I was gonna write about SHTS and SPTS which are systems my company uses to track labor, problems and change management, but, I dropped over to Dr Weevil's site and in his April 24 post I noticed a thread on lotteries. By the way, the stuff on seiges is interesting also. Worth a read. For more interesting stuff about seiges go over to USS Clueless Anyway, I'm in favor of lotteries and lots of other businesses the government should start up or at least legalize.
As a cross between a rational anarchist and a libertarian I'm of the firm belief that people should be able to do just about anything they want to themselves as long as they don't bother other people. For example, if someone wants to pull a Lawn Chair Larry, let 'em. Now when they get in the flight path of LAX, they're a menace. They could have shot Larry down and it wouldn't have bothered me one bit. If someone wants to take himself out of the gene pool, that's fine with me. I am not my brother's keeper.
Last century we tried an experiment called Prohibition that was a colossal failure. People wanted their booze and in the entrepreneurial spirit of capitalism an organization rose up to fullfill that need. That organization was organized crime. It was very profitable. When the people finally realized, that it was impossible to legislate morality and ban the evil demon rum, Prohibition was repealed. Of course, there are still a lot of pissed off Baptists, which means that we have some funny liquor laws at the state and local level. For example, in Georgia, we still have a few dry counties, or beer and wine only counties. You can always tell them as there are liquor stores right across the county line.
As I say, we cannot legislate morality, or intelligence for that matter. That brings me to lotteries. In big cities there was once, and still may be, something called the numbers. The numbers was a lottery run by organized crime. I guess one day someone in government woke up and had this thought: Since we're already stealing money from the rich, in high taxes, and we're also running a ponzi scheme called Social Security, let's tax the stupid with a lottery and put organized crime's numbers racket out of businesss. What an idea! Yeah, that's the ticket! We'll kill two birds with one stone. Tax the stupid!
Since the Great Society, we have created a permanent underclass of people dependent on the government. We have essentially subsidized poverty. We're now even trying to remove the stigma of being on the dole by giving the poor an ATM style card rather than food stamps. I want to know where it says in the Constitution that I'm supposed to work my butt off to support someone and we don't want his (or her) self esteem to suffer. Uh Oh! I'm starting to get pissed off now. Look, if you can't afford kids, don't have them. Oh yeah. That's one of the reasons they're poor. They be stupid. Anyway since I'm up here pulling the wagon, I'd like a little help. I love the lottery! Here in Georgia, we use the proceeds from the lottery for education. A lot of the lottery tickets are bought by people with the intelligence of a brick. So it's a regressive tax. Who cares? It's not like I'm putting a gun to their heads when they pull up to the Quick Trip and get a sixpack, some cigarettes, and a few lottery tickets. Thanks for helping! Tax the stupid!
And cigarettes. Here's another great chance to tax the stupid. It's been obvious since the late 60's that cigarettes are hazardous to one's health. Hey! It says so right on the pack. That hasn't stopped people from smoking. Hell, anyone can quit smoking, but it takes a man to stand up to cancer. Smokers are stupid. But, as long as you don't smoke around me, smoke all you want. Just pay a couple bucks a pack in taxes. Tax the stupid!
As long as I'm talking about Bubba and Bubbette stocking up on beer, smokes and lottery tickets at the Quick Trip, that brings up the results of a study done by the Department of Transportation. They put black boxes in cars to record the last words of people in car accidents. In 49 states, the last words were "Oh shit!". In Arkansas, the last words were,"Hey Bubba, hold my beer and watch this."
Now that brings me to the War on Drugs. It's been about as successful as Prohibition and has made a lot of people rich. Any time our government declares a war on something other than a nation, it has been a spectacular failure. Remember the War on Poverty that we're still fighting today? It's been about as successful as our War on Drugs. I say, let the government get into the drug business. Legalize, and tax just like booze and cigarettes. At the least, legalize marijuana. It is no worse than alcohol. But what about people driving under the influence? News flash! It's against the law and people are still doing it. But I'll tell you something about pot smokers. When they do drive, they drive slower and because of the induced paranoia they're one hell of a lot more cautious then drunk drivers. They just cannot remember where they're going. Our jails are filled to overflowing. A lot of that is due to drug users. Users not pushers. Treat drug addiction as a medical problem, not a crime. If the government got into the drug business, they could undercut organized crime and still turn a profit. Use the profits and taxes and fund treatment centers. Sure, there are some people who are beyond treatment. Put them in separate facilities. But franchise out drug sales and drug treatment centers. Tax the living shit of of drug sales. Tax the stupid!
