"Turn The World Around" sung by Harry Belafonte, Jim Henson's Memorial, May 21, 1990

When Jim Henson died, much too young, he left specific instructions that no one was to wear black at his funeral. Each person was given a brightly colored foam butterfly, which they waved as Harry Belafonte (who is such a legend, he can wear any damn color he wants) sang this song in tribute to the man who really did turn the world around in his own special way. The closing of the service began with Richard Hunt (who also died far too young, just two years later) coming out with his Muppet Scooter and sang Just One Person. One by one, he was joined in song with other Muppeteers, until a crowd of thirty Muppeteers and their alter egos crowded the stage. If you haven't seen it, be prepared to get a little misty-eyed.

There's a larger lesson for we progressives. Individually, we can feel powerless and impotent all too often. But with the grace of having someone believe in us and in whom we can believe, we gain strength and power. And though we might feel like just one person, if we believe in ourselves, we CAN turn the world around.

Looking to the Sunday shows, the debt ceiling/budget debate is still topic #1, with White House Budget Office head Jack Lew hitting three shows. Sen. Dick Durbin gets two appearances. Whether he'll be the strong Democrat and take a stand against cuts to safety nets or if he's drunk the austerity Kool-aid remains to be seen. The rest of the bookings are just dreary. You have the usual suspects of John Kyl, Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint and Lindsay Graham. Presidential wannabe Herman Cain will be on Fox News Sunday. Maybe he'll give us a tune or two from his recently released gospel album. Rudy Giuliani will be on State of Union, defending Rupert Murdoch again. I'll give 10 to 1 odds that Candy Crowley will neglect to mention that Giuliani's firm used to lobby on Murdoch's behalf. Gov. John Kasich will be on Meet the Press. Think David Gregory will mention that activists got one million more signatures than they need to place their referendum to overturn his pet project SB5 on the ballot? Like I said, it just takes one more person and then another and then another to believe in you to turn the world around.

ABC's "This Week" - Jack Lew, head of the White House budget office; Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Lew; Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio; David Cote, CEO of Honeywell International and member of the president's deficit commission.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Kelly O'Donnell, John Heilemann, Joe Klein, Gloria Borger. Topics: Big Irony: If the GOP Denies Barack Obama A Debt Package, Does It Boost Obama For 2012?
Michele Bachmann and Her Family Clinic's Therapy For Gays

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Durbin and Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Lew; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Larry Summers on the debt ceiling, the latest developments in Egypt and Syria.

"Fox News Sunday" - Herman Cain, GOP presidential candidate; Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

So what's catching your eye this morning?

While everyone else has their head turned at the latest shiny thing, please note what is taking place with regard to the budget talks.

The Hill:

House Republicans on Friday introduced legislation that would allow workers to partially opt out of Social Security immediately, and fully opt out after 15 years.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, and several other Republicans introduced the Savings Account for Every American (SAFE) Act. Under the bill, workers would immediately have 6.2 percent of their wages sent to a "SAFE" account each year.

That would take the place of the 6.2 percent the workers now contributed to Social Security.

Another 6.2% is sent to Social Security by employers. Under the Sessions bill, employers would continue to make this matching contribution to Social Security, but after 15 years, employers could also send that amount to the employee's SAFE account.

Sessions said this transition to a private retirement savings option is needed because Social Security last year began paying out more money than it took in.

Repeat after me: Republicans want to privatize everything, starting with Medicare and Social Security. This proposal is no different than what Bush proposed.

Digby:

Of course, what this would really do is remove money from the Social Security system right now, thus endangering the system for all older workers who will still be in the system 15 years from now. I'm beginning to wonder if my demographic group is going to be the guinea pig in a Soylent Green experiment. (Sure, they'll eventually figure out that his whole thing is unworkable, but it will be too late for the last half of the baby boom.)

Will someone please notify the Democratic messaging machine? Digby is exactly right: They want to strip Social Security of cash flow at the time where they need it the most. By the way, the Social Security trust fund has a surplus intended to deal with the expected actuarial projections of negative cash flow, so that's just another bogus excuse for Republicans to further dismantle the social safety net.