Time to find corporate billions kept offshore

clipped from crooksandliars.com According to the Government Accountability Office, nearly all of America's top 100 corporations maintain subsidiaries in countries identified as tax havens. As the GAO notes, there could be reasons other than avoiding the IRS to set up branches in places such as Singapore, Luxembourg and Switzerland, where taxes are light or nonexistent and keeping clients' illicit secrets is considered a matter of national pride. Goldman Sachs Group Countrywide Financial Wachovia Lehman Brothers Citigroup Morgan Stanley When the cost of these shenanigans was last estimated two years ago, the U.S. government's annual loss in revenue due to tax avoidance by major corporations and super-rich individuals was pegged at about $100 billion -- considerably more than a rounding error, even today. But of course that is only a rough assessment, as is the estimate of $12 trillion in untaxed assets hidden around the world. Nobody will know for certain until the books are opened and transparency is established.

Tax evasion is basically theft and can be secondarily considered treason.

The tax system is set up to benefit the general population through maintenance of infrastructure, paying the military, paying our politicians, etc.

American corporations making a profit from doing business in the U.S. and conducting their business through overseas subsidiaries to avoid U.S. tax laws are in effect stealing from the American public.

This leaves the bill for these government supported services to be footed by honest tax payers.

This is also an issue of morality and ethics. Corporations take and use all the benefits of living and working in America but don’t pay for the privilege.

These corporations need to step up and pay their fair share of being allowed to do business in America. Politicians will never force the issue because they are benefiting from these corporations doing business here.

We all need to raise our voices high and boycott those corporations that are stealing from

Hypocrisy and the Bailout Bill

clipped from politicalcrises.com Senator McCain’s lists of the top 10 biggest jokes in regards to pork in the bailout bill. $400,000 for copper wire theft prevention efforts $143,000 for Nevada Humanities to develop and expand an online encyclopedia $332,000 for the design and construction of a school sidewalk in Franklin, Texas $100,000 for the regional robotics training center in Union, SC $200,000 “tattoo removal violence outreach program to could help gang members or others shed visible signs of their past” Of the $7.7 billion in earmark spending that led Indiana Senator Evan Bayh to argue that the bill was inappropriate, $2.7 million went to Indiana Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell argued that there was simply too much spending in the bill - but that didn’t stop him from working to bring “home” $51 million in earmarks for his state. Republican Senator Jame Inhofe of Oklahoma who opposed the legislation because of its cost had more than 30 earmarks included - adding up to $53 million.

Aren't Republicans supposed to be the fiscal responsible ones?

I wonder if politicians ask for this money with a straight face. There must be a clause in these requests that says any excess money goes to the general fund.

Earmarks for “the design and construction of a school sidewalk”, “development of an online encyclopedia”, “tattoo removal”?!? This is blatant mis appropriation of funds.

The earmark system itself is not the problem. If earmarks are used to put citizens to work and to generate an income source for the benefit of the general population then I’m all for it.

What we need is a method of prioritizing earmarks so that frivolous projects don’t get funded. And the system needs to be manned and monitored by civilians immune to the reach of politicians.

An alternative solution would be to not tax us so much so there wouldn’t be all this excess money to support tattoo removal.

The Girl Can’t Help It

Back in 2008 Michelle Bachmann signed the Club for Growth’s ‘No Earmark’ pledge. Her adherence lasted as long as an ice cream cone in the hot sun.

According to Legistorm, Bachmann has requested 7 earmarks in Fiscal Year 2008 costing tax payers a total of $3,767,600. Some examples:
- $94,000 for Sheriffs Youth Program of MN
- $335,000 for Equipment Acquisition for Northland Medical Center
- $803,000 for Replacement Small Buses, St. Cloud Metro Bus

It would be easy to jump on this obvious renege of a promise by saying something like ‘typical republican’. The dishonesty of making that statement would be that democrats have done the exact same thing.

This illustrates the problematic weakness we humans have with money. If the money is there for the taking, almost every person will take it.

Politicians are especially susceptible to the allure of what I am sure they see as ‘free money’ because they have the power to direct the money towards a group of people who have the power to return the favor by keeping them in political office.

The debate surrounding earmarks by those of us outside the loop, is that so much of this ‘free money’ goes to ridiculous, even frivolous uses.

