Bye, Bye Credit

Well, my wife is just too curious. She went across the street last night to pick up a real estate flier on the two town homes that are for sale over there. In doing so, she also got the lowdown on some new units that are being built down the street from us, two of which are exactly the same as ours. Therein lies the problem.

Those new units are listed for $5,000 less than we paid for ours. That proves something I was afraid of when we bought, and translates into our builder taking the better part of that $8,000 government credit for new homebuyers.

I already calculated that, by withdrawing from my IRA to pay for this place, I put myself into a higher tax bracket for the federal return, and I owed the state of Georgia for the first time ever. That amounted to a little over $4,000 of that $8,000 credit.

Now I can add to that the $5,000 that the real estate agent and her husband, the builder, stole from me by raising the price. That leaves me $1,000 in the hole on my wonderful government credit.

I wonder how many others got taken the same way.

Oh, one other thing on those fliers… If you buy before a certain date, the builder will throw in a refrigerator, washer and drier for free. Now I'm over $2,000 in the hole.

I’m trying hard not to get too exercised about this, because I do have a home free and clear, and there are a lot of people out there who lost their homes or are upside down on their mortgage. I just wish Judy had left well enough alone and not been so nosey. I’d have preferred to live in ignorant bliss.

A Nation in Disgrace

I am not writing my column this week as a political statement. I would write it with just as much invective and temper if the roles were reversed and the other party was in power.

No, I am writing this as a patriotic American Citizen and I am ashamed of the events of this past week, when a foreign president of a nation that purposefully exports riff-raff, criminals, and known terrorists to the United States can come to our country and speak with our president and our congress in opposition to a federal law that is only now being enforced on a portion of our border with his nation, and actually be cheered and given a standing ovation for that opposition.

What a disgrace!

Of course this is a hot issue, and there are two sides to it, and many will say, “How can you defend this state, which is breaking federal and human rights laws? Arizona is on the wrong side of this issue.”

Well, you are not only wrong, you are dead wrong! (I hope that is not prophetic)

It has come to light–and I give Wolf Blitzer full credit for this–that Eric Holder, Our Attorney General, has not even read the bill he is criticizing. Not only that, but several other federal officials, including Janet Napolitano and, yes, President Obama, have said that they have not read the bill either. Yet they have the gall to take a stand against it and call it “unconstitutional.”

Apparently, most of the members of Congress also have not read the bill they are so critical of, because they stood and cheered President Calderon for his anti-Arizona–and hence anti-American–speech.

Maybe our representatives and senators owe it to us to actually read Arizona SB 1070.

Maybe you owe it to yourself to read the bill, too.

Here, for your perusal, is the “infamous” document, SB 1070. If you don’t read it, then you are not informed, and there is nothing more dangerous to our nation than an uninformed public that votes.

The bill is only 16 pages, so it shouldn’t take up more than an hour of your time. I can give you a preview of what you will read, however. SB 1070 makes frequent and purposeful references to federal law as the guiding document. And when I say frequent, I mean there are 20 specific citations of federal statutes as the overruling and guiding law, plus numerous references to deferral or subservience to federal authorities and federal statutes.

Just in case you are still unconvinced that I am righteous in my indignation at our elected federal officials, here are two investigative news clips from station WSB in Atlanta that detail who is actually coming across our southern border.
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438021/index.html

http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438712/index.html
If you can read SB 1070 and watch those two short videos and still support the criminals in Washington on this issue, you are worse than one of those uninformed citizens. You are an ignorant American.

Road Tripping

I’ve gotten myself into something new and interesting. It involves writing, and you all know how much I love to write. It also involves travel, another of my favorite hobbies. It is also about assisting others who are either traveling out of necessity, or are coming to the USA as tourists.

I have been posting to a website for people who want to, or have to, drive from one place to another. The website RoadTripAmerica.com is a resource for those people. They can write a paragraph or two describing where they are originating and ending the trip, when they plan to travel, and–optional–what they would like to see along the way. Others will then post replies with information to help with the itinerary.

Since I have traveled extensively, I find this a neat way to share with others, and also to learn for myself. Just reading some of the threads gives me ideas for future road trips. However, I was invited by the web host to contribute route articles to the forum, and that is what I am writing about today.

One type of route article is a small road trip that covers only the mileage that can be comfortably driven in one day, 200-300 miles maximum. It includes several points of interest along the way, with mileages and map routes to those waypoints. The traveler may opt not to visit all the waypoints, but they won’t miss something they really wanted to see and didn’t know about.

Another article would be one that is designed specifically for the person who wants to see or visit as many attractions as possible on a pleasure trip. This person typically has no set deadline to reach a certain destination, and is on a holiday or vacation adventure. He or she can take whatever time is needed and alter routes to reach scenic, exotic or thematic sites.

Even with all of my travel experience, I cannot count the number of times I’ve driven past some great attractions that I just didn’t know were there so close by. When I learned of them later on, I was devastated that I had missed the opportunity.

