The era of tax-free e-mail, Internet shopping and broadband connections could end this fall...

The era of tax-free e-mail, Internet shopping and broadband connections could end this fall, if recent proposals in the U.S. Congress prove successful.

Exactly how many times should taxes be added to your purchase?

Let's say you buy a book from an online retailer and you're not paying your local sales tax. The retailer is paying taxes on his income from the book. The packaging supplier and the printer of the book, in addition to the author are as well. The delivery service is paying taxes on the gas that they're using to bring you said book.

Exactly what part of that is not bringing the taxes in to your community? Taxes are being paid at every step except for you. Since the book is being delivered, you've got both a road and a vehicle tax being paid.

The local municipalities are just pissed because they're missing a cut of the pie. If government doesn’t have the money to pay for something, then they need to look where they're spending the money. Perhaps they could start by cutting their own salaries and privileges.

Democrats are skirting the new disclosure rules

After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year. Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify "earmarks" — lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states — in documents that accompany spending bills. Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

As a result, most lawmakers will not get a chance to oppose specific projects as wasteful or questionable when the spending bills for various agencies get their first votes in the full House in June. The House-Senate compromise bills due for final action in September cannot be amended and are subject to only one hour of debate, precluding challenges to individual projects. The committee has been absorbed with writing a catchall spending bill cleaning up unfinished budget business from last year and the just-completed Iraq war spending bill.

Hawaii Vacation Rentals

On many a vacation, you probably have stayed at some decent and not-so decent hotels. Well, if you decide on coming to Hawaii, think about renting a condo. Yes, hotels on Hawaii are nice but condos have some important features to consider. Hawaii Vacation Rentals by Gebhart Properties can offer you the same sense of luxury found in a hotel yet gives you a certain sense of liberty that a hotel doesn’t. Think of being able to share a common space with your friends or family. In between outings, you get to hang together in the living room or out by the pool. It is much easier coordinating daily schedules when in a home setting.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

China needs a strong dollar

If China dumped the U.S. dollar, the immediate effect would be a sharp increase in the price of imported goods as the value of the dollar plummets. Since nearly everything in the U.S. is imported these days, this would manifest itself as steep inflation. Basically, those trillions of dollars that the Fed has pumped into the economy over the past 10 years would suddenly become visible, instead of being masked by the deflationary effects of cheap Chinese labor.

Soon after, domestic manufacturers - those we have left - would notice their profit margins jump as their goods suddenly become competitive again. The real reason American manufacturing sucks now isn't that Americans are stupid or lazy, it's that the overvalued dollar means everyone has to pay more for American goods than they're worth. If the dollar's value declines by half, the price of "Made in USA" goods drops in half relative to imports. I'd never consider buying an American car now, but if they cost 1/2 to 1/3 of what an equivalent Japanese car did, I'd think about it.

Because the U.S. manufacturing sector has atrophied so much, that increase in competitiveness would lead to a large labor shortage. Wages for blue-collar factory workers will jump to meet demand. Since cheap Chinese labor is no longer economical, companies will substitute American labor instead.

The end result will be a net loss for the U.S. economy, but it'll generally fall most on those most able to pay. The financial industry will be ruined. I'll likely lose my job (I work at a financial software startup, and many of our customers have large international positions). Wal-Mart's profits will take a tumble as it finds it can't maintain its "every day low prices". Many retailers will be similarly hurt.

But ordinary working-class Americans - those most left-behind by the economic boom of the last 25 years - stand to gain the most, relatively speaking. In addition to returning the U.S. manufacturing sector to competitiveness, inflation benefits debtors and harms creditors. So all the folks who owe $20K on their credit cards find that $20K is worth half as much as it used to be, while their wages may very well double.

All this assumes a catastrophic financial meltdown, as described in the great-grandparent. If the dollar-slide is more gradual, as the financial community expects, there's no reason to believe the dollar will undershoot fair value and return U.S. manufacturers to competitiveness. And most financial firms are already factoring a gradual dollar decline into their models, so their investments stand to benefit.

As for the Chinese, a meltdown in the dollar would be absolutely catastrophic. They've lifted 400 million people out of poverty by giving them cheap manufacturing jobs funded by Western multinationals. If their wages becomes significantly inflated (in dollar terms), they'll find that those 400 million people will lose their cheap manufacturing jobs and go back into poverty.

China has 1.2 billion people spread densely throughout the habitable areas, with a large number of them in the unmarried 15-30 year old male demographic that's especially prone to violence. The government has managed to maintain control because many of those people have seen their lives improve dramatically over the past 30 years. There is no social safety net. If people suddenly lost hope, they'd face a revolution faster than you can say "Kalashnikov". The #1 priority of the Chinese government is to keep itself in power, which is why they can't dump U.S. dollars.

