@Kellbo0 #MissedThePoint SCOTUS 4 not understanding gving billionaire corporations civil rts automatically usurps the rts of ppl. #P21 #p2

This is an amazing YouTube channel.  I don’t know if there are any kids who are questioning their sexuality and having trouble with bullying in school that read this blog.  But if so, I encourage you to check out this YouTube channel.

I was particularly impressed by Dan and Terry, but I’m sure there are many good videos on the channel to help you get through a rough patch in your life.

You can always reach out, too.  Leave a comment here, or even better, on one of the videos.  I am not gay, and can not really understand what you are going through, so I suggest trying the channel or a specific video.  As in many cases, be prepared for negative comments, but look for the positive.  And be careful, right?  This is the Internet.  But, maybe you will find someone who can really help you.

Based on a tweet by TheBloggess.

Some other thoughts…

And this is a pretty good video made from the perspective of a young adult remembering when she was taught to be homophobic by those around her.

P.S.

Gay or not, life gets better after high school.

Pastors apparently want to “change the law” and endorse political candidates in church.

What stops a pastor from endorsing a political candidate?  A friend of mine is a “pastor” and endorses candidates all the time.  Is he breaking the law?  Of course not.

The issue here is a simple one.  We, the people, extend a privilege to churches.  They maintain neutrality, do good works, tend to the people equally, and donations made to them are not taxed to the giver or the church.  This is a privilege.

If the church does not wish to maintain this neutrality, then they simply need to give up their IRS tax exemption status.  It is really quite simple.

I demand that the churches remain neutral, or their donors must pay their fair share of income tax and the church itself pay taxes.  If they give up their special privileges, then of course they should be free to say what they wish from the pulpit, subject to the normal rules for public speaking.

Oh, and my friend does not claim any tax exempt status.

There seems to be a rather misconceived notion about how taxes and small businesses work.  So, I thought we would look at a prototypical business, and see how and what the taxes are.  I wish this site was a Wiki; then we could all participate.  But, it’s not.  So, what I will try to do is add comments back into the main posting.  In other words, if some assumption I have made is incorrect, or I have forgotten some detail, I will edit the post and add or correct the information.

The goal is attempt to find the truth, not to make any particular point – other than those who actually pay taxes on $250,000 of income, outside of expensive to live areas – are relatively few.

That last statement does bring out a major flaw in the tax code.  I make a reasonable salary, for instance, but if I lived in the Bay area, I would make quite a bit more, be in a higher tax bracket, and so pay quite a bit more federal tax.  Is this fair?  Arguable, I suppose.  A lot of federal money most likely goes into the Bay area.  Rebuilding interstates and the like, for instance.  But, is the difference between Maryland and the Bay area accurate?  Well, I don’t know.

Consider that to earn $250,000/year, you have to be paid approximately $125/hour.  Not too many of us make that.

So, let’s start with Joe the Plumber cause we all know who he is.  Lets make him be an S-corp.  Plumbers are not usually C-corps; I do not know enough about LLC, and sole proprietorship would be short and boring.

Around here, a plumber charges, oh, about $150 an hour tops.  That’s a pretty hefty rate, and is only supported by a guy that has employees, advertises, and does quality, guaranteed work.  We’ll assume Joe actually goes out on the job, has people working with him on some jobs, and pays someone to handle the books.  We’ll assume Joe works 5o hours/week, takes 2 weeks in the summer, and 1 week spread around the rest of the year.  Joe is healthy, and never gets sick.  But, he is not an idiot, and buys health insurance for he, and his family.  Joe has one full-time guy, and gets day labors when needed for larger jobs.  He 1099s the day help because he is honest and does not hire illegals.  He runs his business above-board, and so wants to 1099 the day help so he can write off the expense.

So, what’s the gross income: 49*50*150 = $367,500.

Joe always collects, so we’ll ignore the usual deadbeats.

Joe pays him main guy, who only works 40 hours/week, $20/hr, or about $40,000 year.  So, the costs of this employee are: salary, employer portion of FICA, unemployment, and workman’s comp.  Additionally, remember that Joe offers himself healthcare, so I believe he has to offer it to his employees, too.  At any rate, we’ll assume he does because he is a good guy.  I am going to round FICA at 7.5%, and guess at the remaining numbers.  If you have better guesses, please let me know.  So, total cost for Joe’s guy is:

49*40*20 = $39,200.  FICA = $2,940.  Unemployment?  I really don’t know.  $1,000?  Workman’s comp?  $1,000?  Healthcare?  $5,000?  The guy has to kick in some of the cost, so I’ll stick on the $5,000.  So, total cost is:

$39,200 + $2,940 + $1,000 + $1,000 + $5,000 = $49,140.

