A Nation With Borders

"A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation" -- Ronald Reagan

1st Panal to be Dedicated

The first panel is nearly complete. As such, we the planning committee would like to invite everyone out to the Mural dedication of the first panal. (see details below). I am also reposting the drawing of what the mural panal is to look like.


Mural Panel Dedication
Saturday June 16th
1 pm
20th & Western (Water Dept Wall)
Refreshments Served
Parking available across the street along Western in the Expocenter Parking lot (near the Horse barn). 20th street will be closed during the dedication.

Judge Must Go for Ignoring 14-Year Old Girl

Today, I am writing in regard to Shawnee County (KS) District Judge Matthew Dowd's decision to grant probation to a man convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. What was this judge thinking?

Apparently, he cares more for the sick criminal than the victim in this case.

His decision has dredged up memories from my childhood that I had long ago buried. Memories of when I was molested somewhere around the tender age of 11 or 12. Back then, no one listened to me, not even my parents, so I buried the memories.

What Dowd did was refuse to listen to this little girl, the same as those around me as a kid did, when I was hurt.

Kansas sentencing guidelines say that this molester could have been sentenced to almost 13 years in jail, but Dowd chose to ignore that and gave him probation. With judges like this, it is no wonder so many people consider taking the law into their own hands.

How Many Went To Sonic Yesterday?

With all the advertising they did about last nights event, I wondered how many of my readers went to Sonic last night. Customers at the store I work at, told me that the nearby Sonic was really busy. Traffic was backed up to the highway, sort of busy.
Maybe somehow you missed it, but Sonic was giving away free root beer floats last night between 8pm and midnight.

So after I got off at 10 pm, you can bet I stopped by the closest Sonic and got my root beer float. However, I went beyond that, when I got back to my side of town, I stopped by the one a few blocks from my home and got myself a second one.

So how many of you also stopped by your neighborhood Sonic last night and got you free float?

Frugal Thoughts

The other day I was reading advice and rants and was enthralled with a series of articles she published about frugality.

In "7 ways you can join forces with friends to be more frugal,"

1. Share tips: This might seem obvious, but talk about your fave tips for saving more and spending less. If you come across a great new bit of advice, pass it along to your friends.
2. Share your goals and budget constraints: Talk about what you plan to achieve, e.g. save $500 a month, or spend no more than $70/week on groceries. Let others know of your specific goals, and force yourself to report back to them. Public accountability is a great motivator.
3. Have frugal fun together: Don’t trade money saving tips over expensive lunches. Now that you know each other’s plan to spend less, opt for cheaper plans like potluck meals and coffee at a friends place.
4. Give each other frugal gifts that you really want: You can band together to get a friend a spa trip that she really wants, and you can buy joint gift cards. Pooling your resources makes for less gifts, but a much higher quality one that you’d otherwise get.
5. Buy in bulk: pool your resources to buy things that you all need, in bulk. Bulk buyers can enjoy significant discounts, so take advantage of those!
6. Swap stuff: Clothes that never really suited you, or that no longer fit you. Accessories that you don’t really need. Children’s toys, and sports equipment. Find stuff that you no longer want, and trade them with your friends.
7. Sell stuff together: Host a giant yard sale, or a giant consignment sale.

Then in "7 Things You shouldn’t do in the name of frugality,"

1. Steal, or do something unethical. Don’t hurt other people to save money. Don’t be stingy.

2. Don’t stop your occassional self-indulgences, if you can afford them. Buy yourself a pretty nailpolish, a footspa on sale. Make sure you don’t feel deprived.

3. Never buy gross second-hand stuff. This includes dirty or broken stuff, and obvious things like used lingerie.

4. Never spend hours trying to save a few dimes. Whether it’s driving to the end of town, or slaving away in your kitchen for half a day, some conveniences are worth paying for.

5. Never, ever, put your or family’s health or security in danger. Your or a loved one’s life is not worth saving a few bucks for.

