If things look a little funky around here, it's because I'm messing around under the hood.
Hey, what's this piece for? W
Here's the contents of my X10 ad cookie:
trafficmarketplaceTMP85.dat
2252
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x10adinfo.dat
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PopUnder
0
x10.com
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x10removeads.dat
1767
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*
Can anyone decode that? I'd like to extend my ad-free period for longer than 30 days. [link from Anil] W
Rick, you want a payroll tax cut too? Deal! Here's your first $860,000.
If we can find 56 more programs just like this one in all of the vast expanse of the Federal bureaucracy, especially in the wake of the tax and spend Clinton era, then we've got your $48 million right there. W
Rick complains about the recently-passed tax package:
Nearly 32 million individuals and families will receive no rebates.
Here's what he forgot to mention: those 32 million "individuals and families" (which is it?) don't pay taxes:
Asked about the Citizens for Tax Justice study, Michele Davis, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said: "We have a single statistic: One hundred percent of the people with income tax liability will receive a rebate."
(from the very article Rick links!)
Here's the answer to the riddle. If you don't pay something, you cannot qualify for a "rebate." Rick doesn't want a rebate or even really a tax cut - he wants to use government to take money from some people and give it to others. That's a different policy entirely.
Personally, I will defend to the death Rick's right to spend his money on any social good he sees fit, as long as he allows me the right to do the same.
The final, beautiful irony, is that even though Rick and other agents of the left are savaging the rebate idea, it was the left's idea in the first place! Groups like the Progressive Caucus and the AFL-CIO, and admitted socialist politicians like Bernie Sanders have been fighting for a per-capita handout ever since it became apparent that Americans overwhelmingly favor tax relief. The main difference is that the Bernie Sanders plan gives money to people who pay no taxes, instead of giving money back to those who paid too much. That's a welfare program, not a tax cut. W
Rich Galen has a story about Tom Daschle, the "Plurality Leader," that suggests he's not all the public thinks he is.
Incidentally, one of the search engine hits I'm proudest of this month was "south dakota Daschle sucks." W
The Senate majority could switch back soon, if the Feds indict the Torch before his 2002 re-election campaign. W
Over the last two months, I've lost touch a little bit, both with real-life friends and those I just know online. (And yes, there is a significant overlap between the two groups.) I had almost completely stopped reading other pages but for a few stolen minutes each week. Now that I've cracked the steam valve open a bit and can spend a little time catching up, I remember just how smart, funny, and well-written some of you folks are. It's also made me realize that my own writing has surely taken a turn for the worse - rushed, superficial, vague, blurry. Hopefully I'll have a chance to remedy that.
Dineen and I hired a dog-walker several weeks ago to take care of our four-legged child since we were working such late hours. Every day, our dog walker writes a little note, usually to the effect of: "Great walk. Tucker pee." Always with a date.
Looking over that legal pad for the last few weeks, damned if it doesn't look like a weblog - or perhaps a Dog Log. W
My horoscope today:
Now that you've bought a little time, use it well. If others choose to swim or sink, that's their affair.
Spooky. W
Dreama pulls no punches on Jim Jeffords. W
In the wake of yesterday's news, I've gotten some really moving expressions of support from family and friends. Yet again, I am reminded where where life's true priorities lie. W
It had been building for a while, and I had many personal and professional reasons for my decision. Mostly, I chose to reclaim my life and my sense of self, which had become completely subsumed in a never-ending bevy of work (except for last weekend, when I got permission to miss work to go see my sister graduate from medical school). There's a little twinge of doubt about whether I did the right thing, but that twinge didn't stand a chance against all the other feelings that have been mounting almost since I started.
On the positive side, I learned a lot while I was there, and think I'm a better lawyer for having taken the position. Now I'm a better human being for having left it. Now - anyone know where I can find a litigation job in DC?
Recommended viewing: Take This Job and Shove it. W
