I’m sitting here after dinner, about to have a glass of wine, thinking about what I would do with my all my money if I had millions of dollars. You know what isn’t on the list?
Whine about how much I pay in taxes. Can someone please “punish” me by throwing me in a higher tax bracket? Pretty please? Hell, I’ll take the highest tax bracket you got if I get the kind of money you need to make to be in it. Punish me. Give me your best shot. Really put the screws to me.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Drat! I was so looking forward to this one happening. The Diaper Dave V Deepthroat race.
popegrope
BROTHER AND SISTERS! The time is near for the oppressed to RISE UP! NO MORE will we settle for being paid 1,000,000 and only getting to keep 600,000 of it! NO MORE will we be forced to pay thousands in taxes for our humble seaside McMansions.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
nope, that is the Tunchster’s department.
beltane
You never see these whiners give up their high-paying jobs to work as dishwashers for minimum wage. If not paying taxes is their highest priority, why not go Galt and work as a Wal-Mart greeter?
There are few things as ugly in this world as the sight of a pathologically greedy rich person.
Pasquinade
Funny hashtag, relating to Palin: #vaginasarenotclowncars
@ArkCowboy Palin condemns Obama Space Plan, calls Moon “a vital source of cheese.”
#2012bumperstickers: “Palin/Bachman It’s A No Brainer!” RT @arsather
How To Tell If You’re A Teabagger: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2010/04/sarah_palin_constitution_guns.html#comment-3117726
Mark S.
Stuck linked to World Nut Daily in the last thread, so out of curiosity I took a gander at the front page. The first eight articles are all about Obama’s birth certificate.
Cat Lady
My fantasy about having a lot of money is to be an anonymous donor to what would considered to be a lost cause. Things I read about in the paper – people who have been cheated, or suffered from some cruel fate, or have attempted to turn their life around and need a something good to push them along. I have no interest in being named anywhere, or have a ceremony, or have my name on a building or a scholarship. Just the ability to provide a need for someone who needs a break. My only rule would be no religion involved.
srv
That’s because you’d only have that much money if it was GIVEN to you, like all the other elitists.
RedKitten
I think it just shows what kind of a bubble these people live in. They don’t even have enough sense to limit their bitching to conversations behind closed doors with people who make the same amount as they do.
Nope. Instead they whine and kvetch to all and sundry in national media sources.
And they don’t realize that the vast majority of the country would gladly trade incomes with them in a heartbeat.
It’s like when CEOs were complaining about having to sell their private jets. Boo-fucking-hoo, right?
lamh31
Okay,
Is this bad that I giggled a little bit at this:
Porn For The Blind
Mumphrey
I still wonder how whoever wrote the “Lucky Duckies” piece of shit in the Wall Street Journal, lo, these many years ago, can live with himself, knowing that that slimy, greedy screed is still floating around out in the ether somewhere.
Sly
I’d tell you what I’d do, man:
Two chicks at the same time, man.
trollhattan
I wandered over to the state Capitol teabagfest(tm) and will report to the BJ commentariat that they’ve
managed tosucceeded in making themselves boring. Crowd perhaps two-thirds of last year’s and, astonishingly, whiter as well. I didn’t think that was possible; it’s like discovering there’s something saltier than canned anchovies.The memes are all the same tired ones, although one speaker managed to get a howl from the crowd over the preznit’s latest bow o’ shame to the Chinese premier. Far fewer Hitler and Stalin references, although hanging seems to now be the dogwhistle du jour. Ah lynching references, will you ever get old? They don’t hold much love of Nancy SMASH, either.
The Randians weren’t there but the Birchers were. I got a nice color three-panel pamphlet featuring Ron Paul.
r€nato
@Sly: with that kind of money, I would think you could have dozens of chicks at the same time.
(yes, I know you’re quoting OS)
Pasquinade
Fox News yanks Sean Hannity from Cincinnati Tea Party rally he was set to star in
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/04/fox-news-cancels-hannity-taping-at-cincinnati-tea-party-rally-.html
Linkmeister
“Taxes are the price we pay for civilization” — Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
arguingwithsignposts
Since this is an Open Thread, I thought I would update the BJ community on the request I made the other night. The cat is okay! What looked like a dire condition turned out to be something very treatable. Both cat and owner are recovering from the scare. Thanks to those who sent their positive thoughts, prayers, whatever in the general direction.
K. Grant
My wife and I often play the ‘if you actually won the lottery, what would you do’ game. We always start by saying, ‘Okay, take the however much percentage off the top for taxes.’ Shockingly, this never seems to dampen our enthusiasm for our dreaming about traveling the world for the rest of our lives (which is what we would do if money were no object), because we recognize this as something that needs to be done so that, well, everything that is necessary actually gets done – infrastructure, national defense, international relations, welfare of the people.
