Author: Sammy G

Alright, how many of you out there would like to see the IRS abolished?

Right now, there’s a 130(+)-page bill proposed by Sen. Linder (R) that offers to eliminate the 55,000(+)-page current IRS code. The bill proposes that a 23% consumption tax replace the federal income tax. This means that the only tax collected by the government would be 23% on anything bought.

I’m a pretty liberal dude. I’m all about high taxation for public service and helping out those in need. I like social services. That’s why it’s kind of scary that I like this bill and may contact my Senator with an endorsement.

Before the comments begin, allow me to offer a personal experience living within a flat tax zone. For two years I lived in TN, which advertises itself as a music-loving, hippie state, so that tourists won’t realize they’re really bringing tourist dollars into a state controlled by rich, white corrupt Republicans. The first whiff of “something wrong” occurs when one of the many homeless people saunters by and emits that nasty homeless odor. Yes, no income tax in TN. A flat consumption tax in its place. I had never seen such economic disparity before, not even in the homeless pits of Fells Point, B’more, that rivaled the streets of Nashville. I saw the toll a flat tax takes on the people.

But…I saw where Linder’s new bill offers a neat household rebate equal to the sales tax on consumption of essential goods and services.

Still, the questions lingered for me. What was the U.S. like before the IRS? What would the benefits be of getting rid of the IRS now?

George Will’s recent editorial did it for me.

What do you all think?

EDIT by matthew: Linked.

Anybody else getting fed up with the mail-in rebate hassle?

Case in point: this past weekend we bought a new computer and accessories for the household. Part of the reason for buying was the low advertised price. Of course, the low advertised price is always the amount after you subtract the various instant and mail-in rebates.

This morning it took me 45 minutes to sort out the receipts, fill out the rebate forms, cut out the UPC codes from the original packaging, make copies of the receipts, forms and UPC codes, circle the purchase prices on the receipts, stuff the right forms, receipts and UPC codes in envelopes and then write mailing addresses on the front of each of the envelopes.

I do all this with a smile, knowing that I’m not going to end up a statistical casualty of laziness. Retailers work closely with manufacturers in analyzing the percentage of those lazy customers who never end up sending in rebate forms. Without any knowledge of the actual amount, I’m going to hazard a guess that the non-redeemers are at 20%.

Well, I may be stuffing rebate envelopes, waiting 8-10 weeks to receive the rebate check and clicking on the rebate website everyday to make sure those rebate yahoos in the sprawling rebate hubs of Miami and Mesa, AZ aren’t sitting around by their 14,697 different PO Boxes and intentionally tossing my precious $15 rebate request into the +2 Bag of Seeyoulaterville, but I sure as hell won’t be the loser down the street who loafed my way into the 20% category.

If it’s even 20%.

Somebody get me statistics on this.

In the last week, I’ve seen no less than 5 news stories that contend how blogs are growing in appeal and influence in comparison to other such staid formats as the newspaper, TV and radio.

The articles all highlighted the Rather/CBS News mess to show how blogs are changing the way in which people receive and interpret news.

The discussion topic I pose to you is whether y’all be feelin’ that the blogosphere provides value to you as a news source.

My opinion is that there is ZERO value receiving news from a personal blog. Journalism is a media business that relies on professionalism and integrity to bring together readers (viewers) and advertisers. Without an unbiased, professional staff working on collecting, editing and publishing the media, I don’t find sustained value and credibility in the news source. Reporters, editors and fact-checkers go to school for this sort of thing. Yokels throwing up an internet site are, to me, agenda mongols.

I was hanging out recently with an newspaper editor friend who mentioned that his biggest problem is getting younger kids to read the paper. Newspapers are worried about circulation drop with the new generation of internet kids who live online. So, the blog concept represents a challenge to media mainstays worried about losing circulation in the next 10 to 20 years.

What do you all think?

(For the sake of focus, I don’t want to get into the subject of ‘media bias’, even though it’s obvious that The Washington Post and New York Times are the most fair and balanced pubs out there while Fox News is nothing more than psycho, hacks-for-hire whiners bankrolled by Murdoch and his lunacy empire. That is all.)

A momentous step in the growth of Accompany Publising. Two weeks ago I moved into an office. For the first time since starting the business two years ago, I am no longer operating Accompany on a cell phone and 100 sq. feet in a dark basement.

