Huckabee and Guiliani Comic Relief

Whether or not you agree with their politics or who they support, if you watched their speeches last night at the Republican National Convention, these guys had the best one liners last night. And don't comment that "the actual number was this that or the other" because who cares if they weren't accurate on the number or this or that. The point was to make a joke and they made really funny ha ha jokes. They were just having fun. If you didn't see them, I'm sure you can find highlights somewhere on youtube or elsewhere. Check them out.

I've decided they should form a new comedy team ala Laural and Hardy or Abbott and Costello and travel the country making us laugh.

That's it. You can agree or disagree that they were funny. It won't change my mind.

"Air Birth Control"

Since we will be going on vacation in a couple of weeks, I'm going to hold off on great pics from around the world for this week as I promise to take many pictures to last for weeks. But don't hold me to that because I'm terrible at taking pictures.

So today I've decided to talk about this phenomenon I affectionately call "Air Birth Control." This applies to all the ladies who happened to get pregnant while on the pill which has a failure rate of less than 1%. I'm sure someone will correct me on my statistic. And if you or your wife happened to get pregnant while taking the pill, save it. Because unless you take your pill to an alarm everyday like I do and you have an independent verifier that sees the pill go in your mouth and down your throat, I can't confirm that you have taken the pill as advised.

My theory is that those that get pregnant on the pill either forgot to take their pill for a couple of days, can't be trusted to take it regularly, or literally throw the pill away and swallow air and claim they're on the pill. A friend and I crack up at the sight of this and if I were a cast member on SNL, I'd be happy to write a sketch about this to illustrate my point. I tried making a drawing to illustrate my point, but I'm a much better excel artist.

I take my pill every day to an alarm. Same time same place. I even worry if I forget and take it a few hours later. Even though logically I know that should be sufficient. I just don't want to be a statistic of failure. Which leads me to my theory on that statistic. I think that statistic is largely made up of people who took the pill improperly and lied about taking it responsibly. I'd say it's made up mostly of women who were trying to "trap" their boyfriend into marriage, or married women who were ready to have a baby before their husband was but needed something to blame other than herself. "Huh, I guess we're part of that 1%..." This is because there is only so much time you have available to you each month to even conceive and you want to tell me that you still found that time while taking birth control? hmmm...very interesting. My advice guys, don't trust your woman if she's on the pill unless you're ready to have an "oopsy" kid, or you see her take it every day

Just my theory. I know it doesn't apply to you. And that's fine. You really ARE part of that statistic. Good for you.

What I do know is that if anyone's going to pregnant while taking the pill properly, it's going to be me for saying all of this. But at least I'm at the point where I can handle it if I am cursed, I mean blessed with the true failure of birth control. I'll be sure to be truthful about taking it properly or truly forgetting it (unintentionally of course). And I'll admit it if I do turn out wrong. But you can be sure I'll be the first to say I forgot if I did.

Socially Ignorant or Just Atagonistic?

So I have a coworker who's completely inappropriate in more ways than one. He likes to look the ladies up and down and rarely looks at them in the eyes unless that's the only option you give him. i.e. never turn your body to face him, only your head, and if need be, turn your body away so all he can look at is your head or your shoulder. This coworker has told many an inappropriate stories about his own family, I can't even share the one that scarred us all for life, because there's no need for you all to be scarred as well.

Occasionally when we go out to lunch on for birthdays in our groups, he has been know to make politically provocative statements. No one seems to know if he's trying to get a discussion going, or if he's ignorant to the fact that we are such a diverse group that we will not all agree politically, hence the a bad idea to bring these topics up. Either way, the discussion is always quickly changed by any of the rest of us to more appropriate topics of conversation, because the statements he makes are so ignorant, his own political peers don't want him representing the views of their party. I say this not because it's inappropriate to discuss politics, but we are in a working environment where we have to get along and work together, and politics is so polarizing that unless you know you all agree, it's socially a bad topic to bring up in the workplace. Especially because most of us are reasonable and agree that everyone is entitled to their opinion no matter how right or wrong it is. And we all feel strongly about ourselves being right that we aren't even open to changing our minds.

This is all build up to tell you about our last staff meeting. He decides to tell the boss that he will potentially be out for jury duty (this is not something I would bring up in a staff meeting. I would go to the boss's office or send an email explaining this). Then he continues on to say he doesn't think he'll be picked because it's a capital case and he's against the death penalty. First of all. He lives in a county that's most likely going to share his point of view. Second of all, it's the defendant's lawyer's job to try and pick a jury of people that won't give his client the death penalty if he is found guilty. So there is no logic to your statement. Second, I really couldn't care less of what your opinion of the death penalty is, but a staff meeting certainly isn't the appropriate time to throw out those kinds of statements. Because 1, it wastes the rest of our time. And 2, you know that no one is going to challenge your point of view, because the rest of us know this is an inappropriate time and place to do so.

So I've decided to go into tomorrow's staff meeting and declare to everyone, "I believe in abortion, but only as a form of birth control, because if this had happened to all the criminals on death row, then their victims would still be alive and we wouldn't have to have this silly debate about whether or not the death penalty is right or wrong."

My conclusion is now just antagonistic.

Postpartum Depression Not an Excuse for Murder

We have all heard the notorious case of Andrea Yates, the Houston woman who systematically killed her 5 kids by drowning them in their bathtub at home. There have been many other cases of mothers killing their kids all over the country and the world for that matter that go to trial with an insanity defense due to postpartum depression.