If I were that wealthy, it seems like a pretty easy burden to bear knowing that I was helping a great many people. Guess that makes me a dirty social-ist type.
r€nato
I’d pay $20 if it got me close enough to Hannity to spit a big, fat loogey on him.
Shit, I’d pay $200 for that privilege. $20 is a smokin’ deal. Maybe I’ll buy 9 seats for friends and we can all spit on him. Wounded soldier exploiting asshole.
Mumphrey
You know, now that I think of it, I’ll bet the Massey Coal Company has about 25 or 30 openings for poor, beleaguered rich assholes who feel like they’re unfairly taxed. Ending up in the highest bracket is one thing they, thankfully, won’t have to worry about working for Don Blankenship.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@arguingwithsignposts: Good to hear, though I missed the smudge troubles. And Charlie is also doing most excellent after his eating sticks and all. Ornery and energetic as ever.
Mumphrey
@Linkmeister:
Commie.
Punchy
Apparently, also not laying cash on powerhouse Philly to beat the worthless Nats at home. Because that would have inexplicably lost what should have been easy money. Not that I would do this.
/jabs forehead with fork
kay
I was glad to sign the check this year because we did better this tax year than last tax year, which was our worst year ever. I’ve been happy all day.
I’m also relieved we didn’t have to lay anyone off, during the worst of it. We only have two employees, one part time college student and one mother of three, and I really, really didn’t want to lose either of them, they’re great, or send them out into scary massive unemployment local job search.
So, we made it :)
SIA
@lamh31: Ha! That reminds me of how Mr Screaming used to read books aloud so they could be recorded for the blind. One of the things he read aloud was Penthouse Forum.
I’m sure the lack of pictures detracted somewhat.
trollhattan
@arguingwithsignposts:
Yay! That’s great to hear. Very happy for you and kitteh.
El Cid
We are lucky that all billionaires don’t give up their money so they can enjoy the pleasures of getting a tax refund.
Oh, wait — they probably still get to do that.
jncc
Sure, if you could just be plopped down into that bracket through no effort of your own, you’d be pig happy to pay whatever the taxes were.
But if, on the other hand, you busted your rear end for a few decades only to see that you are sending a few hundred grand every year off to the gummit, you might feel different about it.
(Understood that many in the upper income brackets are there through no hard work of their own.)
SIA
@arguingwithsignposts: That is a relief. I’m so glad for you.
SIA
@Pasquinade: I haz a happy naow
Comrade Tank Hueco
@K. Grant:
I admit I play Texas Lotto, and if $10 million+ fell out of the sky into my front yard, I’d gladly pay the taxes, and more gladly give a good chunk of it away. But most gladly first-class world travel until me and the lady pass away. :)
r€nato
my wingnut ex-father regularly wailed about how much the gummint taxed him.
Here’s how he figured out his tax burden:
his tax bracket plus the sales tax rate plus all the assorted taxes on utility bills, property taxes, etc. He just added up all the tax rates – ignoring completely little matters like tax deductions and tax credits and the fact that sales tax only applies to what you SPEND (and food is often exempted from sales tax) – and announced with great indignation that he paid over half his gross income in taxes.
This man was an accomplished engineer when he was working (retired now), and presumably would not be someone who is intimidated by numbers and high school-level math.
It was hopeless to try to point out the obvious flaws in his argument; he literally wouldn’t let me finish what I was saying if it was inconvenient to his point.
stuckinred
If I hit it I’d go to the Outer Banks and fish. . .and I’m going to do just that next month!
YellowJournalism
I am sick of people holding up that “47% of people don’t pay (federal) taxes” as some sort of proof that they and their tea-bagging brethren are right about the tax system. I had to stop reading one of my favorite education blogs today because the comments section on a piece about NYC suspending a payment program contained some of the vilest, racist, sexist and smug-filled bullshit I’ve ever read, even some from people who claim to have worked with the poor. It was all about how we should go back to the days when unwed pregnancies were treated like the end of the world and young mothers were forced to go into hiding to have a baby and put it up for adoption. Someone even tried to make the argument about how the current welfare system supports and encourages unwed mothers and breaks down the black community. There was so much contempt for the poor and for single mothers, it was disgusting.
