Draft Them!

Concerning the Senators that voted for the U.N. treaty to ban weapons; here's a suggestion: They should all be drafted, go through boot camp and advanced infantry training, then shipped to Afghanistan, Korea, Iraq or any of several hotbeds of activity, where they would certainly learn to not fear firearms and come to realize the importance of firearms to survival.

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

More On Taxes

             On October 26, 2011 I wrote “The Real Tax Bite” (http://dr-jfm.blogspot.com/2011/10/real-tax-bite.html).  Interestingly, all the talk of tax reform has disappeared like smoke in the wind and it is business as usual in government—tax and spend politics that exempt special interest groups and large blocks of prospective voters, while increasing the burden on Middle America. 

            As described in the above-mentioned blog, the system depends on its ability to “divide and conquer.”  For example, those that do not drive diesel-fueled vehicles don’t care if diesel taxes are raised and people that do not use a particular government service or property are not concerned when fees are raised.  It is the ability of government to levy taxes and fees on small segments of society and earmark those funds that gives government the freedom to use general revenue for unpopular, wasteful or politically profitable causes.  Every dollar Americans pay in fees and taxes for government goods and services is a dollar freed from the accountability inherent in the income tax stream.  Politicians know that if their only source of income is the income tax, they will be accountable to all the voters, without the favor of those they exempt. 

            Much has been written about the benefits of a national sales tax, others suggest a flat-rate tax, and there are other proposals, but the method that is tried and works in our own country is the graduated income tax, where everyone that has income pays something.  When the graduated income tax was abandoned, the door was opened to squeeze the middle and exempt the ends.

            A simple amendment to the U.S. Constitution will fix the problem:  “Government will have no source of revenue other than the income tax.”

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

The Meaning of Marriage

According to the most ancient historical documents marriage is as old as humankind and began as a union between a female and a male. This is a unique union and serves a purpose that none other can accomplish, procreation. For literately thousands of years marriage has been defined as a union between a man and a woman. Marriage of a man and a woman provides, potentially, the best possible environment for nurturing children.  

In recent years a movement has arisen promoting the expansion of marriage to include homosexual couples. That concept radically changes the meaning of marriage. Originally the primary prerequisite for marriage was having two people of opposite sexes joined for the purpose of procreation. Now we are being told the only prerequisite should be “love”, which doesn’t mean anything because love cannot be measured, proven or unproven. Therefore, a group of several males living in a single residence could claim to love each other, arrange a marriage ceremony, be wed to one another, and become a family. Using this method, most people could qualify for marriage benefits, including tax breaks. It is also conceivable that legal marriages could include a person with a pet or barnyard animal (such marriages have occurred). Since our modern society is constantly pushing to eliminate morals (for example this often repeated sentence: “You can’t legislate morality.”) on what grounds could polygamy and human/animal marriages be prohibited?

I see no rational reason to change the meaning of marriage but changing that meaning will undoubtedly open a can of unpleasant worms.

Tom Lottinville

Carneys Point

            Somewhere in Carneys Point, New Jersey, resides a boy whose picture was posted on Facebook, showing him holding a new birthday present.  Millions of people daily post pictures of themselves with newly acquired items and in less turbulent times, outside of family and friends, these postings are not “news worthy.”  But, in the insane and paranoid world of the United States, the picture caused an outrageous response because the present was a .22 caliber rifle that the boy’s father gave him for his 11^th birthday.

            Apparently, someone called an anonymous child abuse hotline to report the picture.  The State responded with child welfare workers and four policemen asking to open the family gun safe and inspect the firearms.  The father, in contact with an attorney on his phone, asked for a search warrant, which the police did not have, so they left the home. 

Whether or not the official investigation is complete and the incident closed, remains to be seen, but regardless of the outcome there is the question:  What is there about a picture of a boy holding an inanimate object and posing no threat to anyone that requires a “raid” by child welfare workers and four policemen?  If the aforementioned elements of insanity and paranoia are omitted from the equation, the answer is nothing. 

