Churches' Accounting Books Should be Transparent

America has many churches, many denominations, and many charitable organizations.  This is, for the most part, a very good thing, since church organizations are known for providing both monetary as well as logistical aid to those in their community as well as abroad, while also quite importantly providing spiritual aid and guidance for the faithful.  Unfortunately, when living in a country as wealthy as America, sometimes the mission of churches can become compromised so that rather than being about the giving and the loving of neighbor as guided by God's hand, there is a propensity to better the insiders first, before taking care of the flock in general.

While public corporations are subject to all sorts of laws as well as to public disclosure and the publication of their financial operations, this is not typically the case with church organizations, so that it is fair to state, that the less transparent a church is in regards to what it does with the monies donated, materials provided, labor offered, tax benefits given, and the like, the more likely that pertinent and important information about the church is being withheld from those that provide its assistance.  A church has a moral obligation to be held accountable for its actions and the usage of money that it has been furnished with, so that as a matter of course, a good church should disclose such information, not because it is required to do so by law, but because it is required to demonstrate that it is a good steward of the gifts that the church has received.

Anytime that a church is requesting or imploring its congregation to donate time, money, or the like to the church, the church must do its part to substantiate that this contribution is being put to good use, in one way or another, and not instead being wasted or finding its way into insider's hands to do what they want to do with it, as contrasted to what they ought to do.  Each congregant has a right to know how their contributions are spent, or utilized, not just because the gift came from their hands, but also because devotees too have an obligation to demonstrate to their Lord that they are also good stewards of their money and that their gifts, to which they must not just take it on faith, have been well spent, and further that they can honestly verify in their heart via due diligence that this indeed is so.

It is the church members, themselves, that rather than accepting the truism that "father knows best", should instead, if necessary, be that "doubting Thomas", willing to hold the leaders of their faith feet to the proverbial fire.  It is isn't enough to assume that your work and that your labor has been put to good use, just because that is what you hope for or assume, the church should make it clear, where monies and materials have been earmarked and what they have accomplished to date, and further they should declare their mission to you, the congregant, for the future. 

A good church should be a community of people, united in one faith, their God should be God, and mammon should ideally be a tool used for the betterment of those less fortunate, rather than an opportunity for some to get rich or reap benefits taken from those that have honestly labored for it.

America's Drivers' License Age Will Soon be Eighteen

The Nanny State is alive and doing very well in this land which likes to image itself as the aura of freedom and free choice but is in actuality actively behaving more like overprotective parents that never wants any of their offspring to have the courage to take upon themselves the responsibilities of actual personal choice and decision making.  For instance, if automobiles were a new invention, just now making their mark upon American soil, it is a certainty that the general driver's license age of sixteen (which is consistent with most American States) would never have a remote possibility of happening in America.  First off, there isn't much of anything that is legal for a teenager at sixteen, I mean, you can't even go in to see a "R" rated movie at sixteen, you can't legally buy cigarettes at sixteen, you can't vote at sixteen, and you certainly can't legally drink at sixteen; so it would be a truly audacious leap to believe that any legislature anywhere in the United States would even have the nerve to suggest a driver's license age of only just sixteen.

Slowly and inexorably, the noose has tightened around the privilege to drive an automobile at sixteen, throughout all the States of this Union, to which virtually all States now have some sort of license restriction such as a passenger limit in the car, a curfew limit on driving, an age threshold for the passengers, and so forth for drivers under the age of eighteen.  Additionally, to that, whereas previously the age to drive unrestricted in most States was sixteen, this has been pushed back by a few months in many States, to sixteen years and six months, or even out to seventeen or eighteen, and so forth, with virtually no blowback from youthful drivers at all.  The fact that there has been so little protest about this isn't too surprising, since sixteen and seventeen year olds have no voting rights, and are typically not emancipated from parental authority, so consequently they have virtually no political power whatsoever.

Making things even more problematic for young drivers is the fact that the very people that would be most likely to champion their driving at sixteen, their parents, are often conflicted about their young charges actually being permitted to drive their vehicle since, in point of fact, they may not have compete faith or confidence in their decision making and maturity.  This means, in essence, that except for the tradition of having drivers at the age of sixteen, there isn't much else that would be a compelling reason for them to have this privilege, since most drivers of that age, don't have steady employment, or other credible circumstances that would necessitate their driving, other than convenience, or school-related reasons.

The bottom line is that the Nanny State sees this as a ready-made opportunity to correct something that needs to be corrected to which there will be a minuscule complaint about it.  After all, the Federal Government was able to push through the increase of the legal alcohol drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one, by simply attaching the funding of Highways within their States to their adherence to this new law.  This playbook worked very well for that purpose, so it is almost a given, they will use exactly the same play again in the very near future.

They Couldn't Kill Christianity

It is a given that Christianity is the most dominant and the most prevalent religion today, yet we speak of a religion to which the Founder of this religion, Jesus the Christ, died an ignoble death via crucifixion, because He was branded by certain Jewish leaders as deserving of death for blasphemy, while by the Romans He was crucified for rebellious treason, for claiming Himself as a King.  You would think that His tragic death would have simply been the end of the story, as even his closest disciple believed that it indeed was, although Christ had carefully laid the path beforehand for his triumphant resurrection, to which He came forth, resurrected on the third day.  It was this resurrection, attested to by all of the disciples of the Christ, to which we further read in 1 Corinthians 15: "After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once..." as witnessed by the apostle Paul.  We read too that before the Christ ascended up into Heaven, he commanded his disciples according to Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…"

Here was the great commission given from Christ to his disciples, who did indeed carry out his sacred mission, which continues onto this very day.  In regards to those eleven original disciples, Matthias, and Paul, what penalty did they pay for the preaching of the way and of the faith?  It is generally conceded that all but John who was exiled to Patmos, died deaths of martyrs, some crucified, some stoned, and some burned alive.  Then too, what happened to those that became believes, and other apostles of the Christ, during the beginnings of Christianity?  Many of those good people suffered for their faith, by being discriminated against, banished, arrested, imprisoned, tortured, beaten, unjustly persecuted, set on fire, torn apart by wild animals, killed, or martyred.  Unfortunately, the Roman authorities considered Christians to be a threat to their system of government, because the Christian loyalty was not to the State, but to their God; and especially galling to the Romans, this Christ, was not one to bow down to the pagan beliefs and the pagan world, instead He was the one true way, superseding roman gods and silly superstitious sacrifices to them.

