Bend Over And Grab Your Ankles

It's everyone's favorite time of the year - Income Tax Time!

Yay!!!

But seriously, folks, here's a few facts and figures for you to ponder while you chase your tail filling out overly complicated. complex, and incomprehensible IRS forms.

And, if you're like me, at the conclusion of that fun-filled exercise you get to write a check to Uncle Sam.

Again ... Yay!!!

Some Historical Perspective.

“In the beginning” when the US federal income tax was first introduced in 1913, it used to be a lot, lot simpler and a lot easier to file taxes; so easy in fact that it was basically like filling out your federal tax return on a postcard.

Click to embiggen.

For example, page 1 of the original IRS 1040 income tax form from 1913 appears above. There were only four pages in the original 1040 form, including: two pages of worksheets, the actual one-page 1040 form above, and only one page of instructions, view all four pages here. In contrast, just the current 1040 instructions for 2014, without any forms, runs 105 pages...

Individual federal income tax rates started at 1% in 1913, and the maximum marginal income tax rate was only 7% on incomes above $500,000 ($12.02 million in today’s dollars).

More recently:

In a 2012 report to Congress, the National Taxpayer Advocate estimated that American taxpayers and businesses spend 6.1 billion hours every year complying with the income tax code... That amount of time spent for income tax compliance – 6.1 billion hours – would be the equivalent of more than 3 million Americans working full-time, year-round... By way of comparison, the federal government currently employs 2.7 million full-time workers, and Wal-Mart, the world’s largest private employer, currently employs 2.2 million workers worldwide and 1.3 million workers in the US... At the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, the dollar value of the opportunity cost associated with tax filing would be more than $44 billion, equivalent to the 2015 GDP of both South Dakota ($45.4 billion) and Montana ($45.8 billion) and greater than the GDP of both Wyoming ($40.1 billion) and New Hampshire ($29.7 billion).

As for the 'make the rich pay their fair share' mantra chanted by both Bernie and hillary supporters, take a gander at the following.

All told, individual income taxes accounted for a little less than half (47.4%) of government revenue, a share that’s been roughly constant since World War II. The federal government collected $1.54 trillion from individual income taxes in fiscal 2015, making it the national government’s single-biggest revenue source.

Of that 47.4% of total government revenue from individual income taxes:

In 2014, people with adjusted gross income, or AGI, above $250,000 paid just over half (51.6%) of all individual income taxes, though they accounted for only 2.7% of all returns filed... Their average tax rate was 25.7%. By contrast, people with incomes of less than $50,000 accounted for 62.3% of all individual returns filed, but they paid just 5.7% of total taxes. Their average tax rate was 4.3%.

When you look at taxes paid compared to benefits received, the inequity becomes even more obvious.

The top 0.1% of families pay the equivalent of 39.2% and the bottom 20% have negative tax rates (that is, they get more money back from the government in the form of refundable tax credits than they pay in taxes).

Click to embiggen.

Here's another view. The numbers differ slightly because of timing differences, but the overall trend is clear. The 'rich' pay more than their fair share.

That trend is even more pronounced over time.

"...to the 1.38 million taxpayers in the top 1%, I say “Thank You” for paying almost as much in federal income taxes in 2013 as the 131.4 million taxpayers in the bottom 95% by income."

Final thoughts:

Bowling vs. Taxes. Under the scoring rules of bowling, you get rewarded, not penalized, for being successful. If you get a spare, the scoring system rewards you by adding the pins from the next ball into the current frame, and if you get a strike you get rewarded by adding your next 2 balls into the current frame.

Under our progressive income tax system with 7 tax rates in 2015 increasing from 10% to 39.6%, you get penalized, not rewarded, for being successful, productive and entrepreneurial, because the more you earn, the higher the tax rate you pay.

Coincidence? Why are Tax Day (April 15) and Voting Day (first Tuesday in November) so far apart? Couldn’t we move Tax Day to the first Monday in November or Voting Day to the first Tuesday following April 15?

What’s In a Name? Why do we call the IRS a “service?” Couldn’t it have been named a department like Labor, a bureau like the BLS or the FBI, a commission like the FTC, an administration like FDA, an agency like EPA, etc.?

