Glinda, define "gut Social Security and Medicare." Do you mean strengthen the systems for future generations by giving them participation options, while leaving it untouched for those 55 and above? If so, then I suppose your words are fair. If not, then perhaps you should get educated before regurgitating the left-winged script.

did not obama himself gut medicare 700 billion

Jean, that isn't in their talking points...don't bring it up!

oops sorry justin, I had a Biden moment

Justin - I buy health insurance on the open market and the idea of an elderly person with lots of health problems getting good coverage at an affordable price is laughable. This voucher program is nothing but ruse to give insurance companies huge profits while leaving seniors with inadequate coverage and greater out-of-pocket expenses. As for the $700 billion "cut" from the Medicare program, it was not cut. These are cost savings instituted by the govt. that had Republican approval before the presidential campaign. Please drop the lies and the hypocrisy.

Those 55 and younger would be given the identical option that is given to our over 65 congress persons. They will also have the option to stay with Medicare as offered. The Affordable Healthcare Act is what will be gutting Medicare to the tune of $716 billion over the next 10 years.

The proponents of the ACA gutting say it will only 'reduce' payments to providers like doc's and hospitals, not to subscribers.

When you cut back the funding to the actual providers of the actual care...what do you think that will do to your access to care? Think about it.

Oh please Glinda when has the government ever saved money on anything? When has the government ever cut wasteful spending? The government is the most efficient wasteful spender this planet has ever seen. Talk about living in a dreamland. What country do you live in that has a government that would willfully remove any kind of pork? I want to move there.

Phyllis and Jim - please stop LYING. Polticact has debunked the lie that Obama cut Medicare by $716 billion and also proved that the Romney/Ryan plan for Medicare ALSO depends on the $716 billion in savings that Obama has instituted. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/aug/15/checking-facts-700-billion-medicare-cut/

"While the health care law reduces the amount of future spending growth in Medicare, the law doesn't actually cut Medicare. Savings come from reducing money that goes to private insurers who provide Medicare Advantage programs, among other things. The money wasn’t "robbed." We rated the statement Mostly False.

Responding to the Romney attack, Obama campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Ryan's budget relies on the same $700 billion in savings from Medicare that Mitt Romney and other Republicans have been attacking Democrats about.

Ryan has confirmed that, and we rated it True."

thought biden was a catholic also ...whats your point ????

@Bob: exactly ... a TP Ayn Rand selfish fanatic

Some of us Catholics didn't vote for Kerry and wouldn't take money to vote for a Kennedy now. I guess we're not just a monolithic voting block but thinking individuals.

@ Mr. Reith: You sure don't know a thing about Ayn Rand and her works. She escaped Russia during the communist reign. Look into her 'Objectivist' philosophy. Tossing that 'selfish' fanatic bit.....is actually an indication of your lack of information.

Stop lying about Medicare. The $750 billion you mention are cost savings which, until the presidential campaign, supported by Republicans.

how is obamacare saving anything? the cost has tripled

@Glinda Smith: I can't believe you say that 'republicans' supported the alleged cost savings of $700 plus...LOL...as that was in the Affordable Healthcare Act...was there any republican support for the ACA? Besides...the $700+ taken from Medicare is to be reductions to paying doc's and hospitals who provide the care. If you don't think that will affect the level of, availability of and quality of the care given to Medicare recipients....think again. You think you bought a Rolls Royce...but look under the hood and ogle that Model T engine! LOL!

Glinda, please educate me. I really don't want to intentionally spread falsehoods. How is the $750 billion a cost savings? I thought what ObamaCare basically did was to just remove $750 billion from Medicare. They just aren't going to pay for $750 billion worth of services. Please correct me where I am wrong.

Full Disclosure, I like all of congress and the president didn't read the 2,700 pages in the bill. Perhaps you did.

