Patrick’s Rants

Over the last few years we have heard time and again that GW is going to cut the double taxation on dividends by making them tax free for investors. While that sounds like a good idea to some, let’s look at the realities of ‘tax-free’ dividends:

• Only individuals investing directly in stocks will benefit.

If you own stocks through your company retirement plan, 401(k), SIMPLE, SEP, or Traditional IRA, all withdrawals from those plans are considered Ordinary Income just like a paycheck. No benefit from investing in tax free bonds exists now and certainly no benefit will exist in the future regarding dividends without an serious overhaul of the tax code- an overhaul that is not coming no matter what anyone says. Additionally, if you are invested in a ROTH IRA all your withdrawals are tax free as long as you meet the basic rules of the ROTH since you pay tax on the money when you earned it in your paycheck. No benefit of the ‘tax-free’ dividend will be seen by you.

• There is no real incentive for companies to pay dividends

The way dividends currently work at the corporate level, the corporation pays tax on its net earnings. Net earnings include the amount of dividends paid out. In other words, the corporation does not subtract what is arguably an expense from its earnings. This is the main reason Subchapter S corporations are popular with small corporations; taxes are only paid on one, level the individual share holders. The S Corp itself pays no taxes (well there are a couple different ones they do pay but not generally on regular income) but passes the income and expenses to its shareholders who then report the income and expenses on their personal tax return.

• The tax code is more complex due to no subtraction for this expense

A corporation owning a certain percentage of another companies stock can subtract a portion of that dividend income. Of course this is only if they have followed all the rules regarding how long they have held the stock and how much of the stock they actually own. There are somewhere between 3 and 5 different percentages of stock that qualify for the ‘Dividends Received Deduction’.

Reclassifying this as an expense – not retroactive of course, that would be a serious headache – would allow corporate books to be less complex, reduce the record keeping and tax preparation burden on corporations, would not discriminate against lower income individuals who might only own stock within a retirement plan in favor of higher income individuals who might tend to hold stock directly, and even give corporations a real incentive to pay dividends to their shareholders (case in point Microsoft has horded over $30 billion in cash)
Real tax reform must be sensible and make sense. This is only area of Federal Income taxation that I’m personally aware of where income is taxed twice. If you want to change it Mr Bush do it the right way.

If you checked out the site using Internet Explorer recently you would have seen an ugly page… the menu was at the bottom (should have been on the right), nothing was where was supposed to be and the general formatting was all messed up.
Well, between an extra parenthasis mark and a newer version of Word Press I managed to totally break formatting… except I didn’t see it using Fire Fox. It should be all better now

A little over a year ago I was having a ‘debate’ with some Bush supporters, heavy Republicans. I bring this up because as I recall I was debating with a couple of Vets, neither of which actually fought in any war if I remember correctly. I suppose if they read this they may recognize themselves and correct me or they will just bad mouth me to their own detriment
As I recall I was asked if I thought Saddam Hussein was a bad and evil man, if he had mistreated his own people and people of other countries. I said that yes, he was bad, he did those things, mistreating people abusing women, etc. but that’s not what George W Bush said was his reasoning for going into Iraq. In other words the GOP back-pedaling from his own supporters had begun nearly as quickly as the war itself. Part of the discussion involved prostestors who had chained themselves in front of Rick Renzi’s offices in Flagstaff, some about the protestors who had blocked traffic. Interestingly enough, these ‘conservatives’ were in favor of knocking back the right to assemble with a thinly veiled ‘well they’re tying up emergency services, someone could have been hurt or died while they were blocking traffic’. They are absolutely right. But I have to wonder what they think about the protests at Kent State over the Vietnam war, the protests over equal rights in the south, and Rosa Parks’ refusal to stand at the back of the bus. Everyone involved was breaking the law at the time, because the law was unjust, or the cause in Vietnam was costing the lives of US soldiers daily. Should we throw out the first amendment because someone doesn’t like what we may have to say? This is exactly what the first amendment is about. Your right to say things I don’t like. In truth, the full value of protests and the willingness of brave, patriotic Americans to break laws which are unjust is not fully appreciated at the time.
As we ended our discussion, I was asked if I had ever ‘served my country’. Why is it that conservatives think that the only way to ‘serve’ one’s country is to join the armed forces? Our own armed forces are refusing to serve in what they believe to be dangerous and pointless missions. Additionally, over 800 troops have not shown up for duty despite being called up for duty. The administration is trying to quietly resolve the failure of the troops to show up- presumably because they don’t want the troops to say publicly that they don’t believe in the war.
However, my response to the question is that I have and do serve my country: I vote. Serve your country, vote, protest, exercise your constitutional rights support the constitution.

