Fashion Board 4-6-04 to 5-7-04

[leagleaze]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
If you are gay and got married in the US, like, for example, Rosie O'Donnell, can you file your taxes as a married person with your spouse? Anyone know what is being advised on this issue?

If your state recognizes gay marriage (which none do)* you could file state jointly if they allow joint filing for legally recognized marriages.

There is no federal recognition of gay marriage so there is no point in filing jointly. The DOMA prohibits it still and the filing would be rejected once the "error" was caught.

*Mass will recognize them around May 17, but that would be for the next tax filing period of course. That would still be state taxes, no doubt, there will be a federal challenge on May 18. There is no other state that has gay marriage. In Vermont there are civil unions, I don't know if the state tax code provides for joint filing you would have to look. That would have no impact on federal filing.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick


Perhaps they could include a free sample of viagra as the adult "prize".

Viagra beat them to it:

Buy six, get one free

Talk about super sizing.

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by tmdiva


*Could Quentin Tarantino BE more annoying?

George should know better than to pick such a white man's song. Phil Collins?!?! It didn't sound good at all. It almost sounded like he may have caught Diana Degarmo's cold or something.

Jennifer sounded great, and not at all sharp to my ears. Unlike many past and current AI singers, she has a big enough voice to go after a Whitney song. Didn't really like her dress, though (or Diana's or Fantasia's), and visible stretch marks are always a bad idea.

Jon Peter sounded better than he has in a couple of weeks--no pitch problems. He has good energy and charisma, but I really don't see him as a recording star. TV star, yes, singer, no. That said, if he goes home before Diana, Jasmine or John I'll be pissed, and if he goes home after any of the black singers I'll be even more pissed.

Diana sounded completely bleah. There is no warmth in her tone and no spin in her voice. Simon was right about the teenage singers--they just don't have the life experience to be able to give a song emotional depth.

Fantasia didn't give a flawless performance (a couple of off notes in the middle of the song), but overall this was amazing, just amazing. She had distinctive and surprising and good stylings, and nailed the emotional intensity. Best of all, she ended the song straight, with no annoying yeah yeah yeahs!! Bird must have said something to her about it. My favorite performance of the night.

Jasmine SUCKED. And not just by contrast with Fantasia. I think the judges were way too nice to her, probably because she had to follow the best performance of the night. Her pitch was totally off for most of the song. Her voice is showing damage (wide vibrato) from oversinging. And see above re youth and lack of emotional depth.

John the Red was better than he's been, but overall he's just a total lightweight, vocally and in every other way. The stylists seem to be trying to turn him into Clay with the hair and the clothes, and last week I even caught him doing that oh-so-annoying eyelid fluttering thing. STOP!! Clay had annoying vocal and eyelid mannerisms, but at least he can sing.

Latoya was almost too perfect. I think she is beautiful and has a killer voice, but she doesn't connect with the audience in the way that, say, George does. I still expect her to be in the top four.

Bottom three should be the teenagers, and almost surely will include Diana and Jasmine. John has a lot of fans, however, and his rightful and well-deserved place in the cellar could be taken by one of the other guys.

tm

* I love Quentin Tarantino's movies, but he is an annoying ass. He is not only egotistical but speaks (without irony) like a cross between that clipped 40's style movie dialogue manner and someone on speed. That said, I respect the fact that he gave honest, sometimes blunt criticisms of the singers rather than kissing ass like all of the other so-called guest "judges". Perhaps he felt free to do so because he still has a career. It was refreshing.

Because I was busy with several things last night, I did something I don't normally do, and it was very telling. I just listened to the program as background sound, and didn't watch the contestants sing. My take:

George: I missed the performance, but caught part of the recap. Bad song choice for him. George is a soul singer. Phil Collins sold his. Enough said. George on a bad day is still better than most of the others.

Jennifer: Gutsy song choice, but she has the voice to do this. I think she actually has the best voice in the competition, certainly the most powerful. I thought this was the best performance of the night.