Drug dealer role in JFK plot

A convicted drug dealer who agreed to pose as a wannabe terrorist among a shadowy group now accused of plotting to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport secretly fed information to federal investigators in exchange for a lighter sentence. His surveillance trips to the airport with the suspects, travels abroad to meet with supporters and assurances he wanted to die as a martyr in an attack on an underground jet fuel pipeline gave counterterrorism agents insight and evidence that experts say was otherwise unattainable. And his help once again demonstrated the growing importance of informants in the war on terrorism, particularly as smaller radical groups become more aggressive.

Four Muslim men are accused of plotting to use explosives to destroy a jet fuel pipeline that runs through populous residential neighborhoods to the airport, which they allegedly believed would kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe. Although the plotters put a great deal of time and travel into their plan, they never managed to obtain any explosives before authorities arrested Defreitas and foiled the JFK scheme. Experts said the plot could have resulted in damage and fires, but nothing on the scale that the defendants had envisioned. The men accused in the JFK plot didn't turn to Middle Eastern extremists for support to target the airport. Instead, investigators say the informant and defendants Kareem Ibrahim and Defreitas visited a compound belonging to the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Muslim group based in Trinidad off Venezuela's coast.

Astronomy Gadget

When Galileo first looked up through his primitive little telescope he only saw about as much as we can see through an average pair of binoculars today and he managed to create history. Binoculars are well worth remembering when it comes to looking at the night sky.

Any astronomical binoculars will show you a lot more than you can see without them and wherever possible try to steady them with either a standard tripod or just lean against a fence or post.

For those keen to explore the night sky I recommend that you check the telescopes section of OpticsPlanet.com. Binoculars are widely used by amateur astronomers. Their wide field of view is central to their use in comet hunting and general sky observing.

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Global warming means the ice caps melt

Global warming means the ice caps melt; ice cap melt to allow easier access to up to one quarter of the oil and mineral deposits lying under the poles. The Arctic is only one weeks journey time from Northern America. Currently those countries with territorial waters contiguous to the Arctic circle would seem to be discussing/negotiating under the aegis of the International Seabed Authority how to divide the future spoils by extending their national boundaries towards the North Pole.

Thus oil companies potentially can be seen as great beneficiaries of such a scenario of global warming. They might also be seen to be resistant to policies, such as renewable fuels and national self-sufficiency that reduce international trade in energy. Conversely they might like politicians that are resistant to climate change.

Turkey-Iraq tensions

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday cautioned Turkey against sending troops into northern Iraq, as it has threatened, to hunt down Kurdish rebels it accuses of carrying out terrorist raids inside Turkey. Tensions have heightened in recent weeks in northern Iraq as Turkey has built up its military forces on Iraq's border, a move clearly meant to pressure Iraq to rein in the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, separatists who launch raids into southeast Turkey's Kurdish region from hideouts in Iraq. Turkey's political and military leaders have been debating whether to try to root out those bases, and perhaps set up a buffer zone across the frontier as the Turkish army has done in the past. Turkey's military chief said Thursday the army was ready and only awaiting orders for a cross-border offensive.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Saturday urged Turkey not to stage a new incursion, saying his government will not allow the relatively peaceful area of northern Iraq to be turned into a battleground. Turks accuse Iraqi Kurds, who once fought alongside the Turkish soldiers against the PKK in Iraq, of supporting the separatist rebels and worry that the war in Iraq could lead to the country's disintegration and the creation of a Kurdish state in the north.

Search engine optimization

Google does carry the most significant share of the market with well over 80% of all searches. But when you understand the diversity of search results across the major search engines, you'll see that using a search engine optimization program can generate great results.

If you're not tracking and trying to improve your ranking across all the major search engines, you should start now. By using a search engine optimization program, you could open the floodgates to more website traffic.

There are millions of searches every month, which is exposure to potential visitors that you could be missing. But you need to appear at the top of the search results to get the visit.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Liberals can expect to win?

Liberals thought that they were going to win in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004.
You can't expect to win if:
You run someone with less personality than his opponent (Gore).
Your candidate has called a significant portion of the voting age electorate "Baby-Killers" in the past---Kerry.
Your candidates aren't middle of the road and not wild-eyed fringe proponents of the liberal leftists like---Gore and Kerry.
Finally the liberals better hope their party makes some gains--or it is headed for extinction.
The rest of the nation has caught on to the liberal ploy of registering unlimited illegal immigrants to vote as part of the motor voter law--along with their unlimited illegal driver's licenses.
The rest of the country has caught on to the liberal effort to increase welfare and social expenditures by making unlimited illegal immigrants eligible for benefits that should only go to citizens.
The liberals have wasted more money on Great Deficit Society programs going to illegally ineligible persons than will ever be spent on "Star Wars" and SDI!!
At this critical junction in history; when North Korea and Iran are developing ICBMs and Nuclear Weapons ( Weapons of Mass Destruction )
electing more liberals, who only made the countries and problems worse in the past; will lead directly to World War III with the Islamics.
The liberal Carter failed to support the Shah, a US ally and long term friend in the region; when the Ayatollahs revolted against him in 1979. Just by his little old self Carter and those who voted for him; have probably ended civilization in a nuclear war in the future.
Carter also was involved in the failed Clinton-Carter North Korean negotiations to limit their development of ICBMs and nuclear weapons.
Both of these massive mistakes will have to be rectified in the future; just to have a future.
They won't be rectified by electing more liberals.
Undoubtedly North Korea, Iran, China, Syria, and Russia as well as other trouble making countries in the world are all in favor of liberal administrations; becuase they can get away with a lot more under the liberals.

