What Has Happened To Us????

I cannot believe the differences from when I grew up to how my children grew up and how theirs will grow up when they have them! Things have changed too much and I think we need to go back in some ways intead of forward!
I went to school in the 70′s ad 80′s and we spent our summers hanging out with our friends outside and all over the place! Our parents knew who we were with and even though they did not know exactly where we were they did no worry. Atari came out when I was a child and not alot of people had them. If you were able to have one the you had alot of friends at your house to play it but not every day and not for hours on end! In school we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning and we went to church every sunday (whether we wanted to or not! We respected adults and authority because that was what we were taught by our parents! Computers started to come out but were not the norm so typewriters and word processors were the thing and cell phones were not around! We talked to our friends on the phone and in person, actually had whole conversations with each other! In high school mostly farm kids always had a rifle or shotgun in the back window of their truck all the time and during hunting season you were hard pressed to find a vehicle around the school without a gun yet we did not worry about it! We did not worry about someone bringing it into the school and opening fire for no reason! Bullying happened but compared to todays bullying it was nothing! Our parents did not hand us everything or buy us everything we wanted! If we wanted something, we earned the money to buy it ourselves! We did not drive brand new cars that mommy and daddy bought for us! We did chores around the house and did not get paid for it!
What happened to us? There are too many people that think they are owed something! The ME ME ME generation is absolutely ridiculous! Technology has made things worse not better! The bullying doesn’t stop at the moment it happens it continues on FB, Twitter, My Space, emails, etc. and even through youtube when someone videos the bullying and then uploads it thinking it was funny! It i forever out there and the bullied cannot get away from it, usually they end up with more harassment from people they do not know!
People do not talk to each other anymore they email, FB, tweet, and text!There is no conversation and that is an art that will be lost if the trend keeps up! I watch teens sitting at a restaurant texting each other NOT TALKING but actually texting the ones they are sitting with! Another table had a family of 4 who were all on either a phone or a tablet while eating! Mind you the children were about 5yrs and 9-10 yrs old! Families sitting down to a meal but not talking to each other drives me NUTS! My kids had to earn the money for extras including use of a USED vehicle for anything other than school or church functions! They had to pay for their on insurance and gas and when the old family car finally died they either took the bus or they had to buy a vehicle themselves! They did not have a bunch of video games, in fact there was one xbox that they had to share that they got for christmas when they were teens and they had limited time they were allowed on it! They had chores too and trust me they were not happy about it but I told them, that’s life! The first (and last) time my oldest said “my friends don’t have chores and their parents bought them a car and a new cellphone and their parents don’t ask them where they are going and they get an allowance every week! You are just MEAN!” I had to set them all down and explain that obviously they have some very lazy friends and I question whether they are telling you the truth! I love you kids and I want to make sure you can handle life but I also need to know where you are and with who because I want to make sure you are safe because I love you!
Granted they did not believe me until they got a little older! They are now 24, 23 and 21 and they all have jobs and their own places and vehicles and can cook their own meals and do their own laundry! They pay their bills and do not ask for money because they did not budget! Many of their friends who got the free ride and college paid by mom and dad are now living at home using one of mom and dads cars and working a minimum wage job because they didn’t finish or do well at college or have gotten into trouble with the law!
I look back and realize that we did not worry about gun violence and now the government wants to vote on what type of gun laws we should have!I know that here in ND there are not really any difference in the number of guns now in the state than when I was growing up and probably pretty true in many more states so what has changed so much that the gun violence has increased? We have become so politically correct and we want everyone to get a trophy in anything whether they deserve it or not, we have allowed the technology to take over our lives so much that we do not talk to each other anymore, we do not discipline our children hold them accountable for their actions! Instant gratification is all anyone seems to want and be damned anything or anyone else!
Nobody has conversations anymore they don’t really argue points the slam the other side instead and there is no compromising at all! Our Congress is the prfect example of that!
I miss those days before the total deluge of technology that has made us a very indifferent people!

Congress! A Waste of Space and Time!

