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July 02, 2011 03:02 PM UTC

4th of July Weekend Open Thread

  • 66 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

–George Orwell

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66 thoughts on “4th of July Weekend Open Thread”

    1. Sorry, I can’t get over there this morning. I have a Red Cross briefing in D.C. at 10am otherwise I would drop by.

      When I used to get stuck at Dulles I would find a quiet spot in one of the terminals and read or sleep, or (if on expense account) sit at a bar.

      If anyone is in D.C. going to the Mall Monday for the fireworks try to find me.  I will be around the Washington Monument doing Red Cross stuff.

      1. Would have loved to meet up for a whatever you like and a STRONG espresso for me. I’m afraid if I sleep I’ll miss the flight even delayed as it is. I don’t sleep much most of the time so when I do get to sleep I could easily be mistaken for a corpse.

        At least they have free WiFi. I wish I could stay for the fireworks…

        The worst part is, it’s a 55 minute flight that’s delayed 4 hours. I could probably rent a car and drive there in less time, but I already bought the plane ticket.

  2. Y’know, something called the Eleventh Commandment?


    Romney under fire

    Conservative groups launch campaigns to derail Romney’s prominence in GOP primary

    WASHINGTON – Joe Miller, a former US Senate candidate from Alaska, has been spending his days in his law offices in Fairbanks with an almost singular focus: making sure fellow Republican Mitt Romney does not win his party’s presidential nomination.

    Miller, through a little-known group called the Western Representation PAC, is planning a $500,000 ad campaign with a chief goal of dirtying up the national front-runner – in terms that are far more personal and aggressive than Romney’s rivals for the nomination have used.

    “Right now [our focus] is making sure that Romney, who’s very clearly a RINO, doesn’t walk away with the nomination,” said Miller, using the acronym for Republican In Name Only. “We’re trying to save the country. And with Romney at the helm, it’s not going to get saved. Romney is just going to be a disaster for this country.”

    http://www.boston.com/news/nat…

    Ya know what Klondike Joe, go for it. I might just have to donate some money to this moonbat operation of yours, because clearly its for the good of the nation…(snicker)…

    2. Plus, RR didn’t want to be attacked himself by the party’s value’s wing on issues like divorce, or church attendance, or the Red Lady’s soothsayers, or union membership, or cooperating with ratting out acquaintances, or even being a former Dem — Ronnie’s commandment was pure unadulterated self-interest; he was much more concerned for the slippery Gipper than the party, I’m sure.

  3. Rooting for Garmin-Cervelo to make a good showing….too bad their new jerseys don’t have the weird-ass orange argyle pattern, or the prominent Chipotle logo…

    One Garmin rider, The Z-man, Dave Zabriskie is doing something radically different this year. He’s attempting to do the entire Tour on a Vegan diet. This is tough because cyclists need to consume around 8000 calories a day to keep up with the energy demands of the Tour.

    If he pulls this off, then there’s no way anyone can say that you can’t do sport x y or z on a Vegan diet….

    http://www.itv.com/tourdefranc…

    1. the he will consume “two small portions of fish per week to help him absorb iron.”

      That aside, it will be interesting to see how he fares during the TDF. The TDF has to be among the most grueling — physically and mentally — athletic challenges.

  4. this post got me thinking. Maybe this is doable. The key part is not the programming required, it’s setting up the relationships with every taxing authority.

    The thing is, there are almost certainly people here that could set this up across Colorado. Providing a single sales tax system for Colorado would get customers. Every online company located in Colorado for starters.

    If some group here can get approval from each district to provide this service and each provides a way to perform all filing automatically, and you can build up the data on tax rate by product type by district – then you’ve got it.

    As to the programming part, get the rest of that in place and I would be happy to help you find the developers you need. If you have the hard part done, it then becomes possible to get some good developers (there are a million people with “a good idea” but there are very few with all the pieces in place).

    Anyways, I think this might (and I say might because it depends on what you can get from each district) be a really good business model. So if someone here has the contacts, the knowledge, and the time – it’s something to consider.

