An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for 19 December 2007
Is It Possible To Do Even LESS Than Nothing?
Naughty or Nice? Congress Doesn’t Even Deserve Coal
Congress is being naughty this holiday season.
Even leading up to the final hours before Christmas break, it appears they are doing all they can to avoid dealing with critical tax priorities – like patching the alternative minimum tax (AMT: 41.56, +0.56, +1.36%) to stop a tax hike on 20 million unsuspecting taxpayers.
True to form, however, they are stuffing a mammoth spending bill with loads of pork and earmarks.
The consolidated spending package contains more than 9,000 earmarks. This 3,565 page bill was made available to all members of Congress and the public early in the morning on December 17. The House then began floor debate on the bill at 6:00 p.m. that same evening. So, in essence, most members of the House had less than 24 hours to read the spending bill, which passed 253-154.
Three hundred of these earmarks were “air-dropped” into the bill. No, these are not emergency measures that provide financial aid to victims of natural or man-made disasters. These specific earmarks were inserted, in secret, by House and Senate negotiators (who also happen to be appropriators) without the benefit of congressional scrutiny or debate.
Taxpayer watchdog groups are bemoaning the unfettered growth in earmarks, as well as the audacious and shameless attitude in the Congress for “wanting in.†Some in Congress, however, feel shut out of the special spending loop. Writing to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich. expressed her concerns about the equity of earmark distribution.
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Meanwhile, Congress continues to dither on fixing the alternative minimum tax (AMT: 41.56, +0.56, +1.36%). Without a “patch,†more than 20 million taxpayers will get socked with the AMT (about $2,000, on average), and non-action up to this point means the upcoming tax filing season could be a mess.
Months ago, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS: 14.60, -0.31, -2.07%) communicated to Congress that it needed at least six weeks prior to the start of the filing season to program software, print forms and generally get organized to ensure that taxpayers can promptly file tax returns and get refunds in a timely manner. The bottom line: Is Congress going to “fix†the AMT and deal with other tax extenders or not?
Here we are, less than two weeks before the filing season begins, which means taxpayers and the IRS are certain to experience unknown levels of frustration and disruption in dealing with the filing of returns and the refund process.
“This tax season has the potential to be one of the worst,†says tax advisor Leonard Steinberg of Steinberg Enterprises, LLC. “I have already received many calls from clients about how this congressional impasse will affect them,†he adds.
Is there such a thing as a GOOD tax season?
“Even if Congress retroactively approves the patch in January, the IRS will be required to hold all processing of tax returns until their computers are updated. Vendor software will also be required to be updated to reflect any potential fix. So instead of taxpayers beginning to receive refunds starting in February, the refunds may not be available until March, April or even in the month of May,†explains Steinberg.
He adds that no matter what Congress does at this point, taxpayers will get hurt. Taxpayers use refunds to pay critical bills or fund their respective retirement plans, according to Steinberg.
“Once again, the entire Congress has failed the American people,†Steinberg observes.
Now, there’s an understatement! The ‘most ethical Congress ever’ has turned out to be the absolute worst. Totally useless. Is it any wonder they keep going home? They have no idea what they are doing, and every damn one of them should be sent packing!
If you recall, House Speaker Pelosi promised new energy, and a sense of urgency for getting things done for the American people. What a disappointment.
They keep on talking, but they don’t say a damn thing, all the while, with a vacuum cleaner hose in your pocket.
Ann on Huckabee
There’s a Huckabee Born Every Minute
Despite the overwhelming popular demand for another column on Ron Radosh’s review of Stan Evans’ book, this week’s column will address the urgent matter of evangelical Christians getting blamed for Mike Huckabee.
To paraphrase the Jews, this is “bad for the evangelicals.”
As far as I can tell, it’s mostly secular liberals swooning over Huckabee. Liberals adore Huckabee because he fits their image of what an evangelical should be: stupid and easily led.
The media are transfixed by the fact that Huckabee says he doesn’t believe in evolution. Neither do I, for reasons detailed in approximately one-third of my No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism.
I went on a massive book tour for Godless just last year, including a boffo opening interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today,” a one-on-one, full-hour interview with Chris Matthews on “Hardball,” and various other hostile interviews from the organs of establishmentarian opinion.
