Backdoor Taxes to Hit Middle Class

I was cruising my blogroll, When I came across a piece by Ace over at Ace of Spades HQ. While President Obama promises to only tax "the wealthy", by letting Bush era tax cuts expire without renewing them he will create a "Stealth Tax Hike" on the middle class. Ace points out the story was on Reuters but is now gone.



Fortunately for now the story can be seen at Yahoo Canada.
Highlights:

In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year -- effectively a tax hike by stealth.

So without technically raising taxes, the Obama administration plans to increase tax revenue by allowing your tax rate to go up on its own. He can of course then claim he kept at least one promise.

So what does this mean to me and you at the end of 2010?

If the provisions are allowed to expire on December 31, the top-tier personal income tax rate will rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. But lower-income families will pay more as well: the 25 percent tax bracket will revert back to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket will increase to 31 percent; and the 33 percent bracket will increase to 36 percent. The special 10 percent bracket is eliminated.

So there you have it. Obama is so good he can raise taxes without doing a thing. That must make him some sort of god in liberal tax and spend circles.

I Have to Say Something

I have lost all respect for the Nobel organization. Oh it is not just the shocking news that President Obama won the Peace Prize for, well I am not sure why he won it. We are still in Iraq and Afghanistan and in larger numbers than the Bush days. So I am not exactly sure of what peace they are talking about.

No it is not Obama alone. Let's review. In 2002 they gave Jimmy "The Worse President Evah" Carter a Peace Prize. Granted he does have a post presidential history of humanitarian work, but face it, the prize was a jab at President Bush's policies. As was the 2007 Peace Prize awarded to Al "Global Warming Czar" Gore. Come on. A PEACE prize for global warming? What an affront to everyone who was working towards peace to have the award given to Gore. Was it for his brilliant scientific proofs of the dangers of Global Warming? Nope. Czech President Vaclav Klaus, another climate change skeptic, said the relationship between Mr Gore’s work and world peace was “unclear and indistinct”. But they gave it to him anyway. Remember President Bush resisted the whole Global Warming scam and wouldn't sign the Kyoto accords.

So now our newest Democrat Nobel Laureate is President Obama. An interesting soundbite I heard while surfing the news channels said that the committee would have given the award to anyone who wasn't G. W. Bush. Why do liberals hate that man so?

Video Purportedly Showing Space Aliens Shown

A man has screened a 3 minute video purportedly showing space aliens to a press conference.

Jeff Peckman, who has proposed the city of Denver create an 18-member extraterrestrial affairs commission, screened the video for the media Friday at Metropolitan State College.

We are not alone as that grainy black-and-white video clearly shows. We are indeed surrounded by idiots. Extraterrestrial life landed in Nebraska and sought out our brightest minds. And then attempted to communicate using the universal language; Peek-A-Boo.

The video was taken on July 17, 2003, in Nebraska by Stan Romanek, according to Alejandro Rojas, the education director of the Mutual UFO Network, who spoke at Friday's press conference.

Rojas said Romanek set up the camera because he feared Peeping Toms were stalking his teen daughters, according to the Post.

And he was right! Peeping Toms from another world! Were these lonly E.T.s looking for some hot monkey love? An interstellar booty call perhaps? Or were they genuinely seeking to make first base contact and were mistakenly drawn to the second floor window by teen pheromones? With those big eyes it is possible they were simply drawn to the light like normal bug-eyed monsters.

Peckman did not release the video to FOX News.

"It's under agreement right now and negotiations are under way to create a documentary out of this for widespread use," Peckman said.

Ah now I see. The aliens brought us a message of peace. And these people are negotiating the film rights before the whole world can bask in the glory that is alien contact. Makes perfect sense to me.

Of course the whole thing smells like a hoax, not that I would have believed it were the video 3 hours long and shot in high definition color. Either the old man was right and some hot-blooded boys were trying to check out his daughters with a mock alien head, or the whole thing was staged so that people could make a buck. 

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So Why Is He Meeting With Terrorists Again?

Carter-Hamas Meeting Comes on 25th Anniversary of Deadly Terror Attack
So Governor Carter is at it again. (If you're a liberal and just took offense at me referring to James Earl as Governor, instead of Former President, you should learn the proper forms of address for EX-presidents.)  Yet against the wishes of the state department and members of congress Carter met with Hamas chief Khaled Meshal.

The U.S. State Department twice advised Carter against meeting Hamas leaders before he left on his Mideast trip earlier this week. More than 50 members of Congress also urged Carter not to meet Meshal, saying it would confer legitimacy on the group behind some 250 homicide bombings that have killed numerous Israelis.

