[Shady Grady]

Pike Co. Judge Wayne T. Rutherford is wanting Pike Co. to implement a new 1% employment on all businesses and employees in Pike Co. Former Governor Paul Patton spoke on this matter giving his support. What does everyone think about this? It seems to me that the county needs to be cuttting back instead of implementing more taxes.

[Shady Grady]

That should read "1% employment tax". Could a mod please fix this?

[jetpilot]

Pike Co. Judge Wayne T. Rutherford is wanting Pike Co. to implement a new 1% employment on all businesses and employees in Pike Co. Former Governor Paul Patton spoke on this matter giving his support. What does everyone think about this? It seems to me that the county needs to be cuttting back instead of implementing more taxes.

They are both Democrats. Of course they will raise taxes. And Pike Co. being 75% Democrat it will pass. Pay up for more stupid government you stupid Dems.hh:

[TheRealThing]

They are both Democrats. Of course they will raise taxes. And Pike Co. being 75% Democrat it will pass. Pay up for more stupid government you stupid Dems.hh:

It's a big game. When the dems want more money they just sit around and dream up something new to tax people on. If they were to announce an increase on property taxes there would be an outcry. So how does the entrerprising and clever democrat get more money? Just make up a new tax that the people will more readily accept. We pay taxes on everything we buy from food to utilities. Example, have you ever noticed the so called surcharges on your cell phone bill? The word surcharge is code for the arbitrary charges everyone pays on their bill because the FEDERAL govt. has decreed that your cell phone provider of choice must provide non paying customers with service. Some of the surcharge slice of your cell phone bill pie goes to pay for all the cell phones for those who can't afford them. Most people don't know they pay for other folks to have phones. Then there are the taxes that are not disguised or hidden in cell phone billing practices. Altogether raising your bill about 15%.

We pay sales tax on our homes, vehicles, boats, rec vehicles, etc. Then we pay a yearly LIFE tax on these same items for perpetuity. We pay massive taxes on gasoline, the so called sin taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes, taxes on insurance of all kinds including the present day financially crippling health insurance we all need. We are even going to be taxed on our health insurance taxes to help pay for Obama Care. Federal income tax, State income tax, many people pay local income tax and on and on it goes.

This is the argument that rages in both houses of the legislative branch of our government and debated by the liberal and the conservative. Is it right to tax and spend our society to extinction over the fanciful notions of the secular humanist? Pesently we borrow 190 million dollars an hour last I heard. Or, should we spend only what we have at the federal and state level? Thereby, allowing working honest people to enjoy a morally reasonable portion of that which they have earned? Wouldn't that by definition reasonably be considered part of the liberty and freedom that should be the norm and not the exception in the United States?

Don't forget that those that serve God in this country are to give 10% of their substance to the church and the CHURCH is to then tend in no small degree to the interests of the needy. Added to that is the well known and often mentioned generosity of the American nation in general. We are a nation of givers. We probably don't need a government full of fleecers to force us to do the right thing.

The tax the millionaire argument being put out by the Obama adminstration is the quintessential example of the state forced benevolence being advocated these days. It's the perfect irony, the founding fathers concept of the seperation of church and state was perverted by these same people, liberals, from it's original intent which was the freedom ( from ) governmental meddling in the affairs of the church. To the position of being interpreted in a flip-flop fashion saying that the church by law was to have no voice in any way in government. This tactic has been used by folks like the ACLU and their ilk for the purpose of eliminating any mention of God in government from the inscription on the dollar bill "IN GOD WE TRUST", to the attempt at removing "ONE NATION UNDER GOD" from the pledge of allegiance, to physically altering the entrance of the supreme court, suggesting we should remove any reference to our Creator from even there. The present day circus in which the government functions, now believes itself to be the definer and the authority on what mankinds' moral behavior should be, not the chruch, and is legislating accordingly. Hence all this talk about redistributiion of wealth, which can best be accomplished by means of taxation, Obama Care, carbon footprints, Cap and Trade, and the saving the environment panic by the likes of Al Gore and corps.

[jetpilot]

^Excellent post RT. Wow, I thought sure I would get a rise out of Dems with my earlier post. I actually really like Rutherford and Patton, but their solution is always more taxes.

