Thanks Rick

Well, don't you just hate it when someone's blog gets you thinking?  On Rick Doyle's blog today he posted an article about an essay on religion, which essentially talked about the methods of religion being taught to children using fear as a tactic.

My comment was,  "The moment of skepticism and enlightenment in the religious high school I attended is when I was taught the entitlement of "manifest destiny" - the belief that the entire North American continent was allotted to the white settlers by God, justifying the genocide of the American Indians.  When I questioned it I was told it was "God's will."  My attendance at that school ended shortly thereafter."

The author of the essay also cited various atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion, which reminded me of being taught the claim of "manifest destiny."

Children are easily influenced and this has not been lost on religions.  It boils down to the difference between education and indoctrination.  The first mission of religious schools is to indoctrinate the young to their ideology and, as the author of the essay pointed out, using the fear of eternal damnation as the hammer.  

This indoctrination is not limited to religious schools.  In public schools we are indoctrinated to believe that this country is superior to all others and are compelled to give over our loyalty.  In Nebraska the pledge of allegiance to the flag is quasi-mandatory with a law that requires that time be allocated daily for the recitation.  Memorization of the songs America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner are required by law.  Each school is also required by law to have a "committee on patriotism."

Just as the religious zealots have used indoctrination to influence children in education, so the zealot patriots have used indoctrination.  "Manifest destiny", being taught as a claimed right, crossed both religion and the superiority of one nation over another.  

There is a better alternative to indoctrination:  promote independent and critical thinking. There is no hope independent thinking will be taught in religious education, but it should be in public education.  

Thanks Rick for stimulating some independent and critical thinking today.

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Tax Dodgers

On Rick Doyle's blog today he talked about Burger King's plan to buy Canadian owned Tim Horton's, which would allow them to take advantage of Canada's lower taxes.  Back in July I commented about corporations that transfer their assets to other countries to avoid paying U.S. taxes in what is known as tax inversion.  An anonymous commenter spewed the corporate line the U.S. corporations are the highest taxed at 35%.  That claim is wrong.

A report conducted by Citizens for Tax Justice focused on 288 companies in the Fortune 500 that registered consistent profit every year from 2008 to 2012 and found that those corporations paid an effective federal tax rate of just 19.4% over the five year period - far less than the statutory 35% tax rate.

Yes, the corporate tax rate is 35%, however with all the tax loopholes corporations pay far less.  With tax inversion, some pay no federal taxes.  None.  And who are the largest corporate tax dodgers? 

	Bank of America runs its business through more than 300 offshore tax-haven subsidiaries. It reported $17.2 billion in accumulated offshore profits in 2012. It would owe $4.3 billion in US taxes if these funds were brought back to the US.
	Citigroup had $42.6 billion in foreign profits parked offshore in 2012 on which it paid no US taxes. It reported that it would owe $11.5 billion if it brings these funds back to the US. A significant chunk is being held in tax-haven countries.
	ExxonMobil had a three-year federal income tax rate of just 15 percent. This gave the company a tax subsidy worth $6.2 billion from 2010-2012. It had $43 billion in offshore profits at the end of 2012, on which it paid no US taxes.
	FedEx made $6 billion over the last three years and didn’t pay a dime in federal income taxes, in part because the tax code subsidized its purchase of new planes. This gave FedEx a huge tax subsidy worth $2.1 billion.
	General Electric received a tax subsidy of nearly $29 billion over the last 11 years. While dodging paying its fair share of federal income taxes, GE pocketed $21.8 billion in taxpayer-funded contracts from Uncle Sam between 2006 and 2012.
	Honeywell had profits of $5 billion from 2009 to 2012. Yet it paid only $50 million in federal income taxes for the period. Its tax rate was just 1 percent over the last four years. This gave it a huge tax subsidy worth $1.7 billion.
	Merck had profits of $13.6 billion and paid $2.5 billion in federal income taxes from 2009 to 2012. While dodging its fair share of federal income taxes, it pocketed $8.7 billion in taxpayer-funded contracts from Uncle Sam between 2006 and 2012.
	Microsoft saved $4.5 billion in federal income taxes from 2009 to 2011 by transferring profits to a subsidiary in the tax haven of Puerto Rico. It had $60.8 billion in profits stashed offshore in 2012 on which it paid no US taxes.
	Pfizer paid no US income taxes from 2010 to 2012 while earning $43 billion worldwide. It did this in part by performing accounting acrobatics to shift its US profits offshore. It received $2.2 billion in federal tax refunds.
	Verizon made $19.3 billion in US pretax profits from 2008 to 2012, yet didn’t pay any federal income taxes during the period. Instead, it got $535 million in tax rebates. Verizon’s effective federal income tax rate was negative 2.8 percent from 2008 to 2012.

