The Savage Republican

Saturday, January 07, 2006

It seems the US media is keeping things from us.

I know you are shocked to read that! What is it this time, you ask? This:

The three Algerians detained on Tuesday in the Italian cities of Brescia and Naples were planning a massive terror attack - "on a ship as big as the Titanic, packed with explosives" - that aimed to kill "at least 10,000 people", as well as an attack on "Italian citizens and interests" in Tunisia, according phone conversations between the three men, which Italian anti-terror police say they intercepted after al-Qaeda's deadly 7 July attacks on London and on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. In their tapped phone conversations, Yamine Bouhrama, Mohamed Larbi and Khaled Serai described the 7 July London subway and bus bombings that killed over 50 and injured 700, and the 23 July Sharm El-Sheikh terror attacks that killed 90 people and injured over 150 as "highdays and holidays", according to police. The three also spoke of having "documents ready", "war on the infidel", and "a bigger party" than the London attacks.

This was reported throughout the European media on November 18. What we did hear out of the American media was minimal at best. Check out this and this and compare them to the European reporting on the same subject! MSNBC does not even mention the fact that the intelligence was obtained via wiretaps and ABC buries the fact deep in the story.

I know that this is an old meme...but it is one that bears repeating hourly until such time as the US media cleans up their act. As long as they continue this type of poor reporting, they are going to loose readers to the internet and blogs (such as this one).

UPDATE AND BUMP: According to these two articles the terrorists were planning attacks in the US (among other places) and they wanted to "out-do" the 9/11 attacks! THIS is what the US press is keeping from us!

Hat tip to Red State and Powerline.

Friday, January 06, 2006

The Unwritten Constitution

I wrote earlier today about Thomas Brewton in his blog "The View From 1776". He writes about what he calls "The Unwritten Constitution". In it he lays out that for our form of government to work, there needs to be certain underlying assumptions. That without this foundation and underpinning being maintained, the structure above it becomes weakened and eventually collapses. I recommended that you read it. As I read it again, I thought that it quite worthwhile to repeat it here:

The Unwritten Constitution

The United States was founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic that historically was the substance of Western civilization. Ours was a specifically English conception of individual morality and individual responsibility that, only in England and its North American colonies, had produced a government of laws, not men, a government in which even the king is subject to the statutes of the land and to a higher moral law.

This conception of government necessitates a citizenry self-regulated by moral precepts that are preserved and taught by religion. The government must similarly be restrained by the limits of natural law, which say that no legitimate government may infringe any individual's rights to life, liberty, and private property.

No society can survive without a consensus about right and wrong, about what constitutes moral conduct. That consensus is the unwritten constitution of society, the content that gives meaning to a written constitution, the meat on the bones of the structure of government.

Opposing our original conception of government is the liberal jihad, driven by the ideology of socialism, sometimes called The Religion of Humanity. This religion was formalized in the 1789 French Revolution, the same year that our Constitution was ratified and became the law of the land.

Socialism is a secular religion. Like Islamic suicide bombers, liberals are so firmly persuaded that their cause is right, good, and just that they are prepared to go to any lengths necessary to destroy the Judeo-Christian ethic of individual morality and replace it with a rigidly regulated National-State collectivism, of which Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were extreme examples.

The religion of socialism is being taught unconstitutionally, at your expense, in public schools and colleges receiving Federal aid. Teaching the religious doctrine of socialism as scientific fact amounts to making liberal-socialism the officially established religion of the United States.

The only constitutional way to stop the liberal jihad is to force schools to present both sides of the story, traditionalist, as well as liberal. Publicly funded schools now teach only the amoral, secular materialism of the socialist religion. Schools no longer present true versions of American history and of our original ideas of civic virtue and personal morality that are historically the substance of Western civilization. Penetrating the shield of socialist teachers' unions and the politicians whom they help elect is a very long-term project, but a vital one.

The largest volume of immigration in the nation's history, both legal and illegal, coupled with liberals' relentless efforts to destroy America's original traditions of individual morality, leaves us with no core values and a diminishing will to defend ourselves against foreign enemies.

Regarding Immigration

Yesterday's Star Tribune featured the following letter from an immigrant to the US.

