Correspondence
All You Can't Eat Sandy Hume's gustatory guide to Clinton's Washington was informative ("All You Can Eat," TAS, February 1993), but I believe the President, his Partner, and the American people...
...In the 3,000 years since the Iliad was written, what profound changes does Burress discern in our human attitudes toward each other, toward procreation, toward sex and gender...
...Rev...
...Joanne DeBlis Santa Ana, California David Horowitz replies: I do not regard Charles Burress (or Michael Jackson for that matter) as a queer theorist...
...The real message that those government officials, who claim that the money will "not be there" in the future, are sending us is that they intend to default on their obligation to pay back the money they have illegally taken from the fund...
...As extreme as it was, this proposition began the campaign season ahead (80-20 percent) in the polls, largely because of voter misperception...
...Why, then, did it vote against Republican candidates and propositions...
...Thier for his kind words about the main thrust of my article, but I think he may be a bit unfair to the policymakers who enacted the 1983 Social Security amendments...
...Maybe we should force our government officials to deposit the SSI fund money in commercial banks where they would be willing to insure it...
...But neither that fact nor the prospective size of the trust fund surplus reduces the amount of unearned benefits that past, present, and soon-to-be retirees are receiving from the system...
...But life expectancy for that cohort of retirees was 82...
...On the matter of Christians and Jews, I probably should have written "some Christians...
...One final point needs to be clarified...
...He later contradicts his original claim when he admits that "none of the money saved now by cutting benefits or raising taxes will go to meet those liabilities...
...Ferguson did not comment on another ballot measure, Proposition 161, which would have allowed any medical professional to administer euthanasia to terminal patients...
...The truth is, it is not nearly as regressive as the tax system they are defending: the one we have now...
...In spite of that viewpoint, to ignore the results of the election in Iowa when considering what "winds" are blowing is regrettable...
...Thier for his kind words about the main thrust of my article, but I think he may be a bit unfair to the policymakers who enacted the 1983 Social Security amendments...
...For example, the Catholic bishops of California were persuaded by their lobbying organization in Sacramento (the California Catholic Conference) to order that a statement in opposition be read from the pulpit of every Catholic parish throughout the state on the grounds that Prop...
...And I'll Cry if I Want to," TAS, January 1993...
...Dale Pritchard Our Savior's Evangelical Lutheran Church Hillsboro, Illinois...
...It's interesting that in the case of the S&L bailout, when the money was stolen by others, the term "full faith credit of the United States Treasury" meant something, while in the case of money stolen from the SSI retirement fund by our own government, it apparently doesn't...
...Norquist writes from a tax-question perspective...
...But neither that fact nor the prospective size of the trust fund surplus reduces the amount of unearned benefits that past, present, and soon-to-be retirees are receiving from the system...
...Bush-Quayle '92 mined money out of California and spent it other places, which made this state a two-man race between Clinton and Perot...
...The fact is, the OASI (not SSI—that's an entirely different program) trust fund was just about empty when President Reagan and Congress got together on a bailout plan: In early November 1982, OASI had to borrow $581 million from the disability and hospital insurance trust funds to pay benefits om, time;' the following month it had to borrov, e'antither $13.5 billion to carry it through the first six months of 1983...
...He raises the question whether these results can be interpreted as a rejection of conservative values by the voters...
...Pro-life opposition could hardly be attributed to liberal-socialist conviction...
...The American people have not yet caught on that the 1983 SSI tax increase was a scam...
...Rev...
...The election of 1992 was an unusual one, in which many perturbations obscure the reading of possible underlying trends...
...In the 3,000 years since the Iliad was written, what profound changes does Burress discern in our human attitudes toward each other, toward procreation, toward sex and gender...
...A lot of liberals attacked Jerry Brown's flat tax proposal as being too regressive...
...165 was a rejection of the poor...
...The first omission was the real impact of the Bush campaign, which cost us eleven GOP legislators (starting with Herschensohn...
...The Bush campaign was a drag on the ticket (when it was not invisible...
...So far, it looked to me like that's all he stands out on, but Daniel Wattenberg's article enlightened me on his mediocre record as a "Hard-Line Appeaser...
