Patrick Lowry, Editor

When Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced his intentions to change the state’s tax policy, yet have its overall effect be revenue-neutral, it was easy to predict there would be winners and losers.

While we might have suspected most of the winners would be at the higher end of the spectrum, we didn’t imagine all the losers coming from the state’s poorest households. Not with 377,000 Kansans already living at or below the federal poverty level. Not when almost 24 percent of Kansas children already living in poverty. Not when Census figures prove those numbers are on the rise.

But here is what the governor’s proposed tax reform accomplishes, according to figures from the Kansas Department of Revenue:

* Taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $25,000 or less will pay $88 million more in taxes starting in 2013. Forty-one percent of Kansans are in this category, and will pay $156 more on average.

* The remaining 59 percent, about 819,000 filers, will receive decreases. Those with adjusted gross incomes of more than $250,000 will pay almost $111 million less as a group.

To ensure the plan is revenue-neutral, Brownback plans to keep the state’s sales tax at 6.3 percent instead of having it drop to 5.7 percent. As poorer people pay a greater percentage of household income on sales tax, they’ll get to feel that sting as well. It is about as regressive a plan imaginable.

“It’s Robin Hood in reverse,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka Democrat. “This is stealing from the poor to give to the rich.”

The administration is defending itself by pointing out the large number of affluent and middle-class teenagers working part-time who are included in the under-$25,000 group. Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan also pointed out there will be a “huge, new investment” of $113 million in social service programs to help offset the tax increases for the poor.

The plan calls for eliminating the state’s earned income tax credit, which costs in the neighborhood of $90 million. As it’s based on a sliding scale, this credit does result in some low-wage earners receiving payments on top of not having any income tax liability. The governor intends to split that $90 million three ways to fund an increased standard income tax deduction, public assistance programs for families, and the state Medicaid program.

But there is a huge disconnect here.

According to Tawny Stottlemire, executive director of the Kansas Association of Community Action Programs: “… Not everybody who benefits from the earned income tax credit is on Medicaid or public assistance.”

State Budget Director Steve Anderson indicated a belief the groups overlapped, even though the administration has no data to support the stereotype. What the state does have is a federal study that suggests there are many fraudulent claims for earned income tax credits.

“Depending on the state, the level of abuse was between 25 and 32 percent on EITC returns,” Anderson said. To prove his point, he distributed a handout after Brownback’s State of the State address that identified six federal lawsuits against tax preparers, none of whom were in Kansas.

We already have witnessed the ability of the Brownback administration to get laws changed by merely claiming rampant fraud exists. Look at the Secretary of State Kris Kobach, for example. We have changed the entire voter registration and identification process by suggesting something could happen.

But the so-called tax reform will prove disastrous for Kansans at the lower end of the economic spectrum. This is what we need to spur economic development? This is how we will make the Sunflower State more competitive for businesses?

This administration is doing nothing but redistributing wealth, the very philosophy most conservatives decry. The governor and his entire administration should be ashamed. Taking food off the table of the working poor in order to fund luxuries for the rich is unconscionable.

As nearly half of working Kansans will be negatively affected by this “trickle-down” approach, we would hope this doesn’t have a chance of becoming law. If ever there were a time to get politically active, even if it’s merely to call a legislator, this is it. Without protest, the mostly conservative Legislature will make it legal to push even more citizens into poverty.

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It’s also not party specific, so apply the little poem to whomever you despise the most! The card is actually the size of a business card, and I believe it to be around 100 years old. There are no markings to identify the printer, author or date, but I assume it’s that old because it was with a box of postcards that are 100 years old. The paper has the look, feel and color of the old postcards.

I did a quick internet search of the poem and came up with zero results. If anyone has heard or seen this before, please leave a comment to satisfy my curiosity.

by Jim Hightower

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An Osage Village

 I am writing this from the Osage point of view, written by memory from the writings of an Osage descendant, Louis F. Burns. I have found his book to be the most comprehensive. If you are a student or researcher, please consider Mr. Burns as my main reference here. While searching the internet, I have found several inaccurate sources with widely varying information.

This brief overview generally deals with the Osage nation prior to the “Louisiana Purchase” of 1803. After 1803, everything changed for the Osage people at such a quick pace that they were unable to adapt and survive as the proud nation that I write here about.

 For centuries, the Osage possessed the most prime real estate on the continent. The four-state area that they claimed during their height of power is a humid, temperate climate, encompassing just about every type of geography; wetlands, mountains, and bluegrass plains of the buffalo. Their enviable position in the center of the nation fashioned their customs and religious practices.

