It's a Revolution

2006-03-16T09:43:00.000-08:00

Patriot Act

If you are truly a patriot and American Citizen, then you should fight with every ounce of your energy to eliminate this obscene degradation of our constitutional rights. There are other ways to fight terrorism, and if our government did not ignore intelligence reports about the 9/11 incident, the tragedy could have been avoided. Don't buy the snow-job.

Patriot Act II

Who will be the first government official to charge our American troops with terroristic thoughts and undermining morale of the troops?

According to a recent Zogby poll, 72% of our troops on the ground in Iraq, say we should leave within the year – and nearly 22% say we should pack-up and leave immediately.

Troops Thanked for their Service

Former Army Lt. William Redbrook, was told that he had to pay back the Army $700 for the destroyed body armor he wore when he was seriously injured by a roadside bomb.

"They said that I owed them $700. It was like, 'Thank you for your service, now here's the bill.' I had to pay for it if I wanted to get on with my life."

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

Three Billion Dollars Later

Plan Columbia, which was supposed to stop the flow of cocaine into the United States, has failed to work. In fact, studies have shown that quantities have failed to diminish since its implementation. Now, our government wants to extend the plan for another five years. I think we need a new plan, don't you?

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

How Government can save Money

Cutting the following positions will save millions of dollars:

* Deputy to the Deputy Undersecretary
* Assistant Chief of Staff to the Assistant Administrator
* Principal Associate Deputy Undersecretary
* Deputy Associate Deputy Undersecretary
* Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
* Assistant to the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary

By the way, Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, Elizabeth, is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the state for Near Eastern affairs.

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:38:00.000-08:00

Misguided Feminism Killing Boys

By almost every benchmark, boys across the nation and in every demographic group are falling behind. In elementary school, boys are two times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with learning disabilities and twice as likely to be placed in special-education classes. High-school boys are losing ground to girls on standardized writing tests. The number of boys who said they didn't like school rose 71 percent between 1980 and 2001, according to a University of Michigan study. Nowhere is the shift more evident than on college campuses. Thirty years ago men represented 58 percent of the undergraduate student body. Now they're a minority at 44 percent. This widening achievement gap, says Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of Education, "has profound implications for the economy, society, families and democracy."

The problem won't be solved overnight. In the last two decades, the education system has become obsessed with a quantifiable and narrowly defined kind of academic success, these experts say, and that myopic view is harming boys. Boys are biologically, developmentally and psychologically different from girls—and teachers need to learn how to bring out the best in every one.

Some scholars, notably Christina Hoff Sommers, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, charge that misguided feminism is what's been hurting boys. In the 1990s, she says, girls were making strong, steady progress toward parity in schools, but feminist educators portrayed them as disadvantaged and lavished them with support and attention. Boys, meanwhile, whose rates of achievement had begun to falter, were ignored and their problems allowed to fester.

Boys have always been boys, but the expectations for how they're supposed to act and learn in school have changed. In the last 10 years, thanks in part to activist parents concerned about their children's success, school performance has been measured in two simple ways: how many students are enrolled in accelerated courses and whether test scores stay high. Standardized assessments have become commonplace for kids as young as 6. Curricula have become more rigid. Instead of allowing teachers to instruct kids in the manner and pace that suit each class, some states now tell teachers what, when and how to teach. Physical education and sports programs have been cut and recess is a distant memory. These new pressures are undermining the strengths and underscoring the limitations of what psychologists call the "boy brain"—the kinetic, disorganized, maddening, and sometimes brilliant behaviors that scientists now believe are not learned but hard-wired.

Thirty years ago feminists argued that classic "boy" behaviors were a result of socialization, but these days scientists believe they are an expression of male brain chemistry. Sometime in the first trimester, a boy fetus begins producing male sex hormones that bathe his brain in testosterone for the rest of his gestation. "That exposure wires the male brain differently," says Arthur Arnold, professor of physiological science at UCLA. How? Scientists aren't exactly sure. New studies show that prenatal exposure to male sex hormones directly affects the way children play. Girls whose mothers have high levels of testosterone during pregnancy are more likely to prefer playing with trucks to playing with dolls. There are also clues that hormones influence the way we learn all through life. In a Dutch study published in 1994, doctors found that when males were given female hormones, their spatial skills dropped but their verbal skills improved.

In elementary-school classrooms—where teachers increasingly put an emphasis on language and a premium on sitting quietly and speaking in turn—the mismatch between boys and school can become painfully obvious. "Girl behavior becomes the gold standard," says "Raising Cain" coauthor Thompson. "Boys are treated like defective girls."

"Boys measure everything they do or say by a single yardstick: does this make me look weak?" says Thompson. "And if it does, he isn't going to do it." That's part of the reason that videogames have such a powerful hold on boys: the action is constant, they can calibrate just how hard the challenges will be and, when they lose, the defeat is private.

If our education standards and systems do not change quickly, boys will left to eat dirt.

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:36:00.000-08:00

Shedding light on Referendums
Chris Bailey

If the endless gray days haven’t already sent folks into a mid-winter funk, they should have no fear. Despair is just around the corner. The darkest hour for any taxpayer — referendum time — is upon us.

For the most part, the primary election on March 21 will be ignored by all but the most party-oriented or habitual voters, of which there are very few. The exceptions, of course, will be where voters are being asked to approve tax hike or bond sale requests for their school, fire, park or library districts.

That’s because most voters know they’re being asked to give more money to public servants who, by and large, already have it better than they do in terms of pay, pensions and health care benefits. And those who pay any attention to the numbers also recognize that such requests are coming from people proposing budgets and long-range plans that are not financially sustainable — unless taxpayers ante up again later.

If you think this is “all about the kids” or “all about public safety,” ask yourself who benefits from passage. And then ask who will be paying if the tax hike rejected.
The answer to the first question is “public servants.” The answer to the second is “students” or “consumers.” None of these proposed tax hikes will be accompanied by plans that freeze or control wages in any significant way or bring to an end the belief that the expense side of the ledger can grow forever without consequence. Few will be accompanied by serious attempts to control the growing health care or pension costs that are bankrupting governments everywhere. Some will actually ask to put more people on the government pension dole.
You will hear many heartfelt arguments about the need to remain “competitive” in the employment marketplace, but no one will be able to explain why community colleges require more and more students who come from those so-called competitive marketplaces to take remedial classes.

And then look at the consequences for non-approval of referendums. I am not among those who consider those explanations “threats,” but they do tell me who is serious and who isn’t. Athletics and extracurricular activities and gifted programs are drops in school budget buckets, for example. If they are at the top of the cut list, attempts to rein in spending aren’t serious, but simply dabbling in emotion.

Without wage controls, any serious attempt to restrain school expenditures must look seriously at the big, often bloated programs like special and bilingual education. Because of parental and political pressure, they are often far out of line with expenditures on other students and legal requirements. I’m guessing most upcoming referendums will fail for one of three reasons. Taxpayers will feel they can’t afford them. Taxpayers won’t trust those who’ve said one thing and done another. Or they will resent that increasing the revenue side of the ledger remains the first resort while little serious effort is expended to reduce the cost side. Anyone expecting the sun to be shining March 22 had better be prepared to address all three. http://www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=143447

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:34:00.000-08:00

Stupid Educators in America

Some nasty things are going on in America's public schools and it's about time we face up to it. Kids at New York's Abraham Lincoln High School said their teachers are so dull students fall asleep in class. One student said, "You see kids all the time walking in the school smoking weed, you know. It's a normal thing here."

At Woodrow Wilson High, one of the best schools in America, one teacher didn't have control over the kids, another videotaped a boy dancing wildly with his shirt off, in front of his teacher.
A Gallup Poll survey showed 76 percent of Americans were completely or somewhat satisfied with their kids' public school. Education reformers have a message for these parents: If you only knew.

Many education professionals say Americans don't know that their public schools, on the whole, just aren't that good. Because without competition, parents don't know what their kids might have had, and while many people say, "We need to spend more money on our schools," there actually isn't a link between spending and student achievement. Jay Greene, author of "Education Myths," points out that "If money were the solution, the problem would already be solved … We've doubled per pupil spending, adjusting for inflation, over the last 30 years, and yet schools aren't better." He's absolutely right. National graduation rates and achievement scores are flat, while spending on education has increased more than 100 percent since 1971. More money hasn't helped American kids.

Schools do not need more money, people! Regardless of how much they scream, or how many threats they hurl at you, more money will not help your children.
Ben Chavis is a former public school principal who now runs an alternative charter school in Oakland, Calif., and spends thousands of dollars less per student than the surrounding public schools. He laughs at the public schools' complaints about money. "That is the biggest lie in America. They waste money," he said.

How do U.S. students perform compared with their European counterparts?
Belgian kids cleaned the American kids' clocks, and called them "stupid." We didn't pick smart kids to test in Europe and dumb kids in the United States. The American students attend an above-average school in New Jersey, and New Jersey's kids have test scores that are above average for America.

Lov Patel, the boy who got the highest score among the American students, told me, "I'm shocked, because it just shows how advanced they are compared to us." The Belgian students didn't perform better because they're smarter than American students. They performed better because their schools are better.

American schools don't teach as well as schools in other countries because they are government monopolies, and monopolies don't have much incentive to compete. In Belgium, by contrast, the money is attached to the kids — it's a kind of voucher system. Government funds education — at many different kinds of schools — but if a school can't attract students, it goes out of business.
Belgian school principal Kaat Vandensavel said she works hard to impress parents. She said, "If we don't offer parents what they want for their child, they won't come to our school." She constantly improves the teaching, saying, "You can't afford 10 teachers out of 160 that don't do their work, because the parents will know, and won't come to you again."
Statistics show that the longer kids stay in American schools, the worse they do in international competition. They do worse than kids from poorer countries that spend much less money on education, ranking behind not only Belgium but also Poland, the Czech Republic and South Korea. This should come as no surprise if you remember that public education in the United States is a government monopoly. Don't like your public school? Too bad. The school is terrible? So what. Your taxes fund that school regardless of whether it's good or bad. That's why government monopolies routinely fail their citizens. Union-dominated monopolies are even worse.

Across the nation, it's virtually impossible to fire a bad teacher. Said one school executive, "We tolerate teacher mediocrity, because people get paid the same, whether they're outstanding, average or way below average." The executive also stated – "he employs dozens of teachers who he's afraid to let near the kids," so he has them sit in what are called rubber rooms. This year he will spend $20 million dollars to warehouse teachers in five rubber rooms. It's an alternative to firing them.

Many people say education tax vouchers are a terrible idea, that they'll drain money from public schools and give it to private ones. In fact, a Florida court ruled against vouchers after teacher Ruth Holmes Cameron and union sponsored advocacy groups brought a suit to block the program. She argued that, "To say that competition is going to improve education? It's just not gonna work. You know competition is not for children. It's not for human beings. It's not for public education. It never has been, it never will be," Holmes said.

Now, ask yourself these very simple questions - Would you keep going back to a restaurant that served you a bad meal? Or a hair stylist that gave you a bad haircut? Or a Cell Phone provider that dropped 30% of your calls? What if the government assigned you to "your" grocery store. The store wouldn't have to compete for your business, and it would soon sell spoiled milk or stock only high profit items. Real estate agencies would sell houses advertising "neighborhood with a good grocery store." That's insane, and yet that's what America does with public schools.
Chavous, who has worked to get more school choice in Washington, D.C., said, "Choice to me is the only way. I believe that we can force the system from an external vantage point to change itself. It will never change itself from within. … Unless there is some competition infused in the equation, unless that occurs, then they know they have a captive monopoly that they can continue to dominate." Competition inspires people to do what we didn't think we could do.

If people got to choose their kids' school, education options would be endless. There could soon be technology schools, science schools, virtual schools where you learn at home on your computer, sports schools, music schools, schools that go all year, schools with uniforms, schools that open early and keep kids later, and, who knows what else. If there were competition, all kinds of new ideas would bloom. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

Iraq Money

How are your tax dollars being spent in a war far far away?

Luxury cars, a $20,000 Harley Davidson motorcycle, $10,000 Breitling watches and mountains of cash were all part of an elaborate corruption scheme in Iraq that involves at least seven Americans, including five Army reserve officers.

Who is watching these folks?

A former Iraq reconstruction official, Robert Stein, a convicted felon who was inexplicably put in charge of $82 million in contracts, pleaded guilty Thursday to corruption, bribery, and weapons charges.

Who put this person in charge?

"He essentially funneled contracts to his cronies and received bribes," said Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, in an interview with NBC News.

Who were his cronies?

"It shows the brazenness of the people who were around those sums of money and what they thought they could get away with," says Frank Willis, a former official with the Coalition Provisional Authority who has criticized the way the CPA handled cash.
E-mails cited in court records indicate that some unnamed U.S. officials even demanded specific cars: a white SUV and an electric blue sports car.

Who are these officials?

And what about the projects that were supposed to be built or refurbished in Iraq? A series of audits by Bowen's office found major problems. "There were millions of dollars in grants and contracts," he says, "that simply went for no work at all."
Bowen says cash was sloppily handled.

(This may be the understatement of the year)

"The management of cash was haphazard at best. We found that it was kept in footlockers of the trailers that people that lived there," he says. "There was a safe that wasn't locked in the bathroom of the office."

Some of the work that was done was shoddy, according to one audit. For example, a recently repaired elevator at Hilla General Hospital collapsed, killing three Iraqis.

The end result of it all on the ground in Iraq?

"The reconstruction efforts in the South Central Region, around Hilla, failed," says Bowen. "It failed because we had a person of significant responsibility, the person in charge of that money simply committed repeated criminal wrongdoing."
To place all this blame on one person is ludicrous. There is obviously going to be a major cover-up and the true culprits who enjoyed all the benefits will walk away without a blemish, and with some very nice parting gifts…

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

I WANT MY PERKS

(MSNBC 2/3/06) Just two weeks after House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pledged to pass far-reaching changes to the rules of lobbying on Capitol Hill, House Republican members pushed back hard against those proposals yesterday, charging that their leaders are overreacting to a growing corruption scandal. In a tense, 3 1/2 -hour closed-door session, many Republicans challenged virtually every element of the proposal, from a blanket ban on privately funded travel to stricter limits on gifts to an end to gym privileges for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists.

Says Pesce, President of UCAnation.org “I’m a business professional and have been for over 23 years. I have managed many vendor/company relationships, and if you let vendors act like lobbyists, they will buy you all kinds of special things to get you to sign a deal with them. After all, paying $10,000 for a family trip for four to an exotic Island getaway is nothing if you as a vendor/lobbyist get that $15 million dollar deal. In the real world of business, any gift in excess of $25 dollars is unethical and frowned upon, and in most cases, grounds for immediate employment termination. It is time to start holding our elected officials to these same standards.”

Fight the Machine

2006-03-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

Rich vs. Poor

Two new studies find the rich are getting richer at a faster pace.A study released in late January, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, found that the gap between the highest- and lowest-income families is significantly wider than it was 25 years ago.An employee working full-time at the federal minimum wage makes $10,712 a year. About 7% (13.3 million people) of the workforce earns a minimum wage.“Growing income inequality harms this nation in a number of ways,” stated Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and co-author of the income report. “When income growth is concentrated at the top of the income scale, the people at the bottom have a much harder time lifting themselves out of poverty and giving their children a decent start in life.”

Fight Back Now!

2006-03-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

Fox Guarding the Hen House

Boehner, elected majority leader by his Republican colleagues last week, is involved in GOP efforts to reform lobbying rules.

House Majority Leader John Boehner rents a basement apartment from a lobbyist whose clients had an interest in legislation overseen or sponsored by Boehner, according to lobbying records.
Boehner, R-Ohio, pays $1,600 a month rent for the apartment owned by lobbyist John Milne and his wife, Debra Anderson, Boehner spokesman Don Seymour Jr. said.

“It is conceivable that John Milne may have lobbied Boehner on a few occasions over the years, but we are not aware of any specific instances of it, and we are certain no lobbying has taken place during the time in which John Boehner has been renting the property,” Seymour said.

Yeah, right!

Fight Back Now!

2006-03-16T09:23:00.000-08:00

September 11

Terrorists funneled money through Dubai, and two terrorists came from the United Arab Emirates. Let them have our ports! This is an obscene abuse of political power.

2005-12-05T11:33:00.000-08:00

States Mull Taxing Drivers
By MilePosted By: First Lady on 2/15/2005 1:22:12 PM in TAXES http://www.goofigure.com/UserGoofigureList.asp?forID= "(CBS) College student

Jayson Just commutes an odometer-spinning 2,000 miles a month. As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, his monthly gas bill once topped his car payment. "I was paying about $500 a month," says Just. So Just bought a fuel efficient hybrid and said goodbye to his gas-guzzling BMW. And what kind of mileage does he get? "The EPA estimate is 60 in the city, 51 on the highway," says Just. And that saves him almost $300 a month in gas. It's great for Just but bad for the roads he's driving on, because he also pays a lot less in gasoline taxes which fund highway projects and road repairs. As more and more hybrids hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of rough roads ahead...Tax-by-mile advocates say it may be the only way to ensure that fuel efficiency doesn't prevent smooth sailing down the road." (CBSNews.com 2/14/05)

2005-12-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

Toilet Paper TaxPosted
By: TBird on 3/11/2005 10:43:12 AM in TAXES
http://www.goofigure.com/UserGoofigureList.asp?forID= "TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -

Florida's Legislature is flush with good ideas. Sen. Al Lawson's involves a 2 cent-per-roll tax on toilet paper to pay for wastewater treatment and help small towns upgrade their sewer systems.The Democratic lawmaker's pay-as-you-go bill has been the source of many jokes - bathroom humor you might say - but he says the issue is a serious one, especially in some of the fast-growing Panhandle coastal counties in his district." (David Royse/MyWayNews.com 3/10/05)

2005-12-05T11:31:00.001-08:00

Still no Armor for Soldiers

WASHINGTON - Nearly a year after Congress demanded action, the Pentagon has still failed to figure out a way to reimburse soldiers for body armor and equipment they purchased to better protect themselves while serving in Iraq.
Soldiers and their parents are still spending hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for armor they say the military won’t provide.

“Your expectation is that when you are sent to war, that our government does everything they can do to protect the lives of our people, and anything less than that is not good enough,” said a former Marine who spent nearly $1,000 two weeks ago to buy lower-body armor for his son, a Marine serving in Fallujah.

The father asked that he be identified only by his first name — Gordon — because he is afraid of retribution against his son.

“I wouldn’t have cared if it cost us $10,000 to protect our son, I would do it,” said Gordon. “But I think the U.S. has an obligation to make sure they have this equipment and to reimburse for it. I just don’t support Donald Rumsfeld’s idea of going to war with what you have, not what you want. You go to war prepared, and you don’t go to war until you are prepared.”

Soldiers and their families have reported buying everything from higher-quality protective gear to armor for their Humvees, medical supplies and even global positioning devices.“The bottom line is that Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department are failing soldiers again,”

2005-12-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

Crime Against the People

WASHINGTON - A Texas grand jury on Wednesday indicted Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates on charges of conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post. A defiant DeLay insisted he was innocent and called the prosecutor a “partisan fanatic.”The indictment accused DeLay, 58, of a conspiracy to violate Texas election law, which prohibits the use of corporate donations to advocate the election or defeat of political candidates. Prosecutors say the alleged scheme worked in a roundabout way, with the donations going to a DeLay-founded political committee, then to the Republican National Committee and eventually to GOP candidates in Texas.

2005-12-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

Education Myths
By Jay P. Greene

Much of what people believe about education policy is simply not true. An examination of the evidence reveals that many common claims about education are as mythological as anything found in Homer or Aesop.

For example, many people believe that schools are desperately under-funded. In fact, public K-12 spending is approaching $10,000 per pupil — double what it was three decades ago, adjusting for inflation. And total school spending is approaching $500 billion — more than we spend on national defense ($454 billion) and more than the entire GDP of Russia ($433 billion).

Many people believe that teachers are horribly underpaid. In fact, the average elementary-school teacher makes $30.75 per hour, more than architects ($26.64), mechanical engineers ($29.46), and chemists ($30.68).

Many people believe that student achievement has been deteriorating for decades. In fact, today's students perform about as well as their parents in terms of standardized test scores and high school graduation rates.

Why is education so prone to myths?

Part of the problem is that almost everyone imagines himself an expert about schools. Everyone has been through school, most people have had children in school, and many people have worked in schools or know someone who has. We tend to generalize from our direct experience even when our perspective may be narrow or distorted. In other policy areas less familiar to us we are more likely to rely on systematic evidence but in education we think we already have all of the evidence we need.

Another part of the problem is that education policy involves children and anything involving children evokes strong emotions. Those emotions ensure our attention to education issues but they can also cloud our reasoning. For example, because we really care about children, it is difficult to question claims that we need to spend more money to educate them. We wouldn't want others, or even ourselves, to think that we were stingy about providing children the services they need.

But the most important reason myths are so prevalent in education policy is that there are special interest groups promoting them. Unfortunately, teachers unions, school-board associations, and others with a financial stake in education policy take advantage of our vulnerability to myths about education. While most of us feel comfortable entrusting our children to their teachers at school each day, the special interest groups that represent them and their schools do not warrant our trust. Teacher unions and the rest of the education establishment, like other special interest groups, will support claims that advance their agendas regardless of whether those claims are based on facts or myths.

This special interest-group behavior is not unique to education policy. For example, everyone recognizes the role that interest groups play in promoting sugar price supports or in the construction of roads. The sugar industry and construction lobbyists, like teachers unions, are relatively indifferent to whether their arguments are supported by evidence as long as they further their interests.

We usually recognize these special interest groups for what they are and take their claims with a large grain of salt. But in education policy our emotional commitment to teachers and children blinds us to this self-interested behavior of education interest groups. We want to believe that education policy is not governed by the same crass political horse-trading that sets the government price for sugar or determines which congressional district will get a new bridge.

Our desire to believe that education policymaking is exceptional — that it is fueled by the love of children rather than the maneuvering of organized interests allows education myths to proliferate. These myths cause real harm. We can't improve public schools without a proper understanding of what ails them. We need to place less trust in our own experiences, our emotional impulses, and the organized-interests pretending to be advocates for children.

We need to put more trust in the evidence.

— Jay P. Greene is Head of the Department of Education Reform at the
University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where Marcus A. Winters is a senior research associate. They are authors of Education Myths, published by Rowman and Littlefield.

2005-12-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

The Teacher-Pay MythSeptember 22, 2005

By Jay P. Greene and Marcus WintersFEW cliches permeate our culture more thoroughly than that of the underpaid schoolteacher. In fact, many people would say that if they know anything about public schools it is that teachers deserve far more money than they actually get. Thus, many will sympathize with this week's vote by the New York City teachers union to hold a strike vote in a few weeks if stalled contract talks continue to deny them a raise.But the idea that teachers are underpaid is a myth. When we discard our presuppositions and look at the evidence, it turns out that teachers actually are better paid than many people realize.As of 2002, the average salary for teachers nationwide was about $44,600. That does seem modest. But we need account for the relatively few hours that teachers actually spend working compared to other professionals.Teachers have long vacation periods, several personal and sick days and work a shorter day than most other professionals. We can only properly understand these hours away from work as a benefit of the teaching profession. That is, a teacher who earns $45,000 to work for nine months is clearly better paid than a nurse who gets the same salary for working 12 months.Since teachers' work schedule distorts direct salary comparisons with other jobs, we need to look at hourly pay.According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average public elementary school teacher in the United States earns about $30.75 an hour. The average hourly pay of other public-service employees - such as firefighters ($17.91) or police officers ($22.64) - pales in comparison.Indeed, teachers' hourly rate exceeds even those in professions that require far more training and expertise. Compare the schoolteacher's $30.75 to the average biologist's $28.07 an hour - or the mechanical engineer's $29.76 or the chemist's $30.68.Whose hourly pay is competitive with that of teachers? Computer scientists ($32.86), dentists ($35.51) and even nuclear engineers ($36.16).Note, too, that these hourly figures exclude benefits, such as health coverage and retirement accounts, which are typically more generous for government employees, such as teachers, than for private-sector workers.New York City's teachers are especially well paid. According to the state's school district profile, the median teacher in the city earns $53,017 a year. Unfortunately, information on the number of hours worked by the average teacher in the City is not readily available. But, if we make the generous assumption that the average teacher in New York works the maximum 6.6 hours a day allowed by the union contract for the full 181 school days, that works out to $44.38 an hour.So, if teachers are underpaid, then workers in other professions are badly underpaid, too. But there's no clamor to raise the pay of computer scientists, dentists or engineers.But don't teachers spend a great deal of time grading papers and creating lesson plans while away from school? Some do - but the comparisons here are still fair - because other professionals do work away from the office, too. Engineers and computer scientists are certainly no strangers to long nights working at home.Nor do teachers spend all of their time at school in the classroom. In fact, teachers spend fewer hours actually instructing students than many recognize. Stanford's Terry Moe worked with data straight from the nation's largest teacher union's own data - and found that the average teacher in a department setting (that is, where students have different teachers for different subjects) was in the classroom for fewer than 3.9 hours out of the 7.3 hours at school each day.With several hours set aside at school for course-planning and grading, it strains plausibility that on average teachers must spend more hours working at home than do other professionals.The myth that teachers are underpaid is a significant hurdle to educational reform because it helps prop up the falsehood that schools in general are underfunded. In fact, taxpayers spend more money on public K-12 schools than they do on national defense, even more than the Gross Domestic Product of Russia.Yet, despite this generous investment, student outcomes as measured by standardized tests and graduation rates have been stagnant since the Ford administration.If we are to improve public schools, we must understand that the facts don't always square with our impressions. The story that on average school teachers are underpaid compared to other professionals is as widely told as anything from Aesop, and is just as mythical.Jay P. Greene is head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where Marcus A. Winters is a senior research associate. They are authors of the book "Education Myths."

2005-12-05T11:28:00.001-08:00

OIL Price Gouging

We – American Citizens that is – have been told that oil prices are high because there aren’t enough refineries available, and/or other such mumbo-jumbo. Now it seems to me that, if it cost more to pump oil (hence the higher prices), then there would not be such a huge profit available during the selling process. Yet, many are getting humungous profit margins from oil sales. I don’t know about you, but I smell something very fishy around here.

Rising oil prices are nothing short of a curse for most Americans. But they’ve been a blessing for Al Fraches, a Calgary, Alberta, florist.

While most U.S. consumers are scaling back, residents of Alberta, Alaska, Venezuela, Norway and other oil-fertile regions are enjoying an economic boom so rich that, in some cases, the government is sending checks to its citizens.

World crude oil prices, which averaged $22.74 a barrel in September 1999, are now at $58.20, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, as demand has swelled from the U.S. and China.

Government royalties from Alberta’s oil sands have already helped the province pay off its debt, lower corporate taxes, freeze tuition at universities and launch a three-year, $7 billion capital spending program to put in new roads, and expand medical centers and schools.

Venezuela, which produces 2.9 million barrels of oil a day, enough to make it the world’s sixth-largest producer. Under President Hugo Chavez’s leadership, the government has significantly boosted production and filled its coffers, extracting more money in taxes and royalties from foreign oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron operating in Venezuela.Surging revenues from Venezuela’s national oil company, PDVSA, also have helped Chavez subsidize fuel prices in his country and reduce the price of oil and gas for several of his Caribbean and Latin American neighbors.In August, the average gas price in Caracas was 12 cents a gallon, according to data firm AirInc.

Venezuela and Alberta aren’t the first lands to reward residents as the price of oil has gone up. For 23 years, Alaska has paid a dividend to each of its residents from a Permanent Fund. The fund was started with oil money, then diversified into other investments such as stocks and bonds.The fund has paid every eligible resident, including children, an average of more than $1,000 each September since 1982.

In the past two years, gushing oil prices have helped Alaska go from a billion-dollar deficit to a billion-dollar surplus, Knapp said.And now the state is looking for ways to spend its newfound wealth. Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski recently used money from the state’s Revenue Department to purchase a $2.6 million Westwind II corporate jet, complete with a cream leather interior and in-cabin stereo system.

With refining capacity down, especially after hurricanes Rita and Katrina, some analysts expect high gas prices to eventually usher in a new economic U.S. downturn.“We are going to have a massive recession, the worst since 1907," said Peter Beutel, president of New Canaan, Conn.-based energy consulting firm Cameron Hanover. ”Consumers are just hemorrhaging money for energy,” even with some of the largest oil reserves in the globe.

2005-12-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

FEMA is not the only Miss-Managed Agency

Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters.

FEMA's top three leaders arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. A former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative fills two other senior operational jobs.

Patronage appointments to the crisis-response agency are nothing new to Washington administrations. But, inexperience in FEMA's top ranks is emerging as a key concern of local, state and federal leaders as investigators begin to sift through what the government has admitted was a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.

Many agencies, at almost every level of government, hire family, friends, and large donation contributors rather than experienced professionals to run key government institutions.

There is not a State, County, City, or Village exempt from this abominable behavior. How many other tragedies are lurking that unqualified people will try to manage?
My guess is; MANY...

The New Orleans fiasco was not an issue of race. It is an issue of mismanagement, incompetence, and leadership failure.

2005-12-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

Would you like 5 million dollars ?

Which would you rather have? $900 billion dollars to go to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the year 2010, or $5 million dollars in your own pocket?

The Senate recently voted to give President Bush $50 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. military efforts against terrorism, money that would push total spending for the operations beyond $350 billion. In a 97-0 vote, our Senate signed off on the money as part of a $445 billion military spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1.

None of this money is earmarked for newer and better equipment for our soldiers.

The Congressional Research Service, which writes reports for lawmakers, says the Pentagon is spending about $6 billion a month for Iraq and $1 billion for Afghanistan, and war costs could total $570 billion by the end of 2010. This is in addition to the already spent $311 billion. All told, by the end of the year twenty ten, over $900 billion dollars will be spent on these wars. A Trillion US Tax dollars spent on lies.

Think about this – Our government could have given each and every United States citizen $5 million dollars each, for what it is costing to run these ill-conceived wars.

Which would you rather have?

2005-12-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

Teacher Pension Reform

The average teacher in Illinois and many other states, who retires after 34 years of working, retires with a pension worth well in excess of a million dollars cash. Geez, wouldn’t all we working stiffs love that?

Each Teacher’s 8-percent contribution over 34 working years compounded, at 6 percent, adds up to about 15 percent of their pension. The other 85 percent comes right out of our - the taxpayers’ pocket.

This means that we taxpayers are contributing about 40 percent of the teacher’s salary to their pension plan. How does that compare to your company’s 401(k) contribution?

2005-12-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

Congressional Corruption

Before you read the following with shock and disgust, ask yourself this – Why do rich politicians spend millions of dollars running for public office when the position they are trying to win does not pay very much money?

Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham seemed to be laughing all the way to the bank. Now, there are new details on just how deep the man had his hand in the cookie jar. Look at some of the payoffs he took for steering defense contracts to his local cronies:

$200,000 condominium in Arlington
$140,000 for the yacht
$35,000 for antiques
$13,000 towards the purchase of a Rolls Royce
$2,000 for his daughter's graduation party.

This list goes on and on.
Duke Cunningham was caught, but the question many Americans are asking is, how deep is the congressional cesspool? Six members are currently under investigation for possible crimes and ethics violations, and some reports say the number could go as high as 60.

But it won’t stop there – what about Wives’ of these scumbags?