How about gasoline? We have the cheapest gas of any western industrialized nation. We are dependent on foreign oil. We drive SUV's. They're status symbols. Many of the people I know have them because everyone else has them and since gas is still cheap, it's no big deal that they are gas guzzlers. Gas taxes are essentially voluntary because no one is holding a gun on us and telling us to buy gas guzzlers. I'm against most taxes except consumption taxes. Make gas expensive and that will solve a lot of our dependence on foreign oil. What about the poor? That's what mass transit is for. Most of the liberal bedwetters who think mass transit is a good idea drive SUV's and wouldn't be caught dead on a bus. I remember during the last spike in oil prices, some whiner in Wisconsin was crying about the fact that he couldn't afford to put gas in his SUV and feed his five children. Hey bucko! Why the heck did you have five children if you can't afford them? Just asking. Tax the stupid!
And cell phones. They ought to have a big ol' tax on cell phones. Listen slick, when I'm in a restaurant, movie theater, or the checkout line at the grocery store I don't want to have to listen to a booger eatin' moh-ron like you talking on the phone. And I certainly don't want to see you driving while on the phone. They have smoking sections at restaurants. How about cell phone sections. And make 'em pay more 'cause they're so damn annoying. Tax the stupid!
We need a line on the 1040 tax form with a question: Do you think Cynthia McKinney should be taken seriously? If the answer is 'yes', you're an idiot. Your tax has just doubled. Tax the stupid!
Finally, if you see someone in an SUV, talking on the phone, smoking a cigarette or a joint, drinking a beer, with a handful of lottery tickets, call the cops and have them pull that son of a bitch over and hit him with a stupidity tax right then and there.
Tax the stupid!
Time once again for Molly Ivins. I had a little trouble with her this week, because, I guess, she was dealing with a subject that she, as a liberal, is not really too good with: Moral Clarity. But why don't you go read the column yourself. It's right here. Take your time. I had to read it a few times myself to make any sense of it. I'll be here when you get back. Ready? Let's take a trip into her fantasy land.
When in the course
of human events? What is this? The Declaration of Independence?
of the usual reasoned civil debate on public affairs - conducted with courtesy and good cheer
Excuse me Molly, what planet are you living on? Carville? Begala? Dasshole (little mister trial balloon)? Gephardt? a shreaking Eleanor Clift? Courtesy and good cheer? I'd hate to see the attack dogs.
one finds one's self snarling
So much for courtesy and good cheer
Oh, shut up!' one has, I fear been reading too much
Molly Ivins? No, Molly says,
George Will.
What, has he been writing about baseball again? That's usually what gets me going about George Will.
Being instructed what to think by the peerlessly, pompous Will
Or the equally pompous Hillary Clinton, or, by Molly, herself.
perched upon his
her
superiority
Hillary, The Smartest Woman in the World.
and apparently in a permanent state of dudgeon over everyone else's stupidity
Those ingrates didn't realize how great HillaryCare was.
is reminiscent of being bullied by a snotty teacher
Or of being lectured to by Bill Clinton, Sleazy Bubba, wagging his finger in our faces. Hey Bill, if you do that again, I've got a finger I'm gonna wag in your face
One is tempted to respond with the classic, frozen-faced Texas reply, 'No bull?"
Actually, I think it's 'No shit?' or 'No bullshit?' But you cannot say that in the print media. Long live the internet and its creator, Al Gore!
Will is often worth reading
unlike Molly, unless I need sumpin' to fisk.
if only you can figure out why you disagree with him.
I don't have that problem with Molly. I always disagree with her. She goes on to say that
he has been leading an entire phalanx of right-wing commentators in full cry over President Bush's loss of 'moral clarity' in the Middle East. The sheer implausibility of finding moral clarity in the Middle East does not deter them.
It doesn't deter me either. Arafat is a terrorist. He has led the Palestinians into disaster. They are evil. Any society that advocates strapping bombs on children and sending them off to murder civilians is bad. Golda Meir said that there would not be peace until the Palestinians loved their children more than they hated the Jews. No problem finding moral clarity here. The Jews have offered land for peace since 1967. There was a Palestinian state in 1947. It was called Jordan and included the West Bank. Arafat does not want a state as much as he wants to kill all the Jews. Clear enough?
