WTF Is Dubya Doing?

The G-Man told me about this picture and I had to find it myself-brilliant! Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were showing the Prez how they give each other the "good job" tap on the posterior and Dubya decided to give it the “old college try”. Despite the best efforts of our quite brazen president, someone should of told him, (Sir) you don't have to back hand a ho'.

WTF? Does this man not have any shame-wait, what am I saying? Although a Baptist, married man and President of the United States of America, Dubya is still just a man; even a gay dude would be tempted (see picture). But I think this calls for the ol' patented, "Hecka-of-a-job there Brownie!"
Photo courtesy of Reuters.com

This Is Awkward...

Kerri Walsh actually makes back-sweat attractive; Dubya-not so much! (Photos courtesy of Reuters.com)

Death and Taxes musings and angst from a member of the Middle-Class

The old adage, "you can be certain of two things in this world, death and taxes", seems to really hit home this year. Granted I learned growing up on a farm that death is of course part of the circle of life, it usually comes suddenly and without regard to what you have accomplished, finished or in the process of doing. But now I am finally certain that taxes are just as much a part of the life-aquatic as death. (Photo compliments of Common Place Book)

I just had my taxes done last week and now I feel the pinch of being finally considered "Middle-Class". As a single person claiming one, and a raise last year that put my head just above the water-line of the next tax bracket, I will be sending a check to the IRS for the first time in my life. I know, bummer-join the club-think about what really wealthy have to pay. (Hmmm, bad idea, especially considering all of the "tax-shelters" and capital losses wealthy people can take advantage of that I don't have access to and when we crunch the numbers/percentages, I guarantee-I along with a majority of other Americans pay more!)

The interesting thing is that I am not living high on the hog from my day job and the paltry amount made from the advertisements on this blog (roughly $40 since last March) definitely doesn't require a wheelbarrow to carry to the bank. Factor in student loans, rents, car insurance, gas, Utes and (What is that extravagant thing I do each day called?) that's right, eating and I find myself behind the proverbial "8-ball".

This brings me to my main concern: why are we so hesitant to make the uber-rich pay their share? Is it because of the Horatio Alger Jr ideal behind the American Dream-that we can all pull ourselves up by our boot-straps and become very wealthy? With all of the political-double-speak about cutting taxes for the wealthy and helping the poor, the one group of people being forgotten are the "Middle-Class" and frankly folks, we are getting the short end of the stick.

Cha-Ching or not to Cha-Ching that is the question...
President Bush has these "unique" plans to balance the budget within the next 4-years, by cutting Medicare, (crucial) government programs and cutting taxes for the uber-wealthy, all while waging a War on Terror. Now let's think about this for a minute, we have billions of dollars going out the door in tax-cuts and money used (and abused) to fight the WOT, but less money coming in-we are definitely going to bounce a couple of checks-would you even let this guy (President Bush) balance your checkbook? Hell no! But the party doesn't stop there, as the deficit rises and the value of the dollar decreases, interest rates go up-meaning you pay more for your homes, cars and for such variable-rated loans such as Stafford Student Loans. Answer me this, what ever happened to our Daddy's Republicans? I am referring to the Pre-Reagan, fiscal-conservatives who approached policy and spending pragmatically and didn't dip into the troughs of Education and Social Security to help line the pockets of their friends' and donors' pockets with gold. It took us twenty-years to pay off the tab left by Reaganomics; I think that our grandchildren will be paying off the tab left by Dubya's legacy (Iraq and tax-cuts).

And the nail in the coffin is the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) a tax from the 1960's used to catch those making $100,000 plus (a lot of money back then) is instead of being repealed or altered to catch those making a million dollars or more, is going to catch 3.5 million HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet) this tax-year (2006) and approximately 23 million Americans (HENRYs) in 2008. How does that translate dollar per dollar, well if you make between $70,000 and $100,000, you will pay upwards of $5,000 more in taxes once the AMT gets you.

It's not just the Republicans
Democrats have really turned a deaf ear to their constituencies as well. With all of the big talk on the Hill about the War and Oversight of the wasteful spending of a two-year study of the spending in Iraq, the AMT and the tax-oppression of the "Middle-Class" is sitting on the back burner right next to the green beans. Granted the Minimum Wage increase was both necessary and accomplished quickly, but sadly, this too came with a Faustian-deal to cut taxes for the wealthy in this country.

Presidential candidate John Edwards preaches about "two-Americas" all while taking advantage of the aforementioned tax-breaks for the "upper-crust" and while building a multi-million dollar estate on a substantial piece of property. Now, I am not knocking him for having earned his money and enjoying the fruits of his labor, but what did Senator Edwards do for the "Middle-Class" and the "Working-Poor" while in office? I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with "zilch" or "goose-egg". Fine, it doesn't rhyme with those two words it is those two words.

