More than a century after Teddy Roosevelt's famous "New Nationalism" address, President Barack Obama sounded similar themes Tuesday in the same town in the Republican heartland of Kansas, delivering a populist speech that called for extending the payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of the year.
Obama described stark differences between a Republican ideology he described as leaving people to fend for themselves and his vision of government helping provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of where they begin in life.
"It's not a view that we should somehow turn back technology or put up walls around America," Obama said in the 55-minute speech, which frequently prompted applause. "It's not a view that says we should punish profit or success or pretend that government knows how to fix all society's problems.
"It's a view that says in America, we are greater together -- when everyone engages in fair play, everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share."
The Roosevelt speech in 1910 was intended to unite a Republican Party divided by a reform movement seeking curbs on industrial might.
Obama also seeks Republican unity, but this time the goal is to push through economic stimulus proposals and seek a political advantage for his Democratic Party.
He called for Congress to "immediately" extend the payroll tax cut, saying: "If we don't do that, 160 million Americans, including most of the people here, will see their taxes go up by an average of $1,000 starting in January, and it would badly weaken our recovery."
He framed the issue as a choice between making vital investments in future growth or the Republican position he characterized as maintaining "tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans in our country."
"We can't afford to do both," Obama said. "That is not politics. That's just math."
In an initial Republican response, conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama called Obama's speech "a virtual declaration that, for the remainder of his term, his focus will be on campaigning rather than governing."
At issue is the tax on workers that helps fund the Social Security Trust Fund. As part of a budget-cutting deal last December, Obama and Congress negotiated a reduction of 2 percentage points in the payroll tax rate -- from 6.2% to 4.2%.
The cut meant a family of $50,000 paid about $1,000 less in payroll taxes. With the reduced rate expiring on January 1, Obama and Democrats seek to expand the provision by lowering the rate even further -- to 3.1% -- for another year.
Republicans initially opposed the idea, saying the provision failed to create jobs last year. Now Republican leaders say they support an extension, but they differ with Obama and Democrats on how to pay for it.
The Democratic plan calls for a surtax on income over $1 million, as well as other provisions to cover the $180 billion cost. Republicans oppose any tax increase as part of their push to shrink the size of government.
Obama took aim at that position Tuesday, saying congressional Republicans "want to go back to the same policies that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for too many years."
"Their philosophy is simple: We are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules," Obama said in a speech pushing for passage of provisions of his jobs package. "Well, I'm here to say they are wrong."
Sounding a theme from Roosevelt's speech more than a century earlier, Obama said: "I'm here to reaffirm my deep conviction that we are greater together than we are on our own."
In his speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, back in 1910, Roosevelt made a similar appeal.
"We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well-used," Roosevelt said, but added: "We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community."
Describing what he called a "new nationalism," Roosevelt said it "regards the executive power as the steward of public welfare."
"It demands of the judiciary that it shall be interested primarily in human welfare rather than in property, just as it demands that the representative body shall represent all the people rather than any one class or section of the people," Roosevelt said.
On Tuesday, Obama called restoring opportunity for America's middle class "the defining issue of our time."
"This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class," the president said. "At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement."
Economic inequality in America today is at "a level we haven't seen since the Great Depression" and "hurts us all," Obama said.
"Inequality also distorts our democracy," he added to applause. "It gives an outsized voice to the few who can afford high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions, and runs the risk of selling out our democracy to the highest bidder. And it leaves everyone else rightly suspicious that the system in Washington is rigged against them -- that our elected representatives aren't looking out for the interests of most Americans."
In particular, Obama cited tax disparity, saying tax shelters and loopholes allow a quarter of all millionaires to pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class families, adding that "some billionaires have a tax rate as low as 1%."
"This is the height of unfairness," Obama said. "It's wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker (who) maybe earns $50,000 should pay a higher tax rate than somebody raking in $50 million."
He said the issue "isn't about class warfare," a charge leveled by Republican opponents.
"This is about the nation's welfare," he said. "It's about making choices that benefit not just the people who've done fantastically well over the last few decades, but that benefits the middle class, and those fighting to get into the middle class, and the economy as a whole."
