My sister, Victoria, and I have restarted an old meme, tuesday newsday. Each tuesday one of us will post a news topic and invite others to comment on the post. I had the honor of doing the first one, and had just heard some news that really upset me. While listening to early morning talk radio some one called in about gender based abortions now being legal in Sweden. So, the host invited callers to call in and give their opinions. What bothered me was this was the only place I heard this and it may have passed quietly by had I not had a sleepless night.
Why did this disturb me since I am pro-choice? Because that was a difficult decision for me to make. I don't believe in abortion and when faced with the choice I chose adoption. But, I am also aware there are others who can't afford that option. Rape victims, young college women who's entire lives could be changed and futures ruined,women living in poverty who can't afford to care for the children she now has. And the list goes on. So, I decided I had no right to choose for these women and stepped over to the side of pro-choice.
But we aren't talking about any of the above named circumstances. We are talking about healthy women who want a child and can afford to have a child, are deliberately getting pregnant to have a child, and then aborting if they don't like the sex of the child! Now, there are some who would say, oh, so you're pro-choice as long as it fits your agenda, but not pro-choice for everyone. I am pro-choice for those who need that option not those who choose it for selfish reasons. That's like saying I'm for welfare as long as it only benefits the poor, but the rich shouldn't be able to get it. There is a difference between having to choose abortion and choosing it to get the gender you want. In my humble opinion this does empower the anti-choice side.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
It doesn't matter which exit you use!
We've been having rain a lot this past week and today was no different. Our little stray, Little Friend, likes to come in out of the rain. The problem is once inside she figures if she can exit through a window, rather than the door she entered, there will be no rain. I keep trying to explain to her no matter how hard she tries she can't get out through the closed window and besides it will still be raining regardless of which exit she uses. She doesn't believe me and will keep trying. I keep opening the door for her to which she runs and then stops when she sees it's still raining. She also seems to feel I have some control over this wet stuff that falls from the sky and complains bitterly to me until it finally stops. Then with great indignation she will leave the captivity of this room and go back outside. Her attitude seems to be that I make it rain so she will have to come inside and then I force her to remain indoors by not stopping the rain. When I did stop and she went back out her cohort Scarface was waiting and he had a few words to say to me also. This is the thanks I get for feeding them every day, providing a warm dry place when it rains, and getting them to the vet when they're sick...and they aren't even our cats!!!!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Graduation chaos
Saturday was graduation day for Morris College and as usual it was held at the convention center here. There is a huge parking lot and you get their early to get the closer spaces. So, I drive Keith and bring books, writing materials, cell phone, etc. Things to keep me busy while he has to sit in there and listen to all the boring speeches. I won't even get into those and why I stopped going in. Let's just say hearing about all the evil white people who are holding them back, when it's white faculty sitting there who are educating their precious little darlings. Note sarcasm. Anyway, the ceremony started at 10 a.m. and of course, people were still arriving long after 11 a.m. And instead of parking in the parking spaces in the back of the lot they started double parking (0n both sides) and blocking in the cars in the first rows.
Picture being at the supermarket and parked in a space and coming out to find someone had parked their car on the lane in front of your car.
So, they were blocking people trying to get in as well as blocking those who would be coming out to leave. Well, I figured I wasn't going to let them block me in, so moved the car up far enough no one could park in front of me. There was a car blocking the car to my left and soon one blocking in the car to my right. Another late arrival, four young black men (and I use the term men loosely) stopped and one approached me in a threatening way and said...so whatcha gonna do. you be comin or you be goin'? I said, neither I'm sitting here and not moving so you can't block me in. He glared at me and started to move towards the car and said, no, whatcha gonna do (sneering) go or move? I said, neither, I am sitting here. Another got out of the car and I stood my ground. They left cursing and cussing me and I will refrain from posting the words used to describe this white honky bitch....whoops! anyway...
back to the cars on either side of me. When the young man in the car on the right came out, for some balloons, I made a remark about these rude people blocking others in and he got snotty and said, it be a gradyeateshun so dey gonna park dere. I am using the vernacular used when they spoke...these young college students. Well, I got the last smile in when he came out to leave early and found his car blocked in and mine not. He glared at me as if I had blocked his car in, got out his cell phone, and started cussing into it about being stuck there. Some others got the security guard but little he could do, so they had to wait. When Keith came out we pulled out and left. On a side note, when the security guy drove by my car and saw what I had done he gave me a big smile and thumbs up.