[Hoot Gibson]

At the state level, there is really not much difference between the major parties. What really puts Kentucky at the bottom of the state government barrel, IMO, is the level of corruption that is legal and widely accepted by Kentuckians. Elected representatives of both parties routinely sit on committees that craft legislation that affects their own professions. The concept of conflicts of interest has never been very well understood by Kentucky voters or the scoundrels that they elect to state office.

Then, when the Legislature is not in session, the vultures return the their home districts to pick the bones of their constituents clean.

[Shady Grady]

I just can't see how the answer is more taxes. I can travel one mile from my house and see several examples of county waste. They need to trim the waste, but that might cost a few votes. Trim the fat. Trim the big salaries of those who do absolutely nothing. I see county vehicles in the driveways of employees. I see equipment used on the property of county employees. Wayne T. needs to get out of Pikeville and actually travel through the county every now and then before he wants to tax everyone. He also needs to realize there is not as much money in the rest of the county as there is in Pikeville. The small businesses in the county don't have the traffic that the ones in Pikeville do. In case no one has noticed, people actually go to Pikeville to do most of their shopping and eating out. Most businesses throughout the county are struggling to keep their doors open, and sure are not able to pay another tax to keep Wayne T's boys freelancing throughout the county.

[tvtimeout]

It's a big game. When the dems want more money they just sit around and dream up something new to tax people on. If they were to announce an increase on property taxes there would be an outcry. So how does the entrerprising and clever democrat get more money? Just make up a new tax that the people will more readily accept. We pay taxes on everything we buy from food to utilities. Example, have you ever noticed the so called surcharges on your cell phone bill? The word surcharge is code for the arbitrary charges everyone pays on their bill because the FEDERAL govt. has decreed that your cell phone provider of choice must provide non paying customers with service. Some of the surcharge slice of your cell phone bill pie goes to pay for all the cell phones for those who can't afford them. Most people don't know they pay for other folks to have phones. Then there are the taxes that are not disguised or hidden in cell phone billing practices. Altogether raising your bill about 15%.

We pay sales tax on our homes, vehicles, boats, rec vehicles, etc. Then we pay a yearly LIFE tax on these same items for perpetuity. We pay massive taxes on gasoline, the so called sin taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes, taxes on insurance of all kinds including the present day financially crippling health insurance we all need. We are even going to be taxed on our health insurance taxes to help pay for Obama Care. Federal income tax, State income tax, many people pay local income tax and on and on it goes.

This is the argument that rages in both houses of the legislative branch of our government and debated by the liberal and the conservative. Is it right to tax and spend our society to extinction over the fanciful notions of the secular humanist? Pesently we borrow 190 million dollars an hour last I heard. Or, should we spend only what we have at the federal and state level? Thereby, allowing working honest people to enjoy a morally reasonable portion of that which they have earned? Wouldn't that by definition reasonably be considered part of the liberty and freedom that should be the norm and not the exception in the United States?

Don't forget that those that serve God in this country are to give 10% of their substance to the church and the CHURCH is to then tend in no small degree to the interests of the needy. Added to that is the well known and often mentioned generosity of the American nation in general. We are a nation of givers. We probably don't need a government full of fleecers to force us to do the right thing.

The tax the millionaire argument being put out by the Obama adminstration is the quintessential example of the state forced benevolence being advocated these days. It's the perfect irony, the founding fathers concept of the seperation of church and state was perverted by these same people, liberals, from it's original intent which was the freedom ( from ) governmental meddling in the affairs of the church. To the position of being interpreted in a flip-flop fashion saying that the church by law was to have no voice in any way in government. This tactic has been used by folks like the ACLU and their ilk for the purpose of eliminating any mention of God in government from the inscription on the dollar bill "IN GOD WE TRUST", to the attempt at removing "ONE NATION UNDER GOD" from the pledge of allegiance, to physically altering the entrance of the supreme court, suggesting we should remove any reference to our Creator from even there. The present day circus in which the government functions, now believes itself to be the definer and the authority on what mankinds' moral behavior should be, not the chruch, and is legislating accordingly. Hence all this talk about redistributiion of wealth, which can best be accomplished by means of taxation, Obama Care, carbon footprints, Cap and Trade, and the saving the environment panic by the likes of Al Gore and corps.

RT, I wish you felt as strongly about keeping the government out of my personal life as you fight to keep them out of my wallet.

