TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

 

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION ….

On July 4, 1776, 56 men pledged their lives and fortunes by signing what we now call The Declaration of Independence that started our country on the path to independence from Great Britain.

Had any of these men been caught by the British, they would have been tried as traitors and then executed. This was a serious commitment.

So, we have managed to survive as a nation for 250 years. But I ask you, are we really making any progress to that concept of ‘the pursuit of happiness?’

If I ran any of the companies I had been involved with over my 68-year business career like the federal government does, I would most certainly be broke. Since our federal debt exceeds our gross domestic product by double, in essence we are broke.

For example, you would think those in charge would be astute enough to apply common sense to the departments they manage to eliminate fraud and waste. I suggest to you that a large amount of our government debt is directly attributable to waste and fraud. Wouldn’t you think the head of the Social Security Department would want to know how many people over the age of 105 were still receiving benefits? This cannot nor should be a very long list to review for accuracy.

How many people are listed on our voter rolls more than once? How many people on our voter rolls vote more than once? Isn’t our right to vote one of the basic fundamentals of our nation and our rights as an American? Shouldn’t this be one of the best secured and accurate lists needed to maintain our republic? If it isn’t then how can we consider ourselves anything other than a ‘banana’ republic?

I do not look down on anyone who needs food stamps or any type of assistance. I think we need to be able to support those who cannot help themselves. What I do object to is welfare recipients having multiple accounts and gaming the system for many thousands of dollars a month while laughing at hard working people doing honest labor. Every dollar stolen by fraud and deception is a dollar that could be used to help someone else. Who watches over these accounts and attempts to verify their accuracy?

It appears to me that NGO’s and a lot of charities obtain a government check to perform certain duties and responsibilities without any follow up to see their success or progress towards achieving their intended goals.  ‘Give em’ the money and forget about them seems to be the rule of the day. Who audits these grants and programs on any sort of regular basis?

Here’s my last one and most ridiculous. A CIA officer who had not been vetted for his educational history was allowed to check out over 30 MILLION dollars which he claimed was needed for pay outs concerning his work. Nice job if you can get it, right? I blame this guy’s boss, who should have said… ‘hey, wait a minute, lets look at this withdrawal and see what it is used for and how effective it is’. No, nothing like that happened and the guy was discovered with over 32 million in cash and gold in his house. Guess his defense will be he was just looking for the right party to give it to.

Now to put an end to this rant I want to state that I write letters very often asking these kinds of questions to my elected representatives.

You know what I get? Zip, zero, nada, nothing.

Oh, I often get a sugary form letter saying so and so who really appreciates hearing from one of their constituents. Or I might get a call from some intern/junior clerk telling me how much my letter meant to them.

What I don’t get are any answers to my questions as to why we don’t see major fraud and abuse cases resulting in jail or arrests. When I ask what is the expected outcome of some governmental hearing which can be seen every day on the news like a soap opera or reality show, you get no information from anyone.   

I see sweetheart deals, with reduced or dismissed charges based upon race, sex, gender and or economic considerations, not based upon the right and wrong part of the law.

What I don’t see is a sense of fairness for those of us out here in the heartland of this country who have no friends in high places.

But we still get taxed all the same don’t we?

See you next week…Peary Perry

BOOKAHOLIC

 

BOOKAHOLIC…..?

 

“My name is Peary Perry”.
“Welcome, Peary Perry”.
“I am a bookaholic.”
“Welcome, Peary Perry, bookaholic.”

I suppose that’s how it would go if there was such an organization. I probably need to join some kind of social group to be able to restrain my book buying, book saving compulsion. I can’t seem to help myself and am in danger of spinning totally out of control.

When we moved some months ago, I know we had more boxes containing books than any other item in our house. I have quit trying to count how many we have scattered all around each room. I tell myself I’m going to stop buying new ones and start reading the old ones, but somehow that just never seems to happen. Long ago I stopped feeling huge amounts of guilt because I have books which were bought twenty years ago that haven’t been read as of yet.

Now, to be honest most of the books I have not read are all reference books of some sort, not novels. Well, that’s not totally true; in fact, that’s a lie. Years ago, I signed up for some program called “The 100 Greatest Books of All Time.” Each month for 100 months (almost 9 years!) I got a gold edged leather bound book in the mail. Little ditties like ‘War and Peace” and “Tristam Shandy” and that all-time favorite…. “The Peloponnesian War.” Books that you find difficult to pick up and slip off to some quiet corner for an afternoon of light reading enjoyment. All 100 of these came with a synopsis outlining the story and plot. I can’t even bring myself to read those. So, they sat in a bookshelf looking marvelous which would elicit comments from visitors from time to time. Comments such as … “Oh, how nice…I suppose you’ve read all of these?”

