WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed a bill sought by President Bush to deliver tax cuts worth $70 billion to investors and to keep 15 million taxpayers from being hit by the alternative minimum tax The House vote was 244-185. The Senate was expected to clear the bill for Bush’s signature Thursday. The bill provides a two-year extension of the reduced 15 percent tax rate for capital gains and dividends, currently set to expire at the end of 2008. It also would extend, for this year, recent changes to the alternative minimum tax _ originally aimed at making sure the wealthy pay at least some taxes _ to prevent it from hitting more upper middle-income families. The debate divided starkly along partisan lines, with Republicans crediting the tax cuts, first enacted in 2003, with a surging economy, millions of new jobs and surging tax revenues. Democrats countered that the deficit-financed tax cuts are tilted in favor of wealthy investors and that the economic benefits are not as great as advertised. ‘Our tax relief sparked this economic growth,’ said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. ‘And by extending key provisions of that tax relief, today’s legislation […]
This is news to most people because the major news media have not actively pursued the story. Yet both the House and Senate commerce committees are promoting new rules governing the manner by which most Americans receive the Web. Congressional passage of new rules is widely anticipated, as is President Bush’s signature. Once this happens, the Internet will change before your eyes. The proposed House legislation, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE), offers no protections for ‘network neutrality.’ Currently, your Internet provider does not voluntarily censor the Web as it enters your home. This levels the playing field between the tiniest blog and the most popular Web site. Yet the big telecom companies want to alter this dynamic. AT&T and Verizon have publicly discussed their plans to divide the information superhighway into separate fast and slow lanes. Web sites and services willing to pay a toll will be channeled through the fast lane, while all others will be bottled up in the slower lanes. COPE, and similar telecom legislation offered in the Senate, does nothing to protect the consumer from this transformation of the Internet. The telecoms are frustrated that commercial Web sites reap […]
Women can work out if a man will make a good father just by looking at his face, new research reveals. Even studying a photograph gives them subconscious clues that he likes children and is therefore a good long-term partner. Scientists behind the discovery believe it adds an important dimension to knowledge about mate selection among humans. They say women judge a man on his genetic quality as well as his willingness to be a good parent for her offspring. And their studies show keen ladies use masculine features as a guide to genetic quality. When at their most fertile, they are especially attracted to men with features such as strong jaws. But at other times of the month women prefer more feminine faces – as softer features suggest a man will be a good long-term partner and help care for any children. Researchers at St Andrew’s University have even come up with the face of the perfect man, whose softer, more feminine features reflected a more nurturing side. They concluded that the ideal partner should have a symmetrical face, large deep and expressive eyes, a straight nose and soft jaw. […]
PHOENIX, — To people who say round up more illegal immigrants, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County here has an answer: send out the posse. On Wednesday, the posse, a civilian force of 300 volunteers, many of them retired deputies, are to fan out over desert backcountry, watching for smugglers and the people they guide into these parts. Already, a small team of deputies roams the human-trafficking routes to enforce a nine-month-old state law that makes smuggling people a felony and effectively authorizes local police forces to enforce immigration law. Not only do deputies charge the smugglers, but many of their customers have also been jailed. That has drawn criticism from several quarters, even the politician who sponsored the law and has generally supported Sheriff Arpaio’s position. ‘That was not our intent,’ said the sponsor, State Representative Jonathan Paton, a Republican, who added that he would prefer to detain smuggled immigrants under trespassing laws, a move lawmakers are considering under a package of bills intended to crack down on illegal immigration. Take a border state wrestling with the effects of a surge of illegal immigrants. Add Sheriff Arpaio and his unorthodox, well-chronicled brand of law […]
NEW YORK — President Bush and the Republican Congress show nearly record low ratings while Democrats are viewed much more favorably in their performance on the issues that matter most to Americans, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll. Only 31% of those polled approve of Mr. Bush’s job performance and 68% believe the United States is worse off today than it was before Bush became president. Personal evaluations of Mr. Bush are the lowest they’ve ever been during his presidency. On the public’s confidence in Bush’s ability to handle a crisis, 51% had been the previous low in September 2005. That figure is now at 50%. The President’s handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis is tied to that decrease. There is also concern that Mr. Bush is spending too much time on foreign policy issues: 55% think so. Also, on the issues that are most important to Americans, Iraq and gas prices, Bush’s ratings have dropped. On handling the issue of rising gas prices, Bush’s performance rating dropped four percentage points from what it was a month ago (from 17% to 13%). With the Iraq war, Bush’s approval rating dropped one percentage […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