Better minds tha Bush's are defeated by that challenge,
Hmmm, could she mean Sleazy Bubba and Jimmy Carter?
but the moral-certainty crowd admits no shade of gray.
There is none. Arafat and the Palestinians are terrorists. We are in a war against terrorism. Seems pretty clear to me. But I'm not a liberal so I have logical thought processes.
Will ...dismisses 'the intellectual confusion and moral miasma...that now permeate U.S. policy and media coverage
I have to disagree with George here. U.S. policy and media coverage are two different things, unless you get your info from the net or Fox News.
concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.'
There is much speculation that the apparent confusion in American policy is actually rope-a-dope to buy us time to replenish our supply of weapons. Then, it's goodbye Saddam. If we control Iraq, we control Iragi oil. Then our 'friends', the Saudis, better watch their asses. See opinions from various warbloggers in the blogosphere.
Personally, I think Sharon is a continuing, shattering disaster for Israel
As opposed to Ehud Barak, who gave Arafat the best offer he will ever get. Arafat walked away and started the current intifada, which, incidently led to Sharon's election. Got any better ideas Molly? I know, Let's have the Israelis throw down their arms and give peace a chance.
If it is not clear to all
it's not
by now that his policies - leaving aside their morality -
Morality? Morality? He's fighting a fucking war for Christ's sake. Listen you liberal twit. The first war Israel loses is the last war Israel fights. Jesus. I'm getting so pissed off I'm beginning to sound like Michael Savage!
don't work.
How many Israelis have been killed by suicide bombers since the offensive started? Not as many as before. What do you want Sharon to do? How many times do I have to say this? ARAFAT DOES NOT WANT PEACE!!! HE WANTS THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL!!
How much more evidence is needed?
See above. But now Molly careens off into South America and the coup in Venezuela. Enron didn't work so let's try to tie the Bushies to the coup in Venezuela. Let's see, since we didn't denounce the coup, we obviously must have had a hand in it.
'senior members of the Bush adminstration met several times in recent months with leaders of the coalition that ousted...Chavez, and agreed with them and said he should be removed from office', according to the New York Times
That notoriously pro Bush newspaper. Calling Cynthia McKinney. Let's have an investigation. Did we send in the Marines? Did we recognize the new government? No. We stayed out of their affairs. Isn't that what you liberals want? Anyway, Molly continues
Our own assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, was on the phone with the head plutocrat advising him.
Advising him to do what? Molly doesn't say. Now let's smear Reich.
He was a recess appointment byPresident Bush for the simple reason that he could not get confirmed by the Senate.
But that was OK when Sleazy Bubba used the same ploy to appoint Bill Lee to the Justice Department.
While heading a State Department office in the 1980's, Reich ran a covert propaganda effort against the Sandinistas.
And this is bad because...? Oh, I forgot. To liberals socialism is good. In their minds, the only reasons socialism has never worked is because the right people haven't been in charge. Ya know, like Hillary Clinton. Or that enough money has not been used to fund it.
He is also believed to have helped get Orlando Bosch a known terrorist, asylum in the United States.
Believed...Kind of like alleged.
Bosch was pardoned by Big George Bush - I suppose indicating some lack of moral clarity there,too.
As opposed to all the moral clarity of Sleazy Bubba with all the terrorists he pardoned to either get his wife elected (Puerto Rican) or the massive going out of business pardon sale when he left the White House. I'm not even gonna put the quote in by 'one administration official' as that provides her lead in to her Carthago Delenda Est. OK Just in case anyone does not know what that means. During the 2nd Punic War, Cato, the Elder, a Roman Senator, ended every speech he made in the Senate with Carthago Delenda Est...Carthage must be destroyed. It seems liberals keep bringing up the neverending election. Her she goes.
Sometines a mojority of the voters lose out to a five-to-four vote on the Supreme Court.
OK. Let's try this one more time. Gore lost in district court when the manual recount could not be completed past the date, BY FL0RIDA LAW, that the Secretary of State had to certify the results. The Florida Supreme Court, all Democrats, legislated from the bench. The U. S. Supreme court slapped them down, they did it again, the Supreme Court slapped them down again. The results were certified. Bush won. Gore lost. Neener neener neener. Also, it turns out that with all the recounts, BUSH STILL WON! Now let's contrast that to what happened in Missouri where they elected a dead man!!! Ashcroft had every right to contest that election, but he showed graciousness and class, something sadly lacking in the Democratic Party.
