Donestock Store: 3 de ago. de 2007

Should Taxes on the Middle Class be reduced?

I believe the taxes should be reduced for the reason that middle class isn't as it was say twenty years ago. If you are considered Middle Class these days your actual income if probably far less than what your paying taxes for.

Middle Class America is actual in the poverty or close to bracket. Being taxed brings that extra burden on seeking other means just to stay afloat to be able to live. When you take inconsideration too self employed middle class the taxes are horrendous. You are basically taxed on everything and by time you pay your taxes you have spent that whole year working just to pay taxes.

Why should we pay the taxes for something we ourselves had no say in? The federal deficit is brought on by those in office taking it upon themselves to make choices without thought to how it affects Middle Class America and even those working who are in the poverty income area. The saying "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is so very true! We are taxed out! You have taken so much of our hard earned income and still expect us to thrive and live with what is left over, it can't be done! Are we going to have to offer up our firstborn children?

What tax breaks do we get, none. We literally fight tooth and nail just to maintain our voice in the matter, and that voice is often hushed by those with the money and resources to shut us down... We pay the taxes so the rich don't have to, we pay the taxes so one's in office can sit around worrying about what can be done to lessen our federal deficit, well here's a thought quit spending our money...give it back.

Shark Week On Discovery Channel

(These photos come from National Geographic)

Okay don't ask me why but this week I have been drawn to the television to watch a weeks worth of Top Ten deadliest Sharks, Great White Attacks, Top five eaten alive, and so forth on the Discovery Channel.

I like many feel that sharks are given a bad rep, but hey folks they do kill.

I have learned though that most times sharks attack, is because we have entered into their territory looking like either seals or looking like a predator. They really are these amazing sea creatures that are unique in their design. They react mostly to electrical impulses that are felt up to many miles away or vibrations from things in the water -( ie) swimmers splashing around or other sea creatures swimming.

It has been very educational watching this although I have a horrible fear of being eaten alive by a great white or crocodile. I have developed a new respect for this creature which is hunted down and killed almost in some species to extinction.

If we are going to play in their world, we are going to have to be educated in knowing when is the worst time to swim in their waters. Mostly it's early in the morning, and at night and too in murky water so being educated can in some instances save your life.

If you can or care to give this a look. It's on all week on the Discovery Channel.

Midnight Stroll

She laughs as the

wind catches her hair,

like a lovers kiss on her neck.

Strolling down a long

stretch of country road.

Shadows cross the path.

A movie on nights canvas.

The smell of Magnolia's

give her visions of old plantations,

and lemonade on a veranda.

Branches, in tribute to her passing,

form a canopy of hanging moss.

The shimmering rays of moonlight,

expose the roadway ever so gently.

She sighs with pleasure.

Familiar sounds and smells welcoming.

Gentle night breezes run along side her.

She enjoys a midnight stroll.

Manners lost in our contemporary age

Why are manners lost?

It is because they are not taught from home. Especially from the generations of the past few years. Our world structure has changed in that we now are so concerned about our freedoms of speech and expression that we no longer show good manners when dealing with society. we take without thought, speak without thought, and act without thought.

How can we blame the acts of poor manners on the younger generations, if we do not teach them that poor manners are not an acceptable behavior for them. An example has to be set, to be followed.

Saying please and thank you, are not words spoken very often anymore. Give me, or I want it now, has become so much a part of our vocabulary that children as young as two, can be heard uttering those words.

It's not up to the school systems or others to teach manners to our children, it is our sole responsibility. We define are acceptable actions for our children by what kind of example we set for them in displaying manners towards other. They learn by what they see their parents doing.

Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of life, come with a responsibility. We need to show appreciation for these freedoms. By teaching that the value we hold in these freedoms are expressed through our manners, maybe we can turn bad manners into good manners again.

By Kirsten Scott

Well, how can I follow Anne Mallory's fabulous interview and Q&A about PIZZA? Yikes! I guess all those unique and fabulous pizza ideas got me thinking about how different we all are--about what we want out of our pizza AND our romance.

(What do you think, decent segue?)

In the few years that I've been writing, I've tried: young adult, historical single title, historical short stories, short contemporary, and erotica. I suppose I should settle down but I've been cursed with a multitude of personalities and a very short attention span. What's a girl to do?

