Of course if serve.gov is not your cup of tea, you also have these options here: http://www.serve.gov/ http://mlkday.gov/ http://www.serve.dc.gov http://www.learnandserve.gov/ http://www.citizencorps.gov/ ... Considering this is a webmaster forum, you might even be able to get a paying job promoting or maintaining one of the above sites, or the hundreds of others like it, if working for free to support a political agenda isn't your cup of tea. If you have any doubts about whether the above sites serve the government, rather than a political agenda, you might want to consider the fact that the head of serve.gov was on the conference call with the National Endowment for the Arts, openly stating the need to "push the president's agenda" and make it appear "Grass Roots". Remember, "There are so many ways to get involved, and every American can do something.". [video=youtube;ettl3zfLWus]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ettl3zfLWus&feature=related[/video] [video=youtube;ZfSrerf3IoY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfSrerf3IoY&feature=related[/video] [video=youtube;fvK3Ty7WSrk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvK3Ty7WSrk[/video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onXd8iH3OVQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTm5rp8r6fE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM45kYAKyCU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWvsZqIu6zw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08iomNFrzU4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_vxJD3az3nk Service is your duty as a Citizen [video=youtube;HSWt7hOYYLY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSWt7hOYYLY&feature=related[/video]
I don´t have time to watch all your videos. Is this one of your typical Obama is bad, I am ashame of my immigrant parents so I try to pretend I am a blue blood American who is neo-conservative posts?
No worries. They are all pretty much the same thing at different schools around the US, except for the last one. I know English isn't your first language, but if that is what you got from my post, you might want to hit the books again. Perhaps its just a basic logic and reasoning problem, in which case no amount of studying can help you. Sorry.
and for softening the Obama administration’s aggressive enforcement What better Call to Service than the former U S Attorney General representing a legal case to soften the Bribery laws so businesses can be more competitive overseas. Mukasey and the NEA, representing dissimilar interests - what could be more unAmerican?
Obamanation, you may actually want to go to serve.gov and get a feel for it. Put in your zip code. I think what you will find are people in your community that simply need help. That's not political. If I put in my zip code, I'm finding an animal sanctuary needing volunteers. I don't think they care how I vote.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it a crime for U.S. companies to pay bribes or offer any “thing of value†to a foreign official to advance the corporation’s interest. AHAHAHAHAAHHAAH dont hold your breath waiting for this to happen LOL...its the back bone of US economy these days...the US play fair? where did you see this fairy tale LOL as for 9/11 memorial day pffffffffftt....get over it eh?...whats a few planes in a few buildings compared to the USA-s mass bombing campaigns that go on for months and months?...its been 10 years LOL will you "kittens" ever heal? face it 9/11 was not over nothing, neither is all the other anti american terror or the terror against your but kisser allies...you government interferes with the lives and economies of billions of people world wide, makes $$$ off of their misery, and then you cry "WHY? WHY?" over 9/11 ...pffffffffft....
No, they most likely don't, but I wonder about planned parenthood, or this listing: Of course Acorn has since been scrubbed from the site, and I have nothing against volunteering at a local animal shelter, but the presence of serve.gov, and all the other sites raise a lot of questions. How much is our federal government paying to keep them all running? How much is the federal government paying the people doing the "organizing" behind the sites, and why is our government in the tax payer funded business of community organizing at all? The answer becomes clear when you see who runs it: Under Direct employ of the Director of the Office of Public Engagement, the "community organizing" branch of our government is our Serve.Gov webmaster, Buffy Hicks. In her own words, Perhaps I just object to the word "Service" being used by and pushed by hard core partisan politicos working for the federal government. Perhaps I find it distasteful to see yet another growing branch of government, engaged in what could easily be argued is a mission of propaganda, funded by tax payer dollars, while seniors are being asked to take a hair cut on their benefits, and mortgage holders are being asked to give up their tax deduction. Anyone who was serious about cutting spending, would start at the top. Sure his little propaganda team and their staff probably only have a budget of half a billion or so dollars a year, a drop in the bucket in the big picture. Half a billion here, half a billion there... it starts to add up. By the way, if you really felt like volunteering, and I suspect you often do, I have no doubt you would be able to find a myriad of animal related causes in your local area that would be thrilled to have you on board in less than 30 minutes with a simple Google search. Perhaps Google is not to be trusted with such queries. Perhaps the Federal government is better suited to tell us who we should and shouldn't volunteer our time for..... @ATVKing: When is the last time you paid a bribe? I'm guessing less than 3 months ago. Penalizing our companies for doing something a Chinese company is doing in the same market is handicapping our businesses, pure and simple. It falls under the same stupid category as the laws which have our citizens being arrested as the re-enter the country after running an on-line casino from a foreign nation. What our citizens or companies do abroad is their business, and the business of the country they conduct themselves in.
