Black retirees and children are more dependent than other groups on Social Security, yet their voices are often unheard in the debate over reform.

Here we are, 100 years after Ronald Reagan's birth (on Feb. 5) and 30 years after his first birthday as president of the United States, and we really haven't given proper due to the present he gave us. True, the custom normally is for the celebrant to receive the gift, but what Reagan gave us is still giving.

I'm not speaking of hypocrisy; heaven knows there isn't a politician elected who doesn't give a little of that. Reagan's hypocrisy--railing against big government while growing it, lobbying for balanced budgets while never submitting one, decrying taxes while raising them several times--is a little more pronounced than most, but that wasn't the real gift he bequeathed us. Even his hardline statement about not negotiating with terrorists fell by the wayside when he sold arms to Iran in violation of both federal law and an arms embargo, in order to get hostages released in Lebanon.

--Gov. Chris Christie (R) violated Abbott v. Burke requirements when he slashed $820 million in state aid to schools last year, because the cuts were slanted too heavily towards poor districts.

--Gov. Chris Christie, while slashing education funds, bails out American Dream Mall with $400 million.    

--Kentucky, officials approved $43 million in tax breaks to complete a project for a Bible-themed amusement park. "Gov. Steve Beshear (D) dismissed the concerns of separation of church and state hippies when he stated there’s nothing “remotely unconstitutional” about taxpayer dollars incentivizing the Ark park, unless you’re one of those extremists who take the “separation of church and state” part of the Constitution literally."

--It was only last month that non-yacht-owning Texans held a daylong vigil outside the state Capitol in response to proposed massive budget cuts to healthcare and education that were called “historic.” Ultimately, the Legislature cut healthcare by about $10 billion and delayed any decision on Medicaid until the 2013 session so they can focus on the pressing matter of funding billionaires’ floating third homes.

--Funded union busting corporations: Boeing received a tax refund of $137 million from state and local governments after raking in $4 billion in pretax profits, according to Philip Mattera, research director of Good Jobs First. 

     The official narrative that there isn’t enough money to go around simply isn’t true. That’s why in state after state, legislatures are able to find hundreds of millions of dollars for the pet projects of yacht-owners, and for the every whim and desire of their corporate masters.

--House GOP not sure about helping victims of twister in Missouri.

From the moment Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech electrified the Republican convention, she was seen as an unbending, hard-charging, red-meat ideologue—to which soon was added “thin-skinned” and “vindictive.” But a look at what Palin did while in office in Alaska—the only record she has—shows a very different politician: one who worked with Democrats to tame Big Oil and solve the great problem at the heart of the state’s politics. That Sarah Palin might have set the nation on a different course. What went wrong?

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has urged the Obama administration to ensure that taxpayer funds are not spent to erect and rehabilitate houses of worship abroad.

"In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell

Is there any limit to the outrageousness of the GOP lies?

Is there any limit to the capacity of a large number of our fellow citizens to accept these lies?

If it were in the interest of the ruling oligarchs to convince a majority of the public that the earth is flat, could they succeed?

This is, after all, a public almost half of which refuses to accept evolution – the central coordinating concept of modern biology. And approximately half of the GOP primary voters believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

These unsettling thoughts came to my mind when I heard Michael Steele remark that "not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job." This from a man who held a government job as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland. That remark was echoed by Mitch Daniels, the Governor of Indiana and Sarah Palin and I can testify that I have heard it elsewhere.

I am old enough to remember the days when what Americans were told to fear most was "Creeping Communism."

There were even hearings. There was a blacklist. There were arrests and even a couple of executions.

In the end all communism turned out to be creeping towards was its own extinction.

We may not be a lucky with the new creep we're facing today: Creeping Ignorance.

The central issue in our political life is not being discussed. At stake is the moral basis of American democracy. The individual issues are all too real: assaults on unions, public employees, women's rights, immigrants, the environment, health care, voting rights, food safety, pensions, prenatal care, science, public broadcasting and on and on.