I think this is where I disagree with the Republicans the most. The republicans want to tell me how I should live, who I should marry, how many times I can get married, all using the government to do so.

I would like to point out that I am against gay marriage, prostitution, gambling, over drinking, over eating, over well just about every thing. I can barely keep my house in order with one wife, why would someone want many is beyond me. I think everything should be closed on Sundays. I think people should never do drugs. However, all of these are just my opinions, a person should not be forced to live by my opinion. They should have the right to make up their own mind about right/wrong as long as they don't interfer with me and my basic rights.

However, the right will come down with their interpretation of the Bible (protestant New King James, NIV, Oringinal King James or Catholic which ever bible you prefer) and say this is how we all must live. The muslim will come down the Koran and say this is how we all must live. The Jew will come down and bring the O.T. and say this is how we all must live.

I say that you must live free to your own accord as long as you don't interfer with any other person. Here is my reason why: God made us free to choose, who am I to take away choice? It is up to Him in my opinion, I will live my life to what I think God has for me to live not dictated to me by some party on either side.

Sorry about the rant but when people talk about morality and only look through what they think everyone else should live by, it really erks me. As well as it erks me when they take my money for some cause I do not believe in or think it could be done a better way!

[tvtimeout]

At the state level, there is really not much difference between the major parties. What really puts Kentucky at the bottom of the state government barrel, IMO, is the level of corruption that is legal and widely accepted by Kentuckians. Elected representatives of both parties routinely sit on committees that craft legislation that affects their own professions. The concept of conflicts of interest has never been very well understood by Kentucky voters or the scoundrels that they elect to state office.

Then, when the Legislature is not in session, the vultures return the their home districts to pick the bones of their constituents clean.

:Thumbs::Thumbs::Thumbs:irateSho

Just look at the head of the Senate and the head of the Agricultural Dept. These guys want to be governor and Lt. Gov:lmao::yikes:

Disclamor ( I like Phil Moffett and seems to be a logical choice to me)

[TheRealThing]

RT, I wish you felt as strongly about keeping the government out of my personal life as you fight to keep them out of my wallet.

I think this is where I disagree with the Republicans the most. The republicans want to tell me how I should live, who I should marry, how many times I can get married, all using the government to do so.

I would like to point out that I am against gay marriage, prostitution, gambling, over drinking, over eating, over well just about every thing. I can barely keep my house in order with one wife, why would someone want many is beyond me. I think everything should be closed on Sundays. I think people should never do drugs. However, all of these are just my opinions, a person should not be forced to live by my opinion. They should have the right to make up their own mind about right/wrong as long as they don't interfer with me and my basic rights.

However, the right will come down with their interpretation of the Bible (protestant New King James, NIV, Oringinal King James or Catholic which ever bible you prefer) and say this is how we all must live. The muslim will come down the Koran and say this is how we all must live. The Jew will come down and bring the O.T. and say this is how we all must live.

I say that you must live free to your own accord as long as you don't interfer with any other person. Here is my reason why: God made us free to choose, who am I to take away choice? It is up to Him in my opinion, I will live my life to what I think God has for me to live not dictated to me by some party on either side.

Sorry about the rant but when people talk about morality and only look through what they think everyone else should live by, it really erks me. As well as it erks me when they take my money for some cause I do not believe in or think it could be done a better way!

You quoted me tvto, didn't you notice my statement which was intended to draw attention to the dubious persuit of the self proclaimed higher beings in govenment that suppose themselves to be in a position to legislate on moral issues?

My position is that the concept of morality, much less the practice, is an edict handed down to man from the hand of God. Therefore the Bible being His infallable and inerrant Word, is the ultimate and only authority on the subject. The idea is that godly men in elected office would have some measure of sway over the legislative machinations coming out of Washington, state and local governments. It is the responsibility of the church to reach as many for Christ as possible to increase the odds of the Christian men and women getting elected to public office.

You have the same argument the Pharisees made to Christ 2000 years ago when they complained about the taxes they had to pay. God endorsed the adherance to the laws and dictates of government when He said "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's". Can you just imagine what kind of foolishness Caesar used his taxes for? Such is the nature of government. In our system fortunately we have some say about how our money is spent. This why I continue to stress to you and others that in all the world, and in all of history, the greatest country and system of government ever is here in the USA. Right has great sway over what is done in this country. By the way, I challenge you to find a situation or example of a nation or society in the scriptures that depict a social situation such as the one that you describe in your posts.

