Mike Toth’s Village Voice

As some of you may know, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released an assessment entitled, ‘Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.?
It’s the right-wing terrorism report that major news outlets have been talking about. Depending on which channel you watch or which newspaper you read, you heard one of two different sides of what this report actually says.
I felt I wasn’t getting the whole story from the news outlets and since the paper was only ten pages long, I felt I could keep my day job and read the assessment (unlike other 1,000-page reports).
So that’s just what I did. I downloaded the official paper and read it. It was short and easy to read, and gave an assessment of the threat of right-wing extremists.
I think this highlights what happens any time a story breaks. You get one side of the story from one news outlet, and another side from another outlet. It depends on which way the news organization leans.
Fox News, for example, goes right, while NBC goes left. It’s the case with all news outlets.
I can’t think of any news organizations that gives a truly unbiased look at the facts. It just doesn’t happen anymore. I would really like to find a major news organization that just gives facts. I don’t want someone else to break down the facts and simplify for me. I want the true facts so I can decide for myself what it all means.
Of course the reason for this is that 24-hour news has to be filled with something. There isn’t enough news to cover an entire day and night. An then there’s the ratings war. There has to be something to differentiate between each news station, otherwise you would only need one. It has become a game of who sensationalizes the most.
The report claims all right-wingers a terrorist threat, and that veterans may also become terrorists.
A noteworthy point is, ‘DHS/I&A assesses that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990’s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of was is being replicated today.?
There.
The last point is only fact. It wasn’t hard. I merely re-typed it. You can decide which news story was wrong and which news story was the least wrong if you go and read the original report yourself.
Mike Toth is a Councilman for the Village of Lake Orion and serves on the Parks and Rec. boards in both the township and village.

Mike Toth’s Village Voice added by on April 29, 2009
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I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal about President Obama’s and House Democrats? wish to keep the estate tax from expiring in 2010.
Actually, their wish is to not only keep it from expiring, but to increase it. It currently is on track to expire in 2010 and stands at 3.5 million for an individual and 7 million for a couple at 45 percent.
Basically, I think that means if you have less than that at the time of your death, you are exempt and if you have more, then you pay.
The argument being used is because of the current stance of the estate tax, over the next 10 years, we will lose 350 billion in revenue given the difference from what it was under Clinton, one million per individual and 55 percent. If the tax were to expire, it is said that 500 billion would be lost in revenue.
Sure, you could continue to say that amount of money will be lost, or you could say it will be kept in the hands of those who have earned it. At the current rate, the tax still affects many small business owners and farmers.
How can the children of a farmer pay 45 percent of 3.5 million or more just to keep the family farm? Consider that farming isn’t really a lucrative business, how many farmers do you know drive a BMW or Ferrari?
When I say you can look at it as though the money stays with those who have earned it, I am referencing all the different times a person is taxed on that money.
Here is a brief look at all those times. A person pays tax on the car they purchase to get to work. They pay tax on the gas they use to get to work. They pay tax on the clothes they need to look the part on the job. They pay income tax on the money they earn. They pay tax on the cell phone they bought to call their stockbroker to invest the money they earned. They pay tax, sometimes 35 percent, on the money they make on the investment in stocks.
Now, if a person still has 3.5 million in assets when they die even after being taxed numerous times as they tried to make and keep their money, then I think that person deserves to keep the money and should be able to leave it to whoever they want.
I know the government is in need of money, it always is. I support the government and I don’t mind paying taxes, after all someone has to pay for the services that we enjoy. I have a problem with government just looking at the bottom line: how much money can we get. With the financial future uncertain, it is, in my mind, a poor time to continue to take money away from those who have it. It would be better to let those people pass it on to their heirs in hopes that they might be able to make a better future for themselves or others.
I believe in the principle that if you earn the money you should decide for yourself what happens to it. It has been shown over history that those who make incredible sums of money will often donate it to charities: Carnegie, Gates, Rockefeller and Buffett.
Mike Toth is a Village of Lake Orion councilman.

Mike Toth’s Village Voice added by on January 28, 2009
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