On Oct 28, 2008, at 2:47 PM, Jon Louis Mann wrote: >> Perhaps there are 300 million other reasons, none of >
>> which is "because I am a sheep", as you blithely assume, >> that explain my fellow Americans' inaction. > > you are absolutely correct, dave. i apologize, and should have not > made such a generalization. a lot of people do oppose the bailout > but did not register their protest for a variety of reasons. i did > because i rec'd many e-mails with easy and quick links to do so... What a kind reply to my (perhaps excessively) testy email. Thank you. And honestly, one of the main reasons I did not do so was that I do not presume to know more than my US Representative (Zoe Lofgren) >>> i have no problem paying any kind of taxes for the common good; >>> i do have a problem paying for bureaucratic waste, idiotic wars >>> and bailing out crooked brokers, who commit insurance, mortgage >>> and financial fraud! >> >> It is beyond almost everyone (although perhaps not you) >> to know what portion of their taxes go to bureaucratic >> waste, idiotic wars, and bailing out crooked brokers. >> It is against the law to withhold that portion, even if >> you could calculate it. What would you have us do, then? >> > > i am not suggesting that we with hold a portion of our taxes. i > actually pay more than i have to for fear of reprisal. i have no > idea how much of our taxes go to bureaucratic waste, unnecessary > wars, and bailing out crooked brokers, but i have heard as much of > 90%. I don't know what to do about that, except better accounting, > accountability and transparency... About the last sentence, we are in agreement, but I'm not so sure about the 90% waste figure, would like to know where it came from, but it sounds too much like the tripe that the "Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association" propaganda spews all over California ballots every election, and which dropped the nation's best educational system to 49th place. Any time I hear someone (or a group) identify themselves as a taxpayer, I know that I'm in for some crap about the obvious evils of da big bad gummint. I think of myself as a citizen, a member of a community, a participant, a recipient of benefits and a grateful payer of appropriate dues. Though never more or less than required, honestly. Dave _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
