TerriDoodle

WOW, what a huge day for us!! We're gaining a doctor and a nephew in 2 days!! Such wonderful news all the way around. I think we needed that! Laura, I don't have to tell you how much you'll be on our minds tomorrow. Just know that we're all in the room with you -- every breath and every push!! You'll be a MOMMY and DADDY!! OMG!! I'm so excited I just can't stand it! I'll say special prayers that you sail thru it quickly. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Dr. Bradford - I can only imagine what a relief it is to finally be DONE with that project! What a huge accomplishment and so so impressive! Your parents and all who love you are immensely proud of you today and always! You are such a sweetheart and smart to boot! We love you, too!!! Way to go!!!!!!!

:thumbup: <---This must be what Laura & Russell look like right now!

Well, gee whiz.... seems to me that ALL of these issues would go away if they'd simply REFORM THE TAX CODE!! Hello?? Everyone's tax return would be about 6 lines long. SIMPLIFY!!! Educate yourself!!! Americans For Fair Taxation: Americans For Fair Taxation

DID YA'LL GET THE TEXT FROM LAURA?? They want to induce her TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, this is a new precedent! And before this latest report I saw that it was 33% in 2006. and now for 2008...43%??? 43%?!!??!? "Ordinary" Americans will most definitely be feeling the pinch of increased taxes in the prices that they pay for energy and consumer goods. No doubt about it. No, it's not anything new! We have just absolutely reached our threshhold of tolerance. I'm no Rupert Murdoch or, as DHS might call me, a "right wing extremist" :wub: ....I am just your next door neighbor! I'm not fingering Obama -- I"m pissed at every single one of those DC beaurocrats and I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! They've all made it clear that they are NOT listening to us! Immigration? They ignore us. Tax Reform? They ignore us. Term limits? They ignore us. Iraq war? They ignore us. Fiscal restraint? They ignore us. No Bailouts? They ignore us. You-Name-It? Guess what.... they ignore us!

