June 14th, 2007

Today, S4 met with Senator Sam Brownback to present him with S4's first Rock Star Award! Brownback said recently "I am committed to fighting for comprehensive Social Security reform with large personal investment accounts..." a statement which is S4 Rock Star worthy!

S4 will continue to present Rock Star awards for those candidates who have outstanding leadership and demonstrate a strong unwavering commitment to personal retirement accounts.

Stay tuned, S4 will have the Brownback video up shortly!

June 13th, 2007

Here is more on S4 in New Hampshire from David Mirsky, who was blogging for WMUR:

I saw Jo Jensen, Executive Director of Students for Saving Social Security (located on the Web at secureourfuture.org), holding one of the signs naming one of the campaign people in the room as a volunteer for the debate.  (For more on Jo, see my blog of yesterday regarding SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM ACTIVISTS). 

I also saw Ms. Evan Dent in the Spin Room, she is the Activism Director of Students for Saving Social Security.  Ms. Dent asked a question of candidate Ron Paul in the Spin Room concerning the issue of social security reform. 

Congressman Paul gave an answer that I believe was very favorable toward the whole cause of Students for Saving Social Security, which is to reform the social security system so that it will remain available to the young people of today.  Ron Paul indicated that he was the only person among the candidates who had never voted to authorize one dollar of the Social Security Trust Fund to be spent on items not pertaining to Social Security.

June 11th, 2007

From The Citizen of Laconia, New Hampshire:

Another organization, Students Saving Social Security, sought McCain's opinion on that issue, but the senator did not offer a solution, saying he understood the message from 24-year-old Evan Dent, who attended wearing a giant ostrich costume.

"We are looking for a candidate who will take their head out of the sand on Social Security," explained the California native. "We are trying to do something crazy and outrageous to get these candidates' attention."

S4's Ryan Lynch was featured last Saturday on New Hampshire's WEMJ 1490 as a guest on "Meet the New Press," talking about S4's ever-popular ostrich and the need for all our presidential candidates to address Social Security reform.

"Our greater efforts are for the 2008 presidential election, and making sure that retirement security is absolutely a top issue for each of these candidates and that we get them on record saying that they will support, if not personal accounts, at least some measure of reform," said Ryan. "No matter who becomes president, it's imperative that the next president deals with Social Security."

Click here to listen to the full interview.

Thanks to GraniteGrok for making available the interview recording as well as the video with Senator McCain.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Birds are people, too: Top GOP contenders John McCain and Rudy Giuliani appear to have different dress codes for campaign events. We can say this with scientific certainty, thanks to something we'll call the Ostrich Test.

A group called Students for Saving Social Security sent a woman in an ostrich costume to a McCain event Tuesday and a Giuliani event Wednesday. The group, which supports personal retirement accounts, says it's asking politicians to get their heads out of the sand on Social Security.

The McCain campaign admitted Ostrich Girl. The Giuliani campaign turned Ostrich Girl away.

"I was asked not to come in . . . there's really no way to search this guy (meaning the Ostrich costume)," said Megan Ritter, a 21-year-old college student. She said she understood "perfectly."

Here is an excerpt from a great blog post about Jo, Evan, and S4's efforts in New Hampshire to make retirement security a top issue in the 2008 presidential election:

The two people I spoke with are Ms. Jo Jensen, a new graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, who is now the Executive Director of an organization called Students for Saving Social Security (located on the Web at www.secureourfuture.org), which is headquartered in Washington, D. C.; and Ms. Evan Dent of Oregon, also a new college graduate, who is the Activism Director of the organization.  Ms. Dent apparently has an ostrich costume that she keeps in her car, and wears at college campuses to draw attention to the cause of reforming and saving social security.  Ms. Dent's job is to get college students interested in the cause and in the organization.

(...) I expect we will all be hearing from both Jo Jensen and Evan Dent in the future. . . .

June 08th, 2007

YouTube: McCain, Social Security, and the Ostrich Girl

June 07th, 2007

S4 made lots of noise in New Hampshire.  From the Union Leader:

Republican Mitt Romney yesterday praised the notion of personal accounts for Social Security recipients, a key aspect of the Social Security reform plan of President Bush that never made it out of Congress.

Romney said it would be a good idea to use the Social Security trust fund to allow personal accounts, which could earn higher rates of return for beneficiaries.

"Personal accounts would be a big plus," Romney said at the New Hampshire Institute of Art yesterday afternoon. Romney spoke to about 175 people in a town hall format where he took questions about civil unions, medical use of marijuana and weapons inspection during the run-up to the Iraq war.

(...)

Also attending the event were members of Students for Saving Social Security, one of whom asked Romney the question about Social Security (emphasis ours).

Romney praised Bush's idea of personal accounts and said they would make up for some of the expected shortfall in the trust fund. He also said changing the retirement age could be considered, as well as basing the Social Security cost of living adjustment on a different inflation gauge. He criticized Democrats for wanting to raise Social Security taxes to address the shortfall.

Click here to read the article.