WW

3 weeks ended, and I have now lost 6.8 lbs!

Yay!

Proposal 2

So, some friends and I will be doing this on Saturday morning. Anyone is welcome to join. Email me for more information.
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October 30, 2004

In the final days of this election cycle, WRAP is staging an incredibly visible fight against Proposal 2-the anti-marriage/civil union/domestic partnership proposed amendment to the Michigan Constitution. One of our many projects in our continued fight for equal rights is a sign holding “protest” (burma shave campaign) during the next U of M football game.

U of M vs. MSU Football Game Plan:

The idea is to have as many people as possible along the routes to the Stadium holding signs against Proposal 2. We are hoping to gather a minimum 200 people. We need this many because of the amount of area we are hoping to cover. We have started the process of getting a permit and are working closely with the Police department so that everything is on the up & up.

People will gather at 10 am at the following locations:
1) Ann Arbor-Saline Rd and Eisenhower-meet in the parking lot directly behind Pier One

2) State St and Eisenhower-meet in the northwest corner of the parking lot in front of Olive Garden

3) Main St between Felch and Catherine (to catch M-14 traffic)-meet at Trillium Real Estate 214 W Kingsley

4) Where Washtenaw and Stadium meet (to catch the US-23 traffic)-meet at the north side of the Trader Joe’s parking lot

5) Jackson and Maple–meet in the parking lot behind Zingerman’s Roadhouse

6) Plymouth and US23-meet in the northeast corner of the Plymouth Green Shopping Center

7) The bridge over I-94 on Stone School Rd–meet on the bridge

Please make your own sign, but if you can not, we will have yard signs for you to hold. The signs can be any shape, size or color that you want. Some ideas for what the signs could say are:
“Vote No on 2 Go Blue”
“Vote No on 2 Go Green”
“Green or Blue Vote No on 2”
“Proposal 2 IS Discrimination”
“Proposal 2 HURTS Michigan Families”


Dan Leonard at the WRAP office is coordinating this effort. Please contact him at:
734-995-9867 or volunteeratwrap@yahoo.com
We are going to try to cover as much ground as possible, so please check with Dan as to where you will be needed the most. He is keeping track of all of the groups and numbers that will be there, so we need to know about how many people will be coming to make sure that the people are spread out evenly. If you can not get in touch with Dan for some reason, just SHOW up at on of the above places the day of the “event”! We need everyone to participate!

We are also looking for captains for each area, who would work with Dan on coordinating each site. They would make sure that there are enough signs (for those without), flyers and any other needs brought to the location. They would also coordinate the flyering effort during the game and be responsible for the signs getting back to WRAP at the end of the day.

We are starting around 10am, since the gates open at 1:30. We will go until a little after the game starts (3-3:30ish). While the game is on we will go around the areas that we are in and put flyers on all the car windshields that we can find. I did check with the City of Ann Arbor and the only restrictions with flyering are: no mailboxes and no charging up to cars at stop lights, car windshields and house doors are fair game! Once the game is out we will to head back to our areas to stand with our signs once again to catch people on the way out.

Tax Changes

State sales taxes now can cut your IRS bill
By Kay Bell • Bankrate.com


Thanks to a multibillion-dollar corporate tax bill, individual taxpayers are getting a new tax break.

Most of the 633 pages of the American Jobs Creation Bill of 2004 deal with taxes on and tax breaks for businesses. But sandwiched in the tax tome, approved by Congress and expected to be signed into law by the president, is the OK for consumers to deduct sales taxes from their federal filings. The deduction will be available on 2004 and 2005 tax returns.

But don't grab your credit card and head to the mall just yet. This tax break isn't an add-on; it will require you to choose. You must decide whether you want to deduct the sales taxes you paid or your state income tax amounts.

The choice is obvious for residents of the seven states that do not collect state income taxes but do levy state sales taxes: Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. The measure also allows for deductions of local sales. This again benefits residents who pay local sales taxes in the seven non-income-tax states, as well as some Alaska residents. Alaska has no individual income or state sales tax, but some jurisdictions do charge local sales taxes.

While the provision will be a boon to residents of non-income tax states, congressional aide Sarah Stephens notes that the new tax break is available to residents of all 50 states.

"All taxpayers will get the chance to choose which deduction to take," says Stephens, press secretary to Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), who was one of the original backers of the law. "Basically, it will be up to the individuals to do the math and see which deduction, state income taxes or sales taxes, will save them more."

Figuring your sales-tax break
The sales tax deduction will be available to filers who choose to itemize their expenses on Schedule A. And they will have two ways to determine just how big their sales tax deduction will be.

You can keep claim the total sales taxes you actually paid based on the amounts shown on your receipts. Just be sure to hang onto those register tapes in case the Internal Revenue Service has a question about how you arrived at your deduction amount.