MZ & Phyllis - I know you don't like bother with facts, but here they are:
"Voters might be left with the impression that Romney and Ryan have both opposed the cuts. The truth is that Ryan himself endorses them in his signature budget plan – the same plan Romney has said he would sign as president if it reached his desk.
Those Medicare savings -achieved through reduced provider reimbursements and curbed waste, fraud and abuse, not benefit cuts – appear in the House Republicans’ FY 2013 budget, which Ryan authored."

From: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/fact-check-obama-ryan-romney-backed-medicare-cuts/

@ Glinda Smith: You are correct in that it was in one of Ryan's BUDGETS to keep the Medicare cuts. However, both Ryan and Romney claim that in Ryan's plan to fix Medicare that they hope to present, that will NOT happen.

And again, may I remind you that in the ACA, those cuts over a 10 year period aside from the goal to cut waste and fraud, they were aimed at increasingly reducing payments incrementally to providers. Providers of care like docs, hospitals, nursing homes, home care companies and so forth. When you start cutting back in compensation to those who provide the care there will be refusals by providers to participate in the care of Medicare patients. Right on...ACA would not quit 'insuring' Medicare subscribers, the subscribers will ultimately need to pay out of pocket to assure getting care. Also, although I don't know what that Medicare Advantage plan is, in the ACA this will no longer be available to its subscribers. I think that affects 500,000 on that plan. I prefer a plan that will not cut Medicare but will fix it. As it stands now, allegedly Medicare will go belly up before the 10 years is up. It does need a sensible fix.

@Glinda...Correction: the figure on Medicare Advantage is more than 10 million, not 500,000. This will not be available with the ACA. Romney says he likes that plan and wants it kept.

since ads would be purchased by third parties to be run on Patch, I think it's safe to assume that the Obama campaign (local headquarters maybe) are buying ads on Patch while Romney's campaign is not.

Wait, you mean you actually look at the ads?

lol!

Thanks for writing in. Patch encourages our users to participate in the election, no matter who you're voting for. As far as the advertisements you are seeing, our national sales team offered the same opportunities to both the Obama and Romney campaigns, but only Obama responded. As long as an ad does not violate our guidelines, linked here, we would not reject it. http://www.patch.com/ads/guidelines

Mr. Osbourne,
I haven't seen any Romney ads but I have seen other local Republicans like Kristina Roegner so I don't think there's any prooblem.

Huh? Paranoid much??

At least he can spell (I think) lol...

That's cute Earl... Nothing like mature adults setting the example!

Oh lets see. In Ohio unemployment's down, we have a budget surplus. I guess we should thank the democrats yeah right i dont think so.

We told them we wouldn't forget how they tried to screw the unions.

It would have been the same if it were democrats who tried union busting. They're all a bunch of crooks.

And, Tom, it all happened *WITHOUT* busting the unions.

Guess SB5/Issue 2 wasn't needed after all, eh?

Earl I don't think he ever intended to bust the unions. The Tsunami is coming but you all choose to ignore it. The costs to taxpayers for the benefits and pensions for the district, city and the state are unsustainable.

Funny how people try and paint Romney as this hard nosed Conservative... he's far from it lol

Ryan has spent his entire professional life working for the government that he supposedly despises and getting all kinds of great government benefits in the process.

@Glinda Smith: You are mistaken as to Ryan spending his entire professional life working for the government. After he graduated from Miami U in Ohio, he began working as a marketing consultant for a number of years. During college one of his jobs was driving the Oscar Meyer wiener truck. In his early years in DC he moonlighted as a waiter on Capitol Hill at the Tortilla Coast Restaurant. I don't think this guy is afraid of work.

Correct, Phyllis, nor do I find anything in Rep. Ryan's record that indicates that he "despises" the federal government. What I *do* find is that he is one of the very few Congresspersons in D.C. who is actually offering some ideas on how to correct some of our fiscal challenges.

This during a time when the President can't get a single vote from his *own party* on his budget proposals and when the Senate has failed to even offer, let alone pass, a budget in over three years.