Sessions, however, took issue with Obama depicting himself as a champion of the middle class.
"The middle class must pay for the president's failed policies twice—first, they have to pay the bill for profligate federal spending, and then they must pay the price for its economic consequences in the form of lost jobs and mounting debt," Sessions said in a statement. "The middle class bears the brunt of the president's misguided big-government vision."
On another issue, Obama said he would veto any effort by congressional Republicans to "delay, defund or dismantle" a new consumer protection panel by blocking the confirmation of the nominated director, Richard Cordray.
"The Republicans in the Senate refuse to let him do his job," Obama said of Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general. "Why? Does anyone here think the problem that led to our financial crisis was too much oversight of mortgage lenders or debt collectors? Of course not."
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said Tuesday that Republicans will prevent a vote on Cordray's nomination until changes are made to strengthen congressional oversight of the new panel.
Obama, however, said that "consumers deserve to have someone whose job it is to look out for them." To applause, he said, "I intend to make sure they do," adding that "I will veto any effort to delay, defund, or dismantle any of the new rules we put in place."
On the payroll tax impasse, moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who cast the lone GOP vote in favor of an earlier Democratic plan that included the so-called "millionaires tax," proposed a compromise Tuesday that would exclude small businesses from the provision.
A revised Democratic proposal unveiled Monday by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, contains a reduced version of the millionaires tax, down to 1.9% from the original 3.25%, and calls for it to expire after 10 years, according to a statement by the senator.
In addition to revenue from this "millionaire's surtax," the new proposal would be paid for by increasing fees that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge mortgage lenders to guarantee repayment of new mortgage loans, Casey's statement said.
The provision was discussed during negotiations by the congressional "super committee" that failed to reach a deficit reduction deal last month, and would raise $38.1 billion, according to Casey's statement.
A softening of Republican opposition to extending the lower payroll tax rate has raised expectations for eventual congressional approval of a compromise plan.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, last week agreed with Obama and Democrats that extending the payroll tax cut would help the economy by putting more money in the pockets of consumers.
Boehner's comment broke from conservative GOP orthodoxy that contends the payroll tax cut enacted last year had failed to benefit the sluggish economic recovery.
House Republican leaders have assembled their own proposal to extend the payroll tax cut in conjunction with other steps.
Boehner has insisted that any extensions of tax cuts or other programs be paid for through adjustments elsewhere, and he outlined a list of spending cuts over 10 years to offset the impact on the deficit, according to House Republican aides.
However, a group of fiscally conservative Republicans opposed the GOP leaders' plan because the offsetting spending cuts would take a decade to complete.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Personal Opinion 8: Sexual Abuse Paterno
This is what I don't understand...Paterno told who he needed to legally tell what he heard from the Grad assistant. If you are in graduate school, you must be old enough that if you witness some illegal act that you should go to the authorities yourself. Paterno did not witness the act therefore he cannot answer questions about what happened because he didn't see it. IT IS THE GRAD ASSISTANTS RESPONSIBILITY. I hope because they are ruining everyone else's life this person's life gets ruined as well because it was their responsibility to report it because they were a witness. And technically if they were of age, which I assume because they were in grad school, witnessing it and then not stopping it makes them an accessory. They are only coming down on Paterno because he is a big name. Come down on who committed the crime, who witnessed it and didn't put a stop to it, and also who was supposed to follow through with it; not just someone that will draw media attention
Penn State's Unrest Appalling
How does a survivor of sexual abuse respond to students rioting at Penn State?
"You're not getting it. You just don't get it," said Dave Lorenz who was abused by a priest as a teen.
"It's just stupid youthfulness."
Earlier this week, legendary head football coach Joe Paterno was removed in the midst of a scandal involving sexual abuse allegations against a former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.
Penn State student explains riot What started as an apparent celebration of Paterno turned into a riot in the Pennsylvania town of State College. The crowd tipped over a news van and decried the media in anger Wednesday night. They held signs in support of "JoePa" -- a nickname for Paterno.
