I love straws. Love, love, love them. I love them so much, in fact, that I typically use two at a time in my drinks (I don't know why. I've always done this. Must be an only-child thing) and even have an old-school, jadeite pull-up straw dispenser on my kitchen counter at home. Love them.
I wear makeup nearly every day. I think between being raised as a good Southern girl and having terrible under eye circles and various other things that need to be covered up, leaving the house barefaced is just not me.
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.“Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
So I have finally and officially entered the realm of Crazy Pet Owner with the purchase of this thing -- a pet ramp/step contraption. Yes, I realize that I am now actively enabling (with furniture, no less) one of the very behaviors I've spent most of the time I've had her trying to make her stop. But that spill she took was really nasty, and since she spends most of her time when I'm away at work sleeping on the couch, whether I want her to or not, it seemed like an almost reasonable purchase to keep her safe. Almost.
I am rarely at a loss for words, but after reading Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat's recent piece about a single mother of two children earning less than $19,000 a year who was audited by the IRS, I am. Not only was she audited, but after her parents (with whom she and her two little boys lived) hired an accountant to help her with the back-taxes fiasco, the IRS audited them, too.Rachel Porcaro knows she's hardly rich. When you're a single mom making 10 bucks an hour, you don't need government experts to tell you how broke you are.OK, maybe I have a couple of words.But that's what happened. The government not only told Porcaro she was poor. They said she was too poor to make it in Seattle.
It all started a year ago, when Porcaro, a 32-year-old mom with two boys, was summoned to the Seattle office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She had been flagged for an audit.
She couldn't believe it. She made $18,992 the previous year cutting hair at Supercuts. A few hundred of that she spent to have her taxes prepared by H&R Block.
"I asked the IRS lady straight upfront — 'I don't have anything, why are you auditing me?' " Porcaro recalled. "I said, 'Why me, when I don't own a home, a business, a car?' "
The answer stunned both Porcaro and the private tax specialist her dad had gotten to help her.
"They showed us a spreadsheet of incomes in the Seattle area," says Dante Driver, an accountant at Seattle's G.A. Michael and Co. "The auditor said, 'You made eighteen thousand, and our data show a family of three needs at least thirty-six thousand to get by in Seattle."
"They thought she must have unreported income. That she was hiding something. Basically they were auditing her for not making enough money."
Seriously? An estimated 60,000 people in Seattle live below the poverty line — meaning they make $11,000 or less for an individual or $22,000 for a family of four. Does the IRS red-flag them for scrutiny, simply because they're poor?
I asked the local office of the IRS. They said they couldn't comment for privacy reasons.
"We can't give you any kind of broad interview because your request is associated with the case of an individual taxpayer," IRS Media Relations said in a statement.
So I'll just tell you Rachel's story.
She had a yearlong odyssey into the maw of the IRS. After being told she couldn't survive in Seattle on so little, she was notified her returns for both 2006 and 2007 had been found "deficient." She owed the government more than $16,000 — almost an entire year's pay.
She couldn't pay it. Her dad, Rob, has run a local painting business, Porcaro Power Painting, for 30 years. He asked his accountant, Driver, for help.
Rachel's returns weren't all that complicated. At issue, though, was that she and her two sons, ages 10 and 8, were all living at her parents' house in Rainier Beach (she pays $400 a month rent). So the IRS concluded she wasn't providing for her children and therefore couldn't claim them as dependents.
She stood to lose what is called earned income tax credit, a refund targeted to help low-income workers. You qualify only if you're working, as Rachel has been.
Driver quickly determined the IRS was wrong in how it was interpreting the tax laws. He sent in the necessary code citations and hoped that would be the end of it.
Instead, the IRS responded by launching an audit of Rachel's parents.
"I was floored," says Rob Porcaro, 59. "I get audited now and then in my business, so I've been through it before. But to have them go after me because of my daughter, well, I've never heard of anything like it."
Rob and his wife, Patty, had to send in house blueprints, bank statements, old utility bills. Rachel was asked to prove her children were hers, as well as document the money she'd spent on her children's clothes, health care and so on.
They racked up $10,000 in accountant bills — $8,000 of which Driver is trying to recover from the IRS.
In the end, the parents were cleared. The IRS also backed off trying to reclaim Rachel's earned income tax credit.
But the agency insisted Rachel couldn't prove she was supporting her children — she didn't have enough receipts — so she had to stop claiming them as dependents. A few weeks ago she paid back $1,438 (plus penalties and interest!) on that issue.