I will give the security man credit. He did try to keep up and keep people moving, but he would be at one end making people move and others would be blocking in cars at the other end and leaving before he could get there. Once the proceedings started he could not longer go to the mic and ask people to move their cars.
This rudeness and lack of consideration is something I am seeing way too much of here. If I hear one more person talk about southern hospitality and how rude us northerners are I think I'm going to puke on their shoes!
Picture being at the supermarket and parked in a space and coming out to find someone had parked their car on the lane in front of your car.
So, they were blocking people trying to get in as well as blocking those who would be coming out to leave. Well, I figured I wasn't going to let them block me in, so moved the car up far enough no one could park in front of me. There was a car blocking the car to my left and soon one blocking in the car to my right. Another late arrival, four young black men (and I use the term men loosely) stopped and one approached me in a threatening way and said...so whatcha gonna do. you be comin or you be goin'? I said, neither I'm sitting here and not moving so you can't block me in. He glared at me and started to move towards the car and said, no, whatcha gonna do (sneering) go or move? I said, neither, I am sitting here. Another got out of the car and I stood my ground. They left cursing and cussing me and I will refrain from posting the words used to describe this white honky bitch....whoops! anyway...
back to the cars on either side of me. When the young man in the car on the right came out, for some balloons, I made a remark about these rude people blocking others in and he got snotty and said, it be a gradyeateshun so dey gonna park dere. I am using the vernacular used when they spoke...these young college students. Well, I got the last smile in when he came out to leave early and found his car blocked in and mine not. He glared at me as if I had blocked his car in, got out his cell phone, and started cussing into it about being stuck there. Some others got the security guard but little he could do, so they had to wait. When Keith came out we pulled out and left. On a side note, when the security guy drove by my car and saw what I had done he gave me a big smile and thumbs up.
I will give the security man credit. He did try to keep up and keep people moving, but he would be at one end making people move and others would be blocking in cars at the other end and leaving before he could get there. Once the proceedings started he could not longer go to the mic and ask people to move their cars.
This rudeness and lack of consideration is something I am seeing way too much of here. If I hear one more person talk about southern hospitality and how rude us northerners are I think I'm going to puke on their shoes!
Seven years!!!
Hard to believe, but yesterday, marked our 7th wedding anniversary. We almost forgot and let it slip by. Keith remembered this morning. Yesterday we were busy with the last day of school - getting all checked out so we could start vacation. I probably wouldn't have remembered at all. Maybe I don't want to remember how long I've been in Swampter, SC aka Bumf*ck Egypt, USA. When you are surrounded by so much ignorance it makes it easier to pretend you are leaving soon and not remember how long you've been here. I tell my husband I must really love him, because if not for him I would have been out of here long ago. So, it's been 8 years total I've been here and 7 years married. I keep saying it's three strikes and your out or third times the charm, as this is the third time for me. So, we had a mexican bake to celebrate and hope for another good year together.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Same track minds
Well, figured I would take a few minutes to write on my blog today, since I have been neglecting it as of late. I was going to write about how I had all these great ideas for postings while thinking when I wake up in the middle of the night, or when sitting at the laundramat watching the clothes spin around, or.... but then I always forget and thought today I would write about nothing and all that at the same time. But, along the way I stopped in at my sister, Victoria's, blog and had to laugh because she had done the exact same blog, except she beat me to it. So, go read her blog!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tax break my A**
Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the few extra dollars they're seeing in their paychecks, thanks to Obama's tax break. But just in case you think this is really a good thing remember what I tried to tell you all that this would come back to bite you in the end, because it would be taken back when you file your taxes next year.
