Sunday thoughts from us to you…

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Ouch! Theres a Downside

u24026842.jpegPosted by Tina

Time is ticking down; we’re rapidly moving toward the beginning of the change administration. Given Obama’s promise for higher taxes on businesses, and the rich, and given the anger over currupt players in the financial sector, soaking the rich might prove to be a very popular idea. But…there will be a downside to raising tax rates…just as there will be for limiting the size of bonuses and pay:

NY to Lose $178M in Tax Revenue From Execs Who Gave Up Bonuses

** Albany, NY – Gov. David Paterson said Friday that the loss of tax revenue from just six Goldman Sachs’ executives will cost New York $178 million. The executives complied with the urging of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and others who said in November that major Wall Street companies benefiting from federal bailouts shouldn’t pay out the usual huge bonuses to executives. *** “Things could go even more south in a big hurry,” Paterson told reporters. He said Wall Street firms receiving federal bailout did the right thing by forgoing bonuses to their executives, but that has had a devastating effect on New York’s fiscal crisis because Wall Street taxes accounted for 30 percent of state revenue in the last fiscal quarter. AP **

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Shoe Tossing 101

Posted by Tina

Salim Mansur, writing in the Toronto Sun, offers an illuminating perspective on the recent shoe incident:

** In the Arab world the unforgiving crime of President Bush has been his promotion of freedom not merely as rhetorical device, but his role in actually overthrowing tyranny and opening a new page of history for Iraqi Arabs. **

The shoe must go on, by Salim Mansur

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Mark Steyn on the Bailout

Posted by Tina

** General Motors, like the other two geezers of the Old Three, is a vast retirement home with a small money-losing auto subsidiary. The UAW is AARP in an Edsel: It has three times as many retirees and widows as “workers” (I use the term loosely). GM has 96,000 employees but provides health benefits to a million people. Mark Steyn **

Hope you enjoy the entire cheery article, We’re in the fast lane to Bailoutistan

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10 Silver Stars Awarded

December 12, 2008
Associated Press

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Capt. Kyle Walton remembers pressing himself into the jagged stones that covered the cliff in northeast Afghanistan.

Continue reading “10 Silver Stars Awarded” »

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Why Boy’s Need Parents

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THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE(and Liberal-thinkers)

By Bruce Sessions

********** FRIDAY SPECIAL *************

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Its rather amusing to watch environmentalists go about trying to save the planet only to end up trashing the very planet theyre trying to save. I suppose one could owe it all to Liberal Think which doesnt think new ideas through to obvious conclusions. Liberal-think is usually brought on by the desire to feel good rather than do good.

Some cases in point here: Seattle, Washington, is a hotbed of liberalism and the city council came up with the idea of providing portable toilets for the homeless. The fancy toilets (costing one million dollars each) would be placed in the citys downtrodden area where the homeless live in cardboard boxes. Kinda like Los Angeles skid row.

The powers that be decided to spend five million bucks to buy five automated public toilets. aouthouse.jpgThe toilets werent pay to operate. They were to be free of charge. A gift to the destitute from the city. It made city officials feel good. At first!

Those who DID use the facilities left so much trash around, (drug needles, condoms, fecal matter, etc) the automatic floor scrubbers wouldnt work. Prostitutes, druggies and homosexuals had found immediate use for the privacy behind the locked doors. It got so bad that even the most destitute homeless refused to use the facilities, which became a definite health hazard. The city ended up selling the one million dollar apiece toilets on ebay. Opening bid? $89,000 each.

The Federal government is loaded with liberal-think, too. For the past 16 years, it has invested billions in building a fleet of 112 thousand alternative fuel vehicles, with nary an alternative fuel station around. Today, 92 percent of the vehicles in the governments alternative fuel fleet are powered by gasoline.

And remember the idea of discarding millions and millions of old tires in the ocean rather than burning them? The idea was to provide habitat for the fishies. Didnt work. The tires ended up scrubbing the ocean floor, destroying corals reefs, and scaring all the fish away. The U.S. Navy was called in to undertake a massive salvage operation to undo the cockamamie plan. I could go on.except Im outta room on this blog, but Im sure liberal-thinkers arent out of ideas. Thats the scary part.

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An Open Letter to Dan Logue

Dear Dan, congratulations on your election to the Assembly. You now have an opportunity to define yourself for us and your colleagues. I can think of no greater nor more noble act than to request a pay cut…immediately.

The legislature before your arrival mismanaged the state’s assets so poorly we are in virtual bankruptcy. As the new kid on the block, with obligations to no one except your constituents, it should be an easy call to say, “Lets give ourselves a 30% pay cut until we emerge from recession and the state is operating with a balanced budget.”

REQUEST A 30% PAY CUT FOR LEGISLATORS IMMEDIATELY!

You would be hailed as a hero, but of course this is not why you should do such a courageous thing, you should do it because it is the right thing to do.

LEAD BY SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE

This is how you should let them know Dan Logue has arrived and it’s a new day and A new way! Tell them, “I represent the people and I didn’t come here to enrich myself at the taxpayers expense, I came here to set a good example. I came here to act with selfless courage to do things that are solely for the good of the people, without regard for personal advantage or partisan politics.”

This is why you should introduce the first bill of the new year that will call for a cut in wages for legislators. Why not? They are the highest paid in the nation and they produce the worst results, they deserve it and we can’t afford to pay them!

Respectfully yours,

Jack L. Lee

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Congress Gets a Pay Raise

Posted by Tina

** A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay. Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it. – The Hill **

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Cities Ready to Pig Out

a070c-hog-head-clipart.jpegPosted by Tina

The Obama Boomtowns, by Joshua Zunbrun

** On Dec. 8, just two days after Obama’s pledge for massive infrastructure spending, the U.S. Conference of Mayors released an 803-page report–a wishlist of some 11,391 infrastructure projects they would love to press ahead with. *** Talk about a dream scenario. Build all those projects, do it with federal money, say you’re rescuing the economy with the spending and, since it’s not your local taxpayers’ money, don’t even stress too much about whether or not the project’s cost effective. *** Sacramento, second on the list, wants to plow $560 million into an assortment of road and interstate projects to take pressure off congested roads. The city would also like $200 million to protect the city from floods by improving levees in the Natomas Basin. Other big safety items include $250 million requested to purchase equipment for the fire and police departments. *** All told, the conference collected lists from 427 cities with $73 billion in proposed projects. The mayors say that with funding they could start the projects and hence start pumping money into the economy in 2009, and finish them by 2010. *** The mayors have big eyes. Those cities that responded would like $17 billion for streets, $15 billion for water and sewage, $13 billion in community development grants, $7 billion for transit systems, $6 billion for energy projects, $4 billion for schools, $4 billion for public safety, $4 billion for airports, $2 billion for public housing and $1 billion for Amtrak infrastructure. ** (emphasis mine)

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