What do you think?

Join the rant..... What do you think?... Put your view out here for everyone to see. We're all in this together. Contact me at firemansforge@hughes.net, and speak up...
Your sarcasm can set you free.....

"IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT, TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT." - GEORGE ORWELL

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

545 Vs. 300,000,000 by Charlie Reese

Charley Reese's final column for the  Orlando Sentinel.

He has been a journalist for 49 years.
He is retiring and this was HIS LAST COLUMN.

Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day.  It's a short but good read.  Worth the time. Worth remembering!

     
545 vs. 300,000,000 People

                     -  By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations.  The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.  No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating  deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want.  If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in  Iraq and Afghanistan.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy","inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they  alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of  them out of office and clean up their mess.

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando  Sentinel  Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you. This might be funny if it weren't so  true.  Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me
to my doom...'

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the heck happened?  Can you spell 'politicians?'

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

This Touched Me...... To My Soul...... So True.

This was sent to me by a friend who is becoming a close friend.....
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 (SF Gate)

Get over here and touch me now


Here's what I think. I think human touch is surely the most sublime
sensation/activity ever invented by ecstatically drunken gods as they
gently and ever so briefly encased us in these slippery filthy gorgeous
mortal fleshforms.

I think human touch, done with calm intention and conscious ease, is a
total life-affirming blessing of the most spiritually orgasmic kind,
healing and restorative and achingly transcendent in quiet but thoroughly
kaleidoscopic ways.

Furthermore, I think said touch is fundamental to basic survival in this
tragicomic, dirt-bound realm and if we go too long without it we will die
as without water or whisky or trees. Which is also why I fully believe its
general paucity in modern life is perhaps the single most unfortunate side
effect of the Facebook age.

I realize I might be unusual. I realize I might be odd to offer it up in
this way. I deeply acknowledge, furthermore, that there are a thousand
notable exceptions. But barring the relative handful of those who don't
understand personal space, who perhaps "overtouch," whose intentions are a
bit slimy or hostile, I would hereby like to be lightly and lovingly
touched at some point by everyone I ever know, meet, connect with, always
and forever, quite nearly without exception, and that very much means you.

I feel like I'm on the right path with this. But you never know.

Here's the fascinating thing: The science on the subject has barely been,
you know, touched upon. Research is only now coming to soft light that
reveals, say, a gentle touch on the arm is not only sorta nice -- it can,
in fact, change your entire body chemistry. Your viewpoint. Your world.

Such a touch can release tension. Relax muscles. Stop weeping. Start
weeping. Evoke worlds. Invite transcendence. Calm rage. Soften the heart.
Open the breath. Touch can alter temperaments and attitudes in an instant.
Babies love it. So do romantics, dogs, deities and saints, gurus and
wizened masters. An attentive touch carefully placed can pretty much calm
everyone the f--k down.

Thus spake a recent, fascinating little study: "Library users who are
touched while registering, rate the library and its personnel more
favorably than the non-touched; diners are more satisfied and give larger
tips when waiting staff touch them casually; people touched by a stranger
are more willing to perform a mundane favor; and women touched by a man on
the arm are more willing to share their phone number or agree to a dance."

So sayeth, elsewhere, one Dacher Keltner, psychologist from UC Berkeley
and specialist in the study of touch: "The science is showing that when I
receive a very friendly form of touch, it releases oxytocin, a
neuropeptide that promotes trust. It shuts down stress-related parts of
the brain like the amygdala, and the locus coeruleus, it activates a
branch of the nervous system we study called the vagus nerve, which is
involved in connection. And by the way, the vagus nerve controls your
immune system in part as well."

That's the budding science. In yoga philosophy, we might say it's all
connected to sliding into proper alignment with your true essence, your
core, the deeper self not made up of the ego's stories and cultural
constructs and insidious mind games.

We might also say: This deeper, essential you is most certainly not touch
averse, because that's impossible. After all, like craves like. Energy
craves energy. Prana (life force) flows to prana and if you have no idea
what I'm talking about just imagine your being is made of water and so is
everyone else's and what happens when one water droplet contacts another?
Right: An effortless, nearly instantaneous collapsing into a wondrous
megadroplet of wow because holy hell, what else is there? Why else are we
made of energy and electricity and sly consciousness if not to jack in to
the collective interpersonal mainframe all the damn time? But maybe that's
just me.

Perhaps you do not wish to hear it. Perhaps it makes you wince and roll
your eyes. Perhaps you know far too many people for whom just about any
kind of touch feels not just wrong, but slightly terrifying. Perhaps you
are one of these people yourself. They are not difficult to find. We are a
victim culture, we are a low-touch society; also, abuse is tragically
prevalent.