Letter of the day: The land of opportunity and Gov. Pawlenty, As a recent Honduran immigrant, I am shocked by how little Gov. Tim Pawlenty seems to understand about immigration. While I was lucky enough to obtain a legal status through my husband, many of us, including my own family members, must wait for 10 years or more to get a green card while their application sits backlogged with the federal government. We immigrants work hard. We often come home with broken fingernails and aching backs. We do not complain. In fact, we don't give up but work harder so that our families will have the same opportunities as people born in this country. We have come here for that opportunity, because in our home countries, we are born poor with little chance to succeed. Pawlenty's proposal says we are bad for Minnesota and effectively disallows communication with police when needed. If Pawlenty needs other Republicans to look to, he should consult with Sam Brownback, John McCain, Norm Coleman or Orrin Hatch. These U.S. senators have all made recent proposals that strengthen America's tradition of immigration by addressing border security, employment verification, job security of native U.S. workers and the reality of undocumented families living in the United States.

I.B. St Paul

The letter writer brings up a fair point - the system that is responsible for approving legal immigrants is backlogged. It is going to need to be fixed in order to play an active part in stemming illegal immigration and is a great topic for another day!

However, the letter writer (and the Strib editorial staff) totally missed the point of Governor Pawlenty's proposal for dealing with the effects of illegal immigration. Just a reminder - the Governor proposed:

Our nation has been built on immigration. It's an important part of our history and our future. However, illegal immigration is a disservice to those who have come to America legally. Concerns about illegal immigration will erode support for legal immigration. We need an immigration system that is legal, orderly and reasonable.Cities across Minnesota have experienced illegal immigrants involved in drug trafficking, sex crimes, falsifying legal documents and Medicare fraud.That's why I'm proposing Minnesota stop ignoring this problem and start dealing with it. We can get started by creating an Illegal Immigration Enforcement Team to help enforce the laws we already have.Then we can strengthen our laws and penalties for those who use false identification documents or employ illegal immigrants.

Do you understand the difference dear reader???? The difference I.B. of St Paul is that we are not talking about making things harder for those that come here legally, we are talking about stemming the tide of ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. We are a country of laws I.B. If you want to come into the country legally, welcome. If you break our laws in order to enter the country, know that you are going to go to jail at a minimum and at a maximum you are going to be sent home! It is that simple.

The Truth Then and Now

I was reading a selection from Thomas Brewton's "The View from 1776" (be sure to read "The Unwritten Constitution") where I have a recent posting. I was thinking about a conversation I had with a very good friend of mine just a few years ago. We were talking about the hard political divisions in the country. We observed the divisions and arguments were much more heated. And I posited the following:
When we were kids 40+ years ago, where did we get our information? TV, radio, newspapers and magazines.
What about 30 years ago? 20 years ago? Same sources.
10 years ago? Well, in 1993 I started listening to a guy that a number of people had asked if I'd heard-Rush Limbaugh. And from there I listened to Jason Lewis. And a few years ago I started listening to AM1280 The Patriot. And we now have another conservative talk radio station (FM100.3 KTLK).
In 1999 I bought my first computer and discovered the internet. And 2 years ago heard of "weblogging".
And now, early 2006, I no longer listen to the Big 3 on TV or radio. I no longer get all , and truth be told, I get very little of my information from the same MSM sources I did 40, 30, 20 or even 10 years ago.
I can do more research in an hour at 3 a.m. in my living room than I could in a full week in a library 10 years ago. I can communicate with 100's, 1000's or more with a few keystrokes.
So, the MSM no longer has a monopoly on information, the truth.
To quote the X Files "The truth is out there!"
We are discovering how the MSM and lefties have lied and deceived us for decades.
And it has the left terrified.
Good.
Very good.

Reason, logic and passion part II

And as I read the quote below from two of the three authors of the Federalist Papers, I now understand why they constrained the Congress to only being able to do what is proscribed in Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution (text ).

Yesterday as I was listening to Michael Medved on AM1280 The Patriot (2-5 p.m.) he was relating how he thought the goverment should be reduced 80%, that the departments of Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Agriculture (to name a few) should all be eliminated. That the ONLY Department that should expand is Defense. And I'm shouting "Go Michael"!!! as I had just said that the Federal Register should be reduced to 20% of it's current size.
After all, wouldn't logic dictate the we should reduce or eliminate a thing that is first of all illegal (unConstitutional) , and not expand a thing that doesn't work and is even counter-productive? Look again at the Hamilton/Madison quote and know why we work from January to July to pay for government .

Reason, logic and passion

I've repeated many times that when I argue with a lefty, I don't want to win the argument, I want to win a convert. And I fail, even when I use logic, reason, history,economics (other than the economics of Marx or Keynes), the Bible, the Federalist papers, etc. And why?
Well the first quote is from Hamilton and Madison. The second, that I use, is from Jonathan Swift. Both joined at the intellectual hip:

"In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. ... Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob." -- Alexander Hamilton and James Madison (Federalist No. 55, 15 February 1788) (from http://PatriotPost.US/histdocs/ )

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into" Swift

As I told my friend the other night "With lefties, their passions determine their logic. I attempt to let logic and reason determine my passion."