Budget deficits are a ruse, as we've seen in Wisconsin, where the Governor turned a surplus into a deficit by providing corporate tax breaks, and then used the deficit as a ploy to break the unions, not just in Wisconsin, but seeking to be the first domino in a nationwide conservative movement

Get out your axe! Before last fall's elections, House Republicans promised to cut $100 billion from the budget. Furthermore, they said they would do so without touching entitlements, defense spending, or veterans' services. This portion of the budget, known as "non-security discretionary spending," makes up less than 15 percent of the federal budget. Though it is a relatively small slice of the overall budget, conservatives routinely ignore other kinds federal spending—like defense and tax expenditures—and instead focus their ire on this one part.

But despite their zeal for deficit reduction through draconian spending cuts, House Republicans are finding it difficult to fulfill their promise.

Who are they? The richest 1 percent. And maybe the next 9 percent.

Who are we? All the rest.

Which poses an interesting question.

How has a tiny fraction of the population – which is diverse in many ways – arranged for their narrowest economic interests to dominate the economic interests of the vast majority? And, while they're at it, endanger the economic well-being of our nation, and bring the financial system of the whole world to the brink of collapse.

They have money.

We have votes.

Theoretically, that means we should have the government. Theoretically, government should be a countervailing force against the excesses of big money, take the long view for the good of the nation, and watch out for the majority. Let alone for the poor and downtrodden.

Total income was $2.74 trillion less during the eight Bush years than if incomes had stayed at 2000 levels.That much additional income would have more than made up for the lack of demand that keeps us mired in the Great Recession. That would mean no need for a stimulus, although it would not have affected the last administration's interfering with market capitalism by bailing out irresponsible Wall Streeters instead of letting the market determine their fortunes.

In only two years was total income up, but even when those years are combined they exceed the declines in only one of the other six years…

Had incomes stayed at 2000 levels, the average taxpayer would have earned almost $21,000 more over those eight years. That's almost $50 per week.

In its first year of existence, the Tea Party movement made clear what it was angry about: the first black American President, health-care reform, taxes, deficit spending, "lib-rhuls," socialists, Hitler, emergency "bailouts" to stave off a new Great Depression, and – in general – Big Government.

The attraction of a Roth 401(k) is simple. You contribute after-tax dollars to the account, which will accrue tax-free
earnings and allow for tax-free withdrawals in retirement after age 59½ . Here's a look at why Roth 401(k)s are catching on, especially among young retirement savers.

1. Billions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthy is just about the least efficient use of that money.

Extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will cost about $80 billion over just the next two years, and frankly, that $80 billion could be put to much better use than simply giving it to the richest 2 percent of Americans.

2. The Bush tax cuts didn't deliver what they promised.

They didn't deliver. The economy boasted 132 million jobs in June of 2001, the month that the first of the Bush tax cuts was signed into law. Three years later, in June of 2004, there were just 131.4 million jobs. The economy did not add a single new job during three years under the Bush tax cuts.

3. The tax cuts for nearly all Americans and American small businesses would stay in place.

Of course, conservatives often argue that we will harm small businesses if we let the tax rates for these richest 2 percent go back to what they were under President Clinton. The data belie that claim. A recent report from the Joint Committee on Taxation points out that less than 3 percent of all taxpayers with any positive business income at all—big or small—would be affected by the increase in rates.

New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman, in his column today, is right to expose the attacks on Social Security as being the work of right-wing ideologues eager to destroy a government program that works, backed by cowardly Democrats who want to show their fiscal "responsibility" by getting tough with future pensioners.

Pay attention now, you're about to read about the biggest and most successful scam in History.

In its first year of existence, the Tea Party movement made clear what it was angry about: the first black American President, health-care reform, taxes, deficit spending, "lib-rhuls," socialists, Hitler, emergency "bailouts" to stave off a new Great Depression, and – in general – Big Government.