The decision to not secure a dedicated office space was simple. My feeling was that until the business generated revenues and customer traction it should not leave the comfort of a rent-free location. Minimizing overhead was key.

For anyone out there interested in launching their own business venture, I will now offer that incurring startup overhead in the form of an office can offset the productivity loss brewed by sitting around your basement. I can’t tell you how despairing it can get working out of your own home. No matter your level of discipline, and earnest, you will have to overcome separation from people. There is a feeling that I was missing out on what was happening in the world.

I remember a time during my Nashville stint when I got hit with a nasty virus. I didn’t leave the Vanderbilt apartment for 4 days straight. Slept and read, trying to lick the bug. After I turned the corner, and could stand up, I walked outtside. I remember the awkward, feeling of leaving this little apartment and moving into this big world. That’s an allegory to the mental state of working from home.

The other thing about getting an office is that people start to look at the business differently. Before it was: “how’s your little project coming?” Garnering an office creates a different external perception of the enterprise as an actual business. People treat you differently. I don’t have to take meetings at coffee shops anymore.

Of course, my commute is now longer than ten seconds.

Anyway, the office itself is fantastic. My business associate found a commercial leasing company that caters to small businesses. For a cheap monthly rent, Accompany not only enjoys a spacious modern office, 1 mile from downtown, but also receives, included with rent, telephone, high-speed internet, fax, copier, elevator, doored-office, mailbox, security, electricity and immediate facility support. The owner/manager works three floors below me, and is emotionally committed to making the building concept succeed. I moved in on a Sunday night and this guy is sweeping the stairwell.

Now, about selling some product and making rent payments…

Time vs. Newsweek vs. U.S. News & World Report.

Discuss.

Congresswoman Ellen O. Tauscher is currently serving her fifth term representing California’s 10th Congressional district, which includes San Francisco’s suburbs in Contra Costa, Alameda and Solano Counties. She is a leader on defense, homeland security, high-tech, transportation and veterans’ issues and is one of Congress’s leading experts on nuclear nonproliferation. As a New Democrat and Blue Dog, her fiscally responsible, bipartisan, independent brand of leadership was coined “Tauscherism” by Time magazine.

As National Vice Chair of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, Rep. Tauscher travels across the country meeting with elected officials and building a base of New Democrats for state and national office. Rep. Tauscher has served on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and chaired the group’s Democratic Business Forum. She is also a past Finance Chair of the New Democrat Network.

Rep. Tauscher has been called one of the “50 most powerful people in politics

I’m fed up with the media’s use of the word “shocking” in connection with gun-related homicides. I think I’ve gone off on this topic before, but today I came across multiple media outlets state that recent fatal shootings were “shocking”.

What’s so shocking about it?

How many gun-related killings occur each year in the US? In 2001, the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Report detailed 29,572 annual gun deaths. This number means that 81 people are killing each other in our country each day with guns. 81.

Where’s the shock factor? When 81 people are getting shot each day in our country, then there’s nothing shocking about it. I’m surprised that media hasn’t gone on to consider other things, like car-related deaths, to qualify for a shocking development (“In today’s morning rush hour, a shocking fender-bender occured, startling many motorists and eventually causing…a traffic jam”.)

Call it senseless, horrible or awful. Call it terrible or disgusting. But don’t call it shocking. Tell it like it is. A normal, daily activity. In the great words of Al Franken: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Using guns.”

Why is there 396MB in an empty folder?

C:/Documents and Setting/Owner/Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files

Something tells me that Microsoft is watching.

Alright, music geeks, time to spare Sammy G some advice.

I’m looking for an 88-key, hammer-weight keyboard for use in the studio. I need something that will simply act as a slave device for recording into Logic/Cakewalk/etc.

I never got into the programming aspects of the T1, and by now its onboard technology is beyond obsolete. You won’t believe this, but the 3.5 floppy still sitting in the T1 drive is a Babbage’s disk, with Matt’s handwriting, that reads “Matt’s Disk.” That’s how little I used the programming side of the T1 over its 14-year existence. Now, the T1 is a this heavy, klunky artifact that still works, but has bugs that I’m forced to work around whenever I turn it on.

Anyway, trying to find a decent, slave board. Thanks for any advice!

Props to His Rhymeness Lord Weed who took 20 minutes about of his busy day to act as my personal MS Outlook Tech Support.

You da man.