I’m gonna let it go.  I’m tired of the pressure to perform and have found other interests. 

I had an opportunity to buy a thriving community website in the spring of 2008, and I turned it down as I figured I had no time available to devote to it.  And I was correct, I really do have no time to spend babysitting a site. 

Only the political turmoil of 2008 kept me going here.  Last year was terrible pressure, and it all just fell apart.

So, I’m declaring my independence from website ownership.  I’m glad to have known you but it’s time to explore my freedom and see where it takes me.

¡Hasta!

Not sure what they’ll be, but I may move on from this type of communication into some other avenue of expression.  I am spread too thin these days, and I want to focus on one good satisfying effort…

In the meantime, consider that I am on a vacation for the month of June.  If things change, I’ll certainly return.

Ah, hell.  Cramming in the “answer” in the last 15 minutes of the show, you get what you expected…

I liked the entire last episode until the last part, where they tried to explain the sideways world.

Sigh.

Well, it certainly matches the perception we have today-let’s all make a trip!

Salute!  from a future dummy, to the current patrons of Idaho School Districts 91 and 93, who voted down both special funding attempts on May 18th. 

Especially cute were the homeschooled children, who were NOT engaging in academic activities as they held signs at the Broadway and Skyline intersection in Idaho Falls, asking for a NO vote.  How thoughtful of them to help bring down the competition!

The tea bagger contingent is taking over.  They’re preaching revolution.  They’re gaining ground because they ain’t got enough brains between ‘em to figure out they are being had by their corporate masters, big time.  The three pronged approach to keeping the corporations in power in the United States:

1. Keep them stupid,
2. Keep the women barefoot and pregnant, and
3. They’ll vote Republican to the end of their days. 

Killing the public school system takes care of the first part.  Not allowing Plan B, not paying for abortions, and not teaching them sex education in those dreaded public schools takes care of the second part.  Now the third part is practically guaranteed.

So Idaho Falls, you’re gonna get what you deserve.  Not what you need, not what you really want, but definitely, what you deserve.

My favorite Black Sabbath album is Heaven and Hell.  Ronnie James Dio was the ultimate heavy metal guitarist.  Now he’s gone, stomach cancer.  Only 67 years old.  It goes by fast, boys and girls.  Live your life as if every moment counts, because it does.

***

The Episcopal Church consecrated its second openly gay bishop.  This one is a lesbian.  Kudos to them for not letting the sexuality be an issue.  But I gotta be irreverent and ask, are there any church leaders who are feminine in appearance and who don’t look like men?  Why does our society insist on patriarchical-looking church leaders?  I’m not asking for Christie Brinkley at the pulpit, but Geez Louise…

***

Next weekend is definitely the LOST weekend.  (…”in a hotel in Amsterdam”, shoutout to you Lloyd Cole fans out there).  We’re not cool, and we don’t care for tv, so we got into Lost via DVD just before the 3rd season.  And I don’t think they’ll resolve all my questions this weekend, so I’m a little sorry to see it go, but it’s perfect timing, in a way. 

But the format of the show is such that it can’t run in traditional reruns, as it’s a moment-to-moment continuous unwinding to the core of the show/end of the thread.  Seeing the episodes out of order would be pointless and confusing.  So the future of the show, and the money to be had, isn’t rerun residuals but rather, conventions.  Can’t we all just get a life?

From a recent email:

Thank goodness there’s a name for this disorder.
Somehow that makes me feel better even though I have it!!

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. -
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys on the table,
put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
and notice that the can is full.

So I decide to put the bills back on the table & take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table,
and see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of  Dr. Pepper I’d been drinking.

I’m going to look for my checks,
but first I need to move the Dr. Pepper aside
so that I don’t accidentally knock it over.
I notice that the Dr. Pepper is getting warm.

I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Dr. Pepper,
a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye.

