Guard Dog

Thats a great idea guys. Maybe you could even hand out medals to the winners. And put the whole thing on TV. Too bad no one in the US will watch though. Except me!

I think they specified that because it was on the BBC website.

The income tax is a federal tax. It goes to the federal govenment. It uses that money to fund the military, space program, homeland security, there are thousands of programs. National Parks, HUD, Welfare, FCC, FAA, TSA, resource explorations, the list goes on and on.

Article Link: Link Lady Crimson will hate me for this but.... Cats are EVIL! I kid of course. Just for a laugh, can you imagine if you worked in that nursing home and one day while eating lunch the cat came and curled up next to YOU?

When I was in the Marines I could usually do it in 6 min or a little less. On my PFTs I was always around 18 min for the 3 mile run. I once got a 300 PFT after drinking all night the night before. I was VERY proud of that. Now? I could run a mile. Maybe.

Now that is a BIG question. This could easily become a very long post, so I'll try to keep it short. The first thing you need to understand is that the US and Europe are very different in political makeup. In most European countries there is little to no disparity between government at the local and national levels. In the US, Local, State, and Federal governments operate almost independent of each other. The reason is the each level serves different functions. For example, police are paid for and managed at the local level (meaning county, parish, city). Road and highway construction is paid for and managed at the State level. The military, homeland security, natural resource management, etc are run at the federal level. There are many others obviously but you get the idea. The federal government collects taxes in a number of ways. The main way is by taxing income. Every paycheck they take out a percentage. The tax is progressive so the more you earn, the higher the percentage they take. Corporate income is taxed in a similar way but it uses a marginal tax rate rather than a progressive one. The federal government also taxes profits on investments. This is called a Capital Gains Tax (and IMHO is evil and unconstitutional). Another way the Federal government taxes is through excise taxes. These appear as surcharges on gasoline, ammunition, phone bills, cable bills, etc. The tax is not levied on the citizens but on the companies who provide the services. Of course, those companies pass the cost down to the end user so the citizens end up paying. Another is the "Transfer Tax" or as we call it the "Death Tax". If I were to die today and my estate is worth over a certain amount (not sure what the figure is these days) the Federal Government would seize half of it as a "Transfer Tax" before my heirs could even file a probate claim. The Federal Government is also funded in other ways but these are the main ways taxes paid to the federal level. Each State taxes differently. Some tax income, some property, all use sales taxes and excise taxes. Some (like New York for example) use all of them. In Florida we have a 6% statewide sales tax on all non essential purchases. So if I buy a 6 pack of Rolling Rock for $6, the total charge will be $6.36 (unless there is a local sales tax, more on that in a moment). Now that 6 pack does not actually cost $6 by itself. It also included a 3% excise tax on the distributor, who also paid another excise tax on the gas he used to deliver it to the store. He passed all of those costs on to the store owner who passed them on to me by setting the cost at $6. That is what we fiscal libertarians call "double dipping". But I digress. Florida also collects money via a number of other fees such as hotel bed taxes, business licensing fees, hunting and fishing licenses, vehicle tags, etc. It is really a long list. The last way the state collects revenue is by property tax. Every year I get a bill from the county for an Ad Valorem assessment based on what they think the value of my house is. Last year the bill was $4150.00. That money goes mainly to the county and city governments who use it to pay for the police, fire department, public works, libraries, schools, things the government is SUPPOSED to be doing. The state actually handles and administrates schools so it does get a percentage of the property taxes but the lions share goes to the local governments. Some local entities (like the City of Miami for example) also impose a sales tax. Usually it is small, 1-2% but it is paid in addition to the statewide tax. All in all the total tax burden on the average American citizen varies with where they live. But it is between 35-55%. And to think, we threw the British out over a 3% Stamp Tax. What the hell happened?

Such as?

I'm a RF Performance engineer now. The coursework is not difficult, it's the effort to actually do it. I spend all day every day trying to squeeze every single milliwatt out of an overtaxed network to cover every square inch of an overpopulated and undercovered market. Then in the evenings..... you get the idea. It's almost like working around the clock.

i'm just now taking my first post graduate EE class Electromagnetic Theory I. Ugh, I'm finding as as I get older (I'm 36 )I am losing my ability to concentrate on this stuff.

I'm not being dense but the analogy is simplistic for the purposes of discussion. Obviously the subject of taxation and proper allocation of tax income is a far more complicated subject than can be adequately covered in a thread like this. But it would make a good thread and it is something I know a little about. But to address your analogy I am not putting that $100 in the box out of the goodness in my heart. It is being taken from me forcibly. Does that not make it theft? If I forced you to give me $100, then paid to wash you car, does that change the fact I took your money? Suppose then I used the rest of that money to buy Calax lunch, hired some guys to beat up Sand, then paid myself a salary with the remainder? Would you just say "well at least I got my car washed". Or would you say, "hey, why the hell do I have to pay $100 when all I got for it was a $10 car wash" ? Simplistic yes, but I think it makes the point on principle.