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Taxpayers to get rude surprise
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Millions of couples, retirees may have to repay some of Obama tax credit
Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer
On Thursday April 30, 2009, 6:55 pm EDT
Buzz up! Print WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.
The government is going to want some of that money back.
The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.
But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.
At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.
The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
"They need to get the Goodyear blimp out there on this," said Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
For many, the new tax tables will simply mean smaller-than-expected tax refunds next year, IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said. The average refund was nearly $2,700 this year.
But taxpayers who calculate their withholding so they get only small refunds could face an unwelcome tax bill next April, said Jackie Perlman, an analyst with the Tax Institute at H&R Block.
"They are going to get a surprise," she said.
Perlman's advice: check your federal withholding to make sure sufficient taxes are being taken out of your pay. If you are married and both spouses work, you might consider having taxes withheld at the higher rate for single filers. If you have multiple jobs, you might consider having extra taxes withheld by one of your employers. You can make that request with a Form W-4.
The IRS has a calculator on its Web site to help taxpayers figure withholding. So do many private tax preparers.
Obama has touted the tax credit as one of the big achievements of his first 100 days in office, boasting that 95 percent of working families will qualify in 2009 and 2010.
The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible.
The tax credit was designed to help boost the economy by getting more money to consumers in their regular paychecks. Employers were required to start using the new withholding tables by April 1.
The tables, however, don't take into account several common categories of taxpayers, experts said.
For example:
--A single worker with two jobs making $20,000 a year at each job will get a $400 boost in take-home pay at each of them, for a total of $800. That worker, however, is eligible for a maximum credit of $400, so the remaining $400 will have to be paid back at tax time -- either through a smaller refund or a payment to the IRS.
The IRS recognized there could be a similar problem for married couples if both spouses work, so it adjusted the withholding tables. The fix, however, was imperfect.
-- A married couple with a combined income of $50,000 is eligible for an $800 credit. However, if both spouses work and make more than $13,000, the new withholding tables give them each a $600 boost -- for a total of $1,200.
There were 33 million married couples in 2008 in which both spouses worked. That's 55 percent of all married couples, according to the Census Bureau.
-- A single college student with a part-time job making $10,000 would get a $400 boost in pay. However, if that student is claimed as a dependent on a parent's tax return, she doesn't qualify for the credit and would have to repay it when she files next year.
Some retirees face even bigger headaches.
The Social Security Administration is sending out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in May as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments will go to people who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement benefits or veteran's disability benefits.
The payments are meant to provide a boost for people who don't qualify for the tax credit. However, they will go to retirees even if they have earned income and receive the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit -- but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.
Retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from pension benefits also are getting an income boost as a result of the new withholding tables. However, pension benefits are not earned income, so they don't qualify for the tax credit. That money will have to paid back next year when tax returns are filed.
More than 20 million retirees and survivors receive payments from defined benefit pension plans, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. However, it is unclear how many have federal taxes withheld from their payments.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union raised concerns about the effect of the tax credit on pension payments in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in March.
Geithner responded that Treasury and IRS understood the concerns and were "exploring ways to mitigate that effect."
Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Geithner has yet to respond to concerns raised by committee members.
"So far we've got the, 'If we don't address this maybe it will go away' approach," Camp said.
IRS withholding calculator:
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Taxpayers to get rude surprise
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Millions of couples, retirees may have to repay some of Obama tax credit
Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer
On Thursday April 30, 2009, 6:55 pm EDT
Buzz up! Print WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.
The government is going to want some of that money back.
The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.
But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.
At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.
The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
"They need to get the Goodyear blimp out there on this," said Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
For many, the new tax tables will simply mean smaller-than-expected tax refunds next year, IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said. The average refund was nearly $2,700 this year.
But taxpayers who calculate their withholding so they get only small refunds could face an unwelcome tax bill next April, said Jackie Perlman, an analyst with the Tax Institute at H&R Block.
