COMMON SENSE.

I received a letter from Alan Grayson, a missive that made such good sense, I thought I'd reprint it here. I'm a fan of his even though he is from Florida. They don't often make sense there, it seems to me, but Alan always does.

Dear Mary,

I think that LeBron James should pay the same percentage of his income in Social Security taxes as everyone else does.

He doesn’t. Not by a long shot. In fact, not by a 90-footer.

Most Americans pay 6.20% of their incomes to Social Security taxes. LeBron James pays 0.03% of his income toward Social Security taxes. In fact, he is finished paying his Social Security taxes in the second quarter of his first game of his season. Then he’s done for the rest of the game, and the rest of the season – including the playoffs. Even the offseason.

“Wow,” you say. Yes, “wow” indeed.

I want to make this clear – this is nothing personal. I love to watch LeBron James play basketball. I forgive him for taking his talents to South Beach, but then taking them right back to Cleveland. I look forward to his becoming the all-time NBA scoring champion, during the 2021-22 season.

But I think that he should have to pay the same percentage in Social Security taxes as others do.

The Social Security tax applies only to the first $118,500 of income (the “cap”). As soon as LeBron and anyone else reaches that limit, they’re done for the year.

Which is precisely why some people fret about the system going broke. The solution is obvious. No cap, no problem. In addition to making our tax system more fair, scrapping the cap would make Social Security solvent forever and ever. And ever. So I have introduced a bill to do that, and the Social Security Administration has confirmed that it solves the problem once and for all. Sure, some Republicans would be sad -- they’d have no excuse to push sadistic cuts in Social Security benefits. But the rest of us would be thrilled.

Q. When does a teacher stop paying Social Security taxes? A. Never.

Q. When does a nurse stop paying Social Security taxes? A. Never.

Q. Why do only the rich get this huge tax break, threatening the solvency of the program? A. I wish I knew.

Grayson is pushing a bill through congress called Scrap the Cap. I hope it passes.

ILLEGAL MARIJUANA VS. LEGAL MARIJUANA?

Jim sent me an email from the Seattle newspaper about pot sales taxes and suggested I write a letter to Governor Jerry Brown to get on the bandwagon and cure California’s budget woes by legalizing marijuana. Hmm. Sounds good on the surface of it. Here is a copy of the piece from the news:

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington will haul in nearly $150,000 in excise taxes from the first three days of legal marijuana sales — and that doesn’t include state and local sales taxes.
Randy Simmons, the Liquor Control Board‘s project manager for legal pot, says that’s not bad, considering the market is in its infancy, with only a few stores open statewide.
The law voters passed in 2012 to legalize pot for adults specifies that excise taxes of 25 percent are imposed when producers sell their product to licensed retail stores, and another 25 percent is imposed when shops sell to consumers.
All excise taxes due from the first day of sales Tuesday totaled $61,604. The figure dipped to $30,924 on Wednesday, and rose to $55,728 on Thursday, for a total of $148,256.
If there was more to the article, it didn’t I didn’t see it. Not exactly in depth news.

I’ve personally had misgivings about marijuana use and believe medical marijuana is a good idea, but I’m wondering about the full legalization of marijuana. It is an addictive substance and people can drive impaired just like using alcohol.  I looked on several websites about growing marijuana for medical use in California. Nothing much about how it is grown. And, most of it is grown by the person for personal use, I expect. It isn’t very clear.

But what is clear, California growing regulations for Marijuana mention nothing about the actual cultivation, except the number of plants and a background check for growers, and on and on about stems and leaves and carrying it, and so on. Of course, recreational users can loop hole themselves around the regs. The problems is, California’s marijuana harvest is vast—and getting vaster all the time.

According to Mother Jones, “To meet demand, researchers say, the acreage dedicated to marijuana grown in the Emerald Triangle has doubled in the past five years. Like the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, this “green rush,” as it is known locally, has brought great wealth at a great cost to the environment.

Whether grown in bunkers lit with pollution-spewing diesel generators, or doused with restricted pesticides and sown on muddy, deforested slopes that choke off salmon streams during the rainy season, this “pollution pot” isn’t exactly high quality, or even a quality high.
“The cannabis industry right now is in sort of the same position that the meatpacking industry was in before The Jungle was written by Upton Sinclair,” says Stephen DeAngelo, the founder of Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, a large medical marijuana dispensary. “It simply isn’t regulated, and the upshot is that nobody really knows what’s in their cannabis.”

Washington State has well thought out regulations that tracks the use from seed to sale at State stores with a stamp that it is state produced. Legalizing marijuana is beginning to sound better and better to me. People are going to use it whether it is legal or not, that is very clear. But, it is still smoking and we know so little about marijuana’s affects on the body. What few studies are available say that no long lasting affects of impairment remain when the person quits using. And, people with mental or psychiatric disorders are more likely to be negatively affected by marijuana use. Hmm.

