1. Creepiest kids books:
2. Can the mandate be enforced?
The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.
If the IRS can reorder the priority of the tax dollars they take from you, then they can simply put any funds towards the mandate first. That way, if you attempt to go without insurance and then pay the IRS everything except the mandate penalty, you’ll end up with a tax liability the exact size of the mandate penalty . . . for which they can now garnish your wages, put tax liens on your house, and otherwise do all the nasty stuff that they are authorized to do under Subtitle F.
But if they can’t do this, then the mandate is toothless. I’d expect people will pay it in the beginning, and then over time, as it becomes public knowledge that the mandate is unenforceable, more and more people will refuse.
3. I am, I am, I am Superman/And I can pay anything.
4. Has anyone linked to the Mamet-on-drama memo yet?
DO NOT WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT. WRITE A RIPPING THREE, FOUR, SEVEN MINUTE SCENE WHICH MOVES THE STORY ALONG, AND YOU CAN, VERY SOON, BUY A HOUSE IN BEL AIR AND HIRE SOMEONE TO LIVE THERE FOR YOU.
Confirmed, it’s Mamet.
yeah, really.
From the comments:
I’m going-to-start-using-this-expression
he might be a rapper.
Can we please call a moratorium on McMegan linkage? She’s simply a dishonest and willfully ignorant hack.
She’s right that the debt is currently unenforceable. She’s wrong to worry that that secretly means it’s enforceable, as the work was done to create the unenforceability. I’m with Ezra that if a large number of people game the system, the government will make the mandate enforceable.
Yeah, my takeaway was that the mandate *is* unenforceable and the whole prioritized-taxes thing was a way of showing how convoluted an enforcement mechanism would have to be under the current framework.
I refuse on principle to read her, so I have no idea what she may or may not have said.
You could read the first link, then.
… which is mostly a blockquote, with a link to McMegan (and others).
I guess what I’m wondering is that various people are saying that the mandate is unenforceable. Regardless of how they frame it, are they all disingenuous hacks, or are there actually problems with how the mandate will be enforced?
WHEN SAL AND MB TALK ABOUT MCMEGAN, THE BLOG IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
ANY DICKHEAD CAN WRITE, “BUT, SAL, IF WE CONTINUE TO LINK TO MEGAN MCARDLE WILLY-NILLY, ALL EUROPE WILL BE ENGULFED IN FLAMEâ€
TALK ABOUT BASEBALL OR MOVIES FOR FOUR OR FIVE MINUTES AND WE’LL ALL LIVE IN THE BERKELEY HILLS.
This is from the Joint Committee on Taxation website:
So: what are they missing? Will we need additional legislation to enforce the mandate?
This is a feature, not a bug. To make the necessary mandates less scary.
The vast majority of people are expected to get healthcare. The vast majority of the remainder do not pay taxes anyway.
Everyone who says the mandate won’t work needs to confront the fact that it *has* worked in Massachusetts.
Part of the answer is that enforcement isn’t nearly as a big a deal as affordability. Once people who didn’t have it before can afford it, they’ll buy it, due mainly to the fact that not having it is stupid.
Further to this.
The liberal argument is:
1. People need healthcare
2. We must give it to them
3. Not everyone can afford it on their own
4. We must help them afford it
5. Didn’t any of you people flagging this now read nm, mk, andeux et al when they edumacated me on the issue a couple months ago when I raised precisely the same objections?
If she were a liberal, she’d be xeroxing for someone.
I disapprove of that message.
It’s unfair, I grant that.
But like monkeyball, I’m tired of her. She doesn’t argue in good faith, and it is just pointless to waste time circling that merry go round. It sort of irritates me that Cowen, who I disagree with all the time but would never accuse of intellectual dishonesty, links to her.
I approve heartily
Finally, an explanation that makes sense:
I am open for suggestions as to what to post on her Twitter feed. I’m thinking of starting off with a week of nothing but Campbell’s Soup/Hamburger Helper recipes.
