Tuff love needed to end debt

It has been published recently on multiple websites that approximately 40 percent of the people who file taxes, end up getting money back from the government, or do not have to pay anything at all. The extensive tax cuts that are in place make for a great payday around tax time, but how much money is the country losing by not having this extra revenue.

While it is called by some an interest free loan to the government, the payout at the end of the tax season creates a large hole in what could be used for handling government business until the end of the fiscal year in October.

Anyway you look at the numbers, reducing government spending, and increasing the amount of tax revenue is the only way that we will see positive numbers again as a country. We cannot continue to borrow against money we do not have and will not have. In terms of our debt, we are not getting any better, and if we are to strengthen ourselves as a country, we must get back to positive numbers in the check book.

Some other ways to help end the national debt are:

• Reduce the amount of money public officials are paid per year or at least sever their "all-expenses paid" travel budgets. This would go to include former presidents as well.
• Remove the tax cuts in place to "stimulate" the economy as it has clearly been shown not to produce the results projected.
• Stop pushing our politics on people who do not want them and stop "peace-keeping" missions to over-throw foreign governments. 
• Put an end to privatized banking or only allow non-profit banking establishments. Allowing banks to spend money that is not theirs on bad deals and then ask the Government for a loan is not only bad business, but is bad for us as a people. 
• Cut off subsidies to oil companies and push the advancement of transportation that does not require fuel. The technology is there, we just need the oil companies (and the government that earns taxes on every gallon of gas) to get out of the way.
• Legalize, and heavily tax recreational drugs. When you tell a person they cannot have it, is when they want it the most. Tobacco is heavily taxed and yet the hardy tobacco users still purchase it. Recreational drugs are being used regardless what the government says, at least the government could make some money off of it, as well as regulate it better this way.
• Redirect and reduce the amount of money spent on destroying the world, and focus more on maintaining and improving our infrastructure.
• Tax foods that are deemed unhealthy to reduce the number of obese people in the United States. This in turn would lower the amount of Disability claims for people who are too big to work, and will also help to reduce the costs of insurance. 
• Last but certainly not least, bring employers back to the United States by making it more profitable to hire an American than to outsource to another country. 

Prices on everything are bound to go up, but they will continue to go up regardless of us making changes. Nothing stays the same forever, and we must make changes today, so our children will have a future tomorrow.

The Hungry find hope

I live in a small town that only exists because two main highways meet here. Everybody's store to hate (Walmart) has pushed its share of smaller businesses out of the area, but we still have a small selection when it comes to grocery shopping. Included in that selection is two Safeway stores (Known as Von's in some areas) which I found out today offer up the fresh food that cannot be sold to the local food bank.

I cannot say what the unemployment rate is for our small town, but the food bank here sees a lot of business. At least half of everything the grocery stores end up throwing away is still safe to eat but will not sell because it is attached to, or in the same bundle as something that is no longer good to eat. While those who can afford to be picky about their meal selections can select something of better quality (which coincidentally is rarely eaten before it goes bad), those who have no choice in the matter are more than grateful to find fresh fruits and vegetables in their bag (or occasionally box) of food.

It is also good to note, that a hungry person will waste far less than a person who has too many choices for food. This is the case for a large portion of the people in the United States who have become accustom to having everything they could possibly want at their fingertips. I do not know if Safeway and Von's stores in other areas do the same thing, but I applaud our small town grocers for taking an interest in helping our community remain healthy.

I can only dare to hope that their example will be followed and that no one will have to go hungry while food is nearby and unwanted by those too full of themselves to accept a partially sub standard product. 

Child labor laws getting an update?

I cannot remember if it was the paper or a news show that first dropped this tidbit of information, but it would appear that the US Government wants to go after cash strapped farmers even farther by mandating that children can no longer work on farms. When the Industrial revolution took of and the first wave of child labor laws came out, it was understood that children of families who operated farms were still needed to help keep the farm operating. It would appear that the Government no longer feels this way as it is looking at taking children out of the "Farm life" so they can spend more time on "Farmville."

