Obama may be the most destructive tax increaser in history

The punitive double taxation of company profits (once in the hands of the company and then again in the hands of the dividend recipient) has a hugely distorting effect on any economy. So much so that a LEFTIST government in Australia abolished it long ago.

A major effect of it in the USA is to divert investment away from companies and into risky small businesses. As a way of avoiding the tax, many small businesses operate as sole traders instead of as companies. But small businesses go broke at an enormous rate, thus destroying lots of capital and lots of jobs.

The only bright side of the U.S. system is that dividends are taxed at a low rate -- 15% -- so many people are prepared to wear that as a penalty for putting their money into companies. But Obama now wants to take that away and hike the dividend tax rate to 43%. That will kill a lot of company investment and hence a lot of job creation. Americans must not let this moronic idea pass

“President Obama released his FY 2013 budget this morning. By his own numbers, his budget raises net taxes over the next decade by $1.56 trillion (Table S-9, page 225). As a percentage of the economy, tax revenues would rise all the way to 20.1% of GDP in 2022, far higher than the historical tax revenue average of 18.3% of GDP (Table S-1, page 205).”

One and a half TRILLION dollar increase in tax years.

That is $1,5 Trillion taken from your family and businesses and given to government. You can then add another TRILLION for the increases costs of businesses, for their taxes, which will be passed on to the consumer

“The dividends rate will raise from 15% today to 43.4% next year. The Obama budget proposes taxing dividends for investors making more than $250,000 per year at ordinary income tax rates, which will rise to a top rate of 39.6% under the budget. In addition, the Obamacare surtax on investors will combine to nearly triple the tax rate on dividends in just one year.”

This is a killer for investments and buying power. This budget is a job and economy killer. Obama may get his wish, he will transform this nation–from a prosperous one to a Third World County.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Tennessee Woman Gets No Jail in Sex Case

(Clarksville, Tennessee) A 33-year-old local woman, Stephanie Marie Kitchen, has pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old boy.

According to Assistant District Attorney Dan Brollier, a settlement has been negotiated.

Kitchen entered a best interest plea to one count of aggravated statutory rape and pleaded guilty to one count of solicitation of a minor. She was placed on a 4-year post trial diversion.

She will also have to register as a sex offender and be on State Probation for the duration of the diversion.

Brollier said the sexual conduct was discovered when the then 15-year-old boy received a video message on his phone from Kitchen soliciting him to have sex.

The boy admitted to engaging in sex with Kitchen on more than one occasion.

Texas Teacher Gets Prison for Sex with Boy - Updated

(Clarksville, Texas) Former middle school teacher Randi Lynn Bratcher Savage, 32, has pleaded guilty to engaging in sex with a 13-year-old male student.

As a result, Savage was sentenced to five years in prison.

Savage pleaded guilty to indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. District Judge Eric Clifford sentenced her to concurrent five-year terms on the charges.

Savage was a teacher at Cheatham Middle School in Clarksville. She was accused of contacting the boy through Facebook and text messages, which led to sexual encounters.

Savage was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.

* * * * *
Texas Teacher, 31, and Boy, 13
[Previous 6/4/11 post]
(Clarksville, Texas) A 31-year-old reading teacher at Cheatham Middle School, Randi Lynn Bratcher Savage, has been accused of engaging in an improper relationship with a 13-year-old boy.

Savage faces charges of improper relationship between an educator and student and indecency with a child by sexual contact, both second-degree felonies.

The child’s parent filed a complaint with local authorities after discovering a handwritten note, allegedly written by Savage, in her child’s pants’ pocket while preparing laundry. The note, addressed to the juvenile, details sexually explicit acts.

According to the affidavit, the juvenile admitted to kissing and hugging Savage but denied any other sexual contact.

Savage was booked into custody at the Red River County Jail with total bond set at $20,000.

China Bans Foreign TV Shows

(Beijing, China) The ChiComs are taking action against western cultural influences.

