So, what are yinz up to today? Anything on yer mind?
We have open threads all day, at 1730 est the football themed opens start.
Taxpayers Sacked On Super Bowl Sunday
This Sunday, 179 million Americans will watch the Super Bowl. If you’re one of these football fans, make sure you save room on the couch for one uninvited guest: Uncle Sam.
For every aspect of the time-honored football tradition, you’re shelling out a little more thanks to government taxes and fees. From the team gear you buy to the beer you imbibe, fans are getting sacked – here are some of Super Bowl Sunday’s tax penalties:
False Start (5 yards) Sipping soft drinks? Almost a third of the cost of your soda comes from taxes and fees; a full 28 percent.
Offside (5 yards) Don’t think you can escape Big Brother’s watchful eye by heading to the bar. The government adds on 31 percent when dining out.
Delay of Game (5 yards) If you’re savoring a California wine to cheer on the 49ers, you’re not off the hook; 33 percent of the price of wine comes from government.
Intentional Grounding (10 yards) According to the National Retail Federation, 7.5 million households purchase a new TV for the big game, but the cable package that comes with that new flat screen isn’t cheap. Before you’ve even had a chance to change the channel to watch the Puppy Bowl, government bites off 43 percent of your cable bill.
Pass Interference (10 yards) Of the $1 billion in beer sales in the two weeks surrounding last year’s Super Bowl, a full 44 percent of the cost is due to government taxation.
Helmet-to-Helmet Contact (15 yards) Perhaps you’re one of the 17 million purchasing team apparel and accessories in advance of the game? Taxes and tariffs are going to run up the cost of your new jersey by 46 percent.
Roughing the Passer (15 yards) Taking shots each time your team scores? Government guzzles up a whopping 56 percent of the price of spirits.
Personal “Fowl” (15 yards or automatic first down) The National Chicken Council estimates 1.23 billion chicken wings will be eaten on Sunday, a number that is actually 12.3 million fewer than the previous Super Bowl. Why? Thank Big Brother again: Corn prices are driven skyward by the costly and destructive federal ethanol mandate, also known as the Renewable Fuel Standard. During last year’s drought this ate up the country’s corn crop and drove up prices, leaving little for chicken farmers. Meaning government is the only one getting its fill this Super Bowl Season.
Uncle Fed is into everything…unstoppable
Hubby’s headed out to pick up some Popeye’s red beans and rice and spicy chicken for me -- he’s going to be at a bar w/some of his buddies.
Ok, I’ve been saving this. I cancelled our NYT subscription awhile ago but we buy it sometimes on Sunday. Last Sunday, there was a hilarious letter in the advice column. The answer was even better.
Ready? Ok. Enjoy (all typos are mine)
—————————
I live on a suburban road. About a mile from me, a Confederate flag flies in the side yard of a house. The owner flies many small American flags in the front yard. But the Confederate flag bothers me as a symbol of slavery and segregation, and I suspect that people like me are not welcome there. I stopped to say something, but no one answered the door. What do you make of this?
John, Lenoir City, Tenn
Let’s wait a sec before we call in Djano and Quentin Tarantino (and the 34 cubic tons of fake blood that go hand-in-hand with unchaining them). I would never fly a Confederate flag for the reasons you suggest. But it sounds as if you may be describing a flag collector, not a white supremacist. Surely there’s a difference between displaying a multitude of American flags, including one Confederate model shunted off to the side lawn, and hanging one from the tippity top of a municipal building.
But who am I to rob you of your feelings – or to prevent you an awkward meeting between neighbors? If the flag really bothers you, visit again. Start with a pleasant introduction: Hi, I’m John. I live about a mile down the road.” Then move onto disclaimer and polite request: “I have no right to tell you what to do in your own yard. But I’d appreciate it if you could rethink that Confederate flag.” Now for flattery and the big finish: I’m sure you don’t mean it as a paean to slavery or segregation. But it hurts me when I drive by.”
If the neighbors refuse to remove it, excuse yourself politely and use MapQuest to find alternate driving routes. If they agree (or offer to think about it), thank them and move along. Perhaps they will alter their display. But even if not, you will have given a stranger the benefit of the doubt and expressed your beliefs in a way that you can be proud of.
NYT Social Q’s Philip Galanes Jan 27 2013
individual liberty, smaller govt, state’s rights.
everything else just feeds the fedgov beast.
@ eaglesoars:
amazing. simply out of touch nyc/nyt amazing.
