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Here is a short test on your knowledge of the history of Social Security.  Let’s see how you do!

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it the general fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the ’tie-breaking’ deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?

A : That’s right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into Social Security.

Then, after repeatedly violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away! And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it! If enough people read this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe changes will evolve. Maybe not, some Democrats are awfully sure of what isn’t so.

Here is some additional interesting history on Social Security. Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary — It is no longer Voluntary

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program — now 7.65% on the first $90,000

3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year, is no longer tax deductible

4.) That the money the participants put into the independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program. Under Johnson the money was moved to the General Fund and spent. (I still hear politicians talk about the “Social Security Trust Fund” in news interviews just like the trust fund still exists! What the trust fund is now is a box of IOUs from the general fund where the politicians have stolen the money from Social Security and left the IOUs. There is no possible way for the General fund to repay the debt to Social Security)

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income. That changed under the Clinton Administration and now 85% of your Social Security can be taxed.

So how did you do on this test?  Are you really pissed off now? If you are pissed off now, just wait. The Obama Administration is looking at ways of taxing or outright seizing your 401K and IRA retirement plans to prop up the Social Security plan. Under the guise of making sure that all Americans have adequate and fair retirement coverage they want to take total control of your private retirement plans. If this isn’t redistribution of wealth I don’t know what is. The truth is, they have stolen the money from the Social Security system and now they want to steal your private retirement funds. If we allow this to happen we are dumber that I ever thought we could be as a country!

Pat Condell is a blogger and activist from the UK.  In his latest video blog he comments on the proposal to build a Mosque at the Ground Zero sight in NYC.  As is usual for Pat, he states his opinion clearly and concisely.

No Mosque at Ground Zero

I agree wholeheartedly with Pat.  It is just a way for Muslims to take advantage of our stupid politically correct leaders and work the situation to their advantage!

If you check out some of the blog sights you will find that there have been several protest marches in NYC, but these protests haven’t make the lame stream media.  They don’t want the general public to know that there is any opposition to the proposed mosque.

I’ve been considering purchasing an Ebook reader for a while now.  I have been reading all the reviews, doing my research, watching the prices, but until just last week couldn’t make up my mind.  In the end it came down to two likely candidates, the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook.  Both had features that I liked.

The Amazon Kindle  has been around for a while and enjoys high popularity.  The hardware features are good, I liked the built in hardware keyboard, albeit small, it works quite well.  Most of the readers today use the same E Ink screen.  These screens although not back lit, but have excellent resolution and are readable at almost any angle and in any light that you could read a normal printed page.  I used a friend’s Kindle for a little test drive and found it to be quite user friendly.

The B&N Nook had a couple of features that were very appealing to me.  First was the 802.11 Wi-Fi connectivity.  Both of these readers use AT&T for the wireless connection for downloading books and I knew that AT&T coverage here at the house is spotty at best.  So, the ability to use my own wireless internet connection here at the house would assure that I had the ability to quickly download any books that I wanted to read.

Second, the Nook has the capability to expand the memory with a Micro SD memory card.  Rule of thumb of any computing device is you can’t have too much memory.  That must be one of Murphy’s Laws, like you can’t have too much chrome, too much horsepower, or two much money!

Similar to selecting a computer or computer operating system, when I think about an electronic book reader I think  the most important feature would be the media that is available.  That decision out weighs the hardware.  You’ve got to have access to a large inventory of books, periodicals, blogs, and so on to make a Ebook reader worthwhile.  After doing some searching on the B&N and Amazon websites for some books I would like to download, I found that Amazon had more titles I wanted and slightly better prices.

So I decided to go with the Kindle.  Because I already an account with Amazon it was a snap to purchase the Kindle using their one click ordering and overnight shipping.  I had the Kindle the next day and was downloading books.  I now have a considerable backlog of reading.

I guess I better get off this computer and get to my reading!

One of my long time friends in Florida sent this to me.  When I saw it I couldn’t believe it.  But, after a few minutes of thinking about it, I guess it makes perfect sense!  After all, we are talking about our Federal Government.

Is this not the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard of?   I wonder which of your Presidents cabinet heads thought that one up.  What a bunch of “rocket scientists” they are!

Sometimes you just have to say, “WTF”

The big local news-talk radio station in Atlanta is running running a one question poll on their website.  The question is, “Would you support and immigration law here in Georgia similar to the one passed in Arizona?”

I registered my vote.  After submitting your vote you get to see the results, at the time I voted it was 96% in favor, 6% opposed.

Click here to see the WSB Poll.

96% in favor of a law similar to Arizona’s a pretty clear mandate.  Obviously illegal immigration is not popular in Georgia as well as in Arizona.  Makes me think, in light of the announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week that the the Department of Justice was going to file a lawsuit against Arizona, what would the Federal Government do if all of the states passed a similar law?  Would they sue all of the states in Federal Court?   That would be a good use of taxpayer money, to bear the expense of 50 lawsuits.

Combine that with the national polls that show that over 60% of the people polled support Arizona’s law I think we can pretty well understand that the Administrator doesn’t care what we think.  They are moving on their agenda and the hell with what the voters think.

People, we have to fix this in November 2010, and again in November 2012!