"Clear" Out!
Barry "The Juicer" Bonds recently said "Because of the wear and tear on my body, I don't think that I can catch [my Godfather] Hank Aaron and become the all-time home run hitting leader." BULL! If anyone (other than Mark Furman and KKK member/politician David Duke) has proven themselves to be a racist (not to mention a cheater) it is Barry Bonds! But the "wear and tear" is not so bad that he'll retire now before he beats "the white guy" [Babe Ruth] as he's referred to him. So, who thinks that Barry hits number 715 and retires the next day no matter when during the season it is? Well, I do. Hey Barry, get out of baseball now before you further "cream" the reputation of this sport! Is that "clear?"
Italian Judge Dismisses Jesus Case
This is an update of a post from quite some time ago. Here's the original. Now, the question is: Does the judge admit that Jesus existed by dismissing this case? Is it now the official stance of the Italian government that Jesus truly walked the Earth? Or was dismissing the case the court's way of saying "We will not make a ruling on such an issue of Religion." For those of you who were pulling for the man who brought the suit forward, fear not, he will be appealing to a higher court.
Tax On Oil Companies
Finally, the Federal Government is looking into taking action on the profiteering oil companies. They've proposed a tax on companies who earn too much profit. When the oil companies announced that during the quarters following Katrina, they had a record high profit (Exxon had a $10 billion profit in the 3rd quarter of 2005. That's one quarter profit!) How is it the oil companies can make so much? Here's how: Gas prices are based on speculation! The companies speculate on what oil prices will be and charge according to that. So the gas we are paying for was purchased at a much lower cost than we are being charged for it. When the price of oil never reaches what they expect, they have all of this excess money. It is a flawed system. If you pay $60 per barrel, then charge us like you paid $60 per barrel, not like think you might pay $72 in the future!
And which political party is calling for this tax? It's that "Oil-has-us-in-their-back-pocket" GOP (Giant Oil Producing) party: The Republicans! After you pick yourself up off the floor, think about this. If you pay $2.50 for gas in Massachusetts, $0.399 of that cost is tax. So when you pay $2.50, you are really paying $2.10 for the gas. My car takes about 16 gallons. That's $6.384 I'm paying to the government. Thanks Uncle Sam!
Don't live in MA? Find out what your taxes are here: State Gas Taxes. (The Federal Government makes you pay $0.184 per gallon, don't forget to add that to your state tax!)
Massachusetts claims that it doesn't tax people on "necessities." That would be clothing, non prepared food, etc. Does anyone believe that an intelligent adult can truly make enough to live in MA without a car? I doubt that MA will be lowing it's taxes anytime soon. It's just something to think about.
And that's just my opinion.
5 comments:
Janitors!
As always, your comments are insightful! I will commit to not purchasing gasoline on Sunday. I already consolidate trips as much as possible.
There go those weekly dips into the Hess on Lowell St! ;)
It is a small sacrifice.
If rising gas prices force more people to use alternative forms of transporation, including their own two feet by walking or pedaling a bicycle, wonderful!!! What better thing to do for one's health and the environment while we wait for the government to intervene and bring prices back down (although I wouldn't count on it)...and in the meantime, hopefully these little "sacrifices" will become habit for more reasons than just to save gas money.
There was some economist on NPR the other day who claims that there is really nothing, even an organized boycott, that consumers can do about the gas prices.
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