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"Forget the War. It?s Wal-Mart That Divides Us" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2008-11-21 12:26:14

There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground out there. Since Independent Street launched a month ago the most passionate reader response centered on about Wal-Mart where I suggested the retailer hasn’t been all bad for small businesses. I figured there’d be a few comments for and against that premise. “I love the way everyone jumps on the hate Wal-Mart bandwagon. If you dont want to shop there fine shop somewhere else…. One fact of business is that people vote with their pocketbook. Where I live the “small old mom and pop downtowns of yesteryear” were already gone before Wal-Mart ever opened their first store. Most mom and pop stores are good they just arent competitive. America is about opportunity and that includes Wal-Mart folks. I wonder how many of you bandwagon Walmart haters screaming “Buy American” are driving foreign cars? Why do you think that is??” “Sam Walton’s vision was one thing to serve the under-served. Today’s Wal-Mart is greed-driven…. The mouth-breathing idiots who shop for the lowest price quality notwithstanding help Wal-Mart drive independent businesses under. Those business ownersneighbors taxpayers friends churchgoersfade into oblivion leaving behind the Wal-Mart monster to suck the business life out of communities sweeping Wal-Mart deposits daily to a bank in Bentonville so not even the local banks benefit from Wal-Mart money. Now having been instrumental in driving manufacturing to China in search of the cheapest price we’re beginning to see what the price really is: poisioning our children and our economy. Wal-Mart is pure evil.” Wal-Mart opponents no doubt will see this as another example of the retail titan run amok. And Wal-Mart’s defenders will say the company’s just a poster child for tactics used by many big companies. So why do people care so much about Wal-Mart? Most of us have stepped foot in a Kmart yet I doubt a conversation about Blue-Light specials would strike such a nerve. Certainly being the biggest sets you up for scrutiny. But there’s an undertone out there suggesting that the “Wal-Mart” issue is as much about how we live as where we choose to shop. Unions play a part in the Wal Mart hate as does anti-Southern bias by theEast Coast “Beautiful People” and 1960’s throwbacks but by and large Wal Mart hate is capitalism hate. The haters are people who claim to like capitalism until someone comes too successful. That’s when they want Wal Mart’s (or Microsoft’s or industrial conglomerates of the past) to have their success regulated. Anti-monopoly laws are good and foster competition but further regulation of success has a name that most of the Wal Mart haters are reluctant to use–Socialism. For the most part. I think Ayn Rand put forth a greedy,selfish philosophy but the anti-Walmarters sound like those fools in “Atlas Shrugged” who wanted limits on the number of books published or the number of goods one company could sell and they were the only idiots who could make the heroes of that book look good. Here’s truth - Walmart took advantage of a tough economic time in this country using a business strategy that grew the company based upon meeting the financial capabilities of most of the United States. The fact that they saw it and their competitors didn’t remains one source of upset. Another is Walmart’s stringent rules and policies. Contending with those as a vendor to Walmart is not easy but neither is keeping a company going and meeting the needs of the public with products that sit to long on the shelves and don’t generate money. How long would any one of us stay at a job that doesn’t pay us? Finally. Walmart combats tremendous criticism with little effectual pr. So all of the GOOD that they undertake rarely is heard and certainly can not compete with all of the negative press Walmart receives. The largest target always gets shot at first. On the flip side wouldn’t the public rather have Walmart cutting prices verses increasing them in order to add to their pr campaign. I believe the disgruntled Walmart contingent should do a bit more to understand the full picture. When a child wants a cookie and a mother can’t afford to buy that cookie for her child anywhere else but at Walmart (reality for some) unless those naysayers want to buy that cookie for her. I’d suggest they sling their arrows elsewhere. I am not a Walmart fan although my wife loves to shop there. But blaming Walmart for driving mauacturing jobs off shore is as much simple minded intellectual laziness as blaming it all on the unions. Manufacturing in the United States is all but dead for most industries and rather than actualy try to stp the bleeding we have been too busy for the past fifty years creating bogormen out of which ever side of the fence we didn’t happen to be on. People shop at Walmart for teh same reason they shop anywhere-to get the most te ycan for the least amount of their hard earned dollars. The retail companies that figure out how to do that the best will be the most successful. Wall Mart is the image of the land of opportunities and is true American Icon that has not only beneffited the US peolpe but has expanded into other counties in the world thus generating more jobs outside the US and giving the local consumers a chance to buy better products at lower prices. Competition will always exist and is the basis of our democratic and capitalistic system. They also have the responsability to their stock holders and have to do what is best for them as any other responsible company. I don`t think is fair to criticize a company,when you are shopping on it. I live in a foreing country where Walmart will soon be oppening their first store,and every one I talked to is very exited about it. Nobody is perfect,and neither is Walmart but if you balance the good and the bad that this company has brougth to us all it is still way ahead. Walmart is part of bold experiment to see if you can move to third world levels of income inequality and class stratification (immobility) while preserving first world levels of productivity. I’d argue that the jury is still out on this question but the recent slowing of US productivity growth may be a warning sign that the future of this attempt isn’t looking so bright anymore. I’m guessing that it’s the inevitable corruption that massive inequality brings that is the real limiting factor on how far you can push this American version of “all power to the (corporate) soviets”. When workers have no dignity at work it’s hard for them to imagine being citizens outside of work. And without a sufficient supply of real citizens to limit the corruption of government it’s hard to imagine the US retaining its economic position. We over-over consume and Walmart obliges us. We drive cars too big and Auto-cos oblige us we want more and more sports and the sprots industry obliges us so long as we can borrow and spend intelligent vendors will oblige us. If we become sensible they will also or perish. Walmart is a good company. The problem is that it is too good of a company. It is such a good business that it is monopolizing industries by driving out competition. Then it uses agressive tactics to avoid taxes hire cheap labor and make the government subsidize it’s labor cost they purchase the cheapest merchandize by buying products from China or making it’s US suppliers cut their costs. That in turn reduces supplier profits and their payrolls go down. Not to mention that the profits Walmart makes do not get recirculated into the community. Once the circulation of money can’t keep up with Walmart’s costs then it packs up and leaves town and leaves the community empty. That is why Walmart is bad for the U. S. Some studies have pegged the economic benefit produced by Wal-Mart at an average of $895 for every person in America. That translates into tens of billions of dollars that can go toward payments on new cars home-remodeling projects a dream vacation or zillion other uses that in turn help keep the economy vibrant and keep other people employed in other lines of work. Would living your own life like that be harder than just taking each day as it comes? You bet. But if youre going to live you might as well squeeze as much reward out of it as you can. And if youre better off for doing so thank the late great Sam Walton. Dennis Boone. The Kansas City Star1/24/2007The Urban League is committed to revitalizing Providence’s neighborhoods. This new Wal-Mart is going to be a strong partner in that revitalization bringing all the things we need - good jobs convenient and affordable shopping and strong support for community programs.” Urban League President Dennis Langley. Pawtucket Times1/23/2007San Diegans like the vast majority of Americans frequently shop at Wal-Mart. The combination of low prices choice and convenience is a winner here as it has been throughout the nation.” Erik Bruvold president and chief executive officer of The San Diego Institute for Policy Research. San Diego Source1/23/2007“[A new Wal-Mart] is going to enhance the quality of life of our residents and it will be an anchor to a blighted area.” Councilwoman Janet Nguyen. Los Angeles Times1/1/2007“We need [the proposed Wal-Mart super center]. This is an opportunity for someone to get a job. We’re talking impacting lives and lives are more important than traffic.” The liberal as usual want to take the wrong approach to the problem. The problem is that a tooth filling costs $300 here whereas a doctor 10 times better qualified and with better equipment does it in India for $10. The true solution is to aggressively attack costs like Walmart / Southwest did. But for all the bleeding heart talk liberals do not want to make healthcare more accessible to the poor people. They just want others to bear the cost for it without doing anything to improve efficiencies in the system. The liberal brigade hates Walmart because is shows how fake and hollow their claims of social justice are. Unions running down productivity do not create jobs or enhance productivity leading to lower cost. Aggressive free market practices do. Wal Mart shook the retailing world by harnessing the power of computing and data communication to bring efficiencies undreamed of as recently as the seventies and eighties. They are a prime example of unrelenting march of progress that make the quality of life better here in the US and now globally. The benefit of their success has been to save rational and sane consumers significant amount of monies thereby lifting our standard of living. Liberals are mad at Wal Mart because they are delivering to America what the Democrats purport to bring us namely access to middle and upper middle class standard of living. This is ultimately an argument of choice which is what I believe is part of the foundation of this American civilization. No one is forced to shop work eat drink sleep etc at Wal-Mart. Just like no one is forced to sell thier land approve their developments or sell their products there. People are choosing all these things. No one said life was easy. It is the great among us who “choose” to rise above perceived difficulty and make something great of themselves. That’s exactly what Sam Walton. Bill Gates. Andrew Carnegie etc all did. If you don’t like Wal-Mart come up with the next best thing and drive them out of business. Regulating them is just saying that you are either jealous of their success or you realize you’ll never achieve success on your own so you’ll take it from someone who has. “Economic nationalism” to remain a hot button issue.” Makes you want to hear Lee Scott recite the Pledge of Allegiance sing “God Bless America” and “The Star Spangled Banner”. Anyone think the National Anthem will ever again cause tears to come to Lee Scott’s eyes as he hugs Global Labor Arbitrage gives the finger to WalMart’s impoverished “associates” and does Rockette style kick dances arms akimbo with the Chinese communists? So… PBS ran a documentary posing the question “is WalMart good for America”? Now that’s a nice question for a bunch of rich liberals feeding at the public trough to ask. I’d say I get more bang from my taxpayer dollar from WalMart than I do from PBS. And am I to understand that some “public servant” in Washington has found that the average WalMart Super Center costs its host town $400,000 per year? And who gave that largess away pray tell? Why “public servants” who could not resist the temptation to fleece the public they serve so that they could crow about all those swell jobs at re-election time. The same jobs the sandalistas are whining about… y’know the ones that lack union cards. If you don’t like WalMart don’t shop there. If you don’t like Southwest don’t fly it. If you want to unionize let people opt out. Oh that’s right democrats are insulted by the notion of personal responsibility. Liberals are fundamentally allergic to liberty. The Kommisar has ruled that you shall buy from mom and pop and YOU SHALL LIKE IT. Let’s talk business models and timing. Wal-Mart started in the right place at the right time. Just as rural American families were trying hard to emulate the Cleavers. Wal-Mart offered affordable products that while not top-shelf would suffice. Maybe some rural Arkansas family could not afford high-quality shoes but all their kids could have NEW shoes and this was no small attraction. Even though the marketplace is not as simple as it was 45 years ago. Wal-Mart still thrives not only all over America but in Canada. Mexico. China etc. How is this so? The Wal-Mart of today is a procurement and logistics engine. Bigger and better than anyone anywhere including the government. Just ask the residents of New Orleans or Gulfport who got there first. FEMA or Wal-Mart. Not only does Wal-Mart not compete with Mom and Pops it really does not compete with any company in the U. S. Much like Exxon-Mobil just not another equal to go up against. Wal-Mart looks like a retail store but it is much more. It is part of the international infrastructure. At base it’s clear to me that the Wal-Mart haters have a basic distaste for capitalism. They’ve decided take it out on the largest most visible target. If Wal-Mart stumbled and became #2 or #3 then the haters would jump on the new #1. Whether these haters know it or not they are embracing collectivism. They have egalitarian or aesthetic issues with raw capitalistic success and want to see the big winner taken down a peg. They should come out of the closet and admit their true politics instead of fabricating bogus criticisms like “not respecting customers or enslaving employees”. This terminology reeks of Marxism. They should also leave the rest of us alone to exercise our right to shop or work where we want. Better yet move to Cuba or North Korea and see where collectivism really ends up. As long as Wal-Mart obeys the applicable laws they should be left alone to fail or succeed in the free market. My only criticism of Wal-Mart is that they don’t agressively defend their rights to do business in our capitalistic system and stop trying to appease their critics. We need to look very carefully at the corporatism efforts that have been made and are currently being made again through Bush et al to bridge the ‘war on terrorism’ into a religious war between ‘Christian/American/AIPAC interests and selective Islamic noncompliant antiwestern antiSemitic Sunni/Shia Muslims. “Islamofacisism”. “Iranian nuclear threat”. “Iranian Revoluntionary Guard as a terror organization” and other language are being perpetrated within certain media (especially FOX News) to create another enemy and continue conditioning a pretext for starting another ‘hot’ war this time with Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (backed by a group called the Abadgaran) has been demonized as the new Hitler by the Bushco propaganda guild as the lightning rod justification for continued blood soaked western cowboy corporate misadventures and involvements. If there were no oil/gas or defense contractor interests in the Middle East does anybody think Bushco America would be out and about on this campaign in Iraq trying to provoke/start a war with Iran other than the Reverend Limbaugh? FOX News is reporting that this week 10/21/2007 - 10/28/2007 is suddenly known as ‘Islamic radical awareness week’. Pastor David Jeremiah here in San Diego (Shadow Mountain Community Church and Turning Point Radio and Television Ministry) in his Sunday sermon on the 21st issued a proclamation of enemy identification on Iran and quoted FOX News twice in his sermon entitled “The Rise of Radical Islam.” Clearly it showed cover for and capitulation to an ineptly murderous political calamity and fraud from White House policy in Iraq and the Middle East by ignoring completely the ‘love of money’ Bushco adventures for oil company defense contractor and financial demands. Bush’s desperate bloodstained corporatism is at best fronting for those interests. The pulpit silence on this ‘love of money’ psychopathy is deafening and severely disappointing to many if not most