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
Saturday, September 6, 2008
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.
Lessons
Lessons flowed to my spirit that day,
And these thoughts went through me swiftly,
As the black birds flocked above.
As they landed and looked upon me, they seemed to hear my mind.
And then off they went to their faraway places,
Carrying my thoughts away
Among the clouds and sky.
Flew away with my thoughts of doubt, panic, guilt and fear,
Past the flowing edge of the river they followed
That carried the images of my soul to the greater bodies of water.
And brought back to me as they returned, again they seemed to call,
See this now! Feel the coming of what is you!
New thoughts and glimmers of the bright lives you’ll have ahead!
Feel the oncoming freshness and embrace all that She has given you.
And learn from this, all of this.
All that is gone is not you anymore, cast as far from you as the East is from the West.
Doubt not, panic not, fear not and throw guilt aside.
All that is new is you, and even this will change.
Embrace the change, as the newness of spring comes alive again and again.
So is the newness of spring within you, again and again.
LA
And these thoughts went through me swiftly,
As the black birds flocked above.
As they landed and looked upon me, they seemed to hear my mind.
And then off they went to their faraway places,
Carrying my thoughts away
Among the clouds and sky.
Flew away with my thoughts of doubt, panic, guilt and fear,
Past the flowing edge of the river they followed
That carried the images of my soul to the greater bodies of water.
And brought back to me as they returned, again they seemed to call,
See this now! Feel the coming of what is you!
New thoughts and glimmers of the bright lives you’ll have ahead!
Feel the oncoming freshness and embrace all that She has given you.
And learn from this, all of this.
All that is gone is not you anymore, cast as far from you as the East is from the West.
Doubt not, panic not, fear not and throw guilt aside.
All that is new is you, and even this will change.
Embrace the change, as the newness of spring comes alive again and again.
So is the newness of spring within you, again and again.
LA
I Dare
Most beauteous love inside my heart doth come;
Though all encompassing I shall not fall.
Upon this eve our bodies so entwined,
The Gods our spirits and our flesh do call.
With raven's wings doth my heart merry beat,
And keeps such flight into the starry sky.
Into your world I verily retreat,
My will throughout this night to keep I try.
This perfect union surely must be blessed,
Else why are you a mirror in mine eyes?
To find you, kindred, I would not have guessed,
In this perfection, there, the mystery lies.
Ere to these yearnings I dare concede,
For in that fruit there lies that loving seed.
LA
Though all encompassing I shall not fall.
Upon this eve our bodies so entwined,
The Gods our spirits and our flesh do call.
With raven's wings doth my heart merry beat,
And keeps such flight into the starry sky.
Into your world I verily retreat,
My will throughout this night to keep I try.
This perfect union surely must be blessed,
Else why are you a mirror in mine eyes?
To find you, kindred, I would not have guessed,
In this perfection, there, the mystery lies.
Ere to these yearnings I dare concede,
For in that fruit there lies that loving seed.
LA
Everafter
Come unto the green glade
Where thorny brambles part
The mossy mist enveloping
The passage to my heart.
It is now that I may show you
While stars in tandem fall,
Dancing merrily upon we two,
Forever does us call
The silent moonlight casting
Her shadows in the night
breaking silence, brilliant,
beckoning such light.
Two bodies now clandestine...
Everafter shall they be
Together 'neath the starry night,
The sky, just you and me.
LA
Where thorny brambles part
The mossy mist enveloping
The passage to my heart.
It is now that I may show you
While stars in tandem fall,
Dancing merrily upon we two,
Forever does us call
The silent moonlight casting
Her shadows in the night
breaking silence, brilliant,
beckoning such light.
Two bodies now clandestine...
Everafter shall they be
Together 'neath the starry night,
The sky, just you and me.
LA
Winds of Change
Soft winds blow,
Winds of change
through the darkness of night.
I see your sweet skin glow.
Mysteries of the soul unwind,
As the thickness of love and trust
Is spiraling down upon us,
enveloping body, spirit and mind...
The winds of change....
The promise of life...
As the burdening chains
Are cut and we're freed
to ponder the wonder of each other,
the mysteries that are within and without,
the mystery of mysteries,
and the Winds of change
Carry the promise of happiness...
