[drcar]

Originally Posted by frose

when they pay my property taxes, they can tell me what i can put on my property, until then screw bug off.

WOW, not sure how you can state that, everywhere I have lived they, the the local governing authority, has rules on what you can and can't do.

[Kelevision]

Originally Posted by tvbound

"...it is a TOTV tradition to segway."

While not trying to be one of those kind of people who constantly corrects spelling/punctuation, but this made me laugh. While the word I think you're looking for is spelled 'segue,' the fact that the inventor of that device met his demise while riding one over a cliff - also actually fits well with a lot of TOTV threads. LOL

He wasn’t the inventor. He was the guy who bought it.

[tvbound]

Originally Posted by Kelevision

He wasn’t the inventor. He was the guy who bought it.

Good point, as it happened to the owner of the company and not the actual inventor. Thank you for the correction, even though the basic same irony between TOTV threads and the (tragic) incident - still applies.

Segway company owner rides scooter off cliff, dies

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Please recognize that you will make few friends here by throwing shade on anyone for being old like you just did to me.

My wife and I were talking about this just yesterday on our morning walk. It is amazing how many OLD people there are here - I mean like they are everywhere!

No one told me everyone was going to be old before I bought here. LOL!

[drcar]

I think it is time for this post be removed, it is WAYYYYYY off subject and the subject has been beaten to death!

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

In what way? I would be very interested in your "reading".

In Lemon v. Kurtzman, the Court established a three-pronged test for laws dealing with the religious establishment. To be constitutional a statute must have “a secular legislative purpose,” it must have principal effects that neither advance nor inhibit religion, and it must not foster “an excessive government entanglement with religion.

So, by making churches (and their employees) tax-free, the government is in fact making some churches possible that would not otherwise exist because they couldn't afford to "pay" the staff. And since the government makes the decision WHICH churches get that status they are establishing a government-sanctioned religion.

In Lynch v. Donnelly (1984), O’Connor noted that the establishment clause prohibits the government from making adherence to a religion relevant to a person’s standing in the political community. Her fundamental concern was whether government action conveyed a message to non-adherents that they are outsiders. As an atheist, I can assure you that by giving tax support to any church I am made to feel that I am in fact an "outsider".

So, I could go on and on and on. But, I am interested in your take on it.

Freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion...

And one could extrapolate your last point to say that ANY charity that I don't feel part of must cease to receive tax exempt status...

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

There is no religion that I'm aware of that mandates the adherent place a white cross on their front lawn. I've read the Old and New Testament, the Quran, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Book of Mormon. I've also read a few Wiccan books, though they don't have specific dogma, and I've read the Book of Satan.

In zero of these books, is there any mention of requiring a cross be placed on someone's front lawn.

The closest thing to it is Deuteronomy 6:8, which is a sort of affirmation for Jews, if they wish to express their love for god. It's a passage that every American Jew who's ever grown up going to synagogue has memorized, in both English and Hebrew.

But even that isn't about planting crosses or ANY religious symbol on a front lawn. It refers to the mezuzzah, a small capsule-like amulet containing a copy of the sh'ma and a couple of other passages, that is nailed to the doorpost of the house, and on the gate.

That's it.

There is no religious cause to put a cross on your front lawn, therefore it is not a protected right under the Constitution.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

Freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion...

And one could extrapolate your last point to say that ANY charity that I don't feel part of must cease to receive tax exempt status...

I don't understand your reply, sorry. Freedom OF religion, yes, you can practice any religion you want. Nothing I said in any way says freedom FROM religion for you or me. The constitution is very clear the government can not pick a religion to promote or support. So, the question is, can the government give a religion a tax break. I say no, others say yes, we will see.

Yes, I personally believe there should be no such thing as tax exempt. But, let's not forget I am also in favor of reducing the 34,000 (or so) pages of federal tax code down to maybe a dozen or less.

[justjim]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

I guess you missed this the first time around, there were 158 posts.
Small white Crosses

Enjoy!

This subject has been thoroughly discussed. IMHO it’s not what is in the deed restrictions (thou should nots) but what was left out that could impact our real estate values the most. I’m specifically talking about the ability to rent out your home in The Villages by the month, by the week or by the night as an Airbnb. I do not care to live next door to an Airbnb and they are legal here in The Villages and becoming more and more popular. Yeah, I know it’s ok as long as it’s not in my neighborhood.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

I don't understand your reply, sorry. Freedom OF religion, yes, you can practice any religion you want. Nothing I said in any way says freedom FROM religion for you or me. The constitution is very clear the government can not pick a religion to promote or support. So, the question is, can the government give a religion a tax break. I say no, others say yes, we will see.

