AUSTIN, Texas -- Did anybody vote for this stuff? I mean, aside from Congress.

Just to make Tax Day even more exciting than it usually is, we have been treated to a series of recent reports that the Internal Revenue Service is busy cracking down on poor folks, while letting an estimated 1 million rich folks and corporations move to Bermuda to avoid taxes.

If you are a worker poor enough to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit, your chance of being audited is one in 47. If you make over $100,000 a year, your chance of being audited are one in 145.

This is not only unfair, but also stupid, on account of rich people who cheat on their taxes tend to owe a lot more money than poor people. Thus, their cheating leaves a larger hole in federal budget, which all the rest of us then have to make up for by paying higher taxes. We also pay through all that bad economic stuff that comes with big deficits about which Alan Greenspan is always worried.

This situation came about during the unhappy reign of the

1. The US gives notice of withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.

2. US Boycotts the UN Conference to Advance the Entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

3. US President George W. Bush pledges to reduce the US nuclear arsenal to between 1.700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons over a period of ten years.  Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he will “respond in kind.”

4. The Ukraine destroys its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling its pledge to give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited after the dissolution of the USSR.

5. Germany decides to phase out nuclear power by 2025.

www.wagingpeace.org/resources/

Now is the time to share with children the importance of caring for our environment. If we want quality environmental conditions to exist for our children’s children, now is the time to educate the upcoming generation in order to make this happen. The following are tips that can lead to discussions:

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Recycle plastic and paper grocery bags.

Turn off unused lights.

Take your lunch in reusable containers to school and work.

Shower in less than 5 minutes to conserve water.

Write an essay about the importance of caring for the environment.

Make your own glass cleaner by mixing 1/8 cup vinegar and 1 cup water.

Start some seeds indoors for a garden.

Turn off the water while you brush your teeth.

Think of five ways you can produce less trash.

Donate used magazines to a nursing home or hospital waiting room.

Decorate and use empty cans to hold nails, pencils, paper clips, etc.

100,000 monks celebrate Earth Day in Thailand. For Earth Day 2002, people around the world are joining together in a call for peace. Now more than ever, we need to come together as a global community to protect our common home. Through Moments of Peace on Earth Day, we seek to shift the world’s attention toward peace and the need for international cooperation. Moments of Peace will bridge religious and social differences and transcend national and ethnic borders.

     ancient trees standing
     so many leaves it seems….
     have fallen so early this year
burning trees
now fallen too
returned to the earth
preceded by millions
in other places
acres now barren
cows are grazing
where giants once stood
     normally when an animal
     takes another energy is exchanged
     understanding occurs….
respect in both directions
all those trees taken
with such little regard
strong reverberations
have returned to call
as the laws of physics
in cosmic proportions
unfolded right before
disbelieving eyes
     so many leaves fallen
     so many trees
     so many clues….
     have fallen with them
tears streaming down
in disbelief then rage as the first two trees
have been taken
whole trees in fact
with leaves still attached
taken from our own forest
by the hands of others
our own callused hands
     once rough worn smooth
     from working so hard….
     in the forests of others.
september.2001