PLEASE, DON'T TAKE ANOTHER BILLION!

My grandson ask me, “How much is a billion dollars.”  I know the universal application of its value compared to a million, but in terms of how it's affecting my life at present is important to understand.  I went to the internet in search of the value of "one billion" and how it applies today. 

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, make certain this 'politician' is spending YOUR TAX DOLLARS WISELY. 

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but recently one advertising agency put this amount into perspective:

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago Jesus walked the earth.

A billion hours ago it was the Stone Age.

A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

BUT... A BILLION DOLLARS ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes at the current rate of GOVERNMENT SPENDING! Soon we’ll be using the Debt Meter for an electric fan. 

While these thoughts are fresh in your mind, take a look at the figures that Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) asked Congress to divvy up to rebuild New Orleans. She asked for 250 billion dollars. 

What does this mean, you might ask? If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans, it means every man, woman, and child would each receive a whopping $516,528. If you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787, or if you are a family of four - your family gets $2,066,012.

Okay, if this doesn’t bother you, lets take a look at just a few of the taxes collected from the American people. 

Airline Tax, Building Permit Tax, CDL License Tax, Cigarette Tax, Corporate, Income Tax, Dog License Tax, Death Tax, Federal Income Tax (Fed), Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA), Fishing License Tax, Food License Tax, Fuel Permit Tax, Gasoline Tax, Hunting License Tax, Inheritance Tax, Inventory Tax, IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax), IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), Liquor Tax, Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Property Tax; Real Estate Tax, Service charge Taxes, Social Security Tax, Road Usage Tax (Truckers), Sales Taxes, Recreational Vehicle Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax, Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax, Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, Telephone State and Local Tax, Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Tax, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Watercraft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax... and I am most certain there are many, many more that I have not listed. 

We left Britain to avoid taxes! It’s important to understand not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago.  Our nation was the most prosperous in the world, we had no national debt, we had the largest middle class in the world and most families had only one income (mothers stayed home to raise their children).  

My father taught us, “You won’t know which way to go unless you first understand where you've been. It’s important to constantly evaluate your life and make certain you are headed in the right direction.” 

I don’t think I truly understood the depth of my father's words until I got older.  As I matured, I realized that the past is a starting point to future destinations. Also, I realized we can change the future by evaluating the past and in doing so, we can gain the wisdom to create a better future.  By Linda Sumner Urza, Written for: One fine day11.blogspot.com  

HE HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK!

Honus (The Dutchman) Wagner was born February 24, 1874. He was an American Major League shortstop and played in the National Baseball League from 1897 to 1917. 

We remember him not only because he was a great hitter and tremendous athlete, but because he stood for something that he truly believed.  You see, Honus played ball back in the day when everyone smoked or chewed tobacco. He was a christian man and didn’t want to promote these kinds of products to youth. These were the days when baseball cards were sold by the thousands to fans.  The cards had a picture of the athlete on the front and a place for advertisement on the opposite side, but this particular baseball card happened to be advertising cigarettes.  

When Honus learned that cards bearing his picture were being circulated beside cigarette ads, he had to make a quick decision. The Dutchman was faced with the choice of accountability. Knowing his integrity was on the line, he stood up and demanded recall of the cards. He told the tobacco company that he didn't want his name associated with something he opposed, and he refused to bend or comply. While other great baseball players left their faces on the front of these cards, his cards were pulled from the shelves! Only a few Honus Wagner cards found their way into the hands of the public and it's believed there are three in existence today. The Honus Wagner card is worth more than any other baseball card in the world and is valued around $3,000,000.00. 

What is this card telling us about the value of integrity?  This rare and amazing baseball card is screaming, “Do the right thing for the right reason, it’s the only way to create lasting worth and great value.”

Perhaps Honus could have been forgotten through time, but today his legacy lives on because of the standard he set.  This great man was not willing to compromise his principles or concede... not for money or for fame! Written by, Linda Sumner Urza, One fine day. 

