I can't help but grieve over the incredible mis-allocation of resources that this pointless war has cost us. Here is a cartoon that shows the madness.
Eileen and I were driving home the other day on Interstate Highways, and the road surface was ugly and rough. We both complained about it and then realized that if we had just a fraction of the total dollars being spent on this bullshit war, we could pave the road to the smoothness of a baby's ass. Of course there are myriad other examples: schools, bridges, health care, social security, arts and music, and so on. With this war grinding on, and the cost of it, I wish I had the nerve to withh0ld my tax payments. But, at this stage in my life, I'm not ready to face heavy fines and jail time for such a stance. So, this leads me again to my support of Obama. I want the nation to evolve to the point where I view my tax payments as "dues" that I pay to make my life and the lives of others more enriched.
For example, Eileen and I are fortunate to live in a development that has a home owners association that pays for keeping up the common grounds, providing us additional security, and other benefits. The payments we make are termed "dues" and I HAPPILY pay them for the services I realize for the payment. My dream is to pay my federal taxes as if they were "dues" to advance the common good for our country. Instead, I pay my federal taxes with shame. Shame over what my dollars are paying for, and shame over my cowardice that prevents me from withholding payment.
~ tom
2 comments:
It seems like the 3 trillion dollar amount is big enough to finally get people's attention.
Ironically, it comes just at a time when the Pentagon released a report saying there was no Iraq-Al Qaeda alliance before the war.
It seems that someone named Douglas Feith in the State Dept. cooked the books before the war.
I hope Obama can pull it off. but the opposition is unfortunely doing a pretty good job of keeping his campaign on defence and the media on "gotcha" alert. His campaign has the money to come back more quickly and do its own positive ads countering the "no experience" raps etc. Like I said way back when he decided to run, there's some thjings he has in common with Adlai Stevenson, who was also a soft spoken man, a reasoned and intellectually articulate man, with the better agenda for our country. But the Republicans ate him for breakfast, not just with Ike's winner of WWII popularity but with lots of below the radar media infusions of doubts about Steveson's abilities because he wasn't tough enough or regular enough, too much of an egghead, a dreamer, etc. Obama has to be careful and be able to squelch the innuendo as well as the slime and direct attacks.
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