It amazes me more and more every day how completely useless Congress is! They continually act like little kids fighting over a favorite toy! I am sick of hearing the word “entitlements” when speaking of social security and medicare! Neither of those are the issue AT ALL!!!! Social Security and Medicare are seperately funded by us,the taxpayers! We pay into it all our working lives to be able to get this back in our retirement years, it is in seperate funds from EVERYTHING else! If the government would never have used these funds as a piggy bank it would not be filled with IOU’s! Stupidity runs rampant in Washington!
I think the biggest “entitlements” are the paychecks, pensions, health inurance, etc. of our “illustrious” elected officials! There was never supposed to be “career” politicians, ever, they should not be allowed to give themselves raises nor should they be allowed to take the number of vacation days they have been! They spend less time doing their job and more on vacations and raising money for getting re-elected! It amazes me how we are reminded of seperation of church and state yet Congress sure loves to take advantage of the Easter and Christmas Holidays and Sundays along with every single holiday they could possibly find! If the rest of us told our boss that we have to have the amount of time off that Congress does and that we will give ourselves a raise when we want to and they have to just deal with it, I guarantee that we would NOT have a job! Yet here we are, the taxpayers who pay their salaries (and all the other perks they get) allow Congress to do this!
I suggest that we start with holding their salaries until they do their jobs, we end lifetime pensions immediately, force Congress to pay into social security and medicare just like the rest of us, force Congress to pay for insurance like the rest of us have to do, Congress should have a HUGE cut in their pay and only receive he same percentage of COL raise that those on Social Security gets or doesn’t get according to the government! This year several people I know that are on SS received about a $12 a month cost of living raise! What a joke! How do they come up with their numbers anyway? COL is not determined very well AT ALL!!!!! I know for a fact that the COL has increase A LOT here in ND but more so in the NW and W parts of the state more than the rest but definitely has everywhere here and yet that extra $12 a month should take care of the doubling of monthly bills and higher gas prices (funny considering all the oil here) and all other expenses that are higher now!
Why should ANY elected official collect the huge pensions even after only one term in office? Right around $175,000 a year for life? REALLY?!?!!?! WHY?????? I don’t believe the President should be allowed money after their term/s are up! They make plenty in speaking engagements and why are they still covered under the secret service after their terms? Maybe the first year or so right after leaving office but why longer than that?
There are plenty of places to cut spending when you look at the amount of waste in government, itself! It amazes me the number of people that work for each elected official! WHY?!? The number of redundent positions and then they complain that they do not have enough in other positions, stupidity!
Congress right now is just a waste of space and time! Do your job right now instead of strategizing about the 2014/2016 elections! If you actually do YOUR JOB you don’t have to worry about getting elected again! DUH!!!! I am tired of hearing the whining about so and so isn’t calling for a meeting or this group is not doing anything, why not stop the whining and get off your asses and step up and take care of business! I don’t care who steps up I just wish someone would and get this crap done.
Everytime I hear another politician say cut “entitlements” i.e. SS and Medicare, I am going to call, email, etc. to find out when they aregoing to actually cut the real “entitlements” Themselves!!!!!
We as taxpayers need to make sure that those not doing their job knows that we will notstand for it and that they can and should be replaced if they are not willing to make the hard choice to cut their own pay, pensions, ins., etc.. Good Luck to us!

Troubled Or Forgotten

I am writing this time to wonder why everyone seems to get all worked up about mass shootings but doesn’t seem to get as worked up with all the other violence that kills children everyday. I not saying that these things are not a terrible tradgedy but where is all this outrage for the ones that die daily from the ones on the street, ones that die from child abuse and those that take their own lives! Recently my 21 year old son lost 3 friends to suicide in just a month and a half period of time. One hung himself, one shot himself and one from an overdose. All three were tradgedies and two were married, another had a child and one of them had a child due this Feb. yet they took their own lives. Why did it happen? My son has taken this very hard but we talk about them and honestly when you really look at it you see where there were problems. One was bullied from grade school all the way through college and even at Job Corp (where he met my son). My son is having such a hard time because they always seemed upbeat and having fun but obviously they were hiding a lot of pain. I have said over and over that parents need to talk with their kids openly and honestly and at the same time keep them on the right track. Now I know these boys were young men and 21 to 23 years old and definitely not at home but their problems started a long time before. One lived in a home with both parents and ended up on drugs for a long time before he cleaned up and started over, got married last July and had a baby on the way but something was still troubling him. Another came from a home where his parents were divorced and it was not amicable so the fighting before and after were definitely a problem along with the fact he was bullied for being different. His difference was that he had dyslexia and did not get help for it until he went to Job Corp. He did feel better after he got that help but there were problems with a former girlfriend and her child and whether it was his or not. The last was from a home where one parent had died and the other had to work two jobs to make ends meet just to put food on the table so he spent a lot of time dealing with everything by himself and he had married in the last year or so and had a child yet there still was something wrong.