Yes, I personally believe there should be no such thing as tax exempt. But, let's not forget I am also in favor of reducing the 34,000 (or so) pages of federal tax code down to maybe a dozen or less.

If only one could pay their taxes by filling out a post card...

For the life of me, I don't know why no one has run on that platform in the past...

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

If only one could pay their taxes by filling out a post card...

For the life of me, I don't know why no one has run on that platform in the past...

Why have to fill out a postcard? There is no reason the government can't simply take the taxes by you setting up a direct payment from a CC or bank account.

The insanity is amazing, I have to understand (some? all?) 34,000 pages of taxes codes to fill out a tax form and figure out how much I have to pay. Calling the IRS to get a clarification often results in incorrect information. If I figure it out wrong, I have to pay a fine. So, I am punished for not understanding what the IRS employees themselves don't understand.

I have for decades had the position that if I was ever elected DICTATOR my first act would be to give all the congress critters legal pads and pencils. And they would have 60 days to write as many laws as they could on paper and get them passed. At the end of 60 days, ALL EXISTING laws and tax codes would be removed and only those they had written and passed would be in force. (Oh and no staff doing the writing, the staff can research, the congress critter has to write it out longhand.) On and on the first day I would fire ALL congress critters and draft a new set via Sortition that would have a single 6-year term.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

Why have to fill out a postcard? There is no reason the government can't simply take the taxes by you setting up a direct payment from a CC or bank account.

The insanity is amazing, I have to understand (some? all?) 34,000 pages of taxes codes to fill out a tax form and figure out how much I have to pay. Calling the IRS to get a clarification often results in incorrect information. If I figure it out wrong, I have to pay a fine. So, I am punished for not understanding what the IRS employees themselves don't understand.

I have for decades had the position that if I was ever elected DICTATOR my first act would be to give all the congress critters legal pads and pencils. And they would have 60 days to write as many laws as they could on paper and get them passed. At the end of 60 days, ALL EXISTING laws and tax codes would be removed and only those they had written and passed would be in force. (Oh and no staff doing the writing, the staff can research, the congress critter has to write it out longhand.) On and on the first day I would fire ALL congress critters and draft a new set via Sortition that would have a single 6-year term.

A postcard is LESS than 12 pages...

Oh, and thank God, you'll never be "elected DICTATOR" (btw, isn't that a oxymoron? )

[dougjb]

Based upon what I am reading, I see nothing wrong with an 8 inch cross.

But, since I have a 12 inch cross in my front lawn, I do not want to be outdone by my neighbors, so I am considering putting in a 4 foot cross. I also ordered a 12 foot cross in case anyone wants to out do me. And, of course, I want to put two smaller crosses next to them. I think they are 10 feet high but eight feet across. I also plan to put lights on them so that people will notice them 24/7. I am also contemplating putting in praying statues that will also sing hymns (softly, of course....unless my neighbors play theirs a bit louder).

Does anyone see anything wrong with this? If so, complain and I will bring it to a courtroom to prove that I wear my religion on my sleeve and I want all of my neighborhood and my close neighbors to tolerate and even endorse my religion. If they don't like it, let them put up a bigger cross! Afterall, the covenants we signed and agree to when we bought our place mean nothing if it limits me in any way, shape or form!

Of course, I would not view myself as being "entitled". That is a dirty word. It interferes with my understanding that I am the center of everything.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

If only one could pay their taxes by filling out a post card...

For the life of me, I don't know why no one has run on that platform in the past...

Yeah that didn't work out so well. We thought it'd be that easy, til we got to one of the lines on the form. Turns out we had to fill out a couple of other forms, to find out what we needed to put on that line.

So we did that - and got to another line, that required we fill out another form to find out what to put on that line. And as it turned out, we weren't eligible to put anything down on that line, so we spent a half hour filling out a form to learn that the answer to that line was zero.

That postcard form is only easy for people who know, in advance, that they won't be itemizing and are taking only the standard deduction, and nothing else, and have no capital gains or losses, or have paid any taxable interest on investments.

For everyone else, you need more forms before you can fill out that postcard.

[mulligan]

Originally Posted by frose

when they pay my property taxes, they can tell me what i can put on my property, until then screw bug off.

You already agreed to follow the deed restrictions. Apparently your word is worth NOTHING.