Well as if further evidence was needed that our society sucks, a middle school in Illinois has now banned hugging. According to the principal, Victoria Sharts (Insert Gloria Ironbox), "Hugging is really more appropriate for airports or for family reunions than passing and seeing each other every few minutes in the halls."
Gloria, excuse me, Victoria further went on to say that another pitfall of hugging is when "The hug is either unwanted or becomes inappropriate as judged by one of the students involved." So as opposed to teaching kids how to deal with uncomfortable situations and teaching them how to get themselves out of it, enter the school (insert government) to bail them out and shelter them from all evil. Don't worry sir, we only want to put cameras everywhere to keep you safe.
So now along with tobacco, guns, and drugs, we have "hug free" school zones. By God, excuse me... By the deity of your choice if you choose, there will be no hugging.
I think I have the real reason though. When one participates in the barbaric and often uncomfortable act of hugging, one must put their arms out to wrap around the other person. By doing that, even ever so briefly, their arms are out in a T-shape, thereby making a cross, so we can then postulate that hugging is a Christian thing (That we do at airports and family reunions) and being that this is a public school, we can have no mix of church and state. Make sense? Good.
As some of you may have heard, Elton john is in some hot water over a photo he owns by the famous photographer Nan Goldin that was being shown in an art gallery in England. It has two girls in it who are nude and apparently, this photo that has been published around the world, was deemed pornographic by some government peon or another, and was confiscated to see just how pornographic it is.
So as I was reading about this I found sites where people could chime in and give their thoughts. Almost 100% of the time when it was somebody from Europe posting a comment they said, "So what's the big deal" and if they were from America, land of the hug-free school zone, they said, in a nutshell, "get a rope". I have been to 14 countries now in my short life and I have seen a lot of people and cultures, and none is more repressed and sexually frustrated than the US., minus publicly in the Middle East of course but let me tell you, some of the raunchiest porn I ever saw was Iraqi porn.
Even there however you would see kids running naked in the streets, not because they didn't have clothes but because it was 135 friggen degrees. But it was no big deal there. When I was a little kid we could run naked in our yard and nobody would care. Now the SS, also known as child protective services, would throw me in a home and arrest my parents.
I think however I have the reason for that as well. America is the absolute fattest country in the world so I suppose it makes sense to start teaching our kids very young that nudity is bad and that we should all hide behind moo-moos and XXXL sweatshirts. And why hug anyway when it takes actual effort to raise those ham hock arms and most likely you wont be able to fit the arms around the other person anyway. Maybe that was it. Perhaps they did want the obese kids' feelings to be hurt by only a half hug from a friend who arms couldn't quite make it.
I don't know, but what I do know is that our country won't allow hugs in school, titties hanging out in public, raising your kid as how you see fit (no spanking please), and we have to pay taxes several times over on everything we make, buy, sell, and earn in order to live here. God bless America!
Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taxes. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
The Tax Man Cometh
Offensive rating: 3/10
Well it is a new year and I am already thinking about taxes. Ah yes, taxes. We pay them all day, every day. We pay gas tax and sales tax on cars in order to keep our roads pot hole free (and a marvelous job we are doing too), we pay income tax, bot state and federal, we pay tax at the grocery store on the food we eat, our phones are taxed, our gadgets and gizmos are taxed, our medicine and beer are taxed, and the final kick in the nuts, we are taxed on the money we have already been taxed on when we die.
Yes we pay taxes and then more taxes. We pay taxes when most don't even realize we are paying them. Yet we still have chasm like pot-holes, sub-standard schools, mediocre police protection, politicians with expense accounts at the Bellagio, crappy cell coverage, and an all intrusive government that would rather try to catch you not paying your taxes than catch a terrorist. I know I know, all those cameras on the streets are to catch red light runners and all the phone taps are to catch "terrorists". We would never use them against Americans just trying to make their way in the world.
