December 31, 2014

Comments offered by Lonnie Shalton, Kansas City attorney and longtime friend of many of us, as well as all democratic, progressive thinkers.

“Many of my partisan friends of the Democratic persuasion are pretty down on Obama. I have my own gripes with his style and some substance, but the cartoon in this morning’s paper was a good simple reminder of progress that has been made in spite of the worst Congress possible.

And Congress is not likely to change for many, many years. Two former Congressmen, Republican Tom Davis and Democrat Martin Frost (also my law partner in our DC office) have written a book that reflects the difficulty in changing the makeup of Congress.  You start with the natural sorting of the population, enhanced by clever gerrymandering, and throw in the current rules on campaign funding – there are few opportunities for an upgrade. The rise of non-disclosure PAC money has also had the effect of reducing the power of the political parties and makes every member of Congress a potential lone wolf – not a good recipe for party discipline and compromise legislation. The statistics are quite compelling.

The book is The Partisan Divide: Congress in Crisis, http://www.amazon.com/PARTISAN-DIVIDE-Congress-Crisis/dp/1619331284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420044027&sr=1-1&keywords=the+partisan+divide.

I know my political pals will have some easy comebacks on my Obama “defense,” but hey, it’s hard out there being a President.

And without Obama, what would have been the progress on immigration changes, Cuba, military gay rights, saving the auto industry, climate progress/China, the new Federal judges….

Obama was a little slow on gay marriage, but he got there.  Thank you Helen Windsor: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-perfect-wife.

Not so long ago, naysayers were pointing to Putin as the great leader compared to Obama – how’s that lookin’?

Obama did fail to work well with Congressional Republicans who would have cooperated with him.  Not.

Obama is often compared unfavorably to Bill Clinton who many hail as the great compromiser with Republicans – he did experience cooperative success in getting rid of Glass Steagall (that had kept banks out of some risky businesses), passing welfare reform to keep the poor from cheating and protecting the US from gays with the Defense of Marriage Act. Hillary’s health care plan was a no-show.  He didn’t start any wars, but also did not inherit any.  The budget side was good, helped along by the tech industry profits (somewhat offset by the bubble). And that darn government shutdown that prompted using interns.  Were we better off with Clinton than Bush-41 or Dole?  You betcha (think no further than two Supreme Court appointments).

The Clinton years also started good times for some taxpayers – A married couple earning combined salaries of $150,000 in the poppy Bush years paid $35,650 in taxes;  rich folks taking in $150,000 via passive investments paid $34,158. Through a series of changes that started with Clinton, and embellished by W and, yes, Obama , the number for that couple has been reduced to $24,138 and for the passive investor to $8,385. This tax inequality will of course not change as long as Wall Street has strong influence on Presidents and Congress.  Not holding my breath.

I took the tax numbers from a good post yesterday by Ted Folkert, an old friend from our Young Democrats days:  http://www.commongoodblog.com/uncategorized/abusive-taxation/.  One of my favorite quotes in Ted’s post comes from Gilded Age bank baron Andrew Mellon who questioned the distinction between the income from wages earned by those whose only capital is their “mental and physical energy,” which is “limited in duration and diminished by old age”, and those whose income continues regardless of health or age and then descends to their heirs.

On top of all that, we now have to suffer politics without The Colbert Report to aid in our nightly relief.  Jon Stewart will need to work overtime.

All of that being said, life is good.  Happy New Year

Your humble apologist,

Lonnie”

Abusive Taxation, the Worker’s Tax

Ted Folkert

December 26, 2014

The gap in wealth and income is one of our most talked about topics in the noise media these days. And rightly so. This supports the cliché that my parents used to quote, which has now become even more a reality – the rich get richer and the poor are still poor.

In order to figure out who to blame or thank for this, depending upon your place in the income/wealth stream, we can use some calculations from a tax guy – Joe, the tax guy.

Joe Anthony explains it to us in his recent article, “How to make taxes fair again”, published in the Los Angeles Times today.

Joe tells us about the tax policies that penalize us for being middle class or less and rewards us for being in the higher earnings bracket (or racket, depending on where you stand on the issue). He tells us that a married couple earning $150,000 from two jobs will pay three times as much federal income tax as another couple earning the same amount from an investment.