Hamas officials say the meetings have lent their group legitimacy which means JEC is successfully undermining our efforts against Hamas and terrorism. Why? What does he think he is doing?  Well according to him he is laying the groundwork for Israeli-Palestinian peace. I guess memories of his Nobel Prize have lulled him into a sense of adequacy.  No one but Carter will talk to Hamas so how then does he think he will usher in this great dialog? The man is so full of himself it makes me ill.

On a cultural note I did write a Haiku about him for Haiku Friday on my other blog.

Jimmy E. Carter
The worst President ever
Please just go away.

I also have Haikus about Albert Gore, Barack Hussein Obama and Michelle Obama. Man I was really getting my poem on!

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Where Are We Going and Why Are We In This Handbasket?

You may have noticed that in addition to my new layout, I have added a news ticker. I love it except for the scroll speed which I have no control over. I have been clicking on news items and following some interesting stories of late. So for the first installment of WAWGAWAWITH for 2008 I thought I would mention some of these news items.

The first one would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. Men Wheel Dead Roommate to Check Cashing Store, Arrested for Trying to Cash His Social Security Check. Two guys haul their dead friend around town in an office chair to get his money.

"The witnesses saw the two pushing the chair with Cintron flopping from side to side and the two individuals propping him up and keeping him from flopping from side to side," Browne said.

The men left Cintron's body outside the store, went inside and tried to cash his $355 check, Browne said. The store's clerk, who knew Cintron, asked the men where he was, and O'Hare told the clerk they would go and get him, Browne said.

A police detective who was having lunch at a restaurant next to the check-cashing store noticed a crowd forming around Cintron's body, and "it's immediately apparent to him that Cintron is dead," Browne said.

How desperate do you have to be to defile a body like that? And for $355? These were suppose to be his friends and roommates but were more concerned with cashing his check.

Another story that got me upset. Football Player, Wife Charged in Death of His High School Cheerleader Ex First off, high school cheerleader ex?. He's 20 and the victim was 16. Wasn't anyone watching these two? I mean aside from the jealous 19 year-old wife and mother of his child?

Cell phone text messages showed Jeter agreed on Thursday night to meet Pernell Thompson behind a YMCA, where the couple were waiting, authorities said.

"The boy and his wife met her and killed her in the back parking lot," Union Public Safety Department Chief Sam White told The Union Daily Times for Monday's newspapers. "He stabbed her in the neck and they loaded her in the car and took her to Lockhart."

Jeter's bright pink 1994 Toyota Celica was driven into a neighboring county and set on fire, authorities said.

They text the victim and lured her to a trap. Then they killed her and tried to inconspicuously dispose of her bright pink car?

Then there is the man who threw 4 kids off a 80 foot bridge. They were 4 months, 1, 2, and 3 years old. Police: Man Throws 4 Kids Off Bridge He allegedly had a disagreement with his wife.

Lam Luong, 37, of Irvington confessed Tuesday night to driving to the Dauphin Island bridge, stopping and tossing the youngsters off the span, which is as high as 80 feet above the water in places, Detective Scott Riva said. Luong faced charges of four counts of capital murder and was due in court Wednesday, Riva said.

So if your wife ticks you off, go chuck the kids in the river.

And lastly a man murders two little girls to cast a spell. 2 Girls Killed in 'Strange Ritual' Slaying in Iowa The victims were not his biological children. But he lived with their mom who was at work at the time.

The victims include Kendra Suing, 10, and her sister, Alysha Suing, 8, whose bodies were found Sunday afternoon. An official cause of death won't be available for several days, Reilly said.

"You're talking about people casting spells, spells gone bad," Sioux City Police Chief Joe Frisbie said at a Monday press conference, according to the Sioux City Journal. "Obviously, there is a lot more going on here than a straightforward homicide."
[snip...]
Experts say the study of witchcraft is often misunderstood.

Professor Helen A. Berger, author of three books on witches, told the Sioux City Journal she doubted anyone claiming to have killed children while casting a spell is a true practitioner of witchcraft.

"This is not a group that participates normally in violence, but it is a group that doesn't have firm boundaries, which means that anyone can make a claim to be a member," she told the newspaper.

This is the part that really burns my butt. They contact a witch "specialist" to point out that people casting "real spells" don't kill people. You know, because people casting real spells are so level headed and stable. Give me a break.

Is it something in the water? Or has my news ticker just made me more aware of man's inhumanity towards man this week? What's your take on it?

2007 in Review; The Quiz

chrys at Wordpark sent me this link. It is to 2007 News in Review Trivia Quiz. My score was dismal. (I admit that sports and geography were my weaknesses). See how well you do.

Newsworthy Notes

I found this to be an interesting bit of news. Lynne Spears Parenting Book Delayed Indefinitely
Why you ask? Because her famous daughter is pregnant with her boyfriend's baby. No; not Brittney, her other famous daughter, 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears. The Nickelodeon star announced that she is 12 weeks along and she's keeping her baby. The father is her "long time boyfriend". LONG TIME BOYFRIEND!!?? She's 16! How long are we talking here?