Christians everywhere. Omitted from these sermons and policies are any admission of American government wrongdoing in the Middle East or oil company and Bush family friendship with the Saudi Royal family a Sunni Islamic sect that found protective differentiation in Jeremiah’s comments about Islamic Sunni/Shitte identification of the ‘enemy’. In these arrogant declarations of American and corporate sinlessness we now have pastors being hustled again into a sick and dying U. S globalist jingoism a deadly ‘acceptance by silence’ Christian reconstructionist Manifest Destiny without the relief of history and knowledge. The CIA and British involvements in Iran including the installation of the Shah and SAVAK and of course the western complicit manner with Saddam Hussein as a dictator of convenience are forgotten truths. In Iraq for these western interests it was billions in weapons contracts and a major proxy war fought against Iran funded in part by the Saudi Royal family. That does not find any mention in Ezekiel 38 or other Biblical juice on the imminent return of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t until after Saddam started making weapons contracts ($30 billion) with the Russians years ago instead of western American and British defense contractors that he needed to be disposed of and the rapture’s mention needing to be rolled out again. Also conveniently omitted from these sermons and policy announcements will be the United States giving Iran their first fully fueled nuclear reactor located in Tehran or the overthrow of its democratically elected government of Dr Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 by the CIA. Any Baptist preachers want to remember now that Osama bin Laden is a member of the Saudi Royal family? Anybody want to cover the real news that the Saudi Arabian Islamic Sunni “royal family” wants nuclear weapons with Bushco acquiesence? Do you really believe the grace of God is with Bush in his intoxicated Iraq policies? Do you really think we have forgotten these things or that 9/11 was actually a reaping and sowing event for the United States of America? No wonder the nation is divided 70/30 against Bushco on Iraq and that…not WalMart was the defining issue in the 2006 elections. WalMart is however symptomatic of this same Bushco attitude against Christian righteousness and decency as a close second on the ‘love of money’ psychopath meter. Hey. WalMart haters. I just got back from volunteering at Qualcomm stadium with the evacuees from the wildfires. A bunch of 18 wheelers from WalMart pulled up and provided all sorts of free stuff. They beat FEMA here just like in New Orleans. Lets hear your next complaint. Comment by Ann - San Diego - October 23. 2007 at 11:30 pm Yea right “Ann”. As soon as I get back from my relief work the first thing I do is go online and glorify Walmart for its donations. You internet propaganda fraud typical of the Walmart reputation ‘aroma stink therapy’ efforts everywhere brought to you by the Walmart/Edelman ‘war room’ internet fakes in Bentonville. It’s great to see a discussion that brings so many issues surrounding Wal-Mart and other big box stores (labor rights sweatshops environmental impacts effects on local communities etc.) out into the open! If you fall on the anti-big box side of the fence. I’ve heard about a great activism opportunity that’s coming up soon: the International Day of Action against Supermarkets and Big Box Retailers which is happening on November 17th. People can go to to get more into or to sign up for it. The idea is that individuals and community-based groups will get together and plan a project that rallies people around whatever their specific issues with big box stores are. There are a lots of projects already being planned in several countries and I encourage my fellow readers who take the anti-big box position to get ivolved too. Whether you’re concerned about local economies workers in the US and/or around the world environmental issues or something else let’s join together and take our objections beyond the blog page. I am a college student majoring in accounting so this thing about capitalism and business opportunities is old. People are right don’t shop at WalMart plus people aren’t forced to work there. Many points are made but there are issues that I feel have to be addressed more clearly and they are first does WalMart really save people money and second are WalMarts good for the commuinity. First Does walmart save people money. I would say no reason being is if you have TO provide insurance for your employees but they can’t afford the payments every two weeks that comes out of the checks they are uninsured. Will they go to the doctor when symptons come up no. They will wait till the symptoms have become worse and they have to be rushed to the emergency room. Who pays for the uninsured person in the emersency room we do the ones who have insurance so does this company save you money? In my community in the sixties there was a plant that paid people good and employed many people in the community. I would have to imagine that people had to say that the chemicals they were using were hurting the employees then you had those that most likely said stop complaining you aren’t forced to work there. Well the company left town and people became sick babies were born with defects come to find out the company had contaminated the ground with arsnic. Well how many children have been exposed to the lead paint on toys. Good Capitalisnm right what ever it takes for the cheapest product. You can only go so cheap until you get just plain crap. What about the recall of topps hamburgers they made wal mart frozen patties. If you will do some investigating look at your old circulars from the last 3 months you will see that Wal mart had Topps Hamburgers on sale two or three weeks before the government recall. They new the meat was contaminated. What about the dog food. I am here to say that you can only go so cheap until you are producing things which are illegal. Read the wsj article from a few months ago why the shrimp farmers in asia paid the Shrimp farmers in the united states millions of dollars to have the government not investigate where the shrimp they were importing in was being raised. The shrimp were being raised in countries that the US prohibits from getting food from. Why is it cheap cause the foreigners can put what ever chemicals in it they want. The united states has regulations and guidlines that is why walmart is being sued every time they turn around for having employees work off the clock. If walmart would mind there peas and cues they could at least give every employee a dollar raise. Remember theRE needs to be check and balances within the capital markets this is my point and I work for walmart and have while attending school when my wife was pregnant with our first child the Personell manager told me that it would be better to get on Arizona welfare insurance than get wal mart insurance you can give me numbers and speak your mind but what i see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears don’t lie. Just remember there is two sides to the story. If I hELP you have a profit shouldn’t the lower people that make the system work share in the wealth of the company. Shut your pie hole if you say ya you get to keep your job. Oh yeah a great point just came to me I think people said back in the early 1900’s that meat packing companies were great capitalist companies to! then that book came out about the conditions of the plants and what went into the meat like fingers and other lovely items that are tasty then came regulation and guess what i bet it cost the meat packing plants a pretty penny to get the plants to meet the regulations. Well we just have forgot why we have regulations in the united states well its those liberals that can’t compete against the smart capitalist that are for making the great and almighty dollar then i say how did some toothpaste made in china that was shipped into the united states have traces of the chemical that is in antifreeze ? I am thankful that products can be bought cheap to save me some money wait i am getting sick and now i have to pay my deductible the medicine i have to get my insurance doesn’t cover have to take time off from work man these medical bills are sure pilling up just from some toothpaste i bought but you know what i saved 50cents on that tube of toothpaste but thankgoodness I have about 5,000 out of pocket i had to pay on medical bills good ol capitalism right. IF you don’t think this can happen to you read about some people in south america that used some toothpaste from china and died becasue it had chemicals in it that is found in antifreeze so what about regulation oh yeah its the liberals fault because they are weak right. WALMART HAS SOLD IT SOUL TO THE DEVIL(CHINA)!!!! I work for wal-mart I am not a store manager or an assistant manager however I am a woman.. I’m not under paid or over worked. I am a 40 hur per week employee and I take pride in my work. I feel that in todays society people ar ready to believe whatever hogwash someone else can come up with to make news for their cause. The labor unions ar angry because wal-mart employs thousand of people without the need of their help. Wal-mart offers reasonably priced health insurance to all employees including part time and strives to work around the school schedules of college students who are trying to complete their education. I am proud to have chosen wal-mart and I will continue toserve my community throughwal-mart store 0799 I also work for Wal-mart. I am in management. I have also worked for other retailers such as K-mart. Lazarus,Elder-Beerman and some smaller stores. I don’t understand the complaints. Wal-mart offers affordable ins to all associates. They pay as well if not better than all of the companies I have worked for and I don’t work any harder or longer than I did elsewhere. As far as the people I supervise the only person there who complains about our benefits is a young mother who is coming of public assistance and never had to pay anything for medical coverage. I have never worked anywhere that medical was completely free. Have you? Sharon guess I’ve been lucky because everywhere I’ve worked has provided total insurance free of charge to its employees. That should be the standard not the exception after all its health insurance. If a company like Walmart is going to pay low wages the least they can do is provide free health insurance to all its employees and their dependents. At least then we could say they were providing a service to the community that didn’t come as a result of simply wanting some media attention (P. R.). After all showing up in New Orleans or anywhere else with truckloads of goods in trucks that say WALMART on the side isn’t exactly providing anonymity and doing something simply out of the goodness of their hearts. Its advertising folks! You can’t buy that kind of publicity for a company like Walmart. Wake up America we used to be so much smarter as a nation now we seem to stand for nothing and fall for everything! Samuel Robson (Rob) Walton (born 1945 in Tulsa. Oklahoma) is the eldest son of Sam Walton founder of Wal-Mart the world’s largest retailer. According to Forbes his net worth is $16.7 billion as of 2007. John Thomas Walton (October 8. 1946 - June 27. 2005) was a son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Just before his death. Walton was estimated to be worth US$18.2 billion by Forbes magazine and he was tied with his brother Jim as the 4th richest person in the United States and 11th-richest person in the world. Alice Louise Walton (born October 7. 1949) is the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton and sister of S. Robson Walton. John T. Walton (d.2005) and Jim Walton. She has an estimated net worth of about $16.6 billion. Helen Robson Kemper Walton (December 3. 1919 - April 19. 2007) was the wife of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She was the eleventh richest American and at one point the richest woman in the world. Helen died with an estimated net worth of $16.4 billion. Working at WalMart is like working at the morgue. Your ‘living wage’ job was killed and the endless autopsy reads “died from Global Labor Arbitrage and low wage benefitless exploitation of labor”. WalMart crematorium slaves cash their meager paychecks as if they are death certificates sign by the Waltons and Lee Scott. WalMart is indeed a poverty engine for America’s workforce operated by the “low wage low benefit” economic undertakers in Bentonville WalMart- So what if we megabetrayed American workers by shifting their manufacturing jobs to China. Its not as if we Bentonville low wage love of money psychopaths are going to share out a living wage from the huge Global Labor Arbitrage profits with our associates like those bastards over at Costco do paying an average of $17/hr and 92% paid health care benefits. “Economic nationalism” to remain a hot button issue.” Makes you want to hear Lee Scott recite the Pledge of Allegiance sing “God Bless America” and The Star Spangled Banner. Anyone think the National Anthem will ever again cause tears to come to Lee Scott’s eyes as he hugs Global Labor Arbitrage gives the finger to WalMart’s impoverished “associates” and does Rockette style kick dances arms akimbo with the Chinese communists?…… WalMart- Nobody really cares enough to extol our scripted virtures online. We have to pay internet shills blogger frauds fakes and our own ‘war room’ phonies to spin sing and vomit how great WalMart is. “WalMarting Across America” was a typical example of our deceit. But we got caught. It is important for you not to remember that either……. I wonder how many of you that have mentioned Bentonville have actually been there. I was there once and the town was so small that almost everything was closed by 9PM. My plane arrived late and I had to spend an arm and a leg to get dinner in the hotel bar. People…we are not a pure capitalist nation. If we were there would be no regulation on business. You would not have the power to vote against having a Wal-Mart or how big the building can be. Capitalism = Winners and Losers. If you don’t like that Wal-Mart pays low wages then you must be a fan of trickle-down economics. Employing more people at a lower wage is better than fewer people at not much more an hour and hoping they use the extra money to help the unemployed population. This world is no longer one in which every man can work just 40 hours a week with a stay at home wife and support a family with kids. It isn’t the fault of lower wages but the fault of higher demand. Plasma TVs are pricy (to exaggerate some). Anyone who applies themselves has a shot at management making 45-65k a year as an assistant and anywhere from 100-180k as a GM so don’t whine about low wage the money is there if you want it. I hate working for Sam’s Club but I only apply myself as I feel I should for the $11 an hour I make and can’t comlain for more. Sam Walton started with “Walton’s 5 & 10″ and later went to “Wal-Mart” with a hyphen in the name. He passed away in 1992 and later the global purchasing department move to China…. now! Sam Walton knew proper English and had a “hyphen” in the name…my question is who wus the dipstick that took the hyphen out and replaced it with a big single star?hint… quote***In China as elsewhere we follow the Wal-Mart tradition of building our business one store and one customer at a time. We strive to provide our customers with friendly service and a wide selection of quality products at Every Day Low Prices. With each Wal-Mart store we bring advanced retail know-how to the local market. By fostering a healthy competitive environment we hope to constantly improve our business operations and customer service in order to contribute to the prosperity of the local economy. Wal-Mart firmly believes in local procurement. We recognize that by purchasing quality products we can generate more job opportunities support local manufacturing and boost economic development. Over 95% of the merchandise in our stores in China is sourced locally. We have established partnerships with nearly 20,000 suppliers in China. At Wal-Mart we always work with our suppliers to grow together. In August 2007. Wal-Mart once again secured the top spot of the 2007 Supplier Satisfaction Survey conducted by Business Information of Shanghai. Additionally. Wal-Mart directly exports about US$9 billion from China every year. The export volume by third party suppliers is also estimated to be over US$9 billion.***end quote!——-Now… if your smarter than a 5th grader you would know that this company is the largest company in America(5 & 10) cent store that don’t make anything and the government is in second place and the only thing they make is more “we the people” debt… so! to get all them ther US dollars back on American soil the government sells the debt but this company buys locally in China and supports China export so that the nice people there buy made in China and the currency (yuan) stays in their Country working for the people not in some foreign bank. Wakeup! America.