This all started about 20 years ago with Bill Clinton, or as some of us like to call him, Bull Cliptem. When Bull took office these two couples would have paid nearly the same tax, $35,650 for the wage earners and slightly less, $34,158, for the investors, a $1,500 bonus for not working.

By the time George W. Bush, or as Molly Ivins called him, Shrub, took office the amount of taxes for these two couples, thanks to Cliptem and his brilliant advisers, would have been $33,607 for the wage earners and $23,025 for the investors. I guess in order to understand how this came about and how it helped the Common Good we would have to interview Cliptem’s financial advisers, Larry Summers, Sandy Weill, and Robert Rubin, all Wall Street graduates, beneficiaries, and self-proclaimed spokesmen for the common good of the people. However, to avoid a lengthy dose of political hyperbole, financial bewilderment, and self-aggrandizement, we will omit that exercise.

Now, in 2014, after Shrub’s income tax cuts and rearrangement, and after Obama’s income tax rearrangement, the wage earners would pay $24,138 and the investors would pay $8,385, or about one-third of the tax paid by the wage earners. How does that sound? Yes – correct -unbelievable! But that is the way it is. Like my parents used to say, the rich get richer and the poor are still poor

Even in the 1920s, the era of the “robber barons”, the “roaring 20s’, the “gilded age”, the sentiment was in favor the wage earners. Even Andrew Mellon, filthy-rich (as Mom would have said), extremely wealthy, bank baron, Treasury Secretary, spoke of the distinction between the income from wages. whose earners’ only capital is their “mental and physical energy”, which is “limited in duration and is diminished by old age”, and those whose income continues regardless of health or age, and then descends to their heirs.

And for this one-more penalty for not being rich, one-more unneeded benefit for those born of wealth or born of greed, we can all thank the self-serving financial community and the self-serving leaders they elect with their campaign funding.

Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Think about!

Read the article by Joseph Anthony: “How to make taxes fair again”, published in the Los Angeles Times today.

 

More human behavior in the news

Ted Folkert

December 24, 2014

It is Christmas Eve as we prepare to celebrate tomorrow the birth of Jesus – the icon of the Christian religious faith. I am sure Jesus had plenty to say about human behavior.

Obviously, everyone did not pay heed. Many examples of pathetic and unbelievable human behavior are yet presented to us on a daily basis, although the attention to them is scant and the lessons learned from them seem nonexistent.

• Two police officers in New York were assassinated while sitting in a police car. A perhaps mentally deranged, or perhaps hired gun, criminal who felt compelled to make a revengeful statement, shot them in cold blood. They had no chance to defend themselves. He later took his own life. Police Chief William Bratton speaks about this tragic event: “It’s not easy being a cop in America today. The dangers are still existent despite crime having gone down dramatically over the last 20 years. It’s a tough job, as we’ve seen in some instances, a thankless job. They have done a remarkable job, they’re keeping crime down … they’ve been restrained when face-to-face with demonstrators chanting “kill the cops”.

After this senseless murder, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Manhattan chanting: “Black lives matter, hey-hey, ho-ho, these racist cops have got to go.”

• In Oregon, a shooter wounded two boys and girl at a high school, which may be gang related according to Portland police.

• In Atlanta, two homeless men were shot and killed as they slept on the streets of Atlanta. Both were shot repeatedly. A man was arrested and charged with the murders.

• In Bagdad, young girls of the Iraqi Yazidi religious group are committing suicide, their only means of escape from the Islamic State captors who torture and rape them. They apparently were given clothes that looked like dance costumes and were told to bathe and wear the clothing. A 19 rear old girl named Jilan cut her wrists and hanged herself. There are hundreds of them still captive with no prospect for the ordeal to end soon. The Yazidis are an ancient religious minority, persecuted for generations in Muslim communities as Satanists because of their beliefs, which include elements of Christianity and Judaism. Thousands of Yazidi women, men and children have been abducted and been forced to convert to Islam, sold, or given as gifts to militants. The claim by the captors is that virgin captives can be raped immediately and that there is no prohibition on sleeping with prepubescent girls.

• Tamir Rice, a 12 year old black Cleveland boy was shot through the stomach and died at the hands of a white police officer who claims that the toy air gun he was holding was mistaken as a real gun. Apparently, a dispatcher received a 911 call about a person with a gun and sent a police car to the scene. Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann jumped out of his car and saw Tamir, who was displaying the toy gun. The death has been ruled a homicide. The two officers have been placed on limited duty. Prior to the incident the U. S. Justice Department found that Cleveland police officers use excessive force far too often.

