Got this in an email from “Republican John” and this was my response.

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What about taking half and giving it to disabled kids? Or taking half and using it as payment for cleaning the sidewalks? Or taking half and giving it to kids in neighborhoods where everyone is poor and hardly anyone hands out candy?

I wish I could give credit to someone for this but I got it in a random email. Mmm, maybe I’ll try Google Image search.

Sheldon

I have almost nothing to complain about the IT infrastructure at ASU. Wireless works great (there are TWO wireless networks to jump on, the guest one and the one and the official one that works as if you are wired in . . no VPN needed). The servers we use are rarely down. There are wiki solutions and hosting solutions provided by UTO (instead of the “IT department” it’s the University Technology Office) for faculty and staff (and students but I’m staff). my.asu.edu the “portal to everything” (including payroll, hr, help desk as well access to class schedules, grades and other student info) is slow at times and kinda clunky but it works and it’s a big job so I get that it can’t be perfect and I’m happy with how much of my info I can manage online (seems like everything related to data at ASU is done online except for things where you need a signature). I can go on and on about the good and great but this is youfailed.us not youwin.us.

I’ll sum up my problems with a help ticket I’m about to submit.

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I like ASU gmail. I want all my ASU email to go to gmail. But since I need Outlook for testing html email I’ve kept it around and pop’d my messages from there to ASU gmail.

This presents 2 issues: a) in the GAL (global addressbook in Outlook) my email address is sheldon@mainex1.asu.edu and that’s the address other Outlook users (including my boss) see, and b) ASU Gmail will only pop exchange about once an hour and that’s not enough (which isn’t something UTO decides . . it’s a limitation of gmail itself and there to protect resources).

Since I can’t (and UTO won’t) change the GAL to my real address without deleting my exchange account I would like to delete my exchange account. I know I would loose access to public folders and the calendar but I don’t use the calendar and we’ll figure out a new way to handle the public folders email that I need to see.

Sheldon

Taxes suck. We pay them at every turn. Seems like everyone it taking a piece of us no matter what we do. Income tax, sales tax, property tax, and even a death tax! And when we look at it that way, sure, TAXES ARE EVIL.

But what are taxes for? Why do we tax in the first place if we have a government for the people by the people? Why not just get rid of taxes all together? Is it because of the evil greedy politicians?

Of course not. We tax because we all want a “common good”. The common good in the greater sense is that our country is protected. Our way of life is protected. It’s no accident military spending is such a large part of the federal budget. What does the “common good” include? That’s the debate and the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats.

The “common good” changes over time. The better things get, the more “common good” we want. It never goes the other way around. In that view, the government and taxes can only grow larger year after year until one day all income is taxed and the government takes care of everything. Democrats greatest fear is zero taxes and no “common good” and Republicans greatest fear 100% taxes and no freedom.

We need to be mindful of both extremes. BUT, can we really know if taxing income over $250k another 3% is too close the the Republicans greatest fear? Can we know if lowering taxes further will mean greater prosperity?

I have a problem with absolutes. There are no sure fire answers. We have to remember we’re starting from right now and not starting from scratch. We are not conducting scientific experiments where we can make this change or that change and expect an outcome. We lowered taxes 40 years ago and we were prosperous. That doesn’t mean it’ll work today. Sure, we can and should look back but anyone certain of the future is kidding themselves.

The highest income tax bracket took 92% at one point and we changed it. We are constantly fine tuning taxes to meet the balance between the common good and personal freedom and we will never be done. Can we come up with something better than “you can’t tax your way out of a deficit” and “tax the rich more, they can afford it!”?

Sheldon