[mewzilla]

And these guys are tax-exempt?! Not to mention what they're doing with parishoners' money.

[dirtboy]

I'm really not quite sure how you can give a cut in federal taxes to someone not paying any (and often getting money back anyway in the form of EITC). You could easily cut two points off the FICA tax, as that goes for the bogus trust fund, but then that illuminates the lie that is Social Security, and the Dems (and, to some extent, the GOP) fear to go down that road. So we'll see more of this blather in coming weeks as pols and pundits dance around this issue.

[2timothy3.16]

Contrast those slugs to this guy.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Unilateral assualt? Eight European nations signed on.That does not sound unilateral. And has the world health organization done a study if all those biological and nerve agents are let loose what its effect would be? well of course not its the UN. With Libya in charge of human rights committee and Iraq in charge of the UN disarmament committee.

[Uncle Miltie]

At the risk of being as repetitive as the Council of Churches:

1) Since the wealthy pay the vast proportion of income taxes, then any broad tax cut will benefit the wealthy.

2) Many Democrats and virtually all Republicans already voted for these tax cuts. Recycled class warfare arguments against tax cuts that have already passed do not address the main feature under discussion: speeding them up.

3) The majority of American families have dividend income on their tax forms. The majority of Americans should not be taxed twice on their money, even if the Council of Churches inaccurately believes they are a wealthy few.

4) Doesn't separation of Church and State mean the Council of Churches should tend to souls, not tax bills?

[Steve_Seattle]

"half a million casualties . . . three million faced with starvation"

Let's remember those figures and see how they compare with reality. Does anyone know if the National Council of Churches has ever issued a proclamation condemning North Korea or The Sudan?

[Tacis]

I remember when the National Council of Churches knew what it was talking about and did what it did best. I remember when they took the pennies that children donated in Sunday school and gave them to the African National Congress so the ANC could buy guns to kill other Africans and hire enforcers to murder those who disputed the ANC.

I have to assume that the NCC is using those stolen coins to fund terror in the US, probably Seattle and SFO. And, BTW, isn't the NCC a 501(C)(3) organization and, as such, prohibited from taking positions of political advocacy?

The NCC should stick to murder, something it knows about, and leave propaganda to the other America-hating commies.

[LiteKeeper]

disgusted bump to read later

[from occupied ga]

This article is the usual Marxist claptrap that I've come to expect from the so-called "Christians" of organized religion who see nothing wrong with violating "Thou shalt not steal" as long as they get their share of the plunder or the pelf is spent on things that they approve of.

I think it is hard for church types to appreciate that wealth is created not distributed, since they never dirty their grasping hands at the actual creation of wealth. All they do is participate in (voluntary) wealth transfer.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

*Ping

[LiteKeeper]

I was having lunch with one of my favorite friends last week - a very liberal college professor - and the conversation turned to the government's recent round of tax cuts.

"I'm opposed to those tax cuts," the Professor declared, "because they benefit the rich. The rich get much more money back than ordinary taxpayers like you and me and that's not fair."

"But the rich pay more in the first place," I argued, "so it stands to reason they'd get more money back."

I could tell that my friend was unimpressed by this meager argument.

So I said to him, "Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand:"

"Suppose that every day 10 men go to a restaurant for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100."

"If it was paid the way we pay our taxes, The first four men paid nothing; The fifth paid $1; The sixth paid $3; The seventh $7; The eighth $12; The ninth $18. The tenth man (the richest) paid $59."

"The 10 men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until the owner threw them a curve."

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.""

Now, dinner for the 10 only costs $80. The first four are unaffected. They still eat for free. Can you figure out how to divide up the $20 savings among the remaining six so that everyone gets his fair share?

The men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $3.33, but if they subtract that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being paid to eat their meal.

The restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same percentage, being sure to give each a break, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so now:

Along with the first four, the fifth man paid nothing, The sixth pitched in $2, The seventh paid $5, The eighth paid $9, The ninth paid $12, Leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59.

Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings, "I only got a dollar out of the $20," complained the sixth man, pointing to the tenth, "and he got $7!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!"

"That's true," shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor."

Then, the nine men surrounded the tenth man (the richest one, paying the most) and beat him up.

The next night the richest man didn't show up for dinner, so now the nine men sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something very important. They were $52 short!

And that, boys, girls and college professors, is how America's tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table any more.

Funny thing. The Conservative Republicans understand this but somehow the Liberal Democrats just don't get it.

[Straight Vermonter]

Funny in my reading of the Bible I can remember calls for charity but I can't remember Christ telling people to urge Caesar to provide for all their needs.

When did Churches stop being charities and merely start advocating for more government charity?

[Luna]

NCC: "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and blah blah blah...and don't forget blah blah blah blah blah...the consequenses blah blah blah blah evil America blah blah blah blah blah death and destruction blah blah blah blah fire and brimstone blah blah blah blah blah declare peace blah blah blah blah blah war never solved anything blah blah blah blah..."

The NCC spews enough crap, but they don't really say anything.

[AppyPappy]

These same churches live off the donations of millionaires.

[nightdriver]

"Many people are uncomfortable with a national priority that provides major tax cuts for millionaires...."

I've never seen any of these NCC types turn down a gift from one of these eeeeeeevil millionaires!

[txzman]

Don't let yourselves be swayed by the title "National Council of Churches"

This is the same organization that led a UN sponsored Geneva get together last year of the world's religions. They had the Hugging Princess (India) Shaman's, Smoke God Worshipers and anything else you can name as invitees.

However the "Christian" female leader, formerly head of the NCC - said they directly decided NOT to include any Christian Evangelists as their beliefs were 'not open to this kind of gathering'.

In other words, a 'Christian' leader was saying that Jesus Christ was not wanted because He excludes other religions - ie does not allow for others to join in together touchy-feely.

The reporter asking her questions was incredulous that she even called herself a Christian.

[martin gibson]

SEE...SEE...GOD says everyone has to pay more taxes!!!

[Dr. Frank fan]

It's always fascinating to see what this communist front group will come out with next.

[Lancey Howard]

I urge all freepers to determine if their churches have anything to do with this extremist left-wing political organization, "National Council of Churches". If they do, don't give them another stinking dime of offering. Better yet, find a real church.

Of course, I am presuming that this crackpot organization actually has a relationship with some churches. The organization's name may simply be a sneaky Democrat smokescreen dreamed up to hide the organization's anti-American, anti-family agenda. Like "Planned Parenthood", for example.

[Torie]

Cool it. Bob Edgar is just speaking for himself. He used to be a Dem congressman way back when, and then ran for the senate and lost. His great creative idea was to put the US on accrual rather than cash accounting, so that government "investments" could be capitalized, and not contribute to the deficit. If that isn't a nutty idea, I don't know what is. And there you have it.