Monthly Archives: April 2013

Show Me The Way, Big Brother

Democrats, English, Government, Healthcare, Taxation, The State

Obama is sending the health care we have to hell in a handcart, for the ostensible benefit of less than ten percent of the population: the uninsured. Large-scale destruction in the purported service of the few.

This week came news that Big Brother will have to appoint “navigators” to show the beneficiaries of this bankrupting law the way: 21,000 navigators in California alone translates into 140,000 of them nation wide, a bureaucratic army that will swell the already swollen federal oink sector.

Navigator pay will run from $20 to $48 per hour, almost $100,000 a year for one federal oinker, for a total of between $5-10 billion, estimates Pat Buchanan.

In California alone navigators will cost between $871 million and $2 billion a year.

These navigators will likely be minorities who speak the languages of the welfariat for which the Obama Care has been designed.

Oh, and by the way, “Would you like to take the opportunity to register to vote?”

Since the chosen workers will be Obama’s pepes—community organizers, union folks and planned parenthood advisers—recruiting new Democrats will be of the essence.

Obama Is Reminded Of His Eunuch-In-Chief Responsibilities

Conservatism, Feminism, Gender, libertarianism, Paleolibertarianism, Sex

Like any good Democrat, gaseous ANA NAVARRO REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST and her GOP sister strategists were upfront and in your face on the matter of Barack Obama’s comments about California Attorney General Kamala Harris, whom the president had described as “brilliant, dedicated, and tough,” but also “the best-looking attorney general in the country.”

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST:

I think he did the right thing by apologizing. Whether he offended Kamala Harris or not, he did offend some women. This is a sensitive issue for women. A lot of times, women are put through a double standard when it comes to their looks — professional women — that men are not. So as we fight for equality, it is an important issue. Also, Wolf, he’s the president of the United States. And like it or not, the president of the United States gets a higher level of scrutiny than just about anybody else. And I also think there’s some sort of double standard when it comes to President Obama. I can tell you that I had a conversation this morning with the attorney general of Florida, Pam Bondi. Forty-four years old, long, blonde hair.
And I said to Pam Bondi who was a very strong supporter of Mitt Romney, what would have happened if Mitt Romney, during the campaign, had told you just how attractive you were. And she said, you know what? All hell would have broken loose. I completely agree with her. So, I think he acted correctly by apologizing. It was the right thing to do.

Ridiculous. American women pride themselves on rejecting the biological realities of being female. The natural banter and sexual tension between men and women has thus given way to a frigid political script. Scary.

So too do these confused women expect to strut around half naked in the workplace. Let a man dare to so much as glance their way, or treat them dismissively for their brazenness–and the ladies run to Human Resources screaming discrimination.

CNN and the other cable and news nitworks have been extremely crafty in crafting the meta-message—for some time the networks have been presenting to the public regular Republican commentators who’re left-liberals in all but name.

ANA NAVARRO REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST (said in one breath) is an example. This Republican identity politics activist helped drive out the cantankerous and interesting old-timer John Sununu, openly offering up his old, white maleness as grounds for exclusion from national discourse.

The Navarro woman may not be as stupid as sister S. E. Cupp (“Another Mouth in the Republican Fellatio Machine”), Dana Perino (“the Heidi Klum of the commentariat”) or Margaret Hoover, but like them she is incapable of committing the sin of an original thought. And she will both follow and enforce the political correct scripts on feminism, multiculturalism, immigration, foreign policy, economy, while proclaiming her independence from the rooftops.

Infernal Revenue Blues By Myron Pauli

BAB's A List, Barely A Blog, Ilana Mercer, Taxation

Barely a Blog contributor Myron Robert Pauli, Ph.D., says theoretical nuclear physics is far simpler than filing a US tax return.

As you enjoy the musings of BAB’s resident physicist, do consider a one-time contribution or a regular monthly contribution to BAB, without which you’d be bereft of Dr. Myron Pauli’s polemics. Read more about our pal and patron below. And do give generously. (The PayPal buttons are to your right). Our Myron is a genius, but he is no Sheldon Cooper when it comes to syntax. Posting a Myron piece means WORK for yours truly. Enjoy.

