This is sort of a cross-forum thread, but since it’s about a TV show here it goes.
I’ve been feeling over the past few years that i’m probably not really as liberla as I used to think. Watching West Wing the past few years has pin-pointed some issues on which I have been sliding, well, to the right. (Yes, my political views can be affected by TV. I’m the MTV generation, drop dead.)
For instance, and I wouldn’t even think this was a liberal idea, Josh and Toby think that every nickel of college tuition should be tax deductible. And they use the example of the guy they met in a bar while they were stuck in Indiana. Later on they are calculating his tax bill with and without the tax deduction of college tuition at Purdue. Salary $55K, tuition and books etc $34K, reduce his tax burden from $10K to $3K. That sounds like a great idea, they save the guy $10K! What a gift from the government!
What middle class schmuck like the guy in the show can pay 3/4 of his gross salary to put his kid in a private college? my current financial siutation is very close to the guy in the show. it would be great to take a deduction that big, but that diesn’t give me the money to actually pay all the other bills that families have! You know, house food, doctors, other kids…
Anyway, I know it’s a TV show, but it was a stupid, stupid, stupid, STOOOPID idea. It was so over simplified as to be, well, stupid, did I already say that?
I also get all my personal religious conviction from The Simpson’s.
That “Rock the Vote” concert at the end. They said it was in Massachusetts and the banner behind the stage said “House of Blues”. There is a House of Blues in Massachusetts, in Cambridge, about two blocks from Harvard Square. I’ve been there. There’s a bar, and a restaurant, and a stage, and you could fit the entire building in the room they showed.
Well, I’m not sure that Daddy X 2 meant to start this week’s West Wing thread, but I’m game. Did you notice that Bare Naked Ladies was the band playing when they cut to the Rock The Vote concert. Do they really have Canadian bands at American vote rallies? Or did somebody just want to have BNL on set?
I also thought it was an odd time for the goofy Bartlet to show up again. And I did catch the episode on tape this time if someone needs to borrow it later.
Rock the Vote events have whoever is recognizable and trendy. Bare Naked Ladies would be wholly acceptable at one of those things.
On another WW note, I read in another thread that Rob Lowe is leaving the show. I admit woeful ignorance of most major entertainment news, but can someone confirm or refute this. I’d hate to see it happen, as Sam is my favorite character.
It is disappointing when they have the pres so over-the-top goofy. From the beginning with the gang-banter in the sit room, to the end w/ Leo and Fitz in the oval office.
Gotta love John Amos, tho - “You guys getting hookers?”
Thought it sucked for Leo to chastize Ms. midrift (“Hello sailor”) then be yucking it w/ Pres and Fitz up at the end.
Josh ran into Amy at the bar/concert. They were kind of talking past each other. She said she missed him, and he commented on how he had not heard back from the other candidate. (Stackhouse or somesuch?) He interrupted himself and asked if she had said she missed him. She referred to the other candidate as “we”, and Josh gathered that she was working for him. And she said he was not committed to supporting the Pres. Josh walked away as she whispered “I mis you.”
with regard to the OP, i agree that a person is not going to be able to afford to spend 3/4 of his gross salary to put a kid through college. however, 1) he had mutual funds, which were presumably college funds, for his daughter; and 2) i went to a private college that cost roughly $18K per year in tuition, room, and board, despite the fact that my folks made roughly $18K per year while i was going there. enron-esque accounting? no, they’re called student loans.
as for rob lowe leaving the show, here’s a link talking about it:
I missed the details of them talking to the guy in the bar. This guy has money saved, I guess, just not enough? The gist of the tax deductibility of college costs is that you still save for your kids college, but all the expenses will be deductible?
Still sounds more like another tax deduction for wealthy people. Although us middle-class folks would certainly like to reduce our tax burden by $10K.
And, Dinsdale, I enjoy the “Goofy Pres” when he shows up. For me, it makes more reguler guy fell, which I assume is their intent. But last year I thought it was silly that he did Charlie’s taxes (although it was amusing).