These are all current events in the news. I am sure there will many more to report in the next few days.

But another example of sad and inexplicable human behavior is worthy of mention here.

• It occurred in 1944 in South Carolina in the Jim Crow South. Eight year old, Aima Ruffner, and her 14 year old brother, George Stinney, Jr. were asked by two white girls where to find some fruit called “may pops”. They said they didn’t know and went on home. Aima later testified this story in a court hearing. The next day George was arrested and charged with the murder of these two girls. He was tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed by electrocution within three months’ time. A 14 year old black youth – arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and executed, all by white people.

Now, seventy years later, George’s conviction was vacated by a South Carolina judge, who cited “fundamental, constitutional violations of due process” – “a truly unfortunate episode in our history.”

The family then fled their home fearing a white mob was coming after them. George was buried in an unmarked grave.

Human behavior – it never ceases to amaze me.

Think about it!

 

Comments of Jordan Smirl, college student at College of the Ozarks:

I think there’s a flaw in your historical reasoning. You stated that “More people have died over religion than for money or power or anything else.” While I’m not going to defend the actions of many religious groups throughout history, that’s simply an untrue statement. Just look at the numbers. In World War II, 73 million civilians and soldiers lost their lives, plus another 11 million taken in the Holocaust. That’s a total of 84 million people dead because of political ideologies. That’s the equivalent of the First Crusade being fought 2,100 times over–and that’s with a high estimate of total deaths. Even though there have been numerous religious wars and uprisings in history, they have never come close to matching the scale of modern wars driven by power politics.

To be fair though, I think you’re making a good point. Human life is far too often devalued by extremists in different religious groups, and by governments that just see them as numbers on a page. I believe that the issues each human deals with are the same ones people have dealt with from the beginning of humanity. The only thing that has changed is our access to exponentially growing technology, and in regard to human aggression, that’s only brought more deaths to mankind. Whether or not humanity can change, I’m not sure. But it’s important for all of us to fight the daily battle of containing our aggression, pride and greed for the sake of those around us.

Comments of the author:

Thanks Jordan, for your insightful comments. These articles are meant to invoke thought and promote positive conversation regarding the challenges of the human condition, human behavior, and the benefits of good leadership, which we sadly seem to lack. You are probably correct about the number of lives lost due to religious conflicts, as well as for various other sad reasons, however, the numbers cannot be tallied from previous centuries when many of the crusades, wars, and battles were provoked and fought by religious organizations such as those of the Catholic popes who had their own armies.

As another consideration, WWII could be construed by some as religious rather than political, particularly that part of the war that occurred in Europe, since one of Hitler’s primary objectives and obsessions was the murder all Jewish people, and, of course, Judaism is not a nationality or a political organization, it is a religion.

Nevertheless, the numbers are pathetic from all causes, which is my primary point.

I am sure that religion has a very positive effect on human behavior when it comes to the Christian faith today, but not at all positive with some of the other religious beliefs, such as is overwhelmingly exemplified each and every day and has been a dominate source of massive, unnecessary pain, suffering, and death for the last decade and longer, with no apparent end in sight.

 

Of Human Behavior

Ted Folkert

December 18, 2014

Human behavior never ceases to amaze me. Maybe we could have a worldwide cease fire for the New Year. That would amaze me.

Okay, “Maybe I’m a dreamer”, like John Lennon sang, “but not the only one”.

Technology advances at the speed of light, even as we speak. By the time I finish writing this piece of superficial opinionating, there will probably be a new form of digital communication available which will make punching keys no longer necessary. Perhaps a device that reads your mind and transcribes your every thought, advances such thoughts to a higher level of thinking, edits the message to accommodate your target audience and places it in the minds of every conceivable person who may have interest in being made aware of it, with your digital signature attached. This is digital behavior, or scientific behavior, or technological behavior – not humanistic behavior.

All the above hyperbole is more feasible and more likely than a change of human behavior. How does human behavior remain stuck in the 15^th century mold while everything else advances at breakneck speed? We no longer need adding machines, typewriters, stenographers, dictation machines, dictionaries, encyclopedias, pencils or erasers. We don’t need recordings, tapes, or CDs. We don’t even need books any longer. Soon we will no longer need coins or bills as a means of exchange, although it hasn’t been that long since we were trading chickens for cows and milk for bread. But we seem to still need killing each other.