Are we all morally clear now?
It all depends on what your meaning of 'morally clear' is.
It was a real nice weekend here in Beautiful Dunwoody Georgia. It got unseasonably warm last Wednesday and I had to turn on the AC. That doesn't usually happen until May. But it turned out to be an excellent weekend.
My wine guru, Michael, was in California at a wine geek convention, so I asked his wife, Cindy, if she wanted to come over for dinner. Now my Saturday dinner is very boring. I grill a filet mignon (medium rare), bake a potato and toss a salad. If I have someone for dinner I usually add a vegetable. So that is what we had. We had a nice Graves white with the salad and a 1998 Gigondas with the steak. The 1998 is not quite as good as the 1995 (91 vs 92 per Robert Parker) but was pretty kickass all the same. The weather was nice enough that we were able to eat the entire meal out on the Great Patio of Dunwoody. And to finish off, I had just enough Delamain Vesper left for an after dinner drink for both of us. So Saturday was pretty mellow.
Sunday, I worked out in my raised beds getting them ready for the vegetable garden I'm putting in next weekend. I programmed the sprinkler system for the yard and admired how much better the lawn looks this year.
So, all in all, I was in a pretty mellow mood. I'm attending a class via a web conference on my PC at work, and I love going to school, unlike in my earlier years when I managed to flunk out of college twice.
I know both of you who actually read this are saying when is he gonna get to the point, but it's coming. Over lunch, I surfed on over to the FrontPageMag web site and came across this piece. This really pissed me off. Go read it and come back and we'll talk about it.
Now for Reverend Damon Lynch III substitiute Yasser Arafat or Adolf Hitler. Yeah, that's right I'm lumping Hitler and Arafat together. Hitler hated Jews and wanted to kill as many as possible. Arafat hates Jews and wants to kill as many as possible, especially children and old people. Now for Mayor Charlie Luken substitute Ehud Barak or Neville Chamberlain. For the Blacks in Over the Rhine substitute the Palestinians or the Germans. Get the picture?
Hitler kept saying just give me this little piece of Europe and I'll be happy. The more he was given, the bolder he got and the more he wanted. Same with Arafat. Keep in mind that Barak gave Arafat a better offer than he had ever received before. But, Arafat, emboldened by Israel's desire for peace, turned down Barak's offer and started the Intifada. For all you Clinton lovers, this happened while your boy Bill was in office and while Barak was Prime Minister. For all his bitching about Sharon, it was Arafat who got him elected. Just like Hitler wanted all of Europe. Arafat wants all of Palestine. Don't believe it? Check out the PLO charter. It advocates the total destruction of Israel and a Palestinian state from the River (Jordan) to the Sea. As part of the Oslo accords, that was supposed to be changed. Oops! Never seemed to get around to that. Even the doves in Isael have finally realized that Arafat does not want peace. Neither do the Arabs. Crown Prince Abdullah's peace plan would have Israel retreat to its (indefensible) pre 1967 borders and repatriate all the Palestinian refugees The Israeli Arabs would then outnumber the Jews. Israel, being the only democracy in the Middle East, would have been voted out of existence. Cool, huh? Some peace plan.
So now we come to reparations. Jonah Goldberg had a real good line about reparations. He was all for them if it would shut up Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and all the other civil rights poverty pimps. Here..here's some money. Now shut up and go away. I could live with that. Then, as I remember many Black leaders saying about the scandals surrounding our first black president, maybe we could say, 'Let's just move on'. Fat chance.
Ya know a lot of good things came out of the civil rights movement. Blacks were discriminated against in schools, housing and jobs. We fixed the problem with the schools and do not need to bus anymore. What with the teachers unions we have succeeded in making the schools in the suburbs as bad as the schools in the cities. We have integrated neighborhoods. And we have affirmative action. I'm not gonna talk about affirmative action. That's a topic for another time.
Something bad that came out of the civil rights movement was Jesse Jackson and all the other poverty pimps. I remember when I lived in St. Louis and Jesse Jackson was head of PUSH. He came to St. Louis and threatened a boycott of Anheuser Busch. He wanted more minority (read black) hires and more minority distributorships. There was at least one more minority distributorship after that and it was given to two of Jesse's sons. Wow! This shit works. Let's try this again. This became a nice little business for Jesse. Threaten a boycott, get bought off. It was easier to buy Jesse and all the other extortionists off rather than fight. Guess what? Appeasement never works.
