A question often asked and one to begin this column is what is the source of material (quotes, illustrations, etc.) used in this column when I am not writing “off the top of my head?”

Tonight, as I write, I ask myself that same question. Let me explain.

Years ago, I wrote a column giving attention to the arrangement of my study, the place where I write my columns. It was a description of one of the messiest and most disorganized collection of books, papers, file folders, boxes and a multitude of other things.

The editor of the paper gives a title to my columns. I simply write and it is interesting to get the paper and see what they saw in the remarks. In the column about my junky study, Mitch Talley titled it exactly with “It isn’t lost; I just don’t know where I put it.”

More recently, John Willis was most ingenious when he got the “to, two, and too” in the ti-tle of the column asking how many to’s, two’s, too’s in the English language.

All the above has been said to state that I have a collection, as unorganized and mis-placed as they can be, of notes all over the place. These are sayings copied and pasted into a Microsoft Word file and printed. It is tossed on a desk or placed in a folder with several other items. Without making a note of where I got the material, I simply have a neatly printed page with some quotations or some article. For instance, I am now looking at a file folder on my desk with 50 great quotes on education. I can tell they all came from the same place. Where? I don’t know. They were copied, pasted and printed with no note of the origin. I can’t give credit.

Just today, I came across something I copied sometime ago. No source on my copy. But, with all the talk going around about deficits, taxes, politics and government, I am going to share some items with an unknown source.

The first one is “Ode to Taxes.” Please read this one carefully. It is more than applicable to life today with all the talk going on in Washington.

“Tax his cow, tax his goat; Tax his pants, tax his coat.

Tax his crops, tax his work; Tax is tie, tax his shirt.

Tax his chew, and tax his smoke.

Tax his oil, tax his gas: Tax his notes, tax his cash.

Put these words upon his tomb: ‘Taxes drove me to my doom.’

When he’s gone, he can’t relax. He’ll have to pay an inheritance tax.” One of Amer-ica’s favorite writers, the humorist Will Rogers, had much to say that describes attitudes and situations of today when he said, “The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best.” (Taken from the Illiterate Digest.)

And for all of us who disagree and our views don’t always harmonize, Roger’s asked a valid question in Weekly Articles with these words, “If I don’t see things your way, well, why should I?”

This is one I might have used before but it seems more timely now than back then: “Poli-ticians and diapers should be changed frequently, and for the same reason.”

Sometimes when everyone in a household is working to make ends meet, we all need to remember this saying called the Single Income Challenge: “The trouble with the average family today is that a lone person cannot support it and the government on one income.”

And, in keeping with a prevalent sentiment in our country, let me share with you a saying referred to as Rae’s Rule: “It is morally wrong to allow citizens to keep their money.”

I close with a statement by one George Matthew Adams who sets forth both a danger and challenge in our country: “There is a growing sentiment in America that regular saving should be ignored - that the government will take care of people and give them security when they get beyond a certain age or become old and unable to work, but it must be borne in mind that the people who earn and do save, take care of the government! Were it not for the thrifty and the willing workers, the government would be in a bad way.”