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Well, we’re rounding the final bend in the 2008 presidential race (finally) and the race is getting closer and closer. With four days to go, I’m beyond ready for this cycle to be over. This race has gone on forever it seems and I’m willing to bet that its going to start up again just as soon as January 20th rolls around no matter who is elected.

I wanted to add a couple more articles worth reading and then call it quits. I will do a short post on Tuesday about my election experience (as I am waiting to vote) but otherwise this is the last one from me this year on the election. I ask that before you vote you look seriously at both candidates. Both where they say they stand on the issues and where they have stood in the past. Its important to vote, its your privilage and civic duty, but its also important to make an informed decision.

First, I want you to read an article from Wendy Button. Wendy has worked as a speechwriter for several political campaigns on the Democratic side and has finally decided that The Democrats have belittled the working class and women this political season. I’m glad someone else noticed it. For all the talk they do about supporting the working class, they sure seemed to make an awful lot of fun of Joe. Didn’t they?

Also, Charles Krauthammer takes an even more indepth look at why McCain is a better choice. He lays it out pretty clearly.

All I ask is you think for yourself before you vote and you don’t believe the hype about either candidate.

It doesn’t get much better then this. Adobe Air has allowed some developers to do some pretty cool things with code lately and I have to think, that from a blogger’s standpoint, Moderator by Daniel Dura is the best thing since, well, wordpress.

Moderator is a pretty cool wordpress plugin that adds the ability to approve, spam or delete comments right from your desktop. Its like digital signage on your desktop of your blog. Doesn’t get much better then that does it? The kicker, AIR is a multiplatform (mac, linux, windows) tool so anyone on the big three can make use of this easy plugin.

Installation was a snap, simply unzip the moderator files to your wp plugins folder and activate it in your admin section. Go to the moderator section under the settings and install the code (if you haven’t installed AIR it will do that for you at the same time). Start it up, put in your info and you’re off and running.

So far I haven’t had any comments *ahem* on the site to make use of it, but I hope to shortly… *ahem*. If you use it, let me know what you think.

By Spending Money! Its sounds silly I know, but really its not. All you’re going to do is the same christmas shopping you would normally do, but you’re going to do it as an affiliate for some of the largest advertising networks on line.

The concept is simple. Sign up with the advertising networks (the more the merrier), apply to programs for the different things you’re going to shop for, use *YOUR* affiliate links when you go to shop, order flowers, purchase stamps, whatever. Shop as your normally do online. Receive the various comission back on the goods you would have bought anyways. Its a win-win situation. You get to do the shopping you need to do and you do it at what amounts to a huge discount! Can’t loose!

“But mcangeli” you ask, “What programs should I sign up for?”

Well, I’ve gone through and picked three with some of the best rates of returns and the most varying assortment of advertisers possible. I’ve listed them here along with links and the reasons I like them.

• PepperJam Network – Besides having some of the hottest account managers around, PJ has some of the coolest features and advertisers. One of the newest additions to their arsenal is the PepperJam Store Builder which actually lets you build a store that you can host on one of your own pages. How cool? Plus they have advertisers like BBC America, BustedTees, CartoonNetworkShop.com and Jelly Belly. Some of the coolest programs around. I highly recommend them!
• NeverBlue Ads – NeverBlue offers a different assortment of ads then PepperJam, but the quality is there if you can find it and they pay out quickly (which is a huge plus!) NeverBlue is better for things like Boca Java, Flowers from You, 4 Seasons Wine and giftcards.com. If you’re looking for unique gifts, check out NeverBlue.
• CommissionJunction – CJ is probably one of the largest programs online. They have thousands and thousands of programs you can join and promote, like Zappos, TiVo HD and ThinkGeek.com. ThinkGeek is one of my favorites and *EVERYONE* online loves Zappos! So I would definitely check them out if you know of any shopping you need to do.

The nice thing about these programs is that not only can you get *ALL* of your shopping done, but then you can add the banners, links or other promotions to your blog or website and make a little christmas cash yourself. If you have any programs you like, hit me up with the referral link and I’ll take a look.

For those among you who have more money than you will ever need, save your
time and delete this email.

For the rest of us who are still working with mortgages, children and grandchildren or retired living on a pension and or Social Security perhaps you will take a couple of minutes to read the proposed changes in the American tax system.

Sharing this email with others can make a difference on November 4, 2008; for our citizens and our country.

INTERESTING DATA JUST RECEIVED ON TAXES

This is something you should be aware of so you don’t get blind-sided. This is really going to catch a lot of families off guard. It should make you worry.

Proposed changes in taxes after 2008 General election:

CAPITAL GAINS TAX

MCCAIN
0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples) McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.

OBAMA
28% on profit from ALL home sales

How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.

DIVIDEND TAX

MCCAIN 15% (no change)

OBAMA 39.6%

How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama become president. The experts predict that higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.

INCOME TAX (OBAMA CLAIMS NO INCREASE IN TAXES….. AFTER BUSH CUTS ARE ELIMINATED!)

MCCAIN (no changes)

• Single making 30K – tax $4,500
• Single making 50K – tax $12,500
• Single making 75K – tax $18,750
• Married making 60K- tax $9,000
• Married making 75K – tax $18,750
• Married making 125K – tax $31,250

OBAMA
(Reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)

• Single making 30K – tax $8,400
• Single making 50K – tax $14,000
• Single making 75K – tax $23,250
• Married making 60K – tax $16,800
• Married making 75K – tax $21,000
• Married making 125K – tax $38,750

Under Obama your taxes will more than double! How does this affect you? No explanation needed. This is pretty straight forward.

