THE UNITED STATES ONE DOLLAR BILL

Take out a one dollar bill, and look at it.

This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue minute silk fibers running through it. It is actually material. We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look. If you look on the front of the bill, you will see the United States Treasury Seal.

On the top you will see the scales for a balanced budget. In the center you have a carpenter's square, a tool used for an even cut. Underneath is the Key to the United States Treasury. That's all pretty easy to figure out, but what is on the back of that dollar bill is something we should all know. If you turn the bill over, you will see two circles. Both circles, together, comprise the Great Seal of the United States .

The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.If you look at the left-hand circle, you will see a Pyramid.
Notice the face is lighted, and the western side is dark. This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore the west or decided what we could do for Western Civilization. The Pyramid is uncapped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished. Inside the capstone you have the all-seeing eye, an ancient symbol for divinity. It was Franklinʼs belief that one man couldn't do it alone, but a group of men, with the help of God, could do anything. 'IN GOD WE TRUST' is on this currency.

The Latin above the pyramid, ANNUIT COEPTIS, means, 'God has favored our undertaking.'The Latin below the pyramid, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means, 'a new order has begun. 'At the base of the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776. (MDCCLXXVI)If you look at the right-hand circle, and check it carefully, you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States . It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National Cemetery, and is the centerpiece of most hero's monuments. Slightly modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States, and it is always visible whenever he speaks, yet very few people know what the symbols mean. The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons: First, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong, and he is smart enough to soar above it. Secondly, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England. Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country can now stand on its own. At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation. In the Eagle's beak you will read,' E PLURIBUS UNUM' meaning, 'one from many.' Above the Eagle, you have thirteen stars, representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again, we were coming together as one. Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows. They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief. You will usually never see a room numbered 13, or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor. But think about this:
13 original colonies,
13 signers of the Declaration of Independence,
13 stripes on our flag,
13 steps on the Pyramid,
13 letters in, 'Annuit Coeptis,'
13 letters in ' E Pluribus Unum,'
13 stars above the Eagle,
13 bars on that shield,
13 leaves on the olive branch,
13 fruits,
and if you look closely,
13 arrows.

And finally, if you notice the arrangement of the 13 stars in the right-hand circle you will see that they are arranged as a Star of David. This was ordered by George Washington who, when he asked Hayyim Solomon, the wealthy Philadelphia Jew, what he would like as a personal reward for his services to the Continental Army. Solomon said he wanted nothing for himself but that he would like something for his people. The Star of David was the result. Few people know that Solomon, who saved the Army through his financial contributions, died a pauper.

I always ask people, 'Why don't you know this?ʼ Your children don't know this, and their history teachers don't know this. Too many veterans have given up too much to ever let the meaning fade. Many veterans remember coming home to an America that didn't care. Too many veterans never came home at all. Share this page with everyone, so they can learn what is on the back of theUNITED STATES ONE DOLLAR BILL, and what it stands for.

THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT BAIL OUT WALL STREET!

I am fundamentally opposed to a government bailout of Wall Street and the financial institutions whose missteps over the past decade have led to the current mess they now find themselves embroiled in. This is the United States of America, not the People's Republic of China. This is a free market driven economy, not a socialist led economy. While there may be a need for the government to act, such as reinstituting government regulations and stricter oversights, giving the financial institutions $700 billion dollars which the government does not have isn’t the answer! Already this year, the federal government is projecting a deficit of around $500 billion dollars. And now it’s considering committing another $700 billion to bail out Wall Street. That would push this year's deficit to around $1.2 trillion increasing the nation's current $10 trillion deficit by 12% in just one year! That’s sheer insanity?!?!? Enough is enough!!!

Another Movie Favorite

Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)

Earlier this evening I decided to watch this film because it starred two of my favorite actors, James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. I knew nothing about the film, such as its story line, other than the fact that I liked its two lead actors.

The film Cry, the Beloved Country is based on the novel of the same name, written by South African author Alan Paton. It was first published in New York in 1948 by Charles Scribner's Sons. The protagonist is Stephen Kumalo, a black Anglican priest from a rural Natal town, who is searching for his son Absalom in the city of Johannesburg.

Two motion-picture adaptations of the book have been made, the first in 1951 and the second in 1995. I viewed the 1995 film adaptation. From reading the plot summary of the book as contained on the Wikipedia website, some minor plot changes were made in the 1995 film adaptation, but nonetheless, the spirit of the novel is conveyed.

I highly recommend this film, and on a scale of 1 to 10, I rate it a 9. I am now anxious to see the 1951 film adaptation, which also stars another of my favorite actors, Sidney Poitier.

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers

by Gerard Baker


And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?” In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world. He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world. And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.
From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares. From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace. As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.
And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over. The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it. And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length. But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him. And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not. On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One. And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

HOW ABOUT A "SERVICE TO AMERICA ACT"?

I am wondering why the Congress and the President do not encourage the youth of this nation to get more involved? And I am wondering why this country continues to allow the majority of it's all voluntary service people to come from the low income levels of our society? With that in mind, I propose that the Congress and the President should pass a "Service To America Act", that requires all of our nation's young people to serve two and a half years in service to the country. The act would require all young people to enter into service at some point between the ages of 18 and 25. This would allow them the flexibility to first enroll in college for some or all of the first four years. Then, when they decide to fulfill their service to America requirements, they could chose not only to go into one of the branches of the military for the minimum 2.5 years, or longer if they choose to re-enlist at the end of the 2.5 years, but they could also have the option of serving in such programs as VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America), the Peace Corps, as well as several other options, including perhaps The National Guard, or maybe working at the many ports helping to inspect the cargo coming into this country, and so on.

