Catherine

Lion, dear, you are also missing the point. The point is that evil and deranged people will always find ways to destroy and to kill. NONE of the proposed additional regulations would have had even one iota of effect on Newtown. What COULD have helped in Newtown was a principal who had a locked cabinet with a loaded shotgun. A janitor or teacher with concealed-carry and defensive shooting training. Instead those poor, brave, defenseless souls tried to stop a killer with NOTHING on their side. If having firearms locked up and declaring "gun free zones" worked, then there would have been NO violence at Newtown -- the school had already been declared gun-free! So there were no guns there, right? Crazy does NOT mean stupid. Did you know that the Aurora CO killer purposefully did NOT go to any of the TEN theaters closer to his home? The one he went to, the one he carefully chose, was one that advertised itself as "gun free." He KNEW, going there, that NO ONE would be able to STOP him, and he could continue his murderous, evil spree until the cops showed up -- during which time he had sitting ducks. Victim creation. There was an attack at a school just a week or two ago, with an Exacto knife used as the weapon. Dozens hurt. Are we going to ban exacto knives? Pressure cookers, like they used just two days ago here in Boston? Fireplace pokers? Cars? More people are MURDERED every year with CLAW HAMMERS than with firearms. The worst mass killing in the US was at the beginning of the 1900's by a deranged man in Maine, who used TNT (or dynamite, or something - can look up details online) that he legally obtained (used in rural areas to get rid of tree stumps) and hoarded FOR A YEAR beforehand. Oklahoma City -- fertilizer and diesel fuel. EVIL is the problem; evil and the choice to commit an evil act. The tool is NOT the problem. Focusing on the tool DOES THE WORK OF EVIL because it leaves the REAL problem -- the problem of evil -- ignored while everyone gets all frantic to DO something about a tool!! Firearms, in the hands of law-abiding citizens, SAVE tens of thousands of lives EVERY year. Most of those times the gun is never fired; merely brought out in the open. We don't ban cars because drunk drivers kill (and kill far more people annually than all firearms deaths). We take away the drunks' licenses (and far too rarely, in my view). Mrs. Lanza may never have been called to defend her town. The Constitution says she should be ready IF called. The score-political-points-using-dead-children crowd think there should be no magazines with more than 7 rounds. So, it's OK with them for a killer to have 7-round magazines? That can be changed in seconds? And use them uninterrupted for 10-15 minutes until the SWAT team shows up? But not OK for someone defending their family (or the kids in their school) to have a 20-round magazine? Where is the sense in that? Define "lots" of ammunition? One state nitwit here in Mass said a few years ago she didn't know why anyone would "need" more than 50 rounds for practice in any week. If I am practicing Olympic standard pistol, I can go through 200 rounds in less than an hour. (My husband keeps telling me to try out for the US Olympic Team in Ladies Standard Pistol; someday I just might.) Maybe I don't know why anyone would "need" a BMW 7-series car; what's wrong with a Ford Focus or Pontiac Vibe? WHY is it the government's job to decide what I need? --It is NOT their job; and none of their damned business, either. A government that decides how much ammunition you "need" will next decide how much soda you can drink -- whether you may purchase water in plastic bottles in your town -- if meat is too "resource intensive" for people to eat -- whether you get treatment for your illness or not -- and turn King George's tyranny into benevolent negligence by comparison. The Constitution was designed to LIMIT the government's power over individuals and keep it OUT of our day to day lives. I say again -- the proper place to look for answers is how EVIL gets hold of people, how it twists them, how it grows hatred -- and how to stop evil. Do NOT help further evil's agenda by blaming the tools it uses.

Joan, dear, you are missing the point. The founders and framers had a very deep mistrust of a standing army as intrinsically DANGEROUS to the country as a whole (but not the same fear of a water-based navy). That is why the Constitution does NOT limit naval funding -- but _requires_ that NO appropriation of funds for the army is for a period of time longer than TWO years. See Article 1, Section 8. Their concern was that the army would be used as a tool for oppression and tyranny -- just as King George 3rd used it for that purpose. They wanted, and expected, the states to maintain their own CITIZEN militias, with the citizenry specifically enjoined to remain well-trained (the original meaning of "well-regulated") and the federal government specifically FORBIDDEN to restrict individual ownership of firearms among the law-abiding populace. (The state governments go along for the ride due to Article 6's supremacy clause.) Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership has some fabulous articles and videos about the history of victim creation (the true name of what is incorrectly termed "gun" control) at their web site, www.jpfo.org -- I recommend you poke around there some time when you have a bit of time.