The only thing that made me feel okay was that these people who were commenting were mostly not in front of a classroom on a daily basis. They’re the ones that go on there to smugly comment about how they’re happy their children are homeschooled and how public education is ruining America. These people, and people like that Henry in that other post, are a bunch of whiny pricks with loathsome attitudes who don’t realize that if life had gone a little differently for them (a medical-related bankruptcy here, a divorce there), they would be in the exact same boat as the people they’re putting down and their so-called friends in this new movement would be pointing the finger right at them and saying, “Shame on you for not working hard enough!”
El Cid
@jncc: I have busted my ass for quite a number of years, and I would gladly pay more to Big Gubmit in taxes if it meant having a shitload more money than I have now.
Elisabeth
@Punchy:
I had Phillies pitching on my ESPN baseball challenge. Jerks cost me a whole lot of points … but no real money. I ain’t stupid. :)
YellowJournalism
@lamh31: That made me smile, BTW. Reminds me of the scene from Robin Hood: Men in Tights when they take away Robin Hood’s house and the blind servant is left in what used to be the bathroom, holding onto a braille Playboy magazine.
r€nato
@YellowJournalism:
wait, so the teabaggers are upset that nearly 50% pay no income tax? Shouldn’t they be pleased about that?
Or is it that they have the idea that that 50% is composed largely of
mongrel racesminorities?Or is it simply more of the same ‘heads we win/tails you lose’ bullshit?
Wayne
My Dad made a LOT of money in the late 60’s early 70’s when the top tax bracket was in the 70%’s. I never heard him bitch about it. On the contrary, he said he would have loved to have to pay a million bucks in taxes because it was a lot in his pocket.
jl
Cole makes a lousy bitter entitled white man.
Not sure what can be done for him.
And he has Tunch for a near perfect example of heartless ingratitude every day.
Cole’s a hopeless case. I give up on him.
Mark S.
I am sure as soon as O’Reilly learns of this video, he’ll issue a correction on his show and apologize to Coburn. He’s a stand up kind of guy.
In other news, I’ve recently started smoking crack.
russell
My wife and I just filed our joint return today.
My wife works for herself, so our taxes are complex enough that we pay someone to sort it all out for us. As part of the deal, our tax preparer computes our net effective federal tax rate.
Our combined federal taxable income puts us into the “28% tax bracket”.
Our effective tax rate – the percentage of our total income that we actually paid in federal income tax — was just over 11%.
We basically have the normal writeoffs — mortgage, some of my wife’s business expenses, but no kids — so I suspect that spread is pretty normal.
lamh31
I love Open Threads. Nothin’ is off topic!!!
I was looking up this song for a response to someone about authenticity and “Treme”, I just had to share it with ya’ll.Some New Orleans flava for ya:
Rebirth Brass Band: Do Whatcha Wanna
Wanna know if someone is from New Orleans, play this song, and find out.
me
How many fucking teabaggers does the Snooze Hour have at it’s town hall?
WereBear
Somehow I get the feeling that all this whining about taxes is simply emulating a higher bracket.
If you complain about how much you pay in taxes, the knowledgeable will know that you must make far more than that.
Of course, I might be thinking of an era when such concepts as “crass” still operated. Today’s bankers wouldn’t blink at hiring an actual jockey to stand on their lawn.
stuckinred
@lamh31: Dudes Monday mornin were bitchin about the show. Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeit!
carpeicthus
I paid more in taxes today than I made, pre-tax, two years ago. For some reason I’m not complaining.
Mnemosyne
But that’s the beautiful thing: if you make enough money, you don’t ever have to pay income tax! Just make enough dubious claims about the money you expect to lose in the future and you, too, can be income tax free.
jeffreyw
Dammit, missed and open thread while I was having fun eatin BBQ chicken.
And don’t call them beanie weenies!
El Cid
@r€nato: The Earned Income Tax Credit was justified under Saint Ronald Reagan and by the Heritage Foundation backing it (and remember it’s not just the EITC itself, begun under Nixon, but its rationale) with the argument that since — in their view — federal income taxes are an onerous and immoral burden anyway, it was most onerous and immoral to burden the lowest income workers with it.
Back then it was seen as a conservative strike against oppressive central government taxation of the heroic struggling worker.
Now it has all melded together in their warped minds as part of the same librul conspirsee that gave us Jimmy Carter and the CRA which destroyed our entire economy once Barney Frank got control of the government.
Chuck
I just saw this “Online Tax Revolt: Choose an avatar and march to Washington” in the sidebar.
After my reaction of “now isn’t that just precious and pathetic”, my next thought was “do they let you pick your own avatar?”
It’s going to be a sea of dongs. Hey, teabag!
