best be figuring out how you will be helping your parents, because the check the govt is cutting won’t cut it..

We are at a day and time where more robust payments should be made toward our seniors..Our national conversation should be about comprehensive elder care that goes way beyond facilities to help those with dementia, but how to seriously improve the quality of life for our aging parents  and grandparents but that does not seem to happening.. Instead we’re being hit with news about congressional investigations as to why two multi-millionaires, Jay-Z and Beyonce went to Cuba..All of this is complicated by the fact that those who have alot.. ie the 1% do not under any circumstances want to pay more in taxes.. Instead they wanna privatize social security or get a system in place where you the individual start playing around with the market and investments..  I hope folks are paying attention.. So far two million people have signed a petition which was presented to the White House..

Here’s a couple of articles and shows that you may wanna peep to be brought up to speed..President Obama is the first President to propose cuts to social security.. Some are saying don’t trip he won’t cut nothing.. There’s a long list of things we were told not to worry about, because it was believed President Obama would not compromise on.. We now know better..In the words of Public Enemy-Can’t Truss It..

Washington Post: Social Security Needs Expansion

Nation: Two Million Sign Petition to Save Social Security

-Davey D-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9BqZ6eA5c

 

Have We Sold Our Souls By Turning a Blind Eye to Obama’s Drones?

There’s a lot of talk about President Obama and his use of drones as well as him having a kill list which has asserts that he can kill American citizens that he deems to be working against America and somehow down with al-Qaeda.. This is indeed very scary and something all of us should seriously reflect on, because whatever steps Obama takes will not be limited to him.. Whoever sits in the Oval office will be able to pick up where Obama leaves off..

Seems like quite a few are giving the President a pass on his policies.. Would we be comfortable with those policies if we had President Romney as opposed to Obama? What if it was former President George Bush saying he has a kill list and has a right to use it on American citizens? Many of us took to the streets and raised a ruckus for far less.

Yesterday in Washington, there were confirmation hearings for John Brennan who is said to be the brains behind Obama’s insidious drone policy…Brennan is shooting to be director of the CIA.. Are people really comfortable with his policies? Are we comfortable with the US setting up drone bases in Niger, knowing that during the Bush administration Bush had Colin Powell lie before the United Nations about the African country providing uranium for terrorists? His testimony was briefly interrupted by folks upset with the drone policies he later defended..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEycDKgUwbw

Are we comfortable with Obama having a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia and mainstream news outlets like the Washington Post agreeing not to report this to the American people?

I want people to be aware of a tactic that is being used in support of White House policies around the discussion on drones.. There is a set of talking points and particular phrasing being used by stealth surrogates and ‘supporters’ of the President designed to frame the conversation in way that moves one away from talk about diplomacy and de-escalation and into the arena of ‘All  We must fight terrorism at e

Inevitably someone will make try to put the onus on you for objecting..Pay close attention when someone responds or inserts themselves in a conversation and ask questions or makes statements along these lines:

1-If we don’t use drones what better ideas do you have to eliminate top terror operatives? Instead of complaining about the President fighting the war on terror, perhaps you should help him..This is difficult work..

2-Troops on the ground are not as effective..Drones are the only way to fight back… Do you have another way for us to take out top terrorist without troops?

3-There are Bigger threats that you can’t see. Bush started something that Obama unfortunately must finish to protect us all.. It took us over a decade to find Bin Laden

4-Those so-called innocents who have been killed by drones hide or aid terrorists..The terrorists use kids to fight us and then claim innocence. We haven’t killed that many innocent people.. They killed innocent people during 9-11…Our drones are doing the job of fighting terror more effectively

5-The terrorist plan there and then come here or against our interests around the world. They started it-remember 9-11. Its better for us to fight them over there then at home..

6-We must use drones because we have no other options Our allies like Pakistan hid Osama for years and lied to us.

7-Diplomacy doesn’t work..They want to kill us. They have an advantage on their land..they know it better than anyone. I don’t condone killing innocent people but so we must use drones to level the playing field.. They must be stopped!

Basically the tactic used is to situate the discussion as if we have no other choice but to fight the war on terror. Its designed to make you forget that the War on terror was a manufactured war with the goal of keeping it open-ended, and perpetual.. so we could expand it as necessary.

Obama is depicted as a reluctant participant who would rather have peace, but is ‘forced to clean up the mess’ that George Bush has started..

We are also reminded that its better for us to fight the war on terror overseas then have it here at home..Innocent people being killed is justified as being a part of war which is ‘ugly’. We are also reminded that terrorists use kids to fight us and hence we shouldn’t be ‘fooled’ or overly sympathetic..

There are Black and Brown faces increasingly being used to push these arguments.. Some are literally paid pundits and operatives. Others in a misguided sense of Black pride and unity have sold their souls and turned a blind eye to actions and policies that they know are dead wrong.. Others who once upon a time have been excluded, have been made to feel ‘special’ because they were put on some sort of White House mailing list,  got a phone call from someone important asking for their help or been invited to informal White House briefings.. The end result is a misguided sense of loyalty at all costs.. As fellow journalist JR Valrey of the Block Report once famously noted, many are not interested in justice or preserving life, they just want their turn to hold and crack the whip..

Bottom line be wary of the attempts to get folks to buy into a concept that we once railed against called ‘preemptive strikes‘..When Bush kicked this off we hit the streets by the thousands.. Obama doesn’t use the that term, instead he invokes the image of us being in a life and death struggle against ‘evil terrorists‘. As a result many have checked their conscience at the door to pick up a sword to join in sable rattling while simultaneously bemoaning the fact that youth in our community have turned to violence as a solution to problems vs de-escalation and diplomacy..

How many dead Black children does it take to get a Sandy Hook response?

Black death has become an addiction, a political football when convenient and a marketing tool…it is also something with each passing day can’t be ignored…If we are not bothered by this, then something is seriously wrong….Here’s a video of Hadiya in 6th grade speaking out on gangs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x60rR-CZ-A4

Below is a powerful essay from a Chicagoan who is all too familiar with the daily carnage going on in her city…

15 year old Hadiya was shot and killed in a random act of violence in Chicago

Do you remember? Remember when you were young and carefree? Think back on how excited you would have been with an early dismissal from school into warm weather and a park nearby. Remember wanting to just cool out for a minute, hang on to the laughter and silly antics of  your friends before heading home to chores and studying? Time travel to the time when life was so full and promising, back when you had the zeal and energy to really live it?

How old were you back then? When did that all end for you?

Well for Hadiya Pendleton 15years old was her time. A baby really, just getting her taste of life’s promises. A scholar attending King Preparatory High School on the south side of Chicago. An enthusiastic student, a member of her school’s volley ball team and it’s band that just performed at President Obama’s Inauguration, a trip to Paris on the horizon as a part of an exchange program. Young and carefree, yet it ended much too soon for Hadiya. Her young life snatched just as she was getting to the good part; her life counted in the number of children whose lives have been cut down before they could really fully create a memory.

continue reading this essay HERE