I can only attempt to believe that the Government has the nations best interest in mind with it's plan to end child labor on farms, but in the long run, it is children working on the farm that go on to take the farm from their parents. Allowing a child 14 years to be lazy and unaccustomed to how farm life really is will only set the farm up to fail with the influx of the new generation. It is often the children of the farmer who take over the farm and keep everything running as they know every nut, bolt, and crop on their property. They feel more responsible for the farm as they have worked it their entire life, and they show a greater amount of responsibility in general.

The other problem with removing the farmer's children from his workforce is the need to replace the missing bodies on the farm. Farms today are only producing at a meager profit because of tax cuts and subsidies provided by the government. Forcing the farms to hire more people would only take away from their meager profit and may cause the farm to operate at a loss. A loss in a farms production puts more stress on the shaky ground of having to produce food to feed everyone and will inevitably drive up costs for the consumer who is already struggling to get by as it is.

My solution would be to destroy any plan of reducing the farms labor force and even suggest that farms become places to teach outside children the amount of work required to supply a meal that they are ungrateful for. Too many people today have no idea what it takes to keep food in the supermarkets so they can keep food on the table. Personally, my wife and I have started building a large backyard garden that our children are equally responsible for the maintenance of and share in the rewards. The hope is that we will not only save ourselves some money by having fresh vegetables and herbs at home, but to show our children the amount of time and effort required to grow even the smallest amount of food. Its becoming all I can do to keep them from picking our under-developed strawberries before they are ready, and they are watching the tomatoes to see how much longer they are going to stay green.

Equality should mean Equal

Equality is something that every minority strives for in the United States, but very few ever achieve. Even when the status of a people is considered "Equal," they often receive a limited equality where they have equal rights, but they are not treated equally.

As a good example of the above "limited equality," we can take a look at women in the United States. Women should be paid equally for the same jobs that men are typically paid more for. However, while wanting to be equal, some women will reject equality and play the "I am a woman" card when it comes to getting in trouble, or when it comes to going on a date. There is little to no areas where a man of any color can announce "I am a man so I deserve better," nor can he open his shirt a little in order to make things happen in his favor.

Another example comes starkly apparent when it comes to sports. Teenage sports is the biggest topic as gender mixed sports are becoming more apparent. It made the national news and inspired other girls to try out for Football when one teenage girl was pointed out as being a better kicker than the boys, and as such made the boys team as their kicker. After the initial story came out, at least three other stories launched where girls were trying out for, and making the boys football team. Fast forward six months, and the headlines show a single boy, smaller in size, strength, and weight than the majority of a girls Lacrosse league being kicked off the girls team because his scoring percentage was higher than any girl in the rest of the league. His advantage had nothing to do with size, weight, or strength, his only advantage was he had played Lacrosse since he was a young boy. His only advantage was experience, something any group of minority status people will tell you, should be a reason that they be treated equally and not be rejected.

Equality means to be regarded with the same "quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability." (Dictionary.com, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/equality). If this phrase works to the advantage of one, it must work to the advantage of everyone, regardless of their sex, size, intelligence, beliefs, and character.

In regards to the world as a whole, everyone is made of the same materials in varying amounts, the only difference is in how we look at each other. As a world of people, we should all be treated equally, held to the same regard, and suffer the same consequences. No one should be held above any other, nor should anyone have to want for something because it is being kept away from them by a certain few.

The Over-Population Disease

     The number of diseases to be afraid of in this world is almost as large as the number of estimated people in the world itself. However, the one disease that is overlooked in our bid to live safer, longer, more healthy lives, is the disease that will eventually take care of itself.

     If you consider the sheer number of people in the world today, along with the strain we are already putting on our food supplies, we will breed beyond the capabilities to feed ourselves and will be witness to mass starvation. Breeding itself is not the only problem. Medicine is the other large contributor to what will eventually be our undoing.

     With medicine, almost anything is possible. Having problems getting pregnant, go see a fertility clinic. Are your arteries clogged with fat from overeating, a surgical procedure and lifestyle change will add another 10 + years to your life.

     We were meant to die naturally, not live by means of surgeries and medicines that extend us beyond what nature had intended. If we were not meant to have children, than we should not. If we were not meant to live to 70 years old, than we should not. I struggle with regret every day because I asked my wife to have her tubes untied so that I could have a child of my own. A decade later, and having learned a massive amount about where we are headed as a people, I fear for the well being of my children and the world we will leave them.