Newsmax.com lists 10 spending bill boondoggles that illustrates atrocious fiscal mismanagement and a simple lack of communication and foresight. This is just a small sampling, there are many, many more.

Money used for a youth program, or used to purchase equipment for a hospital, or to replace buses may not be considered a true waste of money to some but it is a colossal waste according to another group.

The inherent problem with earmarks, is not so much whether it is considered ‘pork’, it’s that the money can be so unfairly and disproportionately directed to one group over another.

Money for these projects could very well be needed. The major problem comes when money is allotted to studying, for example, the sex life of dolphins over money for cancer research equipment at Johns Hopkins Hospitals. Or to replace fishing boats lost during Hurricane Katrina to help recover a devastated coastal economy.

Taking money away from more worthy projects is definitely wrong. But how do we prioritize spending? This is the job that falls to Congress and so far they are not doing a very good job.

In the latest spending budget bill for next year, close to eight thousand earmarks were added. If these so-called pet projects create jobs or otherwise boost the economy, what’s so wrong with that?

To put it another way: How is it that spending American tax dollars on Americans is wasteful and irresponsible but spending trillions on an illegal war is sound fiscal policy?

I am not trying to let Ms. Bachmann off the hook here. She chose to put herself squarely in the path of hypocrisy by pledging not to do exactly what she did. That is on her alone.

We simply need a better system of prioritizing where our tax dollars should be spent.

Amidst Increased Security, We Get Ripped Off

Securities fraud cases are down 87% since 2000. Great News! On the surface, it appears that Wall Street has finally turned away from the dark side and the free market system of letting the market take care of itself is working for the good of everyone.

Don’t bet your life savings on it. This ‘miraculous’ turn of events is simply another Ponzi scheme. Instead of shifting money around to cover other debts, as is the idea of the Ponzi scheme, the federal government has been shifting investigative resources towards preventing terrorism and away from preventing the U.S. economy from being ripped off.

As a result of spending less time ferreting out the con artists that everyone knows are there, the FBI and the SEC has allowed the American taxpayer to be ripped off to the tune of billions of dollars to bailout the economy. How did our government best serve our interests in this brilliant maneuver?

We now have armed security forces roaming our airports rummaging through our luggage forcing us to take off our shoes and empty our water bottles. They see through our clothing to view every personal detail of our bodies. When they see fit, they confiscate our electronic equipment and force us to sit in rooms designated as ‘international zones’ so that the ‘authorities’ are not encumbered with Americans’ civil rights while we await further investigation. All this so we can visit relatives and friends. We are subjected to this humiliation while our fellow Americans on Wall Street are allowed to rip us off of our savings and our government further rips us off to bail them out. What a country.

Have we even had any terrorist threat to our airline industry since 2001? Some will argue that its because of all the security that we haven’t had any threats. How about using that same logic on Wall Street? If we watched our money handlers as stringently as we scrutinize our ‘friendly skies’ we wouldn’t be in this financial mess.

Wall Street claims it doesn’t need to be regulated. Free market cheerleaders say the economy should handle itself. The current state of the economy, swirling down the toilet, is a great argument for more regulation and less ‘free’ market.

It always comes down to humans cannot be trusted with other people’s money.

We will never see an end to corporate abuse. Even if there was a regulatory investigator on every corporate staff, there would not be enough honest, un-corruptible individuals to rid the American people of this type of evil.

To these guys, money no longer represents a hard working individual trying to make a better living for himself and his family by buying into the stock market dream of having your money work for you. This money becomes nothing more than another commodity that can and should be controlled and used to make more money for the fund manager. The implied promise to protect the owners investment becomes secondary. And if they have to bend a few rules or make unethical decisions that could result in a quick profit for themselves while there is no one watching over his shoulder then he will take that chance.

Obama has promised an overhaul of the SEC, but this is just a matter of course for an incoming authority when the current system has failed. In the end, nothing will really change, as long as humans are handling other peoples money, unregulated and without the threat of severe punishment, there will be fraud and deception.

Blackwater, Ted Stevens and the selling off of America

Juneau is hardly the top American target for terrorists, so what’s Blackwater doing in Alaska’s capital? Uniformed guards from the private security contractor have been reported guarding a radar station for tests of the National Missile Defense system now officially deployed in Alaska.