...He is not a photogenic candidate, yet he came from way behind to a dead heat on election eve against a candidate who was lionized and sanitized by a cheerleader press establishment...
...The fact that the trust fund surplus may reach $5.5 trillion by 2025 is a separate issue from whether, in my words, "today's retirees are getting far more out of the system than they put into it...
...The real message that those government officials, who claim that the money will "not be there" in the future, are sending us is that they intend to default on their obligation to pay back the money they have illegally taken from the fund...
...The fact is, the OASI (not SSI—that's an entirely different program) trust fund was just about empty when President Reagan and Congress got together on a bailout plan: In early November 1982, OASI had to borrow $581 million from the disability and hospital insurance trust funds to pay benefits om, time;' the following month it had to borrov, e'antither $13.5 billion to carry it through the first six months of 1983...
...Hanna D. Maynard South Pasadena, Florida Holy Cow...
...Let's skip the evolution from crawly creatures in the water to homo erectus (about which neither he nor anyone else knows very much or can speak with any real authority) and skip to the period when we have records of how human beings thought, felt, and acted...
...McDonald's also has done something right for our times by reinventing the french fry...
...One such trend might be the persistence and growing influence of activists motivated by Christian convictions...
...The truth is, it is not nearly as regressive as the tax system they are defending: the one we have now...
...On the other hand, O'Lessker seems to have lost his bearings on some important points...
...This meant almost twelve years of actuarially "unearned" benefits, or 170 percent more than they had contributed—a bonanza that could be financed only by today's workers, who may or may not receive an equivalent level of benefits when they retire...
...So the people who voted for the 1983 amendments had compelling reason to do so, quite apart from any devious intent to build up a huge trust fund surplus to pay government's other bills...
...Harry D. Oakley Holstein, Iowa Grass Tactics "Clinical depression" is how Tim Ferguson describes the demeanor of conservatives in California as a result of the 1992 election...
...Tragic Irony The article "Berkeley Barbs" (TAS, February 1993) concerning the Daily Cal's reasoning for censoring a pro-life advertisement was filled with a tragic irony...
...When Burress writes, "In a world threatened by racial tensions and over-population, the survival instinct could summon a new human, one who has no single race and who, by being . . . androgynous, is less subject to the procreative urge," he is not writing descriptively and is hardly talking about an evolutionary process that will take eons to unfold...
...Or perhaps I'm just very fortunate in that I have never seen any evidence of it...
...Sorry about that...
...The real effect of the tax is that it inverted the progressive nature of the tax code, to the point that a working person earning under $50,000 a year now pays a marginal rate that is more than 7 percent higher than Ross Perot's...
...Joanne DeBlis Santa Ana, California David Horowitz replies: I do not regard Charles Burress (or Michael Jackson for that matter) as a queer theorist...
...Tragic Irony The article "Berkeley Barbs" (TAS, February 1993) concerning the Daily Cal's reasoning for censoring a pro-life advertisement was filled with a tragic irony...
...The size and complexity of that proposition allowed it to be easily misrepresented as (1) a power grab by the governor, and (2) a mean-spirited turning of one's back on the poor...
...I was surprised, however, that Christopher was not pictured in his light grey worsted or medium grey flannel suits, often with white stripes and wide lapels, which make him stand out in a sea of navy-blue suits like something out of the Eisenhower era...
...The MegaMac has the same infrastructure as the Big Mac, but it replaces the Big Mac's flimsy beef wafers with two strapping quarter-pound patties...
...In fact, he is talking nonsense...
...One final point needs to be clarified...
...On the other hand, O'Lessker seems to have lost his bearings on some important points...
...The 1909 K St...
...They most assuredly are (as will I, God willing, a couple of years from now...
...This in spite of a flood of out-of-state "Mother's Milk of Politics," i.e., money, at the close of the campaign...
...The malefactors told us that they did it to save the fund, then they stole the surplus and are now trying to cover up their crime by telling the young the lie that it is the old who are stealing their future...
...Probably because the electorate was confused about complex issues and its perplexity made it vulnerable to manipulation of symbols over substance...