Protesting against next week's G8 summit

Rocks, bottles and sticks have been hurled at riot police, who are using tear gas and batons charges to try to disperse the hundreds of rioters. However, the violence only involves a small portion of the estimated 30,000 people police say had joined the rally. They are protesting against next week's G8 summit of leading industrial nations in Heiligendamm, 25km away. More than 160 groups of anti-globalization activists, left-wing groups, students and anarchists had been taking part in the march.

Organizers had predicted that 100,000 people would be joining the protest, and though the police estimates of 30,000 are much lower, the BBC's Tristana Moore in Rostock says many more people are still arriving in the city by bus and train. Masked protesters have broken up paving stones to use as projectiles and overturned and torched several vehicles, spreading a pall of black smoke over the area. The challenge for the police now is to contain the violence and ensure it does not reach that concert area, she adds. Organizers at the concert have been making announcements urging people to stay where they are and not venture over to the part of town where the violence is taking place, but, according to our correspondent, many have been leaving to do just that.

Capella University

The cost of a college degree continues to accelerate at colleges and universities nationwide. Undergraduate students seeking a quality education have with Capella University a more affordable online education program alternative. Capella University’s accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) also assures students of a quality education that will help them compete throughout their careers.

The online undergraduate degree programs are designed to help students complete their degree requirements. Capella University’s online courses are completed by working one-on-one with faculty over the Internet. Students can enroll in two or more college courses online to decrease time to graduation. And programs offered are very diverse from Business Administration to Information Technology.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Why are there so many suicides in Japan?

In 2005, 32,552 people killed themselves in Japan —one of the highest suicide rates among industrialized nations. Why are there so many suicides in Japan?

The reason for a high suicide rate is largely due to two factors:

1) Suicide isn't seen as evil as it is in Western culture. There's no concept of suicide being a straight path to Hell, as exists in Catholicism.

2) Japanese are not taught to like themselves, and to value the group over the individual. The people who commit suicide here are those who have failed the group or feel like they have absolutely nothing to give anymore, and that emphasis on the group means they no longer have any purpose.

There's also the lack of an anti-suicide movement, no specific counselors in school or jobs to deal with such problems, and a mostly-absent family model.

Britain's leadership on African issues

Many in the West hailed British Prime Minister Tony Blair as Africa's new savior: the European leader who shamed other rich countries into helping the impoverished continent he called the scar on the conscience of the world. But as he wraps up his final visit to Africa as prime minister this week, Mr. Blair is fighting growing criticism from aid groups and African governments that the Group of Eight (G-8) countries' much-heralded promises of assistance have come to naught. Blair says the trip will build momentum ahead of next week's G-8 summit in Germany, where he will push for leaders to follow through on promises made in 2005. But it also shows the complexities of the G-8's relationship with this continent, as well as the skepticism with which many Africans view Western interventions.

Blair's successor, finance Minister Gordon Brown, has worked closely with the prime minister on poverty alleviation and will probably continue Britain's leadership on African issues. But many advocates believe it is Blair, scheduled to step down this month, who can best pressure other G-8 nations. Pushing Africans on reforms Blair has also been instrumental in pushing African governments for political and economic reform in return for debt forgiveness and aid. It was Blair's Africa Commission that popularized the concept of the "grand bargain": That in return for aid and debt relief, African governments will commit to anticorruption measures and good governance – as determined by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. This might mean cutting public spending, for instance, or privatizing services such as water or electricity, or liberalizing trade.

How about flowers?

There are alternatives for Father's Day gifts. How about flowers? Not something that one usually associates with Father's Day, but maybe for that reason, flowers would be an ideal gift for that Dad who has everything else.

Believe it or not, there are masculine flowers that can symbolize the very things that we've decided are paternal qualities. Fortunately, there are some flower delivery services like Dot Flowers for our comfort and we don’t need to expend days visiting malls. Maybe it doesn't really matter that it's difficult, as long as we have an opportunity to express how important our fathers are to us.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.