(Source: billmoyers.com)

Some in Congress have been trying to restrict tax inversions, however the corporate lobby has kept Congress from getting the job done and the American taxpayer continues to pick up the tab for these corporate tax dodgers.

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I Would Do No Less

After years of watching her son suffer with the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, Angela Brown turned to medical marijuana as a last resort. It worked, but the decision has left her facing criminal charges.

Minnesota this year became the 22nd state to approve specific forms of marijuana for medicinal use, but prosecutors in Lac qui Parle County don't want people getting a head start. When the law goes into effect in July 2015, it's likely that Brown's 15-year-old son would qualify to access the cannabis oil he was already taking; however, the mother from Madison, Minn., is now facing two gross misdemeanor charges, including child endangerment. Each charge carries a penalty of one year imprisonment and a $3,000 fine.

When her son was 11 years old, a baseball that struck his temple left him with a severe brain trauma. The pain associated with the injury had led to "self harming" episodes, according to charging documents. After exhausting all other options to help the now-15-year-old cope with the pain, the family took a vacation to Colorado and bought oil containing THC at a shop there. His mother would administer just a few drops as needed, and in a matter of hours, the symptoms would vanish. The teen's parents say he was even doing better in school as a result.

Given that the boy's condition would likely qualify him for medical marijuana access in Minnesota once the law takes effect, his parents don't see why they should wait a full year to give their son his medicine. Now, Angela Brown believes prosecutors are trying to make an example out of her -- but she warns they may get more than they bargained for.

"I have said to many that then, I'm going to be the best example that I can be of what medicinal cannabis can do, not only for my son but anybody that is suffering," she explained.

In the interim, however, the family is focusing on making sure their son can access the oil that has improved his quality of life. That means they're preparing for the possibility of leaving the state, and may move to Colorado if necessary.  (KMSP)

It's time this country gets rid of the Draconian marijuana laws, especially medical marijuana. For years drug companies have put far riskier drugs on the market and made substantial profits from them.  Doctors are now recognizing the benefits of medical marijuana and states like Colorado have found that, with reasonable regulations, marijuana is no more dangerous than drugs marketed by drug companies.

What happened in this Minnesota case is outrageous.  The law allowing medical marijuana in Minnesota goes into effect in eleven months, however some over-zealous prosecutor has decided to harass this family.  What a dick.  If this was my son I would do no less than this family has done.

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These Dirty Rats

Last night the PBS program Frontline (not to be confused with the flea and tick product) replayed an article entitled, “The Retirement Gamble”.  For anyone who missed the article it can be viewed at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/

Essentially, the program detailed how many of us are unprepared for retirement financially and all the pitfalls.  Most striking was how confusing and misunderstood investments really are to most folks.  As a result, many investors seek the help of financial advisors and financial planners, who are for the most part unregulated, glorified salesmen.

Even more striking was how many fees there are on investments:  marketing fees, administrative fees, asset management fees, commissions, etc., called “expense ratio.”  Over time these fees suck much of the growth out of the investment.

For example: If you invest $50,000 in a mutual fund which has a gross return of 5.8% and an expense ratio of 1.23% you might assume their fees are calculated by applying the expense ratio to the amount that's been earned on the investment (gross return). So, after one year your retirement money would earn $2,940 and cost you only $36.16.  In reality, the expense ratio is applied to the full balance of your account. You are actually paying $615 in fees.  And there is one more charge that is not factored into the expense ratio — trading fees. This additional layer of costs can effectively double the amount you are paying in fees.  These fees may not seem like much annually, however over time they compound and in 10 years you have paid $20,603 in fees.  After 20 years your retirement savings is $124,095 on which you have paid $73,406 in fees.  (documentation of Frontline).