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Regarding the Abramoff Scandal

A couple of pieces that came out today that I found to be of interest. First was this from National Review and second was this from CNS News.

What made the second article interesting is that I heard the former speaker was on the Laura Ingraham show this morning talking about the same thing. The audio from this morning can be found here.

"I think it's very important to understand that this is not just one person doing one bad thing," Gingrich added, and it isn't "about lobbyist corruption, either. You can't have a corrupt lobbyist unless you have a corrupt member [of Congress] or a corrupt staff" involved."This is a team effort," Gingrich said to laughter from the audience."I'll tell you what this city's first reaction is going to be," he stated. Lawmakers will "turn the scandal into lobbyist bashing, so the same system on the Hill that is unhealthy will protect itself by passing a narrowly drawn anti-lobbyist provision while the same people go to the same [Political Action Committee] fundraisers to raise the same money with the same cronies in the same manner."

That was the part that struck me. That the Hill will do whatever it can to shuffle this "out of sight". They already did that once when they gave us the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance "reform". McCain-Feingold didn't reform a thing. It simple too our ability to give to the candidates of our choice and gave the deep pockets (the 527's) unlimited access to the power!

"This is a profound problem, not just a surface-level scandal," Gingrich said. As an example of the unfair advantage wealthy incumbents have in the electoral process, Gingrich referred to New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine. "One person spent $100 million to first buy a Senate seat and then buy a governorship while voting for the McCain-Feingold bill to limit every middle-class citizen to $2,500 in an election," Gingrich said."There's something inherently wrong with that," Gingrich charged.

Both the NRO article and Speaker Gingrich came to the same conclusion:

"DeLay can do his part by forswearing any ambition to return to the leadership until this matter is resolved. It may be necessary for the House Republican Conference to discipline other of its members — we have Rep. Bob Ney (R., Ohio) in particular in mind — as evidence of their involvement with Abramoff dictates. (Of course, it is also possible that Justice-department prosecutors have overreached, and will have a problem establishing that typical Washington influence peddling crossed the line into criminality.) Finally, Republicans should embrace a tough reform package that tightens up on lobbying disclosure and cracks down on the earmarked spending that is bait for corrupting lobbyists. A majority that deserves to stay a majority must demonstrate that it is capable of policing itself."

"Therefore, Gingrich's advice to the GOP this year was to return to the strategy that proved so successful 12 years ago. "Republicans should run as reformers who want to make government more effective and return to the concept of the balanced budget," which Congress accomplished for four years in the 1990s."

The former speaker is spot on here. As he said on the radio this morning...the base that supports the Republican party is not the people that want ear marks and pork barrell spending. We want smaller government and more personal freedom. He said that the Republican base needs to marshall our disgust at this and force our representatives to bring real reform to the system. We need significant campaign finance reform. In my mind that means repealing McCain Feingold first and foremost! Let's get the power back in the hands of the people and out of the hands of the special interest groups NOW!

Update - The Wall Street Journal chimes in on the issue today.

Tragedy and Heartbreak

We have all been following the tragedy in Tallmansville WVa. I would not wish the pain and the heartache that the families of the trapped miners went through in the last 24 hours on my worst enemy. To be told that your loved ones were alive, only to find out later that they were not, is the cruelest of cruel fates.

While many are talking about blaming the mine for poor working conditions (as well they should) and blaming the mine officials for letting the "false hope" get out (officials didn't let it get out someone took it upon himself to give the families the unconfirmed word) or blaming the mine officicals for not correcting the reports that anyone had been found alive (a very valid point, although I understand the reason for not doing so), I don't hear many talking about the press and their role in this sad affair.

Many more talented writers than I have commented on this, but after what happened last night, I can no longer sit silently on the sidelines.

We have heard, time and time again, all the reasons why we should "trust" the legacy media (especially from the print media). We have heard that they have levels of editors, gatekeepers, fact checkers, and that they "know stuff" (link to the actual article is no longer available), blah, blah blah.....

BALONEY! Last night was a shining example of why we should never again trust the legacy media. In the rush to be the first to break a story, someone ran with a partial overheard conversation and told the world (including the very anxious, desperate families) that the remaining 12 miners in Tallmansville were found alive. The soundbytes coming out of WVA tell the story..."an outsider came in and told us....", "they told us they were coming to the church..." The assembled press went into a flurry of activity to get the word out. The headlines were spectacular - "They're Alive" trumpted the Indianapolis Star..."Found Alive" said the Denver Post. Similar jubilant headlines graced the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the NY Times. There was only one small problem...no one bothered to ask the rescue command center if this story was accurate! It was only later, after all of the facts had been uncovered by the mine company that we learned the awful truth...all but one were dead, not alive!

