My accountant wants to help me shirk my civic responsiblities

"0% Capital Gains Rate? The Tax Cut and Jobs Act passed at the very end of 2017 created a lot of new tax planning opportunities.  Are you aware that the Act included an often overlooked section which section provides taxpayers with an incentive for investing capital in opportunity zones across the country. Under the program, taxpayers may reinvest capital gains from other investments into an Opportunity Zone. This investment provides temporary deferral or permanent exclusion of the capital gains tax if the investment remains in a Zone for a required period of time."

Capital gains already receive favorable tax rates. But did you catch it? "temporary deferral or permanent exclusion of the capital gains tax"

If you can reinvest your capital in a specific zone for a certain amount of time, you can get out of paying any capital gains tax.

It's pretty clear who this benefits. Those with money can legally shield their gains so they don't pay any tax. This is bullshit.

Squeaky clean reading

Brought to you by the makers of Oy Vey Moments: 

"For all the hubbub, Jared and Kirsten Maughan, the couple who founded Clean Reader, say the app began innocuously enough. Their daughter had returned from school one day upset with the language in a book she was reading for class."

The nosy neighbor in me wants to know the book this girl was reading and the language that she found objectionable. 

I think this app is horrible. Squeaky clean reading. Oy vey.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Montana?

I thought this was a joke until I googled it. There really is a lawmaker in Montana who wants to strengthen the indecent exposure law to include clothing that ""gives the appearance or simulates" a person's buttocks, genitals, pelvic area or female nipple." 

A couple of things immediately come to mind…First, winter in Montana pretty much lasts from mid- to late October until April, which means it is cold a lot. So, unless bras in that state are made out of steel, that cold weather will likely cause stand-at-attention nipples that would be visible to others. Second, one of the scariest things reported was that he said "he'd trust law enforcement officials to use their discretion." And, finally, why would only tight beige clothing be a potential problem? Aren't sexy low blue jeans just as provocative? Is this a racist thing?

Regardless, this guy is a jackhole. Aren't there better things to be spending our time on? Why get your panties in such a bunch because 100 naked bicyclists rode through your town. You don't have to stare at them. Crikeys.

For the record

I only had one glass of wine from the bottle that now sits empty on the counter in the kitchen. Hen is asleep, and even if he wasn't, he's far too young to drink wine. Beauts has been dead for months. So, one can only conclude the man of the house drank the rest of it. Drat.

Hobby Lobby unhappiness

SCOTUS handed down a very disappointing decision in the Hobby Lobby case. I am frustrated and disappointed and angry and saddened and feel powerless.

These are awful feelings to have.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 58.1% of women in the workforce in the United States. The incomes these women earn and the subsequent taxes they pay help to pay for roads, emergency services, and tax breaks that are given to corporations.

That public road leading up to your Hobby Lobby store, women's tax revenue helped pay for that. The fire truck that was dispatched when your store caught on fire, women's tax revenue helped pay for that, too. And when the state offered you tax breaks to set up your business, women's tax revenue helped pay for that.

We live in a pluralistic society, we won't agree on everything. But I do expect a fairer shake for myself and every other woman than we've been given. Just as my taxes are used for things that I do not agree with, so should yours. Believing in a given religion should not be an automatic opt out card of society when you derive many of the benefits of that society.

In the wake of this decision, and this one, too, I'd like to suggest the following:

1. We make all forms of birth control available over the counter.*
2. We give all women of child-bearing years an annual stipend to pay for contraceptives out of pocket.
3. For any women wanting an IUD, we set up a processing center where requests are received and payment is issued, with zero bureaucracy since having to go through this process is burdensome enough.
4. Any female employee who works for a company with an insurance plan that does not cover birth control, can opt out of said insurance and sign up for insurance under the ACA, with subsidies to cover the cost in its entirety.
5. Boycott Hobby Lobby stores. Women make an estimated 75-85% of all household purchasing decisions. Let your voices be heard by not supporting this company.


*I'm not sure what to do if the stores attempt to opt out of stocking contraceptives for religious reasons. What a world we live in, eh? Isn't this 2014?

Money is speech

What the hell are they thinking?

F---ing Roberts.

Dave sums it up best with this comment:
"I don't even have $2600 to give to a single candidate much less $1 million to toss around to dozens of candidates. All I have is a measly vote, which seems to count for less and less these days."

Although A.P. was pretty spot on, too:
"One nation, under the dollar."

Puarau said:
"Free Speech has become an oxymoron. Without millions in my bank account, who is going to listen to me?"

Hobby Lobby, a.k.a. My head keeps feeling like it is going to explode

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Valentine's Day is not happening

I made craft-happy Valentine's Day cards for Hen's class and then learned, about an hour or so after Hen finished signing them all, that his school doesn't celebrate Valentine's Day. As part of that non-celebration, they ask that you not bring anything - no cards, no treats, no presents - to school to pass out. 

Um, what?

Healthcare costs run amok in the U.S.

Canine cancer

Beauty the Wonder Dog has cancer.

2013, you've really kicked us in the crotch with this one. Fuck you.

