Spanky,

As you may know, your tax dollars go torwards many public services. People who denounce taxes or even the concept of taxes should place a value on services they use. Then determine if you would like to pay for those service directly or chip in much less with everyone else.

For example, an article if homemakers or housewives were paid annually for the work they do, they would receive a salary of approx. $122,000.

Employers often inform their employees that with health benefits, vacation time, the company picnic, waivedfitness gym signup fees and other perks they are not getting 15 dollars an hour they are actually getting 20 dollar per hour.

So, if you place a value on the roads you use, street lights that keep our society moving, police protection, fire protection, protection of steelhead and salmon, EPA Superfund program, research and development at NASA, federal contingency plans (CDC), FEMA, the Natl Guard, UI, Student Loans (Educating the general public is good for our economy/innovation), and the list goes on and on.

My tax liability is 6k per filing year. Adjusted is 3k. Hopefully the waste and inefficency that accompanies all bureaucracies (private mega corps included) will be reduced through diligent efforts and we will get more value for our contributions.

It's not a question of do I like public services. Of course everyone does. The question is how much do those services cost v. how much should they cost. And of course who gets to decide that steelhead need to be protected, what NASA does with the money given, and all the rest?

Most, if not all of the services cost way too much because those providing the services are grossly overcompensated. The shining example now is the city manager of Bell, Ca. $800k, really?

I would love to chose to directly pay for only those services I use, and "self insure" for the rest. Too bad that's not the way the system works, or there would be many, many gov. workers out of a job. And I have no idea what your point on the housewives is.

As for you personal tax liability of $6K, that great. All I can say is I'd trade.

The housewives comment was meant to illustrate the value of services many take for granted or are not aware of. Just did some research on the Bell City Council obscene salary controversy. Looks like many citizens are not paying attention. Its too bad elected officials or people who are meant to serve the public good must be watched and audited. And then audited again.

With that said, perhaps it is not a Bureaucracy's fault they are bureaucratic?

Not a wonder when our politicians insist on sending 7.5 billion dollars in aid to Afghanistan instead of investing in our education, health care, jobs, and infra-structure. Seems like all of Washington is living in a bubble instead of the real world.

Hey Obama and your DEM-wit morons in Congress. This message is for you. Obama, do you want to know why your popularity is at an all time low (and going lower)? Democrat controlled congress, do you want to know why your approval ratings are at 11%? It's perfectly clear! You liberal bastards have a HUGE disconnect with a very large majority of responsible Americans. Because of your actions (which are much more credible than your words), you have demonstrated that you don't give a sh*t what your constituents (that you are supposed to represent) want, and that you are more than willing to commit blatant tyranny against us (and have done so) in order to follow your personal interests, your parties interest and the interests and radical goals of the far-left radical, socialist bastard that some refer to as the current POTUS. You fiscally irresponsible as*swipes don't have enough common sense to wipe your a*s or have the ability to balance your personal checkbook muchless have the ability to fiscally balance the budget of the nation. You don't have a budget because you recklessly spend our kids and grandkids money just like drunken sailors while destroying our economy, our jobs and the list goes on. How f**king stupid are you elitist di*kheads anyway? Piss on you! You have no integrity whatsoever and everyday, it is manifest in virtually everything that your grimy hands touch. We The People are fed up with Washington and how you idiots perform. The time has come for the responsible people in America to tell you liberal scum where to shove it. I cannot wait for November to get here. It can't possibly come fast enough! The responsible people in this country are going to rid themselves of you just like we would get rid of a wart on our a*s. You're disgusting garbage and we want you out of our lives. Those that we elect to take your place are going to be held accountable for their actions from now on.

Steelman, your post is an excellent example of what us Democrats call "Republican Trash Talk". I would agree with you regarding elected officials not doing the will of "We The People". That's the way I personally felt from 2001-2007, you know those years when Republicans controlled Congress.

If you are truly upset with Congress, be fair and blame both parties. Were you this vitriol in your comments when your apparent party controlled the purse strings and spent taxpayer dollars like teenager's with a credit card? Or, is your rant only directed at Democrats who were elected by those in our country who exercised their constitutional right and voted?

