http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040303/04

Damn, it's only March.

I seriously hope there will be blood in the streets if that sonofafucker gets re-elected. I'll be there with more cowbell.

I am counting the freaking days

So are my taxes gonna go down if he doesn't get re-elected ?

another good question is 'will anyone be able to restore the rights that have been taken away?'

today at lunch a very serious looking guy in a Hawaiian shirt stepped up to my front counter (at work) and informed me that he would be taking one of my employees away because he needs to talk to him. oh really? I asked. out came the badge. department of homeland security. HFS !!!.
sure enough he was already cuffed and stuffed into the back of a ford.
I got a call from him a few hours later telling me that they we're shipping him off to Arizona for questioning. he was rather upset. needless to say.
an hour later he called back to say they had made a mistake (my bad doesn't cut it) and had let him go. 50 miles away, but that's better than anything else I could imagine.

now I don't know what I'm more afraid of. my personal security or the ones that insure it.

Whoa. If you end up being able to tell more about that story, please do.

-brendan

he just got back. he had to get a ride from about 50 miles away. they asked him a bunch of crap, told him to call his work and family to tell them he'll be gone for 'some time'. then after an hour he over heard them say 'we can't hold him'.
he was on the street in five minutes. they said they were sorry for the inconvenience. I sent him home for the day to decompress. I keep trying to think of something witty to write, but just can't seem to make light of it yet.

Cuba. there, that's real funny.

...and they just dropped him off on the side of the road???

Search around, there are stories like this all over the place. It's fucking lunacy. I can't believe people are whining about taxes when there's things that are about a billion times more important to worry about.

> I can't believe people are whining about taxes when there's things that are about a billion times more important to worry about.

People are short-sighted and stupid. They think it can't happen to them and that only criminals need fear a loss of rights and only seem to care about how much money they will get next year. Basically, this election will come down to one thing: if the economy improves Bush will get re-elected, if it doesn't he won't. And that is such a sad indication of how screwed up this country is.

I guess I feel having more than I pay for rent taken from me every year is important. If I didn't have to pay such high taxes I could afford to buy a house and only work one job. Also I think the world would be a better place if the federal government was much much smaller.

Like with this example I am guessing the part you guys are mad about is the person that was canned supported stem cell research and bush didn't so he got rid of her. Well I would rather not have the government have anything to do with it and if a private company wants to do it go for it wouldn't that be better ? Then it wouldn't matter who is in the white house.

In the push for profitability basic research isn't done in the private sector. Companies which spend money on things which won't impact the bottom line in the next year or two but which might have actual positive impact on society cause lawsuits.

If you want to pretend otherwise, do so, but it's still pretending.

You'd rather have money than rights, good for you, but if you're not careful you may end up with neither.

And for what it's worth I think my overall tax burden would pay off my house in under 2 years, but if you flush everything taxes pay for, what good would that be?

> If I didn't have to pay such high taxes I could afford to
> buy a house and only work one job.

If you bought a house, you'd be paying considerably less in taxes...

-brendan

Yeah people tell me that I would be able to deduct the interest but then I would have to pay property taxes so would I come out ahead.

I'd have to check, but I think the property tax is also deductable.

You'd rather have money than rights, good for you, but if you're not careful you may end up with neither.

That doesn't make sense to me I feel higher taxes means bigger government which means less freedom.

That doesn't make sense to me I feel higher taxes means bigger government which means less freedom.

All you need to take away rights is an authoritarian police force. You don't need a big government to buy one. If you do that you can start ignoring other services.

You can feel whatever you like. You still have the right to be wrong

They might- but then all your taxes would go to paying down the national debt.

All you need to take away rights is an authoritarian police force.

You mean we don't have that already

It's certainly not as good as it's been in the past, but no, not yet.

Article

Geez, you think that's bad? Did you read the Salon article by the Pentagon insider?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/03/10/osp_moveon/

As far as taxes go, there is a huge deficit and it's getting bigger. Something has to be done about that. You can either raise taxes or you can cut the size of government. Bush /cut/ taxes and /increased/ the size of government. Something's gotta give. Tax cuts aren't free money -- you gotta pay for everything somehow.

On the deductible mortgage interest side of things, it's a HUGE tax break to own a house. Unless you live somewhere that has ridiculous property taxes (which is possible -- I don't know where you are), it's completely worth it. I literally save thousands in taxes every year because of my mortgage. Not to mention your house is also an investment, so while you're paying your mortgage, the value of your house is also increasing at the same time. Basically, it's just a good idea all around to buy a house. If one of your jobs offers a 401k, I would do that too. And you should consider starting your own business on the side -- do /anything/ it doesn't matter. The US tax system is designed to reward entrepreneurship. A world of write-offs opens up to you when you have your own business -- your home office (which includes % of mortgage interest again, % of utilities, etc), business-related purchases, etc. Not to mention you might actually be able to make some money out of whatever you decide to do. Of course you're working two jobs, so I don't know how feasible this one would be for you, but it's something to keep in the back of your mind.

ms

I literally save thousands in taxes every year because of my mortgage

And of course that more than pays for the tens of thousands of dollars you pay your mortgage lender in interest, doesn't it?

tanstaafl.

No, but it beats paying your landlord's interest and getting no writeoff.

Actually, my house appreciated almost twice my interest rate ... now it probably won't do that every year, but when I look at the full amount I am paying at the end (with interest) compared to what this house + land will probably be worth in 30 years, it almost certainly will be worth more. Not to mention if you comparing it to the alternative (i.e. renting), you're basically just paying someone else's mortgage with zero benefits.

Yeah, but you end up owning a valuable piece of property. If owning a dwelling weren't more cost-effective than renting one, landlords would be out of business, wouldn't they?

Speaking of MoveOn, have you noticed thinly veiled threats from RNC to TV stations broadcasting 'Bush in 30 seconds' ads? Mentioning their FCC licenses sounds ominous...

No, hadn't seen that, thanks for the link. I think the media is finally starting to wise up to the fact that it's fallen down on the job of calling Bush & Co. on their lies. At least, I *hope* it is.

As far as taxes go, there is a huge deficit and it's getting bigger. Something has to be done about that. You can either raise taxes or you can cut the size of government. Bush /cut/ taxes and /increased/ the size of government. Something's gotta give. Tax cuts aren't free money -- you gotta pay for everything somehow.


I understand that which is why I want smaller government.

I work for Ricoh and they have 401k which I participate in I also work for Dominos and I actually report all the tips I get if I really wanted to cut my taxes I could be like all the other people working there and not report anything. One guy has been working there full time for twenty years and has never reported a dime. (full time delivery driver would make about 32K per year)

I keep hearing I can deduct things pruchased for work and mileage but I the tax system is so ungodly complicated I don't think anyone really understands it and I am afraid if I do something wrong I won't find out about it for ten years and will be expected to pay loan shark like interest. I know one person this happened to they lost their house and everything they had because an accountant messed up and was long gone by the time the government figured it out.

I'm in Minnesota I think the prices for the houses here are over inflated because I look at the same type of house in other states an they are cheaper. I looked at some for about 150K and the property tax is listed for about 1300 I don't know how that compares to other states I didn't look at that.
I always thought you had to pay more taxes when you own your own business like 15% social security instead of 7.5 and have to pay quarterly. I suppose if you do it part time maybe that doesn't amount to much. My dad has his own small business and I know he sure has to pay a lot.

I also keep thinking about moving to another state that has no state income tax (like Texas they just need to change the weather ) but i'm sure they make up for it with something else.