Now we come to the latest pile of bullshit: reparations for slavery. David Horowitz has chronicled some very good reason why this sucks. Let me add some of mine:
1. We fought the bloodiest war in this country's history to free the slaves. Reparations in blood.
2. We've thrown four trillion dollars at poverty. Reparations in money.
3. And what really pisses off Julainne Malveaux if she hears it (I saw it it was beautiful): the poorest black person here is better off than over 90% of the black people in Africa. Honest Blacks (Uncle Toms, of course) realize that they are better off here, being the descendants of slaves, than if their ancestors hadn't been brought here. That does not justify slavery, but slavery happened a long time ago. It's over.
Blacks in the United States live better than Blacks anywhere on this planet. Let's stop all this crap. We do not need race wars in this country. That is what we'll get if we have to fight reparations.
Appeasement never works.
Just say 'no' to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Johnny Cochran.
Let's move on.
One thing you can always count on from Molly Ivins is a good laugh. Unfortunately, reading one of her columns can be hazardous to your brain. I can only read a little at a time. The Atlanta Urinal and Constipation prints one of her columns every Monday in the editorial section. It should really be on the comics page. I tried to find last Monday's column in their archives, but they must be ashamed, so I had to go to the Fort Worth Star-Telegraph to find the column. Some excerpts follow:
Across the length and breadth of this great land of ours, from the mountain to the prairie, from every hill and dale
from the oceans white with foam...God Bless America
comes the question
the country waits with bated breath
Where are the Democrats?
For sure, that's the question I've been asking myself, but Molly continues
They're among the missing,along with Judge Crater and Osama bin Laden. So this is what it is like to live in a one party country.
Yep! Them thar Republicans in the Senate borked Judge Pickering, defeated drilling in ANWR, and will not bring up making the tax cut permanent. Ya know, prominent Republicans like Chuckie Schumer, Teddy Kennedy, and Tommy Dasshole. She goes on to ramble about the Republicans.
the John Ashcroft-Trent Lott school of patriotism
as opposed to the Barbara Lee, Cynthia McKinney, and John Lindh school of patriotism
which holds that questioning our elected (or even not-so-elected) leaders
News flash Molly! The election is over. Bush won. Gore lost. As the Clintonoids were fond of saying over and over 'Let's just move on'.
one only has to look at the performance of these same definers of 'patriotism' as blind obedience when Bill Clinton was struggling to fight a war.
And that war was ..against the Constitution? Against the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy? Against impeachment? Against truth? Against justice? Against the American way? Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Sleazy Bubba! Wait! It gets better.
When the Clinton administration was trying to track and kill bin Laden
Let me count the ways: one aspirin factory in the Sudan and a tent in Afghanistan. Not to mention the collateral damage to the goats. He also tried to track him at lots of fund raisers and many golf courses. Hey OJ if you help me find bin Laden, I'll help you find Nicole's killer. Maybe we can get Condit to help us and we'll help him find Chandra.
Republicans gratuitously dismissed the entire effort
Two cruise missiles..Damn! Just missed him!
as an attempt to change the subject from the all important Monica Lewinsky
And it was actually...???? Molly doesn't say. Here's a knee slapper.
we have forgotten what principled opposition means
Clinton attack dogs James Carville, Paul Begala, Sidney Blumenthal. Now there are fine examples of principled opposition. Yeah Molly. I guess we have forgotten what principled opposition means. We haven't seen it from the Democratic Party in some time.
However President Bush's sex life"
Unlike Bubba's
has nothing to do with the fact
this is a good thing
that his foreign policy is so inept
Clinton really solved that Israeli-Palestinian thing didn't he? And took decisive action for the embassy bombings and the USS Cole. Look his lip is bleeding from all the times he bit it and felt our pain.
that all the Arab countries, including our friends and allies the Saudis
bin Laden and 15 of 19 of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. With friends like these...
and the Egyptians
Amazing what $3 billion per year can buy.
are now siding with Saddam Hussein instead of the United States. You really have to work at it to produce a result that bad.
Hey Molly, I bet if we kick Saddam's ass, the Saudis will be falling all over themselves to be our friends.