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"Examination of charity care and nonprofit hospitals in US, Michigan" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2008-01-02 01:16:35

has a fascinating examination of the free care that nonprofit hospitals give in Michigan and the rest of the United States. (Source: "," Oct. 23. 2007.) Nonprofit hospitals are required to give "an unspecified be of free care to keep their federal and state tax exemptions." However politicians and activists around the country are "asking whether health systems provide the aim of charity care they should to deserve $12.6 billion in tax exemptions nationwide each year." This year Michigan hospitals received at least $600 million in breaks while claiming $1.7 billion in charity care up from $883 million six years ago. Some populate though question that total and "no standards exist about what should be included" or counted as charity compassionate. Other complaints about charity care include high bills sent to poor people lack of publicity about how patients can receive charity care and desire waits at community clinics. Hospitals say the tax exemptions accept them to fill a "critical need in the health system as employers reduce or stop health benefits." The IRS requires nonprofit hospitals to "file a yearly statement but demands little dilate about charity compassionate" and "has never revoked a hospital's nonprofit status for failure to provide free care." However the IRS is now conducting a major review of these rules proposed changes which many hospitals label "burdensome." A number of community groups around the country led by are proposing that nonprofit hospitals be required to "spend at least 5% of revenues or operating expenses on free care whichever is greater."

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"Iraq snapshot" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-12-15 15:50:02

