Within the last week or so, I bought a new car. Yes, the Big, Fat, Black Capitalist Car is now history. More on the new wheels later, as this is a post about tax. It is, after all, April 15th.

OK so, you buy a new car in New Jersey. Not exactly pocket change, that. The car comes with four real tires and one of those bullshit donuts as a spare. Those five tires are clearly part of the new car. Agreed? Of course. The dealer adds up the total price of the car (including the five tires) and collects, for the state, seven percent of that number as sales tax. Seven percent is a pretty big hit, for sure. Do the math in your cruller.

Ah, but you’re not done paying tax on the car. In New Jersey, after you pay seven percent of the retail value of the car (including the five tires that come with it), you get to pay an additional “Tire Tax” (pdf) of $1.50 per tire, including the spare. Sure, you’ve just spent thousands on a car, including a couple thousand in sales tax, so what’s another $7.50? The rat bastards in Trenton are counting on you thinking like that.

But wait! You’re not done paying tax yet on those tires.

Suppose one of the tires is punctured and you have it fixed. Fixing a tire is a “service,” and you pay seven percent tax on the cost of fixing the tire. Suppose the gas station guy tries to fix the tire, but decides that he can’t fix it and sells you a new tire. You get to pay seven percent tax on the cost of the repair attempt, plus seven percent sales tax on the cost of a new tire, PLUS the tire tax.

Further suppose that, after a year or so, you decide to sell the car (including the four tires and the spare) to Joe Blow. Joe Blow will have to pay seven percent sales tax on the price of your car (including the five tires) AND the tire tax as well, which means that New Jersey has now taxed the same five tires at least FOUR TIMES.

And yet, the sheeple keep paying the taxes and voting the same cruds into office.

Douchebags.

By now, you surely have read about the United States Congressman Donald Payne’s plane barely having left the airport in Somalia before mortar rounds landed on the airport’s runway. Donald Payne represents New Jersey’s 10th congressional district. Yes, that makes him “my” congressman.

You probably read or heard that he is the Chairman of the racially exclusionary club known as the Congressional Black Caucus. He has served in Congress for more than twenty years, and he probably will have the “job” for life, as during the last few congressional elections, he has run unopposed. (In the 2008 presidential election the 10th congressional district went 87% to 13% in favor of Barack Obama.)

What the newspapers and electronic media didn’t tell you is that Donald Payne is positively useless as a representative and that he spends far more time worrying about the conditions in lawless shitholes like Somalia than he does about the conditions of the lawless shitholes in his own congressional district.

Take, for example, the Township of Irvington. Once a beautiful town, made vibrant by the pride that largely blue collar workers took in maintaining their hard-earned homes. The township boasted a thriving business center and a beautiful park.

Now, it has the look and feel of Mogadishu, except that in Irvington only the bad guys are armed. A former corrupt mayor was forced out of office, and crime is so rampant that State Troopers have been enlisted to patrol the streets. Indeed, as of 2007, Irvington had the highest violent crime rate of the New Jersey’s 15 major urban areas (Link). Gangs? You bet.

I, therefore, submit that, in the future, if Mr. Payne is intent on visiting rotting, corrupt, crime-ridden, hell holes, he need not set one foot outside his congressional district.

The good news for Mr. Payne is that the criminals in Irvington don’t have mortars. Yet.

Update: Linked by Doug Ross. Thanks!

I wish I could say that this is a gag, but it’s not. It’s a video prepared for the faculty at Penn State University. The message in this video, which deals with (in the mind of the instructor) a belligerent student, could easily apply to any number of types of students, but veterans have been singled out. Pretty goddamned sickening.

I’ll shut up now and let the video speak for itself.

Via Doug Ross

Economy got you down? Politics making you crazed?

Need a breather?

These absolutely amazing 4th, 5th, and 6th grade girls will put a smile on your face.

I guarantee it.

Thanks to reader, Dick, for the link.

Shut up!

I am sorely pissed.

I had my tax return prepared yesterday, and, as usual, I will be writing a sizeable check to the United States Treasury, the proceeds of which will immediately be sucked into the gaping federal rat hole created by the rogues in Washington.

While still fuming over the amount of tribute I am forced to pay to the government, I received a call from a young fellow from the Republican National Committee who asked me whether I would be “renewing” my membership (i.e. sending money) in the Republican Party.

The guy picked a bad night to call.

I began by saying that he sounded like a perfectly fine guy, but that I would consider “renewing” my membership when I see more Republicans in Washington develop “something resembling a spine and vocally oppose the crap that is going on in Washington now.” I stated that they could set an example by not seeking earmarks and voting against any other legislator’s earmarks. I added that they should all re-read the Constitution (assuming they’ve ever read it in the first place) and legislate accordingly.

After a pause (The guy’s surely was figuring, “Damn, I caught the nutbar.”), the fellow dutifully continued reading his script, which consisted of a litany of broad conservative principles. I interrputed his speech, noting that I already know the conservative principles and that I would “renew” my membership (i.e. send money) when I see Republicans actually acting on those principles.

I thanked him for his call. After all, it’s not his fault that the Democrats are dismantling the country and the Republicans are just standing around and watching it happen.

Great stuff. Listen and watch.

Thanks to Willie, the Guitar Guy.

Yes, that’s what Branford Marsalis (brother of Wynton, the Trumpetmeister) has to say.

Word.

Thanks to my buddy Mike the Computer Maven, who found it here.

No, really!

Maybe he figured out how to chew through beer cans.

Snagged from Hammer’s excellent site.