"They are going to get a surprise," she said.
Perlman's advice: check your federal withholding to make sure sufficient taxes are being taken out of your pay. If you are married and both spouses work, you might consider having taxes withheld at the higher rate for single filers. If you have multiple jobs, you might consider having extra taxes withheld by one of your employers. You can make that request with a Form W-4.
The IRS has a calculator on its Web site to help taxpayers figure withholding. So do many private tax preparers.
Obama has touted the tax credit as one of the big achievements of his first 100 days in office, boasting that 95 percent of working families will qualify in 2009 and 2010.
The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible.
The tax credit was designed to help boost the economy by getting more money to consumers in their regular paychecks. Employers were required to start using the new withholding tables by April 1.
The tables, however, don't take into account several common categories of taxpayers, experts said.
For example:
--A single worker with two jobs making $20,000 a year at each job will get a $400 boost in take-home pay at each of them, for a total of $800. That worker, however, is eligible for a maximum credit of $400, so the remaining $400 will have to be paid back at tax time -- either through a smaller refund or a payment to the IRS.
The IRS recognized there could be a similar problem for married couples if both spouses work, so it adjusted the withholding tables. The fix, however, was imperfect.
-- A married couple with a combined income of $50,000 is eligible for an $800 credit. However, if both spouses work and make more than $13,000, the new withholding tables give them each a $600 boost -- for a total of $1,200.
There were 33 million married couples in 2008 in which both spouses worked. That's 55 percent of all married couples, according to the Census Bureau.
-- A single college student with a part-time job making $10,000 would get a $400 boost in pay. However, if that student is claimed as a dependent on a parent's tax return, she doesn't qualify for the credit and would have to repay it when she files next year.
Some retirees face even bigger headaches.
The Social Security Administration is sending out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in May as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments will go to people who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement benefits or veteran's disability benefits.
The payments are meant to provide a boost for people who don't qualify for the tax credit. However, they will go to retirees even if they have earned income and receive the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit -- but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.
Retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from pension benefits also are getting an income boost as a result of the new withholding tables. However, pension benefits are not earned income, so they don't qualify for the tax credit. That money will have to paid back next year when tax returns are filed.
More than 20 million retirees and survivors receive payments from defined benefit pension plans, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. However, it is unclear how many have federal taxes withheld from their payments.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union raised concerns about the effect of the tax credit on pension payments in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in March.
Geithner responded that Treasury and IRS understood the concerns and were "exploring ways to mitigate that effect."
Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Geithner has yet to respond to concerns raised by committee members.
"So far we've got the, 'If we don't address this maybe it will go away' approach," Camp said.
IRS withholding calculator:
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Cats and windows
For the past few weeks we have had such wonderful weather we've been able to open windows. The cats love this as they get to sit in the window and enjoy the air and get closer to the nature outside. Bug likes the one behind my chair, in the living room, and Marmalade is partial to the one in my bedroom. Yesterday, Bug, kept bugging me (pun intended) to open the windows. I told him I would when I got back from dropping Keith off at work. As soon as I got in the door Bug was after me open the windows. I did and he quickly claimed his favorite spot.
This morning, as I was getting ready, Marmalade was actually trying to open the window in my bedroom. I told him I would do it when I got back. Well, I had laundry to do and a few stops to make, but when I got home I went around and opened windows. When I got to the one in my bedroom Marmalade was patiently waiting. Well, as patiently as a cat can wait. As soon as I unlocked it he had his paws on it trying to push it up. I helped him and together we opened it and he took his perch to watch his kingdom from the window.
This morning, as I was getting ready, Marmalade was actually trying to open the window in my bedroom. I told him I would do it when I got back. Well, I had laundry to do and a few stops to make, but when I got home I went around and opened windows. When I got to the one in my bedroom Marmalade was patiently waiting. Well, as patiently as a cat can wait. As soon as I unlocked it he had his paws on it trying to push it up. I helped him and together we opened it and he took his perch to watch his kingdom from the window.
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