America at War?

It's always been my thought that the American public is not against the Iraq war as much as they are tired of hearing about it in the news night after night.

No way Gordon, the American people are tired of the casualties and loss of lives over there.

If that were the case, there would be more people in this country who could point out Iraq on a world map than tell you all the number of times Brittney has entered rehab.

The fact is, the American public has the collective attention span of one news cycle. Anymore than that and it's time to find out who the next father of Anna Nicole's kid is.

The picture is appropriate.

Enquirer

On the side is a picture Tom Callinan, editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the local paper of record, who decided earlier this week to print all the names of the jury and personal information in a high profile murder case this week.

This morning he printed an apology/rationalization of their decision. Here is the money quote.

Yes, the names, ages and occupations of jurors are a public record, and there's good reason for that. We want a system that allows us to know who is judging us.

Yeah, I wonder if the same thing would be true of reporters and editors covering the case. After all, they have biases that could taint the reporting and the ability of the accused to get a fair trial.

So I'll make a deal with Mr. Callinan, Since he finds that it's ok for the public to know this information I'll make sure to report all his pertinent information as soon as I get it.

Since we all know where he works, maybe I'll print the names of his kids and where they go to school instead.

Problem Solving

I caught this on the Best of the Web yesterday.

Crime is back in New Orleans, even though the city's population is less than half what it was before Hurricane Katrina, Reuters reports:

The larger problem is that New Orleans has too many social problems--drugs, poverty, broken families, poor education--all present before Katrina.

A recent murder encapsulated the difficulties. After a 17-year-old was beaten up, his mother gave him a gun and told him to get revenge, and he killed the boy he fought with.

When police went to his home to investigate, they found the mother with cocaine and a family photo on display of the son with a gun in one hand and a fistful of cash in the other.

"For us to correct this, we have to look at the root of the problem. The root of the problem is our education system," Police Superintendent Warren Riley said in an interview.

So let me get this straight, Mom gives Jr. a gun to kill someone and somehow it's the education system not doing it's job.

Do you want to know why inner cities around the country cannot correct their problems. Maybe because they spend to many resources fixing problems that don't exist.

Seriously, did you learn from the education system that if someone beats you up it's not OK to take a gun from your mother and go cap the guy?

Our education system in inner cities has a lot to be desired, but I'm pretty sure that not even Harvard grads were taught to not kill people.

This is why cities will never improve because no one has the guts or the smarts to identify the real problems. Subsequently, if you are so inept you can't even identify the problem or do not have the backbone to publicly state what the problem actually is, how can you possibly solve it.

Freedom/responsibility of the Press?

Yesterday, a local newspaper (I won't name them because I'm sure they would want the notoriety) decided to print the names, ages, employers/positions, and marital status of jurors in the trial of Liz Carroll who, along with her husband and their girlfriend decided to lock a child up in closet until he died (allegedly).

The trial for Liz ended this week so the local rag decided to print the names of the jurors. Why? How is knowing the names somehow in the public interest? Would you feel as though you we're more informed by knowing the names of jurors in a very public trial? Would you feel safe knowing that everyone in the world knew you were one of the people who locked up a potentially dangerous person with dangerous family members? Does this action make it more or less likely that quality people will live up to their civic duty and work jury duty?

Just because you have the freedom to print anything, doesn't mean that you should. With every freedom comes a responsibility. It occurs to me that this particular paper decided to print this information just because it could and yet those in the mainstream media have the stones to mock bloggers. Get real.

Sowell again

Thomas Sowell has a great piece in NRO blasting Barack Obama's thoughts on jobs and the economy.

While his piece focuses mainly on jobs, he has a small snipet regarding the cost of education

Money quote

Senator Obama is for making college “affordable,” as if he has never considered that government subsidies push up tuition, just as government subsidies push up agricultural prices, the price of medical care and other prices.

I have a question for all libs out there. Why are college education rate increases, on average, almost double the rate of inflation?

Could it be that increased financial aid and availability of student loans contribute to the rate increases?

Absolutely not Gordon it must be other factors.

Well consider this on a micro economic basis. Assume I have a commodity that you need to earn more money and I'm willing to sell it to you for $1,000. You agree to the price because you know you'll be able to turn that thousand into $10,000 in a short period of time.

Now assume that Uncle Sam wants to allow poor people access to my widget so they are willing to give everyone $400.00 to buy it. Do I keep the price of my widget at $1,000.00?

Hell no I don't. I now have a larger supply of people with money to buy my widget. In addition, I already know that the market place has already set a price that people are willing to pay $1,000 without the subsidy. So guess what, I now increase my price to $1,400. Rich people are still out of pocket $1,000 and poor people still can't get in. So people like Obama now have a platform to increase the subsidy to $600.00, which only allows me to increase my prices yet again. It's a never ending cycle.

But Gordon, if you increase your prices won't competitors come in to the market and lower prices. Yes, more people will come into the market place but, I would argue that they come into the market place and take the $600.00 subsidy from poor people and deliver them a shoddy education. Look at all the "colleges" springing up in nearly every office park in the country.

So everybody wins, except the poor schmuck who's now on the hook for a $30,000 student loan that qualifies him to be a Cincinnati city councilman or a car salesman.

Sorry for the slam on car salesman.

Rx Price Control

Both Gordon and I discussed this topic right after the November elections. Let's face it, the federal government isn't good at very much. Why would we even think for a second that it would be good at pricing drugs?

"At first glance the idea makes sense. Instead of multiple companies competing to negotiate drug prices, have one big powerful entity do the negotiating. Wouldn't that lead to lower prices?

It might -- and that's part of the problem. We should be suspicious when someone promises benefits from a government monopoly. Government doesn't produce things. It simply uses force to move things around. So why think that Medicare, hardly a paragon of efficiency, should be given the power to negotiate -- in reality, control -- prices?

The last thing we should do is give federal officials more power. When government controls prices, it must eventually ration supplies. Consumers suffer. When the product is medicine, the results could be catastrophic."

John Stossel: No Drug Price Controls

Chief Illiniwek RIP

Normally, I couldn't care less about what Illinois University decides to do with the mascot they choose to represent them.... They could go by the Illinois University Flying King Weasels as far as I'm concerned.

However, I read this article about the retirement of Chief Illiniwek and the smell of hypocrisy is worse than the smell of a south Chicago landfill on a hot August day.

Where to start. Well, let's start with the NCAA.

The NCAA has threatened all Division I schools with offensive nicknames by not allowing those schools to host NCAA sanctioned tournaments and championships. They've threatened sanctions on the University of North Dakota for their use of the nickname "The Fighting Sioux" despite the fact that Sioux tribal leaders have endorsed the University's use of the nickname as non offensive and a positive promotion of the tribe. The NCAA comes back with "No, It's surely offensive to you folks. You must be too dumb to realize it."

So how does that relate to IU? The NCAA is going to allow IU to keep the Illini nickname despite the obvious naming after a native American tribe because "it's short for Illinois and the school can use the term Fighting Illini, because it's considered a reference to the team's competitive spirit. Yeah, I can now see why tribes are disgusted..... all those references to competitive spirit and all is surely offensive.

