Life

This is interesting. I hate when politicians use class warfare to get elected and taxes is one of their favorite ways to do it. Most people don't know that the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans pay 57 percent of the federal tax. When you cut taxes, of course they are going to get a larger share back as this excellent example shows:

TAX System Explained In Simple Terms

Sometimes politicians, journalists and others exclaim; "It's just a tax cut for the rich!" and it is just accepted to be fact. But what does that really mean? Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, I hope the following will help. Please read it carefully.

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all ten comes to $100.If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:a.. The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.b.. The fifth would pay $1.c.. The sixth would pay $3.d.. The seventh would pay $7.e.. The eighth would pay $12.f.. The ninth would pay $18.g.. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve."Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Dinner for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free, but what about the other six men, the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal. So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.And so:a..

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).b.. The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).c.. The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).d.. The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings)e.. The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).f.. The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings."I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!" "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Nothing new to report, I almost feel bad. I went to the OSU basketball game last night and sat in the AT&T suite, at least I get something out of those high bills. Actually, I can't complain, we recently dumped their voicemail service and just use our new phone's answering function. It's not as good but hardly anyone calls us anyway.

I took Henry to his last swim lesson tonight. He wants to enroll in another basketball class but they aren't having one this session. I'm thinking of putting him into a soccer class or league. I never thought I would do it but I'm confident that he'll like the traditional sports as he gets older.

I'm part of a group that sponsors a Mardi Gras party every Fat Tuesday for legislative staff and legislators. The utility lobbyists have been doing it every year for six years. It's always a lot of fun and last night's event was probably our best one yet. We probably had 25 legislators show up and around 80 staffers, an open bar and free food is a great thing.

Daring Rescue on the Mathias Pond

Today several neighbors and I had to brave the ice on the pond in front of our house and rescue a dog that had fallen through. We have several circulators that prevent the pond from totally freezing over and there was a duck in one of the areas. The dog was trying to get the duck and fell in.

No one seemed eager to go out on the ice; I don't think anyone thought it was safe. Finally, Tibbitts went out and I threw on my boots, I wasn't letting him fall through without someone there to help. The ice seemed fine and I got close enough to grab the dog's collar and lift him out. Snowball is fine and I think the owner is going to reward us with a case of beer. You can't beat that.

Heroism is a funny thing. No one knows what they would do in the face of a dramatic situation. I don't consider this a heroic event but it was still a bit tense. Here's to Snowball and here's to our case of beer.

I didn't work too much when I was in college. My first summer in Massillon after my freshman year I got a job working for the city park department. There were probably five of us on a crew and they assigned some crazy guy to oversee us. The guy was nuts, a 15 year old trapped in a fifty year old's body. It was fun though.

The following year I got a job with the U.S. Post Office as a casual carrier. I think it paid five dollars an hour and we didn't have to wear a uniform. There were probably eight of us college kids working there for the summer and I thought it was a great job. The bosses wouldn't let us sort the mail other than large packages. We essentially showed up, occasionally unloaded some trucks and got in our trucks and went out on a route. We filled in for carriers taking vacation so we would often have different routes every day. My favorite route was up around 12th Street because all the mailboxes were on the street and you didn't have to get out of the truck. I didn't mind walking but some days that mailbag would get heavy. Don't get me started on catalog week, where you would have to give everyone a department store catalog. Those were brutal days.

I thought I was the best casual carrier we had. It was confirmed one night when I got a call to go to Canton to fill in for a week for a carrier. I was going to the show, called up to the big time. No more just picking up my mail, I was going to sort it, box it and load it into my truck. I was going to have my own route for a week. It was great and then I was sent back to the minor leagues after my week of glory.

I saw some interesting things delivering mail. Naked lady one day in her house. I never had to spray a dog but I came close. Strange people wanting their social security checks and yelling at me when I didn't have them. I saw some dirty, messy houses. When you are a mail carrier, you are an unintentional intruder on people's lives.

Waking up early after getting home at 2:30 a.m. to deliver mail is no fun. There's nothing worse than looking at that huge pile of mail in the morning when you have a searing headache. It looks like you'll never be done. And its a great feeling when you get to that last clump of mail in that last tray and you're heading back to the office to stand around the time clock waiting to punch out.

I understand why postal workers can go crazy and shoot up the post office. The government gave preferential treatment to Vietnam vets. But more importantly, as Newman once said on Seinfeld, "...the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming, there's never a let-up. It's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more and more! And you gotta get it out, but the more you get it out the more it keeps coming in. And then the bar code reader breaks and it's Publisher's Clearing House day!"

The hockey game was great last night. I think we could have stayed for the whole game but we left after the second period with the Jackets up 1-0 (they won 3-0). We ate dinner in the Arena Pub beforehand then went down to our seats. 6th row, great seats. I bought Henry a Blue Jackets jersey a couple sizes too large so he'll get some use out of it.

Babies, babies everywhere. My neighbor Shake's friend Bun had her baby last night and my friend Tom from college is having his today. Lots of kids for Jack to play with someday.

Let it snow, let it snow. Columbus has been shut down by snow today, major companies have closed. Here is a photo of Henry holding Jack for the first time. He said Jack is heavy.

Jack rolled over at his one week appointment yesterday. The doctor was impressed.

Sleep, poop and eat. I forgot about those days. Jack has been doing well. Unfortunately, he's been getting up every couple hours hungry. We were hoping for every three hours. But we're glad he's hungry and he did go back to sleep last night immediately after every feeding.

Everyone took a nice long nap this afternoon and it felt good.

Jack Update: We took Jack to the doctor today because we think he may have/be jaundiced. Doctor was unsure but thinks he might be so we then took him to get his little foot pricked for a blood test. Jaundice is not serious and is easily treated. We go back on Monday for his first checkup. He weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces, down from his birth weight of 7 pounds, 11 ounces. But that's normal.

I never thought Jack was eating a lot so we tried something different last night. Sarah pumped and we fed him breast milk with a bottle. He seems to prefer it, he woke up almost every three hours exactly through the night and we fed him and he was out like a light right afterwards. He went almost 24 hours without pooping but this morning righted that ship. He pooped and pooped, probably four or five times in a row and I just kept putting a new paper towel under him.

I forgot that babies cry a lot. Little Jack doesn't seem to stop if you hold him either. He looks like a momma's boy, about the only time he'll stop is when mom is near. Of course, she has something that I don't right now and he's a hungry boy.

We got about 4 inches of snow today. Global warming? Seems like the winter that almost wasn't has come on with a vengence.

Camera isn't here right now but we have a name. I'll try to download some photos in the morning.

Jack Alan Leo Briggs

Jack is for my dad, Alan is Sarah's fathers middle name, and Leo is Sarah's Great-Grandfather. For those who don't know, Henry has two middle names too and we didn't want to break tradition with Jack.

Everyone is doing fine. Jack lost some weight today but that's normal. He is feeding great. Sarah is doing fine, she's been up walking around but she's not leaving the hospital until Tuesday morning. I was there most of today; I didn't know sitting around doing nothing could be so tiring. We're anxious to get the boy home.

Well, tonight might be the night. Sarah's contractions have started but they are too far apart for us to go in. Dr. Sprague wants them to be every five minutes and last for a minute. Right now they are every ten minutes.

It'll probably be a Super Bowl baby. What does that mean for his first birthday party when I'm in AZ watching the Bengals play next year?

Don't worry parents, he won't be a video game junkie. I believe parents can control the amount of video games that kids play and the amount of tv they watch. Henry will be playing outdoors an often lot although I'll let him play video games occasionally.

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