So we're rapidly coming up on April 15th. Anyone finish their taxes yet? I did, my return was much higher this year than last year, and I made less than the year before. I'm wondering if that's common for those amoung us making less the $240K/year, or did I just luck out?

If my case is normal, I'm wondering how well the grass root outrage will weather this issue. If its not the case, then I'm guessing that we'll be in for a vicious summer.

Any thoughts on this?

Pay 25% credit card fees, get .25%APY on your savings acount. Its outrageous how banking is allowed to get away with this.

Don't get me started on the ATM, overdrawn fees, etc... f'n low life thieves.

@LeMoyne, I'm aware of the middle class tax cut, I was just wondering if anyone else has actually experienced the savings I have. I'm expecting that to be the case, but I didn't want to make the assumption.

Hopey/Changey thing working out for me.

Well if the answer trend to my question continues in this way, the progressives really need to put this front and center.

Remember Obama's tax cut for the middle class? I got mine, I bet you did too.

Suck on that Tea Bagger!

(Maybe that's too much, but da hell wit it!)

What's the status on the push back on Citizens United?

Nels, mstaggerlee, food fascist, loretta, Quark, Mark K, harry ashburn, and so many other smart people whom I would like to consider friends...I await your critical reviews and comments. Did anyone follow the link I posted? If this is the reaction from those who I presumptuiously considered to be friends, I'm spinning my wheels! Did anyone see our U tube piece? http://tinyurl.com/yda4fry   Your collective judgements are important to me. I'm dying here!

Nels, if you view the utube video you'll see one of our websites. We have stopbachmann.com and blitzbachmann.com and others to come. They are in their infancy right now. Bless you for caring Nels. Anyone else? Reviews?

I got a job as a collector at one of the big 4 banks in 1/09 - was glad to have it in the depth of the crash but didnt know if I could be a usurer. 15 months and MegaBank had not done one 'new' relief program, not done a single fee reduction or APR reduction - MegaBank did nothing that wasnt required by federal law. They proved to me the that the meme Too Big To Fail was spread to cover the well-known fact that organizations get Too Big To Succeed.

The people working there were by and large nice enough and well-motivated and this MegaBank treats its employees with respect. But the Mega Bank got a Mega Bailout and then did nothing similar for the customers and paid the bailout back on the backs of loyal or trapped customers paying at 25 to 30% APR. Their phone plan and equipment creates a pattern of harrassment (lots of hang up calls every day). I am not even pleased that I had the fortitude to make it over a year and I finally quit after our new lead denigrated the only positive internal cutomer-oriented initiative there (as did all the other leads and many mgrs). From penury to usury back to penury - I feel a whole lot better now. By God those TPers are way off the mark ...

Two Types of Elected Officials --- 1) those who go into public office to serve others and 2) those who go into public office to serve themselves. Sarah Palin, Michael Steele and others like them are obvious poster children for the latter.

Nice vid DDay -- check Rachel Maddow - she paid a big fee to get a picture with Palin/Bachman... She gave them rabbit ears - lol - really roflmao She might make a donation to you to balance her prank donation...

A poll published in USA Today yesterday claims that 2010 bears strong similarities to the mood in 1994 and 2006. Maybe in mood, but not for the same reasons. In 1994, it was too much Hillary and too much bad publicity from the gays in the military issue. In 2006, it seemed to be that people were waking up to the fact that they should have voted Bush out of office in 2004 after all. This year it’s the deliberate effort of Republicans to stir-up trouble by reminding those of a mind to do so that Barack Obama is a black man with an “anti-white” agenda.” The poll states as somehow “bad” that “only” 50 percent of the respondents say that Obama deserves re-election; what isn’t mentioned is that a month ago it probably was 40 percent or less. Now if CNN and the network news would start telling the truth about the Tea Party “movement,” maybe we’d have nothing to be overly concerned about.

Also, I missed Thom’s conversation with Charles Bowden yesterday, although I can imagine how it went. “Murder City” seems to have opened-up a garbage load of hypocrisy, on CNN especially. I will comment more on this next week.