Why is it that Illini is not offensive to native Americans when it's clearly derived from the tribal name but Warriors is offensive when it has no reference to a tribe at all. Could it be that Illinois has more pull than Marquette, Hawaii, and UND. Nah... It has to be principal. Right?

Now let's hit the "Activists". The most persuasive argument these people offer is that we don't nickname teams with caricatures of other ethnic groups such as the fighting Jews, or Zulu's etc., Well, have you ever heard of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Western Washington Vikings or the Monmouth College Fighting Scots? I bet all those Northern Europeans are pissed as hell at the disrepect.

If it's so offensive, why is it that schools on the rez all have these nicknames?

By the way, what do we do with all these state names? Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, the Dakotas are all tribal names. We obviously don't have states named after other ethnic groups so let's change those names as well.

For that matter, what about all those streets in the 'hood where I grew up, Shoshonee, Cherokee, Wyandot, Miami, Shawnee, Mohawk etc. Ohhhh, the disrespect is everywhere!

The fact is, there is a country where all the names of minority groups where eliminated just like this. The country? Bosnia. Only there they called it Ethnic Cleansing which is what the Native Americans would be calling it if Anglos were leading the charge on this.

In any event, if my almamater is interested in renaming their nickname I think the $250.00 I've donated over the years warrants changing the name to the "Fighting Gekkos".

Fore!

When you look at the amount of money governments spends to "help the poor" in this country, it makes you wonder why they don't just cut everyone a check and skip all the administrative costs associated with the handout process. But what about golf courses?

"Among the many rationales used to defend the welfare state, the most powerful is that it is necessary, in order to take care of the poor and the downtrodden. But the amount of money required to bring every poor person in the country above the official poverty line is a fraction of what is spent by government on the welfare state.

Put bluntly, the poor are in effect being used as human shields in the political wars over government spending, which extends far beyond anyone who could even plausibly be called poor.

Politicians will spend money wherever that is likely to increase their chances of getting re-elected. Of all the things that governments spend money on, none is further removed from fighting poverty than municipal golf courses."

Thomas Sowell: Priceless Politics

Lenten Season

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Lenten season. A time that many Christians use as a period of sacrifice and somber reflection on faith.

I believe that when God created humans, he created them with an empty spot in their soul. That empty spot, devoid of the noise of everyday life, is the quiet place where we have our relationship with God. However, he also gave us free will, the ability to place anything in the spot that we choose.

As a result, many of us try to fill that spot with food, booze, drugs, sex, control, pornography, the internet, TV, politics, popularity, cigarettes, work, etc. The list goes on and on and on....

What many of us eventually find is the buzz from our elixir is often short lived and really does not satisfy long term; it takes more and more and more to get that ever precious feeling of security. Some times we just try to keep the place noisy so we never have to deal with the solitude. Many never learn the lesson and die in their attempts to fill the space, ie Anna Nicole Smith, Kurt Cobain, et al.

So as we enter the Season, I would encourage all of us to sacrifice some of those things we use to fill the "hole in our souls". For me, that would be beer and pizza.

Even if you are a non-believer, I would ask you to try it. What could it hurt? Many health professionals would tell you that it takes a month to a month in a half to give up a bad habit and replace it with a good one. Once you empty that space out and eliminate the noise from day to day life, I think you'll be surprised at what fills the vacuum your life. And maybe you'll lose a few pounds.

God Bless

Another Cincinnati Homicide

While city leaders are busy making sure people in Washington know they are against the Iraq war, another homicide takes place; number 11 if you're counting.

That puts the city a pace well ahead of last year and we are not even in the busy summer murder season yet.

I guess there is one thing that has me slightly curious. The victim last night was shot last night at 3:44 am on Central Ave. Who in their right mind would be out that late, outside, cold as hell? It was 10 degrees out last night.

I hear community leaders keep saying that black youth get into trouble because there's nothing to do in the city. I beg to differ. Apparently, there is some good stuff going on in a city when it's worth getting shot to check out.

As the legendary Vince Lombardi once said to Max McGee

"Max the next time you miss curfew I'm fining you $100.00 and the time after that I'll fine you $250 and then I'm going to fine you $500.00.... Max, if you know of a place that's worth $500.00.... will you wake me up and take me with you."

So if anyone's up to checking out what's going on in the west end at 3:00 in the morning on a freezing weekend night, let me know and we'll head down. It must be a damn good time if people are willing to risk their lives for it.

State Farm Insurance

Yesterday State Farm Insurance announced that they would no longer underwrite home owner's insurance in the state of Mississippi.

If you are unfamiliar with the insurance industry's issues in Mississippi let's take you back prior to Katrina. If you were not aware, your home owner's policies do not cover flood damage. If you live in a flood plain, you may buy flood insurance that is backed by the federal government which keeps the premiums low.

However, many in Mississippi did not have flood insurance so when Katrina hit the state attorney general threatened lawsuits to force the insurance companies to pay off for flood damage; something never factored into the original premiums.

As a result, State Farm, who underwrites 30% of the state's insurance, has decided that it's not worth doing business in a state when "We've reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is no longer prudent for us to take on additional risk given the uncertain legal and business climate"

So congratulations to the AG, he's single handedly going to increase the home owner policies for millions of homes in Mississippi astronomically by 1) create an environment where there is less insurance competition and 2) Give insurers incentive to increase policies rates so that they may be able to cover contingencies for which they may be forced to pay for but not covered in the original policy.

When is a contract not a contract?

Let there be light (and heat)!

Many thanks to the Duke Energy crew that repaired the down wires on our road. The Mulligan family is grateful. It's dangerous, back breaking work.... you guys honestly earn every dollar you make. Thank you!

It's amazing how thankful one becomes for the basics in life when you lose them for even a short period of time. We're spoiled brats.

"essential" employees

As I was half listening to the school and business closings, I heard this particular closing

"City of Hamilton, only essential employees are to report to work."

Call me cynical, but if you are non essential, why do you have your job?

They may want to change their terminology around a little.

By the way it's 2/15/07, the temperature is -0- , yes, zero degrees. Can I have my global warming back?

Who profits from "Big Oil"

Ever since the government and tort vultures picked "Big Tobacco" clean, they have to move on the latest/greatest revenue source to line their pockets.

Last week, Hillary Clinton offered that she would "take all oil company profits....."

Now this week is this little diddy from the new governor of Wisconsin. He has introduced legislation to tax the oil companies 2.5% on all oil earmarked for the state. Here's the kicker, if any company passes along the tax to the consumer those responsible will go to jail.

For the most part, I'm indifferent to the oil companies, they sell me a product I use and as long as that relationship continues I'm OK with them.

But, unlike the average politician, I decided to do some research, so I went to the ExxonMobil website and downloaded their most recent 10Q report (a quarterly SEC filing). Here is their 1st quarter, fiscal '07, Income Statement....