Way to go, IRS. You did an investigation likely costing tens of thousands of dollars (counting both sides). To squeeze a grand out of a single mom who did nothing wrong.
Legally, Rachel's kids now are in tax limbo. I met them at the Porcaros' house and they seemed real enough, jostling and pleading to play video games. But as far as the IRS is concerned, they don't exist. Neither Rachel nor her parents can claim them as dependents.
"I tell you, we don't buy a roll of toiler paper anymore without keeping the receipt," Rob said.
Why did this happen? The IRS won't say, but Congress has been fighting for years about the earned income tax credit for the working poor.
Republicans have called the credits "backdoor welfare" and tried to cancel them. When they controlled Congress, they ordered the IRS to ramp up audits of people who claim the credit.
In 2006, credit recipients such as Rachel were more than twice as likely to get audited as the rest of the 140 million individual tax filers.
The Porcaros say they get that the IRS can't just audit the wealthy. Poor people commit fraud, too. But the intensity and duration of the IRS' "obsession," as Rob called it, as well as that it appears the agency was trolling for the working poor, remains a sore point.
It's why they agreed to talk about their finances in the newspaper.
"I feel they're persecuting the people who are down in the mud making the bricks," Rob says. "I'm sure there are tons who don't have the resources to lawyer up. What a way to go, to have your own government take you down because you're too poor."
Driver, the tax specialist, says it's well-known that the system targets the weak — people with sloppy returns, for example, who don't tend to be well off.
"It's the way a wolf goes after the weakest sheep."
Rachel says an irony of her year in tax hell is that the IRS is right about one thing — you can't get by in Seattle on what she makes. That's why she's living with her parents. To try to make a life in our shimmering city without relying on welfare, food stamps or other public assistance.
"We're an Italian family," she said. "We're surviving as a tribe. It seems like we got punished for that."
Twitter is a strange, wonderful thing.
This time last year I was in New York with Eric and Shu! and their beloveds, surrounded by real cold weather and hustle and bustle and about 8.3 million other people and the start of the holiday season. It was an amazing, amazing holiday.
President Obama in remarks to some Washington, DC school children on Monday:French hotel offers guests a night as a hamster
Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:15am ESTNANTES - It's a unique concept according to its creators, a hotel in the French town of Nantes is offering the chance for people to become a hamster.
For 99 euros ($148.10) a night, you can eat hamster grain, run in a giant wheel and sleep in hay stacks in what is called the "Hamster Villa."
It's a unique experience and, the guests say, just something
different.
The owners, Frederic Tabary and Yann Falquerho, run a company which rents out unusual and bizarre places.
"The Hamster in the world of children is that little cuddly animal. Often, the adults who come here have wanted or did have hamsters when they were small," Falquerho said, dressed as a hamster.
However, the price is soon to go up as today's hamsters need, according to the owners, Wifi and a giant TV screen. (Editing by Paul
Casciato)
So two of my sisters in Christ, Lynnie and Doria, are running a marathon today. I mean, running it on purpose, because they want to -- not because someone with an axe is chasing them, which is I think what it would take for me to run 26 miles.
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
-- John F. Kennedy
My exciting day (and evening) consists of dodging the hundreds of kids who flock to Wisteria Lane to trick or treat and parsing various bills comprising the water package that's up for a vote Monday in the Assembly. Woo!
So after a literal lifetime of migraines, I finally had an MRI of my head this morning.
As most of you know, over the last few months there has been a difficult and grievous situation developing with Capitol Ministries and Ralph Drollinger, President of CM. Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA (John MacArthur, Pastor-Teacher), where Ralph has been a member for many years and a sent-out missionary in his work with CM, recently issued a final statement regarding their relationship with Ralph and CM. With this final statement from GCC, and because of [our] long history and relationship with Ralph and CM, we believe it appropriate to pass this information on to you.
Our intent in sharing these things is three-fold:
1. To warn you, and encourage you to warn others, that Ralph Drollinger has been determined to be biblically disqualified for spiritual leadership by the elders of his home and sending church. Inasmuch as we agree with and support the determination of the GCC elders, we believe Ralph is not to be trusted or regarded as qualified to be in a place of spiritual leadership. Because Ralph is continuing in his role as President of CM, in spite of GCC’s determination, we believe he is a deceitful and divisive danger to the body of Christ (Rom. 16:17,18; Titus 1:10,11; 3:10,11). Therefore, neither Ralph nor any ministry endeavor he presently leads should be supported financially or otherwise.”