The system, thus far, has not proven itself capable of shooting down any missile even when the target missiles’ exact take-off time and trajectory are known. The system is designed to shield the U.S. against incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s). this is the same controversial system that Russia is up in arms about being contracted to be installed in Poland.

Blackwater International, a private militia, better known for their mercenary firepower, recruits elite soldiers trained by the U.S. military and rents them back to the U.S. at a premium. They provide corporate security and training for law-enforcement officers. They hire mercenaries and trainers out to foreign governments and to corporations. While the US Marines used to guard our embassies around the world, Blackwater guards are now manning many of those posts. Recently, Blackwater has recruited highly placed ex-government officials, such as former CIA Director of Counterterrorism Cofer Black, to head up a private intelligence agency. Blackwater, like others of its ilk, is penetrating every aspect of our military and intelligence services.

Our federal government is pouring billions of dollars into the pockets of defense contractors at an alarming rate. This wildly expensive high-tech version of France’s Maginot Line that can be so easily and cheaply defeated by decoys, or overwhelmed by a real-time mass attack, will never be a practical defense. Security functions that used to be performed by U.S. armed forces are now being paid for at a much higher premium. In Iraq, services that used to be provided by military departments such as food services, housing, clothing, security, etc are now being provided by contractors at far higher cost to taxpayers.

All of this amounts to a colossal rip off of American tax dollars and it is creating a very dangerous threat to America’s independence and security.

The Blackwater guards in Alaska are hired by Chenega, an Alaska Native corporation associated with the Alaskan coastal village of Chenega Bay, population 86. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, architect of the “Bridge to Nowhere” and recently convicted of a seven-felony string of corruption charges, is one of the principal proponents of the anti-missile system and was also instrumental in writing laws which help secure government contracts for Alaska Native Corporations. Senator Stevens didn’t invent these affirmative-action type laws that many people have grumbled about since the Sixties but he has helped refine and corporatize them: Chenega gets contracts through the Small Business Administration, rakes off a percentage, then lets giant Blackwater provide the actual services. Since 2000 Chenega has received over $1.1 billion in sole-source or non-compete bids from the Army, Air Force and Department of Homeland Security. Now that is what I call ‘using the system to your advantage’. It is what politicians who want to survive learn very quickly. It is one of the downsides of Capitalism.

And the Bush administration has tweaked our government by turning over functions that have traditionally fallen under purview of the military and intelligence services to private industry leaving the taxpayer to pay higher prices for those services.

Once these services are no longer a government function, they can be sold to the highest bidder. If these company CEO’s are bought by a foreign country or private bidder, then we have the situation where the U.S. can no longer defend itself. History has taught us that loyalty goes to where the next paycheck comes from. Under these conditions, does national allegiance mean anything?

Whose Money Is It?

The Republicans rode in on their white horses, at the last minute, and saved the day. Everybody cheer! Pats on the back to everyone for a job well done! Hip, hip, hooray!

The party atmosphere in the White House is almost palpable. Champagne corks are flying, party favors are passed out at the door. While that address on Pennsylvania Avenue celebrates its heroic victory of snatching Wall Street investors from the jaws of almost certain doom, taxpayers are footing the bill, again. Ex-homeowners are setting up new residences in tent cities across the country adding to the already shameful number of homeless right here in the richest and most affluent country in the world.

Sure, bailing out these large financial institutions was the most expedient method to prevent an even deeper recession, which, by the way, was created by these very same people, but how about sending some help to those people whose dreams of owning their own home were preyed upon by unethical money lenders whose own personal goals were to sell as many loans as possible.

By extending credit to questionable, borderline, at-risk individuals whose qualifications were based on some pretty creative credit score criteria, these short-sighted, greedy mortgage lenders knew these loans would probably never be able to be repaid and therefore they became one of the instruments that brought this economy to its knees. They were paid their salaries so they didn’t care if the loans would be paid or not. After all, to their irresponsible way of thinking, it wasn’t their money.

The result of the devastating wave of foreclosures will be felt for years to come in neighborhoods across this country, with the potential to affect entire cities. But, hey, it wasn’t their money so why should mortgage lenders care. They think their responsibility began and ended on the dotted line.

Lenders and servicers who hold those loans need to now step up and restructure high-risk loans, that they were responsible for, into lower-rate mortgages to help people stay in their homes in order to continue to be productive in this economy instead of a drain on it. It is their moral responsibility.

