Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Henry Jane
On the 40th Anniversary of the greatest war crime committed by this country I would like to express my interpretation of the first three Rights granted to us by our nation's Constitution: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Life: Well, you're reading this so I assume you are alive. The Constitution portrays Life as the first Right and, as such, is the most important right to all of the people of the world. This includes all of those that may be counted at "enemies" of the United States or it's people. If we, as a people, are able to deny the right to life then we have corrupted the foundation of our country.
Liberty: There are many definitions of Liberty
Basic Liberty: The control over ones own action. This is laid out by Jesus Christ in Luke 6:31: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Negative Liberty: Freedom from others. Just as you have the freedom to not oppress others, so do you have the freedom from oppression from others.
Libertarian Liberty: People should, must, and ought to behave according to their own free will and take responsibility for their own actions. This seems to be the most reasonable form of Liberty in the eyes of people, to take responsibility for your own actions. Should you choose to murder someone then you should pay the consequences of your actions. In reference to the first Right, Jesus Christ said to turn the other cheek and to let those who are innocent cast the first stone. My interpretation of these scriptures is that even those guilty of the most heinous crimes deserve to live; though they may live in a prison for the rest of their lives we may not know what God has planned for their lives.
Positive Liberty: Where emphasis is placed upon social structure directed at maintaining a class based system whereas the duties of each class benefit the whole. This is the basis of Socialism: The good of the many outweigh the good of the few. Sadly the outcome of this system is a very few elite end up having complete control over the many.
The Pursuit of Happiness: This Right is solely based on the two that precede it. Happiness is based purely on an individual basis. Provided your happiness does not violate the first two Rights there is no reason why anyone should infringe upon your happiness.
Although there are many definitions of Liberty, there is only one product of it and that is Freedom. Freedom is the reason why this country was founded in the first place, to deny Life is to deny Liberty and to deny Liberty is to deny Freedom, which makes the entire concept of America an exercise in futility.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Would you like bacon with that?
There is much talk these days about the "pork" in government spending most recently brought to light by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, most people know it as the bill pushed through Congress on the eve of December 31, 2012 to avoid the so called "Fiscal Cliff".
Most people are aware that there is no shortage of pork in government spending, almost every bill is loaded with funding for something not related to the bill itself. Some of the pork is simply extensions or modifications of previously approved pork while some of it is new pork. The only time it seems to matter what kind of pork is in the bill is when it conflicts with the people who yell the loudest. There was plenty of pork passed down during the Bush administration; however, no one seems to remember it because it was so long ago and there was a Republican in the White House. We were living in the golden age of an artificial bubble created by the housing market, the GDP was up, there was a war going on and everything seemed to be just wonderful on the surface. Bills were being passed left and right to fight terrorism or prop up the housing market, all the while taxpayer dollars were going out the door faster than they had in decades on corporate welfare.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was no exception to this obsession with pork. While the bill did nothing to address a 2% Social Security payroll tax increase set to take effect January 1, which increased taxes for an estimated 77% of Americans, the bill also extended the Farm Bill spending ($6 billion), extended tax breaks for certain business entities ($3 billion) and continued tax incentives for renewable energy companies($15 billion).
Of the $6 billion in the Farm Bill extension a majority of the money will be sent to corporations like St. Louis based Monsanto. Monsanto is most famous for the weed killer Round-Up, what most people do not know is that they started out making Agent Orange, a herbicide used during Vietnam, which is highly toxic to humans. Monsanto now makes it's money by creating Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). These GMOs are resistant to certain pesticides and herbicides which allow for the farming of extensive areas of land without the risk of pets damaging the crop. GMO foods have been abolished in nearly every country, except for the United States, largely due to evidence that these foods are toxic to laboratory animals, causing horrible birth defects and cancer in most subjects. In the United States; however, no research concerning GMOs has been done and the research conducted in other countries has been largely ignored by the government as a whole. The most common GMOs are Corn, Soy and Canola, ironically pork may soon be joining the list of GMOs due to a $500,000 grant by the FDA.