I am not saying it is all because of parents or because of bullying or anything like that but these young men needed help and did not know where to turn. I cannot imagine the helplessness they must have felt to have taken their own lives, how they believed there was no other way to deal with whatever they were feeling. The tradgedy of these lives lost so early just shows how much our culture is changing and not for the better. Most of their communication was on social media and through texting and email so you can fake how you are through there very easily yet when you actually talk with people you hear the emotion and can tell how someone is really doing!

Ironic that as I write this on a blog that will be viewed online but I do believe one of the biggest problems anymore is the technology that does little to bring people together to just talk! You cannot show emotion through a typed word, ever. The more we push this type of technology the more loners and people who need help are not gonna be seen or heard. Those that are committing crimes against others and those caught in the middle are just as much a tradgedy than those involved in the mass shootings but they seem to get the attention more than those lone tradgedies that happen everyday. We need to look at the real causes and help all those out there that need it before something else happens!

Has To Be A Better Way!

I know that there are a lot of differences out there about gun control but there has to be a better way to deal with this than some of the things I have heard. Just banning guns is not a solution! Just adding more complicated gun laws for those that are actually law abiding gun owners is not a solution! Just banning large capacity magazines is not a solution! Arming teachers everywhere or adding armed security in schools is not a solution!

The crimes that are taking place are by criminals not law abiding gun owners! Why is the justice system not doing their job? Why is the ATF not doing their job? Why isn’t law enforcement doing their job? Why are the current gun laws not being enforced already? How are they going to be able to background check someone for a mental illness, unless they have been found criminally insane in court, with the HIPPA law? Why add more laws on the books when the current ones are not followed? So many criminals get away with things because of the convoluted laws already on the books that they often find loopholes everywhere! If they add more laws it just gets more confusing and the more loopholes are found! (Look at the precious tax code)

The ATF know who the ones are that are trafficking the weapons illegally yet it can take them years to arrest and even longer to go to court, why? Why not pick up the street sellers and convict and just keep doing so until the top ones either give up because they have nobody to do the dirty work or they bust them too? Everytime one of them gets off on some stupid technicality or loophole the criminal gets more power and any of us who know of these things is just as responsible to turn it in to get this riffraff off the streets!

I know a lot of gun owners and I can honestly say they are responsible law abiding citizens who respect a gun teach their younger family members how to respect any firearm! The way some people are talking is that all firearm owners are irresponsible and that is just not true! I think that each side needs to do a little more listening to all the people and not just big business and lobbyists and definitely not while emotions are high!

I do not have a problem with background checks but they already do them and obviously the databases are not set up very well or accurately so that needs to change. Yes they could add in the gun shows but I doubt that would change much but I am not against it. The large capacity magazines are really not necessary but what one person considers high capacity is not always the same as anothers so where is the cut off number? I also do not have a problem with getting rid of banana clips or jungle strap/clips but other than that who knows what is the right number? I also believe that the sale of or instructions for refitting a semi auto to an auto should be gone but it is easily available online so how does that get stopped? If someone wants to purchase an assault type weapon maybe they should have to go through a class and be required to secure it properly and also maybe go through a psychological testing every so often to keep it but that could get expensive and complicated with having to keep track of those doing the testing and who pays for it?!?

I have always been a believer that guns, knives, clubs, etc. do not kill people but people kill people! So we have to look at the ones committing the crimes because we know that the weapon they use does not get put in jail or get executed the person that used the weapon does. The fact is that most of the mass shootings have been done by those with a mental illness so why did nobody do something before it got to that point? The Virginia Tech shooting is an example of falling through the cracks when afterwards you hear so many people knew this person had issues. The Aurora theater suspects mother (and probably other family) knew he had problems yet did nothing to get him help, had they done so it could have saved a lot of lives!

