Category Archives: LIVES

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REDWOOD TAX SHELTER

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The object in this photograph is a wood shop project constructed by Howard J. Cutter, and his fellow students, in  the Redwood City High School graduating class of 1930.  His instructor, Mr. Carver, also worked part time at the Redwood City Lumber Co. as the night time janitor. Each evening Mr. Carver swept up all of the refuse from the workings in the lumber mill during the day.  Beginning in 1903 he was allowed by the owner of the lumber mill, Mr. Sawyer, to carry off any scraps of redwood for use by his students, for which Mr. Sawyer reported a very substantial “donation” and tax deduction to the IRS at the end of each fiscal year.

This practice continued for 27 years at which time the IRS, coincidentally, conducted an audit of the books of the lumber mill.  It was revealed that Mr. Sawyer had falsely claimed accumulated deductions amounting to $123,459.38!  Well, the IRS prosecuted the fellow, of course. As the lumber industry had declined severely over the intervening 27 years, Mr. Sawyer did not have the ready cash or assets to repay the sum. The judge presiding over the case, The Honorable R.T. Whitleman, declared that Mr. Sawyer should serve a term of imprisonment in a fashion suitable to the crime.

Therefore, the judge ordered that the students of the wood shop class construct a prison cell made of the wood remaining at the lumber mill in which Mr. Sawyer would be incarcerated for a period not less than 26 months. After the offending man had completed his term the cage was donated to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. as a tribute to the students of the wood shop class of Redwood City High School. The cage survives as a constant reminder to citizens of one simple, important fact:  Don’t deduct scraps when you pay your tax.

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BEING YOU

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GANDHIJi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi or Bapu (Father of Nation), was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world.

The son of a senior government official, Gandhi was born and raised in a Bania community in coastal Gujarat, and trained in law in London.  Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women’s rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, increasing economic self-reliance, and above all for achieving Swaraj—the independence of India from British domination.

In London he committed himself to truthfulness, temperance, chastity, and vegetarianism. His return to India to work as a lawyer was a failure, so he went to South Africa for a quarter century, where he absorbed ideas from many sources, most of them non-Indian. He was exposed to Jain ideas through his mother who, was in contact with Jain monks. Themes from Jainism that Gandhi absorbed included asceticism; compassion for all forms of life; the importance of vows for self-discipline; vegetarianism; fasting for self-purification; mutual tolerance among people of different creeds; and “syadvad”, the idea that all views of truth are partial.

Gandhi strongly favored the emancipation of women, and he went so far as to say that “the women have come to look upon me as one of themselves.” He opposed purdah, child marriage, untouchability, and the extreme oppression of Hindu widows, up to and including sati. He especially recruited women to participate in the salt tax campaigns and the boycott of foreign products. Gandhi’s success in enlisting women in his campaigns, including the salt tax campaign, anti-untouchability campaign and the peasant movement, gave many women a new self-confidence and dignity in the mainstream of Indian public life.

In his last year, unhappy at the partition of India, Gandhi worked to stop the carnage between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs that raged in the border area between India and Pakistan. He was assassinated on 30 January 1948.

Gandhi’s philosophy was not theoretical but one of pragmatism, that is, practicing his principles in the moment. Asked to give a message to the people, he would respond, “My life is my message.”

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THE PRODUCT OF MILITARY “SCIENCE” = GLOBAL HOLOCAUST

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TOTAL GLOBAL DESTRUCTIVE POTENTIAL

Since humanity can only destroy itself once, nuclear overkill serves no purpose, wastes billions of dollars in maintenance costs, and increases the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons by terrorists, or by accident, miscalculation, or misunderstanding.

Russia has a nuclear weapons destructive force of 2,900 megatons, which is an ability to destroy humanity 29 times. Russia, which is in terrible financial shape, is wasting vast sums of money to maintain far more strategic nuclear warheads (7,150) than it can use without destroying itself.(15)

The United States has a total nuclear weapons destructive force of 1,800 megatons, which is an ability to destroy humanity 18 times. While struggling mightily to reduce deficit spending, the U.S. is spending some $27 billion annually to maintain far more strategic nuclear warheads (7,250) than it can use without destroying itself.(16)

While the total nuclear destructive power of the United Kingdom, France and China represents only a small part of the world’s nuclear weapons destructive force, it is still enough to destroy the world several times. Each of these countries is struggling with great difficulty to pay for their nuclear weapons.(17)

The destructive power estimates are conservative since they only include the power of strategic nuclear weapons. If tactical nuclear weapons were added, the overkill capability would be even greater.

Israel, India and Pakistan also have the ability to produce and deliver nuclear weapons.(18) As global awareness grows that nuclear weapons use is likely to be massively destructive, including self-destructive, hopefully these states, too, will reevaluate the appropriateness of maintaining nuclear arsenals.

THE VESTED INTEREST OF THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY / INDUSTRIAL / CONGRESSIONAL COMPLEX IS THE THREAT OF TOTAL GLOBAL DESTRUCTION

Why does humanity waste vast sums maintaining far more nuclear weapons than are needed to destroy itself? In an earlier study we discovered the main reason for such illogical behavior is that there is a worldwide reluctance to think about what the consequences would be if nuclear weapons were used — a mental block. We discovered that virtually nothing is being published anywhere in the world on the self-destructive consequences of the use of nuclear weapons despite the great peril they present to all.(19)

An example of this mental block was recently reported by General Lee Butler (USAF, Ret.). When General Butler became head of the U.S. Strategic Air Command, he went to the Omaha headquarters to inspect the 12,000 targets in the former Soviet Union. He was shocked to find that dozens of warheads were aimed at Moscow (as the Soviets once targeted Washington). General Butler said, “We were totally out of touch with reality.”(20) U.S. planners had no grasp of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. One small nuclear warhead alone could destroy a major city.

While it is understandable that people are reluctant to think about how terrible the consequences of nuclear weapons use could be, this reluctance has allowed humankind to place itself in danger of self-annihilation, and to spend some $8 trillion over the course of the Nuclear Age doing so.”

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE:  Consequences of Using Nuclear Weapons, by Dean Babst and David Krieger