Medicare

RIVERDALE — U.S. Senate candidate Scott Howell visited Riverdale Senior Center on Thursday to discuss Medicare.

I should admit to a conflict of interest here: I am 63, I joined AARP for the discounts, and Social Security is a key part of my retirement planning.

But we all have that last conflict. Social Security is part of the fabric of the nation. It is why parents don’t have to move in with their kids.

Republican delegates have 10 candidates for the U.S. Senate to choose from at the state Republican Convention on Saturday.

Of those 10, three are in the front battling to get 60 percent of the delegates' votes in order to avoid a primary in June.

The three are:

“Even though Mitt Romney has regained momentum as the front-runner in the GOP race with wins in Arizona and Michigan, many within the Republican Party are ready to pull the rip cord and find someone else.”

— news item

Mitt may have Utah locked up, but he’s looking dicey elsewhere. There are more questions about President Barack Obama’s birth. It may be time to throw my hat into the ring and save the nation from the loonies.

Or at least introduce a different loon. Whatever.

WASHINGTON — If the deficit-cutting supercommittee fails, Congress will face a crummy choice. Lawmakers can allow payroll tax cuts and jobless aid for millions to expire or they extend them and increase the nation’s $15 trillion debt by at least $160 billion.

LOS ANGELES -- AARP, which lobbies on behalf of seniors, has launched a television campaign designed to persuade members of the congressional "super committee" charged with finding $1.5 trillion worth of deficit reduction to leave Social Security and Medicare alone.

WASHINGTON — Health care savings in President Barack Obama’s deficit-reduction plan would squeeze future Medicare recipients, cut payments to drug companies and hospitals, and shift costs to states.