CRAP!  All along those of us who used a financial advisor to invest in a 401K, SEP and mutual funds have been unwittingly paying outrageous fees to the bankers, investment firms, traders and Wall Street.  The deck is stacked against the investor.  

Further exacerbating the problem is that “financial advisors” or “financial planners” have no fiduciary responsibility to the investor.  What that boils down to is that they have no responsibility to look out for the investor.  Their only responsibility (and motivation) is their commission.  In most cases these “advisors” are making investments to funds which provide the most commission or kickback.

When I first watched this program about a year or so ago it made me sick to my stomach.  At that time I assumed that it was too late to do anything about all the money in fees that have been sucked out of our retirement accounts.  But after last night I made up my mind to have our accounts reevaluated.  I want to know how much we have lost in fees over time. 

I already knew how rigged Wall Street has become, with computerized trading and insider trading, but this Frontline article has shown just how rigged against the retirement investor it actually is.  I have little respect for these dirty rats.

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Digging Spuds

The heat and humidity continue and any jobs outside need to be done in the early morning. Temps in the 90's and humidity in the 80% is just too much.

This morning's project was digging spuds.  We don't have a true spud fork, so I just use a spade shovel.  If the digging is done carefully I can avoid hitting any spuds and managed to get a nice batch, only hitting one with the spade.  One of these days I'm going to have to watch for a spud fork at a farm sale.

We keep the spuds spread out in a box in the basement where it is cool and dry.  We still have a couple of rows to dig, but that can wait since spuds can stay in the ground into the fall.

The watermelons are about ready and cold melons from the fridge on a hot evening are sure refreshing.  

This little bugger is trying to escape out the fence.  He's not very big and should be enough for a single serving when ripe.

Digging spuds takes a little work, especially when they can be bought at the grocery store for a couple of bucks for 5 lbs.  However, for some reason, they taste better from the garden than store bought.  Maybe it's because they take a little more effort to grow and dig.

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Woodstock - 45 Years!

Woodstock had some of the best bands and groups ever, which defined a generation.

Peace.

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Remembering Lauren

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. When she was a school girl, Lauren originally wanted to be a dancer, but later, she became enthralled with acting, so she switched gears to head into that field. She had studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York after high school, which enabled her to get her feet wet in some off-Broadway productions.

Once out of school, Lauren entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite the great Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old. This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.  (imdp.com)

Just put your lips together and blow

I enjoy classic movies, in no small part due to the acting of Lauren Bacall.  When Howard Hawk’s cast her with Humphrey Bogart it was one of the most intuitive on screen matches ever.  She delivered her lines as smooth as glass and had that sultry glance that intrigued.

One of the last movies I saw Lauren Bacall in was “The Shootist” with John Wayne, Ron Howard, Jimmy Stewart and Richard Boone .  Though I’m not a big John Wayne fan I thought the movie was well done, especially thanks to Bacall.  However, I still enjoy her classics the most.  She was one of the best and I never tire of watching her classics.

You like to play games, don't you.

Lauren Bacall

September 16, 1924 - August 12, 2014   

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Home Again

We are back on the farm.  We stayed at a real nice municipal campground in Armour, South Dakota last night and had only a 3 1/2 hour drive home.

The weather channel says it is 83º with 53% humidity, but wowzer... it sure feels like more humidity than that.  I guess it I got use to the lower humidity in N.D.

It was a great trip, but like Dorothy said, "there's no place like home."

On a side note, I was surprised and sad to hear Robin Williams took his own life.  What a funny and great person.  

I will also miss Lauren Bacall.  She was a gifted actress and was the perfect film partner to Humphrey Bogart.  And did she ever have a sultry look.

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Bismarck, North Dakota

We left Regent this morning and made the short 2 hour drive to Bismarck.  It is a scenic drive, including this old homestead near Lefor made of stone.  My uncle said he remembers when someone lived there.

