...You're Listening to Barry Paul's "America is Sleeping Remix!"
Thursday, June 30, 2006 I live in Wisconsin. Until now, I thought that there really wasn't any major difference between Minnesota, where I was born and raised, and my new home town of Superior, WI. I've recently learned that there is a difference! In fact there is quite a few little differences I've navigated along my eight month journey into becoming a Wisconsin citizen. But, in my mind those were to be expected while this new "bump" in the road was quite a surprise. I, like all of you reading this, am a working man. Meaning I work for every cent I receive. So when my new employer told me that I could work all the overtime I wanted I naturally jumped at the chance. Hell, why not make one hundred and fifty percent of what I normally make for being there anyway, right? So I worked as much as I could stand nearly everyday. I ended up working twelve and a half hour shifts as this would allow the right amount of time off between shifts for sleep and food. Imagine my surprise less than a week later when I receive my pay check only to find out that my overtime had been taxed at fifty percent, as is normal for WI, I learned later, and the overtime had bumped me into the next tax bracket! Now, I'm not rich! Far from it! Obviously if I'm talking about paying TOO MUCH in taxes, I'm more like, poor. In fact, according to the government, I am poor. I make less than ten thousand a year, so at the start of every year I get to reclaim my money from the government. So, yes, I will be getting my money back next year but for the time being I have to accept this fact; If you work overtime in the great state of WI, you make less per hour during your hardest worked hours, i.e. your overtime hours, than you do during your first forty hours! Nice! Now that's what I call rewarding the working man! Not only is that counter productive to the economy it's a lot like kicking the working man while he's down! If someone is working overtime, they obviously need the money to begin with or they wouldn't be so willing to put in the extra time at the end of the week, so how is it fair for the government to take fifty percent of the money that we hard working blue collar citizens make?! In fact, after taxes, during overtime, I make less than minimum wage!!! Can you fucking believe that?! We in WI, the harder we work, the less we make! I have no choice but to have my employer change my withholding status to three or four dependants. That's what I'll be doing...
Sunday, April 23, 2006 Hi all! And how are we today? Well that's fucking fantabulous! Have you seen gas prices? Three bucks a gallon! Wow! And Bush ran on the price of gas being too high! Here is the sick shit of it, No matter who the three bucks a gallon goes to it is funding or own demise! Here's why; follow me people, keep your hands, feet and pectoral muscles inside the car at all times during the ride, thank you and amen. The Bush admin. said they could lower prices if we just reelected them. Well we, or you dumbass' rather, did and they didn't. Big surprise, right? Not really. I don't need to tell you all about the Bush family's ties to oil here but I did at least feel the need to mention it. There now that that is said, many people feel that Iraq was taken over so the US could control the oil, hence, lowering prices. Well even if this is true, has it worked? No. Hell I'm all for doing whatever we have to do to lower gas prices because if we don't do something the economy is coming to a very quick and short stop as if falling off the WTC. Loose Change! Truck drivers can't haul if they don't make any money doing it, understood? If this isn't true then our money is going to OPEC. Oh, by the way, OPEC... What to say of OPEC... Well it's a group of mostly Muslim countries who hate the US. And most of these countries support the terrorist who either exist or exist and want us all dead. Either way, When you cozy up to the pump next time, remember this; the more you pump today the sooner they are coming for all of us, and that includes you! Whether it is the Bush Admin. or the terrorist, one of the two is bound to make it's move sooner rather than later. Not that the Bush Admin. hasn't already tipped it's hand but whatever, right? Loose Change! For more on that click that link, it will change your life! So here is what I propose we do, since I hate it when people bitch and do nothing to make things better. This is what I have been doing since 9/11. It took ten bucks to fill my tank at $1.12, which is where the price was when my car was made. At two bucks a gallon and about $18 or $19 to fill I started doing this; back then I used a tank of gas a week. Not much has changed but this; I still put that same twenty in the tank each week, but now I don't get as far on that twenty. So I don't just keep putting more in, like so many Americans are doing, which by the way, is making the problem worse. I set a gas budget at twenty a week and that's it! They are only getting twenty a week out of me even if the gas goes to twenty a gallon! If more people would do the same this whole thing would stop, but since so many of us are just cutting money from other parts of our budget, i.e. fun money, to put more and more gas in our cars every week, they make triple the profits they did a few years ago. Not off me! I've thought it through, have you? By the way, I just got a phone call in the middle of this from city card for the wrong person for the fifth time, even though I have told them it is the wrong number, so I just want to say city card sucks!
