That’s epic. But, pls, the name would be “Amercia, Fuck Yeah” to appeal to the latino voters with iphones, too.

“Ann Romney’s horse, Rafalca, and Jan Ebeling, her rider…” — wait, so Anne has a pretty pony and someone who rides her at an annual cost of $77K? Who knew that Mitt was so inadequate. Oh, or maybe Jan mostly rides the pony? Yeah, I bet that’s what Ann tells Mitt when she comes back all flushed from one of her typical stay-at-home mom jaunts across the country in the private jet to “go for a ride.”

Pssst. Mitt: the magic underwear and the paste-on smile isn’t working any more. Try riding boots with sharp spurs and a leather whip, and show her some real dressage.

It’s worse than that. In order for people like the Romneys to use their horses as tax write-offs without running afoul of the IRC’s “hobby-loss” rule, they have to make a profit off of them in two out of the past seven years. You can buy a warmblood with really good breeding lines for about $32,000-$40,000, especially in today’s economy. If he trains-up well, has decent confirmation, and breeds well, you can sell shares in him as a syndicate. (Usually this is done with stud stallions.) A syndicate on a horse like this usually starts with a buy in for a percentage of about $500,000. The price may be inflated to accommodate certain tax situations, which may be why the Romneys were deposed. The IRS is well aware of how tax-shelters work, and how much horses cost.

Yes, it is expensive, and you can spend millions. The question should be: Why should the Romneys be permitted to write this much off when thousands of people raise and show horses in dressage competition in California for much, much less?

…And, also: America, Fuck Yeah!

ERRATA: Deposition was for fraud related to sale of a horse by the trainer that turned out to be lame. Ann Romney was named in the suit and later dropped.

I wonder if the Romneys wrote off the “keep my name out of it, Mitt’s running for office” expenses as a business expense.

You might say Ann has a hobby horse.

… you, yes you!, as an American taxpayer had a hand in this triumph for Ann Romney’s lavish lifestyle choice …

I demand a Grand Bargain!

Wait a minute… was it the horse or Ann who was lame?

Can it be her “hobby” when she doesn’t train it, ride it, or even completely own it? Doesn’t seem that way to me. It’s just an indulgence – would be cheaper to just go to the Derby.

I puffy heart you! Amercia Fuck Yah!

“rode hard and put away wet”

‘merica, fuck ya!

Try riding boots with sharp spurs and a leather whip, and show her some real dressage.

Anything else? Butt-less chaps or is this just a boots-n-snapper party?

Pity Ann’s not rich or she’d have two horses dancing: America, Fuck Yeah! vs War.Bitches.Get Some!

It’s OK to lose money on a horse partnership, but it is not OK to lose money on solar energy investments. It’s OK to lose money on a political candidate, but it is not OK to lose money helping a foreclosure victim. It’s OK to lose money on a horse “syndicate” or partnership, but it is not OK to lose money on the horse you ride for pleasure. It’s OK for an employer to write off health insurance for himself and his employees, but it is not OK for a family to write of the same health insurance premium. It’s OK for a business man to write off lunch or dinner or a conventions trip for his company or with his competitors, but it is not OK for an individual to write of those same expenses to look for a job. It’s IRS rules, and it’s bipartisan. The Rethugs, unfortunately, do not have a monopoly on business friendly tax rules, but I will submit that Rethugs are more responsible for the disparities. Another Q that seems appropriate: Why is there not an “alternative minimum tax” for the super rich like there is for the middle class?

So this horseshit confirms – Ann Romney doesn’t do a fucking thing. Right? Right?

For Pete’s sake! It’s just a half-million dollars!

Lighten up, you class warriors! That’s half a car elevator…

As a former equestrian (I trained in hunt seat and dressage, but only competed in hunt seat), I find this “La ti da, Ann Romney has some dancing horseys” garbage quite ham-fisted and grating. I wasn’t wealthy when I was riding, so I did ride other people’s horses. I wasn’t anyone’s “slave.” I trained hard and was highly skilled at what I did. And I was no way nearly as trained and skilled as riders who go on to compete in the Olympics. These people are athletes, not salves. Jan Ebeling is one such athlete, and one who no doubt has worked extraordinary hard to get to chance to compete in the Olympics. To dismiss her lie this is just inexcusably vicious and petty.