The Strib posted this on their website. Their excuse....everyone else was running it so we had to. The last time I tried that "but everyone else was doing it" my father grounded me for a month and asked "If all of your friends jumpped off of a bridge would you do that too?" in admonishing me for not using my head and instead "following the pack".

We live in a 24 hour news cycle which is good and bad. It is good in that we are no longer slaves to the disinformation that comes out of biased sources like the NY Times and the Star Tribune. However, as we are seeing today, the legacy media's claims of reliability and factuality are laughable! One local lefty blogger, rightly stated that the reader should beware (when reading blogs), but the caveat needs to apply also to the legacy media. As we have seen today, the legacy media is just as guilty of running with a "rumor" as they accuse the blogosphere of being. How typical of them.....

UPDATE AND BUMP! Captain Ed brought up something I had almost forgotten. Remember the reporting on the "toxic water" in New Orleans and the babies being raped in the Superdome? Brian "St. Paul" Ward over at Fraters Libertas has another great post on why we should not believe what we hear out of the MSM and why. You should read them both.

UPDATE II: This is priceless.....a letter writer to the Star Tribune, in asking about their feeble excuse (running the headline that the miners were alive) says:

Our president and entire military and intelligence community, along with the world's entire military and intelligence community, came to the same, honest big mistake about weapons of mass destruction. But according to the Star Tribune editorial page and leading Democrats, our president lied about WMDs.
So, did the Star Tribune lie to us about the miners?

M.N. of Chanhassen - thank you for making my day!

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The oh-so-tolerant left

This article from today's Wall Street Journal did not surprise me in the least.

"When educated Americans heap scorn on Christian fundamentalism, they generally do so out of almost total ignorance, having not bothered to know any fundamentalists or put forth any serious effort to learn about their faith. So there is something refreshing about Christine Rosen's "My Fundamentalist Education." Ms. Rosen spent her elementary years in the Keswick Christian School in St. Petersburg, Fla.--a school, one assumes, fairly representative of the independent, nondenominational Bible-believing schools that seem to be everywhere these days--and knows whereof she speaks."

The "educated" class...the ones that think they know and are all that, love to tell the rest of us how we must be "tolerant" of others and that we should not "judge others by external appearances" and then they go and throw their hypocricy out for all to see!

"Keswick mothers, she writes, "were women with home permanents, not salon coiffures, and they wore vinyl mock-croc pumps and polyester-blend dresses from Sears." Teachers, both male and female, were also partial to polyester. The female musicians who performed at the school smelled of Aqua Net, and the missionaries who came to share their stories invariably had "out-of-date clothes" and "badly cut hair."

They are also the first one to lecture Christians on being non-judgemental of people whose lifestyle choices are different from their own...

"The "old, disheveled lady" who hosted the club "served stale cookies and tepid Juicy Juice." This woman also "had the sort of girlish crush on Jesus that only a disappointed spinster who'd spent too many years leading children's Bible studies could nourish." She read to the children with her Bible balanced on her knees and her "thick socks rolling down her legs."

The funny (ironic) thing is that Ms. Rosen claims that her Keswick experience gave her a "profound respect for my fellow human beings". I would hate to see what she was like if she was being disrespectful.

The sad thing is, you'll never see a piece like this written about a Buddhist school, or a Wahhibist school or a Shinto school or a Wiccan school. For you see, to people like Ms. Rosen, you are only allowed to disrespect Christians. Because after all, they aren't real people. If there were "real" people, they would think more along the lines of Ms. Rosen.

As a Christian, I should be upset, but I am not. I fully expect it.

The only thing that is certain...

...is death and taxes, right? We may have to rethink that old saw thanks to the Illinois Supreme Court! The Court (in a decision that can be read here) ruled that the Illinois State Income Tax is unconstitutional.

Now I am not a lawyer, so I could be way off here and I may have to send this off to one of the resident MOB lawyers for review, but it seems to me that the gist of the ruling rests (like the original MN CCR bill) on the fact that the statute in question (Public Act 88-669 ) was tied to the wrong kind of bill. The argument was whether the act was (as the state contended) an "Act in relation to governmental regulation" or whether it was (as the court and the defendents contend) passed in violation of the single subject clause of the Illinois Constitution. In other words, it was tied to a bill that it could not be (according to the Illinois Constitution).