That last one really struck home. The damn IRS is the farthest thing from a service I can think of. It is a cumbersome, inefficient, and highly politicized parasite that tramples common folks beneath its indifferent and uncaring feet. As long as criminals and thugs like Lois Lerner are allowed to freely bully individuals and groups in order to curry favor from their political masters the IRS will remain the most despised arm of the federal monster that lords it over us.

I would go on, but my wife just informed me that some people from the government are at the door...

No More Hugging The Bear

Sometimes it amazes me how several different stories come together at the same time to highlight an underlying problem. Here's the latest example.

I was catching up on some back reading - in this case, last month's issue of the American Legion magazine. It had an article about NATO Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove of the U.S. Air Force discussing the current state of affairs between Russia and the NATO alliance.

For too long, according to NATO Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO has “hugged the bear” – a reference to Western efforts to reassure Russia, carve a special Russian place within NATO headquarters, and downgrade the quantity and quality of military assets in Europe. What NATO has gotten in return, Breedlove concludes, is “a revanchist Russia that has put force back on the table as an instrument of national power” – a Russia that is “blatantly attempting to change the rules and principles that have been the foundation of European security for decades.”

(Earlier this year) the Russian military announced it had reactivated the 1st Guards Tank Army, a large armored force based in western Russia equipped with some 500 T-72 and T-80 main battle tanks. In January, Moscow unveiled plans to deploy three new divisions on Russia’s western borders. There were 160 Russian incursions into Baltic airspace in 2015. After attending the annual Conference of European Armies, retired Army Gen. Robert Scales reported that the consensus among European military brass is that “Putin’s most dangerous and perhaps most likely next move will be against the Baltic states.”

Shortly after reading that came the news about Russian jets buzzing a U.S. destroyer in international waters.

Russian jets speed past US Navy destroyer in 'simulated attack profile'

Two Russian warplanes buzzed a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea in what a defense official called a "simulated attack profile," one of several close encounters between the destroyer and the aircraft this week.

The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was conducting flight operations with a Polish helicopter Monday when two Russian Su-24 attack aircraft approached at an “unsafe” speed and altitude and buzzed the Navy destroyer as the helicopter was taking off from the destroyer’s flight deck, the defense official told Fox News.

The Russian jets came within 1,000 yards of the destroyer, flying just 100 feet off the ground, a defense official said. The next day, a Russian jet came within just 30 feet of the destroyer, the defense official said.

The story goes on to relate a series of similar incidents. And how has obama responded to those provocative acts?

That was highlighted in the third article I read.

Navy moves toward gender-neutral uniforms

...the Navy strives to reach gender neutrality in uniform for sailors.

This most likely came about as a result of a media discussion in July 2015 about U.S. considerations of transgender personnel currently in the military.  Some of them were wearing the female versions of military uniforms of several countries.

For God's sake, do not click to embiggen. You've been warned.

Yes, you read that right. At a moment of great strategic challenge and peril, the Navy is focused on implementing obama's progressive agenda.

It's not just the Navy. Our entire military is over-deployed, underfunded, understaffed, undertrained, underresourced, and totally lacking in adult supervision.

This is not a rant against gays or transgendered or women or any other SIG (Special Interest Group). It is, however, a rant against the shabby manner in which our military is being managed - or more accurately, mismanaged. If there is one group of people that should be accorded special treatment it is those who have voluntarily put this country's interests ahead of their own.

But that's what you get when a 'progressive' is in charge.

Fly The Friendly Skies

Planning on flying anytime in the near future? You may want to consider driving instead. Flying is becoming more dangerous, more inconvenient, and more expensive.

More Dangerous:

Only three U.S. airports require security checks for employees, TSA administrator says

... TSA Administrator Robert Neffenger made a startling admission during a Senate hearing that only three airports in the United States regularly require employees to pass through security screenings prior to entering “secured” areas of the airport.

Neffenger’s testimony is alarming in light of a recent reports that in 2015 Homeland Security had identified over 70 employees at nearly 40 airports across the United States who have been flagged for links to terrorism...

