Katia A. Fisher Fisher 1
Sally Killtan
Thesis Paper
May, 2014
WHERE DID IT GO
Stop and think about what you spend money on. There is so many nice things; cars, houses, clothes and all you can add on to that. Now think about everything you buy everyday, where you get it and how much it is. Most of everything you get, taxes are added, from adding 10 cents to three dollars. Regardless if you're living in the United States or in another country taxes are collected. Now, does anyone have the slightest idea what or where all this money goes to? Does it just make rich people even more rich? Does it help those in need of help? Is it divided and spread out through our country with the point of making our world and space a better place? There has been a huge debate on how money is spread, and how people that are elected into power use our tax money to support politically powerful corporations other than really representing the general population's needs. We need to become truly united citizens, communicate and dig deeper into what we are told by the media. Little by little the world will become more intelligent and more secure and trustworthy with itself , if the people that misrepresent the community and that will lie to our children's futures are stopped and not elected because of their economic power but because of a deeper feeling for the better good.
All of this started first during the various planes of the Egyptian Pharaohs, tax
collectors known as scribes. Egyptians would tax cooking oil, to insure that citizens were
not avoiding the cooking oil tax. Scribes would audit households to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil. In Greece tax was referred to as metoikion, and was used to pay for special wartime expenditures and when additional resources were gained by the war effort the resources were used to refund the tax. Also the people were imposed a monthly poll tax on foreigners, people who did not have both an Athenian Mother and Father. The earliest taxes in Rome were customs duties on imports and exports called portoria. When Rome fell, the Saxon kings imposed taxes, referred to as Danegeld, on land and property.
The history of taxation in the United States begins with the colonial protest against British taxation policy in the 1760s. There was many types of new taxes imposed in the United States. for example, "Whiskey Rebellion”, “Fries Rebellion”, British Tax Act, and The Tax Act of 1861 which proposed that, the people would have to be levied, collected, and pay, an annual income for every person residing in the U.S. whether derived from any kind of property, or from any professional trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States.
After, The Tax Act of 1862 was passed and signed by President Lincoln on July 1 1862, studies showed that more people started paying their taxes. Seeing as to some degree the people were getting something back there were not as many complaints. Since the world has been growing it does not surprise me that “duringthe1930’s federal individual income taxes were never more than 1.4 percent of GNP”
(http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm). As time has gone by that has changed and the percentage has gone up. That means that now federal taxes are more.
In the United States there are different kinds of taxes. There is excise or sales taxes which is an absolute charge for any goods, merchandise, products, for a profession or business, obtaining a license, or transferring property. Estate tax which is based on descendants who inherit valuable property. Corporate tax that is imposed upon the privilege of conducting business in the corporate capacity, processing of meat, tobacco, cheese, and sugar. Also there is property taxes, and direct and indirect taxes. Federal tax was passed by congress and gives the U.S. government the authorization to collect advalorem (a percentage on the value of property) or a specific (a fixed amount). Mostly federal tax is what is taken out of your pay check. State tax is tax within a state, and all of these kinds of taxes are molded around two fundamental principles of taxation; equality and uniformity. Both are needed to make sure that similar items are taxed equally, and so that everyone in all classes are taxed equally as well.
