"The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." Will Rogers

It's Thursday, January 17, 2013, and I'm looking around for something to talk about. Yesterday I talked at length about death, therefore, I suppose talking about taxes is in order. Yes. We are in a new year and I finally remembered to check out how they calculate whether or not Social Security Retirement is taxed. Hello? I'm not sure whether I get to pass Go or not but I am very much certain I will not collect $200. Big time! If you make more than a certain amount in other income, BAM! I don't know how much I will owe when it is all said and done, but as I was using an automated calculation utility on the internet a vision of a convict breaking rocks came to mind. Let's hope and pray it doesn't come to that but while I wasn't altogether shocked, it still made for a less than sterling start to my day. I was talking to one fellow here in the office about it and he lamented that they should just leave us old people alone. I'm not sure how I was supposed to take that but the leaving me alone part sounded good, if you know what I mean, Vern. When we enrolled, I did make sure our ages were within striking distance of avoiding the dreaded penalty but that doesn't deal with the amount eligible for the income tax. Okay. I can hear what all you smart people are thinking out there. Why didn't I set it up to hold out a minimum amount? Reasonable question. Perhaps I got mixed up between the 'don't ask, don't tell' and the famous Reagan practice where they didn't tell him things so he would have what they called 'plausible deniability'. Meanwhile I'll continue to mull over that comment about them leaving old people alone. (The actual term 'plausable deniability' was coined by the CIA during the Kennedy administration.)

Since it appears that from the beginning of the year I've pretty much struck out on any attempts to be more concise, I thought it would be good to at least give lip service to the benefits that come from the use of fewer words. In other words, (pun intended), if you can't do it yourself, well, you can at least talk about it. "Good things, when short, are twice as good." ~Baltasar Gracián ~ "Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief." ~William Shakespeare, Hamlet ~  "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." ~Thomas Jefferson ~ "If any man will draw up his case, and put his name at the foot of the first page, I will give him an immediate reply. Where he compels me to turn over the sheet, he must wait my leisure." ~Lord Sandwich ~ "If you can't explain something in a few words, try fewer." ~Robert Brault ~ I bet you didn't think I could be wordy about not being so wordy. Oh that's right. This is not your first trip touring the ole blogger ranch. I'll take these thoughts and see if I can expand upon them. It's a joke. Go ahead. You have my permission to laugh at my expense. Now you owe me one!

I do have some in house critical review that has their own way to indicate that  perhaps the subject I wrote about, or more typically, the length of the piece, was a little too much. This would be the response from my significant other, at one time we called her SWMBO. That came from the PBS series, 'Rumpole of the Bailey'. Rumpole was a rumpled old barrister married to Hidegard who he often referred to, under his breath of course, as She Who Must Be Obeyed. Our across the driveway neighbor, our dear Ruth, watched that same program and thought we should have a shirt made for the wife with that acronym on it. But, back to what I was talking about before I rudely interrupted my train of thought. You know. It's one of those long trains. One like I use to long to hear on a night as a kid where I was trying to sleep and it was so hot and still you could hardly breathe. Another diversion. At any rate when SWMBO wants to indicate that I was not exactly on target or too long she has a very vivid way of saying so. I receive an email and it has this and nothing more, "Blah ....Blah ....Blah!" I never felt inclined to ask her to elaborate and I suppose it's best to leave it at that, for the time being, and I do know that most of you know exactly what I mean. Have a blessed day and may God help us all is my prayer. Amen.    ....More later.