For those who thought me longwinded yesterday...

I hope you'll forgive me for today's post!

This morning in my inbox I found an e-mail from the only friend I have who has been a friend for more than 20 years. He lives in what is generally considered "The West", having been smart enough to take a buyout from GM almost 25 years ago and go to school. He is an ICU nurse, a rancher, a hunter and fisherman. He gives 2nd Ammendment issues (right to bear arms for those of you overseas) as much weight as all the other issues; rightfully so because where he lives you need a firearm to protect yourself and your stock from predators both 4 and 2 legged. I was there once when the County Sheriff reminded him that if anything happens that it will take him at least 45 minutes to respond and an hour for the State Police to get there, if they can find the place...

He has had equipment stolen from his property while he was at work; gates left open and stock let out, though thankfully the horses were recovered, the chickens, geese and turkeys weren't. He has had horses killed by marauding dogs most likely dropped by "city folk"; dogs that had "packed together" to hunt. The last time we spoke he was trying to deal with a badger that was raiding his chicken coop.

He attached a YouTube clip of a right-wing rant against Obama's positions on the 2nd Ammendment (one that included not one word from Obama himself, only half-quotes) and asked me why he should "pull the lever for this guy, give me a reason".

My response:

"How can I answer your question...perhaps the following that greeted me on my news page this morning-

"GAO: Most U.S. Corps. Don't Pay Income Tax"

with a subheader:

"GAO: Trillions In Sales Untaxed For Years"

I'm surprised the powers that be let that one get out right before McBush tries to continue the current course!

I was interested in all the blather going on around the clips you found on YouTube. Just like the ongoing flame wars between "Faux News" and MSNBC, for any clip you can find of one thing you can find it's opposite:





Interesting, because in all 3, despite the dates, he seems to be saying exactly the same thing. Is it the truth, is it how he truly feels in his heart? It really doesn't matter, because even if he wins; even if the Democrats manage to take over the House and the Senate with enough of a majority to actually accomplish something, it will be such a slim margin that the 20 or so "Blue Dog" Southern Democrats will always vote against any legislation that would register or ban firearms, negating anything but the enforcement of current laws already on the books. As they should be!

Even if Clarence Thomas takes driving lessons from Robert Novak, there's no chance of appointing enough justices to change the currently accepted views of the 2nd Ammendment. I don't expect there to be a litmus test in the appointment of judges that asks "Why do you support the overthrow of the 2nd Ammendment" as a precursor to their being appointed as there was under Bushco...the one that the Attorney General announced this morning will not be prosecuted...

Something has to be done to wrest the control of this country and our future from the "Skull and Bones" crowd. That they can write off their corporate profits and pay no taxes on it, tax shelter their personal income and pay less than you and I, leaving us to try and build the roads, teach the children, take care of the sick, buy the aircraft carriers and everything else is just too much for us to bear.

Ross Perot spoke of that "great sucking sound" of wealth being pulled overseas 20 years ago; an even greater divide is emerging between those who "pay for our government" and those who control it.

Will Rogers said 75 years ago that "We get all the government we can afford". Though I can't seem to find online evidence to back it, I seem to remember hearing that when FDR began the New Deal, if you made more than $125,000/year you were taxed at 90%, which was part of why so many of the "robber barons" of old started building museums and philantropic organizations during that period; if they couldn't have it they would give it away rather than have it go to the government. (Just fine by me, BTW!)

I did, however, run across this:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:D1urkGQS-DYJ:www.workingpeople.org/taxhistory.htm+federal+tax+brackets+under+FDR&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

The last paragraph provides some evidence of what I was raving about above:

"Between 1950 and 1990, the percentage of Federal revenue from corporate and excise taxes dropped from 45 to just 12 percent. During that same period, the share of revenue from individual income and payroll taxes jumped from 51 to 83 percent, most of the increase falling on middle and low income taxpayers. That increased burden on low and middle income families is one of the reasons why so many of those families are struggling, in spite of the economic boom of the 90s. The wealthy, however, have done quite well. Between 1952 and 2000, the maximum tax rate on the highest incomes has dropped from 92 to 39.6 percent. The Bush tax cut of 2001 further lowers the top tax bracket to 35 percent."

If that's not reason enough to pull the lever you spoke of, I don't know what is..."

Pardon my rant...

May the rest of the week be kind!

alan

5PM- I don't know what's going on with Blogger, but the comment line has disappeared for this post; I've turned it off and back on, reloaded the page, nothing seems to work...should anyone happen to read this, it wasn't me!