It might be one of the saddest and most distressing signs of our time that
so many are frightened of or even openly repulsed by simple touch, so many
who think soft, everyday human contact should be reserved only for close
family or the most intimate of connections, and even then it's a little
invasive and creepy if you don't ask permission or have a few drinks first
to numb it all out and make sure no one's trying to steal your kidney.

I think: how dour life must be for those who would not hesitate to report
their boss or barista if said person touched them on the arm without
formal authorization, legal disclaimer or safe word. How difficult the
days for those who associate even the lightest friendly (or even slightly
awkward, weird or undesirable) touch with abuse or sexual harassment, who
shudder when brushing against a stranger, who shrink down and small
themselves to avoid all forms of sweat and oil and germs, damage and pain
and oh my God get that thing away from me who do you think you are I'm
taking a shower and calling my therapist.

Religion is zero help. Conservatism, fear of Other, endless media lies
about predation, abduction, contagion, molestation all feed the anti-touch
beast. So ugly has it become that even Catholic priests are no longer
allowed to touch children without another adult in the room. So horrible
is our indoctrination that when we hear of anyone touching a child many of
us instantly flash to "child molester." How sad that, as a culture, touch
has come to mean violated boundaries, inappropriateness, provocation,
crossing some sort of line no one remembers drawing.

Which is partly why, at least here in the Bay Area, there are entire
workshops dedicated exclusively to touch, on re-learning how to gently
stroke your friend or lover into fits of sighs and ease and whoa, to the
point you can actually transform your entire relationship, all without
saying a word. I can't quite decide if the existence of such classes is
absolutely wonderful or sort of tragic. You're right: It's both.

It is perhaps the greatest myth, the most brutal lie ever foisted upon
mankind: that of separation. You are there and I am here and "god" is way,
way over there and no matter how hard we try and strive, we'll never fully
meet. We can never fully connect. Just the way it is.

What horses--t. In fact, it's exactly the other way around. We are already
deeply connected, de facto and a priori. We are of the same divine source
material. Disconnection, fracturing and disassociation is a learned
affliction. A disease. Chronic, epidemic, global.

But maybe with the right touch, at the right time, in the right moment,
the pandemic can dissolve in an instant. Touch me just that way, and
suddenly everything makes sense. All is right with the world. We are one.

Really, what else is there? (What is less or more than a touch?)

Mark Morford's latest book, 'The Daring Spectacle: Adventures in Deviant
Journalism,' is available at Amazon, BN.com, and beyond.

Join Mark on Facebook and Twitter, or email him. His website is markmorford.com.

Mark's column appears every Wednesday on SFGate. To join the notification
list for this column, click here and remove one article of clothing. To
get on Mark's personal mailing list, click here and remove three more.

This column also has an RSS feed and a very handy archive page.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2011 SF Gate

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Garden Nazis in Michigan...... As if They didn't have enough to worry about.

This is in from Natural News......

In Oak Park, Michigan, a woman named Julie Bass is now being threatened with jail time for the "crime" of planting a vegetable garden in her front yard. Some bureaucratic pencil pusher in the city planner's office is trying to throw the book at her and get her sent to jail because she didn't bow down to city code which requires everything to be either pavement or "suitable" plants, and the city planners office doesn't think vegetables are "suitable."


Demand food freedom, America!

This is a crucial reminder of just how important it is to prepare ourselve for the coming food crisis that's already starting to unfold in America: Rising food prices (food inflation), a huge increase in crop failures, the mass contamination of foods with GMOs and even the tyrannical oppression taking place today with raw milk, farmer's markets and now home vegetable gardens. Nothing is safe from these government tyrants who want to take away our ability to grow our own food.


And don't give in to local bureaucrats who try to squash your squash! If locals give you a hard time about gardening in your front yard, contact NaturalNews immediately (reply@naturalnews.com) and let us know so we can get on it and help you fight for food freedom and your right to grow garden veggies!

Gardening is NOT a crime.

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=1D577A9747A66FE9316E584F7E781867

Thursday, July 7, 2011

When The Going Gets Tough,...... Dump it on the Poor. They don't have Much to Lose.

Senator Orin Hatch took long enough Wednesday to pull his head out of his rectum so he could say some of the stupidest shit I've ever heard.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) voted against beginning debate on a measure that would have the Senate declare the rich should share the pain of debt reduction Thursday, a day after arguing that it's the poor and middle class who need to do more.

"I hear how they're so caring for the poor and so forth," Hatch said in remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, in reference to Democrats. "The poor need jobs! And they also need to share some of the responsibility." (Spoken like a true elitist politician)

Hatch's comments were aimed at a motion that passed 74 to 22 to start debating a non-binding resolution that says millionaires and billionaires should play a more meaningful role in reducing the nation's debt.

I mean come on...... REALLY? (The key word here is "non-binding". Yeah that'll change a lot.)