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eNewsletter #70

May 20, 2008

 www.ThrowTheRascalsOut.org

Newsletter Archives

 

The last thing in the world Washington DC needs is a gun ban and the police going door-to-door to confiscate legal guns. No, they need a concealed carry law that will reduce crime.

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In this issue:

1) Health Care

2) Campaign Reform

3) Politicians

4) Bill Moyers and Citizen's for Tax Justice

5) Tidbits

6) Give me a Break!

7) Book Recommendations

8) Contact Information

9) Unsubscribe Instructions

.

 

1

Health Care

 

2

Campaign Reform

Why under Campaign Reform? Because the economy is the problem, campaign reform is the solution.

www.EconomyInCrisis.org, the Internet’s source for statistics and articles documenting the problems facing the American economy, is proud to announce the launch of our newly redesigned site.


Farm bill highlights rich-poor debate

Congress and Bush have routinely clashed over salary caps for federal aid programs.

Washington - At the heart of the standoff between the White House and Congress over a $307 billion farm bill is the question: Should taxpayers subsidize rich farmers – and who counts as rich?

What income levels qualify – or disqualify – Americans from federal aid programs has figured in several clashes between the Bush administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.

The farm bill on the way to the president's desk this week limits eligibility for farm subsidies to individuals with an adjusted gross farm income of less than $750,000; $1.5 million for couples. That's down from the $2.5 million for couples under current law, but President Bush wants the eligibility cap for farm subsidies to be much lower: $200,000.

"At a time of record farm income, Congress chose to .... require the American taxpayers to subsidize the incomes of married farmers already earning up to $1.5 million per year and expand government control over farm programs," said the White House in a statement Thursday.

See the complete article HERE

 

 

 

 

3

Politicians

Obama has his Reverend Wright, McCain has his Pastor John Hagee


And, please, Sen. McCain. Eliminating the gas tax for 3 months will be like pulling your fist from a bucket of water. The industry will fill in the gap almost immediately.

I support McCain otherwise, but this is a dumb idea. That Hillary agrees with it is proof.  


Rep. Jeskewitz: Not seeking another term - See announcement HERE

Now let's see if the Dems can field a qualified candidate. And don't be surprised to see Sue in the revolving door, becoming a highly-paid lobbyist.
 


Follow your favorite CongressCritter's personal wealth HERE

 

 

4

Bill Moyers and Citizen's for Tax Justice

Democracy in America Is a Series of Narrow Escapes, and We May Be Running Out of Luck

by Bill Moyers

The following is an excerpt from Bill Moyers’ new book, “Moyers on Democracy“.

Democracy in America is a series of narrow escapes, and we may be running out of luck. The reigning presumption about the American experience, as the historian Lawrence Goodwyn has written, is grounded in the idea of progress, the conviction that the present is “better” than the past and the future will bring even more improvement. For all of its shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, “The system works.”

Now all bets are off. We have fallen under the spell of money, faction, and fear, and the great American experience in creating a different future together has been subjugated to individual cunning in the pursuit of wealth and power -and to the claims of empire, with its ravenous demands and stuporous distractions. A sense of political impotence pervades the country — a mass resignation defined by Goodwyn as “believing the dogma of ‘democracy’ on a superficial public level but not believing it privately.” We hold elections, knowing they are unlikely to bring the corporate state under popular control. There is considerable vigor at local levels, but it has not been translated into new vistas of social possibility or the political will to address our most intractable challenges. Hope no longer seems the operative dynamic of America, and without hope we lose the talent and drive to cooperate in the shaping of our destiny.

See the rest HERE


New State-by-State Data Show Majority of Bush Tax Cuts for Capital Gains and Dividends Go to the Richest One Percent

A new report from Citizens for Tax Justice shows that the majority of the Bush tax cuts for capital gains and dividends go to the richest one percent of taxpayers in every single state. The report also explains that these tax cuts do not pay for themselves, despite arguments to the contrary.

Presidential candidates, reporters and pundits have lately perpetuated two myths about tax cuts for capital gains and dividends. The first myth is that the middle class benefits from these tax cuts for investment income. The second myth is that these tax cuts, particularly the tax cut for capital gains, have caused federal revenue to actually increase.
Read More


Proposed Surtax on Millionaires to Help Veterans Would Be a Tiny Sacrifice for the Richest 0.3 Percent

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives took votes on amendments to an emergency supplemental spending bill to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to improve veterans' education benefits and to extend unemployment insurance benefits to get jobless Americans through difficult times. 