On average, they need $10/hour help 20 hours/week.

49*20*10 = $9,800.

Joe pays a bookkeeper to handle payroll taxes and the like.  He also has to pay for his tax returns, someone to file quarterlies, etc.  Again, I’ll have to guess here, too.  If anyone has a better guess, let me know.

Bookkeeper, records, etc: $2,000

Advertising, telephones.  Joe doesn’t need an office – a cell phone works fine.  He’s smart enough to not take a home office deduction because he doesn’t really do anything at home.  If audited, he would probably lose.  Business cell – two phones must be around $100/month.  Advertising has to be at least $200/month.

$100 + $200 * 12 = $3,600.

A truck.  Plumbers have trucks, right?  I am not a CPA, and am not going to read the tax code today.  Let’s make a rough guess.  Joe buys a $25,000 fitted out van.  He pays cash ’cause that how he rolls.  He can depreciate it over five years, most likely.  Maybe less.

$5,000

So, currently, we are sitting at:

367,500 – 49,140 – 9,800 – 2,000 – 3,600 – 5,000 = $297,960

If Joe can’t manage to find additional deductions, he will pay extra taxes on $47,960 (the amount over $250,000) if Obama has his way.

Help Joe find more deductions!  There must be business taxes to pay.  Additionally, there is state and local taxes to pay.  Can we get Joe under the magic $250,000?  I’ll bet we can.  And if we can, then those against the increase in taxes on the small businessman are going to have to explain why?  I mean here, we have a hard-working guy who really is pulling down a large rate.  I don’t know anyone working 50 hours/week year round pulling in $150/hour.  If he doesn’t, he still has to pay his main guy the salary they agreed on, so Joe’s tax rate will be less since he has less income.

Comments?

Has Delaware lost its collective mind?  It’s one thing to not like Castle, and to think a change is needed.  But, really, could ya actually find someone who is not moron if that is what you want?  Someone who is somewhat qualified?

As Seen on Maddow, MSNBC.

A few months ago, the son of a friend made a mistake. It was, as mistakes go, a doozy of one. He committed two armed robberies, getting caught the second time.

A few details. The robberies appeared to be well planned and executed. He did not especially intend to hurt anyone, but he was carrying a gun. He was spotted leaving the second time, and the license tags of the car were obtained. The police converged on his home, where he gave himself up without incident. A small amount of drugs (marijuana) and cash were found. Since he was not yet 18 years old, he could potentially be tried as a juvenile. If tried as a juvenile, he would not serve jail time at a state penitentiary. After posting bail, he started with a live in program designed to help troubled teens. He remains with the program as of now.

The State of Maryland wished to try Alex as an adult since they believe this is an adult crime. The State of Maryland juvenile officers felt that the juvenile system was appropriate for Alex and wrote a recommendation to that effect. Various other professionals evaluated Alex and came to the same conclusion. Only the state prosecutor pushed for trial as adult. I should note that the state prosecutor is up for election in a few months. Many people who do not know Alex or the details of his life felt that he should be tried as adult because of the crime with a gun. These people I am referring to are members of the general public and are not particularly connected with the case.

Alex Being a Camp Councilor

A hearing in a state court was held a few weeks ago to determine if Alex would be tried as an adult or remanded to the juvenile system. His mother, possibly at the suggestion of their lawyer, asked for a number of people to be prepared to speak. Additional people were asked to write letters, or simply show up in support of Alex at the hearing. The only specific victim in this case, the store owner – Alex robbed the same place both times – is not available and did not testify. The State offered the unsubstantiated assertion that the owner was too afraid to testify, but I suspect that if he had been cross-examined on that statement, he would have explained that the store owner is afraid in his own store, not afraid to testify. These words were said hurriedly and were not too clear.

Approximately 12 people were scheduled to speak on Alex’s behalf, and approximately 20 letters were written. About 100 people showed up for the hearing, clogged the hallways of the court-house and over-filling the hearing room when we entered. With the exception of the State’s Attorney, everyone present was there to support Alex.

Alex’s attorney called one person to the stand. The witness is a councilor for the troubled teen program Alex entered. This person stated how he knew Alex through the program, and that Alex was doing very, very well. The witness had himself been a troubled teen and was a “graduate” of the program Alex had entered. The witness spoke very highly of the program and how much it helped the witness.

The attorneys then argued for a bit. The defense found the state’s case “disingenuous” since the state juvenile officials had presented reports stating that Alex was a good candidate for the juvenile system. The state didn’t appreciate being called “disingenuous”, and mostly stipulated to Alex’s character. However, the state’s case rested largely on “adult crime committed in an adult manner should result in an adult punishment.” The defense showed that Alex was not functioning as an adult and therefore should be treated as such.

