If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, who brings it a pillow?

Eduardo Saverin seems to have upset some in Congress, who have put down their bribes and chit sheets long enough to grasp patriotism by both lapels, screaming:

"someone's trying to avoid taxes!!!"

Of course even the President says his goal is to lower taxes, so you'd think this would be a shared national priority, kinda like watching "Dancing With the Stars".

I thought loopholes were written to be used - how else would accountants support themselves?  [Read more]

Several years back, minorities became the majority of births in Texas. That trend has gone nationwide as America as a whole has reflected what occurred in Texas:

America hit a demographic milestone last year, with new census figures showing for the first time more than half the children born in the U.S. were minorities. 

That percentage just barely eked over the halfway mark, with minorities making up 50.4 percent of U.S. births in the 12-month period ending July 2011. But it marks a steady trend -- minorities represented 37 percent of births in 1990. 

As a whole, the nation's minority population continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 percent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 percent of the total U.S. population, lifted by prior waves of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years. 

Believe it or not, this big demographic news reflects President Obama's decision to endorse same-sex marriage. Alex Knepper, a freelance writer who I have mentioned in previous articles here, took to his Facebook page and noted "urban callers" who took to the phones and said some horrible stuff about Obama and his affront on traditional marriage. Knepper noted that "urban callers" obviously meant "black" and that gay couples are often fearful of stepping foot in black neighborhoods, which are hostile to their lifestyle choice. [Read more]

Many people will spend considerable time discussing that Obama will raise somewhere near a billion dollars. But then I think about this:

Marvel's Avenger has already through last weekend grossed domestically $389,473,290

The Hunger Games has already through last weekend grossed domestically $387,870,286

Together they have grossed $777,343,576.  That is more than Obama raised for his entire 2008 campaign.

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There are more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners currently engaged in a hunger strike in Israeli prisons, purportedly to protest inhumane conditions, the lack of family visits, and the practice of administrative detention (under which certain prisoners can be held indefinitely without charge, subject to judicial review).   Two of these prisoners have  refused food for more than 70 days--both members of Islamic Jihad, an organization committed to Israel's destruction and which is responsible for hundreds of Isr [Read more]

"If gay is the new black, then black must have been the old gay . . . I don't really know what that means either . . . I support gay marriage, but it's mainly because I just don't care one way or the other." [Read more]

One the greatest cinematic scenes of all time, comedic or otherwise, in my humble opinion, is the exchange between Dennis and King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Of course, the film itself is one of greatest of all time and one could spend an academic life studying its influence on the adolescent male humor in just America alone.  But the scene between Dennis and King Arthur rises above the rest of the film in its brilliance, and in particular its ability to express some deep insights about society, power, and politics while being just plain bloody hell funny. [Read more]

The Obama Administration has unfinished business: lots of it, actually. The President will no doubt seek re-election in November by emphasizing policy successes. He would do well, however, to seek re-election by also recognizing policy failures: recognizing them and committing his Administration to do better. To win re-election, that recognition will need to be honest and the commitment will need to be genuine.

            There is a long list of issue areas in which the Obama Administration has – to put it politely – so far under-performed. Housing policy is one.[1] Holding bankers accountable is another.[2] Extracting us from unnecessary wars is definitely a third.[3] But the big domestic issue on which the Administration’s impact has been weakest is surely poverty and unemployment. The Administration might justifiably claim that things would have been even more awful, had a Republican president been in charge – and that anyway, so much of what they have tried to do has been blocked by Republicans; but that can be of little comfort to the literally millions of Americans who currently remain trapped in poverty, excluded from paid work, or forced to survive on temporary and part-time contracts that no longer pay a living wage. For them, the Administration could have done more, should have done more, and better start doing more – and doing more now – if a President elected with such grand promises in 2008 isn’t to find himself out of work come January. [Read more]

Text of Mitt Romney's Speech:

I know you've come to believe I am a major flip flopper.

Joe Barton, he sticks to Republican talking points even when it doesn't make sense!  Today in daily Republican speak Joe Barton insists that people who benefit from Food Stamps and Meals on Wheels should go to work, (scroll up to the 5:20 point)  that is the goal of Republicans to put everyone to work. Bashir reminds Barton who are the recipients of Meals on Wheels,  Joe Barton looks like a complete ass.

The wave of anti-austerity swept Hollande into power in France, and for good reason - Merkel's austerity program, while sounding nice and grownup, doesn't work.

Nor has Greek tax evasion and profligacy - relying on economic statism.

With half the country avoiding taxes, 30% of income and 1/4 of GDP off the books, and about 60 billion € owed to the leisurely tax authorities, the responsibility spreads far and wide.

One touted effort at accountability showed 17,000 swimming pools around Athens with only a few hundred declared. But when a businessman confronted with a 600K € tax debt gets away with paying 11,000 €? Good luck to all that.

Even on the international scale, Greece carried 2 sets of books, the public one with 2% lopped off of debts thanks to some tricky Goldman Sachs moves - moves that cost the Greeks dearly in the long run. Though allowing her to get more loans from EU sources at better rates, plunging her further into debt. [Read more]

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