One amendment that was approved would improve the educational benefits available to veterans by increasing them to match the highest public university tuition in a given recipient's state and providing a monthly housing stipend.

This improvement in veterans' education benefits would cost about $52 billion over ten years. To offset this cost, the legislation includes a small surtax on those who have most enjoyed the benefits of living in and doing business in America. The surtax of 0.47 percent (just under half a percent) would apply to adjusted gross income (AGI) over a million dollars for married couples and over half a million dollars for other taxpayers. 

New figures from Citizens for Tax Justice show that in 2007 only 0.3 percent of taxpayers were rich enough to be affected by such a tax. Moreover, the sacrifice asked of them is tiny, equal to about 7 percent of their Bush tax cuts. 
Read More


 

 

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5

Tidbits

GM lays off Janesville workers, raises CEO pay

A day after General Motors (GM) announced it was giving Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner's a 41% raise to $14.4 million, the company announced that it will layoff 3,400 employees, including 750 at its assembly plant in Janesville.

Last year GM lost a record $38.7 billion.

Its decision to almost double Wagoner's pay demonstrates again that CEO pay has no relationship to corporate performance!

Newspaper reports suggested in classic Orwellian language that Wagoner had earned his increased millions because he "persuaded 34, 000 union workers to leave and negotiated a contract that trims pay for future workers in half."

Saying GM persuaded long time employees to leave GM is like saying a bank robber persuaded a teller to hand over the cash.

See the complete story HERE


U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rose to 371,000 Last Week

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment insurance rose last week, and the total receiving benefits climbed to the highest level in more than four years, a sign the labor market continues to weaken.

The number of Americans filing applications for the first time increased to 371,000, in line with estimates, from 365,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today. Total benefit rolls gained 28,000 to 3.06 million for the week ended May 3.

See the complete article HERE

 

 

6

Give me a Break!

Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and Point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write " For Sexual Favors"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8 . Don't use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling
"Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.. .....

Send This List To Someone To Make Them Smile. Its Called ....... therapy
 


If I Was A terrorist!
See HERE

 

See ATM Fraud HERE

 

If I die before you wake...


3 Year Old Baby Beatles Show in Diaper-Hey Jude


Thanks to Dale for this (obviously only a guy would distribute it.)

AT LAST A GUY HAS TAKEN THE TIME TO WRITE THIS ALL DOWN.  FINALLY, THE GUYS' SIDE OF THE STORYWE ALWAYS HEAR "THE RULES" FROM THE FEMALE SIDE.  NOW HERE ARE THE RULES FROM THE MALE SIDE.

PLEASE NOTE ...THESE ARE ALL NUMBERED "1" ON PURPOSE.

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it UP, you need it DOWN. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday Sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let It Be.

1. Shopping is not a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask us for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Just Say It!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem ONLY if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria 's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of them makes you sad or angry, then we meant the OTHER one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. All men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit . We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it WILL be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "Nothing", we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying but it is just not worth the hassle. Besides, we know you will bring it up again later.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine.....REALLY!

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I AM in shape. Round IS a shape.

Thank you for reading this.

Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight.

BUT, did you know that men don't really mind that?? It's like camping.

 

7

Book Recommendations

See other reviews on Amazon.com

 

 
 

 

8
Contact information

Lohman is a retired business owner that volunteers’ time on the issues of Election reform and Universal health care -

Contact: Jack E. Lohman
jelohman@gmail.com or jelohman@charter.net
Phone 414-477-8686 (cell)

http://MoneyedPoliticians.net
www.ThrowTheRascalsOut.org
www.WiCleanElections.org
www.BusinessCoalition.net

 

www.MoneyedPoliticians.com (my book: Politicians - Owned and Operated by Corporate America)

www.SmokeFreeDining.net (A searchable restaurant database)

Wisconsin State Assembly pages: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/leginfo/contact/legislatorslist.aspx?house=assembly

Wisconsin State Senator pages: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/leginfo/contact/legislatorslist.aspx?house=senate

 

9
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Disclosure: I am a center-right Republican that (regrettably) voted for Bush twice. But the Republicans look worse here because they (are/were) in power and the party blocking reform. Next year it may be the Democrats taking center stage. Were I to have a political choice it would be for a strong third-party reform candidate in all seats. I do not like our very costly and ineffective duopoly. Jack Lohman

See Lohman's complete disclosure HERE.