Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Obama Lied: Buffet and His Secretary Pay the Same Tax Rate

Verbatim Post

Equivocation is a logical fallacy. To equivocate is to give “equal voice” — the same meaning — to a word when actually it has two distinct meanings.

“The sign said ‘Fine for Parking Here.’ Since the sign said it was fine for parking, I parked there.

In the first case, “fine” refers to punishing someone financially for an infraction of the law, while in the second case, “fine” means it’s OK to do something.

President Obama equivocated when he addressed the issue of taxation by arguing that Warren Buffett and his secretary, Debbie Bosanke, are not subject to the same tax rate. The President was using “tax rate” to mean the same thing when there are different rates based on how people are paid: capital gains tax rate and salary tax rate. In reality, Buffett and his secretary are subject to the same tax rate if both of them derive income from capital gains.

If Buffett’s secretary invests in stocks that pay a dividend, then she is paying the same rate as her boss – 15 percent. If she gets a salary, she is still paying the same rate as her boss if he derives any income from a salary. In fact, if Mr. Buffett was paid a salary on all his income, he would pay a higher rate than his secretary because the tax rate on salaries is progressive. The more you make the higher percentage you pay.

There’s one more thing to consider. The following is from Forbes online magazine. The latest IRS tax rates for 2009 show some interesting results:

They show that taxpayers earning an adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 pay an average rate of twelve percent. This is below Buffet’s rate; so she must earn more than that. Taxpayers earning adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, pay an average tax rate of nineteen percent. Therefore Buffet must pay Debbie Bosanke a salary above two hundred thousand.

This would put her in the top one percent of all wage earners. Paul Roderick Gregory writes: “I have nothing against Debbie Bosanke earning a half million or even more. Buffet is a major player in the world economy. His secretary deserves good compensation. At her income, however, she is scarcely the symbol of injustice that Obama wishes her to project.”

Here’s something from “The Smoking Gun” site.

“Despite a heavy tax burden, Warren Buffett’s secretary last year was able to purchase a second home in Arizona, a residence complete with a swimming pool and a ‘professional PGA putting green,’ according to real estate records.”

Poor thing. She’s destitute!

In a word, President Obama lied. He used Warren Buffett and his secretary as props to support his continued class warfare rhetoric. Please make it stop!

=========


Warren Buffett's Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year

Via Looking in the Mirror

Bosanek’s prominent role in Obama’s “fairness” campaign piqued my curiosity, and I imagine the curiosity of others. How much does her boss pay this downtrodden woman? So far, no one has volunteered this information.

We can get an approximate answer by consulting IRS data on tax rates by adjusted gross income, which would approximate her salary, assuming she does not have significant dividend, interest or capital-gains income (like her boss).



The German

Via Cousin Joel

The German from Nick Ryan on Vimeo.

I'm stunned: Juan Williams Endorses Homeschooling

Homeschool Curriculum Excellence - Robinson Self-Teachin

Via Old Virginia Blog

2:39

General Stand Watie

A good friend of mine who is now gone, most unfortunately, especially for the history of the Cherokee, as he wrote what I consider THE book on Stand Watie. (He was working on another book when he died and his worthless daughter and son were not interested and would not even let me have his writings, so that I could do something with them. I have no use for people that don't love their families.) His wife's grandfather rode with Watie. The book is called Red Fox, Stand Watie's Years in Indian Territory, by Wilfred Knight. He begins the book with this poem that he wrote:

No monuments or marble shafts
Keep silent record of the time
When grey clan ranks of warriors rode
The Indian Nation line.

But mists of time have not eclipsed
The ancient stories of the day,
And still the whispered words are heard,
"Stand Watie passed this way."

The noon of darkness casts its spell:
Dutch Billy's bugle sounds once more
And Watie heads his column out
To ride through legend's door.

Now once again the muskets fire
While "Eagle" Buzzard spirits soars,
And smoothbores spew their deadly hail
As Watie leads to war.

But now - the Red Fox rides no more,
No bands of men, with muffled sound
Slip through the night to strike at dawn;
The fight is thru, the moon is down.

Now who will sing old Watie's song,
And who will tell his tale,
And who will keep the rendezvous
Along the Texas Trail?

(Hollywood Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA Confederate Memorial Day 1992? I'm wearing my father's blue seersucker suit on the left standing beside my friend in the blue blazer, Wilfred Knight, a true Confederate and a gentleman. BT)


How thick is your bubble? Take this quiz & get your score


How Thick Is Your Bubble?

View user's Quiz School Profile
Guest
Score » 9 out of 20 (45% )
Result























On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 9 and 12.



In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America.






















Quiz SchoolTake this quiz & get your score

Washington’s gay marriage bill: a frontal attack on religious freedom

The gay marriage bill in the Washington State Legislature specifically claims to protect religious freedom. HB 2516/SB 6239 bills itself as:

AN ACT Relating to providing equal protection for all families in Washington by creating equality in civil marriage and changing the domestic partnership laws, while protecting religious freedom. . . . [Emphasis mine]

But, as always, the devil is in the details.