...It's interesting that in the case of the S&L bailout, when the money was stolen by others, the term "full faith credit of the United States Treasury" meant something, while in the case of money stolen from the SSI retirement fund by our own government, it apparently doesn't...
...The American people have not yet caught on that the 1983 SSI tax increase was a scam...
...Lawrence Scrivani Cupertino, California I found Tim Ferguson's article interesting, but there were a couple of important omissions...
...It is important to understand that Governor Pete Wilson's welfare-cutting Proposition 165 was not perceived as a referendum on liberal-socialist values...
...Instead, it will be used, as it is today, to pay the government's other bills, leaving the taxpayers and retirees of the future not one penny better off...
...Dale Pritchard Our Savior's Evangelical Lutheran Church Hillsboro, Illinois CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 71) well educated and astute as Mr...
...The real effect of the tax is that it inverted the progressive nature of the tax code, to the point that a working person earning under $50,000 a year now pays a marginal rate that is more than 7 percent higher than Ross Perot's...
...Fellow travelers, perhaps, but even that would be to take them too seriously...
...On the matter of Christians and Jews, I probably should have written "some Christians...
...The Social Security State In "Demagoguing the Deficit" (TAS, December 1992) Karl O'Lessker made an important beginning in clearing up a good deal of the misinformation about the real issues regarding the deficit and our financial problems...
...He later contradicts his original claim when he admits that "none of the money saved now by cutting benefits or raising taxes will go to meet those liabilities...
...and by July of that year, absent some kind of rescue operation, it would be flat broke...
...Louis study in 1982 showed, workers who retired at age 65 during the 1980s could expect to receive, on average, every cent they and their employers had paid into the trust fund—plus interest—within 64 months...
...They most assuredly are (as will I, God willing, a couple of years from now...
...Let's skip the evolution from crawly creatures in the water to homo erectus (about which neither he nor anyone else knows very much or can speak with any real authority) and skip to the period when we have records of how human beings thought, felt, and acted...
...Pro-life organizations also recommended a "no" vote on Prop...
...The fact that the Treasury is "borrowing" from the OASI surplus to meet current bills is certainly deplorable, and it will pose bitterly hard political problems for policymakers two decades hence...
...To be precise, as a Federal Reserve Bank of St...
...i.e., "little one...
...It was defeated, 60-40, due in part to a spirited grassroots campaign...
...The paper compared the reliability of "Students For Life" to those who deny the Holocaust—yet in its arrogance and ignorance denies the holocaust of the fetus...
...Or perhaps I'm just very fortunate in that I have never seen any evidence of it...
...My answer is that it is too soon to throw in the sponge...
...Sanford Thier Irvine, California Karl O'Lessker replies: I'm grateful to Mr...
...Maybe we should force our government officials to deposit the SSI fund money in commercial banks where they would be willing to insure it...
...All You Can't Eat Sandy Hume's gustatory guide to Clinton's Washington was informative ("All You Can Eat," TAS, February 1993), but I believe the President, his Partner, and the American people also have a right to know about the innovative McDonald's at 1909 K Street, N.W.waddling distance from the White House...
...Man in the Grey Flannel Suit Enjoyed as usual your cover on the February issue, done by David Turner, of the new secretary of state, Warren Christopher...
...Sanford Thier Irvine, California Karl O'Lessker replies: I'm grateful to Mr...
...i.e., "little one...
...The paper compared the reliability of "Students For Life" to those who deny the Holocaust—yet in its arrogance and ignorance denies the holocaust of the fetus...
...Elvis Presley would not be in Heaven today had it not been for similarly innovative restaurateurs in Memphis...
...I hope you'll give 1909 K Street's break-the-mold McDonald's its rightful place among today's profiles in the courage to change...
...After all of the misleading ravings by people like Warren Rudman that "entitlements" are bankrupting the nation and that getting "control" of Social Security is the way to solve the deficit, it is nice to see some truth in print...
...Horowitz believes that this type of religious exclusion, and hatred, is prevalent today...
...In Iowa, the only state considering an Equal Rights Amendment, President Clinton won quite handily while the ERA lost...
