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The true Christmas Eve story

'Twas the night before Christmas and out on the ranch
The pond was froze over and so was the branch.
The snow was piled up belly-deep to a mule.
The kids were all home on vacation from school,
And happier young folks you never did see-
Just all sprawled around a-watchin' TV.
Then suddenly, some time around 8 o'clock,
There came a surprise that gave them a shock!
The power went off, the TV went dead!
When Grandpa came in from out in the shed
With an armload of wood, the house was all dark.
"Just what I expected," they heard him remark.
"Them power line wires must be down from the snow.
Seems sorter like times on the ranch long ago."
"I'll hunt up some candles," said Mom. "With their light,
And the fireplace, I reckon we'll make out all right."
The teen-agers all seemed enveloped in gloom.
Then Grandpa came back from a trip to his room,
Uncased his old fiddle and started to play
That old Christmas song about bells on a sleigh.
Mom started to sing, and 1st thing they knew
Both Pop & the kids were all singing it, too.
They sang Christmas carols, they sang "Holy Night,"
Their eyes all a-shine in the ruddy firelight.
They played some charades Mom recalled from her youth,
And Pop read a passage from God's Book of Truth.
They stayed up till midnight-and, would you believe,
The youngsters agreed 'twas a fine Christmas Eve.
Grandpa rose early, some time before dawn;
And when the kids wakened, the power was on..
"The power company sure got the line repaired quick,"
Said Grandpa - and no one suspected his trick.
Last night, for the sake of some old-fashioned fun,
He had pulled the main switch - the old Son-of-a-Gun!
- Anonymous

Social security fraud by whom?

MSNBC recently reported about the widespread misuse of social security numbers.  Our "unique" identifier.  According to research done by a large credit services bureau, they determined 1 in 7 Americans have had their SSN used by someone else.  (http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/12/odds-someone-else-has-your-ssn-one-in-7.html)

Something the article doesn't discuss is, what happens to the social security taxes paid on those misused SSNs? 

Basically, it goes to the government as "unclaimed taxes".  Just think about how much money that is every year that employees AND employers pay into the social security fund that will go unclaimed.

If I've figured that out, you can't tell me the government hasn't figured it out as well.  So, just what ARE they doing with that extra money?

Dreams of Children

Read me first so this blog makes sense: 
The Dream Act (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/os-dream-act-immigration-bill-20101130,0,4438059.story)
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The thing about kids is, they are at the mercy of their parents.

They live were we tell them to live, eat what we tell them to eat (for the most part), and go to school where we send them to school. Children of illegal immigrants are no different.

Right, wrong, or indifferent and as much as you may dislike the saying, "It is what it is", well, it is exactly what it is. 

Or, exactly what is it? 

We have illegal immigrant children who have attended our schools and received educations.  Children who continued on to college and received college degrees.  Children who identify more with American culture than that of their parents birth. 

Educated adults who cannot get legal jobs so they may contribute to our society and economy.

We want to punish them because of what their parents did. 

We want to cut off our nose to spite our face.

Hello?  These children have attended our schools and received good educations.  They are capable of being productive members of our society.  They can pay taxes, buy goods at local vendors, and volunteer.  So, let's throw them all out now.

I guess, in a way, that could be good for other countries.  They could benefit from the education our country provided those children.

How many illegal immigrant children are in the US today?  No one knows, except the answer seems to be, "a lot".  Do we know who they all are?  No.  So what is the reality of rounding them all up and getting them out?  Does everyone understand what an "exercise in futility" is?  Okay.  Let's move on.

Basically, our systems have become irrelevant and instead of trying to move forward and fix it, we would rather waste time punishing people who could, right now, today, be contributing even more to our society and our economy.

They are already here.  Why not give them a chance and save ourselves all the paperwork and wasted money spent on immigration applications and the process to give them a piece of paper that makes them "legal" - or the massive amount of money (our country doesn't have) to throw them out?

...and if you're afraid they'll take jobs away from legal immigrants, then maybe a little internal competition would be good for the growth of our country?  After all, isn't that what capitalism and democracy is all about?