A Burner Do-Gooder In Iraq

[madmatt]

I saw this cool article in the Niles Daily Star in Michigan about a local burner who gets a job as a contractor in Iraq. Way to go dude.

NILES - Job security will soon take on a whole new meaning for Caleb Schaber.

The 31-year-old, who was born in Niles and raised in Buchanan, has recently accepted a job in Iraq as a military contractor for Selrico Services.

His experience with carpentry and running crews of workers in the desert for the Burning Man Art Festival helped him to get a job as a project coordinator for HVAC and generator maintenance on U.S. military bases.

Selrico Services is a government contractor that offers an array of services such as food service, refuse and recycling and heating and cooling repairs. He expects to make about $60,000 for his year of work with the company.

Schaber said he will basically be doing air conditioning work to help American soldiers keep cool in weather that can get up to 130 degrees...

While he does not particularly agree with the reason our country went to war in the first place, he does support the troops who are risking their lives in Iraq and the effort to get the country back on its feet.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

I wish him the best of luck and safety.

Maybe BM can use him when we install the Dome that larry is planning. It will cover the whole BM site and reduce the formation of playa serpents. It's going to need one muther Phuk'n Air conditioner!

A II Z

PS- do I ever joke around!

[cowboyangel]

god bless the guy, I'm not a fan of defense contractors but I hope this guy comes back in one piece and with his head.

[cowboyangel]

god bless the guy, I'm not a fan of defense contractors but I hope this guy comes back in one piece and with his head.

of course I mean attached to his body......I hope he comes back safe and sound.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

god bless the guy, I'm not a fan of defense contractors but I hope this guy comes back in one piece and with his head.

of course I mean attached to his body......I hope he comes back safe and sound.

I was waiting for someone to post a headless joke, but I never thought it would be CA.

A II Z

[Simply Joel]

I hope everyone gets home safely... including my friend, Morgan Maximus.

[Simply Joel]

I hope everyone gets home safely... including my friend, Morgan Maximus.

[Tancorix]

Maybe BM can use him when we install the Dome that larry is planning. It will cover the whole BM site and reduce the formation of playa serpents. It's going to need one muther Phuk'n Air conditioner!

Make sure the entrance and exit doors are large enough for Dodge Neons to pass through.

[madmatt]

I just thought it was telling of this guy's burner spirit that he wasn't ashamed to say he didn't support the war but wanted to support the troops. A lot of peaceniks (me included) say that, but he's putting his money where his mouth is and his life on the line for it. Woot!

[samtzu]

Well, not to be cynical, but this guy isn't doing this for free. Working for defense contractors=moola.

It's what he does with the money after he gets it that might be interesting to most 'politically minded' folks, although I'm sure they would be offended if you started pouring over the polical policies of their own spending habits. But if he poured that money back into Burning Man, we would hear a lot of shouting about "The Man" putting it to "The Man".

Personally, I would like to see every one of us with a govenment contract in our pocket. And then I would like to see every one of us use that money responsibly!!

I would also like to see if monkeys could actually fly out my butt...

[Simply Joel]

Personally, I would like to see every one of us with a govenment contract in our pocket. And then I would like to see every one of us use that money responsibly!!

I would also like to see if monkeys could actually fly out my butt...

10 to 1 odds on the monkeys flying out first.

[samtzu]

I actually feel something moving around down there.... oh! Oh!

Never mind...

Thank God for Depends, though

[Simply Joel]

Depends on what crawled up your butt and died.

[KellY]

The Chupacabra Policia are infiltrating Iraq...

It's what he does with the money after he gets it that might be interesting to most 'politically minded' folks, although I'm sure they would be offended if you started pouring over the polical policies of their own spending habits. But if he poured that money back into Burning Man, we would hear a lot of shouting about "The Man" putting it to "The Man".

Dude, he's getting $60,000 a year, not $600,000. That doesn't leave a lot to poor into anything. It's a decent paying job, and a sign of the times that it's probably a hell of a lot easier to find one of those if you're blue-collar by going to Iraq than looking here in the U.S.

[Simply Joel]

Dude, he's getting $60,000 a year, not $600,000.

that is 60K, tax-free... it is still a pretty good gig despite the location... and considering most E1-E4 are making less than 20K and gettting their asses blwon up or shot off.

Hey, where is the Peace Corps, where are the non-profit foundations, where are those who want a better world to live in? ...probably not in harm's way.

Again, I hope everyone gets home safely.

[bdongray]

that is 60K, tax-free...

Tax free?
I thought the IRS taxed worldwide income for all US citizens?

[Rian Jackson]

Hey, where is the Peace Corps, where are the non-profit foundations, where are those who want a better world to live in? ...probably not in harm's way.

Occupation watch and, i think, Iraq watch are still on the ground. So is CIVIC. Probably VITW (Voices in the Wilderness).

I know of folks who witnessed the Fallujah massacre and folks who had the US army shooting at them is Basra.

People are still working over there, but most of the big groups don't have the balls. Or maybe it's just hard to get people to sign up for that stint..

[Simply Joel]

that is 60K, tax-free...

Tax free?
I thought the IRS taxed worldwide income for all US citizens?