That is where RoadTripAmerica.com comes in. If you know in advance what is going to be close to the route you are driving, you can probably tailor your itinerary to visit those that you think you will find interesting.

One of the newest innovations of the website is a map on the left side that you can click on. When it comes up full on your screen, merely click on the section of the country you wish to visit and you can find brief articles (road trips) for that region. These are being added to every day. If you don’t see one that fits your itinerary, just click on the Forum tab and start your own thread to get some input from seasoned travelers who’ve probably been there already.

If this information is of interest to you, I invite you to visit the website and browse through the different forums, photos, and route articles to acquaint yourself with what is available. I recommend it for anyone who has a road trip to make that will allow some time to explore. It might give you some great ideas.

Unrhyming Words

Last weekend I performed in a stage play about Irving Berlin, and I learned something interesting. Berlin took on a challenge to write a poem that used the word orange with a rhyming word. He successfully rhymed the word a few minutes later:

“Brother Bill and I once stole a cellar door;
And Bill was eating an orange.
He stole the hind hinge,
And I stole the fore hinge.”

That poem was composed by Berlin about one hundred years ago. However, there is still a message that travels the email circuit today to the effect that there are four words in the English language that cannot be rhymed: month, orange, purple and silver.

A couple of years ago I took on the challenge in much the same manner as Irving Berlin had done so long before me–not that I equate myself with the late, great songwriter–and composed four short poems rhyming those words. Here is (was?) the result.

Poem #1 – Month

I used to have a little lisp
I had it for about a month.
The doctor says I’m almost cured,
But you can tell I had it onth.

Poem #2 – Purple

Bill and I were hauling rope
To tow a wagon up a slope.
Bill yanked so hard that he turned purple.
He quit, and gasped, “Well, now it’s your pull.”

Poem #3 – Orange

Angela ate an apple,
She ate it to the core.
She liked the fruit so much that
She said, “I’ll eat some more.”

She couldn’t find an apple,
So she chose to eat an orange.
I said, “You’ll have a peel left,
But there isn’t any core, Ange.”

I know, I know, that time I included a nickname, but it did rhyme. The last one was the most difficult, and I was forced to take liberties that only the great poets are granted. Well this isn’t The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. It’s doggerel, and I do have three poems under my pen, so here it comes...

Poem #4 – Silver

I am a thief and I work in a vault.
It’s filled with gold and silver.
I don’t steal gold, ‘cause it weighs too much,
So the silver’s what I pilfer.

So here we are a whole century later, and people still try to promote the legend that there are certain words that don’t rhyme. And there are still people like myself who accept the challenge and prove those doubters wrong. I feel honored to be able to compete with the likes of Irving Berlin in doing so.

A Weighty Problem

I went to see my cardiologist the end of March. I was weighed in as usual, and the scale read 225. I was shocked.

I stand 6 feet 1 inch tall—my wife says that I cheat an inch and am only 6 feet—and my ideal body weight is between 170-180 pounds. I have noticed lately that a lot of the clothes in my closet seem to be shrinking, and I keep telling Judy to stop using the hot water when she washes them.

When I finally saw the doctor, I noticed that he looked a lot slimmer than the last time I had an appointment. It turns out he’s been on a diet and has shed about 40 pounds in the six months since my last visit.

I decided right then and there, even without the doctor’s advice, that I had two alternative and demanding choices to choose between: Either I have to lose around 40-50 pounds, or I have to grow 10 inches.

Seriously, I asked the doctor what kind of diet he would recommend. He said that Weight Watchers had helped him, and it would benefit me to join if only to get the instructions and not necessarily the food they sell. He advised that I join for at least two months and see how it goes.

Well, I am a cheapskate! When I got home and went online, I found that I could join Weight Watchers for three months for a total cost of $65. Nah! That was more than I wanted to pay.

I determined that I could make my own diet with some online aids that are free, and I found one that seemed to fill the bill, CalorieConnect. I logged in and started keeping a daily journal of my food consumption and exercise.

I started my new regimen on April Fools Day (is that prophetic?) and it has now been a month, and I am proud to say that I’ve lost 14 pounds. I still cannot fit into those clothes, and as far as I can tell, my waist hasn’t shrunk along with my weight. However, I feel a lot better, and I know I’m eating healthier foods in lesser quantities.

My goal now is to get down to 200 pounds by the time I go on my late-June road trip. I’d also like to be able to fit into a pair of pants with a 36-inch waist again. I have a lot of those hanging in the closet that I haven’t worn in over a year.

Oh, that website that I was using was okay, but too hard to work with. It is British, after all, and all the measures were metric. Besides that, a lot of the foods I eat, simple and healthy as they may be, are not even listed there. I gave up keeping the journal last week, but I still weigh myself every day and I do keep track of the caloric content of whatever I eat.

