So, Nancy Pelosi needed to force the vote in the House on the newest pork package, because otherwise she would not be able to make her flight to go on a Roman holiday and visit the Pope.
Her vacation was more important than a promise by the Democratic party to allow us plebes 48 hours to study and understand 1100-odd pages of legalese, and send our reactions to our representatives. Of course, we can expect that those worthies have completely read and understood the whole thing - right?
Of course not. Most of them didn't even bother to try - they just accepted the crap placed on their plates, and wolfed it down - and expect us to gladly accept the results over the next decade or so.
Good for the House Republicans - who by their sudden acceptance of responsibility refused to have any part of this travesty, and as a bloc voted 'NO'. Good also for those seven Democrats who refused to vote on a pig-in-a-poke bill.
Now, if we can convince the three 'Republican' traitors, Specter, Snowe, and Collins, to refuse passage of this pile of steaming shit until at least We the People get a chance to read and approve or disapprove, we still might be able to prevent a small measure of the financial and freedom loss disaster that awaits.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Stimulus package on it's way to the Senate...
So, Mr. Osama has gotten his first 'win' - the House passed his gazillion-dollar 'stimulus' package.
I say 'win', because it puts the lie to his claims of being able to do things with the blessing of both major parties. Not one Republican voted for the package, worse, ten Democrats voted 'no'.
This puts the Republican Party in the position of being able to place the entire credit for the results of this abomination squarelely on the shoulders of the radical Democrats - something that was not possible with many spending bills passed with 'bipartisan' support in the past.
Of course, now we come to the Senate, where many "Republicans" like McCain will gladly reach across the aisle and join with their colleagues in rescuing our nation from a painful, but fairly short recession, and deliver us into the next wonderful depression that will drag on for ten years or more, just like the last one did under the wise guidance of FDR and a compliant CONgress and packed Supreme Court. At least, so far, Mr. Osama has not been able to pack the Court with willing dupes, as FDR did. That's next.
I won't get into the $0.12 out of every dollar in this mess that is actually destined for something other than pork...
UPDATE: I just see at Hot Air that Mr. McCain might be growing back towards the Republican side!
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/30/mccain-i-dont-see-any-gop-votes-for-the-stimulus-in-the-senate/
I say 'win', because it puts the lie to his claims of being able to do things with the blessing of both major parties. Not one Republican voted for the package, worse, ten Democrats voted 'no'.
This puts the Republican Party in the position of being able to place the entire credit for the results of this abomination squarelely on the shoulders of the radical Democrats - something that was not possible with many spending bills passed with 'bipartisan' support in the past.
Of course, now we come to the Senate, where many "Republicans" like McCain will gladly reach across the aisle and join with their colleagues in rescuing our nation from a painful, but fairly short recession, and deliver us into the next wonderful depression that will drag on for ten years or more, just like the last one did under the wise guidance of FDR and a compliant CONgress and packed Supreme Court. At least, so far, Mr. Osama has not been able to pack the Court with willing dupes, as FDR did. That's next.
I won't get into the $0.12 out of every dollar in this mess that is actually destined for something other than pork...
UPDATE: I just see at Hot Air that Mr. McCain might be growing back towards the Republican side!
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/30/mccain-i-dont-see-any-gop-votes-for-the-stimulus-in-the-senate/
Ammunition Accountability Act
Recently, there has been a bunch of discussion of the "Ammunition Accountability Act", which is wending its' way through as many as 18 state legislatures. This bill would require all ammo makers to serialize every case and bullet, and keep records all the way to the end buyer, so that evidence recovered at a crime scene could be tied to the purchaser, who would of course be the perpetrator of the crime until he or she proves innocence.
This act would also require that all non-serialized ammo be turned over to your friendly local police department for destruction by a certain date. Reloading would be outlawed, and possession of unmarked ammo would be cause for a long visit to the state penitentiary and a permanent loss of your right to self-protection.
There would be a 'nominal' tax of say, $0,05 per round, to cover 'government costs'.
The thing they keep forgetting to tell us is that besides the $0.05 or whatever 'tax' on each round, there's also going to be a cost to the manufacturer - for the equipment (nonexistent) to do the marking, for the rebuilding of all assembly lines - right now, shells are made by the hundreds of thousands in one plant, and mated to bullets, also made by the hundreds of thousands in another plant. The marking needs to be done at the 'making' stage in either case, or it becomes 'rework', which is
much more expensive. Each serialized cartridge then needs to be continually tracked from the bullet seating and crimping die all the way to the end user - which means thousands of pages of records, because, of course, 'electronic' records won't be suitable for tracking such dangerous commodities.