Sayitaintso, you're right, both parties are at fault. Republicans also lost their way. All of congress is corrupt - the whole system is corrupt. This is why the tea parties got started, to stand up for conservative values without being tied to either party. The Tea Party is also disgusted with the old Repub party and wants a renewed Rep party with re-defined conservative values and goals. Tea party members are mostly independents or ex-republicans, but because of their conservative values they lean to the right.

SayitaintSo - First of all I am not a Republican - I am a Conservative! Certainly there are some in the Republican party that I disagree with but let's face it, the Democratic congress is by far a much tainted party as compared to the Republican party. The Democratic congress is infiltrated with a huge number of detestable arrogant human beings who have self-serving interests (most of them lawyers). Most of them are very liberal or progressive and they simply do not share the views of most Americans. Years ago, the Democratic party was a good party and could work across the isle with Republicans and all shared a common interest but with a different idea of how to get there. That was OK! The problem today is that the Democratic party has been infiltrated with an abundance of liberal ideologists who happen to not share a common interest of the majority of the American people and who have radical views and associations that threaten the core traditional values of America and the liberties that are afforded us through the constitution. It is plainly evident that these people are extremely reckless and fiscally irresponsible and that they seek to socialize America - something that will never happen without another civil war I promise. Liberals want to ram their programs down our throats because they know that we resent their ideology so the time has come to tell the liberals that we are more than ready to fight them - and we are! It is time for the Bush-Bashers to shut up and realize that Obama owns the present economy. History will be very favorable to Bush as he did have morals and integrity - something that Obama is certainly lacking.

Sreelman,,,tell the family's of the 5000 or so men, and women who are no longer here about Bushes "Morals" Tell them that because of Bushes wishes to attack a country that "did not attack " us their sons , daughters, mother, or father life was worth sacrificing their lives. Your threats on a public vine show what you are and it's not pretty. To listen to a loud mouth shoot off threats against others is not what an American is,,it's what a Republican/Conservative thinks is the right thing to do,,the rest of us don't!

With so much of our tax dollars wasted, it's no surprise that the public holds politicians in such low regard.

And any time people start talking about cutting public expenditures, it's always "We'll have to cut Policemen, Teachers and Firemen".

What politicians DON'T tell you is that Police, Firemen and Teachers only represent about 35% of public employees. 65% of public employees are paper pushers or lean on their brooms & shovels, and that percentage has grown much higher in recent years. Also, public employees come with their taxpayer funded salaries and pensions that total about 160% of what comparable workers in the private sector make.

So the next time your politician says "If you don't approve this tax increase, we'll have to cut Police, Teachers and Firemen", tell them NO - just cut the fat.

Not to mention the fact that taxes and revenue are inversly proportional to one another!

adidas

Wow I never thought of the housewife aspect. Those must be the jobs saved by the obama administration. Do you understand the concept of "imputed" income. Based on your "research" each house hold should be taxed on the imputed income of a house wife. That will balance the budget in short order. And all the time lowering the unemployment. Moreover since there really is no actual exchange of money we can fine every family for filing a false tax return. And the failure of the family to pay employment taxes is another opportunity to (screw) enlighten them.

I believe you have opened a whole new avenue of revenue to be wasted by your "friendly" government. There is one problem though. You have foolishly squandered your money on things like food, clothing, and shelter. Seems you are broke. There is only one answer, we will lend you the money necessary to pay the taxes. And you are complaining about the interest rate? We are only taking one child to sell. NO. You do not understand. This is an offer you can not refuse. Now I'm getting a little tired of your whinning. It's that or the ovens.

Imputed income is not treated as income in the United States and thus are not taxed. Did some more "research" to back my initial dollar figure and it appears people have been doing their own "research" and estimate a homemaker is only worth 30k a year.

That may be true but what is 100% trust, unrivaled communication, and team cohesion (from being a spouse) worth in monetary terms? Alot in my book.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/P46800.asp?Printer

What I fail to understand is why no one in Congress reads these polls and says--I'm going to be different. They have hamstrung themselves with arcane rules and their own selfishness but don't change. Maybe it is because we don't vote them out for not doing their job.