According to Zuckman: “Well, it's possible that contractors or lobbyists were either steering business to some of the congressional wives' own firms or just giving money to them on the side, as a way of influencing their spouses in Congress. There are all sorts of things.”

What in the heck is going on in the nation's capital?

Congressional representatives make the rules. They have this unique system so outsiders cannot complain. The rules of the body are that they are meant to police themselves. They do not follow the rules, because they don't have to, because nobody in their political club hardly ever gets called up on charges, because you have to be inside the political club to actually file charges against somebody else inside the political club.

When politicians have this much power, they start to believe that they are entitled to certain luxuries in life. After all, they paid their millions to get elected and now they get to make the rules. When you are a politician, you don’t have to buy your own meals – lobbyist will pay for your meals. Politicians never have to drive a car, limos ferry them around free of charge. And the saddest part, the longer politicians remain in office, the more they think they are owed. Rolls Royce’s, mansions, condos, yachts. What a deal? and if you play your cards right, you will never have to pay for a anything, because there's always a lobbyist or someone there who wants to buy you something in order to bend your ear a little bit on how they would like you to vote on a certain bill.

The lid is about to get blasted off of the crime and ethical abuses that many of our nations leaders have been participating within and encouraging, for many-many years. So, when you hear the stories and see the political figures heading to courthouses all across the country, don’t be shocked – instead get angry. And then start looking at political offices closer to home. If this abuse is occurring at our nation’s capitol, you can bet it is happening in your states, cities, villages, and school boards. Political crime against the people is rampant in our nation, and it is time for the people to put an end to it. These actions are treasonous to the citizens of our country, and the full weight of the Patriot Act should be applied to send these politicians to prison for the remainder of their natural lives.

United Citizens of America

2005-10-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

Angelo Pesce, President of the United Citizens of America invites you to read his first written novel EARTH 2010. This is an unpublished version that will have limited availability once final publication rights are signed. It is sure to be a collector’s edition as time progresses. Get your copy while supplies last.

Shop the CafePress Market here http://www.cafepress.com/?pid=955189

In This Issue:
A Novel that will blow you away.
1. EARTH 2010
“A Fantasy Novel that plays the ‘What If?’ question beautifully.” "A Great Read, and a must have for any personal library. Truly mind opening." Synopsis: READ A CHAPTER HERE For the first time in its history, the United States of America is invaded and the country has no armies, technologies, or communications to counter. Medieval warfare strikes a nation that no longer has the means to fight such battles, and with the majority of America's soldiers fighting overseas in Iraq, the nation's citizenship is exposed to wanton slaughter against a trained and deadly foe.
In the winter 2009, political conspiracy led by the powerful Majority Leader, Senator Jefferson Ash endeavors to finish the war in Iraq and garner their oil supplies for personal enrichment. He along with other members of congress secretly tests a weapon that could revolutionize modern warfare without the consent of the nation’s leader. The preceding cataclysmic event turns the modern world inside out, and plunges the earth into unimaginable chaos.
Imagine you and your family enjoying a mild winter day as you shop and look forward to the quickly approaching holidays. Unaware to you, your government is testing a weapon in the cold tundra of the Alaskan wilderness. The test is an utter failure, and it results in a wave that sweeps over the entire earth. You are driving in your car, miles from home as this wave of shimmering air courses through every vein and muscle in your body. Your car stops violently as you and your children are jerked forward. Everyone else sharing the road with you experiences the same, and you all exit your vehicles and look around bewildered. You watch in horror as aircraft start falling from the skies, and then a bitterly cold wind rips at your skin. You grab your children and scramble to the nearest structure for safety, and pray to the heavens to see you through.
This is only the beginning of the horror that faces Earth 2010.
The test of the Pulse goes haywire, plunging the Earth into technological abyss. In its wake it unlocks an ancient peoples trapped away for its evil and deception. The Elvin race of the west was locked away for a reason. With the disruption of the earth's equilibrium, they break free of their magical bonds and reemerge on a cotenant that has been drastically altered by the race that was instrumental in their imprisonment, Humanity.
Ancient magic replaces technology, and forgotten myths are revived. Will it be enough to save the human race? Or will Twenty Ten be the end? Sold ONLY at CafePress.comLink: http://www.cafepress.com/earth2010

2005-10-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

$50 billion more for Wars

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Friday to give President Bush $50 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. military efforts against terrorism, money that would push total spending for the operations beyond $350 billion.
In a 97-0 vote, the GOP-controlled Senate signed off on the money as part of a $445 billion military spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1.
None of it is earmarked for newer
and better equipment for our soldiers.
The Congressional Research Service, which writes reports for lawmakers, says the Pentagon is spending about $6 billion a month for Iraq and $1 billion for Afghanistan, and war costs could total $570 billion by the end of 2010. This is in addition to the already spent $311 billion. All told, by the end of the year twenty ten, over $900 billion dollars will be spent. A Trillion US Tax dollars spent on lies.
Think about this – Our government could have given each and every United States citizen $5 million dollars each, for what it is costing to run these ill-conceived wars. Which would you rather have?

The Teacher-Pay Myth

By Jay P. Greene and Marcus Winters
FEW cliches permeate our culture more thoroughly than that of the underpaid schoolteacher. In fact, many people would say that if they know anything about public schools it is that teachers deserve far more money than they actually get. Thus, many will sympathize with this week's vote by the New York City teachers union to hold a strike vote in a few weeks if stalled contract talks continue to deny them a raise.But the idea that teachers are underpaid is a myth. When we discard our presuppositions and look at the evidence, it turns out that teachers actually are better paid than many people realize.As of 2002, the average salary for teachers nationwide was about $44,600. That does seem modest. But we need account for the relatively few hours that teachers actually spend working compared to other professionals.Teachers have long vacation periods, several personal and sick days and work a shorter day than most other professionals. We can only properly understand these hours away from work as a benefit of the teaching profession. That is, a teacher who earns $45,000 to work for nine months is clearly better paid than a nurse who gets the same salary for working 12 months.Since teachers' work schedule distorts direct salary comparisons with other jobs, we need to look at hourly pay.According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average public elementary school teacher in the United States earns about $30.75 an hour. The average hourly pay of other public-service employees - such as firefighters ($17.91) or police officers ($22.64) - pales in comparison.Indeed, teachers' hourly rate exceeds even those in professions that require far more training and expertise. Compare the schoolteacher's $30.75 to the average biologist's $28.07 an hour - or the mechanical engineer's $29.76 or the chemist's $30.68.Whose hourly pay is competitive with that of teachers? Computer scientists ($32.86), dentists ($35.51) and even nuclear engineers ($36.16).Note, too, that these hourly figures exclude benefits, such as health coverage and retirement accounts, which are typically more generous for government employees, such as teachers, than for private-sector workers.New York City's teachers are especially well paid. According to the state's school district profile, the median teacher in the city earns $53,017 a year. Unfortunately, information on the number of hours worked by the average teacher in the City is not readily available. But, if we make the generous assumption that the average teacher in New York works the maximum 6.6 hours a day allowed by the union contract for the full 181 school days, that works out to $44.38 an hour.So, if teachers are underpaid, then workers in other professions are badly underpaid, too. But there's no clamor to raise the pay of computer scientists, dentists or engineers.But don't teachers spend a great deal of time grading papers and creating lesson plans while away from school? Some do - but the comparisons here are still fair - because other professionals do work away from the office, too. Engineers and computer scientists are certainly no strangers to long nights working at home.Nor do teachers spend all of their time at school in the classroom. In fact, teachers spend fewer hours actually instructing students than many recognize. Stanford's Terry Moe worked with data straight from the nation's largest teacher union's own data - and found that the average teacher in a department setting (that is, where students have different teachers for different subjects) was in the classroom for fewer than 3.9 hours out of the 7.3 hours at school each day.With several hours set aside at school for course-planning and grading, it strains plausibility that on average teachers must spend more hours working at home than do other professionals.The myth that teachers are underpaid is a significant hurdle to educational reform because it helps prop up the falsehood that schools in general are underfunded. In fact, taxpayers spend more money on public K-12 schools than they do on national defense, even more than the Gross Domestic Product of Russia.Yet, despite this generous investment, student outcomes as measured by standardized tests and graduation rates have been stagnant since the Ford administration.If we are to improve public schools, we must understand that the facts don't always square with our impressions. The story that on average school teachers are underpaid compared to other professionals is as widely told as anything from Aesop, and is just as mythical.Jay P. Greene is head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where Marcus A. Winters is a senior research associate. They are authors of the book "Education Myths."

Crime Against the People

WASHINGTON - A Texas grand jury on Wednesday indicted Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates on charges of conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post. A defiant DeLay insisted he was innocent and called the prosecutor a “partisan fanatic.”
The indictment accused DeLay, 58, of a conspiracy to violate Texas election law, which prohibits the use of corporate donations to advocate the election or defeat of political candidates. Prosecutors say the alleged scheme worked in a roundabout way, with the donations going to a DeLay-founded political committee, then to the Republican National Committee and eventually to GOP candidates in Texas.

Still no Armor for Soldiers

WASHINGTON - Nearly a year after Congress demanded action, the Pentagon has still failed to figure out a way to reimburse soldiers for body armor and equipment they purchased to better protect themselves while serving in Iraq.
Soldiers and their parents are still spending hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for armor they say the military won’t provide.
“Your expectation is that when you are sent to war, that our government does everything they can do to protect the lives of our people, and anything less than that is not good enough,” said a former Marine who spent nearly $1,000 two weeks ago to buy lower-body armor for his son, a Marine serving in Fallujah.
The father asked that he be identified only by his first name — Gordon — because he is afraid of retribution against his son.
“I wouldn’t have cared if it cost us $10,000 to protect our son, I would do it,” said Gordon. “But I think the U.S. has an obligation to make sure they have this equipment and to reimburse for it. I just don’t support Donald Rumsfeld’s idea of going to war with what you have, not what you want. You go to war prepared, and you don’t go to war until you are prepared.”
Soldiers and their families have reported buying everything from higher-quality protective gear to armor for their Humvees, medical supplies and even global positioning devices.
“The bottom line is that Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department are failing soldiers again,”

FEMA is not the only Miss-Managed Agency

Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters.
FEMA's top three leaders arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. A former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative fills two other senior operational jobs.
Patronage appointments to the crisis-response agency are nothing new to Washington administrations. But, inexperience in FEMA's top ranks is emerging as a key concern of local, state and federal leaders as investigators begin to sift through what the government has admitted was a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.
Most agencies, at almost every level of government, hire family, friends, and large donation contributors rather than experienced professionals to run key government institutions. There is not a State, County, City, or Village exempt from this abominable behavior. How many other tragedies are lurking that unqualified people will try to manage?
My guess is; MANY...
The New Orleans fiasco was not an issue of race. It is an issue of mismanagement, incompetence, and leadership failure.

Why New Orleans must be rebuilt

By George Friedman
The American political system was founded in Philadelphia, but the American nation was built on the vast farmlands that stretch from the Alleghenies to the Rockies. That farmland produced the wealth that funded American industrialization: It permitted the formation of a class of small landholders who, amazingly, could produce more than they could consume. They could sell their excess crops in the east and in Europe and save that money, which eventually became the founding capital of American industry.But it was not the extraordinary land nor the farmers and ranchers who alone set the process in motion. Rather, it was geography -- the extraordinary system of rivers that flowed through the Midwest and allowed them to ship their surplus to the rest of the world. All of the rivers flowed into one -- the Mississippi -- and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city: New Orleans. It was in New Orleans that the barges from upstream were unloaded and their cargos stored, sold and reloaded on ocean-going vessels. Until last Sunday, New Orleans was, in many ways, the pivot of the American economy.For that reason, the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 was a key moment in American history. Even though the battle occurred after the War of 1812 was over, had the British taken New Orleans, we suspect they wouldn't have given it back. Without New Orleans, the entire Louisiana Purchase would have been valueless to the United States. Or, to state it more precisely, the British would control the region because, at the end of the day, the value of the Purchase was the land and the rivers - which all converged on the Mississippi and the ultimate port of New Orleans. The hero of the battle was Andrew Jackson, and when he became president, his obsession with Texas had much to do with keeping the Mexicans away from New Orleans. During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered. The industrial minerals needed in the factories wouldn't come in, and the agricultural wealth wouldn't flow out. Alternative routes really weren't available. The Germans knew it too: A U-boat campaign occurred near the mouth of the Mississippi during World War II. Both the Germans and Stratfor have stood with Andy Jackson: New Orleans was the prize.Last Sunday, nature took out New Orleans almost as surely as a nuclear strike. Hurricane Katrina's geopolitical effect was not, in many ways, distinguishable from a mushroom cloud. The key exit from North America was closed. The petrochemical industry, which has become an added value to the region since Jackson's days, was at risk. The navigability of the Mississippi south of New Orleans was a question mark. New Orleans as a city and as a port complex had ceased to exist, and it was not clear that it could recover.The Ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, POSL is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A large proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 17 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on. A simple way to think about the New Orleans port complex is that it is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and the bulk commodities of industrialism come in. The commodity chain of the global food industry starts here, as does that of American industrialism. If these facilities are gone, more than the price of goods shifts: The very physical structure of the global economy would have to be reshaped. Consider the impact to the U.S. auto industry if steel doesn't come up the river, or the effect on global food supplies if U.S. corn and soybeans don't get to the markets.The problem is that there are no good shipping alternatives. River transport is cheap, and most of the commodities we are discussing have low value-to-weight ratios. The U.S. transport system was built on the assumption that these commodities would travel to and from New Orleans by barge, where they would be loaded on ships or offloaded. Apart from port capacity elsewhere in the United States, there aren't enough trucks or rail cars to handle the long-distance hauling of these enormous quantities -- assuming for the moment that the economics could be managed, which they can't be.The focus in the media has been on the oil industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is not a trivial question, but in a certain sense, it is dwarfed by the shipping issue. First, Louisiana is the source of about 15 percent of U.S.-produced petroleum, much of it from the Gulf. The local refineries are critical to American infrastructure. Were all of these facilities to be lost, the effect on the price of oil worldwide would be extraordinarily painful. If the river itself became unnavigable or if the ports are no longer functioning, however, the impact to the wider economy would be significantly more severe. In a sense, there is more flexibility in oil than in the physical transport of these other commodities. There is clearly good news as information comes in. By all accounts, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which services supertankers in the Gulf, is intact. Port Fourchon, which is the center of extraction operations in the Gulf, has sustained damage but is recoverable. The status of the oil platforms is unclear and it is not known what the underwater systems look like, but on the surface, the damage - though not trivial -- is manageable.The news on the river is also far better than would have been expected on Sunday. The river has not changed its course. No major levees containing the river have burst. The Mississippi apparently has not silted up to such an extent that massive dredging would be required to render it navigable. Even the port facilities, although apparently damaged in many places and destroyed in few, are still there. The river, as transport corridor, has not been lost.What has been lost is the city of New Orleans and many of the residential suburban areas around it. The population has fled, leaving behind a relatively small number of people in desperate straits. Some are dead, others are dying, and the magnitude of the situation dwarfs the resources required to ameliorate their condition. But it is not the population that is trapped in New Orleans that is of geopolitical significance: It is the population that has left and has nowhere to return to.The oil fields, pipelines and ports required a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. New Orleans is gone, and the metropolitan area surrounding New Orleans is either gone or so badly damaged that it will not be inhabitable for a long time. It is possible to jury-rig around this problem for a short time. But the fact is that those who have left the area have gone to live with relatives and friends. Those who had the ability to leave also had networks of relationships and resources to manage their exile. But those resources are not infinite -- and as it becomes apparent that these people will not be returning to New Orleans any time soon, they will be enrolling their children in new schools, finding new jobs, finding new accommodations. If they have any insurance money coming, they will collect it. If they have none, then -- whatever emotional connections they may have to their home -- their economic connection to it has been severed. In a very short time, these people will be making decisions that will start to reshape population and workforce patterns in the region.A city is a complex and ongoing process - one that requires physical infrastructure to support the people who live in it and people to operate that physical infrastructure. We don't simply mean power plants or sewage treatment facilities, although they are critical. Someone has to be able to sell a bottle of milk or a new shirt. Someone has to be able to repair a car or do surgery. And the people who do those things, along with the infrastructure that supports them, are gone -- and they are not coming back anytime soon.It is in this sense, then, that it seems almost as if a nuclear weapon went off in New Orleans. The people mostly have fled rather than died, but they are gone. Not all of the facilities are destroyed, but most are. It appears to us that New Orleans and its environs have passed the point of recoverability. The area can recover, to be sure, but only with the commitment of massive resources from outside -- and those resources would always be at risk to another Katrina.The displacement of population is the crisis that New Orleans faces. It is also a national crisis, because the largest port in the United States cannot function without a city around it. The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town, and right now, that is what New Orleans is. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States.Let's go back to the beginning. The United States historically has depended on the Mississippi and its tributaries for transport. Barges navigate the river. Ships go on the ocean. The barges must offload to the ships and vice versa. There must be a facility to empower this exchange. It is also the facility where goods are stored in transit. Without this port, the river can't be used. Protecting that port has been, from the time of the Louisiana Purchase, a fundamental national security issue for the United States.Katrina has taken out the port -- not by destroying the facilities, but by rendering the area uninhabited and potentially uninhabitable. That means that even if the Mississippi remains navigable, the absence of a port near the mouth of the river makes the Mississippi enormously less useful than it was. For these reasons, the United States has lost not only its biggest port complex, but also the utility of its river transport system -- the foundation of the entire American transport system. There are some substitutes, but none with sufficient capacity to solve the problem.It follows from this that the port will have to be revived and, one would assume, the city as well. The ports around New Orleans are located as far north as they can be and still be accessed by ocean-going vessels. The need for ships to be able to pass each other in the waterways, which narrow to the north, adds to the problem. Besides, the Highway 190 bridge in Baton Rouge blocks the river going north. New Orleans is where it is for a reason: The United States needs a city right there.New Orleans is not optional for the United States' commercial infrastructure. It is a terrible place for a city to be located, but exactly the place where a city must exist. With that as a given, a city will return there because the alternatives are too devastating. The harvest is coming, and that means that the port will have to be opened soon. As in Iraq, premiums will be paid to people prepared to endure the hardships of working in New Orleans. But in the end, the city will return because it has to.Geopolitics is the stuff of permanent geographical realities and the way they interact with political life. Geopolitics created New Orleans. Geopolitics caused American presidents to obsess over its safety. And geopolitics will force the city's resurrection, even if it is in the worst imaginable place.

Education Myths

Much of what people believe about education policy is simply not true. An examination of the evidence reveals that many common claims about education are as mythological as anything found in Homer or Aesop.

For example, many people believe that schools are desperately under-funded. In fact, public K-12 spending is approaching $10,000 per pupil — double what it was three decades ago, adjusting for inflation. And total school spending is approaching $500 billion — more than we spend on national defense ($454 billion) and more than the entire GDP
of Russia ($433 billion).

Many people believe that teachers are horribly underpaid. In fact, the average elementary-school teacher makes $30.75 per hour, more than architects ($26.64), mechanical engineers ($29.46), and chemists ($30.68).

Many people believe that student achievement has been deteriorating for decades. In fact, today's students perform about as well as their parents in terms of standardized test scores and high school graduation rates.

Why is education so prone to myths?

Part of the problem is that almost everyone imagines himself an expert about schools. Everyone has been through school, most people have had children in school, and many people have worked in schools or know someone who has. We tend to generalize from our direct experience even when our perspective may be narrow or distorted. In other policy areas less familiar to us we are more likely to rely on systematic evidence but in education we think we already have all of the evidence we need.

Another part of the problem is that education policy involves children and anything involving children evokes strong emotions. Those emotions ensure our attention to education issues but they can also cloud our reasoning. For example, because we really care about children, it is difficult to question claims that we need to spend more money to educate them. We wouldn't want others, or even ourselves, to think that we were stingy about providing children the services they need.

But the most important reason myths are so prevalent in education policy is that there are interest groups promoting them. Unfortunately, teachers unions, school-board associations, and others with a financial stake in education policy take advantage of our vulnerability to myths about education. While most of us feel comfortable entrusting our children to their teachers at school each day, the interest groups that represent them and their schools do not warrant our trust. Teacher unions and the rest of the education establishment, like other interest groups, will support claims that advance their agendas regardless of whether those claims are based on facts or myths.

This interest-group behavior is not unique to education policy. For example, everyone recognizes the role that interest groups play in promoting sugar price supports or in the construction of roads. The sugar industry and construction lobbyists, like teachers unions, are relatively indifferent to whether their arguments are supported by evidence as long as they further their interests.

We usually recognize these interest groups for what they are and take their claims with a large grain of salt. But in education policy our emotional commitment to teachers and children blinds us to this self-interested behavior of education interest groups. We want to believe that education policy is not governed by the same crass political horse-trading that sets the government price for sugar or determines which congressional district will get a new bridge.

Our desire to believe that education policymaking is exceptional — that it is fueled by the love of children rather than the maneuvering of organized interests allows education myths to proliferate. These myths cause real harm. We can't improve public schools without a proper understanding of what ails them. We need to place less trust in our own experiences, our emotional impulses, and the organized-interests pretending to be advocates for children.

We need to put more trust in the evidence.

— Jay P. Greene is Head of the Department of Education Reform at the
University of Arkansas and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where Marcus A. Winters is a senior research associate. They are authors of Education Myths, published by Rowman and Littlefield.

A COMMENT
FROM Paul SchusterOn Mon, 12 Sep 2005 19:20 , Paul Schuster
I disagree with the fixed rate, graduated flat tax that you propose.
The one important thing you leave out is the moral imperative of a citizen keeping all that he earns. The second thing your proposal leaves out is that it does not turn the continuously running money spigot in Washington, made possible only by the Federal tax on income, to the 'off' position.
We have pork and wasted revenue in the deficit budget precisely because the government has a continuous, uninterrupted stream of income, which consists mainly of the tax on income.
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign"' by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war." - Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was right. But he was not talking in terms of taxation. He was talking in terms of 'the Money Power' a privately owned, for profit, central bank, like the Bank of England. The international money lenders were preying on America and this was what Lincoln saw.
You point out that Lou Dobbs says,werepoint out that Lou Dobbs says,
"Number 1, we're not creating jobs in the private sector in this country. That has never before happened in our history. Our economists and our politicians, our leaders, need to come up with answers, not dogma.Number 2, we haven't had a trade surplus in this country in more than two decades. And our trade deficit continues to soar to new record levels.Number 3, we have lost three million jobs in this country over the past three years and millions more American jobs are at risk of being outsourced to cheap overseas labor markets. "
Now that we live in the era of the ideas and political policies of "Globalism", the Bank and the political power it enjoys seek to expand profit opportunity and increase operating profits by spreading the wealth to "cheap overseas" and intra-regional, "labor markets". Although I don't agree with statement Number 1 above, Mr. Dobbs is probably correct in each of his other statements, but interestingly, in this analysis he does not appear to connect the globalist policies and political power of the Bank with any of the infirmities he mentions above. It is truly impressive what people with a microphone and a camera will say these days. It is the Bank's shrewd manipulation of the American economy, as well as the manipulation of other national economies, notably the G8, which provide the international money, trade, and labor manipulations we see.
It is the privately owned, for profit, central bank, the Federal Reserve, which controls the expansion or contraction of the American economy. Direct taxation of income was just a Bank prerequisite, to collateralize the government debt to the Bank. Notice that the Glass-Owen Act was proposed prior to the proposal of the 16th Amendment and then implemented being known as the Federal Reserve Act.
No, the correct solution to the problem you propose is the Fair Tax. It does two things well. First, it allows a producer to keep all of his produce (at least at the Federal level), Second, it turns off the revenue spigot in Washington which the Bank and the politicians are satiated with.
You will never properly control economic policy in America, or have America's economic resources be applied properly when you allow a privately owned, for profit, Central Bank control monetary and economic policy and manipulate political policy. That political power and economic power also controls politicians, who control taxation.
I do agree with you, however, they all should be thrown out of office.
Paul Schuster

IN REPLY
Hi Paul,
We are glad that taxation issues are rising to the top of peoples thinking and actions. This nation is nearing another revolution if something is not done soon. However, we do have a right to disagree over the best way to solve the issue. There are two prevalent issues that are major concerns for American citizens (whether they know it or not). First, political figures at all levels of government, which includes local village and school boards, have forgotten who they are supposed to work for. Second, corporations are forced to seek out the cheapest labor, including child and slave labor, in order to satisfy Wall Street. How does UACT solve some of these issues?First - Politicians only get your money if you have a job. There is no more homeowner’s tax, local tax, village fees, or any State, Federal, County fees and tax on any product sold. Offices get your money only if you have a job.So think about it.Politicians will be forced to ensure the people are happy and thriving in order for them to get more of our money (raises and bonuses). And the more we make, the more governments will have. This means that they will pass laws that make it beneficial for companies to keep jobs in our country, states, and villages, and ensure the citizenship keeps thriving within their career aspirations.Taxation on Corporations will be lowered in order to make companies come back to America, which, along with the elimination of Sales tax and other fees placed on items (gas, food, toiletries etc.) will drive profits upward and appease Wall Street. The result is happy citizens, corporations, and politicians (although less happy than the other two). A society needs all three in order to remain strong.The Fair Tax places too much of a burden on the lower classes, does not eliminate local taxation which is proven to be more abusive than the federal tax, and does not solve the issue of politicians working for the people. If you only have a sales tax system, the government will still get your money whether you have a job or not. They may not get as much, but they still get it. Even homeless people will be forced to pay a tax (and there are millions of them). You cannot appease the homeless with tax returns because they don't have a home for the returns to go to. The Fair Tax will drive luxury items out of reach for the ordinary person, and really, helps perpetuate the gap between the rich and poor. The United Citizens of America urges you to invest more research into your current thought process. The Fair Tax system may not be the best choice for American citizens.

Toilet Paper Tax

"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's Legislature is flush with good ideas. Sen. Al Lawson's involves a 2 cent-per-roll tax on toilet paper to pay for wastewater treatment and help small towns upgrade their sewer systems.The Democratic lawmaker's pay-as-you-go bill has been the source of many jokes - bathroom humor you might say - but he says the issue is a serious one, especially in some of the fast-growing Panhandle coastal counties in his district."

States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile

College student Jayson Just commutes an odometer-spinning 2,000 miles a month. As CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, his monthly gas bill once topped his car payment. "I was paying about $500 a month," says Just. So Just bought a fuel efficient hybrid and said goodbye to his gas-guzzling BMW. And what kind of mileage does he get? "The EPA estimate is 60 in the city, 51 on the highway," says Just. And that saves him almost $300 a month in gas. It's great for Just but bad for the roads he's driving on, because he also pays a lot less in gasoline taxes which fund highway projects and road repairs. As more and more hybrids hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of rough roads ahead...Tax-by-mile advocates say it may be the only way to ensure that fuel efficiency doesn't prevent smooth sailing down the road."

America's Wackiest Taxes

You might pay taxes on illegal drugs, Pepsi, playing cards, and being a star, and that's not all--"New York (CNN/Money) - History is littered with odd tax schemes. William Pitt the Younger introduced a tax on windows in Britain. Peter the Great taxed souls, and Nero, urine. Let no man say that we here in America cannot compete for oddity of tax laws. We have some really weird assessments on the books. In certain states and cities, you'll pay special taxes for buying a deck of cards, possessing illegal drugs, and, possibly, buying things from naked people. Here are a dozen peculiar state and local taxes, as noted by tax information publisher CCH Inc. and the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit tax policy research group. Illegal drug tax: On Jan. 1, Tennessee became the latest of 23 states to institute a tax for possession of illegal drugs. Usually, you have to be in possession of a minimum quantity, say over 42.5 grams of marijuana in North Carolina, to be subject to the tax. In Tennessee, when you acquire an illegal drug (even "moonshine"), you have 48 hours to report to the Department of Revenue and pay your tax, in exchange for which you'll receive stamps to affix to your illegal substance. The stamps serve as evidence you paid the tax on the illegal product. Don't worry that you might get in trouble for admitting you have enough drugs to fuel a rave party for years. You need not provide identification to get the stamps and it's illegal for revenue employees to rat you out. Still, next door in North Carolina, which has had a similar law for 15 years, only 79 folks have voluntarily come forward since 1990, according to the Department of Revenue. Most were thought to be stamp collectors, or perhaps just high. Another 72,000 were taxed after they were already busted. North Carolina has collected $78.3 million thus far, almost all from those arrested and found without stamps. Flush tax: In 2004, Maryland began charging homeowners and businesses for producing wastewater. The funds will be used to help protect Chesapeake Bay waters. Maryland will add $2.50 a month to the sewer bills of residents hooked up to treatment systems. It will also assess an annual charge of $30 to homeowners with their own septic systems, even though many believe these residents add little to the stream of pollutants that have damaged the Chesapeake. Virginia appears poised to enact a similar flush tax of $1 a week per household. Sex sales tax: Sin got pricier in Utah last July, when owners of sexually explicit businesses where "nude or partially nude individuals perform any service" began paying a 10 percent sales and use tax on admission and user fees as well as the sales of merchandise, food, drink, and services. That would be on top of the 4.75 percent sales tax the state already imposes on most transactions, sexually explicit or not. Not that the measure will raise much money. So far only one or two businesses in staid Utah are actually wild enough to be subjected to the tax. Jock tax: This is a tax on income earned by athletes, entertainers (OK, not just jocks), and their various entourages, including non-athletic or non-performer employees. Generally, any money player or performer earns while playing in that particular city or state gets taxed. California levied the first jock tax in 1991, on athletes from Chicago, right after the Chicago Bulls beat the L.A. Lakers. (Chicago quickly responded in kind.) Today, most states with a professional sports team impose a jock tax. William Ahern, of the Tax Foundation, said a DC United soccer player received tax forms from 10 different states. The player was no Alex Rodriguez. "The guy makes $26,000 a year," says Ahearn. "The jock taxes he owed varied from $200 to $2." Sparkler and novelties tax: In West Virginia, businesses selling sparklers and novelties pay a special fee on top of the state's 6 percent sales tax. The novelties, according to the West Virginia State Tax Department's information sheet on sparklers and novelties, include: Explosive caps designed to be fired in toy pistols; snake and glow worms and; trick noisemakers which produce a small report designed to surprise the user. Playing card tax: If you want a deck of cards in Alabama, be prepared to shell out an extra dime. The state government has levied a 10-cent tax on the purchase of a playing deck that contains "no more than 54 cards," plus the retailer must pay an annual license tax of $3 and a fee of $1, according to the Alabama Department of Revenue. Blueberry tax: Like fresh, wild blueberries? If they come from Maine, you may be paying a bit of a premium. Anyone who grows, purchases, sells, handles or processes the fruit in the state is subject to a penny-and-a-half-per-pound tax. Wagering tax: Speaking of cards – and bets – most people know they have to pay tax on their gambling winnings. But some places, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, and Oklahoma, exact a wagering tax on casino or track owners, whether you gamble or not. It can get passed onto customers through the cost of casino amusements. Illinois forces casinos to charge a $2 admission price, which is essentially a tax since it must be remitted to the city and state. Fur clothing tax: Keeping comfy during Minnesota winters can cost you. Businesses in the state must pay a 6.5 percent tax on the total amount received for the sale, shipping, and finance charges associated with the purchase of clothing in which fur accounts for three times more of the garment than the next most valuable material. Most types of clothing in Minnesota are sales-tax-free, so if you want to keep warm switch to "leather, suede, or other animal skins where the hair, fleece or fur fiber is completely removed," as the Minnesota Department of Revenue Fur Clothing Tax instructions form puts it, Fountain soda drink tax: This one hails from Chicago. If you buy a "fountain soda drink," you'll pay a 9 percent tax. If you buy the same soda in a bottle or a can, you'll only pay 3 percent. Amusement tax: Ever wondered about the extra tax you pay on stadium seats? That's the amusement tax, often levied at both city and state levels. Most states, including Massachusetts, Virginia, and Maryland, and cities like New Orleans, have amusement taxes on tickets sold at any venue with more than 750 to 1,000 seats. Amusing, isn't it? Tattoo tax: As of last July, anyone in Arkansas wanting to get a eagle etched on their abs or a nose ring notched in their nostrils will have to pay an additional 6 percent, as the state included tattooing and body piercing in its list of services subject to sales taxes. Electrolysis treatments count, too. To make this a baker's dozen, we'll throw in a freebie: Tennessee imposes a litigation tax. The tax varies with the offense, with the cheapest being $1 for a metered parking violation. No sum is too small for the tax man."

