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Don't Mess With Taxes - Blog Day Afternoon
Posted by Jeff (Sunday December 21 2003 @ 03:36PM EST)
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Retrospectives are popular at this time of year. Television airs the highlights and lowlights of the previous year. We see people who made the news and the events that shaped our lives. Talk centers on the year that was but I can't help but consider the year to come. January marks the beginning of tax season. The government needs money to fund its misadventures. Those revenues are extracted from people who lack the knowledge or the means to adequately circumvent tax laws. In other words, people like me.
Everybody talks about paying taxes. "Did you pay your taxes?" "Not yet, but I'm going to pay them soon." They act like taxes are a check that arrives at the end of a meal. You don't pay taxes, the government takes them. And you don't get to opt out, either. If the government wants dessert, then you can't decline. They charge your table whether you're eating or not.
The government takes so much of my money that I'm forced to withhold an additional fifty dollars per paycheck on top of my standard single deduction. This was necessary in order to avoid writing a check on April 15th. The current adminstration loves the rhetoric of tax cuts and smaller government while it increases spending and expands the size and reach of the Federal government. Somebody has to pay for that shit and it won't be Bush and his cronies. (They got actual tax reductions, while I recieved rhetoric and an anal cavity search at the airport.)
The current administration understands that the best way to make you feel good about the money it takes is to make you feel like you've recieved something in return. When the check arrives at the end of a meal, you want to know that you actually ate something. Of course when government took money to fund a war in Iraq, many were left to wonder if maybe they should've ordered the salmon instead. But with tax extraction season fast approaching the Bush administration wants you to know that you're getting value for the bombs it builds. On Sunday, the terrorist Bug-a-Boo alert was raised from "Scared Yella" to "Get High." Your tax extraction helped make that possible.
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By Mark (Monday December 22 2003 @ 09:27AM EST)
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On a side note, did anyone see Suzy Kolber's interview with Namath during the Jets-Patriot's game Saturday night? Was Joe-Willie in the bag? I keep seeing references to this on football boards.
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By Jeff (Monday December 22 2003 @ 09:35AM EST)
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On Saturday night, the Jets honored their All-time best team which was comprised of players from four decades of Jets football. Namath was selected as the team's best quarterback over the likes of Richard Todd and Ken O'Brien. The retired members of the All-time best team (Curtis Martin is still active) were treated to a night in a luxury booth where they were presumably treated to what Alex Trebec calls potent potables. While he didn't make a play at Suzy Kolber, it appeared that Joe Klecko had also spent time in the same section of the booth as Broadway Joe. The bigger question is this: After interviewing a drunk Namath, why did ESPN pull a drunk Klecko out of the booth and put him on camera. (For his part, Klecko did maintain but you could tell that it required some effort.)
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By Cher (Monday December 22 2003 @ 09:31AM EST)
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A colleague of mine explained it to me this morning. He said Namath appeared drunk and told Suzy Kolber - "I could just kiss you." They cut the interview and then came back only to have Namath say it again!
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Enlighten me, Marge
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The most formidable weapon against errors of any kind is reason.
-- Thomas Paine
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We Did Our Job!
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