Precident has been set. It may not be perfect, it is a start. As my friend (and co-Savage Republican) Amendment X wrote here, high taxes may be the norm, but they don't have to be. We the people need to step up to the plate and demand that our politicians quit picking our pockets and start governing.

Free Markets, Jack Abramoff...and Lord Acton

I don't want to hear ANY tsk-tsks from anyone on the Abramoff "situation". None! Zero! Nada! Void! The empty set! It is NOT a scandal. It is business as usual. It's business as has been done for well over 80 years. In D.C. and St. Paul. And every other state capitol. Jack Abramoff is only being accused of and slapped for a form of bribery that's illegal. All the other forms of bribery (aka campaign contributions) are legal, kind of, depending on McCain/Feingold. Was he trying to buy influence? Absolutely! Just like AARP, NEA, ATLA (Assoc. of Trial Lawyers of America), and myriad others. All contributing to campaigns, all lobbying for influence. And why? As I wrote here it's because there is influence to be bought. Pure,plain,simple. And why do all these lobbying groups continue to give money to candidates? BECAUSE THEY GET THEIR MONEY'S WORTH!!!! THE FREE MARKET IN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS! Only insanity (or the government) would dictate giving money to something that yields no results. These groups believe that they do get value for their money. And so the NEA contributes millions of dollars to left wing candidates. Same with the trial lawyers. Same with AARP. And many, many others.Jack Abramoff gave money to Congressmen and Presidential campaigns because he saw value for the dollars. The free market in influence peddling. So, be warned, that your Congressman can and will be bought...legally or illegally.
And this is what happens in a democracy.Our guys vs. their guys. And this is exactly why we were not founded as a democracy. We WERE founded as a constitutional representative republic that was democratically elected. We were not founded as a country where the majority ruled;we were founded a country where the Constitution was supposed to rule. Amendment X (the 10th Amendment, my nom de plume) again was meant to be sure there was no influence to buy.
Oh, and another kick to a sensitive area, as long as we're talking about bribery? The legal system works only with the absolute truth being told.According to Judge Andrew Napolitano, in his breakout book "Constitutional Chaos " cites federal statute "Whoever...gives,offers,or promises anything of value to any person for ...testimony under oath...shall be fined...or imprisoned for [up to] two years, or both" (his emphasis). He goes on to say that prosecutors from the Attorney General all the way down to the local prosecutor violate this law all the time. They have paid snitches. They offer reduced sentences meaning more years of someone's life outside prison) in exchange for testimony against others. The Feds have offered Abramoff something of value (more years of his life outside a federal prison) in exchange for his testifying against others. So, to enforce the law, the feds break the law.
Wonderful. The feds break the law to enforce the law against someone who broke the law by buying influence that should not exist according to the Constitution (Amendment X)- meaning that he was trying to buy an illegal substance.
Clear? Good. Cause my head sure hurts.
BTW, here are the 9th and 10th Amendment:

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed

to deny or disparage others retained by the people. (meaning we do have the right to privacy)

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor

prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.(meaning that if it's not written in the Constitution
{for Congress Article 1, section 8}, the Congress just absolutely can not do it. Period!)


So, now you have a brief constitutional lesson.

Know it. Force your President and Congress to practice it (uh,  class: will that mean there will be
a Medicare Prescription Drug Program? Yes or no? Class? Class? And Social Security?
Farm subsidies? EEOC?
If you have any questions, re-read Amendment X and go read article 1 section 8).

And then say goodbye to influence buying, and say hello to liberty.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Compare and Contrast

Today, Governor Pawlenty released the details of his plan to fight criminal activity committed by illegal immigrats in Minnesota. The Governor's proposal and press release can be found here.

The coverage by our two local newspapers were interesting in their divergence. You can read the PiPress story here and the Strib story here. The PiPress actually reported what was said at the press conference. The Strib, living up to it's nickname "Pravda on the Mississippi" felt obligated to editorialize in a "news" story.

"According to a widely disputed study issued by the Pawlenty administration last month, illegal immigrants number 80,000 to 85,000 in Minnesota and cost taxpayers up to $188 million a year. The study did not attempt to measure the economic or tax contributions of undocumented aliens, however."

The only people who seem to have been disputing the study (besides the DFL) have been our friends at the Strib - most vocally Nick Coleman the bloggers best friend. Law enforcement, on the other hand has validated a lot of the claims that were made in the Pawlenty Administrations report.

