Obama-Biden Tax Policy

I wish I could take credit for this, but I received this as an email forward, and I got such a laugh out of it, I wanted to post it for your enjoyment:

This is a great explanation of the tax rebate program recently enacted by Congress. If you don’t understand how it  will work maybe this explanation will help:

50,000 people went to a baseball game, but the game was rained out.  A refund was then due to the ticket holders.

The team was about to mail refunds when a group of Congressional Democrats stopped them and suggested that they send out the ticket refunds based on the Democrat National Committee’s interpretation of fairness.

Originally the refunds were to be paid based on the price each person had paid for the tickets. Unfortunately that meant most of the refund money would be going to the ticket holders that had purchased the most expensive tickets. This, according to the DNC, is considered totally unfair. A decision was then made to pay out the refunds in this manner:

People in the $10 seats will get back $15. After all, they have less money to spend on tickets to begin with. Call it an ‘Earned Income Ticket Credit.’ Persons ‘earn’ it by having few skills, poor work habits, and low ambition, thus keeping them at entry-level wages.

People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because it ’seems fair.’

People in the $50 seats will get back $1, because they already make a lot of money and don’t need a refund. After all, if they can afford a $50 ticket, they must not be paying enough taxes.

People in the $75 luxury box seats will each have to pay an additional $25 because it’s the ‘right thing to do’.

People walking past the stadium that couldn’t afford to buy a ticket for the game each will get a $10 refund, even though they didn’t pay anything for the tickets. They need the most help. They are either lazy or think that society owes them for just being born. Sometimes this is known as Affirmative Action.

Now do you understand?

Housing meltdown: whose to blame?

Economist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute Tom Sowell wrote an enlightening article about who is really to blame for the market meltdown, and how clear facts are being ignored by politicians (especially the Obama campaign) and by the mainstream media.

Read it here: Do Facts Matter?

Rowing machine and ancient naval warfare

I was at the gym the other day, and I decided to mount the rowing machine.  I managed to row 2000 meters in about 12 minutes (not my best time, by any means), but while I was huffing and puffing away, I couldn’t help but think that being a rower used to be an instrumental part of ancient naval warfare (I know, I am a real history geek). I had a good workout after this short 2000 meter rowing, but I can’t imagine how much it would take to actually push an ancient warship to ramming speeds!  The ancient Athenian warship, called a trireme, had 3 banks of rowers with a full compliment of 170 rowers.  I decided to look into ancient rowing a bit, and I found out that there are a few ancient  literary references to a cushion, which aided the Athenian rowers.   I fould an article that discussed the advantages of this simple device, and I can say that after rowing for just a few minutes, having a cushion would have helped me endure the grueling workout.  Perhaps one of the most important battles between East and West was the Battle of Salamis, which took place in the narrow straits between the Greek Mainland and the island of Salamis. The maneuverable triremes defeated the Persian (combined Persian, Egyptian and Phoenician ships) fleet, and led to the Greek victory over the Persian invaders.

So the next time you sweat and toil on the rowing machine,  think about this centuries-old tradition of naval warfare!