From: Brian Sonenstein, Firedoglake.com [mailto:act@firedoglake.com]
Sent: June 22, 2011 1:00 PM
Subject: AARP facts
ed -
The AARP has been scrambling since it was revealed last week that the group would support cuts to Social Security. Rightly so: almost 20,000 people have pledged to protect Social Security from the AARP.
AARP officials are trying to claim that “our position has not changed on Social Security.” We researched this claim. Turns out, it’s true. The AARP has been on board with Social Security cuts for years. Our research proving AARP’s support for Social Security cuts is below, in all its sorry glory.
We need to get out the facts and make sure everybody knows that AARP supports cuts to Social Security benefits. Can you please forward this email to your friends to show the truth about AARP wanting to cut Social Security?
You can also share our AARP facts on Facebook.
Despite AARP's language about wanting to "save Social Security," they are using the same word tricks used by others who want to destroy our social safety net. While our government has shoved trillions to banks, Social Security has and will continue be solvent for decades. Any "changes" to Social Security now will inevitably lead to benefit cuts. That's what we must prevent.
Thanks for all you do to help protect Social Security.
- Brian
Brian Sonenstein
Online Organizer
Firedoglake.com
AARP's Long History of Supporting Social Security Cuts
The Wall Street Journal recently reported the AARP will support benefit cuts to Social Security. The AARP responded by saying that “our position has not changed on Social Security.”
That’s actually true. For years, the AARP has wanted to cut Social Security benefits. It is critical to note that despite AARP's language about wanting to "save Social Security," they are using the same word tricks used by others who want to destroy our social safety net.
While our government has shoved trillions to banks, Social Security has and will continue be solvent for decades. Any "changes" to Social Security now will inevitably lead to benefit cuts. That's what we must prevent.
Read the facts, and forward this email to your friends and family. If you haven't yet, please sign our petition to pledge to protect Social Security from AARP.
1. AARP did not deny the Wall Street Journal’s report; its response even showed the AARP is open to “changes in benefits.”
In the Wall Street Journal article, AARP policy director John Rother was clear that he's willing to support Social Security benefit cuts, saying, “The ship was sailing. I wanted to be at the wheel when that happens.” Current AARP CEO A. Barry Rand called the WSJ piece inaccurate and misleading, but didn’t clarify what he thought was inaccurate.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, 6/17/11; Huffington Post, 6/17/11
2. AARP officials admitted the organization was discussing benefit cuts for “months” with the Wall Street Journal.
While trying to spin the AARP’s exposed to scheme to support Social Security cuts, AARP legislative director David Certner said the AARP was “never seeking this kind of publicity” for its position. Certner said AARP officials had discussed benefit changes for “months” with the Wall Street Journal.
Source: Politico, 6/21/11
Add your name to protect Social Security from the AARP. Click here to sign the petition.
3. AARP was willing to raise the retirement age during George W. Bush’s attempts to privatize Social Security in 2005.
Then-AARP CEO William Novellli put raising the retirement age “on the table” in 2005.
“‘There's a lot of opportunity for common ground. If we could get the private accounts, the carve-outs, out of the way I think we could get to solvency fairly quickly.’ That includes discussion over an increase in the retirement age, said Novelli. ‘We are willing to consider it,’ he said. ‘It ought to be on the table.’”
Source: Bloomberg News, 4/11/05
4. In 2005, AARP CEO William Novelli called adjusting benefits a “reasonable step.”
"’Social Security does not need a radical overhaul,’ AARP Chief Executive Officer William Novelli said in speech at the National Press Club. ‘Reasonable steps such as these, including possibly adjusting benefits, are enough to strengthen Social Security for the long term.’”
Source: Reuters, 2/9/05
Protect Social Security - click here to add your name to a petition to AARP now.
5. An AARP memo suggested “changes in benefits” as a solution for “Social Security solvency.”
An AARP official provided the Huffington Post a 2005 memo that outlined the organization’s position on Social Security. The document shows the AARP offered “changes in benefits” as a positive position for the organization to take in the Social Security fight at the time.
Source: Huffington Post, 6/21/11
6. An AARP official flippantly dismissed those who opposed Social Security cuts.
AARP policy director John Rother dismissed people who said they wouldn’t support Social Security cuts. "I know all these people personally and they'll say we have to be hard line now to influence the debate...I kind of take it with a grain of salt, these emphatic statements," Rother said.
Source: Wall Street Journal, 8/20/10
Now that you know the facts, please forward this email to your friends and family.
Join our campaign to protect Social Security from AARP.
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http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/06/new-study-sea-level-rise-global-warming
Sea Levels Rising at Fastest Rate in 2000 Year
Mother Jones: June 22, 2011
The science behind a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal is complicated, but the evidence is more precise than it has ever been: Sea levels are now rising at a faster rate than they were at any time in the past 2,000 years. For much of the two millenia measured in the study, sea levels were either stabilized or rising at .25 millimeters per year. But right around the end of the 19th century, sea levels started rising at a comparatively drastic 2.1 millimeters per year, and the trend has continued today.
The study marks a huge advancement in the science of measuring sea level changes because for the first time, scientists have recorded a precise and continuous record of sea level changes dating back over two millenia. This record, which the study based on salt marsh microfossil records from
I talked with Ben Horton, one of the study's authors and an environmental scientist at the
Mother Jones: What did you discover in this study?
Ben Horton: Over 2000 years, sea-level rise had four stages. During the first stage from 0 A.D. to the 10th century, sea level was stable. From the 10th century to the 14th century, sea level rose less than 1 millimeter per year. Then, during the third state, from the 14th to latter part of 19th century, sea level was stable. But the 20th century shows that sea level is rising far faster than it did in any of the previous years.
MJ: So what does this mean?
BH: [For example,] the findings show that in the Medieval period, when global temperatures rose, sea level rose too. Then, in the Little Ice Age, sea level was stable. We have four stages that show an incredibly close relationship between sea level rise and global temperature.
MJ: A chart related to your study compares the proxy reconstructions it used to sea-level observations and models of sea-level estimates. What exactly are proxy reconstructions, and why did your study use them?
BH: A proxy is the application of a biological, archeological, or any indicator of environmental variables. [For our proxy,] we used salt marsh records, focusing on the microfossils in them. If you want to look into the past of sea levels, you have to use proxies because reliable tide gauges based on observation only go back a hundred years or so.
Different ways to measure sea level over time.
MJ: Why are the study's findings such a big deal?
BH: We’ve produced an important body of data. Future predictions of sea level rise models can now be turned on their heads and compared to this data about what happened in the past. If they don't align, then there’s something wrong with your model that you can investigate… maybe there’s a problem with your data set.
In the next three to five years, there will be a huge advancement in understanding of past sea levels, which will hopefully lead to a huge improvement in the precision of reconstructions for the 21st century. If we can improve our understanding of sea level in the past, then our understanding of the future will be more clear.
MJ: Based on these findings, what do you think will happen to sea levels in the future?
BH: We know in the future that temperatures are predicted to rise, so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know sea levels are going to go up.
MJ: And if sea levels continue to rise, how will it impact our world?
BH: If sea level rises, it has implications to coastlines, [such as] flooding and saltwater intrustion into freshwater. The more sea level rises, the greater the problems society and also natural ecosystems will face.
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