I really don't see how you or anyone can say that the repulicans dictate to people how they are to live, or how many times or to whom they can marry.
As far as I can tell they use the Bible as a model for marriage and as a general guide for what is moral, after all, God is the authority on those issues is He not? Don't tell me you're one of those that trully believe the Bible is open to any interpretation that may be dreamed up. If that were true how could God judge man since He will use His written Word to do so?

In many cases men have used the law to side step issues that are inconvient when tested by the precepts of scripture, so, they use the law of our land to circumvent God's law. Roe v Wade comes to mind as an example, and a few notable others that cannot be morally justified in light of the scriptures. To endorse immoral practices with our laws make us complicitous in that we make things legal that are not. That is why voting from an informed position is so important and why we should always vote for the candidate we most closely can support. If in fact, as stated in scripture, He does know "the number of hairs on our head", He knows how we vote. Magnify that same responsibily by a vast margin and you will have a good indicator as to the seriousness of the measure for which legislators are sure to be held into account. If you were running things how would you avoid this responsiblity that all law makers have over their heads when they try to legislate? I would think there would be quite a bit of pressure to do what is right.

[tvtimeout]

You quoted me tvto, didn't you notice my statement which was intended to draw attention to the dubious persuit of the self proclaimed higher beings in govenment that suppose themselves to be in a position to legislate on moral issues?

My position is that the concept of morality, much less the practice, is an edict handed down to man from the hand of God. Therefore the Bible being His infallable and inerrant Word, is the ultimate and only authority on the subject. The idea is that godly men in elected office would have some measure of sway over the legislative machinations coming out of Washington, state and local governments. It is the responsibility of the church to reach as many for Christ as possible to increase the odds of the Christian men and women getting elected to public office.

You have the same argument the Pharisees made to Christ 2000 years ago when they complained about the taxes they had to pay. God endorsed the adherance to the laws and dictates of government when He said "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's". Can you just imagine what kind of foolishness Caesar used his taxes for? Such is the nature of government. In our system fortunately we have some say about how our money is spent. This why I continue to stress to you and others that in all the world, and in all of history, the greatest country and system of government ever is here in the USA. Right has great sway over what is done in this country. By the way, I challenge you to find a situation or example of a nation or society in the scriptures that depict a social situation such as the one that you describe in your posts.

I really don't see how you or anyone can say that the repulicans dictate to people how they are to live, or how many times or to whom they can marry.
As far as I can tell they use the Bible as a model for marriage and as a general guide for what is moral, after all, God is the authority on those issues is He not? Don't tell me you're one of those that trully believe the Bible is open to any interpretation that may be dreamed up. If that were true how could God judge man since He will use His written Word to do so?

In many cases men have used the law to side step issues that are inconvient when tested by the precepts of scripture, so, they use the law of our land to circumvent God's law. Roe v Wade comes to mind as an example, and a few notable others that cannot be morally justified in light of the scriptures. To endorse immoral practices with our laws make us complicitous in that we make things legal that are not. That is why voting from an informed position is so important and why we should always vote for the candidate we most closely can support. If in fact, as stated in scripture, He does know "the number of hairs on our head", He knows how we vote. Magnify that same responsibily by a vast margin and you will have a good indicator as to the seriousness of the measure for which legislators are sure to be held into account. If you were running things how would you avoid this responsiblity that all law makers have over their heads when they try to legislate? I would think there would be quite a bit of pressure to do what is right.

First I did!

How many times on a ballot is it put about gay marriage?
How many times on a ballot is it put about wet/dry vote?
Who brings these two issues up? (republicans)

I again ask you which Bible are you talking about?

So you know how God is going to judge me? How about the Indian that never heard of God, do you know how is going to get judged?

Interperating the Bible... let me ask the King James Bible is that an interperation...the Catholic Bible... the Morman Bible... NIV...

Is this not an interperation (sp)? Do you believe there could be other books of the Bible? If not how do you explain that only 6 events were recorded after Jesus rose from the grave, within His forty days, but yet in Luke says there were many more things that could fill up the book after book.

