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Posts Tagged ‘Taxes’

How can anyone figure out The Heath care Reform Bill when people can’t even figure out the Tax Code?

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is irked that nearly 100,000 civilian federal employees owe the IRS $962 million in back taxes. He thinks they should pay up or be fired.   Chaffetz has introduced a bill that calls for the federal government to “ferret out” civilian employees who have “seriously delinquent tax debt” and prevent the hiring of other tax delinquents.  More than 3 percent of the 2.8 million federal civilian employees owed the Treasury unpaid federal income taxes in 2008, according to the IRS. If you include retirees and military service members, the numbers go from nearly 100,000 up to 276,000 current or former workers who owe $3 billion in taxes.  Writes,  http://thewere42.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/tax-scam-uncle-sam-you-oughta-be-fired-says-utah-rep-chaffetz/

How many pages of tax code are there?

Title 26 contains all the Federal IRS CODE.
Title 26 contains 20 Volumes.
All 20 volumes contain a total of 14,872 pages of tax code.
All 20 volumes weight in at 35 Pounds 
All 20 volumes cost $1,080.00

Obtained from the GPO- Government Printing Office, as of April 1st 2009, 14,872 pages of tax code.  It is over 24 times longer than the King James version of the Bible at 608 pages. Over 11 times longer than War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy-1296 pages.  It’s 20 volumes are about 5 feet thick! Laying the pages end to end it would be over 2.5 miles  The average reader would take 31 days of non stop reading to read all of the tax codes.

How many pages in the Health Care Reform Bill?

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fart

Having survived H1N1 Swine Flu, we are hungry.  It snowed two weeks ago, one of the earliest on record, giving further pause to the global warming chills in our office.

As President Obama is expected to sign the United Nation’s hostage Climate Treaty in December, comes the news that food and labeling in Sweden has, “New labels listing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of foods, from whole wheat pasta to fast food burgers, are appearing on some grocery items and restaurant menus around the country.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/world/europe/23degrees.html?_r=1 

People who live to eat might dismiss this as silly. But changing one’s diet can be as effective in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases as changing the car one drives or doing away with the clothes dryer, scientific experts say.

Um, – if you choose not to eat, you die.  Not eating and dying is certainly one way to reduce the population that contributes to global warming.  Instead of dying, you could just change your diet to eliminate farting that contributes to global warming as well. 

Farts are made of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, methane, and hydrogen sulfide. http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/fart.asp . 

http://www.abc.net.au/spark/scienceof/farts.htm says “Farts help your body with everything from eating, to protecting you from diseases. Fart bacteria help you to digest your food.”

Researchers at John Hopkins University, in Maryland, found that “fart” gas, that is hydrogen sulfide gas responsible for the smell of the colloquially known “fart” is “also produced in the cells lining blood vessels by an enzyme called CSE. It seems the gas is also produced by an enzyme in blood vessels where it relaxes them and lowers blood pressure“. The findings in mice may lead to new treatments for high blood pressure, the Science journal reported”. via http://purplemedicalblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/could-it-be-smell-fart-lower-your-blood.html

Small amounts of hydrogen sulphide – a toxic gas generated by bacteria living in the human gut – are responsible for the foul odour of flatulence. But it seems the gas is also produced by an enzyme in blood vessels where it relaxes them and lowers blood pressure. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7686911.stm

Sometimes farts stink, like this stupid new food labeling of carbon dioxide emissions for food.

What’s next, a tax on farting or carbon credits for not farting?

pppppfffftttttt. Oh, excuse us.

flag tounge

Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself.

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and farts!  Subscribe for free to our opinions and hot air in the top right margin.

https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/ 

photo via http://ballyhooligan.wordpress.com/2009/04/

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As summer dwindles down with the last of picnics this Labor Day weekend, unemployment numbers continue to rise.  Whatever President Barack Hussein Obama’s stimulus package was supposed to stimulate, it obviously did not occurr in the jobs sector and led us to a recession.  

