Election Day – VOTE

This is crazy.  Life without taxes… A Tea Party Paradise

And then there is this…

From Jeff Seeman’s Diary

Let’s say that you’re a Teabagger and you want to get rid of taxes. I tell you it’s not possible, but you don’t listen to me. That’s cool.

So you win. Taxes are gone. No taxes in the USA. You win. The federal government and all the evils that go with it are gone forever.

Now let’s finish your scenario out, OK? Humor me.

You might think that with no taxes, you’ll make more money, right?

Wrong.

Let’s say that you make 40,000 dollars a year now. But your take home pay is only 30,000 dollars. Your employer knows that he doesn’t have to pay the federal government those nasty taxes anymore, but he also knows that you’ve been willing to come to work every day for a 30,000 dollar take-home amount. Guess who’s getting a pay decrease down to 30k a year? You are. The taxes are gone, did you really think that your employer wouldn’t choose to benefit from that first?

So now you make the same amount as before, but there’s no money going to social security anymore. The same amount of money you lived on before now has to get you beyond retirement.

Your 401k is gone too. The company that manages it has wiped the accounts dry. Who’s going to stop them from doing that now that the federal regulators have all been fired?

Perhaps you’d better start saving 10 percent of your paycheck for future retirement plans? Whoops, can’t do that. The FDIC doesn’t exist, so the banks have all been cleaned out. So have the accounts you used to have money in. Your consumer protections are gone, and the person nearest to the vault with a key is now racing towards Bermuda with sacks of your money.

We didn’t really want all those nasty regulations on the banks anyway, did we?

OK, so you can handle this. You don’t need help. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, right?

You’ll be OK, I’m sure of it. But your kids are hungry, so you’d better go to the store to get groceries. Be careful with the meat and the produce departments, though. Sometime last month, the farmer realized that his farm subsidies were gone and he’s gotta cut corners to survive, not to mention raising his prices. In the cutting of the corners, he stopped feeding his cattle clean food. Now those cows are all sick and their meat is packaged up nice for you to buy and feed to your kids.

There’s no FDA and no USDA to monitor the food your farmer provides to the grocery store, so you’re on your own.

Oh and by the way, the ground beef that will be in your digestive system soon just cost you double what it used to, if you’re lucky. Price controls have been dissolved altogether.

When your family gets sick from that tainted meat, you’ll have to rush them to the hospital. Pray that their illness has already been given a cure, because the Centers For Disease Control no longer can help your local hospital identify any viruses.

Also, don’t drink the water in your neighborhood anymore. The Environmental Protection Agency, as it turns out, was actually protecting the environment. You didn’t think Monsanto was going to stop chemical dumping in the streams and lakes of America on their own, did you?

On your way home from the hospital, drive slowly. The traffic lights no longer work because they were part of the local government control and there’s no more tax money left to operate the lights. This alone caused a lot of accidents, and most of the wreckage is left behind for you to drive around if you can. Ever noticed the people that sweep up the broken glass after even the most minor fender-benders? Guess what paid their salaries?

When you get home, pray it’s still there. Without police, what do you think the odds are that people just left it alone? Unless you left your husband/wife behind with a big gun 24/7, somebody’s coming in to take your stuff. And if they have a bigger gun, you just lost your husband and his 30k a year too.

Hopefully that house doesn’t catch fire too. No fire department. And even if there were friends willing to help put out the fire, where do you think they’re going to get the water to douse the flames? Those fire hydrants were not placed there by divine intervention.

Hopefully you prepared for all this by stockpiling on guns and assorted weaponry. Not like it’ll matter. There’s armies from about 2 dozen countries that either are ready to invade or already have. Who’s gonna stop them? Jimbo and his homemade militia? I’m sure the people in your neighborhood can fill in for the boys that used to be in our military, because you know….wolverines! I loved that film too. But let’s be honest….the Cubans and Russians were going to kick our ass, no matter how many high school football players Patrick Swayze can recruit.

Even if the world community takes pity on us and defends us from invading armies, it won’t take long for the airports to become havens of hysteria. Weapons on airplanes are easy as pie. The TSA that performs security checks at the gate…who do you think paid their salaries? They’re part of that massive government waste you’re so happy to be rid of. Maybe the federal marshalls on every plane will protect you….oh, wait. Never mind.

Aside from the easy pickings that terrorism will find in the skies, you won’t be safe on the ground either. Timothy McVeigh is about to be a happy memory compared to the chemical detonations that are possible now. The regulatory committees that monitored the sale and purchase of toxic materials are gone daddy gone.

So between the tainted meat, your pay cut, your 401k being wiped out, the hospitals being overrun by people who ate the same tainted meat, your house being an easy target, the threat of terrorism at all-time highs, and having to fight for your own survival on a hourly basis….don’t you think that maybe it’s better that you just shut up and pay your damn taxes?

Or are you willing to risk all that just because you once heard about a guy who was lazy and took 300 bucks a month in unemployment?

———————–

I don’t expect a response, but it felt good to write that.  Screw John Galt.

UPDATE – Thanks for the rec list.  I better fix all my typos.

UPDATE 2 – yes, I give you 110% freedom to republish my response, crib from it, whatever you wish.  What’s mine is yours.

I Remember

Uh Oh. Gerlach Lied Again

Uh Oh. Gerlach Lied Again. Trivedi Calls on Gerlach to Pull Down Ad Full of Lies ELVERSON, Pa. – Manan Trivedis neighbors up in Berks County got some more

via Uh Oh. Gerlach Lied Again.

It Almost Didn’t Happen

On August 26, 2010, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution celebrates its 90th birthday. It was a long, hard battle fought by courageous women.