JPL: Without the visual there was nothing the least bit entertaining about his performance. His voice is weak, and betrays a lack of energy. It was like karaoke. And what's with the Elvis fascination? Try something else for a change.

Fantasia: Okay. I don't get why people think she is the best singer. I mean, her performance was very good (the second best of the night, in my opinon) and nuanced, but I noticed something about her. Her voice has a Macy Gray quality to it that I just plain don't like. I've been trying to figure this out for weeks. She has power, but her delivery comes across as too "cutesy".

Diana: Okay performance of an awful song. She really has a good voice, but is overmatched by the female singers older than she. She is the best of the high schoolers, though, and should get better. Bottom 3? Probably? Voted Off? Probably, but shouldn't be -- yet.

Jasmine: Take away the fact that she is cute, and she doesn't belong with the rest of the women vocally, though she is better than all the guys left, except . Bleah. So what? She won't be gone this week, but probably next. Should be bottom 3, and will be, but will live on.

John: Finally in his element in terms of song choice, but man, can this guy be more boring? He has absolutely no range and is nasally as hell. This should have been his best perfomance and probably was, but he still sucked. Should be either him or JPL in the bottom 3 with Jasmine. He will not be in the bottom 3 (again) because his classmates and the elderly will save him. He should be gone this week, if there were order in the universe.

Latoya: Easily the most "professional" of all the singers in the competition, and has a great voice, but I think everything about her is cruise ship singer professional and not recording artist professional.

Bottom 3 should be: JPL, the redheaded Ichabod Crane and Jasmine, with Ichabod leaving.

Bottom 3 will be: Diana, Jasmine, and uh, I dunno (Latoya?) with Diana going home.

Place your bets.

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by mmm3587
Sheet, if I had a quarter for every time I've caught a important math error because all the other lawyers assumed that the consultants and the accountants had done all the math perfectly, I would have like two or three dollars.

That's like five seconds of math, and I just saved your client $199.8 billion dollars.

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I want you so bad.

He has his mentor to thank for this.

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
[marriage penalty]

FWIW, I happen to have a tax table on my desk today (helping coworker do her taxes yesterday), so I looked up a combined income of $100k vs. filing individually at $50k & $50k vs. filing individually at $80k & $20k

Joint, 100k -- $18,614
Single, 50k -- $9,304 (x2 = 18,608)
Single, 80k -- $17,153
Single, 20k -- $2,646 (= 19,799)

Since the married deduction is the same as the single deduction, it can be ignored (i.e, assume each person's income was actually $4750 more). It appears, here at least, that there is a siginificant savings where the incomes are widely different, which goes away when the incomes are similar.

At $150k, the numbers turn in favor of the singles:
Joint, $150k -- $32,180
Single, $75k -- $15,739 (x2 = 31,478)

but the advantage still isn't as big as the 80-20 married couple.
OTOH, if the 80-20 singles owned a house, you could take the entire interest deduction against the 80, and keep the standard deduction against the 20, and almost certainly more than offset the "disadvantage."

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by baltassoc
FWIW, I happen to have a tax table on my desk today (helping coworker do her taxes yesterday), so I looked up a combined income of $100k vs. filing individually at $50k & $50k vs. filing individually at $80k & $20k

Joint, 100k -- $18,614
Single, 50k -- $9,304 (x2 = 18,608)
Single, 80k -- $17,153
Single, 20k -- $2,646 (= 19,799)

Since the married deduction is the same as the single deduction, it can be ignored (i.e, assume each person's income was actually $4750 more). It appears, here at least, that there is a siginificant savings where the incomes are widely different, which goes away when the incomes are similar.

At $150k, the numbers turn in favor of the singles:
Joint, $150k -- $32,180
Single, $75k -- $15,739 (x2 = 31,478)

but the advantage still isn't as big as the 80-20 married couple.
OTOH, if the 80-20 singles owned a house, you could take the entire interest deduction against the 80, and keep the standard deduction against the 20, and almost certainly more than offset the "disadvantage."

