I got Memed

This is what LL wrote to me
"I'll make the comment here. I tagged you with a meme. A list of stuff to answer for yourself. You can get it off my blog. Do NOT be lazy and blow me off. I'll do a voodoo dance and curse you so that your Ex calls you every single DAY!
LL " I told her that is down right mean.

So not to be cursed, here we go.

5 Things in my fridge:

a. eggs
b. wine
c. milk (2 to 7 kids in the house)
d. leftovers (love'em)
e. hot sauce of all kinds

5 Things in my closet:

a. clothes for play and work
b. bags of clothes I have not opened since our move last year
c. financial crap that bores the hell out of me
d. books I read to my son
e. my wonderful wife's shoes

5 Things in my car:

a. some CDs, most where stolen about a year and a half ago
b. crayons and paper for the kids
c. children car seats.
d. receipt book
e. roll of paper towels

5 People to inflict this pain upon:

a. I am way to new to inflict pain, Also I do not have 5 extra bloggers to send it to.

2nd Amendment

The NJ state government is working on a bill that would ban gun ownership in the state. Basically the bill is trying to prohibit the ownership of guns. Legal gun ownership and a connection to crime is one of the biggest misnomers we have in this country. Where there is more restriction on gun ownership there is more crime. The fact is that while we, the law abiding citizenship will follow laws (no matter how stupid), the criminals never follow laws. So taking away guns from us does nothing but make us better targets. Is we look at DC, LA and NY city we can see that as the gun restrictions increased the rate of violent crime also went up. In Australia and England the same is true. We do not hear about it in the news but after these countries passed laws that removed the right of individuals to own guns the violent crime rate rocketed. I have heard of an increase of over 100% in violent crimes.

Owning a gun does not make a person a nut or dangerous. The revolutionary war was started because the British were going to Concord to confiscate the local armory. The Nazis and the Communists both confiscated guns as soon as they got into power. When governments want to control something like individual defense we should be worried. In this country it has been determined, through numerous court cases that the police do not have an obligation to protect or save anyone. That they do is great but we are told we are on our own. Then the elected government turns around and takes the best defense away. The reason given is because so much crime is done with guns. But the vast majority of law abiding citizens do not use their guns in crimes. Criminals already flaunt the laws and use guns. If the legislature really wanted to do something about crime they could come down hard on those who use guns. I do not mean add 5 years to the sentence because the criminal used a gun. If you have a gun while committing a crime but do not use it or show it, that is an added 10 years. If you show the gun while committing a crime, add 15 years. If you fire a gun while committing a crime add 25 years. If you injury someone with a gun while committing a crime add 30 years. If you kill someone with a gun while committing a crime, you do not get out of jail until dead.

We hear from the anti-gun people and celebrities that we should not have guns. But these same celebrities hire body guards who carry guns. I remember one time Rosie O’Donnell state that she is against guns and gun owners. Someone brought up the fact that she hired body guards to protect her and her little girl and wasn’t she being hypocritical. She basically stated that this was a private issue and she had to protect her child. No kidding it is a private issue and you have to protect your child. It is also a private issue that each one of us also demands and we also demand that we have a right to have a weapon to do that defending.

For the record the 2nd amendment in the bill of rights, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” was written to mean you and I, this is not a state right, this is an individual right. The first eight amendments are all directly related to restricting the Federal Governments power over the people. These have been abused; the eminent domain ruling is an example of abuse. But we the people are the last arbitrators of the law. We elect people whose job is to follow the Constitution and do what we want. We need to stand up and demand that our elected officials behave and vote in an ethical, Constitutional way.

When we give up all of our rights for security, we will end up with neither. Paraphrased from Ben Franklin.

Oh this is so me.

4 (4, 13/4, 22/4, 31/4, 40/4)
The Life Path 4 suggests that you entered this plane with a natural genius for planning, fixing, building, and somehow, with practical application and cerebral excellence, making things work. You are one of the most trustworthy, practical, and down-to-earth of individuals; the cornerstone members of society. Indeed, as a Life Path 4, you are a builder of society. The cream of the crop in this Life Path can be a master builder in society. if you are among these highly talented people, you have an idealistic nature which is grounded in practical terms, allowing you to conceive grandiose, far-reaching schemes and carry them through to the end. If you desire and are willing to work for it, you can achieve enormous success, prestige, and fame. Obviously, everyone with a 4 Life Path does not become famous.