Some said their frustration stemmed from the media's focus on Paterno, rather than the charges against Sandusky.
Watching footage of Penn State students rioting in the streets Wednesday night, Lorenzo shuddered, then hung his head.
What bothered Lorenz is that students "rallied around (Paterno's) house, cheering him up."
"The kids up there just don't understand what this does," he said.
"Stop thinking of the adult and start thinking of what happens to a child that goes through this. You love the adult, you may not know the kid. Start thinking of the kid and the horror they go through, because it's hell."
Paterno has been under scrutiny because of his response to allegations brought to him in 2002 by a graduate assistant. The assistant allegedly said he witnessed Sandusky, now 67, having sex with a young boy in a shower at the campus football complex, according to a grand jury indictment.
Paterno reported the allegations to his boss and Pennsylvania's attorney general said it appeared Paterno had met his obligations under state law. But critics said the coach should have reported the suspected abuse to police.
Sandusky is accused of sexual offenses, child endangerment and "corruption of a minor" involving eight boys.
Many within the Penn State community condemned the crowd's actions. In the campus newspaper The Daily Collegian, an editorial read: "Wednesday night was an embarrassment for Penn State... The way students reacted set our university two steps back."
Earlier this week, as questions about the coach's action mounted, students began swarming Paterno's home. The gatherings had the tone of a pep rally.
Kayla Garriott, a 22-year-old college student who was sexually abused as a child, said the open support for Paterno was disrespectful to survivors.
"That's the first thing people look at -- that their football team is without their head coach that's been there so many years. Nobody looks at the eight children."
The rioters are "never going to be in those children's shoes. It's not about football. It's about eight children who are never going to get back their lives back. They're going to live with this the rest of their lives. They might not get over that."
This kind of spectacle could even make abused kids more reluctant to go to the police, she said.
The Penn State scandal prompted numerous calls from sexual abuse survivors, said Barbara Dorris, the outreach director at Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"I have talked to people all over the country who have dealt with their abuse," she said. "This is bringing it all back. It's so upsetting. They were crying. They were angry."
The reaction of the crowd could send an unintended message to children and teenagers who've been abused: They may feel blamed for what happened to the football team and the rioting, said Dorris, who was also abused as a child.
It's a "horrible statement that a winning football team is more important than the safety of the children. It mirrors what happened in the (Catholic) church."
Jerry Needel, a Penn State alum who graduated in 1999, watched the news unfold and felt he had to do something.
"This just shook my beliefs and a big part of my identity to the core," he said.
He started a campaign to shift the attention to supporting victims of child abuse, by raising money for RAINN, which stands for Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
In addition, some Penn State students are planning to dress in blue for their next football game to support the victims of child abuse worldwide.
Jennifer Marsh, the director of the National Sexual Assault Hotline said the news story is bringing awareness and facilitating a national discussion about abuse, a topic often cloaked in secrecy.
"The biggest takeaway we've seen is just the outpouring of support to victims and survivors."
"You're not getting it. You just don't get it," said Dave Lorenz who was abused by a priest as a teen.
"It's just stupid youthfulness."
Earlier this week, legendary head football coach Joe Paterno was removed in the midst of a scandal involving sexual abuse allegations against a former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.
Penn State student explains riot Some said their frustration stemmed from the media's focus on Paterno, rather than the charges against Sandusky.
Watching footage of Penn State students rioting in the streets Wednesday night, Lorenzo shuddered, then hung his head.
What bothered Lorenz is that students "rallied around (Paterno's) house, cheering him up."
"The kids up there just don't understand what this does," he said.
"Stop thinking of the adult and start thinking of what happens to a child that goes through this. You love the adult, you may not know the kid. Start thinking of the kid and the horror they go through, because it's hell."
Paterno has been under scrutiny because of his response to allegations brought to him in 2002 by a graduate assistant. The assistant allegedly said he witnessed Sandusky, now 67, having sex with a young boy in a shower at the campus football complex, according to a grand jury indictment.