We still haven't caught bin Laden.
Even though Sudan offered to turn him over to the Clinton administration...Oops, forgot about that. Hey this next part is kinda neat.
Why not point out that suggestions and solutions offered before Sept. 11 were ignored by Bush?
Molly Ivins, meet Cynthia McKinney. Cynthia, Molly. More liberal twittering.
Nineteen Democratic Senators recently voted with Rebublicans against requiring automakers to increase gas mileage.
Molly, here is how this works. The American people do not want this. Have you ever heard of polls? Remember, the American people didn't want to impeach Clinton. You were for public opinion then, right? So public opinion was good then, bad now? Just checking. Now some sermonizing about Kyoto and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and
the International Criminal Court (which would have been such a useful option for dealing with bin Laden)
First, Bill, OJ, and Condit have to track him down. But the way the international community is against us, we would probably be brought up on charges for the war in Afghanistan. Also, there is a slight matter of the Constitution. Remember the Constitution? That's that pesky document that liberals call a 'living document' and keep reinterpreting and trying to circumvent . In all probability, since the International Criminal Court would take precedence over our laws, it would violate the Constitution. The last sentence of the column is
Let's get started."
No. I'm finished.
Before I begin, let me send you over to our Libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz:
http://www.boortz.com
Go to his program notes for April 15. He has some interesting things to say about taxes and has some interesting quotes and statistics.
Now, when you look at who pays what e.g. the top 1% of taxpayers earn 19% of the income and pay 1/3 of the taxes it's easy to see why tax cuts are, in the words of Dickie Gephardt, Tommy Daschle, Hillary Clinton and all the other leftests 'tax cuts for the rich', because, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO PAY THE TAXES!!!!! Do I make myself clear here? As Neal points out, the goal of the left is to shift the tax burden entirely to the upper 49% of the people in this country. We're almost there. We will then have full blown socialism, including Hillary Care.
That brings a joke to mind. Osama bin Laden found a magic lamp and rubbed it and a genie appeared and told him he would grant him one wish. Osama said, 'Oh Genie, I would like to wake up in a bed with three white women'. Sure enough, the next morning, he woke up in a bed with Tonya Harding, Lorena Bobbitt, and Hillary Clinton. His knees were broken, his penis had been cut off and he had to wait three months for a doctor.
Back to taxes. I really think the tax code is a mess. Politicians are always saying we need to fix it or simplify it. Remember Ronald Reagan? He tried. He failed. When even a simple tax situation requires someone to go to a professional tax person, the tax code definitely needs to be fixed. Let's scrap it and start all over. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. It will only take a grass roots effort and throwing enough politicians out of office to make that happen.
And let's hear it for the IRS. They have refunded $30,000,000.00 in slave reparations claims. That's THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS. And we're putting the government in charge of airport security? We're doomed!
True story about the IRS. In the 1980's I was living in St. Louis and invested in a perfectly legal, but questionable tax shelter. One of the partners got audited and the IRS gave him a set of figures that they would approve. So, I dutifully filed an amended return using the IRS figures. I got audited. When I pointed out to the auditor that the numbers I was using were the IRS' own numbers he told me that those numbers came from the downtown offfice and this was the Clayton office. Huh??? Aren't you the same agency? The rules change from office to office?
Hey Leroy..come and wand this old lady in the wheelchair. That's OK, sir you don't have to take off your turban. Go right on through.
Back to the IRS. I appealed, which meant that I went to this guy's supervisor. I knew there was no chance I would win, I just wanted to get my money's worth. I used the same argument about the St. Louis office numbers and the supervisor essentially told me to take 'em to court. The amount of money involved? $240 with a $30 fine. I told them both that with computer time, the auditor's time, and his supervisor's time it probably cost over $5000.00 to collect that $270 and as a taxpayer, I was appalled.
The IRS is the only government agency where you are guilty until proven innocent.
One of the other partners did take the IRS to court. They kept getting continuances and, since he had to take off work every time he went to court, he just gave up.
Yes Abdullah, you're fine...you don't have to remove your shoes. Mustn't profile you know.
But you must admit, we do have the best politicans that money can buy and are they ever entertaining.
Some examples:
Cynthia McKinney...what more can I say?
Sheila Jackson Lee...She was touring NASA in Houston during the Mars rover project and she asked if the rover was anywhere near the flag the astronauts planted..
