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Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Friday, August 12, 2011
"I'm the worst possible choice for this country! No, I am! I hate this country! I hate it more!" Last night's GOP debate in a nutshell.
I was only able to watch a little of this three ring circus, because I have a doctor's note that excuses me from watching too much Fox news since it dramatically impairs my ability to engage in rational thought.
However what I did see was MORE than enough to convince me that we need to work our little progressive asses off to make sure that President Obama gets reelected, and that not ONE of this simple minded douchebags should be allowed anywhere near the White House!
Seriously I don't care HOW disappointed you are in this President, or how frustrated you are that he did not wave his magic negro wand and solve all of the nation's problems like you convinced yourself he would, from what I saw last night he is this country's only hope of not ending up looking like a real life version of a "Mad Max" movie.
These are the scariest bunch of lunatics I have seen gathered on one stage since I watched patients at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute put on their version of a "Midsummer Night's Dream." (Not bad really. I especially enjoyed the part where the actor playing Puck forgot his lines and kept asking if anybody in the audience had a copy of Shakespeare with them.)
Hearing these slack jawed candy asses claim that they would NOT raise taxes even if they were promised ten spending cuts for each tax hike made my frontal lobe scream for mercy.
I know these people are smarter than that (except for Michele Bachmann who is only about six brain cells away from having to have a cork stuck to the end of her fork) and yet they refuse to stand up to Grover Norquist and the Teabaggers, and tell the voters the truth about what it will take to fix this nation's economy. That was a shameful display.
There were a FEW glimmers of intelligence, such as Jon Huntsman saying that he would repeal NCLB, but for the most part this appeared to a contest to see who could act like the most ignorant man on the stage.
In fact these wannabe leaders of the free world had dumbed themselves down to such a degree that having Sarah "all you need is common sense" Palin and Rick "I can't figure it out so let's pray for a solution"Perry join them onstage might actually have RAISED the combined Intelligence Quotient.
Yeah, it was THAT bad!
Now if you will excuse me I have to write a check to the Barack Obama reelection campaign.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
US taxpayers subsidized Rupert Murdoch's efforts to destroy journalism in this country to the tune of 4.8 billion dollars! Update! Important correction.
From Reuters:
Rupert Murdoch may not garner as much attention for his financial savvy as he does for his journalistic escapades, which last week led to the shuttering of Britain’s oldest tabloid. But that doesn’t make his money management any less impressive.
Indeed, when it comes to taxes, instead of rendering unto Caesar, Murdoch has Caesar rendering unto him.
Over the past four years Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp. has made money on income taxes. Having earned $10.4 billion in profits, News Corp. would have been expected to pay $3.6 billion at the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Instead, it actually collected $4.8 billion in income tax refunds, all or nearly all from the U.S. government.
Low life, scum sucking, son-of-a-bitch!
Here I thought I could not dislike Rupert Murdoch anymore than I already do, and then I learn this!
There you go Americans. While our economy is suffering through historic hard times, and our neighbors cannot find jobs to feed their families, our tax dollars are going to subsidize a man who has purposefully lied to the citizens of this country, provided a platform for constant attacks against our President, and helped sell TWO unnecessary wars to the American people!
There is no place in hell hot enough to adequately punish this cancerous piece of human excrement.
Update: Well at least THIS is some good news today:
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire dropped its bid to takeover lucrative British Sky Broadcasting on Wednesday ahead of a House of Commons vote in which all three major parties were to issue that very demand.
News Corp. deputy chairman and president Chase Carey said "it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate."
Gee, ya think?
Well this is a start, but personally I will not be satisfied until Murdoch has been run out of the news business forever. And takes all of those phony journalists at Fox News with him, by the way.
Yes I know that I am being unrealistic, but a man can dream can't he?
Correction: The journalist who wrote the initial article that I based this post on, has admitted he made a rather large mistake.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp did not get a $4.8 billion tax refund for the past four years, as I reported. Instead, it paid that much in cash for corporate income taxes for the years 2007 through 2010 while earning pre-tax profits of $10.4 billion.
