Your meds cost more than my monthly income!

I did have full benefits once ... then I had nothing ...

I'm not sure about flat tax. If it starts on zero income it makes it very difficult on the poorest of the poor. And I do know that I prefer no tax on food.

And I would like to see a very simple system that eliminates the need for hiring someone to cook the books ... er ... figure out the taxes.

Ahh, the good old flat tax rears its ugly head again. Char, my friend, my fellow liberal on the left coast ... the flat tax would hurt the poor worse than it hurts the rich. Let's assume a 15% flat tax. Apply that to umpteen gazillion dollars and what sacrifices will the rich need to make? Let's see, maybe we can't take that trip to Key Largo this winter. Apply it to someone on a limited income, and what sacrifices will the poor need to make? Hmmm ... hamburger or dog food for dinner. Maybe I'll loose my job because I can't even afford to put gas in the car. I could take the bus to work, but they just cut the route schedules to save money.

If you want to see how a flat tax works, just look at sales tax. So, the rich have to buy one less Gucci bag this year. The poor may not be able to afford underwear. The burden of a tax will always and forever be on the lower income makers, so why not allow a system that may unjustly benefit the rich, but help the poor as well. I think the biggest complaints about the flat tax come from the middle class because they get no relief for being too poor, nor benefit from being too rich to absorb the taxes. If our tax system benefits the rich, more power to them. I'd rather do that if it gives our poor a fighting chance. At least I sleep well at night.

Now what about where the money gets spent? Who am I to decide that? If I work at home, what do I care about what shape the roads are in? I have to pay for my kids to go to Catholic school, so why do I have to give money to public schools? I'm never sick, why spend money on hospitals and quality medical care (shouldn't I just pay when I get sick)? The elderly should be taken care of by their families and adequate defense just means $1,000 hammers. Naturally, I don't believe all that (perhaps), but why should I get to decide what our tax dollars get spent on. Who made me king? It's called taxation WITH representation (supposedly), something a lot of people died for. I think it's a better use of my time to elect a representative who I think will do a good job making those decisions for the greater good rather than coming to the conclusion that I'm the greater good.

As far as immigration, I'm for creating even more barriers, but not for the reason you might suspect. It's not because I want to keep people out, but I look on it as a training ground. When my ancestors came over, it was incredibly difficult. Why should we make it easier for succeeding generations. Let's make it even harder to get into the US, and then give automatic citizenship to anyone who does so. Can you imagine the caliber of our military? A nation could attack us and say, "We've locked up our borders, we've put up a massive defensive system, we've made it impossible for anyone to get even close to ... hey, wait a minute. Where did all these Americans come from? Sheesh, they're all over the place." That's because we've set it up so that whoever makes it into this country deserves to be here. Heck, we've got exiled Cubans spending weeks in rafts on open water to get here, for pity sake. Those are the kind of folks I want in the Navy Seals. Don't send them back, embrace them. Put up the barriers to immigration, but give immediate citizenship to anyone who makes it here.

Of course, you realize, I'm just looking for a good argument from a worthy opponent ... sort of.

I always like reading a thoughtful political essay. You make some very good points.

I could not vote for Hilary, and I find it appalling that she is having Obama ask people to pay her back for running. The majority of people who contribute are not rich, and for them to be asked to finance something she readily would have paid for to have "won".

I'm disappointed in McCain, and I don't know Obama well enough, so they have from now until Nov. to get themselves together and make a believer out of me if they want me to vote for them instead of the lesser of two bad choices.

Vicodin is rough, I couldn't take it either.

I'd say your mind is pretty darn clear to articulate this. What a mess. I could add that thanks in part to Phil Gramm (who calls average people "whiners") the banks are now "borrowing" $16 billion a day from the Fed. Think they'll got to jail if they don't pay it back?

Oh, and I wanted to say your queasiness might be the Vicodin but didn't want to be a Smarty-pants like someone else. Glad you're feeling better!

Hang in there. Make yourself well.

LOL. I don't know why I have to keep correcting people about this. It's not "Smarty-pants" it's "Sir Yankee Smarty-pants." Please, please, get it right. You are, however, permitted to use the acronym SYSP after my name, much as Mrs. Whatsit had chosen to do.

I don't envy you the sciatic pain. Been there, done that ... but ain't Vicodin grand?

And I absolutely loved the pet rules. That made my day.

Um, should a maniacal liberal be telling us that a manically liberal movie is not manically liberal? LOL ... okay, that was a joke, Char. Please put down the frying pan.

Yes, self-prognosis is not a good thing. I had sciatic nerve problems at one point, and all along I thought it was a problem with my leg. It was incredibly painful and when I ended up crawling across the floor from the pain, I knew it was time to see a doctor. That's when they discovered I had a ruptured disc in my back that was pressing on the nerves to my leg. They treated the back, not the leg and it miraculously went away. Of course, I have to be careful of doing any lifting these days (lift with your legs, not your back), but it's always best to let the doctor determine the cause.

My goodness, you are quite the trooper! I'm so glad you had a great visit, he sounds like a delightful child.

You can never underestimate the power of humor, to be sure!

That quote at the tops says it all. So glad you had a nice visit with your grandson, though. That was quite a busy schedule - lots of fun stuff. Sorry about your leg. Those hills in Seattle are a challenge for anyone! If we ever go back I want to ride the Ducks!

I remember embroidering as a child. I didn't take to it (better than knitting though ... that was painful).

It looks like I will stay here in Montana ... not sure how bright a decision that is. 50 means dawn, 70 means noon, 90 is 5 pm. I try to stay in the shade when it's hot.