What happened in Vegas...

... I actually kinda wish would have stayed in Vegas. It hurts to think about this one. It certainly puts my post about the Rockford Public School District's $18,000 conference at $1,285 a head in Chicago to shame...

The General Services Administration, the facilities managers of the US Government (buildings, leases, rentals, properties, etc.), is a group you'd expect to be pretty well versed on fiscal restraint and finding deals to be had. But, OH NO... Instead, they had their Western Regions Training Conference in Vegas, spending 2,783 taxpayer dollars a head for a total cost of $835,000. These 300 people were treated to:

• A mind reader - 3,200 taxpayer dollars
• A commemorative coin set in velvet boxes - 6,300 taxpayer dollars
• A training exercise to build a bicycle - 75,000 taxpayer dollars
• Canteens, key chains and t-shirts - 6,000 taxpayer dollars
• A clown (I'd love to know what he was paid)
• A comedian (ditto)
• Awards for a participant talent show held as an excuse to treat everyone to dinner
• Treating everyone to dinner (But let's be reasonable here. Even if they had to expense their own meals, they were still government employees expensing their meals to the taxpayers...)

Setting this kind of baby up costs money too:

• Airfare and lodging sending the planners on six trips to the venue to set it up - 147,000 taxpayer dollars (Because, you know, you can't set this sort of beauty up over the phone)
• A finder's fee to book this place that can't even remotely set up a conference - 12,000 taxpayer dollars

One of the worst parts? The news broke THIS WEEK about a conference that happened 18 months ago! That means the motherfuckers spending this kind of money as 'servants' of the public had a good solid run at just covering this up and making it go away. You gotta ask yourself, how much of this shit are they getting away with?

Luckily a hero from within the GSA reported this gross misappropriation of taxpayer dollars. Thank you, GSA Employee. Thank you.

So... What exactly were they being trained for again???

THIS is whyipaytaxes...

read more:GSA chief gone, but fallout continues in wake of lavish convention expense(cnn)

I first heard it:Obama Administration Tripped Up By GSA's Vegas Spending Scandal(npr)

BIG brother

Wow... Though this Executive Order has been around since Truman (no big surprise there), I did not realize what our government is prepared to do at any time they decide it is necessary.

I mean, I'm not really surprised, but after reading the Executive Order in its entirety (do I know how to celebrate my Friday nights, or what?!) I'm quite ill at ease about seeing the ways our government plans to implement martial law "during peacetime, graduated mobilization, and national emergency."

Here is a paragraph derived mostly from a Snopes article describing it in an alarmist way. They say it is a false claim in that the government doesn't actually have the power, but they do have plans on the books to make it so:

• The National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order [defines the need for plans that] allows the nationalization of pretty much the entire USA, even in peace time, if the President desires.
• They can, under this order, restrict civilian travel by any mode. They can close our roads, highways and interstates, they can set up check points anywhere.
• They can ration food, gasoline and electricity.
• They can restrict water usage, even from private wells.
• They can ration health care, including any and all drugs, including OTC and vitamins.
• They can collectivize farms and the food processing/distribution system.
• They can take over all energy production, including home solar units.
• They can take over our factories and command what they should produce.
• They can take charge of the resources (natural or otherwise) needed to keep the nationalized factories churning.
• They can draft civilians into the military.
• If they have need of your skills, they can compel you to work for no compensation.

I am pretty sure this isn't what our founding fathers had in mind when discussing and framing our liberties and freedoms... And just because they're planning it without having executed it doesn't really make it much better, in spite of what the press would have you believe.

And that they can implement these plans at any time by declaring a "National Emergency" is just plain old messed up. Technically, they don't even have to do that!

This is why I keep saying: We need more options. We need a party that would see this and say "WOAH! I AIN'T SIGNING THAT SHIT!" Every president, republican and democrat for over 50 years has put their name at the bottom of revisions of this Executive Order. I think we deserve a president that wouldn't dare sign off on such an un-American travesty of everything we supposedly stand for.