"The forum formerly known as ATX"? 1. Yes, topics frequently stray from the original. I see no problem with that. 2. If I don't like a topic (or have no need for it in my practice, at all or just not right now) I skip it; so can others. 3. I feel safe here posting "dumb" questions, and also feel confident that the responses I get will be both correct and helpful (even if occasionally hard to hear). 4. People who disagree with the above have plenty of other online places to go hang out. Here's your hat and don't stumble on the way out. 5. NT means NT. Whether it's a joke when you're in a bad mood, or a political topic, you are warned. 6. If you can't keep your nose out of an area you _know_ you don't like, and get your nose out of joint, that is seriously not _my_ problem. Grow some control. I love all my friends here, even those whose views I disagree with. And I think if we had a chance to just sit down and chat, we'd find far more things we agreed on than either of us suspected at the start. I say every year -- and I mean it every year -- that I could NOT run my practice without my online forum friends as my backup.

NO!!! You need to go study the Constitution and the history of that time. The 2nd Amendment is the most strongly worded absolute prohibition in the entire Bill of Rights. Additionally, the entire purpose of that amendment is to ensure that We, the People, have a last-ditch protection against a government turned tyrannical (remember the Constitution was written barely FOUR years after the Treaty of Paris - which ended the Revolutionary War - was signed). The War of 1812 was won because of the efforts of _privateers_ -->privately owned _warships_ that were as heavily armed (or more so!) than our small and, at the time, rather pathetic nascent Navy. I would support regular training requirements (the meaning of "well-regulated militia"), and prohibitions against legal firearms ownership by violent criminals after prison release. Please note that violent criminals rarely bother trying to acquire firearms legally -- they just buy them on the black market. If we can't keep drugs out of constantly-guarded prisons, it will never be possible dry up the black market in firearms.

I'd rather the IRS spent their time accepting returns rather than sending out acks. We'll get those later. Happens every year (one reason I like all my extensions done by 4/10).

I sent the hugs to Fiona from everyone; thanks for the good wishes. One of my clients is an ER nurse at MGH; I sent prayers and good wishes off to her yesterday as well. Prayers continue; the Salvation Army is working hard helping folks and the Red Cross is so inundated with blood donors they have asked people to call ahead first. Catherine

That's good to know - but mine is hooked up to my XP machine. I have the Fujitsu available for the Windows 7 machine. Thanks.

1. All of my family is OK. 2. Fiona was at work about two blocks from the explosions -- she felt the shockwave from the blasts. They locked down the store for a bit then shut down and sent everyone home. 3. I do know some people who have relatives currently in the hospital and in surgery. One of my contacts runs a really excellent community newspaper north of Boston; his sources are just fabulous and I've been getting my news mainly through him on Facebook. Tom Duggan is the name if anyone wants to look him up. 4. Prayers are always in order and appreciated for all those hurt. This story has several good sources for helping: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/15/how-you-can-help-in-the-wake-of-the-boston-marathon-tragedy-and-what-others-are-doing/

For years I used a Kodak i1120 duplex, TWAIN-compliant scanner and loved it. This year added a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 duplex scanner and it is also really good. Not TWAIN, so it's a bit less convenient for making bank deposits online. I also think the Kodak's paper handling was a bit better - have to be a bit more careful with the Fujitsu not to put in too many pages at once and that number is lower than the Kodak. However the Kodak does NOT have Windows-7-compatible drivers - a fatal flaw. Both of these scanners are duplex, which is _crucial_ and tiny in foot print, which is a real benefit.

I have a bunch of standard-deduction folks who nevertheless give me their Schedule A items. For them, I just add the Schedule A and print it out in the client copy. It doesn't transmit -- but they see it and are happy.

I have also run into the TIN for the schools going poof! upon e-filing. Doesn't happen the 2nd attempt -- just the first. First time figured it was me, so the second time I was super-careful making sure... nope; it's the program. VERY disturbing to have things change on you out of nowhere. I no longer feel I can trust the software to (ay) calculate returns correctly, and (bee) transmit accurately what I have finalized. NOT a good thing.

Good grief -- how disgusting. Those officers are sworn to UPHOLD the Constitution -- they should be summarily FIRED.

Once the dollar is abandoned as the standard currency, we will no longer be able to export our inflation as we have been doing for decades. At some point, the debasing of our currency the Fed has been doing will start to hit (the unrest in Europe will delay this) -- but inflation (even hyperinflation) is in our future. Read up on the history of the Weimar Republic.

