spokesNspin

Today a moving truck was supposed to arrive. We were moving with one of those U Load it We Haul it type companies. They called yesterday late afternoon and said they couldn’t find a truck.

Don’t ever use Movex! Can you believe it? The contract has all sorts of things about what it will cost us if we don’t live up to the contract, or if we take too long to load, or cancel etc. There is absolutely nothing about what we get if they can’t fulfill their end.

At the last minute we have now arranged for a U-haul. We need to drive 30 miles to pick it up.

Yes moving is an adventure and I have had plenty. I have lived in at least 8 states and had more moves than that in the last 30 years.

Let’s see. There was a car breakdown after having been on the road only twenty minutes. There was the time we rented a u-haul got it loaded and still had stuff left. We ended up renting a trailer to pull behind the truck. It turned out the lights didn’t work on the truck and trailer. We had to pull off at a rest area appropriately named Dead Man’s pass and sleep in the truck. We were next to all the big rigs. If you didn’t know they let their truck engines idle all night.

There was Erik jumping off a bed in Laramie, Wy ,hitting his head on a dresser and requiring stitches. That was the same move that one of our kids threw up at a motel breakfast buffet. We just quickly packed it up and got to hell out of there. Erik also opened an emergency door at a Denny’s and set off an alarm.

There was the move when I pulled off in a rest area in southern Arizona for rest. My little family of three slept in the car. I got out with a sleeping bag and looked for a good place for it. Yes I used to do that back then. Crazy! I couldn’t find a suitable place. I put the sleeping bag on the hood of the car and slept there. When I woke up at daylight I saw a sign warning against sleeping on the ground due to poisonous snakes and bugs!

There was the major car breakdown in Laramie, WY. Laramie is a place to avoid. That one required buying another car before we could continue.

There was a move that included a visit to an emergency room for a major case of hemorrhoids. I won’t say who it was. You wouldn’t believe me if I did. But it wasn’t me. Been there done that in more convenient times. If there is such a thing.

So why should this move be any different than the many other’s I have made? The only difference here is that I volunteered to help Liz move and I am not moving myself. Will I ever learn?

We have had truck problems already. Matt’s brother Jay is flying in to help. He now has pneumonia! He is still coming! So you see? We are off on a typical moving adventure.

I guess when you think about hemorrhoids and moving have a lot in common.

It was fun watching the Florida Primary on TV last night. It was as exciting as a Jazz/Spurs game. I was pleased with the out come. At least on the GOP side. I am rather ambivalent about what is going on in Dem primaries.

I watched Hukabee’s speech. From the standpoint of being likable and appearing genuine, I still like Hukabee. It would be a cold day in hell before I would vote for him. Gee, maybe I should, it is now -10 with a -33 wind chill and I am about to load a moving van. I believe this qualifies as a cold day in Hell.

I also watched Romney’s speech. I still don’t like that guy. But I am glad he seems to be staying in the race a little longer. Who can I grouse about if he bows out?

But what about this guy Mitt? He said we need to increase the number of people serving in the military. Which of his sons do you think will be signing up? Oh that’s right, when you are worth 260 million you don’t send yours sons to war. His sons find other ways to serve. Ways that don’t include getting your ass blown off by an IED. Instead, you send other’s children and you invest in the war.

He also says that families need affordable health care from the private sector and not some “liberal” Hillarycare. What do you think affordable means to a person who is worth 260 million? Do you think he has any idea what affordable means to the 50 percent of American households living on less than $50,000 a year?

Did I mention that Romney is worth $260 million.

It was interesting to see how the voters in the Democratic primary in Florida voted. Those who voted early generally favored Hillary. By early I mean those who voted in December. Those who voted later went for Obama.

Oh, and did you see that they had voting machine issues! We shouldn’t even let those idiots participate in the elections.

I watched the movie Chocolat last night. It was my first time to see it. That indicates how often I go to movies and how much TV I watch. I enjoyed it. I don’t classify it as a chick flick. But it gave me a terrible urge for chocolate that hasn’t been satisfied yet.

It also reminded me of living in Utah, non-questioning and intolerant citizens led by even more intolerant and zealous leaders. Which brings me to the current question about if one should or should not vote for a Mormon to be president of the United States. I don’t believe that one should vote against Mitt because he is a Mormon. I believe there a lot of other reasons to vote against him.