All the kinds of taxes are needed to make sure our state and community is taken care of. Although not many people pay enough attention to know where this money goes others are very interested. Some people are fighting to be able to decide where their tax money goes. Looking at the pie graph Percentage of State Spending (http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=2783) we can see that most of that money goes to “other” consisting of residence with disabilities pensions economic development environmental projects state police parks and recreation and general aid to local governments. After that comes k-12 education one-fourth of state spending on average, or about $270 billion, goes toward public education. Then Medicaid which funds health insurance for low-income families through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These kind of programs provide health coverage or coverage for long-term care to roughly 63 million low-income children, parents, elderly people, and people with disabilities in a typical month. Next comes higher education, transportation, Prisons, juvenile justice programs, and parole and other corrections programs make up about 5 percent of state budgets, or $50 billion. After is public cash assistance to low-income individuals through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and some smaller programs, such as general assistance, makes up only a tiny share of state spending. Putting all of this in other words “the state will pay to educate nearly one million students, provide health care to over 400,000 citizens, house approximately 25,000 prisoners, manage over 3 million acres of land, maintain over 23,000 lane miles of highways, and pay for other essential services including the courts, disease control, parks, clean air and drinking water, and law enforcement.” http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/Treasury_v2/CBON/1251590030748
When you look at the percentage of federal money spent; 24% goes to social security which provided monthly retirement benefits averaging $1,294 to 37.9 million retired workers in December 2013. Social Security also provided benefits to 2.9 million spouses and children of retired workers, 6.2 million surviving children and spouses of deceased workers, and 11 million disabled workers and their eligible dependents in December 2013. Next high percentage is the three health insurance programs Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) put together accounted for 22 percent of the budget in 2013, or $772 billion. Nearly two-thirds of this amount, or $498 billion, went to Medicare, which provides health coverage to around 54 million people who are over the age of 65 or have disabilities. The remainder of this category funds Medicaid and CHIP, which in a typical month provide health care or long-term care to about 70 million low-income children, parents, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Both Medicaid and CHIP require matching payments from the states. Next is safety net programs, then benefits for federal retirees and veterans,interest on debt, transportation, science and medical research, non-security international, education, the remaining 3% is a combination of all other consisting of all other federal expenditures. All of these categories are important but some believe one is more important than the other and the has lead to trust issues.
If you go out and ask people who the Kardashians are people will know exactly who they are, but if they are asked what the most important process is in doing their taxes not many will know. Taxes the world the planet our future is not as important as the media. A decade ago, it was very difficult to find and connect with people that you once knew in high school or college, even with the power of the web, the youth of the world is often the most ready to adapt to and learn to use new technologies. Of course, the social media sites are ready for marketing endeavors as well, and over the past few years, users have seen an uptick in the amount of advertising on the sites. Another reason people are spending as much time as they do on social media sites is because they can be a great form of entertainment. On the other hand Privacy, decreased productivity cyber bullying and false connection are also brought into to place and all of that creates distraction from the really important information. Not everyone ignores global warming, poverty, or the fact that knowing and voting for the best place for the peoples money to goes to also a big impact to how the world will be in the future, but the number is high and gets higher.
The way that today big corporations can support candidates is scary and is a big reason the people in power are not 100% interested in the better good on the community. PACS are organization that raise money privately to influence elections or legislation, especially at the federal level. In 1971, United States Congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). In 1974, Amendments to FECA defined how a PAC could operate and established the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to enforce the nation's campaign finance laws. Nowadays big corporations can fund a candidate which means more money, more advertisement, and more chance of winning. Once one of those candidates wins an election they have to pay back so instead of concentrating on what they said promised they would do they concentrate on paying a debt. Super PACs are federally registered political action committees that file disclosure reports with the FEC and spend unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other entities on independent expenditures to influence federal elections. Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization in the United States. Its president and chairman is David Bossie. It is best known for the U.S. Supreme Court case on campaign finance Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.The Citizens United decision explicitly held that corporations could make independent expenditures in federal elections and also implicitly held that corporations could give unlimited amounts to third party groups, such as Super PACs, to make independent expenditures in federal races. an example of how this is has become a problem is looking at the latest case of Monsanto vs. farmers. Monsanto v. Geertson was another case in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Monsanto, this case held that a farmer had violated Monsanto’s genetically modified soybean patent. When Monsanto found out, they sued the farmer for infragmentation of their patent. Seeing as during the 1970’s, Justice Thomas was employed by Monsanto as a corporate lawyer thus creating a serious conflict of interest for him when deciding any case involving Monsanto. Over the past few years, Justice Thomas has taken numerous expensive gifts and social engagements from groups which are extremely pro-agribusiness. Long story short, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is irreparably entangled with Monsanto, both in his past employment and his current affiliations, and he should automatically recuse himself if Monsanto has any involvement in a case but does not.