I am proud to be one of the Americans for whom the Super Bowl is a complete non-event. Groundhog Day has more significance—and I ignore that, too.
coldwarrior wrote:
This was my fave
expressed your beliefs in a way that you can be proud of.
I just rolled…………
It is a good thing I do not care about either team, you just spoiled the game for me!
More football follies: Energy Department loan recipient teams up with 49ers to help build new ‘green’ stadium.
Groan.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
I’m with you. It is just a game.
eaglesoars wrote:
mrs colwarrior is still laughing at that post.
Why DC?
Here’s what you have to do to get a gun there ALREADY:
Hiya mrs cw!
@ huckfunn:
i like what they are doing there. that is a lot of space that can be used to make energy and save water, these are good things, but really, the WAY its done is bad, billions down a sink hole.
RayLewisRayLewisRayLewisRayLewisRayLewisRayLewis
God, please let this be over and I never hear that name again. I know I’m asking for much!
eaglesoars wrote:
*tips a cuppa russian caravan tea at ya!*
Bumr50 wrote:
That’s the advertising market district. Bloomberg’s target is Virginia -- which is part and parcel of the DC market. He’s ranted that we have to change our gun laws here for years (DC did also until Heller).
We just politely tell them to go piss up a rope
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Heritic… Burn his steak….
Iron Fist wrote:
Burn his steak too…
doriangrey wrote:
especially for not paying attention to punxsutawney phil!
*whoops up riotous, pitch fork and torch armed serfs*
Oh cripes. Another media-driven guilt by association smear by the MSM.
“Alabama’s hostage taker is reportedly a survivalist. Anderson Cooper looks at the hidden world of the ‘preppers’ ”
If/when TSHTF guess who won’t be welcome at my well-stocked house?
Tanker wrote:
your doing it wrong
RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS! RAY LEWIS!
coldwarrior wrote:
Whenever the greeniacs try to sell me the “green” thing, my gag reflexes kick in. By the time they get their “green” stadium built the budget will have been busted by a factor of 2 or 3, half of the nifty crap won’t work or will be obsolete, the price of a ticket will unaffordable (already is) and and the players will be wearing tutus.
huckfunn wrote:
yep. i like the idea tho, if it didnt have the govt involved.
especially with water. that is gonna be a real biggie down the road
@ coldwarrior:
Well, since I keep kosher, and pork sausages are mandatory for Ground Hog Day…
coldwarrior wrote:
It’s a biggie now. Not just here in the US but globally. Aquifers are being depleted all over the place.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
you could have chicken wings.
coldwarrior wrote:
That really drives them crazy.
The Boy Scouts decided to accept gays on their own, and now the atheist have moved in. Real quick. Like flies on crap.
They’re not happy unless people are being forced to do things against their will.
eaglesoars wrote:
this is a legitimate security issue. the water wars are coming.
coldwarrior wrote:
Not “ground hog,” though, strictly speaking…
coldwarrior wrote:
eaglesoars wrote:
If the research dollars could go into desalination projects rather than biofools and windmills, a lot of the water problems could be solved.
@ coldwarrior:
that’s better, format fixed.
coldwarrior wrote:
Believe it or not, I’m doing research for a book Hubby is writing on food/water as national security issue.
Right now, I’m focusing on food -- or lack thereof -- used as a weapon
huckfunn wrote:
There are no water problems, just corrupt career criminal politician problems.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
certainly not. the beer served is also kosher. except this year it WAS on Shabbat. so you get a pass…THIS TIME!
coldwarrior wrote:
I live in California… Please explain what this “Ground Hog Day” thing you two speak of is???
huckfunn wrote:
yep
huckfunn wrote:
Well, to be honest, I don’t get the connection between wind turbines and water. Desalination can help.
We need better irrigation methods and there is a lot of research being done on the gene modification side for draught resistance.
The organic people aren’t going to be happy -- in general it takes 3x the land for the equivalent non-organic yield -- which means 3x the water.
doriangrey wrote:
HEATHEN!!!
http://www.theblogmocracy.com/2013/02/01/groundhog-day-2013-oot/
coldwarrior wrote:
We can’t build desalinization plants in California, the Enviro-Nazi’s won’t let us.
doriangrey wrote:
there are both.
doriangrey wrote:
highspeed trains to nowhere are much more important
eaglesoars wrote:
No we don’t, we already have them, people just need to use them.
eaglesoars wrote:
organic, farming as it was when there was regular starvation and famine
doriangrey wrote:
Did you see that piece about the world’s tallest building not having a municpal sewage hookup? In Dubai, I think? All the poop has to be trucked to a landfill.