Punchy
@Elisabeth: Sigh. Let’s not discuss fantasy baseball teams this year. Had a monster team last year (8 of 10 were All-Stars). This year….not so much.
It’s early, yes, but I’m in a huge hole. And Philly winning today would have been nice on the pocketbook. In theory. If that were legal.
Mnemosyne
@Pasquinade:
You know the only reason they got pissed is because Hannity was going to get paid for his appearance. Fox owns the teabaggers and they don’t want some little pischer like Hannity moonlighting on it.
Church Lady
Quit your job to start you own company. Live off of what little savings you have for a few years, because the company only makes enough money to pay it’s rent/utilities/local taxes, etc., but not enough to pay you a salary. Take some years paying yourself a salary less than half of what you were making working for someone else. Whatever extra money is available is spent slowly but surely hiring employees, a few every year that you manage to stay in business, or plowed into purchasing inventory and equipment in an effort to expand. As the company starts to make a little more money than is required to meet basic overhead, start providing health insurance and retirement plans for your family and your employees and their families. Travel six or seven months a year, building up a customer base and miss birthdays, anniversaries and every holiday at some point, except for Thanksgiving or Christmas, all in the effort to keep everything going. Finally, start to realize a more comfortable living, after 10 or so years of substantial sacrifice and realize that you have busted your ass for years for the priviledge of handing over almost 1/3 of every single dollar you make to the federal government, and know that you’ll soon be handing over even more, and realize that no, you are not “rich” and you are not a millionaire, but you are paying the same tax rate that those who are do.
Yes, we do feel entitled to whine a little bit.
And John, if you’d like to move into that higher tax bracket, you might consider moving out of academia and earning a living doing something that pays a little more, perhaps even risking everything by starting your own business. Than you, too, can whine.
Mike in NC
@Mark S.:
Didn’t realize until recently that the wingnuts and teatards were not only Birthers, but many are also pitching a fit over Obama’s academic record, or alleged lack thereof. Let’s guess: he didn’t actually get into Harvard Law by working for it. Must’ve been one of those commie Affirmative Action things where everything is just handed to you, right?
Lurking Canadian
Of course, I might be thinking of an era when such concepts as “crass” still operated. Today’s bankers wouldn’t blink at hiring an actual jockey to stand on their lawn.
I am often struck, reading the screeds of libertarian types (and especially McArdle) by how self-congratulatory they are. It’s “hard working” this and “high IQ” that and “better life choices” the other thing. Did these people not have parents? Honestly, my mom would have washed my mouth out with soap (and probably still would) if I bragged like that in private, and these people are doing it out there in front of God and everybody. They have no shame at all.
Anne Laurie
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
This is wonderful news, General!
Also, AWS, glad your friend’s cat is doing better.
J.
Those “Tunch is watching you” t-shirts must have made you at least a mil, John.
Sounds like somebody could use some really cute cat videos. (Love the one of the cat playing with an iPad = iPawed?)
MikeJ
@Church Lady: There are plenty of places you could go and not pay any income tax, but I think it would be significantly harder to get a new business off the ground in Somalia.
gogol's wife
@arguingwithsignposts:
That’s great.
I know I sound weird, but I actually enjoy paying my taxes.
Punchy
Not to threadhog, but I’ve long had this idea:
Let those fuckers who dont want to pay taxes, not pay any taxes. Let them go tax-free, no legal rammys. But when they call the police or fire department, politely refuse to entertain their problem. When their garbage refuse is refused for pickup, tell them to compost like motherfuckers. When the water main breaks, tough shit, shower with sand, bitches.
I suspect they’ll pay taxes the next year in their vandalized, charred hovel with no water and a pile of trash.
+4 already
gogol's wife
@Church Lady:
Yeah, and you trying getting through graduate school on no money.
Elisabeth
@Punchy:
The baseball challenge isn’t fantasy baseball which is part of the reason I like it. I know enough about baseball to be dangerous but I don’t study all the lefty versus lefty, fastball hitter versus fastball pitcher stuff so I need the flexibility to switch players frequently (daily should the need arise). It’s pretty cool, actually, unless your pitcher sucks that day or Ichiro hits a dry spell or Mauer rests a game and you don’t know it.
Chyron HR
@Church Lady:
If you’re not “rich”, why are you outraged when John criticizes rich people for whining?
(No, holding up a giant sign that says “TAXPAYERS = NIGGARS” is not a valid answer. Try again.)
lamh31
@stuckinred:
yeah some people I know were discussing the show. They thought it was kinda slow, and many of them were comparing the show to “The Wire” (unfairly, IMHO). The felt it was “too slow”. But I was like, ahhh it’s just the first ep dudes. Chill out. They have to set the scene for those, unlike NOLA natives like me, who may need more background info.
