Scott can't fix his lawnmower

His 12 year old lawnmower broke. It's been raining like crazy and he will probably need a baler soon. But Scott doesn't have the extra cash right now. With a couple of kids on the way to college, you can imagine why.

My wallet is plenty light, too. I just finishing battling the IRS over taxes. I am semi retired and have a little side business and the IRS thought I should pay them about 30% of the gross. Ah, no. They are no fan of mine because I have suggested things that might change tax policy and get rid of them all together. Can you watch that clown on the congressional hearings with his cute smirk and not think it is time to kick the American Gestapo out?

Why and I so pissed?  I just read a story about roads and how the road fund is almost broke. Is it because the gas tax is too low?  Ah, no. Is it because we have built to many shiny new roads and bridges? Ah, no. It's because, like the Social Security "Trust" fund, the money has been stolen to pay for other stupid things like giving zillions to Iraq and other nations that hate us.

Enough already. We are broke. Us. The people who go to work every day and come home to a stack of bills that is killing us.

There are two causes for the mess we are in. Politicians is one. Lawyers is the other. Politician who are lawyers are nothing more than American terrorists. They have screwed us and it is time to do something about it.

If you think Boehner's lawsuit is going to help, you're dreaming. Congress holds the purse strings and it is time to cut. Cut big. Since the IRS wanted 30% of nothing from me, how about a 30% cut from them?

And while your are at it, do what Florida had the courage to do. Drug test people getting welfare checks. (Sorry Willie, you're wrong. Drugs do hurt people. In fact they kill people. Just look south of the border.)

Maybe a rework of unemployment benefits is a good idea. How about requiring someone who has been unemployed for longer than six months to enter training in a career that we actually need?

If that is not going to work, than maybe it is time for a new version of the CCC and the WPA. We are already paying for a labor force, why can't they be working on...you guessed it...new roads.

Just because the government couldn't recognize a new solution if it crawled out from under the Speaker's desk and bit him in the foot doesn't mean we have to open our wallets and pay more.

After all, the grass is growing and Scott has a lawnmower to fix.

Another big day for me!

My mother would turn up one eye if she knew I was doing this but I am going to do it anyway. So there.

It's another big day for me in an already busy month. I just published The Rooming House Murder on Kindle and it is the second book I have published in the last month or so. The other one is The Co-pilot and both are related because they are a two of a three part series about the life of my ordinary hero, Chance Mikelson. Both are budget-busters at $1.99 each. Isn't Kindle great?

The Rooming House Murder is based on some of the darkest times in my life. No, there was no murder but there was a rooming house. It was pay-by-the-week living and the landlord would put your things on the porch if you didn't pay on time. My room was just a few square feet bigger than a walk in closet and the mattress was covered in plastic to keep bums from, well you know. Maybe I was a bum looking back.

I am mindful of the struggles others have living their lives and that has become a trademark of my books. There is one challenged character in each of them.

In The Co-pilot that character is Angles. He was a teenage boy who actually lived in a tree outside of my hotel. He was not a dark-skinned African. He was the result of a union between a white father who was a very drunken sailor one night in Monrovia, and an African mother who had no plans to take care of him.

Since he was brown and not black, he was an outcast. He also had a large dark area in his right cheek. That area would move because it was filled with worms. Can you imagine?

In The Rooming House Murder, the character is Double D. He is overweight, under-educated, under-toothed, but he roams around with a smile on his face and a great attitude. He uses the system to get by and frankly, that is fine with me. Some folks need the help.

I mope. My mom would be the first to tell you that. She would also tell you I could carry a grudge into the next two generations. 

But life is all about experience and that time was an experience. The house did not have any air conditioning and summer in Nebraska is hot and humid. There were some tough characters who came and went during my time there. Most were drunks too far gone. I minded my business and tried to get by on the things I knew how to do.

As a former advertising copywriter, I knew how to write. I just wasn't  doing a very good job of selling myself and since money was tight, I took what I could get. One of the things I could get was a sales job at Best Buy selling computers. Looking back, that was a bit of divine luck. My Best Buy days have served me well when it comes to tech stuff.

Anyway, you will find a lot of those days in my new book. You will see Lincoln come alive. And, you will see sadness. That's what a good book is all about, isn't it?

