Captain America

I promise I'll get back to posts about crazy stuff my kids do, but I'd like to provide the solution to a "crisis" facing the USA. Social Security will not have enough funds to pay its promised benefits in the next 10-50 years depending on your sources. You might remember President Bush made social security reform his top priority after his re-election. You might also know that this president has increased the federal deficit every year he's been in office. Why would he want to shore up a government entitlement program w/o regard to the rest of the government's debt? Compassionate conservatism? Reaganomics? Maybe b/c the easiest way to balance the social security books is to raise the amount of income subject to the tax. In 2007 the first $97,500 of your wages are taxed at 15.3% (your employer pays half of it if you aren't self-employed, so that's "only" 7.65% for a lot of people). The max figure goes up each year for a "cost of living" increase, but there will be a big spike in that number when the projected shortfall is about to hit. Essentially, it will be a tax increase for people making say $120,000 or more in 2020 (just a guess on the $ and date). Ordinarily, I'm not opposed to tax increases (especially if they don't pinch me), but I have one little issue about this one. Social Security tax is only for wages. When your millions are making thousands just by being there, you don't get taxed on that income by FICA (or Medicare). People who actually earn the big bucks (or at least get paid big bucks) will pay more in taxes than those who make the same amount simply by letting their money work for them. Ultimately, that means the super rich won't be hit hard by this increase and the "crisis" will be solved.

Liberal Media Propping Up President Bush

W/ the President's approval rating at an all time low, the elite liberal media is grasping at straws trying to make the President look better. They contrast his 29% approval rating w/ the 14% approval rating for Congress. That would make him twice as popular as Congress except that's the approval rating of the entire legislative body. In reality individual members are much more popular than the Congress as a whole. Otherwise, how could Adrian Smith expect to hold on to his job? Although you won't hear it on CNN or Democracy Now, the President is less popular than almost all of the 535 individual members of Congress.

Recruiting Blitz

I've heard there is some pressure on Roy Williams to land some big recruits, but I don't see why he would need a helmet. Oh and as always, Cowboys suck.

Miller Lite - Cae bien

I've been watching soccer on Univision recently and thing that strikes me the most is that all of the ads are exactly the same as English language ads but they are geared toward people who understand Spanish. Maybe you've seen these Vytorin ads that discuss treating your high cholesterol w/ diet and medicine. Well, evidently Spanish speaking people have the same problems as English speaking people except their food features a lot of flan and their relatives are aunt Flora. I bring this up as an excuse to tell my story of going to Mexico and highlight my total lack of knowledge of the Spanish language. I walked into Neuvo Laredo on a pedestrian bridge over the Rio Grande. Immediately, hucksters were asking me if I needed to see a doctor. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was all a scam for me to get prescription drugs (needless to say I didn't get any). In fact, the only thing we did was go to a bar on some side street. Nobody spoke English, but cervazas were $1. While I knew I was being totally ripped off, I also knew I couldn't get a can of Tecate for less than that in Texas. A guy asked me for a light and I understood when he said "Gracias" but I couldn't remember the Spanish words for "thank you" (it's "de nada"). A few minutes later he was pointing to a Senor and Senorita dancing in the bar and was motioning for me to go up to them while he laughed. I thought he wanted me to dance w/ him, but in retrospect I realize he wanted me to try and dance w/ her (and presumably get my ass kicked). Either way I was smart enough to say no and went back to Texas.

Fantasy Football Advice

I read fantasy football advice at pretty much any free semi-reputable website. NFL.com is both, but I'm confused by the new picture their expert has posted. Michael Fabiano in this picture looks like an upstanding minority hire, but in his current picture he is clearly a know-it-all Italian cracker. Does tilting your head down ever so slightly make that big a difference? Can you please tell me this is not the same person?

Why kids are better than dogs

The actual theorem is that dogs are worse than kids, and then you prove it by listing all the things dogs require (it's pretty much limited to bodily functions). However, in support of the hypothesis I present this Independence Day evidence. Bottle Rockets! I have a stash of bottle rockets that I bought in Tennessee a few years ago and July 4th and December 31st are really the only days I fire any off. This year my kids were going crazy for them. I was lighting 3 at a time to keep them screaming for more. But the dogs next door just kept barking. Finally, I had to take my vacuum cleaner over there to scare the damn dogs off.

Things in the news

The Chris Benoit murder/suicide is absolutely crazy. As I told Maria, I can understand killing yourself or killing your wife but killing a little kid is the sign of batshit insanity. Of course every story on it has to mention roid rage. My personal belief is that prescription pain killers are just as bad for your heart (and in this case your brain), but it's steroids that get all the publicity. Wrestling no doubt has abusers of both, but in reality steroids are only a problem for professional (or aspiring pro) athletes while pain killers are abused by all kinds of people. Still I haven't seen the painkillers mentioned as a possible cause of this awful event.

Hey, guess what? The POTUS has all kinds of executive powers that can shape our present and future. Who knew? Keeping Scooter Libby out of jail was a predictable outcome, but our newest Supreme Court justices have to be admired for their judicial restraint. Instead of overturning previous rulings like some of their colleagues want, they make the interpretations of the cases in front of them so narrow that they are of very, very limited use to the lower courts (I'm practicing my own form of restraint by not saying they are of no use). That isn't really what the term stare decisis is supposed to mean although you can always argue otherwise. But hey, don't blame me I voted for Kodos.