Also just to point out the idea of morality. How many people would end wel-fare today? Mostly Republicans would, now think about giving to the poor and our moral obligation to help those less fortunite than us. Now you are going to say, it is the church's job! I would agree, but because the church failed(great depression era) things had to change.

Remember, if it fits your moral purpose it is ok, but if it fits another forget about it, it unjust, even though it is the law of the land.

Now saying all of this, I don't want to hijack this thread but if you start another thread dealing with morality and so forth, we will continue this discussion.

[TheRealThing]

First I did!

How many times on a ballot is it put about gay marriage?
How many times on a ballot is it put about wet/dry vote?
Who brings these two issues up? (republicans)

I again ask you which Bible are you talking about?

So you know how God is going to judge me? How about the Indian that never heard of God, do you know how is going to get judged?

Interperating the Bible... let me ask the King James Bible is that an interperation...the Catholic Bible... the Morman Bible... NIV...

Is this not an interperation (sp)? Do you believe there could be other books of the Bible? If not how do you explain that only 6 events were recorded after Jesus rose from the grave, within His forty days, but yet in Luke says there were many more things that could fill up the book after book.

Also just to point out the idea of morality. How many people would end wel-fare today? Mostly Republicans would, now think about giving to the poor and our moral obligation to help those less fortunite than us. Now you are going to say, it is the church's job! I would agree, but because the church failed(great depression era) things had to change.

Remember, if it fits your moral purpose it is ok, but if it fits another forget about it, it unjust, even though it is the law of the land.

Now saying all of this, I don't want to hijack this thread but if you start another thread dealing with morality and so forth, we will continue this discussion.

1st repubs bring these things up because of the attempt at circumvention as I stated

2nd according to the scriptures God has "revealed Himself through His creation to every man therefore are they without excuse" so indians are in there too. As to the other part, judge yourself, I don't. Reason? I am not qualified, the only one that can judge you other than yourself is the One who laid His life down for you.

3rd if you want to take the which version argument to God's judgement bar go ahead. As to the other events that occurred following the Lord's resurrection. In my view they are relative to the rest of history, I'm sure God could divinely inspire a complete book of history to be written but, what would be the point? The idea was to record what was and is neccessary.

4th I can see why you are offended if you think morality and the law should not be relative to one another, though it was not my intention to offend you. In my view one simply cannot seperate morality and government/law. My previous post reflects my views of reality and if you don't agree that's fine. If you call me out on a post I will certainly respond if I am so inclined. It is my intention to be factual with my posts, not in any way personal, except to show proper respect by responding to a post directed at me by another poster.

[tvtimeout]

1st repubs bring these things up because of the attempt at circumvention as I stated

2nd according to the scriptures God has "revealed Himself through His creation to every man therefore are they without excuse" so indians are in there too. As to the other part, judge yourself, I don't. Reason? I am not qualified, the only one that can judge you other than yourself is the One who laid His life down for you.

3rd if you want to take the which version argument to God's judgement bar go ahead. As to the other events that occurred following the Lord's resurrection. In my view they are relative to the rest of history, I'm sure God could divinely inspire a complete book of history to be written but, what would be the point? The idea was to record what was and is neccessary.

4th I can see why you are offended if you think morality and the law should not be relative to one another, though it was not my intention to offend you. In my view one simply cannot seperate morality and government/law. My previous post reflects my views of reality and if you don't agree that's fine. If you call me out on a post I will certainly respond if I am so inclined. It is my intention to be factual with my posts, not in any way personal, except to show proper respect by responding to a post directed at me by another poster.

Cool, I always respect the opinions. Take Care!

[Shady Grady]

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers here, but I started this thread to find out how other people in Pike Co. feel about this proposed tax. We have had many thread about moral issues and I have taken part in many of them. But I really would like to hear people's opinions about this tax. I am a business owner and this affects me a great deal. I am thinking about addressing the fiscal court to share my feelings, and I would like to know how everyone feels. Thanks.

[Hoot Gibson]

There are not that many regular participants in this forum, so you are not likely to get a large number of responses from Pike Countians. If you have not already done so, I suggest that you discuss the proposed tax with your employees and explain to them that they will be paying the tax - or at least a part of it.

When you go before politicians to complain about taxes, the more registered voters you can muster for your side, the better. No matter how eloquently you express yourself, your voice will always sound louder if you can pack a room with other voters who share your opinion.

