Snipes Gripes

Okay, so if Wes Snipes is indeed a tax protester, it looks like he did it all wrong. 

I understand not wanting to contribute taxes to “the war machine” and such, and I understand the argument that taxes are unconstitutional, I even get the angle that they should be eliminated or a replacement system developed. However, I know how tenacious the IRS can be. I argued with them for almost fifteen years, lost (even though I was in fact justified in my facts and figures by all who knew of my case EXCEPT the IRS). You cannot win with them. Remember when citizens testified before Congress against their tactics? While we’re at it, what basis is there for such outrageous interest rates? How is that legal?

And still while we’re at it, how about credit card rates? Tell me why both cases aren’t loan sharking and racketeering? Perhaps it’s time for a group “citizen’s arrest” or class action suit against the credit card companies, and a mass revolt against the ridiculous tax laws. How can Dick Cheney pay ten per cent in taxes? Where is the equity and justice? 

This from the New York Times: 

“They {Prosecutors} said the notoriety of the case presented a ‘singular opportunity’ to deter tax crimes nationwide.” WTF? How can they have the legal authority to single out a solitary citizen and “make an example” of them? Don’t we have equal justice under the law?

Give me back my America.  Think I’ll go listen to a Jeremiah Wright sermon to find out what’s REALLY going on.

Catastrophe Ahead

Excerpted Letter text to LA TIMES: It is not an exaggeration to state that disaster and mayhem likely will follow any voter approval of Proposition 98. Ostensibly a measure to strengthen the fight against government’s use of eminent domain–the condemning of property for the public good– Proposition 98 will actually unleash a Pandora’s box of harmful legislation that will eliminate rent control, decimate renter’s rights, allow for the sacking of all environmental safeguards and might literally cause panic in the streets. Wealthy landlords have placed this measure on the June 3rd Ballot hoping that voters will not see past the eminent domain aspect to the Trojan Horse details buried within the proposed legislative change to the California Constitution. Backers of Prop. 98 have millions and millions of dollars to persuade voters to vote in their favor. In reality, Californians should in fact vote for a competing ballot initiative, Proposition 99, which offers Californians eminent domain protection while still allowing rent control to stay in place. If Prop. 98 were to pass, landlords could jack up rents on seniors, the elderly, the disabled and working poor and force them to pay whatever rents they decide, immediately upon passage. Clauses in Prop 98 could allow for the gutting of all existing environmental laws, as these current and future laws could financially impact a landlord or property owner’s rights. We must make sure that voters act responsibly and are informed of the severe impact of this initiative. Proposition 98 is a bum deal for all but a few privileged people. 

Roy Rogers Oldenkamp

Co-Chair WEHONA

West Hollywood Neighborhood Alliance

cell direct 323.252.8907

1336 N. Laurel Avenue

West Hollywood, CA 90046

http://www.wehona.org

Options? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Options

Well, hellya it’s true: We have run out of options. Iraq, the economy, Iran, gas prices, the drug war, global warming, accelerator black holes, you name it. I already did, but I’m certain you can add to this list…Here’s a few options we REALLY, REALLY do not have:

John McCain as President of these United States.

Once we get past the sad chapter of Vietnam, what do we have? A foul-mouthed egotist who calls his wife a c*nt and is surrounded by sycophantic lobbyists running the show from theShitT alkin’ Express. Ewww, this is a step down on the class meter from the current thug in office. Need I mention the Hundred Years War Pt. II? 

John McCain: SAME OLD, SAME OLD

Another non-option: Troops out now. 

That country is falling apart. It’s time to get Obama in office, get him to hunker down with the Turks and cobble together a free Kurdistan (and leave Cyprus, while we’re at it) and let the cards fall where they may in the rest of the artificially created colonial country of Iraq. Separate the Sunnis and Shia, ’cause they will fight ’til Doomsday, which they just may cause. Five years too late, the Islamic community has stepped forward to denounce violence. Five years too late, they have begun to worry about their perception in the world. Five years too late, they are loosening the death grip on women in the autocracy of Saudi Arabia. Five years too late.

Another non-option: Economic Rebound. 

Obama will have his work cut out for him: facts remain, we are the most avaricious and wasteful society of all time, an Easter Island society on a grand scale, numbingly destroying all our resources in obscene quantity, hastening our own destruction. Incredibly, we are still using the internal combustion engine in the 21st Century. It was inconceivable to forward thinking 20th Century intelligentsia that we would be stuck in a progress hole, dissipating all our creative energies on video games and internet porn. 

Oh, yes, and then there’s the non-option of capturing our reputation again worldwide.

Our culture on rapid decline, an unjustly angry populace who humiliated France, our best ally in history, and eight years of tyranny by an unjust dictatorial puppet laboring under a scarily powerful- and possibly insane Vice President–a man who calls his comrades “fuckers” on the floor of Congress–have led to an inexorable decline of our civilisation. Can Barack Obama bring back the luster and shine of our Republic? Is it too late? Were we always really just imperialist Spartans or genuinely beneficent world leaders?  Of all the terrible issues facing us today, this one may be winnable. Barack, the man, needs to come Obama the Supermensch to make this right. He is not an option, he is, in fact our Last, Great Hope for a chance for humankind.