Friday, March 27, 2009

Religions Need Financial Auditing for National Security

"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" (words of Jesus)

It's past time to end the tax-free status of religions. Many waste the money on themselves anyway (some preachers now have jets!), some even send the money overseas to terrorists. Making them taxable would enable government auditing, otherwise we have no idea where the money is going. In fact, we're paying for all the CULTS that we love to hate as well. Simply make up a religion ("Church of Monday Night Football" was one) and get tax-free status!

This affects taxes you and I and everyone else pays, we're being forced to subsidize religious contributions. Is this fair to everyone? Athiests? The growing number of 'spiritual but not religious' people? Religions like Buddhism or Taoism that don't ask for money, have no word for "tithing"? Why should all of them pay for donations to televangelists? Most would rather feed the poor than air-condition a big building that's empty 98% of the time.

This also hinders national security, the big buzz-word allowing big brother intrusions on all our rights. OK, the government is going to remove or hamper individual rights, why not the self-proclaimed rights of religions - why are they immune to examination and responsible actions?

Both the OLD and NEW testaments warned that churches are for hypocrites, even Jesus said the truly devout pray in private at home, not in public! I have this and more at Bible Decoded

This blog is aimed at cutting throught the materialist hypocrisy rampant in religion today and revealing the underlying metaphysical philosophy that I believe religions have forgotten and are hiding from the 'worshippers', who get no education, just a place to worship and sing.

My former Methodist church in Macon, Georgia now has a security guard in the huge parking lot, and a bullet-proof glass and a locked-door for their main office! You talk to the receptionist through a hole in the glass! UNREAL -- when I found out after my mom died, I decided to NEVER go back to this church again. They waste enough money to feel half of Georgia annually, and brag about their huge income from annual tithes ("fourth in the nation" at one point). This is not a church, this is a bank with armed guards. Ironically, it's within a mile of some real inner-city slums, of course it's an African-American residential area. This is why people are leaving traditional churches.

What would Jesus think about this, done "in his name"?

Read more...

Friday, March 20, 2009

Not Responsible for Accidents

Ever see the useless signs “Not Responsible for Accidents”? (Bowling alleys, gun and archery ranges, etc.) I always thought what a clever legal ploy, just deny any legality beforehand. It’s not really legal; the dean of a law school told me that the signs are irrelevant in court, they just hope to discourage lawsuits. Fat chance, this is America!

So, why can’t everyone just do that, put up signs, waiving responsibility?

On my truck I’ll have:


  • Not responsible for weaving all over the road
  • Not responsible if I hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk
  • Not responsible for old food on the passenger's side
  • Not responsible for the collection of old mail on the floor


While at home, these ought to suffice:

  • Not responsible if you get sick off my food
  • Not responsible if you bust your ass on my cracked steps
  • Not responsible if you can’t find any beer
  • Not responsible for being out of ice, potato chips, or cookies
  • (in the bedroom) Not responsible if you get pregnant

If you write a book, include in the front:

  • Not responsible for cuss words
  • Not responsible for bad humor
  • Not responsible for characters who get naked
  • Not responsible for misspellings
  • Not responsible for exaggerating the author’s romantic prowess

If you’re a singer:

  • Not responsible for singing off key
  • Not responsible for getting out of rhythm
  • Not responsible for getting lyrics wrong
  • Not responsible for broken guitar strings
  • Not responsible for encouraging groupies
  • Not responsible for you not getting laid
  • Not responsible if your girlfriend jumps onstage topless

The government could also do this:

  • Not responsible if you die in a U.S. war
  • Not responsible if you take a dangerous but approved drug
  • Not responsible if you breathe toxic air
  • Not responsible if a military jet crashes on hour house
  • Not responsible if an Army Corps of Engineers dam breaks
  • Not responsible for acts of terrorism that we warned you about
  • Not responsible for unlawful Congressmen
  • Not responsible for inflation, it’s a “free market” thing
  • Not responsible for corporations, they're a “free market” thing

Let’s not leave out law enforcement:

  • Not responsible for donut shortages
  • Not responsible for raids on the wrong house
  • Not responsible for accidental shootings of innocent civilians
  • Not responsible for crime in the streets
  • Not responsible for high speed chase crashes
  • Not responsible for pulling over hot babes for no reason
  • Not responsible for “bad cop” routines or overacting

And of course, banks and brokerages:

  • Not responsible for your stupid stock trades
  • Not responsible for fraudulent investments
  • Not responsible for hackers stealing your money
  • Not responsible for companies going bankrupt (especially ours)
  • Not responsible for corporations, they're a “free market” thing


The Big Guy, the Creator

  • Not responsible for what you do to the world after I create it

Read more...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Obama Walking and Chewing Gum at the Town Meeting

“As President, I have to walk and chew gum at the same time.” - President Obama tonight at the town meeting.