All with this Life Path have the ability to take orders and to carry them out with dedication and perseverance and many 4s live and work happily in this context. But so often, the 4 Life Path is the entrepreneur and manager in the community. In either role, you always demand as much from yourself as you do from others, and sometimes a lot more.

You have the kind of will power that is often mistaken for sheer stubbornness. You don't think of yourself as dogged, but your honest beliefs and that ever direct speech makes you come across as completely unremitting. Once a decision is made, it will be followed through to the conclusion, right, wrong, or indifferent. You are very set in your ways and determined to handle things the way you are so certain that they should be handled. Your tenacity of purpose and ability to get the job done borders on obsession. You are a wonderful manager with a great sense of how to get the job done.

You are an excellent organizer and planner because of your innate ability to view things in a very common sense and practical way. This stems from a strong desire to be a perfectionist in your labor. Planning is necessary to avoid errors. It's very likely that a 4 Life Path person invented the to-do list, because it is the rare Life Path 4 who doesn't have one by her side at all times. Your life is programed in an orderly fashion permitting you to catalog and manage the flow of ideas and activities that fill your day. Indeed, you seem to function best when you are under the gun and facing a tough set of problems.

Loyal and devoted, you make the best of your marriage, and you are always the good provider. Friends may be few in number, but you are very close to them and once friendships are made, they often last a lifetime.

The number 4 is solidly associated with the element of earth from which it gains its strength and utter sense of reality. You are one of the most dependable people you know. If patience and determination can ever win, you are sure to achieve great success in life. Often, you are called on to take care of others; to finish what they have started. It may not seem fair and probably isn't, but it may be the key to your accomplishment and reputation.

The negative side of the 4 can prove dogmatic to an excess, narrow-minded, and repressive. A lot of skin-deep people turn you off, and you lack the tact to keep your feelings from being totally clear to all around. Additionally, the negative 4 has a bad tendency to get caught up in the daily routine of affairs, missing the big picture and major opportunities that come along once in a while.


To find out what your world is like try this.

Income Taxes

Today is a sad day. Our federal and state income taxes are due. But this is a misnomer.

We pay taxes each week into the slosh fund of the federal government in these United States. If you do not have enough money taken out for the government slosh fund you get penalized. Even if you pay all your taxes on April 15th, I think loan sharks use this method as well.

We pay taxes on income if we work for corporations. Of course that money that we are getting paid has already been taxed at the corporate level so we pay twice.

We pay taxes on state income tax refunds, another double tax since we were taxed for that the year before.

In the late 18th century, when the western world was fighting monarchs the citizens of the 13 colonies paid on average about 6% tax. Today we pay 20% direct income tax.

The size of the dependency deduction originally was about $500 in the ‘50s. Today if that figure had kept up with inflation it should be about $10,000. It is not.

The IRS can go through your personal records without a warrant. So much for the 5th amendment.

IRS agents carry guns!! This should really scare you. Why is this bad? Because the US government has a “police force.” No not the FBI, we can talk about that some other time. They are called the US Federal Marshall office. Need to arrest someone, call them.

Deductions for health have to be over 7% of your income and business related expenses have to be over 2% of your income. Why is there a threshold for medical expenses?

There are two distinct problems with taxes in this country. One is that the federal government is WAY, WAY too big. It has its nose in every nock and cranny.
Why is there a federally run Export/Import bank.
Why is there a federally run Department of Education
Why is there a federal Department of Indian Affairs?
We can go through the list of government offices and departments that were never intended to be. Our Constitution is very clear in that it was made to narrow the scope of the federal government. That is why we have state governments.

Want to know how much the people we elect care about us, each Congressman and woman gets paid about $135,000 per year. They have money for staff and expenses that exceeds a million a year. I have read that in 1991 Congressional expense spending (money used for and by members of Congress and their staff) was $650,000,000.00. That should piss everyone off, I am pissed.

The other issue is why is income taxed at all? You really need to tax something, tax expenses. I know some people are against this but the real plus to this is that if you need to control your expenses you spend less thereby saving on taxes. The rich spend money and would continue to pay taxes. We would not need a huge invasive federal bureaucracy that each and ever one of us are scared of. Admit it; you are scared of the IRS. You, as an honest citizen should never be scared of your government. When you are there is a serious issue that needs to be corrected.