I am not about do deny the fact that postpartum depression exists, or that having a new baby can be overwhelming and stressful. This is because my babysitting experiences caused all kinds of pictures to pop into my head that I knew better than to act upon. And I was only with the kids for a few hours. So I can sympathize with being around the baby 24/7 and becoming overwhelmed by it. However, I do believe that it is our responsibility and the responsibility of those close to us to recognize signs of this and to ask for help. If you don’t ask for help, that doesn’t relieve you of your responsibility to care for and protect your child from danger, including yourself.

I’m a firm believer that insanity of any reason is a ridiculous and invalid defense for murder ever. This is because you have to be insane to be able to kill someone with the exception of defense. So I don’t ever believe this should be a reason someone should go to a psychiatric hospital rather than prison. There’s not a doubt in my mind that those women are insane. What sane woman drowns, or stabs or strangles their child? None! I don’t care if they say they don’t remember it. There are always warning signs. Right I know I don’t know what I’m talking about I should just shut my mouth and feel sorry for them because they need help. Well everyone that’s in prison for murder, rape, or any other crime needed help before their crimes too. You have to take responsibility and reach out for help because if you don’t, people don’t always know you need it. Although it’s possible some of your closest family members may just be in denial that you need help.

There has been enough open discussion about postpartum depression in the last several years that I think it’s our responsibility as women to keep ourselves in check for that if we are going to choose to bring another life into this world. They didn’t ask to be brought here, so we shouldn’t take it out on them. I know it’s shameful, embarrassing, and people will judge you for having it postpartum depressive thoughts. I’ve got news for you; they’re going to judge you much more harshly in a courtroom for killing your baby or injuring it. There’s no shame in asking for help. We all need it at one time or another.

There’s really nothing more I can say about it.

Victimization or Just Poor Choices?

I have this theory or perhaps perspective that I know for a fact I’m not alone in. It has to do with the fact that we are more in control of ourselves and our lives than we like to admit to. You see this is because it’s so much easier to blame a slew of poor choices on something like, oh say, a poor childhood, or something bad that happened to us rather than taking responsibility for our poor choices. Because then we have an excuse to continue making poor choices if we just aren’t ready to start making good choices. It’s not my fault.

For example, morbidly obese people that are confined to their bed, can’t work because they can’t move so they get on social security disability so you and I can pay for them to continue stuffing their faces. They claim they are just a victim of bad genes or some dramatic childhood experience or they are depressed. When in fact they have the power to stop eating after they’ve had enough. They have the choice to sit on the couch with a bag of chips or a bucket of chicken after dinner, or go out and take a walk or get on a bike while they watch T.V. They are only victims of their own poor choices, but they like it that way. The fact is they’ve chosen this lifestyle perhaps out of self-loathing or laziness. They aren’t unable to work. They shouldn’t get disability for this. I’d be more willing to pay for a life coach or therapist that will work with them on making better choices and changing their behaviors so they can be proud of who they are and get fulfillment from the good choices they make such as holding down a steady job, surrounding themselves with loving people rather than people that feed off of their bad choices, and just doing something worthwhile with their life.

The same goes for quitting smoking. While I won’t deny the addicting power of nicotine, I’ve known people that have smoked for years and years and years and quit cold turkey or in a short amount of time because they decided it was time. And you hear other stories like that all the time. But most people that say they can’t when they try, really haven’t made the choice to quit yet.

The past is the past. You can’t change the past and you aren’t trapped by your past. Your past doesn’t define your future. You may hate what happened to you, but you can’t change that, you can only control how you will face the future. You have to choose to let the past go. No one else can control your future, well unless you commit a crime and go to prison, but even prisoners made poor choices that led them there. They could have chosen differently.

Once people admit that they have control over their choices and take responsibility for them, then they can really live a fulfilling life. This is because they will change their perspective. They may still make poor choices from time to time, but by owning them, they can learn from them not to make the same mistakes in the future. There is no need to dwell on the bad stuff when you resolve to learn from it for the future.

I once believed that love was a feeling. Some other girls and I argued with 2 German boys about this. They said it was a choice and we said that’s crazy. It’s a feeling. That was when I was young and stupid. Thank goodness I didn’t get married back then. Sometime around the end of college or shortly after, it clicked. Love really is a choice. When I got married, I knew I wouldn’t always have the warm fuzzies for my husband because he’ll do things that make me mad or irritate me. But if I choose everyday to wake up and love him no matter what, I’ll forget next week or even the next day what he did that ticked me off. If I choose to wake up and love him every day, I’ll notice the little things he does around the house to show me he loves me, like when he cleans the kitchen for me, or washes my car, rather than dwell on the things he does that make me mad. When you make that choice every day, you feel love towards that person and it doesn’t seem like near as much work to keep the marriage together and happy. I didn’t marry my husband because I felt all warm and fuzzy about him, I chose to marry him after learning all about him and learning how we interact and how he is when times are difficult and learning how we work though problems together and learning that we enjoy spending time together. The warm fuzzies come every morning when I wake up next to him and every evening when he comes home from work. And because I chose him, I will choose to honor that commitment I made to him every day. I can control how I treat him and what I say to him. And if I let something unkind come out of my mouth, I can choose whether to woman up and apologize or just be a bitter bitch. But if I choose the latter, it will make his choice to love me that much more difficult. This can really apply to your relationships with friends and co-workers as well, just remove the warm fuzzies part.