Off the top of my head, I figure manufacturer's costs to be somewhere around $0.10 per cartridge to retool, and another $0.50 - $0.75 for the handling and record keeping. So, a box of 550 .22LR would have an added cost of anywhere from $357.50 - $495.00, which, of course, gets passed on to you, the consumer.
This scenario does not take into account the fact that Wal-Mart or your friendly local FFL will have to keep records and transmit them to the feds daily, or even on a per-transaction basis, so they need to add something for their time and expense.
Who's up for a $250.00 can-plinking session? A visit to Knob Creek might set you back $1M just for ammo.
There has also been a bit of talk saying that this is 'just' a state level thing, and it should be defeated in most cases. True. Most states in our Union are more intelligent and sensible than CONgress, and more likely to listen to their citizens.
The danger is if the Osama administration gets hold of this idea as it's newest cure-all - once the next depression is averted, and all our troops are home from Iraq, of course, that it will be rammed through CONgress. Even if all Republicans in the House vote 'no', just a couple McCains in the Senate will bless us with the latest in nanny-state bullshit.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
A stimulus package we can all live with
Latest I've read about Mr. Obama's wonderful stimulus package is that it's going to be gone at 'slowly' by Congress.
It's apparent to me that if there's to be a really effective stimulus package, it must be done at the lowest level of government - at the hands of the taxpayer. If we wait for the government to enact a new stimulus law, precious time will be lost, not to mention all the inefficiencies of government that will creep in to raise the cost of the whole thing.
So, here's my proposal. All of us taxpayers should simply file our tax statements with a note stating that the money that normally would go to the IRS to be absorbed into the black hole of Washington politics will instead be kept by each of us and spent or invested as we individually see fit. If your state is one of the five demanding $1,000,000,000 from the taxpayers as a "bailout', as my state of Wisconsin is, the same could be applied to your state income tax.
The result will be a immediate uptick in the economy as the stimulus funds reach each taxpayer instantly, with no middlemen and their inherent costs. Each dollar of stimulus thus spent will have the effect of two to ten dollars of government-doled money, since all of it will go to its' intended purpose.
Another benefit will be to starve the ravenous beast of big government. It's my feeling that government gets nastier when overfed, so a diet will do nothing but good.
A third benefit is that this form of stimulus does not either increase our national debt nor cause inflation, since it does not involve the Treasury either issuing bonds or printing money.
Besides, supposedly we've got a national epidemic of obesity. Let's help our government lead the way in slimming down, and therefore give all of us a good role model!
It's apparent to me that if there's to be a really effective stimulus package, it must be done at the lowest level of government - at the hands of the taxpayer. If we wait for the government to enact a new stimulus law, precious time will be lost, not to mention all the inefficiencies of government that will creep in to raise the cost of the whole thing.
So, here's my proposal. All of us taxpayers should simply file our tax statements with a note stating that the money that normally would go to the IRS to be absorbed into the black hole of Washington politics will instead be kept by each of us and spent or invested as we individually see fit. If your state is one of the five demanding $1,000,000,000 from the taxpayers as a "bailout', as my state of Wisconsin is, the same could be applied to your state income tax.
The result will be a immediate uptick in the economy as the stimulus funds reach each taxpayer instantly, with no middlemen and their inherent costs. Each dollar of stimulus thus spent will have the effect of two to ten dollars of government-doled money, since all of it will go to its' intended purpose.
Another benefit will be to starve the ravenous beast of big government. It's my feeling that government gets nastier when overfed, so a diet will do nothing but good.
A third benefit is that this form of stimulus does not either increase our national debt nor cause inflation, since it does not involve the Treasury either issuing bonds or printing money.
Besides, supposedly we've got a national epidemic of obesity. Let's help our government lead the way in slimming down, and therefore give all of us a good role model!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Bailouts
First it was Bear Stearns. $30 billion. Then Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. $200 billion. Then A.I.G. $150 billion. Then $25 billion in loans to the 'Big Three'.
That's just the start. Now we get into some real money.
That's just the start. Now we get into some real money.