The Labor Department reported that productivity grew at a 6.6% annual rate in the second quarter http://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm.  People are working hard in America as they have always done, even with the government’s debt projections well into the trillions. 

The latest means of government raising revenue to fund socialism, US congressman Peter DeFazio has introduced is HR 1068 which would tax financial transactions on Wall Street to repay TARP funds.  This Act may be cited as the `Let Wall Street Pay for Wall Street’s Bailout Act of 2009′. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1068.  with text in its entirety here at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1068ih.txt.pdf.

Author Les Leopold and the AFL-CIO think this is a great idea saying, “this is the best moment since the 1930s to do something about our obscene mal-distribution of wealth and our ruinous, bloated financial sector.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/labor-day-special-reward_b_277094.html 

The mal-distribution of wealth?  Whoa there Robin Hood!  It is American companies and the backbone of the American worker who supported the world economies for years.  Had bureaucrats and politicians done their job to inhibit and regulate blatant failures in the oversight of Frannie and Freddie Mac, AIG, and Madoff to name a few, the American economy would not have hit this bump on the road of democracy.  Don’t even put the blame on deregulation.  There are plenty of laws and taxes on the books that need enforcement, not layer upon layer of more regulation that allowed this scam of our tax dollars to occur. 

HR 1068 is an insult to American Capitalism. A fabulous example if you are into the whole lettering writing campaign to send to you representative against this tax can be found at http://alphaguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-letter-to-steny-hoyer-about-hr-1068.html.

On the one hand, the government recommends you invest on Wall Street with a 401k, IRA’s, stocks and bonds for your retirement to avoid the burdened social security program and then, wants to place an additional tax upon the transaction!  Who is the thief? 

“When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea.  He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.” wrote, Adlai Stevenson.

Recently, President Obama was asked if he believed in American Exceptionalism.  The President of the United States of America replied: “I believe in American Exceptionalism, just as I suspect the Brits believe in British Exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism.”

The question wasn’t about patriotism, it was about exceptionalism!  Perhaps President Obama should have been more clear by saying something like, “In the new world order, everyone and every country will be exceptional.  My socialistic, Marxist policies will make individualism and the desire to create exceptionalism cease, along with America’s global economic, military, scientific and cultural dominance.”

“Afterburner with Bill Whittle” from Pajamas TV has created this fabulous video explaining to Bill Maher and President Obama the difference between patriotism and exceptionalism.  If you click no other videos today, make this be the one. 

http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_with_Bill_Whittle/_Bill_Maher,_Barack_Obama_and_the_Truth_About_American_Exceptionalism/2378/8861/

God Bless America this Labor Day and all the days.

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In a parody of the song, The Candy Man Can from Sammy Davis Jr., funny man Tim Hawkins has brilliantly assembled political lyrics in his latest video, The Government Can. http://www.timhawkins.net/

If YouTube gives awards like the Oscar’s or Grammys, this is sure to be nominated by members of  all political parties who are disgruntled with the current spending trends and debts. 

The National Debt Clock is ticking higher to an average of $3.89 billion per day since September 28, 2007. http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/  and here it it broken down into categories http://www.usdebtclock.org/ including the per citizen debt of $38,000.

Congress will be forced to raise the legal limit on the nation’s debt later this year as the amount the government may borrow from the public, (that’d be us people who actually pay taxes unlike Timothy Geithner our Treasury Secretary) including foreign creditors, is limited by law to $12.1 trillion.  Today’s debt clock is $11 trillion give or take.

The Congressional Budget Office projects President Obama’s policies will require an additional $9 trillion in borrowing over the next decade.http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10296/06-16-AnalysisPresBudget_forWeb.pdf  has the President’s Budget Proposals for FY 2010. ” 

Under the President’s policies, the deficit in 2009 would total $1.8 trillion and equal 13.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), CBO estimates. The deficit in 2009 would be $157 billion higher than what is expected to occur under current law—primarily because of  additional spending for the government’s actions to stabilize financial markets and for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oprah, a huge Obama supporter has a few ideas of her own to help reduce debt saying- “While the market plunges, free-floating anxiety is rising. If exercise and meditation aren’t your thing, here are a few other strategies you may not have considered.” http://www.oprah.com/subtopic/money/debt  Maybe someone from government should simply take a look at suggestion number 4- Stop Spending.

