Regarding Tax Treatment of Divorces:
Did you know that alimony payments are deductible to the person having to pay, and taxable income to the person receiving it?
Child support, on the other hand, is not deductible or taxable. That's supposedly something parents would have to pay for their children whether they stayed married or not.
| Literature Daily | More of this Series |
This is Karadorde Petrovic aka “Black George”. He’s 33 years old and living in a turbulent time in a turbulent place.
Serbia is a Balkan country just SE of Austria. It is owned by the Ottoman Empire. The Empire owns all of the Balkans but it is in trouble.
Turk army leaders in the area (Dahis) have rebelled against the Sultan and have set up shop here and Bulgaria to the east. 11 years ago, the Sultan had tried to pacify the land with his first reform ferman (decree). He followed that up in 1795 with another reform bill. The Dahis ignore that along with the Sultan’s rule. In fact, their rule over the Serbs is harsher than ever.
The country is seething; their nobles plot action. But ten days ago, on February 4, 1804 the Dahis acted with a brutal plan of killings. This day is remembered by Serb historians as “The Massacre of the Serbian Knights”. But they missed one.
Black George and his men surprised the assassins sent to kill him. When the fight was over, he was alive. The assassins were dead.
Today, February 14, 1804 the remnants of Serbia’s leaders met at a small village of Orasac and elected the tough guy, Black George their leader. The fight for Serbian independence was on.
More information: Karadorde Petrovic, First Serb Uprising,
These, then, went on board and sailed their ways over the sea.| Literature Daily | More of This Series |
Tuesday Kathy started work on the garden. It rained in the days since so the seeds have yet to be planted. She will get to that tomorrow.
In this situation we remained for some time, till one day, my brothers came to me and would have me go on a voyage with them; but I refused and said to them, "What did your travels profit you, that I should look to profit by the same venture?" And I would not listen to them; so we abode in our shops, buying and selling, and every year they pressed me to travel, and I declined, until six years had elapsed. At last I yielded to their wishes and said to them, "O my brothers, I will make a voyage with you, but first let me see what you are worth." So I looked into their affairs and found they had nothing left, having wasted all their substance in eating and drinking and merrymaking. However, I said not a word of reproach to them, but sold my stock and got in all I had and found I was worth six thousand dinars. So I rejoiced and divided the sum into two equal parts and said to my brothers, "These three thousand dinars are for you and me to trade with." The other three thousand I buried, in case what befell them should befall me also, so that we might still have, on our return, wherewithal to open our shops again. They were content and I gave them each a thousand dinars and kept the like myself. Then we provided ourselves with the necessary merchandise and equipped ourselves for travel and chartered a ship, which we freighted with our goods. | Literature Daily | More of this Series |
If I could do my own health care bill, here’s what it would have:
1) Lawsuit costs lowered. Limiting the scope of lawsuits would have an impact beyond just the costs insurance companies have to pass on to doctors (who pass those on to consumers). It would lower
.. a)health insurance costs because less medical care costs the less the insurer has to pay – and the less premiums they would need from consumers.
Defensive medicine (i.e. the extra treatment doctors/nurses have to do to cover their butts in case they are sued.)
.. b) Legal fees. Even when patients win lawsuits, you know who wins really, don’t you? The lawyers, of course.
2) More medical schools to address the doctor/nurse shortage in America. We’ve been covering that through our immigration policies but every doctor we steal from the rest of the world means that someone out there has to do without. There’s plenty of Americans who want to be health professionals, who would be good at it, but there’s no place for them because our nation’s medical schools are so limited. That’s the bottleneck.
We can build more – lots more – but that costs money. Spending health care money on doctors and nurses instead of lawyers and bureaucrats is a spending program we can understand. It puts our health care priorities right.
It will also ultimately address doctor fees. - Law of supply and demand: shortages drives prices up; abundance drives them down.
3) Insurance portability across state lines. Maybe the Department of Commerce will have to do some regulating but the ease on the insurance pressure on a mobile America will be worth it.
Now for something really, really radical . . . (Drumroll!)
4) Start New Health Insurance Companies. Why not? This is something those limosine liberals could easily do. Obama wants to give the insurance companies some “competition”. he calls their profits “obscene”. Then just reducing profit margins to the “spectacular” level so they can produce more generous insurance provisions would quickly transform the industry. – And they wouldn’t have to worry about Republicans, filibusters, or even Senate reconciliation provisions.
Icing on the cake (listen up Charles Rangell, Christopher Dodd, et al) you can make yourselves a whole pile of money, to boot! - Of course, this last presumes that Obama’s rhetoric against the insurance companies were true.
- Alright, so 3 out of 4 ideas isn’t such a bad batting average!
XXIX| Literature Daily | More of this Series |
Get ready to play in a chess tournament this weekend.
