Months of questions and criticism have come to an end over Mitt Romney's sketchy tax past. Well, sorta. In the report from his accountants, they managed to sum up Mitt's tax returns from 1990 to 2009 on one page. Pretty succinct? Or does it leave out key information? You can probably guess which. It didn't deal in actual dollar figures either, showing just the percentage of tax paid based on his gross income, not once coming in under 13.66%. Pretty good. But a senior exec at the Tax Policy Centre says that the gross income claimed by Mr. Romney just included US interests and didn't take into consideration overseas investments (Mitt's are thought to be fairly substantial). The wealthy use tactics such as this to reduce their adjusted gross income and the resulting owed tax. When asked for a more detailed tax statement, the campaign said it would not provide any numbers or any comparison of tax paid to TOTAL income. Should be fun times leading up to the election, and remember SNL's political Weekend Update prime time show is back on Thursday nights leading up to election day and here is the only clip (from CNN) that hasn't been taken down by NBC (CLICK HERE)
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iPhone 5 came out. I think it did ok. There was a 800 person line at Apple's glass cube store in New York City, and the first in line at the Apple store in Toronto had been there for almost three days. The phone features a slightly bigger screen and is 4G LTE wirelessly compatible (don't know what that is), so I guess that's good. The phone will still be available in a week folks and you won't have to sleep on a floor and smell of B.O. and mall coffee. And that's if you are lucky enough to have your Apple store actually inside. Anyways, all tomfoolery aside, the phone looks great. Thinner, sleeker and the processor is apparently a hell of a lot faster. I'm sure I'll get one eventually… if only something would happen to my lowly 4S!
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Men are from Mars.. I've heard that before. Richard Branson is thinking about the next step to make that an actual reality. The billionaire adventurer told several news outlets that he hopes to start a community on Mars. "Obviously, you are going to want scientists initially. You're going to want physicians, you're going to want comedians, you're going to want fun people, beautiful people, ugly people -- a good cross-section of what happens on Earth -- on Mars. People have got to be able to get on together, because it's going to be quite confined." He believes that in his lifetime that a population could develop on Mars, which at 62 and his crazy income should have a good hundred years left with blood transfusions, titanium bones and such. He actually might be closer to being a superhero than anyone alive. Richie's private space tourism firm plans to offer two hour rides in space for the price of $200,000 in the year or so. Great first date!
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The OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp) is proposing on building the largest development in Canada, a facility that would include restaurants, retail and convention space as well as the casino. The key point of the pitch I think is that only 10% of the building will be used for table games and slots, and that 12,000 jobs could be created with a total capital expenditure of $2 billion and change. Paul Godfrey, former Blue Jays President/CEO called the facility "a once in a generation opportunity." Godfrey wants the site of the new project to be on the waterfront but sees many areas in the GTA that are equally viable sites. An Ace Rothstein moment (Discrection advised!)
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If you have been watching the news the last couple days you might notice that Mayor Ford has went down to Chicago to improve business ties between Toronto and Chicago, as well re-new that sister city thing we have with them. Not sure what that makes us. Anyways, CP24 in particular followed Ford closely in Chicago, and I have to hand it to them, they didn't Robby look too much like a jackass, and even though I don't agree with a lot of what he does, Chicago is a great city and we should improve business ties with them. The press in Chicago was less than impressed, and with the cities first teacher's strike in 25 years coming to an end, neither the Tribune or the Sun Times reported mayor's visit. One writer from NBC Chicago, who was clearly unimpressed, offered up the following headline for his article which I'll link to below "BIG, OBNOXIOUS TORONTO MAYOR VISITS CHICAGO, BLENDS IN TOO WELL" (actual headline; read HERE)
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A twenty five year old bonehead in the Bronx, NYC jumped out of a monorail car above a tiger cage in the Bronx Zoo (not Yankee Stadium). At about 3pm the man let out of the car above the tiger exhibit clearing its perimeter fence. The man suffered multiple puncture wounds while the tiger was 'playing' with him. The tiger pen is equipped with a 'hot wire' which emits a small electric shock to the animals as a way to keep them out of areas with plant beds and other foliage. The man, under instruction from zoo staff, rolled under one of these wires which probably saved his life. The man was conscious and speaking when being taken away by paramedics, although he is in critical condition. It was a tiger cub and considering a tiger could rip your face off, despite the size, in about 2 seconds nothing bad will come of the animal since he was probably just toying around. "I think it's safe to say that if the tiger really wanted to do harm to this individual he certainly had the time to do it," said zoo director Jim Breheny.
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