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How noble to not have your brain shocked when using the Internet.

Chinese media reported that a clinic in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong had been treating teenagers suffering from Internet addiction with shock treatment. Yang Yongxin, a doctor of the clinic, reportedly used a current of 1-5 milliamperes on the young patients and described the treatment as “therapy to clear the mind” which he claimed would not cause brain damage.  http://www.sinolinx.com/frame/?url=http://www.chinatechnews.com/2009/07/15/10144-ministry-of-health-halts-electric-shock-treatment-for-internet-addiction-in-china/

Turn to Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs- things like the Internet and blogs.

Prison Planet http://www.prisonplanet.com/cass-sunsteins-despicable-ideas-on-regulating-the-internet.html  says “Sunstein’s book is a blueprint for online censorship as he wants to hold blogs and web hosting services accountable for the remarks of commenters on websites while altering libel laws to make it easier to sue for spreading “rumors.”

Rep. Linda T. Sanchez has this bill http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1966 pending that says, “`Sec. 881. Cyberbullying. (a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.`(b) As used in this section-(1) the term `communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; and(2) the term `electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.’

If one were to comment on your blog or call text that you are a butt head and I disagree with you, this wording could be interpreted as causing severe distress to said butt head and he/she  could sue.  WTF is wrong with people?  WAKE T F UP.

In an attempt to again reduce freedom of speech, I wonder if Obama has plans to torture and do a little shock and awe on internet users in the USA?  With the coming of Internet 2, 3, 4, 5 etc we are already restricted. The federally funded Next Generation Internet (NGI) project (http://www.ngi.gov/) exists parallel to and complementary with Internet2.

“The very high performance Backbone Network Service (vBNS) “is a network that will connect around one-hundred research institutions – and already links five NSF supercomputer centers – at 2.4 gigabits per second by the year 2000.” The vBNS has been around since 1995. Gigabits per second (G/bps)” refers to a billion bits (or ten to the ninth power – 1,000,000,000 – bits of information) when used to describe data transfer rates,” and these are carried over GigaPoPs,…blah blah. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FWE/is_11_3/ai_57785870/

“Eventually, these applications will be available to non-members, though estimates of when that will take place vary from one to many years.” 

Translation- Internet2 is filled with bits of information that the common internet user does not have access to.  I am just betting some of those research institutions get some of our federal tax dollars and probably stimulus dollars. National Security sites aside, if  U.S. tax dollars are paying for a full upload of the Library of Congress, then U.S. taxpayers should have full acess.

Shocking indeed.

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Just when I think American economists and politicians have the slightest clue about the most basic facts of world affairs, international trade, or the nature of money, I am reminded yet again of the hypocrisy of this financial and social abyss toward which America is heading in the pecking order of the New World Order.

The U.S. government owns the banks and the car industry.  It sets the rules, makes them up as it goes along and has control over the money supply.  It apparently has no oversight as the Fed in May tap danced around the missing  NINE TRILLION DOLLARS that we could sure use about now. 

Say nothing of main stream media whose focus on the deaths of Michael Jackson is a slap in the face. Icon, perhaps but a role model-hardly. What about all the dead soldiers from U.S. Wars and the one’s breathing  in over 130 foreign countries?  No views of them in the nightly news.

No worries though, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, introduced legislation decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level again. If passed, the legislation would eliminate criminal penalties for possessing 100 grams or less of marijuana for personal use.  Not to be outdone, San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano announced the introduction of a bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol in the state of California.  Yippee,  another government owned industry!  Obama just signed a huge tax increase on tobacco, I can only image the tax on a joint.

