Barney's the "leader of the pack"!
Posted on 02/12/2005 12:50:41 PM PST by Wolfstar
PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: The President and Mrs. Bush are spending the weekend at the White House. There are no scheduled public appearances.
There was some confusion on FR this week as to whether or not Karl Rove was promoted. He was, in fact, promoted to Deputy White House Chief of Staff. For those interested in the details, here is a link to the daily WH press briefing at which Rove's appointment was discussed in full.
For those who are interested in the Jeff Gannon matter, here's a link to the daily WH press briefing in which this matter was discussed.
THE WEEK AHEAD: The President's schedule for the upcoming week was not announced at the Friday WH press briefing. However, the WH and others did make some announcements during last week about upcoming visits with foreign leaders.
The President will host Romanian President Basescu at the White House on March 9th, 2005.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is likely to visit Washington next month to hold talks with GWB, the former Soviet republic's Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit is to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: From the President's radio address, 2/12/05.
Social Security was created decades ago for a very different era. In 1950, about 16 workers paid into the system for every one person drawing benefits. Today, we have only about three workers for each beneficiary, and over the next few decades, baby boomers like me will retire, people will be living longer and benefits are scheduled to increase dramatically. Eventually, there will be just two workers per beneficiary. With every passing year, fewer workers will be paying ever-higher benefits to ever-larger numbers of retirees.
So here is the result: 13 years from now, in 2018, Social Security will be paying out more than it collects in payroll taxes; and every year afterward will bring a new and larger shortfall. For example, in the year 2027, the government will somehow have to come up with an extra $200 billion a year to keep the system afloat. By the year 2033, the annual shortfall would be more than $300 billion a year. And by the year 2042, the entire system would be bankrupt. If we do not act now to avert that outcome, the only solutions would be dramatically higher taxes, massive new borrowing or sudden and severe cuts in Social Security benefits or other government programs.
To keep the promise of Social Security alive for our children and grandchildren, we need to fix the system once and for all. Fixing Social Security permanently will require a candid review of the options. In recent years, many people have offered suggestions, such as limiting benefits for wealthy retirees; indexing benefits to prices, instead of wages; increasing the retirement age; or changing the benefit formulas and creating disincentives for early collection of Social Security benefits. All these ideas are on the table.
Thank you....That is beautiful.
How is your dad?
I can see Gizzy on this post...could not on 230. I hear they are couch potatos. :) Must be from all of those years of running flat out.
Sorry you had to have her put down. I've not faced that yet, but probably will. One of my 3 died about 2 years ago, from epilepsy. The baby. So sad. But had I been forced to put him down, I think I would have joined him. I love/loved him so.
ping for later
Those are a terrific set of photos you linked here. Would you mind if I scaled a few of them down a bit and color-corrected them in Photoshop, so that they could be posted on the Dose? I would use them either next weekend or the one after. The President will be traveling then, so there might be news shots available next weekend. But I'd like to use some of the photos on the NCsenategop.com website.
Hi, Lutz, sorry I didn't respond sooner to your post. I had to work yesterday and today for awhile, also. It's my pleasure to assist, although it isn't difficult to get someone on the ping list. GretchenM does a magnificent job managing the Dose ping list. All I need to do is pass along requests such as yours to her.
Isn't that such a great image? Barney, just behind his Boss, but leading the other administration big shots. I love it. Shows where Barney thinks he fits in the administration pecking order, LOL!
Barney's the "leader of the pack"!
Getting good care and anxious for me to visit.....He has a list of things "WE" need to do.
Thank you all
Grin...after the President, that is. The little guy seems to have finally learned how to fill in for Spotty as GWB's shadow. Sort of...he still wanders off in his own direction now and again.
Thanks, no more apples! I hate to see us all stumped. I believe I remember where I got that photo originally, I'll go back and see if it ID's the people.
It's not my website so I don't care what you do with the pics. :) I just wanted to share. This guy took 300 pics that day. Not sure if he's going to post more of them or not. I can ask him if he'll share--if you want me to.
You have MY permission (for whatever it's worth) to do whatever you need to do--to use them in the Dose--just so long as the guy's website isn't disturbed. :) I told him I had posted the link on Free Republic. He was more than happy for others to enjoy them.
In that case, I'll scale some of them down to use on one of the Dose threads -- this weekend if I get the time to scale them.
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