For the first time in my 45-year-old career I am writing a skinback. That is what journalists call a retraction of the premise of a piece, as in peeling back your skin and feeling the pain. I will do all I can to make sure everyone who has read or heard secondary reports based on my column also learns the facts and would appreciate the help of readers in that cause.
The journalist, David Cay Johnston, then goes on to explain how he made the error in some detail.
I apologize for my part in disseminating this information. I placed my confidence in the reporter, and it seems he simply made an honest mistake. I understand mistakes, I make them myself quite frequently.
However like Mr. Johnston, and unlike some people who attempt to double down on an error, I try to own up to my mistakes. And so I have.
I will of course continue to try and provide only accurate information in the future. However I simply cannot promise that I will not slip up occasionally. I am only human.
Rupert Murdoch may not garner as much attention for his financial savvy as he does for his journalistic escapades, which last week led to the shuttering of Britain’s oldest tabloid. But that doesn’t make his money management any less impressive.
Indeed, when it comes to taxes, instead of rendering unto Caesar, Murdoch has Caesar rendering unto him.
Over the past four years Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp. has made money on income taxes. Having earned $10.4 billion in profits, News Corp. would have been expected to pay $3.6 billion at the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Instead, it actually collected $4.8 billion in income tax refunds, all or nearly all from the U.S. government.
Low life, scum sucking, son-of-a-bitch!
Here I thought I could not dislike Rupert Murdoch anymore than I already do, and then I learn this!
There you go Americans. While our economy is suffering through historic hard times, and our neighbors cannot find jobs to feed their families, our tax dollars are going to subsidize a man who has purposefully lied to the citizens of this country, provided a platform for constant attacks against our President, and helped sell TWO unnecessary wars to the American people!
There is no place in hell hot enough to adequately punish this cancerous piece of human excrement.
Update: Well at least THIS is some good news today:
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire dropped its bid to takeover lucrative British Sky Broadcasting on Wednesday ahead of a House of Commons vote in which all three major parties were to issue that very demand.
News Corp. deputy chairman and president Chase Carey said "it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate."
Gee, ya think?
Well this is a start, but personally I will not be satisfied until Murdoch has been run out of the news business forever. And takes all of those phony journalists at Fox News with him, by the way.
Yes I know that I am being unrealistic, but a man can dream can't he?
Correction: The journalist who wrote the initial article that I based this post on, has admitted he made a rather large mistake.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp did not get a $4.8 billion tax refund for the past four years, as I reported. Instead, it paid that much in cash for corporate income taxes for the years 2007 through 2010 while earning pre-tax profits of $10.4 billion.
For the first time in my 45-year-old career I am writing a skinback. That is what journalists call a retraction of the premise of a piece, as in peeling back your skin and feeling the pain. I will do all I can to make sure everyone who has read or heard secondary reports based on my column also learns the facts and would appreciate the help of readers in that cause.
The journalist, David Cay Johnston, then goes on to explain how he made the error in some detail.
I apologize for my part in disseminating this information. I placed my confidence in the reporter, and it seems he simply made an honest mistake. I understand mistakes, I make them myself quite frequently.
However like Mr. Johnston, and unlike some people who attempt to double down on an error, I try to own up to my mistakes. And so I have.
I will of course continue to try and provide only accurate information in the future. However I simply cannot promise that I will not slip up occasionally. I am only human.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Time for a little TRUTH about government, jobs, and the Republican party's attempt to negatively impact both.
The GOP has been a cult for a while, and Grover Norquist is Jim Jones.
Republicans love to wrap themselves in the American flag, and profess their unending, deep love for their country, yet hate the US Government with every fiber of their being. That, in and of itself, is the ultimate CULT disconnect.
These people have drunk so much GOPKool-aid™ they think all science is a myth, and the world is only 6,000 years old. How on Earth do you have a rational conversation with people like that?
Perhaps we need to start with something they can wrap their heads around: JOBS.
Let me lay down some facts that EVERYONE needs to spread far and wide:
One of the biggest GOP lies going around is, “The Government doesn’t create jobs.” When, in fact, the US Government (Fed/State/Local) is the largest employer on PLANET EARTH, with more employees world-wide than any privately held company. Not only does “The Government” CREATE jobs, it does it in the most economical/cost-effective way possible, because it is NOT a private company who has $12 million (+ annual bonuses) CEOs to feed and care for (United Health Care), but doesn’t sell stock, and profit isn’t the bottom line, only the QUALITY of it’s services.