I do not want to turn on the tv and see another mass shooting any more than anyone else but we need to look at the core problem and not just what the outcome was with each of these. Too many days people do not pay attention to what is going on in their own homes and their own families! They ignore the problems and/or throw money at it in buying the kids anything and everything they want! With the technology out there now more and more people do not talk to each other, they text, they use social media(which seems like a joke calling it that) and of course email to talk to each other and sometimes in the same room instead of actually having a conversation with each other. Parents need to actually talk with their kids and know what they are up to but I hear all the time that they are too busy working and paying bills to do this yet I do not believe this at all! I am not saying that we just round up all those that are mentally ill and put them away but those with a mental illness need help not having it hid under the rug! I wish that our mental health system was better and I wish that families would not try to hide problems because that makes it seem that the one suffering is a problem and/or embarrassment and not talking about it makes that person become even more withdrawn. Schools need to do more about bullying in the school system, don’t get me wrong the parents are responsible for teaching their children that it is wrong to bully but when it happens in the schools the administration needs to be responsible to get the help for the one being bullied and punish the ones doing the bullying! There are too many times when this bullying can and does cause violence and/or suicide! I want our children to be safe but it is not just safe from another mass shooting but from the day to day problems that many have to deal with getting picked on or made to feel ashamed about something they are or do differently than others. We need to make sure the children are safe but there are many things that need to be changed to make the violence go away, all violence not just guns!

ENTITLEMENTS! WHO REALLY GETS THEM!?!

Politicians keep saying that they need to do something to fix the deficit. The most popular seems to be what they consider entitlements, but what are these? To them Social Security and Medicare seem to be the most popular yet these are NOT what I would consider entitlements in a way. The social security trust fund is paid into by us and is a totally seperate entity that is not part of the deficit. Medicare is a tax we pay in also, so why do they believe that they should cut something that has nothing to do with the deficit? Because government has notoriously dipped into the social security trust for decades and used it to pay other programs instead of what it was meant for. Social Security and Medicare should not be used as bargaining chips between Congress because they were the ones to put all the “IOU’S” in the trust!

To me the “entitlements” seems to be what Congress makes both while in and out of their seats. Lifetime pensions, for what? The pay they receive and the raises THEY vote themselves seem t be entitlements. The “pork” they add to any and every bill they can is what I believe is and “entitlement”. The nonproductive offices they create are what I would consider “entitlements”. There is also the amount of money that we send over to other countries to “help” them instead of our own is what I would consider a definite “entitlement”! There are many areas of government waste and that should be the first thing looked at and cuts made there.

One other area that I believe would help the middle and lower class is putting a stop to the constant and astronomically rising costs of living. Especially for our elderly with the rising costs of medical care. Too many “non profit” hospitals with too many paper pushers that are paid way too much that do nothing productive. The so called non profits do not pay taxes but make a lot of profit and extend more and more in every city. We have two main hospitals here that are exactly two blocks apart in the downtown area and one was recently bought by the largest rural hospita system in the country just a few months ago the other is a Catholic hospital. Both non profit and both have expanded 10 fold plus. The hospitals have expanded so much you almost cannot tell where one begins and one ends except for the signs. They have expanded several blocks north, south, east and west of their initial spots. They have expanded to the very north and very south of town and many othe the surrounding small towns. This is a lot of property that these non profits now own and even more money they make yet they do not pay property taxes on any of it. They do not have to pay in like the rest of us yet they continue to hike up the costs of everything. When my son was small and hospitalized a tylenol would cost around $.50 each and the last time he was in a few months ago the cost of a tylenol had gone up to $12.00 each. That is one hell of a jump in costs and that is just for a tylenol. Compare that to every single thing they use in a hospital and every test they perform and look at the raise in all of those things. This has gotten ridiculous yet they claim they cannot afford to hire the staff they need to actually care for the patients who pay their salaries. To me it is a lot like government in that they get paid well but they forget that they actually work for us. They both are out to hurt the elderly and those that are on the lower end of the pay scale to save those that make the most money, including themselves.
I believe that Congress needs to look elsewhere for the cuts they need to do and that maybe if they went ahead with fixing our infrastructure (will add jobs) and up the minimum wage (which those making it will put right back into the economy) and assess what pay should really be in government (to make it more inline with what middle americans earn) then and only then will they begin to make some sort of sense in changing our deficit. Yes we need cuts but what they consider “entitlements” seems to be way different than what an average taxpayer would consider them.