But buying Lynne's book on parenting would have been like buying Jeffery Dahmer's book of recipes. Not a bright idea. Seeing how baddly Brittney turned out did anyone think Jamie would actually do better?

(Hat tip: The Anti-Itch Meditation)

Another Christian Murdered by Muslims

Another moment brought to you by the Religion of Peace. Christian activist killed in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A prominent Palestinian Christian activist was found dead on a Gaza City street Sunday, sending a shudder of fear through a tiny Christian community feeling increasingly insecure since the Islamic Hamas seized control last summer

The body of Rami Khader Ayyad, the 32-year-old director of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, bore a visible gunshot wound to the head, and an official at Gaza's Shifa Hospital said he was also stabbed numerous times. Ayyad had been missing since Saturday afternoon.

Ayyad regularly received anonymous death threats from angry people who accused him of missionary work, a rarity among Gaza's Christians. His store, which is associated with a Christian group called the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April.

Ayyad left two young children and a pregnant wife.

Is there any doubt that there can be no peace with the religion of peace? Mr. Ayyad was one of 3200 Christians living among 1,400,000 Muslims. It was just a matter of time before someone acted out one of the death threats. Can there ever be peaceful co-existence with followers of a faith that is so intolerant and also feels it is an act of spirituality to murder an infidel?

The Times They Are A-Changin

At least in France they seem to be. A pro-American conservative won the Presidential election Sunday. The moonbats became unhinged. Sarkozy Win Sets Off France Riots was an interesting read. See if you can spot any bias in the reporting...

Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative who beat Socialist Segolene Royal in a runoff Sunday, is a divisive figure whose tough language and crackdowns on crime and immigration have angered many on the left and in the immigrant-heavy suburban housing projects that erupted in riots in 2005.

So if you are tough on immigration and crime you are divisive. And who was it that got angry again? Hmmm, the left and the rioters who destroyed millions of euros of property in 2005.

But just like in 2005 the moonbats have decided to display their displeasure in the same manner.

Some 730 cars were burned nationwide Sunday night and 592 people arrested, police said.
Late Monday night, several hundred people massed again at the Place de la Bastille in Paris, breaking windows in nearby shops and starting street fires. Riot police dispersed them, and about 100 people were arrested, police said Tuesday. A handful of cars were ignited in the area.

The French handed Sarkozy a mandate. They are tired of the economic and social chaos that plagues their nation. But the left didn't go down without a fight. No. The socialists stood firm on their platform planks and fully expected the better man to win... well no they didn't Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal threatened the French people.

Royal had warned of renewed violence in case of a Sarkozy victory, and had sought to make the campaign a referendum on Sarkozy's polarizing persona.

Way to take the high road and sell your agenda Sego.

Sarkozy is not out of the woods yet. His conservative vision for France can only succeed if the conservatives win the upcoming general election. If not then France will be like America with a conservative president and a liberal congress.

Obama as Savior

I know many liberals are viewing Barack Obama's presidential bid like the Second Coming. But I guess some Artist Sees Obama as Christ Yeah. I'm sure some Democrats wish he would die for their sins and get out of the race.



Hat Tip Weak Minded Pessimist

Thomas Jefferson's Koran

I believe that you should go to church every time the doors are open. Church is not just for singing praises and eating fellowship meals. Church is for learning. Besides giving a great sermon on faith and another on Heaven, my pastor had an article in the Heritage Herald, our church bulletin. It was about Keith Ellison. I have reprinted it below with some additional data from Wikipedia.

Keith Ellison, now officially the first Muslim United States Congressman, placed his hand on the Koran, the Muslim book of jihad, and pledged his allegiance to the United States during his ceremonial swearing-in.

The Koran used once belonged to Thomas Jefferson third president of the United States and one of America's founding fathers. Ellison borrowed it from the rare books section of the Library of Congress and is one of the 6500 Jefferson books archived in the library. Ellison, born in Detroit and converted to Islam while in college, said he chose to use Jefferson’s Koran because it showed that a visionary like Jefferson believed wisdom could be gleaned from many sources.

Because Ellison stated an intent to use the Koran instead of a Bible at his photo op reenactment of the swearing-in ceremony (the official ceremony is done en mass without any books) conservative columnists Dennis Prager wrote a column criticizing him. This drew responses from organizations such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), The American Family Association and The Anti-Defamation League.