It is long past time for a change in executive direction. The current administration has failed by almost every reasonable metric.

Oh, so now Phyllis you are bragging about the fact that Ryan drove the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile????? *LOL* And he worked as a "marketing consultant" for his family's company for exactly one year. He graduated from college in 1992 - from his bio this is what he did before he was elected to Congress in 1998:
"Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a staff economist attached to Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer and at various other side jobs.
A few months after Kasten was defeated by Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan cites him as a "huge influence."Ryan later worked for U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas before returned to Wisconsin in 1997, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for Ryan Incorporated Central, his relatives' construction company."

"Various other side jobs" don't count as private sector business experience. Not that I think a President or Vice President needs private sector business experience. It's Romney who said that.
"

Glinda, and your point is??

Obama mentioned recently that he and Michelle paid off their student loans eight years ago.
"We didn't come from wealthy families. When we graduated from college and law school we had a mountain of debt. When we married, we got poor together. We added up our assets and there were no assets. And we added up our liabilities and there were lot of liabilities—basically in the form of student loans," Obama said of himself and Michelle Obama." From: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/obama-paid-off-student-loans-years-ago/story?id=16204817#.UDAzzBzyBoU

And this debunks the various myths about Obama's SS#:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/ssn.asp

You really need to stop believing all those chain emails you get.

OH MY GOSH, Beav....I wouldn't vote for such a pair of scoundrels if what you profess were true. Whatever plan you are talking about just doesn't exist.

Do you realize that Ethanol is more polluting than plain old gas? So now we have a corn shortage and higher feed and gas prices at with the added benefit of increased pollution. Replacing public education?...amazing beyond belief. No investment in infrastructure...you gotta be kidding. Stomp on women's rights...laughable. The list is magnificent in its insanity.

Give us the documentation on this. Take the passages out of what ever plan this is and quote them directly. Please.

I am a working grandmother. I would vote for Howdy Doody to stop the present direction into which this nation is going. Its not about 'personalities' or political parties for me its about saving this nation from a Greece, Spain, etc. collapse. Both my grandmothers were 'working mothers', both becoming widows while raising their children. There was no welfare. But they fed and housed their kids by their own efforts. Several kids went to college...working their way thru. The adult kids of one grandmother bought her a house when they grew up....she had rented all her and their lives.

It seems to me the spirit and sense of responsibility that my grandmothers had is no longer part of the American culture. Now, we turn to the government to solve all our problems. You seem to be a big government fan...well, okay.

1. Congress passes tax laws, not the president.
2. How and why would they do this?
3. Like GE? Similar to the "bailout" money spent by Obama overseas?
4. The insurance companies wrote Obama Care. Didn't your read the bill? Don't worry, neither did anyone who voted for it.
5. I assume you are referring to voucher programs which allow kids in failing schools to seek alternatives. I wonder where Obama sends his kids to schools, DC public schools, or private schools?
6. Do you mean they will eliminate all those "shovel ready" jobs?
7. Ryan is an avid outdoorsman. I am sure he wants to destroy the environment. Every hunter and fisherman that I know is all for pollution.
8. How would these laws work? Do you mean like the incredibly burdensome regulations that are currently on the books that allow only the biggest companies to comply due to cost?
9. Which rights? The "right" to free contractives?
10. It will be hard for them to compete with the current administration on this one. Romney & Ryan really have their work cut out for them.
11. What the what?
12. If by impossible you mean the requirement to provide ID, I don't really know what to say. It is nearly impossible to participate in the American experience with out ID. If you are referring to some other nefarious plan, please explain.

It is becoming difficult for many Americans to afford the current administration. I'M A WORKING FATHER.

Beav,

You are awarded 10 points. You covered tax breaks for the rich (bonus points would have been awarded for a 1% mention), the war against women, the evil oil companies, and destroying the environment. Nice work!

@MZ: Please start a blog. I am a fan of your thinking, approach, intelligence, logic and facts. Where did 'the Beav' get her assertions? I am thinking she may be a genuine Dem operative, perusing blogs, spewing fear and distortions.