All kinds of horribly, unfair and unsafe action will continue to happen if the inhabitants of this world don't put their feet on the ground and start listing. We must all fight for a better future and get involved for that to happen. The whole world would have to change there would be tiny little things for money for gas not have to be so much. We dont have to have everything we want enough needs to be enough. If people could think about saving instead of being cheap and getting richer the world would be different. If we would take a few steps back and see our world maybe we would see that there is a limit and its best if we stay away, things could be like the old days maybe keep some technology and anialate others. when abe lincoln was president money wasnt the most important and when the world started making oils and gas and plastic containers a necessity, the situation became difficult and sadly he lost his life. “Common-sense understanding of sensory experience is recognized in science as the basis of development of realistic, practical, scientific, and philosophical thinking ” (http://www.lincolnportrait.com/common_sense_intro.asp) that was one of Abraham’s most important philosiphies, and what we need to bring back. Informed common sense is the means of evolution of higher levels of intelligence, civilization, and social organization, from primitive tyrannical subjugation and exploitation of defenseless, unorganized people, toward more sympathetic cooperative culture of equality of legal rights and privileges of self-determination. The most understanding humanitarian philosophies of history have been thought out by men with deep sympathetic natures who have experienced bitter suffering with their people under the yoke of legalized privilege and injustice, and communities all over the world need to remember this to learn the limits of how much we do.
Pay attention and use what we have in a progressive way not in a way where you can hurt someone, because you would just be hurting yourself. When it comes to making your vote for who you think should be running the country don't just vote for the person whose face you saw on posters the most. The drinking age, the age at which you can get a driver's license, and the amount of money your teachers receive are some of the decisions made by elected officials. In making those decisions, elected officials respond to people who bother to vote more than to those who abstain, thats why you have to be informed to know the one you vote for will be there for you. Voting does not guarantee that one's preferences will prevail, but choosing not to vote denies a person one of the key tools of having a say in a democracy. Research each person and get informed to know which one is truly there to help. Do not be close minded, double question every thought and comment because with information you can start the first step in change, fill out your ballot and do something that counts.
A couple of the accomplishments that are really great and can not be forgotten and were accomplished using tax money. One, the interstate highway system which started by the Eisenhower administration in the 1950’s. This system now forms the backbone of long-distance travel and commerce in the United States. It makes up less than 1% of our highways, but carries almost a quarter of all traffic. Also this has allowed millions of Americans to move out of big cities, but still be able to see their families and live in more pleasant suburban and small town environments. In addition, the interstate system has the benefit of being considerably safer than the old two-lane highways it replaced, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Another is, the fact that America’s water and air are significantly cleaner than they were in the 1960s, the levels of four of the six air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act, nitrogen dioxide, smog, sulfur dioxide, and lead have been reduced dramatically, by an average of 53%. The quality of the air has significantly increased in virtually every metropolitan area in the U.S. The Clean Water act has been similarly successful. When it was passed in 1972, only one-third of the nation’s waterways were safe enough for fishing or swimming. Today that has doubled to two-thirds. And while only 85 million Americans were served by sewage treatment plants in 1972, that figure has now risen to 170 million. Even though we still need to work on not polluting the air so much this acted has helped make it more possible to have drinking water. These kinds of acts are the ones we need to bring back to create a better home for us a healthier place for the future of our children.