ORGANIZATION OF GRAIN EXPORTING COUNTRIES

We are only too familiar with OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Well, I propose that the United States should take the lead in forming the Organization of Grain Exporting Countries. OGEC would be a consortium of the major food grain exporting countries, like the United States and Canada, that would set the world market price for a bushel of grain, like wheat, corn, barley, etc. Such a consortium could set the per bushel grain market price at a rate equivalent to the per barrel price of petroleum. Now I realize that such a plan to inflate the market value of food grains could have a disastrous effect upon those nations that depend upon grain imports to feed their citizens, particularly the poorest nations of the world. But OGEC member nations like the United States could use some of the tremendous profits realized from grain sales to increase the amount of foreign aid to those poorest and neediest of nations to offset their outlays to feed their people. In the meantime, those OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates) whose wealth and prosperity comes from their inflated oil prices would get a taste of their own medicine!

The "JoeAmerican" You Tube Video

Have you seen it? More than 1.2 million people have! And you too can view this You Tube video at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPch2k63uj4

The ideas put forth in this video are brilliant. I encourage each and everyone of you reading this blog to watch it!

MORE ON SOCIAL SECURITY

Instead of having a cap on the amount of income that is subject to the FICA tax, the cap should be on the percentage of each taxpayer's income that is subject to the FICA tax. So that if, for example, the cap were to be 66% of a taxpayer's annual income that is subject to the FICA tax, middle and low income folks would realize a tax break; upper income folks would be paying more FICA taxes which would offset the taxes realized from the middle and low income brackets. In fact, there would be so much more money going into the fund that I shouldn't be surprised if the cap could be just 50% of annual income, and perhaps even less!

I’m not impressed with either of the presidential candidates’ discussion of and/or plans for fixing the pending Social Security shortfall. During the presidential debates in New Hampshire on Jan. 5, 2008, Barack Obama again suggested significantly raising the income cap, but that approach is neither innovative nor new.

I submit that we should consider a different approach: change the criteria or formula with regard to the amount of Social Security payments made to individuals upon their retirement (or receiving of disability) to more appropriately reflect the amount of their total lifetime income that was subject to the Social Security (FICA) tax.

On the official Social Security Administration’s website at www.ssa.gov, there is a benefits calculator that estimates a person’s potential benefit amount using different retirement dates and levels of future earnings.

Using the SSA website’s Quick Calculator, I calculated the monthly benefit amount for two individuals, each of whom was born on the same date of 6/15/50, and each of whom plans to retire at age 68 in June of 2018. As a part of the calculation(s), I indicated that one of individuals earned $40,000 in 2007, and that the other individual earned $1,000,000 in 2007. For both individuals, I selected the option to see their projected benefit amounts in inflated (future) dollars. The results were as follows:

Current earnings: $40,000.00 - Your estimated monthly benefit amount, beginning at age 68 in 2018, is $2,039.00.

Current earnings: $1,000,000.00 - Your estimated monthly benefit amount, beginning at age 68 in 2018, is $3,826.00. (Note: For your benefit calculation, we limited your earnings to the $102,000.00 taxable maximum for 2008.)

Based on the calculation results, a person who earns tens of millions of dollars in his lifetime can expect to receive 88% more in monthly Social Security retirement benefits than a person who just barely earns $1,000,000 in his lifetime. And that same multi-millionaire can expect to receive 252% more in monthly Social Security retirement benefits than a person who earns just the federal minimum wage during his lifetime! Now why would a retiree with more than enough income and resources to support an affluent lifestyle need to receive $46000 a year from Social Security? Surely such an individual would not even blink if say, half of those Social Security benefits were re-directed to those persons who depend upon their monthly benefits to pay the rent, put food on the table and cover medical costs! After all, wasn't Social Security created as a safety net for the poorest of American Society?

I would love to hear what each of the presidential candidates has to say about that!

MY RESIGNATION FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

I have been a member of the Democratic Party since I first registered to vote in the Presidential Election of 1972. And I have voted for the Democratic Party's presidential nominee in each of the nine presidential elections that have occurred since 1972. But today I have changed my voter registration from that of Democrat to that of No Affiliation.

As a 9 year old boy, I was inspired by these words of President John F. Kennedy in his 1961 inaugural address: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." As a young man in high school, when I studied American History I revered the words of The United States Bill of Rights and The United States Constitution.

During the events of the 2000 Presidential election, I was appalled that so many of Florida's voters were disenfranchised by the actions of their various state's officials and the eventual outcome of the election results in that state which resulted in the Republicans taking the White House! And that is why I was aghast when the Democratic National Party disqualified the ballots of millions of voters in the states of Michigan and Florida in this past spring's presidential primaries in those states! How dare they?!?!? Especially after the debacle of the 2000 Presidential election! Oh sure, on May 31st the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to seat all of Florida's and Michigan's delegates, with each delegate having half a vote. But, I maintain that the DNC's actions were every bit as much an egregious assault on the rights of the citizens of Michigan and Florida as were the actions of Florida's officials and the actions of the United States Supreme Court in the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential election that in effect disenfranchised all of those American citizens who cast their ballots in November of 2000! After all, the voters of Michigan and Florida had no control over the actions of their respective state's Democratic Parties which decided to move up the dates of the primaries in defiance of the DNC's rules. Why then should they be denied their most basic and cherished right to cast their ballots in the good faith that their votes would be counted?!?

For this reason, I can no longer be a part of the Democratic Party. After all, how can I possibly support any entity that would deny any American citizen's vote from being counted?