      This pending disaster can be lessened in intensity if we act quickly to limit our development and extension of life. This can entail limits on family sizes, permits to have children, and the limitation of medical assistance for those persons over a certain age.

     I know these actions are harsh, but our survival as a race depends on us slowing our growth to a degree that we create no more people than we lose in a day. The suffering of the world as a whole will be far greater than the suffering of us as individuals. 

The Errors in any War on TError

For the few wondering, I purposely made the E in terror in caps to emphasize my point. Any 'War on Terror' is doomed to fail before it ever begins. Despite what anyone in the government would like to say, our 'War on Terror' is one that we could never win. The Error lies within the reason we (The United States) have people who want to see us bleed. It has very little to do with religion, weapons, oil, wealth, or power. It is simply a people who are mad at us for interfering with what they rightfully believe to be their business, and their problems.

It is impossible for us to keep up with the amount of terrorists being produced due to the fact that with every foreign death comes the birth of countless more willing to fight us. Any good speaker can start a mob by pointing a finger at the oppressive forces in their country. Truthfully, if they want us to leave, as it has been expressed, our timetable for pulling out of the middle east means nothing. It was our interference in the first place that led to so many deaths here in the states. It is our interference today that keeps us scared of boarding an airline and requires us to walk through an x-ray machine prior to ever getting close to said airplane.

Consider if you will the opposite was occurring in the United States today. Our military is in shambles, and half of them are corrupt, as are what little police we have. A few of us are happy to see aid coming to our shattered country when someone steps up and declares that the bombings will continue to get more intense until the foreigners have left our country. At first we would try to wait it out, but as our relatives begin to die, we too would push for that aid to leave. When it does not leave like it says it will, we too would become terrorists in order to force them to leave. Yes we would be killing our own, but anyone who embraces the enemy is not a friend. More people would turn daily and the violence would get more, and more intense. We would take the war to their shores in an effort to show them that our resolve will not break.

What started as something small has now grown to something unstoppable. The longer we are in the country that does not want us, the more the people who wanted us will turn against us, and the greater the risk that we will suffer the retaliation of an organized mob of people that look exactly like those you would help.

Our war on terror must come to an end for terror itself to come to an end. To those who would attack us, we are the terrorists. There will not be peace anywhere as long as a military presence remains in a country where the majority of it's residence see us as the enemy.

Education, the Great Debate

It should not be news to anyone by this point that we have one of the worst educational records of any industrialized country. Many people would blame this problem on "Standardized Testing" and focus on making working class people instead of future leaders. I personally find that the problem goes deeper than what I previously believed and the blame is to lay partially with our family structures and values.

I have been remiss in blaming the education system as a whole for not educating my children in a way that would prepare them for greatness. I have always had my hands in my children's schooling and some weeks email the teachers every day to find out how they are doing, and what they are doing. It was not until I volunteered that I found out the major causes of the slow progress of our children's education as whole.

1. Parental Interaction:  I quickly found that I was one of only two parents in my child's classroom that was actively interested in what their child was doing, how he/she was doing, and pushing them at home as hard, if not harder, than they were pushed at school to do their work correctly. The remainder of the crowded classroom were rarely paid attention to in terms of education outside of the school boundaries. 
2. Crowded Classrooms:  Standing and walking for long periods of time causes me unbearable pain and I will often use a wheelchair if I know I will be out of the house for a while. Inside my child's classroom is no less than 32 desks that are crowded closely together in order to fit into a room that was not designed for that many children. When I volunteer, I have no choice but to walk as the isles are just big enough for the children to squeeze through.
3. Teacher Salary:  My twins have separate teachers so that they are easier to handle. One teacher started this year with the minimum needed to be a full time teacher. The other teacher recently received her Masters Degree and has been with the district for around 5 years. The new teacher is paid a higher salary than the more educated teacher who has built up seniority in the district. Many teachers will lose their will to go beyond the normal lesson plan at this slap in the face, but for my child with the more educated teacher, she still drives on and extends her lessons outside of what they would normally be taught. 
4. Curriculum:  As it has been the design to produce workers and not leaders, the primary focus of public schools is to teach Math and English. Furthermore, the minimal amount of history, social studies, and science that is taught by most teachers is the oppressive version of our history instead of the true version. As an example, Christopher Columbus is taught in public schools to be the man who discovered America. Nowhere in the teachings does it mention that Columbus took Native slaves back to Europe with him. Our children celebrate a fictitious version of Thanksgiving Day as well. No where do the teachings speak of the systematic slaughter of the Native Americans and how after each slaughter the victors would declare the day a day of "Thanksgiving." I can understand the reasoning for sheltering children to a degree, but teaching them a lie is not teaching them at all and a waste of time. Furthermore, any type of logic and problem solving abilities are barely touched on, if at all, and that denies the children a chance to figure things our on their own. As a parent who is concerned about my children's future, I have taught them at home that which the school will not, but all of the children do not have the same opportunity.