Also, I think that so many people are more used to the touristy, “stereotype” of New Orleans, but this show, from what I understand, ain’t about that. Like they did with “The Wire”, they are trying to be as authentic as possible to the city they are portraying.
As I said on another board, I’d be interested in finding out what people thought of “The Wire” when it first premiered. Especially since I’ve seen a number of comments that were comparing the show to “The Wire”. I suspect, but have no evidence that if people were honest, “The Wire” was a slow burner too.
Also, in my vast TV watching experience (LOL), it’s better for a show to be a slow burner (that hopefully is nutured by the network), than for it to be a big spark, and a quick fizzle (Heroes comes to mind).
A slow burn gives the audience a chance to become comfortable with the show and become real true fans.
Anyway, I’m glad it was renewed. On a purely financial note, the show hires a good number of local residents to round out the exterior shots. That revenue is still badly needed.
Mnemosyne
@jncc:
Well, why don’t we ask a guy who makes more money in a year than I will in my entire lifetime?
Sorry, he disagrees with you.
stuckinred
@jeffreyw: Did you have some pound cake?
Face
@MikeJ: I think any biz making small skiffs, reselling AK-47s, and upcharging for a shitload of rope would make bank in Somalia.
Tsulagi
Yeah, that always gets me about those in the supposedly business and financially savvy party. They can be making $30k year, but are absolutely convinced if they can get one more tax cut they’ll be living the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Sure, it didn’t happen with the previous cuts, but the next one will do it for sure. If they put as much effort into raising their income as whining about taxes, they just might have a little more.
Since OT, for any who watch, Deadliest Catch started up this past Tuesday. Only reality show I watch sometimes. Learned this week one of the boat captains followed in the show died in Feb. while fishing crab. So I guess that might be in one of the episodes coming up.
That captain cracked me up in one episode. Guy was injured while fishing, later found he’d crushed some discs in his back and a blood clot passed through his heart that could have killed him. Sons convince him to turn the boat around to get medical help. Takes one or two days to get to land while he’s having problems breathing and hacking up blood. They rush him to an ER, but before he goes through the entrance doors, the crazy fucker sits down to smoke a cigarette. That was funny. RIP, Captain Phil.
stuckinred
@lamh31: The Wire never gained any widespread viewership in spite of the rep it had. Generation Kill was really well done too. They had a round table of guys from the 1st Recon on the last installment and they said sometimes they thought it was a documentary! Simon shoots for reality and if folks want some short attention span theater they came to the wrong show.
Mnemosyne
@Church Lady:
So it’s our fault that the really rich people can game the system and not, say, the fault of the really rich people who game the system? It’s pretty weird that you would blame the people who are in the same boat as you are instead of the tax cheats who are making things worse for you.
Oh, and as long as you completely refrained from using any public sewage systems, public roads, public utilities (electricity and/or gas) and the internet while you were building up your business, then you can complain that you got absolutely no help from the government while you were struggling. If not then, sorry, you were getting a loan from the rest of us taxpayers so you could build up your business, and now it’s time to pay that loan back.
stuckinred
@Face: Or small spilff’s!
Church Lady
@gogol’s wife: Been there, done that. Put myself through college, working full time and going to school at night and on Saturdays. Than on to law school, also on my own, going to classes in the morning and working every afternoon for a law firm and waiting tables on weekends. The oldest child starts grad shool in the fall. She’s secured a TA position, which will cover 75% of her tuition. Everthing else is on her – the only thing we’ll do to help is pay her rent/utilities. Otherwise, she’s on her own. It will do her good to struggle a bit.
South of I-10
I passed by the local tea party on my way home, it was filled with old white people waving Gadsden flags.
LD50
@Mumphrey:
My prediction is that he still believes everything he wrote and he’s quite pleased with what a big impression he made.
Face
@Elisabeth: Your sublime knowledge about the game of baseball is……well….pretty cool.
My Cubs got smoked today. How Zambrano went from hero to zero in 18 months flat is simply amazing.
Alan
Just saw a Rubio commercial decrying all the untruthful attacks made by Crist. That’s the second Rubio commercial I’ve seen this week. I wonder when Crist will run his attack ads to catch up to Rubio’s rebuttals? And who the heck will the Democrats run in the general?
jl
@J.: yeah, feint by Cole about his abject poverty is very conveniently timed, now that the googlebazillions from the Tunch gear are rolling in.
Everyone wears Tunch gear now. It’s everywhere.
Help me, help, it’s driving me insane.
