Somali Pirates Say They Are Subsidiary of Goldman Sachs

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA (The Borowitz Report) – Eleven indicted Somali pirates dropped a bombshell in a U.S. court today, revealing that their entire piracy operation is a subsidiary of banking giant Goldman Sachs.
There was an audible gasp in the courtroom when the leader of the pirates announced, “We are doing God’s work.  We work for Lloyd Blankfein.”
The pirate, who said he earned a bonus of

Vote No On Arizona Proposition 100

Requested post for John Karam

I just voted NO (by early ballot) on Proposition 100.  It proposes an

increase in Arizona state sales tax by 1% per dollar for three years.

My reasons are as follows:

1. Two-thirds of the monies will go to the already huge, greedy, and self-centered educational lobby in this state.

2. The grade school that I attended 45 years ago (Royal Palm @ 19th Ave & Butler) was recently remodeled.

It is  now a luxury institution looking far more upscale than it ever did when I attended school there.

3. That grade school is now 58.6% Hispanic!

Most of the Hispanic children

Obama's disregard for media reaches new heights at nuclear summit

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, April 14, 2010; A02


World leaders arriving in Washington for President Obama's Nuclear Security Summit must have felt for a moment that they had instead been transported to Soviet-era Moscow.
They entered a capital that had become a military encampment, with camo-wearing military police in Humvees and enough Army vehicles to make it look like a May Day parade on New York Avenue, where a bicyclist was killed Monday by a National Guard truck.

America's European Style Tax System

Pure Redistributon

Far be it from me to defend taxation, and I certainly am not one to tout government as the chosen tool to ensure fairness except in treatment by the law, but this is a bit ridiculous wouldn’t you say?

About 47 percent [of US housholds] will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That’s according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.

Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax

Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer, On Wednesday April 7, 2010, 5:38 pm 

Recession, new tax credits have nearly half of US households paying no federal income tax

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it's simply somebody else's problem.
About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.

IRS to Target High Wealth Individuals

Tuesday, April 06, 2010>
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) - The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new global program to target what it calls “high wealth individuals,” IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said Monday.

“Through our new global high wealth operating unit we are taking a unified look at the entire web of business and economic entities controlled by high wealth individuals so we can better assess the risk such arrangements pose to tax compliance,” Shulman said at the National Press Club on Monday.

U.S. seeks maximum civil penalty against Toyota

Here's an article that came from the Washington Post. Please read the last paragraph, which I simply find amazing.

By Peter Whoriskey

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 5, 2010; 4:37 PM
The United States is seeking the maximum civil penalty of $16.375 million against Toyota for failing to notify safety regulators of its "sticky pedal" defect for at least four months, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Monday.
Roughly 2.3 million Toyotas have been recalled for the sticky pedal defect. Millions more have been recalled for a defect that causes the floor mats to become entrapped.
"We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations," LaHood said. "Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. For those reasons, we are seeking the maximum penalty possible under current laws."
Although the proposed civil penalty is the largest permitted, it is small relative to the size of the automaker's business in the United States. Some safety advocates have called for legislation that would raise the financial penalties and criminal sanctions.