John Burkholder

Many of the ignorant feel that it isn't fair for the rich to pay more. OK. I call your "fair" and raise you one. Looking at an article published November 23, I can see that it is totally fair for Billionaires to avoid reporting gains . It is much easier for a tax return to show a loss of $9.8 million instead of paying the $44.7 million they were supposed to pay. So for "fairness", let's just have everybody else pay the $54 million delta for the uber rich of this ONE person because it is "fair". They don't pay more. They don't even pay the same percentage I pay. On a percentage basis, with loopholes, write-offs, and "losses", they pay less. Why do YOU think Warren Buffet suggested the tax be increased for the uber-rich? And for those people who say "just send in a check", you apparently have never done this so let me explain. The IRS will send you a check back saying you paid too much. Thus..he wants the government t

I have personally worked closely with a signicant amount of Federal employees. Most of the employees have good intentions, but some (just like any job) are lacking in ability. It is just too hard to terminate government employees. For this reason I propose several things: No employee of the Federal Government will be paid more than an equal position in the US Military . Seriously, members of the military are having to file bankruptcy because they are making a pittance in comparison to that civilian doing the exact same job in the desk next to them. Additionally, the military member can be told in a moments notice that they are leaving to a desert camp and the civilian is nearly impossible to terminate. Any member of elected or assigned position in the federal government will make the same salary as the median average in the US ( $29,730 ). The elected positions should NOT be about making money, and rubbing elbows with lobbyist and dignitaries. These people are supposed to be represen

So one of the major challenges with Government includes services. But at what point do services need to be cleared out and turned off? Well, I started going through the list of Government Agencies .Some of the agencies actually make me wonder if they were serious in the creation. For example: African Development Foundation - The United States African Development Foundation is an independent Federal agency established to support African-designed and African-driven solutions that address grassroots economic and social problems. USADF provides grants of up to $250,000 directly to under-served and marginalized community groups and enterprises. So far, $62 Million in grants have been handed out. FYI...The Administration for Native Americans office has handed out $41 Million. Appalachian Regional Commission - The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a regional economic development agency that represents a partnership of federal, state, and local government. Established by an act

Normally, politics is on my avoid list. So today's post will avoid it. However, the deficit itself is a totally non-party issue. With the Occupy groups and the Tea Partiers all yelling their own thoughts about everything from Wall Street to the Gold standard, I feel it is finally time to give my uninformed opinion. Hey, they all have uninformed opinions, so why shouldn't I? Opinion number one. Flat Tax. A while back a man named Steve Forbes pushed for a flat tax instead of the weird, biased tax code we currently have. Yes, this would put a few dozen accountants out of work, but for the good of everyone involved, let's flatten it out. Herman Cain feels 9-9-9 is the solution...well, that is just stupid. 9% Income, 9% Corporate, and 9% Federal Sales Tax is all well and good when it comes to middle and upper class, but the poor would be paying 18% plus Social Security, Medicare, and State Income and Sales Tax. For a group of people that can barely pay rent and utilities, that

My supervisor will be challenging our group shortly to work an entire week strictly using the B2E tools. The good news is that since we are the group responsible for the tools, we should be using them. The bad news is that not everyone we will have contact with will be using the tools. The other day I went into a meeting and was greeted with paper. Just an FYI, paper does not fall in the B2E tools category. In fact, any more, I am not sure why anyone would need to print anything for a meeting since we 1) have projectors, and 2) have Live Meeting which we can share our screens to anyone. This is like when word processing moved from the typewriter to the computer and some of the administrative assistants would still type and white-out the documents. Can you even buy white-out any more? I digress...as the technology continues to evolve, there are still people that stay with paper and using the telephone. Even though Office Communicator has not only the ability to make voice calls, but