Yes, equestrian sports are very expensive. Yes, certain circles (but not all) in the sport are incredibly elitist. Yes, the industry rests on the labor of undocumented workers and the disposable income of well-off people. The equestrian world is not particularly fair and not always particularly pretty. But what I get from articles like this is Ann Romney’s grave sin is actually being in involved in a sport culture that’s very unfamiliar to ordinary Americans, and so deemed fair game to mock and insult, even when the mockery and insults are targeted at people, like Jan Ebeling, who are undeserving. I think you owe Jan Ebeling an apology. (Side note: despite how elitist equestrian sports can be in some ways, they are the only sports in the Olympics where men and women compete equally. Suck of that, TBogg.)

I am obligated to point out that Moorpark reversed is “Kraproom.”

a sport culture that’s very unfamiliarout of the reach of to ordinary99% of Americans

Sorry, but the horsey set gets no sympathy from me when millions in this country are living hoof to mouth thanks in large part to the Romneys of the world. Find a more egalitarian sport….like curling (where no horses are doped or injured to satisfy someone’s vanity).

People who ride in dressage are no more “athletes” than the people who show dogs at Westminster. The fact that this “sport” is in the Olympics says volumes about the lifestyles of the International Olympic Committee which is mostly made up of fake European royalty and dilettantes.

The “horse-slave” isn’t Jan Ebeling, chuckles. It’s the actual horse. If you weren’t too busy being a lawn jockey for the Romneys you might have noticed that as you read the article.

No one owes anyone an apology. But now I know why Ann Romney’s usual facial expression looks like she just caught a whiff of horseshit.

Aside to croyal: Ebeling isn’t getting the heat here, it’s the mother of five (none of whom are minors), who claims motherhood is job 1, and her cardboard cutout lord and master who took a $77k loss on his wife’s hobby while making several times that for speaking engagements alone.

No one gives a rats ass about these elitists’ love of expensive sports but the idea that Willard “for Pete’s sake” Romney should file a loss on his expensive sport against his unearned income — in other words asking taxpayers to help him out — is a bit hard to take.

The Roman Crassus, who added to his family wealth with a pay-for-play private fire department would enter several chariots in a single race. He had good luck and many prizes. He later helped destroy the republic. Et tu, Mittens?

Curling as an “egalitarian” sport? As in polished granite blobs being swept across a meticulously crafted slab of ice in a giant walk-in fridge by people who dress like a cross between chartered accountants and post-game golfers? Heck, I’m Canadian and yet not in a million years would I have come up with that. A thousand golden internets with bars & stars to you, Sir (or Ma’m), I believe I shall go top up my single malt and contemplate the implications of this…

Fuck. You.

LOL!I stand corrected. Should have used the sport of “horseshoes” instead. Just bought a single malt (Highland Park) for a friend’s 83rd birthday.

You forgot to scold Tbogg for using the f-word.

Yeah, Crassus was a real piece of work. He was known to visit the sites of fires and offer the shell-shocked owner a low, low rate to buy the building…and then send in his little fire brigade to save it. Vulture capitalism at its best; Mittens would be proud.

a sport culture that’s very unfamiliar to ordinary Americans

It’s obvious where you’re coming from.

croyal @ 15- How many families would a horse that size feed? I’m asking for some friends. Thanks in advance.

But what I get from articles like this is Ann Romney’s grave sin is actually being in involved in a sport culture that’s very unfamiliar to ordinary Americans,

No, Ann Romney’s grave sin is that she is 21st century America’s (Amercia’s?) version of Marie Antoinette, who lives such an insulated life of privilege that she has ZERO capacity to relate to the rest of us. And unless you belong to her insulated clique of ‘special persons’, then she doesn’t relate to you either.

Bless her heart. And yours.

I swear these Romneys can’t do anything right. I get tricked into reading a story I think is going to be about some decadent rich old white lady and her illicit use of horses and it turns out to be about some stupid fucking tax scam. UR DOIN IT WRONG.

