THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Although many Americans have used the "Bush countdown" as motivation to get through the past 5-6 years, now that the end of the countdown is here, the real challenge for us is also here. There's no doubt that the majority of the Bush presidency has been very divisive for our country. And for many of us, opposite the Decider, it has been very frustrating and awfully difficult times. Until now, we could find solace in the mere fact that he would be gone. On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, our 43rd president will do his part. Then, it will be our turn.

2009 is going to be a very challenging year for many different reasons. We're on the verge of another national depression, and in some parts of the country, it's already here. The current wealth gap in this country is already beyond that of the 20's and 30's, so there are already people living in depression-type conditions. We also face the challenge of defining the "change" we have been supporting for almost 2 years. The optimism and hope that has inspired many, young and old, is no longer in the future. It's now.

We're also facing the financial and human costs of two wars. Even President-elect Obama doesn't seem to be slowing the momentum of our war-like foreign policy. We cannot accept withdrawing troops from Iraq as progress if these same men and women are redeployed to Afghanistan. In his final presidential press conference, Mr. Bush finally admitted to some mistakes (or "disappointments," as he called them.) And the big one that stood out to me was "NO WMD'S." This admission, on top of the WMD jokes, shows us that he either doesn't know, or doesn't care that we've been in a permanent state of war mainly because he, amongst others, scared us into believing that we would absolutely be attacked with these punchline, non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

"America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." ~ George W Bush, 10.7.2002

So the questions "what is going to end?" and "what is going to begin?" are very important to all of us, individually and collectively. We must expand our awareness and not accept the status quo. We cannot judge our 2009 by 2008.

Change for change's sake is not necessarily what's best for us. We must define and make our change. That will be made possible by the bait the Obama Campaign has been wiggling in front of us for some time now - "bottom-up." We must educate our ignorant, feed our hungry, build our pride. We're always told that we, humans, are social creatures, but we're not told how other influences mold our beings.

Ever since Mr. Bernaise made us into "Happiness Machines," with his invention of Public Relations, we've been consumers, too busy to look past the headlines. In this generation of e-mail, IM's, text messages, the "inner-nets," and iPods, we must not succumb to the virtual world to the extent that our social contact and communication is degraded any more. A simple conversation with a genuine interest in learning from one another is far more rewarding and productive than abbreviated language and symbols.

This year marks the end of ignoring our needs, and prioritizing our wants. The beginning of taking the reigns of what's ours, morphing the walk with the talk. Action will be necessary to see what we want. We have the opportunity before us to mold the future by improving the present. It's time to change what we want to change, and for a lot of us that'll start with the mirror.

W., Thanks and Farewell!

PERMANENT TAX CUTS FOR WHO?

SEE BELOW TO DETERMINE FOR YOURSELF IF THESE TAX CUTS SHOULD BE PERMANENT.

SOURCE

On Income, Our Top Continues To Clobber Our Bottom
A new analysis of just-released IRS data reveals the widest income gap between America's top 1 percent and bottom 90 since right before the Great Depression.

March 31, 2008

By Sam Pizzigati

Economists can't tell us much about the future. But the best of them can tell us a great deal about the past. Over recent years, two of those best — Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty — have been parsing annual data from the IRS to paint a picture of where America's income dollars are going. They've just released their latest picture. It's not pretty.

income gapDollars are now flowing into the pockets of America's fabulously rich, the new Saez-Piketty data show, at their fastest rate in nearly 80 years.

In 2006, the most current year with IRS tax return totals available, the most affluent 1 percent of American households took in 20.3 percent of American income dollars.

"Not since 1928, just before the Great Depression," observes an analysis of the Saez-Piketty data by the Center for Budget and Public Policy's Aviva Aron-Dine, "has the top 1 percent held such a large share of the nation's income."

Between 2005 and 2006, the new Saez-Piketty data indicate, the average income of the top 1 percent of U.S. households increased $73,000, after inflation. The bottom 90 percent of U.S. households, over that same span, saw their incomes jump by $20, not enough to offset the cost of a parking ticket.

The picture the Saez-Piketty numbers paint gets significantly uglier when we zero in on the wealthiest of the wealthy — and look closely at how prodigiously their incomes have ballooned since the mid 20th century.

In 1956, households in America's top tenth of 1 percent reported incomes that averaged just under $1.1 million. That's in inflation-adjusted 2006 dollars.

In 2006, this top 0.1 percent averaged $6.3 million. In other words, the real incomes of these affluents have multiplied nearly six-fold over the past half-century, a 476 percent increase.

Over the same 50-year period, the real average incomes of America's bottom 90 percent increased just 32 percent, from $23,068 to $30,374.

But this 32 percent figure actually distorts the historical trend line. Over recent decades, the average incomes of the bottom 90 percent of American households have actually dropped. These incomes increased steadily from the 1950s into the early 1970s, hitting $34,065 in 1973. Since then, the average incomes of America's bottom 90 percent have dipped 11 percent.

Could this picture get any uglier? Sure can. Just consider the incomes of America's top hundredth of 1 percent. These incomes — once again, after factoring in inflation — jumped from an average $3.7 million in 1956 to $29.6 million in 2006, an amazing increase of 693 percent.

My Deal...