work cited page
http://linguagreca.com/blog/2013/05/impact-of-social-media-in-our-lives/
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Kinds+of+Taxes
http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=viewed&id=2783
http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/how-colonists-protested-british-taxes-6874/
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=2783
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1258
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/the-conflict-of-interest-between-justice-thomas-and-monsanto-should-concern-us-all/
http://theprogressivecynic.com/2013/07/15/justice-clarence-thomas-and-monsanto/
http://www.congresslink.org/print_expert_vote.htm
http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=7
Sally Killtan
Thesis Paper
May, 2014
WHERE DID IT GO
Stop and think about what you spend money on. There is so many nice things; cars, houses, clothes and all you can add on to that. Now think about everything you buy everyday, where you get it and how much it is. Most of everything you get, taxes are added, from adding 10 cents to three dollars. Regardless if you're living in the United States or in another country taxes are collected. Now, does anyone have the slightest idea what or where all this money goes to? Does it just make rich people even more rich? Does it help those in need of help? Is it divided and spread out through our country with the point of making our world and space a better place? There has been a huge debate on how money is spread, and how people that are elected into power use our tax money to support politically powerful corporations other than really representing the general population's needs. We need to become truly united citizens, communicate and dig deeper into what we are told by the media. Little by little the world will become more intelligent and more secure and trustworthy with itself , if the people that misrepresent the community and that will lie to our children's futures are stopped and not elected because of their economic power but because of a deeper feeling for the better good.
All of this started first during the various planes of the Egyptian Pharaohs, tax
collectors known as scribes. Egyptians would tax cooking oil, to insure that citizens were
not avoiding the cooking oil tax. Scribes would audit households to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil. In Greece tax was referred to as metoikion, and was used to pay for special wartime expenditures and when additional resources were gained by the war effort the resources were used to refund the tax. Also the people were imposed a monthly poll tax on foreigners, people who did not have both an Athenian Mother and Father. The earliest taxes in Rome were customs duties on imports and exports called portoria. When Rome fell, the Saxon kings imposed taxes, referred to as Danegeld, on land and property.
The history of taxation in the United States begins with the colonial protest against British taxation policy in the 1760s. There was many types of new taxes imposed in the United States. for example, "Whiskey Rebellion”, “Fries Rebellion”, British Tax Act, and The Tax Act of 1861 which proposed that, the people would have to be levied, collected, and pay, an annual income for every person residing in the U.S. whether derived from any kind of property, or from any professional trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States.
After, The Tax Act of 1862 was passed and signed by President Lincoln on July 1 1862, studies showed that more people started paying their taxes. Seeing as to some degree the people were getting something back there were not as many complaints. Since the world has been growing it does not surprise me that “duringthe1930’s federal individual income taxes were never more than 1.4 percent of GNP”
(http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm). As time has gone by that has changed and the percentage has gone up. That means that now federal taxes are more.
In the United States there are different kinds of taxes. There is excise or sales taxes which is an absolute charge for any goods, merchandise, products, for a profession or business, obtaining a license, or transferring property. Estate tax which is based on descendants who inherit valuable property. Corporate tax that is imposed upon the privilege of conducting business in the corporate capacity, processing of meat, tobacco, cheese, and sugar. Also there is property taxes, and direct and indirect taxes. Federal tax was passed by congress and gives the U.S. government the authorization to collect advalorem (a percentage on the value of property) or a specific (a fixed amount). Mostly federal tax is what is taken out of your pay check. State tax is tax within a state, and all of these kinds of taxes are molded around two fundamental principles of taxation; equality and uniformity. Both are needed to make sure that similar items are taxed equally, and so that everyone in all classes are taxed equally as well.