2005-09-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from EARTH 2010
Sold ONLY at CafePress.comLink: http://www.cafepress.com/earth2010

INVASION

Lina was amazed at the things the humans were able to build; smaller dwellings within the big dwelling, clear walls to see outside the dwelling, fur to cover the dirt, cloth sitting devices, paintings; there was so much she would have to discover. The horseless wagons truly amazed her; humans have always tried to bring all their belongings with them when they traveled instead of living off the land, and their wagons of yore were barbaric compared to the wagons they now utilized. She still could not understand what the metal contraptions with avian devices were used for. Some had fowl appendages and yet there were some with flat sword-like devices fashioned to the top. Everything astounded her and again made her worry that she miscalculated her warrior needs. Elves could not be created magically, and their birthing requirements did not allow for swift procreations. She could have kept multiplying her Horde and this is where she might have erred, she now feared that her force was insufficient.
The human spears also worried her. A mere handful of human warriors caused a significant loss of Horde life, and the way things stood, she would need every spear she could muster. However, she was thankful that Dracon used the Horde as a first strike. If the human spears had hit her warriors, the loss would have been monumental. Lina was busy inspecting a marvelously crafted wooden dinning platform that was in one of the inner dwellings. The wood was oak and it encompassed the entire length of the area. Surrounding it were seating devices that could accommodate nearly eighty warriors. The humans must have used this as their primary inner dwelling based on all the packages containing garb. These also amazed her, and as she started to pick through some of the garments, Dracon entered carrying some of the human spears. "Gargon is bringing the human."
Lina nodded her head in understanding.
"You should come see this dwelling, Mother, there is water coming from a metal device."
"Show me," she replied in amazement. The inner dwelling that Dracon brought her to was no more than a five-foot square area with a seating device filled with water, and a metal tube dripping water. Lina was very perplexed. She also noticed the reflective shiny metal that was very similar to the large wall on the outer dwelling. "I look horrible, Dracon."
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Mother, and you are truly ravishing."
She smiled, "flattery will get you everything, dear."
Dracon laughed.
As they exited the inner dwelling, Gargon was approaching with the human. The creature looked pathetic, and it had no garments on its body.
Gargon anticipated her question, "its garments smelled horrific, Mother."
"Well, there are more in the large inner dwelling." She noticed how much the human was shaking and remembered that the humans did not draw upon the earth's warmth as do the Elves. She had forgotten about this fact. Lina placed her hand on the humans arm, and transferred warmth into its body. It was a repulsive act to perform on a human, but she needed answers and didn't want the human perishing of cold.
Senator Ash stiffened at this woman's touch and immediately felt warmth flow through his limbs. He let out a heavenly sigh. The one she called Gargon made him wash his body with snow, and with the temperature well below freezing, Ash thought he would turn into an icicle. Her touch, whoever she was, was wonderful and he felt like it was a cool summer day. These people spoke English, and Ash felt comfortable that he would be able to wield his influence with the British troops and save his hide. He had many connections in England and it was rumored that his family was descended from a royal line. However, something just did not seem right with these folks; for one, they didn't seem to need light to see. He was basically walking blind and relying on this Gargon fellow to lead him along; and two, although they spoke English, they had weird reflections in their voice that made their speech almost seem alien to him.
"What is this dwelling, Human?" Lina asked
Ash was confused by the question, and answered, "It is one of our Alaskan military bases. We have several in the area."
"What is a military base?"
Now Ash was really confused, who the hell were these people, "they are government bases for our soldiers." He responded.
"What is government and soldiers?" Lina asked.
"The government rules the country and our soldiers protect it." "Ah," she responded, "These soldiers are your warriors, yes?"
"You could say that, yes." Ash responded, "Why have you attacked our country?"
"What do you mean by, country?" Lina asked.
"Our land, our borders, I don't know, its just our country."
Ash felt an explosion hit his face and if Gargon was not holding him, he would have fell, "this is my land you human filth." Lina grabbed his hair and yanked his head into the dwelling with the water, "what is this dwelling?" She said angrily.
"I told you." Ash felt another blow, this time on his back. "Stop, please stop." He said.
"This dwelling in here," Lina yanked his head hard in emphasis.
"I can't see what you are talking about, Ash pleaded."
"Mother, I don't think the human can see in the darkness."
Of course, Lina thought, she forgot all about their shortcomings. She concentrated for a moment, and a small pebble in her hand started to glow. The light was not obnoxious enough to affect the superior Elvin sight, but should be enough for the human.
Ash immediately recognized the room this crazy woman was talking about, "It is a bathroom."
"What is a bathroom?" the woman asked, and Ash moaned in frustration, which earned him another punch on his back. Gargon could really deliver a blow.
Ash quickly demonstrated; he turned the faucet all the way and the water started flowing. The gasp from these people would have been humorous if it weren't for his current predicament. He then flushed the toilet, and again they let out a gasp. "We use the sink," Ash pointed to the faucet, "to clean-up. It is better than snow." He said sarcastically, but it was lost on these people. "The toilet," Ash pointed to it "is used to relieve waste."
"Waste?" The woman asked, and Ash couldn't take this basic questioning anymore. He turned toward the woman and was about to say so, when he glimpsed her features. His knees buckled, this was by far the most gorgeous woman he had ever had the pleasure to meet. An exotic beauty with ravens black hair and deep blue eyes; she was maybe five and a half feet tall, extremely petite, and feminine featured. He stumbled for words, but he forgot the question, and he was now very aware of his own nakedness.
An explosion rocked the right side of his face, "eyes down you swine, if I catch you looking at anything but the Mothers feet, I will carve your eyes from their sockets."
Lina asked again, "What is waste?"
Ash really had to go, so he shuffled to the toilet bowl, and relieved himself, "waste" he said as he pointed to his pee. He thought this would earn him another beating for relieving himself in front of the mother chic, but instead, she and the Gargon fellow just stared and cooed. This made him very uncomfortable. When he finished, he pointed to his rear-end and sat down, "you can do both into this same bowl, we use this," he pulled some toilet paper from a roll, "to wipe-up when we're done," Ash stood back up, "when you're all complete, you press this little knob, and the potty monsters take you're poopoo away," He finished as if he was talking to some small children, and again they did not seem to catch his sarcasm. Gargon reached out and touched the toilet paper, "it is soft, Mother, much better than leaves and dirt,"
Lina just grunted her understanding. She had a feeling that this human was toying with them, but there was so much that has changed that she felt very uninformed at the moment. "Bring the Human to the large inner dwelling, Gargon, I'll be along shortly." As Ash passed by her, she pressed the glow stone into his palm. "Thank you." He said, and Lina sniffed in reply. When Gargon and the human were out of sight, Lina used the cleaning room like the human demonstrated. She walked back to the inner dwelling with a smile on her face. She had learned something pleasantly new today.
~~~
Ash was led back to the main conference room at the front of the base. He was amused by their reference of it as "a large inner dwelling", but also confused by who these people were, and how did they get here? The Gargon fellow allowed him to find his suitcase and dress. He chose the warmest attire he could find, and he started feeling much more comfortable, although still sore from the punches he received. The warmth in his body remained but as time progressed, he could tell that he was getting colder, and noticing the steam coming from his breath, he knew it was very cold inside the base. Whatever the woman had done to him he was thankful, and would not mind having done again. He studied the little pebble that the woman had given him, but he could not tell where the light was emanating from. He was very thankful for the light, he felt so helpless stumbling around in the dark. He placed the pebble on the conference table, sat back in the chair, and reassessed his situation.
These people just murdered over one third of the nations leadership without breaking a sweat, but he was still alive and he would have to play his cards right. Ash studied this Gargon fellow; he was tall and sleek with the same colored raven hair as the woman and he noted how much they resembled each other. He had the same blue eyes and facial features, and the same length of hair except his was tied back from his face with what appeared to be a leather band. He was dressed in some type of medieval garb, with chain-link covering his body over what appeared to be a black leather jacket. He also had black leather pants and moccasins. Ash loved visiting the Resonance Fair whenever it was in town, and these people reminded him of the folks you would find there. Gargon was just as gorgeous as the woman except in a masculine-way; he is definitely powerful looking. He seems very confident in himself, and Ash knew that this was a very dangerous man.
Gargon stood between him and the rifles that were piled at the other end of the table, and the door. He kept his gaze squarely locked onto him; Ash tried to pretend that it had no affect on him, but the mans stare was becoming more and more annoying.
Another popped his head through the doorway, "have you seen Mother, Gar?"
This guy was nearly an exact replica, Ash thought.
"She will be here shortly, Brother, you may want to summon Rika. Mother may have need of our sister."
The duplicate left, and the Mother entered, but she somehow looked different.
"Mother is on her way, you may wish to stay" he gave Ash an evil stare, "for the show." he finished.
So this is the sister, Ash thought, and no less ravishing than the mother.
She bore a hole through him with her gorgeous eyes, "It shall be a pleasure, Brother," she said Her gaze was evil in its intensity.
After a few minutes, the mother entered and her beauty again struck Ash to his core. "Rika, dear, please summon your brothers. I want everyone gathered while I speak to the human."
Ash watched as the Rika beauty shut her eyes and seemed to sway from foot to foot. It seemed like she was dancing.
"My name is Jefferson," Ash stated, "Jefferson Ash." Gargon started to charge at him and he realized that he had looked at the mother's face when he spoke. Ash curled into a defensive position, but the mother called off the charge before the man had a chance to hit him.
"You may look upon me human, for I see our immediate futures linked, but to me, you have no name. Is that understood?"
Ash shrugged his shoulders, "as you wish my lady, but if you do not know what a bathroom is, then it would appear that you need me more than I need you."
Lina could not deny the creature's statement, but she did not want it to think it had the upper hand, "you are expendable to me, human, do not underestimate my kindness. I can find another human to tell me what I wish to know."
As she finished her statement, three more men entered the room. Ash noted the exact likeliness that they all shared with each other. If he looked close, he could tell them apart, otherwise, they would seem like duplicates.
Since they seemed to like playing a medieval role, Ash thought to play along, "My Lady," he stated, "you may find another to fill my void, but you will not find any others with the influence I wield for my country."
"You are a lordling, then?" the Mother asked.
"In a sense my lady; I am an elected official for the people of my land. They call me a Senator."
Lina was unimpressed, "Who is your king?"
"We do not have Kings, My Lady, my nation is ruled by many people who serve the interest of the people they represent." Ash was proud of his statement.
"How many humans make up this council? Lina asked.
Ash noted that everyone was seated now with the exception of the Gargon fellow. This helped put his nerves at ease, "hundreds My Lady," he replied, "you killed nearly one third of the representatives of my nation today." Ash noticed the duplicates smiling at each other.
Lina was very pleased with the creature's statement. Humans have a way of giving-up once their Lords are eliminated, she thought. "You seem very proud of your standing, human, but a people who are ruled by so many are not ruled at all. There is an old saying handed down from my great ancestors. It states that too many appendages in the kettle, spoils the brew. We Elves have tried councils of your sort within our history, and the concept bore fruit in the early stages, but as generations progressed, the honor of the first council diminished and corruption held sway. How many human generations have passed since your rule of council?"
Ash sat up in shock. Did she just say Elves? Ash was too dumbfounded to think of time in generations, so he answered her in years, still in shock by her statement.
She smiled at his answer. "That is many generations by way of you humans. I would stake my life that corruption runs rampant through your council."
Ash remained silent, and still bewildered.
Lina nodded her head in understanding; "Now tell me, for your life depends upon your answer, where does your King reside?"
"We do not…" Ash cringed as Gargon stormed in his direction,"Lady, please, we truly do not have a King, we have a President, but he is merely a figurehead. Congress runs the nation."
Lina held up her hand to ward off her male. The human mentioned a different name for the King. Maybe the humans have changed their designation of the leader. "Where does your," she stumbled to repeat the word.
"President." Ash interjected.
"Where does it reside?" she asked, and she motioned to one of the seated duplicates. He pulled a map from his belt and placed it in front of him.
There were no markings on the map, but it was a fairly good hand drawing of North America. It looked as if it were drawn on animal skin. Ash pointed to a spot near the east coast, "We call it the White House," he said, still too defeated to think clearly.
Lina slapped him across the face, "that is impossible. The human Kings have always resided in the east. Gargon, K…"
"Wait, wait, please let me explain." Ash was truly terrified; "my nation is made up of mainly people from the east. England, France, Italy, Pakistan, geez there are people from all over the world living here. I tell you the truth, My Lady, I have no reason to lie to you."
"I do not know those names you speak. Why should I believe you?"
Ash whined, "Because I am telling the truth, Lady, I truly am."
Brako interjected, "Mother, there were Ethiopians amongst the humans we eliminated."
Lina looked at her male offspring and nodded her head, "very well, we will seek this King in the White House that the human suggested. Runko, you will take your force to the east above and around the Waters of Life," she outlined his path on the map and Ash noted that it traveled south along the Hudson Bay and east between the bay and the Great Lake, and then the path swung down the east coast from the north. "Gargon, Rika and I will travel your path until you swing east above the Waters. I will have Sanon reclaim the northern cold lands, and Dracon and Brako will retake our lands to the west. Conquer everything in your path. We will join forces with you in the east once the mid and west lands are reclaimed. I wish to cleanse my lands before the warm season."
Lina motioned to Dracon and the spear, and he slid the human weapon across the table to her. "What is this?" she asked.
"That is an assault rifle, My Lady." Ash responded.
"This weapon killed many of my creations, human, how does it function?"
"I have never shot a rifle, My Lady, all I know is that you pull the trigger and a bullet will shoot out the end."
Lina felt that the human spoke the truth. "What is a bullet? "
"What is an Elf?" Ash responded, and speaking the thought aloud startled him.
They all laughed at him; "The humans question is reasonable, Mother, they have probably all forgotten about us." Gargon stated.
Ash watched as the mother folded her hair behind her ears; "there're pointed!" Ash exclaimed in exasperation, "what are you people?"
"We are Elves, not people, you swine." Ash noted that the one called Rika, answered. She didn't seem to like him very much.
"But that is just a fairy tale. Elves don't exist." Ash said in exasperation.
"That is a long story for another time; now, what is a bullet?"
Ash shook his head, he could see the clip, and he pointed at it, "they are kept in there, and when you pull the trigger," he pointed again, "the bullet shoots out the end." he finished by pointing to the muzzle.
"Mother, we should use the human spears against them. They shoot five times the length of our bows."
Lina looked at her daughter, and noted the shaking of Gargon's head. She agreed with her eldest male, "we would never become as efficient in their use as the humans are, dear. It is a mighty weapon, and could be our undoing."
Lina shifted her gaze back to the human, "show me this bullet."
"I told you my lady, I do not know how to use them. I just know that they are kept in there." Ash again pointed to the clip.
Ash watched as Gargon drew a sword from his waist. It seemed odd to him because he didn't remember seeing the guy - elf- whatever these things are, wearing one. Thinking that Gargon would finally finish him, Ash fell to the floor and curled into a ball. It took him a moment before he realized that the cracking sound he heard was the rifle. Ash slowly lifted his head to peer onto the table, "are you crazy?" he remarked, "You could have blown those things up."
Gargon looked at him in shock and quickly backed away from the table. All the rest followed suit.
"Show me this bullet, human."
Ash saw that the clip was severed completely in half and also that the table was sliced open. He looked at Gargon's sword in disbelief, the edge had to be extremely sharp. He also saw that the sword split the clip and the bullets inside perfectly. A hair either way and there would have been lead flying around the room. He grabbed the clip and carefully extracted one of the bullets and set it on the table. He pointed at it "that is a bullet."
"It is so tiny, Mother." One of the duplicates noted.
Ash thought that the Runko fellow answered, but they moved around and he lost track of who was who. He could defiantly tell Gargon from the rest and of course, Rika and the Mother, but the other three were too close in looks for him to decipher them apart.
"How does it function, lordling?" the Mother asked.
Ash picked up the bullet, and Gargon immediately went into a defensive position. Ash held up his hand as if to say, its ok, and placed the bullet in his palm. Ash pointed at the fat end, "gun powder is packed inside this cap," he then showed them the bottom of the bullet, "this little thing right here, is a charge. The rifle," he pointed at it, "has a little hammer that strikes this little charge, and it makes the gun powder explode." "The bang sound." Gorgon stated.
Ash nodded his head in the affirmative. "When the gun powder explodes and makes the banging sound," he nodded at Gargon, "this top piece shoots out at a very fast speed. If it hits you, it will hurt."
Ash noticed that they were all nodding their head in understanding, and he was thrilled that he was able to explain it like he did. He really had no idea about guns, but he has learned enough to know the basics.
"You must show me this powder, Lordling." The Mother stated.
Ash, although pleased that she stopped calling him a human, but also mystified that she would think him a Lord, looked at her in confusion. "My Lady, I don't know if I can open it without it exploding. I don't know much about weapons."
"Then you are of no more use to me, Gargon!"
"Wait - wait, I'll try." Ash knew that the bullet end would come off, he just didn't know if it would blow-up in his fingers. He studied it and then grabbed half of the sword split clip. He held the bullet by the base, and used the clip to grab the top by pinning it against the table. He noticed the Elves shuffling out of the way. He slowly wiggled the bullet while he ground the clip into the led at the top, and after a few minutes, he was surprised when it separated. He slowly pulled the bullet off the base with his fingers, and poured the gunpowder onto the table. He was very proud of his accomplishment.
The mother came over, and sniffed at the gunpowder. "I know this material," She stated to her offspring. "I last seen it used by our great ancestors. They used to tell us children stories around a camp fire, and would toss bits of it upon the fire so that it would spark and hiss." She walked back toward Rika, "our greatest ancients used to draw ruins in the dirt before they cast their mightiest spells. It wasn't until later in our upbringing when we discovered that the dust had no bearing on a spells success or failure, and the practice was forgotten." She placed her fingers upon her chin in contemplation, "There was a spell that was used to negate the use of dust. Sorcerers would cast them at each other while they each tried to draw a ruin in the dirt."
She looked at Ash, "how many warriors are in your service, Lordling?"
Ash was confused. How could she negate gunpowder, he thought. "Um, about five hundred thousand." He didn't mention that over three hundred thousand were out of the country.
Everyone except him, gasped.
The last time the humans drew battle against her, they could only muster thirty thousand warriors, Lina thought. If they kept their use of these weapons, she would have no chance of prevailing. "How many swordsman, archers and cavalry?" she asked.
Again, Ash was confused, "we no longer use swords or archers, and our vehicles have made horses obsolete." He responded.
Lina was shocked, as were her offspring. They all just stared at him as if he were a stark raving lunatic. "What is a vehicle?" she asked.
"Four wheels and metal." Ash responded. He didn't feel like trying to explain the simplest details to these Neanderthals.
"The horseless wagons, Mother," A duplicate, blurted out.
"They are hardly horseless, My Lady, each vehicle has the power of three hundred and fifty horses."
They again looked at him as if he were mad, "I would rather have three hundred horsemen with swords, than one horseless wagon, human. You seem too proud of such an insignificant exchange," Runko stated. The Senator threw his arms up in defeat.
"So you don't have any swordsman?"
Ash shook his head.
"Or archers?"
"Nope!"
"Or cavalry?"
Again, Ash responded in the negative.
"Well, children, this may be easier than I thought." Lina smiled and Ash thought it was the loveliest thing in the world to see. Until he realized what it would mean for his country.
"Um, My Lady, without rifles you would not stand a chance. They are one of the deadliest things man has ever created."
"They will be useless very soon, Lordling." She grabbed Rika by the hand and led her to the gunpowder, "I have a spell that can make the sparkle dust useless, but I'll need to draw upon your energy once again. It will likely make us both very weak for a few days. Gargon, you, and Rika will stay with me, Dracon, Runko, Brako; you have your mission so go to it. Once Dracon and Brako neutralize their areas, they will join me by the Waters and then we will reinforce Runko in the east. Do not kill the King, Runko, I wish that pleasure for myself. Without their weapons, the humans will be novices in battle. Enjoy your killings, children."
She turned toward Ash, "without trained warriors, your human race will soon become extinct."
Her children started filing out of the room, Ash sat down, and placed his head in his hands. My God, he thought, this woman is worse than Hitler.
"Gargon, take the human to another dwelling. Rika and I will remain in here and cast the spell."
"Gladly, Mother," Gargon pulled Ash to his feet and roughly shoved him toward the door. "Lordling," Ash turned in her direction, "after I complete this task, you are going to teach me all there is to know about your human life. I will know everything, or I will leave you to the crows. Do you understand?"
Ash just nodded and exited through the door.
He was sitting in General Slovich's office with his feet up on the desk, trying to get some rest. The Gargon fellow was standing in the doorway. How was he going to get out of this mess? Ash thought. Elves, what the heck are Elves? He thought they were supposed to be little like Santa's helpers, but every male he saw was rather tall. Ash stood six feet, and so did the Elvin males. He had to be dreaming because this nightmare was excessively freaky. He also worried about giving the direction of the White House away. His thought at the time was to lead them away from D'Marco, but now it appeared that the largest force was going to be heading straight to where he was vacationing, and with the majority of the US troops stationed in Iraq, what chance did America have? The thought was too much to bear and he was about to close his eyes when all of a sudden, the ground began to vibrate. Gargon garbed a hold of the door jam to steady himself, and Ash clung to the arms of the chair. He looked to Gargon for an answer, but the intimidating brute just smiled at him. Ash had a feeling that his greatest nightmares were about to begin.

An excerpt from EARTH 2010 twenty ten
To read the rest of this amazing new novel, purchase it here http://www.cafepress.com/earth2010 (Only available thru Cafepress.com)

2005-08-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Save Democracy

Howard Dean touched Americans in the beginning with his energy and vision, however misguided it may have been. Although he said the right things, his plan would not have forced revolutionary change within our government. The only way to force this to happen is with a tax system that sets boundaries around the current money soaked political system that is killing American dreams.

I read an article written concerning a Presidential hopeful refusing government campaign funding and instead inciting Americans to "put-up or shut-up." This statement embodies the very organization that I lead today - the United Citizens of America.

No one person can change our political system. It will take a nation of Americans, standing behind a common vision, to force the necessary changes within Washington. Unfortunately, the corruption is too deep within both prominent political parties for us citizens to rely on them to change it. We must force the change from a centralist and common sense standpoint.

What needs to happen?

1. Government needs to get smaller at every level, and in this technology age, it can get smaller without hurting the programs or the communication process of the nation.

2. Government (at all levels) needs to get more efficient and hold employees to the same standards that we now hold leaders of private industries. If they abuse public money, and do things that impair the average citizen, they must be held accountable to the letter of the law. This goes for our school systems also.

3. Quit stifling Americans with over-burdensome taxation. Our current system (at all levels) is leading the average American into economic slavery. Implement a taxation system that holds politicians accountable to the people, and watch the nation thrive. Only an income tax system can accomplish this objective.

Do these things and our nation will once again be the democracy it was envisioned to be. If we do nothing and maintain course, Freedom will die. Our nation’s current political track is leading us toward a Socialist/Fascist regime. This is not what America is about.

Get involved before it is too late. Become a United Citizen of America

2005-07-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

A Message from the President

Hey folks,

Just in case you were interested in assisting the United Citizens of America in reducing your daily tax burdens, our PayPal account is up and available Click Here. YOU CAN NOW GIVE US MONEY!

(I know you were all thinking, "How can I give the UCA money?") Regardless, if you click the link, you will be taken to our Donation Page. If you have a Pay Pal account, you can pay through them, but if you don't you can still donate using your credit card.

The automated amount is $0, but we’d love $4,000 (and even $4.00 would be appreciated). Remember, all $25 dollar donations will be refunded.

So, you are all about to ask, "what does my donation get me?” Well, once you click the link and Donate, you will receive:

A Lifetime membership as a United Citizen of America – No future donations are required.
Your $25 donation refunded.
An organization that will fight dirty to get your taxes reduced.
No lying, Cheating, or Abuse of your donations. (If we have to give it back to you, we obviously can’t waste it.)
A swift kick in the ass to all politicians who love raising your taxes.
A sophisticated, “Members Only,” Independent Political Tax Fighting Machine.
A chance to earn up to $50,000 to pay your tax burdens, or to just enjoy life. Go buy that expensive car you’ve been wanting.

Give Generously.

Sincerely,
Angelo Pesce – President
United Citizens of America

2005-07-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Your Government is Working for WHO?

Our Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in order to raise tax funds.

The ruling was a defeat for Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They had argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze (any) residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.

Your property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party; the beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.

Scott Bullock, an attorney for the Institute for Justice representing the families, added: "A narrow majority of the court simply got the law wrong today and our Constitution and Country will suffer as a result."

At issue was the scope of the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property through eminent domain if the land is for "public use." Susette Kelo and several other homeowners in a working-class neighborhood in New London, Conn., filed suit after city officials announced plans to raze their homes for a Riverfront Hotel, Health Club and Business Offices.
New London officials countered that the private development plans served a public purpose of boosting economic growth that outweighed the homeowners' property rights, even if the area wasn't blighted. City officials envision a commercial development that would attract tourists to the Thames riverfront, complementing an adjoining Pfizer Corp. research center and a proposed Coast Guard museum.

Under the ruling, residents still will be entitled to "just compensation" for their homes as provided under the Fifth Amendment. However, just compensation will be decided by a private board; not through detailed market analysis.

Your Home Could be Next…

· Do you have a gorgeous River View? - Hotels may want it in order to build luxury resorts, and you can't stop them.

· Paid a lot for that Lake View? - Your land could generate more tax revenue through a Casino and Cruise Line.

· Do you have a beautiful panoramic view of the mountains or canyons from your house? - Others will want it also, and now you can't stop them from taking it.

2005-04-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

Tax Web is Expanding

Athletes and entertainers pay millions every year to the states they visit. Now some states are tracking down CEOs and others who earn money on the road.

The list could include Sales Professionals, Truck Drivers, Attorneys, Business Professionals, Airline Pilots and Attendants, and anyone else whose job takes them outside of their home state boundaries, even of it is just a one day out of town meeting.

For instance, the mother of a professional Major League Soccer goalie who makes $26,000 a year, said she had to file tax returns in 10 states, with taxes due ranging from $200 all the way down to $2

State tax agencies have started targeting CEOs and other executives who travel and have been auditing corporations for their travel records. The trend has really surfaced in the last 18 months.

In the extreme cases, the jock tax can lead to double taxation. In 2003, slugger Sammy Sosa, then with the Chicago Cubs, sued the state of Illinois because it denied the tax credits he paid for income taxes paid elsewhere. In 1998, he paid a total of $65,316 in taxes to California, New York and 3 other states; Illinois charged him $38,169 in taxes on the same income. The judge ruled against him because Illinois still had a right to his money.

The rest of us are next.

Fight or continued to get screwed.

2005-02-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

SSN Crisis de-BUNKed

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that out of 100 people that start working at the age of 25, by the age of 65...

1 is wealthy
4 have enough money to retire
63 depend on Social Security or Charity
29 are deceased

Doing the math, there are 180 million working adults in our country;

1.8 million will be wealthy
7.2 million will have enough money to retire
114 million will depend on Social Security or charity
52 million will be deceased

If the 52 million who are deceased (and never drew their SSN benefits) had contributed $5000 dollars annually into the SSN pool, and for argument sake, let’s say they lived on average to be 55 (ten years under retirement age), each would have contributed $150,000 to SSN (not counting interest earned). 52 million multiplied by 150 thousand, is roughly $7.8 TRILLION dollars.

The 2006 SSN budget of the United States is $9.5 Billion. 9.5 Billion Goes into 7.8 trillion, 812 times; so in theory, if our government stopped spending peoples SSN money, SSN would be able to be funded for the next 812 years. If they doubled everyone’s retirement benefits, there is enough money in the SSN pool for the next 406 years. If they quadrupled every retired person SSN benefits, there would be enough money in the SSN pool for the next 203 years. (this is only counting the deceased contributions)

WHAT IS THE ISSUE ??? Greed, Corruption, and Mismanagement; Period.

Nationally the typical widow receives a benefit of $865 per month. If our government stopped spending our SSN money, this widow could receive $3460 per month, and there would still be enough money in SSN for the next 203 years.

Don’t listen to political BS rhetoric.

The United Citizens of America refuse to be blinded by the lies and deceit of politicians, and we will continue to educate our fellow Americans.

Become a Citizen today.

2005-01-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

What Every American Needs to Know - US moves quietly toward a flat tax

By David R. Francis Columnist

Without much public debate or even awareness, the United States is heading toward a flat tax.
That means the middle class will pour nearly as large a share of its income into tax coffers as millionaires and billionaires do. Throw in another tax cut along the lines of the two successfully supported by President Bush, and the middle class could actually pay a little more.

In summary, the plan proposed will take affect in 2010. Following are the anticipated tax savings by income range.

Top 1% Earners $1,028,000+ in annual earnings = -8.4% Tax Reduction
Next 4% Earners $ 204,000 in annual earnings = -5.4% Tax Reduction
Next 15% Earners $ 96,200 in annual earnings = -2.1% Tax Reduction
Second Quintile $ 56,100 in annual earnings = -.9% Tax Reduction
Third Quintile $ 34,200 in annual earnings = -.6% Tax Reduction
Fourth Quintile $ 20,700 in annual earnings = -.7% Tax Reduction
Lowest Quintile $ 9,400 in annual earnings = -.3% Tax Reduction

Why are they being so quiet about it? Because they don’t want the public to get up-in-arms about it until it is too late to stop it.

Help us stop this bad idea today – Become a United Citizen of America by donating here. It is time to join forces as Citizens.

"Where the people fear the government you have tyranny; where the government fears the people you have liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

You can read the entire article by clicking here.

2005-01-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Social Security Mess

What people need to understand is how we got ourselves into the SS mess. We all know why it started (the big depression). But, why is it failing today? Let me tell you;

You see, when they take that SS deduction out of your paycheck, it is not set aside for retired people. Our politicians consider it "general funds” and they place a tag next to it that indicates they will have to pay it some time in the future, but today they can spend-spend and spend some more.

This worked for quite some time because the boomers out numbered the WW2 generation by a big margin and were making plenty of money to support the retired generation. So government used their SS funds to take care of the retirees, and spent what was left over. And they spent and spent and spent (instead of saving some for the next generations).

Now, the boomers will be looking for their cash, and it ain't there, and the following generations are not contributing enough to support the boomers - and well, guess what? Now we have a SS mess. Not because there wasn't enough cash (there was more than enough), but because greedy politicians spent it all, and now they’re trying to fix it and looking all around dumfounded as to what happened.

I say – Eliminate 50% of our nations Congressman and 50% of the Senators (they’re not doing shit anyway), take their salaries and place it into a protected SS fund along with current SS contributions, invest it into conservative mutual funds, and the problem will be solved in just a few years. After all, politicians created this mess, make them sacrifice their jobs in order to fix it.

2005-01-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

District 158 Referendum Tax Mistake

The president of the Huntley District 158 school board acknowledged Thursday members lacked "critical" information when they asked voters for a 55-cent tax-rate increase. (And if you believe this, I have some land I would like to sell you.)

At issue is the claim made by two District 158 residents - and later substantiated by outside experts - that a 55-cent tax-rate hike would cost taxpayers more than board members said it would. "This is a very critical bit of information," Skala said. "I am frustrated that something has come to light that I feel we, as a board of education, should have known." (What he is really saying is; damn, we got caught.)

The explanation is complex: The district's levy, the amount it collects from taxpayers, can only increase from one year to the next by the rate of inflation. That means that without a tax increase, the district could only raise last year's levy by this year's cap of 1.9 percent. The district's current total tax rate is $4.30 per $100 of equalized assessed value. The extra 55 cents represents a 13 percent increase.

Board members now must decide whether to tax the owner of a $200,000 home the extra $360 they said they would during the campaign - or to take full advantage of the tax hike, which would cost the same taxpayer much more. Exactly how much more will depend on a number of factors, such as the increase in property values, but it could be as much as twice that amount ($720 annually).

