Follow the Money Trail

Too often, we rely on the government to help protect us and the government responds in the only way they know how: more regulation, more oversight, more taxes. The biggest piece of regulation since the depression is currently under review by the United States Supreme Court: Obama-care. With the superficial intent of supplying "affordable" healthcare to some 40 million under-insured Americans, Obama-care is nothing but a carefully crafted law designed to ensure the insurance companies have a steady supply of customers they can make money from. What ever your views or beliefs on this legislation, it is surely an extension of government into our lives and one that will cost us money in the long run.

More detrimental than money, it also raises the question what else the government can compel us to do. "If the government can do this, what else can it do?" Supreme Court Justice Scalia asked, suggesting Congress might require Americans to buy broccoli or automobiles. It is a dangerous slope we are on with government mandates: taken individually, a chain link is not dangerous; but when taken together as a whole chain, we are each shackled by a government that is increasingly out of touch with the average American's daily life.

This debate has led me to examine a few other regulations that we take as everyday life. Why is car insurance mandated? Why are seat belts mandated? Why do major corporations like General Electric pay almost nothing in corporate taxes? Why is abortion continually challenged by religious fundamentalists? Why is gay marriage illegal? It comes down to money.

Car insurance is required because the insurance lobby paid a bunch of politicians (I mean, conrtibuted campaign donations) to make a law so the insurance companies can make more money. As a side effect, regular people are now financially protected when someone does something stupid with their vehicle.

Seat belts are a by-product of the mandated car insurance. If you get into an accident while not wearing your seat belt, the car insurance company is not obligated to pay your medical bills regardless of who is at fault. Again, it comes down to money. Not only does the insurance company get a free pass, but now the state/local government can fine you for not wearing one.

Major corporations have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the last 50 years to ensure the corporate tax loop holes get larger and larger. In 1945, corporate taxes were roughly equal to personal income taxes raising $16 billion and $18 billion, respectively. Today, the difference is tremendous. Personal income taxes in 2011 totaled $1.1 trillion, while corporate taxes brought in $181 billion -- a difference of sixfold. As a percentage of all federal taxes, corporate taxes fell from more than 30% in the 1950s to 6.6% in 2009. In this case, politicians received money for re-election to continue their life long political career and the corporations were given loop holes to hide income in.

Gay marriage and abortions are kind of tricky. It's hard to find the money trail, but it is there. For a moment, let's disregard all organized, fundamental religious beliefs. Really, you have to. According to all organized religion, all other organized religions are wrong and are going to hell, so there you go.

In my opinion, gay marriage is illegal because of tax breaks. When you file jointly, you have a possibility of claiming thousands of dollars in exemptions or deductions. When you file as single, those deductions are not available to you. If suddenly there existed the possibility that every adult aged 18 and older could suddenly claim the married exemptions, the government would lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

Abortion is an even more hidden money trail. For the most part, it does not even make money for the government; but for the religious institutions. If religion (and the government) can find something that galvanizes large sections of the population, that is where the money comes in. Religious associations battle against civil liberty and feminist organizations via advertising campaigns and sit/walk/chant-ins to garner more support for their side. All these things cost money. Never mind the left leaning donations: most of these civil rights oriented people will do things on principle. The right leaning religious institutions see things like gay marriage and abortion as a way to increase donations and manpower. On a side note, I've always been curious why organized religion opposed both gay marriage and abortion. What group of people better to never have an abortion?

The next time you are fined for speeding, jay walking or not purchasing mandatory health care, remember, it's not about you or public safety: it's about the money.

The Chicago Democratic Machine

I am angry. In fact, I'm fucking angry. Angry at Illinois State Rep. Derrick Smith; at the Illinois Democratic Party; and most of all, angry at the voters of the 10th District of Illinois.

Earlier in March, Rep. Smith was arrested and charged with taking $7,000 in bribes. According to FBI surveillance footage, Smith asked for $7,000 in cash so "there won't be no trace" to him. After helping the briber count the money, he asked the FBI undercover agent to "leave it the envelope". On March 20th, with the help of the Chicago and Democrat Machine, he easily won his primary bid by capturing 77% of the vote.

