Shhhush: I think I just heard the rent go up next door.
If one reads the Social Security Act one finds that it is NOT a contract. There is only ONE guarantee--- that if one uses The Social Security Number given to them during ANY sort of financial transaction then that person AGREES to pay a Social Security TAX on that transaction. ALL payouts and benefits are merely at the discretion of Congress. My guess is Al will propose to Congress a cut to benefits and increase the payroll TAX. This will increase the amount of money lent to the Treasury(TRUST FUND)and decrease the day to day expences(PAYGO)paid out to the clients.

One of the main techniques of humor is exaggeration. For example, did you ever listen to "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie? Then you'll recall that because of his police record, he had to go sit on the "Group W" bench during his draft physical.

"And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly 'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench."

Now that's funny because it's stretching the truth.

George Carlin, on the other, is funny because he's NOT stretching the truth - he's just throwing in a few dirty words.

I used to think he was exaggerating, too - but experience shows he wasn't.

I like Thomas Geoghegan's little book The Law In Shambles. It's not funny, and he doesn't swear, but it does explain nicely in not many pages why everyone should have expected this. It'll put you in the mood to listen to George Carlin.

This is where I part company with just about everybody I know. I've never liked Carlin or found him interesting.

Yeah, ditto on that...George Carlin always seemed like a weak ripoff of Lenny Bruce. Did he ever tell a joke?

His tie's ugly too.

I've never liked Carlin or found him interesting.

I'm not actually a big fan of him comedically-speaking myself. Certainly this particular rant isn't very funny. But it is exhilarating simply to hear someone say this, funny or not.

Maybe NOW would be a good time to call SOMEONE about YOUR Social Security. Of course I'll suggest Nan @1-202-225-0100. I personally don't have a dog in this fight as I haven't paid in for 30+ years as so at my age I can never collect. But IF I were oounting on my SS for the future I'd might want to call. The President describes him as "flinty" AND as someone who knows Al personally and had dealings with him, I would say that the President's description is "spot on". Bowles and the rest, I got no opinion on and have never met or dealt with. jus'sayn'

I always liked Carlin and often found him so funny he made me cry.

I saw him a couple times...some of his later shows though had a real reactionary streak to them...he would often speak about the stupidity of common people and how they have the right to vote and so on...I remember looking over at my friend when this happened and we both where kind of perplexed and had no idea where this was coming from....

Carlin's rants on environment where also sometimes deplorable...often stating that there is really nothing to worry about...that the planet will be just fine although we may not be...but even with that, I don't think there was another comedian of his generation in his class...just his longevity, number of routines, countless new material and so on put him at the top in my book...His political humor was unsurpassed for a stand up comic...Richard Pryor I guess would be close to him but even he,IMHO, is not even close.-Tony

that the planet will be just fine although we may not be

I always thought this was a brilliant observation, and spot-on: we're not fighting to save some nebulous, fragile "environment" that needs to be kept pristine for its own sake; we're fighting to keep from destroying the ecology that allows US to continue existing on this planet. Life, no doubt, will continue without us just fine.

WE could exist on this planet, just fine, just like the last million years, EXCEPT I NEED A TRUCK WITH A TANK OF GAS TO GO TO WORK.

I always thought this was a brilliant observation, and spot-on: we're not fighting to save some nebulous, fragile "environment" that needs to be kept pristine for its own sake; we're fighting to keep from destroying the ecology that allows US to continue existing on this planet. Life, no doubt, will continue without us just fine.

Saurabh'

I see what you are saying but the routine just struck me as almost a right wing talking point which struck me the wrong way coming from Carlin..it seemed to be opposed to any environmental consciousness at all...and it really had nothing to do, from what I can remember, with the continuance of the US...

anyway here is Carlin at his best...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaS2bRGS86c

You haf'ta' understand...without poor people, there would not be an elite.