Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Both of those are choices.

The use of vehicles is not a choice, it is necessary.

>   You are breathing dirtier air because of where you live.

I am living in the heavily wooded Ozarks right now where the air gets lots 
of cleaning because of all those trees. Even here, and I suspect in eastern 
Tennessee, the air is dirtier because of the choices Bush has made 
regarding the environment.

>   I'm not (breathing dirtier air, that is) not by my fancy but by
> looking at the actual air quality reports where I live.

So perhaps you trust some bureaucrats, which is to say government agents. 
Who produces those reports?

>    By choice and design, I need to use a motor vehicle now about once a 
> month.  Sure I pay more for gas, but if I leave off just one bottle of 
> beer it covers the cost.

Some choice. Based on the numbers you have provided, you drink a helluva 
lot less beer and wine than I do. And I have no reason to reduce my enjoyment.

> With tighter polution laws fewer people would be making as much money and 
> so fewer people would be in the market to buy the type of housing you've 
> been selling at the prices you've been selling them at.

What's your source for that? Many large corporations are now voluntarily 
operating more in the green mode because their steely-eyed financial people 
have advised them that it saves money.

>   And just how is Bush responsible for
> higher gas prices?  Production is flattening and the world demand is 
> increasing daily.  Doesn't matter who's president.

It does matter who is president when they unnecessarily invade a sovereign 
country and put the military into high gear, which is to say high fuel use. 
Bush, the loyal oil man, has seen to it that the oil companies have high 
demand from our military. That demand drives prices up.

>  I am > paying less in federal income taxes.
>
> Again, that's a choice.

Huh? You knee-jerked on that one. I have since Bush's tax cuts made more 
money and paid less taxes.

>   We're prospering quite nicely now of days and I
> don't pay any income tax at all.

Your version of prospering is shared by how many people, do you estimate?


> >Most of us will pay greater taxes to pay the
>
> > interest on the debt.
>
> That's a choice.  Live modestly enough and you don't pay income taxes at 
> all. Live immodestly and why should you be surprised to render unto Caesar 
> the things that are Caesar's.

Almost everything is a choice for most of us. I've lived modestly. Don't 
care for it. Neither do almost all Americans. Nor the rest of humanity when 
they have the choice.

> On the social front, many will spend much time
> > grieving over those killed and maimed as a result of his actions.
>
> Not one person serving in the military is there except by their own choice.
> The agreement to enlist in any form including the National Guard is a clear
> agreement that you will willingly deploy on what ever harebrained scheme 
> the commander in chief dreams up, not just the ones you approve of.

You have a narrow view. Do you not care for others? I include in my 
thinking the tens of thousands of Iraqis needlessly killed and maimed.

> > >That dog won't hunt. It has long been established that Medicare is a
> > greater danger to our national economy than Social Security, which, with
> > minor adjustments, can continue indefinitely.
>
> You're whistling past the graveyard again, Gene.   Let me address this in a
> separate post, if you don't mind.

Well, you wrote another post with a cute story about your grandmother but 
you did not address my statement above about Medicare.

> > >You have not told us what you do beyond living a subsistence life.

And you still haven't. It is not enough to be a critic of others' ideas, 
you must have some of your own or you are simply a cheap-shot spoiler.

Buying?  Yes. . . . But votes and polls?  Everytime you sound off
> against Bush there is someone, or several someones who are sounding off 
> for him or against the candidate of your choice.

Ah, but if the voices on side A recede, the voices on side B prevail. At 
least I strive to keep the balance. Not speaking out against policies I 
deem bad would be immoral by my standards. I feel confident that Jefferson 
would agree.

  You are pushing against water.
> _______________________________________________

Perhaps. But I am trying. What are you doing?