Now, however, with its first genuine national spokesman – Republican Senate candidate from Kentucky Rand Paul – the public is getting a clearer sense of what the Tea Party is actually for. It is a movement intended to enshrine "owner rights," along with states' rights, as the bedrocks of the American system.

In an astute op-ed piece in the Christian Science Monitor, James Bovard points out that the love of liberty by the Tea Party crowd usually takes a backseat to a hatred of President Obama and the Left. After attending a tax day Tea Party event in Rockville, Md., a suburb of the nation's capital, Bovard reported that the Tea Partiers oppose big government from the Left but not from the Right. Big government from the Right usually involves warfare and its accompanying enhanced police powers at home, which usually severely erode the liberty Tea Partiers claim to stand for. For example, the tea sippers extended their pinkies in a salute to torture, harsh policies toward Iran, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They didn't seem to mind the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping and vacuuming up of ordinary Americans' phone calls either, according to Bovard.

Having recently reached 74 years of age, if one were to ask me what's my greatest disappointment in life, a top contender would surely be the level of misunderstanding, perhaps contempt, that black Americans have for the principles of personal liberty and their abiding faith in government. Contempt or misunderstanding of the principles of personal liberty and faith in government by no means make blacks unique among Americans, but the unique history of black Americans should make us, above all other Americans, most suspicious of any encroachment on personal liberty and most distrustful of government. Let's look at it.

For all the moaning from deficit hawks, the U.S. budget is simply not in crisis. If investors were losing confidence in our nation's ability to pay off its debts, we'd see a major reduction in demand for U.S. Treasury bonds. And we do not, in fact, see any such reduction. Last week the Treasury sold $21 billion in 10-year bonds, and investors were clamoring for them in such droves that the government had to turn away nearly 80 percent of them. If investors were really worried about the U.S. paying back its debt, they'd demand a very high interest rate from the government to compensate them for the risk they were taking. But in fact, interest rates are remarkably low. That 10-year bond currently fetches a yield of around 3.9 percent. For entire years of President George H. W. Bush's reign, the yield was above 8 percent, often eclipsing 9 percent.

Recently there's been a lot of speculation about why the mood on the right has turned so sour. Some observers attribute it to the lack of leadership at the top of the Republican Party, the surreal reality that Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have more influence than do elected Republicans. Others say it's a poisonous combination of economic angst and racial hatred. But there's a more obvious explanation: we're witnessing the death throes of conservatism. The right-wing ideology that ran the US for thirty years has proven to be a total failure and the passage of healthcare reform was the final nail in its coffin.

In case you've forgotten, classic conservatism promised to keep us safe, reduce the size of government, lower taxes, and manage the economy. Republican broke each of these commitments.

If you call the Internal Revenue Service for help this tax season and someone actually picks up the phone, consider yourself lucky.

President Barack Obama made clear during his campaign for the presidency that he intended to let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire on schedule at the end of 2010. The administration's long-term budget outline counts on this happening. It is key to getting the federal budget deficit under control. Congress, in the coming year, should make it happen.

The curious may want to know why the Bush tax cuts are set to expire in the first place. After all, if then-President George W. Bush and Congress thought they were a good idea when they passed them in the early 2000s, why make them temporary?

There are far too many dirty politicians in Congress and the House of Representatives!

These politicians knew all along what they were doing was illegal but they kept doing it anyway.

Every politician who's a member of C-Street and every politician who lived at C-Street must be voted out of office!

These liars and thieves and deceivers are not worthy of our trust or our support at the polls.

If we truly want change we must vote them out of office!

To take it a step further we must raise our voices and demand term limits in all areas of politics because no politician should be given the opportunity to become a bad seed on our watch!

And no politician should be allowed to make a career of being a single office politician!

And what's up with the D.C. politicians choosing to turn a blind eye to C-Street's shenanigans! Were they getting a kick back for choosing to ignore what they knew was going on?