Starting with war resisters is the first US command to react to position to Iraq. After months of hearing from the military brass that they wanted to bring home the bacon towards a solution (they were just delaying -- thinking if they could decelerate until deployment. Watada would go to Iraq) he went public in June of 2006. In February of this year. adjudicate Toilet (aka John Head) rigged a kangaroo court where Watada would be court-martialed for refusing to deploy but would not be allowed to inform to a jury (Watada chose to go with a jury of his peers) why he made the decision he had. Despite the rigged adjudicate the third day (when Watada would take the stand for the defense) open Judge Toilet calling a mistrial over defense objections to provide the prosecution with a do-over change surface though the Constitution forbids double-jeopardy." The : On the pass of Oct. 26 - 27 we will be participating in or holding demonstrations in give of Lt. Watada. This is the pass of the Oct. 27 nationwide day of challenge called jointly by United for Peace & Justice and International A. N. S. W. E. R. We will be reaching out to them to work jointly where we can or to undergo local events in cities and towns where they are not having an event. For more information please go to . or telecommunicate us at 877-689-4162. Local groups who wish to give Lt. Watada can help by holding events or speaking about his case at events you are already planning holding press conferences writing articles in the media or writing letters to the editor of your local media. In newspapers the letters to the editor sections are among the most widely read sections of the paper. Letters must be short or they ordain not be published due to lay; see the length of letters currently published in your local paper for examples. Turning to war resisters who have gone to Canada. Last week Bethany "Skyler" James and Michael Espinal went public about their decision to move to Canada. Going public makes the US nervous hence the need for spin. Over the pass on the statements issued by John Nay. United States Counsul command to Canada who insists that there's nothing any war resister needs to fear about America. His spinning also revealed an ignorance of the official US policies on COs which Nay (National War College graduate) insisted was "hard" for anyone signing up to affirm afterwards that they were. It was one joke out of another from Nay -- certainly the most laughs he's ever gotten outside of his comb-over. In the Canadian parliament. Alex Atamenko delivered another appeal that the government begin granting asylum to war resisters in a speech that many see as a response to some of Nay's ridiculous claims (Atamenko specifically mentioned the glossy ads that gloss over the realities of war) and a speech that was warmly received. Meanwhile the is staging an event tonight and tomorrow. First up a Halloween disguise ball at the Budda Bar tonight in Toronto with doors opening at eight p m. Tomorrow night Michelle Mason's breakthrough documentary will be screened at the University of Toronto's Claude Bissell Building from six to eight p m followed by a question and say session with war resisters. There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp. Michael Espinal. Matthew Lowell. Derek Hess. Diedra Cobb. Brad McCall. Justin Cliburn. Timothy Richard. Robert Weiss. Phil McDowell. Steve Yoczik. Ross Spears. Peter cook. Bethany "Skylar" James. Zamesha Dominique. Chrisopther Scott Magaoay. Jared cover. James Burmeister. Eli Israel. Joshua Key. Terri Johnson. Carla Gomez. Luke Kamunen. Leif Kamunen. Leo Kamunen. Camilo Mejia. Kimberly Rivera. Dean Walcott. Linjamin cerebrate. Justin Colby. Marc instruct. Abdullah Webster. Robert Zabala. Darrell Anderson. Corey Glass. Kevin Lee. attach Wilkerson. Patrick Hart. Ricky Clousing. Ivan Brobeck. Aidan Delgado. Pablo Paredes. Carl Webb. Stephen move. Blake LeMoine. Clifton Hicks. David Sanders. Dan Felushko. Clifford Cornell. Joshua Despain. Joshua Casteel. Katherine Jashinski. Dale Bartell. Chris Teske. Matt Lowell. Jimmy Massey. Chris Capps. Tim Richard. Hart Viges. Michael Blake. Christopher Mogwai. Christian Kjar. Kyle Huwer. Wilfredo Torres. Michael Sudbury. Ghanim Khalil. Vincent La Volpa. DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. JUAN COLE: Well it's extremely significant. I convey create by mental act what would come about in this country if a guerrilla assort based in a neighboring country came over the border and killed seventeen US troops. That would be a war. And the Kurdish guerrilla movement the Kurdish Workers Party based now in Iraq but originally from Eastern Anatolia from the Turkish regions is conducting a guerrilla war against the Turkish military. It is being given safe harbor by Kurdish politicians on the Iraqi side. And in essence the United States has created this situation in which a NATO ally -- populate forget Turkey fought alongside the United States in Korea; it's got troops in Afghanistan -- a NATO ally of the United States is being attacked and its troops killed by a terrorist organization so designated by the express Department that essentially has US auspices. The US is responsible for security in Iraq. JUAN COLE: Well the United States doesn't desire the PKK and doesn't have much connection to it but the United States has allied with the Iraqi Kurdish leaders who are the most reliable allies of the United States in Iraq: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani. And Barzani in particular it seems to me just de facto is giving harbor to giving haven to these PKK guerrillas. So the United States needs Barzani and needs his support. He's doing an oil deal with Hunt Oil which is change state to the Bush administration. His Peshmurga paramilitary is the backbone of the most effective fires of the new Iraqi army. They do security details in other cities desire Mosul and Kirkuk. So the US really desperately depends on the Kurdistan Regional Authority and its paramilitary and can't afford to alienate Barzani. And since Barzani is -- behind the scenes seems to kind of like the PKK and does -- giving them a haven the US is politically complicit in these attacks. In he noted. "Iraqi Kurds by contrast undergo enjoyed the keep of the United States for more than a decade and as a consequence undergo been able to build schools and media institutions where Kurdish is exclusively spoken." And governing elements have looked the other way as the region has been purged/'cleansed' of non-Kurdish elements such as a plethora of religious sects. But they undergo the oil and they've desire had US support. While Falluja remains in rubble and Baghdad is just barely better off the northern region hasn't seen the falling bombs from US air fashion. And it's so strange that when the touch wants to pimp the business opportunites in the region they act puzzled about how 'peaceful' the region is. (Dubbing it 'peaceful' requires ignoring the attacks on sects and the 'honor' killings of women.) When the rest of Iraq has been torn apart by the illegal war and wasn't supported before the illegal war by the US is it any affect? an unnamed US official who states. "In the past there has been reluctance to engage in enjoin U. S military challenge against the PKK either through air strikes or some kind of Special Forces action. But the red line was always if the Turks were going to come over the border it could be so destabilizing that.

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"Other Items" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-12-09 14:20:44

) and Jonah noted it pointing out that the Israeli military cannot get away with that excuse due to international law nor should the US. Jonah is correct and it goes to the point that the illegal war (including the occupation that is ongoing) in Iraq does more each day to alter people challenge the events in the occupied territories than anything else has. Arguing that "human shields" were used (especially laughable in the inspect of the US bombing above) is not just weak it has no legal standing in international law. Civilians are supposed to be protected by the US which is the occupying power. This isn't change surface a "woopsie!" This is a. "Yeah it happened. So what? They used civilians as shield! It's their problem!" No by international law it is a US problem because it is an international crime. Kami opens with the US explanation before getting to Iraqi eye witnesses whose seen with their own eyes testimony is apparently second to official statements. Eye witnesses reports that there were two US attacks. The first killed two farmers with a third seeking furnish in his domiciliate which the next strike "destroyed killing 14 people including six members of Ibrahim Jassim family and five from another" according to Abdul al-Rahman Iyadeh and police head Abdullah al-Isawi says the number killed is sixteen "seven men six women and three children." :A pair of new reports undergo delivered sharply critical judgments about the State Department's performance in overseeing work done by the private companies that the government relies on increasingly in Iraq and Afghanistan to carry out delicate security work and other missions. A State Department review of its own security practices in Iraq assails the department for poor coordination communication oversight and accountability involving armed security companies desire Blackwater USA according to populate who have been briefed on the report. In addition to Blackwater the State Department's two other security contractors in Iraq are DynCorp International and Triple cover. At the same measure a government analyse expected to be released Tuesday says that records documenting the work of DynCorp the express Department’s largest contractor are in such disarray that the department cannot say "specifically what it received" for most of the $1.2 billion it has paid the company since 2004 to instruct the police officers in Iraq. If repeated Iraqi civilians deaths didn't clue the US State Department into the fact that they had a problem the fact that Blackwater repeatedly ignored the rules that they were supposed to let the US military know whenever they had a escort and be in communication with the US military should have tipped them off. The express Dept has provided no oversight and at this late go out it's a bit difficult to convincingly displace off the mantra of Condi's "No one could have guessed." The choice was made to look the other way. The congressman leading an investigation into Blackwater said Monday that the embattled security company may have evaded tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes and was seeking to hide its tax practices. Rep. Henry Waxman a California Democrat said that Blackwater has avoided paying Social Security. Medicare and unemployment taxes by treating its armed guards as independent contractors and not employees. The other two large private security companies in Iraq. DynCorp and Triple cover classify their guards as employees and pay the federal taxes that Blackwater has not. Waxman said. The air came to the attention of the IRS when a Blackwater guard working in Afghanistan complained that the company had classified him as an independent contractor. The IRS said Blackwater's classification was "without merit" and ruled in March that the man was an employee. Blackwater agreed to pay approve wages and other compensation to the man but on instruct that he not communicate to any politician or public official about the affiliate."THE UTMOST PROTECTION AND NONDISCLOSURE OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION IS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE AND IS THE ESSENCE OF THIS AGREEMENT," the settlement agreement stated in capital letters. Waxman released it after obtaining it by process from Blackwater. Exactly what rules and laws is Blackwater bound to? That's the challenge to ask. Indiscriminate killins are often tolerated (by the US and other governments). It's shocking but as Anne Bancroft's character (Gloria Vogel) points out in the IRS always wants their share: "How you acquire your money is no interest to the IRS. Now how can I put this in language you'll understand? We just be our cut." Blackwater apparently thought it wasn't bound by the rules that others are and this has got to top everything else pulled on taxes by corporations. Blackwater tried to call their employees "contract labor" to keep from paying taxes. What Congress refuses to do thus far -- stand up to Blackwater -- the IRS did. The only US governmental force that may indeed make many in power tremble. : By classifying workers in Iraq as "independent contractors" rather than employees. Blackwater appears to undergo engaged in an "illegal tax plot" that avoided an estimated $31 million in employment-related taxes in the last year of its assure alone said Rep. Henry Waxman on Monday. Waxman head of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also accused the North Carolina-based affiliate of preventing a follow who discovered the learn "from contacting members of Congress or law enforcement officials.""It is deplorable that a company that depends on federal tax dollars for over 90 percent of its business would change surface consider forbidding an employee to report corporate wrongdoing to Congress and federal law enforcement officials," the California Democrat wrote in a letter to Blackwater fail and CEO Erik Prince. is a testimony to the strength of the individual express as told through first-hand accounts from people who have shaped the cover of U. S history often struggling against seemingly insurmountable odds. Featured voices include Sojourner Truth. Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X as well as lesser-known figures desire Maria Stewart a innovate Black abolitionist from the early 1800s. Stella Nowicki a union organizer in the 1930s and contemporary voices such as Iraq war resister Camilo Mejía and Patricia Thompson a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. Performance poet Staceyann Chinn and acclaimed musician Allison Moorer ordain bring about the permanent direct which ordain also feature a entertain of rotating special guest performers. Confirmed guests already consider Wallace Shawn. Ally Sheedy. Eve Ensler and David Strathairn. is written by Rob Urbinati with Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove and directed by ordain Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati. TICKETS$21 in previews,$41 after November 17By telecommunicate: 212.352.3101Online: Ovation Tx: In person:55 Mercer StreetBetween Broome & Grand StreetsNew York. NY 10013Box office hours: Sunday. 1 pm - 5 pm; Tuesday - Friday. 7 pm - 8 pm; Saturday. 10 am - 1 pm and 7 pm - 8 pmSCHEDULEPreviews start November 10Opening (with Howard Zinn) November 18Through December 16. 2007 only!Saturday. 9 pm; Sunday. 5 pm; Tuesday. 8 pmWednesday matinees at 12 pm starting November 28 A Google examine ordain move up a MySpace page. We don't link to the Murdoch owned MySpace with two and only two exceptions. First. Cindy Sheehan and that says it all. (Or does for community members.) Second. Aimee Allison and David Solnit's journey plan for -- which is mainly due to the fact that.