China's TV broadcasting regulator has announced that foreign TV shows will no longer be aired during prime time, state media report.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) says these shows cannot be aired from 19:30 to 22:00.

Any foreign programming to be aired must be reviewed for violent or vulgar content. Violations will result in severe punishment.

Frankly, I suggest the ChiComs are more concerned about Western political influences prompted by cultural changes.

Why do rich kids do better than ever at school?

This will be an enraging finding to equality-mongers but for me the interest is in the explanation. The author below has few explanations so I may not do much better but let me try.

I think it goes back to the deteriorating quality of public schools. I think I learnt more in grade school 50 years ago than most kids now learn in High school. Does the fact that even some Harvard freshers (about 20%) have to be diverted into remedial math and English classes before they can go further tell you anything?

So it is only the rich who can afford to go private or live in high class areas who now have a chance of giving their kid a good education. A most lamentable change.

The Widening Academic Achievement Gap between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations

Sean F. Reardon,

Abstract

In this chapter I examine whether and how the relationship between family socioeconomic characteristics and academic achievement has changed during the last fifty years. In particular, I investigate the extent to which the rising income inequality of the last four decades has been paralleled by a similar increase in the income achievement gradient. As the income gap between high- and low-income families has widened, has the achievement gap between children in high- and low-income families also widened?

The answer, in brief, is yes. The achievement gap between children from high- and low-income families is roughly 30 to 40 percent larger among children born in 2001 than among those born twenty-five years earlier. In fact, it appears that the income achievement gap has been growing for at least fifty years, though the data are less certain for cohorts of children born before 1970. In this chapter, I describe and discuss these trends in some detail. In addition to the key finding that the income achievement gap appears to have widened substantially, there are a number of other important findings.

First, the income achievement gap (defined here as the income difference between a child from a family at the 90th percentile of the family income distribution and a child from a family at the 10th percentile) is now nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap. Fifty years ago, in contrast, the black-white gap was one and a half to two times as large as the income gap. Second, as Greg Duncan and Katherine Magnuson note in chapter 3 of this volume, the income achievement gap is large when children enter kindergarten and does not appear to grow (or narrow) appreciably as children progress through school. Third, although rising income inequality may play a role in the growing income achievement gap, it does not appear to be the dominant factor. The gap appears to have grown at least partly because of an increase in the association between family income and children's academic achievement for families above the median income level: a given difference in family incomes now corresponds to a 30 to 60 percent larger difference in achievement than it did for children born in the 1970s. Moreover, evidence from other studies suggests that this may be in part a result of increasing parental investment in children's cognitive development. Finally, the growing income achievement gap does not appear to be a result of a growing achievement gap between children with highly and less-educated parents. Indeed, the relationship between parental education and children's achievement has remained relatively stable during the last fifty years, whereas the relationship between income and achievement has grown sharply. Family income is now nearly as strong as parental education in predicting children's achievement.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Carolina Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Kings Mountain, North Carolina) A 20-year-old local woman, Hannah Lee Lockhart, has been accused of performing a sexual act with a teenage boy.

Lopckhart faces charges of statutory rape/sex offense being more than four but less than six years older and taking indecent liberties with a child.

The charges stem from an Aug. 21, 2011, offense, according to arrest warrants. Warrants didn’t describe the activity that allegedly took place between Lockhart and the teen.

Lockhart was booked onto custody at the Cleveland County Detention Center with bond set at $25,000.

Boeing 787 Test Flight



Path of Boeing 787 test flight, Feb. 9, 2012

The 787 Dreamliner flew 18 hours in a 10,000-mile test flight shown on the graphic image. The sky art even included the Boeing company logo.

Catholic bishops to Obama: Good try but no cigar

When it comes to mandatory contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the nation's Catholic bishops won't budge an inch.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, initially said he would study President Obama's newest variation of the requirement. That didn't last long. Now, it's no sale unless the mandate is lifted from any person of faith who objects to facilitating contraception coverage for employees.

