Sunday, April 19, 2009
Wise advice
Hitch your wagon to a star. Let us not fag in paltry works which serve our pot and bag alone. Let us not lie and steal. No god will help. We shall find all their teams going the other way: every god will leave us. Work rather for those interests which the divinities honor and promote, --justice, love, freedom, knowledge, utility. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude "Civilization"
Wanna get your ass kicked?
'Flyboy' (Air Force), 'Jarhead' (Marines), 'Grunt' (Army), 'Squid' (Navy), 'Puddle Jumpers' (Coast Guard), etc., are terms of endearment we use describing each other. Unless you are a service member or vet, you have not earned the right to use them. That could get your ass kicked.
I know
It's true, we're all a little insane.
But it's so clear, now that I'm unchained from your lies.
Fear is only in our minds,taking over all the time.
But you, poor innocent thing,
You'll dry your eyes and testify, you'll lie.
You know you think you'll break me, don't deny.
One day I'm gonna forget your name.
And on that one sweet day,
You're going to drown in my lost pain.
And oh you love to hate me don't you?
I'm your sacrifice. You, the martyr.
You hate that I dream in darkness,
You hate that I sleep to die.
To erase you completely, erase the lies.
My burning ashes blacken the day.
A world of nothingness, blows me away.
Do you wonder why you hate? I know why.
Are you still too weak to face your mistakes?
Are you just too weak to face the truth?
Do you wonder why? I know.
But it's so clear, now that I'm unchained from your lies.
Fear is only in our minds,taking over all the time.
But you, poor innocent thing,
You'll dry your eyes and testify, you'll lie.
You know you think you'll break me, don't deny.
One day I'm gonna forget your name.
And on that one sweet day,
You're going to drown in my lost pain.
And oh you love to hate me don't you?
I'm your sacrifice. You, the martyr.
You hate that I dream in darkness,
You hate that I sleep to die.
To erase you completely, erase the lies.
My burning ashes blacken the day.
A world of nothingness, blows me away.
Do you wonder why you hate? I know why.
Are you still too weak to face your mistakes?
Are you just too weak to face the truth?
Do you wonder why? I know.
Bite me!
There appears to be a few who believe that they are the authority within the Pagan Community.
They seek to discredit and condemn according to THEIR standard of morality as if we all share that standard.
They believe they are the authority that can judge who is to be considered an elder or teacher. They believe that they have the authority to "evict" one or others from our Community based on their judgments.
Well to them I say "BITE ME"!
They'll have no authority over any but those who choose to place themselves as their subordinates.
They seek to discredit and condemn according to THEIR standard of morality as if we all share that standard.
They believe they are the authority that can judge who is to be considered an elder or teacher. They believe that they have the authority to "evict" one or others from our Community based on their judgments.
Well to them I say "BITE ME"!
They'll have no authority over any but those who choose to place themselves as their subordinates.
Certifiable
Most who know me believe me to be absolutely crazy.
Well, I can tell you that after my visit to the doctor today, I've found that they are all quite correct... I AM certifiably insane...
...and enjoying every moment of it!
Well, I can tell you that after my visit to the doctor today, I've found that they are all quite correct... I AM certifiably insane...
...and enjoying every moment of it!
The Hag
The Hag is astride,
This night for to ride;
The Devill and shee together:
Through thick, and through thin,
Now out, and then in,
Though ne’r so foule be the weather.
A Thorn or a Burr
She takes for a Spurre:
With a lash of a Bramble she rides now,
Through Brakes and through Bryars,
O’re Ditches, and Mires,
She followes the Spirit that guides now.
No Beast, for his food,
Dares now range the wood;
But husht in his laire he lies lurking:
While mischiefs, by these,
On Land and on Seas,
At noone of Night are working,
The storme will arise,
And trouble the skies;
This night, and more for the wonder,
The ghost from the Tomb
Affrighted shall come,
Cal’d out by the clap of the Thunder.
Robert Herrick (1648)
This night for to ride;
The Devill and shee together:
Through thick, and through thin,
Now out, and then in,
Though ne’r so foule be the weather.
A Thorn or a Burr
She takes for a Spurre:
With a lash of a Bramble she rides now,
Through Brakes and through Bryars,
O’re Ditches, and Mires,
She followes the Spirit that guides now.
