Triassic Arthropods Found
Up in northeastern Italy, a team of paleontologists found tens of thousands of amber droplets. After much searching, they found three arthropods encased in the now fossilized amber resin. The kewl part? The team dated the amber to 230 million years ago – firmly in the Triassic era. That makes these fossil arthropods the oldest found by about 100 million years.
While the fly could not be completely identified, it is interesting to know that there were flies back that far in time. The mites are a new species and very interesting for a couple reasons. The similarities between the pair that were found and mites today are exceptional. The similarities are even more kewl due to 97% of mites now do not eat conifer trees like the one that trapped the mites in amber 230 million years ago. Evolution via Natural Selection hard at work. Love it!
Hooray for science! No, seriously. Cheer for them, damn you!
Challenging Clergy Tax Breaks
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) got a small win in a much larger court case called FFRF vs USA. Dan Barker, Annie Laurie Gaylor, and Anne Gaylor are battling against Internal Revenue Code Section 107 in the Western District of Wisconsin. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb granted this victory to let the FFRF challenge IRS Code Section 107 at all. Not familliar with 107 by name? Neither was I, but I knew it’s contents. Let me refresh your memory.
The FFRF is in court this time to take on Internal Revenue Code Section 107 which in part says:
In the case of a minister of the gospel, gross income does not include—
(1) the rental value of a home furnished to him as part of his compensation; or
(2) the rental allowance paid to him as part of his compensation, to the extent used by him to rent or provide a home and to the extent such allowance does not exceed the fair rental value of the home, including furnishings and appurtenances such as a garage, plus the cost of utilities.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. A church is nothing but a business. You put in money and get a product in return that cannot be physically measured. Businesses get taxed all the time. Churches do not. Clergy don’t get tax breaks – they get tax exclusion for prolly the most taxed item anyone buys: real estate. From the FFRF site:
The §107 tax exclusion can be used by ministers for virtually all of the costs of home ownership, including: Down payment on a home; home mortgage payments, including both interest and principal; real estate taxes; personal property tax; fire and homeowners liability insurance; rental payments; and cost of acquiring a home (i.e., legal fees, bank fees, title fees, etc.).
I stole found a quote in the FFRF release. You can just see the flavored god-sauce drip off the quote from Rep. Peter Mack, which he made at the time of the law’s creation in 1954:
Certainly, in these times when we are being threatened by a godless and antireligious world movement we should correct this discrimination against certain ministers of the gospel who are carrying on such a courageous fight against this foe. Certainly this is not too much to do for these people who are caring for our spiritual welfare.
Sounds like something that could be uttered in almost any place of political power today… but should never escape the lips of anyone in power in any professional setting.Let people know that this shit is not right. It’s downright wrong. Exclusionary. Divisive. Detrimental to the continuation of a healthy country.
Here We Go Again
Remember Akin from a few days ago? Well, I’m just going to leave this here. I suggest you read an article about his buddy GOP Tom Smith who compares rape to the unwed motherhood of his daughter. Somehow. I didn’t say it was a convincing argument at all.
~Wesley