“The Ammiano legislation would create a regulatory structure for that market similar to that for beer, wine and liquor: it would regulate taxed sales to adults while barring sales to or possession by those under 21. Estimated annual revenue from fees and sales and excise taxes under the proposed regulations runs into the billions of dollars.http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pressroom/pressrelease/pr022309b.cfm

Maybe the U.S. Government can subsidizes pot growers like it does cotton, corn, soybean and other farming industries with my tax dollars.  Maybe we can trade it on the commodities exchange and all the traders can get a little profit too.  I wonder what currency it will trade-  USD, Amero, Acmetal, Euro…? 

The rest of the world is focusing on a new reserve currency in the New World Order and we focus on legalizing pot and subsidizing farmers in Afghanistan. As of the 111th Congress, Frank is also advocating a 25 percent reduction in the overall Military budget of the United States.

The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/27/us-announces-shift-in-afg_n_221826.html says that “The United States has announced a new drug policy for opium-rich Afghanistan, saying it was phasing out funding for eradication programs while significantly increasing its funding for alternate crop and drug interdiction efforts. The War on drugs in the U.S has thousands in prison for drugs with our failing policies here, and we are expected to believe that sending millions there will be a deterrent?  I still have that little island in the desert for sale if anyone is interested.

Last week when leaders of the so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) held their first summit.  The BRIC countries comprise 15 per cent of the world economy, 40 per cent of global currency reserves and half the world’s population.  The governments of BRIC and must be laughing like they were smoking marijuana and injecting heroin at America.  Our elected officials focus on legalizing pot rather than be bothered with the cumbersome announcement from Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that the U.S dollar is on notice.

“The artificially maintained unipolar system”, he lectured, is based on “one big centre of consumption, financed by a growing deficit and … one formerly strong reserve currency.” At the root of the global financial crisis, he concluded, is that the US makes too little and spends too much.   “The summit must create the conditions for a fairer world order.” …The BRICs have put the US dollar on notice, and are already finding alternatives as a means of clearing accounts. Medvedev called for the IMF to include the Russian ruble and the Chinese yuan in the basket of currencies used to value its financial products. But that is just for starters. Chinese Central Bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan says the goal is now to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations.”sourced at  http://dprogram.net/2009/06/24/a-new-world-is-being-born-one-without-the-us-dollar-greasing-the-wheels-of-commerce/

China, known for it’s Human Rights violations says, “It is a common wish of people of all countries to solve the drug problem as soon as possible and to build this planet into a healthy, civilized, happy and beautiful world.” http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/mzpkz/t36387.htm   “Those convicted of drug-related crimes in China face harsh penalties, in some cases capital punishment. Drug abusers and addicts must undergo rehabilitation at police-run facilities or labor camps. Reformers are attempting to introduce community-based treatment approaches to a system dominated by zero tolerance.”http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/law/countries/law_china.shtml 

Apparently, the perceptions of a dead American dollar and a dead American soldier can be overcome by getting stoned on government subsidized Marijuana and Opium in The Obama Administration. 

Changes I don’t want to believe in….

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The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects that publicly held debt will reach 56.1 percent of GDP under current law. If President Obama’s budget is implemented, CBO projects debt to reach 82.4 percent of GDP  according to http://www.heritage.org/research/features/BudgetChartBook/Obama-Budget-Increase-Debt-26-Percent-GDP.aspx 

You can keep track of our spending ways at the National Debt clock  http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ 

While George Bush may not be a saint, but Obama is looking more and more like a sinner- spending more than any other President in history. The National Debt was $10.6-trillion on the day Barack Obama took office, if his budget projections come to fruition, he’ll run up nearly as much government debt in four years as President Bush did in eight. 

