Saturday, April 02, 2005

What a Day

Well the Pope passed away today. RightWingRocker has a nice post on the Pope prior to his passing. He should be remembered as one of the truly great Popes. Remember, he was instrumental in the crumbling of the "iron curtain."

Also, The Baron has a fabulous post about attending a Town Hall meeting hosted by Congressman Mike Sodrel. Being near a major university, Ol' BC can just imagine the scope of questioning the Congressman had to endure. The Baron sheds light on this in his usual witty fashion. There is, however, some very good information pointed out on the issue of Social Security reform. As you may or may not remember, this is one of Ol' BC's pet topics. The Baron had this little tidbit which Ol' BC thinks needs to be pointed out from time to time.


For example, during the discussion on Social Security, he was explaining
that the average life expectancy when the program was created was 61, but now it
is 77. However, he never said that the retirement age has only gone from 65 to
67, meaning that the original Social Security plan never intended the average
guy to draw a check. Now, nearly everyone will draw a check.
I might have
compared the program’s formation to modern times, and explained that if Social
Security were formed today, it would mean that the retirement age would not be
67 but 82 or 83 - five years above the average life expectancy, which is exactly
where FDR set it the first time. Then, once the ooohs and aaaahs quieted enough
for me to continue, I would probably say something witty like, “And that, my
friends, is why we can’t continue to tax our way out of this problem.

That's powerful stuff. Ol' BC understands that the math thing can be challenging and confusing, but most elementary students can grasp this - BUT can the Democrats in Washington?

Just a thought.

4 Comments:

At 9:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ol'BC,
With the death of the Pope, much of the talk is "will the next Pope be from somewhere other than Europe?" Not being Catholic, it will not be much of an issue to me personally. However, to millions of people it will. Will an African or Latin American Pope take the church in another direction on such issues as human rights, sexuality (birth control, gay rights, etc.) or evangelism? Church doctrine is not changed by the leadership of one man, or is it? Are the church leaders from outside Europe more in tune with the needs of people in developing nations? I find it interesting that Africa and Latin America now make up 2/3 of the world's Catholic population. Does that mean that the next Pope should come from one of these areas? Just a few thoughts. What do you think?

Sorreli

 
At 1:14 PM, Blogger Ol' BC said...

When the Cardinals convene, Ol' BC figures another European will end up at the helm. One reason is that the late Pope was the first non-Italian in hundreds of years. Also, the differences the Pope had the Bishop Romero (in El Salvador I think) were pretty widely publicized. The Catholic church at the top is very traditional and I think John Paul appointed this type person to leadership posts as well. Time will tell, but look for a European, probably Italian. What does this mean for developing areas in Latin America and Africa? Probably business as usual. The church can still be a big catalyst from the bishops and cardinals.

 
At 8:43 PM, Blogger RightWingRocker said...

Ol' BC ...

As always, thanks for the kind words. You've done a nice post here yourself.

RWR

 
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