MEET AND DINE AND DON'T WHINE.

There are times the only opportunity I get to be with some friends is at a meeting. Pam Quyle's hours are long, John and Wanda Hofstetter stick close to home when they are home or they go away for months at a time, like me.


So, even if we have business, it makes sense to have some social time and enjoy a meal together. Wanda brought us a beautiful dessert.

It was quite nice since most of my day was taxes, insurance, logistics on the new building in Oregon,  problems at the television studio with their brand new equipment, and so it went. In fact, the new equipment was part of the reason for the meeting.  Resolutions in sight.

My seven-foot long table is covered with paperwork. Hopefully by next week we'll actually be able to eat there. Oh, oh!  I think I'm whining.


Time to appreciate my Christmas poinsettia. I love them because they keep their bright beauty until late July. Cheers.

PRIORITY LIST.

I have a priority list and blogging isn’t on it. But, I did read my email this morning and saw that 80,000 africanized honey bees attacked a woman in Palm Desert where we were just parked in February. The woman survived, but the bees they removed were being donated to farmers?  No explanation of that statement. It left me wondering. Maybe somebody else can explain how and why they would donate these killer bees to farmers?
I have advertised for someone with Western Driver cords to help me get my pictures out of my backup storage drive. (Jim and I believe my cords evaporated into thin air out of the motor home.)
My friend John Hofstetter, with a powerful magnifying lens found the model number. WD5000N1U-00. Other than that, no luck. But, I have two more people from my computer group who are trying to help me.
I’m trying to find a mobile home for my son to live in while he rebuilds my place in Oregon that flooded last year.
Making sense of new phone service offers is challenging. I’m amazed at the varying services out there. International Cellular can actually provide me service while I’m in Turkey. But, AT&T with more towers than we have ants, can’t get me steady service in Murphys? I don’t get it.
And, my taxes await. I get that, but don’t like it.
I cruise through my photos now and then and this album represents a really fun time we had in Port Arthur, Texas: You can click the album for a slide show.

2013-2-22-Catfishin’WithMarkConner

I hope I did this right.

THE MORMON MUSEUM, LAS VEGAS.

Here a photo of a re-enactment where Confederate meets a Union soldier. All in fun.


Women played their part. In fact we all costumed up and learned much about the Civil War period as it affected the Mormons at this museum.


Frontier women were very feminine, but able and ready to protect themselves in a clinch.


Jim, with his New England accent could only play the part of  a Yank.


Most people visit Las Vegas to gamble. The one-armed bandit was present at this museum.


And, neon signs? An R about seven feet tall.


And this wagon and livery stables? Amazing.  Right in the middle of the city. People who visit Las Vegas don’t see it in the colorful brochures that abound. This picture is worth clicking to enlarge for detail.  We were there in 2010. A great shift from all the glitz. I believe the re-enactors volunteer on Saturdays if memory serves. Great fun!

Still no fix on my Picasa photo uploader. Its time to get working on my taxes, anyway.

TAX VIOLENCE

In Calaveras County we have a record for high turn-out on election day. People take their politics seriously. As far as I know, competitors have treated each other with civility during the thirty-four years I’ve lived here.
Problems do develop and a recall effort against Calaveras County Supervisor Darren Spellman fell short  of the signature requirement on Monday and a verbal spat ensued between Spellman and Bill Crane, a prominent recall supporter. The Elections Clerk, Madalaine Krska,  called the Sherriff’s Department to settle things after it got pretty heated. Spellman claims he was threatened, and Crane claims he walked over and shook Spellmans hand but later called him a liar because  Spellman made derogatory cracks about his wife.
I think of the violent rhetoric we have in the news every day, supposedly mature Senators and Representatives,  and all of their related public spokespersons using character assassination as readily as immature school kids. Bullying, condoning violence, violent rhetoric unworthy of our suspected leaders. Somehow, I thought this was a modern phenomena, but, not so.