"Worthington Mayor Alan Oberloh said such an effort would help local police departments. His department estimates that the majority of felony crimes in Worthington are committed by undocumented immigrants.
"If this keeps going like it has, law enforcement will be stymied,'' Oberloh said."

To give the governor credit, he is proposing a couple of new ideas that should help law enforcement. The one thing that I know my friends on the right are going to have problems with is the proposal (as if it is something new) to fine employers that hire illegal immigrants! Shouldn't we be doing that already????

Bravo Governor Pawlenty, for tackling a tough issue going into the campaign season. I know that this could not have been an easy choice, but it was necessary!

Monday, January 02, 2006

Simple, not easy

Lady Logician has posted on tax increases.
Read my blog here on why this is NOT inevitable.

This is why I blog!

In Minnesota, we have a process called "Truth in Taxation" hearings. These hearings are a chance for Joe Citizen to talk to the various taxing "authorities" to find out why his taxes are going up.

The Strib reports today on one Hennepin County residents run in with the "Truth in Taxation" process.

"Alarmed by a year-end tax statement projecting a 94 percent increase in 2006, Margaret Briarty, of Brooklyn Park, figured it had to be a mistake. So she called Hennepin County and City Hall, and attended her Truth in Taxation hearing."

Yes dear readers, that is correct a 94% increase in property taxes!

"For Briarty, her tax jump was caused primarily by her property's value, which rose from $153,300 in 2004 to $271,400 in 2005 -- a whopping 77 percent increase...
It's all about timing.
Current-year taxes, Rowe said, actually are based on values set on Jan. 2 of the previous year. And on Jan. 2, 2004, before she moved in, Rowe's townhouse was only partially completed -- thus the $153,300 value for 2005 taxes."

Did you catch that? Your property tax rate is based on what the value of a home was on January 2 of the year before regardless of whether the property is fully developed or not, whether you own it or not.

Now I live in an older neighborhood in a town where property values were a little high to start off with, but have skyrocketed in the last 5 years and we have (thankfully) not seen the drastic changes that Ms. Briarty has seen, but her said tale is yet another reminder why we need tax reform in this state. Not just income taxes (which is what most people think of when someone mentions tax reform) but property tax reform. Cities, counties, school districts all take a tax bite out of our pocketbooks, not just state and federal. All taxing bodies need to be held accountable to the people that they represent. Unfortunately, these taxing bodies will continue to live by their own entrenched set of rules until such time as the citizenry rises up and demands accountability.

That dear readers is why I do this. It is my hope that, by continuing to point out problems like this I can engage my friends and neighbors to get involved in the system and to get them to demand accountability from their elected officials at every level.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

The Star Tribune Strikes again (and again and...)

I am really surprised that the folks over at Anti-Strib didn't hop all over this particular op-ed piece in Pravda on the Mississippi. I mean I realize that Tracy is busy trying to get this set up, but still!!! So in the spirit of the season, I will step up and attempt to address it.

"A public-relations offensive comes as no surprise after months of terrible headlines for the president, but it is a classic and vain Washington blunder."

Since when is telling your side of the story a "public-relations offensive"? For months and months, the left and their willing accomplices at the Strib have been hammering the Bush Adminsitration with quasi scandals (the Plame "leak" and the NSA "spy scandal" come to mind) and nary a peep has come out of the White House to explain their side of the story. Many conservative pundits (Laura Ingraham for one) have been pleading with the White House to explain their actions to the American people. The Strib tips their hand, yet again. They prefer a to beat up a bound and gagged opponent.....how very brave of them.

Americans became disillusioned with the Bush presidency during 2005 not because of the packaging, but because of the content. They see that the administration botched prewar intelligence on Iraq. They see that the Pentagon bungled the planning of the subsequent occupation, and that valiant young Americans are dying as a result.

So let me see if I have this right....in less than 36 months we have toppled a dictatorship, put the country on the path to the 21st century AND helped them hold 3 very successful elections in less than a year and the Strib calls it a bungled "occupation"? What would they considered success? Rhetorical question....I already know that what they expected. The expected total, abject failure. Anything less than that is indeed bungled...As far as the "botched pre-war" intelligence, the Strib conveniently forgets that much of that data came to us before the Bush Administration even came into office. If you are going to fault the Administration on anything (regarding pre-war intelligence) it is believing anything that the Clinton era CIA told them!

