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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

If further evidence were required that Republican lawmakers are hellbent on making the rich richer and the poor poorer, consider that the GOP is reintroducing the National Sales Tax.  These means the abolition of all federal and state income taxes, the inheritance tax, gift taxes, etc., to be replaced by a single tax on all purchases.  Experts believe that a national sales tax of 23% would be revenue-neutral.

This offers the advantage of ending all the expense of record-keeping and the tax return preparation. But as anyone can see, it disproportionately taxes the poor.  Suppose Person A makes $5 million per year, which is 100 times more than Person B makes at $50,000 (and 250 times more than a retiree living on $20,000).

Do you suppose that Person A spends 100 times more than Person B on gasoline, food, cars, clothes, and other living expenses? Of course not.  The richer you are, the less you pay, and vice versa.  It would raise the tax burden for 90% of taxpayers.

OK, so now Republicans need a misleading name to sell this to the American people.  How about “FairTax?”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

It’s because most poor people were denied access to quality education, and, as a consequence, tend to be bamboozled by ruthless people.

This produces the counter-intuitive fact that we should feel sorry for Trump supporters.  How would you like to go through life so thoroughly ignorant?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Let me take a stab at answering this stupid question.

Meat tastes good.

There are good reasons not to eat hamburgers, but “because they taste bad” isn’t one of them.

Btw, Gene Wilder would turn over in his grave if he knew his likeness was being used by imbeciles.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science
One Jim Palmer wrote an essay on the meme here that begins:
Theology isn’t the free search for truth, but rather a defense of an already held position.
No Jewish rabbi will come to the conclusion that the Hopi are God’s Chosen People. No pastor comes to the realization that Krishna is the Christ. No Catholic theologian discovers and affirms the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
I’m also taken by the words of American magician and author Penn Jillette, who said (roughly):
If some galactic catastrophe took place that wiped humankind off the face of the planet leaving only lower life forms, homo sapiens would eventually regenerate itself.  This time, however, would be different.  There would be no Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, or Judaism. But every single bit of scientific knowledge would make its way back to us.  
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

When readers ask me to comment on ideas like the one expressed in the meme here from Hillsdale College, my first response is to ask: Well, is America in fact the freest and most prosperous nation in history?  The answer, of course, as anyone who can read and write understands, is no.

Right now, the U.S.’s “freedom ranking” is number 53 (and falling) among the world’s countries. Freedom House rates people’s access to political rights and civil liberties in 210 countries and territories through its annual Freedom in the World report, and the United States is nowhere close to the top of the list.

We’re 12th in GDP per capita.

If you don’t care about facts, however, please feel free to weigh in on the “college’s” survey  and show your ignorance.  Remember that a hearty appetite for accepting baldfaced lies ihas become a virtue; it’s what makes you click in today’s world.

To Hillsdale: Go Trump.  Storm the Capitol.  Whatever you’re selling to our dullest minds must be correct.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Apparently, there is a social media platform available to those who resent “woke” people, where participants can discuss a great variety, including gardening and poetry.

I have to confess that I have a morbid curiosity about this.  What type of poetry is most appealing to Trump supporters?  They don’t seem to be the most free-minded and nuanced thinkers I’ve ever run across.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A sustainable society is one that meets its own needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs.

So, what can happen to make a society unsustainable?  We normally think of environmental issues like pollution, climate change, over-fishing, etc.

Yet consider a country that has successfully made its way from a democracy to an oligarchy, and contemplate some of what that means:

• Harsh justice and gross unfairness for the masses, and no accountability for the 1%

• Vast levels of undereducation

• Lack of competitiveness in international markets

• Broadspread apathy towards voting

• Healthcare that is increasingly unaffordable, creating an ever-enlarging diseased population with lowering life expectations

It wasn’t too long ago that the United States was respected and envied by the world. Now we have a political party based almost purely on lies, ignorance and hate.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

We all know that Donald Trump has the emotional maturity of a spoiled eight-year-old and is incapable of controlling his temper whenever someone mentions a disparaging word about him.

But when the source of such a word is the community of evangelical Christians, can’t he simply “count to ten” before entering into a “fiery rant?”

Yes, our country has many voting blocs whose taste for racism and stupidity is enormous, but there are limits.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

From this: At least 74 Illinois sheriff’s departments have publicly vowed to defy elements of a recent gun-control law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, which banned assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and switches. The officers have vowed to not check if weapons are registered with the state or house individuals arrested only for not complying with the law.

This may be a good time to remind the world of law enforcement that the American people don’t want you writing your own laws.  Of course, most of the news coverage here surrounds the summary executions of black people, but we’d actually prefer that you not violate any of the laws.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’ll “wait a second,” then mention that Russia is:

• An avowed enemy of the U.S., with nuclear weapons aimed at each one of our population centers

• A brutal dictatorship, imprisoning and torturing its dissenters

• Waging an aggressive war

• Attacking a democracy

• Torturing and executing innocent people, including women and children

If you can’t figure this out, that’s precisely why you’re watching Fox News to begin with.

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