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2010 Elections
Tax Cut Battle
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Little Impact on Deficit
While there is a lot of discussion and mounting political
attacks around the expiration of the Bush tax cuts,
the actual issues between the President and
the Republicans are relatively small, at least in comparison
to the U.S. deficit.
Obama wants to permanently extend Bush-era tax cuts for the
middle class (blue right) while raising taxes on individuals
making over $200,000 a year and households making more than
$250,000 (pink-red right).
The graph to the right illustrates the differences. President
Obama is arguing for upper income tax increases that total
around $68 billion per year. That amount to around 4%
of the current Federal deficits, which are running around
$1.5 trillion.
Both sides are for keeping the middle income tax cuts,
which are much larger, over $230 billion per year or
about 15% of the deficit.
The President also has included indexing the Alternative
Minimum Tax (AMT). That would `cost` around $66 billion
or about the same as the increase in upper income taxes. The
AMT was passed in the 1960`s to get at very high income
taxpayers that were avoiding taxation due to myriad of
Federal exemptions. Since it wasn`t indexed, inflation
has resulted in more and more people having to pay it.
To avoid the political fallout, Congress has put it off
year-by-year, so the government has never really gotten
the $66 billion that it would `cost,` but official figures
act as if it will be collected in the future.
- Tax Increases
- Raise Upper Brackets - $36
- Repeal - $21
- Raise Capital Gains - $11
- Total Increase - $68 (4.4%)
- No Changes
- Estate Tax - $26
- Mid-Income Capital Gains - $24
- Tax Credits - $29
- Marriage Penalty Relief - $32
- Mid-Income Tax Rates - $121
- Total Unchanged - $232 (15.1%)
- Reduction
- Index AMT - $66
- Total Reduction - $66 (4.3%)
With recent polls showing just 39 percent approval of
the President`s handling of the economy and even his former
budget director arguing against the tax increases, it is
not clear what the President expects to accomplish
with his proposal.
There are three weeks until the end of the Federal government`s
fiscal year. At this point, the debt is up $1.53 trillion. Even if
the AMT were not indexed and all the tax increases
were allowed to take place, the debt increase would
still be around $1.2 trillion.
Debt - Up $1.5 Trillion
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- Register Now for RFPRA Fall Break Camps
- The Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority is hosting several
fall break camps October 4 - 8 to coincide with the school break.
Register for all camps online at rfpra.com or in-person at 300
W. Third Street. The breaks will include a Sleepy Hollow Halloween
camp, a basketball camp, a Lego camp and a tennis camp.
- Man ran over by train Identified
- Police have identified James Sanders, 67 year-old, as the man
who was killed when a train ran over him last weekend.
Rockmart Police are still unsure why he was lying on the
railroad tracks.
- Berry Announces New Director of News and Editorial
- Chris Reinolds Kozelle is the new Director of News and Editorial
Services for Berry College. Kozelle comes to Berry with a strong
journalism background of more than 20 years in newspapers and
wire service and has most recently written for a variety of
nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500 companies and online
publications.
- 3 Arrested in Polk Kidnapping
- Polk County police have arrested three people after
a 17 year-old girl was taken to Polk Medical Center
last week. Police said that the girl was kidnapped
last Thursday and sustained gun or knife wounds along
with superficial injuries from the assault. The names
of the charged or victim are not being released
due to them all being minors.
- Mercy Senior Care Gets $500K Grant
- A $500,000 Community Development Block Grant has been given
to Mercy Senior Care to move its facilities from
its current home on Third Street in Rome to
the old Riverside School building located at 300
Chatillon Road in Rome.
- RFPRA Tennis Class - Register Now
- Register for the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority Tennis
Classes open to ages five through adult. Choose a Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday class session start date. One
hour classes run four weeks and cost $50. Students will receive
a tennis racket and one private lesson with a certified USPTA
Tennis Pro.
