Well... the tax system in America makes me want to run for office!! Vote for me!

I just heard some stuff that sounds crazy! According to David K Johnston, a teacher of tax regulation at Syracuse University School of Law, a single person making $500 a week has a total federal tax burden that is significantly higher than someone that makes $1M a day. They will pay almost 22% of their income in income and payroll taxes, or they did in the year 2007 and that year the 400 highest income tax payers made $345M on average and only paid by the same measure about $.17 of ever dollar. The reason? Individual and corporate tax breaks - all styming from the same source... political favors!! General Electric spent last year alone $39M dollars lobbying Washington. That's $73K per member of Congress and the Senate. WOW! (M=million, K=thousand :)

The top income tax rate in the past was 94% in 1944, 91% in 1960, 72% in 1970, 50% in 1982 under Reagan, and current rate is 35% in 2011. Our national debt is over $14 trillion dollars!! The tax law is ridiculous and not helping us with the checks we are writing that we can't cash! The tax code is 69-70K pages and last year over 579 changes were made by Congress in the tax law - this is what Washington is doing with their time... Are you following the changes? I'm not and no one is - unless you are a corporation or extremely wealthy and will benefit from those changes and can hire a team of lawyers and accountants to work you through the loopholes.

Check out the group Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength! These guys are kinda awesome!!
http://www.patrioticmillionaires.org/

Though under reporting is killings us too! The guy that mows your lawn, the tip your waiter makes, the lady cleaning your house, or the babysitter - not many of these guys are paying in to Uncle Sam. According to the IRS - if everyone reported their taxes properly, everyone would pay per person $2,200 less, but they don't and the guy in the middle (middle class) is footing the bill to make up the difference.

"Taxes are the price we pay for civilization." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
But we have to decide how much civilization do we want??

My Dad always says I should run for office. I hate injustice, always root for the under dog, and can't stand corruption or greed making the decisions for American tax dollars and trust me people I have seen that try to happen alot - every week at my job but I keep plucking away, doing my best to guard those tax dollars like they were coming out of my own pocket. When a developer wants to use $500,000 of your money on "benches" I think about justifying that to my family and friends and go heck no, seriously?!?! That's got front page scandal written all over it... Here is the thing about running for office - I actually would love to do it - but that pesky campaign finance reform hasn't happened. You owe all the people that help you get were you are (I mean campaign contributors) and no offense but that's normally not the working guy. I mean really, when's the last time you gave to a politician you really believed in?? Probably not a long time - if ever... Thought if you think about it, why should they get the love of thousands when being in the back pocket of one or two that have deep pockets will do... Plus running for office is tricky - do I have the right qualifications?? You don't really see government employee on this list - we have real 9-5 jobs! haha

Someday... someday I'll decide it's time to just go for it. Want to help work on my campaign? ;) Maybe I'll start on the park board or the planning and zoning commission. Hmmm... I'm sure there is a book out there or a YouTube video on how to run for office. I'll make my brother my campaign manager, my mother will clearly be my press secretary, and Dad will be my domestic advisor... he reads the paper! haha My Uncle Ed can be my foreign and economic advisor and my Aunt Patsy will be my tour manager overseeing logistics. Let's see.... Sister-in-law can handle fund raising and cute baby nephew will be there for photo ops - you have to be seen kissing babies! Everyone knows that it's the key to success! :)

PS - Get house and husband - that will establish me in the "community" and I won't have the brief military career but I've had family members in law enforcement - that should count for something!! Hmmm - I'm going to work on my platform and issues. If you have any ideas I'm open to suggestions.

Well... sorry about that April...

So I missed the month of April! I'm not sure what happened except I guess being in Orlando, Boston, and DC within a month kept me running a little ragged. :) All the trips were for work but I was lucky and able to add a few days to Boston to do some sight seeing and touring the town. I just got back from Jazz Fest in New Orleans for the 3rd year in a row and it was great as always. I really love that town! I'm in a musical overload and it's just continuing...

I don't know if things are just aligning that it's all coming at once or maybe I'm filling time with stuff... I just know I'm along for the ride right now with fun stuff coming up - as long as I can hang in for the long run.