		2006
REVENUES AND OTHER INCOME
Sales and other operating revenue (1) (2)	$	96,268
Income from equity affiliates		1,778
Other income		1,547
Total revenues and other income		99,593
COSTS AND OTHER DEDUCTIONS
Crude oil and product purchases (2)		49,364
Production and manufacturing expenses		7,057
Selling, general and administrative expenses		3,412
Depreciation and depletion		2,730
Exploration expenses, including dry holes		352
Interest expense		281
Excise taxes (1)		7,764
Other taxes and duties (2)		10,163
Income applicable to minority and preferred		292
interests
Total costs and other deductions		81,415
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES		18,178
Income taxes		7,688
NET INCOME	$	10,490

You'll see that the company made roughly 10 billion on 99.5 billion in total revenue a 10.5% net profit margin. That's a lot of money.

But is it? Look at all the excise taxes, duties, and income taxes paid by the company. If you total them, they amount to $25 billion in various payments to governments, a whopping 25% of the total revenue.

So in reality, the state makes more money than the producer, you know, the guy that pays for the equipment, hires the employees, repairs damaged oil rigs, delivers the product, listens to customer complaints, fights frivolous lawsuits, etc.

What does the state do in this equation? Nothing.

Imagine having a convenient store and every Monday, Sal and Tony from the neighborhood stop by to sell you "protection" and they take all the money you earned for that day. That's how the government operates; except Sal & Tony are only getting 14% of your receipts.

I get frustrated with politicians who are getting more brazen in their theft language, indicating to me the average Joe thinks its a good idea to just take money from people who earn it for whatever reason. Well, at least you get good trash pickup from Sal & Tony.

Oh the irony

Global Warming conference cancelled due to ice storm.

Hillary

“It helps her because we know Bill Clinton and we love Bill Clinton. We know him and his foibles. We know he loves his Dunkin’ Donuts; we know his love for burgers,” said State Representative Patricia M. McMahon, a longtime ally of both Clintons. “It shows that she’s human, too, and appreciates her husband and likes him as much as we do.”

One of the quotes in this article regarding Hillary Clinton (aka Rodham).

However, maybe someone could explain to me that if we all love Bill so much why couldn't he ever seem to muster more than 50% of the popular vote? And let's face it, he couldn't even muster that against Bob Dole (aka oatmeal, floormat, corpse, etc.).

It's one of the myths that I hope gets a silver bullet through the heart during this presidential campaign. Let's face it, everyone knows that Hillary is every bit as charming and warm as Bill is.

I want my global warming

They are driving the Daytona 500 this weekend and Mardi Gras next Tuesday yet it looks like I won't be able to get out of my driveway if the weather guys' apocalyptic forecast comes true. Now why should Ohioans be deprived of all that good time? We could have that big old parade right through High Street in Columbus if it wasn't so damn cold.

Where the hell is my global warming?

Why the Bengals will always Stink

If you ever wonder why the Bengals will always be a pack of losers check out the quotes from their loser coach.

“You can put all that to rest. We have the (4-3) personnel,” Lewis said. “We’ll continue the way we are and not take any side steps. We need to get better and keep progressing with our players and that’s the best way for us to do it the quickest.”

“People continue to point out the teams that (spend) in free agency win less games,” he said. “It takes chemistry. It’s people working together. It takes time. When we get a guy off another team, invariably there comes that adverse time within the game that he reverts back to other things that he knows from another place and another time. That’s not the reaction you need at that critical moment.

“The answer is to always try and reserve some of your own players and continue to progress with guys in the draft,” Lewis said. “Continue to let them mature and develop as football players in the NFL. They’re trained in your system, they’re trained your way and that’s the way teams continue to get better.”

Apparently Marvin Lewis has the intelligence to be a City Council member when he retires.

This is the NFL... your team was 8-8 last year.... simply drafting good players keeps you even with everyone else... they get seven picks as well. You cannot make it on the players you draft alone. Do the math. If the average NFL player career is five years and every single one of your draft picks makes the team, you have 35 guys - but your roster is 53 guys.... you still need free agents to fill the roster.

The Bengals are 16 mil under the cap for 2007. They were under the cap last year when they could have signed Justin Smith to a long term deal. The Bengals will always be losers because the days of signing draft picks alone are done. By the time you get a team together through the draft, the guys you started with are leaving through free agency (ie Eric Steinbach).

Look at the Patriots, every single year they rotate 15-20 guys off the roster and replace them with more cap friendly free agents and draft picks. They also have about ten extra scouts that know exactly the type of player they are drafting. Remember Drew Bledsoe, Curtis Martin, Adam Vinatieri, Ty Law, Troy Brown. et

This is why they don't have these types of pictures floating around the net.

FIRE, POLICE, STREETS AGAIN

With White Death on it's way to the Cincinnati metro area, it's nice to see that city council is on top of the game to make sure we don't have another repeat of last week's snow disaster.

Oh wait, no that's not with council is concerned with. No, it's more important to vote on a resolution against the federal government sending more troops to Iraq.

Let's pretend we're a Cincinnati City Council member (a big stretch, because if you can read this blog you're too smart to be a council member).

In a councilman's world, the city crime rate rivals Mayberry, the exodus from a city Moses would be proud of is just all the drug dealers heading to Detroit, and the streets are all plowed to perfection. By God, the only thing left is to make a statement about Iraq troop levels that we no absolutely nothing about.

The money quote from Leslie Ghiz

“I don’t support any resolutions that don’t pertain directly to city business. Next thing we’ll be looking at is supporting certain people for president and certain documentaries by former vice presidents about global warming."

Marcus Feisel

The trial of Liz Carroll starts today. If you don't remember her, Liz, her husband David and a "friend", Amy Baker, wrapped one of their foster children, Marcus, in a blanket, duct taped him and stuffed him into a closet during the hot summer day so they could go to a family picnic. He ultimately died.

As you read the information about these characters, you'll notice a common theme... Where are the jobs?

No one had a damn job in this crew; not Liz, not Amy, not Donna Trevino, the birth mother, not David Carroll, who was supposedly "disabled", although not disabled enough to coach a local youth football team.

The fact of the matter is, none of these people did anything but milk off the government tit.

One of the reasons I'm against government subsidies for the poor is that it leaves way too many people unaccountable. Both the donor and the recipient. It's the perfect recipe for anti social behavior.

Government assistance leaves too many people with a hand out long after it becomes apparent the person isn't interested in reforming their lives. Even Jesus once asked a paraplegic "do you want to get well" because he understood that some people don't.

There is something about work that adds to people's lives above and beyond sustenance, there's a building of character that occurs when you have to work to pay for housing, cars, booze, even drugs for that matter. You learn to serve others... often when you sure don't want to. You start to develop respect for other's lives and property and you understand that life's not always convenient; like taking a difficult child to a family outing.

It's the same kind of respect people have for property when they own it versus renting it.

Anyway, let's hope Marcus gets some justice out of the following trials. Unfortunately, his death is more of a symptom of our corrupt welfare system and another tragic death, like his, is likely to be repeated soon.