And Douthat’s Twitter feed, I’m just going to do all of American Psycho, 140 characters at a time.
I am giddy already.
Actually, I should adapt AP, and split it between the two accounts, with Ross as, say, Luis Carruthers and McMegan as Bateman. Or just randomly split up characters between the two.
“Where is your lithium, Megan? You must take some.”
you might be my hero.
Awesome
Political Director of Orange County Young Republicans
32 hours?!?
I could have sworn that I get smelly farts much sooner than 32 hours after eating certain foods.
iFSU, smelly farts get everyone around you
fixed
Tacos a dolor?
Beef jerky more than anything else.
I need to get to LA by 7:30
In college, I played moonshine jug for the Austro-Hungarian-American Spitballers
Bobby Crosby, #9 hitter
If the goal is to have a better hitter at the bottom of the order, they’d do better letting Bobby hit eighth.
Heeeeeee!
Ronny Cedeno is not particularly good at baseball. His career WAR is -1.6.
… starring WALTON GOGGINS, it’s THE HUTAREE BUNCH!
My, what a handsome bunch.
By the way, this is essentially where I grew up. The same general area.
Sisters of Mercy? Really?
click play on the video
It’s a strange place to be, Ed. These things mean different things to people in the midwest.
By the way, how are we pronouncing “Hutaree?” I really hope it’s HOO-ter-ree…it just sounds so benign and whimsical.
“Whaddaya wanna do for fun this weekend?” “Let’s go to the Huteree!” “My luck’s running hot…time to buy a Hutaree ticket!”
i ♥ hutarees
LOL
Hallelujah. The minimal but nonetheless extremely troublesome IRS issue I have been fighting for several years has finally been resolved. I feel like I just won the lottery.
And without the use of a light aircraft too – congratulations!
By the way, Sal, that is the creepiest kid book ever.
Who cares about unearned runs?
Anyone stuck in the bathroom all night despite avoiding nachos for weeks?
Pos to Pos’ friend: Those are NACHO RUNS 3B!
SB: BB, S3, E2
I don’t completely understand the various links between Mike (the guy bugging the house), Saul, Pollo man, and The Cousins, but maybe we’re not supposed to yet.
I think Mike works for Saul, who is hooked up with Gus (Pollo man). That much seems to have been nailed down. (I’m presuming Mike BCS’ed, and Saul was the one who called Gus. But maybe not?)
The Gus-Cousins link was …
OK, that was pretty much my understanding too. But did we know about any Saul/Gus connection before that?
Wasn’t Saul the one who hooked Walt up with Gus in the first place?
Yes. It was interesting that Mike called Gus directly upon seeing the Cousins at Walt’s house…the writers want us to know about a direct Mike –> Gus connection, without Saul, though Saul may himself not know about that connection. Makes me wonder if Saul getting taken out by the Cousins at Gus’ behest might be in our future.
I think it’s a small-town drug scene. I imagine Saul does Gus’ dirty legal work, and Mike knew that Gus could control the assassins. That latter fact is the one that shocked me. I thought we were going to see Gus send goons to fight it out while Walt was singing in the shower.
Seems like Gus might/should want someone more reliable…
I don’t know. Saul seems ruthlessly talented (albeit sleazy).
Plus, there aren’t that many lawyers available for that kind of blatantly illegal work.
When I was in college, I played cabasa for Gorgeous Orange Funk.
I’m glad Tio is back. I feel like Mark Margolis doesn’t get enough non-Aronofsky roles, but then I checked IMDB and he has over a hundred credits…
And obviously my speculation last week about the cousins not wanting to kill Walt was way off.
That was cool too. I was wondering what brought the Cousins up, and he was the best possible answer.
He reminds me a lot of Patrick Magee in A Clockwork Orange.
Oh, and hurrah for recess appointments. About fucking time, though maybe it was a conscious decision to wait until after HCR was signed.