And I’m sure everyone involved in the care and feeding of the horse are all natural born citizens, right? They’re them paying wages and giving W-2′s and etc?

Other “athletes” in Right Wing World: NASCAR drivers.

Just a matter of time until a Hoveround Olympics?

First of all, you aren’t the only person on this board who knows how to sit a horse. Second, Jan Eberling is a “he.” Third, no one is debating the fact that both the horses and the riders who compete on the U.S. Equestrian Team are athletes. But having met numerous former Olympic athletes who competed in sports such as track and field and swimming events back in the 70′s and 80′s, I can tell you that most of them would have been booted from their respective teams if they received $77,000 in income/support; because in most Olympic sports, if you made over a certain income, you automatically lost your amateur status. I’m sure you’ll tell me that the horsies merit “special treatment.” Of course that seems to be a recurring theme among the 1%.

The horse worked very hard to train Anne Romney. Too bad that she doesn’t respect working folk.

I think the Olympics has kind of given up on the amateur status bit (that was mostly Brundage, anyway, hanging on to the last vestiges of High Society where everyone was a wealthy gentleman who would never soil his hands with being paid for work). Once they started letting in the professional athletes (basketball and hockey come to mind) then the pretense was over.

Maybe so. But it rankles some of the old-timers who weren’t allowed to earn more than about $15,000 per year. And that includes the money provided by various alumni organizations for books, rent, etc. Bear in mind that many of these athletes also paid for their private coaches, uniforms and other equipment out of pocket. If most of them hadn’t received athletic scholarships, they never would have been able to afford college.

I like the cut of your jib, bolting right out of the shoot, feisty as fuck!

You do understand that TBogg’s a former cowboy don’t you (it says so up top), but what concerns me is your reference to “sucking” and that you “trained hard and was highly skilled at what I did”….

I was going to mention the lack of “Obama’s a murderer”, but a quick look-see at croyal’s comment history more than checks that one off the list…

royal pain in the a**.

Good thing Mitt and Ann and the Five Bros are not into something as elitist and “French” as windsurfing.

Amercia, Frak Ya!

The Olympics are just some gilded-age Swiss’s dabbling in classical philology, offering more diversions and awards for the idle classes who had time and private resources to train and compete for them, claiming that a nationalist pissing contest every four years would prevent international hostilities say, 20 years later. People like Jim Thorpe, who had to earn money and chose to do so from their talents were banned; not in the style of play, don’t you know. Later, the Nazis and Soviets further spoiled things by publicly funding athletic opportunities, to draw talent from other than the upper crust, and flaunt their ideologies. At least there were Tommie Smith and John Carlos, opening up things for all the Dressage riders of color out there.

Thinkin’ of royals, Princess Anne was an Olympian y’know. Montreal, 1976. She fell off but had a wonderful time. Her ex actually has a couple of medals (and is a coach for the U.S. Team). And now their daughter is about to make the British team. Jolly good show. And piss off, Romney, just helping to buy the nag hardly counts.

Not goin’ there.

I wonder if Ann Romney feels rich yet?

I think that only happens when she buys the $149/lb. jamon at the deli counter in Bristol Farms. Otherwise she’s just like the rest of us!

There is no such thing as amateurism in the Olympics and not for a very long time, and for good reason. The Soviet bloc systematically flouted the rules for many decades — with sinecures and state-provided services, cars and housing for their athletes while the paid-off Olympic officialdom looked the other way. Western athletes really did labor under scrupulous oversight for a long time. It remains a historic travesty that Jim Thorpe was stripped of his medals. The only thing non-professional about the present-day Olympics is that there are no cash prizes for the medalists.

There is no “alternative minimum tax” for the super rich because the super rich have a say in how the tax code is written.
But maybe that was a rhetorical question….

While I would never in a million years vote for Mitt, I have actually been to the Ebelings ranch in Moorpark on several occasions – to photograph Jan for one of my clients. Watching him ride and knowing a lot of people in the dressage world, there is no doubt in my mind that the top riders are indeed athletes. Riding at that level is extremely good for developing the “core” strength of the rider. To watch the synergy of horse and rider together is surprisingly beautiful to watch, but has very little to do with politics other than the fact that the only people who can really afford this are typically one percenters and more likely half a percenters as well, and as such, pretty well untouched by the depression like the rest of us. If riding helped Ann Romney with her medical issues, that’s fantastic.