- Tickets for Beer Festival Now on Sale
- The 3rd Annual Rome Beer Festival is scheduled for
Saturday, September 18, and tickets are now on sale
for $28. Tickets on the day of the festival will
be $30, and designated driver tickets will be available
for $10 at the gate. Admission includes a commemorative
plastic glass and samples of over 40 beers. Proceeds
benefit the Rome Area Council for the Arts.
- AARP Calls for Sales Tax on Services
- The President of the Georgia American Association of
Retired People (AARP) called for an expansion of the
Georgia sales tax to include services. In response to
a question from a member of the Special Council on Tax
Fairness for Georgians, the AARP did ask that
health care services be excluded from the task.
- Mr. Belding to Speak in Rome on Thursday
- Mr. Belding is coming to Rome. Dennis Haskins, the actor
that played the principal on `Saved by the Bell` will
kickoff the Community Speaker Series at Georgia Highlands
College this Thursday. Haskins will speak at 7 pm at the
Lakeview Auditorium on the Rome campus.
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- List of Political Races and Candidates
- The final months are now starting for the 2010 elections! Here
is a list of candidates for each statewide and local election
for this November!
- Castro - Communism Doesn`t Work
- In a surprise remarks to two American journalists, Cuban
leader, Fidel Castro said that Communism doesn`t work.
- Vancouver - Olympic Sized Problems?
- So far two-thirds of the Olympic Village condos that the
city of Vancouver financed as part of the Winter Games
remain unsold. At this point, the city still owes
about $1 billion on the project.
- President to Address Schools
- For the second year in a row, President Obama will deliver
a back-to-school speech aimed at the nation`s school children.
The speech will be on September 14th.
- Deal announces `Real Results,`a plan for education
- Nathan Deal, Republican nominee for governor of Georgia, unveiled
his blueprint that emphasizes local control, greater choice and
reforms to better position schools in Georgia for the new century.
The plan, `Real Results,` was developed following lengthy
discussions with stakeholders in the education process, including
parents, teachers and administrators.
- Democrats - `Hurricane Coming`
- Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart is saying, `We all know
that there is a hurricane coming for the Democrats. We
just don’t know if it will be a Category 4 or a Category 5.`
Hart made his comment in response to a NBC News/Wall
Street Journal poll showing that likely voters prefer a
Republican-controlled Congress by a 49 - 40 percent
margin. Among those expressing high interest, the margin
increases to 18%, 53-35%.
Click for more.
- Democrats Likely to Abandon Weak Candidates
- A variety of reports are circulating that Democratic leaders
are likely to abandon their weaker candidates. The idea
is that pouring money into races that are closer will
allow them to hold on to more seats, and perhaps control
of the House, Senate or both.
- Deal Releases Tax Returns
- Republican nominee for governor Nathan Deal today released 30
years of personal income tax returns, posting them on his
campaign Website. The forms show that Deal has paid his taxes in
full. This release of documents, combined with 17 years of
financial disclosure reports, provide Georgia voters with a
transparent look at Nathan Deal`s income, his assets and his
liabilities. His financial disclosures give details on his
interests and partnerships as a small businessman and investor.
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Little Spooks - and Fall Festivities
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Children are invited to dress in their best not-too-spooky
costumes and enjoy a fun-filled day to celebrate fall traditions
and storytelling. On Saturday, October 30, `Spooky Day` at the
Museum will feature storytelling by three professional tale
spinners at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. As part of the fall holiday
excitement, this event promotes literacy and language arts.
Other activities include making homemade s’mores, sampling warm
cider, and observing pumpkin carving demonstrations. There will
be a drawing at the end of the day for a guest to take home one
of the day’s carved pumpkins. Kids can make `creepy hand spiders`
at Creation Station and boogie at a fun dance party in the Atrium.
`Spooky Day is a great opportunity to present a program for the
entire family to enjoy while also helping to expand a child’s
exposure to the language arts,` said Liza Blair, Arts Manager for
Creative Discovery Museum. `Storytelling is such a rich art form
and one that is often underappreciated. We are so fortunate to
have the caliber of tellers at this year’s event. Each performer
has a unique style best suited for their stories, which are
child friendly spooky tales.`
Activities are free with admission to the Museum.. For more information, visit www.cdmfun.org.