OK Folks, this is a long one…but very necessary. As I continue to observe the differences in small town Clinton life, and the life of my past 26 years of city living, the phrase that is most often presented to me, “Welcome home” has taken on a life of its own. Much like the Scarlet Letter, “welcome home” is gradually meaning “we tend to do dumb thing because nobody seems to care”. Well, this is my home town and I care. Yes, it is true that for the past 26 years I haven’t really cared a whole lot, but now that I am back and want to help Clinton become my home again, I just can’t go on with a blind eye to what I think doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. For all of my readers who don’t know about my home town, Clinton, Illinois is a small town of around 7,500 people in central Illinois. It is known for a Lincoln speech about fooling some of the people some of the time, a large lake created by the nuclear power plant, and a town square that has eroded greatly thanks to several influe

After 26 years of living away from my hometown of Clinton, Illinois, I am finally moving back. As with most changes in my life, dreams of how my future may be in my new life path wake me from my slumber. This dream was about my life and retirement in Clinton. My Mom retired in Clinton and part of the reason for reflection is my part in her life. For reference purposes, my Mom adopted me when she had just turned 40. When she remarried in 1985, her new husband was 69 years old. I am now 44 years old and I think this may be the last time I move...to a different town. I have lived in 10 states in my lifetime and about 25 locations in those states. In my life, Clinton has taken about 11 years of that. I can easily see myself retiring in Clinton. There are some motivation factors in the past that have prevented me from making the move to Clinton which include money, money, money...oh, and money. According to the Census bureau, Clinton's median income is roughly $40,000. Also, my partic

So, until we actually were assured I had the new job, I kept this in draft on my blog. This one email made me so proud to be married to my wife. Dear Mom, Okay. I know we need to talk face to face but I want to write everything I am thinking about down. Here is how this decision came to be: When John and I first went to Clinton to visit him mom in 1998, I fell a little bit in love with the town, the people and his connections there. I have always had this Utopian fantasy of small town living with a strong community base that looks out for one another, beautiful buildings, lots of community activities. A place where people look out for each other. Like the beach, but with people who are really there for each other. Clinton is all of this. Its charming and has many times, though the residents done necessarily like the comparison, been called “The Mayberry of the Midwest”. Yes, everyone knows everyone else and that comes with its own drawbacks, but you are never overlooked or forgott

Lately my focus has been pulled from SharePoint to System Center and specifically System Center Service Manager (SCSM). My biggest challenge is that I am deeply entrenched in the SharePoint community and continue to give my all for the SharePoint user group (SUGDC), SharePoint Saturday, and the community as a whole. However, I have been working in System Center and SharePoint integration. As good as Systrem Center is, it really needs a community to come around it and guide the product line in the right direction. The documentation available is far less than SharePoint. So, this is the crossroads. Do I move down the path to help System Center progress in the business line or do I continue with helping SharePoint community at large?

This year my wife and I were talking about the new year, resolutions, and what would happen if we won the MegaMillions that we didn't win. After winning we decided to pay off certain relatives, make sure the kids were set for life (but not rich), and we would create a random acts of kindness group. Well, after finding out we didn't win, we figured it made sense to do it anyhow. So here is my resolution. I will perform a random act of kindness whenever I get the opportunity. What kinds of random acts can people do? When in the grocery store and you see someone digging through their change to buy food or diapers, just hand them $20 to help...or step in front of them in the grocery checkout and just pay it. That little bit of help will make a huge impact on their life. It takes so little to make a huge difference. How about another one...if you have one or more co-workers barely making it through to payday, have them bring in one dish as a potluck and you bring in the main cou

As a habit, I tend not to talk about sex, politics or religion. In this entry, I discuss two of the taboos involved so if you are a judgemental person, this is not the entry for you...I repeat, this blog is for me to get things out of my head...so if I offend you, that is not my intention. Last night I had a dream...which is rare for me. True, that technically I always have dreams but it is rare that I remember them in the morning. The dream involved my first wife and the "weird" relationship we had. My wife and I met in the Air Force when she arrive on base as my subordinate and I was assigned to provide orientation. Loring AFB, ME had a male to female ratio of about 11:1. For a hormone flowing 19 year old 4 hours North of the nearest "major" city (Bangor), this was pure torture. So when a female arrives on base, the swarm of men immediately descend. Teresa Lynn Somers (real name) was a short red headed spitfire with high intelligence and eyes that were bad eno