All the Republicans want to do is CUT GOVERNMENT. Think about that for a minute. Why would they want to do that? Because their donors KNOW that the USGov is the largest employer, and they want some of that action.
One of the main Republican mantras is “Leave it alone and the Free Market will take care of it.” The only thing is, the free market already has, which is why the USGov has all those jobs – they’re the ones who can do it the most cost effective way, and protect the people/give high quality service at the same time, because there is no PROFIT.
So the GOP wants to cut government spending so it CANNOT do it’s job, and it becomes ineffective at funding those jobs, so some private company can come in and take it over, and MAKE A PROFIT. But then, that leads to shortcuts, outsourcing, DEREGULATION, and a lack of on the job safety in a race to the bottom. Fewer and fewer people doing the work of many, so that corners are cut, people are overworked, all for corporate profit – and the result can be deadly on a massive scale (please see 9/11 and 19 men boarding aircraft with box cutters when airport security was contracted with private companies.)
The GOP wants to privatize everything so they and their corporate masters can make more money. This is NOT about creating jobs. This is about CUTTING them, and shipping them to India, China, or anywhere where the pay is the lowest.
FACT: American infrastructure is crumbling. There are millions of people who could go to work tomorrow fixing all of that – and not just construction work, but the administrative workforce that goes along with those jobs locally. Those jobs are in the Government’s purview, but it needs funding.
FACT: We have a doctor shortage. There are millions of students who would go into the medical field if they could only afford it. The Government could easily fund these students if there was the tax money to do it. However, the GOP is all about privatizing our Universities, and that doesn’t bode well for students, since grants and scholarships are only available to students who can generate cash – mostly athletes.
FACT: We have fallen behind in the tech and science sectors because of lack of funding. Again, the private sector (PHARMA) has pulled ahead because of lack of funds to government funded programs. This has also resulted in placing money and profit over safety and human lives. It’s more cost-effective to make a drug that kills than test it properly, (made even easier by a Supreme Court that is ruling against being able to even file a class-action suit, and giving corporations more rights that human beings in who they can sue for damages and death.) Manufacture a tire that falls apart, and pay the fine. The profit is more, so where is the incentive to strive for better quality or save lives?
When profit wins over quality of the product or service, we all lose. But the GOP has been dismantling and underfunding our education system for decades to the point we have one of the highest illiteracy rates of any industrialized nation. Civics and government are no longer taught in schools, only a fraction of a watered-down history ever sees the light of day, and now school books are being printed that inserts Creationism, and Intelligent Design into the curriculum. Mythology taught as fact.
FACT: People need jobs. We need things fixed. The Government can hire people and put them to work. The more people who work, the more people are spending money thus stimulating the economy and paying taxes. The more tax revenues the Government collects the more money Government has to create programs and services we need to hire more people to run them, who then spend more money into the economy, creating more demand for goods and services – EVERYONE WINS, except the über-greedy who have sold their soul to the highest bidder. They won’t lose anything except perhaps their write-off on their second and third homes. They will however, stop being carried on the backs of the rest of us, and have to pull more of their own weight. Boo-frakkin-hoo.
If deregulation, tax cuts for the super-rich,tax loopholes, and corporate tax rebates created jobs, we’d have zero unemployment and the most vibrant economy on the planet by now because these policies have been in place for over a decade, yet anyone with a functioning brain stem can see that is not the case, and our folly has melted over into a global crisis. Still the Republicans makes an art form of denial and want to double down on all of it.
The GOP has no interest in people, or investing in in America’s future. It’s only interested in MONEY, and is not only trashing it’s own house, it’s hell-bent on burning down the entire neighborhood, and surrounding villages, all because of their blinding, personal greed and poisonous hatred for one man.
(Eloquently, and passionately written by Tally.)
Republicans love to wrap themselves in the American flag, and profess their unending, deep love for their country, yet hate the US Government with every fiber of their being. That, in and of itself, is the ultimate CULT disconnect.