It wasn’t an oversight in construction. They don’t have the water. Also, if they had 2 synapses to rub together, they’d sterilize the stuff and sell it for fertilizer. As it is, it will polute all the land and whatever water table they’ve got.
heysoos wrote:
Na, the Enviro-Nazi’s aren’t going to allow that to be built either, it’s a Ponzi scheme.
doriangrey wrote:
I’m pretty sure that both are problems. T-Bone Pickens has been buying up water rights in Texas for years.
doriangrey wrote:
just comparing necessity to actual need….CA is an odd place
@ eaglesoars:
oh my.
doriangrey wrote:
Correct, sloppy writing on my part.
If people had to actually PAY for water according to market forces, they’d be screaming more than they do about gasoline for their cars. For myself, I’m researching harvesting rainwater for our house.
It’s just a good knowledge base to have, I think.
huckfunn wrote:
Yea, bout ole T-Bone, he also thought he was going to corner the market on Windmills (he lost his ASS)… T-Bone=Don Quixote…
heysoos wrote:
ROTFLMAO… aint that the truth.
coldwarrior wrote:
What I get a kick out of is organic cosmetics and textiles. The original regs clearly stated that they were to be applied to products for human consumption. I spent 6 mos trying to stop that nonsense, but there is too much money to be made with that marketing, so I lost that argument.
eaglesoars wrote:
You’d think it would occur to someone to devise a sewage flushing system, including processing plant, which uses salt water, since Dubai is right there on the coast.
And you’d think that, yes, they’d use the waste material to build topsoil on the surrounding desert so that, with a hefty desalination plant and some drip irrigation, they’d make their little portion of the desert bloom. But, of course, drip irrigation was pioneered by the Israelis—so that’s probably off the map for them.
eaglesoars wrote:
where my parents live, cisterns fed by rainwater are fairly common. it is amazing how much water can be drained into one from just the house and a few out buildings. most folks use the water for dishes and laundry and such and keep the cistern topped off for when the well goes bad.
there are rain barrels that actually filter the water and make it drinkable, which is fine for small scale. water storage will be a problem in your area. cisterns aint small.
doriangrey wrote:
Yep. But he hit this water deal out of the park.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
shhhh…dont let the sand ticks know that stuff. mono-economies always fail utterly. dont give them ideas on how to diversify!
coldwarrior wrote:
I read recently that—some government agency or agencies—-the EPA, I think, but I’m not positive now—was going after people both for permitting rainwater to run off their property and for trying to catch and collect it for their own use.
I forget the details, but I’d bet that the stories would turn up in a search.
Tea Party Community. New site here, seems to be kinda like Facebook for conservatives.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
somewhere in oregon i think. local issue, wasnt feds.
that would start a freakin’ war here if they tried that.
I can’t think of a better example of how precarious this western drought is for than the middle Rio Grande valley….there are about a million people between Espanola, just north of Santa Fe and Belen about 20mi south of Albuquerque…all the potable water comes from the river and if you see the mighty Rio Grande, you’ll see it’s barely knee deep most of the time…and the rich ribbons of agriculture along the river irrigate all summer…it bare ever rains down here so we rely on the snow pack up in Colorado…besides the Percos, there is very little drainage into the Rio Grande…a couple of mild winters in a row and we might be royally screwed…the vast aquifer under the river is way too acidic or alkaline (I forget which)t be considered usable…NM is the fifth biggest state in the union and that’s basically the only water we have
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
You’d have to get the salt out -- it would ruin the infrastructure. But they have the technology -- it ain’t new.
The arabs aren’t gardeners -- they’re shephards. They’d as soon lose their sand as they would their sky. In our hood over the years we’ve had lots -- I’d say 12 -- neighbors from the middle east. Know how I can tell even without seeing them?
Their yards are crap. Even the rose bushes they grow are crap.
coldwarrior wrote:
Not only that -- homeowners assoc would never allow it for cosmetic reasons. It’s proving challenging. If I just wanted it for watering the outside plants, that’s easy. But potable water for emergency outages -- not so straightforward.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
@ coldwarrior:
Here ya go. Man jailed for collecting rainwater in illegal reservoirs on his property
@ buzzsawmonkey:
I was watching “Aerial America” fly over Hawaii last night, and learned that property owners whose land was extended via coastline lava floes did NOT have claim to the new land.