From, A Pfennig for For your thoughts http://www.dailypfennig.com/ , “we’ll see the Budget Deficit, which is expected to be $180 Billion for the month of May… If it tallies there at $180 Billion, the Budget Deficit in the first 5 months of this year will have exceeded $650 Billion… And that’s before the $787 Stimulus gets added… And other items that will come along… And don’t forget that we posted a deficit in April!  I still believe the Budget Deficit will be at least $3 Trillion this year! That would push our National Debt to around $14 Trillion…” For a great explanation of “why do the annual federal budget deficits not match increases in the national debt,” visit http://www.independent.org/blog/?p=2355

Twice as nice for a Wednesday, both Trade Deficit and Budget Deficit will be released today. Ten Banks are going to repay their TARP (troubled assets relief program) funds, to the tune of nearly $70 billion, but that will barely put a dent in America’s economic decline, say nothing of the move toward socialized everything. 

Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)”vowed again Tuesday to vote against — and, if possible, filibuster — the troop-funding bill and all other legislation until they get their way,” according to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/09/lieberman-graham-threaten_n_213262.html The hissy fit is over a photo amendment that would prevent the release of the Gitmo torture photos forever and ever.

“Transparency in government is an American value, but it is not without limits, no more than any of the values embraced in our Constitution,” Lieberman said. “The transparency in this case is needless and dangerous transparency.”

Their actions have merit.  The world does not need to see how low America stooped.  Too bad these two didn’t have the balls necessary during the campaign to warn that an Obama administration of transparency, would only come when it was convenient for Obama.  If nothing else, this Senate delay saves us a few bucks while the debate goes on.

According to CNN- President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed making “pay-as-you-go” rules for federal spending into law.  The so-called PAYGO proposal requires Congress to balance any increased spending by equal savings elsewhere. By all accounts, added entitlement spending will be offset with spending cursor tax increases. Talk about bait and switch!

ABC points out, “discretionary spending – roughly 40% of the federal budget – is not covered by PAYGO.” The PAYGO rules will apply to new tax cuts and mandatory spending, with four major exemptions – any renewal of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the continued efforts to “patch” the Alternative Minimum Tax, any effort to address physician’s payments in Medicare, and modifying the estate tax.” http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/president-obama-paygo-and-the-deficit-hole.html 

“”This is like quitting drinking, but making an exception for beer and hard liquor,” said Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). “Exempting these measures from PAYGO would increase the ten-year deficit by over $2.5 trillion dollars. That’s not fiscal responsibility.” I’ll have a nice chardonnay please, and it better not be the frig from France.

60% of the budget is not subject to PAYGO.  Why is no one having a hissy fit over that?  While President Obama may enjoy a 60% approval rating, PAYGO and his expensive socialistic plans still don’t achieve his goals.  Bush might have spent a pretty dime, but at least is was shining in democracy. 

 debt by country
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

props to http://chalktalk-talk.blogspot.com/2009/06/worldwide-national-debt.html on the Percent of GDP.  Japan debt is equally dismal especially in light of recent military actions on the part of it’s neighbor North Korea.   Obama who continues his spiel of climate change for jobs might want to take a look at Japans which “is doing the smart thing by not meeting it’s ‘Kyoto Protocol’ targets and is only pledging to cut it’s future CO2 emissions by 8%. Via http://motorcitytimes.com/mct/japan-will-protect-its-economy-first/  Right now they need jobs and so do we.

I think I”ll have a Saki instead of that chardonnay after all.

My share of I.O.U.S.A. debt leaves little room for more than a sip out of the White House Fountain.

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uncle_sam_taxes

Paying taxes is Patriotic? 

Congress is considering a National Sales Tax called a Value Added Tax-VAT in some circles. Forget about repealing all the income taxes already collected, they are planning to keeping the existing income tax and add a national sales tax on top of it.  How’s that for Patriotic?

Poor people who don’t make enough to make ends meet now will be forced to rely further on social services, further enhancing the debt and reliance on government.  Socialism, pure and simple.  

A commentator from the Say Anything Blog had this to say- http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/congress_considering_a_national_sales_tax/ that “Bush took 96 months to give us the largest debt in decades.  Obama took 4 months to QUADRUPLE that.”

This is the change you can believe in.  …”Everybody who understands our long-term budget problems understands we’re going to need a new source of revenue, and a VAT is an obvious candidate,” said Leonard Burman, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, who testified on Capitol Hill this month about his own VAT plan. “It’s common to the rest of the world, and we don’t have it.” 