District officials and board members have not disclosed why the information wasn't provided during board meetings and a series of public forums leading up to the March and November votes. Nor has anyone been publicly blamed for withholding, mishandling or not fully explaining the potential effect of the tax hike.

The question is; If they made such a monumental mistake as this, how can they be trusted to spend the millions in tax dollars they already are receiving without making more mistakes?

Public floggings are in order for not only the school board, but for the school administrators and for the B.E.S.T. committee for misleading the public. This is an embarrassment!

2004-12-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

BIG Fraud

The priciest highway project in U.S. history was five years late, billions of dollars over initial cost estimates, and has been plagued by allegations of fraud, waste, and mismanagement. “Somebody obviously messed up big time,” said Governor Mitt Romney.

This is the new Turnpike tunnel system in Boston . It has serious flaws that may never be repaired. They are still haggling over how much the repairs might cost above and beyond the already spent $14.6 billion dollars. For $14.6 billion dollars, the tunnel should have automatic car wash brushes to clean them as they travel through. There should be free coffee and donuts too. Come-on! What are they spending $14.6 billion dollars for? And it is broken! We now have a $14.6 billion dollar broken tunnel in America . Yes! Way to Go! Keep up the good work!

UACT and Senior Citizens

· Only if you have a job will you pay taxes (Forces politicians to work for the people)
· No more homeowner taxation (these taxes are killing many senior savings)
· No more local sales taxation (It all comes out of Income tax)
· No more fighting against referendums and abusive political figures
· And all seniors over the age of 70 are tax-free. They have earned it, and as a nation, this is the least we can do.

Angelo Pesce, the UCA President recently wrote: “I am not a senior citizen yet, but I have always felt that our society (and politicians in general), abuse seniors in our nation. Personally, I have tremendous respect for all my elderly relations. The wealth of knowledge and life experience overwhelms me. Seniors now and in the future are the cornerstones to our society and helped shape our nation through their work achievements, sacrifices, and family values. I wholeheartedly agree that seniors (in any generation), deserve to live tax burden free financially so that they can enjoy the remainder of their lives, and look back with fondness at a nation that they helped to create and nurture.”

Hidden Tax

There are "hidden" taxes embedded in the price of every good and service you buy and increase the price you pay from 20% to 40%, depending on the product. Some think that "businesses" should pay more in taxes to take the load off individuals, but guess what? Businesses do not pay taxes. Never have...never will! WE DO, in the form of higher prices, lower wages and/or less return on investment of the owners/stockholders.

American taxpayers pay on average $2,413 per year in hidden taxes (Not counting Sales tax and Homeowners tax). These hidden taxes amounting to $639 BILLION annually are federal, state, and local levies buried in with the prices of goods and services.

Here are a few examples: 35 cents (30%) for a $1.14 loaf of bread, 18 cents (36%) on a 50 cent can of soda, 72% on a 750-ml bottle of liquor, 43% on a six-pack of beer and $63.60 (40%) on a $159 plane ticket.

When a welfare recipient or a homeless person goes to buy a loaf of bread -- even though they pay no income taxes directly -- they will end up paying the hidden taxes and fees, and then they are still hit with the non-hidden local tax of the community. In essence, people are paying tax on their tax whether they have a job or not.

Recent Tax Comparison Poll

200 Respondents.
The Question –

Which Tax Plan would you Support for our Country?
View side-by-side comparisons here: http://www.ucanation.org/save%20our%20nation.htm

Sales Tax Only System - FairTax, H.R. 25 22%
Income Tax Only System - U-ACT 55%
Flat Tax Sales & Income - H.R. 1040 11%
No Change - Keep the Current Tax System 11%

2004-12-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Stay At Home Parents

The new trend in society is more mothers and fathers are opting to stay home and raise their children. 5.4 million Mothers stayed home with their children in 2004. This is a 16% increase over the last ten years. Fathers staying home to raise their children increased 2% over this same time span. These figures were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau. The troubling aspect of this new report; only 2.3% of Mothers living in households earning less than $10,000, stayed home with their children.
The report obviously shows that families that can afford it, opt to keep a parent home to raise their children, and most studies show that children, who spend more time with their parents, score better academically. To give our children a better advantage in life, government should make it easier for parents to stay home with their children. The quickest way to do this is through tax relief.

Following is how much a family earning $10,000 annually spends on current tax plans, and what they will spend on the three prevailing alternative plans.

Current Tax System $10,000 in earnings Approx. $3000 Tax
Sales Tax Only System - FairTax, H.R. 25 $10,000 in earnings Approx. $3500 Tax
Flat Tax Sales & Income - H.R. 1040 $10,000 in earnings Approx. $2000 Tax
Income Tax Only System - U-ACT $10,000 in earnings Approx. $1000 Tax

Obviously, U-ACT gives American parents the most flexibility to take care of their families, and give their children the best advantage that they possible can.

2004-11-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

It’s official

George Bush said one of his three primary objectives for the next four years, is to assign a committee to refine federal taxation laws. The leading view at this moment in time is a federal sales tax system.

Following is an outline of the cause and effect that this system will have on your life, and some additional bad deals being worked that will play into a sales tax initiative.

Affects of a Federal Sales Taxation System:

It will not force politicians to help you keep your job, or find a new job. Why? Because under a sales tax system, it won’t matter to them if you are working or not. You will still have to buy things to survive, and they will get your tax money then.

Even Homeless people will have to pay large tax amounts just to eat.

If you make any big credit purchases, you will be paying interest on the sales tax. (I.e. Purchasing car etc.)

You will no longer have a voice if politicians decide to raise taxes. Under a sales tax system, they will not raise the percentage collected, which at this point 25% is being considered, they will raise the tax on business – which in turn will raise prices on their products, and the affect is you are paying much more in dollars.

The net affect of a sales tax system is; it will not place the onus on our elected leaders to ensure the citizens of America are first. Although this system is better than our current taxation laws, it will not do much to help you out on a daily basis.

Additional BAD Deals in the Works:

First - HB750 is a bill that many folks are spending a lot of money on for our government to pass. HB750 reduces your education portion of your homeowner’s tax, and instead raises sales tax and corporate taxes to compensate. In application, it is a pseudo sales tax system and a pre-requisite to the national sales tax initiative that I spoke about above.

What they don’t tell you is that HB750 is flawed. Little is said about the impact to the business and job environment of increasing corporate tax by 60%, adding sales tax to many services, and removing business incentives within communities. It is a recipe for more layoffs as business will either move to more favorable profit locations, layoff staffing to offset tax increases, and increase prices to astronomical levels. In addition, you will no longer have a vote in saying no to new taxes. When they want more, they will increase business tax, which in turn will increase prices on the merchandise they sell, which means you are still footing the tax bill, but now you will no longer have a voice within the process. A Tax is a Tax, even if it is indirect.

This is a sick way of getting around Senior citizens who usually vote down referendum tax hikes, and bypassing Parents who demand fiscal responsibility from community representatives. Seniors don’t vote no because they no longer have children within the districts, they vote no because they feel there is too much waste and would like to see it reduced before they vote away more of their money. HB750 will take your voice away.

Second – FTAA. What is it? It is a treaty in the works that takes NAFTA to a new level. FTAA stands for “Free Trade Area of the Americas” The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is the expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to every country in Central America, South America and the Caribbean, except Cuba. Negotiations began right after the completion of NAFTA in 1994 and are to be completed by 2005.

Negotiated behind closed doors, with little citizen input but plenty of suggestions from corporations, the FTAA is yet another example of the kind of free-market fundamentalism that has created a global race to the bottom that erodes environmental protection, workers' livelihoods, and human rights. If you think NAFTA has been a disaster for working families and the environment in the US, this will be far worse.

What will the FTAA do? Many things, but in a nut-shell it eliminates borders between North and South America, allows free trade throughout all of the Americas, and eliminates the need for work visas, green cards and citizenship. Anybody can go work anywhere, and not be bothered with legal immigration rules. Corporations will have a free hand to set-up shop anywhere in the Western hemisphere. This idea will not create new jobs in the US, but instead will legalize an illegal immigrant’s right to work anywhere, without the fear of being found and deported.

The combination of all the above is setting up a ruinous situation for the already declining American way of life. The United Citizens of America has a plan that can alter this ill-conceived political agenda, but we cannot force the issue to higher levels unless you help and get involved. The organization needs people behind it. Why? Because only people can vote. If enough people stand-up and say no, politicians will start listening.

Become a United Citizen of America. Donate what you can so that we can get the attention needed to stop these ideas from becoming our nation’s next bad laws. We accept all donation amounts either by check or online credit card, but only donations of $25 or more will be refunded whether we succeed or not. See our donation rules for more details. You have nothing to lose and allot to gain.

Please get involved today.

2004-11-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

Crossroad of our Nation

We are at a crossroad in our nation’s direction and many people either don’t see it, or are too consumed with just trying to survive to even think about getting involved. It is a very dangerous time in our country. The American dream is being squashed by politicians, and at every level of government and educational institution.

This is why we created the United Citizens of America. We feel that the root of all evil is greed and power. Money drives this more than anything does. Our tax money is feeding government and educational institutions, and as they waste it, they want more and more from us every year.
If we hope to counter greed and corruption within our political ranks, we feel that we need to limit funding and hold public officials accountable to fiscal responsibility. Our public officials should be treated no differently than the Enron and WorldCom executives who stole money from the organization and ultimately the people who worked for them. Our public officials are no different, and there are many who should be heading to prison for the abuses they perpetuate upon the citizens of their communities, states, and nation.

This travesty must be stopped. We can do it, but only if we are united in cause and focus. The United Citizens of America is the tool that can force the changes needed within every level of our public institutions. It must be built and solidified with a nation of Americans behind it.

How did our greatest President see our country at its inception? Following are some thoughts and regards that our nation’s first President, George Washington, supplied in his farewell speech of 1796, and how the United Citizens of America fits within this great Presidents vision.

George Washington clearly supported a stronger Federal government. (The UCA feels that the Federal Government should be non-partisan within the executive office, and should oversee all State affairs to ensure the States are taking care of their citizens. Corruption should be weeded-out and those found guilty of abusing citizens funds, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.)

George Washington saw his men as Americans, not citizens of individual states. (The UCA fosters this vision with our name. Political parties have their own agendas. The UCA feels that their only agenda should be the betterment of the citizens.)

George Washington viewed political parties as divisive and dangerous. (The UCA views political parties as self-serving and running to agendas that do not support our nation’s citizens. This is why we feel our nation’s highest office should be non-partisan. For proof, just look at the travesty they are making of this election process.)

George Washington felt that the corrupt nature of man would express itself in parties. (We think we are definitely seeing this in today’s political ranks)

George Washington felt that factions or parties would promote self-aggrandizement, greed, and corruption. (Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians and the Greens, do you think any of them are not guilty of Mr. Washington’s statement?)

George Washington believed the belief in GOD and morality are the two most important habits. The U.S. would lose security for property, reputation, and life if the religious obligation would desert the oaths that are instruments of investigation in courts of justice. (Aren’t they taking the Ten Commandments out of our courts? The UCA President recently wrote – “The commandments should be followed by every culture in every nation, across this planet. If you view them as a religious symbol - you are misguided. They are not a religious symbol. They are the basic fundamentals of humankinds inter-existence. Without these values within any culture, civil society ends.”)

George Washington does not believe the government should spend foolishly. Regarding the present, answers may vary, but it seems Washington would reject the amount of money currently spent by the government. (The UCA truly believes that our proposed Universal American Citizen Tax is the tool needed to control government waste and spending. It is the only system that will force our governments to again work for its citizens.)

George Washington believed that by favoring one nation over another, the U.S. would be putting the favored nation’s interests over American citizen interests. (Think about this statement and you will see how our government is already in this mode of conduct.)

George Washington supported a person’s natural and traditional rights. He said’ “a bill of rights is consistent with acknowledging corrupt human nature and its possible infection of government” {politicians}. (The Patriot act is already squashing our Bill of Rights as American Citizens.)

You can view George Washington’s complete set of questions and answers of his farewell speech by clicking here - http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/pdf/psa-0104a-answers.pdf

Help us by becoming a United Citizen of America so that we can restore the vision of our nation’s creation. You can become a United Citizen of America by clicking here or at the very least, become a Champion of the nation, and help raise awareness. It’s free, and you can earn upwards of $50,000 for your efforts.

2004-10-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Job Recovery Not Coming

India is beginning negotiations with the World Trade Organization to ease visa restrictions for Indian professionals. There is some deal-making going on in Geneva. These Geneva talks are a framework for advancing the “Doha Round” of negotiations.

You cannot find much information about these talks in the U.S. press, but by using Google, you can see that in countries throughout the world the Geneva negotiations are very big news. Typically U.S. news does very little reporting on these important trade negotiations.

If the deal goes through, India will lift barriers to farm products and services. In this case, services would include allowing our banks and insurance companies to operate in India.

Developing countries, led by Brazil and India , agreed to lower barriers to manufactured goods and to services.

Of course, the U.S. has to give something in return. In this case, the sacrificial lamb will once again be the American middle-class. India wants unlimited access to our labor markets - and American companies would consider that a very good trade!

If the proposal goes through, the existing quantitative curbs on the movement of Indian engineers, software programmers, scientists, accountants, and other professionals to the US will be removed. This will translate into cheaper labor and more lost American jobs.

2004-10-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Your America

Chances are your America and our politicians America are not the same place. If you are dead center on the earning scale in real-world twenty-first-century America, you make a bit less than $32,000 a year, and $32,000 is not a sum that our politicians have ever associated with “getting by” in this world.

Politicians have never had a job the way you have a job, where not showing up one morning gets you fired, costing you your health benefits. Politicians may find it difficult to relate personally to any of the nearly two million citizens who have recently lost their jobs, or the nearly 12 million who are still out of work. Politicians have never had to worry that they could not afford the best available health care and education for their children.

For them, forty-three million people without health insurance may be no more than a politically inconvenient abstraction. When politicians talk about the economy, they are not talking about your economy. Their economy is filled with rich pals who fly around in their own airplanes. In politician’s economy and world, their friends relocate their companies offshore to avoid paying taxes. Taxes are for chumps like you. You are not a friend. You're the help. When the party our politicians are hosting ends, you'll be left cleaning up the house.

2004-10-11T13:07:00.001-07:00

Income Only Taxation

Outsourcing is a huge issue within our nation. American family life is in process of being severely altered by jobs leaving our country. I would say it is on the verge of being destroyed for all but the wealthy. Everyone is talking about it, but I have yet to see anyone offer a viable solution.

I offer this solution, and hopefully I can entice concerned Americans such as yourself, to start talking and writing about it. “An Income Only Tax System” – Now I know that Forbes talked about it, and some other note-worthy folks. However, they never discussed what United Citizens of America is proposing. Prior income only systems only focused at the national level. These systems mainly catered to the Rich. A true income only tax system should cater to everyone, at every level, and that is what we are fighting for at the United Citizens of America organization.

If you are concerned about jobs leaving our country – Then you need to support an Income Only Taxation System. It will force politicians to pass laws that favor you and every other American citizen.

If you are concerned about the economy – Then you need to support an Income Only Taxation System. It will keep more money in your pocket, and statistics show that you will spend it, which will spur the economy to new heights.

If you are concerned about politicians abusing tax funds – Then you need to support an Income Only Taxation System. It will force politicians to follow a budget that is accountable to you and every other American citizen.

If you are concerned about tax referendums within your district - Then you need to support an Income Only Taxation System. It will ensure frugality within budget planning processes and limit their wasteful spending habits.

If you are concerned about abusive school boards - Then you need to support an Income Only Taxation System. It will scare away the scandalous people and unions who seek to steal your money for their own benefit.

If you are concerned about Village, Town, and City abuses of tax funds - Then you need to support an Income Only Taxation System. It will force them to plan and spend intelligently.

If you are concerned about the future tax burdens for your children, grand children, and every generation that shall follow you - Then you need to support an Income Only Taxation System - the only system that will lead them out of financial slavery. An Income Only Taxation System will force fiscal responsibility upon the people we are trusting to spend our money, it will increase jobs in our nation, it will initiate a thriving economy, and it will help the average American to take care of their family.

If you like paying a combined 43% tax burden – or working 4 hours a day just to pay your current tax requirements – or watching politicians and school boards getting rich off your tax earnings – or jobs being sent overseas - Then do nothing.

Join the Nation – UCAnation.org – Become a United Citizens of America – Our Nation, States, Cities, Villages, and Districts need you now! Moreover, so do your children, grand children, future children and your fellow American neighbors.

2004-10-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

HB750 Affect on Communities

HB750 basically reduces your education portion of your homeowners tax, and instead raises sales tax and corporate taxes to compensate. In application, it is a pseudo consumption tax system and a pre-requisite to the national sales tax initiative that organizations are bribing our politicians to pass.

What they don’t tell you is that HB750 is flawed. Little is said about the impact to the business and job environment of increasing corporate tax by 60%, adding sales tax to many services, and removing business incentives within communities. It is a recipe for more layoffs as business will either move to more favorable profit locations, layoff staffing to offset tax increases, and increase prices to astronomical levels. In addition, you will no longer have a vote in saying no to new taxes. When they want more, they will increase business tax, which in turn will increase prices on the merchandise they sell, which means you are still footing the tax bill, but now you will no longer have a voice within the process. A Tax is a Tax, even if it is indirect.

This is a sick way of getting around Senior citizens who usually vote down referendum tax hikes, and bypassing Parents who demand fiscal responsibility from our community representatives. Seniors don’t vote no because they no longer have children within the districts, they vote no because they feel there is too much waste and would like to see it reduced before they vote away more of their money. HB750 will take their voice away.

2004-07-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

Slavery – It’s Economic in Today’s World

Slavery has taken a new dimension in our country. People are no longer owned and driven to perform tasks for no pay. Today, slavery is to our governments, with very little chance of ever breaking the financial bondage.

On average, Americans now spend more time working to pay their taxes than they spend working to provide food, clothing, and shelter combined. According to the Tax Foundation, the typical middle-income taxpayer in 2003 had to work until April 19 just cover their federal and state income taxes. That’s almost a third of the year, 109 days, or 2 hours and 23 minutes of each eight hours in earnings. Now add on your local taxation fees and your homeowner tax. Each American is working almost half a year just to pay their annual tax burden. Close to half of your 8 hour, workday is going directly to pay your tax requirements. In comparison, in 1930, it only took 30 seconds of an individuals daily work time to cover their tax burden.

Many people discuss the “good ’ol days” of American life, and how today’s generation has it tougher than our Grandparents did. If you look at old unplanned pictures of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, the people going to work have smiles on their faces. I commute everyday, and you rarely see people smiling. Work is no longer a pleasure, but a necessity to survive. Losing your job in today’s market is a virtual death sentence for you and your family’s way of life. The burden on the “providers” is staggering.

These daily pressures are surely being noticed and absorbed by our children. Youth crime is skyrocketing. Drug use is still very prevalent in our youth, and moving toward the harder “mind altering” substances. Violence and violent actions are getting more severe in our younger generation. Our children are angry, nervous and stressed, and with less parental support due to working requirements, our children are losing control, lashing out at each other, authority figures, and anything else that may get in their way.

Many experts have analyzed violence in today’s world. They have talked about the lack of parental support due to both parents having to work. I am no expert when it comes to giving people advice on how to raise their families. However, I feel confident in my financial expertise. Our nation can easily afford to back-off on the tax burdens that affect the American family. Sure, there will be some pain within our government ranks, our school systems, and social programs that do not provide benefits to the general population. But the pain will pass, our governments and school systems will rebound and be more productive than ever before. The American family will be less burdened, which will result in our younger generations being less burdened. Our nation will once again be filled with the vibrant achievers of the world.

I have had numerous discussions with many different people regarding these issues. Many feel there is nothing that can be done. If our forefathers thought like this, we would still be an English colony paying homage to a far-away kingdom.

We can make change happen, but only if you get involved and make it happen. Pick a cause in life, and fight for it with everything you have. When it comes to our country, I urge you to not be a spectator. Become an active participant – if not for yourself, then for your children, grandchildren, and every future American that shall inhabit earth. Only you can make it happen.

Our Economy on the Path of Recovery

If you believe this line of b.s. from our politicians, then we surely are doomed as a nation. Look at the real numbers and don’t listen to the political “good news” from millionaire politicians who are out of touch with the average American.

The June employment number was far weaker than expected; only 112,000 jobs were added compared with expectations of 250,000 jobs. In addition, results for April and May were revised downward by 35,000 jobs. At this rate, and with 16+ million Americans out of work, it may take a few decades for meaningful jobs to return to America.

General Motors (GM, news, msgs) reported its June sales down about 15%, after Ford (F, news, msgs) stated that its numbers were down about 7%. Suffice to say, those sales were worse than expected and, unequivocally, signs of weakness.

Wal-Mart (WMT, news, msgs) issued a sales-growth forecast that was dramatically lower, Wal-Mart is basically a proxy for the U.S. consumer at large, after you factor in an inflation rate of about 4% (probably on the low side), its sales growth will potentially be zero or minus 2%.

Target (TGT, news, msgs) said that its June comps would be substantially below the 5% to 7% that had been forecast.
The Redbook Retail Sales index, according to a Bloomberg story on Tuesday, “fell sharply and now shows no gain at all for June, well below the targeted 0.6% gain for the month.”

The Chicago Purchasing Managers opinion poll results were released, and they were way below expectations. Last month's reading was 68. This month was supposed to be something on the order of 65, but it came in at 56.4.

Washington Mutual (WM, news, msgs) announced that its earnings would be substantially below what folks had thought, blaming the problems on improper hedges and expenses being too high.

Communist Lenin View on how America will Destroy Itself

Just as our nation laid foundations to eliminate Communism in the world, Communistic nations were anticipating the downfall of American capitalism. Lenin’s analysis of our capitalist system is remarkably close to what is happening today.

Read more in John Maynard Keynes book “Essays in Persuasion.” The following three excerpts are from the chapter titled "Inflation and Deflation":

Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalist System was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, Governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens (tax). By this method, they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some (politicians). The sight of this arbitrary rearrangement of riches strikes not only at security, but also at confidence in the equity or fairness of the existing distribution of wealth.

As the inflation proceeds and the real value of the currency fluctuates wildly from month to month (gasoline), all permanent relations between debtors and creditors, which form the ultimate foundation of capitalism, become so utterly disordered as to be almost meaningless; and the process of wealth-getting degenerates into a gamble and a lottery. (Sound like the last five years?)

Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of Society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction.

For additional information, contact: president@UCAnation.org Or visit our Web site at: www.UCAnation.org
About the United Citizens of America organization:
A 501 ( c ) (4) Not for Profit organization.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
United Citizens of America
PO Box 396, Huntley IL 60142
http://www.UCAnation.org

2004-06-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

TAX is killing the American dream

Some say that our politicians are in the same neighborhood in their thoughts as our founding fathers. I don't know if I would go so far as say, "they are in the same neighborhood". However, they are still Americans - which is a very good thing. But, they are far too removed from the lives of the ordinary person to be considered neighborly.

You have to remember that the primary reason our nation’s founders went to war was due to increasing monarchy taxation. Our founders felt that the tax burden was stifling colonial-mans ability to make a better life for themselves and their families. Their thinking was - why should they bust their backs to make the monarchy wealthier? The original taxation guidelines that our founders initiated for our nation states:

"No captivation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken". (Meaning that they cannot tax citizens without a citizen census being taken first.)

This law held for 201 years until our modern politicians felt they knew better than our founders did. Coincidently, it is roughly around this timeframe that government spending sharply increased along with our nation’s debt. In 1977, our modern day politicians instituted the following amendment.

1977 Amendment XVI "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration". (Meaning that they could care less what the citizens think if they want to tax us, they can and there is not a darn thing we can do about it.)

Unbelievably, we are at the same crossroad today that our founders faced in our nations beginning. On average, 43% of our income earnings go into government coffers today. The average person is barely staying even - let alone even thinking of moving to a better position in life. Our founders knew that excessive taxation was stifling a person’s ability to achieve their dreams, and this fact was very bad for the dream they had for our nation. It is up to us citizens, united under one voice, to bring this faded dream back into focus.

2004-05-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

Help Stop Government Waste

To be more exact, pork barrel spending (click here to view report) is wasteful spending by Congress itself; and it equals about $25 billion. But our Federal Government itself wastes as much as $40 or $50 billion more in just bad management and poor organization. And it loses another $50 to $100 billion in outright fraud and inefficiencies in entitlement programs (i.e. the military credit card miss-uses)

That means that there's more money wasted each year by our Federal Government alone to fund an 2nd Defense Department -- or to cut personal taxes by 25% across the board. In addition, hundreds of billions of dollars are given to corporations by way of contracts, which could be reclaimed by forcing our government institutions to implement fair contracting practices. The bottom line is; our nation can easily afford to re-vamp our 16th amendment tax policies without jeopardizing the integrity of our nation’s infrastructure.

If the Federal Government was truly and completely reorganized, and operated at roughly the same levels of efficiency as private enterprise (scaled up to accommodate the size of the Federal Government), it would likely be some $200 billion a year more efficient. Coupled with the addition of fair contracting practices, and we could easily re-coup a half a trillion dollars annually in efficiencies.

Unfortunately, our government will not implement the changes needed because there is no driving factor to force the necessity. With the Universal American Citizens Tax proposal (U-ACT), they will not have a choice. By supporting the United Citizens of America, you can help us force the necessary changes needed within our government institutions. It will take a nation of Americans sticking together for a common cause, to stop the abuses within our government ranks.

Help us to help all of us.

All donations to the United Citizens of America will be refunded once we achieve our targeted goal. You have nothing to lose, and your hard-earned money to gain. See our donation rules and guidelines for further details.

Champions of this organization can earn significant top-dollar awards by helping us achieve the organizations initiatives. Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Become a champ and spread the word. See our Champion rules and guidelines for further details.

We need your help in spreading the word.

2004-01-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

What does an expert say? Following is a question that was posed to one of the nations leading experts in economics. Along with some background information.

Angelo Pesce, President of the United Citizens of America, recently had an opportunity to listen to one of Brian Wesbury’s speeches, and asked a question that is a personal pet peeve of his and the organization he oversees.

The exact question was:

Q. You claim that there is nothing we can do to stop the pain of job loss rampant through our American families. I would agree with you, but only if there were not massive waste of our tax money occurring at all levels of our governments. Now, given the model of “for every $100 dollars in tax cuts, $40 dollars goes directly to the economy” – it is obvious that tax cuts work. My question to you is; there are two major views of a new tax system for our nation. One is a Consumption only tax system, and the other is an Income only tax system. In your opinion, which is the BEST for our nation?

And Mr. Wesbury’s answer:

A. An Income Only Taxation System

Mr. Wesbury went into great detail concerning Mr. Pesce’s question, but “cutting to the chase”, the answer is exactly what the U.C.A. is fighting for. An Income only taxation system called U-ACT – a Universal American Citizens Tax.

Brian did acknowledge the unrest associated with today's job market. "There is unease in our country right now and it's because of the unemployment figures," he stated. "And I understand the pain, and it's justified." He pointed out the recent closing of Maytag in Galesburg, Ill., where 1,600 jobs were lost. He continued: "It's gut-wrenching. This kind of thing rips communities apart. The pain is very real and also unavoidable."
Following is some information on Mr. Wesbury that you may find interesting.

BRIAN S. WESBURY
First Vice President
Chief Economist
Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson, Inc.

Brian Wesbury is Chief Economist at Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson, Inc., a Chicago-based investment bank. The Wall Street Journal ranked him the nation’s #1 U.S. economic forecaster in 2001. The Chicago Tribune has called him “Chicago’s most prominent New Era Economist.”

In 1995 and 1996, Wesbury served as Chief Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress (JEC), chaired by Senator Connie Mack of Florida. While at the JEC, Wesbury advised members of Congress on economic issues relating to federal budget, tax, trade, and monetary policy.

Prior to his role in Congress, Wesbury was Chief Economist at Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson for three years. He has also worked as a Vice President and Economist for the Chicago Corporation, and as an Economist for Chicago’s Harris Bank. Wesbury’s academic background includes a M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Montana.

Wesbury is regularly featured on CNBC and CNN-fn and comments weekly on economic issues for WPTT radio in Pittsburgh. In Chicago, he may be seen on Channel 11’s “Chicago Tonight” or heard on WBBM radio.

His regular monthly column “The Outlook” appears in The American Spectator magazine. In addition, he is a contributor to the editorial page at the Wall Street Journal, and his comments and writing have appeared in Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily, Forbes, and the U.S. News and World Report.

Wesbury’s first book, “The New Era of Wealth. How Investors can Profit from the 5 Economic Trends Shaping the Future”, was published by McGraw-Hill in October 1999.

Universal American Citizen Tax TM

Our Proposal:
To Force our government to implement an Income Only Flat Tax System
All Americans will contribute 10%, 20%, or 30% of our income to government bodies by way of income tax only.

The Benefit:

Will Ensure Americans keep Working in America
Will Limit Political Abuse of our Tax Dollars
Will Force Government and Corporations to Work for the People
Americans will Keep more of the Money they Earn ($4000/yr on avg.)
NO MORE Future Tax Increases. If Americans earn more annually through raises and bonuses, so will governments, if not, neither will our government. We ALL Succeed Together
No More TAX Lies for votes
Will Force governments to budget carefully and be more Frugal in their Spending Habits
Will Keep more Tax Dollars in the Communities where people live.
Will Ensure a Thriving Economy for Generations.
Will Help our senior Citizens relax in their Golden Years. They Earned it.
Companies will realize more profits thus ensuring more American jobs and stability
Everyone pays the same proportion of his or her income based upon their income bracket
Unemployed Americans are tax-free until new employment is obtained.

For more details, CLICK HERE

Under the U-ACT TM proposal, 92 million taxpayers would receive, on average, tax relief of $4,500 in 2004.
46 million married couples would receive an average tax relief of $5,473 each. $10,946 total household.
34 million families with children would benefit from an average tax relief of $6,517 each. $13,034 total family.