Here’s a message for anyone who deals with money: any government bailout comes out of our taxes and takes money away from other necessary projects. Projects we all benefit from, so, yes it is your money too. These narrow-minded mortgage lenders who wrought such havoc on our society will pay for their bad decisions, right along with the rest of us.

They share the blame for this faltering economy with those heroic rescuing Republicans on their white horses who saw to it that the wealthy don’t pay as much tax as the rest of us. In pushing corporate welfare they have upset a very basic tenet of a capitalist economy: there has to exist a buyer and a producer. When the buyer is drained of all financial ability to buy then the system falls apart. Very simple explanation, true, but this is what is happening. This republican government, in its zeal to do everything in its power to shift as much financial wealth as possible to the wealthiest among us, has, without going into an actual depression, created the largest welfare-dependent group of people in U.S. history.

The very backbone of this economy is being bled dry. America cannot afford to go deeper into debt. Americans cannot afford to support the fiscal irresponsible republican sacred cow of throwing money at a problem until it goes away. Corporate America has unashamedly raided pension plans to cover their leaders bad financial decisions, the federal government has tapped the Social Security system to cover short falls from a vast array of financial mis-management. An illegal war has drained billions of dollars away from needed infrastructure projects, healthcare, education, etc that still need to be paid for. The health and welfare of the American populace is being pushed aside to protect the rich from the after effects of their own lack of financial responsibility.

While the CEO’s and politicians responsible for this economic misery walk away, counting their financial spoils, millions of American taxpayers will be saddled with this bailout for years to come.

While politicians are enriched by corporate America’s lobbyists and CEO’s savor their sweetheart golden parachute deals the American taxpayer struggles to pay the ever increasing costs for the very basic needs of survival that these same politicians and CEO’s will never have to struggle for.

As long as our political leaders are more concerned with ensuring a profit for corporate America than for the public welfare of the working class whose hard work and purchasing power are instrumental in creating that profit, taxpayers will never get a break.

So, in the end, the venerable and steadfast hard working American taxpayer once again has his pockets ripped open by the unethically greedy and immorally bloodied hands of this administration in order to scrape out the last remaining nickel to cover their mistakes and feed the insatiable greed of corporate America.

Once again I ask, Whose money is it?

America, Are We All On the Same Team Here?

We give and give but the idiots in charge screw it all up. Sound familiar? Isn’t this the end result of pretty much everything we try to do in this country?

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless, compassion for their situation and the desire to help filled news reports. Many throughout this country were willing to open their homes to victims. Monetary donations as well as food, clothing and household basics were freely given. It is one thing that makes this country great. But then government agencies get involved. And we quickly have a cluster of confusion surrounding ‘who is responsible for helping who’ and rules governing ‘who is to get what’.

We have government and private organizations set up to ensure aid is given where it is needed most. But when it comes time to putting their grand plans into play human traits like ego, jealousy, greed, apathy, and laziness all prevent the plans from seeing well-intentioned results. I don’t know if there are any inter-agency power struggles taking place but there certainly is a lack of communication and oversight.

FEMA was criticized for not acting quickly enough to get on the scene to assess damages and prepare plans for aid distribution. Why were they not ready? It is the central responsibility of that agency. It is why they exist. When they finally did act by providing mobile homes for the homeless, those homes set empty in storage facilities until they rotted. When they finally did act by providing household items, those items sat in warehouses undistributed. But when the cash came out everyone was trampling over each other with their hands out for their ‘fair share’ and a lot of them were not even victims.

FEMA has guidelines in place to ensure that aid assistance is directed to where it is most needed, namely to the actual victims. These guidelines must be in place because we all know that there are low-life thieves amongst us who will lie to get something for nothing, even if it means taking away from the actual victims. Because of these scum bags, aid cannot get to where it is intended in a timely manner. It is a sad fact that we will always have to deal with these situations which is basically a lack of compassion for the victims of Katrina.

Another sad fact is that government offices and volunteer groups ended up with items that were intended for the actual victims of Katrina. Prisons in Mississippi got coffee makers, pillowcases and dinnerware; Mississippi’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks took more coffee makers, cleaning supplies and other items; Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration received household items; and colleges, volunteer fire departments and other agencies received even more. Where is the compassion for Katrina’s victims?

