Steve Hayes wrote an excellent article in the Weekly Standard about the editing of reports describing the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. The was obviously done to make the narrative “politically acceptable” to the administration during a Presidential election campaign. Click on the link if you want to be informed about the story. I expect there will be more information revealed as additional journalists decide they have to put aside their desire to protect President Obama and actually perform as journalists. If you chose to read this postings you will find that I consider the most important question that has not been asked is what did the Commander-In-Chief know and what did he do. Continue reading
Category Archives: Commentary
Renewable Energy
There were two articles in a recent Denver Post about the wisdom of mandating renewable energy. The first that I’ll mention is titled “A job killer or a job creator” by Allen Best. He mentions that the town of Craig, Colorado was “rocking” with construction of coal-fired power plants. Then the construction crews departed after the Colorado legislature mandated that Colorado must get 20 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. That mandate not only reduced the flow of money into the Craig economy; the renewable industry is expected to go to Wyoming and Nebraska to obtain wind resources that are more dependable and cheaper. Continue reading
Fracking
The practice of using hydraulic fracturing is interesting from several perspectives. The process has moved the U.S. closer to energy independence, has resulted in reductions of carbon dioxide emissions, and has upset fans of alternative energy. They are upset because the cost of energy produced by fracking is much less than the cost of solar and wind despite their government subsidies. Those who prefer to not use any hydrocarbon-based energy are searching for any reason to stop the successful process of producing the fuel some of us prefer in order to comfortably live our current life styles. Continue reading
Wal-Mart versus Dodd-Frank
Family members watch for subjects for the commentary part of this web site. That led me to an article from the March 2013 North Carolina Banking Institute Journal by V. Gerald Comizio. The article discusses how the Dodd-Frank law included a moratorium on Industrial Loan Company (IFC) charters after Wal-Mart tried to get one. The focus of the article is what will happen when the moratorium expires, but I was more interested the fact Congress passed a law that included prevention of Wal-Mart or anyone else obtaining a charter to operate what is commonly called an Industrial Bank. I should give attribution that the articles published in the journal “…are written by professionals in the banking industry and Notes and Comments are written by law students at the University of North Carolina School of Law.” Continue reading
Don’t Be a Jerk
I recently attended a lecture by Dr. Benjamin Cline at Western New Mexico University: How to Talk About Religion and Politics Without Being a Jerk. The world would be a better place, even without listening to the lecture, if we all wanted to try.
Cline discussed why our passions run so high on these topics: religion and politics are at the core of what makes life worth living for each of us. Our ideology is tied to what we see as the meaning of life. It is how we decide what’s valuable and what sources of information are valid. These topics are important and underlie much of what we do. Cline asks us to forget the old etiquette advice to avoid these subjects. He says we need to talk about them. Continue reading
Turbo Tax Hint: Removing Problematic Forms
I’ve been using Turbo Tax to file my taxes for years. I have become more comfortable with using the package and particularly enjoy letting the computer download capital gains and losses, dividends, and interest directly from financial institutions.
I learned something this year while talking to the help center looking for assistance to correct an error. The error was associated with the information on a 1099-R form received on my withdrawal of funds from a retirement account. However, the hint applies to any form that has an error.
I don’t know whether the errors on both federal and state taxes were from a glitch in the software or, more likely, I had made an error in entering the information. I tried going back and retyping the information, but the error persisted. The call center (and it took some work to find the number to call) told me deleting and retyping information often does not correct errors. They had me click on the “Forms” icon that is the third icon to the left on the top right side of the page. (Warning: I understand that the Mac version might show the forms icon in a different location. Look for the icon that represents a stack of papers and is labeled “Forms.”)
Clicking on the “Forms” icon opens the entire menu of forms for both federal and state taxes to on the left side of the page (federal forms first followed by state forms). I scrolled down to find the federal form that had an error, opened, deleted it, and filled out the information again. (I understand the Mac version uses the term “Remove” instead of “Delete.”) I was told that “delete or remove,” depending on whether you are using Windows or Mac, is the only way to correct a form that has an error.
The next step was to once again to click on the “Forms” icon to locate the erroneous state form generated from the previously incorrect federal data. I was instructed to delete that form. The program immediately completed a new and correct form.
The “Forms” icon was replaced by “Step-By-Step” after I fixed my problematic forms. The error check after clicking the new icon gave me clearance that the mistakes had been corrected and I was able to file my return. Good luck with completing the increasingly complex tax filing process!