6 million single women with children would receive an average tax cut of $4,500.
13 million elderly taxpayers would receive an average tax cut of $3200 each. This could double if both qualify and are still married.
A typical family of four with two earners making a combined $39,000 in income will receive a total of $4,100 in tax relief under the U-ACT plan.
According to our projections, the U-ACT plan will help the economy to create 6.5 million jobs over the next three years vs. the 1 million projected by the Bush tax. With 16 MILLION Americans currently out of work, U-ACT will have all of America working in 5 years. The current tax system will take 16+ years.

2004-01-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

Despite the bleak employment picture, congressional leaders and the White House are moving forward with plans to expand the number of foreign guest workers admitted to fill U.S. jobs. Under pressure from some domestic industries and the Mexican government, serious negotiations continue in an effort to add to the legions of foreign guest workers already working in sectors of the economy ranging from high tech, to manufacturing, to construction, to agriculture. “The most amazing thing is that there is not even a hint of embarrassment on the part of American business or our government that millions of Americans are receiving pink slips, while they work feverishly to bring more foreign workers to this country,” said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). “Many sectors of our economy seemingly believe that access to cheap foreign labor is their right. Meanwhile, the politicians who talk about jobs, jobs, jobs seem to be more than willing to trade jobs for campaign dollars.”

In addition to the disingenuousness of pursuing an expanded guest worker program at the same time that unemployment is growing rapidly, FAIR noted that the rush to move more foreign labor into this country potentially threatens national security. “By their own admission, the new Department of Homeland Security is still feeling its way around as they try to play catch-up on decades of inattention to the connection between immigration and national security,” said Stein. “On top of dealing with the formidable task already before them, a new guest worker program would require significant time, manpower, and money to vet a new influx of workers from dozens of countries.
Make no mistake, based on guidelines of what defines a dysfunctional company, WE DEFINITELY HAVE DYSFUNCTIONAL GOVERNMENTS, at ALL LEVELS. When companies cannot correct their ineptitudes, they eventually accumulate so much waste in either time and/or money that they eventually fail miserably. Our government is well on its way to failing miserably. And if you think it cannot fail, just take a look at the history of the Roman Empire.

Here is a question - What could $87 billion buy? It would solve all the budget crises for every school district in the entire country. It would buy health insurance for 15 years for every American child. It would feed 6 million children who died from hunger in the world for the next seven years.

The number of new government jobs created since 2000 = 721,000 and private sector jobs lost since 2000 = 2,692,000

Hey America – WAKE-UP! Join the Fight! It is time to stand-up and fight for your life, your dreams, and your money.

Read More Abuse News Only American Citizens can stop this non-sense. If you don't, nobody else will - Guaranteed! We NEED your donations.

2003-11-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Some Questions Answered

Mr. Pesce describing his involvement in the U.C.A. as "Inspired - I am fed-up with the leaders of our country and I am tired of feeling helpless to their taxation whims. They are supposed to work for us. Yet we have millions of people out of work, millions of children living in poverty, Fathers and Mothers trying to keep an upbeat persona in front of their children so that they are not burdened with financial crisis, more and more companies moving jobs to other countries, unemployment running out, and our leaders refuse to address the issue. This is our money. We should ensure our citizens are taken care of before we pour millions into other countries. This is why I am involved mind-body-and-sole into the U.C.A. and the Universal American Citizens Tax. We will make a difference!"

There are some who want to "do- away" with income tax and just collect sales taxes – Your thoughts? "Let me tell you why this is a bad decision. First, there are basic necessities in life that people need in order to survive; food, water, heat, housing, clothing. These necessities have been constant throughout humankind’s trek through life. In our modern age we have accumulated new necessities; automobiles, air conditioning, refrigeration, toiletry, communications, schooling, prescriptions. If we did away with income tax and instead institute a sales tax system, these and the following necessities would continue to be taxed at higher and higher rates to keep feeding government abuse of funds; gasoline, electricity, natural gas, water, personal hygiene (soap, toothpaste, toilet paper), telephones (land & mobile) etc. Moreover, keep this in mind; these are American life necessities, even if you have no job income, you would still have to pay these taxes. This fact causes our government employees to be less aggressive in ensuring Americans are working in America . We are already seeing this as millions of Americans are being laid-off while corporations move their business to other countries. Secondly, now start adding other goods that although they are not termed as life necessities, they are luxuries to hard working Americans; tobacco, alcohol, fast food, potato chips, popcorn, soda, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, beer, gum, ice-cream, etc.. All these "goods" would require your hard-earned tax dollars whether you have a job or not. And because some are considered bad for you, governments will use this to make these taxes even higher. I would not be surprised to see $15 for a bag of chips in the future. In addition, unemployment benefits are also taxed. This system will not eliminate political abuse and waste."

"Now let’s look at the effects of the Universal American Citizen Tax. 20% of your income is taxed. All other taxes go away. Now our government(s) will work very hard to ensure every American is working in America . They will ensure that the Citizens of this great nation are taken care of first and foremost. Under the U-ACT tax system, the 16 million Americans currently unemployed would be costing our government(s) approx. 75 billion dollars a year in tax dollars. You had better believe that our political employee’s would be working very hard with corporations to keep Americans working in America . Also, if Americans are thriving in their business life with annual raises and bonuses, so will our government(s), because as we receive them so will they. This is a win-win for this entire nation. With Americans keeping more of their own money, business will thrive because we will spend more money. Our political employee’s will need to make some serious government reforms and stop wasting the money they receive, plus they will have to ensure the contracts they give to private sector businesses are fair for the nation. No more of these no-bid deals to friends and family. Lastly, our political employee’s will need to restructure our political offices. Do we really need multiple levels of Secretaries, Directors, Governors, and Senator Aides etc.? In addition, with our technology revolution, do we need all of our political offices? Every corporation in this country and throughout the world has streamlined their operations to ensure cost effective business objectives without jeopardizing quality operations. Our government will have to do the same. For example, 50% of our non-capital military budget goes to non-military personnel. Do we really need civilians within our military operations?, and if so, 50%? Our political employee’s will not make these changes now because there are too many political favors, friends and family, and pet projects that in turn feed their Campaign election funds. Under the U-ACT tax system, they will not have a choice. It is time for our employees to clean house. The U-ACT tax system will also eliminate taxation as a political issue. No more tax lies during campaign speeches (i.e. "read my lips"). Under U-ACT, taxation will never again be a political issue. Now our elected employee's will be able to concentrate on real human needs without trying to "tax-lie" for votes."

Your view on the U.C.A.’.s chance of success? "It will depend entirely on the Citizens of this nation. The U.C.A. organization is only the vehicle. Now we will need drivers to champion the effort and those that do not will need to get on board. Let us face it, our government relies on the fact that it is very difficult for the citizenship to unite for a cause. Most organizations are just out for our money, and use most of it to pad their own pockets before giving it to the areas they support. We seen this first hand with the 9/11 tragedy and with all these scandals becoming known with other non-profit and profit organizations. A nation united giving millions to charitable institutions and from what I understand, much of this money is not flowing to the people the nation wanted to help. Darn-it, someone needs to do the right thing in life and that someone is the United Citizens of America."

2003-11-07T14:03:00.000-08:00

More Proof II - When Americans keep their own money

The economy grew at a scorching 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter in the strongest pace in nearly two decades. Consumers spent with abandon and businesses ramped up investment, compelling new evidence of an economic resurgence. The 7.2 percent pace marked the best showing since the first quarter of 1984. It exceeded analystsâ€™ forecasts for a 6 percent growth rate for third-quarter GDP, which measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States . â€œThis is a gangbuster number. Everything came together for the economy in the third quarter,â€� said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. â€œThe key challenge now is jobs,â€� he said.

Near rock-bottom short-term interest rates, along with President Bushâ€™s third round of tax cuts, have helped the economy shift into a higher gear during the summer, economists said. The next challenge is making sure the rebound is self-sustaining, they said. While consumers have been the main force keeping the economy going, there are more signs that businesses are starting to do their part.

Reagan

It was President Reagan, working in tandem with a reinvigorated Federal Reserve, who tamed inflation and brought interest rates and inflation under control. Then the Reagan tax cuts sparked the longest and largest economic expansion in American history, one that lasted, with a minor interruption in the early 90s, for nearly 20 years. His economic policies also encouraged a free-market driven massive restructuring of American industry that squeezed out inefficiencies and laid the groundwork for an astounding increase in productivity.

Face up to what's wrong with America

Robert Darcy - Thoughtful people trying to figure out what went wrong with America might ponder a metaphor from the theory of thermodynamics. We are witnessing breakdowns in technology, institutions, and ethics affecting business, government, media, the military - all areas of American life. The whole system seems to be running down.

Our economy has been sluggish in the aggregate, but even worse is the shift in composition of employment and gross domestic product. Increasingly, we are expending resources on goods and services that are defensive, remedial, illusory, and double-counted, using ecologically unsound methods.

These same themes of system disorder, thermal loss, choice unrelated to meaning, reduction of useful energy, and threats to natural processes are found in discussions of entropy.

Scholars (W. Pauli and C.G. Jung among them) have pointed out the connectedness of scientific knowledge and moral wisdom, with transcendent lessons to be learned from changing perceptions. For understandable reasons we exercised our creative impulses most vigorously these past five centuries in science, technology, and business. But if necessity is the mother of invention, it's time now to devote more of that creative thinking and open-mindedness to the field of moral ethics - so that we and our neighbors in the world can survive in peace to enjoy the material gains achieved.

Wealthy Only Schools

Across the nation, students and parents face broad tuition increases that, at flagship universities, were the largest in 30 years. The College Board, in its yearly look at tuition and student aid trends released this week, found that the average increase at a four-year public school this fall was 14.1%. That's twice the rate of increase found at private schools, where tuition and fees rose 6%. The trend of tuition hikes runs nationwide. The State University of New York (SUNY) system has approved tuition of $4,350, up 28% over last year. Some students marched across the state in protest. At Oklahoma State University , a 24% hike. Iowa State University , 22% . Kansas State University , 18%. Since 1993-94, the new report points out, average tuition and fees have risen 47% ($1,506) at four-year public colleges and universities and 42% ($5,866) at private colleges. The result, experts worry, may be to price many low-income students out of college, departing from America 's post-1945 view of public higher education as a key tool for promoting social equality and a broader middle class. The shift comes, moreover, at a time when education is an increasingly important ticket to good jobs.

FUN with a Real Twist

Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am . While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car ( MADE IN GERMANY) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in.....AMERICA.....

Blitzkrieg Reconstruction

Iraqis like to point out that after the 1991 war; Saddam restored the badly destroyed electric grid in only three months. Some six months after Bush declared an end to major hostilities, a much more ambitious and costly American effort has yet to get to that point. Six months ago the administration decided to cut corners on normal bidding procedures and hand over a large billion dollar contract to defense contractor Halliburton on a no-bid basis. It bypassed the Iraqis and did not worry much about accountability to Congress. The plan was for â€œblitzkriegâ€� reconstruction. But by sacrificing accountability for speed, America is not achieving either very well right now, and Halliburton is making a fortune off of American citizen money.

Disrespect

America 's soldiers and veterans seem to be at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to budget funds from our government employeeâ€™s. However, Dick Cheney is happy. His former company Halliburton is earning millions in taxpayer money to import oil into Iraq . This is on top of what Halliburton will earn for the multimillion dollar, no-bid contract it was awarded to rebuild Iraq 's oil fields. Even as taxpayer money is making Halliburton rich, the U.S. military refuses to spend the money needed to supply soldiers on the front lines in Iraq with modern body armor. Thousands of soldiers are wearing outdated Vietnam-era vests, as their desperate parents have to foot the bill for modern vests so that their children are not blown to pieces

For thousands of other troops, there is more indignity when they come home. Veterans Affairs political appointee, Laura J. Miller, issued a memo to VA administrators to stop informing soldiers of their right to health care. Given the ''very conservative Office of Management and Budget guidelines for 2004,'' Miller wrote that administrators should ensure that there are ''no marketing activities to enroll more soldiers.â€™â€™ And now the word is out â€“ there are hundreds of sick and wounded American Soldiers warehoused in crude barracks, without proper medical care at Fort Stewart in Georgia. ''Some of these soldiers are certainly not happy,'' admitted Col. John Kidd, the garrison commander.'' Can you blame them? Foreign soldiers are getting better treatment than our own. Our Government employeeâ€™s callous disregard for the lower ranks is not limited to soldiers and veterans. It expands to all Americans from all walks of life. It is time for every American citizen to demand changes in how our government conducts business.

More Pain for Seniors

For seniors like Harry Thaw, the planned 2.1 percent increase in Social Security benefits next year holds little promise of making life much easier. Thaw, 78, a retired handyman, stops almost daily at the city-subsidized Encore Senior Center in midtown Manhattan for the hot lunch, which costs a dollar. Every increase in the rent on his apartment means less for other things, like food and clothes, he said. Though he's not ill now, rising drug prices scare him. "It's harder and harder to pay for anything," said Thaw, who lives on Social Security and a small pool of savings. "I have to live very frugally." Frugality is the watchword for many of the nation's elderly who survive on fixed incomes. Federal Reserve policies to keep interest rates low have meant seniors are earning very little on savings in the bank accounts and money market funds they tend to favor. Though inflation has been moderate for the past couple of years, the prices of goods and services important to the elderly - including medical care and fuel for home heating and cooling - have risen rapidly. Last week, the Social Security Administration announced that beneficiaries will get a 2.1 percent cost-of-living increase next year, providing an extra $19 a month for the typical retiree. But for many older Americans, part of the gain will be wiped out by a 13.5 percent increase in Medicare premiums that also takes effect next year. Premiums will rise $7.90 a month to $66.60. "They give with one hand and take with another," complained Abe Goldberg, 72, a retired New York textile salesman who relies on Social Security and disability checks from the Veterans Administration. About one-third of Americans 65 and older count on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income. According to David Certner, director of federal affairs for the seniors advocacy group AARP in Washington , D.C. Social Security benefits account for 42 percent of the income of the average retiree 65 and older, and 90 percent of the income of the poorest retirees.

Broken Promises

Promise: To beef up security at airports.

Reality: Cut 6,000 people from security operations.

Promise: Veterans of World War II and Korea use the Veterans Affairs hospitals for treatment. Every dollar of the cost of treatment is deducted from these veterans' retirement checks. Bush promised to fix this.

Reality: A bipartisan effort to remedy this was squelched in a speech by Donald Rumsfeld, speaking for Bush and promising a veto because the cost is a "budget buster." Support our troops indeed!

Promise: In education, that "no child would be left behind."

Reality: $90 million cut from the budget.

Promise: Full funding of low-income home-energy assistance program that helps the elderly, the disabled and those below the poverty level.

Reality: Cut funding by $300 million.

Revive America 's 'can-do' spirit

Kenneth Kent - Our Founding Fathers would be appalled if they could see the controversies we are dealing with today and witness the things that have happened to this nation. Have we become too complacent or resigned ourselves to the fact that we have to give up some of our rights or no longer want to fight for what is just and right? That all people are created equal with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That our Bill of Rights does not become a bill of wrongs. Perhaps it is time for a new awakening of our true American spirit and old-fashioned patriotism. That belief in our credo, "One nation under God," and "In God We Trust" become more than words we say during our Pledge of Allegiance or that are found on the back of our dollar bills. They become words we live by each and every day. Do we allow them to strike these words from our vocabulary or do we stand by them, every man, woman and child? Should we ban playing "The Star-Spangled Banner," too, since it offends our enemies, especially when we cheer at the conclusion during the verse "O long may it wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"? We need a return to the American spirit of "can-do," replacing the mood of the people today. People are tired of not having a decent job, or not having hope for a better future for themselves and their children. Once Americans put their mind to the task, they can and should do it. The new economy and our nation's future is what lie ahead, and with proper care, it can be developed into a better America for all our people. A nation our Founding Fathers could look at and say: "Go for it, you are right on track. We weren't wrong when we started this nation in 1776." It is time for us as Americans to return to President Kennedy's words, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country," and do it. Do not wait for the government to solve our problems. It is up to enterprising individuals to create a new economy and a new focus for the country.

NEXT YEAR WILL BE WORSE

"The economic recovery has arrived and turned out to be much healthier and stronger than advertised," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis . "But 2004 won't be as rosy as 2003." He said that some of the unexpectedly strong earnings could be attributed to the dollar's depreciation as well as this year's tax cuts. But those effects could be more tempered in coming quarters, while the risk of rising interest rates continues to grow. "It's possible the market's expectations have run ahead of economic fundamentals," Sohn said. So according to this gentleman, we actually have a healthy economy right now, even though 16 million people and counting are out of work, and he is suggesting that 2004 will not be as good as 2003. This is a very depressing time for Americans.

Local Tax Restraint

During an economic downturn, businesses don't have a lot of flexibility. They get through a downturn by becoming more efficient, stretching a dollar, working smarter and cutting corners. Those are the only options open to them. Mostly, they do not have the option of raising rates because, quite simply, during a downturn fewer customers are buying, and competition dictates pricing. Raising prices would just drive purchasing and revenue down further and potentially put them out of business. How different life is in the public sector. This is not to say we lack empathy for the difficult choices governments have to make these days. It's not easy. Demand for services remains high while revenues, particularly for governments dependent on sales taxes, stagnate or decline. But governments do have options unavailable to business. Governments can raise rates without fear that the marketplace will reject them, and across the country, we are seeing a steady stream of that budget balancing â€“ increase taxes maneuver.

Sales tax increases are either being imposed or discussed in every community across this great nation. Officials in these communities say they have little choice that they have done what they can with expense reduction and they cannot balance the books without the extra revenue. However, if you look at their budgets and their pork projects, you will notice differently. Most of these projects were promised in order to get financial support to campaign. If they dump these projects, they lose corporate money. It is plain and simple.

How different life is in the public sector. If a business raised prices during an economic slowdown, customers would stop buying. Unfortunately, taxpayers cannot stop taxes. As a matter of fairness, governments owe it to citizens to exercise restraint. Unfortunately, this will not take place until the American population demands it enforce.

Have You Had Enough?

While layoffs have eased somewhat, economists said the current level of claims still points to a sluggish labor market. "There are indications that the hemorrhaging of jobs is slowing down," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. "But the labor market is still in a crawl." Mayland believes economic growth eventually will translate into job creation, but probably not until later this year. (Even though it is already later in the year). In addition, orders to U.S. factories dropped by 0.8 percent in August, the first decline in four months, the Commerce Department said. Orders fell for big-ticket goods, such as cars, and items such as clothes and chemicals. The drop in factory orders in August followed a solid 2 percent increase in July. This is attributed to Americans receiving their TAX rebate checks and spending it. â€œMore proof that if Americans keep more of their money, the economy will surge,â€� says UCAnation.org. The number of unemployed people collecting jobless benefits for more than a week rose by 62,000, to 3.7 million, for the workweek ending Sept. 20, the most recent period for which that information was available. That was the highest level since the end of June, and the 18 million estimated to be still unemployed is a record for our country. Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services, is hopeful the labor market might show some meaningful improvement this year. But, he acknowledges, "at this moment we haven't seen it.â€� However, looking overseas, there are job booms happening today in China , India , Mexico , Canada , Singapore , Chile etc. as American companies shift their operations to the rest of the world. Angelo Pesce, President of the U.C.A. says, â€œthere is a job boom going on this very minute, but not in our country. This is a fortunate time for non-Americans because American companies are coming to their town. If these jobs were created here in the United States , we would already be well on our way to economic recovery.â€� It is time for Americans to stand together and be heard!

A DEPRESSING FUTURE

The Census Bureau offered some news last month that surprised few - household incomes dropped between 2001 and 2002. The median credit card balance is $1,900, meaning half of us owe more and half owe less than that, with an average interest rate of 12.9 percent. Median home value is $122,200, while the median value of our retirement accounts is $24,000. That last figure is problematic, according to BillSaver.com founder John Oldshue. "It is very concerning to see how much debt the average American has and the small amount they have saved for retirement," Oldshue said. "The average person has over 38 percent more debt than they have in their retirement account. This is a very dangerous position for an individual." The future for American Citizens, who look forward to a relaxing retirement, is slipping away. Many will have to work until death do them part.

HURRICANE Damage

Why do we keep building multi million dollar houses on these offshore Carolina islands that are sitting targets for hurricanes?

Answer: Because the unwitting taxpayer bears the cost. Between FEMA payments and the Federal Flood Insurance, OUR government subsidizes builders who build, and homebuyers who buy, in stupid places. The poor fellow in Des Moines who pays his taxes is helping foot the bill for the multimillionaire who wants a posh vacation home on a Figure Eight Island . Itâ€™s a good bet that the cost of Hurricane Isabel to the American taxpayer will pale in comparison to the $87 billion being spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . But if hurricanes Andrew, Hugo, Georges, Opal, Floyd and Fran are any guide â€“ just to name some of those that have hit in the last 15 years â€“ thereâ€™s a good chance that the taxpayer will end up paying many of billions of dollars. (For instance, Andrew cost taxpayers approx. $4.4 Billion).

Thatâ€™s a lot of money. And at a time when the government is running a $500 billion plus deficit, itâ€™s worth asking: Is our federal government boosting our tax bill by allowing affluent people to build buildings in stupid places?

PORK LIST

Â· $210,000 for hoop barns in Iowa

$200,000 to study the affects of pornography on females

Â· $200,000 for the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds in Alabama

Â· $250,000 for the Vermont World Trade Center

Â· $250,000 for the National Preschool Anger Management Project

Â· $500,000 for catfish health in Mississippi

Â· $600,000 for an oral history of the Nevada Test Site

Â· $1 million for the Alaska Native Justice Center

Â· $82 million in grants General Motors

Â· $50 million grants Sun Microsystems

Â· $400,000 for the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

Â· $800,000 for the Davenport ( Iowa ) Music History Museum

Â· $900,000 for the Denver Art Museum

Â· $750,000 National Baseball Hall of Fame

Â· $350,000 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Â· $90,000 National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame

Â· $500,000 for science and technology programs at West Liberty State College

Â· $1.8 million to renovate a library at Potomac State College

Â· $1.8 million for the National Technology Transfer Center at Wheeling Jesuit University

Â· $2 million for a science hall at West Virginia Wesleyan College

Â· $2.7 million for a community education center at Glenville State College

Â· $100,000 to the Mason County, W.Va., Sheriff's Office to investigate and respond to OxyContin abuse

Â· $250,000 to the Warren County, Miss., Sheriff's Department for technology enhancements

Â· $300,000 to the New Hampshire Department of Corrections to purchase digital radios

Â· $500,000 for the First Tee Program, whose goal is to "impact the lives of young people around the world by creating affordable and accessible golf facilities

Â· $50,000 A tattoo removal program in San Luis Obispo , Calif.

Â· $500,000 The Fort Union Trading Post Bike Trail in North Dakota

Â· $1.5 million Statue of the Roman god Vulcan in Birmingham , Ala.

Â· $1 million Intelligent Transportation grant for Moscow , Idaho --population 22,000

$150,000 Therapeutic Horseback Riding in Apple Valley , Calif.

Â· $4,600 Las Vegas Helicopters, which perform airborne weddings officiated by Elvis Presley impersonators

Â· $270,000 An effort to combat "Goth Culture" in Blue Springs , Mo.

Â· $10,000 Spent for a hammer

Â· $20,000 Spent for a toilet seat

Â· $200,000 Spent on Prostitution

Â· $714 Paid to Lockheed Martin for EACH rivet on Air Force planes

Â· $5,217 Paid to Lockheed Martin for EACH 1 inch bracket on Air Force planes

Total of above list = Approx $1.6 BILLION dollars. There is more but it was getting us too sick to our stomachs to continue.

CENSUS BUREAU REPORT

THE CENSUS BUREAU REPORTED that 34.6 million people, or 12.1 percent of the population, were living in poverty, up from 32.9 million people or 11.7 percent in 2001. Rising unemployment is the logical explanation for the declining income. Since the end of 1999 the unemployment rate has risen from 4 percent to the current 6.1. With fewer people working, and the number of U.S. households growing by about 2 million a year, it is not surprising that the median household income fell for a third straight year. The rise in the poverty rate was accounted entirely by economic conditions in the Midwest , where the number of poor people rose to 10.3 percent of the population from 9.4 percent in 2001, the bureau said. The poverty rate was unchanged in other regions. The poverty rate for blacks, including those who identified themselves as multiracial, rose to 23.9 percent from 22.7 percent in 2002, when there was no multiracial option. The poverty rate for children was statistically unchanged at 16.7 percent, meaning about 12.1 million children ARE living in poverty.

FUNKY Budgeting

Our military budget is $400 billion plus annually and growing. Looking at the details, items look fairly well laid-out: $100 billion for personnel, $117 billion for operations and maintenance, $73 billion for procurement, $62 billion for RDT&E, $16.5 billion for atomic energy, $3 billion for management funds (whatever this is), and $18 BILLION for OTHER. In most companies, a 5 percent other category is somewhat acceptable to cover odds and ends that you may have missed in your planning efforts. However, $18 BILLION dollars should have a little more explanation than just OTHER. Keep in mind that this is just looking at the military budget. How many other department budgets have an â€œOTHERâ€� category with BILLIONS of dollars allocated? How many BILLIONS of dollars are being wasted because as in most companies, if you do not use it, you lose it. Our government employees owe Americans more fiscal control than what we are seeing in the budgets. Hereâ€™s an idea, take the other dollars out of all the federal government budgets, and use this to cover the $87 billion extra needed for Iraq . Initial estimates put the combined OTHER category of dollars at approx $90 billion. This seems like a logical use to us.

It is time for Americans to FIGHT

The reason that so many companies now produce in places such as Canada and Mexico is because of the North American Free Trade Agreement and in China , where investors receive greater protection now that the country is a member of the rules-based World Trade Organization.

Investment by U.S. companies in Latin America and the Caribbean rose to $272.3 billion last year, up from $116.4 billion in 1994, when NAFTA went into effect, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. U.S. direct investment in Canada rose to $152.5 billion from $74.2 billion in 1994. Investment in Asia rose to $269.9 billion from $108.5 billion in 1994. If this money had been infused within America , we would never have seen a recession of the magnitude that is now holding fast.

"How are we going to maintain full employment when we continually lose jobs, so to speak, abroad?" Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said when questioned about jobs in a recent appearance before Congress. "We do know if we have a sufficiently flexible labor market and a capital goods market which is functioning appropriately, that jobs will be created. They will be high-tech, but we don't know exactly what they will be."

The world's biggest high-tech forecasting firm, Gartner Inc., said in a report titled "Structural Changes, Big Impact" that 500,000 of the 10.3 million remaining U.S. tech jobs could move overseas just in 2003 and 2004. If the trend continues, they predict, one out of every 10 jobs in the U.S. computer services and software industry could shift to the lower-cost "emerging markets" such as India or Russia by the time voters enter the voting booth next fall. These "emerging markets" are, of course, developing nations where workers will work for a fraction of what the American IT worker.

Outsourcing may sound like a perfectly reasonable cost-cutting procedure, but the long-term effects for the United States are profoundly troubling. The continuance of this practice will not lead only to the unemployment of voting IT workers in America , which will further erode the country's tax base in an anemic economy, but, in the long term, will pose a serious threat to the United States ' future as the global leader in technology and commerce.

I respectfully urge you to support the United Citizens of America so that we can curb corporate outsourcing. Our future as a world power requires more than a large military. It requires our nation do something bold to protect American jobs and industries from companies willing to dismantle them for short-term gain.

Alan Greenspan doesnâ€™t have a clue. It is time for Americans to put things straight.

Judge Says, Youâ€™re OUT

Sitting on a worn chair and clad in torn pants in the home where she lives alone, Elizabeth Marino is 75 years old, sick, and tired. She wants to be left alone. "Everyone I know died," Marino says from her perch, improbably wedged between the kitchen and living room of her three-bedroom home. "I hardly know anyone anymore. I'm too old to adjust." After a lifetime in this house where she reared three children, Marino has had to adjust nonetheless. In the past five years, she has suffered a stroke and undergone a hysterectomy, a bladder operation and two knee surgeries. Housework fell by the wayside. Papers piled up. Toys and trinkets grew into vast collections. Age, lack of funds, and neglect has left holes in the roof and gaps in the floor. The toilet broke, and then the sink and bathtub. The refrigerator quit, and the stove followed suit. Some call the house a symbol of the helplessness of the elderly, especially those without much money in the bank. And many experts with social service agencies that serve seniors agree it is a problem that will only grow more common. As the population ages, they say, more seniors will struggle with the physical or financial challenges that come with keeping up their homes.

Ellen Sonntag, executive director of the McHenry County Housing Authority, says the problem won't go away. The authority runs a program that tries to help seniors keep their homes. "Basically, there is no place else for them to go," Sonntag said. Marino may have to find somewhere, however. On Wednesday, a judge will decide whether she can still call her house of 46 years her home.

In 1957, 29-year-old Elizabeth Marino, her husband and three young children moved into a tidy pre-fab house. There were only 1,700 other folks in town back then and there was plenty of space for the kids to play. Marino's children grew up playing baseball on the grassy lawn next door. The air was clean and there was little traffic. "I loved it out here," Marino said. The years went by and the kids went through school. The children grew up, moved out, and had children of their own. In 1986, after 29 years, Marino paid off the mortgage. She owned her home, and she was alone. Her health problems escalated, too. Her ability to keep up her home and yard deteriorated along with her body. But she was home, and home is where she wanted to stay. Unfortunately, she probably will not be able to afford it anymore.

More Bloated Payrolls

The Bush administration, accusing China of a host of trade violations, on Monday announced the creation of a new Unfair Trade Practices Team inside the Commerce Department to address trade barriers that are costing American jobs.

In addition to the new team, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said he was creating two new posts at the Commerce Department - an assistant secretary for trade promotion and an assistant secretary for manufacturing who will oversee a new Office of Industry Analysis, which will track the impact of government regulations on American businesses.

Letâ€™s create more bloated payrolls with American tax money, and study the obvious. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the administration's announcement "simply window dressing" to distract the public from disastrous trade policies that are producing record trade deficits and costing millions of American jobs.

$87 Billion More for Iraq

American unemployment is at record highs, job losses the most of any president, bankruptcies the highest in our history, the deficit the largest ever, and people in this country unable to pay for food, shelter and medical care, but we are going to pour an additional $87 billion into Iraq.

Fred Kaplan - The $87 billion supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan is fairly straightforward: $32.3 billion for operations and maintenance, $18.5 billion for personnel, $1.9 billion for equipment, $5 billion for security, $15 billion for infrastructure, and so on. It's a bookkeeping calculation: If you want to continue the mission, that's what it costs; if you want to spend less, you have to downgrade the mission. On the other hand, just look at what they are spending the $87 billion on, and maybe consider alternatives:

The budget includes $5.2 billion to build 22 F-22 Raptor stealth fighters and $4.4 billion to continue research and development for a smaller, single-engine version known as the F-35 Joint Strike fighter. The U.S. Air Force already has more than 100 stealth aircraft. F-22 and F-35 are designed as stealth "air-superiority" fightersâ€”planes whose main mission is to shoot down enemy planes. Given the comparative resources that the United States and other nations devote to flight training and technology, it is very doubtful that any air force in the world, except perhaps those of Israel and France, could shoot down more than a few American non-stealth fighter planes in even a large, protracted dogfight (and most of those shoot-downs would be by dumb luck). So, do we really need to spend this $9.6 billion?