Of the $15 billion in renewable energy tax extensions most of these extensions will go to corporations not unlike Solyndra, corporations which would never be able to turn a profit without government assistance. Renewable energy may be the way of the future; however, it should be privately funded as an endless stream of government funding and tax abatement only encourages contractors to produce very little at high costs.
Of the $3 billion in tax extensions most of the extensions will go to the national and multi-national corporations who lobbied for the extensions such as: Nascar, Hollywood, Puerto Rican rum producers, and railroads. Most smaller businesses will not be affected by this extension, causing their taxes to increase this year.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act also continued the practice of "Active Financing Exception" exempting multi-national corporations from paying almost all corporate income tax. These multi-national corporations, such as: Citi Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and General Electric, are able to defer U.S. Taxes by moving profits offshore.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, after everything is said and done this bill will increase government spending by $33 billion per year even after tax increases. While a majority of Americans will see some increase and a few will see a large increase in taxes, some corporations, primarily banks, will continue to avoid paying any taxes at all.
So, a person is left to wondering, who's relief was this act meant for?
Most people are aware that there is no shortage of pork in government spending, almost every bill is loaded with funding for something not related to the bill itself. Some of the pork is simply extensions or modifications of previously approved pork while some of it is new pork. The only time it seems to matter what kind of pork is in the bill is when it conflicts with the people who yell the loudest. There was plenty of pork passed down during the Bush administration; however, no one seems to remember it because it was so long ago and there was a Republican in the White House. We were living in the golden age of an artificial bubble created by the housing market, the GDP was up, there was a war going on and everything seemed to be just wonderful on the surface. Bills were being passed left and right to fight terrorism or prop up the housing market, all the while taxpayer dollars were going out the door faster than they had in decades on corporate welfare.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was no exception to this obsession with pork. While the bill did nothing to address a 2% Social Security payroll tax increase set to take effect January 1, which increased taxes for an estimated 77% of Americans, the bill also extended the Farm Bill spending ($6 billion), extended tax breaks for certain business entities ($3 billion) and continued tax incentives for renewable energy companies($15 billion).
Of the $6 billion in the Farm Bill extension a majority of the money will be sent to corporations like St. Louis based Monsanto. Monsanto is most famous for the weed killer Round-Up, what most people do not know is that they started out making Agent Orange, a herbicide used during Vietnam, which is highly toxic to humans. Monsanto now makes it's money by creating Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). These GMOs are resistant to certain pesticides and herbicides which allow for the farming of extensive areas of land without the risk of pets damaging the crop. GMO foods have been abolished in nearly every country, except for the United States, largely due to evidence that these foods are toxic to laboratory animals, causing horrible birth defects and cancer in most subjects. In the United States; however, no research concerning GMOs has been done and the research conducted in other countries has been largely ignored by the government as a whole. The most common GMOs are Corn, Soy and Canola, ironically pork may soon be joining the list of GMOs due to a $500,000 grant by the FDA.
Of the $15 billion in renewable energy tax extensions most of these extensions will go to corporations not unlike Solyndra, corporations which would never be able to turn a profit without government assistance. Renewable energy may be the way of the future; however, it should be privately funded as an endless stream of government funding and tax abatement only encourages contractors to produce very little at high costs.
Of the $3 billion in tax extensions most of the extensions will go to the national and multi-national corporations who lobbied for the extensions such as: Nascar, Hollywood, Puerto Rican rum producers, and railroads. Most smaller businesses will not be affected by this extension, causing their taxes to increase this year.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act also continued the practice of "Active Financing Exception" exempting multi-national corporations from paying almost all corporate income tax. These multi-national corporations, such as: Citi Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and General Electric, are able to defer U.S. Taxes by moving profits offshore.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, after everything is said and done this bill will increase government spending by $33 billion per year even after tax increases. While a majority of Americans will see some increase and a few will see a large increase in taxes, some corporations, primarily banks, will continue to avoid paying any taxes at all.
So, a person is left to wondering, who's relief was this act meant for?
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