Friday night - Rangers Game (first of the season for me :) / BBQ with friends
Saturday - graduation/pool party - painting with a twist party with friends

Monday - Josh Grobin!! (you lift me UPPP)
Tuesday - Bruno Mars (I hear he'll catch a grenade for me)
Wednesday - Rock of Ages Broadway show
Friday night/Saturday is a conference at the Village
I may need a nap... haha




Back on the fitness routine - got a bike I'm riding at night in my neighborhood once the sun has gone down but don't worry - I have good lighting (safety first). Also bought a treadmill. The awesome Brandon S. helped me pick it up and bring it home and the awesome David W. worked his mechanical magic assembling it. SOOO thankful for guy friends! :) I've decided that running/the cardio is the biggest thing in the fitness - loose the pound challenge I've given myself. A friend is talking me into the Vibram Five Finger shoes... I don't know, they make me nervous! What do you think?

Also working on the reading of quality plan. Picked up 3 books in New Orleans at this cool little book shop in the French Quarter - the biography of Charles Lindbergh (you know you want to know more), a book about the great flood from Ham's wife's perspective, and a book called 1,000 white woman that is going to be awesome. It's based on a true story but with a twist of fiction - the best kind! Back in the 1870's the Cheyenne nation met with the US President and proposed a way to end hostility between the nations. He asked the US to give him 1,000 white woman to marry to Cheyenne braves.

The Cheyenne have a matriarchal society so the children would be tied into the mother's family and better assimilate the cultures. Well in real life the President said no. This might work for the Cheyenne and let's say Cherokee but not for the white man and so called savages. In this book - what if he had said yes?? Looking forward to this - I'll keep you posted. :)


Last weekend was mother's day - sent flowers to the #1 mom from me and the bro and sister-in-law. It's definitely not enough to show our appreciation but I hear she liked them :) They had peonies in them (my new favorite flower) combined with yellow roses (her favorite flowers) plus some other good ones. Yeah for mom's :)

Life is crazy busy but good. Very happy, a little tired. :) Stay tuned for more later...

-K

More B songs...

Well life is a crazy circus as always and I was feeling more B songs coming on... Enjoy!

Bagatelle #59 in A minor for the piano by Beethoven - technically called Fur Elise but I'm going with B! :) Play your cards right and I'll play this for you sometime...


Beast of Burden - Rolling Stones - this song is just groovy


Billie Jean - David Cood version (please ignore the video, it's super annoying... but plays the studio version which is amazing)


Breakable - Ingrid Michaelson - "Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?" "We are so fragile... and we are just all breakable girls and boys...."


What is your favorite song starting with B? :)

Well I'm a little behind...

So I'm a little behind posting my ABC verses and songs of the week - so I will be updating you on the "B" of last week and the "C" of this week - a 2 for 1 special! Before getting to those I want to pontificate on a few things or share some things on my mind....

Life is full of highs and lows, opportunities and losses, new beginnings and endings. I continue to embrace the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1 - "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." It's hard to know what tomorrow will hold when dealing with things like; family you may soon have to say good bye to - though it was a life well lead, full of love and laughter and some heartache and tears, random senseless violence (kidnapping/torture/death) that has personally touched the life of a close friend, and an unexpected illness and vulnerability in someone that has always seemed so strong...

Things all come at once and it becomes hard to process... Thoughts of HEAVY things can consume and overwhelm if dealt with on their own, but when I enter into thoughts of "Seasons" and that with great sorrows can also come great joys, I can breathe - this too shall pass...

My life is full and I have been SO blessed and I'm SO thankful. I know I don't say it enough and it's easy for us all to focus on the things we don't have or the place we want to BE and not pause to enjoy the moments of today.

Yes maybe things aren't perfect - can anyone say that they are? But I constantly say to those around me - life is so often defined by perspective. You have heard the saying - one mans trash is another mans treasure? So true... Things that would have no value to some are priceless to others, things I'm dissatisfied with are goals others are trying to attain, but we are human and we are always searching for something more. Learning to be content is something I haven't quite mastered... not quite yet. But hey... life's a journey - not a destination! One other thing I wanted to mention - has anyone read this book? "365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life"? I saw an episode on CBS Sunday Morning about Thank You notes and they spoke to the author John Kralik. According to the description on Amazon,

One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and overall, his dearest life dreams--including hopes of upholding idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge--seemed to have slipped beyond his reach. Then, during a desperate walk in the hills on New Year's Day, John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn't have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had.

