Timely Followup to Yesterday's Post (From a Friend)

Charley Reese's final column for the Orlando Sentinel...


He has been a journalist for 49 years.

He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

545 vs. 300,000,000 People---By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations.. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Tax his land, tax his bed,
Tax the table, at which he's fed.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
Teach him taxes are the rule.

Tax his work, tax his pay,
He works for peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow, tax his goat,
Tax his pants, tax his coat.

Tax his ties, tax his shirt,
Tax his work, tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco, tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.

Tax his cigars, tax his beers,
If he cries tax his tears.
Tax his car, tax his gas,
Find other ways to tax his ass.

Tax all he has then let him know
That you won't be done till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers; then tax him some more,
Tax him till he's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin, tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he's laid...
Put these words upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me to my doom...'

When he's gone, do not relax,
Its time to apply the inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax

Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax

School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax

Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax



STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the heck happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'

Be afraid...Be Very, VERY Afraid

Call me Ishmael, call me paranoid, but I feel it must be said...


I don't know who said this post's title. The source, for the moment, is irrelevant, but, the statement makes a ton of sense.

It matters not if you're republican, democrat, independent, left, right or whatever the buzz word of the day might be. Our nation is being molded into a "machine" that will produce enormous wealth for the very few. That they already have more than they or their ensuing progeny will be able to spend is not the point. Money and the power it brings has become the "drug of choice" for the greedy. They will step on whomever and whatever gets in the way, namely, our middle class.

Pensions have been eradicated, speculators raise gasoline prices at will, no bankers were jailed for fleecing your savings, there are no penalties for outsourcing, to name just a few.

We have been gifted with an overflow of devices that have "changed our lives forever." Social media and instant access to movies, music and the like fills our needs to be entertained. Newspapers and books are the new dinosaurs. Radio is losing local content, being replaced by the streaming of repetitious tunes ad infinitum and ad nauseum. Where there was banter about local politics and current events, there is now a robotic voice telling us the title of the song just played...as if we were too incapable of remembiering the past 2 minutes and 37 seconds. Talk shows fill our brains as would an auctioneer, thus keeping us way too occupied to sort the barrage of words and make a wise decision. These radio heads all began innocently and caring, but with endorsements, TV appearances and a carpetbagger style of road trips, they've fallen under the spell of what money can do to a person. (Thankfully, subscription radio offers an intelligent selection of airwave entertainment and enlightenment)

Electronic games, social media and a plethora of brain-sucking reality(?) TV shows, coupled with sodium and fat filled foods that are programmed to weld us to the sofa, keep us occupied while the uber-riche devour whatever might remain of our ability to protest. All these "gifts" are, in a way, a reminder of gun control in Europe's pre World War 2 days. The probable thinking is...since so many Americans own guns...if they're too fat to assemble and fight, the rest will be easy! Ergo, "The Girth of a Nation."

For those who are fit, the current game of war will keep selected economies growing.

Does anyone track the percentage of campaign promises that are fulfilled? Doesn't it bother you that people such as bernie madoff laughs in his letters how he bilked so many of you? Doesn't it bother you that he's not in a hard labor federal prison? Doesn't it bother you that the Nevada congressman, when confronted about the subsidized airline flying vacant planes, dismisses the reporter? Doesn't the arrogance of dick cheney and his new millions piss you off? (Incidentally, upper case in the names of some people is no longer deserved) Doesn't it bother you that Malia Obama took an entourage of her friends to Oaxaca, Mexico, using 2 planes and 25 secret service agents for her spring break? And, doesn't it bother you that the story was kept from the media, save for 2 foreign reports? I wrote the local newspaper, TV investigative reporter and my hopefully former congressman regarding the issue and, you guessed it, no reply.
By the way, it's not the first incident of no replies or condescending responses.

I could go on and on, but even the American attention span might be too short for this diatribe. I implore any and all to read, "The Betrayal of the American Dream." Should the thought of reading a book scare the hell out of you, at LEAST read the below noted site for an abridged portion. If the site won't open, please Google the title.

Have a nice day...........they might be numbered.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inq_BarlettSteelePart1.html