Time To Say Good-Bye To Tax Free Internet Sales

Even though I would like to think of myself as an Independent, anyone who reads this blog can probably tell I lean to the right. I am not a fan of raising taxes and according to Obama, he's going to repeal the Bush tax cuts to help reduce the deficit which is ridiculously high right now. Even though he'll want to blame that on George W. Bush (whom some of the blame certainly belongs), he can't forget he just signed a bill that nearly spent just under $1 trillion in new spending. Much of that money is being dolled out to the states and rightfully so. Unemployment and loss of sales revenue have really hurt the state budgets and many states like California and Florida would be in a heck of a lot of trouble if they didn't get aid.

Instead of getting the aid from the US government, I think it is finally time that Supreme Court and the US government allow states to collect sales tax on internet purchases. Everything is going to the web and last year it was estimated that online sales hit $204 billion. That was an 8% increase from last year and I have a tough time believing we'll ever see a drop in that statistic.

Just like many of you, I love not having to pay for sales tax for online purchases, but that is a tax that I'm willing to pay. Much more so than a raise in income tax which would go toward more national government spending that will probably be wasted. Nationalized health care sounds nice, but I don't think it's practical. The state of Hawaii tried to have Universal Childrens Coverage, but the program was such a flop it was discontinued after 7 months. I think people have way too much faith in our government running such programs. Social Security is a government run program that is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. They continue to put it off year after year, and sooner or later the money is going to run out and millions of people are going to suffer because of it.

Back to the internet sales tax topic. What I would propose is a moderate 4.5% tax on purchases. I think that would be less than most state/county sales tax so consumers should still feel they are getting a deal. Based on last years sales, that would generate over $9 billion in revenue. It certainly wouldn't be easy to accomplish because tax codes vary from county to county, but it's worth exploring. I know it would only put a small dent into much of the budget issues across the country, but we have to start somewhere and I think this is a good place to find a new revenue stream.

Tattoos: You're Not Going To See Me With One Anytime Soon

I know a lot of people don't think about their future when they make decisions during their young and stupid days. There are definitely a hand full of situations in the past that I can look back and say "What the hell was I thinking!!", but most of those only came back to haunt me the next day, week or month. Tattoos are one thing that I never ventured into because I knew once I got it, I would be stuck with it forever.

The problem is people forget that just because it may look "cute" at 22 it probably is not going to be so attractive when you're 60? Sure that barbed wire arm band might be bad ass right now, but unfortunately there are not many old dudes with pythons that can pull that off. I would love to know what the retired granny's are going to say to their grand kids when they catch a glimpse of the ol' lower back "Tramp Stamp" tattoo.

When we were kids it made sense when grandpa would explain how Navy guys were on ships for months at a time, and decided to get anchor tattoos to fit in with the other sailors. How would one explain to Little Johnny about why you got a Dale Earnhardt tattoo? Because you were a "hardcore fan"??? Give me a break.

Take this rather large back tattoo for example. What would prompt a women to get such a thing? If you don't know what 1 Corinthians 13 is it's a biblical passage said at thousands of weddings a year that talks about the meaning of love. Lovely passage, but I'm just not sure about getting it tattooed on your lower back. Think for a second about when someone would actually be able to read this.... I can't speak for all the men out there, but that REALLY doesn't seem like the best time to be reading bible passages if you ask me.

Since we've moved to the Daytona Beach, I have found a number of people here to be a quite a bit less sophisticated than what we ran into in Sarasota (Nothing says classy like a Strip Club called "Biggins"). I can't remember seeing a tattoo parlor let alone 2 dozen of them within a 3 mile radius like we have here. If I had to put a number on it I would say 70% of people between age of 18-35 have some sort of tattoo or exotic piercing. There is "ink" everywhere you look. Heck, we even have a minister in our child birthing class with a huge cross tattooed on his leg. You know you are in the tattoo capital of the world when even the clergy are sporting tats.

I don't dislike people for having them and I do live with the belief that people should be able to do to their bodies what they want. I do wonder though what our society is going to look like when all these young tattoo clad people become old. Even though the granny at the top of the page is rather extreme, I think a number of people are going to look pretty silly.

Here is a You Tube clip on tattoos from a daily Czabecast that Steve Czaban did a couple days ago. He nails it and if you aren't familiar with him, you are missing the best sports talk host in America today.

Will this Stimulus really work? I have my doubts

Normally I don't agree with this guy but he wrote a pretty interesting column on this "Stimulus Package"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/17/cafferty.stimulus/index.html


"The first is the Democrats promised to post the bill a full 48 hours before the vote was taken to allow members of the public to see what they were getting for their money. Both parties voted unanimously to do this ... and they lied."

I really don't understand how our Congress can pass a $790 billion spending package without the lawmakers being able read it first. That in its own right should be deemed illegal. I was really hoping once Obama took over we could see a more bipartisan-less pork political world. Clearly that is not going to happen. I know Obama has "reached out" and I give him some credit for that, but after his Republican Commerce Secretary stepped down it makes me think that his nomination was more of a gesture and political grandstanding, than it was the beginning of change in Washington. The fact that he pulled the Census out from under him because of pressure from minority groups tells me he doesn't even trust a Republican HE appointed.