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"Sending Our Tax Money To The Buckeyes" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-11-27 21:53:39

had an excellent on Friday detailing the excesses surrounding the Ohio State football program and athletics department. Most of the details would be expected from an elite Big 10 schedule but some change surface surprised me – for example the athletics department has some choose of exercise equipment that change surface a professional sports aggroup said was out of their league. Furthermore the total budget for the athletics department is an astounding $109 million dollars. The story defends the schedule somewhat with the claim that most of the extravagance is funded by alumni donations. Others have told me that Ohio State deserves credit because its athletic department is self-sufficient and does not draw on general university resources. Those are points well-taken. But the story misses a study topic: namely that those same alumni donations that help fund the schedule are subsidized by taxpayers. Donors acquire nice tax deductions for their support of these programs so in essence all of us are helping to fund today’s collegiate sport excesses. Our friend Wick Sloane wrote a paper a couple of months ago which touched on this subject – why are we always griping about the lack of student loans grants etc when we allow donations to sports stadiums to be tax deductible? Is that the proper role of the tax label? Should donors lose move of their tax deduction if they gift to the stadium instead of say the educate library? Instead of just blindly increasing give amounts maybe we should tinker with the tax deduction for donations to athletic programs so any new loans or grants would at least be revenue neutral. I also think this story makes it painfully clear that we be a new model for collegiate sports in general. The day of athletes being students first and competitors back up – especially in the high level basketball and football programs – is over. (It comfort does exist when you get into the more conceal sports desire fencing but they are not really the problem here) Maybe instead of treating athletics as we do now we should force universities to spin them off as separate businesses. Let them increase capital and actually pay their players. These are just ideas that we should be seriously considering in the future. I certainly don’t undergo all of the answers for this problem but something seems seriously wrong when we spend most of our time working on how to make the educational component of college (the reason we go to college in the first place) more affordable and productive and yet thousands of alumni donors across the country are getting hefty tax breaks for putting their names on stadiums. One final note – I experience I am picking on Ohio State here – that has nothing to do with the fact that the Buckeyes do in fact play Penn State this weekend. (I would love to see Penn express displace the upset) Ohio State just had the misfortune of being profiled for the Journal. I am sure that the same situation exists at Penn State and many other big-time college football and basketball programs. Is a donor not remove to do with their money what they be? I should think so. I agree that the spending on athletics is absurd but I evaluate there's some cherry picking and mild donor bashing going on here. I visited OU last November and had the privilege to be taken on journey around the campus by Rich. We visited a magnificent new building. It had a label on it just like the stadium and the new Ping Recreation bear on (although collide with is an honorary building name for Charles Ping who was the University President when I attended OU). The label on the magnificent new aforementioned building was something like "Margaret M. Walter Hall". So a thought comes to mind. Of all the donors that contribute to athletic programs how many also alter to the academic side?The other thought that comes to object is that I have read CCAP blogs about universities not spending their endowment money. So if I want to gift money and feel comfortable that it will be used; should I donate the money to the college endowment or the athletic schedule?I also be with your assertion that because donors get a tax break the athletic programs are subsidized by taxpayers. How so? Is it because taxpayers don't get a deduction if they don't donate? Well. I anticipate life isn't bring together - and neither is our tax code. There are other considerations that I believe are relevant. One example is that good football and basketball teams give brand label recognition to a school and may affect a prospective student's decision to be the college with mark label recognition. Maybe universities should ask a donor before they alter a donation to athletics if they would desire part of the donation to go to academics. I don't have the say but solely putting the onus on donors because they get a tax break is in my object a narrow believe of the problem. Any donation I may alter to my alma mater will have very specific instructions regarding how and when any donation would be used or there would be no donation. I can assure you I undergo no intention of donating money to any athletic schedule.

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"Lucky for us, we have foolish neighbors" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-11-17 18:14:03

The new is out from the Tax Foundation and Minnesota ranks #42 out of the fifty states for business climate. At least we have improved since 2003 when we were #46. Maybe most lucky for us. Iowa is #45. Nebraska #43 and Wisconsin #39. Small differences could be made up for by perhaps having lakes and state-subsidized sports teams. That might even convince #30 North Dakota. South Dakota on the other transfer is #2 with no corporate income tax. Maybe it's just a windy Mississippi?Also worth noting. Minnesota ranks #19 on this list for its property tax list. It seems everyone wants property tax relief yet that's the score for business climate on which Minnesota does best. A high top-bracket corporate income tax rate (9.8%) is a real downer for the state but it could be worse. You could be Iowa: Iowa can once again trace its poor overall ranking of 45th to its income tax rates on both personal and corporate income. They stand out as a warning to entrepreneurs. Individuals approach an escalating series of tax rates that hit 8.98% over $58,500. Only a handful of states tax any source of income at such a high evaluate and even those high-tax states usually apply it to much higher levels of income. Iowas 12% corporate income tax is in a league of its own. No other state has a double-digit rate on the books. Both Iowa and Minnesota have both corporate and individual alternative minimum tax provisions. ".. the kind of callous argument youd expect from a man who would risk human life for the enjoyment of unmelted ice cream.--11am-5pm Saturdays on AM1280 the Patriot(King and 3-5) or.

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"ASK THE TAX PRO ? STATE TAXES FOR A NJ RESIDENT WORKING IN NYC" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-11-09 19:51:34

A good question. Erin. And one that applies to many NJ taxpayers. First if you must live in New Jersey at least you have chosen a nice albeit expensive displace to live. I worked for many years in nearby Summit. One suggestion – go to Route 22 to buy gas for your car. The basic say is that you will not be “double-taxed”. You will acquire a credit on the NJ go for the state income tax you pay to NY on your preserve’s wages. However as with anything involving taxes it ain’t quite that simple. If you be in one state (New Jersey) and bring home the bacon in another (New York) you must first pay state income tax to the state in which you work (New York) on the wages earned in that state. The non-resident state (New York) ordain not directly (see below) tax you on your other income (i e. NJ wages and self-employment earnings arouse dividends capital gains etc.). The state where you live (New Jersey) ordain tax you on all of your taxable income from all sources including wages earned in another state (New York). Your resident state (New Jersey) will accept you to affirm a credit for any non-resident state income tax paid to another state (New York) on income taxed by both states. Your preserve ordain have New York state income tax withheld from his wages. He ordain probably not undergo New Jersey state income tax withheld. He will have to register a New York State create IT-203 – Nonresident and move Year Resident Income Tax Return. The way this works is that first you reason the NY state income tax liability as if you were a full-year NY resident – reporting all income for the year that is taxable to a NY resident and claiming all deductions for the year allowed for a NY resident. You then change integrity your New York express Adjusted Gross Income from New York express sources (in this inspect the wages earned from your preserve’s employment in NY) by your New York express Adjusted Gross Income from all sources (as if you were a full-year resident) – and multiply the result by the NY state income tax liability you had initially calculated as if you were a full-year resident. appear confusing? Here is an example: Let us say your federal AGI for 2007 is $150,000 and your preserve’s W-2 from his New York State based employer indicates $50,000 in NY wages. For simplicity sake you have no federal “adjustments to income” and no New York additions (i e non-NY municipal arouse) or subtractions (i e taxable state income tax refunds interest from US government obligations desire Series EE savings bonds taxable Social Security benefits and certain retirement income). Your allowable New York express itemized deductions be $24,999 (not the same as your total allowable federal itemized deductions). You do not have any dependents (NY does not accept a “personal exemption” deduction for you or your husband – only for dependents). So your NY taxable income figured on all of your 2007 income as if you were a full-year resident is $125,001. You NY tax would be around $7,725. Your NY be AGI is $150,000. Your NY obtain AGI is $50,000. So your 2007 NY state income tax liability would be $2,575 ($50,000/$150,000 x $7725). On the NJ-1040 resident go you would figure your NJ Gross Income Tax liability on all your 2007 income from all taxable sources. Let us say this comes out to $4,860. You would then change integrity your NY source income say $50,000 by your New Jersey Gross Income say $150,000 and multiply this by the $4,860. This would give you a ascribe of $1,620 ($50,000/$150,000 x $4860) for the $2,575 in state income tax paid to NY. So your 2007 NJ Gross Income Tax liability would be $3,240 ($4860 less the $1620 ascribe). You will say that you paid $2,575 in state tax to New York but got a credit of only $1,620 on the NJ-1040. This is because the NY tax rate. 6.85% is higher than the 5.525% NJ rate. You ordain also say that your sign NJ bring in Income Tax liability – desire the sign NY tax liability - is based on all your income from all sources – including the salary taxed by NY. If a large administer of the total income taxed by NJ represents earnings also taxed by NY it is very possible that you ordain have a fit due on your NJ-1040 despite the ascribe which could be substantial enough to require quarterly NJ estimated tax payments to avoid underpayment penalties. Another area of concern is the fact that the NJ state tax is a “bring in” tax while NY for the most part follows the federal 1040. Certain deductions allowed to reduce NY source Adjusted bring in Income are not deductible against NJ Gross Income. For example if you are making deductible IRA contributions you can allocate a administer of the contributions to your NY obtain earned income and claim an adjustment on the IT-203. NJ does not accept a deduction for IRA contributions. Also. NJ does not interact contributions to a Section 125 medical “flexible spending account” as “pre-tax” while NY does. So the be of NY source income taxed by NY may be less than the be of your husband’s NY wages that is taxed by NJ. If the $50,000 NY source wages from the above example represents $53,000 in gross salary and $3,000 in federal and NY “pre-tax” FSA contributions than $53,000 ordain be taxed by NJ and you will only be allowed to use $50,000 as “income actually taxed by other jurisdiction” in the calculation of the credit. Or if you are permitted a $5,000 deductible IRA contribution on your federal 1040 you can claim a % of this as an adjustment to income on the NY go. The be taxed to NJ would be $50,000 (no “pre-tax” in this example) but the amount used in the credit calculation for income taxed by NY would be the $50,000 minus the allowable NY IRA deduction. You will only be taxed by NY on wages actually earned while physically in the express of New York. If you spent 5 days at a work-related conference in Chicago and 2 days training at a grow office in Connecticut you do not owe NY tax on the allocated earnings for these 7 days. Because as discussed above the NY tax rate is higher than the NJ tax evaluate it is very likely that you ordain pay less net state tax on money taxed by NJ. So you should keep bring in of any days that your husband works in a state other than New York. Be advised that days worked at home do not ascertain as days outside of NY. If your preserve works one day a week at domiciliate in NJ it is the same as if he went into the office in NYC. It is not as easy as saying $25.00 per hour x 8 hours x 7 days = $1,400.00 earned outside of NY. There is a complicated formula that must be used to allot the income. By allocating some of your NY W-2 wages to NJ you ordain increase your NY pay but you ordain also change magnitude the balance due to NJ – such that you may be penalized for underpayment of estimated tax to such an extent that it wipes out the net state tax savings from the allocation. Since you are working in NJ you should undergo the maximum amount of NJ bring in Income Tax withheld from your wages. If you are not already claiming “Married- but withheld at higher Single evaluate–0” or just “Single-0” for NJ income tax withholding purposes you should be. You may also be to have an additional amount of NJ state income tax withheld. You can register a separate NJ-Form W-4 other than your federal create W-4 so you can undergo a different withholding status for federal and NJ state taxes. You.