Such as using the 9/11 Tragedy to promote the politically motivated and intentionaly inaccurate propaganda WMD for the invasion of Iraqi.
Actually, the volunteer opportunities on serve.gov at this time, are fed onto the site by All for Good, AARP Create The Good, Idealist, 1-800-Volunteer.org, 1Sky, Habitat for Humanity, Hands On Network, Servenet, United Way / Volunteer Solutions (Truist), with All for Good being the main one. When Serve.gov was really new, I listed an event myself posting a certain day, hour, moment where Americans can attend the event at home by participating in a moment of silence to consider the plight of homeless animals. I was amazed how easy it was to make a listing. There were hardly any restrictions that I recall. But, I'm guessing that may have caused problems in it's own way, which is why it now directs you to one of these other sites to create the listing. On All for Good, the categories are September 11, Education, Military Families, Health, Disaster Preparation, Seniors, Animals, Poverty, Hunger, and Veterans. So, politically related organizations are not really prohibited, on the other hand, they don't really fit into the categories very well. As far as the quotes by Buffy, I don't have a problem with anything she said there. I just don't see Serve.gov as a vehicle of political propaganda. You definitely have a point about cutting expenses. But, I think a government owned website encouraging citizens to volunteer in the communities in which they reside, shouldn't be near the top of the list. I'm a homeowner, and really couldn't care less if they stop the deduction. Of course, I also think we should end the tax loopholes for large corporations. With seniors, I don't want to see them take any cut in benefits. I would like to start looking in any other direction than that. There are many ways to cut spending, including as we discussed prior, not sending aid to countries that hate us anyway. But, you're right, you could probably just as easily find opportunities for volunteering by going to Google and looking up organizations in your area.
Acorn supposedly didn't have a political agenda, but lets be fair. Any organization can have a political agenda. I think the NRA ought too enlist on serve.gov with firearms training classes and safety/community awareness classes. I don't have an issue with the President pushing an agenda of community service in a recession any more than I have an issue with the first lady pushing an agenda of healthy eating. The guy has the bully pulpit. Its easy for him to push any agenda he wants and those are both honorable agendas at face value. Do be fair, I don't even have a problem with the government paying the pennies it takes to maintain an online directory of charitable organizations. What I take issue with, as I mentioned earlier, are hard core partisans, their staffs, and subcontractors being paid with taxpayer dollars to do the community organizing that via the Office of Public Engagement. I took issue with the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on advertising by the government to push the healthcare legislation when it was up for debate. As the conference call with Buffy Wicks made clear, charitable organizations can quickly be converted into political outreach programs and the truth is, the government has no real business being a charitable organization/organizer in the first place. Regarding the interest deduction, I too am a fan of getting rid of it, with a few caveats. 1) We all need to be aware that when that happens, housing prices are going to dip. People who owe $500k will end up paying an additional 100-200k in taxes over the life of the loan, making the cost of ownership that much higher. Prices will naturally adjust to what people are willing to pay vs renting. Even the active discussion of elimination of the deduction is impacting the housing market right now. Whether you are a qualified credit buyer or a cash buyer, smart buyers are waiting until this super committee debacle wraps up and the housing market reaction plays out. It certainly isn't going to shoot up with 800 billion in shadow inventory, but it could go down quite a bit farther. 2) At least three other real special interests need to be eliminated at the same time. Pick any three. Special tax deductions for big oil. Ethanol subsidies(All of them). H1B visa program. Special breaks for union labor health care programs(or repeal of Obama care).Whatever tax loopholes GE is using to pay an effective rate of 0% on billions in profit. Congressional salaries, benefits, and retirement programs. I would start with the special interest tax breaks that benefit the smallest number of people first, wrapping up with the more broad spectrum special interest deduction like the mortgage interest deduction.
