The Birk Economic Recovery Plan

Here's an idea!
I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend. To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up...So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00. My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

• Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
• Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
• Put away money for college - it'll be there
• Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
• Buy a new car - create jobs
• Invest in the market - capital drives growth
• Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves
• Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.
Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work." But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC . And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam. Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards,
Birk

T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

Free Purse Contest

Hey All! A girl can never have too many purses, and Goddess knows they aren't cheap! So go to Handbag Planet and enter their 24 bags in 24 Hours contest...whadaya got to lose, except maybe 5 minutes to register..?

I'm sorta hijacking a post...and the title *grin*

I was checking out the usual suspects (read blogs) this morning, and on Trench Warfare I came across a post that I thought was a great idea. I hijacked the title (as you'll see if you go visit...) This was started by AntiSWer with a post titled "What I am reading". Let me warn you though, what THEY are reading is much heavier subject matter than what I am reading...

What I am reading: Right now, I am actually a bit short of normal, as I just finished one book and I am waiting on the next to arrive via USPS...but I am going to include that book, as it was VERY good. It's called Dies The Fire: A Novel of Change by S.M. Stirling.

The basic premise is all of a sudden, anything and everything mechanical, electrical, powered in any way other than by "Armstrong Energy" quits working. Everything. At the same time. That translates to major catastrophe - think about it - planes fall out of the sky, communication is non-existent, cell phones, land lines, radios, short-wave, all kaput. No electricity anywhere in the world. Guns don't work. Cars, trucks, buses quit where they are. No more computers. Are you getting the picture..? Riots, panic, looting. No one believes it's for good (kinda like us Americans not believing gas prices are going to stay at ridiculous levels and still buying SUVs and huge trucks...).

The book follows two different groups and their response to "The Change." One group is in a small plane when it hits. The other is in a bar (the "leader" is a Celtic singer). The singer is a witch. Yep - that's what caught my attention. But boy am I glad it did. like I said, I found this to be an excellent book.

I have read another book by the same author, "Conquistador," which is also an "alternate reality" scenario. Also very good. But despite feeling that the books were similar (as in the basic idea, not the stories themselves), I didn't realize they were the same author until I went looking for the follow-up to Dies...LOL. So now I sit, waiting for the next (two) installments to arrive :( I hate that. I have about 10-12 different series I am "waiting for the next installment" on. And several more that should have follow-ups, but seemingly won't...that majorly SUX!

Ok, the next book I am currently reading is "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. As a rule, if a book grabs me, it's history! I can usually read a fairly large book (Dies has 496 pages, and reading only on my lunch hour & breaks, I finished it in less than a week), in no time flat. If it grabs me...my preferred genres are Historical Fiction, usually based on real events,  Fantasy, and Horror ( although I'll admit horror has taken a backseat - mainly because I rarely buy a book new, and for a long time couldn't find any horror in the used book stores that I hadn't already read, and that wasn't romance disguised as horror...). His Dark Materials definitely falls into the Fantasy category, and I was excited when I got it, but...I have had it for several months and still haven't finished it. I probably won't. It just hasn't grabbed me...

The next book I am reading is "Black Cross" by Greg Iles. Completely different from the others. This book is set during World War II, and contains alot of Nazi/concentration camp type stuff. I like books like this. I truly believe that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. On a side note, I used to be married to a man with the last name of "Hess." Now it would seem to be a fairly simple name, both as far as pronunciation and spelling, but apparently it isn't. As a form of clarification, when giving my name I would jokingly say "You know, like  Uncle Rudolph..." Rudolph Hess, one of Hitler's right hand men, next in line after Goering, one of the most heinous and notorious people of recent (we're only talking 60 years or so ago...) history. His name should be familiar to anyone over the age of, oh say 15? who is breathing, and most definitely should at least ring a bell for those over 30. Yet I consistently received blank stares when I made that comment, followed by "Who..?" To me that is SCARY! How can you not be familiar with the name of the man who ordered and participated in the deaths of MILLIONS if not BILLIONS of people? Not just death, but mutilation, torture,  experimenta-tion on, and flat out MURDER..? Do you live in the same world I do..? How will you recognize these things early enough to stop them in the future? This is how these things are allowed to occur.

Ahem...

I just started a book called "A Mankind Witch" by Dave Freer. I'm only about 20 pages in, so really can't comment yet, beyond it being set amongst the Vikings, or a Viking type peoples, and so far seems pretty good.

When it comes to books, I could go on and on. But Hunny just called and said gas prices have jumped .40 and I didn't fill up yesterday...so now I gotta go find some cheap gas before there isn't any...that is cheap, relatively speaking - $3 is never cheap...

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzz!!! 