Meanwhile, the media keeps us busy arguing about who is gonna pay for condoms, whether or not we'll be forced to buy health insurance, and how each state is going to vote for Romnetorum...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read the EO yourself:Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness(whitehouse.gov)

Oklahoma takes the bull by the horns

Finally, the Oklahoma state government is taking care of the big problems. None of this sissy budget balancing for them. After all, how can a state possibly go on without an official state motto?

They do have a state slogan on the state seal, but who the heck can get up in the morning to "Labor Omnia Vincit" (Labor Conquers All Things)? Screw that bullshit, they need a good solid American motto they can feel proud of. Something original.

In God We Trust.
YEEEEEE HAAAAWWWW! Now that's a motto that will put hair on your chest.

At least the article I read quoted State Rep. Ryan "Are you fucking kidding me?" Kiesel in saying this resolution is a "frivolous waste of legislative time."

THIS is whyoklahomanspaytaxes.
read more:Oklahoma Could Soon Have New State Motto(koco)

NDAA - Natural Disposition to Apprehend Americans

Meh... Bad title... This whole post is just an excuse to re-post of a Facebook rant I wrote tonight. It has everything to do with this blog, in that our tax dollar supported government is doing shit that is most-certainly not in our best interest... This is far more political than I like to go with this blog, but at least I show that my intent is non-partisan (even though the hate is directed at the current president).

Straight to the rant:

A post and some responses led me to write an Obama is better than Bush comment on a friends wall. In it, I referred to wars and Bin Laden - easy pickin's for a Obama vs. Bush thread. However, with my bent on moderation and the necessity for more political parties and less polarization, I couldn't go out like that. So, I took a minute to articulate my main hate on Obama too. Having finally put words to a thought that has been bugging me for a few weeks, I thought I'd cut'n'paste 'n' share:
---
Why Obama should indeed be shown the door:

1.) He is the first president in the history of our great nation that signed a bill into law allowing the federal government to apprehend and detain any one of us as long as they want. The only requirement is that they claim the detention is based on suspicion of "terrorism or supporting terrorists." That he signed it 'reluctantly' is irrelevant. That the current administration may never use this power is irrelevant. That our government can abduct us and make us disappear is unacceptable.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/317046

2.) The federal government has equated cannabis use as terrorism in the past. In an ad ran by the Office of National Drug Control Policy during the Bush years, "Sharing a joint in your friend's back yard" was described as support of terrorism.
http://www.cannabis-marijuana.com/drugterrorist.html

Put 1 and 2 together and we are not that far away from the government rounding up pot heads and detaining them indefinitely, without charges, without the ability to defend themselves in the courts. While this is extreme and highly unlikely, Obama's signature on that bill make this a possibility. That some future administration, in even more polarized times may take up the mantle of ending the war on drugs once and for all, is a possibility that seems unimaginable today.

Again, I point out that we need more options because it is starting to feel like 1984 up in here. With republicans we're screwed, with democrats we're shafted. Either way, I'm not loving it, no matter how many times McDonalds tries to tell me otherwise.
---

After reviewing the cut'n'paste, I realized it is a bit centered on cannabis users. While some of the best people I know regularly use cannabis, I'm trying to illustrate the truly profound depth of this law. While it is easy to draw the connection to highlight the contrast between everyone's favorite pot head and people who support terrorists, I'm not just talking about hungry people that don't feel like getting off the couch to find food. The vagueness of the terrorism charges is intense and by being forbidden due process, the government cannot be held accountable. A sitting administration can round up its opposition, claim terrorism, and lock them up. Period. No review. No chance to call bullshit. Nothing. Gone for good with no avenue for recourse.

Not acceptable. We need to be far more pissed off about this than we are. Screw the 99% vs. 1%... The Patriot Act didn't even go this far. This is the kind of thing we expect from China, Russia, or Saudi Arabia. This is not what we expected the founding father's vision of freedom in our country to turn into.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Crack patrol

Its kinda like a light bulb joke, but the punchline kinda pisses you off...

Q: How many government agencies does it take to put a guy with $200 of crack on him in jail for 2 weeks?

