Today is the 100^th birthday of the income tax. On February 3, 1913 the 16^th amendment was ratified, which enabled the establishment of the federal income tax. This is ever in our mind as tax season is now upon us.

Look at this graphic that Americans for Tax Reform released in honor of the 100^th anniversary:

Is it just me, or does this show something is a little off? Oh yeah, remember that part where liberals think the rich need to pay their fair share! Look at our top tax bracket, who on earth would have thought one hundred years ago we would be asking almost half of Americans to pay even more in taxes?

Well, happy tax season! And the happiest of birthdays to one of the biggest pains!

A new poll out this week has us all excited about today’s Super Bowl! In case you don’t know, the match up this time around is between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. Both teams had tough runs during the playoffs, so it looks like this will be a close game tonight.

But, how you ask is this relevant to politics? Well a new poll out this week shows that most Americans are rooting for the 49ers, as are most Republicans. “Republicans are mostly 49er fans (by a wide 43 percent to 26 percent margin), but Democrats prefer the Ravens 39 percent to 33 percent. Independents were nearly evenly split, voting 29 percent for the 49ers and 28 percent for the Ravens.”

The poll, conducted by Clarus Research Group, finds that 35 percent of U.S. adults want the 49ers to win and 31 percent prefer the Ravens. In addition, 34 expressed no preference for either team.

"Seems that the nation is divided, not just about politics but also about football," said Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus. Who will you be rooting for tonight? Or will you just be tuning in for the commercials and the halftime show?

After Scott Brown announced he would not be running for the open Massachusetts senate seat, many are trying to figure out who will take the plunge for the Republicans. The Boston Herald is reporting that many have been throwing the names of Ann and Tagg Romney for potential candidates.

Mrs. Romney is an interesting option as she showed her bright light under the lights at the Republican National Convention. Her survival of multiple sclerosis makes her a candidate that many could be inspired by. She became a popular figure during her husband’s run for president and she was especially popular with the women voters.

But at this time, a friend and aide to the Romneys said, “the timing is not great, and I don’t think she sees herself as a candidate”. So we will have to wait and see if she is willing to take the plunge.

On the other hand, many have also thrown out the eldest Romney boy, Tagg, as a great option for a Republican candidate for the Massachusetts senate seat. Tagg was an advisor and surrogate for his father during the campaign. He is also a successful businessman in Massachusetts, so that works in his favor.

At this time it is unlikely that we will see either of the Romneys jumping in the race, but Republicans are really scraping the bottom of the barrel to see what they can find. The bench isn’t deep for possible Republican candidates, so many are wondering who will face off in a tough battle for the senate seat.

Others have also thrown out the name of Richard Tisei, who narrowly lost a congressional bid in November in the 6^th district of Massachusetts. He said he would take the weekend to think about it, but at this point is not sure because he was already thinking about another congressional bid.

It will be interesting to see who will step up as the Republican candidate in the June 25^th special election.

This week on a new episode of Harball, Chris Matthews had a few things to say about John McCain's appearance and speech at the Chuck Hagel confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. "John McCain grilled defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel during his confirmation hearing because of pent-up resentment over the Vietnam War, adding that he is “absolutely convinced” the Arizona senator and former prisoner of war suffered a traumatic flashback."

“Let me start tonight with this — why is John McCain so angry?” Matthews said. “Forty years after the Vietnam POWs came home, the most famous of them is angrier than ever. Why is America — why are we fighting the Vietnam War all over again in the United States Senate? The ticked-off vitriol against Chuck Hagel, what is it about? Is it for show? Is it about something Hagel said in the cloakroom?”

“Is it about the basic unfairness of Vietnam itself, that some went and some didn’t?” he continued. “Is it about Lyndon Johnson’s inability to either win that war or end it? What is it that burns so deeply in John McCain these days?”

Matthews even went as far as to say that perhaps McCain is still upset about his Republican Presidential Primary loss in 2000 to George W. Bush. Basically Matthews has no respect for the Senator in this case. Just take a look!Watch Chris Matthews disrespect Senator John McCain and his service.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting we all knew that an impending gun debate would be a hard fought battle. Just after this week’s hearing on Capitol Hill, a new Forbes study finds that the NRA is winning the influence battle over gun control. In the new study performed by Forbes Insights, an independent and unbiased organization, they found that the “NRA and the pro-gun rights voices are winning the influence battle and will continue to be strong and more influential if the pro gun control voice remains fragmented”.

The data was compiled from the week before the school shooting and follows the trends over the following 5 weeks. There are some important pieces of information gathered from this study that are important to note:

1. The Republican politicians are not part of this debate. Instead, many solely have their eyes on the NRA and its president, Wayne LaPierre. Of the top 25 stakeholders in the gun control debate, only one is a Republican politician, Chris Christie.

2. The pro-gun rights voice is gaining influence while the gun-control voice is losing influence. The shifting platform is favoring those who support gun rights and the gun-control advocates are losing their influence.

3. The fragmented voice of the gun-control advocates is hurting their cause. “Of the top influencers on the pro-gun rights side, the majority of the most prominent voices are from the NRA. The pro-gun control voice is split between Obama and several gun control advocacy groups which dilutes the message.”

