April Fool’s!!!

April 15th nears…. and everyone starts making cute comments about the dreaded Federal Income Tax, and the forms start rolling in, and you call your accountant, and high school and college kids are excited because they get a few hundred dollars coming back to them, small business owners cringe for not filing quarterly, etc. etc.

All this ado in early spring every year; it’s a custom we’re used to and never question.  We know that if you do not bite the bullet and ‘Do Your Taxes’ you could face a fate worse than death: an audit.  OR jail, or a beating, or a big fine, or just a big pain in the ass. 

But guess what….?  There is no law that requires you to pay the Federal Income Tax.  That 1040?  Not required.  Taxing your labor?  Unconstitutional.

The 16th Amendment addresses taxation, but no where claims that the Federal Income Tax is a citizen’s duty.  Actually, when the government tried to get the amendment changed to make F.I.T. a requirement, the Supreme Court said ‘no’ and ruled the tax unconstitutional. 

Don’t believe me?  You look it up.  Call the IRS and try and get them to explain the law to you- or even quote the section of #16 that STATES you have to pay income tax.  Call your accountant, ask them.  You will never get an answer, not a real answer, because there is NO law that requires you to fill out that 1040, or to have your checks garnished and portions of your hard earned dollars sent to the… wait, where does the Federal Income Tax go?  What does it pay for?  Not roads, not schools, not even the salaries of politicians.  All those are already paid for by the dozens of other types of taxes we already pay (local, property, cigarette/liquor, etc. etc.).  Those types of taxes are perfectly legal, the Federal Income Tax is NOT.

Here is a great movie by Aaron Russo (director of Trading Spaces, The Rose….) called America Freedom to Fascism.

He’s an excellent director, and takes a good look at WHY we pay taxes, and questions the law (a law that doesn’t exist) that forces us to do so.  Certainly watch all of it, but if you can’t, AT LEAST watch the first half. 

http://www.freedomtofascism.com/

Google Video Link To Movie

*You can find it on YouTube too…

Why Your Vote Doesn’t Matter

As we near the 2008 Presidential Election, and commercials telling us how important our vote is begin to grow in numbers, I would like to remind you that your vote doesn’t really matter.  Along with incredible fraud that is occuring at ballot casting sites across the country, there are many other factors working against you- the ‘voter.’

Why your vote doesn’t matter:  The Electoral College

There are many factors that work together to make your vote useless, but the main reason why your vote doesn’t matter has to do with a little thing we call the Electoral College.  The electoral college system dates back to ancient times, probably for the sake of offering representation to peons who couldn’t vote themselves. 

Today, however, most everyone is capable of voting themselves- yet we insist on this silly ‘middle man’ system anyway.  So the electoral college is a group of electors who are actually the ones whose votes do matter.  Each state has a different number of electors, so some states carry more weight than others.  The number of electors is determined by adding a state’s Senators (2) with US Representatives (varies depending on state’s population).  For example, Illinois has 21, California has 55, North Dakota has 3.  So, Califonians are more important from Illinoisans (?), who are more important than North Dakota.

When you cast your ballot on election day, you are really just voting for whoever the elector is that said they would vote for you candidate.  So if you go and check the John Edwards box, you are really checking the box of Joe Elector who says if he got elected for the college he will vote for Edwards.  Then, you put your trust into the hands of a guy who SAYS he will vote for Edwards, but who really knows?  And, for North Dakota, he doesn’t carry much weight anyway because he is only 1 out of 538 votes cast in the college.

Why do we still use this literally ancient system?  I don’t know.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to have everyone vote, and then count the votes, and then whoever gets the most votes wins?  I guess maybe that would take too long… so much for fairness.

An Example of How the Electoral College is Not a Fair Representation of the Little Person’s Vote:

The 2000 Election:  Al Gore had more ‘real’ votes (had we counted votes in a normal way), but according to the Electoral College he had less. 

Now, you may think- oh we’ve all heard of that one, it’s been beaten to death- but I am going to keep talking about it because although we KNOW, as a fact, that the 2000 elections were unfair and incorrect (for reasons besides the electoral college thing, which sadly is perfectly legal) we haven’t done a thing about it, and actually let it happen AGAIN in 2004.  ONE article of many suggesting this.  And we’re obviously letting it happen again.

Part 2:  Faithless Electors

A faithless elector is a member of the electoral college who says they are going to vote for one candidate, and then votes for someone else.  This behavior is punishable, but no FE has ever actually been punished.  Apparently FE’s have never changed the outcome of an election,  but I wonder.  That’s personal opinion, but take some time to think about it yourself.