These people have drunk so much GOPKool-aid™ they think all science is a myth, and the world is only 6,000 years old. How on Earth do you have a rational conversation with people like that?
Perhaps we need to start with something they can wrap their heads around: JOBS.
Let me lay down some facts that EVERYONE needs to spread far and wide:
One of the biggest GOP lies going around is, “The Government doesn’t create jobs.” When, in fact, the US Government (Fed/State/Local) is the largest employer on PLANET EARTH, with more employees world-wide than any privately held company. Not only does “The Government” CREATE jobs, it does it in the most economical/cost-effective way possible, because it is NOT a private company who has $12 million (+ annual bonuses) CEOs to feed and care for (United Health Care), but doesn’t sell stock, and profit isn’t the bottom line, only the QUALITY of it’s services.
All the Republicans want to do is CUT GOVERNMENT. Think about that for a minute. Why would they want to do that? Because their donors KNOW that the USGov is the largest employer, and they want some of that action.
One of the main Republican mantras is “Leave it alone and the Free Market will take care of it.” The only thing is, the free market already has, which is why the USGov has all those jobs – they’re the ones who can do it the most cost effective way, and protect the people/give high quality service at the same time, because there is no PROFIT.
So the GOP wants to cut government spending so it CANNOT do it’s job, and it becomes ineffective at funding those jobs, so some private company can come in and take it over, and MAKE A PROFIT. But then, that leads to shortcuts, outsourcing, DEREGULATION, and a lack of on the job safety in a race to the bottom. Fewer and fewer people doing the work of many, so that corners are cut, people are overworked, all for corporate profit – and the result can be deadly on a massive scale (please see 9/11 and 19 men boarding aircraft with box cutters when airport security was contracted with private companies.)
The GOP wants to privatize everything so they and their corporate masters can make more money. This is NOT about creating jobs. This is about CUTTING them, and shipping them to India, China, or anywhere where the pay is the lowest.
FACT: American infrastructure is crumbling. There are millions of people who could go to work tomorrow fixing all of that – and not just construction work, but the administrative workforce that goes along with those jobs locally. Those jobs are in the Government’s purview, but it needs funding.
FACT: We have a doctor shortage. There are millions of students who would go into the medical field if they could only afford it. The Government could easily fund these students if there was the tax money to do it. However, the GOP is all about privatizing our Universities, and that doesn’t bode well for students, since grants and scholarships are only available to students who can generate cash – mostly athletes.
FACT: We have fallen behind in the tech and science sectors because of lack of funding. Again, the private sector (PHARMA) has pulled ahead because of lack of funds to government funded programs. This has also resulted in placing money and profit over safety and human lives. It’s more cost-effective to make a drug that kills than test it properly, (made even easier by a Supreme Court that is ruling against being able to even file a class-action suit, and giving corporations more rights that human beings in who they can sue for damages and death.) Manufacture a tire that falls apart, and pay the fine. The profit is more, so where is the incentive to strive for better quality or save lives?
When profit wins over quality of the product or service, we all lose. But the GOP has been dismantling and underfunding our education system for decades to the point we have one of the highest illiteracy rates of any industrialized nation. Civics and government are no longer taught in schools, only a fraction of a watered-down history ever sees the light of day, and now school books are being printed that inserts Creationism, and Intelligent Design into the curriculum. Mythology taught as fact.
FACT: People need jobs. We need things fixed. The Government can hire people and put them to work. The more people who work, the more people are spending money thus stimulating the economy and paying taxes. The more tax revenues the Government collects the more money Government has to create programs and services we need to hire more people to run them, who then spend more money into the economy, creating more demand for goods and services – EVERYONE WINS, except the über-greedy who have sold their soul to the highest bidder. They won’t lose anything except perhaps their write-off on their second and third homes. They will however, stop being carried on the backs of the rest of us, and have to pull more of their own weight. Boo-frakkin-hoo.
If deregulation, tax cuts for the super-rich,tax loopholes, and corporate tax rebates created jobs, we’d have zero unemployment and the most vibrant economy on the planet by now because these policies have been in place for over a decade, yet anyone with a functioning brain stem can see that is not the case, and our folly has melted over into a global crisis. Still the Republicans makes an art form of denial and want to double down on all of it.