One would think though with the martyring of the disciples and the ill treatment to those of the faith, that Christianity would have simply died out, because most people would not have an interest in becoming disciples of a religion, which endangered themselves as well as their families, but this was not the case with Christianity.  Christianity could not be killed because it is the Higher Law, the law and the way that supersedes man's misguided efforts to be master of all, when he cannot even master himself. Those of the Christian faith, the true believers and followers, were able to become the children of God, because they recognized through Christ that God is their father, that fear and evil is of this world, and that therefore to die is to gain, because we are truly not of this material world, but are made in God's image, which is spirit, and not matter.  Death did not hold back the Christ, nor can death hold us back either, because the physical is of the physical world, while the spirit is of God's kingdom, to which we will find in due season the treasures that have been stored there for us and leave behind the tribulations of this world.

Progressive National Sales Tax

The 16th Amendment to our Constitution was enacted in 1913, allowing Congress to levy an income tax, which was, in theory, suppose to be a progressive income tax.  However, our income tax has over the years become manipulated, bent, distorted, corrupted, and had all other sorts of unfortunate ills applied to it, so that the effect of the income tax has become that those that can most afford to pay a higher percentage of their income for taxes, instead often are able to pay substantially lower taxes than they ought to, which is hardly fair. 

There is, however, another way to tax people in America, which could accomplish much of what the progressive income tax was meant to accomplish, and that is taxation by consumption, which can be done by a progressive sales tax.  In America, there are items that can be bought, such as groceries, that are not subject to a sales tax, other items that are taxed at the time they are bought, with the sales tax being added on to the price of the good at the cash register, and then there are sales taxes which are hidden within the price of the good, such as with gasoline and airfares. 

A progressive sales tax should be exactly what it purports to be, with higher tax rates on items that cost more money, and/or are expensive to begin with, and/or are priced substantially above the norm.  For instance, homes are subject to property taxes, but not to a national sales tax.  There isn't any reason why homes that are being sold for, let's say, thrice the median price, in a particular metropolitan area, that those homes shouldn't be additionally taxed at a certain progressive percentage rate, since the obvious implication is that the buyer of said house has the means to afford it and therefore should "pony up" the additional sales tax to do so.  Further to the point, homes that are sold at perhaps 5x the median price should be taxed at an even higher rate, and so forth, in a progressive and logical manner.  Vehicles that are sold in America are subject to a sales tax, in States that have a sales tax, but this should be augmented with a national sales tax on vehicles that exceed a certain price point.  Again, the tax would not affect those that purchase vehicles at that price point or below, but would affect those buying above that point and for those purchasing vehicles that retail for prices that are well above the mean, the sales tax would be progressively higher.

The principle behind the progressive national sales tax is to not add any additional burden of taxation to those that fall within the middle class or below, but instead to make those that can afford to purchase goods that are considered luxury, upgraded, or extravagant merchandise to pay a tax premium for having done so.  The luxury tax for vehicles in the United States was tried previously in 1990 and by 2002 the tax had expired, but it is high time to pass it again.  As reported by CNBC.com for 2014: "This year, automakers are on pace to sell more than one million vehicles in the U.S. with transaction prices of at least $50,000."

The proposed progressive national sales tax would not replace our income tax, nor would it affect the majority of Americans, but it would affect those that can most readily afford to pay such a tax, and it would help to redistribute those monies within America.

Presidents are Selected Not Elected

In a letter written to Edward Mandell House, Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote that: "You and I both know that presidents are not elected, but selected by a small group of elites".  The fact that this letter was written by the only President, "elected" four times by the people, is a remarkable testimony to the legitimacy for which it stands, that far from elections of Presidents being a democratic process and of the selecting of our National leader being by the popular vote of the population at large, that this individual, instead, is pre-selected and vetted, by vested interests that range from influential leaders of transnational corporations, to the military-industrial complex, along with well connected financial centers, and others of  vast material influence, knowhow, and wisdom.

If one was to look at our last ten Presidents, since 1960, six of those Presidents went to either Harvard or Yale University.  Out of the four Presidents that did not attend these higher Eastern Establishment institutions of learning, two became Governors (Carter and Reagan), one became the Senate Majority Leader (Johnson), and the other was a former Congressman as well as Senator (Nixon).  Politics is a business that requires connections, money, and a certain intelligence, to which those that are behind the scenes are able to recognize at a fairly early age, much like a scout following ballplayers, those that have it as opposed to those that do not.  Not too surprisingly, not every high pick, makes it to the big stage, but none that make it to big stage, are either unexpected or unheralded.  The so-called truism that in America, that anyone can become President, is fundamentally false, but true in the sense that if you are backed by the elite these things can be made to happen.

Presidential slogans, are eerily similar from one campaign to another, from Carter: "a leader, for a change," to Clinton: "for people, for a change," to Obama: "change we can believe in," it's always the same old pig, just with a slightly different shade of lipstick.  The elite make it a point to find bright and new people, fresh and bushy-tailed, that are both charismatic and articulate to sell the illusion to the American people that this time, they are serious, change is really going to come, but in actuality, any changes that do come, are fairly routine, predictable, and pretty much expected.

Those that hold the true power behind the Presidential throne will never voluntarily relinquish it, and that power is so intertwined, so interconnected, so byzantine, that even if the President had the boldness or the audacity to sever those ties, like the Lernaean Hydra, each head that would be lopped off, would be replaced by two more.  Too many people, have far too little conception, of how big a country that the United States is; its Gross Domestic Product is estimated to be over $17 trillion dollars, its federal budget is about $3.78 trillion dollars, it has over four million federal employees, so to think that any person taking over the office of the Presidency, can get a handle on all of that, is delusional to say the least.  Not to worry though, those that have selected the President, already have in place, the infrastructure and personnel to keep things running just as they have been running, to their benefit, and to the people's loss.

