South Carolina governor Mark Sanford got into the headlines (and some hot water) for trying to turn down Federal stimulus payments earlier this month. Now, he’s famous for a different reason: in a rambling press statement, he admitted to having an affair with a woman in Argentina. Could this be a serious blow to stimulus opponents?

One commentator, Jeff Seemann, thinks so. Seemann claims that Sanford used stimulus money to pay for the affair:

The state of South Carolina is granted 2.8 billion dollars in federal stimulus money.
After originally rejecting the money, the SC Supremes smack Sanford down and force the state to accept the money.
Sanford later announces that he will use several hundred

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You know what’s sane and normal? Having trouble letting go when a loved one dies. You know what’s not so sane or normal? Dressing up as a deceased parent for years in order to collect social security benefits and rent subsidies.

Irene Prusik passed away in 2003. But Thomas Prusik-Parkin kept on collecting her benefits for years. This had to take some planning: he started by fudging the numbers on her death certificate so she wouldn’t be listed as dead. After that, it was just a simple matter of, um:

donning a wig, nail polish and dresses to impersonate his dead mom and collect $115,000 in Social Security and rent subsidies.

Prusik-Parkin really exemplifies the idea of giving people a… Read more…

Californians pay the highest sales tax in the nation. Their top-bracket earners have the second-highest income tax rate in the country. The middle class to upper class — those making $48,000 to $1 million — are right up there among the most highly taxed, too. California’s gas tax, at 35.3 cents per gallon, is third-highest in the nation. Corporations face the highest tax rates in the West.

California is famous for having high taxes, but they’re still a subject of perennial debate. Outside of California, the facts are pretty stark: state residents take home less of their paychecks than almost anyone else, and more gets taken out of the after-tax money they spend. Add that to the generally high cost… Read more…