MORE

ACT for America - a passionate video: "Throw PC in the garbage and call a spade a spade"

Via Cousin Colby

7 Medical books

Obviously I haven't read every book on the subject, but I've read quite a few. The ones I turn to most for information and that I think are most worth having:

43 Thugs Arrested After Bragging About Murdering People On Facebook & Twitter

Thomas Paine Tea Party Revolution Patrick Henry "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!"

Re-post


Real unemployment about 22%

The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.

The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.

Marine's career threatened by controversial rules of engagement

Via GunRights4US

I guess being teenagers means you are innocent of any wrong doing since we know teenagers never fight in wars........

Then, about three weeks later, the civilians who helped remove the wounded man from the area were found to be teenagers.

As a result, Waddell was demoted from executive officer, and the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Seth Folsom, determined he had violated rules of engagement that governed when Marines could fire, and at whom. Folsom said Wadell "is not recommended for promotion" and "in violation of [combat rules] during an engagement."


US special forces free pirate hostages in night-time helicopter raid into Somalia

Via Theo Spark

Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Thisted, 60, were freed unharmed after a gun battle that left nine pirates dead, sources in Somalia said.

As many as six helicopters were involved in the operation, using the cover of darkness to fly low and land at the village where the pair were being held, landing soon after 2am.

The apparently well-planned operation took less than an hour and no US troops were injured, it is understood.

It is the first time that Washington has ordered its troops into lawless Somalia on a hostage rescue mission, and carried a huge risk of public outcry in America if it had gone wrong.

No US boots have overtly been on Somali soil since the infamous Black Hawk Down debacle in 1993.

MORE

Convicted NC Jihadist Accused of Plotting to Behead Witnesses

Via Atlas Shrugs

A North Carolina man sentenced to prison recently as part of a homegrown terrorist ring has been accused in a federal court document of plotting to kill witnesses who testified against him at trial.

An affidavit unsealed in federal court Monday accuses Hysen Sherifi of plotting against the witnesses from his jail cell. Authorities say an FBI informant posing as a hit man met with Sherifi's brother and a female friend and accepted $5,000 and a photo of an intended victim.

FBI agents have arrested the brother, Shkumbin Sherifi, and Nevine Aly Elshiekh, a school teacher. Now in federal custody at the New Hanover County Jail, each is charged with a felony count of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

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EQUIPPING THE GUERRILLA FIGHTER, PART TWO (The Fighting Load)

(In the previous installment of this article, we discussed the implementation of a 1st line “survival load” for the guerrilla fighter. The overwhelming theme was, and should be, to minimize the amount of weight and equipment that the guerrilla carries to the minimum necessary. In this installment, I will delve deeper on a couple of the items of the survival load that are also de facto parts of the survival load. Further, we will discuss tactical equipment load-out elements of the 2nd line fighting load-out. –J.M.)

(The selection of tactical equipment in preparation for future social unpleasantness must be predicated on some major philosophical constraints. Among these is the recognition that the world and nation we have known is rapidly imploding around us. If this recognition exists, there are some critical issues that must be addressed.

The first of these is the degree of seriousness in one’s preparations. If it is simply a hobby, because you enjoy shooting guns, that’s okay. There is certainly nothing wrong with that in a free society. You don’t need to invest any more time or money than you fell like spending. You will get away with airsoft-quality gear and base-level, budget firearms and tools. However, if you genuinely believe that “bad times, they are a-comin’” then you have to look at your preparations in a far more serious light. In this brighter, more intensely focused light, then quality becomes a far more important issue. How much is your life actually worth? How about the life of your children and spouse? What about a successful restoration of the Constitution and the Republic?)

Keeping in mind the previously mentioned importance of maintaining the lightest load possible for the guerrilla fighter to operate in the woodsman-scout model, the foundation of the 2nd line fighting load-out is the load-bearing equipment (LBE).

Obama Uses Same Lines from 2010, 2011

Surprise, surprise, surprise SGT Carter!

The Republican National Committee has compiled this video comparing lines President Obama used tonight in his State of the Union Address with lines he used in previous addresses before Congress:

What should Obama have said in his speech?

Via Billy

Our debt has passed $15 trillion. It will reach Greek levels in just 10 years.

But if we make reasonable cuts to what government spends, our economy can grow us out of our debt. Cutting doesn't just make economic sense, it is also the moral thing to do. Government is best which governs least.

We'll start by closing the Department of Education, which saves $100 billion a year. It's insane to take money from states only to launder it through Washington and then return it to states.

Next, we'll close the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That saves $41 billion. We had plenty of housing in America before a department was created.

Then we eliminate the Commerce Department: $9 billion. A government that can't count votes accurately should not try to negotiate trade. We will eliminate all corporate welfare and all subsidies. That means agriculture subsidies, green energy subsidies, ethanol subsidies and so on. None of it is needed.

I propose selling Amtrak. Why is government in the transportation business? Let private companies compete to run the trains.

And we must finally stop one of the biggest assaults on freedom and our pocketbook: the war on drugs. I used drugs. It's immoral to imprison people who do what I did and now laugh about.

Still, all these cuts combined will only dent our deficit. We must cut Medicare, Social Security and the military.

