If the bombing in Madrid Thursday got you thinking again, you are like many other folk in the States. It has been so quite since 9/11 that many of us have become complacent towards terrorist threats to our nation. Despite the changing threat levels and advisories from the Department of Homeland Security, we go on as if it never happened, or if it did, "can't happen again."
Wrong! We remain vulnerable to attack and must not forget it. Some would have the president withhold images of 9/11 from campaign ads. 9/11 defined Bush's first term. To deny it happened, to deny the impact on the Bush presidency, to restrain from reminding folk of that terrible day is no different than those who deny the holocaust and attack those images as inflammatory.
We must remember. The citizens of this country must not forget that with 9/11 the future changed for the US. We cannot go back. We must be aggressive rooting out terrorism, as part of a group of nations or alone, we must do it.
Those who would have us restrain ourselves from this necessary action to protect our borders, our people, would expose us to the threat and be responsible for what could happen.
The thinking people in the US know there will be another attack. The only question is when and how?
There is a website where independent analysts search the web and the news services looking for indicators of terrorist action. If you don't know of the Northeast Intelligence Network, you should. Get to know the site, check it often. Don't be afraid, be aware.
(FYI-Originally this post referred to the bombing in "Barcelona." I may be going there in May and had that on my mind when writing. Thanks for understanding, SM)

While there isn't a lack of topics to ramble on about, I've been focused on re-working the index page of our site. Learning and putting into practice html is a tedious, but I expect to be rewarding, task.
However, I have to say, John Kerry's statement March 3, remember, “We resoundingly reject the politics of fear and distortion.” Wednesday, March 10, Mr. Kerry declared, "Let me tell you, we've just begun to fight. We're going to keep pounding. These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen."
True colors bleeding through a heart full of deception. Mr. Kerry's turn to the negative is proof he has no positive vision for America. He cannot articulate a bright future, it's not the liberal view. Since, for Mr. Kerry there is no bright future, all he can turn to is negative campaigning.

The Fair Tax is base solely on retail consumption so that only as purchases are made will a tax be paid. The more you consume, the more tax paid. Therefore those with more means (i.e. “the rich”) will pay more than those with less means (i.e. “the poor”). In addition, there is built into the system a rebate or allowance of taxes to offset the burden on lower income families, essentially poverty level income will not be taxed. This while those with the ability to purchase more will pay more.
Additionally, the whole economy will be available to the tax since everyone, wage earners, entrepreneurs, business owners, criminal enterprises, illegal aliens and so on must participate in the retail economy. No one can completely avoid being a consumer. Even government, as it purchases services and supplies through the economy, will be taxed, just like it’s citizens.
The coup de grace of the plan is that the cost of producing products and services will be reduced as those business doing so will no longer be tasked with the accounting and collecting payroll taxes, they will no longer need to spend countless hours and dollars in tax avoidance planning (a completely legal part of doing business) and they will no longer be required to pay corporate taxes, all of which are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher cost of goods.
As mentioned earlier, this is estimated at 20-30% of the cost of goods. Now watch this closely. If an item currently costs $100 and competition after the elimination of the current system forces it down 20% to $80, a fair tax of 23% on that will be $18.40. Added to the cost of $80, the final cost including tax will be $98.40. The savings to the consumer and taxpayer is $1.60.
Now if the cost savings to the producer is 30% and competition forces the cost to the consumer to be reduced accordingly to $70, the fair tax on that will be $16.10. Total final cost with tax, $86.10, savings to the consumer/taxpayer, $13.90. All the time funding government in a way that is fair to all.
This is only a very brief overview of the plan. There is much more information available at FairTax.org.
You will find research papers on the impact on various sectors of the economy as well as on the taxpayer. If you like what you see be sure to write your congressman. They won’t move on this unless they have an enormous amount of integrity, or find it in their best interest. Each of us holds the key to the latter.
To learn about the current tax code, read a simple overview of the proposal, and find out how to get involved check out the Volunteer page.

Over the years there have been a number of proposals to scrap the current tax program for plans promoted as fairer to all, better for the economy and providing necessary revenue for government services. Most memorable in recent history is the Steve Forbes Flat Tax plan introduced in the 1996 presidential campaign.
Now there is another plan that is gaining momentum and sponsors that totally revolutionizes the way tax revenue is collected in this country. In the process it promises to access the underground economy (black-market, under the table sales, illegal income etc.), reduce the tax burden on everyone while providing funding for existing government services.
The current system depends on a system of deductions and exemptions to “reward” and motivate the population to specific actions such as investing, home ownership and business ownership. The system also promotes class warfare and provides a means for politicians to reward voters for their support. The problem is they are doing this with your money, not theirs or the “government’s.” Government produces no income, it only takes it. So they only reward you with what is already yours, in the process the cost of government and essential services, as well as the overall cost of doing business and ultimately consumer purchases increases enormously. It is estimated that by the time products and service reach the consumer taxes have inflated the cost by 20-30%.
To eliminate the politicizing of taxing, streamline the process and thereby reduce the associated compliance costs to business and individuals, spread the burden fairly and ultimately reduce the cost to the taxpayer Americans for Fair Taxation is proposing the Fair Tax Act of 2003.
Currently in committee the bill has 44 co-sponsors and proposes to turn the current system upside down. In a nutshell, it will eliminate the current tax code, all 10,000 pages with 100,000’s of pages of supporting documentation. It will reduce the costs of compliance by collecting the tax at only one level, compensating those businesses for doing so. Tomorrow I’ll go into some of the basics of the plan and provide links to supporting research.

Following up on my rant last Thursday, I would be remiss if I "carried on" about the unfair taxation of estates, income, corporations etc, and failed to offer an alternative. While there is a need for funding of essential government services, and certainly intelligent people can debate what constitutes "essential", I would contend the current system of taxation, corporate and individual income taxes, is a grossly unfair burden on the population, especially the lower income brackets.
While you may think there are certain folk in our society who pay no taxes, not only technically but in reality you would be wrong. Any time a product is made it is taxed through the corporate taxes on the company producing it. You may say, "but the company is paying those taxes, not an individual" and you would be right, except...every business passes onto it's customers the costs of producing it's goods and services. That is simply how business stays in business. It costs so much to produce a product or service, and that cost, along with a reasonable margin of profit, is passed on to the consumer.
Bringing a product to market may involve several different businesses, and each will pass on it's costs, including taxes, to the next business in the chain, until the final product, and the final costs, are passed onto the consumer.
Thus it is that consumer, buying that "widget" who will ultimately pay the taxes on the businesses producing the goods he or she buys. Therefore, no business or corporation pays taxes in the US, only individuals.
The problem here is that the business is essentially tasked with the collection of income taxes under the table for government. Government doesn't want the citizen to know they are paying all the money that is being spent (or squandered) on government services and programs. It has been calculated that the taxes accumulated on the products and services as they are produced amount to about 23% of the cost paid at the register. Consider that of every dollar spent you are paying 23 cents in taxes. For every $1000 spent, you are paying $230 in taxes. This over and above the income and withholding taxes you pay.
A family of 4 earning $15, 000, though they receive back all the monies paid in withheld income tax, plus a welfare payment through the so called "Earned Income Credit", they still will pay about $3000 in taxes through purchases made through the year. Double their income and not only are they no longer eligible for "Earned Income Credit", they will now pay income taxes and...since they are able to purchase more, they will pay more taxes through the retail goods and services taxation system. That could be $5500 or more on top of income withholding taxes. So what do we do about this unfair, multilayer taxation? While I'm no expert, I've learned of an effort to make the tax system in the US much fairer to all. Check back tomorrow.