Obama gives a great town meeting! Obama started with a short talk, obviuosly winging it, getting into a rhythm and sounding like a cross between Dr. King and Jesse Jackson! He even once said "that be" instead of "that would be", as some street slang crept in - I love it.. we all know what he meant, and now he has street cred as well.

He's sounding a lot more like a real person now, he's even smiling and in a good mood. When he said "I'm hot, so I'm taking off my coat, you do the same", the crowd went nuts. Hey people, it’s not Elvis in Vegas, or Marvin Gaye in Atlanta!

He even had the kind of "amen" stuff going from the crowd as he was talking. At one point the crowd rose and chanted " O-BA-MA , O-BA-MA" and he laughed and stopped them. I was thinking "my god, he's not Hitler!"

Fun stuff though, a very loose and confident guy for a new President. When asked about running again in four years, he said "I'd rather be a good president for four years and take on the tough issues and problems than a mediocre one for eight years" -- obviously a poke at Dubya Bush.

He also held the meeting in Costa Mesa, Orange County – in Reagan and Nixon country! Good idea... as an announcer said "the most cheering for a democrat in Orange county in decades".

Good stuff and blog worthy! I like this guy and will support his efforts wherever I can. I feel that he has a heart, and that it's in the right place: here with the people.

"I'm not going to play the blame game. I'll take responsibility from now on, because I'm the President."

Read more...

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Anyone Else Tired of Billionaires?

Well, CNBC kept mentioning the new Forbes annual billionaire list today (which I'm not about to link to!). Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about billionaires, the number we have vs the world, the number of new millionaires, lottery winners, the housewife who invented a baby sling and made ten million.

Not only is this a slap in the face of working people, but it's like a lottery or poker winner gloating to all the losers whose money they just won. This wealth has to come from somewhere, it doesn't just materialize for 'good people', the government doesn't just print them a billion and give it to them - it comes from all the rest of us.

Now let's multiply that times the 40-60 billion that Gates and Buffet and Carlos Slim each have, let's say 150 billion for three people at the top. This means 150,000 millions, or they could give 1,000 to each of 150,000,000 people, or half the people in the U.S. OK, let's say they keep half, only look at families, and don't give any to the top half in income, just families below the median: they could still give away 75 billion, give 38 million families at the bottom 2,000 each, and have 25 billion remaining apiece.

[Note: Any math errors are because I use "Larry Kudlow" math which is often off by a factor of ten, you know the CNBC loudmouth conservative idiot who claims you give a rich man a 5% tax cut he'll go out and hire some people rather than take an ocean cruise - and he was an economist on the Reagan team! Now you get an idea of why we are exactly where we are. Their thinking is often off by a factor of ten when it comes to huge numbers like trillions.]

You want economic stimulus? And this is just the three at the top of the wealth list. Let's imagine every billionaire gave half his wealth to U.S. citizens. Do you think there would be a spending spree to end all consumer binges? It would be crazier 'than a rat in a coffee can', to quote Jeff Macke on Fast Money.

Would a billionaire be worse off with 'only' 500 million?

Of course this will never happen, because the reverse process happened for them to gain all that wealth. We each, or our companies did, contributed to all these fortunes, that's where our money went. Of course it was an exchange, we got some goods or insurance or something in return, which we can't give back either! The portion they got to keep was the profit, and that's capitalism.

Maybe one day you too can become a billionaire, or even win a big lottery, that's the beauty and lure of capitalism isn't it, that one in million shot we each have, or is it one in a billion?

Read more...

Friday, March 6, 2009

A Secret Economic War Going On?

[This was a reply and thesis, ie guess, to a friend about something secret going on that we don't know about]

Yes, I finally agree on the 'secret economic war' theory.

Those holding our bonds have to roll them over when they mature, and if they don't the western economy collapses from the massive immediate loss of capital - so its usually not worth the cost to themselves to do this, but at some point those holding the most reach a saturation point (China, Saudi Arabia) and quit rolling them over; so the theory goes anyway.

This scenario was predicted in the 70's movie "Rollover" during the oil embargo and subsequent crisis then resulting in were huge lines at the pumps. However, if you destroy the US economy: no more big oil purchases.

