I read, this morning, that the bottom 50% of wage earners in the USA pay no taxes at all. It is no wonder that we have such discontent. We have raised, and are now raising, a whole generation of "citizens" that have no connection to that great nation that was built by our forebears. In my opinion, only those who substantially participate in government can feel ownership in it. By helping to fund the operation of our government even those of modest means can feel that they have a stake in the way government is run.
Just imagine a Senator, Congressman, Governor, or President who hears from a citizen comlaining about this or that. He looks in the tax roles and finds that this citizen pays no taxes and therefore has no stake in how the money is spent. He feels no need to respond.
Similarly, a citizen who pays no taxes is also not concerned about how much tax money is wasted. I've inteviewed many who indicate, "I don't care; it's not my money".
I have always said every citizen needs to participate in helping to fund government, even if it is only .01%. By so doing patriotism, citizen morale, and citizen participation in the political process will improve.
While I think we collectively pay too much in taxes, I believe each citizen should pay something.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Wars and Rumors of War
Here we go again sticking our noses in where they do not belong. First Libya, then Egypt, and now Syria and then later on Iran. When does it end? When will the world stop depending on the USA to be the world's policeman? And when will the world help pay for the work the USA does in doing so?
When we went to Iraq, the liberal crazies said we were going for the oil. Where did it go? Certainly not to the USA. We've spent billions of dollars there and have not even been given gratitude, much less recompense.
We spent, and are still spending, millions of dollars in Libya. For what purpose? And now the Islamic Brotherhood will take over. It is an aggressive anti-American organization. Our national leaders seem pretty pleased with themselves to let anti-American despots rule nations.
Our war in Afganistan is a legal war, but we don't fight it. Instead we play at it, trying to create good will out of extreme hate. I said from the beginning, we should invite the good world citizens out of Afganistan and then turn it into a sea of glass. Then these terrorists will understand that we indeed mean what we say. We don't need to be pernicious about it, just set our collective jaw and get down to business. I just can't stand the political correctness of our current noodle spined leaders. We need to kill the evil in order for the good to prosper.
And now Egypt. Egypt's new Islamic Brotherhood leaders are trying to blackmail the USA. And we are likely to capitulate. WHY? They don't like us, the will never like us. But, we'll continue to try to buy their friendship. It won't work. It never has worked. We spend money we don't have, giving money to those who will not appreciate it, to help those who will never see it.
Now we'll send in "advisors" to help the Syrian rebels. I say KEEP OUT! We have no business there. We have no national interest there. There is no national threat there.
What about Iran? We do have a national interest there because Iran is a self-proclaimed and vocal sponsor of terrorism against civilized nations. They publicly advocate the destruction of Israel and the United States. We have treated the populace in Iran badly in the past when citizens wanted to overthrow the current Islamic despotic government. We gave promises and then left them flat. We need to stop messing around and do what we already know needs to be done. Defend ourselves against these loud mouth despots aggressively, decisively, and immediately.
I guess this is just the natural progression of things. We spent millions of dollars defending Europe during two world wars. The people of Europe are not grateful. They would still rather our people not interact with them. We see that every time we visit. We never asked anything in return for liberating Europe except a place to bury our dead. However, we don't even get that much from these middle east countries.
We are the stepchildren of the world, whom the world despises, and whom the world would rather not exist except when it needs help. The people of the USA are the most generous people in the world. We donate liberally each time a natural disaster happens. Our churches and charities are the first to assist. And we do it without guile. We ask nothing in return except perhaps a kind smile now and then. I know of no other nation that does as much.
When we went to Iraq, the liberal crazies said we were going for the oil. Where did it go? Certainly not to the USA. We've spent billions of dollars there and have not even been given gratitude, much less recompense.
We spent, and are still spending, millions of dollars in Libya. For what purpose? And now the Islamic Brotherhood will take over. It is an aggressive anti-American organization. Our national leaders seem pretty pleased with themselves to let anti-American despots rule nations.
Our war in Afganistan is a legal war, but we don't fight it. Instead we play at it, trying to create good will out of extreme hate. I said from the beginning, we should invite the good world citizens out of Afganistan and then turn it into a sea of glass. Then these terrorists will understand that we indeed mean what we say. We don't need to be pernicious about it, just set our collective jaw and get down to business. I just can't stand the political correctness of our current noodle spined leaders. We need to kill the evil in order for the good to prosper.
And now Egypt. Egypt's new Islamic Brotherhood leaders are trying to blackmail the USA. And we are likely to capitulate. WHY? They don't like us, the will never like us. But, we'll continue to try to buy their friendship. It won't work. It never has worked. We spend money we don't have, giving money to those who will not appreciate it, to help those who will never see it.