How much have we progressed in human behavior? Today we read and listen to reports of 141 innocent people in Peshawar being murdered for no reason other than that the murderers were sending a message, settling a score. Human life must have no value, at least less value than an expression of opinion. Every other day we hear about innocent people murdered because they were practicing the wrong religion, worshipping the wrong god, or worshipping in the wrong way. None of this is for money or for food or possessions, it is all for principles, for power, for messages, such as: do it our way or you will all be murdered, don’t rain on my parade or you will be murdered, do as I say or you will be murdered, follow me or you will be murdered.

No one could possibly count the lives lost by the actions of someone doing God’s work with a sword. More people have died over religion than for money or power or anything else. No one could possibly count the lives lost by those seeking or retaining power, including our major religious organizations, as our history books will attest. No one could possibly count the lives lost for reasons of territory, economic advantage, ways of life, disobedience of power.

If we could count the refugees around the world, those who have left their homeland for their own safety and survival, we would be astonished at the number. It is obviously in the millions. Human behavior – what a simple term that is so impossible to explain or anticipate. What a hard thing to alter. Every time we think we have improved human behavior, 30 or 100 or 1,000 or 1 million people are needlessly displaced from their homes or murdered.

Let’s just name a few countries where we are murdering each other on a daily basis for inexplicable reasons, not just an occasional murder for revenge or jilted love or money, but mass murder to prove a point or gain power or territory or privilege – or to force religious principles on others. How about Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan – it might be easier to name the countries where all is peaceful.

Human behavior. Unpredictable. Inexplicable. Unalterable. Unimaginable. Unnecessarily brutal. Shamelessly administered. How will we ever improve human behavior?

John Lennon sang about it:

Imagine there’s no heaven, It’s easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people, Living for today.
Imagine there’s no countries, It isn’t hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too,
Imagine all the people, Living life in peace,
You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one, I hope someday you’ll join us, And the world will be as one.

His song speaks volumes. It says in a few words what could fill a tome. It seems so simple. Imagine!

We read the history books about the nature of human behavior centuries ago and shake our heads in disbelief. Future generations will read our history books and shake their heads in disbelief. Our human behavior is little, if any, better than that which we read about – and it isn’t getting any better. So where do we start? Who wants to go first? How do we communicate it? We have the United Nations. It, of course, seems useless. There is no functioning behavioral disciplinary system – only idle threats. We have economic sanctions which only seem to exacerbate festering relations, strengthen resolve, and bolster the resistance to peaceful resolution. And then we have the Veto power of the big “important” countries, so that nothing can be done to alter their behavior against their will.

Please help us elect better leaders, not only here but the world over. It is the only way to improve human behavior. The message must come from the top down, but it must be started and demanded from the bottom up, from a groundswell of the proletariat, and for the common good.

I may be a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

Think about it!

And Happy New Year!

Shame, disgrace, inhumanity, injustice – murder!

Ted Folkert

December 9, 2014

It all started here in this great free country of ours in the early 1600s with the slave trade. We will never know how many lost their lives during the despicable transport of slaves here in the holds of ships. We will never know how many lost their lives at the hands of plantation owners and other slave holders. We will never know how many lost their lives simply due to racial prejudice, without committing a crime, without injuring anyone, just because of their color, their perceived non-humanness.

It is difficult for most to even imagine how such a practice, such inhumane conditions could exist even then, let alone today.

It was universally ignored for century after century – decade after decade – the killings unreported and unprosecuted. Disappearances never solved – murderers uncharged, untried, unpunished – even unmentioned.

Trayvon Martin brought it to light a couple of years ago. He was murdered in cold blood by this cowardly creep who walked after being found not guilty of murder. If it had been the other around, Martin wouldn’t have seen daylight for the rest of his life. As it turned out he never saw daylight again at the hands of a cold-blooded murderer.