All the kinds of taxes are needed to make sure our state and community is taken care of. Although not many people pay enough attention to know where this money goes others are very interested. Some people are fighting to be able to decide where their tax money goes. Looking at the pie graph Percentage of State Spending (http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=2783) we can see that most of that money goes to “other” consisting of residence with disabilities pensions economic development environmental projects state police parks and recreation and general aid to local governments. After that comes k-12 education one-fourth of state spending on average, or about $270 billion, goes toward public education. Then Medicaid which funds health insurance for low-income families through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These kind of programs provide health coverage or coverage for long-term care to roughly 63 million low-income children, parents, elderly people, and people with disabilities in a typical month. Next comes higher education, transportation, Prisons, juvenile justice programs, and parole and other corrections programs make up about 5 percent of state budgets, or $50 billion. After is public cash assistance to low-income individuals through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and some smaller programs, such as general assistance, makes up only a tiny share of state spending. Putting all of this in other words “the state will pay to educate nearly one million students, provide health care to over 400,000 citizens, house approximately 25,000 prisoners, manage over 3 million acres of land, maintain over 23,000 lane miles of highways, and pay for other essential services including the courts, disease control, parks, clean air and drinking water, and law enforcement.” http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/Treasury_v2/CBON/1251590030748
When you look at the percentage of federal money spent; 24% goes to social security which provided monthly retirement benefits averaging $1,294 to 37.9 million retired workers in December 2013. Social Security also provided benefits to 2.9 million spouses and children of retired workers, 6.2 million surviving children and spouses of deceased workers, and 11 million disabled workers and their eligible dependents in December 2013. Next high percentage is the three health insurance programs Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) put together accounted for 22 percent of the budget in 2013, or $772 billion. Nearly two-thirds of this amount, or $498 billion, went to Medicare, which provides health coverage to around 54 million people who are over the age of 65 or have disabilities. The remainder of this category funds Medicaid and CHIP, which in a typical month provide health care or long-term care to about 70 million low-income children, parents, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Both Medicaid and CHIP require matching payments from the states. Next is safety net programs, then benefits for federal retirees and veterans,interest on debt, transportation, science and medical research, non-security international, education, the remaining 3% is a combination of all other consisting of all other federal expenditures. All of these categories are important but some believe one is more important than the other and the has lead to trust issues.
If you go out and ask people who the Kardashians are people will know exactly who they are, but if they are asked what the most important process is in doing their taxes not many will know. Taxes the world the planet our future is not as important as the media. A decade ago, it was very difficult to find and connect with people that you once knew in high school or college, even with the power of the web, the youth of the world is often the most ready to adapt to and learn to use new technologies. Of course, the social media sites are ready for marketing endeavors as well, and over the past few years, users have seen an uptick in the amount of advertising on the sites. Another reason people are spending as much time as they do on social media sites is because they can be a great form of entertainment. On the other hand Privacy, decreased productivity cyber bullying and false connection are also brought into to place and all of that creates distraction from the really important information. Not everyone ignores global warming, poverty, or the fact that knowing and voting for the best place for the peoples money to goes to also a big impact to how the world will be in the future, but the number is high and gets higher.
The way that today big corporations can support candidates is scary and is a big reason the people in power are not 100% interested in the better good on the community. PACS are organization that raise money privately to influence elections or legislation, especially at the federal level. In 1971, United States Congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). In 1974, Amendments to FECA defined how a PAC could operate and established the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to enforce the nation's campaign finance laws. Nowadays big corporations can fund a candidate which means more money, more advertisement, and more chance of winning. Once one of those candidates wins an election they have to pay back so instead of concentrating on what they said promised they would do they concentrate on paying a debt. Super PACs are federally registered political action committees that file disclosure reports with the FEC and spend unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other entities on independent expenditures to influence federal elections. Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization in the United States. Its president and chairman is David Bossie. It is best known for the U.S. Supreme Court case on campaign finance Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.The Citizens United decision explicitly held that corporations could make independent expenditures in federal elections and also implicitly held that corporations could give unlimited amounts to third party groups, such as Super PACs, to make independent expenditures in federal races. an example of how this is has become a problem is looking at the latest case of Monsanto vs. farmers. Monsanto v. Geertson was another case in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Monsanto, this case held that a farmer had violated Monsanto’s genetically modified soybean patent. When Monsanto found out, they sued the farmer for infragmentation of their patent. Seeing as during the 1970’s, Justice Thomas was employed by Monsanto as a corporate lawyer thus creating a serious conflict of interest for him when deciding any case involving Monsanto. Over the past few years, Justice Thomas has taken numerous expensive gifts and social engagements from groups which are extremely pro-agribusiness. Long story short, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is irreparably entangled with Monsanto, both in his past employment and his current affiliations, and he should automatically recuse himself if Monsanto has any involvement in a case but does not.