What's my deal? Why am I here? What's my angle? In a nutshell, my deal is being fed up with the state of our government, trying to inform as many people as possible about what's going on under our noses, and trying to get folks to stand up and accept the responsibilities that go along with freedom. My angle is from an informed citizen who's had enough of the corruption, cronyism, and good ol' boy networks to take a stand and fight for what I believe is right. I usually look at issues from the bottom up, mostly because that's MY angle. I'm not here to whine and complain and bring those who read down to my level. Without a doubt, I am very frustrated with the direction of our country. And although I feel most of the blame should be pointed at the Bush administration, I'm not gonna fill up the lines of my blogs with hater-ation. If I have thought about a topic long enough where I feel the need to write on it, then I'll also take the time to research a possible solution. I'm not asking anyone to agree with everything I say/write either. I welcome DEBATE. And honestly, I HOPE someone can enlighten me on the concerns I have. In the same breath, no amount of name-calling will do that.

Here are a few of the concerns I currently have:
MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006
PATRIOT ACT
SEMANTICS OF OUR TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
AMERICA'S STANDING IN THE WORLD
STATE OF HIP HOP
THE WIDENING GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND POOR
CIVIL LIBERTIES

Those are a few of many. I invite anyone's feedback, and I will not censor. In the next few days, I'm going to repost some earlier written blogs in order to put them in front of a broader audience. I look forward to meeting new people, intelligent debate, and continuing to awaken as many people to the facts of our world today.

mOnEy!

Hello all! Today's random rambling is gonna be about $MONEY$ But before I get into that, I'd like to pay respects to the dollar above. I actually ordered A LOT of these, so if you want one let me know. Anyway...I found them on this site when I was researching for a paper I HAD to write for a Philosophy class back in 2003, titled "The United States Government and Cocaine." But to make a long story short, this guy Michael C. Ruppert was the one who blew the whistle on the CIA for introducing crAck cOcAInE to South Central Los Angeles in the 80's. And it's fact that said area (along with MILLIONS of other cities) has not yet recovered from the aftermath. And what I got a much better understanding of was what the root cause of this was. Now, I'm sure we all heard of this guy OLLIE NORTH, but not sure why. Well, I'm old, I mean WISE, enough to remember back in the 80's when this fool was on TV all the time...and if you are as WISE as I, you remember he was in court more than thE jUIcE. Bottom line on this: Ollie & R-Double sold drugs to Americans to fund a WAR!

..">

I'm proud to say that I actually took the picture above. And even though the money wasn't mine, I did have it under my command. I guess I was kinda holding it for the Air Force. But the point of all this is that holding and having control over that much money was as powerful, if not more, than carrying a gun. Both ways too...the way I felt personally, and the way people treated me in return...VERY POWERFUL!

As we all know, the amount of $MONEY$ we have dictates what kind of life we can have in a Capitalist Economy. And doesn't it suck the more you make the more taxes you "have" to pay? That's where I wanna pause for a second...

Does EVERYBODY remember the Boston Tea Party? Well, if you're a little too WISE to remember, it was about being taxed without any representation. Kinda like, "FUCK YOU, PAY ME!" The way I see it, in order to prosper in a capitalist society you need as much cash as possible. And letting the government hold a couple g's of your money all year without paying you any interest is not the right decision. Here's just 2 reasons why: 1) when you owe taxes, YOU'RE PAYING INTEREST on that starting April 16 every year. NO NEGOTIATION! 2) they ARE gaining interest on your money AND funding wars, AND paying companies like THESE no-bid contracts for jobs American Servicemen (and women) used to do. And on top of that, pay the contractors 3-4X as much as the soldiers, marines, airmen, and sea-men <---whY I wOUld nEvEr jOIn thE nAvY--->...oh yeah, they work right beside them doing the same jobs. If that's not supporting the troops...WHOA!---that was a rant...I wanna try & keep this Random Rambling RANTLESS...

...back to the point...use this IRS CALCULATOR to get your W-4 correct. This is the money you need to be saving for your RETIREMENT! Because let's face it, WE'RE NOT GONNA GET SOCIAL SECURITY PERIOD! A very common mistake made by people like me (and probably you too to some extent) is we feel that if we can't put a SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT in some sort of savings, then we'll wait 'till we can and put NOTHING away right NOW. TERRIBLE MISTAKE!

BUT, check this out...TIME is far more valuable than money. cOmE hErE, I'll prOvE It...

To those who know me best, this will come as a big shock...BUT I have to actually give some credit where it is due. In 2003, YOUR government not only InvAdEd IrAq On mY 7th yEAr AIr fOrcE AnniversArY, but also did something good. They established the US Financial Literacy & Educational Commission, and their site is excellent for those of you who are not as fascinated with numbers as I. Check it out! GET IN THE KNOW!

And since this is such a rare happening, I might as well have the lightening strike twice. Another kudo for the GOV'T/IRS: sOmEthIng fOr thOsE Of yOU thAt wAnt tO stArt sOmEthIng fOr thE bAbIEs' cOllEgE and get a TAX BREAK at the same time. This is an EDUCATIONAL TRUST that you can switch over to anyone in your family to use for education costs, including ROOM AND BOARD (over half of total costs). So PLEASE start saving NOW...

I'd love to sit in front of this computer ALL DAY, but that wouldn't be right. I do have other things that need tending to. So I'll leave you with this sUpEr nEws!

tIll nExt tImE...