matthearn.com

I love this:

Hey you. You there in the Glenn Beck T-shirt headed off to the Tea Party Patriot rally.

Stop shouting for a moment, please, I want to explain to you why you’re so very angry. You should be angry. You’re getting screwed…Look, you can go back to yelling at me in a minute, but just read this first.

1. Get out your pay stub…

2. Notice that your net pay is lower than your gross pay. This is because some of your wages are withheld every pay period.

3. Notice that only some of this money that was withheld went to pay taxes. (I know, I know — yeearrrgh! me hates taxes! — but just try to stick with me for just a second here.)

4. Notice that some of the money that was withheld didn’t go to taxes, but to your health insurance company.

5. Now go get a pay stub from last year around this time, from January of 2009.

6. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld for taxes in your current paycheck is less than the amount that was withheld a year ago. That’s because of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan, which included more than $200 billion in tax cuts, including the one you’re holding right there in your hand, the tax cut that’s now staring you in the face. Republicans all voted against that tax cut…But taxes aren’t the really important thing here. The really important thing starts with the next point.

7. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld to pay for your health insurance is more than it was last year.

8. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld to pay for your health insurance is a lot more than it was last year.

I won’t ask you to dig up old paychecks from 2008 and 2007, but this has been going on for a long time. Every year, the amount of your paycheck withheld to pay for your health insurance goes up. A lot…That’s what I meant when I said you really should be angry. That’s what I meant when I said you’re getting screwed.

I’d add more, but I’ve nothing to add. Go read the whole thing.

To celebrate my birthday (I’m old! Again!), I’ve decided to spend Superbowl Sunday sending my body into shock and possibly dying on a beach. It’s for charity, though, so it’s all good. That’s right: I’m participating in the Lewes Polar Bear Plunge, which takes place not in Lewes, but Rehoboth. (Makes sense.) If you would like to sponsor my insanity, which supports the Special Olympics, greatly appreciated donations can be made here. Thanks!

Beware: many of these pictures of the Haiti Earthquake are unpleasant, involving nasty injuries and dead bodies.

Have you donated to the Red Cross?

This is crazy:

What really interests me is that it doesn’t even appear that boat traffic stopped, or even slowed down, even as MASSIVE storm cells passed directly over the city. Are Hong Kong folks just used to getting pounded by typhoons?