Or you can claim the amount you'll find in newly created tables that the U.S. Treasury, the department that oversees the IRS, has been instructed to develop. The sales-tax deduction tables will be based on the average consumption by taxpayers, taking into account filing status, number of dependents, adjusted gross income and rates of state and local general sales taxation. And because sales tax rates vary from state to state (and even by localities within a state), the Treasury is going to have to come up with 50 different tables.

Most taxpayers probably will opt for the ease of using the deduction amount to be provided in the Treasury-created tables. But taxpayers should make sure they use the sales-tax deduction that gives them the biggest break.

"Every family would be a little different," says Stephens. "A family with a new baby might spend a tremendous amount of money outfitting a new nursery and find that they're better off adding up their actual sales tax receipts. They could look at the table and say 'we get a $450 deduction, but we've got receipts for $500.'"

Added sales tax break for cars, boats
There's also a hybrid option, notes Stephens, that could help consumers who purchased, and paid a hefty sales tax, on a car or boat. In these cases, the new law allows taxpayers to claim the standard deduction and then also add in the tax on the road or marine vehicle.

Plus, the legislative language gives the Treasury Secretary discretion to include "other items" that he determines are appropriate to this add-on deduction. For example, says Stephens, this could be appliances that cost over a certain amount.

Even residents of states without income taxes might be able to save more on their federal returns using the sales-tax break.

"It's conceivable that people who buy a car in a location with a high sales tax and moderate state income tax would do better by foregoing their normal income tax deduction, but until there's a little more clarity on just how the deduction will work, it's hard to know for certain," says Mark Luscombe, attorney, CPA, and principal federal tax analyst for tax publisher CCH Inc. of Riverwoods, Ill.

Good News!!!



See the current electoral vote counts...

Check your voter's registration

http://www.sospublius.org/

Weight Watchers at Work

2 weeks completed today.

Week 1, I lost 1.4 lbs. and week 2, I lost 1.6. A total of 3 lbs. now. I was hoping for 2 lbs. per week, but I guess I will survive at 1.5 on average.

Less places than I thought I visited...



create your own visited countries map

FUCK FUCK FUCK

I wrote a three page rant and blogger ate it.

Fuck Fuck Fuck.

Genetic Factors Influence Male Homosexuality-Study
Genetic Factors Influence Male Homosexuality-Study

Tue Oct 12, 7:03 PM ET Science - Reuters


LONDON (Reuters) - Genetic factors, along with cultural and early experiences, influence male homosexuality, Italian scientists said on Wednesday.


Researchers at the University of Padua said the genetic components are linked to the X chromosome which is inherited only from the mother. But they are probably on other chromosomes and could partly explain male homosexuality.


"The key factor is that these genes both influence homosexuality in men, higher fecundity in females and are in the maternal and not the paternal line," Andrea Camperio-Ciani, who headed the research team, said in an interview.


More than a decade ago scientists in the United States reported that they had found evidence of a "gay gene" in men. But other researchers questioned the finding when they could not duplicate the results.


Camperio-Ciani and his team suggest there several genes could be involved, including those on the X chromosome.


In their research, which is reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, they found an increase in homosexuality in the maternal line of gay men they studied which suggests the X chromosome.


"We know that at least one of these genetic factors in on the X chromosome but that it not enough, there must be other genetic factors that are important but are elsewhere," Camperio-Ciani added.


The results are based on a study of 98 homosexual and 100 heterosexual men and about 4,600 of their relatives. The scientists compared the frequency of gay men on the maternal and paternal lines of the families.


Among homosexuals there were a greater number of gay men in the maternal line of the family, as well as greater fertility in the female relatives.


An early interest in sex before the age of 10 was also a predictor of homosexuality, according to the researchers.


"We can no longer say that is it impossible to have a gene that influences homosexuality because we found out that genes might have different effects depending on gender," Camperio-Ciani.


But he added that cultural and individual experience also play a part.

Weight Watchers

So, today I did something I never thought I would do. I joined Weight Watchers. It intimidated me for some reason. Learning points and the public weigh-in.

Well the points seem fairly straight forward and the weigh in, while public, can only be seen by yourself and the leader of the group.

I weighed in and was only 6.2 lbs above what I had estimated. I have now set a goal of 26.2 lbs by January when the class ends. That is 2 lbs per week until the end of the class. According to the goal weight from BMI, I need to loose 87.2 lbs. That was a terrifying moment. I am feeling a little overwhelmed, but I think the best course for me is to just jump in do it. I don't think I will ever get to that goal. I honestly haven't weighed that little since I was a freshman in college. Actually I was about 10 lbs over goal even then. So, wrestling season in H.S.?

So, I am allowed 30 points per day plus a weekly floating variance of 35 points that I can use all at once or not at all. I think I should save those for things like the Roadhouse on Friday night.

I will try to report in as the class progresses once per week. Wish me luck!