Type in a nickname and kerryedwards in the channel name field: http://www.chat4all.org/eng_yourchatroom.html
If you’d rather join the room from mIRC or another IRC client, enter the server irc.chat4all.org, the port 6667, and the room #kerryedwards. Warning – trolls will be banned. Open now through the inauguration.

In yet another example of the blazing incompetence of the Bush administration we learn that 380 tons of explosives that should have been guarded when we invaded Iraq were left unguarded so that soldiers could stand at oil refineries.

There was no immediate response from the Bush administration on the IAEA announcement.

But a senior administration official told CNN that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was notified about the missing weapons about a month ago. Iraq Survey Group inspectors are investigating, the official said.

The discovery was not made public sooner because standard intelligence practice is not to let the enemy know such information, the official said.

I beg to differ- the enemy stole the explosives they already know.

According to a recent poll published by the Program on International Policy Attitudes, University of Maryland, Bush supporters blindly, ignorantly believe Iraq had MWD, direct ties to Al Qaeda, and was directly involved in 9/11 despite every bit of evidence to the contrary.

Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.
Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions.

This blind faith is very unsettling. There are two possible conclusions that we can draw from this study;

1. Supporters of George W Bush believe him so completely that facts and reality do not persuade them.
2. Those who cannot grasp reality due to mental deficiency, self delusion, ignorance or idiocy are more likely to support GW.

I’m not sure which conclusion is scarier- that W is able to sway so many people even with his exaggerated and contorted speech looking much like the puppets in Team America, World Police, or that there are so many people walking around with their eyes closed that they feel only W can represent them.
I guess you could say that intelligent people that can think for themselves, believe the results of a bi-partisan independent commission will be voting for someone other than Bush- most likely John Kerry. Those that can’t grasp reality even when it is reported everywhere and don’t even understand Bush’s own proclaimed positions will vote Bush.

The New York Times is calling attention to many potential problems with the so-called Help America Vote Act of 2002 and for real election law reform. It’s time for Congress to take a real non-partisan look at voting on the federal level, send a copy of The New York Times call for election reform to your representatives. How can we expect a fair uncontested election if the rules aren’t the same for everyone and the vote goes into a mysterious blackbox to be counted?

Michael Moore is a wanted man in Michigan for bribing voters with clean underwear and Ramen noodles. It is ironic that after putting up with Bush’s crap for the last three and a half years, giving out clean underwear is is a crime.
Enjoy

In what I can only describe as bullying and intimidation tactics the GOP has signed up for thousands of ‘poll watcher’ positions in heavily Democratic neighborhoods in Ohio, considered a battleground state. So far the only online resource I can point to is The New York Times, but I originally heard the story on CNN.
Democrats are being accused of illegally registering people to vote as noted in this thinly disguised quote:

“The organized left’s efforts to, quote unquote, register voters – I call them ringers – have created these problems,” said James P. Trakas, a Republican co-chairman in Cuyahoga County

I see challenges to whether or not someone can vote. The truth is that there are only four legitimate challenges to valid registration in Ohio:

Ohio election officials said that by state law, the parties’ challengers would have to show “reasonable” justification for doubting the qualifications of a voter before asking a poll worker to question that person. And, the officials said, challenges could be made on four main grounds: whether the voter is a citizen, is at least 18, is a resident of the county and has lived in Ohio for the previous 30 days.