2. To encourage you to continue praying for God to be glorified in this situation, for God’s grace to be extended to Ralph in granting repentance, and for the Gospel to continue to go forward, particularly in capitols around the country and around the world. Likewise, please continue to pray for God’s sustaining grace to be provided for those directly and indirectly impacted by this situation...
3. To give you perspective and understanding regarding why Sean, Lynne, David, and Nora were compelled to resign from their full-time work with Capitol Ministries, why Pastor Greg resigned from the Board of Directors, and why we as a church no longer support or endorse Capitol Ministries.
GCC’s final statement follows some previous statements they had given concerning the situation. Here are GCC’s statements, which have been available to any who ask:
1. From July 17, 2009 –
“The elders of Grace Community Church have agreed to temporarily suspend our affirmation of Ralph Drollinger, pending the resolution of our inquiry into allegations made against him.”
2. From Sept. 24, 2009 –
“In the summer of 2009, five of the Capitol Ministries Board of Directors resigned. These men are well known to us and we have no reason to question their wisdom, discernment, or integrity. One of those former board members, John Anderson, is a respected member of our church in good standing; the other, John Bates, is one of our elders. It is the estimation of these men that Ralph Drollinger is not biblically qualified for spiritual leadership.
“We, the Grace Community Church elders, stand behind the assessment of these former members of the Capitol Ministries Board of Directors about Ralph’s disqualification from leadership in Christian ministry. The attacks Ralph has continued to make on the character and motives of these men, as well as our elders, regrettably affirms to us this determination.”
3. From Oct. 15, 2009 (this is GCC’s final statement) –
“After much observation of and interaction with Ralph Drollinger, we, the Grace Community Church Elders, maintain that he is not biblically qualified for Christian ministry. Consequently, we do not endorse Capitol Ministries under his leadership. Ralph Drollinger no longer has any relationship with Grace Community Church.”These statements from GCC follow a lengthy process over the last 7 months which has resulted in the following within CM:
- 4 full-time staff of the Headquarters Office in Sacramento have resigned;
- 2 part-time staff of the Headquarters Office in Sacramento were effectively terminated;
- 6 of 8 Board of Directors have resigned, leaving just Ralph and his father-in-law Dan Madison (Note: the 6 who resigned did not all do so at the same time, and 2 new members were added a few weeks ago);
- 17 of 21 full-time State Directors have resigned.
....
P.S. The majority of former CM State Directors who have resigned have formed a new organization called The Capitol Commission, through which they purpose to continue their ministry in state capitols. If you have previously been financially supporting CM, we encourage you to direct your gifts to this new ministry.
Scene: I am approaching the corner of L and 11th streets. Like most work mornings, I am met by Anthony, a homeless guy who sells his art and newspapers to Capitol community members streaming in and out of the building. It is sunny, but cool.Skateboarder Cleared of Assaulting Homeless Physicist
Fission and quarks figure into quirky case
It's not every day that disputes over particle physics leads to assault charges.
But that's what happened when Jason Everett Keller, 40, joined a conversation about quantum physics in South San Francisco in March.
Keller was accused of attacking Stephan Fava while Fava and his friend were discussing physics in the Bay Area town.
The charges didn't stick, however, as Keller has been acquitted by a San Mateo County jury.
The verdict is still out string theory, however, so there's no indication that physics-related violence will abate any time soon.
For about the last 10 days or so, roughly every other day, my Google Reader reports I have 1,000+ unread posts. Like, an hour after I last checked it. It seems to be spastically refreshing, or something. Maybe?
Our winters are mild in Northern California, but there's still winter. Cold, damp, gray.
And here it is in its Polarfleece cover. The surface of the thingy gets pretty warm, so the cover enables it to be moved and touched.
Five minutes in the microwave in the morning...
... and then it gets tucked into Daisy's dog bed under the "covers," where it gently radiates warmth throughout the day.
I was worried that Daisy wouldn't take to it, or wouldn't want some weird thing in her bed with her. But I needn't have been concerned.
It's her new best friend.
I have oily skin. This is both a blessing and a curse -- a blessing, because oilier skins tend to show aging less, which as I get older is definitely a good thing. A curse because, well, I'm oily -- my makeup tends to break down and slide off pretty early in the day, I'm more prone to breakouts, and then there's the shine that I have spent literally years fighting.
