Proper assignment of blame
It was one of those moments where I wanted to scream at the television. A two year old boy is dead, his uncle and grandmother are under arrest for child endangerment (and facing possible murder charges) and someone who knows them and knows what happened is being interviewed.
"It wasn't their fault, it was an accident."
It was a tragedy but it was not an accident. Five dogs mauled a little boy to death. His uncle was supposed to be watching him, but somehow Samuel Zamudio managed to climb out through a window and got into a yard where the dogs were kept.
That one or more of these dogs was a pit bull is irrelevant. People who want to make an issue out of the breed of the dogs are welcome to do so but that isn't the real issue here. Pit bulls may be slightly more dangerous than other breeds of dog but there isn't a major difference. When three or more dogs are involved, a child of that age is at risk.
It wasn't that these adults owned these dogs that caused the death of this precious child. It wasn't the fault of the dogs. It was the fault of the adults for not preventing the child from getting access to where the dogs were kept.
Now some will say that children can get into anything. That is simply not the case. Had I been fortunate enough to ever have had children, every single substance in the house that might have caused them serious injury would have been locked up in such a way that the child would not have had access. I am smart enough to know that you can't completely childproof everything in the space where a family lives, but you can make the best effort possible. A situation where a door or window gives a 2 year old potential access to dogs can be prevented.
It isn't about paying attention either. We are all going to have lapses of attention when caring for a child. We can't stare at the child for every second of every day. That is why we have the collective responsibility to take every step, utilize every safeguard to prevent this kind of thing.
That didn't happen here. Samuel Zamudio's life ended before his third birthday because he was allowed to be exposed to danger. It was not an accident. There are people at fault.
* * *
It took me some research but I found the answer to a question I was considering over the last couple of weeks. The question was, in calculating the income qualification for receiving one of the subsidies under Obamacare, what about someone who has income that is exempt from income tax?
It turns out that there are two types of income that won't be excluded from this calculation, that were on my list of "concerns". You see, income that qualifies as "foreign earned income" under Internal Revenue Code section 911 is excluded from gross income for tax purposes. And, certain forms of interest income (usually government and municipal bond interest) are also excluded from gross income.
I used to have a tax client whose taxable income was not a whole lot, but their interest income from what we call "double-tax-free" bonds was a whole lot. A really big number. If the Obamacare legislation hadn't been drafted carefully enough, even though this client could easily afford to buy five or ten health insurance policies, they would have qualified for a subsidy under the new rules that are going into effect.
As an illustration, consider this. Pretend for a moment that you own $10 million of these bonds that are currently paying 3% interest. That's a nice, tidy $300,000 in interest income each year. The best part, no income tax will be paid on this income. Another of the "tricks" of the rich to avoid income taxes.
How did that happen? Since governments at all levels need to be able to borrow money to fund their profligate spending, they have to offer incentives to people with the money to lend. One of those incentives is that no tax is paid on such investments. States do this as well. California will tax municipal bond interest when the bonds are from other states or municipalities outside of CA, but exempts that interest when the bonds are California bonds. Or bonds issued by municipalities in the state. A California resident in that situation would save more than $30,000 in state income tax.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Have to admire a student who when called on to answer a question in class admits that they just didn't read the assignment. The honesty is refreshing.
I asked one of the residents if they had called someone else a "bitch" as someone told me they had and the response was "I didn't say that, I just told them to go f**k themselves" as though that was much, much better.
We will never know for certain how we would act in a specific situation until we are actually in that situation. Training is good but it doesn't make anything a certainty.
The reason I never wanted to be President (or Pope for that matter) is simple. No room for advancement.
If Adam and Eve were the two created by God and they had two kids, Cain and Abel and Cain murdered Abel, where did we come from (don't answer, I know what the "good book" says)?
Proof irony and the unfairness of life can be found in the fact Pete Best, not a great drummer was fired by the Beatles and replaced by Ringo Starr, also not a great drummer. Although it must be noted Starr was/is a much better drummer than Best.
A very dedicated fan of the New York Yankees is appealing being fired from his job after he missed work to keep his streak of attending all home games alive. His streak dates back more than 38 years. But considering he'd been suspended twice in recent years for skipping work to go to games, why would the employer have done anything other than fire him?
Is it just me, or is there something wrong with the notion of going to a Burger King and saying "I'll have the low-calorie French fries please?
Former college professor Harry Binswanger (member of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute) says millionaires should be exempt from income taxes. Just proves that one can be an idiot and still be a college professor.
The biggest divorce going may be the one between producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the Disney Company. The biggest casualty may be the next "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel which is on hold.
* * *
This Date In History:
1180 – Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.
1645 – Battle of Rowton Heath, Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army commanded in person by King Charles
1664 – The Dutch Republic surrenders New Amsterdam to England.