The GOP has no interest in people, or investing in in America’s future. It’s only interested in MONEY, and is not only trashing it’s own house, it’s hell-bent on burning down the entire neighborhood, and surrounding villages, all because of their blinding, personal greed and poisonous hatred for one man.
(Eloquently, and passionately written by Tally.)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Sarah hates taxes but yet has no problem having tax money spent on her
ABC News
Sarah Palin is set to tour national monuments around the country this summer, and one congressman wants to know how that will affect everyone else.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) sent a letter to the National Park Service today asking how federal resources were used for the northeast leg of Palin’s “One Nation Tour,” which traveled from Washington, D.C. to New Hampshire last week. His concern: press accounts of the tour “which provided personal and political benefits to former Gov. Palin, suggest that National Park Service resources were made available to an extent beyond that which an average American family would receive.”
“I opened my paper this morning to hear about cutbacks in state parks around this country,” Blumenauer told ABC News. “We have a serious backlog of maintenance in the National Park Service. And it looks like Sarah Palin’s little political cavalcade gets this amazing VIP treatment – I’m scratching my head. If it’s a private family vacation, what in the world are we doing getting people in with preferential early admission and having an entourage of public employees? It looks like a political stunt, and Palin Inc. ought to pay for it.”
Palin was surrounded by park rangers and, at times, police officers during her tour stops. Last Wednesday, she and her family were accompanied by approximately 10 authorities as they toured the Statue of Liberty.
David Barna, a Park Service spokesman, told ABC News that with the exception of the Statue of Liberty visit, it was business as usual at all the sites Palin saw. (With the exception, of course, of dozens of spectators and press following the former Alaska governor.)
“
We recognize she is not a government official, she is not a candidate for public office, so we treated her as any other celebrity that might come in,” he said. He compared the Park Service’s treatment of Palin last week – organizing private tours, opening specific monuments early – to what they might do “for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie."
“If there was any cost, it might have been for the park police at the Statue of Liberty,” he said. “Right now, I don’t know the answer to that."
Barna is seeking answers to Rep. Blumenauer’s question about how much money went into hosting Palin. As far as planning for Palin’s potential visits to other national monuments – she said she plans to visit the West Coast, Iowa and South Carolina this summer – he said, “We haven’t done anything, we’re not involved in anything. We’re just like everyone else, waiting to see what happens.”
While the congressman isn’t necessarily a fan of Palin – he noted, “This is the woman who called my bi-partisan end of life care ‘death panels’” – he said this inquiry “isn’t a vendetta against her.”
“I want to find out what’s going on,” he said. “It shouldn’t be the case with anyone, celebrity or otherwise, that we use resources needed to protect these jewels of the American outdoors and the employees who guard them to give special treatment to VIPs.”
Aides for Palin declined ABC News’ request for comment.
If Sarah really cared about the deficit she would reimburse the National Park Service and the local police departments that were involved in her Bus Tour. She is a cunt of the highest order. And I don't want any of my tax dollars spent on a cunt liker her.
Sarah Palin is set to tour national monuments around the country this summer, and one congressman wants to know how that will affect everyone else.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) sent a letter to the National Park Service today asking how federal resources were used for the northeast leg of Palin’s “One Nation Tour,” which traveled from Washington, D.C. to New Hampshire last week. His concern: press accounts of the tour “which provided personal and political benefits to former Gov. Palin, suggest that National Park Service resources were made available to an extent beyond that which an average American family would receive.”
“I opened my paper this morning to hear about cutbacks in state parks around this country,” Blumenauer told ABC News. “We have a serious backlog of maintenance in the National Park Service. And it looks like Sarah Palin’s little political cavalcade gets this amazing VIP treatment – I’m scratching my head. If it’s a private family vacation, what in the world are we doing getting people in with preferential early admission and having an entourage of public employees? It looks like a political stunt, and Palin Inc. ought to pay for it.”
Palin was surrounded by park rangers and, at times, police officers during her tour stops. Last Wednesday, she and her family were accompanied by approximately 10 authorities as they toured the Statue of Liberty.