Mom would feel a little better about me telling you this. After all, I never had a day when I wasn't wearing clean underwear or had dirty ears.

Has the IRS finally screwed the pooch?

I don't know anyone who likes these thugs. Well, maybe tax preparation people and tax lawyers but the list gets pretty short after that.

And now they have really stepped in it.

They are using their power--which they have way too much of--to investigate organizations, people, and churches. Does that sound familiar?

Maybe we should allow them to really enjoy their position and buy them brass medallions and long leather coats. Or maybe, just maybe, the time is right to abolish this joke of a tax code and replace it with a flax tax and fire 90% of the IRS. Yes, I said fire them. We don't need an American Gestapo and that is exactly what this outfit acts like.

I am really fed up with the goofballs in power right now. Everywhere you look there seems to be more corruption and abuse of power. Let's get a handle on this right now. Let's see if one congressman or one senator has the courage to introduce a bill to abolish the tax code by a date CERTAIN and replace that code with a flat tax and lets cut the IRS down to size.

The "folks" need to turn up the heat on the losers in Washington.

Your Fair Share

Whether we like it or not, it's a fact that more Americans than originally targeted are now paying their "fair share." (For folks on other planets, that is also known as "taxing the rich.") The long fingers of government are reaching deeper into everyone's pocketbooks for more money in the form of increased payroll taxes and you can be sure those itchy fingers won't stop there. President Obama has already hinted that is going to happen.

Maybe government's reach should exceed government's current grasp. Maybe there is a way to restore America's work ethic, get wandering gangs off the streets and thereby reduce crime, and save taxpayer money that doesn't need to be spent in the first place.

The idea is an old New Deal idea and is part of the proud Democrat history. It's the WPA (Works Progress Administration and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp.) It was a way to put the unemployed back to work paying their fair share.

Those programs produced things like Hoover Dam and the National Park System. Just think what a huge available labor force could do at Sandy Hook? Just think what a huge available labor force could do when a tornado tears a community apart? Just think what a huge labor force could do when a blizzard drops two feet of snow on a community? Just think what mentors teaching English could do at the community centers?

There were voices who called this idea "forced labor camps" and "concentration camps." Ask anyone who just worked their butt off to build a business what losing almost sixty cents on the dollar is? Let's get real here. Let's get fair. Let's make fair share, fair share.

Let's do the CCC and the WPA again. There is plenty of work to be done and we have plenty of people sitting at home collecting years of unemployment compensation who could help.

If it is now "fair" for the government to use class warfare to justify collecting higher taxes from the "rich," it should also be "fair" to expect people who are getting paid by society for not working to work. The other option is to go to school and get more education to get a better job when you are on unemployment. Your choice.

What about the people who can't work? Another Democrat idea can help out. It's the draft board. The same ratings could be used. Unemployed workers could be classified according to the same classes used during the 1960's. 1-A you work or go to school or your don't get any unemployment. 2-S you are going to school and get unemployment. 4-F you physically can't go to work and you should be on disability. There would be no more forms where you check a box that says you applied for two jobs and nobody really checks to see if you did. If you are 1-A, you take a job or do your fair share to help society. Period.

It's time to take some tough action to get this country on its feet again .It's time to replace entitlement thinking with a good work ethic. After all, why should only some in our society pay their fair share while others get paid to sit at home when there is plenty of work to be done?

How to negotiate-a high school course

From the title, you might think I am suggesting we teach high school kids how to buy a used car. True, the skill could be used that way but that is not what I have in mind.

Maybe we can teach kids how to negotiate with other kids so they can solve problems in a civil manner and not pick up a gun and kill someone. That seems to be the only problem-solving option today and that quick draw reaction is at the heart of our problem.

I will admit my bias about gun control. I an a pro gun guy and once worked for Remington Arms Company. I am not way right, however. I could support expanding background checks to include gun show sales. I would support an expansion of the database to include people who have mental issues. I do support making all gun crimes, federal crimes with strong federal prosecution and mandatory 10/20/life sentences--10 years if you are caught with an unlicensed guy; 20 years if you use an unlicensed gun to commit a crime; life if you hurt or kill someone. No plea bargaining.  All of those solutions may reduce gun violence but won't get at the heart of the problem.

Schools breed hate and starts kids down the path to violence. The school is also the place where we need to teach kids how to negotiate better solutions to problems that don't involve killing someone.

