May the Goat Curse continue to work...

The Ricketts family is against “wasteful government spending” unless it helps make them rich

It's funny that Joe Ricketts is so passionate against “wasteful government spending” when his family, led by son, Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts, has just asked the people of Illinois to borrow $300 million in a bond offering so that it can rehab Wrigley Field. This request follows a vote in Mesa, AZ which guaranteed the Cubs $84 million in public funds to build a new spring training stadium and facility.

Why yes, he's like a circus show attraction: Come SEE the World's BIGGEST ASSHOLE and his stupid fucking hair!

Trump: 'I'm the biggest celebrity'

Q: How will you attract celebrities to your new Chicago hotel?

A: I think we're getting most of them because the name Trump attracts celebrities. When you get right down to it, who's the biggest celebrity in the world? Donald Trump. At least, my wife says that.

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Death and not being a Phocking Moron.

Here's my thing with taxes. If you want to pay lower taxes, you always have the option of making less money. If you want to make more money you have to pay higher taxes. If you want to make lots of money and pay low taxes (or no taxes) then you are a douchenozzle.

Got into a fight with another lawyer the other day who assured me that my taxes would go up with Obama. I told him I had crunched the numbers already and that he was right, my family stands to pay something between $100 and $2,500 in extra taxes per year with Obama. And we would get something like a $5,000 tax cut with McCain [Ed.: in return for our son' being drafted to die in Iran [Ed. Ed.: or live out a comfortable life with his parents in Canada]]. I told him we didn't really care about paying more if the money was put to good use, to which he called me an idiot. He suggested that I didn't care about making money and I generally agreed with him. In my best jobs, I served as a volunteer. But then I really sent him for a loop and told him we were making lots of money and are doing okay and that as long as I know my taxes ahead of time, I can adjust accordingly. Again names - of course this time he was a little reluctant - because his worldview was that people who make more were superior and I could see he was a little concerned about whether I made more than him. I told him I really only care about my net income not my gross, and he didn't know what to do with himself.

Then I got to thinking about this. I mean seriously - If I offered to give you $100, taking a $95 percent processing fee - would you turn it down? If your boss offered to pay you $1 million a year gross, and your net after taxes would rise by only $10,000 - would you turn it down? How? Now - I support Republicans and fiscal conservatives in their effort to end graft, fraud, etc. but all this crap about govt. standing in you way - ugh. How the hell is government standing in your way if you are making like $19,000 a year. That was how much I made in my first job out of college. I wasn't worried about the govt. hurting me - but I was kind of pissed at my boss.

I kind of liked Biden's answer about taxes and fairness but he can only get out half the story. I liked Sarge's take on it - if I am remembering correctly. The self made man is dead. When you make your money using government education, roads, water, power, policing, fire protection, the government is entitled to its cut. The more you make, the more you have to thank the government for not allowing your bank accounts to be electronically drained, for not allowing your mansion to go up in flames, for having police watch the roads your limo drives on and for firing/beating all the union members who threatened to put you out of business. (too far?). There is no way you would have made the money without the system you are operating within. Try making some money in a country without a government. Now there's a self made man. This is why I support a 0% tax rate on all entrepreneurs in Somalia.

Another black mark on McCain: he's white

Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rules - Look Beyond The Candidates’ Skin Color

On Real Time with Bill Maher’s New Rules segment, host Bill Maher exhorts viewers not to assume the worst about John McCain just because of the color of his skin.

All right, new rule: you cannot attain foreign policy experience by rubbing Henry Kissinger. He is a former Secretary of State, not Buddha.

New rule: next time we get in an enormous financial crisis, the guy we’re depending on to get us out of it can’t look like Col. Klink. Not asking for the world.

New rule: If men could admit they watch NASCAR for the crashes, women can admit they watch fashion shows to see skinny chicks fall on their ass. Ooh, that one was touchy.

New rule: food from China that isn’t Chinese food isn’t food. The latest example, tainted Chinese milk. Health experts say fake milk can cause bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, fatigue, rashes and asthma. Oh wait, that’s real milk. People still not on the fact that milk is poison.

Okay, new rule: you can’t call it coming out of the closet when the door was wide open, the closet was made of glass and everyone can see you in there having gay sex. Clay Aiken says he came out because he didn’t want to lie to his infant son. Dude, even the baby knew you were gay. I can’t wait to see next week’s issue of People Magazine.

And finally, new rule: a candidate for President should not be judged by the color of his skin. And to…and to anyone who thinks differently, I say please do not reject John McCain just because he’s white. I think the recent news from Wall Street has made us all less tolerant and only reinforce the stereotype that white people are shiftless, thieving welfare queens.

Now, take a look at these pictures. Here are the CEOs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and the Lehman Brothers. I know the first thing that jumps out about these faces is that they all happen to be white, and they all happen to be responsible for stealing. But what you have to understand is that these whites are a product of a society that made them that way. It was the neighborhoods and the schools they went to: Harvard, Yale, the Wharton School of Business. They never learned the value of doing real, actual work and the first step to fixing that is better role models, so kids growing up white today don’t think the only way out of Westchester is corporate crime. Or a government handout or sailing. So I get it, the temptation is to look at McCain and vote against him because you don’t see an individual, you just see another typical welfare whitey.

And it’s true, he’s spent his entire life shuffling from one low-paying government job to another. Well, except those years he spent in prison. Typical! And between you and me, he’s not very articulate. Oh, he may have some street smarts, but he’s not what you call an educated man. He freely admits he’s ignorant about the economy. And apparently the only thing his white running mate knows how to do is crank out one baby after another. And now of course, her teenage daughter is pregnant out of wedlock. Because she learns it at home! But that doesn’t mean we should assume all white people are like that, just because so many of them are. I believe there is hope. I believe even the stupidest, greediest, laziest whites can break the cycle of dependence like this November when we finally move George Bush out of public housing.

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rich phokks in the news (cont'd)

More class war yammering on from the commies who publish The Nation.

...the holders of great wealth — especially if they are organized into a political lobby of similar holders of great wealth — can buy not only more goods, more capital, and more people. They can also buy (through the vehicle of campaign contributions) more important people: politicians and other public officials and therefore public policies.

Some of these bought policies may be for the purpose of making the rich even richer, most obviously the current regressive tax policies of the Bush administration. The wealth of the very rich is never the product of free enterprise and the free market alone but comes by operating within and exploiting a network of government supports, such as licenses, regulations, subsidies, and contracts. It is the product of a sort of giveaway. Consequently, to reduce the taxes on wealth (estate taxes) or on the income from wealth (capital-gains taxes), when that wealth has been acquired with one or another kind of government support, is in effect to give the wealth holder an additional give-away...

Having even more wealth than they had before, the very rich can thus buy even more government supports and giveaways and acquire even more wealth, enabling them to buy even more government supports and giveaways. And so on. The result of great wealth buying public policies is a positive feedback loop, or perhaps a vicious cycle, which transfers ever greater wealth and power to the very rich and away from everyone else.

Then again, what would you expect from... wait... that article appeared in The American Conservative. Sorry.

The Most Vital Infrastructure in America

WASHINGTON (AP) - Plans for a levitating train from Las Vegas to Disneyland can move forward under a transportation bill signed by President Bush on Friday that frees up $45 million for the futuristic project.

Derided by critics as pie in the sky, the train would use magnetic levitation technology to carry passengers from Disneyland to Las Vegas in well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph.

Everything's for sale

It looks like the Cubs are now selling the off days on their Cubs.com schedule.

Check out May 22nd. Next up Sam Zell will sell the naming rights to his goatee.