The issues regarding Mormonism that should give one pause when considering one as an elected leader have nothing to do with what is generally talked about in the media. What it has to do with is the tendency among Mormons to not question leadership and the tendency of those Mormons in power to believe that their actions shouldn’t be questioned. To see what I mean take a look at the Utah legislature which is pretty much dominated by Mormons.

I have lived in eight states including Utah. I found the state legislature in Utah to be the most arrogant and intolerant of all the legislatures where I have lived. They are down right mean and nasty at times. The issue of private school vouchers in Utah  validates my point.

The polls pretty much showed that Utah citizens were against the state funding private school vouchers. The legislature passed one anyway. What is interesting is that Utah which has some of the lowest spending per capita for students in the the nation passed one of the most generous private school voucher programs in the nation.

The anti-voucher folks started a campaign to get the voucher issue on the ballot. The legislative leaders did all in their power to put up road blocks to getting it on the ballot. By the way, Utah does make it hard for people to get initiatives on the ballot. Hell, we can’t have the citizens telling the legislature what to do. Anyway the voucher issue made it to the ballot.

Then the legislative leaders starting working very hard against it. They threatened businesses if they didn’t work to defeat the initiative. But the initiative to do away with the voucher system passed by a wide margin.

Which brings me back to a Mormon in the White House. We have already been through 8 years of a President who brands anyone and everyone who questions him or his policies as defeatest and unpatriotic.

One’s religious beliefs, atheists included, should not have anything to do with qualifications for being president. But unlike many other religions, Mormonism is a culture all it’s own. It is a culture that embodies much more than Sunday religious worship.

If that cultural attitude of not questioning leadership falls over into civic life, then we should be concerned.

Since the election is upon us and some of my faithful readers have asked for my opinion on some issues. And because I believe everyone is entitled to my opinion here is my proposal for Federal income taxes.

First-Revenue policy and social welfare policy should be decoupled. This would be done by basically eliminating all deductions on personal Federal Income taxes.

I would eliminate Corporate income tax all together. I would tax corporate profits the way farmer cooperatives are taxed. That is, shareholders are taxed on profits whether or not there is a dividend declared. But in order to pay the taxes a certain level of dividend would be required to be paid out each year to help the shareholder pay the taxes.

There will only be two options for filing status, Head of Household(HH) and Not Head of Household(NHH). To be HH you would need to be responsible for paying more than half the cost of your primary residence. This would eliminate all debate regarding marriage, same sex marriage etc as it pertains to Federal taxes.

The rules for who may be claimed as a dependent would remain basically the same. There would be one refundable credit based on filing status and your dependent status. There would be a refundable credit for each dependent.

I would keep tax rates progressive but this system would probably result in initially lower tax rates. The lowest rates would probably be less than 5 percent. Credits and tax rate brackets would be indexed to inflation.

There would no dividing income into groups. Money is money no matter how it is earned.

I would take a look at what is allowed for deductions when computing net business income.

There are a few other things to consider but I won’t bore you with them. If you want more detail ask.

BTW-I don’t want to be president of the United States. I am more interested in being King.

I will give my position on other issues later.

I am now in St. Paul, MN. It wasn’t a bad flight considering how flying has become. Since 911 I really don’t enjoy flying. And it’s not just security I have to deal with. I can’t go to the restroom in the airport without considering my stance!

While I was walking to my terminal I saw a couple with five small children traveling. The children ranged in age from an infant to probably about ten. I can better appreciate now why people used to stare at us when we traveled with six children. It is quite a site. I would like to have chatted with them but they were just getting on a bus.

I saw a group of people when I arrived at the airport who were greeting some arriving passengers. I think they may have been Indian. It was an interesting routine they went through when they greeted. It was hug and kiss on the cheek. That was followed by a sort of cheek to cheek thing or maybe a light kiss on the cheek and it was always three times. First one cheek, then the other and then back to the first one again. I thought maybe it was just that person but then I noticed they all did it.

I went to Mall of America today. I was not that impressed. But I am really not a mall person. It’s just like any other mall in America except bigger. I don’t see the appeal. But it was interesting in that it has an amusement park in the middle. That was rather cool. But there was no bike store. I went to a Nordstrom Rack store and got a good deal on some shorts and an exercise shirt. I forgot my pjs so that will have to do.

There are certainly a lot of people here who have the mid-western look.