Our Father Which Art in Heaven…

In Matthew 6:9 we read: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."  In Luke 11:1-2 we read: "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth"  These respective passages and the verses that follow have become to be known as "the Lord's Prayer," the prayer that was taught by the Christ as the way to petition Our Father which art in Heaven, and therefore this prayer is of the upmost value and importance to those of the faith and subsequently we should study and meditate upon the usage of the words: "Our Father," as compared to "My Father," or "The Father" to know its truest meaning.

Jesus of Nazareth is considered by the faithful to be the only begotten Son of God, so then when we are instructed by Jesus the Christ that we are to pray to God, by using the pronoun "our" as opposed to the definite article "the", this is of immense importance to us, and the implication that the usage of "our" in the Lord's Prayer, is that all of us, are too sons of God.  In Psalm 82:6 we read: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High," and also in Matthew 5:48 we read: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."  It is clear then that our Father, is not just Christ's father, or inclusive to just a small group of people as their father, or that we need or should address our Father as something impersonal or some being that we are not worthy of, but, instead, that He is Our Father, that we are all his children, all created equally, with equal rights to call upon our Father.  This is the abiding message of the Lord's Prayer, that it is indeed meant for us all that we, all of us here on planet earth, have the same Father in Heaven, and that therefore we are all one-inclusive family, and thereby not many different or dissimilar families.  We are in actuality all sisters and brothers in our Lord and should conduct ourselves by recognizing that the stranger that we took in, the naked that we clothed, the sick and the prisoners that we visited, are all reflections of ourselves, they are thereby truly the ways and means of expressing our love to our Lord in our actions and in our deeds to our fellow man, our brethren, and our brothers.

The Lord's Prayer is the key to understanding that we are never alone; we are never forsaken, abandoned, or forgotten, by our Lord. We are told that "…the kingdom of God is within you", it is ever ours to claim as the rightful heirs to the throne itself.  Our Lord is "…not willing that any should perish…" and thereby wishes that all should claim God as their own.  It is for us, the living, to seek first the kingdom of Our God, for all other kingdoms are mirages, delusions, and snares that will only entrap and disappoint us, "...For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also;" let your treasure therefore be with our Lord.

Mutual Funds and their Different Classes

Mutual funds are a common investment choice for individuals to which, not too surprisingly, mutual funds make it a point to obfuscate the best choice for the investor, by offering more classes in regards to a mutual fund than is really necessary.  For instance, some mutual funds, offer you the chance to invest in the same fund, but with different class distinctions of: A, B, C, R, and I. To the uninitiated, you might even think, that by giving you all these choices, that the said mutual fund is being consumer friendly, by making sure that you pick just the right fund for your needs, but in actuality, the long and short of it is that the mutual fund whether deliberately or implicitly or by just happy accident, is basically hoping that you slip up and select the fund that pays them a larger fee.  If that wasn't the case, then the chosen mutual fund would reduce their class of funds to just very clear distinctions between one to another, with nothing in-between.

First, a brief description of each fund class type.  Class A shares may have an "up-front" sales load that is paid up-front upon purchasing this mutual fund, but offers in return a lower annual expense fee, which will typically pay for itself in a very short of period of time, such as two years.  Class B shares are virtually always the wrong choice as they have a higher annual expense fee, may also have a "back-loaded" fee, meaning that upon selling the fund that you pay a special fee, and to make matters worse they stick you with a perpetual marketing fee, 12b-1.  Class C shares are similar to Class B shares, but do not have the "back-loaded" fee, and are also not convertible to Class A shares, to which, Class B shares may convert to Class A shares over an extended period of time.  Class R shares are specifically built for retirement accounts, not so much because they are beneficial to the recipient, but more so that the mutual fund company can charge this particular class of shares at a higher annual expense fee.  Class I shares, are for institutional investors or deep-pocketed individuals, that usually require a substantial investment amount to qualify, but these shares do not have 12b-1 fees, nor front or back-loaded fees, and additionally have the lowest annual expense fees.

Believe it or not, there are additional fund classes that are around for some funds but the above basically covers it all.  Ideally, the best class of funds to invest in, is the I class, sometimes the threshold amount to qualify to invest is low enough that you will quality to do so, while also I class shares may be available through specific brokers with a lower minimum required.  If you are unqualified to purchase I shares, you should as a given, never invest in B shares, and probably not invest in R shares, as the extra fee percentage is significantly higher than either A or C shares.  Your default should probably be investing in A shares, but that is dependent on two things, whether there is an "up-front" sales load charge and how long you anticipate holding the shares.  If you are unsure of the length of time you will hold your A shares or the "up-front" sales load is high, than the better part of valor is to stick with C shares. 

It is up to you as in investor, to do the research on not just the fund itself, but the share classes that are offered.  Most mutual funds will show you the past results of their different classes of their particular mutual fund, along with an explanation of the charges and expenses contained within.  It is well worth your time to review this yourself before making your decision or, if in doubt, contact your brokerage company for further edification.

Modern-Day Slavery in America

Slavery has had a long and storied history in America, many people believing that it is dead and buried, perhaps ending with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, or perhaps believing that slavery was really over after the passage of the Thirteenth through the Fifteenth Amendments soon after the Civil War, or for some people, perhaps the seminal moment when we knew that slavery and the vestiges of slavery was eradicated from America, was when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.  Unfortunately, despite all the progress that America has made against slavery over the last two hundred odd years, slavery still exists in America, but has morphed into something that has adjusted with the times, and those that are treated as modern-day slaves in today's America, aren't typically black or African in their heritage, but Hispanics, primarily from Mexico, or from Central America, Spanish speaking, and typically seen by the law, authorities, and employment agencies, as illegal aliens to be exploited.

For Hispanics in America, there is a huge dividing line, between Hispanics that have already been assimilated, normalized, or native-born, and the like, as compared to those that are most definitely illegal border jumpers, in debt to "coyotes", poorly educated and/or functionally illiterate, have poor English language skills, and often hold forged or makeshift documents to identify themselves.  As you might expect, in a country built around a capitalistic footprint, which is also often highly competitive in select industries, and recognizing too that the cost of labor, health care, and the training of employees will make an appreciable difference in the profitability of said company, therefore there are explicit as well as implicit reasons why certain companies are overjoyed to have a segment of the labor force that is susceptible to giving in to the demands of management and consequently excellent subjects for labor exploitation. 