 The Osage style of government is thought to have been used by our founding fathers as a model for our present American style of government. The Osage had developed a special relationship with the French, and a group of the natives were taken to France a full half-century before our war of independence. A famous French treatise on this style of government was written shortly after this event and this treatise was indeed part of the model for our present constitution. Although no written proof of credit to the Osage is found, the similarities are beyond coincidence. Not the least of these is the concept of “inalienable rights” of each individual.

 At the top of the Osage government there was a powerful group of elderly ‘wise men’, who were referred to as “The Little Old Men”. The Little Old Men shared power and were made up of men from varied factions of the nation. It was their job to make judicious decisions based on petitioning from various counsels of “Grand Chiefs”. These Grand Counsels were specific to areas of tribal life. For instance, a Grand Counsel on war-making and another one meant just to lobby for peace.  At the more local, or “band” level, there was also some allowance for their own government. There were Chiefs and Councils at all levels. Sound familiar? This system was known to be in effect as early as the 1500′s.

 The government reflected the Osage personality. Slow to action and deliberate in all things, the system eventually became so top-heavy that it was cumbersome and had to be modified to meet the changing times. As such, The Little Old Men had a decreasing power as they approached 1800.

 The Osage had no concept of individual land ownership. The land was claimed by the entire nation. As a nation of hunters, these claims of territory were fiercely defended by warriors whose full time job was policing their claims. These small ‘war parties’ were not without rules.

Intruders were generally watched from a distance without them knowing they were observed. They were subsequently categorized and then dealt with. Although the whites considered these Osage people cruel savages, the punishments usually were comparable to the white’s justice.  

Three classes of intruders were considered. First was the traveller. If you were observed to be just passing through, and you took only what game and resources you needed to survive your journey, you would probably not even know you were watched. Minding you manners would save your life. Second was the hunter/trapper. These intruders were considered the worst, and were just common poachers as far as the Osage were concerned. White men would promptly hang a cattle rustler, and Osage warriors took it one step further. Poachers were beheaded and the heads displayed as a warning to any others with the same ideas. Third consisted of two different types of offenders who were treated similarly; settlers and traders. If traders were not poachers, they were not killed. If they were not trading directly with the Osage, they were however, robbed of their trade goods and sent on their way. The message was clear; Osage controlled the early merchants. Approved traders (mostly French) were encouraged.  Unapproved traders were harassed out of the area. Any trade with other native nations was not approved, as the Osage were constantly at war with them on all sides. Agricultural settlers, white or native, were treated much the same. Since the Osage were primarily concerned with hunting, and hunting territory, small groups of settlers were tolerated on their eastern border, along the Mississippi river. They were subject to some harassment though, and stealing their horses was fairly common. If they were not inter-married with the Osage, they were usually harassed until they left the area.

 At the time of Lewis and Clark’s expedition, the Osage Indians lived in most of Missouri, northern Arkansas, eastern Kansas and northeast Oklahoma. They were thought to have descended from one branch of the Omaha Sioux and migrated from the lower Ohio River Valley. They were divided into three clans: the Great Osage, Little Osage, and Arkansas Osage. Their first experiences with Euro-Americans came in the mid 1600′s when French trappers and traders encountered them. Early records from the Trading Post that was to become St. Louis indicate that early Americans traded with the Osage at nearly twice the rate of all the other Native Americans combined.

 The Osage had a special relationship with the French from the very first encounters. This has been attributed to the temperament and manners of the French explorers, more than anything else. The official French government policy was to subdue the Osage and make them proper colonial subjects. The actual practice was nothing like this. Several French were married to Osage women, and are now the ancestors of many thousands of Osage people. Apparently the Spanish and English did not have the good sense to treat the Osage as equals, and subsequently were nearly completely shut out of the lucrative fur trading, unless done by proxy through the French. Osage warriors were known to attack British soldiers on sight.

Osage girls married immediately upon reaching puberty, unlike boys, who married in their late teens. When the oldest daughter in a family married, her husband also got marriage rights to all of her younger sisters if he so chose. However, this did not happen often; polygamy was rare. A distinction was always made between the first born daughter and those that came after. Marriages were arranged by the girls parents, and though inter-marrying with other clans, tribes and even whites was done, it was not the norm. When a daughter was married away into other clans, it was a political advantage and the family ties were never forgotten. The marriage to a first-born daughter was the highest honor. When a baby was born, the town would have a naming ceremony to make it a “real” person. As the children grew up, girls were educated mainly by their mothers in domestic arts, horticulture, and gathering. Children of native and white mix were considered “real” people as long as they followed Osage traditions. If they did not adhere to Osage customs, they were allowed to move about the clans and villages as they pleased, but they were not “real”, as such, they were not spoken to, or spoken of at all. Usually these ignored offspring would live with their French relatives.