However, if the US economy is already dead own its own accord, there's no reason to prop us up anymore, it's "throwing bad money after good". It looks like we're there now, killed by corporate under-regulation, extreme leverage, and greed.

This is my guess on the likely scenario, along with a possiblity that the counterfeit T-Bills/Vatican Bank scandal uncovered in the late 80's that was running into the billions back then, could be much higher now. Just as that news became public the Justice Department jumped in and squelched the investigation and the public information dried up! National security and all that propaganda, and just after that we had the S&L failures and more financial chaos, resulting in the Resolution Trust Corp and years of liquidation. How much of that was the bogus T-bills that had been swapped into bank vaults in place of the valid ones? Suddenly, banks didn't have the T-bills to back up deposits, they had worthless paper and 2500 failed - was this the real cause?

They can blame it on whatever they want for public consumption, but even the Nazis attacked western currencies to bring them down, counterfeiting first British pounds that passed the British bank inspectors as "valid notes", and were working on the US dollar as well. See the engrossing Austrian film "The Counterfeiters" for that story; it would likely have worked but the war ended, while the Jewish counterfeiters in the camp were slowing down the effort. They were gonna flood world banks with bogus British notes and U.S. dollars and devalue the currencies of each, bankrupting the nations.

Interesting late "news", the public seems to find out about 50 yrs later, when it's far too late!

Read more...

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Former Qwest Head Goes To Prison

This could be an endless stream of these stories, but I used to work for these guys, at least they took over the company I worked for.

The prisons are going to be full of corporate criminals - well, except they don't have enough personnel at the FBI to arrest them all - budget cutbacks, they have 200 people doing the work of 1000... figures, just when you need a white collar cop!

Naccio Off to Prison

From Third Rock from the Sun, when the kid, Tommy, wanted to be a ganster (he mistook a meatcutter called "The Butcher" for a mob hit man!):

Newman: Tommy, if you do a crime there's a 5% chance you'll get caught - if caught, a 3% chance you'll get convicted - the numbers don't lie, so avoid crime! (I believe that comes out to 1.5 convictions per 1,000 crimes, .15% right?) too funny - it wasn't newman but that actor from seinfeld that played the cop..

Eventually the prisons will be full of ceo's teaching each other how to pull stock crimes, steal corporate money, fudge the budgets and financial reports, avoid all income tax with offshore banking, and other such executive short cuts created by lawmakers for themselves.

Read more...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Will the Right Wing Leave Obama Alone Already?

I can't believe the right-wing media. Now they're blaming all the stock market drop since the inauguration on Obama, as if the financial situation just happened when he took office. ..and the whining about more taxes for the rich, give it up already - it's not enough extra to worry about in the light of everything else going on, or "no one cares about the tax problems of the wealthy anymore (if we ever did)."

First of all, any new remedies take time - he's been there, what, 45 days?

Second: the stock market and its prices are manipulated daily by collusion and hardly represents any kind of reality. It's the reality created by hedge and mutual fund managers and day traders. They think they can affect economic policy with daily market gyrations.

Third: we just gave these clowns a chance and look what happened. Unregulated capitalism = volunteered slavery. We may as well just send corporations our paychecks and let them volunteer how much taxes they'll allow the feds to have, they run things anyway - and once again: look at the result.

They wave the S word (socialism) like a new scarlet letter (see Hawthorne, you illiterates!) when the new bad one should be the C word. Something must be better than this, look at Denmark: 60% taxes, but then the feds provide everything expensive and even pay for social clubs, so 80% of the population are members, the same percentage that goes to church. Apparently 20% of the population are hermits (likely writers and artists) off alone somewhere. And they were found to be the "happiest country" after a 10 yr study. Need a heart transplant? It's free.. so is dying of cancer for years.

This certainly isn't Obama's creation, and the falling market isn't either; it had already been destroyed and will take a minor miracle to reverse at this point. The traders will stop whining, forget about 10% more taxes on what's basically free money anyway (well, you pay in stress) and realize there's more room on the upside at this point. It's just a manipulated numbers game anyway, not connected to any reality but its own.

See the real way the market works in the "Buying stocks doesn't drive the price up" post, based on a 10-yr study of the 1987 crash.
lawrence jose sinclair

"Don't you be calling me the C word!"

Read more...

Digital Copyright

MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected

The Author at EZines

Is anyone watching?

PayPal Donations

Friends vs Spies

  © Blogger templates ProBlogger Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP