All The News That Gives You A Fit When Reported

I think it was Edward R. Murrow who said, "There is nothing quite so complicated as simplicity in reporting." Either him or Perry White.

Right now there is very, very little on television in the way of sports and programming that interests me, except maybe that Tim Allen has returned to a network comedy. Yippeeee!

Our New York Baseball teams are done and fishing or golfing now. New York Football is resting this particular weekend. New York Hockey hasn’t heated up and New York Basketball can’t get its act together enough to decide on which Dunkin Donuts to bring to the bargaining table meetings. So I have turned to other news.

Recently I found myself reading a super popular Long Island newspaper (You know the one I mean. The one that starts with N and ends in Y). Two of their particular articles caught my particular attention on this particular day.

1) Cat Gets Tax Credits: The article states exactly,”Starburst the Cat’s Owner, has devoted most of her time to caring for feral cats, 20 to 80 at one time, in her Suffolk County home. She feels is entitled to much of her claimed $12,068.88 in cat care expenses as a charitable deduction on her 2009 income taxes, according to a recent Tax Court case.

Basically, the case says that unreimbursed volunteer expenses, to the extent they are incidental to charitable work for a qualified charity and are properly substantiated, are deductible. “It’s a huge issue for all the rescue people out there,” says Starburst’s owner, Janet Van Dyne. “The judge was really nice. He understands what we do. We all go broke doing this.”

The Internal Revenue Service had denied Starburst’s owners entire deduction, stating that her expenses were personal and not rendered on behalf of a qualifying charity. The Tax Court, however, found that she worked for 501(c)a charity, Feral Fix-ups even though her deductions were personal in nature, they were incurred properly.”

Nevertheless in my further exploration of this article I have amassed the knowledge that, Starburst is a wonderful, 16-year-old orange tabby who is very overweight. Due to a prior injury as a kitten, Starburst is missing his tail and refuses to go to the gym or physical therapy. This doesn't stop this outgoing non-feral feline from getting around especially with his blue handicapped sticker hanging from his owner’s vehicles rearview mirror.

He likes to travel to the mall ,refuses to go on disability, but sleeps often, roots for the Yankees, plays with the feral cats and likes to snuggle up with them after they are all tuckered out. When he is content, he purrs loudly in hopes a visitor like the US Postal delivery person will come by for a belly rub. Starburst is not now nor has ever been feral but does very well in his active home with the other feral felines that keep him company. Starburst lives a very good life provided by his owner and now she wants compensation from others to do what we all do , but maybe not to her extent, which is keep and care for pets. And the court judge allowed her this.

So after reading this , my questions are....”Is Starburst living proof that the courts will turn a blind eye to non-tax paying Fat Cats, even against the advice of the IRS?” and “Why would Ms. van Dyne feel she is entitled to much of her claimed $12,068.88  in cat care expenses and not ALL of them?”

2) Palestine/Israeli Jail Swap:The article states exactly, ”There has been much elation and simultaneous anxiety over the Mideast prisoner jail swap . In Israel  the public is aghast at the agreement to release 1,027 convicted successful perpetrators of suicide bombings, deadly shootings, and other grisly attacks for one lone soldier to win his freedom after 5 years. There is a deep seated fear in the US and United Nations that many of the released Palestinians will continue their work as suicide bombers at new targets around the globe.”

So after reading this, my questions are "If you were convicted of being a successful perpetrator of a suicide bombing, how were you still alive to be part of a jailed prisoner swap?” and "Isn’t this the equivalent of trading Derek Jeter for the ENTIRE National League in Major League Baseball?”  

Guess that somebody should elect Allan H. (Bud) Selig as their Prime Minister!