Boycott Dominos Pizza and call their corporate headquarters at 800-468-4726 and make the demand that George W Bush withdraw the nomination of Samuel Alito and nominate a moderate to the Supreme Court or that you will boycott Dominos pizza. Dominos pizza CEO David Brandon supports the antiabortion movement. Pass the word.
It appears time for an economic revolt against the companies that fund George W Bush and the Republican Party. Go call and email these companies and tell them you have had enough of the actions of the Republican Party and you will not take it anymore.
http://www.hoflink.com/~dbaer/petitions.htm
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Posted by buckfush at November 1, 2005 02:35 AM"Head of the Iraqi National Congress Ahmad Chalabi has ruled out the withdrawal of US and any multinational forces from Iraq at the present."
"Speaking to Aljazeera on Sunday, Chalabi has said that Iraq needs these forces to be present until it is able to establish its own army and defend itself."
So, just when will that be Chalabi? Iraq has had two years to build an army. I have never heard of having a goal without a deadline. Also, it is conforting to know that you are involved in making our Iraqi War decisions. I suspect that Cheney may be preoccupied for a while, so don't expect too much from him.
we will leave iraq when the oil fields are totally secure ..building a democracy means having the force in place to protect our interests...it will be a very long time before we entirely leave there ..if ever...
Posted by dennis at November 1, 2005 02:49 AMHere's a "they wouldn't dare". New Tax Reform and taking away the mortguage interest as a deduction. Is just never ends, does it.
Posted by Judith at November 1, 2005 06:10 AMI guess things are still pretty rough in Iraq. Seeing as our soldiers are pissing through .50 caliber machine gun ammo about as fast as anyone can produce it.
Posted by snark at November 1, 2005 06:14 AMThat's mortgage, I mean.
Posted by Judith at November 1, 2005 06:16 AMHere's a "they wouldn't dare". New Tax Reform and taking away the mortgage interest as a deduction. Is just never ends, does it.
They're suggesting cutting off the mortgage interest dedcution for mortgage amounts over $320,000 I think--somewhere in that range. It would still affect a lot of middle class people in areas where housing costs are so steep, but it wouldn't affect most mortgages. Still, I don't think it has a chance in hell since the mortgage interest dedcution is sacred, and Bush and congress wouldn't permit a tax "increase" on the wealthy.
Posted by at November 1, 2005 06:28 AMKristof did his bit to keep the focus on the Plame investigation today.
"What Did Cheney Know, and When Did He Know It?"
Sorry it's a Times Select piece so I can't link it but he basically calls for Cheney to frankly answer direct questions to the American public about what he knew about Libby's activites. He expresses the opinion that the entire episode was probably just a ham handed effort to respond to the suggestion that Cheney arranged for Wilson to go to Niger. A possibility I don't entirely discount. But it stretches credulity when one considers that Libby would have put such poor lies on record simply to cover up a case of sloppy negligence. All he would have had to say to Fitzgerald was "I had no idea she was a covert agent and that her identity was protected. We simply wanted to refute the suggestion that VP Cheney was responsible for Wilson's trip and it came to our attention that Wilson's wife worked for the agency. We screwed up in discussing her potential role in the trip without fully considering her status at CIA." Those simple statements would have gotten them off the hook for any espionage charges. They'd still look like petty idiots but Libby might not be looking at jail time right now.
So the question is why would Libby tell such blatent lies if it was simply negligence in discussing Plame?
Posted by muckcat at November 1, 2005 06:31 AMThanks Anon. Then why would they even suggest it?
Posted by Judith at November 1, 2005 06:35 AMIf the Bush admin is talking about a tax increase anywhere, it's a trojan horse for something else.
These people do not increase taxes. Ever.
The last Republican that increased taxes, Poppy Bush, was knifed in the back in 1992 because of it.
Posted by idiosynchronic at November 1, 2005 06:52 AMOkay - the buckfush stuff has reached a point where it's annoying - especially when it's not in the open thread. If I could edit comments for TLC, this lousy spam would disappear in a heartbeat.
For the record, I don't eat Domino's. It's shit.
Posted by idiosynchronic at November 1, 2005 08:00 AMI'm with idio. Toss the buckfush spammer if at all possible. He's been all over Kos, too, with his tinyurl.
Posted by ann at November 1, 2005 08:15 AMThe tax reform commission was formed to eliminated the AMT, and raise other taxes to compensate. The AMT acts as a flat tax, and eliminates your tax deductions. I know lots of folks who cannot deduct their mortgage interest because they got hit by the AMT.
The AMT was designed decades ago to catch about 150 people in America who weren't paying taxes. But it wasn't indexed to inflation. Eventually, we'll all get hit by the AMT, and won't be to deduct anything.
If you favor a flat tax, then you love the AMT and don't want any tax reforms.
I think the home mortgage deduction would be reduced to a range of 280K-312K, depending on the region of the country you live in. For most Americans, it shouldn't have an impact. Only those folks who have big mortgages in housing bubble areas.
Posted by muckdog at November 1, 2005 09:08 AMThanks Anon. Then why would they even suggest it?
Oops, didn't mean to be anonymous--that was me. I think they were just told to think outside the box and come up with some "bold" ideas. It's just a jumping off point. Personally, it wouldn't affect me and I think if they were to tie the amount to area home prices, so that it only affects the really high mortgages, it's not such a bad thing. However, if someone wealthy buys a $1 million home, they might come up with a big enough downpayment to avoid paying taxes on the extra interest. But if a middle class person buys a $500,000 home, they might not be able to afford much of a downpayment, so it will still affect the middle more than the wealthy. If the republicans pass it and the dems vote against it, they can call it what it is--a tax hike on the middle class.
Posted by CG at November 1, 2005 10:30 AMA shocked group of reporters looked on as Judge Samuel Alito stepped up to the podium this morning wearing a pink miniskirt and fishnet stockings. "Man, I don't ever want to see that again", one report commented. "He doesn't have the legs" said another.
When asked about his views on abortion, he replied "Yes, I like french fries." When pressed on his thoughts about women's rights, he said "Yes, my grandparents were extra-terrestrials." He referred all other questions to his dog.
tempus, bumpersticker I saw:
"When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro."
CG, even those folks buying 500K homes probably have some home equity that they can throw at the down payment.
Eliminating deductions for loans > $300K really only hurts young people, and they don't vote anyways.
Posted by muckdog at November 1, 2005 02:56 PM