    2. Not just my opinion; my information comes from a highly respected high-tech business owner from Boulder.  Happy to provide links if you’re interested.

      (I do have to note that your mood seems to have brightened considerably now that the Huber cloud has lifted.)

      1. If it is too complicated and sooooo impossible, perhaps you can explain how Barnes & Noble, LL Bean and Lands End manage to do it.  This is all just a smoke screen.  It can and has been done.  The only reason not to pay the sales tax is to try to take an unfair competitive advantage over in-state brick and mortar retailers.  The programming may be tedious but it is relatively straight forward.  I would not be surprised if there is already a software package available to do this.  Most taxing agencies have online reporting systems with automatic payment systems.

        Amazon and Overstock.com simply like the advantage and don’t want to give it up.  

        Boycott Amazon!!!

      2. The new babe at revenue comes from an outfit so well known for its ethics and customer service.  IIRC a certain poster here doesn’t have much use for the internet service of said company.  “Met the new boss.  Same as the old boss.”

        1. What hit me was that there is a lot of expertise required to set something like this up that truly handles everything. But that there are people here on Pols that probably could figure all of that out and have the relationships to get both answers and a workable interface to each dept of revenue in the state.

          It’s not an easy task. But becoming the ADP of online sales tax transactions could make for a very valuable company. I figure it can’t hurt to suggest the idea in case anyone with the skills and relationships is presently unemployed.

      1. There are a lot of programs that will tell you what district an address is in. There are a smaller number that can give you tax rates by district across some (but not all) goods. But I haven’t found any that will handle the interaction with the agency.

        Think of ADP – they don’t just tell us what to pay each employee and withhold in taxes. They make the tax payment, they file the forms, they do a ton of stuff in addition to calculating the withholding.

        That’s where I think there’s a possible business – in providing the entire effort so all a company like mine has to do is connect to that system, get the tax amounts and descriptions, add that to the invoice, and then pay it to the company.

        And like ADP, you could do this at no charge and make your profit off the float on the tax payments.

        1. Well, if you have accurate records, I’d think interaction with the agencies would be pretty routine — send the check to the address provided and if they want to audit you, just pull out your comprehensive records (check out the Integration tab on their website).

          So ADP does it just on the float, huh?  But they only have 51 tax districts to deal with (plus 1 for the city head tax I suppose). Pretty trivial in comparison, I’d say.

          1. There’s disability, health insurance co-pays, 401K, etc. And for every city with an income or head tax – that city.

            Keep in mind a gigantic chunk of the online companies have thin profit margins and make 1 sale/year into most taxing districts. Especially when a company is first starting. That interaction that would start with a phone call or email asking what do I send where could eliminate the profit from every sale.

            Having a 3rd party spreads that cost of finding out what to do and setting it up across a lot of sales into that district.

    4. In most cases, the state taxing agency actually collects the sales taxes from the merchants and then disburses the funds to the local governments and agencies.  So, really, there are only 50 “relationships” that have to be “set up.”  Virtually all states have online systems for reporting and paying sales tax.  A small business could “set up” an online tax account as they go.  Both Peachtree and Quick Books are already set up to handle multi-state sales taxes.  As Harry points-out CCH apparently has an online service that can handle most of this.

      Then, again, the out of state retailers don’t actually have to go that far.  They can simply report the sales in the respective states and let the states collect the use tax.

        1. What jadodd is saying (something I was saying to you a year ago, when I suggested you set up an online sales tax processing company like the one you’re proposing above) is you only have to make the payments to the states, and then they distribute to all their sub-entities. You don’t have to make payments to or “establish relationships” with 70,000 different taxing districts, or even the 7,000 that actually exist.

          1. make it difficult.  The state collects and then forwards to everyone (hundreds of jurisdictions) but not to the home rules.  A retailer has to remit directly to the home rules.  Because they can also have different tax bases from the state they are what really complicates Colorado.  Colorado is ranked usually the second or third most complex sales tax state.  It shows how little that really bothers the business community (other than bitching about it) as Colorado is regularly ranked in the top five states for business climate.  