In perhaps an even more alarming incident, in 2014 federal investigators uncovered a massive gun smuggling operation at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in which an airline employee was alleged to have helped load hundreds of guns on at least 20 flights between Atlanta and New York City.

More Inconvenient:

How airports are addressing long lines and "woefully understaffed" TSA

Airports nationwide have seen security checkpoint lines double in size. There is real concern from airlines, airports and flyers about what the lines at TSA checkpoints will look like this summer.

Extremely long TSA lines and wait times hitting up to 90 minutes caused spring break chaos, creating huge backups at airports -- from Charlotte to Chicago to California -- and prompting demands the TSA fix the problem now...

American Airlines says in just one week last month, nearly 6,800 of their domestic passengers missed their scheduled flights because of long security lines.

Security lines at Seattle Tacoma International Airport - or SEA-TAC - can stretch over an hour. Officials here said Tuesday they will hire private contractors to help with administrative duties to free up the TSA to focus solely on screening, as the airport explores dropping the agency altogether.

"We're going to investigate what it would take to privatize, we're looking at other airports that have privatized," said SEA-TAC Managing Director Lance Lyttle.

Twenty-two U.S. airports -- including San Francisco and Kansas City International -- use private firms for security screening.

Imagine that. Private firms can be more efficient and cost-effective than government agencies. Who woulda thunk it?

Click to embiggen.

More Expensive:

Flying to More Than One City Just Got More Expensive

American, Delta and United have new pricing rules that could easily raise the cost of many trips. Think of it as making a six-pack of soda twice as expensive as buying six cans individually.

The three biggest airlines in the U.S. decided in March to block their cheapest prices on flights from being used on many connecting and multicity trips. Previously, reservation computers would find the lowest price for each flight in an itinerary and add them up to one price for the trip.

But now the cheapest prices can’t be combined. To get the absolute lowest prices on a trip with multiple stops, you have to buy each flight separately.

Travel Tip:

If you haven't done so already, consider enrolling in the TSA PreCheck program or the Global Entry Program. I can testify from personal experience that doing so will save you untold time and frustration.

Time To Enroll In TSA PreCheck

I fly at least twice a week.  Sometimes three or four times a week.  I do some international travel but I’m usually crisscrossing the United States.  It is obvious to me, as well as other frequent fliers, that lines at security are getting longer since the Brussels airport attacks.  An unscientific poll of frequent travelers at an aviation convention in Dallas last week indicated that lines were as long as an hour and a half at some major airports, like Atlanta.  These lines are likely to get longer – much longer – once the busy summer travel season begins.  My observations are backed up by an article today in the Chicago Tribune.

The best way to avoid those lengthy lines is to sign up for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry which includes TSA PreCheck as well as a fast track for passport control and Customs on re-entering the US.  With PreCheck, you get a dedicated security line and walk through a magnetometer instead of the more-time consuming body scan.  And, better still, you don’t have to remove your shoes or belt, take out your lap top or small bottles of liquids and you can keep your light jacket on.

According to TSA, PreCheck is available at 150 airports with 12 participating airlines.  The FAQs on TSA’s website will answer just about any question you have on the program – from whether foreigners can qualify  (yes, with Global Entry) to whether family members can go through the fast lane with you (yes, if they’re under the age of 12). The cost is $85 for TSA PreCheck and is good for 5 years.  The cost for Global Entry is $100 and it is also good for five years.  Of course, for both programs, you need to pass the background check.

With a number of airlines charging to re-book if you miss a flight, even once a year travelers should consider the small investment in cost to qualify for speeded up security processing.

What's Good For The Goose...

...is good for the gander.

When I first read this I thought it was a joke. But no, it's a real story. Check it out.

Atheist group targets Muslim prayer rooms at University of Iowa

The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation is demanding that the University of Iowa close its designated Muslim prayer rooms, which the atheist group has deemed unconstitutional.

In a press release on the FFRF website, the group complained about two gender-segregated Muslim prayer rooms recently established at the Iowa City campus...

Wow, a two-fer. Religious discrimination (Muslims only) and gender segregation. Those Muslims certainly are a tolerant bunch.

