I am so old that..

[Greenbeard]

I was alive and sentient during the Kennedy years, Obama is far, far from Kennedy and he is leading us towards Kruschevs Russia, not Kennedy's USA.

Obama is not far from Kennedy at all.

 

[IGetItAlready]

I was alive and sentient during the Kennedy years, Obama is far, far from Kennedy and he is leading us towards Kruschevs Russia, not Kennedy's USA.

Obama is not far from Kennedy at all.

LMAO!!!

Well that settles that doesn't it.

 

[westwall]

I was alive and sentient during the Kennedy years, Obama is far, far from Kennedy and he is leading us towards Kruschevs Russia, not Kennedy's USA.

Obama is not far from Kennedy at all.

History and reality beg to differ with you.

 

[Greenbeard]

History and reality beg to differ with you.

A primer on the New Frontier:

Economy

• The Kennedy Administration pushed an economic stimulus program through congress in an effort to kick-start the American economy following an economic downturn. On February the 2nd 1961, Kennedy sent a comprehensive Economic Message to Congress which had been in preparation for several weeks The legislative proposals put forward in this message included[9]:
  
  (1.) The addition of a temporary thirteen-week supplement to jobless benefits,
  
  (2.) The extension of aid to the children of unemployed workers,
  
  (3.) The redevelopment of distressed areas,
  
  (4.) An increase in Social Security payments and the encouragement of earlier retirement,
  
  (5.) An increase in the minimum wage and an extension in coverage,
  
  (6.) The provision of emergency relief to feed grain farmers, and
  
  (7.) The financing of a comprehensive home-building and slum clearance program[10].
  
  The following month, the first of these seven measures became law, and the remaining six measures had been signed by the end of June. Altogether, the economic stimulus program provided an estimated 420,000 construction jobs under a new Housing Act, $175 million in higher wages for those below the new minimum, over $400 million in aid to over 1,000 distressed counties, over $200 million in extra welfare payments to 750,000 children and their parents, and nearly $800 million in extended unemployment benefits for nearly three million unemployed Americans[11].

[...]

Labor

• Amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1961 greatly expanded the FLSA's scope in the retail trade sector and increased the minimum wage for previously covered workers to $1.15 an hour effective September 1961 and to $1.25 an hour in September 1963. The minimum for workers newly subject to the Act was set at $1.00 an hour effective September 1961, $1.15 an hour in September 1964, and $1.25 an hour in September 1965. Retail and service establishments were allowed to employ full-time students at wages of no more than 15 percent below the minimum with proper certification from the Department of Labor. The amendments extended coverage to employees of retail trade enterprises with sales exceeding $1 million annually, although individual establishments within those covered enterprises were exempt if their annual sales fell below $250,000. The concept of enterprise coverage was introduced by the 1961 amendments. Those amendments extended coverage in the retail trade industry from an established 250,000 workers to 2.2 million.
• An Executive Order was issued (1962) which provided federal employees with collective bargaining rights[19].
• Executive Order 10988 became effective in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (1962), which provided for “official recognition of employee organizations and a formal means of employee participation in matters affecting employment conditions”[20].

[...]

Education

• The Higher Education Act of 1963 authorized several times more college aid within a five-year period than had been appropriated under the Land Grant College in a century, and provided better college libraries, ten to twenty new graduate centers, several new technical institutes, classrooms for several hundred thousand students, and twenty-five to thirty new community colleges a year. A separate education bill enacted that same year provided similar assistance to dental and medical schools[22].
• Scholarships and student loans were broadened under existing laws by Kennedy, and new means of specialised aid to education were invented or expanded by the president, including an increase in funds for libraries and school lunches, the provision of funds to teach the deaf, the handicapped, the retarded, and the exceptional child, the authorisation of literacy training under Manpower Development, the allocation of President funds to stop dropouts, a quadrupling of vocational education, and working together with schools on delinquency. Altogether, these measures attacked serious educational problems and freed up local funds for use on general construction and salaries[23].