Don't know how it is in California, but I pay for my own power, water, house, and insurance. I pay a bill every month for all of those things. And it is not to the government since they are all private companies that provide them. Airports, roads, dams are all paid for by the State, and I have always been on the side of "State Rights". It is the very essence of Federalism. Taks has been pretty hard on you but he is right about one thing, you do need a better understanding of how government works. The government does just hand him money. Welfare, food stamps, HUD assistance, I could name a dozen more programs that Uncle Sam runs (with NO Constitutional mandate to do so) where people who do no work and pay no taxes get a check from the the government. Who do you think is funding all of that? Me. You. Everyone who earns income, invests money, buys a product made somewhere else. They are taking your money and giving it to someone else who did not earn it. Is that not theft? I have no problem with Federal, State, or local taxes per se. There are a number of Constituionally assigned duties on the Federal State and Local governments that rquire tax money to perform. But I do have a problem when that tax burden is ratcheted up tp 45-50% (collectively) to fund programs the Constitution does not allow to exist (at least at a federal level). I would be making the exact same argument in the State of Florida were to pass a law that it's state constitution did not allow.

Musopticon if I post something dumb, please feel free to call me out on it. I take criticisim well, especially if someone like you thinks its warranted. Anyway, you and Wals are probably right, there are different breeds of villian just like there are different breeds of scorpion. The thing that I hate most about the jihadist leaders is they preach jihad but they are never the ones to strap on the bombs. They send deluded teenagers. In a real army, the commander is right there in the fight. Did Henry V sneak away in the night before Agincourt? Did Wellington sneak away before Waterloo? Did Lee sneak away before Fredricksburg? Romulus Agustulus did not flee Rome before the Visigoths attacked. All of them were facing seemingly hopeless battles. But the "jihadists", their leaders disguise themselves as women and sneak off in the night. Incidently, Zarquawi did the exact same thing once to avoid being caught as Americam troops searched the truck he was riding in.

. Typical. After preaching the virtue of martyrdom to the people they have ensnared the leaders put on disguises and try to sneak away. I dont think you have the proper perspective on this. See, cross-dressing is pretty risky bussiness in muslim countries, and to do it in the very center of "put a towel on your head and a bomb in your pants" takes some serious guts. You are KILLING me. Too funny.

Little to none.

Is a man who commits atrocities in the name of religion really so different from one who does it in the name of political ideology?

It was pretty likely, sucks no less for it being confirmed. To my mind, that seems to be about the only appeal left to Dragon Age (I prefer multiplayer and/or moddable games for the most part). Don't give up on modding DA yet. Nothing has been set in stone beyond the fact it will have a toolset. They have said it will not be like NWN1 & 2 but that does not mean it won't be better. Actually I'm expecting something along the lines of Elder Scrolls. I guess we will find out next year.

Heh, I had just today listened to this idiot in my class talking about how much he admired that S.O.B. Did not seem to know the first thing about him. I told him he should do a little research about La Caba

. Typical. After preaching the virtue of martyrdom to the people they have ensnared the leaders put on disguises and try to sneak away. Sand is right. These people are not worth the dirt on the graves of the people they have murdered by setting bombs and running away. Or by strapping bombs on brainwashed children. Despicable. I have no stomach for men like Maulana Aziz, Zarqawi, Arafat, Bin Al asheed, Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Hussien, Che Guevera, Omar, and other filth like them. They are brutal towards the helpless, send others to die in their place and when it's their turn they die on their knees weeping and begging for their own lives.

Watch as I go OT in my own topic. But this is funny. I heard on the radio today that there is a canned food recall in progress in Florida and Georgia. Hormel Chili, Corned Beef Hash, Beef Stew and Mighty Dog canned dog food cans from a Georgia plant are all contaminated with botulisim. Beef Stew, Chili, Hash, and dog food.... all from the same plant???? No wonder it all looks the same when you open the can.

Let me give you a scenario here Calax. Suppose you are walking down the street and you see a homeless guy sleeping on a bench. If you walked up to him and gave him a hundred dollars, that would be a pretty nice thing to do. You would probably feel pretty good that you did that right? But suppose instead of you giving the him money I pointed a gun at you and forced you to give me the hundred dollars. That is theft right? I took something from you that I did not earn. Now if I go over to the homeless guy and give him the hundred dollars I stole from you does that change the fact I stole it? Or to be even more accurate, if I stole the hundred dollars from you I could only give the homeless guy fifty dollars because I had to recoup the cost of the gun I used to steal the hundred from you. . And then the homeless guy thanks me for giving him money and gives you a dirty look for giving him nothing even though it is was ultimately your money in his pocket. That is how taxes work.

Happy Birhday Taks! This will be the last one you count. Next year it will be the 1st anniversary of you 39th Birthday To quote Mickey Mantle "If I'd known I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself".

That was an attempt at levity Kitty.

Article Link: Sun-Sentinel Holy crap, I gotta start reading the labels before I buy things and see where the heck it came from. The whole dog food thing scared the heck out of me as it was. If the Chinese want to take over the world they will not need their military to do it, if everyone keeps using their crappy products there won't be anyone left.

Too funny...

Just curious here. How many books are you guys reading at any one time? I guess I have a limited attention span because I usually read one at a time, but never more tha two.