Some one needs to send a Tunch ‘Obey’ shirt to Obama and see if he wears it.
Wow, that would set off a frenzy, wouldn’t it?
And if anyone came after Tunch, the Paw of Death for them.
It would be great fun, unless you were Cole.
arguingwithsignposts
Should clarify, it wasn’t Lady Smudge, but a friend of mine and her cat, which she’s had for quite some time. It was a major event, and really good that it ended well.
gogol's wife
@Church Lady:
And I suppose the university that’s providing the 75% funding doesn’t receive any support from the federal government.
MikeJ
@Face: Think you could keep anything you could make? Even selling AKs probably wouldn’t bring in what you think. In places where life is cheap, guns tend to be cheap too.
Brick Oven Bill
If the President makes $5.5 million a year, with only $0.4 million of that coming from his public salary, for whom does he work?
Now put your hands over your head and form an ‘O’.
LD50
@K. Grant:
So I guess two chicks at the same time is out, then?
Keith G
@me: You saw that too. My gawd – and that first woman was spittin mad.
On topic, I have never understood the “If you tax me a bit more, then I will work less” trope. My brother, who makes a bit of money, tried that comment out on me last year. I told him that Europe had some good travel bargains and he should go.
He fell unusually silent.
jl
@Brick Oven Bill: He really works for our reptiloid overlords for whom billions are peanuts.
Everyone knows this and accepts it.
But, who do our reptiloid overlords really work for? That is what I want to know.
Probably the Masons, but I haven’t finished my ‘research’.
Keith G
@Brick Oven Bill: BOBie. He wrote two best selling books, ya dumb fuck!
LD50
@Chyron HR:
Wingnuts always love people much richer than themselves. I think the attitude is “how dare you tax my non-existent future wealth!”
Brick Oven Bill
Teabaggers do not accept this jl. The government works for us, we do not work for them.
LD50
@Brick Oven Bill:
So, do you have any other fatuous clichés that are sposta be real deep and shit that you want to share?
IndieTarheel (mobile)
Was just skipping across the dial and John freaking King correctly stated that the tax rate was higher in 2001 than it is now. Wonder what hit HIM in the head?
Church Lady
@gogol’s wife: Don’t have a clue how much of their funding comes from from the state vs. the federal government. It’s not a scholarship, and there is no stipend involved. Given she’s got to work 15 hours a week in exchange for the tuition discount, it will probably work out that she’s making something in the neighborhood of minimum wage.
SiubhanDuinne
How awesome is this? (Or, Why I am an Obot):
President Obama signed an order Thursday night requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney.
The president ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation. The memo is scheduled to be made public Friday morning, according to an administration official and another source familiar with the White House decision.
An official said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding.
Elisabeth
@Face:
Heh. My team, which shall remain nameless due to unwarranted hatred directed towards it, got Vasquez with an 0-2 record to show for it. Took Greinke against the Twins tomorrow; figure he can’t have two bad outings in a row.
MikeB
“Poor Me” is a fool’s game. Truth be told…there’s always someone who worked harder, studied longer,
sacrificed more than you, and received far less in return. There is always
someone who is sicker than you. There is always someone
with worse luck than you. There’s always someone less talented
who made it big. This is life as a human being.
Just stop.
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: ‘Tis awesome.
Did you see the heads of state attending the Nuclear Summit, meeting him? They had a definite “just-shook-hands-with-a-Rock-Star!” vibe going.
Calouste
@Mnemosyne:
I saw 6-7 months of travel per year listed. That is either on publicly funded highways, publicly funded rails or via publicly funded airports. That’s a far larger, so the taxes churchlady pays now is just a bill for those years she sponged of us by using far more than her share of the transport system compared to what most of us other tax payers use.
gogol's wife
@WereBear:
I got to shake hands with him once and almost fainted.
/Obot
jl
@Brick Oven Bill: Teabaggers are effing insane.
As another commenter pointed out, Obama has some income from his books:
“Most of Obama’s reported income came from his $400,000 presidential salary and $5.6 million in gross royalties from his books.”
Obama Earns $5.6 Million, Doesn’t Claim Nobel Income (Update3) Ryan J. Donmoyer
Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aCrdUoa1Sk8I&pid=20601087
So, who is Obama’s true money master?
His muse, his Art, dude.
Wow. I like that kind of prez.
(Even though I am quite critical of some aspects of how he has prezzed, so far).
SiubhanDuinne
@WereBear: Haven’t been near a TV (at news time) in something like 48 hours, but I believe you! Will have to look for the Obama-groupies.