No Beast, for his food,
Dares now range the wood;
But husht in his laire he lies lurking:
While mischiefs, by these,
On Land and on Seas,
At noone of Night are working,
The storme will arise,
And trouble the skies;
This night, and more for the wonder,
The ghost from the Tomb
Affrighted shall come,
Cal’d out by the clap of the Thunder.
Robert Herrick (1648)
Nahhh!
I often wonder what happened to my sanity. Wouldn't it be nice to have it back?
But then again.... Nahhh!
But then again.... Nahhh!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Have you?
Have you told those you love, that you love them today?
Have you told them how wonderful they are?
Have you told them how beautiful they are?
Have you told them how special they are?
Have you told them how much they enrich your life, and how blessed you are to have them?
Do it before the day is through, and do it every day!
LA
Have you told them how wonderful they are?
Have you told them how beautiful they are?
Have you told them how special they are?
Have you told them how much they enrich your life, and how blessed you are to have them?
Do it before the day is through, and do it every day!
LA
Sanity
I often wonder what happened to my sanity. Wouldn't it be nice to have it back?
But then again.... Nahhh!
LA
But then again.... Nahhh!
LA
Certifiable
Most who know me believe me to be absolutely crazy.
Well, I can tell you that after my visit to the doctor today, I've found that they are all quite correct... I AM certifiably insane...
...and enjoying every moment of it!
LA
Well, I can tell you that after my visit to the doctor today, I've found that they are all quite correct... I AM certifiably insane...
...and enjoying every moment of it!
LA
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Liars
A half truth is a whole lie. ~Yiddish Proverb
The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
A lie has speed, but truth has endurance. ~Edgar J. Mohn
The truth is more important than the facts. ~Frank Lloyd Wright
The cruelest lies are often told in silence. ~Adlai Stevenson
I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't. ~Mark Twain
Lie to me, I'll know. Lie about me, you'll pay. ~LA
The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
A lie has speed, but truth has endurance. ~Edgar J. Mohn
The truth is more important than the facts. ~Frank Lloyd Wright
The cruelest lies are often told in silence. ~Adlai Stevenson
I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't. ~Mark Twain
Lie to me, I'll know. Lie about me, you'll pay. ~LA
Honesty
Honest hearts produce honest actions. ~ Brigham Young
Look a man in the eye and say what you really think, don't just smile at him and say what you're supposed to think.
Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense. ~ Steve Landesber
The Witch's word is the Witch's bond. ~ LA
Look a man in the eye and say what you really think, don't just smile at him and say what you're supposed to think.
Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense. ~ Steve Landesber
The Witch's word is the Witch's bond. ~ LA
Do you know me? Or do you think you know me?
If you really know me, you know that I'm a friend to the end, and there is a love that you will never lose. If you think you know me, you hate me.
LA
LA
Redemption
Redeem yourself by looking to being the best you can be and doing what is right in the present and future, not by trying to correct the past.
LA
LA
Sunday, August 24, 2008
I have a new hero... Way to go Mr. Ulrich!
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Business Writer Sun Aug 24, 5:41 PM ET
WASHINGTON - It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute.
Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.
The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.
A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.
"There's a tremendous amount of money at stake," said Robert Willens, a New York City-based tax analyst at Robert Willens LLC. "Tens of thousands of people could be in line for a refund."
Don Alexander, an IRS commissioner in the 1970s and now a tax attorney in Washington, said while it's not unusual for individuals to take on the agency, "most of them lose."
Alexander called it "quite a significant case."
The dispute arose when more than 30 mutual life insurance companies became publicly traded corporations in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, in a process known as "demutualization."
Mutual companies are owned by their policyholders, so the companies provided stock and cash to compensate them for the loss of their ownership interests when they went public.
All told, roughly 30 million policyholders received distributions, Ulrich estimates. MetLife Inc. provided over $7 billion of stock to about 11 million policyholders when it went public in 2000, while Prudential distributed $12.5 billion in stock to another 11 million.
The IRS held that the recipients hadn't paid anything for the shares and owed taxes on the full amount when the shares were sold. Cash distributions also were fully taxable, the IRS said.
That didn't sound right to Ulrich, 72, an accountant for 49 years. He began researching the issue in 2001, when he received shares from two companies, Prudential and Indianapolis Life.
Ulrich concluded that policyholders had paid for their ownership rights through their premiums so the distributions should have been tax-free.