One nice side benefit of my new regimen is that I no longer drive all the way to the mall to walk. Instead, I walk my neighborhood and up in the very peaceful cemetery across from our housing subdivision. You may recall that the cemetery is the very one I wrote about a couple of months ago in my column, “Finding My Niche.” Well, now I can look for what might be my final resting place there. There seems to be plenty of niches left.

Behind Closed Doors

I am going to depart from my customary avoidance of politics today, so I want to warn those of you who are supporters of the current administration in advance. I prefer that everyone read this column, so I offer you an alternative for you. Merely reverse the party names and consider how you would feel about the topic if the opposite case were true.

I received another of those urgent messages last week asking (no, demanding) that I call my representative in the House of Representatives about a piece of proposed legislation that would give Washington, DC–population 660,000–one representative in that body of Congress.

In an effort to bring the recalcitrant Republicans on board, a concession was going to be made allowing one extra representative from Utah, bringing the House membership to 437. The reason for these two strange actions might not be obvious to you, so let me enlighten you.

The population of Washington is heavily Democrat by about 3-to-1 over Republicans or any other party. That would produce a virtual permanent Democrat seat in Congress. However, Utah has a similar but opposite weighting of Republicans over Democrats. The extra representative from Utah, most likely to be Republican, would balance the mix in the House.

The bill to add the two extra representatives never even came to a vote, however, so my call was not needed. It died before being voted on due to another provision of the bill that was so distasteful to the Democrats that they refused to bring it to a vote. That controversial add-on was a repeal of the strict gun laws that apply to all Washingtonians.

Well, what really happened here? It seems like a small victory for Republicans and an equally small defeat for Democrats. It only involved two seats out of 437, and they were evenly balanced, weren’t they? Why was Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the Majority Leader, so incensed over it?

Here is the reason it is so critical. Once Washington, DC has a representative in the House of Representatives, there will be a precedent set to change the status from District to State. That’s right, the city of Washington could conceivably become our 51st state.

And what do you suppose happens when Washington, DC becomes–well, not Washington State, that name is already taken–Columbia, our new state? The new guys become eligible for representation in the Senate as well as the House. Yes, two new senators would be authorized, and guess from what party they would come. Of course they would be Democrats. Can you even imagine a Republican ever winning in that minority stronghold?

Still another possible outcome would be a request that Puerto Rico also be granted representation and statehood. And then Guam might follow suit. Pretty soon all of our territories and protectorates will want that, too. Again I ask, what party do you think would have a heavy weighting among those populations?

This is just too much of a “teachable moment” for me to pass it up. Once again we have some unintended consequences coming into play, except these are definitely not “unintended.” I know that lots of we, the people might have been fooled, but I doubt that anyone in Congress had the wool pulled over their eyes.

Income Tax Day

Well, we finally made it to that day when all the 2009 taxes become due, even though we are still about two months away from earning enough to pay all our income tax for this year. Isn’t that ironic?

I sent my taxes due, $132, on Monday, but only because I don’t care to wait until the last hour of the last day to get it over with. I knew what I owed over two months ago, but I was in no hurry to pay it.

Now some of you out there probably filed for extensions, but I certainly hope you made the effort to estimate what your liability would be and then sent in a check for that amount if you owe. The extension isn’t a permission slip to delay payment, only a means of waiting until all the necessary documents are received that need to be filed with the Form 1040. There are stiff penalties for late payment.

I don’t mind telling you that my wife and I got that $8,000 refundable credit for purchase of a new home, but I didn’t get any check from the IRS or the Treasury Department. No, I still owed a couple thousand dollars, and that is despite the fact that I had no earned income in 2009. Everything I got and spent was either from my pension, Social Security, IRA withdrawals, interest or dividends.

By the way, I used a term in the last paragraph that requires some explanation: refundable credit. There are two types of credits allowable on tax forms. One is the refundable credit, while the other is a non-refundable credit.

A refundable credit, like my $8,000 credit for purchase of a home, is paid regardless of how much tax you are liable for. If I had owed $1,000 after I determined my taxable income, I would have received a check for $7,000 plus whatever I had had withheld or had paid in estimated tax payments.

A non-refundable credit is only excluded from whatever your liability is. If I was liable for $1,000 and had a non-refundable credit of $1,200, I would not receive a check for $200, but I would owe $0 and could get a check for whatever taxes were withheld or paid in estimated payments throughout the year. My refund could not exceed my tax liability. That is why the credit is called non-refundable

I know this is confusing for most of us, but that is, after all, why I’m all for the Fair Tax. I even have an avatar in Washington today in a “virtual tax rally.” I didn’t have to go physically, but my stand-in is there with thousands of others. It is about time that our 66,000+ pages of tax code were scrapped in favor of a national sales tax.

April 15th should have been a happy day for me, since I qualified for that $8,000 tax refund, but it never feels good when you have to write a check in addition to everything you already paid in during the year.