Happy Tax Day!

By way of World Net Daily, comes this article by W. James Antle III in the American Spectator.

Despite several major federal tax cuts since 2001, Washington still helps itself to a very large slice of the national income. The average family devotes a higher percentage of its income to taxes than food, clothing, medical care or shelter. And I do mean "average," not members of the much-maligned richest 1 percent -- factoring in payroll taxes, a family of four earning $50,000 surrenders nearly a third of that income to the feds.

Yet we docilely pay. As the American Enterprise Institute's Kevin Hassett pointed out in Sunday's Washington Post, the levies that provoked our ancestors' historic tax revolts against the British were pathetically small by today's standards. The tax take that helped bring about the Boston Tea Party and the Declaration of Independence was about 2 percent.

[emphasis mine]

Did you get your taxes filed on time? Did you pay more taxes this year than you did last year?

No, Mr. Light Bulb, I'm getting money back, so I didn't pay any taxes.

Yes, I've actually had people say that to me. Apparently, these people don't understand that they are getting back only the amount that they over-paid to the IRS. They don't seem to understand that they still yielded to the IRS their Total Tax (line 63 on the 1040 long form). And I'm not even considering Social Security and Medicaid taxes.

Here's an exercise to do this weekend. Find your 2006 Total Income (line 22 on the 1040 long form). Then look on line 63 of the 1040 long form (or whatever line is labeled Total Tax on the other 1040 variations) for your Total Tax. Now divide your Total Tax by your Total Income. The result is the percentage of your income you paid as income tax.

Question: how does it compare to 2 percent?

What drives the Conspiracy Theorists?

Now, before I continue, I must tell you that I love a good conspiracy. I find it fascinating to trace the minutiae of secret workings. But I do so through a lens called "skepticism". For, while I find these secret workings fascinating, I know in my heart that they are highly unlikely.

I found the link to this wonderful article at Michelle Malkin's blog. Here's just a choice section. (As Michelle says, printout the whole thing for a good weekend read.)

Recently, Rosie O’Donnell said on national television that she believes 9/11 was orchestrated by the US government.

Well, that’s why we went through the steps above. If you believe that the government lied about the moon landing, you can believe they lied about killing JFK. If they lied about JFK, then they can lie about chemtrails. And if they are willing to poison the entire population with aerial spraying, what are a few thousand people in four airliners and a couple of buildings?

Rosie O’ Donnell making such a claim on a major network is a national disgrace. The fact that much of the audience cheered and applauded is nothing less than a national catastrophe.

To her, and to her audience, it is taken as granted that the government is capable of such things. As if “the government” was operated by cyborgs grown in Haliburton vats, rather than by well-meaning and patriotic people that love this country.

"This is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel," she said. This is a statement of such pristine and perfect idiocy that it surely must be emblazoned in stone across the entrance to the Physics Imbecile wing of the Moron Museum of Natural History. But mastery of physics and engineering requires some intelligence, some perseverance and some discipline: none of which are in evidence in this buffoon. Everything is a conspiracy to a mind this far gone. The 15 British sailors kidnapped at sea? All a plan by our evil (but incompetent!) government to get the next war it so desperately needs. “Gulf of Tonkin! Google It, people!” she said on national TV.

And I will, Rosie. I promise. As soon as I finish googling MAD COW DISEASE.

I will make the point yet again because I believe it is the crux of the issue: what kind of moral universe do you have to inhabit to be able to believe that your own people – airline personnel, demolition experts, police and security forces, faked witnesses and all the rest – are capable of such a thing? How much hate for your own society do you have to carry in order to live in such a desolate and ridiculous mental hell? What psychoses must a mind be riddled with in order to negate what was perfectly obvious and instead believe a theory of such monumental fantasy? How much pure constant hatred does that take?

What, in short, is the miserable black hole of self-loathing that drives a person like Rosie O’Donnell and millions like her?

[Emphasis in original.]

Indeed, that's the answer to the opening question. It is hatred. Hatred of responsibility. Hatred of morality. Everything bad is someone else's fault. I don't want to live within boundaries. To me it is simply not understandable.

For the record, here's what I believe:

• Yes, Americans really did set foot upon the moon six times.
• Yes, Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy.
• And Yes, the World Trade Center towers (as well as a wedge of the Pentagon) were struck by planes high jacked by Islamofascist terrorists resulting in their destruction.

I'm undecided about the Lock Ness Monster, the U.S.S. Pueblo, and K-129.

Cost of Illegal Aliens: $2.2 Trillion

So says World Net Daily in a review of a new Heritage Foundation report, "The Fiscal Cost of Low-Skill Households to the U.S. Taxpayer". From the WND article:

Someone has finally fixed an approximate taxpayer cost of between 12 million and 15 million illegal aliens residing in the U.S.