Snow Daze

As another winter storm races towards the Cincinnati area, take note of the following from NOAA.org:

TODAY MARKS THE 14TH DAY IN A ROW THAT IT HAS BEEN BELOW FREEZING AT CINCINNATI, COLUMBUS AND DAYTON. IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT ALL THREE LOCATIONS ARE CURRENTLYWORKING ON A RECORD FOR AVERAGE TEMPS IN FEB. FEB 1978 REMAINS THE COLDEST FEB ON RECORD...AND THE AMAZING THING TO NOTE ABOUT THIS FEB IS THAT AVG TEMPS ARE CURRENTLY RUNNING 3-7 DEG BELOW THE 1978 AVG. EVEN MORE AMAZING...THE AVG TEMP AT DAYTON THRU FRIDAY WAS 9.7 DEGREES! MORE THAN HALF THE MONTH REMAINS AND COLD WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT WEEK TO 10 DAYS.

As Gordon would say, "Where the hell is my global warming?"

Minimum Wage Hike in Practice

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a client who is part owner of a clothing manufacturer with his family. They employ roughly 30 people. (as a courtesy, I won't name the state the company is located in)

They have been struggling for years to keep the doors open for this company and quite frankly haven't been able to to price it's product competitively due to union labor contracts. They already shut down their Ohio plant years ago and have been hanging on for years with this other plant

He told me that in 2006 the union passed along an $11,000 year increase in the union run health care coverage ($367 / employee). In addition, the union passed along another $11,000 increase in the union run pension plan.

The state this plant is located in had the infinite wisdom of passing it's minimum wage law which kicks the minimum wage up significantly in the next year (I won't say the amount for the reasons above). While his company does not pay minimum wage, the base rate in the contract is pegged to the minimum so any increase in the minimum is an automatic increase to his employees.

As my client says, "if we raise our prices more than 3% per year we might as well hand them our competitors business cards".

So now confronted with a 20% increase in the cost of labor within one year, they are moving their production to Columbia or China and will have the plant closed by the summer. Oh yeah, the city this plant is located in isn't exactly a hot bed of economic opportunity for low skilled laborers.

So for all you do gooders trying to help out the little guy, congratulations, you just helped out some poor guy in Bogota.

More Walmart Hate

Why does the Left hate Walmart so much?

On Tuesday, "two Democrat-appointed judges on what many consider to be the most liberal federal appeals court in the country gave trial lawyers the go ahead for the largest class action employment discrimination lawsuit in American history. Sounds like a big deal, right? Well, the numbers show just how big a deal it really is.

The class of plaintiffs approved by the two judges includes each and every woman who has ever worked at a Wal-Mart or Sam's Club store nationwide over the past eight years. According to the pair of judges, the class "encompasses approximately 1.5 million employees, both salaried and hourly, with a range of positions, who are or were employed at one or more of Wal-Mart's 3,400 stores across the country."

CFIF.org: Legalized Extortion

Lieberman Quote

Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), on Congressional Resolutions Disapproving of the War in Iraq:

"For the Senate to take up a symbolic vote of no confidence on the eve of a decisive battle is unprecedented, but it is not inconsequential. It is an act which, I fear, will discourage our troops, hearten our enemies, and showcase our disunity."

Lefty Blogs

In the past week, I had the "pleasure" of going to a few liberal sites to read some of the postings of their readers.

Here at the Daily Kos , is an interesting post by someone titled "Why I hate America".

On Shakespearessister, a blog by a John Edwards campaign staffer, is a nice post where she refers to conservative Christians as "christofacists", but it's offset by all the f-bombs written all over it.

And here is one at pandagon.net Where the writer asks an interesting question about the immaculate conception "What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?"

I keep hearing about how the Democratic party is the party of inclusion, especially for people of faith. Yeah, I get that when these are the thoughts of staffers and influential opinion makers for the party.

For the life of me, I still do not understand why Catholics and Jews are still a vital voting block of the DNC when this kind of mockery of faith is rampant throughout the party.

At least there are some intellectuals out there who are willing to acknowledge that people of faith care about society. Here's an interesting piece written by Roy Hattersly the money quote is in the byline "We atheists have to accept that most believers are better human beings".

Maybe if the DNC leadership were willing to acknowledge the premise of his piece, they might be able to attract more religious conservatives.

Anna Nicole Smith RIP

In a shocker for every dead pool out there, Anna Nicole Smith died today.

While I would like to be solemn about the ending of one's life, the fact is, Smith represented every thing that's wrong with our culture today. It's all about celebrity over substance; consumption over contribution; exhibition over class.

It's not ironic that she had to buy her only redeeming quality.

Unlike Hendrix, Joplin, Monroe, & Dean she was famous for simply being famous.

When someone like Smith dies, it always has me remember Princess Diana and Mother Teresa who died within months of each other.

Who had happier more fulfilling life? I would bet that on her death bed, Mother Teresa had a much more sense of peace, purpose, and accomplishment with a life spent surrounded by the worst poverty and squalor in the world, as opposed to Diana, who lived what most would think was a fairy tail of wealth and glamor.

I usually opt not to acknowledge people like Smith, T.O., O.J., Pete Rose, Bob Huggins, The Clintons, etc. because that's what they crave, the spotlight. They are the worst of the narcissists.

But maybe someone reading this blog today will get the message that the quality of your life will always be measured by what you give... not what you get. If one person gets that from her death, then Smith will not have died in vain.

iPod Ban?

The Nanny State rears it's ugly head again... in New York, of all places.

First it was cell phones in cars, then trans fats. Now, a new plan is on the table to ban gadget use while crossing city streets.

If you use them in the crosswalk, your favorite electronic devices could be in the crosshairs. Legislation will be introduced in Albany on Wednesday to lay a $100 fine on pedestrians succumbing to what State Sen. Carl Kruger calls iPod oblivion.

Bill Banning iPods

Freedom of the Press?

Many are probably unfamiliar with Josh Wolf, a San Francisco blogger who defied a court order to turn over a video of a demonstration in the city.

He now holds the dubious distinction of being jailed longer than any other journalist in history.

While libs want to hold up the constitution and scream "freedom of the press", the constitution never said that freedom of the press included immunity from court orders or immunity from government secrecy or treason laws. The freedom of the press was written into the constitution so that people could be critical of the government without being jailed... not the case here.

I'm against shield laws because it gives immunity to "journalists" above and beyond what the common citizen would get. I'm also against whistle blower immunity as well for the same reason.

Here's a concept for Mr. Wolf, turn over the tape or enjoy your bologna sandwiches.

Driving in snow

The drive in was good for me the roads seemed pretty clear in Maineville & Loveland

Of course the evening was complete with listening to "Cincinnatians don't know how to drive in the snow" from my NE Ohio girlfriend.

This is the thing I always point out to people. Their recollection of people driving in bad weather was 20-30 years ago when people drove with studded snow tires and chains on their tires. You can clean up a road pretty quick when people are chewing it up with those babies.

Unfortunately, these are now illegal. So we're forced to drive in this crap with all weather radials.

