Blame the Taxes, Blame the Govt, but don't take responsibilty? Nah

Got an email (below) which inspired a response.  The response comes first, then the email.

Friends,


Basically I'm ok with taxes. I don't love them, but ... It's the fact we spend more than 1/2 on wars and violence that hurts. And the fact that the USA spends more on our military than *all* countries on Earth combined should have all of us concerned.

If tax money was required to be spent on social programs (include Medicare & social security) & public works, and not on all the fantastical corporate subsidies and 'incentives' for corporations to employ us, and all those guns/missiles/nukes/bombs manufacturers getting public funding, I doubt most folks would be upset about taxes.

The issue is not taxes. The issue is what the govt spends our tax money on.

> Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

No. We are all in this together. If our leadership is sinking the ship, do you blame the captain as the ship sinks, or do you say "we need a new captain, the ship is sinking" and take action?

We are adults in 2011. If the middle east can get rid of their corrupt regimes, if the former colonies can shake off their foreign enslavement, can't we do something about our situation?

Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi both explain the process clearly.

Peace & Love,
rekzkarz
(re: Email below)
-----------------------------------
> 545 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.
> 100 senators, 435 in the House, 1 President, and 9 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 543 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, &
> 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.

Cassandra Clare's 'The Mortal Instruments' trilogy

Finished Cassandra Clare's 'City of Bones' last week, City of Ashes' this week, last is 'City of Glass'. Not horrible, simply *bad* fantasy. Trite & lacking in almost all areas - character, story, writing style, content.
Picked first one up hoping for a great read like 'The Hunger Games'.
Not all books are winners.
I can summarize the books as vapid Harry Potter-esque styled fantasy, featuring vampires, werewolves, and 'ShadowHunters'. A thick trilogy, each book 500 pgs, but barely enough content for 1 book. Almost as light as Anime, except un-self-consciously vapid.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1416914285/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/176-1212031-0022830

DFA - failure is victory, truth is falseness

In response to the mass email (@ bottom) from: democracyforamerica.com, 

I wrote them this response:

DFA,

Sorry but speaking politics here is a failure at communication.

Saying losing the recall (in Wisconsin) shows the strength of your mission?  Sorry it doesn't.

The issue is that Republicans don't represent working class, and Democrats have been negligent in representing working class.

We either need open democracy with 3rd parties, or a Democratic party that will stop lying and face the reality that Centrist politics betrays the base of the party over and over.

Please start speaking the truth!!!

----

End

The DFA email is here:

I'm not going to sugarcoat it -- we came up short in Wisconsin last night. We needed to win three seats to take back the State Senate and we got two.

This was always going to be a tough fight. These were Republican districts and these six Republican Senators were backed up by tens of millions of dollars from big corporations.

The fact that we won two of these elections and came so close in a third is a testament to the strength of our grassroots movement. ...
 The country has seen the work we've done in Wisconsin and they know we won't be stopped.

We're going to fight in Ohio, where voters have a chance to repeal another anti-union, anti-middle class law in a special referendum this November. We're going to fight in Michigan, where the governor has launched an all-out war on local governments.

We're going to fight until we win -- and next year, we're going to beat John Boehner and his right-wing Tea Party majority.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

Doing my part to help the USA, forwarded this msg below:

Friends & family,
While I'm also not into forwarding stuff, this makes sense to me -- as the Congress seeks to damage the USA, why not the people seek to fix Congress?

I think in addition, all lobbyist visits could be transparent, public, & posted on their Congessional website.

Peace
- rekzkarz

In addition to the suggestions below I would add that members of congress would no longer be able to accept money from lobbyists or industry for any reason.

This is worth considering:

**
*The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds)
took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The
people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before
e-mail, before cell phones, etc.
**
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or
less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of
twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to
do likewise.
**
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have
the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.


Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete.