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When are the tax hikes being implemented for those who make over $1,000,000?

May 20, 698 by ez f | Posted in Other - Politics & Government

My helpmeet and I are both doctors and we are fairly young and just beginning to start making some good money. However, suddenly, this guy Obama is growing to punish us for our success. Why?

You should have paid off the loans before buying all that valuable stuff... I guess your not that smart!

What would you do in this situation?

Dec 22, 2009 by cutewhitedaisy | Posted in Pregnancy

I am 38 weeks pointed and I'm overwhelmed with medical bills. I have insurance and my insurance is playing a bunch of games and refusing to pay for non-fluctuating claims. I owe my doctors office around $1000 and they said 2 weeks ago they wouldn't see

Try it see if you can have medcaid helpers you. Your husband may make to much but given your circumstances the worst they can say is no. Also with your special needs son qualifes for sexual security disability. Get a letter from your doctor stating your

Red to Black: Improving the Collection of Delinquent Debt Owed to the Government

Red to Villainous: Improving the Collection of Delinquent In financial difficulty Owed to the Government - House Management Committee - 2011-03-11 - House Cabinet on ...

January 1, 2010

Greets and Huggers.  Posted the evening of January 1, 2010.  Today is the evening of the first day of another decennial/year.  I remember watching, with Susan, 2000 roll in with all the “end of the world” hype. Didn’t happen. Yesterday, Susan sent in the check for our “property taxes” and a check for “Quarterly Income Taxes”.  I won’t share the amounts  …  but SURE made us bleed . And I wonder, was it worth it?  Tempered by watching folks on CNN, in Iran, take to the streets  …  seek THEIR voice in their government,  social justice and security   …   reminds me   …  in our America, due to the Second Amendment  …  I have the RIGHT and the ability, to have enough weaponry at Ft Timmerman to hold off the Chinese Communist Army for a couple of hours, should they desire to invade.  Break into my home?  Do so at your own risk, I can rely on the “ Castle Doctrine “.   Should a local cop, or the local political powers that are, target me for dissenting  …  I have recourse in our courts, the third branch of our government. History teaches, they will lose.  I can walk the streets and feel safe in my home because we remain a nation of laws, enforced by our men and women in uniform, (civil and military)  …  funded, for the most part, not by graft  …  but the taxes you and I pay.  And that begs the question, who will pay?  Simple. Due to choices made this year, our children and their children  …   and for now,  those of us who toiled in the fields, this past year.  We spent years learning how to hold the hoe, work the row, sacrificed for our families, paid student loan debts, and made enough money to trigger an income tax liability.  Accumulated enough, to owe substantial property taxes.  Some did not   …  because, perhaps, they had no desire or need to do so  …  [one of the most contentious debates ever on the SFIG was about the “ Ants and Grasshopper ” Fable!!]  For the past few years, some grasshoppers played in the fields,  and survived due to mild winters.  But this year, with a tough economic winter coming,  facing death  … some demanded ants share what they had worked hard to store, suggested ants have a moral obligation to share, so that grasshoppers can survive.  Is there a moral obligation to do so?  Grasshoppers have a great lobby in Washington. So do the owners of the fields they played in.  Some voted themselves obscene bonuses.  Some ants lived on what they stored because they could not find a row to hoe, (unemployment remains at unacceptably high levels.)  So share with me  …  do ants have a lobby/representation in Washington? All said and done?  I don’t mind writing a check to provide funds to protect me and mine, fund our government, if that government is limited, and focused on protecting me and mine from social, economic and physical predators. As for grasshoppers?  Let them reap as they sow.  History teaches, that saving grasshoppers only results in more grasshoppers.