Empty promises and rhetoric obviously gets you votes in this country, but I think it is well past time to hold our politicians to their promises. It is time we Americans who actually have to adhere to a budget, work and don't live off the backs of those who do (politicians) make it known to our elected leaders that our patience is wearing thin. The workers and Middle-Class Americans have the biggest stake in what is going on in Washington right now, not the elected millionaire megalomaniacs making the decisions from a top a snowy hill-they stand the most to lose by listening, but they stand even more to lose (their jobs) by not listening.

Yes Mr. Bush, we're talking about you...

I thought this photo to be apropos politically to the discussion at hand concerning recent comments by Senator John F. Kerry. Kerry’s comments, “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.” Indeed, the same guys (President Bush & Company) who Mr. Kerry was referring to in this speech (for those of you who missed the whole speech, Mr. Kerry took numerous shots at President Bush living in a "state of denial" before he made the get "an education" line) demonstrated that Senator Kerry was right, they do live in a "state of denial". Not only is the President clueless that Iraq is a at best a conundrum and at worst a massive failure, but he also is in denial that Senator Kerry was referring to his Administration’s diaphanous invasion of Iraq and deflected Mr. Kerry’s comments to the troops. Now the President, his Administration and those Republican members of Congress up for re-election, are thinking the same thing the guy in the picture is thinking, “Oh Sh_Crap, I am so screwed! They all know it was me that royally “screwed” things up here”. (Special thanks to T-Rokh for the picture)

If you didn't get the joke, it is probably about you!
The president called Kerry's remarks "insulting and shameful" and demanded Mr. Kerry apologize to the troops. Tony Snow (never served in the military) followed suit with [Mr. Kerry's remarks] "sort of fits a pattern of criticizing American troops in Iraq." (Bushido interjection: What pattern is Mr. Snow referring to? Oh the one, he just made up in his head.) Representative Jack Kingston (never served in the military) passed around a letter that he and 18-other members of Congress (that never served in the military) signed, demanding an apology from Senator Kerry. Senator John McCain (USN-Ret) was asked (out of context) what he thought about Kerry's remarks and he responded in kind regarding the call to duty as patriotism and not because of a lack of education. But in defense of Mr. McCain, he didn't know Kerry's words were “cherry-picked” from the "Bush bashing" that had taken place. None of the aforementioned members of BushCo picked up on that Kerry was indeed referring to them with his comments, and their reaction set the stage for Kerry to roll up his sleeves and fight back.

It reminds me of my favorite rock song from the 80's!
Not only did BushCo fall into a delicious trap equivalent of having some cute girl talk to you in the hallway in high school only to have a guy from the football team sneak up behind you and give you a wedge-making you look stupid as everyone sees your tighty-whitey with the word” Dubya” Sharpied on the band, so you don't get them confused with Jeb's drawers-but Kerry also has Republicans talking about the one thing they don't want to address 7-days out from election day. I'll give you a hint; it rhymes with "I-Rock". You see folks, even if you believe Kerry’s remarks were towards the troops or a “botched joke” the thing is, Kerry isn’t running for office in this election, meaning Democratic candidates can ignore and distance themselves from Kerry, but for Republicans (mainly the Administration) Iraq is back front and center. That’s when voters begin remembering the Iraq they see everyday-American soldier casualties break 100 for last month, Iraqi civilian deaths up, budget for the Iraqi War is hemorrhaging money, yet the troops still don’t have proper armor for their Humvees to protect them from road-side bombs. Bush gets rid of Habeas Corpus, which further puts our troops in danger! And even fiscal-Conservatives can’t help but create distance between them and the $386.5 BILLION price-tag on the War in Iraq (that was supposed to pay for itself).

Speaking of rocking, Kerry responded with his own brand of "We're not going to take it" as the microphone was handed to him to finally make the Bushido proud. Numerous times during the last presidential campaign, I kept begging Mr. Kerry to respond to all of those "swift-boat" bums, by saying, "Hey, I was there. I served my country; I fought and killed the enemy. I wasn’t busy staying at home, guarding the Rio Grande from the possible (V.C.) attack of our flank (snowball’s chance that would have ever happened) like President Bush, who’s only kills during Vietnam happened to be polished off Pabst Blue Ribbons ." But he never did. Mr. Kerry, let me clue you in on “attack ads” in American politics, they work! Sure they might turn off the well-informed voter, but those aren’t the people “attack ads” are geared towards. If you don’t agree with me, think hard about why you don’t live on Pennsylvania Avenue.

This brings us back to education.
A few concerned members of the community have established a blog to help promote education in Charleston! They even aptly named the blog, Smarter Charleston. One of the smartest guys that I know and FOB, George Morrison is one of the Charlestonians writing for Smarter Charleston. They just started the blog, so please be patient as they learn the ropes, but I have to say, they seem to be off to a good start and with George on-board I already have high expectations for this group. The Bushido wishes you luck! (I’ll have you all a link in the “blog-roll” later this week.)