And it seems like he is playing hardball.
I’m not sure that’s hardball so much as not-stupidball (there’s a joke about Canseco somewhere in there). Calculation is 1: people are finally realizing the obstruction thing, 2: I want these people working, 3: I don’t want the GOP guy working.
Nah, I think it’s hardball — if he were still operating in the bipartisan/give-em-enough-rope mode of the last 16 months, he’d’ve named the full slate.
I almost can’t wait until I have to reorder checks.
needs moar blood
I didn’t realize carpet cleaning was such a sordid business.
Anyone else see Sunshine Cleaning? I enjoyed it. I also casually knew the guy behind this enterprise, before it was featured on Insomniac with Dave Attell.
I’d like to adopt his check design.
I really really hated that movie. Its plot sounded great, but I thought its execution was a D-
I loved Insomniac. I wish Attell was still doing it. I didn’t feel so alone…
those are festive.
TWSS
We might as well close up shop:
Unless there was some alterna … no, that’s out too:
How about link-plus-cryptic-allusion-to-throwaway-line-in-Raising Arizona? That’s still viable, right?
The new MO is link-plus-KRAUT.
don’t forget the grilled peppers and the onions and the brown mustard (and possibly ketchup).
I think this is less Woodstock/Burning Man than it is Zabriskie Point (yes, Sarah Palin can blow up buildings … with her mind!):
Did, um, God grant her that power?
FSU-bait:
Wouldn’t hold out much hope for the tape deck though.
Or the Creedence.
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue.
In college, I played Moog for Corbusier’s Dachshund.
Further to our “can white people be terrorists” discussion.*
The answer is only if they’re arresting other white people who are exercising their First Amendment rights in the form of attempting to use WMDs.
*Note: now that HCR is over, it’s safe to link to FDL again.
LB-bait:
Here Comes Monkeyball.
That’s Radok Monkeyball to you, Gunner.
Reading an FK book start to finish would be great fun. Printing one might be a touch pricey, alas. I’m officially delegating to nevermoor the task of negotiating a reduced bulk rate.
I wonder what kind of demand there is for this sort of thing. I can’t really explain why, but I find the idea of converting a part of your online existence into a tangible keepsake appealing. However for the generations behind me (as well as my less sentimental contemporaries), accustomed as they are to the steady eradication of books/music/photos as “real” objects, printing something you can cue up instantly on your phone probably seems bizarre.
It would be fun, although the joy is nearly all comments which wouldn’t print as well.
I think it’s a neat idea, but I bet 99% of their business comes from baby blogs turned into baby books.
I know I felt the same way, but its now maddening to me to read first time parents facebook updates. I am glad I didn’t use facebook when #1 was born.
Without comments it would be pointless. With comments it would be a bazillion pages long.
As far as the customer base goes, you’re likely right. I was thinking more along the lines of memoirs, which these days are written in real time, on blogs/Twitter. Probably, though, most people are content to leave their chronicles of self adrift in the cloud (or whatever it’s called).
I wonder if, should these allegations prove true, it will harm Hannity.
He’ll never get another job. Just like Oliver “Treason” North
Did anyone hear shooty babbit today on the “radio? ” He thought Gio would be a great choice for the bullpen as the long guy. “rubber arm” he said.
He also said after Bailey got hit hard in the ninth that all he needed to do was get his velocity and control back and he’d be fine. I was left to wonder what else Shooty thought a pitcher had.
Among their weapons are velocity, control, fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Commissioner, and nice green uniforms.
Your words are sage.
I will now go and meditate upon their meaning.
They have two weapons
This is my rifle, this is my gun?
This is my moon and this is my ring.
I guess I wouldn’t believe in anything if it weren’t for my lucky astrology mood watch.
Yeah… um… astrology mood watch… that’s um… exactly what I was referring to… with a um… a moon… and a um… a ring. Cough. Yeah…
moon ring? Mason?
