Harold Ford on middle-class taxes

I knew I liked this guy for a reason (from the Wash. Times). Go Democratic Leadership Council!

I don't like the implied assault on the "rich" or the tax engineering for specific industries but this (Dem.) guy at least acknowledges JFK's position:

• Middle-class flat tax: This is simple and fair: no middle-class family with an income of under $150,000 should ever pay an effective tax rate of more than 10 percent. If what they owe after calculating their taxes is more than 10 percent of their income, they won't have to pay a dime above 10 percent. If they owe less than 10 percent, they pay the lesser amount.

• Permanent capital-gains tax cuts: Long-term capital gains tax rates now are between 5 percent and 15 percent. The rates are progressive: People in or below the 15 percent personal income tax bracket (which applies to married couples making $60,000) get the lower capital-gains rate. We should lower the capital-gains tax even further for people making up to $100,000 a year, provided they hold the asset for up to five years. Thus your tax would be 4 percent if you hold the asset for three years, 3 percent if you hold it for five years. This sliding scale for taxing capital gains will encourage investment and increase savings for a majority of Americans.

• Cut corporate tax rates to 30 percent: America has one of the developed world's highest corporate tax rates. Let's change that by lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 to 30 percent — with an even lower rate for new knowledge-based industries in energy technology, biotechnology and other science-rich sectors. We should follow House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel's lead and cut the corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 30 ½ percent[.]

Tennessee made a big mistake. Heck, I could have voted for this guy.

Go Pack Go!!

You have NO idea how badly C and I are rooting for Green Bay to win tonight. We tried to get tickets for the game at the start of the season but had no luck. I don't even want to think about how much they are going for from "ticket brokers". C's brothers were thinking about coming down for the game before the house flooding, but no dice.

On an unrelated note, I have read where Texas A&M and my Hogs are about to sign a multi-year deal to play annually in the new Dallas Cowboy stadium (ala OU-UT). I'm very excited about that. That will be the only way I'll get inside "Jerry World". There was an article in the DMN a couple of weeks ago about what the highest price ticket in the new stadium will be. $340 a pop, plus a PSL (the biggest rip-off in sports) fee of.....$50,000 per seat!!!! The PSL is refunded in either 25 or 30 years, with minimal interest. The article also stated that the Cowboys are expecting every seat in the new stadium to be purchased via season tickets - meaning no individual game seats for sale. That is very hard for me to believe. They have a 65,000 seat stadium now that they can't sell out via season tickets - how do they expect to do that with a 90,000 seat stadium, with higher ticket prices AND higher PSL fees?????

Prager interviews The Looming Tower author...

today (11-28). Listen at Townhall. Who knew the Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright grew up in Dallas?

A hero of mine dies...

Gatorade Inventor.

Re: NFL v. Cable

Just heard an interesting argument: play the MADD card. Do it for the children. We can't have these men going to bars and watching the game WITH ALCOHOL involved. The NFL is robbing children of their fathers.

NFL Network v. Cable Companies

As one who will have to head out to a Sports Bar Thursday night to watch the Pokes and the Pack, I've got to chime in. The cable companies seem to be doing a much better sales/propaganda job on this dispute but the broadcasts rights are the property of the NFL Network. The owners have the right to maximize their income from their assets.

It is genuinely funny that the cable companies are taking the Edwardsian position of being on the side of the little guy.

Owners are certainly experimenting here (with an ultimate goal of going to all pay-per-view, all the time) and have lucked out that this is the sexiest game of the year. Sad to say but there are two things that men will pay for if the economic models are correct...sports and porn. (If you've never seen the profit margins on PPV porn for the cable companies, they are astounding. I've also read that only internet gambling has become more profitable than internet porn.)

Having come down firmly on the side of the Network, the more interesting question to me is the experiment itself. The owners have such a lucrative deal with the networks...are they taking this a bridge too far? I don't think so. If this proves a disaster, I believe they can come back and the fans will forgive and forget. I also suspect that it won't prove a disaster. I just don't know if moving from an advertiser model to a PPV model can be justified by the numbers. I don't have access to the numbers the owners must be using but I think they (the numbers) must be less than clear if the owners are having to stick in their collective toe rather than dive in head first.

The last thing we need is for the gummint to get involved. I've even heard arguments on the radio that the NFL is a utility and therefore can be regulated. Having said that, what a coup if some legislator could ride in on a white horse and save the electorate from the evil NFL Network.

Skyline Raiders advance

I saw where Skyline crushed Rowlett over the weekend. The DMN shows Skyline playing in Waco Saturday afternoon (1pm) against Round Rock. Good luck Scooter

Way to go Hogs!

That was one of the of most exciting games I've ever watched (at least at the last when my mediocre Horns revealed their true selves).