[emphasis added by OP] The Income Tax System is Broken 43 Percent Of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax, A Sign That Something's Wrong, Writes Declan McCullagh April 15, 2009 | by Declan McCullagh (CBS) On April 15, don't be surprised if the line at your local post office is a bit shorter than usual. That's because your neighbors may not be paying any income taxes this year. An astonishing 43.4 percent of Americans now pay zero or negative federal income taxes. The number of single or jointly-filing "taxpayers" - the word must be applied sparingly - who pay no taxes or receive government handouts has reached 65.6 million, out of a total of 151 million. Those numbers come from an analysis published yesterday by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. Neither is a low-tax or conservative advocacy group; the Urban Institute was created under the Johnson administration during the Great Society era, and it receives most of its funding from the federal government. "You've got a larger and larger share of people paying less and less for the services provided by the federal government," says Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. "The concern is that the majority can say, 'Let's have more benefits, spend more,' if they're not paying for it. It's 'free.' That's not a good thing to have." By historic standards, today's situation is an aberration. Between 1950 and 1990, the number of owe-no-money federal tax returns averaged 21 percent, dipping to 18 percent in 1986, according to Tax Foundation data. In the 1990s, the owe-no-money percentage hovered around 25 percent of taxpayers. But then politicians began another round of tinkering with the tax code, adding reams of new pages to an already incomprehensible set of rules that even the guy overseeing the IRS can't seem to figure out. Democrats wanted to lower taxes on the least affluent, while Republicans wanted to lower taxes on everyone. The result was bipartisan enthusiasm for tax credits aimed at everything from children (1997) and college students (1997) to hybrid cars (2005) and homebuyers (2009). Many of these credits dole out cash to people even if they report no income, making them mere government handouts. "There's no difference at all in terms of the effects on the federal deficit," says Williams of the Tax Policy Center. "It's perfectly equivalent. It's just easier to say, 'I cut your taxes' as opposed to 'I created a new federal program to send money to people.'" I'm talking here about federal income taxes, not other taxes like Social Security, Medicare, state income taxes, sales taxes, or car registration taxes, some of which are extracted through payroll deductions. The owe-no-money crowd tends to get hit by at least some of those. The perils of today's situation should be obvious. The United States is close to a tipping point - where most people can skip the post office run on April 15 to mail a check because they're expecting one from the government instead. "It is somewhat odd that you have a decreasing number of folks paying into the federal income tax system, a decreasing number of folks who have a stake in what the government pays for," says Matt Moon of the non-partisan Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. It then becomes tempting to vote for politicians promising more and more handouts, paid for by money forcibly extracted from an ever-shrinking number of their neighbors. In addition to being immoral, it's poor public policy: people who pay no taxes but nevertheless get benefits are less likely to be careful overseers of their elected representatives. "At some point people become less and less invested in making sure their government is accountable and frugal," says Peter Sepp, vice president for policy and communications at the National Taxpayers Union, a lower-tax advocacy group. "If you pay very little for getting all kinds of government benefits, you might view those programs as a bargain, even though they may waste tens of billions of dollars a year." As a candidate, President Obama promised still more tax credits, including ones aimed at child care, "clean cars," and savings accounts. As the Wall Street Journal explained at the time: "You can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer - a federal check - from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this 'welfare,' or in George McGovern's 1972 campaign a 'Demogrant.'" A recession, the stimulus, and innumerable bailouts have placed Mr. Obama's plans on hold. But the expiration of the Bush tax cuts at midnight on December 31, 2010 will renew interest in a tax law rewrite. That will be an opportunity to gut the current system and replace it with something simpler and fairer. After all, if government is important enough to force most of us to work until April 13 to pay its bills, why shouldn't everyone share the pain? Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET and a CBS News EconWatch contributor. Previously, he was Wired's Washington bureau chief and a reporter for Time.com and Time magazine in Washington, D.C. He has taught journalism, public policy, and First Amendment law. He is an occasional programmer, avid analog and digital photographer, and lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay area. By Delcan McCullagh © MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I'm proud to know you Pam!! You ROCK!!!!!! :wub:

I'm 50 years old and have never seen a grass roots movement spontaneously spring up like this one. I'm excited to be a part of it.

Oh, I hear you!! I have older relatives that are surely rolling over in their graves...but that is the OLDER generation...the ones who grew up with racism their whole lives! I'm sure racism still does exist in certain areas, but I'm just saying that I have never heard one word....not one! And this report makes it sound like conservatives are being "recruited" on every street corner and we're gladly signing up because we all hate African Americans...and especially ones who become president. It just ain't so. I'm sure I could be wrong, but I'm just saying...

That DHS document is ridiculous! And WHY would they release that doc to the public anyway? I live in Texas for cryin' out loud and have not EVER heard one word uttered in any regard about Obama's race! ...except to hear people getting pretty pissed off about being called a racist all the time....when they're NOT! If there's any kind of racial division going on, it's not because of the Anglos, that's for certain.

:lol: ROFL!!!!!!!!! ---------------------------------------- I thought ya'll would get a kick out of this... Hero...after a day at the dog park!

My first protest!! Downtown Houston is expecting around 3,000, but I'll bet it's more than that! I can't wait! Anyone else going??

LOL This cracked me up...and is soooo true. Oh, wow!! Cosmic, dude! I like it! Ha! I tend to think she maybe had a little somethin'-somethin' to do with your getting pregnant this year! A little angel work, y'might say. My good girlfried married later in life and at the age of 36 started 'trying to get pregnant'. Well, this went on for 5-6 years....and they had the means to try every fertilization treatment under the sun. I think they tried in vitro like 3 times. They finally just resigned from the whole effort. Her mother died shortly thereafter and *poof* 4 months later she was pregnant!! Coincidence?? I don't think soooooooo. Welcome to MY world!!