"Far from being only about jobs, infrastructure and tax cuts as promised, the stimulus bill stimulates a bunch of other stuff as well. Eight billion dollars for high-speed rail lines, including a proposed line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This little bit of second story work wasn't even in the House version of the bill. It started in the Senate as a $2 billion project, and came out of the conference committee costing a whopping $8 billion. Gee, now who would that benefit? Oh yeah, the Senate majority leader is from Nevada."


Pelosi and Reid are exactly what is wrong with Washington. I loved it when (D) Heath Shuler (Former NFL QB Bust BTW) came out and said what need to be said. Unfortunately too many lawmakers are of one mind....Do what my party tells me to do.

"In order for us to get the confidence of America, it has to be done in a bipartisan way," Shuler said in Raleigh following an economic forum, according to the AP.
"We have to have everyone — Democrats and Republicans standing on the stage with the administration — saying, 'We got something done that was efficient, stimulative and timely.'"
Here's the kicker: "I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."
"In order for us to get the confidence of America, it has to be done in a bipartisan way," Shuler said in Raleigh following an economic forum, according to the AP.
"We have to have everyone — Democrats and Republicans standing on the stage with the administration — saying, 'We got something done that was efficient, stimulative and timely.'"
Here's the kicker: "I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."

Do people really think a $13 a week tax cut will stimulate anything? Does waiting until after 2010 to spend $100's of billions seem like stimulus? As much as I loathed the thought of bailing out the banks, we learned after the fact that if they didn't really have a choice because if they didn't life today would be much different. Maybe I'll be wrong again, but I have my doubts that spending this $800 billion is going to stimulate the economy enough to make much of dent. And let's not forget it sends us almost another trillion in debt.

My Day At Daytona

I'm a person who is always looking to experience new and different things, so when we moved to the East Coast of Florida, I knew I had to make it to the Daytona 500. I'm not a huge race fan, but the 500 is the one race a year I always made a effort to watch, and with the speedway only 15 minutes down the road I thought it would be worth checking out.

Here are some observations from my day in Daytona.

*I know it sounds cliche, but it is 100% true. You can not understand the speed of the cars until you see them first hand. It puts in perspective how amazing it is when these guys walk away from wrecks. After seeing this live, I'm amazed more guys haven't been killed on the track.

*The sound is deafening, so you're best to bring some ear protection. I was shocked at the yokels and even worse, their kids showing up at this event without anything covering their ears. Nothing says great parenting like ruining your kids ear drums.

*We rented this track scanner/mini TV called the Sprint Fan View. It cost $50 to rent and you can plug two headsets into it. Not only can you watch the race from different angles you get access to the radio broadcast and the drivers talking to their spotters and crew chief. It's definitely worth the money and their was nothing better than hearing Kyle Busch say "Tony (Stewart) must have just taken the lead because I see all the fans giving him the finger". Great stuff.

*NASCAR could be the best bang for your buck in all of sports. I say this because not only did I get my ticket to the "Super Bowl of Motor sports" for $55. You can bring bring your own cooler of drinks (including booze), and all the food you can stuff in a clear plastic bag. Parking and the shuttle to the track is free and fast. In fact, I'm shocked they don't charge $5 for parking. They would generate a ton of money and I can't imagine that anyone would stop coming to the race over such a small expense. I'm not complaining I just think it's bad business.

*If you like to people watch, this is a great place to go. It was "necks galore" on Sunday and they are always entertaining. I'm regretting that I didn't take more photos of the yokels because some of them were hilarious. Especially the woman weighing in at 3 bills showing plumbers crack. So sexy.

*I wasn't surprised that Dale Jr. was the favorite of the fans, but I was shocked at how universally HATED Kyle Busch was. I guess they hate him because he's good....kind of like they did Earnhardt Sr. when he was kicking ass and taking names in the 90's.

*Although the parking is free, it was pretty horrendous getting out of the lot. Since I live locally, I decided my time was better spent playing poker at the dog track across the street for a couple hours rather than sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. It worked out well for me as I nearly got my ticket paid for from my holdem winnings and the ride home was a breeze.

*Unfortunately the race got shortened by rain and I didn't even get to see an exciting final lap. Despite that, I would highly recommend people checking it out at least one time in their life.

The Video That Nearly Made Me Cry At The Gym

Unfortunately I can't imbed the actual video in here, but spend the minute or so and watch the video on the link below.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/29030653#29030653

I nearly lost it watching this on the elliptical machine at the gym this morning. In a time when all the news is doom and gloom, the economy sucks....blah blah blah....this really made me forget all that and focus on how amazing this kid with Downs Syndrome must have felt at the end of that game.

Good job NBC and the Today Show. You hit a Home Run with this one.

Give me a break Pelosi!

Bush was not a great president, but how this woman is still speaker of the house is ridiculous. She says dumb crap like this all the time. 500 Million people will lose their job every month? What?