If the NRA needs volunteers, I too think that they should register. I don't think anything would be wrong with that. Many Americans would enjoy getting involved in firearm training classes, even as a volunteer, including myself. In the quote from the conference call with Buffy Wicks, they are talking about getting us engaged and involved in helping the communities in which we reside. I still don't have a problem with anything Buffy said. "What I take issue with, as I mentioned earlier, are hard core partisans, their staffs, and subcontractors being paid with taxpayer dollars to do the community organizing that via the Office of Public Engagement." In certain cases, I would too. I do see some value in the Office of Public Engagement, in informing and getting feedback. With home ownership, I think it comes with advantages that aren't all about money. With the housing market crash, I really took a hit. It's worth about a half of what it was, according to the banks. I owe more now than what I could sell it for. Even itemizing vs. using standard deduction, I really don't see much of a benefit. It's funny, but I just don't really care. It's my home sweet home. I love it. It's a 3 bedroom townhouse with upstairs and downstairs, and I have it to myself. It's fun. I'm going to plant a "recession" garden on my patio come next spring. So, as far as the mortgage deduction that's where I stand. I didn't buy my place for a tax cut. It's a freedom not to be a renter. We are largely in agreement on many cuts that could be made. We could scrap "ObamaCare." End or limit the H1B visa program, and as far as I'm concerned, even penalize companies that outsource jobs out of the US. End special tax deductions for oil and ethanol subsidies, and corporate tax loopholes, end the Bush tax cuts, evaluate Congressional salaries and benefits, as they may be inflated, end the mortgage deduction, we should probably reevaluate all deductions and tax loopholes, ...
You don´t need to concern yourself with this thread. You serve enough converting Muslims by giving them free BJ. What is your record for highest number of conversion at one time? I heard is 10, is this correct?
Except that I highly doubt they would be permitted to put their community service classes on that site. Perhaps I'm just cynical, but do you disagree? And pushing the presidents agenda. The entire conference call was an attaboy for the wonderful campaign artwork the group generated for Obama and a brainstorming session on how to roll that partisan effort into the act of governing. You may not see a problem with it, but it is way tto hitler youth for me. I don't need the "thought leaders" in my neighborhood encouraging me to "push the presidents agenda".[quotes from the conference call, not added by me]. Wholeheartedly agree. People who own their homes make better neighbors and take better pride in the upkeep of their property. Interesting. I suppose that is because your mortgage interest comes close to matching the standard deduction at your income level, so it comes out to be a wash. I say that is interesting because 40% of Americans dont own homes at all. I suppose 30-50% of homeowners fall into the same category as yourself, making the mortgage interest deduction that much more of a special interest. My sister is buying a home in San Francisco right now, where $700k barely gets you into a run down dump. Removal of the mortgage interest deduction will play havoc with the market here. Sounds nice! Just make sure you don't try and sell vegetables from your recession garden to your neighbors, or the tax gestapo may come looking to levy a $500 business permit penalty on you, followed by several thousand dollars of back sales taxes and associated penalties. Agreed, but it is going to take a long time. Bachman is a maniac who thinks you can just end all these subsidies overnight. It would take a group of representatives that is committed to the process two decades to unwind this mess in an orderly fashion, without destroying our economy in the process. The same is true of our overly bloated government payrolls. Fire too many of those people too quickly and our unemployment rates jump.
I may be hallucinating, but...when that site came out, I feel positive the answer would be, "Yes!" Like I said prior, I easily listed my event for homeless dogs, I even did a write up on my blog - and, put my blog URL in the listing. I carefully read the TOS, and it was less restrictive than many social bookmarking sites. So, I have no doubt Acorn, NRA, whoever could have done the same. Now, you need to go by the All for Good site and TOS, and have a listing that would fit the category - then, it will automatically go to Serve. So, maybe. I don't know. I like Buffy's comments on getting communities involved. I would not support having the NEA working to get Obama elected. So, there's a line. Agreed. I have some great neighbors. I'm not making this up because of our lemonade discussion, but one neighbor left me lemonade at my door the other day. I thought that was sweet. You're probably right about that. And, my place is nowhere near even 700k. Ha Ha. I'm going to keep them. What I can't eat, I'll probably dehydrate and store in a vacuum sealed bag for future use (for example, if inflation soars at the end of 2013 and in 2014, I'll have lots of veggy's at least). Two decades? I didn't think it would take that long. Good thing I'm not president.
Obama is a gutless coward who for the first time because of hatred for the Bush had a chance to take a stand and make some real changes but instead did nothing. May be it is too late for USA and no one can stop is downfall.