They need water.
I put the Dr. Pepper on the counter and
discover my reading glasses that
I’ve been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I’m going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter,
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote -
someone had left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I’ll be looking for the remote,
but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table,
so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs…

But first I’ll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers.
Quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table,
get some paper towels and wipe up the spill.

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
the car isn’t washed
the bills aren’t paid
there is a warm can of
Dr. Pepper sitting on the counter
the flowers don’t have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can’t find the remote,
I can’t find my glasses,
and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done,
I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day,
and I’m really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,
and I’ll try to get some help for it, but first I’ll check my e-mail…..

Do me a favor.
Forward this information to everyone you know,
because I don’t remember who the hell I’ve sent it to.

Don’t laugh — if this isn’t you yet, your day is coming!!

August 21st, 2010.  7pm.   Tickets go on sale May 14th. 

I love this video, I like the really old furniture, friends just sitting around the table, telling stories. 

Oh, this is starting to get serious.  The über-rightwing Tea Party is gaining ground on the rest of us. 

We have tea party members fomenting the 2nd American Revolution.  In this area, Rex Rammell tried to co-opt as a campaign concept the idea of LDS men galloping in to the rescue of the Constitution on their much ballyhooed prophecy called “White Horse”.  It still has them salivating over the prospects of taking up arms against their fellow citizens in the name of  Liberty.   This is despite the fact that their own Church leaders have distanced themselves from this so called “prophecy” and insist it has no foundation in Church doctrine. 

Obama’s election was the beginning of massive shortages of ammunition as militia-minded men and women began stockpiling.  But that’s not all they’re doing. 

They’re holding rallies, pretending it’s about taxes when their taxes are very low and have been for many years. 

They’re crowing about dumping longstanding (3 terms) Senator Bennett in Utah’s GOP convention this weekend.  Orrin Hatch, up in 2012, is in their sights.

And Ron Paul’s son, Rand Paul, is poised to take power in Kentucky, over Mitch McConnell’s choice, Trey Grayson.

They’re advocating the repeal of the 17th Amendment, which is the popular vote for Senators.  Are they NUTS?  They want to save State’s rights to the extent that they return the Senate to selection by State Legislatures…which opens them up to the highest bidder, even worse than they are right now.

They’re crazy fuckers, they are!  And they’re taking over.  The Tea Baggers are revolting, and I give them my heartiest FUCK YOU as a salute!  

Oh, I like this one.  ‘Cept I think, they got some of the proportions wrong.

So what is the brouhaha all about?  Why is Arizona reacting so desperately, enough to risk national scorn over their poorly conceived laws about immigration?  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano  thinks her state is frustrated and making a cry for help.

Folks that are here illegally have many motives for being here, naturally.  Some of them come here to work and raise their families.  Some come here to work only, and they send their money home.  During the harsh winters, there are farmworkers who go home to rural Mexico and other Central-South American countries and live with their families, living quite handsomely off of the income they made during the spring to fall agriculture seasons, here.

Some of the illegal immigrants, just like some of us citizens, aren’t really interested in working for the man.  They’re much more interested in making a quick buck off of drugs, or violent criminal gang activity.  I’m pointing out that lots of citizens commit crimes, of course.  But studies show that Hispanics have a crime rate that’s two and a half times higher than white non-Hispanics.  And since Mexicans and Hispanics in general comprise the majority of our illegal population, that fact doesn’t help the anti-Hispanic xenophobia. 

What gets my dander up is the prevalent assumption that ALL of the people who are here illegally are on welfare.  ALL of them are criminals and drug dealers.  ALL of them have lots of children who overload our public schools and can’t speak English and inevitably join street gangs and tag our fences and overpasses.   

There’s a horrid and completely false email going around about the cost of illegal immigration.  Here’s a link to factcheck.org and it debunks every one of the false claims.   There are certainly costs, and the border states bear the brunt of these costs moreso than other states, just by proximity.   They are the first places hit on the way into the country, and desperate people do desperate things.  Obviously that goes for both sides of the issue.

