Sunday, April 19, 2015


April 24th will come and pass without most Americans realizing its significance.
But it happens to be the day known as “Tax Freedom Day.”
You'll believe anything!
That sounds really cool.
This is a day for us to celebrate.
So why does it go unnoticed?
Well for one reason it’s not real.
We don’t stop paying tax on April 24th and in fact most of us will continue to pay taxes every day for the rest of our lives.
And taxes are taken out of every paycheck and collected on most if not all sales.
So how is April 24th a day of tax freedom?
Well if workers added up their entire gross salary for every day they worked from the start of the year and gave every penny to the government April 24th would be the day they have paid their entire tax bill for the year.
April 24th? Hah!
In other words they finally start working for themselves!
Of course if you add all the other costs you must pay then the day gets moved a little further down the calendar.
For example if you add up all the money you pay to insurance companies of all sorts and utility companies who must be fed you might actually be depressed to note that not even the first eight months of the year are yours to keep!
But let’s just talk taxes.
The above scenario only actually affects the middle class.
How can this be you might ask.
Well the poor and homeless among us do not earn enough to survive let alone pay taxes so they are not affected.
And large corporations and the wealthiest among us, or rather above us as they would prefer be called pay little or no taxes to begin with and in some case are even rewarded with subsidies as is the case with that poor indigent corporation Exxon.
For this group Tax Freedom Day actually comes and passes at the one second mark of January the first every year.
So armed with the knowledge that the middle class pays most of the taxes in America one might think that they are the most important group and should be protected.
Surely if they are not around anymore then America will not have enough revenue to operate!
So how come one political party in particular is trying to squeeze them out of existence?
Glaciers? Glacier?
We don't need no stinkin Glaciers!!
Perhaps it is for the same reason they also wish to ignore that Global Climate change is caused by human actions and could eventually ruin the environment so vital to our future.
And that reason is pandering to the wealthy!
Most large corporations and the people who run them make their money by ignoring the environmental consequences of their actions.  Following rules and regulations can cut into your profit margin.
And if you are sued for negligence that causes a death here and there or an oil spill that kills thousands of creatures and pollutes the environment your attorneys can drag things out until the public forgets and a lawmaker is convinced to slap you on the wrist and move on.
You see when you don’t have to worry about money or taxes for that matter you are free to spend as you like.

And what better way to spend your money than to buy and own a government!
Art Pope is not a Pope!
When billionaire right winger Art Pope bought the elections in North Carolina he populated the legislature with his cronies and placed himself as the States’ Budget Director.
In that role he decided to stop funding the States education system.  He also fired the head of the State’s education system for no apparent reason and then blocked certain courses from their medical school on what might appear to be religious grounds!
Former head of NC School system
Tom Ross never saw what hit him.
He was too intelligent to think
anyone could be so stupid!
The school, University of North Carolina, UNC was once considered the bright spot in the State and one of the top medical schools in the nation.  It is now in danger of losing its accreditation as a medical school.
What a tremendous blow not only to education in North Carolina but to the State as a whole.
But megalomaniac Art Pope is not alone in his dream of total control.  The Koch brothers are scheming to steal National elections and are currently working to place their favorite son, Scott Walker in the White House. (Please click the links for more information!)
Vote for me
In a plot straight out of “The Omen” if this happens look out America, or rather look out American Middle Class!
When and if these men and others like them realize their dreams the American Dream will devolve into a nightmare.

And if that comes to pass Tax Freedom Day for those of us still around will most likely be pushed back to late December.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Earth Day 2015

We all would like to think of ourselves as an authority on something but must realize we probably are not.  But one guy who is happens to be The Science Guy, Bill Nye!  And since he can say it better than I, I will let him!
This is his statement on this years 45th annual Earth Day:

Bill Nye: Earth Days 45 years apart

By the spring of 1970, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River had caught on fire, disabling a couple of railroad bridges. Dozens of people had been killed in their sleep by industrial air that descended on Pennsylvania towns at night. Like my dad, I was a Boy Scout. I could tell nature wasn't what it used to be.
The US had become a deadly place— for black leaders and anyone who wanted to drink the water or breathe. So when Earth Day was organized I was all in. As a native to what was the small town of Washington, DC, I rode my bicycle all the way down to the Washington Monument and the big Earth Day stage. The speakers were trying to shake us up, to get us all talking about our planet. And it worked. The Environmental Protection Agency was created along with the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other environmental legislation.
This is the 45th Earth Day, and I hope it’s the biggest one so far because, today, even the horrific ongoing effects of pollution are being overwhelmed by the Earth’s main issue: climate change. It’s as big as the planet itself and we’ve hardly begun to do things about it. During my lifetime, the Earth’s human population has grown from less than three billion to almost seven and a quarter billion.
We are all breathing and burning the Earth’s one thin atmosphere. If you could somehow drive a car straight up, you’d be in outer space in less than an hour. That’s the problem everyone: a great many people and not all that much air to live in.
Often people ask me “What can I do about climate change?” Well madams and sirs, this Earth Day, just talk about it. Talk about climate change. Earth Day’s purpose was and is to raise awareness, to get people fired up. We are living in an extraordinary time. The climate science is clear, yet many of our leaders succeed in denying it.
They run for government office, but seem to hate government and what we can do together. By talking about pollution and climate change on Earth Day, we can turn things around. I hope this year more of us than ever are talking so that more of us are more aware than ever of what we are doing to the air we share. Together, we can change the world.