1674 – Second Tantrik Coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
1780 – Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John André exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.
1789 – The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act which creates the office of the United States Attorney General and the federal judiciary system, and orders the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1830 – Belgian Revolution: A revolutionary committee of notables forms the Provisional Government of Belgium.
1841 – The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to the United Kingdom.
1852 – The first airship powered by (a steam) engine, created by Henri Giffard, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes.
1853 – Admiral Despointes formally takes possession of New Caledonia in the name of France.
1869 – "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.
1877 – Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
1890 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.
1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.
1914 – World War I: The Siege of Przemyśl (present-day Poland) begins.
1932 – Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Indian provincial legislatures for the "Depressed Classes" (Untouchables).
1935 – Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi
1946 – Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong.
1946 – Clark Clifford and George Elsey, military advisers to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, present him with a top-secret report on the Soviet Union that first recommends the containment policy.
1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded.
1950 – Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon is seen as far away as Europe.
1957 – Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.
1960 – USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.
1962 – United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.
1968 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS.
1968 – Swaziland joins the United Nations.
1973 – Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.
1979 – CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.
1990 – Periodic Great White Spot is observed on Saturn.
1996 – Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
2005 – Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
John Marshall
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Tommy Armour
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Konstantin Chernenko
Doud Eisenhower
Audra Lindley
Richard Bong (Medal of Honor recipient)
Jim McKay (I hear his name, I see a ski jumper falling off the side of the jump)
Sheila MacRae
Anthony Newley
Mel Taylor
Linda McCartney
Gerry Marsden
Lou Dobbs
Gordon Clapp
Kristina Wayborn
Kevin Sorbo
Nia Vardalos
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque
Ross Matthews
Movie quotes today come from the 1983 Bond film "Octopussy" in honor of Kristina Wayborn's birthday (she looked gorgeous in that film):
Vijay: Is he still there?
Q: You must be joking! Double-0 seven on an island populated exclusively by women? We won't see him till dawn
#2
[Bond and Q are floating in a hot air balloon]
James Bond: I trust you can handle this contraption, Q?
Q: It goes by hot air.
James Bond: Oh, then you can.
#3
James Bond: You didn't tell me there was going to be this much security.
Bianca: They moved the flight up to this afternoon.
James Bond: Well, we're going to have to go ahead as planned anyway.
[Bianca hands an ID badge with the name 'Luis Toro' to Bond]
James Bond: Toro. Sounds like a load of bull.
"It wasn't their fault, it was an accident."
It was a tragedy but it was not an accident. Five dogs mauled a little boy to death. His uncle was supposed to be watching him, but somehow Samuel Zamudio managed to climb out through a window and got into a yard where the dogs were kept.
That one or more of these dogs was a pit bull is irrelevant. People who want to make an issue out of the breed of the dogs are welcome to do so but that isn't the real issue here. Pit bulls may be slightly more dangerous than other breeds of dog but there isn't a major difference. When three or more dogs are involved, a child of that age is at risk.
It wasn't that these adults owned these dogs that caused the death of this precious child. It wasn't the fault of the dogs. It was the fault of the adults for not preventing the child from getting access to where the dogs were kept.
Now some will say that children can get into anything. That is simply not the case. Had I been fortunate enough to ever have had children, every single substance in the house that might have caused them serious injury would have been locked up in such a way that the child would not have had access. I am smart enough to know that you can't completely childproof everything in the space where a family lives, but you can make the best effort possible. A situation where a door or window gives a 2 year old potential access to dogs can be prevented.
It isn't about paying attention either. We are all going to have lapses of attention when caring for a child. We can't stare at the child for every second of every day. That is why we have the collective responsibility to take every step, utilize every safeguard to prevent this kind of thing.
That didn't happen here. Samuel Zamudio's life ended before his third birthday because he was allowed to be exposed to danger. It was not an accident. There are people at fault.
* * *
It took me some research but I found the answer to a question I was considering over the last couple of weeks. The question was, in calculating the income qualification for receiving one of the subsidies under Obamacare, what about someone who has income that is exempt from income tax?
It turns out that there are two types of income that won't be excluded from this calculation, that were on my list of "concerns". You see, income that qualifies as "foreign earned income" under Internal Revenue Code section 911 is excluded from gross income for tax purposes. And, certain forms of interest income (usually government and municipal bond interest) are also excluded from gross income.
I used to have a tax client whose taxable income was not a whole lot, but their interest income from what we call "double-tax-free" bonds was a whole lot. A really big number. If the Obamacare legislation hadn't been drafted carefully enough, even though this client could easily afford to buy five or ten health insurance policies, they would have qualified for a subsidy under the new rules that are going into effect.
