Free Republic

“Instead, it is a payment to the generation of folks that are currently drawing payments.....”

Well said. My dad calls me every month to thank me for his social security check (he recently found out how much I put into SS each month and was flabbergasted).

The one thing I have a hard time with, though, is those that don’t have to put anything into Social Security (because they ostensibly won’t get any when they get to retirement age). I have a cousin who’s a teacher, and I recently found out he doesn’t have to pay a penny towards SS.

I figure we have about an equal chance of ever seeing a dime of social security (him because he’s never paid in, and me because I’m young enough that I realize there’s no way I can count on getting any of my contributions back).

So I’m paying hundreds of dollars a month to carry those folks who are currently on social security and my cousin isn’t (he gets those hundreds of dollars to spend or invest as he sees fit). If I dwell on how unfair that is, I get sick to my stomach. So I’ll stop now...

So Republicans should like this because it ostensibly “helps our side”?

Last time I checked, principles were principles. Just because something supposedly “helps our side” doesn’t make it right.

Choosing your stance on an issue based on whether it’s good for you personally is exactly what’s wrong with our politics today.

How about we instead decide on a core set of principles and stick to them? Gee, what a novel idea...

“Drudge was reporting 116° in D.C., which is WRONG!”

I’m so glad people are talking about this because I thought I was going crazy when I saw that Drudge map.

I get the “it’ll feel like 116 degrees in DC” thing (even if it is misleading to some) but then why was there a “1” for the state of Washington? Was it going to feel like 1 degree in Washington? I think not.

It seemed to me like the whole point was to confuse the issue and make everyone think it’s a much hotter summer than it’s ever been.

Also, while they’re going on and on about the high heat in some parts of the country, why aren’t they also talking about the unusually low temperatures in other parts?

Here in Sacramento we’ve been having one of the most pleasant summers I’ve ever experienced. Had to wear jeans and a jacket to the State Fair on Friday evening, and that’s absolutely unheard of.

“President Obama welcomes back the first lady from her trip, and insists he wasn’t drinking or smoking crack while she was gone.”

Ding, ding, ding!

You get the prize in my book. Thanks for the laugh on this otherwise rather dull Friday.

I’m always amazed to hear about government officials ignoring these requests.

I work in a State government office and one of my duties is to handle all Public Records Act requests that come to us (we’re in California).

We get quite a few of them because we deal with issues that often end up in lawsuits being filed (not against us but against the federal agencies we’re monitoring), and we would never dream of ignoring those requests.

Instead, we basically drop everything to get the response out as quickly as possible (and we spend a good amount of time ensuring that our response is thorough and we haven’t missed a thing being requested).

Then again, we don’t have anything to hide...

“Our Vines Have Tender Grapes” when they’re in the church trying to raise money for the farmer whose barn burned down and people are only giving small change.

Until sweet Margaret O’Brien stands up and offers the cow she loves more than anything the world. Everyone in the church then starts offering up not money (because they just don’t have it), but crops and equipment and food.

It’s one of the most heartwarming scenes (and movies) I’ve ever seen.

In my lexicon, showing yourself naked is considerably beyond “flirting.”

Thank you for making this point!

Equating what the Weiner did with flirting is like saying Bernie Madoff gave bad investment advice. (Or OJ Simpson had a disagreement with his wife.)

To me it all comes down to the value of peace of mind (in addition to maintaining good credit).

These people wake up every day with no peace of mind that they will continue to be allowed to live in a house they don’t own.

I think the stress of that alone would kill me (or at least seriously impact my health).

So I’ll continue to pay my mortgage because it’s the right thing to do and it gives me the peace of mind I need. (Lord knows there are enough things going on in the world to stress me out without me creating even more stress through my own bad actions.)

Stagecoach and The Quiet Man are two of my favorite movies (very different movies, I know). I’ll have to watch one of them tonight in his honor.

“The measured passed by Concord would allow the sale of refillable containers of water.”

Every bottle of water I’ve ever bought was refillable. Yes, people often choose to not refill them, but that doesn’t make them not refillable. Oh the joys of living in a town run by idiots!

“Caltrans is a racist organization.”

Yes, and packed with incompetent green freaks.

FYI - Racist Asians have taken over Caltrans and ruined the once great department by embracing global warming and using affirmative action to discriminate.

I was born in Massachusetts, and I am not eligible to be president.

Thank you for making this point! I think it would make for an interesting "campaign" if those of us who also fall into this category spoke up. So I'll add myself to the list...

I was born in California, and I am not eligible to be president.

“No one should be qualified to run for public office unless they...”

I’ll add: Have had and raised at least one child (and this is coming from someone with no children).

You’re right on the money there.

I work for the State of CA and my pension is with CALPERS, and I would LOVE it if they’d do away with our defined benefit plan and switch us over to defined contribution.

That’s because I truly fear there won’t be anything for me otherwise when I go to retire in 15 years (that would be the soonest I could retire).

There are two ways that they could make the switch, and both of them seem very fair to me.

One, they could determine exactly how much funding each employee has contributed plus what the State was supposed to contribute each month (it’s printed right on each of our pay stubs, so it should be trackable), add in a fair interest rate based on average market increases each year, and move that specific sum over into a 401K-style plan that each employee then manages from then on.

Or, they could pick a date and give each current employee their defined benefit amount on retirement based on that date (so, for example, if I had worked 10 years as part of PERS up to that date, when I turn 55, I get 20% of my highest pay), and then after that date, we all get switched to a 401K-style plan (and whatever I end up getting above and beyond that 20% is based on how wisely I invested the funding I contributed).

I’d take either of those options in a heartbeat over waiting and hoping that CALPERS is still solvent by the time I’m supposed to retire. Same goes for social security, now that I think about it.

As stated in a great line from the movie Zoolander, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”

Is this guy kidding? The constitution is the most straight-forward, simple legal document ever written.

Especially when you compare it to the laws that get passed these days. So can we ignore (or interpret as we wish) all those terrible laws as well, since they’re too hard read and understand? I say we start with Obamacare.

“I’m going to see it on the big screen tonight.”

It’s great to see old movies the way they were intended. A few years ago I only had one employee working on Christmas Eve, and It’s a Wonderful Life was playing in our local “artsy” theater (every Christmas they show one old movie—this year it’s White Christmas). So I closed up the office and took her to see it.

We had a great time, and were both crying by the end—along with just about everyone else in the theater. I’ve probably seen it 25 times over the course of my life, and it still makes me cry every time.

And yet they couldn’t vote to save Terri Schiavo’s life because that would have been a bill of attainder and been against the law? The world is truly turned upside down!

And I can say that my Assyrian Iraqi relatives do love America. They all became citizens, and none of them has ever expressed an interest in returning to Iraq, not even to visit. Their allegiance is to the US, not Iraq.

Heck, in many ways they’re more American than my native-born relatives—they always vote, they’re far more interested in talking about politics and important issues facing this country, and they’re much more self-reliant (less likely to look to government to solve a problem).

“they will bring with them a needed hatred towards Islam and everything Islamic”

My father and his family are Iraqi Christians (Assyrians). They came to the US in the ‘50s and ‘60s. And I can attest that they do hate Muslims.

Some Americans are shocked by their vehemence (aren’t all “people of color” supposed to be open-minded and tolerant?), but seeing what’s happening now (and knowing that it’s simply a continuation of what Assyrians have been subjected to for decades if not centuries—even if there was a lull during Sadaam’s reign) it doesn’t surprise me at all.

They’ve known the truth about the so-called “religion of peace” for generations.

Krauthammer is ruling class through and through. Always has been, always will be.