by Rev. Nathan Detering (Unitarian Universalist Church at First Parish Sherborn, MA) Once upon a time in those days after Thanksgiving when Rt. 9 is transformed from its normal craziness into something like a hornet’s nest after you poke it with a stick,there was a minister, a pastor, who thought it was a good idea […]

by Dale Coberly SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON SOCIAL SECURITY HOW THE “COMMITTEE FOR A RESPONSIBLE FEDERAL BUDGET” LIES TO YOU A group that calls itself “Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget” wrote what it claims to be “Setting the Record Straight on Social Security.”  The article needs to be responded to at some length, […]

America’s fastest growing crime problem points us to some numbers: When we talk about crime at the city level, we tend to focus on violent crime and property crime. These two categories don’t encompass the entire universe of illegal behavior, but they cover crimes that a) have victims, and b) local police can actually  investigate. […]

I’ve expected this for some time, and here it is: The Wall Street Journal reports that insurance companies are set to unleash hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising to entice potential customers on to the exchanges created by Obamacare. As the Journal puts it: Insurers … are capitalizing on an unprecedented opportunity in a […]

Emerging Strategy for the DEMS; Karoli at Crooks and Liars, Dems Strategy on Extending Unemployment Insurance  Dems will leverage their votes to pass the Farm Bill for an extension of Unemployment . “Now that Congress is set to leave town even as unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans are set to expire just after Christmas, […]

I normally don’t post here about high-profile news stories on which I have nothing, really, to add to what has been reported extensively in news stories or argued in opinion pieces in the mainstream media.  So my first inclination when I saw an email from Dan Crawford yesterday suggesting that I post on the affluenza […]

Boeing is America’s Most Wanted Corporation in two senses. First, now that the Machinists’ union in Washington state has refused the company’s contract demands, it is shopping production (h/t Pacific Northwest Inlander) of the 777x aircraft nationwide and lots of states are making offers for it. Second, it is emblematic of everything the 1% is […]

by Dale Coberly FLYING SAUCERS, THE YOUNG, and SOCIAL SECURITY What if the Social Security Trust Fund WAS Worthless IOU’s George Bush liked to tell us “the young” were more likely to believe in flying saucers than they were to believe they would ever see any benefits from Social Security. First, let me assure you […]

Under the ACA,  some 62 preventive services and products will be free (in the past much of the preventative medicine was charged to patient on a non-negotiated rate. Today, they are financed through regulations applied to the insurance industry): no copays and the deductible will not apply. The list includes vision checks for children, birth […]

by Dale Coberly 2013 Trustees Report: Social Security is Running Out of Worthless IOU’s! 9.6 Trillion Dollar Unfunded Deficit! ho hum I did not take a hard look at the 2013 Trustees Report when it came out last Spring because I thought I knew pretty much what it would say, and what it would amount […]