We should not take our right to vote for granted. Yet, so many Americans do not vote. What would these non-voting people do if they were told that they were prohibited to vote? Would they then be protesting? Shame on anyone that stays away from the voting booth on election day. It is not only your right to vote, it is your duty as a citizen to vote.

A great op-ed from Christine Stansall.

Happy 90th Birthday, 19th Amendment and thank you to the women that risked everything just for the right to vote.

Your Duty To Your Country

Your duty to save our nation. This November, the fight is to save the very soul of our nation.

Nelson Mandela

I remember hearing on the news that black South Africans stood in line for days and traveled for days just so that they could vote for the very first time. Apartheid was cruel. The Dutch and the English really had no right to take South Africa away from its indigenous people.

This is a very old song. We should not forget the suffering that Apartheid created. The black South Africans were so grateful to finally vote. Here in America, less than 50% of the eligible population votes. In 2009, there was less than a 25% turn out. Shame on all the Americans that stayed home. We should never take our right to vote for granted.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERnAy7Exzzw)

A Real Democrat for Senator

Let me introduce you to a real Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, a Democrat that didn’t switch parties just so he could get elected… Bill Kortz.

Learn more about Bill Kortz at http://www.kortzforsenate.com/

Be sure to view the video at Bill Kortz’s website.

Legislator Bill Kortz will be at the “Rally for Single Payer Health Care” in Harrisburg on Thursday.

RALLY ON THE CAPITOL STEPS
for
SINGLE-PAYER
June 11th
Get the latest info here!

Meet Bill Kortz, Democratic State Representative from the 38^th Legislative District in Allegheny County, a candidate for the United States Senate in 2010.

Bill Kortz, life long democrat entered this race “For All the Right Reasons”, just as he entered the race for State Representative in 2006 when it became abundantly clear that’s some of our State Representatives were out of touch with the citizens of Pennsylvania. As a member of the Appropriations Committee for the State House of Representatives Bill Kortz the working class candidate is in the unique position to see first hand the economic devastation tax breaks for the wealthy and the unjustified Iraq War Policy by the Bush administration and his republican allies, including now long time republican, conveniently turned democrat, Arlen Specter, have reeked on Pennsylvania and our nation.

As one of the political enablers, Specter helped devastate our economy by way of a wink and nod attitude to the corporate greedy on Wall Street, wealthy bankers, and predator lenders. With the end result being a cost in dollars and broken lives that is immeasurable.

It will take hard work and dedication by elected U.S. Representatives that truly aspire to public service, “For All the Right Reasons”, to reverse this problem. Bill Kortz has proven to his colleagues in the State House with untiring commitment to his duties and dedication to constituents in his district, that he is that person.

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Just Ask – UPDATED with Links to Results

Twelve years ago in June, my husband and I moved into our current home.   The first chance that we got to vote in our new neighborhood was during the general election.  When I went to vote, I was greeted outside by a man who introduced himself and handed me a pen with his name on it.  He told me that he was running for Township Supervisor and he asked me to vote for him.  I asked him his views on environmental issues.  Turns out, he is a strong advocate of open space.   He won the election.  I told you that so that I can tell you this…  there was no one from either party standing outside the polls working for candidates other than the man running for Township Supervisor.  The Republican turnout in this township was strong and the Democratic turnout was weak.

This absence of party representation continued throughout the years.  The Republicans would place signs along the building and the Democrats had no information available.  Then came the year 2004 and George W. Bush was running for re-election.  We got involved with the Kerry Campaign which then introduced us to a group of like minded Democrats that were bound and determined to get out the vote for Kerry.  As a result, during the general election of 2004, my husband and I set up shop outside the poll with information about Democrats that were on the ballot.  We met many Democrats from our area which gave us a good feeling because in 2004, the Republicans outnumbered the Democrats in our voting precinct.  In 2005, we were both elected as Democratic Committee Precinct Leaders.

Since then, every general election, we set up shop complete with table, chairs and candy outside the poll.  We have been able to recruit volunteers to help with coverage.  Some volunteers even brought food, coffee and tea.  Last year, during the highly contested primary in PA, we asked Democrats if they would like to join our email list.  We told them that we would not abuse their email address and that we would only contact them prior to elections.  This worked out great during the general election of 2008 because we were able to get complete poll coverage not only at our voting precinct but also at other voting precincts that were missing Democratic Committe Precinct Leaders.  We also made phone calls and sent out postcards listing all the Democratic Candidates.  When the results were final, the part of the County that we and the volunteers covered went from red to blue.  This is remarkable.  The Democrats came out and voted.

Because of our visability at the poll over several years, we have made many new friends (it becomes a party atmosphere) and found that getting help to Get Out The Vote at election time is not too difficult.  All we had to do was ask and volunteers stepped forward.

UPDATE:

Link to unofficial results of primary Berks County by Precinct Check out the results in Oley and Pike.  The Democrats came out and voted in this very off year election.  Oley has a higher number of Republicans than Democrats and Pike has 8 more Democrats than Republicans.   Yet the the number of votes by Democrats for the row offices outnumber the number of votes by Republicans.  Good job!

Link to unofficial results total for Berks County.

Prothonotary Candidate – Berks County

What does a Prothonotary do?

The Prothonotary’s office serves a critical role in the county as it handles some of the most important legal documents people will ever need–judgments, civil actions, passports, and more–so the office of the Prothonotary must manage information efficiently and with care.

Charles Corbit is the Democratic candidate that Pennsylvania for Change endorses for Prothonotary for Berks County. To learn more about Charles Corbit, visit his website at: http://www.corbit2009.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZxRMud7okk

A Change is Gonna Come…

Barack Obama