Wait for it...

Dearest Readers, I feel obligated to remind you that this is my Life blog, wherein it may contain, from time to time, opinion essays about which you may disagree. I've lost a few readers from time to time, but I've discovered many more who respect me enough to let me have the discussion. Hell, some even comment. I call those readers my friends. They are keepers. I hope we can all agree to disagree and love each other anyway. xoxo

If you prefer, hang out at my Paper Paisleys Art Adventures blog instead. That's 100% Art Only. :-)))

Okay, then. I feel the need to comment on a few things going on right now in our lovely country and world.

First up is this little gem:

"Tax cuts never educated a child." ~ Congressman Barney Frank, Feb. 2, 2009

Oh, yeah? Dear Mr. Frank, you are so wrong. I guarantee you that if you give me and others like me a tax cut, it will go directly to educating a child by paying out-of-control college tuition for our kids! Or for saving for it! Wow, you aren't talking to me or about me, though. No, you represent taxpayers who are probably not paying much tuition, some with kids, some with no kids. Got it. But do you think you can stop lying? Because tax cuts have educated a lot of kids, hun.

Okay, next item. Could we please stop thinking we can punish the mom who gave birth to all the kids through invitro fertilization? I haven't heard such intrusive exaggerated moralizing since Palin Days, and before that, since the Mormon Ranch out in West Texas.

Hey, chill out. Let Oprah buy an indepth interview for $2 million. I'd consider that a much better use of her money than what she's been buying lately (like the Presidency). Hey, just sayin'.

The ability to predict the future of those babies as accurately as TV Talking Heads have been professing to do is a truly amazing feat. No, really. Hello. Too amazing to be true.

I knew there was another side of this that wasn't being heard when that Cindy Margolis chick (who had a baby herself using the same technology) was on a talk show about this and admitted she'd been implanted with the same ridiculous number of eggs in order to have one kid. The host just ignored what she said, because -- news flash -- the plot of the show was to criticize the mom who did that and not to maybe explore this might be standard operating procedure, depending on the circumstances.

Plus, this is America. Last time I checked, women still have the right to have babies. She says it was a fluke that many were conceived and when confronted with this she refused to abort any of them. Get over it. Move on. A perfect childhood is not a guaranteed right in this country. Believe me, I lived through mine. They will, too.

Okay, next item. So, is there something in the stimulus bill for you? No? Why the hell not? Dang, at $800 bil to $1 tril, there should be something lucrative for every one of us, doncha think?

Oh, begeebus, this is exactly what I feared would happen and why I voted for a divided power structure instead of 24/7 Dems. I mean, I want Prez Obama x-rayed so we can see once and for all if he has an actual backbone or if he is really just Gumby in disguise. Uber-pragmatic or a tool. Either way, Pelosi and Reid win, which is sad. But how many times will they win? We're borrowing 100% of the stimulus. We're still spending millions a day in the Middle East, and mark my words, we aren't leaving any time soon. The only thing I see clearly is that Americans are desperately trying to shed their personal debt and that's a good thing, but a bad thing that it's going to come in handy when we are all paying 90% tax rates eventually. I mean, there are only 2 ways to pay for all this debt: borrow it or raise tax rates. HELL-OOOOOOOOh.

Anyway, I have put off making some big decisions for our household and it looks like maybe all my guilt was misplaced, thanks to this stimulus package (or at least how it looks right now...could change next week). I need a new car and we need to refinance our mortgage if rates go down below 5%. Well, we don't need to refinance, but since I passed on doing it about 5 years ago, I feel the need to not pass up on it again.

There's now a tax credit for buying a new car in the stimulus bill, and there's a credit for buying a new house, too. I was a bit ticked off when the Dems passed on the Republicans' proposal for guaranteed 4% fixed housing loans...Daaayaaamm. Works for me, but alas, not in the bill. So, I'll wait and pray it gets put in, too.

So, they've even got me wanting some of that moola now. Tellya what, I'd gladly lose my car tax credit and a 4% loan if they would scrap this bill and start over. This bill is so obviously a political wishlist cram-in parading around as a critical job-creator. WTF? Nobody knows how to fix anything, but they sure know how to borrow money and spend it on crap, don't they? Did ya hear about the $78 billion....that's right, BILLION, that Paulson wasted into thin air from the bank bailout funds last autumn. Great informative article here: Treasury Overpaid....

And here's a link to this column by former McCain campaign staffer Nichole Wallace, which pretty much sums up how I feel about the stimulus crap: Obama's Very Bad Week. Recommended: a good read.

Moving right along in parallel, kudos to ABC's Jake Tapper, who gave Press Sec'y Gibbs a real ass-kicking in Friday's press conference. I haven't been able to stomach even looking at Gibbs for very long since the first day I laid eyes on him. He's a grade-a smart-ass and doesn't hide it well. Keep it up, Tapper, good job. ;-)))

Oh, and finally we get to Appointees Who Owe Taxes. Oh man, since I prepared income taxes for 30 years, I feel like I need an opinion on this. One thing they do not mention about Daschle's situation, and one that only wonkish tax nerds like me would know, is this: it was on his watch in the Senate leadership that the freaking imputed luxury car and personal-use vehicle laws were passed! This would be exactly why I think that his dropping out was a damn good thing. That is inexcuseable.

And don't get me started on Timothy Geitner. You have to search far and wide to find a more representative case of tax avoidance, and yet, we are supposed to believe it was an oversight. OMG, our gov't employs people to inform Geitner when he owes tax, and on top of that, the man received a tax reimbursement to pay the tax and still didn't pay it! He still manages to be confirmed, and we are told we have to have him, that he is one of our best minds.

Like I overheard last week, if this is how our best minds work, let's let the second-best minds have a shot at it.

Ya KNOW?