    5. If it is as easy as RedGreen, harrydoby, etc. think it is – then there is a very lucrative business here for someone to implement. 99% of the start-ups out there don’t have the bandwidth to set up even 50 payment relationships. (Not to mention that the bureaucracy they would encounter will drive most entrepreneurs bat-shit insane.)

      So if it is easy – well a lot of very successful companies have been created providing something that is easy to do, but others thought was hard.

      1. And like ADP, you could do this at no charge and make your profit off the float on the tax payments.

        While the technical hurtles don’t seem to be insurmountable (my wife, the interior designer, filed a ridiculous number of sales tax forms for all the locations she did business as well — or more accurately, her bookkeeper did), convincing small companies to pay for this service does appear to be the real challenge.

        1. However, that approach does really well. It depends on how long you get to hold on to the payments where you collect when a company receives payment and pay when the taxing authority requires payment.

          Companies are willing to pay when that payment is less or the same as handling it them-self and it’s not core to their expertise. You could probably start off charging plus making money off the float. But as competitors entered the market, if the float was sufficient, that’s where you would probably end up.

          You definitely should be able to provide it for less than each company would incur handling it themself.

      2. It’s probably not that easy, but it’s not as impossible as some suggest. Multi-state retailers manage it. The thing is, there isn’t that big of a market for it because most states can’t (or don’t) require out-of-state vendors to collect their sales tax, and it would probably be illegal for you to do so without a sales tax license. But once you do collect, you don’t have to send out 70,000 separate checks — in most cases, you would pay the state and they would distribute, or in some cases counties or home-rule cities. I wonder if that would be transferable to an entity like ADP to collect, get some money on the float, and then remit, either. But if you can look up ZIP-Plus 4 numbers on every address in the country, it can’t be as vexing as some make it out to be to tie that to sales tax rates, and to code your inventory database to account for different merchandise getting taxed by some entities and not others. There just aren’t that many moving parts.

  5. Scott gets zinged for writing letters praising himself

    Trying to counter some of the worst approval ratings in Florida history, Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign has taken to writing letters praising him for his supporters to send to newspaper editors.

    On his campaign website, Scott has a pre-written letter that can be sent to newspapers to celebrate his work as governor.

    “While politicians usually disappoint us and rarely keep their promises, Rick is refreshing because he’s keeping his word,” the letter states.

    It is a particularly interesting tactic given that Scott himself told reporters in January that he doesn’t read newspapers and has refused to meet with any editorial boards during his campaign for governor.

    http://politicalinsider.blogs….

    And in case the hooting idiots of this fine website decide to claim it’s just a “lib’ryul media hit job” perchance you could direct your web browser to Gov Scott’s website and see it for yourself:

    http://www.rickscottforflorida…

    Double-plus Good!

    1. Florida is apparently collectively kicking itself in the ass for electing him, in spite of weak Dem opponent. Should start investigating recall.  

      1. ….pretty easy to grab a “free” show on the Santa Monica promenade where they’d play for tips, and then catch them at Rusty’s Surf Ranch on the Pier.

        My favorite: Sad Cowboy Song!

  7. As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.

    George Orwell

    Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

    George Orwell

    During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

    George Orwell

      1. He’s bored.  He doesn’t watch tennis.  He doesn’t watch baseball.  He doesn’t go outside to picnic, watch fireworks, or do anything else.  In order to live, he needs to say stupid shit and get a reaction out of normal people the way most of us need to breathe oxygen.

    2. Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

      John Stuart Mill

      A conservative is someone who believes in reform. But not now.

      Mort Sahl

      A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal as opposed to the conservative, who has both feet firmly planted in his mouth.

      Jacques Barzun

  8. He was an embittered atheist, the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him.

    George Orwell

    If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.

    George Orwell

    In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.

    George Orwell

    2. A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.

      Woodrow Wilson

      A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.

