The BoormanBlog

Scary Halloween indeed!

WARNING: Conservatism ahead!

Dear Diary:

It’s been more than two weeks since I have last run. You know what? I don’t miss it much at all!

Seriously though, I’ll be back before too long, if only to preserve my sanity.

I’m not going. Saving my money to pay a certain government agency that I’m very angry with right now.

As Dylan sang “I’m Waiting to Find Out What Price You Have to Pay to Get Out of Going Through All These Things Twice”

Found it in a box of Raisin Bran!

There’s other stuff I want to talk about, but I’ve learned never to post when I’m angry.

Oh no you didn’t. Seriously, this idea must have looked good on paper. “Everybody loves Red Bull! It’s the king of energy drinks! Everybody loves the taste of Coca-Cola and Pepsi! Let’s combine the two! How can we fail?”

This is how.

I bought my first and last can of Red Bull Cola today. Leave it to me to buy the large size of such a disgusting drink. This thing tasted like turpentine. Good thing I bought this drink at a gas station, I was able to pump some unleaded regular into my mouth to freshen up my breath.

I’ll stick with the original, Red Bull, thank you very much. Make mine sugar free.

If you think “tax cuts for the rich” are unfair, and that people who don’t pay income tax in the first place should still get tax “refunds”, maybe this example will change your mind. I got this one off the Internet.

“Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. They could all just pay $10 since they all drank beer; or, if they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest of the 10) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed OK with the arrangement until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good and faithful customers,’ he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer bill by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80′.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized if they divided the $20 savings by six they could each reduce the amount they were paying by $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill the same way Tax Savings are dispersed, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings) - so 5 men are drinking for free.
The sixth now paid only $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth (the wealthiest) now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free, now along with the 5th too.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their total dollar savings. ‘I only got a dollar out of the $20′, declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, ‘but he got $10!’ ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’ ‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’ ‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘$20 was given back and we didn’t get anything at all. This system exploits the poor!’ The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night, the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists, academics, writers, actors, poets and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Q: What’s red and smells like blue paint?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A: Red paint!

Tee hee.

I’m watching the season premier of Celebrity Rehab right now. Not exactly A list celebrities. But hey! Tawny Kitaen! Gary Busey! Rodney King! and who doen’t love Jeff Conaway!

Oh man, Gary Busey thinks he’s part of the TREATMENT TEAM!!! LOL!! He doesn’t even know he’s a patient.

This is good television.

That’s a loooooong drive for a midweek concert, with a mediocre backup band. I’m hoping a few more northeast dates will follow before Bob takes the holidays off. I’m still undecided about going.