The Osage were not an agricultural society, but the women did keep gardens at semi-permanent villages. They grew maize, squash, pumpkins, gourds, and beans, as well as gathering wild fruit, berries, acorns, and nuts. In autumn they would harvest the crops and preserve them for winter. Families lived in lodges made of wood and reeds, or of tall poles covered with animal hides. The lodges were thirty to forty feet in length, with two doorways and an opening at the top for venting campfire smoke. They were permanent, yet villages were regularly moved just short distance when conditions warranted, such as sanitation, gardening, flooding and draught. Osage warriors left them twice a year, once in the summer and once in the fall, when they headed west to hunt buffalo. Although some women travelled with the buffalo hunt, the main job of women in the villages was to grow crops and gather food, as well as raise children and take care of the home. The only time the Osage used “Teepee” style shelter was when they hunted far out on the plains, away from woodlands.

There were ceremonies in all seasons for naming, mourning, peace, planning, and harvesting, where women would dance in the rituals, but singing, priesthood and religous ritual and authority were only the dominion of men. Women commonly got tattoos, especially to remember their husbands, if their husbands were killed. If a man committed a notable act of bravery he earned the right to tattoo his wife and daughters. Mothers taught their children well-defined rules of behavior. They raised their kids gently, disciplining them using ridicule and rewards, never physical punishment. Osage women carried their babies on boards on their backs, because it was convenient. As a result of this the babies’ heads were flattened in the back and stayed that way for life.

 The mode of burial among the Osages was to place the corpse in a sitting posture on the ground, at most only in a slight excavation, and pile around it a heap of stones for its protection. When the early settlers came here many such graves were seen in which the skeleton was remaining intact, and in some instances the flesh scarcely yet having entirely disappeared.

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from the 1974 A&M album
“Furthermore”
AMLH 68278

Shawn Phillips — vocals and guitars
Peter Robinson — keyboards
John Gustafson — bass
Barry deSouza — drums
Caleb Quaye — guitar
Paul Buckmaster — cello
Raul Mayora — percussion

Produced by Jonathan Weston
Engineered by Django Johnny Punter
Assistant Engineer: Mark Dodson
Recorded in England at Rampart Studio, Battersea

I’ll sing you a song of the deepest blue, if you tell me all the colors that you see in the human hue
I’ll sing you a song of the brightest hope, if you show me a man who’s reassured that he can cope
I’ll sing you a song of beige and livid green, if you show me an earth that is slowly getting clean
And I’ll raise your spirit higher, make you tremble with delight, if you lay down all your weapons, if you make the truth your fight
Lay down all your weapons, if you make the truth your fight
If you make the truth your soulmate, keep it with you all the time, then by the grace of God inside, you’ll live in heaven’s clime

If you talk to me of atom bombs, if you explain what they are for, I’ll sing you all the songs I know about a world I see at war
A war that’s greatly based on fear that’s the only way they’ll work, authority and governments they hide behind their smirk
For they think that you don’t know it yet they think you’re not aware, that the potential of the human soul lies just in human care
So won’t you sing this silly song with me, come and give me a gift, we all are one in life and love, we all provide the lift

By William A. Collins

Slash the budget,
That’s our plea;
Just don’t cut
What’s dear to me.

Budget cuts are slippery.

What happens when your state cuts aid to municipalities or the federal government cuts special help to your local school? Who ends up getting hurt most?

It’s not always easy to follow, because elected officials generally seek to obscure who’s really at fault. They often try to pass the blame to someone else, slow the impact until they’re out of office, or focus as much of the damage as possible on people who don’t tend to vote. These are ancient techniques.

Pensions are a good example. All levels of government cheerfully underfund them, especially in times of low interest rates, like now. They figure it will be their successors who have to raise taxes to pay them, or else renege — or declare bankruptcy.

School aid is classic too. The federal government helps fund schools in impoverished areas, as do most states. But when dollars are short, that item is an easy cut. Then either the local (poor, remember?) taxpayers pony up the difference, or the kids lose. They bear the brunt of the layoffs, bigger classes, and fewer arts and sports programs.

Then there’s Medicaid. Its job is to provide health care to low-income folks. The federal government supposedly splits that cost with the states, but what happens when it’s broke? Simple: they cut federal support for Medicaid and leave the states holding the bag.

Thanks to an anti-tax pledge most Republican politicians have taken, GOP-controlled state legislatures are rendered unable to raise taxes. That means many states can’t raise more money to cover the gap in their Medicaid budget, so they just cut their payment rates for doctors. Many doctors then can’t work for those rates and stop accepting Medicaid patients. And, when Aunt Minnie’s diabetes goes untreated, she dies.