Stephens: Muslims, Mormons and Liberals

'Hasa Diga Eebowai" is the hit number in Broadway's hit musical "The Book of Mormon," which won nine Tony awards last year. What does the phrase mean? I can't tell you, because it's unprintable in a family newspaper.

On the other hand, if you can afford to shell out several hundred bucks for a seat, then you can watch a Mormon missionary get his holy book stuffed—well, I can't tell you about that, either. Let's just say it has New York City audiences roaring with laughter.

The "Book of Mormon"—a performance of which Hillary Clinton attended last year, without registering a complaint—comes to mind as the administration falls over itself denouncing "Innocence of Muslims." This is a film that may or may not exist; whose makers are likely not who they say they are; whose actors claim to have known neither the plot nor purpose of the film; and which has never been seen by any member of the public except as a video clip on the Internet.

No matter. The film, the administration says, is "hateful and offensive" (Susan Rice), "reprehensible and disgusting" (Jay Carney) and, in a twist, "disgusting and reprehensible" (Hillary Clinton). Mr. Carney, the White House spokesman, also lays sole blame on the film for inciting the riots that have swept the Muslim world and claimed the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his staff in Libya.

So let's get this straight: In the consensus view of modern American liberalism, it is hilarious to mock Mormons and Mormonism but outrageous to mock Muslims and Islam. Why? Maybe it's because nobody has ever been harmed, much less killed, making fun of Mormons.

Here's what else we learned this week about the emerging liberal consensus: That it's okay to denounce a movie you haven't seen, which is like trashing a book you haven't read. That it's okay to give perp-walk treatment to the alleged—and no doubt terrified—maker of the film on legally flimsy and politically motivated grounds of parole violation. That it's okay for the federal government publicly to call on Google to pull the video clip from YouTube in an attempt to mollify rampaging Islamists. That it's okay to concede the fundamentalist premise that religious belief ought to be entitled to the highest possible degree of social deference—except when Mormons and sundry Christian rubes are concerned.

And, finally, this: That the most "progressive" administration in recent U.S. history will make no principled defense of free speech to a Muslim world that could stand hearing such a defense. After the debut of "The Book of Mormon" musical, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded with this statement: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ."

That was it. The People's Front for the Liberation of Provo will not be gunning for a theater near you. Is it asking too much of religious and political leaders in Muslim communities to adopt a similar attitude?

It needn't be. A principled defense of free speech could start by quoting the Quran: "And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation." In this light, the true test of religious conviction is indifference, not susceptibility, to mockery.

The defense could add that a great religion surely cannot be goaded into frenetic mob violence on the slimmest provocation. Yet to watch the images coming out of Benghazi, Cairo, Tunis and Sana'a is to witness some significant portion of a civilization being transformed into Travis Bickle, the character Robert De Niro made unforgettable in Taxi Driver. "You talkin' to me?"

A defense would also point out that an Islamic world that insists on a measure of religious respect needs also to offer that respect in turn. When Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi—the closest thing Sunni Islam has to a pope—praises Hitler for exacting "divine punishment" on the Jews, that respect isn't exactly apparent. Nor has it been especially apparent in the waves of Islamist-instigated pogroms that have swept Egypt's Coptic community in recent years.

Finally, it need be said that the whole purpose of free speech is to protect unpopular, heretical, vulgar and stupid views. So far, the Obama administration's approach to free speech is that it's fine so long as it's cheap and exacts no political price. This is free speech as pizza.

President Obama came to office promising that he would start a new conversation with the Muslim world, one that lectured less and listened more. After nearly four years of listening, we can now hear more clearly where the U.S. stands in the estimation of that world: equally despised but considerably less feared. Just imagine what four more years of instinctive deference will do.

On the bright side, dear liberals, you'll still be able to mock Mormons. They tend not to punch back, which is part of what makes so many of them so successful in life.  This article was written today by Bret Stephens for the Wall Street Journal 9/19/ 12.