Taking that one item at a time: citizenship- are the Republicans going to ask for citizenship papers? And what would that entail: bring your birth certificate or your naturalization paperwork.
At least 18 years old: some young looking women may be flattered to be asked for ID, young looking men would more likely be offended. Bring your photo ID just in case.
Resident of the County: what constitutes proof? Will voters have to bring all their utility bills and leases or a note from their landlord?
30 days: see above.
The GOP is worried about illegal voters but what are they looking to? The ONLY thing that they can look to is their appearance. So what can you tell by looking at someone? Whether they are “white” or not – sort of. But you can’t tell if someone is a resident of the county or the state just by looking at them, you can’t tell if they have lived in Ohio for at least 30 days just by looking at them. You can’t really tell someone’s age just by looking at them.

“Our concern is Republicans will be challenging in large numbers for the purpose of slowing down voting, because challenging takes a long time,” said David Sullivan, the voter protection coordinator for the national Democratic Party in Ohio. “And creating long lines causes our people to leave without voting.”

Sounds like a legitimate concern to me. After all, the more we hear about the 2000 election, and the so called “fixes” to the problems only lead to more doubt about our system. A Texas firm supplied data that improperly removed voters from the Florida rolls. The touch screen system depends upon a Microsoft database server on the backend which is susceptible to tampering by anyone using Access and which does not include a ‘paper trail’ for votes and with a severely limited – even missing – ability to recount votes if necessary. Indeed Deibold has received lots of critisism for its voting machines and openly biased support of the Republican party, including the proclamation by the company’s CEO that Ohio would be delivered to George W Bush.
I say it’s time to call in international or UN elections monitors. Unfortunately former President Jimmy Carter essentially calls Florida’s elections system unfair.
We cannot continue to proclaim democracy, forcing it upon the unwilling in other parts of the world when we cannot even ensure that our own elections process is not corrupt.

A commercial currently being run by Washington, DC Republicans starts out with the statement “More false attacks from Paul Babbitt” and goes on to state:

Rick Renzi

• grew up
• graduated from college
• lives in rural Arizona

Well… he’s an adult (or has attained the age of majority) so the first point is true. He has a degree (from what I hear) so the second point is true.
But, the third point? Huh- I think he may have a second home in Arizona, but his family lives in Virginia, his kids attend school there and that’s where he has lived for at least 18 years. It is interesting that this ad doesn’t state that he grew up in Arizona, that he graduated from college in Arizona, just that he lives in rural Arizona. Of course the statements require that this post also fall under “goofy commercials”

“…also supported charging us to pick up our garbage…”

Lovely quote. So are we to haul our own garbage to the dump or roll the cost of garbage collection into another tax bill? I mean come on! Trash collection is a service provided by the government (and here in Arizona there are actually quite a few outlying areas that you pay a private contractor to do this). This service costs money and must be paid for somehow. In South Florida – Dade County – this fee is collected with your quarterly sewer bill.

Renzi may very well win this election but it won’t be through telling the truth and actually talking to people, it will be through the billion dollars spent on negative campaign ads by the National Republican Commitee, the National and Arizona Association of Realtors and Mr. Renzi’s campaign. I ask what are they afraid of that they have to outspend Mr. Babbitt nearly 1000 to 1? What does Renzi have to offer the non-voters of Virginia, the Republican National Congressional Election Committee, the National and Arizona Association of Realtors? Mr Renzi, this is Congressional District 1, rural Arizona, a district that I don’t believe you truly represent. You are quoted on the news as saying that Paul Babbitt can’t stand up to Washington Republican ads. I ask why he is being attacked by Washington Republicans. There is obviously a bigger agenda here, one that sees such carpet bagging and moving when it is politically convenient. It started most with Dick Cheney moving out of Texas so that he could be on the presidential ticket, followed by you ‘moving’ to Arizona, and this year Alan Keyes has ‘moved’ to Illinois from Massechusetts to run against Barack Obama. Add the gerrymandering done in Texas and you have the Republican “perfect storm”, one that just may well swallow up the moderates and free thinkers with your ultra conservative agendas.

2003 article on Renzi’s 2002 campaign citing the majority of Renzi’s contributions come from outside Mr. Renzi’s district.
Press release from Babbitt campaign regarding Renzi’s commercials.