Associated Press Fails Simple Math

I can understand reporters having trouble with serious math. I'd want a couple weeks warning before doing complex algebra. However, I'd like to think even a leftist reporter could do some adding and subtracting and be pretty close with the answer. Tonight I was reading the AP obit on Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver on TV) and something just didn't add up. Here is the first paragraph:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Barbara Billingsley, who gained supermom status for her gentle portrayal of June Cleaver, the warm, supportive mother of a pair of precocious boys in "Leave it to Beaver," died Saturday. She was 94.

I bolded the age intentionally because one of the last paragraphs said:

Born Barbara Lillian Combes in Los Angeles on Dec. 22, 1922, she was raised by her mother after her parents divorced. She and her first husband, Glenn Billingsley, divorced when her sons were just 2 and 4.

How can someone who was born in 1922 be 94 years old? My mother-in-law was born in 1918 and she is a spry 92. Without taxing my brain too much I have to assume someone born after her would be younger than her.

National Day of Action

April 15th is commonly referred to as Tax Day since it is the deadline for filing federal income tax returns. Hopefully, in time it will become a nation day of action. I'd propose renaming 15 April as National Beat a Congressman Until They Support Tax Simplification Day! I know it is a little longer than most holiday names (Labor Day, Columbus Day, etc.) but I think it will catch on in time as people get in the spirit. I could recommend a couple congressmen for initial beatings, but spontaneity is important so pick one you feel is particularly adding to the problem. This is not a rant against paying taxes. There are some vital government services and funds need to be raised to pay for those services. I do believe there is excessive spending and a lot of government waste, but that is a subject for another day. Today I'm only complaining about the incredibly bloated and complicated tax code. Go to a flat tax or better yet a national sales tax.

I'm not normally an advocate of violence. However, our representative are no longer responsive to the populace they represent and at some point people will decide they have had enough.