Debates/posts on the SFIG this past year, were relatively mild, perhaps because it was not an election year.  Even the vigorous discussion of “Health Care Reform”, by SFIG standards, was civil. SFIG “family” members, for the most part, adhered to the Nettiquette Haiku .  And I remain puzzled by some of the posts from members of our little “Family” this past year.   Someone commenting about me being able to afford upgrading to a D700  …  while they vacationed in Mexico.  Another sharing  …  they didn’t need a “Vacation Rule” because they have a deal worked out with another Solo which allows them to take off whenever they wish  …  and suggested a “Vacation Rule” may limit their ability to take a vacation.  Share with me how having the ability to designate a time for you and your family to take time off, would in any way limit your ability, to do so? Share with me how creating/expanding/codifying an ability you already have, into a “right”,  could/would decrease or limit that ability? Instead, wouldn’t it be a way of encouraging our “Puppy Sharks” to take time off and refocus on what is important in the practice of law   …  and life in general? 

Somalia’s gross national product in 2008 was 2.6 billion dollars.  It has a population of approximately 9.8 million people, who have an average yearly income of $600.00, with a life expectancy of 49 years, (the median age being 17.8).  It does not have a viable government:  just clans and “Warlords”.  Last year, Somali Pirates attacked 214 vessels and successfully hijacked 47.  As of today, there are 12 ships with 263 crews members being held for ransom.  The average ransom amount is $2 million dollars.  35 ships and their crew were released after the ransom was paid.  ( CNN ) — Hijacked ships released off Somalia.  “A Singapore-flagged container ship hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia was released Monday, according to the European Union Naval Force Somalia.  The Kota Wajar, with a crew of 21, was the second hijacked ship released in as many days. A Chinese bulk carrier, the De Xin Hai, and its crew of 25 were released on Sunday, NAVFOR said. Both ships were hijacked in October.”  …  “Somali pirates have seized two vessels, the International Maritime Bureau said Tuesday. The UK-flagged chemical tanker St. James Park, with 23 crew members aboard, was attacked at 14:49 UTC Monday (9:49 a.m. ET), said Michael Howlett, spokesman for the Maritime Bureau  …  A second vessel, the Navios Apollon bulk carrier, sailing under Panamanian flag and carrying 19 crew members, was attacked at 18:47 UTC Monday (1:47 p.m. ET).”  The United “The United States lacks the intelligence needed to pursue the fight against pirates on Somali soil, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Saturday.  His comments came days after the U.S. delegation at the United Nations circulated a draft resolution that would give countries the right to pursue pirates on land as well as at sea. Analysts say that pursuing pirates on land is crucial to any military response to attacks that have targeted dozens of ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean in recent months. “With the level of information we have at the moment, we’re not in a position to do that kind of land-based operation,”  Gates told a regional security conference in Bahrain. “Our first need is intelligence, (to know) who is behind it.”  Referring to media reports that “two to three clans or extended families” were behind the pirate attacks on ships off the Somali coast, Gates said: “If we can identify who those clans are then we can operate on land under the auspices of the United Nations and seek out ways to minimize collateral damage.”   “Scientists have discovered how a promising cancer drug, first discovered in a wild mushroom, works.  The University of Nottingham team believe their work could help make the drug more effective, and useful for treating a wider range of cancers. Cordycepin , commonly used in Chinese medicine , was originally extracted from a rare kind of parasitic mushroom that grows on caterpillars.”  “The Supreme Court in Montana has ruled that nothing in the state’s law prevents patients from seeking medical assistance to commit suicide. The ruling paves the way for Montana to become the third US state alongside Washington and Oregon to allow patients to seek the procedure  …  Doctors will now be able to prescribe the necessary drugs to the terminally ill without fear of prosecution.”   I have no doubt, given “Health Care Reform”,  patients will be given the option of seeking medical assistance for end of life issues.  It is a most cost effective solution, isn’t it? I also have no doubt, medical care will, at some point, have to be rationed because “Health Care Reform” doesn’t address the real underlying problem:  cost.  An answer is contingent on the question asked. At some point the question shifted from “ Sitting here editing the Ramblings, the “Editorial Staff” hunkered down, (it is REALLY cold outside!!)  We held a “7 Bells Sanctuary ” board meeting today, (by telephone conference).  The news? We incorporated, applied for and recieved 501(c)(3) status and  received our sales tax exemption from the State of Missouri, this past year.  We rescued 312 dogs, adopting out 102!! In a couple of weeks, on January 15th, I will celebrate my 62nd birthday, (never thought, I would live this long!!)  My daughter shared this past week, she is engaged to be married, to a really nice young man, (I have NO desire to kill him, and she does love him  …  doesn’t get any better than that  …  does it?)  Also, in another couple of weeks, our Board of Governors will meet to plan MoBar’s long term objectives.  The last long term plan included an “access to the courts” goal.  That resulted in the “Pro Se Commission”. which resulted in “Dissolution Kits” being made available on-line.  I remain opposed to providing the means for folks to harm themselves.  If the purpose for lawyers being licensed is to protect the public, why would we encourage folks to harm themselves  …  and why isn’t our Bar actively lobbying for tougher sanctions for the unauthorized practice of law?  I would encourage our BOG to highlight that as a goal.  Time to post these Ramblings and spend the rest of this evening working on some images.  Later as I drift off to sleep, I will say a prayer of thanks for having had a good year to share with Susan.  And a prayer for the safe and soon return of our men and women in uniform, (care to join me?)  Be and sleep well, the best there is, is walking the walk so you can.  If my post offends, I apologize  …  that is not my intent.  Susan and I want to wish you and yours a Happy and Prosperous New Year  …  and offer you all, a warm brotherly Hug!