Troubled Asset Relief Program - $700 billion (later increased to over $850 billion) for buying up distressed loans from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Citigroup. $247.5 billion
For a change, now we back off the big money - possibly because Mr. Bush is such a thrifty soul. Chrysler/G.M. $17.4 billion. This in direct opposition to the will of the people as expressed in Congress rejecting the bailout. Also, possibly illegally taking money from the TARP funds.
Keeping track? So far, we've given away $1,519.9 billion - over 1 1/2 trillion dollars.
Now come the governors of five states, including my home, Wisconsin. They only want another trillion dollars to make up for shortfalls caused by bad investments and state spending grossly outpacing tax collections.
If we figure the US population at present at 306 million, that give each of us, man, woman, and child, productive citizen and welfare taker, able bodied and handicapped, a current debt of around $8200. This is money given to huge corporations and government-backed funds as a reward for their corruption, malfeasance, and stupidity. Assuming a typical family of four, each family's share is almost $33,000. Of course, persons not paying taxes, such as those on welfare of any kind and many illegal immigrants, will never pay for any of this. I've heard that approximately 40% of the US population currently is in this group, but have no figures to back that up.
All of these bailouts seem to be so danged urgent that action must be taken instantly - without the Congresscritters being given any time to actually READ the bills, let alone time for their poor brains to UNDERSTAND what is being proposed. I recall something called the PATRIOT Act being similarly urgent, and being passed almost unanimously by 'legislators' who in most cases didn't even TRY to read the thousand or so pages of legalese.
Who writes these bills? The PATRIOT Act was authored by a Georgetown University Law Center professor, Viet Dinh - but who asked him to do it?
It's part of the American Dream to make it on your own - or fail on your own. It's an indication of how close we are to being a Soviet-style society that we cannot allow failure, especially if that failure would cause discomfort to some of our leaders and their handlers.
Citigroup. $247.5 billion
For a change, now we back off the big money - possibly because Mr. Bush is such a thrifty soul. Chrysler/G.M. $17.4 billion. This in direct opposition to the will of the people as expressed in Congress rejecting the bailout. Also, possibly illegally taking money from the TARP funds.
Keeping track? So far, we've given away $1,519.9 billion - over 1 1/2 trillion dollars.
Now come the governors of five states, including my home, Wisconsin. They only want another trillion dollars to make up for shortfalls caused by bad investments and state spending grossly outpacing tax collections.
If we figure the US population at present at 306 million, that give each of us, man, woman, and child, productive citizen and welfare taker, able bodied and handicapped, a current debt of around $8200. This is money given to huge corporations and government-backed funds as a reward for their corruption, malfeasance, and stupidity. Assuming a typical family of four, each family's share is almost $33,000. Of course, persons not paying taxes, such as those on welfare of any kind and many illegal immigrants, will never pay for any of this. I've heard that approximately 40% of the US population currently is in this group, but have no figures to back that up.
All of these bailouts seem to be so danged urgent that action must be taken instantly - without the Congresscritters being given any time to actually READ the bills, let alone time for their poor brains to UNDERSTAND what is being proposed. I recall something called the PATRIOT Act being similarly urgent, and being passed almost unanimously by 'legislators' who in most cases didn't even TRY to read the thousand or so pages of legalese.
Who writes these bills? The PATRIOT Act was authored by a Georgetown University Law Center professor, Viet Dinh - but who asked him to do it?
It's part of the American Dream to make it on your own - or fail on your own. It's an indication of how close we are to being a Soviet-style society that we cannot allow failure, especially if that failure would cause discomfort to some of our leaders and their handlers.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Well, here goes something...
I've been reading other people's blogs for years, and now I've decided to take the plunge myself.
I am concerned that the incoming federal administration will attempt to further destroy our inherently guaranteed right to keep and bear arms among other infringements of our freedoms. I will be posting my thoughts and experiences from time to time, as my free time permits.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time describing my daily life, unless it directly applies to my efforts to restore our country to a government controlled by the people of the United States, as opposed to what it has become over the last century.
I am going to allow comments up to the point where they appear to be advocating unwarranted violence or go too far off topic.
With that...
I am concerned that the incoming federal administration will attempt to further destroy our inherently guaranteed right to keep and bear arms among other infringements of our freedoms. I will be posting my thoughts and experiences from time to time, as my free time permits.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time describing my daily life, unless it directly applies to my efforts to restore our country to a government controlled by the people of the United States, as opposed to what it has become over the last century.
I am going to allow comments up to the point where they appear to be advocating unwarranted violence or go too far off topic.
With that...
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