Re: Fremen Leader

Michael,

I hope you saw this at Ace.

Into The Wild

I went to see this today and thought it was fantastic. Reading the book, it was hard for me at times to visualize the isolation and the horror that is starvation. These 2 elements were wonderfully captured. It was filmed in almost all the actual locations that "Alex" passed through, which gives you a great sense of the adventure he was on. The film also includes a who's-who supporting cast that includes a great performance by Hal Holbrook. I was very pleased to read in the credits that the entire McCandless family was involved in the project, especially considering that the parents were not portrayed in the greatest light. And that Chris' sister was one of the narrators.

And Michael, if you have not seen it yet, perhaps this little tidbit might sway you. Other than a credit for "assistant to Mr. Penn", the director's name isn't listed in the credits (unless I missed it somehow and I stayed until the end). So perhaps you can "forget" who the director is.

Re: Raiders

Scooter, according to the DMN, 5pm Sat. at Texas Stadium.
Good luck....

Raiders

LJ, can you tell where they play Rowlett? I think it is 5:00 o’clock Saturday at Texas Stadium. When I go to Dave Campbell’s website and click around I get here and if I hover on the yellow star, that is what it says.

Since I’m going to be in Coppell for Thanksgiving, I may just go.

Re: Skyline

Good news for Scooter...the Raiders win today 28-10. Next up, Rowlett

In a side note, My (and Michael's) high school, Sharpstown, made the play-offs for the first time in I don't know how long. They are now a 4A school, which is hard for me to believe. When we were seniors, I think we had one of the largest enrollments in HISD. News wasn't as good for us this weekend - the Apollos lose 27-21.

More Raiders

Skyline Fight Song (with help from Wikipedia)

Hit the team across the field.
Show them that we are here.
Set the earth reverberating
With a mighty cheer...Rah! Rah! Rah!
Hit them hard and see how they fall.
Never let that team get the ball.
Hail, hail, the gang's all here.
So stand up for Skyline High

Notable Alums to make me feel unworthy:

Most famous alum: Michael Johnson.

A year behind me: Peri Gilpin.

The embarassing thing is I think we were the Red Raiders but I'm not certain...many moons have passed.

Go Raiders

My 9-1 Skyline Raiders take on Tyler Lee this Saturday in Corsicana. Per the DMN [may be a firewall or registration], their defense leads the way: points allowed, 6.8; rush yards allowed, 77.3; pass yards allowed, 79.9; first downs allowed, 7.6 (that’s amazing); turnovers forced, 2.5; and shutouts, 4.

French Loung Band

I knew I forgot something in that post....the name is Nouvelle Vague. Linkage to their website here

Re: French Lounge Act

Well, what's the band's name? (As a fellow audience member of the ISOBOBS, I have a right.)

Re: Cowboys

You have no idea the hell I'm living in. The only time I listen to The Ticket these days is at 8:40am on Mondays - that is when the morning guys do an "interview" with the fake Jerry and the fake Wade. The impressions are scary good and are funny as hell.

Since I don't listen to talk radio anymore, I'm tuning in more and more to the jihadist station. Though I have discovered my new favorite group - a French band that does lounge-version covers of 80's punk and New Wave songs. I have 2 of their cd's - the first one is better (more lounge sounding); the second one has songs I'm more interested in, but they strayed from the lounge sound a bit on it.

Cowboys/Bandwagon/Smiles

I gave up on these guys...meaning permanently (I thought) because of all the Irvin type/thug antics of the Pokes. I'm not sold on Romo but his joy for the game is certainly enticing.

LJ must be in hell.

2d email from the prosecutor

After I sent her a slightly edited version of my post:

Dear Mr. [Scooter]: I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the case. I really appreciate how much you thoroughly listened to and considered all of the evidence. I noticed you might have had a question about the different jails. I'm still very new to felonies, but as I understand it, there are three different kinds of jail in Texas. First, there is the Travis County jail, which is for misdemeanors. Defendants get 2 for 1 time at this jail. For example, if a Defendant is sentenced to 30 days jail on a DWI, then he would get out in 15 days. Second, is State Jail. State Jail is the lowest level of felonies. In State Jail, Defendants have to serve day for day. Third is prison. Prison is the most serious jail. However, unlike with State Jail, Defendants are usually eligible for parole once they have been in jail for 1/4 of their sentence. The only exception to this is in the most serious cases, which are referred to as"3g offenses." (see 42.12, sec 3g of the Code of Criminal Procedure;examples include murder, capital murder, indecency with a child,aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated robbery) In those cases, Defendants are not eligible for parole until they have served ½ of their time. If you have any more questions, feel free to call or email me. I hope you have a good weekend!

Sincerely,