This is so hot. No, really.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by baltassoc
FWIW, I happen to have a tax table on my desk today (helping coworker do her taxes yesterday), so I looked up a combined income of $100k vs. filing individually at $50k & $50k vs. filing individually at $80k & $20k

Joint, 100k -- $18,614
Single, 50k -- $9,304 (x2 = 18,608)
Single, 80k -- $17,153
Single, 20k -- $2,646 (= 19,799)

Since the married deduction is the same as the single deduction, it can be ignored (i.e, assume each person's income was actually $4750 more). It appears, here at least, that there is a siginificant savings where the incomes are widely different, which goes away when the incomes are similar.

But the 20k earner filing joint will pay at the highest marginal tax rates, whereas filing single s/he will pay at the lowest. I believe that more than offsets the difference in the deductions.


But I'm not as hot as you, so I'm not certain.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

For clarification.

This is hot:



(apart from the vacant look. and the fact he is married to a Baywatch babe, which is kind of intimidating. But he's 6'4, 27 and his hand is practically bionic. Think of the possibilities (although the hand thing probably benefits him more than anything)).

If he started talking about tax, there's a possibility it might still be hot. I don't think the same can be said about anyone else.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
If he started talking about tax, there's a possibility it might still be hot. I don't think the same can be said about anyone else.

You want me. You know it.

Do I need to describe my scars again?

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by AnotherSarcasticSock
Badly

Originally posted by mmm3587
She just left out the punctuation. It's:

"I want you. So? Bad!"

The fact that you responded to a sock with no discernible purpose for its existence only makes me want you morely.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
The fact that you responded to a sock with no discernible purpose for its existence only makes me want you morely.

Safer? You left out a comma.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by baltassoc
FWIW, I happen to have a tax table on my desk today (helping coworker do her taxes yesterday), so I looked up a combined income of $100k vs. filing individually at $50k & $50k vs. filing individually at $80k & $20k

What is this "tax table" of which you speak? Is it the ancient scroll that we consulted in ye olden days before Turbo Tax?

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
Turbo Tax?

Does Turbo Tax have a feature, like in quicken, suggesting ways to save money, like:

You could save $3,267 on your taxes if you got a divorce.

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Damn. A few questions.

1. How often is this used and what other classes of people have been singled out in a similar way? Do they do this to area red-heads when they're suspects?

Dunno what characteristics they used to sort through people in the other cases, but I don't think this gets used often - it is pretty desparate.

3. What do they do with the DNA sample after they have crossed you off the suspect list? Does it go straight to their archive so that they have DNA on as many black men as they can get?

That was my first assumption, but, per Atticus's WaPo article on the PB, they were checking it against the rapist's DNA, and then sending it back to Charlotte and storing it until trial, but (they said) they were not archiving or databasing it or using it for any purpose or in any case other than this one. (Until there is an accidental "hit," presumably.)

4. Why do they call it "voluntary?" If you refuse to submit, doesn't that make you an automatic suspect? I don't think that word is ever appropriate for this type of thing.

Absolutely. But I don't know from a practical matter what they could to investigate you as a suspect if you refused - I mean, the cops are not going to get a court order, or probably even clearance to tail the guy for a while, based on "we have no reason to suspect him other than the fact that he wouldn't submit to a random DNA test we requested based on, uh, nothing, really."

Frankly, it sounds like it was a desperation PR measure, to me, rather than something they thought would actually yield any results. And the ACLU is doing the police force's job here - frankly, when you KNOW you are almost certain to be talking to a totally innocent person, I am pretty shocked that the PD themselves weren't making it clear that compliance was not mandatory (to the extent that it would have mattered, them being the cops and all). Particularly given that, in Atticus's article at least, a lot of the cops themselves sounded pretty ambivalent & troubled by the whole thing, too.

eta: i before e

[leagleaze]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Does Turbo Tax have a feature, like in quicken, suggesting ways to save money, like:

You could save $3,267 on your taxes if you got a divorce.

It does, but mainly it asks you if you have put 3k in an IRA. I do note however that it has not suggested I drop the S/O and get married.