All kinds of horribly, unfair and unsafe action will continue to happen if the inhabitants of this world don't put their feet on the ground and start listing. We must all fight for a better future and get involved for that to happen. The whole world would have to change there would be tiny little things for money for gas not have to be so much. We dont have to have everything we want enough needs to be enough. If people could think about saving instead of being cheap and getting richer the world would be different. If we would take a few steps back and see our world maybe we would see that there is a limit and its best if we stay away, things could be like the old days maybe keep some technology and anialate others. when abe lincoln was president money wasnt the most important and when the world started making oils and gas and plastic containers a necessity, the situation became difficult and sadly he lost his life. “Common-sense understanding of sensory experience is recognized in science as the basis of development of realistic, practical, scientific, and philosophical thinking ” (http://www.lincolnportrait.com/common_sense_intro.asp) that was one of Abraham’s most important philosiphies, and what we need to bring back. Informed common sense is the means of evolution of higher levels of intelligence, civilization, and social organization, from primitive tyrannical subjugation and exploitation of defenseless, unorganized people, toward more sympathetic cooperative culture of equality of legal rights and privileges of self-determination. The most understanding humanitarian philosophies of history have been thought out by men with deep sympathetic natures who have experienced bitter suffering with their people under the yoke of legalized privilege and injustice, and communities all over the world need to remember this to learn the limits of how much we do.
Pay attention and use what we have in a progressive way not in a way where you can hurt someone, because you would just be hurting yourself. When it comes to making your vote for who you think should be running the country don't just vote for the person whose face you saw on posters the most. The drinking age, the age at which you can get a driver's license, and the amount of money your teachers receive are some of the decisions made by elected officials. In making those decisions, elected officials respond to people who bother to vote more than to those who abstain, thats why you have to be informed to know the one you vote for will be there for you. Voting does not guarantee that one's preferences will prevail, but choosing not to vote denies a person one of the key tools of having a say in a democracy. Research each person and get informed to know which one is truly there to help. Do not be close minded, double question every thought and comment because with information you can start the first step in change, fill out your ballot and do something that counts.
A couple of the accomplishments that are really great and can not be forgotten and were accomplished using tax money. One, the interstate highway system which started by the Eisenhower administration in the 1950’s. This system now forms the backbone of long-distance travel and commerce in the United States. It makes up less than 1% of our highways, but carries almost a quarter of all traffic. Also this has allowed millions of Americans to move out of big cities, but still be able to see their families and live in more pleasant suburban and small town environments. In addition, the interstate system has the benefit of being considerably safer than the old two-lane highways it replaced, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Another is, the fact that America’s water and air are significantly cleaner than they were in the 1960s, the levels of four of the six air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act, nitrogen dioxide, smog, sulfur dioxide, and lead have been reduced dramatically, by an average of 53%. The quality of the air has significantly increased in virtually every metropolitan area in the U.S. The Clean Water act has been similarly successful. When it was passed in 1972, only one-third of the nation’s waterways were safe enough for fishing or swimming. Today that has doubled to two-thirds. And while only 85 million Americans were served by sewage treatment plants in 1972, that figure has now risen to 170 million. Even though we still need to work on not polluting the air so much this acted has helped make it more possible to have drinking water. These kinds of acts are the ones we need to bring back to create a better home for us a healthier place for the future of our children.
work cited page
http://linguagreca.com/blog/2013/05/impact-of-social-media-in-our-lives/
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Kinds+of+Taxes
http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=viewed&id=2783
http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/how-colonists-protested-british-taxes-6874/
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=2783
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1258
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/the-conflict-of-interest-between-justice-thomas-and-monsanto-should-concern-us-all/
http://theprogressivecynic.com/2013/07/15/justice-clarence-thomas-and-monsanto/
http://www.congresslink.org/print_expert_vote.htm
http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=7