Insurance companies, paid handsome premiums by homeowners who thought they were covered, weaseled out of their contracts hiding behind small print and big lawyers. No compassion for Katrina’s victims can be found here.

Contractors, that should have been happy to get jobs rebuilding the many homes destroyed in this natural disaster, created their own disaster by over charging and doing shoddy work so they could hurry on to the next job site for the promise of making even more money. Still no compassion for Katrina’s victims.

FEMA says they were not informed of any qualified aid organizations in Mississippi who were authorized to receive these items so they locked the items away. Yet FEMA knew these items were needed, so why didn’t they see to it that they were distributed? This shows a clear lack of compassion for Katrina’s victims.

State agencies knew of people who needed these items and did not pressure FEMA to get these items to needy victims. No compassion here for Katrina’s victims.

FEMA says nonprofit organizations that help the needy or homeless must meet federal guidelines and register with the Mississippi's Surplus Agency yet many of these organizations claim they did not know the agency existed. Lack of communication within the state of Mississippi? Perhaps, but if everyone involved in these organizations (Mississippi's surplus agency as well as all others) were truly compassionate about fulfilling their promise of aid victims of any natural disaster then somebody should have seen to it that they were all registered just in case they were needed. This shows an obvious lack of compassion for future victims.

So where did the reported compassion for Katrina’s victims come from? The unorganized masses of citizens without affiliations to aid organizations. Everyday taxpayers who want to do something. The very people who actually give the hard aid, such as cash, food items, household items, a warm bed and a house to stay in.

Since we have seen many times that our donations are more than likely to end up in thieves pockets or sit locked up in warehouses or rot unused in padlocked fields surrounded by chain link fences topped with barbed wire, what incentive do we have to give after the next disaster?

Federal and state government has failed us again, this time in a most egregious way.

Everyone involved in all of these failures, all of this ‘business as usual’, will cover their own butts as best they can and pass the blame elsewhere.

FEMA says it is conducting an internal probe into the storage of household supplies, but we already know what the outcome will be. We have seen it too many times in past ‘internal probes’ to muster enough surprised when they come up with a token person to be shuffled to another department or give the usual ‘policy changes are being made’ answer. And news agencies will all merrily report the governments results and go on to the next popular news item without any further investigation. And no one will apply pressure to ensure these failures don’t happen in the future.

I know it is pure fantasy to think we Americans are all supposed to be working together for our collective good. But when our tax dollars are being used to devise disaster plans then I bloody well want to see results when a disaster happens. I don’t want to hear excuses and see fingers pointed and victims still living in trailers on their property after three years struggling to afford to rebuild their homes because our aid organizations and insurance companies failed them. This government used to help take care of its citizens. This government now only goes half-heartedly through the motions of pretending to care.

Is it any wonder some people will no longer give assistance to victims because our aid distribution network is fraudulent and corrupt or simply inept?

Yes, we are supposed to be on the same team but ineptitude and mismanagement of our government agencies and private organizations is destroying what used to make this country great and it is causing our compassion to fade away.

Federal Government Double Standard in Tax Collection

We have laws that force individuals to pay child support and alimony.

We have wage garnishment that force the collection of back taxes from individuals.

According to the Government Accountability Office we also have more than 60,000 federal contractors who owe $7.7 billion in back taxes. This is part of $300 billion in taxes that go unpaid every year. Privacy rules have created a dysfunctional system within our government that allows tax evaders to stay in business and even profit from government offices inability and unwillingness to communicate among themselves.

Money is routinely awarded to government contractors, is paid out in farm subsidies, is loaned to small-businesses, without ever checking to see if these recipients owe back taxes. And a lot of them do owe back taxes.

Yet the credit history of every private individual applying for a loan for much smaller amounts than these just mentioned, is subjected to every investigation possible and if back taxes are due then the loan is denied.

The defense Department paid more than $1 million to a company that owes nearly $10 million.

A Justice Department security-guard contractor owed $400,000 in taxes and didn't file tax returns.

This double standard and dysfunction among offices linked together under the same government is maddening. Laws come down hard on the nickel and dime stuff that the everyday worker owes but if you can somehow get into the million-dollar-and-above neighborhood you have a much better chance of getting away without paying your fair share.

These companies and businesses should be publicly named so everyone knows who is dumping their burden onto our backs.