Romney vs Obama

I know I'm biased but what I hear from the candidates is this:

Romney: I have a plan. Blame everything on the last four years.
Obama: My plan has five points. One - <insert details here>. Two - <insert details here>. Three - <insert details here>. Four - <insert details here>. Five - <insert details here>. He's lying.

Are there really people who feel the problems our country has been experiencing since the collapse is solely a result of Obama's administration? I'd love to hear that explanation.

On pay:
Romney - Binders full of women! Hilarious. Okay, I'm sorry. The guy hasn't said one thing to answer the question about equal pay. He's talking about creating jobs - good ones! - so that employers will be looking to hire qualified people. Blah. Blah. Stronger economy. Get women into the workforce.

Obama: Talks about advocacy. Wants women to get the "same fair deal as men are". Okay.

What's that Ben Franklin quote?

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin

I've been scanning the headlines about the shooting at the theatre in Aurora, CO, today and was horrified* when I came across this lady's quote:

“Americans have yet to understand the threats to their safety, and regard security as an intrusion into their privacy,” says Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center for Democracy, a New York-based research group.

“In Israel,” she says via e-mail, “well-trained security personnel monitor the entrance to every public building, even supermarkets, and public awareness has stopped many terror attacks and saved many lives.”

Here's my response to that:

1. I understand the threats and accept that those threats are part of the risk associated with living in a free country.
2. Security measures are an intrusion into my privacy. The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, and requires that any warrant has to come from a judge and be supported by probable cause. It's part of due process. We should tread lightly when stomping all over the Constitution under the guise of making us "safer".
3. If I wanted to live in Israel, where every public entrance is monitored, I would move there. 
4. You can obtain public awareness without monitoring the movements of every person entering a public building.†
5. But most importantly, you cannot prevent every tragedy. I do not blame the theatre for this act of violence. I do not blame the crowd for not noticing there was a person wanting to do harm. I do not blame Hollywood for making a Batman film. It was awful. It happened. There will be future tragedies. We must not let our fear override our common sense.

*I was more horrified about the shooting.

†How many well-trained personnel would it take to monitor every public building in the United States?

Obama vs the stupid state of Arizona

"The birthers are back, baby. Oh you might have thought that President Obama's producing his long form birth certificate last spring might have been the proverbial stake through the heart of birtherism (the belief that the president is ineligible for his office because he was not born in the United States of America), but staking only kills vampires, and the birthers are more aptly compared to zombies: implacably shuffling forward no matter how many holes you shoot in (in this case) their theories."

For the rest of the story, click here. Oy mother fucking vey, people.

Seriously people. I mean, really!

Can we just have the gay marriage already? Once that happens, gay leaders can turn their attention to the real problem with gay relationships: finding a different word than 'partner'. Us straights have good ones. You can use ours!

Bridge construction

The city has given the construction company working on the Sellwood Bridge a noise ordinance waiver for the next few weeks while they do some very noisy work getting the poles in the water for the temporary bridge that will be used during the bridge renovation. (Apparently, creating the second bridge drastically reduces the time needed to fix the original bridge.) What I've noticed so far is that it seems as if the construction is very, very quiet during the day and that the noise disturbances pick up around 9p.m. at night. Sometimes these disturbances continue until well after 2a.m., when I finally manage to drift off to sleep. I'm wondering, would it be that difficult to wait half a day so they could get on the schedule where they are doing the really loud work during the day and the less noisy work at night? Pretty please?

Sh*t Darr sends me

- http://www.thedailyshow.com/videos/tag/Supreme%20Court Scroll down and watch "Tom Goldstein extended interview" parts 1 and 2. Remember Albert Florence? He was the guy who, on an erroneous warrant for which he had proof he had taken care of at the time of arrest, was held for six days and strip searched twice. The courts sided with correctional institutions. Five justices, in their wisdom, think it is entirely plausible and likely that those of us stopped for non-criminal offenses are driving/walking/skipping/jumping around with weapons and/or drugs stuffed in our private parts just in case we are arrested. 

- What is it about this song? 

The birthers move on to Romney

Do they not have anything better to do?

Birther suit questions Romney eligibility

Give us your password

I read a recent article that discussed a new trend amongst employers interviewing prospective employees, they request your username and password in order to access your Facebook and email accounts. Wtf? I imagine if you're hard up for employment, it is pretty difficult to turn down that request since what hangs in the balance is your potential job. I want to take this moment to thank Sen. Richard Blementhal, D-CT, who is currently working on a draft of legislation that would make it illegal for employers to ask for your login information. If companies are able to search and find stuff out on their own, more power to them. But if I go to the trouble to set my privacy settings so that they aren't public, you can assume my comments aren't meant for the public.

The dog needs a bath

Dang. I totally sat down at the table with my laptop to type out my monthly letter to the kid but the smell of the dog is so overpowering in a so-horrifically-bad-I-must-leave-the-room type of way that I have to leave the room. Oy vey. I am booking a bath at the dog salon for this beast tomorrow. I just hope our family doesn't succumb to the smell and die tonight while we sleep.