What expressions (or words) drive you nuts?? - Part 3

There's odd food everywhere---was served caribou in Sweden, & a lamb's tongue---that was too gross to eat!

We used to eat beef tongue during WWII I wouldn't touch it now.

You can see those hanging in the windows in Boston's North End. Yuck!

Open wide and say, 'Baaaa!'

reminds of of our local butcher - big sign as you enter - " per town order you must dispose of your own sheeps head"
bloods market in groton, ma great place.

I love beef tongue, deli style on rye with pastrami, yuuum!

I love to go into a deli with a good-looking woman behind the counter, and asking for some tongue. ^_^

Jadajoy,
I love tongue and pastrami too. My mom used to go in the back of the butcher shop, select a side of prime hung meat and have it cut. She pickled and cooked the tongue like corned beef. Is corned beef gross? The difference is that corned beef (brisket) is stringy and tongue is more delicate and fine. Many great foodways are becoming American cultural retrospectives. Too much lip is taking its' place.

LOL, Victor, you just never take a break, do you?! LOL!

mmmmm, corned beef, love it!

Re: Chinese food... reminded me of Craig Ferguson's monologue the other day.
He was talking about Chinese food... "or as it's called in China... FOOD."

LOL!

mary Pop, i wish I had her pickling recipe. Theres no good deli's around here. I have bought beef tongue (its not cheap, comparable in price to t-bone) but cant mke it sliceable or fine like the deli, even tho it was still good. Yes, corned beef is gross.

LOL gabagoo!

Victor, do cold showers help? :-)

One of my most disliked expressions is "my tax dollars". I can't stand to hear people say this especially when they are mostly referring to social agencies and think they bear the brunt of someone else's income. If they really knew where their tax dollars were going they would get on a new band wagon.

Only 11% goes to social programs which includes education AND SSi AND unemployment. Thats less than 11 cents on every dollar. To me its a very cheap tithe, which we should do anyway.

Now I feel better and am off my soap box:-)

Jadajoy, if you can get tongue, I'll send a recipe. Always open to sharing favorite tongue encounters. DM. I don't think of tongue as esoteric food. It's not like we ate it every week, but my mother or grandmother made it several times a year. It's a lot of work. I love new and unusual food. My motto is, "I'll eat anything (if it moves slowly enough)".
Laurel

LOL! I'm like you. I hae been around the world and it would have been a shame to go somewhere different and eat Burger King. Duh, could have stayed home for that. I'll try anything ...once:-)

Thanks, I would appreciate the recipe. The butcher in my local supermarket orders it for me when I get a taste for it.

I agree with both of you! (I have tasted tongue - prefer pastrami though.)

I'm tongue tied. Didn't know it was this popular. You've all been tongue in cheek I guess.
Joy, I agree. Eveyone loves their country and resents paying for it.

I don't think people resent paying for their country. I think they don't want to mortgage the future of generations to come and recognize that so much money is wasted.

And, with all due respect Joyce, your figures are just way off. Here is the official data for the most recently completed fiscal year where data is complete - FY '08. It is from the only reliable official source - the CBO. As you can see, spending on 'social programs' is closer to 50%. SSI and Medicaid/Medicare alone account for 46%. 'Mandatory' includes other 'entitlement' programs such as vets' benefits. And 'discretionary' includes education, healthcare, food stamps, welfare, etc. So it is actually most likely over 50% in this budget. This percentage has increased in the just completed (FY '09) and proposed (FY '10) budgets.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2007.png

This message was edited Oct 4, 2009 1:37 PM

And don't forget that interest on the debt - 8% here, but much higher now, is paying for the borrowing for these programs - so it's like paying twice for them.

So people were happy to pay taxes when we had a balanced budget in the 90s? Of course not!
My comment wasn't political. I was talking about how people want all the benefits and few of the responsibilities our govt. and our standing in the world provide.
Did you know are income taxes are far lower than when you or I were kids? (the good old days) They are. But one would think the opposite was true because of all the screaming.
People always complain about taxes

Victor
Thanks for the info. I googled the subject and found many different pie charts. Your chart would prove my point even more, leaving only 4% for social programs including education which would be more like, less than 4 cent on the dollar for these programs. Some of the charts showed the military as having the largest slice.

I also noticed the 8% we are paying for, twice, even thou individually we cannot even get an 8% rate on our savings.

Also If you google "taxpayer dollars" you get the many, many projects we are wasting money on which should be the focus of a statement like "is that where my taxpayer dollars are going?"

Yes - I sent my check in with happiness in my heart in the 90's! (By the way, the budget was never balanced in the 90's - it was a nice accounting gimmick that they don't allow normal people to use.)

I didn't pay income tax when I was a kid, so mine is higher now. ^_^ The total tax/fee/surcharge/whatever that most people pay today to all gov levels is higher than when we were kids.

Joyce - you don't consider social security, medicaid, medicare, vet benefits, etc., social programs??

The CBO data is the only official one. Congress is the one spending it, so it's up to the CBO accountants to track it.

Yes, the military is the largest chunk of the 'discretionary' part. Every chart should show that.

Of course those are social programs, but there are more that this 4% pays for.

Dave,thats good info, I didnt know taxes were higher in the good old days.

The federal tax rate was higher, not the total tax paid.

Of course not
Highest Fedtax rate in 1950s 91% (kicked in at $200,000)
In the 1960s and in the 1970s 70% (kicked in at $100,000)
Since 2003 35% (Kicks in at 186,400)

Meanwhile, tax deductions/credits have steadily increased

I don't think you understood, Dave. I was not referring to total federal income tax paid. I was referring to total everything paid - all income taxes, SSI, med/med, property tax, sales tax, fees, registrations, all those things we see on the phone bills, etc., etc. We keep less today than we ever did.

Dave - as top fed tax rates have decreased, what has happened to the percentage of total fed income tax paid by the highest income earners??

Which means even thou the rate is less, more people are paying it.

Sorry cross posted.

Victor, it has decreased for higher income earners.

No it hasn't Joyce. It increased!! The evil top 1% pays over 40% of the taxes.

Which means, of course, that we, the middle class pays a lower percentage. Unfortunately, all the other stuff more than wipes out that gain and we keep less than we used to. My property tax has more than doubled in seven years.

There is no "evil top" and they pay less than everyone else and, the middle class is disappearing ...fast...which is why we pay more.

The top 1% pays less than everyone else?

Of course Victor, havent you heard of off shore accounts and swiss banks and tax shelters?
And the actual tax amount decreases over 110,000.00 of income. Which today is considered middle class income. But you are right about all the stuff that wipes out gain. At least your property is going up in value.

I saw the new Michael Moore movie yesterday. Veeery interesting.

michael moore is full of it - and IT stinks

we should move off this topic

Wha
A click of the mouse will move you off very quickly!!!

click

This message was edited Oct 5, 2009 6:45 AM

This message was edited Oct 5, 2009 7:06 AM