Wax delusional about some Reaganite of the past.  [Or plagiarize, updated below.]

Ronald Reagan did not look back at some successful conservative politician of a by-gone generation as somehow bestowed with a kind of divinely inspired wisdom whose every platitude was gospel and approach to every policy to be followed to the letter.

I don’t recommend reading AKMuckraker’s account of a recent speech by Sarah Palin, except for the schadenfreude humor content of his running commentary.  If you dig too deep into the word salad only the Ninny from Wassily can deliver and actually try to understand what the hell she’s talking about, it’s clear her message can be boiled down to one thought bubble: Ronald Reagan was right and we need to go back and do everything he told us to do.

Mind you, it should come as no surprise I’m no fan of our 40th President and never was.  But I never remember him revolving his entire political philosophy around some previous prince of conservative thought — let alone completely miss the boat when it came to understanding and applying history’s lessons.  At least he had the good sense examine the world honestly and try to make it better (as he saw it) without applying a three decade’s old doctrine to contemporary problems.  The man certainly was an original.

His imitators make themselves look so very small by their constant comparisons — incapable of original thought.

Between Reagan and the two Bush boys we’ve had Reaganite conservatism running the Executive Branch for 20 out of the last 28 years, and Clinton only had two years to screw up their right wing paradise until Newt Gingrich took over Congress and stopped any chance of liberal reform dead in it’s tracks.  So dammit … where’s my perfect supply-side utopia?

Oh, that’s right.  We’re living it … never mind.

Honestly, go back?  Sarah Palin wants us to go back to Reganism?  When did we ever leave it?  Obama’s done a lot in the last 4 months, but a complete roll back of Reaganism will take a bit more time.  Do these cookie-cutter conservatives really miss the Cold War so much?

Over grown military budgets … Check.  Out of control deficit spending … Check.  Unrestrained government bloat with a side dish of cronyism, incompetence and bureaucratic stagnation … Check.  Concentration of executive power at the expense of States rights and civil liberties … Check.  Shoot first and never answer any questions later foreign policy … Check.  Hell, Clinton did the right’s dirty work on welfare reform.

Go back?  Ronnie, we hardly missed you.  These were the realities of Reagan’s rule, despite his rhetoric to the contrary.  Governor Palin, however, in her own unusual lexicon, remembers it differently some how.

Reagan knew that real change and real change requiring shaking things
up and maybe takin’ off the entrenched interest thwarting the will of
the people with their ignoring of our concerns about future peril
caused by selfish short-sighted advocacy for growing government and
digging more debt, and taking away individual and state’s rights and
hampering opportunity to responsibly develop our resources, and
coddling those who would seek to harm America and her allies.

She knows nothing, nothing — absolutely nothing of what Reagan wrought.  I think.  You can’t be too sure what the hell she means most of the time.  One can only conclude she hasn’t much of a clue either.  Does she really think Reagan was some kind of a deficit hawk?  Hell, not even Dick Cheney was so deluded, merely concluding that “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”  The Bushes piled on more debt to Reagan’s record spending.  Clinton was the only one since who tried to get a handle on the budget, and left office with a surplus.

Reagan talked tough, but he also talked to our enemies.  He got a lot more out of Gorbechev from private meetings between respectful equals than he ever did calling the Soviets names.  The “Evil Empire” shtick was strictly for domestic consumption to win the hearts and minds of supporters who really thought he was John Wayne, and thought John Wayne was for real.

Iran?  Obama is getting considerable push-back for daring to think we should talk to Iran. But Reagan not only talked to them, he sent Ollie North over there with plane loads full of weapons — to trade, not to fire.  If a Democrat tried that, I think they’d call it more than “coddling.”

The only thing Palin gets remotely right, no doubt quite by accident, is Reagan’s hostility to environmentalism.  Palin is a kindred spirit with the millenialist bigot Ronnie put in charge of the interior, James Watt.  He too wanted to sell off all undeveloped public lands to the highest bidder for gas and oil drilling, but in these modern times I’ll bet she’d opt for a no bid contract if they threw in a nice pair of shoes.

UPDATE:
Seems that Sarah Palin is so devoid of original thought, she stole most of this speech from Newt Gingrich.

Sarah Palin’s garbled, often incoherent speech delivered in Anchorage on Wednesday–the one in which she declared “screw political correctness” and wondered why “we have to pussyfoot around our troublesome foes”–was largely lifted from an article written four years ago by Newt Gingrich and Craig Shirley.

Palin apparently also felt that she could “screw” intellectual integrity.

While Palin twice mentioned Gingrich in the speech (she never once acknowledged Shirley), virtually every single reference she made to Reagan was lifted directly from the Gingrich-Shirley article. It’s a pure case of unadulterated plagiarism.

Gah! Teh Stoopit! It Buurrrnnnnnsssssss.

2008 TAX RETURN SOFTWARE has a built in error. Thanks to the brilliant renaming of last year’s ECONOMIC STIMULUS PAYMENT, most tax software has missed the change.

Because few recognize that the “RECOVERY REBATE” line on this year’s tax return is nothing more than last year’s ECONOMIC STIMULUS. The IRS is overwhelmed with errors on the Recovery Rebate line. Most 2008 Tax Software just asks if you received the Stimulus last year. Most Tax Software will put that number, if you even remember how much you got, on the Recovery Rebate line. If you were issued the maximum Stimulus Payment last year, most likely you don’t qualify for the Recovery Rebate this year. The sad part is, that any number on the Recovery Rebate line will falsely inflate your refund expectations … IRS has to subtract it and send you a letter, AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE, explaining “Why We Changed Your Return“.