Which brings me to the next group I'm fucking angry at: the Illinois and Chicago Democratic machine. Recently, the Democrat controlled Illinois general assembly re-drew the district maps for state and congressional members, seemingly, to help the Democratic Party by forcing incumbent Republican law makers to run against each other. During the preliminary legal challenge to the new district maps, an email from members in the Democratic Party surfaced that urged lawmakers to do their best to "help in the national push to take back the U.S. House of Representatives" and retain state control. The Illinois Constitution charges law makers to make districts as contiguous and compact as possible to avoid gerry-mandering. If you have looked at the recent map of Illinois districts, then you'll see it looks like a monkey tried playing Tetris.

I'm also angry at those party officials that helped Smith win his primary: U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (Democrat) and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. After Smith lost his Chicago City Hall job for using public employees for private landscaping work, White backed him for the Legislature. After he was charged with accepting a bribe, the Illinois Democratic Party even came up with a new slogan for him: No defeat or retreat — keep the Dem seat. Danny Davis even tried defending him at a pre-election rally: "We know that our colleague is charged with criminal activity. But we also know that a charge is not a conviction."

I'll grant you that he is not convicted yet, but he's on tape ... accepting a bribe ... what more do you need? In the world of politics, who you associate with casts a reflection on you. Does that mean Danny Davis also accepts bribes? Or does Davis think accepting bribes is ok?

Lastly, I'm angry at the voters in Smith's district. Either they are unwilling or unable to use their brains. They are unwilling or unable to think for themselves. They are either stupid or idiots. If politicians are supposedly the best our society as to offer as leaders, then what does that say about our society when pieces of shit like this walk around thinking it's okay to accept bribes or kick backs? What does it say about the people in his district who vote for crooked politicians?

Most times, crooked politicians reveal themselves after they are elected. In this case, Smith unmasked himself before election and he still won his primary. I'm so fed up with the bullshit corruption in Chicago and at the state party level. On this day, I am not proud to be an Illinoisan or a Chicagoan. People like Davis, who only worry about keeping the party numbers, and Smith, who is only it in for himself seemingly, make a mockery of our right to vote. That state party leaders helped him win his primary only to ask Smith to resign so they can install another party member in the won primary slot is fucking insulting.

I'm God-damned fucking angry and I hope my fellow Illinoisans are fucking angry too. This is the kind of shit we have to put with. It's hard enough to shake the Illinois corruption image from outsiders, but what's the point if shit-bags like this are in office?

What Religion Means to Me

I will be 34 years old in a few months, and for most of my life, I've been grappling with the "religion" question: what are my beliefs and which organized religion is right for me. As I ramble for a bit in this article, I hope that someone can help me nail down a label for myself.

I believe there is a higher power and, for the ease of discussion, I'll call him God. I believe that God sends messengers to us on occasion to help guide us to the next step in our existence. In our recorded history, both legitimate and theological, he's sent us some good ones: John of Patmos, Moses, Muhammad, and Jesus. From a relative point of view, I believe that the three major religions today (Muslim, Christian and Jewish) are all facets of God. Just as our leaders (political and otherwise) try to wear many hats or have many faces to attract the most followers or help the most people, I believe that the three main religions are different faces of God.

In my opinion, God uses the three main religions (and possibly other minor religions) as tools to help and guide the most people in our world(s). As support, I point to the Tanakh (Judaism), Quran (Muslim) and Bible (old and new testaments). On a theological level from a Christian point of view, the Gospels (Mathew, Mark, John and Luke) are the same story of Jesus from different points of view. As an analogy, the three main religious texts (Tanakh, Quran and Bible) all the tell the same stories about Adam & Eve, Moses, Noah and Jesus. Only the relatively recent history (the last 1500 years or so) do the stories deviate and spiral outwards into their main theological differences. So in my mind, God is like a giant tree with each major branch being one of the three main religions of today. Funny thing is, each branch considers themselves the most important branch, or the only "right" branch and they are so busy making themselves "right" they can't see the bigger tree as a whole or the role of the tree itself.

