JUDE

Romney is going to win.

I sure hope not, I just bought a bunch of shares of Ruger, Colt, and S&W.

Funny, I have been responsible for fleet fuel purchases and buying unit contracts to try and hedge fuel epenses for years and I still can't consistantly put a finger on what drives the market on a daily, weekly or annual basis.

I was going to say the weakening dollar and incresed demand from emerging economies was probably one of the major drivers; that and futures traders taking profits but I guess it's just basic econ 101 stuff.

Our company recently sat down and determined to stop offering health insurance as it ends up being far less expensive to pay the penalty than continue paying the premium portion of the employee coverage they currently offer. Our insurance plan (High Deductible) is garbage but due to our group size and experience rating is still quite expensive.

Personally I will just wait for the exchanges to be set up and purchase insurance when needed but I will most likely not carry continuous coverage. Luckily the mandate tax penalty provision doesn’t have an enforcement device so I will continue to make sure my Federal withholding just covers or is just short of my annual tax liability.

Honorable mention:

The Black Sheep Squadron and The Rat Patrol.

Riptide or Simon & Simon

I'm actually looking forward to what they can do with a little CGI and the frozen flag pole scene.

I always found the original lacking in special effects.

Sorry.

Because he was born on a naval base, to a naval officer?

OK, so I tend to run more to the conservative side so in LouieB’s mind I would be a neocon. I am pretty much pro-choice because I’m not a woman so it really ain’t my business but I’m not a real fan of abortion. I think our current progressive tax system is inherently failed and ends up being a debate that ends up being a distraction from other issues. I would support a flat tax across the board with a floor on income somewhere above the poverty rate to reduce the impact on lower incomes and eliminate many deductions and the EIC. I think Social Security is a con that would make Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi proud and jealous at the same time but it has become so ingrained in our society as to becom almost holy. I support the option of current workers being allowed to invest a portion oftheir SS withholding into a self directed account but I am not in support of full privitization, unless the entire system is scrapped, and a schedule of increased retirement ages should be put into place.

I like many different artists and don’t really pay much attention to their individual politics.

I like working outdoors.

My question is “where do we draw the socioeconomic line?”

I have a real problem with the $250,000 income level figure that gets tossed about. If you are a business owner who shows $250K in taxable income on your 1040 you most likely had to have revenues of $1.5 to $2 million at a 15% margin. Is this any different than some mutual fund manager who makes a salary and bonuses of a few million dollars a year? One could argue that the business owner had all of his investment and assets at risk to make his $250K whereas the fund manager made a salary for his job. Where do we draw this line?

I understand where Tweedling is coming from. The thing is both sides of the aisle cloud the taxes build infrastructure issue. Everyone goes back to the income tax rate when in fact that is a small part of it. I have yet to find a way to reduce tax liability for ownership of property, i.e. commercial or residential property taxes, used by local municipalities to provide infrastructure. I can’t figure out a way to eliminate or reduce paying taxes to the state and federal government on every gallon of diesel fuel we purchase to haul our goods. Every July I prepare the 2290, Heavy Vehicle Use Tax for the trucks we use haul our goods. We pay an extra tax on tires to help defray the maintenance costs of the Federal Highway system. Every thing we purchase for use in the course of business (unless for resale) is charged both a state and local sales tax. I could go on and on.

Yes, the government provides infrastructure and support systems necessary for the success of businesses and individuals but don’t be so naive as to think they aren’t getting reimbursed for their services.

I have no problem with having to provide an ID to vote.

I had to provide two forms of ID when I filled out my I-9 and I was able to make that happen without two much difficulty.

If that makes me a smug pompous ass, then so be it.

This is the first thing you've posted that I agree with.

See, we can find some common ground.

Who?

I think Jules is in the propane and propane accessory bussiness.

Call me what you will, but I’d rather have people, who fall for robo-callers telling them they didn't need to vote because they signed a petition, not voting.

Something about an educated electorate or something.

Ok hotshot, you are in a burning warehouse with Wilco’s publishing rights and a petri dish of embryos and can save only one. What do you do?

What do you do?

Eazy-E was an ardent George H.W. Bush supporter.

I heard Jeff played a few Levon Helm (the Band) tunes at the LRS show this past weekend.

You should organize a boycott of any Ted Nugent public appearances and cancel your NRA lifetime membership.

When my ex and I broke up I got Wilco and she got The Jayhawks. We have split custody of Ryan Adams.

Can I get this on Itunes?

IRDB is nothing if not objective.

The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a ‘warm body’ democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens… which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it… which for the majority translates as ‘Bread and Circuses.’

‘Bread and Circuses’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.”

― Robert A. Heinlein