I don’t have my armpits infested by the fleas of a thousand camels like some parts of the world either, but something stinks to high hell.  I understand that our economy and the world’s economy are fragile, but a VAT on top of what we already pay? Somewhere in this VAT is an angle for government subsidized healthcare, I just know it.  We are going to have to pay for the the Swine Flu Vaccine and Vaccine Stockpiles somehow, won’t we now?  Doing away with an antiquated tax code that our own Secretary of Treasury apparently couldn’t figure out is one thing, but not repealing it and expecting tax revenue on top of that is just greed and a nasty power play on the part of our elected democratic office holders.  Do they really want to be responsible for more burdens on the poor while they sit on the throne of power under the Obama reign?

You think a gallon of milk is expensive now?  A gallon of gas locally was $2.49 in Podunk USA- in the EU it is between $5-$8 per liter.  http://goeurope.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=goeurope&cdn=travel&tm=59&gps=294_333_986_501&f=10&su=p531.50.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/prices.html%23Motor

I get that not everyone pays taxes and that not everyone qualifies but for those of us who do; for the government to even consider a VAT is just another nail in the coffin of capitalism.  I am tired of scraping up the change off the floor to pay for President Obama’s proposed socialistic programs and endless bailouts.  If I wanted to own a car company, I would have purchased the stock on Wall Street.  I didn’t need a President to do it for me.

Patriotism is not getting your money for nothing and your tricks for free. Best link on the topic is here-

PHIL KERPEN: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid of the Obama Administration’s Scary Trial Balloon

photo props to http://longdarkteatime.com/2004_02_01_archive.html

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tea-for-two-poster

We’ve come along way from the squeaky clean image of Doris Day’s portrayal of Nanette Carter set in the Roaring 1920’s movie, Tea for Two.

The Tea Party protests of today far more mimic the sex comedy movie, Pillow Talk back in 1959.   It was one of the first movies that portrayed the loosening of morals in middle America.  Doris Day might blush over headlines like, Lindsey Lohan distraught over lesbian break up, but we can dispute morals another day.  The Tea Party protests are about disastrous politics, capitalism vs socialism, and taxes- pure and simple. 

Eric Odom, Chairman of the nationwide Tea Party rally movement apparently asked RNC Chairman Michael Steele not to be a Speaker at a Chicago rally because it might identify the Tea Parties as “Republican.”  HT- http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/04/msnbc-mid-identifies-libertarian.html

Give me a break.  Outside of Washington, Chicago politics is the capital of deceit and manipulation of power. If someone like Steele has something to say, put him on the agenda.  What, you going to have Blago? Ayers?  It was after all, Rick Santelli’s Chicago Board rant on TV that started the symbolic tea party ideas.  He growled loud “enough is enough’ and ‘no more’ uncontrolled big brother government.  “We’re thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July, all you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna start organizing.”  

The idea that the Tea Parties should remain non-partisan and rely on grass roots efforts is a bunch of hooey.    Grassroots movements may happen on the local level with volunteers in a community giving time and money to support the local party, but it leads to helping the national party in the long run.   There are Republican, Democrat and Liberal party members who are pissed.  All Americans who pays attention to politics and pay taxes should be pissed.  With the April deadline for federal tax returns looming, the only people who likely don’t give a rats ass about a Tea Party are the growing number of Americans who pay zero federal income tax, don’t file at all or don’t give a shit about where the future of America is heading. 

When I think of grass roots, I think of ACORN and I am twice as pissed to think that it was this grass roots group that played a significant contribution to the mortgage crisis- in the first place- by finding loans for people who could never pay them back.   Local community efforts can barely succeed at registering people to vote,  let alone organizing large Tea events with relevant speakers. 

Whether a Tea Party is held today, tomorrow or months from now its my guess that the Democrats will be calling foul, Republicans will try to take the credit and the Libs will still be pleading for neutrality.  The Tea Parties may have the intention of being non partisan, but it is negligent for the Republican, Dems, and Libs to not take advantage of the platform to peacefully review what is happening to our nation.  