But I didn’t get a single question from them on the topic of one-third of my book.
If the mainstream media are burning with curiosity about what critics of Darwinism have to say, how about asking me? I can name any number of mathematicians, scientists and authors who have also rejected Darwin’s discredited theory and would be happy to rap with them about it.
But they won’t ask us, because, unlike the cornpone, we won’t immediately collapse under gentle questioning. It’s one thing to be “easily led” by the pope. Huckabee is easily led by Larry King.
I Know a Couple of People Won’t Be Happy
Tom Tancredo to Drop Out of Presidential Race
Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo plans to drop out of the race during an announcement Thursday afternoon in Des Moines, Iowa, GOP sources close to the campaign have told FOX News.
Tancredo, who has aggressively pushed his anti-illegal immigration message throughout the GOP primary race, has not been able to break through in the polls against his better known competitors. He and California Rep. Duncan Hunter typically poll in the single digits behind Texas Rep. Ron Paul in national surveys.
Tancredo would not personally confirm whether he will pull out of the race.
“I will neither confirm nor deny that report,†Tancredo told FOX News. But he added, “I wouldn’t have a press conference if I didn’t have anything to say.â€
The five-term Colorado representative already announced in late October that he would not seek reelection to the House of Representatives in 2008. He said at the time that his core issue of illegal immigration has been elevated to national prominence and that he doesn’t need to remain in Congress to promote it.
Tancredo aired a startling ad a month ago tying illegal immigration to terrorism. The ad showed a man in a hooded sweatshirt and backpack walking into a crowded shopping mall, with the sound of an explosion ringing out after the screen goes dark. The ad then showed bloody pictures of victims of terrorist acts in Europe, while the narrator said: “The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill.â€
Tancredo focused on the issue at the Republican presidential debate a week ago in Iowa, saying immigration without assimilation is a “catastrophe.â€
He also refused to participate in a Spanish-language debate on Univision in early December. He told FOX News he did not want to encourage immigrants in America to speak Spanish as their primary language.
Feather Anyone?
Rocky’s Christmas Present…..
…..as modeled by Mr. Spot.
A Few Chuckles
Morning Coffee 12/19/07
Huckabee, Giuliani tied in 2008 Republican race
Mike Huckabee has surged into a virtual tie with front-runner Rudy Giuliani in the national 2008 Republican presidential race two weeks before the first contest, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas whose campaign has caught fire in recent weeks, wiped out an 18-point deficit in one month to pull within one point of Giuliani, 23 percent to 22 percent.
Will someone PLEASE explain to me how a party that was conservative not all that long ago has two middle to left candidates leading the pack? Please. I really want to know. Do they pick and choose people for these polls for the answers they want? Is the media doing such a terrific job of choosing our candidates for us? Really, just how did this happen?
Nearly 7 in 10 Mexican Migrants Enters U.S. Illegally, Says Mexico
The Mexican government reported the results of recent studies on Tuesday showing that 68 percent of Mexicans who migrate or try to migrate to the United States do so without documents and 55 percent of them hire immigrant smugglers.
The report, timed to coincide with the U.N. International Migrants Day, also noted that the Mexican-born population living in the United States increased from about 800,000 in 1970 to more than 11 million in 2006.
The majority of Mexicans now living in the United States — 6.2 million — are undocumented, according to the report, which was based on surveys of migrants and information from the government’s National Population Council.
Oh, I’m fairly sure the number is a WHOLE lot higher than that! I don’t suppose it has occurred to D.C. to actually do something…..FINALLY? Oh, and by the way…they aren’t ‘migrants’….they’re FREAKIN’ ILLEGALS!!!!
Ireland Seeks a Peace Over Immigration
The Irish government is seeking a separate peace for its own people in the American immigration debate after the death of a bill last summer that would have created a path to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants, including tens of thousands of Irish.
Modeled on a recent arrangement with Australia, a deal to create a new set of work visas for Irish immigrants would likely come in the form of a bilateral treaty between America and Ireland linked to the recent success of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
Irish officials have signaled that they were attempting to convince the Bush administration to make the visas available for Irish who have immigrated illegally. That would be a departure from the deal reached with Australia.
Ummm….NO! I don’t care if you’re Irish, Mexican, or Martian…..illegal is just that! ILLEGAL! You break the law, you don’t get special privileges if you’re from a European country over Mexican, or Guatemalan, etc!
