Oh Really

Come on, you got to be josh en me! People will buy smokes on line!!!!!!!
O my Gosh, Revenues will go down????????????????????????????

From JS ONLINE

Cigarette tax may be only a short-term budget fix
Sales might dwindle; state collections could soar, then sag
By STEVEN WALTERS and STACY FORSTERswalters@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 2, 2007
Madison - Wisconsin's decision to raise its cigarette tax for the first time since 2001 raises two questions: How much new revenue will the $1-a-pack jump in the tax generate? And will more Wisconsin smokers buy off the Internet or elsewhere to avoid the higher tax?

The state budget deal balanced state spending, in part, on the backs of smokers by raising the current 77 cent tax to $1.77, starting in January.
When fully implemented, cigarette tax collections will rise almost 80% in just three years - from $296 million in 2006 to $531 million in 2009, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Link to full Article

The last paragraph, Diamond Jim says WHAT??????????????????????????????
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who first recommended a $1.25-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax, said he wants smokers to stop and conceded that taxing them won't necessarily balance future budgets.
That's nice to know Jim!
Where are you going to get the revenue from?????????????????????????
OK the loony people in Iowa backed off on the pumpkin tax, but you
know they are looking for something to tax.

What can Diamond Jim tax the people of Wisconsin?

Hey Cranberries - they make a good decoration on the table at Thanksgiving
and Christmas. You know , some people put them on a string with popcorn for decorating there Christmas tree. We can even get back at those evil cranberry growers . You know the ones that A G Peg was sueing a couple of years ago. Oh she's gone but we got this RINO named J B. Maybe ,maybe not , it's a toss up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey "corn", you see lots of houses that hang two cobs of corn on the door in the fall.
You know they call it Ind_ _ _ oops It's American corn ( I have to be politically correct)
Sorry can't do that, the ethanol guys will get mad if we tax there free money they get from the
government grants and subsidy's. ( first we pay taxes , the government collects it from us and then gives it to the ethanol producers , we can't tax a tax, heaven forbid) !!!!!!!!!!

Tax on all "cooking oil" !!!!!!!!!!!
You know , deep fry ed foods , leads to cloresteral, leads to heart disease, leads to poor people with out health care , leads to liberal wackos saying people should not eat fatty foods, Yada , Yada , Yada!!!!!!!!! I like this one, could happen.

"Bottled water", Remember only the rich buy bottled water, the poor cannot afford a $1.39 bottle of water. "Soak" (get it- water- soak) the rich. "Paul not funny"
I like this one, could happen.

Hey, "olives" You know the green one's . People drink adult beverages- vodka is my choice, some prefer gin. Olives go in drinks, drinks are already taxed ,what a combo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, any olive, baby corn, or mushroom in any 6 oz or less jar or can. I Like this one too, might happen.

Hey, ATM tax. Cool, every time you make a transaction at a ATM the state gets a nickle or a dime, "Paul small mind", banks and casino's already grab $2.00 bucks a crack. Why are you thinking nickles and dimes , small potatoes, lets just say a buck a crack for a tax. Wow , this could be a real money driver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lake or river front property. Yeah this is good. Tax $1.00 a foot for lake front or river frontage per year. If you like to live on the water then you should be able to pay for it. We would have a $56.00 tax per year for our place alone! Put it on the property tax bill and no will see it. Ka-ching, oh baby this could bring in serious revenue!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Green Grass Tax, oh yea, I like it already. If you cut your lawn you would be taxed extra on your taxes. In the city they can fine you for not cutting your lawn, so they got you both ways. They charge you for your water in the city so why not have a Green Grass Tax. They just have to put it on your property tax bill and you will never know about it. Oh yea, good one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Electric sur tax in December only . You decorate your house for Christmas and pay a one month tax on the electricity you use to brighten up your house around the holidays. Sorry, won't work, the atheists don't decorate for the (Happy Holiday) season. They would tell Diamond Jim to take a leap!!!!!!!!!! No wouldn't work.

I got it! A tax on all fantasy sports leagues. You charge a dollar a person per league and you can make millions. Oh baby this is a good one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we all know the looney left will come up with some way to tax us all , but your guess is as good as mine. They will tax what ever they can to keep power.

If you have a tax idea for Diamond Jim , please let me know I I will add it to the list.

Sheboygan

When the power of elected officials get out of hand !
How can a mayor stop the free speech of the people of this
great country. Politics run a muck!

When a mayor of Sheboygan asks the Sheboygan police
department to investigate a private citizen just because
she put the Sheboygan police departments web site on
her web site.

Dorthy and Teddy must be turning in there graves.

Ditto's to Jeni at Sheboygan Shenanigans .
We are all with you!

Oh by the way, link to Sheboygan police department.

Please visit their web site as much as you can.

Go Jeni !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For All You Catholics in the Crowd

From Dad 29 and Jeffery Tucker , Thank You

Someone from St. Johns in Gillett should understand this but I doubt it.
It's not who plays the music in church that brings people in , it's their
faith that brings them to church. To pray to God and ask for His forgiveness.
Some one playing a flute will bring more people to mass!!!!
It all comes back to what people hear during mass and not what music is played.

It's not the music , it is what the people hear from their priest that
reinforces what there beliefs are. We are not hearing what we believe!
We come to mass to pray! We come to mass to ask for forgiveness.
The Music is not the problem. Our music is just fine!!!!!!
There are larger problems in our parish that
gives people the reason to leave to find a different parish!!!!!!!!

