Robert Hegyes, one of the Sweathogs on the immortal New York high school comedy “Welcome Back, Kotter,” died Thursday after suffering apparent heart failure at his Metuchen, N.J., home.
He was taken to JFK Hospital in Edison, where he was pronounced dead. He was 60 and had been in poor health since a heart attack several years ago.
On “Kotter,” Hegyes played Juan Luis Pedro Philippo DeHuevos Epstein, a Puerto Rican Jew who was known for his tall hair, short stature, big mouth and large attitude.
His signatures on the show included a large red handkerchief in his rear pocket. He also wrote regular notes to the teacher, Gabe KaplanÂ’s Mr. Kotter, that asked he be excused from various activities, including his classes.
They were always signed, “Epstein’s Mother,” and when Kotter read them aloud, Epstein would mouth the words.
Born in Perth Amboy, N.J., Hegyes graduated from Metuchen High School and Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, before moving to New York to join a childrenÂ’s acting company, Theater in a Trunk.
He auditioned for the Epstein role and landed it, playing alongside John TravoltaÂ’s Vinnie Barbarino, Ron PalilloÂ’s Arnold Horshak and Lawrence Hilton-JacobsÂ’ Boom Boom Washington.
Most of the cast reunited last year at the TV Land Awards to mark the showÂ’s 35th anniversary.
After “Kotter” he stayed in acting, guesting on shows like “NewsRadio,” “Drew Carey” and “Saturday Night Live.”
He became a regular as Detective Manny Epstein on “Cagney and Lacey.”
He always said his acting idol was Chico Marx, whom he would occasionally imitate on “Kotter,” and he played Chico in a stage production of “An Evening With Groucho.”
#1
...By all accounts he was a decent guy who worked hard and had a reasonably normal life. RIP.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/28/2012 9:06 Comments ||
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Awwwwwww - "Kotter" struck a nerve wid US Teens back in the day. Here on Guam, it seemed as nearly every Middle School + High School Male Student was emulating one or more of the characters.
[Magharebia] Interim Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced plans last month to sell off the majority of presidential palaces once owned by ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The earnings will then be used to create job opportunities for the nation's unemployed youth.
"Presidential palaces, except for the Carthage Palace, will be returned to the state at a first stage," Marzouki said December 16th. "In a second stage, they will be sold in a public auction with all transparency and clarity, and the proceeds that will be generated from the sale will be injected into employment funds."
Furthermore, Marzouki announced that Carthage Palace management would trim expenses and work on implementing "maximum austerity so that the presidency may contribute to the sacred war against poverty and unemployment in the country".
According to the most recent official statistics, Tunisia's unemployment rate is estimated at 18%, leaving 800,000 people without jobs. Marzouki pledged to tackle the issue after his election.
"The boat won't sink; Tunisia won't sink, and the sacrifices of our children won't go in vain," he said. "Yes, Tunisia will succeed."
Ben Ali had many luxurious palaces in several Tunisian cities, the most prominent of which were Sidi Dhrif Palace in Sidi Bou Said, Hammamet Palace, Mornag Palace, Ein Darahem Palace, Sousse Palace and Cyprus Palace.
A significant section of Tunisians said selling these palaces was better option than keeping them as part of presidential or state properties, especially with the current condition of the Tunisian economy. They said that funds generated from such sales could be used to support industrial institutions and start new projects, thereby stimulating economic growth and creating jobs.
"Disposing of the presidential palaces and estate left behind by Ben Ali is necessary so that their value may be transferred to the state treasury, and new projects may be started to create a livelihood for the unemployed," commented Abdessalam Dakhlaoui, a young man with no job.
Saoussen Ramdhane agreed that it was a step in the right direction. "Except for the historic Carthage Palace, Ben Ali built all these palaces with the Tunisian people's money, and it's about time such palaces were restored to their real owners and used for the interests of the people."
Others believe that disposing of presidential palaces will make future officials less inclined to abuse public resources.
Mohamed Abirig said he supported Marzouki's decision. "This way, future presidents won't enjoy the luxury and extravagance of former presidents in the properties of the Tunisian people, and in this way, they will be closer to their people, feel their sufferings and know about their needs."
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... a number of groups opposed the move, with the Tunisian Association for Financial Transparency issuing a statement saying that the palaces were owned by the Tunisian state and that the interim president could not dispose of them. The association said that it wouldn't hesitate to resort to the judiciary to prevent the sale of public assets.