The Beav has Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals' down pat.

MZ,
I'm with Phyllis.

The President for life (he wishes), Barack Obama has high hopes to get the "Moron Vote" in his re-election bid for another 4 years! Will he succeed?

http://www.independentsentinel.com/2012/08/obama-is-winning-the-moron-vote/

Glinda, Why do you think college is so expensive? I wondered about this myself.

Has the education of the students gotten dramatically better as the costs have risen? If you are interested take a look at the correlation between federal loans and Pell grants and the cost of tuition. It would appear that the federal government has created another bubble, the tuition bubble. Each time federal college aid is increased, tuition goes up. There has been a 500% increase in the last 30 years. I am sure this is just a coincidence.

This is yet another example of a federal government program that was sold to the public to help, and has driven up costs. Yet another failure. Why anybody would think the federal government should be involved in college loans is beyond me.

Glinda...ahh yes I remember those days when tuition was reasonable. I did the same as you did. But today, professors are bestowed with salaries that compete well with major management in business and industry. A tenured prof does real well in that arena. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I look at my grandkids going to college, 2 at public Universities (one at Bowling Green and one at U of Alabama) and the cost takes your breath away.

As to the Ryan budget thing, that was part of the plan, I believe, that was presented in the bipartisan Erskine-Bowles 'symposium'. I am not lying, in as much as Romney (running for president and the 'decider on this) AND Ryan both say that will NOT be part of the Medicare plan they have to save Medicare. Okay?

MZ and Phyllis - There is no truth to allegation that increases in Pell Grant funding results in increases in tuition:
"The House budget plan also claims that federal financial aid is responsible for increasing college tuition and cites a 2007 study conducted by University of Oregon economists showing that increases in Pell Grants are matched by increases in tuition at private nonprofit schools. But this study found no evidence that higher Pell Grants drive tuition increases at public universities, where 75 percent of all college students are enrolled.
The House Republican budget also cites the work of economist Richard Vedder as support for the notion that college prices are driven up by federal student financial aid. Yet Vedder’s own Center for College Affordability and Productivity recently released a paper that reexamines the link between federal aid and tuition, concluding that aid directed at low-income students does not, in fact, increase tuition. Since the Pell Grant is a program for low-income college students, even the research of Rep. Ryan’s favored scholars would not support cutting the program as a way to control tuition."

The cause is the decrease in state funding to public universities that continues as state budgets are hit hard by repeated recessions and decreases in aid from the Federal govt.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2012/03/21/11216/middle-class-college-dreams-take-serious-hit-under-ryan-plan/

Glinda, you failed to include Federal Loans in your analysis.

Regardless, based on your sited study I would have to assume you are completely ok with others paying for your education. If the true cause is as you state, a decrease in state and federal funding, then you must be ok with having others pay your way (or at least a piece of it). Before you answer, please keep in mind that the government cannot give to you (in the form of subsidized education) what it has not taken from someone else first.

What about the hypothetical family that lived next door to you while you were growing up who couldn’t afford to send their kids to college? Is it fair to them that some portion of the taxes they paid may have went to send you to college?

Why does anybody think the federal government needs to be involved in all of these activities?

Many prospective students don't have a college support system to rely on, that's where subsidized loans step in. If you think that is a burden on the US to have college educated people, that's backwards. In President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech in 2011, he said science, technology, engineering and math will guide the country's future, and education improvements are needed.
"Maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America's success ... if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas, then we also have to win the race to educate our kids..". We already lag globally in STEM majors so if government subsidized loans get more people into college and hopefully more into the STEM programs, then I'm all for it!

Massachusetts is hardly a bastion of conservative governance or populous. Additionally, it is a STATE. The states were intended to be able to act independently, to make their own laws, to serve as petri dishes for the rest of the nation. The key is at the state level if you disagree, you can move to a different state. It is also much easier to hold an elected state level official accountable. Further, what Massachusetts wants to try doesn’t impact me one bit.