6. Don’t constantly talk about saving money, where to buy things for less, how much stuff cost you, etc. If you and your friends share common financial goals, you’re very lucky, but limit those discussions to your weekly frugality meetings.

7. Don’t make your family constantly unhappy. If your wife hates raisins, don’t buy them for her simply because they’re cheap.

Of course there were other articles she had, but this article would be too long if I placed excerpts from all of them. However, you get the idea. Some of the other posts she had included, "13 things to buy second-hand," "Tips for buying second-hand stuff," "Being Frugal vs Being Stingy," and "10 Frugal Entertainment Ideas."

Speaking of Frugal Entertainment, I was asked about my date from a coupe weeks ago and how that went. Well, the date was OK, but there won't be another one with her.

Low-Income Individuals Penalized for Saving

Did you hear this story? Yesterday, I was watching CNN, before going to work, when I heard this. So shocking, it was, I knew I had to look up the story online and report it here. I never found the CNN story, but I did find several print versions of it, including the LA Times, which I quoted in this post.

The federal government has been urging people to sock away money for their retirement, but many low-income families would be foolish to take that advice, according to a report released Wednesday by a Washington think tank.

Low-income households face "astronomical" penalties for saving, according to the report by the National Center for Policy Analysis. For example, each $1 saved by a single mother earning $15,000 a year could cost her $2.60 in higher taxes and lost government benefits.

That's right, the poor are actually penalized for trying to get themselves off government assistance.

"We're constantly told that we need to save early and often to prepare for retirement," said Laurence Kotlikoff, professor at Boston University and author of the study. "Yet government policies tell low-income families, 'If you save for the future, you won't get our help today.' "

Over the last decade, the government has sharply increased the amounts that Americans can set aside on a tax-favored basis for retirement, created a tax credit for low-income people who fund retirement accounts and launched public campaigns urging people to save.

But those efforts are hindered by incentives created by the government, Kotlikoff said. For example, the tax credit for saving for retirement is wiped away when the taxpayer also qualifies for the earned income tax credit.

Meanwhile, putting a few dollars aside in a retirement plan can disqualify families for food stamps, health care benefits and assistance given to poor families with children. The loss of benefits is felt year after year, compounding into a huge loss over time, the report says.

Someone who doesn't save for the future will become a drain on the public tax rolls after they reach retirement age. It is my humble opinion that these low income individuals who save to build a retirement savings are being fiscally responsible. However, the government concerned about about people cheating them (Lord, knows there has been a lot of people, using these funds, who have cheated), has instituted these guidelines.

In Massachusetts, for example, anyone with assets of $2,500 or more is disqualified from getting federal assistance to families with dependent children. That asset test includes retirement accounts and even the cash value of a life insurance policy, the report says. As a result, a single parent with two children who earns $500 a month would lose $133 a month in benefits if the family saved more than a nominal amount for retirement.

"People start saving, thinking that they are going to be treated fairly, and then they get clobbered. They don't know what happened," Kotlikoff said. "There are ways to achieve our objectives without kicking people in the head if they try to work and save."

Most of the benefit programs looked at in the study are federally funded. But because eligibility rules vary by state, the study focused on Massachusetts.

So what is the answer? To me, I think the answer is simple. Keep the restrictive guidelines about saving, with one little change. They still must use their savings for necessities, before getting government assistance, unless that savings is in a recognized retirement account (IE: 401-k, IRA, Roth IRA, SEP, etc).

Welcome Cleaning Recipes to the DebtFree4ever Network

I would like to welcome a new blog to the DebtFree4ever Network. This site is another frugal website. The difference is that this new blog focuses on cleaning recipes.

It is a growing blog, where you can find recipes on how to make homemade laundry soap or bleach. Even a homemade alternative to the expensive freebreze.
again that address is:
cleaningrecipes.blogspot.com/

I will get the links updated tomorrow on my day off from work.