Perhaps named for the hope that the voters wouldn’t notice this time, the DREAM act amnesty failed cloture and was killed before it could get going. Here’s the latest plan for stealth amnesty:

Legal status for illegals that are less than 30, have graduated high school or have a GED and claim that they entered the country illegally before turning 16. (We’ll just check that against their immigration records - oh wait.) Also, in the interest of “family unity” or other “humanitarian purposes”, their families can stay. Families simply need to be claimed not verified by blood test or other means.

Popular guess-timates place this at legalizing 12 of the guess-timated 20 million illegals. It did strike me as funny that when the Dems are trying to slip amnesty under the radar, “a child” is defined as someone under 16, but when they’re expanding government health care “a child” is someone under 26.
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This is just sad really…

• Six illegal immigrants arrested at Qualcomm

Disguised as a “fix” for the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Dems have proposed a 4% surcharge on anyone making over $150k ($200k for couples). This coupled with the decision to let the tax cuts that spurred our economy to new records expire (an easy way to raise taxes) means the top bracket for individuals will become 44% in the US. For comparison, the average for developed countries is 35.7%.

Now some of you may say that such wealthy people can afford to give us all their money. Unfortunately, small businesses owners and farmers, often pay taxes as individuals not as businesses (like corporations do). So if you’re out to screw the rich - remember that when the family loses their farm, or the small business down the street has slow customer service because they had to lay off some help to pay the new 9% of taxes.

And it’s actually even worse: the 4% increase is a surcharge not a rate hike. The difference? Surcharges are applied before tax deductions. Got a kid in college? Paying all that mortgage interest? Gave a large donation to Katrina relief? Doesn’t matter… 4% on it ALL.

So on top of punishing the successful, we’re now going to take away their incentive to give money to charity? Though, I guess if we just take even more of their money away it won’t matter if they give to charity ’cause the government can fill that void as well. Well at least until they rich take their money & income to another country to avoid the taxes. 50%, 70%, even 100% of nothing is way less that 35% of something. Read more

Apple is no longer accepting cash for iPhone purchases, as a way to try and prevent people from unlocking them for non-AT&T networks. Apparently Steve missed the place where it says “Legal tender for all debts, public and private” right there on your money.

Well, I’m sure someone else will notice this and sue Apple appropriately.

• Apple imposes new limits on iPhone sales

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So the tax implications of Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball has been discussed by several “experts” and all have failed to see the obvious: this is utterly ridiculous. I can’t think of something more American than eating a hot dog, drinking a beer and catching a home run ball while enjoying America’s past time: baseball.

And I can’t think of a better example of how deranged our tax code has become that we have made it economically infeasible to keep said memento. Seriously, you go to a game, you catch a ball, you suddenly owe the government $250,000+!!! Why is no one else objecting to the seer lunacy of this? “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” (Mugatu)

If poor Matt Murphy had decided not to sell his souvenir he would still owe 35% of whatever the IRS guess-ti mated it’s worth. The fair market value of a one of a kind ball (until the record is again broken) mixed with the taint of an asterisk? We’re talking a range of hundreds of thousands of dollars here. So who picks the worth?

Now I’ve heard several people argue that the ball’s value IS that so high because a few people would be willing to pay an exorbitant amount for it. But lets take that logic and apply it else where - like Real Estate. The South, lately, has been getting an influx of people retiring from the North East. These people are paying 2 to 3 times the normal rate per sq ft for homes marketed to them because they’re idiots their cost of living comparison is such that those homes still seem cheap to them. Does the fact that some people are paying 3 as much for a house down the street from mine triple the value of my house? Did clever distance marketing just triple my property taxes?

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So have the eco-hippies officially lost it when they start talking about the environmental impact of a natural process of mother nature?

What’s next, pollution control measures for volcanoes? Coming up with a way to stop the genocide of the bunnies by the wolves?

If you look closely at the “damage” done to the environment, it comes down to the pretty plants being replaced in some areas by less pretty, hardier plants. Don’t we support natural selection any more? Seriously though, why does it always come back to being pretty? You know what this is going to lead to: anorexic weeds.
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Yet again, the Clinton’s caught receiving illegal campaign contributions from Chinese people. Off the top of my head, this is the third time they’ve been caught doing this. I’m not sure which is scarier - the abundance of the illegal contributions, or the common Chinese thread.

Oh well, at least its all for a good cause: the first female President milestone is certainly worth overlooking a few several improprieties.
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Interesting piece comparing two stadiums filled with people from natural disasters. One was filled with blood, rapes, and stabbings (which turned out to not have actually happened) and the other is filled with happy people and rock concerts?

Will FEMA and Bush get credit here? Does it come down to a competent mayor or perhaps the Gov-inator? Things to ponder…
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Violence continues to go down in Iraq. Now down another 70% from the already lower rates in July. The security over the entire country is remarkably improved. To put things in perspective the civilian deaths amidst a war zone have fallen to 38% BELOW the murder rate in the United States. That’s right, more people are murdered here than are dying in the war in Iraq.

But don’t worry, the media will ignore most such stories as good news = no news.

“One item from Baghdad today. The news is… that there is no news. The police told us that, to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence. Attacks are down in Baghdad and today no bombings or roadside explosions were reported.” - Charlie Gibson World News Tonight on ABC Oct 17th.

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Found this at NeuralGraffiti.com.  The interview is hysterical, because Jon just won’t let it go… I have said this before but I love that Stewart while is a Dem and a Lib, he will still call people out when they go off the cliff.

The forced laugh from Matthews seem Hillary-esk.  The crux of it shows up when Jon tries to point out that the book favors winning over doing the right thing - Matthews corrects that winning IS the right thing to do.

Follow the link to the “Worst Interview Ever” - Chris Matthews.