I finally figured out that I am not going to live long enough to read these, so I gave them all away. I hope someone reads them. It helps to get rid of some guilt.

I don’t keep novels, once I’ve read them, I tend to pass them along to someone else to enjoy or throw away. My wife reads a lot of the things I happen to like so she gets first dibs and then they go to whoever is interested in the leftovers. She and I differ in our reading beliefs. Once I start a book, I’ll try to finish it unless it’s really, really bad. I mean really, really bad. I keep thinking it might get better if I just wait long enough. She won’t do this. She starts one, and if it stinks, then she has no problem stopping, not going to waste her time. As you can guess, I find this hard to do.

I get on one subject and tend to stay there until I just get sick of it. Take this year, for instance, I had gotten into a group of novels that were some 1000 pages long. I think I did about six of them before I gave up and surrendered. I felt like these people were taking over my life. Then I found a mystery writer and read all thirteen of his books. After the last one, I panicked and found myself online and at Amazon/Kindle searching for the titles in a sort of daze much like some drug addict looking for their next fix. I’ve done Roman history novels, World War I and II novels, spy stuff, murders; English naval novels…just about anything entertaining that I can get my hands on will satisfy my compulsive craving.

I shy away from westerns and science fiction, but everything else is fair game as far as I’m concerned. Historical fiction is the best if it’s done right. Which is hard to do and still be entertaining. My hat is off to writers such as these since it is so difficult to be both factual and entertaining. Try writing about the Donner Pass story and make it readable.

I no longer belong to any book of the month club. I guess they’re still around, but I kept getting things in the mail that weren’t interesting and you have to pay for them or ship them back. Do they even have book clubs anymore? I never really liked the way the pages looked at the ends, like they were torn rather than cut. No one could ever tell me why they looked that way in the first place. I do remember they weren’t all that cheap. Especially if you forgot to mail in the little card each month telling them you didn’t want that month’s selection. Some of their selections were awful, but you still had to pay for them. I’m sure this is how they made their money.

I suppose my addictive habit is somewhat harmless, it keeps me off the streets and out of the bars. Besides, you save more money buying books than you can buying glasses of wine these days. And you still have something to give away.

But, then that’s another story.

See you next week….Peary Perry

 

HAVE A FEW LAUGHS ON ME

 

HAVE FEW LAUGHS ON ME….

 

In spite of the problem in Iran and with politics in general, I have managed to come up with a number of comments which I think might just bring a smile to your faces this week. These are compiled from information some friends have sent to me as well as my own observations on life in general. I trust you can identify with these and have a laugh or two.

Questions you just can't answer:

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why do we put suits in a garment bag and put garments in a suitcase?

What are the handles for corn on the cob called?

Why do they put holes in crackers?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?

Why are there Braille signs on drive-up ATM’s?

Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not enough money?

Why did Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don't lay eggs.

Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?

What is the speed of darkness?

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up every two hours?

If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be?

If the plural of mouse is mice….why isn’t the plural of house….hice?

What do you do when you see an endangered animal that is eating an endangered plant?

Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Did you ever stop and wonder.....

How fast do hotcakes sell?

Do prison buses have emergency exits?

If laughter is the best medicine, who's the idiot who said they 'died laughing'?

How come you can kill a deer and put it up on your wall. but it's illegal to keep one as a pet?

How far east can you go before you're heading west?

How can something be "new" and "improved"? if it's new, what was it improving on?

Since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?

If pro and con are opposites, wouldn't the opposite of progress be congress?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I'll squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?'

Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs !

Why Does Pluto Live in a dog house, eat dog food, etc. but Goofy, who is also a dog, lives in a condo and drives a car?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Stop singing and keep reading…..

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

If ghosts can walk through walls and glide down stairs, why don't they fall through the floor?

How come you never see a billboard being put up by the highway?

Bet you never thought about these:

Rotating your foot and writing a "6": If you lift your right foot and rotate it clockwise while trying to draw a "6" in the air with your hand, your brain gets completely tripped up and changes the direction of your foot

Sneezing with your eyes open: While popular myths claim your eyes will pop out (they won't), a sneeze triggers an involuntary reflex that clenches your eyelids shut

Licking your own elbow: It is anatomically impossible for 99% of people, requiring a combination of a ridiculously long tongue and exceptionally short upper arms.

Stop trying to do these and get back to work..

Enough of this for this week…..have a good week…

Peary Perry