Not only is$43 million a ripoff, but the gas station was not a gasoline station, it was a compressed natural gas (CNG) facility.
Who in their right mind would have a CNG vehicle in Afghanistan? You cannot find CNG stations in America right now to keep a CNG vehicle running. In a backwater like Afghanistan, there are even fewer.
Aside from making the greenies feel all warm and fuzzy, a CNG station in Afghanistan is a total waste of money. Even if we didn't get ripped off.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Getting ready for a trip
Pack the laptop, and its charger. Pack the cell phone, and its charger. Pack the camera, and its charger. That's three chargers just for a weekend trip.
Cats have nine names, as well as lives.
This might be family tradition. We had a family cat, a Siamese, who came into the family named Cleopatra. This did not last, and we kids called her Puddy Tat. Then after Puddy Tat put on weight, my Father started calling her BasketBall.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Flat or Graduated?
Tax that is. A lotta Republicans pitched a flat tax during the CNBC debate last week. A lotta TV lefties claimed that a flat tax would never produce the revenue they want for all the lefties redistribution plans and free stuff.
I been figuring and paying my own income tax for 50 years. Each year, after doing all the crazy worksheets and capital gains and deductions and bulls--t on the 1040, I wound up paying 17%, every year, for the last fifty years. If everyone paid 17%, Uncle would have plenty of money. Especially when you consider that under the current system, about half the taxpayers pay nothing at all due to "Earned Income Tax Credit". When half the population starts paying 17% instead of zip that's not revenue neutral.
So arguments against a flat tax based on lack of money are wrong. The true argument against a flat tax is fairness, the idea that the wealthy ought to pay more than the poor. 17% income tax when you are just scraping by hurts a lot more than it does for Donald Trump. As a matter of fairness, the wealthy ought to pay a higher rate than the poor.
Which is what we have now a graduated tax. We have seven or eight or maybe too many to count tax brackets. Last time the wealthy paid a huge slice of tax money, far far more than the middle or poorer classes. This is a graduated tax. In my estimation, it's too graduated. I strongly feel that everyone ought to pay something. From the poor, a few percent, from the wealthy, a lot more, maybe 25%. Everyone ought to feel the pain of taxes, so they understand that voting for more free stuff is gonna hurt them. When we allow half the population to escape tax free, they will march right out and vote for more free stuff, 'cause it doesn't cost 'em anything.
Then, we come to the issue of tax breaks aka loopholes. There are a lot of 'em. We get a tax break for having children, for paying a mortgage, for calling it capital gains instead of ordinary income, for health insurance some times, for buying professional books and equipment, for paying state and local taxes, for charitable contributions, for being over 65, and a ship load of other stuff that I forget, but Turbo Tax can remember for me at tax time.
I think I'd like to abolish every single one of 'em. That would cause a mighty howl from parents, the real estate industry, H&R Block, and every other special interest group in the land. If the howling is too great, maybe I'd compromise on charitable contributions and the tax break for having children. Set the middle tax bracket to 17%. and revenue would stay about the same.
I been figuring and paying my own income tax for 50 years. Each year, after doing all the crazy worksheets and capital gains and deductions and bulls--t on the 1040, I wound up paying 17%, every year, for the last fifty years. If everyone paid 17%, Uncle would have plenty of money. Especially when you consider that under the current system, about half the taxpayers pay nothing at all due to "Earned Income Tax Credit". When half the population starts paying 17% instead of zip that's not revenue neutral.
So arguments against a flat tax based on lack of money are wrong. The true argument against a flat tax is fairness, the idea that the wealthy ought to pay more than the poor. 17% income tax when you are just scraping by hurts a lot more than it does for Donald Trump. As a matter of fairness, the wealthy ought to pay a higher rate than the poor.
Which is what we have now a graduated tax. We have seven or eight or maybe too many to count tax brackets. Last time the wealthy paid a huge slice of tax money, far far more than the middle or poorer classes. This is a graduated tax. In my estimation, it's too graduated. I strongly feel that everyone ought to pay something. From the poor, a few percent, from the wealthy, a lot more, maybe 25%. Everyone ought to feel the pain of taxes, so they understand that voting for more free stuff is gonna hurt them. When we allow half the population to escape tax free, they will march right out and vote for more free stuff, 'cause it doesn't cost 'em anything.
Then, we come to the issue of tax breaks aka loopholes. There are a lot of 'em. We get a tax break for having children, for paying a mortgage, for calling it capital gains instead of ordinary income, for health insurance some times, for buying professional books and equipment, for paying state and local taxes, for charitable contributions, for being over 65, and a ship load of other stuff that I forget, but Turbo Tax can remember for me at tax time.
I think I'd like to abolish every single one of 'em. That would cause a mighty howl from parents, the real estate industry, H&R Block, and every other special interest group in the land. If the howling is too great, maybe I'd compromise on charitable contributions and the tax break for having children. Set the middle tax bracket to 17%. and revenue would stay about the same.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Obama dispatches two platoons to Syria
Fifty men, allegedly all Special Forces, ain't much in any scheme of things. It ain't enough to make a difference in Syria. To hear to lefties and the isolationists wailing on TV, you would think Obama had done something serious like declaring WWIII.
I wish our men well. I don't think 50 guys can accomplish anything much. To do Syria right would take a full armored division, say 10,000 men, a lotta tanks and APC's, and air supremacy. With that, we could depose Assad, push the Russians out, establish a decent government of our choosing. and destroy ISIS or drive them out of the country.
To win WWII we mobilized a hundred divisions. Seventy years later, we ought to be able to mobilize just one.
I wish our men well. I don't think 50 guys can accomplish anything much. To do Syria right would take a full armored division, say 10,000 men, a lotta tanks and APC's, and air supremacy. With that, we could depose Assad, push the Russians out, establish a decent government of our choosing. and destroy ISIS or drive them out of the country.
To win WWII we mobilized a hundred divisions. Seventy years later, we ought to be able to mobilize just one.
College Paperpushers should not be trying cases of rape.
First of all, let's talk rape, a serious crime, a felony. It's not "sexual assault" which can be anything the girl doesn't like. Rape used to be a capital offense, subject to the death penalty. Crime doesn't get more serious than that
Now let's look at college administrators. No legal training, no practical experience outside the ivory tower, and most of them true believers in various weird ideologies. Do you want your son's future, his career, at the mercy of this kind of loser?
No way. The police and the courts are the proper place to try cases of rape. The courts have safeguards for defendants, some of them going back in time to Richard the Lion Heart. They have been in business longer than any college. They are fairer than any kangaroo court run by college administrators.
A girl who has been raped should go to the police. If she goes to college administrators, they should be required to send her to the police. They ought to offer transportation to the police station as well
Now let's look at college administrators. No legal training, no practical experience outside the ivory tower, and most of them true believers in various weird ideologies. Do you want your son's future, his career, at the mercy of this kind of loser?
No way. The police and the courts are the proper place to try cases of rape. The courts have safeguards for defendants, some of them going back in time to Richard the Lion Heart. They have been in business longer than any college. They are fairer than any kangaroo court run by college administrators.
A girl who has been raped should go to the police. If she goes to college administrators, they should be required to send her to the police. They ought to offer transportation to the police station as well
Friday, October 30, 2015
Where can I see the next Republican TV Debate?
Word is that Fox Business News gets the next debate in November, like maybe 10 November. Time Warner Cable doesn't carry Fox Business News up here in the wildlands. Hell, they don't even carry CSpan up here. Anyone know how I can watch the next debate? I have cable, and broadband. Any ideas?
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