Now we'll send in "advisors" to help the Syrian rebels. I say KEEP OUT! We have no business there. We have no national interest there. There is no national threat there.
What about Iran? We do have a national interest there because Iran is a self-proclaimed and vocal sponsor of terrorism against civilized nations. They publicly advocate the destruction of Israel and the United States. We have treated the populace in Iran badly in the past when citizens wanted to overthrow the current Islamic despotic government. We gave promises and then left them flat. We need to stop messing around and do what we already know needs to be done. Defend ourselves against these loud mouth despots aggressively, decisively, and immediately.
I guess this is just the natural progression of things. We spent millions of dollars defending Europe during two world wars. The people of Europe are not grateful. They would still rather our people not interact with them. We see that every time we visit. We never asked anything in return for liberating Europe except a place to bury our dead. However, we don't even get that much from these middle east countries.
We are the stepchildren of the world, whom the world despises, and whom the world would rather not exist except when it needs help. The people of the USA are the most generous people in the world. We donate liberally each time a natural disaster happens. Our churches and charities are the first to assist. And we do it without guile. We ask nothing in return except perhaps a kind smile now and then. I know of no other nation that does as much.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Politics tires me out
I wonder when the election cycle will begin for the 2016 elections. Thinking it should have started last year. That way we can have non-stop bickering, fighting, contentious, litigious, and hating. Whew! How do they get that much energy. I could not do it, and I'm tired of hearing it now.
I wish the candidates would just ignore each other's prattle and just tell us what they stand for, what they will do to institute change, and then let us decide what stance we will endorse.
Just think. The yellow journalists would have little to say. Perhaps they could report real news instead of make it up as they go along. My own belief is that today's so-called journalists create the news. They spend so much time interviewing each other they don't have time to go find out what is happening around them that might be good to report. PBS is famous for interviewing each other and calling each other "specialists" on this subject or that subject.
I long for times past when we were civil to each other, less selfish, more tolerant, less offended, more helpful, less mean and just good neighbors. We need to discard the boorish behavior that seems to pervade our personalities these days.
I wish the candidates would just ignore each other's prattle and just tell us what they stand for, what they will do to institute change, and then let us decide what stance we will endorse.
Just think. The yellow journalists would have little to say. Perhaps they could report real news instead of make it up as they go along. My own belief is that today's so-called journalists create the news. They spend so much time interviewing each other they don't have time to go find out what is happening around them that might be good to report. PBS is famous for interviewing each other and calling each other "specialists" on this subject or that subject.
I long for times past when we were civil to each other, less selfish, more tolerant, less offended, more helpful, less mean and just good neighbors. We need to discard the boorish behavior that seems to pervade our personalities these days.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Valentine's Day 2012
Today is the 39th Valentine's Day we've enjoyed together. My princess bride and I are enjoying it and I hope my readers are also. I'd like to deviate from my normal rant today and I hope you'll forgive me for waxing personal.
Princess and I began dating in January 1973. I believe it was in February she invited me to come to her house "to count pennies" to see if she had enough to pay for her to take me to a "girls ask boys" dance. Little did I know that she had scoured her siblings and parents (and perhaps the neighborhood, for all I know) so that she had just enough pennies. Little 'ol naive me was impressed that she would take me, much less break her piggy bank to pay for it.
It was a nice time and we've had many nice times since. We've invited and received 7 children into our family through the years. I wouldn't trade any of them. While some of their decisions aren't what I would make, they are generally pretty good people and I love them all along with their respective spouses.
We've enjoyed good times; times of laughter and joy. And we've endured some sad times, like when our 2nd daughter died in an auto wreck. We've enjoyed times of great strength and times of extreme weakness, like when Princess was confined to a wheel chair for a few months before giving birth to twins or when I was bedridden for a time recovering from a severe blood clot in my leg.
We've enjoyed camping with our children, taking tours of the Grand Canyon and other wonders. We've laughed and played and enjoyed our family..
These times and events have all given us strength. Even the sad times have brought us closer together and our love has grown ever stronger. I wondered, 39 years ago, how I could ever love my princess bride more than I did then. Now I wonder at how little I knew then.
I love her, I honor her, and I worship the ground she walks on. I love her talents. She makes everyone around her feel better. I know she loves me, but sometimes I wonder why. I've been a pretty big burden sometimes.
Thank you for letting me express myself here.
Princess and I began dating in January 1973. I believe it was in February she invited me to come to her house "to count pennies" to see if she had enough to pay for her to take me to a "girls ask boys" dance. Little did I know that she had scoured her siblings and parents (and perhaps the neighborhood, for all I know) so that she had just enough pennies. Little 'ol naive me was impressed that she would take me, much less break her piggy bank to pay for it.