“The presence of such religious venues on a public campus raises a number of issues,” the group argued. “By instituting areas that are exclusively used by specific religious groups such as Christians and Muslims, the University of Iowa is violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. … The organization is also concerned that the university is facilitating the discriminatory practice of gender segregation practiced in the Muslim prayer rooms.”

Give the Freedom from Religion Foundation credit. They're being consistent in their anti-religion stance. Plus they have the guts to protest against Muslims, a group that the left usually coddles.

The Muslim Student Association at the University of Iowa celebrated the opening of the prayer space last month, posting on Facebook: “For the first time, Muslim students at the University of Iowa have a safe place to pray on campus...”

Oh geez, here we go with that college 'safe space' crap again.

A Safe Space is a place where anyone can relax and be able to fully express, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, religious affiliation, age, or physical or mental ability.

I have my own Safe Space...

Equity = Racism

This is a lengthy post addressing the notion of 'equity' that, IMO, is a code word for reverse discrimination. It does so in the context of changes in school discipline policies mandated by the obama administration. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing I've highlighted key points.

Since this is such a controversial topic, let's start off with what's sure to be a controversial headline.

Obama Orders State-Sanctioned Racism In Minn. Schools

Ending a two-year probe by Education Department’s office for civil rights, Minneapolis has agreed to stop suspending black students for infractions that would still get whites suspended.

Every suspension of an African American must now be reviewed by the superintendent, according to the federal agreement.

Instead of being punished, unruly black kids will be put into “restorative talking circles,” where teachers will examine their own “cultural misunderstandings.”

In other words, it's the teachers' fault that black kids misbehave.

White kids who act up won’t get off so easy.

If you think that sounds a bit racist, you’re not alone. Like most urban school districts, MPS suspends blacks at a higher rate than whites due to the fact black students commit a disproportionately high share of campus crimes.

But the Obama regime, which sees racism behind every corner, blames biased teachers and administrators for the disparity...

Minneapolis is just the latest target of the regime’s war on school discipline. The Education Department has aggressively investigated several other major school districts across the country for what it thinks are too many suspensions of black students.

They too have “reformed” their discipline codes to get the race-baiting educrats off their backs and safeguard their federal funding.

Take San Diego. Just weeks after adopting similar racial discipline quotas, San Diego public schools have witnessed an explosion of violent assaults.

At its premier charter school, Lincoln High, students report daily fights now, mostly involving black kids. In the past month, there have been several arrests, including one involving a butcher knife, according to local reports. Victims have been hauled off by ambulance.

This result mirrors spikes in student crime in Los Angeles after the school superintendent followed federal orders to reduce suspensions of African-Americans.

Violence is still a problem in Oakland, Calif., schools after officials substituted counseling for suspensions on similar orders from the Obama regime.

If you think Obama is a lame duck and that his executive actions are meaningless, think again. His policies have dangerous consequences.

More:

... the escalating violence and disorder (in St. Paul MN public schools) follow a major change in school disciplinary policies. In recent years, district leaders have increasingly removed consequences for misbehavior, and led kids to believe they can wreak havoc with impunity.

In the words of one teacher: “We have a segment of kids who consider themselves untouchable.”

Why have St. Paul district leaders embraced such a head-scratching approach to school discipline? Most parents will tell you that if you eliminate consequences for kids’ bad behavior, you can expect a lot more of it.

But we’re not talking about common sense here. We’re talking about a powerful ideology ... the notion of “equity” — a buzzword that is rapidly becoming the all-purpose justification for dubious policies not only in education but in many public arenas.

Equity, in today’s “newspeak,” is not about fairness — that is, the same rules for everyone. It means quite the opposite. The equity crusade regards people — not as individuals responsible for their own conduct — but, first and foremost, as members of racial and ethnic groups. If one group’s outcomes on social measures are not identical to all of the others’, the cause is presumed to be discrimination and the proper response to be government policies designed to ensure equal statistical results.

That, in a nutshell, is the root cause of so many of society's ills today - the notion that racial and ethnic groups are composed not of individuals each responsible for his or her actions, but rather a homogeneous collection of people who are treated unfairly in one way or another by ... someone.

