WINDFALL!

PROPERTY TAX BOOSTS THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY! Fueled by California's red-hot real estate boom, Los Angeles County property tax revenues have soared as much as 40 percent in the last five years. The revenues have been a boon for local governments, with homeowners paying $9.5 billion in property taxes in fiscal 2004-05, compared with $6.7 billion in 2000-01. THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA COLLECTED 31.8 BILLION DOLLARS IN PROPERTY TAXES IN THE YEAR 2004! THE WINDFALL OF AN EXTRA BILLION DOLLARS IN ONE YEAR, DUE TO RISE IN PROPERTY VALUES. THIS; AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, IS FOUND MONEY! WHY NOT USE A FRACTION OF IT TO; 1. TO ENSURE OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS A WORLD WITHOUT EXTREME POVERTY? 2. A WORLD WHERE WE CAN ACHEIVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION 3. TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY 4. REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY. 5. IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH. 6. COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA, TUBERCULOSIS (new strain which has mutated and is now being called "Ebola on Steroids),and other infectious diseases. 7. ENSURE ENVIROMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY. 8. DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT. WHAT IF THE STATE WERE TO USE A FRACTION OF THE PROPERTY TAXES THAT WE HAVE ALREADY PAID? IF EVERY STATE IN THE UNION DID THE SAME. COMMITING TO UPHOLD THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS!! (UNION INTERESTING WORD, UNITED!! ONE NATION UNDER GOD! ONE, ONE ,ONE!!) WE WILL SEE AN " END OF EXTREME POVERTY" AND A HAPPIER HEALTHIER MORE PRODUCTIVE PLANET! $28.5 million March Carpinteria, Calif. It was an active real estate year for actor Kevin Costner. Right around the time he paid $28.5 million for an oceanfront, bluff-perched mansion near Santa Barbara, he unloaded his Hollywood Hills home for $11.5 million to American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. Costner’s new digs feature five bedrooms, 950 feet of beach, stables and a polo field $28 million October Malibu, Calif. Michael Klein, the son of former San Diego Chargers owner Eugene Klein, unloaded his Malibu Colony home for $28 million dollars to an undisclosed buyer. He had owned the 7,000-square-foot, five-bedroom ocean side mansion, complete with beachfront pool, since 1999. $31 million to $35 million April $35 million Miami Beach, Fla. South Florida real estate came full circle when the 79-year-old villa once owned by Carl Fisher, the man credited with developing much of Miami Beach, was sold to high-rise developer Ugo Columbo for between $31 and $35 million. The 21,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom Italian renaissance style waterfront mansion is complete with an 85-foot high observation tower. PEOPLE WHO GET PERMITS ARE THE LUCKIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: Barbra Streisand and hubby James Brolin have gotten the go-ahead from the Malibu City Council to rip down one of their houses and build a new one in its place. That's what rich people call spring cleaning. 
 These RICH AND FAMOUS PEOPLE are EXTREMELY philanthropic, they give their time and money to numerous charitable orginizations. Giving shoud not lie SOLEY on the wealthy! A GENEROUS NATION: Donations by Americans to nonprofits rose to $248.5 million in 2004, according to a new report. Individual donors were responsible for three-quarters of those donations. The type of nonprofit to take in the most money: religious groups. Specific annual sums that can be counted on over time. It is the only way change can happen. RANDOM DONATIONS BY THE RICH AND EXTREMELY FORTUNATE; DONATIONS THAT GO TO THIS CHARITY OR THAT CHARITY IS NOT ENOUGH! With 1.5 million nonprofits in the US and growing, some experts say charities should merge. To reduce the number of nonprofits, some communities, including Pittsburgh, have offered financial incentives to encourage charities to merge. "Unfortunately, nonprofits don't like to be told what to do, and usually it's only the wrong organizations that take advantage of these efforts," Light says. Even Light suggests that there is room for more charities in certain sectors, ESPECIALLY in areas that care for the POOR. "Human-service nonprofits are still needed in some areas,(thirteen cities in the United States still have people living in extreme poverty http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2816480 ) but the new ones really need to SHAKE UP THE NORM or challenge the industry." WE CAN'T KEEP DOING THE SAME THINGS EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS! NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO GIVE! WE GET TAXED ON OUR INCOME, TAXED ON EVERY ITEM WE SPEND MONEY ON, TAXED ON OUR HOME TAXED ..... THE MONEY THAT'S NEEDED TO ATTACK THESE ISSUES OF EXTREME POVERTY IS ALREADY THERE WE ALREADY GIVE ALMOST HAVE OUR INCOME TO TAXES! WHY NOT TAKE MONEY OUT OF THE MONEY WE ALREADY GIVE; PROPERTY TAXES! "WE THE PEOPLE" ARE THE GOVERNMENT, BY DEFINITION! WHY NOT ENSURE THE FUTURE HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY OF OUR PLANET?