Which leads me to the fact that we also choose our moods. I can choose to put on a happy face in spite of being miserable and after awhile of this, I’ll forget why I was so miserable. Or at least change my perspective towards what made me so miserable. For example, everyday millions and millions of us go to our jobs, and at any given time we all hate our job even if it’s only for one day or one hour out of every month. And we’ll complain to each other from time to time about something we hate about our jobs. But there are some that show up to work everyday and bitch and moan about how they hate their job. Sometimes they’ll add misery to their co-workers by droning on and on to them about how bad their life is and that they hate their job blah blah blah blah blah woe is me. But somehow these are the people that have been at the same job for many many years. Why is that? They choose to stay. They could choose to change their job situation by looking for another job. But they are comfortable. In fact if they’d change their perspective and just admit that they like the fact that they know their job and they like the fact that they don’t have to go out and interview for a new job and learn a new job, and they like the fact that they get paid for the work they do no matter how mind-numbing it may be. Work is work and it’s not necessarily supposed to be fun. Otherwise I think it would be called fun. But a attitude adjustment will keep it from being so miserable. It’s something we do to take responsibility for our own lives. And that should be fulfilling. Sometimes it will be stimulting, sometimes it won’t. I’ve also found in talking to many people over the years, that there are always going to be people no matter where you work or what you do, that are irritating or difficult. But try this perspective; they make the rest of us look really really good. So be thankful for the role they are playing at your job to help you. You can’t make their choices for them. They are in control of their destinies. But will probably find a way to blame you, God, or someone else for their misfortunes.

So the point being is victims are people who have had a crime committed against them. But just because some one had a crime committed against them, or had a bad childhood, that doesn’t make them a victim for life. They were only a victim at that point in time. They can choose to have a good life in spite of their past and they should because they will have a happier, more enjoyable life.

Workaholics

I know I know, half of you that read this will probably argue and disagree with me. But then if you have time to read this, I can't classify you as a workaholic. Maybe you’re someone who screws around on the job wasting time, leading to overtime, for whatever reason. But not a workaholic. Maybe someone who lacks the ability to prioritize their day, or focus on the work they need to get done for the day, but not a workaholic.

I have had a theory for about the last 7 years or so since joining the workforce full time, 40 hours a week 50 weeks a year, that 95% or more of jobs out there are designed to finish in a 40-hour work week if the employee filling that position works efficiently and productively. That includes time for wasting now and then, or getting caught up in various business related conversations that weren't part of your planned day. Once most people get into the swing of their job, they can easily finish up their tasks in a regular 8-hour workday. I also realize that some industries i.e. are not in this 95% the higher you get in the company. And that commission only based jobs, may require more hours for a less experienced or talented sales person. I would find a new career if I didn't get the hang of sales though. I also realize that there are cyclical jobs that require more hours during certain parts of the year. Ownership can exempt you during startup. There are all kinds of positions that are exempt from this theory, so I don’t want to hear all about the ones I failed to mention. I’m talking about people that make a daily, weekly, habit of staying late at the office, and going into the office on the weekends regardless of the job they have.

The thing is, in several of my last few work experiences, I have worked with several individuals that worked ungodly amounts of overtime almost on a daily basis. I also know that many of these people would defend it as necessary to keep their job. In my view, it was/is only necessary if everyone continues to accept the demands for it. But those places had problems with delegating work to the general staff. So that means the overtime could have been prevented. I have also witnessed several people go on and on dramatizing the amount of overtime they put in for a project or during a certain time of the year, when their consistent habits are to show up when they feel like it, disappear for several hours during the day, or waste their time talking the ears off of their co-workers. This behavior leads me to believe their dramatic overtime stories could have been prevented as well.

It’s a manager’s job to make sure that the workload for a position is reasonable, and then to put a competent person in that role that can handle that workload in a timely and efficient manner. It’s also a manager’s job to delegate work appropriately. If he is taking it all on himself or giving it all to one person causing overtime for either or both, then he needs to reevaluate his delegation determinations and perhaps work to train the other staff to be able to pitch in.

My theory is that workaholics, people that make habit of spending more than their 8 hours a day at their job on a daily basis no matter what job they are in, have some sort of martyr complex. They are dramatic in telling stories about their overtime, because they want to come across as the company and family martyr and hero. They have a way of talking about how the company couldn’t survive without their overtime. When the reality is that it could. And someone else could probably do the job in 40 hours. These people have a way of often needing to come in on the weekends as well. It’s really very sad. I suppose some of their families are glad that they aren’t home much. But I’ll bet more families are torn about by it. Some people excuse it by calling it dedication. Ok…so dedication to your job is much more important than dedication to your family.
Hmmm…
I’m glad I didn’t marry a workaholic…And I’m glad I’ve resisted that oh so strong urge I have to become one…Right…I have no such urge…

A High School Pregnancy Pact...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!

This is a special post as I couldn't pass this up when I heard about it today.

If you haven't heard about this yet, you can go read about it here.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

Is this what high school girls dream about now? Having babies at the same time, while still in high school. And how convenient that free daycare is offered at the school so the girls can drop their dolls off at daycare while they continue on with a normal life. These girls were in serious need of babysitting the sick babies job before making this decision.

The discussion goes back to the old discussion about whether or not schools should be allowed to dispense birth control to kids. That has nothing to do with this, because they clearly were trying to get pregnant. A homeless man as a father isn't enough of an indicator that they were trying to get pregnant? If you don't care who the father is enough to pick some random guy as your sperm donor, you don't deserve to reproduce. If you dispense birth control at the expense of the tax payers, these girls would have just thrown it away. Or taken what I like to call "air birth control" which I firmly believe accounts for the not 100% effective rate of oral contraceptives. I know I know, you were part of that group that got pregnant on it. Fine, I can't argue with you because I didn't watch you take it every day at the same general time. When it happens to me, and I know for a fact that I didn't miss any days or times, THEN, I will change my opinion on the subject. So I won't get into it any deeper as I am digressing from the point.