The dilemma for St. Paul Public Schools leaders is that the district’s black students are proportionately disciplined and suspended at much higher rates than students of other racial groups.

For years, St. Paul school leaders have assumed — as equity ideology dictates — that differences in discipline rates are the result, not of higher rates of misconduct by black students, but of the racism of teachers and administrators, who are believed to unfairly target black students.

Since 2010, the district has spent almost $2 million on “white privilege” and “cultural competency” training for teachers. In addition, it has shelled out millions of dollars for “positive behavior” training, an anti-suspension behavior modification program.

Despite these efforts, the district’s racial discipline gap has remained stubbornly wide. So several years ago, St. Paul school leaders adopted what must have seemed a foolproof way to eliminate statistical disparities. They lowered behavior standards and, in many cases, essentially abandoned meaningful penalties.

It's not just the St. Paul schools, or even public education in general. Lower standards and lack of penalties are becoming the norm in just about every facet of American life.

District leaders have repeatedly denied that the escalating violence and disorder are connected with disciplinary changes. But Dave Titus, president of the St. Paul Police Federation, rejects this as “ridiculous”: “The policies that this district leadership are working under — their system on dealing with misbehavior and criminal behavior — have clearly, clearly failed,” he told the Pioneer Press.

Where is this “equity” mantra — the notion that we must equalize racial discipline rates even if it means eliminating behavior standards — coming from? The Obama administration has made it a centerpiece of education policy. Longtime Education Secretary Arne Duncan made clear that his department considered racial differences in discipline rates “simply unacceptable” and a violation of “the principle of equity.”

But wait. The Obama administration’s data reveal that white boys’ suspension rate is more than twice that of Asian and Pacific Islander boys. If you follow “equity” logic, this must be because teachers are prejudiced against white boys. But isn’t it more likely that white boys’ rate is higher because they misbehave more often than their Asian peers?

That appears to be the case with black students — their discipline rate is higher than other students’ because, on average, they misbehave more. In fact, a major 2014 study in the Journal of Criminal Justice found that the racial gap in suspensions is “completely accounted for by a measure of the prior problem behavior of the student.”

That problem behavior can manifest itself in other ways. Nationally, for example, young black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at 10 times the rate of white and Hispanics of the same ages combined.

Why such a gap? A primary reason is likely dramatic differences in family structure... nationally, 71 percent of black children are born out of wedlock — with the rate much higher in many inner cities — while the rate for whites is 29 percent. Research reveals that children from fatherless families are far more likely than others to engage in many kinds of antisocial behavior.

IOW, it's not the racial or ethnic makeup of the individual, it's the family structure that encompasses that individual. (The relationship is not as simple as it sounds. For an overview of the complexities involved in associating crime rates with single parent families go here.)

Proponents of “equity” say they seek justice for poor and minority children. But it is poor and minority children — struggling to learn in anarchic classrooms — who suffer disproportionately from misguided equity policies. So long as disorder is allowed to flourish in the name of statistical parity, our yawning racial learning gap will continue to widen.

At the same time, equity policies teach troublemaking students that bad behavior and disrespect for authority carry no adverse consequences. How can they ever hold a job or become productive citizens with such a distorted view of reality?

Equity supporters routinely — and baselessly — denounce our schools as bastions of institutional racism. By doing so, they lead minority students to distrust the one institution that offers them a sure route out of poverty.

That last paragraph makes a key point. The way out of poverty, the way to improve one's lot in life, is not antisocial behavior. It's bettering oneself through education, self-respect, and self-discipline.

I grew up in a lower-middle class family. We didn't have much, but we had what we needed, and we got it through the hard work of my parents. They both emphasized the importance of education and playing by the rules. That route handsomely paid off for my sister and I.

If you suggest that today, however, you're being racist...

Miss Me Yet?

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm starting to miss Bill Clinton as president. Granted, he has the morals of a polecat, along with wretched taste in wives. But aside from those two character flaws, his policy decisions are looking pretty good these days. And he's got the cojones to stand up to the politically correct crowd.

