Death AND Taxes a Bad Mix.

The Friday "Op-Ed"

Taxes are the talk of Washington these days. When aren't they? But a particular odorous part of the debate is the so-called "Death Tax." Its when you pass on to your reward and those who inherit your estate pay taxes on it.

Regardless of size, your estate was built on hard word. You earned money, on which you were taxed. You invested it, or purchased real estate etc, on which you were taxed again.

We need to pay taxes. It's how we pay to keep the roads paved and police on the beat. But at a certain point, enough is enough. But getting taxed from the grave is just plain wrong.

There are more than a few in Washington who believe it's only "fair" to tax your descendants when they inherit what you worked for, and payed taxes on during your lifetime. When challenged by a news anchor about the fairness of it all, Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-New York) said it doesn't matter.

"They'll be dead," was his response.

If you wonder why so many family owned businesses end up not being family owned, this is the reason. Taxing something that has already been taxed over and over again, defies reason. Reason enough, at the very least, to cut the "death" tax rather than increase it even more.

Junk it all together makes the most sense.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you"

Random Thoughts

Lots of stuff on my mind today, (In no particular order of importance.)

Speaking of sports:
What a debacle at Invesco. I know, it's always darkest before the dawn but right now it sure is dark!

Baylor comes to Austin this Saturday. Baylor is ranked and bowl eligible. Texas is just rank. They're going to retire Colt McCoy's number at the game, here's hoping his replacement's got game.

The baseball season is too long. NHL and NBA seasons are underway before the World Series has even started.

Speaking of the economy:
"They" says the recession is over. I don't think the 17% of Americans not working or hardly working would agree.

What comes after Trillion? Gazillion? Because the ways things are going, we're going to need a new number to measure the deficit.

How can we expect to help countries like Haiti when 13 million American kids will go to bed hungry tonight?

Speaking of politics:
I get a kick out of candidates here in Colorado who wear cowboy hats and jeans in their campaign ads, pretending they're just like "us." Wonder what candidates in Florida wear? Shorts and flip-flops?

Why can't people vote online?

The Tea Party is here to stay. It's ever-morphing but with the constant and growing belief that government has failed us. We share in the blame. Too many of us believe what we see in attack ads, yet don't tune into the numerous televised or attend public debates.

Speaking of the new television season:
I love Hawaii 5-0. It's so outrageously over the top, with a great cast and it doesn't take itself too serously. The Good Wife remains intelligent, thoughtful dramatic television. Ditto for House and Blue Bloods. The CSI trilogy is getting tired. Weird plotlines. Still trying to get into The Event, but it's hard work.

Ok, I'm done thinking.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"

When is more...too much?

"When is more...to much?"

That's a line from the most recent edition of CSI New York said by CSI Danny Messer. (Carmine Giovinazzo.) The plot line involved another one of the CSI's witnessing a murder live while on a chat room. Danny, in the scene, is talking to his wife about the huge potential dangers of the Internet, all created by the plethora of technology available to us all.

There are a myriad of pipelines available to all of us to post just about anything we want. Most, but not all of us use these pipelines in positive and creative ways. Most.

It brought to mind the current case of the college student who killed himself after a "friend" posted a video of him in a sexual act; a case of "Cyber Bullying" as profiled in this report on Minnesota Public Radio.

CSI New York isn't the first television plot line involving online crime.

So when does Cyber Bullying cross the line established by the 1st Amendment? For now, it seems the law says it's ok to yell fire in a digital theater. Not so much in a real one. There are other examples. The Washington Post for example has very strict rules about fairness and making sure both sides are heard in a story in its print edition. Their online edition however plays by different rules. Many stories posted are ones-sided to the extreme. But their position is that the online edition is essentially a bookshelf and they are not responsible for the "books" on those shelves. It's a lesson I learned the hard way some time ago.

All of course by the 1st Amendment. The Supreme Court starts its latest session today, and free speech is first on the docket.

Free speech is a precious thing. The 1st Amendment makes us unique in the world. It's worked wonderfully for a few hundred years. At least up until now. The good news is everyone has access to the Internet. The bad news is everyone has access to the Internet.

As a member of the Board of Directors of the Radio-Digital-Television News Association (RTDNA) I spoke in defense of the 1st Amendment across the country including twice at the National Judicial College. Thankfully, the 1st Amendment isn't going anywhere.

Sadly, abuses of it aren't going anywhere either. How we deal with it all remains very unclear.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"