The budget includes $777 million to keep buying Apaches. It also includes $1.1 billion for initial procurement of the RAH-66 Comanche scout-and-reconnaissance helicopter. The only American weapon that performed poorly in Iraq was the AH-64D Apache attack helicopterâ€”in its only massed assault, 30 out of 32 were shot up, mainly by Iraqi small-arms fire, and had to scurry back to base, most of them in disrepair. $1.9 billion saved by foregoing this endeavor.

This budget includes $780 million to buy 12 more D-5 Trident II nuclear missiles for the other Trident subs. The Navy already has 300 D-5 missiles, each of which carries eight nuclear warheads, for a total of 2,400 warheads. The U.S. military, all told, still possesses about 7,500 strategic nuclear warheads and bombs, of various types, on subs, bombers, and ICBMs. There is no conceivable justification to purchase more D-5s. Another close to $1 billion saved.

This batch of suggestions alone would save nearly $13 billion, and we haven't even mentioned excesses in surface ships (to fend off whose navies?), anti-submarine-warfare programs (to attack whose submarines?), vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft (which don't seem to perform reliably at taking off or landing)â€”to say nothing of associated costs in maintenance and R & D, or of potential savings in other, less visible, but cumulatively overstuffed accounts.

Legislators often fall into the trap of believing that everything in the military budget must have a military need. Their eyes glaze over in a haze of credulity, or their backs stiffen in a respectful salute, that isn't remotely replicated when they scrutinize the budget of most other departments of the federal government. Amid this permissive climate, the Pentagon has, quite naturally, inflated its perceived threats, swelled its stated requirements, and loosened its fiscal discipline. Donald Rumsfeld insists that Iraq is not Vietnam . However, his budget says otherwise. What could $87 billion buy? It would solve all the budget crises for every school district in this country. It would buy health insurance for 15 years for every American child. It would feed 6 million children who died from hunger in the world for the next seven years.

The Battle Over Beer

There is a new move on in Washington to tax your beer. It comes in the form of a report, authored by a panel of the National Academy of Sciences, which calls for new action to reduce underage drinking. Higher taxes on beer, the report argues, would both reduce consumption by teenagers and provide funds for new initiatives to curtail alcohol consumption. The report is sure to spur a massive battle here between two groups with enormous influence. On one side is the beer and wine industry, which has invested heavily to keep up its influence in Washington . The National Beer Wholesalers Association, for instance, made $2.6 million in campaign contributions during the last congressional election, while Anheuser-Busch gave $2.3 million. However, on the other side of the battle is another heavyweight, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is pouring tens of millions into groups like the Center on Alcohol Marketing to Youth and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Who will win this power and money battle? One thing is for sure, the American citizen wonâ€™t.

Made In America

Government cost estimates of a new program that will require meat packages to be labeled with their countries of origin are "questionable and not well supported," congressional auditors said in a report released Wednesday. The Agriculture Department had estimated the cost of record-keeping and paperwork for the first year of the program would be $1.9 billion across the food industry. The report said the USDA "could provide no documentation to support its estimates" when it assumed an hourly rate of $50 to develop a record system - more than double the rate it used in recent estimates for other programs. Higher costs will lead to higher prices in the supermarket, said Dan Murphy, a spokesman for the American Meat Institute. "None of us want to pay more for food, especially when there is no added benefit other than a sticker on the label." Senator Tom Daschle said the labeling rules would serve consumers by allowing them to know where their food was produced and help ranchers by creating a demand for U.S. meat. Enzi agreed. "On shoes, they tell you what the country of origin is. On underwear they tell you what the country of origin is," he said. "But I tell you those things that you wear can't hurt you nearly as much as the things you put in your body." The UCA agrees. Americans want to eat American meat.

Do Unto Others â€¦

America â€™s trade deficit expanded in July to $40.3 billion. Our government employees believe the way to deal with rising trade deficits is for other countries to remove trade barriers. This would allow U.S. companies to more freely do business in overseas markets, thus boosting America â€™s global competitiveness, the administration says. Critics say growing deficits are proof that the administrationâ€™s free-trade policies are not working. U.S. companies have moved operations overseas and imports are flooding into the United States , a situation that has resulted in hefty losses of American jobs. Maybe we should impose stricter penalties alsoâ€¦

Company Health Plans Drop Spouses

Several large companies are taking steps to limit the cost of offering health benefits to their employees families. While most employees will be required to pay higher premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for their health benefit plan this year, those enrolled in family plans will face the highest increases. With the rate of increases in health care costs now in the double digits, employers are taking steps to limit the number of family members covered by their plans. Some employers have made sharp increases in the premiums for family plans, particularly for employees with large families. Others are refusing to cover spouses who work for companies offering similar health plans, with some placing surcharges on benefits to spouses who could obtain coverage from their employers. Whatâ€™s next? The Kids?

Idiots or Experts? â€“ You decide

Many forecasters thought the economy was at last poised to break a streak that has seen it lose jobs for seven straight months and 26 of the past 32. Instead, companies slashed another 93,000 jobs from their payrolls, the worst performance since March, according to the governmentâ€™s survey of business establishments, considered the most reliable indicator of the labor marketâ€™s health. Bill Cheney, chief economist of John Hancock Financial Services, called the report â€œjust awful.â€� â€œIf there is a silver lining somewhere in this gloomy employment picture, itâ€™s hard to find,â€� he said. The slight decline in the nationâ€™s unemployment rate, to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent, was dismissed as statistically meaningless even by the Labor Department agency that produced the report. Cheney said the continued weakness â€œsuggests that we may be further than we thought from a truly sustainable economic recovery.â€� Still, most economists would have expected to see some job growth by now, or at least smaller job losses. â€œIt defies all reason and logic,â€� said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wachovia Securities. â€œThe only conclusion I can come to from that is that the jobs data must be wrong.â€� â€œIâ€™m friends with Mark and I respect him, but this is the seventh straight month of decline, averaging almost 100,000 jobs a month,â€� said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial. â€œI guess Iâ€™d have to say Iâ€™m not sure I can explain away 100,000 jobs a month for seven straight months as purely measurement error.â€�

Per a UCA representative, â€œCompanies ARE hiring now that their profits are growing, theyâ€™re just not hiring Americans. Even the President of our nation has outsourced donation solicitation to India . Are these experts living in a cave? Everywhere you turn; Americans are losing jobs as corporations keep sending the work overseas. If these jobs stayed in our country, we would have a booming economy going.â€�

Writing Congress does not work

Gary Felton - Our country has been sending thousands of nonskilled jobs to China , where the pay averages 69 cents per hour. We are sending thousands of technical jobs to India , where the average wage is $2 per hour. Many of our companies are moving their operations to Mexico to obtain "cheap" labor. The question is, where are all these undocumented immigrants crossing the Mexican border finding jobs? The answer is, they are not. They take their matricular cards and start collecting welfare benefits while we tax-paying citizens watch the contributions we made to Social Security melt away. Undocumented immigrants, who break our laws, collect our money and send our money back home where it is worth more. In addition, how many of the people here illegally have reached the age at which they must register with Selective Service and have not, committing a felony? Our children cannot obtain reductions in tuition to attend colleges out of their district. Our children are constantly warned about registering with Selective Service. Writing Congress to complain does not appear to help. Politicians are being threatened with the loss of votes from special-interest groups who support undocumented immigrants. It appears that the only means legal, law-abiding citizens may have to get the attention of our government is to collectively threaten not to pay income taxes, since it is our money that benefits people here illegally. This way, we can place this money in the bank for our Social Security and help pay tuition premiums to send our children to the colleges they prefer.

CHANGED PRESS RELEASES

So what happened? Tinsleyâ€™s report charges, in the crucial days after 9/11, the White House changed EPA press releases to â€œadd reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones.â€�

Sept. 13: The EPA draft release â€” This was never released to the public â€” said: EPA â€œtesting terrorized sites for environmental hazards.â€� The White House changed that to EPA â€œreassures public about environmental hazards.â€�

Sept. 16: The EPA draft said, â€œRecent samples of dust on Water Street show higher levels of asbestos.â€� The White House version: â€œNew samples confirm ... ambient air quality meets OSHA [government] standardsâ€� and â€œis not a cause for public concern.â€� In addition, the White House left out entirely the warning â€œthat air samples raise concerns for cleanup workers and office workers near Water St .â€�

While the EPAâ€™s Tinsley accuses the White House of misleading the public, she stops short of accusing anyone of actually lying, or knowingly providing false information. Of course not, if she did she would be unemployed like millions of other Americans.

U of I Taking care of Students

Kathy Valente - In spite of recent cutbacks at the University of Illinois , including 1,000 courses, 375 reaching assistant positions and 100 lectures, the school administration has decided to offer health benefits for partners of homosexual employees, costing taxpayers up to $400,000! In spite of a tuition increase, the school is expected to reduce library services by 20 percent. This is an outrage!

This Sounds Just Like Our Government

3 signs of a dysfunctional company:

"The hallmark of a dysfunctional organization is a gap between reality and rhetoric," says Ben Dattner, a New York organizational psychologist. When resources are not used effectively or fairly, when plans are heavy on talk but weak on action or when barriers to communication cripple performance, you're dealing with a dysfunctional company. Once diagnosed, the corrosive effects of such problems can be corrected. But make no mistake: It's neither easy nor immediate. You need to be tough-minded about identifying the source, particularly because it often starts at the top, where the power resides. (This sure sounds like the government to us)

1. You have leaders who fake it.

â€œPeople were snarly and mean," Linda Hanson a Management Consultant, says. "There was in-fighting and lots of yelling. They had lost respect for one another and weren't working as a team."

2. You have bosses who like to point fingers.

"When you see a pattern of blaming and people trying to protect themselves and their particular turf, something is wrong," says Ross Moserowitz of Franchise Insights, a Bedminster N.J. consulting company.

3. You have a Leader who does not set priorities.

"Each department flew off on its own, trying to do what was right." Priorities were constantly shifting. Decisions were continually made and unmade.â€� Glen says. While everyone had the very best of intentions, chaos reigned.

Make no mistake, our governmental employeeâ€™s have very good intentions to some extent, but based on the above guidelines of what defines a dysfunctional company, WE DEFINITELY HAVE DYSFUNCTIONAL GOVERNMAENTS, at ALL LEVELS. When companies cannot correct their ineptitudes, they eventually accumulate so much waste in either time and/or money that they eventually fail miserably. Our government is well on its way to failing miserably. And if you think history does not repeat itself, just take a look at the Roman Empire .

40 Something Years Later

The following were some comments made in the year 1957:

"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to Congress."

"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."

"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."

"I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."

Bush Outsourced to India

Bush's first public appearance since he returned Saturday from a month-long stay on his ranch in Crawford , Texas . (Donâ€™t we all wish we could take a month off?) Mr. Bush visited Ohio - he spent most of his speech expressing empathy for anxious workers.

"See, we in America believe we can compete with anybody, just so long as the rules are fair, and we intend to keep the rules fair," Bush said, his audience of workers and supporters cheering.

ON THE FLIP SIDE

Call centers in India are now engaged in raising political contributions for the US Republican Party. India â€™s Business Standard newspaper reports that 75 people in India are now calling people in the U.S. , soliciting their monetary support in donations for President Bush. This is the first time such a project has been given to a company outside of U.S. boarders, and due to the extreme costs savings generated by cheap labor, you can bet that this wonâ€™t be the last time. HCL eServer, the India Company that won the contract, is building additional office space capacity in order to handle projected future growth of American business opportunities. Americans who are in the call center business should consider a career change or go to India for a job, because this type of work will be exterminated within U.S. boarders in a very short few years.

Remember This?

The President's Council of Economic Advisors predicted last February, that with all the recent tax cuts, 4.1 million jobs would be created between July 2003 and November 2004. Unless you count India â€“ Americans are still waiting for that first job to be created.

Jobs Going Global

Eyebrows went up last month when Forrester Research Inc. released its prediction that by the year 2015, more than 3.3 million white-collar jobs will have been shipped overseas. The forecasts reflects an alarming increase in offshore outsourcingâ€”the controversial practice in which large companies ship work overseas to be done on the cheap, leaving American workers unemployed. In, â€œJobs Go Globalâ€� Laura Fordingâ€™s Web-exclusive interview, employment-policy expert Ron Hira explains why outsourcing is an attractive option for companies and what its long-term implications are for the American economy. Hira points to the fact that the Americans losing their jobs to foreign laborers are some of the most talented and highly educated members of the work force. â€œWhen your best and your brightest are out of work,â€� he says, â€œyou have to start wondering whatâ€™s going on.â€�
Many NEWSWEEK readers were disturbed by Hiraâ€™s description of the problems posed by outsourcing and expressed a desire to see some kind of action taken. One Portland , Ore. , reader thinks Congress should crack down on loopholes that allow corporations to pay overseas workers untaxed. â€œIf companies want to ship their businesses overseas and outsource, then fine,â€� he writes, â€œbut donâ€™t expect the tax breaks here.â€� Still, he doesnâ€™t expect action from Washington any time soon. â€œIt seems that large corporations and Congress want to break the backs of the working class for short-term relief,â€� he writes.

More common, however, were readers who responded to the outsourcing dilemma with a dose of nationalist ire. â€œIt is about time somebody out there addresses JOBS being outsourced to other countries,â€� writes one Chicago reader. She feels â€œthat the time has come that all of us AMERICANS get out there and crusade for keeping all jobs here in the United States â€¦ The government needs to step in RIGHT NOW and ban all this outsourcing and keep the jobs here.â€�

Blowing Smoke

Some of our state legislators say they want to get rid of the tolls from our highways - that the toll authority and its tolls are not good for citizens of Illinois . Then, when we are not looking, they sponsor and push through a bill the gives the toll authority more ascendancy.

State Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg's and state Rep. Elaine Nekritz's recent legislation that gives the toll authority, at its own discretion, the power to confiscate one's vehicle from private property without court action is inexcusable. This is the same toll authority whose roads were deteriorating over the last dozen years, even as it was building itself a Taj Mahal headquarters in Downers Grove . A director went to jail because of an illegal land deal. A worker stole more than $180,000 from beneath the noses of management. In addition, it spent $100,000 for a consultant to study if top executives and directors were underpaid.

As long as we have a toll way system in Illinois , we can count on double taxation - a road tax at the fuel pump and another at the tollbooth. As long as we have a toll way system, we can count on mismanagement and the legislative corruption that goes with it. The toll authority collects a million dollars a day and according to its own annual report, only 34 cents of every dollar goes toward paying off bonds, road maintenance or repair, and police, the three things about which most citizens are concerned. That means the 66-cent difference is used to pay for collecting and counting tolls, staff needed to watch over those counting the tolls, helicopters, upkeep of tollbooths and toll authority buildings, high salaries for administrators and the company vehicles they have as perks. Reference â€“ No Tolls Inc.

Give our Money to Boeing

The U.S. Air Force's plan to lease 100 Boeing Co. 767s as refueling tankers will cost billions of dollars more than buying them, and does not meet federal leasing requirements, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. It failed to meet four out of six conditions set for government leases by the White House Office of Management and Budget, including a provision that the net present value of the lease not exceed 90 percent of their fair market value. On average, the Air Force would spend $161 million lease for each new refueling tanker in 2002 dollars, compared to a cost of $131 million for an outright purchase, CBO said. The Air Force acknowledges the deal would cost $150 million more than a purchase, when calculated in net present value, but says it would help the military replace its aging fleet of KC-135 refueling tankers more quickly, for less cash upfront. But critics say the KC-135s have low flight hours and could be used for many more years, while the Air Force begins buying new ones. They say the deal is clearly intended to help Boeing - which has not delivered a single 767-200 since 2002 - keep open its 767-200 production line. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain has blasted the deal as a handout for Boeing, which has seen commercial aircraft sales slump dramatically since Sept. 11, 2001 . The Senate Appropriations Committee, the House Appropriations Committee, and the House Armed Services Committee have already given the deal their blessing. "This fiscally irresponsible deal only delays the inevitable," said Ashdown. "A corporation that is failing in the private market can't be bailed out by the public sector."

Why gas prices just will not tank

Surprising as they are to some, there are many reasons for rising prices.

Crude oil prices have stayed higher than expected, in part, because it has taken longer to get Iraq back on line. In addition, about 300,000 to 400,000 barrels daily of Nigerian oil production are curtailed because of local political turmoil. At the same time, Venezuelan oil production has not returned to pre-strike levels. And on top of everything else, OPEC has cut back on quotas, says John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute (API). The tight supplies coincide with relatively low inventories. Last week, the API reported crude-oil stocks at 279.3 million barrels -- just barely above the level the government considers necessary for the operation of refineries. Gasoline inventories are also low, but home-heating oil levels are starting to rise as companies prepare for winter.

Blah â€“ Blah â€“ Blah â€“ Blah â€“ Blah! This is price gouging at its finest.

In GOD WE Trust

"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?" - Thomas Jefferson - Christian, Jewish, and Islamic commandments are all closely aligned, so what is the issue with the commandments? In fact, with the wanton crimes perpetuated within our society, the following two commandments should be displayed often and in plain site of all the citizenship. "Thou shall not kill" this commandment ought to be on display in every classroom across America , and "Do not lie or give false witness." Should be hung in every corporate building, Oval Office, and every government institution. The commandments should be followed by every culture in every nation, across this planet. If you view them as a religious symbol - you are misguided. They are not a religious symbol. They are the basic fundamentals of humankinds inter-existence. Without these values within any culture, civil society ends.

Do the Math

According to the Economic Policy Institute Web site at www.epinet.org, an Oct. 23, 2002 , brief states that between 1994 and 2000, Illinois jobs created due to exports was 153,399. Illinois jobs lost due to imports was 292,936, a net loss of 139,537. The growing trade deficit with China alone is reaching the $120 billion figure and growing. Our manufacturing companies cannot compete with China 's low wages and low production costs. To check stats for your state visit: www.trad@ert.org.

Job Market just got Worse

Imagine this â€“ 16 million Americans out of work, the economy in shambles, 6+ million American children living in poverty, millions of jobs sent overseas for cheap labor, and our political employees in the U.S. House and Senate approve a free trade agreement with Chile and Singapore, that for the first time include immigration provisions that will allow thousands of foreign technical workers to work in America - indefinitely. Moreover, our employees in the White House want to make this agreement the blueprint for all other trade bills.

Hey America â€“ WAKE-UP!

What Economic Recovery?

IBM, the world's largest provider of computer hardware, although IBM posted profits for its second quarter, laid off 500 workers at its Vermont plant, about three dozen at a factory in Endicott, N.Y., and others at facilities in Rochester, Minn.; Austin, Texas; and Raleigh, N.C. And forced 3000 workers to take an absence without pay. But the top guy still received his $4 million dollar bonus.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. confirmed Monday that it has lain off 650 workers this year at its Hoffman Estates headquarters and more job cuts may be in store. In 2001, Sears cut 5,950 jobs company-wide. In July, Sears announced it was selling its profitable credit unit to Citigroup Inc. in a deal valued at $3 billion.

Chicago-based Exelon Corp. said earlier this month that it is laying off 1,900 workers. Kemper Insurance once employed 2,100 people in Long Grove alone; now it is selling its main operations, letting go of hundreds of jobs as it winds down. Motorola's staff is down 60,000 worldwide from its peak.

Experts say the economy and productivity continue to grow, but unemployment still hovers above 6 percent and the unemployed are remaining out of work longer. Do the experts really have a clue?

We Agree with Fred

Fred Malawski of West Chicago - Many years ago, our senators and representatives voted in their own Social Security benefit plan. For all practical purposes, their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay ($15,000 per month) until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost-of-living adjustments. For example, former Sen. Robert Byrd and Rep. Rick White and their wives may each expect to draw $7,800,000 (that's seven million, eight hundred thousand dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each. Their cost for this excellent plan is $zero. These little perks they voted for themselves are free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the general fund - our tax dollars at work!

Of our own Social Security plan, which you and I pay or have paid into every payday until we retire, we can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month after retirement. In other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one month to equal Sen. Bill Bradley's benefits! Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan out from under the senators and representatives. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us and then watch how fast they would fix it.

If enough people read this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and good changes will evolve. We, each and every one of us, can make a difference. How many people can you tell this to?

The U.C.A has one comment â€“ seeds of awareness will not change the abusiveness of our political employees. It can only be changed through political force. A nation united in voice and with financial backing that is large enough to shake things up. This is the United Citizens of America. Join the Fight!

Overseas Jobs

Rubbermaid

Announced it will lay off employees who make drapery hardware for its Levolor-Kirsch Window Fashions division. The company said it would move some production to Mexico in the next 12 to 18 months.

Sprint

Announced Thursday that it is considering outsourcing certain technology jobs and sending them to other countries. A decision is expected within the next 60 days.

Over the last 3 years, American manufactures have sent 2.6 million jobs to low wage countries. Back to Top

Maytag

A company that grew from a small-town farm equipment manufacturer in Midwest America , to the third largest appliance manufacturer in North America , is moving even more business to Mexico . Maytag has already moved two parts plants there; now, a refrigerator plant is on its way. â€œMaytag has always sold its name as the American Classic,â€� said Sue Wilson, a former Maytag employee. â€œTheyâ€™ve sold the soul of their name to the lowest bidder.

Seniors â€“ Hold on to your Wallets

Medicare will pay more in hospital fees next year, the government said Friday. Payment rates for in-patient services will rise in 2004 by 3.4 percent, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Take a guess of who will get a 5 percent increase in premiums.

Proofs in the Puddinâ€™

The tax-credit checks that have recently been mailed may give the economy a brief boost, as most Americans will spend roughly half of what they receive. Since Consumer spending accounts for approx. two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity, the more consumers spend their tax windfalls, the better for the struggling economy. Ken Mayland, president of Clearview Economics says, â€œThe latest retail sales figures paint a picture of an economy that is rapidly accelerating.â€� But for how long?

Says Angelo Pesce, president of the United Citizens of America â€œThe current economic surge we are seeing with the tax credit is proof that if Americans keep more of their money, the more the economy will thrive. Under the U.C.A.â€™s U-ACT tax system proposal, Americans, Businesses, and the American economy will thrive for generations.â€� But what about our government? Mr. Pesce states, â€œAs America thrives under the U-ACT system, it will give our government institutions time to clean house and make meaningful changes in how they conduct business. It is time to force our political employeeâ€™s to work for us.â€�

Congressional Families I

For many Washington lobbyists, political influence is all in the family. Perhaps the most well-known lobbyist with family ties on Capitol Hill is Linda Daschle, the second wife of Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle (S.D.). she's a lobbyist for the firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, where she represents clients including American Airlines, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management. Linda Daschle says publicly that she doesn't lobby her husband or anyone in the United States Senate, and that her clients come to her because of her long experience in the airline industry, not because of her husband's power. Nonetheless, her work as a lobbyist means big companies with business on Capitol Hill can legally put money into Tom Daschle's bank account. Tom Daschle's daughter-in-law is also a registered lobbyist. Married to Daschle's son Nathan, Jill Gimmel Daschle is a political fundraiser by profession: She served as finance director for the 2000 re-election campaign of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and worked for former Democratic New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's 2002 senate campaign. But she has her own small firm called JD Consulting. And through her connection to the political firm Sullivan & Baldick, the younger Daschle worked as a lobbyist for two companies: Northwest Airlines and Freddie Mac. As it stands, she doesn't have to reveal the family connection, and there's no prohibition on lobbying him although Sen. Daschle's office says she doesn't. Yeah Right! If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell.

Congressional Families II

Here's another example of family ties and Capitol Hill: Chet Lott reported around $330,000 in billings from his lobbying clients in 2002. He lives in Kentucky, where he's owned several Domino's pizza franchises and plays on a polo team. He also happens to be the son of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Before Senator Lott stepped down from leadership at the turn of the year, he was arguably the most important person on Capitol Hill, and regularly made decisions that affected virtually every American company. Clearly someone companies would pay good money to influence. But now that he's relegated to the relatively lowly status of Senate Rules Committee Chairman, it will be interesting to see what happens to Chet Lott's billings when he reports his full-year 2003 numbers. If clients are truly hiring him for his political savvy, his numbers should be about the same. But if there's a dramatic drop in Chet Lott's billings, that will give you a sense of how Washington works, too. We are giving odds on this one.

Congressional Families III

What do Verizon, Phillip Morris, Daimler Chrysler and Lockheed Martin have in common? They've all got close family of members of Congress on their payroll. And each of them is chasing a slew of legislative favors in the halls of the Capitol. It's fast becoming a clichÃ© in Washington that if you want something done on Capitol Hill, you'd better put some money in the pockets of a congressional family. Verizon certainly seems to have taken the lesson to heart -- according to state and federal disclosure filings, the company employs at least five immediate relations of Senators or Congressmen: Steven Barringer, the son-in-law of the number-two Democrat in the senate, Harry Reid (NV); former Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN), father of Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN); and Scott Hatch, the son of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Verizon also employs Doris Matsui, wife of Rep. Robert Matsui (D-CA); and David Lugar, son of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). There may be more. While congressional ethics regulations prohibit lobbyists from buying lunches over $50 for members of Congress, nothing prevents them from hiring the members' families. And there's no requirement that any member of Congress or lobbyist disclose their family connections to the public. In fact, a recent Los Angeles Times investigative series disclosed for the first time a stunning number of family members in the lobbying ranks of Washington. Phillip Morris hired Andrew Blunt, the son of Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who recently ascended to the number three position in the House Republican leadership. Shortly after he got that job, the Washington Post reported, Congressman Blunt raised the ire of other house Republicans when he tried to slip a special favor for Phillip Morris into an unrelated bill. The speaker's staff removed the item when it was discovered and he got caught. And what about those other companies? Daimler Chrysler employs John Breaux Jr., son of Sen. John Breaux (D-LA). And Lockheed Martin air traffic management has hired Linda Daschle, wife of the top Democrat in the Senate, Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Average Citizens Cannot Compete

Corporate executives are planning a big political role these days, particularly when it comes to fundraising for President George W. Bush. Last quarter Bush raised $34.4 million from 105,000 donors. At least 18 have already earned the designation of "Ranger" by pledging to raise at least $200,000 for Bush, and 50 have made "Pioneer" status by pledging at least $100,000. They said that such contributions do not mean there was any improper activity. It is expected that in the next six months we will see an example of corporations dedicating one or more employees to the task of raising political money for campaigns.

Smaller Pay Raises Expected

Companies will dispense smaller job pay raises this year - well below the 4 percent-plus increases routine before the economy lost its footing in 2000 - and 4 years later workers should not expect much improvement in 2004. Last year, when job raises averaged 3.8 percent according to a Mercer survey - inflation was at 1.6 percent, helping to make up for the limited job pay increases. Inflation is expected to hover around 2.6 percent this year and 2.7 percent next year, limiting how much more people will really be taking home. No raise or anything below 2.6% and you will actually be making less money. "It's not the percent size of the increase. It's the increase relative to inflation," said Charles Peck, compensation specialist with the Conference Board. "It's getting a little bit tight."

Does GOD want Higher Taxes?

The moronic Governor in Montgomery Alabama says it is so. Gov. Bob Riley is trying to persuade voters to approve the largest tax increase in the States history by telling them it is their Christian duty. Supporters of Rileyâ€™s plan have been deceptive in saying it will help working class Alabamians, when it actually includes numerous smaller tax increases that would hit middle to poor individuals â€“ rather than the wealthy. GOD is probably reserving judgment on this one.

You Wanna Bet?

Our Pentagon employeeâ€™s. You know the ones that are making a pretty penny off our money. They were proposing a plan to establish a futures market that would allow traders to profit by correctly predicting assassinations and terrorist attacks. Thankfully, someone had the good sense to stop this non-sense. Unfortunately, for it to actually get headline news in papers, this plan was well on its way to becoming a reality. The brain trust of this idiotic notion and all the levels that supported it should get immediate walking papers and quit wasting taxpayer money.

U.S. Assists Eastern Europe

Our government to help Eastern European countries in their government restructuring programs created the Western NIS Enterprise Fund. WNISEF has invested $80 million American tax dollars so far. It currently has $52 million outstanding, and is processing another $14 million as you read this article. The foreign companies it has invested in employ 11,000 non-Americans that are concentrated in food, agriculture, and financial services.

High Tech Jobs

The original thought was; in losing manufacturing jobs to foreign countries it would create more high tech jobs for the less skilled American worker in the United States . Now Americans are seeing these high tech jobs leaving the country also. About 30,000 technology jobs have moved to the foreign arena already, and you can bet that more will be moving in the near future. American firms have been targeting data entry, telemarketing, and technical support jobs to countries like India and the Philippines , and now the higher-level positions such as computer programming and design work. Why? Because a computer programmer in India earns less than half of what the same programmer would earn in America thus increasing corporate profits. The question is, if the United States gives up its technology edge as we gave up our manufacturing edge, what will be left for Americans?

Lawyers Win Again

Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the state's comptroller to pay salary increases for Illinois judges that were vetoed by the governor. The salary increase was scheduled to go into effect at the end of July for more than 1,000 Illinois judges. The order was signed by all seven Supreme Court justices and delivered to the comptroller's office, said Supreme Court spokesman. "As far as the Supreme Court is concerned, this has nothing to do with politics," Tybor said. "What this deals with is upholding the Illinois Constitution." Judicial salaries range from $127,247 for associate circuit judges to $158,103 for justices of the Supreme Court. I can't believe they didn't suck it up for the nation for just one year.

It is ILLEGAL Stupid!

Federal election regulators decided Thursday to allow corporations and unions to continue making large contributions to finance the two political parties' presidential nominating conventions despite a new law outlawing such donations in elections. The Federal Election Commission unanimously ruled that the law passed by Congress last year did not apply to fund raising by the local committees. FEC Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub likened corporate contributions to the conventions to corporate sponsorships of sporting events such as the Super Bowl. "Businesses contribute because they want the promotional benefit," Weintraub said. Yeah right!

IBM Americans Lose â€“ India Wins!

IBM is planning to move thousands of jobs to India and China in order to significantly reduce payroll expenses. Of course, this means that thousands of Americans will lose their jobs in this country, but American citizens should understand. Forrester Research, a market research firm, estimates that an additional 3.3 million American service jobs will move out of the United States within the next 15 years. Letâ€™s hope that the 12+ million Americans currently out of work will have found jobs by thenâ€¦

Lobbying 101

Freddie Mac, financing giant extraordinaire, staged 50 fund-raisers for congressional politicians in hopes of holding-off increased federal regulations of the industry. This practice has worked for many years. It is not illegal to fund-raise in this manner, but it does raise questions as to the ethics of politicians to let money drive indecent behavior of the public trust.