A new study by the Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector found a household headed by an individual without a high school education, including about two-thirds of illegal aliens, costs U.S. taxpayers more than $32,000 in federal, state and local benefits. That same family contributes an average of $9,000 a year in taxes, resulting in a net tax burden of $22,449 each year.

Over the course of the household's lifetime that tax burden translates to $1.1 million.

If the lower figure of 12 million illegal aliens is used for estimation purposes, the total tax burden translates to $2.2 trillion.

Let's see, how much is our national debt? And what would be a great way to get rid of some of it?

What would Winston do?

Probably this.


From Freedom Dogs.

He'd be crying not just because of the actions (or lack thereof) of the British government, but also because of the behaviour of the soldiers in question (the "Frightened Fifteen"), which has been called ...

"the most disgusting, disreputable, dishonorable performance I can remember in more than 40 years"

by one recipient of the Medal of Honor. Like I said, we may never win another war. (Yes, I know. Different country. But we've both been hobbled by liberalism, they more so than us at the moment.)

And the award for "Best Economic Expansion" goes to...

In an article I found while perusing the Drudge Report this morning, spokesmen for both the Bush and Clinton administrations are trying to claim the title of "Best Economic Expansion by an American Economy". Thankfully, the responsible journalist got a third party view from Larry Kudlow. Here's his spot-on summation.

Kudlow said neither Bush nor Clinton have fundamentally transformed the U.S. economy in the way that former President Reagan did a quarter century ago. He credited Reagan's economic reforms for growth in the Gross Domestic Product in 93 of the last 98 quarters.

"Since the early Reagan years, we have had 25 years of virtually uninterrupted prosperity," Kudlow said. "Because of the Reagan reforms - the deregulation, the lower taxes, the disinflation - we have transformed the economy from a top-down, government-run operation into a free market, capitalist economy with durability and resilience."

Yet another win for the Gipper.

John Paul Stevens, Climatologist Extraordinaire

World renowned climatologist John Paul Stevens (who, in his spare time, pretends to be a knowledgeable jurist on the United States Supreme Court) wrote the majority opinion in the Massachusetts vs. EPA case, announced April 4. Here's his first sentence:

A well-documented rise in global temperatures has coincided with a significant increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, he began with a lie, and continued downhill to its ridiculous conclusion. Therefore, the EPA must now regulate so-called greenhouse gasses emitted from new motor vehicles since, in this instance, failure to do so has supposedly resulted in an eroding of shore line in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (I'm not making this up, even though this particular logic train fell off its tracks miles ago.)

Of course, motor vehicles are not the largest source of greenhouse gasses. No, that distinction belongs to cow flatulence. (I'm not making this up either. Check out the link.) So, my question is: where is the call from the loony Eco-Bozos demanding that all cows be killed in Massachusetts and its neighboring states? Or, for that matter, all cows on the east coast? Wouldn't that make sense? If cow flatulence is the leading source of greenhouse gasses, and greenhouse gasses are eroding the Massachusetts shore line, then kill all the cows. No more shore line erosion.

Wake me when they get their logic train back on its tracks.

He is risen!

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

"What things?" he asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

— John 24:13-35

He is risen, indeed!

Please pray for PlayWriterGirl

Our dear, prolific friend, PlayWriterGirl, is going through chemotherapy to fight cancer. Please pray for her and her family. You can follow her progress at her second (ahem) blog, Chemo Girl Speaks Out, a daily update of life before, during, and after chemo.

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved,
for You are the one I praise.

— Jeremiah 17:14

"Bug Eyes" does Damascus

In a move perfectly fitting a formerly power-starved and newly minted liberal leader, Bug Eyes Pelosi decided to personally deliver a message of peace to the Middle East. Unfortunately for her, not all journalists fit the press-release-regurgitating, mind-numbed-robot mold to which US journalists aspire. (And I use the term "US journalists" in the lightest of senses.)

Here's what one observer wrote about Speaker Pelosi's "declaration of peace" faux pas:

Although Pelosi proudly marched into her meeting with Syrian President Assad and boldly announced a new peace message from Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Speaker's diplomatic triumph was lacking in one vital detail:

It was simply not true!

Indeed, Olmert's office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that contradicted Speaker Pelosi's claim.

In other words, America's most powerful woman is incapable of grasping and accurately communicating a simple message.

Bottom line: Absolutely nothing has changed in Israel and nothing will change in Syria just because a meddling old woman with dementia and botox poisoning has decided to save the world with "granny diplomacy."

Rock on Bug Eyes. Keep making a fool of yourself. As it turns out, the trip hasn't been a total flop. There's one group that's fallen head over heels for Bug Eyes: the Terrorists.