The point is, it's the parents' job to be so involved as to educate their kids about sex, and prevent a conspiracy like this from happening. You can argue abstinence vs. prevention all you want, but the fact is, there's only one guaranteed fix to prevent any teen pregnancies and I already wrote about it. If you didn't see the first time around, here it is.
http://sunshineinsight.blogspot.com/2008/05/mandatory-birth-controlwhat-concept.html
This story just provides further evidence that this isn't such a bad plan.
If you want to teach them abstinence, fine, just don't tell them they are on birth control.

Billy Ray Cyrus, The Father of the Century

I tried to ignore this subject, but it's out there and this is so ridiculous, I can't keep my mouth shut about it.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/17/cyrus.vanity.reax.ap/index.html

Here's the link to the story where the below quote is coming from. This is his response to the Vanity Fair photos taken of his daughter.

"I wasn't there at the time," the 46-year-old country star said in an interview Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

"(Miley's) publicist was there, and everyone seemed in control," he said. "I didn't know they (were) gonna strip her down and wrap her with a blanket."

"So I was surprised when I saw it, you know, but ... stuff happens. That's life. Things happen and sometimes things get a little out of control and you just gotta deal with life," he said. "Again, it's peaks and valleys and ups and downs."

Um YOU'RE HER FATHER. It's your job as a parent to be there and oversee something like this!!! If not you, her mother!!!

"Stuff Happens"!!!!! What are you a walking bumper sticker now? Stuff doesn't happen if you're there being a parent rather than off turning a blind eye to the daughter who is the basis for your revitalized career. That's no excuse to let her get away with whatever she wants, and take whatever pictures she wants, and post whatever pictures she wants. Your appearance on Oprah was scripted and rehearsed then I take it. Because this certainly doesn't back up any comments you or your daughter made to her.

Shame on you Billy Ray!!! Who, by the way, has turned into oogy middle-aged man by the looks of the picture posted with the above article. With is flavor savor grossness below his lip. Yuck!!!
You better take back the role of being a parent. I'm sure you've seen the many examples of where that road leads.

This is just more proof to my belief that parents should keep their kids out of show business while their under 18. When they turn 18, they can do whatever they want. I'm not saying there aren't underage kids out there in show business doing just fine, staying level-headed, and focused. But it's a lot of pressure to handle that they don't have time to be kids and so they rush to become adults before they are ready. It's a parents job to make sure they are kids and that they teach them to make good choices in life.

But what could I possibly know about parenting? I don't have kids and so I couldn't possibly comprehend the parent/child relationship. Even though I was a child not so long ago. Well a long long time ago...

That's it for this addition of entertainment outrage.
Have a great weekend folks!! tell your friends and family!

If Cooter Can Do It, Anyone Can

How many of you were Dukes of Hazzard fans? I was a huge fan!!! So huge that I turned down the recent movie since it got such bad reviews. If you're going to do a Dukes movie, it better be dang good. If you're a hard-core fan like I was, then you remember Cooter the mechanic.

So if you check out this article, http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/12/people.benjones.ap/index.html
you'll find that he went on a 20 year drugs and alcohol binge as only someone destined to play a character named Cooter and destined to be a politician could. But you know what else you'll find out if you read this article, he quit alcohol cold turkey.

Good for you Cooter! You are truly someone we can all look up to. Way to go Cooter! You proved that all the whiny people that complain that they can't quit drugs or alcohol or cigarettes because the addiction is so strong, even though they "really want to," are all full of it. They are choosing not to quit. You proved that such a strong physical addiction can be overcome if someone truly wants to overcome it.

Now go and give Lindsay, Britney, and all those other crazy Hollywood rehab kids a good swift kick in the pants and get them scared straight!!! Because their parents obviously can't. Well I give kudos to Brit's dad for finally stepping in...although I have no clue the status of how that's going.

COOTER IS KING!!!!!
Now I better not hear a tabloid story of how you're entering rehab tomorrow for alcohol addiction, or I'll be pissed.

How Old is Too Old to Renew a Driver’s License Without a Driving Test?

You may have heard the story not too long ago about the 101-year-old woman who got her driver’s license renewed until 2011!!! There are many stories out there of vintage people renewing their licenses and I say good for them. I’m always encouraged when I meet a 90-year-old person who’s as sharp as a tack, and very independent. It gives me hope that you can live a very functional and independent life at that age. None-the-less, it doesn’t mean you are still going to be a good driver 3 years from now!!!! Who’s to say they don’t have a death wish themselves and are of sound enough mind to look for an accident? After all 100 years is a long freakin time to live. And with all the aches and pains I have at 30, I can’t imagine them being 3 times worse or more than now.

There are plenty of tragic stories out there of 80 and 90 year old drivers running people down and killing them, accidentally of course, and not even noticing that something is or was terribly wrong. I have a real problem with them not having to take some kind of driving test every year they want to keep their driver’s license. They should have to prove that they are alert and paying attention to the road and the surroundings related to the road.

Now I realize that some people can have good days and that the driving test won’t catch everyone that shouldn’t be driving, but it would be a start and could help keep dangerous drivers off of the road. I believe it is also the responsibility of families and friends to intervene if their vintage family member or friend is showing signs of being hazardous to themselves and other drivers by being on the road.