I know. Medicare and Social Security are popular. But they are unsustainable. The only way to cut costs and still have medical innovation is to free the market. So I propose that we repeal Obamacare immediately. My proposal was a mistake. We should repeal all government interference in the medical and insurance industries, including licensing. It all impedes competition.

We must shrink the military's mission to true national defense. That means pulling our troops out of Germany, Japan, Italy and dozens of other countries. America cannot and should not try to police the world.

Those cuts will put America on the road to solvency. But that's not enough. We also need economic growth.

Our growth has stalled because millions of pages of regulations make businesses too fearful to invest. Entrepreneurs don't know what the rules -- or taxes -- will be tomorrow.

All destructive laws must go. I endorse the Stossel Rule: For every new law passed, we must repeal two old ones.

OK, Obama will never say that.

But I can dream, can't I?

Link

Daytona woman, 64, holds suspect in yard at gunpoint

Via Chuck

A 22-year-old car theft suspect tried to elude police Tuesday morning, but was stopped in his tracks when he was confronted by a gun-toting 64-year-old woman.

"I was not going to let him go," said Karen Granville, who lives on Redwood Street. "I just held my gun in my right hand until the police arrested him."

Granville helped authorities nab Roderick Willis after he led them on a short chase. He was suspected of driving a stolen vehicle, authorities said.

Daytona Beach police were looking for a stolen vehicle about 3 a.m. Tuesday when a Volusia County sheriff's deputy spotted an orange Dodge Charger traveling west on Sixth Street. The deputy tried to stop the vehicle, but a chase quickly ensued, according to a report from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

A sheriff's helicopter tracked the suspect to Redwood Street, where deputies say Willis ditched the vehicle in the driveway in front of Granville's home.

Granville said she was up late because her cat had rousted her. She was watching the Bravo channel when she heard a sheriff's helicopter hovering above her house.

Moments later, she said she saw Willis run into her backyard and try to scale her fence. Granville grabbed her .38 Special revolver and followed him.

"My adrenaline was just flowing at 100 mph," she said. "I just said, 'Stop right there (expletive), or you're going to be dead where you stand."

MORE

7 Guys Beat Asian Teenager : 6 in Custody

Via Don


A fit object for a Lynch law


October 19, 1858
New York City
Address by Jefferson Davis

"You have among you politicians of a philosophical turn, who preach a higher morality; a system of which they are the discoverers...They say, it is true the Constitution dictates this, and the Bible inculcates that; but there is a higher law than those, and they call upon you to obey that higher law of which they are the inspired givers.

Men who are traitors to the compact of their fathers---men who have perjured the oaths they have themselves taken...these are the moral law-givers who proclaim a higher law than the Bible, the Constitution, and the laws of the land...These higher law preachers should be tarred and feathered, and whipped by those they have thus instigated....The man who...preaches treason to the Constitution and the dictates of all human society, is a fit object for a Lynch law that would be higher than any he could urge."

The South As A Conscious Minority, Jesse T. Carpenter, New York University, 1930, pp. 159-160)

Reminder with new group: Starbucks Appreciation Day

Starbucks Gun Appreciation Day


Via The Minutewoman

February 14 at 12:00am until February 15 at 12:00am
  • Starbucks






  • Thank Starbucks for following local laws and not discriminating against citizens exercising a constitutional right.

    The National Gun Victim's Action Council, an anti-rights group, is planning a boycott of Starbucks because the company does not discriminate against gun owners and those who exercise their right to carry a firearm for self defense. Starbucks respects local laws and does not create their own rules to disarm law abiding citizens

    The company should be thanked for their continued respect of local laws, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Let Starbucks know we appreciate their stance and they should not bow to the wants of any anti-rights organizations that are truthfully in the minority.

    Check out the following posts about the current and previous Starbucks Appreciation Day:

    http://www.pagunblog.com/2012/01/23/starbucks-appreciation-day-2/

    http://blog.joehuffman.org/2010/02/14/StarbucksAppreciationDay.aspx

It would have been a historical tragedy, wouldn't it?

Franklin Sanders
Verbatim Post

On 24 January 1848 James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, the discovery that set off the Gold Rush. Discoveries of gold in California, Australia, and later South Africa led to a CHEAPENING of gold against silver, & the price of silver in gold rose steadily from 1848 until 1873, when silver was corruptly demonetized first in the US ("Crime of '73") and then in the new German Reich. Contrary to the propaganda, it was NOT new silver discoveries, like the Comstock Lode, that led to silver's cheapening against gold or its demonetization.

That was all politics, & silver was gaining value from 1848 forward, never trading below the $1.2929 statutory value from 1848 to 1873, and rising at some points to $1.35 (4.4% over statutory price). No, ultimately driving silver out of the monetary system was a project of special interests who planned to drive out first, silver, & then gold, & so create their own money out of thin air. So far, they've won, and think what a tragedy it would have been if the banks had lost. Why, how would states have raised the money to fight all those world wars without central banks & fiat money? Gee, they couldn't have, so they would have been forced to make peace. It would have been a historical tragedy, wouldn't it?