What am I missing here?

Win Olympic Gold, Pay the IRS. The author appears to be horrified that Olympic winners must ... pay taxes on their prize money?

Leaving aside the obvious fudging of the numbers - the top (marginal) income tax rate in the U.S. may be 35%, but a lot of medalists may not earn the $388K necessary to hit that bracket, so their tax rates will be lower, and that's before any deductions for the costs of their training - why is it such a shonda that Olympic athletes pay taxes on the money that their labor brings them, like every other person in America who earns money based on their labor? Some corporate sponsors, like Gatorade and Speedo, are offering medalists million dollar bonuses - should those be tax exempt too?

Maybe the basic point is that extraordinary people shouldn't pay taxes? Well, I suppose that is in keeping with the Republican worldview.... for their own definition of extraordinary.

I have a question about women's gymnastics

Is there a functional reason why the dance elements are included in floor routines? Like, I know that for figure skaters, they have these little dance elements worked in because physically, the skaters need a little break between jumps, and they need time to build up speed and get around the ice. Is there a similar purpose to the dance elements in women's floor routines?

Because with the exception of Jordyn Wieber's floor routine last night, I have yet to see a single performance where the dance elements seemed actually integrated into the routine, and coordinated with the music. (Wieber was awesome but that's the only time the dance and music worked for me.) Usually, the dance seems weirdly tacked on and to be honest, it's actually a little embarrassing - the dance elements are just not good from a dance perspective, and it's like I see these incredible athletes doing these wonderful flips and twirls and then suddenly they have to stop and wave their hands around, like somehow they're being forced to soften the power of what they just accomplished.

Men, I notice, do not use music or dance elements, because they're allowed to just be, you know, powerful. And cover their legs.

Oh, FFS

Rubio: Don't tax Olympic medals

Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced today The Olympic Tax Elimination Act, which would exempt U.S. Olympic medal winners from paying taxes on their medals. Olympians receive honorariums in the form of cash payments of $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze, which the IRS currently taxes.

Unbelievable.

Well, that will fit in nicely with the tax cuts Romney is proposing for the top 5% wealthiest Americans and the increases for the remaining 95%.