The bishops' position is essentially unchanged from what they said in August through their general counsel Anthony Picarello when they blasted the requirement that private insurance plans cover contraception, calling the mandate "unprecedented in federal law and more radical than any state contraceptive mandate."

They criticized the narrow "religious employer" exception to the mandate, explaining that it provides "no protection at all for individuals or insurers with a moral or religious objection to contraceptives or sterilization," instead covering only "a very small subset of religious employers."

The bishops called the plan "nationwide government coercion of religious people and groups to sell, broker or purchase 'services' to which they have a moral or religious objection." They said the plan represents "an unprecedented attack on religious liberty."

More HERE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Woman Accused of Filming Girl Stripping

(Odessa, Texas) A 21-year-old local woman, Sierra Elizabeth Galvan, has been accused of filming a 16-year-old girl as she stripped.

Galvan faces a charge of sexual performance by a child.

The parents of a 16-year-old female made a report to the Odessa Police Department on Oct. 10 after they found a cell phone picture and video camera footage of Galvan with their daughter, an arrest affidavit stated.

The parents gave written permission to check a cell phone used by the juvenile, and police found a picture of Galvan and the 16-year-old both nude and in “a sexually suggestive pose” together, the affidavit stated.

Galvan was booked into custody at the Ector County Detention Center with bond set at $25,000.

Mexican Politician Arrested in Texas by DEA

(San Antonio, Texas) Shocking! Mexican politician accused of laundering drug cartel money.

The Drug Enforcement Administration filed a criminal complaint in a U.S. District Court in San Antonio that contains allegations implicating a former Mexican governor with the Zetas and Gulf cartels.

The DEA complaint is against Antonio Peña-Arueguelles, who is accused of money laundering and of being a conduit for the cartels and Mexican politicians, according to a U.S. court document that recently was unsealed.

U.S. federal agents arrested Peña-Arueguelles, 56, on Wednesday at his home in San Antonio. He is accused of laundering money for the two cartels since 2000.

So, a Mexican lives in Texas, owns property in San Antonio, gets elected governor in Mexico, and is arrested for laundering cartel drug money.

Neo-Nazi Murders Investigation



Beate Zschäpe
(Cologne, Germany) German authorities are seeking American help in the investigation of the Zwickau-based National Socialist Underground (NSU), a neo-Nazi terror group.

The investigators are hoping their American counterparts can provide some Internet data that will link Beate Zschäpe to the 10 murders the group is accused of.

Zschäpe is in custody after turning herself in following the discovery of the cell in early November. Authorities have not been able to come up with any evidence linking Zschäpe to the murders.

German investigators are particularly interested in a Youtube account from Zschäpe in which she used the username "Liese1111".

Investigators from the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation want to find out what Zschäpe viewed on that account and if she uploaded any videos to the site.

Zschäpe has been booked into custody in Cologne.

Companion post at TJR.

Subway Rape Case

(New York City) A 29-year-old career criminal, Michael Torres, has been arrested for allegedly throwing a woman, 36, from a subway platform at Bowery and Delancy streets, dragging her into a tunnel and raping her.

The incident reportedly occurred just after midnight last Wednesday.

Cops say the woman was on the platform when Torres pushed her onto the tracks before dragging her into the tunnel. Threatening her with a screwdriver, he told her to be quiet as he proceeded to rape, sodomize and beat her.

Sources say the woman screamed when she saw the light from an M.T.A. employee and the creep ran.

That M.T.A. worker may have saved the woman's life. She was taken to Bellvue Hospital for treatment.

Torres was identified in a surveillance tape and booked on charges of assault, criminal sex act, reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon.

BOOK REVIEW: for The Reptile with a Conscience by Nathan Cofnas.

Paperback. pp. 523. Available from The Ulster Institute for Social Research. Review by J.J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.)