Just some examples of improper policing and injustice that have been publicized recently include: Michael Brown, the unarmed jaywalker in Ferguson, Missouri, shot many times by the frightened police officer, an officer trained to deal with such situations – by calling for support or using other methods of subduing a suspect; Eric Garner, the unarmed guy selling loose cigarettes on the sidewalk in Staten Island, confronted by police officers, disgusted with their continual harassment, subdued by numerous officers, died from a heart attack after pleading for relief from an illegal chokehold – by police officers who were trained for such encounters and had other means of subduing him; Bernard Bailey, unarmed, who came to town hall in Orangeburg County, South Carolina to protest a charge of a broken taillight, and was accosted and killed by a the police chief, who had followed Bailey to his truck; Akai Gurley, unarmed, killed by a police officer in New York City as he and his girlfriend opened a door into a stairway as the officer was patrolling the stairway.

We could write these stories for days and never mention a fraction of cases that went unpublicized, uncharged, unpunished – even ignored as a despicable practice of law enforcement has been allowed to prevail.

As Matt Tiabbi writes in the Rolling Stone:

“Nobody’s willing to say it yet. But after Ferguson, and especially after the Eric Garner case that exploded in New York yesterday after yet another non-indictment following a minority death-in-custody, the police suddenly have a legitimacy problem in this country.”

“This policy of constantly badgering people for trifles generates bloodcurdling anger in “hot spot” neighborhoods with industrial efficiency. And then something like the Garner case happens and it all comes into relief. Six armed police officers tackling and killing a man for selling a 75-cent cigarette.”

“That was economic regulation turned lethal, a situation made all the more ridiculous by the fact that we no longer prosecute the countless serious economic crimes committed in this same city. A ferry ride away from Staten Island, on Wall Street, the pure unmolested freedom to fleece whoever you want is considered the sacred birthright of every rake with a briefcase.”

“If Lloyd Blankfein or Jamie Dimon had come up with the concept of selling loosies, they’d go to their graves defending it as free economic expression that “creates liquidity” and should never be regulated.”

“Taking it one step further, if Eric Garner had been selling naked credit default swaps instead of cigarettes – if in other words he’d set up a bookmaking operation in which passersby could bet on whether people made their home mortgage payments or companies paid off their bonds – the police by virtue of a federal law called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act would have been barred from even approaching him.”

“There were more cops surrounding Eric Garner on a Staten Island street this past July 17th then there were surrounding all of AIG during the period when the company was making the toxic bets that nearly destroyed the world economy years ago. Back then AIG’s regulator, the OTS, had just one insurance expert on staff, policing a company with over 180,000 employees.”

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-police-in-america-are-becoming-illegitimate-20141205#ixzz3LS8pO9Vl

As Matt Taibbi says, police officers have a dangerous job.

But let’s face it, the police officers are confronted sometimes with the ills and attitudes of people who have been discriminated against, deprived of equal opportunities, deprived of equal standards of living and educational opportunities – who have continually been treated as second class citizens – unimportant to society, harassed by law enforcement for pettiness.

It is time we acknowledged what they are saying: “Our lives are important too, give us a break, treat us the same as you would treat us if we were white, we have loved ones, we have ambition, we are seeking a good life – a life with opportunities for becoming educated, working hard, raising our kids, and looking forward to a better future – we aren’t asking for special treatment, we are asking for equal treatment.”

Every police department must be retrained to deal with these situations in a reasonable manner, with some compassion, some understanding, some patience, and some willingness to use the least harmful law enforcement necessary to control situations of perceived law violations. Cases with questionable conduct by law enforcement should be decided by a court of law, not a hand-picked grand jury. Our laws call for a jury of our peers, not a white jury or a white grand jury in a black community.

Whatever happened to common sense? Did it get eliminated along with government for the common good?

Think about it!

Every thing isn’t going to be all right?

Ted Folkert

December 4, 2014

My old handball buddy Bill Sharp used to jokingly say “Don’t worry, nothings gonna be all right.”

Bob Marley used to sing to us, in his inimitable way: “Don’t you worry – About a thing – Every little things – Gonna be all right”

Well, he knew that wasn’t so. He knew every little thing wasn’t going to be all right because he had lived the life he was born into. He lived the life of racial discrimination, the life of disenfranchisement, the life of hopelessness, helplessness, and despair that was impossible for most of his people to overcome – even though they sang their song of hope – “We shall overcome.” Although Bob Marley tried to make it better, he left too soon, before the job was done. And the job is still a long way from being done.

The most recent perfect examples of racial prejudice and disenfranchisement have been dominating the news recently, not because the noise media truly believes the real impact of this reminder of second class citizenship that we make evident each and every day for the disenfranchised, but because it gets viewers so they can sell advertising.