Welfare

• Unemployment and welfare benefits were expanded[27].
• In 1961, Social Security benefits were increased by 20% and provision for early retirement was introduced, enabling workers to retire at the age of sixty-two while receiving partial benefits[28].
• The Social Security Amendments of 1961 permitted male workers to elect early retirement age 62, increased minimum benefits, liberalized the benefit payments to aged widow, widower, or surviving dependent parent, and also liberalized eligibility requirements and the retirement test[29].
• The 1962 amendments to the Social Security Act authorized the federal government to reimburse states for the provision of social services[30].
• The School Lunch Act was amended for authority to begin providing free meals in poverty-stricken areas[31].
• A pilot food stamp program was launched (1961), covering six areas in the United States. In 1962, the program was extended to eighteen areas, feeding 240,000 people[32].
• Various school lunch and school milk programs were extended, “enabling 700,000 more children to enjoy a hot school lunch and eighty-five thousand more schools, child care centers, and camps to receive fresh milk”[33].
• Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) replaced the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program, as coverage was extended to adults caring for dependent children[34].
• A major revision of the public welfare laws was carried out, with a $300 million modernisation which emphasised rehabilitation instead of relief”[35].
• A temporary antirecession supplement to unemployment compensation was introduced[36].
• Food distribution to needy Americans was increased[37]. In January 1961, the first executive order issued by Kennedy mandated that the Department of Agriculture increase the quantity and variety of foods donated for needy households. This executive order represented a shift in the Commodity Distribution Programs’ primary purpose, from surplus disposal to that of providing nutritious foods to low-income households[38].
• Social Security benefits were extended to an additional five million Americans[39].

[...]

Housing

• The most comprehensive housing and urban renewal program in American history up until that point was carried out, including the first major provisions for middle-income housing, protection of urban open spaces, public mass transit, and private low-income housing[43].
• Omnibus Housing Bill 1961. In March 1961 Kennedy sent Congress a special message, proposing an ambitious and complex housing program to spur the economy, revitalize cities, and provide affordable housing for middle- and low-income families. The bill proposed spending $3.19 billion and placed major emphasis on improving the existing housing supply, instead of on new housing starts, and creating a cabinet-level Department of Housing and Urban Affairs to oversee the programs.

[...]

Unemployment

• To help the unemployed, Kennedy broadened the distribution of surplus food, created a “pilot” Food Stamp program for poor Americans, directed that preference be given to distressed areas in defense contracts, and expanded the services of U.S. Employment Offices[47].
• The first accelerated public works program for areas of unemployment since the New Deal was launched”[48].
• The first full-scale modernization and expansion of the vocational education laws since 1946 were carried out”[49].
• The Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 authorized a three-year program aimed at retraining workers displaced by new technology. The bill did not exclude employed workers from benefiting and it authorized a training allowance for unemployed participants. Even though 200,000 people were recruited, there was minimal impact, comparatively. The Area Redevelopment Act, a $394 million spending package passed in 1961, followed a strategy of investing in the private sector to stimulate new job creation. It specifically targeted businesses in urban and rural depressed areas and authorized $4.5 million annually over four years for vocational training programs. The 1963 amendments to the National Defense Education Act included $731 million in appropriations to states and localities maintaining vocational training programs.[50]

Medical

• In 1963 Kennedy, who had a mentally ill sister named Rosemary, submitted the nation's first Presidential special message to Congress on mental health issues. Congress quickly passed the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act (P.L. 88-164), beginning a new era in Federal support for mental health services. The National Institute of Mental Health assumed responsibility for monitoring community mental health centers programs.[51] This measure was a great success as there was a sixfold increase in people using Mental Health facilities.
• A Medical Health Bill for the Aged (later known as Medicare) was proposed, but Congress failed to enact it.
• Community Health Services and Facilities Act (1961) increased the amount of funds available for nursing home construction and extended the research and demonstration grant program to other medical facilities[52].
• The Health Services for Agricultural Migratory Workers Act (1962) established “a program of federal grants for family clinics and other health services for migrant workers and their families”[53].
• The first major amendments to the food and drug safety laws since 1938 were carried out[54]. The Drug Amendments of 1962 amended the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (1938) by strengthening the provisions related to the regulation of therapeutic drugs. The Act required evidence that new drugs proposed for marketing were both safe and effective, and required improved manufacturing processes and procedures[55].
• The Vaccination Assistance Act (1962) provided for the vaccination of millions of children against a number of diseases[56].

[...]

Environment

• The Clean Air Act (1963) expanded the powers of the federal government in preventing and controlling air pollution.
• The first major additions to the National Park System since 1946 were made, which included the preservation of wilderness areas and a fund for future acquisitions”[61].
• The water pollution prevention program was doubled”[62].