One of Einstein's more famous sayings is: "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong". That single experiment would now appear to have been done so is Einstein now old hat? Far from it. Just as Einstein's relativity subsumed Newton's mechanics, so the next generation of physics will have to cope with the observations that came from Einstein's work.

A failure that Einstein himself acknowledged was his failure to devise a "unified field theory". Einsten was of course Jewish so it is interesting that another brilliant Jewish writer, Nathan Cofnas, HAS attempted a "unified field theory". But this theory is not about physics. It is about ideology. Nathan has presented us with a theory that accounts for both religion and politics as being from the same rootstock.

And I can even tell you very simply what that theory is. Nathan points something out that seems obvious when you hear it but nobody previously seems to have thought of it. He takes Adam Smith's famous theory of markets -- the invisible hand -- and points out that religious people also see an invisible hand in the world about them: The hand of God.

You don't have to think about that for long, however, to start saying "Yes but ...". And that is why Nathan has written his book. He presents his theory in a much more subtle and careful way than my crude generalization above and proceeds to answer all the "Yes buts ..". He fleshes out how he believes both conservative thinking and Judeo/Christian thinking arise.

But this is not a book for scholars, philosophers and ideologues only. It does something that anybody interested in modern politics needs badly: It gives an systematic answer to the old Leftist retort to all facts and arguments that they dislike: "There's no such thing as right and wrong, anyway". The crazy thing about that assertion of course is that the same Leftists who say that will say in almost the same breath that racism or anything done by George W Bush is wrong. They contradict their own assertion almost as soon as they make it. So it is not only conservatives but Leftists too who need to get their minds clear on what is right/wrong and where that right/wrong comes from. And Nathan helps us greatly with that.

But WHY do Leftist deny right and wrong when it suits them? Doing so makes all their OWN doctrines, policies and beliefs look like empty vapour. It's a strange thing to do. So: The reason they do it is because most analytical philosophers say the same thing. And as John Maynard Keynes once said: "Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back”.

Analytical philosophers say: "If there is this objective property of "rightness", how do we detect it and where is it? Do we lift up a stone somewhere and find it there? And that challenge has proved hard to answer. Just what IS rightness and how do we know it is right?

In recent times, however, an answer to that has begun to emerge: We know some things are right because we have rightness instincts. Rightness IS located somewhere. It is located in our long evolution as social beings. It is somewhere in our primitive "reptilian" brain. But the "Yes, buts ..." come thick and fast to that proposition, as it is obvious that our higher brain (where "conscience" is located) has a role too and can make some things seem right to one person that another person sees as wrong. So how do we sort THAT mess out? Nathan goes through it systematically for us and leaves even atheists like me confident that there IS such a thing as a real right and wrong.

Nathan's book will not be the final answer on all the questions it addresses but, like Einstein's theory of relativity, future discussions in the field will have to take account of his arguments if they are to be well-informed.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Connecticut Police Captain in Child Porn Case

(Hartford, Connecticut) Former Granby Police Capt. David Bourque, 51, appeared in court last week for sentencing on federal charges of possessing and distributing child pornography.

David Bourque pleaded guilty last year after he was caught with more than 26,000 still and video images of child pornography. Federal authorities said it was one of the largest and most disturbing child pornography cases they've seen.

During Friday's sentencing hearing, Bourque told a federal judge in Hartford that he lost his way and "spiraled out of control."

In court papers filed Wednesday, Richard Brown, an attorney for Bourque, had argued for a lighter sentence based on an evaluation by a psychologist that concluded Bourque suffered PTSD, affecting his judgment.

Although Bourque had faced a possible 20-year stretch, he was sentenced to only 10 years in federal prison because of judgment-impairing-stress he had experienced during his time as a police officer.

It seems a precedent has been set. The consequences of criminal behavior can be minimized if perpetrators can convincing claim they were stressed-out.

Tip: slwlion

BBC Broke Rules

(London, England) An investigation by The Independent has exposed less-than-objective news programming by the BBC.