Case in point:

In a fiery comeback to Black Lives Matter hecklers Thursday, Clinton defended his own anti-crime policies as well as his wife Hillary’s 1996 reference to thugs as “super predators”...

“I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out into the street to murder other African-American children,” Clinton said. “Maybe you thought they were good citizens. [Hillary] didn’t.”

Bill ripped the BLM folks for “defending the people who killed the lives you say matter” and challenged them to “tell the truth.”

He’s perfectly right, of course. Just as he was right in 1994 when he signed the bipartisan get-tough bill that helped spark a historic nationwide reduction in crime.

“Because of that bill,” he noted, “we have a 25-year low in crime, a 33-year low in murder rate . . . Whose lives were saved that mattered?”

Yet many on the left don’t like to hear the truth. Indeed, the Democratic Party has shifted so far that those policies are now deemed racist — and Bill’s remarks wound up infuriating some of the very voters Hillary needs to fend off Bernie Sanders.

So far, so good. But then the political animal that lives within Bill woke up and realized what he had done. God forbid that a politician should speak the truth.

So quick as a wink, Bill apologized.

Poor Bill. Poor Hillary.

We feel their pain. It’s not often, but every once in a while they slip and say something honest — and wind up paying a price from the left. Good thing for them they can shift to the dishonest route so easily.

Here's another example.

At a campaign stop in Washington state Monday on behalf of his wife, Clinton highlighted the former secretary of state as a change-maker but acknowledged there may be a few reasons people wouldn’t support her. He added, however, that voters should support her “if you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us..."

Hillary Clinton campaign press secretary Brian Fallon sought to clarify early Tuesday that the former president was referring to Republican obstruction of Obama when he used the term “awful.”

Somehow I don't think that's what Bill had in mind.

Here's a few more Bill Clintonisms. We'll start with perhaps his most famous.

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

Similarly:

"It depends on how you define alone..."

Sounds a little bit like Yogi Berra.

Here's a good one on what it's like to be the president.

"Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening."

This one foretold the future.

"Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that."

You can't deny he had a sense of humor:

"Sometimes I feel like the fire hydrant looking at a pack of dogs. For six years I had declined to tell those kinds of jokes, because I have been told it is not presidential. But I feel kind of outdoorsy today."

Like I said, I'm starting to miss ol' Bill. I may not have thought much of him when he was in office, but compared to the SCOAMF we're stuck with today (and the assortment of clowns currently running) he's looking pretty damn good.

Sunday Funnies 2016.04.10

We had a very nice weekend in College Station watching our son get his Aggie class ring. That was the highlight of the trip, but yesterday's breakfast came a close second.

We were staying at the local Sheraton. They had a breakfast buffet in the lobby. I wandered down there not expecting much. I figured it would be the usual - a choice of cereal, yogurt, fruit, breads and sweets, alongside cold eggs and bacon sitting in a puddle of grease. At first glance that's what it looked like - but then I got closer. They had my favorite breakfast food - and possibly the unhealthiest meal on the planet - biscuits and cream gravy with sausage bits.

I loaded up on that, then just for kicks added a couple of quite tasty pork sausage patties and some very nicely done bacon on the side.

My wife looked up from her fruit and yogurt, tsk-tsked, muttered something about increasing my life insurance, and took a sip of coffee.

I got seconds.

Mmm, mmm, good!

A couple of strips of bacon and a fried egg walk into a bar.

The bartender says,” Sorry, but we don’t serve breakfast here!”

 What makes biscuits and gravy such a good breakfast is the nap you take an hour after eating it

A guy walks into a doctor’s office. He has sausage coming out of one ear, bacon coming out of his other ear, and a biscuit coming out of his nose. He says worriedly, ‘Doc, what’s wrong with me?’

The doctor replies, ‘You’re not eating properly.’

An angry wife meets her husband at the door. There is alcohol on his breath and lipstick on his cheek.

‘I assume,’ she snarls, ‘that there is a very good reason for you to come waltzing in at six o’clock in the morning?’

‘There is,’ he replies. ‘Breakfast.’

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Omelette.
Omelette who?
Omelette smarter than I look.

Click to embiggen.