Friday, April 14, 2006 Hey! Here we are again and you are board looking for something to give your life meaning and I'm here to give you something meaningful to do for the next minute or two. So now the meaningful banter you have all come to love from me. It's very important, no matter your stance on the issues, to be informed. Always check out both sides of the story. You just might find yourself somewhere you didn't realize you wanted to be! Do yourself a world of good and watch this: Loose Change! I know if you just start to watch it you won't be able to stop.
Saturday, April 08, 2006 I am a true supporter of "equal" rights, are you? Think it through. Most people are NOT supporters of "equal" rights. Meaning, they support laws that give one sex more, or less, rights and protections than the other. Didn't know that did ya? It's true! No, I am not saying these laws are bad or immoral, just that, by their very definition, they give more rights and or protections to one sex. In this example, women. Okay, by now you are all pissed off and yelling at the screen for me to tell you, "WHAT FUCKING LAWS, YOU SEXIST!" Well, take a breath and I promise to tell you. Good, now count to ten... Okay now? One simple non controversial law, in fact I have heard nothing but good things said about this law and I agree that it is a good, but not great law, is the violence against women act that was first signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1994. What is sooo bad about this act, you ask? Well, VAWA, sets a dangerous precedent. VAWA, "increased pre-trial detention of the accused, provides automatic and mandatory restitution of those convicted." So, in other words, if you are accused of a violent crime against a woman you will spend more of the time waiting for your trial in jail than if you are being accused of a violent crime against a man. I think here is where we need the definition of the word, "equal," as now is where, an open minded, non sexist, would start to see a problem. Equal (kwl) adj. - Having the same privileges, status, or rights: equal before the law. So now you should be seeing, just by the definition of equal, that to have laws that protect women more than men you are saying that men and women are unequal before the law, and thus, the term "equal rights" no longer applies to the men of the U.S.. Remember that justice in the USA is supposed to be blind to every thing but the law. This means no matter who is accused or harmed, the law must be used in the same way. Does VAWA allow for that? In short, no. This isn't the only law that tips the scales towards women, more on that another time as this is already pretty long, sorry. Once again, I am a full supporter of women's, in fact everyone's, rights. This is why I am typing this out. To open the reader's mind to the idea that maybe all the work isn't done in regards to "equal" rights. Not to say women are less than men and shouldn't be protected. ALL humans deserve protection from violence. Not just women. Not just men. Everyone who is being hurt should have the laws on their side in regards to punishment.
In closing, because I know you still want to argue, ask yourself if this is equal protection under the law: A women walks up to a couple who believe, as you do, they are standing as "equal" citizens, "equally" protected by law. She punches the man square in the nose. Breaking it and causing him to have to see a doctor and pay medical bills he wouldn't have had if he hadn't been hit. The women then turns and hits the woman who is with the man square in the nose. Breaking it, causing the women to have to see a doctor and pay medical bills she wouldn't have had if she hadn't been hit. Charges are filed by the man. A court date is set. The women thinks she is free to go but when charges are filed by the women with the broken nose. Because a women filed this charge, the accused women is arrested and kept in jail awaiting trial. After each trial she is found guilty. For the first case, the case of the man's broken nose, she is sentences to one hundred hours community service and one year probation. In the second case, the case of the women's broken nose, she is sentenced to time served plus one year in prison plus one hundred hours community service plus one year probation. The "same" crime in both cases, but did both offenses get the "same", or should I say "equal," punishment? If you answer yes, there is no way you are not a sexist.
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