M.S. I know that you know what is right and what is wrong,
keep up the GREAT work at church.

It's a good read anyway.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Top Ten Unknown Truths about Sacred Music posted by Jeffrey Tucker

In the last week, I've spoken before two groups of Catholics about sacred music and taken questions and observed on their faces looks of confusion and enlightenment (I leave aside the case of the heckler who exhibited red-faced anger).
From this experience, I again learned the lesson that I somehow never fully grasp: it is not possible to underestimate people's level of knowledge of the basic facts of liturgy and music.

For decades, Catholic music publishers have been cranking out liturgy workbooks, hymnbooks, guidebooks, book books, and sending well-meaning but woefully uneducated workshop leaders to thousands of parishes, while well-heeled organizations have held hundreds of lucrative national conferences designed to somehow get Catholic musicians up to speed.Incredibly, the results of all this "education" – which has had no unified theme and has been more about marketing expensive, copyrighted music than actually doing what the Church asks – has been to scramble the brains of Catholic musicians around the country to the point that most have not the slightest clue what they are seeking to do.
Lots of money has changed hands but we are further away from understanding than ever before.

So here is my list of the top ten musical unknowns of our day:

The music of the Mass is not of our choosing; it is not a matter of taste; it is not a glossy layer on top of a liturgy. Liturgical music is embedded within the structure of the liturgy itself: theologically, melodically, and historically.

Hymns are not part of the structure of Mass. Nothing in the Mass says: it is now time to sing a hymn of your choice. Hymns are permitted as replacements for what should be sung but only with reservations.

The sung parts of the Mass can be divided into three parts: the ordinary chants (which are stable from week to week), the proper chants (which change according the day), and the priests parts that include sung dialogues with the people.

The music of for the Mass is found in three books: the Kyriale (for the people), the Graduale (for the schola), and the Missale (for the priest).

To advocate Gregorian chant is not merely to favor Latin hymns over English ones, because chant hymns make up only a small portion of chant repertoire. It is to favor a sung Mass over a spoken one, and to favor the music of the Mass itself against substitutes.

Cognitive pedagogy is not the primary purpose of music, so, no, it is not important that all people gathered always and immediately "understand the words."

The music of Mass does not require an organist, pianist, guitar player, bongos, or microphones. It requires only the human voice, which is the primary liturgical instrument.

The Second Vatican Council was the first ecumenical council to decisively declare that chant has primacy of place: "Ecclesia cantum gregorianum agnoscit ut liturgiae romanae proprium: qui ideo in actionibus liturgicis, ceteris paribus, principem locum obtineat." (And ceteris paribus does not mean: unless you don't like it. It means even if chant cannot be sung because of poor skills or lack of resources, or whatever, it still remains an ideal.)

There is no contradiction between chant and participation. Vatican II hoped to see that vernacular hymnody would decrease and the sung Mass would increase. Full, conscience, active participation in the Mass means: it is up to the people to do their part to sing the parts of the Mass that belong to the people.

The first piece of papal legislation concerning music appeared in 95AD, by Pope St. Clement. It forbid profane music in liturgy and emphasized that Church is the place for holy music. All successive legislation has been a variation on that theme.It's going to take more than one-hour lectures to undo all the misinformation that has been spread for decades, and the publishers of these popular liturgy guides need an education more than anyone else. But let's be clear what we are talking about here. The paradigm of sacred music amounts to a complete overhaul of what most Catholic musicians think belongs in Mass. And the first step to education is to have an educable spirit.
Will musicians and publishers that have been working for decades in a spurious paradigm—the billions involved do not confer liturgical legitimacy—be willing to rethink matters?

See We Told You So

From Drudge and The Des Moines Register

First I tell my wife and neighbors ," don't buy gasoline with ethanol"
They say, "why not". I say, "because you pay for taxes on gasoline ,
you pay taxes for corn farmers and ethanol plants to get government
subsidies, and all food product prices are going up because corn prices
are going up"!
NA NA Na , it's no big deal.

Oh sure , an extra 1.00 for a pack of smokes is O K !!!!!!!!!!
You shouldn't smoke, they say, but who is paying taxes on tobacco
products and paying all the health care for the poor !
What will happen when more people quit smoking?
Where will Government get there revenue's ?

Here's your answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!


Iowa puts tax on pumpkins (unless you eat them)
Iowa's new policy taxing pumpkins that will be used as
decorations is squashing growers' spirits.
By KEN FUSONRegister Staff Writer
October 31, 2007

The Iowa Department of Revenue, often accused of trying to
squeeze blood out of turnips, is now searching for pennies in
pumpkins.A new department policy this year has made
Halloween jack-o'-lanterns subject to the state sales tax,
and many Iowa pumpkin growers are feeling tricked.
Is there room in the patch for both the Great Pumpkin
and the tax man on this Halloween night?"I don't mind
paying taxes, but let's get real here, people," said Bob Kautz,
owner of the Buffalo Pumpkin Patch in Buffalo, Ia.,
about eight miles west of Davenport.

Iowans planning to eat pumpkins can still get an exemption from
the sales tax, if they fill out the "Iowa Sales Tax Exemption Certificate"
form. Pumpkins also are exempt if they are of the specific variety
used to make pies and are advertised that way. Pumpkins
purchased with food stamps also are exempt.

Oh that's good , you have to send in for a refund !!!!!!!!!!!!

Link to article

For GOD's sake, when are you people going to wake up
and stop voting for liberal Democrats.
Wait for Diamond Jim hears about this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!