That could make a significant difference in what a taxpayer owes. If a company distributed shares worth $30 and a recipient subsequently sold them at $32, under the IRS' view they would pay taxes on all $32. Under Ulrich's interpretation, they would owe taxes only on the $2 per share gain.
In 2003, Ulrich publicized his views by contacting tax and insurance experts and setting up a Web site.
"Largely I was regarded as a lunatic," he said, who "would never prevail against the IRS."
Still, some people who'd paid taxes contacted Ulrich and asked him to file refund requests, which he did, for a fee. Some of those refunds were granted, he said. Tax experts say the IRS doesn't always closely scrutinize small refunds.
One of his clients, Jean Prevost and her husband, Jim, who live near Minneapolis, received a refund of almost $1,500 in federal and state taxes in 2003.
"It wasn't a huge amount of money, but it was ours," she said.
But the IRS wasn't pleased with Ulrich, accusing him of promoting abusive tax shelters and demanding the names of his clients, which he said he refused to provide.
The agency backed off in 2004 with help from the IRS's Taxpayer Advocate office, Ulrich said.
IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland said the agency is prohibited from commenting on its interactions with taxpayers.
One of Ulrich's clients, Eugene Fisher, a trustee for a Baltimore, Md.-based trust, sued the IRS in February 2004 after being denied a refund.
Judge Francis Allegra of the Court of Federal Claims in Washington sided with Fisher and called the IRS' view "illogical" in an Aug. 6 decision. He ordered the agency to refund $5,725 in taxes plus interest to the trust overseen by Fisher.
It's not clear how many people could benefit from the ruling. Many of the 30 million policyholders are probably too late to seek refunds, since claims must be filed within three years of the April 15 tax deadline. That means the statute of limitations for taxes paid for 2004 ran out April 15, 2008.
Many individual taxpayers may not have enough at stake to go to the trouble, said Burgess Raby, a Tempe, Ariz.-based attorney who represented Fisher. Still, millions of policyholders could benefit from the court's ruling, he said.
Raby credits Ulrich with being the driving force behind the issue.
"The genesis for this was Chuck's real feeling that this was an unfair position" by the IRS, Raby said.
The government could appeal the ruling and likely will fight future refund claims, perhaps hoping for a different outcome in a separate court, tax experts said.
Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the government hasn't yet decided whether to appeal.
Still, taxpayers should request refunds if they're eligible, the tax experts said, because even if the IRS rejects the claim, doing so extends the deadline for a potential refund for two more years.
Ulrich will prepare refund requests for interested taxpayers, for a fee, and has posted additional information at his Web site, http://www.demutualization.biz. But he said the principle is more important to him.
"I think it's important that taxpayers' rights be protected," he said. "We should have had a Boston Tea Party over this."
WASHINGTON - It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute.
Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.
The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.
A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.
"There's a tremendous amount of money at stake," said Robert Willens, a New York City-based tax analyst at Robert Willens LLC. "Tens of thousands of people could be in line for a refund."
Don Alexander, an IRS commissioner in the 1970s and now a tax attorney in Washington, said while it's not unusual for individuals to take on the agency, "most of them lose."
Alexander called it "quite a significant case."
The dispute arose when more than 30 mutual life insurance companies became publicly traded corporations in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, in a process known as "demutualization."
Mutual companies are owned by their policyholders, so the companies provided stock and cash to compensate them for the loss of their ownership interests when they went public.
All told, roughly 30 million policyholders received distributions, Ulrich estimates. MetLife Inc. provided over $7 billion of stock to about 11 million policyholders when it went public in 2000, while Prudential distributed $12.5 billion in stock to another 11 million.
The IRS held that the recipients hadn't paid anything for the shares and owed taxes on the full amount when the shares were sold. Cash distributions also were fully taxable, the IRS said.
That didn't sound right to Ulrich, 72, an accountant for 49 years. He began researching the issue in 2001, when he received shares from two companies, Prudential and Indianapolis Life.
Ulrich concluded that policyholders had paid for their ownership rights through their premiums so the distributions should have been tax-free.
That could make a significant difference in what a taxpayer owes. If a company distributed shares worth $30 and a recipient subsequently sold them at $32, under the IRS' view they would pay taxes on all $32. Under Ulrich's interpretation, they would owe taxes only on the $2 per share gain.
In 2003, Ulrich publicized his views by contacting tax and insurance experts and setting up a Web site.
"Largely I was regarded as a lunatic," he said, who "would never prevail against the IRS."
