An honorable opinion

Posted: February 1, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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I’m pretty hard on the left at this blog so when kudos need to be given they shouldn’t be neglected:

I’ve never cared for Tom Daschle, on substance or politics, but I know so little about health care that I have hesitated to discuss whether Daschle is a good choice for HHS. But in light of this news, why in heaven’s name should President Obama lift a finger for a guy who basically did not tell him the truth:

Kudos for talk left for not letting Daschle off the hook on his taxes. This is a huge mistake on Obama’s part. Believe me when people are in the process of paying their taxes (I’ll be doing mine today or tomorrow) its bad enough that you have a treasure secretary that didn’t pay his taxes how many more are we going to see?

The Sock Puppet deserves credit on this one too.

Scrappleface via Glenn Nails it:

In the month of January alone, Mr. Obama has forced Timothy Geithner, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to cough up $43,000 he owed the IRS, and former Sen. Tom Daschle to pay off his $128,000 tax obligation. Mr. Geithner will put his tax-paying experience to good use, overseeing the IRS as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Daschle hopes his recently-good behavior will garner Senate confirmation as the next Secretary of the Health and Human Services.

“With the IRS underfunded as it is,” said Mr. Gibbs, “this collection method is much more efficient than dispatching field agents. Arresting these men, or compelling them to pay penalties would take years, and make them feel bad about themselves. The president’s method not only gets more money to the government to help our economy, but provides a self-esteem boost by giving these wealthy men important-sounding titles.”

I think I’ll add a category called “honorable left” to give a thumbs up for situations like this.

Das Full boot

Posted: January 31, 2009 by datechguy in personal
Tags: ,

Well the latest batch of acceptance letter has come in and now a big decision has to be made.

Anna Maria is the #1 choice of the kid at the moment. That would leave us counting the college fund with about 9k to come up with.

Fitchburg State College however has offered him a full boat including all fees.

He would also be in a position to live at home, that is not necessarily a good thing.

The question is can we come up with enough funds or scholarships to make up the Anna Maria difference? Will another college (offers at the moment run from 2k-12k but leave a gap as large as Anna Maria).

We have some serious thinking to do but at least if a job isn’t forthcoming it won’t keep him out of college.

And a note to teenagers who read this blog. This guy does his homework every night and hasn’t partied at all. This is why he is in this spot. You could be too if you put your mind and effort into it.

It’s that time of year: scam time

Posted: January 31, 2009 by datechguy in tech
Tags: ,

Actually every time of year is scam time but with tax time approaching and various stimulus programs being talked about its a good time to think about the many online scams out there to nail you One example:

Economic Stimulus Payment Scams
Perpetrated via a phishy email or a fraudulent phone call, these scams capitalize on confusion surrounding the federal government’s economic stimulus package. By now you probably know that you may be getting a stimulus payment in the coming months but may not know how or when the payment will arrive. Potential victims of this scam are told that they’ve qualified for their stimulus “rebate” and are asked to provide their bank account number to receive the payment electronically. In reality, you won’t have to do anything more than file a federal tax return to receive your payment, and the IRS will never call or email you about the economic stimulus payment.

The Cyberstreetsmart site is a good one. Go there and read the whole thing. If you are a person with a kid about to enter college check out their phony scholarship section here.

Don’t forget to take their IQ quiz to see how much you already know.

I’m going to be a little unfair here…

Posted: January 31, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: ,

…to that paragon of the left George Soros. I want to quote something from Jay Nordlinger’s Davos Journal part 2:

Lunch is with George Soros. He speaks to a group of journalists in a Davos hotel. His subject is the financial crisis, and he is very good on it: sober and analytical. I must say, I like him better on economics and finance than I do on politics and foreign policy. Obviously, in this field—finance—he knows what he’s talking about. His authority is real.

He makes the observation that, last September, “the real economy fell off a cliff”—not just a paper economy (if I have interpreted him correctly). He also says that nationalization is “politically unacceptable at the moment”—words that strike me as ominous. (Soros sounds rueful.)

Something interesting, and entertaining, happens in the Q&A. A journo asks him, “Did you see this crisis coming, and have you profited from it?” Soros answers that he did not quite predict the crisis, but he came close to doing so—he predicted aspects of it. Certainly the “super-bubble,” as he termed it, had to burst. As to the second part of the journo’s question, Soros says, “I was able to protect my capital.”

I love that sentence: “I was able to protect my capital.” Wish all of us could say that!

Now it is the job of a capitalist to protest his capital and Soros shouldn’t be blamed for it, but shouldn’t it strike people on the left a bid odd that their patron took steps to protect himself while not alerting his friends on the left to help save their fortunes? Isn’t this what the left is all about? Note the outcry as the oil companies report record profits. No outcry from those guys about Soros protecting his capital.

Of course the fact that is capital is protected and others are not makes them more dependent on his funds and more receptive to his opinions. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Oh BTW Nordlinger reports from Davos every year. Part 3 of his series is here.

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