The BBC will today apologise to an estimated 74 million people around the world for a news fixing scandal, exposed by The Independent, in which it broadcast documentaries made by a London TV company that was earning millions of pounds from PR clients which it featured in its programming.

BBC World News viewers from Kuala Lumpur to Khartoum and Bangkok to Buenos Aires will watch the remarkable broadcast, available in 295 million homes, 1.7 million hotel rooms, 81 cruise ships, 46 airlines and on 35 mobile phone platforms, at four different times, staged in order to reach audiences in different time zones. The BBC will apologise for breaking "rules aimed at protecting our editorial integrity".

The Independent exposed last year in an investigation into the global television news industry how the BBC paid nominal fees of as little as £1 for programmes made by FBC Media (UK), whose PR client list included foreign governments and multinational companies. The company made eight pieces for the BBC about Malaysia while failing to declare it was paid £17m by the Malaysian government for "global strategic communications". The programmes included positive coverage of Malaysia's controversial palm oil industry.

The BBC also used FBC to make a documentary about the spring uprising in Egypt without knowing the firm was paid to do PR work for the regime of former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

And there's more….

Homeless Stay Free at Austrian Brothel




(Vienna, Austria) A local brothel has opened its doors to the homeless. Owner Peter Laskaris said it would be unfair to not help the homeless during the current cold weather spell.

Laskaris, owner of the Red Rooms Laufhaus in the Austrian capital Vienna, has opened his door to the homeless as temperatures of minus 20 hit the city.

He is offering 10 people a night a bed in his brothel for free, including a hot shower and a hot meal.

But he added: "Other services are not included."

Regardless of the fact that the Red Rooms Laufhaus brothel has received widespread publicity, Mr. Laskaris should be commended for his charitable act.

Jihadist Gets Life for Killing U.S. Airmen

(Frankfurt, Germany) In March 2011, Kosovo national Arid Uka, 22, approached several U.S. Air Force Airmen at the Frankfurt airport and opened fire.

A Muslim jihadist radicalized by propaganda in Germany, Uka killed Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, and Airman First Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21. Two other Airmen were wounded and a third was only threatened because Uka's gun jammed.

Yesterday, Uka was convicted of two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison.

The verdict had already been postponed twice since the trial opened with Uka apologising to his victims and their families.

"On March 2, I killed two people and opened fire on three others. Today I can't understand myself how I could have acted this way," he said.

He said he had been influenced by "lies" and "propaganda" after seeing a video on the Internet purporting to show US soldiers in Afghanistan raping a local woman.

Since Uka apologized, defense attorney Michaela Roth said Uka wasn't a true jihadist, who never ask for forgiveness. Roth also said Uka was molested as a young boy which traumatized him. Therefore, Roth said Uka should be eligible for parole after 15 years.

Judge Thomas Sagebiel read the sentence in court and indicated that aggravating circumstances would prevent Uka from seeing early release after 15 years.

Illinois Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Pekin, Illinois) In January 2012, a 32-year-old local woman, Maria Beoletto, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old male teen.

This week, Beoletto was indicted on one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault of a victim between the ages of 13 to 17.

“During the investigation, it was determined (Beoletto) and this 15-year-old male had been having sexual intercourse and it had been going on since November 2011,” Pekin public information officer Don Jolly said.

According to Jolly, Beoletto moved out of the home she shared with her husband shortly after Christmas and moved in with the boy and his parents.

Beoletto remains in custody at the Tazewell County Jail with bond set at $25,000.

"Der Schwed" -- yesterday and today

During the 30 years war of the 17th century Gustav Adolf den store (Gustavus Adophus) led his Swedish troops to many great victories in Europe. Without him the Protestant cause may well have lost out to the Catholic South. His armies were at the time simply referred to as "Der Schwed" (the Swede), though they would have referred to themselves as the "Svea".