Still, some people who'd paid taxes contacted Ulrich and asked him to file refund requests, which he did, for a fee. Some of those refunds were granted, he said. Tax experts say the IRS doesn't always closely scrutinize small refunds.
One of his clients, Jean Prevost and her husband, Jim, who live near Minneapolis, received a refund of almost $1,500 in federal and state taxes in 2003.
"It wasn't a huge amount of money, but it was ours," she said.
But the IRS wasn't pleased with Ulrich, accusing him of promoting abusive tax shelters and demanding the names of his clients, which he said he refused to provide.
The agency backed off in 2004 with help from the IRS's Taxpayer Advocate office, Ulrich said.
IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland said the agency is prohibited from commenting on its interactions with taxpayers.
One of Ulrich's clients, Eugene Fisher, a trustee for a Baltimore, Md.-based trust, sued the IRS in February 2004 after being denied a refund.
Judge Francis Allegra of the Court of Federal Claims in Washington sided with Fisher and called the IRS' view "illogical" in an Aug. 6 decision. He ordered the agency to refund $5,725 in taxes plus interest to the trust overseen by Fisher.
It's not clear how many people could benefit from the ruling. Many of the 30 million policyholders are probably too late to seek refunds, since claims must be filed within three years of the April 15 tax deadline. That means the statute of limitations for taxes paid for 2004 ran out April 15, 2008.
Many individual taxpayers may not have enough at stake to go to the trouble, said Burgess Raby, a Tempe, Ariz.-based attorney who represented Fisher. Still, millions of policyholders could benefit from the court's ruling, he said.
Raby credits Ulrich with being the driving force behind the issue.
"The genesis for this was Chuck's real feeling that this was an unfair position" by the IRS, Raby said.
The government could appeal the ruling and likely will fight future refund claims, perhaps hoping for a different outcome in a separate court, tax experts said.
Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the government hasn't yet decided whether to appeal.
Still, taxpayers should request refunds if they're eligible, the tax experts said, because even if the IRS rejects the claim, doing so extends the deadline for a potential refund for two more years.
Ulrich will prepare refund requests for interested taxpayers, for a fee, and has posted additional information at his Web site, http://www.demutualization.biz. But he said the principle is more important to him.
"I think it's important that taxpayers' rights be protected," he said. "We should have had a Boston Tea Party over this."
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
What makes me smile?
When I walk in the door and the cat comes running to me, excited that I'm there and just wants be loved. Of course, she is quick to get a treat after the hugs, squeezes, and purring too. To be continued...
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sometimes...
Sometimes it's good to just contemplate our lives. What is good with it, what is bad with it, what can be changed, for that matter, what should be changed or what should not be changed.
In doing so, it's very easy to be caught up in the day-to-day blahs and become burdened with all that troubles us.
Yes, those things are important. They can drain us and make us miserable. They can take the fun and satisfaction out of our lives. They must be dealt with, never ignored, difficult as that may be.
I've found, hard as it is many times, that to focus on what is good in our lives, what makes life worth living is even more important. Those blessings that are so easily overlooked when you're getting hit over the head with the battle-axe called mundane life.
What makes me smile?
What makes you smile?
... to be continued...
LA
In doing so, it's very easy to be caught up in the day-to-day blahs and become burdened with all that troubles us.
Yes, those things are important. They can drain us and make us miserable. They can take the fun and satisfaction out of our lives. They must be dealt with, never ignored, difficult as that may be.
I've found, hard as it is many times, that to focus on what is good in our lives, what makes life worth living is even more important. Those blessings that are so easily overlooked when you're getting hit over the head with the battle-axe called mundane life.
What makes me smile?
What makes you smile?
... to be continued...
LA
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Night Blessing
Mother of the Moon in blackened sky,
Your blessings you bring as here I lie.
Guide me safely through my dreams,
Enlightening my plans and my schemes.
As evenings' cloak envelops me,
I bless the earth the skies and sea.
When with morning's sun I rise,
Let Nature's beauty grace mine eyes.
As I close my eyes and count to three,
Blessed Be to mine and thee.
Your blessings you bring as here I lie.
Guide me safely through my dreams,
Enlightening my plans and my schemes.
As evenings' cloak envelops me,
I bless the earth the skies and sea.
When with morning's sun I rise,
Let Nature's beauty grace mine eyes.
As I close my eyes and count to three,
Blessed Be to mine and thee.
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