Maybe it’s a good thing you’re not going where I went cause it was a little sick when I initially went there and now it feels like it’s gotten whole lot more sicker. So let’s go back to your astrology thingy. That works better.
Nope. Two weapons: velocity, control, and fe…
Fever?
I know I’ve been a tiresome scold about always talking about AN here. But damn…only two fAnPOSts in more than a day…rec’d list posts a week old or more…seven days before the season starts? That’s a snapshot of a pretty big crash right there.
I’m wondering how much of that is due to the team’s mehness over the last few season and going into this year. Most of it is just the downward cycle of the blog itself, but at least a percentage has to be the thawness of the team. Plus some of it is LB love. You don’t knock his posts down so you need to hold back some of the good stuff.
Speaking of…I had a tangible conversation with Slusser the other day wherein I told her about our happy little
bushwebsite over here and told her in no uncertain terms that there were some bright minds over here and she’d be wise to check us out. So be on your best behavior, FK.Monkeyball, put on a tie, for chrissakes. And quit slouching!
Okay… but maybe it would be more appropriate for you to say that with your pants on? And short of that, a pair of underwear or boxers or something?
Awesome!
The day slusser makes a post with a slusterbation tag will be the apex of FK’s career
I hope that doesn’t offend her. I forgot about that…um, Susan, it’s meant as a compliment.
Did you mention that on rare occasions we talk about baseball?
I did! I may have actually oversold that part of it and told her that several expatriates from ** are here and that that were brilliant baseball minds, which….actually…probably is pretty true. Among sal, mb, nm, mikea, mk, and others (please don’t be offended if I didn’t list you there)….it’s probably true. And most of you guys don’t post or don’t post seriously over there any longer.
I’m offended that you didn’t list me there!
I’m offended you think I have a baseball mind.
No idea how accurate this is, but it looks like February was up over last year. I threw Lookout Landing in there for the hell of it (trading for Cliff Lee sure was good for traffic).
The top search term on AN is “cupcakes”.
That surprises me, traffic Feb ’10 up slightly from Feb ’10, but it’s the decline in user-generated original content which strikes me the most. Late March in ’07 or ’08, say, and the last week would’ve seen 20 crappy lineup/roster diaries, 2-3 good ones, and assorted interesting and dull flotsam. Given that the Blez’s Farm business model requires a constant flow of new providers of free content, to replace the ones who get tired of giving it away for free, if wonder if some might find this trend alarming.
I don’t think so; the frontpage is on autopilot, generating dull but reliable content and the whole thing has enough hype that they’ve signed their important partnership agreements. Who cares if the whole thing goes to pot now?
Does SBN pay front pagers? If not, color me astounded at the enduring appeal of limelight. I mean, they’re expected to write certain things on a certain schedule, right? It’s not a “whenever you feel like it” sort of gig. And they’re doing it not for their pal down the street, but for a corporation.
If monkeyball loaded up FK with ads, signed a deal with ESPN, and passed around a posting schedule, I expect there would be some discussion of remuneration.
Not while I was there. Here is how things went down, with me at least:
SBN overlords: wanna write for the front page, spending your creative time and energy to produce free content?
salb918: I’d be so honored!
[a few months pass]
SBN overlords: yeah, so we just signed this deal with Yahoo! and we’re gonna have to ask you to write more search-engine friendly headlines
salb918: …the fuck?
SBN overlords: this will be good for you! Don’t you want more people reading what you write?
salb918: I don’t give two shits about who reads what I write, I’m not a career blogger.
SBN overlords: look, nothing will change, only the headlines
salb918: yeah, for now.
SBN overlords: this is for your buddy Blez! This isn’t some huge corporation
salb918, following monkeyball’s lead: I’m out of here.
SBN overlords: “you have been an important and valued member of AN, and your past service to the site has been profoundly appreciated.” (this is an actual quote)
Or, what mikeA said.
That’s really kind of fucked up.