So it’s true that citizen members of families headed up by people who are here illegally do receive public assistance.  And children of immigrants both legal and illegal have difficulties with English at school, when the mother tongue is spoken at home. 

Everyone acknowledges that we need comprehensive immigration reform.  No one knows exactly what that looks like, or how to achieve what they’re trying to do.  Our borders are porous but those fences are a joke and so is the security of our harbors. 

I’ve seen statistics that more than 60% of those here illegally now have been here for more than 10 years.  Periodically we sweep through and grant amnesty, and each time there is outrage that criminals are being pardoned, giving incentive for more to sneak in and be pardoned later…

What is the answer? 

I’d wonder how to achieve maximum effectiveness in this country with using car bombs, etc.  I’d wonder, how prepared are the police, and what would they do, in response to car bombs, etc?

I’d probably try some lame-o warmup activity, with a loser pretense of a bomb, not really something that goes off but something big enough to arouse suspicion and panic…

And then, I’d sit back and watch it all unfold on tv.  I’d see how the evacuation was handled, how the crowds respond, what numbers of police show up, what different specialties of law enforcement get involved, etc.  I’d see all the different security camera angles that are able to be deployed to find the perpetrator (unless I was planning to stay with the bomb, kamikaze style).

I’m just sayin’.

A group of 40 year old ladies discussed where they should meet for their high school reunion.

Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the waiters there were very young and very hot.

10 years later at 50 years of age, they once again were making plans for their reunion.

Finally, it was agreed that they should go back to the Ocean View Restaurant because the food there was very good and the wine selection was excellent.

10 years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet.

Finally, it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because they could eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean.

10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet.

Finally, it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the restaurant was wheel chair accessible and they even had an elevator.

10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet.

Finally, it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because they had never been there before.

So I’ve been reading Roger Plothow’s blog “The Gum Pole” recently.  He usually writes about journalism related issues.  He posted a speech he had given to a group at Utah State University about 5 years ago, and it seemed like standard fare until close to the end, when he started talking about the concept of using confidential sources in news stories. 

The First Amendment does not give us the right to use confidential sources, and it is a dangerous practice that threatens the credibility of journalists. It should be reserved for only the most extraordinary situations.

I was surprised, because it seems like a valuable tool for news organizations…so I asked about that in a comment.  He replied that he felt it was overused/abused.   That got me to thinking. 

When I think of confidential sources, my mind goes to two places…one is the Washington Post’s use of Mark Felt as  “Deep Throat“  for the Watergate scandal, and the other is the Novak outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame and the various news people who broke/published parts of that story and who even went to jail to protect their sources.

My first thought was that, just as with Watergate, we may never have learned the truth, nor the depth of chicanery and downright evil, if we did not have a cherished tradition of protecting our anonymous sources.  Knowing his privacy would be protected, Mark Felt blew the lid off the festering swamp that was the Committee for Re-electing the President (CREEP).

The second situation shows maybe why this concept isn’t such a good idea.  Partly because of protecting the sources, a criminal was allowed to get away with endangering our national security.  Yes, I understand that this is a stretch in Plame’s situation (as far as we know) but again, there’s a reason for this particular law and the Bush Administration was allowed to flout it in retaliation for her husband’s “transgressions”. 

I’m sure that actual journalists can document many instances where they believe the use of anonymous sources was abused.  And there are probably many who would defend the practice at all times.  But I am now rethinking my knee jerk, gut reaction of “it’s a sacrosanct privilege and essential to the concept of a free press”.

Notice, I use a pseudonym for my blog, and also when I comment online at others’ blogs or on some websites.  I do this because I work for a living and my employer has the right to terminate my employment without cause in the State of Idaho, due to the “Right to Work” law that was passed here in the 80s.  My political opinions are not popular in this state, and I am the primary support for my family.  So on a personal level, I’m in favor of the use of anonymity in some types of things. 

