JustinSpeak

Okay, we’re going to tackle a pretty hefty little topic here. I’m going to do it in one paragraph each. When you go vote Tuesday, and you better fucking vote, try to keep these little tidbits in mind.

Wedge Issue Number One: Abortion

Lots of people will base their entire decision on who to vote for on this one issue. This is unfortunate for many reasons, but it does happen quite often. Here is my advice. Abortion cannot be made illegal. Roe v Wade cannot be overturned. If we don’t have the options in place, desperate people will do desperate things. You don’t want young, poor, single mothers going to back alley clinics to get these things done. People die all the time blowing up their apartments cooking meth because they are so distraught that they stomach the risks of blowing themselves to kingdom come in order to make ends meet. Desperation is a bitch people. I do not, nor will I ever, condone abortion as a method of birth control. However, it needs to stay a viable option for those that are so inclined. If you want less abortions, then we need more solid sex education. The problem is that certain people freak out if you teach anything besides abstinence. Unfortunately for them, people do not abstain. Let’s end this antiquated line of thinking. While we’re at it, let’s do everything we can to make health care more affordable and available to the poorest in the US. The populations with the highest rate of abortions are Black and Hispanic, which are also among the poorest. Maybe if they could afford the monthly birth control pill that a lot of women take they wouldn’t find themselves in this mess in the first place. Start teaching kids to use birth control, make health care for the lower class more affordable so they can afford the pill, and keep a healthy option open for the desperate and we’ll not have to worry about the number of abortions increasing. Of the two mainstream candidates, Barack Obama is ahead of McCain in making these things happen. You even get a bonus perk here in that more safe sex will result in less STDs. Less STDs means less health care expenses which means… cheaper health care for all.

Wedge Issue Number Two: Gay Marriage

Unfortunately, both mainstream candidates oppose gay marriage. I never understood why people give the slightest bit of a shit with what people do in their private lives. Who the fuck cares if you’re gay and want to get married? Does it make one iota of difference to the Christian Conservative in rural Missouri if a same sex couple in New York want to get married? No it doesn’t. However, I’m not an idiot and I realize this is one of those issues we’re going to have to take baby steps towards getting fixed. To that end, we need to vote for the candidate who will get us at least somewhat closer to a society that fully accepts all people. That candidate, based off his vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment, is Barack Obama. It really bothers me that he opposes gay marriage, but he has a hell of a lot better chance of getting elected than Cynthia McKinney.

My dearest reader, these are crazy times indeed. I’ve been hearing a lot of ballyhoo about the credit default swaps and what they mean for the future of the financial system.  Well, after watching the following video from Marketplace, I have a much better idea of what is going on.  It is a long video, about ten minutes, but it will explain the thing for you in pretty simple English.

Enjoy.

Untangling credit default swaps from Marketplace on Vimeo.

So there we go. The current financial system allows for bets to be placed with nothing really backing up the person making the bet, and the people that have to pay up on the bet are set up in such a way that they have to bring other institutions down with them when the fit hits the shan. This is very similar to what went down in the housing market.  People could buy houses, with no money down, on risky adjustable rate mortgages with the assumption that they will hold on to the house only for a few years and then sell it for a profit.  If it works, the home buyer keeps the profits. If it does not work, then the lender basically has to take the fall. The bank could call the buyer and say, “You owe us money.” but if the buyer can’t pay it, then there really isn’t anything that can be done.

Essentially, you’ve got a situation where people could do whatever they want because the risk was, more or less, assumed by someone else. When you’re playing with the house’s money you don’t truly appreciate the repercussions when things go south. 

My advice? Spend less than you earn, and don’t get paralyzed by fear. Live your life with optimism and keep a cool head. Even if this financial crisis causes the world to descend into chaos, which is highly unlikely, cooler heads will eventually prevail.