Each of these genres reaches a different part of me. The historical touches my most feminine side, the one that wants to wear gowns and gloves and ride in carriages with a dashing alpha male wearing deliciously tight breeches. My short contemporary featured a lawyer who gets busy with the goregous CEO on the other side of a business deal (being a lawyer myself, this represents, er...real life fantasy...). I think you can guess what the erotica is all about ((BLUSH)). And then there's YA, where I get to channel my inner walrus.

So what's your favorite? Historical? Contemporary? Erotica? Short stories or long? What do you love about your chosen genre and why?

And what the heck should I write next?!!?

And the winnahs of autographed books by yesterday's fantabulous guest blogger Anne Mallory are Bamabelle and Mary F! Please send your snail mail information to Caren at carencrane AT gmail DOT com. Congratulations and thanks for stopping by!

My hands are on the keyboard, but after sorting and delivering mail for 550 customers on an 80 mile route, I’m barely moving. Gotta do it again tomorrow, so I’ll be in bed by eight tonight. Dishes dirty. Cats hiding from giant dust bunnies—must vacuum. Pile of laundry. We’re out of groceries. The local farmers are eyeballing my lawn. Its almost tall enough to cut and bale. Bookshelf-painting project half done on the front porch. Oh, and rats! I forgot, we’re out of dog food!

Whew. Do you ever wish you could make it stop? Or even sloooooowwww waaaaaaay doooowwwn? Maybe an hour or two when you don’t have to think about all that needs to get done—when you’re not already half way into tomorrow and its plans? I call it “living ahead of myself.”

I have the sense that the world—and our lives--are not supposed to go by in a blur of “can’t-keep-up-itis”. Bad news. I can’t make it stop, or even slow down.

But I’ve found a secret. Maybe I’m the only one who didn’t know, but just in case, I’ll share. I have to make me stop. My secret is in the brief moments when I can savor the sensuous.

Now mind you, I’m from Kentucky—buckle of the Bible belt—and in my upbringin’, the word sensuous meant sin. For the record, Webster defines sensuous as “…gratification of the senses…having strong sensory appeal…” I was in my mid thirties before I figured out that God gave me these senses—and how healing it can be to simply stop for a moment and feel. Listen. Taste. Smell. Ever had a massage, or just savored a shampoo, cut and style when the stylist massages your scalp for a few minutes? Ahhhh.

Tonight mine will be a bubble bath—cool water with Sandalwood Rose scented oil, and one tea candle in a red cut-glass holder on the vanity. I’ll set the timer so I won’t linger too long, but for that half hour I’ll shut the door on the entire overwhelming world. I’ll close my eyes and smell the scents, lie back and listen and notice the smallest noise—how many birds can I hear tweet outside the window? The neighbor down the road calling his dogs. Now and then I’ll hear the candle flame spurt or fizz as it drips wax. Even the faint sound of the bubbles dissolving, if I focus on it, has the power to bring me into the moment. Into the now.

Sometimes my savoring is as simple as a glass of wine with dinner instead of the easier, quicker glass of water. Sometimes it’s stopping long enough to put Sinatra on the CD player rather than taking whatever the radio spits at me--including the screaming, ranting BUY YOUR NEW CAR HERE HURRY ads.

On nights when I don’t have to turn in early, I’ll have a glass of chilled chardonnay in the tub, maybe a little bowl of sweet cherries or seedless grapes (or chocolate truffles-mmm).

As a writer I live too often outside of myself anyhow. My body mows the lawn but my mind is with my heroine fighting for her life or hero struggling with his soul’s demons. When I smooth on yummy lotion and dig my toes into a thick alpaca rug ( I keep it on the towel rack just for this reason—because it’s decadent—silky against my skin) I won’t go there. I’ll focus totally on the moment. Coming to the present keeps me sane. I do it by indulging my senses in these small ways. It works for me.

How about you? How do you slow down and unwind? Do you have little rituals like mine, or moments that you steal to keep yourself going when the world is after your sanity?

(Hint: This weekend the visitors to the Bandita lair will get the opportunity to hear from a Regency Earl named Sebastian, and a Victorian Lord named Nicholas. I’m guessing—actually I’m certain-- they have their own ways of savoring the sensuous. Why don’t you stop by and ask them about it? (wink) )