Bob Basso portraying Thomas Paine summed it up by asking Americans to stand up against Congress and reclaim their republic now, or maybe lose it forever.  “Have you become a nation of cowards,” warning people that if they do nothing else, “buy a gun because your going to need it.”  

“Wake up, America.  While you were playing with the toys of your consumer wealth, you lost much more than your bloated economy of living beyond your means. You lost your representative democracy. Your servants have become your masters.  Taxation without representation is tyranny,” he said.

Bob Basso and more of my rant can be seen here https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/bob-basso-summoned-to-white-house-by-obama/

If you are still not sure where your local Tea Party is at, visit the map at https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/tea-party-map-for-tax-day/

By the way, out on DVD this week is the Doris Day Collection. HT -http://www.topix.net/who/doris-day/2009/04/doris-day-collection-on-dvd.

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obamabad

We usually feel better after apology but not this time.  According to the NY Times, “The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1

Yesterday, President Obama said, “It’s never as good as we say it is and it’s never as bad as we say it is. I’m very optimistic.”   Gee, that makes me feel better.  Obama has placed himself in a win/win with that comment and placed all of us in further jeopardy of being poor.  During the election Obama criticized McCain for even suggesting it- so instead, he is sending a message to Congress that if they will do it, he will sign it into law.  Throw in the proposed carbon tax and a tax for every mile driven and the working man or woman won’t see even half of his wages.

SodaHead’s blog writes, ” Doing the math, this would cost the average family receiving health insurance from their employers $2,000 or more in extra taxes per year. Kiss that $600 dollar tax cut good by.” http://www.sodahead.com/blog/49361/obama-plan-to-tax-your-health-care-how-does-that-grab-you/ .

What incentive is there to work when under O, soon most services will be free anyways?  Why should my doctor bust his ass on a Friday when it puts him into a higher tax bracket?  Schools around the nation are considering four day weeks, why not the rest of us?  “By extending school hours and eliminating a day of classes each week, education officials say they could save bus loads of money on transportation and utilities.” http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11898035?nclick_check=1

Why not go to four days a week for all of us?  While I am pondering three day weekends, maybe we should move to the European style of vacations and work ethics.  In the 15 nations of the European Union, by law all full-time employees must be given a minimum of four weeks’ paid vacation per year; in Japan mandates 25 days a year, so unlike 127 other countries, the U.S. has no minimum paid-leave law.  We are the No Vacation Nation and are taxed so highly that half of us can’t afford to go on vacation anyways.  We work hard to give to our government.

Harvard Economist Juliet Shore wrote that we should hold jobs to a set number of hours per week, offer comp time for any overtime, and lower our living standards. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/046505434X.  Lower our living standards?  Ain’t that a kick in the ass, go to work and lower the standards for the American Dream!  Frig u.

Accepting lower standards is only half the problem.  The standards are so low, that it is now perceived to be okay to accept welfare and subsidized housing on a regular basis. Used to be I’d see folks in line at the grocery store embarrassed as they paid with food stamps, now they wave them in the air like they are a prize.  Accepting the standards of the welfare system should never be acceptable nor should the incentive to lower our standards ever be spat out.

I could envision a job interview where the employee says that they expect to work no more than 40 hours a week.  Laughable, because there are plenty of others who are willing to work twice as long for the same pay with or without vacation time. 

TAKE BACK YOUR TIME is a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.  http://www.timeday.org/.  It isn’t my time that feels threatened at the moment, it is my wallet under Obama’s tax plans.

We really don’t have to worry about Take Back Your Time Day- October 24 with so many unemployed we have lots of vacation time, just no money and no incentives to look for work.  Even if you still have a job and take a paid vacation, you are taxed.  Oh, the poor travel industry. 

I think you even have to pay taxes on unemployment compensation.  Is there anything left that doesn’t have a tax?  The only thing I can think of is breathing and when that ends, there is a death tax.

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