So we see that the Swedish martial spirit did not die out with the Vikings of the 11th century (Swedish Vikings mostly sailed up rivers into what we now know as Russia. It was left to the Norwegians and Danes to harass Britain and Western Europe).

And, strange as it seems in the light of their constant peacnikery of the 20th century, that spirit is still alive today. For good reasons the proximity of Russia gives everybody at the Eastern end of the Baltic the heebie-jeebies. Going by their invariant and very successful form since the 11th century, we would expect the English to deal with such a peril by forming alliances with other countries. Not so the Swedes. They cherish their independence. And they can realistically do that because of confidence in their military. They have been prepared to fight Russia alone if need be. The Finns did it under Mannerheim in the early stages of WWII so they have a successful example to go by. But the Swedish military has to be independent too -- so we come to the Swedish defence industries.

With a population about the same size as Israel, it is amazing what the Swedish defence industries have produced. The famous Bofors gun was used for antiaircraft defence by BOTH sides in WWII and is still in use today. And Bofors are not sitting on their laurels. I could go on to talk about Swedish military aircraft and submarines but I think that for the moment I will just say a few words about Bofors.

Aside from nuclear weapoins, the most fearsome thing about the old Soviet Union was their vast fleet of tanks. And Bofors produced an answer to that in the form of the BILL1, a fearsome antitank missile. Bofors turned out tens of thousands of them, quite enough to wipe out the entire Soviet tank fleet with a bit of luck. It is a guided missile that flies just a bit ABOVE the tank and fires a shaped charge down onto the turret of the tank at just the right time -- the turret being a tank's weakest point. That must be a considerable challenge to the missile's controller but the Swedes must be confident that trained operators can pull it off. Below is a video of it in action:



(Note: Some mischievous person has been circulating the above video together with a claim that it shows an Israeli missile using white phosphorous to destroy a Syrian tank. Israel has been much criticized for its limited use of white phosporous in Gaza but insists that it only used phosphorous in accordance with the laws of war. Using it in an anti-tank weapon would heap criticism on Israel so the false claim attached to the above video is malicious. I note that even a number of conservative sites have been taken in by the false accusation)

And to keep up with advances in tank technology Bofors have produced a BILL2 missile that is even more capable than BILL1. (The "B" stands for Bofors)

It seems sad that such an apparently effective weapon is not held in the arsenals of Western countries but Swedish neutrality forbids it. Only a few other "neutral" countries such as Austria and Brazil have it. So Sweden has had to bear all the costs of developing and deploying the weapon by itself -- a considerable challenge. Most armament manufacturers are keen to sell their stuff to all and sundry -- to help defray the development costs.

And even if Sweden did decide to sell BILL2 more widely, it might not get much uptake. I remember when I was in the Australian Army during the Vietnam war, we deployed the prime Swedish antitank weapon of the day, the Carl Gustav. But as soon as we entered the Vietnam war, the Swedes stopped supplying ammo for it! Tanks featured little in the Vietnam war so it was not a great setback but it was a salutary lesson in being careful about the source of supply of your weaponry. The Swedes have no worries on that score.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Don't Go to War Until Madonna Sings

(Tel Aviv, Israel) Historically, Israeli political and military conflicts have caused some performance artists to cancel scheduled shows.

Presently, fans fear Madonna, a favorite, will cancel a scheduled May performance.

Recent verbal exchanges and remarks concerning alleged Israeli plans to attack Iran's nuclear program later this year has Israelis scared, and not for the obvious reasons.

In a newly launched Facebook page, Israeli fans of U.S. pop megastar Madonna are pleading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off any such plans to strike Iran until the Queen of Pop's planned show in Tel Aviv on May 29.

The group, simply and directly enough, is named: "Bibi don't start a war with Iran until after Madonna's show on May 29."

Despite the illogical and arguably ludicrous nature of the request, it shows that the Israeli population has resigned itself to a violent conflict with Iran in the near future.

Tip: slwlion