Bismarck is the state capitol and also the city where I was born some nearly 64 years ago. 

We left Bismarck when I was a toddler and I grew up in Fargo.  The town has certainly grown over the years.

This afternoon I had the tire on the pickup replaced to the tune of $300. (ouch!)  As mentioned in a previous post, we had a flat tire in South Dakota and I'm still perplexed how it happened since the tires have only 15,000 miles on them and are 10 ply E rated Michelins.  

Tomorrow we will work our way home, back to the farm in Nebraska.  Reports are that there has been more nice rain, so no doubt mowing will be our first chore.  

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Lefor, North Dakota

This past weekend we have spent time learning more about my mother’s family as immigrants to North Dakota from Austria/Hungary.  Last year we explored the history of my fathers’ family as immigrants from Germany (Germans from Russia) in the late 1800’s.  That post is here.

Today we went to the homestead of my great grandparents near Lefor.  My great grandparents spoke only German, as did many of the residents of Lefor.  On the homestead farm of my great grandparents was a coal mine and my mother said that the coal from that mine was shared with family and carried them through many cold North Dakota winters.  She also has told stories of how chickens and produce from the farm carried them through the great depression.  

Lefor, ND is a very small town in the southwestern part of the state, about 20 miles southeast of Dickinson. Founded in 1890 and named for the first postmaster, a German Hungarian named Adam Lefor. The town reached a peak population of 224 in 1930. 

My great grandparents had 14 children, however a number died in infancy.  Those were hard times and numerous diseases took many infants lives. We found the graves of my great grandparents, as well as those of several sons. 

(Vater is German for father - it is misspelled on my great grandfather's headstone - and Mutter is German for mother)

My mother said that she never saw her grandmother without her babushka, which is a head scarf worn by women from the area of Russia, Austria, Hungary and Germany.  It was common for most of the immigrant women in that area of North Dakota.

One son, Joseph, tragically was killed at the age of 28 in 1928 when he was severely burned while refueling a tractor.

  

Another son, Peter, was killed at the age of 26 in 1944 at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. 

I also knew a couple of my grandfather’s brothers.  I vividly remember spending time with my grandfather in his blacksmith shop and enjoying my grandmother’s German meals. 

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Back In Regent

We arrived in Regent, N.D., home town of my ancestors, yesterday afternoon.  Nothing much has changed since we were here last year and hopefully we will have a relaxing weekend. The following is a reprint of a post from last year.     

In the 1950’s the population of Regent peaked at 405.  It averaged 300 during the 1930’s when my parents grew up here.  Like many other small farm communities Regent has lost population to cities.  Today approximately 160 people call Regent home.

Farming is the primary economy in the area, with wheat being the largest crop.  However, in recent years canola has become another crop.  Canola is similar to wheat in that it is grown for the seeds.  It has a distinctive yellow flower as it matures and when harvested is used to make canola oil.

My ancestors immigrated in the early1900’s to this area from Germany.  My paternal grandfather was a rural mail carrier and I remember all the cars in his yard.  For whatever reason, he just parked the car when it finally died from running his mail route and got another.  When he died I was a teenager.  At the estate sale there was a salmon and white colored 1957 Ford Crown Victoria (similar to the stock photo below) that I tried to convince my dad to buy.  He refused and said he wasn’t going to drag a junk car home.  I wonder what that car would be worth today restored.

My maternal grandfather was the town blacksmith and I spent many days with him in his blacksmith shop.  It was noisy with all the belt driven equipment and hammering on the anvil.  He was skilled in his trade and farmers relied on him for repairs.  When he finally retired he donated his entire shop to the local museum and they moved all the heavy tools and equipment to the museum for display (photo below).

In 1989, a local resident and artist who grew up in Regent began constructing large sculptures and placing them on the highway leading to Regent.  HIs objective was to draw more people to Regent.  He continues to add sculptures on an annual basis and it has become a tourist attraction to draw travelers off the interstate highway to the north of Regent.  There is also a campground with full hookups, which is where we are staying.

It is a bit of a distance from Nebraska to Regent, but always worth the drive.  All of my relatives have moved away, but still come back to visit and that is good for the local economy.  Germans like their beer and we certainly keep the local tavern in business.  