While some may argue that illegal aliens can't be considered to be slaves, simply because they voluntarily cross the border into our sovereign nation, this is a very mistaken notion.  For instance, who but illegal Hispanics, as agricultural workers, for example, are subject as a matter of course, of being not paid a fair wage for their labor, or of being paid less that contracted for or nothing at all because they that "employ" them recognize that Hispanics when it comes to the payment of a wage have little or no power to fight back, and further that Hispanics can be charged essentially whatever management wants to charge them for room and board, tools, food, water, and also to subtract from their wages any damages or product loss that may have occurred.   

Illegal aliens are exploited in America, day in and day out, because the exploitation is at best, in that "gray area" of the law and employment, and at worse, outright thievery.  While some may decry the sheer numbers of illegal immigrants in America, those in the know, embrace them, because their very business model depends on cheap, replaceable, and exploitable labor.  The real reason behind why there is such a huge inflow of modern-day slaves into America is because there is profit in it, enough profit to spread it around so that those that could stop it, don't; and those that rely on it, get what they need.

Islam and Radical Islam

Islam is supposed to mean the initiate's submission to the will of God and also his surrender and obedience to His law.  Whereas radical Islam takes elements of the Islamic religion itself, and under that color, commits atrocities that these adherents purport to believe to be the will of God, but this cannot be morally right.  Radical Islam believes for the most part, that apostasy to Islam is worthy of death, further that those that are of a different religion or of a different culture, may too be worthy of death, additionally Radical Islam often makes it a point of policy to kill or maim even children and other innocents in the name of their terror, and finally that women of their own religion, of their own bloodline, should be effectively treated as captives within their own religion, dictated to by the structure of radical Islam.

While it is not unusual for religions or certain cabals of people to have their factions that are radical, or even terroristic in nature, it is wrong, morally wrong, and also against the rule of Law, for these people or factions of people to assert their "justice" against others.  When confronted with this type of rogue behavior, there are myriad ways to deal with the issues than presented; in regards to radical Islam, the confrontation that is necessary should come from those that have the most to lose from the corruption and the bastardization of their religion, and that is Islam, itself.

It is common sense to understand that when something that is important to you, perhaps the very essence of your being is being dragged through the mud, and becoming something that you know that it is not, that a righteous stand must be made against those that besmirch it.  It has been said that for evil to triumph, you need just have good to step aside.  Islam cannot afford to have their religion hi-jacked by agents or States that do not represent what Islam should truly represent, so by doing little or nothing to prevent this corruption of a religion which has over 1.6 billion adherents, those that believe Islam to be a religion of faith, fasting, and charitable giving will instead believe that their religion is one of vengeance and horror, to which all can be subjected to its awesome avenging sword at any time.

Those of the Islamic faith should make it a point and an abiding principle that those that hide behind Islam to justify their evil actions against others should be publicly rebuked and treated as outcasts to the faith.  Islam believes at its very foundation that there cannot be any other God, but God, so it should not be possible to have such widely divergent views of what God represents from so many different people who all claim to be of the same basic faith.  For instance, Christianity itself has many sects that are not in accordance with all doctrines of their faith, but fundamentally all of those of Christian faith believe that as part of that faith one should "… love thy neighbor as thyself."  Islam too believes that "A kind word and forgiveness is better than charity followed by injury…"  

Physician, heal thyself.

Domestic Violence in the NFL

The Associated Press selected the NFL Domestic Violence problem as the sports story of the year in 2014.  This would presuppose that there really is a crisis of epic proportions for domestic violence in the NFL, which certainly appears credible considering that in the biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, a domestic violence ad was run as part of a Public Service Announcement.  However, as reported by fivethirtyeight.com in regards to the NFL:  "In fact, the arrest rate for domestic violence is lower among players than the general U.S. population."  There then appears to be a significant disconnect between the actual conduct of NFL players, specifically in regards to amount of domestic violence actually committed as opposed to the impression that domestic violence by NFL players is on the verge of an epidemic, and/or is an issue that needs to be addressed as if it is a catastrophe in the making.

The question that therefore should really be asked is why is the domestic violence in the NFL, a front page issue, as statistically it doesn’t merit this being so.  First off, according to heavy.com: "68 percent of NFL players are African-American," whereas in regards to ownership of the franchises, 31 of the 32 owners are white, with only one owner non-white, Shahid Khan, a Pakistani.   Further to this point, the vast majority of head coaches as well as the general managers for NFL teams are also white.   So in the NFL, we have a sport that is predominantly populated by black players, but with virtually all the important and vital management positions held by whites.  Additionally, each one of the NFL franchises is worth at a minimum nearly one billion dollars, with the highest worth franchise being calculated at just over three billion dollars.  Further to the point, the Super Bowl game is annually the highest rated television program in America, as well as the NFL broadcasts consistently bring in high television ratings throughout the NFL season.  All of the above spells out what matters most to those that are most influential and powerful in the NFL, which is money, and the continued control of their product.

Since, in fact, domestic violence in the NFL is not a crisis, nor on the verge of becoming a crisis, one must wonder as to what is the true purpose behind this firestorm of specific media interest directed against NFL players.  The answer to this question is that those that are in power in the NFL want to keep their boot upon the necks of their players, as if the players themselves were their personal property of the contractual owners of such, so as to dictate to the players what isn't or is considered to be desirable behavior on and off the field, with the implicit understanding that failure to do so will as a matter of course negate the player's salary, respect, and hero status to society at large.  Simply put, domestic violence in the NFL is really a false flag created by ownership in order to allow them to maintain control and status of their valuable product, and thereby to place players in the position of total obedience to the dictates of the NFL, or suffer dearly the consequences for veering outside the designated lines.

Consumption and Excise are the Best Taxes

Americans are taxed on their labor, and probably will continue to be taxed on their labor for the foreseeable future, but this isn't necessarily the fairest or the best way to tax people.  Being taxed on one's labor just seems obnoxious, as is essentially taking food from the mouth of the one that has created it, and transferring it to the State or some other agent of the State without first giving the person that has labored any choice or voice in the matter.  In an ideal world, a man should be able to keep what he has rightfully earned and not have to be compelled to pay a fee to the State for having done so. 