Not surprisingly, these tough times foist other budgetary fallout on the poor and voiceless. How about prisoners only getting two meals a day, as is happening now in Texas on weekends? Or food stamp cuts that force the poor into still more cheap empty calories? Daycare is likewise getting hit, along with early childhood education. The poor are losing heating programs and housing subsidies, and services for the homeless are scant.

Some cuts will potentially make everyone less safe. In some areas, city councils are ending the fluoridation of water, and there are places in America where the firefighters will stand by and watch your house burn to the ground unless you’ve paid a fee for their services. And now Mitt Romney wants to privatize health care for our veterans, which would erode the VA’s services even more.

These are the kind of cuts that could get Republicans in trouble in 2012.

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Merry Christmas to everyone who is kind enough to visit KANSAS MEDIOCRITY.

The Great Invocation

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth. 

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men -
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power
restore the Plan on Earth.

Any Parsonions related to Mrs. Stella Lynd, 2718 Main?

For more about The Fatherless Children Of France; http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=940DEFDD133FE433A25755C0A9679C946996D6CF 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click the photo below to read the entire book of letters from orphans to their American benefactors. The book is ‘public domain’ from google.

The book above is priceless. Sweet, cute, and heartbreaking all wrapped up in one.

The true spririt of Christmas, COMPASSION.

By Mariko Chang and Dedrick Muhammad

The holiday season exerts a lot of pressure to spend what you don’t have and go deeper into debt in the name of “giving.” This year, let us all support each other to be financially responsible and engage in building wealth instead of destroying it.

Wealth, or net worth, is the value of your assets minus your debts. Assets include things such as money in checking or savings accounts, the equity in your home, and stock. Common types of debt include credit card debt, mortgages, and college loans. Without any wealth, people are just a paycheck away from financial disaster.

Wealth makes it possible to pay the bills when unemployment strikes or you get so ill that you can’t work. Wealth enables you to pay for large or unexpected expenses such as a new hot water heater or engine. It’s important to remember that during these tough economic times, celebrating the holidays shouldn’t inhibit one’s ability to save and build wealth. This is particularly important for communities of color.

A report published this year by the Pew Research Center revealed that the wealth divide between whites and people of color hit a record high in 2009, with the median wealth of white households 20 times higher than black households and 18 times higher than Latino households.

This recession is especially tough on people of color because they face much higher levels of unemployment. Joblessness has depleted their savings. Plus people of color have a greater percentage of their wealth in homes. They were disproportionately hammered when real estate prices plummeted after the housing bubble burst, and because people of color were more often targeted for higher-cost subprime loans, they were left more vulnerable to foreclosure. One out of four African Americans and Latinos who received a loan between 2004 and 2008 face foreclosure or are over two months delinquent in mortgage payments.

Even before the economic troubles set in, the financial foundation of many families of color was typically insecure as compared to white Americans. Data from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University revealed that the wealth gap between white and black families more than quadrupled between 1984 and 2007, growing from $20,000 to $95,000 (in constant dollars). Clearly, while the recession may have exacerbated the racial wealth divide, there was a significant problem even before the recession began.

The racial wealth divide is likely to remain even after the economy recovers, because this divide isn’t simply a result of racial differences in employment, income, or investment strategies.

The racial wealth divide originated generations ago when people of color were legally and routinely denied the same opportunities as whites. The inequities of the past continue to haunt current generations because family wealth not only affects the amount of inheritance one receives, but also the ability of parents to help their children become more financially stable — for example, by helping them make a down payment on a home or pay for college.

The $95,000 wealth gap between black and white Americans means that children of white parents are more likely to be able to afford to go to college debt-free, while children of black parents will have to assume more debt to attend college. That’s why communities of color must be especially prudent in how we decide to “celebrate” the holidays.

We don’t want to disappoint our families, friends, and most especially our children, so start changing expectations now. Let them know that this year you want to celebrate the upcoming holidays by spending special time with them rather than spending on an extravagant gift. Your local library, museums, religious institutions, and other organizations offer a plethora of activities during the holiday season. Many of them are free, and they’re ideal for spending special time with your loved ones and friends.

The word “holiday” comes from the pairing of the words holy and day. The word holy stems from the Scottish “hale,” meaning health, happiness, and wholeness.

You, your family, and your friends will find much more financial health, overall happiness, and wholeness if you do not make the holidays days of greater indebtedness and wealth insecurity.

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Let’s celebrate our time together on this earth and work towards creating a better future for everyone.