 

My New Blog Template

Well, as you can see if you look around, I changed my template. OK so you see it right away - hope no one thought they were at the wrong place and left...I really liked the other one, pretty much, except for the sidebar stuffs. I could never figure out how to make it as big as the stuff I put in it. I felt it looked kinda cheezy and tacky, but just didn't have the time to do anything about it. Sure, I could have just thrown any ole template up here, but as I am sure most of you, being fellow bloggers, know, there is more to it than just changing it. To start with, you lose all of your widgets. Or at least I do. If there's a way to change template and not lose them, I'd love to know about it!
So, today I decided it was time to do something about it. I spent several hours going through different free template sites, but found very little that appealed to me. This (obviously) was the winner. You'll find I am a VERY Christmassy person - and before any of you fellow pagans out there go on a binge about how it is YULE NOT CHRISTMAS let me just say BITE ME! I know it's Yule, I know the history, I have done my research on this and many Pagan/Christian holiday correlations, and you know what..?BITE ME! It's been "Christmas" for me for 41 years, and it will be Christmas for the next however many I have. Do Christians celebrate their Christ Mass at the same time we celebrate Yule? Yep. So really, the Pagans came out ahead. Our holidays stayed the same, the dates not only unchanged but still honored. I mean really - history is written by the winners, and do you think if the ancient Christians had "won", so to speak, that we would know of the existence of those holidays, let alone see them celebrated world wide..?
Besides, if you take offense to the word "Christmas" how are you any better than any other narrow minded bigot who believes their way is the only way?
Ahem....
So, I settled on a Christmas themed blog, and I'm pretty happy with it. I've been known to have Christmas stuff out before Halloween (don't go there either...) I also changed the picture that is part of my profile. I found a really cool website that will take a picture you upload and transform it in different ways - as infant, child, teen, senior, as well as offering things like "as a Boticelli painting." The one on my sidebar is what I would look like drawn by Mucha. Pretty cool, huh? I've added a link to the sidebar called "Face of the Future. Go check it out when you have time. No, really, when you have time on your hands - you'll probably be there a while. Here are some of the others I ended up as:

Me as drawn by Boticelli

Me as an anime character

My Hunny as an anime character

My boy as an anime character

Do you like the new set up? Let me know what you think good, bad or indifferent  :)
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

WooooHoooo! I love Tom's Hideaway!

I won! I won! I got the top spot for the month over at Tom's Hideaway! He runs a daily trivia challenge over there, and if you're a trivia buff, it's for you. I have made a trip to his site part of my morning routine, and enjoy challenging myself every morning. The topics range from the ridiculously easy (What country is commonly referred to as "down under"?) to the ridiculously obscure (***Which 6'3" quarterback, who played for the Packers, Bears & Jets is married to Susan Thomas?***). But if you have a wide range of useless information floating around inside your head, I highly recommend checking it out!

Hell, if I can come in first for the month, any one can!!!!

Gotta go for now, I hope to be back with more later.

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!

Big Green Bus Arrested

Well, what a way to start the day, so to speak. I was reading my email, and ran across a post that contained this link : Big Green Bus Arrested. What in the world could that be about? So, I clicked on the link to the story. Go ahead, read it, I'll wait...
So, whatcha think..? Sounds like a bunch of crap to me. So I dug a little deeper, and went and checked out the blog listed in the article: Skills For the New Millennium (damn I can't spell that word!) Tour. From their blog:
"The Permibus is a rolling demonstration of small scale sustainable living with three people, three dogs, three chickens, and a box of worms as permanent residence (sic). The chickens and worms are part of a closed-loop food productions composting system that supports the Permibus's traveling garden. For more information on the seizure of the Permibus, the Skills for the New Millennium Tour, or Permaculture, the Wilson's can be reached at 406-721-8427 or through email at skillstour@gmail.com. You can also see pictures and read stories about the last six months of their educational adventures at Skills For the New Millennium Tour.
Now mind, I had never heard of these people before today, but I feel that, because I hadn't maybe many of YOU hadn't, so I wanted to pass this info along. Do I think my low readership blog will make a difference? Probably not, but maybe so. Maybe someone else, with a HIGH readership blog will read their story, and decide to post it on THEIR site. With links. In the comments section of the post for August 31 there are a slew of pictures, and some interesting comments about the RNC (Republican National Convention, for those of you who, like me, are politically challenged and have no idea what "RNC" stands for...).
I also did a bit of Google searching on RNC, and it seems the folks in Minnesota have a problem with people who are anti-republican. Granted, some of the items they confiscated couldn't possibly be used in a "peaceful protest" but other than the gas mask, caltrops and urine (ewwwww) many of those things are stuff I have in my garage. I dunno, maybe that group - or some of it's members - was planning hateful stuff, but I doubt seriously the folks from the bus were part of that plan, and being registered on their site isn't justification for having their home impounded...
Go check the information out and form your own opinions. Also from their blog:
To our supporters: First we ask that ask that as many people as possible contact precinct one in Minneapolis, MN at 612-673-5701 and Mayor Rybak at Phone: 612-673-2100 or call 311 or call 612-673-3000 outside Minneapolis and demand the immediate release of the Permibus.
We are also in desperate need of donations. Though we do not yet know the full cost of getting the permibus returned we know that it will include tow fee, impound fee, and legal fees. To donate, contact us directly for a local address, or...
Donate online:
Go to; Earth Activist Training
CLick on: Donate Now!
Under "Gift Information" write Permibus
Under "Please send acknowldgement to: write skillstour@gmail.com
Donate by Mail:
Make check payable to: A.C.T.
On the "for" line write: Permabus
Send check to A.C.T. 1405 Hillmount St Austin, TX 78704
As a rule, I'm not one to solicit or support requests for donations on line, as I am a bit of a cynic, and figure most of them for scams, but in this instance, I feel they are legitimately in need of assistance, based on being able to verify information via unconnected third-parties.
Ok, this isn't what I had intended to post for today, and hopefully I'll have better stuffs for you later, but for now, gotta go.
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!