Where do I stand? I stand corrected. Two days ago I made one of my typical statements from the twilight zone. I was corrected by one of the three persons in this world whose opinion I respect. I began to think about the contents of the correction. I realized that my opinions are simply borrowed from the nightly news and the blurbs of the internet. There is no thinking or reasoning behind them.
Yesterday I was going to go and register to vote. I decided not to. Why should my vote, that of a long haired sleeping gnome that lives in the past, be allowed the potential to negate that of a person who thinks and reasons and is informed about the world as it is now. I may still register if you can vote without choosing a candidate in the national election, as there are two state items on the ballot that need resolution. The first is the elimination of state income tax. The second is the elimination of serious penalties for the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. I think that the elimination of the state income tax is a bad idea although the reasons given for retaining it are a bunch of baloney. The proponents of retaining the tax say that there will be no money to maintain the roads and bridges. The tax is here and those things are still not being done. The roads and bridges are supposed to be maintained with the excise tax on automobiles but none of that money is used that way. It turns out that that very large amount of money is entirely used up by the infrastructure that collects the tax. The state pension system is unfunded by the state. If you think that the legislature is going to allow their pension to disappear, welcome to my world. The lessening of the penalties for marijuana possession, which has destroyed some young lives, seems structured towards allowing the children of the very well off to escape any permanent record of such an event while putting such a remedy out of the reach of the poor.
One more ridiculous thought, you knew it was coming. The average taxpayer pays 28% income tax. The government lends the money to banks at 2%. The banks lend the money to the average taxpayer at 7%. The banks got a little greedy and cannot keep lending at such a disadvantageous arrangement. They need a big loan from the government. The government will get the money from Santa.
28% in, 2% out, pretty good deal.
7% in, 2% out, pretty good deal.
28% out, not so good.
All this endorsed by a taxpayer that lives in government housing.
It will be a cold day in Hell when you see a politician with his hands in his own pockets!
I don't think that I subscribe to any uterine stereotype, I am just commenting on what I see.
3 comments:
Sorry, Dad, I got a little carried away with my last comment, but .... these political things raise some pretty strong feelings in me. You should go register to vote - and you don't have to pick a presidential candidate (although, just because I don't think the republicans ever have people's best interest at heart (okay, except for Sen. Arlen Specter) doesn't mean that I'm right). I also smiled at your desire to vote on the ballot referenda - those were always my favorite part of any election, and I read the propositions word for word before going to vote. I don't think we have anything on our ballot here this time around - last time, it was legalizing slot gambling & casino gambling in PA, which I felt strongly about, voted against, and as usual, was on the non-winning side.
I was pleased to see Gov. Palin do better than expected in the debate - one of the things that really bothered me about her was that I felt she was reinforcing alot of negative stereotypes about women, and although I still don't agree with her policy, at least she was speaking in sentences during the debate.
I love you, & hope you weren't offended by my comments. And I'll still love & respect you, even if you go over to the dark side ;)
Ericka, you are right about so many things. The only way that a person can be offended is when something is true and they know it. Nothing that you have ever said or done has offended me. I made a conscious effort many years ago to have you and your sisters argue with me and to be critical of me because I did not want the three of you to be dominated by and fawn over men as so many of your peers seemed to in the adolescent years. I think that I succeeded.
11. Switzerland only passed women's suffrage a few years ago. They immediately elected a woman as their leader. She was instrumental in passing a universal health care plan, you were right that it was part of her party's platform. Insurers and drug companies are not allowed to make a profit in Switzerland. The drug companies make their profit by selling their products in the United States. The insurers have an administrative cost of 5%. In this country it is 25%. Even her successors laud the plan and would never go back to the old system as they now feel that medical coverage is a basic human right.
I was not so pleased with the debate. I still think that any potential world leader should be able to pronounce nuclear correctly. I was impressed with watching Governor Palin lead Senator Biden down the primrose path. Left hook, "May I call you Joe?". Right uppercut, "Say it ain't so Joe.". She communicates well. Maybe that is the difference between the genders. Female diplomacy consists of "We have a problem, here it is, how do we reach a consensus on the solution?". Male diplomacy consists of "My bombs are bigger than your bombs, so you have to do it my way.". I will make an exception with George Bush the elder. He was a consensus builder but had to revert to form during the Kuwait crisis, he fell for the old "They are killing babies" ploy. He was caught between two dissenting Arab groups. He didn't stand a chance. The Arabs are a hell of a lot smarter than we are. We would know very little of the Greeks if their knowledge had not been preserved by the Arabs. They led the way in medicine, astronomy, and religious tolerance. It would be very hard to get an Arab to invest in a commodities future or a derivative. They invest in land, cows, oil, and gold. They gave us the alphabet and algebra. Unfortunately they seem to have adopted our ways and are suffering the consequences. I was impressed when the Iranians released the hostage Terry somebody and the reason they released him. We are at a disadvantage when dealing with Arabs because we will never know what they are actually up to or thinking. Maybe we are at a disadvantage because they are actually thinking. I have read parts of the Qu'ran and find much sense and beauty in it. Maybe it should be required reading for People of the Book. It should be required understanding for modern day Arabs.
As to your last comment, I will quote my old poetry mentor, "Beware the Dark Side!".
Hee hee, I'm glad you got the dark side reference. I am now thoroughly immersed in early 1980s science fiction shows (and earlier), since Drew is now recording: Battlestar Galactica (the old ones), Voyagers!, and old Doctor Who episodes. Ooh, and I got to use a reciprocating saw yesterday to take down the dropped ceiling frame in our downstairs kitchen. Now we just have to get the rest of the plaster & lath down, clean it up, and start reassembling. So it should be done in a few years :)
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