Ferguson, Missouri and New York City have made it loud and clear once again. In Ferguson a frightened police officer shot Michael Brown to death. It seems apparent that Michael Brown was a bully, but it certainly seems that the officer could have backed off somewhat, could have taken other measures to arrest or subdue him. He wasn’t wanted for any serious crime at the time but was merely jaywalking. Although I would sympathize with the officer somewhat, he didn’t want to get hurt and Brown was much bigger that he, but a case could be made that he used excessive force, which may have warranted legal resolution for the sake of justice and closure for family members for what was perhaps a wrongful death. Instead there was a decision not to charge and not to have a public court hearing.

And even before this case has cooled off, in New York City several police officers subdued and unintentionally killed Eric Garner for allegedly selling cigarettes, obviously using a chokehold on him, which is prohibited for the use of police officers, and then ignoring Garner’s pleas for relief until he was dead. Could they have backed off? Could they have taken other action? Could they have let him go and arrested him later? Was he harming anyone? The answers are yes, yes, yes, and no. Nothing that could be reasonably construed as warranting such drastic action seemed to have occurred. He was a big man but there were several officers and Garner was not armed.

So, putting yourself in their place, would you be infuriated by these two incidents? Would these incidents remind you of discriminatory policies that have been festering for several hundred years? Discriminatory policies which have been a way of life for blacks, unequal to the treatment of others, harsher enforcement, harsher surveillance, harsher treatment, harsher penalties. Combine this with extreme disadvantage in employment opportunities, living conditions, educational opportunities, and health care and you get the idea of what the impact must be on these second class citizens.

These are just two isolated incidents that became prevalent in our minds recently. The facts of unequal justice are overwhelming.

Check out these numbers:

From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million people.

African Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population

African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites

Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population

According to Unlocking America, if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today’s prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%

One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime

1 in 100 African American women are in prison

Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice).

About 14 million Whites and 2.6 million African Americans report using an illicit drug

5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites

African Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent offense (61.7 months). (Sentencing Project)

35% of black children grades 7-12 have been suspended or expelled at some point in their school careers compared to 20% of Hispanics and 15% of whites.

If you want more of these facts they are readily available.

Bill Sharp thought he was kidding when he said nothing is going to be all right.

Bob Marley knew everything wasn’t going to be all right

We need drastic changes in law enforcement hiring, training, practice, and control of police officers. They have a tough job but they have options in dealing with unarmed suspects and incidents like we have been shaking our heads over recently make it imperative that something be done now – before all hell breaks loose – and before another victim of improper law enforcement results in mass violence against discrimination.

Everything isn’t all right!

Think about!

 

 

Obama acts wisely on immigration

Raul Reyes, Member – USA Today Board of Contributors, gives us the outline of President Obama’s executive action on immigration in his article: “President’s executive action represents sound, thoughtful policy” – November 20, 2014 – USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/11/20/obama-immigration-raul-reyes/70037974/

“His plan expands the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and creates a new program for undocumented parents with citizen children. The president said that his administration’s deportation priorities will be “felons, not families,” and “criminals, not children.”’

“The president’s plan is a significant step that will provide relief for millions of undocumented immigrants.”

“The president’s plan will ease the requirements for young people to be eligible for Deferred Action. These are immigrants who have been educated here at taxpayer expense, and can now attend college, serve in the military or work without fear of deportation.”

“It will also free up law enforcement resources to focus on traffickers, drug dealers and terrorist threats.”

“It’s worth noting that the president’s plan will not offer any incentive for people to enter the U.S. illegally. In fact, recent arrivals will be prioritized for deportation, sending the message to other countries that we do not have “open borders” or “amnesty.”’

“President Obama is offering undocumented immigrants historic, compassionate relief from deportation. Until Congress decides to act, this represents a move towards a more consistent immigration system. His executive action is welcome and necessary.”

Raul Reyes is an attorney in New York and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors.

Read the article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/11/20/obama-immigration-raul-reyes/70037974/

Our disgusting network TV channels

Mike Folkert

November 21, 2014

I feel disgusted and ashamed to be a citizen of a country in which the network television channels choose not to air a speech by the President of the United States regarding our countries immigration issues.