Anyway, it was 5 degrees coming in this morning. I'm still waiting on my damn global warming.

Cincinnati snow jobs

My drive in to downtown Cincinnati wasn't too bad this morning, Clermont Co, Montgomery, Loveland, etc., have done a great job.... but then I passed the Welcome to the City of Cincinnati sign near Norwood. From that point on into the city, the roads looked like they had never been plowed. I guess they're hoping the snow will melt off the highways? Or maybe the snow plow drivers left early with the rest of the city yesterday afternoon? Glad to see they're putting the 2.1% of my income they take to good use. Keep up the good work guys!

Time to toughen up!

What's happened to us? We can't handle a little snow and cold?

I always said I'd never start a sentence with the words "When I was a kid...", but I'm going to anyway. When I was a kid... I remember standing outside waiting for the bus with my ears feeling like they were going to fall off, my feet numb and the boogers in my nose frozen solid.

I'm no fan of the cold, I'd much rather be in St. Thomas right now. But even after all the "global warming" of the past couple decades, schools shutdown for an inch of snow or the sniffles and people head for their bunkers when the weather starts acting like it should in Ohio during February. And it's pretty obvious we don't have the guts to win a war anymore. There's too many wimps, sissies and cowards in charge these days.

Where's John Wayne (or John Galt)?

Naga RIP

My favorite animal at the Cincinnati Zoo died yesterday.

Naga, a 9 foot Komodo Dragon passed away of an abdominal infection. He was every bit the "hero" that Barbaro was. Let's hope the NY Times reports his life in the same manner.

By the way, it's 4 degrees outside, where the hell is my global warming? With Global Warming, lads like Naga could make Canada part of their habitation.

Mexican Tortilla Shortage

For those who love to help out the global warming alarmists by purchasing ethanol, please note, you may be starving a Mexican.

Why would that be? Because the US has increased production of ethanol brought on by more state requirements, the price of corn has shot up tremendously. As a result, tortillas, a staple in poor Mexican diets have become increasing expensive. So much so there are now riots in Mexico City protesting the prices of tortillas.

To make matters worse, it actually takes more energy to produce ethanol than we get from the use of the fuel. A scientist at Cal Berkeley (not exactly a conservative hot bed) has produced a study reporting the disparity.

It is now 5 degrees outside, where the hell is my global warming?

Question answer

My question last week regarding a family making a $120,000/yr.

First, note that this familial income puts you in the top 10% of all household incomes in the country. Congratulations, you are rich. So when some clown running for office talks about tax cuts for the rich they are talking about you.

Here's the tax breakdown

Federal tax $15,009
FICA tax $7,440
Medicare tax $1,740
State of Ohio tax $4,797
City of Cincinnati $2,520
Real estate taxes $3,000
Sales tax $1,192 ( per IRS table )
Total taxes paid $35,698

We now have $84,302 remaining which stills sounds like a lot but let's back out a mortgage of $2,200 a month, utilities & phone of $400.00/month, insurance $50.00/mo. a couple of car payments $800.00/mo., auto insurance $100.00/ month. groceries $700/month.

You now have $51,000 in annual expenses related just to home and car.

That leaves you with $33,302 to pay for retirement (401k), soccer fees, vacations, gas and oil, repairs & maintenance (car and home), cable, entertainment, clothing, appliances, day care/school tuition, gifts etc, etc, etc.

So in my mind if someone says "it's a tax cut for the rich" my response is "it's about damn time".

Da Bears

Rex Grossman sucks. The only thing keeping his quarterback rating above 0.0 is the fact there is no factor for fumbled snaps in the equation. To be an NFL quarterback it's assumed you can do that.

Maybe next year.

By the way, where the hell is that global warming.... it was -1 when I came into work today.

go Bears

I couldn't agree with Midas's post more on the boorishness of the Super Bowl (all rights reserved) pre game.

Regardless, By ten o'clock I expect to be doin' the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Of course this coming from the same guy that predicted the GOP would keep the House....

Super Bowel

Well, it's finally time for the Super Bowl (am I allowed to say "Super Bowl" or do I have to use the phrase "The Big Game"?). After two weeks of hype and endless analysis from the idiots at ESPN, it's finally time to actually play a football game. Let's just pray that it's a good game.

If I (Midas) could make some changes, I'd do the following:
1. Play the game on Saturday instead of Sunday.
2. Have only 1 week after the AFC and NFC championship games.
3. Blackout ESPN for the week leading up to the game.
4. Ban the lame and painfully long half-time shows.

The Super Bowl might be the greatest spectacle in sports. Good and bad.

The good?

It’s a day for football. It’s a day for friends and family. It’s a day to eat, drink and be merry. Maybe we should follow the lead of a few people who are lobbying to turn the day into a national holiday. Come on, would you really miss Presidents Day if we replaced it with Super Bowl Day?

The bad?

It’s one of the most disgusting displays of excess in sports. We’ve come to accept the hype that surrounds the game, but should we have to put up with the lunacy, blatant commercialism and hypocrisy it attracts?

Rick Taylor: It’s the underbelly of the Super Bowl that rubs me raw this week.

What Constitution?

"There they go again. House Democrats should at least provide variety in their venality. Last Wednesday, fresh from legislating new ethics regarding relations with lobbyists, they demonstrated that there are worse forms of corruption than those involving martinis and money.

They again voted to give the delegates to the House from Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico, the right to vote in the House when it is sitting as the "Committee of the Whole,'' which is how it sits almost all the time. It is in that status that almost all debate about and amending of legislation occur."

George Will: Voting Rights Chicanery

roads, police, fire

Here's an unbelievable story about the use of city funds. The young lady at the right has received over $350,000 for a job she has never done.

Daryl Parks of WLW fame has the complete story on his blog.

Money quote "I am not able to get the wheels of justice to move without your powerful assistance and attention. I am in need of your help to correct these injustices..."

police, fire, roads!!!!!!

Socialized medicine

I had a copy of the US Constitution out the other day ( I actually keep a copy in my car if you ever want to challenge me ) and it's funny... I never saw an article in there saying that US citizens had a right to "health care".

There's freedom of speech, right to bear arms, the right to not self incriminate, right to assemble, the right not to be exposed to double jeopardy but I cannot find that right to health care anywhere in the text. The Founding Fathers appeared to be pretty thorough after all, you cannot be convicted of a ex-post facto law.

But maybe they were not that smart. In my mind, here's a list of the most important things people need for survival

Water
Food
Shelter
Heat

So before we socialize medicine shouldn't we make sure everyone has these things first. Why should we pay for water (usually sold by the government no less) when it's an essential element of life. You know why the government doesn't provide it for free? Because they know we'll pay for it and we'll pay for it before beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets, etc. and if we don't, they'll be out in our front yard to turn it off.

Next to global warming, the right to health care is the biggest joke around. The reason most people are not insured? Because they don't see it as an essential cost to live. I know from my own personal experience, when financial times got tough, the health insurance was one of the first things to go. You know what didn't go? Beer. I could have paid for my health insurance out of my monthly beer consumption but I saw beer as a larger need for myself than health care.