The U.S. government is financed on the backs of the everyday middle class worker struggling to make ends meet while the government allows businesses to get away without paying their share.

This is outrageous.

Congress Gives Free Money to Big Oil

Oil companies receive hand outs!?!? Is this an April Fools joke?

Nearly $18 billion in tax breaks is given to the most profitable corporations in history. What a country.

This is almost as bad as 50% of the federal government discretionary spending goes to the military.

This is free money!

This is outrageous!

Congress brought top executives from five of the biggest oil companies -- Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips – before them to ask why big oil does not want Congress to take these breaks away. First of all, why is Congressing asking why? Let me get this straight. Congress wants to know why big oil does not want free money taken away from them. This must be a sham. A ‘get tough’ show for the American people. I can see it now, after the TV cameras are turned off, after the reporters have gone away, congress and big oil are slapping each other on the backs and laughing it up about how they pulled another one over on the American public.

Here’s a quick laugh, "Imposing punitive taxes on American companies will discourage the investments needed to safeguard our energy security," said Stephen Simon, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp. Mr. Simon views paying his fair share of taxes punitive. He feels big oil is being unfairly singled out. Since when does an American corporation, or any corporation, feel discouraged from investing in its own future? And to use America’s ‘energy security’ as the reason they should continue receiving the largest tax break in history is shameless.

That $18 billion needs to go to other more pressing needs, such as, oh I don’t know, thinking right off the top of my head, education, health care, social security, infrastructure repair. Now these are investments needed to safeguard our security.

Trust me, big oil will find a way to make profits without free money from taxpayers.

Let’s kick them off of the welfare train and start investing in the taxpayers.

Calling on conscience

Florida’s former prison secretary, James McDonough, says he inherited a world of criminal behavior taking place in that state’s penal system.

• Top prison officials admitting to kickbacks;
• Guards importing and selling steroids in an effort to give them an edge on the softball field;
• Taxpayer funds to pay for booze and women;
• Guards who punished other guards who threatened to report them.

"Corruption had gone to an extreme," McDonough said, saying it all began at the top. "They seemed to be drunk half the time and had orgies the other half, when they weren't taking money and beating each other up."

Why did he wait until after leaving office to share these criminal activities with the world?

McDonough is a former Army colonel who commanded troops in Vietnam and Africa. He served as Florida's drug czar before taking on the job as the head of Florida's prison system, which oversees 90,000 inmates. I am willing to bet that he was given the job because he could clean it up. Which means people in charge knew it was going on before he was appointed, so why weren’t the individuals involved brought up on charges by those in charge?

I know it is common practice to not comment on ongoing investigations, but there were 90 wardens, supervisors, colonels and majors fired for corruption or, at the very least, not to be trusted. 280 others were demoted. This is a major shakeup that went unnoticed.

Criminal charges were filed against more than 40 penal system employees, and most were convicted. Among those arrested were seven officers accused of beating inmates, including five accused of forcing a prisoner to drink toilet water. All have pleaded not guilty, of course. No matter how low a person sinks in his or her personal life, there is no good reason for another person to sink even lower in an attempt at punishment.

Tina Hayes, the director of the prison's department initiatives who has worked in the prison system for 28 years, said the atmosphere before McDonough arrived was "a little tense" with workers "always on edge." She said employees who didn't attend softball games or play on the teams were "isolated" and "pushed aside."

Again, why did we not learn of this massive corruption and resulting cleanup until after it all happened? It did not all happen last week.

There is probably more of this kind of tyranny going on right now behind closed doors and allowed to continue because of closed mouths. This is another form of terrorism. But this is the kind that we will only learn of after someone steps down from office or leaves the job and tells someone. Why not tell someone now? Why should it be allowed to continue? This cannot become acceptable human behavior. We are not immoral beings despite the animal like behavior of those involved in this criminal enterprise. They do not represent the rest of us.

Do we really live like this? I am not naïve enough to think this cannot happen, but I am always surprised when I learn of how long this has been going on. Are we so depraved of morals and integrity that we allow others to get away with this type of abuse of power and theft of public funds? Are we so far removed from caring that stealing taxpayers dollars is stealing from ourselves as well? Are we so devoid of compassion for others who are being subjugated for someone else’s pleasure that we allow it to continue? How can we turn the other cheek and continue to live with ourselves?