It was a very wonderful and moving dialog about the issue, one that every American should agree with, that is every one except those who suffer from bigotry and prejudice.

I encourage anyone who has not seen it to watch it on Youtube – just search for “the President Speaks on Fixing America’s Broken Immigration System”.

As my old friend Skip Sleyster used to say in the Kansas City Star every Sunday, “One moment of your time please”.

Please take a moment to read about all of the wonderful benefits we get from shopping at Walmart and taking advantage of all the savings they so benevolently bestow upon us.

Quoted from Americans for Tax Fairness as they explain it loud and clear:

“Americans for Tax Fairness is a diverse coalition of 425 national and state organizations that collectively represent tens of millions of members. The organization was formed on the belief that the country needs comprehensive, progressive tax reform that results in greater revenue to meet our growing needs. ATF is playing a central role in Washington and in the states on federal tax-reform issues.

Americans for Tax Fairness, 1726 M Street NW Suite 1100, Washington, D.C. 20036

www.AmericansForTaxFairness.org

KEY FINDINGS:

WALMART DODGES $1 BILLION A YEAR IN U.S. TAXES, ON AVERAGE, THROUGH TAX LOOPHOLES.

The U.S. statutory corporate tax rate – the amount corporations are supposed to pay – is 35 percent.

But Walmart used tax loopholes to reduce its effective tax rate – what it actually pays – to an average of 29.1 percent from 2008 to 2012. This allowed the company to cut its tax bill by

$5.1 billion over those five years – a tax savings of $1 billion a year, on average.

WALMART MIGHT AVOID ANOTHER $720 MILLION A YEAR IN TAXES – AND $7 BILLION OVER A DECADE –IF CORPORATE TAX RATES ARE LOWERED TO 25 PERCENT.

If Walmart lowered the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, its tax rate might drop from its average of 29.1 percent from 2008 to 2012 to 25 percent. Based on Walmart’s $87 billion in profits over those years, the company would have paid $3.6 billion less in taxes or million a year.

TAXPAYERS ALREADY SPEND AN ESTIMATED $6.2 BILLION A YEAR SUBSIDIZING WALMART’S LOW PAY AND MEAGER BENEFITS.

That’s because Walmart pays its employees so little that many of them rely on food stamps,

Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded programs.

WALMART IS AVOIDING PAYING U.S. TAXES ON $21.4 BILLION IN OFFSHORE PROFITS.

Walmart reports that the profits it makes offshore and on which it is not paying U.S. taxes have doubled in recent years, growing from $10.5 billion in 2008 to $21.4 billion in 2013. Because corporations can indefinitely postpone paying U.S. taxes on offshore profits that have not been brought to America, Walmart has paid nothing to the U.S. Treasury on those earnings.

Meanwhile,

Walmart’s international capital spending remained steady over the same period that these untaxed offshore profits doubled suggesting that Walmart is piling up cash overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes on the earnings, rather than using the profits for offshore investments.

WALMART COULD DODGE BILLIONS MORE IN TAXES UNDER A TERRITORIAL TAX SYSTEM.

A territorial tax system would eliminate all U.S. taxation of offshore profits. Any profits Walmart and its suppliers earn abroad would be taxed solely by the country in which they are earned. If a country has a lower tax rate than the U.S. – which many countries where Walmart operates do – Walmart would immediately cut its tax bill. A territorial tax system also would provide even more incentives for corporations to shift production and profits offshore to low-tax jurisdictions. One study has estimated that such a system would encourage U.S. corporations to create 800,000 jobs in low-tax countries rather than here at home.

WALMART PLAYS A LEADING ROLE IN EFFORTS TO REDUCE CORPORATE TAXES.

Walmart is working to influence tax legislation in three ways – through lobbying, campaign contributions and issue advocacy via major corporate coalitions. Walmart employs 74 lobbyists

80 percent of whom have previously served in government – and it has spent $32.6 million lobbying on tax and other issues over the past five years. Tax issues have been by far Walmart’s top lobbying focus. Its PAC has contributed $6.1 million to federal candidates, committees and political parties since 2009. And Walmart is the only major discount retail company that is a member of three major business coalitions trying to lower corporate tax rates – the RATE Coalition, Alliance for Competitive Taxation (ACT) and the Business Roundtable (BRT) – two of which (ACT and BRT) are advocating for a territorial tax system.”

Think about it!