Random Stuff

I'm not entirely back yet, but I wanted to share.

This is brilliant. There are companies that basically clean up a person's online reputation for them. I mean, I doubt they could do it for someone who was truly everywhere online, like a public figure. But in an age where an ex, a disgruntled friend, or a drunken night out can destroy your reputation, the idea of having a company that can clear the internet for you, or at least get the worst of it, is very appealing. I applaud him, he'll get rich very quickly.

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Also: Sperm cells have been created out of the stem cells of a woman. In other words, they've figured out a way for lesbian women to have biological children someday (and they're working on the male equivalent).

I have totally been predicting that this technology is inevitable for years. While I'd rather people adopt than go through a complicated and expensive process to have biological children (also applies to in vitro fertilization, not a comment about sexuality), I do think that if lesbians had their own biological children and the kids grew up fine it might help their case. Also, from a science/biology perspective, FASCINATING. Making a sperm cell out of stem cells is an incredible idea. If I didn't think it would end with a religious nut fire-bombing my laboratory I think it would be fun to go into a career as a stem cell researcher.

Death and Taxes

Am I the only one who thinks there should be taxes on children, instead of tax breaks for them? Honestly. I know that you have to pay for your kid too but with so many programs designed to HELP kids and people who have them there should really be some kind of tax. That might also discourage people from having a bazillion kids. Honestly, especially if SCHIP ever gets passed, the government will be covering education and health care and after-school programs and scholarships and Social Services... and yet, we pay LESS in taxes when we have biological children.

Of course, this shouldn't apply to adopted children, because in that case the parents usually already have to pay an adoption fee and go through a huge hassle, and by adopting children who need homes they are performing a service for the community as well as gaining a child. Adoptive parents should get tax breaks still, and if the kid was older at the time of adoption, they should get more of a tax break. That might encourage some people to adopt instead of having biological children, as well.

I've always thought they should have a tax plan that said you pay x percent of your overall income in taxes for every biological child you have. Don't make it a lot of money, just enough to help offset the cost of properly educating them. And there should be a tax on in vitro fertilization as well. Call it a luxury tax. Besides, if you're having a kid at 50 or 60 they'll probably wind up becoming a ward of the state at some point when you keel over and die while playing catch in the yard.

I think that the tax code needs to be completely redesigned to be more effective, and on top of that, there needs to be taxes on specific things, either state of federal-- children and invtro fertilization, any drugs that might be legal (including cigarettes and alcohol-- a sin tax), non-reconstructive surgery (luxury tax), property (not a lot though-- New Hampshire property taxes are a bit ridiculous), income (a fair tax, not a flat tax), and gas-powered cars (to encourage people to switch to a more environmentally-friendly fuel, or at least bilk them until they do). Other than that, they should steer clear of taxes. Sales taxes are a hassle (although probably okay for big luxury expenses, like electronics) and meal taxes really shouldn't be at anything higher than the town level. Obviously there would also be a whole different set of taxes for businesses.

And yes, many of those things would affect me. The car, property, income, restaurant, and child taxes will all affect me some day. And yes, I am aware that taxes suck, but honestly, we have to pay our bills somehow. If the tax code seemed fair I wouldn't mind. I don't particularly mind even now, I just think it's flawed. Yeah, I know, I'm a libertarian, libertarians in New Hampshire are all tax dodgers, whatever. No society can survive without some tax paid to the government, and while I'd rather pay less and have them do less, they're going to do more, so I might as well do my part to keep them from plunging even further into debt.

Of course, some of the first things to do would be to improve the IRS, which is owed $300 billion more than it collects, and stop outsourcing to other companies, because we're paying them between 22 and 24 % of what they collect. To which I say, why aren't we just hiring more or more efficient tax collectors?

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Also, there's commentary on another candidate, Fred Thompson, in the comments to yesterday's post.