So now there is a man and woman in New Hampshire who have holed themselves up in their home in New Hampshire because the Man in is their front yard waiting to arrest them for not paying taxes. "Live free or die!" the man keeps yelling. His gripe, and it's a good one, is that he pays more taxes than the president of the United States and makes less money, because he doesn't know all the write offs like the pres does. Yes, indeed that does suck. However any decent accountant can get the same write offs for you and all the info is available on the net or in books. So that I think should fall on him. LLCs, S-Corps, and other things are set up to allow people who work for their money to keep it. A friend of mine made almost 2 million last year and shelled out around $875,000 to Uncle Scam. To what end? His roads are not better, he has no kids but the kids around him aren't doing any better in school, the cops still take forever to get to a problem... where is his money going?
Many say that we need higher taxes, that more money will allow us to do more things... Poppy-cock I say. Every year more and more money goes into the black hole we call the US treasury never to be seen again. If we were to raise taxes another 10% on the top earners in America would that help? DO you think our daily lives would be greatly or even marginally enhanced? Highly doubtful. In fact I would put money on it.
Here is a little of my own private tax paying history. In 2004, my first full year in real estate I made give or take $32,000. I worked 6 days a week, nights, weekends, early mornings... the whole bit. My expenses? Give or take $40,000. I had more write offs than earnings so I didn't have to pay income tax because I didn't really make anything. And on top of that I was paying interest on the loans I had to take out. I did however have to pay FICA to the tune of 15%. Yes that's a little perk of being self-employed, I don't get to split my FICA with my employer and only pay 7.5%. Nope I paid 15% on the full $32,000. I will never see that money again. Ever.
And when the option came up to the powers that be to even allow me to take a portion of it to invest for myself I was told that the American people weren't capable enough to invest that money. That we NEEDED the government to do it for us. Well let's see, when I turn 65 I will have approximately $0 from social security. Even if I took $1000 of my FICA taxes every year and stuck it in a simple savings account I would have... let's see... carry the 5... a lot more than $0.
So I continue to pay my taxes and my hero in New Hampshire will be arrested and imprissioned when the Waco-ites on his lawn finally get to him. I won't get into the frivolous things our tax money is going to, that's a blog for another time, but I will say congrats to the man who says, "To what end do I pay my taxes?"
Here is a little info courtesy of http://www.taxhistory.org/
In 2003 the Pres "made" $822,126. Riiiiiight. $727,083 of that was taxable. He paid $227,494 in taxes putting him in the 31% bracket. He had $115,661 withheld and had a $173,280 carry over from 2002. So that means he gets back (carries over) $61,451 to 2004. Not bad for making over $800,000
Now the venerable John Kerry, champion of the poor and impoverished "made" $395,338 (riiiiiiiiiiiiight) in 2003, $346,664 taxable. He had $27,277 withheld. He ended up paying a total of $90,575 meaning he paid a whopping 26% in taxes.
Now we all know they made tons more than that but they are smart and know where to put it. They understand that it's not what you make but what you keep and that any money they out into the system is lost. The great part about it is that it is legal. It is available for anybody to do. So I say get educated people. Don't be guilted into betting on a losing horse. Own don't rent, write off things for your works... do what the people in Washington do. Do what they do but make sure you pay what you owe because the IRS can just go into your bank account and take what they want. Not to mention charge "fees and interest" that would make any loan shark in Little Italy giddy. And if you don't think that your favorite political figure from either side cares more about the money than they do about you, remember this. Michael Moore owns or has owned large quantities of Halliburton and Fox news has changed content because the Saudi "royal" family owns stock.
"Live free or die!"
Well it is a new year and I am already thinking about taxes. Ah yes, taxes. We pay them all day, every day. We pay gas tax and sales tax on cars in order to keep our roads pot hole free (and a marvelous job we are doing too), we pay income tax, bot state and federal, we pay tax at the grocery store on the food we eat, our phones are taxed, our gadgets and gizmos are taxed, our medicine and beer are taxed, and the final kick in the nuts, we are taxed on the money we have already been taxed on when we die.