I also understand that there are 16, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 year olds that shouldn’t be driving who have been terrible drivers since they were acquired a vehicle. I also understand that sometimes terrible drivers get incredibly lucky, (or maybe it’s the people around them) and they never get tickets for reckless driving, or speeding through a school zone, or causing accidents. So I suppose maybe it would be fair to lump our vintage family and friends in with this group. Except that I’ll bet this group is more dangerous than the 101-year-old lady driving around. If there were a way to make this group pass a test every year without bogging down the system, I’d support it. But there are so many stupid and crazy drivers out there that think they own the road and think they are above the rules of the road, that I don’t know that this would be feasible. So I will have to continue being proactive and watching out for them. I think the over 80 crowd is more feasible to require yearly testing. Shoot, I don’t plan on driving at that age. I’ll hitchhike if I have to. Maybe they will have figured out the whole teleportation thing by then and this will no longer be an issue. I can only hope.

In the meantime, drive safe, and keep an eye out for the crazies out there. And be honest and forceful if necessary if your vintage family members and friends shouldn't drive anymore.

Why I Support the Fair Tax and Why I Think You Should Too

I know that you all are smart enough to know that the government takes income taxes out of your check each time you get paid; taxes for income, Medicare, and social security. This is taken out for your convenience so you hopefully won’t have to write a check to the government at tax time. But it’s really a dirty trick to make you look forward to getting a refund and to forget about how much you actually pay in taxes every year. Most people of my generation already have accepted the fact that we won’t see a penny of our social security when retirement comes around. Either that or they’ll raise the “retirement age” to 90 before you can collect your social security. The problem is when the issue of privatizing social security comes up, we the people freak out in outrage because apparently letting the government control your money is much less risky than letting you decide who to help you invest it.

My intent with this is to simplify the Fair Tax enough to spark your interest to learn more about it. Basically speaking, it is a national sales tax that replaces the current income tax system that is such a drain on us today. The Fair Tax will do several things to stimulate your own personal economic situation as well as the macro U.S. economic situation.

Here’s what it will do for you and your family.
-You will keep 100% of your paycheck (I don’t know about you, but I can spend my money better than the government does)
-Medicare and Social Security stay in tact and your interest is still funded
-You will get a prebate (a check) every month based on the # of people in your house to cover the fair tax amount on basic needs regardless of income
-The cost of goods and services you use now will should stay about the same, if not go down
-You pay taxes only when you choose to consume
-Eliminate the tax deadline and the costs associated with filing the taxes that you already pay
-Eliminates inheritance taxes, gift taxes, capital gains taxes, and all other ridiculous methods the government uses to rob you and your family on a daily basis
-Increases your ability to save tax-free

Here’s what it will do for the U.S.
-Bring jobs that were sent overseas back to the U.S.
-Encourage global companies to set up shop in the U.S. providing more jobs to Americans
-Corporations will not have to pay income taxes either, thereby driving down the cost of goods and services
-Collects taxes from tourists, illegals, and non-income earners every time they consume
-Takes the power from the federal government and puts it in the hands of the people

I can’t go into every detail here but I’m going to explain one very important thing as many people don’t understand this. Since you pay income taxes and the company you work for pays income taxes and other taxes just to have you as an employee, these costs are worked into the final price of the goods or services they offer. Their job is to make money not break even. (Even non-profits are not completely in the business of breaking even, because where would executives get their big fat bonuses?) So any increased cost a company faces, including tax increases on them, is passed on to you the consumer already. If those taxes go away, the cost of goods and services drop. The reason your goods and services will stay about the same is because these imbedded taxes will be removed and implemented in the form of the fair tax. But remember you’re now taking home 100% of your paycheck and keeping it, rather than 80%-90% or less of it. And you are receiving a check from the government every month to cover the taxes for the basic needs of your family.

One other important piece of information for you to ponder that should spark your interest. The fair tax is only collected once on brand new items. If you buy a used car or a used house, it isn’t collected, because all of those taxes were already collected the first time around.

Here’s what you need to do about it. Read the book. I paid $5 for it at Barnes and Noble on the clearance rack. I’m sure you can find a copy of it for cheap. I’ll even loan out my copy. Your other option is to go the website http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer and educate yourself. You can see if your representatives support it or not, and if they are a co-sponsor of one of the bills, which is HR 25 for the house of representative and S 1025 for the senate. Once you are educated, start talking with your family and friends about it to spread the word. Write your representatives too.

Don’t think of this as a right wing or left wing piece of legislation. Think of it as beneficial to everyone. Win-win for everyone. The nanny programs are kept that are generally seen as a good for a lot of people, but without burdening those that despise the abuse of the nanny programs. I can choose not to buy a new car if I don’t want to support it. Who knows, it may even stimulate those abusers of the nanny programs, to become productive members of society rather than the drain that they current are. I certainly can dream if I want to.

Harrison Ford Waxes his Chest, Thus, Saving the World

First of all, go read this article before reading on.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/20/harrison.ford.wax.ap/index.html

So apparently you can Google image “Harrison Ford’s Chest,” and a picture of his chest waxing comes up all over the place. Check it out, it's facinating. I’m sure he thinks that he’s making the point that his chest needs hair just like forests need trees. Or perhaps that cutting down trees hurts as bad as a good waxing. Since without them we will all choke to death on our own CO2, and obviously without chest hair, his career would be dead.

