Well since I am just working on my 2009 taxes, I will have to wait until I am done to be able to determine whether my taxes went up or down.

I wish more people would do that, though I would point out that there is no such thing as the "truth", that changes day to day and person to person.

Haplo's got this one right on.

I'm curious though, Torvald - why do you wish to invalidate Haplo's well thought-out response due to his calling out of a news organization, while in the very title of this thread you do the exact same thing?

"Truth" can be bought. *shrug* Pummel me with rotten poisonous shark if I am wrong. *cower* :timeout:

I have been a news junkie for probably longer than I ever realized, and am reaching the end of that frayed rope.

Nothing in the broadcast news really makes sense to me anymore, except perhaps that I feel manipulated in some way (like having a finger up the butt that don't belong there). I spend more time and energy grappling with "Hrm, I wonder how much truth there is to that beyond a believable kernel?". It's a little bit like reaching the point in severe clinical depression where one begins to separate from reality, only to realize after the fact that they are indeed very ill. Minus, of course, the severe depression bit.

I now consider myself a neophyte of personal information-gathering. For the most part I hardly pay attention to what the news has to say, even the online feeds. I just simply do not care any more, and that is apathy. I truly believe that one should be properly informed as to what the world is up to on a day-to-day basis, but I sure would appreciate it if there wasn't so much horse-kadoodle to shovel through to get to the point of matters. :salute:

I must digress, before I again begin talking out of my http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/pict...pictureid=1159

EDIT: Please pardon the diatribe/rant. Really needed to get that one out of my system... and it is a whole lot better than saying "XYZ News is teh ebil". :oops:

krashkart - have some good info for you. The news - minus agenda - is out there. The trick is not using one source.

For example - the "evil" fox news may carry a story about something. Cnn may cover the same story, but from a different angle. Same with ABC and any other network. What you do is get info from all the available sources, see what they agree on, what they disagree on (which often is spin from both sides) and then go just read the reality. For example - one can say "President Obama in his speech said X,Y,Z" - while another claims he said "Snort, doodle, grapefruit". while the next claims he channeled Professor Dumbledore with "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" (I always loved that line).... Now what you do is go pull a copy of the actual text, and read it yourself. What is when you find that what he really said was "X, go snort grapefruit, ya nitwit!".

Sure it takes effort, but that way you can keep from having that manipulated feeling - because you will know better.

Haplo you make a great argument.:agree: Since being a victim of media slander and since it took over a year to be vindicated, I am the only one who can hold my head up high. Media is not held criminally responsible for anything they do. I understand the reason why the founding fathers wanted to protect the press. Yet, did they invision mass media, the invention of television, telephones and the internet and that certain media outlets could influence the citizenry better than the Nazi party and the Pravada put together? I just got back from China, when the news hit about us selling weapons to Taiwan the paper devoted at least 5 pages about the Evil Americans.....and I thought the out of sight invasive searches in Beijing airport were because I fit some terrorist profile....:rotfl2:

Hey Misha, so when are you going to post about your adventure to China? How was the food? Did you get a Mao is cool shirt?:D Back to topic, so what happened when you tried to post on facebook? Did the internetz copz show up or just simply, the site was blocked. If you want a great source of news, I recommend: http://rus.ruvr.ru/

The npr of russia.

^^ I haz a Che t-shirt from France.


@Skipper Haplo

Thank you for your perspective. A long-time friend has been trying to pry me away from the networks to seek that same level of information. :salute:

True. My tax for fed last year was reduced by about $7/week. It has remained the same this year. I work with a small business. My wifes tax was cut last year by about $8/week. She was just raised this year to about $8/week more. She has broken even on the deal. My tax returns are completed for 2009 and our refund is about the same as we received pre Obama. I can say we made more last year than any other year. So, that would indicate there was some manipulation of the tax code. I'm not sure if it was child credit or whatever. At any rate, it is just a numbers game with smoke and mirrors.

Krashkart - your welcome.

For those that actually care - Fox has been caught stirring the pot with an incomplete story here on the state level. They aired a story about how 11th grade US history is having anything pre-reconstruction removed. Of course, this caused a big stink with everyone screaming about how this takes out the founding fathers, the constitution, the war of independance, the civil war, etc....Now at face value, that would rightly cause a rucus, since those are vital parts of our history that students need to learn. The reaction they wanted - which was everyone screaming that it was government trying to "rewrite" history and destroy the fabric of the nation - sure enough occured fairly loudly.

But the reason you have to look into things a bit more than just trust one news source (regardless of which one) was because the story was TECHNICALLY accurate - they said nothing untrue. However, they did "neglect" to also inform the news consumer that all of this was being removed from the 11th grade - and being taught in the 10th grade instead - meaning a full 2 years of US history from founding of the nation to the modern era (ww1) which is then covered in the 12th grade. So basically the curriculem has changed to give students MORE info on the entire subject...... But did the news cover that part? No - because it wouldn't have fed a segment of the masses what they wanted.

As I said earlier - every news agency does this kind of thing - and only by reasoned, deliberate personal investigation can you form a complete picture of the realities without the spin from one group or the other.

@ 1480 - thanks!
@ Aramike - thanks - and I guess Torvald doesn't have an answer for your question - or a rebuttal to my arguement! LOL

@ AVGWarhawk - good for you man! I am glad at least someone got some benefit in getting a bit back from the government! I do think however, given everyone I have spoken with, that your not in the majority on this. But not everyone has filed as yet (I haven't) so it remains to be seen. But the end question for me is has the tax rate been LOWERED in the code anywhere - and to my knowledge that answer is no.