There’s a controversy out there about the push to extend jobless benefits another go-round.  Once limited to a 6 month maximum benefit, some who are unemployed today have been drawing unemployment pay for over a year, and some over 18 months.  It’s crunch time in DC and the decision has to be made…do we extend the benefits again?  Or do we force the issue, knuckle down on our runaway budget and say, enough is enough?

Of course the self reliance crowd is insisting that the people drawing benefits are being enabled to be jobless.  We are creating a group of people who aren’t motivated to find work because they are being paid to be unemployed.  Who wouldn’t leap at the chance of a paid vacation?  Per the Cato Institute:

When you subsidize something, you get more of it. Extending unemployment benefits from 26 to 79 weeks was guaranteed to leave many more people unemployed for many more months.

I understand their concerns.  I lost a job once, had to go on unemployment.  It was a tough financial time for me.  But I have to admit, I did the minimum job search I had to do to draw the cash, and I basically had a six month vacation.  I got serious and put in the extra effort toward the end, then got offered and accepted a job right at the tail end of my benefits.

It’s possible that’s happening out there, now.  In fact, it’s probable that some out there are having themselves a grand old vacation while drawing those extended benefits.

But on the flipside, it’s not as if the employers out there are hiring again.  Not in any measurable sort of increase, to absorb great numbers of those who are currently unemployed.  Some financial analysts say the job market will never pick these people back up, for many reasons.   Even the Obama Administration is not bullish on the job market:

…the Obama administration announced Monday it expects the unemployment rate to remain high throughout 2010. It projects 9.8 percent unemployment by the end of the year, according to employment forecasts included in its fiscal year 2011 budget.

The administration also predicts 8.9 percent unemployment by the end of 2011, and expects the rate to fall to 7.9 percent by the end of 2012…

So it’s a tough call.   Do we allow the unemployed to lose their cash lifeline, their homes, cars, phones, etc?   Will they really end up on the street?  Will they just draw more in other government benefits such as Food Stamps and Cash for families?  Aren’t we just shifting from Peter to Paul, when this happens?

Or will those employers (who the conservatives are predicting won’t be hiring because they don’t like the Obama Administration), suddenly bring back those who are serious now about getting work?  

So Stephen Hawking has a warning to those of us Terrans who want to encounter alien life forms…DON’T.  He says we don’t know what their motives are for coming here (most likely they’ll want to mine our planet for the resources they need to survive) and we will likely end up on the short end of the stick just as the “Indians” did here.

If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans

That’s logical.  They can’t possibly be concerned about our well being.  And although I’d like to think we could do just as well as the Nav’i did on Pandora, I don’t think we’d have as happy an ending as the movie Avatar.  The best quote in that article was from Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal, who said,

I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive.  Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there are aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains.

Well, the idea of brains segues into this next story, nicely.  ;-) 

Ben Stein!  Conservative speechifier for President Nixon, and conservative foil for liberals with big heads…   BEN STEIN AGREES WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA about bank reform.  DO I NEED TO REPEAT THAT????  Are you back in your chair, after having fallen out in shock?  He says:

But in recent decades, you might do better to think of the people of Wall Street as a bunch of wild, out of control fraternity boys, drunk on money and power, making stupendous, unimaginably big bets with your money on events you have only a dim idea about. 

…This is what led to the current recession.  It wasn’t overly ambitious homeowners in Modesto or Miami; it was wild men on Wall Street. 

I’m amazed and humbled at his chutzpah to go public with this opinion - not that he’s ever been afraid to express his opinions…but this one is decidedly against the grain.  I’m grateful and cautious, too.  He didn’t go overboard, he didn’t damn with faint praise, but he gave legitimacy to the President’s efforts to rein in the Wall Street greed.

Has something alien gotten into his brain?

So there are lots of reasons why a youngster today would volunteer for the military.  And there are lots of reasons why that person would be rejected.  Apparently it’s cutesy to suggest that school lunches are making kids too fat to join the military, therefore threatening our national security.