Steeler Fan- I believe you have hit on perhaps the most fundamental failure of our government and that is that there is absolutely no accountability in the system. Even if you vote them out, the new ones come in and within a few days, they are taught all the bad habits and so there is never any change. Think of anything you wish to change and then think of who would introduce a bill to change that and you begin to see that there is no solution to this, for example---Term Limits for all members of congress: Who will introduce such a bill?

The closer we get to November, the more trashy mud slinging we're going to hear. Get ready for the baseless scandals, the biggest divisions in race and class, and the nastiest partisan fighting we have ever seen.

Please be careful who you vote for this time. Let's all dedicate ourselves to doing some research for the sake of our country and our lives. Just because he/she may be a good speaker or may have the most advertising money doesn't make him the right person to run this country.

The funding of long-term unemployment is just another diversionary issue that is less about Partisan politics than it is a facet of our nation’s TRUE condition. For those of you who quickly fault Mr. Obama, consider that what we have now is capitalism for the poor and socialism for the rich… an unwarranted transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top. Unwarranted because in our own time the working man has seen wealth enormously increased without feeling himself a sharer in the gain. He has seen the cost of commodities greatly reduced without finding it any easier to live. To the ordinary man the chances of failure are greater, and the fear of want more pressing. The anxieties and fear of losing employment are becoming greater and greater, and the fate of him who falls from his place more direful! Who needs any proof that the increase in wealth doesn’t equate to increased ease of gaining a living by honest and dedicated labor?

Corporatists have rearranged markets from Free to Fixed. Corporate lobbyists have purchased the votes of our lawmakers at all levels of government. All not only EXPORT our jobs; they IMPORT cheap and/or illegal labor. Our wars are not as much about protection from terrorism, or bringing Bin Laden to justice - as for further enrichment of the military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned us about fifty years ago! For WW11, this country beat plowshares to swords; why can we not now beat swords into clean energy production for our livelihoods and in stewardship of our one and ONLY planet?

‘Joe Sixpack’ is downtrodden by, indeed sacrificed to, the abominable and blatant greed of the powers that be. They care nothing for us or our progeny or our elders or planet! (Instead, they let us eat cake). Our brothers and sisters in poorer nations of the world suffer these injustices even more so. They get NO cake. And so it goes, on and on and on…

People, can we change the status quo -- or is it too late?

What you fail to realize is that many read the polls but to them there is only one poll which count with each of these representatives. The poll that matters is the poll taken in their electorial district. If their district is fine with their performance than they will go straight ahead with ideology. It takes a very close re-election or running behind to make them listen.

I disagree. Following your outline,

1) Breitbart was trying to make it known that claims by the NAACP that that Tea Party is racist was a distortion of the truth, when in their own meetings they have speakers who, when working to help white people, feel it would be better to send them to "someone of their own kind". Ms. Sherrod still did not help the white farmer herself, but enabled the farmer to be helped by someone else who might care more about helping white people. If that were a white gov't employee saying that about to a black person asking for help, they would have been fired, not to mention the media outrage.

Fox News never aired anything about Ms. Sherrod until after she was forced to retire. Had Fox not reported on it, the rest of the left-slanted MSM would not have mentioned it, such as the Acorn scam and anything else that detracts from Obama or the Democrats.

3) That's life. Case in point: Bush's reaction delayed a minute or so when we were attacked on 9-11 while Bush was visiting an elementary school vs. Obama's 4th day reaction to the Ft. Hood terrorist, again delayed to first give a high-five to American Indians - completely out of the blue - ??? still don't get that one.

4) All these racism accusations and racial division perpetrated by the MSM and liberal propaganda machine are first intended to divide Americans; divided we fall. Secondly intended to district the country from the failures of this administration in so many areas, but mostly the failure to work with employers to allow jobs to be created. The Financial Regulation Reform bill is another huge job killer.

Eyes and Dangle - you are examples of the kind of people that really frighten me. Can you not see that this whole incident was because this woman's speech was edited and placed completely out of context? Do you realize you are continuing to propagate misinformation?

Breitbart INTENTIONALLY misled everyone. (AGAIN! ) That was his purpose - to inflame. Sad really. But perpetuating it blindly......that's scary.

ltjdange and Eyes Open,

Have you watched the entire video yet? I suspect that you have not since what you fail to understand is that Ms. Sherrod's story was about how she overcame her racial bias to understand that helping people knows no racial difference.