In order to fix these problems, large scale changes would be required. To begin with, paying a teacher what they are worth would pull more teachers back to being truly involved in the teaching of their class. Where the money would need to come from to pay the teachers is an entirely different topic, but raising taxes, and cutting government officials perks and inflated paychecks would be a good start. Restructuring the standardized testing to include more subjects would be a good start as well. If the school day is too short to teach it all in, than extend the school day and send home more homework. My children get home at 330pm everyday, usually with no homework, and spend the next two hours playing until dinner is ready. When my children used to have to do homework, or I do something I would teach them myself, they would often complain about having to do more work the whole time we were working together. Now they have gotten used to it and only complain at first. We are breading laziness into everything we do, and our children are following our lead.

We need to change the path our children are on now, to produce a better future for them and ourselves. 

Helping those who can Help Themselves

This subject is one that is a tender one for me to negotiate. Being a Disabled Veteran, I receive a monthly stipend as well as my heath care taken care of. The amount I receive is reviewed every couple of years to look for improvement, or worsening. I am currently rated at 80% Disabled. I often feel I do not warrant the amount of attention I receive from the Government, but I also have phases where I feel it is not enough. The difference in these two feelings is in how I am doing mentally, physically, and emotionally, which for me seams to change on a dime and with little warning. So that anyone who may read this can know where I am coming from today, I am of neither mind, which is why I chose to write this article at this time.

I mentioned part of the problem when I wrote about unemployment. Being on unemployment requires the person to "actively look" and report on places that applications have been turned in. The same person is also required to follow up on any possible job leads and is forbidden to reject a job offer. This system is incredibly easy to navigate around if the person does not wish to work or does not like a job that they would be able to do. I cannot speak for every state, but I know that Nevada only requires 3 job applications a week. There are more than enough jobs in the newspaper and at job sites like Monster.com to get past this part easily. The next stage is an interview, at which, should you have no desire to take the job, you can sabotage the interview to guarantee you fail in getting a job offer. In most cases, the reason to fail an interview is due to economics. Person X is making Y amount on unemployment. The job person X applied for is paying amount Z, which is slightly higher than amount Y, but requires travel to and from work. Work = traveling to and from the location "A" as well as "B" amount of hours per week. Suddenly, the unemployment amount "Y" looks a lot more lucrative than everything that is entailed to do job "Z". Sorry about all of the variables, I used to be a math geek as well. To simplify:

Y > or = Z - [(A * 2) + B]

What it works out to is people who "fail" job interviews because the pay is not enough to make a difference. If it were to clear it up even more, think of unemployment as paying you minimum wage for doing very little every week. You are asked to interview for a job that pays minimum wage or just above but you figured you will have to drive 40 miles a week along with having to work 8 hour days. Would you make the jump to make less money and still have to work?

What I would propose is to make unemployment a set amount just below minimum wage instead of basing it off of your previous pay. The amount will be enough to sustain you in whats important (food, "modest shelter," and clothing) but still be a strong motivational factor for people to actively want another job. A job in which making minimum wage would still grant them a larger income than unemployment.

From there, it would come down to people swallowing their pride enough to do what NEEDS to be done. We live in a different time now. We are incredibly wasteful of everything including space. If your living room is large enough to house a small family, you have too much space.

If a person can maintain a "rich" lifestyle than I congratulate you on being one of the lucky ones. However, if your world is crashing in around you and find that you owe more money to people than you can make in a year, it is time to start downsizing. You would be surprised what you can live without, and how far serving the proper portions of food will shrink a grocery bill. As a family that used to spend 600 to 800 a month on food, I spent 200 dollars at the beginning of the month on groceries and have only had to go back for milk once. We could easily make it to the third week of the month on my initial buy. How wasteful were we before? I look at and tell my wife: "I told you so." to which I still have not gotten a: "Your right dear." When the world downsizes around you, you need to downsize with it to survive. 