Pamela - We orphans go thru that from time to time! It's not easy being without the two people who love you more than anyone else on the planet. That love and support is wonderful to have and when it's "gone" you feel like you've lost your footing a little bit. But when you're in that library relaxing, just get in a meditative state and take a moment to really feel their lovinig energy surrounding you. Don't focus on the sad part of missing them, focus on the jubilant aspect that they are ALWAYS ALWAYS with you -- literally in every cell of your body!! Thank them for being present on this special day and every day. Bow up, breathe deep and smile!! Life is good and all is as it should be! XOXOXOXO Jane - feeling any better?

:tt2: Uh, well, NO apparently I cannot go for one lousy day without sugar. :frown2: I will say that generally i did much better overall, but still had to have some damn chocolate. It's the devil, I say. I had a handful of chocolate chips (ghiradelli...my weakness) and one oreo cookie. I will try again tomorrow. As Pam would say, "I suck." Haydee didn't check in today. Is she gone somewhere AGAIN? I had written her an email about air tickets and she didn't answer that either. Hmmm. Kat - Someday when I come up to visit you, will you promise to get all your relatives together so I can meet these people!? Your MIL sounds like a trip. So do you have to ride around with the door of your van open?? :cool2: Pamela - How's it hanging over there all by your lonesome? Laura - No baby yet??:bolt:

...from the Wall Stree Journal Op/Ed Page: The End of Private Health Insurance When government 'competes,' guess who always wins? Article health-care goal, Democrats this year want to institute a "public option" -- an insurance program financed by taxpayers, managed by government and open to everyone, much like Medicare. This new middle-class entitlement is the most important debate in Congress this year, because it really is the last stand for anything resembling private health insurance. This public option will supposedly "compete" with private alternatives. As President Obama likes to put it, those who are happy with the insurance they have now can keep it -- and if they happen to prefer the government offering, well, gee whiz, that's the free market at work. The reality is far different. Not only will the new program become the default coverage for the uninsured, but Democrats intend to game the system to precipitate -- or if need be, coerce -- an exodus to government from private insurance. Soon enough, that will be the only "option" left. A public program won't compete in a way that any normal business would recognize. As an entitlement, Congress's creation will enjoy potentially unlimited access to the Treasury, without incurring the risks or hedging against losses that private carriers do. As people gravitate to "free" or heavily subsidized care, the inevitably explosive costs will be covered in part with increased outlays to keep premiums artificially low or even offer extra benefits. Lacking such taxpayer cash, private insurance rates will escalate. Much like Medicare, overall spending in the public option will be controlled over time by paying less for medical services, drugs and technology. With its monopsony purchasing power, below-market fees will be dictated on a take-it-or-leave-it basis -- an offer hospitals and physicians won't be able to refuse. Medicare's current reimbursement policies pay hospitals only 71% of private rates, and doctors 81%, according to the Lewin Group. In a recent analysis, Lewin estimates that enrollment in the public option will reach 131 million people if it is open to everyone and pays Medicare rates. Fully 119 million people will shift out of -- or lose -- private coverage. Everything depends on the payment levels that Congress adopts, as well as the size of the eligible pool. But even if a public option available to all takes the highly improbable step of paying at some midpoint between private and Medicare rates, nearly 68 million people will still be crowded out of private insurance. The nearby table summarizes Lewin's eye-popping findings. This public option would be the most radical change in the way American health care is financed -- and thus provided -- in at least 44 years, and maybe ever. About 170 million people currently have private insurance, which is already pressured by the price controls of Medicare and Medicaid. A significant share of government underpayments are simply transferred to the private sector, adding tens of billions of dollars every year to consumer health bills. A 2006 study in the journal Health Affairs concludes that around 17 cents of every dollar in relative reductions in Medicare payments to private hospitals are shifted onto private patients -- and that such cost-shifting accounts for fully 12.3% of the total increase in private payer prices between 1997 and 2001. This share would be far higher were government payment rates not limited to the elderly and the poor but imposed over the entire system. This will only hasten the flight to government. Meanwhile, employers small and large will have every incentive to dump their plans and transfer their workers to the public rolls. The result will inevitably be a cascade of failures or withdrawals from the market by commercial insurers, with the public option as the only option for the diaspora. Congress will finish the job with regulatory changes. Under the aegis of a level playing field, all private plans will be forced to offer benefit packages similar to those in the public option. They will also be required to accept all comers, regardless of pre-existing conditions, and also be forced to offer similar rates to all enrollees, ending the ability to manage risk through underwriting. Any private plan will essentially become a public utility where government decides what products it must offer and how much it can charge. Democrats couldn't be clearer on this point. House baron Pete Stark -- who thought HillaryCare was too moderate and has long favored Medicare for all -- said at a recent hearing that currently "We have no mechanism to directly push the private sector to do delivery system reform and address rising costs." But the public option, he added, would force private insurers to "modernize," which seems to be his term for industrial policy. Under this model, the annual political warfare over Medicare payment policies would be imported to what is left of the private sector. Once government takes over the majority of U.S. health-care liabilities, it can either provide every service at huge and growing cost, or it can ration services. People who need an MRI or hip replacement or whatever will face waiting lines. Medical innovation will be at the mercy of the price controls hashed out in Washington. Proponents of a public option point to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to dismiss such criticism, but that program is offered only to a discrete population. Mr. Obama's proposal would be open to everyone and necessitate a huge permanent increase in government spending as a share of the economy. Medicare and Medicaid alone account for 4% of GDP today and will rise to 9% by 2035, according to the Congressional Budget Office. CBO estimates that individual and corporate income tax rates would have to rise by about 90% to finance the projected increase in spending through 2050 -- without the new middle-class entitlement. Proponents will say we are exaggerating, but the consequences we describe are inevitable when government bulldozes into a market. Democrats want to sell their "public option" as a modest and affordable reform that won't affect anyone's private insurance. It isn't true. Republicans, especially those in the Senate who want to cut a deal on health care, should understand that a public option is the beginning of the end of private health insurance.

