JUST ONE MORE TIME

Yesterday I went to the grocery store, now, normally you would think that people do that every day of the week. And, you're right. Now, I had quite a few things on my list, I needed stuff to make chili, and brownies for Saturday. And numerous other things. We're going to Irvington, Va. to celebrate my brother Tom's birthday. And since we're all getting a little older as we speak, I was trying to find things that were as healthy as possible. You know, lean ground beef, brownies that didn't have umpteen thousand calories and fat way off the chart. So, I had to read labels.

Of course, I can't read those labels without my glasses. So as I dig around for those treasured glasses, I remembered a grocery trip long, long ago. I took Mom to the store. Now, I can't exactly remember why we needed to go together, just that we did. Well, low and behold, she had one of those lists that had a little bit of everything on it.

We each had our own cart, and I was a young mother with a limited amount of time and money. I was flying up and down the aisles, grabbing stuff that looked familiar, because, after all, I bought the same thing every week. Macaroni and cheese, hamburger, hotdogs, eggs, milk, you get the picture.

Well, Mom was a little more selective, her meals were tiny compared to mine. A half pound of hamburger, those little cans of corn, coffee and maybe on a good week, white powdered donuts. And, I was so frustrated. What was taking her so long? How many minutes could you look at the same can of coffee? . Didn't she buy the same can last month? Yes, the bread was fresh. I used to roll my eyes, but she'd continue to stroll up and down each aisle, sometimes not putting one thing in her basket at all. Gosh, I wish she'd hurry up! After putting my glasses on, I picked up the box of brownie mix, read the label, and continued to scan the aisle for one with less fat and calories on to the next aisle. No, I don't think I need anything from this one, better check though. Never know what might be down here.

As I finished with the last aisle, on my way to the checkout, I stopped to get the bread. Yes, it seemed fresh. Better take that extra minute to check the freshness date, just to be sure. It wasn't until many years later that I realized that it wasn't the labels it was the price. Times were not easy then and she had to spend wisely to make it until the next time payday rolled around.

My mom is gone now. I'd give anything if she would just call me and ask me to go to the store with her one more time. We could stroll up and down each aisle, even if we didn't put one thing in our baskets. After all, I am my mothers' daughter.

Lyn

MEDICARE - YOUR PREMIUMS FOR 2011

Well for those in the system now, good news. As far as I can find out most people on Traditional Medicare will pay the same part "B" premiums next year as they did this year. Now the Newbies coming into the system in 2011 for the first time, will pay higher monthly amounts. Sadly though this is the second year a freeze is on Social Security payments because of no increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

And if you are coming into the medicare system beginning in 2011 there will be three different "standard" premiums for part "B". Part "B" covers doctors and outpatient care. Also people with incomes over a certain level will pay higher premiums for part "B" and part "D" which is prescription drugs in 2011.

• Here is a little "What if" chart to help you:
  
  In 2011 you will pay $96.50 a month for part "B": If you paid that amount in 2010.
  
• In 2011 you will pay 111.40 a month for part "B": If you paid that amount in 2010 AND it is deducted from your Social Security Checks.
• In 2011 you will pay 115.40 a month for part "B": If your premiums are NOT deducted from Social Security checks OR you are newly enrolled in Part "B".
• In 2011 you will pay between 161.50 and 369.10 a month for part "B" If you're single and your taxable income is more than $85,000, OR You're married and file a joint tax return showing taxable income more than $170,000.
• Finally, you will pay a surcharge of between $12 and $69.10 a month for part "D": if Your taxable income is the same as for the higher-income part "B" premiums above.

Source: AARP bulletins

Cutting through the Fog-Medicare Advantage Plans

According to AARP. Right now, 24 percent of Medicare Beneficiaries receive coverage through one of thousands of Medicare Advantage plans rather than original Medicare. Advantage plans—private Medicare plans sold by insurance companies that are typically available through HMOs and PPOs—have become enormously popular over the past few years because they offer a host of extra benefits that original Medicare doesn’t provide,such as free eyeglasses,dental care, hearing aids and even gym memberships. These extra benefits,however, have come at an extra cost.

Since 2006, Medicare Advantage plans have received government subsidies that have been costing around 13 percent more than traditional Medicare. But that’s about to change. Starting next year, as a result of changes under health care reform, Medicare Advantage payments will be frozen at the current levels. And starting in 2012, Uncle Sam will begin reducing payments over the following two to six years to the insurers that administer these plans until they’re getting the same amount of money on average that original Medicare spends.

What all this means is that many of the 11 million seniors that have a Medicare Advantage plan can expect their premiums to gradually increase or the extra benefits to be reduced, or both,over the coming few years. And some insurance companies may stop offering Medicare Advantage plans altogether. But not all Medicare Advantage plans will be affected. Payment cuts will depend on whether Medicare costs in your county are high or low.

And starting in 2012, high-quality plans that have been around for a while and receive a 3.5 to 5-star government rating will be rewarded with bonus payments from the government that will offset some of the fee cuts. These plans will most likely continue operating with few changes. Newer and low-quality plans are the ones that will change. To check how you plan rates, visit www.medicare.gov. Now, your best course of action is to review your Medicare Advantage plan.

If you find that your insurer is dropping your plan, or if you don’t like how your plan changes for the coming year, you can always switch to a different Advantage plan or move to original Medicare during the Medicare Advantage open enrollment period, which is the first 45 days of 2011, between January 1st and February 15th. If you do decide to go back to the original Medicare, you’ll probably want to purchase a Part D prescription drug plan and a Medigap supplemental policy to help cover deductible and copays.