Are they really Experts?

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group of academic economists, the current recession ended in November 2001. This is only eight months after it had officially begun. â€œHey dummies, it is now 2003, 12+ million Americans are out of work, businesses continue to lay-off and move jobs to other countries, 6.8 million American children are living in poverty, and there is no end in sight. Even if the economy all of a sudden turns north again, it will take years to get our 12+ million unemployed Americans back to work.â€� Wake-up America !

Homeland Security?

"TSA recruiters put staying at posh resorts ahead of their mission to enhance security at America 's airports.â€� said a letter to TSA chief James Loy.

Apparently a seven-week stay by recruiters at posh resorts in remote Telluride, Colo., and other recruiting stays, sometimes for months, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Manela Bay Resort in Hawaii, the Hawk's Cay Resort in the Florida Keys and the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort in St. Thomas, and Virgin Islands. Was justified as the TSA defended the stays, saying the government had negotiated reduced rates.

Given that the cost of the contract rose from $104 million to $700 million in less than a year, the Homeland Security Department must explain both the amount of these sorts of expenses and how they related to improved security. If they cannot, taxpayers will draw no other conclusion than that the new Cabinet-level department has become little but another large bureaucratic mess for which the tab has been sent to them.

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security was supposed to be devoted to securing the nation. But when questions about outlandish spending are raised so soon after its inception, we have to wonder if people within the organization are as focused on security as they are on enjoying the American taxpayers' money.

The District Should Applaud

High School no longer will have a principal. To save money and simplify the administration, district leaders will not replace the former principal, who recently quit to take another job. That makes Mundelein the only high school in Lake County without a principal, according to regional education officials.

Responsibilities historically handled by the principal and assistant principals will be assigned to other administrators, according to Superintendent Stan Fields' new arrangement.

The restructuring - including elimination of additional positions and new responsibilities for other administrators - reduces administrative costs by $600,000. That money will be used in areas directly affecting students, officials said.

Wink-Wink

Just months after the Illinois Governor ruled out pay raises for state workers, he ruled in favor of giving annual raises (up to $10,000) to members of his immediate staff. These folks have not even been in these positions for a full year. And, these are the folks who are lecturing other statewide officials about cutting costs. In addition, this Governor has just revealed a statewide plan to â€œroad beautificationâ€� that calls for the planting of flowers at various points along the entire interstates 55 & 57. Costs estimates are ranging from $1 million to $2 million dollars. We should call the road authority IDIOT instead of IDOT.

Tollwaysâ€™ gonna get you!

If you donâ€™t pay now, theyâ€™ll get you later. Tollway officials say they're aiming for intentional repeat violators, yet more drivers are complaining that they paid their tolls but are getting fined because coin baskets didn't register the payment. "I am upset and I am angry," said Sherry King of Elgin , who was fined more than $1,000 for 50 alleged violations. "I really resent the toll authority doing this. What kind of proof can I bring that an unmanned booth isn't working?" Every weekday, King drives to work from Elgin to Arlington Heights and back, using unmanned tollbooths each way. Frequently, including this week, she said, they don't work. King said she even put in extra money to activate the machine and thought about trying a different lane, but honking traffic behind her forced her to go through.

Tollway officials say their machines set off an alarm if they stop working, so that people should not be fined for tollbooths that don't work. (Yeah right!)

To those who paid the toll but drove off before the machine registered, tollway officials say tough luck. Just as when you pay for food at McDonald's, part of the transaction involves waiting to make sure you're paid up. And for those who object that they're only finding out now about violations from two years ago, tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said they should have known better. "It's always been the law that you need to pay the toll," McGinnis said. "So the individuals who were not paying knew they were in violation."

This lame attempt by the toll authority to make up for miss management, abuse, and neglect that has been plaguing this entire system. Even at McDonaldâ€™s that do not come after you years later to claim that they gave you too much change back. The toll authority needs to be disbanded, or fix the mess and go forward â€“ and quit looking back.

Democrats are Enjoying Unemployment

They realize it is their only chance of defeating the republican President Bush. The last time this nation had four years of continuous job loss, Herbert Hoover was the president. You can be sure that the Democrats will drive this point continuously throughout the campaign trail. It is also the very same reason why they are not bending over backwards to help turnaround the struggling economy. Just think, if the economy recovers enough prior to the 2004 Presidential elections, it could dash any hope the democrats may have of gaining votes. So donâ€™t expect any help to come from the Democrats. They are just in it for the votes.

The Price of a Lies?

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently said the U.S. government is spending $4 billion a month on the Iraq occupation. An estimated $400 million of that goes to private-sector companies that do business with the military. This does not take into account the cost of human life - which is priceless.

Testing Tollway Cost Hike

Illinois tollway officials are looking to charge more money during rush hour in order to reduce rush-hour congestion. The Federal government will give Illinois $360,000 in federal tax funds for the study of â€œvalue-pricing.â€� The study will look at whether the idea would work; pricing options; market research; and cost estimates. If successful, you may see this process spread across the country. (A god bet) It seems doubtful anyone would drive in rush hour if they didnâ€™t have to, and that an extra .50 cents is unlikely to do anything but cause more road rage. Most people cannot control or change their working hours. Politicians just do not understand this fact because most of them do not work for a living.

More Abused Credit Cards

Washington â€“ Agriculture Department employees used government credit cards to pay tuition for Bartenders School , to buy Ozzie Osbourne concert tickets, lingerie, and tattoos and to make down payments on a car. An audit showed that the employees who had unlimited and unsupervised access to these credit cards, charged in excess of $7.7 million tax dollars.

TAX from Teddyâ€™s War

Chris Backe â€“ Although I recognize the fact that the various levels of government need to collect taxes from all of us working stiffs to provide necessary services, there are some taxes that raise a question. How many people have taken a good look at the taxes that are collected on our phone bills? I found among other facts, that the federal excise tax on our phone bill was first levied in 1898 to fund the Spanish American War. Now, if I remember correctly, it seems to me that shortly after Teddy Roosevelt led the Rough Riders charging up San Juan Hill , the Spanish American War ended. And yet, more than 100 years later, the government is still collecting this tax at the rate of 3 percent on your bill.

Homeless in America

Ron Petrucci â€“ A â€œDatelineâ€� program about Americas homeless covered four families from coast to coast. The message? Americans are hurting and so many have no jobs. Un-employed Americans are struggling to keep their families together, a roof over their heads and food on the table. Our government seems to be very concerned about the rest of the world but not our own people! Why do we have troops in 130 countries? Are we trying to control everyone to feel important? Iâ€™ll give you one way to feel important â€“ bring back the manufacturing jobs that have scattered all over the world. American corporations, in search of the almighty buck, have turned their backs on Americans and the way of life these dedicated employees helped create in this great country of ours. Consider one major point - the shortages of federal and state funding today. No jobs. And no funds with which those workers can buy merchandise. Congratulations, you have just brought the greatest country in the world to its knees!

Our Courtrooms are Endangered $$$

There is a secret war on judges now being waged by the Chamber of Commerce and their agenda; to vote out state court judges and install new judges sympathetic to insurance companies, multinational corporations and other large business corporations. The reason; Pro-business courts can reverse huge verdicts levied against corporations. Since 2000, the chamber has won 21 of 24 judicial elections and 11 state attorney general races that it has supported. The Chamber has spent $100 million since 2000 and will spend $50 million or more this year. Corporations donate large sums of money and they want their donations to work for them. The only way the chamber can guarantee this is by removing pro-American judges and replacing them with pro-business judges. AND, they are Succeeding!

Elderly Taxed OUT of their Homes

Vernon Heine â€“ President Senior Citizens Organization â€“ We would like to call to your attention the catastrophic situations of our many elderly American citizens. Many of us have lived in our current homes for several years and we are increasingly being billed for exorbitant property taxes that force us to re-evaluate our decisions to live in our homes for the remainder of our time on this planet or make a move to cheaper facilities. It seems as if the American Dream of paying off the mortgage and expecting to reside in our homes throughout our lifetime is gradually eroding. We are being taxed beyond our means. Please understand that the Huntley seniors are a small segment of the many American residents who have paid their taxes for many, many years, and have nowhere to turn for possible relief. How much longer must we confront this situation that has elderly Americans taking the brunt of this unfair taxation structure? Something must be done now, as elderly Americans ponder these issues with nothing but a â€œgloomy uncertaintyâ€� between now and the next receipt of their real estate tax bills. If a lackadaisical attitude continues toward these issues, we are certain that one of these days; younger Americans will find themselves in a similar situation, with little or no opportunity to change the overabundance of taxes that our government officials have imposed on all elderly citizens.

Will Lost Manufacturing DOOM America ?

George Sawicki â€“ S. Barrington Recently two events occurred; one received front-page coverage for days â€“ cork in a bat. The other received no notice at all. The Ingersoll Milling Company, the foremost machine builder in the world, no longer exists. It has closed its doors but its demise did not catch the interest of the press. America , we had better rethink our priorities. The only reason we won WW II was our industrial might. We no longer have this might. Our people in Washington {our employees} scratch their heads trying to figure out why the economy isnâ€™t rebounding. Go to Wal-Mart and pick-up 10 different items and see where they are manufactured. Nine will come from China , one possibly from Japan â€“ NOTHING from the United States .

Tobacco Money Created our Nation

Associated Press WASHINGTON â€“ Tobacco was America â€™s first export and the primary financial support for the American Revolution â€“ the war that launched us as the greatest nation in the history of the planet. But with lawsuits, less smoking, import competition and a soon to be dismantled system of government controls, farmers are planting the smallest tobacco crop since General Ulysses S. Grant was our President.

President, Congress needs to be Replaced

William J. Wallis Streamwood â€“ â€œI just want to thank President Bush and the Congress for passing their tax cut bill. Lucky me, I am going to get a whole $300 a year for the next few years. I do not know what I am going to spend this on; I feel so privileged. This will amount to a whole $6 more each paycheck! I am especially envious of those families with children who are going to get a whole $1000 per year, not to mention that magical check for $400 per child. They will probably spend the money on something extravagant like FOOD and CLOTHING.â€�

New SBC Law â€“ Consumers to be hit Hard

Fred J. Potter Rollingmeadows â€“ â€œWe seem to have a government of lobbyists. Their little effort for SBC got a bad and illegal bill passed in record time. They are all lawyers, yet not one knew the law. The Governor climbed in bed with the Chicago machine and got burned. The governor wants to add pennies to the poor minimum wage law. This will help them pay for the many dollars he added to their phone bills.â€�

$29 Million Dollar deficit â€“ Who Cares, Give ME My Money

The Palatine and Schaumberg School district is forecasting nearly $29 million in deficits for 2004, but the Board of Directors still raised the Superintendents salary by 5.5 percent. His current salary will go from $150,000 each year, to $158,250. Said Board member Martha Swierczewski â€œWe are very mindful of the budget, but we believe the Superintendent has done an outstanding job and we wanted to reward him.â€�

Great leadership here, folks.

Got Drugs?

Excerpt from Daily Herald â€“ Perhaps the most important element missing from the prescription drug plan is any effective means for reining in drug costs that are spiraling out of control. Pharmaceutical companies argue, with some legitimacy, that their ability to generate sufficient money for ongoing R&D cannot be curtailed. But the picture that emerges from Capitol Hill is one which lawmakers have been cowed from attempting any meaningful cost containment because of the enormous influence the drug companies wield by way of lobbying and campaign contributions.

Said Angelo Pesce â€œCompanies that have money can lobby and influence and payoff our political employees with ease. Until Americans Stand Together â€“ United in Voice, this system of abuse will not change.â€�

Does Any of this Make Sense?

Elsie B. Zelms â€“ â€œWait a minute. Let me get this straight, America is going to pay the Iraqi army? Is this the same country that is closing veterans hospitals, and where many veterans and army personnel are on food stamps? And arenâ€™t the Iraqis the ones ambushing American Soldiers who have just freed them? I wonder why it surprises me, in a country that rewards immigrants for breaking the law by coming here illegally, by funding their childrenâ€™s education while most hard-working Americans canâ€™t afford to send their kids to college. Not to mention the free medical care that illegal immigrants get by sneaking over the border and filling our emergency rooms. Then of course there is the case of a convicted murderer getting an organ transplant while law-abiding Citizens wait patiently, risking death for an available organ. And if I may expand on this travesty, consider the fact that liberals in this country are dismayed that some apprehended terrorist are going to be tried by the military instead of in our court system where some amoral, money-grubbing lawyer can endeavor to defend them. And now, adding insult to injury, the United Nations is demanding that the United States pay the lionâ€™s share for repairs to the buildings that house these wonderful, loyal friends; but worse, I believe our government will consider it. After all, it wonâ€™t come out of itâ€™s well-padded packets. But, according to the Democrats, the real problem, financially, is the meager amount of tax money that is to be returned to the OVERburdened taxpayer, and thanks to them, also to those who donâ€™t even pay taxes. Clearly, the inmates are running the asylum. They are called politicians.â€�

A Childs view of Political waste

Carly Olsowski â€“ 8th grade student, Elgin

I am not very pleased with how the new Gail Borden Public Library is using its donated money. It is building a huge fireplace that is going to cost a lot of money. Why are they going to spend $130,000 on a fireplace? They could use the money for new books, videotapes, DVDâ€™s, CDs or computer software. Being a member of the library, I know the selection of the electronics, and it isnâ€™t the greatest. We could use more. If people want to read by a fireplace, couldnâ€™t they do it at their own home? And what good is this expensive fireplace going to do in the summer?

Don't buy this Snow Job

Let's all cheer the weaker dollar! That's what our Treasury Department wants us to do. Ask anyone living on the edge of their paycheck, though, and you'll get a different response. We have realized a long time ago that the dollar has been weaker, and we didn't have to look at a 100 page report to see it. While most companies are using this opportunity to freeze wage increases-unemployment is skyrocketing-some government employee on a guaranteed exorbitant salary is telling us it's good the American dollar is not as strong as it used to be.

Home for the Holiday â€“ American Citizens will have to Wait

Washington â€“ Congress left for the July 4th holiday recess without finalizing the bill to let MILLIONS of American families share in the child tax credit rebates this summer. They will re-look at it later in the month. They obviously have more important issues to attend â€“ like getting their yachts onto the waters, throwing lavish 4th fireworks displays, vacationing at posh resorts, and enjoying all the great things that their wealth can buy. The average American should understandâ€¦.

New labor rules would cost workers money, study argues

By Jon BonnÃ©
MSNBC

June 26 â€” Up to 8 million U.S. workers could lose their right to overtime pay if Bush administration rules are put in place, according to a new study released Thursday. The new proposed rules would dramatically change who qualifies as a salaried worker, and which hourly wage earners are able to collect overtime. The report, by the Economic Policy Institute, highlights dozens of professions that would be impacted by the new rules and argues that hundreds of thousands of workers could be moved from hourly wages to a fixed salary. Some of the most impacted job types would include mid-level supervisors such as restaurant managers or safety inspectors; professionals such as dietitians, social workers, emergency medical technicians, nurses, surveyors, reporters, chefs, cooks, and writers; and technical specialists, such as dental hygienists, drafters or computer programmers. The reportâ€™s authors argue the new rules would lead to longer hours for most employees with minimal cost to companies. â€œItâ€™ll be more profit, but it wonâ€™t end up in worker paychecks,â€� said EPI vice president and policy director Ross Eisenbray. Most white-collar workers with any education beyond high school would be placed in a category of â€œlearned professionalâ€� and would likely be exempt â€” unable to earn overtime. In one example the study cites, someone who stocks shelves could be considered an exempt employee if they also spend some time handling customer complaints. Among the arguments is that by paying less overtime to more highly skilled workers, employers would have more money in their payroll to hire new employees and reduce the unemployment rolls. The belief in the new rules is; by increasing the number of salaried workers â€” would allow employers to shift more work onto salaried employees, extending their work hours without any cost to the company. In fact, the original purpose of the FLSA rules were to guarantee certain worker rights, both in establishing a minimum wage and in preserving a 40-hour work week â€” discouraging companies from overworking employees by imposing, in essence, a financial penalty.

Legislators want to RAISE the price of junk food.

Letâ€™s Hear It for a FAT Tax â€œNow they want to tax your Twinkies,â€� mocked the New York Daily News. New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, the Brooklyn Democrat who floated the tax idea, believes that a tax would create a small disincentive towards the consumption of high-fat, low-nutrition foods. We already have special taxes on cigarettes and alcohol in hopes of discouraging widespread use of these deadly substances. The Ortiz 1%tax will also apply to video games. â€œWhere will this ever stop?â€� John Campbell (R-Irvine). â€œAre they going to tax the butter on my carrots because carrots are healthier without butter?â€�

Do Americans need government to be our Big Brother or, in this case, our Big Nanny? We donâ€™t read labels on anything, for some reason trusting big food-processing conglomerates and fast food restaurants to feed us whatever mix of chemicals they can manufacture cheaply yet still have the finished product vaguely resemble food. â€œIf our government is so worried about our good health, they should outlaw these ingredients instead of charging Americans to consume them. But this will never happen because these big conglomerates give Campaign contributions â€“ so our government employees would rather just raise our tax and make an additional buck on the side. They are not worried about our healthâ€�. Angelo Pesce (President, United Citizens of America )

WHAT DEFLATION? WHY ARE OUR BILLS RISING?

Jeff Opdyke and Michelle Higgins. The Wall Street Journal. 2003/05/08. Page D1.

Despite the recent concerns expressed by the Federal Reserve about the threat of deflation, consumers continue to see a wide variety of cost increases, including postage stamps, sporting events, auto insurance, and real-estate taxes. The article includes a chart showing the change in the cost of 13 goods and services over the last three years. The Insurance Information Institute reports that the cost of homeowners insurance increased by an average of 6.4 percent per year while auto insurance increased by an average of 7.6 percent per year.

â€œWhile we place our right hand over our hearts,

we should make sure our left hand is holding onto our wallets,â€� said Public Campaign executive director Nick Nyhart. â€œWe all want to help our country remain unified and our economy strong. Giving corporate campaign donors everything thatâ€™s been on their tax wish list for decades, though, raises disturbing questions for all the ordinary Americans who canâ€™t afford to contribute to campaigns, but who pay their fair share of taxes come April 15.â€�

Seniors HURT the most with falling interest

So you think that lowering the interest rate is good? Do not ask our senior citizens this question. Most of our senior citizens rely on CD interest in order to survive daily life. 86-year-old Julia Work of Richmand , Washington will see her monthly stipend drop to just $170 a month vs. the $500 a month previously. She is not alone. So as you cheer lower mortgage rates, auto rates and credit card rates, take a good look at our elders who have given us the foundation of the greatest nation on earth. Our government employees not only continue to financially rape them with taxes, now they make decisions that take away the rest of what they have left. So-much for the Golden Years eh?

Our Leaders are watching with great interest - Are we next?

TOKYO - Japan is considering taxing all citizen cash and savings accounts in an effort to force its people to spend their money or lose it, according to Shukan Gendai, a leading Japanese newsweekly.

The plan, as outlined, calls for an annual tax of 3% to 5% on all savings and time deposit accounts in the country. The aim of the move is to force Japanese citizens to either buy consumer goods or put their money in stock, bonds or real estate to avoid what in effect would become a steep negative interest rate on their savings.

IRS Reports that the RICH got Richer

Washington â€“ America â€™s richest got richer between 1992 and 2000, according to an Internal Revenue Service report released Wednesday.

Rising Property Taxes

The 49-year-old auto-shop worker is so incensed by rising property taxes in his hometown in Coffee County , Tenn. , he protested by delivering his tax payment--$279.35--in nickels, dimes and pennies. He counted the change twice on his own, but insisted on taking a day off from work to wait while the county clerk counted the change at the bank because, he says, "I don't trust the government. I love my country, but I don't trust the government." He's not alone. Given the fact that government spending sprees (combined with revenue shortfalls) in recent years have landed local and state governments in fiscal fiascos, the bill is getting passed to property owners, who in some cases are paying twice as much in property taxes as they had in previous years. It's understandable why some Americans are comparing city governments' fiscal mismanagement to the scandal-ridden Enrons and WorldComs of the business world.

The job waiting game

Associated Press - Graduates are heading back to school in this tough employment market. Some seniors expect to be underemployed, while others are choosing graduate school. The unemployment rate is 10.1% for people between the ages of 20 and 24. It's a reality check for America's youngsters.

Pay Abuse

The average civil service worker in Washington earns approx. $73,000 each year - plus health, retirement, vacation and sick leave perks. Members of Congress earn even more and besides getting the same perks, they have given themselves generous lifetime pay salaries. State legislators have followed suit - just because they can. All of our lawmakers live in La-La land on our hard earned money but when it comes to increasing minimum pay from $5.15 / hr to $6.50 / hr, they quibble and bicker because corporations pay them to keep it low.

Where are our Jobs? Chicago SunTimes , 12/12/02

December News Item: Holmes Group Inc. Missouri, GS of West Virginia, Flextronics International in California, Black & Decker, Maytag in Illinois, all decide to close operations, lay-off workers and move operations to Mexico. Just prior to all these announcements former president George H.W. Bush praises the 10th anniversary of the NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) saying "There hasn't been a giant sucking sound of jobs pulling away from the United States." Mr. Bush may need a hearing aid.

EDS Cutting Jobs? Dallas Associated Press

2700 jobs CUT and assets sold in order to save millions of dollars per year. The company said they would be shifting call-center and software application jobs to LOW-COST Countries such as India and/or Brazil .

More Americans Losing Jobs â€œHappy Independence Day American Peasantsâ€�

And where are our so-called leaders? Oh thatâ€™s right â€“ they are taking their annual July 4th hiatus, enjoying their yachts, and posh resorts, and all the things their riches provide while millions of Americans (employed or not) are struggling to make ends-meat in todayâ€™s economy.

Per CNBC Washington Bureau Chief Alan Murray the unemployment rate jumped to 6.4% from 6.1%. Since March, almost a MILLION new Americans have been added to the unemployment rolls. Todayâ€™s numbers suggest the employment situation could get worse before it gets better.

Said Vince Boberski, senior economist at RBC Dain Rauscher, He and other economists pointed out that the economy has lost only 120,000 jobs over the past three months, compared with 270,000 in February and March. (â€œObviously Mr. senior economist Boberski and these so-called other economists do not agree with Bureau Chief Murray and are sugarcoating the fact that 12 MILLION Americans are out of work.â€� - AP)

Apart from killing American self-esteem, unemployment is also tearing down Citizen Retirement plans. Most of these laid-off workers have been living off unemployment benefits, hoping they would find a job within six months, after which benefits generally run out. But with the economy failing to accelerate, a lot of their savings are getting used up â€” including money set aside for retirement.

Unemployed?

The number of long-term unemployed -- people who have been out of work for more than six months -- has nearly tripled in the U.S. in the past three years: 1.87 million people were out of work for more than 26 weeks as of February 2003, compared with 629,000 in February 2000. Currently there are more than 12 million people out of work and fewer than 3 million job openings. The average length of time between jobs for all workers has lengthened from 13 weeks to nearly 19 weeks. The number of long-term unemployed parents with children under 6 has grown even faster. About 235,000 such parents were out of work in October 2002, a study by the Childrenâ€™s Defense Fund found, up from 71,000 two years earlier. These parents face a particular challenge, since they canâ€™t take just any job -- their pay must at least cover the cost of day care.

But what are the choices for many of the 12 million people who are out of work? A grim vista stretches across virtually all service industries, as well as manufacturing; new positions just aren't opening up at old businesses. Job search times surged in the first quarter to a 17-year high of 4.2 months. Tougher still for people who are older--particularly in their 50s and 60s--to find work and those who, like Sheridan, are experienced and were making good money as middle managers. The number of unemployed people age 45 and older has ballooned to 3.3 million. White-collar workers represent 46% of all people who were without work for 27 weeks or more in 2002, reports Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm. Many will never again find work at existing companies.

TIME TO SCREAM!

JOBLESS rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point from March, with payrolls falling by 48,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. Those figures matched economistsâ€™ expectations. The economy has lost more than half a million jobs in the past three months as the number of unemployed workers surged to 12 million. Nearly 2 million people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

Now let's look at all the companies that laid-off American workers and moved operations to other countries. Not only do they pay their foreign employees next to nothing in salary - many amounting to slave labor organizations. Our government then hands these corporations huge contracts (to the sum of $4 billion tax dollars), for U.S. contract work.

"Poking holes" in Tax Cap

News Item - A proposal winding through Springfield will, if passed into law this summer, alter the sacrosanct property tax cap and give suburban counties authority to raise millions of dollars without voter approval.

Congress Freshman, Daily Herald, 12/25/2002

Close to half of the incoming members of Congress are millionaires and many will face votes that will affect their financial holdings. For example, 11 first timers in the House and Senate have financial interests in banking or credit card companies. Several others have holdings in pharmaceuticals and oil. Watch dog groups say that wealth makes lawmakers more apt to think about their financial interests first than what's best for the nation. According to Ralph Nader "Rich people tend to hold lots of stock and have conflicts of interest in respect to their voting."

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer

said Tuesday the new measure would create â€œmore than one million jobs,â€� but even that figure would amount to a net loss without other developments.

Older Americans working Longer

Washington - The number of Americans 65 and older either working or looking for jobs has grown by 50% since 1980, the Census Bureau said. Experts said it's due to people living longer and having concerns that Social Security and other benefits won't cover their remaining needs.

Prescription Drug Plan for Seniors

The proposed plan would require seniors to pay for $275 worth of drugs before insurance kicked in. The government then would pay for half of drug costs up to $3,450, but it will put the entire burden on seniors until their prescription tab reached $5,300. The plan has a huge flaw: It doesn't require the drug companies to negotiate lower prices with the federal government, meaning seniors still will be paying inflated prices.

Does this cover enough of the cost of elderly prescription drugs? According to Gay Lee Andrews. A 74-year-old Elk Grove Village woman and her husband, Ray, pay more than $10,000 a year for prescription drugs. "I never thought I'd see the day when we'd have to scrimp and save to buy groceries," said Andrews.â€�

The seniors retired, only to each return to two jobs because of rising drug costs. Andrews said she and her husband would have to continue to work because the proposed plan leaves a 100 percent gap for prescriptions between $3,450 and $5,300.

Senior Citizen Woman found frozen to death

Chicago Sun Times

Jean Bills worked as a personal wardrobe consultant. She helped others look good in high-priced clothes. Yet no one knew that the Geneva woman drove home each day to a Road house with no heat and no running water. She also worked a 2nd job as a hostess at a Country Club. Still no one knew the roof on her house had sections of it completely caved in, holes to the sky. Senior Citizen Jean Bills, age 73, froze to death sitting in a lawn chair in her garage. Everyone thought she was doing fine. â€œShe was a role model, always positive, always friendly,â€� said Lisa Zink, Store manager and Jean Billsâ€™ boss.

Jean Bills is like many other American senior citizens of our country, Overburdened, over-taxed, and too proud to call for help. She had to work two jobs just to survive. At 73 years of age, our senior citizens should be enjoying and relaxing for the remainder of their lives. They helped raise this nation, it is our turn at the wheel and we should help these folks to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labor. It is time to Act America .

More kids live in extreme poverty

Washington - The number of children living in extreme poverty has risen sharply in recent years, an advocacy group said in a recently released report. Following is their breakout:

Approx. 932,000 Black children

Approx. 733,00 Hispanic children

Approx. 1.8 million White children

The organization defines extreme poverty as a family with after-tax income that is less than half what our Federal government defines as the poverty line. The 2001 figure of 3.4 million children living in extreme poverty can easily be near a total of 6+ million living in poverty in 2003.

Having a BABY?

Every newborn child is a bundle of joy. But you better have a bundle of cash on hand if you want to raise one. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- which conducts annual Consumer Expenditure Surveys on the cost of raising children -- estimated that families making $65,800 a year or more will spend a whopping $249,180 to raise a child from birth through age 17. Though not as steep, the figures for lower-income families are just as unsettling: $170,460 for families earning $39,100 to $65,800 and $124,800 for families making less than $39,100. That breaks down to more than $13,400 a year from birth to age 2 for families in the $65,800 -plus income bracket. As your child ages, he or she gets even more expensive, topping out at $14,670 from ages 15 to 17. This is no back-of-the-envelope guesstimate. The survey involves visits to, and interviews with, about 5,000 households, four times a year. Even worse, since the survey ends at age 17, it doesn't take into account the millions of college students who are supported in part or in full by their parents. That's another $20,000 to $150,000 for a four-year education, depending on the school. It also doesn't consider lost income that occurs when one parent decides to stop working, is laid-off or take off several years to raise their children during the early years -- or take a lesser-paying job with more predictable hours. That's money out of your pocket.

Poor People - Is this you?

A CNN Poll asked voters whether they were in the top 1 percent of income earners. 19% said yes? This is why our political employees had such an easy time passing this lopsided tax cut. If your family income is below approx. $30,000, you will not be getting any child tax credit. None - Nada - Zilch - Zippo. There are 11.9 MILLION CHILDREN living in this household category. This fact led Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota to quote: Commenting on the new Tax Law

â€œInstead of finding a real solution to the growing unemployment crisis, this bill will give millions to those who donâ€™t need it and very little to those who do,â€�

The people in this category work for a living and perform essential functions for minimal wage. Jobs that used to be considered honorable, such as: nursing home assistance like bathing and feeding the elderly, digging ditches for construction, cleaning bathrooms, schools and office buildings, assembly lines. Hard working people just trying to survive this life and provide a better future for their children but who are finding it difficult to pay the bills, keep a roof over their children's heads, and food in their bellies.

It would have added an additional 3.5 billion to the 350 billion tax cut package to include these 11.9 million children. They could have made some adjustments to the dividend cuts that fill already overstuffed wallets. But to our political employees thinking, these folks just need to work a little harder to earn their own dividends.

NEWS BREAK WASHINGTON , June 5 â€” Failing to weather the storm over a tax cut package that denied a major benefit to low-income families, our wayward employees struck their sails Thursday, reaching agreement - they agreed to expand a $1,000 child tax credit to minimum-wage families. Then Senate employees approved the bill, which would give 6.5 million low-income families (incomes between $10,500 and $26,625) a check worth $400 for each of their children. But hold-on, they are still arguing over this issue.

Bush Approves $15 BILLION American TAX Dollars to Africa

30-40% of America's Senior Citizens do not have prescription drug coverage. Thousands of Americans are homeless. Thousands of Americans have severe mental disabilities and no treatment. Millions are out of work. Millions of American children are malnourished, and living in squalor. And yet because U2's Bono (who was not even born in America) made himself such a pest in the White House, our President has offered $15 BILLION American tax dollars to help fight the Aids epidemic in Africa over the next 5 years ($2.5 BILLION American tax dollars a year.)

The U.C.A. is not against helping in the fight against Aids, but maybe we should be pleading with prescription drug companies to offer free drug aid and working with African officials to ensure proper distribution.

Every nation comes to America when it needs money. They don't realize how many millions of Americans are struggling to survive and raise meaningful families of our own. We appear to be a prosperous nation because our government throws our money around like candy, not realizing that as our government pledges more and more money to help the world - they heavily tax it's own citizens to pay for it. We mean no disrespect Mr. Bono, but you are barking up the wrong tree. This may sound cold-hearted, but Africa has millions of starving people eating dirt to survive, and yet they refuse to accept American food aid because it is bio engineered. But yet they will take $15 Billion dollars to help purchase Bio-engineered drugs to fight an aids epidemic?

It's good to be a Defense Contractor

