I'm not sure why but last night after working on homework, a record review (Pushstart Wagon) and doing some other research, I decided to work on our taxes. Maybe the rum had something to do with it, though that helped my mind slow down enough to concentrate so it wasn't exactly a bad thing. Anyway, I did a pencil version of our feds and wrote down the basics of our state tax stuff. We have a couple questions regarding our fed one...S. earned just over a grand on a dinky part-time job she had for a while, and they didn't take out any federal tax whatsoever, which leaves us owing there. S. said, though, that a co-worker told her that they probably didn't take fed taxes out because the earnings wouldn't amount to enough to necessitate that...and so we don't need to report it. Of course, this same co-worker is also somewhat mentally goofed as a result of a car accident and, nearing 40, hops from man to man while missing enormous amounts of work (and should've been terminated long ago, but the school district needs para-professionals). I'm not really of the opinion that she's a trustworthy source on tax issues, but sometimes these sorts of people somehow cling to decent pieces of information while otherwise driving themselves into the sanitarium. Of course, if this is the case, the temp job I had for two weeks shouldn't be counted, either. We'll probably ask a lawyer friend of ours at church, he works quite a bit with financial situations. Luckily, even if we DO owe federal taxes, the amount we'll be refunded that we paid into the state will more than cover it, so we'll end up a bit better than even as things currently stand.I just realized that the only thing worse than using a blog for cliched emotional gutwrenching is using it to blather on about tax/financial issues. I wonder if a subgenre of post-punk has ever been the exploitation partner of THAT particular subject?

In other news, S and I took part in a protest rally this morning. The President was in town giving his Social Security Speech so we decided to join with others to greet him and share our dissent. The security officers and cops, of course, kept us contained to a small "Free Speech Zone" and told the organizers that we shouldn't cross the lines, but couldn't tell anyone where those lines exactly were. I saw a decent number of folks I know and it was nice to catch up with them. A state senator for whom we voted was there and we got to hear her speech, which was good. The crowd itself was fairly diverse: lots of common workers, some old hippies, lots of young people, even high schoolers. A lot of the folks decided to walk on down toward the entrance of the event center and one of the high school kids get joking about getting shot. We could tell who some of the high school kids were, partly from demeanor and partly because some of the young women were in Catholic school red plaid skirts. S.commented that at first she thought maybe some of them were "radical cheerleaders" or some such feminist group that wears red skirts, but none of the chapters are anywhere near our state, not to mention that these young women weren't really cheerleading, just hanging out with everyone else. I got to talk for a few minutes with a guy who used to be one of my bosses, and it was good to see him again. We work on the same campus but don't run into each other much, I guess. Anyway, the protest was enjoyable and hopefully showed a few people that not everyone swallows Bush's ideals and policies wholeheartedly and without thought. We thought it would be funny if S.'s mom saw us on Fox News or something, though we didn't really see any of their cameras there.

What's funny is that this was supposed to be a "forum" with Q&A from "regular Nebraskan folks," but I heard almost that whole portion on the radio and it was pretty obviously fabricated. No one asked a genuinely tough question, just shared anecdotes about how when life got rough, Social Security was there for them, but this new plan would be better. How they know that is hard to say, since Bush hasn't really explained yet how this will all REALLY work, but whatever the people need to make them feel better about it is what's going to be said.
Read about the protest here: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np...6&u_sid=1328223

What am I reading these days?
--Richard Brautigan, The Hawkline Monster
--various poems by Bob Kaufman (black Beat poet, quoted in my title for this post)
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/p...what=BobKaufman
Bob Kaufman is one of my two recent great discoveries, the other being a collection containing the Floating Bear newsletters (ed. and produced and sent out by Diane DiPrima & Leroi Jones back in the early 60s).