I’d forgotten about that thread.
this is one of my favorite exchanges in the meta-moonkeyball thread:
People should definitely get paid if forced to write those absurd advertising posts…
Although I contributed a bit over there just recently in connection with my spring training trip, I rarely read anything on the site anymore, and certainly don’t spend any time plunging into comments. The thing I have always found most valuable is the analysis of those who follow the minor leagues. It seems like a thankless task because those diaries don’t draw a whole lot of comments…most people aren’t knowledgeable enough about the minors to add anything, but I feel much more informed when I attend a minor league game or the early spring games in Arizona. So I’m a bit concerned to see that grover hasn’t even commented there since March 2; his work is much appreciated.
I used to read all of it. Now I skim comments looking to see if PT is stirring shit up (about something real)
I read most of it. It’s different than FK, though. Here, I read everything, even the stats stuff I normally don’t understand and the stuff about shows I don’t watch.
I really love FK.
I think we’ve got a pretty good thing going.
cupcakes are good.
I know on **, the game threads are jumping for spring training baseball. I don’t see that level of activity anywhere else on
SBN, er ***I didn’t realize the creepy conjoined twins book was a link to more!
I might have to change siglines:
Baseball starts in one week! ONE WEEK!
!!!!!!!!
I now agree with sal: not soon enough.
I’m going to the 4/1 Battle of the Bay and the 4/5 Opener. It’s finally time.
I got some free tix to the 4/1 game, so I’ll be going as well. (as well as the 4/5 Opener.) You live in the city, right? Any tips on where to grab a good vegetarian meal before the game near PacBell?
You could try South Park Cafe. Not vegetarian per se, but you should be able to find some good stuff on the menu, and being on South Park is always nice. Caveat – I haven’t eaten there in a few years, so not sure if it’s as good as it used to be.
Oooo great–I will look them up! Thanks for the rec. I never go to that park, so I’m not really sure what is in the area.
South Park is really just a street that’s tucked off of 2nd that has a large median with a park in it. It feels isolated but is right in the thick of things. And Zeke’s nearby is a great sports bar, but not sure you’d find much veggie yumminess there.
That’s an oddly misleading description of South Park.
Several other options on/around South Park as well — but check ahead, b/c some of the S Park joints are lunch-only, IIRC.
I work right around the corner from WWP — not many interesting veggie-specific joints, but a lot of places do offer veg options.
Unfortunately not. I’m never around that area at night, other than for baseball games where I recommend an atomic hot + garlic fries (although I think the park has multiple veggie options too)
There is a newish place in the ferry building called Plant, which is pretty good (not great). Menus here.
I also used to get the “bliss burger” at this place, which has a nice atmosphere, but not many other options.
Thanks guys–much appreciated.
Watching this made me queasy. Not because I’m shocked kids are learning about guns and bad words – the sex/drugs/violence mashup they are reenacting is embedded in the culture, and they probably absorb its lessons a lot more quickly than we realize.
What grossed me out was the gratuitousness of it all, and the powerful sense that self-consciously modern parents/teachers were exploiting their kids in order to make some kind of lame avant garde statement. Dressing up a little girl in a slinky silver thing, bright red lipstick, and a prostitute wig, then having her shot on stage … I don’t really understand how you can watch that and think you’ve witnessed a victory for modern child development.
They didn’t have any qualms about the gunplay and the killing and the sexualization, but they made sure to have the kids say “motherfudger” and “son of a b”. Emblematic of a certain moral confusion, I’d say.
I get queasy when, in front of my kids, I start stinging along with songs on the radio that advocate drug use, violence, sexualization of women (so bascially…every good song ever written). I can’t imagine allowing my six year old to participate in a Scarface school play.
I just had a small seizure until I realized that you’re referring to your hypothetical six-year-old.
Yes, my hypothetical six year old (which, I understand, occurs after ages 2.5 and 0.5).