News Item - A recent study shows the average pay for CEO's working for the 37 largest defense contractors rose 79% in 2002. Let's not jump to any conclusions here.

Is it a perk? or Waste?

Air Force One costs $40,000 each hour, not including food, beverages, the salaries of the 15 person flight crew, or the actual cost of the plane. Add it all up and the annual cost could easily top $25 MILLION dollars. "I would call this waste." AP

The figure assumes an average of 10 flight hours each week, plus estimated salaries, total meal consumption, and other miscl.

Charging you to drive in rush-hour?

Washington - Charging motorists more money to drive during rush hours could help reduce traffic congestion, Congress' investigative agency said. Several states are trying to reduce traffic jams through what is known as congestion pricing. Transportation officials in the Washington area are holding a daylong meeting in June to discuss this plan.

Hey dummies! "The reason people travel during rush hour is because it is a condition of their work or family," AAA spokesman Mantill Williams said. "No one will choose to get on a congested road on purpose. They don't have a choice."

Even duct tape can't save you from this

News Item - Attorney General John Ashcroft prepares Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 that would allow the government to remove court supervisions of wiretapping and surveillance, strip citizens of their citizenship, deport legal permanent residents without a hearing and make secret arrests of citizens for the first time in American history.

Robert Pear. The New York Times. 2002/09/30. Page A22.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the proportion of Americans without health insurance in 2001 rose to 14.6 percent (some 41.2 million people), compared with 14.2 percent the previous year, with much of the increase coming from the small business sector. The bureau noted a 14 percent increase in uninsured among households earning $75,000 or more. The bureau also noted lack of coverage of 11.7 percent of all children, 21.3 percent of poor children, and 30.7 percent of all poor people. Experts point to people losing jobs, rising health care premiums and employers passing more health care costs on to their employees for the jump in uninsured. A chart breaks down into subgroups people without health insurance last year.

Vice President Dick Cheney's former company reaps cash

Associated Press - The no-bid contract Halliburton Co. got to put out the Iraqi oil well fires has risen to $76.7 million, pushed higher after the government gave Vice President Dick Cheney's former company the added job of restarting Iraq's oil industry. The Bush administration denies there is any connection between Cheney's former role in running the Houston company and the Iraq contract work. What do you believe?

Another NO-BID contract

Washington - The bidding on Iraqi postwar reconstruction contracts at the U.S. Agency for International Development is flawed, with the education contract essentially awarded without competition, an internal investigation concluded. The total contract to Associates International is worth $157 MILLION American Tax Dollars,

ONCE TOBACCO FOES, STATES ARE HOOKED ON SETTLEMENT CASH.

Gordon Fairclough and Vanessa OConnell. The Wall Street Journal. 2003/04/02. Page A1.

This front page article reports on the steps that state governments are taking to assist Philip Morris in a court battle involving allegations that the company misled smokers about the risks of light cigarettes. Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire and other state officials who led the original litigation against the industry are now considering going to court to protect Philip Morris from having to post a $12 billion bond ordered by an Illinois judge as the company appeals a massive class-action lawsuit. The state officials are concerned that the company may be forced into bankruptcy and that the judges order could threaten the large payments the tobacco industry agreed to make to the states to settle the earlier litigation.

REPUBLICANS PRESS FOR BILL TO SHIELD VACCINE MAKERS FROM SUITS.

Sheryl Stolberg. The New York Times. 2003/04/09. Page A8.

In an April 8 news conference Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said that a bill he sponsored would protect vaccine manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits and was needed to encourage pharmaceutical companies to work on a vaccine against the new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Frist and other Republican leaders are hoping that concerns about the rapid spread of the disease will provide new impetus for the proposal. With the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions prepared to begin discussions on the bill on April 9, Democrats and Republicans are negotiating a provision that would dismiss thousands of lawsuits involving claims that the mercury-based vaccine preservative, thimerosal, caused autism. Democrats are supporting a measure that would allow parents of autistic children to seek compensation through a special court if their claims fall outside the statute of limitations proposed in the Frist bill.

Pay to enter YOUR CITY?

Additional roadways are helpful, but they alone can't solve the problem. London has recently begun charging drivers to enter the central zone of the city. The $8 fee is not popular, but it has reduced traffic in central London by 20% since it was introduced in February. A similar market-based solution is being discussed for Manhattan.

Defense spending

With nearly $300 billion in defense spending, the 2000 U.S. military budget roughly equaled the military budgets of Russia , Japan , China , France , the United Kingdom , Germany , Italy , Saudi Arabia , and Brazil combined. The Department of Defense headquarters, known as the Pentagon, is one of the largest office buildings in the world. It employs about 23,000 workers, who are almost equally divided between military personnel and civilians.

Oops!

Washington - Senators who approved a suspension of taxes on investor dividends underestimated the cost of the measure by $70 BILLION because of an error by so-called congressional tax experts. Per Minority Leader Tom Daschle, "it was a significant error". "They made a big mistake", says Max Baucus of Montana, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Maybe these people really aren't very good experts?

President claimed victory

IN A RARE trip to Capitol Hill, the president claimed victory on the economic package, although the tax cuts were less than half of what he had requested in January. Indeed, Bush once called a $350 billion tax-cutting plan â€œitty bitty.â€� The bill contains many of the elements of Bushâ€™s original plan, which called for $726 billion in tax reductions through 2013. The measure would make the income tax rate cuts that Congress enacted in 2001 effective this year, retroactive to Jan. 1. The top rate will fall from 38.6 percent to 35 percent.

Many of the cuts are scheduled to expire after a few years. All of them will expire in ten years. Everyone agrees that the price tag is deceptive. In this sense, the tax cut is a repository of lawmakers' dreams. Income-tax rate cuts scheduled will expire in 2006. â€œItâ€™ll pump up our consumer-driven economy,â€� Grassley said in a statement. â€œItâ€™ll put more money in individualsâ€™ and familiesâ€™ pockets.â€� But only for a few years.

The key beneficiary will be Americans who earn income through dividends and capital gains. That income will be taxed at a top rate of 15%. Previously, capital gains had been taxed at a top rate of 20% and dividends were taxed the same as wages. The White House design to exempt dividend income altogether was scrapped.

Others who stand to gain include parents. The child-tax credit will increase from $600 to $1,000--but just for this year and 2004.

A home isnâ€™t the tax break you think it is:

By Scott Burns

The deductions meant to encourage ownership nationwide now help only those with pricey homes and a big mortgage. In less costly areas, there's no benefit at all. Buy a home in an expensive East or West Coast city and you will be showered with decades of tax savings. Buy a home in Peoria , Ill. , or Pittsburgh , and you'll get zilch.

In the 25 lowest-priced areas, anyone buying a median-priced home would receive virtually no tax benefit. Median home prices for these areas ranged from $110,600 in Fargo , N.D. , and Moorhead , Minn. , to $81,500 for Beaumont and Port Arthur , Texas . If you bought a home in Fargo , you would enjoy total tax savings of $67 over two years. Every year thereafter, your tax savings would be zero. Buy a median-priced home in places like Daytona Beach , Fla. , Topeka , Kan. , and El Paso , Texas , and there would be no tax benefits. Ever! It is possible, of course, to pay more than the median home price in any area -- by definition, 50% of home buyers do. And many less expensive markets proudly tout that you can buy much more house for the money than you can in, say, Chicago . Buy an expensive home in San Antonio , and you'll have the same tax savings as someone who buys an inexpensive home in Orange County . Whatever the variations in individual experience, however, one thing remains. Tax deductions intended to encourage homeownership nationwide are now working to subsidize expensive areas.

73% of the taxes are property taxes

About 73% of the taxes collected by local governments are property taxes, so they're an important source of revenue, particularly during financially difficult times. According to Washington D.C.-based tax research group Tax Foundation, property taxes in 2003 were expected to generate $256 billion.

The size of the bite can scare away prospective residents. For instance, in Pelham, N.Y, a pretty bedroom community just outside Manhattan with excellent public schools, a $1.2 million home carries property taxes of more than $30,000. Not only does this figure put it out of reach of many prospective buyers looking to take advantage of low interest rates, but it also becomes an unfair burden for people without children or whose children have finished school. After 20 years, the owner of this house might have spent about $600,000--half the cost of the house--or more in taxes.

New York City , where property taxes were recently raised to 18.5%
Natwar M. Gandhi, the chief financial officer of Washington , D.C. , issues an annual tax-burden comparison of the largest cities in all 50 states. Although it's hardly comprehensive and the most recent data are from 2001, it's still telling. The five cities with the highest property taxes (an effective rate, which accounts for the tax paid per $100 as well as the percentage of the property taxed) are not bustling metropolitan areas. They are the cities hard up for cash and are taking it out on homeowners.

Homeowners in Des Moines are very unhappy with talk of rising property taxes. A recent survey conducted by the Des Moines Register found that when comparing sales taxes, income taxes and property taxes, Iowans found property tax hikes the least fair. Some of the proposals floating around to avoid further property tax hikes include rolling out a flat income tax rate of 3.5%, assessing all property based on market value (versus the tax assessment) or implementing a statewide property tax. Back to Top

Source: District of Columbia Office of Finance

Similar to many other cities on this list, the vast majority of Providence 's tax revenue comes from property. Unfortunately, tax-exempt organizations own about 40% of the property in Providence . The city, which is projecting a $34 million deficit in 2004, is hoping to cut costs and raise additional revenue--without increasing taxes--from such things as dog licenses and towing fees.

Source: District of Columbia Office of Finance

For the first time in years, Newark homeowners saw properties reassessed--and they weren't happy. Some owners claim their tax bills will be doubled. And in 1997, Newark residents paid more property taxes per capita than the other 49 cities included in the annual tax-burden comparison.

Source: Illinois U-46 Board Priorities

The public was promised that "high-priority" programs would receive the most attention when budget cuts took place. Unfortunately Bartlett High has to do without, amongst other things, a musical - which teaches children many aspects of fine art. Something had to go because the $28,890 dollars spent on luxury watches is more important than teaching our children.

By the way, the luxury watches did not make the "high-priority" or for that matter, the "low-priority" list.

Source: District of Columbia Office of Finance

New York City won't be able to boast such low property taxes in future years. (A major reason why it could in the past was that income taxes were a significant source of revenue.) In December 2002, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg managed to hike property tax rates to 18.5% and slash some $500 million in spending, but the city is still looking at a multibillion-dollar gap.

Source: District of Columbia Office of Finance

In Birmingham , the issue of raising property taxes has become a religious debate--quite literally. Professor Susan Hamill of the University of Alabama School of Law is arguing that the state needs to change its entire tax structure (property, sales and income) on Judeo-Christian grounds. That is, because taxes are so low, the state can't afford to take care of its poorest residents. Religious fervor aside, the city is still considering shaving $30 million in school spending and raising an additional $10 million in property taxes in order to close the budget gap.

Source: Illinois - Hurray?????

New Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoes salary increases for state officers, but before you cheer - he did not have the guts to cut $200 million in pet projects (which eventually ends up in Campaign contributions) or $450 million from so called member initiatives.

Source: District of Columbia Office of Finance

Ten years ago, Coloradoans approved tax-limitation (and government-spending) legislation called the Taxpayer's Bill Of Rights. These days, in the midst of a statewide budgetary crisis, officials are trying to figure out how to get around the tax restrictions. Denver public schools are aiming to cut $12 million in spending; and because the county is prohibited from raising property taxes, officials are hoping that increased sales taxes will be able to generate enough revenue to close the gap. The mayor is also said to be considering enacting five-day furloughs to reduce costs.

Source: District of Columbia Office of Finance

Considering that Honolulu 's major industry is tourism, it's not surprising that the county generates most of its tax revenue from sales taxes. But it may not stay that way for long. Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris just submitted his $1.8 billion operating budget, which would be subsidized in part by a 2.7% increase in residential property taxes.

Bush & Gore Owe Money, Chicago SunTimes, 12/10/02

Federal Election Commission auditors recommend that President Bush repay the government more than $700,000 in public tax money it received for the 2000 election. They also say Al Gore still owes the U.S. Treasury $372,245.

Pension for Philip, Chicago SunTimes, 12/0602

Explaining Illinois legislative retirement system regarded as the states most generous TAX-FUNDED pension program - designed by the system lawmakers for themselves. Philip will receive $100,000 tax dollars a year plus a 3% cost of living increase annually, FREE health care, and a NO-STRINGS-ATTACHED USE of $1.5 MILLION Tax Dollars. WOW!

State Justifies giving Public TAX money to Private Schools, Daily Herald, December 02

State Rep. Lee Danials secured $9.2 million of public TAX dollars for private colleges and universities and in May the Daily Herald reported that Danials asked for $2 million TAX dollars for Milikin University . Danials denied that the request had anything to do with his daughter's enrollment at the School.

Card Paid for Prostitutes, Chicago SunTimes, 10/08/02

Navy personnel used government issued credit cards to hire prostitutes at brothels, buy jewelry, gamble and attend baseball and basketball games. Purchases exceeded $200,000 of Americans Tax dollars.

TAX-Cutting Panel raises their Salary, Chicago SunTimes, Nevember 02

Three deputies on the Cook County Board of Review each gave themselves $5000 a year raises. The board hears appeals from business and residential owners who feel their taxes are too high. The Sun-Times last year highlighted the way the Board appears to arbitrarily lower taxes for well-connected businesses and individuals while ignoring other taxpayers.

Orwell was simply off a few years, Molly Ivins SunTimes Article excerpts.

Reading the newspapers anymore is eerily reminiscent of all those bad novels warning of the advent of fascism in America .

To quote a real authority on the subject, "Fascism should more properly be called Corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini

'Given the power of corporate lobbyists, government control often equates to de facto corporate control anyway.' "It's getting down-right creepy out there." - Paul Krugman

"We must fight a war for the sake of peace." George Bush

G. Orwell was a great writer on the subject of totalitarianism and the book 1984 is always worth reading. The Bush quote is not vaguely Orwellian; it's a direct steal.

Socialism?

Many conservative economists will argue that eliminating taxes on savings and investment is a good way to goose the economy, by creating more investment. But it also means that wealthy people who donâ€™t work will pay NO taxes, while middle class people who do will pay LOTS. Senator John Edwards - has been quick to jump on the issue. In a speech yesterday, he said the Bush crowd â€œwants a world where the only people who have to pay taxes are the ones who do the work.â€� He added: â€œThis is the most radical and dangerous economic theory since socialism.â€�

3 Years Later

3 years after reaching a $246 BILLION settlement with the tobacco industry, states are FAILING to keep their PROMISE to use these proceeds for prevention programs but instead are diverted to budget shortfalls. (Source Campaign for tobacco free kids).

Save your own term of office and screw the future. GREAT leadership folks!

These are exactly the types of leaders that we will remove from office.

A study found that 15 states are making commitments to spending tobacco related settlement money on prevention, but only 5 of these states are doing it, and they are only spending the minimum recommended by the US Centers for Disease control and prevention. (Source Campaign for tobacco free kids)

More greed driving our elected officials.

No cares for the future just for their own continuance as politicians.

These are the kinds of leaders that our children have to look forward to.

States are trading tobacco settlement dollars for cash now. (ASH)

They are taking law suit settlement money and selling it to others for pennies on the dollar, just to get hard cash now.

States are only getting .40 per dollar trading future settlement money for cash now, basically stealing money from future budgets to save face now. (ASH)

Can you see the future, government? Or are you only looking to save your own ass now?

Donâ€™t answer that, we already know.

Save your own term of office and screw the future. GREAT leadership folks!

Did you know that politicians changed our nations Tax designation?

Original: No captivation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. (Meaning that they cannot tax citizens without a citizen census being taken first.)

Changed in 1977 to: Amendment XVI The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration. (Meaning that they could care less what the citizens think if they want to tax us, they can and there isnâ€™t a darn thing we can do about it.)

LAID-OFF WORKERS SWELLING THE COST OF DISABILITY PAY.

Louis Uchitelle. The New York Times. 2002/09/02. Page A1.

The number of workers receiving disability benefits under the Social Security system has risen from approximately 3 million in 1990 to 5.42 million currently. Many of the Americans who now receive federal disability pay are low- skilled workers who have been laid off by their employers in recent years. These benefits cost the government approximately $60 billion last year, making Social Security disability the governments largest income- support program, paying out more than the unemployment insurance or the food stamp programs. David H. Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, estimates that 40 percent to 45 percent of unemployed American men over the age of 40 who never graduated from high school are receiving Social Security disability insurance. Several studies show that low-level workers tend to ignore a number of ailments when they are employed but apply for disability benefits based on these conditions when they lose steady income. The article includes a pie chart comparing the percentage of social security payments to cover disabilities in 1990 and 2001. Two bar charts compare the percentage of disability recipients who did not complete high school and those better educated in 1984 and 1999.

Washington, D.C.

Profitable corporations that will receive a total of $7.4 billion in immediate Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) rebates if the economic â€œstimulusâ€� bill recently passed by the House of Representatives becomes law are also major campaign contributors, giving $45.7 million to federal elections since 1991[1][1][1] , according to a new report released today by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), and Public Campaign. The 30-page investigative report, â€œBuy Now, Save Later: Campaign Contributions and Corporate Taxation,â€� shows how these companies and others use campaign money to manipulate the political process to win huge tax breaks unavailable to ordinary Americans â€” and how they have been doing so for years.

John Adams (Presidential Quotes)

"Before I end my letter, I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof." (Referring to the White House. Our politicians have fallen far America.)

"Our federal tax system is, in short, utterly impossible, utterly unjust and completely counterproductive [it] reeks with injustice and is fundamentally un-American... it has earned a rebellion and it's time we rebelled".-President Ronald Reagan, May 1983, Williamsburg , VA

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign"' by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war." -Abraham Lincoln, - In a letter written to William Elkin just after the passage of the National Banking Act of 1863 and less than five months before he was assassinated.

Associated Press reports that a Washington Teachers organization used more than $2 million of members money to buy themselves luxury items including a $20,000 fur coat and $57,000 at Tiffany's. (Another non-profit organization abusing their members)

Kirk Johnson. The New York Times. 2003/01/03. Page B1.

Federal officials are working with New York City authorities to set up a long-term registry to monitor the health of as many as 200,000 people exposed to ash and dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center . The study will track the health of residents of Lower Manhattan , rescue and recovery workers and anyone who happened to be in the area when the towers were destroyed. The study, one of the largest of this type ever undertaken, is expected to cost $20 million (tax dollars), with the funds coming from federal disaster relief appropriations. Dr. Polly Thomas, the assistant commissioner at the bureau of surveillance at the city's Department of Health an Mental Hygiene, said that the study will allow health officials to determine whether there are long-term pulmonary effects, or increases in asthma, heart attacks or post-traumatic stress associated with exposure to dust and ash from the September 11 disaster. (I think we can save the $20 million dollars and assume that yes there will be some kind of an impact. But unless this $20 million will also fix these exposed Americans, then I say save the money. There is nothing you can do about the outcome anyway so why spend it.) AP UCA.

David Chen. The New York Times. 2003/01/27. Page B1.

On January 25 the families of seven employees of Cantor Fitzgerald who were killed when the World Trade Center collapsed filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Manhattan against Kenneth R. Feinberg, the administrator of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. The lawsuit accuses Feinberg, who is characterized as autocratic, of violating the law that established the fund by failing to provide fair compensation to families of the victims. The lawsuit also contends that the fund violates New York law by using after-tax projections of lost income as a basis for calculating awards. The fund is also accused of discriminating against unmarried victims and treating some high-income families unfairly by imposing a limit on the amount that can be provided.

Another Non-Profit trying to make a profit.

FAT: THE NEXT TOBACCO?

Roger Parloff. Fortune. 2003/02/03. Page 51.

This lengthy article discusses the possibility that class-action lawsuits against the fast- food industry and other defendants, charging that they are liable for marketing food that is high in fat, salt and sugar to children and other Americans, could become the next major area of litigation. The article draws comparisons with litigation against the tobacco industry and cites studies showing how Americans are becoming increasingly obese and the public health costs of the condition. The article cites precedents for such cases and notes that class-action lawsuits have been filed against McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Wendy's. While so far, most of the media reaction to these cases has been to ridicule them, some observers say that that if plaintiffs' lawyers can make the case that children have been targeted through misleading advertising they may have a legitimate legal issue.

Bush aide revises disclosure form:

Washington

Nancy Victory, the Bush administrations TOP telecommunications official, will revise her financial disclosure form to include a previously undisclosed 2001 reception in her honor that lobbyists helped pay for, the Commerce Department said. Just ten days after the party, Nancy urged immediate repeal of communications restrictions wireless companies had complained about for years.

This is how our government works America .

House weakens lobbyist rules

Washington

Undoing ethics rules, Politicians pushed changes through the House that would make it easier for lobbyist to send pizza and chicken, and would allow charities to give politicians free travel and lodging at resorts.

Help for disaster relief?

Washington

American Citizens donated $2.7 billion dollars to Sept. 11 charities, but problems distributing that money still exists.

This is how charities take our money and keep it for themselves. This is disgusting and this is why the U.C.A. will give your money back to you. Our fight is not about money, itâ€™s about standing up for ourselves but as you can see, lobbyist have an upper hand. Join us and watch your organization change the rules.

Bogus British school gets U.S. tax money aid

Washington

The Yâ€™Hica Institute for visual Arts in London England appeared to have all the credentials for U.S. tax dollar aid certification administered by the U.S. department of Education, but unknown to our federal leaders, this school does not exist. Investigators from the General Accounting Office set-up this sting operation in an effort to verify how frugal our organizations are in handing out American tax money. Apparently they are not very frugal. The question is; why is our government giving foreign schools American tax money? Shouldnâ€™t it go to our schools and our children?

2003-11-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

Todo lo que necesitamos encontrar, construir y usar para ganar, es comprender el abuso de impuestos que se esta perpetuando contra los ciudadanos americanos por la avaricia política y la corrupción. Los impuestos o mejor conocidos como el abuso de impuestos de ciudadanos americanos para ganancias políticas, será la decadencia de nuestra economía, gratificación de empleo y de nuestra sociedad.

Los Ciudadanos Unidos de América deben crear el entendimiento y construir resistencia, con todo el esfuerzo de los ciudadanos americanos antes de que sea demasiado tarde. La organización Ciudadanos Unidos de América se ha dado cuenta que el abuso político de impuestos no debe ser soportado, y la organización anima a los buenos americanos para que le alumbren el camino a sus amigos, vecinos y familiares con la verdad. Sobre todo para pelear como lo hicimos en nuestra revolución y no darnos por vencidos. El programa Campeón esta dirigido hacia los ciudadanos para que ayuden a alumbrar el camino.

Ciertamente no es difícil encontrar americanos que se han dado por vencidos. Su conclusión es que el gobierno es demasiado poderoso, corrupto y rico. Han perdido la esperanza y han permitido que es desaliento se apodere de ellos. A menudo esa pérdida de esperanza es a consecuencia de estar mal informados. Como el mito que nuestro país ya esta lleno de terroristas. Nuestra libertad se ha erosionado y esta en camino de perderse.

Lo que estos ciudadanos americanos están olvidando es que todavía poseemos libertad de asamblea, libertad de expresión y libertad de prensa. Incluyendo la libertad de traer un cambio revolucionario. Todavía podemos hacer un sonido de alarma con nuestras voces, nuestras plumas, nuestros recursos, nuestro dinero y sobre todo nuestra influencia. Todavía podemos hacer un cambio en el gobierno a través del simple proceso de informar a nuestros compatriotas ciudadanos y consolidar nuestra voz por una buena causa. En pocas palabras, todavía podemos usar nuestra libertad para salvar nuestro dinero. Si fuera demasiado tarde, estas libertades ya no existirían y la corrupción tendría un reino libre.

Mientras continuamos tratando de abrirle los ojos a nuestros compatriotas americanos para crear un entendimiento necesario y construir una resistencia efectiva contra de impuestos y la corrupción. A través de los rangos de gobierno, debemos de comprender que hay muchas razones de esperanza y que nuestro esfuerzo tendrá un fruto. Estas son algunas de las razones:

• La historia esta hecha por los pocos dedicados. Grupos pequeños de activistas siempre van a tener éxito contra las desorganizadas y patéticas mayorías. Nadie sabe esto mejor que los mismos corruptos. No se necesitan millones para detenerlos, pero si muchos mas de los que están involucrados hasta el momento. Si cada persona que esta informada le ayuda a otra a entender, y si todos se van uniendo a través de una organización efectiva para retar y exponer el abusivo y corrupto gobierno, la batalla se tornara a favor de los ciudadanos americanos.
• En nuestra nación hay más que suficiente gente para lograr esta meta. La lucha que consume a nuestra nación esta en la cúspide, una batalla entre el bien y el mal, luz y oscuridad, mentira contra verdad y ciudadanos contra el gobierno se ha descarriado. Localizando gente suficientemente buena y dándoles la energía con el asesoramiento necesario y con nuestra combinada voz organizacional, nos llevara ala victoria para cada ciudadano americano por siempre.
• Nadie quiere ser esclavo de nadie. Es fácil demostrar que la continuación de la presente póliza de impuestos de los Estados Unidos, en un futuro no muy lejano nos llevara a todos menos a los corruptos mismos al esclavismo. Nuestra meta es promover la libertad y la prosperidad para todos; nuestro gobierno esta promoviendo el esclavismo económico al igual que el sobrecargo de impuestos para su propio beneficio. Claramente, nuestra organización tiene una vista distinta en la batalla para la mente de los ciudadanos americanos y la debemos de usar.
• Tenemos la verdad de nuestro lado! El gobierno corrupto siempre ha trabajado en las sombras, escondiendo sus metas en un remolino de mentiras, engaño y confusión. Pero solo se necesita una libra de verdad para sobre llevar una tonelada de falsedad. Nuestra misión es sacar la verdad ala luz, es más fácil que continuar llevando las mentiras necesarias para engañar y llevar a los hombres a que escojan su propio esclavismo económico.
• La esperanza de la victoria existe porque nuestros enemigos son los empleados del gobierno. Ellos trabajan para nosotros, ellos somos nosotros y ellos son corruptos. El desenvolvimiento de una fuerza histórica no nos da miedo. Si alguien puede cambiar naciones por propósitos corruptos y abusivos. Nosotros podemos cambiar esta nación con fines buenos y decentes y por el mejoramiento de toda la gente. En vez de lamentarnos que nada se puede hacer, nosotros podemos cambiar la historia exigiendo que los principios guíen las acciones de esta nación y exponiendo y eliminando a los más terribles empleados de gobierno que nuestra nación ha tenido.

Si esperamos tener éxito, todo lo que hagamos debe de estar basado en la moral y el mejoramiento de todos los ciudadanos de América. Como el Sr. Robert Welch dijo en 1964: “debemos oponernos ala secreción con manos abiertas. Debemos de publicarle al mundo nuestras creencias, nuestros propósitos y nuestros métodos con plenitud así como el corrupto esconde las suyas”.

Nuestra pasión debe de ser el motor de nuestros esfuerzos que unen a la nación por un propósito común que es, traer un sistema plano de impuestos que beneficie a todos los americanos y América por igual. Esta es la forma para regresar a nuestra nación y a los políticos que se han vuelto locos a la sanidad una vez más. Debemos de hacer un llamado a los hombres y mujeres Americanas de buena conciencia e ideales humanos. Para que se unan a nosotros en este esfuerzo fundamental y como Ciudadanos Unidos de América que somos, que nos devuelvan a los Estados Unidos de América.

Promise to America, American Revolution, Pork, voice of America, government, taxation reform, American citizen, jobs, losing jobs to other countries, elderly citizens, political abuse, federal tax system, federal tax., rebellion, revolt, Ronald Reagan, George Washington, excessive party spirit, Dwight D. Eisenhower, second class citizens, labor, labor laws, Benjamin Franklin, Power to Tax, Power to Destroy, American people, corporatism, political greed, greed, political abuse, hard-earned money, tax laws, fund-raisers, United Citizens of America, politician, H.R. 25, Linder-Peterson, H.R. 1040 Armey, 16th Amendment, Congressional Action, congress, Economy, Foreign Companies, Interest Rates, Investment, Consumption only tax, president, flat tax, American support, pay out cash, population, articles, Tax plans, taxation, tax systems, outsourcings

2003-10-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

United Citizens of America Home

2003-10-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

All we must find and build and use, to win, is sufficient understanding of the tax abuses being perpetuated on American Citizens by political greed and corruption. Taxation or better defined as the abusive taxation of American citizens for political self-gain will be the downfall of our economics, employment gratification and our society. The United Citizens of America must create that understanding and build resistance, with everything American citizens can put into the effort — before we run out of time.

We realize that political tax abuse cannot withstand exposure, and we encourage good Americans to diligently light the way for their friends, neighbors, and loved ones with the truth — and, above all, to fight as we did in our revolution, and not to give up. Our Champion program is geared toward encouraging citizens to “light the way.”

It is certainly not difficult to find Americans who have given up. Their conclusion is that the government is too powerful, too corrupt, too rich, and too corporatized. They have lost hope and allowed discouragement to take control. Often that lost hope is a consequence of bad information — such as the myth that the country is already occupied by countless thousands of terrorist, our freedoms are already eroding and are well on their way to being lost.

What these American citizens overlook, of course, is that we still possess freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press — including the freedom to bring forth revolutionary change. We are still able to sound the alarm with our voices, our pens, our resources, our money, and our influence. We can still effect change in government through the simple process of informing our fellow citizens and consolidating our voice for just causes. In short, we can still use our freedoms to save our freedoms and our hard-earned money. If it were too late, such freedoms would no longer be permitted and the corrupt would have free reign.

As we continue to reach out to fellow Americans to create needed understanding and build effective resistance to the tax abuses and corruption rampant through our government ranks, we must realize that there are many reasons for hope that our efforts will bear good fruit. Here are some:

· History is made by the dedicated few. Small groups of activists will always succeed against disorganized and apathetic majorities. No one knows this better than the corrupt ones themselves. It will not take millions to stop them, but it will take many more than are involved today. If everyone who is aware helps another to understand; if the newly informed also awaken others; and if many of them come together under an effective organization to challenge and expose abusive and corrupt government, the tide of battle will be turned in the American Citizens favor.

· There are more than enough good people in our nation to accomplish this goal. The struggle that consumes our attention is, at its core, a contest between right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, truth vs. falsehood, and citizens vs. government that has gone astray. Locating enough good people and energizing them with this fundamental assessment, under our combined organizational voice, will lead to victory for every American citizen forever more.

· No one wants to be a slave. It is easy to demonstrate that a continuation of present U.S. tax policies will in the not-too-distant future, lead all but the affluent, and corrupt ones themselves into political and economic slavery. Our goal is to promote freedom and prosperity for all; our government is promoting economic slavery with over-burdensome taxation for their own benefit. Clearly, our organization has a distinct edge in the battle for the minds of American citizens — and we must use it.

· We have truth on our side! Corrupt government must always work in the shadows and hide their goals in a blizzard of lies, deceit, and confusion. But it only takes a pound of truth to overcome a ton of falsehood. Our mission of bringing truth to light is much easier than constantly spreading the lies needed to deceive men into choosing their own economic slavery.

· Hope for victory exists because the enemy is our government employees. They work for us, they are ours, and they are corrupt. The unfolding of unchangeable historical forces is not victimizing us. If some can change nations for corrupt and abusive purposes, we can change this nation for good and decent ends, and for the betterment of all the people. Instead of wringing our hands and lamenting that nothing can be done, we can shape history our way by demanding that principles guide this nation's actions and by exposing and eliminating the most foul and determined government employee’s our nation has ever experienced.

If we hope to succeed, everything we do must be based on morality and for the betterment of all American citizens. As Robert Welch noted in 1964: "We must oppose secrecy with openhandedness. We must publish to the world our beliefs, our purposes, and our methods as fully as the corrupt conceal and disguise their own.”

Our passion must fuel our efforts to uniting a nation for one common purpose, which is to bring forth a flat tax system that benefits all Americans and America equally. This is the key to returning this nation and politicians gone crazy, to sanity once again. We must call on American men and women of good conscience and humane ideals, to join us in this monumental endeavor, and as United Citizens of America, let us take back our United States of America .