I hope that someone finds this to be a good idea and puts it into implementation.

Immigration: The Forgotton Truth

Just so we all know where I am coming from, I as white as they come and nearly translucent after a winter spent indoors. I have, for a great deal of time, felt strongly about the immigration issue, just as many of you have. However, my feelings are for neither side of the debate as both sides have partially valid points. One of favorite comedians has probably said it best when he was talking about immigration, "White people did not land on Plymouth rock with visas."

When you strip away everything thrown in the way to complicate a matter that is black and white, the only people who are not immigrants here, are the Native Americans. The difference between the constant onslaught of European immigrants and Latin American immigrants is the means to take the land violently. No where in history has Might equaled Right. It is a horrific practice that we still employ today although we call it "Policing."

Everyone here, either by birth, or by boat, is here to find a better life for their families, just as our ancestors wanted a better life for their families. With every immigrant group that moved into the country, they faced hardships, mistreatment, and eventually equality. With the current state of agriculture, were we to hire American born people, they would make minimum wage, face long days in the fields, and the price of food would sky rocket. The American farmer as it is, needs subsidies from the Government to keep producing food or they would go out of business.


Would any national born American, take a job that paid pennies on the dollar when they can get more for pretending to look for work in the unemployment system? It may sound surprising, but we need immigrants here as much as they want to be here.

On the other side of the bell however, I fully believe that if you wish to be an American, then you need to embrace the American spirit, and show pride for the United States. If a group of people is proud of their heritage so much, than why come here in the first place?

Wild West History: Tornadoes in the Wild West: Hunkerin' Down for the Big Winds

Wild West History: Tornadoes in the Wild West: Hunkerin' Down for the Big Winds

Where to start?

I would not presume to believe that everyone will read this blog anymore than I could hope for everyone to take something from it. The simple answer to the question: "Where to start?" is to participate. As a people, we have grown complacent in our duty to ourselves. That may sound entirely complicated and I apologize, but when we participate, we are not doing so for a country, we are not doing so for a state, we do so for what is important to us. As an example, and I beg you to read past one word in this statement as my beliefs and values are different today, I initially registered to vote 4 years ago and at the time I registered as a Republican. I have found that I am no more a Republican than a Democrat and that devoting ones self to a party is a blind way of handling business. Today, I listen to everyone, research what they say to find truth or lies, and then make an informed decision for myself on the topics that are important to me. As a quick example, some of the topics important to me as a Veteran, a husband, and a father are:

• Education
• Women's equality (my wife has been the provider for our family for some time)
• Family Values
• Looking out for our own (own being those within our borders)
• Economic stability

Those are just a few topics important to me. Some of them are conservative, some of them are liberal, either way its what I look for in everything that comes out of Washington. Some topics that really make my blood boil have to do with helping under-privileged people in other countries while ignoring our own.

• Homelessness
• If we have a million empty houses in the United States, we have more than enough Homeless people and families who just need a little help to get restarted.
• Hungry
• We send millions of tons of food to other countries to feed the hungry people in "Politically Sensitive" areas. In the mean time, our own hungry people eat broth in dirty bowls and drink what looks like coffee from used Styrofoam cups.
• Jobless
• Our own citizens will not work at jobs that pay less than minimum wage to work because unemployment makes it easier to be unemployed.

Each of these topics will get their own blog post at some point. We as a people, have a responsibility to our neighbors inside our country more than those an ocean away. But in that last sentence, I must also remember that I cannot, and will not tell anyone what to think and do, it is up to them to find their own answers. To be a leader, you must first understand that those following, usually do so blindly. I ask anyone that follows this blog, please do so, but educate yourself outside of my postings as well. Make your own decisions in the end.