As an illustration, consider this. Pretend for a moment that you own $10 million of these bonds that are currently paying 3% interest. That's a nice, tidy $300,000 in interest income each year. The best part, no income tax will be paid on this income. Another of the "tricks" of the rich to avoid income taxes.
How did that happen? Since governments at all levels need to be able to borrow money to fund their profligate spending, they have to offer incentives to people with the money to lend. One of those incentives is that no tax is paid on such investments. States do this as well. California will tax municipal bond interest when the bonds are from other states or municipalities outside of CA, but exempts that interest when the bonds are California bonds. Or bonds issued by municipalities in the state. A California resident in that situation would save more than $30,000 in state income tax.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Have to admire a student who when called on to answer a question in class admits that they just didn't read the assignment. The honesty is refreshing.
I asked one of the residents if they had called someone else a "bitch" as someone told me they had and the response was "I didn't say that, I just told them to go f**k themselves" as though that was much, much better.
We will never know for certain how we would act in a specific situation until we are actually in that situation. Training is good but it doesn't make anything a certainty.
The reason I never wanted to be President (or Pope for that matter) is simple. No room for advancement.
If Adam and Eve were the two created by God and they had two kids, Cain and Abel and Cain murdered Abel, where did we come from (don't answer, I know what the "good book" says)?
Proof irony and the unfairness of life can be found in the fact Pete Best, not a great drummer was fired by the Beatles and replaced by Ringo Starr, also not a great drummer. Although it must be noted Starr was/is a much better drummer than Best.
A very dedicated fan of the New York Yankees is appealing being fired from his job after he missed work to keep his streak of attending all home games alive. His streak dates back more than 38 years. But considering he'd been suspended twice in recent years for skipping work to go to games, why would the employer have done anything other than fire him?
Is it just me, or is there something wrong with the notion of going to a Burger King and saying "I'll have the low-calorie French fries please?
Former college professor Harry Binswanger (member of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute) says millionaires should be exempt from income taxes. Just proves that one can be an idiot and still be a college professor.
The biggest divorce going may be the one between producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the Disney Company. The biggest casualty may be the next "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel which is on hold.
* * *
This Date In History:
1180 – Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.
1645 – Battle of Rowton Heath, Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army commanded in person by King Charles
1664 – The Dutch Republic surrenders New Amsterdam to England.
1674 – Second Tantrik Coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
1780 – Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John André exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.
1789 – The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act which creates the office of the United States Attorney General and the federal judiciary system, and orders the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1830 – Belgian Revolution: A revolutionary committee of notables forms the Provisional Government of Belgium.
1841 – The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to the United Kingdom.
1852 – The first airship powered by (a steam) engine, created by Henri Giffard, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes.
1853 – Admiral Despointes formally takes possession of New Caledonia in the name of France.
1869 – "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.
1877 – Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
1890 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.
1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.
1914 – World War I: The Siege of Przemyśl (present-day Poland) begins.
1932 – Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Indian provincial legislatures for the "Depressed Classes" (Untouchables).
1935 – Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi
1946 – Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong.
1946 – Clark Clifford and George Elsey, military advisers to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, present him with a top-secret report on the Soviet Union that first recommends the containment policy.
1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded.
1950 – Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon is seen as far away as Europe.
1957 – Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.
1960 – USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.
1962 – United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.
1968 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS.
1968 – Swaziland joins the United Nations.
1973 – Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.
1979 – CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.
1990 – Periodic Great White Spot is observed on Saturn.
1996 – Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
2005 – Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
John Marshall
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Tommy Armour
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Konstantin Chernenko
Doud Eisenhower
Audra Lindley
Richard Bong (Medal of Honor recipient)
Jim McKay (I hear his name, I see a ski jumper falling off the side of the jump)
Sheila MacRae
Anthony Newley
Mel Taylor
Linda McCartney
Gerry Marsden
Lou Dobbs
Gordon Clapp
Kristina Wayborn
Kevin Sorbo
Nia Vardalos
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque
Ross Matthews
Movie quotes today come from the 1983 Bond film "Octopussy" in honor of Kristina Wayborn's birthday (she looked gorgeous in that film):
Vijay: Is he still there?
Q: You must be joking! Double-0 seven on an island populated exclusively by women? We won't see him till dawn
#2
[Bond and Q are floating in a hot air balloon]
James Bond: I trust you can handle this contraption, Q?
Q: It goes by hot air.
James Bond: Oh, then you can.
#3
James Bond: You didn't tell me there was going to be this much security.
Bianca: They moved the flight up to this afternoon.
James Bond: Well, we're going to have to go ahead as planned anyway.
[Bianca hands an ID badge with the name 'Luis Toro' to Bond]
James Bond: Toro. Sounds like a load of bull.
posted by me at 4:13 PM
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