Love...
Laughter...
and the most intimate gains of true love shared...
Such is the promise of two souls...
Wandering until the promise of one another is found...
In the Winds of Change...
LA
Winds of change
through the darkness of night.
I see your sweet skin glow.
Mysteries of the soul unwind,
As the thickness of love and trust
Is spiraling down upon us,
enveloping body, spirit and mind...
The winds of change....
The promise of life...
As the burdening chains
Are cut and we're freed
to ponder the wonder of each other,
the mysteries that are within and without,
the mystery of mysteries,
and the Winds of change
Carry the promise of happiness...
Love...
Laughter...
and the most intimate gains of true love shared...
Such is the promise of two souls...
Wandering until the promise of one another is found...
In the Winds of Change...
LA
Friday, June 6, 2008
Funny...
Life has a way of swinging like the pendulum.
Right now, I hope that pendulum remains blissfully inanimate.
Right now, I am happy, loved, and I love.
Right now, I hope that pendulum remains blissfully inanimate.
Right now, I am happy, loved, and I love.
Monday, May 5, 2008
For Mooch
Thank you...
There is a special place in our hearts for those we have loved, to those who have loved us without question, without a word or a promise...
There is a special place where there is no pain or fear, where love flows freely...
There is a special place that rests in our hearts forever.
You will be missed my Beagle Boy.
LA
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What are Gods?
It seems to me that most folk spend a great deal of time trying to answer that question, and a greater amount of time being more and more confused as the question is posed over and over again, only to receive more answers than one could shake their staff at!
Personally, I dare not ask the question. Some things I simply accept because they just are.
I have felt the gracefulness of their touch, the pain of their anger, the humility of their lessons, and the fear and joy of their presence.To say that they are conjured up within our imagination to me is simply an easy way out of seeking them in their truth and power.Yes, the human psyche can create a reality; after all, we do have the power of creation. But as far as creating that which is the foundation of the bloodline, well, that would be as ludicrous as believing I created my mortal mother and father!
I choose simply to know what I have experienced to be the truth of the matter, and seek the deeper knowledge that our God and Goddess have to offer, that which we already know, and only need to remember.
I will leave these theologies to those who wish to argue amongst themselves!
LA
Friday, March 28, 2008
Anagram
There's a snake coming out of the darkness.
Parade from paradise.
End the need for Eden,
Chase the dreams of merchandise.
There is tic and toc in atomic.
Leaders make a deal.
The cosmic is largely comic,
A con they couldn't conceal.
There is no safe seat at the feast,
Take your best stab at the beast.
The night is turning thin,
The saint is turning to sin.
Raise the art to resistance,
Danger dare to be grand.
Pride reduced to humble pie,
Diamonds down to sand.
Take heart from earth and weather.
The brightness of new birth.
Take heart from the harvest,
Shave the harvest from the earth.
Reasoning is partly insane,
Image just an eyeless game.
Miracles will have their claimers,
More will bow to Rome.
He and she are in the house,
But there's only me at home.
Rose is a rose of splendor,
Posed to respond in the end.
Lonely things like nights,
I find, end finer with a friend.
I hear in the rate of her heart.
A tear in the heat of the art.
Parade from paradise.
End the need for Eden,
Chase the dreams of merchandise.
There is tic and toc in atomic.
Leaders make a deal.
The cosmic is largely comic,
A con they couldn't conceal.
There is no safe seat at the feast,
Take your best stab at the beast.
The night is turning thin,
The saint is turning to sin.
Raise the art to resistance,
Danger dare to be grand.
Pride reduced to humble pie,
Diamonds down to sand.
Take heart from earth and weather.
The brightness of new birth.
Take heart from the harvest,
Shave the harvest from the earth.
Reasoning is partly insane,
Image just an eyeless game.
Miracles will have their claimers,
More will bow to Rome.
He and she are in the house,
But there's only me at home.
Rose is a rose of splendor,
Posed to respond in the end.
Lonely things like nights,
I find, end finer with a friend.
I hear in the rate of her heart.
A tear in the heat of the art.
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