Well here’s the thing, what if Harrison Ford’s chest looks better without hair? Is that going to confuse the viewers of this public service announcement? Harrison Ford looks better without chest hair, so our world looks better without trees. What if someone watching doesn’t have chest hair? Is the metaphor lost on them? Are they found wildly running down the street screaming, distressed over the meaning that was lost on them? What do trees and chest hair have in common? I mean they aren’t even removed in the same way are they? One way involves wax, and the other involves a chain saw, or some other sophisticated form of extraction.

Ah…here’s what they have in common. Both are providing jobs to someone who would like to put food on their table, and maintain independence from their families or from the government taking care of them.

I think a more effective way of making the deforestation point would be to plant a tree or two. And to get other people involved in planting trees. I get it, we need trees all over the world. Just the other week, we replaced a poorly planted and falling over tree in our yard with a new one. But here’s the thing, people need jobs, and countries should be allowed to use their resources. Remember trees are a renewable resource. If a country wants to sustain a healthy economy, they’ll learn quickly that they must replace what they’ve used that is stimulating their economy. Shoot, we can even teach them this if they don’t seem to know it already. But don’t insist they stop doing something just because you don’t like what they are doing. It’s like banning smoking in bars, without asking the establishment owners and customers how they would respond to it. (Inhibit capitalism).

Thanks for saving the world Harrison Ford, one chest hair at a time. I’m going to go save a forest now and wax my chest! Join with me all you tree lovers out there.

What Would You Do If you were President?

So I was watching Lifetime this weekend, (I know, I’m embarrassed, but it’s another discussion for another day) and they are now showing this ad where they are asking women what they’d do if they were President. Naturally I’m writing this because one of the responses riled me up so much that I felt it justified a rant. I realize this may be an area were many may disagree with me, and I may come across as cruel, heartless and uncompassionate, but we may just have to agree to disagree because I won’t apologize for my opinion.

The camera flashes to a woman who looks to be a well put together “career woman.” And what do you think she says? It is something along the lines of, ‘I want affordable daycare for all the working mothers…’ Excuse Me????? You chose to have a child and now you want ME and the many other hardworking taxpayers to pay for you to DUMP your child on someone else to raise, so YOU can have a career? Why would you choose to have a child then? Because let’s be honest, no one can raise your child better than you can right?

I understand that there are unforeseen tragedies that happen that mandate a woman return to work after having a child, but this woman wasn’t talking about those situations. She was talking about your average everyday women like me who have a stable family life and if we wanted to, could budget one income to support the family or find alternatives to help supplement the family income without sacrificing the care of a child to some stranger. And I’ve seen many women work it out if it is necessary for them arrange for alternative care for a short amount of time. And I’ve seen families come together to be supportive in those times of need and to chip in and help when possible.

I’m furious because you want the choice to have kids, but then you still want the government, meaning all the taxpayers, to subsidize your daycare now? Why? What good can come of that? Abandoned children and higher taxes, that’s a brilliant plan for your child’s future? Again I ask, where is my choice in the matter? I didn’t get a choice for you to have a kid. And if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have let you have one if you planned on the taxpayers dollars paying for its daycare, health care, and anything else you can come up with. Those things are your responsibility? It is your responsibility to feed, clothe, and care for your child. But increasingly, this nation has become a nation shirking personal responsibility in favor of passing it along to the government. This is so they have someone else to blame but themselves if things go wrong.

If you want to dump your kid in daycare, that is your choice, but don’t ask me to pay for it. It’s ridiculous, appalling, and irresponsible. What is this world coming to?

Mandatory Birth Control…What a Concept!!

How many times have you been shopping in a store or eating in a restaurant and you see these kids running helter skelter, screaming all over the place like maniacs? It makes you want to pull your hair out right? How many times have you felt like going over to their parents and violently shaking them for not doing anything about it? But kept the fantasy in your head to avoid assault and battery charges or worse. I’m not talking about the parents that take their kids to the bathroom for a good spanking or whisper halitosis threats into their ear. I’m talking about the parents that ignore their kids’ bad behavior as if they don’t exists or if that’s normal/ok kid behavior. After all “they are just kids.”

Have you ever worked in a checkout line or stood in line at the grocery store behind someone on food stamps that is not only getting the bare necessities, but somehow affording also to load up on junk food and cigarettes as well? Not to mention they are rude to you or someone around you. Or are you sick of hearing the stories on the news of a woman barely of adult status delivering a 5th or 6th kid, all of whom are on Medicaid, and how happy she is to having another baby? Does it piss you off that you are footing the bill for these people that are abusing what was originally intended to be temporary help from the government? Again, I’m not talking about the people that are receiving temporary help and are working to better their lives. I’m talking about the perpetual offenders that are just poor enough to live off the government but have their priorities so straight that they can afford, satellite TV, alcohol, and cigarettes. At least we’re getting some tax dollars back from them in the form of the “sin taxable items.”

The concept for mandatory birth control was developed by a friend (who shall remain nameless unless she chooses to identify herself in the comments) and myself probably about 15 years ago now back in high school. I’m sure it was a class where we were bored and could be spotted counting ceiling tiles on any given day. The discussion had to do with how high school and college girls always seem to get knocked up when they are drunk. This may mean that alcohol increases fertility if you haven’t tried it yet. Since you don’t want babies being born to young, unprepared, un-wed mothers, this led us to the conclusion of putting birth control in alcohol. That way poor judgment could be rendered useless, and the innocent children, that get dragged into these situations rather than responsibly adopted out to capable and responsible families, would be protected from their would-be mothers.

