Remember this when you vote!

This is too true to be very funny

The next time you hear a politician use the

word "billion" in a casual manner, think about

whether you want the "politicians" spending

YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,

but one advertising agency did a good job of

putting that figure into some perspective in

one of its releases.


A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were

living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and

20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division . .

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?

A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of

New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you

each get $516,528.

B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in

New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family

gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D.C .. HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??

Tax his land,
Tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirts,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.

Tax his booze,
Tax his beers,
If he cries,
Tax his tears.

Tax his bills,
Tax his gas,
Tax his notes,
Tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.
If he hollers,
Tax him more,
Tax him until he's good and sore.

Tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
"Taxes drove me to my doom!"

And when he's gone,
We won't relax,
We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax<>Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,
Telephone Fede ral, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to press

1 for English.

I hope this goes around THE
USA at least 100 times

What the heck happened?????

The Economics Behind Illegal Immigration

What makes America great? Many things but one of the best qualities of America is written on the Statue of Liberty,

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

This is what immigrants would see when they entered the United States through Ellis Island in New York. For the most part this is true to this day. Many different people from many different nationalities apply to come to America for a better life. Sadly a lot of those people are denied an opportunity to come live the American dream because of bureaucratic red tape.

Immigration is necessary for America to continue to thrive and be the land of opportunity. But illegal immigration is threatening this once great tradition of America. It threatens this tradition because of the economic burden it places on natural resources, municipal services and welfare.

In 1970 there were 203 million people in the United States. In 1973 the American people moved into below replacement level fertility, which means that we have fewer than 2.1 children per woman. This means that the American population will eventually begin to stabilize. But what we saw is that population after this point still continued to grow. Scientist began to do some calculations and figured with the "baby boomer" generation and "baby boomer echo" that the American population would reach 247 million by 2030.




We all know that those numbers are not true numbers because we currently have more than 350 million people living within our borders. What the census bureau said was that because of immigration our country has doubled its growth. This means that as a country we have had to double all of the infrastructure spending in this country. We have had to build twice as many schools, twice as many streets, twice as many sewage plants as well as any other municipal services including garbage and electricity.

In California the State Department of Education claims that everyday of the year they have to build a brand new elementary school to keep up with the population growth as long as the current immigration policy continues.

The census bureau has stated that if Congress does not lower the immigration standards currently in place then by the middle of the next century our children and grandchildren will see a population growth that will suffocate the current citizens leaving them overtaxed and undereducated.

The real question is, Is immigration an effective tool? America currently takes in about one million immigrants a year. 25% of the immigrants in 1980 came from Mexico. The average Mexican makes about one tenth annual salary that the average American makes which we would consider poor. How many other cultures in the world though are more deserving then Mexicans? That number is 4.6 billion people. Lets extrapolate this number that is 4.6 with 8 zeros behind it. That is roughly 76% of the world that are more deserving then the average Mexican. So if immigration is a policy to help the impoverished third world countries around the world then that means that we as a country are missing out on helping more than 80% of people that are worse off than us.

So what do we do? Shut down our borders? Forget about third world nations? Continue with our current policy? No because we can continue to let in one million immigrants a year or we can help them develop their own nations. Since the 1950's the thought that America should take the overpopulation of the third world Latin American countries but can that really work? No, because last year we took roughly one million people and Latin American countries produced an additional 80 million people births over deaths. This year we will take a million people and this year Latin America will produce more than 80 million people. This trend will continue and there is no way that America can ever get ahead of this except by helping the third world Latin American countries create a better life for its citizens.

The truth of it is that America could take millions of people a year and ruin the social fabric and social services and it still wouldn't impact the explosive population growth and the standard of living would decrease significantly.

This may be the most important part of this. At our current population more than 40% of our rivers and streams are not fishable or swimable. What are we going to do when our population doubles in ten years due to current immigration standards. Over 70% of our ground water in America is being utilized what happens when our population increases by another 40% in 10 years? Will we be out of water? What happens when we cannot produce enough electricity to keep up with demand? Wait a second that is already happening. Rolling blackouts in California. Record droughts in the Southeast. Lakes are drying up left and right. How much more can America withstand? How do we change this?

We need to tell congress to change the immigration levels to the levels of 1965. We need to reward the businesses that hire legal immigrants and punish those recruit illegal immigrants. We need to tighten border security and bring over immigrants from all over the impoverished Earth instead of just one region. Leave a comment.

FINALLY I CAN GET SOME WORK DONE!

Stumble! - Helping people be unproductive at work since 2004

A Child in Need!

Lets face life is not fair. Obstacles must be overcome, difficulties must be met and successes received but every once in a while we all need a helping hand. Pride in a lot of cases prevents people from reaching out and asking for help. In the case of my coworker Leslie Brown she has no choice but to ask for help, her daughters health and possibly her life depends on it.

Working in an open office you overhear many phone conversations some you want to hear and others you would rather not. In the case of Leslie Brown I try to ignore her telephone conversations but being that we share office space it is very difficult. Today I overheard a conversation and it made feel sympathy and anger. She was talking to a hospital's billing department about paying on her daughter's bill. She was trying to make payment arrangements with them to pay in monthly installments and they would not accept her payment only telling her it was not enough and there was nothing they could do.