Instead it belongs to the State.
The narrator said this like it was a good thing.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
southern CA somewhere…runoff from your roof belongs to the state
eaglesoars wrote:
One of the reasons my sister searched long and hard when shopping for property to find a piece that was not subject to a homeowners’ association.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
There’s good and bad. On the whole we like it because we’ve had some neighbors who, if they had their druthers, would have painted their garage/outside trim w/graffiti-style rap lyrics. Also, you DO have to keep the lawn mowed.
It’s a nice, pretty place that’s well-maintained so -- pick yer poison.
huckfunn wrote:
“What we’re after is compliance…”
perfect…living in the ever shrinking box of compliance, one day you have the permits, next you are a criminal. effin bureaucrats
heysoos wrote:
is called a desert for a reason.
Bumr50 wrote:
Interesting: Chicago comes to Hawaii.
There’s an area of Chicago known as “Streeterville,” on the lake between the northern end of Grant Park and the start of the Gold Coast. That land was created by an adventurer named “Cap” Streeter, whose boat ran aground there. A sandbar formed around the boat, and Streeter invited contractors and others to dump additional rubbish around the sandbar. He created a whole new land area, which was claimed by the property owners on the original shoreline as part of their riparian rights. Streeter claimed “squatter’s rights” to the land, and invited a ragtag of additional squatters to live on his land and help him defend it.
huckfunn wrote:
We’re aware of that case. Apparently, it’s not as straightforward as that articles make it appear and we’re still trying to get the details.
We’ve seen laws like this in other places, but usually they have a history of draught and are trying to avoid vigilante water wars. Oregon doesn’t have that problem tho -- the place is a friggin rain forest.
@ eaglesoars:
he isnt damming any streams, and eventually, the ponds get filled and the overflow goes downstream. he just created a buffer.
like ya said about oregon being a rain forest, this is all about
COMPLIANCE!
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
That was here in Virginia and the EPA ran head-first into our Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli who just whupped ‘em in court. The argument from the EPA was that the runoff carried sediment which made the water ‘dirty’ so they had jusridiction under the Clean Air and Water Act.
They would have thrown people out of their homes and cost the state millions in order to return the land to ‘natural meadow’.
coldwarrior wrote:
Yup, Oregon is one of the most Marxist liberal states in the Union.
@ eaglesoars:
Oregon doesn’t have that problem tho — the place is a friggin rain forest.
I have family on the southern coast of Oregon. They get 120″ of rain between mid-October & mid-April.
doriangrey wrote:
Very true for parts of the state. Portland, of course. Salem. Other parts are fairly conservative. Too bad more people who think like that aren’t there to take control from the leftists.
coldwarrior wrote:
I’m not sure. This guy has collected so much water, it could be impacting the local hydrology. I’ve looked into it on a catch-as-I-can basis and still don’t have a good picture. I’m pretty sure tho that it’s not his water collection that is the issue -- it’s the amount of water he’s collected. Someone somehwere thinks it’s harming something downstream.
mfhorn wrote:
ugh. how’s the suicide rate?
eaglesoars wrote:
Save the snail darters!
have to take care of Molly the Beagle for a bit -- meds, etc. BBL
@ eaglesoars:
ah. not so clear in the article.
@ eaglesoars:
No clue on the suicide rate. I can see how it’d get old, pretty fast though. Been so long since we had real rain around here I’d forgotten about that side effect.
Obanga
@ huckfunn:
Obama is an expert Marx-man.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Haw!
@ huckfunn:
@ buzzsawmonkey:
BWAHAHAHAAA!!!!
@ huckfunn:
@ buzzsawmonkey:
@ coldwarrior:
Extra funny how they are telling people not to photoshop it. … … … yet they have no problem photoshopping when it suits their fancy
Here’s the guy who killed Chris Kyle.
huckfunn wrote:
Edie Ray should have given this a bit more thought -- it’s TEXAS fer chrissake.
eaglesoars wrote:
The story that’s developing is that Routh has PTSD and was somewhat unhinged. Real sad deal.
huckfunn wrote:
Yeah I know and it is sad. But I doubt a Texas jury is going to lose much sleep.
@ 9 Iron Fist:
It’s akin to a holiday here.
Competitive Soda Pop ad banned at the superbowl
I found this fairly funny.