Paterno reported the allegations to his boss and Pennsylvania's attorney general said it appeared Paterno had met his obligations under state law. But critics said the coach should have reported the suspected abuse to police.
Sandusky is accused of sexual offenses, child endangerment and "corruption of a minor" involving eight boys.
Many within the Penn State community condemned the crowd's actions. In the campus newspaper The Daily Collegian, an editorial read: "Wednesday night was an embarrassment for Penn State... The way students reacted set our university two steps back."
Earlier this week, as questions about the coach's action mounted, students began swarming Paterno's home. The gatherings had the tone of a pep rally.
Kayla Garriott, a 22-year-old college student who was sexually abused as a child, said the open support for Paterno was disrespectful to survivors.
"That's the first thing people look at -- that their football team is without their head coach that's been there so many years. Nobody looks at the eight children."
The rioters are "never going to be in those children's shoes. It's not about football. It's about eight children who are never going to get back their lives back. They're going to live with this the rest of their lives. They might not get over that."
This kind of spectacle could even make abused kids more reluctant to go to the police, she said.
The Penn State scandal prompted numerous calls from sexual abuse survivors, said Barbara Dorris, the outreach director at Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"I have talked to people all over the country who have dealt with their abuse," she said. "This is bringing it all back. It's so upsetting. They were crying. They were angry."
The reaction of the crowd could send an unintended message to children and teenagers who've been abused: They may feel blamed for what happened to the football team and the rioting, said Dorris, who was also abused as a child.
It's a "horrible statement that a winning football team is more important than the safety of the children. It mirrors what happened in the (Catholic) church."
Jerry Needel, a Penn State alum who graduated in 1999, watched the news unfold and felt he had to do something.
"This just shook my beliefs and a big part of my identity to the core," he said.
He started a campaign to shift the attention to supporting victims of child abuse, by raising money for RAINN, which stands for Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
In addition, some Penn State students are planning to dress in blue for their next football game to support the victims of child abuse worldwide.
Jennifer Marsh, the director of the National Sexual Assault Hotline said the news story is bringing awareness and facilitating a national discussion about abuse, a topic often cloaked in secrecy.
"The biggest takeaway we've seen is just the outpouring of support to victims and survivors."
"One's" in a lifetime :)
In the middle of cake and presents last year, Lynsie Schuman had a revelation about her twins. They were destined to celebrate their golden birthday on a special day -- "ones" in a lifetime, so to speak.
Kyra and Tyler are turning 11 on 11/11/11.
"It's pretty cool," said Kyra, who will be leaving her native Wisconsin for Cancun, Mexico, with her family for a special celebration. Not just because she will probably not see another 11/11/11 in her lifetime, but because of her grandpa, Philip Schuman, who served in Vietnam.
"It's Veterans Day," Kyra said.
People around the world have made special plans for Friday. Think of when the clock strikes 11:11:11 on 11/11/11. A perfect palindrome -- the time and date reading the same backwards and forwards -- and the only double-figure palindromic date.
And 11/11/11 won't come around again for another 100 years.
Wake Forest University Physicist Eric Carlson, who studies numbers as a hobby, said the date has no significance other than its numeric perfection, marred only by the use of all four numbers of the year 2011. Consider the uniqueness of the day in 1111.
The way Carlson looks at it, people can take whatever they want from the date.
"I have no problem with Americans celebrating the day," he said. Just like he did on the day he turned 1 billion -- seconds, that is. Only a numbers guru would do something like that.
If some folks consider 11 lucky, so be it. Just as 13 (the number of people present at the Last Supper before Jesus' death) is thought of as unlucky. But it's still just a number. You might not want to sit on the 13th row in an airplane, but would you turn down the 13th roll in a baker's dozen?
Carlson said part of the reason times and dates are heightened in people's minds is because of the digital age -- phone numbers, passwords, PINS. So many numbers to remember.
"Such phenomena involving numbers have become much more prominent," he said.
And human brains are naturally inclined to look for patterns. If you look at an analog clock, you might not notice 11:11 as much as you would on a digital one with four lighted numerals, all the same, staring at you.
"These patterns stick in our minds," Carlson said. "But I don't think there is any mystical significance to it."