A:

• Special Assistant United States Attorney, Justin Lightfoot
• the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force
• the Linn County Sheriff’s Office
• the Cedar Rapids Police Department
• the Marion Police Department
• the Iowa City Police Department
• the Clinton Police Department
• the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement
• the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
• the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services
• the Iowa National Guard

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Sometimes, I find the story already put together for me: How Many Law Enforcement Agencies Does it to Take to Prosecute One Man for Buying $200 Worth of Crack?(reason.com)

Unemployed gangs

$30,000 in unemployment benefits were provided to local gangs in Los Angeles on behalf of Anthony "can't find work in jail" Garcia.

Garcia wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box, having been arrested for a murder after having some of the evidence of the murder scene tattooed on his chest.

But he still proved to be too spry of a crook for the unemployment office to catch on to his scam that had family members collecting $1,600 per month from October 2008 to March of 2010.

Checks, balances, aww, forget it...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.
read more: Father & Girlfriends of Inmate Arrested for $30,000 Unemployment Fraud(ktla)

Final exam

This Graphic brought to us by Americans Against The Tea Party.

THIS is whyfloridianspaytaxes.

Another life improved

Watch this video. Its all quite self explanatory...

TL;DW:
Taxpayers have spent over $70,000 to send a kid that can't even string a sentence together to music school. Oh, and his county gives him cash for rent, even though he doesn't pay rent.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Legistlaters gonna legislate

Now that we've established that pizza is a vegetable and re-affirmed our national motto, lets get down to some serious work!

Pissin' match

This is one of those things that really drives me nuts when you look at it from a whole of humanity perspective...

By around the year 2020 or so, we, as a species, will have 5 completely separate but redundant satellite systems to facilitate navigation and global positioning. Of course, you are familiar with our system called GPS. Each of these systems will cover the entire globe, costs hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars to implement and require dozens of satellites that will consume valuable natural resources and human capital.

We have not decided to dedicate these redundant resources to feeding the hungry, curing incurable diseases, or exploring our options as the Earth will eventually become completely uninhabitable (whether by our hand, or by the demise of our sun).

Rather, we have decided it is more important to have complete control over where our missiles land without fear of foreign intervention in time of war.

Congratulations, humans, on choosing once again petty differences and a profound mistrust of each other over coming together to improve people's lives...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more:China GPS rival Beidou starts offering navigation data(bbc)

At the next sign of logic, turn left

BONUS SCIENCE-RELATED POST

The first man made object ever to leave the influence of our solar system is just about there... Fun!

read more:Voyager 1 Speeds Toward The Brink Of Interstellar Space(npr)

Coffee, enemas and long distance prayer

Repost to share about the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a mostly unheard of branch of the National Institutes of Health:

Coffee Enemas, Aromatherapy, and Intercessory Prayer: Your Tax Dollars At Work

Their source:Federal center pays good money for suspect medicine(CT)

I don't know about you, but I think it is terrific that we've spent taxpayer dollars ($660,000(!)) on investigating whether or not long distance prayer can heal AIDS abroad. Its not like we're supposed to avoid using state money to further the cause of religions or anything crazy like that...

I do suppose the coffee enemas are understandable when you consider just how full of shit this particular branch of the government is...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Tax exempt

If churches were treated like the business entities they are and had to pay a fair share, the US economy would have an additional $100 BILLION annually in property taxes alone!

Subsidizing for-profit organizations...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.
read more:How We All Pay For the Huge Tax Privileges Granted to Religion – It’s Time to Tax the Church(n4cm)

Jesus would have wanted us to have this lobby

Still witch huntin' in 2011

The witch problem we humans contend with first came to prominence in the dark ages. By the time the Salem Witch Trials came about, we thought we had eradicated the threat altogether. However, as it turns out, we were wrong and still have a witch problem in the world.

Thankfully, our friends in Saudi Arabia have not rested on their laurels while the rest of the complacent world goes on about its business as though sorcery and magic spells don't exist.

Earlier today, Saudi Arabia executed Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser by way of beheading under the charge of practicing "witchcraft and sorcery." Surprisingly, no further details were provided in regards to the charges against her.

That's some good investigatin', judgin', and executin'!

THIS is whysaudiarabianspaytaxes.
Read more: Saudi woman executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery'(bbc)

Of the people, but not for the people

This is it, folks... We've lost control of our government.

