Shakedown Doesn't Count For Washington Elite...When Will The People Stop It?
Decide For Yourself: President Obama said that he would have the most ethical administration in history. I believe the President Carter, President Clinton and President Bush (43) said the same thing. Of course the implication has been that previous administrations, if not the immediate predecessor, was something less than ethical. Most of the time, pledges like that come back to haunt. President Obama said it was time for change. Well, I suppose he didn’t say specifically what that change would be..we were supposed to fill in the blank. Remember when President Clinton took office and so many of their appointees had to withdraw their names from consideration when it was discovered that they didn’t pay social security taxes for the hired help or things like that? Well, see if this sounds familiar.
"He Really Expects Me To Pay My Taxes!"
Timothy Geithner was nominated and approved to be the new Secretary of the Treasury. The Treasury Department is responsible for making sure people pay their taxes through the IRS. Mr. Geithner not only was found to have not paid thousands of dollars in taxes, he did not do it for 4 years and only paid up for two of the four years when he was up for the nomination. He said it was all an error, even though he initially paid up for two of the years in which he owed money…the others had passed the statute of limitations so he legally wasn’t obligated to pay…so he had beaten the law and the system that he is now in charge of…until he figured that it might derail his nomination. He said it was all a mistake even though prior to the tax years in question he had signed a document acknowledging that he had to pay the taxes.
"I Don't Pay Taxes...That's For the Peasants!"
Tom Daschle is the former leader of the Senate for the Democrats before he was voted out of office. He was nominated for the Housing and Human Services Secretary. That department is in charge of, among other things, Medicare. Daschle was alleged to have been in arrears well over $120,000 in taxes for the hired help…his driver. He never paid his share of the man’s medicare. Daschle withdrew his nomination. President Obama said it was time to close the revolving door of people in public office cashing in by lobbying and such. He said that lobbyests couldn’t be in his adminstration. Daschle got voted out of office and in the first two years since getting fired by the voters…he made ove $5 million. He earns $1 million from a law firm..even though he’s not a lawyer. At least the title isn’t lobbyiest…so I guess if you call it one thing, it doesn’t matter what it really is. How’s that for ethics?
"I Pay My Taxes When I Feel Like It"
Nancy Killefer was tapped by the President to take the newly created position of “performance czar.” I’m not exactly sure what the job entailed but I think it is a position in which the person is charged with making sure that the administration is living up to the expectation of being ethical, transparent and performing as advertised regarding individual performance as well as overall effectiveness of some important initiatives such as the latest bailout bill. Ms. Killefer withdrew her name because it was discovered that she failed to pay her hired help’s unemployment tax. Apparently she was so dilenquent that the WashingtonDC put a $946.69 lien on her home in 2005. That should get someone’s attention. But apparently Ms. Killefer thought it was a-okay to wait another 5 months before she got the lien released. From the reports, its unclear if that means that she paid what she owed or just got the lien removed.
Answer these questions: How come none of these people were charged with a crime like many Americans would be? How come none of these people were required to pay the hefty penalties involved for not paying taxes, like every
Capone Went to Jail For Tax Evasion. A Cabinet Appointment Today?
other American would be….except perhaps politicians? Rep. Charles Rangelwas found recently to not have paid thousands in income taxes…do you think any Washingon politicians pay their “fair share” of taxes like they say the rest of America should do? At this early point, do you still have hope that the “change” that you may have voted for includes better ethics in the administration or does it look like its more of the same where the politicians pass laws for the rest of America but they don’t have to worry about it? Does it seem apparent to you why many in Washington have no problem raising taxes because they don’t pay them anyway? I honestly believe, that the type of character, integrity and attitude exemplefied by the above stories illustrates how we got in the mess we are in and if we had people of true honor, character and integrity in government leadership and political postions, this financial crisis probably would not be upon us. As it is, I have no confidence that anything that is done in Washington will have any positive affect on the general economic circumstance simply because there is such a lack of ethics and integrity in many governmental positions. I believe that the crisis will eventually be resolved by the honest, hard working people of character and integrity…the rest of the American citizenry…our people, not the government.
People Helped Ike Victims But No One Will Repay Them
Speaking of owing money….
During Hurricane Ike, many Texans as well as others from around the country helped out without questions and with trust by bringing in supplies and food and medicines to the victims. They’d worry about settling up the bills later. Those good folks really helped a lot of people quickly and perhaps even saved lives. Well, those people now need to collect the money for the products and services they provided. The total is $134 millon. The state of Texas owes $14 million. The rest, according to Texas Governor Rick Perry is owed by Uncle Sam. Again, like the tax dead beats set up for high political office getting off the hook…what would happen if you didn’t pay your mortgage for 6 months? It’s sad but this type of treatment by the state and local government may make it impossible for people to help their neighbors the next time there is a disaster…because if you help, you may risk going bankrupt because you can’t pay your bills simply because the government decided it was okay to pay the bills like Killefer, Geithner and Daschle think its okay to pay their taxes…
If people have honor, integrity and character when they go to Washington DC…do they check those things at a security checkpoint when they hit the city limits? Given the apparent culture of politics in Washington, do you really think that change can or will happen anytime soon or that anyone in the district really does want change? I am so discouraged and, so far, the questions that I had on November 4, 2008 look at this time like they will be answered in a manner that I did not want nor do we need. Let’s hope this is just a hiccup and my fears will be found unjustified.
I had a this date in history today, but I got so PO’d, I lost interest. Perhaps tomorrow.
Snow Totals For Tuesday Feb 3...I was Close
Weather Bottom Line: I had outlined a picture of Louisville getting somewhere between .75″ of snow and 1.5″ for Tuesday through Wednesday. I knew that total outlook was probably a little more than you may have seen some forecasts but as it turns out, according to the NWS, it wasn’t enough. The above map shows that localized areas from the northern half of Jefferson County (KY) and northward through the viewing area had 2-4 inches of quick snow this morning and the rest of the area some 1-2 inches as the shortwave I spoke of came through the flow. Told you it was small and pretty strong and it sure did squeeze out what it could from the clouds in a relatively short period of time. Here’s my weather beef….while the NWS made that claim and the pretty map above…the official total at the airport was just .40″ of snow. This makes no sense whatsoever…actually it does to me and I think its a problem that really needs to be addressed if we are to have climatological records that have any veracity whatsoever.
Anyway…bottom line is this….we stay excessively cold for another couple of days before we make a turnaround beginning Friday afternoon and take what looks to be much milder air than I talked about yesterday for the weekend, especially Sunday. Now that is a change we can use and will get. The long wave pattern is definitely changing which means we’re out of the ice bucket for the forseeable future…not saying it won’t switch back because, after all, we’ve had this cold pattern generally since the middle of November with the exception of the week around Christmas. But, lets’ not quibble about how long it will last…..lets just take it and run for the next week or so and then worry about the rest of the winter later. Hang on…just a couple more days of tough cold with Thursday morning probably in the single digits. Right now it looks like 50′s more often than not for the week ahead but it will probably be wet…as in rain and possible t’storms…not snow or ice.