Leslie's story is one of courage and has been told, as she puts it, a million times. She is a single mother of two children, Micha and Bailey. She receives no child support and no government aid. She is very educated, though has only an associates to this point. Her education comes more from life experiences. Her daughter Bailey was born with a heart condition and every year she must undergo test that are very costly. Our employer does not provide group medical insurance stating that the cost is too much to shoulder. Instead, at the beginning of 2008, the employer will provide $200 for medical insurance reimbursement. This does not help Leslie because if she obtains her own insurance Bailey will not be covered due to her condition being preexisting. Only group coverage will cover preexisting conditions. Leslie worked hard in obtaining coverage for her daughter through the Texas Risk Pool but alas coverage is far too expensive even through them. Her total payments would be $600 plus the cost of deductibles and co-payments.

So what does she need? Help and a solution to this annual problem. She wants a cure for her daughter. She wants a way to go to work and not feel the burden of undue stress knowing her daughter is taken care of. She wants what all of us want, a better life for her children. Political conjecture and health care reform are great topics of conversation but what Ms. Brown needs is an answer now. If any of you can help in anyway then please contact me via e-mail with any words of advice or suggestions or just leave a comment. Thank you and God Bless!

Christmas Traditions - Origins

December 25th -

The idea to celebrate Christmas on December 25 originated in the 4th century. The Catholic Church wanted to eclipse the festivities of a rival pagan religion that threatened Christianity's existence. The Romans celebrated the birthday of their sun god, Mithras during this time of year. Although it was not popular, or even proper, to celebrate people's birthdays in those times, church leaders decided that in order to compete with the pagan celebration they would themselves order a festival in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Although the actual season of Jesus' birth is thought to be in the spring, the date of December 25 was chosen as the official birthday celebration as Christ's Mass so that it would compete head on with the rival pagan celebration. Christmas was slow to catch on in America. The early colonists considered it a pagan ritual. The celebration of Christmas was even banned by law in Massachusetts in colonial days.


Plants -

Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, druids used mistletoe to celebrate the coming of winter. They would decorate their home due to the believed healing powers. Scandinavians also used Mistletoe in their homes and it was used to honor their goddess of love, Frigga. This may be why today we still kiss under the mistletoe. Mistletoe was banned for sometime by the Christian churches and was replaced with holly. Today we generally see the use of both of at least plastic replicas.

Poinsettias are native Mexican plants and the plants were named after the U.S. first ambassador to Mexico Joel Poinsett. The Mexicans used this plant to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem. The plants were not used for Christmas decor until the 1830's.

Christmas Trees -

The Christmas tree made its origins in Germany in the 16th century. Roses, apples, and colored paper first decorated fir trees inside as well as outside the homes. Many legends hold that Martin Luther the protestant reformer was the first to light candles placed on the branches of the trees. The idea of the Christmas tree didn't take hold in Britain until the early 19th century but was brought to America by German settlers in the early 1800's.

Xmas -

Xmas is consider by many Christians as a sign of disrespect, because it replaces Christ with X therefore taking Christ out of Christmas. The actual origins come from the 16th century. Xristos is Greek for Christ and many Europeans used X in place of Xristos and called the holiday Xmas, we assume it is because Xristosmas is a little hard to pronounce or because it is a totally different word altogether.

The Candy Cane -

Candy canes have been around for many centuries, but not until around 1903 that they were decorated with stripes and bent into the shape of a cane. They handed out during church services to keep the children quiet. One story that is often told about the origin of the candy cane is as follows: That candy makers wanted a candy that would exemplify the meaning of Christmas. What better way then to have a piece of candy made in the shape of a "J". Also the colors represent purity(white) and three red stripes to represent the Holy Trinity and the pain inflicted upon Jesus.

Santa Clause -

The original Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, was born in Turkey in the 4th century. He was very pious from an early age, devoting his life to Christianity. He became widely known for his generosity for the poor. But the Romans held him in contempt. He was imprisoned and tortured. But when Constantine became emperor of Rome, he allowed Nicholas to go free. Constantine became a Christian and convened the Council of Nicaea in 325. Nicholas was a delegate to the council. He is especially noted for his love of children and for his generosity. He is the patron saint of sailors, Sicily, Greece, and Russia. He is also, of course, the patron saint of children. The Dutch kept the legend of St. Nicholas alive. In 16th century Holland, Dutch children would place their wooden shoes by the hearth in hopes that they would be filled with a treat. The Dutch spelled St. Nicholas as Sint Nikolaas, which became corrupted to Sinterklaas, and finally, in Anglican, to Santa Claus. In 1822, Clement C. Moore composed his famous poem, "A Visit from St. Nick," which was later published as "The Night Before Christmas." Moore is credited with creating the modern image of Santa Claus as a jolly fat man in a red suit.

Gift Giving -

Several months after Jesus Christ was born, wise men came and presented gifts to Him. “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

Gift Giving actually goes back before the birth of Christ during Roman times. Romans would celebrate the New Year by giving each other gifts. But the gift giving tradition that we know today dates back to Victorian England. and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh"

The Victorians, who brought a renewed warmth and spirit to Christmas after it had experienced a long period of decline, made the idea of family part of the celebration. Friendliness and charity filled many hearts during their Christmas season, so giving gifts was natural. The ultimate reason for giving a gift was as an expression of kindness, a sentiment that went nicely with the historical tradition of the holiday.

The Victorians surrounded the act of gift giving with a great deal of ingenuity and merriment: simply tearing into a cache of wrapped boxes would have been to miss the point. Far more thought and preparation than that were in order during the holiday season. They had cobweb parties, which was a lot of messy fun. Each family member was assigned a color, then shown to a room crisscrossed with yarn of various colors. Each person was to follow an assigned color through the web of yarn until he or she reached the present tied to the end.