Have you ever wondered why people claim that income taxes are illegal, or why people would want to refrain from paying their taxes in the first place? I mean, don’t our income taxes go towards providing schooling, health care and other social programs?

The answer from Aaron Russo (Producer of The Rose, Trading Places, and Teachers) may make you want to do your own research into this realm. For instance, the 16th amendment (which allows the IRS to demand that people pay income taxes) was created the same year that the Federal Reserve Act was passed. Is there a relationship between the two, and is it possible that the reason for us paying our income taxes is to pay off interest to the “FED”, interest that if our government printed its own money we wouldn’t even owe?

And was the 16th Amendment actually ratified? Didn’t the Supreme Court declare that collecting income taxes was illegal since the 16th Amendment was never ratified?

If you’re curious about these questions (or their answers) click on the image above to see where you can see the new movie “From Freedom to Fascism” by Aaron Russo.

Awhile back, I mentioned my mom’s trip to Nigeria with the Seattle-based organization Global Citizen Journey. Well, she’s headed back there, this time volunteering to help wrap up a documentary about the oil-rich, yet poverty-stricken region.

Sweet Crude, a documentary currently in production, will tell the story of Nigeria’s Niger Delta—a story that has never been captured on film. Here, in the most populous country in Africa, at the mouth of the Niger River, billions of dollars of crude reside under the feet of a desperate people. This is a region where vast oil revenues and abject poverty stand in stark contrast. Where families face enormous challenges amidst environmental devastation. Where the issues are vastly complicated, the answers slow in coming.

This is the story of people struggling to eat in a land with no more fish. To live with the constant threat of war. To navigate the complexities of meaningful solutions to the most serious of circumstances. To simply survive, perhaps even thrive, if non-violent political solutions can emerge in a hurry. Whether they can succeed is our concern—the stories unfolding in the Niger Delta affect us all.

Watch the trailer here.
Read more about what’s going on the Niger Delta here.
Donate to help the crew & volunteers get there here.

A few weeks ago, I got real stubborn and stamped my feel like a child because I did not want to go to a restaurant that I know serves conventional food and [more than likely] uses hydrogenated oils as the base for their fry grease. So we had that great reunion of friends and I began explaining what hydrogenated oils were, only to realize two things: 1. I did not know exactly what they were, nor how to explain them coherently, and 2. My audience knows me well enough to know when I am bullshitting an answer.
Unfortunately, it was both cases.
It was a New Years resolution of mine to avoid “trans-fats” as much as possible and have been very good about doing so. Along with this, my fiancée and I have stopped shopping at conventional grocery stores, where it is impossible to have a pleasant experience, especially while having to read all the ingredients on the back of over-processed food just to see whether or not they were living up to my new standards. Fortunately, we have a wonderful Co-op right down the street that does significant research into every product they put on their shelves, weeding out the majority of the stuff one doesn’t want in processed and unprocessed food. (I say majority because they do still serve junk food, but it’s Kind Hippy Junk Food. We don’t buy that crap either.

“By our most conservative estimate, replacement of partially hydrogenated fat in the U.S. diet with natural unhydrogenated vegetable oils would prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year, and epidemiologic evidence suggests this number is closer to 100,000 premature deaths annually.”

What this comes down to, is much more than just changing one’s diet to become healthier. What needs to happen in our society if we expect a change, is to dangle our dollars like carrots in front of a burro to guide companies into more responsible practices. Some people claim that companies control the consumers, but on the contrary I believe that if people consistently buy products and support services that are transparent and prove their dedication to health and the environment, global well-being and economic responsibility, companies will listen change. They have to, if they want to survive. For instance, look how many grocery stores now are carrying organic lines than were 5 years ago. Money is the honey and it speaks all languages. A consumer revolution might not be the end-all answer, but it could get us on a more worthy track.

So here is the answer to why this stuff is the devil.
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Once a Day is back from Vacation…Hope everyone’s well rested and ready for more Blaahhhging.

I’m working on a theory: We’re all involved in a cult where its perfectly normal to sacrafice our time to the gods of “Work”. I started putting this together in the middle of a hellacious work-week where I put in over 90 extra hours within a week and a half. I started feeling resentful that I had to get up early every morning and return home late every night, rarely seeing my spouse and my cat. Then I started wondering why I do it even when I’m not working extra. Why am I sacraficing so many hours of my day?

The Answer: I’ve been involved in a job-cult ever since the day I was born; I’ve been brainwashed with kiddie books and quotations about the merits of having a job, and how there’s no way that humans could live without them. Think back to how often adults used to ask you what you were going to be when you grew up, as if you weren’t anything or anyone as a child, without that “job”. I have had the mantra “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” quoted to me so often I began to believe it was true. So instead of sacraficing babies on an alter to our pagan gods, we instead sacrafice our precious days to the god of “Job”.

So, among the many goals in my life, I’ve added a new one: Figure out how humanity can thrive without “jobs”. Who’s with me?