Fifth term Representative Virgil Goode (R-VA) responding to "scores and hundreds of e-mails" from his constituents after the Prager articles has also stated his view that Ellison's decision to use the Koran is a threat to the values and beliefs traditional to United States of America he also wrote

"If American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office demanding the use of the Koran"

Ellison was right about Jefferson leaving wisdom could be gleaned from the Muslim Koran. at the time Jefferson owned the book he needed to know everything possible bout Muslims because he was about to advocate war against Islamic Barbary states Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli. Ellison's use of the Jefferson’s Koran as a prop illuminates a subject once well-known in the history of the United States but mostly forgotten today-- the Muslim pirate slavers enslaved millions of Africans and tens of thousands of Christian Europeans and Americans in the Islamic Barbary states. Not long after Jefferson’s inauguration as president in 1801 he dispatched a group of frigates to defend America's interest in the Mediterranean and informed Congress declaring that America was going to spend millions for defense but not one cent for tribute. Jefferson pressed the issued by deploying American marines and many of America's best warships to the Muslim Barbary Coast.
In 1805 American marines marched across the desert from Egypt to Tripolitania forcing the surrender of Tripoli and freeing all American slaves.

During the Jefferson administration, the Muslim Barbary states, crumbling as a result of intense American naval bombardment and onshore raids by Marines, finally officially agreed to abandon slavery and piracy. Jefferson's victory over Muslims lives on today in the Marine hymn, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli".

I Didn't Feel It Move

We had an earthquake here yesterday. It measured a whopping 3.6 on the Richter scale. I had to learn about it on TV this morning because, well the Earth didn’t move for me. We get quakes here in Ohio all the time I’m told, 16 last year. But they are so small no one notices. Not that I’m complaining. I’d rather have a T.V. fall off a sedan and a 1 inch crack 50 foot long open up than to have widespread death, destruction, and loss of property.  

I guess if the big one ever hits Ohio then Peninsula will break off from the rest of the state and sink into the Cuyahoga.  

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

While trolling for headlines I came across this little ditty. "Cat bag apparel irks Florida officials "

It seems a fast food restaurant has designed their food bags to look like Rap clothing for cats.

Tampa-based Checkers Drive-in Restaurants Inc. is distributing "Rapcat" bags designed with cutaway areas for the cat's legs and tail. The cat's head sticks out the opening of the bag, which is designed to look like to a basketball jersey and gold chain worn by the hip-hop Rapcat puppet in Checkers commercials.

Of course that is enough to send animal enthusiasts into a tizzy.

A Hillsborough County Animal Services news release on Monday said forcing a real, unwilling cat into a "Rapcat" bag could be considered felony animal cruelty. The bag's warning - "not all cats will be down with wearing this bag. Do not harm or endanger any cat" - is not enough, the agency said. (emphasis mine)

Okay I have had cats in the past and I live with seven of them now. I pretty much know which ones would be down with wearing a bag and which ones would shred my flesh at the very attempt to bag them. I think the warning would be sufficient. But not nanny-state control freak animal services spokeswoman Marti Ryan. She said

...the agency is prepared to go to court if necessary to stop the campaign

Well there you have it. Another concerned citizen group fighting for the rights of cats to not have to go through therapy. Wait a minute. Hillsborough County Animal Services is funded by tax dollars. That means the tax payer gets to foot the bill of any attempt to put Checkers in it's place. I would be really mad if I lived in Florida and some low level bureaucrat used tax money to sue a fast food restaurant because they were afraid normal human beings would lose their senses and en masse stuff millions of cats into food bags. I mean come on. How many times would a cat have to object to being bagged before a reasonable person would stop? Just how many times do you think a person will think this is fun anyway? Do we really need a moonbat like Ms. Ryan to protect our cats and dictate our behaviour?

I guess the only thing missing is another moonbat complaing how Rapcat demeans African Americans with hurtful stereotypes.

Missionaries Die in Honduras

Came across this in my blogging yesterday. US Baptist and Methodist Missionaries Killed in Honduras My church supports several missionaries so it is always tough to hear about tragedies befalling people taking the Gospel to foreign fields.

Three US missionaries of Baptist and Methodist Churches were killed and ten others injured on a road accident in Honduras on 6th of February.

A truck the Georgia-based missionaries was riding went off the road in flipped over in rugged terrain near the village of Mal Pais in eastern Olancho province near the border with Nicaragua, said Honduran police spokesman Jose Andino. It is seven hours from the capital city of Tegucigalpa.

Those killed and injured were part of a group of 28 adults on a charity mission to Honduras sponsored by four churches, Tabernacle Baptist in Cartersville, First United Methodist, First Baptist, and Cornerstone United Methodist of Newnan. The short-term trip was organized by Decatur-Ga.-based Honduras Outreach Inc.

Perry Goad, 45 and Richard Mason Jr., 58, are from the Tabernacle Baptist in Cartersville, and Martha Fuller, 66, from First United Methodist in Newnan were the dead.

Hat Tip:Cindy Swanson