Sami Remadi, the group's president, said in a statement addressed to the interim government and president that Tunisia's current conditions require more wisdom and transparency in disposing of people's properties.
For its part, the Free National Party expressed surprise over the news that Marzouki was planning to sell presidential palaces. In a statement, the party wondered what powers the interim president had to dispose of the historical properties of the Tunisian state.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
I've got a spare Nickel.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2012 0:28 Comments ||
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Turn them into hotels. Let the large international hotel chains run them. The proceeds from the sales goes into the treasury, as planned, plus you get some jobs going.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2012 10:56 Comments ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Charles Taylor The former President-for-Life of Liberia, of whom the best that could be said was that he wasn't quite as horrible as Prince Johnson, at least not usually. is cooling his 64-year old heels at The Hague awaiting a verdict on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The former Liberian president wears the dubious badge of being the first African head of state to be hauled before the International Criminal Court. ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
He faces life in the cooler if found guilty this April. Taylor pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to 11 charges of murder, rape and deploying child soldier during the Sierra Leone civil war.
He also allegedly helped rebels in exchange for looted "blood diamonds."
But recent reports by the Boston Globe newspaper are that the father of Chuckie Taylor doubled as a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
How did the confessions emerge after quarter century? Well, in 2006, the Boston Globe newspaper filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for information of persistent allegations that Taylor worked for the CIA.
His brief was to gather intelligence on the late Libyan strongman Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... , specifically, his role in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland, his sponsorship of guerrillas across Africa, and the broader issues of Russian activities and arms trade in the continent.
Responding to the Globe request, The Defence Intelligence Agency, the spy arm of the Pentagon confirmed that Taylor worked closely with CIA agents in the early 1980s.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"Worked closely wid CIA Agents in the early 1980's" > **** cough **** cough *** cough ***...
[Bangla Daily Star] BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... will lead the party's mass procession tomorrow in the city which, party leaders hope, will turn into a huge parade ahead of its March 12 Dhaka rally.
The procession, as part of the party's countrywide programme, will begin from BNP's Naya Paltan office and will end at Banglamotor after passing through Shantinagar, Malibagh and Moghbazar areas.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... tension is prevailing centring the programme as the ruling Awami League will hold a rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in the city the same day.
BNP standing committee member Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah said the government has to face dire consequences if it tries to obstruct tomorrow's peaceful programme.
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, said, "The government alongside the ruling party is trying to obstruct our peaceful programme in different ways but they will not succeed by declaring counter programme."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Should turn into a riot.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2012 0:31 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Fitch rating agency has downgraded the debt ratings of five eurozone states including Spain and Italia, pointing to the growing vulnerability of their economies.
On Friday, Fitch downgraded the economies of Italia, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus, while cutting its outlook on Ireland.
According to the agency, "near-term economic outlook highlight(s) the greater vulnerability to monetary as well as financing shocks faced by these sovereign governments."
Fitch cited that Italia faced "too-low" growth in comparison with its debt, while Spain faces "a significantly worsened fiscal and economic outlook." Italia, Spain, and Slovenia were cut by two notches.
Earlier, the European Central Bank released eurozone data suggesting that loans to the private sector fell by 1.0 percent in December in comparison with the 1.7 percent in the previous month.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... Spain's unemployment rate has soared to 22.85 percent-- the highest in 17 years as more than half of the country's youths remain without jobs.
There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italia, Spain and La Belle France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2012 00:00 ||
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Things will have to become a lot worse, before they'll become any better.
[Dawn] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... has recorded two confirmed polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... cases bringing total number of poliomyelitis-affected children to five countrywide in 2012, officials said.
One-year-old Fareeha Bibi, daughter of Ayub Khan, a resident of Aziz Khan Garhi, in Mera Kachori union council of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, was tested positive by the National Institute of Health Islamabad on Thursday, officials said.
The child hadn't received any dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV), they said.
The family of the child originally belonged to Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency but lived in different localities of Peshawar for the past couple of years.
"The child lives in one of the 17 houses that were missed by health workers from the last 12 to 18 months," they said.
Shazia Begum, daughter of Wazir Khan, a three-year-old child residing in jurisdiction of Urban-5 UC of Kohat tehsil was diagnosed positive for polio, the officials said. The child received only three doses of vaccines as she was missed consistently by health teams, the officials said.
Officials said the Prime Minister Polio Eradication Cell had asked the provincial government to implement the Augmented National Plan for Polio Eradication. The coverage is below 95, a target set forth in the plan, they said.
