Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Sal Guinta Story

It's been a while since President Obama announced the award of the Medal of Honor to Sal Guinta for his actions in Afghanistan.   Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington have produced a great clip telling Guinta's story.  It's a bit long (about 15 minutes) but well worth the time to watch.  What is very impressive is Guinta's humility and attitude about receiving the Medal of Honor.  Watch the whole thing.....it's worth it!


The Sal Giunta Story from SebastianJunger/TimHetherington on Vimeo.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

It's a No-Brainer, Folks!

We've all been inundated with news about whether or not Congress should vote to extend the Bush Era tax cuts and keep tax rates at their current levels.  But just to summarize; "the right" wants to keep the tax rates as they are, while "the left" wants to keep tax rates in place for some and let the "temporary" tax cuts expire for those making more than $250,000 a year.  We're not talking about a tax cut at all....despite pundits on both sides that talk about a tax cut....we're talking about whether or not to keep tax rates as they are.  To me, this seems like a no-brainer:  give the taxpaying citizens of this country some certainty and make the "cuts" permanent! 

How can we expect private citizens and businesses to plan for the future, when the future of their tax liability is completely unclear?  How can we expect any job growth or business expansion when employers have no idea what impact taxes may have on their endeavors?  How can we expect to recover from an economic recession when everyone is afraid to spend, because they need to keep a reserve in case their taxes are increased?  Short answer....we can't.  Both private citizens and employers need to have an idea of what their tax liability may be.  Only then will there be a possibility of growth; in the job arena or in the economy. 

Congress needs to act, soon.  Congress needs to make the current rates permanent.  Congress needs to quit posturing and trying to make political points through sound-bites.  The "left" in Congress needs to stop trying to start a class-war by arguing that the current tax rates favor the "rich."  They don't.  The current tax rates won't do much to stimulate job growth or economic recovery....after all these tax rates were in place when the economy tanked.  But raising the tax rates for anyone is economic suicide.  Raising tax rates at any level, will only grow the amount of our money going to the Government to support "pet" projects for politicians and bureaucrats.  Raising taxes is stupid.  Period.  It's a no-brainer.