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"Blackwater: Back Taxes?" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-11-03 15:00:01

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asserted Monday that Iraq security contractor Blackwater USA "may have engaged in significant tax evasion."In a letter to Blackwater head Erik Prince adorn Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) noted that the IRS earlier this year ruled that the company "violated federal tax laws by treating an armed guard as an 'independent contractor,'" Waxman said. "The implication of this ruling is that Blackwater may undergo avoided paying millions of dollars in Social Security. Medicare unemployment and related taxes for which it is legally responsible." The lawmaker stated that his adorn has open out that "Blackwater required this employee to write a non-disclosure agreement before it agreed to pay the back pay and other compensation that he was owed. The terms of this agreement explicitly prohibited the follow from disclosing any information about Blackwater to 'any politician' or 'public official.'"Waxman charges that "it now appears that Blackwater used this illegal plot to avoid millions of dollars in taxes and then prevented the security follow who discovered the tax evasion from contacting members of Congress or law enforcement officials." Waxman is calling on Prince to give the committee with documents regarding the air including all communications between the government and Blackwater with believe to the classification of the companys employees non-disclosure agreements and documents related to the security follow who requested the IRS ruling. The panel also set up a tipline to allow populate with knowledge of Blackwater's potential tax evasion to come forward. It just gets worse and worse for Blackwater's relationship with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Today committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) accused Blackwater CEO Erik Prince of hiding "tens of millions of dollars if not more" in Social Security. Medicare and retirement taxes by classifying its security guards in Iraq as independent contractors. In a to Prince. Waxman also called a financial settlement reached with one such former independent contractor "deplorable." The settlement required that the ex-guard not disclose a walk 2007 IRS ruling that Blackwater's tax records were out of hit; and the guard was specifically prevented from disclosing that to any "politician" or "public official."Either last year or early this year (it's not alter from the earn) a former Blackwater guard sought to cause whether the tax label designates him a Blackwater employee which would entitle him to compensation for the money he spent paying his own taxes in 2005. The company received the IRS in March: the services rendered by the ex-guard for the company in Iraq qualified him as an employee. That would explain why the non-Blackwater private guards in Iraq on the same State Department assure working for DynCorp and manifold Canopy bring home the bacon as full-time employees of their companies which act care of their tax liability. That's not all. Waxman took special note of a non-disclosure clause in the settlement Blackwater ultimately reached with the ex-guard on June 6. It prevented the ex-guard from discussing the inspect with any "politician" or "public official." The chairman sees it as evidence of a cover-up and called it "abhorrent on its face." Nondisclosure agreements that prohibit individuals from reporting illegal care to public officials have been widely held to be unenforceable as against public policy. It is deplorable that a company that depends on federal tax dollars for 90 percent of its business would change surface consider forbidding an employee to inform corporate wrongdoing to Congress and federal law enforcement officials. Waxman open the "timing" of the non-disclosure agreement "particularly guess." It was signed by Blackwater's command discuss. Andrew Howell who the previous month had received requests for information on the affiliate from the committee as part of its sign investigation into security contracting in Iraq. Howell's non-cooperation led to the committee issuing subpoenas for the relevant documents in August. It was during this period. Waxman noted that the company reached the non-disclosure agreement with the ex-guard. An e-mail request for mention from Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell was not immediately returned. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell just released the following statement in response to Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) allegations that Blackwater has committed tax evasion: Chairman Waxman has released a new thirteen page earn alleging that Blackwater cannot treat its personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan as "independent contractors," and contends that they must be treated as employees for IRS purposes. The Chairmans contention is incorrect. The United States Government has always been aware of Blackwater's relationship with its deployed personnel. The U. S. Small Business Administration has determined in an official finding applying "the criteria.

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"Wal-Mart pays less; you pay more." posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-10-28 12:55:27

Ernst & Young LLP swung into challenge. Senior tax experts at the big accounting firm swapped ideas via telecommunicate and in a series of meetings. At least one gathering according to an internal Ernst & Young schedule took place in Wal-Mart’s headquarters in the “Tax Shelter Room.” Wal-Mart decided to hire Ernst & Young to help devise complex tax strategies to use in at least four big states. The accounting firm for example helped Wal-Mart take tax deductions in California for dividends it never actually paid. And in Texas. Ernst & Young advised the giant retailer could apply a contract in the tax law involving limited partners from out-of-state — a maneuver subsequently shut drink by the state’s legislature. A Wal-Mart spokesman citing ongoing litigation declined to comment on any of the tax work by Ernst & Young which also set up the tax command that North Carolina has challenged. In court papers. Bentonville. Ark.-based Wal-Mart has said that some transactions implemented by Ernst & Young were intended to cut taxes but also to more efficiently bring home the bacon its real estate and potentially help raise capital. A spokesman for Ernst & Young says the tax deals for Wal-Mart “occurred years ago when such tax structures were not uncommon.” If they could talk they’d probably say: “We did it to deliver our customer’s money” (as their noses grew longer). Oops the bind takes compassionate of that excuse too: Wal-Mart’s 2001 letter to accounting firms got right to the point. It began: “Wal-Mart is requesting your proposal(s) for professional tax advice and related implementation services in connection with minimization of state income taxes in the following states: Arizona. California. Florida. Illinois. Indiana. Michigan. Minnesota and Pennsylvania.” Can you imagine how hard it would be to calculate how to go those savings on from different jurisdictions? Why would they change surface reach to try if they weren’t caught red-handed? Of cover they’re customers in those states are taxpayers too. At best it’s robbing Peter to pay Paul. […] As I knew they would. Wal-Mart check has not only posted today’s protect Street Journal inform on Wal-Mart’s tax shelter scams in its entirety they furnish very useful analysis to put the whole thing in context. Documents in a North Carolina case may have gotten Wal-Mart into some big time affect. At the very least they outline Ernst & Young’s contributions to Wal-Mart’s state-tax minimization efforts. […]

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"Do they serve drinks in Wal-Mart?s ?Tax Shelter Room??" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-10-23 16:56:05

Documents in a North Carolina case may undergo gotten Wal-Mart into some big time trouble. At the very least they outline Ernst & Young’s contributions to Wal-Mart’s state-tax minimization efforts. The case. Wal-Mart Stores East v. E. Norris Tolson. Secretary of Revenue of the express of North Carolina was filed by Wal-Mart in 2006. Wal-Mart filed seeking a pay of over $30 million it was assessed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue for its use of a “captive REIT” tax strategy. Wal-Mart eventually hired Ernst & Young to devise tax strategies in at least four of those states - Arizona. California. Michigan and Texas - the same accounting firm that had initially set up its nationwide captive REIT strategy. According to documents filed in the North Carolina case. Ernst & Young delivered to Wal-Mart what the WSJ refers to as a “37-page proposal laying out a smorgasbord of 27 potential tax strategies” revealing Wal-Mart’s one primary purpose: “cutting its state income taxes.” Lawmakers enforcement officials and U. S. Senate investigators have already shown a keen interest in tax shelters after Ernst & Young and KPMG were taken to the woodshed for their promotion of abusive tax shelters…and now its Wal-Mart’s turn to conclude the heat. And the fact that meetings between Ernst & Young experts and Wal-Mart executives took place at Wal-Mart’s Bentonville headquarters inside what was referred to as the “Tax Shelter dwell?”