So before you go socializing health care, make sure that every man woman and child has their beer consumption covered.

Hillary for Prez

Hilary loves the oil companies. So much so she wants to take all their profits and "put those profits into a strategic energy fund".

I've got an idea for Hilary, how about all her buddies buy Exxon/Mobil and they can take all the profits and re invest in all the alternative fuel sources their hearts desire.

The whole thing would be laughable if we weren't witnessing more and more people thinking it's OK to steal or use someone else's property for some "benevolent" cause.

Let's eliminate smoking by not allowing your private businesses to have smoking areas. Let's confiscate that income you earn and use it for someone's health care. Let's take your home
and give it to a developer who'll put real nice condo's on the land.

Of course, "you" never have to worry about that because it all someone else's stuff you have no interest in.

They came for the Jews and I said nothing because I wasn't Jewish.......

LA musings

LOS ANGELES -- Out here in LA it's amazing how often cars and taxis are used. One would think that in a city that's known for it's environmental activist, people would be more "green" when it comes to their transportation of choice.

Ironically, a recent UCLA report found that "the Hollywood/LA film and television industry emits a whopping 140,000 tons a year of ozone and diesel particulate pollutant emissions from trucks, generators, special effects earthquakes and fires, demolition of sets with dynamite and other sources. "

I wished I'd had a camera with me on Monday when I walked by a black Hummer with the following license plate: 7 MPG. Parked right next to it, in it's shadows, was a Toyota Prias. Only in LA...

Married taxes

A couple of months ago, I threw out the challenge to tell me how much a single guy making a million would pay in taxes. Today, I throw out the challenge for a married couple.

Assume a married couple with two kids (ages 10 & 11), both work making $60,000/yr, they have $8,000/ a year in mortgage interest ( $123,000 x 6.5%) with $3,000 a year in real estate taxes.

Assuming no 401k contributions or other investment income

How much do they pay in all collective taxes?

Ohio Tax Commissioner

I've been to several conferences where representatives from the Ohio Dept. of Taxation have presented.

It has always bothered me that more often than not these representatives speak as advocates for higher taxes/increased budgets for the state.

I remember one quote from a rep when she said "I don't know how the state will be able to function if a sales tax repeal is passed".

My response..... IT'S NOT YOUR JOB TO WORRY ABOUT THAT!!!!

This is why we elect representatives, senators and governors....... this is their job.

The Ohio Dept of Taxation's sole job should be to collect the tax as outlined in the tax code by our elected officials, they should not be in the business of lobbying pro or con anything in the tax code unless those elected officials need their input related to the ability of the department to collect the various state taxes.

Here's the commissioner's comments about tax reform for the state.

There's another 10 jobs to the state of Kentucky

Jon Cary nevr stoppes

To think we were only one state away from this guy being president. Thank God the GOP stole Ohio.

The rigged 2004 election

To this day we keep hearing about Bush "stealing" Ohio in the 2004 election. It gets play by the news media every single time someone mentions it.

Here's an interesting article about two poll workers in Cuyahoga County being sentenced for felony vote fraud. Yet for some reason, it has received absolutely no media play at all.

Take a guess on what party was responsible for the fraud. I'll give you a hint.... it wasn't a Bushie.

Impeachment

Elizabeth Holtman thinks Congress should impeach President Bush. Elizabeth needs to read Gordon's post.

"His impeachable offenses include using lies and deceptions to drive the country into war in Iraq, deliberately and repeatedly violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on wiretapping in the United States, and facilitating the mistreatment of US detainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996."

The Nation: Impeachment: The Case in Favor

Internet pandemic

As someone who works in IT, I see first hand how costly security can be for businesses. And how much damage malicious viruses, malware, etc. can cause. It's only going to get worse... but we all need to do everything we can, from a personal standpoint, to keep our computers secure.

"Criminals controlling millions of personal computers are threatening the internet's future, experts have warned.

Up to a quarter of computers on the net may be used by cyber criminals in so-called botnets, said Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet.

Mr Cerf, who is one of the co-developers of the TCP/IP standard that underlies all internet traffic and now works for Google, likened the spread of botnets to a "pandemic".

Of the 600 million computers currently on the internet, between 100 and 150 million were already part of these botnets, Mr Cerf said. "

BBC: Criminals 'may overwhelm the web'

Edwards

You know how I know John Edwards is always looking out for the little guy..... He comes up with projects like building a $6 million dollar home just so some poor construction guys can feed their families.

That's why this guy's going to get the Democratic nomination.

Various

A couple of items of note that I read in the Wall Street Journal this week.

First, it appears a change in the 1099 reporting for tax exempt interest is causing the big investment houses from sending out their 1099's on time and those that do are likely to have to send corrected 1099's later. My suggestion is to wait and file your tax returns if you have significant investment income.

Second, there was an article by Jonathon Clements entitled "Why You Should Think Twice About Investing In Real Estate." He lays out many of the points I mentioned on an earlier post regarding real estate investment.

Unfortunately, I can't link you to the articles (they're subscriber only) but if you would like email me at gtvcpa@yahoo.com and I will send you a pdf copy of the article(s).

On another note, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has sent out a correction stating that they will be using the $9,000 wage base instead of the increase of $9,500 as earlier reported. It was just in time for everyone to reprogram their payroll systems to the adjusted rate. Now they get to spend their productive time reprogramming back to the old rate. (reason #865 why you should relocate your business to another state)

Kelo

Right after the Kelo v City of New London decision came out, I was telling one of my dear liberal friends about how wrong it was for the court to decide that it's OK for a government to seize someone's private property and sell it to a private company.

She hadn't really followed the case so she just assumed that it was the Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist cabal serving big business interests. When I told her it was the liberals on the court, Kennedy, Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer et al, she seemed somewhat surprised.

That's the big misconception many rank and file liberals have about liberal ideology in practice. Many liberals think they are champions of the little guy, but it's much deeper than that. Liberal ideology starts with the assumption that the state knows better and as a result should have all the resources to distribute as they see fit and this Kelo case was a perfect example of liberalism in practice.

Andrew Napolitano has a great article titled "Property Rights after the Kelo Decision" which really lays out the assault on private property rights this decision provides the state.

While I was totally outraged by the Kelo case, I really should not have been surprised. Really, why shouldn't the government be able to seize your property for whatever reason it's sees fit? It does that already. We have mandatory income taxes required to be paid... that's a property seizure. A government passes a minimum wage law.... that's a property seizure. A government says you can't develop your property because it's a wetland, that's a property seizure.... it never ends.

As Barry Goldwater once said "a government big enough to give you what you want is big enough to take it all away."

Zip Dip and Zoning

How difficult is it to run a small business? Chris Torbeck, owner of the west side ice cream icon the Zip Dip, knows all about it. He decided to add picnic tables to the area just behind his store on Harrison Ave but was told that he was violating the zoning regulations since it was a change in his business.

