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Saturday, October 9, 2010

EMAILS - #15 "Scrap Yard"

To: Friend 1
From:
Subject: Re: Fwd: Fwd: Scrap Yard


If only we could harness the hot air from elections, right?!     ; >
B



"Since the end of the Cold War, the Department [of Energy] has focused on

* environmental clean up of the nuclear weapons complex,
* nonproliferation and stewardship of the nuclear stockpile,
* energy efficiency and conservation, and
* technology transfer and industrial competitiveness."
     http://www.energy.gov/about/origins.htm         


e.g. "The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, providing more than 40 percent of total funding for this vital area of national importance.[2]
"The Office of Science directs funding for the scientific research via the following Program Offices:
• Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
• Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
• High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Nuclear Physics (NP)
• Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Energy


Origins & Evolution of the Department of Energy
http://www.energy.gov/about/origins.htm

"The origins of the Department of Energy can be traced to the Manhattan Project and the race to develop the atomic bomb during World War II.... Following the war, Congress engaged in a vigorous and contentious debate over civilian versus military control of the atom. The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 settled the debate by creating the Atomic Energy Commission.... to maintain civilian government control over the field of atomic research and development....

"In response to changing needs in the mid 1970's, the Atomic Energy Commission was abolished and the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 created two new agencies: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to regulate the nuclear power industry and the Energy Research and Development Administration to manage the nuclear weapon, naval reactor, and energy development programs.

".... The Department of Energy, activated on October 1, 1977, assumed the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission, and parts and programs of several other agencies.
.... The Department undertook responsibility for long-term, high-risk research and development of energy technology, federal power marketing, energy conservation, the nuclear weapons program, energy regulatory programs, and a central energy data collection and analysis program.

"Over its two decade history, the Department has shifted its emphasis and focus as the needs of the nation have changed. During the late 1970's, the Department emphasized energy development and regulation. In the 1980's, nuclear weapons research, development, and production took a priority. Since the end of the Cold War, the Department has focused on environmental clean up of the nuclear weapons complex, nonproliferation and stewardship of the nuclear stockpile, energy efficiency and conservation, and technology transfer and industrial competitiveness.

"Today, the Department of Energy contributes to the future of the nation by ensuring our energy security, maintaining the safety and reliability of our nuclear stockpile, cleaning up the environment from the legacy of the Cold War, and developing innovations in science and technology.


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----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:05:40 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Fwd: Scrap Yard


Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night."

So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people: oneto do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Congress said, "How are these  people going to get paid?" So they created two positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people.

Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an
Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a  Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, "We  have had this command in operation for one year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back." So they laid off the night watchman.

NOW slowly, let it sink in.

Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.

Does anybody remember the reason given for  the establishment of
the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY..... during the  Carter Administration?

Anybody?

Anything?

No?

Didn't think so!

Bottom line. We've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency....the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!

Ready??
It was very simple..and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977,
TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

AND NOW IT'S 2010 -- 33 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE! (THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY,

"WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?")

33 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.

Ah, yes -- good old Federal bureaucracy.

NOW, WE HAVE TURNED OVER THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?

Hello!! Anybody Home?


NOVEMBER, NOVEMBER, NOVEMBER!  

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EMAILS - #14 "ABOUT OUR SS CHECKS"

To: Friend 1
From: 
Subject: Re: Fwd: FW: ABOUT OUR SS CHECKSj



Fortunately, almost nothing accurate in this one except the figure $24 Million. Gotta love elections!   : }   

1. The House and Senate eliminated their automatic pay adjustments for 2010 and 2011.

This is the bill:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h5146pcs.txt.pdf
Calendar No. 359
111TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 5146
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL 28, 2010

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar

AN ACT

To provide that Members of Congress shall not receive a
cost of living adjustment in pay during fiscal year 2011.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa
2tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. NO COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT IN PAY OF