One terror leader, Khaled Al-Batch, a militant and spokesman for Islamic Jihad, expressed hope Pelosi would continue winning elections, explaining the House speaker's Damascus visit demonstrated she understands the Middle East.

Pelosi's visit was opposed by President Bush, who called Syria a "state sponsor of terror."

"Nancy Pelosi understands the area (Middle East) well, more than Bush and Dr. (Condoleeza) Rice," said Al-Batch, speaking to WND from Gaza. "If the Democrats want to make negotiations with Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah, this means the Democratic Party understands well what happens in this area and I think Pelosi will succeed. ... I hope she wins the next elections."

Sounds like she should hit up Al-Batch for campaign contributions . . . or legal defense fund contributions. You see, it's very likely that Bug Eyes has violated the Logan Act.

UPDATE - Here's a more detailed Logan Act violation explanation from Opinion Journal.

What happens in Vegas...

So the Mrs. and I celebrated our eleventh anniversary.

We saw this


this


this


and this


among other things. And we don't need to go back for a good, long while.

But, I must say, the "food" was outstanding. If you know what I mean.

And I think you do.

Just one question

Well, I have been away for (another) while. I have posts to make on Global Warming, Abortion, two Book Reviews, and many others. I have been on a lovely vacation with Mrs. Light Bulb. My son has made me a beamingly proud father and a lachrymose puddle both at once. A dear friend is battling cancer. A family financial goal is within striking distance.

Lots to blog about. I will strive to post more consistently. But before I do that, I have one burning, soul-searching question for you.





Why in the whole wide world has Sanjaya not been voted off?

Eleven years

For Mrs. Light Bulb on our eleventh anniversary.

Eleven years ago, you looked like an angel.
We said "I do" and began our life together.

A town home, a house, a retirement for you, a new career for you, the same company (sort of) for me, hospitals, family . . .

Did you ever think we would have such beautiful children together?
Did you wonder what our life would be like years in the future?
Did you ever think we could get so tired?
Did you ask God for patience with me?
Did you ever think we could love each other so much?

Eleven years ago . . . seems like yesterday.

Yaber

Remember the Alamo

On this date in 1836, the Battle of the Alamo ended with the defeat of the Texas forces under the command of William Travis.



Here is a letter he wrote shortly before he gave his life for Texas independence.

To The People of Texas and
All Americans In The World --
February 24, 1836

Fellow citizens & compatriots --
I am beseiged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna -- I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man -- The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken -- I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls -- I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism, & every thing dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch -- The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country --

VICTORY OR DEATH

William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. Comdt.

P.S. The Lord is on our side -- When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn -- We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves --

Travis

Did he die in vain?

Happy Texas Independence Day

79th Annual Academy Awards

As I type, it's still going on, but the best part has already happened; Jennifer Hudson won the award for Best Supporting Actress.

As for the rest, who really cares? Alan Arkin? Happy Feet?

Best joke: Algore feigning self-importance.

UPDATE - Most exquisite moment of Hollywood pretentiousness: camera cut to Stephen Spielberg and Kate Capshaw (among others) pretending to understand what Ennio Morricone was saying in ITALIAN!!! Oh, it was beautiful!

Sam Johnson tells it like it is

How on earth could any Defeat-ocrat compare to this man?

But they have no shame, so they'll try.

Money quote:

The pain inflicted by your country’s indifference is tenfold that inflicted by your ruthless captors.

This great American speaks, unfortunately, from experience.

The left hand and the other left hand say "yes" to tax cuts through gritted teeth

A $1.8 billion tax cut package passed in the Defeat-ocrat-controlled House of Representatives yesterday by a vote of 360-45.

Yes, you read that sentence correctly. The House of Representatives, which is controlled by Cut-and-Run-ocrats, and led by Bug Eyes Pelosi, overwhelmingly passed a measure to provide one billion, eight hundred million dollars in tax cuts over the next ten years.

But Mr. Light Bulb, how can this be?

Well, it all has to do with the wisdom of our Founding Fathers and their creation of the most incredible, human-inspired document the world has ever seen, the Constitution of the United States. They foresaw a time when our country, having grown in size and population, would need some sort of sanity check for ill-considered ideas that the population-and-short-term-of-service-based lower house of our national legislature would propose. That sanity check would be to force them to agree with the state-and-long-term-of-service-based upper house before a bill is enrolled and sent to the chief executive for his signature and passage into law.

Huh?

The House of Representatives and the Senate have to agree on the bill before they can send it to the President.

Oh. And...

And the Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, are doing their job well.

The House vote displayed the influence the Senate's Republican minority can have on congressional legislation. House Democrats had demanded a minimum wage bill without any tax provisions. Senate Democrats insisted that without some tax relief, the minimum wage would lose necessary Republican backing.