Maybe not.
But if you ask Daniel Hardt, president of Life Path Numerology Center in Indianapolis, 11/11/11 is sure to be different.
"It's going to be a powerful day. No question about it," said Hardt, a numerologist who deals with numbers as symbols of energy of the universe. "Any time you add intensity of the same number, it's going to have some effect."
So, on Friday, your dreams could be more vivid or you could be more on edge, Hardt said.
"People will experience their emotions more," he said.
Those who are happy, well, they'll be more happy, he said. And those who are having a pity party will have a doozy. That's the world according to Hardt.
So, if you are visiting the grave of a loved one on Veteran's Day or attending an emotional war remembrance ceremony, take extra tissues, he said.
Conversely, it's a good day for love, and Las Vegas chapels will be busting at the seams with couples wanting to tie the knot on 11/11/11.
Chapel of the Flowers on average marries 20 to 30 couples a day. But Friday, it has about 80 planned, said Aimee Stephens, the marketing director.
Every ceremony is a half-hour process, so the two chapels, their ministers and staff will be going full steam all day Friday.
"We have been prepared for this," Stephens said. "People seem to love these numeric occurrences."
Although, she said, she's not sure whether it's the romance of the date or a matter of making sure that a husband never forgets an anniversary. Kinda hard not to remember 11/11/11.
Tiffany Masters, known as the queen of nightlife in Sin City, is planning what she billed as the world's largest reception Friday night to mark all the 11/11/11 weddings in Vegas.
She's opening the doors at the Tropicana for the couples who have nowhere special to go after saying, "I do."
She said her research showed that about 75,000 people were getting married in America on Friday, many of them in Vegas. As of Wednesday, 3,400 couples had signed up.
The Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, which specializes in Elvis Presley ministers, anticipates performing more than 300 weddings Friday.
"A few years ago, the lucky number was 7/7/7," the chapel said on its website. "Throwing a 7 or an 11 is considered to be lucky in Las Vegas. 2007's 7/7/7 was a huge day for Viva Las Vegas weddings, with a record 160 weddings performed that day. Numeric configurations have only become more popular. 2010 brought us 205 happy couples for 10-10-10 weddings and this year, we already have a whopping 170 ceremonies in progress for 11/11/11. By the time the day is over, we anticipate performing over 300 wedding ceremonies for 11/11/11!"
But 11/11/11 has not always been a day of luck.
The last time there was such a date, in 1911, a Great Blue Norther cold front swept the central United States, plunging temperatures in some states from record highs to record lows, and even blizzard conditions in some areas.
Springfield, Missouri, recorded a high of 80°F before the cold front. By midnight, the temperature plunged to a record low of 13°F.
The drastic change in weather led some to believe supernatural powers had taken hold on 11/11/11.
Darren Bousman's new film "11-11-11," being released Friday, is about an American author plagued by strange happenings and constant sightings of the number 11. Joseph soon realizes that 11/11/11 is more than just a date, says the director's website. It's a warning.
Others see the day as one of harmony.
A group of friends were inspired to celebrate the extraordinary date like New Year's Eve. It morphed into something much bigger. The "Ones in a Lifetime" event is linking people and organizations online to promote peace and unity.
Other things happening Friday:
Verizon Wireless is launching its new Droid Razr at 11:11 a.m. 11/11/11.
Daniel Ortega, freshly re-elected president of Nicaragua, will celebrate his 66th birthday. Others born on this day include actors Demi Moore and Leonardo DiCaprio, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and cult killer Charles Manson.
So there you have it. You can make what you want of 11/11/11.
But perhaps Masters, the Vegas socialite, said it best: "One is such a lonely number. It's nice when you have two ones together."
Even better, perhaps, when you have six.
Kyra and Tyler are turning 11 on 11/11/11.
"It's pretty cool," said Kyra, who will be leaving her native Wisconsin for Cancun, Mexico, with her family for a special celebration. Not just because she will probably not see another 11/11/11 in her lifetime, but because of her grandpa, Philip Schuman, who served in Vietnam.