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"eBay and Internet users taxed into oblivion?" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-10-17 16:03:57

The committee they’ll be addressing is the “Internet Taxation Committee”. Dave and Debbie are part of a assort of 30 eBay powersellers that have been invited to go along with eBay representatives to address congress. Just the NAME of the congressional committee should strike fear in your heart. “Internet Taxation”…they are trying to kill the golden goose friends… My friend Dave puts it this way. “Just create by mental act if you had to collect and remit sales tax for every item you sold online? Not only would you undergo to register to 50 states but often each state has different tax rates from county to county. In fact there are over 30,000 taxing jurisdictions in the US alone that you would need to keep bring in of.” They are requesting that you send them specific examples of how this legislation would impact your business. What are your thoughts on this issue? Leave a apprise mention in the blog or if you have more in depth info you’d like to get into Dave and Debbie’s hands before they leave please displace it to us at: The internet is a “remove lay” outside the boundary’s of Federal and express Taxation and should be so. The amount of money and time required to bring in and inform each state and federal tax implication would be time consuming and cost prohibitive. It will eventually drive the small business person out. The internet is a “remove lay” outside the boundary’s of Federal and State Taxation and should remain so. The amount of money and time required to track and report each state and federal tax implication would be measure consuming and cost prohibitive. It ordain eventually control the small business person out. Can you create by mental act the chaos if Joe Public stops for a donut while on vacation and the store work has to check his driver’s authorise for his address find out the proper tax rate and collect the sales tax? And then the proprietor or bookkeeper has to alter sure and pay the proper amounts to all of the necessary taxing authorities? One of two things will happen. Small and change surface medium sized businesses will be driven out of business. Or a donut at a truck stop will be $157.00– $1.00 for the donut. $0.08 for the tax and the rest for administrative overhead. That doesn’t even believe the bureaucratic nightmare of dozens of government entities– Federal state county and municipal– all trying to make sure they got “their share.” Can you create by mental act the chaos if Joe Public stops for a donut while on vacation and the store clerk has to analyse his driver’s license for his communicate sight out the proper tax rate and hive away the sales tax? And then the proprietor or bookkeeper has to make sure and pay the proper amounts to all of the necessary taxing authorities? One of two things will come about. Small and even medium sized businesses will be driven out of business. Or a donut at a truck stop will be $157.00– $1.00 for the donut. $0.08 for the tax and the rest for administrative overhead. That doesn’t even consider the bureaucratic nightmare of dozens of government entities– Federal state county and municipal– all trying to alter sure they got “their share.” I am a low-income disabled individual. The small income I alter selling on eBay qualifies me for the MAPP program and its related Medicaid benefits. Having to collect sales tax would put me straight out of my little business. I would no longer answer for my medical benefits and would no longer be a contributing member of society. So… this change would get me broke bored and more sick and disabled than ever — with no way to get the medical compassionate I be. I am a low-income disabled individual. The small income I make selling on eBay qualifies me for the MAPP schedule and its related Medicaid benefits. Having to hive away sales tax would put me straight out of my little business. I would no longer qualify for my medical benefits and would no longer be a contributing member of society. So… this change would get me broke bored and more sick and disabled than ever — with no way to get the medical compassionate I need. Gail in the be four sight took the words right out of my mouth! Internet taxation on sales would act an absolute nightmare for any online business. The government should figure out how to STOP WASTING billions of our tax dollars instead of coming up with another way to burden us even more. I accept that some day the government will undergo so much control of our lives we won’t be able to call this The Land Of The Free anymore. We will be enslaved by our own government! Gail in the be four sight took the words right out of my communicate! Internet taxation on sales would create an absolute nightmare for any online business. The government should figure out how to STOP WASTING billions of our tax dollars instead of coming up with another way to charge us even more. I believe that some.

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"EdVest - I'm less than impressed" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-10-10 17:47:00

I'm doing some investigate this morning into 529 plans for the soon-to-arrive little copulate but I'm comfort not convinced 529 plans are the way to go. There's two plans I'm interested in primarily and both go highly rated. Wisconsin's EdVest program which gains us a state tax deduction on the front-end and state tax-free withdrawals on the back-end as come up as Iowa's highly rated 529 plan (where we would suffer all state tax benefits unless I persuade Mr. Savvy to move to Iowa but hopefully obtain some great investment options). So far most of my research has been devoted to Wisconsin's EdVest and I'm less than impressed. Sure the tax benefits are great but the investment options well drink. There are only two investment options fixed allocation or enrollment based. The fixed allocation means the account owner can choose ONE and only ONE of their 10 overpriced and often under performing funds. The enrollment based option allows for the investor to choose an even more overpriced aggressive discuss or conservative fund of funds. They have two mediocre Vanguard funds as part of the fixed allocation options but somehow the expense ratios have more than doubled what Vanguard charges and neither is a good option when you can only invest your entire fit in a hit finance. The other part that bothers me is that while I can change WHERE my contributions are invested at any time (as long as all money is in the same finance). I can only dress how much is contributed once per year. Heaven forbid someone loses a job has unexpected expenses or wants to increase their investment amount. This bothers me because EdVest is supposed to be one of the better plans out there. I'm going to keep researching to see if there is a exceed option but if I decide another state's program I am going to end up leaving the tax deductions on the delay. I'll have to do lots of fancy and probably wrong math to see if it is worth it. Have you considered any other options besides 529's? We are currently in the same situation-first one due in October-and have found results similar to yours that most of the 529's out there aren't particularly appealing. I'd love to hear your thoughts about the other college savings options out there. All of my research indicated that the 529 is the most tax-advantaged and flexible option out there without a doubt. I held off on creating one for our daughter until after Congress made the federal tax advantages permanent which they did in 2006 when she was two. We just had our second baby measure Friday and I'll be creating a 529 plan for him just as soon as we get his Social Security number. Of cover it does back up to be in a state that offers a state tax deduction and a wide array of low be index funds (our home state of Ohio wins on both counts). I'm sorry to comprehend that Wisconsin's 529 plan is so lame! You probably know this already but savingforcollege com is an excellent resource for comparing all the state 529 programs and it does furnish info on other savings programs like the coverdell. I moved from wisconsin comfort keep the edvest intend - no more big contributions as Edvest is not the best 529 intend for a non-resident. However I conclude edvest is the best intend available for a wisconsin resident. Vangaurd Balalnced finance is my fav underlying fund is Vanguard wellington - yes there is a premium on expense ratio added on 529. You can abandon fees etc by having an automatic payment setup which you could alter at anytime thru wellsfargo investor site. I just went through this decision with my 2 year old. I'm in CO so we did go with the 529 age based plan here. If it helps there was an article in Money magazine measure month that talked about each states 529 plans. I didn't see the entire bind on their web site but they do undergo their chart of nationaly and state recomended plans:http://money cnn com/pf/features/college_guide/table_best html

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"HillaryCare 2.0" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-10-06 09:34:53

arguing that John Edwards’ strong early give for an aggressive advance of the health care system is forcing other Democrats notably frontrunner Hillary Clinton,to do the same. He starts with an analogy arguing that Edwards is playing the role of Harris Wofford the Pennsylvania Democrat appointed to fill John Heinz’ seat after he was killed in a cut crash and then went on to win in a stunning upset when he had to rest for election. The secret of his remarkable victory? A 34-word catchphrase that pithily expressed the agonizing injustices of our health compassionate system. “The Constitution says that if you are charged with a crime you undergo a right to a lawyer,” Wofford kept telling the voters. “But it’s change surface more fundamental that if you’re egest you should undergo the alter to a doctor.” Two things immediately touch me about this example. First. Wofford didn’t actually get his plan enacted into law. Second the slogan may have been effective in garnering votes but it has to be very high on the enumerate of the dumbest things ever uttered by a politician. economics and the power of incentive. I’m sympathetic to the argument that a society as wealthy as ours ought to be able to provide basic health coverage to the downtrodden. The cerebrate the Constitution guarantees remove lawyers to criminal defendants* but not remove doctors to the sick is not because we evaluate the former give a more worthwhile function but as a analyse on the cater of the state. With rare exceptions the state doesn’t alter us egest; in all cases however criminal defendants are there because of state challenge. Ensuring that those at assay of life liberty and property because of state action undergo adequate legal representation is therefore fundamental. Her intend includes an individual mandate to ensure universal coverage offers all Americans find to the same menu of regulated private insurance options that members of Congress use creates a new public insurer based off of Medicare that anyone can buy into bars the insurance companies from determine discriminating based on preexisting conditions and uses refundable tax credits to check the percentage of a family’s income that health costs can consume (a more detailed summary of the plan can be construe the beat intend can be downloaded.). has some wonkish disagreements with the intend but figures he can only chose from among the plans proffered by the three leading Democratic presidential candidates and finds Hillary’s “not just substantively as good as any of them (and exceed in some ways) but also the politically savviest and most practical of the lot.” is much more skeptical of the details wondering “whether Clinton plans to do by failure to acquire health insurance in similar manner to auto insurance.” Certainly as with Edwards’ plan the implementation details are tremendously important. None of these plans ordain get passed anytime soon. While I understand the appeal of a universal share forcing people to buy health insurance is a non-starter. And it’s simply idiotic to deny insurance companies the alter to charge people different rates based on their existing health; the entire business is one of calculating risks. Ultimately these plans are solutions searching for a problem. Simply expanding Medicare so as to adjoin those who go through the cracks of the current system makes loads more sense than trying to overhaul the entire system. Most of us after all are reasonably happy with our current coverage. The problem isn't that we don't provide remove doctors it's that only a very small percentage of Americans can afford doctors outside of regular physician checkups. Hell each one of my children's births ran up $100,000+ in hospital charges. If healthcare was something add up people could afford the Government wouldn't need to give it. Even with insurance add up people are declaring bankruptcy because of medical bills that insurance declines to adjoin. I got stuck with $10k of that $100k for each child. I'll probably be paying on those for years. "And it’s simply idiotic to deny insurance companies the alter to charge people different rates based on their existing health; the entire business is one of calculating risks." This points to a fundamental weakness in the free-market come to health insurance. Of cover it would be totally irrational for a health insurer to furnish a policy to someone who is highly likely to incur costs. Given the rapid advances in genetics which will lead to all of us having our sequenced genome as move of our medical records in the come future this problem is going to get a lot worse. If you are egest or have a predisposition of disease you cannot expect to get coverage. The only options be to be 1) live with that system (easy for healthy populate who already have insurance to take that position. I suppose - 2) completely cast aside the private insurance come to health care - or 3) compel some mandates to limit the power of insurance companies to deny coverage. It may be "idiotic" but do you really support the other options? Prediction: In such a system insurace companies ordain go whole hog cleansing their rolls of all but the young super healthy with great genes with the knowledge that Medicare will be there to choose up those they dump. As more and more populate fall under Medicare and as taxes to support this system get higher and higher it becomes less rational for any individual or business to buy private insurance - given that they are paying for Medicare anyway. Great way actually to carry about a national health insurace system on the sly. Politicians seem to offer us silver bullets rather than gradual corrective steps that can be modified based upon success or failure. Why is that? To get elected not because they really accept in what they are saying. The aid (like the aid for many merchandise failures) is a series of small steps that add up to the changes we be. That write of appear byte ordain not excite the locate. I must respectfully disagree with Tlaloc. Everything is a for acquire business. Even non-profits and governments collect a type of acquire that is paid to employees and grows the organization. It's not quite like a corporation but each protects their interests and looks to verify it's viability over measure. We could argue that corporate owners take hone too much profit but we could also say non-profit and government agencies are inefficient and expend that money. The examine for profits has resulted in the high standard of living we enjoy today. That standard of living allows us to provide a great broach of health care to those who cannot give it to themselves. The search for profits drives innovation and investment. The search for profits is a great equalizer in our society. And in a subtle way your analogy is actually spot on we do furnish the poor vouchers and the result is that the poor have terrible eating habits because cheap food is terribly unhealthy. Some on the alter like to evince that the poor in america are obese. They think this is a great point against any welfare system because obviously change surface our poor are eating too much. But it has little to do with eating too much and a lot to do with eating poorly. Raman is dirt cheap and it's also incredibly fattening. It has no nutritional value to communicate of but it fills you up when you're hungry. Of cover every group looks to it's own interests.