My only hope is that common sense kicks in with the 113th Congress but I really doubt it with all the infighting and the refusing to budge on anything whether it is right for this country or not! Social Security Trust should have approximately 2.6 trillion dollars in it but unfortunately it is only paper which doesn’t mean much when the IOU’s come from government. Sadly I believe that this whole situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

A Special Gift!

My boys always surprise me by the compassionate things they do for others in the little ways and I should not be surprised knowing them and how they were raised! This came out again the Sunday before Christmas with the youngest(he is 21 and the others 23 and 24) when he got burned at work and needed to go to the ER. He is fine and had to pick up some meds which he went to the hospital pharmacy for. Now to understand this you need to know that he was born with more than one congenital defect from his heart to his chest wall and other medical issues and we were told by doctors at Duke that he would not see his first birthday and at Mayo that he would not see his 5th birthday and again at Minneapolis Childrens that he would not see his 10th birthday. Obviously they all were wrong and we are very happy about this! He works as a banquet chef and lives on his own just fine and has gotten through a long hard road from medical equipment and meds to over 50 surgical procedures and now no meds and doctors once a year for follow up appts..
Now back to last Sunday, he was waiting for his meds and noticed a woman and her son sitting waiting also. The woman had been crying and the boy was hooked up to some type of medical device, whether a monitor or pump of some kind and very pale and ill looking. He heard the pharmacist call the woman up and tell her that her sons medical was denied and she would have to pay for the meds. Needless to say this woman became even more upset and went to try and make some calls. My son went up to the pharmacist to ask how much the cost of the meds were and when the pharmacist told him, he handed his debit card to her and paid for this boys needed meds. He asked the pharmacist not to say anything but when she called the woman back up and gave her the meds the pharmacist nodded towards my son. This woman and her son came over and thanked him and asked his name so she could repay him. He told her his first name only and told her she need not repay him except to have a Merry Christmas!
My son does not make a lot of money but he saw a need and without questioning he did this wonderful good deed. He told the woman that he was her son not that long ago and understood how hard it is to go through this type of thing and that he just wanted them to have a good Christmas. Now he is always been a compassionate child and always wants to help out others and has to the best of his ability but this was the first I know of that he did something of this magnitude for a stranger. If only more people would treat others like this instead of looking through those that are in need!
This was a very special gift both for this woman and her son but for me to see that my children learned the lessons I tried to teach them. They were listening! The other two boys are also very helpful and respectful to others and have done many things also but this particular day also happened to be my husband and my anniversary and I could not have asked for a better gift!
Now if more people would do something like this on an ongoing basis and help those that need it so that later that one that needed the help would help someone else until the attitudes of everyone would be more compassionate and willing to be there for each other. I challenge everyone out there to do one good deed for someone else, not only will it make them feel better but it will make you feel good also! The only thing that I wish I knew was if that woman and her son did have the good Christmas my son hoped for them!

Holiday Changes!

It seems that the holidays are getting more and more complicated as the years pass! Things used to be simple when I was younger. Too may people worry whether they purchased enough for the family and friends and whether they spent enough but unfortunately they end up further in debt and usually too exhausted to enjoy the holidays anyway! Even with all the tradgedies this year people still keep stressing more and more. Even if you do not celebrate a certain holiday this time brings on so much stress that it makes it more like work than celebrating! We had decided a long time ago not to overdue the holiday and keep it less stressful for ourselves. If we really want something during the year we go ahead and get it within reason as well as the boys when they were home and even now. If one of the boys needs something important we are there for them any time. We do not wait until Christmas to surprise them we do it all year. We help out other family all year as the need arises and it is appreciated. When the holidays come up I bake and make candy, because I have the time when others in our family do not and we give them enough to take to the parties, work, other gatherings, etc. Doing something you can for someone else that is easy for you and hard for them is worth more than any monetary gift you can give. Being there for others is more important and givng of yourself is more in line with the season. Being with family and friends and celebrating just being together is most important at this time!
I wish more than ever that things will be better in the New Year. From our government working together to all of us understanding each other better and helping those in need so that they have a better understanding of how much each and every life is important. None of us are failures and should never be made to feel this way. In doing this we make a better world for all of us.
Hoping for many, many better years to come for all! Happy Holidays to all!

Family, Holidays and “Politics”!

