2/3     Does any democrat pay taxes?  Or is it just cabinet nominees?
        \_ Democrats are cheap and try to do their own taxes and
           that has a tendency to screw things up, whereas Republicans
           usually justs pay their accountants and "externalizes" problems
           to someone else (their employees). In this respect, Republicans
           are smarter, esp. with their money, as expected.
        \_ With a tax code so complex, can anyone avoid being a tax cheat?
           I inadvertengly screwed up my taxes at least twice in the last
           10 years.  One time I never got a W2 for a part-year job and
           forgot to figure in that income.  Another time I just screwed
           up.
           \_ Well, the latest one is nanny problems (uh, haven't we seen that
              enough that everyone knows you have to take care of that?).  The
              others are people who are involved with making the laws or make
              enough to have an accountant do the math.  And in Daschle's case,
              apparently he also claimed invalid charitable contributions.
              I've never managed that one.
              \_ The last one is < 1000 dollars.
                 \_ $298 in unpaid taxes + fines/interest.
                  \_ As I said, it's a fuck up.  Daschel this isn't.
              \_ I managed to screw myself out of $1K one year and the IRS
                 caught the error and mailed me a $1K check in August which I
                 then blew in Vegas. Good times. Anyway, IRS seems
                 reputable to do that.
        \_ It's interesting. When it comes to money, republicans wage
           wars costing billions and pockets millions, all legally.
           Democratics, like most frugal people, tries to save money
           by doing their own taxes, yet get burned because of a few
           mistakes here and there. How far ago back do tax records
           typically go? Did I fuck up my change for being a
           politician because I claimed an extra $200 charitable
           contribution on my tax forum?
           \_ statute of limitations on this stuff is 3 years
           \_ Wait, you really think Daschle does his own taxes?
        \_ Plug: support the FairTax.

2/3     Bad economy is good for military (puts on conspiracy hat)
        http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/us/19recruits.html?_r=2&hp

        It wasn't just the market. (Governments steered the market into
        the wall.)
     http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2009/02/02/it-wasnt-just-the-market/#more-4618

        Wen Says Crisis Shows Dangers of Unregulated Markets
        http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601089&sid=ahk0bbmaDQm4
        \_ I agree with Comrade Wen.                            -comrade
        \_ The fetishtic more efficent markets are always better crowd
           forgets that an efficent system that is highly unstable
           is worse than worthless.

2/3     Need advice on where to put cash for 1 to 2 years. I only have
        maybe $50K (I'm not a rich old geezer like most of you). CD is
        at an all time low.  So is money market/savings. Gold? Silver?
        Foreign investment? Don't tell me to buy a home, I need a job
        for that.
        \_ teak rainforests!
        \_ If you are expecting to need it in the next 1 to 2 years, CDs
           are the way to go. If this is your only cash (you don't have
           six months of expenses saved up) then you probably want to keep
           most of it in savings even. How do you plan to pay your bills
           until you get a job?
        \_ How safe is safe? At this point probably only deposits
           (checking, savings, CDs) and US treasurys (you might look into
           i-bonds or TIPS) have a high probability of no loss of
           principal over the next 1-2 years.
        \_ Just because you don't have a job, doesn't mean that you can't
           invest it in realestate. I have a property that I'm about to
           purchase which I need to go all cash in on...I can offer you 10%.
           -scottyg
           \_ If you're 100% sure that there's positive income, no
              accidents, no renovations required, no eviction, etc, then
              obviously you don't need a full time job. But everyone needs
              some cushion, and 50K isn't a lot of cushion to do any real
              estate transaction in California. It only takes one bad
              tenant and 0 income to really screw your life up.
              \_ No, I mean I will offer you 10% on a 1-2yr loan of 50k.
        \_ IngDirect checking gives 2.2% if you have $50K. FDIC insured,
           that's what I'd do.
           \_ link:dollarsavingsdirect.com is still maintaining 3.5%
              http://provident-direct.com is down again to 2.82%
              \_ Gold is up 5-8% in the last 3 weeks
              \_ http://www.bankrate.com/brm/safesound/thrftmm.asp?fedid=137915
                 I'll stick with ING, thanks.
                 \_ http://www.bankofinternet.com looks pretty good at 3.10% and ***
                    Sometimes I wonder about these outfits, if they will
                    maintain a good rate over time.  There are some 5-star
                    banks on bankrate's list with better rates than ING.
                    I do wonder about a bank whose name is basically Engrish.
                    (bank of internet?) but apparently it's been around a while
                 \_ What do you really care as long as it's FDIC-insured?
                    In case you haven't noticed how bank failures are handled,
                    there is typically no interruption in availability of
                    funds, except maybe over the weekend.
                    \_ Not true in IndyMac's case. If you had $10K you'd get it
                       right away, but for larger amounts, they'd give you a
                       little upfront and then you had to wait for the rest.
        \_ Gold
        \_ heroin!
        \_ ammo
           \_ Ammo doesn't have good resale value.
              \_ pre-owned ammo?
              \_ when the zombies come.. ammo will be worth its weight in gold
              \_ who said anything about selling it?  yer supposed to give
                 it away, at high velocity...

2/3     Japanese murder investigators fooled by life-sized sex doll
        http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/02/japan2
        How did this article never show up on the motd?

2/3     http://www.catonmat.net/blog/unix-utilities-pipe-viewer
        o mighty roots, no hurry but can you apt-get install pv?  Danke!
        \_ Sure, done.