Disclaimer: I know these attorneys, and I helped build the site.  Nonetheless, I love the law and hope that S & P and the other law firms out there help clean up some of the white collar crime out there.  Nothing upset me more than the Enron scandal, and this is tool in the toolbox to help fight that battle.

There is more to it than what I’m about to say, but you’ll get the basic idea.  If you know of a business or individual that has underreported at least $2,000,000 in taxes, then you can turn them into the IRS and be rewarded up to 30% of the amount collected.  In other words, say your employer has buried $10,000,000 in some tax shelter, and you rat them out, you’re entitled to up to $3,000,000.  Not a bad gig if you can get it. The name of this program is the Tax Whistleblower Rewards Program.

There are a bunch of tax whistleblower attorneys out there, but the guys at RewardTax are former IRS attorneys.  According to them, and again I’m inclined to believe them since I’ve met them personally, this gives them an insider knowledge that greatly helps your chances of getting the full 30% reward.

In the interest of being fair, here is what I don’t like about the whole deal. First, you have to be very careful.  I imagine the type of people willing to cheat on their taxes to the tune of $2,000,000 or more are probably the same type of people that would do very awful things to those who crossed them.  Second, there is no guarantee the IRS is going to give the award. Even if you have the best attorney in the world, the IRS still has to accept a case and collect the money.  That being said, the IRS is pretty serious about this program.

Working with S & P Law Firm has given me the opportunity to research this program quite extensively.  I’ve scoured every word of all the sites of attorneys that let you report tax fraud. In the end, when you pick your attorney I would look for the following qualifications:

1. They know the program and the law inside and out.
2. They take confidentiality very seriously.
3. They answer every question you have and take their time with you.

If you, my dearest reader, knows someone cheating on their taxes while the rest of us follow the rules, then turn them in to the IRS.  You might make some money too!

This is my doggie Ava

My dog Ava is in heat and things are pretty strange around the SchmidtyStock household. Dogs in heat are a strange thing. So to help everyone out there, I’ve compiled a list.

1. Your dog will bleed out her…you know.
2. She’ll act the fool, constantly.
3. Male dogs will act differently around her.
4. She may eat more than usual.
5. She may eat less than usual.
6. Did I mention she’ll bleed?
7. Some people say the heat lasts a couple weeks.
8. Some people say the heat lasts months and months.

So there ya go.  Justin’s quick list of what happens when your dog is in heat.

Step 1. - Portion control, portion control, portion control. I cannot stress this enough. When you go out to eat, section off a third of each food on your plate. Don’t eat that third. You don’t have to eat every fucking morsel they put on your plate. When you’re cooking at home, remember that your stomach is the size of your two fists. Yes, it can stretch, but it doesn’t have to.

Step 2. - Eat slowly. There are so many benefits to eating slowly and really tasting your food that I could write blog posts on only that topic for the rest of my life. However, for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep a tight focus. Eating slowly allows your body to acclimate to the food you just swallowed so you don’t eat too much before you realize you’re full. Besides, chewing your food slowly, savoring every bite, and having a more intimate relationship with your food just makes it taste better.

Step 3. - Put a big time limit on how much red meat you consume. I suggest this for two reasons. First, red meat is pretty fatty to begin with. Second, the deplorable conditions they have to raise beef cattle here in the US makes me sick. Don’t support that industry. You have any idea how much natural resources are used to feed and transport that meat? Tons. I could get really political here, but the real health benefit to limiting your read meat consumption is that you consume less fatty meats. Eat fish instead.

Step 4. - Exercise. I don’t care what you do, just exercise. One could say that exercising is a lot like saving for retirement. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it. Join a gym, jog, park farther away from the office, take the stairs, clean house, play sports, garden, do whatever you must, just exercise!

Step 5. - Lay off the beer and soda. This one is hard for me, but it is necessary to keep a few inches off your waist. Don’t deny yourself a tasty brewski here and there, but just don’t drink fifty of them in one night. Same with the soda. Limit yourself to two per week.

That’s the blog post for today. Enjoy.