Death and Taxes

Taxes are good.

Taxes build roads, schools, and hospitals. Taxes pay for scientific research, social programs, infrastructure, and defense. To live in this great nation, we must pay our dues in the form of taxes.Conservatives have long used the issue of taxes to dupe hard working citizens into voting against their own self-interest.

The issue is never as simple as cutting taxes and reducing spending.



Under Republican "tax relief", I may save $600 on my federal income taxes while at the same time I have to pay more for after-school programs and health insurance for my children.
When my kids go to college, that $600 might pay for one class, woooooohoooooo!Maybe I'll spend that $600 on private music lessons because there are no more music programs in public schools.

I could use the $600 to pay chiropractic bills for my kids after they've worked a few years picking fruit...since they won't have a college education and our borders will be sealed up tight.Maybe my kids will chose their other option and join the military instead. "Tax relief" and spending cuts won't effect the military, right?

Well...the bulk of military spending doesn't go to the troops; it goes to large corporations, the investors in which are the true beneficiaries of this tax reform plan. So, even with an Army paycheck, my kids will still be living below the poverty line.

Meanwhile, the true beneficiaries of the so called "tax relief" will be spending their million dollar refund investing in a corporation that has just shut down all of its domestic manufacturing plants and moved them to China. Good thing we also have that free trade.

I can then take my $600 and go to Wal-Mart and buy some cheap Chinese-made bauble that will make me feel like I'm still in the middle class.

Taxes are good.

We will always have taxes, the real issues center around who pays how much and how will the money be spent.

The Republican elite endeavor to cheat taxes as they endeavor to cheat death through offshore accounts, loopholes, and access to the best doctors and medical care.

There can be no wealth without labor (I forget who originally said that). The wealthy seek to shift taxes from investments, assets, and corporations with so called "simplified tax code" schemes. These schemes generally propose flat taxes on income. While many hard working people like the sound of a "simple tax", they must be made aware that this will only increase their tax burden as moneyed folk have an uncanny knack for appearing income free while living high on the hog.

I don’t want to die young. I want to work hard, contribute to society, and have access to quality health care. I’ll pay my taxes, and probably never be wealthy. That’s O.K.

I want my children to have a better life than me. I want them to go to college, get good jobs, and raise their families in safe, friendly neighborhoods. I don’t want them to go to war or be killed by a terrorist because my government is in the pocket of the wealthy elite. Corporate interests are not my interests.

To those who still believe you might someday become rich, get over it. The carrot dangling in front of you is a mirage. Your chances of becoming a rock star, professional athlete, lottery winner, or reality TV show contestant are astronomical.

Work hard, pay your taxes, hold your government accountable, and die happy at a ripe old age knowing you left the world in better shape then when you came into it.



......Read more!

Delay...A Frivolous Politician

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay(R -Tex.) has been much in the news lately. Three of his associates and eight corporations are under felony indictment in Texas after evidence of money laundering and unlawfully accepting campaign contributions was presented to the grand jury. The money in question was funneled into the campaign coffers of Republican candidates for the Texas legislature in 2002. The ensuing election resulted in a Republican majority and cleared the way for a controversial mid-census redistricting of the state’s congressional districts.


At the center of the controversy is TRMPAC or Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee. Modeled after Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC, or Americans for a Republican Majority, the PAC sought to raise funds to support Republican candidates for state legislature. Tom DeLay served on the board and was actively involved in fundraising efforts, though he claims not to have any knowledge of the committee’s finances. Allegedly, TRMPAC solicited contributions from corporate donors, routed the money to the Republican National Committee, and then returned to legislative candidates as individual donations. Under Texas law, donations from corporations and labor unions to legislative candidates are forbidden.

Though DeLay has not yet been indicted, Republicans began circling their wagons last week with a vote to modify their caucus rules. The caucus rules, part of the Contract with America, called leaders to relinquish their positions if they came under criminal indictment. These rules were originally established to distinguish Republicans as being morally responsible, or having higher "moral values" than Democrats do.

Given the importance "moral values" might have played in this year’s presidential election, many Democrats are now looking at this scandal and subsequent rule change as a fortuitous turn of events. Fortunately for Republicans, it is early in the election cycle and a number of new "O.J. -Peterson" trials will in all likelihood remove this scandal from the public memory by 2006.

Permit me, if you would, to rant about this for a minute. What I find most reprehensible about this story, isn't the changing of the rules, but the spin. DeLay and his cohorts are taking every public opportunity to claim their rule change is in response to "frivolous" indictments.

These same people, if the roles were reversed and a Democrat was threatened with a felony indictment, would be talking about "moral values" which was the reason for the rule in the first place (Newt and the Contract on America).

Instead, they cast a shadow over the entire legal system by bandying about the term "frivolous". The American people now have a Pavlovian response to this word after enduring years of Republican campaigns to limit damages awarded in class-action lawsuits (don’t get me started on that one).

I find it dangerous and irresponsible to carry this term over to a felony grand jury indictment. The grand jury is an integral part of our legal system. As a safeguard against unwarranted prosecution, the grand jury insures indictments are not filed without sufficient evidence.

A Texas grand jury, made up of at least twelve citizens, has found sufficient evidence that three of Tom DeLay’s associates and eight companies have broken the law. This is not "frivolous" nor is it "politics of personal destruction". These are serious allegations of money laundering and the channeling of corporate money into Texas elections.

This is not a partisan issue. The attempt to classify it as such is despicable. The use of terms like "politics of personal destruction" and "frivolous indictments" should be exposed for what they really are, Tom DeLay’s attempt to evade responsibility for his actions. If he truly were innocent of any criminal wrongdoing, DeLay would be better served by embracing the criminal justice system in his home state instead of slandering it in the national media.

On a side note, I noticed my congressman, Elton Gallegly (R. California 24th District) recently donated $5,ooo to the Tom Delay Legal Expense Trust. The money came out of his campaign fund not his personal finances. Is that legal, or ethical? I’d love to hear your thoughts.


......Read more!

Bush Diplomacy

Excuse me, Mr. President... Your fly is open, and I think Putin is giving you the eye!
This is an AP photo taken at the recent APEC summit. As far as I know it hasn't been doctored.
So, this is Bush foreign policy?


......Read more!