Other three cases include two from Quetta and one from Mirpurkhas in Sindh. KP accounted for 23 cases of the total 198 detected in Pakistain in 2011.
BUNER: Terming the anti-polio drive as vital to curb the virus, the district amir of JUI-F Maulana Fazali Ghafoor has called upon the Learned Elders of Islam and parents to make the campaign a success.
Addressing a presser at the press club in Daggar on Thursday Mr Ghafoor said polio drops were vital to protecting children from the crippling disease. He said almost all Learned Elders of Islam in the country had supported the drive, hoping a handful of those who were opposing it would accept the reality in the larger national interest.
He recited several verses from Koran and Hadith in support of adopting precautionary measures to save children from hardships and troubles in future. He said the parents were responsible for good healthcare of their children. He said three polio positive cases had been reported in the district recently which is alarming.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2012 00:00 ||
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Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix, in opposition to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services' dictate that health-insurance plans, including those offered by Catholic groups, must provide birth control, has called on Catholics to defy the law.
"This is an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the church in the United States directly and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty," Olmsted wrote in the letter, which is expected to be read this weekend at Catholic Masses.
"Unless the rule is overturned," Olmsted wrote, "we Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences or to drop health coverage for our employees."
Olmsted added, "We cannot -- we will not -- comply with this unjust law."
Penalties for not following the rule, if it is adopted, are unclear. Government contracts, if any, could be jeopardized, and employees who are not covered in circumstances where coverage is required could seek legal remedies.
A week after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told individuals and institutions who oppose contraception "to hell with you," as one bishop put it, members of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy were mobilizing their followers to fight.
Bishops across the country -- including Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans and Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla. -- were preparing letters to be read at all Masses during the Jan. 28-29 weekend.
But one of the most strongly worded reactions to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' Jan. 20 announcement that religious organizations could delay but not opt out of a requirement that all health plans cover contraception and sterilization at no cost came from Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, in a column titled "To hell with you."
Sebelius and the Obama administration "have said 'To hell with you' to the Catholic faithful of the United States," Bishop Zubik wrote. "To hell with your religious beliefs. To hell with your religious liberty. To hell with your freedom of conscience. We'll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to knuckle under."
He called on Catholics in the Pittsburgh Diocese to "do all possible to rescind" the contraceptive mandate by writing to President Barack Obama, Sebelius and their members of Congress about this "unprecedented federal interference in the right of Catholics to serve their community without violating their fundamental moral beliefs."
Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, Ill., enlisted the aid of St. Michael the Archangel in fighting "this unprecedented governmental assault upon the moral convictions of our faith."
In a Jan. 24 letter to Peoria Catholics, he directed that the prayer of St. Michael be recited "for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America" during Sunday Masses at every parish, school, hospital, Newman center and religious house in the diocese.
The prayer reads in part: "Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil" and "cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls."
"I am honestly horrified that the nation I have always loved has come to this hateful and radical step in religious intolerance," Bishop Jenky said in the letter.
"While it is primarily the laity who should take the leading role in political and legal action, as your bishop it is my clear responsibility to summon our local church into spiritual and temporal combat in defense of Catholic Christianity," he added. "I strongly urge you not to be intimidated by extremist politicians or the malice of the cultural secularists arrayed against us." Several sources to the above, with the most recent as the link.
#1
Kathleen Sebelius (and BO), secretary of Health and Human Services' dictate that health-insurance plans, including those offered by Catholic groups, must provide birth control
Dictate! Who the hell do these people think they are?
Approximately 25% of the people in this country are Catholic. Somewhere around 130 million people voted in 2010 (although the potential voting population is larger). If 25% of 130 million people who vote are Catholic that is ~ 30 million plus - a sizable block of voters who could swing a Presidential election.
#2
Bishops & priests need to be careful lest they jeopardize their outfit's tax-exempt status.
Obama's law may result in many others (not religious) to drop employer-subsidized health coverage for employees. Penalties (so far) for doing so are much cheaper than the cost of compliance.
#3
Obama's law may result in many others (not religious) to drop employer-subsidized health coverage for employees. Penalties (so far) for doing so are much cheaper than the cost of compliance.
#5
I am not a lawyer, but it may be problematic to take away the tax exempt status of the Catholic (or any other) Church. There was a Supreme Court case long ago that said that states could not tax the federal government because the unlimited power to tax is the power to destroy. Now, destroying the Catholic Church may be considered to be a feature not a bug for Obama and his progressive henchmen. However, I truly hope that the Supreme Court would see the enormous damage that it would do to the First Amendment for the government to destroy a religion.