...The fact that the Treasury is "borrowing" from the OASI surplus to meet current bills is certainly deplorable, and it will pose bitterly hard political problems for policymakers two decades hence...
...John Seymour, in contrast, with "moderate" Republican plumage, with Governor Wilson's blessing, and with a vociferous "pro-choice" stance, was never close to beating his opponent...
...and by July of that year, absent some kind of rescue operation, it would be flat broke...
...Having walked precincts and spoken to civic and church groups on behalf of candidates and initiative propositions, I have the impression that the electorate has a solid conservative element in it...
...The fact that the trust fund surplus may reach $5.5 trillion by 2025 is a separate issue from whether, in my words, "today's retirees are getting far more out of the system than they put into it...
...This explains the figure of 6 points used by (continued on page 70) CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 71) well educated and astute as Mr...
...Bruce Herschensohn won their support, owing to his forthright pro-life, pro-family stand...
...Louis study in 1982 showed, workers who retired at age 65 during the 1980s could expect to receive, on average, every cent they and their employers had paid into the trust fund—plus interest—within 64 months...
...Sorry about that...
...A lot of liberals attacked Jerry Brown's flat tax proposal as being too regressive...
...Church lobbies were especially influenced by this latter image...
...But life expectancy for that cohort of retirees was 82...
...He claims that the reason that today's workers may not receive an equivalent level of benefits when they retire is the high benefits paid to today'sretirees, when, again, his figures show that, even at the levels of today's benefits, the fund will have a surplus of $5.5 trillion in 2025 when today's workers will be retiring...
...After all of the misleading ravings by people like Warren Rudman that "entitlements" are bankrupting the nation and that getting "control" of Social Security is the way to solve the deficit, it is nice to see some truth in print...
...During Inauguration Week, this McDonald's introduced a new sandwich called the MegaMac...
...When Burress writes, "In a world threatened by racial tensions and over-population, the survival instinct could summon a new human, one who has no single race and who, by being . . . androgynous, is less subject to the procreative urge," he is not writing descriptively and is hardly talking about an evolutionary process that will take eons to unfold...
...The technique is a closely guarded secret, but the chefs at 1909 K have devised a way to engorge their fries with nearly three times as much grease as the average amount at other McDonald's outlets...
...The TV news in the San Francisco Bay Area brazenly broadcast video clips of activists rounding up homeless people to go in, register, and fill out absentee ballots, using Clinton as carrot and Proposition 165 as stick...
...Fellow travelers, perhaps, but even that would be to take them too seriously...
...This freed the California Democratic party to focus on the tasks of registration and turnout, and it did its best job in decades...
...Joseph P. Duggan Washington, D.C...
...Instead, it will be used, as it is today, to pay the government's other bills, leaving the taxpayers and retirees of the future not one penny better off...
...He claims that the reason that today's workers may not receive an equivalent level of benefits when they retire is the high benefits paid to today'sretirees, when, again, his figures show that, even at the levels of today's benefits, the fund will have a surplus of $5.5 trillion in 2025 when today's workers will be retiring...
...To be precise, as a Federal Reserve Bank of St...
...165, perceiving it as a logical extension of Governor Wilson's policy to promote abortion as a way of reducing welfare payments...
...In fact, he is talking nonsense...
...The malefactors told us that they did it to save the fund, then they stole the surplus and are now trying to cover up their crime by telling the young the lie that it is the old who are stealing their future...
...The Social Security State In "Demagoguing the Deficit" (TAS, December 1992) Karl O'Lessker made an important beginning in clearing up a good deal of the misinformation about the real issues regarding the deficit and our financial problems...
...This meant almost twelve years of actuarially "unearned" benefits, or 170 percent more than they had contributed—a bonanza that could be financed only by today's workers, who may or may not receive an equivalent level of benefits when they retire...
...Regarding Grover Norquist's "The Real Mandate" (TAS, February 1993): I admit Mr...
...So the people who voted for the 1983 amendments had compelling reason to do so, quite apart from any devious intent to build up a huge trust fund surplus to pay government's other bills...
...Horowitz believes that this type of religious exclusion, and hatred, is prevalent today...
Vol. 26 • April 1993 • No. 4
