Jim

Wrong again For a family of four with earned income of $60,000 you can expect a federal tax bill of $2,573. The deduction and exemptions are $10,700 and $13,600 so your taxable income is $35,700. The federal tax rate for married filing jointly on that is $4,573. Plus such a family would get the child tax credit for each child for 2 x $1000 totaling $2,000. So the total tax is $2,573. The combined social security and Medicare tax rate is 7.65%. So for income of $60,000 you'd be giving $4,590 to SS and Medicare. And if you look at the summary of tax burden per major cities, Seattle is about 6.5%. http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxburden/ So no, with some facts I’m not seeing anything close to 30% as you claim.

Hmmm. I gave you some financials as you inquired about my spouse's salary. WTF is the big deal? You are the one crying bloody murder via taxes - it's bullshit. There is no way you are paying 30% in taxes. Most folks with a house and kids are getting plenty of deductions - even the federal standard deduction is dang generous. I'm guessing your realized tax obligations are floating around 15% or so as most middle class folks.

You've already admitted that your spouse's teaching job pays well. The argument that taxes ought to be raised on the rest of us so she can be paid even more is yours to make. You haven't even come close. I think I said "adequate" not well. With a Masters degree in Science and close to 20 years experience in teaching and 16 yrs in a science field - yea $65k isn't so bad given the structure of the teaching field. Given she'll put in an average of 60 hours each week for the school term (including breaks) and then goes in over the summer to peck away at lesson planning and collaboration, her average hourly pay is getting close to minimum wage. AND, as I said before, pay isn't the issue for teachers I know. It's the support of the system for teacher aids, special needs kids (which private schools won't touch), English as a second language help, and size of classes. They are a sturdy bunch - OK - so now you can give me the breakdown - what your gross family income, level of deductions, and tax paid. We can use the standard assumptions on state sales tax from the tax tables, and can easily calculate the levee costs of your jurisdiction. So I'm willing to listen to some stepwise presentation - otherwise it's the usual "I don't want to pay taxes" Stamp feet. Repeat.

I guarantee you are paying nowhere near 30% of your income in taxes. Show us some numbers dude - otherwise it's more emergency arm waving

I'm a data driven kinda guy. So rather than just reving up the again and again, why don't you just walk us through a few facts and figures to support the argument that you are unduly burdened?

Stunning libtard arrogance on display here. You have no clue re my taxes. And now teachers have the audacity to agitate for a 7.5% tax on capital gains? When it's possible to fund education without any tax increases? I think that's called "greedy math." And no, it's not about the kids. Thank God Republicans control the state Senate. Yawn Really. You can come up with another unsubstantiated tirade. Quite uncreative to keep recycling this one. Given you have time to while away here - I'll assume you're middle to upper-middle class in Wa. Given that - yea, your taxes are low. Show me otherwise.

Since it's your argument - how about you come up with some evidence that what we are spending on education is just wasteful. These are cute little anecdotes about over-paid elementary school principals. And the specific one you posted, her base salary is $95k. So yea, given the hours they put in all year long and the responsibilities they have - yea, it seems to correspond to their job. Somehow - that teachers are just cruising along and have a great pension is, well, a lie. If my spouse makes it to 20 years of teaching she'll be eligible for a whopping $17k year pension. AND her SS benefits will be scaled back accordingly because she gets a pension. I think most teachers would agree that central administration is a bit daunting and would benefit from efficiencies. But then again - so would Microsoft. Large organizations, no matter what, are inherently run by humans, who are flawed. You are not taxed very much on the state, local, or federal level. Get over it already.

Well, that's how it works in private industry. When I hire a new staff person if they have a Masters they have a higher base salary. So now were dodging off into the land of "administration". Interesting. I'm not hearing you whine about the Pentagon "administrators" and their programs, which make the school system finances pencil dust in comparison. What a bunch of crock.

Well kinda true. You are counting their base salary, stipends, and INSURANCE. Stipends are given for extra work - say if a teacher coaches a team or leads some other extra curricular program or club -- are you saying they shouldn't be paid more for doing more? I thought this was what the merit system was about. Just for kicks I looked up one of the teachers who makes more than $70k. A Masters and 16 years experiences with a base salary of $62k. Insurance/benefits is valued at almost $10k. Yea - posh.

Oh, she would say she gets compensated adequately, she knew what she was going into. Given the hours I have a different view. I'm not sure about the math-science thing vs. English-History, those teachers are working just as hard. Parent conferences, team meetings on at-risk kids, grading, planning, dealing with the parents who think their average kid is a genius -- I certainly couldn't do it. A COA now and then would be appreciated, but if asked, I think most of the teachers at her school would like to see WA fully fund education not for pay increases but to reduce class size, hire support staff (councilers, aids, teacher mentors) and upgrade some old equipment.

Oh - chiming in on the teacher pay thing, I can't imagine, by any stretch of the imagination, someone thinking that teachers are over-paid. I work in the private sector and have had 5 years with the feds - but that's now over 25 years in the private sector. My spouse with an MS in a science field left the private and went into teaching 18 years ago. While she doesn't regret it she says she doubled her hours and halved her pay going to teach. With an MS in her field and 18 years teaching she makes decent pay - but particularly if you figure it out on a per hour basis - even including the six week summer break - it's modest. Younger teachers, particularly with families are in a bit more of a pinch. The gravy train argument is a nice conservative fairy tale.

Oh. So I see, you don't object to other EOs (up to 1.5 million affected) but rather to the degree of this case. So, say, if it affected 50% of the current EO it would be ok, how about 75%? What exactly IS the criteria here?