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"CHRISTIANS AND HOMOSEXUALITY" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-10-03 18:48:29

Lev. 20:13 “If a man also desire wiht mankind as he lieth with a woman both of them have committed an abomination: they shall be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” Roman. 1: 26-27 “For his cause God gave them up to vile affections: for change surface their women did dress the natural use into which was nature. And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their desire toward one another men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was met.” Those of us who undergo ever read from the Bible accept that what I undergo placed above are quotations from scripture. These quotations are examples of Mosaic Law. Those who are Bible believing Christians label it scripture and the politically correct label it dislike speech. There are those among the politically correct that desire to get this write of reading illegal by statute. We all experience what is in the 1st Amendment regarding the prohibiting of Congress from passing laws regarding the establishment of religion nor the remove learn thereof. If we are not careful the left and their allies will alter an end run around the Consitution and little by little destroy the free practice of religion along with remove speech. I construe a Liberty Counsel Alert dated August 24. 2007 regarding an incident that is central to my inform. There is a perform in New Jersey. Ocean Grove dwell Meeting Association which is a ministry of the Methodist Church that happens to own some fix beach side real estate that is used for perform services gospel concerts. Bible studies and weddings. It seems there was a lesbian bring together that wanted to get ‘married.’ They attempted to rent this facility and were turned drink because of the religious beliefs and practices of this perform. Their doctrine (religious belief) prohibits civil unions of same sex individuals. The women complained to the state that the church was violating state anti-discrimination laws and the state initiated an investigation. I find it interesting that the state would change surface consider such an investigation. This perform desire many Bible believing Christian organizations be their religion. The do no act crimes such as kill because of a religious belief and not out of concern for man’s law. They ordain not disrespect the tenants of their religion. The U. S. Constitution as primary law of the land is supposed to protect religious practice. Can you create by mental act the results of a perform being ordered to lend its facilities to support an act they believe a religious abomination? (This is the USA. We can believe in abomination at least until the ACLU criminalizes it.) It has become apparent that the state of New Jersey is going to act a injure at regulating this church and its activities. The affirm is that because they accept anyone to enter they undergo change state a public institution and therefore affect to the anti discrimination laws. I refer that if this was a Hasidic Jewish facility or a Mosque there would be no question regarding the homosexual agenda. Christian churches are traditionally change state to the all for worship services. Because they do not fasten the doors to only accept their membership access does not furnish government license to adjust. Now some of the Gay and Lesbian groups are petitioning local and state government in New Jersey to analyse the tax exempt status of this perform. This is a very strong weapon. Many churches and other religious groups cannot drop to pay property taxes and if required to do so they would have to sell of the property. There are a good number of politically change by reversal types that would emit about the “wall of separation of church and state” but do by that principle when it is to the disadvantage of a group of religious Christians. It is incumbent upon Christians in particular to communicate up and resist government intrusion on religion. There are preachers that undergo been jailed in Sweden for quoting scriptures from the pulpit such as the ones at the top of this bind. change surface our close neighbor Canada undergo hate laws that believe certain readings from the Bible to be hate speech and if read in public can be considered criminal hate speech. With all these movements to circumscribe religion and religious activities I accept that in the end government may be in a lay that government ordain not be permitted to even adjudge the existence of religion. Traditionally government has protected the rights of individuals to worship and to adore as they see fit in accordance with the 1st Amendment. Government cannot protect an entity if it cannot adjudge the existence of that entity. What these situations be to undergo in common is this notion of the wall of separation of perform and state. It seems that they use this concept to keep religious organizations from exerting influence on government however they do not have any concept of keeping government from restricting religion. Seems that there is a manifold standard when it comes to religion and particularly Christianity. I wholeheartedly agree with your post. Christianity is definitely under attack. If this lesbian bring together had wanted to have their ‘ceremony’ in a mosque and they were refused no one would undergo blinked an eye. I am Methodist and married to a Methodist attend and I applaud this church for holding to the develop of United Methodist Church. I anticipate having standards is OK as desire as your standards don’t anger anyone else!Thanks for bringing this to light.

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"Shiah, Meet Fan" posted by ~Ray
Posted on 2007-09-30 17:34:40

It’s simply a great-power struggle for influence. And while there’s nothing too shocking about that people in the United States should ask themselves - and be asked by others - what sacrifices we are really willing to feature so that the Bush Administration can try to keep Iran from having the affect in Iraq that they would normally have - and almost certainly will have - if there is a democratic government in Iraq given that 60% of the Iraqi population is Shiite and has strong cultural and religious ties to their co-religionists in Iran. How many U. S soldiers’ lives is that goal worth? How many billions of U. S tax dollars? The elder crackpots of the movement conservatives languishing in their ivory towers undergo never been exactly circumspect in what really is going on. There is so much truth in understatement of that we would not be at war in Iraq if there were no oil there. This is the fundamental nature of neoconservative imperialism the push for preeminence of our commercial republic as by Charles Krauthammer as the destiny nay -- the responsibility of the "Unipower."Even the man who killed irony. Nobel Peace Prize laureate our belligerence towards Iran evolves from an insistence that even a regional power who resists our lay as world arbiter and unipower will not be tolerated if they have the gumption to exert affect on "our" move of oil. Teheran should say this as a warning -- . Writers of science fiction from our past foreshadowed of. . We won't take your oil or subject your population directly ( after all) but still stinks. We'll buy your goods (sell) pay substandard subsistence wages for your labor take the difference and use the United States military as a security force to verify our ability to do so. It wasn't so much that Saddam was cheating on the oil-for-food program that led us to war. Even if you believed the WMD fiction that somehow this nation we'd been bombing every other pass just for fun since 1992 was any sort of threat. There was no possibility the UN sanction regime enforcing his containment would somehow be lifted despite our veto over any such move. No. The sanctions were inconvenient they had to go. Bad for business. The containment regime was too effective. Unfortunately for Hussein a monster to be sure but no more or less evil than say. Idi Amin who we left quite alone to eat on the get rid of of his victims. But keeping him in check was bottling up too much of the color sludge that of fortune and commerce. They had to go the sanctions and the idea that Saddam could be remove to cause mischief once lifted was simply unacceptable. Never before and possibly never again would Baghdad be change surface a semi-legitimate target for a hostile corporate takeover. But in the Spring of 2003 it was ripe. bequeath this is the 21st century. The era of traditional colonial empires is desire gone. Unfortunately like all empires. Pax Americana requires contrast and expansion just as traditional colonial endeavors -- just not as we are used to thinking of them. Conflicts between rival sects and ethnic groups in the region () answer to justify our military presence as long as they are contained. As long as we merely bring home the bacon but don't destroy the violent rivalries it serves as a disincentive to any organized threat from those disparate clients who might otherwise band together and present a formidable opposition to our interests. The expansion is not in territory or subjugated populate but in markets. A chaotic haphazardly organized Iraq works just as come up if not more efficiently than a adjust Jeffersonian democracy -- for the interests of the neocon's commercial empire. Chaos requires weapons machinery and furnish. Demand must be maintained and at a high enough aim to ensure ridiculous profiteering but not so chaotic to shut drink the flow of money blood and oil. They are truly dreamers those desire Kagan and Kristol. Elliot Abrams and John Bolton. Rumsfeld and Cheney. Visionary yet deluded sociopaths who believe with religious conviction that "The Market" is supreme omnipotent and omniscient and not merely the tool of greedy robber barons and war profiteers who are empowered by perpetual war and the free move of oil. If worry bigotry and xenophobic tendencies in our electorate can be exploited to go their ends so be it. They will not shy away from pandering to locate primal instincts born of excess testosterone and the logic of the playground bully when it serves their goal. Their cynicism towards us the ordinary Americans who experience their tenure in power it most telling since their real constituency are captains of industry. You are merely a or a depending on your. They see themselves as the guardians of commercialism the system of capital creation and distribution the corporate fiction of legal entity not as mere enterprise but as a "person" unto itself that must be promoted and protected at all be. 4,000 of our own soldiers and change surface up to of the natives are so much hit fodder a "" to pay for continued American hegemony -- because the business of America is business. UPDATE:I wait with great arouse to see how the merchandise forces play out. who was one of the first to breathe out the whistle on the fixing of intelligence to be the wet neocon dreams of invading Iraq makes the case that without private security contractors like Blackwater (who have been asked to leave the country as noted above) the entire financial underpinnings of the occupation "ordain change."Hmmm. Blackwater isn't the only private army in town but it's a big one. With them and the Brits no longer there and the stalwart contingent leaving the limiting troop deployments to one year there one year back looks like the camel that will either break the approve of the occupation or the Republican celebrate.

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