Senator Charles Sumner, gave a fiery anti-slavery speech in 1856. He condemned several states for even considering taking the “harlot slavery” as a law in individual states. In fact, those tumultuous years produced enough violence in Kansas, that the state was nearly  divided into two separated states.
Southerner, Preston Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina, was particularly incensed with Sumner’s speech.  Not only had the fiery Sumner ridiculed his home state, but Brooks was the nephew of Andrew Butler, one of Sumner’s targets.
In the mind of Brooks, Sumner had violated some code of honor which should be avenged by fighting a duel. But Brooks felt that Sumner, by attacking Butler when he was home recuperating and not present in the Senate, had shown himself not to be a gentlemen deserving of the honor of dueling. Brooks thus reasoned that the proper response was for Sumner to be beaten, with a whip or a cane.
On  May 22,  Brooks entered the building and walked into the Senate chamber. Sumner sat at his desk, writing letters. He waited until several women present in the Senate gallery left, then he walked up to Sumner’s desk and said: “You have libeled my state and slandered my relations, who is aged and absent. And I feel it to be my duty to punish you.”
With that, Brooks struck the seated Sumner across the head with his heavy cane. Sumner, who was quite tall, could not get to his feet as his legs were trapped under his Senate desk, which was bolted to the floor. Brooks continued raining blows with the cane upon Sumner, who tried to fend them off with his arms. Sumner finally was able to break the desk free with his thighs, and staggered down the aisle of the Senate.
Brooks followed him, breaking the cane over Sumner’s head and continuing to strike him with pieces of the cane. Brooks was later arrested on a charge of assault and quickly released on bail.
Good thing they didn’t solve their problems in those days with a gun like they do now. Sumner was attended by a doctor, who administered stitches to close wounds on his head.
Brooks was soon arrested on a charge of assault, and was quickly released on bail.  He was expelled from the House of Representatives, and in the criminal courts he was fined $300 for assault. He returned to South Carolina, where banquets were held in his honor and more canes were presented to him. The voters returned him to Congress, a hero.
Sounds just like the current news, the worse they get, the more they are revered by somebody.  In case you haven’t noticed, most violence and crime is committed by men. Incarcerated men outnumber women, (I’m guessing)  by at least twenty to one. We women pay an unfair amount of taxes for violence. I think the cure is a violence tax. Tax those violent actions and rhetoric and we could clean up politics or else solve the national debt.

LETS TAX THE KIDS COLLEGE EDUCATION

I have two grandson's graduating high school this year. I had established for each of my grand kids when they were young, an educational account in mutual funds that can be drawn upon when the kids reach college age. Something manageable, putting a little bit of money aside as they were growing up. They can draw on them only for college or vocational or other accredited schools. It can be used to pay for tuition, books and a defined number of other college related expenses without having to pay taxes on the earnings. A sound idea. If they had graduated in 2010, everything would have been fine. But, its 2011.  Our wonderful congress has slipped in a little grabber. The funds wrote me a letter informing me they will no longer be accepting new educational accounts. Van Guard suggested I should change them to another type of account, a 526, whatever that is. It seems congress has decided taxes must now be paid on the earnings these accounts made when they are withdrawn.

Gee, our wonderful congress has to balance the budget and reduce the deficit. Did you notice when the government investigation report of the banking and mortgage failure came out, it concluded there are guilty parties and the whole melt down was preventable and that laws were broken? Did you notice not one congress person decided we should go after the guilty parties and hold them accountable? No one was fined for slurping up billions of illegally gained dollars at taxpayers expense?  But, shucks, lets to go after those juicy educational accounts that are benefiting our students now that the economy of the world was affected negatively by these bozos and we are buried in debt,and trying to crawl out of it.

It makes me so angry I want to reiterate that old saw- THROW THE BUMS OUT.
House rules should dictate that every congress person should have to publically declare who gave them or their campaign committee money, or any promises, or deals made concerning the passing of a bill, while connected to a lie detector, before they are allowed to vote. This is not the type of ugliness any of us imagined could happen in America. Its so sad.

Preventable, that's what gets me. This mess was preventable.

OH FOR YESTERDAY ONCE MORE

Yesterday, I started on my mail.  Here it is stacked in neat little piles. Paring it down by doing much of my correspondence on-line, subscribing to less magazines and periodicals has resulted in a huge reduction from last year at this time. That said, when it all came out of the packaging and envelopes, I had two sacks of paper for the recycling and a mess on the table.

On the sideboard, my taxes started. Emptying out the old files from last year, and discarding what isn't needed. Oh, for yesteryear!

Instead of chugging away at home, I was at the visitors center in Lafayette, LA. enjoying this beautiful pond,

from a mosaic bench, one of several  to sit on in the shade..

Near the driveway is this attractive sculpture of Rosie's Bar.

Then, later in the day, we went to a museum where we viewed the faces of cajun life in the area. These are all pictures of pictures from the museum about Cajun Culture.

Such a beautiful face.

Simpler times.

Full of belly laughs.

And joy as they "let the good times roll."

The groom does look a little nervous.
Its wonderful to have my pictures to look back on and remember the fun of yesterday in Southern Louisiana. Many people ask me what was my favorite place to visit on the road. Southern Louisiana was high on the list.We blogged  that area at this time in 2010.