However, it is understood, that governments need revenue to perform their duties, but there are myriad ways for government to fund and to collect that revenue.  The best and fairest type of tax would seem to be consumption and excise taxes for the basic reason that the individual can make the choice as to whether they wish to consume or purchase a product or not, and that those that consume more, will for a certainty, pay more overall in taxes.  America currently has excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, gasoline, and airfares, to name some of the most prevalent, to which the excise tax is both typically hidden from the consumer (that is the amount of the tax is typically not separately shown as part of the selling price), as well as the excise tax percentage varies depending upon the good as well as whether it is considered to be "sinful" or similar.  Excise taxes are an excellent way to raise revenue for governments, especially when they are applied to items that are discretionary as opposed to things that are necessary.  Another reason why excise taxes are a preferred method of taxation is that taxes that are hidden from plain view are more easily accepted by the population at large, simply because they aren't as obvious as, for instance, a sales tax to which at the time that the transaction is actually made, the price of said item is now greater, because sales tax has been added.

In America, most non-food items are subject to sales tax in States that charge a sales tax, to which most consumers see the sales tax as simply being the cost of doing business and have consequently grown use to it.  Because the sales tax is only applied to items that you purchase, the customer is still the master as to whether they wish to spend their hard-earned monies on said items or not.  Additionally, the typical one-price fits all type of sales tax rate that we currently have, could easily be modified, so that certain items or even price points could be created, leading to different or  tiered or higher sales tax percentage rates depending upon the actual item being purchased.  In this age of computers and barcodes, making these sorts of adjustments to the sales tax code, should be something that could be readily managed and at the same time be constructive in recognizing that not all articles should have the same sales tax percentage applied to it.

While it is true that nobody really likes to pay taxes, consumption and excise taxes are a fairer way to tax people on their actions and their choices, as opposed to taxing people on their toil and without choice.

Americans Do Not Know How Good They've Got It

I have criticized America and its institutions on many occasions and for many reasons, but not because I hate her, but on the contrary because I dearly love America and for that which it truly stands.  The thing is there isn't any real point in criticizing the lame, the inept, the weak, and the feeble-minded, because you know that their overall potential is rather limited, so you owe these people instead your compassion and your care; whereas for the strong, the mighty, those of superior intellect and abilities, when they disappoint you and fail to live up to their heritage and their potential by their pettiness, by their short-sightedness's, by their cheating, and by their lying, these you will criticize, because you have expected so much more from them and they haven't yet delivered on it.  So that when you study America, you are distressed at all the mistakes that she makes, in its unnecessary middling in foreign affairs and wars, in its' shameful spying of its own citizens, in its over-incarceration of its own citizens, and its unwillingness to lift the lamp at its golden door.

Yet through it all this is still the greatest country on earth, because at its foundation, at its very being, is the rock-core principles that this is a country that has been gifted with the knowledge that indeed all men are created equal, and through its long history, America has walked down this path of true equality, during which there have been times that she has stumbled, backtracked,  veered off the true path, but also she has inexorably through the bravery and the vision of so many, walked the path, that no other country has walked, and has lived the creed, that embraces all men, of all colors, of all walks of life, in a way that brings honor to this nation and has proven that those that have died defending her, have not died in vain.

America too is a nation of liberty, allowing its people to live lives of their own choosing and of their own desire, to worship in their own way, to think their own thoughts, to do their own deeds, and to become what they dream to become.  In far too many countries, where you are born, and who you are born to, sets the limits on which you will become, whereas in America, one has the liberty to break free from such constraints.  Certainly, we do not all start with the same attributes, but each of us is given the opportunity to be the master of our own fate, or the captain of our own ship.

Finally, in America, we can pursue our own happiness, because we are given the freedom of choice to do so.  For some, that happiness that we pursue may be instead an illusion, or a dead-end, or rife with perils that we had not anticipated, but nevertheless it is our pursuit, it is ours, because we have made it so with our free will, rather than being forced to be or do something by the dictates of the State.  For Americans, our happiness, our liberty, and our freedom, is held within our own hands, within our own efforts, our own blood, our own labor, our own sweat, our own tears, and may it ever be so.

William Seward and Immigration

Immigration and its policies when it comes to Americans and who should be allowed to immigrate to America and to subsequently become American citizens has been a subject of much controversy since the inception of America itself.  For whatever reason, for a significant portion of Americans, there is an unforgiving attitude and bigoted mindset against "others" that wish to immigrate to this large land known for its opportunity, its freedom, and its liberty.  Yet, unless you are an American Indian, you, and your ancestors are in fact, immigrants to this nation, so this begs the question as to why the hypocrisy.

William Seward, was once the Governor of New York, later to become a US Senator, and was known as a strong abolitionist with national goals of becoming President of this country.  Ultimately, Seward failed to win the nomination for President in 1860, ended up becoming a strong supporter of Lincoln, and became Lincoln's Secretary of State.  Seward was a highly intelligent man, a man of both principle as well as vision, who did not mix words in believing strongly and affirming in both speech as well as actions, that all men should be free in America, and that therefore slavery had no place in America.  It then followed from these abolitionist policies that Seward was also very much a believer that America was a country for all peoples, that those immigrants to our country, should be educated, adapted to our ways, and be given the opportunity to participate as full members of this nation.

Seward believed that the national government of America was until the time of Lincoln, primarily in the hands of the "privileged class" which he designated as rich Southern slaveholders that distorted the true meaning of our Constitution, by their effective ruling power and meddling influence in all three branches of our national government.  Seward was a rare politician who did not broker compromise in areas of the law or principle, to which he felt that a "Higher Law" superseded them all.  It was this belief that helped to define the man and make it his policy to see that immigrants to America were given and afforded the same opportunities as those that were already here. 

It was also during the time of our Civil War, that it was recognized by Seward as well as by others, that immigration would help the Union cause, as so many of our young men and materials were now actively engaged in the war, and with the subsequent loss of massive numbers of men that were killed or injured in battle, this need became ever greater. This meant that the North acknowledged that it needed additional labor to increase the manufacturing of goods as well as materials required for the war effort, in addition to agricultural knowhow and labor to produce the food products necessary for a nation to survive and to sustain itself.  Since the North was no longer obtaining agricultural products from the South, it was critical for the North to provide this for themselves, to which they took advantage of the fertile fields of the Midwest, and with the help of new immigrants from European countries they were well able to do so.

