Death and Taxes

Taxes, in feudal times, were a way to redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich. The lords and ladies in their magnificent castles lived off the sweat and blood of the peasants who worked their fields and fought their wars.
Death taxes meant that a peasant who died, represented a loss to the lord. The surviving families had to pay a cow or a pig  (heriot) in order to recompense the lord for his loss. (sounds like some things never change)

This is different from an estate tax. Ever since the beginning of our constitutionally designed government, an estate tax has been a way of redistributing wealth from those who have profited the most from our society, to those who  are struggling. A constitutionally ordained Robin Hood tax, if you will. The estate tax was a part of our political history from before the creation of our constitution, its most eminent proponent being Thomas Paine who argued persuasively for it in his pamphlet  Agrarian Justice.
There are two main camps in the estate tax controversy now. The party opposed comprises heirs to large fortunes which they did not create, and are opposed to sharing.
The party in support comprises  many mega wealthy individuals who actually created their own wealth, and understand that they owe a debt to the society that allowed them a chance to succeed.

The really sad thing is to see so many of us peasants supporting the right of the super-rich to keep their unearned money. We are still dying in their wars, working in their factories for less and less pay, cleaning their houses, and trying to survive in a crumbling society that cannot provide our children with a decent education, or adequate nutrition, or basic health care.

The Tudor age

The TV series about the Tudors, who ruled England during the 16th century is remarkably accurate in many details. Not all of them, but close enough. I was inspired by the mini-series to read the book by the same name The Tudors; the complete story of England's most notorious dynasty written by G.J. Meyers.
It's an amazingly gripping history, with an analysis of the Protestant reformation and all the politics involved in the religious upheavals. One of the amazing parallels between the Tudor age and our own is the use and common acceptance of torture, as an acceptable and even necessary evil. Another parallel is the rise in dreadful poverty, partly as a result of the dissolution of the monasteries, partly as a result of a change in perception. The old order had an ethic that poor people are beloved of God, and it was the duty of every Christian to give to the poor and take care of the needy. During the Tudor age, the idea developed that poor people are unworthy and being poor was evidence of personal failure or character deficiency. It sounds like the meme spread by Ayn Rand, and nurtured Fox 'news' propagandists and their wealthy owners. In the Tudor age this led to economic misery and disfunction. Sound familiar?
This report from the Joint Economic Committee of Congress shows that the top 10% of Americans brought in nearly half of all the income earned in 2008. And their taxes went down. Remember what happened after that? When Richard Burr made a frantic call to his wife, telling her to pull all their money from the ATM before the system collapsed? This whole Tea Party BS is destroying us all. And the pathetic pawns in their stupid costumes are too blind to see how they are being manipulated.

Let's throw more people into desperate poverty!

John Boehner - the brilliant orange hope of the Republican party wants to raise the age at which we can start to draw on the Social Security insurance into which we have paid our entire working lives. Boehner, also noted for his hard-partying lifestyle  thinks we can pay for Afghanistan by denying old people benefits until they are 70? Hasn't he heard there is a recession on? I know so many people who have begun reluctantly drawing reduced benefits because they can't find a job! Old people are NOT WANTED in the workforce! Whenever someone retires and starts drawing the Social Security money (which he or she has earned btw) a job opens up for a younger person, who likely is trying to support a growing family.
Boehner is a jerk. I think it's time for him to get a job - maybe fast-food or something. He needs an education in reality.

Newt Gingrich - authentically insane

We know Newt Gingrich as the infamous author of the gopac memo entitled "Language: a key mechanism of control." We know Newt loves to use emotionally charged language to engage the blind reaction centers of the brain, and shut off the rational analytic sections that actually allow us to think and reason.
We know that Newt wants to control us and manipulate us into electing the permanent Republican majority that is the wet dream of every Republican billionaire since Reagan left office.
But his latest attempts to create memes are so screwy that even the mindless zombies parroting Fox "news" talking points will have difficulty repeating them with a straight face. Obama has a "Kenyan" anti-colonial world view? Really? What the hell is that? Will any of the mindless masses bother to ask? Is there something great about having a colonial world view? Is that what underlies all the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is Newt admitting that the reason our children, and theirs are dying by the thousands, is so the US can subjugate those countries and take their resources?
Maybe he has totally gone over the edge and is just raving, spewing random nonsense. Or maybe he figures that's what is required in order to  succeed  in today's Republican party.

What profit a man who gains the world if he loses his soul?

Some things are not suited to capitalism and the profit incentive. Health care is one of these things. The profit motive causes many expensive, unnecessary, and often dangerous treatments to be chosen over care that might be simpler and more effective. This New York Times editorial explains part of the reason that health care costs are driving this country into bankruptcy.  What is really needed is extensive science-based research into the most effective treatments. Patient education - such as the type of end-of-life counseling that was shot down by the "death panel' demagogues- is also very important.
The current health care industry is set up to make patients feel intimidated and terrified enough to submit humbly to all the painful and expensive procedures that pay physicians and hospitals most handsomely. Granted, many of those procedures are prescribed to avert potential lawsuits. The malpractice industry is another industry that profits from the current system that pits patient well-being against making money.
It's too darn bad that President Obama did not defend single-payer as the best option for health care reform. I am convinced that health care falls clearly under the constitutional mandate to "provide for the general welfare."

The good old days when coathangers were all you needed.

All the evidence shows that limiting access to safe legal abortions does not reduce the incidence of abortions. It only increases death and injury to desperate women who must resort to back alley abortions, or self-induced "remedies". Free and open access to safe effective birth control, social support systems, and extensive education efforts are the way to reduce abortion. But there will always be some people who need  safe legal access, whether for health reasons, or other personal reasons. Wealthy upper-class  women have always been able to get decent care. It's the poor who suffer, as always.

How ironic that the same people who oppose reproductive freedom on the grounds that it destroys life, are the same people who pride themselves on supporting war.

Theocracy

The Iranian woman who was recently flogged 99 times is still sentenced to die by stoning.  What a savage barbaric country. That's what you get when you allow religion to interfere with government.