You both are incorrect in your facts as 1) Ms. Sherrod did get the white farmer help, 2) Her position at the time was not as a member of the Federal Gov't USDA, 3) even the family that she did not "give the full extent of her efforts" credit's her with helping to save their farm.

My question to both of you is, why you are attempting to defend what is clearly a misrepresentation of her story? Also, while she may have started out with racial hatred and bias, she clearly reformed her thinking (It's called having a change of heart). That was the point of her story, that people can and should change.

Are either of you open to critically examining your thoughts and actions and changing them if you find that they are biased? I hope so. You could begin by finding an additional source for your information besides one which feeds your fears and hatreds.

Yes, I did see the entire video and continue to believe Ms. Sherrod has racist feelings about white people. In the video, while claiming that she had learned something, she still admitted that yes, it is about black and white but also about those who have and those who do not. She still felt the farmer acted superior to her and still takes credit for helping the farmer when it was the white lawyer who helped them. Perhaps the farmer credits her for directing him in the right direction with someone of "his own kind" who would try a little harder.

In this day and age when racial tensions are up again after being down for so long, I think people whose daily thinking is dominated by race, and people who turn every issue into a racial one (such as a white farmer being a racial issue in the first place) and constantly on the lookout to find racism WILL find it even when racism is probably absent.

I don't know if I would have fired her after 24 years had passed, but that was done by her superiors in conjunction with the NAACP and the WH. Not Fox News.

Sayitagain,,excellent post,, factual, honest and most of all not attacking! More people should try it! Thank You.

What seems to go unnoticed here is this, Breitbart, CBS, Fox , ABC, ...ETC. , Were neither elected nor appointed to any position of authoriety in this country! This administration WAS! Their inappropiate responce to this incident is the primary concern here!!

Adler,

This type of illogical partisan rhetoric is getting tiresome. If the Republicans had a super majority and decided it would be a great idea to abolish unions, outlaw abortion, give tax breaks to the rich, etc., exactly how many Democrats do you suppose would be saying anything but NO. If they didn't, their supporters would throw them overboard and find someone that would - and they would be right to do so.

The real problem is that in order for Congress to make progress, the issues have to be approached from the center with input from both sides. If one side or the other puts forth an item that is too far left or right, the other side will never support it. And, right now, because they have a super majority, the Democrats feel they can push through items that are too far left for Republicans to support - leaving them with no alternative but to say NO. If they don't, their constituents will have their heads.

It's a little difficult to say ANYTHING when all Republican lawmakers are locked out of the bill negotiations. So much for the most transparent administration in history.

JC-1439099

You would also have to apply that line of supper majority partisian stuff to the Republicans as they did the very same thing when they had the majority!

Now I don't believe in because they did we should stuff either, and that is what Adler was pointing out. Congress of late has gotten away from the give and take and we see what has happened to the country because of it.

I stated on another thread that this country thrives when Congress works together and likewise the country suffers when it does not.

We (the country) have suffered far too long due to Congress' inaction toward each other!

Eyes Open-2016840

It's a little difficult to say ANYTHING when all Republican lawmakers are locked out of the bill negotiations. So much for the most transparent administration in history.

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No one has locked the Republican lawmakers out of bill negotiations. The fact is that both parties have caucus meetings which are strictly for members of their own party. A second fact is that if your party has the majority, then your party has the chairmanship of the committees. Third and last, if your party is in the minority then you don't have the right to control 100% of any legislative content.

You and your kind fail to understand the word "MINORITY". Your party has had the "MAJORITY" for so long that you think you still are entitled to determine what "We The People" want and should have. You have to win the majority in order to be able to claim that right.

Democrats have had the majority since 2006.

And the repugicants have used the filibuster since.

eyes: Democrats have had the majority since 2006.

....and thats when Bush's veto pen started going to work

ltjdangle

the public is against everything the "majority" of congress is doing. Why would anyone work with congress who goes against public opinion. The healthcare law is the shining example.

Alot of those who don't like the healthcare law feel that it did not go far enough. Don't fool yourself into thinking that all of the opposition is because people did not want a healthcare law. Alot of people wanted more in the law.