And being this generation’s stoner hero didn’t make a difference to muggers.  Kal Penn says he’s okay, but damn.  Makes me wanna send all muggers to Guantanamo Bay…

Everything you eat that tastes good, is bad for you.  Salt in foods, we knew about.  But now sugar in foods is said to cause heart problems.  How far will the government try to go to protect you from yourself?  How far should they go to protect you from insidious manufacturers who need to employ underhanded tricks to get you to buy MORE of their product?

I didn’t buy an iPad (may yet, but not yet).  I’m less rash in my old(er) age than I once was.  I’m waiting for the bugs to work themselves out.  But you have to wonder, where is the scary Apple of old…fearsome innovator that others rush to copy?  That they called this a PAD…ugh.  My husband didn’t understand why I giggled (and neither did the men at Apple, apparently).  Then, out of the blue, Israel bans the damned thing as a national security threat because of its wireless signals…and then US colleges start to react, too.  It seems so messy overall, that it’s rather a black eye.  Whispers out there of the fall of the geek market king don’t seem so farfetched.

Due to chronic pain and mobility problems, I spend a lot of time on my ass.  I don’t much care for TV although I don’t mind watching NFL games or Tiger playing golf tournaments.  Netflix helps some, but I like to read.  

I live in one of those cheap two level houses with the daylight basements, and getting to the main floor where I spend most of my time is only done by navigating two flights of stairs up from the garage.  Needless to say, (but that’s never stopped me before) I try to go down once per day, and back up once per day, and then…only if I absolutely MUST.  So casual trips to the library are never really casual affairs for me, and I end up just not going.

So I read online.  I try to make a daily pass through my blogroll links, especially the Idaho writers.  I enjoy CNN and MSNBC online for national/international news, but only to a point.  I read the online version of the Post Register, which includes the Post Talk, but I find the endless vicious little jabs at each other to be tedious and tiresome.  If I found that kind of interaction to be entertaining, I’d listen to Rush, Ann, Bill O and Glenn.   Or not, I’d probably read them more.  Bleah.

So recently I’ve found some other gems out there, and I’d like to share them.

Retired in Idaho has a page called One Man’s Opinion, and on March 31st Mike posted this incredibly well articulated article.  It’s so good, I want to repost the entire thing, and pay to publish it in the Post Register, and put it on facebook, and basically force the entire world to acknowledge it…DAMN!  I had such a hard time picking a small piece of it to quote (and the emphasis is mine):

Idaho now ranks 48th in the nation in terms of per capita income.  Only Utah and Mississippi are below us. So here we are, in a state that has been run by Republicans for many decades, and we are at the bottom of the economic barrel.  Republicans preach economic growth. 

When exactly is the good stuff supposed to happen?

If you drop the Boise area out of the mix I am sure that rural Idaho is one of the poorest parts of America.  Economic policy is a keystone of Republican philosophy but that policy has utterly failed in Idaho, at least if you accept that the financial well-being of Idaho citizens is a fair measure of how that policy has worked. 

I think the results speak for themselves and forty years should be long enough for Idaho’s residents to see some real results from the GOP.

So how do Republicans explain the economic problems of Idaho?  From what I hear from that side, they tend to blame the problem on Democrats.  Yes, that’s right…. on the Democrats.  The citizens of Idaho largely accept that explanation in spite of the fact that Idaho policy is as pure a version of Republicanism as you will find anywhere. 

You need to read the entire article.  It’s amazing.  And I think I’m going to check in on this site from time to time, to see what’s new.  Besides, I’m hoping to make it to retirement age, myself.  I think the site may be helpful.

***

Recently Idahogie turned me on to Greta Christina, and she’s a hoot.  She’s not for the squeamish or delicate individual, so reader beware, it’s NSFW.  I particularly enjoyed her Atheist Meme on April 15th:

  Atheism is not a belief system. It’s a reasonable conclusion based on the available evidence. If atheists see better evidence supporting the God hypothesis, we’ll change our minds. Pass it on: if we say it enough times to enough people, it may get across.

