What Caught My Eye Today - U.S. Presidential Campaign, Taxation, Toplessness

U.S. Presidential Campaign - Every election season we hear reports on just how lousy voter turn out was. Kind of a sad commentary for the bastion of democracy, but we'll dwell on that topic some other day. Is it ever so slightly possible stories like this one might add some credence to the notion that "my vote doesn't really matter."? Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are locked in a close race to amass the requisite 270 Electoral College votes for victory. And the contest is exactly where it was at the start of the long, volatile summer: focused on seven states that are up for grabs. The analysis found that if the election were held today, Obama would have 19 states and the District of Columbia, offering 247 votes, solidly in his column or leaning his way, while Republican Romney would have 24 states with 206 votes. Seeing as I live in one of the 42 states (and District of Columbia) where the result of an election more than tow months away is already a foregone conclusion, I guess I can just skip the whole thing. Obviously, I'm not taking into account the importance of voting on local issues like asking my state to tax me more for services I will probably never use (again, I digress), but you can sort of see where I'm coming from. The Presidential election is like the "main event" and the vast majority of us are basically being told "don't bother". Nevertheless, on the off chance that the polls are wrong, maybe we should stick around and see how things evolve. Here's how the main two contenders stack up as of today (according to the Associated Press):

SOLIDLY DEMOCRATIC (186): California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
LEANING DEMOCRATIC (61): Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
UP FOR GRABS (85): Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia
LEANING REPUBLICAN (47): Arizona, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina
SOLIDLY REPUBLICAN (159): Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Taxation - I went off on the wealth gap situation in America back in July (click here), but given the emotional response that this topic evokes, its not terribly surprising to see another survey (this time from our friends at the Pew Research Center) confirming the obvious--rich people have too much bloody money! As the income gap between rich and poor widens, a majority of Americans say the growing divide is bad for the country and believe that wealthy people are paying too little in taxes, according to a new survey. The poll found that many Americans believe rich people to be intelligent and hardworking but also greedy and less honest than the average American. Damn straight. There's no way those rat bastards deserve to be making more than me. 58 percent, say the rich don't pay enough in taxes. Even among those who describe themselves as "upper class" or "upper middle class," 52 percent said upper-income Americans don't pay enough in taxes. See? The rat bastards feel guilty that they make more than me...as well they should. The results reinforce a tide of recent economic data showing a widening economic divide. America's middle class has been shrinking in the stagnant economy and poverty is now approaching 1960s highs, while wealth concentrates at the top. Well-off people do shoulder a big share of the tax burden. Though households earning over $1 million annually comprise just 0.3 percent of all taxpayers, they pay 20 percent of all federal taxes the government is projected to collect this year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group that studies tax policy. In contrast, households earning $50,000 to $75,000 a year accounted for 12 percent of taxpayers and contributed 9 percent of federal taxes, the center's data showed. Some 46 percent of households pay no federal income tax at all, although they do pay payroll, excise and other taxes.

Toplessness - This last story is why the First Amendment of the U.S. State Constitution (that would be Freedom of Expression) makes me proud to be an American. Some two dozen topless women protested in a New York City park as part of what they called "National Go-Topless Day" to draw attention to inequality in topless rights between men and women. There were topless men in the park, too, but nobody paid them much attention, a disparity, organizers said, that demonstrated the need for the event. I'm a bit biased what with being a guy and all, but I'm not surprised. Think about it. Have you ever seen a set of man breasts and thought to yourself, "Grrr, baby, grrr."? Yeah, I thought not. "We say there is nothing wrong with the female nipple," an organizer of the event, told the crowd that quickly formed around her in Manhattan's Bryant Park. Amen to that. References to "nip slips" and "wardrobe malfunctions" cheapen a beautiful, beautiful thing...two things actually. It is legal for women to go topless in public in New York City but laws vary widely across the United States. Similar protests were scheduled in about 30 U.S. cities and 10 around the world.