Here's a little video to help you get your engine started. (-or to just learn a little more about the game.)
Almost always, when the Queen Pawn meets the Queen Pawn in the center, White supports with the Queen Bishop Pawn. While this forumation is not as deadly as its brother formation on the Kingside, it is more strategic and hence more practical.
I usually play this. I note that the QB pawn usually moves up next to the Q pawn no matter what Black does.
This is an overview for beginners.
Chess events in your area . . . and visit The Chess Website who created these wonderful videos.
The Elmore Bank had just put in a new safe and vault. Mr. Adams was very proud of it, and insisted on an inspection by every one. The vault was a small one, but it had a new, patented door. It fastened with three solid steel bolts thrown simultaneously with a single handle, and had a time-lock. Mr. Adams beamingly explained its workings to Mr. Spencer, who showed a courteous but not too intelligent interest. The two children, May and Agatha, were delighted by the shining metal and funny clock and knobs.| Literature Daily | More of This Series |
Below are the first minutes of the first episode of this series:
I watched the first 3 seasons on Netflix. They have on Instant Viewing. You can also watch many episodes on Youtube.
This is a workplace situation comedy. Dave Nelson is the News Director and most of the series is told from his viewpoint. Staff include Bill McNiel, the announcer, Lisa Miller, reporter, Matthew, the comic screw-up, and others. Others sadly includes a character played by Khandi Alexander who is not given much comedic goofiness, presumably because she’s both a woman and black. Sad, because I think that the Bill and Catherine characters could have been a great comic duo on the show. The real character for me is Jimmy James, the owner of the station. Here’s James explaining to Dave why he took away Dave’s desk:
Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave... there is a saying, I cried... because I had no desk until I met a man who had no feet... and the no feet guy explained that there was such a thing as a budget... and WNYX was way way over it. The End.
"They are the people who live in this land of the East where the Wicked Witch ruled."| Literature Daily | More of this Series |
Business that grow by development and improvement do not die. But when a business ceases to be creative, when it believes that it has reached perfection and needs to do nothing but produce - no improvement, no development - it is done.
CHAPTER II.| Literature Daily | More of this Series |
Yesterday, I read a book on Twitter. It was really an eye-opener for me. I did a little bit to my twitter site and my twitter practice. I went up from 6 to 65 followers. Here's my Twitter site, and check out the book, too.
Imagine Sam Sloan being respectable. Hard? Well, if Richard Nixon was able to make some kind of comeback after Watergate, why not him? Chess players will know who I'm talking about and why.
Here's another installment of Herodotus on my History Blog. H was a tourist as well as an historian in the 5th. century BC, so his description of the ancient Egypt he saw takes us back in time 2,400 years.
Now, with securities prices low is the best time to invest. In my Finance Blog, I ruminate on wisdom I found from Rich Dad and others.
Health Care dominates the news on my Politics Blog but the most far-reaching news is Obama's cutting back on the Space Program. What are the Left's goals in Space?
If you have access to the USCF's Issues Forum, lots of craziness to chuckle at. In fact, I think I'll reproduce it - just for fun.
Rich people generate passive income. This means that money comes in from some business or property without them actively working on it.
There is only so much that one person can do; hence only so much money he can earn from his own activity. Real money comes from multiple activities, hence Kiyosaki's emphasis on passive income.
Now how can I get me some of that?
| Literature Daily | More of this Series |
This is Robert Peel, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Today, January 22, he is at the height of his power. His Tories command the majority of Parliament. He rises to commence his speech announcing his switch from protectionist trade policies to free trade ones.
He gave a detailed examination of the specific bill that would trigger the switch: the repeal of the Corn Laws. Lord John Russell, the opposition Whig leader followed with another detailed exposition in support.
There was the specific bill of corn prices. There was the larger issue of Free Trade versus Protectionism. Then there was the still larger issue of leaders taking first one side of an issue and then another. Peel, like many pols before and since, did not feel he needed to address those larger matters.
Then a young upstart, Benjamin Disraeli rose.
Let men stand by the principle by which they rise, right or wrong. I make no exception. If they bewrong, they must retire to that shade of private life with which our present rulers have so often threatened us. . . . Do not then because you see a great personage giving up his opinions – do not cheer him on, do not give so ready a reward to political tergiversation. Above all maintain the line of demarcation between the parties, for it is only by maintaining the independence of party that you can maintain the integrity of public men and the power and influence of Parliament itself.
War had been declared.
More information: Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli, Corn Laws.
Achilles interrupted him. "I should be a mean coward," he cried,| Literature Daily | More of This Series |
This is from our front porch on the day it snowed in Atlanta. The video was shot by Kathy, edited by myself. She mistakenly says that it was March 1; my title correctly says March 2.
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