IRS.GOV does try to explain the Recovery Rebate problem, but, too few actually read that, and even fewer understand IRS speak. There are a few happy surprises, like you added a child under the age of 17 to your tax return, you will get an extra $300.

Most of the confusion is caused by renaming the product. Other confusion comes from when people are clueless that the issued Stimulus may have been applied to another government debt. Still others were issued and mailed to the address put on the Tax Return … so giving IRS the wrong address may have allowed someone else to receive your check. Some checks were actually undeliverable and returned to IRS, only to be absorbed back into the Treasury on December 31.

Most taxpayers swear allegiance to their tax software, it is their weapon/tool of choice every tax season. The mantra “there can’t be a mistake, I used [insert brand name] to file this year”. Yes, today’s tax preparation software does make filing taxes easier. Yes, electronically filed returns expedite refunds, if you’re lucky.

What people don’t realize, even the best rated software has to be ready for the shelf before each year’s tax laws are even agreed upon and decided. Why? Because, congress has to scramble each year to flesh out the details when a special credit or deduction is added.

Last minute decisions are often signed into the law after software is released each year. This causes lapses in software’s ability to apply recent tax rules to your tax return. Politics at it’s least efficient has created a problem for every one of us. It’s not always the software developer’s fault. Why? Because in the past few years the US Government has tried to morph tax laws to address the economic catastrophes hitting their constituents. Constituents are, after all, consumers. Consumers effect the bottom line for the same corporations that contribute and fund those same politicians. This is the cycle of life for our elected officials.

Hence, patchwork tax laws that guarantee tax revenue from a confused tax system. The bigger the confusion, the more revenue is guaranteed … even when inadequate patches are made.

Trying to implant a politically beneficial “temporary improvement” into a giant patchwork of vague revenue laws has hamstrung the entire system. Taxpayers turn to ‘off-the-shelf’ solutions to their yearly tax accountability obligation.

GAO was asked to assess what is known about how pricing of tax software influences electronic filing, the extent to which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides oversight of the software industry, and the risks to tax administration from using tax software.

IRS officials said the likely benefits of an assessment would not warrant the costs but have not determined either the benefits or costs of such an assessment. Moreover, IRS has also said that it is in the agency’s best interest to ensure that taxpayers can rely on commercial software to make electronic filing accurate, easy, and efficient. Further, if even small improvements in the accuracy of tax returns could be made by clarifying the guidance in tax software, the effect on revenue could be
substantial. Without a risk assessment, IRS does not know whether its existing oversight of the tax software industry is sufficient or needs to be expanded.

IRS has not developed a plan to monitor compliance with new standards, which are optional in 2009 but may be mandatory in 2010.

Recommendation: the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should direct the appropriate officials to require tax software companies, as soon as practical, to include a software identification number that specifically identifies the software package used to prepare tax returns, which can be used in IRS research efforts.

Recommendation: the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should direct the appropriate officials to determine if tax software companies that are authorized to participate in online filing are adhering to advisory security and privacy standards for the 2009 filing season.

Recommendation: the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should direct the appropriate officials to develop and implement a plan for effectively monitoring compliance with recommended security and privacy standards for the 2010 filing season.

Recommendation: the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should direct the appropriate officials to assess the extent to which the reliance on tax software creates significant risks to tax administration, particularly in the areas of tax return accuracy, the security and privacy of taxpayer information, and the reliability of electronic filing.

So, until a better system can be agreed upon by United States lawmakers, they will proceed to make tax laws that only a sadist could love. It is unfortunate that taxes, that run American Government, must depend on taxpayer ignorance. It must be deliberate that the American education system does NOT prepare students for their citizenship obligations, which include PAYING TAXES. It appears that schools do not address Tax Obligations, so taxpayers can continually make wrong decisions that cause them to owe the US Government and State Governments even more tax. Schools are at the mercy of lawmakers, too. If American Taxpayers are to get anything done about how tax requirements are administered, they must make it an election issue every time they vote. IRS and Treasury is NOT TAKING YOUR MONEY, you are paying the government, YOU ELECTED, to take care of you right now and in the future.

Software companies have to scramble, each year, to keep up with the indecision caused by political patchwork on the Tax Law Codes.

It is so easy for taxpayers to rant and rave at the “Government” for “taking their money”. Look in the mirror! Your elected officials are the ones making these convoluted patchwork laws that you complain about. IRS is just collecting what your lawmakers tell them to collect. Your lawmakers even control how aggressively IRS must behave. The US Treasury is YOUR bank account that oils the wheels of America. Your tax dollars provide that oil. Your voting voice tells the TREASURY how your obligation must be spent. Your voice has been weak! You’re still the boss, so when you complain, make sure your mirror isn’t broken!

Federal tax code

The Federal tax law is administered primarily by the Internal Revenue Service, a bureau of the Treasury. The U.S. tax code is known as the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (title 26 of the United States Code). The Code’s complexity generally arises from two factors: the use of the tax code for purposes other than raising revenue, and the feedback process of amending the code.

EVEN ILLEGAL ALIENS pay their taxes, often at a higher rate than citizens! They have get a Unique Taxpayer Identification, called ITIN, so they can file tax returns. The Treasury has a department with a mission to correct some inequities that a complex tax system can produce … TAXPAYER ADVOCATE.

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What have we learned? Expect the unexpected.

Hate to sound dramatic, but poor education and even poorer curriculum lacks practical application life skills. Education, in general, must be useful for both students and the society they inherit. America, specifically, must do more to encourage education policy makers, to shape teaching agendas to include practical life applications. Ever wonder why many students remain ‘bored’ and distracted? Ask a student, too many cannot make a connection with classrooms and their own life. Students are an unlimited resource of hope, if we prepare them to address the ‘unexpected’. We are at the mercy of the next generations, it would be a global shame to waste it.