Clearly, if the NRA and the gun-rights advocates want to keep winning the debate, they need to stick together and keep the other side divided. Wayne LaPierre has provided a lot of information and options to help provide safety for our children. The gun-control groups instead simply want to infringe on the American people’s right to bear arms and protect themselves and their families.

The American people are hearing the pro-gun lobby louder and what the NRA is advocating is speaking to people.

So where does your state fall on the most conservative list? According to a new Gallup poll released yesterday, Alabama was the most conservative state in 2012. A little over half of Alabama residents identify as conservatives. Not far behind, tied for second most conservative, are Wyoming and North Dakota with 48.6 percent.

At the other end of the scale is Washington, DC, with more than 40 percent of their residents identifying as liberals. Another 10 percentage points behind DC was the runner up, Massachusetts and Oregon not far behind the bay state.

And Alaska reported having the most residents who identify as moderates. In Alaska’s company are Rhode Island and Ohio.

It is important to note that Americans are still more likely to report being conservative than liberal. This is obviously hard to hear because Republicans are still having trouble winning national elections. The majority of conservative states are concentrated in the south and mid-west regions of the country. Whereas the most liberal states are located on the coasts, with the majority concentrated in the north-east.

The gap between the numbers of conservatives and liberals is tightening though. This will be interesting to watch in future elections, see if voting habits change at all.

Well, it’s about time! According to the Associated Press, The Journal News has taken down the names of the gun owners and their addresses. AP says:

The suburban New York newspaper that outraged gun owners by posting the names and addresses of residents with handgun permits removed the information from its website Friday.

The Journal News took down the data just three days after the state enacted a gun control law that included privacy provisions for permit holders.

The provisions were a reaction to interactive maps the newspaper published on LoHud.com that pinpointed thousands of permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties.

Gun-rights activists had immediately complained that permit owners' privacy was being violated. They said the map could guide burglars to their homes while police groups claimed the map could lead ex-convicts to the officers who had put them away.

The addresses of some Journal News staffers were posted online, and threats were called in to the paper's offices. The newspaper hired armed guards in response.

Janet Hasson, president and publisher of The Journal News Media Group, said in an emailed statement, "While the new law does not require us to remove the data, we believe that doing so complies with its spirit."

She said the maps had been viewed nearly 1.2 million times since they were published Dec. 23. The newspaper sought the records under the state Freedom of Information Law after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

The maps remained online late Friday but could no longer be manipulated to find names and addresses.

A call to state Sen. Greg Ball, the most vocal opponent of The Journal News' posting, was not immediately returned. A spokesman for Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who had also called for the data to be removed, said, "It's the right thing to do."

On Tuesday, as part of a gun control bill, the state Legislature passed and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed new regulations that give permit holders several ways to opt out of the public record.

Applicants can ask to be exempted because they are police officers, or served on a criminal-case jury, or are victims of domestic violence. They can also just say they might be subjected to harassment.

Hasson said Friday, "One of our core missions as a newspaper is to empower our readers with as much information as possible on the critical issues they face, and guns have certainly become a top issue since the massacre in nearby Newtown, Conn."

Although this new law doesn’t require them to take down this information, it is good to see that the publishers have finally come to their senses.

UPDATE: Senator Harry Reid appeared on the floor of the Senate this evening announcing that there would be no vote tonight. He said that they will reconvene Monday morning at 11am. “There’s still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue,” Reid said. “There’s still time left to reach an agreement, and we intend to continue negotiations.” With only one day left of the year, it is looking like a very slim chance the two sides can come together to reach a fiscal cliff deal.

UPDATE: Republicans have taken the CPI off the table in an effort to help negotiations. Yet, Senators are still told not to make plans for New Year's Eve as it is expected talks will continue tomorrow.

Negotiations between Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell have hit a major set back today after Republicans demanded a new method for calculating entitlement benefits be included in the fiscal cliff solution.

Many liberals oppose the provision, known as “chained CPI,” because it would result in lower payments for Social Security beneficiaries. However, President Obama has supported it as a way to reduce the deficit. Senate Democrats say that this provision does not need to be included in a scaled-down fiscal cliff deal.

Republicans have stated that this new provision is in exchange for raising tax rates, but Harry Reid has announced on the floor that he will not accept any cuts to social security as part of this fiscal cliff deal. Earlier today McConnell complained that Reid has yet to submit a counter offer to a proposal that was submitted by the Republicans last night. McConnell said this afternoon, “The majority leader’s staff informed us they would be getting back to us this morning at 10 a.m., despite the obvious time crunch we all have. It’s now 2 p.m., and we have yet to receive a response to our good-faith offer. Now, I’m concerned about the lack of urgency here. I think we all know we’re running out of time.”

McConnell even reached out to Vice President Biden to see if his former colleague could try to help kick the negotiations into gear. So far the Vice President has remained on the side lines in these negotiations so it will be interesting to see if McConnell was able to get through to him to try and help reach a compromise.