The judge then deliberated in public for all to hear. I have to say: I’ve often heard that court is boring, long and drawn out. However, this hearing was an absolute nail-biter. You never want your child in this situation. I suspect the judge did not know how he was going to rule until about the last second. In the end, he did rule that Alex should be tried as a juvenile. The judgement came out very low and hard to understand. I wasn’t really certain until I heard the sigh of relief in the courtroom what had been decided. The judge then offered the typical words you might offer to a teen in a situation like this and the hearing adjourned.

My purpose in writing this post is the following. Approximately 100 of us joined in support of Alex that day in court. However, none of us had any clue that he had issues that ran this deep. The day of his arrest completely shocked everyone who knew him. When we supported him in court, we were basically telling society that he is a good person worth saving.

But, furthermore, we now have a commitment to see this through and make sure that Alex does not commit crimes that harm people in the future. We have to involve ourselves in his life, whether he likes it or not, and do what we can to help him. This is what those of us who supported Alex that day must remember, for if we do not, we all bear the moral responsibility for his future actions.

This is the letter I wrote in support of Alex. Had I actually testified, this is what I would have said. These words were also submitted in written form. I have no idea if the judge read them or not. Probably not. I suspect the sheer number of people supporting Alex that day made the point with the judge.

To those involved in the Alexander Luther case:

My Name is Michael Porter. I been a resident of Cecil County for
the past nine years, and live a few a miles south of here. I am a
Systems Programmer for the University of Delaware, where I have
worked for nearly 30 years.

I have known Renee and Alex for about five years.

I have watched Alex grow from a pre-teen to a teen-ager. I have
watched him handle groups of children, including my child, at the
family run summer camps. He has always shown good judgement as well
as a humorous side to life.

I have watched Alex help his mom handle horses with handicapped
riders, and have personally been helped by Alex. He has always
shown a willingness to help, great care and respect for those
who visit the farm.

I watched Alex go through the experience of regaining his father,
and I watched as Alex lost his father again, this time permanently.

I recall the great trip they took together as a family before Carl
died. Since I both drove them to the airport and picked them up
after their return, I was able to see how happy they were as a
family. Considering that Alex was really sick on the way home, that
I could see this means something.

I watched Alex grow after his father died and during and after the
Makeover of their home. During this time, Alex experienced many new
things, but did not have the advantage of a father to guide him.

Alex is reaching out to us for help. The loss of his father and the
fact that he was not able to find someone else to communicate his
feelings to seems apparent.

We, as a society, have a choice to make. Is the Juvenile Justice
system the appropriate place to help him, or the adult system?

I firmly believe that the Juvenile Justice system would be the
best system to help Alex. He needs the sort of guidance and
counseling that can be offered in such a system. I hope that
our Juvenile Justice can find a place for him.

Alex is not yet an adult and should not be tried as one. The adult
system is possibly going to leave him very damaged. No matter the
outcome of an adult case, the adult system is not going to give him
the help he needs and society as a whole could lose the
contributions of a fine human being.

Thank you for the opportunity to express my support and belief in Alex.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Porter

My Dad, who flew off an aircraft carrier in WW II, said freedom to have any/all culture centers was part of what he fought for – Twitter, @gwfrink3

It’s fascinating that there is actually a rating for the quality of out of focus-ness that a lens generates when the objects exceed the depth of field.  See what you think.  I suppose to be fair, I should have used the same focal length on each lens.  This is why I am not a scientist.  I’ve also been playing with cameras for 9 hours straight.  Oh, and the 70-200 came today

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L Shot with Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 shot with Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L

After reading Real World Camera Raw for what seems like a very long time (it is a good book; lots of info), I finally generated what I hope is a better image. I always need to keep in mind that I am somewhat color blind – a minor hinderance for someone doing color photography, I suppose . But, the histograms and other information we have available to us when image editing can keep strange color casts out. I least I hope so. I’ve included the previous version below for comparison. If there is anything obviously wrong with the one above, please let me know instead of simply never coming back here!

Old Banner

This TED Interview with Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks is worth watching.

There is always a danger in dumping raw intelligence out to the general public. Most of us are not aware of the norms for various activities, for instance. What is it really like to sit in an Apache helicopter, for instance? Indeed, most Americans have never been in armed combat of any sort, or have even been through such training. Interpreting the actions of the soldiers that day is indeed difficult. But, to do so completely misses the point. The soldiers were following standard engagement orders. The captions added to the video make this clear. Each time the helicopter fires, it receives permission to do so. If a question needs to be raised as a result of the video, it is how the US engages the Iraqi population, and not the conduct of those specific soldiers.