David Barna, a Park Service spokesman, told ABC News that with the exception of the Statue of Liberty visit, it was business as usual at all the sites Palin saw. (With the exception, of course, of dozens of spectators and press following the former Alaska governor.)
“
We recognize she is not a government official, she is not a candidate for public office, so we treated her as any other celebrity that might come in,” he said. He compared the Park Service’s treatment of Palin last week – organizing private tours, opening specific monuments early – to what they might do “for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie."
“If there was any cost, it might have been for the park police at the Statue of Liberty,” he said. “Right now, I don’t know the answer to that."
Barna is seeking answers to Rep. Blumenauer’s question about how much money went into hosting Palin. As far as planning for Palin’s potential visits to other national monuments – she said she plans to visit the West Coast, Iowa and South Carolina this summer – he said, “We haven’t done anything, we’re not involved in anything. We’re just like everyone else, waiting to see what happens.”
While the congressman isn’t necessarily a fan of Palin – he noted, “This is the woman who called my bi-partisan end of life care ‘death panels’” – he said this inquiry “isn’t a vendetta against her.”
“I want to find out what’s going on,” he said. “It shouldn’t be the case with anyone, celebrity or otherwise, that we use resources needed to protect these jewels of the American outdoors and the employees who guard them to give special treatment to VIPs.”
Aides for Palin declined ABC News’ request for comment.
If Sarah really cared about the deficit she would reimburse the National Park Service and the local police departments that were involved in her Bus Tour. She is a cunt of the highest order. And I don't want any of my tax dollars spent on a cunt liker her.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Will the recent tornadoes damage the GOP's anti-government argument?
From the Kansas City Star:
A pernicious story line, recited on talk radio, in state legislatures and in some quarters of Washington, says that government can’t do anything right. Government is the problem, Ronald Reagan famously said. And a vast political and business alliance works furiously to make his declaration a self-fulfilling prophecy by underfunding vital programs and disparaging public employees.
But when disaster strikes, we expect government to work. We need it to work. Last week, it did.
Police, firefighters and medics made their way through the dark and the rain Sunday night to rescue the trapped and aid the wounded. Kansas City had 50 firefighters en route within hours. Its police department sent communications specialists, tactical teams, a search-and-rescue dog and a traffic enforcement squad.
Other cities sent first-responder teams. They worked in the rain that first day, searching the rubble for survivors and for bodies. In a cruel sign that nature hadn’t quite finished its mayhem, two police officers from Riverside were felled by a lightning strike. Officer Jeff Taylor was gravely injured.
Like the city he was helping, he will have a long road to recovery.
Throughout the week, personnel from the state of Missouri poured into Joplin. The National Guard and the Highway Patrol got there quickly. Officials with expertise in emergency management, insurance, mental health, care of senior citizens, land use and power grids followed.
The often-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency got a team to Joplin within hours of the tornado to set up telecommunications and help with logistics and support.
This in no way diminishes the vital role of the Red Cross and other nonprofit agencies, and of businesses, in responding to the disaster. But public employees and government agencies make up the underpinning of the recovery effort.
The need for government help in Joplin will continue for years. Streets must be replaced. Schools and a hospital must be rebuilt. Families will need temporary housing.
It is easy to wax poetic about trimming government spending, and cutting costs to taxpayers, but when disaster strikes, or our elderly loved ones suffer a health crisis, aren't we ALL suddenly fans of government programs like FEMA, Medicare, and even the National Guard?
That is why the Republican rhetoric is simply blown away in the wind when you look out the window and see this bearing down on you.
I don't know about the rest of you, but after seeing the images of the devastation left in the wake of these massive tornadoes, I am one hundred percent on support of having my taxes raised to pay for the programs that help my fellow Americans.
But hey if we are going to get serious about cutting government costs, I know a couple of wars I would gladly see come to an end. Just a thought.
A pernicious story line, recited on talk radio, in state legislatures and in some quarters of Washington, says that government can’t do anything right. Government is the problem, Ronald Reagan famously said. And a vast political and business alliance works furiously to make his declaration a self-fulfilling prophecy by underfunding vital programs and disparaging public employees.