Hagel is not the right one, Mr. President

I am not a Chuck Hagel fan. Yes, I am a Nebraskan. Yes, I lean to the right and was really disappointed with the election results. And yes, I have never thought Chuck Hagel was anywhere close to the right side of things.

More than once during the Bush years, I found myself saying "What?" when Hagel offered some kind of war wisdom. I understand he served with distinction and earned two purple hearts. I am grateful for that and all of the others who served. But, i don't think that should be a fast track to the cushy seat in the Department of  Defense.

As those hearing clearly showed, "free thinker" Chuck Hagel should be doing his free thinking far from the defense department. He just doesn't seem to have a clue about the world we live in now. He didn't have a clue about the world during the Bush years as the surge clearly showed. He doesn't understand that the fuse is still burning in the Middle East and the bomb is in Israel and we have drawn a red line around that country.

Graham and McCain pinned Hagel. Others took mighty swings at him. He offered no defense and showed what can happen if you are not prepared to defend your record. I am sure he was ready to hear from a "homey" senator from Nebraska. But when her turn came, freshman Senator Deb Fisher wasn't any too kind to Hagel either.

Former Senator Hagel would not correct his statements about Iran's revolutionary guard and Israel. He demonstrated he still has a case of Washington flu and the words, "I made a mistake" get caught in his throat and never get uttered. (Not to be confused with Nebraska cow udders.) Either way, Hagel stammered and stuttered and sat there is utter or udder misery.

He doesn't get the world today and America can't afford any more folks like him in high places. Bad management means lost American lives. Benghazi proved that. Money needs to be spent smarter on clear plans with clear missions in order to protect American lives, American friends, and American interests. We need to gear up for those challenges right now and not the 2014 and 2016 elections.

Hagel has long-since left the the right side for the middle to left. And, in the opinion of this Nebraskan, he should be left out. We need someone with vision, not blinders.

The unpassioned.

I haven't written anything in a long time. Part of  the problem is my computer. It died. So, I got a new one. It's a netbook and that is also now part of the problem. My hands don't work that well on a netbook. It's too damn small.

I got a bigger keyboard which has helped but now the screen is a bit far away for my comfort. I got new glasses with no-line bifocals.There was another excuse for not writing.

But, most of all, I am just not interested in much of anything right now and if you write, or claim you are a writer, you know how important passion is.

So.what am I passionate about?

I am passionate about my dog Willie. He has added tons of joy to my life and tons of poop to my neighbor's yard. Just kidding. We bag. I am training him to be a search and rescue dog with a minor in sniffing out human remains. So far, he has done really well. He has found several bums sleeping in the weed near the rail yard and has even caught a guy trying to break into a building down the street. He has some police buddies now.

I am passionate about my politics but I don't say wuch about it. The country is in trouble. I don't think President Obama has done much to correct the part. Governor Romey might or might not. Maybe we are too far gone. Would I give up some of my Social Security check to help turn things around? Will someone on welfare match me? Fair isn't fair unless it's your fair share, right?

I am passionate about the country. We are still under attack. We send billions to people who at a minimum check the "strongly dislike" box when with a choice about the USA. Isreal is going to pull the trigger on our gun. It's just a matter of time.

There are two things that I am really passionate about. Those are the kind of things that make you feel seventeen again and you have a cool car and a half tank of gas. One is storm chasing and they other is a medical side of public service. Yes, I am a medic of sorts and have been first at the scene of around ten accidents where I have been able to use my training and help someone.

Storm chasing? It was a bust this year with the drought. Most of the big boomers that came our way just didn't crack the cap. As a result, there was nothing to chase. No fun.

I have had people--including family and friends--say that I don't know how to train a dog, or how to help people who have been in accidents, or how to spot a developing storm. I also didn't know how to fly, how to write, and at one time, how to breathe.

There seems to be an over-supply of know-it-alls around today who have nothing better to do than tell you that you don't know how to do this or that and they do. Frankly, I know how to trim those folks from my life and move on.

So on we go. There may be a new book coming. There may be a new screenplay coming. There is a new search dog coming. There is help on the way if I am around.

I know this is not very interesting but it is a start back to writing again. That's something I was passionate about at one time and I need to be passionate about again.

Small keyboard or not.