Row delays plans for free EU healthcare market
Controversial plans to make it much easier for NHS patients to demand free treatment in any EU country were shelved this morning amid a behind-the-scenes row over exactly how an open market in public healthcare should work.
The European Commission wants to enable any patient with a doctor’s referral to be able to claim treatment in any of the 27 member states, paid for by the patient’s home country.
What an utter crock! NOTHING is free! Someone has to pay!
Sunnis Mark Eid in Iraq With Optimism
Sunni Muslims marked the beginning of the Eid al-Adha holiday Wednesday, with thousands of worshippers gathering in mosques around Baghdad in an atmosphere of optimism after months of declining violence.
More than 10,000 faithful showed at the Abu Hanifa mosque in the Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Azamiyah at sunrise to perform the first prayers for the four-day holiday. Locals said they felt safer during the Eid this year, but security was still increased at mosques and other holy sites around the Iraqi capital, with extra bomb- detecting equipment added. Extra security also was ordered for amusement parks and other places likely to draw crowds.
I’m glad they’re optimistic. Perhaps with more and more improvements in their lives, they’ll figure out they really can be self determining?
Russian President Vladimir Putin Named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’
Time magazine on Wednesday named Russian President Vladimir Putin its 2007 “Person of the Year.”
The nod went to the Russian leader because of Putin’s “extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability,” said Richard Stengel, Time’s managing editor.
Putin, 55, is enormously popular in Russia, presiding over a resurgent economy flush with revenue from oil and natural gas. But critics say he has moved the country away from Russia’s democratic reforms of the 1990s by tightening control of the media, courts and parliament.
“He’s the new czar of Russia and he’s dangerous in the sense that he doesn’t care about civil liberties, he doesn’t care about free speech,” Stengel said.
Language warning: What a complete, and utter pile of steaming BULLSHIT! More proof that Time is irrelevant!
Eyebrows raised over $10 million Saudi gift to Clinton library
Terrorism analyst Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, who left the Islamic faith to become a Christian, is raising concerns about the large sum of money former President Bill Clinton has received from the royal family of Saudi Arabia. He suggests that the multi-million-dollar donation has the potential to influence Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s Mideast policy if she were to win the White House.
The Washington Post reports that the Saudi royal family gave Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas, about $10 million, roughly the same amount it gave toward the presidential library of George H.W. Bush. According to the paper, the Clinton library raised more than 10 percent of the cost of its $165 million facility from foreign sources, the largest donation coming from the Saudis.
I have a real problem with former American presidents accepting ‘gifts’ from a country that breeds terrorists.
Catholic leader rejects Israel’s Jewish identity
Israel’s identity as a Jewish state discriminates against non-Jews, its top Roman Catholic clergyman said in a pre-Christmas address on Wednesday in Jerusalem.
‘If there’s a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against,” Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before Christmas. In his address, which he read in Arabic and English, Sabbah said Israel should abandon its Jewish character in favor of a ”political, normal state for Christians, Muslims and Jews.”
Sabbah denounced Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state by the Palestinians and said “God made this land for all three of us, so a suitable state is one who can adapt itself to the vocation of this land.
I reckon this guy hasn’t bothered to read that Book he’s professing to believe in, eh?
Two Down, Five to Go!
There’s nothing more disconcerting that to look up from the trusty laptop to see someone staring at you. When that ‘someone’ is an EVIL bird, you thought you got rid of, it’s down right annoying.
And I sure as hell don’t much care for them shaking their asses at me either!
Well, there are now two less of the foul fowls! Heh. Mr. Ol’ Broad took Mr. Red Truck at his word!
Ok, yeah, I feel kind of bad, but then again, HELL no I don’t! They have been making my life a living hell since we moved in this place. I’m trying to convince the Mr. to clean them. Christmas dinner and all that! I mean, really, when you shoot something, you’re suppose to eat it, right? Isn’t that why ya hunt? Ok, this wasn’t exactly a hunt. Birds too stupid to run away when there are loud bangs (which wasn’t as loud as I expected) deserve to be shot. Pfft!
And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is what two 
 peacock carcasses looks like!
Fred on Hannity & Colmes
Part I
Part II