Source: "THE FRIDAY NIGHT RAMBLINGS"

Anti-Depressants Round Two [part 2]

Right so…earlier this year I went through a number of tough times, it overwhelmed me and without me stopping to actually consider things properly for a while, I dropped into heavy depression and was mucho’s ready for some suicide at the peak of it. It’s pretty weird (I guess) that I can openly admit that, and mention it in such a casual context as if it was some everyday normal sort of thing when it wasn’t, but I guess that’s just a thing that has come to be with the fact I went through those bad times.

Anyone who reads my blog (or has skimmed over it a few times before) will probably have gathered that I am quite open with my life, possibly even very open, but it’s a hard thing to compare as you only know as much as someone lets you know really.  The whole depression stage I went through that peaked in early/ mid January was a massive part in who I am today.  The saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is very true, I learnt that the hard way, but I focus on the positive side of it which is that I have definitely evolved as a person this year and picked up some major life experience.  A couple of times this year I’ve had some amazing conversations with some friends…you know, those cool long heart to heart type talks that everyone just really needs once in a while? …and I’ve told my story a number of times, when friends have had difficult break ups, or are bitching about family problems, or debts, or  other things I’ve dealt with.  It’s not like I feel as though I have wise advice to give, but I guess I have some, and sometimes all people need in hard times is just someone to listen to you, and perhaps share a similar experience.  …if I hadn’t of shut myself out when I was depressed, and perhaps told some of my close friends whom I feel I can talk to then I could’ve maybe avoided the severity of how depressed I was.  Although it’s not something I dwell on, as it’s been a learning experience and I believe it has made me a better friend and a better shoulder to cry on or whatever to others.

Back on track though.  After I had rock bottom with depression, came so near to going ahead with an O.D. plan I had in place but backing out due to the “if it goes wrong” risks, I had some sort of flash in my brain that made me realise that I should get some help.  So I saw a doctor, got help, got to talk out how bad things were, and one of the treatments I got was anti-depressants. Now…as I’d never been on them before, and hadn’t really looked into them, I initially thought very low of anti-depressants.  I was under the impression they would just be a placebo.  You take 1 before bed each day, and they’re meant to control the fluids in your brain in a way that stops your brain overloading you with negative thoughts.  Now…I don’t know about you…but when I was told that it just sounded unbelievable and beyond what I thought was possible of a pill.  He said I wouldn’t notice the effects of them working for perhaps 2-4 weeks, but they will work and I should stick to them. …so I did, and…

They worked!  For me at least…they definitely worked.  Now…I was already feeling a lot better after opening up to the doctor about my problems, telling some friends about what i was going through, and blogging about the whole thing (and when I say “better” I mean that I never got anywhere near as close to suicidal again), however after about 2-3 weeks I was generally feeling more positive in day to day life, and even at nights (when I would normally get most vulnerable).  The way I tested this was the same way that some actors would make themselves cry for a scene, I tried thinking of things that were really upsetting, but I just couldn’t get a real impact and could often find a positive side to things.