"As a result, Torbeck could be forced to move his business - because it's zoned only for residences - or pay as much as $300,000 for changes and a legal fight over the zoning issues."

Not even in my wildest imagination did I think we'd have to do what we have been through," Torbeck said Monday."

Cincinnati Enquirer: Zip Dip

SLUTH award follow up

Here's an article about the rash of foreclosures in Ohio.

Check out my earlier post about financing your residence.

The Weather Channel

On a day when the "white death" has reared it's ugly head in the Cincinnati tri-state area, this article from World Net Daily is appropriate. I've always been a big fan of The Weather Channel. But once again, emotions have taken over a once trusted "news" channel and the straight facts take a back seat to a political agenda.

"The move away from scientific forecasting of the weather to sensationalized leftist political advocacy is in part due to the influence of Wonya Lucas, executive vice president and general manager of The Weather Channel Networks.

Lucas admitted in a recent interview with Media Village that the reprogramming of The Weather Channel was influenced by her tenure at CNN when that network shifted from presenting straight news to personality-driven programming."

WND: Con Job at the Weather Channel

Economics of crime

What do you do when you have a neighborhood infested with vermin and you witness a murder? You can pretend you never saw anything or you can report individual criminals to the police.

Well gee Gordon, Of course you would call the police. Would, you if you knew that the thug was going to get back out on bail in a few hours and he knows you are one of the witnesses to the crime?

How do you fix the crime problem?

Now if your name is David Kennedy (photo) and you're looking to scam $100k from a city you come up with this brilliant plan where you simply walk up to criminals and tell them if they keep killing people, they're looking for problems.

If you're Gordon you do this, you arrest, prosecute and sentence thugs to a point where they can never victimize a neighborhood again.

Once residents of a neighborhood are convinced they can turn in a punk and will never have to deal with that punk again, residents will ultimately self police themselves and businesses might actually locate to that neighborhood. Businesses above and beyond check cashing operations encased in bars on the windows.

Who's the President?

Once again, certain members of Congress are trying to do everything they can to stop the US from protecting it's national interests and it's citizens.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told the National Press Club yesterday that the President (i.e. Commander-in-Chief of the US military) needs to come to him and his colleagues for approval if he had any plans of attacking Iran.

“The president does not have the authority to launch military action in Iran without first seeking congressional authorization...”

Iranian president (and resident lunatic) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must be smiling.

SchwarzeneggerCare

Thanks to socialistic, state health care plans like the one Gov. Terminator initiated in California, the country is a few steps closer to a federally run, universal health care program. Womb to the tomb. This is bad news. Make sure you take your vitamins because once Uncle Sam gets a hold of it, even the healthy will be sick.

"A few years down the road, January 2007 could be remembered as a turning point in American health care. A turn leftward, that is. This week, the groups best known for their stalwart opposition to Democratic universal health-care schemes in the 1990s announced two separate coalitions with former adversaries. This follows less-than-conservative health-care initiatives by Republican governors in California and Massachusetts within the past year. Viewed together, it looks like the political terrain on health care is shifting. "

The Washington Times: The changing health-care debate

SLUTH award

I'm starting an award on this blog for general stupidity, called the SLap Upside The Head (Sluth) award.

My first ever award is to each of the borrowers that hold Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) which are due to be adjusted this year. Approximately $3 TRILLION dollars of these types of mortgages will adjust year, looking to make this year the record year for home foreclosures in this country.

What in the hell were people thinking when they set up adjustable rate mortgages 3-5 years ago... at a time when mortgage rates were at an all time low?

The fact of the matter is tooooo many families bought homes they couldn't afford and ARMs were the only way to squeeze these folks into those homes.

But Gordon, if I buy a $200,000 home, the appreciation in that home is going to much higher than if I buy a $150,000 home.

Let's do the numbers...... Let's assume you buy a $200,000 home (100% financing) and you're able to get an 8% annual return on investment (generous for a home), at the end of 5 years your home is now worth 293,000 (a gain of $93,000). Now compare that to the home I bought for $150,000, assuming the same 8%, after 5 years, my home is worth roughly $220,000, a gain of about $70,000.

Ah ha!! I got you Gordon, I earned $23,000 more than you.

Except that you forgot to factor the extra $386/month I got to put in a mutual fund because I had a lower monthly mortgage payment. After 5 years, 8%, I have an extra $27,000 in actual liquid assets in the fund bringing my total increase in net worth to $97,000.

But let's assume that the increase in net worth is a push. How much more do you have to pay in real estate taxes, insurance, PMI insurance, plumbing repairs, homeowner association dues, maintenance, furnishings, roofs, water heaters etc, etc.. No one ever factors these costs in the return on their real estate and the fact is, the more expensive your home, the more these things cost.

In addition, by saving the money instead of having it locked into a mortgage payment, I have the ability to weather financial storms and the freedom to vacation, etc.

Yeah, but Gordon, what about the write offs related to owning a home? As I tell clients all the time, I'd rather have tax on income rather than the deduction for losses. If you ever want a write off to lower your tax liability, I'll give you a tax preparation bill equal to your income, that will wipe out any tax liability you might have and I'll have to pay the taxes. Yet, I'm still waiting for the first person to take me up on my offer.

My advise on homes.... buy it like you would an apartment, find the location, budget, schools, etc. Don't over buy. You wouldn't rent a four bedroom apartment for two people would you? Don't do the same for your house. You'll find that being able to sleep at night is a lot easier when you don't have bill collectors calling your home.

global warming yet again

Someone the other day questioned my assertion that Mars was, in fact, warming here's the quote from the NASA jet propulsion lab.

Money quote

"And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress."

This is the last I'm ever going to post on this issue. As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad I haven't had to dig my butt out a bunch of snow.

While Malibu gets snow...

"The Weather Channel’s most prominent climatologist (Dr. Heidi Cullen) is advocating that broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming. This latest call to silence skeptics follows a year (2006) in which skeptics were compared to "Holocaust Deniers" and Nuremberg-style war crimes trials were advocated by several climate alarmists. "

US Senate: Weather Channel Climate Expert Calls for Decertifying Global Warming Skeptics

Rahm

Democratic Congressional leader Rahm Emanuel is bad for America. He honestly admits that he doesn't mind the situation in Iraq to worsen if it means gains for his party in 2008. This is disgraceful and Democrats should be embarrassed that this is the philosophy of their party's leadership. But I have a feeling they won't be.

"Rahm Emanuel's Democratic Party is so bereft of a sense of national responsibility that he apparently feels comfortable brazenly telling the Washington Post that his plans for his Democratic Party is to not even try to stop things from getting worse in Iraq -- so they can pick up the political pieces afterward. Mr. Emanuel is a "smart" politician. He thinks the more dire America's place in the world is in 2008, the more likely the voters are to vote Democratic. The more of our troops are left in more pieces the better for Rahm Emanuel's Democrats. "

Tony Blankley, Washinton Times: Vulture Politics

Is the Trade Deficit bad?