What makes you think a large all-encompassing Federal Government is a good idea?

As a side note, I would bet that RomneyCare is the single biggest issue conservatives have with Romney. It is unlikely conservatives will run to the polls because of RomneyCare, rather in spite of it.

Another point...Romney care doesn't rob anything from Medicare in order to be deficit neutral. And the IRS is not involved in Romney care. And there is not a board of bureaucrat/non medical'advisors' who decide whether you get that by pass or have to live with a pill to save $. There are some major differences.

Each state should have the right to adopt a health care plan or not. During and after the passage of the ACA all the polls showed a majority of USA opposed the ACA. It was crammed down our throats as a result of that and many pols paid in the elections after that.

Whether I am for or against a candidate for any office does not mean that I fully indorse every stance they take. I do realize that they are politicians and can't walk on water. Should I assume that you support each and every position that Barack and Joe take? Are you willing to admit that you are fully, 100% behind them in every way? If so, please indicate that so we can really have some fun.

As for the college tuition, your sited articles conclusions are spurious at best. I don't think that I sidetracked any issue at all.

Let's be honest here. You think the Federal Government should have more power than I think it should. You think that the Federal Government can solve a whole assortment of problems, which I don't think it should be involved at all. You are for a big all-knowing and all caring Federal Government made up of fallible humans. That scares the you know what out of me.

Bye the way, why have college costs gone up 500% in the past 30 years?

Oh, Phyllis, I knew the facts would be too much for you and you'd steer the conversation away from that. First of all, I don't think caring for other American's is "self serving." I myself have, according to your logic, taken very little from the federal govt. in benefits. I'm one of those who pays the taxes that supplies those benefits to others and I am happy to do so. I feel so blessed that I am financially able to do so. I consider taking care of my country and taking care of my fellow Americans to be the very height of patriotism. We Americans must take care of each other - no one else is going to do it, that's for sure! I consider neglecting my country and my fellow Americans to be the height of ignorance and depravity. I consider selling out my country to corporations and big banks, who currently control our Congress through their campaign donations and lobbyists to be a grave error that we must rectify and I don't think electing a millionaire with Swiss bank accounts is the answer to that. I guess we have very different ideas about what patriotism is and I think your version is the self-serving one - not mine.
MZ - I really don't want to discuss your paranoia.

Glinda, we probably have more in common than you think. It appears that we are both hard working, love our country and want what's best for the future generations. We may just have differences in opinion on the best way to get there. These differences in opinion shouldn't be reasons to hate one another, to call each other names, or to infer that anyone we disagree with must me stupid or I'll informed.

I take great pride in helping others as you do. I agree that we are participating in this American experiment together and that looking out for our fellow man is patriotic. Again, the issue that separates us is what is the most efficient way to accomplish these goals. That is all.

You are my fellow American and we have some big challenges ahead in this great nation. If I came across rude or insulting to you, please accept my apologese as this was not my intent. But please recognize that the Rs and Ds in front of people's names don't make them all good or all bad. I have yet to find the politician with holes in their hands.

Take care, and I'll try and seek professional help for my paranoia.

glinda 9 talking points in one post >>>>>great job

I don't think I am paranoid, but I guess if I was I probably wouldn't know it anyway. Is anyone who thinks the federal government has out stepped its bounds paranoid?

Phyllis, you are correct. How much money someone has doesn't define them. There are good rich and poor people just as there are criminals on both sides. Don't let the insults get you down. Try not to get dragged into the mud even though it is often difficult. Use humor and logic and keep smiling, it will drive 'em crazy.

Phyllis, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not after me!

God bless you and your family. I hope I can raise my kids to be the outstanding citizens that yours clearly are.

You book idea is great.

Oh Dan, LOL! I am old enough to be ALL your-all's grandmother. Talking about values in a positive manner is a lot better than calling people stupid and paranoid.

Like^