      Franklin D. Roosevelt

      A conservative is a fellow who thinks a rich man should have a square deal.

      Frank Dane  

    3. I take this new obsession with George Orwell as a clue.  Pretty sure I was first assigned “Animal Farm” in Jr. High back in the day. Strongly suspect Mark G is not much more than 14. Happy 4th to all.  Remember the sunscreeen.    

  9. So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.

    George Orwell

    The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor.

    George Orwell

    The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.

    George Orwell

    3. A conservative believes nothing should be done for the first time.

      Thomas Fuller

      A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

      Benjamin Disraeli

      A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

      Woodrow Wilson  

  10. …as often as Republican’ts LOVE to try and dress themselves up in Reagan’s legacy, they always seem to blithely ignore how he got sh*t done.

    Ghost of Gipper looms over GOP

    With the nation at risk of default next month, the Republicans’ fierce anti-tax orthodoxy is running square into the Ghost of the Gipper- the GOP’s great modern, pre-tea party hero, Ronald Reagan.

    Indeed, a POLITICO review of Reagan’s own budget documents shows that the Republican president repeatedly signed deficit-reduction legislation in the 1980’s that melded annual tax increases with spending cuts just as President Barack Obama is now asking Congress to consider.

    The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) is the most famous, because of its historic size and timing, a dramatic course correction that quickly followed Reagan’s signature income tax cuts in 1981. But in the six years after were four more deficit-reduction acts, which combined to almost double TEFRA’s revenue impact on an annual basis.

    http://www.politico.com/news/s…

    But, as we have discussed on the pages of this fine website, Reagan couldn’t be nominated for President, since the jackwads running the GOP would call him a RINO…

  11. I know most of the Teapublicans on this site have never read the Constitution past the 2nd Amendment, but you  might want to brush up on it for when the President ignores your jackass representatives in Congress:


    WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) is rejecting one solution to the debt limit impasse being floated by Democrats that argues the president has the authority to ignore the ceiling because it is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.

    “That’s crazy talk,” said Cornyn on “Fox News Sunday.”

    The 14th Amendment reads, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned.”

    If the White House were to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional, it could continue to meet its financial obligations and leave many Republicans and Tea Party members in the tough spot of arguing against the plain wording of the Constitution.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

    More info:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

    A Federal Website (that ‘tad claims is completely unnecessary) devoted to the Constitution:

    http://www.archives.gov/exhibi…

        1. ..the Avs sign a used-up castoff goalie after trading for a 2nd-string hopeful that may end up being productive sometime during the 2014 season.

          The Kings now have a the two better players from the Flyers, having intentionally avoided the Brad Richards pyramid scheme to get Simon Gagne for a much more affordable price…while trading away loser cap-hit Ryan Smith back to the tundra he deserves.

          Kings – Playoffs. Avs – Top five draft pick in 2012, which they traded to the Caps.

          BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  13. or just call him a monumental dumbass…I do hope he was an organ donor…


    Upstate NY motorcyclist dies after hitting head on pavement during protest against helmet laws

    ONONDAGA, N.Y. – Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike’s handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

    The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York near Syracuse.

    State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.

    Troopers say Contos hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

    Troopers say Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

  14. Once Greece goes…

    Where is the agency in that person’s life, the meaningful space for political-economic action? She is made the scapegoat, the victim, of decisions made at altitudes far above her daily life – and the same goes for all the people undergoing ‘austerity’, not just in Greece. The austerity is supposed to be a consequence of us all having had it a little bit too easy (this is an attitude which is only very gently implied in public, but it’s there, and in private it is sometimes spelled out). But the thing is, most of us don’t feel we did have it particularly easy. When you combine that with the fact that we have so little real agency in our economic lives, we tend to feel we don’t deserve much of the blame. This feeling, which is strong enough in Ireland and Iceland, and which will grow steadily stronger in the UK, is so strong in Greece that the country is heading for a default whose likeliest outcome, by far, is a decade of misery for ordinary Greeks.

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