Yea, the man's action is such a fluke: Pres. Dwight Eisenhower: 1956 By executive order, circumvented immigration quotas to allow 900 orphans to join their adoptive families in the U.S. 1956-1958 By executive order, allowed 31,000 Hungarian anti-Soviet insurgents to emigrate. 1959-72 By executive order, allowed 600,000 Cubans fleeing Castro to emigrate. [PDF] Pres. Gerald Ford: 1975 By executive order, allowed 360,000 refugees, mostly from from Vietnam, to emigrate. 1976 By executive order, allowed 14,000 Lebanese nationals to emigrate. Pres. Ronald Reagan: 1981 By executive order, allowed 7,000 Polish anti-Communists to emigrate. 1982 Allowed 15,000-plus Ethiopians to emigrate. 1987 By executive order, rescinded deportation of 200,000 Nicaraguans. 1987 By executive order, deferred deportation of undocumented children of 100,000 families. [JSTOR] George H.W. Bush: 1989 By executive order, deferred deportations of Chinese students. 1989 By executive order, reversed visa denials of 7,000 Soviets, Indochinese. 1990 By executive order, deferred deporations of previously amnestied citizens’ 1.5 million spouses and children. 1991 By executive order, deferred deportation of 2,000 Gulf War evacuees. 1992 By executive order, deferred deportations of 190,000 El Salvadorans. George W. Bush: 2002 By executive order, expedited naturalization for green-card holders who joined military. 2005 By executive order, deferred deportation of students affected by Hurricane Katrina. 2006 By executive order, enabled 1,500 Cuban physicians to seek asylum at US embassies. 2007 By executive order, deferred deportation of 3,600 Liberians.

Well, then. I'd just plain old disagree on the relative scale of it. How say, did Bush I, Reagan, or Clinton knock down a hornet's nest that is comparable to the Idiot? Over 4k US service men and women dead, over 32,000 wounded. A major hit to the Treasury, and a rise in terrorist coalitions to a new level, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, --- a mess. Iran handed new influence. Simply marvelous. Really? The three prior Presidents had similar miscalculations? I don't think so. "they all do it" is not a serious argument.

Ah yes, a convenient distraction. Instead of focusing on what is wrong now with our foreign policy and what risks and threats exist, look to the past to blame the "other". It must make you feel good, a favorite past time. Yea, that's the United States of Amnesia sure enough. Never ask how the hell did we get here in the first place. We'll be picking up the broken pottery for a long time on this one.

I've been thinking about the Bushie, Rice, Powell, Cheney, Rumsfeld cabal. Back then, I think I referred to the Iraq escapade as the significant foreign policy blunder of the past 50 years. Hmmm, how time flies. The easily predicted unstable Iraq has given rise to ISIS, instead of the domino effect of democracy throughout the Middle East as predicted by Cheney and Rummey we have, what could be easily called chaos and multi-headed terrorist groups with increasing influence, a humanitarian crisis from the flood of refugees, and generally - a pretty good shit storm. Bravo I say, bravo! I wonder if Bushie is water-coloring any of this in retirement.

Very good example of just keep plugging along. And yes, better, but not perfect is good advice. I have a lot of respect for folks who know they want to get back at it and then put in the foundation to do so. Cheers and good job

I believe that Pat, a guide with Alpine Ascents, had a femur resurfacing a few years back and that guy still guides and climbs like one strong dude. And he's mid to late-50ish

Self-aggrandizing part aside - I could see some field work applications of that tiny bird - have to admit the technology is pretty cool

Been using them for work now and then - remote sensing, wildlife surveys, etc. Very efficient for landscape-scale surveys. Programed one to capture video and LiDAR for a run up the river and return to base. Holy cow - saved us at least $8k over a flight and two weeks in schedule. But, as in most technology, there will be some a-holes at the controls. Was on the Priest in Moab when one buzzed by - do we really need another form of chest-thumping from weekend warriors. Mixed feelings on the recreation use end of it.

Tangential speech is a communication disorder in which the train of thought of the speaker wanders and shows a lack of focus, never returning to the initial topic of the conversation. It is less severe than Logorrhea and may be associated with the middle stage in dementia. It is, however, more severe than circumstantial speech in which the speaker wanders, but eventually returns to the topic. Some adults with right hemisphere brain damage may exhibit behavior that includes tangential speech. Those who exhibit these behaviors may also have related symptoms such as seemingly inappropriate or self-centered social responses, and a deterioration in pragmatic abilities (including appropriate eye contact as well as topic maintenance).

While I don't get here often there are still a few gems put out now and then. And, as the resident ego goes - what the board lacks in suspense he certainly doubles down with consistency. Who knows what fuels this run-away insecurity train. I did notice, however, that it is a quarter to midnight on the countdown to 20k posts. Not long now!!

Oh - correct. Scale needs the "s" modifier to indicate spouse is with you in this boondoggle! Thanks for report. Gotta be entertained somehow as there is no snow.

Very good-I'll pass on the epic scale someone noted to me after me and my partner also bivied atop Dragontail and had a shiverfest. According to Rob Kelman's Epic Rating Scale, you're at E4: E1. Delay in completing route resulting in being an hour late for dinner with your significant other. E2. Same as E1 except that climbing partner is of opposite sex. E3. Same as E1 except that bivouac is required. E4. Same as E2 except that bivouac is required. E5. Hung up on short route requiring rescue. E6. Same as E5 except injury is involved. E7. Same as E5 except route is isolated and elaborate rescue required. E8. Same as E7 except that injury is involved. E9. Some, but not all, members of the party are killed. E10. Same as E8 except a major, dangerous effort is needed to rescue the injured and recover bodies. E11. All members of the party are killed. E12. The entire party vanishes. Congratulations! Sounds like a great time.

While Ms. Armstrong didn't articulate it that way, somehow I think it's and underlying assumption.