I have found that living in a staunch republican state to be careful about what I say around others! I am not a republican nor a democrat but look at all people and choose who I believe would do the best job for the taxpayers! Unfortunately at a small family gathering last night things got a little out of control! Joking around and telling stories my husband told a story about his grandfather and I! He and I could talk about anything but when it came to politics I usually changed the subject when it seemed to get to that point where it could go badly. He died last Dec. and my husband was saying that grandpa and I argued about Palin, whom I could not stand and grandpa thought was great! Unfortunately that set off a whole thing about Romney and why he lost and that now Obama is going to ruin this country and also “the muslims that hate all christians”!
It go heated and I felt cornered but when my step uncle said that about muslims I blew! There is a small sect of every group of people that are extreme! I was sitting in a room with mormons, catholics, and protestants and could not believe what I was hearing!
I could it there and point out that every religion has extremists in there somewhere but that is not all of them! When they brought up “don’t you watch FOX News?” I actually laughed and probably shouldn’t have but I don’t. I watch all other news and I actually look up the voting habits of congressmen so I know what they are really all about!
Keep the peace during the holidays and keep politics out of the discussion! It has now officially become a miserable for me at the holidays with my family. They are ALL staunch republicans! If you know you have a different opinion than others in your family or don’t even know what they believe just keep it out of all holiday talks! It will keep your blood pressure down and bad feelings between yourself and others close to you! Even though my family is not that close it still makes it difficult! Good Luck and Happy Holidays!

Supreme Court Did The Right Thing!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/supreme-court-issue-obamacare-decision-135554880.html

The AHCA individual mandate was upheld and that is perfect! Too many people have used the ER as their doctors office because they know most ER’s have to care for people whether they pay or not and it ends up costing those of us insured more and more because it is passed on to our insurance companies. I was happy with the first part of this Act because our youngest was born with congenital defects that of course meant that he could not get health care because of pre-existing conditions and he is also able to stay on our insurance until he is 26 (he will be 21 next month) and this is what was needed so badly for so many kids that have had any type of medical condition.
The thing that makes me laugh about this whole issue is that Romney is against something that is close to what he did in his own home state and that most people there are very happy with it! Now what is he going to gripe about? Also all the analysts that claimed that the mandate or the whole Act would be thrown out without a doubt just proves that most analysts do not know what they are talking about! They take a guess and that is about it!
I doubt with this win that Romney will end up in the White House in Nov. and if he would there would be no way he could repeal this Act because of course he could not just sign it away his first day and of course with several in Congress that will be up for re-election again will not want to sign it away and not have anything to replace it. Romney has not given anything concrete about what he would do to replace it anyway so without a plan it will not happen! Well it wouldn’t anyway because I do not see him becoming President!

People Don’t Get It! Congress Is The Problem!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-push-congress-jobs-european-crisis-hurting-economy-132726377.html

Again another article which shows Congress not doing something to help the people! I get sooo tired of hearing that the President did this or didn’t do that when in reality Congress is the biggest problem we have ALL the time! Unfortunately when a President gets elected people assume that he does whatever he wants and can make happen what he says will happen and that is not really the case! Everything pretty much goes through Congress and they make stupid changes or flat out won’t let something go through! If the House or the Senate has a majority of a party that is not the President’s party than they will block more and it becomes a stalemate! This is sooooo STUPID! Too many of these Congressmen have been in place too long and they do not want any type of change so they hold out until the President goes along with what they think and not the taxpayer. A President is only allowed two terms yet Congress has no limit! This is wrong and a very BIG problem. They have no problem voting for their raises or lowering what they pay in taxes or for whatever is needed for their healthcare yet when it comes to doing things for the people they stall, add alot of crap that is unnecessary to every bill and still drag it out and end up with something that doesn’t work anyway! The whole we will add this to get your vote or if you add this I will vote for is just bribery or extortion and illegal for everyone except Congress I guess! Yes I expect them to work together and compromise on what is in the bill and not add in things that have nothing to do with the bill at hand! Term limits, we vote on raises or they receive the same % COL that social security gets and when SS doesn’t get one then neither do they. They should have to have the same type of healthcare everyone else does and retirement we do. Yes their retirement fund should be turned over to social security or they can get their own retirement fund BUT we do NOT pay for it! No more lifetimepensions for any and they end now! These are problems that can be fixed if we push this on our elected officials, We need to change these things by not voting by party BUT voting for the best platform and not voting people back in over and over and over! We do have the power, we just need to use it!