Day Off

I'm taking the day off. Enjoy these miscellaneous tidbits from my in-box.

Like to fish?

Things that remind me of my days in the classroom:

Adam and Eve:

Aggie Ring Day

We're in College Station today - home of the Fightin' Texas Aggies.

We're here because today our son gets his Aggie Ring. Neither my wife nor I are Aggies, so this is all new to us. Aggies have a lot of traditions that non-Aggies don't always understand. This is one of them.

The Aggie Ring is the most visible symbol of the Aggie Network that connects Aggies around the world. Dating back over a hundred years, it is a tradition that is deep in symbolism. Every symbol represents values every Aggie should hold: Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect and Selfless Service.

Those who have earned the right to wear the Aggie Ring have cleared some of the toughest requirements in the country for a class ring, thus making it one of the most treasured items an Aggie possesses.

There will be over 5000 students getting their rings this weekend, with approximately 25,000 guests in attendance. The rings are presented in 15 minute blocks, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Friday and continuing into Saturday. It's a logistically daunting challenge, getting all those rings and people organized and processed.

It's also a very meaningful event.

One of the greatest moments in the life of any Aggie is the day that they receive their Aggie Ring...

The Aggie Ring is one of the most symbolic of our traditions. Everything seen on the ring represents a value that an Aggie should hold. On the top is a large shield, which symbolizes the desire to protect the reputation of the university. The 13 stripes on the shield represent the 13 original states of America. The five stars on the shield refer to the phases of development of any Aggie: mind or intellect; body; spiritual attainment; emotional poise; and integrity of character. The eagle symbolizes agility and power, and the ability to reach great heights.

The large star on the side of the ring symbolizes the Seal of Texas. The five-pointed star is encircled with a wreath of olive and laurel leaves symbolizing achievement and a desire for peace. The live oak leaves symbolize the strength to fight for our country and our state. The leaves are joined at the bottom by an encircling ribbon to show the necessity of joining these two traits to accomplish one's ambition to serve.

An ancient cannon, a saber, and a rifle are on the other side of the ring and symbolize how citizens of Texas fought for their land and are determined to defend it. The saber stands for valor and confidence, while the rifle and cannon stand for a preparedness and defense. The crossed flags of the United States and Texas recognize an Aggie's dual allegiance to both nation and state.

Pretty impressive stuff. However, keep in mind that this is a college, after all, filled with young people. And they have another Ring tradition that is not sanctioned by the university, but is one that you might expect from a bunch of college kids.

Hours before the big moment, Meagan Petter mentally prepped herself for what thousands had done before her: Christen a new Aggie ring in a pitcher of beer and chug the 60 ounces.

Okay, stop right there. I'm a seasoned beer drinker, but I have never even considered chugging an entire pitcher. I guess I'm a wimp by Aggie standards.

This underbelly of the Aggie ring tradition -- which isn't supported by the university -- was spawned apparently in the late 1970s inside the Dixie Chicken bar when a Corps of Cadets member accidentally dropped his new ring in a pitcher and decided drinking it all was the easiest way to get to it.

The Dixie Chicken is a local dive that's been around for decades. Great place for cold beer and a burger.

"It's sort of a rite of passage," (a Dixie Chicken spokesman) said. "Most people get their rings right about the time they are turning 21. I think it probably just goes hand in hand."

There are alternatives to gulping a pitcher. One of the students...downed 12 shots of a mix of Vodka and Kool-Aid.

12 vodka shots?!? Holy crap - they'd have to carry me out the door.

"I don't chug," she said. Another alternative Jackson and others have heard of is eating about a pitcher's worth of ice cream.

Well, the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream is just down the road from College Station. I can see how that one got started.

On Friday, at 8:12 p.m. -- in military time, that's 20:12, as in Class of 2012...

Aggies are nothing if not symbolic.

... Petter and four friends stood behind a table in her College Station backyard, the moment for which she had been awaiting.

The previous night, she poured Natural Light into her pitcher and whisked it for a few minutes every time she passed by the kitchen. The purpose was to eliminate carbonation and get it to room temperature, the theory being that makes it go down easier.