Good point.

Unless I've missed something... exactly what is it that the military or police produce? I think your interpretation may be just a wee bit loose.

Rubbish. The police and the military have nothing to do with ownership of the "means of production," a phrase lifted from Marx's Communist Manifesto that refers to capital resources such as land, factories, equipment, etc.; nor do they have any role in the allocation of resources - you know, like food, housing, nice cars, etc.

Your ridiculous interpretation notwithstanding, Wikipedia's definition of Socialism is pretty good. Socialism is based on public ownership of capital (land, mineral reserves, factories, etc), coupled with allocation of resources by public institutions and decision makers. This is quite different from the capitalist system that we supposedly have in place, which is based on private ownership of capital and allocation of benefits by private institutions and decision makers.

So, I think that anyone who is running for public office by advocating socialist policies like government control of our health care system, should have to answer this question: Do you believe in private property?

Saul...Saul, is that you? Now Mr. Alinsky will tell us all how it should be!!!

Most Americans are upset that the Democrat controlled Congress is passing huge bills without reading them first. Nancy Pelosi even told Americans that we have to pass the bill before we find out what's in it.

Organized religion has been demonized by the left in order to push taxpayer funded abortions (rendering Obama's Executive Order worthless, as well as his word), and to promote the homosexual lifestyle as normal and healthy. The same anti-religion sentiment, pro-homosexuality and pro-promiscuity have been pushed thru our public school textbooks teaching children to question the validity of religion. And that's not the only garbage being programmed into our children's minds by the liberal NEA.

Personally, I think it is disgusting and requires a low-life mentality to target our children for political purposes when they aren't even mature enough to think for themselves. Children automatically believe what they see in textbooks, and they trust in what an adult teacher is telling them.

Perhaps organized religion and people like you are the problem?

Chris Gilliard, are you saying that children should be targeted and programmed to agree with you, instead of letting them learn the truth and grow up to be able to make decisions for themselves?

Are you saying that I am the problem because I disagree with you? So then you DON'T agree that healthy rational discussion by all sides is fair? No wonder we are in the mess we are in.

Scott Trent

When you have the Rethugs working against everything that the Democrats try to put forth....well that right there should explain everything. You know the Dems work for the middle class and the Rethugs work for the rich only.

That should explain alot of what is going on!!!!

Do you read the newspaper or watch the news much????

I'm so glad to see that Obama is doing so much for the middle class as he promised during his campaign! We haven't hit bottom yet, so he's still quite busy. Very soon the middle class will reach the poor level.

As for the Republicans giving tax breaks and such to the rich - that's really just another demonization tactic the liberals started. Conservatives believe in providing a business and employer-friendly environment. When a business is over-taxed and over-regulated, and even penalized for hiring (new health care bill), they lose their profits and cannot/will not hire. When businesses are encouraged to profit and expand their businesses, businesses are in need of more employees to handle their expanding business, and they hire. You call it favoring the rich, but I've never had a poor person offer me a job. Have you? This is what Obama and the Democrat controlled congress do not understand - well, all liberals, which is why this country is where it is today.

Eyes open--- Have you ever read about "Starve the Beast" ????? It's hair raising!

The holdup is called the republican/teabagger party!!!!!!

How could republicans be the holdup? They don't have the majority. Congress has not needed any republican votes to pass anything! The problem is that even some Democrats do not vote for the bills, but the liberal propaganda machine would have you believe that Repubs are the party of no. It's so funny how you guys contradict yourselves and get so angry that you start insulting people because you can't defend your own opinions.

TRR Barboursville, (I grew up in Mingo County and I`d like to know, why do my former fellow hillbillies always vote Democrat?)

Give this a shot. Name ONE THING the Republicans have stopped this year or last year. The Democrats have the majority and have passed everything they have wanted and I might add, against the will of the majority of the people? My friends ask me all the time. Why does WV people who still live up there always vote and always vote Democrat? All I can say is, I know... it`s embarrassing...

Like I said. Where are the Jobs? Where is the growth. We are living in a Democratic Utopia right now. They have been getting their way with everything and yet... no jobs. No growth. It`s party time in DC while we struggle with a recession and yet the Ruling Class is living large. Why does this not bother you?