SIA
@WereBear: Do you have a link for that? Would love to see the photos/video.
/Obot
Mike in NC
@South of I-10:
The other day I spotted a teabagger flag in front of a gated McMansion sitting on the Intracoastal Waterway. Presumably the property has a boat slip, and quite likely a big swimming pool as well. Those poor overtaxed wretches!
robertdsc
I could not help but laugh at this. I’m a bad person.
WereBear
@gogol’s wife: OMG!
I probably would feel that way, too.
/proud Obot
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
And of course the other 25% of the tuition won’t be paid for by a student loan administered by the government. No indeedy. They’re going to make their daughter get a much more expensive private loan, just on the principle of the thing.
I have absolutely no problem with the government helping people with important things like getting a small business started or sending their kids to college. I only get annoyed when said people pretend that they did it all on their own without any help from the evil gubbmint and expecting them to pay into the pot so other people can have the same benefits they enjoyed is stealing from their pockets.
gogol's wife
@WereBear:
Yeah, I felt like a 16-year-old at a Beatles concert in 1964. My husband had to hold me up.
/Obot
Brick Oven Bill
Barry’s Audacity of Hope project is from 2006 and is currently ranked number 12050 at Amazon. So this did not generate much money in 2009. And, in any case, I think he has to give 70% of all of the royalties to Bill Ayres.
Even if he got to keep them, the royalties from his number 12050 book would be nowhere near $5 million in 2009.
If this were the case, which it is not, this would put Barry to work for Barry. This part, and only this part, would pass the test of Logic.
Makewi
Why don’t you throw yourself in a higher tax bracket? Lazy whining bastard.
Elisabeth
@SIA:
Blackwaterdog at GOS (I know, I know) had a diary the other day:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/13/856969/-The-Obamas:-Making-the-world-a-better-place,-one-day-at-a-time
There’s a picture with the Polish Ambassador that made me pause for a minute.
BWD’s current wreck listed diary has a video of Obama greeting the heads of state in under two minutes. I haven’t watched it.
Mnemosyne
Note how BoB carefully mentions only one of Obama’s two books, because admitting that Obama’s other book is ranked at #618 would wreck his entire claim.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
If you won’t say it, then I will. Pimpin on the side. Can’t expect a brother to live on a Presnits salary, now can you BoB=A=Loon.
WereBear
@SIA: This gives you a bit of the flavor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqs_iuk48_4
Chinese news source. I saw it on MSNBC… but can’t find the video with the part I was thinking of.
Elisabeth
@Mnemosyne:
Calling the president “Barry” anywhere but at Wonkette should be a bannable offense IMHO. I give the Wonketteers a pass ’cause they’re freakin’ funny.
Chyron HR
@Makewi:
As opposed to an industrious whining bastard. Did you get your pay docked for that “This bill will never pass in the current political climate” fiasco?
jeffreyw
@stuckinred: With peaches.
Liberty60
@Linkmeister:
A-Fuckin-men.
I just finished sending off my taxes- and yes, as one of the Other 95% I got a small tax cut-
But you know what? I would happily pay more in taxes, if only we would have rigorous food inspections, if only we would have effective regulation and control over Wall street and industries like mining, if only we could have high speed rail…
We need to start a counter-drumbeat, of saying that taxes are the price we pay for effective and pragmatic government.
We need to stop cringing everytime someone shouts “Taxes!”
They always ask- would you vote for Candidate X, who will RAISE YOUR TAXES!!!”
My answer is FUCK YEAH!
Brick Oven Bill
Dreams of my Father: Sales Rank Number 1541.
Being a writer sure pays well. Golly Gee.
Imagine how rich Glenn Beck must be!
Arguing with Idiots: Sales Rank Number 654.
Brick Oven Bill
You don’t have to pay taxes on your pimpin’ stash if you have the right connections, this we have learned. And Barry has the right connections. He would surely be ridin’ dirty on that score.
So it has to be something else.
Mnemosyne
@Brick Oven Bill:
Funny, when I follow that link, it says #618, not #1541.
You wouldn’t be outright lying to us, would you, Bobarino? Because that’s beyond your scope as a spoof troll.
ETA: Since Glenn Beck made at least $18 million last year, I would probably term him rich, yes.
Elisabeth
@Brick Oven Bill:
We don’t have to ~ we already know he made $32 million last year. There are a whole bunch of stupid people easily parted from their money.
arguingwithsignposts
@South of I-10:
You know, we mock them with their misspelled flags, but I do think this would be a really good project for a photographer to go in, talk them up and produce some gritty b/w portraits. Might make a good coffee table book. I wish I was close enough to somewhere they were protesting.