Many of our problems stem from us voters putting our trust into the untrustworthy. We vote these charlatans into office and consider our job done when it's only just begun.

To keep our politicians honest we must keep our feet on their necks!

We must keep a watchful eye on everything they do in our names. Yes in our names because they say, "we'll only doing what our constituents want us to do."

Well we all know that's a lie, don't we.

Well I am sick and tired of the lying, the cheating, the stealing, the deceiving, and the spending of my hard earned dollars to screw me by doing things that has nothing to do with me and my fellow taxpayers.

Yes, C-Street has lost its tax exemption status, at least 60% of it I believe was reported, but I won't be satisfied until all the C-Street Gang is out of office.

The 7,112 acres - or 11 square miles - of Crow Creek Sioux ancestral land in central South Dakota was auctioned off on Thursday by the US Internal Revenue Service to help pay off more than $3.1 million (£1.9 million) in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest.

The land, part of the tribe's original reservation established in an 1868 treaty, was originally held by the federal government in a trust for the tribe.

However, it was later divided up between individual tribal members, some of whom sold it to non-Indians, putting it outside the tribe's legal jurisdiction.

The tribe bought it back in 1998 but claims the US Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to put the land back into trust, which would have protected it.

The bleak, flat reservation land is particularly valuable to the tribe, one of the poorest communities in the US, because it has been designated as suitable for the development of wind power.

Buffalo County, which encompasses the Crow Creek reservation, is consistently listed by the US Census Bureau as one of the poorest counties in America.

While the tribe's lawyers have launched a legal appeal, some Indians said they would be erecting teepees on the disputed land in protest.

Lawyers and academics believe it is the first instance of the IRS seizing tribal lands in this way.

www.potomaclegalaid.org 1-866-534-5243 / 703-532-2525 / 540-374-9101

A bankruptcy is a court proceeding in which you request the court to excuse you from your duty to repay your creditors. Bankruptcy allows you to discharge most of your debt, and to keep some of your property. Two types of bankruptcy apply to individuals and married couples who are not in business: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.

Matt Taibbi takes the Republicans apart for becoming the party that has removed itself from the legislative process.

Conservatives are already propagating various myths about the budget; The Progress Report offers these debunks:

If a Martini is your drink, skip the Vermouth. If Whiskey's your poison, take it straight. If you're a teetotaler, make an exception. And if you really, really shouldn't drink, close your eyes and take a deep breath. But, under no circumstances should you look at President Obama's budget blueprint for the next ten years without fortification.

The American people have long been craving a president that would tell them the truth. Now we're going to find out if we can handle it. The sticker-shock truth that hits hardest is the budget deficit number: clocking in at $1.8 trillion for 2009, $1.2 trillion for 2010. Those represent 12.3 percent and 8.0 percent of Gross Domestic Product, respectively—both representing levels not seen since World War II.

There will be winners and losers if President Obama's tax plan is approved by Congress, and the more you make, the bigger a loser you'll be.

Obama's broad proposal is to pay for healthcare reform and blue-collar tax breaks by raising taxes on wealthier families and individuals. The Tax Policy Center estimates the increased taxes on the rich would raise roughly $1 trillion over the next decade.

The rich are defined as individuals making more than $200,000, and couples who earn more than $250,000. People above those income thresholds would pay a higher tax rate beginning in 2011, and would see deductions on mortgage interest payments and charitable contributions reduced sooner.

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.
Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?
Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet.

I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their A--, doing drugs, while I work. . . .
Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

Something has to change in this country -- and soon!!!!!!!

I guess we could title that program, 'Urine or You're Out'.

The Deficit: Facing Up to Reality

Military: Rewriting the Doctrine

Immigration: The Jobs Factor

Health Care: An Urgent Need

Intelligence: Reorganization Fatigue

The Economy: More Trouble Ahead

Energy: The Price of Being Green

The Wars: Withdrawal and Escalation