So far, so good on my food. My goal for today is to NOT eat any sugar at all. Can I go one lousy day? Surely I can. ......Right?:smile:

Wahhh...can't see pics here at work. :smile: I'm STILL SICK!!....generally feel like crap but I'm here at work! Gotta run... but I'll talk to ya'll later.

Hoppy Easter, Girls! Sounds like you all have very nice days planned -- enjoy!! Re: Peeps... someone had put some out in our ofc kitchen last week and I had never had one before (yes, you read that correctly) so I took a bite, started chewing and had to spit it out!! OMG!!! Waaaaayyyyyy too sweet!! You people are nuts!! LOL We're going to a family BBQ today-- I'm bringing a blueberry cheesecake and a appetizer called "spinach artichoke swirls" made with puff pastry. Yum. I promise that, starting tomorrow, I am back on the wagon. Short term goal is to at least lose 5#!! Surely I can do that, right?? :cool2: Surely! I'll check in with you all later! Have a blessed day! Love you all!

Oh, sorry Tracyk!! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 3.5# LOSS!!!! KEEP GOING!!!

Stunning day here today!! 65 degrees, sunny, nice breeze! Finally feeling like a human being today so now it's time to play catch up on all the work i've been neglecting. Grrrrr. I think I'll go to the grocery store and then to the dog park and bring a book. I'll sit under a tree while muddy, wet and happy dogs run circles around me. Life is good.

That's OK, I'm absolutely good for nothing today anyway!

C'mon Baby Carson!! Come out and see us!!!

Looking for a good movie to rent this weekend? Here's a list of the top 250 movies! IMDb Top 250

Oh Suzie...don't I know it!!! Don't get me wrong, I love baseball but ..... oh nevermind. Oh, and "The Masters" is this weekend. UGH!!!!!