President Obama appeared on Meet the Press this morning with David Gregory and basically managed to blame the lack of a deal on the Republicans. However, what seems to be happening is the Republicans reaching out to Democrats with no response. Harsh concessions have been made on the right, but the liberals have barely managed to meet the Republicans in the middle. Additionally, the House has managed to pass a bill solving the fiscal cliff, but the Senate has yet to vote on it or even address the options given in that bill. Although President Obama has blamed this stalling fiscal cliff conversation on the Republicans, it is clear that the Democrats are the ones holding things up. When McConnell and his staff offered to work through the night last night, Reid’s office responded by saying they would come back today, and still they have no offer. What more can the Republicans do?

As many of us know, the petition page on the White House website has become a very popular way for Americans to voice their opinions. A hot topic being discussed on this petition page is one that calls for the deportation of Piers Morgan, a popular television personality. After the shooting in Newtown Morgan hosted Larry Pratt, the executive director of the Gun Owners of America, to discuss what should be done to prevent shootings like this from happening again. When Mr. Pratt suggested that more guns were the answer, Morgan went on to call him an “unbelievably stupid man”. The video of the debate can be found here.

Following Morgan’s rather inappropriate and childish comments, a petition went up on the White House website that requests the deportation of the British television host. Many were outraged after his comments to Mr. Pratt, but most were angry that a man who was not born in America, had the gall to say the 2^nd amendment does not really apply any more. But now, Piers Morgan is firing back and wants Americans to know that we are too obsessed with our guns and this has become a reason for these shootings. In an article that he has written in an effort to defend himself, he said:

The concerted effort to get me thrown out of the country – which has so far gathered more than 90,000 signatures – struck me as rather ironic, given that by expressing my opinion I was merely exercising my rights, as a legal US resident, under the 1st Amendment, which protects free speech.

But no matter.

This gun debate is an ongoing war of verbal attrition in America – and I’m just the latest target, the advantage to the gun lobbyists being that I’m British, a breed of human being who burned down the White House in 1814 and had to be forcefully deported en masse, as no American will ever be allowed to forget – Special Relationship notwithstanding.

It’s no exaggeration to say that America’s unique fondness for guns pretty much got cemented by hatred of us Brits and the War of Independence. But the main reason the more fervent gun-rights activists give is a fear of their own US federal government using its army to impinge on their freedom. The problem is that America’s historical love of guns means the country is now awash with them – and with gun death.

…

The NRA targets pro-gun-control politicians on every rung of the political system and spends a fortune ensuring they either don’t get elected or get unelected. It’s been a concerted, ruthless and highly successful campaign. And to those, like me, who stand up to them, they sneer: ‘You don’t know anything about guns. Keep quiet.’

As a conclusion Mr. Morgan wrote, “Although I love the country as a second home and one that has treated me incredibly well, I would, as a concerned parent first – and latterly, of a one-year-old daughter who may attend an American elementary school like Sandy Hook in three years’ time – seriously consider deporting myself.”

Well Mr. Morgan, here’s what seems to be most true of anything: just because we disagree does not mean we are wrong. You call for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, yet you don’t seem to see that pistols and other weapons still exist. Does that mean that shootings done with pistols are okay in your book? Banning certain types of guns and ammunition is not the answer here. You have completely forgotten about the mental health issue here that is blatantly obvious. Is this too much of a taboo topic for you, even though you are willing to call a man an idiot on live television? If you listen to experts on the subject, it is clear that banning guns are not going to prevent these types of shootings from happening again.

Although I don’t believe Mr. Morgan deserves deportation for his opinions on gun issues, I think it is high time he realizes that the platform he has should not go unappreciated. His harsh words and alienating opinions have hurt and insulted many people across this country and he needs to realize that his opinion is not necessarily the right opinion. If you choose to deport yourself Mr. Morgan, have a safe flight! But if you decide to stay, let’s make sure you have a little more respect for your guests with varying opinions on hot button issues.

With the end of the day coming on Capitol Hill, there is still no new plan of action for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff. Senate leaders worked off stage today, but there will be no new proposals or votes until Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid adjourned work until tomorrow in order to allow time for Democratic and Republican leaders to negotiate a deal to present to the House tomorrow. House members officially return to work tomorrow in the hopes that they will have a new plan to work on. Taxes are set to increase on Tuesday and the mix with a cut in spending creates what many of us now know as the fiscal cliff.

After their meeting yesterday with the President, Senate leaders from both parties agreed to set to work this weekend to get a real solution on the table to vote on before the new year. This is most likely the last chance for these leaders to get together before the fiscal cliff will be upon us.

Mitch McConnell said that he hopes senators will be able to come forward with a new option by Sunday. The problem so far has been whether the House will pass anything that the Senators put forward. At this point the House has rejected any solution that includes increasing tax rates.

The trouble the two branches have looking forward is finding a way to tackle the looming fiscal cliff that will be able to appease the Democrats in control of the Senate, but can also then pass the Republican controlled House. President Obama gave them this mission yesterday, and he said that he is “modestly optimistic” that something can be done to keep America from diving over the cliff.