Drudge Headline:
CHICAGOLAND: Cops Shut Down Prostitution ‘House Of Horrors’…
Link
First comment in linked story:
When I first read the headline on Drudge, I thot[sic] they had shut down Chicago’s city hall.
Oh… And today is a good day to dust this treasure off…
Doriangrey’s Seven alarm Salsa, or when wimpy Salsa just isn’t an option.
Don’t be macho and follow the receipt if you are not used to really hot salsa, it’s ok to leave out the Habanero and Jalapeno Peppers.
@ 41 heysoos: Seattle is installing light rail systems that only travel 10 block -- 20 blocks with no connections. i think because they think the bus system pollutes too much.
Washington state has built two major bridges that have collapsed due to the force of nature.
Washington state tried to build 4 nuclear power plants but low balled the installation so bad that corrupt people with no inspection built it of zone. Only the lawyers got rich.
The city of seattle bought automatic street toilets that the street people turned into daytime brothels. They sold them to Oregon.
The governor insists on building a 4 billion dollar tunnel in seattle to replace something that could be replaced for 500 million dollars.
They promised they could control costs and that made the low info voter happy, but now that the deal is sealed they have come back to the peoples bank saying they need to place $4 tolls on all major roads around seattle to pay for transportation projects.
Transportation projects are the bread and butter of liberal greed. Unions gone sour.
In comparison the other big disaster in the state Mt. St. Helens seems fairly benign when weighed against the effects of the low income voter.
@ darkwords:
I remember working at a distribution warehouse for a vending company for a short time, and the skids that the Coke and Pepsi products came on were completely incompatible as far as forklifting went.
You had to get off and change the fork locations on your lift.
@ 90 eaglesoars: plenty of people with PTSD that don’t go out and kill people. Plenty of them who cope and work and have jobs and endure. This was a person with a weak character.
I wouldn’t mind it if the treatment was a 2 year vacation on the beach with some counseling for those that wanted it. Make it cheap in Thailand.
Emptiness like that can only be filled by love. not by a Fed. A dog can do it. A cat can do it. Mother nature can do it. God can do it. A fed will never do it.
darkwords wrote:
Ok, I know I shouldn’t laugh but…………….
@ 95 Bumr50: yes massively irritating. Like compaq computer having to use specialized screws to seal their pc cases. It was a good reason to buy something else.
darkwords wrote:
I watched a video last week about a campanion dog for a PTSD guy -- can’t remember where -- it was a black female lab
In my opinion, dogs can do just about anything……..
@ doriangrey:
Recipe, not receipt.
Autocorrect is evil.
@ eaglesoars:
The councilman is still active. Just a poor poor choice and waste of money. Show someones thinking is not reality based.
@ Calo:
http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/ I laughed a lot. But my auto corrects usually raise hackles on someone instead of laughs.
darkwords wrote:
I dunno. I’m not qualified to have an opinion about that. Oddly enough, Hubby was telling me about something that happened when he was about 10 -- 60 some yrs ago -- in their small farming community in upstate NY. One of their neighbors who had seen a lot of combat in WW II -- from North Africa all the way to VE day -- came home changed -- reserved sullen -- 5 yrs later he killed all 3 kids, his wife and himself.
You just never know.
Calo wrote:
Fricken frachen fricken frack…
darkwords wrote:
Yeah, but who are the idiots in Oregon that BOUGHT them??!!
Calo wrote:
Oh… And if you’re going to make that Salsa, I will be needing a signed release of liability stating that I am in no way responsible for any damages…
@ doriangrey:
Link worked.
off to do some reading….be good -- or very very bad
What hipsters east on Superbowl sunday.
Fat white lump!
ht -- Breitbart
A ground water thread? Hmm…
At least TGoP had the foresight to stock up on western movies for today… Ray who?
BTW, and in case nobody here knows, today is “Savage”‘s birthday.
This is just a sample of what the Lefties are tweeting.
They are a vile subset of humaniy.
@ 113 RIX: If there is karma and justice it will come home to roost on the OBama adminstration.
@ Mike C.:
Happy Birthday savage. good timing.
Indeed.
Where Oil and Water Do Mix:
Environmental Scarcity
and Future Conflict in the
Middle East and North Africa
@ Da_Beerfreak:
its gonna be a major national security issue
coldwarrior wrote:
That’s why I try to never miss an issue of Parameters.
Da_Beerfreak wrote:
every quarter.
coldwarrior wrote:
The email alerts when the new issue comes out is a nice touch…
What’s on TV today?