Of course, the majority of the current members of the Supreme Court are Catholic, which might help. :)
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/28/2012 12:03 Comments ||
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#6
How about that. Took only three years for Obama to get enough balls to begin acting like what he aspires to be, a third world dictactor of the United States of America.
#8
So Zero wants to start a war with the Catholic Church? Does he not realize that the Catholics are a significant part of the police, fire, and EMT services of all major Eastern cities, and can effectively shut those cities down? Or that the one of the most successful terrorist organization on the planet is the IRA, which could easily start operations protecting Catholics from government oppression in this country?
#9
Or that the Catholic population is overrepresented in the combat arms of the US military, and the US Special Forces? Starting a religious war with 25% of the country is a grand way to initiate a full-scale civil war throughout the country. And besides which, you give the ones fighting for the Church martyr status since they are being killed or arrested for their faith. Ask the Roman Empire how well that worked out for them.
#10
God's laws and statutes trumps man's laws and statutes. Period. After 300 years of freedom, the persecution of the faiths has now begun in the USA.
#12
Yes Catholics are over-represented in SOCOM, and at a those agencies that require high security clearances - Catholics and Mormons, for some reason.
Pebbles: this has nothing to do with tax exemptions. This is forcing Catholic Church to do something that is absolutely morally abhorrent, and completely against its fundamental creed, dogma and belief. It violates the conscience. It is government interference with our First Amendment right to practice our religion freely. Sebelius and Obama's act is an assault on the moral conscience of ever good practicing Catholic, and if obeyed would condemn us with a mortal sin against God's commandments, the sanctity of life, an natural law.
If they really want to wake the Church Militant, that's a very good way of doing it. They;d best be careful, because once we start, its very hard to stop.
This is a fight Obama and his henchmen will not win - eventually we will destroy them. In the immediate, it has painted them as the evil dictatorial monsters that they are.
One thing Obama and Sebelius and the other should thank God for: the 5th commandment. Yes they have many of us that angry. They better be glad we are forbidden to taking up arms in that way - otherwise their lives would end in the sights of a high powered rifle or kicking at the end of a rope.
#13
After 300 years of freedom, the persecution of the faiths has now begun in the USA.
I'd make it closer to 100. Check out the various Blaine laws.
These folks are playing a dangerous game and one they aren't well positioned for. I'll start to take them seriou8sly when they excommunicate and stop serving the sacraments for the Catholic legislators who voted for the bill. Until then, this is just politicking from the pulpit and that doesn't end well either.
#14
Surprisingly, Kathleen Sebelius is, according to Wikipedia, herself a Catholic. As are Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, the former Ted Kennedy, and a variety of other Democrats. Nancy Pelosi claims that the Church's stand on life issues (abortion, contraception, etc.) is fairly new. SHE IS WRONG!!!
Personally, if I were one of their bishops, I would have excommunicated them a long time ago.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/28/2012 16:18 Comments ||
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#15
Old Spook, while birth control may be forbidden by the Church it is very widely used by a great many otherwise-practicing Catholics. Sadly, that is even true of abortion. Neither the Church nor the Government will win that confrontation in THIS world.
#16
#11 Bright Pebbles. Render unto Ceasor that which is Ceasors, render that which is God's to God. Ceaser is not allowed to divert that that is given to God too himself.
#18
I'm not Catholic, and this pisses ME off. Everything person X gets for free has to be paid for by person Y. It's the principle, either way. Birth control pills are cheap. If you've got enough of a life to need them, you've got enough of a life to pay for them.
OTOH: if BHO thinks alienating every possible segment of the population is a winning strategy, well, as Napoleon (?) said: never interrupt the enemy when they're making a mistake.
#19
Glenmore, aside from the birth control it also requires paying for abortifacients - the "morning after" pill, and I think it also forces coverage of sterilizations, which are forbidden. And it really doesn't matter what those cafeteria Catholics think, because it is still 100% the government forcing actions that are against the conscience and teachings of the Church. And down that path lies dictatorship - if you can force unfaithful acts on faithful people, you re no better than Stalin, Mao or Hitler. They all did their evil "in the name of the people and nation", just like Obama.
#20
One thing Obama and Sebelius and the other should thank God for: the 5th commandment. Yes they have many of us that angry.
Rot! The 5th Commandment presents no restraint. I believe it was once written as "Thou shalt not murder!". And was rewritten in its current form as a part of the taming of the Church.
There is no prohibition against killing in Gods name in defense of the Church. There are millions dead over the centuries to prove that.