I have a real problem with religious fundamentalism. God's message is of peace, understanding and love. People spreading hate, destruction and mayhem because God said it was a good are really fucking stupid. A cleric says to blow yourself up? A preacher is protesting military funerals because the military accepts homosexuals? A Rabbi is helping plan raids into another country? Get lucid and get a life. And in this country, don't hide behind freedom of religion and then use it as a shield to subvert the ideals of this country or impose your "right" view on the rest of us.

I know I'm not Catholic. Besides laying the ground work for some great movies about exorcisms and crusades, they have too many rules and too much kneeling. Besides, how can I respect the elders of the church when they have covered up child sexual abuse. I'm not Muslim and I can't follow leaders who tell me to blow myself up. And I'm not Jewish because I'm not rich or don't control a vast media empire.

Hopefully you are seeing the humor in that last paragraph, but I wanted to present the stereo types we all have heard or may subscribe to to make a point. If you are more worried about placing names or blames, then you probably need to re-examine your "faith." When you follow God's message (peace, love and understanding), you're not really worried about what other people are doing or saying.

As I read over what I've already written, I guess I've already given myself an answer. I believe in God as I describe him and I believe that faith, hope and charity help the most people. Now if only there was a church for that.

March Madness is like Fishing

WARNING: You will be reading my opinion. I make unfounded accusations about college academic and sports programs as an example and purposely do not provide concrete evidence ... mainly because colleges are pretty good about covering their tracks; but mostly because I prefer inferred and deduced logic rather than a "smoking gun." Enjoy!

Shhh, I'm trying to pay attention to the salmon running upstream to spawn. See, Salmon are born in rivers and make there way to the sea. After a few years at sea, they may travel hundreds of miles up streams and rapids to return to nearly the exact spot they were born so they may reproduce, and, eventually die. This cycle happens every year and is as dependable as March Madness and tax deadlines.

Think of it: 20 or more generations of salmon, with the 20th tracing its blood line back to the 1st generation, spawning in the nearly the same exact spot. Now think of this: a couple generations of good basketball players going back to their alma maters to lend a hand in recruiting the next generation of basketball players, that may or may not suck. Each March, ESPN and non-cable television stations feel the need to completely up-end their regular schedules to play College basketball games tiered to produce the two "best" teams that eventually play each other in a much bally-hoo'd and televised game.

If you ever have listened to a pro-sports athlete talk, you may notice they try to talk in sound bytes. That is to say, they give concise (but not always logical) answers that would fit nicely in a highlight piece during the news' sports segment. Below are a few examples of sound byte answers gone horribly wrong.

"I've had to overcome a lot of diversity."
-- Cavaliers forward Drew Gooden on the ups and downs of his NBA career

"We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees."
-Jason Kidd

"I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to."
-Shaquille O'Neal on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece

"Play some Picasso."
-Former New Jersey Net Chris Morris, to a piano player at a hotel bar while trying to impress a date.

So now we have a few examples of pro-athletes sounding really stupid or un-educated. These athletes have the important mantle of being "hero's" or inspiring younger people. We have generations of young people seeing that is ok not to be smart or educated and, rather than developing mental aptitude, developing physical skills that will eventually fade. Worse still, they see it is ok to be dumb in a broader sense. I may not be the smartest person on the planet, but I'd be willing to bet, 10+ years out of college, that I could still apply the quadratic equation or write a grammatically correct sentence while Shaq can run, dribble, converse and shoot all without skipping a beat. 

Trouble is, Shaq and other stars like Derek Rose or Michael Jordan or any professional basketball player are but a small handful of players who were successful out of college. Not every college basketball player makes it to the NBA just like not every salmon egg makes it to be a fish. So we have a relatively large pool of college basketball players who potentially are sacrificing their education in basket weaving (whilst getting "academic" help along the way *wink wink nudge nudge*) to have a shot at being pro. 

Thankfully, most college players give up the sport because they know they suck when compared to Rose or Kobe. Regretfully, the college players who survive the transition from college to pro usually forget they are educated because they see their pro hero's flashing their money around or being otherwise dumb.You see the same shit with rap or hip-hop stars. As time flows onward, kids in poor areas see "making it big" as their only way out of the streets when they should be looking at education as the smart route.

So this March Madness, don't see the basketball game, see the salmon spawning with only a 10% survival rate and another generation of student athletes with failed dreams and broken hopes, destined for mediocrity.