However, when the insanity or paranoia of those that misuse firearms are met with insanity and paranoia, the result will be ever-spreading insanity and paranoia.  It is a fact that when people’s emotions are controlled by fear and illogic, their actions will be radical and irrational.  This is happening in America, today.  To believe that anyone who owns a firearm is a potential threat to society is just as irrational and paranoid as are those who misuse firearms.

Aside from the written Word of God, perhaps, the most rational documents written by men are the Constitution of the United States and the attached Bill of Rights.  All have served our nation well, particularly, in times of fear and human illogic; despite that there have always been people denying the freedoms they document.  The important issue in Carneys Point and in the rest of the United States is not “gun control.”  So called “gun control” is a symptom of the real problem.  The real problem is that we are allowing our own insanity and paranoia to disavow the very documents written to guide us in times of insanity and paranoia.  The only possible result is the dearth of individual freedom to “life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness.” 

             

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

Department of Homeland Security?

             There are reports that DHS is stockpiling small arms ammunition and some estimates put the total at more than 1.6 billion rounds.  Additionally, DHS has purchased 2,717 Mine Resistant Light-Armored Tanks.  Pictures of these tanks show they are labeled on each side with “Police/Rescue,” suggesting they are not intended for military use in foreign combat zones, rather, they will be deployed within the borders of the United States.  What’s up with that?

            Could it be that foreign nationals have infiltrated the United States to the point they pose a threat to security?  Perhaps, in addition to body scans and pat-downs, tanks and small arms are needed to stop the threat of airplane hijackers.  Maybe, these weapons of war are needed to stop the next nut-bag that decides to shoot unarmed people in a gun-free zone.  Or, is it possible these armaments will someday be deployed against citizens of the United States that refuse to bow to government oppression?

            One of the lessons from the debacle at Waco is that our government officials believe a stockpile of small arms held by private citizens is a threat to security requiring the deployment of military tanks and forfeiting the lives of men, women and children.  American Citizens need to realize that a government with tanks among its people is far more dangerous than citizens with stockpiles of small arms.

            The line between a civilian police force and a paramilitary force is blurring rapidly and once the transformation is complete, neither ballots nor bullets will stop the tanks.

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

Second Amendment Refugees

Clearly, those that would infringe the right to keep and bear arms outnumber law-abiding citizens that respect the Second Amendment in some areas of the United States.  This is demonstrated by the fact that these areas continue to elect politicians that seek to overturn, wire around, or simply ignore our Constitution. 

Perhaps, it is time to organize a Second Amendment Refugee program, under which, any citizen of the United States fleeing one of these areas because of belief in the Second Amendment, is granted asylum in a State that respects the U.S. Constitution.  This will involve helping these refugees with relocation and living expenses until they find suitable housing and employment.  Existing assistance programs could be used for this by reallocating monies presently given to individuals that have no desire to find employment.  It is also possible that a program to exchange these non-working individuals for Second Amendment Refugees can be instituted.

A primary benefit of this program will be that the votes of these refugees will no longer be cancelled by larger numbers of Constitution opponents, and in marginal areas, the influx of refugees will swing the balance in favor of those that respect the Constitution, particularly, the Second Amendment. 

Of course, the down side for areas abandoned by the refugees is that the dampening effect on crime and oppressive government, created by the uncertainty that some victims may be armed, will be removed.  This will allow criminals both in and out of government the security of knowing the armed refugees are no longer among them.  However, those who see no need for the Second Amendment should not mind this minor inconvenience.  Millions before them have sought to resist crime and oppression with pitchforks and shovels against guns.

All in all, this proposal seems the best of all solutions for everyone:  Those that prefer to ignore the wisdom of our Founders and reinvent history will have unbridled opportunity to live with their belief that an unarmed citizenry is more secure than an armed citizenry.  Those that understand the purpose of the Second Amendment and agree with the wisdom of the Founders that enacted it will also continue to live with their belief in the Second Amendment and the freedom it secures.  In ten years or less, the worth of the Second Amendment should be obvious.