"They don't trust the president's leadership on Social Security and they recognize that his economic policies are not delivering for average working families. "

Now here the Strib is engaging in spin! The reason that the American People don't trust the President's leadership on Social Security is because the left and the MSM purposely mislead them on what the President was proposing (in the form of SS reform). The American people are smarter than the folks on Portland Ave....they do see that the Administration's economic policy is helping. All you need to do is look at the consumer confidence levels to see that! Regardless of the media's hype - the American people know that the economy is booming...they see it everyday in their bank accounts!

It has taken Americans five years to understand that the candidate who campaigned for president as a centrist and won twice with the narrowest of victories is actually leading the nation in radical and reckless directions. Now they are stuck with a costly conflict abroad and a disappointing economy at home, and no amount of repackaging will fix those problems.

Sorry folks....what it has taken the American people 5 years to see is the out and out WAR that the left has been waging on the American President! They call our troops murders and worse, they mock our troops, they call the President all sorts of names, they call anyone who supports the missioni fascists and yet they get mad if someone dares to question their patriotism? Finally after 5 years, the American people are seeing that the only quagmire that we are facing is the quagmire of defeatism as waged by the Democratic Party and their willing accomplices in the "legacy media". The more strident the Strib gets, the more people of logic and sense turn to the "alternate" media on the Internet. As we progress toward the November elections, we can expect the rhetoric out of the Strib to become even more fevered!

Keep it up guys. You are helping us more than you can imagine!

My wish for the new year

We all tend to complain about what is "wrong" with the country and very few offer solutions. In this post, I would like to offer up some things I think the government could do to make this country a "better place to live".

Welfare/housing/entitlements - I firmly believe that the best way to reform welfare is to tie benefits for those that are able to work to work. If you are able to work but still need a hand for necessities (food, electricity, heat, water, chldcare etc) then by all means we should assist, but it should all be predicated on employment! If you are able to work, but not working then benefits should only be extended for a limited period of time and predicated on your actively seeking employment (like unemployment benefits are). If you are not able to work, due to physical or mental handicapp, the work requirement should be waived unless there are ways that you can work minimally (eg a wheelchair bound person can do data entry/computer work, certain mental handicaps are treatable with medication to make a person able to be out and about). Shoot - even my 2 Downs Syndrome brothers-in-law have jobs....jobs that are tied to their state benefits - BTW. One BIL is severely retarded and he works light assembly. It gives both of them a sense of ability that no hand out ever could!

Children/Family Services - We need to get rid of the mentality that welfare pays to have children. You hear it all the time....women with 6,8,10 kids all with different fathers and the children are running amok in the neighborhood/schools and doing drugs or having their own babies as teen-agers.....Government needs to encourage marriage through tax credits (the so called marriage penalty tax), child care credits, and school vouchers (more on that later) so that the parents can instill a sense of self esteem in themselves and their children by being able to take care of themselves (as opposed to being economically enslaved to the government). Make no doubt about it, the current welfare system, with it's restrictions and bureaucracy is nothing more than modern day slavery and it needs to be abolished!

Education - I mentioned the "V" word earlier. Parents of children in failing school districts need to have the option of sending their kids to schools that will educate them. They should not be stuck with a school that is simply "warehousing" their kids for 6 hours a day - passing them up the chain regardless of whether the kid can read or not. No Child Left Behind was a poorly written attempt to encourage schools to "try" to do better, but what the feds think will work may not work in each scenario. Put control of the schools and the cirriculum back where it belongs - in the hands of the state! What works in Minneapolis or Chicago may not work in Tulsa or Bozeman! The closer to the kids you make the control, the better the educators can tailor cirriculum to the students that need help the most.

The Economy - Make the Bush tax cuts permanent! Tax cuts work - contrary to the Dems spin. Businesses are in business to make money. If you make it easier for them to make money, the more likely they are to expand business (in order to make MORE money). When businesses expand, they need to hire and train new employees, which helps get people out off of welfare! Encourage businesses to build in the urban centers through Tax Increment Financing. Getting businesses to move back into our urban cores will give the poor access to work (since many rely on urban mass transit) so they should be incented to do so!

Immigration - this is a hard one for me personally as the child of a fairly recent (late 1800's) immigrant whose immigration was of "questionable" legality. One thing we need to do is to keep track of those who do come here legally. Most of the 9/11 hijackers initially came here on student visas - visas that were expired long before the hijackings took place. Those who come here on student/work visas should be required to check in with the DHS regularly and to register their addresses with DHS. Remember that these folks are not US citizens and because of that, are not "due" the rights infered on US citizens (from the Constitution). We do need to stem the tide of illegal immigration across our southern border, but we need to make more temporary work visas available for those that do indeed want to come across to work - even as day laborers. If welfare is tied to work status, then we will loose the ones that solely come across for the welfare check (via anchor babies). Like it or not (conservatives) there are jobs here in this country that many Mexican laborers do that Americans will not do - like shovel manure at the local zoo or racetrack, or hand picking fruits and vegatables (go ahead - try hand picking strawberrys for 2 hours and tell me how you think YOU would do picking them for 8-10 hours a day!) These are jobs that are not near our urban cores so those American citizens who live there do not have access to these jobs (for the most part). It is work that needs to be done, and done cheaply in order for US to have an cheap, abundant food supply.