There are anonymous ways to contact the police, why isn’t this avenue taken more often? Not all policemen or people in a position of authority are corrupt.

What is happening to the moral character of our citizenry? Have we slipped so far that no one places any importance in doing what they know is right? This is a very sad commentary on the moral state of the American people and it is unjust. Let’s not prove it is true.

Please, if you know of illegal and or immoral activity taking place that results in theft of public funds, abuse of power, threat of bodily harm or death, find the conscience to say something. Notify somebody. Leave a comment here, anonymously, if that is all you feel you can do. Doing so just might give you the courage to report it to some authority who can act on behalf of the victims.

Cost of Cheap Labor

I received this email and there is no author (it had been forwarded three times before it got to me) but it sounds very much in tune with reality.
Subject: Beware of Cheap Tomatoes

Tomatoes and Cheap Labor

Cheap Tomatoes; This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent

From a California school teacher - - - "As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title1 schools.

Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud.

The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones.

The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less than 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" (whores) and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc., etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?

To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.

Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.

We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return?

There are many hardworking Hispanic/American citizens that contribute to our country and many that I consider my true friends. We should encourage and accept those Hispanics who have done it the right and legal way.

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about "politically correct" that we don't have the will to do anything about it. If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know.

CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about?

Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.

Consumers don't want expensive produce.

Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs.

But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."

Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or $6.00/ hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return,he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.

He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.

He qualifies for food stamps.

He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.

His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.

He requires bilingual teachers and books.

He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.

If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at (our) taxpayer's expense.

He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.

Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.

He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.

Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/ hour left after paying their bills and his.

The American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean-up.

Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people. THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD BE ADDRESSING TO THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR EITHER PARTY. AND WHEN THEY LIE TO US AND DON'T DO AS THEY SAY, WE SHOULD REPLACE THEM AT ONCE!'

THIS HAS GOT TO BE PASSED ALONG TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.

Robbing the poor to pay the rich

Yet another tale of a politician in the position to misuse taxpayers dollars, and guess what? He gets away with it again.

This time Representative (what a misnomer) Jerry R. Lewis is ‘appropriating’ $500,000 in taxpayer money to ‘beautify’ a park in an area that already has much more money than a vast majority of small towns across this nation.

Why does he think that money is better spent on a park in a ritzy neighborhood than say in a working class neighborhood where people are struggling to make ends meet while trying to keep their kids off drugs and trying to keep their kids in school so they can make something of themselves? You don’t have to look very far to learn the answer to this question. He owns a house just three blocks away from this ‘privileged’ park. Of course, he says that has nothing to do with why he would rather spend the money there than to help the poor taxpayer who provided the money.

How about allocating that money for larger police forces to patrol our nations highways to cut down on traffic lawbreakers and maybe save some lives?

How about allocating that money to research for cancer and other healthcare issues again to help save lives?

How about allocating that money back to the taxpayers to educate families on how to raise children so we can produce better well-adjusted adults?

How about allocating that money back to the taxpayers through the education system to pay for better teachers so we can increase our collective intelligence in this country?

How about allocating that money back to the taxpayers to help reduce the cost of health insurance?

How about allocating that money back to the taxpayers to help hard-working single parents pay for daycare?

How about not legally stealing that money for your personal use. Lets face ‘Representative’ Lewis, you are going to benefit from this expenditure and you know it.

In this age of ‘pet projects’ and ‘me first’ he is just doing what it seems every congressman is doing, simply grabbing a piece of that huge golden egg called taxpayer money. He is simply playing the game as it is played in Washington. He is engaged in a race to grab as much as he can, just as everyone else is.

I personally think that if there is enough money to fund wasteful projects such as this then maybe we are paying too much in taxes.

I also believe that since it is common practice to seek out money for pet projects then maybe we should replace the people who are 'grabbing' this money for themselves.

List of topics I will go on about

I am angry that U.S. couples go to foreign countries to adopt children when there are so many here in the U.S. that are just as deserving.

The bureaucratic nightmare in the U.S. is a large reason why Americans go overseas, but I believe it is also due to misplaced loyalties.

I am angry that I cannot drive on any street at the posted speed limit without having some fool rush up behind me because I am not ‘moving fast enough’.

And the police are not doing anything to curb this behavior.