Seward recognized before its time, the value and importance of immigrants to America, and recognized too that it was the character of the people residing within America, that made Americans, and not every American born within our borders, was, in fact, truly American in their understanding of their duty and obligations to their country as well as to its people.

The Exploitation of the Poor and Powerless

It has never been easier to exploit the poor and powerless than it is in today's world.  That doesn't mean, that in modern society that conditions for poor people are the worst of all-time, they aren't physically for the most part, but it does mean that the elite of the world, recognizing the massive numbers of people that are impoverished, are best seen as resources to be exploited and plundered, and despite the fact that the sheer numbers of poor people massively outweighs the relatively few numbers of the oligarchy, the battle is not fair, not equal, and almost entirely favors the ruling class.

In order to keep any population down there are basic factors that the autocracy must have in their control and for the most part they have these very things such as their ownership or heavy influence of the media, the police/military, the justice system, property, food, assets, and the banking world.  In most countries, poor people have no real access to weapons that the police or that the military have in their possession, and even if poor people have handguns and the like, their overall firepower is pathetically small in comparison to the might, organization, experience, logistics, and the power of the police/military state.  Additionally, if all land is own by the government or it is controlled by elite privileged people, than poor people have no sanctuary anywhere, to protect themselves from the ravishing of the government set upon them.  So too, unless you are self-sufficient in providing food for your family through hunting or gathering, the State will hold you hostage to the availability of food, safe water, and other necessities needed to just survive.  Through it all, if the media and/or airwaves are controlled or heavily influenced by the State, than the misinformation disseminated to you, will be manipulated in such a way as to try to keep you passive and complacent with the State's desires.

There are those that naively believe that because there are so many poor people, that a democratic uprising can occur, so that the people can get what is rightfully theirs.  The fact of the matter is, unless, you have a great moral cause, or unless you somehow are able to appeal to the good conscience of those that hold power above you, that the people enacting such an uprising are inevitably crushed.  The few times when there is an apparent passing of power from the oligarchy to the "people", through some sort of revolution or whatnot, the "people" often find that to their dismay when they "meet the new boss,  [it's the} same as the old boss," and they will get fooled again and again. 

The government is force, and until such time when that the government relinquishes such force, the boot of the State upon the necks of the people, will be felt.  Some governments make sure that the people are held in utmost abjection and misery, while others do a much better job of selling the illusion that the streets may yet be paved with gold.  The governments that last longer are the ones that make the virtual prisons that they keep the poor people in, relatively comfortable, with few demands, and a few false flags for them to rally around, hoping that the impoverished believe that this is some sort of freedom, when it is, in fact, dependence. 

Respect for the Law Derives from Respect for the Law-Giver

No man, nor any institution, government or likewise, is an island all to itself, all of us, throughout life must interact with the other, in one form or another.  These interactions begin at an early age, to which children learn in many aspects and avenues from their parents and other authority figures as they mature through the years.  We are taught in the Bible to: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).  However, the problem that is encountered by many parents as well as by others serving as parental or authority-like figures is that the training of a child is not just the words that are spoken to them, but also the actions behind those words, along with the actions of that person in their day-to-day comportment that spoke those words, as well as the character of the person so speaking and acting.

It has been said that children are like sponges, absorbing all that they see being enacted in front of them, day-by-day, so that if the words spoken to children are in contradiction to the actions of the people speaking said words, children will absorb this inherent contradiction.  For instance, if the father demands that his child is obedient and respectful towards the child's mother, while at the same time that father treats his wife with the utmost contempt and belittling disrespect himself, you will discover, sooner or later, that the child will often pick up the same traits of the father itself.  While the father may dictate respect for his law, the respect given to in return, will often be mitigated by the respect that child has for the law-giver. For example, if the father has a significant drinking problem, which is obvious to all, despite his words to the effect that he will not tolerate his children drinking or abusing drugs and so forth, he will often find to his dismay that his words will fall on hollow ears.  In this situation, as in many situations, it is the actions themselves that triumph over the words that are spoken.

Then too there are positive situations, to which, role models or parental figures are gracious, kind, patient, loving, and considerate in their actions and are known as being self-sacrificing, self-effacing, and moral in their character, both outside the home as well as inside the home.  While it is certainly possible, that children growing up in this type of environment, will end up being selfish, controlling, and ugly in their manner as well as their ways, if often can be said that the apple does not fall far from the tree. 

Taking this further, to our daily life and our interactions with government and employers, it follows that it is not too much of a stretch of the imagination to state that if our government is spying on its citizens, is double-dealing and underhanded, unfair, inconsistent, unjust, and corrupt in its actions, that its denizens, will probably not be exactly paragons of virtue.  It follows too, that if your employer consistently cheats or deceives its customers that you as an employee, will probably want to follow suit in doing the same with your employer. 

The problem with simplistic statements such as "obey the law" is that it is fundamentally flawed; obedience and respect for the law can only come from laws that are in harmony with true justice, truth, and fairness equally applied to all.

Property Taxes II

Different counties and different States have different rules and procedures for the collection of property taxes.  Property taxes are generally assessed against the "estimated present assessed value of the property in question for the latest fiscal year", but that assessment can often be widely divergent depending upon a multitude of factors.  Additionally to this unfortunate fact, not every piece of property pays its "fair" share or even any share of their property tax obligation.  For instance, it is routine for non-profit property owners not to pay taxes, as it is for churches, governmental buildings, and educational buildings, amongst various other entities.  There are also exemptions or special tax set asides for certain for-profit corporations that as part of their agreement for locating a building within a certain county, make this a negotiated condition of their doing so.  Then there are certain people that earn exemptions or elimination of property taxes because they are veterans, or of a certain age group such as senior citizens, or clergymen, or the like.  The only possible conclusion upon reading the foregoing and recognizing the value of this information, is that the property tax field, like so many taxes in the United States, is a very unlevel playing field, with uneven rules, and uneven application.  The upshot of this is that the burden for making up for those that do not pay property taxes for whatever reason is stuck upon the shoulders of those that do not have those same privileges or exemptions.  Making matters worse, is that property taxes is the foundation upon which local counties depends upon in order to make their budget, so that the powers to be within counties have a vested interest in extracting and collecting as much property tax as they can wrest away from their residents without accidently inciting and igniting a powerful fire of protest. 