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It's Always Something

What a day!

We got out of Mankato early this morning and the ride across Minnesota into South Dakota was uneventful, until we were just outside of Aberdeen, S.D.  Then our luck turned and we had a tire on the pickup blow.  Who knows why.  Maybe a nail or something on the road.  Coincidentally, I had the tires rotated yesterday.  I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

We made a call to the Good Sam road service and help was sent out, but that took two hours out of our day. 

Our goal was to make it to the casino at Mobridge where they have RV hookups, but we made it only as far as Ipswich. 

The spare on the pickup has never been on the ground and was manufactured in 2005.  It appears to be in good shape, but it would be safer to have good tire to replace the blown one.  Calls to every dealer in Aberdeen, Mobridge and surrounding towns was useless.  The best they could do was order a matching tire, but it would take well into next week.  Because we have to be in North Dakota by this weekend we decided to press on.

The original plan was to stop in Ipswich to pick up some Eureka sausage, so I found a dealer who sold us a used tire so we would at least have a backup until we get a new replacement tire.  There went 40 bucks. After a number of more phone calls we finally found a dealer in Bismarck, N.D. who said they could have the tire by Tuesday.  So, we’ll head over to Bismarck Tuesday. There goes another $275.

At least we got to get a supply of the Eureka Sausage.  My dad used to bring this sausage home from trips to North Dakota and it is made in Eureka, S.D., so we called it Eureka sausage.  It is actually made by the Kauk Meat Market in Eureka and they call it “Fry Sausage.”  Some call it “Farmer Sausage.”  It has a natural casing and is probably some of the best around.  Luckily we had room in the camper freezer.

As luck would have it again, some old guy who has a car repair shop in Ipswich also has a lot across from his shop where he put in a few full hookups for RV’s.  Nothing fancy, but at $20 a night it was worth it.  We didn’t work hard today, but we’re sure beat from all the tire problems.

Like Roseanne Roseannadanna said, “It’s always something.”

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Back On The Road

We are in Mankato, Minnesota to visit our daughter and husband since they just moved here.

  

We hooked up the fifth wheel on Sunday and stayed overnight in Iowa.  This will be a short stay since we leave tomorrow for a family gathering in western North Dakota this weekend.  We’ll cut across the upper part of South Dakota and stay one night in S.D. on the way.  So, by the time we get to North Dakota we will have been in four states.

I don’t have any pictures of our stay in Mankato, however since we are RVing it reminds me of a Minnesota joke with Ole and Sven (lots of Swedes up here in Minnesota):

Ole and Sven decided to take their RV out camping and Ole asked Sven to go behind the RV and they would check the tail lights and turn signals.  Ole told Sven to let him know when the signals were working as he activated them.  “Okay Sven”, Ole said, “I’m doin’ the right signal, is it working?”  After a second or two Sven answered,  “Yup”... “NOPE”.... “Yup”... NOPE”... “Yup”...  “NOPE”...  

By the way, up here it is pronounced, "Minne SO ta.

_________________________ 

Something I’ve been perplexed about for a while is the high cost of UTV’s.  Quite of few RV’ers bring them along in their travels and I’ve given that some thought, however can’t get past the cost of the new ones or even a good used one. 

On the farm we have a farm type one which I picked up used at about 1/5 the cost of the new UTV’s.  It has a lawn mower type engine and isn’t the quality of the conventional UTV’s, but we’ve used it for everything around the farm, including fencing, hauling rock and loads.  It looks like this one, but a bit more beat up from farm use:

Our local Ford dealer is also a dealer for Polaris and here is a sample of one that would work for us. They are way more modern than our farm clunker.

But, at $11,000 I have a hard time understanding how they can cost nearly the price of a new car. And that’s for just the basic model.  The decked out ones can cost in the range of $15,000 or more.  It would be nice to have one when we go south for the winter to go along on the trail rides with other UTV’ers, but being a cheapskate I can’t get past the cost.

Life on the farm is good, but it is nice to get back on the road with the RV.  Wish we had a nice UTV to cruise around.