Family Dynamics

Today's family will typically require both parents to work in order to scrape together enough money to maintain a lower-middle class status. This was the case with my wife and I up until my back injury. Were it not for my Veterans benefits, our family of 4 would be living with my wife's parents in their 2 bedroom house. As it is, we were lucky enough to find a good landlord, who just wanted good people to take care of the house we are currently renting. My wife works from a home office that is crammed in our bedroom answering phones for the local phone company. Her wages are just above average for the area. I am home to take care of the kids on the off days and after school, and we are considering home-schooling next year. We will cover education in a later blog.

We have found that what we can live with, and without, is far different than what we used to think when we both were working full time. For example, a package of food that we would eat in one meal, now can be stretched into two. Whereas my wife would refuse to eat left-overs before, now we have a leftover night at least twice a week.We have cut our portions of food to the "serving size" as well, which has allowed us to cut our food bill in half. When we both were working, $800.00 a month on food was typical for a month. Looking back on it now, I can only imagine how much we wasted. We have also cut out non-essentials like soda and sweet snacks from our shopping lists. Fast food has also become something of a "once in a while" food as compared to an "every time we are out" food. My wife and I have found the change easier than my children, who do not understand why we are not letting them have free range of the kitchen anymore.

For those of you curious, my twin 10 yr old boys are "bean poles" and want to eat everything that looks good in sight. My wife and I however, after decades of eating and drinking whatever we want, are now over-weight. It is our desire to slow our kids down to prevent the same from happening to them as we both started out skinny as well.

Television, computer, and video-games were once being used simultaneously and without limits. I have had to fight my kids (kicking and screaming), to cut back to computer only when they need it for school, video games have been reduced to half an hour or less a day, and the television is only used certain nights of the week and no more than two hours as needed if watching a movie.

Instead of the above dominating our lives, we have started a small potted garden that we all help maintain. As we can afford it, we buy a new plant. We spend time together playing board games on the evenings we do not have a show/movie to watch.

We have also done away with our cell phones and purchased a go phone for when we are away from the house. My wife and I both had smartphones with ATT and my kids had an emergency phone for when we would let them go somewhere. All together, our cell phone bill was close to $300 a month, today we pay less than $30 a month.

While my boys are still trying to transition into this new life we are creating, my wife and I have begun to settle in just fine. We have found that it has brought us all closer together as a family and the boys are looking to us now for entertainment. Both of my sons have shown a great interest in cooking, and after a couple of weeks of training, they now help cook dinner every night with little supervision. We take turns on different stations making a meat, a side, and a vegetable. The most important thing we have learned (most of us, my wife is still a bit hard headed :) ) is that there is much more to life than money and we are finding we are happier with less (except as just stated).

No more

I look out at the world and I see problems everywhere. For us in the United States, our way of life is not good enough for us (us being a general term). For someone in a less-developed country, we are rich in everything but life. There is no point in placing blame anymore as to some degree we must all burden that responsibility. Most of my generation, and those who have come since, have been labeled the "entitled" generation. "I deserve to have a nice house, a nice boat, a nice car, etc..." For those of us who do not feel entitled, we feel that we, as a people, have been let down. We are quick to place blame with crooked politicians and growing consumerism, but where we should be looking is at our family values.

For me, as a child, there was no limit to the area I could go. There was no worry that I was going to be kidnapped, and no worry that I was going to get into trouble. I knew from the instant I left the house, if I acted up, or did something wrong, I was going to pay for it with a belt across my backside. Having a family member drag you to the bathroom was sure sign you were in trouble. When you came out of the restroom, there was no doubt on anyone's mind what had just happened. Today that does not happen. All it takes is one individual to make a call, and your whole family will be sitting in front of Child Protective Services. In the one instance that did happen to me, I met with the proper people and told them what was going on, told them the extent of the punishment that was given, and they told me that the case was closed as they felt that I acted within the confines of my rights as a parent.

Where this is all going is that, today, as a people, we are weak in our resolve to do anything for the fear of being told on. We fear the stories, the looks, the process. As a fairly young, but disabled man, I would fear the looks I would get for taking the electric shopping cart at the store when I appeared otherwise healthy. Im here today to say no more, and I am asking you to join me as well. No more should we fear what others think. No more should we interfere in the parenting of a child. It is too late for our generation to save ourselves, but by instilling the proper values and beliefs in our children, they may have a chance at effecting real change when it is there turn. Those values and beliefs can only come from you, and any change is hard, but we should no longer neglect our roles and responsibilities as parents and as Americans.