4 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

5 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no ad
6 justment shall be made under section 601(a) of the Legis
7 lative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31) (relating

~~~~~

2
HR 5146 PCS


1 to cost of living adjustments for Members of Congress)
2 during fiscal year 2011.

Passed the House of Representatives April 27, 2010.
Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.
VerDate

more at:
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/01/retribution-fabrication/
"No raise: House and Senate members have not voted to give themselves raises. ... Congress voted to freeze its own pay for 2010. Any pay raise for 2011 will take place automatically under existing law, unless Congress votes to freeze its pay again before then.

"Update, May 17, 2010: There will be no House or Senate raise for 2011 either. Congress passed, and the President signed, H.R. 5146, which eliminates the automatic adjustment in pay for Members of Congress that would have taken place in 2011."


2. The $24 Million is to speed electronic processing of disability benefits.
The $ is from the stimulus bill.

This is the Press Release:


Friday, August 7, 2009
Mark Lassiter, Press Officer
For Immediate Release 410-965-8904
press.office@ssa.gov

News Release SOCIAL SECURITY
SSA Press Office
440 Altmeyer Building
6401 Security Blvd.
Baltimore, MD 21235
410-965-8904
FAX 410-966-9973

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/electronic-med-records-pr.htm
Social Security to Fund $24 Million in Contracts
for Electronic Medical Records

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the availability of $24 million in contracts to provide the agency with electronic medical records to improve the efficiency of its disability programs. Through a Request for Proposals available on www.fedbizopps.gov, Social Security is looking for health care providers, provider networks, and health information exchanges to participate in its Medical Evidence Gathering and Analysis through Health Information Technology (IT) program.

“With these competitive contracts, Social Security continues to be a leader in the use of health IT to improve service to the American public,” Commissioner Astrue said. “This technology will greatly improve the speed and consistency of our disability decisions.”

The contract opportunities announced today are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They will require awardees, with a patient’s authorization, to send Social Security electronic medical records through the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). The NHIN, a safe and secure method for receiving instantaneous access to electronic medical records, is an initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services and is supported by multiple government agencies and private sector entities.

Social Security is seeing a significant increase in disability applications as a result of the current recession. The agency expects to receive more than 3.3 million applications in fiscal year (FY) 2010, a 27 percent increase over FY 2008. To process these applications, the agency sends more than 15 million requests for medical records to health care providers. The use of health IT will vastly improve the efficiency of this process, which currently is largely paper-bound.

For nearly a year, Social Security has been successfully testing health IT to obtain electronic medical records. Disability applications processed with electronic medical records from the test sites in Massachusetts and Virginia have significantly reduced processing times.

More information on Social Security’s use of health IT is available at www.socialsecurity.gov/hit.
###

more at:
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/12/electronic-medical-records-for-congress/


3. Social Security adjustments are automatic, depending on the economy.

Congressional Budget Office, April 22, 2009:
http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?m=200904
"By law, Social Security benefits are unchanged in years in which the change in CPI-W since the previous adjustment to benefits is zero or less than zero. Thus, CBO anticipates no COLA in January 2010."

FactCheck:
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/social-security-cola/
"Social Security checks have gone up automatically every year since 1975, when the first automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) took effect. Prior to that, a separate act of Congress was required to grant any adjustment to compensate for inflation. But this January, there won’t be any COLA, for the first time in the 35 years the system has been in operation.

"The reason is simple: The official measure of the cost of living has gone down, not up.

"And the major reason for that is that oil prices plunged from the peaks of the previous year."

Politifact:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/28/chain-email/e-mail-claims-democratic-congress-blame-no-cola-in/


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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 8:40 PM
Subject: FW: ABOUT OUR SS CHECKS
To:
From:
To: < Subject: Fw: ABOUT OUR SS CHECKS Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2010 19:52:07 -0400 ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2010 7:16 PM Subject: Fw: ABOUT OUR SS CHECKS ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Sent: Thu, October 7, 2010 6:21:06 PM Subject: Fw: ABOUT OUR SS CHECKS ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: To: Sent: Wed, October 6, 2010 2:23:51 PM Subject: Fw: ABOUT OUR SS CHECKS Subject: ABOUT OUR SS CHECKS All Americans Had Better Wake Up, Even You People That Ask For "OBAMA'S Changes."                           READ THIS ABOUT YOUR SS CHECKS          We need to keep this fresh in everyone's mind till Nov.                                  The Obama crew thinks we will forget about it by Nov.                                                Let's Prove Them Wrong.                               ** **THIS IS THE ONE THAT WILL FLIP YOU OUT!!** ** THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION IS FUNDING TWENTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS--LET ME REPEAT THAT AMOUNT...* SO YOU UNDERSTAND IT $ 24,000,000.00 DOLLARS FOR NEW ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS PROCESSING FOR YOUR CONGRESSMEN** AND SENATORS !!                     *THEY ARE OBTAINING THESE FUNDS*                                                                  *And* I QUOTE DIRECTLY FROM YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY WEBSITE..."THIS MONEY WILL BE COMING FROM THE SAVINGS TO BE GENERATED FROM WITHHOLDING "COST OF LIVING INCREASES FOR 2010 & 2011 In SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR THE ELDERLY AND A $2.00 INCREASE ON ALL MEDICARE RX BENEFIT CO-PAY" Please pass this to ALL your friends and have them                     "PROTEST TO THE IDIOTS WE ELECTED TO CONGRESS" Who by the way, have just voted themselves ANOTHER 3% SALARY INCREASE!!!           We must put a stop to this outright thievery that has been going on for years! It is THE CONGRESS AND THE SENATE, BOTH REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATS, WE CAN'T FIRE THEM, BUT WE SURE CAN NOT RE-ELECT THEM, And WE CAN IMPEACH THEM* Or DEMAND RECALL ELECTIONS !!!             HOW ABOUT WE ALL GET TOGETHER AND DUMP THESE CLOWNS. All I ask is that you consider the suggestion here. The entire Congress of the United States is corrupt. And I mean both Houses and I mean both major parties. I realize that a few Members of each House are trustworthy,* But, As a group they are absolutely the most corrupt bunch To ever disgrace our Nation. In November of 2010 The entire House of Representatives will stand for re-election; All 435 of them. One third of the Senate, A total of 33 of them, will also stand for re-election. Vote every incumbent out. And I mean every one of them. No matter their Party affiliation. Let's start all over in the House of Representatives with 435 people? Who have absolutely no experience in running that body,? With no political favors owed to anyone but their own constituents. Let's make them understand that they work for us... They are answerable to us And they simply have to run that body with some common sense. Two years later, in 2012, Vote the next third of the incumbents in the Senate out.? We can do the same thing in 2014 and, By that time we will have put all new people in that body as well. We, the People, Have got to take this Country back and we have to do it peacefully. That's what the Framers of our Constitution envisioned. I am also suggesting term limits on the NEW BUNCH 8 YEARS FOR REPRESENTATIVES AND 12 YEARS OF SENATORS. NO EXCEPTIONS. THE LONGER THEY STAY IN OFFICE THE MORE POWER THEY GET AND THEY LOVE IT AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO GET RE-ELECTED. WE HAVE TERM LIMITED THE PRESIDENT?? NOW LET'S TERM LIMIT THE LEGISLATORS Please, If you love this Country, Send this (as I have done) to absolutely everyone Whose email address appears in your address book..This thing can permeate this Country in no time. Let's make it happen. VOTE THE POWER ABUSERS OUT...LET'S TAKE AMERICA BACK !!! IF YOU LIKE THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING IN OUR COUNTRY, THEN DO NOTHING.. ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************^

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