I can’t believe these kid’s parents weren’t outraged. Instead they fucking clapped.
The mound of popcorn subbing for Tony’s mountain of cocaine was simultaneously genius and emblematic in the way you point out.
Someone’s way too big a fan of Rushmore.
The Giants are not very smart. Also, I love the 3rd most expensive A’s SP.
Well, the not smart part of that is Zito. Nothing wrong with extending Cain.
That and having half your payroll locked up in 3 pitchers.
Well, plenty of teams have half their payroll locked up 3 players, and sure it’s better if they’re not all pitchers, but it would be stupid of them to think “Let’s not extend Cain, who is a great pitcher because then we’ll have all this payroll locked up in 3 pitchers.” The only stupid part is Zito.
Right. And the even stupider part would be ignoring that Zito is a sunk cost, and deciding not to do certain things because Zito is still on the books.
Tom Verducci knows about old NYY teams.
What, did he just forget about the 2001 Mariners?
And the ’54 Indians?
and the ‘XX not-Yankees?
He made winning the series a condition of inclusion.
I can’t be expected to *read* articles I’m going to snark on.
I am way more proud of salb918 jr. for pooping in the potty than I should be.
That’s all well and good, but is he being properly repectful and inclusive towards the conjoined twins in his playgroup?
(and yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as dweeby as when I stepped back and saw myself celebrating potty achievements with gleeful praise, songs, and cake)
No, I’ve been teaching him that bullying the different kids is the way to go through life. Being on the receiving end a child, I can only assume that dishing it out is way more fun.
Apparently, he *peed* in the potty at day care today, prompting all the kids and teachers to cheer for him. I think he’s earned himself a cookie when we get home.
Not to diminish the excellent potty work of Sal Jr., but your bullying comment reminded me of this terrible story in your neck of the woods.
Neil Conan did a show on bullying last week, and it was interesting to hear the people calling in who told stories of being bullies as kids, including several who had been bullied and then when something changed like they had a growth spurt or moved, became bullies themselves simply because they could. There was also a really bizarre and uncomfortable exchange with a woman who called in and said she was a bully and was indeed incredibly pushy towards both Neil and his psychologist guest. It’s one of those really hard issues, as kids can be extremely secretive about what’s going on and it is very difficult to know how far things have been pushed. There can be a fine line between normal kid teasing that you have to get through and really damaging behavior. On the surface though, this case looks particularly egregious and it would seem the school system should be investigated.
I think, at some point, all kids ought to have the experience of having been teased (*not* bullied) for things out of their control. At the risk of sounding like Calvin’s dad, it builds character.
All that said, yeah, bullying is an awful, awful thing.
Good point, short stuff.
I used to make it a habit of bullying bullies. I thought that was a good way to channel my bullying tendencies.
euphemism watch:
I still remember when little miss specialK went running down the hall going ‘woohoo’. When I asked her why, she said ‘I pinched one’. Not only had she learned the skill of using the crapper, she also was learning the proper lingo (I’m not sure that Mrs doctorK was so thrilled about the second part, however).
Make sure to have her say “motherfudger†and “son of a b.â€
then have her sniff popcorn. Will that even get you high?
We all know that every child is an individual and that they all develop different skills at different paces, but we were damn pleased that Lily (inspired by watching an older friend) chose to include using the potty in her precocious skill set. No diapers – even at night – from 20 months onwards was a real boon.
A real what? Did someone start the Big FK Sellout without letting me know?
Oh, and: {snerk}
That’s awesome! Musta saved a bunch of cash, too. Diapers are expensive.
I told Meesus Moonkeyball that if she really wants to make a mint on her homemade cloth diapers, she needs to network with Gavin, and get SF to ban disposable diapers.
Mmm … minty diapers.
Little miss specialK went running down the hall going ‘woohoo’. When I asked her why, she said ‘I made a mint’.
“it’s just … so minty.”
El Gran Viaje del Señor Caca!
lol