Mark K: And for free-for-all-Friday, I want to talk about life (my life). That this past Saturday I found myself situated on the corner of 45th and Roosevelt in Seattle’s University District. Before me was a shop called “Ly’s Expresso Coffee and Donuts.” That was “espresso” with an “x.” I had a long walk in front of me, so I thought I’d get a donut and coffee to go. I walked into the place to the sound of door bells. Inside there were two shaggy-bearded men I took to be “regulars.” The proprietor was nowhere in sight. I took a look at the comestibles, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. I called out “Hello,” but no one appeared. I went to the door and opened it again; perhaps someone didn’t hear the bells chiming. I waited some more. And then some more. Finally, a man with Southeast Asian features and a put-upon look made an appearance from a backroom. He said, and I quote, “What do you need?” in a hostile tone. Taken aback by both the nature of the question and his tone, I retorted “What do you mean ‘What do I need?’ I don’t NEED anything here.” The proprietor replied “Good, Good” as if he thought it was “good” for business being rude to a customer he’d never seen before. I informed I wasn’t going to buy anything if I was going to be treated like subhuman garbage, and that I was going to tell everyone I knew about his joint. “Sure, Sure” he snarled as I walked out. I guess he didn’t believe me.

On Tuesday, I went as usual to the Kent Safeway at the corner of Meeker and Washington. Now, I had begun to note that every time I walked into the place, I heard someone, usually what sounded like a white female, announce over the intercom the number “201.” It never failed. It was never five or 10 minutes or any other random time while I was shopping. It was always the moment I walked in. I decided that I would test out a certain theory I had; as soon I walked in, without fail came the “201” announcement. After I selected my comestibles, I asked the kid at the cashier counter what “201” meant. He responded by saying that someone was calling the manager; pretty annoying, he said. I told him that I thought it was someone calling security. “Yeah, that too,” he said. And Thom wants to downplay the power of stereotyping.

I am pretty sure that the TPers will sign a petition for an Amendment that

Says Constitutional rights are natural rights of people (not corporations)

Affirms our right to life

Affirms a right to personal choice in medical care

I think that it should be pointed out that Pat Buchanan has a national chauvinistic, anti-multicultural agenda that explains everything about him. Whatever he has to say derives from personal bigotry.

RE: Troy Winkelman Citizen Activist and his experience. I really think that the Tea Partiers are using Socialism and all that as an excuse. They know why they're really out there, they hate Obama, whether its because he's a Democratic President, Black President or both. If you start really questioning there hate for socialism, you'll find that they don't know enough about it other than Obama's a socialist, and therefore its bad.

Troy's experiment challenged them to think, and what did they do? They reacted with vulgarities and spittle or just walked away, anything to avoid having to justify their position with some sort of logic or reason. (Troy made their heads hurt... that wasn't nice)

Please post Troy's Petition so that we can all send it to our Conservative friends. Thank you!

We attended what was to be a Town Hall Meeting for Sen. Mike Johanns yesterday. Twenty-five percent truth and 75% lies. It more like a Tea (bagger) Party event. The aide sent the time in the email as EDT and we are CDT so most of us were late. Of the 25 or 30 people there only about 8 were from St. Paul. There were four known progressives there, two of us were allowed to speak. The teepees spoke with no interuption as I was speaking, there were shouts of why don't you go back to Belgium, I'll pay your way to rid the county of liberals and they said shut up and go away. In my opinion the undocumented pose less of a threat to our country than the angry, insulting and bigoted tea partiers. When I told Johanns that my problem with him was his closed mind and his refusal to investigate the truth about ACORN, his aid stopped the meeting. The family farm we live on was purchased in 1902, I do feel we have the right to speak out.

just wondering why tony perkins of the family reasearch council fights against the estate tax that they call the death tax.

The comments about Wal Mart insuring their employees is referred to as "dead peasant" insurance. This has been around for a long time as my current (mis)representative Kenny Marchant (R-TX24) promoted a bill for this in the Texas State House while he was there. I ran against him on this (and many other issues), but it is just another mechanism for the wealthy to soak even more from the working class.

Yes, there is class warfare. And they are winning.

@pagen, re "Yes, there is class warfare. And they are winning."

That's because of the treasonous morons that think they're helping their class by supporting the elite. The equivalent of shooting the frontline soldier in the back as they charge. Idiots the lot of them.

"Walmart; Driving the pace car in the race to the bottom of the wage scale." -harry ashburn

Re: Thom's rant on America not pushing Solar Power and asking "How dumb are we?"

I don't think its stupidity, its obstinacy. (Either way, foolish though). We're cutting off our noses to spite our faces.

@Maxrot: and you really need a nose to wear glasses.

how many small businesses did walmart crush?

@Maxrot: nowdays its one-way contact lenses.

The "old" death panel: Rush, Sean, Glen and Sarah railing against a health insurance reform.

The "new" death panel: Tea Partiers taking the pledge not to use any thing tainted by government socialistic programs.