So who gets the medal– the rider, owner, or horse?

Can we just start shooting rich people now?
Sorry, I’m not as eloquent or witty as everyone else here….

http://www.tampabay.com/incoming/feds-call-horse-operation-a-front-for-drug-cartel/1235018

I’m sure the Romney’s would nevah do this, or would they? Hmmmmmm, Mexico, Cartels, Money? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

Corrected link

Romney’s dad was from Mexico.

Just saying…

pfigen,
Riding at any level is “good for developing the “core” strength of the rider”.

I got my life long buddy when he was 16 months old back in 1974. For 34 years we trained and rode together. It was not only kept me in great shape, it did wonders for my PTSD. When we started dressage training in a class of 20, he was the only stallion, the rest were mares. 20 minutes at a trot just to warm up and then another hour doing basic drills required a lot of work on both of our parts. Was I an “athlete”? I guess that depends on your definition. All I know is that I was in the best shape of my life (except for basic training) for those 34 years.

Tbogg

People who ride in dressage are no more “athletes” than the people who show dogs at Westminster.

That is wrong on so many levels.

ooh, Segway races!

BOHICA, that’s a beautiful tribute. What a wonderful story.

I do believe dressage falls under the catagory of “sport”, not “sports”. Eh, Mitt?

auntsnow,
Thanks

I guess one can argue whether dressage is a sport or not, and whether the riders are atheletes or not. It looks incredibly complicated to do, from my very limited perspective. I agree that perhaps the comparison to showing dogs at Westminster is probably not apt.

That said, the bigger question is why am *I* assisting in paying for Ann Rmoney’s hobby horse? I think therein lies the rub. Do ya think it’s just the Rmoney’s who get such a tax write-off? The answer is: NO.

So why is it that the ever-dwindling middle and working classes have to pay and pay to support the wealthy and their habits/hobbies. Possibly it’s “nice” if Mr. Ebling brings home the gold for America, Fuck Yeah!, but again: why am *I* paying for it?? Where’s MY gold medal? And where’s *my* tax loophole/write off??

You still haven’t explained why Ann’s hobby deseves a $77,000 tax deduction.

That’s the main point. It illustrates what we get in return for laying off Teachers, Policemen/women and Fire Fighters.

Also too: I get it that horseback riding is used for healing purposes of various sorts. I’ve read about how good it is for those who suffer from various diseases and disorders, like Ann Rmoney with MS.

So, good for that.

But another question I have is this: just how much have the Rmoney’s contributed to anything, like a charity, that assist those without the means and money to access horseback riding regularly to help them with whatever disorders – mental or physical – that they might have?? Inquiring minds would love to know.

And again: why am *I* being forced to pay for the Rmoney’s hobby horse, even if riding did help Mrs. Rmoney with her MS??? They are certainly wealthy enough to pay her therapy themselves. Talk about socialism for the wealthy: this is Exhibit A.

Bah humbug.

Wait, federal agents were running a call-horse operation? That’s really kinky, man.

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Yeah, I have a “moral objection” to my tax money going to help support ridiculously rich people afford their ridiculously expensive hobbies.

Hey, “moral objections” to particular uses of tax money works for the anti-abortion crowd….

And today in Romney dickishness …

Wow. Just wow. You’d think that someone determined to win an election would at least make sure his staff behaved in public–or would “make good,” no questions asked, when they didn’t. Add this to qualities such as lack of affect, self-righteous prig, and a sense of class entitlement that he just can’t seem to hide, and one wonders how the 23% of the Base that supported W. can deny the fact that Mitt’s NOT “one of them” long enough to vote.

You’d think that someone determined to win an election would at least make sure his staff behaved in public

Herman Cain did not get this memo.

I agree with auntsnow @56; that’s a wonderful story, BOHICA, and it sounds like taking care of, and generally hanging around (“bonding with”?) such a sweet creature is just what you needed.