Part 3:  ‘Winner’ Takes All

Another part of the electoral college which makes no sense is this:  After the electoral votes are cast, whoever gets the most votes in that state ‘wins’ and gets that state’s whole vote.  So if Clinton gets 40 out of 55 electoral votes in California, California switches and ALL 55 of it’s votes go to Clinton.  So during elections, when you hear about which candidates win which states, it’s not a matter of who gets the most votes, really, it’s who gets ALL the votes for that state.  So, for example, Clinton could ‘win’ all of California’s 55 votes even though technically she only got 40.  These numbers add up, and by taking away votes from other candidates who don’t get the majority of the state, this nullifies your vote and actually GIVES it to a candidate you did not vote for.  If you vote for McCain, but the majority of the electoral college votes for Clinton (just an example) then YOUR votes flips to Clinton as well. 

So, because we still insist on using the Electoral College as our method of choosing leaders, YOUR VOTE DOESN’T MATTER- unless of course EVERYONE votes for the same person.  The electoral college racks up big number fast for the front runners, and almost immediately nullifies votes for anyone else.  So after the big states flip to whoever the majority of the college votes for (not the majority of the PEOPLE), it’s pretty much a done deal.  You can go ahead and vote anyway, I’m going to, but just keep in mind that unless everyone else votes the same as you- your vote, more likely than not, will eventually go to a candidate you are not supporting. 

This is foolish, and makes no sense, but until we get off our asses and stop reading stupid articles like this and instead DEMAND a change, we’re going to keep getting Presidents in office who we did not elect.  I don’t know about you, but after some pretty shitty elections in the past I’m ready to step it up and create a REAL democracy, not a fake one run by the rich and the high up.

**Check comments below for a link to Citizen J’s site for further detail on this foolish and sneaky voting method!  …. well I’ll just give you the link here!

Survey, 2008 Presidential Election

I usually get my information regarding presidential candidates from NPR, the Internet, and- as a last resort, television.  As a result, I’ve decided that Ron Paul is my favorite candidate because he has made it clear that as President he would consider himself morally and legally bound by our Constitution, a principle that- after the current administration- I feel is incredibly important.  He does not make any decisions without considering how they qualify under our founding document. 

I’m wonder who you are currently favoring, why (answers like- ‘I get a good feeling,’ or ‘they seem like a decent person’ do not count in this survey), and where do you get your information from?

No arguments here, I’m just curious!

Please offer your thoughts, I respect what the internet community has to say because I feel like this is one of the few mediums that is not biased or censored!

Thank you

P.S.  After living in Canada for a while I see that our upstairs neighbors are sometimes interested in US politics too- so I invite your comments as well!  IF you could vote- who would you pick?

Immigration Update

Alright, here is the background information:

• I’m a US citizen
• My husband is Canadian
• I want to live in Canada with him
• Immigrating sucks

So after trying every way possible to stay together during my immigration process- I have come to realize that there is no easy way to do so.  Last winter I “moved” here and thought applying for Permanent Residency would be easy/ no big deal.  Wrong.  Came back home with my parents in Illinois. 

I have been researching how to do this crap for a year now, and after coming to Saskatchewan and trying to get a job then apply for PR from within Canada and that FAILING after 12 weeks of waiting, I have accepted the fact that I must return home once again and file from outside of Canada.

I have to fill out a stack of paperwork (which I am 90% done with- yay), provide pictures and any other type of documentation that proves I did not marry my husband for his wealth (ha!) or for a better life in Canada (HAHA!), get an immigrant medical examination in Chicago (checking to see I have all my teeth, am not HIV +, crazy, a TB carrier, an alien, or infected in any other way), pay $1000, and then I’m done!  How easy?!  Then I get to wait 3-11 months for the verdict. 

I feel stupid for not doing this sooner, but honestly- it’s hard and time consuming!  Plus until recently I was thinking it took 2 years to process  and didn’t know where I should be before committing to that, AND if you fill out the forms wrong or forget something you can totally screw yourself over.  AND I didn’t know I had to get a medical examination, didn’t have the money, and we weren’t married until last June and if we were to apply as common law partners before then we really didn’t have enough documentation to prove it (shared bills, bank accounts- you can’t get that stuff in a country where you aren’t a citizen!). 

It has just been so incredibly difficult to get accurate help and get straight answers… so if ANYONE or anyone you know is trying to live or work in Canada feel free to contact me because I will help you!  I feel sorry for anyone else in a similar situation… especially when these Canadians keep shipping their cute hockey players to US schools!  But anyway, if you too are immigrating and have questions or are seeking tips- I would be happy to help.