The More You Know

Not really being one to be into making unsolicited (ha, even solicited at that) advertisements for anyone including politicians, my buddy Hunter posted this, and I feel that it’s completely relevant and important to repost his message. Who am I kidding? It’s more than likely that I am preaching to the choir, but it’s also really important to pass this information on to others. So please cut and paste this, and send it on as well! 

Thanks to www. Brainspank. org (go visit them!!!)

1- If you make less than $112,000 a year as an individual (not household income, individual income) you will pay a lot less in income taxes under Obama’s proposed tax plan than under McCain’s. You make up part of the 80% of Americans in this category.

If you make between $112,000-$227,000 a year as an individual you will still pay less taxes under Obama’s plan then you do right now.

If you make between $227,000-$603,000 a year as an individual you will pay $12 (twelve dollars) more per year than you do right now.

2- If you get your health insurance through your employer John McCain wants to treat your benefit as taxable income. That will push many Americans into a higher income bracket meaning you could pay thousands per year more in taxes.

3- If you think corporations don’t pay enough taxes you aren’t alone.According to the non-partisan GAO about 2/3 of US Corporations paid no taxes at some point between 1998-2005. Despite this John McCain wants to cut the corporate tax rate by a whopping 10% in addition to increased first year write-offs which will ultimately cost us about 1.3 trillion dollars.

4- If you think oil companies aren’t paying their fair share, you aren’t alone. Exxon Mobil just recorded the highest profit for any corporation in history (again). Despite this fact John McCain wants to slash their taxes by 10% and not take back the 14 billion dollars in tax payer subsidies that the Republicans in Congress fought to give oil companies.

5- If you think Republicans are not fiscally responsible you aren’t alone. Over 70% of our National Debt was created by just 3 Republican Presidents. Republican Ronald Reagan borrowed more money than all presidents before him, from George Washington to Jimmy Carter, combined. Now George Bush may borrow even more more than Reagan. Democratic president Bill Clinton is the only president in the last 30 years to not only not create any debt, but to finish with a budget surplus.

6- If you think borrowing trillions of dollars from foreign countries to put on a Giant National Credit Card is a bad idea, you’re not alone. We pay hundreds of billions of dollars in interest only payments on our debt each year, meaning our tax dollars are flushed down the toilet for things that no longer benefit us, assuming they ever did. Higher debt means our money is worth less which makes gas, food and just about everything else more expensive. A conservative estimate is that the US dollar has lost over 27% of it’s value since the year 2000.

7- If you think middle class families do better financially with a Democrat as president, you aren’t alone. According to research out of Princeton, real middle class wage growth is double when a Democrat is president compared to when a Republican is president.

8- If you think focusing on which (current and former) candidates wear a flag pin is a waste of time that distracts us from real issues, you’re not alone. After all, why should it bother you that Hillary Clinton and John McCain don’t wear a flag pin? 

9- Some people say you can judge someone based on the company they keep. That’s interesting, because John McCain went out of his way to get the endorsement of Reverend Hagee. Most people have never heard of Hagee, possibly because according to a non-partisan study,while the media has in fact spent more talking about Obama (than McCain) most of that time has been spent saying negative things about him.

How else could you explain that fact that so few people know thatMcCain’s Reverend Hagee referred to the Catholic Church as “the great whore” or that he believes and is on tape having said that “Hitler Was Fulfilling God’s Will For Israel”? And that’s in addition to the inflammatory comments he’s made regarding many other groups including women.

Also, McCain aids, advisers and fundraisers have made about $1 BILLION DOLLARS from corporate sponsors. I guess that explains why McCain’s policies mostly benefit the richest and most powerful among us?

10- Finally, many people believe you can judge a man by how he treats his family, and adultery is incredibly serious to people (and of course it’s the topic of The 7th Commandment). Some people are aware that John McCain cheated on his first wife Carol with his current wife Cindy (who was 18 years younger and quite wealthy), but they aren’t aware that John’s wife Carol was in a horrible, disfiguring car accident shortly before the affair began.

Two

I hate feeling nervous. Not the feeling of nervous anticipation where you don’t know what’s going to happen yet are willing to face things head on, and are excited to do so. That’s exhilarating. No, I mean that debilitating and nauseating feeling of nervousness. The kind where your heart races constantly to no end. The kind where you can’t get any sleep. The kind where you feel a panic attack lingering around any and every corner. The kind where your senses are heightened to such an extreme, if only to avoid anything that might just set you off in some sort of fit. That feeling of nervousness.

Springsteen once said, “No retreat, no surrender” and I’ve always tried to live my life by that (so much so that I am willing to get it tattooed on my body…but that’s something else). I’ve always felt like problems needed to be met face on, and to never give up when doing so. Seems like a good philosophy to live by. Win or lose, at least I tried. But lately that feeling of nervousness has stretched me to that ever so fun point of lack of confidence and doubt in myself. In doing so I’m afraid that my philosophy of “No retreat, no surrender” is (not so subtly) being replaced with a philosophy of run and hide.

There are so many questions in my little ole head that I am afraid to have answered, and problems that I am afraid to have resolved. Why lose out when I can just avoid any conflict? I mean, I know that’s a poor way to look at life but at the same time there’s the feeling that throwing my hands in the air and giving in would be easier. I think the Weezer lyric, “Why bother, it’s gonna hurt me” sums it up the best.

The question is now, which path do I choose? Is it going to be “No retreat, no surrender” or “Why bother, it’s gonna hurt me”? Maybe a nice run, or a little jaunt to the top of a mountain will offer some clarity. But until that comes to fruition, I’m stuck with the nerves and nauseating feeling.

One

I’ve got the unfortunate talent of becoming completely comfortable in certain situations only to let my guard down. In doing so I become crushed when things go awry. No, it’s not something I am genuinly happy about, but it’s who I am; warts and all I guess you could say. I think thats what they call wearing your heart on your sleave.

I often wish I could be more callus. I often wish I could let things slide off of me like water off of a ducks back. But wishes as such don’t usually come true leaving me feeling like I’ve just gone through a tornado. Still alive and kicking. Barely.

They say what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. And well…no, I’ve never died from getting my hopes dashed or anything of the like, but I also don’t feel any stronger nor wiser…unless you take into consideration the wisdom I’ve attained in realizing that’s just a part of who I am.

If I’ve learned anything, it’s to appreciate everything that happens on a daily basis. God knows everything can (and many times will) slip away in a blink of an eye.