"It's Veterans Day," Kyra said.
People around the world have made special plans for Friday. Think of when the clock strikes 11:11:11 on 11/11/11. A perfect palindrome -- the time and date reading the same backwards and forwards -- and the only double-figure palindromic date.
And 11/11/11 won't come around again for another 100 years.
Wake Forest University Physicist Eric Carlson, who studies numbers as a hobby, said the date has no significance other than its numeric perfection, marred only by the use of all four numbers of the year 2011. Consider the uniqueness of the day in 1111.
The way Carlson looks at it, people can take whatever they want from the date.
"I have no problem with Americans celebrating the day," he said. Just like he did on the day he turned 1 billion -- seconds, that is. Only a numbers guru would do something like that.
If some folks consider 11 lucky, so be it. Just as 13 (the number of people present at the Last Supper before Jesus' death) is thought of as unlucky. But it's still just a number. You might not want to sit on the 13th row in an airplane, but would you turn down the 13th roll in a baker's dozen?
Carlson said part of the reason times and dates are heightened in people's minds is because of the digital age -- phone numbers, passwords, PINS. So many numbers to remember.
"Such phenomena involving numbers have become much more prominent," he said.
And human brains are naturally inclined to look for patterns. If you look at an analog clock, you might not notice 11:11 as much as you would on a digital one with four lighted numerals, all the same, staring at you.
"These patterns stick in our minds," Carlson said. "But I don't think there is any mystical significance to it."
Maybe not.
But if you ask Daniel Hardt, president of Life Path Numerology Center in Indianapolis, 11/11/11 is sure to be different.
"It's going to be a powerful day. No question about it," said Hardt, a numerologist who deals with numbers as symbols of energy of the universe. "Any time you add intensity of the same number, it's going to have some effect."
So, on Friday, your dreams could be more vivid or you could be more on edge, Hardt said.
"People will experience their emotions more," he said.
Those who are happy, well, they'll be more happy, he said. And those who are having a pity party will have a doozy. That's the world according to Hardt.
So, if you are visiting the grave of a loved one on Veteran's Day or attending an emotional war remembrance ceremony, take extra tissues, he said.
Conversely, it's a good day for love, and Las Vegas chapels will be busting at the seams with couples wanting to tie the knot on 11/11/11.
Chapel of the Flowers on average marries 20 to 30 couples a day. But Friday, it has about 80 planned, said Aimee Stephens, the marketing director.
Every ceremony is a half-hour process, so the two chapels, their ministers and staff will be going full steam all day Friday.
"We have been prepared for this," Stephens said. "People seem to love these numeric occurrences."
Although, she said, she's not sure whether it's the romance of the date or a matter of making sure that a husband never forgets an anniversary. Kinda hard not to remember 11/11/11.
Tiffany Masters, known as the queen of nightlife in Sin City, is planning what she billed as the world's largest reception Friday night to mark all the 11/11/11 weddings in Vegas.
She's opening the doors at the Tropicana for the couples who have nowhere special to go after saying, "I do."
She said her research showed that about 75,000 people were getting married in America on Friday, many of them in Vegas. As of Wednesday, 3,400 couples had signed up.
The Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, which specializes in Elvis Presley ministers, anticipates performing more than 300 weddings Friday.
"A few years ago, the lucky number was 7/7/7," the chapel said on its website. "Throwing a 7 or an 11 is considered to be lucky in Las Vegas. 2007's 7/7/7 was a huge day for Viva Las Vegas weddings, with a record 160 weddings performed that day. Numeric configurations have only become more popular. 2010 brought us 205 happy couples for 10-10-10 weddings and this year, we already have a whopping 170 ceremonies in progress for 11/11/11. By the time the day is over, we anticipate performing over 300 wedding ceremonies for 11/11/11!"
But 11/11/11 has not always been a day of luck.
The last time there was such a date, in 1911, a Great Blue Norther cold front swept the central United States, plunging temperatures in some states from record highs to record lows, and even blizzard conditions in some areas.
Springfield, Missouri, recorded a high of 80°F before the cold front. By midnight, the temperature plunged to a record low of 13°F.