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News - Entertainment
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Entertainment Guru - Movie Review
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I, the Entertainment Guru, thinks that if urban comidies are your
thing, than `Lottery Ticket` if your ticket for a good time.
`Lottery Ticket` delivered lots of drama & comedy and was chalked
full of laughs. The movie contained a `who`s who` list
of urban stars that included ofcourse rapper Bow Wow,
Ice Cube, Brandon T. Jackson, Naturi
Naughton, Keith David, Charles Q. Murphy, Loretta Devine, Terry
Crews, and Bill Bellamy.
`Lottery Ticket` revolved around character Kevin Carson (Bow Wow)
who lives in the hood and works at Foot Locker. He hangs out with
his best friend Benny (Brandon T. Jackson) a lot and gets into
trouble with a local thug Lorenzo (Gbenga Akinnagbe). However,
his life takes a drastic change when he eventually wins the
lottery after getting the lucky numbers from a fortune cookie.
When word gets out that he’s won, the whole neighborhood starts
trying to hunt him down,to ask for stuff. He ends up getting into
a bind with a loan shark after getting jacked for his lottery
ticket by local thug Lorenzo. However, Kevin gets help from an
unlikely older aged friend Mr. Washington (Ice Cube). It ended
with a nice dramatic ending. I thought the movie was pretty
funny,especially after Kevin won the lottery,and everyone
started going crazy.
It also contained some pretty good drama between Bow Wow, Brandon
T, Jackson,and Gbenga Akinnagbe’s characters.
The movie also featured stars, T-Pain and Bill Bellamy. They had
some pretty funny scenes. I never experienced a boring moment
watching this film,so I thought it was pretty enjoyable even
though the top critics gave it mixed reviews.
6 out of 10 popcorns.
Now Showing at the Rome Cinemas
- Friday 4:30 | 7:20 | 9:35
- Saturday - Sunday 2:15 | 4:30 | 7:20 | 9:35
- Monday 2:15 | 4:30 | 7:20 | 9:35
- Tuesday - Thursday 4:30 | 7:20 | 9:35
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The Madd Man - Mark Miller
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Week one of the 2010 college football season has come and gone.
For the most part, the top teams in the country played what is
considered by many as `cupcakes` for their opener.
One team, the Ole Miss Rebels, lost to the cupcake that they
brought in to use as a tune-up for the real competition.
Jacksonville State University upset the Rebels with a double
overtime win leaving Ole Miss to try to pick up the pieces and
salvage a season that is already severely marred. JSU was within
a minute of upsetting Florida State last season. It may become
difficult for the Gamecocks to get the big boys to schedule them
in the future.
There were three games that matched top 25 teams in week one and
two of them were questionable at best. The LSU-North Carolina
matchup lost its luster when over a dozen Tar Heels players were
suspended for the game. LSU cannot be happy that they were still
holding on desperately for the win at the end of the game.
Sixth ranked TCU beat number 21 Oregon State in a game where
neither team should really have been ranked as high as they were.
In the other marquee match-up, third ranked Boise State staged a
last minute drive with the help of a questionable late-hit call
on number 10 Virginia Tech to squeak past the Hokies 33-30 in a
game that was as entertaining as we had hoped it would be. The
problem is where that win leaves us now.
Boise State will now become the media darlings and an enormous
push will be made to get the Broncos into the national
championship game. And I hate it. Boise`s win over the Hokies
will be their crowning achievement for the entire season.
Remember those `cupcakes` I was talking about earlier. Teams like
Alabama and Florida have been taking a beating from sports media
guys for scheduling one of these cupcakes in their first game of
the season. It seems it is inexcusable for top level teams to
have one or maybe even two of these `cupcakes` among the twelve
teams they will play in the regular season.
However, with Virginia Tech behind them, ten of Boise State`s
remaining eleven games will be against teams that would qualify
as `cupcakes` if Alabama played them. The other game is against
the Oregon State team that has already lost to TCU.
