1970 to 1988 then 1999 to present. Do 18 plus 7 equal silver?

"We have a president who is hell-bent on demolishing Medicare,"as written in an article in The Shoreview Bulletin. This from a man who is president of AARP Minnesota and claims that AARP is non-partisan. That's B.S. in it's purest form. When I reminded him of what he had said, Skippy outright denied saying it.

Starting in January increase in Medicare premium will be put to a means test. Cost of Medicare premium will be going up for people above an income of $80,000. This probably means an increase for people with income other than medicare.

He also sez that Medicare is banned from negotiating prices with drug manufacturers, but doesn't mention that insurance companies are negotiating discounts and are passing on to the consumers. I can demonstrate that.

Because of Mr. Humphrey's statements I hereby cancel my membership to AARP.

Over the 20 year period from 1984 to 2004 wages have increased much more than prices. This is indicated by tha average index (AWI) as opposed to the consumer price index (CPI). AWI includes only hourly wages without including management salaries or CEO stock options. CPI
includes purchases and expenses by an averge family including housing, medical, food, clothing, gasoline etc. During that time CPI has increased by 81.8% and AWI has increased by 120.9%. This can be seen by going to the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics web site.

The social security administration bases yearly benefit increase on AWI rather than CPI to make the increase in benefits greater.

David Brooks of NY Times sez Wages and benefits have made up roughly the same share of G.D.P. for 50 years. Offshore outsourcing is not decimating employment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , out-sourcing is responsible for only 1.9% of layoffs, and the efficiencies it produces create more jobs at better wages than the ones destroyed.

I write from a conservative point of view and do stress personal responsibility. I deal only in issues and never personalities, i.e. no personal attacks.

Four years ago at the Minnesota State Fair during debate between Norm Coleman and Paul Wellstone, the Wellstone crowd booo'd Norm Coleman, and the same during a debate in Rochester. When Wellstone appeared the Coleman fans had too much class to behave that way.

Item by Patricia Lopez of Startribune sez Klobuchar arrived amid a noisy entourage of dozens of cheering campaign volunteers, all wearing blue-and-white Klobuchar T-shirts, waving placards and chanting "Amy!Amy!".Typically, when Mark Kennedy got up to speak the Klobuchar crowd jeered. This, despite an agreement requiring civil behavior and rules that prohibited noisy displays, applause and attempts by one campaign to "dominate: the crowd.

The Kennedy fans have to much class to engage in this type of behavior. alanrph@comcast.net