Brilliant idea huh?!?!?

Forget the fact that it seems Marxist or Communistic or whatever category of bad political philosophy that you don’t want any part of. If you can overlook that one tiny problem, it’s a genius solution to a growing problem.

Of course over the years I’ve tried to improve upon the plan to add it to the water supply whereby, I will be the keeper of the antidote. Or at least I get to be in charge of who gets the temporary antidote. Prospective parents would of course have to pass a test, each time they want a new child, and prove to be able to support a child of their own means. They also have to have had no government assistance claims in the last 5 years. If they currently have a child, they have to show proof that they are respectable, responsible parents who are raising their current child or children to be respectable and responsible citizens.

The test would include questions like: “True or false, it’s ok for your child to play one parent against the other?” And for the sake of establishing consistency, “You child asks you if they can go to a party Saturday night, what’s your response?"
a) Of course dear. Do you need me to get the booze for you?
b) Yes, just don’t bring home any STDs.
c) Did you ask your mother/father?

Other questions would include simple geography and social studies questions like “how many states are there in the U.S.?” and “Can you name the current president and vice president of the U.S.?” and “How much do you pay in taxes?” Anyone responding incorrectly to these questions will have to reapply to have a child at a later date until they can prove themselves a wee bit more intelligent than that.

Seems like a relatively simple test right? Oh that my dream could become reality.

Anyways so there it is. I’m certain you will all agree while genius, it’s probably too good to be true. And of course it goes against my philosophy of freedom of choice, but anyone living off the government has taken away my freedom of choice not to support his or her irresponsibility. So I’m willing to compromise this one particular choice in the name of making the world a better place.

What’s Wrong With Our Education System?

So education in this country is constantly criticized as being less than stellar compared with many other countries around the world. And what I find amusing is that the solution is always to throw good money after bad. That will fix it. Never mind the fact that we pay property taxes and don’t have kids attending public school so it increases the amount they get per kid due to the many just like us. But if we did have kids, we wouldn’t get that money we pay to send them to public school tied to our kids so they could attend a school of my choosing. We’re stuck sending them to the public school of the district we live in, or we can pay money on top of our property taxes to send them to private school. And since that school gets our money regardless of whether or not they educate our kids, they don’t have to compete for our money. They don’t have to be better than the private school we might want to send our kids to. They don’t have to be better than another public school in another district. They don’t have to compete for our money because they get it whether we want them to or not. Even if we move to a new district, someone else will buy or rent our house and the property taxes will still be paid that support the school.

Free market competition isn’t a factor because the government is in charge and has monopolized the system. I understand collecting taxes to provide an education for our children. But it has become sub par, and many people are helpless to do anything about it. Or at least they feel that way. Surely by now most of you have heard of the concept of school vouchers, your tax dollars follow your kid. Some people demonize the concept. They are called teachers’ unions and those sucked into the beliefs of these lazy teachers that don’t think performance standards should be higher than the effort they are willing to put out. And for those teachers who do put out the extra effort, they often go unappreciated, undervalued, and underpaid because of the design of the system.

Just think if schools had to compete with each other what could happen. Bad schools would close. Good schools would grow. Good teachers would be rewarded and likely with higher salaries, as schools would compete for them. Think of the higher education system where they do compete with other schools and in some cases compete for exceptional teachers. My MBA program is a great example as I spent almost a year in Italy. It was a condensed program and I finished in about a year and I got to add the element of world travel and how it relates to business. The bonus I didn’t know about is that we had some of the most awesome, highly sought after professors from all over the US come teach our classes. I chose this program because I hate classroom settings so much that I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible and I’ve always wanted to go to Italy, and my degree is from a university in the US. Administrators, who want to keep their jobs, would look for ways to attract parents and therefore new students to their schools. This could likely result in many alternative methods to education and I like to think more enthusiastic students.

Let’s explore a method I would be very much in support of. I somehow made it through high school and college without much studying. That’s not to say I didn’t learn anything, but it wasn’t my forte and I was bored with the traditional classroom setting. I would have much preferred hands on experience, which some schools offer with shop classes and wood working classes. What if you had a school that helped you find a vocation to work towards while you were still in high school? Where you actually got hands on experience in various professions. For example, if you thought you might be interested in being a lawyer, you’d have the opportunity to work with a lawyer for a few weeks or months, helping him, attending depositions, or court cases or other various meetings. Maybe after some time you’d figure out that you didn’t want to be a lawyer, but if all goes right, you would have developed some valuable skills that might contribute to another job. And you would have weeded a profession out which might help you weed out others due to the things you didn’t like about it.

I like to think of this as some kind of apprenticeship. Because let’s be honest, unless we are doctors and maybe a few other professions I can’t think of right now, how many of us are really doing what we went to school for? My degree is so generic (business management) that I work with people with psychology degrees, accounting degrees, and probably no degrees at all. Meaning most of us learned our job by doing it. The longer we were there, the more we learned. I didn’t need to waste my money going to college to do what I’m doing, but the job description says I need one. Or lots of experience doing exactly what it is I’m doing.

I’m not saying an education isn’t necessary or valuable. I just think people stimulated to learn in very different ways. And I think there are more nontraditional ways to go about getting an education that might benefit many people who drop out of traditional educational settings. And I think our kids deserve a choice so that they don’t graduate high school like I did and say, “hmmm I have no clue what I want to do with my life, I just know I’m supposed to go to college, even if I have no clue what to study.” I just picked business because I hate literature so English was out, I didn’t want to go to medical school, or be a nurse or a teacher, and I figured a generic degree was at least a degree. When it’s possible I could have been successful without a degree at all.