Inspired by a beautiful, simple note his ex-girlfriend had sent to thank him for his Christmas gift, John imagined that he might find a way to feel grateful by writing thank-you notes. To keep himself going, he set himself a goal--come what may--of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year.

One by one, day after day, he began to handwrite thank yous--for gifts or kindnesses he'd received from loved ones and coworkers, from past business associates and current foes, from college friends and doctors and store clerks and handymen and neighbors, and anyone, really, absolutely anyone, who'd done him a good turn, however large or small. Immediately after he'd sent his very first notes, significant and surprising benefits began to come John's way--from financial gain to true friendship, from weight loss to inner peace. While John wrote his notes, the economy collapsed, the bank across the street from his office failed, but thank-you note by thank-you note, John's whole life turned around.

Sounds pretty neat - I may check it out. I have a lot of great family, friends, and everyday people I come into contact with to be thankful for and I am - I just need to say it more!

To catch up here are the B and C versus and songs - enjoy...

B: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:31 (KJV)

C: Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee; Psalm 55:22 (KJV)

I'm coming back with songs... there are too many great B and C songs - I may do one a day, a letter a week.

Here are the first B's (I'm a musical schizophrenic - FYI)

Linda Ronstad - Blue Bayou



Jace Everett - Bad Things (very Chris Issak)


Feels futuristic....


My theme song in Savannah, GA - not sure why but I walked downtown for miles with this jammin in my ipod on repeat.

Musical A's...

Been a crazy, busy week but I'm feeling really blessed and really happy with life. Work is challenging but I really love what I do. I've meet some really great people recently that I'm meeting with weekly for prayer and just to talk about life's journey and the Lord. I'm reading my Bible this year "chronilogically" which is a version where they take all the verses and then rearrange them in order to the date they happened or in the order they would happen in history - it's been really cool but February is hard - it's the "laws" part... but I'm hanging in there!

I joined a co-ed softball team at work and I'm really looking forward to starting the season! I'm dusting off my old glove and gear (dad is digging everything out of the garage this week and I'm going home soon and will reclaim what's useable). I think this will help with my overall fitness routine. I have been doing arobics since January and circuit training and also hot yoga which is amazing. I am seeing some progress on my plans to get in shape, my cardio is better, and I'm excited about team sports! Hey batter, batter!

Looking forward to celebrating a friend's birthday this weekend watching legendary Blue's Guitarist Buddy Guy who will be performing at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth. He is amazing! A very talented musician that will bring the soul. I LOVE live music and I am really blessed to live in DFW - an area of 6.5 million people where there is always something going on...

Also can't forget another favorite "A" song... This one has got some soul to it, preparing for Saturday night. Remember - There ain't no Sunshine when I'm gone... LOL ;)

Well... So I feel a theme coming on.... :)

Well I've decided to try something fun. Each week I'm going to post the verse of the week and the song of the day. There will be an ABC approach and I will share other random thoughts and stories. :) I hope you enjoy!

Week of February 20th
A:

Verse to memorize (KJV): Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Matthew 7:7

It's an easy one but a good one to memorize. I started out life in a private Christian school where we memorized lots of Scripture but it was all in King James and I use NIV now in my daily life but memorization is "word for word" and if you don't use it you loose it so I"m going back to KJV - yeah!?


Next addition is the Song of the Day:
Another Day in Paradise by the great Phil Collins - love this one, really haunting and an 80's classic and many of you know I love all things 80's!



Finally got a new computer this past weekend. Over a month without one was hard, but I'm very thankful for it now and I spent the time purging myself of lots of stuff like movies and books and clothes. There not ALL gone, but I'm making a dent in things I don't need and that weren't really helping on my journey through life. The robbery really made me start thinking about where I put my "treasure" and what is really valuable to me... Hmmm... deep thoughts :)

Hope everyone has an "A"wesome week. Much Love, Karla

Well... That's a great question!

Hi Everyone,

Very exciting - my "public service announcement" or TV show was recorded for the TBN station, to be aired soon. My friend David has figured out how to upload the video I was given on to YouTube so check out the link!



I talk a lot about my job and Urban Planning so prepare! :)