And Militant Christianity is already awake and stirring. I mentioned that very thing here many months ago. If they (Obama & crew) haven't gone too far yet, rest assured they will. The stage is set, the actors are in place and there will be a second Civil War. And the Left will be expunged.
I see no way back from where this Nation is today without that conflagration.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
01/28/2012 19:04 Comments ||
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#21
Pebbles: this has nothing to do with tax exemptions.
It's an F8-key response. Nothing to do with the article.
#23
He just lost the Hispanic vote. Predominately Catholic and the Bishops will rally even them against the Obama "mandates" (aka Dictates).
In the New Testament St Paul stood before the magistrate and was warned to denounce his beliefs or be flogged. He responded politely that he could not go against the will of God. He was flogged and released and was greatfull to count the scares as badges of honor.
North Korean Christians were persecuted in Labor Camps and sang while be beaten by irritated guards who became even more enraged by their convictions, and were then sent to the "electric room" where no one ever returned alive.
An American student was recently asked in class about what he thought about homosexuality and he politely responded that his faith did not accept homosexuality and was suspended from the public school for his beliefs. And of course we know of the fate of recent Miss America finalists who hold Christian beliefs.
The Democratic Party embraced immorality years ago, the spiral has been downward ever since. The questions is, will America succumb to this low level of morality or will America overcome this now dictatorship?
We will soon know the answer one way or the other.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] US President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... on Thursday denied Republican claims he was waging class warfare as he set out to sell his call for tax raise on the rich in states crucial to his reelection bid.
Hours after his combative and populist State of the Union address, Mr Obama appeared first in Iowa, the cradle of the 2008 campaign which swept him to the White House, and then in Arizona, launching a three-day, five-state tour.
Mr Obama hopes to convince voters that his vision of a remodeled economy -- where everybody, not just the wealthy, gets "a fair shot" -- merits handing him a second term in November's election.
He argued that those who earn one million dollars a year should pay at least 30 percent in taxes, decrying loopholes which offer rich Americans, like his possible Republican foe Mitt Romney ...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field... , a much lower rate on investment income.
"I hear a lot of folks running around calling this class warfare," Mr Obama said at a factory in midwestern Iowa.
"This is not class warfare," Mr Obama said, citing legendary financier Warren Buffett's argument that he should pay a higher tax rate on his vast fortune than his own staff pay on their annual income.
"Asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary is common sense," President B.O. said, warning Americans must decide whether to build an equitable economy, fund education and the military or let the rich evade fair taxes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
That Picture, you need the one with steam coming out both his ears.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2012 0:24 Comments ||
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#2
Many people from other countrys consider Americans to be economically illiterate. And for good reason. We are.
The Buffet rule proves one thing. The American people don't even know the difference between earning a wage and investing in a corporation.
In an economically literate society if Obama had promised to raise the tax rate on investors to 30% he would have been booed out of the building.
Instead he got a standing ovation.
We live today in a global economy. Wealthy people are very mobile, and so is their money. Raising taxes on the rich simply causes them to move their money outside the country. Which is the opposite of an economic stimulus.
Taxing investment capital out of pockets of corporations and businesses, who pay the wages, will never increase the wages of the middle class and poor at the bottom of the food chain.
The American dream is to shrink the income gap between the rich and poor by raising the living standards of the poor up to the standards of the rich.
Obama's plan is to drag the rich down to the level of the poor.
Bill Clinton said, "It's the economy supid!". But that is only half the truth.
If he had spoken the whole truth he would have said, "It's the economy stupid, but the American people are to stupid to understand the economy.
#5
Many people from other countrys consider Americans to be economically illiterate
Many people from other countries consider Americans to be a great many things, all of it inferior to their august, clever selves by definition. Thus do those many people reveal their own weaknesses. At the moment only Canada and Switzerland seem out of economic danger, leaving the money sense of the rest in the category of seriously suspect.
Nonetheless, many Americans have indeed been entirely too clever by half about matters financial, including the boffins who took jobs in finance and the government, and we're all paying the price. Sadly, our beloved president has the financial acumen of a retarded kindergartner. Also, he tells lies.
Fortunately, he doesn't write the tax laws -- that comes out of the lower house of Congress. And Congressmen Boehner and Cantor have the opportunity to explain, repeatedly, exactly why they won't write the laws he wants.
#6
This is pure class warfare for a reason no one is mentioning. Why is the Capital gains tax rate 15%?