I promise you that if Alabama, Florida, Ohio State or Texas were
allowed to set their schedule with one real game in the first
game of the season only to face Boise`s remaining schedule for
the rest of the season, they would be undefeated every year. So
would Georgia, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Penn State,
Florida State, Miami!!!
They would simply spend their entire offseason game planning for
that one game. Then of course, they would rest most of their
starters for most the game for the next eleven weeks to arrive
in the post season well rested and virtually injury free.
I thought Boise State was a scrappy gutsy team Monday night.
They fought back to win an important game. However, nobody will
convince me that the Broncos team I saw Monday night would go
undefeated against a Big 12, Big 10 or SEC schedule.
Is it unfair that Boise State can only play the teams on their
schedule and they are having trouble finding quality teams that
will schedule them out of conference? Probably. But, the fact
remains that when the regular season is over, Boise will have
played one mid-level PAC 10 team and one of the top ACC teams.
When was the last time an ACC team made a real run for a national
championship? If Boise`s win had been over a Texas or Alabama,
maybe it would be enough to warrant consideration for the BCS
title game. Virginia Tech? Not so much.
Mark
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- Braves Snap Losing Streak
- The Braves snapped their losing streak with a 9-3 victory
in Pittsburg, but remain .5 game back of the Phillies in
the NL East.
- UGA`s Green Suspended 4 Games
- UGA star wide receiver AJ Green will miss four games for a
violation of NCAA agent benefit rules. A release said Green sold
his game jersey from last year`s Independence Bowl to someone
the NCAA said was an agent. The NCAA says anyone who markets or
promotes themselves as an agent is considered an agent. Green
has repaid the $1,000 value of the benefits they said he received
to charity.
- High School Football Rankings
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- Berry Squads Lead AFter Opening Round
- Berry`s Chadd Reynolds and Alex Irvin each shot 73 to tie for the
individual lead after the first round at the Bluegrass Fall
Classic at Cherry Blossom Golf Club in Georgetown, Ky., Wednesday.
Reynolds` Berry `A` team leads the field, followed by Irvin`s
Berry `B` team and host Georgetown College, which are tied for
second. Berry`s `A` squad holds a three-shot advantage after
shooting 307. Along with Reynolds` 73, Alex Elmore and Jose
Garcia each shot 77, Ryan Gambrell carded an 80 and Jason
Terranova shot 82.
- Shorter`s Toscan named SSAC Runner of the Week
- Shorter University sophomore Nicolas Toscan has been named the
Southern States Athletic Conference Men`s Cross Country Runner
of the Week as announced by the league.
Toscan, a native of Monaco, ran a personal record 8k time of
20:12.72 to lead the Hawks to a 7th-place finish at the 12-team
Covered Bridge Open in Boone, N.C., over the weekend.
- Rome Edged in Final Game
- The Lexington Legends out hit the Braves 11-4, and Rome
threw in three errors, but only managed a one run edge
on the scoreboard as the Braves lost their final game
of the season 6-5.
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- Today
- Coming Soon
- Single Friends Dance
- A Single Friends Dance is scheduled for Friday, September 10, at the Senior Adult Recreation Center on Kingston Road in Rome.
- Leesburg Day
- Leesburg Day is celebrated Saturday, September 11 at Leesburg Town Park at 8am.
- Northwest Georgia Regional Fair
- The Northwest Georgia Regional Fair is held Friday, September 10, through Saturday, September 18, in Calhoun.
- Rome International Film Festival
- The Rome International Film Festival is held in Rome Friday and Saturday, September 10 and 11 from 8am until 11pm.
- Harvest Time at the Homestead
- Experience sights, sounds and smells of an 1860`s encampment as volunteers demonstrate facets of military and civilian life.
- 31st Annual Pine Log Arts and Crafts Festival
- The 31st annual Pine Log Arts and Crafts Festival is held Saturday and Sunday, September 11-12, at the Pine Log United Methodist Church in Rydal.
- Enhancng the Mind-Body Connection Seminar
- Registration for Enhancing the Mind-Body Connection Seminar is Thursday, September 9.
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