INHERITANCE TAX

MCCAIN 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)

OBAMA Restore the inheritance tax

How does this affect you? Many families have lost businesses, farms and ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will not only lose them to these taxes.

NEW TAXES BEING PROPOSED BY OBAMA

• New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet
• New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren’t high enough already)
• New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity)
• New taxes on retirement accounts and last but not least….
• New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level
  of medical care as other third-world countries!!!

Thank You

Ed note This was passed to me in an email and was written by a VP level person with one of the larger investment firms….

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Out of two brothers, a sister and my parents and I, I’m the only one in the family who doesn’t have glasses or contacts and my wife Amy has glasses and Emma has been told that she’ll have them before she goes to school. So far I’ve been lucky, however, thats going to change as soon as Emma starts picking her own eyeglasses. luckily there’s a place that can help (and I don’t mean costco or lenscrafters). I mean Zenni Optical.

Zenni has been around for a while and Clark Howard has mentioned them several times on his show. I finally took a look the other day after Amy mentioned the possibility of needing new glasses (she needs new contacts) and was surprised with what I saw. Their prices start at eight dollars a pair and go up from there, but you can get a good pair for around $15 (almost a third of what it would cost elsewhere!). The glasses apparently receive good recomendations from almost anyone who orders them, though the customer service is a little lacking (but then again, you’re getting quality glasses for cheap!)

I bet you won’t find that pair of Fork eyeglasses at Zenni Optical but you’ll probably find a pair that you’d actually wear in public.

This isn’t so much a normal post as a post of some of the stuff i’ve seen online today that I wanted to share. First, in the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to share with you some head candy from the Chicago Tribune. Thats right, if you were wondering what to go as for Halloween this year, fret no more. You can go as one of the Big Four. Imagine the fright on your Liberal Neighbor’s face when you show up as Sarah Palin on his doorstep. Or maybe you want to frighten your ultraconservative friends by wearing the face of the most liberal senator in the senate. Either way, you’re bound to collect your fair share of candy this Halloween.

If anything has happened this season its that you cannot possibly make a comment about Obama with out it some how being a reference to his skin color (no matter what you think). The latest move is that by some editor in Kansas City to claim that socialism is a code word for black. That’s right, if you call Obama a Socialist, what what you’re really saying is that he’s Black!

Lastly, everyone’s favorite blowhard Neal Boortz has written a letter to those Undecided Voters of America in which he asks you to take a good look at Obama the Man before voting. If you haven’t made up your mind yet, its a good read that like it or not, brings a lot of things in to question.

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I did not write this, it came to me in an email, but I thought it fitting!

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

• The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
• The fifth would pay $1.
• The sixth would pay $3.
• The seventh would pay $7.
• The eighth would pay $12.
• The ninth would pay $18.
• The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

“Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.” Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? The paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $ 20,”declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a Dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”

“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, this is how our tax system works.
The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.

Professor of Economics

University of Georgia

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Well, the Terrible Twosome from the Left seem to be at it again. Obama was finally backed in to a corner where he had to admit that he was friendly with ACORN and had given them some dough. Of course, the fact that this wasn’t mentioned on his website was blamed mostly on a low level staffer (what else are they good for right?) though many are beginning to speculate if this could be the beginning of the end for the once chosen one. He’s begun making more and more gaffes on the trail this month like the one over the weekend with Plumber Joe (Joe the Plumber is so passe) where he basically said he wants to take the wealth and spread it around.

Kind of like Biden did with campaign funds and his family. These two seem to be a real pair. Don’t they? Obama claims he was on the forefront of sounding the alarm with regards to Fannie and Freddy, claiming he wrote a letter to the Sec. Tres. Why then, didn’t he stand up and do something then? Instead, it appears he continued his record of voting “present” when it served him best. By writing the letter he could effectivly claim to have done something with out having to actually do anything at all. Don’t you wish it worked that way for all of us?

Oh and its interesting to note that the man behind getting W. elected isn’t so sure that this election is over yet despite the MSM all but having an inauguration party.

The stock market is down almost 3,000 points from where it was a little over a month ago. People are screaming left and right about how its one of the worst crashes in the history of the market, yet, I like too look at it a better way, its perhaps one of the best times in my lifetime to be getting in to the market. Stocks are down (almost all across the board). Stocks that were selling at $40 last month are down near $20 this month. What does that mean? That means that you’re getting deals at almost 50% off in most cases, sometimes even more.

True, I had not logged in to my Scottrade account in approximately a month due to the current financial situation. Thats partially because I wanted to avoid it, but also because I’m invested for the long haul. I don’t need the money tomorrow, i’m not looking for the short sale. I’m invested for retirement. My 401K and IRA will recover over the course of the next 30 years which is well before I need it. If you aren’t investing, or contributing to your 401K (especially if your company matches) you need to be pouring it on RIGHT NOW! Its almost guaranteed that the market will go back up. Things are not as bad as the talking heads and those wise souls in Government are making it out to be. If it were, companies would be going under left and right.

If you need a good place to invest online, visit Scottrade Trades are only $7 a trade and right now (through the end of the month) you get 3 free trades for signing up if you use the referral code:MSDV1754 and my name Mark Angeli. Which is pretty cool. SO why aren’t you investing??