You can shop and compare all Medicare health plans, prescription drug plans and Medigap policies at www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan or call 800-633-4227. You can also call the Medicare Rights Center helpline at 800-333-4114 or contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), which provides free one on-one Medicare counseling. Call 800-677-1116 to find your local SHIP office. In Va. you can get One on One help through VICAP as well which is free and can be reached at 800-552-4402.

CONGRESS PAYS NO SOCIAL SECURITY TAX!

This Story has been circulating for some time and quite frankly it is a work of fiction.

Here is the story in its current form:

Our Senators and Congressmen don’t pay in to Social Security, and, of course, they don’t collect from it. The reason is that they have a special retirement plan that they voted for themselves many years ago. For all practical purposes, it works like this:

When they retire, they continue to draw their same pay, until they die, except that it may be increased from time to time, by cost of living adjustments.

For instance, former Senator Bradley, and his wife, may be expected to draw $7,900,000, with Mrs. Bradley drawing $275,000 during the last year of her life. This is calculated on an average life span for each.

This would be well and good, except that they paid nothing in on any kind of retirement, and neither does any other Senator or Congressman.

This fine retirement comes right out of the General Fund: our tax money. While we who pay for it all, draw an average of $1000/month from Social Security.

Imagine for a moment that you could structure a retirement plan so desirable that people would have extra deducted so that they could increase their own personal retirement income. A retirement plan that works so well, that Railroad employees, Postal Workers, and others who aren’t in it, would clamor to get in.

That is how good Social Security could be, if only one small change were made. That change is to jerk the Golden Fleece retirement out from under the Senators and Congressmen, and put them in Social Security with the rest of us. Then watch how fast they fix it.

Now here is as Paul Harvey used to say "is the rest of the story".

Congressional pensions are controversial and many believe they should be reformed, but the above email has several inaccuracies.

First, it is not true that members of congress don't pay into Social Security. It's been required of them since 1983, according to Andrew G. Biggs, Social Security Analyst for the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C..

Additionally, Biggs says Congress does have its own retirement plan which does pay a generous pension to retired members of congress plus they are eligible for the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a 401k-type investment program available to all federal employees.

Depending on a person's length of service, it is possible to retire with annual income that is equivalent to a Congressional salary, but no member of Congress automatically retires with his or her salary being paid as pension.

Obamacare a 2.5 Trillion Dollar NEW Entitlement

Excerpts from the Heritage Foundation article dated 3/10/2010

In theory, the federal government has $2.5 trillion stashed away in a nondescript office building in the sleepy little town of Parkersburg, West Virginia. That is where the Treasury Department keeps stacks of nonnegotiable Treasury bonds payable to the Social Security Administration. But as the Associated Press reported yesterday, for the first time since the 1980s, the federal government will not be adding to that stack. Thanks to an aging population and slow economy, Social Security will pay out $29 billion more this year than it takes in. The Congressional Budget Office reports that after small surpluses in 2014 and 2015, the program is projected to be in the red from 2016 until forever.

But what about Al Gore's Social Security "Lock Box?" Can't we just spend that $2.5 trillion in the Social Security Trust Fund? As Heritage experts David John and Brian Reidl explain, since 1939 federal law has required Social Security to "invest" its extra money in Treasury bonds. Those bonds are really just IOUs from the government to the government. The feds already spent that $2.5 trillion long ago on programs such as education, foreign aid and defense. Add the $2.5 trillion Social Security obligation onto our other obligations and our current national debt stands at $12.5 trillion, or nearly $42,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country.

The leftist majorities in Congress and the White House are not listening. Instead of reining in federal spending and tackling our existing Entitlement crisis, they are locked in an all out push to create a brand new $2.5 trillion health care entitlement. The President may say his plan is deficit neutral, but the American people do not believe him. And they are wise not to. The President tries to pay for his plan with over half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts over the next decade.

The president's own Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that these cuts would cause one-fifth of all health care providers to go bankrupt.

Reducing our entitlement obligations is the only way to prevent our nation from becoming another Greece. We need to: Show these programs' long-term obligations in the budget; target these programs to only those who that need them; and strengthen personal responsibility by making it easier for people to build personal retirement savings and use health care savings accounts. But first we must avoid the fiscal insanity that is Obamacare.

Gen. Dula's letter to the University of Washington Student Senate Leader, Jill Edwards.

I received this through an email and thought maybe by posting it on my blog it would get even more exposure:


Jill Edwards is one of the students at the University of Washington who did not want to honor Medal of Honor winner USMC Colonel Greg Boyington because she does not think those who serve in the U.S. Armed services are good role models. I think that this response is an excellent and thought provoking response.

General Dula is a Retired Air Force Lt Gen (3 Star Gen).

Miss Edwards,

I read of your 'student activity' regarding the proposed memorial to Col Greg Boyington, USMC and a Medal of Honor winner. I suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from conservative folks like me. You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices of generations of servicemen and servicewomen on whose shoulders you and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of youth and your naïveté. It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There's no dishonor in being a sheep - - as long as you know and accept what you are. Please take a couple of minutes to read the following. And be grateful for the thousands - - millions - - of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.
Brett DulaSheepdog, retired ----------------------------------------------------------

ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER,Ph.D., author of "On Killing." Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending?What is worth dying for?What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997 One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident."


This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million. Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep. I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell.

Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators. "Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial. "Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf." If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial. The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours. Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones. Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into "warriorhood", you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself. Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs. Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke -- Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many police officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying a weapon. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones. I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?" It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up. Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and horror at your moment of truth. Gavin de Becker puts it like this in "Fear Less", his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect.

For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling." Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself..."Baa." This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between.

Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from "sheephood" and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.