One accepted ring dunk law of nature is that what goes down usually comes up. That's why Petter stayed away from her favorite, Lone Star Beer, so she wouldn't associate it with vomit.

You've got to admire a gal that plans ahead to such an extent.

The crowd of about 40 family and friends began a countdown from 10 as the Aggie War Hymn blared and sparklers and icicle lights lit the darkness. The chugging and cheering began. One person called a "party foul" on Petter for spilling much of her pitcher on her shirt, but there was no referee, not at this event.

All finished. All the beer drinkers -- except Petter -- hurled, some forcefully.

"It was Exorcist-style," said Danny Degollado as a glassy-eyed Alex Martinez, a technology management major, emerged from a dark, grassy corner of the yard that dunkers used to throw up in privacy from the gaggle of cell-phone-weilding amateur videographers.

Petter admits that she spilled at least a beer's worth on purpose. "The beer got in my nose, and I was like, I need to spill a little while I catch my breath and regroup."

She said she's glad she'll never have to do that again. Her time was 1:48.

"I never felt drunk. I just felt extremely bloated and was like, 'Why did I do that?'" she said. She answered her question: "I did it because it's the tradition."

A&M System Chancellor John Sharp, a Class of 1972 die-hard Aggie, was a student before rings were dunked in beer. But he had an explanation for why the tradition endures.

"I like any tradition that involves drinkin' beer," the former student body president said in a text message. "We drank it for no reason at all. It's nice to have an excuse."

And there you have it, boys and girls. A&M in a nutshell.

Gig 'em.

What Were They Thinking

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The plan was for George Mason University to rename its law school in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The university announced the plan before realizing what the new school's acronym would be.

Antonin Scalia School of Law, or ASSLaw.

The alternative acronym was even worse.

That's right: ASSOL.

Social media was quick to pounce on that one as well.

George Mason University finally got it right. Future lawyers will attend the Antonin Scalia Law School.

An official name change ceremony isn't expected until the fall, after Virginia's higher education oversight agency agrees to the renaming.

The original proposal was first announced last Thursday when George Mason received a $30 million donation that included the request to rename its law school, known for its conservative legal teachings, after Scalia, a stalwart conservative jurist.

The honor was also met with some criticism from legal pundits who saw Scalia's legacy as polarizing...

I wonder if those same pundits will object to anything named after barack obama, who is also a polarizing public figure.

Probably not. That would be racist...

Wordless Wednesday

This post was prepared before the Wisconsin primary results were known. Regardless of the outcome, if our choice in November is between Trump, Cruz, hillary, or Bernie, we're doomed...

More Guns Means More Murders

The more guns floating around a given country, the more murders there will be, right? I mean, it's just common sense. If more people have access to a firearm, there's a greater liklihood they will use one to shoot someone. At least, that's what the anti-gunners claim.

The only problem is, the facts say otherwise.

More Guns Does Not Mean More Murders

According to proponents of gun control, more guns in America equals more murders and a more lawless society. Every time there is a mass killing involving guns, liberal politicians rush to call for more restrictions on guns.

Those in favor of disarming the citizenry claim that fewer guns will mean less gun-crime. This assertion though is not based on facts as can be seen in the chart below. Not only is there no correlation between increases in gun ownership and homicides, the relationship in fact is negative.

Click to embiggen.

That's true not just in the U.S., but around the world.

A recent study in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy entitled “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?” looked at firearms prevalence and violence in countries around the world. The authors found that gun bans are ineffective because they do not affect the socio-cultural and economic factors that are the real determinants of violent crime rates. Their study concludes:

    “[T]he burden of proof rests on the proponents of the more guns equal more death and fewer guns equal less death mantra, especially since they argue public policy ought to be based on that mantra. To bear that burden would at the very least require showing that a large number of nations with more guns have more death and that nations that have imposed stringent gun controls have achieved substantial reductions in criminal violence (or suicide). But those correlations are not observed when a large number of nations are compared across the world.”

When confronted with data like this, liberals tend to react like my mother claimed my father did: "His mind is made up. Don't confuse him with the facts.

Speaking of facts...

Click to embiggen.

... and opinions.