You Defeat-ocrats want an unemployment-increasing minimum wage hike? Fine. You're not going to get it without some compromise. Of course, the House and Senate still have a ways to go before the President sees this.

Passage of a wage hike for the lowest-paid workers now depends on how quickly the House and Senate work out differences between their tax packages. The Senate tax breaks - worth $8.3 billion - are more than four times bigger than the ones passed in the House.

God bless you, James Madison.

House votes for defeat in Iraq

In a display of forceful cowardice, the House of Representatives voted to reject...

...President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq on Friday, opening an epic confrontation between Congress and commander in chief over an unpopular war that has taken the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops.

The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182.

Click here to see how your Representative voted. Thankfully, I live in the seventh congressional district of Texas, the district previously represented by Bill Archer and George H. W. Bush and now represented by John Culberson. Here's what John had to say about today's vote:

The vote today is very simple. Will America give up and walk away from the fight to preserve American civilization?

The people of Houston’s District Seven are immensely proud of the men and women of our armed forces, and we want our soldiers and our commander-in-chief to know that we will always support them, and to know that we will do our best to protect them, especially in a time of war.

We thank our armed forces for keeping us safe and free from another terrorist attack for the 1,985 days since 9/11.

On behalf of the people of Houston’s District Seven, I will vote no on this resolution and tell our enemies and our friends that Americans will never quit, and Americans will never surrender in the fight to preserve, protect, and defend American freedom.

That's my congressman.

Rudy is running!

He's in. The one candidate whom the terrorists fear is Rudy Giuliani.

"I think I can make a difference. I believe that the country needs leadership," Giuliani said on CNN when asked what led him to purse the top political job in the United States.

Finally we have a real candidate in the race.

Now, I know some of you will not like Rudy. Some of you are concerned that he's not conservative enough. And I agree with you. He's not.

But he's all we've got. McCain, absolutely no way. Romney, not enough tough experience. Brownback, Tancredo, etc, good men but just representatives, not chiefs. (To be sure, none of the democrats can even be considered with these guys.) But Rudy has real world experience—no one can deny that. And the enemy will know we mean business with him as our President.

Happy Valentines Day

For Mrs. Light Bulb, My Beautiful One, on St. Valentine's Day.

Walk with me.
Hold my hand.
Know that you are the only one for me.

Share my dreams.
Know my fears.
Be the nearest person in my life.

Your exotic eyes transfix me.
Your touch quickens my heart beat.
For you, my God-given treasure, are mine.

A sampling of Hillary logic (yes, an oxymoron)

Here's the junior Senator from New York on school vounchers.

Wow. Anybody able to locate the "Church of the White Supremacists" in the phone book? What about the "Church of the Jihad"?

Anyway, it's yet another lesson in who these people are. They abhor us making our own choices. We can use our own tax dollars to educate our children, just as long as THEY approve of it.

But, Mr. Light Bulb, what if the people make the wrong choice?

It's called freedom. Deal with it.

Global Warming/Cooling/Whatever - No one can know with certainty

Go read this article at the American Thinker. I won't even quote it. You need to go read it. It's very well written and reasoned.

O.K.

Having read that, you now are responsible. When anyone says to you that "Global Warming" or "Global Cooling" or "Global ANYTHING" is causing anything, you are responsible for telling them that they are completely and utterly wrong. There's absolutely no way they can know for certain that anything causes anything on a global scale. And it has nothing at all to do with environmental science, but everything to do with probability theory.

I thought he said he wasn't going to run

At least that's what he said here...

Yep, he was pretty clear.

Barak Obama is running for President!!!

Can you believe it? I'm so excited! Barak Obama has officially declared himself a candidate for the Presidency!

"We can build a more hopeful America," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery. "And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States."

I am so thrilled that he's running. After all, he has had the audacity to hope for something. And no one's ever done that before. And he's led such an interesting life so far. I don't really know what it is that's interesting about him, but all the talking heads on TV say his life is interesting, so it must be. And he has such experience. I mean, he's been a United States Senator for two whole years! Oh, and Joe Biden says he's clean!

Wait a minute . . .

What am I missing?

Reagan still driving the Soviets out of Poland

I told you back in September about how a statue of Reagan will be erected in Warsaw. Seems like The Gipper is on a course to be standing everywhere in Poland.

Opponents of Poland's former communist regime reportedly want to pay a posthumous homage to US President Ronald Reagan by erecting his statue in the place of a Soviet-era monument.

In an open letter to the mayor of the southwestern city of Katowice, the former anti-regime activists said that the staunchly anti-communist Reagan had been a "symbol of liberty," the Polish news agency PAP reported.