So here’s to improving our educational system, not by throwing good money after bad, but by putting the choice back into it and letting the bad ones fail and the good ones excel.

Econ 101 - Taxes

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? When did people start being raised with the attitude that the government will take care of them if hard times come? When did this attitude become acceptable? Whatever happened to hard work and perseverance leading to pride in oneself? Don’t you want to continually better yourself and your family? Doesn’t that generally come from hard work? I realize that good contacts help but sometimes innovation gets you farther than fancy contacts. I know from personal experience.

Why is it that people don’t ask the one fundamental question when politicians start promising them the fairytale for free? That question you ask. “Since nothing is free, how do you plan to pay for it?” Well with taxing the rich. Sounds great because surely you’re not classified as rich. Well let’s think through this logically because remember this one fundamental truth; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Back to taxing the rich;

Who is classified as rich? Possible answers; leaders of “big business”, trust fund babies, venture capitalists, celebrities. That about covers the gamut right?
How many of these people get regular monthly salaries? Because remember to pay income tax, you must earn income. Answer; CEOs, but lets not forget much of their salary package is tied up in company stocks– and to stretch, celebrities however not necessarily regular in all cases.
How does the federal government get taxes on the rest of that group whose money is tied up in investments? Answer; Every time they realize a capital gain.

So then the tax happy politician’s strategy is two fold. First he’s going to crank up the capital gains tax to cover that group. Second he’s going to go ahead and crank up the top tier of income earners because after all they won’t miss it. They don’t really need to take home that much money to survive. The next set of questions you should be asking yourself are;

What right is it of prince politician to determine how much money a rich person needs if he earned it fair and square? Answer; It should be that they have no right.
How much does one have to make to be classified in the top tier of income earners? Answer; $349,700 and up for married couples and single filers in 2007
Will the increased capital gains taxes discourage people from realizing their capital gains? Answer; Yes as soon as they know this is about to happen they will either liquefy enough assets to whether the tax storm or move assets offshore if they aren’t already there.
Will this cause a problem to the planned federal income level needed to sustain my fairytale? Answer; Big time
What will my prince of a politician do about this?; Spread the tax burden to the next several tiers of income earners.
How much do you have to make to be classified in these tiers? Answer; Tier 2: $195,850-$349,700 married filing and $160,850-$349,700 for single filers. Tier 3: $128,500-$195,850 married filing and $77,100-$160,850 for single filers. And because raising taxes on tiers 1-3 still won’t be quite enough to cover your fairytale, let me go ahead and give you the next 2 tiers. Tier 4: $63,700-$128,500 married filing and $31,850-77,100 for single filers. Tier 5: $15,650-$63,700 married filing and $7,825-$31,850 for single filers. The next tier goes down to $0 for both.

So most of us with personal responsibility probably fall in tiers 3-5. The more you make, the more you pay. Actually many of those without personal responsibility fall in those tiers as well but due to loopholes and irresponsibility they are somehow still able to qualify for government assistance programs or at the very least not pay much or any taxes and they make more than you or I do.

Next set of questions you should be asking yourself;
Do I really want to pay for someone’s irresponsibility? Answer; if your answer is yes then may I suggest you write a check of your own free will to the IRS and mark it donation for any wasteful program that perpetuates irresponsibility. If you’re like me, your answer is not just no but HECK NO!!
Does that make me a bad person? Answer- that depends, If you’re like me, you understand that people fall on hard times and there is a time and a place for temporary assistance. But that is best left to the non-profit organizations like churches and hopefully very low overhead charities to handle. And it is for me to decide what or how much I want to give not the government. And I do feel a duty to give to these organizations so in that case no, that doesn’t make one a bad person. Although just because you choose not to give, it doesn’t make you a bad person either. Maybe just selfish. But we are all selfish in one way or another.
Is the fairytale just away to take power out of my hands and give it to the government? Answer; Darn tootin it is!!!! Now you’re starting to get the hang of this.
Don’t I need my money to pay my bills, buy a house, feed my family, and save for my future thereby teaching my kids to take personal responsibility for themselves? Answer; of course you do. And the more taxes you have to pay the less you have to perpetuate personal responsibility.
Do I really want to vote for this politician who is trying to buy my vote and the votes of others with MY money? You have to answer that for yourself.

Let the voter be ware. When a politician promises to raise corporate taxes to “stick it to ‘big business,’” corporations aren’t capable of “paying taxes.” Corporations are merely an infrastructure that provides a means of paying workers, providing goods and services, and collecting taxes from the sale of goods and services, and income tax and transferring them to the IRS. I may have left out a few things but the point is a corporation is driven by it’s workers and its customers. These are real people and these real people are who are paying the taxes. If the corporate tax level is increased, that gets passed on to the consumers with higher prices or to the workers with lower wages. How is that good for the people? How is less money in the hands of real people good for the economy? What are the consequences of raising corporate taxes? Business will look for other countries which will offer them lower tax rates. This in turn takes jobs away from Americans sending the unemployment rate up and taking money out of the U.S. economy and putting it somewhere else. And the government doesn't raise as much tax revenue as they'd planned, so they again raise the taxes of the individuals. Make sure you understand what that politician is promising you, me, and your family and friends.

Just remember a politician can’t offer anything for free. They are trying to buy people’s votes with your money. You have to decide what programs you think are worth paying for out of YOUR pocket and what aren’t and find a candidate who most closely agrees with you.