We recently received this release from the Social Security Administration and think it may come in handy.
By Brandon Robertson
Social Security Administration
More Americans than ever are using the internet to conduct business. On behalf of the Social Security Administration, we would like to share some of the many resources available at our website www.socialsecurity.gov.
Visitors to the website may apply for retirement, spouse's or disability benefits. If visitors to the site are already receiving benefits, they may request a replacement Medicare card, report a change of address or update direct deposit information.
Social Security has recently introduced a new "Retirement Estimator" at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator. Getting a personalized online estimate of your future retirement benefits is now easier than ever before.
The online Retirement Estimator is a convenient, secure and quick financial planning tool that lets visitors to the website calculate how much they might expect to receive in Social Security benefits when they retire.
The Estimator allows visitors to create multiple "what if" scenarios. Visitors may, for example, change an expected retirement date or projected future earnings to create and compare different retirement options. Just visit www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator to use this terrific financial planning tool!
The website also offers a Frequently Asked Questions feature. Visitors to the site may select a topic; the site then displays all available information on that topic.
Much Social Security business can be done from the comfort of a home or office by visiting our website or by calling 1-800-772-1213. Social Security offers a variety of service options: you can visit us online, by telephone or at one of our community based offices.
Social Security is just a click away! Save a trip and go to www.socialsecurity.gov to get started. You can rest assured that doing business with Social Security online is fast, secure, and convenient.
If you are, have or know a college student who may not have registered to vote or hasn't gotten it together to get their absentee ballot, send 'em to this site, Vote For Change.
And if the college student you know is jaded, apathetic and cynical--like the 'indifferent son' of Passover--try this on them (found on the most unlikely of sources--a Mason's website):
Then there is the simple son who is indifferent to knowledge because he is not concerned with finding truth and is, therefore, the one who can be controlled and enslaved. The simple son asks, "What is all this anyway?" The danger of tyranny arises when enough people are indifferent to the truth, when there is a general failure to delve beneath the surface and consider statements carefully. Then people are subject to lies and deceits through which tyrants win power. Indifference to knowledge leads to the loss of freedom.
Ok, 'tyranny' may be a little strong, but you get the idea.
"You Go Girl!"
Ask any local TV news producer and he/she will tell you that ratings rise and fall on personality. Forget the fact that anchor people do not make news, nor provide commentary; remember that they are hired for their skill in reading, smiling, nodding with concern and ultimately connecting with viewers.
Taking a page out of the local news producer's handbook, we get Sarah Palin, speech reader. And while the praise is heaped on her ability to "connect", it is a cynical and shallow approach to choosing the second most powerful person in the land.
The RNC (Rove-Nurtured Candidate) is banking on our emotional response - not our intelliectual reaction to her stand on real issues. And while the speech was well delivered (and designed for memorable sound bites) it was missing any mention of substance. The RNC doesn't want you to either know or understand the issues - or care about Sarah's politics.
When it comes time for debates, Joe Biden will expose her obvious weaknesses but lose the debate becasue the focus will be on her poise and delivery. Forget that she won't address the issues, just remember that she won't cry when Biden goes for her throat. You go girl!
And after Biden goes into an hour-long explaination of the technical details about Russian aggression in Georgia, it won't matter that Sarah Palin supports sending troops to Atlanta, because she will say it in a heartflet, emotional and convincingly insightful way.
"Damn, she's cute, what was that about Atlanta?"
What's more, the shrewd cynicism of this VP selection allows the RNC to devalue Obama's credentials even more by now reflecting his experience off that of Palin. Apparently, according to the RNC's view, if we elect Obama, we don't have to wait for the Commander in Chief to die to get a frightfully unqualified person in the Oval Office.
"Drill Baby Drill."
Whatever you think about our dependence on oil, I think Rudy Guliani crystallized it for me when he led a chorus of "drill, baby, drill" at the republican convention.
It emphasizes a key difference between the two parties and a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue.
Offshore drilling or drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, will not translate into lower gas prices for years - if ever. The republicans would have us believe drilling is the silver bullet to freeing ourselves from an addiction to foreign oil. It's not.
In fact, the issue is not about freeing ourselves from a foreign oil addiction, it's about curing the oil addiction, period. Under the republicans, everything remains the same as we happily move farther and farther away from a real solution. We are already years behind the rest of the world in research and implementation of alternate fuels. But it doesn't matter, according to the republican spin, we have all the oil we need. All we need to do is shove aside the environment and drill, baby drill.
Perhaps in a few years I won't need number 2 fuel oil because New Jersey will be sprouting palm trees in a balmy 98 degree February.
Want a real solution? Check this out: A real solution
Let's Play "What IF"
What if McCain was actually elected. Based on his VP selection, here's a list of some of his cabinet appointees.
Depatment of Agriculture: Kayla Campbell, 17 of Greene County Ohio
Qualifications: Female. Exhibited the Reserve Grand Champion Market Beef at the Ohio State Fair which sold for a record $26,000.
Department of Commerce: Ruth Garrett
Qualifications: Female. Mother of 5; retailing expert. "Crazy coupon skills, she can bring home groceries, personal-care products and household necessities for herself, her husband, her five children, three cats and a dog, all for $70 a week..." Ruth Garrett
Department of Defense: Nicole Malachowski
Qualifications: Female. First woman pilot selected to fly as part of the Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds.
Nicole Malachowski
Department of Labor: Scottie Chapman
Qualifications: Female. MythBusters mistress of metal. Trained in welding, machining and metal fabrication she has built, burnt and bashed everything from bridges and amusement-park rides to seaplanes and race cars.
Scottie Chapman
Department of State: Ann Wagner
Qualifications: Female. Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Previously, Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) for two terms.
Ann Wagner
Department of Energy: Janet F. Clark
Qualifications: Female. Executive vice president and chief financial officer of Marathon Oil Corporation.
Janet F. Clark
I was going to write today about the Presidential debate, but instead find I need to say goodbye to the first man I ever loved--Paul Newman. As a pre-pubescent girl curled up in an armchair on rainy Sundays watching movies, my teeny nascent lust was aroused by the eyes, that attitude. Who wouldn't follow Ari Ben Canaan to Palestine? What woman wouldn't stick with Fast Eddie Felson? And who could play the grifter/drifter/anti-hero better?
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