You guys will remember this little thing we liked to call the TARP, right? Everybody got their britches in a bundle over the "unprecedented" amount of $700 BILLION to be loaned to Wall Street to ostensibly avoid worldwide economic collapse.. Nobody liked it, but at that time, Bush was the lamest of ducks with at least one foot out the door and something [supposedly] HAD to be done.

That the economy eventually collapsed in every realistic and measurable way is irrelevant, but I certainly had to bring it up.

Notice my use of the quotes around "unprecedented" in the paragraph above. I use these quotes because there was plenty of precedence. In fact, the very same banks we bailed out were already into us for a LOT more than $700 BILLION at that time!

Prior to the TARP, the Fed had already made loans to the banks at a total cost that amounted to $7.77 TRILLION! In your face, puny little $700 BILLION.

Bullet points. Too frustrated to make paragraphs:

Magnitude

• $7.7 TRILLION is more than half the value of everything our country produced that year
• Our 6 largest banks turned their share into $13 BILLION in profit
• Morgan Stanley alone borrowed enough ($107 BILLION) to pay off a tenth of nation's delinquent mortgages
• Bank of America took $91.4 BILLION of these secret loans while simultaneously taking $45 BILLION from the TARP funds
• Banks that were declared too big to fail grew even larger
  
• Our largest banks enjoyed more profits in the last 2.5 years than they did in the 8 years preceding the crisis
• All the while, they continue to spend MILLIONS lobbying to derail or weaken laws designed to keep them in check
  

Transparency

• The loans to the banks were undisclosed
  
• The profits earned by the banks were undisclosed
• Shareholders, the "owners" of the banks were not told (Where did the profits go?!?)
  
• Taxpayers, the people that have given the authority to the Fed to watch over our money were not told
• Congress, which was actively writing an overhaul to our financial regulatory system was not told
• These loans were provided with no protections or guarantees for the taxpayers
  

THEY LOANED OUR MONEY VALUED AT MORE THAN HALF OF EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY CAN MAKE IN A YEAR TO PRIVATE COMPANIES WITHOUT EVER TELLING ANYONE! The Fed knew, the Bank Managers knew. Not even the owners of the banks knew!

THIS is whyipaytaxes.
read more:Wall Street Banks Earned Billions In Profits Off $7.7 Trillion In Secret Fed Loans Made During The Financial Crisis(tp)

If this committee was 'Super', we're screwed

Bad news:

The congressional *ahem* "Super" Committee was unable to do as they were told and will not be proposing any suggestions regarding deficit reduction aside from the following advice:

Somebody should throw together some kind of a committee to figure this shit out!

Good news:

It was no one's fault! Feel free to vote for incumbents next year, because not one of the 12 people on the committee failed in their task. As it turns out, it was the other side that failed. Awesome!

Assembling a committee of professional politicians to solve a perpetual national crisis with a result of finger pointing and bullshit posturing...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Sarcasm-free TL;DR summary: Super committee convenes with only the advice that this problem should be dealt with, not ignored for future generations to fix and the Republicans blame the impasse on the Democrats who blame the impasse on the Republicans.

Some more good, solid legislatin'

If there is one thing you can count on our congress to do, it is some good solid legislatin' for the good of the people when we need it most... If you doubt me, I have a prime example from this past week.

In a congress where budgets cannot be balanced and the worldwide embarrassment of ignoring self imposed deadlines and slipping credit ratings cannot be avoided, a very important piece of legislation got passed this week:
Pizza is a vegetable. No vegetable toppings needed, the tomato paste counts as a vegetable for our school children. To be fair, they also agreed to keeping french fries on the menu and to delay a requirement to provide a minimum amount of whole grains in school meals, so they really are getting quite a bit done here.

I like to feel this pride in my government. I'm positively beaming and smitten with our fine congresspeople. But to be honest, this quality legislatin' didn't write itself. Oh, no. It was requested by the companies that provide pizza and french fries to schools. And without batting an eye, our congress came together in a moment of true harmony to put the hopes and dreams [prof-it mahr-jin] of these companies ahead of the health and well being of our nation's children.
(I realize that this 'change' is to avoid changing the rules from what has served us so well over the past decades. Wait... Did someone say something about an obesity epidemic?)