Health Care - Putting health care in the hands of the federal government will not make it any cheaper or better.....just ask the Canadians that come here for medical treatments that they can not get in their home country. Ask the Canadians who come here (some illegally) to take our high paying tech jobs! They don't want socialized medicine because they often can not get life saving treatments in time to save their lives! If you want to reduce the costs of health care we need to listen to the doctors and the hospitals that are begging for tort reform! The cost of their exhorbitantly high malpractice insurance is passed on to the medical consumers every day! Cap judgements and get the lawyers out of our hospitals and clinics. Encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs through tax incentives. If a pharma company has a large Research & Development division, or is working on the new "wonder drug" (I'm thinking cancer and AIDS drugs here) by all means help them out! It costs money to develop the new drugs and the new diagnostic equipment that help us all live better/longer lives. Helping "big phrama" will help the consumer by reducing drug prices....

I realize that these ideas are going to upset many, hopefully on both sides of the political aisle, however it is my fervent hope that these ideas help spark the kinds of discussions that are necessary to move America forward. These problems can not be solved in 30 second sound bytes. They can only be solved by honest, hardworking Americans taking a hard look at their government and themselves and asking "what can I do to make a difference?"

Happy New Year...and the inmates are in charge

I opened up my email today, and had a link here and got the following list.
And it reminds me of the question I asked my screaming socialist buddy a while back (screaming socialist: his plan to save Social Security? A 100% estate tax.). I had asked him when is it that whomever was elected, when were they inculcated with the incredible wisdom and deep insight to run my life that they never seemed to have before they were elected? And here is the proof that Article 1, section 8 and the 10th Amendment need to aggressively and fully regained and the Federal Register reduced to 20% of its current size.
Read and shake your head in disgust. Then find another Ron Paul (R-Tex) to vote for in your state.
I offer for your entertainment and disgust: Why We Are In REAL Trouble-

A Washington, D.C., airport ticket agent offers some examples of why our country is in trouble!

I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.
I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight, and the passport information, then she interrupted me with, "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts."
Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, "Cape Cod is in Massachusetts; Capetown is in Africa," Her response – click.
A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room.
I tried to explain that's not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me, I looked on the map, and Florida is a very thin state!"
I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, "Is it possible to see England from Canada?"
I said, "No."
She said, "But they look so close on the map."
An aide for a cabinet member once called, and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a one hour layover in Dallas.
When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, "I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time."
An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am, and got to Chicago at 8:33 am.
I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones.
Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.
A New York lawmaker called, and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?"
I said, "No, why do you ask?"
She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!"
After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing), I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, California, is (FAT), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.
A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii.
After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii?"
I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?"
I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, "I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them."
A lady Senator called, and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?"
I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, Florida, on a commuter plane.
She said, "Yeah, whatever, smarty!"
A senior Senator called, and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. "Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times, and never had to have one of those."
I double-checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa.
When I told him this, he said, "Look, I've been to China four times, and every time they have accepted my American Express!"
A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, "I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York."
I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, "Are you sure that's the name of the town?"
"Yes, what flights do you have?" replied the lady.
After some searching, I came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country, and can't find a Rhino anywhere."
The lady retorted, "Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!"
So, I scoured a map of the state of New York, and finally offered, "You don't mean Buffalo, do you?"
The reply? "Whatever! I knew it was a big animal."

Now you know why Government is in the shape that it's in!

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Saturday, January 07, 2006

It seems the US media is keeping things from us.

Friday, January 06, 2006

The Unwritten Constitution

The Unwritten Constitution

Regarding Immigration

The Truth Then and Now

Reason, logic and passion part II

Reason, logic and passion

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Regarding the Abramoff Scandal

Tragedy and Heartbreak

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The oh-so-tolerant left

The only thing that is certain...

Free Markets, Jack Abramoff...and Lord Acton

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Compare and Contrast

Monday, January 02, 2006

Simple, not easy

This is why I blog!

Sunday, January 01, 2006

The Star Tribune Strikes again (and again and...)

My wish for the new year

Happy New Year...and the inmates are in charge