WikiLeaks makes an attempt to verify the information it gets, or trick some rather clueless companies into verifying the information (see the video!), and it tries to put the information into context.

As more laws are written to suppress discussion, “Veggie Libel” laws, for example, an open forum for the discussion of topics that matter is increasingly important.

Annie’s First Cross Country Jump. In the ring, the jumps fall down if you hit them. In the country, they are quite solid We bought her a fancy vest to protect the torso. Did she wear it? No, it was too hot. Well, it was hot, I’ll give her that.

The main purpose of these posts is to test Flicker integration with WordPress. I’ll probably change this post a few times.

Well, this isn’t bad. I like the slideshow, and the fact that you can go full screen. I am not thrilled with the pop out to flickr, but I think you actually have to do that to maintain the terms of service. Overall, it is the best photo option I’ve seen for commercial WordPress.

Oh, check this out. From this blog posting:

‘Cause I write like:

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

More than anything else, this is an attempt to see how photos can be presented in WordPress.  The photos were taken in a relatively dark auditorium with a Canon T1i and a Canon 18-135mm f4-f5.6 EF-S lens.

The slideshow is OK, but I think I prefer the gallery.  The trick seems to be to upload images and directly store them in the gallery.  Images that are already uploaded can not be added to a gallery.

This dance program is very good.  The area I live in is not that heavily populated, so we are lucky to have such a great program nearby.  Each year, Cecil Dance Center teaches approximately 400 girls and young women.

These photos were taken during the June 18th, 2010 dress rehearsal.

Could it be that as a corporation becomes bigger and bigger, and the greed which is bred as a result of deregulation also creates sheer stupidity?  Once a corporation achieves this level, should it simply be killed since it is now a danger to us all?  By way of evidence, I offer the following gem which was posted on the great mailing list “comp.risks” by Robert Charette.

According to BP PLC’s 582-page 2009 spill response plan for the Gulf of
Mexico, walruses along with sea otters, sea lions, and seals are among the
“sensitive biological resources” that could be harmed by an oil discharge
from its operations in the Gulf. The only problem is that walruses, sea
otters, sea lions, and seals don’t happen to live in the Gulf of Mexico, and
haven’t for a considerable period of time — like millions of years.

This is a good article that reminds us to not under-estimate the tea-party and its impact.

Depending on where you live and the people you associate with, you might not recognize the depth of feeling and the level of misunderstanding these people have. But, they do; it runs deep, and they are paranoid and dangerous. With the correct leader, they could easily be turned into a force similar in power to the Bolsheviks or the early days of the Nazi party.

Please understand: I am not equating the ideals of the tea party with that of the Nazis or Bolsheviks; that does not make sense. But, we clearly have is a leaderless, angry, relatively large group of people looking for a leader who can sell them on the idea that he or she back their ideals.

Their ideals, sadly, have been proven wrong again, and again. Deregulated economies devour all but the richest.  Sometimes, even the rich, but the people at the top always survive.  The rich are not cannibals.  A belief in “God”.  An idea that when used in politics can be used to justify just about any behavior.  ”God” and “heaven” are also powerful motivating factors that can be used to get people to do things they would otherwise never consider.  ”Strap on a bomb, go over to those people and blow yourself up.  I promise – you will go to heaven.”  I am well aware that the actual motivating factors for most suicide bombers are deeper than this.  But, the “heaven” promise certainly does help.   Instill some hopelessness, and you have yourself a bomber or a soldier willing to commit any required atrocity.

Ironically, a deregulated economy is likely to devour the majority of the tea party members first since in many cases they are in the most fragile positions in the economy. Small businessmen, various sorts of middle level management, and of course the already unemployed or retired are easy targets since they have some amount of money that can be absorbed, and are unlikely to see the attack coming until it is too late.

The financial backing of the tea-party is nearly limitless. Individual companies such as Koch can now pour money into elections. They have the strategy and power to manipulate the process to meet their own ends.  If they are successful in forcing a deregulated internet, look to very slow response times on anything critical of the elite.

I stood on a dock on the 4th of July watching a boat parade. Various boats went by with the usual decorations. About mid-way, a boat came by with an effigy of Obama sitting on the deck, signs about bail-outs, and on the stern, a sign about the AIG bailout. The crew made motions to dump the Obama effigy into the water. They didn’t actually do it, but that was most likely because they were good boaters and knew they would have to pick it out of the water. The scary part wasn’t a few boaters exercising their right to free speech. The scary part was how loud the crowd on the shore was in support of the boat.

I have to admit, I did not feel like trying to face them down, possibly by myself.  Kinda ruined the evening for me.