Ultimately we need to take back control of ALL our levels of government - local, state, federal. We, the People, created the government "to preserve these Rights, governments are instituted..." -- the ONLY legitimate purpose of government is to protect our individual rights. As we created it, it is our creature, subordinate and subservient to US, its creators. We have forgotten that. So have the entrenched bureaucracies at _all_ levels. Until we take control back, we have to pressure all the various legiscritters and other officials, reminding them they are our servants, not the other way around. This is not a sprint; it is a super-marathon at least. A generational fight that that mcb's new great-grandbaby may see the success of.

Time to sue the pants off (a) the school -- teacher, principal, superintendent, and (b ) the town authorities who pulled the dad's permit for NO reason. "Shall NOT be infringed" means _exactly_ what it says. Every attempt to disarm just underscores the crucial importance of the 2nd Amendment and exactly the type of government high-handedness the framers were working to prevent!

Ever more reasons to homeschool.

I've said many a time that I could NOT run my practice without my newsgroups. This being the prime one. Thank you ALL, each and every one of you!!!!

KC -- a very Happy Birthday to you!!!

I have one today -- and THANK YOU for the reminder! Only a few hundred refund but better than losing it. Does anyone know if we can e-file these? I e-filed a 2011 return back in February and that went through just fine.

Yet, "silence gives assent" and I will not give assent. I thought there may well be something to "global warming" -- years ago, until I did my OWN investigation and concluded it was hokum for political purposes. There may also be those who read the emotion-laden and fact-poor tirades who will be swayed if there is no rebuttal. Or perhaps I just have a compulsion for tilting at windmills. On the bright side, the US Constitution study group I started four years ago has grown from 3 people per month (including me) to over three dozen (and not the same folks every month). So some windmill-tilting has an effect. Thanks, KC

It's a measure of how this season has affected me that I read the message thread title as "IRS Maintenance Outrage Notice" - doncha think?

Sat at my desk first thing yesterday morning to do "just one quick thing before I get dressed." Sure enough, a couple hours later I am still sitting there typing away in my pajamas. Ding-dong! Unexpected client shows up with signature forms. Oh, well. Couple years ago a client on extension came by unexpectedly with papers I had requested and found me digging in my garden, as full of dirt as any three-year-old.

Thanks for posting; I have been too busy to check the email address that CCH uses for these notices.

The hedgehog comment was where I lost it for about the 6th time!

This was my degree -- Earth Sciences. One of the first (and HARDEST) lessons for people to learn is that the entire length of human experience is the length of a gnat's life in the entirety of this history of this planet. At this latitude where I sit, right now, there was once a full MILE of ice thickness. Before that - tropical. Before that -- another mile of ice. Tropical. Ice. Temperate. Ice. Tropical. Ice. On and on and on the cycle goes for billions of years. Human recorded history barely goes back 6,000-ish. With _good_ records -- well, one could say maybe 150. However, there has been enough data falsification -- and enough just piss-poor data collection technique -- to make that suspect. One of the reasons I got into earth science was a book that came out in the 70's, by Carlo Ponti -- about "The Coming Ice Age" (out of print but still available in libraries -- I got it a few years ago and re-read it on purpose). If you read Ponti's book, you will see that he proposes many of the SAME solutions to the "ice age" danger as the global warming people do -- more and more government control - of population, of crop locations, of farming techniques, overall global governance (sometimes called "cooperation")... and this also shows why the main thrust of global warming frenzy has come from POLITICIANS and not scientists. "The science is settled!!" -- balderdash. Science is NEVER settled. Certainly not something with as many variables as climate. Anyone remember the articles about the "butterfly effect"? -- Go look 'em up; as THOSE are true. Tiny changes in starting conditions make HUGE changes in projections, even when the models are accurate. There are NO climate models accurate to the required level for the data they are using and the minutiae they are projecting. NONE. And I am a wee bit more able to assess those models than probably anyone else here on this forum. On top of all this, the data the warming folks are using has been FALSIFIED. There is a wonderful, roughly one hour long, presentation by Lord Monckton, (available on YouTube) showing just what has been done to the data. Go watch, and then draw your own conclusions. Also look into the history of the Chicago Climate Exchange -- see who were the early investors, see how many BILLIONS they stood to make trading carbon credits. Compare the list with those screaming loudest about global warming and the need to limit carbon emissions. (Hint: look for a former VP's name.) And for the CO2 being SO!!! high -- nope. It's been way higher, and not "just" in dinosaur days. Plus it is a TRAILING indicator, not a leading indicator.