International Taxpayer


Source of Income

Generally, income is from U.S. sources if it is paid by domestic corporations, U.S. citizens or resident aliens, or entities formed under the laws of the United States or a state. Income is also from U.S. sources if the property that produces the income is located in the United States or the services for which the income is paid were performed in the United States. A payment is treated as being from sources within the United States if the source of the payment cannot be determined at the time of payment, such as fees for personal services paid before the services have been performed. In this situation, you are required to withhold the amount necessary to assure that the tax withheld will not be less than 30% of U.S. source income. Or, you may make a reasonable estimate of the amount from U.S. sources and put a corresponding portion of the amount due in escrow until the amount from U.S. sources can be determined, at which time withholding becomes due. Other source rules are summarized in the chart below and explained in detail in the separate discussions under Withholding on Specific Income.
Summary of Source Rules for Income

Type of Income
Source Determined by

Pay for personal services
Where services are performed

Business Income:
Sale of inventory - purchased
Sale of inventory - produced

Where Sold
Allocation
Dividends
Type of corporation (U.S. or foreign)

Interest
Residence of payor

Rents
Where property is located

Royalties - Patents, Copyrights, Etc.
Where property is used

Royalties - Natural resources
Where property is located

Pensions due to personal services performed
Where services were performed while a nonresident alien

Scholarships and fellowship grants
Generally, residence of payor


For more information and exceptions to the above rules, refer to Publication 515, Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Corporations (PDF) and Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens (PDF).

Personal service income
If the income is for personal services performed in the United States, it is from U.S. sources. The place where the services are performed determines the source of the income, regardless of where the contract was made, the place of payment, or the residence of the payer.

However, under certain circumstances, payment for personal services performed in the United States is not considered income from sources within the United States. For information on this exception, refer to the discussion, Pay for dependent personal services under Pay for Personal Services Performed.

If the income is for personal services performed partly in the United States and partly outside the United States, you must make an accurate allocation of income for services performed in the United States. In most cases, you make this allocation on a time basis. That is, U.S. source income is the amount that results from multiplying the total amount of pay by the following fraction:

(Number of days services are performed in the United States) divided by (Total number of days of service for which the compensation is paid)

Example. Jean Blanc, a citizen and resident of Canada, is employed as a professional hockey player by a U.S. hockey club. Under Jean's contract, he received $ 150,000 for 242 days of play during the year. This includes days spent at pre-season training camp, days during the regular season, and playoff game days. Of the 242 days, 194 days were spent performing services in the United States and 48 days performing services in Canada. The amount of U.S. source income is $ 120,248 ((194 / 242) X $ 150,000).

Territorial Limits
Wages received for services rendered inside the territorial limits of the United States and wages of an alien seaman earned on a voyage along the coast of the United States are regarded as from sources in the United States. Wages or salaries for personal services performed in a mine or on an oil or gas well located or being developed on the continental shelf of the United States are treated as from sources in the United States.

[samtzu]

Joel... do you have more information? I need some sleepy-time reading...

By the way... 60K sounds pretty goddam good to me!!! Getting my ass shot off for it, however, does not.

I won't tell you what we were getting for our little stint in SE Asia. But, in '69 dollars, I think it was more than what they are making now.

And, like Joel, I hope every one of them makes it back in one piece, alive.

[bdongray]

Example. Jean Blanc, a citizen and resident of Canada, is employed as a professional hockey player by a U.S. hockey club. Under Jean's contract, he received $ 150,000 for 242 days of play during the year. This includes days spent at pre-season training camp, days during the regular season, and playoff game days. Of the 242 days, 194 days were spent performing services in the United States and 48 days performing services in Canada. The amount of U.S. source income is $ 120,248 ((194 / 242) X $ 150,000).

Sounds like "taxation without representation"? I bet Jean Blanc cannot vote!

[Simply Joel]

http://www.wndu.com/news/082004/news_36775.php

http://rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/08/14/78073.php

[ronski]

I don’t fucking believe this…

While Caleb was from Michigan, he spent a long time here in Seattle. He was a perpetual student for years at the UW. During this time he did photography and wrote gonzo articles for the student newspaper, The Daily. I particularly liked the one he wrote about needing a new roomie for the group house he was sharing, and advertising for someone who would provide sexual favors in exchange for rent….

I actually met him once, sometime in the early nineties. It was at the Ballard Firehouse, a local music club, on their short-lived experiment with a Wednesday Fetish night. I went there to see the Leatherettes, this group of three cuties who wore S&M gear. Caleb was there with camera. ( I remember he was wearing a striped shirt and green plaid pants—real fashion plate.) I started talking with him and suggested he might get a good shot by laying on the dancefloor on his back, looking up at the girls circled around him. And it did turn out nice—got published as a full page in the Daily!

A couple of years (I think) after that he ran for UW student president, on a wonderfully depraved platform. The Leatherettes were his campaign managers. Nice photos in the Daily again of girls in bondage gear and tiny skirts on the steps of Red Square. No, he didn’t win, but his campaign was a lot more fun that anybody elses.

I think he was involved in a lot of other cacaphony-like activities around town thru the nineties. He worked as a bartender at the Blue Moon Tavern, and was in a band.

He ran for mayor of Seattle in 2001 as the “I’m not a lap dog” candidate.

He and the “Some People” group were the ones behind the infamous Monolith that mysteriously appeared on Kite Hill at Magnuson Park. Looks like he brought the monolith to Burning Man too. Member of the Chupacabra Polizia…

Oh shit, he’s got a blog too.

www.calebschaber.org

Hey Caleb: keep your head down over there. You’ve got lots more weird stuff to do in this life.

[MusicVixen]

Dude, he's getting $60,000 a year, not $600,000.

that is 60K, tax-free... it is still a pretty good gig despite the location... and considering most E1-E4 are making less than 20K and gettting their asses blwon up or shot off.

Hey, where is the Peace Corps, where are the non-profit foundations, where are those who want a better world to live in? ...probably not in harm's way.

Again, I hope everyone gets home safely.

So true....my son is over there now where he recently had mortars specifically attacking him....and he's only an E-3.