It isn't because the greedy rich guys could force Congress to let them keep more of their ill gotten gains. It was set at that level so that the greedy government would maximize revenue by encouraging investors to realize profits it could tax.
If the capital gains tax were raised, the cost of recognizing the gain would be increased and fewer investors would realize their gain by selling the appreciated asset, reducing gains subject to the tax.
Investors are by definition able to live without the money they have invested. They can easily choose to forgo selling an asset if the cost is too high. This is why changing the Capital gains tax rate is so powerful in generating (or stifling) government revenue.
Obumble has to know that an increase in the Capital gains tax rate will reduce federal and state revenue at a time when both are running record deficits. It will only aggravate the deficits. So why else would he be doing it, if not class warfare?
#7
Obama has simply changed the subject, once again. None has so far mentioned vast amounts of utterly wasteful federal spending, the presupposition that federal spending MUST continue to rise at X% (you pick the figure) annually FOREVER, and that the national debt must continue its inexorable rise, without any real limit.
The revolutionary idea that government spending must be limited to what the electorate wishes to tax itself on, is also never mentioned.
#8
Purely class warfare, social justice and redistribution of income. He has been playing one group against another in this country since he was elected. This is evil. I just hope people recognize the evil for what it is; however, I doubt it -- Some voters like such anti-American tripe.
#9
Politicians push redistribution of income and class warfare in order to get re-elected. After all, if a politician robs Peter to pay Paul, he's already got half the vote. Meanwhile, the financial industry pushes unjust redistribution of assets (debt crisis, bailouts, Federal reserve subsidies to the big banks) and rent-seeking (legally mandated or enforced supports to one group at the expense of another, see SOPA, PIPA, immortality of copyrights, courts tolerating foreclosure abuse and perjury, federal exemption of student loans from discharge in bankruptcy, etc. etc.). Conservative economists manage to avoid mentioning rent-seeking in their pronouncements. Vast majority of electorate is utterly oblivious to such economic evils.
#10
And Congressmen Boehner and Cantor have the opportunity to explain, repeatedly, exactly why they won't write the laws he wants.
Sorry, but Boner is just another spineless RINO IMHO. all hat and no cattle.
caves to Bambi and the D's everytime.
#12
If the billionaire in question is guilty about not paying enough taxes, he could write a check for the roughly billion or so his damn corporation has owed in back taxes for a big chunk of the last decade.
#13
The failure of the vast majority of our population to instantly recognize and dismiss as absurd, the Warren Buffett's tax rate comparison to that of his secretary, can only be attributed to our basic lack of understanding of basic economics and sound business principles.
Wages and investment income are two entirely different things and comparing them as if they were the same is completely erroneous.
The most blatent falsehood promoted by Obama, Warren Buffett and the media is the principle of double taxation.
Wage earners normally do not own the company. Investors in theory do. And that fact requires that they are taxed on entrely different principles.
In C type corporations, profits are taxed at least twice. Once at the corporation level and then again at the private level.
The accepted tax accounting principle is that the corporation profits are first normally taxed at 35%. The remainder of the profit is then divided among the owners (investors) and then taxed again at the individul investors personal tax rate. Usually at about 15%.
In reality the IRS recieves 50% of the corporation profits, hence the investors actual tax rate is also 50%.
The blatent omission of the fact that the investors dividend is first taxed at the corporation level and then again at the private level is a pure misrepresentation of the actual percentage the investor pays.
Investment income is only taxed in the year it is distributed. If Warren Buffett chose to reinvest his profits and live on his personal savings account his tax rate would in fact be 0 because he did not recieve a dividend that year.
There are some types of government bonds ect. that can be invested in tax free but the fact that Warren Buffett's secretary (or anyone else) could invest ther own money at the exact same tax rate as Warren Buffett leaves this entire argument with no logical reason to begin with.
It just astounds me that vast majority of the American people would fall for this charade.
#14
Obumble has to know that an increase in the Capital gains tax rate will reduce federal and state revenue at a time when both are running record deficits.
#17
TW, I do agree with and appreciate your assessment completely.
However;
Congressmen Boehner and Cantor can explain themselves blue in face. But if the population lacks the basic education in economics and business principles necessary to understand their explanation, the population will simply tune them out and call them obstructionists.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Robert Hegyes, one of the Sweathogs on the immortal New York high school comedy “Welcome Back, Kotter,” died Thursday after suffering apparent heart failure at his Metuchen, N.J., home.
Charles Taylor
International Criminal Court.
Khaleda Zia
[Dawn] The 
Mohmand
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] US President 