Major Owens...He gave a speech in the House that over 20 million slaves died during the passage from Africa to America and and were thrown overboard. Sharks are still patrolling the slave route waiting for
more human flesh. Rush Limbaugh had his staff run the numbers and it was around 4000 people a day being thrown overboard. The next day Major changed it to 2 million, which still works out to over 400 a day.
Maxine Waters...The CIA started the crack epidemic in LA.
Henry Waxman...Please do something about those nose hairs!!
And we must not forget
Robert C. Byrd...If he lives as long as Strom Thurmond, the whole State of West Virginia will be named after him. In fact, I'll bet they're getting ready to change the name to Byrdland after he dies.
Some additional quotes:
'I'm proud to be paying taxes to the United States. The only thing is...I could be just as proud for half the the money.' Arthur Godfrey
'Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society' Oliver Wendell Holmes
A civilized society??? Driving on the Atlanta freeways? Listening to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton?
I want my money back!!
How come we are the only country in the world who has to be tolerant of everything? I don't know about you, but I'm getting real sick of all this tolerance BS along with 'root cause'. I mean when we go to other countries, such as Saudi Arabia we have to respect their customs. Our women have to hide their faces and bodies. So we have a female fighter pilot who is protecting Saudi Arabia and she cannot even drive a car. What the Saudis need is a good dose of Honor Harrington (for those not in the know, Honor Harrington is an heroine of a Science Fiction series by David Weber). But, when they come to our country, we have to be tolerant of their customs. Case in point, an Arab woman in Florida who wants to have her driver's license picture taken with her veil. She's suing. Hey lady, we cannot recognize you with the veil. Maybe if it were a mask like the Queen of Swords ( a quick vision of Tessie Santiago) it would be OK, but this is America. Back in your country you couldn't even drive a car. We do believe in freedom of religion, unlike your country of origin, but only if it doesn't violate our laws. Even the Mormons had to give up polygamy and it is no longer practiced in Utah (nudge nudge wink wink).
After 9/11 we were told not to believe all Mideasterners felt like the hijackers and not to vent our rage on them. And remember, Islam is a religion of peace. It sure is. With all the Mullahs and Imams crying 'Death to America' I believe it. Rest in peace. Anyway, I may have slept through this but I seem to have missed the blanket condemnation by the American Muslim community concerning 9/11.
Anyway, we've been very good as Americans usually are and the acts of vandalism and violence against out Mideastern 'friends' in this country were few and far between. We were tolerant. But as usual, tolerance is a one way street. With the Israeli response to the latest acts of terrorism it now seems open season on Jews, especially at that hotbed of tolerance in Berkeley, California.
Don't you get a big kick out of Arafat's buttboy James Zogby on the talk shows trying to defend the indefensible? These suicide bombers are acts of desperation. No Jimmy boy, they are acts of terrorism. Acts of desperation would be renouncing terrorism and actually negotiating in good faith rather than sending children (children!) out to blow themselves up and take innocent civilians with them. How would you like it if Israel were to play by your rules? Civilians are fair game. If so, they wouldn't have to send in soldiers they could just carpet bomb and civilians be damned. How would you like them apples Jimmy boy? And another thing. Don't you think the Muslims would get their shorts in a bunch if a bunch of Christians or Jews were to hole up in a mosque? Man the Norwegians would really be pissed off about that. And what about the French? Wouldn't that sour their cheese. The obligatory French joke courtesy of Jonah Goldberg. Why are there so many tree lined streets in Paris? So the Germans can march in the shade.
And what is it with all this 'root cause' crap? The Japanese had root cause. We had trade embargoes against them. To them this was bad. They attacked us. We didn't care about root cause. We nuked 'em. Hitler had root cause. He wanted to conquer all of Europe and to kill all the Jews. Just like with Arafat we kept appeasing him. I'm sorry Yasser old buddy, you are now on double secret probation (obscure Animal House reference). We didn't care about Hitler's root cause. We fought a war. We won. End of story. I don't care about the root cause of the assholes who killed 3000 people on 9/11. You declared war. We don't like you and do not give a crap about root cause. For you Arab apologists like James Zogby it is time for you to decide whether you are an American first or an Arab first. Arafat is a terrorist, Arafat always has been a terrorist, and Arafat always will be a terrorist. By the way, do you know how to tell when Arafat is lying? His lips move.