Not only good art, but would really show them for what they are without resorting to the obvious.
Mnemosyne
@Elisabeth:
I’ll let the Gawker and Sadly, No! do it too, but they rarely do. Otherwise, it’s a really handy way to figure out when a wingnut has appeared even if they’re trying to seem otherwise reasonable.
Though I did come to prefer the wingnut abbreviation of “BHO” instead of “BO” for obvious 4th-grade reasons.
SIA
@Elisabeth: @WereBear:
Thanks going to check it out now! :)
Jules
You might.
But you might also be damn glad that luck was on your side while you were busting your ass and that everything worked out one the plus side for you.
You might also remember that without so many services provided by the local, state and Fed gov’t working your rear end off might not have mattered one bit.
jake
@Sly:
Yes, but the Democratic party and the administration would probably make you give one woman back….You know — distribute the weath
Comrade Mary
Amazon.com is not the only place books are sold. From the Washington post article:
PDF of the tax return is here.
Elisabeth
@Comrade Mary:
There are no SSN on the return. Proof Obama isn’t a citizen and his wife ain’t, either!!!11!!
Brick Oven Bill
Well, Glenn’s compensation is probably directly linked to his responsibilities leading the nation. This is an important job.
Barry only got $0.5 million for his latest book deal, and this was after he was elected President.
On a completely unrelated note, the President really cares about you and his blood brother still lives in a hut.
It would also seem that book sales would peak in the year of a campaign and immediately after the election. It is not Logical that book sales would triple in the year following all the action. But that is just me, being from Chicago and all.
WereBear
@Comrade Mary: And I helped with that. :) Bought ’em both.
jl
From BOB’s Washington Times story on measly book advance:
“Mr. Obama approved the $500,000 advance on Jan. 15. The advance is against royalties under a deal with Crown Publishing, a division of Random House. The project calls for an abridged version of his book “Dreams From My Father” for middle-school-aged children, according to the disclosure.”
Yeah, I am shocked too. Those middle schoolers are rolling in dough. A prime demographic. And everyone will want to rush out to Barnes and Noble and grab a middle school adaptation of an old book. I’ll be there at midnight wating in line for the doors to open.
Obama is washed up as a writer. We need to face that. Inadequate, obviously, just like the PUMA sad.
BOB is a great troll, and we are lucky to have him, her, or whatever.
jake the snake
@Brick Oven Bill:
Because he wrote books people actually buy and read.
fucen tarmal
@Brick Oven Bill:
well, barry’s brother learned from neil bush, neither a borrower AND a lender be…..
btw his drink recipe for, mai tai told me it was virgin, is great.
Wile E. Quixote
@Church Lady:
You know what makes me laugh Church Lady? Kerry Killinger, the moron who tanked Washington Mutual, who took a very successful regional bank and ran it into the ground took home $100 million between 2003 and 2008. $100 million for destroying a great company and wiping out the investment portfolios of thousands of people. And you know what? I’ll bet that Kerry Killinger never worked as hard as you claim to have, but despite the fact that he never worked as hard as you claim to have, and the fact that he ruined a company, destroyed thousands of jobs and cost Americans billions by driving up the cost of housing by handing out NINJA loans and wiping out their portfolios he’s far wealthier than you’ll ever be. Oh, and Kerry Killinger’s effective income tax rate is also way less than yours.
But hey, don’t bitch about guys like Kerry Killinger, whose fuckups did more to harm small business by wiping out the supply of capital, than any policies of the Obama administration. Nope, you just keep on being a stupid, ignorant, bigoted Southern peasant who probably has to work so hard because she’s dumber than a sack of hammers. And keep working your stupid, ignorant, bigoted Southern peasant ass off and bitching about the government so that guys like Kerry, or Joe Cassano, or women like Carly “I wrecked Hewlett Packard” Fiorina, can keep on enjoying the huge amounts of money that they stole from the taxpayers and the shareholders in the companies they destroyed.
LD50
@Brick Oven Bill: You forgot to mention teleprompters. Get right on that.
Church Lady
@Wile E. Quixote: You never fail to disappoint. Bitter, tormented, unstable and twisted. Get help. Soon.
LD50
@Church Lady: If this was a feeble attempt to seize the moral high ground, it didn’t work.
bob h
Most of the people who pay the taxes in this country live in Blue States. Manhattan, for example, has an average family income of $260,000. All of this Red State bellyaching and moaning about taxes seems to be in behalf of people in Blue States who probably aren’t all that bothered by their taxes, or who have adapted their lives to the tax code.