Indiana Is A Failure. Thank Goodness!

The Brady Bunch has posted their ratings for 2008 and Indiana is an abysmal failure when it comes to infringing on the rights of the people who live there.


Now if we can only work on getting rid of their partial ratings we'll be a lot better off. I must say that I am rather pleased with the results, although I think Indiana is capable of a great big zero next year if we really try. The state needs to be stripped of the ability to keep records of gun sales and cities and towns need to rescind local ordinances that infringe on the right to carry in many locations.

We also need Vermont or Alaska style carry laws that would do away with the current permit system and return Indiana to a Constitutional position on firearms and self defence. Alaska scored a 4 out of 100, surely the Hoosier state can do better than Alaska? It's certainly something for libertarians to get behind. Let's be the biggest losers in the country next year!

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Guns, News, Gun Control, Libertarian, Indiana

Clear And Present Danger?

So, it appears that our Glorious Leader truly wants his "stimulus package" to go through, no matter how pork laden it is. He's even gone out of his way to address the issue in the Washington Post with an article on it which is filled with scaremongering. That's a big play to make this early in his tenure.

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

The only problem is that his bill is laden with pork to the tune of a trillion dollars and more is being added every minute. Millions for the arts, billions for failed education policies and billions for projects that are nothing more than long ignored earmarks. And it will all be for naught as this is highly unlikely to work as he would have it. The only job growth we will see will be in the area of government and socialism, cancerous growths we can do without.

I would say that you should contact your Senators, (as I did) and demand that they vote No on this boondoggle. Unfortunately, it is likely to make no difference in how they will vote. They no longer care what you think and will either vote a party line or vote against what the majority of their constituents demand. Representative government has become a myth, one which we cling to in vain hope.

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Obama, Politics, News, Stimulus

Repent Soda Sinners!

Apparently, the governor of Massachusetts thinks that those of us who like to consume a few "empty calories" via a Root Beer or Soda are sinners and in need of additional taxation. It's yet another, in a long line of attempts at behaviour modification by the powers that be to encourage us to act and consume the way they wish us to. At the same time these nanny staters want to fill their coffers by taxing the population segment that they wish to modify.

When Governor Deval Patrick proposed a 5 percent premium on sugary treats this week, his administration presented it as a sin tax with a bonus: Imposing such a levy, a briefing paper pledged, "is a critical first step in discouraging the consumption of these empty calories."

Thankfully, I am not a resident of Taxachusettes, nor am I likely to ever be, but the innocent people who like a good Soda, or one of the excellent regional Root Beers have to bear the burden of these nonsensical do-gooders. Enough is enough, isn't it? Once upon a time there were some Bostonians who had the courage to protest a tax increase on their beverage of choice. Where are those people now? If you won't protest a 5% tax on your Soda or Root Beer then what will you speak out against? Very little, it seems.

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Taxation, Root Beer, Soda, Massachusetts

The Newer Deal

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before." - White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel

So starts the Wall Street Journal article on the newly crafted spending bill, excuse me, "stimulus package" created by the Obama administration and his Democrat allies on the Hill. This new package (.pdf) is anything but a stimulus for the economy. What it really is, is pork and more pork, piled on top of spending with a bare minimum of tax cuts.

There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities.

This package provides $.12 of every dollar for anything that could reasonably be stimulating to the economy. The rest is favouritism and pork. And we, along with our children, will be the ones paying for this boondoggle. That's not including all the amendments getting tacked on, either. 206 by the Houses deadline. The Senate hasn't even had their chance to balloon this monstrosity by adding their own personal touches.

This package is worse than the previous one and will have no effect on the ailing economy. the majority of the spending won't even take effect until 2011. That's unlikely to help anyone who needs aid, not that the government is actually capable of doing anything substantive in that area.
As the Houses perennial gadfly points out...

This bill delivers an additional debt burden of $6,700 to every American man, woman and child.

There is a lot of stimulus and growth in this bill – that is, of government. Nothing in this bill stimulates the freedom and prosperity of the American people.

All we shall accrue from Mr. Obama's plan is less liberty, more debt and a jump in the size of an already cancerous government. We owe it to ourselves and our children to oppose this in whatever manner we can. As usual, "some people" are late to the party. Maybe they'll show up before Mr. Obama signs it into law. So, it's all up to us, as usual.

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Libertarian, Obama, Stimulus Package, Pork