I’ve not been successful in explaining why I feel the way I feel.  In fact, I’ve had agnostics ask me, how could I say I am atheist, which must mean I’m absolutely certain, when they are only willing to say they aren’t sure?  But I do not say I am absolutely certain…I say, the conclusion that I reach, based upon the evidence that I see, is there is no God.   I see a distinction there.  I think they still want to believe, which creates a tug on their heartstrings that doesn’t allow them to say anything except they aren’t sure.

***

And finally, I wanted to pass along a shoutout to Bill Peters, at Whatzup!  This is a relatively new blog, and he’s got some good things to say, and poems to share.   On April 17th he wrote about Servicing Friendships:

For years, I’ve remembered a quote about friendship long after I’ve forgotten who penned it. “One should always keep their friendships in a constant state of repair.” All personal relationships probably fall into that category of needing *constant repair*. It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle, ignoring people and sometimes intentionally overlooking them. We must realize they won’t always be there.

It’s a passion of mine to have everyone blogging (gives me more to read, eh?) and I want to support those who are putting their thoughts out there for the world to see.  It’s scary and it’s cathartic but it can be very rewarding.  Go say hi to Mr. Peters, a retired teacher from the Idaho Falls area.

I got this from a facebook friend.  I feel it nails us humans, nicely.

Well, after this weekend I’m about to join the Tea Party’s protest on April 15th !  But for me, it’s not about the idea of being taxed, it’s about HOW it’s being done. 

I don’t itemize on my taxes.  I don’t make/spend enough money to benefit from this endeavor, and it’s a good thing, because I’m sure I’d hate the Federal Government every spring.  It’s bad enough that just having a simple standard deduction set of taxes takes me a few hours and much hair pulling every year.  The forms are ridiculously long and intricate and the allowable credits and such are almost unknowable and obscure to boot.  I have to walk through all the instructions and even then I’m not sure I got it right.

It’s not just the federal tax forms, it’s the state forms, too…I recently did some taxes for relatives who moved here in the middle of the year, and between both sets of part-year forms from both states, I’m frazzled.  

And on top of all of this, we bought the H&R Block software, as we do every year.  Even then, with the updates loaded before we started, we still missed the credits for the new car purchase and the one for the property tax on our home.  If I hadn’t read an online article about commonly missed tax credits, the software would have been NO help and we would have been part of the statistics for next year’s article.

If I were self employed, I’d have the urge to commit honorable hara-kiri every year on April 15.  I don’t know how anyone does it, and most importantly, I don’t know why we put up with it or why we don’t demand it be simplified.

So the two most common “fixes” I’ve read about out there are:

Flat tax:  “X” amount of your income.  Proponents’ plans range from NO exceptions to those who’d allow an exception for lower income individuals.  No refunds, no credits.

This is very simple, and it seems very fair.  The idea that there would be no refunds and no loopholes really appeals to me. 

National Consumption (sales) tax.  Also known as the FairTax.  Pay taxes only on what you spend.  If you save more of your earnings, you pay less in taxes.  If you live a lavish lifestyle, you pay more in taxes.

This proposal confuses me just a little at first glance.   The idea is, rich people and corporations have a disincentive to earn more money because they’d just have to pay taxes on it, which impacts the prosperity of our economy.  Eh?  But what is the point of making money?  To keep it in the bank?  Proponents say this will encourage savings.  Savings help you do what?  Spend it, later!     

I’m thinking the first time an investor buys stock (and has to pay taxes on that stock purchase) and the first time a corporation buys another corporation (and has to pay sales taxes on the purchase) this grand plan would fizzle out in a hurry. 

My first thought was the sales tax option was less fair to poor people, who must spend all of their income to survive.   But I realized, this is little different than today’s world where we have sales taxes…

So I’m not sure if I care which plan we go with.  As long as the plan is fairly applied, with no loopholes, I’d think we would be better off than we are currently.  And I’d have more hair.  Bonus!