I was given my anti-depressants in packs of 14, because I had come to them with such a mental instability, they naturally wanted to keep tabs on me, ask me how I was doing, and make sure they were doing all they could to potentially save a life.  Just after 2 months though they finally started giving me monthly amounts as I started to get past depression and was actually having some joy with my life again.  I not only got my confidence back, but I exceeded what I had before and was just a more confident and perhaps more laid back guy all around, and nothing really worried me.  Amazing turn around.  One thing I was told by the doc’s though was that the day I could honestly tell the doctors that I’m fine, I’m definitely out of depression, and feeling great about life again, I would still have to remain on anti-depressants for at least 5-6 months after that stage.  As studies have shown them that people who have been through depression are most likely to relapse back into it in those first 6 months after believing they were better. …and what did I do?…I stopped taking my pills, life seemed fine.  I’d met a load of new friends, I had applied for and got into university (which gave me something to look forward too and gave me a purpose and a sense of direction), I just forgot all about anti-depressants and never bothered making an appointment with the doctors to get more after approximately May (2009).

I spent a lot of the year partying, pretty much spending all the money I made on nights out and social interactions with friends, I had a blast!  So even if my homelife and relationship with my parents was shitty, I had an overpowering force of positive to totally over shadow that.  I even started seeing someone for a while too, which was my first sort of hook up after the messy break up from my first (and only) serious relationship I’d ever had.  So that was a positive too.  I had truly bounced back and was on my feet again.  Although, like I mentioned, I had stopped taking anti-depressants, then approximately late summer, the ground started to crumble…

First up I kind of messed things up with the girl I was seeing.  This was because after the hard time I had dealing with the heart break and drama of the break up (that was a key part of my depression), I didn’t want to “define” things with the girl I was with.  We were great friends and had a lot of fun, but I was worried if it became official…boyfriend and girlfriend…that it would get more serious, and then if we broke up I would be left heartbroken and have  a tough time dealing with it again.  Naturally though after like a few months of seeing each other things had to progress, but I was still unsure about taking the risk, there were other confusions going on too, but then I learned that this girl I was seeing could potentially be going to uni in 2010, and I started thinking about how I personally don’t believe in long term relationships, so now I was thinking more so that if things took off, that it would only end in heartbreak…  In hindsight I’ve been a bit of pussy, I was over-thinking things, and due to my own fears and hesitation I believe I somehow delivered the message that I wanted to break it off, when it’s something I didn’t conclusively decide on.  The thing I regret most about that though is the fact we no longer seem to be on talking terms, so I seem to have lost a friend in the process, as I can’t help but feel there is an awkwardness between us now :\

Anyway I kinda accepted I’d messed things up, and didn’t really know how to fix things, so that chapter just sort of ended.  Then not longer after that my dad started increasing his dickheaded-ness at work, started undermining what I was doing a lot.  He would make presumptions or suggestions about things he wasn’t fully clued up on, and when I could show or tell him that what I was doing was actually for the best, it seems as if he was pissed off he wasn’t right and then that seemed to further damage his (already low) opinion of me.  Anyway, thanks to my Dad putting me down so much I just lost a lot of motivation in my job, and eventually got fired.  The reason for this was because he was irate over some customer who wanted to return something.  I guess the customer was angry on the phone, and my dad took that anger out on me, in a very over the top way by firing me, so I just left.  I think he knows he over-reacted, and I think he expected me to maybe come in grovelling for work the next day, but with his negative remarks and the lack of motivation, plus the fact I was getting very close to starting university, I just accepted the firing, took it as a blessing due to the fact that I wasn’t enjoying work anymore (when at first it was a lot of fun working and managing the stores eBay account), so I just focused on my exciting leap back into education.