Infernal Revenue Blues
By Myron Pauli

This is the lovely time of the year where I get to file 12 tax returns – mine and my child’s and my late wife’s “estate” (which I had to take from my child and give back to my wife!) times federal and state times regular and estimated = 3 x 2 x 2 = 12. Lots of FUN!
Suppose you owned A shares of company B – and they spun off C shares of company D which then had stock splits (regular or reverse) making E shares which then acquired company F but subsequently merged with company G to now make H shares of company J with a payout of K from the merger. Calculate the capital gains tax! Think that is hard – what if the shares were in brokerage house L which became M and N and P? What if your deceased mother acquired some of the shares in multiple intervals over many years from since deceased brokerage house L? What if some of the companies had dividend reinvestment? Have you ever tried to find the 40 year old price of stocks that no longer exist? You don’t just need an accountant, you need an archeologist. I’ve done theoretical nuclear physics which is far simpler than this.
How about bonds? Some are subject to federal and state tax, some to federal but not state; some to state and not federal, some are double exempt. But what if it is a mixed-bond fund? And some which are exempt are subject to AMT – the “Alternative Minimum Tax”.
Ah – the AMT – designed in 1969 to catch a handful of “feeelthy rich” zillionaires with oil depletion allowances. For single people, the “feeelthy rich” start below $100,000 and no credit for dependents. I am a single parent with one child. What about single parents with 10 children – feeelthy rich, I suppose.
But “Saviour of the Poor” Obama is going after the tax loopholes! And what loophole is he after? Cash contributions to charity! Yessir, I give cash to the nefarious Salvation Army to give chowder to the homeless on frosty winters. The head of the Salvation Army earns under $100,000 – no doubt one of the feeelthy rich – and every cup of chowder consumed by the homeless takes needed revenue from Solyndra and their deserving lobbyists. And “conservatives” should be angry when I donate to frivolous fluff like the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and take away from such good deeds as dropping another cluster bomb on some Pakistani children.
And the “Fighters Against Big Government” Republicans? Well, half of them are trying to festoon the tax code with even more loopholes, and the others promote the Orwellian-named “Fair Tax” – a 30% sales tax on all spending. Such a draconian sales tax will necessitate the elimination of cash. It will not be sufficient for government to know my income and my investments – now they will have to know every dime I spend on socks, tuna, aspirin, and sex toys. Then picture what Nanny Bloomberg will do with the National Sales Tax – tax broccoli at the same rate as truffles? Bring on the lobbyists.
Benjamin Franklin said that nothing can be certain in this world except death and taxes. He failed to say which he feared the most!

******
Barely a Blog (BAB) contributor Myron Pauli grew up in Sunnyside Queens, went off to college in Cleveland and then spent time in a mental institution in Cambridge MA (MIT) with Benjamin Netanyahu (did not know him), and others until he was released with the “hostages” and Jimmy Carter on January 20, 1981, having defended his dissertation in nuclear physics. Most of the time since, he has worked on infrared sensors, mainly at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. He was NOT named after Ron Paul but is distantly related to physicist Wolftgang Pauli; unfortunately, only the “good looks” were handed down and not the brains. He writes assorted song lyrics and essays reflecting his cynicism and classical liberalism. Click on the “BAB’s A List” category to access the Pauli archive.

UPDATE II: Desperately Seeking Immigrants Who Qualify For Welfare (In Other Words, ‘Undocumented Democrats’)

Ethics, IMMIGRATION, libertarianism, Welfare

“Desperately Seeking Immigrants Who Qualify For Welfare” is the current column, now on WND. An excerpt:

“Number 69, number 69,” called an officer of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Number 78, yours truly, was sitting in line at the ASC (the Application Support Center), in Washington State. I was there to renew my green card, the much-coveted US permanent residency permit.

The woman to my left was clutching note number 69. Despite having been summoned time and again, she stayed put. She did not understand English. Like her, the room was packed with applicants who were talking in tongues.

Although a longtime champion of American freedoms, I have decided, for now, against accepting US citizenship, for which a green-card holder is illegible after five years.

Uncle Sam’s foot-soldiers assault me whenever I take to the unfriendly skies. And should I leave the US, after taking the Oath of Citizenship—IRS agents will fulfill their oath of office and hunt me down.

As the chorus lyrics to that haunting rock classic by the Eagles goes, “You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!” In the evocative words to “Hotel California,” Americans who try “running for the door,” soon discover that they “are all just prisoners here …”

Prisoners of Uncle Sam’s device.

If he can tolerate TSA assaults as he departs the country, a US citizen who chooses to live and work overseas cannot escape the Internal Revenue Service. The United States is perhaps the only country “to tax its citizens on income earned while they’re living abroad.”

Although the government’s citizenship stamp of approval is meaningless, there are risks in rejecting it.

While a US citizen cannot be denied entry whenever he leaves the country and returns home; a green-card holder is essentially asking for permission to re-enter. This, as millions of members in a favored outlaw fraternity stroll across the southern border, giving border patrol the finger (as the other finger dials the ACLU).

Besides, have you ever heard a member of America’s low-brow glitterati and literati advocate for immigrants who are not poor, not brown, and not uneducated? I have not—with the exception of Tucker Carlson, a libertarian-leaning rightist. …”

The complete column is, “Desperately Seeking Immigrants Who Qualify For Welfare.” Read it on WND.

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UPDATE I: Jay Leno on “Undocumented Democrats”:

“And in a groundbreaking move, the Associated Press, the largest news gathering outlet in the world, will no longer use the term ‘illegal immigrant.’ That is out. No longer ‘illegal immigrant.’ They will now use the phrase ‘undocumented Democrat.’ That is the newest – ‘undocumented Democrat.’ ”

UPDATE II (4/5): About “Non-Sycophantic Libertarians,” Todd writes on WND’s Comments:

I’m with you and Tucker on the immigration issue. I don’t know if this is still the case, but it wasn’t that long ago that if you wanted to immigrate to Australia, you had to show proof that you either a) had enough assets to support yourself long term or b) possessed a
skill that was needed there. That would never happen here though..it makes too much sense.
Sometimes it takes a non-citizen to offer real perspective on what it is to be an American, not to mention shining light on some of our more dopey policies (Daniel Hannon is another who comes to mind in that regard). I actually don’t blame you at all for not taking the plunge and becoming a citizen, especially in these times (I’ve heard that even if you
renounce your citizenship the IRS could STILL come after you).
It’s nice to hear some sound perspective from a non-sycophantic libertarian (unfortunately sycophants come in all stripes, including some who cloak themselves in logic and reason). You do make remarkable sense. There’s not enough of that going around.