Leave her son alone

It seems that Cindy Sheehan is in the news again. We all know that she is the woman who hates George Bush and has protested the war. Now I disagree with her on the war. I think that the Iraqi government was neck deep in terrorism and helped the murderers on 9/11.

But now there are people who are protesting her decision not to put a tombstone on her son’s grave. People should just leave her alone and mind their own business. I can not imagine what it is like to lose a son in a war. There is nothing wrong with her protesting the war, which is her right as an American. We can discuss and disagree with her, even call into question her patriotism. But I am of the belief that she has a right to honor her son anyway she feels. We, the people who believe the war is just, need to keep the discourse non-personal with other Americans. When we make the arguments personal we distract our reasoning and thoughts from the true discussion

Now I have no opinion on her desire to put a tombstone on her son’s grave or not. I even understand her hatred of the war. But the conservative media needs to stay focused on the real issue, the war on terrorism. Also, the focus should stay on who these terrorist are what they stand for and what they want to do to us needs to replayed and discussed.

What a day!

Today my mom moved into her own apartment. It is a seniors home, not assistant, just adult apartments. She was supposed to move in Dec, but this did not happen. Been waiting for the CO (certificate of occupancy, something the city gives out after inspecting the place to make sure it is livable) for 4 months. So today was move in day. I am amazed that they got a CO, some much crap everywhere. I started at about 9am putting stuff into the truck. Had the teenage step-son give me a hand and we got the bed in and some boxes, but he had to eat. Oh I forgot, it rained all day, nasty cold rain. Than some friends showed up and we finished up in about an hour and 45 minutes. She moved in ok, but we were wet and cold.

My step-daughter is having a party with some friend, so much fun. I am staying in my room until tomorrow. They are very strange creatures.

Came home after the move and wanted a nice warm shower. The hot water heater has not worked all day. Played with it for about an hour and it started to work. Waited another hour and finally took a shower.

Than I went to feed my turtles. We bought two turtles about 6 months ago. One grew and the other one didn't. The little one died today.

On top of that my step-daughter bought home a baby squirrel. The mother died so she brought the baby home. Of course Mrs. Hatetaxes is loving the little thing. I suggested giving it to the neighbor hood hawk but I was voted down.

One of our dogs must have been upset at me mom leaving, so he pooped on the carpet. That was ok because one of the girls here for my step-daughters party was playing around in rolled in it.

Oh one more thing. I called my children and the ex answered, she does that about once every six months. Not only that, she had my son call me back to say good night, that is the first time in about 2 years.

The planets are aligned very strangely tonight.

Now I am going to do some school work while drinking some Jamaican Rum Cream. Should get an A out of this class.

Another brave American

This is a funeral for a fallen United States Marine. He was CPL Brett Lundstrom. He was also a Lakota Indian. This is his funeral. Another brave American has died to help protect his country and his family from harm.

When I see something like this, it makes me feel awe for these men and women who stand in harms way.

Thanks from an American.

Can't they say "murderer"??

It is bad enough that this world has cowardly mass murderers, but when a news report goes out and pretties up the name of these murderers to draw the attention from the act to some political cause that really pisses me off.

This article from the Associated Press Iraqi Gunmen Ambush Minibus, Kill 6 written by Sameer N. Yacoub found on Yahoo, is a prime example of the crap that we have to deal with. The article states "...with gunmen attacking a minibus carrying Shiites northeast of Baghdad late Friday, killing six men and wounding one woman." It is bad enough that the world press refuses to call terrorists, terrorists, but giving these murderers a quaint identification like "gunman" instead of murderer is disgusting.

On the AP webpage about their Values and Principles they state that "That means we abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions." But in reality they do not abhor any of these, they only abhor stating the truth about these people when it goes against their opinion. When they sanitize the words they use to describe these acts of violence as gunman, insurgents or guerrillas it lends legitimacy to these vial acts. It is the same with the term Suicide Bomber, these are Murder Bombers. If all they wanted to do is kill themselves they could go out into a field and blow themselves up, but they seek out the most innocent victims to do their worst.

I tried to find out about Yacoub but all I get is articles. I wanted to know some information on his background. Is the bias his alone or is it embedded with the whole AP organization. From past experience with AP I would say it is embedded.

I tried to find a "Letter to the Editor" section on the AP home page but without luck. This behavior of sanitizing the news has and will continue to have a horrible affect on our population. Most of population in this country, make political and security decisions based on the news developed by companies like AP. So when they distort the news like this, people are shaping their views under false pretense.