So…September comes around Uni starts.  Mucho’s excitement, it’s been hard work, a lot of deadlines, and I have a much busier schedule than a lot of students do this year too (I’ve been in 5 days/over approx 28 hours a week).  Anyway, overall uni has been a great change and I’m committed to it.  However …the big problem for me over the past 3 months has been money.  In the UK when students go to university they generally get a student loan, this is something the government gives out to students to help them pay for things like accommodation, living (food, toiletries, etc), and whatever else.  Naturally you pay this back once you’re in a job when university is over, but you’re meant to have this money from before your educational year starts…however due to the numerous problems this year, and a lot of mess ups on there behalf, I’ve STILL not had my loans yet (3 months late so far, but should have it in Jan).  So I’ve spent the last 3 months scraping by…I’ve sold things of sentimental value to make money just to eat and get to university, and I’ve had to say no to far too many nights out and social activities with friends because I have no money to have such fun.  It’s been a real struggle, I can’t really get a part time job as I’m in uni a lot and don’t have any decent means of transport at the moment, so I’ve been hella HELLA broke.  So this has put a lot of stress on me, and from time to time I have felt myself feeling very shitty about myself, albeit not as bad as I was earlier this year.  Another factor to my recent stress is the fact I still have money I owe companies from last year and this year, stuff I had on finance but couldn’t afford to pay, or just fell behind on paying when I was depressed and have been constantly aggressively chased for.  I’ve recently gotten hold of a free guide pack from some independent debt advice people, I need to have a good look through this and see what I can do to maybe get them to see that I have no way of paying them back until I can get a job next year sometime.  In total I owe just over £2000 I think, so it’s not TOO bad, but still a lot of money for me (a student) to be being chased for in a time where I don’t have any sort of income to deal with that.

It’s not just that I’ve been feeling down from time to time recently, or that I’ve also not had nearly as much opportunity as I’d of liked to hang with friends and lift myself up, I’ve been having some very weird dreams recently too.   In fact this is something that has sparked off my desire to get back on anti-depressants and want to stick to them properly when I do.  These dreams I’ve been having a lot of recently have been very VERY morbid suicidal-related ones.  Dreams were I’ve kind of been like a ghost getting to see the aftermath of the fact I’ve died and the people around me dealing with that and getting past it etc.  It’s been very surreal and very depressing.  I’ve also had dreams were I’ve had these weird adventures to euthanasia camps, and dreams were I’ve gotten hold of a gun, and then planned like a night of normal things, such as maybe watching tv for a bit, playing some video games, eating one of my favourite meals, and then being happy with the thought I could then just pick up the gun and escape my problems.

I want to re-iterate that I’m not as bad as I was in Jan this year, but all these fucked up dreams are de-sensitizing me to the whole suicide thing, and making it seem like “just another option”, which I know is wrong, and I don’t want to be dealing with that. :\ It’s funny to think that a normal person my age who has maybe has some money problems might get help from there parents…but I don’t have that support, I live in my parents house but I’m basically like some sort of unwanted house guest (or at least thats how I’m made to feel), I can’t talk to my parents about anything, and they don’t talk to me, you can imagine that it’s very awkward.  Not just that though but the whole stress of my parents making me feel so bad and looking down on me, and just basically not giving a shit about anything I do (the only thing that seems to provoke them to speak to me is to complain about something I’ve apparently done, or criticize me) means I have another problem to add to my already existing problems.

So!

To help me…I’m going to see the doctors soon and get another prescription of anti-depressants and keep on them.  They were a great help before, and they don’t change my personality at all, so it’s not like I’m on some sort of crazy pills or anything (which is what I think some people would see them as), they simply help the brain balance out things and because I’ve become so vulnerable to depression once already this year…I’m making sure that doesn’t repeat to the same extremes.

Really need to wrap up this super extensive blog post now, so I’m gonna throw out a summary and end things.

SUMMARY:

…and that’s that.  I really needed to get all this personal drama and back story out of the way in a blog, because I have a lot of other things I want to blog about that won’t be perhaps as boring from a readers point of view and at the least they won’t be on such negative topics.

So…until next time (which will probably be before christmas), adios amigo’s.

Kermit.

Source: Kermit's Blog