The thing about property taxes is that upon the buying of, for example, residential property, there is an absolute known price of what that property is worth at the time and specific date of that sale, because both parties to a sale, have a vested interest in seeing that the deal is acceptable to both.  However, once that sale is made, it is a process of guesswork, some educated and some not, to determine the real present value of that property, to which tax assessors, rely heavily on factual information in regards to the property, such as the square footage, construction type, the age of the dwelling, the amount of stories, garage, acreage, and so forth.  They will also periodically come out to the property, describing themselves as a "data collector" to snap pictures of the outside of your structure.  From all of the foregoing, along with recent comparable sales within your neighborhood area, if applicable, the property tax assessor comes up with an assessment for your property.  There are, however, fundamental flaws within this system.  The first and most obvious flaw is that you really don't know how much a given property will sell for until it is actually sold; we know this because products all over America in every conceivable form are sold for a "discounted" price each and every day.  The second basic flaw is that you should not judge a property from a cursory glance of its outside features, this is common sense, as the amount of people that purchase a home without doing a real home inspection of their interior, its condition, and its infrastructure, is few and far between. 

When a purchase is made of a residential home, banks are often willing to extend to that qualified person, a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, which means that the buyer will know his payments for a certainty over the next 30 years to that mortgage company.  Under the present system, in many counties and States within America, you will not know your future obligations for that home for property taxes, a tax which is compulsory, unless you are so fortunate as to have an exemption, and this property tax amount will be primarily controlled by government bureaucrats.    In essence, this type of tax system is rife for corruption, unfairness, and unequal treatment to which it is always the "unconnected", the uninformed, and the passive believers, that are stuck paying more than their fair share in taxes to the taxman.

Mary Magdalene - the True Rock of our Faith

When it comes to name of Mary in the New Testament, it can become confusing as to which Mary the gospel is referring to in regards to certain passages, since we have so many, of which all of them are important.  We have Mary -- the mother of Jesus, Mary -- the mother of James, the other Mary, Mary of Clopas, Mary -- the sister of Martha, Mary -- mother of Joses, and Mary Magdalene.  Mary Magdalene is referred to in all four gospels in the New Testament, as well as having her own Gnostic book, known as the Gospel of Mary.  At Christ's crucifixion, Mary Magdalene was present, as she was also present during his burial, and later it was that Mary Magdalene was first to discover that the tomb to which Jesus had been laid to rest was empty, and it was also Mary Magdalene that first encountered and recognized the risen Christ, and was spoken to by Him and spoke to Him who had risen.    This makes Mary Magdalene a unique persona in the gospel of Christ, yet, her vital importance is tinged with the mistaken correlation that it was Mary Magdalene that had been a former prostitute, although there is nothing in the gospel that actually reflects this, in fact, In Luke 8:2, we read that Christ cast out "seven demons" from her, and that was that; still there are many that believe that she is also the person that anointed the Master's feet and was considered a sinner, although this person is clearly not Mary Magdalene.

It is quite unfortunate, that history has mistakenly painted Mary Magdalene as a former prostitute, because this supposed fact is simply not supported by the gospels, or by the apocryphal texts, or by anything of real substance.  Because of Mary Magdalene's tainted reputation, her importance and her devotion, as well as the clear love and respect that Christ had for her, is lost, which is quite unfortunate, because unlike any of the chosen, it is Mary Magdalene that understands and truly comprehends the Master unlike any other.  It is also Mary Magdalene that never once forsakes or turns away from Jesus, unlike Peter, who denies our Lord, not once, but thrice within the span of a few hours, to save his own skin, despite Peter having given his word to our Lord, that he would never forsake Him.

It is of utmost importance to recognize that it was Mary Magdalene, and no other, that was there both at Christ's physical death, as well as it was Mary Magdalene that first acknowledged the risen and glorified Christ and was instructed by the risen Christ to "…Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them…" (John 20:17).  Further to this point, in the apocryphal Book of Mary, we read that: "Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them. Mary answered and said, what is hidden from you I will proclaim to you." (Mary 5:5-7).

Mary Magdalene's actions  and obedience while Christ was alive, and during the crucifixion of our Lord, as well as the glorious day of his resurrection, demonstrate that it was Mary Magdalene that best understood and was able to testify to the true meaning of the risen Christ; that true knowledge comes from Light and that this knowledge can never be destroyed, that it is our duty to proclaim the truth and the light, and further that there should never be fear of those that can kill the body, because we are not our body, we are the immortal soul, co-heirs to God almighty himself.

Google Glass and the Police State

Google's motto is "don't be evil", a motto that Google has never and will never live up to. Google's motto is at best, misdirection, and at worse, the exact opposite of what Google actually represents.  Take for instance, the development of Google Glass, a device that is wearable as an integral component attached to a person's eyeglass frame that records everything within its field of vision, to which this recording is capable of being transmitted in "real -time" to a designated receiving station so as to allow those people stationed remotely to analyze that video for their own purposes, including but not limited to correlating that video with a comprehensive facial recognition database that will identify persons within the viewfinder.  This, my friend, is the type of device that police stations and authoritarian regimes salivate to get their hands upon, a device that will allow them to track, correlate, and to apprehend peoples that the State desires to harass, to intimidate, arrest, or to do deliberate harm to. 

Although Google glass was ostensibly created for certain privileged people by Google, it is also a product that because of its inherent intrusiveness but relatively benign appearance is easily translatable to police departments.  Google glass, far from being a device that is a servant to the people, is essentially a device that was created as a "stalking horse" for police agencies, to which the true objective of implementing Google glass is to generate both publicity as well as favorable feedback through the media and social media, before its intended purpose, is released, which is to make normal the usage of this dangerous device into the hands of police agencies throughout America. 

