to think that Iraq was somehow strong-armed into handing over its latest arms report to the UN. Okay, strong-armed it may have been, but Iraq doesn't do anything unless it is in Hussein's own best interest... Read Iraq claims US 'blackmail' to get uncut dossier shows lust for war for yourself.
-> C'mon... say it like it is. Don't be an idiot. Deficits are bad. Big government spending is bad. Big beaurocracy is bad... say it like it is. Hubbard obviously has a problem with doing this. Why can't we simply stand up to those who claim that the tax cuts only take care of the rich and tell them how it is:
(Thanks Glen, by the way)
"Written by an accounting professor, this explanation is a VERY simple way to
understand the tax laws. Read on - it does make you think!!
"Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day,
ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid
their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this."
"The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the fifth would pay
$1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18,
and the tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59."
"That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant
every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement -- until one day, the
owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut)."
" 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the
cost of your daily meal by $20.' So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00."
"The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the
first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about
the other six -- the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20
windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' "
"The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and The sixth man
would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested
that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same
amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay."
"And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid
$5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill
of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than
before. And the first four continued to eat for free."
"But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I
only got a dollar out of the $20,' declared the sixth man, but he, pointing
to the tenth. 'But he got $7!'. 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth
man, 'I only saved a dollar, too, ........It's unfair that he got seven times
more than me!'. "
" 'That's true!' shouted the seventh man, 'why should he get $7 back when I
got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!'. 'Wait a minute,' yelled the
first four men in unison, 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits
the poor!' "
"The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't
show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it
came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very
important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill!"
"Imagine that!"
"And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the
tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit
from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and
they just may not show up at the table anymore."
"Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities
anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straight-forward logic!"
T. Davies
Professor of Accounting &Chair,
Division of Accounting and Business Law
The University of South Dakota
School of Business"
I don't know if this actually came from him or not... I received this from a friend via email and thought it would be quite educational regardless of true source.
-> I wonder if Mel is still on Cody's infamous list.