So remember fellow countrymen and women, if you want your children to grow up with strong bones and superior health - pizza with every meal! ...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Watch Jon Stewart put it into perspective: Superbad(tds)
My 2 favorite lines in his clip:
"Clearly you are in the pocket of Big Hot Pocket"
"It's not democracy, it's digiorno"

TO BE FAIR: It appears to be some kind of a superpower thing: The Russians recently did some of their own solid legislatin' and decided that beer isn't food.

Its been a good few weeks!: In money we trust(wipt)

Our support of major utility companies

Just an interesting graph to share...

Not only are these 13 fabulous companies NOT paying a dime in taxes, but they are actually receiving our tax dollars to support their operations.

I suppose... With only $4.8 billion in profits, they need our tax money more than the schools do...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.
Read more: You’re paying taxes, so why aren’t energy companies?(reuters)

Snails pace

In order to save a mess of rare snails from a new coal mining site in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation decided to step in and get the killing off of these creatures done more efficiently.

And you thought they were going to try to save them...

They went around the site of the future coal mine and gathered up over 6,000 snails and moved them to climate controlled rooms where they went to work getting the little buggers to breed. (Mood lighting, Barry White and plenty of chocolate seemed to do the trick)

Unfortunately, the room that contained the 'Powelliphanta giant land snails' had a technical glitch and all 800 snails were frozen solid.

No wonder they're rare...

THIS is whyNEWZEALANDERSpaytaxes.
read more: Mishap freezes to death 800 rare New Zealand snails(bbc)

I'm glad mommy and daddy are safe in their government storage facility. Yay!

In money we trust

As you may or may not have heard, there is some shit going down out there. If I am to understand things correctly, there are massive protests in many of the cities in America, our national deficit is surpassing numbers that were beyond wildest imaginations just a few decades ago, Europe is on the brink of economic catastrophe, we're still embroiled in at least one war right now, a minimum of 9% of our eligible work force can't find work, the Palestinians and Israeli's are still angry with each other, and I hear there are some untrustworthy motherfucker's out their with all sorts of guns, bombs and even a few working on nuclear weapons. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that there are many other things that could really use the full attention of the United States Government right about now.

But, no. OH no.

Our congress (approval rating = 9%) has got FAR more important shit to deal with here. After all, how can our country function if we don't take a time out to RE-AFFIRM our National MOTTO???

Yes, sadly, today, on the floor of the House, they brought up a motion, debated, and passed the reaffirmation of our national motto that was written in 1956: In God We Trust.

This was followed, nearly immediately, by a motion to mint coins to recognize the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Well, I sure am glad we cleared THAT up...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Watch the video: Men Not At Work(tds)

It ain't tricklin' down folks!

According to the Congressional Budget Office, since 1979:
After-tax income increased by 275% for the wealthiest 1% of Americans
After-tax income increased by 18% for the poorest 20%

in 2005-2007, right before the Great Recession, the top 20% of the population earned more after-tax income than the entire bottom 80%...

The obvious case that some will make in light of these statistics is that they deserve it. They work harder, they make the right decisions.
Am I to believe that I am that much lazier and that much more ignorant?It feels like I work really hard every day; I'm certainly very tired at the end of a day...
I certainly don't see a 275% increase in my after-tax income ANYtime soon.

Maybe the wealth isn't trickling back down after all...

Don't get me wrong... I don't feel entitled to an increase in my income. If you think about it on a world wide scale, I live a pretty fantastic life full of wonderful toys and comforts beyond the wildest dreams of billions of people.

What drives me nuts is that a vast amount of the 'wealth' in this country has been pooled among 1% of Americans and they have turned our elections into a war of campaign donations while appointing themselves to positions of power so they can use tax payer's money to 'bail' each other 'out.'

They've even stopped paying a reasonable amount of taxes. Again, don't get me wrong, I'm a staunch opponent of high taxes for everyone and loathe big governments.

Alas, we all have to pay our share of taxes to keep the system going. It wasn't until GE paid absolutely $0 (ZERO) in taxes on $5.1 BILLION in profits in 2010 that I realized maybe, just maybe, not everyone was paying their share of taxes.

The statistics from our own government:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/124xx/doc12485/10-25-HouseholdIncome.pdf