While it is true that police departments often using recording devices, those devices to date, have not been "smart" devices, that is to say, that they simply record, while Google Glass on the other hand, is a smart device, that has a user-actuated touchpad that can launch specific apps, and those apps can be directed to disseminate specific information about people, using facial recognition, or information via a person's driver's license to ascertain in real-time as to whether that person has an outstanding warrant or other applicable actionable data, or an automobile's license plate number to determine whether that vehicle has any violations associated with it, and so forth.

To make matters even worse, for citizens of America, it is not a bridge too far to take today's passive recording devices that are located at key intersections and the like, and to strategically replace these with devices akin to Google's glass, that enable operators behind the scenes to thereby train these devices upon citizens and their artifacts in such a manner, as to obtain actionable information against citizens, and thereby to act upon them. 

The problem with Google glass in a private citizen's hand, especially those of a somewhat "nerdy" or scientific type, may not be that much of a problem, as long as they are both easily identifiable and it is also clearly established when they are actually recording, because they may very well not desire to be or to do evil, and hopefully, when confronted or questioned, they will, as matter of courtesy and common humanity, turn the device off when requested to do so.  The police, on the other hand, and their affiliates, will turn off, edit, erase, manipulate, and destroy recordings only when it impugns them and their viewpoint, and will never be satiated in their lust to record all and to process all, because to them, we are all the enemy.

Eugenics and Sperm Donation

Eugenics began its rise in the United States in the early 20th century, to which, many States manufactured laws that enabled compulsory sterilization of certain groups within their population such as Native American Indians, or people originating from certain Eastern European nations that were considered to be of "inferior stock" and so forth.  The pushback against Eugenics, began in the 1930s led by respected doctors and other professionals that recognized that Eugenics had more similarity with "pseudoscience" than actual science, and further that the proponents of Eugenics were utilizing the guise of "improving the human race" as the cover for their true desire, which was to reduce the population of certain groups of people through massive sterilizations that didn't fit into their mindset, so as to achieve their progressive social agenda, of reducing "misfits, delinquents, and the criminally inclined" which, in theory, would make for a more coherent, and successful American human race.  Later, Nazi Germany, demonstrated the insanity and the horrors of what Eugenics truly meant by their  mass sterilizations along with their mass exterminations of undesirables to obtain, what they thought would be a "master race",  shining light on the ugly lie of Eugenics and its true diabolical meaning.

Today, unfortunately, Eugenics is very much alive, but in a different guise and with a different shade of lipstick.  Eugenics is alive in America in two aspects, one is through legal abortion, to which, the poor and downtrodden are encouraged to kill their unborn children, essentially replicating the same effectiveness of sterilization, with the difference being rather than being compelled by law to do so, these impoverished people are encouraged to do so, for various economic as well as self-serving ones, convincing them that it is the right and the fair thing to do.  The second part of the equation, are the sperm banks that have been created within America, to which, the sperm donors, are classified and marketed as being, for instance, of a certain height, of a certain IQ, of a certain health, of a certain family background, of a certain psychological makeup, of a certain race, and a college graduate, to name the most prominent of the factors that make up mainstream sperm donation banks.

In essence, this is a form of selective breeding, as if humans should be bred amongst the lines that great breeds of cattle or horses are done, strictly through genetics, so as to obtain the best marbling, or the best runner, and so forth.  This type of sperm donation "science", is in essence, just another flavor of Eugenics, to which it is believed that certain characteristics of human beings can simply be bred from one person to another, if carefully screened for.  This is very bad science, and a very dangerous game, because it signifies in essence, that there is such a thing as desirable genes, and that there is such a thing as undesirable genes, and that, by definition, the State, or those acting under the aegis of the State, are the determinants of what those desirable genes are.  This means, that those that have desirable genes will be treated in a more favorable manner by State agencies than those that do not, which is inherently unequal and unfair, and the very opposite of what this country is purporting to represent. 

Earnings Surprises and Wall Street

There is plenty of empirical evidence that earnings surprises on Wall Street have a material effect upon the stock price of the stock in question, which has been documented by many institutions as well as brokerage firms.  That is to say, when a given company exceeds or misses their quarterly earnings consensus number and/or their quarterly sales goals, there will be a material impact in the price of that stock that will be reflected in their updated stock price.  Not too surprisingly, it is when earnings and/or sales disappoint, that one will see the biggest percentage impact on the stock price, because nobody wants to be that stupid sucker holding the wrong stock; so as earnings surprises go, one would prefer pre-knowledge of negative news because it is far more profitable.

Obviously, those that are in the highest levels of management, finance, and authority within a given company, have a very clear idea as to whether quarterly earnings are going to be pleasantly received by Wall Street or not.  Because the stock exchanges wants to at least appear to be fair to the common investor, "quiet" periods have been instituted for publically traded companies which in theory, helps to level the investing field, by essentially eliminating any direct information being disseminated by said company to security analysts and the like in regards to definitive information on earnings.

Of course, when it comes to money and especially to the making of money that directly pertains to you, this so-called "quiet" period is violated either directly or indirectly time and time again.  There have been numerous cases of insider trading to which prison sentences and/or monetary fines have been imposed, and no doubt, there will continue to be criminal cases like this far into the foreseeable future, mainly because getting advanced information about specific companies is highly correlated to impressive overall stock trading success and also monetary rewards for those disseminating such.

The way that Wall Street works is that advanced information is king, and those that are privy to this information have an inherent and unfair advantage over those that do not.  For instance, in today's hi-technology world, to which stock buys and sells are executed within fractions of a second, just having knowledge that is a minute or two ahead of the actual earnings surprise, will, in a short period of time, make you a very successful and profitable trader.  To take this to the next level, recognize that Wall Street is filled with ambitious, competitive, cutthroat, and motivated people that are hungry to make money, and further to the point that most highly visible public companies do not want to get on the bad side of brokerages, or stock analysts, or media, and there is a basic symbiotic reason why at a minimum some sort of implied notice of privileged information is leaked one to another.

For the common investor, you are always at an inherent and material disadvantage when it comes to your equity investments, especially over the short term and consequently there isn't much that you can do about that, because by the time the news gets to you, the easy money has already been made.   At publically traded companies, earnings surprises are a fact of life, and this information is ready-made for insiders and their associates to profit from, and it's no real surprise that it's done, because many people desire that little "extra" just because.