I am angry that the U.S. federal government has turned its back on Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, two U.S. Border Patrol Agents who have been jailed for doing their job. They are facing 11-12 year sentences because an ‘illegal’ immigrant, drug-smuggling, looser was shot during an attempted arrest while carrying 743 pounds of marijuana.

I am angry that ‘illegal immigrants’ are given ‘free’ health care while my mother, an ‘American’ tax-paying citizen has to pay through the nose for health care that is draining her bank account and all future earnings.

I am angry that a drunken ‘illegal’ immigrant, who left his vehicle, smashed from a single-vehicle accident, laying on its side in the middle of the road, while he walked home, where a nurse who in a compassionate effort to check on the condition of its occupants was struck and killed by another vehicle who claims they ‘didn’t see the vehicle’.

(I am also angry that this driver of this second vehicle was not paying close enough attention to road conditions and allowed this second accident to happen.)

(I am also angry that this second driver will not face a stiff enough penalty for not putting the safety of everyone else on the road ahead of his or her own while driving on our public roads.)

(I am also angry that this ‘illegal’ dirt-bag who has done nothing toward the adding to the better quality of life of Americans, will not get a stiff enough penalty for taking away a selfless American citizen who dedicated her life to helping others. She was a nurse, what did this loosed ever give to society. Not a damn thing.)

I am angry that people try to weasel out of paying fines for breaking the law, and the cops that allow them to. If you break the law and get caught, be an adult and pay the fine!

I am angry that the FBI doesn’t care enough about our security to keep better control over their weapons and laptops.

On Feb 13, 07 it was reported that more than 320 weapons and laptops from around the country, from FBI offices no less, have ‘gone missing’ over a period of 44 months..

The laptops contained everything from software for creating identification badges to sensitive or classified information.

This indicates a general lack of care in protecting the general public.

Just put in your time and collect a paycheck.

Someone, an FBI employee is selling these to the highest bidder.

Feb 24, 07 FBI agents pose as mobsters, sting Florida cops.

I am angry that law enforcement can so callously throw away the laws they are sworn to uphold so they can make some extra money.

Mar 31, 07

Read a story yesterday about two 10 year old boys beating on a homeless man.

A 17 year old was walking down the street with these two 10 year olds and they saw a homeless man. The 17 year old began yelling at the man and throwing rocks at him knocking him to the ground.

He actually encouraged the 10 year olds to hit the man with rocks and sticks.

They beat this man because….why?

There are so many questions to insert here.

Why did this 17 year old think it was acceptable to belittle this man?

Why did this 17 year old think he could throw rocks at this man?

Why does this 17 year old have this prejudice in him?

Why does this 17 year old lack respect for human life?

Why is this 17 year old intolerant of other people?

Why did this 17 year old think that it was acceptable to teach his beliefs and prejudices to these 10 year olds?

Why was this 17 year old allowed to be a role model for anyone? I'm sure there was some indication that this looser was not a good role model for kids.

Why did this 17 year old not receive the guidance needed to teach him respect for human life?

Why was this 17 year old not taught tolerance of other people?

If he had been taught tolerance and respect then why were they not enforced?

Is the problem the responsibility of his parents or society as a whole?

Where did this 17 year old get the idea that this behavior is okay?

Did he receive a high school education, evidently not.

He may have had this education put in front of him but he did not accept it. Why not?

Did he receive any religious guidance, evidently not.

He may have had this guidance put in front of him but he did not accept it. Why not?

Has drugs once again interrupted the development of yet another childs’ social development?

These 10 year olds now think it is acceptable to hate another person because of that persons ‘life style’ or that persons condition.

This 17 year old interrupted the social development of these 10 year olds by teaching them hate, prejudice and intolerance.

None of these kids ever thought about the possibility that this man is this far down on his luck because of circumstances out of his control.

None of these kids ever thought that one day they may end up in this same situation as this man.

Where are these kids headed in life?

What is the future of our society if this is what is growing within our society?

I am angry that we as a whole have failed these kids, this homeless man and our future.

Learned today of another case of a drunk driving incident by an unlicensed low-life taking the life of someone who contributed to our society.

These scum-bags survive these accidents and do not get enough penalty to fit this totally avoidable asinine act!

When is this society going to do something meaningful to take these damn fools off of our streets?!?!?!