But when disaster strikes, we expect government to work. We need it to work. Last week, it did.
Police, firefighters and medics made their way through the dark and the rain Sunday night to rescue the trapped and aid the wounded. Kansas City had 50 firefighters en route within hours. Its police department sent communications specialists, tactical teams, a search-and-rescue dog and a traffic enforcement squad.
Other cities sent first-responder teams. They worked in the rain that first day, searching the rubble for survivors and for bodies. In a cruel sign that nature hadn’t quite finished its mayhem, two police officers from Riverside were felled by a lightning strike. Officer Jeff Taylor was gravely injured.
Like the city he was helping, he will have a long road to recovery.
Throughout the week, personnel from the state of Missouri poured into Joplin. The National Guard and the Highway Patrol got there quickly. Officials with expertise in emergency management, insurance, mental health, care of senior citizens, land use and power grids followed.
The often-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency got a team to Joplin within hours of the tornado to set up telecommunications and help with logistics and support.
This in no way diminishes the vital role of the Red Cross and other nonprofit agencies, and of businesses, in responding to the disaster. But public employees and government agencies make up the underpinning of the recovery effort.
The need for government help in Joplin will continue for years. Streets must be replaced. Schools and a hospital must be rebuilt. Families will need temporary housing.
It is easy to wax poetic about trimming government spending, and cutting costs to taxpayers, but when disaster strikes, or our elderly loved ones suffer a health crisis, aren't we ALL suddenly fans of government programs like FEMA, Medicare, and even the National Guard?
That is why the Republican rhetoric is simply blown away in the wind when you look out the window and see this bearing down on you.
I don't know about the rest of you, but after seeing the images of the devastation left in the wake of these massive tornadoes, I am one hundred percent on support of having my taxes raised to pay for the programs that help my fellow Americans.
But hey if we are going to get serious about cutting government costs, I know a couple of wars I would gladly see come to an end. Just a thought.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Reason #53 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything
Her reality show Sarah Palin's Alaska was politically motivated
From Palingates:
Sarah Palin's Alaska received a 1.2 million dollar tax credit from the State of Alaska, however since it was politically motivated they were ineligible to receive the credit but did so anyway. Several examples of Palin injecting politics into the show were her comment about Michelle Obama and eating sweets, Joe McGinness, asking Todd about taxes, how the Grizzly Bears do not depend on others for food, the price of gold.
You can read the bill regarding tax credits here
Sarah thinks she is above the law. Time to give that $1.2 million back to the AK taxpayers.
From Palingates:
Sarah Palin's Alaska received a 1.2 million dollar tax credit from the State of Alaska, however since it was politically motivated they were ineligible to receive the credit but did so anyway. Several examples of Palin injecting politics into the show were her comment about Michelle Obama and eating sweets, Joe McGinness, asking Todd about taxes, how the Grizzly Bears do not depend on others for food, the price of gold.
You can read the bill regarding tax credits here
Sarah thinks she is above the law. Time to give that $1.2 million back to the AK taxpayers.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Today is Tax Day
No one likes Tax, I'm a Democrat and I don't like it either. But taxes are like death, everyone has to deal with it. Taxes though can be a benefit to society, who do you think pays for our military, police departments, schools etc, the tooth fairy? Santa Claus? Nope, we do!
If we want a good quality of life we have to pay taxes, deal with it. I am willing to pay for nice roads than crappy ones.
Then there are people like the Republican Sarah Palin who make millions of dollars yet will not pay their fair share. People like Schaeffer Cox, who thinks he is a sovereign nation and does not have to pay federal or state taxes and tries to kill a judge who enforces the law.
Bristol Palin if you are reading this I did send the article about you making $262,000 in 2009 from Candies to the IRS.
If we want a good quality of life we have to pay taxes, deal with it. I am willing to pay for nice roads than crappy ones.
Then there are people like the Republican Sarah Palin who make millions of dollars yet will not pay their fair share. People like Schaeffer Cox, who thinks he is a sovereign nation and does not have to pay federal or state taxes and tries to kill a judge who enforces the law.
Bristol Palin if you are reading this I did send the article about you making $262,000 in 2009 from Candies to the IRS.
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