[Bob Seger]

There are not that many regular participants in this forum, so you are not likely to get a large number of responses from Pike Countians. If you have not already done so, I suggest that you discuss the proposed tax with your employees and explain to them that they will be paying the tax - or at least a part of it.
When you go before politicians to complain about taxes, the more registered voters you can muster for your side, the better. No matter how eloquently you express yourself, your voice will always sound louder if you can pack a room with other voters who share your opinion.

If it is like the occupational tax in the city of Paintsville the only thing that effects the employer is the responsiblity of collecting the tax through payroll with holding and then paying the city said collected taxes. The employee pays all of the taxes, not the employer.

[Hoot Gibson]

If it is like the occupational tax in the city of Paintsville the only thing that effects the employer is the responsiblity of collecting the tax through payroll with holding and then paying the city said collected taxes. The employee pays all of the taxes, not the employer.

I agree but it really does not matter what the pay stub says. If Pike County fashioned a law that required employers to pay the tax and explicitly prohibited them from passing the cost to employees, the effect would be the same - employees' take home pay would be reduced by the amount of the tax. Ultimately, employees and customers pay all taxes as well as employee benefits through their labor but politicians like to pretend otherwise. For example, I was researching the requirements for businesses operating in the city of Vienna last night and ran across the following gem on workers comp insurance:

Employers are not permitted to deduct the cost of the insurance from the wages of any employees.

Are there really employees in this world who believe that they do not pay for their own benefits and that taxes on their employers have no impact on their own income? There are millions of such people and most of them vote for Democrats every election day. That's why Obama and other liberals are able to persuade so many of their ignorant supporters that raising taxes on oil companies is the right thing to do and will punish the companies and convince them to lower prices.

It's like the fools who get an income tax refund from Uncle Sam and insist that they did not have to pay any taxes this year. If I recall correctly, Kentucky imposed some kind of new tax a few years ago as part of a tax "reform" bill, maybe it was on TV cable service, but prohibited companies from listing the new "fee" on customer bills as a tax. Politicians want the money from higher taxes but not the credit.

[Stardust]

Great post Hoot, especially about what the employee may or may not understand about what they are paying for.

[Shady Grady]

If it is like the occupational tax in the city of Paintsville the only thing that effects the employer is the responsiblity of collecting the tax through payroll with holding and then paying the city said collected taxes. The employee pays all of the taxes, not the employer.

From what I understand from the New-Express article, employees and employers would have to pay. Employees 1% of their wages and employers 1% of total payroll. I was thinking about putting a petition out in the store to obtain signatures of those opposed to the tax.

[TheRealThing]

In post #4 in this thread I stated that in my opinion the dems just sit around and dream up new things to tax.

TA---DA---, enter the MVT tax act. Motor Vehicle Tax. In this ingenious tax bill dreamed up the the dems gang of six, every driver in the country would pay a tax for every mile they drive from impllimentation of the law until the death of us all. In yet another invasion of privacy by the federal govenment, not only will all of our movements be monitored but we will all pay a user fee for each mile we drive. This tax/program has already been scored by the CBO.

I can imagine that the arguments to justify this latest lunacy will be about everything from highway maintenance to greenhouse gas emmissions monitoring. Cap and Trade at the individual level anyone? Considering the brazen nature of lefts ideas for yet another tax one can begin to get a grasp on just how invasive government is going to become in the near future. This is surely the direction we will be taking as a nation if we continue to send these inexorable lefties to Washington. These guys want more money to spend and if they stay in office they are going to get it and much more. I'll go out on a limb and say the MTV compliance and monitoring authorities will have the full measure of penal policing power something like this would warrant, pun intended.

They'll be bragging about how many new jobs will be created by this measure. There will be a federal oversight agency fraught with waste, beaurocracy, over staffing and and so on. There will be buildings to lease or build to provide the lavish office space demanded by such a noble enterprize. And a host of other costs from government vehicles to uniforms. Not to mention the all the spinoff industry for the manufacture and installation of the device that monitors every mile we drive, what time we drove and where we went, on every vehicle in the US. Well heck, let's just plan on all of the new employees of the Motor Vehicle Tax Department getting a pass on all their innitiation fees when they are inducted into the SEIU, to get this thing kicked off with a bang.

It's a "Brave New World"!