"Economists had taught me that the trade deficit is not a big deal. (The budget deficit may be a big one, but that's a different issue.) But with all the pundits and politicians alarmed, I began to wonder if I was out of touch.

Then I thought about my local supermarket. I buy stuff from the Food Emporium every week. I spend thousands of dollars a year there. But the supermarket never buys anything from me. Not one thing.

And yet that is no problem. It's better than no problem -- it's fantastic! Imagine if I could only buy from the store to the extent that it needed my services. I'd starve. That would be barter, and mankind dumped barter for the money economy eons ago precisely because it is so inconvenient."

John Stossel: Losing Sleep Over the Trade Deficit?

Pygmalion Effect

As a young, idealistic student looking to make a difference, I decided my life mission was to teach.

In the first quarter of the education curriculum, I took a course called "Educational Foundations". In the course, I learned about the Pygmalion Effect; the self fulfilling prophecy of believing that if students can't learn, they won't. It was taught in the context of white teachers believing that black students can't learn so the teachers will teach down to the them. It made perfect sense. I believe President Bush called it the "soft bigotry of low expectations."

Unfortunately, the very next quarter, a different professor started espousing a theory that black students could not learn in a rote environment. I challenged her position, noting the pygmalion effect we learned about in the previous quarter. After she spent the rest of the class dressing me down as a racist and an idiot, I decided the Education College was full of ding-dongs, derelicts, and douche bags.

Flash forward 25 years, we have a riot at a local basketball game, on Martin Luther King's Day no less, and one of the coaches, Walt McBride, claims that the reason for the riot was "lack of security".

Out of curiosity, when will African-Americans start raising the bar on their community? Shouldn't it be a given that you should be able to go to a high school basketball game without fear of being attacked? When can whites and blacks alike call out a community without being labeled a racist or an Uncle Tom? When will the Bill Cosby's and Thomas Sowell's finally get some traction and communities start listening to what they have to say?

Instead, we get the continued lowering of standards for African-Americans..... soft bigotry of low expectations. Who is really empowering the Pygmalion Effect?

Economic freedom

Attached is a ranking of various countries in terms of economic freedoms. Needless to say, standards of living ranking would just about mirror this ranking.

I used to believe US prosperity was due, in part, the numerous natural resources at our disposal but if that were the case how does one explain Hong Kong. Hong Kong is essentially a giant rock in the middle of the ocean, no natural resources and no easy transport to and from the island. I guess one could offer that because Hong Kong is an oasis in an otherwise communist China, it derives much of it's economic activity. Or maybe, it's economic freedom is what makes it the oasis it is.

Social Security Debacle

I would gladly give up every dime I've "donated" to Social Security if the government said I could invest it all myself from here on out. Obviously, I don't see that happening anytime soon. If a Republican president with a Republican Congress couldn't get a single change done, I doubt we'll see any major improvements anytime soon.

Mike Pence (a future presidential candidate, IMO) has a great commentary today about how the Bush Administration blew the entire social security debate last year.

"...Social Security reform must be properly understood. It is not about achieving solvency; it is about improving the system so that it offers a better deal for younger Americans through personal savings accounts. Focusing on solvency will lead inevitably to tax increases and benefit cuts. Focusing on personal retirement accounts improves the chance of enacting sound public policy that also makes the system solvent."

OpinionJournal.com: Bush is still getting Social Security wrong.

Africa - AIDS

Someone I know sent me this email

Hey,
I don't usually do things like this, but, this is mostly for South
Africa, and I sponser a child whose parents have died from this disease.
They are using the money they promised to fight A I D S to fatten the
wallets of thier war pimps, and kill our sons and daughters because of
thier dependance on foriegn oil. Maybe I'm conspiritorially minded, but
if they pursued energy alternatives as aggressivly as they are this war,
(Billions!) we wouldn't need to do this, we could take a CLUE from our
Amish brothers and sisters and forgive, be peacefull as a dove, and
shrewd as a snake, protect ouselves, but then, we'd really be a
Christian Nation.

Aside from the myriad of misspelled words, let's go through the issues on this ad infinitum;

First, I'm assuming the "they" he refers to is the Bush administration.

I'm not aware of any funding for the African AIDS crises that was spent by the military for use in the Iraq war or to fund the other "war pimps".

Second, the federal government already spends billions on alternative fuel sources, Ever heard of Ethanol, Shale, nuclear power, hydrogen power, solar power? Most of those came about as a outgrowth of federal government research.

Third, what exactly are the Amish doing about AIDS in Africa? To my knowledge, nothing. Yet the writer wants to use them as his Christian Nation example.

Fourth, no less than Bono complimented the Bushies for their work in Africa.

I get a little perturbed about justifying the theft of someone's money to give to someone else because it's the Christian thing to do. John Kerry pulled out Matthew 25:40 back in the campaign.

But I've read the Gospels 3-4 times and only one time does Jesus reference a government at all when he says "Render onto Caesar those things that are Caesar's, render to God those things that are God's" Matthew 22:21

The reason for this quote is to tell us that he was not here to save people from a persecuting government (which the Jews were hoping for at the time) but to save our individual relationship with God.

As Christians, we are commanded by God to be charitable and to do his work on earth regardless of what the government does but no where in the Bible does it instruct governments to take one's money to solve someone else's problem.

In fact, Jesus ran roughshod near a temple calling out the money changers who were selling sacrifices to pilgrims going to the temple. He never mentioned what the money changers were using the money for, good purposes or bad, but that it was a hindrance to worshipper's relationship to God; something that I would offer the government does today.

Look, the AIDS crises in Africa is horrible; no one should be dying there. But that's exactly the point, world health professionals believe that circumcisions alone would drop the AIDS cases exponentially. Couple that with eliminating unprotected sex and reusing of needles and dirty knives and we could eradicate AIDS worldwide. How many billions do we need to fund those programs?

But somehow I guess if a guy in the Congo has unprotected sex and contracts AIDS it's Bush's fault. Why not? everything else is.

Retirement planning

Although I've been ranting about politics lately, I wanted to get back to some of the tax planning issues I wanted to focus on originally.

I'm often asked about which retirement plans clients should fund; 401k's, IRA, Roth IRA's, etc....the choices can be overwhelming.

In general, my suggestion is to prioritize your retirement savings as such;

1) Fund at least the company match in any company sponsored 401k, SIMPLE, or other company plan.
2) If you still have the ability to fund more... max out your 401K or SIMPLE.
3) If you can put yet more money in a retirement plan, max out your deductible IRA.
4) Finally, max out your Roth IRA.

While the Roth IRA sounds great because of the tax free nature of the plan, they are not deductible. In Gordon's world, why pay tax today when you can pay tax tomorrow.

For the average worker, your marginal tax rate is higher than it is at retirement. For instance, most professionals are in the 25% tax bracket, when they retire, most retire in the 15% bracket. Why not take the deduction today in the higher tax bracket?

This strategy changes if you anticipate a fairly large inheritance, you already have large retirement account balances, or you presently happen to be in a low marginal tax rate.


If you need additional tax planning information, feel free to call my office.