The drastic change in weather led some to believe supernatural powers had taken hold on 11/11/11.
Darren Bousman's new film "11-11-11," being released Friday, is about an American author plagued by strange happenings and constant sightings of the number 11. Joseph soon realizes that 11/11/11 is more than just a date, says the director's website. It's a warning.
Others see the day as one of harmony.
A group of friends were inspired to celebrate the extraordinary date like New Year's Eve. It morphed into something much bigger. The "Ones in a Lifetime" event is linking people and organizations online to promote peace and unity.
Other things happening Friday:
Verizon Wireless is launching its new Droid Razr at 11:11 a.m. 11/11/11.
Daniel Ortega, freshly re-elected president of Nicaragua, will celebrate his 66th birthday. Others born on this day include actors Demi Moore and Leonardo DiCaprio, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and cult killer Charles Manson.
So there you have it. You can make what you want of 11/11/11.
But perhaps Masters, the Vegas socialite, said it best: "One is such a lonely number. It's nice when you have two ones together."
Even better, perhaps, when you have six.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Feel Like Paying More Taxes?
Love it or hate it, the debt-reduction plan put forth by Republican Senator Pat Toomey has opened the door to tax increases in the negotiations of the Congressional debt committee.
Many top Democrats rejected it, saying that the door isn't open nearly wide enough.
But the Senate's No. 2 Democrat -- Dick Durbin -- took a broader view. Without endorsing the Toomey plan, Durbin said it could be the "breakthrough" needed to end the deadlock.
That's because it's the first time a Republican member of the debt committee has proposed that tax increases be part of the plan to achieve at least $1.2 trillion in debt reduction. That's the minimum target the committee must meet by Nov. 23. If it fails to, the law calls for automatic spending cuts in 2013.
And importantly, Republican leaders back the Toomey plan, aides told CNN.
It comes less than a week after House and Senate Republicans were sending mixed messages about their position on tax increases.
The plan would reduce deficits by roughly $1.4 trillion over 10 years, according to a Republican aide.
Roughly $400 billion of that would come from additional tax revenue.
However, $110 billion of that is assumed to come from the "benefits" of tax reform -- namely, economic growth and greater compliance, which are difficult to forecast. So only $290 billion of the $400 billion might be considered an "increase" in terms of what taxpayers would pay.
The estimate is a far cry from the $800 billion in additional tax revenue that House Speaker John Boehner proposed during the debt ceiling negotiations this summer with President Obama .
But it's also a big shift from the near-religious stance most Republicans have adopted that tax reform be revenue neutral -- that is, raise no more revenue than the current code would.
First, it would reduce all six income tax rates by roughly 20%. So the top rate would fall from 35% to 28%, and the bottom rate would fall from 10% to 8%.
Second, Toomey would impose a cap on itemized deductions so the total amount of deductions a taxpayer claimed would not exceed a certain percent of adjusted gross income.
Capping deductions would bring in revenue to offset the loss that comes from lowering rates.
The cap would be "aggressive," the aide said.
Democrats, in memo obtained by CNN, said the plan would benefit the rich because of the lower tax rates. The aide countered that high-income households benefit the most from itemized deductions, so any curb on those deductions would also heavily affect those households.
"On average [high-income households] will pay more than they do today," the aide said.
For instance, which deductions would be counted under the cap and which would be exempt? And how high would the cap be set?
Also, which benchmark would the Toomey plan be judged against?
Assuming current policies like the Bush tax cuts stay in effect, the Toomey plan would likely raise more revenue.
Against current law, which assumes the Bush tax cuts expire, the Toomey plan would be a tax cut. However, most lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans -- consider the current-law baseline to be unrealistic.
In any case, politically and practically, the Republicans' opening bid isn't high enough, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
"The revenue number is far short of what's needed to get a deal," MacGuineas said. "But that revenue is on the table is incredibly encouraging.
Many top Democrats rejected it, saying that the door isn't open nearly wide enough.