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

A Lesson From Wounded Knee

Two things have changed in Washington since the close of the Indian Wars—the people holding the reins of power and the people they desire to control.  The desire to control never changes in war or following war; neither does the purpose of war, which is to disarm those that oppose being controlled.  A way to prevent war is to surrender the means of resistance, and then the war often becomes a massacre.

http://hoist.hrtc.net/~arabento/woundedknee.htm

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

He Took an Oath

If, in the course of human events, a President of the United States of America, after making this oath, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” does then execute an Executive Order that violates any Article, Paragraph or Amendment of said Constitution, the House of Representatives, in Congress assembled, should with haste and solidarity, in the paraphrased words of that most famous lawyer’s desk paperweight, “impeach the bastard.”

Jim
www.jim-mac.com

Stop Fiddling

If ever a situation pointed to the need for tax reform, the current budget bill debate is it.  While the two may seem unrelated, they are not.  The existing process promotes shifting the focus from spending cuts to revenue.  The real issue is not revenue stream, the issue is that politicians spend more than the system provides by continuing their “pork barrel” politics to win re-election. 

Nothing has changed in nearly a century; the Republicans want less taxation on the wealthy and use the economy to scare voters, while Democrats promote more taxation on the wealthy by scaring the poor and middle classes.  Therefore, is it surprising that the so-called “fiscal cliff,” which was enacted during a previous budget battle and likely designed to provide political cover for future battles, is now the “enemy” of everyone? 

Once again, the media tell us “Rome is burning.”  Meanwhile, the people we elected to lead this nation “fiddle.”  It is time to abandon the budget bill posturing, hand wringing and predictions of fiscal doom to enact a tax code that is fair, exempts no one, and does not require yearly change.  Perhaps, then, the people that put us in this mess can focus solely on curbing their uncontrolled appetites for spending other peoples’ money.

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

WHAT IS A PASTOR

WHAT IS A PASTOR

A pastor is expected to be

The leader of the flock for you and me.

Someone to teach, someone to preach;

Someone with an “open arm” reach.

He always has to be involved,

Around him, all the church revolves.

Planning and organizing in all things,

Answering the phone when it rings.

Each activity that comes along

He best be there, or he’s in the wrong.

Someone needs counseling; he’s always there.

To miss a meeting, he doesn’t dare.

Visit the sick and help the poor,

Greet each guest at the door.

Entertain every visiting speaker,

Be a “strength” to all those weaker.

But, have you ever looked beyond

All those things he does to bond?

To see the real person there,

He has his own cross to bear.

He too, should be a friend,

Not just always “The Reverend.”

Invite him over once in a while.

Visit with him as pal to pal.

Let down the guard and be yourself.

Don’t put your friendship on the shelf.

Get to know him as a person,

As good a friend as you’ve ever chosen.

© 1980 Annie McColloch

Let's Trade Places or Politicians

According to the Senate Budget Committee’s ranking member, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, in 2011, the yearly welfare expenditure for recipients in the U.S., was an average of  $59,523 per household.  After more than fifty years in the workforce, and paying into Social Security, my household retirement benefit is less than half that amount.  Expressed another way, for every welfare household that receives the same amount mine receives in Social Security benefits, there is a household that receives around $100,000 per year in welfare payments. 

Interestingly, we are being told that the system funded by hard-working Americans is destined to collapse unless we cut benefits, while welfare expenditures continue to rise.  To balance the scale, perhaps, we should put welfare recipients on Social Security, and Social Security recipients on welfare.  Or better yet, we should replace the politicians that are doing nothing to stop the rising need for welfare and the collapse of the retirement program that generations of Americans funded with their own money.

Jim

www.jim-mac.com

The Real Debate Loser

            If you are a Democrat, your man won the second presidential candidate’s debate.  If you are a Republican, your candidate won.  However, to those outside the constraints of partisan politics, there were no winners in this debacle showing two angry men so intent on discrediting the opposition that neither could speak without attacking the other. 

Americans deserved substantive answers to the questions that were asked, not accusations and arguing.  Surely, men that aspire to be the leader of the Free World should realize that integrity is not determined by the methods they used in their attempts to discredit each other.

For the President of the United States and the man who would be president, to act as if they were guests of Jerry Springer is beneath the dignity of the office that was the real loser in this so-called debate.

Jim

www.jim-mac.com