Crime

• The first significant package of anticrime bills since 1934 were passed[63].
• The Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control Act was signed into law September 22, 1961. The program aimed to prevent youth from committing delinquent acts. In 1963, 288 mobsters were brought to trial by a team that was headed by Kennedy's brother, Robert.

 

[uscitizen]

No wonder right wingers had Kennedy killed!

 

[Politico]

You are so old your birth stone was lava.

 

[Peach]

Sniper negged me for this thread and called me a dickhead.

I think she makes my point very well.

That is a compliment; I miss Buckley myself. I remember when the Becks, Buttpimples, and Coulters were not party leaders; the days when conservatives had hearts and minds.......

 

[Ravi]

I recall when Republicans were actually fiscally conservative.
I saw all that change during the Reagan era. And the buddying up with the pentecostals for their votes to gain power, but in gaining power they lost their identity.

I miss real conservatives.

I don't remember them ever existing but I'd like to see them comeback, if they did.

 

[IGetItAlready]

I recall when Republicans were actually fiscally conservative.
I saw all that change during the Reagan era. And the buddying up with the pentecostals for their votes to gain power, but in gaining power they lost their identity.

I miss real conservatives.

I don't remember them ever existing but I'd like to see them comeback, if they did.

Reagan's spending was focused at a specific goal which was realized, making possible the massive defense cuts that led to the Clinton/Gingrich era surplus.

 

[Liability]

No wonder right wingers had Kennedy killed!

Oswald was a commie, you ignorant dufus.

 

[uscitizen]

No wonder right wingers had Kennedy killed!

Oswald was a commie, you ignorant dufus.

And?

 

[California Girl]

I'm so old that, I recall when Democrats loved America and weren't Communists.

I miss real Democrats.

Yeah we pretty much have corporatists running both partys.
It is more about the market and such than the people now.

And yet, you chose only to bemoan the loss of 'real conservatives'. That makes you nothing more than a left wing hack.

 

[California Girl]

No wonder right wingers had Kennedy killed!

How completely disgusting that you would stoop to using the death of a great American for your petty political point scoring. Seriously, you should be ashamed of yourself... I doubt you will understand why... but you should.

 

[uscitizen]

I'm so old that, I recall when Democrats loved America and weren't Communists.

I miss real Democrats.

Yeah we pretty much have corporatists running both partys.
It is more about the market and such than the people now.

And yet, you chose only to bemoan the loss of 'real conservatives'. That makes you nothing more than a left wing hack.

I can't cover all the ills in one little thread.
Sheesh.

Jesus's feet stank too. But that is another story.

 

[Papageorgio]

I'm so old that, I recall when Democrats loved America and weren't Communists.

I miss real Democrats.

Every Democrat from FDR on has been called a communist by radical rightwingers.

How old are you?

So sensitive.

 

[Valerie]

I'm so old that, I recall when Democrats loved America and weren't Communists.

I miss real Democrats.

Yeah we pretty much have corporatists running both partys.
It is more about the market and such than the people now.

And yet, you chose only to bemoan the loss of 'real conservatives'. That makes you nothing more than a left wing hack.

Uh hello hack, you're responding to a post where he JUST bemoaned the effects on BOTH parties.

 

[California Girl]

No wonder right wingers had Kennedy killed!

Oswald was a commie, you ignorant dufus.

And?

And that would be a left wing extremist, dumbfuck.

 

[Papageorgio]

No wonder right wingers had Kennedy killed!

You got proof or you flaming as usual?

 

[uscitizen]

Yeah we pretty much have corporatists running both partys.
It is more about the market and such than the people now.

And yet, you chose only to bemoan the loss of 'real conservatives'. That makes you nothing more than a left wing hack.

Uh hello hack, you're responding to a post where he JUST bemoaned the effects on BOTH parties.

Yeah and she negged me too.

 

[California Girl]

Yeah we pretty much have corporatists running both partys.
It is more about the market and such than the people now.

And yet, you chose only to bemoan the loss of 'real conservatives'. That makes you nothing more than a left wing hack.

Uh hello hack, you're responding to a post where he JUST bemoaned the effects on BOTH parties.

I noted that his previous post made no mention of the loss of real liberals - only real conservatives. Ergo, it's a day late and a dollar short for him to pretend he gives a shit about the communist take over of his own party.