But the Senate's No. 2 Democrat -- Dick Durbin -- took a broader view. Without endorsing the Toomey plan, Durbin said it could be the "breakthrough" needed to end the deadlock.
That's because it's the first time a Republican member of the debt committee has proposed that tax increases be part of the plan to achieve at least $1.2 trillion in debt reduction. That's the minimum target the committee must meet by Nov. 23. If it fails to, the law calls for automatic spending cuts in 2013.
And importantly, Republican leaders back the Toomey plan, aides told CNN.
It comes less than a week after House and Senate Republicans were sending mixed messages about their position on tax increases.
The plan would reduce deficits by roughly $1.4 trillion over 10 years, according to a Republican aide.
Roughly $400 billion of that would come from additional tax revenue.
However, $110 billion of that is assumed to come from the "benefits" of tax reform -- namely, economic growth and greater compliance, which are difficult to forecast. So only $290 billion of the $400 billion might be considered an "increase" in terms of what taxpayers would pay.
The estimate is a far cry from the $800 billion in additional tax revenue that House Speaker John Boehner proposed during the debt ceiling negotiations this summer with President Obama .
But it's also a big shift from the near-religious stance most Republicans have adopted that tax reform be revenue neutral -- that is, raise no more revenue than the current code would.
Taxes and debt: Left and right dare to agree
Toomey's plan would reform the tax system in two big ways:First, it would reduce all six income tax rates by roughly 20%. So the top rate would fall from 35% to 28%, and the bottom rate would fall from 10% to 8%.
Second, Toomey would impose a cap on itemized deductions so the total amount of deductions a taxpayer claimed would not exceed a certain percent of adjusted gross income.
Capping deductions would bring in revenue to offset the loss that comes from lowering rates.
The cap would be "aggressive," the aide said.
Democrats, in memo obtained by CNN, said the plan would benefit the rich because of the lower tax rates. The aide countered that high-income households benefit the most from itemized deductions, so any curb on those deductions would also heavily affect those households.
"On average [high-income households] will pay more than they do today," the aide said.
GOP and taxes: Mixed message
Without a detailed plan and a nonpartisan third party analysis, it's impossible to referee that dispute. There are too many unknowns.For instance, which deductions would be counted under the cap and which would be exempt? And how high would the cap be set?
Also, which benchmark would the Toomey plan be judged against?
Assuming current policies like the Bush tax cuts stay in effect, the Toomey plan would likely raise more revenue.
Against current law, which assumes the Bush tax cuts expire, the Toomey plan would be a tax cut. However, most lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans -- consider the current-law baseline to be unrealistic.
In any case, politically and practically, the Republicans' opening bid isn't high enough, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
"The revenue number is far short of what's needed to get a deal," MacGuineas said. "But that revenue is on the table is incredibly encouraging.
Personal Opinion 6: Down You Go
Why Cain's scandal will likely sink him: Public fear of black-on-white sexual assault is embedded in the consciousness of most American whites. Why? Read the Department of Justice crime statistics document "Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2005.", table 42.
In the United States in 2005, 37,460 white females were sexually assaulted or raped by a black man, while between zero and ten black females were sexually assaulted or raped by a white man. What this means is that every day in the United States, over one hundred white women are raped or sexually assaulted by a black man
In the United States in 2005, 37,460 white females were sexually assaulted or raped by a black man, while between zero and ten black females were sexually assaulted or raped by a white man. What this means is that every day in the United States, over one hundred white women are raped or sexually assaulted by a black man
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The US needs a tax increase, the proposed tax increase on the rich is a good idea because they're doing better than ever now, anyone making less than a million (very likely you) will see literally no increase or direct change in your finances due to this. You complain over things that don't effect your life which you KNOW will help bandage this bleeding economy. Destroying education, peoples rights to marry, and removing birth control isn't going to create jobs. defunding community programs for the poor, sick, and disabled won't create jobs.
You vote for people who will smile, ask politely for you to shoot yourself in the foot with a large smile, and you say "yes" without hesitance. You put no research into what these people will actually do and put partisanship ahead of strategies which have historically been successful in dire situations such as the times we're in now.