I believe the Military, Police and Small Business leads the polls as they are the most transparent and therefore the most trusted, unlike our Government. obama promised transparency and bipartisan politics, and has never followed through on either. There have been more decisions made behind closed doors than ever before. It took almost a year before he even met with Republican leaders, no wonder they are bitter. I am happy to see that someone finally brought up the fact that the Democrats were in charge for the last two years of Bush's administration. If anyone can remember the debate between obama and McCain, they will remember McCain asking obama why he voted against financial regulation in late 2006, and he replied, "because there was too much pork". The bill stated "if we don't pass these regulations we risk facing the possible collapse of our major financial institutions". Guess who one of the co-sponsors was - McCain. obama said too much pork, but the first two bills he signed had over 14,000 earmarks. Where was the "I will go through each bill and veto, by line item, all of pork barrel spending". There should be a way to limit the congressional terms, that way congress wouldn't be worry so much about getting re-elected and do their job.

I say "Don't like it Leave", but this is meant for the country I have always been proud of; I'm still proud of the country but not the current administration or congress. Bag all of them and start over!

We're talking about a poll where the results are averaged and compared with different answers coming from a mixture of people. Simply because the military and police averaged out on top IN COMPARISON to other industries, doesn't mean we are headed for a police state.

Harry,

Good question. In the case of Health Care, it is hard to fault them for opposing the bill when 60% of the public were against it.

We can't very well complain that our representatives don't do what we want and then excoriate them when they listen to us. And, that is one of the biggest obstacles that Democrats will have to overcome during the mid-terms. Even though the people indicated overwhelmingly that they didn't want it, they put it through anyway.

When our representatives fail to listen to the people, they end up with 11% approval ratings.

The public didn't get a chance to embrace the health care bill - not even congress read it before voting on it. The public was also outraged that the other half of congressional lawmakers were locked out of the HC bill negotiations.

The public simply wants to throw the whole thing out and start over. Hopefully Democrats in Congress will show some integrity the 2nd time around.

Speak only for your half of the "public" thank you.

Oops, sorry Chris. I meant the majority of the public.

The head coach always gets the blame because he is in control and will get fired at the end of the season.

You're using what was programmed into your mind by the public schools, and I'm sorry to say that you were lied to. The surplus out of Clinton's term was created by the budget being balanced by a Republican majority in congress. When Bush became president, 9-11 wiped out the surplus, and as you know, the markets dipped and things went crazy for a while. But Bush STILL brought us back to 4.6% unemployment and the DOW was at 14,000. In the last 2 yrs of Bush's term he had a Democrat majority in congress, and they created several bills, one of which created AUTOMATIC annual increases in all the entitlement programs. Bush should have never signed those bills but he was trying to work in a bipartisan manner. We have maintained a Democrat majority since then, evident by the deficit continually growing ever since.

Okey Ben, let's play your silly game! Name ONE, not two or three, just ONE bill that he has tried to pass that was rejected by the conservatives that would have created a reasonable amount of Private Sector jobs at a reasonable price-per-job ratio!!! Just ONE!!!

There ha been no other leader that has divided the Congress more then Nancy Pelosi. She has polarized the House more then any person in modern history, and the opinion polls prove it. The best we can hope for in November is a Nancy Pelosi that has to step down from her job. The second best we can hope for is a Nancy that has to reach across the isle for the votes necessary to pass a bill, any bill. As for Harry Reid, even when members of his own party balk at a bill he is pushing, Harry still gets up in front of the microphone and blames it on the Republicans. That's true leadership, if your the captain of the Titanic. Harry has made an art of using federal tax dollars to openly bribe other senators to vote for a bill he is pushing. He has set a new low in the term "leadership".

Well said Chris! Pelosi comments, ok? Republicans have only one motive: Destroy the Democrats hampering their success and limit President Obama to one term by any and all means possible. They may have problems though, The Bush years, the Republicans in place now and their support system (Tea Party, Brietbart's integrity and gossip network FOX FAUX NEWS).

The best thing the President and Congress can do to unify the country is to create a Jobs Bill. Worst Unemployment since the Great Depression. Our Economy can move nowhere until more people are able to earn a living.