It was a nice time and we've had many nice times since. We've invited and received 7 children into our family through the years. I wouldn't trade any of them. While some of their decisions aren't what I would make, they are generally pretty good people and I love them all along with their respective spouses.
We've enjoyed good times; times of laughter and joy. And we've endured some sad times, like when our 2nd daughter died in an auto wreck. We've enjoyed times of great strength and times of extreme weakness, like when Princess was confined to a wheel chair for a few months before giving birth to twins or when I was bedridden for a time recovering from a severe blood clot in my leg.
We've enjoyed camping with our children, taking tours of the Grand Canyon and other wonders. We've laughed and played and enjoyed our family..
These times and events have all given us strength. Even the sad times have brought us closer together and our love has grown ever stronger. I wondered, 39 years ago, how I could ever love my princess bride more than I did then. Now I wonder at how little I knew then.
I love her, I honor her, and I worship the ground she walks on. I love her talents. She makes everyone around her feel better. I know she loves me, but sometimes I wonder why. I've been a pretty big burden sometimes.
Thank you for letting me express myself here.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Today's pet peeves.
1. Whew! With all the spin touting the greatness of the Ayatollah Barry Obama, my emotions are all a dither. He is reported to be such a great public speaker that every sane American should be jealous. I see it differently. If it wasn't for for tele-prompters he couldn't even form a complete sentence as he has proven over and over. As far as reading....I have a 6th grade granddaughter that can read aloud better than can Mr. Obama. There are many people who can read without giving it away. Mr. Obama isn't one of them.
One of the best at reading a speech was Ronald Reagan. Listening on the radio, one could not tell he was reading. One ALWAYS knows Mr. Obama is reading. ;
2. I hear the conservative talk shows commenting that Ronald Reagan was the ultimate conservative. However, my memory recorded it a little differently. It was Ronald Regan that gave amnesty to over 3.5 million illegal aliens. It was Ronald Regan that elected to move Social Security funds to the General Fund in order to brace up US Government finances, taking away the "insurance" every American thought they would have for their retirement. While every president since then has also done so, this is the real reason Social Security will fail. Had those monies been kept separate, the fund would have been fine.
I don't consider these acts to be acts of conservatism. Government rules, restrictions, limits on liberty, and domestic spying have increased every year since I can remember. While Mr. Obama didn't start them, he and the lower gov't imams have certainly increased them to skyrocketing momentum.
We need to give Mr. Obama a ticket out of the White House, but what will we get in return? Can we put in a congress and president that will return us to our constitutional government and close the rest of the agencies, departments, bureaus, and offices? I am very pessimistic on this score.
On the other hand we cannot allow the liberals to continue to make a 3rd world nation out of the USA. We are an extremely blessed by our creator. Our constitution was divinely inspired. If we continue to drift away from recognizing the hand of God, we will fail. Prophets have warned us over and over and we have scorned them just as the prophets of ancient Israel were scorned. We will inherit the same fate if we do not return to our Christian-Judeo heritage.
One of the best at reading a speech was Ronald Reagan. Listening on the radio, one could not tell he was reading. One ALWAYS knows Mr. Obama is reading. ;
2. I hear the conservative talk shows commenting that Ronald Reagan was the ultimate conservative. However, my memory recorded it a little differently. It was Ronald Regan that gave amnesty to over 3.5 million illegal aliens. It was Ronald Regan that elected to move Social Security funds to the General Fund in order to brace up US Government finances, taking away the "insurance" every American thought they would have for their retirement. While every president since then has also done so, this is the real reason Social Security will fail. Had those monies been kept separate, the fund would have been fine.
I don't consider these acts to be acts of conservatism. Government rules, restrictions, limits on liberty, and domestic spying have increased every year since I can remember. While Mr. Obama didn't start them, he and the lower gov't imams have certainly increased them to skyrocketing momentum.
We need to give Mr. Obama a ticket out of the White House, but what will we get in return? Can we put in a congress and president that will return us to our constitutional government and close the rest of the agencies, departments, bureaus, and offices? I am very pessimistic on this score.
On the other hand we cannot allow the liberals to continue to make a 3rd world nation out of the USA. We are an extremely blessed by our creator. Our constitution was divinely inspired. If we continue to drift away from recognizing the hand of God, we will fail. Prophets have warned us over and over and we have scorned them just as the prophets of ancient Israel were scorned. We will inherit the same fate if we do not return to our Christian-Judeo heritage.
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