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WITandWISDOM(tm) - April 29, 2003 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Eat and drink with your relatives; do business with strangers. - Greek Proverb Source: DailyInBox: Proverbs Plus, http://mailroom.dailyinbox.com/pplus/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the former Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying that, "Over the years the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return." It immediately became very quiet in the room. Source: Ed Peacher's "Laughter for a Saturday" mailto:ed548@yahoo.com?subject=Subscribe_to_Laughter_for_a_Saturday Note: "Although U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell did utter words similar to the above, he was not in England at the time, nor was he addressing the current Archbishop of Canterbury, nor was he responding to a question about ‘empire building.'" For more information visit: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-colin-powell.htm Submitted by Nancy Troyer ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Salem, Oregon (AP): A homeless man billed for $6 million in taxes by the Internal Revenue Service has been notified it was a mistake. John Ramer, known as the "six million dollar man" by his buddies at the Union Gospel Mission in Salem, was told Friday that his $5,981,104.02 tax bill was an error and he owed nothing. The IRS refused to comment on the case, but an agency spokeswoman previously confirmed that they were looking into Ramer's complaints. Ramer, 30, said the agency's Taxpayer Advocate Service traced the source of the mistake to an employer's computer glitch in 1994. The problem started with some malfunctioning magnetic tape. Instead of reporting earnings of $35 to the IRS for a few hours work at a bowling alley, the mistake ballooned Ramer's pay to more than $2 million. Penalties and interest boosted the tax amount into the $6 million range. "It was just the luck of the draw that it happened to me," Ramer said. His former boss said he didn't remember Ramer's brief stint behind the snack counter, but he did recall there were some problems with the company's W-2 forms about 10 years ago. Despite wide publicity about the case, Ramer says his financial situation has not improved. He said a television reporter bought him lunch, and someone gave him a T-shirt that says, "I'm not really a bum, but I play one on TV." Source: White Board News, http://www.joeha.com/whiteboard/ ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Sign on American Red Cross building, Minneapolis: Before going on vacation, donate blood. Mosquitos don't give coffee and donuts. We do." ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: USA Living Space Here is a look at how the square footage of the average American home has grown over the last five decades. 1950 983 sq. ft. 1963 1,470 1970 1,500 1980 1,740 1990 2,080 2002 2,350 From: National Association of Home Builders, http://www.nahb.org/ Source: This Old House, May 2003, http://thisoldhouse.com |