Yes we pay taxes and then more taxes. We pay taxes when most don't even realize we are paying them. Yet we still have chasm like pot-holes, sub-standard schools, mediocre police protection, politicians with expense accounts at the Bellagio, crappy cell coverage, and an all intrusive government that would rather try to catch you not paying your taxes than catch a terrorist. I know I know, all those cameras on the streets are to catch red light runners and all the phone taps are to catch "terrorists". We would never use them against Americans just trying to make their way in the world.
So now there is a man and woman in New Hampshire who have holed themselves up in their home in New Hampshire because the Man in is their front yard waiting to arrest them for not paying taxes. "Live free or die!" the man keeps yelling. His gripe, and it's a good one, is that he pays more taxes than the president of the United States and makes less money, because he doesn't know all the write offs like the pres does. Yes, indeed that does suck. However any decent accountant can get the same write offs for you and all the info is available on the net or in books. So that I think should fall on him. LLCs, S-Corps, and other things are set up to allow people who work for their money to keep it. A friend of mine made almost 2 million last year and shelled out around $875,000 to Uncle Scam. To what end? His roads are not better, he has no kids but the kids around him aren't doing any better in school, the cops still take forever to get to a problem... where is his money going?
Many say that we need higher taxes, that more money will allow us to do more things... Poppy-cock I say. Every year more and more money goes into the black hole we call the US treasury never to be seen again. If we were to raise taxes another 10% on the top earners in America would that help? DO you think our daily lives would be greatly or even marginally enhanced? Highly doubtful. In fact I would put money on it.
Here is a little of my own private tax paying history. In 2004, my first full year in real estate I made give or take $32,000. I worked 6 days a week, nights, weekends, early mornings... the whole bit. My expenses? Give or take $40,000. I had more write offs than earnings so I didn't have to pay income tax because I didn't really make anything. And on top of that I was paying interest on the loans I had to take out. I did however have to pay FICA to the tune of 15%. Yes that's a little perk of being self-employed, I don't get to split my FICA with my employer and only pay 7.5%. Nope I paid 15% on the full $32,000. I will never see that money again. Ever.
And when the option came up to the powers that be to even allow me to take a portion of it to invest for myself I was told that the American people weren't capable enough to invest that money. That we NEEDED the government to do it for us. Well let's see, when I turn 65 I will have approximately $0 from social security. Even if I took $1000 of my FICA taxes every year and stuck it in a simple savings account I would have... let's see... carry the 5... a lot more than $0.
So I continue to pay my taxes and my hero in New Hampshire will be arrested and imprissioned when the Waco-ites on his lawn finally get to him. I won't get into the frivolous things our tax money is going to, that's a blog for another time, but I will say congrats to the man who says, "To what end do I pay my taxes?"
Here is a little info courtesy of http://www.taxhistory.org/
In 2003 the Pres "made" $822,126. Riiiiiight. $727,083 of that was taxable. He paid $227,494 in taxes putting him in the 31% bracket. He had $115,661 withheld and had a $173,280 carry over from 2002. So that means he gets back (carries over) $61,451 to 2004. Not bad for making over $800,000
Now the venerable John Kerry, champion of the poor and impoverished "made" $395,338 (riiiiiiiiiiiiight) in 2003, $346,664 taxable. He had $27,277 withheld. He ended up paying a total of $90,575 meaning he paid a whopping 26% in taxes.
Now we all know they made tons more than that but they are smart and know where to put it. They understand that it's not what you make but what you keep and that any money they out into the system is lost. The great part about it is that it is legal. It is available for anybody to do. So I say get educated people. Don't be guilted into betting on a losing horse. Own don't rent, write off things for your works... do what the people in Washington do. Do what they do but make sure you pay what you owe because the IRS can just go into your bank account and take what they want. Not to mention charge "fees and interest" that would make any loan shark in Little Italy giddy. And if you don't think that your favorite political figure from either side cares more about the money than they do about you, remember this. Michael Moore owns or has owned large quantities of Halliburton and Fox news has changed content because the Saudi "royal" family owns stock.
"Live free or die!"
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